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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.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo battle over the rights to the name of their Neptunes producing partnership; UMG and Lucian Grainge hit back at “offensively false” accusations linking them to Diddy’s alleged abuse; Sony wins nearly $1 million in damages from a TikTok rapper over an uncleared sample; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Pharrell and Chad Hugo Battle Over ‘Neptunes’
You might not have heard of The Neptunes, but if you were alive during the early 2000s, you’ve certainly heard a Neptunes song.
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The prolific producing partnership, comprised of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, was responsible for countless earworms from that era: Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl,” Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body,” Britney Spears’ “I’m a Slave 4 U” and many, many others.
But 20 years on, something is rotten in the state of Neptune.
In a legal action filed last week, attorneys for Hugo accused Pharrell and his company of attempting to unilaterally register trademarks for the Neptunes name – a move they say violates their longstanding agreement that saw the pair split everything equally: “By ignoring and excluding [Hugo] from the any and all applications filed by applicant for the mark ‘The Neptunes,’ applicant has committed fraud in securing the trademarks and acted in bad faith.”
Go read our entire story on the dispute here, including a response from Pharrell.
Other top stories this week…
TOP MUSIC LAWYERS – Billboard revealed its 2024 list of Top Music Lawyers, featuring the best legal minds — both in-house and at law firms — who propel the industry forward by negotiating deals, litigating disputes and shaping policy. At the top of this year’s list was Christine Lepera, a go-to music litigator who has represented Katy Perry, Drake, Jay-Z, Post Malone and many others in high profile cases. This past year, Lepera beat back a copyright lawsuit against Dua Lipa over “Levitating,” and won a key decision for Daryl Hall in his messy dispute with John Oates.
“OFFENSIVELY FALSE” – Attorneys for Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge fired back at a lawsuit that claims he and the label “aided and abetted” Sean “Diddy” Combs in his alleged sexual abuse, arguing that the accusations are so “offensively false” that they plan to seek legal penalties against the lawyer who filed them. “A license to practice law is a privilege,” Grainge’s attorney Donald Zakarin wrote. “Plaintiff’s lawyer has misused that license…”
TIKTOK RAPPER PAYS THE PRICE – A federal judge ruled that Trefeugo, a rapper popular on TikTok, must pay Sony Music more than $800,000 in damages for using a copyrighted sample without permission in his “90mh” — a track that Sony claimed was streamed 100 million times on Spotify. “The court hopes this case will serve as a $802,997.23 lesson for defendant in carefully selecting the materials included in his raps.”
ASTROWORLD UPDATE – With a trial looming next month, Travis Scott asked to be dismissed from the sprawling litigation over the 2021 disaster at the Astroworld music festival. Attorneys for the star (led by Dan Petrocelli) argued that safety and security at live events is “not the job of performing artists” – even in the case of someone like Scott, who conceptualized and heavily promoted the event the festival with his own branding.
LINKIN PARK SETTLEMENT – The band’s members reached a settlement to end a lawsuit that accused them of refusing to pay royalties to Kyle Christner, an ex-bassist who briefly played with the band in the late 1990s before they hit it big. In a statement, Linkin Park said it had reached an “amicable resolution” and acknowledged that Christner made “valuable contributions” at a “pivotal time.”
JAMES DOLAN ABUSE CASE – Attorneys for Madison Square Garden executive James Dolan fired back at a lawsuit that alleges he pressured a masseuse into unwanted sex while his band was touring with the Eagles, calling his accuser an “opportunist” who is “looking for a quick payday” over “completely manufactured” allegations.
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) COO Michele Ballantyne has been promoted to president, the organization has announced. She will continue to serve as COO, running daily operations and managing RIAA’s 56-person team.
A 2024 Billboard Women in Music honoree, Ballantyne serves on the RIAA executive leadership team alongside chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier while spearheading daily operations and helping lead advocacy efforts across the industry. During her tenure, she’s played a key role in the passage of the landmark Music Modernization Act as well as the PRO-IP Act, which established the first U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator in the executive office; and the Higher Education Opportunity Act, which provided colleges and universities with tools to reduce the illegal downloading of copyrighted works on campuses.
