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This week’s Billboard 200 is led by a paid of familiar faces in Morgan Wallen and former One Direction member Niall Horan. But coming in at No. 3 behind those two is a complete newcomer to the top echelon of the chart, with an album that’s more than eight months old: Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Mercury/Republic), which saw its deluxe version come out and send the album soaring from No. 100 to No. 3 on the chart with 71,000 units, far and away the best mark of Kahan’s career.
It’s a big moment for Kahan, who also achieves a slew of additional firsts in his career: his first entry on the Hot 100, with the No. 43 debut of “Dial Drunk,” which also reached No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs; and No. 1 album markers on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Alternative Albums and Americana/Folk Albums for Stick Season, which saw a vinyl release of the original version the same day that the deluxe, with seven additional tracks, was released. And the rejuvenation of the album, and Kahan’s career-best marks, earns Mercury Records general manager Ben Adelson the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Adelson talks about the strategy for boosting Kahan’s album — his third for Republic (the label relaunched Mercury Records in April 2022 with executive vps of A&R Adelson and Tyler Arnold at the helm, at which point Kahan moved to Mercury) — to career highs, and how the label developed the singer and songwriter over the years to get to this point.
“The landscape of the business is always changing but the one thing that remains constant is true artistry,” Adelson says. “Our belief in Noah from the beginning has always been in him as a songwriter and artist.”
This week, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season jumped from No. 100 on the Billboard 200 to No. 3, becoming the highest-charting album of his career and his first-ever top 10. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
It was truly a team effort, from making the incredible records with Gabe Simon, Konrad Snyder, Carrie Karpinen and Ryan Hewitt to the amazing teams at Mercury Records, Republic Records and Noah’s management at Foundations Music. There was such a cohesive partnership between the songs, creative and rollout that the buildup to its release felt more about an artist than a singular song or moment.
Noah Kahan
Josh Goleman
This week’s deluxe reissue coincided with the first time the original was available on vinyl. What was your sales strategy with this release?
Alex Coslov, our head of marketing at Mercury, and Kevin Lipson, head of commerce for Republic, identified the fan demand for vinyl as we were releasing the original album. We started on production early and they saw the opportunity to deliver the vinyl on the same date as the new album. It was a key part of this week’s number, showing the true passion of Noah’s fans.
Last week, the album earned 11,000 equivalent album units; this week, that ballooned 574% to 71,000 units, with 48,000 of that unit count coming from streaming. What changed between the album’s initial release and this deluxe reissue that helped streams explode that much that quickly?
Sometimes, it’s just letting the music shine. Noah made a fantastic album featuring some of the best songs I’ve ever been a part of. With seven new tracks on Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever), we put a marketing strategy together of sharing the new music as early as possible with his core fan base. Alex Coslov and the team treated the rollout as a new album, not a reissue, and with engagement high throughout the past year that momentum brought in all the fans.
Latest single “Dial Drunk” is Kahan’s first No. 1 on Hot Alternative Songs and his first-ever song to hit the Hot 100, coming in at No. 43 this week. How have you built that song, and his profile at radio, to reach new heights in his career?
Noah Kahan and Noah Levine, who plays guitar in his band, wrote the song together and we knew it was special from the first time we heard it. Amanda Dobbins, Drew Hauser, Gary Spangler and the entire Republic radio team immediately started getting plans together, and with the amazing job they’d already done over the years at Triple A and Alternative, we were set up perfectly for this moment.
This is Kahan’s third album for Republic, and the first to reach this level of success. How did you bring him along steadily in an era of the music business when so much happens so fast?
The landscape of the business is always changing but the one thing that remains constant is true artistry. Our belief in Noah from the beginning has always been in him as a songwriter and artist. We’ve always wanted to support him however we could, and we followed his vision and passion for this album. At Mercury, giving artists the time to develop and find their path is what matters most to us.
What have you learned from watching his career grow? And what are the plans to continue growing from here?
We have learned at Mercury that supporting our artists’ creative visions and instincts is the best way to achieve true success. For Noah, that meant going back to his roots of growing up in Vermont and New England and using that to guide the album, art, marketing and creative. Noah’s accomplishments have reinforced our belief that taking the time with genuine artists and never cutting corners, even with the current challenge of breaking acts, truly works. We know things will only continue to grow for Noah and it is our responsibility to make sure that each step of the way feels authentic to him and his fans.
