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Members of the American Federation of Musicians voted to ratify the union’s agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The agreement, which covers basic theatrical motion picture and basic television motion picture contracts, gives musicians streaming residuals for the first time, as well as protections against artificial intelligence, according to AFM. In addition to […]
Kanye West is facing another lawsuit filed by a former employee at his Donda Academy, this time accusing him of discriminating against Black staffers and seeking to lock students in cages.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (April 2) in Los Angeles court, Trevor Phillips says the embattled rapper (who now goes by Ye) treated the Black staff at the school “considerably worse than white employees” — and then subjected him to “incessant harassment” and “humiliation” when he spoke up about it.
Like the several other lawsuits filed by former Donda Academy employees, the new complaint includes a number of bizarre allegations about West and his conduct at the school. It claims he told students to “shave their heads” and that he “intended to put a jail at the school” where students could be “locked in cages.”
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In another odd alleged episode, Phillips claims West summoned him to a room at the Nobu Hotel, where the rapper put on The Batman and watched it in silence.
“After a long and awkward silence, Kanye finally spoke again,” Phillips claims in the suit. “Turning his attention back to Phillips, he began an unprovoked and bigoted rant attacking Jewish people.” Later that same evening, Phillips claims West lay on the bed and simulated masturbating while talking about having orgies.
Phillips claims he was finally fired last year.
The case is the latest lawsuit filed by former staffers of Donda Academy and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. One of them, filed in July, claimed that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass” and that students were not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.” Another case, filed in April 2023, alleged that the only food available to students was sushi.
As with those earlier cases, the strange allegations contained in Tuesday’s lawsuit supported more straightforward legal claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
A spokesperson for West did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
German concert promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim agreed to buy French media company Vivendi‘s festival and international ticketing businesses, the companies said in a joint statement on Tuesday (April 2).
CTS Eventim and Vivendi have signed a put option agreement for the deal, which includes leading U.K. ticket merchant See Tickets along with Vivendi festivals Junction 2 in the U.K. and Garorock in France. The financial details of the deal, including price, were not disclosed.
CTS Eventim is the world’s second-largest provider of ticketing and live entertainment services, and acquiring the businesses could help it maintain an edge over rival Live Nation in its home market of Europe.
“The acquisition supports our internationalization strategy and will also benefit artists and their managers, as we will be able to offer even more seamless services on a global scale,” said CTS Eventim chief executive Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement.
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Vivendi’s festival and ticketing businesses, housed under the subsidiary Vivendi Village, generated 137 million euros ($151.2 million) in 2023. See Tickets sold around 44 million tickets last year, generating 105 million euros ($115.8 million). It is the second-largest ticketing company in the United Kingdom and also operates in the United States and seven European nations.
The festival activities that CTS Eventim is set to acquire generated 32 million euros ($35.3 million) last year. Vivendi will retain its stake in the performance hall L’Olympia in Paris, See Tickets France and the Brive Festival.
“We at Vivendi are convinced that CTS Eventim will be the right company to bring our ticketing and festival activities to new heights, supporting See Tickets to remain a state-of-the-art company … while fostering the growth of the festivals and preserving their unique identities and audience,” said Hala Bavière, CEO of Vivendi Village, in a statement.
CTS Eventim is coming off a banner year. The Munich-based company’s revenue topped 2 billion euros for the first time ever in 2023, rising 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023). Normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was also up 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
The companies said they expect to finalize the deal within a few months, pending approval from each of their employee works councils.
CTS Eventim’s stock briefly hit a new 52-week high of 83.85 euros ($90.28) following the news on Tuesday before closing at 82.70 euros ($89.04), up 0.3%.
