Business
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Rising música mexicana star Xavi has signed a management deal with WK Entertainment, Billboard Español can exclusively announce Tuesday (Feb. 18).
The Latin music management firm — home to superstars Carlos Vives, Maluma, Emilia, and more — and helmed by CEO/founder Walter Kolm, is expanding its superstar roster with the inclusion of Xavi, 2024’s breakout star.
“Xavi is a once-in-a-generation talent whose artistry is reshaping música mexicana,” said Kolm in a statement. “His success so far is just the beginning, and we are honored to welcome him to the WK family. With our team’s expertise and global reach, alongside Nir and his team at Interscope, we look forward to taking his career to even greater heights.”
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“I’m excited for this new stage with the new addition to my team,” added Xavi.
Known for his signature tumbados románticos and an unmatched voice, the Mexican-American singer-songwriter has captivated a new generation of listeners. His hit “La Diabla” not only topped the Hot Latin Songs chart but also tied for the second-longest reigning title of the year, dominating for 14 weeks. Additionally, “La Víctima,” Xavi’s first chart entry, reached an impressive No. 2 peak. Additionally, the star reached No. 1 on the Year-End Top Latin Artist – New chart. Xavi signed with Interscope Records in 2021.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Walter and his incredible team to Xavi’s universe,” added Nir Seroussi, EVP of Interscope. “As Xavi continues to push boundaries and reach new audiences, together we will help solidify his status as one of the most influential artists in Música Mexicana today and beyond.”
WK Entertainment is also teaming up with with Fabio Gutierrez, Xavi’s father and manager, and Latin Lifestyle Entertainment, the company that has been pivotal in developing Xavi’s career from the start. “I’m very excited about this great opportunity to work hand in hand with WK and help take Xavi to the next level in his career! I’m very grateful for everything that is happening at the moment,” Gutierrez added.
Moreover, Xavi’s booking agency, WME, will maintain its role in managing his touring, brand partnerships, and film projects in conjunction with WK and Latin Lifestyle.
AEG Presents has promoted Andrew Klein to president of global partnerships, where he will oversee all sales and activation efforts for the company. Reporting to executive vice president and COO Shawn Trell, Klein will continue to be based in New York.
Previously serving as senior vp of global partnerships, Klein has been a key figure in sponsorship sales at AEG for over two decades.
Klein has played an instrumental role in developing major sponsorship deals across AEG’s tours, festivals and venues. His work includes securing partnerships for high-profile events such as Stagecoach Festival, Camp Flog Gnaw and the New Orleans Jazz Fest & Heritage Festival. Known for his expertise in integrating brands with music experiences, he has spearheaded successful collaborations, including H&M’s global licensing deal with Coachella and tour sponsorships for Justin Bieber, Xbox, Ubisoft, Motorola and Katy Perry with Staples.
Klein was also ahead of the curve on live streaming, leading early broadcasts for the AT&T Blue Room with New Orleans Jazz Fest, Coachella and the Mile High Music Festival. More recently, he facilitated high-profile streaming deals, including partnerships between YouTube and Coachella and Amazon with Stagecoach, further expanding AEG’s reach in digital entertainment.
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Pre-AEG, Klein served as president of EMCI, a New York-based music sponsorship and activations firm. While there, he managed sponsorship programs for major events such as the original Lilith Fair and helped orchestrate brand collaborations, including partnerships between Tommy Hilfiger and Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain with Gitano Jeans and the Rolling Stones with Sprint.
“The opportunities in our company have never been more exciting or abundant for driving meaningful results for our partners,” said Klein. “I look forward to continuing to develop and implement innovative programs that amplify our world-class brand partners and industry-leading music assets.”
Trell praised Klein’s ability to cultivate relationships and “identifying brands and partners to bring critical value and expanded reach across our entire portfolio.”
The civil lawsuit accusing Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) of raping a 13-year-old girl alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2000 has been voluntarily dismissed, according to court documents filed on Friday (Feb. 14).
“Today is a victory. The frivolous, fictitious and appalling allegations have been dismissed,” Carter wrote in a post on Roc Nation’s official Instagram account. “This civil suit was without merit and never going anywhere. The fictional tale they created was laughable, if not for the seriousness of the claims. I would not wish this experience on anyone. The trauma that my wife, my children, my loved ones and I have endured can never be dismissed.”
The case was dismissed with prejudice against all defendants, meaning it cannot be refiled.
