State Champ Radio Business
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Electronic dance music may have been born in America, emerging from the disco dancefloors of 1970s New York, the house hotbed of ’80s Chicago, and the techno frontier of ’80s Detroit, but it initially found a more receptive audience abroad. While the U.S. largely relegated it to the underground, Europe and Latin America embraced it wholesale, building ecosystems of clubs, festivals and media that treated dance as a cultural fixture.
Billboard launched its first “Disco Action” dance charts in the ‘70s and built a legacy of covering dance music well before the digital era, thanks to talented journalists like Larry Flick, Michael Paoletta and Brian Chin. When I joined Billboard in 2014, the genre lived in a column called CODE, with sharp contributing voices like Kerri Mason and Zel McCarthy keeping the beat alive.
Dance music was exploding in popularity in America, but the legacy media hadn’t entirely caught up. While Rolling Stone and SPIN gave deadmau5 and Skrillex cover stories during the early EDM boom of 2011–2012 and Billboard dedicated three cover stories to the genre’s explosion throughout 2012, most top-tier U.S. music publications weren’t offering dedicated coverage of the genre. Meanwhile, in Europe, outlets like Mixmag, Resident Advisor and DJ Mag were deeply embedded in the scene, offering both depth and consistency that was largely absent in the American press.
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As a result, the scene relied on a network of scrappy music blogs with their ear to the ground and finger on the pulse. Social media was reshaping the ecosystem. Artists were breaking online before they ever hit radio, and the direct line to fans was turning DJs into stars. At the same time, the democratization of digital tools gave rise to a new generation of bedroom producers, making tracks on laptops that could suddenly reach millions.
I was living in Berlin when Kerri gave me the opportunity to start freelancing for Billboard in 2014. My first feature was on a then-unknown kid named Kygo, before he’d ever played outside his native Norway. Soon after, I was covering European festivals like Tomorrowland and Sónar, and the doors that opened for Billboard made it clear we had a rare window to build something meaningful.
Feeling the winds of destiny at my back, I moved back to New York and delivered a 10-page proposal for a Billboard Dance vertical. Looking back, I probably could have been more concise. Nothing happens overnight at a legacy media brand, and this was no exception. I’ll always be grateful to Tye Comer and Mike Bruno for championing my vision and helping win over the higher-ups to get it approved.
When we announced Billboard Dance’s launch in 2015, the industry welcomed it as a much-needed step forward in the scene’s stateside maturation. One piece of feedback I often heard was that my hiring felt like the passing of a generational torch. I was seen as part of the blog-era generation, close in age to many of the artists we were covering and trusted by the community that had championed them early on. As a DJ and producer myself, I could speak their language and recognize the difference between innovative production and recycled presets when deciding which artists to spotlight.
With full-time focus, dedicated resources and standalone social channels, Billboard Dance’s coverage could expand beyond the charts and into the culture. These additions were buoyed by the launch of the Hot Dance/Electronic chart in 2013, with the team recognizing and responding to the genre’s explosion. The additions of passionate contributors like Dave Rishty and Kat Bein helped our lean team punch above its weight class and go toe-to-toe with much larger outlets.
We built a reputation for curation, spotlighting artists like Martin Garrix, Alison Wonderland and Black Coffee long before they became headliners. As a new wave of artists climbed the Billboard Hot 100, we put faces to the movement — The Chainsmokers and Marshmello as crossover juggernauts, Diplo and DJ Snake as global tastemakers, REZZ and TOKiMONSTA as rising voices from the underground — and gave them the covers they deserved.
It’s been really heartening to see Billboard Dance continue to thrive under Katie Bain’s leadership since she took over in June of 2019. She’s brought thoughtful editorial vision and a clear sense of where the scene is headed, helping the brand remain relevant for a new generation of dance music fans. The Launch Launching it as “Billboard Dance” was a victory in itself. At the time, there were some who pushed for “Billboard EDM,” but we held the line. History has smiled on that decision, as the term “EDM” has become synonymous with a very specific (and often reviled) subset of the genre, while “Dance” gave us the latitude to reflect the full spectrum of global, cross-genre electronic music. I remember getting coffee with Dutch house and techno DJ/producer Joris Voorn during one Amsterdam Dance Event, and he thanked me for using the term “dance,” saying it showed the broader scene was finally being taken seriously by American media. “With all due respect,” he quipped. “We wouldn’t be sitting here right now if you were Billboard EDM.”
It illustrated the rift that existed between mainstream dance music and the underground at the time, a divide I addressed in an early op-ed. We made a concerted effort to bridge that gap, spotlighting house and techno artists like Jamie Jones, Guy Gerber and Damian Lazarus with their first Billboard features through our “The Dance World According to“ series.
