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Regional Mexican music continues to surf a wave of unprecedented global popularity and expansion, with names like Peso Pluma, Luis R Conriquez, Edén Muñoz, Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera crowning Billboard’s global and U.S. charts.
Yet women in the genre are almost nowhere to be found. Just one female artist-led song appeared among the 50 on Billboard’s year-end Regional Mexican Airplay Songs chart: Yuridia and Angela Aguilar’s “Qué Agonía.” And among the regional Mexican acts dominating the Hot Latin Songs chart, only one female name comes up: pop singer Kenia Os as a guest on Peso Pluma’s “Tommy & Pamela.”
Behind the scenes, it’s a different story entirely. In what had long been a world of male dominance in the C-suite of música mexicana, women are now powerhouses. María Inés Sánchez, formerly head of marketing for regional Mexican indie label Afinarte, is now the West Coast vp for Sony Music U.S. Ana Luisa Gómez, who has worked with Alicia Villarreal and Sergio Vega, among others, now manages superstar Muñoz. Rosela Zavala manages Ana Bárbara, and Adriana Martínez manages rising trio Yahritza y Su Esencia.
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And they’re just a few among a growing group of women that also includes Ana Martínez (leading Fonovisa/Disa’s U.S. division), Delia Orjuela (head of creative for música mexicana at Warner Chappell) and managers for some of the most visible artists on the charts, like Ivan Cornejo, Xavi and Eslabon Armado.
Billboard gathered four of these executives for a candid conversation about how they’ve managed to make their marks in a complex genre they readily admit is “full of men” — and the unique skill set that it has taken.
“I’ve always said that I’m one person at home, and another when I leave my house and I become that other person that everyone says, ‘Oh, she’s super angry, super hysterical,’ ” Gómez says with a smile. “Yeah. I’m super all that because if I wasn’t, I think I wouldn’t have made it.”
Spanish singer-songwriter Natalia Jimenez (left) and Gómez
Courtesy of Ana Luisa Gómez
How did you get your start in the world of regional Mexican music?
Ana Luisa Gómez: I graduated from the University of Monterrey [in Mexico] in communications and started working in television, where I spent 14 years producing entertainment and musical programs. Fifteen years ago, I left that and started managing Sergio Vega, “El Shaka,” may he rest in peace. [Vega was murdered in 2010.] Then I started my advertising agency, offering a 360 model of booking, promotion, radio, television. Later I decided to focus more on management, and I’ve been with Edén Muñoz for three years.
María Inés Sánchez: I also started years ago at PolyGram, Sony, Universal, Machete, always in marketing, and when I moved to Los Angeles I started doing public relations. Later, [my client] Chiquis Rivera recommended me to run PR for DEL Records [in 2016], and that’s how I started in the Mexican music genre. I worked with Régulo Caro, Gerardo Ortiz, Ulices Chaidez, Los Plebes del Rancho [de Ariel Camacho].
Rosela Zavala: Like María Inés, I got my start through Chiquis. I came from the pop world, working with Paulina Rubio and later with Gloria Trevi. And from Gloria I went to Chiquis and landed in a completely different world, the regional Mexican music world. I co-managed Chiquis, and Ana Bárbara is the first artist I fully manage.
Adriana Martínez: I’ve only been doing this for two years. The role of manager fell on me. My brothers, Yahritza y Su Esencia, began to be recognized, and since they always turn to me, I had to get a lawyer and all that. When I said, “OK, now you can fly alone,” they said, “No, please don’t leave us.” The truth is I started in this with zero experience.
What has been the most difficult thing about being a manager?
Martínez: Being siblings, and then transitioning into manager mode. At first, the guys didn’t take me very seriously when I said, “We need to do this.” The seriousness of things was there, but it was easier for them to procrastinate because I was the one in charge and I was their sister.
Gómez: The most challenging thing for me is working with men. They’re all men. There are no women, at least not in the teams I have worked on, starting with Sergio Vega. It’s not easy for men to accept that someone is telling them what to do and how, although it’s not a mandate. But I understand. It’s machismo. So the most challenging thing is to deal with that and develop a strong character.
Zavala: I have found it difficult to get Ana’s music heard on the radio. We bring songs and they say, “Oh, the traditional mariachi isn’t playing now. It’s grupero.” So Ana says, “Let’s do grupero,” and they say, “Ah, grupero sounds old.” In Mexico we get played much more, but in the U.S., with so many men on that chart, it’s difficult to get in. Also, in the beginning with Ana, I wrote to a couple of concert promoters that I knew, and they weren’t interested in her tour. A few years later, those same people wanted to work with her. I love making that happen. But I always looked for the people who told me they believed in her, let’s do it. And there are many people, even men, who told me, “Yes, we will give it our all.”
