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12 Dec 2023

Taylor Swift Donates $1 Million to Tennessee Tornado Relief Fund

Taylor Swift is giving back to Tennessee to aid those impacted by the deadly tornadoes that ripped through communities in the Middle Tennessee area on Saturday, Dec 9. The “Cruel Summer” singer made a $1 million donation to the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, the organization confirmed to Billboard. USA Today first reported the donation.

According to CNN, the storms left at least six people dead and dozens hurt, with hundreds of buildings damaged. The National Weather Service reported that the tornado that impacted Montgomery County’s Clarksville covered an 11-mile trek, with winds peaking at 150 mph. The storms also ripped through Madison, Gallatin and Hendersonville. When Swift and her family first began pursuing her music career in Nashville more than two decades ago, she attended Hendersonville High School.

Hal Cato, CEO of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, also offered a statement about Swift’s donation. “The Swifts found their original Tennessee home in Hendersonville and Sumner County and remain deeply committed to its continued well-being,” he said. “Taylor’s incredibly generous gift sends a message to her hometown — and the communities around it — that she has their backs during the long road to recovery following this devastating event.”

This isn’t the first time the “Anti-Hero” singer has made a significant donation to the organization. In March 2020, Swift donated $1 million to the Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund after areas in that region were struck by devastating tornadoes.

Swift is known for her philanthropic ways. As part of her juggernaut The Eras Tour, the 12-time Grammy winner has made donations to food banks in the U.S. cities that she’s played. The Second Harvest of Silicon Valley Food Bank revealed that when Swift’s The Eras Tour visited Santa Clara, Calif., on July 29, she donated enough funds “to nourish an average of about 500,000 people every month in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.”

In August, Swift gave $100,000 bonuses to The Eras Tour truck drivers before the July 29 Santa Clara show, and gave bonuses to other members of her touring entourage, including band members, dancers and sound technicians.

12 Dec 2023

Australia’s Indie Music Juggernaut Mushroom Group Survived the Death of Its Founder — And Is Thriving at 50

Whenever Ed Sheeran has toured Australia and New Zealand, he has partnered with Frontier Touring, the live division of the dominant independent music company, Mushroom Group. And he breaks records with almost monotonous regularity.

He did it with his Divide tour in 2018, which sold more than 1 million tickets in the market, according to Frontier, breaking Dire Straits’ record that had stood since the 1980s. And Sheeran did it again with his most recent trek, The Mathematics Tour, which filled stadiums across the country earlier this year, smashing the all-time ticket sales record on consecutive nights (March 2-3) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, according to Frontier.

But this year’s tour was different. Mushroom Group’s legendary founder, Michael Gudinski, was not waiting at the airport to greet Sheeran. No Michael to see him off, either, or run amok on the adventures for which the good friends were famous.

“The reason I’m here right now,” Sheeran told the 105,000-strong Melbourne audience on March 2, “is because of an idea that he formed about eight years ago, and said, ‘Ed, you need to play in the round, in the MCG, with a band.’ I’d only started playing stadiums at this point, and I was like, ‘That place is really big. I’ve never played with a band.’ ” But Gudinski “convinced” him, he says, after his Divide tour ended. “I really wish he was here tonight,” Sheeran added.

Michael, the larger-than-life chairman and founder of Mushroom Group, which includes Frontier Touring and more than 20 music company brands, died March 2, 2021, at age 68.

The Mushroom Group and its staff was a family under Michael, and it remains so under his son, Matt, who now helms the company as chairman/CEO.

Players, Mushroom Group, Matt Gudinski, Michael Gudinski

Michael (left) and Matt Gudinski in 2019.

Mushroom Creative House

Matt, 38, steered the business and its 300 staffers through the pandemic that crushed the live industry. Now Mushroom’s touring and agency activities have bounced back, and business is booming. As the company celebrates its 50th anniversary, Matt has taken the opportunity to look ahead and to remember the company’s achievements and challenges.

Matt had little time to grieve the death of his father. With his appointment to the top job confirmed in April 2021, he hit the ground running. He was at the helm when Mushroom announced its new talent management division, Mushroom Management; a multilayered international pipeline deal with Universal Music’s Virgin Music; the realignment of Frontier Touring; the launch of new booking agency MBA and events/touring company MG Live; and a partnership with hip-hop specialist Valve Sounds.

In 2021, he navigated Mushroom’s break with Harbour Agency, following claims from former staff of past management misbehavior at the agency.

On Nov. 26, dozens of Australia’s leading artists performed at Mushroom’s 50th-anniversary concert at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena — a venue where a statue of Michael, holding aloft his finger in the familiar No. 1 gesture, stands outside the entrance. Such Mushroom family acts as Jimmy Barnes, The Teskey Brothers, Amy Shark, The Temper Trap, Vika & Linda, DMA’S, Paul Kelly, Ross Wilson, Kate Ceberano and Missy Higgins joined the event that aired on the Seven Network, performing a mix of originals and classics from across the Mushroom catalog, including “Working Class Man,” “Holy Grail,” “Sweet Disposition,” “Riptide,” “It’s Only the Beginning,” “Before Too Long” and “Living in the 70s.”

