State Champ Radio Business News
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After shaping some of the biggest acts in global pop, HYBE is setting its sights on Latin music with an ambitious new reality series from its subsidiary, HYBE Latin America. Billboard has exclusively learned that production kicks off this week in Mexico City on the yet-to-be-titled project, which aims to form a new all-male pop group.
The series will train and develop 16 contestants from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the U.S., Peru and Spain, narrowing the field to a final five by the end of the season this fall.
The series’ format and execution differs from other reality talent competition in multiple key ways. First and foremost, it’s HYBE’s first artist development venture of this scale focused entirely on Latin talent, combining the development discipline the company has applied in K-pop with Latin American cultural and artistic sensibility.
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Further, instead of airing as a carefully formatted weekly television show, the reality show is a multi-platform production that integrates long-form storytelling, performance content and behind-the-scenes narratives distributed across streaming, social and music platforms.
The project also features a roster of mentors that may be unprecedented in a Latin reality show. It includes director and choreographer Kenny Ortega (High School Musical, The Descendants) as executive producer; Charm La’Donna (Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 Super Bowl, Bruno Mars) as head choreographer; and Robert J “RAab” Stevenson (SZQ, Rihanna) as head vocal coach.
“This project is about much more than music. It’s about reimagining how Latin talent can be discovered, developed and presented to the world. We are building the foundation for the next generation of global Latin artists with the highest creative and production standards,” said J.H. Kah, CEO of HYBE Latin America, who is leading efforts on the venture, in a statement.
The new project joins a roster of properties that includes newly-announced talent competition Pase a la Fama, which HYBE Latin America developed with Telemundo. The competition show seeks to find the next regional Mexican band and premieres on Telemundo June 8 with Ana Bárbara, Horacio Palencia and Adriel Favela as judges.
This show, however, doesn’t have a partner network.
While contestants officially arrive in Mexico this week (beginning May 12), preproduction for the show has been underway for months. Hundreds of applications poured in from across Latin America and the U.S., leading to an initial shortlist of 300 candidates. From there, 16 finalists were selected to begin intensive training at a custom-built “bootcamp” located in Mexico City’s Parque Bicentenario.
The bootcamp will include some 30 instructors, including vocal coaches, producers, fitness trainers and choreographers and is supported by Weverse, HYBE’s extremely successful social media/fandom platform.
HYBE Latin America
courtesy of HYBE Latin America. ©️ 2025 HYBE Corporation.
Make no mistake — this is a distinctly Latin production. The show is being helmed by two seasoned Colombian producers: showrunner Jaime Escallón (X Factor, Survivor) and production designer Lucas Jaramillo. Both serve as executive producers and co-creators of the format, with a clear mission to build a production environment that authentically reflects Latin culture.
“This is different from other talent reality shows in that it takes place in a space designed for the city to participate in,” says Jaramillo, noting that production is working closely with Mexico City government and fans will be allowed to actually visit the space and be part of performances and media experiences. “That’s why we’ve developed a cultural program that’s both artistic and media driven, and includes things like podcasts. This is a show that’s alive.”
The project is HYBE Latin America’s latest venture after launching in 2023 with the acquisition of Exile Music, the music division of Spanish-language studio Exile Content, led by Isaac Lee, who is now chairman of HYBE Latin America. The company has moved quickly since then. With offices in Mexico City, Miami, and Los Angeles, the division houses labels such as DOCEMIL Music and Zarpazo Entertainment.
Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis is launching his own coffee brand, and he’s turning to Live Nation for help getting it in front of coffee drinkers.
Today, Kiedis and longtime friend Shane Powers are debuting their coffee in a can consumer brand JOLENE along with a marketing campaign, which a press release says is “built to move with the rhythm of live entertainment and meet the ambition of those living life to the fullest.”
Kiedis and Powers have partnered with Live Nation as both an investor and distribution partner for JOLENE. The global concert promoter will carry the coffee brand at its festivals and 40 amphitheaters owned or operated by Live Nation, including the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington, Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in New York and Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront in Richmond, Virginia.
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Live Nation is an equity investor in JOLENE as is consumer spirits company Global Brand Equities and h.wood Group founder John Terzian. The agreement is similar to one Live Nation struck with water company Liquid Death in 2021 and its celebrity ownership group that included Wiz Khalifa, Machine Gun Kelly, Steve Aoki and Tony Hawk. That agreement had Live Nation selling Liquid Death at its 120 owned-and-operated venues as part of a larger sustainability effort to phase out the sale of single-use plastics at all owned and operated venues and events.
JOLENE comes in two flavors: Black (cold brew) and White (oat milk latte) and will be used to make four signature cocktails at Live Nation-owned venues. According to a press release, JOLENE is sourced through an all-female co-op in Peru, “ensuring high-quality beans while directly supporting the women growers and their communities,” the release reads. The product is also available for purchase online at retailers in Los Angeles and New York.
The origin of the coffee goes back several years, according to Kiedis. “Shane shouted at me down the sidewalk ‘Let’s do something!’ I shouted back ‘how ’bout coffee’? He said ‘done.’ And so began the adventure of putting a high-quality spin on a can of coffee.”
The name JOLENE is a spin on the phrase “cup of Joe” and the common descriptor “skinny latte” or “lean latte” referring to a latte without whole milk, as well as a reference to the hit country music song “Jolene” by Dolly Parton.
Russell Wallach, Live Nation’s global president of Media & Sponsorship added “Fans want options that fit the pace and energy of live music,” noting, “Cold brew has come up again and again, and JOLENE delivers — it’s high quality, easy to enjoy, and adds something new to the fan experience. It’s one more way we’re evolving to meet what fans are asking for.”
On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report examining copyrights and generative AI training, which supported the idea of licensing copyrights when they are used in commercial AI training.
On Saturday (May 10), the nation’s top copyright official – Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter – was terminated by President Donald Trump. Her dismissal shortly follows the firing of the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, who appointed and supervised Perlmutter. In response, Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY) of the House Administration Committee, which oversees the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress, said that he feels it is “no coincidence [Trump] acted less than a day after [Perlmutter] refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.”
This report was largely seen as a win among copyright owners in the music industry, and it noted three key stances: the Office’s support for licensing copyrighted material when a “commercial” AI model uses it for training, its dismissal of compulsory licensing as the correct framework for a future licensing model, and its rejection of “the idea of any opt-out approach.”