Ana Bárbara (left) and Zavala
Courtesy of Rosela Zavala
Do you remember the first time you had to lay down the law to be taken seriously?
Gómez: With Sergio Vega, of course. I met him through Oscar Flores, a super-renowned concert promoter, and we clicked. But Sergio was a man without reins. He did what he wanted, how he wanted. He was a great talent looking for the right direction, but he didn’t know how to do it. When I said left, he said right. And one day, after an event in Sonora [Mexico], where everything I told him not to do, he did, I grabbed my suitcase, knocked on his hotel room door and told him, “That’s it. I don’t have to deal with you or your people or your party.” I took my bags and flew home to Monterrey. After five days, he came to see me and said: “I am in your hands. What do we do?” And from there, we became family.
Do you think of one moment in your career as particularly defining? María Inés, I remember meeting you when you were a junior publicist, and then seeing you become a powerful executive at the Afinarte label…
Sánchez: That’s where I started, from ground zero. When I began working at Afinarte, they didn’t have a company email, for example. The first year, they uploaded the music to TuneCore and I made the pitches to the platforms. They didn’t have a distributor. I came from working at multinationals, which of course are highly organized and have departments for everything. Here we had to assemble everything, and I was the only woman: The bosses, the musicians, even the photographers were men. So it was a challenge, but I thank them because not many companies would have given me that much autonomy.
Zavala: Working with Paulina was like getting a master’s degree. [Initially], I was the president of her fan club, and she gave me the opportunity to be her personal assistant. Then I finished my “master’s degree” with Gloria. I spent eight years with her. I saw her struggle at the beginning with her shows, and then saw her grow to play arenas. She gave me that opportunity to grow and learn more and do day-to-day management. It was scary at the beginning. When you go from being a fan to being an assistant, you are no longer the friend. Everything becomes much more serious.
Martínez: I graduated [with a degree] in psychology. I worked as an outreach coordinator [for a health provider], and I already had my life planned. [When I started working with my brothers], the most important thing was to make sure that the values that our parents had taught us — keeping our feet on the ground, not forgetting where we came from, manners — were maintained. But there have also been times where I’ve said, “This is as far as it goes; I’m their sister, but if they don’t have respect for me as their manager, then that’s it.” After that, things calmed down and thank God, we are all moving together. But sometimes you have to have those talks or pack your bags and leave. All these battles have made us realize that family is important but also the respect we have as business partners is important.
Yahritza y Su Esencia with their sister and manager Martínez (second from left).
Jesse Sandoval
Aside from the difficulty of being taken seriously, what is most challenging for you on a day-to-day basis?
Martínez: We work with a major label [Columbia] and an indie label [Lumbre Music]. It’s good to have the macro view and the micro view, but our work doesn’t end there. It’s always been super important for us to have that relationship with the fans, to reach a point where they know the artist as people. And we didn’t receive much support in that respect. We said, “If we show people who we are and where we come from, our hearts will connect,” and sometimes big companies don’t understand that.
Gómez: Above all, the people that surround the artist but aren’t part of the music industry and love to mess things up. Going back to something that María Inés said, the daily challenge to be validated.
Are there certain advantages you do have as women in this business?
Martínez: I think we have that emotional balance, and we can see that in our empathy. The balance we give our artists with that empathy is super important, and it helps them know that they can trust us and that we are here to play any role.
Gómez: I am neither Edén’s mother, grandmother nor cousin, but you have to be all of that for him. Understand if he’s had a bad day, if his child is sick that day. A man also understands, but I think that a man has less sensitivity than us, he doesn’t have that sixth sense we have where as soon as I see him, I know what’s up. I think that as a woman you can dig in a little bit further than a man would dare to.
Zavala: The sensitivity we have with them and putting ourselves in their shoes. Even if you’re having a bad day, you still have to get onstage, sing. So the ability to support them from behind, be a cheerleader and look them in the eyes and giving them that support they need at that moment is very important. Because although you’re not family, you become family.
From left: Sony Music Latin president Alex Gallardo, Mexican singer-songwriter Ramón Vega and Sánchez at Sony Music Latin’s 2023 Música Mexicana Celebration in Los Angeles.
JC Olivera/Getty Images
What advice would you give to anyone starting out in the music business?
Gómez: You have to be passionate. If you go for the money or for the “I’m the manager,” bye. The money will come. It’s about fighting to place the artist at the level [they are] and being clean and honest. And don’t be a fan. It’s one thing to admire your artist, but don’t fall into fandom. You won’t be able to help them.
Sánchez: Don’t give up and be patient. And be empathetic. Be attentive. Be a little more human and don’t look at artists as a money machine. And speak up. Before, I stayed back and swallowed a lot of things. You have to raise your voice in the moment. Go for it. If you don’t agree with something, say so.