YG Entertainment, home to K-pop groups BLACKPINK and BABYMONSTER, has named Yang Min-seok, the young brother of former CEO and company founder Yang Hyun-sun, as sole CEO. The company announced the appointment following its annual shareholder meeting on Friday (March 29). Yang had previously shared co-CEO duties with Hwang Bo-kyung, who was named CEO in […]
On Feb. 5, 300 workers from North America’s music industry gathered at the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit to discuss the impact of climate change on their business. “People were always asking where to start, what to do and how to do it,” says Amy Morrison, co-founder and president of the Music Sustainability Alliance, which organized the symposium. “We saw a need to bring people together in order to not duplicate work, to share best practices and to spotlight the good work everyone is doing.”
Morrison formed the 501(c)(3) nonprofit MSA with co-founder Mike Martin during the pandemic and near the end of her 23-year run as senior vp of marketing at Concerts West/AEG. While semiretired, she still consults for the company and continues running tour marketing for The Rolling Stones, including their North American Hackney Diamonds trek this summer. The touring shutdown enabled her to complete a certificate program in sustainability at Presidio Graduate School, and she now dedicates most of her working hours to the MSA. (The alliance is currently collaborating with a nonprofit fundraising consultant to raise money to pay staff.)
The MSA’s mandate is the creation of “climate-focused professional resources and community,” Morrison explains. “It’s a relatively simple concept, but nobody ever saw the need for it. The downtime we had to reflect during COVID was helpful, and the timing now couldn’t be better to accelerate and lift everyone up together to do this.”
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The Music Sustainability Summit will be an annual gathering that takes place in Los Angeles — where the MSA, like Morrison, is based — on the day after the Grammy Awards, and MSA will organize a number of year-round initiatives and track environmental regulations that will affect the industry, with the two most pertinent being truck emissions and phasing out single-use plastics. It also offers a music-industry resource guide.
“It still blows my mind that I get to work with the Stones,” Morrison says. “Living in L.A., this poster beautifully marries the SoCal vibe and the greatest rock’n’roll band in the world.”
Maggie Shannon
By mid-April, the MSA plans to have three to five working groups dedicated to promoting sustainability practices in the industry. Each will share solutions and actionable recommendations. In collaboration with the Eller College of Management, MSA is also conducting an analysis of the economic impacts of extreme weather on the live industry and how environmental regulations will affect touring practices. Morrison is also a member of the advisory group for the Sustainable Production in Entertainment Certification, which is being developed by the U.S. Green Building Council-Los Angeles in partnership with experts to develop SPEC’s green certification program for workers across the entertainment industry.
Beginning in May, MSA will hold a series of webinars that will focus on merchandise, food choice impact, easy ways to green events, regulations and incentives, among other topics. Plans are also underway to launch quarterly member happy hours in L.A. and New York.
“I oversimplify things a lot, which I think is a gift and a curse,” Morrison says, “but it makes me not scared and it motivates me to try things because it’s like, ‘We can do this.’”
It’s often said that despite the music industry having a very small impact on climate change, it has an outsize influence on the culture that can be leveraged. What are your thoughts on that?
I agree as a general statement. I feel it’s really important, though, that we have our house in order and that the industry can walk the walk, speak with confidence and be legit and authentic in getting that message out. I think that supports artists who want to speak out as well because they have the confidence that the industry is behind them.
The MSA wants to create that confidence. The mission is to have a net-zero music industry by 2050 [with] lots of milestones along the way.
“This clock commemorates The Concert of a Lifetime, Simon & Garfunkel’s 1993 residency at [what is now] The Theater at Madison Square Garden. I grew up listening to them, and being a part of this historic reunion was a career highlight.”
Maggie Shannon
What initiatives is the MSA working on?
We’ve been working on a Get Out the Vote working group. There’s a lot of interest, and it involves everything from message targeting, deciding on markets and the intention of activating younger people to vote [with consideration for] the climate. We’re also talking about how to use the channels we have: What can a venue do to get the word out? What can a promoter do? Then the campaign needs to be created for them to actually have something to share. It could even be picking a city that needs the impact and finding a local artist there [to get involved] who could be just as meaningful as getting a superstar to do it. We’re working with folks that create campaigns, along with political experts.
You work in the touring industry. What initiatives do you have in that sector?