Shortly after we launched Billboard Dance, dance music entered a generational run of pop chart crossovers. In 2015, Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” debuted at No. 4 on the Hot 100, while Skrillex and Diplo’s “Where Are Ü Now” peaked at No. 8 and helped resurrect Justin Bieber’s career. The following year ushered in an unprecedented streak for The Chainsmokers, who landed five top-ten hits with “Roses” (No. 6), “Don’t Let Me Down” (No. 3), “Closer” (No. 1), “Paris” (No. 6) and “Something Just Like This” (No. 3). Some of the old rock heads at the publication still didn’t respect dance music, but they could no longer deny its relevance.
The cover stories always felt especially meaningful because dance music has long carried a bit of an underdog complex. The Marshmello cover in March 2018 was a standout. It was the masked artist’s first-ever interview and a testament to the trust we’d built by covering his rise from the start. Scarcely three years earlier, we’d published the first-ever photo of him wearing his now-iconic helmet — a true full-circle moment. In that short span, he had gone from a total unknown to a global hitmaker, and just a few months later, he would release his biggest hit to date, “Happier” (No. 2).
April 20, 2018, is a day I’ll never forget. Billboard broke the news of Avicii’s passing, sending shockwaves of grief and disbelief through the music world. I remember having to compose myself before stepping into a whirlwind of media appearances — Good Morning America, CBS, Reuters, The New York Times‘Popcast and more. It felt surreal, and honestly uncomfortable, to speak publicly so soon after his death. But in the days that followed, several people close to Tim reached out to express appreciation for how his story was told.
Looking back, I do think his loss changed the trajectory of dance music. As I wrote in his Billboard obituary five days later, Avicii’s loss marked the end of innocence for the scene. It forced the industry to confront the toll of nonstop touring and the elephant in the room: mental health. Conversations that had long been avoided were suddenly impossible to ignore.
Launching the Billboard Dance 100 in 2018 was a milestone. We became the first publication to secure full touring data from every major booking agency, going beyond hard ticket sales to deliver the most accurate snapshot of the global dance/electronic touring landscape and inform the rankings. But the most powerful statistic, in my view, was the 180,000 fan votes from 174 countries. That overwhelming response opened eyes both inside and outside the publication to the truly global reach of dance music’s fanbase.
Taking Billboard Dance from URL to IRL with the Dance 100 events at 1 Hotel South Beach during Miami Music Week marked a defining moment for the brand. In an industry built on live music and real-world connection, these events made it real. Everyone from Armin van Buuren and Nicky Romero to Marshmello’s manager, Moe Shalizi, and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon came through to celebrate. Having Afrojack and Arty on the decks didn’t hurt either.
Afrojack
World Red Eye/Courtesy of Matt Medved
Dance Music’s Continued Evolution
One encouraging shift over the years is that the music industry has finally accepted that dance music is here to stay. I remember having to answer the same question ad nauseum in our early Billboard meetings: “When will the EDM bubble burst?”
A decade later, the numbers speak for themselves. According to the 2025 IMS Business Report, the global electronic music industry has reached a record value of $12.9 billion, marking a staggering 87% increase since Billboard Dance’s 2015 birth. That growth hasn’t come in a straight line. The industry was rocked by COVID, losing more than half its value in 2020 as festivals were canceled, clubs shuttered and touring ground to a halt. But the rebound has been swift and striking: a 34% surge in 2022, followed by another 17% climb in 2023.
When we launched Billboard Dance, TikTok didn’t exist. Soundcloud was still the first stop for discovery, and Spotify was just beginning to shift listening habits. Virality hinged on Hype Machine chart-toppers, not sped-up remix snippets blowing up overnight.
Today, discovery in dance music is a different beast. Spotify playlists are kingmakers, with premier placements critical to breaking a track. Social media has become the frontline where most listeners first encounter a song. A 20-second drop can ignite a worldwide trend. Keinemusik’s “Move” went parabolic even before its official release, buoyed by a wave of Instagram reels and TikTok edits that turned a live set highlight into a global hit. Viral Boiler Room sets have been career-making moments for artists like Fred again.. and Yousuke Yukimatsu. Tracks are breaking as much through content as they are through clubs.
Sonically, dance music has evolved significantly. The formulaic big-room drops that dominated the EDM era have given way to a broader, more dynamic spectrum. House and techno have taken over festival stages with a new generation of headliners like John Summit, Dom Dolla and Sara Landry. Of course, the real innovation remains on the side stages: in the rise of amapiano and Afro-house, the resurgence of jungle and drum and bass, and the creative cross-pollination of global sounds.
