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A federal judge says Sean “Diddy” Combs can’t prove that prosecutors leaked the infamous 2016 surveillance video of him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie – and is refusing to launch an investigation into his claims that the government is waging a “campaign” of such leaks.
In an order issued Monday, Judge Arun Subramanian denied Combs’ request for discovery and an evidentiary hearing into those allegations. Combs had argued that prosecutors were using media coverage to “taint the jury pool” and deprive him of a fair trial.
Most notably, the judge said that Combs had failed to show that government agents leaked the Cassie video, saying the accused mogul “doesn’t point to any sound basis for this conclusion.”
“Combs never considers the possibility that many people beyond Victim-1 and government agents likely had access to the video, including Combs’s team (who paid security officers at the Intercontinental Hotel “$100,000 in cash to destroy” the video) and hotel employees and contractors,” the judge wrote.
Though he denied the request from Combs’ legal team, the judge also reiterated previous warnings to prosecutors to closely safeguard grand jury materials and avoid sharing other improper information with the press.
“The court is sensitive to Combs’s concern about the publication of stories claiming to disclose inside information about this case from unnamed ‘federal law enforcement sources who are involved in the investigation,’” the judge wrote.
“The court has already taken steps in this regard, and it is open to tailored applications for relief as this case continues,” the judge added. “The court once again reminds the government and its agents that if specific information comes to light showing that they leaked prohibited information, action will be taken.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
The star’s legal team has spent months seeking to have him released on bail until the start of the trial. But after multiple failed attempts, his attorneys on Friday dropped their appeal of the bail issue, meaning the hip-hop mogul will remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until the trial kicks off.
In October, Combs’ attorneys warned the judge that there had been “a series of unlawful government leaks” in the case, leading to “damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.”
The filing called the Cassie video – a clip that made headlines when CNN first aired in May — the “most egregious example” of such leaks, arguing it had been done in order to “mortally wound the reputation and the prospect of Sean Combs successfully defending himself.”
“Rather than using the videotape as trial evidence, alongside other evidence that gives it context and meaning, the agents misused it in the most prejudicial and damaging way possible,” Diddy’s lawyers wrote at the time. “The government knew what it had: a frankly deplorable video recording of Sean Combs in a towel hitting, kicking and dragging a woman in full view of a camera in the hallway of the hotel.”
In a response weeks later, the government sharply denied those claims – and accused Combs’ lawyers of using such allegations as a ploy to “suppress a damning piece of evidence.”
“Without any factual basis, the leak motion seeks to suppress highly probative evidence … by claiming that it was grand jury material leaked by government agents,” prosecutors write. “But, as the defendant is fully aware, the video was not in the Government’s possession at the time of CNN’s publication and the Government has never, at any point, obtained the video through grand jury process.”
Universal Music Group’s Virgin Music Group said on Monday it agreed to buy Downtown Music Holdings for $775 million cash in a deal that will bolster the world’s largest music company’s slice of the independent music segment. Founded in 2007 in New York, Downtown Music Holdings is the parent company of the direct-to-creator distributor CD Baby, […]
At the start of 2024, Chappell Roan was a rising pop singer-songwriter with a core but mighty following. She had released her debut solo album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in September 2023 to critical appreciation but not much commercial fanfare. By February, she kicked off Olivia Rodrigo’s North American arena tour as its opening act and soon after booked a few appearances at the biggest U.S. music festivals including Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, mostly on afternoon side stages.
Yet the April release of her stand-alone single, “Good Luck, Babe!,” coincided with Roan’s album flying into the top 10 of the Billboard 200 as her back catalog quickly populated the Billboard Hot 100. By the time of her previously booked festival gigs, her name had become synonymous with pop stardom — and she used each set to prove why, showcasing her undeniable stage presence and audacious wardrobe at every stop.
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Apparently, behind the scenes, Roan was just as astonished. “In the moment, it was all so fast that we didn’t even get a chance to talk about what the f–k was going on,” says Roan’s stylist, Genesis Webb, with a laugh. “We were so focused on moving to the next thing that we didn’t have a moment to process.”
