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09 Feb 2024

Tres Generaciones Tequila and Billboard Celebrate Music’s Biggest Week

Tres Generaciones Tequila and Billboard joined forces for a two-night extravaganza. The first night, on Tuesday (Jan. 30), the brands joined together to celebrate emerging artists, producers, and creatives making waves and earning their stripes in the music space. The following evening, the established industry leaders gathered for Billboard’s Power 100 event.

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The intimate Tuesday event at the Sun Rose in West Hollywood featured notable guests including Conan Gray, Moses Sumney, Halle Bailey, Rocsi Diaz, Paris Jackson, and Elton Qualls-Harris. Against the backdrop of the evening, attendees mingled while enjoying three specialty curated signature cocktails: the Hibiscus Margarita, Piña Paloma, and Tres ’73.

January 30, 2024; Billboard and Tres Generaciones host the ‘New Nominees Dinner’ at the Pendry Hotel in West Hollywood, California

January 30, 2024; Billboard and Tres Generaciones host the ‘New Nominees Dinner’ at the Pendry Hotel in West Hollywood, California

Brandon Todd/Billboard

To conclude the night, Billboard’s Editorial Director, Hannah Karp, and veteran host Rocsi Diaz delivered remarks, lauding accomplishments and unveiling the partnership between Tres Generaciones Tequila and Billboard. This collaboration aims to infuse culture, music, and premium tequila into conversations throughout the country over the year. Rocsi Diaz and Tres Generaciones Tequila will host and moderate curated panels in Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Miami, and Los Angeles, bringing together local heroes and experts to spotlight the top “Get Up” anthems for each city.

The following day, the celebration continued to the Billboard Power 100 event. Attendees were greeted by a captivating wall activation featuring light-up Tres Generaciones letters, creating a perfect backdrop for memorable photos. The event’s ambiance was enhanced with a Tres Generaciones Tequila DJ booth, where DJ Amorphous skillfully curated a mix of R&B, Afropop, Hip-Hop, Reggaeton, and electronic sounds.

Atmosphere at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Atmosphere at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Brandon Todd for Billboard

The soirée featured a personalized touch with a signature Tres ’73 cocktail, adding flair to the evening’s libations. As the event unfolded, the atmosphere buzzed with networking opportunities, connecting new faces and rekindling past industry relationships including SZA, Boygenius, Clive Davis and many more. The celebration continued with award presentations for Executive of the Year, Label of the Year, and the prestigious Clive Davis Visionary Award.

Atmosphere at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Atmosphere at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Brandon Todd for Billboard

DJ Amorphous at the Billboard Power 100 Event held at NeueHouse Hollywood on January 31, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

09 Feb 2024

Beyoncé’s Shiny ‘Renaissance’ Horse Shows Up in New Verizon Super Bowl Commercial Teaser

Saddle up, BeyHive. Those rumors about a Beyoncé cameo in Verizon’s 2024 Super Bowl commercial just got a lot more serious. 

Two days after first sending fans into a frenzy with a teaser seemingly hinting at the superstar’s involvement, the company has now dropped a second clip ahead of its highly anticipated Super Bowl ad – this time with an unmistakable reference to Beyoncé’s music. In the Friday (Feb. 9) video, actor-comedian Tony Hale stands in front of a blank green screen next to a life-size horse sculpture covered in silver sequins, just like the one the “Break My Soul” singer rides on the cover of her 2022 album Renaissance. 

“So should we be in a Super Bowl commercial? Yay or nay?” Hale asks the statue of the horse, which fans have lovingly dubbed Reneigh. “Get it? OK, this is a problem.”

At the end, a snippet of what sounds like Beyoncé’s “My House” plays and the date of the Super Bowl appears. Fans previously noticed the same song in Verizon’s Wednesday (Feb. 7) teaser, which also stars Hale.

In the first teaser, Hale stands at an outdoor lemonade stand juicing lemons into a pitcher. “She wants me to squeeze all these lemons by myself?” he says. “This better work.” 

At the time, the Hive quickly clocked the trailer as a possible nod to Bey’s 2016 album Lemonade. “The Lemonade references? My House playing in the end? Verizon being one of Renaissance World Tour’s sponsors?” one fan tweeted at the time. “Are we really going to see thee Beyoncé in a commercial during the Superbowl?” 

Whether or not the 32-time Grammy winner is involved – although at this point, it certainly seems like she is — Verizon’s commercial will air during the Super Bowl LVIII broadcast Sunday (Feb. 11).  The game will find the Kansas City Chiefs defending their 2023 title against the San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, with Usher headlining the Halftime Show 11 years after Bey first took the event’s stage. 

See Beyoncé’s Renaissance horse star in Verizon’s new teaser below. 

