Brazil
GOIÂNIA, Brazil — As the global pandemic deepened, Brazilian country artist Alex Ronaldo watched his career ebb away. So the veteran music writer cooked up a side hustle: He took hundreds of demos he regularly received from aspiring artists — mostly in the sertanejo, or Brazilian country, genre — and put them out on Spotify under false names and fake artists, with fake cover art, all created from his luxury seafront condo.
In December, three years after he launched his illegal money-making scheme, prosecutors arrested and charged Ronaldo Torres de Souza, who performs under the moniker Alex Ronaldo, in the first prosecution of an individual in Brazil for streaming fraud. The sertanejo artist confessed to uploading more than 400 tracks by other artists under false names to Spotify that generated more than 28 million fake plays — using artificial intelligence to aid in the scheme.
The major labels, via Brazil’s recorded music association Pro-Música Brasil, along with Brazil’s anti-piracy body Association for the Protection of Phonographic Intellectual Rights (APDIF), cooperated on what they are calling Operation Out of Tune. “Simply put, streaming manipulation of this nature is theft — stealing directly from artists and betraying fans,” Victoria Oakley, the CEO of IFPI in London, said in a statement last week.
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As seemingly important as his arrest was, in Goiânia — the “Nashville of Brazil” — the case underscored to music executives how little was being done to tackle a more serious problem plaguing the Brazilian industry: the buying of fake streams by artists, managers and music label executives to prop up artists on Spotify’s charts.
Brazilian music executives said a furious scramble for Spotify chart dominance is spurring artists to spend tens of thousands of dollars on fake plays for individual songs — and Spotify is doing little that they can see to stop it.
“Everything is bought and paid for here,” Gláucio Toledo, a sertanejo music manager, said about music streaming success in Brazil. “I know three people who got rich selling fake playlists. It has become an unfair competition in the digital world.”
Other industry observers are hearing similar concerns. “Brazil is on a lot of people’s minds across the industry, big and small,” says Morgan Hayduk, the co-CEO and co-founder of Beatdapp, a Vancouver-based company that specializes in streaming fraud detection. “When we talk to rights holders or to platforms there are questions about what they see in their Brazil data.”
One top music manager told Billboard that so-called stream brokers peddle 1 million streams for 50,000 reais ($8,750). That level of spending outpaces the average of around $4,000 that Spotify pays out for a million streams, this person said. The typical fraud scheme involves accessing fake-stream farms in Brazil or outside the country that use dozens if not hundreds of laptops and cell phones to run Spotify accounts continuously.
Spotify says it “invests heavily in automated and manual reviews” to prevent, detect and mitigate artificial streams on its platform. “When we identify stream manipulation, we take action that includes removing streaming numbers and withholding royalties,” a Spotify spokesperson said. “Bad actors are always evolving, so our dedicated fraud prevention team is always working to identify new trends and methods used to game the system.”
Nevertheless, competition to out-buy other sertanejo artists “is hindering other genres, such as funk, pop, MPB and electronic music, which sometimes struggle to make it into the top 10 or 15 because [the lists] are inflated,” says Raphael Ribeiro, CEO of AudioMix Digital, the Goiânia-based label and artist management company that launched several big sertanejo artists, including Gusttavo Lima, Jorge & Mateus and Wesley Safadão.
Fraud is also limiting the barriers to entry for less wealthy artists in Brazil. “Nowadays, it’s hard for an artist to break through if you don’t get involved in a scheme, if you don’t pay for streams, if you don’t create a bot, because there’s a lot of money involved,” Ribeiro says.
Heavy stream-buying could at least partly explain sertanejo’s dominance in Brazil over the past several years. Seven of the top 10 most-played tracks on streaming platforms last year were sertanejo, according to Pro-Música, with Felipe & Rodrigo’s live version of “Gosta de Rua” grabbing the top spot.
In Brazil, streaming success on Spotify strongly impacts touring and sponsorship fees for artists. Top concert earners include Jorge & Mateus and Lima, the latter of whom is so popular that until two weeks ago he was publicly weighing a run for president of the country next year. (He said he would focus instead on conquering the Spanish-language Latino music market.) Reaching the top 50 on Spotify typically boosts an artist’s touring fee to at least 300,000 reais (about $52,000), two Brazilian music managers said.