“I love my job, and I feel really lucky to have it,” Ballantyne tells Billboard in an exclusive interview (full Q&A below). “Music is something that is so important to everyone, and there are obviously lots of challenges…AI, TikTok, COVID. But one thing I’m really proud about is that at RIAA we’re nimble and we punch above our weight and I think that speaks a lot to the team we have in place. I really feel grateful to be at the helm with Mitch and see where we can take things.”
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Mitch Glazier, Busta Rhymes and Michelle Ballantyne
Daniel Swartz
More recently, Ballantyne has focused particular attention on the growing use of artificial intelligence in music and its ethical implications for creators. Under her leadership, the RIAA became a founding member of the Human Artistry Campaign, a coalition of music and entertainment organizations supporting ethical standards around AI that launched in August. The organization also supported the ELVIS Act, the landmark law designed to protect creators from AI deep fakes that was signed into law in March. On the federal level, the RIAA is supporting bills including the No AI FRAUD Act in the House and the NO FAKES Act in the Senate.
“Michele and I have had the privilege of guiding RIAA and supporting our member companies through amazing celebrations and challenges in the industry,” said Glazier in a statement. “I am grateful for her remarkable leadership and genuine care for people. Our playlists may not always be in sync, but our determination for a thriving and equitable community for music creators is.”
Ballantyne earned her law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and started her career in government, serving in roles including general counsel for Sen. Tom Daschle, special assistant for President Bill Clinton and special counsel for former White House chief of staff John Podesta. She joined RIAA in 2004 as senior vp of federal government and industry relations. A Black female executive, Ballantyne’s work at the organization has also focused on social justice advocacy, including mobilizing RIAA members to support police reform bills, guiding the implementation of members’ social change commitments and managing the most diverse RIAA board of directors in its history.
On the occasion of her promotion, Billboard spoke with Ballantyne about her new role, the importance of combatting AI deep fakes, Universal Music Group’s dispute with TikTok and the possible implications of the upcoming presidential election.
You’ve been COO for several years now, but you’ve now added “president” to your title. How will your purview at the RIAA change?
It will change a little bit, but maybe not that much. It does catch up to the way we’ve been working, especially Mitch and I, who sort of approach things as a partnership. But the COO part, which is the sort of the nuts and bolts of running the organization and dealing with the internal stuff, it’s not all that I do. I do a lot of industry relations and coordinating with outside groups and coordinating with our member companies and making sure everything runs smoothly, that people are communicating. And so I think it reflects that piece of it too. I’m grateful for the recognition because I enjoy the work, and the title makes it clear to everybody.
You’ve been with the RIAA for around two decades now, and you’ve helped tackle some of the biggest issues in recorded music over that time. What do you see as some of the biggest issues facing the RIAA and its members currently?
No question it’s AI. AI has sort of supercharged everyone’s work. I am not the lead on it, but it’s everybody’s issue. We’re out talking about it and thinking about it and trying to figure out, “How are we gonna meet the challenges that it brings for artists and for labels and everyone in music?” It’s such a challenging time and everything is moving so fast. We’re just trying to figure out how we’re going to navigate all of it. And it’s an exciting time. It brings a lot of innovations to the table.
I think that the music industry in general is usually, in the time that I’ve been at RIAA, in the front. We’re the — I’m not fond of the saying — but the canary in the coal mine. All of these issues are ones that we confront first, the same as with file-sharing or any of those other issues that happened way back when. And the policymakers are grappling with how to handle these changes confronting society with AI, so it’s so multifaceted and very challenging.
We’ve been working on the deep fakes issue. That is one thing that pretty much everyone can come together around. We had that bill pass in Tennessee last week [the ELVIS Act] and we’re working on some federal bills as well. So, this is, I think, where all the focus is going to be. But in general, I think things are good, the industry is moving in a positive direction. You probably saw our revenue numbers came out earlier this week. One of the things that we’re so excited about, and I think that music companies have really embraced, is offering so much choice to fans. And I think that’s really positive.
I was curious about the year-end report. One interesting takeaway is that the record labels may have become almost too reliant on paid subscriptions for revenue and revenue growth. Do you think that revenue mix needs to be more dynamic? And if so, how do you feel labels can get there?
That’s a very tricky question. I’m not sure I can really answer that one. There are a lot of different components that go into it. And a lot of the pieces that are business issues, we aren’t at RIAA going to be able to see into those. It is a concern, for sure, and something that our folks are paying attention to.