Filed in New York federal court in December, the complaint alleged that Carter and Combs drugged and assaulted the Jane Doe plaintiff during an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards. The case arrived as an updated version of a previous lawsuit filed against Combs only.
At the time, Carter called the lawsuit a “blackmail attempt” designed to result in a settlement. He further called the Jane Doe’s attorney, Tony Buzbee — notable for filing a slew of sexual assault lawsuits against Combs — a “fraud,” a “deplorable human” and an “ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.”
In his Instagram post on Friday, Carter took further aim at Buzbee, writing, “This 1-800 lawyer gets to file a suit hiding behind Jane Doe, and when they quickly realize that the money grab is going to fail, they get to walk away with no repercussions. The system has failed.
“The court must protect victims, OF COURSE, while with the same ethical responsibility, the courts must protect the innocent from being accused without a shred of evidence. May the truth prevail for all victims and those falsely accused equally.”
In a statement sent to Billboard, Carter’s attorney, Alex Spiro, said the following: “The false case against JAY-Z, that never should have been brought, has been dismissed with prejudice. By standing up in the face of heinous and false allegations, Jay has done what few can — he pushed back, he never settled, he never paid 1 red penny, he triumphed and cleared his name.”
“Today’s complete dismissal without a settlement by the 1-800 attorney is yet another confirmation that these lawsuits are built on falsehoods, not facts,” said a lawyer for Combs in a statement. “For months, we have seen case after case filed by individuals hiding behind anonymity, pushed forward by an attorney more focused on media headlines than legal merit. Just like this claim, the others will fall apart because there is no truth to them. Sean Combs has never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor. No number of lawsuits, sensationalized allegations, or media theatrics will change that reality. We will continue to fight these baseless claims and hold those responsible. This is just the first of many that will not hold up in a court of law.”
Buzbee declined to comment on the dismissal.
This story was updated to add statements from Carter and Combs’ attorneys.
For more than a year, record labels and publishers have seen investors pour into streaming stocks — namely Spotify — while downplaying the potential benefits rights owners will accrue from rising subscription prices. Now, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) are getting some attention as analysts are optimistic about the terms of new licensing agreements Spotify reached with the companies.
WMG shares rose 10.9% to $36.20 a week after the company released fiscal first-quarter results. This week, the stock got a boost when Citi raised its WMG price target to $42 from $34 and upgraded the stock to a “buy” rating from “neutral.” As Morningstar explained last week, WMG is a “primary beneficiary of the ongoing growth” in the music industry. At $36.20, WMG shares have gained 17.0% in 2025 and are only slightly below their 52-week high of $36.64 set in February 2024. WMG shares fell 13.4% in 2024.
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At UMG, shares rose 7.1% to 28.89 euros ($30.32), the stock’s highest closing price since May 27, 2024. Morgan Stanley analysts have been making the case that UMG is undervalued given Spotify’s soaring share price and this week raised its UMG price target to 42 euros ($44.07) from 36 euros ($37.78). Recent licensing deals with Spotify and Amazon “increases our confidence that its subscription growth will accelerate” from approximately 5% at the start of 2025 to “closer to 15%” at the beginning of 2026, they wrote in a Monday (Feb. 10) investor note. After falling 4.2% in 2024, UMG shares are up 20.8% in 2025.
WMG and UMG were among the best performers on the 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) this week. The BGMI rose 4.6% to a record 2,755.53, bringing its year-to-date gain to 29.7%. Only two stocks lost ground while one was unchanged and 17 posted gains for the week. The index outperformed the Nasdaq composite (up 2.6%), the S&P 500 (up 1.5%), the FTSE 100 (up 0.4%), China’s SSE Composite Index (up 1.3%) and South Korea’s KOSPI composite index (flat versus the previous week).
Live Nation reached an all-time high of $152.94 on Friday (Feb. 14) before closing at $153.76, up 3.7% for the week. Ahead of the concert promoter’s earnings results on Thursday (Feb. 20,) Wolfe Research increased its price target to $175 from $160 and Goldman Sachs raised it to $166 from $148.
Streaming services fared well, too. Spotify rose another 2.4% to $637.73 and reached a new all-time high of $652.63 on Thursday (Feb. 13). Fewer than seven weeks into 2025, Spotify shares have gained 36.7%. Elsewhere on the streaming front, Cloud Music rose 9.1% to 142.20 HKD ($18.01) and Tencent Music Entertainment gained 8.7% to $13.63.