Brazil’s overall recorded music market is among the fastest growing in the world. Last year it grew 21.7% to 3.49 billion reais ($609 million) to land in ninth place on IFPI’s global ranking (88% of revenues came from on-demand streams), despite the country’s currency remaining historically weak compared to the U.S. dollar. That’s up more than double from the $296.2 million and 12th place it held in 2020, according to IFPI’s annual Global Music Report.
Allegations of an underground market in Brazil for buying and selling fake streams to prop up artists first began to spread during the pandemic, when a senior manager at a streaming platform and one executive at a major label — both based in Brazil then — told Billboard that stream-buying by big-name artists was prevalent, especially in sertanejo — and that indie and major labels were involved.
Fraudsters have had a head start on Brazilian investigators. The public prosecutor’s office in the state of Goias, where Goiânia is located, only organized a cybercrime unit last year. And prosecutors acknowledged that the Torres de Souza probe, which involved authorities in two other states, piggy-backed on reporting by Brazilian news site UOL — largely because none of the more than 50 composers who were victimized reached out to authorities first, they said.
Still, Brazil has done more than most countries.
Previous law enforcement efforts have focused on shutting down websites peddling fake streams and stream-ripping services, rather than on rooting out individual fraudsters. Pro-Música president Paulo Rosa told Billboard in 2022 that most of the illicit activity affecting Brazil was being conducted outside the country by mirror sites in Russia. Last year, Operation 404, a global anti-piracy effort, dismantled the top three most popular stream-ripping mobile apps in Brazil, while another initiative, Operation Redirect, targeted illegal music sites in Brazil associated with malware distribution.
“There have been very few streaming cases channeled through proper authorities anywhere around the world,” Hayduk says. “To see three in Brazil is still a meaningful number.”
Homegrown Streaming Fraud
That said, Torres de Souza’s case showed that a relatively uncomplicated streaming fraud operation can go undetected for years. At his apartment in Recife, in the northeast of the country, the artist, who has 13,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, used fake documents and emails to register other artists’ demos with distributors. Then he published the songs on Spotify and social media platforms under fake names and fake artists, using AI-generated fake cover art.
The heart of the scheme involved setting up 21 computers that ran the open-source program Sandboxie on various internet browsers, which could generate up to 16 virtual computers on each machine. That meant he could have up to 2,000 browser windows open simultaneously pumping out mostly Spotify streams for the music he illicitly appropriated, prosecutors described in their 90-page complaint.
Investigators found a wall of laptops generating millions of illicit Spotify streams at the condo of Ronaldo Torres de Souza in Recife, Brazil.
Courtesy of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the state of Goiás, Brazil
Investigators seized computers and hard drives containing thousands of demos and hundreds of pieces of cover art. Torres de Souza ran the computers 24 hours a day, only disconnecting them when he traveled to avoid starting a fire, Fabrício Lamas, a prosecutor with Goiânia’s cybercrime unit, CyberGaeco, tells Billboard.
In the first year or so, the sertanejo artist relied on demos from aspiring artists to generate his illicit income. Then in the past year, he turned to fast-evolving AI programs to also create fake music, prosecutors said.
By all accounts, Torres de Souza, 47, was acting alone in the scheme. His wife of more than a decade was oblivious to what he was doing with a wall full of laptops running Spotify accounts all day long, according to prosecutors.
The scheme wasn’t always that sophisticated. The sertanejo artist ascribed fake male artist names to some songs that had female singers. And some AI-created cover art didn’t even refer to actual songs. Fake artist “Regis Costa,” for example, had cover art for “Taça de Vinho” (Wine Glass) — with an image of a martini glass instead of a wine glass — but there was no such song on the album.
Prosecutors estimated Torres de Souza generated more than 300,000 reais ($52,000) in illicit royalties from the first 400 or so songs identified. They expect that number to grow significantly when they gain access to his bank account in a few months, as proscribed under Brazilian banking law.
Torres de Souza faces a potential prison sentence of more than 10 years for the fraud scheme, Lamas said. Prosecutors and his attorney José Paulo Schneider said the music artist cooperated fully in their probe and expressed remorse for his actions. He was released from jail and is awaiting trial.
“This operation, when they got to Alex Ronaldo, was just the tip of the iceberg, but [investigators] didn’t look at the bigger picture,” Schneider says. “There are many artists who use this kind of non-organic reproduction to be able to make their songs go viral — in short, to monetize them.”
Blame Game
The length of Torres de Souza’s potential sentence could come down to who claims they were a victim, which is not so clear, Lamas says.
