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A Georgia judge is weighing whether to declare a mistrial in Young Thug’s long-running Atlanta gang trial, a move that would require prosecutors to either start from scratch or drop a case that has already lasted more than two years.
The motion for a mistrial was sparked by an incident Wednesday (Oct. 23) in which a state’s witness accidentally revealed sensitive information to the jury. Defense attorneys said the mistake was caused by prosecutor missteps, and the judge quickly chided government lawyers for “sloppiness.”
A mistrial would mean an abrupt end to a criminal trial that has stretched across 10 months of jury selection and 11 months of testimony to become the longest-ever in state history. Prosecutors have meandered through a vast list of witnesses, and the case has been beset by unusual delays — including a jailhouse stabbing of one defendant and a bizarre episode over a secret meeting that saw the presiding judge removed from the case.
Since taking over the case this summer, Judge Paige Reese Whitaker has expressed frustration with how the Fulton County District Attorney’s office has been handling the case. Last month, she blasted the prosecutors for “poor lawyering, “baffling” decisions and steps to repeatedly “hide the ball” amid a “haphazard” trial.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Whitaker refused outright to declare a mistrial with prejudice, which would have permanently ended the case. But she said she would consider doing so without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could attempt to retry their case from scratch in front of a new jury.
The specter of such an outcome has prompted prosecutors to discuss plea deals. According to X posts by Cath Russon, managing editor at Law&Crime, each defense team was set to meet individually on Thursday with District Attorney Fani Willis to discuss potential deals.
As a result of the negotiations and the pending mistrial motions, all trial proceedings before Whitaker on Thursday (Oct. 24) and Friday (Oct. 25) have been postponed and the trial is currently scheduled to resume on Monday morning (Oct. 28), according to Russon.
Thug (Jeffery Williams), a chart-topping rapper and producer who helped shape the sound of hip-hop over the past decade, was indicted in May 2022 along with dozens of others over allegations that his “YSL” was not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but rather a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life.” The case, built around Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) law, claims the group committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade.
While the slow-moving trial has dragged on, Thug has been sitting in jail for more than two years, repeatedly denied bond over fears that he might intimidate witnesses. If the judge grants a mistrial and prosecutors decide to retry their case, he could have years more in jail until a verdict is reached. Such an outcome could potentially motivate defendants, too, to consider a negotiated resolution.
The Wednesday incident that sparked the calls for a mistrial took place as prosecutors were questioning a witness named Wunnie Lee (aka Slimelife Shawty), a former defendant in the YSL case who signed a plea agreement in exchange for testifying.
While on the stand, prosecutors asked Lee to identify certain defendants by showing him social media posts. While reading one of the posts, Lee read aloud the hashtag #freequa — a reference to a previous prison sentence for Marquavius Huey (aka Qua), one of Thug’s current co-defendants.
That was a crucial error by prosecutors. The jury was not supposed to know which defendants had previously been incarcerated, and defense attorneys argued that the government was supposed to redact the post and prep Lee not to mention it. After the admission before jurors, defense attorneys quickly moved for a mistrial.
“We’re not going to be able to unring this bell,” defense attorney Nicole Westmoreland said in court. “It is painfully obvious that the state is not prepping their witnesses.”
The misstep quickly drew another sharp critique from Judge Whitaker, who attempted to reach a solution that would allow the case to move forward: “What I’m trying to do is fix your sloppiness so that everybody won’t have wasted 10 to 12 months of their lives in this trial.”
UnitedMasters has reached a new multi-year licensing agreement with TikTok. News of the deal comes just weeks after Billboard broke the news that TikTok “walked away” from talks to renew its license with Merlin, a collective that negotiates digital licensing deals for more than 30,000 indie labels and distributors.
Instead, TikTok noted that it wished to forge deals with most of the labels and distributors individually and cited previous issues with Merlin’s members delivering “fraudulent content” as the reason why they were not renewing with Merlin. Merlin read this move as TikTok “fragmenting” its membership to try to “minimize” licensing payments for indie music.
UnitedMasters — which has worked with more than 2 million independent artists, including FloyyMenor, Brent Faiyaz, BigXthaPlug, Tobe Nwigwe and Anycia — will include its full, expansive catalog in the new deal. The agreement will also provide additional commercial opportunities for UnitedMasters artists via TikTok’s Commercial Music Library.
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A press release states that TikTok and UnitedMasters “share the vision and understanding that commercial use of music on platforms offers significant revenue and promotional opportunities for artists” — and that having access to TikTok’s Commercial Music Library will give UnitedMasters talent access to new revenue and promotional streams for their talent.
Beyond just TikTok, licensing music for commercial purposes is a crucial focus for UnitedMasters. Previously, it has landed its artists deals with major brands like Bose, Walmart, ESPN, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Dove and more.
“Our partnership with TikTok provides UnitedMasters artists unparalleled access to a vast global audience, while TikTok creators and users gain early exposure to some of the most impactful independent music today,” said Steve Stoute, founder/CEO of UnitedMasters, in a statement. “TikTok recognizes the power of music and creativity, which is why we are excited to formalize this partnership.”
“TikTok has proven that it’s a launchpad for artists, turning viral moments into chart-topping hits,” Stoute added. “With this partnership, I look forward to seeing our artists thrive on TikTok and extend their reach and influence across the music industry. We’re building a future where they can own their success and grow their careers on their own terms.”
“We want to make the world’s best music available to our global community of over a billion music fans,” added Ole Obermann, head of music business development at TikTok. “That’s why we are so excited to be entering into a direct deal with a prominent independent label like UnitedMasters, with its deep, diverse roster of independent artists. Together, we’re ready to amplify these voices and bring their music to a global stage, unlocking new opportunities for discovery.”
Merlin’s license with TikTok is set to expire on Oct. 31. Labels or distributors that have not reached an individual agreement with TikTok by then will become unlicensed and removed from the platform.