The Future
A decade after founding Billboard Dance, I believe we’re witnessing a new renaissance in dance music. Five years removed from a pandemic that shuttered the touring industry, we’re experiencing a boom driven by pent-up demand. From vinyl to CD-Js to digital, technology has always driven dance music forward, and today’s tools are accelerating that evolution.
One trend to watch is the rise of immersive audiovisual experiences. Just as modern dance music empowered producers to step out from behind the scenes and into the spotlight, we’re now seeing digital artists and audiovisual creators begin to take center stage. At Now Media, we’ve been covering the rise of Anyma long before his shows at the Sphere captured the world’s attention. Look at what Eric Prydz has done with HOLO, what Dixon is building through Transmoderna or how Max Cooper is merging sound with interactive installation art.
This movement is poised to go mainstream in a major way. Daft Punk’s pyramid set off an arms race in stage production, and I think Anyma’s Sphere shows will similarly be remembered as the spark for a new paradigm in dance music visuals.
Matt Medved
Courtesy of Matt Medved
The rise of AI-generated music is the biggest shift that not enough people are paying attention to. Tools like Suno and Udio can now turn a simple text prompt into a fully formed track within seconds. While we’re not quite at a Midjourney-for-music moment, the quality is improving at a remarkable pace. This is a seismic shift that’s going to impact everything from how music is made to how it’s valued. Dance music, with its reliance on repetition and structure rather than narrative or lyricism, is especially exposed. It’s a genre where AI can already mimic form convincingly, and that makes the stakes even higher for originality.
There’s disruptive creative potential here, especially for artists without access to traditional resources. Just as drum machines and DAWs once lowered the barrier to entry, AI tools are unlocking new creative workflows for electronic musicians to bring ideas to life. In my own productions, it’s been a game-changer — what used to take me weeks in the studio now takes hours. Producers can generate custom loops, build tailored sample packs on demand, create instant demos with AI vocalists, and use the tools as a dynamic sounding board to refine ideas in real time. The real value isn’t in simply pressing generate, but in how you select and shape those raw outputs into a sound that’s distinctly your own. As AI visual artist Claire Silver likes to say, “Taste is the new skill.”
But taste alone won’t be enough. Platforms are already flooded with AI-generated tracks, a relentless tide of indistinguishable output. As that volume becomes overwhelming in the years to come, the challenge shifts from production to curation. In a world where anyone can generate music instantly, listeners will gravitate toward what feels real. The artists who thrive in this new landscape will be those who can harness technology to create something meaningful and unmistakably human. Matt Medved is the co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of Now Media. He previously served as the founding editor of Billboard Dance, editor-in-chief of SPIN and senior vp of content at Modern Luxury.
R. Kelly’s lawyer says the disgraced R&B star and convicted sex offender was recently hospitalized after overdosing on anxiety and sleep medication in prison, attributing the event to a supposed jailhouse murder plot that prosecutors have dismissed as entirely made-up.
Kelly, who’s serving a 30-plus-year sentence for two federal sex crime convictions, has been petitioning a Chicago court for release since last week. Defense lawyer Beau Brindley claimed in an eyebrow-raising June 10 court filing that Bureau of Prison officials had tried to solicit another inmate to kill the singer (Robert Sylvester Kelly) to stop him from uncovering prosecutorial misconduct in his trials. Prosecutors deny that there’s any murder plot against Kelly.
Now, Brindley claims prison officials have tried another method of killing Kelly: administering the singer an overdose quantity of his medications while he was in solitary confinement last Thursday (June 12).
“In the early morning hours of June 13, 2025, Mr. Kelly awoke,” Brindley writes in a court filing from Monday (June 16). “He felt faint. He was dizzy. He started to see black spots in his vision. Mr. Kelly tried to get up, but fell to the ground. He crawled to the door of the cell and lost consciousness.”
Brindley says Kelly was taken from the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, N.C., to Duke University Hospital, where he was informed of the overdose. Kelly was hospitalized for two days to treat the overdose, according to the court filing.
To make matters worse, Brindley says, Kelly learned at the hospital that he had developed life-threatening blood clots in his lungs that required surgery. But Kelly was allegedly denied this surgery and taken back to Butner, where he was returned to solitary confinement without medical care.
“He could die from this condition, and they are letting it happen,” writes Brindley. “There is no legitimate explanation for that.”
Brindley’s court filing reiterates his request to have Kelly released to home confinement or temporary furlough, saying “his life actually depends on it.”
Prosecutors have called the allegations a “fanciful conspiracy” and “deeply unserious.” They also say the Chicago criminal court doesn’t have jurisdiction over the issue, and that it must be brought instead as a civil rights case or habeas corpus petition in North Carolina.
