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Black Opry Records, the new Thirty Tigers-distributed label started by The Black Opry founder Holly G, has signed its first artist. Jett Holden’s label debut, The Phoenix, will arrive Oct. 4. The infectious, rock-tinged first single, “Backwood Proclamation,” which feature John Osborne and Charlie Worsham, premieres below.
Holly G founded Black Opry in 2021 initially as a blog to talk about her disheartening experience as a Black country music fan, but it quickly evolved into a platform to bring attention to Black artists and help launch their careers. It then expanded to booking shows across the country, under the Black Opry Revue banner, to highlight the unsung Black country artists Holly G found.
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The label became a natural progression and a way to fill a great void.
“Over the years that I’ve been working in and observing the conversations surrounding diversity in country music, we are still not seeing the same resources and opportunities being poured into Black country artists as we do their peers (outside of very few exceptions),” Holly G says. “We’ve got the community, we’ve created a pipeline to touring and show opportunities through the Black Opry Revue, we’ve got all of the work Rissi Palmer is doing with [her Apple Country show] Color Me Country, but we still don’t have people who are in executive positions strategically advocating for and developing Black country artists.”
Watch Jett Holden’s “Backwood Proclamation”:
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That is one reason that the smoky-voiced Holden, 35, had pretty much given up on getting a label deal.
“Being gay and Black had been a nonstarter for me in the industry from the time I started chasing a career in country music when I was 19. I had a developmental deal fall through when they learned I was gay,” Holden says, declining to name the label. “Every time things started to look up for me, all of a sudden I wasn’t marketable because I’m gay or my race or both. But when Black Opry Records became an option, I leapt at it.”
Holden and Holly G first connected on Instagram when she reached out as she was launching the blog and had discovered his music.
“I had actually quit music in 2020 when the pandemic hit, but the community that developed around the blog, and later the collective, drew me in and reinvigorated my drive to create again,” he says. “Then in 2021 everything changed. Black Opry blew up into more than any of us expected.”
Though Holden is only being announced now, he was asked to sign with the label last summer after playing the Black Opry Revue at the Newport Folk Festival.
“When we got back to the Airbnb, they pulled me aside and sat me down by the fire pit like I was in trouble for something,” he says. “And then they told me about the label and that they wanted to sign me first. I’m not used to being chosen first for anything, so it was a huge shock, but a no brainer. It was the easiest yes of my life.”
Jett Holden
Kai Lendzion
For Holly G, talent led the way in signing Holden, but it was also important to send a message with his selection.
“From a big picture standpoint, it was really important to me that we set the tone for who we are as a label by signing an LGBTQ artist right out of the gate,” she says. “I put a lot of pressure on other institutions about their lack of inclusion, and I feel it’s important I lead by example by making sure there are diverse artists even within marginalized communities when I serve on different projects.”
With Holden teed up, Black Opry Records has already signed its second artist, Tylar Bryant, a former MMA fighter-turned-singer-songwriter, but Holly G resists pinpointing the ideal roster size for the boutique label.
“There may be some artists that we have to pour into more than others, which will dictate what my bandwidth is for beginning the next project,” she says. “I have such a long list of artists that I would love to sign but I’m taking things one artist and one album at a time so that we are giving everyone the best chance possible to be successful.”
Holly G will sign artists who align with the Black Opry’s mission to highlight Black talent.
“The Black Opry was created as a platform specifically for Black artists and Black Opry Records will carry on that tradition,” she says. “We have a beautiful community of people from all backgrounds that interact with us behind the scenes, but it’s really important that we have this space specifically for Black artists. When you consider the lack of opportunity for Black artists overall, it would do a huge disservice to them to open the space up for other marginalized groups (though they are all equally deserving).”
Black representation at country labels, both on the artist and executive roster, is meager, at best, and “Black artists need to see that there is a space that will always be held, so they know there is somewhere for them to go,” she says.
For now, Holly G will handle A&R and Black Opry Records will rely on Thirty Tigers’ staff for all other functions.
“Thirty Tigers has already established itself as a leader in the music community in terms of putting artists first and letting music guide the journey,” Holly G says. “With them providing our label services, we want to use that as a foundation to diversify country music by helping Black artists build their careers.”
