Aurelia Butler

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    Sony Reaches Blockbuster Deal for Michael Jackson’s Catalog

    The richest music catalog deal to date would give Sony half of Jackson’s recorded music and songwriting rights, valuing the total collection at $1.2 billion or more.Sony has agreed to acquire half of Michael Jackson’s catalog from the star’s estate, in what is likely the richest transaction ever for a single musician’s work, according to two people briefed on the agreement.The deal, which has been gossiped about in the music industry for months, is said to involve Sony purchasing a 50 percent stake in Jackson’s recorded music and songwriting catalogs. That includes not only the estate’s share of megahits like “Beat It” and “Bad,” but also the music publishing assets that are part of Jackson’s Mijac catalog, among them songs written by Sly Stone and tracks made famous by artists like Ray Charles and Jerry Lee Lewis.The deal is said to value Jackson’s assets at $1.2 billion or more, according to the two people, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Even so, it leaves some of the estate’s interests in other lucrative Jackson-related businesses off the table, like the Broadway musical “MJ,” Cirque du Soleil’s Jackson-themed shows, and a biopic in the works that is set to star Jaafar Jackson, a son of Jackson’s brother Jermaine.The transaction is said to leave the estate a significant degree of control over the catalog. That contrasts with many other blockbuster catalog deals in recent years, like those with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. While those sales sometimes include finely negotiated parameters over how an artist’s work can be used in the future — say, in commercials or political endorsements — they generally hand over management of songs to a buyer.Representatives of Sony and the Jackson estate declined to comment on the deal, which was first reported by Billboard. When asked about the news of the deal, John Branca, who was Jackson’s entertainment lawyer in life and has been the co-executor of Jackson’s estate, said: “As we have always maintained, we would never give up management or control of Michael Jackson’s assets.”Primary Wave, a music company that owns a minority stake in Jackson’s music publishing interests, was not a party to the transaction; a representative of Primary Wave declined to comment.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Henry Fambrough, Last of the Original Spinners, Dies at 85

    He was a mainstay of the group that was known for hits like “Could It Be I’m Falling Love,” from its inception in 1954 until his retirement last year.Henry Fambrough, the last surviving original member of the hit-making R&B vocal group the Spinners, died on Wednesday at his home in Herndon, Va. He was 85.His death was announced by a spokeswoman for the group, Tanisha Jackson. She did not specify a cause.Mr. Fambrough died less than a year after he announced his retirement, and just a few months after the Spinners’ classic 1970s lineup of Mr. Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobbie Smith, Philippé Wynne and John Edwards was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.That same year, the group donated 375 of its performance outfits to the Motown Museum in Detroit. Touring Motown’s Studio A that day, Mr. Fambrough told reporters that he “used to dream about this place” before the Spinners began recording there in the 1960s — and that he sometimes had to convince his wife that he was going to the studio when he left the house in the middle of the night.The Spinners in an undated photo, from left: Bobby Smith, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Mr. Fambrough and Philippé Wynne.Echoes/Redferns via Getty ImagesOriginally known as the Domingoes, the Spinners were formed in 1954 in Ferndale, Mich., a northern suburb of Detroit. The group joined the Motown roster a decade later but had only one big hit for the label, “It’s a Shame,” which was co-written and produced by Stevie Wonder and peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970.They hit their artistic and commercial stride after they signed with Atlantic Records in 1972 and began working with the producer Thom Bell. The ensuing string of hits began with the Top 10 singles “I’ll Be Around” and “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love” and included “Then Came You,” a collaboration with Dionne Warwick that reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1974. Their last hit was a medley of “Cupid” and “I’ve Loved You for a Long Time” in 1980.The Spinners were nominated for six Grammy Awards, though they never won. They were inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2015.Mr. Smith and Mr. Wynne handled most of the group’s lead vocals, but Mr. Fambrough took or shared the spotlight on a few songs, notably “Ghetto Child,” a No. 4 R&B hit in 1973.Henry Lee Fambrough was born in Detroit on May 10, 1938. His survivors include his wife of 52 years, Norma Fambrough; a daughter, Heather Williams; and a sister, Martha.Like many other groups of their era who no longer have any original members, the Spinners have continued touring. After Mr. Fambrough announced his retirement in April 2023, he said in a statement: “The Spinners are still here and still singing for our people who want to hear us. And that’s not going to change. We’ll still be there for them.”The New York Times contributed reporting. More

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    Seiji Ozawa: 8 Essential Recordings