“There is a lot of confusion,” the prosecutor says. “The composers’ associations, the record companies’ associations and the streaming companies say, ‘We are not victims.’ But who is paying? The streaming companies, who say, ‘We don’t pay them, we pay the distributor’? It’s kind of a blame game.”
Goiânia prosecutors criticized Spotify, saying the company chose not to collaborate. “In this specific case, there was no delivery of platform information,” says prosecutor Gabriella de Queiroz Clementino. “Spotify stated that it had no interest in the criminal investigation.”
A Spotify spokesperson denied that charge. The platform “cooperated fully with the authorities to provide all requested information and certainly did provide an explanation about its processes to detect and mitigate artificial streams,” the spokesperson said, noting that Spotify “continues to be collaborative during this investigation.”
Lamas says prosecutors “are aware of other situations” involving steaming manipulation but would not provide further detail. “For us to effectively combat this, the state needs better collaboration from the companies that receive this data,” he adds.
For music industry officials who see stream-buying happening in Brazilian country music with impunity, new fraud probes couldn’t come soon enough.
“To me, the greatest harm from this [fraudulent stream] activity is that it generates a lack of credibility in the market,” says Marcelo Castello Branco, president of the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC). “There will come a time when even the consumer will not believe these numbers.”
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Coincidence or not, it was a full moon Tuesday (Feb. 11) in Rio de Janeiro. The sky was clear, without stars, as the biggest star got ready to shine at the Nilton Santos Stadium, also known as Engenhão. Accompanied by her army — correction: her pack — She-Wolf Shakira marched toward the stage, focused on performing the greatest show of her life for the kickoff of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour. She delivered, showing once again why she’s considered one of the greatest Latin artists in history.
Even with technical problems — including faulty monitors and a problem with screens — Shak remained calm and in good spirits.
“This is the first show, of course, something had to happen,” she said, laughing. With everything resolved, Shakira began the concert with “La Fuerte” from her latest album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, which gives its name to the tour.
The Colombian artist performed for more than two hours, playing a setlist that included the biggest hits from her 30-year-plus career. With the help of highly realistic projections made with AI, the singer brought visuals that told key moments of her personal and artistic journey.
In addition, the competent band and dancers put on a show of their own. Shakira made sure to thank each member of her team and introduced each one by name on stage. The she-wolf seemed to be overflowing with joy, like a child. At the end of each act — difficult to say which was the best — she had a huge smile on her face.
“This is a true encounter between a little she-wolf and her pack,” Shakira said.
Proving that women cash in — and how! — Shakira made a heavy investment in this tour. She was accompanied by cameras that showed every step of the show on a giant screen. Her speed in changing outfits was impressive: I counted eight, but there were definitely more. In some of her acts, she recreated scenes from music videos like “Te Felicito” (with Rauw Alejandro), and also recreated the atmosphere of the “Chantaje” video (with Maluma), where she sang from her dressing room — and the audience followed everything, including the costume changes.
Adjectives fall short to explain the magnitude of the singer’s performance; she seemed like a force of nature on stage. According to her: “Falls are not the end, but the beginning of the highest flight.” And after her turbulent period, today she shines with tranquility — with each passing day, time is becoming her ally, just like a fine wine.
Below, see Shakira’s 10 best moments at the first concert of her Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran World Tour.
The opening
Coincidence or not, it was a full moon Tuesday (Feb. 11) in Rio de Janeiro. The sky was clear, without stars, as the biggest star got ready to shine at the Nilton Santos Stadium, also known as Engenhão. Accompanied by her army — correction: her pack — She-Wolf Shakira marched toward the stage focused on […]
Shakira’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour has finally arrived. The Colombian superstar kicked off her Latin American trek on Tuesday (Feb. 11) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos. Her highly anticipated show follows her Grammy performance, which took place Feb. 2, where she delivered “Ojos Así” and most […]
Alok has a new musical alias, Something Else, with which the Brazilian superstar marks a significant departure from his usual, more pop-leaning work, Billboard can exclusively announce.
“When you think about Something Else, the idea that I had, [it’s that] I really love to connect with people. Sometimes when you get into a certain level of your career, [you find] you cannot fit into these places. I feel that Something Else gives me the freedom to express my creativity in different places,” Alok tells Billboard Español in a Zoom call. “It gives me the opportunity to go to places where Alok wouldn’t fit, but my heart fits. Even though Alok is my name, it’s my project, I really respect what we have build up with Alok. That’s always gonna be my main goal. But I also feel that my heart fits into other places as well.”
