Anthem Entertainment has launched a new joint venture with Jared Gutstadt, the founder/CEO of Audio Up. The JV’s first two signees include Randy Savvy of Compton Cowoys and alt/pop/folk singer Kayslee Don Collins. The new deal puts Gutstadt and Anthem back in business together for the first time since 2019, when Gutstadt left his post as CEO of Jingle Punks, an Anthem subsidiary which he also founded. Audio Up will now have the ability to develop some of the former publishing and intellectual property assets that Gutstadt created when he was with Jingle Punks, including the Bear and a Banjo scripted podcast series. Audio Up can also work with new and existing Anthem music catalogs which the goal of creating new IP lanes for Anthem’s frontline signees. Anthem and Audio Up will also now have access to each other’s premiere studio spaces in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles.

Heavy Duty Music has announced new publishing deals with acclaimed indie singer/songwriter Jessica Pratt, avant-pop talent Cecile Believe (SOPHIE, Caroline Polachek) and both a publishing and label deal with Berlin-born artist/producer RIP Swirl. Swirl also acts as Heavy Duty’s first signing through its new joint venture with Imran Ahmed‘s In Real Life, which is already home to talents like Erika de Casier and Peggy Gou.

Position Music has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Maya Kurchner in collaboration with Chosen People. Kurchner signed with Chosen People back in 2020 and has since worked with acts like Chappell Roan, Bebe Rexha,Tiësto, Alesso, Bazzi, Tinashe and more.

Third Side Music has announced an exclusive creative publishing deal to administer the works of composer Galt MacDermot in the United States. This includes his Tony-winning compositions for Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical (HAIR), Two Gentlemen of Verona, the film Rhinoceros and more.

Liz Rose Music has announced the signing of Jenna Johnson to an exclusive publishing deal. A multi-faceted talent, Johnson is best known for working alongside artists of all genres, from Nate Smith, BigXThaPlug, David Guetta, Bebe Rexha, Ty Dolla $ign, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, The Band Camino to Jared Benjamin and more.

Reservoir has signed songwriter-producer Lewis Thompson to a worldwide publishing deal for all future works. As a songwriter, Thompson has tracks like “Bed” by Joel Corry, RAYE, and David Guetta, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry feat. MNEK and “I Wrote A Song” by Mae Muller in his repertoire. He’s also an artist in his own right, releasing tracks with David Guetta, Becky Hill and Alle Farben, dating back to 2022.

Position Music has signed Khalid “Khal” Yassein to a global publishing deal. Yassein is best known as the lead singer of indie folk outfit Wild Rivers, but he has also collaborated with a slew of other artists to date, including Sasha Sloan, venbee, Oh Wonder, Morgan Evans, The Fray, Matt Hansen, Maddie Zahm.

Rafter 3 Music and Warner Chappell Music have signed a global publishing deal with singer-songwriter Austin Michael. Hailing from Van Alstyne, Texas, Michael got his first intro to the music business through season 17 of American Idol, back when he was just 15. Since then, he moved to Austin and dedicated himself full-time to his artistry. This is his first publishing deal.

Wise Music Group has signed Sofi Paez to an exclusive publishing agreement with Berlin-based Bosworth Music GmbH. A pianist and composer born in San José, Costa Rica, Paez is now based in Berlin and experiments with piano, voice and electronic elements. Since 2023, her EP Circles gained the critical acclaim of her peers, and it led to her being handpicked to perform at Olafur Arnald’s OPIA launch event.

Edition Wilhelm Hansen, part of Wise Music Group, has signed Teitur “Teitur” Lassen to a publishing deal. The agreement is a co-publishing deal, partnered with Arlo & Betty Music, a company operated by Lassen’s longtime manager Christian Ulf-Hansen. Since getting his start nearly two decades ago, Lassen has released a slew of records, spanning from Stay Under the Stars (2006) to Songs from a Social Distance (2023) with Aarhus Jazz Orchestra.

Light up the sparklers and fire up the grill! Tyler Childers and Angelica Hale will be the performers at the White House’s Fourth of July celebration, Billboard can exclusively report.

The celebration in honor of Independence Day will be held on the South Lawn. In addition to performances by the country singer and America’s Got Talent season 12 runner-up, the event hosted by President Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden will have active-duty military service members and their family in attendance for a barbecue, as well as viewing fireworks along the National Mall.

The country artist and young singer-songwriter are fitting choices for the event. Childers made headlines in September 2020 when he surprise released his Grammy-nominated album Long Violent History, which peaked at No. 45 on the Billboard 200. Along with the set came a video of the musician — who is currently on the road for his Mule Pull ’24 Tour — sharing a powerful message about racial inequality for those who didn’t understand or support the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We’ve all witnessed violent acts of police brutality happen around the nation that have gone unaddressed. In response, we’ve seen protests turn to riots, and riots culminate into acts of violence and destruction of property. From the outsider’s perspective, it’s hard to see where all this visceral anger is coming from,” the Kentucky native said in part in the video, which also referenced Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police while she was in bed. “What I believe to be one of the biggest obstacles in pinpointing the cause of this is our inability to empathize with another individual or group’s plight.”

Hale’s set on Thursday (July 4) will be the 16-year-old’s second time performing for the Biden Administration. The Filipino-American artist — who was only 10 when she competed on AGT — sang the national anthem at the White House in May for an event in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Attendees at the White House’s Fourth of July concert will also have musical offerings from White Ford Broncos, D.C.’s all-’90s cover band; DJ Mel; and the United States Marine Band.

