Universal Music Group’s Virgin Music Group struck a global distribution and marketing partnership with Brooklyn-born independent label Partisan Records, which is home to IDLES, PJ Harvey, Blondshell, Cigarettes After Sex, Laura Marling, Ezra Collective and more. Partisan also includes the imprints Desert Daze Sound and section1. The deal follows Universal’s acquisition of Partisan’s longtime partners [PIAS] and [Integral] last month. “The combination of the Virgin and [Integral] teams allows for Partisan to marry the best of the [PIAS] and [Integral] teams that helped get us here with the extra resources of Virgin required to meet our ambition to be the most trusted music company for artists of all genres, worldwide, said Partisan COO Zena White in a statement.

SoundExchange and the South African Music Performance Rights Association (SAMPRA) reached a reciprocal agreement that will see U.S. and South African performers paid royalties for the use of their recordings in the U.S. and South Africa, respectively. This will be the first time U.S. performers are paid neighboring rights when their music is used in South Africa. “This agreement is a result of SoundExchange’s efforts to ensure American creators are treated the same as their South African counterparts in the country,” states a press release on the deal. The multi-lateral agreement, which also includes the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, is retroactive to the 2022 distribution period and will also benefit non-featured artists including studio musicians and backup singers. Those non-featured artists will also see South African royalties deposited into the fund, which is administered by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) and SAG-AFTRA. “This is similar to how, in its U.S. collections, SoundExchange distributes 5% of collected royalties to non-featured artists through the Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, 45% to featured artists, and 50% to rights owners,” the release adds.

Live Nation acquired a majority stake in Lisbon, Portugal’s 20,000-capacity MEO Arena, marking a major investment for the touring giant in the country. First opened in 1998, MEO Arena will soon be renovated to upgrade premium seating, skyboxes, dressing rooms and concessions. Live Nation also plans to build on the arena’s sustainability efforts to focus on reducing its environmental impact. Daily operations at MEO Arena will remain under its current leadership team. The acquisition follows formal approval by the Portuguese competition authority and is subject to closing conditions. The agreement is expected to be finalized late this year or early next.

Warner Music Group’s merchandise and fan experience division WMX has signed on as the official merch partner for Oasis‘ upcoming comeback tour, Oasis Live 25. The merch offering for the show will include pop-up stores, fan experiences, exclusive brand collaborations and event merchandise. The band is slated to hit stadiums in the U.K., Ireland, North Americ, South America and Australia next year.

Create Music Group acquired Manchester, England-based record label and music publisher Ostereo, which has worked with artists including Joel Corry, J.Fla and Shania Yan. As part of the agreement, Ostereo founder Howard Murphy will exit the company to focus on a new venture, leaving his longtime partners, Ramin Bostan and Nick Kirby, to oversee day-to-day operations.

Dallas-based Regional Mexican label Elegante Records signed a global distribution pact with Warner Music Group’s ADA. The Elegante roster includes Conjunto Rienda Real, La Pócima Norteña and Distinto Norte.

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) partnered with artist, songwriter, indie label and distributor funding platform beatBread, effectively providing A2IM members with beatBread’s data-driven funding solutions that enable artist or catalog acquisitions, new release funding and support for general operations and growth. Other benefits include free distribution via Too Lost, free OpenPlay subscriptions and discretionary A&R funds on top of any advances taken (up to 20% of the advanced amount).

Downtown-owned business-to-business distributor FUGA signed a partnership with L.A.-based independent label Mind of a Genius Records (MOAG). FUGA will provide MOAG with its suite of comprehensive services, including digital and physical distribution, synch and licensing opportunities and advanced data analytics. MOAG’s roster includes Mindchatter, Kwaye, Karnaval Blues, Peter $un, and Jordan Astra alongside its frontline releases.

Independent distributor IDOL struck a global partnership with London-based label Full Time Hobby and its alt-rock imprint Hassle Records. IDOL will handle global distribution, marketing and audience development for both labels’ frontline and catalog releases, excluding Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Over 21 years, Full Time Hobby has developed artists including GHOSTWOMAN, Michael Nau, Squirrel Flower, The Saxophones and Casey. Under the deal, IDOL will service new Full Time Hobby releases from artists including Bananagun, Canty and Tunng and new Hassle Records releases from BRUTUS, Dead Pioneers and Jools.

