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‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli ordered to pay $64 million for hiking cost of lifesaving drug

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli ordered to pay million for hiking cost of lifesaving drug

(NEW YORK) — Martin Shkreli became infamous, and earned the nickname “Pharma Bro,” after he hiked the price of a potentially lifesaving antiparasitic medication in 2015. On Friday, a federal judge ruled he should pay $64 million for his actions.

The judge said Shkreli should pay the financial penalty, equivalent to the profits from his scheme, and receive a lifetime ban from participation in the pharmaceutical industry.

Shkreli earned widespread condemnation in 2015 when he raised the price of Daraprim — an anti-malaria medication often prescribed for HIV patients — by 4,000% and initiated a scheme to block the entry of generic drug competition so that he could reap the profits from Daraprim sales for as long as possible, the judge said.

Through his tight control of the distribution of Daraprim, Shkreli prevented generic drug companies from getting access to the quantity of Daraprim they needed to conduct testing demanded by the Food and Drug Administration. Through exclusive supply agreements, Shkreli also blocked access to the two most important manufacturers of the active pharmaceutical ingredient for Daraprim.

Through these strategies, the judge said, Shkreli delayed the entry of generic competition for at least 18 months. Shkreli and his companies profited over $64 million from this scheme.

“Envy, greed, lust, and hate, don’t just separate, but they obviously motivated Mr. Shkreli and his partner to illegally jack up the price of a life-saving drug as Americans’ lives hung in the balance,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office sued with several other attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission.

Shkreli is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence after being convicted of securities fraud in August 2017 related to his work at hedge funds MSMB Capital Management prior to founding Turing Pharmaceuticals. He had called the trial a “witch hunt” and blamed his increase in the cost of Daraprim for making him a target of federal investigators.

In May 2020, Shkreli petitioned for an early release from prison, saying he wanted to research a potential cure for COVID-19. The request was denied.

Blake Shelton is the sole country star to make it onto ‘Rolling Stone”s list of the top 10 highest-paid musicians

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Blake Shelton claims the number-nine spot in the top 10 list of highest-earning musicians for 2021, according to a report from Rolling Stone.

He’s the only country star to make the cut, raking in $83 million for the year. $50 million of that comes from a catalog sale that previously went unreported, plus he padded that salary with an eight-figure income from his role as a coach on NBC’s The Voice.

Blake’s new album, Body Language, further bumped up his earnings for the year. Plus, his tour brought in $14.5 million, Rolling Stone reports, despite the challenges of selling tickets amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Though Blake’s the only true country figure to make the list, Taylor Swift came in just behind him in earnings with $80 million, in part due to her Taylor’s Version releases of country albums like Red and Fearless.

Both Blake and Taylor came in at the tail end of the list of highest-earning stars, with comparatively modest salaries compared to artists like Ryan Tedder, who brought in $200 million, and Kanye West, who earned $250 million.

The highest-paid musician of all in 2021? That would be Bruce Springsteen, who earned a whopping $590 million in 2021 after selling his publishing copyrights and master recordings to Sony at the end of the year. With a $550 million price tag, it was the largest sale of a solo catalog ever.

Bruce Springsteen tops list of highest-earning music artists of 2021

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Rolling Stone has unveiled its list of the 10 highest-earning music artists for 2021, and the tally is made up mostly up veteran acts who sold the rights to their music catalogs last year.

Topping the list is Bruce Springsteen, who earned a whopping $590 million last year, $550 million of which came from the sale of his publishing copyrights and master recordings to Sony, the parent company of his longtime label. The Boss’ 2021 earnings also included money he made from his Springsteen on Broadway performances, the Spotify podcast he did with Barack Obama, and the book that emerged from the podcast.

Landing at #3 on the tally was Paul Simon, who enjoyed a $260 million payday in 2021. Simon also sold his entire music catalog to Sony Music Publishing last year, including his solo compositions and those he wrote for Simon & Garfunkel.

Also in the top 10 of the list were The Red Hot Chili Peppers at #6 with $145 million in earnings, Lindsey Buckingham at #7 with $100 million and Mötley Crüe at #8 with $95 million in income. All three acts sold the rights to their music publishing and/or master recordings in 2021.