Music streamer LiveOne had the week’s biggest loss after falling 20.5% to $0.93. On Thursday, the company announced that its revenue fell 6% in the fiscal third quarter. LiveOne also lowered revenue and earnings guidance for its full year, causing shares to end the day down 18.6%. The other streaming loser was Abu Dhabi-based Anghami, which fell 2.7% to $0.71.
Satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM shares rose 6.6% to $27.11, bringing its year-to-date gain to 21.2%. This week, Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $27 from $25.
Most K-pop companies finished the week in positive territory. HYBE shares rose 5.8% and reached their highest mark since July 2023. SM Entertainment, which reported a 9% increase in revenue this week, increased 5.4%. JYP Entertainment improved 4.2% and YG Entertainment fell 1.3%.
There’s a new category at the Juno Awards this year and for first-time nominee Lowell, it’s been a long time coming.
Lowell (Elizabeth Lowell Boland) has been in the industry for a decade, first as a performing artist and then as a songwriter and artist development expert. In the last two years, she’s helped break Canadian rockers The Beaches internationally and contributed to Beyoncé‘s first-ever album of the year win at the Grammys, co-writing several tracks on Cowboy Carter.
Now, she receives her first-ever Juno nomination, in the inaugural year of the new songwriter of the year (non-performer) category. The introduction of the category means that behind-the-scenes songwriters who would normally get squeezed out of the songwriter of the year category by big names like Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd) are getting their due.
Last year, Billboard Canada and SOCAN introduced the Billboard Canada Non-Performing Songwriter Award, which Lowell won and accepted at the Billboard Canada Power Players celebration. Lowell was a fitting first winner, as she’s also been pushing the Junos to add the category for years.
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At a Junos media conference this week following the nominations announcement, Lowell spoke about how it’s been a long road to get here, but that songwriters are starting to get some recognition.
“I’m so glad that we have this category now,” Lowell said. “I think that if it didn’t exist I probably wouldn’t be nominated at the Junos — and I always said if I get Grammys before I get Junos you know there’s something wrong.”
Lowell added that in the past, Juno nominations have been bittersweet for songwriters.
“Usually we see a lot of artists that we maybe have developed or written their hits, but know that our name won’t be up there, just kind of having to live in it,” she reflected. “I’m a fighter so I kind of took the lead on it. One thing about songwriters is we’re so used to just being walked all over, we don’t often think we can do anything about it, and I refuse to think that way.”
As songwriter royalties have declined, it’s harder to make a living, Lowell pointed out, making this kind of recognition even more significant.
“All of these labels — Universal Canada, Warner Canada — we could be in L.A. but we’re here, we’re working on your artists, and we’re writing you guys hits and we’re bringing you money and allowing you to sign more artists, so the respect that we need and have earned needs to be at the Junos too,” she continued. “And here we are. It’s good — it’s a good day.”
She’s excited to be nominated in the category alongside Nate Ferraro, her songwriting partner on Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Also nominated are Evan Blair, for work with Maren Morris and Benson Boone (including co-writing the No. 1 hit “Beautiful Things”); Shaun Frank, for work with Dua Lipa and Morgan Wallen; and Tobias Jesso Jr., for work with Camila Cabello, Morris and Lipa.
Producer Aaron Paris and recording engineer/producer Hill Kourkoutis also spoke about the importance of industry recognition for those working behind the scenes. Read more here. – Rosie Long Decter
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Junos and Polaris Prize Release Statements on Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Awards Following Order of Canada Cancellation
Though most focus was on the new Juno nominees this week, one prior winner was also under the spotlight: Buffy Sainte-Marie.
The acclaimed singer-songwriter’s Order of Canada appointment was canceled last week by The Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon. The decision came a year and a half after the CBC’s investigation into her claims of Indigenous ancestry and Canadian citizenship. Since then, there has been scrutiny into other awards Sainte-Marie has earned in the country.
CARAS, the body that governs the Junos, released a statement, saying they are aware of the decision to terminate her Order of Canada.
“We continue to consult with our Indigenous Music Advisory Committee and Indigenous stakeholders on how to best proceed as it relates to Sainte-Marie’s Juno Awards,” the organization said in a statement. “We recognize the importance of Indigenous music as a category and remain deeply committed to promoting, celebrating and honouring the contributions of Indigenous artists to the Canadian music industry.”
