Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 81

Lou Reed Dies At 71; Musical Legacy Tops Commercial Success

Lou Reed: the Velvet Underground co-founder and rock pioneer is dead at age 71.

Lou Reed passed away today in Long Island, New York. Though the cause of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s death hasn’t been officially announced, reports indicate that it’s connected to a liver transplant he had earlier this year. Reed was 71.

A talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer, Reed leaves behind a musical legacy matched by few and known by many. He co-founded the avant-garde rock group Velvet U...

Michael Jackson One: The Latest Piece Of A Postmortem Empire

Zombie Jamboree: The "Thriller" scene from Michael Jackson One (photo courtesy of Cirque du Soleil).

“It’s me. It’s Michael.” Those words—spoken by the King of Pop’s disembodied voice—proclaim the beginning of One, the Las Vegas spectacle that’s the latest piece of Michael Jackson’s lucrative legacy.

Indeed, there’s plenty of Michael.As One unfurls, the hard-rocking riffs of “Beat It” blare out across the show’s permanent home at the 1,804-seat theater at Mandalay Bay as ersatz paparazzi, sport...

How The Beatles Earned $71 Million This Year, Sort Of

The Beatles once declared one the loneliest number. It’s safe to say that $71 million is much more enjoyable. That’s how much the group’s four principal members—including the late John Lennon and George Harrison—combined to earn over the past year.

That number, an estimate gleaned from conversations with industry veterans and data sources like Pollstar, includes individual earnings as well as cash from the ongoing sale of Beatles records and ventures like the Cirque du Soleil show Love!, which...

Miley Cyrus, Bangerz And The Plot To Kill Hannah Montana

see photosJason Merritt/Getty Images

Click for full photo gallery: Miley Cyrus: From Hannah Montana To 'Bangerz'

Miley Cyrus has officially twerked her way to the top of the Billboard charts. Her latest album, Bangerz, sold 270,000 copies over the past week–nearly three times as many copies as her previous album moved in its debut–giving the 20-year-old her fifth No. 1 album.

The news shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given the surge of publicity around Cyrus in the wake of her controversial...

SFX Investors: Waiting For The Drop?

SFX's IPO: sweet music to Afrojack and Robert Sillerman's ears.

Afrojack is used to manipulating technology to create loud noises in front of groups of large people. The Dutch DJ, born Nick van de Wall, earned $18 million last year–landing at No. 7 on FORBES’ Electronic Cash Kings list–mostly from fees gleaned from cranking up the bass at nightclubs around the world.

Earlier this week, however, he made a sound he’d never made before: Afrojack rang the closing bell at the Nasdaq’s Times Square m...

Did Rap Get More Materialistic? Hard To Say, Fun To Ask.

When FORBES launched its first Hip-Hop Cash Kings list back in 2007, measuring the annual earnings of rap’s richest, the genre was already in the midst of some heady times, financially speaking.

That year, five of theten top-selling songs could be classified as hip-hop, Jay-Z sold his Rocawear brand for $204 million, and Kanye edged 50 Cent in a first week album sales showdown, 957,000 copies to 691,000. Yet lyrical mentions of the word “money” have only increased since then.

Does that have any...

The Value Of Overpaying Britney Spears In Las Vegas

There are many reasons for Planet Hollywood to pay Britney $300,000 per night.

Britney Spears recently rode a helicopter into the desert and touched down in front of 1,000 fans to announce a brand-new residency at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

The extravagance of the launch, captured as part of a special for Good Morning America, was only fitting: the “Oops I Did It Again” singer will reportedly pull in over $300,000 per night for nearly 100 shows in Sin City over the next...

Michael Jackson Verdict: AEG Not Liable For King of Pop’s Death

Who's Bad? The jury has reached its decision in the Katherine Jackson v. AEG Live trial.

Michael Jackson is in the news again–this time, for the verdict in the wrongful death suit filed by his mother against concert promoter AEG Live.

Today a Los Angeles jury determined that, although AEG did indeed hire Conrad Murray, who’s now serving a four-year involuntary manslaughter sentence for administering a lethal dose of surgical anesthetic propofol to the King of Pop, the onetime doctor wasn’t “unf...

Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2013: Aftermath & Analysis

see photosEvan Agostini/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Click for full photo gallery: Cash Kings 2013: The World's 20 Highest-Paid Hip-Hop Artists

Diddy topped the 2013 edition of FORBES’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, released a week ago, for the first time in his career. Thanks mostly to the success of his Ciroc vodka deal, he earned $50 million over the past 12 months–edging No. 2 Jay Z ($43 million) and No. 3 Dr. Dre ($40 million) to claim the annual income crown.

Of course, there were plenty of other rap stars...

Stevie Wonder And Friends Rock Global Citizen Festival

Stevie Wonder at the 2013 Global Citizen Festival: "There are rock stars, and there are rock stars."

When Irish rocker Bono introduced American singer Stevie Wonder—who then introduced United Nations secretary generalBan Ki-moon—there was no doubt that the Global Citizen Festival, organized by Australian philanthropist Hugh Evans, was living up to its name.

“My friends, there are rock stars, and there are rock stars,” Wonder explained. “And I can assure you that the secretary general is a genui...