The countdown to the concert included the Nov. 24 release of an all-star covers collection, Mushroom: 50 Years of Making Noise, and the theatrical release in August of Ego, The Michael Gudinski Story, a documentary on the executive whose death was mourned by many of the superstars he worked with, from Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen to Dave Grohl and Sheeran.

Players, Mushroom Group, Paul Kelly

Veteran Mushroom artist Paul Kelly was among those on the bill of a Nov. 26 televised concert to mark the company’s anniversary.

Tim Lambert/Mushroom Creative House

In 1972, when Michael was just 20, he launched Mushroom Records, which soon became Australia’s indie music juggernaut. The company has shaped the country’s music culture like no other brand. Today, Mushroom Group embraces touring, booking agencies, publishing, merchandising/marketing services, venues, exhibition/events production, neighboring rights, branding, labels, talent management and more. (Warner Music acquired and absorbed the Mushroom Records label in Australia over a decade ago.)

“To survive 50 years as an independent music entertainment company is something we’re extremely proud of,” Matt says. “And throughout this year, we’ve tried to celebrate not only the history of the company, but the future.”

What were the first business challenges you took on when your father died?

We were still deep within the pandemic. And there were a lot of unknowns about how the music industry and the wider entertainment industry would move forward and recover from that. Without live music, it was an extremely challenging time for Mushroom Group and its survival. I’m really proud to be sitting here two-and-a-half years on from that, and I can confidently say that the Mushroom Group as a whole is in its best shape it has ever been.

What is your earliest memory of your father at work at Mushroom?

I’d always come into the office from a very young age, after school or even on holiday. We’d be going on tours together, whether it be Jimmy Barnes or Billy Joel. Before I’d even hit double [digits], I had a real passion for it. I was a budding concert promoter and entrepreneur, similar to my dad at a young age.

What was your first job in the music business?

When I was around 12 years old, I started trying to run some different events at different town halls, mostly for [those] under 18 and promoting bands. The first event I did wasn’t that successful; then
I started to hit my stride and was pretty much hooked. When I was about 16, I started getting involved with managing some upcoming artists and began to have influence in the A&R side of the group.

Your father was such a boisterous individual. What’s your management style?

It’s always an open-door policy and very collaborative. My dad was obviously a larger-than-life figure, and maybe some people out there thought that Mushroom was all about him, a one-man band. It was never that, never will be. Now there’s an opportunity for so many great people who’ve been part of the Mushroom Group for a long period of time to build up their profiles and really make a mark on this company and its future. Bringing their vision to life is something I’m very passionate about.

A U.S. No. 1 hit was high on your father’s wish list. What’s on yours?

At the time he had that dream, Australian artists having success [in] the biggest music market, the U.S. — outside of a very select few — was a foreign concept. Now there are so many artists that are making noise, having success globally. International success is a big priority, a big goal of mine. We have some artists who are doing really well, but we’d like them to go even further.

Players, Mushroom Group, Michael Gudinski

Michael Gudinski in 1979.

Mushroom Group Archive

You’ve recently had Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, Sam Smith and Paramore tour Australia with Frontier Touring. Foo Fighters are next up. How would you describe the live business right now?

We’ve definitely had the biggest touring period in our history since the return to live. More artists are wanting to come here than ever before, and so many artists are selling more tickets than ever. But there’s still so many challenges to deliver these tours, whether it’s rising costs, economic challenges or just the competitiveness in the market. Everyone’s selling more tickets, but it’s more competitive than ever.

Your father was very proud of you for landing a Drake tour. How did that come about?

Drake was an artist that I was following from quite early and had been trying to get to come to Australia for many years before we finally landed his tour in 2015. It was a coup to get such a global superstar like Drake to tour Australia when we did. And we’ve had a few successful tours with him since then. Bruno Mars was another artist I brought to Australia very early.

Taylor Swift’s last tour in Australia was with Live Nation. Now Frontier Touring is producing her tour, which is scheduled for February.

We’ve worked with Taylor many times before. She loves Australia. And we’re looking forward to hosting her again. To get her back working with Frontier is something that we’re really excited about. I know it would have meant a lot to my dad, who had a great relationship with Taylor. I don’t think we’ve ever seen that demand for a tour like this, not just for Frontier, but for any promoters. For every one person who has bought a ticket to her tour, there are probably another 20 in Australia who want a ticket.

Your father was a relentless traveler and loved it. Is that something you enjoy?