I will say that one of the things that I have noticed that has changed most over the time that I’ve been at RIAA is this willingness to innovate and pivot. When I first came to RIAA in 2004, the focus was on how do we address file sharing? It was the Grokster case, and I think that within the companies, the old guard has sort of shifted out and the folks who are there now and have come in have very successfully navigated those challenges to the place we are today.
Today, everyone streams and anybody can get the music they want, whenever they want it. And it is not something that even occurs to young folks. I have a 16-year-old. He doesn’t even think about like, “I can just go on Spotify and listen.” To me, watching that change has been really impactful. And I’m just trying to think about it, like, something exciting will happen next. I’m not sure what it is. But I think it will happen.
One of the other big stories in the last few months was UMG pulling its catalog from TikTok and the ripple effect that that’s had on the industry. What do you think needs to happen to resolve that dispute?
I don’t know. TikTok has has grown so fast, and even among our companies and among policymakers, there’s differing opinions on how to handle that. Universal certainly put their marker down, and we haven’t commented because our companies aren’t all in the same place about it. So I don’t know how that’s going to resolve and I also don’t know what’s going to happen with the federal bill that policymakers are pursuing to say that they’re going to ban TikTok. I mean, it passed the House. It’s very tricky.
We have a big election coming up. What should RIAA members be on the lookout for when either candidate wins, whether it’s Trump or Biden?
We used to go, Mitch and myself, to our companies and board meetings and we would talk to them about what’s happening in D.C. and how it’s all gonna shake out and what we think will happen based on what we know and our experiences working both in the House and the Senate. It’s really hard to tell now. We gave up some years ago on doing our own punditry. The polling doesn’t seem to be as reliable and, as a D.C. person, even some of my colleagues from prior administrations or from the Hill, they’re like, “It’s really hard to tell.”
The good news for everyone in the music industry, not just RIAA, is that largely music issues are bipartisan, and on the committees that handle intellectual property, policy and copyright issues, the Judiciary Committee, they are dealing with many more complex issues such as guns and immigration and reproductive rights and so on. So a lot of times they are more willing to come to the table to talk about music issues, for a variety of reasons. One is that they can get to an agreement, there can be some bipartisan action, and, you know, music touches everyone. And policymakers are no different.
I think that hopefully we can get some action on making sure that we continue to protect the rights of artists and labels and songwriters and others in the music community, and not roll back any rights. We’ll be paying particular attention to AI and deep fakes and making sure that their rights are protected there. But it’s not clear how things will go, either from the standpoint of the election, but also getting bills passed is really hard nowadays. But can we get some engagement? Yes, we’ll get engagement. A lot of times what we try to do too, is if members feel like bills won’t pass, there are other ways to get them to engage, to help bring parties, stakeholders to the table to talk through issues and see if we can get some resolutions and things like that. I expect that to continue. But, you know, D.C. is…it’s tricky.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Opus Music Group, which owns a stake in late rapper Juice WRLD’s rights and income streams, is putting its portfolio up for sale as the market conditions that fueled a gold rush for music intellectual property rights cools.
Opus is seeking around $200 million for its package of mostly passive income and royalty streaming rights, according to three sources with knowledge of the deal. Working with bankers from Raine Group, the group has fielded bids for several months, two of those sources said.
After a dramatic runup in the song-catalog investment and management market, persistently high interest rates and a bounce back in the broader market are prompting some, like Opus, to cash out, one of the sources said.
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New York-based Opus launched in 2021 with the backing of activist investor Elliott Investment Management. In 2022, Opus purchased a majority stake in late rapper Juice WRLD’s rights and income streams in a nine-figure deal, Billboard reported at the time. Opus’s portfolio also includes works and recordings from Rauw Alejandro and Maluma, according to its website. Billboard was unable to determine a full accounting of what rights Opus owns or is selling.
Representatives from Opus and Raine Group did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Elliott declined to comment.
Billboard was not able to independently value Opus’ catalog. However, according to a source familiar with the deal, Opus’ catalog had $16 million in net publisher’s share, and at the time the deal was done, the Juice WRLD rights had at least $9 million in annual royalties — publishing and artist royalties combined — according to another source.