In the next couple of months, we’re launching a campaign for [tours] to have one less truck. It’s about flipping the narrative that [the goal] is no longer having the biggest tours with the most trucks — it’s about still putting on a beautiful show, but with fewer trucks. That’s something we can measure over time. It’s a ways down the road from launching. We’re also working on courses for worker education on how to be green, like a certification you get in how to do your job in a green way. We need operational change, and it only comes from education.
“Running the marketing for a festival of this magnitude with these artists was an incredible experience. I got to draw on my touring experience while learning new things.”
Maggie Shannon
What would a curriculum like that teach?
It could be how to set up composting backstage, or how to go down your supply chain and source items, or how to measure energy use. Really basic stuff, starting on the production side.
Because production has the biggest impact?
Yeah, and it’s easier to adopt. It’s important for systemic change that the people who are doing the work, who are really making operations hum, understand the work. And if their bosses or management see the value in funding this type of program, then it’s also coming from the top.
How do you see the music industry generally becoming greener?
I see it in the expansion of departments, with more people being hired and more resources getting put behind it. [Live Nation’s touring program] Green Nation is starting to really empower its production teams to lead in the green space, and they’re putting green coordinators out on the road. It’s not like, “The runner or the [production assistant] can do it.” There has been a shift in the acknowledgment that this is actually a job.
The MSA is working with big companies that compete with each other. What has that been like?
We’ve found that in the production vendor world, it’s a no-brainer. They’re all game to be on the same calls and do things together. At the summit, the panel with the [sustainability leads from AEG, Live Nation, ASM Global and Oak View Group] was a good start. A secret mission of mine is to find a project for the four of them to work on. Maybe to find a city where they all have a property — I’m sure there’s more than one — and work on [climate-minded] infrastructure together. It can be a small thing to do as proof of concept. I think the working groups will bring some of that because a lot of our role is to facilitate, convene and set the table for people.
A friend gifted Morrison this Al Hirschfeld drawing of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. “As a longtime Deadhead and Hirschfeld fan, it makes me smile to see Jerry doing what he loves.”
Maggie Shannon
I think part of the road map for us is to come up with some science-based, peer-reviewed recommendation to take to the C suite and say, “Here are a couple of projects that maybe if all the venues work together on, this is the impact it could have, and all it will cost you is X, Y or Z.”
I can see how having such options would be useful for busy people who don’t know where to start.
Maybe I’m dreaming, but they really should all work together on this, and I think they will, with the right projects and the right impact.
Climate change can feel so overwhelming. How do you avoid existential dread and stay in a place of progress and optimism?
I’m a half-full gal. I am optimistic, and I’m fed by support, good work and successes. The summit was amazing. I couldn’t have dreamed of it to be any better. And everyone still showed up during a crazy rainstorm. There were a lot of years of banging the head against the wall around all this, but change is happening. So I’m not driven by fear — I’m driven by making a difference.
This story will appear in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Elvis Costello, Darius Rucker, Jason Isbell, Luis Fonsi, Miranda Lambert and the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra are among more than 200 signees to an open letter targeting tech companies, digital service providers and AI developers over irresponsible artificial intelligence practices, calling such work an “assault on human creativity” that “must be stopped.”
The letter, issued by the non-profit Artist Rights Alliance, calls on such organizations to “cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists,” stressing that any use of AI be done responsibly. “Make no mistake: we believe that, when used responsibly, AI has enormous potential to advance human creativity and in a manner that enables the development and growth of new and exciting experiences for music fans everywhere. Unfortunately, some platforms and developers are employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rights holders.”
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Artists, songwriters and producers from all genres, several generations and multiple continents added their names to the letter, from younger artists like Ayra Starr to legends like Smokey Robinson and organizations like HYBE. In particular, the signatories point to the use of AI models trained on unlicensed music, which they call “efforts directly aimed at replacing the work of human artists with massive quantities of AI-created ‘sounds’ and ‘images’ that substantially dilute the royalty pools that are paid out to artists. For many working musicians, artists and songwriters who are just trying to make ends meet, this would be catastrophic.”