In response to Kelly’s latest claims about the alleged overdose and blood clot issue, prosecutors wrote late Monday, “This is the behavior of an abuser and a master manipulator on display.”
“This court should not allow Kelly to turn its docket into a grocery store checkout aisle tabloid,” prosecutors added.
Billboard reached out to Duke Hospital seeking to confirm the facts of Kelly’s hospital stay. A Duke spokesperson deferred to the Bureau of Prisons, which declined to comment on the matter.
“For privacy, safety and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any incarcerated individual, including medical and health-related issues,” said Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Scott Taylor in a statement to Billboard.
The motion to release Kelly from prison is scheduled to be heard by the Chicago judge on Friday (June 20). Meanwhile, Brindley has been publicly asking President Donald Trump to pardon Kelly.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 and 2022 at two separate federal trials, one in New York and one in Chicago, on a slew of criminal charges including racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography and enticing minors for sex.
The former R&B star was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the New York conviction and 20 years in the Chicago case, although the vast majority of the second sentence will overlap with the first. Both convictions have been upheld on appeal.
Jon Dee Graham, the Austin guitarist and songwriter who played in the beloved local punk band True Believers, slipped and fell in 2021, and doctors apparently did not notice a crack in his spine. In early 2024, he had spinal surgery, and a six-month recovery period meant he could not make money from playing gigs. But the procedure didn’t take, and in April, he had another surgery, then developed an infection. Today, Graham, 66, lies in bed for hours every day, taking antibiotics every 12 hours that cause nausea and chills.
“We got a call from the IV company: ‘We need up-front payment in the thousands before we’re able to deliver the medication,’ ” says William Harries Graham, Jon Dee’s son, an architect and singer-songwriter who is overseeing his care.
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Jon Dee has Medicare, but there are crucial coverage gaps — because the hospital discharged him, according to William, insurance won’t reimburse medication and other portions of his home care. So the family turned to the most reliable backup plan available to veteran, well-known musicians: fans. Jon Dee is also a painter, and William has been offering his artwork, comics and music through a zine-like Bear Cave Dispatch in exchange for online donations. It’s working — for now. “We were able to cover those initial medical expenses,” he says.
The guitarist’s story remains bleak — sepsis recently set in — but it speaks to the blessing-and-curse health-care reality that working musicians must endure as they age. As gig-economy workers whose incomes fluctuate across decades, independent artists often find themselves with few resources for medical costs beyond those covered by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicare or spouses’ employer plans. And if medical issues prevent touring, artists often have zero income. But musicians such as Jon Dee and rockers Matthew Sweet and Jesse Malin, as well as the late David Johansen and Gang of Four bassist Dave Allen, have recently tapped into loyal, generous fan bases through crowd-sourcing sites like GoFundMe and other grassroots fundraising.
At recent concerts, Gang of Four founding drummer Hugo Burnham has returned to the stage post-encore to request that fans buy merchandise to offset costs for Allen’s family. (Allen died at his home in Portland, Ore., in April at 69 after a long struggle with dementia.) “It’s no secret the cost of medical care in the U.S. is an obscenity,” says Burnham, 69, who fractured a bone in his leg during the tour but is covered through his job as a college professor. “Had he lived anywhere else, there might not have been this terrible burden on the family. We all know the stories of people who have had to rely on raising money based on the kindness of strangers — and it’s not just musicians.”
Outside of the U.S. health-care system, musicians struggling with health care costs can tap into multiple resources — but they rarely come close to providing all the costs needed for severe, long-term health issues. After Chappell Roan demanded “a livable wage and health care” for artists during her acceptance speech at the 2025 Grammy Awards, music-business experts pointed out that musicians signed to major labels could access health-insurance plans provided by the SAG-AFTRA union for premiums comparable to the ACA.
In addition, Sweet Relief provides grants for artists and others in the music industry through fundraising concerts, donations and other resources. The 31-year-old nonprofit is a “stopgap,” according to executive director Aric Steinberg. In 2023, Sweet Relief helped Malin set up an online fundraiser when the veteran punk frontman suffered a paralyzing stroke in his back. “It’s unfortunate we have to exist,” Steinberg says. “Sadly, we’re busier than ever.”
MusiCares, a 35-year-old affiliate of the Recording Academy, raises funds through high-profile events like its Grammy Week Person of the Year benefit, which has recently honored the Grateful Dead, Motown Records’ Berry Gordy Jr. and Smokey Robinson, Joni Mitchell and Aerosmith. It has provided nearly $120 million in health-care assistance to musicians and music-business workers over time, including roughly $10 million overall to 9,000 people during the past year. “It is not unlimited support,” says Theresa Wolters, MusiCares’ interim executive director/vp for health and human services. “However, it is very, very substantial.”
