Jewish community anxious ahead of Sweden Eurovision anti-Israel protests
By Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen MALMO, Sweden (Reuters) - Planned protests against Israel taking part in this year's Eurovision Song Contest have made members of the Jewish community in Swedish host city Malmo anxious, a representative of the community ...
May 02, 2024
Universal Music Group reaches new licensing agreement with TikTok
By Dawn Chmielewski and David Shepardson (Reuters) - Universal Music Group and TikTok said on Thursday that they had reached a new licensing agreement that will restore the label's songs and artists to the social media platform. TikTok began removi...
May 02, 2024
Harvey Weinstein expected in New York court after rape conviction overturned
By Brendan Pierson and Jack Queen (Reuters) - Harvey Weinstein is due to appear in state court in Manhattan on Wednesday for the first time since New York's highest court threw out his 2020 rape conviction last week. The hearing before Judge Curtis...
May 01, 2024
Factbox-All you need to know about Eurovision 2024
By Isabelle Yr Carlsson MALMÖ, Sweden (Reuters) - The world's biggest live music event, Eurovision Song Contest, will take place in Sweden in the second week of May with 37 participating countries. Roughly 100,000 visitors from 89 countries are exp...
Apr 30, 2024
'Hell's Kitchen' and 'Stereophonic' tie for most 2024 Tony nominations
(Reuters) - Alicia Keys' musical "Hell's Kitchen" and 1970's rock inspired "Stereophonic" led the nominations for the 2024 Tony awards, American theater's highest honors, followed by "The Outsiders," "Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club" and "Appropriate."...
Apr 30, 2024
French actor Gerard Depardieu questioned over alleged sexual assaults
PARIS (Reuters) - French screen legend Gerard Depardieu was detained for questioning on Monday in connection with alleged sexual assaults against two women on separate film sets, police sources said. Depardieu, one of France's top movie stars, has ...
Apr 29, 2024
Start me up: The Stones kick off North America tour in Houston
By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones kicked off their North America tour at a packed venue in Houston on Sunday, with people traveling from various cities to watch one of the world's most enduring rock bands amid worries that...
Apr 29, 2024
Blackstone outbids Concord in $1.6 billion takeover battle for Hipgnosis
(Reuters) - Blackstone has agreed to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund for about $1.57 billion, after the private equity giant outbid rival suitor Concord in the takeover battle for the music owner of artists such as Shakira and Red Hot Chili Peppers. B...
Apr 29, 2024
Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets Department' dominates US sales and Billboard charts
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop megastar Taylor Swift sold 2.61 million album and streaming units of "The Tortured Poets Department" during its first week of release in the U.S., Billboard reported on Sunday, calling it "a gigantic debut at No. 1" on t...
Apr 28, 2024
New film captures Afghan women's courage in failed peace talks with Taliban
By Jenna Zucker TORONTO - The new documentary "The Sharp Edge of Peace" begins with a harrowing scene: Fawzia Koofi, a former member of Afghanistan's parliament and a women's rights activist, recovering in a hospital bed after surviving an assassin...
Apr 27, 2024
Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler wins dismissal for good of sexual assault lawsuit
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge in Manhattan dismissed for good a lawsuit accusing Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler of sexually assaulting a former teenage model twice in one day in the mid-1970s. U.S. District Judge Lewi...
Apr 26, 2024
K-pop giant HYBE shares take another hit as dispute with NewJeans label drags on
By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean music executive credited with creating popular K-pop group NewJeans denied allegations that she was trying to break her label away from HYBE, home to global sensation BTS, sending the K-pop giant's sha...
Apr 26, 2024
Streaming device maker Roku beats quarterly revenue estimates
(Reuters) -Roku beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and forecast second-quarter sales above estimates on Thursday, buoyed by strong ad sales and the ongoing shift to streaming from cable TV . Shares of the company were flitting between gai...
Apr 25, 2024
Amazon Prime Video to exclusively stream two NHL seasons in Canada
(Reuters) - National Hockey League (NHL) and its digital broadcast rights owner Rogers Communications on Thursday signed a deal to stream the hockey tournament's next two seasons exclusively on Amazon.com's Prime Video for Canadian audiences. Amazo...
Apr 25, 2024
K-Pop group ITZY showcases individuality on second world tour
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Members of the K-pop supergroup ITZY are looking to show a new side of themselves as the band takes its "Born to Be" tour to fans around the world. The tour, which sees the girl band perform in 18 countries across Asia, Austral...
Apr 25, 2024
Pet Shop Boys say new album Nonetheless 'one of our most melodic'
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian LONDON (Reuters) - British electro-pop duo Pet Shop Boys say their new album "Nonetheless" is one of their most melodic from their four-decade-long career, featuring songs about solitude, freedom and looking for a new bohe...
Apr 25, 2024
Zendaya's tennis movie, 'Challengers,' tests friendship bonds of complex trio
By Danielle Broadway and Rollo Ross LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When Zendaya first read the script for director Luca Guadagnino's romantic sports film "Challengers," she immediately understood that the tennis player turned coach she would portray was u...
Apr 25, 2024
'Taylor Swift Act' and other efforts target sky-high concert ticket prices
By Lisa Richwine LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Taylor Swift concert ticket debacle two years ago is leading state and federal lawmakers to take aim at sales practices that they say are deceptive or predatory to music fans. A main goal of venues and m...
Apr 25, 2024
Hipgnosis' bidding war intensifies as Concord hikes offer for Shakira music owner
(Reuters) - Shares of Hipgnosis Songs Fund climbed on Thursday after Apollo-backed Concord outbid a proposal by private equity giant Blackstone, launching a bidding war for the owner of music rights of artists including Shakira and Blondie. Concord...
Apr 25, 2024
Ambani's JioCinema cuts subscription prices as India's streaming war heats up
By Aditya Kalra and Kanjyik Ghosh (Reuters) - JioCinema, the streaming platform run by India's Reliance Industries, on Thursday cut prices of its premium offering to as low as 29 rupees ($0.3480) a month, heating up competition for Netflix and Amaz...
Apr 24, 2024
Young Russians dance to K-pop and watch anime amid Asian culture boom
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A few years ago, Karina Marakshina had to explain what K-pop was when asked to describe the musical style of her Moscow dance studio. Now she says she hears it blasting out from nearly every mall where she shops. Russia shares a ...
Apr 24, 2024
Eurovision euphoria boosts travel to Sweden's Malmo, eDreams says
(Reuters) - Eurovision fever boosted travel searches for the Swedish coastal city of Malmo by 176% between September 2023 and April 2024, Spanish online travel booking company eDreams ODIGEO said on Wednesday. The Eurovision song contest, the world...
Apr 24, 2024
Record giant HYBE audits 'NewJeans' label as infighting returns to K-pop
By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's largest music company is auditing the management of one of its labels as it suspects they are planning to break away, the latest case of infighting in K-pop, one of the world's most popular and profitable mu...
Apr 24, 2024
John Lennon's lost 1960s acoustic guitar to go up for auction
By Lisa Keddie and Will Russell LONDON (Reuters) - A previously lost 12-string acoustic guitar that belonged to the late John Lennon will go up for sale at an auction in May after it was recently found in the attic of a home in Britain. The auction...
Apr 23, 2024
Germany's RTL acquires Nickelodeon rights for children's TV network
BERLIN (Reuters) - Super RTL, a children's television network belonging to Bertelsmann's RTL Group, has struck a deal to acquire Nickelodeon series in Germany, the group said in a statement on Tuesday. Under the agreement, Super RTL will acquire a ...
Apr 23, 2024