Beginning in 2015, a wave of investors sparked a dramatic runup in the market for artist catalogs, song royalties, copyrights and income streams, with rights to works by Smokey Robinson, Bruce Springsteen, Shakira and Justin Bieber selling to both established companies like Primary Wave and the majors, as well as new players like Hipgnosis. In the years since, however, market dynamics have shifted. Interest rates have remained unexpectedly high, making financing further catalog acquisitions expensive, and the yield on U.S. Treasury bills and other stable asset classes has rebounded, making the steady returns of music IP less of a standout to yield-hungry investors.
“When the frenzy started there really were not a lot of great places to reach for yield,” says Michael Bizenov, president of Sound Royalties, which specializes in royalty financing to music clients like Dominican rapper and dembow star El Alfa. “This was a place where you could find yield. As you have yield opportunities in other places, people who were in there as a commodity will stop and reallocate.”
Investors, industry lawyers and bankers said music royalties remain an attractive and stable asset class for those with a long-term appetite. However, those sources said, they expect a wave of consolidation to hit catalog investment firms as companies backed by financial industry investors seek to securitize or exit the investment by 2027.
“There is still a robust marketplace for the sale of music IP, but the ones who were in it because everyone else was in it are getting out,” says Bizenov.
Additional reporting by Ed Christman.
When Megan Thee Stallion released her single “Hiss” on Jan. 26, she let the music do the talking, with two exceptions: On Jan. 30, she appeared on Good Morning America, the top-rated network morning show. Then, on Feb. 1, she logged on to social-audio platform Stationhead to speak directly to her most dedicated supporters.
“Let me tell y’all something — if ‘Hiss’ hits No. 1, I’m having an OG ratchet-ass Hottie party,” she said on the HottieRanch fan channel, laughing along as two of her longtime fans hosted an off-the-cuff conversation with her. “[My first single] ‘Cobra’ and ‘Hiss’ are the first two music videos that I’ve done since I’ve been off of my labels, and I did this shit because I finally had full creative range. I could do whatever I wanted to do,” she declared. “I’m just happy that [people are] appreciating the art, because I really thought about it and put my all into it. And I’m just happy to be here, today — the Hotties are gagging!”
During the 14 minutes that Megan spent on HottieRanch, 7,000 fans logged on to the channel, racking up 3,000 song downloads through the site and flooding the comments with her signature snake emojis and messages of support. Fireworks effects and alerts about sales milestones and other benchmarks flew across the app’s interface, and “Hiss” later debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — Megan’s first-ever solo chart‑topper. According to Stationhead, its users contributed 13,200 download sales and millions of global streams to the track’s debut, and the benefits did not end there. The song’s withering lyrics — which target Nicki Minaj, Tory Lanez and other artists — led Minaj to hop on her own Barbz channel on Stationhead to clap back during an extended dialogue with her fans. Her own dis track, “Big Foot,” followed, leading to a back-and-forth that boosted streams for Minaj’s and Megan’s songs — and to Stationhead trending on X as the two MCs and their fans traded darts.
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It’s one of the latest examples of Stationhead’s growing popularity with artists who want to foster strong connections to their fans and boost streams and chart positions in the process. In recent months, Olivia Rodrigo, Cardi B, BTS, Blackpink, Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Lopez, Coldplay, GAYLE and other acts have engaged with fans on the platform — which focuses exclusively on music — playing songs, telling stories and answering questions while thousands listen along.
“Stationhead is incorporated in every single and album release that we do,” says Kirsten Stubbs, co-head of pop/rock digital at Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA), who has run campaigns with Rodrigo and Selena Gomez on the platform and says she first discovered it after hearing about it from fans themselves. “It’s an app that the industry was looking for for a long time, and they were the first ones to really nail that strategy.”
“Your fans on Stationhead are like your season ticket holders at a sporting event: You can build a plan around them, count on them to show up to things,” says TMWRK founder and CEO Andrew McInness, whose company manages Diplo and Dillon Francis, among others, and who serves on Stationhead’s board. “Those types of fans are the reason why Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift, why Nicki Minaj has her power base or the various HYBE or K-pop artists have this big support system.”