Previous Executive of the Week: Jon Loba of BMG Nashville
Sunset Blvd. Records hired Tim Devine as the label’s new head of A&R. He’s already signed a trifecta of ’90s alt-rockers to the imprint: Everclear, Fastball and Butthole Surfers. Devine is perhaps best known for his integral role in reviving Bonnie Raitt’s career at Capitol Records — read about their Nick of Time triumph here — and for A&R’ing Brandi Carlile at the dawn of her career, as well as his work with Blind Melon, Katy Perry and Train. He began his career in product management at Warner Bros. Records before taking on an artist development role at MCA Records and later as vp of A&R at Capitol, where he signed Raitt and worked albums by the Beastie Boys and Paul McCartney, among others. He recently served as West Coast GM of Columbia Records. “Everyone is taking my calls,” Devine says of his new role, “and this position fits my skill set like a glove. I look forward to building the next chapter of SBR’s success.”
Valérie Bernard joined Deezer earlier this year as its chief human resources & sustainability officer. In her Paris-based role, the HR veteran is tasked with all things talent acquisition, employee development and performance management, along with developing initiatives to match the company’s environmental, social and governance goals. She arrived at the streaming service from Richemont Group, and earlier was human resources director of Canal+ International. Bernard reports directly to Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira, who says she’ll “be a key player in continuing to build an open, inclusive and vibrant culture at Deezer.”
SiriusXM and Pandora have promoted Rachael Spangler to head of music talent relations and Azu Olvera to head of Latin music talent booking. Spangler and her team of eight are in charge of booking artists for interviews, live performances and other various programming and events for the satellite radio giant. She began her career at Epic Records. Olvera recently installed a massive feather in her cap for her role in opening the new SXM Miami studio and office, and the launch of the ‘Hits Uno’ channel. “We’re not thinking of Latin as a backseat but as a driver of success and engagement,” she told Billboard of the launch, which included an intimate performance by Carlos Vives, an interview with Pitbull and a Becky G town hall-style conversation.
Warner Chappell Music upped Wallace Joseph to senior vp of A&R and Jon Chen to vp of A&R. Joseph is best known for his work with some of R&B and hip-hop’s biggest talents, including Summer Walker, Wale, Ari Lennox, JetsonMade and Tay Keith. Chen has fostered a diverse roster of boundary-pushing music makers, including Ian Kirkpatrick, Benson Boone, BEAM, Sir Nolan and Ashnikko. The two will continue to report to Ryan Press, president of North America, to continue to expand WCM’s roster. –Kristin Robinson
Jan Fischer was promoted to CEO of EMP, the European specialty music and entertainment merchandise e-tailer acquired by Warner Music in 2018. Fischer has been helping to lead the company, where he has been both CFO and COO, since the departure of Ernst Trapp last month. Fischer has been part of the EMP team since 2013 and is based out of Lingen, Germany, reporting to Karl Walsh, executive vp and head of global commerce for WMG. In recent years, the standalone unit has worked with acts including Panic! At the Disco, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses, along with major brands like Disney and Marvel, to launch a network of merch websites that serve millions of customers.
Veteran music and tech PR executive Jason Roth is Wasserman Music‘s new vp of communications, overseeing the fast-expanding talent agency’s comms strategy and industry relations, among other duties. Roth has held senior roles at a who’s-who of media and tech companies, including SiriusXM, Pandora, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Capitol Records. At the Cupertino outfit, Roth led global communications during a major expansion of iTunes and the launch of the App Store. His work at Capitol included publicity wins for The Beatles, LCD Soundsystem and Liz Phair, among others. He’s also a writer, with clippings from numerous publications including Spin, The Chicago Tribune and NPR Music, where he profiled the J. Geils Band’s signature hit.
Marguerite Jones was named vp of A&R at Republic Records, where she will oversee the overall direction of A&R strategy and work on projects for artists across hip-hop, R&B and pop. Based in Los Angeles, Jones joins the UMG powerhouse after a productive four years at Sony Music’s RCA Records, where she rose from intern to manager of A&R and singed Latto in the process. “MJ has established herself as one of the industry’s most prescient and forward-thinking A&R executives,” said label co-president Wendy Goldstein. “She has been instrumental to culture-defining breakout talent, and her ability to spot greatness is already proven.”