    Ozawa, who died this week at 88 years old, left behind a catalog made with orchestras in Boston, Chicago and elsewhere. Listen to highlights.Seiji Ozawa, the eminent Japanese conductor whose death, at 88, was announced on Friday, was a force at the podium. He toured the world’s leading concert halls and helped break barriers for Asian classical musicians.He also left behind an extensive and varied discography: recordings of warhorses like Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he led for 29 years, as well as of more obscure pieces, such as Henri Dutilleux’s “The Shadows of Time.” While his live performances sometimes drew mixed reactions from critics, many of his recordings — from Boston, Berlin, Japan and elsewhere — are considered standards.“Even at my age, you change,” Ozawa, then in his 70s, told the author Haruki Murakami. “And practical experience keeps you changing. This may be one of the distinguishing features of the conductor’s profession: The work itself changes you.”Here are eight albums that offer an introduction to his music.Berlioz: ‘Symphonie Fantastique’Ozawa often spoke about feeling liberation in the music of Berlioz. “His music is crazy!” he once said. “Sometimes I don’t know what’s going on, either. Which may be why his music is suited to being performed by an Asian conductor. I can do what I want with it.” That freewheeling approach can be heard in this recording of “Symphonie Fantastique” with the Saito Kinen Orchestra, which he helped found in Japan in 1984.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Harmony Korine’s ‘Aggro Dr1ft’ Makes Los Angeles Debut

    Critics panned “Aggro Dr1ft,” but the film found its intended audience in a surreal experience at a Los Angeles strip club.At the Los Angeles premiere of the filmmaker Harmony Korine’s “Aggro Dr1ft,” which was held on Wednesday night at Hollywood’s Crazy Girls strip club, scantily clad dancers shimmied on three small stages.Mr. Korine, a 51-year-old experimental artist known for directing 2012’s “Spring Breakers,” has been seeking to understand and capitalize on youth culture since he wrote the 1995 cult classic “Kids” when he was only 19. That’s why the enigmatic filmmaker, actor, photographer, painter, D.J. and author is aiming to disrupt the traditional cinematic release format by offering immersive experiences for a group of film, fashion, skate and fine art ventures, which he launched with “Aggro Dr1ft.”At the film’s first public screening, which drew about 400 people, a smoke machine blew softly overhead, creating fog reminiscent of the pouring rain outside. A merchandise station for EDGLRD, Korine’s multimedia design collective — and his D.J. moniker — was set up in the back corner offering branded T-shirts, hoodies, skateboards and more. The screening was followed directly by D.J. sets from the music producer AraabMuzik and from Mr. Korine himself.The film, shot with an infrared lens, was screened inside Hollywood’s Crazy Girls strip club.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York TimesA merchandise station featured “Aggro Dr1ft” skateboards and clothing.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York TimesShowing a movie at a strip club is an unusual choice, which is typical of EDGLRD’s rollout strategy, according to the company’s head of film strategy and development, Eric Kohn.“What we’re leaning into with this company is a more expansive approach to creativity,” Mr. Kohn said. “We’re trying to engineer a new way to get this kind of work out in the world that isn’t beholden to the limited economics of the film market. You’ve never seen a movie in a strip club before but you’ve also never seen a movie like this before.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Listening to boygenius, Together and Apart

    Hear nine standout songs by members of the Grammy-winning trio: Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus.The trio boygenius, from left: Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers.Chris Pizzello/Invision, via Associated PressDear listeners,It’s been a big week for boygenius, the singer-songwriter supergroup of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. On Sunday, the band won its first three Grammys: best rock song and best rock performance for the single “Not Strong Enough,” and best alternative album for its full-length debut, “The Record.” But last Friday, during a Los Angeles concert, boygenius also announced that the group was going on hiatus. “This is our last show,” Dacus told the crowd, “and we’re feeling it.”Is it weird to say I wasn’t mad about this news? No disrespect to boygenius, but I’m also a fan of the solo music made by all three artists, and I’d been wondering when, say, we’d be getting a follow-up to Bridgers’s 2020 breakout album, “Punisher,” which is nearing its fourth birthday. “The Record” itself had been an unexpected bonus, since boygenius initially seemed like a one-off project that wouldn’t last longer than a six-song EP and a subsequent tour. But the runaway success of “The Record” also means that some people are more familiar with boygenius than with the three accomplished solo artists who make up the group.Today’s Amplifier hopes to change that. It’s a celebration of both the individual work of Baker, Bridgers and Dacus (which sounds like a law firm that I would definitely hire) and also the magic that happens when they put their Captain Planet powers together and become boygenius.Although all three artists share a subgenre (lyrically vivid, passionately sung indie-rock), each also has a distinct personality and sonic sensibility that comes through in their solo music. Bridgers has a darkly comic perspective and a dreamy, mirror-fogging delivery most effectively employed on tracks like boygenius’s bittersweet “Me & My Dog” or on “Garden Song,” a droll reverie from “Punisher.” Dacus has a honeyed deadpan and has a short-story writer’s eye for humanizing detail, as heard on “Night Shift,” her 2018 chronicle of a breakup. And Baker is an artist who’s not afraid to plumb her darkest depths (as she does on the arresting “Appointments”) or belt to the rafters (see her anthemic 2021 song “Ringside”).I hope the members of boygenius once again join forces someday in the not too distant future — and I’m confident that they will. But I’m also excited for people to get more acquainted with their solo work, and hopefully get more of it soon.Somebody roll the windows down,LindsayWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New True Crime: ‘Lover, Stalker, Killer’ and ‘Mostly Harmless’