Discussing the wave of music catalog acquisitions that’s been taking place recently, Josh Gruss, CEO of Round Hill Music, notes, “These are almost like pieces of art — there’s a finite number of real, super-high-quality hit songs from the past — and there’s this sort of all-out grab to own those rights…It’s a very steady stream of revenue that’s there.”

Only three artists in the top 10 didn’t sell their music rights last year — Jay-Z, Kanye West and Taylor Swift.

Here are the 10 artists who made the most money in 2021

1. Bruce Springsteen — $590 million
2. Jay-Z — $470 million
3. Paul Simon — $260 million
4. Kanye West — $250 million
5. Ryan Tedder — $200 million
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers — $145 million
7. Lindsey Buckingham — $100 million
8. Mötley Crüe — $95 million
9. Blake Shelton — $83 million
10. Taylor Swift — $80 million

Michael Bublé to release new single “I’ll Never Not Love You” later this month

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Michael Bublé is starting off the year with brand new music and, on Friday, revealed when you’ll be able to hear his next single.

Taking to Instagram, the “Haven’t Met You Yet” singer shared a brief video of him hyping up the song, revealing its title to be “I’ll Never Not Love You,” and discussing the inspiration behind it. Michael admits the track’s name may fudge the rules of grammar slightly because it “is a double negative,” but says he chose it because “I think it makes you feel positive.”

“The waiting is the hardest part! I’m so excited to share this song with all of you. I’m so proud of it and I hope that you will love it as much as I do,” the Canadian singer added in the caption. “The wait is over, January 28th!”

The song was originally set for release today, January 14, but it appears it required a few more tweaks before earning Michael’s full seal of approval.

Michael further excited his fans by raving about how his friends and family adore the song — a claim that was bolstered by pal Josh Groban, who praised in the comments, “I’m never NOT (did I do it right?) gonna be listening to this on repeat!”

The uplifting love song, which arrives just in time for Valentine’s Day, is available to pre-save now.

Michael’s new album is due in 2022 and, as he hinted with his upcoming song, he feels his next album may be the best one yet. The Grammy winner will support the studio effort when taking over Las Vegas for a brief residency that runs from April 27 to May 7 at Resorts World.

The Betty White Challenge has raised more than $550K

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The Betty White Challenge has raised more than 0K

The Betty White Challenge, created in memory of the late TV icon who passed away on December 31 at the age of 99, has been a smashing success, to say the least.

The challenge, an online event set for January 17 — on what would’ve been the star’s 100th birthday — encourages people to donate $5 to animal rescue organizations in her name.

Since its announcement last week, organizers report that 17,000 fundraisers have been created on Facebook and Instagram and more than $550K has already been raised — 100% of the money going directly to the challenge.

Uber has even joined the Betty White Challenge with a donation of $50,000 to the ASPCA to donate to local shelters.

You can participate nationally in the challenge by donating to Best Friends Animal Society, a national animal welfare organization dedicated to ending the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters. You can donate on Facebook or Instagram.

You can also click the menu bar on the Facebook mobile app or scroll the menu on the left on facebook.com to find the ‘Fundraisers’ icon, or click here to go straight to an explore page and search for “#BettyWhiteChallenge” fundraisers.

There are several local charities and shelters with active fundraisers that you can support, including SPCA of Wake County in Garner, North Carolina or Kitsap Humane Society in Silverdale, Washington.

Has Madonna found the star of her upcoming biopic?

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Ever since Madonna announced that she was making a movie of her life, there’s been speculation as to who would play her. Now she may be hinting that she’s found her star.

The Queen of Pop posted a photo of herself and model/actress Julia Fox embracing on a couch and captioned it, “Went to dinner with Julia to talk about my movie and some other folks showed up.”

Among the “other folks” in the slideshow: Fox’s boyfriend Kanye West, boxer Floyd Mayweather and football player Antonio Brown. According to the New York Post, the celebs were all together Wednesday night at L.A. hotspot Delilah’s.

Later that evening — actually, early the next morning, around 3 a.m. — West allegedly punched a man who asked for his autograph outside the members-only club Soho Warehouse; he’s now being investigated for misdemeanor battery.

Fox is best known for her appearance in the 2019 movie Uncut Gems.

Madonna is producing, co-writing and directing the biopic, which has been in the works for quite a while now. She wrote in October that the script was “almost finished.”

The Lumineers premiere video for ‘Brightside’ track “Where We Are”

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The Lumineers have premiered the video for “Where We Are,” a track off the band’s just-released new album, Brightside.