Zavala: Don’t take things personally. I was 22 when I started. I was so very young. Now that I’m older, I think back to how sensitive I was. Because it’s not about you. You grow thick skin. And, I’d say, speak up. Present your ideas, articulate them and land them as they should be.
Martínez: Be patient. Love, passion for your work, is what will lead you to do a good job with your artist. And most of all, don’t throw in the towel so soon. And ask. I would always hold back. I would talk down to myself. Ask for help, ask questions. I always thought that they were going to see me as “How could you not know that?” But all questions are good.
This story appears in Billboard‘s Rumbazo special issue, dated Sept. 14, 2024.
09/12/2024
A tense war of words and a slew of lawsuits have ensued as the K-pop giant and CEO tangle for control of the popular girl group NewJeans.
09/12/2024
After 17 years in Ibiza, IMS is expanding to the Middle East.
The annual electronic music conference announced Thursday (Sept. 12) that it will host the debut edition of IMS Dubai on Nov. 14-15 at the W Dubai – Mina Seyahi.
The two-day event will feature MENA region-based speakers from YouTube, Warner Music Group, Anghami, Believe and more, along with artists and organizers of regional events including Morocco’s Oasis Festival, Dubai’s Soho Garden and Groove on the Grass, and Beirut’s Factory People.
Additionally, speakers from outside the Middle East will represent companies and brands including Tomorrowland, Defected Records, CAA, WME, He.She.They and the Association For Electronic Music.
An opening keynote will be delivered by Maha ElNabaw, managing editor of Billboard Arabia. Other speakers will include Aloki Batra, CEO of The Pacha Group and Five Hospitality; Janet Ashak, YouTube’s head of music in the region; and more. Artist participants include Iranian producer Deep Dish, and Saudi Arabian producer Cosmicat. As at the Ibiza event, IMS Dubai will be hosted by BBC Radio’s Pete Tong, who is also an IMS co-founder.
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The two-day conference will feature 13 panel discussions, with topics including navigating the music industry in the MENA region; a look at culture tourism focused on Ibiza and Dubai; MENA region investors; regional talent buyers; the growth of labels and streaming in the region; the underground scene in Dubai; a focus on the Egyptian market; MENA women in music; and more.
Passes for the event go on sale Sept. 19.
“For almost two decades, International Music Summit has united the global electronic music community annually in Ibiza to explore industry trends, innovations, and the challenges our diverse community faces,” the IMS founders said in a joint statement. “To make a global impact, IMS seeks to be where change is happening, which is why we’ve also hosted three editions of IMS Asia Pacific in Shanghai and one in Singapore, five IMS Engage events in Los Angeles, and three IMS College events in Malta. IMS Dubai will debut in the United Arab Emirates, marking a strategic expansion into the Middle East and North Africa.”
Organizers note that the conference “will not receive government or cultural funding or incentives for this initiative.” Digital download platform Beatport acquired a majority stake in IMS in 2023, with support for the event also coming from AlphaTheta, the owner of Pioneer DJ.
“Our goal is to inspire continued growth, support, and investment while addressing the unique cultural challenges musicians and start-ups face,” the statement continues. “Electronic music culture is built on long standing principles of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds on the dancefloor. Music has the power to unify and we all have a part to play in creating safer spaces for all; a principle that IMS and Beatport proudly stand behind.”
The MENA region is indeed a current buzzy growth market for electronic music and more. The 2024 IFPI Global Report found that total MENA revenue rose by 14.4% in 2023 following a 26.8% jump in 2022. According to IFPI, streaming revenue accounted for 98.4% of the region’s market over the last year.
During the months-long feud between HYBE and NewJeans creative director and former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, the Billboard 200-topping girl group has largely remained silent. But early Wednesday morning (Sept. 11), group members Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein made their voices heard.
In a since-deleted post on their Twitter account, the group shared a YouTube link that led to a livestream on a no-longer accessible YouTube account named “nwjeans.” During the livestream, the five members spoke for about 30 minutes in Korean and English about their situation, expressing anxiety over their professional futures, worries about continuing to work under HYBE and revealing previously unheard stories.
Apologizing for the “sudden meeting,” all five members of the K-pop girl group sat in a nondescript room with notebooks, papers and iPads during the livestream. The youngest NewJeans member, Hyein, 18, spoke first, explaining that staff members they trusted (presumably also under or previously under the HYBE/ADOR umbrella) helped set up the location and stream but that it was the quintet’s choice to speak out.
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After that, Haerin noted that media coverage revolving around NewJeans’ situation became invasive when their private medical records and videos from their days as HYBE trainees leaked on the internet — four of the five NewJeans members were minors under the age of 18 when they debuted in July 2022 — but that when the group, alongside Min and their parents, raised concerns to ADOR parent company HYBE, the K-pop giant took no action.