Chappell Roan’s “Eat Me” outfit at Coachella in April.
Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
By July, when the organizers for Chicago’s Lollapalooza witnessed her outsize crowds at festivals like Governors Ball and Boston Calling, they met to hastily figure out how to accommodate the throng of fans Roan would inevitably assemble at their own event. “It became a safety concern more than anything else,” says Huston Powell, a promoter at C3 Presents, the company responsible for booking the iconic Chicago festival. “There’s an egress-ingress point to the left of the stage that she was going to be playing, and we knew that the number of people wanting to see her could cause a massive traffic jam on that hill. On the main stages, we had a layout that could handle more people with more barricading, so we decided to move her set.”
Ultimately, Roan’s Lollapalooza performance broke an attendance record for the largest day crowd ever seen in the event’s 30-plus-year history — without a headline billing. And while Powell can’t offer a specific number of people in the audience for the star’s headline-making set, he can confirm what he saw with his own eyes. “There were at least three or four other acts playing at the same time, and the crowd is usually somewhat evenly split between the stages. But just by the sheer appearance, looking around at the number of people in the park and the people you could eyeball at other stages, the vast majority were watching Chappell’s set. We anticipated it would be big, but this completely exceeded expectations.”
Dan Nigro, Roan’s producer-collaborator, explained to Billboard in June that her path to the center of the cultural zeitgeist proved that nothing is more powerful in the industry than good buzz.
“The fact that she’s so phenomenal live means people are finally able to see in real time how good she is. That then becomes this word-of-mouth thing, and it’s wonderful to see her have such old-school success,” he said. “She’s so good at what she does that the system is working again. It really is that simple.”
Her wrestling outfit at Lollapalooza.
Erika Goldring/WireImage
Roan herself told Billboard in 2022 that her career lives and dies by the success of her live performances. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the live show is where the heartbeat of the project is,” she said. “Luckily, it’s my favorite part of what I do.”
Part of her runaway success on the festival circuit came largely thanks to Roan’s maximalist costuming, a running feature along her path to pop stardom. When she started headlining her own tours in 2023 — following the release of her now-Grammy-nominated debut album — Roan decided to create themes for every show, encouraging fans to dress up along with her. Webb says they kept that trend going for Roan’s festival performances, commissioning eye-catching, distinct costumes for every gig. “I think we did 16 different looks all told for these festivals,” she says.
Whether Roan was dressed as a giant pink butterfly at Coachella (in a loving tribute to Deee-Lite’s Lady Miss Kier), the Statue of Liberty at Governors Ball or a professional wrestler at Lollapalooza, she thrived when embracing the outsize nature of her job, creating headlines around her phenomenal costuming and anticipation for what would come next. Webb points out that it’s a tried-and-true method for pop stars, with artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry building their own fame with dazzling outfits at the outset of their careers.
“I think it’s the zeitgeist of it all — it’s knowing that this is supposed to be fun,” she says. “It felt like there hadn’t been a pop star in a really long time to have people wanting to see a live-performance look as much as they do with her.”
Her Statue of Liberty costume at Governors Ball in June.
Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images
With that anticipation came unprecedented crowds. Powell saw the numbers Roan drew at Boston Calling and Coachella, which helped his team plan ahead. When an act dropped out the weekend before Austin City Limits in September, C3 Presents promoter Amy Corbin says the festival seized the opportunity to place Roan’s performance on its main stage as well. “When it happens, we look at ways to adjust programming to ensure we are delivering the best fan and artist experience,” Corbin tells Billboard. For the second time this year, Roan’s set drew “the largest crowds in the sunset slot in ACL Fest history,” she says.
Roan’s festival season has since ignited conversations in the live industry about how to recapture the energy that she — and her fans — brought. “We’re all trying to find the next Chappell Roan,” Powell says. “I think sometimes bands worry about what time of day they play and where they play — but if anything, this showed that if you’re hot enough, audiences will come no matter what.”