The clip, which is streaming now via Facebook, dramatizes the story of “Where We Are,” in which frontman Wesley Schultz details a frightening car accident.

Brightside, the fourth Lumineers album, is out today. Its title track, which was released as the record’s lead single, has led Billboard‘s Alternative Airplay chart for the last four weeks.

The Lumineers launch a European tour in support of Brightside in February. They’ll return to the U.S. in March to play Florida’s Innings Festival.

Elton John, Ringo Starr, Stevie Wonder featured on Eddie Vedder’s new solo album, ‘Earthling’

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has revealed new details about his forthcoming solo album, Earthling, including the fact that some very famous musicians have lent their talents to the project, including Elton John, Ringo Starr and Stevie Wonder.

Elton appears on a song titled “Picture,” while it wasn’t announced which tracks feature Ringo and Stevie.

Also contributing to the album are three members of Vedder’s Earthlings solo band: Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, ex-RHCP guitarist and current Pearl Jam touring member Josh Klinghoffer, and guitarist and producer Andrew Watt.

Interestingly, Vedder contributed to a song called “E-Ticket” from Elton’s latest album, 2021’s The Lockdown Sessions, while Elton, Smith and Watt, along with Miley Cyrus, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, all collaborated on a version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” that also appears on The Lockdown Sessions as well as on last year’s The Metallica Blacklist tribute record.

Meanwhile, Vedder has shared a new song from Earthling called “Brother the Cloud.” The track, which you can download and stream now via digital outlets, is the third advance cut to be released from the record, following “Long Way” and “The Haves.” Smith, Klinghoffer and Watt all play on the track.

Earthling, Eddie’s first solo effort in 11 years, is due out on February 11. Vedder and the Earthlings will launch a tour in support of the record February 3 in New York City.

(Video contains uncensored profanity.)

“These moments are precious…” On stage, Dave Chappelle regrets not texting back his “comrade” Bob Saget

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NOTE LANGUAGE) On stage on Thursday night, Dave Chappelle mourned the loss of his friend and fellow stand-up Bob Saget, who was found dead in his Orlando hotel room on Sunday.

His comments during a performance, which TMZ said was at West Hollywood’s Peppermint Club, were posted by the gossip site.

“I didn’t see Bob coming,” admitted Chappelle of the death of the 65-year-old. Chappelle noted because he got started so young in comedy, he’s unfortunately seen many former colleagues pass.

Dave mentioned Thursday night that he was “going to lay my comrade to rest tomorrow,” adding he regretted not returning a text Saget sent him before he passed.

“I was busy, it happens,” Dave said, but used it to “remind” his audience that none of us know what’s going to happen. “These moments are precious,” Dave said, to applause. “When I’m going out at night, I’m making memories. S***, I’m making history,” he said.

“Run This Town”: Jay-Z second highest paid musician in 2021; Kanye West was number four

January 14, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Jay-Z and Kanye West hit double platinum in 2009 with “Run This Town” featuring Rihanna, and since then, they have been running the music industry. They are consistently in the top ten of the highest paid musicians of the year, and in 2021 they were in the top five

Hova earned $470 million in 2021, second only to Bruce Springsteen who earned $590 million according to Rolling Stone. For hip hop’s first billionaire, it was the highest annual earnings total of his career. Last year, he sold half of his Armand de Brignac champagne for $300 million, and 80 percent of his Tidal streaming service for $302 million.

His many partnerships include deals with the NFL, Puma and Tiffany & Co. Plus, he owns Roc Nation, with an artist roster including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, DJ Khaled, Megan Thee Stallion, Meek Mill, and many more.

His longtime collaborator Kanye legally changed his name to Ye, and his Donda album was one of the biggest releases of 2021, earning a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. His Yeezy footwear accounted for the vast majority of his income in the past year, and his net worth could increase with his new apparel deal with Gap.

Here are the 10 artists who made the most money in 2021:

1. Bruce Springsteen – $590 million
2. Jay-Z – $470 million
3. Paul Simon – $260 million
4. Kanye West – $250 million
5. Ryan Tedder – $200 million
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – $145 million
7. Lindsey Buckingham – $100 million
8. Mötley Crüe – $95 million
9. Blake Shelton – $83 million
10. Taylor Swift – $80 million

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