Known globally for his electrifying electronic pop anthems that have captivated millions, Alok, who launched his career 20 years ago, is branching outside of pop territory, and returning closer to his “psych trance and underground” roots. He debuted his latest venture Something Else to fans last year at global festivals such as the Universo Paralello in Brazil and the Zamna Tulum Festival in Mexico.
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The announcement of his new project arrives with the release of “Miçanga”, a tropical house remix of an eponymous BaianaSystem track of which Billboard Español offers the first exclusive stream. Created under his new moniker, the artist joins Stephan Jolk and Kawz in this collaboration with BaianaSystem, five years after the release of the original song. “I felt that this [song] could really fit in our universe,” he says. “[BaianaSystem] does very solid conceptual work that is singular and unique.”
The inspiration for the new DJ/producer project arrived when he performed at his brother’s wedding in Thailand for about a small group of 50 family and friends. “We just started to play, and it was all about the vibe. It was all about just being there and connecting in a very introspective way. I missed that so much,” he says. “I don’t wanna say [Something Else] is one kind of style of genre. I just wanna be like, it’s something else from the ‘Alok’ and ‘pop’ that you saw at Belém.”
Last November, Alok — famed for pioneering and popularizing Brazilian bass on a global scale — performed a massive concert at the Mangueirão Olympic Stadium’s parking lot in Belém, Pará in northern Brazil, to kick off the one-year countdown of COP30 which will take place in said city this year. Just 100 miles south of the equator and close to the Amazon rainforest, 250,000 attendees arrived to experience is AUREA show, where he stood above a ten-story-high pyramid stage.
The “Hear Me Now” hitmaker gave his fanbase a taste of his more experimental side with his 2024 album, The Future Is Ancestral, where he collaborated with the Yawanawa tribe of Brazil, and other indigenous poets, scholars and musicians. “It’s also totally, completely different from what Alok releases,” he adds.
“With Something Else, with ‘Miçanga,’ for example, it’s just a place where I don’t have to be pressured. I can just do stuff that I like, even though I know they won’t work in the same [way] as Alok’s songs,” he adds. “But at the end of the day, I feel that as a DJ, and all DJs, we are here to serve. We’re here to please people. And to do stuff that we believe, stuff that we like.”
In April, the two-time Latin Grammy nominee will make his Coachella debut.
Check out Something Else, Stephan Jolk, and Kawz’s “Miçanga” featuring BaianaSystem below.
On a balmy night in Belém, Pará in northern Brazil, just 100 miles south of the equator and close to the Amazon rainforest, a crowd of over 250,000 attendees assembled in the Mangueirão Olympic Stadium’s parking lot for an unprecedented free concert. Amid this sea of people stood a dramatic ten-story-high pyramid stage; crowning it was Alok, the superstar DJ and producer, famed for pioneering and popularizing Brazilian bass on a global scale.
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He arrived donning a shiny plant-green suit, resembling a blend between a glossy space suit and a verdant beetle. “We are here today in Belém, in the heart of the Amazon, not only to talk about an ancestral future but also to recognize the voices and the legacy of the guardians of the forest,” Alok declared on stage in Portuguese. “Living [in the Amazon] are the riverside dwellers, the Indigenous people — and now, they will share the stage. The future is ancestral is with you now, the Yawanawa.”
Aside from being the name of his latest album, “The future is ancestral” is a phrase that represents Alok’s deep dive into the ancient living traditions of the Yawanawa people who hail from the Amazon. Their ritualistic music and powerful singing offer a transcendent connection to the forest, bridging the past and the present with each note.
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This grand international affair served as the ceremonial commencement of the one-year countdown to the COP30 — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — while simultaneously launching Alok’s Aurea Tour. The event, a manifestation of resilience and hope for the enduring health of our planet, was presented by Banco do Brasil, and received full support from the government of Pará.
The three-hour concert expanded across various segments, also spotlighting local legends like Joelma, Gaby Amarantos, Zaynara, Viviane Batidão and Pinduca, many of whom represent the native music of Pará, carimbó (a traditional upbeat style characterized by Afro-Indigenous rhythms) and tecnobrega (meaning “techno tacky” — electronic reworkings of Brazilian music), as well as indie rock singer Zeeba.