In 2023, a group named the Indigenous Women’s Collective called on CARAS to rescind Sainte-Marie’s 2018 Juno for Indigenous album of the year, which she won for the album Medicine Songs. The group pointed to the win over artist Kelly Fraser, who died a year later.
“We invite the Juno Awards Committee to revisit this 2018 category and explore ways of righting a past wrong,” they wrote. “All Indigenous Artists in this 2018 category, including Kelly Fraser, should be reconsidered for this rightful honour.”
Sainte-Marie won the Polaris Music Prize, which awards one album as the best in Canada of the year based solely on artistic merit, for her 2015 album, Power in the Blood. For her victory, Sainte-Marie earned a cash prize of $50,000.
The Polaris Music Prize Board released a statement.
“The Polaris Board is aware of the ongoing conversation around Buffy Sainte Marie’s Canadian status,” they said in a statement. “We have and continue to follow as new information is shared.”
Sainte-Marie has said that she has never lied about her identity. – Richard Trapunski
NFTs are back — but don’t worry about holding onto your wallet. At least in the music business, the NFT (non-fungible token) is quietly starting a second, more practical life far removed from the deafening hype that surrounded the digital assets just a few years ago.
At the beginning of the decade, some artists made millions selling NFTs while celebrities were helping legitimize them, with stars like Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and Paris Hilton all buying NFTs from the then-hot Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. Then, predictably, the NFT bubble burst in fantastic fashion. In less than a year, Bieber’s Bored Ape, which he purchased for $1.3 million, was worth around $69,000.
NFTs were often a bad investment, but the underlying technology still has many believers. Last week, Sony quietly launched a music NFT collection on its Soneium blockchain platform. The fact that Sony — the larger company, not Sony Music Entertainment — is investing in Web3 technology may come as a surprise, but its efforts go back more than a year. Sony Network Communications, later renamed to Sony Block Solutions Lab, revealed in September 2023 that it had created a joint venture with Startale Labs to develop “a blockchain that can become the backbone of global web3 infrastructure” and create “killer web3 use cases to drive the adoption of web3.” Eleven months later, Sony announced the development of the Soneium blockchain that will form the infrastructure for those so-called “killer use cases,” with the goal of expanding Web3 technology and services to a broader audience and “build[ing] a world where web3 services permeate people’s daily lives.” The launch of Soneium was announced on Jan. 14.
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One of the applications on Soneium is a new fan marketing platform through which companies can issue NFTs. So far, two of Sony’s music divisions, Sony Music Entertainment France and Sony Music Publishing (Japan), issued NFTs as “demonstration experiment[s]” for its entertainment companies to “provide new value to creators and fans through web3 services.” In France, Sony celebrated the second anniversary of a Web3 community called Sunny B. 1991 by distributing limited-edition NFTs to the community. In Japan, Sony will distribute limited-edition NFTs to coincide with a live event for the girl group SANDAL TELEPHONE.
Sony’s blockchain push comes at a time when music companies are increasingly targeting superfans through digital platforms and merchandise offers. “NFTs are uniquely suited for this because they are programmable digital assets that can evolve over time,” says Cherie Hu of Water & Music, a music industry research and consulting practice. NFTs and their “smart contracts” — self-executing code on the blockchain — allow artists to create membership experiences that can evolve over time. And because NFTs use decentralized technology, they aren’t reliant on any one platform or company — a notable advantage when a country can outright ban a social media platform. “This is quite different from traditional fan clubs, where fan data is otherwise fragmented and hard to act upon from the artist’s perspective,” says Hu.
Sony’s slow launch of its blockchain ambitions will ultimately be helpful to other companies in the music space, says David Greenstein, CEO of two blockchain-related startups, Sound and Vault. “Any legacy company that’s trying to innovate, I have a lot of respect for because I think the industry needs more innovation,” he says. Three years ago, releasing high-priced yet useless NFTs was seen as innovative. In 2025, innovation means using blockchain technology, cryptocurrency and NFTs to create consumer-friendly products that bring artists and fans together.
A fresh approach to NFTs makes sense now that the market is tanking. NFT trading volume fell 19% in 2024, according to DappRadar, making it the worst year for NFTs since 2020 and far below their height in 2022, when they boasted $57.2 billion in trading volume. Last year’s leading NFT collection was Pudgy Penguins, which goes far beyond Web3 by selling plushy toys in brick-and-mortar retailers and sponsoring the uniforms of Spanish soccer club CD Castellón. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs still generate a relatively large amount of sales activity, but prices in the last 30 days were down about 91% from their highs in 2022.
