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Hyperion Records has entered the streaming age.
From today (July 28), the venerated British classical label begins the rollout of its catalog on streaming platforms, starting with a batch of 200 titles.
The initial run includes “key recordings” from Hyperion’s roster, including Arcangelo, Mahan Esfahani, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Sir Stephen Hough, Alina Ibragimova, Steven Isserlis, Steven Osborne and Polyphony.
All 2,000-plus LPs from the Hyperion vault will be available to stream by spring 2024, reads a statement. Collections should follow every two weeks from Sept. 15, 2023, until the complete set is ingested and available across the myriad platforms.
The long-overdue streaming push follows Universal Music Group (UMG) acquisition of the label, in a deal announced in March which sees Hyperion join Decca Classics and Deutsche Grammophon in UMG’s classical portfolio.
Also from today, three new Hyperion releases are made available for streaming, including the latest Dvořák album from the Takács Quartet; and a collection of choral anthems from Stephen Layton and Trinity College Choir Cambridge.
Going forward, all new Hyperion titles will be simultaneously available for streaming, physical purchase and download, explains the statement from UMG.
The 43-year-old label — which is home to artists like Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt and Stephen Osborne, and some works which date back to the 12th century — was founded in South London by Ted Perry, a classical enthusiast who moonlighted as a mini-cab driver to fund its early recordings.
“These first 200 albums tell our story, and we look forward to presenting all our work from the past four decades to a new global streaming audience artist-by-artist, series-by-series,” comments Simon Perry, managing director of Hyperion and son of the label’s founder. “Each had their challenges and now they come together to tell a narrative, hopefully a powerful one, of what can happen when you make space for musicians to thrive: it’s why Hyperion has worked.”
The second release phase will “showcase some of Hyperion’s great piano and keyboard stars” including pianists Danny Driver, Stephen Hough, Pavel Kolesnikov, Steven Osborne, and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani.
Subsequent “release chapters” will feature choral music, string quartets, Baroque, early music and solo vocal, and more.
The acquisition came as the classical music world emerged as a hive of activity. Last November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And earlier this year, Apple Music launched its own standalone streaming app, Apple Music Classical, which stems from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.
“The arrival of Hyperion on the world’s streaming platforms,” comments Dickon Stainer, UMG’s president of global classics & jazz, “offers a special moment of discovery for this precious and pioneering label.”
As Barbie blows up box-offices around the globe, the official soundtrack struts its way to No. 1 in Australia.
Barbie The Album (via Atlantic/Warner) opens at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, published July 28, while several tracks from it climb the singles survey. The big gainers include Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” up 8-2; “Barbie World” by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua soaring 23-3; and “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa shimmying 27-6.
Barbie, which features “Journey to the Real Word” by Tame Impala, and “Forever & Again” by The Kid Laroi, both artists from the land Down Under, is the first soundtrack to lead the national tally since Disney’s Encanto completed an 11-week climb to the top in March 2022, ARIA reports.
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Starring Aussie actor Margot Robbie in the titular role, Barbie raked in a “dazzling global debut of $356.3 million,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, a sum that includes a biggest opening ever for a Warner Bros. title in Australia ($14.6 million).
Jack is back on the albums chart. John Farnham, the legendary, ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singer, has four albums in the top 100, powered by the July 24 TV debut of the documentary John Farnham: Finding The Voice.
Leading the charge is his Greatest Hits (Sony), vaulting 169-9 for a new peak position. Farnham, who has battled health issues in recent months, boasts the highest-selling album ever in Australia by a domestic artist, 1986’s Whispering Jack. The album spent 25 weeks at No. 1 following its release, en route to shifting more than one million copies. Whispering Jack reenters the ARIA Chart at No. 41.
Also debuting on the latest tally is Blood Red (Sony) from Australian folk-rock duo Busby Marou, new at No. 14; and River Runs Dry (Universal) by Cold Chisel’s Ian Moss, new at No. 18.
Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, “Sprinter” (Virgin/Universal) by Dave and Central Cee outraces the pack for a seventh non-consecutive week at No. 1.
The top debut this week belongs to Travis Scott, Bad Bunny and The Weeknd, whose collaborative single “K-Pop” (Epic/Sony) is new at No. 27. “K-Pop” is lifted from Scott’s new album Utopia, which dropped Friday.
