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Young Thug seems to be taking issue with Billboard‘s Best Female Rapper’s of All Time list, questioning why the list left off his girlfriend Mariah The Scientist. On Wednesday (April 9), Akademiks reposted a ranking of Billboard‘s list, which was topped by Nicki Minaj. The Billboard staff compiled our picks for the 25 best female […]
Delhi, a city of 34 million people, was the obvious setting for Indian pop star Diljit Dosanjh to open his home-country tour last October — and he quickly sold out Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium and added a second date. But after that, Dosanjh wanted to plunge deeper into India, performing in Lucknow, Indore, Guwahati and other areas with a mere 1 million to 4 million residents. “We actually got to cities where there wasn’t any big concert, ever,” says Sonali Singh, Dosanjh’s business manager and tour producer. “When we started off, it was kind of an experiment.”
Dasanjh’s tour, which sold 200,000 tickets across its initial 10 venues in less than 10 minutes when it went on sale last September, showed not only the Punjab native’s star power but the massive potential of India as a concert market. In January, Coldplay broke a global attendance record with 223,000 fans at two shows in Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; in February, Ed Sheeran closed a six-city tour of the country with 120,000 ticket sales. (By contrast, Zach Bryan sold out the biggest stadium in the U.S., Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich., with 112,000 tickets for a show this coming September.)
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“We are at the cusp of hockey-stick growth, as far as this market is concerned,” says Naman Pugalia, chief business officer of live events for BookMyShow, the Indian entertainment platform that promoted the Sheeran dates with AEG.
For decades, India’s demand for large music concerts has outstripped its capacity: Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and The Police, played what Rolling Stone India called “niche, often low-key shows” in Mumbai in the ‘70s and ‘80s, in part because local officials considered Western music “anti-Indian.” Although local bands played hotel clubs and pubs and developed rock scenes in Mumbai and elsewhere over the years, it wasn’t until the early 2010s that promoters put on larger electronic dance music, blues and rock festivals, such as the Bacardi NH7 Weekender (at a Pune wedding venue) and the VH1 Supersonic (on a beach in Goa). By 2017, Justin Bieber was playing to 56,000 fans at a Mumbai stadium.
Coldplay perform at Narendra Modi Stadium on Jan. 25, 2025 in Ahmedabad, India.
Anna Lee
A 2024 BookMyShow report suggests India’s international concert market of 1.4 billion people is no longer untapped — live entertainment grew 18% compared to the previous year, live events in “Tier 2” cities such as Kanpur and Shillong grew 682%, and more than 477,000 fans traveled to shows outside their hometowns. In March 2024, after Sheeran sold out Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Racecourse (which BookMyShow had helped revitalize into a large-scale concert venue), the British singer-songwriter asked his team to return this year and “go deep into India and cover as much ground as possible,” according to Simon Jones, senior vp of international touring for AEG.
That was a challenge. “Landing a spaceship in the middle of nowhere in India is tough, and it’s not the same as doing it in America, Europe or even South America,” Jones says. “But the infrastructure in India is certainly getting a lot better, and the country, in terms of its touring future, will be very, very different in five years’ time, and especially 10 years’ time.”
In recent years, stars such as Post Malone, Imagine Dragons and Dua Lipa have sold out shows in the country; Lollapalooza India reportedly drew 60,000 fans in 2023, and a rep for promoter Live Nation said the 2025 festival last month, starring Green Day and Shawn Mendes, scored its highest attendance ever. Cigarettes After Sex sold out two large India shows in January; Guns N’ Roses will perform at Mahalaxmi Racecourse next month; and Travis Scott plays Delhi in October.
The recent concert boom is due, in part, to the boom in India’s middle-class population over the last two decades. “India’s disposable income is growing day by day, and the audience is seeking more experiences to spend their money on,” says Bhavya Anand, manager of rapper King and co-founder of talent agency Bluprint. “We see that there will eventually be a lot of clout in ticket buyers — but it’s also scary, because it’s not possible for everyone to attend everything.”
Since the pandemic, social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram have taken off in India, and residents have been “going out with a vengeance,” according to Jay Mehta, managing director of Warner Music India and SAARC. As recently as 2018, he adds, international touring artists were largely limited as far as how many fans they could draw — Bryan Adams, a huge regional star who has played India since the ’90s, sold out a Mumbai concert with just 10,000 people that year.
But promoters have been methodically building production systems and ticket-selling technology to prepare for an expected entertainment boom. Since then, governments have become more sophisticated in adapting cricket stadiums and other large venues to concerts and providing public transportation. “There were a lot of struggles, from bureaucracy to permissions,” Mehta says. “In the past, the production costs were so high, you’d have only 10,000 people coming, you’d have a massive loss.” More recently, he adds, promoters who’ve “gone through this pain for the last 10 years finally enjoy the fruits of the concert ecosystem.”
