Back in February West tweeted, "My album will never never never be on Apple. And it will never be for sale� You can only get it on Tidal." This caused his fans to flock to Tidal and their subscribers reportedly doubled.
By March 31st, Tidal's exclusive hold on Kanye's "The Life of Pablo" was over and the project was made available on Apple and Spotify. AP reports Justin Baker-Rhett is suing the musician and Tidal claiming Tidal bamboozled people into signing up for the service by falsely promising the album's exclusivity.
Baker-Rhett's attorney issued a statement, "We fully support the right of artists to express themselves freely and creatively, however creative freedom is not a license to mislead the public.
"We believe that we will be able to prove to a jury that Mr. West and Tidal tricked millions of people into subscribing to their services and that they will ultimately be held accountable for what they did." Read more here.
A jury has convicted Rashid Derissant and Alex Crandon for the February 2013 murder of a 19-year-old rival gang member in Brooklyn. The two defendants were found guilty on charges of Conspiracy in the Second and Fourth Degrees, Murder in the Second Degree, multiple counts of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Assault in the First and Second Degrees, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree, and Criminal Use of a Firearm in the First Degree, per the press release.
"As indicated by their verdict, the jurors in this trial heard evidence describing a cold blooded murder, wild gunplay and a terrifying disregard for the safety of innocent bystanders as the defendants tried to violently settle scores with rivals in New York City and beyond," said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan in a prepared statement. Read more here.
Shelton will be kicking off the tour with a two-night-stand on September 9th and 10th at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, and ending the run with another two shows at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on October 7th and 8th.
The tour will also include stops in Peoria (Peoria Civic Center Arena on Sept 15), St. Paul (Xcel Energy Center on Sept 16 and 17), Wichita (INTRUST Bank Arena on Sept 22), Sioux Falls (Denny Sanford Premier Center on Sept 23), Albany (Times Union Center on Sept 29), Hartford (XL Center on Sept 30), Boston (TD Garden on Oct 1), and Manchester, NH (Verizon Wireless Arena on Oct 6).
Shelton will be launching the tour in support of his forthcoming album "If I'm Honest," which is scheduled to be released on May 20th. He previously said the following about touring to promote the effort, "Man, I'm just so excited about 2016. We've got a new album coming and I can't wait to get back out on the road and play some new music for my fans.
"As an artist, my favorite thing to do is go on the road and play shows. I've missed it, and it's gonna be like old times. So y'all get ready to party, 'cause Blake Shelton is comin to see ya'!" See the list of tour dates here.
The group will be kicking off the spring/summer tour on at the Bayou Country Superfest on May 27th in Baton Rouge, La and wrapping up the tour on August 26th in Hinckley, Minn. at the Grand Casino Hinckley.
As previously report, the group will also be performing the national anthem at this year's Kentucky Derby, which will be taking place on May 7th at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Charles Kelly explained the group's hiatus and their plans for the future in an interview with The Boot back in February, "We've got a lot of people on salary and stuff, so we're like, 'Alright. This is a business.
"We'll probably gear up and at least start cutting some stuff in the fall, as a band, but we're just giving ourselves the luxury of time. We're not going anywhere. We stay in touch as much as we always have, and we try to write when we can." See all of their upcoming dates here.
Grande's new album, "Dangerous Woman", is set to be released on May 20th and the pop star took to social media this weekend to let fans know the tracklisting and guest list.
In addition to the Lil Waybe collaboration that she debuted on Monday (stream it here.), the album will also feature appearances from Nicki Minaj on a song called "Side to Side", Macy Gray on the track "Leave Me Loney," as well as Future on a song entitled "Everyday". See the full tracklisting here.
"Occasionally, I make a beat that demands a specific vocal treatment and attitude," DJ Shadow said of the new song. "In the case of 'Nobody Speak,' I wasn't going to settle for anyone other than Run The Jewels; in my mind, it was them or no one. Fortunately, they agreed, and they took the track to a place I could never get to on my own. That's the definition of a rewarding collaboration."
"Shadow is a legend and a friend," said Run the Jewels' El-P of Shadow. "When he makes music he often changes music forever. When he asked us to jump on the record we didn't blink." Read more and stream the song here.
Swift didn't disappoint, though. Even though she wasn't performing, she was still in attendance, and she shared just how excited Rihanna's performance made her on Instagram.