The platform, which debuted in 2017, functions much like a digital pirate radio station, where anyone with a streaming music account can host their own station and play music, with other users able to log on and listen, chat and even call in and speak to the DJ. And since the app functions as a skin over Spotify or Apple Music, each listener in a room counts as an individual stream.
Over the years, Stationhead has evolved into a destination for fan groups to discuss (whether through the chat or a podcast-like audio function) their favorite artists with the channel’s host. These virtual connections sometimes lead to in-real-life relationships with, for instance, channel members meeting at music venues to see concerts together. The addition of channels — rooms created specifically for fans of certain artists, such as Minaj, Jimin or Stray Kids — in January 2023 solidified the app’s new direction and led to Cardi and Rodrigo discovering the app through their fans and occasionally joining them. According to the company, there are now more than 1,000 channels.
“Music’s future is leaning into fandom, period, and fandoms live here,” says Stationhead co-founder Ryan Star. “They played the instrument we built better than anybody.”
The platform’s role in fostering the artist-fan connection — and helping to deliver hits — comes at a time when “superfan” is arguably the industry’s biggest buzzword. In his New Year’s memo to staff, Universal Music Group (UMG) chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge wrote that in 2024, the label group will focus on “grow[ing] the pie for all artists by strengthening the artist-fan relationship through superfan experiences and products.”
Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl also cited superfans in his holiday letter to staff, calling them “relatively untapped and undermonetized.” Two months later, during a panel discussion at the Web Summit conference in Doha, Qatar, Kyncl mentioned that WMG had hired a team of engineers to help the company build its own superfan operation, with an emphasis on “a cross-platform solution,” which he said at a later appearance that he felt labels were better positioned than anyone to do.
Stationhead and WMG aren’t alone in the superfan space; HYBE’s WeVerse and companies like Medallion and Fave are attempting to address different aspects of superfan monetization, with various levels of success. UMG invested in NTWRK’s $109 million acquisition of Complex in February, and Live Nation, Spotify and others have also expressed an interest in or begun to explore ways to enter the superfan space. Last year, a Goldman Sachs report estimated that there will be a $4.2 billion addressable market for superfan monetization by 2030, and Luminate reported that superfans spend 80% more on their favorite artists than the regular music listener.
But Stationhead has gone further than many others in terms of bringing more revenue into the business by focusing on the one thing at its center: the music. “Stationhead is a good example of a company that is creating the bridge between the main lane of how someone makes money — whether that be a rights holder, artist or roster — and people who are avid listeners or supporters who are exhibiting fan affinity,” says Mike Pelczynski, a strategist who helped build SoundCloud’s direct-to-fan capabilities and pioneered its fan-powered business. “They know you still need to make money based on scale and volume of plays, and they’re creating hyper communities that help, literally, stream music in groups, but then also give [artists] the capability to tap into those people, and then to give them something else, like merch or other purchase [options].”
Before he began developing Stationhead in 2014, Star released albums and performed in the band Stage and as a solo artist. He says that whenever he opened for such acts as the Goo Goo Dolls or O.A.R., he made a point of meeting fans at the merchandise booth afterward — even when the headliners would roll their eyes.
“I think right now [fandom] is still a buzzword, and I hear a lot of people throw it around, and they don’t really know it,” he says. “I know it from the days of actually being an artist that relied on those kinds of fans for my life. For me, I was like, ‘These are the people who are gonna be there for me no matter what.’”
SB19 fans who met on Stationhead at the Filipino boy band’s concert at Araneta Coliseum in Manila in 2022.
Courtesy SB19 Stationhead Team
On a Wednesday afternoon in early March, 3,700 people were logged on to Stationhead’s BTS ARMY Jungkook channel; 3,500 were tuned in to the BTS ARMY channel dedicated to V; 1,200 people were on the ONCE channel for fans of TWICE; 1,300 were on the STAYS channel for fans of Stray Kids; and 800 people were on the BardiGang channel dedicated to Cardi B fans. The Beyhive channel, which Beyoncé has never visited, had 150 listeners, with the host dutifully streaming “Texas Hold ’Em” every three songs. Stationhead says it drove 15% of first-week downloads for the song when it debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
During the pandemic, social audio apps like Clubhouse, Spotify’s Greenroom/Live and Amazon’s AMP live radio app began to pop up, sometimes attracting star names to host conversations or live podcast shows on their platforms. But those big names — occasionally brought in with big checks — were often what attracted audiences, and investors, to the platforms. (Last year, both Amazon and Spotify shut down their platforms, and Clubhouse laid off half its workforce.) Stationhead grew on the opposite side of the spectrum: the company says it has never paid for marketing, or for an artist to appear on the platform. Instead, artists and labels who have embraced it heard about it through the fans themselves, and Stationhead says that 95% of the billions of streams it facilitated in 2023 came when there were no artists on the platform, just fans hanging out amongst themselves.