09 Feb 2024

Executive Turntable: Merlin Swarms Data and Member Teams With New Hires; Moves at Reactional, Noble Steed & Pophouse

It’s time for another quick whirl around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. Are you asking yourself “Hey, Wha’ Happened?!” amid this week’s overhaul at Capitol Music Group? Here’s a rundown. When you’re done processing that, get a readout of the most powerful people in the music biz with the latest Power 100 list.

Merlin, the global digital licensing agency for the independent music industry, has spent the last few months enhancing its finance, data analytics, software and member operations teams with numerous new hires and promotions.

Experienced financial controller Carol Zuma-Hall, formerly finance lead at Platoon and head of finance at The Orchard, joined Merlin to oversee its technical accounting and compliance related finance activities. Merlin’s new director of insights is Martin Vovk, following a dozen years at Sony Music. He’ll conduct in-depth data analysis and manage insights communications. Following a lengthy stint consulting for Merlin, Gary Watson made it official by taking the director of data operations role, where he’ll manage data flows and data visualization projects. Reporting to Watson will be Maria Lavric, who was appointed manager of data operations. She’ll handle non-financial trends data and other reporting. Matthew Price was right for the data engineer role and will develop what Merlin calls its “Data Lake,” which processes nearly 1 billion rows of data daily (FUN!!!). Joining the team as a paralegal is Emillia Walsh, who’ll scrutinize copyright infringement claims and just overall enhance the organization’s legal apparatus. Molly Kempen is the new royalty reporting coordinator, responsible for processing statements and keeping deadlines.

“The expansion of our multi disciplinary data analytics team this year is a testament to Merlin’s ongoing commitment to delivering value,” said Charlie Lexton, Merlin’s COO. “Each new Merliner brings a unique set of skills that are instrumental in our evolution. We are excited to see their contributions enhance our operations, improve our data capabilities, and further strengthen our relationships with Merlin’s global membership and digital partners.”

Data crunchers aside, Merlin also welcomed Simon Stride last year as a development manager, overseeing software projects from soup to nuts. Over at member operations, Alice Moss joined as senior manager, focusing on day-to-day support of Merlin’s members and working on ways to address operational issues between members and digital partners. Finally, Mariah Mu and ex-intern Ben Sperling have joined as coordinators on the member and partner success team. It should be noted that Mu is based in Bangkok and serves as the Merliner contact for members and partners in the entire Southeast Asia region.

“The integration of Alice, Mariah, and Ben into our Member & Partner Success team marks a significant enhancement in our capability to serve our members effectively,” said Jim Mahoney, svp of member & partner success. “Alice’s experience, coupled with Mariah’s knowledge of the digital and Southeast Asian marketplace and Ben’s keen approach to process improvement and communications, creates a dynamic synergy. This team embodies our commitment to excellence, ensuring that each member and partner experiences the full benefit of Merlin’s expansive network and resources.”

Meanwhile…

Warner Music Denmark promoted industry veteran Karen Vincent to general manager of the Copenhagen-based imprint. She reports to Mark Fry, president of Warner Music Nordics. In her capacity as marketing director, a role she’s held since 2017, Vincent has worked campaigns for regional artists including Christopher, Gobs and Nicklas Sahl, among others, and also has assisted in global releases from the likes of Bruno Mars and Dual Lipa. Prior to WMG, Vincent was senior product manager at Copenhagen Records while concurrently working as the global publicist for Danish rockers Volbeat. At the dawn of her music career, Vincent held gigs at Sony Music and EMI Music as well. “It’s great news that Karen has agreed to run Warner Music Denmark,” said Fry. “She’s been an indispensable part of the team, crafting incredible campaigns for local, regional and international artists, and I can’t wait to work with her as we continue to support the best Danish creative talent.”

Reactional Music, the maker of an interactive music engine for video games, hired Epic Games veteran Ben Lumsden as head of business development, Unreal. In his new role, Lumsden will oversee Reactional’s work developing partnerships across music, games and creator worlds, focusing on use cases built on the Unreal games engines developed by Epic Games. Speaking of… at Epic, he rose to senior business development lead in support of the company’s media and entertainment operation in Europe. Prior to Epic, he worked in virtual production on films and games such as District 9, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Godzilla, among others. He is also an accomplished composer for films. “Music and creativity needs great tech and creative minds to enable the new generation of music delivery, consumption and creation,” said Lumsden. “The consumer is more sophisticated, more creative and they spend more time in digital worlds. Music and audio has such an important role to play in the new era of gaming and creator worlds as consumption habits change to become part of these digital worlds.”

Noble Steed Music, the artist management company and label that boasts an “intuitive and patient approach to artist career development,” hired industry veteran Evan Levy as senior manager and content director. He arrives from Amazon Music, where he managed audio content for the last two years. Levy is tasked with building out the company’s content team, which will develop music-centric media, podcasts, social content and more. He’ll report to NBS founder Jason Spiewak. Prior to Amazon, Levy held key leadership positions at SiriusXM Pandora, CBS Radio, ABC News Radio and MTV Networks. “We are thrilled to welcome Evan to the Noble Steed Music family,” said Spiewak. “Evan’s expertise and creative vision will undoubtedly elevate our content and reinforce our commitment to delivering exceptional entertainment experiences to the masses.”