Holden’s Will Hoge-produced album covers a wide spectrum of country styles, which Holly G thinks will help broaden its appeal and possibilities for airplay, but she’s not counting on terrestrial mainstream country radio stations to lead the way given how limited their playlists are and how conservative they have been.
“As far as country radio, it would obviously be great to have them get on board with this project, but given the dismal track record they have with both Black and queer artists, we aren’t going to depend on that happening,” she says.
Holden’s goals extend far beyond radio play. “I have a lot of the same hopes as a lot of my counterparts; making my Grand Ole Opry debut, winning a Grammy, and making a living writing and performing,” he says. “But I also hope that I’m fostering a more welcoming industry than I came up in. I hope that kids growing up today feel seen in the ways I didn’t. And I hope that I’m not an anomaly, and other artists of color and queer musicians will continue to get opportunities.”
As for Holly G, she’s already thinking long term as well. “We are always trying to figure out ways to make country music spaces safer and more inclusive. Ideally I’d like to start another label down the line that could serve as a home for artists of any and all backgrounds that are making good country music, but it was important to create this space for Black artists first.”
UTA has a new COO.
The talent agency says that it has hired Bob Roback to serve as its COO, running business operations, growth, strategy, technology and other key areas of the firm. He will report to UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer and president David Kramer, and will join the firm’s board of directors.
Andrew Thau, who had been COO while also serving as co-head of UTA Sports, will focus exclusively on expanding UTA’s sports business.
Roback was most recently CEO of Ingrooves Music Group, which is now part of Universal Music Group, and before that was president of the musical instrument company Fender. He also co-founded a number of companies, including Dashbox, The Media Farm and LAUNCH Media, which became Yahoo Music.
“I’m delighted to welcome Bob Roback to UTA,” said Zimmer in a statement. “Throughout his accomplished career, Bob has built and led multiple businesses at the intersection of entertainment and technology, and he will be a valued partner at UTA as we help our clients thrive in an increasingly global and complex marketplace.”
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“I also want to acknowledge the many contributions of Andrew Thau, who served as our COO since 2007 and became co-head of UTA Sports last year,” Zimmer added. “I’m excited for what Andrew will accomplish as he focuses full-time on building out our sports presence in the global arena.”
“I’ve long admired UTA’s dedication to its clients and ability to lead the way in defining what it means to be a global agency during a time of tremendous change and opportunity,” added Roback. “I’m thrilled to be joining the company at this exciting time and look forward to shaping the future with UTA’s talented and ambitious team.”
“Bob’s experience and approach make him an ideal fit in UTA’s entrepreneurial and future-focused culture,” Kramer added. “Artists, athletes and brands are looking to participate globally across every part of the entertainment landscape, and Bob will help ensure we continue to operate at a level that exemplifies best-in-class representation.”
This story was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Downtown Music has named Molly Neuman president of its direct-to-creator division CD Baby. Neuman succeeds CD Baby’s previous president, Scott Williams, who will stay on as a consultant to Downtown and CD Baby. In addition to Neuman’s appointment, it was announced that CD Baby COO Christine Barnum is leaving the company. Neuman boards CD Baby […]
Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel will not have to report to jail this weekend on criminal contempt charges after the Georgia Supreme Court granted his emergency motion for bond.
The ruling, issued Wednesday (June 12), came two days after the Atlanta judge overseeing Young Thug’s gang trial held Steel in criminal contempt in a bizarre courtroom episode centered on claims of a secret meeting between the judge, prosecutors and a key witness.
The decision means that Steel’s jail sentence — 20 days, to be served over ten consecutive weekends starting this Friday — will be put on pause until the Supreme Court rules on his appeal of the contempt order, which his attorneys have argued was an abuse of the judge’s authority.
An attorney for Steel did not immediately return a request for comment.
On Monday (June 10), months into the massive racketeering trial, Steel alerted Judge Ural Glanville that he had learned of a secret “ex parte” meeting that morning between the judge, prosecutors and a witness named Kenneth Copeland. Steel argued that such a meeting, without defense counsel present, had potentially involved coercion of a witness and was clear grounds for a mistrial.
Rather than address Steel’s complaints, Glanville instead repeatedly demanded that he divulge who had informed him about a private meeting in his chambers, suggesting the leak was illegal: “If you don’t tell me how you got this information, you and I are going to have problems.”