As enthusiasm for NFTs waned, some worthwhile experiments went belly up. Universal Music Group’s foray into NFTs was Kingship, a virtual band comprised of three Bored Ape characters and a rare Mutant Ape. The 5,000 NFTs, which would unlock music and other perks for owners, quickly sold out in July 2022. The group landed a sponsorship with M&Ms in 2022 and a Kingship game launched on Roblox in 2023. But by all appearances the project is now dead, and Kingship NFTs that sold for 0.23 ETH three years ago (approximately $300 at the time) are trading for less than 0.002 ETH ($5) today.
“There’s going to be very fruitful, better things that come out of [blockchain technology] that are non-speculative, just because the technology is awesome,” says Greenstein. His latest company, Vault, allows artists to build relationships with fans and creates a blockchain-based digital wallet for each user. But Vault has made a conscious choice to put the technology in the background, and although “everything is Web3 enabled,” he says, it’s not germane to the fans’ relationship with artists. “Nobody asked what the tech stack of Spotify is,” he points out. “They just use the product.”
Sing, a Seattle-based startup that sells both digital collectibles and physical merchandise, also puts Web3 technology in the background. “We don’t talk about NFTs,” says CEO Geoff Osler. “We don’t lead with that, because I don’t think people care.” But Sing has the same end goal as early NFT proselytizers: to facilitate a relationship between artists and their biggest fans while allowing artists to realize more value from those relationships. “We think that artists should make a great deal more money than they already do on the releases,” says Osler. “And that there’s this overall feeling — at least among superfans — that there’s a gap in the market. People want to own their music and own that connection with the artists.”
Speculation isn’t gone, but it’s migrated. Blockchains like Solana that have lower transaction costs and higher speeds than Etherium have become “hotbeds” for the trading of memecoins, says Hu. Rather than pump money into NFTs, people are buying into the TrumpCoin and the Hawk Tuah coin. “In certain segments of pop culture and politics, I’d say the appetite for high-risk digital assets remains really strong,” she says.
But players in the music space seem content to focus on practical use cases and leave the speculation to memecoin hustlers. “Once we come out of this period, and people start to accept blockchain tokens, there’s some very, very interesting stuff that the technology will enable,” says Osler. “But for now, meet them where they are. Let’s sell them records from artists they love. Show them there’s this amazing digital stuff that goes along with it, and that it’s collectible, and just leave it at that.”
On Valentine’s Day, Drake teamed up with OVO signee and frequent collaborator PARTYNEXTDOOR to release the collaborative album Some Sexy Songs 4 U, a 21-track project that marks his first release since the three-track project 100 Gigs last August.
More significantly, it’s his first release since he filed a lawsuit against his record label, Universal Music Group (UMG), on Jan. 15 for defamation over the release of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” the searing, chart-topping diss track aimed at the Canadian rapper that was released by UMG’s Interscope Records. In the lawsuit, lawyers for Drake alleged that “UMG intentionally sought to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse,” by pushing a “false and malicious narrative” that the star rapper was a “certified pedophile,” as Lamar rapped on the track. (UMG, in response, said in part, “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical.”)
That raises the question: How is Drake able to release an album while he’s actively suing the record label to which he’s signed?
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First, the logistics: The new album was released jointly through OVO Sound, to which PARTYNEXTDOOR is signed, which is distributed by Santa Anna, a company under Sony Music Group’s Alamo Records umbrella; and OVO, which is Drake’s vehicle through UMG’s Republic Records. They are co-billed that way and in that order on digital service providers like Spotify and Apple Music. These types of joint releases are relatively common; think Future and Metro Boomin’s back-to-back We Don’t Trust You albums last year, released jointly via Future’s label Epic Records (also a Sony label) and Metro’s label Republic Records. (Coincidentally, We Don’t Trust You contained the song “Like That” featuring Lamar, the track that kicked off the Drake-Kendrick beef in earnest.) Another, more current, example is the Lady Gaga–Bruno Mars collaboration “Die With A Smile,” currently sitting at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for its fifth week, which is co-billed to Gaga’s Interscope and Mars’ Atlantic Records.
