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03/31/2025
For International Transgender Day of Visibility, Billboard asked trans and nonbinary stars about how they’re moving two steps forward while political progress takes one step back.
03/31/2025
This is partner content. Muni Long talks her process, her âbootcampâ come-up and the importance of âmeâ time. Learn more about her journey with Billboard andHonda. Watch Muni Long talk about how she first discovered her love for music, going viral during her early career and staying true to her instincts in a conversation with […]
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveMiley Cyrus has shared âPrelude,â the first single from new album Something Beautiful. The spoken-word, electronic symphony comes with a suitably cinematic visual directed by Cyrus, Jacob Bixenman, and Brendan Walter, with cinematography by BenoĂŽt Debie. Cyrus and Shawn Everettâthe albumâs executive-producersâare credited with the songâs production alongside Michael Pollack, Jonathan Rado, and Maxx Morando. Check out the video, featuring Cyrus in archival Thierry Mugler couture, below.Cyrusâ follow-up to 2023âs Endless Summer Vacation arrives May 30 via Columbia. She has compared the record to Pink Floydâs The Wall, âbut with a better wardrobe and more glamorous and filled with pop culture.â
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveSufjan Stevens has announced a deluxe 2xLP reissue of Carrie & Lowell. The expanded version of Stevensâ influential 2015 album will include seven previously-unreleased bonus tracks, a 40-page booklet, and a new essay penned by the artist. Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition) arrives May 30 via Stevensâ own Asthmatic Kitty. Below, you can hear a newly-released demo version of âMystery of Love.âDisc one of the reissue contains the original album, while disc two features 40 minutes of extras, such as demo versions of âDeath With Dignity,â âShould Have Known Better,â âThe Only Thing,â and âEugene.â You will also find outtakes of âFourth of Julyâ and âWallowa Lake Monsterâ in addition to the demo version of âMystery of Love,â which was taken from the original Carrie & Lowell sessions but later re-worked and re-recorded for Luca Guadagninoâs drama Call Me By Your Name.The new edition of Carrie & Lowell features an updated album cover: a full-framed version of the original Polaroid that reveals the album title scrawled in a childâs handwriting (written by Sufjanâs sister Djamilah). The 40-page booklet contained in the release was designed by Stevens, and includes collages of family photos spanning four generations, artwork, drawings, and landscape photos Stevens took while traveling across the western U.S. over a decade ago.Revisit Pitchforkâs 2017 interview âSufjan Stevens: Spokesman for Sanity.âAll products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)$55 at Rough Trade
Save this storySaveSave this storySaveSufjan Stevens has announced a deluxe 2xLP reissue of Carrie & Lowell. The expanded version of Stevensâ influential 2015 album will include seven previously-unreleased bonus tracks, a 40-page booklet, and a new essay penned by the artist. Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition) arrives May 30 via Stevensâ own Asthmatic Kitty. Below, you can hear a newly-released demo version of âMystery of Love.âDisc one of the reissue contains the original album, while disc two features 40 minutes of extras, such as demo versions of âDeath With Dignity,â âShould Have Known Better,â âThe Only Thing,â and âEugene.â You will also find outtakes of âFourth of Julyâ and âWallowa Lake Monsterâ in addition to the demo version of âMystery of Love,â which was taken from the original Carrie & Lowell sessions but later re-worked and re-recorded for Luca Guadagninoâs drama Call Me By Your Name.The new edition of Carrie & Lowell features an updated album cover: a full-framed version of the original Polaroid that reveals the album title scrawled in a childâs handwriting (written by Sufjanâs sister Djamilah). The 40-page booklet contained in the release was designed by Stevens, and includes collages of family photos spanning four generations, artwork, drawings, and landscape photos Stevens took while traveling across the western U.S. over a decade ago.Revisit Pitchforkâs 2017 interview âSufjan Stevens: Spokesman for Sanity.âAll products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)$55 at Rough Trade

Berlin-based music company BMG reported on Monday (March 31) that it generated 963 million euros ($1 billion USD) in revenue over the course of 2024, marking a 6.4% increase from the year-ago period, thanks to a double-digit jump in digital income streams a strong slate of major releases. The performance amounted to 8.1% in organic growth, the company said.
