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25 Jun 2024

Life Is Beautiful 2024: New Name, New Format & New Dance-Focused Lineup With LCD Soundsystem, Justice & Peggy Gou

Life Is Beautiful is getting a makeover. The longstanding Las Vegas festival announced major changes for its 2024 event on Tuesday (June 25), with the event trimming down from a three- to two-day show and moving to a new site not far from the old one in downtown Las Vegas.

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While Life Is Beautiful previously happened across 18 city blocks in the downtown Arts District, this year’s show is happening at a smaller site on the other side of downtown’s Fremont Street Experience, a five-minute walk from The Arts District.

The lineup is also more focused this year, with the Sept. 27-28 party featuring 14 electronic acts including LCD Soundsystem, Justice, Peggy Gou, James Blake, Jungle, Jamie xx, Neil Frances, LP Giobbi, Thundercat and Badbadnotgood. Sets will not overlap, with performances starting in each evening at 5 p.m. and happening one after the other until 2 a.m. Tickets go on sale Thursday, June 27, at 10 a.m. PT.

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This year, the festival is called Life Is Beautiful Presents: A Big Beautiful Block Party. The event is now entirely owned by Rolling Stone, which first acquired a majority stake in the festival 2022. (Rolling Stone is owned by Billboard‘s parent company, Penske Media Corporation.)

Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner tells Billboard that “for a number of reasons, we had to explore new locations,” but that it was “super important” for the festival to stay in downtown Las Vegas.

While the festival team considered taking a year off from the event, they instead landed on this new format, although Wenner says “our intention is to bring back the full-scale thing” in the coming years. While this three-day, multi-genre format will likely return, “this block party concept is something we might do quite a bit of” as well.

For now, though, “it was exciting for us to put something a little more focused together that wasn’t so multi genre.” He says electronic music has always been a core element of Life Is Beautiful lineups, and that “if you look at the festival landscape, I think this is a product there should probably be more of, as opposed to these big box festivals where you’ve got huge pop acts that are all playing the festival circuit with little permutations on different [events].”

Las Vegas is of course a historically strong market for electronic music, although A Big Beautiful Block Party “is a little bit different than what you get across a lot of Vegas,” Wenner says. “It’s less EDM and more indie electronic — more instruments on stage, riskier. We feel there is room in the market for this lineup and not just pulling mega-DJs that play in clubs on the Strip together into one spot. This has a unique point of view.”

A Big Beautiful Block Party happens on the same days at San Francisco’s electronic festival Portola, which will also feature performances by Justice, LP Giobbi, Empress Of, Neil Frances and Jamie xx. Wenner says “seeing how well people responded to Portola was was a really good sign for us. it’s something they’re excited about.”

Wenner says that since he got involved in the festival, he’s been “kind of overwhelmed at how much support there is for Life Is Beautiful in Las Vegas … I’d been told that, but to meet all the players and spend time in the community and talk to the small businesses that have been in and around the festival for for 10 years now, it’s been transformative. It definitely gives us a lot of appreciation and respect for what’s been built.”

Life Is Beautiful was founded in 2013 by Tony Hsieh, the former CEO of Zappos and an entrepreneur who had the vision to transform and revitalize the downtown Las Vegas community. Hsieh died in 2020 at the age of 46. Wenner says this year’s show “honors Hsieh’s legacy and the legacy of Life Is Beautiful and the spirit of it, while also evolving.”

While the festival looks different this year, the goal of A Big Beautiful Block Party is more or less the same as it’s always been.

“Bottom line,” Wenner says, “is we want to throw a f–king party.”

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

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25 Jun 2024

Rob Stone, Co-Founder of Cornerstone Agency & Fader Magazine, Has Died

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Fader Fort 2019 - Day 3

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Rob Stone, the co-founder of the Cornerstone Agency and the Fader magazine, has died according to a social media post. The post shares that Rob Stone succumbed to cancer and kept the diagnosis private to shore up the bond with his family.

Rob Stone was born July 12, 1968, and graduated from the State University of New York at Albany in 1990. From there, Stone entered the music industry and joined SBK Records becoming the now-defunct label’s director of promotion. He then joined EMI, which reportedly owned SBK Records, and became its vice president of promotion. Stone then began working with Arista Records and Clive Davis and worked with several Bad Boy Records artists during that period.

In 1996, Stone co-founded the Cornerstone Agency with Loud Records chief Steve Rifkind, a Manhattan-based marketing firm, and was joined by his childhood friend, Jon Cohen after Rifkind stepped aside. The pair transformed the company of one of the leaders in the branding and music space. In 1999 Stone and Cohen founded the Fader, becoming one of the entertainment industry’s top magazines and digital outlets.