It’s something that speaks even to the biggest artists in the world. “It’s a good way to get thousands, tens of thousands of people to all come together and have an amazing experience together. And with great examples, artists jump in, and then that turns into content because people record that kind of stuff and it travels beyond the platform onto Instagram or TikTok,” says Atlantic general manager Paul Sinclar, who has worked Stationhead into rollouts with Ed Sheeran, Melanie Martinez, Charlie Puth and the Barbie soundtrack, among others. And the experience goes well beyond just boosting a song’s streams or downloads — true, die hard fans are created through more than just commercial interactions. “If you get an audience together that wants something special and cool to them in that moment, there’s an opportunity. But we try to measure it by, did fans think that was an amazing experience?”
When Sheeran released his Autumn Variations album last September, his fans were having a listening party on Stationhead — and Sheeran randomly crashed the party, with no heads up. When GAYLE was launching her tour, she held a contest on Stationhead for her fans to guess her set lists, which became a nightly listening party and debate, culminating with GAYLE herself jumping in to confirm the set list and update a playlist for her fans. For the release of the Barbie soundtrack, Atlantic facilitated a 12-hour listening party, with a different fan each hour hosting their own playlist based on a different song and artist that appeared on the album. For the two year anniversary of Rodrigo’s SOUR album, she popped in to a listening party her fans were holding, proving the power the platform has to boost catalog, too. “The spontaneity of logging in and not knowing who is gonna be in there, if the artist is gonna be in there, is a really cool experience,” Stubbs says.
Stationhead says that over the past year, its user base has quadrupled to more than 15 million fans, and the average user spends over two hours per day on the platform. The company claims it drove billions of streams and hundreds of thousands of downloads in the past year, creating tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue for labels and artists — an admittedly vague figure that it nonetheless expects to grow fivefold in the next year. (The company declined to reveal specifics.)
Stationhead’s revenue comes largely from a cut of the downloads sold through the platform — a format that IGA’s Stubbs says is “more important to the success of a song and album because downloads are weighted more” for chart algorithms.
Though its current business model is better suited to making money for streaming services and rights holders, Stationhead says that will change soon. “In the same way that Discord and Twitch created entirely new channels of revenue for the video game industry, Stationhead is doing the same with music,” co-founder and COO Murray Levison says. “We plan to continue to innovate in the space and roll out a number of monetization features over the course of the next year.”
Until then, Stationhead continues to do what it does best: serve as the destination for over 1,000 fandoms. “Stationhead is always on, and the community is always there even if nobody is talking,” Star says. “We’ve been building it quietly for years now, really focused on understanding the fans, learning them, validating them, giving them a home — all of this has happened. We found our audience, and this market is just beginning. And it’s going to be massive.”
A version of this story appeared in the March 30, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Country artist Orville Peck has signed with Warner Records – and has already teased new music on the way.
“I was ready for a change,” Peck tells Billboard. “I spent most of last year making several huge changes to all aspects of my life – my career being just one of them. I was ready for a clean start.”
Today (April 1), Peck announced his first release on the label: a collaboration with Willie Nelson. The pair will duet on a cover of “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” a song originally released in 1981 by Latin country artist Ned Sublette and covered by Nelson in 2006. Peck himself previously performed a rendition for SiriusXM and at his 2023 Hollywood Bowl show.
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Jeff Sosnow, EVP of A&R at Warner – whom Peck calls “the GOAT” – tells Billboard he met Peck a few years ago and was taken “not only by his musical acumen and knowledge, but also his sense of purpose, ambition and curation of his own world, which all extends from the music.”