Also this week… Sony Music hired BPI’s Geoff Taylor for a first-of-its-kind AI role, TikTok COO V. Pappas stepped down and Tina Davis was named president of EMPIRE.
CAA has promoted Yasi Agahnia, Logan Binstock, Abe Coelho, Ryan Quint and Karen Schillinger to agent roles across various division, and Erik Toral to executive in global client strategy. In terms of disciplines, Agahnia (Los Angeles) works in the music touring area’s private events division; Binstock (LA) works with high-profile agent Christian Carino to create new business opportunities for their clients; Coelho (LA) is in the media finance department, specializing in independently financed films; Quint (LA) works in the comedy touring department and reps Craig Ferguson, Ron White and Nurse Blake, among others; and Schillinger (Nashville) is in the music touring division. As for the LA-based Toral, he will work on creating cohesive brand strategies and launching talent-led business endeavors for CAA talent. All six of the newly promoted team members come from CAA Elevate, the agency’s overhauled agent trainee program.
Anna Lisle joined Alternate Side Management, the US-based full-service management company that’s home to leading LGBTQ+ artists Meet Me @ The Altar and Cavetown. Lisle arrives from 7DS Management and brings artist Summer Salt to ASM and will take on Madds Buckley and co-manage Roekapara and Daisy Grenade. Alternate Side also recently hired John Helps, a day-to-day manager based in London and a member of post-rock band Maybeshewill. Helps works under artist manager Cory Hajde.
Michael Sherman was promoted to vp of business development at music marketing firm feature.fm, where he’ll zero in on emerging trends, conduct market research and lead negotiations with potential partners. In his previous role as director of biz dev, Sherman “spearheaded strategic initiatives to drive the company’s growth and expand its reach in the music industry,” the company said. Sherman is based in Los Angeles.
DICE appointed music industry veteran Caron Veazey to its board of directors. Veazey founded Something In Common, a management and consulting agency specializing in music, film, art and culture. Previously, she managed Pharrell Williams for nearly a decade.
Nashville Bites: Grace Watson joined Black River as senior director of streaming and revenue. She arrives from Universal Music Group’s Nashville-based Capitol Christian Music Group, where she served as manager of commercial partnerships … Warner Chappell Nashville A&R manager Bethany Mako returns to the company, where she formerly interned. Mako was working as Songs & Daughters A&R manager … Shore Fire Media promoted Nashville-based Nick Jurich to junior account executive from publicity assistant. The division’s current clients include LANCO, Dillon Carmichael and Chase Matthew … Nashville-based Gibson Brands promoted Beth Rasnick to chief of staff to the CEO. Her previous roles in the company include director of strategy and projects. –Tom Roland
Sony Music has created a new position of executive vp of AI, and hired former BPI CEO Geoff Taylor to take up the role, according to an internal memo obtained by Billboard. Taylor, who spent 15 years as chief of the British recorded music trade body, will report to Sony Music Entertainment COO Kevin Kelleher.
In the new role, Taylor will coordinate the major label’s business efforts surrounding artificial intelligence, and coordinate across the global digital business and business and legal affairs division, according to the memo.
The move comes as the music business continues to grapple with the particular challenges that are beginning to arise through the proliferation of artificial intelligence in the digital world, particularly its effect on copyright and ability to be trained on existing musical compositions, among other issues. Battles have begun to pop up around AI-generated music on streaming services, and songs that have been released that mimic existing artists, producers and songwriters without their input or consent, with additional use cases popping up seemingly every day.
The position appears to be the first AI-specific executive-level role introduced by any of the major labels. Check out Kelleher’s memo below.
All,
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has great significance for the future of the music industry and, as a result, more focused attention on it is required.
Accordingly, we are delighted to share that Geoff Taylor will be joining us as our new Executive Vice President, Artificial Intelligence.
Reporting to me and working closely with our Global Digital Business and Business & Legal Affairs divisions, Geoff will align and help coordinate the work of every part of the business that touches AI.