This story appears in the Dec. 14, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Merlin, which oversees digital licensing for the independent sector, has outlined its position on the use of music in training artificial intelligence in a new memo.
Like many organizations in the music industry, Merlin supports “AI products that aid human creativity, or provide new opportunities for artists to create and collaborate in developing new original works,” wrote the organization in a mission statement shared with Billboard. But it strongly opposes “any product, regardless of its purpose, that has been trained on Merlin members’ music without permission.”
Sony Music and Warner Music Group, among others, made similar announcements earlier this year, warning AI companies not to harvest their data for training purposes. But Merlin’s statement on Friday suggests that its members are even more vulnerable than the major labels.
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“These are not multinational corporations,” Merlin notes. “They are often small businesses operating in support of artists who shape contemporary culture around the world, and who are trying to earn a living in an increasingly challenging environment. Unlicensed use of these artists’ work creates a genuine and imminent threat to artists’ livelihoods and the livelihoods of those who work to support them.”
Like Merlin, most — if not all — music industry rightsholders believe that AI companies should license their music if they want to use those catalogs of recordings to develop song generation technology. Statements from a number of AI companies, however, indicate that they aren’t interested in paying. They often argue that training their models fall under “fair use,” the U.S. legal doctrine that allows for the unlicensed use of copyrighted works in certain situations.
But Merlin hit back against this argument on Friday: “Taking someone else’s creative work — without permission, without compensation, and with the specific purpose of using that work to create new works that are substitutional for the original — is inherently not fair use,” the statement reads.
“AI companies and their investors would, we assume, look to copyright and other IP law to protect against any unauthorized uses of their technology,” Merlin continued. But ironically, “AI companies are rightly protective over their models and proprietary software, yet some seem to view other people’s intellectual property as ‘free data’ to feed their algorithm.”
Read Merlin’s full memo below.
Merlin is the independents’ digital licensing partner. Merlin’s primary function is to enable innovative and properly-compensated uses of its members’ music. This is clearly demonstrated by the partnerships Merlin has in place with so many of the world’s leading digital services.
All of our partnerships have one thing in common: our partners value music. While our partnerships have evolved over the years, they respect the human artistry involved in creating music and the financial investment needed to nurture, distribute and market it. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) does nothing to change that.
Merlin and its members have always embraced and adapted to technological change, while ensuring that the value of human creativity is respected. Artistic expression is a fundamental part of what makes us human. The ability to create, appreciate, and enjoy art, in all its forms, is foundational to the human experience. Music, in particular, brings people together, evokes emotions, and helps us express thoughts and feelings.
Merlin recognises the enormous power of AI and its benefits to the creative community and society as a whole; but, if AI is left unregulated, the impact on the creative industries and, by extension, global culture will be devastating.
Merlin believes that, when developed and implemented responsibly, AI technologies can be additive to the creative landscape. AI products that aid human creativity, or provide new opportunities for artists to create and collaborate in developing new original works, are products that Merlin supports. Merlin and its members are ready to partner with AI companies that want to be on the right side of history – those that are willing properly to compensate Merlin members for use of their repertoire and to include appropriate guardrails to protect Merlin members’ rights.
However, Merlin cannot support any product, regardless of its purpose, that has been trained on Merlin members’ music without permission.
Merlin’s members, and the independent labels they represent, number in the thousands. These are not multinational corporations. They are often small businesses operating in support of artists who shape contemporary culture around the world, and who are trying to earn a living in an increasingly challenging environment. Unlicensed use of these artists’ work creates a genuine and imminent threat to artists’ livelihoods and the livelihoods of those who work to support them.
It has been suggested that training of AI models on artists’ work without permission should somehow be considered “fair use”. We believe it is the exact opposite of fair, both morally and legally.