“Working musicians are already struggling to make ends meet in the streaming world, and now they have the added burden of trying to compete with a deluge of AI-generated noise,” Jen Jacobsen, executive director of the Artist Rights Alliance, said in a statement accompanying the letter. “The unethical use of generative AI to replace human artists will devalue the entire music ecosystem — for artists and fans alike.”
Over the past year or so, many in the music industry have echoed similar calls for the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence, which left unchecked has the potential to undermine copyright law and make issues like streaming fraud, soundalikes and intellectual property theft much more rampant, much more quickly. There have been Congressional hearings on the matter, and states like Tennessee have begun introducing and passing legislation hoping to protect creators and intellectual property owners from deception and fraud, broadening laws and addressing ethical use. Universal Music Group has developed a task force to address the issue, and UMPG has cited TikTok’s AI approach as one of the reasons for the standoff between the two companies that is ongoing, while the RIAA, Warner Music Group and others have all weighed in stressing that protecting IP from unlicensed AI overreach is of utmost importance.
“We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem,” the letter concludes. “We call on all digital music platforms and music-based services to pledge that they will not develop or deploy AI music-generation technology, content, or tools that undermine or replace the human artistry of songwriters and artists or deny us fair compensation for our work.”
Read the full letter and see the list of signatories here.
With a couple hundred songs across 10 albums — plus one more on the way — Taylor Swift definitely has enough music to have her own radio channel. And pretty soon, she will.
SiriusXM announced Tuesday (April 2) that it plans to launch “Channel 13 (Taylor’s Version)” this month, allowing listeners to hear selections from the pop star’s 17-year discography 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Nothing is off limits, too, with the broadcaster promising to play both original and “Taylor’s Version” editions of her older hits as well as From the Vault songs, live recordings, bonus tracks and more.
Plus, Swifties will come on-air to share their own “personal and meaningful experiences with Taylor and her music,” according to a release.
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The channel will go live on April 7 and remain available through March 6. On the 13th day of its run — April 19 — Swift will drop her highly anticipated 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. To tune in, fans need only download the SiriusXM app and select Channel 13.
“The versatility of Taylor’s music and the phenomenal impact she’s had in her career across so many musical genres will be on full display,” said Scott Greenstein, SiriusXM president and chief content officer. “We’re all experiencing a legend at work and are so thrilled to work with Taylor to present a one-of-a-kind channel that connects her fans with her extraordinary body of work.”
The news comes in the midst of a break in the 14-time Grammy winner’s ongoing global Eras Tour, which will pick back up in May with a four-night stint in Paris. In the meantime, Swift is gearing up to release Tortured Poets, which features collaborations with Post Malone and Florence + the Machine as well as four bonus tracks spread out across different extended versions of the album.
On Monday (April 1), the “Anti-Hero” singer won artist of the year at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards, which she accepted via a pre-recorded speech. “It’s completely up to you to choose how you spend your time, what concerts you want to go to, what music you want to make the soundtrack to your life,” she said in the video, which played during the ceremony.
She added, “To anyone who has included me in those choices, I’m so, so, so thankful for that.”
Venice announced the beta launch of a new tool called Co-Manager on Tuesday (April 2nd). The “career assistant” for artists incorporates “insights from top artist managers, marketers, streaming analysts, and digital strategists with OpenAI machine learning and your unique streaming data,” according to a release.
“Co-Manager is designed to educate artists on the business and marketing of music, so artists can spend more time focused on their creative vision,” Suzy Ryoo, co-founder and president of Venice Music, said in a statement. Venice, co-founded by Troy Carter, believes its tool can help artists plan advertising campaigns and album roll-outs.
Many of the most consequential questions related to the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence — whether genAI models need to license training data, for example — have yet to be decided.
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“Unfortunately, other than right of publicity laws that vary in effectiveness on a state-by-state basis, there is little current protection for an artist regarding the threats posed by artificial intelligence, and, therefore, governmental action is urgently needed,” Russell L. King, director of the King Law Firm, told Billboard earlier this year.