Several of Nashville‘s top independent venues, along with local artists, are teaming up for a new event, 615 Indie Live, designed to celebrate and support Music City’s indie live music scene.
Thirteen independent venues and over 40 local artists and bands spanning genres including rock, hip-hop and jazz will come together for 615 Indie Live on Feb. 1, 2025. Event passes are currently discounted to $15 using all-in pricing, with the passes granting entry to all participating venues. The event will run from noon until 2 a.m., allowing attendees to visit multiple shows at various venues across the city.
Participating venues include 3rd and Lindsley, Acme Feed & Seed, Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, DRKMTTR Collective, Eastside Bowl, Music Makers Stage at Delgado Guitars, Night We Met, Rudy’s Jazz Room, The 5 Spot, The Basement, The Blue Room Bar at Third Man Records, The East Room, and The End. Participating artists will be revealed in the coming weeks.
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615 Indie Live is presented by Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp and Music Venue Alliance Nashville.
Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Music Venue Alliance Nashville, including the organization’s Emergency Relief Fund that aids Nashville’s independent venues to help them stay open during periods of financial crisis. Those who buy passes during the presale period — which lasts until midnight on Oct. 31, 2024 — will have a chance to win a Project 615 gift bag and a VIP Nashville attraction pass, which offers complimentary admission for two people to over 25 area attractions, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the National Museum of African American Music and the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum.
“Independent music venues are the heart and soul of Music City, providing a stage for new artists across diverse genres to showcase their talent and be discovered,” Deana Ivey, president/CEO at Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, said in a statement. “We hope 615 Indie Live will inspire Nashvillians and visitors to explore new music and discover venues they may not have visited before. Locals might even find a hidden gem right in their own neighborhoods. By holding the event during the winter, we hope to help boost business at the venues during a traditionally slow season.”
The Greater Nashville Music Census, released earlier this year, highlighted the impact of independent venues and the financial struggles those venues, as well as indie artists, face.
“All of the recent data clearly shows that independent venues are a foundation of Nashville’s live music ecosystem, yet they are quickly becoming an endangered species,” Music Venue Alliance Nashville president Chris Cobb said in a statement. “615 Indie Live marks the beginning of exciting new partnerships born from this data, reinforcing our mission to celebrate and support an essential part of what makes us Music City. My sincerest thanks to the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp for partnering with us to support independent venues and local artists.”
Warner Chappell Music‘s Latin division has signed urbano music producer Jorge Milliano. A trusted collaborator for superstars like Peso Pluma, Myke Towers, Anitta, The Chainsmokers, Maluma, Manuel Turizo, Marshmello and Nicky Jam, Milliano is one of the top producers working in Latin music today.
Concord Music Publishing has announced the signing of poet, singer, songwriter and producer Kara Jackson. Signed in collaboration with Ark Publishing, a joint venture founded by Grammy-winning producer and songwriter, Noah Goldstein, the worldwide publishing deal includes Jackson’s catalog and all future works.
The Circuit Group has partnered with Kobalt globally for publishing administration. The Circuit Group was founded by Dean and Jessica Wilson, Brett Fischer, David Gray and Harvey Tadman with the aim to acquire ownership in artists’ IP portfolios and partner with them to build new monetization opportunities.
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U.K. music supervision company 45RPM has launched a new music publishing arm with the support of Universal Music Publishing Group, which will administer the new publishing outfit. Founded in 2022 by top music supervisors Iain Cooke, Sarah Bridge, Catherine Grieves and Nick Angel, 45RPM offers a full service experience for clients, including soundtrack development, composer partnerships, rights negotiation, budget management and on-camera music supervision.
Spirit Music Group has joined a creative joint venture with Grammy-winner Autumn Rowe to form Rowe’s Honest Songs Music & Lyrics. A singer, songwriter and producer, Rowe has worked with Jon Batiste, Dua Lipa, Diana Ross, Pitbull, Zendaya, Ava Max, FKA Twigs and Leona Lewis, as well as released songs in her own right. When she’s not in sessions, Rowe sits on the board of Songwriters of North America (SONA) where she advocates for songwriter’s rights.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville today announced the signing of acclaimed songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Elysse Yulo. News of the deal comes just months after working with Lana Del Rey and Quavo on their song “Tough.” Along with her work with Del Rey and Quavo, Elysse has also worked with Nashville talents like Zach John King, and Maddox Batson.
EJ Pasin has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Position Music. He is perhaps best known for producing the beat and guitar of the viral hit “Embrace It” by Ndorz, but the songwriter/producer has also released his own work via the names EJ Pasin and ptasinski (his side project). He is managed by Ewan Jenkins and Jack Mangan of E2J Management.
Warner Chappell Music (WCM) and Grammy-nominated duo, The Warren Brothers, have jointly signed a publishing deal with emerging country singer-songwriter Preston Cooper. An Ohio native, Cooper is currently one of the special guests on Riley Green’s ‘Damn Country Music’ Tour. He also has new music dropping in early 2025.
Jonathan Tester has launched Groove Bound Songs, a new independent publishing company, created via a joint venture with Bucks Music Group. As part of their agreement, Groove Bound Songs, founded by Bucks longtime Head of Sync, will benefit from Bucks’ leading back end administration, creative A&R, sync services and general expertise under the JV.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has announced a new partnership with One4 Entertainment’s Brian Wright to sign breakthrough singer-songwriter Sadie Bass to a global publishing deal.
When veteran concert promoter Louis Messina weighs adding an act to Messina Touring Group’s impressive stable of superstar artists, his eyes aren’t focused on the stage. Instead, he’s intently surveying the concert audience. “I watch eyes and lips: eyes, if they’re really focusing on the artists, and lips, if they’re singing along and if they’re smiling,” he says. “When I see that happening, that’s when I know I need to be involved. It’s rare that you see artists that can do that and [aren’t] just going through the motions. You know they bring this unique connection.”