There’s some K-pop in the top 20, specifically, cuts from NewJeans’ second EP Get Up (ING/Universal). All six tracks from the EP impact the top 100, including “Super Shy,” up 26-14 for a new peak position, while “ETA” bows at No. 34, “Cool With You” starts at No. 40, “ASAP” is at No. 64 and the title track appears at No. 82. The girl group has an Aussie connection: Danielle Marsh is born-and-raised in Newcastle, Australia, and Hanni Pham is a Melbourne native, who featured on The Voice Kids Australia back in 2014.
When Quavo discusses TakeOff and making those delicate steps forward in life without his nephew and Migos bandmate, the grief is palpable.
“I think about him all the time,” he explains in a new interview — a “conversation for the fans,” in which he bears his soul in black and white. “Sometimes I cry myself to sleep.”
TakeOff (real name: Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed during a private party he attended at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with his uncle and bandmate, Quavo, on Nov. 1, 2022, an action that still weighs heavy on the rapper.
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Grief, when you’re not prepared, and who is, can put you in a “messed up place, in a bad place,” he explains. Everything, from the day-to-day, which now includes therapeutic stints of chilling out, meditating, swimming in the ocean, and gym, to the creative process, is turned upside down.
As a record takes shape, Quavo has a particular style of working. He’d cut the hook and the verse, show it to his bandmates. “Now he’s gone and I don’t have nobody to play the music for,” he recounts. Instead, “I just try to connect with the earth and just try to hear them like that.” Quavo doesn’t “really like nobody else’s opinion.”
Quavo’s forthcoming solo album Rocket Power is slated for release Aug. 4, and it’s fueled by his late nephew and former partner-in-rhyme.
With Rocket Power, his first LP since 2018’s Quavo Huncho, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, he lets it all out in one blaze of energy.
He’s been “bottling all these emotions,” he notes, “all the pain, all the hard times, all the times I cried and all the times I just made music” to cope with loss. “And to pull up and try to play songs and he’s not there, and I’m just trying to get this fuel from above and this feeling from the sky and just call it Rocket Power.”
Quavo also opened up on his favorite song on the album, “11.11,” a date that captures the moment he hit record and got to work (“It felt like it was a sign”), and talked the residual energy of his fallen bandmember.
There’s not just energy floating out there in the ether, there’s a stash of unfinished music. A lot of it, apparently.
“In this phone alone, it’s 150 songs. Every phone probably has 350 songs.” Quavo admits he’s got five phones. TakeOff had three phones. “He’s got songs I never heard, ‘I’m like, bro why you never played me this’.”
One of the standouts, he explains, is called “Put That S— On.” “The Silent Assassin, he saved it for a reason. I got you though. We’re gonna finish strong,” he enthuses, adding, “that’s just in the phone. We’ve probably got like a thousand….we’ve got a lot of songs.“
With the announcement of the new LP back in May, Quavo remarked, “This album is for the Rocket, our true fans, and also this is my therapy. This album is a true reflection of how I feel right now.”
Watch the interview below. Part 2 is said to be coming soon.
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On Friday (July 28), Offset and Cardi B fired off rounds during their incendiary collaboration, “Jealousy.” Teased earlier this week, “Jealousy” marks the couple’s latest reunion on wax since their multi-platinum song “Clout,” as they take turns throwing darts at their envious adversaries. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Doja Cat has reportedly lost 250,000 followers on Instagram after slamming her fanbase for the use of the nickname “Kittenz.” Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro both took to social media to address their breakup and set the record straight on those cheating rumors. Tori Kelly gives fans an update after being hospitalized for blood clots found […]
Grammy-winning jazz pianist Robert Glasper returns to Napa Valley this weekend for his annual Blue Notes Jazz Festival. Headlined by Nas, Mary J. Blige, and Chance the Rapper, Glasper, alongside his superstar cohorts, will provide an enriched Black experience through high-end art, live entertainment, exquisite food, and more during the three-day soiree. Joining Glasper will be three-time NBA Champion and Class of 2023 Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who looks to bring his brand of fun and excitement to wine country this Friday (July 28).
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“Last year, I came in with eyes wide open to see what the experience was, and I left there like, ‘When are the dates next year?’” says Wade, the appointed director of culture and vibes for this year’s festival. “I wanted to be back here. I wanted to experience this again, which had nothing to do with me. It had something to do with everybody creating this vibe and putting on for us.”