The pyramid stage itself, which took two weeks to build, stood as a towering feat of modern technology, equipped with over 100 tons of gear, a 360-degree platform, and more than 2,000 LED panels. The event’s visual spectacle was further intensified by 432 drones, orchestrated by Flyworks Drone Show, which painted the night sky with luminescent forms — celestial motifs, an Indigenous headdress, and a colossus tree, all casting a magical glow over the gathered throngs.
Alok performs in Belém, Pará, Brazil on Saturday, Nov. 23 as part of his Aurea Tour, kicking off the countdown to COP30 in 2025.
Filipe Miranda
In support of these initiatives, the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, emphasized the importance of such events in changing public perceptions and policy directions. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity to host the world’s largest climate change event in Belém,” he asserted to Billboard Español, referring to COP30.
The governor highlighted the dual necessity of preserving the immense biodiversity of the Amazon while also considering the livelihoods of its 29 million inhabitants — drawing a vivid picture of the “urban Amazonians, riverine Amazonians, and Indigenous peoples” who form the fabric of this vibrant ecosystem. “I believe there is no more symbolically important place for this than the Amazon than Belém. We understand that using entertainment to engage society is crucial,” Barbalho added.
But it was a profound personal journey that set Alok on this path a decade ago. Struggling with a deep depression in 2014, the artist sought solace and meaning. “I was looking for answers. I just felt a huge emptiness,” he said days before the event at the Ilha do Combú, an island located along the Guamá River. “A friend of mine showed me a YouTube video of Saiti Kaya, from the Yawanawa, singing, and it was just beautiful. I said, ‘Wow, this is inspiration. I want to go there. I want to visit them.’”
With nothing to lose, Alok booked his journey, unaware that it would require three flights totaling 13 hours, followed by a grueling nine-hour trip in a small canoe (“not a boat,” he added with a chuckle). As he navigated the river, a massive rainstorm suddenly erupted, prompting him to question, “What am I doing here?” But he pressed on, compelled by a deep need to continue.
Upon arriving, Alok experienced a profound realization. “We have this impression that we are a more developed culture and they are less developed. As soon as I arrived there, I realized that [notion] doesn’t exist. It’s different views and different goals. The way they connect with nature was something that we lost a long time ago.”
During his 10-day immersion with the Yawanawa people, Alok engaged with their traditional practices, diving into the spiritual and medicinal aspects of their culture. He participated in rituals involving ayahuasca — a potent hallucinogenic brew, made from specific vines known for their powerful psychoactive effects — and kambo, which involves applying the secretion of a frog to burns on the skin, believed by many to cleanse the body and mind. These experiences opened new realms of understanding for Alok, touching on themes of life, death and rebirth inherent in these rites.
Alok explained that the discovery of ayahuasca is a miracle of nature, requiring a mysterious combination of two plants among the vast biodiversity of the Amazon. The odds of such a discovery, he noted, were astronomically low, “one in 100 million.”
“[The Yawanawa] told me that it was a dream how they found out how to combine,” he added. “We have an enzyme in our digestive [system] that does not allow the DMT to release. What happens is that one plant releases the DMT and the other one shuts down our enzyme. So that’s how it works properly. It was a life-changing experience that [transformed] how I contribute through my art.” He explains that he ultimately shifted from commercial hits to “songs for healing.”
“For us, music is vital,” said Célia Xakriabá, an activist of the Xakriabá people of Brazil and the first Indigenous woman to earn a doctorate in anthropology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais. “Many ask, ‘What’s the top hit this year?’ For my people, the most significant music isn’t the newest but the oldest, the most ancestral. [Alok] said to me, ‘Célia, I’ve had the impression of singing to millions of people and them not hearing me.’ And I said, ‘Maybe it’s because you’re singing from too high a stage. We, Indigenous people, sing from the earth.’”
Meanwhile, Mapu Huni Kuin, spiritual leader, chief, and musician of the Huni Kuin people, was discovered by Alok through his song “Índio Mensageiro” on YouTube. Mapu recalled how Alok reached out to him, not only appreciating his art but recognizing the potential for greater awareness and preservation: “He saw this project as an opportunity for us to archive our knowledge and practices for future generations — our prayers, our art, our way of life.”
Alok released The Future is Ancestral in April, a nine-track album that features Yawanawa Saiti Kaya, Guarani Nhandewa, Wyanã Kariri Xocó, Brô MC’s, OWERÁ, Kaingang, as well as Mapu and Célia, representing a total of eight Indigenous communities from Brazil to help save the Amazon; all proceeds directly support the artists and their communities.
