TEHRAN (CelebrityAccess) — An Iranian rapper who made a name for himself with his lyrics criticizing the Islamic Republic following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, has reportedly been sentenced to death, his lawyer told the Associated Press. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency and its judiciary have not formally confirmed the death sentence against Toomaj Salehi, but the story was first reported by Iran’s pro-reform Shargh newspaper, which said that the death sentence was imposed by a Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, a city in Central Iran that was recently targeted by an Israeli attack. Salehi ..read more

NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess) — Grammy-nominated country artist Mickey Guyton shared the details of her forthcoming North American tour in conjunction with Live Nation and CMT. “CMT On Tour Presents Mickey Guyton” kicks off on September 18th at Atlanta’s Buckhead Theatre and is followed by 21 additional shows across North Americam, including New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. before wrapping at Manchester Music Hall in Lexington, KY, on November 9th. Guyton, who is fresh from nominaations for the 2024 CMT Music Awards, will be touring behind her latest single, “Scary Love,” which is alre ..read more

CHICAGO (CelebrityAccess) — DICE, the independent ticketing platform, announced an exclusive partnership with Chicago’s independent Summer Smash Festival. The deal marks DICE’s expansion into the Chicago ticketing sector, expanding on the company’s U.S. footprint that already includes partnerships in New York City, Miami, and Toronto. The festival, which takes place from June 14-16, features a hip-hop-heavy lineup that includes headliners Travis Scott, Playboy Carti, and Chief Keef. “As Summer Smash continues to grow larger each year, we are excited to partner with DICE to make the ticket-buyi ..read more

CHICAGO (CelebrityAccess) — DICE, the independent ticketing platform, announced an exclusive partnership with Chicago’s independent Summer Smash Festival. The deal marks DICE’s expansion into the Chicago ticketing sector, expanding on the company’s U.S. footprint that already includes partnerships in New York City, Miami, and Toronto. The festival, which takes place from June 14-16, features a hip-hop-heavy lineup that includes headliners Travis Scott, Playboy Carti, and Chief Keef. “As Summer Smash continues to grow larger each year, we are excited to partner with DICE to make the ticket-buyi ..read more

BIRMINGHAM, UK (CelebrityAccess) — British venue operator NEC Group announced a new partnership with AXS that will bring mobile ticketing to Resorts World Arena and Utilita Arena Birmingham. Under the terms of the agreement, fans at the two venues will have access to AXS’ patented identity-based ticketing solution, AXS Mobile ID, with peer-to-peer transfer capability and integrated resale through AXS Official Resale offering. Additionally, the deal will see AXS assume the management of ticketing operations previously handled by the NEC Group’s internal ticketing arm, The Ticket Factory. All cu ..read more

LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — Music publisher Warner Chappell Music (WCM), announced the launch of a new partnership with Reverbnation’s artists services Platform BandLab to bring publishing services to the platform’s creators. As part of the agreement, WCM will take on the administration of music rights for all BandLab creators who sign up for the program. Additionally, WCM and ReverbNation will collaborate to identify and sign up-and-coming singer-songwriters through the platform, providing them with access to WCM’s services, including A&R, Sync, and Creative. “Songwriters and artists ..read more

MANCHESTER, UK (CelebrityAccess) — The general manager of Manchester’s has reportedly resigned from his post after the recently completed venue was forced to delay its opening for a second time. Earlier this week, Co-Op Live announced that its grand opening concerts, two performances by British comedian Peter Kay had been postponed by several weeks and on Friday, they announced that the shows were now postponed again and that the postponement had expanded to include an upcoming performance from The Black Keys. An important update from Co-op Live pic.twitter.com/Yr9FQZajSf — Co-op Live (@TheCo ..read more

(Hypebot) — TikTok owner ByteDance will shut down the app rather than sell it if legal options fail to combat legislation to ban the app in the U.S., but the reasons behind the stance by the Chinese-owned company are more practical than political, according to a report from Reuters News Service. Despite its popularity, TikTok is not yet profitable and only represents a small fraction of ByteDance’s revenue. Also, the famous algorithm that makes TikTok so addictive powers the core of ByteDance’s overall operations, which is not technology the company will share, sources told Reuters ..read more

SACRAMENTO, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Sol Blume, one of the West Coast’s largest R&B festivals, has been postponed due to the impacts of heavy rains and flooding on Sacramento’s Discovery Park. The festival, which was set for the first week of May 2024, will now take place from August 15th – 17th, 2025, according to event organizers. “For the second year in a row, Sol Blume has faced challenges that require us to make a significant change to the festival as we know it. Mother nature has once again caused commotion and created conditions at the festival site that render it unsafe to build ..read more

SEATTLE (CelebrityAccess) — True Tickets announced a new partnership to provide digital ticketing services for Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre. The historic theater has been a part of Seattle’s cultural landscape since it first opened in 1926 and has since hosted both touring Broadway theatrical productions as well as original works. The 5th will begin a soft launch of the new mobile ticketing program for their June production of Spring Awakening, which runs June 7 – 30, 2024. A full rollout will coincide with the start of their 2024/25 season. “We are delighted to collaborate with The 5th Avenue ..read more