Attendees will feel Wade’s presence beyond the vibes he intends on setting this weekend as his wine company, Wade Cellars, joins a sea of Black-owned vendors and businesses. “We must show how high-level, sophisticated, and dope we are in this game and all the realms of it,” says Glasper on the importance of highlighting the wealth of talent within the Black community. “It’s important that we do that — from the comedy, the music, the visual arts, the wine, and the chefs — because we’re not represented enough [being] at the high level we are.”
Billboard spoke to Glasper and Wade about the upcoming Jazz festival, empowering Black businesses, and their favorite hip-hop albums.
Rob, what went into your decision of giving D-Wade the title of director of culture and vibes for your festival?
Robert Glasper: He’s given so much to the culture already. He’s a champion, he does everything at a high level — not just at basketball, but doing the wine and fashion. You have a high-level family, man. I’m a fan of the father that you are. Just overall, it’s an honor and privilege just to have you. When you pulled up on us last year, I didn’t know you was coming. I just saw him and [his wife] Gabrielle in a golf cart. [Laughs.] I’ve been a fan for a long time, so i’m just looking forward to this collab.
D-Wade, considering the vibes were already present last year, what more can fans expect with you at the helm for this year’s event?
Dwyane Wade: Man, in life, you just always wanna add, and never take away. I just wanna add to the vibes that are already being created. To me, obviously, it’s in Napa [Valley]. I have my own wine brand. I’ve been in this for nine years as a Black vineyard. So when I looked at into that space last year and we had the VIP sections and I saw all the food, I said, “This is what we do. This is where we lay.” We lay in the middle of food and music. I thought it would be amazing if Wade Cellars can have an imprint and be a part of this in Napa.
First of all, a lot of people were coming up to me in Napa while we were there, and [asking], “Yo. Where can we find your wine at?” I said, “Oh s–t. We don’t have any available.” We weren’t ready. So this year, we’ll be ready. We’re gonna make sure we go in there and we create a vibe. It’s just exposure, bro. This culture needs exposure, so that’s what we’re gonna do with our wine brand — expose them to what we created.
Rob, you’re building a place where Black businesses and vendors can showcase their products. Why was that such a priority for you outside of the music for your festival?
Robert Glasper: Because Black people are high-level in so many different ways. I feel like it’s important we showcase that, because we’re not represented at our highest level in the world in a real way. We’re represented in the things you see on TV, and even on the platforms we provide ourselves — it’s like, ‘Why are you showing this?” We have so much more to offer than what people are seeing.
You guys are pushing the Wine Unify Scholarship. What went into bringing that into the forefront?
Dwyane Wade: You always want to have an element of community or charity. So outside of the Blue Note, there’s other things going on. Wade Cellars will be a part of dinners going on Friday and Saturday, so to be able to tap into the community is what it’s about. We’re gonna have fun, we’re gonna create experiences, but what else can we provide?
I’m looking forward to what goes on at those dinners and what kind of relationships that I can build. The wine industry is like sports to me. If I like a team and you like a team, Carl, we may not know each other and come from two different forms of life — but we can high-five, we can chest bump, we can look at each other to a point, because we love Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. So the wine world to me is a connected world, that if you love this experience of what wine brings, no matter where you’re from, you’re gonna end up cheering that glass with somebody. You’re gonna end up having a conversation and getting to know somebody.
So we just want to continue to create that vibe and more exposure to things. So to be able to be a part of exposing them to so many things in the Blue Note week, that’s what it’s all about. It’s always great to have that charity aspect to it.
Rob, how has music become that central connector to everything going on in sports, comedy, media and so many other sectors in the world today?
Robert Glasper: I mean, music has been the connector since the beginning of time. It’s how people communicated in many ways. It’s how slaves communicated to each other and let you know where to go and where to be. It’s one of the reasons we have a Martin Luther King Day — songs. Music is literally the universal connector. That’s the one artform where, if you don’t know somebody who doesn’t have a favorite song, you can’t trust them. Period. With music, you don’t have to have a favorite visual artist or favorite dancer — but music is such a communicator in such a way of connecting people within all walks of life all over the planet. You don’t have to speak the language, because music is the language. That is literally the language.
Because it is Hip Hop 50, I need you both to list out your three go-to albums.
Robert Glasper: Three?
Dwyane Wade: Three go-to albums?
Robert Glasper: I’ll go first so I don’t have to think about it. I’m gonna go Chi-Town. I’m gonna go Common, Like Water For Chocolate. Part of the reason because I was there when he was making that in New York. I was at some of the sessions and it’s also nostalgia for me. Two, whew. Midnight Marauders, Tribe. Classic. One more album? My son is giving me the look. [Laughs.] You gotta have this one because it is what it is, Illmatic, Nas.