But the government isn’t known for moving quickly. That means, “whatever we think about the state of AI and its legal treatment, it’s important to stay nimble and try to think several steps out because things may change fast,” Spotify general counsel Eve Konstan said recently.
To that end, the heads of the major labels have all discussed the importance of finding AI-powered tools to help their artists.
“We are at the gateway of a new technological era with AI,” Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer said in 2023. “And unsurprisingly, music will be a core component of this process. AI promises to provide us tools so that our artists and writers can create and innovate. It also heralds greater levels of insight through machine learning, as well as potential new licensing channels and avenues for commercial exploitation.”
Similarly, Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge talked about the company goal of “forg[ing] groundbreaking private-sector partnerships with AI technology companies” in a memo to staff in January.
“In addition, our artists have begun working with some of the latest AI technology to develop tools that will enhance and support the creative process and produce music experiences unlike anything that’s been heard before,” Grainge continued. “And to leverage AI technology that would benefit artists, we continue to strike groundbreaking agreements with, among others, Endel and BandLab.”
As the entertainment attorney Tamara Milagros-Butler put it recently, “don’t be afraid to explore AI as a tool, but maintain human connection.”
Since the 1970s, D’Addario has manufactured strings for guitars, orchestral instruments and more with an eye on the future — but back then, no one at the Farmingdale, N.Y.-based company could have expected that future to involve smelting metal strings.
After decades of prioritizing music education for children through its D’Addario Foundation, particularly in underserved communities, the company launched Playback in 2015, which prioritizes sustainability. The program repurposes used guitar and orchestral strings in partnership with recycling company TerraCycle. Metal strings are smelted into new alloys, while nylon strings are recycled for industrial plastic applications — keeping both out of landfills, where over 1.5 million pounds of strings accumulate every year, according to Playback. To participate, individuals can place strings into bins at one of the nearly 1,200 collection locations across the country, including hundreds of Guitar Centers and independent retailers, or mail them on their own, so long as shipments exceed 5 pounds, to minimize waste. (D’Addario provides prepaid UPS shipping labels for such donators.)
To date, almost 13 million strings have been recycled through Playback. Acts such as U2, My Morning Jacket and Young the Giant have drawn attention to the initiative, with the lattermost donating a percentage of every ticket sold from its 2023 summer tour to the D’Addario Foundation. Additionally, the company has partnered with competitors, and its site provides links to international string recycling organizations in France and Slovakia, too. “We want to do what’s good for the whole industry,” says Brian Vance, D’Addario vp of fretted strings and accessories.
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In 2022, D’Addario instituted World String Change Day to heighten interest in the program. The idea encourages consumers to try new strings and other accessories, often through deals. It will return for its third year on June 6. “At that moment you’re taking your strings off, it goes right into the Playback bin,” chief marketing officer Jonathan Turitz says. The D’Addario Foundation has also led drives for those looking to donate used instruments, many of which end up in the hands of in-need students. The practice of repairing used instruments for kids was highlighted in the recent Academy Award-winning documentary The Last Repair Shop. “That film is exactly the story of what we’re doing,” Turitz says, “whether it’s the people in the shop or the kids.”
Playback aims to expand globally in the coming years, though logistical issues and costs stand in the way. “The recycling laws, methodologies and practices in Europe are much different than they are in the U.S.,” Vance says, although later this year, D’Addario hopes to conduct testing on scaling the program abroad. And despite the rising costs that come with the program’s success, D’Addario’s ultimate mission remains at the forefront. “We’re facing an existential crisis,” Turitz says. “It’s vital that we put the planet above profit.”
This story originally appeared in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
As the 18,000 fans gathered at Mexico City’s Arena Ciudad de México on Feb. 14 screamed at deafening levels, the duo Los Temerarios ran onstage — Adolfo Ángel from the left, Gustavo Ángel from the right — and embraced briefly but fiercely upon meeting in the middle of the vast platform.