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The Office affirms that in “commercial” cases, licensing copyrights for training could be a “practical solution” and that using copyrights without a license “[go] beyond established fair use boundaries.” It also notes that some commercial AI models “compete with [copyright owners] in existing markets.” However, if an AI model has been created for “purposes such as analysis or research – the types of uses that are critical to international competitiveness,” the Office says “the outputs are unlikely to substitute” for the works by which they were trained.
“In our view, American leadership in the AI space would best be furthered by supporting both of these world-class industries that contribute so much to our economic and cultural advancement. Effective licensing options can ensure that innovation continues to advance without undermining intellectual property rights,” the report reads.
While it is supportive of licensing efforts between copyright owners and AI firms, the report recognizes that most stakeholders do not hold support “for any statutory change” or “government intervention” in this area. “The Office believes…[that] would be premature at this time,” the report reads. Later, it adds “we agree with commenters that a compulsory licensing regime for AI training would have significant disadvantages. A compulsory license establishes fixed royalty rates and terms and can set practices in stone; they can become inextricably embedded in an industry and become difficult to undo. Premature adoption also risks stifling the development of flexible and creative market-based solutions. Moreover, compulsory licenses can take years to develop, often requiring painstaking negotiation of numerous operational details.”
The Office notes the perspectives of music-related organizations, like the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which all hold a shared distaste for the idea of a future compulsory or government-controlled license for AI training. Already, the music industry deals with a compulsory license for mechanical royalties, allowing the government to control rates for one of the types of royalties earned from streaming and sales.
“Most commenters who addressed this issue opposed or raised concerns about the prospect of compulsory licensing,” the report says. “Those representing copyright owners and creators argued that the compulsory licensing of works for use in AI training would be detrimental to their ability to control uses of their works, and asserted that there is no market failure that would justify it. A2IM and RIAA described compulsory licensing as entailing ‘below-market royalty rates, additional administrative costs, and… restrictions on innovation’… and NMPA saw it as ‘an extreme remedy that deprives copyright owners of their right to contract freely in the market, and takes away their ability to choose whom they do business with, how their works are used, and how much they are paid.’”
The Office leaves it up to the copyright owners and AI companies to figure out the right way to license and compensate for training data, but it does explore a few options. This includes “compensation structures based on a percentage of revenue or profits,” but if the free market fails to find the right licensing solution, the report suggested “targeted intervention such as [Extended Collective Licensing] ECL should be considered.”
ECL, which is employed in some European countries, would allow a collective management organization (CMO) to issue and administer blanket licenses for “all copyrighted works within a particular class,” much like the music industry is already accustomed to with organizations like The MLC (The Mechanical Licensing Collective) and performing rights organizations (PROs) like ASCAP and BMI. The difference between an ECL and a traditional CMO, however, is that under an ECL system, the CMO can license for those who have not affirmatively joined it yet. Though these ECL licenses are still negotiated in a “free market,” the government would “regulat[e] the overall system and excercis[e] some degree of oversight.”
While some AI firms expressed concerns that blanket licensing by copyright holders would lead to antitrust issues, the Copyright Office sided with copyright holders, saying “[the] courts have found that there is nothing intrinsically anticompetitive about the collective, or even blanket, licensing of copyrighted works, as long as certain safeguards are incorporated— such as ensuring that licensees can still obtain direct licenses from copyright owners as an alternative.”
This is a “pre-publication” version of a forthcoming final report, which will be published in the “near future without any substantive changes expected,” according to the Copyright Office. The Office noted this “pre-publication” was pushed out early in an attempt to address inquiries from Congress and key stakeholders.
It marks the Office’s third report about generative AI and its impact on copyrights since it launched an initiative on the matter in 2023. The first report, released July 31, 2024, focused on the topic of digital replicas. The second, from Jan. 29, 2025, addressed the copyright-ability of outputs created with generative AI.
Led by two entertainment companies in the Dolan family portfolio, music stocks collectively eked out a small gain this week, marking their fifth consecutive weekly gain after a Trump tariff-induced two-week slide in early April.
Sphere Entertainment Co. shares jumped 18.9% to $28.05 after the company’s quarterly earnings on Thursday (May 8) showed that the Sphere venue’s cost management helped offset a 12.8% decline in revenue. CEO James Dolan told analysts he isn’t concerned about a possible downturn in tourism from a sluggish U.S. economy or a drop in international visitors. “When it comes to concerts,” he said, “demand exceeds capacity, so we have room to absorb any issues.”
MSG Entertainment, another Dolan family-controlled company, rose 7.7% to $33.59 after the company’s quarterly earnings report on Tuesday (May 6) showed a 6% revenue increase and steady consumer spending despite a decrease in event-related revenue due to fewer events. JP Morgan maintained both its “neutral” rating and $41 price target.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) rose 0.8% to 2,717.17, its second-highest mark and its first time above 2,700 since it closed at a record 2,755.53 the week ended Feb. 14. With five consecutive weeks in the black, the BGMI is up 10.2% since President Trump announced his tariff policy and set off a stock sell-off.
Music stocks outperformed the Nasdaq composite (down 0.3%), the S&P 500 (down 0.6%), the U.K.’s FTSE 100 (down 0.5%) and South Korea’s KOSPI composite index (up 0.7%). China’s SSE composite index gained 1.9%.
Universal Music Group, which reported earnings on April 29, received a healthy bounce this week, gaining 4.5% to 25.86 euros ($29.10). That brought its year-to-date gain to 13.0%.
Warner Music Group (WMG) shares fell 8% on Thursday after its quarterly earnings release and finished the week down 9.6% to $30.26. WMG stock was likely impacted by a 0.3% decline in streaming revenue, a metric closely watched by investors. The decline took WMG’s year-to-date loss to 11.8%. Numerous analysts reacted by decreasing their WMG price targets: Morgan Stanley (to $31 from $32), Barclays (to $28 from $31), UBS (to $38 from $41) and TD Cowen (to $36 from $41).
Radio companies enjoyed a positive week amidst uncertainty about the U.S. advertising market. The greatest gainer of the week was iHeartMedia, which jumped 18.9% to $1.06 ahead of the company’s first quarter earnings release on Monday (May 12). Year-to-date, the radio giant’s shares have fallen 40.8%. SiriusXM rose 5.4% to $20.47.