These limits were evident to William, who says he has reached out to MusiCares on Jon Dee’s behalf for health-care funding with “no result.” Russell Carter, Sweet’s longtime manager, adds that MusiCares contributed funds for some early medical costs, but the charity has been “just one piece in the puzzle of solving his financial woes.” (A MusiCares representative says the charity can’t comment on artists it works with. Wolters adds: “We work within the realities of our nonprofit model and our commitment to equitable support across the community. In these instances, MusiCares is one part of the solution.”)
Sweet, 60, suffered a stroke last October while touring in Toronto. After leaving an intensive-care stroke unit in a Canadian hospital, he returned to his hometown of Omaha, Neb., and has received treatment in a rehabilitation program. Although he’s improving, particularly his speech, Sweet’s main issue remains “coordination,” Carter says, and he can’t walk or play guitar or keyboard. He also has vision problems and is “generally wheelchair-bound in his home.” In addition, Sweet’s wife recently broke her leg, forcing the family to hire a full-time nurse — which is not covered through the singer’s ACA insurance or early Medicare.
Since Sweet’s stroke, his GoFundMe has raised nearly $640,000, which, Carter says, “paid for what can only be described as exorbitant medical expenses.”
Sweet and his team view the crowdfunding not as an indictment of the U.S. health-care system but a mass validation of fan loyalty and colleagues’ affection. Sweet may not currently be able to tour, but his decades of touring are paying off. “Don’t dismiss the GoFundMe,” Carter says. “It’s a vehicle for fans to contribute. These are people that would spend $35 to see Matthew if he came through town in a second, and if they can spend $35 to help Matthew — clearly, they did it, instantly. They’re willing to give back. That’s a very positive thing.”
Universal Music Group has formally notified the European Commission of its intent to acquire Downtown Music Holdings for $775 million, triggering a regulatory review. Although the deal falls below the EU’s usual thresholds for antitrust scrutiny, authorities in the Netherlands and Austria referred it to the commission, which now must decide by July 22 whether […]
On June 5, artist development went under the microscope at nonprofit ThinkLA’s annual Entertainment Brunch presented by Nextel, which hosted 450 entertainment industry professionals at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
This year’s edition of the brunch featured a trio of panels centered around the theme “The New Era of Disruption” in music, film, TV, video games and more. During a panel titled “The Business of Music: Breaking Artists & Building Global Fandoms” moderated by Billboard deputy editor, business news Chris Eggertsen, three executives — Capitol Records vp of marketing Jessica Eason, Amazon Music head of culture amplification Ida Kay and WME senior partner/agent Keith Sarkisian — discussed the increasingly complex and multifaceted business of artist development in 2025, with examples cited from their work with artists including Doechii, Justin Timberlake and Pitbull.
Topics covered during the panel included the increasing pressure on artists to be multi-hyphenates and extend their brands into multiple arenas; the music industry’s growing emphasis on direct-to-fan interactions; the importance of data in making decisions about everything from album rollouts to tour routing; the importance of traditional media like radio and late-night TV shows in 2025; and more.
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The event featured two additional panels. The first, titled “The Business of Diversity: Why Multicultural Stories Win,” was moderated by Erika Lewis, cultural engagement & partnerships, global business marketing at TikTok, with panelists Derek Padilla-Ravega, director of media planning & strategy at Walt Disney Studios; writer/producer Migizi Pensoneua (Reservation Dogs, Alien: Earth), and Ellene V. Miles, senior vp of global intersectional marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The last panel, titled “Innovation in Marketing,” was moderated by creator/producer/actor Matt “Supes” Ramos. Panelists included Aileen Del Cid, head of global marketing & PR at Samsung TV Plus; Monica Austin, CMO of Blizzard Entertainment; and Elias Polisher, executive vp of worldwide digital marketing & data analytics at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In addition to Nextel, the ThinkLA Entertainment Brunch was sponsored by SambaTV, JustWatch, Fandom, Tubi, Max.Live, Doing Things and Midnight Oil. The organizing committee for the brunch was led by ThinkLA executive director Don Lupo; ThinkLA event directors Brianna Brady and Mikaela Wilson; and ThinkLA’s partnership team, Linda Schwab and Grace Cuffel.