Curb Records‘ national director of promotion Mike Rogers is set to retire, effective March 1. Rogers, a 35-year radio promotion veteran, has been with Curb Records since 2002 and was previously part of the promotion team at CBS/Sony. Rogers shared: “[Curb Records chairman] Mike Curb’s belief in me these last 21 years was unparalleled. I was and always will be proudest of all we have accomplished in my time at Curb. You entrusted me to give your music its best shot and I hope I made you proud. To have actually learned from a legend will always be a crowning achievement in my career. Now, it’s time to ‘do some life’ with my wife, Laura, and our two daughters, all of whom sacrificed a ton as I lived out that road life as a radio promotion rep.” –Jessica Nicholson

UTA promoted 104 individuals across 25 departments, including music and comedy. In the interest of brevity, let’s stick to music, where the agency upped Grace Cunningham, St. John Faulkner, Sammy Gardiner, Anastasia Klochkivska, Taylor Krebs, Joe Marino, Matt Popper, Ashley Ramos, Katie Sexton, Evan Steinberg, Tyler Stimmel and Kingsley Williams to coordinator. UTA also promoted Tom Grainger, Alexis Lesko, Tom Matthews, Lolo McCluskey, Sheq Milli and Jamie Waldman to agent. The company stressed that a majority of those elevated to agent emerged from UTA’s Agent Training Program, adding that women constituted more than 50% of the promotions announced.

RADIO, RADIO: Warner Music Nashville bumped Andy Flick up to national director of radio, effective immediately. Flick, a longtime Sony pro who joined WMN in 2021 as regional manager, radio (North), will continue reporting to vp of radio Anna Cage. In the last three years, Flick has worked campaigns for Dan + Shay, Gabby Barrett and Zach Bryan, among many others … Happy retirement to NPR OG Linda Wertheimer … Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media is selling 45 of its 103 radio stations across the country because it lacks viability.

Lina Tebbs was named director of UK Production Music for Warner Chappell Music, reporting to UK managing director Shani Gonzales. She takes over for Kate Alderton, svp of operations and finance, who has been running the department for the last two years. In her new role, Tebbs will be tasked with scouting ways to service WCMs giant catalog to the film, TV, radio and advertising industries in the UK. She and her team will also work with other like-minded teams around the globe on cross-market opportunities. Tebbs arrives from Felt Music, where she was global head of business development and marketing. Prior to joining Felt in 2019, Tebbs held leadership roles at Audio Network and EMEA. “With Lina at the helm of our operations in the UK, the team will have a fresh outlook and exciting new ideas for how to build on our brand and further grow our roster and relationships,” said Gonzales.

Stem, the 9-year-old music distribution and payments platform, awarded four of its key leaders with promotions this week. Atop the table is Seth Faber, who was upped from svp of artist & label strategy to general manager of the company. In his elevated role, Faber will oversee artist marketing/development, commerce, international, customer success, content operations, brand marketing and product. Todd Perry is now vp of artist and label relations, hip-hop & R&B. Previously head of artist & label relations, hip-hop & R&B, Perry is credited with signing Veeze and for his work Jeezy’s latest album. Natalie Sellers, who joined Stem in 2018, is assuming the role of senior director of artist & label commerce & partnerships, where she’ll work to expand the company’s network of partners and create marketing and development opportunities. Finally, Lexi Roney was promoted to director of brand marketing following her time as marketing manager at Stem. As director, Roney will be responsible for leading and expanding all branding and partnership initiatives for Stem Distribution. The company said Faber and Perry will continue to report to president Kristin Graziani, while Sellers and Roney frame up to Faber.

CSW Publicity amped up its music division with the hiring of Heidi Anne-Noel as senior vp of music publicity. She’ll work alongside evp and founder Cara Woodnicki on all things music. Anne-Noel joins CSW from BMF, where as a vp she oversaw campaigns for clients including ONErpm, Awich, Abigail Barlow and others. Prior to BMF, she was at SiriusXM/Pandora and earlier at Capitol Records, where she worked closed with Katy Perry, Capital Cities, Sky Ferreira and others. Woodnicki comments, “Heidi is an incredible asset to any team and one of the best publicists I know, I’m beyond thrilled to be working alongside her again, this time at CSW.”

Derek Patten has returned to agency EastCoast Entertainment as director of artist services. Patten’s first spin at ECE was in 2018, when he helped lay the framework for the department he now leads. His background experience covers several professional areas including film (The Foot Fist Way) and live entertainment (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line). “We are delighted to have Derek with us again,” shares ECE’s President, John Wolfslayer. “His wealth of experience and unwavering dedication to the success of artists make him an invaluable asset to our team.”