K-pop companies had a mixed week. YG Entertainment spiked 9.9% after the company reported large increases in both operating income and net profit in the first quarter. Elsewhere, HYBE rose 2.1% while SM Entertainment, which announced earnings on Wednesday (May 7), fell 0.9% and JYP Entertainment dropped 1.8%.
Secondary ticketing marketplace Vivid Seats (which is not listed on the BGMI) fell 33.9% to $1.79 after the company’s first quarter revenue plummeted 14% due to what CEO Stan Chia called “softening industry trends amidst economic uncertainty.” While Live Nation previously told investors it’s seeing strong demand for events later in 2025, Vivid Seats painted a different picture. The company suspended guidance for the full year and said it expects industry volumes to be flat or decrease in 2025. Previous guidance called for mid-to-high single-digit growth.
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Billboard
It’s no secret that Canadian festivals have been facing hard times.
The post-lockdown years have seen high-profile festivals filing for creditor protection, like Montreal’s comedy behemoth Just for Laughs; scrambling to reorganize or downsize programming, like Toronto Jazz Festival and Calgary’s JazzYYC, after TD withdrew sponsorship; or cancelling editions altogether, like Toronto food and culture festival Taste of the Danforth.
Of course, major festivals closed before the pandemic, too, for a range of reasons. And many festivals wind down naturally, through generational or leadership shifts. But Erin Benjamin of the Canadian Live Music Association agrees that festivals are facing a difficult landscape in the years after 2020.
“COVID ripped up the playbook,” she tells Billboard Canada.
“The cost of goods and services and labour and talent is extremely high,” Benjamin adds. “And it continues to go up.”
Audience habits have shifted, too. She notes that festival-goers are definitely buying tickets later, leaving event planners with cash flow troubles.
In its 2025 Hear and Now report, the Canadian Live Music Association states that in 2024, the problem stretched beyond Canada. “Cancelled tours and festivals due to lower ticket sales, rising costs, and environmental impacts has led to overall industry decline,” the authors write. “High prices for top acts are exhausting fan budgets leaving less for mid-range artists.”
International mega-music festivals aren’t immune. After slow ticket sales in 2024, more than half of Coachella’s 2025 general admission attendees bought tickets through payment plans.
When festivals shut down, people lose a connection to local history and a chance to meet their neighbours. Benjamin adds that arts workers lose livelihoods, while local communities lose economic impact.
If the live industry is facing hurdles, it’s also true that music tourism is still a popular vacation choice. “We’ve got to capitalize on that music tourism piece here in Canada,” Benjamin says. “We have incredible infrastructure already. We need to take care of our infrastructure, need to continue to create opportunities for artists.”
Benjamin adds that each level of government — municipal, provincial and federal — has a role to play in harnessing that potential.
Every festival faces its own particular set of circumstances that help secure or shut down the next edition. But it’s clear that conditions across the industry are putting pressure on festivals, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.
For a list of festivals that have closed or called for support, head here. – Rosie Long Decter
Craig “Big C” Mannix Joins CMRRA as Industry Relations Consultant – Community Engagement
The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA) is making a key hire to reflect the diversity of Canadian music.
Craig “Big C” Mannix has joined the CMRRA as industry relations consultant – community engagement.
An influential figure in the Canadian music industry, Mannix has served as vp of Black music at Universal Music Canada; held roles at Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music Canada and Virgin Records Canada; and had a founding role with ADVANCE, Canada’s Black Music Business Collective. He has also played a key role in developing the careers of major Canadian names like Kardinal Offishall, K-os and Pressa.
The CMRRA is one of the leading reproduction royalty distribution agencies in Canada. It distributed $96 million in royalties in 2024, a 23% increase from 2023. That growth was significantly driven by music on TikTok, where royalties increased by 126%. Mannix looks to continue working with creators moving forward.
The CMRRA also reported a 50% increase in international revenues, highlighting the importance of global potential in the current Canadian music landscape. Mannix’s role specifically focuses on community engagement and deepening relationships with underrepresented music communities.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to work with CMRRA. My love for music and art is what brought me into this business over 35 years ago — and it’s what’s kept me in it,” says Mannix about his latest career chapter. “I’ve always focused on driving culture with integrity, passion, and decency. I’m looking forward to connecting with more creators and communities through this new role.”
CMRRA is turning 50 this year. In a special industry newsletter, president Paul Shaver celebrated the organization’s growth.
“We have over 7,000 clients worldwide and a well-earned reputation across the industry for being efficient, technology-forward, client-focused, and trustworthy,” Shaver wrote in the newsletter. “Many of these clients represent hundreds or thousands of songwriters, further amplifying our global reach and impact.”
As global reach improves, it’s also important to focus on the communities that exist within the country. Royalty distribution is an important sector of the country’s music industry, and CMRRA is making strides to open it up to the full diversity of Canadian musicians. – Stefano Rebuli
Toronto Music Experience to Open a Permanent Museum by 2029
Toronto’s music scene is getting its own museum.
The Toronto Music Experience (TME) has unveiled plans to launch a permanent cultural home by 2029, commemorating the city’s worldwide impact through music.
The TME announced plans for its expansion on Monday (May 5) at a private event at Live Nation’s The Lounge in Toronto featuring artists including Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Jully Black and Lorraine Segato.
The organization announced that it has been granted charitable status, which means it can go ahead with fundraising, partnerships and community engagement as part of its five-year plan towards its permanent home.
TME’s goal is to highlight Toronto’s musical past, present, and future through immersive exhibits, pop-up activations, live performances and education initiatives. It aims for a storytelling approach, highlighting the achievements that have shaped the city’s music scene, from its historical Indigenous roots to the global impact of superstars like Drake, The Weeknd and Rush.
The museum fulfills the city’s need for a hallmark representation of its impactful musical legacy that is currently missing.
“We don’t have a museum devoted to what is arguably Toronto’s biggest cultural phenomenon, its biggest international export,” TME board director and longtime music journalist Nicholas Jennings told Billboard Canada in November 2024. “This is an untapped area for the city, and there is a need for it, because we’re losing some of these stories.”
TME has been actively telling these stories through a number of exhibitions in partnership with Friar’s Music Museum, located in a Shopper’s Drug Mart at Yonge and Dundas, the former home of the Friar’s Tavern music venue. TME hosted its first-ever live show experience with the Sound of Rhythms & Resistance concert at TD Hall in November 2024, serving as an extension of its “Rhythms & Resistance” exhibit in 2021.
