Two Miami-Dade brush fires rage on opposite sides of Krome Avenue, burning 7,100 acres

Continuing dry weather conditions have sparked another brush fire in west Miami-Dade County, burning nearly 6,500 acres of a conservation area, according to the Florida Forest Service. Officials are monitoring … Click to Continue »
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Which U.S. airports have the longest wait times? The top two are in South Florida

Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport have the two longest wait times for security and passport control among the nation’s largest airports, according to a survey examining Transportation … Click to Continue »
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Hugs are coming back to Disneyland: ‘My inner child is so happy’

Hugs from Mickey, high-fives from Pluto and autographs by Mulan — a part of the Disney experience suspended by the pandemic — are coming back. The Walt Disney Co. announced … Click to Continue »
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Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Be Deposed in Eminem Copyright Infringement Suit

A federal judge says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek must sit for depositions in a copyright lawsuit over Eminem’s music, rejecting the streamer’s arguments that he’s not personally involved in “day-to-day” licensing operations or that he’s too busy to participate in the case.

Spotify claimed that Ek had little information to offer about the lawsuit and that Eight Mile Style was trying to drag him into a deposition simply to “harass and annoy” him. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley ruled Thursday (March 31) that the executive would need to find the time.

“Undoubtedly Mr. Ek has a full schedule [and] the Court credits Spotify’s assertion that he is very busy indeed,” Judge Frensley wrote. “Yet, the issue of proper licensing relationships with the artists whose work comprises the entirety of Spotify’s business and its sole product is surely also a matter of importance to Spotify, worthy of some of Mr. Ek’s time and attention.”

The ruling came in a copyright lawsuit filed by Eight Mile Style in 2019 that claimed Spotify had streamed Eminem’s music “billions of times” without obtaining the proper mechanical licenses. The 2018 passage of the Music Modernization Act was designed to fix that problem, but Eight Mile Style said the company had essentially ignored the law’s requirements and was still on the hook for infringement.

Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Spotify had sought a so-called protective order that would have shielded Ek from facing a deposition. The company’s attorneys argued he was not “directly involved in Spotify’s day-to-day licensing practices, let alone its U.S. mechanical-licensing practices in particular.” And the streamer said a top-level executive should not be drawn into a court case without very good reason, because it imposes a heavy burden on someone who “leads a corporate entity with a global reach.”

But Judge Frensley didn’t buy it: “The Court is inclined to agree with plaintiffs that ‘Mr. Ek’s entire argument for burden is, essentially, that he is busy.’”

The judge did conceded some points. In order to “minimize the likely annoyance to Mr. Ek and the disruption of his schedule,” Judge Frenlsey said that Ek could be deposed for no more than 3 hours. And the hearing will take place remotely.

A trial is currently scheduled for September 2023. It’s unclear when Ek will be deposed.

Spotify did not respond to immediate request for comment.

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Fans Thank Harry Styles for the ‘Instant Serotonin Boost’ of ‘As It Was’: ‘I’m Alive But I’m Dead’

Ahead of the May 20 release of his third album, Harry’s House, Harry Styles released “As It Was,” the first song and video from the new album, on Thursday (March 31) — and fans are in their feelings.

The Stylers took to Twitter en masse to share their love for the jubilant song with the uber-personal lyrics. “If you ever need an instant serotonin boost, just listen to Harry Styles #asitwas,” one fan tweeted, while another thanked the pop star for the “free therapy.”

The “As It Was” video shows Styles walking through the world in a baggy red overcoat only to shed the oversize jacket for a two-piece red spandex set once he’s inside that lets him be his true self. Fans are reading into Styles’ sartorial choices in the video, suggesting: “The different versions of him in front of people and alone/ with people he loves and trusts. he covers himself up completely in public but he strips down all his clothes and shoes, his true self in private. In public it’s what’s expected out of him it’s a facade.” Another Twitter user simply says the video “is about losing one’s self, finding one’s self and embracing the change.”

It remains to be seen if the synth-pop “As It Was” is a sign of things to come from Harry’s House or a stand-alone sound. For now, Harry’s fans are happy with what they hear.

Watch the video and see some of the best fan reactions to “As It Was” below:

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All the Grammy Album of the Year Winners That Were Released Right Under the Wire

If Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s Love for Sale wins the Grammy for album of the year on Sunday (April 3), the two stars need to really thank the Recording Academy, which decided the album could compete this year.

The album’s eligibility was in question. The collection of Cole Porter songs was released in some configurations — including cassettes — on Sept. 30, 2021, the last day of eligibility for the 64th annual Grammy Awards. The album was released in all other configurations on Oct. 1. The Academy decided to treat Sept. 30 as its day of release.