Pophouse Entertainment, the creative production company co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, announced a slew of promotions and new hires. Linda Höljö has been named COO, Natalia Fontecha is head of capital raising and investor relations, Sophie McKibbin is head of business and legal affairs, while Ryan Amstad is head of new production development, and Jon Spalding commercial director. Over at Mamma Mia! The Party, the souped-up uber-immersive dinner theatre production in London, Sophie Arendt has been appointed managing director.

BOARD SHORTS: Worldwide Independent Network, a support group for independent music trade groups, welcomed five new members to its board: Dario Draštata (Dallas Records, Croatia), Fran Sandoval (IMICHILE, Chile) and Marty Ro (Sound Republica, South Korea) as directors, together with Alejandro Varela (S-Music, Argentina) and Sridhar Swaminathan (SIMCA, India) as observers. Zena White and Maria Amato were reappointed as Chair and Treasurer, respectively … Dewei Zheng resigned as a non-executive director of Chinese music platform Cloud Music (formerly NetEase Cloud Music), effective Feb. 15.

David J. Krystal, whose orchestration work can be heard in The Flash, IT, Shazam! and Hidden Figures, among others, recently launched his own company to support his work: David Krystal Music Service. In an announcement, Krystal’s company looks to “synthesize the rich tradition of classic Hollywood scoring and orchestration with the fast-paced and powerful blockbuster film scores of today” and pledges “meticulous attention to detail.”

ICYMI:

Lillia Parsa

Capitol Music Group chief Michelle Jubelirer announced her abrupt exit this week … and a day later Tom March, then-president of Geffen, was named her successor. Lillia Parsa (pictured) was also brought in from UMPG as co-president of CMG … Warner Music chief Robert Kyncl telegraphed a 10% staff reduction … which resulted in the exit of Warner Chappell Australia’s longtime managing director … Ricardo Chamberlain was been named COO of Marc Anthoney’s Puntilla Music … The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) selected its leadership for the coming year … and Eliza Tew is director of brand partnerships/talent manager for Clay Busch’s new agency, SiX18 Media.
Last Week’s Turntable: Crypto.com Arena Is Secure

09 Feb 2024

Mo’Nique Announces She’s Joining Katt Williams’ ‘Dark Matter’ Tour

HipHopWired Featured Video

The Bridge Comedy Show: Mo'Nique, Nephew Tommy & Rodney Perry

Source: Paras Griffin / Getty

While many of Mo’Nique’s fellow peers in the entertainment industry may have taken issue with her recent interview on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, Katt Williams is not one of them. And to show his appreciation to Mo’Nique, Katt has invited her to join him on his comedy tour.

According to TMZ, Mo’Nique announced that she will be joining the pint-sized comedian on his Dark Matter tour just days after she took a flame thrower to the characters of people such as Tyler Perry, Oprah, Kevin Hart, and D.L. Hughley. We don’t expect any of them to be catching any of the shows whenever they touch down in their city. Mo’Nique revealed the news alongside her husband, Sidney Hicks, while doing an IG live on her page.

Per TMZ:

Mo’Nique revealed she’ll be joining Katt’s band of comics as early as tomorrow … Mark Curry and Torrei Hart are also attached to the tour, so now they’ve got 4 chests with a lot of stress to unload! What’s interesting is most of them are aiming at the same targets!

We recently spoke to Mark, who sarcastically laughed off Steve Harvey stealing his jokes in the past — something Katt raised with Shannon Sharpe — but added he’s got plenty of new zingers for Katt’s tour.

Torrei also told us she’s out to prove she can stand on her own outside the shadow of her ex-husband Kevin Hart.

With this lineup and the amount of bones to pick that all these comedians have with others in the industry, they might as well rename this the Katt Williams Hit ‘Em Up tour. Just sayin.’

The tour should garner plenty of laughs and shocking moments as all these comedians are hilarious and out to prove they aren’t to be played with. We might have to catch a show ourselves if the opportunity presents itself. With the Dark Matter tour set to roll through the month of May, expect all kinds of jokes and references to go viral in the next few weeks. We. Can’t. Wait.

What do y’all think of Mo’Nique joining Katt Williams Dark Matter (Hit ‘Em Up) tour? Let us know in the comments section below.

09 Feb 2024

How FOX Sports’ Resident Deadheads Brought Jam Bands To Big Games

For Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles fans — and any football lover, really — last year’s Super Bowl LVII was a thrilling, down-to-the-wire classic. But as the game, airing on FOX Sports and tied at 35, cut to commercial break at the two-minute warning, tense viewers might’ve felt an unexpected wave of calm. The buttery-smooth lick from “Hungersite,” one of the most popular tracks by the exploding jam band Goose, played as the stressed visages of head coaches Andy Reid and Nick Sirianni gave way to ads.