From Rob Stone’s Instagram page:

It is with a heavy heart and sadness we share the news of the passing of Rob Stone. Rob bravely fought cancer over the past year. He chose to keep his diagnosis private in order to focus on his family. He was a truly amazing person who lived an incredible life.

Here is another statement from Joh Cohen:

I will love you forever Rob Stone. Our partnership was incredible. The things we accomplished together we could have never dreamed of doing when we were 15. Yes we did want to kill each other at times but the love and respect we had in building our company for 28 years was special. But way bigger than our success was our friendship. There is no one I loved having at my side more than you. We experienced so much together. I will tell your story and our stories together for the rest of my life. There are so many incredible ones. Thank you for all that you taught me. Thank you for always having my back and thank you for always making me laugh. I will think of you at every Knick game, I will feel your presence every time I hear a Biggie song and laugh with you during every ridiculous NY Jet loss.

Stone was 55.

—

Photo: Getty

25 Jun 2024

Lainey Wilson Recruits Miranda Lambert for a Collab on Upcoming Album: See the Full Tracklist

Reigning CMA and ACM entertainer of the year (and recent Billboard cover star) Lainey Wilson is gearing up for the release of her upcoming album Whirlwind, out Aug. 23 on BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville–and from the looks of the tracklist revealed on Tuesday (June 25), the album will feature Wilson teaming up with fellow country artist Miranda Lambert.

The tracklist for Whirlwind features Lambert on the song “Good Horses,” which they previously performed together during Wilson’s Las Vegas concert in December.

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“Writing & recording these 14 songs over the past couple of years has helped me stay grounded in ways you’d never believe,” Wilson captioned her Instagram post. “This album brought me back to my roots and made me feel at home during times when I couldn’t have been further away and my biggest hope is that it gives you that same sense of comfort that it has for me.”

Wilson just released the full tracklist for the album, which also includes her new song “4x4xU,” a song she previously performed not only at her headlining show at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville to kick off her Country’s Cool Again Tour, but also during her recent Bluebird Cafe performance in Nashville, where Wilson joined Post Malone, Ernest and songwriter Ashley Gorley.

See the full tracklist for Wilson’s Whirlwind and her Instagram post below:

  1. “Keep Up With Jones” (Lainey Wilson, Josh Kear, Wyatt McCubbin)
  2. “Country’s Cool Again” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson, Aslan Freeman)
  3. “Good Horses” (feat. Miranda Lambert) (Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick)
  4. “Broken Hearts Still Beat” (Lainey Wilson, Dallas Wilson, Josh Thompson, Blake Pendergrass)
  5. “Whirlwind” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson)
  6. “Call a Cowboy” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson, Dallas Wilson)
  7. “Hang Tight Honey” (Lainey Wilson, Driver Williams, Jason Nix, Paul Sikes)
  8. “Bar in Baton Rouge” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson, Kasey Tyndall, Jason Nix)
  9. “Counting Chickens” (Lainey Wilson, Trannie Anderson, Josh Kear, Dallas Wilson, Jon Decious)
  10. “4x4xU” (Lainey Wilson, Jon Decious, Aaron Raitiere)
  11. “Ring Finger” (Lainey Wilson, Aaron Raitiere, Marti Dodon, Jon Decious)
  12. “Middle of It” (Lainey Wilson, Abram Dean, Lance Miller, Joe Fox)
  13. “Devil Don’t Go There” (Lainey Wilson, Abram Dean, Lance Miller, Joe Fox)
  14. “Whiskey Colored Crayon” (Lainey Wilson, Josh Kear, Wyatt McCubbin)

25 Jun 2024

Joe Budden Believes He Played Role in Drake’s ‘Takedown’: ‘I Passed the Baton’

Joe Budden is finding new ways to wedge himself into the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud. The rapper-turned-podcaster claims he played a role in the “takedown” of the 6 God dating back to his 2016 beef with Drake.

Budden hopped into a Twitter Spaces on Monday (June 24), where he took credit for starting to chip away at Drake with their feud before “passing the baton” to Pusha T and ultimately K. Dot earlier this year.

“It may sound narcissistic, but I don’t think any one man takes down Drake,” he said. “I think I passed the baton to Push, I think Push passed the baton to Kendrick, and the job is done now. That’s how I feel in my head and my heart.”

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Drake and Budden’s feud heated up in 2016 following the New Jersey native’s criticism of Drizzy’s Views album. The OVO boss took shots at Budden on “4PM in Calabasas,” and Budden fired away at Drake with a series of diss tracks including “Making a Murderer, Pt. 1,” “Wake” and “Afraid.”