Digital revenue, which now accounts for 68% of BMGâs overall revenue, rose 16% in 2024, as BMG continues to see the fruits of moving oversight of its digital distribution business from WMGâs ADA to in-house in late 2023.
Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted â BMGâs preferred metric for profit â rose 37% to 264 million euros ($274.2 million, based on the foreign exchange rate as of Dec. 31, 2024) compared to last yearâs 194 million euros ($214 million, based on 2023âs year-end exchange rate).
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BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld credited the âBMG Nextâ strategy â a localized yet globally scalable approach â for being pivotal in the companyâs success in 2024, highlighting improvements in go-to-market strategies, digital distribution catalog acquisitions and technology. The company made significant changes to its global distribution strategy, including direct licensing agreements with Spotify and Apple Music and transitioning physical distribution management to Universal Music Group. BMG also invested around half a billion euros in catalog acquisitions â it counts 24 for the year â and signings, strengthening its rights portfolio through investment initiatives.Â
âOur BMG Next strategy has been instrumental in driving a successful 2024 with a step-change performance in a fast-evolving music market,â he said. âBuilding on the strong performance of our artists and songwriters, ongoing go-to-market improvements, such as insourcing digital distribution, and continued high investment into our people, catalog acquisitions and technology development, we achieved an incredible 2024.â
Notable successes in the recorded music sector included releases from George Harrison, Kylie Minogue, Bryan Ferry, Lainey Wilson, Sum 41, Travis, Crowded House, Rita Ora and others. The company signed new label deals with Blake Shelton, Mustard, YG, New Kids on the Block and K. Michelle, among others.
In music publishing, BMG songwriters such as Bruno Mars, DâMile, Steve Miller, Trevor Horn, The-Dream, Roselilah and others achieved chart success, with contributions to major hits like Eminemâs âHoudini,â BeyoncĂŠâs Cowboy Carter album, Kendrick Lamar and SZAâs âLutherâ and Mars and Lady Gagaâs Hot 100 chart-topper âDie With a Smile.â BMG also signed or extended publishing agreements with artists, including Carly Pearce, KT Tunstall and Tyron Hapi, among others, and secured publishing agreements with Tomorrowland Music and Cirque du Soleil.
The companyâs catalog division saw continued growth, with MĂśtley CrĂźeâs remastered ripper from 1989, Dr. Feelgood, driving a 10% increase in global streams and Australian garage rockers Jet (âAre You Gonna Be My Girlâ) achieving milestones on streaming while selling out anniversary shows. Sync licensing also played a crucial role, securing placements in advertisements, trailers and TV series for artists like Lenny Kravitz, Jennifer Lopez, George Harrison, Pitbull and Rita Ora.
Here are some of BMGâs 2024 highlights:
Operating EBITDA adjusted jumped 37% to 264 million euros ($274 million) from the previous year of 194 million euros ($214 million).
EBITDA margin was 28% compared to the previous year of 21.4%.
BMG said it made 24 catalog acquisitions in 2024, compared to 30 the year before.

One of Kurt Cobainâs most iconic instruments is about to go on display for the first time in Europe. The Royal College of Music London announced that its âKurt Cobain Unpluggedâ exhibit â which opens on June 3 and runs through Nov. 18 â will feature the late Nirvana singerâs rare Martin D-18E guitar, which […]

Five-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper Jordan Davis will hit the road again this year, when his 18-city, headlining 2025 Ainât Enough Road Tour, produced by Live Nation, launches Sept. 11 at Acrisure Arena in Greater Palm Springs, Calif. As the âI Ainât Sayinââ hitmaker prepares for the tour later this year, he says heâs feeling the pressure â in the best way.
âThe most pressure I feel as a touring artist is when you announce that new tour and now itâs a blank slate,â Davis tells Billboard, noting his focus is on giving his best to find new ways of bringing his music and live shows to fans who have supported him since the beginning, from his 2018 debut album, Home State.