Geoff brings to our company decades of music industry experience. Most recently, from 2007 to 2022 Geoff was the Chief Executive of the BPI, our UK Trade Body for recorded music, where he led the fight against piracy and fraud and advocated for the strategic importance of recorded music to jobs, investment and maintaining the UK’s global competitiveness. Prior to joining the BPI, Geoff was General Counsel and Executive Vice-President at our global recorded music trade body, the IFPI from 2005-2007.
In these roles, Geoff has worked with our company for several years and I am delighted he is joining to help us successfully navigate a key moment in the history of the music industry.
So please join me in welcoming Geoff to Sony Music and feel free to reach out to him with any questions you might have at [Sony Music Entertainment Email Redacted].
Kevin
Lawyers for the RIAA are aiming to shut down a popular Discord server centered on artificial intelligence and voice models, the latest effort by music companies to rein in the disruptive new technology.
In an action filed last week in D.C. federal court, attorneys for RIAA obtained a subpoena demanding that Discord reveal the identities of users on “AI Hub,” a message board with 145,000 members that calls itself “a community dedicated to making AI voices and songs.”
In a letter to Discord presenting the company with the subpoena, the RIAA said those users had “infringed … copyrighted sound recordings” and that the tech company was required to hand over names, physical addresses, payment info, IP addresses and other identifying details.
The group’s lawyers also sent Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to Discord, first in late May and then again next week. The group demanded that Discord disable access to the server, remove or disable the infringing material, and inform the server’s users “of the illegality of their conduct.”
“This server [is] dedicated to infringing our members’ copyrighted sound recordings by offering, selling, linking to, hosting, streaming, and/or distributing files containing our members’ sound recordings without authorization,” the RIAA’s lawyers wrote in their June letter to Discord, which was obtained by Billboard. “We are asking for your immediate assistance in stopping this unauthorized activity.”
The subpoena against Discord was obtained under the DMCA’s Section 512(h), which enables rights holders like the RIAA’s members to unmask the identities of anonymous online infringers in certain circumstances.
Discord can fight back by seeking to “quash” the subpoena; Twitter won such a challenge last year, when a federal judge ruled that the First Amendment rights of a user trumped the need for an unmasking order. It could also refuse to honor the takedown, but that would put the site itself at risk of litigation.
As of Thursday evening (June 22), the main AI Hub server remained up on Discord; it was unclear if individual content or sub-channels had been removed. A spokesperson for the company did not return a request for comment.
In a statement to Billboard, an RIAA spokesperson confirmed that the group had taken the action against AI Hub. “When those who seek to profit from AI train their systems on unauthorized content, it undermines the entire music ecosystem – harming creators, fans, and responsible developers alike. This action seeks to help ensure that lawless systems that exploit the life’s work of artists without consent cannot and do not become the future of AI.”
The RIAA’s actions are just the latest sign that the explosive growth of AI technologies over the past year has sparked serious concerns in the music industry.
One big fear is that copyrighted songs are being used en masse to “train” AI models, all without any compensation going to the songwriters or artists that created them. In April, Universal Music Group demanded that Spotify and other streaming services prevent AI companies from doing so on their platforms, warning that it “will not hesitate to take steps to protect our rights.”
Another fear is the proliferation of so-called deepfake versions of popular music, like the AI-generated fake Drake and The Weeknd track that went viral in April. That song was quickly pulled down, but its uncanny vocals and mass popularity sparked concerns about future celebrity rip offs.
For RIAA, AI Hub likely triggered both of those worries. The server features numerous “voice models” that mimic the voices of specific real singers, including Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra. And in the wake of the RIAA’s actions, users on the Discord server speculated Thursday that the takedowns were filed because users had disclosed that some of the models had been trained on copyrighted songs.
“We have had certain threats from record labels to takedown models, mainly because some posters decided to share datasets full of copyrighted music publicly,” one AI Hub admin wrote. “If you want to avoid unnecessary takedowns[,] most importantly, do NOT share the full dataset if you have copyrighted material in the dataset. The voice model itself is fine, but don’t share the dataset.”
Kesha and Dr. Luke have reached a settlement to end his long-running lawsuit accusing the pop star of defaming him by accusing him of rape, just a week after a New York court issued a key ruling that would have made it harder for Dr. Luke to win the case.