“It was so surreal to hear our song during the Super Bowl,” Goose singer-guitarist Rick Mitarotonda tells Billboard. “We are very thankful to FOX Sports for supporting what we do and exposing so many bands in the genre to the masses.”

Goose posted the snippet to Instagram and reached out to FOX Sports to express its gratitude — all in a day’s work for Jacob Ullman, FOX Sports senior vp of production and talent development, and Jake Jolivette, a producer at the network. Through their production roles on NFL games, Ullman and Jolivette have caught the attention of astute listeners with secondslong jam band synchs — from titans like the Grateful Dead and Phish to cultier acts like Umphrey’s McGee and moe. — for the past several years.

Ullman, 50, saw his first Dead show at age 12 when his father took him to see the band at Southern California’s Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in 1985. Jolivette, 49, got into the band as a Midwestern college student, attending his first show in 1992 (three years before Jerry Garcia died); his college years also coincided with Phish’s rise, and the Vermont band’s “communal” shows hooked him. “It’s almost like going to a live sporting event,” he observes.

Ullman began working at FOX Sports when the network launched in 1994, and Jolivette landed there a decade later. The former recalls the thrill of synching a jam-adjacent artist early on: When he integrated Dave Matthews Band’s “Tripping Billies” into a hockey broadcast in 1996, he was amazed “that you can collide your work life, your passion for sports and your passion for music in one place.” But FOX Sports wouldn’t become known for its sly jam band integrations until years later, after Ullman and Jolivette had both risen through the ranks and found themselves working together on NFL and NASCAR broadcasts.

For many viewers, the first clue that the FOX Sports edit bay might be tie-dye-friendly came during 2017’s Super Bowl LI, in a produced pregame video narrated by actor Ving Rhames introducing the competing New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons. Jolivette used Audioslave’s “Cochise” for the Patriots — and Phish’s exuberant “Tweezer Reprise” for the Falcons. Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and the band’s former longtime road manager, Brad Sands, watched the show, and a screenshotted text thread between them circulated on jam-loving corners of the internet. (Sands said, “Falcons have to win now right?” and Anastasio agreed.) “I love ‘Tweezer.’ I love how it builds,” says Jolivette before adding with a chuckle, “Mind you, my editor hated the song — but I still got it in.”


https://youtube.com/watch?v=n3qmTbNkCJo&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

In 2018, FOX Sports inked a five-year deal with the NFL to air Thursday Night Football, and Ullman and Jolivette became heavily involved in the broadcasts. That’s when their jam band synchs really took off. “We’d sneak a couple of [songs] in there — all of a sudden, you’re getting texts,” says Jolivette with still-palpable amazement. “That’s when I figured out that this was something that was brewing that people could hear.”

When the pandemic hit, Ullman, who had hung out with the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir at NASCAR events over the years, convinced the musician through his manager to record a solo performance of the national anthem for the late-March 2020 broadcast of an iRacing Pro Invitational simulated race. Later that year, Ullman and Jolivette’s colleagues Joe Carpenter (senior audio engineer) and Bryan Biederman (director) — fellow FOX Sports Deadheads who work on the network’s MLB broadcasts — integrated a slew of Dead songs into the 2020 World Series. Sensing the public’s interest, FOX uploaded a supercut of the synchs — among them “Shakedown Street,” “Sugar Magnolia” and “Althea” — to its social media, with corresponding game footage nested within the band’s iconic “Steal Your Face” logo.

“Between that and what we were doing on Thursday Night Football, that year was probably where a lot of this exploded,” Ullman says. It was a feedback loop of sorts: The more FOX Sports integrated jam bands, the more positive reinforcement it received.

Still, in the tricky world of TV licensing, the network’s ’heads need supportive — or at least tolerant — colleagues to facilitate clearances. For that, they work with a team that includes vp of music Nicole de la Torriente-Nelson, who leads negotiations with publishers and labels, and associate director Yvonne Wagoner, who prepares approved playlists for broadcast teams. Wagoner collaborates with crews to construct eclectic playlists — an amalgam of current hits, old classics, songs for specific situations like scoring and situational matches for game location and weather — and solicits requests. While some core songs remain throughout a season, there’s also turnover, and Wagoner refers potential new songs to de la Torriente-Nelson and her colleagues, who secure the applicable rights. Licensing terms vary, but songs are often cleared for a season’s entirety, with fees paid out on a per-use basis (the higher-profile the game, the higher the synch rate).