“The success of the two exhibits that we’ve held at Friar’s has shown us that there’s an appetite and a market for something more permanent,” Jennings said.
TME wants to incorporate a mix of production, retail and café spaces as well as pop-up exhibits, pairing music education alongside interactive experiences featuring memorabilia.
“Our mission is to build an experiential space where artifacts meet immersive experiences in tribute to the artists, communities, and cultures that make our city sing,” says Denise Donlon, a music industry and broadcast executive and member of TME’s advisory board. “It’s a powerful way to celebrate our past and inspire the next generation of creators.” – SR
Private equity’s involvement in the active market for music catalogs continues to be a sore subject at one of America’s finest literary outlets.
“There are vested interests now that don’t want new music to flourish,” music historian Ted Gioia told The Atlantic. “The private-equity funds just want you to listen to the same songs over and over again, because they own them.” A similar argument — or warning — came last year from The New York Times, which bemoaned that “private equity is destroying our music ecosystem” and “gobbling up the rights for old hits and pumping them back into the present.” Gioia made the same argument in 2022 at his Substack publication, The Honest Broker, which The Atlantic later republished.
Not only are these big investors contributing to old music’s dominance, the arguments go, but record companies’ dedication to the past is hurting the music of the present — both in terms of quality and its share of listening on streaming platforms. Record labels “don’t spend any money on research and development to revitalize their business, although every other industry looks to innovation for growth and consumer excitement,” Gioia dubiously wrote in 2022.
Okay, so private equity has a bad reputation — sometimes deservedly so — for its involvement in unbridled capitalism. Think of the infamous leveraged buy-out, in which investors borrow money to acquire an underperforming company. The buyer inevitably makes drastic changes, often including mass layoffs and selling off subsidiaries. The company may be resuscitated. But if the endeavor fails, it may also go bankrupt (see iHeartMedia) or be sold for parts by the creditors (see EMI Music).
But blaming private equity for the current state of music — whatever it might be, but I’ll get to that below — shows a misunderstanding of institutional investments in music assets. Private equity firms aren’t interested in making their purchases popular — they invest in catalogs that never stopped being popular. The rise of streaming platforms made music an attractive asset class because the royalties became more predictable, and that evergreen nature of desirable catalogs fits into institutional investors’ desire for steady, low-risk returns. It’s true that new releases account for a minority of on-demand music streams. In 2024, the share of catalog — releases more than 18 months old — stood at 73.3% of on-demand audio streams, according to Luminate. That was up from 66.4% in 2020.
But, as Billboard noted in 2022, the rise in catalog’s share of streaming can be attributed to “shallow catalog” rather than legitimate oldies. Shallow catalog is relatively young music that has aged out of the current category but, with the help of streaming platforms’ playlists, remains relevant far longer than radio hits of decades past.
According to Luminate’s 2024 recap, nearly half — 49.6% — of U.S. on-demand audio streams were songs released in the 2020s, and about 90% of streams came from songs released this century, the same percentage as when Billboard ran the numbers three years ago.
To believe that old catalog is crowding out new releases, you’d have to think that the major labels’ partnerships with private equity have infected their desire to develop and break new hits. In 2024, Universal Music Group invested in Chord Music Partners, which was co-founded by Dundee Partners and KKR (the latter exited Chord last year). This year, Warner Music Group bought a majority stake in Tempo Music, while founder Providence Equity Partners retains a minority stake.
If these owners of music portfolios are trying to sabotage young artists, they’re doing a lousy job. The old catalogs prized by private equity-backed investors — music from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s — accounted for just 5.7% of streams in 2024. That’s roughly 1 in 19 streams coming from music that originated before the Gulf War.
To say that old classics crowd out new music assumes the music business is a zero-sum game with an equal number of winners and losers. It’s not. An opportunity won by an old song doesn’t necessarily equate to a loss for a younger song. A Post Malone track might work fine for an action scene in a Vietnam War-era film, but the director is going to prefer Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Run Through the Jungle” almost every time.
Catalog valuation expert Citrin Cooperman recently ran across an example that shows music’s value isn’t finite. Between 2022 and 2024, after an older generation started streaming music during the pandemic, catalogs from the ‘80s outperformed music from other decades. But the surge in ‘80s music “has not crowded out newer music,” says Citrin’s Barry Massarsky. “It’s just added more value to the supply of music on streaming.”
The touring business offers more proof that young artists aren’t being hamstrung by their predecessors. Billboard Boxscore’s top tours of 2024 includes numerous newcomers whose careers took off after private equity fell in love with music. The No. 3 artist on the list, Zach Bryan, released his first major label album in 2022. Bad Bunny, who finished at No. 9, released his breakthrough album, YHLQMDLG, in 2020. Elsewhere in the Top 40 are several relatively young artists, including Luke Combs (No. 11), Karol G (No. 12), Travis Scott (No. 13) and Olivia Rodrigo (No. 14).
The top tours list does feature legacy acts that have — or easily could — sell their catalogs for large sums, such as Coldplay (No. 1), Bruce Springsteen (No. 5), The Rolling Stones (No. 6) and U2 (No. 7). But there’s also Noah Kahan (No. 29), who broke just three years ago, and K-pop group SEVENTEEN (No. 31), who didn’t land on a U.S. album chart until 2022.
But what about claims that the quality of today’s pop music is lacking? Since I’m not the best person to make qualitative statements about the state of pop music, I talked to some Billboard co-workers who follow trends, interview artists, review concerts and generally have their fingers on pop music’s pulse. They gave me sober assessments of current music that contrasts with The Atlantic’s naysaying.
One reason today’s pop music could seem suffocated by the past is because listening has become personalized and fractured. Numerous co-workers point out that radio- and MTV-driven hits have been replaced by countless niches and sub-genres. Dig deep enough and you’ll find innovative and meaningful music that isn’t surfaced by TikTok and Spotify algorithms.
Catalog’s apparent dominance could also be the result of newer ways to measure popularity. “Streaming has made catalog success stories more visible,” says Billboard’s Jason Lipshutz. “We can see how long the classic Christmas singles linger around the top of streaming playlists every holiday season or hear The Neighbourhood’s ‘Sweater Weather’ soundtrack more TikTok clips with every new autumn.”
