Heeere’s Johnny Thunders

Heeere’s Johnny Thunders

Punk rocker Johnny Thunders will get his close-up in 2017 when a biopic directed by Jonas Akerlund is set to hit screens. Based on the book Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood by British journalist Nina Antonia, the film explores Thunder’s life and career from his days as a New York Doll and then with his own […]

Pittsburgh Symphony Settles Strike

Pittsburgh Symphony Settles Strike

The Pittsburgh Symphony settled its 55-day strike, with a new five-year contract secured by the American Federation of Musicians, Local 60-471 negotiating committee on behalf of the PSO. The deal, concluded Nov. 23,  extends through 2021 and includes freezing certain pension benefits and a  pay cut of 7.5% the first year. It’s been a rocky year […]

Dogg Loose in Park After Dark

Dogg Loose in Park After Dark

2K pumps up the volume with DJ Snoopadelic and Park After Dark, a new feature for “NBA 2K17,”which leaped to the top of the charts since its release last month. While Imagine Dragons, Noah ’40’ Shebib and Grimes curated the in-game soundtrack for “NBA 2K17,” the artist also known as Snoop Dogg will spin a specially curated set for the […]

Fun and Games with Steve Schnur

Fun and Games with Steve Schnur

In a company workforce of about 8,500 employees, Steve Schnur and his team of eight stand out. While about sixty percent of those thousands are artists, sound technicians and coders who create the game experience for the dozen or so titles Electronic Arts releases each year, Schnur and his staff oversee music. That includes supervising the scores for […]

Setting the Stage for Success

Setting the Stage for Success

Concert touring has in many ways become the lifeblood of the popular music industry, as artists seek to recalibrate earnings after the disruption of streaming. So it was no surprise that the executives onstage at the Billboard Touring Conference were able to fill the venue for “Contemporary Touring Strategies: The Agents’ Perspective,” Nov. 9 at the […]

Scooter Braun on Pop and Politics

Scooter Braun on Pop and Politics

A pop act manager’s job is “making irrational people do rational things,” SB Projects’ Scooter Braun shared in a Q&A session at the Billboard Touring Conference & Awards yesterday. As manager to Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Ariana Grande and many more, Braun – whose bio claims he has “broken more new artists than any other […]

‘La La Land’ Scores 4 Hollywood Music in Media Noms

‘La La Land’ Scores 4 Hollywood Music in Media Noms

Damien Chazelle’s song-and-dance musical  romance La La Land tops the list of Hollywood Music in Media Awards nominations, with four, including Best Original Feature Film Score for composer Justin Hurwitz, a Best Music Supervision entry for Steven Gizicki, Jason Ruder, and Best Song nods to “Audition” and “City of Stars.” Tied with three nominations each are […]