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Reached just weeks before the case had been set to go to trial, the agreement will resolve nearly a decade of litigation between the two former creative partners. The producer claimed Kesha legally defamed him in 2014 when she made a “false and shocking” allegation: that he allegedly drugged and raped her after a 2005 party.
In a joint press release on social media featuring statements from both sides, Kesha said that “only god knows what happened that night.”
“As I have always said, I cannot recount everything that happened,” the star wrote. “I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one. I wish nothing but peace to all parties involved.”
In his own statement, Dr. Luke said he was “absolutely certain that nothing happened” that night in 2005: “I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone. For the sake of my family, I have vigorously fought to clear my name for nearly 10 years. It is time for me to put this difficult matter behind me and move on with my life. I wish Kesha well.”
The abrupt settlement came just 10 days after New York’s top appeals court handed a key victory to Kesha in the case. The court ruled that Dr. Luke was a “public figure,” a finding that would make his case far harder to prove; it also said that Kesha could recoup her legal bills if she ultimately won.
Dr. Luke, whose full name is Lukasz Gottwald, filed his lawsuit against Kesha in 2014, claiming she had legally defamed him with a “false and shocking” allegation that he drugged and raped her after a 2005 party. He claimed she did so as leverage to secure a more lucrative deal. Kesha long denied those accusations, arguing that the defamation case was an effort to silence the voice of a victim.
The pair spent years in bitter litigation over those claims, with numerous procedural delays and appeals slowing down the process. But after more than eight years of litigation, a trial in Dr. Luke’s lawsuit had finally been scheduled to start on July 19.
Beyond Thursday’s statements, no details about the settlement were immediately released by the parties or made available in public court records.
Read Kesha and Dr. Luke’s statements below:
TikTok COO V. Pappas is stepping down to “move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” they announced on Thursday (June 22nd) in an email to the company they subsequently shared on Twitter.
“To our amazing community of creators, employees, and people who have made TikTok ‘the last sunny spot on the internet,’ it has been an absolute privilege to serve you all and to be a part of this once in a lifetime journey,” they tweeted.
TikTok’s chief of staff, Adam Presser, will take over operations, according to a staff email from CEO Shou Chew. “He will seek to further develop the voices of TikTok’s vibrant and diverse ecosystem and drive closer cross-divisional strategic planning and collaboration, in an effort to bring to life our mission of inspiring creativity and bringing joy to people by nurturing and supporting creators, users, and partners worldwide,” Chew wrote.
In addition, Zenia Mucha will join the company as chief brand and communications officer. Mucha previously served for two decades at Disney before departing the company in 2021. She “will focus on advancing the strategic vision of our brand and advising key businesses,” Chew explained. “It is essential that we widen the aperture of our marketing and communications functions to further fortify TikTok as a beloved brand and one of the most trusted entertainment platforms in the world,” he added. “With Zenia’s vast expertise and deep experience, we are well positioned to do so effectively.”
Pappas, a former YouTube executive — the company’s first audience development lead, the author of The YouTube Creator Playbook, and the developer of YouTube’s Creator Academy and channel certification program — initially joined TikTok in 2018.
“Five years ago when I was first approached by TikTok, I was incredibly inspired by the product vision to be a new mobile-first video experience that serves as a canvas, bridge and window for everyone,” they wrote in their goodbye letter. “The pitch was to take on a role to transform and grow the product and broaden its appeal through developing diverse communities and content… I took a gamble on what was then a completely unknown company and product.”
Pappas then stepped into the interim global CEO role after Kevin Mayer departed suddenly in 2020.
The days of TikTok being “unknown” are of course long gone; much of the music industry now focuses on the platform to market artists and find new ones to sign.
“Five years later, we have grown to a global team of thousands of people and I believe we have achieved our goal to innovate and define an entirely new experience for people to share, create, and be entertained,” Pappas noted. “Today I stand proud that we deliver a product that resonates with over 1 billion people around the world. TikTok is now a household name.”
According to Pappas’ letter, they will be “taking on an advisory role” during the transition period.