Steel refused to do so, saying that it had been the meeting itself that was the problem. “You’re not supposed to have communication with a witness who’s been sworn,” he told the judge. Steel said he had been told that during the meeting, prosecutors and the judge had pressed Copeland to testify by saying he could be held in jail for an extended period of time if he did not do so.
“If that’s true, what this is is coercion, witness intimidation,” Steel told Glanville.
In an extraordinary exchange, the two continued to argue until Glanville eventually ordered Steel removed from the courtroom by a court officer. In an order issued later on Monday — with Steel now represented by another well-known Georgia criminal defense attorney —Glanville ultimately sentenced Steel to spend 20 days in jail, to be served over 10 consecutive weekends.
In a dramatic twist, Steel requested that he be allowed to serve that sentence alongside Young Thug, who has been sitting in jail for more than two years as the trial drags on.
Thug (Jeffery Williams) and dozens of others were indicted in May 2022 over allegations that his “YSL” group was not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life.” Prosecutors claim the group committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade.
Jury selection kicked off in January 2023, but the trial itself did not begin until November and has since been marked by numerous delays. With dozens of witnesses still set to testify in the prosecution case, the trial is expected to run into 2025.
Following Glanville’s contempt ruling against Steel, his attorneys immediately appealed the decision, arguing that the judge’s actions on Monday had been both procedurally and substantively improper. Among other things, they cited the fact that Glanville himself had issued a ruling on an issue that involved his own potentially unethical actions.
“The court involved itself in these proceedings by conducting the ex parte hearing that violated Mr. Steel’s client’s rights,” Steel’s attorney wrote in their appeal. “This created a conflict of interest for the court because its own ethical conduct was at the heart of Mr. Steel’s request.”
“The court then compounded its abuse of power by presiding over the very contempt hearing where its own rules violations prompted the controversy,” Steel’s attorneys continued. “The court should have recused and allowed the contempt proceedings to be handled by a separate court.”
That appeal, filed with a state appeals court on Tuesday (June 11), was passed along to the Supreme Court, which under Georgia case law is tasked with handling such appeals directly. And on Wednesday, the high court accepted the case and ordered Steel’s sentence put on hold until it issues a final ruling on Judge Glanville’s actions.
Following Monday’s dust-up, the YSL trial has continued with more testimony, with Steel present in the courtroom representing Thug. But on Wednesday, attorneys for another defendant (Deamonte Kendrick) argued that Glanville should recuse himself from the case over the alleged secret meeting with prosecutors and the witness. They argued that the meeting had been intended to “harass and intimidate the sworn witness into testifying.”
When presented with that motion in court, Glanville quickly denied it and continued on with the trial.
Jennifer Koester is expanding her role at Sphere Entertainment. The live entertainment executive has been named president/COO of Sphere, effective immediately.
Prior to her promotion, Koester served as the company’s president of Sphere Business Operations, which saw her lead the strategy and execution of all business aspects of Sphere, the next-generation entertainment venue in Las Vegas.
In her new role, Koester will continue to work with executive leadership and provide strategic oversight for Sphere Studios, the immersive content studio in Burbank dedicated to developing multi-sensory experiences exclusively for Sphere, including further developing Sphere Studios’ capabilities as a full-service production studio. Koester will also continue to focus on maximizing venue utilization across a range of categories such as original programming, attractions, concerts, residencies, and corporate and marquee events, as well as driving strategic partnerships, delivering the best customer experience and growing Sphere as a premium global brand.
“Since joining our team earlier this year, Jennifer’s contributions have had a significant impact,” said Sphere Entertainment executive chairman/CEO James Dolan in a statement. “We believe we are just scratching the surface of what is possible with Sphere, and her expertise will be essential as we continue to advance on our long-term vision for this next-generation entertainment medium.”
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“I welcome the opportunity to take on this expanded role,” added Koester. “Across the Sphere organization we are focused on both bringing unique experiences to life in Las Vegas, and developing new experiences that will keep Sphere at the forefront of immersive entertainment. I look forward to continuing to work with our world-class team to grow our business and deliver on Sphere’s vision for the future of entertainment.”