One of the most talked about moments online among K-pop fans came early in the broadcast, when Hanni shared a story about a time when, while at the HYBE building to get her hair and makeup done, an unnamed HYBE LABELS group passed her with a manager. According to the Vietnamese-Australian singer, after initially greeting one another, the manager told the members of the other group to “ignore her.”
During the livestream, NewJeans members also expressed worries about the ADOR label’s inner workings following Min’s ouster as CEO.
In reference to ADOR’s new legal battle with Shin Woo-seok, the director of NewJeans’ “Ditto” and “ETA” music videos, Minji said it was “frightening” to see their work compromised. The director has alleged that ADOR targeted him for uploading “director cut” versions of NewJeans music videos and other content, which he claimed to have permission for, on his personal YouTube account.
Following ADOR’s removal of those videos, the label shared a statement on Sept. 4 that it would do its best to “ensure that the deleted NewJeans content can be uploaded to ADOR’s official channel in the future,” as reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily. That report also noted ADOR’s follow-up statement that only the “director cut” music videos were requested for removal — not behind-the-scenes clips starring the members that have racked up millions of views — while claiming it was advertisers who wanted the “director cut” videos removed.
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“Just like that, the content that we released solely for our fans, for our Bunnies, was instantly erased,” Danielle said in English about the incident. “I truly can’t understand why anyone would do this to a group or just anyone in general.”
Minji added that ADOR’s “new management” would keep production and management teams separate, like other HYBE LABELS. Under this arrangement, which saw Min being restricted only to production, and not being part of the discussions around the group’s overall management strategy, the group members said they were apprehensive over how they could continue as the NewJeans in its current form.
“Personally, the way that ADOR used to run was the business management and creative production was not separated…factors that played and worked in harmony with each other,” Hanni said in English. “It was our way of working and it was our CEO’s way of producing NewJeans’ content which a lot of you were able to enjoy and appreciate. But now that she’s no longer CEO, these factors that should have continued to work together in harmony are now being seen as two different areas of work.”
On Aug. 27, HYBE announced that Min would step down as ADOR CEO and shared in a statement to Billboard that ADOR “will restructure to separate its production from management — a multi-label practice that has been standard across all other HYBE labels but was previously not implemented at ADOR.”
Haerin also claimed that NewJeans learned of Min’s dismissal through the news instead of through their company, saying it “made it clear to us that they don’t respect us at all” and led them to feel that statements about HYBE’s plans for NewJeans were empty promises. (In April, HYBE shared a statement with Billboard claiming that the company “will continue to provide attententive [sic] mental and emotional care to the company’s artist NewJeans…the company will meet legal representatives of the respective members as soon as possible to discuss the plan to protect the act.”)
Beyond these specific incidents, the five NewJeans members also spoke at length of their worries about losing their team identity and wariness that HYBE has their best interests in mind while insisting that Min return to work with them.
“Even before debuting as NewJeans and through all of the time that we spent together with Min Hee-jin all of us felt that the music we wanted to make and the kind of world we wanted to build together, our vision, was similar in so many ways,” 19-year-old Danielle said. “Putting our sincere effort into something is only possible because of the people that we’re working with have trust in each other and have that same vision.
“Min Hee-jin is not only the person that produces our music, but someone who makes NewJeans who we are; she discusses even the smallest details with us and explains them in ways that we can understand clearly. NewJeans has a distinct color and tone, and this was created with Min Hee-jin. She is integral to NewJeans’ identity and we all feel that she is irreplaceable.”
Hanni later spoke to HYBE’s alleged directive that Min wrap up all her creative work in the next two months following her dismissal as CEO.
“Like how we have our own and individual thoughts and feelings, we have the choice to choose how we will react to each situation and we are not going to follow HYBE’s every order blindly,” Hanni said in English. “We are more than well aware that this is getting in the way of our work and that we should be treated much much better than how we are right now. And it’s very hard to believe that they are truly sincere about wanting to help us continue, to be able to continue to work with our Min Hee-jin.
“Despite her being in the midst of all this current legal conflict, she’s expected to plan and creatively produce our future endeavors in just only two months, which I personally think makes no sense at all. We don’t want to hear all the empty words of how they’re going to help us continue to work with Min Hee-jin. And all we want is this legal conflict to be resolved and have our working environment returned back to normal the way it was before.”
NewJeans’ eldest member, Minji, 20, ended the livestream with a direct message to HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk, saying, “We hope chairman Bang and HYBE make a wise decision to restore ADOR to its original state by the 25th.”
HYBE has not yet responded to Billboard‘s request for comment about the livestream.