That means UMG would have had to legally clear Drake’s appearance on the album, an outcome that a handful of lawyers consulted by Billboard say would not necessarily be affected by any ongoing litigation. “Suing UMG shouldn’t preclude him from working with them legally,” one lawyer says. “As for their desire to be in a contractual relationship with him while he is litigating against them, that’s a different story.” Adds another, who agreed that it would not affect his ability to release an album: “Whether or not UMG decides to properly fund and support a release that Drake wants to do while Drake is suing UMG is another question.”
A UMG spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its response to the initial lawsuit last month, the company wrote, “We have invested massively in [Drake’s] music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success. … Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”
An artist suing their record label is not an unheard-of occurrence; it has happened several times through the years, often over royalty payments or other contractual disputes. Suing their own record label for defamation over a diss track, however, is unprecedented; given the mutually beneficial financials involved in an artist and an album’s commercial success, it would stand to reason that UMG would not aim to materially harm one of their superstar artists. But that’s a determination for the courts to make.
Additional reporting by Elias Leight.
This week, all eyes have been on one of the biggest stages in the world: the Super Bowl. And while Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show rightfully has had many people talking, he wasn’t the only performer that stole the show at the NFL’s main event — New Orleans native Jon Batiste kicked off proceedings with a stirring, emotional rendition of the National Anthem, seated behind a multicolored piano on the Super Dome field.
And that was just the most high-profile moment for Batiste, the seven-time Grammy winner and former bandleader for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. The day before the main event, Batiste also put on the Love Riot festival in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward neighborhood, which featured performances by him, Ledisi, Preservation Hall band, Flavor Flav, Dee-1 and more. And helping knit all that together was Culture Collective founder/CEO and Batiste’s business partner Jonathan Azu, who earns the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Here, Azu — a Superfly and Red Light Management veteran, who also teaches music business at USC and is a governor of the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy, among other endeavors — explains his role in helping Batiste secure those events during Super Bowl weekend, as well as the other projects he and Batiste have in the works. “When you’re working with someone as innovative as Jon,” Azu says, “the best thing you can do is give them the freedom to create and then support them and lead our internal team in bringing that vision to life.”
This week, Jon Batiste performed the National Anthem prior to Super Bowl LIX. How did that come together?
We received a call from the team at Roc Nation, which selects all Super Bowl performers, asking if Jon would be interested in performing the National Anthem in his native New Orleans. I was thrilled that he said yes — there’s truly no one better suited for the moment than him. Additionally, the other co-producers on the halftime and pregame performances, Diversified Production Services and Jesse Collins Entertainment, were teams I had recently collaborated with on NBC’s Live From Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central in May of last year. Having just worked closely with them on a major live broadcast, I was excited to reunite for another high-profile moment only months later.
How did he want to present his rendition differently from others, and how were you guys able to pull that off?
Reimagining the National Anthem is always a challenge because it has been performed — at the Super Bowl alone — 57 times before. The goal was to create something that would not only stand out but also move people in a way they hadn’t experienced before. Jon is the perfect artist to take on this challenge, bringing a blend of musicality, storytelling and emotional depth. My role was to provide him with the tools, resources and space to develop and execute his vision. When you’re working with someone as innovative as Jon, the best thing you can do is give them the freedom to create and then support them and lead our internal team in bringing that vision to life.
The day before, he put on the Love Riot Festival in New Orleans. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
When Jon committed to performing at the Super Bowl, it was important to both of us to integrate a meaningful community outreach initiative into the weekend. Jon is from New Orleans, and my mother is as well, so I spent a lot of time there growing up. While most visitors during Super Bowl weekend stay in or near the French Quarter, we wanted to ensure we were making an impact in communities that don’t always receive the same economic boost — particularly the Lower 9th Ward.
To bring this vision to life, we sought a partner who shared our commitment to community engagement. We were fortunate to connect with He Gets Us, a faith-driven media campaign that was already involved in this year’s Super Bowl advertising. They became an invaluable partner in helping us realize the festival. My role was to work closely with their team to execute Jon’s vision seamlessly — overseeing guest talent coordination, production logistics, sponsorship integration and advising on the overall audience experience.
What were some of the toughest aspects of putting together that festival on Super Bowl weekend?
One of the biggest challenges was assembling available production teams and securing guest talent in the middle of one of the busiest entertainment weekends of the year. Super Bowl weekend brings an influx of major events, making it difficult to lock in resources and availability. However, we were able to navigate these hurdles and successfully produce the festival.