Take FOX Sports’ week 15 Buffalo Bills-Dallas Cowboys broadcast. Jolivette wanted to use a song by Buffalo jam band moe. for the Bills home game, so he asked Wagoner to clear the group’s “Happy Hour Hero.” She passed along the request to de la Torriente-Nelson, whose team secured the rights, and Jolivette and senior audio mixer Jamie McCombs — not a jam fan per se, though he admits Jolivette has “turned me on to some really good stuff” — prepped the few seconds that would ultimately air. Late in the first quarter of the Dec. 17 game, with the Bills up 7-0, “Hero” led into a commercial break. Watching was moe. guitarist Al Schnier, who posted a video of his TV screen to Instagram with the caption “Bills + moe. + winning = Happy Hour Hero.”

Integrations like that really are by jam band fans, for jam band fans. Ullman’s team doesn’t feel bound to the Dead or Phish, or even to the most popular tracks in their respective discographies; in the Jan. 14 Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packers playoff game, FOX Sports used the Dead’s “Saint of Circumstance” and Phish’s “Axilla,” hardly the best-known songs by either group. Jolivette and his colleagues seek out the best secondslong snippets, wherever they may come from. As he explains of “Saint of Circumstance,” “The part we use, it hits. If you’ve seen that in concert, you know that’s one of the great transitions. That, to me, is what makes that a great song to use.”

And in the ultimate validation of their work, one of their heroes is returning the fandom. “When you think about it, the music we make isn’t unlike a sporting event,” Weir, who was spotted with the FOX Sports team on the sideline at January’s NFC Championship game, tells Billboard. “On a good night, you don’t really know where it’s going to go — and getting wherever it’s going is going to be different every time to boot.”

This story will appear in the Feb. 10, 2024, issue of Billboard.

09 Feb 2024

André 3000 Says Ludacris ‘Took’ His Role in the ‘Fast & Furious’ Movies during ‘Colbert Questionert’

André 3000 is an enigma. The reclusive former OutKast MC has kept a low profile for much of the past 20 years, popping up for an occasional guest verse or movie role when he’s not wandering the Earth playing one of his arsenal of flutes.

But on The Late Show on Thursday night (Feb. 8), the rapper-turned-jazzer hung around to take the “Colbert Questionert,” the random series of queries from host Stephen Colbert meant to delve into the unexplored recesses of the enigmatic flautist’s soul.

As always, Colbert opened with the easiest question: what is the best sandwich? In the perfect response, 3000 offered up “a friend bologna sandwich,” adding some crucial cooking tips, including cutting slits into the lunch meat so it doesn’t bubble up in the pan.

As for his first concert, of course André — currently on tour promoting his first new solo album in more than two decades, the rap-less, all-instrumental flute jazz collection New Blue Sun — had the coolest answer: a Fresh Fest hip-hip jam in his hometown of Atlanta featuring Public Enemy, LL Cool J and Whodini. “My mama took me,” Dre bragged, as Colbert tried to earn cool points by revealing that his mother had also taken him to his first show, the slightly less hip Captain & Tennille.

Colbert quickly corrected himself, though, a remembered that it was actually 1970s/1980s fluglehorn/trumpet giant Chuck Mangione. That selection that clearly appealed to the host’s woodwind-loving guest, who then scatted along with Colbert on a duet of Mangione’s signature 1978 jazz-pop classic “Feels So Good.”

3000 ran through a series of other provocative answers to questions such as “What is the scariest animal?”(humans), the requisite “Apples or Oranges?” (oranges) and “What do you think happens when we die,” which was more complicated. “We just kind of transfer to another body… the energy doesn’t go anywhere,” André said. “These are just kind of space suits, or Earth suits we walk around in… I think that energy goes into something else or to another we can’t even imagine.”

As for why he has never appeared in any of the Fast & Furious movies, veteran actor 3000 joked he would have “but I think Ludacris took the role!” Turns out he wasn’t joking. He said he did audition for a spot in the long-running, rubber-burning franchise, but was aced out by his fellow A-town MC Luda. He’d still come back for a later chapter, perhaps for the as-yet-unwritten one Colbert suggested: Too Fast, Too Flute.

The sire of Stankonia then proclaimed that his favorite smell is a baby’s breath, “when they’re new and it don’t stink yet,” while dubbing cigarette smoke his least favorite odor. Also, for the record, André is not a cat or dog person, but that’s just because he’s hardly ever home. Plus, if you heard how badly he screwed up the ant farm he got when he was a kid you’d understand why that is.

And finally, asked to name the one song he’d want to listen to on an endless loop, Three Stacks thought long and hard and said “something by [John] Coltrane.” He kind of punted on summing up the rest of his life in five words, though, grinning as he rambled, “somewhere doing something with my hands, building something, drawing something, sculpting something, chiseling something… in a workshop somewhere… making physical things that will last 1,000 years.”

Watch André answer the Questionert below.

09 Feb 2024

Zach Bryan Partners With Bud Light to Sponsor His ‘Quittin Time’ Tour

Bud Light will sponsor Zach Bryan’s North American Quittin’ Time arena and stadium tour that kicks off March 6 at Chicago’s United Center.  