One of those early companies was Only Much Louder, a 22-year-old promoter that initially focused on concerts and managed Indian music stars but has shifted into comedy and other non-music entertainment. Until recently, says Tusharr Kumar, the company’s CEO, it was impossible to fund large concerts without significant corporate sponsorship, but given newly built stadiums and arenas, as well as prominent financial successes such as Coldplay’s shows and the Dosanjh and Sheeran tours, that is starting to change. “We’ve been having so many conversations: ‘Did we exist at the wrong time? Because it’s suddenly getting interesting in India.’ It feels good to know all the hard work we did back then is paying off in a big way.”
From a concert-business point of view, India still has work to do, regional sources say. The country’s club circuit remains modest, with electronic-music stars such as Kasablanca and MissMonique as top headliners, due to low production costs, compared to full bands. And while Dosanjh’s 2024 success speaks to the potential for country-wide touring, and India is producing global stars such as King and singer-rapper Karan Aujla, the biggest artists still tend to do just a date or two in big cities like Mumbai and Delhi. “We’ve just had the initial spark,” Warner’s Mehta says. “Imagine once we see the complete picture.”
Over the years, Jon Bon Jovi has become known for his philanthropic work with the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, which addresses homelessness, poverty and food insecurity. He and his wife, Dorothea, also gave back by opening the JBJ Soul Kitchen, a non-profit community restaurant with four locations in the rocker’s home state of New […]
J-hope got to hang court side at a Lakers game in L.A. and receive a gift from Luka Dončić, while Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco had a courtside date night on the East Coast at the Knicks and Celtics game. Keep watching for all the latest news from music and sports! What do you think of […]
The desert will be the place to be this weekend and the next with Coachella in full swing in Indio, Calif. This year’s two-weekend festival will run April 11-13 and 18-20, and will be co-headlined by Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone and Travis Scott.
While the aforementioned artists are top billings, there’s a handful of Latin artists that you’ll want to check out if you’re attending this year. From Venezuelan band Rawayana to corridos hitmaker Junior H, indie pop artist Judeline and música mexicana star Ivan Cornejo, there’s something for everyone throughout the three days. Other Latin acts on the roster include, Arca, The Marías, El Malilla, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, Alok and Gustavo Dudamel with the LA Phil. Check out the artists’ schedules here.
Anitta was set to perform this year but pulled out of her performance slot last month over “unexpected personal reasons.”
“I was really looking forward to being at Coachella this year, but due to unexpected personal reasons, I won’t be able to perform,” the Brazilian superstar wrote on X. “I’m truly grateful to the festival for the invitation, their understanding, and continued support. I hope to have the opportunity to join you all in the future and share that special moment together.”
In previous years, Bad Bunny, Karol G, Becky G, Natanael Cano, Kali Uchis, Peso Pluma, Eladio Carrión, Carla Morrison, Banda MS, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Grupo Firme, among many other Latin artists, have performed at Coachella.
Below, find the ultimate guide to Latin artists at this year’s Coachella in alphabetical order:
Alok
A Los Angeles jury held Soulja Boy liable Thursday (April 10) in a civil lawsuit filed by a former personal assistant who says he raped her, awarding the unnamed woman $4 million in damages.
As first reported by Courthouse News, jurors held the “Crank That” rapper (DeAndre Cortez Way) liable for assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury cleared him of claims of false imprisonment or hostile work environment.
Following the month-long trial, the jury awarded the Jane Doe accuser $4 million in so-called compensatory damages. And they could award more in so-called punitive damages in future proceedings.
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The accuser, who says she was hired as Soulja Boy’s assistant in 2018, sued the star in 2021, claiming he had repeatedly beaten and raped her over a two-year, sometimes consensual relationship. In one alleged assault, her lawyers claimed that “Way attacked plaintiff so hard that she thought she was going to die.” The rapper has “vehemently and unequivocally” denied the woman’s allegations.
During closing arguments Monday (April 7), as reported by Rolling Stone, attorneys for the Jane Doe portrayed Soulja Boy as a vicious boss and told jurors that “he raped her, he punched her, he kicked her, he cut her.” The rapper’s lawyers, meanwhile, painted the accuser as a bitter former love “motivated by jealousy, revenge and financial gain”: “She wanted to be paid. That’s what this case is all about. It’s not about the truth, it’s just not,” they said.
“We’re happy our client was vindicated and the jury believed her claims,” said Ron Zambrano, the accuser’s lead attorney. “We’re looking forward to moving on to the punitive damages phase of the case.”
An attorney for Soulja Boy did not immediately return a request for comment.
This isn’t the first time Soulja Boy has faced such accusations. Back in 2023, he was ordered to pay ex-girlfriend Kayla Myers $471,900 stemming from an assault and kidnapping lawsuit she filed against the rapper in 2020.