ThinkLA committee members also include co-chairs Joe Shields (co-president of ThinkLA) and Sara Yazdani (Creativ Company), along with Kim Lewis (BET), Rory O’Connor (TikTok), Matt Wolf (Audigent by Experian), Matt Weisbecker (CRO. My Code), Ashley Wandishin (World Surf League), Richard Taw (Hollywood Branded), Gregg Rubin (Goodway Group), Peter Reisner (New York Times), Allison Mellon (Fandom), Jon Margolis (Atmosphere TV), Jake Hay (PopShorts), Stephanie Delgado (LatiNation), Jason Costes (UTA), Margee Anderson (Media.net) and Danielle Klein (Doing Things).
L-R: Erika Lewis, Derek Padilla-Ravega, Migizi Pensoneua, Ellene V. Miles
Gabriel Mora
L-R: Matt “Supes” Ramos, Aileen Del Cid, Monica Austin, Elias Polisher
Gabriel Mora
ThinkLA Entertainment Brunch speakers and committee members
Gabriel Mora
Robin Thicke is the latest music industry figure to face a copyright infringement lawsuit for supposedly posting paparazzi pictures of himself on Instagram without paying to license the images.
Thicke is the target of a federal lawsuit filed on Monday (June 16) by celebrity photo agency BackGrid USA Inc., which claims to own the rights to two paparazzi shots that the singer and music producer posted to Instagram in 2022.
One of the images in question shows Thicke riding shotgun in a convertible, and the other depicts him leaving the restaurant Catch Steak with his now-wife, April Love Geary. These photos are no longer available on Thicke’s Instagram page, but the lawsuit attaches screenshots of these seemingly deleted social media posts.
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“Defendants violated federal law by willfully infringing BackGrid’s copyrights to at least two photographs,” write BackGrid’s lawyers. “By uploading the Thicke photographs to the Instagram account, defendants encourage their fans to ‘share’ the photograph, thus causing others to also willfully infringe and multiplying the harm to BackGrid.”
BackGrid claims Thicke should have known better than to post these photos without proper licenses, since he’s a “sophisticated creator of copyrighted works” who himself owns more than 100 copyright registrations. The photo agency also points out that Thicke is no stranger to intellectual property law, having faced lengthy copyright litigation over his 2013 hit “Blurred Lines.”
The new lawsuit seeks a court injunction blocking Thicke from infringing BackGrid’s copyrights again, as well as monetary damages for the alleged wrongdoing. The agency notes that it “made exhaustive efforts to resolve this lawsuit with defendants prior to filing this action.”
A rep for Thicke did not immediately return a request for comment on the claims.
The lawsuit comes a month after BackGrid brought a similar case against Jennifer Lopez for allegedly posting two paparazzi pictures of herself outside a Golden Globes pre-party this past January without licenses.
Lopez and Thicke are far from the first celebrities to encounter this type of legal action over pictures of themselves on their own social media accounts. Artists including Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Justin Bieber have all faced similar lawsuits in the last few years.
As Billboard wrote in 2022, U.S. copyright law is on the side of photographers and image licensers. Though it may seem unfair, celebrities do not automatically co-own images of themselves and therefore don’t have the right to repost them for free.
Nashville music industry executive Mike Borchetta died on Saturday (June 14) at age 84, Billboard has confirmed. The news was first reported by Country Aircheck.
Borchetta served as vp of promotion at Curb Records from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, and also worked at labels including Broken Bow, Capitol, RCA, Mercury and Rebel Engine. Along the way, he promoted music for numerous country and pop artists, including 29-time Billboard Country Airplay chart-topper Tim McGraw (Borchetta was key in McGraw’s signing with Curb Records), Hal Ketchum, The Beach Boys, Wayne Newton, Glen Campbell, The Four Seasons and Dusty Springfield. He also served as president at Lofton Creek Records, helping propel Heartland’s song “I Loved Her First” to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart in 2006.
In an Instagram post, McGraw shared, “I am saddened to hear about the passing of the legendary music executive, Mike Borchetta. I came to Nashville the day my hero Keith Whitley died — on a Greyhound bus with only the clothes on my back, a guitar and a big dream. About as green as they come. I was able to get a meeting with Mike while he was working at Curb Records. He pretty much said we are signing you on the spot. I will be forever grateful for his belief in me. Gonna miss seein’ ya at my shows but I know you will be looking down with a smile. My heartfelt condolences to the family. Rest in peace my friend.”
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Beyond music, Borchetta and his wife Martha also raised and trained thoroughbreds.