The now five-month-long conflict began in April, when HYBE launched an audit of ADOR and asked Min to step down as CEO. The K-pop giant later reported Min to police, alleging the executive had committed a breach of trust. That led Min to respond by holding an emotionally charged press conference during which she denied claims that she had usurped NewJeans’ management and doubled down on claims that HYBE subsidiary BELIFT LAB had plagiarized NewJeans with its own girl group, ILLIT, and that another HYBE subsidiary, Source Music, had broken its promise to debut NewJeans as its first girl group, among other claims. Min was subsequently sued by both BELIFT and Source for defamation due to those comments, riling up several K-pop fanbases against her.
In May, a court ruled that Min could legally stay in her position. But in the past month, a former female ADOR employee accused Min of covering up her reportsof sexual harassment from a male superior. While HYBE’s own internal investigation reportedly concluded that the incidents didn’t constitute harassment, Min allegedly verbally abused the employee for speaking out — a claim that Min has denied, instead alleging that the issue arose from the former employee’s job performance and salary negotiations.
On Aug. 27, HYBE announced that it had appointed an ADOR director with human resources expertise, Ju Young Kim, as the label’s new CEO, and that Min would step down from her role but remain as an in-house director.
On Saturday (Sept. 14), UFC CEO Dana White will pull off an impressive first in Las Vegas that he never really wanted to do — and has already vowed never to do again.
That day, White will host Noche UFC, a 10-bout celebration tailor-made for Mexican Independence Day (which is coming two days later, on Sept. 16) as the first sporting event inside the Sphere in Las Vegas, the $2 billion arena built by James Dolan that has so far hosted rock residencies by U2, Dead & Company and Phish.
While White has not been shy about plugging Noche UFC as one of the most visually stunning and technologically advanced events ever in combat sports, he’s repeatedly sworn in the media that it’s “a one-and-done,” recently telling MMA reporter John Morgan, “We’re not ever doing an event at the Sphere again.”
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That’s because, as White explains, the cost of doing an event at Sphere is so astronomically expensive — especially building video content for Sphere’s one-of-a-kind interactive video system — that it’s virtually impossible to make one’s money back through ticket sales alone, especially for one-time events.
“Think about U2,” who served as the Sphere’s first 40-show concert residency beginning in September 2023, White said on SNY Sports on Tuesday (Sept. 10). “Whatever that cost them, they had 40 nights to amortize those costs. We just have one.”
The budget for Noche UFC, originally forecast at $8 million, has exploded to more than $20 million due to production costs, sources tell Billboard. Making matters worse, ticket sales for Noche UFC appear to be in a death spiral, with fans balking at the event’s original $3,500 per ticket asking price and scalpers offering nearly as many tickets for resale as are still available on the primary market, often at steep discounts.
That $3,500 ticket price is also considerably more than the average $120 per ticket that the company charged for Noche UFC’s 2023 edition at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, an upcharge associated with Sphere’s huge production costs. Noche UFC is taking place at Sphere because executives with MGM Grand, one of the largest gaming companies in Las Vegas, reached a deal with boxing promoter Al Hayman for the date that UFC was supposed to have under a 2017 anchor tenant agreement at T-Mobile Arena which, White has said, “totally f–ed us.”
Until now, Sphere has hosted U2’s 40-date run; a four-night string of concerts by Phish; and Dead & Company’s 30-show residency that wrapped in July. For each, the bands created custom lighting and video productions designed specifically for Sphere’s groundbreaking display that would be effectively unusable at any other venue, meaning that the possibilities of Sphere being a stop on any artist’s regular tour routing would be essentially untenable.
UFC is also leaning into Sphere’s capabilities. Between bouts, the company will screen 90-second video vignettes, produced by outside partners like Valerie Bush and the production company Antigravity Academy. The videos, sources tell Billboard, are custom-built for Sphere’s massive high-definition screens and require expensive post-production work and computer rendering that only Sphere Company officials can handle.
Even the rehearsal hours for Noche UFC are difficult: White recently announced at a press conference that because Sphere airs a nightly film, he can’t get his team into the building to rehearse the show until 1 a.m.
All of which poses additional issues that make Sphere difficult, if not impossible, to accommodate most one-off events, particularly if production costs come with a $20 million price tag. UFC can recoup some of its financial outlay through pay-per-view sales, but it’s heavily relying on average ticket prices of $3,500 that fans aren’t buying, and a pay-per-view model, whether live-streamed or on television, is not straightforward for the music business.
Dolan, however, never marketed the facility as a one-time event host and it’s likely that some of the production costs associated with the Sphere will drop over time as the market for cloud computing recedes. Besides, Dolan hasn’t been shy about how his future ambitions will make Sphere more approachable.
The best way to reduce the costs of producing events for the Sphere, company officials said on a recent earnings call, is to build more Spheres. After losing out on a bid to a Sphere in London, Dolan reportedly has a half-dozen new locations in mind.