The last album of the year winner that was released on the last day of the eligibility year was Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind, which won the 1997 award. (Apparently, legends like to cut it close!)

Eight times in Grammy history, an album that was released in the final month of the eligibility year wound up winning album of the year. Here’s a full list:

1958: Henry Mancini’s The Music From Peter Gunn

Release date: By all accounts, this album was released in January 1959. The last date of the Grammy eligibility year was Dec. 31, 1958. (This was the first and only time the Grammys used a calendar year as their eligibility year.) A 1995 RCA box set of Mancini’s most memorable works, The Days of Wine and Roses, lists the album’s release date as “1/59.” So what’s the story? The Academy may have bent the rules to let the album compete, not even knowing if the awards would make it to a second year. Or it may have just been a gaffe. This was decades before the Internet made double-checking facts easy.

About the album: This was the first and only TV soundtrack to win album of the year. The album beat two classic Frank Sinatra releases, Come Fly With Me and Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely. Sinatra was not pleased. Fortunately, he was nominated again the following year with Come Dance With Me!. This time he won. Phew!

1962: Vaughn Meader’s The First Family

Release date: The album was released in November 1962; the eligibility year ended on Nov. 30.

About the album: This was the second comedy album in three years to win album of the year; the first that dealt in political humor. The album gently tweaked (by current comedy standards) John F. Kennedy and his family. JFK was assassinated in Dallas a little more than six months after this was named album of the year.

1975: Paul Simon’s Still Crazy After All These Years

Release date: Simon’s album was released on Oct. 6, 1975, nine days before the end of the eligibility year.

About the album: This was Simon’s first solo album to take the top award. Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water had won the award five years earlier.

1976: Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life

Release date:  This classic double album was released on Sept. 28, 1976, two days before the end of the eligibility year.

About the album: This was Wonder’s third consecutive studio album to win the award, following Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale. No one else has ever done that, though Adele could equal the feat if she wins at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in January 2023. (Just keep it in mind…)

1997: Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind

Release date: The album was released on Sept. 30, 1997, the last day of the eligibility year.

About the album: This was the first (and is still the only) Dylan album to win album of the year. (Better late than never!) Dylan had won an album of the year trophy as one of many artists on The Concert for Bangla Desh, the 1972 winner, but George Harrison was the lead artist on that album. Time Out of Mind won a second award as best contemporary folk album.

2003: OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

Release date: The double album was released on Sept. 23, 2003, one week before the end of the eligibility year.

About the album: This was the second hip-hop album to win album of the year, following Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It’s also the most recent one to win. Speakerboxxx won a second award as best rap album.

2007: Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters

Release date: The album was released on Sept. 25, 2007, five days before the end of the eligibility year.

About the album: This was the second jazz album to win album of the year, following Stan Getz and João Gilberto’s Getz/Gilberto. That 1964 album included the global bossa nova smash “The Girl from Ipanema.” River: The Joni Letters won a second award as best contemporary jazz album.

2012: Mumford & Sons’ Babel

Release date: The album was released on Sept. 21, 2012, nine days before the end of the eligibility year.

About the album: Babel won album of the year, even though it lost in its “genre album” category, best Americana album, to Bonnie Raitt’s Slipstream. Babel was the second album in three years to win the top award without winning its genre album award. Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, the 2010 album of the year winner, lost best alternative music album to The Black Keys’ Brothers. I guess if you’re going to win one and lose one, you’d want to win the big one.

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Police Were Prepared to Arrest Will Smith on Oscars Night, Producer Will Packer Says

Will Packer, who produced the 2022 Oscars ceremony that aired Sunday, is speaking out following the fallout surrounding Will Smith slapping Chris Rock onstage.

In a preview clip shared by ABC News ahead of Good Morning America’s interview with Packer that airs in full Friday, the producer said that the LAPD was ready to arrest Smith until Rock declined to press charges.

“They were saying, you know, ‘This is battery,’ was the word they use in that moment,” Packer said. “They said, ‘We will go get him; we are prepared. We’re prepared to get him right now. You can press charges. We can arrest him.’”

He continued, “They were laying out the options, and as they were talking, Chris was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, ‘No, I’m fine.’ He was like, ‘No, no, no.’ Even to the point where I said, ‘Rock, let them finish.’”

Packer also told ABC News that he did not speak with Smith on Oscars night.

The LAPD confirmed in a statement on Sunday that Rock “declined to file a police report.”

This interview will mark Packer’s first public comments about the incident that remains a major topic of debate. Shortly after the telecast ended, Packer tweeted, “Welp…I said it wouldn’t be boring #Oscars.”