BMG has acquired a major interest in Paul Simon‘s portion of the Simon & Garfunkel catalog. This sale includes the Grammy winner and two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s royalty income for all of Simon & Garfunkel’s recorded music as well as his neighboring rights income to that music as well. Simon & […]
Kobalt has signed Grammy nominated producer and songwriter OZ to a global administrative publishing deal. Ozan Yildirim, a.k.a. OZ, is known for his work on Drake’s “Toosie Slide,” Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode” and “Highest in the Room,” and Future’s “Life Is Good.”
Electric Feel Entertainment has signed Projexx to a publishing deal. The Jamaica-born, Miami-based singer, songwriter, and producer has already helped write a number of songs for global stars, including Wizkid and Konshens and emerging talents like Jesse Royal, Ruger, Juls, Bakersteez, and more.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Seth Mosley to a global publishing deal. Most recently, the country and Christian hitmaker co-wrote Gabby Barrett’s “Glory Days.” Other cuts of Mosley’s include Colton Dixon’s “Build a Boat,” King and Country’s “Fix My Eyes” and “Joy.”
Warner Music Spain and Warner Chappell Music Spain have jointly hosted a summer songwriting camp at The Music Station in Madrid, starting June 15. The camp was created to bring together some of Spain and Latin America’s most promising artists and songwriters to write together and perform at The Music Station’s live venue.
Position Music and Poems (a partnership between The Monsters & Strangerz and Mega House Music) have announced their signing of songwriter, producer and artist Jack LaFrantz to a global publishing deal. To date, LaFrantz has written songs like “Hero” by JVKE and Martin Garrix, “Love Like That” by Suriel Hess, “Castle in the Sky” by eaJ and “Sugar Sweet” and “Before You” by Benson Boone.
Superior Music Company has signed New York based songwriter Amy Douglas to a worldwide publishing administration deal. Known best for her work in dance music, Douglas has written songs with artists like Horse Meat Disco, Juan MacLean, Luke Solomon, Soul Clap, Low Steppa, Roison Murphy, and more. Douglas also has her own artist project which boasts the house music hit “Never Saw It Coming.”
Bucks Music Group and Mushroom Music have signed Joshua Epithet to a global publishing deal under their joint venture. A singer/songwriter, Epithet also releases his recorded music under Mushroom Labels worldwide.
MusiCares announced the launch of Humans of Hip Hop on Thursday (June 22). The program is focused on providing resources tailored to the needs of the hip-hop community nationwide with an initial focus on eight key cities – Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles/Compton, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C.
“Like so many other communities post-pandemic, the hip hop community is in need of support,” Rico Love, the Miami-based chair of the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective, said in a statement. “I’ve heard my community voice their needs. With MusiCares and Humans of Hip Hop, I’m excited to work directly with artists and change-makers to get people the services that will really make a difference in their lives.”
A MusiCares spokesperson clarified that while the Black Music Collective played a key role in the creation of this program, the program is open to all members of the hip-hop community. “The Humans of Hip Hop program was created to achieve greater reach within a specific genre of music. Any person who identifies as part of the hip-hop music community can participate, regardless of race, age, gender, location or music profession. MusiCares is trying to reach people making hip-hop music and make sure MusiCares is addressing their needs.”
Humans of Hip Hop will bring programming to key cities over three years. The focus is on fostering long-term relationships to continue building MusiCares programming that is responsive to the needs of the hip-hop community.
Between August 2021 and July 2022, one-fifth of all MusiCares clients identified as Black music professionals. A MusiCares spokesperson says: “This statistic demonstrates that MusiCares serves a significant portion of clients from the Black music community. The program’s goal is to gain even further awareness for MusiCares’ services within a specific genre, open to all races.”
MusiCares will add a full-time project lead for Humans of Hip Hop to serve as the day-to-day focal point for building inroads and maintaining partnership with the hip-hop community.
“MusiCares is grateful to our sponsors and artist advocates for helping us kick off this program,” Laura Segura, executive director of MusiCares, said in a statement. “This work will allow us to zero in on the unique needs of the community and continue our work creating meaningful services driven by leaders and advocates of hip-hop.”
“We are thrilled to see this important initiative for our music people in the hip hop community come to life,” Harvey Mason jr, CEO of the Recording Academy and MusiCares, said in a statement. “Providing the resources and services needed will ensure the community knows their voices are being heard.”
Ticket marketplace Vivid Seats is the program’s supporting partner. Vivid Seats has partnered with MusiCares since 2020, sponsoring COVID-19 and natural disaster relief efforts.