"I'll NEVER forget this moment," Swift wrote in the post. Her video stays on the stage for a moment to capture Rihanna when she begins singing the chorus. Soon after, Swift pans her phone around to the crowd to show off her Coachella Squad, which included Lorde. Check out the video here.
Stefani will be kicking off the tour on July 12th in Mansfield, MA at Xfinity Center and will wrap up the summer leg of the trek on August 25th in Vancouver, BC at Rogers Arena.
The This Is What the Truth Feels Like Tour will feature support from Eve and in addition to the summer dates, Stefani also announced two fall in California: October 8th in Mountain View and October 15th in Los Angeles.
The No Doubt frontwoman's latest solo debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart upon its released back on March 18th, fueled by the hit single "Used to Love You." see the tour dates here.
Bay will be kicking off his fall tour on September 14th in Montreal, Canada at Cepsum and has announced dates that run through October 8th where he will be performing at the Arvest Bank Theatre in Kansas City, MO.
The initial dates for the tour also includes stops in Orlando, Miami, Nashville, Charlotte, Richmond, Pittsburgh, New York City, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis.
He is currently on the spring leg of his North American tour with shows scheduled this month on the west coast, including the Coachella festival, and wrapping up on April 29th in Portland, Or at the Roseland Theater.
Bay is set to perform his hit single "Let It Go" on Jimmy Kimmel Live's outdoor stage next Tuesday, April 26th. The show will air at 11:35/10:35c on ABC. See all of his upcoming tour dates here.
The Hal David Starlight Award was created in 2004 and named in honor of the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Chairman Emeritus Hal David, for his longtime support of young songwriters, according to the organization.
"Nick Jonas is one of the brightest and most versatile young talents on the American Pop scene," said SHOF Co-Chairs Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff. "A veteran of recording, television, movies and Broadway success at the age of 23, he has been making his cultural mark in a variety of ways for more than a decade.
"Nick has literally grown up in public and that growth is reflected in his songwriting and singing. He is a wonderful choice for the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Hal David Starlight Award."
This year's event will see the induction of Elvis Costello, Marvin Gaye, Tom Petty, Nile Rodgers & Bernard Edwards and Chip Taylor into the hall of fame. Additionally, Seymour Stein will receive the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award and Lionel Richie will receive the Johnny Mercer Award.
The nearly 3-minute trailer features appearances from Jamie Foxx, Usher, DJ Khaled, Jennifer Lopez and Rita Ora, who all speak in the opening seconds about Brown's talent. Their praise becomes a set-up for his inevitable fall from grace. "He grew up so fast he didn't really get to have a childhood or a teenage life, you know, of a normal person," his mother says.
As the subject matter transitions from Brown's rise to fame to his relationship with Rihanna, things take on an ominous note. "It was like a fairytale," Brown says, describing their initial attraction. But things changed dramatically after he was arrested for beating her and became, in his own words, "public enemy number one."
The film follows his career comeback after that incident, proving he hasn't faded yet. "If there was ever a doubt in your mind Chris Brown was done, finished, don't bet on it," he says at the trailer's end. Watch the trailer here.
In the clip posted Saturday (April 16), the "Fire We Make" creator said, "I've been dying to share some news with you for awhile. 'You've been asking and asking and it's finally real. That's right. I have new music to share with you and I'm gonna be performing in the next couple of weeks."
Alicia will hit the SNL stage on May 7th to showcase her new material. She's been working on it with producer Pharrell Williams and her husband Swizz Beatz. Besides putting out new music, Keys is also preparing to take her seat as a coach on the 11th season of The Voice. Check out her Snapchat video here.
"I think you should bring your colorful self and colorful personality to everything you do," she says in a video. 'Keep it colorful is keeping it full of life, keeping it fun, keep it full of character, full of personality. I wanted to bring something new and different and bright to a brand I really admire."
She adds: "The song is the same way. They matched and they just made this beautiful marriage. 'Gimme Love' is fun. It's energy. It was infectious, and everybody started dancing and having a good time around the studio. It painted the perfect picture." Check it out here.
The singer performed publicly for the first time since that ruling, appearing during Zedd's headlining set on April 16th, and proving that Radio.com got one right when it predicted Coachella guest appearances.
Kesha sang "True Colors" from Zedd's 2015 sophomore studio album by the same name. She didn't say anything to fans during her appearance, but the lyrics became immensely meaningful considering her legal battles of late. "I won't apologize for the fire in my eyes," she sang. "Let me show you my true colors."