It’s probably too early to know if Kelly Clarkson’s 8-year-old son Remy inherited his mom’s talent, but he’s definitely got her charm and confidence.

As his mom recounted on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Wednesday (Nov. 27), “[He] just walked right in today and said, ‘Who do I need to speak to to sing my song?’ I said, ‘OK, sir.’ They’re so much fun. I love my kids so much.”

Clarkson played about 25 seconds of video of Remy warming up the studio audience prior to that day’s taping with a cover version of – of all things – the Frank Sinatra classic “My Way.” Clarkson’s 10-year-old daughter, River, provided backup vocal support (and, no doubt, moral support) from the audience. The studio audience gave Remy a warm round of applause.

The song is generally performed by performers at midlife – Sinatra was 53 when he cut it – looking back at their lives and taking stock of their successes and failures. The English lyrics, written by Paul Anka, include this gem: “Regrets, I’ve had a few/ But then again, too few to mention.”

Sinatra’s version reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1969 and received a Grammy nod for best contemporary vocal performance, male. His recording was selected for the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. R&B star Brook Benton and Elvis Presley also had Hot 100 hits with the song. (Presley’s version, released after he died in 1977, climbed even higher on the Hot 100 than Sinatra’s version had – No. 22.) Sex Pistols‘ bassist Sid Vicious recorded a punk rock version of the song in 1978. In 2018, Willie Nelson recorded the ballad as the title song of a Grammy-winning collection of Sinatra covers.

“My Way” was an adaptation of the French song “Comme d’habitude,” which was composed by Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Gilles Thibaut and Claude François. It was first performed in 1967 by François.

Watch young Remy show his talent and his moxie on his mom’s TV show below.

Liam Gallagher has shared a response to a series of comments that original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock made about Oasis in a wide-ranging new interview. 

Speaking to NME over the weekend, the 68-year-old described Oasis’ live show as “boring,” claiming that he would “never” go and see them perform again. He also compared the Manchester band to classic rock band Status Quo, saying that “to hear one song once is enough.”

Oasis are currently set to kick off their Oasis Live ‘25 reunion tour next summer, starting at Principality Stadium, Cardiff (July 4) before performing dates in major cities across the U.K., Ireland, Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Asia. The run will mark the first time the Gallagher brothers have performed together since 2009, following years of public rivalry.

“If you’re a fan, it’s understandable. They’ve got lots of fans,” Matlock said of the excitement around the forthcoming reunion, before later opening up on his time in Sex Pistols, as well as sharing his thoughts on Danny Boyle’s “cheesy” Pistol TV biopic for Disney+.

“I’ve always seen Oasis as a bit Status Quo,” he continued of the long-running U.K rock band best known for such hits as “Pictures of Matchstick Men” and “Down Down.” “[With Quo], to hear one song once was enough. It’s a bit like that with Oasis: to hear one song once is enough. I just find them kind of samey. I know the guys. Nice blokes. I’ve gotta be careful what I say because I bump into Noel [Gallagher] quite a lot. He lives around the corner from me.”

He added: “I think Liam is fantastic. He sings great – he’s like Johnny Rotten, but can carry a tune. He’s got a magnetic stage personality: he can just stand there and it’s riveting. The rest of the guys? No. I think they’re boring live. I’d never go to see ‘em.”

When asked if Matlock had seen Oasis live in the past, he responded by saying that in the mid 1990s, he left a London show of theirs early. “I got invited to see ‘em at Earl’s Court. I left. It was boring. I went again to see ‘em in upstate New York with [Blondie’s] Clem Burke. Nah – I couldn’t wait to go.”

Now, Gallagher has responded to Matlock via Twitter/X. “F–K HIM SID WAS THE PISTOLS,” he posted, referring to Sid Vicious, the legendarily outrageous bassist who performed with the Sex Pistols after Matlock initially left the band in 1977. 

The Oasis singer, meanwhile, is known to be a huge fan of the Sex Pistols, even naming his adopted kittens Sid and Nancy after the band’s late member and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

On Tuesday night (Nov. 26), as fans filed into London’s Hammersmith Apollo to see Zayn Malik perform, the foyer of the 5,000-capacity venue became a flurry of nerves and pent-up anticipation. At each corner, friends ran to each other and embraced, sharing handmade bracelets or falling into selfie formation. The merch stand was adorned with mini tote bags and paint-by-numbers sets, a nod to a well-documented pastime of the Bradford-born singer. Outside, meanwhile, small groups of people could be spotted refreshing resale sites incessantly on their smartphones – the unmet demand for tickets felt palpable. 