The end result was incredible — we had over 5,000 people come out for what turned into a beautiful day. The festival featured performances from guest artists like Ledisi, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball, Preservation Hall, Flavor Flav and Dee-1, creating an environment that was both celebratory and impactful. From an executive producer standpoint, my role was to ensure everything came together in the right way, including logistical planning for artists to seamlessly move in and out of the festival while keeping the focus on community engagement.
You’ve worked at Superfly and Red Light before beginning to work with Jon. How has that past experience helped you to help grow his career?
Superfly and Red Light laid a strong foundation for me, both in terms of skills and relationships. Being among the first handful of employees at Superfly, the co-founders of Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival and Outside Lands Music Festival, equipped me with the skill set, knowledge and relationships essential for organizing large-scale events in a city. My time at Red Light, where I operated as general manager, provided me with a deeper understanding of representing talent on significant stages, whether at festivals or high-profile events like the Super Bowl. Both experiences were instrumental in preparing me for the multifaceted demands of supporting Jon’s career.
He’s been a staple on late night television and won a Grammy for album of the year. How do you keep pushing his career forward?
Jon is the ultimate multi-hyphenate, and there’s truly no limit to where his career can go. I’m incredibly excited about what lies ahead for him, not just in music, but in business as well. We’re working closely to develop intellectual property and dynamic business opportunities that go beyond the stage. A great example is the launch of the new Jon Batiste Jazz Club at Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas. Jon and his programming team are curating what happens on those stages 365 days a year, and Jon is involved in all aspects of the consumer experience — from what they see on stage to the artwork within the venue to the dining experience. This holistic approach ensures we’re not only expanding his artistic footprint but also building a lasting legacy.
What do you have in the works moving forward?
Like many of the talented individuals I work with, I’m a multi-hyphenate in the business world. In addition to Culture Collective, where I’m focusing on developing artists like Leon Thomas — whose album MUTT is skyrocketing — I have multiple business ventures on and off the stage. I partner with Jon Batiste and his company, JBI, to build out his multi-layered ecosystem around the world. In my partnership with Joe Killian, we are forging groundbreaking collaborations through our consultancy, Killian + Co., where we’ve spearheaded innovative, high-impact campaigns with artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, the Creator and Eminem for global brands like Ford, American Express and Julien’s Auction House.
In the academic space, I’m dedicated to cultivating the next generation of music executives. This includes my four-year tenure as an adjunct professor at USC’s Thornton School of Music, where I teach music business. I also serve on the Board of Trustees at Drake University, my alma mater, where I first started in music as president of the concert committee. Additionally, I help steer the Recording Academy into the future by serving as a governor of the Los Angeles chapter.
TikTok has returned to the app stores of Apple and Google in the U.S., after President Donald Trump delayed the enforcement of a TikTok ban. TikTok, which is operated by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores on Jan. 18 to comply with a law that requires ByteDance to divest […]
The rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has broken out beyond the hip-hop world so that now even the mainstream media is all over it and keeping score, thanks to Lamar winning record and song of the year at the Grammys for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” and his performance a week later at the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
While it’s unclear how this is all going to play out, music industry label executives know that rap feuds, in general, are good for business — as long as they don’t go too far.
As it is, Lamar’s high-profile performance is landing him the most ink, which in turn is driving plenty of business his way. It’s only five weeks into the year as tracked by Luminate, and already his recorded music catalog is closing in on 1 billion on-demand streams in the U.S., which it will probably reach next week; while his global streams are heading toward 2 billion. As of the week ending Feb. 6, those counts stand at 862.8 million (U.S.) and 1.69 billion (globally), according to Luminate. Overall, Lamar’s catalog has accumulated nearly 664,000 album consumption units in the U.S. in 2025 so far.
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That’s nearly three times larger than during the same period in 2024 when Lamar posted 233,000 album consumption units and almost 301 million on-demand streams in the U.S. and global streams of 650 million. Of course, besides his high-profile TV appearances this year, Lamar’s streaming and sales activity is still enjoying an added boost from riding in the afterglow of his recently released GNX album on Nov. 22.
