Bo Burnham’s one-room Netflix special made during the pandemic is headed for theaters this July for one day only.

The comedian’s self-shot Inside, which is filled with catchy dystopian songs that chronicle his loneliness over the course of an isolated year (as well as knocks on internet culture), will hit theaters on July 22 in conjunction with Netflix and Iconic Events.

Following Inside‘s release on May 30, the singer-artist put out an accompanying album, Bo Burnham: Inside (The Songs), featuring popular tunes such as “Welcome to the Internet.”

Burnham shared news of his one-night-only theater offering via Twitter on Saturday, writing “come on out” to his followers.

Inside follows Burnham’s 2016 special Make Happy, a recording of a stand-up tour during which Burnham began to experience panic attacks. Other recent works include Words, Words, Words on Comedy Central and his special What on Netflix.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

In keeping with past tradition, Barack Obama is sharing some of his favorite summer tunes as we head into the blistering season.

On Saturday (July 10), the former U.S. president shared his annual “Summer “Playlist,” featuring music by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak’s Silk Sonic, Bob Dylan, Migos, H.E.R., The Rolling Stones, SZA, Stevie Wonder and many more.

“With so many folks getting together with family and friends, there’s a lot to celebrate this summer,” Obama captioned his tweet. “Here’s a playlist of songs I’ve been listening to lately—it’s a mix of old and new, household names and emerging artists, and a whole lot in between.”

Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” Drake’s “Wants and Needs” featuring Lil Baby, and SZA’s “Good Days” were among the tracks to make the list, rounded out by selections from Brandi Carlile (“Speak Your Mind”), Dylan (“I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”) and Bob Marley & the Wailers (“Exodus”).

It’s no secret that Obama is a huge lover of music. Over the years, he has shared numerous music playlists, including his recent shower-themed list on Spotify, which features Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”

“I sing in the shower, I sing outside of the shower. I am unembarrassed about singing,” Obama said during his Renegades: Born in the USA podcast with The Boss in March. “My daughters and my wife sometimes roll their eyes.”

Last December, the former president also shared his “Favorite Music of 2020″ list — featuring picks from Bad Bunny, Dua Lipa, Lil Baby and Megan Thee Stallion — as well as a playlist of music that inspired him throughout his presidency.

Stream Obama’s 2021 summer playlist below on Spotify.

Jamie Lynn Spears is getting ready to tell her story.

On Friday (July 9), Spears’ publisher confirmed to Billboard that the 30-year-old actress is currently working on an as-yet untitled memoir, scheduled for release in January 2022.

“Jamie Lynn’s book has been in development over the past 12 months and will allow the world to hear her inspiring story in her own words, for the first time,” Worthy Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Worthy’s website stated that Jamie Lynn’s book would be titled I Must Confess: Family, Fame, and Figuring It Out, a reference to her older sister Britney Spears’ hit 1998 song “…Baby One More Time,” People reports. The publisher later corrected the information, stating that the title was “erroneously released” to book retail websites.

“We deeply regret that incorrect and incomplete information about her book has appeared in the public space, particularly at this sensitive time for Jamie Lynn and her family,” Worthy said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing accurate and complete details about the project at the appropriate time and to celebrating the release of her memoir with Jamie Lynn and her fans next year.”

News about Jamie Lynn’s upcoming memoir arrives as Britney continues to battle her ongoing conservatorship, which gave their father, Jamie Spears, control over the singer’s life and career for the last 13 years. The 39-year-old pop superstar made a rare court appearance in late June to explicitly address her desire to end the “abusive” conservatorship.

In an emotional Instagram Story video days after her big sister’s powerful testimony, Jamie Lynn addressed her highly criticized silence on Britney’s conservatorship. The actress also recently pleaded with people to stop sending her family death threats.

“Hi, I respect that everyone has the right to express themselves, but can we please stop with the death threats, especially the death threats to children,” Jamie Lynn wrote in a short note on her Instagram Story with her initials “JLS.”

Jamie Lynn has two daughters, Maddie Briann Aldridge, 13, and Ivey Joan Watson, 3.

Billie Eilish had her mom and team worried sick on the set of her terrifying new “NDA” music video.

On Friday (July 9), the 19-year-old daredevil released her dark new single with an accompanying self-directed visual in which 25 professional stunt drivers skillfully weave around her on a pitch-black road in the dead of night. The experience left Eilish’s mother and professional crew terrified, as evidenced by some behind-the-scenes footage the singer shared on Instagram.