For the lucky few thousand who made it inside, emotions were running high. Across the near entirety of Malik’s solo career, the 31-year-old has remained absent from the live circuit, citing struggles with stage fright. In the eight years since he released his Billboard 200-topping debut LP Mind Of Mine – which dropped 12 months to the day after he departed One Direction – Malik has continued to put out records while keeping a low profile, a commitment which has extended to an often-elusive social media presence.

“I just couldn’t go through with it,” Malik wrote in his 2016 self-titled memoir, explaining his decision to cancel a planned appearance earlier that year at Capital FM’s Summertime Ball. “Mentally, the anxiety had won. Physically, I knew I couldn’t function. I would have to pull out.”

In the book, he explained how being in One Direction allowed him to get past his anxiety because he wasn’t the sole center of attention, though solo performance was simply too much for him. “I don’t want to say I’m sick. I want to tell people what’s going on, and I’m not gonna be ashamed of what’s happening,” he added.

Last night’s show also came less than a week after Malik attended the funeral of One Direction’s Liam Payne, where he joined his fellow former bandmates, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan. He commenced his tour in Leeds three days later, paying tribute to Payne – who died last month (Oct. 16) following a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina – with a message projected on a large screen at the end of the performance. “Liam Payne 1993-2024 Love You bro,” it read, while Malik’s track “Stardust” played over speakers. 

At Hammersmith Apollo, Malik chose not to directly address the emotional upheaval that has marked his journey to the stage and instead let the music do most of the talking. Leading a live band, on a stage flanked with tree decorations and an illustrated backdrop resembling his farm in rural Pennsylvania, Malik’s setlist was dominated by tracks from recent album Room Under The Stairs, which landed at No.3 in the Official U.K. Albums Chart in May. 

Kicking off the performance with “My Woman,” Malik looked overawed at the response from the crowd, who hit pulverising decibel counts for newer tracks such as “In The Bag” and “Lied To.” Wearing a trilby hat as he gripped a red mic stand, the singer chose to eschew performing any One Direction material, as well as some of his biggest singles (from radio hit “Like I Would” to Sia team-up “Dusk Till Dawn”).

Malik slowly opened up throughout the evening, miming a guitar solo during “Dreamin” and laughing in disbelief at the room’s enthusiasm towards his newer material. “It feels fu–ing amazing to be here,” he said by way of introducing “Birds On A Cloud.” He continued: “It took a while, but we’re going to enjoy ourselves – have a drink, have a laugh and sing as loud as you can.”

As Mailk rolled through Room Under The Stairs highlights, plus the occasional track from 2018 LP Icarus Falls or follow-up Nobody Is Listening, the screaming refused to subside. “Vas happenin’!,” the singer exclaimed at one point, referencing a beloved catchphrase from his One Direction days. He later hailed his “amazing” fanbase for being “so patient” with his comeback before pausing proceedings numerous times to check on the wellbeing of those in the crowd.

From a sublimely confident cover of Paolo Nutini’s “Last Request” to a countrified version of the chart-topping “Pillowtalk,” the performance was a stark contrast to the more intimate show that Malik played at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in May. That six-song set was accompanied by the premiere of The Road To The Mic, a documentary charting his rehearsal process. It marked only the second time Malik had been seen in public for five years; in January, a lack of crowd control at his Paris Fashion Week appearance led to his foot being run over by a passing car.

While Malik continues to reckon with returning to the limelight, he is set to tour the U.K. through Dec. 9, with gigs lined up in Wolverhampton, Manchester, Newcastle, and Edinburgh, plus additional dates in London and Leeds. He’ll then head to the U.S. in early 2025 for a run of shows initially postponed in the wake of Payne’s death, hitting up major cities including New York and Los Angeles. 

“Thanks for being patient with me and for always believing in me,” Malik concluded shortly before the lights went up at Hammersmith Apollo. As closer “Gates Of Hell” began to simmer out, he offered a nod in gratitude, signing off with a giddy cry of “f–k yeah.”