But is all this attention also helping Drake? It’s unclear. Drake is slightly trailing Lamar in terms of U.S. album consumption units and streaming in 2025 so far. Album consumption units came in at 620,000 units, or 7.1% short of the Compton rapper; while his total of nearly 834 million on-demand streams is 3.5% below Lamar’s U.S. total and his global total of 1.529 billion is 10.3% short of his musical rival’s.
Besides that, Drake’s 2025 performance is also down from how his catalog performed in the first five weeks of 2024, when he accumulated 930,000 album consumption units; and, within that, 1.281 billion streams in the U.S. Those 2024 numbers are 50% and 53.6% greater, respectively, than his U.S. activity in 2025 during the same period; while his 2024 global on-demand stream total was 2.246 billion, or nearly 47% greater than this year.
Drake, of course, does not have the added momentum of having released a new album at the end of 2024. (He is releasing his PartyNextDoor collaborative EP, Some Sexy Songs 4 U, this Friday.) Not only that, his current year’s numbers are competing against his prior year’s numbers which did have that benefit thanks to the afterglow of his eighth studio album, For All the Dogs, which was released on Oct. 6, 2023.
Still, the above numbers do not reflect the impact that Lamar’s Super Bowl performance is having on the activity of his and Drake’s catalogs. Those numbers, for the week ending Feb. 13, won’t be available from Luminate until Monday (Feb. 17).
This is all short-term, of course. Looking at the two artists’ career numbers, Drake swamps Lamar, even though the “Just Like Us rapper” has pretty impressive counts in his own right. Over the past 10 years, Drake has gone toe-to-toe with only Taylor Swift in claiming the title of the biggest artist in the U.S., if not the world, at least as far as recorded music activity goes.
Drake and Lamar’s first commercial releases came out within about a year of each other. Drake’s debut album, Thank Me Later, hit the streets in June 2010, while Lamar’s Section 8.0 album came out in July 2011. Since then, Drake has issued eight albums and Lamar six, and each has also released mixtapes, EPs, collaborations and/or compilations and soundtracks.
By the end of 2024, Drake’s catalog has accumulated nearly 80.7 million album consumption units in the U.S., versus Lamar’s 29.1 million album consumption units, according to Luminate. In fact, the combined activity of just three of Drake’s studio albums alone is higher than Lamar’s total, as each of those albums — Take Care, Scorpion and Views — have garnered slightly over 10 million album consumption units a piece. Meanwhile, Lamar’s best album showings come from his major-label debut good kid, m.A.A.d city, with 9.3 million album consumption units, and DAMN, at nearly 9 million units.
(These career numbers exclude collaborations where most of the collaborators are each considered a primary artist but do include songs where artists are “featured” on a Drake or Lamar song because Luminate credits those songs’ activity to just the primary artist. Album consumption units count each album sale as one album consumption unit; while track equivalent albums, whereby 10 tracks sold equal one album consumption unit; and stream equivalent albums, whereby 1,250 paid subscriber streams equal one album consumption unit, or 3,750 ad-supported streams equal one album consumption unit. Also, Luminate only tracks album consumption units in North America; globally, it only tracks streams and downloads, not album consumption units.)
Within the album consumption unit numbers, Drake’s streaming total in the U.S. is 84 billion and 127 billion globally, as of the Luminate year ended Jan. 2, 2025. Meanwhile, Lamar’s U.S. career streaming total is nearly 29 billion and more than 47 billion globally.
Those numbers are extremely impressive given that 2015 was the first year in which streaming’s impact was widely felt. While huge rock stars, not counting pop artists, are lucky to break the 1 billion on-demand streams milestone in the U.S. each year — and none of them yet appear to have broken the 2 billion mark in the U.S. in a single year — these days, R&B and hip-hop artists regularly hit the multi-billion on-demand stream mark each year — usually led by Drake.
Over the past five years — from 2020 to 2024 — Drake’s U.S. streams have totaled 46 billion, for an annual average of 9.2 billion streams, while globally he’s averaged 15.9 billion streams per year. In contrast, Lamar’s U.S. stream count during that same period averages 3.29 billion, while his annual global count averages nearly 6.4 billion streams. Any way you cut it — by album consumption units or by stream count — Drake’s activity over the course of his career, or even just within the 2020 to 2024 period, is more than twice that of Lamar’s.
So even though Lamar is the top dog this year when measured against Drake’s activity, it remains to be seen if this rap feud changes the dynamics of whose swagger — Drake’s, the reigning champ, or Lamar’s — can be backed up long-term. Only time will tell.