Drizzy didn’t respond directly with a diss track, but replied by sniping at Budden on “No Shopping” with French Montana.

Two years later, Pusha T left a stain on Drake’s résumé in 2018 when claiming that Drizzy had a son named Adonis — well before Drizzy himself confirmed the news — on the scathing “The Story of Adidon” diss track, which Drake did not respond to.

The great rap war of 2024 was seemingly kicked off by K. Dot’s atomic verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” in March, which jabbed at both Drake and J. Cole.

Drake stepped up to deliver “Push Ups,” the AI-assisted “Taylor Made Freestyle,” “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6,” while Kendrick unleashed “Euphoria,” “6:16 in L.A,” the diabolical “Meet the Grahams” and the Mustard-produced kill shot “Not Like Us.”

The hip-hop community declared K. Dot to be the victor against Drake, and Lamar figuratively took a victory lap at his Pop Out concert on Juneteenth. He celebrated with thousands of fans inside the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., where Kendrick performed a few of those Drake diss tracks for the first time and ran back “Not Like Us” five times in total.

Find Joe Budden’s full answer below.

25 Jun 2024

Kelsea Ballerini Ends Suit Against Album Leaker After He Agrees to Permanent Court Order

Kelsea Ballerini has reached a settlement to end her lawsuit against a superfan she had accused of leaking her unreleased album, agreeing to drop the case after the alleged hacker promised to never again share the materials.

Ballerini sued Bo Ewing in April over accusations that he hacked her unfinished album and shared it with a fan club. The country star claimed Ewing — allegedly an ex-fan who had become disillusioned with her — had gained illegal “back-door access” to song still in production.

But Ewing’s lawyers quickly promised to stop sharing her songs and to name names of any people he’d already sent them to, suggesting he was unwilling to fight Ballerini’s lawsuit. And in a Monday filing signed by both sides, Ewing agreed to permanently be barred from leaking the star’s songs.

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“Defendant is enjoined from knowingly or purposefully accessing any unreleased recordings, unreleased performances, unreleased videos, or any other unreleased content created by, believed to have been created by, or otherwise associated with plaintiffs in any form,” the two sides wrote in a joint filing. “Defendant is enjoined further accessing any of the recordings that are the subject of this litigation and which defendant has affirmatively declared are no longer in his possession.”

In return for such an agreement, Ballerini asked the judge overseeing the case to dismiss her lawsuit permanently. Any other specific terms of the settlement, including potential monetary payments, were not disclosed in court filings. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Tuesday.

Ballerini filed the case in April, claiming she had been the victim of a “nefarious digital attack” carried out by  “unscrupulous individuals seeking attention.” The leak not only undercut “the most critical time” for an album’s commercial success, her attorneys said, but also deprived her of her artistic agency.

 “Ms. Ballerini and her team are the only people who can say when the recordings are complete,” her lawyers wrote at the time. “Defendant’s actions have stripped plaintiffs of that right and caused the distribution of unfinished work that may not yet be up to plaintiffs’ high professional standards.”

Almost immediately, though, Ewing agreed to play ball with Ballerini’s attorneys. In a filing just days after he was sued, he agreed to be bound by a preliminary injunction that required him divulge who he has already shared them with and how he came into possession of her music.

“Defendant shall, within thirty days of entry of this order, provide plaintiffs with the names and contact information for all people to whom defendant disseminated the recordings,” the agreement reads. “Defendant shall use his best efforts to disclose to Plaintiffs from whom and by what means he obtained the recordings.”

The names of any alleged co-leakers were not disclosed in court filings, and it’s unclear if Ballerini will take further legal action against any others who may have been involved the alleged hack.

25 Jun 2024

Taylor Swift Is Still ‘Swooning’ Over Travis Kelce’s Adorable Eras Tour Cameo

Couples who play sold-out stadiums together, stay together. At Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour concert in London Sunday (June 23), Travis Kelce surprised the crowd at Wembley Stadium by appearing on stage during his superstar girlfriend’s The Tortured Poets Department set, and in a new Instagram post, the pop star revealed that she still has heart eyes because of it. 

Sharing photos of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end joining her under the spotlight — including one of him carrying her in his arms, modeling a tuxedo and top hat — Swift wrote, “I’m still cracking up/swooning over @killatrav’s Eras Tour debut ?.” 

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The “Anti-Hero” singer also posted a video of her beau’s full appearance, in which he joins two of her dancers in playfully forcing her to perform “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” even after she’s dramatically collapsed following “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” In the clip, he picks her up, carries her over to a couch, fans her and dusts her face with a makeup brush, all while coaching her on how to sing and dance ahead of the next number. 