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âWeâre so blessed with an amazing fanbase, truly, the people that have been to 30+ shows and who continue to come and see us and support us,â Davis says. âWhen I think of a new tour, thatâs who I immediately go to, the day one fans. Itâs like, âHow do I do something that they havenât seen?â If I can do something that feels new and feels cool to a fan thatâs been there from day one, I think Iâm going to cover the wide range of fans weâve picked up along the way.â
The Ainât Enough Road Tour will make stops in Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York, St. Louis and more, before concluding Oct. 25 in Estero, Floridaâs Hertz Arena. Davis will welcome âHell Is a Dance Floorâ hitmaker Vincent Mason as an opener. Also joining him is âTruth About Youâ hitmaker Mitchell Tenpenny, who previously opened for Davis on his 2024 Damn Good Time World Tour and joined Davis on Luke Combsâ recent stadium shows in Australia.
âMitchell is a superstar,â Davis says, adding, âVincent had âHell is a Dance Floor,â and I could not stop listening to that song. I saw he signed with Universal, where Iâm signed and the second I saw that, I was like, âIâve got to get this kid on tour.â Mitchell and me have a good time and Vincent looks like heâs down to have a good time, too. Itâs going to be some great music.â
It was one of those recent Australia shows with Combs and Tenpenny in Brisbane, Australia, that presented Davis with one of his most memorable onstage moments to date.
âThere were storms coming in,â Davis recalls. âWe were about three-quarters of the way through our show and I kept seeing the lightning getting closer. I thought, âI donât know if we will be able to finish this [set] or not,â and just then my drummer came through in our in-ears and was like, âWe have to cut two songs.â I always end âBuy Dirtâ with an a cappella piece. I finished âBuy Dirtâ and Iâm standing out there like, âAh, I canât not do this.â So, I just started singing it a cappella and about that time, it starts pouring rain. Iâve never heard a crowd get that loud in my life, singing every word. It was truly one of the most special moments Iâve had onstage.â
Starting with his 2018 Country Airplay chart-topper âSingles You Up,â Davis has become a radio chart mainstay thanks to songs including âWhat My World Spins Aroundâ and âTucson Too Late.â Two of his hit singles have earned song of the year accolades: ACM song of the year winner âNext Thing You Knowâ and CMA/NSAI song of the year winner âBuy Dirt.â Those songs helped spur his 2023 album Bluebird Days to platinum-selling status, and earlier this year, he notched the No. 2 Country Airplay hit âI Ainât Sayinâ.â
With his new song âBar None,â he could potentially extend his chart-topping tally. Though Davis is often a co-writer on many of his hits, such as âTucson Too Lateâ and âBuy Dirt,â his new song âBar Noneâ is an outside cut, written by Hunter Phelps, Lydia Vaughn and Ben Johns, with production by Paul DiGiovanni.
âI fell in love with it from the first time I listened to it,â Davis says. âThe second you hear the hook, you want to be like, all right, I bet you theyâre going to do this. This one surprised me. I didnât really see it going here. I think about the line, âIf moving on had a scoreboard itâd say, âYou and your memory one/ Me and this bar none.â It gave me a smile, like âWell done.ââ
He adds, âIâve always loved being able to kind of twist a hook. Thatâs one of my favorite things about songwriting, to take an idea and go somewhere completely different with it. Itâs something that feels like a song I havenât done from a production standpoint, even instrumentation-wise, with the banjo part [at the beginning].â
While his new single centers on a vain attempt at drowning heartbreak in a barroom, Davisâ time is devoted to his career and his family â both of which continue expanding as he keeps piling up hit songs, while he and his wife Kristen are expecting their fourth child. Davis says his growing family is looking at moving into a larger home.
Jordan Davis
Courtesy Photo
âThat was actually the first thing, when my wife told me she was expecting, I was like, âWell, where are we going to put the nursery?â So, weâve started the search for a place with another bedroom.â Davis says they donât know if the baby is a boy or girl yet, and notes, âWeâre just going to wait and find out. Weâve got a girl [daughter Eloise, born in 2019] and two boys [Locklan, born in 2021, and Elijah, born in 2023], which means itâll probably be another boy, which will increase the gray hairs on my head,â he says with a chuckle. âMy boys want another brother, and my daughter really wants a sister.â
Even as he focuses on family and work, that doesnât mean Davis doesnât have a favorite Nashville bar heâll visit on occasion.