Then, Adolfo, 60 — dressed in black pants and shirt and light blue jacket — took his customary place behind an array of keyboards while frontman Gustavo, 55, dressed in a shining black and red embroidered jacket, picked up his microphone.
Without preamble, he sang the first notes of the first song of the brothers’ last tour, Hasta Siempre (Until Forever).
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After more than four decades together, 41 entries on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart and an astounding 46 entries on Top Latin Albums — more than any other Latin act in history — Los Temerarios is calling it quits.
“Tomorrow is the beginning of the end of an era for Temerarios,” Adolfo says over a bottle of wine in Mexico City the night before the tour opens, his eyes welling up with tears, in his first and only interview since the group’s announcement of this finale. “I’m a little sensitive,” he adds with a soft, embarrassed laugh.
Adolfo, the “big” Temerario, is over 6 feet tall and brooding. It’s not unusual to see him get emotional. After all, this is a group whose career has quite literally been built on love songs, all penned and produced by Adolfo since he was a teenager doing music with younger brother Gustavo, the dashing, charismatic singer with the high, expressive tenor.
But during a U.S. tour in August, Los Temerarios made a surprise announcement on social media:
“With the love that has united us since we were kids, the same that we feel for the vocation that we’ve had the privilege of working in for more than 46 years, we want to share that we’ve made the difficult decision of separating, closing one of the most important and gratifying cycles of our lives,” the brothers wrote. “Everything we express from this moment on will be in the form of music and in our next shows where we’ll be giving you the best of us.”
Los Temerarios’ Hasta Siempre tour played CDMX Arena in Mexico City on Feb. 16.
Virtus Music
On the eve of their farewell tour, Adolfo stayed true to his statement, refusing to further explain the group’s split except to say they were ending Los Temerarios at Gustavo’s request and that things were not just amicable, but brotherly.
“My brother and I were clear that [beyond the statement] we were keeping things between him and me, and I want to respect that, and I’m sure he does, too,” Adolfo says. “We will finish this tour, each of us will go our own [professional] way, and I will always wish my brother the very best.”
For now, they’re making good on their promise to fans by bringing their best to the stage. On Feb. 14, backed by their longtime five-piece band, Adolfo and Gustavo performed for well over two hours as the crowd sang along. The brothers sold out five consecutive nights, a record for the venue.
“Having a single artist play five consecutive sold-out [shows] goes beyond anything we’d done before,” says Alejandro Arce, general director of tour promoter Zignia Live, which also owns Arena Ciudad de México. The promoter initially announced nine tour dates across Mexico for Los Temerarios, “and sales were extraordinary,” Arce says. The group hadn’t toured the country in over a decade, and the response has been phenomenal, spurring the addition of three more dates at the Mexico City arena (for a total of over 120,000 tickets sold), as well as three sold-out dates (30,000 tickets) at the Arena Monterrey. Not that any of this was a surprise. Last year, the group grossed $12.3 million and sold 125,000 tickets to 14 shows, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.
All told, in 2024, Los Temerarios will play over 50 arena and stadium dates across Mexico, Central America and the United States — including Madison Square Garden in New York and two nights apiece at Houston’s Toyota Center and Chicago’s Allstate Arena, with more cities expected to be announced. The U.S. leg of the tour is promoted by Zamora Entertainment and, for West Coast dates, in partnership with Frias Entertainment.
“Los Temerarios is a group that has transcended generations,” Arce says. “Very few groups in this genre can fill stadiums. It opens this kind of music, which is completely different and with a completely different message, to new generations.”
The duo won the top Latin albums artist of the year honor at the 2005 Billboard Latin Music Awards.
Rodrigo Varela/WireImage
The duo performs wistful and passionate love songs with arrangements that veer from very traditional Mexican — cumbia, ranchera and the keyboard-heavy sound associated with Mexican romantic groups — to sophisticated pop, a duality the band uniquely achieved in its sphere.