The move builds on Bud Light’s partnership with Bryan that launches tonight (Feb. 9) as the singer/songwriter kicks off the second year of the Bud Light Backyard Tour with a concert at the Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas as part of the beer brand’s Super Bowl LVIII activities.  

“I’ve been drinking Bud Light since I was old enough to drink and partnering with them now after all the songs I’ve written while swigging them is full circle for me,” said Bryan in a statement in November when the Super Bowl concert was announced. “When Bud Light asked if I would be involved, I didn’t hesitate after I learned the immense amount of support going into Folds of Honor, fallen service members, first responders’ families and loved ones. It is a privilege and honor to provide help in any way to veterans and all the people who make this country as great as it can possibly be.” 

Bud Light launched its Backyard Tour concert series last summer with shows by Midland, One Republic and Dashboard Confessional, among others. “We wanted to go bigger in 2024 and I don’t think you can get any bigger in country music than Zach Bryan right now,” says Todd Allen, Bud Light’s vp of marketing. 

Bryan was named Billboard’s Top New Artist of 2023, landing No. 1s on both the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart and Hot 100 songs survey. Bryan, who charts on both the rock and country charts, is the first country act to be the year’s Top New Artist since Billboard began compiling the Top New Artists category, combining performance on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, in 1977.

As the exclusive beer partner for the 78-show Quittin’ Time tour, Bud Light will execute a number of tie-ins at concert dates, including sampling, ticket giveaways and experiential activations. 

One of the primary elements of the partnership involves Folds of Honor, a non-profit that provides scholarships to the families of fallen and disabled service members and first responders. Bud Light’s parent, Anheuser-Busch, has worked with Folds of Honor for more than 14 years, donating more than $22 million to the organization. “Throughout the duration of the tour, we will be donating a portion of the proceeds from Bud Light sold to Folds of Honor,” Allen says. He adds that Bud Light is working through the details with Bryan, who served in the Navy for eight years, on his participation with Folds of Honor. “He’s been an incredible partner to help bring this to life,” he says. 

“Music has been in Bud Light’s DNA for decades and we’ve always been at the center of delivered epic experiences. We’ve had amazing partnerships over the years across music, across sports, across culture. And then this just makes sense,” Allen says of the Bryan tie-in. “Zach has been a longtime Bud Light fan and drinker. Having him be part of our Bud Light Backyard Tour with the Super Bowl show on Friday night is incredible and we look forward to continuing to bring great experiences to our fans in partnership with the Quittin Time tour.”

The alliances with Bryan, one of country music’s biggest rising stars, comes at a time when Bud Light continues to recover from the backlash and sales hit the brand took starting last April after aligning with transgender TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney. Kid Rock, John Rich and Travis Tritt condemned the brand (though Kid Rock was seen drinking a Bud Light in August). Other country acts, like Bryan, stood up for the transgender community, while superstar Garth Brooks declared in June that his Friends in Low Places bar in Nashville would sell Bud Light.

When asked how linking with Bryan could help Bud Light regain country fans it may have lost, Allen said, “We’re here for all  21+ Americans and we care deeply about all of our fans. Music, and country music in particular, allows us to connect with millions of people out there who enjoy Bud Light in stadiums, bars and venues across the country. Partnering with Zach Bryan, one of the hottest names in country music, is just a great opportunity for us to continue to connect with our fans across country music.”

Bud Light’s music activities for 2024 include tie ins with Stagecoach and Lollapalooza, as well as a country music program with Live Nation.

09 Feb 2024

Usher’s King of R&B Crown Fits Perfectly on ‘Coming Home’ Album: Stream It Now

Usher is firmly in his zone on his long-awaited ninth album, Coming Home. The 45-year-old R&B veteran who is gearing up to take the stage for the halftime show at Sunday’s (Feb. 11) Super Bowl LVIII dropped the 20-track, guest-packed collection on Friday morning (Feb. 9) and it is everything you’d want from the “Yeah!” singer.

On his first studio album since 2016’s Hard II Love, Usher serves up all the low-boil seductive jams you’d expect, from the simmering not-together-but-it’s-fine single “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage to the bubbling miss-you-much ballad “Kissing Strangers,” on which he croons, “How we go from strangers kissing to kissing strangers?”

After opening with the finger-snap, Michael Jackson-meets-Afrobeats Burna Boy collab “Coming Home,” Usher shows love to his hometown in the Billy Joel-interpolating, Latto-featuring “A-Town Girl,” which flips the Piano Man’s tony East Coast-repping 1983 hit “Uptown Girl” into a dirty south homage to a woman who knows how to twerk and skate.