Though Kelce’s hilarious performance was definitely the biggest, Swift’s trio of London shows were full of surprises. At one point, opener Hayley Williams joined the 14-time Grammy winner on stage for an acoustic performance of their Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) duet “Castles Crumbling,” and Grace Abrams later came out to sing new song “Us” with her The Secret of Us collaborator. 

“Acoustic sections went OFF,” Swift continued in her post. “I got to sing ‘Castles Crumbling’ with @yelyahwilliams for the first time – hadn’t performed with her since 2011 and man my heart was just so full of love for her and our friendship. Then the impossibly gifted and wonderful @gracieabrams came and surprised the crowd with the first performance of our song ‘us.’” 

The pop star will next perform three nights in Dublin starting Friday (June 28), after which she’ll travel through Amsterdam, Milan and more European cities before closing out the leg with five more nights in London in August. In October, she’ll begin the Eras Tour‘s final leg with a string of shows in the U.S. and Canada. 

“Wembley Stadium round one was so surreal,” she added. “Looking out into crowds of 90,000 fans each night and hearing that VOLUME… Those were some of the loudest crowds I’ve ever heard … Never going to forget these shows.” 

25 Jun 2024

Tiffany Haddish Talks New Song ‘Woman Up,’ Getting a Role in ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ | Billboard News

Tiffany Haddish shares details about her new single “Woman Up” and working with Dianne Warren on her upcoming musical project. She also talks about how she was able to get a role in ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die,’ seeking advice from some of her peers including Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Queen Latifah and more!

Tiffany Haddish:

She plays this song for me, she plays a few more. And I’m like, Girl, we recording all of these. So we recorded three songs.

Rania Aniftos:

No way! 

Tiffany Haddish:

And so this is just the first of a trilogy, if you will. Hi, I’m Tiffany Haddish and this is Billboard News.

Rania Aniftos:

Congratulations on your brand-new song “Woman Up.” Working with Diane Warren, she’s one of the most prolific songwriters in general, but also has such an affinity for female artists having a song about empowerment, written by Diane Warren. How did it feel?

Tiffany Haddish:

It felt amazing. First of all, Diane Warren slid in my DMs back in 2017. I had no idea because I decided to stay out of the DM’s because it was too many D pics coming through and I was just shocked. 

Rania Aniftos:

Happens, happens to the best of us.

Tiffany Haddish:

You know, I can’t stand it and I kind of stayed out of the DM’s and then I ran into her at a party. And she’s like, ‘I was in your DM’s you never responded.’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t know you were in my DM’s! Oh my gosh, we need to work together.’ She’s like, ‘I want to work with you. I love your voice.’ I’m like, ‘You heard my voice? You know my voice?’ And so we’re going back and forth talking. I’m telling my team like, ‘Set me up with Diane Warren.’

Keep watching to learn more!

25 Jun 2024

Post Malone Is Leveling Up Gaming Accessories With a Limited-Edition Backbone Controller

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Post Malone has more in store for fans even after announcing his F1-Trillion tour. As an avid gamer, he’s partnered with gaming brand Backbone to release his own limited-edition Backbone One x Post Malone controller, which dropped Tuesday (June 25).

The star has been keeping himself busy this year, as he was featured on two major album releases including Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, in addition to dropping a No. 1 hit himself with country superstar Morgan Wallen, titled “I Had Some Help.” With his busy schedule making taking his gaming accessories on the go difficult, he decided to team up with the brand Backbone to give him a hand.

The Backbone One gaming controller x Post Malone doesn’t just bring mobile gaming to Posty, but to his fans and fellow gamers as well. Every detail was inspired by the 28-year-old’s unique style, including a translucent green body, his digital signature and glow-in-the-dark logos. Only 500 of the mobile controllers were made, and for anyone lucky enough to get their hands on one, they’ll see what number they received on the back bottom corner of the controller.

Trending on Billboard

Keep reading to shop the drop now before it’s too late.

Post Malone's Limited-Edition Backbone Gaming Controller: Where to Buy

Backbone One x Post Malone

Post Malone’s Backbone One mobile gaming controller is compatible with the iPhone 15 and Android devices with a USB-C connection. All you have to do is snap your phone into place and it’ll immediately transform your smartphone into a compact gaming device. And you’ll have plenty of games to choose from since the device can play games from most gaming libraries including the Apple Arcade, Google Play Store, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or stream from your Xbox, PlayStation or PC.

From preparing for his upcoming tour and album drop to performing at festivals and concerts — including Governors Ball and A Night in Nashville — the singer has had little time and space to bring a bulky gaming console with him, but considers this exclusive controller the ultimate solve.