In one clip, the singer’s mom, Maggie Baird, is seen giving a worried gasp as she watches her daughter fall to the ground while racing cars whiz past her. In another photo, Eilish shows off her bruised knees as a result of the falls.

“hope u liked it (also pls enjoy the fifth slide of my mom and team losing their minds being scaredy),” Eilish captioned the gallery.

“NDA” is the fifth release ahead of Eilish’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, which is scheduled for release on July 30 through Darkroom/Interscope Records.

Leading up to its release, she teased the song and video on Instagram, writing, “THIS VIDEO WAS SO CRAZY TO SHOOOOOT.” The visual was shot in one take and features no stunt doubles or car VFX, according to a press release.

Check out the behind-the-footage of Eilish’s “NDA” video below.

The arrests of 15 Colombians in the death of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse has shocked many Haitians, already reeling from the middle-of-the-night assassination of the country’s leader. Less surprising, even … Click to Continue »

After hosting an all-female songwriter camp in Beijing with global non-profit She is the Music in June, Universal Music Publishing (UMP) China hopes the initiative serves as the blueprint for future writer gatherings under its Untapped 2021 banner.

The mission of the Untapped series, according to Joe Fang, who assumed the post of managing director of UMP China a year ago, is to highlight underrepresented groups and provide growth opportunities to younger songwriters. “Sometimes by default, when looking for new songs, clients will just look at the names of the songwriter and their previous track record,” he says. “With Untapped we want to present the music to partners and have them make judgments just based on listening to the song, not by judging who the writer is or how popular they are already.”

June’s all-women camp marked She Is The Music’s first songwriting camp outside the U.S. and connected some of UMP China’s most promising women writers with songwriters from several other countries, including the U.S., Mexico, South Korea and Australia.

According to USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative, which surveys the number of women represented on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, only 12.6% of the songwriters and just 2.6% of the producers behind 2020’s hottest tracks were women. Stats like these are the driving force behind She Is The Music, which was founded to try to increase these numbers, both on the U.S. charts and abroad. So when UMP China reached out to She Is the Music to propose a collaboration last year, Michelle Arkuski, She Is the Music’s executive director, was all ears.

“UMP China had just signed some amazing female songwriters and producers, and they wanted to help elevate and connect them with women around the world and to encourage more girls to see themselves as music professionals,” Arkuski says.

While some of UMP China’s female writers were already established in the industry, Fang wanted to help the newer songwriters gain traction in the Chinese music market. “They are writing equally great songs,” he said. To him, all these writers needed was the right opportunity and a comfortable, inclusive environment to do their best work, and She Is The Music’s mission to create more spaces for women creatives felt like the perfect fit. “It was just a great opportunity for everyone,” Arkuski says. “We hope this Untapped camp inspires others down the road to follow suit.”

Untapped 2021 is UMP China’s second hybrid songwriting camp, with local songwriters meeting in person at UMP China’s new Beijing studio and international songwriters joining via video conference. It follows last year’s hybrid songwriting camp in partnership with Riot Games, which was held with the intent of creating promotional music for the game publisher’s League of Legends 10th world championship. That camp had songwriters join via video conference or at a studio in Shanghai.

Although both UMP China and She Is the Music hope for a fully in-person camp in the future, Arkuski says that UMP China’s “state of the art” studio made it feel like the writers joining virtually are “basically in the room with you.” At the Untapped camp, the songwriters focused on writing songs for gaming, TV and film as well as virtual idols.

A fast growing sector of the country’s entertainment economy, virtual idols are digitally constructed influencers who, just like human influencers or personalities, sing, dance, pose and interview. In recent years, major Chinese companies have begun minting their own superstars, sensing the potential of the new space, including Tencent’s idol Xingtong. “It’s not a very mature market for virtual idols yet,” says Fang. “However I think virtual idols naturally match with what we are doing with the Untapped camp. With virtual idols, they don’t need to have big-name singers and songwriters. With idols, you don’t have to know who is writing or singing the songs.”

To determine which women would be included in the camp, UMP China and She Is the Music held meetings to review applicants’ submissions. “A lot of offices worldwide would send their songwriter and producers’ resumes to us for the camp,” says Fang. Assuming the role of matchmaker, the teams listened to each applicant’s music to determine which writers and producers would pair well together. Nearly 30 songwriters took part, including Chinese writers Lona Chen, FAE and Akini Jing.

UMP China opted to include international songwriters in its camp because “we think of it as a global solution for local needs,” Fang says. This strategy mirrors that of other global music companies operating in China who have hosted other international songwriting camps, like BMG’s ongoing Soundlabs series.