Originally launched along with a cousin in the late 1970s as Grupo la Brisa, the group was always spearheaded by Adolfo, the budding keyboardist-composer who penned songs for his brother. Their romantic grupera musica was beginning to surge in Mexico, with dozens of romantic groups, including Los Bukis and Bronco, gaining traction. Los Temerarios had an additional asset: the entreprenurial Adolfo’s keen business sense.
He eventually changed the duo’s name to Los Temerarios and started releasing music on his own label, AFG Sigma Records, in 1989 while also promoting the band’s shows. That DIY approach served the group well. Save for a brief moment at the very beginning of Los Temerarios’ career, the brothers have always licensed albums as opposed to signing with a label, keeping the rights and control over their masters. As for Adolfo’s publishing catalog of hundreds of songs, it has always been administered by their own publisher, Virtus, the successor to an earlier company, ADF, set up in 1989. This year, the group is signing its first publishing administration deal, with Kobalt.
Twelve years ago, the brothers went completely independent, launching their own label, also named Virtus, and taking over their own promotion and marketing. Their cousin Mayra Alba, who has a master’s in music management from the University of California, Berkeley, has managed them since 1996.
“Their music doesn’t stop evolving,” Alba says. “As artists, they’ve done what they want yet have continued to be authentic, connecting with a multigenerational audience and reaching every possible milestone.”
The results speak for themselves. In addition to its record number of entries on Top Latin Albums, the band has placed 41 tracks on Hot Latin Songs since 1990. Of those, 17 went top 10 and four hit No. 1.
On Latin Airplay, the group has 15 top 10s and four No. 1s, and on Regional Mexican Albums, its 47 entries best those of any group. Los Temerarios is one of only five acts to have achieved eight No. 1s on Top Latin Albums. Only two acts, Marco Antonio Solís and Luis Miguel, have achieved more (12 and nine, respectively).
The steadiness of the group, which has been performing since 1980, made the news of its split even more surprising. And yet, so far, Los Temerarios’ farewell tour has been joyous — and has garnered an overwhelming response.
For these shows, Los Temerarios upgraded the production, adding sophisticated visuals, courtesy of longtime collaborator and video director Carlos Pérez. And aside from Gustavo’s vocals, Adolfo, for the first time, is also singing a short set of songs. It may be a harbinger of what’s to come.
“I’ve never been afraid of experimenting. Then all these energies come in and try to say no to you, but I never listen to that,” Adolfo tells Billboard. “I listen to my heart. I’ve discovered that’s the key: Listen to your heart.”
I would love to hear the story of how you got your first record deal as a teen.
Yes. It was a time of dreams. A time when you saw a lot of artists and groups that inspired and motivated you and you wanted to get to those same stages and take a positive message to the hearts of those who heard you. I went to every single label at the time, and they all said no. I would take our little demos, and they would all say, “This is all very good. Come back in February.”
And then it was March. So, since no one wanted us, we decided to make our own albums, using our gig money. I’d take [our own records] to the radio stations and say I was the radio promoter. I was a teenager. I’d sit there for hours, and sometimes they would see me, sometimes they wouldn’t. I’m not complaining. It’s part of something that now I understand had to happen.
I also took the records to the record store, on consignment. If they sold them, they paid me; if not, I had to pick them up. And when we started to sell 5,000 copies and I had to say, “Hey, send me another thousand,” the people from Sony — CBS then — came over and we signed a contract. Didn’t even look at it. Just said “Órale” [“OK”] and signed. That was around 1983.
You began your career by hustling and doing everything on your own, and now, as a superstar, you’re still independent.
Yes, and that has been important, positive for our career. It made us learn and took us down a road that has been a great gift. Because in the beginning, we knocked on doors and they’d say, “Come back next year.” Until I realized that we had to do it ourselves. And I did it.
Adolfo Ángel of Los Temerarios perform during their Hasta Siempre Tour at CDMX Arena in Mexico City on Feb. 17.
Virtus Music
Did you have a mentor?
No. It was always the desire to make it [that motivated me]. And I would look for the way. I’d pick up the phone and find the label, find the radio station. Then I would get in the pickup truck and drive wherever I had to go. And finally, it would happen. Little by little we became known, at least in our area.