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According to reports, the vaunted partnership program between Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and LIU-Brooklyn has given its students unexpected debt and more struggle than promised. The Roc Nation School of Music, Sports, and Entertainment at LIU-Brooklyn was touted as a major achievement when it was launched in 2021 to much fanfare, with some students receiving “Hope Scholarships” for those deemed “higher need” applicants with the promise of debt-free learning. One recipient, Justice Stephenson, shared her excitement about getting the offer. “ I remember being just generally conflicted about school and then coming across this school made me feel a sense of security,” she said.
Stephenson is slated to graduate this year but told Gothamist that she is doing so with $5,000 in debt – an amount she negotiated down from $26,000. She’s one of a dozen students from the program who have accrued debt in amounts ranging up to $39,000. According to a former employee speaking anonymously, the Roc Nation program admitted 50 students in total in 2021. Some students took up couch surfing to help defray the cost of attending, and others allege they were guided to take out private loans.
The group of students speaking out also voiced complaints about the quality of offerings that the Roc Nation School promised. They said they created an improvised music studio out of a former student radio space, which they used along with professors. Another issue that was raised was the lack of celebrity guest lecturers promised – Megan Thee Stallion spoke to students, but others such as DJ Khaled, Rihanna, and the Jonas Brothers didn’t materialize.
LIU marketing chief Jackie Nealon stated that the scholarship covered tuition only. “The offer letter also expressly includes that neither university fees nor housing costs are included in the scholarship,” she said. The school program shows a change in language about the program was made in 2023 from “debt-free education” to a “tuition-free education.” Sumante Hutchinson, who claimed taking out a private loan was suggested to him by an associate dean, has some bitterness about the program. “My dad thought it was a scam,” Hutchinson said. “Come to find out it kind of has been a scam.”
The Elton John AIDS Foundation is making sure that the world knows what a recent action from Russia means for the those living with HIV and AIDS in the country.
In a statement released April 3, the prosecutor general’s office of the Russian federation banned both the British and U.S-registered foundations of the EJAF from offering its services in Russia, designating the non-profit as an “undesirable” organization — a classification that would allow the state to prosecute and potentially jail individuals affiliated with the charity if they continue working in Russia.
In response to the government’s ban, the EJAF shared a statement with Billboard, saying that it were “devastated” to learn of its new label under Russian law. “This decision by the Russian Federation will undoubtedly endanger lives and disrupt critical HIV prevention efforts for ordinary Russian citizens,” the statement reads. “At a time when we have the tools and knowledge to defeat HIV, it is heartbreaking to be unable to support them.”
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The organization pointed out in its statement that, according to the Russian government’s own reporting, more than 1.2 million people were living with HIV in the country as recently in 2024, with nearly half a million of those individuals not receiving proper treatment. “For more than two decades, we have worked in collaboration with federal and non-governmental partners in Russia to provide hundreds of thousands of people with vital HIV services, including testing, treatment and care,” the EJAF tells Billboard. “Despite this setback, we will continue our work across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the Foundation is the largest philanthropic HIV/AIDS funder.”
The prosecutor general’s office of Russia cited the EJAF’s support of LGBTQ+ rights, including “non-traditional sexual relationships, Western family models, and gender reassignment,” as well as the organization’s “negative attitudes” toward countries promoting “traditional spiritual and moral values,” as primary factors in its decision to deem the group “undesirable.”
“When a musician plays along with those trying to sow the seeds of democracy, it is propaganda,” the statement (translated from Russian) read. “And when it’s Elton John calling the tune, then it’s more than just anti-Russian propaganda, too.”
This is far from the first time that John has expressed his concern regarding Russia’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019, he penned an open letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin criticizing the leader’s “hypocrisy” in saying he cared for LGBTQ+ people while also promoting anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
“I find duplicity in your comment that you want LGBT people to ‘be happy’ and that ‘we have no problem in that.’ Yet Russian distributors chose to heavily censor my film Rocketman by removing all references to my finding true happiness through my 25 year relationship with David and the raising of my two beautiful sons,” he wrote at the time. “I am proud to live in a part of the world where our governments have evolved to recognise the universal human right to love whoever we want.”
Read the EJAF’s full statement to Billboard about Russia’s ban below:
Thirty years ago, HIV began by affecting a community that no one wanted to support. We failed that group then, and as a result, HIV continued its destructive path across the globe, eventually infecting more than 80 million people worldwide. What began as a disease outbreak grew into a global pandemic.
As one of the leading HIV/AIDS organizations in the world, we recognize that the compassionate and effective way to fight HIV is by acknowledging our common humanity and providing funding where it is needed, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, or faith. This is why the Foundation’s mission is to leave no one behind.