Betting that Chinese music could become as lucrative as K-Pop, companies are now looking to invest resources in the country more than ever before. The Chinese music market is now the seventh largest in the world, according to IFPI’s Global Music Report in 2020.

Next for the Untapped series? Fang teases the possibility of a “rainbow camp,” highlighting the work of LGBTQ+ songwriters in China and abroad. “It will be hard to pull off,” he admitted, citing China’s discrimination toward the gay community, but he hopes it could be possible in the future. “We have a lot of great LGBT writers,” he said. “We want to show that good songs can come from anyone.”

Meanwhile, She Is the Music continues connecting women creators through virtual and in person events worldwide. With a  workshop in the U.K. for emerging songwriters currently underway and plans to hold an all-female camp in Mexico, Arkuski says, “we’re really looking forward to expanding our footprint globally.”

The most often-repeated thing said about The Velvet Underground is Brian Eno’s quip that the band didn’t sell many records, but everyone who bought one started a band.

You won’t hear that line in Todd Haynes’ documentary The Velvet Underground, nor will you see a montage of famous faces talking about their vast influence. You won’t even really hear a fairly full Velvet Underground track until nearly an hour into the two-hour film.

Instead, Haynes, the reliably unconventional filmmaker of Carol, I’m Not There and Far From Heaven, rejects a traditional treatment of the Velvets, a fitting approach considering the uncompromising, pioneering subject. His movie, which premiered this week at the Cannes Film Festival, is, like the Velvets, boldly artful, boundless and stimulating. You sense that even Lou Reed would be pleased by how The Velvet Underground refuses the obvious.

“I didn’t need to make a movie to tell you how great the band is,” Haynes said in an interview. “There were a lot of things I was going to be like: OK, we know this. Let’s get right to how this happened, this music, where these people came from and how this miracle of this group of people came together.”

The Velvet Underground, which Apple will release in theaters and on its streaming platform Oct. 15, plumbs little-seen footage and features a host of rare interviews, including founding member John Cale (who describes the band as striving for “how to be elegant and how to be brutal”), Jonathan Richman of the Modern Lovers and an early disciple, and Jonas Mekas, the late pioneering filmmaker who filmed The Velvet Underground’s first ever live performance in 1964 and to whom the film is dedicated.

The Velvet Underground is most singular in how it resurrects the 1960s downtown New York art scene that birthed and fermented the group. Haynes patiently traces the fertile downtown landscape of Warhol’s Factory, the explosion of queer New York and how Lou Reed and the Velvets were turned on by acts like the Ramones or the experimental drone music of La Monte Young. Art, avant-garde film and music collide. The documentary, more than anything, is a revelatory portrait of artistic crosspollination.

“You really felt that coexistence and the creative inspiration that was being swapped from medium to medium,” says Haynes, who notes such localized hotbeds now seem extinct, a victim of a digital world. “I crave that today. I don’t know where that is.”

The Velvet Underground is Haynes’ first documentary. Previously, he’s turned to deliberately artificial fictions of great musicians. His Velvet Goldmine was a glam-rock fantasia of David Bowie. In I’m Not There, rather than attempt the impossible task of finding an actor for Bob Dylan, he cast seven.

“When I was doing research on the Bowie of Velvet Goldmine or all the Dylans of I’m Not Here, you come across the real thing,” says Haynes. “I always felt like if I’m going to re-create this in a fiction form, I better do something different with it. So you’re not comparing it with the real thing, apples to apples. You’re in a different language, putting it in a different context and the frame is visible.”

Haynes never met Reed, who died in 2013. But he saw him a few times at events like the Whitney Biennial (“I was too scared,” he says). And Reed gave his permission to use “Satellite of Love” in Velvet Goldmine. Laurie Anderson, Reed’s widow and a filmmaker, endorsed Haynes directing the film, and other estates, like Andy Warhol’s, were supportive.

Footage by Warhol, the only one to previously really document the Velvets, is laced throughout the film. In split screen, the band members’ screen tests for the Factory (usually seen as still photographs) play at length, with Reed or Cale staring provocatively out at you.

“The only film on them is by one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. That’s so rare and weird. There is no traditional coverage of the band playing live. There’s just Warhol films,” says Haynes. “We just have art within art within art to tell a story about great art.”