On Instagram, Kesha shared a fish-eye view of her time onstage, and thanked Zedd for letting her participate. "thank u @zedd for letting me share the stage with u at @coachella last night!!! dreams come true was SO so so nervous haha. magical times," she wrote. Read more here.
Hudson recently set the record straight while sitting down with "Extra's" Charissa Thompson to talk about her new movie, "Mother's Day." Last week, Kate's dinner Snapchat with the Houston Texan went viral after the two played around with different filters and J.J. was even heard saying, "Apparently, the stars belong to the hottest one on the date."
Charissa brought up the dating rumors to Kate, and she instantly smiled, "Yeah the J.J. thing." Of the outing, Kate explained, "We were just at dinner with just a bunch of people." She coyly added, "We have the same agent. He's a nice dude, he's a nice guy� he's enormous, he's huge." Read more here.
I was asked to submit an original song for some National Geographic show about survival in the wilderness. I have never succeeded at these writing on demand assignments, song writing is so personal to me, and probably the only uncorrupted part of my life, I almost feel if I corrupt that, then I will have nothing. For instance a few years back I was asked to submit a song for Targets Christmas campaign. I decided to give it a go, frankly because I am poor and could do with the money. I submitted it, they wrote back "hey we love love love the song, and are very excited about it. Only thing is, because its a Christmas song, could you possibly remove that line about the man with the gun to his head? "
Obviously I was not cut out for this kind of thing. Any way, in the same spirit of poverty I decide to give this National Geographic thing a try. I wrote a 30 second melody and lyric " Here in the wild, under blue skies, time doesn't try to pass me by, here in the wild" Not exactly Shakespeare I know, but I sent it to them and never heard anything back.
Somehow the lyric and melody haunted me for the next couple of weeks. What did it mean? On the surface it seemed almost throw away. I decided that the simple lyric represented peace somehow, peace of mind, peace of place, peace finally. So I wrote three verses, each verse about a character that for different reasons was looking for peace.
Lucy in the first verse, I saw as an old world New York aesthete who truly believes she experienced a better time than this one, so I wrote " Lucy was sad, sad to the core, she said let's jump out that window sweetheart on the count of four, don't you find it all such a bore? people like us don't exist anymore, we're invisible now , sweetheart we're free"
Tommy from the second verse I saw as a working man, but a working man who hated been defined as that, people denied him his complexity, he resented the way people saw him as a good simple man, so he left to find peace. So I wrote
" Tommy was a good man, he did his work well, people said there's not a thing in this world ever made that Tommy couldn't fix or sell, but then he lost the joy, couldn't find the will, the doctor said he's probably been that way since he was a boy, and he's that way still "
Molly from the 3rd verse I saw as someone twisted up in paranoia, someone who got comfort from elaborate lies, but she knows she is troubled and really just wants peace of mind. So I wrote " Molly swears she was there, the night they shot Bob Dylan, she says his last words to here were, go do your own killing, cause sometimes your demons they come in disguise, talk to you in your own voice, and laugh as you choose, because you think you had some kind of choice. "
I feel strange explaining the lyrics, I have never done it before, somehow I feel it denies the listener their chance of their own experience with the words. Often people come up with far far more interesting interpretations of the words than the writer.
I finished the song with the line " take your brother, take your sister, walk them across their troubled hearts "
I imagine I judge a lot of people ignorantly, I decide they are this way or that, I deny them their complexities. Some people just want to be walked towards peace, maybe ?
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself and learn more about the group right here!
Share this article
Click here to read today's full Day in Rock report
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Days 4 & 5: Starship Lands on the Pearl, Alan Parsons Takes It Home
Kandace Springs - Run Your Race
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Day 1: Marbin Gets the Fun Started
Hot In The City: Prog Band Tu-Ner Coming to Phoenix
blink-182 Launching North American Stadium And Arena Tour
Watch David Gilmour's 'The Piper's Call' Video
Check Out Powerman 5000 'Dancing Like We're Dead'
The String Cheese Incident Take Fans On Epic 'Roll Around The Sun'
Watch Motley Crue's 'Dogs Of War' Video
Richie Sambora Returns With 'I Pray', The First Of Four New Songs
The Smashing Pumpkins Reveal New Guitarist
Linkin Park Top Hard Rock And Vinyl Albums Charts With Papercuts