My dad loved getting out there and building relationships, showing up anywhere in the world to see an artist that we worked with or that we wanted to work with. I definitely do the same. Travel in our industry coming out of the pandemic has probably changed a little bit, and the technology has evolved, but that’s how you create, maintain and grow great relationships.

How has Mushroom survived as an independent while so many other indies have gone belly up or been absorbed by multinationals?

The core of Mushroom is to invest in supporting Australian talent and to take it to the world. My dad was big on the saying of being a leader, not a follower. We’ve continued to evolve and adapt; it’s why we sit here with so many different business arms to the Mushroom Group, because we’re not reliant on one. If we were just a record label, we would have struggled to survive to this point. [We’ve been] able to continually evolve and ensure that we’re looking for the next thing, not the current thing. And investing in great people and other great entrepreneurs has really allowed us to stay successful over such a long period of time. Part of what makes us unique is the fact that it is a family affair. So many people at Mushroom have been there a long time. And we’re really an extension of our family. That’s what else has made us survive.

How did your father prepare you to take the reins at Mushroom?

It’s all about reputation in our business. He just instilled into me those key fundamentals: how to ensure that the business moves forward and all the foundations that he’d laid go on for a long time. Mushroom’s success is really down to amazing people, great artists, loyalty and strong overall values. I was lucky enough that for a number of years my dad and I were working closely together, and the Mushroom Group expanded so much over the past 10 years. A lot of the areas we moved into were things that not only were we driving together, but that I was driving and really taking the reins on. I was well prepared to take on the greater responsibility. I’ll always say it: My dad and I love what we did so much because we did it together. It’ll never be the same doing it without him.

Overcoming the Tyranny of Distance

A restructured Frontier touring continues to bring superstars to Australia.

Players, Mushroom Group, Frontier, Dion Brant

Dion Brant was named CEO of Frontier in 2022.

Ian Laidlaw

Australian promoter Frontier Touring has come roaring back from the 2021 death of founder Michael Gudinski and a pandemic that hobbled the live industry.

“We’ve completed around 160 tours since the restart of touring in mid-2022,” Frontier CEO Dion Brant says. “It has been a strong 18 months,” he adds, noting the company had 44 tours on sale as of early November. According to year-end Billboard Boxscore data, Frontier ranks as the No. 7 promoter worldwide for 2023.

Founded by Gudinski in 1979, Frontier was established on the core value of prioritizing artists and fans. The company has continued to channel this ethos since touring restarted following the health crisis.

In recent months, Ed Sheeran, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, Sam Smith and Luke Combs have played stadiums and arenas across Australia as part of Frontier-produced tours. Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour sold over 830,000 tickets across 12 shows in Australia and New Zealand and left excess demand, Brant says.

The heat isn’t dissipating from the market anytime soon.

Throughout the Southern Hemisphere summer, Frontier will promote treks for Robbie Williams, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift, whose Eras Tour has sold out seven 2024 stadium shows across Sydney and Melbourne, Australia’s most populous cities.

The so-called “tyranny of distance” — a phrase coined in 1966 by Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey — makes the country a challenging touring market. “It is more expensive” post-COVID-19, Brant says. The cost to “move people and freight is much higher than pre-COVID. An already marginal business is even more marginal.”

Even the price of replacement turf has soared. “Artists and their agents are working harder than ever to make touring viable, to get their artists in front of audiences in a way that still stacks up financially,” Brant continues. “We all play our part in that.”

Brant was promoted in March 2022, heading up a new leadership team, part of wider restructuring designed to help the “legacy, mission and culture” of Frontier to flourish following Gudinski’s death in March 2021.

Brant reports to the Frontier board, which includes Michael’s son, Mushroom Group chairman/CEO Matt Gudinski; Jay Marciano, chairman/CEO of AEG Presents, which has a joint venture with Frontier; and AEG Presents Asia Pacific president/CEO Adam Wilkes, who was appointed Frontier chairman as part of the restructuring.

Legendary Australian concert promoter Michael Chugg, executive chairman of Chugg Entertainment, reunited with former business partner Michael Gudinski to form a joint venture in 2019. More recently, Chugg joined the Frontier leadership team alongside Matt, Frontier senior promoter Gerard Schlaghecke and others.

As live entertainment returned, Frontier has welcomed a new golden age of stadium shows, promoting gigs by Billy Joel, Foo Fighters and Elton John. In years past, Australia would host “two to three stadium tours a summer for all promoters, if we had a big summer,” Brant says. “That seems to have changed.”

“Twenty years ago, people were lamenting what would happen to the business when The Rolling Stones, Eagles and Neil Diamond-type acts stopped filling stadiums,” he says. Not anymore. Brant points to the evolution in stage production and the quality of new artists now making their mark.

Adds Brant: “To be in stadiums eight times over a couple of summers is big for Frontier.”