The legal test for fair use involves four criteria, relating to the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyright work, the amount used, and the effect upon the market or value of the copyright work. Unlicensed commercial AI models fail on all four. Any AI company that trains its models by scraping the internet for copyright-protected sound recordings is making unauthorized reproductions of entire copyright works. Invariably, these copies are used for commercial purposes, and the AI-generated sound recordings resulting from the models pose a significant threat to the market for Merlin artists’ copyrighted sound recordings by creating directly competitive digital music files. There is much talk about these uses being fair merely because the outputs are “transformative”, but even transformative uses need to take into account the impact on the original works, and the extent to which they are substitutional for the original. In the case of AI-generated music, the substitutional impact is obvious.
Taking someone else’s creative work – without permission, without compensation, and with the specific purpose of using that work to create new works that are substitutional for the original – is inherently not fair use.
In seeking to license their music, Merlin members and their artists are not leveraging their copyrights to gain an unfair advantage. They are doing their best to earn a living and to protect rights in their expressive works. This is no different to how AI companies and their investors would, we assume, look to copyright and other IP law to protect against any unauthorized uses of their technology. AI companies are rightly protective over their models and proprietary software, yet some seem to view other people’s intellectual property as “free data” to feed their algorithm.
It is Merlin’s position, and that of its members, that any and all uses of Merlin member repertoire for training, development or implementation of AI models and related purposes requires explicit written authorization from Merlin or the applicable Merlin member. Merlin’s policy is clearly displayed on its website at https://merlinnetwork.org/policy-on-ai/.
If you are a responsible AI company that seeks to use independent music to train a model, or to offer a product or service that is additive to the music ecosystem and has intrinsic creative benefit to music creators, please contact us at ResponsibleAI@merlinnetwork.org.
Jay-Z’s attorneys have written a letter to a New York courthouse revealing that the rapper intends to “immediately” file a motion to strike a recent complaint accusing him of raping a teenager 24 years ago.
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In the letter obtained by Billboard, the legal team cited a new NBC report on Friday night (Dec. 13), in which the accuser — identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit filed against Jay-Z (real name Shawn Carter) and Diddy — recalled the “catastrophic event,” while also acknowledging a number of inconsistencies in her original account. “I have made some mistakes,” she shared, noting that while she still stands by her accusations, there are a few details that are unclear.
One of the inconsistencies is that the woman originally said her father picked her up after the assault, but he denied that. She also claimed she spoke to singer Benji Madden at the event, though he wasn’t in New York at the time of the party.
The letter from Jay-Z’s attorney took aim at Doe’s attorney Anthony Buzbee. “Given today’s relevations, Mr. Buzbee almost certainly failed to undertake a reasonable inquiry into the facts before filing the complaint,” the message reads. “He should never have brought the claims.”
The letter concludes by noting that Jay “intends to file immediately a motion to strike the first amended complaint.”
In a press statement, Jay-Z echoed the sentiments of his attorney. “Today’s investigative report proves this ‘attorney’ Buzbee filed a false complaint against me in the pursuit of money and fame. This incident didn’t happen and yet he filed it in court and doubled down in the press. True justice is coming. We fight FROM victory, not FOR victory. This was over before it began. This 1-800 lawyer doesn’t realize it yet, but, soon.”
His lawyer Alex Spiro added, “It is stunning that a lawyer would not only file such a serious complaint without proper vetting, but would make things worse by further peddling this false story in the press. We are asking the Court to dismiss this frivolous case today, and will take up the matter of additional discipline for Mr. Buzbee and all the lawyers that filed the complaint.”
Over the weekend, Jay-Z was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty alongside Diddy. The shocking civil case was filed by an anonymous accuser and Texas attorney Tony Buzbee, whom Jay called a “deplorable human.”
The rapper also denyied all of the allegations against him when news broke. “You have made a terrible error in judgement thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same,” Jay-Z said. “I’m not from your world. I’m a young man who made it out of the projects of Brooklyn. We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, you seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists … will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable. I look forward to showing you just how different I am.”