There is, of course, plenty of heartbreak (the brooding “Cold Blooded” with The-Dream), disco-fueled confident swagger (“Big”), Eurosynth midtempo exhortations to keep the party going (“Keep on Dancin’”) and straight-up all-night-long sex jams (“Stone Kold Freak”).

The collection is packed with a parade of guest vocalists and rappers, from the meditative H.E.R. collab on “Risk It All” from The Color Purple soundtrack, to the seductive “Ruin” with Nigerian rapper/producer Pheelz, on which serial seducer Usher laments that his ex “ruined me for everybody,” even as he boasts that other women keep blowing up his phone. The album ends with the remix of Usher’s collab with K-pop icon Jung Kook from BTS on the latter’s earworm single, “Standing Next to You.”

And, not to worry, Ush has plenty of slow jams for those couple skates (“I Love U,” “Please U,” “Luckiest Man”) on the collection as well. Super Bowl LVIII will take place on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+, Sling TV, Hulu+Live TV and FuboTV.

Stream Coming Home below.

09 Feb 2024

Post Malone ‘Very Nervous’ About Super Bowl LVIII Performance: ‘I’m Just Gonna Do My Best’

Post Malone has seen a million faces and he’s rocked them all. But 115 million faces? “Nerve-wracking, I’m very nervous,” Posty told Apple Music’s Nadeska Alexis during an interview on Thursday (Feb. 8) when she asked how he felt about singing “America the Beautiful” before Sunday’s (Feb. 11) Super Bowl LVIII.

“But excited. I’m excited. It’s just fun and super-epic to be able to go out and sing a song so many beautiful artists have sang before,” Malone, 28, said as he shared the stage with his fellow pre-gamer performers, Reba McEntire and Andra Day. As always, Posty — who noted that while he’s a well-known presence at the gaming tables in Las Vegas this will be his first Super Bowl — said he’s just going to give it his all and try to please the audience in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and the many millions watching at home.

“I’m just gonna do my best, just do my best, and give it what I got,” he said. “My dad told me, ‘You’ll never make everybody happy. So just be yourself and do your best at everything you do.’ Do it your way and do it with love,” Malone added in answering a question a youth correspondent in the audience about the best advice he’s ever gotten.

While Malone will tackle “America the Beautiful,” McEntire is on tap to sing the National Anthem and Day will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Veteran Anthem singer McEntire said she’s been getting ready by singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in the shower and just making sure she’s totally prepared and knows all the words. “Just to be prepared and know that everybody’s going to be singing it with me,” she said. Malone said he does the same, singing his part all the time around the house. So much so, he joked, that his family “just tries to get me to shut up.”

Usher will perform the halftime show at the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Super Bowl LVIII will take place on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+, Sling TV, Hulu+Live TV and FuboTV.

Watch Malone’s interview below (begins at 10:00 mark).

09 Feb 2024

Dua Lipa Wrote 97 Songs For Her New Album

For her next album, Dua Lipa pursued perfection. And, as history tells us, perfection takes time and hard graft.

The British and Albanian star opened the 2024 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles with a performance of “Training Season” and “Houdini,” the first singles from her forthcoming third album.

Lipa stayed on in L.A., and stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday night (Feb. 8) for a chat about her writing process.

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“Training Season” and “Houdini,” we learned, made the cut from almost 100 songs penned for the project, each of which lives in precious book which Lipa showed to Kimmel.

“It’s got every single song I wrote for this album,” she says of the book. ”I wrote 97 songs.” Are any of them terrible? “Lots,” she admits. “About 80 of them.”

“Training Season” and “Houdini” aren’t among them.

Since the 2020 release of her hit sophomore album, Future Nostalgia, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Lipa has grown in confidence.

“The second I write a song, I know its good or not or whether its close,” she tells Kimmel. “Every song on this album unlike any of the other records I’ve made, I’ve gone in and I’ve re-written it over and over again, until I felt like it was perfect, which I didn’t really have the confidence to do on my previous records.”

Earlier in her career, she continues, whatever was written on the day “was pretty much what everyone heard.”

This time, “I’m much more confident in myself as a songwriter and as a performer and how I want things to be and sound and look.” On the new collection, she “went in, digged a little deeper, and I changed things to the point that it felt perfect to me. And I feel proud of it.”

During her appearance as Kimmel’s guest, Lipa talked fangirling Katy Perry, tested some Albanian expressions with the host, and explained how she has meticulously kept notes since she “was tiny,” collecting on paper her “ideas, plans and dreams.”

What she didn’t discuss was the album title, its tracklist or release date. “Because I want to keep it a secret for a little bit longer,” she says. “I can’t reveal my secrets.”

The forthcoming LP is the followup to Future Nostalgia, which logged four weeks at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, won best pop vocal album at the 2021 Grammy Awards, and featured “Levitating,” the No. 1 hit on Billboard’s 2021 year-end Hot 100 Songs chart.

Watch the late-night interview below.