This story originally appeared in the Dec. 9, 2023, issue of Billboard.

12 Dec 2023

Will Jack Antonoff ‘Threepeat’ as Producer of the Year at the Grammys?

With final-round Grammy voting set to open on Thursday (Dec. 14), Jack Antonoff is vying for his third consecutive win as producer of the year, non-classical. Should he be declared the winner at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, he would be only the second producer in history to win three years running. The first was Babyface, who clinched the award from 1996-98.

Final-round continues through Jan. 4. The awards will be presented at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

Antonoff is competing for producer of the year, non-classical with Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, who is nominated for the second year in row; Hit-Boy, who is nominated for the second time in three years; and two first-time nominees: Metro Boomin and Daniel Nigro.

Antonoff and Nigro appear to be the front-runners. They are also nominated for album, record and song of the year. D’Mile is also nominated for record of the year.

Antonoff co-produced two of this year’s nominees for album of the year: Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. He co-produced one nominee for record of the year, Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” And he co-wrote two song of the year nominees: Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and Del Rey’s “A&W.”

Nigro produced Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, which is nominated for album of the year. He also produced and co-wrote her smash “Vampire,” which is nominated for both record and song of the year.

D’Mile is nominated for record of the year for co-producing Victoria Monét’s “On My Mama.”

While Babyface is the only producer who has won three years in a row (so far), these four producers came close.

Quincy Jones: The Chicago native won the award in 1982 and 1984 (in tandem with Michael Jackson that second time). He was nominated in the middle year, 1983, but lost to Toto, who were the second group to win (after the Bee Gees).

Jones lost three times in the category before he won. When he finally did hear his name called, he good-naturedly told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium, “Man, when I started waiting for this award I had long flowing hair and a thin waistline like James Ingram.”

David Foster: The Canadian studio savant won the award in 1992 and 1994, but he wasn’t nominated in the middle year, 1993.

Rick Rubin: The native New Yorker won the award in 2007 and 2009, but he wasn’t nominated in the middle year, 2008.

Greg Kurstin: The L.A. native won the award in 2017 and 2018, but wasn’t nominated in the year immediately before or after his win streak.

12 Dec 2023

IFPI Finds Music Listeners Are Adding Minutes Each Week, But Piracy Persists

More people around the globe are listening to licensed music services than ever before — and are doing so via a growing number of different platforms — but piracy continues to divert cash from creators’ pockets, while a majority of music fans think that artificial intelligence (AI) should not be used to clone music artists’ voices without authorization, according to a new consumer survey from international recorded-music trade organization IFPI. 

IFPI’s “Engaging with Music 2023″ study reveals that music consumers are spending on average 20.7 hours listening to music weekly, up from 20.1 hours in 2022 – or the equivalent of an extra 13 three-minute songs per week.  

The London-based organization found that 73% of the 43,000-plus music fans it surveyed listen to their favorite artists through subscription or ad-supported audio streaming service such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music, down slightly from last year’s figure of 74% (IFPI says that the small decrease is down to a change in accounting methodology, rather than a drop in real terms). The proportion of paying subscribers rises from 46% in 2022 to 48% this year.   

Audio subscription services are the most used format, accounting for around a third (32%) of music fans’ weekly listening time, closely followed by video streaming via platforms like YouTube or TikTok, which make up 31% of consumption. 

On average, people now use more than seven different methods to engage with music, reports IFPI, with other popular formats including radio listening (17%), purchased music (9%) and attending live concerts (4%). 

In line with previous years, the adoption of subscription streaming services is highest among younger listeners, with 60% of 16–24-year-olds and 62% of 25-34-year-olds surveyed saying they use subscription music platforms. Usage drops to 28% in the 55-64-year-old age bracket, although consumption is up year-on-year across all age demographics. 

Among 16-24-year-olds, short form video platforms such as TikTok are listed as the most popular way that they engage with music on a daily basis, followed by audio subscription streaming services and then video streaming formats like YouTube. 

The top five countries where people spent the most time listening to music through a subscription streaming service were Sweden (61% of people surveyed), Mexico (57%), Germany (55%), the U.S. (53%) and New Zealand (52%), with the United Kingdom dropping out of the top five.

Overall, IFPI reports a 7% year-on-year rise in time spent listening to music on paid streaming services – a slower rate of growth than the 10% rise in listening time in 2022. 

Artificial Intelligence and the Persistent Piracy Problem

For the first time, IFPI’s research team asked music fans for their views on how they think artificial intelligence will impact on the industry. Nearly eight in ten (79%) said that human creativity is essential to the creation of music and 74% of respondents said that AI should not be used to clone or impersonate music artists without authorization. 

The vast majority of people surveyed supported the need for AI systems and developers to be transparent and clearly identify any training data they have used to create new music works, which is one of the key provisions of the recently agreed EU AI Act. 