And as Billboard’s Andrew Unterberger notes, the revival of old songs didn’t start in either the private equity or TikTok-streaming eras. The Everly Brothers’ 1965 hit “Unchained Melody” re-entered the Hot 100 chart due to its inclusion in the 1990 motion picture Ghost. In 1992, the movie Wayne’s World breathed new life into Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The Dirty Dancing soundtrack, filled with songs from the early ‘60s, was a huge success in 1987. People have always relived the past — especially on radio — but now it’s more obvious.
Maybe the quality of today’s music isn’t a problem in the first place. “In the last 18 months or so, I think we’re actually in the healthiest time for pop music of the last decade — definitely of the 2020s,” says Unterberger. Since the pandemic, which Unterberger believes coincided with a drought in future superstars, artists such as Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Kahan and Bryan became hitmakers and arena-fillers without following traditional industry blueprints. “People like that are saying something a little different or saying something a little bit more specific to their times,” he says.
There’s some evidence that pop music was especially potent in 2024. MIDiA Research noted last week that from 2016 to 2023, the top tracks in the U.K. had a decreasing share of total audio streams, with the top 10’s share falling from 2.0% in 2016 to 0.7% in 2023 while the top 100 dropped from 10.3% to 3.7%. But both figures reversed course in 2024: the top 10 inched up to 0.8% and the top 100 rose slightly to 3.8%. What’s behind the increase? MIDiA attributes it to a particularly notable year for superstar releases (Taylor Swift, Beyonce) but also “a new class of superstars” (Carpenter, Roan, Gracie Abrams) and an A&R process that puts developing stars over signing TikTok viral hits.
It’s not a stretch to say today’s pop music isn’t as deep as, say, Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” The opening line, “They paved paradise, put up a parking lot,” provides more social commentary than the average pop song. But maybe critics like Gioia are expecting too much from stars of the current era. Billboard’s Lyndsey Havens notes that artists seem unwilling or uninterested in commenting on potentially divisive issues and are instead focusing on relationships rather than cultural or political commentary. “Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’ is catchy, and it was obviously a huge hit, but it’s not saying anything,” she says.
That’s not private equity’s fault, though. That’s the era we live in. People don’t get their politics from musicians the way they did when the U.S. had only three national TV networks and people received their news from one or two local papers. In the internet age, politics and cultural issues permeate everything. Infusing controversial themes into music is like talking politics during Thanksgiving dinner — somebody is likely to feel alienated. Popular artists don’t want to divide people. At the end of the day, says Havens, pop songs “are doing their job.” Maybe the best lesson here is not to over-romanticize the past. The classic catalog sales that grab headlines don’t necessarily represent the most popular music of their day. “Big Yellow Taxi” — which Mitchell has not sold, by the way — has become a timeless classic, but was less popular than dozens of other tracks while reaching No. 67 on the Hot 100 in 1970 and No. 24 in 1975. “Even at the most innovative moments in pop music history,” says Unterberger, “there was still dreck on the charts.” Additional reporting by Liz Dilts Marshall.
Rock isn’t dead — it just dresses that way.
On May 7 at the Uber Arena in Berlin, I saw Ghost, the Swedish hard rock act, in all its guitar-riff glory, complete with creepy costumes, spooky stained-glass projections and pyro effects. Much of this is pretty standard for arena rock. In other ways, though, the Ghost show looked very 2025 — fans in makeup, dressed as characters, and discussing the “ritual,” which is what Ghost calls a concert. Singer and auteur Tobias Forge performs as a character from the band’s “lore,” a complicated fictional backstory that involves a sinister church and its leaders. It’s a cinematic universe of sorts — beloved by fans and slightly confusing for the uninitiated. Forget concept albums — Ghost plays concept rock.
To fans, Forge isn’t performing as the singer and sole creative force of Ghost — he’s in costume playing Papa V Perpetua, the latest in a series of popelike leaders of a fictional church. The other musicians, also in costume, are “nameless ghouls,” whose real identities are never announced, although fans inevitably seem to discover who they are. (This seems like a convenient fiction, but the same might be said of a “band” in which the musicians work for the lead singer.) Before Forge played Papa V Perpetual, he performed in character as Papa Emeritus, Papa Nihil and Cardinal Copia. And his real name wasn’t even known until it was revealed in a 2017 lawsuit over royalties.
This might sound impressively nerdy — and it is, in a really fun way. But it did not prevent Ghost from scoring a No. 1 album this week with Skeletá. (The accent, like the metal umlaut, seems to be silent.) Indeed, it seems to help Ghost appeal to devoted fans. Skeletá, the first hard rock No. 1 album in four years, sold and streamed 86,000 equivalent units in the U.S., of which 89% came from sales, and 44,000 from vinyl alone, according to Luminate. (The band released 15 variants on vinyl, three on CD and four on cassette.) Worldwide, according to the band’s management, it sold more than 89,000 vinyl copies of Skeletá in its first week.
It’s unusual for a rock band to sell so many albums these days — especially a rock band that’s determinedly a rock band, rather than a pop act with rock band characteristics. Some of my colleagues were surprised, as was I. Maybe we shouldn’t have been, though. Rock still has mass appeal — it’s just more obvious from concert ticket sales than streaming numbers. And although Ghost isn’t reinventing the genre musically — the band plays catchy and compelling hard rock, without much in the way of new sounds — it presents what it does in a very innovative way.
The Ghost experience is made for modern Internet-savvy fans, from the YouTube videos that tell the elaborate backstory, to the comic book series that fleshes it out, to the “GTV” faux-news “Ghoulbangers Ball” segments that let the band cover its own “rituals.” It has its own fan army of sorts, since about a fifth of the attendees at the Berlin show seemed to dress up for the occasion. At the risk of offending fans on all sides, Ghost offers an entire world for fans to dive into, in a slightly similar way that K-pop does, only with the trappings of prog-rock concept albums, rather than pop-idol-worship.
This might sound absurd. But many artists who are loved, rather than merely liked, offer some kind of world to explore, some manner of lore to learn. It’s hardly ever described as such, of course, but the effect isn’t so different. At this point, understanding in any detail the twists and turns of Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar means spending some serious time online. For that matter, so does knowing which songs the Grateful Dead tend to play in the first or second set, which is something that I learned decades ago because I felt it really mattered, for reasons that I am now unable to remember, and if I did would be embarrassed to share. This is part of the fun of loving an artist. Ghost just delivers that experience in an especially wild way. There’s plenty of hard rock style — references to Satan and so forth — as well as a distinctly prog-rock love of Latin. The first Ghost album was Opus Eponymous, which is the second-coolest Latin album name after Amon Düül’s Phallus Dei.