“What we present is the voice of the forest,” said Mapu. “The Future Is Ancestral is about making people listen to what the elders used to say and speak, and the best way is through our sacred chants. We pray for the healing of humanity.”
“It’s a platform that amplifies the Indigenous voices of Brazil, which has faced significant threats. Once numbering five million, we are now only one million and seven hundred,” added Célia. “Indigenous peoples make up 5% of the world’s population yet protect 82% of its biodiversity. Together with traditional communities, we represent 50% of the solutions for the planet’s health. So, when Indigenous peoples sing, the forest sings with us.”
Aligning with the environmental goals of his album, Alok brought up a relevant global initiative to emphasize the practical importance of natural solutions, “Elon Musk launched the XPRIZE [Carbon Removal] competition. If you could create a technology that’s able to remove the carbon [dioxide] from the atmosphere, you would get $100 million. That exists; it’s called trees. You know what I mean? That’s the point.”
He continued to reflect on the cultural paradigm shift his project aims to bolster: “That’s why every time we say ‘The Future sI Ancestral,’ we are bringing the ancestral knowledge to create a sustainable future for us. That’s the most important point about this project — it’s raising their voices. I’m very proud of them. Something beautiful about this project is that many times when I work with [other non-Indigenous] artists, it’s always about ‘them, them, them.’ But with the Indigenous, it’s different, they always think about the collective.”
Governor Barbalho highlighted the strategic preparations for Belém to host the upcoming COP30 next year, underscoring its significance not just locally but globally: “We are preparing Belém to host 60,000 attendees immersed in environmental discussions, exploring solutions and tackling social challenges. This positions us to leave a tangible legacy for the environment and the city.” In conjunction with COP30, Global Citizen Fest will also take place in Belém, simultaneously, marking the first time the New York City festival arrives in Latin America.
“Our generation has a unique opportunity to create a lasting legacy for the Amazon and its people, and to improve Belém as a city,” explained Barbalho. “My hope is that by the end of this journey, we will have played our part in ushering in a new era for this generation. More importantly, I hope we leave future generations with a healthier environment and a thriving forest that holds environmental, social, and economic value.”
Alok reflected on the transformative potential of intertwining ancestral knowledge with contemporary global movements. “It is [imperative] that the population understands the importance of COP30, which is going to be the most significant one in history,” said Alok. “We are approaching [what is called] the point of no return. Just this year in Brazil, we’ve lost an area equivalent to 130 cities the size of São Paulo — home to 11.5 million people — to deforestation. The forest cannot recover by itself. People need to realize that Brazil can be a leader in sustainable growth and how we can onboard others. The population must pressure our leaders to make real changes.”
As COP30 approaches, Belém becomes a turning point in global environmental advocacy, with the help of Alok and The Future is Ancestral project. With the world watching, there is a collective aspiration that the international event will highlight the critical need for sustainable practices and mobilize concrete actions to safeguard our planet for generations to come.
Alok performs in Belém, Pará, Brazil on Saturday, Nov. 23 as part of his Aurea Tour, kicking off the countdown to COP30 in 2025.
Filipe Miranda
Disclosure: This trip to cover Alok’s concert in Belém, Pará, Brazil was sponsored by Alok’s team and the government of Pará, who provided funding for the flight and accommodations.
Brazilian DJ Alok is poised to electrify the Amazon rainforest with a free concert expected to draw a massive crowd of 120,000.
Presented by Banco do Brasil, with sponsorships from the Government of Pará, Estrella Galicia, Vale and Vivo, and as part of the artist’s Áurea Tour, the landmark event will be livestreamed globally on Saturday (Nov. 23), marking the official one-year countdown to the international climate summit, COP30. Hosted at the Mangueirão Olympic Stadium in Belém, Pará, along the fringes of the Amazon jungle, the event is a celebration of resilience and hope for our planet’s future.
“We need to make COP pop,” Alok told Billboard Español days before the concert, expressing the desire to make the Conference of the Parties (COP) — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — more mainstream and accessible to the general public.
“It is [imperative] that the population understands the importance of COP30, which is going to be the most significant one in history,” he said. “We are approaching [what is called] the point of no return. Just this year in Brazil, we’ve lost an area equivalent to 130 cities the size of São Paulo — home to 11.5 million people — to deforestation. The forest cannot recover by itself. People need to realize that Brazil can be a leader in sustainable growth and how we can onboard others. The population must pressure our leaders to make real changes.”