Messina knows that feeling well; he remembers first experiencing it at just 7 years old, when his father took him to see Elvis Presley in his hometown of New Orleans. “I’ve never forgotten that energy in that room,” Messina says. “It was a feeling that I’ve never had before, and I’ve carried it until today. When artists and an audience connect with each other, it’s magical.”
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Seventy years later, Messina and his enviable roster have created plenty of magic together, too. The Messina Touring Group origin story began in 2001 with acts including his longtime client George Strait — and since then, each of the artists Messina exclusively promotes has been within one or two degrees of separation from the country legend (with the sole exception of The Lumineers). Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Eric Church and Old Dominion all once opened for Strait; then Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes both opened for Swift.
Simply put, Messina says, without Strait “there wouldn’t be a Messina Touring Group.” But Messina’s own story started way earlier. His promoting career got off to a dubious start in New Orleans in 1972 when he sold out a Curtis Mayfield/B.B. King show — only to have the artists get stuck in Atlanta, unable to get to the gig. “I had 8,000 people trying to break the doors down to get their money back. The New Orleans riot squad had to come out,” he recalls. He learned a valuable lesson: “After I got over my depression, I had to go back into the ring. I got knocked down, but I didn’t get knocked out.”
After a tumultuous run in New Orleans, in 1975, Messina and his mentor and fellow promoter, Allen Becker, formed PACE Concerts in Houston. They introduced several new concepts into the live-event business, including touring multi-artist festivals such as the George Strait Country Festival and OzzFest, and were the first promoters to own outdoor sheds, starting with Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheater. Messina and Becker quickly realized they could reap the rewards of, as the late Becker used to say, the revenue from “popcorn, peanuts and parking” — and, in turn, greatly mitigate the financial risk of promoting concerts.
In 1997, Robert F.X. Sillerman bought PACE for $130 million as his SFX Entertainment consolidated the promotion business. In 2001, Messina launched Messina Touring Group, and in 2003, he partnered with AEG. His noncompete clause allowed him only to promote country acts, and he started with a passel that included Strait and Chesney, both of whom he still promotes. “Nobody else was paying attention to country acts back then,” Messina says. “What I did was take a little rock’n’roll mentality and brought it to Nashville; meaning I’m not going to do the same old same old.” He also gave each act its own dedicated team that they consistently work with from tour to tour.
On the fall day that Billboard speaks with the voluble Messina, now 77 and a father of six, he is at his desk in Austin. (Messina Touring Group’s 35 employees — 70% of whom are women — are spread between its Austin and Nashville offices.) “This is the time of the year where I’m busiest because I’m prepping for next year and the year after,” he says.
Still, he’s able to take a moment to look back. Last year was his company’s most successful yet, he says, with 2024 coming in second. Swift doesn’t report her concert totals to Billboard, but Billboard estimates her 2023 shows for The Eras Tour grossed $906.1 million (the tour will end Dec. 8). In 2024, Chesney completed his highest-grossing outing yet, according to Billboard Boxscore, with $159.5 million for the Sun Goes Down Tour, which ended in August. And Strait remains big business: His June 15 concert at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field set the all-time attendance record for a ticketed concert in the United States with 110,905 ticket-buying fans. “Everything’s clicking and so, you know, we’re happy,” Messina says.
But for Billboard’s 2024 Touring Executive of the Year, an artist’s potential career arc can’t be reduced to the success of any one tour.
“Louie isn’t a tour promoter. He’s an artist promoter… He’s a champion of not just the current tour he’s involved in with you, but your whole career,” says Church, who has worked with Messina for 12 years. “Louie always said to me, ‘You think your dreams are big, but you’ll never out-dream me.’ ”
Louis Messina
Jasmine Archie
Your father was a boxing promoter. Though you’ve said he didn’t influence you because your passion was music, what did you learn from him about taking risks?
I hate to say this because my dad’s passed away. He was a good man, but what I learned from him was what not to do. He was not a good businessperson. He did take me to see Elvis and exposed me to the excitement of what live music does. That’s what I’ve learned from my dad.
PACE pioneered the concept of touring artist festivals — multi-act events that would travel the country — but such stadium festivals are virtually gone now. Did local and regional festivals kill the touring artist festival?
I just ran out of talent. And the whole ego about “I’m not going to play in front of this guy… I need 110% billing… I need this. I need that” — it just wasn’t worth it. Then we started building amphitheaters and we made more money doing an amphitheater show than we did [promoting] stadium shows.
Two years into starting Messina Touring Group, you partnered with AEG. How does that relationship work?
I operate totally independent of AEG. Hell, a lot of times I’m competing with AEG over tours. They have their model, Live Nation has their model, and I have my model. My model is about careers, not tours. I always say I’m not in the rent-a-band business. I want to know what that artist’s vision is five and 10 years from now.
Legendary booking agent Wayne Forte unintentionally provided you with a light-bulb moment that changed your approach when you started Messina Touring Group. What did he say?
I was booking amphitheaters, and I referred to artists as inventory, and Wayne goes, “I’m sorry, Louis, did you just call artists inventory?” Literally, it stopped me in my tracks. I went, “I sure did.” At that moment, it totally reset my mind and where I was going in this business. I [wouldn’t] say I’d lost the passion, but I was a promoter that was just trying to sell popcorn and peanuts and parking. And I’m going, “This is not why I got in the business.” I got into the business because I love the passion of it. I changed my whole mentality at that point.
Most of your clients came from being opening acts for artists you were already promoting. Do you advise your acts on their openers?
With Kenny and George, I’m totally involved. Taylor always picks her opening acts. I’m involved with some and with others, I follow their lead. I believe there’s no such thing as overkill. Give the people their money’s worth. I’ve got George and Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town playing stadiums together and Zac Brown Band playing with Kenny. It’s magical.
The newest star in your orbit is Megan Moroney, who recently opened for Kenny Chesney even though you hadn’t seen her perform beforehand. Will she become your next client?