I could only really experience this from the outside; I didn’t have enough time to dive in very deeply, and if you asked me what Skeletá was about, I’d have to say that it’s about 45 minutes. The band’s management estimates that about half of the people who see Ghost in concert know some of the lore, which is pretty impressive. Ghost may operate like a cult band. But any act that’s touring arenas with a No. 1 album has gone far beyond the usual definition of the term.
The only big act that seems remotely comparable to Ghost is Sleep Token, another prog-influenced hard rock act that plays with masks and anonymity. (The group’s members are Vessel, and musicians who go by II, III and IV.) It also markets its music and mystique online, and its new album, Even in Arcadia, is expected to debut near, if not at, the top of the charts next week. Sleep Token is musically different from Ghost, of course, and the band has its own concept — and its own cult. But it shows that there’s life in rock yet — even if it looks undead.
“Your record collection defines who you are; your book collection defines who you want to be.” — Will Page
When e-books were first introduced in 2007 (Amazon’s Kindle followed by Barnes & Noble’s Nook in 2009, and Apple’s iPad in 2010), people were loudly ringing the death knell for printed books. Digital devices had convenience and portability, and digital books could be instantly downloaded and consumed. Why would anyone choose to carry around or deal with a cumbersome printed book, or go to a bookstore, or have it delivered days later by Amazon, when 200 books could be held on a lightweight digital device, such as the original 1st Generation Kindle, and read immediately?
With the added decline of CDs and DVDs, the dominoes quickly fell; the 642-store Borders chain filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and Barnes & Noble closed its flagship store in early 2014 and separated out its Nook division. By 2018, Barnes & Noble had closed 400 stores.
Fast forward to 2023, when Barnes & Noble opened 30 new stores, and to 2024, when it opened 57 new stores (more than the total it opened between 2009 and 2019). It recently announced it would be opening an additional 60 stores in 2025.
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Incredibly, physical books now outsell digital books 4 to 1. What changed?
It seems that even younger readers have come to prefer the tactile experience of holding a physical book and being able to easily navigate through pages, and see an advantage in retaining information and focusing when reading on paper rather than on digital screens. Kids and teenagers now gather at bookstores after school, as they have come to see them as safe spaces, and regularly show off their books on BookTok. What lessons can the music business learn from what happened with the book business?
Let’s look at the arc of recorded music. Music formats went from vinyl to 8-track and cassette to DAT and CD. With the introduction of digital file sharing and downloads with Napster in 1999, and streaming music starting with Rhapsody in 2001 and then Spotify in 2009, it seemed that physical records were destined for the wastebin of history (and like so many others, I foolishly gave away or sold for peanuts my vinyl and CD collections). Digital music streaming posed the question of why anyone would need to “own” music when it could be listened to immediately on demand from a limitless library of virtually all music ever recorded, literally at one’s fingertips, from any location.
The record business followed a pattern similar to that of the book business. Major labels sold their vinyl pressing plants and let go of their manufacturing employees, and many of the pressing machines were sold for scrap (Bertelsmann alone reportedly scrapped 150 machines). In 2006, record store chain Tower Records closed all of its 89 U.S. stores and filed for bankruptcy, as did Sam Goody (which at one point had approximately 800 U.S. locations).
Streaming took over completely once the industry fully embraced it, and it now represents about 90% of all music consumption.
Just like printed books, vinyl albums have, incredibly, made an enormous comeback, with sales increasing for 18 straight years and representing U.S. sales of over $1.4 billion in 2024 (and predicted to be over $3.5 billion by 2033). What’s the throughline?
Simply put, human beings are built to socialize and interact with each other and “things” in person in real life, not online — and it’s finally catching up with us. People desperately need the slowed-down, tactile interactions that have been largely absent, particularly amongst Gen Z, who have grown up predominantly in the fast-moving digital world. Although there is clearly enormous benefit to people connecting and interacting globally via the web and social media, there are also significant downsides: isolation, echo chambers, addictions, social comparisons, loneliness, depression, self-harm and even suicide have risen significantly in the digital age (as have mass shootings). Are physical locations the antidote?
Bookstores and record stores are part of a breed of what are called “third spaces”, a term originally created in the 1980s by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. Third spaces refer to “a physical location other than work or home where there’s little to or no financial barrier to entry and where conversation is the primary activity.” As Barnes & Noble stated in its recent press release, “Our stores have become popular social spots.”
In a 2022 article in The Atlantic, Allie Conti described third spaces as “physical spaces for serendipitous, productivity-free conversation” which “incentivize lingering”, where one can learn “the art of hanging out,” “mingle and make small talk with strangers” and where there is always “the possibility of a wildly unexpected spontaneous encounter.”
However, with people frequently spending their leisure time in solitude in front of their personal screens at home, consuming digital media (movie theater attendance is on the decline as well), “the simple act of spending time with new people can be an unnecessarily complex challenge.” Young people will have to learn new skills and flex new muscles for third spaces to thrive. For example, according to one study, almost half of men aged 18-25 have never approached a woman in person to ask for a date. Kathy Giuffre, a professor at Colorado College, says “socializing is a learned skill,” and “a world made up of atomized, physically isolated people is a world without a true shared reality — which is a recipe for civic disengagement, misinformation, and perhaps even political extremism.”
Bookstores and record stores also offer a way to be around like-minded people in real life who have similar interests, creating the possibility of forming new bonds. Many famous musicians credit their time working in record stores as having given them a musical education they wouldn’t have otherwise received (and in some cases, it’s where they actually met their future band members). Keith Richards, Axl Rose, Slash, Iggy Pop, Dave Grohl, Rivers Cuomo, Jeff Tweedy, Nels Cline, Aimee Mann, Nikki Sixx, Nelly Furtado and Peter Buck are but a few, and many have cited musical suggestions made by record store clerks as leading them to what became their favorite music. One could argue that record stores might actually be better “third places” than bookstores because music is always playing, clerks are knowledgeable music fans themselves, and customers are regularly chatting and interacting.