The IFPI report was compiled by surveying internet users aged 16-64 between August and October across 26 countries, including the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. 

Collectively, these markets accounted for more than 91% of global recorded music revenues in 2022, according to this year’s IFPI Global Music Report. IFPI says the report is the largest music survey of its kind ever conducted. 

In terms of genres, pop remains the most popular type of music globally, followed by rock, hip-hop/rap, dance/electronic and Latin. On average, music fans said that they listened to more than eight different genres of music with local-language genres such as K-pop in South Korea or Amapiano in South Africa increasingly popular in domestic markets. 

Writing in the study’s foreword, IFPI chief executive Frances Moore says its findings demonstrate how the music industry has evolved to give “artists more opportunities than ever to find audiences,” who are in turn “discovering and engaging with more music in an increasing number of ways.”  

Nevertheless, music piracy remains an ongoing issue that has “a severe and direct impact on royalties,” warns Moore. Of those surveyed, 29% of respondents said that use unlicensed or illegal methods to listen to or obtain music, down slightly from the previous year.  

Stream-ripping sites remain the most popular way for consumers to access copyright-infringing music, IFPI found, with 41% of 16-24-year-olds confessing to using them. One in five people (20%) said they had used an unlicensed mobile app to illegally download music.

The listening study also contains separate reports looking at music consumption in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Vietnam. 

In China, which last year overtook France as the fifth-biggest music market worldwide with revenues of $1.2 billion, 96% of people surveyed said they now used licensed music streaming services with the total number of hours spent listening to music each week increasing to just under 30 hours among respondents. 

Despite the rapid growth in streaming in China, 75% of people surveyed said that they still used unlicensed or illegal ways to access music, demonstrating that piracy remains a serious issue in the world’s most populous country. 

Responding to the report’s findings, Moore said that tackling all forms of copyright infringement on a global basis would continue to be a priority for IFPI to “ensure the most secure digital environment possible for music creators and fans alike.” 

12 Dec 2023

Dua Lipa Goes Day Drinking With Seth Meyers, Makes Drinks Disappear Like ‘Houdini,’ Reveals Her Favorite, Filthiest Albanian Swear

Dua Lipa and Seth Meyers got tanked on Monday night (Dec. 11) in the latest edition of the late night host’s boozy bit “Day Drinking” segment. In keeping with the theme of the singer’s latest single, “Houdini,” Meyers started out with a run of mixed drinks with magical qualities, including a “Houtini,” which mixed vodka, tequila blanco, white rum and a hard pour of curaçao. The addition of some lemon juice “magically” changed the color of the drink, which Meyers dubbed “a wildly unimpressive effect.”

From the looks of the frown on Dua’s face, it was also had a wildly unimpressive taste.

Things didn’t get much better with a gummy-infused concoction called an “Abracadabra,” featuring Harry Potter butter beer. The shenanigans just got more confusing as the bit went on, with Meyers subjecting the singer to a game called “Pick a Card, Any Card,” whose categories included alcohol, common mixers, uncommon mixers and the dreaded “dusty old bottles you’d sneak a drink from at your grandparents.”

In the latter, we learned that Lipa pronounced bourbon “borbon,” which delighted Meyers as he began making the world’s worst drink, which blended borbon, soda, green juice and calvados, a drink the host promised would “suck ass.” It just got worse from there with a drink that mixed tequila, Red Bull, pumpkin spice latte and Campari, dubbed the “Second Wind,” which the pair said could be summed up by one word: “curdling.”

In another round inspired by Houdini, Meyers and Lipa lined up a round of shots and had to down them to find out if they were alcohol or water, with the “Levitating” singer hitting booze three times in a row before striking agua.

Finally, they got to a game inspired by Dua’s single “IDGAF,” in which Meyers asked Dua a question, to which she could answer “I don’t give a f–k” or take a shot. She struck first, asking Meyers to rank his three children in order from least to most favorite: that one ended up with a shot. When Meyers asked Dua to name the most famous person who has slid into her DMs, she laughed and took the shot.

Meyers wasn’t so tame when it came to a question about which of his Strike Force Five podcast co-hosts he liked the least, looking at the camera and slurring, “I don’t think the British should be allowed to have talk shows,” he said, seemingly calling out Emmy magnet and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver. “We found the revalsuh… the Revolutionary War… John Oliver, go back home.”

“Wow, you hate the Brits!” Dua said laughing. “I don’t hate the Brits, I just f–king hate you, John,” Meyers slurred as a promo card for a series of upcoming Oliver/Meyers joint stand-up tour dates filled the screen. After Lipa served up her favorite Albanian swear word, the singer declined to name one of the “many fake-ass b–ches in the world,” while Meyers was happy to say what he hates about being a dad (“they’re so dumb.”)