On Wednesday, the Academy stated that “disciplinary proceedings” against Smith had begun, which could lead to “suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.”

In this latest statement, the Academy also said Smith had been asked to leave the show but refused. However, sources close to the situation told The Hollywood Reporter that Smith was not formally asked to leave.

On Sunday, Rock was about to present the Oscar for best documentary when he made a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, that seemingly referenced her shaved head. (She suffers from alopecia.) Smith took to the stage and slapped Rock before apologizing to the Academy a short time later during his best actor acceptance speech, during which he did not mention Rock.

In an Instagram post the following day, the King Richard actor called his actions “unacceptable and inexcusable,” in addition to apologizing to the comedian.

Rock kicked off his stand-up comedy tour Wednesday in Boston, where he began his show by saying he is “still kind of processing what happened.”

GMA’s T.J. Holmes interviews Packer during the show Friday.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
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Snoop Dogg Teases ‘Nuthin’ But a G Thang’ as First NFT Release on Revamped Death Row Records

On Thursday (March 31), Snoop Dogg was virtually joined by longtime friend and collaborator Ice Cube for a YouTube Live discussion about the digital future of his newly acquired Death Row Records.

The nearly 25-minute conversation was hosted by BUX Crypto and also included rising Death Row artist October London, who said he’s known Snoop Dogg since 2016.

After revealing his plans for future Death Row signees, the Dogg teased, “I just might sell ‘Nuthin’ But a G Thang’ next month.” The Snoop-featuring lead single from Dr. Dre’s 1992 debut solo album The Chronic peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1993. Billboard has confirmed that all the new Death Row releases will be NFTs, and it sounds like “G Thang” will be the first drop.

Following Snoop’s purchase of the iconic brand and catalog in February — and his promise to turn it into an “NFT label” or, more accurately, the first label on the blockchain — fans were surprised to find several key Death Row albums missing from streaming services, including The Chronic and Snoop’s own seven-times platinum 1993 debut Doggystyle. The “G Thang” sale should show how the new label plans to operate.

When asked Thursday about his plans for Death Row’s emerging artists, Snoop said, “Death Row Records is the first major label to be an NFT label … creating content where people can actually own and trade. We dropped a mixtape last month and it did a great thing for us as far as communicating, getting us in the community [and] engaging with a lot of artists that had no foundation or platform.

“It also showed us that this community is in dire need of great music and that’s what we plan on doing,” he added. “We plan on bringing great music and great artists. … This is what Death Row is all about, trying to expand and take it to new regions.”

Snoop also confirmed that Gala Music will be the “exclusive place that Death Row lives in the Metaverse. … We plan on giving people access to buying and trading some of these classic songs, classic records that were the foundation of Death Row and along the lines get these new records.” Gala is aiming to “build a decentralized world of music that uplifts artists, fans and collectors” through rewards, NFTs and Web3, according to a rep for the company.

Ice Cube chimed in: “As a creator, this is a dream-come-true space.” The hitmaker said Death Row artists have an advantage “to be able to go directly to the fans and to make a relationship directly with your fans is always the best way.”

Snoop Dogg purchased Death Row Records from the Blackstone-controlled MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music) last month.

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NAACP wants veto of redrawn Miami voting map. Mayor Francis Suarez undecided

Days after Miami commissioners changed district boundaries in several city neighborhoods, the Miami-Dade Branch of the NAACP called on Mayor Francis Suarez to veto the redistricting legislation. The mayor’s office … Click to Continue »
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FAIR Act Bill to Repeal California’s ‘Seven-Year Statute’ Amendment Wins First Committee Vote

The Free Artists From Industry Restrictions (FAIR) Act passed out of the California State Assembly’s Labor & Employment Committee on Wednesday (March 30) after a 4-2 vote in favor of the legislation. The bill now moves to the Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media for an April 19 hearing and vote.

Introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) in February, the FAIR Act — also known as Assembly Bill 2926 — would repeal a 1987 amendment to California’s “Seven-Year Statue” (a.k.a. California Labor Code Section 2855) that allows record labels to sue artists for damages if they leave after seven years but before delivering the required number of albums in their contract. The Seven-Year Statute, which limits personal services contracts for state residents to seven years, was enacted in 1944 following the judgment in actress Olivia de Havilland’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. Pictures.

“On behalf of all Californian artists, I want to thank Assemblyman Kalra and the Labor Committee for voting today to end discrimination against working music artists,” said Irving Azoff of the Music Artists Coalition (MAC) in a statement. “This is the first step in restoring the Seven Year Statute and granting artists the same protection enjoyed by every other Californian worker.”