The rebirth and growth of record stores beyond Record Store Day has already begun. Rough Trade recently tripled the size of their store in New York City’s Rockefeller Center, and Waterloo Records was recently purchased from its founders by new owners who plan to relocate and expand it. Vinyl record and high-end equipment retailer Supervinyl in Los Angeles has become a “go-to” destination for music aficionados and artists alike. Innersleeves, a local independent record store in the Hamptons, recently doubled the size of its physical space and even added a small stage for musical performances. Tower Records has 80 locations in Japan. And “vinyl listening bars” built with expensive high-end sound systems and curated musical collections inspired by bars in Japan have been opening up in major cities across the U.S.
If U.S. record store chains return as well, they’d be smart to take a page out of Barnes & Noble’s playbook when it comes to the physical design of its stores. The manager of each B&N store is given a free hand (even including how the B&N logo appears) to make it feel more like a local independent bookstore with localized aesthetics rather than an invading mass chain that looks exactly the same in all locations. The goal is to “create a more intimate, community-focused, books-first experience.” And many of the new stores even have a B&N Café, which record stores could adopt to emulate the “coffee house” circuit where many musicians of the ‘60s and ‘70s launched their careers and built local fan bases. As streaming music levels off and consumer patterns change, vinyl records, record stores and listening bars as “third places” could be a boon to the physical record business — provided our industry truly embraces the big opportunity which is staring it in the face (“AlbumTok,” anyone)?
Fred Goldring is an entrepreneur, entertainment lawyer and co-founder of Pressing Business, a vinyl record and CD manufacturer, and record labels Flatiron Recordings and Label 51.
It’s time to drop the needle on another Executive Turntable, Billboard’s weekly compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the music business. There’s been quite a bit of staffing news this week, “Da Pope” included, so let’s get to it.
Downtown Music Publishing appointed Jason Taylor as vice president of business development, based in Los Angeles and reporting to chief creative officer Jedd Katrancha. Taylor, who brings prior experience from ICONOCLAST, Hipgnosis Songs Group and Big Deal Music Group, will focus on expanding DMP’s global roster, emphasizing legacy catalogs and B2B partnerships. Additionally, Bea Koramblyum was promoted to global head of business affairs and vice president of business development (GHBAVPBD for short), recognizing her role in strategic dealmaking and catalog growth. A newly appointed chair of the Music Business Association, Koramblyum has been key in deepening industry relationships. These appointments follow a strong year for DMP, including over 30 Grammy noms-noms and notable signings like Peso Pluma and Tori Amos. Katrancha praised both execs, saying “Jason brings a rare blend of creative instinct and commercial acumen, with a track record of cultivating long-term relationships and building enduring catalog value” and that “Bea’s expanded role is a reflection of the leadership and vision she has brought to Downtown for many years.”
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The change train keeps a-rollin’ at Audacy, with the departure of longtime chief technology officer Sarah Foss, effective May 2. Foss joined the company (then Entercom) in mid-2020 as chief information officer and helped guide the company through the pandemic. “We innovated. We cut costs. We modernized. We got scrappy. We held virtual planning events. We went back to the office,” she said in her announcement on LinkedIn. Taking over is Steve Rollins, reviving the CIO title, who will oversee all IT and technical operations at the radio and podcast giant. Rollins arrives from Gabstin LLC but he previously served as CIO of SESAC — where he worked with Kelli Turner, who replaced David Field earlier this year as Audacy’s president and CEO. The shakeup at Audacy has also seen the recent departures of CMO Paul Suchman (replaced by Jenny Nelson), COO Susan Larkin, chief digital officer J.D. Crowley, and general counsel Andrew Sutor (succeeded by Michael Dash).
Range Music launched a new composer division, expanding its music management services into film and television scoring. L.A.-based industry veteran Jeff Jernigan joins as the first hire, bringing a roster that boasts Steven Price (Gravity), Tom Howe (Ted Lasso) and Helen Park (KPOP). Jernigan, formerly with Kraft-Engel Management, will represent composers, music supervisors, songwriters and executive music producers, working alongside Leah Cook, Range’s vp of creative sync and strategy. Range already has a strong foothold in music supervision, with clients like Andrea von Forester (Yellowstone) and Jordan Carroll (Dear Evan Hansen), and Jernigan has worked with Range’s film co-presidents Fred Berger and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones on projects like La La Land and A Complete Unknown. “As the first hire for this division, Jeff brings with him a wealth of knowledge, an incredible roster, and vast experience working along our film division,” says Berger and RMP co-founding managing partner Matt Graham.
NASHVILLE NOTES: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum curator of recorded sound collections Alan Stoker retired at the beginning of the month, exactly 51 years after he started with the institution. His audio preservation and remastering expertise has been applied to recordings by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Merle Haggard, among others … Prescription Songs promoted Kelly White to A&R Coordinator. Based in Nashville, she works with artists, songwriters, and producers across Atlanta, LA, and Nashville, including Big Boss Vette and Trent Dabbs. A Belmont University graduate, she recently organized a songwriting camp with Tay Keith’s Drumatized label and plans additional camps to support Nashville’s growing creative community … Christian imprint Centricity Music promoted five longtime team members to senior roles, including John Mays as president of A&R and Camy McArdle and Andrew Lambeth as co-GMs. John Stokes becomes svp of marketing and operations, and Chad Segura is now svp of publishing.
Reliant Talent Agency expanded its talent division with four agents. Scott Simpson has been named as head of talent, to lead Reliant’s Talent, Comedy, Unscripted Television and beyond. Also joining Reliant Talent Agency is Jonathan Perry, who will lead West Coast Talent, alongside talent agent Katie Edwards. Melanie Moreau will lead the Unscripted Department. Industry veterans, president Steve Lassiter and his partners Heath Baumor and Matt McGuire will lead the Nashville-based agency, which had a concentration in concert touring prior to this expansion. The new infrastructure will give the agency talent outposts in Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York and Tampa. –Jessica Nicholson
WME appointed Alexis Rosenberg as senior director of external relations in its Nashville office, a new role designed to enhance connections with the Nashville business and entertainment communities. Reporting to WME senior partners and Nashville co-heads Becky Gardenhire, Joey Lee and Jay Williams, Rosenberg will work with corporate communications and marketing to foster corporate partnerships, sponsorships and strategic relationships. She will act as a liaison across music, sports, and business sectors, boosting WME’s industry presence and client support. Rosenberg brings over a decade of experience in professional sports, including roles with the NBA’s Orlando Magic and Major League Soccer’s Nashville Soccer Club.