D-Wade, the pressure is on you now.
Dwyane Wade: Let me go Chicago first. I’m actually gonna go Kanye West, Graduation. I’m a Chicago kid and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” is one of my favorite songs. I feel like you can’t tell me s–t. I love Graduation.
Robert Glasper: Wade, you know I’m on “Touch the Sky.” That’s my first hip-hop recording. I did it in 2004 when Just Blaze called me into the studio. I played on “Touch The Sky.”
Dwyane Wade: Wow. OK. Now, my favorite artist is Jay-Z and it’s so hard to pick, but I’m gonna go with — because at the time of my life it was important — The Black Album. That’s when I got into the league, I just got a little money. You couldn’t tell me s–t boy, I’ll tell you. And the last one? This is tough. I’m playing between 2Pac and Lil Wayne right now in my mind. I’m just going with some of my favorite artists, and I’m trying to think what album of Lil Wayne I would pick.
Were you a Carter II or Carter III guy?
Dwayne Wade: I’m going Tha Carter ’cause that was 2003, 2004 as well. That’s when I was in the Olympics. Matter fact, I’m gonna put that on when I get in the car and go to the meeting.
Go play some “Go DJ”, D-Wade.
Yeah, I’m gonna do that now. That was my s–t. [Laughs.]
Australian singer and songwriter Kita Alexander is the latest addition to the Lemon Tree Music roster, Billboard can reveal.
Alexander signs with the Australia-based artist management company for the world, and will be guided by LTM senior artist manager Elise Naismith.
Kita’s catalog “is anthem after anthem and her new music is no exception,” Naismith comments. “Off the back of her sold out debut headline tour earlier this year, I look forward to empowering Kita as she enters her Queen era, here in Australia and beyond.”
To celebrate the new deal, Alexander today (July 27) releases her new single “Date Night” (via Warner Music Australia), a collaboration with homegrown country star Morgan Evans.
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Based in Byron Bay, Alexander’s profile contributes to grow off the back of several high-profile gigs and new releases, including the introspective “7 Minutes In Heaven” and the belter “Queen,” both of which enjoyed rotation on national youth broadcaster triple j.
Championed by triple j from the early phases of her career, Alexander would go on to achieve commercial radio liftoff with the Hit and Nova networks.
Global combined streams top 145 million, and include the EPs Like You Want To and Hotel, the ARIA gold-certified singles “Damage Done” and “Like You Want To,” and platinum-certified “Between You & I”.
Earlier in the year, she teamed up with Australian DJ Fisher on stage at Coachella. The live dates keep coming, and include a performance this Friday, July 28 at the FIFA Fan Festival, set to be held in Brisbane, Australia following the home nation’s Women’s World Cup group match against Nigeria.
Led by co-founders and directors Regan Lethbridge and David Morgan, LTM’s roster includes award-winning homegrown artists Tash Sultana, Tones and I and Budjerah.
“I’m so excited to announce that I’ve signed with Lemon Tree Music,” Alexander says in a statement. “I’ve been self-managed for the last year and a half waiting until I found the perfect fit. I have wanted to align myself with an Australian based management company that has those international ties to really grow my music and brand. Cannot wait to see what we can achieve together.”
MELBOURNE, Australia — Mushroom Group spawns a new live entertainment company, MG Live.
Unveiled Thursday, July 27, the independent music powerhouse consolidates a string of its events and touring businesses under the umbrella of MG Live, including Illusive Presents, Roundhouse Entertainment, Good Life, I OH YOU Touring, and Arena Touring.
The fresh collective will focus on developing branded events and experiences alongside its domestic and international headline touring, and will continue to deliver tours in conjunction with sister company Frontier Touring, the powerhouse concerts specialist.
“Throughout the last eighteen months we have worked to consolidate a number of Mushroom’s live interests outside of our leading touring business Frontier Touring,” comments Mushroom Group chairman and CEO Matt Gudinski, who helms MG Live, along with an experience executive team.
“We looked at how to best move forward with our other specialist touring and leading event companies,” he continues in a statement, “and decided the time was right to combine their strengths and bring them under one banner.”
Matt Gudinski
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Speaking with Billboard ahead of the announcement, Gudinski says the seeds for MG Live were planted before the COVID-19 pandemic. And as the Melbourne-based company celebrates its 50th anniversary, expect more change and evolution.