I’d love to work with her. I think she’s amazing. [Chesney’s manager] Clint [Higham] and I were talking about Kenny’s support and we brought up Megan Moroney. Kenny goes, “She’s only got one hit.” I go, “This album is so deep. Kenny, I’m telling you, this is going to work.” I’d never seen her perform, I just listened to her music and her songwriting. We put her on, and oh, my gosh, I’ve never seen Kenny so excited about an artist. He called me and he goes, “Louis, you were right. I was wrong.” But it didn’t take long for Kenny to recognize because Megan is such a natural star.
The production on Swift’s The Eras Tour is unlike anything that fans have seen. Has it changed what can be done onstage?
What Taylor has done is to me the best show I’ve ever seen. She amazes me night after night. She’s one of a kind. She’s always been like that. I’ve known her since she just turned 17… I always tell people, “You think you’re working? Go sit around Taylor for 15 minutes.” I remember when she was the first of three acts with Strait. She was the first one in the production office every day after visiting radio [stations], handwriting notes to people around the country. Ed’s the same way, Eric’s the same way, in their own way. None of the artists I work for is dialing anything in. They’re working their ass off.
The Ticketmaster site crashed when the Eras tickets went on sale, upsetting fans and leading to an antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. In hindsight, what could you have done differently?
When you have 15 million people trying to buy a million tickets, nothing could handle that. When we started adding shows, what [Swift’s management company] 13 and everybody decided to do was to stagger on-sales where instead of putting five shows up at once, we would put one show up at a time. Everybody’s blamed Ticketmaster, but I use this analogy: Imagine getting into a subway car in New York City. It holds 40 people, but 1,000 people are trying to get in that subway car. It just doesn’t work. They can’t get in. That’s what happened.
What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in negotiating artists’ fees over the last 10 years?
The biggest thing is [other promoters] playing with house money. These touring deals that some of my friends and competitors make, it’s ridiculous. The sales pitch [is] “What’s it going to take financially?” I don’t believe in that because if you’re tied to a check that somebody wrote to you, that means you have to play so many shows, your ticket price has to be this. You lose control of your own destiny. My trying to compete with a checkbook, that’s the hardest part I have because my sales pitch is “Let’s talk about the future. Let’s talk about your dreams.” Do what you’re supposed to do and the money will be there. If you chase the money, you’ll never get there.
Ed Sheeran has talked about trying to keep ticket prices low. Is there something other acts can learn from him?
No. This is one thing that’s wrong with artists that [want to price tickets too low]. Ed goes, “Louis, I want to go to bed at night knowing that this is the ticket price I wanted my fans to pay.” I go, “Ed, you’re beautiful for saying that, but here’s the problem: People are going to go to the secondary market and spend $700 on a ticket that you want to sell for $99… and you’re only going to get $99 of it.” I remember a long, long time ago working with George and his tickets were really reasonable and I did a printout of StubHub or whatever and said, “This is how much your tickets are being sold for right now.” And his eyes got big, and it was like a “Holy crap” moment for him. He had no idea.
Which acts are on your wish list?
I love Bruce Springsteen. I adore [Springsteen’s manager] Jon Landau and [tour manager] George Travis. They are all like family to me even though I don’t promote Bruce anymore these days because [Springsteen’s longtime agent] Barry Bell said I was too cheap, that I wouldn’t do the Bruce Springsteen deal. I don’t work at a discount price. My other fantasy [act] is Beyoncé. I adore her. Sometimes it’s cheaper to just buy a ticket than to get involved with the artists you love.
You spend a tremendous amount of time on the road. What’s your best travel tip?
My best travel tip I gave myself is I stopped drinking. This Christmas will be two years. I figured me and Jack Daniel’s had a good run together.
Any thoughts about retiring?
Seeing an artist go from an opening act to a stadium act and knowing that I had a little bit to do with it and walking into that sold-out stadium and seeing that energy… Wow! Why would I want to give that up? I’m the luckiest human being in the world.
Messina will receive Billboard’s inaugural Touring Titan honor at its Live Music Summit & Awards on Nov. 14.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
From Taylor Swift T-shirts to Fleetwood Mac Rumours vinyl LPs, the global music merchandise business will grow to a retail value of $16.3 billion by 2030, according to a new report by MIDiA Research.
Merch become a priority for many artists in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the concert business. And as touring resumed and fans opened their wallets, the global merch business rose to $13.4 billion in 2023. But merch sales are expected to cool considerably, as MIDiA forecasts merch sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 2.8% through the end of the decade. There’s still plenty of opportunity, though — if artists and merch companies don’t treat merch like a cash grab.
“As the market has become more sophisticated, fan expectations for quality have risen,” MIDiA’s Tatiana Cirisano said in a statement. “But record labels focusing on monetising fandom risk ‘overharvesting’ — exploiting this resource to the point of diminishing returns.”
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Music companies, Cirisano added, “must nurture deep, long-lasting fandom to sustain this growth.”
Physical music, which MIDiA considers to be merch because many consumers treat vinyl LPs and CDs as collectible items, is forecasted to peak in 2025 and decrease through 2030. Physical merchandise such as artist-branded apparel and digital merchandise such as virtual goods and NFTs are expected to make up for physical music’s decline and lift total merch revenues.
Merch isn’t the most financially appealing part of the music business. That would be digital music, which enjoys both higher margins and higher growth rates. In the first half of 2024, Universal Music Group’s recorded music business had earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margin of 25.4%, nearly five times its merch division’s 5.3% EBITDA margin. And while MIDiA expects merch to grow at a 2.8% CAGR through 2030, Goldman Sachs forecasts the global music streaming market will grow at a 9.9% CAGR over that time frame.
But merch has always been an important part of the music business because of music fans’ unending desire for T-shirts and keepsakes of their favorite artists. Consolidation in the merch business began about six years ago as major labels and some indies invested in merchandising companies to diversify their revenues and expand the services they offer to artist clients.