Ralph Torrefranca has been promoted to executive director of writer creative at Angry Mob Music Group, where he has been a key player since 2015. Torrefranca has significantly contributed to the success of hits like “My Fault” by Shaboozey and “She Likes It” by Russell Dickerson. He has also fostered the growth of writers and producers such as Bus and Bailey Bryan. In his new role, Torrefranca will continue to oversee the creative development of Angry Mob’s roster and expand his influence across company projects. He founded The New Normal, an inclusive writing camp that highlights underrepresented voices in music, with over 70% women participation and representation from over 10 cultural backgrounds. Torrefranca is based in L.A. and will continue to report to Angry Mob’s CEO Marc Caruso, who said “his ability to work with and develop relationships that reach the core of who our writers and artists are as humans and creatives is incredibly unique and unlike any other A&R in music publishing.”
RADIO, RADIO: Connoisseur Media acquired Alpha Media, forming a combined company under the Connoisseur name, led by CEO Jeff Warshaw. The new entity will operate 218 stations across 47 markets, covering 20% of the U.S., and rank among the top 10 U.S. radio groups by station count and revenue. The deal, subject to FCC approval, is expected to close in late 2025 … Hope Media Group promoted Jeff Evans to vp of radio, having joined as WayFM Network program director in July 2023. In his new role, he’ll oversee WayFM programming, all program directors, and the creative audio services department, enhancing talent development across the Houston media group’s brands, including WayFM, Vida Unida and the God Listens Prayer App.
444 Sounds, the label services and management firm founded by former HITCO marketing exec Joe Aboud, appointed Izzy Parrell as director of streaming and digital partnerships. Parrell will manage streaming and digital strategies, enhancing the firm’s focus on long-term artist development and fan engagement. Previously at Apple Music, she shaped the platform’s global editorial voice, specializing in viral and pop playlist curation. As part of Apple Music’s global programming team, Parrell worked on Apple Music’s Viral Hits playlist and contributed to the 100 Best Albums list. “I’m beyond excited to join 444 Sounds at such a pivotal moment.” said Parrell “This team is reshaping the future of digital strategy in today’s ever-evolving music landscape, and I’m honored to be part of a mission that champions creativity, culture, and community.”
Tresóna named Jann-Michael Greenburg as president of the specialty licensing company. Greenburg, who has served as vp of business affairs since 2017 and interim president since 2024, brings early-career experience as an analyst for Deloitte UK. Founded in 2009 and based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tresóna uses proprietary technology to streamline music licensing, ensuring proper rights for performances and recordings. Mark Greenburg, Tresóna’s Founder and Chairman, praised Jann-Michael’s impact on the business and his commitment to fair remuneration for songwriters.
Dynamic Talent International further expanded its Nashville presence with the opening of its new office at 401 Commerce Street. The company has also hired Nashville-based agent Robert Baugh, who will work alongside fellow Dynamic Talent International representatives in promoting artists including Danielle Bradbery, Drew Green and Erin Kinsey. Dynamic Talent International has operated in Music City for the past decade and has been instrumental in the K-pop arena, helping P1Harmony become the first K-Pop act to play at the Grand Ole Opry and aiding K-Pop artists including Mamamoo. –J.N.
Alex Stolls is now partner at Boyarski Fritz LLP, a top music and entertainment law firm where he has worked since 2017. Specializing in entertainment and intellectual property law, NYC-based Stolls represents a high-profile roster that includes the Estate of Maurice White, Lil Kim, Will Smith, JISOO of BLACKPINK, and top producers like Louis Bell and Hit-Boy. He also serves as outside business affairs counsel for companies such as Create Music Group and BMG. His early career included roles at William Morris Endeavor and Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP. Founding partner Jason Boyarski praised Stolls as a “homegrown success story,” citing his strategic thinking and key role in the firm’s growth.
ICYMI:
Andrew Spencer
AEG promoted Katie Pandolfo from Dignity Health Sports Park to GM of Crypto.com Arena in L.A., effective June 1, succeeding Lee Zeidman … AEG also announced that Andrew Spencer has been named chief operating officer of AEG Presents Europe … EarthPercent, the Brian Eno-founded org taking on climate change, appointed five new U.S. board members … and Sara Nix and Joe Mortimer were named co-heads of creative at Capitol Music Group. [Keep Reading]
Last Week’s Turntable: New Head of Lumineers Label
EarthPercent, the organization co-founded by Brian Eno that works to take on climate change, has hired five new U.S. board members.
This group includes sustainability consultant and former vp of creative at Kobalt Music Emily Bines, YouTube’s manager of artist partnerships Courtney Marr, Los Angeles city council senior communications advisor Dae Levine, Warner Music Group’s new business & ventures rep Michael Delle Donne and longtime industry exec Harry Poloner, who will be the board’s U.S. chairman. Bines will serve as board treasurer, Levine as secretary and Marr and Dalle Donne as members.
“Music has the power to drive real change, and at EarthPercent, we’re using that power to take action on the climate crisis,” Poloner tells Billboard. “I’m honored to serve as board chairman in the U.S. and help mobilize the music industry to protect our planet.”
“We’re very honored to welcome such a strong and driven group to EarthPercent’s U.S. Board,” adds EarthPercent’s co-executive director Joel Gardner. “Their collective passion, experience and stewardship will be instrumental as we further grow our presence and impact across the states.”
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Founded in 2021, EarthPercent raises awareness and funding for climate initiatives — both in the U.S. and globally — by empowering artists and the broader industry to take meaningful action on real environmental solutions. Funding is achieved by getting artists and industry members to pledge a small portion of their income to the organization, which in turn directs it to climate-related projects. Funding also comes via partnerships, merch collaborations and individual fundraisers.
The project, which was also co-founded by music managers Adam Callan and Hiroki Shirasuka, has received support from approximately 300 artists and 50 industry organizations and raised approximately $2 million over the last four years. EarthPercent is also a partner of Sounds Right, the cross-DSP playlist that incorporates nature sounds into tracks and directs of a percent of each song’s royalties to conservation projects. “EarthPercent makes it easy for industry and artists to support the earth through music,”” Gardner continues, “and in our first four years we’ve made a real difference to some of the most impactful climate and biodiversity projects around the world.
“This is thanks to nearly 300 artists and 50 industry organizations joining us through pledges in their tours, records and publishing — collectively raising over $2 million. These new appointments are a really positive and exciting next step to further build our movement and unite the power of music in service of the planet.”