“The consolidation that we’re looking at across a number of different areas of the group,” he explains, “you’ll see a number of other things over the next six to 12 months which will really drive greater success, ensure we’re combining our strengths and, really, allow myself and the other leaders of the group to better manage all the different businesses that are part of Mushroom.”
Those businesses number more than two-dozen affiliates active in every conceivable area of the music and entertainment industries, from touring to publishing, merch and marketing services, venues, exhibition and events production, neighboring rights, branding, labels, talent management and more. In recent weeks, Mushroom Group added a new agency, MBA, a partnership with Guven Yilmaz, founder and managing director of Vita Music Group.
Frontier Touring, a partnership with AEG Presents which is unaffected by the new live entertainment company, has teamed with MG Live’s companies which, in the past 12 months, have sold more than 1.3 million tickets combined, according to the business, and produced tours over that time that include Tyler, The Creator, Fatboy Slim, Ed Sheeran, Billy Joel, Richard Marx, Pavement, and more.
The MG Live touring slate for the months ahead includes Robbie Williams and the Chicks performing at a day on the green, plus Fridayz Live and Boiler Room events, as well as tours by 070 Shake, The Teskey Brothers, DMA’S, Valley and Earl Sweatshirt.
As for the brand, is MG Live a reference to Michael Gudinski, the late, legendary founder and chairman of the group, his son Matt, or the broader business itself, Mushroom Group?
“It might be a combination of all of those,” says Matt Gudinski, cryptically. “It just clicked.”
Tetris Kelly:Irish music legend Sinéad O’Connor has died at the age of 56. Sinéad O’Connor, who topped the Billboard hot 100 with her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U,” has died. Her family confirmed the news with a statement to BBC saying, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our […]
SYDNEY, Australia — Coachella CEO Paul Tollett, futurist Amy Webb and Slack co-founder Cal Henderson are among the guest speakers joining the inaugural SXSW Sydney, a week-long industry powwow, party, and seat of learning, set for this October.
Joining the 700-strong speakers lineup is fashion icon Tan France, alongside previously announced guests including Chris Lee, a.k.a. Sung-su Lee, chief A&R officer and former CEO of SM Entertainment, the giant K-pop agency; Per Sundin, the Swedish CEO of Pophouse Entertainment; multiple world surfing champion Layne Beachley and many more.
Tollett will participate in a “fireside chat,” says Claire Collins, head of music for SXSW. “We’re going to learn about his history, the history of the event and how it became the most influential event in the world, the challenges and the future,” Collins tells Billboard. “It’ll be an unmissable session.”
Organizers received more than 2,500 applications for those coveted performer spots, explains Collins, who pays tribute to the “enormous job” by the programming team, and singles out music festival programming director of Reginald Harris.
Meanwhile, the SXSW music team today announces 100 new artists to its lineup, a list that includes raging-hot U.S. viral hip-hop act Flyana Boss, which has accumulated more than 1 million followers on TikTok; rising homegrown acts South Summit, Chanel Loren and Gut Health; South Korea’s ADOY and Lil Cherry; Indonesia’s Isyana Sarasvati and Malaysia’s Lunadira.
The final list of performances, which continues to take shape, will number more than 400.
Just three months out from showtime, SXSW Sydney 2023 will spotlight a range of fresh music talent coming out of the Asia-Pacific region, organizers say, and offer myriad opportunities to connect with bright sparks across the region from within the music industry, and across the tech, games and screen industries.
“Never before have this many entrepreneurs, artists, futurists, innovators and titans of every industry all been in Sydney at one time,” comments Colin Daniels, managing director of SXSW Sydney, in a statement. “As we pull together over 1,000 events and experiences, our team are still searching for a poster big enough to reveal it all.”
Also, more than 300 panels and sessions will explore hot-button topics from AI fluency, “Big Tech” transparency, the future of lab-grown meat, ethical living with robots, First Nations knowledge in design, and more.
Born and bred in Austin, Texas, the South by Southwest conference and festival makes the leap from the United States for the first time with its Australia leg, set for seven days and nights from Oct. 15-22, 2023.
SXSW Sydney is a collaboration with Australian promoter TEG and the New South Wales (NSW) government along with its tourism agency, Destination NSW.
In April 2021, it was announced that SXSW had signed a “lifeline” deal with P-MRC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC, making P-MRC a stakeholder and long-term partner with the Austin festival. P-MRC is the parent company of Billboard.
Visit sxswsydney.com for more.