Creative/business partnership company COLTURE (Brent Faiyaz, Soulection’s Joe Kay, Emotional Oranges) is expanding its stake in the wellness arena. The firm has launched the Mirrors Wellness Club Studio, a new division under its Mirrors Wellness Club banner. Marking the launch is the studio’s first music release, Sound Bath in Watts. A second project will arrive in October.
Credited to Frankie Rivers — the moniker adopted by COLTURE’s team of producers and creative executives — Sound Bath in Watts features soothing wellness music described as embodying both “soul and character.” Its 10-track set list includes intriguing titles such as “Playas Cry in the Rain,” “$700 Pants Don’t Make You Happy,” “Soft Life Baddie” and “Well Ness Monster.”
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“Mirrors Wellness Club Studio is about telling Black and brown stories via wellness music, visuals and activations,” explains COLTURE co-founder Ty Baisden. “Our next artist launching in October is SafeHouse. Each wellness project focuses on specific sounds. Frankie Rivers is all about the sound bath experience, whereas SafeHouse is about ambiance sounds for sleep and studying.”
Available now, Sound Bath in Watts served as the musical backdrop at the welcome dinner for COLTURE’s annual women’s wellness retreat. Now in its third year and always held during Labor Day weekend, Mirrors Getaway — another Mirrors Wellness Club component — took place at Ambergris Cay in Turks & Caicos.
Inaugurated in 2022 in Saint Maartin with 19 invitees, Mirrors Getaway welcomed 30 invitees in Barbados last year. This year, Baisden and COLTURE’s content team, including productions and events manager Venessa Gonzalez, were among the 39 attendees stepping out of their roles as executives, entrepreneurs, wives, mothers and caregivers to recalibrate and focus on themselves. Each day (Aug. 29-Sept. 2) featured a list of various activities, from yoga, massages and tubing to breathwork/meditation, e-biking, conch/lobster diving and game night/karaoke.
According to Gonzalez, Mirrors Getaway invitees are selected by Baisden, who “brings together women of similar industries and spaces.” Among this year’s invitees, in addition to Billboard: Epic Records vp of A&R Vivian Yohannes, Moet Hennessy vp/head of inclusion, diversity & equity Tiara Chesmer-Williams, confidence coach Karen A. Clark, Cruz Control Digital founder Kisha Maldonado, and COLTURE’s co-founder/head of creative services Jayne Andrew, head of operations Phylicia Goings and head of finance Jennair Rennie.
The 3rd Annual Mirrors Getaway of 2024’s group of extraordinary women on their final night of their trip on a private island resort in Turks & Caicos.
Courtesy of Mirrors Wellness Club
“This year we wanted to be truly intentional about rest and overall wellness,” says Gonzalez. “Oftentimes, women don’t truly get a chance to stop being ‘on’ even when they’re supposed to be ‘off.’ This is our way of saying ‘We see you’ and giving them the space to truly prioritize themselves. For just a few days, they get to disconnect and someone else will take care of it.”
Sharing her own takeaways from the retreat, Irina Melkumyan, vp/ERG program manager at City National Bank, tells Billboard, “This retreat didn’t just give me the opportunity to disconnect to reconnect. It also reminded me of how powerful we are as women, as humans … I walked away empowered.”
Baisden, named Billboard’s Indie Power Players 2024 executive of the year, notes the long-term goal for Mirrors Getaway is “for this experience to be the golf course for women. It’s about community building in an extremely healthy way.” And now with the addition of Mirrors Wellness Club Studio, “there is no Black wellness company that is using storytelling, music and IRL experiences to elevate the wellness lifestyle while simultaneously investing directly into women.”
In partnership with Faiyaz, COLTURE recently wrapped its fourth annual Show You Off grant program, awarding 12 women $10,000 grants each to run their own business or launch a new idea. Thus far, about half a million dollars have been donated to Black women-helmed businesses. COLTURE also houses a full-fledged media department, including TV, film, podcasting and digital content, plus real estate and start-up investments; a sports division is also in development.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another abuse lawsuit, this time filed by a participant on MTV’s Making the Band and longtime member of his band who says he harassed and assaulted her during “years of inhumane working conditions.”
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Dawn Richard says the embattled hip hop mogul “manipulated” her into thinking that “abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Richard claims she witnessed Combs abuse his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura on multiple occasions – and that recent lawsuits from Ventura and others sparked her to speak out.
“As more women courageously come forward, plaintiff has been empowered by this collective strength and now adds her voice to the growing chorus of victims bravely sharing their harrowing stories,” lawyers for Richard write. “Together, they seek justice and stand in solidarity, as the latest victims of the #Me Too movement in the music industry.”
