The Weeknd and Ariana Grande are caught in the middle due to a letter from Canadian broadcaster Rob Farina where he accuses Republic Records of favoritism in regards to their artists. Farina is the head of Rogers Media and he is requesting that the other broadcasters boycott all Republic Records artists, including Nicki Minaj, Florence and the Machine, Jessie J, as well as The Weeknd and Grande.
In the letter, Farina claimed that their competition, Bell Media, received more opportunities for exclusive content. He further asserted that the company bypassed promotional rules through Universal Music Canada for a performance headlined by Grande and The Weeknd.
The letter also demanded that Republic artists be extricated from various radio playlists by Monday at 5 p.m. It also blasted the chairman and CEO, Monte Lipman, in addition to executive vice president, Charlie Walk. Unfortunately for Farina, the letter didn't go very far and was essentially shut down this past Saturday (Nov. 7).
"It never went there," Farina told Billboard, "The issue was resolved swiftly. We have no further comment."
The VP of programming for Bell Media, David Corey, vehemently denied all of the claims made against his company in another email to the outlet.
"Everything that Rob said in his email is completely incorrect and not the way that things have gone down," Corey said, "I'm the one that booked The Weekend show for Virgin Radio, way before Randy Lennox came over from Universal. I booked that through Abel and through Sal because I have relationships with them," he explained to Billboard.
In the days since, the companies have apologized to one another although Farina was dead on in terms of pointing out the prior relationships between Corey and those involved, which may have led to some of the assumed favoritism that runs rampant in the music industry.
The full letter can be read here.
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