Warner Music Group, for example, acquired German merch specialist EMP in 2018. Universal Music Group acquired boutique merch company Epic Rights in 2019. Sony Music Entertainment made a strategic investment in merchandise company Ceremony of Roses in 2022, and its Thread Shop merch agency purchased the merch division of The Araca Group in 2019. Also in 2019, Indie company EMPIRE took a majority stake in merch/ecommerce company Top Drawer Merch / Electric Family.
The Core Records and Capitol Music Group have signed Hannah McFarland to their joint venture; it is the first signing announced by the two entities. McFarland’s single, “Hey Highway,” out Friday (Oct. 25), will be the first official release from the new label. “Signing with The Core Records and Capitol Music Group feels like the […]
At most huge pop tours, there’s a moment when shrieking fans reach a true fever pitch — when the lights dim right before the show begins, or when the intro to the artist’s biggest hit kicks in, or during the break before the encore. All of those happened at Olivia Rodrigo’s first arena tour — but her favorite part of the show was when those eardrum-rattling cries were, in fact, mad as hell.
“When we play ‘all-american bitch,’ ” Rodrigo tells Billboard, “there’s a part at the end of the song where I ask the audience to think about something that pisses them off and then tell them to scream about it when the lights go off.” On the opener to her 2023 album, GUTS, Rodrigo juxtaposes folksy, facetious calm in the verses with enraged pop-punk in the refrain as she lays out society’s double standards for young women before unleashing a piercing wail. For nearly a hundred nights this year, the singer-songwriter has closed her main set by adding her own scream to an arena already full of them. “It’s definitely cathartic for me,” she says, “and I hope it is for the audience as well.”
The same could be said of the entire GUTS tour, where Rodrigo’s fans worldwide found the space to release their pent-up energy, as well as their excitement about one of the decade’s biggest new superstars. After bursting into the spotlight in 2021 with her debut album, Sour, and its No. 1 smashes “drivers license” and “good 4 u,” the former Disney+ TV star won the Grammy Award for best new artist in 2022 and quickly ascended to pop’s A-list. Yet the 2022 tour supporting Sour primarily played theaters, had to navigate lingering COVID-19 concerns and catered to a limited number of international markets, as Rodrigo, then 19, found her sea legs as a live performer.
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Two years later, the rock-fueled GUTS became another commercial triumph: Lead single “vampire” also topped the Billboard Hot 100, and the album scored one of 2023’s 10 biggest debut weeks. And this time, Rodrigo was prepared for arena audiences. The GUTS tour featured more than double the number of dates as her Sour trek while traveling to four continents (South America will become the fifth in March 2025) and grossed $186.6 million, according to Billboard Boxscore — even with its 1.4 million tickets sold at an average price of $128.81, in line with price-conscious acts like Coldplay and P!nk, and less than that of several major pop arena shows.
As for the show itself, “I actually made GUTS with the concert in mind,” Rodrigo says. “It’s so much fun to play songs that are more driving and heavy. I had a great time performing that aspect of the show every night.” Here’s how it all went down.
In her dressing room backstage.
Sami Drasin
‘She Knew Exactly What It Was That She Wanted’
As GUTS came together, so did plans for an accompanying tour that amplified every aspect of Rodrigo’s previous live run — bigger venues, more countries — all guided by a more defined point of view from the superstar at its center.
Aleen Keshishian (co-manager, Lighthouse Management + Media founder/CEO): Olivia had creative tour ideas when she was still writing GUTS, even before we had signed a deal with Live Nation or hired anyone for the tour. She already had visual references, voice notes, images.
Zack Morgenroth (co-manager, Lighthouse Management + Media partner): That gave us a lot of time to plan, and put together the right team, and get the show right.
Jason Danter (tour production manager): I connected with Zack and Aleen in March 2023; at that point, I was deep into getting the Beyoncé [Renaissance] tour up and running. I met Olivia when she came to the Beyoncé show at SoFi Stadium [in Inglewood, Calif.].
Tarik Mikou (creative director, Moment Factory): We’ve been working with Olivia for a while — we did her first live TV performance [on Saturday Night Live] and did the Sour tour, so I was really happy to get a call back for the GUTS tour.
Melissa Garcia (choreographer): They called me in for the Sour tour, and Olivia and I really meshed. A trusting environment [and] being able to have back-and-forth conversations is so important, especially when it comes to movement and putting artists in vulnerable situations.
Jared Braverman (senior vp of touring, Live Nation): It was very clear from initial conversations that the goal of this tour was to be global — to get to markets that Olivia had never been to and continue to grow by not just focusing on major cities. [Olivia] is massive everywhere. That’s a challenging thing to navigate — making time and space for all of these markets.
Morgenroth: The Sour tour was her first time out on the road and was a huge underplay, given the success of the album.
Dave Tamaroff (partner, WME): Her last tour could have been in arenas, based on everything she had going on.
Michelle An (president/head of creative strategy, Interscope Geffen A&M): There were a lot of conversations about [arenas] on the last tour, and ultimately, Olivia was the final decision-maker — she felt like she needed to do the theater run to get to know the fans in a more intimate way.
Sami Drasin
Morgenroth: There was so much demand from fans this time around that Live Nation said to us that arenas now felt like an underplay — we probably could have done stadiums everywhere. That being said, there was so much preparation for an arena tour: choosing each venue, making sure we had a good cadence for her. We tended to do only four shows in a week and never three shows in a row.
Tamaroff: We were surgical in our approach to the routing.
Morgenroth: Olivia cares so deeply about the fan experience, and that was also so key in the pricing of the tickets, which could have been priced for so much more. Everything, from having the Silver Star program — where fans could get a limited number of tickets everywhere around the arena for something like $20 — to looking at the landscape of touring artists and trying to price our tickets somewhere in the middle of them, was very intentional.