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Though the rapper has denied the legal allegations against him, he issued an apology in May over his conduct captured on the video of the Ventura attack: “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
In her new lawsuit, Richard says she first met Combs after she was selected for season 3 of Making The Band, a popular MTV reality show in the early 2000s featuring aspiring artists working under the tutelage of Combs.
She was eventually chosen as a winner of that season and joined the Diddy-run girl group Danity Kane, which released albums two albums in the late 2000s. When the band broke up in 2009, Richard says she transitioned into a member of another band called Diddy – Dirty Money.
During each stop in the Diddy universe, Richard says she was subjected to harmful behavior. While filming the TV show, she says Combs “deprived Ms. Richard and her Danity Kane bandmates of basic needs such as adequate food and sleep.” As a member of Dirty Money, he says the mogul repeatedly harassed and assaulted her, including groping her during fitting sessions.
Richard also claims to have witnessed illegal behavior toward others, including a 2009 party in Atlanta after the Soul Train Awards in which she says she was Combs “arranged for dozens of young women and girls — some of whom appeared to be underage – to be transported to the party.”
“Many of them appeared lethargic or passed out while Mr. Combs and his guests performed sexual acts on them,” Richard’s lawyers write. “Ms. Richard felt shocked and horrified at the sight of Mr. Combs and his guests violating incapacitated young women.”
She also claims to have seen specific acts of abuse toward Combs’ ex-partners. In one, she says she witnessed his ex-wife, Kim Porter, leaving his studio “in tears with visible facial injuries including a lacerated lip.” On “numerous” other occasions, Richard says she saw Combs abuse “brutally beat” Ventura.
“His persistent abuse included choking and strangling Ms. Ventura, striking her with his hands and with objects, slapping her, punching her, and throwing items at her, including a scalding hot pan,” attorneys for Richards write.
Ventura sued Combs over similar allegations in November, but the pair reached a settlement to end the lawsuit just days later.
In technical terms, Richard is accusing Combs of a slew of specific forms of wrongdoing, including violating New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act and California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, as well as various state and federal workplace protections against sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. She’s also accusing him of assault, sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit also features intellectual property claims, including that Diddy infringed copyrights to her music.
A representative for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment.
When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris for president on Tuesday (Sept. 10), the singer said she was spurred to action by her fears about artificial intelligence — namely, an incident last month in which Donald Trump posted AI-generated images that falsely claimed the superstar’s support.
Swift’s endorsement, which landed on Instagram just minutes after the conclusion of the Harris-Trump debate, called the Democratic nominee a “steady-handed, gifted leader” who “fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” But before those reasons, she pointed first to last month’s deepfake debacle.
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“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift wrote. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
Her fears are well-founded, as Swift has been one most prominent victims of AI deepfakes. At the start of 2024, a flood of fake, sexually explicit images of Swift were posted to the social media site X (formerly Twitter). Some were viewed millions of times before they were removed.
At the time, Woodrow Hartzog, a professor at Boston University School of Law who studies privacy and technology law, told Billboard that the Swift deepfakes highlighted a “particularly toxic cocktail” that was bubbling up on social media in 2024: “It’s an existing problem, mixed with these new generative AI tools and a broader backslide in industry commitments to trust and safety.”
Then last month, Trump posted several AI-generated images to social media falsely suggesting Swift had endorsed him. Several showed women in t-shirts with the slogan “Swifties for Trump”; another showed Swift herself, dressed up as Uncle Sam alongside the message, “Taylor wants you to vote for Donald Trump.” Trump himself responded to the false endorsement: “I accept!”
At the time, experts told Billboard that Swift likely had grounds to file a lawsuit over Trump’s phony endorsement by citing her right of publicity — the legal power to control how your name, image and likeness are used by others.
But they also predicted — accurately, it turns out — that the star was better off fighting Trump’s fake endorsement with a legitimate endorsement of her own, broadcast across social media to her millions of die-hard fans: “I think Swift probably has more effective political rather than legal recourse here.”
Whether or not Swift’s endorsement has its intended effect, the next president will have a chance to shape federal policy on AI and deepfakes. Numerous bills aimed at regulating the cutting-edge tech are pending before Congress, including one that would create a federal right of publicity that would allow people like Swift to more easily sue over the unauthorized use of their likeness.
Venezuelan singer/songwriter and producer NOREH has signed a record deal with 5020 Records, Billboard Español can exclusively announce Wednesday (Sep. 11).
“We are extremely pleased to welcome NOREH as a new member of the 5020 Records family,” Rafa Arcaute, president of 5020 Records, says in a press release. “His innovative approach to music and his ability to connect with audiences on a deep level make him the perfect addition to our roster of artists. We are excited about the opportunity to support his artistic development and help him achieve even greater success.”