âI think my buddy Luke [Bryan]âs got a good [bar] downtown with Lukeâs 32 Bridge. My dad loves to come in town and go honky tonk. If heâs in town, weâll go. Thatâs one of the few times Iâll hit up Broadway, and we usually always find ourselves at Lukeâs.â
See the tour announcement video for the Jordan Davis Ainât Enough Road Tour, featuring Peyton Manning and Jim Nantz, below:
Pre-sale tickets for the Ainât Enough Road Tour will be available beginning Wednesday at 10 a.m. through Davisâs fanclub The Parish, while tickets for the tour go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. See the list of tour dates for the Jordan Davis: Ainât Enough Road Tour below:
Sept. 11 â Greater Palm Springs, CA @ Acrisure ArenaSept. 12 â Concord, CA @ Toyota Pavilion at ConcordSept.18 â Los Angeles, CA @ Greek TheatreSept. 19 â Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Financial TheatreSept. 20 â Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta AmphitheaterSept. 26 â Independence, MO @ Cable Dahmer ArenaSept. 27 â St. Louis, MO @ Chaifetz ArenaOct. 2 â New York, NY @ Radio City Music HallOct. 3 â Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at FenwayOct. 9 â Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank ArenaOct. 10 â Rosemont, IL @ Allstate ArenaOct. 11 â Milwaukee, WI @ BMO PavilionOct. 16 â Dayton, OH @ Wright State University Nutter CenterOct. 17 â Hershey, PA @ Giant CenterOct. 23 â Duluth, GA @ Gas South ArenaOct. 24 â Savannah, GA @ Enmarket ArenaOct. 25 â Estero, FL @ Hertz Arena

Unlike some other artists, Guster did not cancel their booked gig at Washington, D.C.âs Kennedy Center in the wake of the prestigious venueâs MAGA makeover in which Donald Trump had himself appointed as chairman and filled the organizationâs board with loyalists while vowing to fill the stage with ânon-wokeâ musicals such as his favorite, Cats.
In fact, Guster did just the opposite. During their gig on Friday night (March 28), the band staged a subtle protest against the administrationâs planned make-over â which has quickly resulted in more than two dozens shows and performers canceling scheduled gigs â by bringing out the cast of Finn, an LGBTQ+ musical whose performances were called off after the Trump revamp.
Finn is a childrenâs musical that opened to good reviews at the Kennedy Center last year, telling the story of a young shark who âwants to let his inner fish out.â According to a video of the performance , Guster invited out the cast of the musical with trans themes, with singer Ryan Miller explaining, âI have a friend named Michael who wrote the songs for a musical called Finnâ in the midst of the bandâs show with the National Symphony Orchestra.
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âIn the before times they were booked to play here at the Kennedy Center. But as all of you know, things happened, and the show is no longer being presented here,â Miller continued. âAs the new administration has made abundantly clear, Finnâs themes of inclusivity, love, and self-acceptance arenât going to be welcome in this building while they are in control. So tonight our band is here to say our stage is your stage. We are your allies, we stand with the LGBTQ community, and we want you to sing with us. Please welcome the cast of Finn and composer Michael Kooman.â
The six singers from the cast received a prolonged, raucous standing ovation before the performance of Gusterâs âHard Timesâ and then again after.
Following Finnâs cancellation at the Kennedy Center â which the venue said at the time was a âpurely financial decisionâ â the show was performed by a cast of Broadway stars for a one-night-only livestream at New Yorkâs Town Hall earlier this month, with a portion of the proceeds earmarked for The Trevor Project. Among the stars who participated in the special event were: Andrew Rannells, Bonnie Milligan, Nikki M James, Kelli oâHara, Lea Salonga, Michael Urie, Peppermint, Brenda Braxton and more.
To date, more than two dozen events have been canceled by the artists or postponed at the Kennedy Center following the Trump revamp, including shows by Issa Rae, a production of Hamilton, the National Youth Poet Laureate event, Blacks in Wax, as well as shows by Low Cut Connie and Amanda Rheaume, a book event with J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf and many more.
Morgan Wallenâs hasty retreat from the stage at Saturday Night Live over the weekend during the traditional credits roll lovefest raised a lot of eyebrows. After performing two songs as the musical guest on the episode hosted by Oscar-winning Anora star Mikey Madison, Wallen whispered something into the actressâ ear and then abruptly walked off […]