Koester has 30 years of experience in technology, media and entertainment. She joined Sphere Entertainment in February from Google, where she served as MD, Americas strategic alliances, global partnerships at Google Commercial Operations. Her experience prior to Google includes serving as senior vp of advanced advertising product development, data analytics and ad operations at Cablevision, along with various legal roles.
Koester received a J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and a B.S. in management information systems from Binghamton University.
During the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) annual meeting on Wednesday (June 12), the trade organization said it had calculated total U.S. publishing revenue at $6.2 billion in 2023, up 10.74% from the previous year.
The event, held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, is thought of as a state of the union for the U.S. music publishing business. During the presentation, it’s also common for NMPA president/CEO David Israelite to announce major actions it’s taking against tech companies on behalf of publishers. This year, he targeted Spotify, sending an official complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as well as letters to the attorneys general of nine states and a list of consumer groups — urging them to stop Spotify’s efforts to bundle music and audiobooks into its premium tiers. It’s the first time the NMPA has involved the FTC in its fight with a tech company.
For publishers and songwriters, Spotify’s decision to include audiobooks in its premium tiers and categorize those tiers as “bundles” — a type of plan that qualifies for a discounted rate on U.S. mechanical royalties given that multiple products are offered under one price tag — means a lower royalty rate for music given that both music and audiobooks must now be paid out from the same royalty pool. In May, the NMPA launched its war with Spotify by sending a cease and desist letter to the streamer for allegedly hosting lyrics, music videos and podcast content that contain their members’ copyrighted musical works without proper licenses.
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In Wednesday’s FTC complaint, the NMPA says Spotify “has deceived consumers by converting millions of its subscribers without their consent from music-only subscriptions into ‘bundled’ audiobook-and-music subscriptions, publicly announcing increased prices for those subscriptions, failing to offer an option for subscribers to revert to a music-only subscription, and thwarting attempts to cancel through dark patterns and confusing website interfaces.” (For more on this, check out Billboard‘s full coverage of the FTC complaint here.)
Aside from Israelite’s big announcement, the event also honored top songwriters for their contributions to the music business — including an opening tribute to songwriter and outgoing NMPA board member Ross Golan. The NMPA also issued awards to Lana Del Rey, this year’s Songwriter Icon recipient, and Savan Kotecha, winner of the Non-Performing Songwriter Icon award. Elsewhere, “Can’t Help Falling in Love” was honored with NMPA’s Iconic Song award, featuring a performance of the song by Ingrid Michaelson.
The event additionally featured fireside chats with Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group, and Shira Perlmutter, register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
NMPA’s annual meeting comes amidst a busy year in the music publishing business. At the start of 2024, the MLC, which collects and distributes U.S. mechanicals, began its first-ever redesignation process — a routine five-year review of its operations to determine if any changes need to be made to the organization.
The same month, UMG pulled its music catalog from TikTok, including its publishing interests, alleging that the short-form app did not pay the “fair value” of music while also raising concerns regarding AI and artist safety. The NMPA showed its support for UMG regarding the move and even joined the music giant by letting the NMPA’s model license with TikTok, used by a number of indie publishers, lapse at the end of April. (UMG and TikTok eventually made a deal.)
The National Music Publishers’ Association’s (NMPA) war with Spotify continued at its annual meeting held Wednesday (June 12) at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
In an address to the publishing executives in attendance, NMPA CEO/president David Israelite announced that the organization has filed an official complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and sent letters to the attorneys general for nine states as well as consumer trade groups to try to stop Spotify from reclassifying its premium tiers as “bundles” — a classification that allows the streamer to pay a lower mechanical royalty rate in the United States.
The NMPA alleges that Spotify has violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (“ROSCA”), section 5 of the FTC Act and various consumer protection laws. Spotify has not returned Billboard’s request for comment.
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As Billboard previously reported, publishers anticipate a $150 million loss in U.S. mechanicals in the first year of the bundling reclassification compared to what publishers would have been paid had it never happened. The decreased payments began in March with no prior warning, according to the NMPA and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (the MLC). Spotify, however, believes it is playing by the book in making the change to how it pays out U.S. mechanical royalties given that it has “bundled” audiobooks in with the other offerings included in the streamer’s premium plans.