To be eligible for MusiCares assistance, applicants must be able to document employment history through a minimum of five years employment in the music industry or six commercially released recordings or videos. MusiCares may grant short-term financial assistance for personal or addiction needs that have arisen due to unforeseen circumstances. Funding may also be awarded to help with needs such as rent, car payments, insurance premiums, utilities, medical/dental expenses, psychotherapy, addiction treatment, sober living, and other personal expenses.
For more information about the Humans of Hip Hop program, visit musicares.org.
Calling the rapid growth of artificial intelligence tools a “moment of revolution,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the government must act quickly to regulate companies that are developing it.
The New York Democrat said he is working on what he calls “exceedingly ambitious” bipartisan legislation to maximize the technology’s benefits and mitigate significant risks.
While Schumer did not lay out details of such legislation, he offered some key goals: protect U.S. elections from AI-generated misinformation or interference, shield U.S. workers and intellectual property, prevent exploitation by AI algorithms and create new guardrails to ward off bad actors.
AI legislation also should promote American innovation, Schumer said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
“If applied correctly, AI promises to transform life on Earth for the better,” Schumer said. “It will reshape how we fight disease, tackle hunger, manage our lives, enrich our minds and ensure peace. But there are real dangers that present themselves as well: job displacement, misinformation, a new age of weaponry and the risk of being unable to manage this new technology altogether.”
Schumer’s declaration of urgency comes weeks after scientists and tech industry leaders, including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, issued a warning about the perils that artificial intelligence could pose to humankind.
“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” their statement said.
Worries about artificial intelligence systems outsmarting humans and running wild have intensified in recent months with the rise of a new generation of highly capable AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. It has sent countries around the world scrambling to come up with regulations for the developing technology, with the European Union blazing the trail with its AI Act expected to be approved later this year.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden convened a group of technology leaders in San Francisco to debate what he called the “risks and enormous promises” of artificial intelligence. In May, the administration brought together tech CEOs at the White House to discuss these issues, with the Democratic president telling them, “What you’re doing has enormous potential and enormous danger.”
“We’ll see more technological change in the next 10 years that we saw in the last 50 years,” Biden said.
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients’ office is developing a set of actions the federal government can take over the coming weeks regarding AI, according to the White House.
Schumer’s hands-on involvement in crafting AI legislation is unusual, as Senate leaders usually leave the task to individual senators or committees. But he has taken a personal interest in regulating the development of artificial intelligence, arguing that it is urgent as companies have already introduced human-like chatbots and other products that could alter life as we know it. He is working with another Democrat, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Republican Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Todd Young of Indiana to speak with experts, educate colleagues and write the legislation.
It’s an unexpected role for Schumer, in particular, who famously carries a low-tech flip phone, and for the Senate as a whole, where the pace of legislation is often glacial.
Senators average around retirement age and aren’t known for their mastery of high-tech. They’ve been mocked in recent years for basic questions at hearings — asking Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg simple questions about how his platform works at a 2018 hearing on Russian interference, for example — and for a bipartisan reluctance to regulate the technology industry at all.
Schumer, along with several Republican colleagues, say the federal government can no longer afford to be laissez-faire with tech companies.
“If the government doesn’t step in, who will fill its place?” Schumer asked. “Individuals and the private sector can’t do the work of protecting our country. Even if many developers have good intentions, there will always be rogue actors, unscrupulous companies, and foreign adversaries that seek to harm us. And companies may not be willing to insert guardrails on their own, certainly if their competitors are not required to insert them as well.”
Attempting to regulate AI, Schumer said, “is unlike anything Congress has dealt with before.”
It is unclear if Schumer will be able to accomplish his goals. The effort is in its earliest stages, with the bipartisan working group just starting a series of briefings for all 100 senators to get them up to speed. In the House, legislation to regulate or oversee artificial intelligence has been more scattershot, and Republican leaders have not laid out any ambitious goals.
Schumer acknowledged that there are more questions than answers about the technology.
“It’s not like labor or healthcare or defense where Congress has a long history we can work off of,” Schumer said. “In fact, experts admit nobody is even sure which questions policymakers should be asking. In many ways, we’re starting from scratch.”