Jay-Z continued: “My only heartbreak is for my family. My wife and I will have to sit our children down, one of whom is at the age where her friends will surely see the press and ask questions about the nature of these claims, and explain the cruelty and greed of people. I mourn yet another loss of innocence.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has dropped his appeal to be released on bail, according to court documents filed on Friday (Dec. 13). The voluntary dismissal means the hip-hop mogul will remain behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until the start of his criminal trial in May. “Mr. Combs does not seek to appeal […]
K-pop stocks rebounded this week from a slump caused by the country’s political turmoil. HYBE, which was also dragged down by news of an investigation of its chairman, Bang Si-Hyuk, regarding the company’s 2020 initial public offering, led the group of South Korean music companies by gaining 8.7% to 205,500 won ($143.16), bringing the stock back to its level from one month ago. Elsewhere, YG Entertainment gained 7.2% to 48,250 won ($33.61) to recapture losses from the previous three weeks while SM Entertainment and JYP Entertainment had smaller improvements of 3.3% and 2.6%, respectively.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) dropped 1.6% to 2,243.59, marking its first weekly decline in seven weeks. After reaching record highs in each of the previous five weeks, the index was overcome by the losses among 13 of its 20 stocks. The BGMI fared worse than many major indexes. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite gained 0.3% and the S&P 500 fell 0.6%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 lost 0.1%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index gained 2.7% while China’s Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.4%.
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The week’s biggest gainer was Abu Dhabi-based music streaming company Anghami. In the absence of any market-moving news or regulatory filing, the company’s shares spiked 17.4% on Tuesday (Dec. 10) on heavy trading volume. On an average day, 80,000 shares of Anghami trade hands. But nearly 3.5 million shares — 5% of the company’s shares outstanding — were traded on Tuesday, and another 616,000 shares exchanged hands over the next two days.
Other than Anghami and K-pop stocks, only two companies posted gains this week. Universal Music Group, the index’s second-largest company, gained 4.6% to 24.46 euros ($25.69), its best closing price since it lost 24% following second-quarter earnings on July 25. Warner Music Group improved 0.3% to $32.52.
Spotify, the hottest music stock of 2024, had a losing week for the first time since September. The streaming company’s share price dropped 3.1% to $483.31, finishing the week 4.6% off its all-time high of $506.47 set on Dec. 4. Still, investors have renewed faith in Spotify after the company improved its margins and bottom line while maintaining the same rapid growth rate before it laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce in 2023. Spotify shares are up 157.2% year to date and the company’s market capitalization briefly surpassed $100 billion a week ago.
Live Nation shares fell 0.6% to $135.95 despite more analysts raising price targets on the concert promoter’s share price this week. Wolfe Research increased its price target to $160 from $152. JP Morgan upped its price target to $150 from $137. And Roth MKM raised Live Nation to $152 from $132. Live Nation’s stock is up 45.2% year to date and is one of the best performers on the BGMI.
SiriusXM had the week’s biggest loss after dropping 14.8% to $24.11. On Tuesday, the company announced guidance for 2025 revenue that would represent a 2% decline from full-year 2024 revenue guidance. The company also revealed it is doubling down on in-car listening and refocusing on satellite radio after its year-old streaming app delivered disappointing results. Following the news, Seaport Global lowered its recommendation on SiriusXM’s stock to “neutral” from “buy.”
In other stock moves, German concert promoter CTS Eventim fell 4.9% to 34.37 euros ($36.10). The company announced this week that it acquired a 17% stake in French ticketing company France Billet. Lastly, New York-based live events company Madison Square Garden Entertainment dropped 8.5% to $34.37 and radio giant iHeartMedia was down 12.3% to $2.29.
Paula Abdul and former “American Idol” producer Nigel Lythgoe have agreed to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged he sexually assaulted her in the early 2000s when she was a judge on the show.
Abdul filed a notice of settlement of the case in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday. It still must be approved by a judge.