When things got serious near the end, Dua took the Lizzo road and refused to pick between Oprah and Beyoncé, but the host did get her to sing “Happy Birthday” in her best Cockney accent. They then became the most annoying people in the bar when they tried to match each other’s high notes and ended with the traditional drunk’s prayer: “you’re my best friend.”

Watch Dua Lipa go day drinking with Seth Meyers below.

12 Dec 2023

Olivia Rodrigo Sings Haunting, Misty-Mountain Version of ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’ on ‘The Late Show’

If it’s not already cold enough for you out there, Olivia Rodrigo served up some serious pop chills on Monday night (Dec. 11) during a performance of her soundtrack song for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, “Can’t Catch Me Now.”

Fresh off a cake-smashing Saturday Night Live performance and a trip to NPR for a Tiny Desk show, Rodrigo filled the already notoriously frigid Ed Sullivan Theater with goosebump-inducing pop vibes as she sat on a stool in a white slip dress on a fog-enshrouded set to begin the performance. “But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze/ My footsteps on the ground/ You’ll see my face in every place/ But you can’t catch me now,” Rodrigo sang in an airy voice on the song’s chorus as the camera panned back to reveal white lights cutting through smoke and a backing band playing the song’s haunting track.

By the end, Rodrigo was up on her feet, howling, “you can’t catch me now” as the song raged to a crescendo before fading to an ominous denoument as she whispered, “you thought that this was the end.” The night was notable for other reasons as well, as it marked host Stephen Colbert’s return to the desk two weeks after he suffered a ruptured appendix that sent him to the hospital for emergency surgery.

The typically unflappable host described the “abdominal agony” he suffered on Nov. 21, the morning after his chat with former fellow late nighter David Letterman. “I figured the pain would go away so I decided to do the show that night,” he said of the chat with the talk show legend. “How bad could it be? Turns out extremely bad.”

Though he insisted on finishing that show, Colbert said his wife Evie convinced him to go to the hospital.

Watch Rodrigo perform “Can’t Catch Me Now” on The Late Show below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=ou_gCU5hbvI&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

12 Dec 2023

Epic Games Wins Antitrust Lawsuit Against Google Over Android App Store

A federal court jury has decided that Google’s Android app store has been protected by anticompetitive barriers that have damaged smartphone consumers and software developers, dealing a blow to a major pillar of a technology empire.

The unanimous verdict reached Monday came after just three hours of deliberation following a four-week trial revolving around a lucrative payment system within Google’s Play Store. The store is the main place where hundreds of millions of people around the world download and install apps that work on smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.

Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit against Google three years ago, alleging that the internet search giant has been abusing its power to shield its Play Store from competition in order to protect a gold mine that makes billions of dollars annually. Just as Apple does for its iPhone app store, Google collects a commission ranging from 15% to 30% on digital transactions completed within apps.

Apple prevailed in a similar case that Epic brought against the iPhone app store. But that 2021 trial was decided by a federal judge in a ruling that is under appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nine-person jury in the Play Store case apparently saw things through a different lens, even though Google technically allows Android apps to be downloaded from different stores — an option that Apple prohibits on the iPhone.

Just before the Play Store trial started, Google sought to avoid having a jury determine the outcome, only to have its request rejected by U.S. District Judge James Donato. Now it will be up to Donato to determine what steps Google will have to take to unwind its illegal behavior in the Play Store. The judge indicated he will hold hearings on the issue during the second week of January.

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney broke into a wide grin after the verdict was read and slapped his lawyers on the back and also shook the hand of a Google attorney, whom he thanked for his professional attitude during the proceedings.

“Victory over Google!” Sweeney wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. In a company post, Epic hailed the verdict as “a win for all app developers and consumers around the world.”

Google plans to appeal the verdict, according to a statement from Wilson White, the company’s vice president of government affairs and public policy.

“Android and Google Play provide more choice and openness than any other major mobile platform,” White said.

Depending on how the judge enforces the jury’s verdict, Google could lose billions of dollars in annual profit generated from its Play Store commissions. The company’s main source of revenue — digital advertising tied mostly to its search engine, Gmail and other services — won’t be directly affected by the trial’s outcome.

The jury reached its decision after listening to two hours of closing arguments from the lawyers on the opposing sides of the case.

Epic lawyer Gary Bornstein depicted Google as a ruthless bully that deploys a “bribe and block” strategy to discourage competition against its Play Store for Android apps. Google lawyer Jonathan Kravis attacked Epic as a self-interested game maker trying to use the courts to save itself money while undermining an ecosystem that has spawned billions of Android smartphones to compete against Apple and its iPhone.

Much of the lawyers’ dueling arguments touched upon the testimony from a litany of witnesses who came to court during the trial.

The key witnesses included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who sometimes seemed like a professor explaining complex topics while standing behind a lectern because of a health issue, and Sweeney, who painted himself as a video game lover on a mission to take down a greedy tech titan.