Keshishian: [Silver Star] was something that Coldplay had first done with Live Nation. Jared Braverman suggested it and Olivia loved it.
Braverman: [Pricing] takes a level of restraint, where you look at what you can do versus what you should do. You’ve got a young audience that’s very connected to Olivia, and we wanted to make this tour accessible for them.
Keshishian: We spent a lot of money on this tour, [but] we were incredibly judicious, going over every single line item in the budget to make sure we were spending money on the things that mattered to Olivia.
Garcia: Olivia is the captain of the ship — right from the very beginning, she knew exactly what it was that she wanted.
Mikou: We had like, 15 meetings, in Zoom and in person. She had reference boards on Pinterest. She would show us an image and be like, “I would love something like that in the show,” and give us these leads.
An: We definitely wanted fans to get to know the album. It wasn’t straight from the album release [in September 2023] into the tour [which began in February 2024].
Heather Picchiottino (costume designer): Olivia’s songwriting progression from Sour to GUTS felt very raw and up-front, so we wove punk rock through [the tour’s production].
Olivia Rodrigo: I tried to make the concert feel like my own spin on a rock show. My dream was for people to jump and scream and be all sweaty by the end.
Mikou: When you get to the dress rehearsals and start seeing the ideas pushed forward — we knew we had something special with this show.
The band.
Sami Drasin
Sami Drasin
‘It’s So Much Bigger in Every Way’
When the GUTS tour kicked off at Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif., on Feb. 23, Rodrigo unveiled a multi-act, visually striking stage show with dancing, wailing guitars and even a giant, suspended crescent moon for her to sit on while circling the audience.
Daisy Spencer (touring guitarist): We rehearsed so much leading up to the kickoff. We were so ready and eager to finally perform the show in front of people who were hearing it for the first time.
Garcia: Instead of reaching a few thousand people, she was in a much larger environment — which puts a lot more pressure on her.
Keshishian: There’s no comparison between theaters and arenas, in terms of prep.
Spencer: It’s so much bigger in every way. The energy on the Sour tour was palpable, like we were beginning something very exciting and everyone in the room could feel it. But I couldn’t have ever imagined what the GUTS tour would be like.
Rodrigo: An arena feels wildly different than a theater to me.
Garcia: One of the big notes that I would say [to Olivia] was “Invite the audience in”: Open your chest up, allow them in. And she absolutely did that. Between the Sour tour and this tour, she is absolutely way more comfortable in her skin.
Picchiottino: Olivia had so many iconic looks on the Sour tour, and some of the detailing in them were bows or little ruffles or tulle fabric. We really contrasted that with GUTS, with references to punk rock through clean, ’90s, minimal silhouettes, made out of fabrics that were metal mesh jewelry as opposed to a tissue fabric.
Mikou: We worked on creating four acts in the show. We start really strong with an energetic vibe, but we also go into her vocal range early on with “vampire” and “drivers license.” And then in the second act, we embark on a visual journey with dancers.
The dancers.
Sami Drasin
Keshishian: In terms of choreography, she didn’t want it to feel like a traditional pop show where the dancers can sometimes overpower the music. I think the dancers are only in six numbers.
Danter: It’s primarily a younger audience that wants to see her and hear her, so it doesn’t have to be overly complicated visually.
Garcia: We wanted to create a visceral reaction from her fans, and for Olivia, a rock approach was extremely important, so she wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to use dancers. We came up with utilizing the dancers in a very unique way to match her creative intention.
Mikou: And then in the third act, she’s flying on the moon.
Keshishian: From the very first conversation we had with her, she said, “I’d love to fly on a moon over my audience.”
Mikou: We had about 60 stars all around to create this immersive vibe in the arena, and the moon was on a 260-foot linear flying track and was a light box as well.
Garcia: Riding around the venue on the moon — that was another way for her to feel like she really gave every single person her time.
Mikou: That act has these big visual moments, but it’s also really simple and elegant at times, like “making the bed,” where’s she rising alone on a lift, surrounded by fans and their iPhone lights.
Keshishian: And then you have these beautiful acoustic moments where she’s just with Daisy [who’s playing] guitar at the edge of the thrust, and it’s just about the lyrics and her voice.
Spencer: That was all Olivia’s idea, and I feel so honored to sit next to her while we all have a giant group therapy session together on “happier” and “favorite crime.” I’m almost on the verge of tears when we finish that section because it’s such a beautiful feeling to hear everyone singing along with us.
Mikou: We ended with the punk-rock vibe in the fourth act, exploding everything at the end with the full band and fire on the screens.
Picchiottino: I think my favorite moment is the start of act four, when the chaos comes into the show. Olivia enters in this red romper in this foil fabric, and with the color of the lighting, it just signals this incredible energy.
Mikou: My personal favorite moment is probably “obsessed.” She gets on the plexiglass and starts to look at her audience, but with the camera below [the stage, feeding into the arena screens], it’s just such a strong image. That’s Olivia 2.0: so rock’n’roll, so much guitar, so much attitude.
Danter: Olivia turned 21 a couple of days before opening night, and as somebody with such short touring experience, she’s very, very professional.
Sami Drasin
Sami Drasin
Keshishian: She gets to the venue every single day six hours early. She practices the piano, she does vocal warmups, she does cardio. She does her sound check before literally every show, even on multiple nights in the same venue, which very few artists do.
Danter: Most artists don’t get that discipline until they’ve got a number of tours under their belt. But by [the opener in] Palm Springs, we were all like, “We’ve got nothing to worry about here.”
Rodrigo: The first dozen shows or so, it was a big adjustment for me, energywise. I had to really learn how to look up and take in the space. You definitely perform differently when you’re performing to that many people.
Danter: And now she’s an arena headliner, and it’s as if she’s been doing it for a long, long time.
‘These Gatherings Have Become Like a Ritual’
As Rodrigo traveled North America in early spring, Europe before summer, North America (again) in July and August, and Asia in early fall, fans around the world learned about the tour’s unofficial dress code, viral moments, philanthropic goals — and the superstar-in-waiting who opened its first leg.