“I am grateful that this chapter has successfully come to a close and is now something I can now put behind me,” Abdul said in a statement Friday. “This has been a long and hard-fought personal battle. I hope my experience can serve to inspire other women, facing similar struggles, to overcome their own challenges with dignity and respect, so that they too can turn the page and begin a new chapter of their lives.”
In his own statement, Lythgoe said, “We live in a troubling time where a person is now automatically assumed to be guilty until proven innocent, a process that can take years. That is why, like Paula, I am glad to be able to put this behind me. I know the truth and that gives me great comfort.”
The court filing said the settlement was unconditional, but did not reveal the terms, and Abdul’s attorney Melissa Eubanks said she could not comment on them.
The lawsuit filed nearly a year ago had also accused Lythgoe of sexually assaulting Abdul after she left “American Idol” and became a judge on Lythgoe’s other competition show, “So You Think You Can Dance.”
Lythgoe said at the time that he was “shocked and saddened” by the allegations, which he called “an appalling smear.”
After other lawsuits were filed alleging sexual misconduct, Lythgoe stepped down in January from his role as a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance.”
The 75-year-old English-born producer has been a prominent TV producer for decades in both the U.K. and the U.S., working on reality competition shows including “American Idol.”
The Associated Press generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as Abdul has done.
Abdul, a Grammy and Emmy-winning singer and dancer, said in the lawsuit that she remained silent for years about the alleged assaults out of fear of retaliation by “one of the most well-known producers of television competition shows.”
She alleged that the first sexual assault occurred while Abdul and Lythgoe were on the road filming auditions for an early season of “American Idol,” which premiered in 2002.
Abdul says Lythgoe groped her in the elevator of their hotel after a day of filming and “began shoving his tongue down her throat.” Abdul pushed him away and ran to her hotel room when the elevator doors opened.
“In tears, Abdul quickly called one of her representatives to inform them of the assault,” the lawsuit says, “but ultimately decided not to take action for fear that Lythgoe would have her fired.”
Abdul starred as a judge for the first eight seasons, leaving in 2009.
In 2015, Abdul became a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance,” appearing alongside Lythgoe.
Around that time, Abdul alleged in the lawsuit, Lythgoe forced himself on top of her during a dinner at his home and tried to kiss her. Abdul said she again pushed Lythgoe away and immediately left.
Abdul left that reality show after two seasons. She has not worked with Lythgoe since.
In a statement at the time of the suit, Lythgoe said “While Paula’s history of erratic behavior is well known, I can’t pretend to understand exactly why she would file a lawsuit that she must know is untrue.”
This story was originally published by The Associated Press.
When Ella Langley’s “You Look Like You Love Me” featuring Riley Green hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart dated Dec. 14, it became the first song by a woman in 2024 to top the tally.
It also achieved the feat in 20 weeks, which is a veritable sprint given how long it can take songs to reach the summit on the slow-moving chart. But there was no denying the sexy track’s catchiness and uniqueness with its spoken-word verses and the chemistry between Langley and Green.
Langley, who is signed to SAWGOD/Columbia Records out of New York and Green, who is signed to Big Machine Label Group’s Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment imprint, were already on tour together when the idea for the flirty duet came about. Langley and her co-writer, Aaron Raitiere, had written the song as a solo track, but “Ella and Aaron were wondering what it would be like with the male perspective,” says Ryan Dokke, senior vp of Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment. “She asked [Riley] if he’d be up for writing a verse or two and it turned out to be something pretty special. They debuted it on tour together.” The song is also featured on Langley’s debut album, hungover, which came out in August.
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The song, which the pair performed during the CMA Awards, snagged the Country Music Association Awards trophy for vocal event of the year over such powerhouse contenders as Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help” and Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ “I Remember Everything.” That recognition helped propel the song from 7-1 on the Country Airplay chart and earned Dokke the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Dokke, whose team worked the song to country radio, talks about the steps that led to the song’s chart-topping success and what it means for rising stars Langley and Green.
Langley is signed to SAWGOD/Columbia and Green is signed to Big Machine Label Group’s Nashville Harbor. How did you work with Columbia in taking the song to country radio since Langley is the lead artist on the track?