We are devastated by the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, which will prevent the Foundation from providing lifesaving care to people living with HIV in Russia.
For more than two decades, we have worked in collaboration with federal and non-governmental partners in Russia to provide hundreds of thousands of people with vital HIV services, including testing, treatment and care. This work is urgent: In 2024, there were over 1.2 million people living with HIV in Russia, with over 430,000 not receiving treatment.
This decision by the Russian Federation will undoubtedly endanger lives and disrupt critical HIV prevention efforts for ordinary Russian citizens. At a time when we have the tools and knowledge to defeat HIV, it is heartbreaking to be unable to support them.
Despite this setback, we will continue our work across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the Foundation is the largest philanthropic HIV/AIDS funder.
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On Wednesday (April 9), Donald Trump might’ve certainly committed market manipulation when he paused his ridiculous tariff policies on most of the world (those penguins on the McDonald Islands must be relieved), but unfortunately, his tariffs on China remain a full go. And naturally, that would mean higher prices on lots of everyday products including sneakers.
While many sneakerheads dread the day that they see the price tag on highly anticipated sneakers jump a few dollars, it’s now an inevitability as China responded to Trump’s 104% tariff increase on Chinese imports with an 84% increase on American imported goods of their own, along with a promise of not backing down should Trump continue to raise the tariff bar.
Now that we’re officially in a trade war with our Chinese counterparts, many a sneaker head is wondering how much more they’ll have to come out of pocket to purchase a pair of kicks from their favorite sneaker brand. And the answer isn’t one we want to hear. In a segment on CNN yesterday (April 9), Matt Priest (President and CEO of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America) explained that a simple pair of sneakers that would retail for $150 will now shoot up to $230. Keep in mind, many popular Air Jordan and Nike silhouettes tend to cost anywhere from $190 to $220, so yeah, a general release pair of Jordans can easily be going into the $250+ range sometime soon.
That being said, if those sneakers were to be made in the USA, one pair of sneakers would be retailing for $300 – $400 as American labor is much more expensive than Chinese or Vietnamese labor; they get paid pennies on the dollar for a full day’s work for Christ’s sake.
“Luckily,” neither Nike nor Adidas or any other big sports brand is planning on opening a manufacturing facility for their products in America anytime soon (or ever actually) as it’s just not cost effective for them. Though Trump promises his tariffs will result in such scenarios for big businesses (he’s blatantly lying about that), industrial facilities and manufacturing jobs are shipped overseas to keep products “reasonably” priced for American consumers. Though it basically costs $10 to make a single pair of sneakers in China, companies will sell them in America for $100+, which is “affordable” and make their coin in the process.
What’s worse is the prospect that should Donald Trump and China come to some sort of agreement and dismiss their trade war and bring tariffs back down to where they were prior to this escalation, the higher prices of sneaker and other consumer goods may not come back down at all and remain in the $200+ range going forward. That’s just how the sneaker game goes.
Check out Matt Priest break down the sneaker science behind Trump’s idiotic tariffs below, and let us know your thoughts on the price increase in the comments section.
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Source: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / Getty
Congressional Democrats are calling out the Trump administration for what they claim is insider trading after his abrupt walkback of global tariffs. On Wednesday morning (April 9), President Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social media network shortly after the stock market opened in the United States: “THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT.” Hours later, he announced that he was pausing his wide-sweeping tariffs on other countries except China – he held firm on keeping tariffs on imports from that country at 125%. The markets rose after the news, after having fallen dramatically since his “Liberation Day” declaration of the global tariffs on April 2, with the S&P 500 up 9.5% at closing.
What raised red flags with Democrats was Trump’s signoff on Truth Social with his initials. It’s not a normal practice of his to do so, and the initials also stand for the Trump Media & Technology Group on the stock market ticker. The group’s stock value rose 22%. California Representative Adam Schiff highlighted the issue in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying: “So the question is between that tweet and Donald Trump’s announcement that he was reducing the tariffs on most other nations apart from China, the question is who knew what the President was gonna do and did people around the president trade stock knowing the incredible gyration the market was about to go through?”
Other Democratic lawmakers echoed Schiff’s outrage. Representative Steven Horsford challenged U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a hearing when Greer claimed he had no idea of Trump’s motives. “This is amateur hour, and it needs to stop. What does this even mean for your negotiating strategy? How are you in charge of negotiation if the president is tweeting about this from wherever the hell he is?” he asked. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also voiced her concerns in a post on X, writing: “I’ve been hearing some interesting chatter on the floor. Disclosure deadline is May 15th. We’re about to learn a few things. It’s time to ban insider trading in Congress.”When questioned by reporters about when he decided to make the pause, Trump replied, “For a period of a time. I would say this morning. Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about it.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Trump’s decision, sarcastically telling reporters that it was his “art of the deal” at play.