But my dad was a very important example in my life. He still supports me. Without my dad, it would have been much harder, because he loves music. For example, when we had to work the fields and I didn’t want to go, I would pretend I was asleep. And when they were all gone, I’d go look for my music teacher in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, and the next day, my dad wouldn’t say anything. He allowed me those peccadillos. He bought me my first keyboard, a red organ. And then, when I outgrew it, he bought me the new model.
Early in your career you launched your own publishing company, and now you’re signing your first administration deal, with Kobalt. Have you considered selling your catalog?
No. My songs have a very special value. It’s not just the money. If I can take them by the hand the way I think is best — these songs that came from my heart — well, I’d rather do that than give them to someone in exchange for a check. That’s not what I want to do. At least not now.
A decade ago, you were on top of the world with chart success. You last released an album in 2015, then the pandemic interrupted your cycle. What did you do?
We were always doing something. Even though we haven’t released a full album of new songs since 2015, we have a few singles. I’ve always been patient in recording. We usually put out new albums every four, five years. I always thought the quicker you recorded, the quicker your fans got tired. I still think that, even in the era of TikTok. That’s why there’s so much space between albums. And resisting that pressure has given us results, even when people start to say things like, “Hey, I don’t hear your songs.”
The industry has changed, and now the cycle of releases is very fast. Did that worry you?
Some artists release songs every week, every two weeks, but I don’t think those songs transcend. They’re very ephemeral successes. I believe that if you give [the process] respect, if you take the time and make a great production and you feel satisfied with it, very great things can happen. Maybe something works on TikTok with the chorus for a little bit, but I don’t think that’s the path. I like things the old-fashioned way, where you go to the studio, you have a great console, you record a great production with the best engineers and the best musicians and not only with a computer. That’s the music I like to make, that lifts my soul.
Gustavo Ángel of Los Temerarios perform during their Hasta Siempre tour at Arena Monterrey in Monterrey on March 1.
Virtus Music
Your music is romantic by definition. Are you dismayed at how some artists today portray love in their lyrics?
Not dismayed, but I was surprised to hear how music is being used to denigrate women. That had a big impact on me because I do the opposite. I try to say beautiful things about the most beautiful being in the universe; or at least, in my universe. But I respect everyone, and every artist will do their own thing. Me, I’ll continue writing my love songs, and I prefer to make a woman feel like a queen or a princess rather than something else. Maybe I’m being cheesy, but I like that. But I’m not criticizing anyone. Everyone does their own thing.
You wrote a lot during the pandemic, and most of the songs haven’t been released. Now that you’re splitting up, what do you plan to do with them?
I wrote them for us, thinking of my brother, of course. Even when I write on the piano or guitar, I do so in my brother’s tone, which is a higher range than mine. Then, when my brother decided he no longer wanted to be in Temerarios, the songs were put on pause. I don’t know what I’ll do with them. But now, we’re going to finish this tour, everyone will go their own way, and I will always wish my brother the best in life. I think my brother is a very talented man, he has a lot of charisma, people love him a lot, we have had a great career together, and we have the affection of the audience, both of us. He’s going to do very well in whatever he decides to do, and I’ll continue making my songs as long as I can.
Are you working on a solo album?
I am not. I love to sing, but I never used to do so onstage. Because I always felt very comfortable behind my keyboards, with my brother in front. Behind the keyboards I can tell you a story, talk with you; it’s like a protective cape where you feel very comfortable. That’s the way it was, for decades. Then, on this tour, I said, “OK, I have to do it.” And I sing a set of three songs. The only intent is to respond to the audience’s love. And I liked it. A lot. Now I feel very comfortable. But, right now, I’m always writing. I feel most happy and comfortable writing for Temerarios. And if my brother isn’t there anymore, I’ll think about doing it for myself.
What would you like your legacy to be for Mexican music and Latin music overall?
I feel we’re leaving behind a beautiful message for everyone who has ever listened to us, and that’s enough for me.
This story originally appeared in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.