Ella and I first met in 2021, and I knew immediately that I wanted to work with her in some capacity. When the potential opportunity to work with Columbia came into view, [BMLG founder/CEO] Scott Borchetta and [Nashville Harbor president/CEO] Jimmy Harnen immediately jumped in to land the plane. For me, I think having that relationship with Ella and her team as well as having Riley on the track made it easy for our team to dive in and get to work. [Columbia Records executive vp/head of promotion] Peter Gray and the entire Columbia team were fantastic partners. They placed complete confidence in our ability to move the song up the charts and cheered on the Nashville Harbor team the whole way!
The track jumped 7-1 on Country Airplay last Friday: the six-spot leap ties for the third-greatest to the top in the chart’s nearly 35-year history. What specific steps did you take to accomplish such a leap?
Ella and Riley delivering a BIG HIT song was certainly the biggest factor in its success at radio! Our promotion team at Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment (Andrew Thoen, Liz Santana, Stella Prado) worked really closely with our country radio partners. There were several viral moments along the way that helped the song have more opportunities., The buzz around the CMA Awards win and performance was certainly important, but one of the biggest factors in making this historic leap was Ella herself, putting in the work – especially in the final stretch. She picked up the phone and was on the air talking with stations well into the eleventh hour.
You mention the CMA Awards performance/win and the tour. What other moments helped build momentum?
There were several moments that created a lot of chatter: The performance [opening for Morgan Wallen] at Hyde Park in London, which drew the UK’s biggest country crowd in history, and even when they popped up at Loser’s Bar & Grill in Nashville with Jamey Johnson over the summer. Seeing the passion for this song following those performances was what drove the demand for it at radio and it just continued to grow from there. They performed it on the TODAY Show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and the CMA Awards and each time we saw the numbers spike.
“You Look Like You Love Me” is the first song performed/co-performed by a woman to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in 2024. Langley ends the longest break – 51 weeks – between women (including groups with prominent female vocals) topping the chart since a record 61-week shutout in 2003-04. What does that say about the difficulty women are still facing?
Honestly, I was surprised that Ella was the first of the year. With women like Carly Pearce, Lainey Wilson, Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini, Megan Moroney – who just won the CMA Awards’ best new artist and of course, Miranda Lambert who are all making and releasing culture shaping music and are filling arenas – it put me on my heels for a second. I’m optimistic that we’ll see more opportunities in the coming year. Just too much great music for there not to be.
This song includes spoken verses. Did you face any resistance at radio since that is more a throwback to the ‘60s and ‘70s? Did you think about releasing a version without the spoken-word parts?
The song started with such red- hot heat and had such undeniable passion from fans on the internet and it was immediately streaming so well, the spoken verses were never really an issue.
Green also has a top 15 hit with “Damn Good Day to Leave.” How are these two songs setting him up to take him to the next level in his career?
Riley is in such a great place and there is so much demand right now. It all comes down to building a connection with fans. These songs might connect to two different audiences, and he wins with both. He is wrapping his biggest year yet and already we can see 2025 being even bigger – with a red- hot album, sold out tours in the U.S. and the U.K., a rabid internet following, and the respect of his peers – Riley Green’s time is definitely here!
Will you have any continued involvement in Langley’s country radio work or was that a one-off because of Green?
I think right now we are still celebrating a BIG WIN. That question will answer itself in time. Regardless, the Nashville Harbor team is proud to have been a part of Ella’s introduction to Country radio and we will continue to be huge fans of Ella and her music. She’ll also be on tour with Riley next year, so we’ll be close by cheering her on either way.
A year ago, SiriusXM launched a new streaming app filled with original and licensed content from its satellite radio service and set the price at $9.99 — far below the roughly $16 average monthly revenue it takes in per satellite subscriber. The hope was that a relatively affordable price and an improved app would help SiriusXM reach younger consumers and expand beyond its core in-car satellite radio listeners.