Jason Mraz is a cat fancier. Like, a seriously devoted feline dad. The singer described just how much he loves his kitty during an appearance this week on actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner’s On Me podcast, when he revealed that he purposely tried to tank his nearly championship run on the 32nd season of Dancing With the Stars so he could get back home to his fur baby.

“Two or three weeks in, I realized I’m probably going to be here the whole time, and I’m terrified, and I have to cancel all my plans for the entire rest of the year, and I’m missing my cat terribly,” he said of his epic run on the show last year, in which he hit the runner-up spot and just missed out on the trophy after landing behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Xochitl Gomez. “I start telling my friends, ‘Stop voting for me!’”

The only problem, as it turned out, was that the “I’m Yours” singer has considerable hoofing skills, so he and dance partner Daniella Karagch almost made it to the winner’s circle, even after informing producers at one point “I’m good” and telling them he was ready to leave. “Having made it all the way to the very end, made it to the buzzer, I look back and laugh and think, ‘Well, maybe if I’d actually given a s–t!’” he said. “So, I would do it all over again if I could, and I would try really hard.”

Elsewhere in the chat recorded at Mel’s Drive-In in West Hollywood with the former Modern Family star, Mraz, 48, talked about his decision to come out as bisexual later in life due to fear of how the news might be received. “In the ’90s, being gay was like [the] punchline of a joke. And I didn’t want to be the punchline of a joke,” Mraz said of growing up in conservative Mechanicsville, Va, where he said he was bullied as a teen and didn’t have many sexual experiences. “I still took with me the conservative street that I grew up on, and that was very hard to ignore or to break out of. I was very shy and and scared of what my family would say, or what my hometown would think or just whatever.”

So, as a teenager, Mraz said he just tried to keep “my nose down” and searched for a way out of town so he could see the wider world. Mraz first discussed his sexuality in a 2018 Billboard interview, in which the twice-divorced Grammy-winner described having experiences with men even while dating his ex-wife Christina Carano; the pair married in 2015 and divorced in June 2023. And though Mraz said he can’t say he’s finally found love yet, he described “amazing relationships” that have helped him grow and learn a lot about himself and life.

“I love where I am and I feel so much love for myself finally, that can only enhance the next relationship,” he told Ferguson, admitting to still feeling like a “late-bloomer.”

Listen to the full podcast below (discussion about coming out is at the 19-minute mark and the cat tale begins around the 37-minute point).

Willie Nelson will be on stage on the fourth of July on Thursday after skipping the first seven dates of his Outlaw Music Festival due to an unspecified illness. The 91-year-old country icon is slated to perform at the gig in Camden, N.J. after missing Tuesday night’s (July 2) concert in Mansfield, MA at the Xfinity Center.

“Willie Nelson is looking forward to seeing everyone in Camden on July 4,” read an Instagram post on Tuesday. “He will not be performing in Mansfield today. Bob Dylan, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, and Celisse will perform as scheduled. In addition, Lukas Nelson and Family, along with some special guests, will once again play his own set that will include Willie’s classics and other songs.”

Thursday’s show will mark the first time in 14 years that Nelson’s annual Fourth of July Picnic will be held outside of Texas, with Maren Morris and Mavis Staples joining the rest of the acts for the festival date. According to Rolling Stone, Nelson’s son, Promise of the Real band leader Lukas Nelson, filled in for his dad on all the Outlaw festival dates so far, performing with Willie’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael and the rest of his father’s band on such classics as “Funny How Time Slips Away” and “On the Road Again.”

The Outlaw festival kicked off on June 21 in Alpharetta, Ga., with Nelson announcing that he was sitting out the opener “per doctor’s orders,” saying at the time that he’d been ordered to rest for four days. The outing is slated to wrap up with a Sept. 20 show in Gilford, N.H. Nelson released his 75th studio album, The Border, in May.

Pop icon Pink has been forced to cancel her upcoming concert in Bern, Switzerland, due to health concerns.

The “What About Us” singer took to Instagram on Tuesday (July 2) to announce the cancelation, expressing her deep regret and explaining that she had to follow her doctor’s advice.

“I am so sorry that I have had to cancel my show in Bern this Wednesday.”

“I do everything I can to ensure I can perform for you every night, but after consultation with my doctor and exploring all options available, I’ve been advised that I’m unable to continue with the show tomorrow,” Pink wrote in her post.

“I was looking forward to being with you and making memories with you and sharing our show with you and am so disappointed that we have to cancel.”

She added, “Sending love and health to you all, and I really hope to see you again soon.”

The highly anticipated concert was scheduled to take place on July 3 at Stadion Wankdorf in the Swiss capital, as part of her ongoing Summer Carnival tour.

Currently, Pink is in the middle of her Summer Carnival tour, promoting her 2023 album Trustfall.

The tour has seen her perform over 70 shows across Europe and North America, with more than 30 additional dates scheduled through the end of 2024.

Opening acts for the tour include Gayle, KidCutUp, and The Script in Europe, with Sheryl Crow joining The Script and KidCutUp for the North American leg.

This isn’t the first time Pink has had to adjust her tour schedule. Last year, she postponed a concert in Arlington, Texas, due to a sinus infection and rescheduled two shows in Tacoma, Washington, citing “family medical issues.” The new dates for those performances have been set for September and November, respectively.

While the sudden cancellation in Bern is disappointing, fans remain supportive of Pink’s decision to prioritize her health.

“Your health comes first,” one fan commented on her Instagram post. “We’ll be here when you’re ready.”