“Spotify has declared war on songwriters,” said Israelite at Wednesday’s meeting. “Our response shall be all-encompassing.” Israelite noted that the NMPA (as well as the MLC) has taken multiple actions to stop Spotify’s bundling reclassification already. The organization’s all-out retaliation began with statements made against the company in March, followed in May by a cease and desist letter in which the NMPA threatened to file a lawsuit against Spotify for allegedly using music and lyrics in some of its podcasts and videos without permission. (Spotify called the move a “press stunt” by the NMPA).
“Our letter was not just a warning shot, and the NMPA has never lost a lawsuit. So you’ll want to stay tuned,” Israelite added on Wednesday.
Only days after the NMPA threatened legal action, the MLC filed a lawsuit against Spotify for “improperly” reclassifying its premium tiers as bundles.
The following week, the NMPA sent a letter to the Judiciary Committees in both the U.S. House and Senate asking for an overhaul of the statutory license in section 115 of the Copyright Act, which binds publishers to strict regulations and rules over what they can charge streaming services for U.S. mechanicals.
In the NMPA’s letter to the FTC, obtained by Billboard, general counsel Danielle Aguirre wrote: “The [NMPA] writes to urge the FTC to address unlawful conduct by Spotify that is harming millions of consumers and the music marketplace… Spotify has deceived consumers by converting millions of its subscribers without their consent from music-only subscriptions into ‘bundled’ audiobook-and-music subscriptions, publicly announcing increased prices for those subscriptions, failing to offer an option for subscribers to revert to a music-only subscription, and thwarting attempts to cancel through dark patterns and confusing website interfaces. This bait-and-switch subscription scheme is “saddling shoppers with recurring payments for products and services they did not intend to purchase or did not want to continue to purchase.”
Aguirre continued, “Indeed, it has all the red flags of problematic negative-option practices that the FTC has consistently warned companies about: (1) Spotify has failed to give consumers all material information about its subscription plans up front; (2) Spotify has billed consumers without their informed consent; and (3) Spotify has made it hard for consumers to cancel.”
Other letters of complaint were also sent to the attorneys general for nine states, including California, New York, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon and Washington, D.C. In the NMPA’s letter to both the New York bureau chief of the consumer frauds and protection bureau as well as the state’s assistant attorney general, obtained by Billboard, Aguirre wrote: “We urge your office to investigate and address Spotify’s conduct as well.”
Letters were also sent to consumer groups including the National Consumers’ League, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen Consumer Action and the National Consumer Wealth Center in hopes of sparking a class action lawsuit.
The NMPA’s recent moves are being supported by representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA), Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) via a letter sent Wednesday to Shira Perlmutter, register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
In the letter, the three representatives wrote: “As members of the Judiciary Committee, which originated the Music Modernization Act, we want to see the law faithfully implemented and copyright owners protected from harm arising from bad faith exploitation of the compulsory system. Digital service providers should not be permitted to manipulate statutory rates to slash royalties, deeply undercutting copyright protections for songwriters and publishers. A fair system should prevent any big tech company from setting their own price for someone else’s intellectual property, whether the owner wants to sell or not.”
Each year, the NMPA is known for announcing major breaking news at its annual meeting — typically against tech companies that, in its view, are not properly paying for songs. Last year, Israelite announced a $250 million lawsuit against Twitter, which is still in progress. In previous years, the NMPA has gone after Twitch, Peloton, Roblox and more.
“We will see what the Federal Court in the Southern District of NY, the United States Congress, the Copyright Office, the Copyright Royalty Board, the FTC, multiple State Attorneys General and consumer advocacy groups have to say,” Israelite told the crowd on Wednesday. “Most importantly, we will see what the songwriters and music publishers who make the product that allows Spotify to exist have to say.”
Billboard’s peer-voted R&B/Hip Hop Power Players’ Choice Award is back for 2024 — and we’re asking music industry members from all sectors to honor the executive they believe had the most impact across R&B and hip-hop in the past year. Voting is open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote […]
Jelly Roll is undoubtedly on a hot streak. After toiling on the edges of the industry for nearly a decade, his career has gone supernova over the past year thanks to his singles “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor” and “Save Me,” the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. He rolled across the United States on his 44-city Backroad Baptism Tour in 2023, has played a string of festivals this year and is slated to hit a few more this summer, along with hopping on shows with Morgan Wallen and headlining this fall’s Beautifully Broken tour with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay.