Keshishian: Tour support is something that we talked about very early on. The Sour tour had Gracie Abrams opening, and then Chappell Roan opened in San Francisco on the last Sour date in North America.
Remi Wolf (opener, GUTS European leg): I was told that Olivia very carefully curated the openers for the show, so it was a major deal when we got the original call.
Keshishian: Olivia has this incredible knowledge of and reverence for female artists, in particular people who paved the way for her, like Alanis Morissette and Sheryl Crow and Bikini Kill. Her mom introduced her to a lot of these artists, including The Breeders. I went with her to see them play at the Wiltern [in October 2023] and was so excited to meet Kim and Kelley [Deal] backstage, and they agreed to open for her in New York and L.A.
Kim Deal (singer-guitarist, The Breeders): [Olivia] has talked about how, you know, “The Breeders broke my mind — there was pre-‘Cannonball’ and there was post-‘Cannonball.’ ” And I think she likes loud guitars — in this day and age! She finds loud guitars exciting and wants to be around them.
Sami Drasin
Tamaroff: She did four shows [with The Breeders] in New York and six in Los Angeles, and she really could have done a dozen more, based on demand.
Morgenroth: [The openers] are, in part, a tribute to Olivia’s ear. She’s known Chappell for a while. She’s always thought she was an incredible artist.
Rodrigo: Having her on the first leg of the GUTS tour was so much fun. I’m inspired by her so much as an artist, but she’s also been such a good friend to me over the years and she really helped me through some of the more stressful parts of the tour.
Braverman: We all knew what a talented artist and great performer [Chappell] is and hoped that fans would be as excited as we all were for her to be joining on these shows. The initial response was positive, but it wasn’t until the tour got underway that we started to see a shift that literally grew more each and every show.
Keshishian: Chappell was a surprise guest in L.A. [in August, after opening for the tour in February and March]. People asked us if we were going to have guest performers at all six shows in L.A., and we didn’t feel that we needed surprises just for the sake of it. But having Chappell come back and seeing her perform in front of Olivia’s audience after all this time, after so much had happened [in her own career]? It was really fun.
Rodrigo: It’s been incredible to watch her get the recognition she so rightfully deserves. She’s just further proof that being unapologetically yourself always pays off.
Morgenroth: From the moment people arrived at the show, we wanted them to have a great experience, and that’s everything from the merch, where things were customized for each city, to activations outside on the [concourse] and outside of the venue, like the interactive tour bus that we put together with Interscope and partners like American Express.
An: As we continued putting out singles and videos from the album [before the tour], fans got a better idea of what to wear and how to style themselves, and then they all connected by the time the tour came.
Keshishian: It became a really fun night for fans to get dressed up in creative outfits that Olivia inspired.
Garcia: Olivia has created a very unique vocabulary, and I think that’s why songs like “love is embarrassing” became so large on social media, with people trying to learn the dance from the show.
Keshishian: Her “love is embarrassing” dance went viral, and all these kids were doing the dance with the little “L” on the forehead.
Morgenroth: There was this viral TikTok trend, “Am I Too Old To Be Here?,” that would be used at the shows because there were so many people of different ages attending. And then we have this “Dad Idea, Right?” moment, where the kids get a kick out of how many dads are enjoying the show.
Keshishian: In every city, she wore a different tank top [during the encore] that had these cheeky jokes about the city, like “Phuket, It’s Fine” in Bangkok or “Bad Idea, Innit?” in London.
Picchiottino: That was Olivia’s idea: “How fun would it be to have a new slogan for each city and make each show feel special?”
An: I think for the Livies, these gatherings have become like a ritual. They can scream at the top of their lungs about what’s bothering them and be a little more alternative or punk, but at the same time be feminine and girlie. You just see everything that Olivia stands for being celebrated.
Fans turn out in their GUTS best.
Sami Drasin
Sami Drasin
Keshishian: Before the tour began, it was important to Olivia to add a charitable component and do something that would have a lasting impact after the tour was over. That became the Fund 4 Good, and it was focused on what is important to her, which is helping women and girls. We vetted each organization in every country that Olivia toured in, and we wanted to have a very localized impact because obviously women in different countries have different needs.
Rodrigo: Being on tour [so soon] after Roe v. Wade got overturned made activism very important — especially considering I performed in many states that currently have abortion bans in place, I wanted to do everything I could to support organizations in each territory that are doing essential work in providing access to health care and other human rights.
Morgenroth: We’ve tied it beyond the tour already — she did an Erewhon smoothie, and all of the proceeds from her side were given to the fund. This is something that is going to be part of everything from here on out.
Keshishian: Olivia performed in the Philippines for the first time in October — which was a dream of hers, as a Filipino American — and she wanted to do it as a gift, so all net proceeds will go to a local charity [women’s health care organization Jhpiego] through the Fund 4 Good.
Rodrigo: Through the fund, I’ve met lots of incredible people who are making such positive changes in the world, and I’ve learned so much. I look forward to learning more and continuing to champion causes I care about.
‘She’s Revealing Another Side of Herself’
As Rodrigo wrapped the GUTS 2024 run and prepares for the Oct. 29 release of its Netflix tour film, she has snapped into focus as a new-school arena rock performer with a fastidious streak.
Danter: When you get to rehearsals and everything starts to fall into place, a lot of artists and managers go, “OK, this is the show.” As we got closer to opening night, we were still getting notes from Olivia, Zack and Aleen. It’s that search for perfection, which is refreshing.
Garcia: There was that younger vibe about her on the Sour tour, a little sillier, and on the GUTS tour, she definitely is thinking more and every detail matters more, no matter how microscopic.
Picchiottino: I’ve really enjoyed the process of refining and refining, being so specific about the tour visuals. I think I have over 60 sketches on my iPad, for five looks.