“Backbone found the perfect solution to bring gaming on the road,” Post Malone said in a press statement. “My schedule makes it difficult to game from home as much as I want. Grateful to collaborate with them on this release.”

For more product recommendations, check out ShopBillboard‘s roundups of the best gaming deals, gaming headsets and gaming chairs.

25 Jun 2024

UK Music Makes It Official, Appoints Tom Kiehl to Chief Executive of British Trade Body

LONDON — Tom Kiehl has been announced as the new chief executive of UK Music, succeeding Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, who left the British industry trade body last year to work for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Kiehl has held the role of interim chief executive at UK Music since Njoku-Goodwin’s sudden exit in September. He has worked at the London-based umbrella organization, which represents all sectors of the United Kingdom’s music industry, since 2012 – initially working as director of public affairs before being promoted to deputy CEO in 2018.

In a statement announcing Kiehl’s appointment, UK Music said it had received more than 130 applications for the role and had carried out an “extensive recruitment process” to find its new CEO.   

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“We are entering a critical new era of change for the music industry when the political landscape is also rapidly changing. At this important time, I’m confident Tom is the right person for the job,” said Tom Watson, UK Music Chair, in a statement.

Watson went on to say that Kiehl “will be a tireless advocate for our members and our sector – using his wide range of talents to drive UK Music to even greater heights.”

Kiehl’s promotion to the head of UK Music comes less than two weeks before the U.K. general election on July 4 when the country goes to the polls to elect a new government.

Last month, Kiehl called on the leaders of all the main British political parties to support the U.K. music industry’s role as a “key national asset” that is facing intense global competition.

To help grow the British music industry, which generated £6.7 billion ($8.2 billion) for the country’s economy in 2022 and supports 210,000 jobs, according to research commissioned by UK Music, the trade group wants policy makers to protect creators’ rights from being exploited by AI developers, as well as secure a cultural touring agreement with the EU to address many of the lasting issues caused by Brexit.

UK Music also wants the next government to introduce a new tax credit to increase U.K.-based music production and establish tighter regulations for secondary ticketing platforms.    

Kiehl’s extensive experience of working with politicians and government officials means that he is well placed to try and achieve those aims. Prior to joining UK Music, the widely respected music executive worked in the Houses of Parliament for 11 years as a senior advisor and researcher for the Liberal Democrat party. More recently, Kiehl led a successful campaign to change planning laws to better protect grassroots music venues. 

“It’s an immense privilege and great responsibility to take on the role of leading UK Music at such a pivotal moment,” said Kiehl in a statement.

The newly appointed CEO said he would continue to work with the organization’s members to lobby government officials for measures that would support the music industry “ranging from strong copyright protections and more music teachers, to key safeguards around AI and greater support for music freelancers.”

“My vision for UK Music is to build on our mission of bringing our sector together to speak with one voice and secure our place as the key organization that fuels the growth and prominence of the UK’s music industry,” said Kiehl. “We must be relevant, representative, and able to deliver for the sector in order to achieve this.”

25 Jun 2024

Chappell Roan Cozies Up With Sir Elton John for a Pizza Party: ‘The Best Evening’

What happens when two queer icons meet in the flesh? According to Sir Elton John and Chappell Roan, they throw a pizza party.

In a post to his Instagram on Monday (June 24), John revealed that he and the “Good Luck, Babe!” singer — as well as John’s husband David Furnish and Roan’s collaborator Dan Nigro — met up on Sunday night for a pizza dinner party. “The BEST evening of pizza and outrageous laughter with the fiercely fabulous @chappellroan,” John wrote in the caption. “Love her, love her, love her.”

While the post marked the first time the pair had met in person, John and Roan had previously spoken to each other as part of the “Rocket Man” singer’s Apple Music show Rocket Hour. During her appearance in late May, the pair discussed Roan’s ascent to stardom, with John letting her know just how happy he was to see her thriving.

“I rang you the other night and said, ‘Listen, I’m not stalking you, but I’m as excited about your album’s success as you are,’” he said. “It’s wonderful to see true talent being recognized.”

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Roan, giggling at John’s compliments, said that the sudden success was “pretty overwhelming,” but added that “it’s also affirming … pushing through the hard times is worth it.”

Roan recently added a fourth single to this week’s Billboard Hot 100, as “Pink Pony Club” joins her other tracks “Red Wine Supernova,” “Hot to Go!” and “Good Luck, Babe!,” the latter of which ascended to No. 16, marking the singer’s first top 20 hit on the chart.

John, meanwhile, wrapped his record-setting Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour in July 2023, and recently spoke with Billboard about his husband’s game-changing work as his manager.