Several of Borchetta’s children followed in his footsteps, forging their own successful music industry careers, including Big Machine Label Group CEO/chairman/founder Scott Borchetta (known for working with artists including Taylor Swift, McGraw, Thomas Rhett and Florida Georgia Line). Another son, Chris Borchetta, has worked at several labels, including Big Machine, Lofton Creek, Star Farm and Nine North, and launched an eponymous promotions and marketing company. Adelle Borchetta, has worked as director of radio promotion and marketing at Nine North Records, Turnpike Music and Edgehill Music and also launched an eponymous promotions and marketing company. And another daughter, Angela Borchetta, has worked at companies including Universal South, RCA and Big Machine; she also founded White House Promotion and Marketing.
Scott Borchetta wrote a tribute to his father on Instagram. “This Legend’s time here is done… without you, there’s no music biz or racing in my life… your memory shall live on… and you’re riding shotgun today in the #48 Chevrolet Xfinity car… Love you, dad…”
Information on funeral services is pending.
Nas’ record label and media company, Mass Appeal, has inked a settlement with a white former executive who claims she was the target of discrimination and forced out because of her race.
Mass Appeal filed a joint motion with its former head of development, Melissa Cooper, in federal court on Friday (June 13), agreeing to dismiss the case entirely. Court filings show that Mass Appeal and Cooper have reached a settlement, although the terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cooper sued Mass Appeal, CEO Peter Bittenbender and the company’s former content chief, Jenya Meggs, in 2023, claiming she was the subject of a “racist conspiracy” at the company. Nas is not individually named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
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Cooper said Meggs, who is Black, regularly disparaged her in meetings due to her alleged animosity toward a “white woman working in hip-hop.” Meggs eventually refused to work with Cooper, the lawsuit alleged, leading Bittenbender to take Cooper off big projects like the planning of Mass Appeal’s Hip Hop 50 Live concert. Cooper was ultimately terminated from Mass Appeal in June 2023.
After the firing, a former romantic partner of Meggs contacted Cooper and shared a slew of text messages between Meggs and a documentary producer that disparagingly referred to Cooper as a “cracker” and criticized “white folk.”
Cooper claimed she brought these messages to Bittenbender, but that he shrugged them off and took no action. Her lawsuit sought reinstatement to Mass Appeal, plus monetary damages for the supposed racism she endured.
Mass Appeal, Bittenbender and Meggs all “vigorously” denied engaging in any discrimination. They said in court filings that Cooper was terminated for financial reasons because her division had not sold any projects in a year, and that Meggs’ text messages were “taken out of context and are nothing but a red herring.”
Cooper and Mass Appeal exchanged evidence throughout 2024 and finished deposing witnesses this past December. They were about to begin the process of filing motions for summary judgment, followed by a possible trial, when a settlement was reached through mediation.
Lawyers for Cooper and reps for Mass Appeal did not immediately return requests for comment on the settlement on Monday (June 16).
Meggs departed Mass Appeal in 2024, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Mass Appeal began as a print magazine in 1996 and was revived by Nas in 2014, when the hip-hop legend partnered with Bittenbender to relaunch the magazine and open the label Mass Appeal Records and content division Mass Appeal Media.
The company signed a global distribution deal with Universal Music Group in 2018.
Critics of the secondary ticket business are warning that an epidemic of misleading offers on sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats are eroding consumer confidence in the live event ticket business, and they’re asking for lawmakers to intervene. Longtime music managers like Randy Nichols with the band Underoath say online markets are allowing resellers to list tickets to events that haven’t gone on sale yet — from the 2026 World Cup to David Byrne’s upcoming tour — and reap huge profits from fans who think they are buying legitimate tickets to major sporting events and concerts.
Speculative ticketing exists because of legal loopholes, Nichols says, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars spent on Google advertising and fan naivete. For Byrne’s fall Who is the Sky tour, for example, tickets don’t go on sale until mid-June, but ads for tickets on sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats began popping up seconds after it was announced. On Stubhub, front-row tickets for his Nov. 20 show at L.A.’s Dolby Theater were selling for about $1,100.
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Often, the seller of these tickets will only procure them after someone has agreed to buy them, and often the seller will wait until a few days or weeks before the show to buy the tickets, knowing the price almost always goes down closer to the show date. StubHub doesn’t disclose that the person listing these tickets doesn’t have them in their possession.
“There’s even a hashtag scalpers like to use to make this point titled #itpaystowait,” Nichols says. “The longer they wait, the more profit the scalper makes.”
Now, Nichols and groups like the National Independent Venues Association and the National Independent Talent Organizations are lobbying hard at both the state and federal level to make such practices illegal. While critics have had success in Maryland passing legislation banning speculative ticketing, lawmakers in New York state recently gutted a bill that would have outlawed it there. Officials like NITO executive director Nathaniel Marro are also worried about federal legislation like the TICKET Act, which originally had language banning the practice but has since been altered with a legal loophole that allows for speculative ticketing as part of a concierge service provided by sites like StubHub and Vivid Seats.