An: You could really feel that she was more confident this go-round because she understood how things worked and knew what conversations to have. She was the boss of this.
Mikou: The evolution from the last tour, it’s almost like she’s revealing another side of herself.
Sami Drasin
Braverman: In a lot of ways, it’s like a throwback rock show. I don’t think a lot of these fans had experienced anything like that.
Keshishian: Most of the band was on the Sour tour, and every member is female or nonbinary. So for all these people watching, to see them rocking out in an arena, I think it’s really powerful.
Deal: She’s very respectful of the younger members of her audience — she knows they’re there, she’s very sweet with them, and she does not talk down to them at all. There are some cusswords and there are some loud guitars, and she expects them to be where she is. And I thought that was very cool.
Keshishian: Regarding the film, there are tens of millions of people that did not get tickets to this show, and we wanted to make sure that all of Olivia’s fans had the ability to see it. So we set up 22 cameras for the last two L.A. shows, and we chose Netflix to be our partner because they have the largest global reach.
Tamaroff: Watching her prove who she is as a global superstar… she’s one of the most talented singer-songwriters on the planet already, but being able to showcase her talent as a performer, hearing people say that this was one of the best nights of their lives, that’s why we all do what we do.
Garcia: With age comes a little bit more pressure, and I think it’s coming from herself: to be better, to figure out the next challenge for herself, to see where she can break through next. She just keeps growing.
Rodrigo: I wanted to make sure that I could still connect with the audience, even in a venue as big as an arena.
Rodrigo will be honored as 2024 Touring Artist of the Year at the Billboard Live Music Summit & Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 14.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Collaborative Fund and Imaginary Ventures, with additional investment from BMG parent company Bertelsmann and superstar manager Guy Oseary, have led a multimillion fundraising round for [cafeteria], a new market research app that pays teens to opine on what they want from top U.S. brands.
Co-founded and led by Rishi Malhotra — known for creating India’s top streaming platform JioSaavn — Malhotra says [cafeteria] gleans marketing insights from a critical mass of teenagers through open-ended, one-on-one conversations that could start with questions like, “What do you wish McDonald’s had on its menu?” or “What do you think of this Billie Eilish song?”
Major brands can use the conversations with teens to glean insights — for example, teens on average say they are willing to pay $314 to see their favorite artist live — or identify trends before they’re trendy — like Canadian singer songwriter Tate McCrae, which teens were talking about in February, says Malhotra, whose co-founders on the app are former Luminary execs Mark Silverstein and Leeann Sheely.
Trending on Billboard
“Once something is already a trend, it might be a little late. But when something is pre-trend it’s very actionable,” says Malhotra, who came up with the idea for [cafeteria] by observing his own teenage children. “There is also future testing (applications), like, what do you think about this record?”
[cafeteria] soft-launched three months ago and now has a few thousand users in 39 U.S. states and 60 cities. On average they spend five minutes at [cafeteria]’s virtual “tables” — chat rooms where they answer artificial intelligence-generated questions either by text or voice note. While teens do earn money for providing feedback, Malhotra said they do not expect this to be a major money-making endeavor for its participants.
The seed funding round was led by Collaborative Fund, investors in Beyond Meat, Lyft and Sweetgreen, and Imaginary Ventures, investors in Skims, Glossier and Daily Harvest, followed by Oseary, an early investor in Peloton who leads the venture capital firm Sound Ventures with Ashton Kutcher, which has stakes in Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, Pinterest, Robinhood, and others.
The [cafeteria] app
[cafeteria]
After opening its doors in early 2018, It didn’t take long for multi-venue dance destination Avant Garder to dominate New York’s nightlife scene. Each year, the indoor/outdoor complex that includes Brooklyn Mirage, the Kings Hall and Great Hall has attracted some of the biggest names in dance, including a busy 2024 season that saw sellouts by Black Coffee, Swedish House Mafia, DavidGuetta, Gesaffelstein, Diplo, Anderson. Paak, Carl Cox, Deadmau5 and Three 6 Mafia.
That success comes in spite of the high-profile September 2023 collapse of the Electric Zoo festival — the Randall’s Island EDM festival purchased by Avant Gardner co-founder Billy Bildstein and the company’s former chief creative officer Philipp Wiederkehr the year before. Once a staple of the New York festival scene, the 2023 version of Electric Zoo was marred by missed permit deadlines, rampant overcrowding and safety violations later cited by former ally turned critic, Mayor Eric Adams.
Trending on Billboard
“It’s something I wanted to address head-on,” says Josh Wyatt, Avant Gardner’s new CEO, who officially begins his new role on Wednesday (Oct. 23) but has spent the last several months working behind the scenes to settle any lingering issues in the aftermath of the Electric Zoo debacle. “If I were to make a constructive criticism of the company in the past, it’s that they have not always done a good job of communicating with the various [Electric Zoo] stakeholders.”
“Over the last eight weeks, I have reached out to every key stakeholder in Electric Zoo and I’ve made them whole,” Wyatt added of refunding ticket holders, settling with vendors and managing small litigation issues. “I’m proud of that.”
Wyatt counts two decades of experience in the hospitality and nightlife sectors, including his most recent tenure as CEO of the members-only social club NeueHouse and its sister company, the photography museum Fotografiska. He also served as president of Equinox Hotels and as co-founder/managing partner of Generator Hostels.
Wyatt joins Avant Gardner after the company brought on a new unnamed investor, which has “inject(ed) the company with growth capital to allow myself as the new CEO to really operate the company,” he says, adding that Bildstein will serve as “my partner in this journey” as founder/creative director. Together, the two will explore the first phase of experiential evolution inside Avant Gardner with a handful of new initiatives including the launch of a music venue/mocktail bar, as well as new community spaces like a hi-fi listening room for audiophiles and immersive art and visual studios for guests.
“That’s the trend that’s happening right now and It’s something that we see a lot of our guests asking for — places to chill out and refresh,” Wyatt says.