In his closing argument for Epic, Bornstein railed against Google for exploiting its power over the Android software in a way that “has led to higher prices for developers and consumers, as well as less innovation and quality.”

Google has staunchly defended the commissions as a way to help recoup the more than $40 billion that it has poured into building into the Android software that it has been giving away since 2007 to manufacturers to compete against the iPhone.

“Android phones cannot compete against the iPhone without a great app store on them,” Kravis asserted in his closing argument. “The competition between the app stores is tied to the competition between the phones.”

But Bornstein ridiculed the notion of Google and Android competing against Apple and its incompatible iPhone software system. “Apple is not the ‘get out of jail for free’ card that Google wants it to be,” Bornstein told the jury.

Google also pointed to rival Android app stores such as the one that Samsung installs on its popular smartphones as evidence of a free market. Combined with the rival app stores pre-installed on devices made by other companies, more than 60% of Android phones offer alternative outlets for Android apps.

Epic, though, presented evidence asserting the notion that Google welcomes competition as a pretense, citing the hundreds of billions of dollars it has doled out to companies, such as game maker Activision Blizzard, to discourage them from opening rival app stores. Besides making these payments, Bornstein also urged the jury to consider the Google “scare screens” that pop up, warning consumers of potential security threats when they try to download Android apps from some of the alternatives to the Play Store.

“These are classic anticompetitive strategies used by dominant firms to protect their monopolies,” Bornstein said.

Google’s empire could be further undermined by another major antitrust trial in Washington that will be decided by a federal judge after hearing final arguments in May. That trial has cast a spotlight on Google’s cozy relationship with Apple in online search, the technology that turned Google into a household word a few years after two former Stanford University graduate students started the company in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998.

12 Dec 2023

2 Chainz Counts His Blessings After Miami Car Crash, Shares Scary Picture of Aftermath: ‘Things Could Have Been Worse’

2 Chainz is counting his blessings after a scary car crash on Saturday morning in Miami that landed the rapper in a hospital. The 46-year-old MC posted a video soon after in which he was seen being loaded into the back of an ambulance on a stretcher, with a zoom out to show a black Tesla with a totaled front end.

“This the car that hit us from behind..Praise God for the blessings , Things could have been worse , but it wasn’t , don’t wanna pity party, but i do appreciate every single person that checked up on me,” 2 Chainz wrote on Monday (Dec. 11) in an Instagram post displaying the near-total destruction of the front end of the vehicle he said struck his car. “Sometimes someone in my position don’t feel like the love real or maybe it’s mind thing , but I truly felt the love and don’t worry bout me , I’m good , shake back king.”

In an accompanying video, we see what appears to be 2 Chainz’s hand holding a medical breathing device as he prepares to board a private plane.

Following the crash, TMZ reported that 2 Chainz suffered neck injuries in the accident and was in stable condition at a local hospital. According to reports at the time, 2 Chainz’s car was reportedly struck from behind by a Tesla while the rapper — who was in town for Art Basel — was driving on I-95. There were no fatalities in the accident, but at least one other unidentified male was transported to the hospital; TMZ reported that authorities suspected the other driver may have been under the influence.

2 Chainz recently released his joint album with Lil Wayne, Welcome to ColleGrove.

See 2 Chainz’s post below.

11 Dec 2023

Philadelphia Eagles’ ‘A Philly Special Christmas Special’ Charity Album Scores Big on Billboard Charts

The new charity holiday album A Philly Special Christmas Special scores big across Billboard’s charts (dated Dec. 16), as the star-studded set debuts in the top 10 on Top Album Sales, Independent Albums, Top Current Album Sales, Top Holiday Albums and Vinyl Albums.

The 11-track project, led by Philadelphia Eagles players Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson, features 10 covers and one new original song. Special guests on the project include Patti LaBelle, Travis Kelce (Jason’s Kansas City Chiefs star brother and Taylor Swift’s boyfriend), Amos Lee, Howie Roseman (Eagles’ executive vice president/general manager) and Waxahatchee. All profits from the album will be donated to Philadelphia-area charities, including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

A Philly Special Christmas Special sold 28,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending Dec. 7, according to Luminate, and was available as either a digital download album or a $75 red-colored vinyl LP. It launches at No. 3 on Top Album Sales and Top Current Album Sales and No. 3 on Vinyl Albums (nearly 17,500 sold on vinyl). The set also bows at No. 4 on Independent Albums and No. 8 on Top Holiday Albums, as well as at No. 25 on the Billboard 200

A Philly Special Christmas Special is the sequel to 2022’s seven-track A Philly Special Christmas. A new $125 double-vinyl-only release that combined both albums also makes a notable debut, as A Philly Special Christmas Special (The Deluxe Album 2022 & 2023) sold nearly 20,000 copies and bows at No. 6 on Top Album Sales and Top Current Album Sales, and No. 2 on Vinyl Albums. It also starts at No. 8 on Independent Albums, No. 17 on Top Holiday Albums and No. 55 on the Billboard 200.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new Dec. 16, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Dec. 12. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Top Current Album Sales and Vinyl Albums ranks the week’s top selling current albums (excluding older titled, referred to as catalog) and vinyl albums, respectively. Independent Albums and Top Holiday Albums rank the week’s most popular independently released albums and holiday albums, respectively, by equivalent album units.