“Think of it like your favorite grocery delivery service — but for incredible experiences,” Vivid Seats explains on its site. “You cart your selections; we’ll handle the shopping.”
Marro said these sites don’t make clear to fans what they’re buying; many think they’re buying a ticket, not paying someone to buy a ticket that they themselves could get much cheaper if they shopped around on their own.
“That’s the irony — many fans don’t realize that they could buy these tickets themselves,” Nichols tells Billboard. “The fan is tricked because most begin the process of buying tickets on sites like Google, where secondary sites spend hundreds of millions on deceptive ads and websites to trick consumers into thinking they’re buying tickets directly from the box office.”
Nichols says overcharging the customers means less money for fans to spend and notes that it’s often the box offices that have to deal with customer service problems. And while it’s common for the price of a ticket to go down over time, there are exceptions: with Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, sky-high demand made it impossible for some scalpers to fulfill their orders at the price they charged the customer. While some brokers fulfilled the orders at a loss to avoid being penalized by Stubhub, others simply cancelled orders, leaving fans without tickets having spent money on travel and hotels.
Nichols and Marro worry about the problems speculative ticketing will cause for major sporting events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is taking place across North America next summer. Tickets for the global soccer tournament have not yet gone on sale, but hundreds are listed across Stubhub and Vivid Seats. There’s even a listing for tickets to sit on the pitch during the final championship match on July 19, at MetLife Stadium, for $1.1 million.
While it’s unlikely someone would pay that much money on StubHub for a World Cup ticket, even to the final championship game, the worry is that brokers will flood the site with speculative listings and cause a shortage of actual tickets, leaving some fans who traveled halfway around the world without their tickets.
Stephen Parker, executive director of NIVA, says his group has made progress at the state level outlawing the practice, but is worried that federal legislation protecting it as a concierge service could keep it legal for decades. Another concern is that the legislation protecting speculative tickets could quietly be added to Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” and passed without any debate. “Lawmakers understand the issue but we’re up against a well-funded lobby,” Parker says. “The concern is that much of the progress we made at the state level will be lost with federal legislation.”
AI music startup Udio is facing another copyright lawsuit — this time a proposed class action on behalf of independent artists who have been “left without a seat at the table” in the high-profile litigation filed by the major labels.
Weeks after news that Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony Music were in talks to potentially settle their billion-dollar lawsuit against Udio, a country singer named Tony Justice is filing his own case against the company in Manhattan federal court.
Seeking to represent “thousands” of other independent artists in a class action, Justice says the earlier lawsuit filed by the Big Three won’t adequately protect the interests of musicians who aren’t signed to a major label deal.
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“Independent artists, whose rights have been trampled the most, are the ones left without a seat at the table, unrepresented, and without a meaningful remedy,” attorneys for Justice write in the lawsuit, filed Monday (June 16). “Class members will never be able to claw back the intellectual property unlawfully copied by Udio and used to train its AI.”
A spokesperson for Udio did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
AI models like Udio are “trained” by ingesting millions of existing works, thus teaching them to spit out new ones. As AI tech has boomed in recent years, dozens of lawsuits have been filed in federal court over that training process, arguing that AI companies are violating copyrights on a massive scale.
AI firms argue back that such training is legal “fair use,” transforming all those old “inputs” into entirely new “outputs.” Whether that argument succeeds in court is a potentially trillion-dollar question — and one that has yet to be definitively answered by federal judges.
Universal, Warner and Sony sued both Udio and Suno, another AI music firm, last summer, claiming the tech startups had built their models by stealing music on an “unimaginable scale” and “trampling the rights of copyright owners.”
Those cases remain pending, but news broke earlier this month that all three music companies were in talks to potentially settle the litigation by striking licensing deals with the companies. In return for allowing Suno and Udio to train on the vast collections of songs, the proposed deals would see the majors collect fees and receive equity in the startups.
In Monday’s new case against Udio, Justice largely echoes the allegations made by the majors. He says the company has infringed copyrights by training its machines on his songs, including his “Last of the Cowboys,” which has racked up more than 8 million streams on Spotify.
But his case was filed as a proposed class action, meaning he wants to also represent other independent artists who have suffered similar alleged treatment by Udio. He says “thousands” of other artists could eventually be part of the case.
“These acts by Udio were abuse and exploitation of another’s intellectual property of the worst kind,” his lawyers write. “Rather than license copyrighted songs like every other tech-based business is required to do, Udio elected to simply steal the songs of independent artists, plaintiffs, and the class members to then generate AI-soundalike music at virtually no cost to Udio.”