The new app was “just the beginning,” CEO Jennifer Witz said at the time, adding that SiriusXM would “continue to iterate and develop our product offerings throughout the next year and beyond as we strive to deliver our subscribers the best listening experience on the go, in the car, and wherever they choose to tune in.” The company’s satellite radio business was built on vehicles. If you buy a new or used car, you’ll likely get a free SiriusXM trial that’s extremely effective at convincing people to subscribe once their trial is over. The new streaming app was intended to attract people who would listen outside of the car.
But selling the radio experience in a smartphone app didn’t go well. As it turns out, the streaming app hasn’t produced a good return on marketing spending, Witz said on Tuesday (Dec. 10). Appearing at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, the executive cited “slow progress” in turning free trials into long-term retention. As a result, SiriusXM has already cut back its marketing spend on the app and expects to have fewer streaming trials — and thus fewer subscribers — in the future. That was a worse assessment than what Witz delivered on SiriusXM’s Aug. 2 earnings call. At that time, when asked about conversion rates for the app, Witz said they had been “challenged” but maintained positivity, adding that there had been some “positive results” with first-time trial adopters and that the company was “confident” it could attract “a different audience” that will be “incremental” to the existing car-based business.
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Now, after its underwhelming experiment with the app, SiriusXM will, in Witz’s words, be “leaning into our strengths.” In other words, the company is putting its focus back on satellite radio and the in-automobile listening experience. In alignment with that strategy, the company also announced the departure of Joseph Inzerillo, the chief product and technology officer who played an instrumental role in the app’s launch.
For all the strengths of the app — curated stations, celebrity musician stations, a smorgasbord of audio programming — the company gave up its competitive advantage when it tried to compete outside of satellite radio and the automobile. After all, the company is the lone satellite radio operator and, given the cost and complexity of launching satellites into orbit, has the market to itself. But when leaving the safety of satellite, it’s hard to beat Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon Music at their own game. These are streaming-native platforms built for consumers’ desire for interactivity, while SiriusXM’s app attempts to fit a one-way satellite radio experience into a two-way, interactive medium. In the end, paid radio turned out to be a tough sell to a generation that has grown up on on-demand streaming.
So, SiriusXM is going to focus on what it does best, and in-car listening gives the company a huge audience to work with. It currently has 33 million subscribers and, according to MusicWatch’s Russ Crupnick, reaches 65 million total listeners. In an email to Billboard, radio consultant Andy Meadows said he believes “SiriusXM is better suited to compete for those coveted in-car listeners so [Tuesday’s announcement] makes sense from that standpoint.” Crupnick also sees in-car listening as a point of strength for SiriusXM, pointing to the uniqueness of the SiriusXM product as a distinct advantage. “The ease of use, breadth of content, and curation position them as far superior to terrestrial radio, and in a different place than music streaming or podcasts,” he says.
Building on in-car satellite listening, the SiriusXM streaming app will become more of a complementary product. “There is real opportunity with 360L,” said Witz on Tuesday, referring to the company’s in-car platform that serves as a dual satellite radio/streaming product. Because 360L includes streaming, it allows SiriusXM to serve personalized — a.k.a. more lucrative — ads and provide more targeted — a.k.a. more expensive — ads for advertisers. Of the app, she said it can provide data that helps SiriusXM determine spends on programming that resonates with listeners, given that satellite receivers are a one-way technology that doesn’t provide granular insights into listening behaviors. Similar to 360L, the app can also provide targeted advertisements.
For customers, bundling satellite and streaming costs as low as $25 per month. That’s about double the cost of an individual Spotify subscription, but SiriusXM subscribers can withstand the price. According to Witz, platinum satellite subscriptions, which cost upward of $29 per month, account for “about a third” of the current subscriber base. And providing the best of satellite and streaming will help SiriusXM compete with a “newer breed of streaming products” on Americans’ car dashes, says Meadows. “Anything SiriusXM, and traditional radio for that matter, can do to look, sound and function better across all devices is in their best interest long term.”