BIBLE DEFECTIONS CONTINUE (UPDATE)

Billboard/Hollywood Reporter's Shirley Halperin and Jem Aswad are departing the company for rival trade Variety. Halperin will serve as Executive Editor, Music, Variety has announced, with Asward coming in as Senior Music Editor. The pair's exit further underscores the Bible's declining interest in music-industry coverage. Is Variety owner Jay Penske getting ready to buy Todd Boehly's media properties and end the misery? Stay tuned. In the meantime, look for BB to fill the gap with more stories about Twitter wars, NSFW wardrobe malfunctions and EDM-community footwear trends.

While we’re engaged in Bible studies, BB’s description of its story about Geffen Records relaunching under Neil Jacobson as “exclusive” is a bit of a stretch. On 12/2/16, we posted an item headlined ”Jacobson to Head IGA’s Geffen.”