Columbia Records Chairman Rob Stringer tells HITS Daily Double that he does not anticipate Adele to drop her new album unexpectedly.

In their second of a series of follow-up Q & A’s with heads of major record labels, Stringer puts the rumors to rest about British superstar Adele pulling a Beyoncé-style album release.

What do you anticipate as the biggest releases for the remainder of 2014?

“Obviously we’ll go back to the well with One Direction , as long as they keep making great records. “Story of My Life” is their biggest breakthrough record; we’ve proved we make them stick at radio, with more than 100m audience.
I have to be cryptic here, but we will have releases from one or two superstar artists, at least”.

Does that include Adele? And will that record be a “sneak attack”?

“There’s no release date for Adele yet. It’s going extremely well. That said, I don’t think it’s going to be a sneak attack when it comes out”.

Source: HITS Daily Double

Adele poses above with Rob Stringer while he is honored at the UJA-Federation of New York Visionary of the Year Award Luncheon in New York on June 21, 2013. During the ceremony, Adele was presented with the Diamond Award for ten million copies sold of her “21” album.

Featured Photo Larry Busacca, Getty Images

Adele, Arctic Monkeys, and Radiohead are just some of the artists that may have their videos pulled from YouTube in just a matter of days if an agreement cannot be reached.

The independent labels to which they belong have refused to agree on terms with the video-sharing site. Google, which owns YouTube, has been renegotiating contracts as it prepares to launch a music subscription service.

The dispute is said to stem from unhappiness with additional features being added to the free service, not the new Premium model, while YouTube insists the new scheme has been developed with their viewers in mind.

YouTube said it will be bringing “new revenue streams” to the music industry, and tells The Financial Times videos from independents could be blocked “in a matter of days” if the new licenses are not negotiated. A spokesman of the indie labels said YouTube was making a “grave error of commercial judgment”.

Vice President and Global Head of Business at YouTube Robert Kyncl recently claimed that they already had deals with 90% of the industry, and that they had no choice but to move forward.

Featured image from the video, Rolling In The Deep

Aretha Franklin will throw her signature voice on songs from Adele, Barbra Streisand and the late Donna Summer for her upcoming cover album.

According to Jim Farber, The Queen of Soul has teamed up with music industry veteran Clive Davis for the as-yet-untitled project, which will feature Aretha’s renditions of songs by powerful female artists.

The tracklist includes Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” Summer’s “Last Dance,” “People” by Streisand, and Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

Adele has previously paid tribute to Aretha, covering “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman”.

Franklin is currently working on the record with Babyface and Outkast star Andre 3000.

She tells the New York Daily News, “It’s wonderful, wonderful music.”

Aretha also says she’s interested in writing an updated autobiography, after penning a best-selling memoir that was published 25 years ago. She tells the newspaper that she feels it’s time “for another one,” adding, “I will talk to some of the literary agents about that.”

Source: New York Daily News

Jim Farber has been a music critic for the New York Daily News for over two decades. You can follow him on Twitter HERE for more music news!

Featured Photo Elisa Komins Morris