“It’s rare to come across an artist who checks so many necessary boxes for a path to success – great songs, singular voice, curation of overall aesthetic and visuals, ambition, communication and work ethic. With [what’s ahead], we have a real opportunity to fortify and grow Orville’s base and reach.”
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In 2019, Peck released his debut album Pony on Sub Pop. The following year, in 2020, he signed with Columbia and released his major label debut EP Show Pony. Two more EPs followed in 2022 leading up to his second full-length that August, Bronco.
“I was drawn to Warner because of their unique emphasis on their artists,” says Peck. “It may seem like it should be the standard but more and more, the music industry invests less and less in artists.” He says in addition to Sosnow being “a genuine fan of music,” he has “great respect” for Warner CEO and co-chairman Aaron Bay-Schuck along with COO and co-chairman Tom Corson. “They have helped me to feel so motivated,” he adds.
Currently, Warner is on a hot streak with its superstars and emerging talent alike. Next month (on May 3), Dua Lipa will release her anticipated album Radical Optimism, while Zach Bryan is currently playing to sold-out arenas on his The Quittin Time Tour. Plus, rising acts like Teddy Swims and Benson Boone occupied the Hot 100’s top two slots last week with “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things,” respectively.
“The last five years have proven Warner has the patience and ingenuity to work with real artists with vision and songs and grow with them,” says Sosnow. “The structure of the company has put us in a unique place where we do indeed have a special sauce.”
Peck is signed to Brandon Creed’s Good World Management, and is managed by Creed along with Dani Russin and Anika Capozza. The firm says: “Warner has been in Orville’s corner for many years and when the moment arose to work together, they immediately seized the opportunity with incredible support and enthusiasm…We are so excited for this new partnership and couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with them.”
As Peck says, this next chapter can be defined by “evolution and exploration. I have honestly never felt so excited about my career before.”
Adds Sosnow: “The possibilities are really limitless for Orville. He is a generational talent.”
Orville Peck
Ben Prince
Linkin Park has reached a settlement to end a lawsuit that accused the band of refusing to pay royalties to an ex-bassist who briefly played with the band in the late 1990s.
In a statement issued on Friday, the band said it had reached an “amicable resolution” with Kyle Christner, who sued the band last year over claims that he had “never been paid a penny” for contributions he made during several months he was in Linkin Parkin 1999.
The dispute was sparked by an anniversary re-release of Linkin Park’s smash hit 2000 debut album Hybrid Theory, which holds the distinction as the best-selling rock album of the 21st century. Christner claimed he had contributed some of the material released on the anniversary box set – a claim confirmed by the band in Friday’s statement.
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“Kyle is a very talented musician who made valuable contributions to Linkin Park at a pivotal time in 1999,” Linkin Park wrote in Friday’s statement. “He performed with the band in several shows and many record label showcases. Kyle helped write and performed on many songs from that era, including some of the songs on the Hybrid Theory EP.”
The statement was accompanied by a joint filing in court seeking to formally end the lawsuit, signed by attorneys for both Christner and for Mike Shinoda and other Linkin Park members. Christner’s attorneys did not return a request for comment on Monday.
Christner sued in November, claiming he had been a member of the band for several months in 1999 until he was “abruptly informed” that he had been fired shortly before the band signed a record deal with Warner Records. He accused the band of continuing to profit from songs he helped create, while effectively erasing his involvement.
“Christner has never been paid a penny for his work with Linkin Park, nor has he been properly credited, even as defendants have benefitted from his creative efforts,” his lawyers wrote at the time.
In addition to Shinoda, the lawsuit also named Linkin Park’s other living members (Rob Bourdon, Brad Delson and Joseph Hahn), as well as its business entity, Machine Shop Entertainment, and the band’s label, Warner Records.
In particular, Christener pointed to the re-release of Hybrid Theory. He argued that the special 2020 box set included several songs to which he had contributed, including a never-before-released demo track that has amassed 949,000 views on YouTube.
Before Friday’s settlement, Linkin Park had been battling to dismiss the case. In a filing last month, the band argued that the case had been filed far too late and that the statute of limitations on such claims had “long since passed.”
“Defendants repudiated plaintiff’s purported ownership in any and all of the works mentioned in the [lawsuit] more than three years before plaintiff filed this lawsuit — and indeed for over two decades,” the band’s lawyers wrote at the time.