Featured in our monthly column for emerging artists On the Radar Latin last February, when he played his first concert in the United States, NOREH has been rising in the Latin music scene since 2020, when he debuted as an independent artist with the album Asocial. This was followed by the live album Nada Íntimo (2021) and Mucho TXT (2023), an eclectic LP that included urban music, ballads, bolero, salsa and bossa nova.
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His latest release is BALADAS TATUADAS VOL. 1, a deeply personal EP launched in March this year, in which he reflects on the ups and downs of his life while exploring themes of melancholy.
“NOREH represents 5020’s artistic vision, anchored in originality, versatility and creative honesty. We couldn’t be prouder to welcome him to the family,” says Bruno Duarte, co-president of 5020 Records.
Adds NOREH: “Being part of 5020 is exciting because, like me, they believe in daring songs with soul […] I hope to live up to the other artists in the roster; I am Venezuelan and I bring with me my people, who have brought me here, and I am sure that we will all be a great team.”
The terms of the contract were not specified.
The artist, who has collaborated with established names like Jay Wheeler, Nacho, CNCO, and Servando & Florentino, is currently in the midst of his Baladas Tatuadas Tour, which has taken him through his native Venezuela, parts of the U.S., Spain and South America.
The recorded music market in Europe is at risk of falling behind other global regions unless regulators enforce tougher protections for artists, creators and rightsholders, according to a new report from international labels trade body IFPI.
In Europe, music sales grew to over $8 billion in 2023, representing more than a quarter of global revenues (28.1%) and maintaining the continent’s long-held status as the second largest region in the world for recorded music sales behind the U.S. and Canada, according to IFPI data.
Europe’s prominent position is coming under threat, however, from other music markets that are growing at faster rates, states IFPI’s first-ever report focused specifically on recorded music in the European Union, published Tuesday (Sept. 10).
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Last year, music sales among the 27 members of the European Union trading block — which the U.K. exited in 2020 — grew by 8.7% to 5.2 billion euros ($5.7 billion), says IFPI. While that places the EU below only the U.S. in total revenue terms, several other international markets are significantly outpacing its growth rate thanks to the widespread global adoption of music streaming services.
Examples cited by IFPI include China, which grew music sales by more than 25% to 1.3 billion euro ($1.4 billion) in 2023; Sub-Saharan Africa, up 25% to 85 million euros ($93 million); Mexico, up 18% to 454 million euros ($500 million); and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), which climbed 14% to 102 million euro ($112 million).
Although all of those territories are developing from far lower bases than mature EU markets such as France and Germany — and all have some way to go before they come close to surpassing EU music sales — IFPI said their rapid growth represents “warning signs” that the region is facing strong competition from its global competitors. Notably, some of those fast-growing music markets were virtually non-existent just over a decade ago.
The report, which is titled “Music in the EU: A Global Opportunity,” comes three months after European Parliament elections and ahead of the unveiling of the new European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, which is expected to take place later this month.
The new cohort of Brussels politicians will be responsible for monitoring and enforcing already passed EU legislation such as the Digital Services Act, Digital Markets Act and the AI Act, which all impact the music business to varying degrees, in some instances significantly.
“The EU is a vitally important place for music,” said IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley in a statement. “However, the data in this report shows us that other parts of the world are developing and growing rapidly and the EU risks falling behind.”
To ensure that the EU’s music market stays competitive, Oakley called on European policymakers to provide “legal certainty and protection for music rightsholders, supporting the development of responsible and ethical AI and creating a competitive playing field on which today’s dynamic music sector can evolve.”
“Today, European music faces great risk but also great opportunity,” Oakley continued. “How policymakers address these issues will help determine its future.”
An accompanying press release from IFPI said its research sets out how policymakers can help “secure a positive future for music at what is a pivotal time for music in Europe” amidst rising global competition.The report notes that when adjusted for inflation, recorded music revenue in the EU last year was only 61% of where they were in 2001, the music industry’s revenue peak.
Specific areas in which IFPI says policymakers can support creators and rightsholders include effective implementation of the EU’s AI Act, which passed earlier this year, and upholding existing EU copyright laws preventing the use of copyright-protected works and music from being used for training AI systems without prior consent. AI developers must also maintain and provide records of the materials used in training and developing generative AI models that enable rightsholders to exercise and enforce their rights, says IFPI.
When it comes to individual EU markets, the report highlights the continued strong performance of domestic acts in their home countries. In the 22 EU markets where IFPI collects yearly chart data, on average, 60% of the Top 10s were tracks by domestic artists in 2023, compared to only 47% in non-EU markets.
EU markets fared less well in terms of top 10 global chart exports, which were once again dominated by U.S. artists like Miley Cyrus, SZA and Taylor Swift last year, though Latin and Central American artists, most notably from Columbia and Puerto Rico, also performed well.