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This approach will aim to bridge the gap between high-level climate negotiations and the general public’s understanding and involvement in these issues.
Local talent Joelma, Gaby Amarantos, Zaynara, Viviane Batidão and Pinduca are among the confirmed acts, as well as indigenous artists Mapu Huni Kuin, Owerá, Brô MC’s, Yawanawás, Célia Xakriabá, Kaingang and Guarani Nhandewa, who are also featured on Alok’s latest album, The Future Is Ancestral.
“We understand that the use of entertainment to engage society is fundamental,” the Governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, told Billboard. “It is an extraordinary opportunity to host the world’s largest climate change event, making Belém’s selection a new paradigm for humanity in valuing the rainforest. Alok has been doing this over time — not just now — defending the forest, valuing ancestral peoples, and connecting the history and challenges of the Amazon with a global dialogue. Through this connection, this allows us to make our voices heard around the globe.”
“What we present is the voice of the forest,” said Mapu Huni Kuin, spiritual leader, chief, and musician of the Huni Kuin people in Brazil. “We pray for the healing of humanity as we perform. This event in Belém is an offering of our prayers and chants, a profound plea for the welfare of all.”
“Participating in the Future Is Ancestral project allows us to bridge the gap between modern platforms and our ancient voices,” added Célia Xakriabá, an indigenous educator and activist of the Xakriabá people of Brazil. “For over five centuries, we’ve remained unheard, but today, our presence on platforms like these, alongside the greenery of forests and the resilience of our cultures, communicates crucial messages. Entertainment plays a unique role in conveying our message even to those reluctant to endorse our causes. If humanity wishes to survive, it must align with the perspectives of indigenous peoples, as our fight is for the survival of everyone’s future.”
The intersection of worlds at the event will be complemented by a cutting-edge, pyramid-like stage setup, featuring over 100 tons of equipment, a 360-degree rotating platform, and more than 2,000 LED panels to ensure an immersive experience.
The live stream will start at 7 p.m. ET. Watch it below:
Brazilian superstar Alok is gearing up to launch the official one-year countdown to COP30 on Saturday (Nov. 23). Located in the fringes of the Amazon jungle in Belém, Pará, Brazil, at the 55,000-capacity Mangueirão Olympic Stadium, the free event is a celebration of the forthcoming international climate summit and also part of Alok’s Áurea Tour.
During the event, the Brazilian bass DJ will host six indigenous ethnic groups that are part of his United Nations-supported Future Is Ancestral project. The stage itself will be a technological marvel, featuring a pyramid-like structure with over 100 tons of equipment, a 360-degree rotating platform rising as high as a ten-story building, and more than 2,000 LED panels.
Alok was recently nominated twice at the Latin Grammys in the new category of best Latin electronic music performance for two tracks: “Drum Machine” with Pickle and “Pedju Kunumigwe” with Guarani Nhandewa. On Friday (Nov. 15), he released his latest track, “Looking For Love” with Anitta.
As Alok continues to foster cultural celebration through his music and influence, his commitment to ensuring justice has also been noteworthy.
In a legal dispute in June, São Paulo’s civil court system ruled in favor of Alok against Kevin Daniel Brauer de Oliveira, affirming the DJ as the creator and holder of adaptive rights to the song “nananana Un Ratito,” which subsequently extends to “Un Ratito” with Luis Fonsi, Lunay, Lenny Tavárez, and Juliette, according to court documents. The judgment obliges Brauer de Oliveira to pay Alok $20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,475.78) in compensation for “moral damages.”
The legal outcome is the culmination of several conflicts between Alok and the Brauer brothers — Kevin and Sean — who formerly collaborated with Alok as part of the duo Sevenn. Over the years, their partnership helped escalate Brazilian bass music onto the world stage, but that partnership eventually soured. As articulated in a 2022 Billboard article, the Brauer brothers had accused Alok of exploiting their work — including their contributions to at least 14 tracks — without appropriate credit or compensation.
“I have always had full confidence in the justice system. My work is transparent and everything is clarified and proven,” Alok said in a statement regarding the court ruling. “I will take this opportunity to donate the compensation from this case to the victims in Rio Grande do Sul. This is the best way to respond to the wrong they tried to do, by doing good for those who need it most at this moment. I hope the compensation also serves as a lesson to deter malicious people from defaming others’ honor with the simple sense of impunity.”