But if you look at Jelly’s road history one thing you’ll notice is that his gigs have kept him within the lower 48, a situation he explained while talking to Jon Bon Jovi for Interview Magazine earlier this year. During the chat, the 39-year-old singer born Jason DeFord noted that his felonious past has kept him grounded when it comes to playing gigs overseas.
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“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” he told Bon Jovi. “We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.” Then, on Howard Stern‘s SiriusXM show Wednesday morning (June 12) after the host asked if Jelly’s past misdeeds are still keeping him grounded, the singer said, “I actually got off the phone with a lawyer yesterday, We are working… it’s getting good, it’s starting to look promising. It didn’t look good even just six months ago, but it’s starting to look really promising.”
Jelly Roll has spoken openly about his past scuffles with the law and his jail time, including dozens of stints behind bars on drug charges going back to when he was 14, as well as an arrest at 16 for aggravated robbery that landed him a year in prison when he was tried as an adult; he had been facing a potential 20-year sentence in the case, though he served just over a year behind bars and seven years of probation. He’s also talked about the time in 2008 when, at 23, he was locked up on drug dealing charges when his daughter Bailee was born. Among the repercussions are an inability, until recently, to secure a passport, as well as an inability to vote, volunteer at most nonprofits or own a firearm.
So what’s still keeping him from getting his first passport stamp? Billboard spoke to several prominent European immigration lawyers to find out what the hang-up is and whether Jelly might be able to rock stages overseas in the near future. (The experts agreed to speak in general terms about immigration laws in their country, but had no first-hand knowledge of Jelly Roll’s case.)
First, the good news.
According to the rules about entrance to the 26 European countries that allow unrestricted travel within their borders — collectively known as the Schengen Area, which includes Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, among others — non-EU nationals can be denied entry if they are considered a “threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any EU or Schengen country.”
A prominent Italian immigration lawyer who requested anonymity tells Billboard that once you legally enter a country in the Schengen region, you are free to travel among the countries with a valid passport, as long as you are not listed on INTERPOL’s list of restricted individuals. The region does have a list of serious criminal offenses over the previous decade — or 20 years in the case of terror offenses — that an applicant for entry must report before visiting. The list of barring offenses includes terrorism, human trafficking, child pornography, drug/weapon trafficking, fraud, money laundering, environmental crimes, murder, racketeering, arson and nuclear material trafficking.
Based on that list, Jelly Roll’s priors do not appear to rise to the level that would bar him from visiting the Schengen countries. The attorney noted, however, that those rules are slated to change in 2025 when non-EU nationals who don’t need a visa to travel to the Schengen area — a list that includes U.S. citizens — will have to apply for travel authorization through the ETIAS travel portal for short-term (90-180 day) stays; at present, if you have a valid passport and don’t plan to stay for more than three months a visa is not required to enter the region.
At press time, a spokesperson for Jelly Roll had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the status of Jelly’s overseas touring plans.
The bad news, according to Matthew James of leading U.K. immigration law firm Bates Wells, is that the United Kingdom has what are called “General Grounds For Refusal” laws that look at whether an individual has previously overstayed their visa in the country as well as a past history of criminality. What gets captured under that rather broad umbrella are mandatory and discretionary grounds for refusal, which James says are somewhat “opaque.”
“If you’ve received a custodial sentence of more than 12 months, that should be a bar to entering the U.K., so there’s absolutely no chance of you coming in if you’ve done 12 months of jail time,” he says, noting that if you’ve done less than 12 months but are a “persistent offender” with multiple drug offenses you can be refused as a “persistent” offender; you can also be refused if the offense has caused serious harm.
However, for artists looking to visit for less than six months to stage a series of performances, there is an added wrinkle that if they’ve received a conviction within 12 months of their visit, their application will also be refused, which should not apply to Jelly Roll since his convictions occurred more than 20 years ago.
The U.K.’s secretary of state could also decide that an individual’s presence in the nation is “not conducive to the public good” because of their character or other reasons, with James pointing to Tyler, the Creator announcing that his lyrical content had gotten him banned from entering the United Kingdom for 3 to 5 years due to his then-violent and misogynistic lyrics. At the time, the Home Office issued a statement reading, “Coming to the U.K. is a privilege, and we expect those who come here to respect our shared values. The Home Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the U.K. is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds.” Tyler has subsequently been invited to the nation with no incident.