On Thursday (July 8), Switzerland-based investment entity MusicBird AG announced the acquisition of songwriter Jonathan “J.R.” Rotem’s catalog. Best known for penning a laundry list of radio hits from the 2000s and early 2010s, Rotem is the hitmaker behind songs like “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston; “Whatcha Say” and “In My Head” by Jason Derulo; “Better In Time” by Leona Lewis; and “Replay” and “Solo” by Iyaz.

A versatile writer with a career spanning over 20 years, Rotem’s catalog includes credits on songs by A-list artists spanning from pop to reggaeton to rap, including Britney Spears, Keith Urban, Gwen Stefani, 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, Ciara, Charlie Puth and Bad Bunny. This flexible writing style has earned him BMI awards for Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.

Though MusicBird AG’s purchase of Rotem’s catalog is the entity’s first foray into song catalog acquisition, company chairman Jonas Anker promises the new deal is just the beginning for his team. “This is the first of many planned acquisitions,” he said in a recent statement, adding the sale is a “great way to kickstart” the company’s endeavors. “We’re honored that J.R. Rotem entrusted his amazing song collection to us.”

Rotem added, “Like every songwriter, my songs are a precious part of me. So I am gratified that my songs have found a nurturing home with MusicBird.”

Rotem was represented by Guy Blake, partner at Granderson Des Rochers, LLP. MusicBird AG was represented by the company’s head of music Sanji Tandan and Kendall Minter of Taylor English Duma, LLP. Tandan said the acquisition was the “first step” in MusicBird AG’s “proactive pursuit of music assets with high-quality songs, historical value, and brand identity.”

In a key comment on one of the most controversial issues regarding the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the U.S. Copyright Office issued regulations and best practices which included the guideline that the initial distribution of unmatched mechanical royalties by market share not occur for at least five years—not the minimum three-year period as stated in the Music Modernization Act.

What’s more, in making its recommendation, the Copyright Office said the clock counting down the five-year period should not start ticking until the MLC’s claim portal—which will give rights owners the ability to search through unmatched songs and claim those they own so that they can be paid the royalties for plays of those songs—is up and fully functioning with all of its tools. So far, the MLC apparently only has a beta version of the claim portal.

Furthermore, the Copyright Office stated in its guidance that even at the 5-year period, the MLC should apply relevant criteria to determine whether the first distribution should be further deferred.

The MLC was created by the Music Modernization Act (MMA) to collect mechanical royalties from digital services and create a database matching recordings to rights owners. It is also tasked with collecting the right ownership information for each song and maintaining a database so that the correct rights owners and songwriters receive proper payments.

Before the MLC was created and launched on Jan. 1 2021, this process was handled by the digital services and their consultants and resulted in some $424.3 million in unmatched royalties. Those funds have since been turned over to the MLC for distribution. The MLC must first try to match those royalties with the rightful owners of those songs, and it has three years to do so, according to the MMA. After that, if the correct rights owners can’t be identified, those funds are eligible for distribution by market share, a mechanism instilled in the MMA statute. The Copyright Office guidelines specifically address this issue.

Since the major publishers typically have the most market share and yet also have the best systems to insure that their songs are not unmatched, indie songwriters and publishers complained that the majors would be the beneficiary of such a distribution at the expense of indie songwriters.

In response to those worries, publishers have repeatedly noted that the law says the MLC may distribute those royalties after three years—not that the MLC has to distribute the unmatched black box monies. Meanwhile, the MLC itself has said it will exhaust all avenues to get the royalties to the rightful owners, including waiting a longer period, if necessary, before considering making a market share distribution.

Now, the Copyright Office has weighed in with a recommendation that likely insures the first distribution of the black box monies accumulated before the creation of the MLC won’t be distributed until five years after the claiming portal is operational.

This is how the Copyright Office puts it in its newly-issued regulations for the MLC: “The Office believes this minimum fixed extension is advisable in light of the MLC’s understandable need for a multiyear ramp-up period, the claiming portal not yet being available, and time needed to educate copyright owners about the existence of the MLC and the blanket license so they know to come forward to register and claim. Additionally, the MLC has stated that DSP reporting of pre-2021 unmatched usage ‘contain[s] in excess of 1.3 terabytes and nine billion lines of data,’ signifying that there is much for the MLC and copyright owners to work through in attempting to match and claim, and ample time should be provided to do so.”

Three songwriter organizations that are usually aligned on issues—the Songwriters Guild of America; the Music Creators of North America; and the Society of Composers and Lyricists—applauded the Copyright Office on this point.