As the Philly Special team debuts at Nos. 3 and 6 on Top Album Sales, ATEEZ notches its second chart-topper as THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL bows atop the tally. It sold 146,000 copies in the tracking week – the Korean pop ensemble’s biggest sales week. As is typical for major K-pop releases, THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL was issued in multiple collectible physical configurations, 33 in total. All have the same 12-song tracklist but have alternative packaging and contain different branded paper merchandise (some randomized, including photocards). Of the 33 editions, 26 are CDs and seven are vinyl. Among the variants are retail exclusives sold through the likes of Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.

Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) falls to No. 2 on Top Album Sales (54,000; down 38%), while Stray Kids’ ROCK-STAR descends 2-4 (21,000; down 43%) and Swift’s chart-topping Folklore falls 3-5 (21,000; down 41%).

Swift’s former No. 1s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) and Midnights move 5-7 and 4-8, respectively, selling about 19,000 each (down 33% and 39%, respectively). Cher’s Christmas returns to the top 10, bounding 12-9 with 19,000 sold (up 5%), and Dolly Parton’s former leader Rockstar falls 6-10 with 18,000 (down 26%).

In the week ending Dec. 7, there were 2.708 million albums sold in the U.S. (down 9.7% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.342 million (down 13%) and digital albums comprised 366,000 (up 18.9%).

There were 1.010 million CD albums sold in the week ending Dec. 7 (up 8.4% week-over-week) and 1.320 million vinyl albums sold (down 24.5%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 33.863 million (up 3.2% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 44.508 million (up 16.7%).

Overall year-to-date album sales total 96.182 million (up 6.2% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 78.891 million (up 10.4%) and digital album sales total 17.290 million (down 9.3%).

11 Dec 2023

Depeche Mode’s Crypto.com Arena Shows to Eliminate Single-Use Cups in Sustainability Pilot Test

Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is pilot testing a new waste diversion initiative at the arena’s upcoming two-night run for Depeche Mode on Dec. 15 and 17.

The program, held in conjunction with reusable cup manufacturer r.World, could help divert hundreds of thousands of single-use cups out of local landfills and eventually serve as a staple sustainability initiative at the AEG-owned facility, which is widely recognized as a leader in the live entertainment business’ efforts toward long-term sustainability.

As part of the program, Crypto.com Arena and its janitorial servicer, ABM, will work with r.World to receive and distribute 13,000 beer, cocktail and soft drink cups around the arena. On the nights of the Depeche Mode performances, the cups will be utilized by the arena’s bar, beverage and concessionaires to serve drinks to attendees, who will then dispose of the cups in specially marked bins staged around the arena. At the end of the first show, the cups will be collected by r.World staff and taken to a nearby cleaning facility where they will be washed and returned to the arena for the second night. Both shows are being promoted by Live Nation.

The program, explains Crypto.com Arena president Lee Zeidman, was inspired by Depeche Mode’s long-running commitment to environmental and sustainability initiatives. “Commencing with the electrifying Depeche Mode concerts, our aim is to ignite a wave of positive change and rally our audience and partners to actively participate in shaping a more eco-conscious future,” he tells Billboard.

Last year, a similar pilot program was launched by AEG-owned Goldenvoice with r.World to eliminate plastic cups from its Cali Vibes festival in Long Beach, Calif. Following the pilot, Crypto.com Arena will evaluate the data from the two concerts and, if the program is successful, will look to collaborate with current or future partners to make r.World a full-time option to guests and fans in the future. 

“We believe that there’s going to be less labor needed in terms of cleanup and the cleanup crew, and we believe we’re going to have lower waste disposal fees,” Zeidman says. “We also believe that people will embrace this opportunity to keep single plastic waste out of the stream and perhaps buy more beers or Cokes.”

In addition to Los Angeles, r.World boasts industrial “Wash Hub” facilities that also service Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. To meet market demand for reuse, the company plans to expand the program to eight to 12 more cities in the next 24 months.

“We’re excited to work with Crypto.com Arena — as one of the busiest venues in the world, the positive environmental impact potential of reuse is massive,” said Michael Martin, r.World founder/CEO. “They’ve led the industry and operated in the most environmentally innovative ways since opening in 1999, and so it’s no surprise they’re launching the pilot reuse program in the LA market and ultimately, driving change across the live events industry.”