Snoop Dogg has talked about how the late Queen Elizabeth II helped him avoid getting booted from England in 1994 when he was facing first- and second-degree murder charges for which he was later acquitted. Ja Rule said he was “devastated” when his planned 2024 U.K. tour was canceled after he was denied entry due to his criminal record on gun possession and tax evasion.
James says that, in general, American visitors — especially those coming for permitted paid engagements — can enter the United Kingdom for what are called “permit-free” festivals, such as Glastonbury, without applying for a visa. In a testament to money talking, he added that the ultimate discretion lies with the secretary of state. “If you are a Snoop Dogg and you are about to sell out Wembley Stadium for three nights and it’s going to make a huge amount of money for the U.K. economy and he’s done loads of great work rehabilitating other people and people learning from his errors and never caused another issue since in 20-plus years,” says James, you could likely talk to someone more senior in the government and get some leeway on the rules, which, he notes, are mainly intended to bar known criminals from living in the country.
That said, those who have committed particularly heinous crimes face a different standard. R. Kelly — who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on child sex abuse convictions — is unlikely to ever be allowed to perform in the United Kingdom again following his release.
Jelly Roll has talked extensively about the work he’s done talking to youth about his law-breaking days and visiting facilities to share his story, including donating a recording studio to the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was incarcerated as a teen, in 2023.
James says that given that Jelly Roll’s arrests and incarcerations occurred mostly when he was young, that he’s clearly worked on rehabilitating himself and that he’s on the upswing of his career, it’s always possible that “overarching discretion” could come into play. This allows officials not to apply the rules in the strictest manner, particularly if an artist’s concerts will bring significant revenue to the United Kingdom and the person is not a perceived risk. “They will fly in on their private plane and play their set at Wembley and then leave,” he says. “They would have to show remorse and a redeemed character and the benefits to society they are bringing and the economic advantages they’re bringing.”
Drake’s production company is facing a lawsuit from the apparel brand Members Only for allegedly selling tour merch that infringed the company’s trademarks.
The case, filed Tuesday (June 12) in New York federal court, claims that Drake’s company (Away From Home Touring Inc.) has been selling t-shirts, including on his recently-wrapped It’s All a Blur Tour, that are emblazoned with the words “Members Only.”
To be clear, the lawsuit doesn’t claim Drake is selling counterfeit Members Only jackets — the iconic 1980s fad the company made famous. Drake’s shirts feature that phrase (written in large script across the front) simply because it’s the name of a track on his 2023 album For All the Dogs.
But in its complaint filed in federal court, the current owner of the Members Only brand (JR Apparel World LLC) says it doesn’t matter why Drake’s company opted to put their name on a shirt — only that he did so.
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“The fact that ‘Members Only’ is a song on Drake’s album ‘For All the Dogs’ does not obviate the likelihood of confusion or give [him] a license to use our client’s ‘Members Only’ marks in such a confusing manner, particularly on or in connection with apparel items,” the company’s lawyers write.
Calling “Members Only” a “famous household name,” the lawsuit claims that Drake’s shirts are going to confuse fans into thinking the real Members Only brand is somehow involved: “Away From Home’s use of ‘Members Only’ … is likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception among consumers as to the origin of Away From Home’s infringing T-shirts.”
Under U.S. trademark law, the context of how a brand name is used is crucial. Two companies can use the exact same name for different products and peacefully co-exist — think Delta Airlines and Delta Faucet, or Dove soap and Dove chocolate. But when used on the same types of products, a similar name can become trademark infringement.
In Drake’s case, his use of the “Members Only” name as a song title almost certainly would not have infringed JR Apparel World rights — both because they’re different products and because the First Amendment gives added protection to use trademarks in creative works like songs. But by using that same name on apparel, the lawsuit says, the legal calculus has changed.
“Away From Home sold … goods bearing the mark ‘Members Only’ that are identical, overlapping, and/or highly similar to the goods that JR Apparel sells bearing its MEMBERS ONLY Marks,” the company’s attorneys write.
A rep for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.