“For too long, recording artists and actors have been held under the control of an industry that uses its leverage to dictate their ability to work and their career trajectory as artists,” added Assemblymember Kalra. “With today’s affirmative vote, we are one step closer to passing AB 2926 and prohibiting contract terms that are overly restrictive, antiquated, and unnecessarily punitive towards workers.”

Voicing disappointment in the outcome of today’s vote was the California Music Coalition, which advocates for the record labels. In a statement, the organization alluded to reservations expressed by two assemblymembers (both of whom voted in favor of the bill) during Wednesday’s hearing. “While the Labor Committee showed expected deference to Chairman Kalra and advanced his AB 2926 proposal, several members were clearly unsatisfied with core provisions of this bill and worried about unintended consequences of this legislation,” the organization said in a statement. “We are grateful for Asm. Jones-Sawyer’s concern about the risk to California’s entertainment economy from this legislation and strongly agree with Asm. Ward’s straightforward observation that ‘a contract is a contract.’ The California Music Coalition urges further scrutiny of this flawed proposal which would breach that core principle.”

The RIAA, which also advocates for the record labels, did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment.

Wednesday’s vote followed a roughly 45-minute hearing that saw testimony from Black Music Action Coalition co-founder/co-chair and artist manager Willie “Prophet” Stiggers in favor and RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier in opposition. Also testifying were actor Ginnifer Goodwin (in favor) and Motion Picture Association of America vp of state government affairs Melissa Patack (in opposition), as a number of the bill’s provisions also apply to actors.

In his testimony in favor of the bill, Stiggers argued that the 1987 amendment effectively offers “preferential treatment” to the major labels over other California state employers while amounting to “indentured servitude” for artists.

“The terms for record contracts are inequitable because the labels have all of the power,” he said. “And without the FAIR Act, artist have no means to escape. Why should the creative community that have given our society so much be penalized or lose their protection as a resident of California for financial gains for a record company?”

Stiggers further contextualized the repeal effort as “an issue of social and racial justice,” adding, “The majority of artists driving profits today are people of color, and the heads of the major labels and board members who benefit from those profits are not.”

In his testimony in opposition to the bill, Glazier asserted that despite being touted as a way to provide equity for creators, the FAIR Act will instead benefit only “a few superstar artists” (who would have more leverage to renegotiate under the bill), to the detriment of emerging talent.

“Current law allows for flexible, customized mutually beneficial and enforceable agreements between artists and labels and encourages risk-taking and investment in new and rising artists,” said Glazier. “AB 2926 decimates this mutually rewarding system…by shifting income, investment and opportunities away from developing artists.” Glazier has previously argued that the FAIR Act’s passage could result in new artists receiving lower royalties and advances on their initial contracts, as it would disallow labels from recouping their investment on undelivered albums if artists were to walk away.

Glazier contended that the bill would hurt artists in other ways, including by placing “severe and unprecedented restrictions” on their ability to tour under a purely time-based contract. “It’ll hamper their ability to renegotiate and deter their record company from exercising options, because it statutorily controls important flexible and negotiated contract provisions that allow periods to tour or to obtain more favorable consumer data to demonstrate success going forward,” Glazier continued. “The law makes very personal business decisions, limiting opportunities and the ability to establish meaningful partnerships.”

The original FAIR Act (AB 1385) was introduced in March 2021 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), but the bill was pulled when she left office to become head of the California Labor Federation (CLF). Assemblymember Kalra introduced AB 2926 on Feb. 18 with some additional stipulations, including a provision stating that if an artist “willfully renegotiates” an existing contract with the label, a new seven-year period would start on the execution date of the renegotiated deal, but only if certain criteria is met. Additionally, AB 2926 added a stipulation allowing artists to terminate their original deal if the label fails to exercise its option for more releases within nine months after the commercial release of a music product option.

Kalra tells Billboard that today’s vote went the way he anticipated (“Every Democrat voted for it, none of the Republicans did,” he quipped) despite intense lobbying from its opponents. “There’s no doubt that the industry is planting a lot of seeds of doubt that I think we need to combat,” he says. “And that’s always the case when you’re going up against powerful industries.”

During the hearing, two assemblymembers — Christopher M. Ward (D-San Diego) and Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (D-South Los Angeles) — brought up the potential of bifurcating AB 2926 between provisions that apply to musicians versus those that apply to actors, but Kalra says he intends to keep the bill intact. “I would prefer not to [bifurcate it], because it really deals with the same issue when it comes down to it, which is creatives that are beholden to arcane rules that came about many decades ago,” he says.

If the FAIR Act passes the Arts Committee on April 19, an Appropriations Committee hearing will follow. Were the bill to pass all three committees, it would go to the assembly floor for a vote — and, if it passes there, move to the state Senate.

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