The main worry of these organizations is the fact that the MLC board includes 10 publishers and only four songwriter publishers. Because the 10 publishers are among the bigger publishers in the industry, they have a conflict of interest if they recommend a market share distribution, the three organizations and other indie songwriters allege, since they would likely be a beneficiary of such a dispersion of funds.

“Most notably, the Office did not address the inherent dangers of conflicts of interest present on an MLC board with ten music publishers (including all of the major global conglomerates) and only four songwriter-composers,” reads the statement released by the groups.

“Remedying that dangerous and exceptionally unfair construction of the MLC board, which runs contrary to the traditions of nearly all other nations, is high on the legislative agenda of America’s independent songwriters, composers and lyricists,” Songwriters Guild of America president and songwriter Rick Carnes added in a statement. “We’ll be addressing that issue presently.”

Singer-songwriter-producer Ed Sheeran certainly isn’t stingy with his talent. In addition to his many collaborative efforts, he just co-wrote BTS’ new happy-go-lucky track “Permission to Dance,” which was released on Friday (July 9).

Sheeran’s Billboard 200-topping album No.6 Collaborations Project lined him up with pop singers from Justin Bieber to Taylor Swift, rappers from Travis Scott to Cardi B, and fellow U.K. stars Stormzy and Dave. He’s shot for the stars as a featured artist on projects helmed by international juggernauts The Weeknd, Eminem and more too.

Billboard assembled the English singer-songwriter’s best collaborations below.

Ed Sheeran feat. Beyoncé, “Perfect Duet”

The song’s title is an understatement of its performance. Sheeran and Queen Bey’s raw vocals mixed together on top of an acoustic guitar are the three simple ingredients to this sweeping romantic ballad. Their tender harmony for the last round of the chorus is exactly what a couple during the first dance of their wedding needs to hear. “Perfect” climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the strength of the Beyoncé remix in December 2017.

Taylor Swift feat. Ed Sheeran, “Everything Has Changed”

Swift and Sheeran are dusting off their “Everything Has Changed” duet and re-recording it for Red (Taylor’s Version), but we just hope it opens up the doors to more (new) hits between the two. The original 2012 track about two friends falling in love made their dual fanbases fall in love with how their soft voices fit like two pieces in a puzzle.

Ed Sheeran feat. Justin Bieber, “I Don’t Care”

After writing Bieber’s Grammy-nominated song “Love Yourself,” the two pop stars properly paired up for their carefree jam. Sheeran went back in his dancehall bag for the summer anthem, catering to those who are at a party they don’t want to be at and to those are loving every minute of it on the dance floor.

The Weeknd feat. Ed Sheeran, “Dark Times”

Sheeran steps into The Weeknd’s darkness for the song from the latter’s 2015 album Beauty Behind the Madness. While he’s no stranger to moody music, Sheeran lamenting about being addicted to his vices and telling a loved one to heed his warning that “This ain’t the right time for you to fall in love with me” fits in line with The Weeknd’s melancholic alt-R&B discography.

Ed Sheeran feat. Camila Cabello & Cardi B, “South of the Border” 

The English singer is the bridge between two popular Latina artists — Cuban-American pop star Cabello and Dominican-Trinidadian rapper Cardi — on the Spanish-English pop track. From working on K-pop dance anthems to Latin bangers, Sheeran knows how to plot his musical savvy all over the world, but “South of the Border” showcases how he expertly finds his window within two international stars’ vocal ranges while staying in his lane.

Eminem feat. Ed Sheeran, “River” 

Slim Shady recruited Sheeran for the moving song about a man who wishes to be washed from his sins after a doomed relationship results in an abortion. Between Eminem’s introspective bars and Ed’s wailing chorus, these two maintain incredibly vivid storytelling that gives listeners’ a microscopic outlook on the main subject’s dilemma.

Stormzy feat. Ed Sheeran & Burna Boy, “Own It”

Fellow English artist Stormzy gets Sheeran and Nigerian hip-hop artist Burna Boy into the swing of his South London flow on the “Own It” bop that’s bound to make anyone’s hips swing. At the intersection of U.K. grime and Afrobeats, Sheeran’s dancehall-inspired pop finds its light and takes its listeners straight to the club.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ed Sheeran, “Growing Up”

The Grammy-winning duo ended their three-year musical hiatus with an Ed Sheeran collab that acts as Macklemore’s confession of love for his newborn daughter Sloane. Even though the English singer-songwriter didn’t become a dad himself until five years after the song’s release, he brings the right amount of warmth, affection and fatherly adoration for his baby in the hook when he sings, “I’ll be patient, one more month/ You’ll wrap your fingers ’round my thumb.”