    Two new movies reflect the range of quality in the booming genre. They also raise questions about why we are drawn to such stories.Remember the old “Arrested Development” axiom that “there’s always money in the banana stand”? For streamers, that banana stand is true crime, judging from the rate at which these movies are turned out. Many of the lurid tales of kidnapping, murder and stolen identities have been covered already in podcasts, but documentaries add tantalizing visual elements — photographs of the deceased, talking-head interviews, archival footage — that apparently keep fans coming back.Of course, as entertainment goes, this is nothing new. Flicking through cable stations years ago would reveal plenty of documentaries and docudramas that retold similar tales. What’s changed is how bingeable they are — you can listen to endless podcasts and watch endless streaming shows, one after the other — and, perhaps as significantly, how the anonymity of the internet has become a key feature of both the crime and the investigation.Two of this week’s new releases fit this mold, and also indicate the quality range of these kinds of films, from passable to genuinely revelatory. (Both, incidentally, have already gotten the podcast treatment at least once.)On the lesser end is the Netflix documentary “Lover, Stalker, Killer,” directed by Sam Hobkinson, which recounts the ordeal that a man named Dave Kroupa went through when he started receiving strange, menacing messages from an ex-girlfriend he met through dating apps. The tale is mildly twisty, and Kroupa and several others participate in the documentary, which makes it watchable. But the major turn happens far from the end of the film, and it’s hard to maintain tension after that. Most of the filmmaking feels perfunctory, too. Yet, as our critic Glenn Kenny put it in his review, “By now these are accepted conventions, so there’s little point in complaining.”My expectations weren’t all that high for the Max documentary “They Called Him Mostly Harmless,” directed by Patricia E. Gillespie, about a dead hiker found in Florida’s Big Cypress Natural Preserve. He was emaciated and had no identification on him but, curiously, did have food and cash. Trying to identify his body, law enforcement found itself at a standstill, with no idea who he was.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    New Songs by Kacey Musgraves, Maggie Rogers, girl in red and More

    Hear tracks by Beth Gibbons, girl in red, Angélica Garcia and others.Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes), and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.Kacey Musgraves, ‘Deeper Well’Folky fingerpicking and new-agey thoughts about self-help make “Deeper Well” one of the gentlest but firmest rebuffs imaginable. After musing on astrology and negative energy, Kacey Musgraves notes, “I’m saying goodbye to the people I feel/are real good at wasting my time.” In the next verses, she leaves behind marijuana and rises above the limits of her upbringing. There’s no rancor, no gloating, just added shimmery reverberations as she grows up and moves on. A new album of the same name is due March 15. JON PARELESMaggie Rogers, ‘Don’t Forget Me’Maggie Rogers wants someone who will “wreck her Sundays” on “Don’t Forget Me,” the warm, yearning title track from her forthcoming third album, which she co-produced with Musgraves’s trusted collaborator Ian Fitchuk. Her friends’ relationships, she admits, don’t provide models for what she’s looking for: Sally’s getting married, Molly’s out partying every night. Rogers is after something more casual — but still lasting in its own way. “Love me til your next somebody,” she sings to whoever’s listening. “And promise me that when it’s time to leave, don’t forget me.” LINDSAY ZOLADZWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Welcome to Japan, Taylor Swift Fans. Please Remain Seated as You Cheer.

    Some Japanese spectators are grumbling that foreign concertgoers visiting Tokyo don’t share their rather restrained local approach to taking in a show.Taylor mania has landed in Tokyo. But the enthusiasm of some of the Swifties arriving with her has clashed with local sensibilities.Thousands of visitors from across Asia and beyond have flooded into Japan’s capital as Taylor Swift performs at the Tokyo Dome for four nights this week. The problem, as some domestic concertgoers see it, is that these foreign fans don’t share the rather restrained Japanese approach to taking in a show.In a post on the platform X, a Japanese holder of a V.I.P. ticket wrote that even paying 130,000 yen — about $870 — and being seated in the third row didn’t guarantee a clear view, given that so many foreign fans had stood up.“It’s too sad,” the post said. “It’s crazy that, if you follow the rules, you won’t be able to watch it.”While Japanese are praised abroad for their pristine behavior at soccer matches and other sporting events, their exacting standards at home can make them hostile to visitors. Another post on X, accompanied by a short video of audience members hoisting up their cellphones to capture the scene onstage, complained that “there were many foreigners who couldn’t respect manners.”The grumbling is in some ways a microcosm of Japan’s mixed reception to the international tourists who have helped restore the country’s economy, the world’s third largest, after the pandemic. More than 25 million people visited Japan last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization, nearly 80 percent of the number who visited in 2019.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More