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Bad Bunny‘s upcoming “No Me Quiero Ir de Aquí” summer residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico has officially sold out, according to a press release issued by the artist’s team on Friday (Jan. 17). Produced by Noah Assad Presents and Move Concerts, the 30-date stint, set to kick off July 11 and wrap Sept. 14, sold 400,000 tickets in just four hours through online and in-person sales across the island.
The announcement further states that while more than 2.5 million people registered for online pre-sale, Bad Bunny’s team “worked diligently” to eliminate 1.8 million scalpers and bots to “ensure Bad Bunny’s loyal fans were eligible for the pre-sale.”
The first nine shows, reserved exclusively for Puerto Rico residents, officially went on sale Wednesday (Jan. 15) at nine different locations throughout Puerto Rico, including Palacio de los Deportes in Mayagüez and Plaza del Mercado Río Piedras in San Juan. (The shows sold out that day.) Subsequently, Bad Bunny unveiled nine additional dates to the residency for a total of 30 dates at El Choli. Those 21 shows, which went on sale this morning, sold out in under four hours.
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The residency has also incorporated VIP concert and hotel experiences featuring a two-night hotel stay, premium tickets and limited edition VIP gift bags, among other elements. Offered through Vibee, more than 80,000 VIP packages have already been sold, with a limited number of VIP experiences remaining.
Bad Bunny (real name Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) is no stranger to selling out tours or breaking records at the box office. His World’s Hottest Tour in 2022 grossed $314.1 million and sold 1.9 million tickets, breaking the record for the biggest Latin tour ever. That same year, Bad Bunny became the first Latin act, and first act who doesn’t perform in English, to finish atop Billboard’s year-end Top Tours chart.
Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico is in honor of his latest album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, which he released Jan. 5. The set debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, securing him his seventh top 10-charting set. Meanwhile, the LP opened at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Streaming Albums chart (dated Jan. 18), marking the largest streaming week for a Latin title in over a year. All 17 songs on the set entered the Billboard Hot 100, upping his career total from 98 to 113 and making him the first Latin artist to tally 100 career Hot 100 hits.
Though making and distributing music has become easier than ever, the number of tracks being uploaded to digital service providers has fallen — not increased — in the last two years.
In the first quarter of 2023, an average of 120,000 tracks were being uploaded to DSPs each day, up from 93,400 in 2022, according to Luminate. That number dropped to 103,500 for the full year of 2023 and fell further to 99,000 last year, according to the company’s recently released 2024 year-end report. Normally, a decrease in the amount of new music tracked by Luminate wouldn’t merit much attention. But a 4% annual decline in new tracks is notable when today’s creators have an unprecedented number of tools to make music — including easy-to-use digital audio workstations like BandLab and generative artificial intelligence apps such as Suno — and can tap into global distribution.
Music professionals Billboard spoke to for this story pointed to numerous possible explanations for the drop in new tracks, with anti-fraud measures being the most widely cited reason for the decline. Bad actors are known to upload large numbers of tracks through do-it-yourself distributors before hacking into users’ streaming accounts to stream the songs. Erik Söderblom, chief product officer for music distributor Amuse, cites Spotify’s policy changes announced in 2023 to discourage labels and distributors from uploading tracks used to inflate streaming activity for the drop. “It has been a successful way for both of them as a DSP and us as a distributor to discourage fraudulent actors who abuse the system by releasing and monetizing large volumes of audio files through artificial streams,” he says.
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Beatdapp, which can identify when users’ accounts are hijacked and turned into bot farms that unknowingly stream music, has seen fraud rates decrease on the platforms it works with, says CEO Morgan Hayduk. While a small 4% decline in the scheme of millions of new tracks suggests there’s still ample music for these bot farms to illegally stream, Hayduk believes the financial penalties are having their intended effect. “I do think the DIY space is taking their end more seriously and trying not to be a conduit for this,” he says.
French streaming service Deezer introduced an “artist-centric” royalty payout scheme in 2023 to combat fraud and prioritize professional music over “functional” music such as background noise and nature sounds. But given Spotify’s far larger user base, the platform’s anti-fraud measures get more credit for creating outcomes favorable to artists and record labels. For instance, in 2023, Spotify began levying penalties on music distributors and labels when fraudulent tracks they uploaded had been detected. As a result, experts tell Billboard, better policing at the source of the problem could have resulted in distributors being wary of working with some creators.
While the anti-fraud measures may have had the intended effect and prevented some tracks from being uploaded, DistroKid, another self-serve distributor of independent artists, actually sent more tracks to DSPs in 2024 than the prior year. “There wasn’t a decrease in tracks uploaded to streaming services through DistroKid in 2024,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Billboard. “The average number of tracks uploaded to streaming services each day steadily increased throughout the year.”
As for other, lesser factors, a likely candidate is Spotify’s 2023 decision to set a minimum threshold for royalty payouts at 1,000 streams. The policy received mixed reactions. Some critics called the threshold a penalty for developing artists who rely on royalties to help build their careers. But cutting off payments to the outer reaches of the long tail put Spotify in sync with major labels’ recent push for royalty accounting schemes that reward professional artists at the expense of, as Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge put it in 2023, “merchants of garbage.”
Ending the practice of cutting tiny royalty checks may help DSPs’ goal of prioritizing professional musicians over a sea of unwanted content, but “may also dishearten early-stage artists who struggle to grow their project,” says Söderblom. As a result, fewer uploads would mean fewer new tracks could enter Luminate’s database. Will Page, author of Pivot: Eight Principles for Transforming Your Business, believes that the payout threshold likely had “a material effect on what Luminate gets to count.” After Spotify set a threshold for payouts at 1,000 streams, an artist would experience diminishing returns from uploading more unpopular music. According to Luminate, 93.2 million of the 202.2 million tracks in its database were streamed fewer than 10 times. Page, Spotify’s former chief economist, estimates that 99% of the 99,000 new tracks in 2024 made the recording artist less than $100 in royalties last year.
Anti-fraud measures and artist-centric royalty schemes may not account for all of the decline, though. Another factor could be a natural ebb in the supply of music. Söderblom sees 2022 as “a great year for DIY” because many artists had additional time to work on new music due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The combination of accessible music production and distribution tools and a more or less global lockdown led to a huge influx of releases,” he says. “As the world returns to normal, it seems natural to see the volume of new uploads decline.” The same could be true of video creators. Last week, MIDiA Research declared that “the pandemic-induced content creation boom has peaked” after time spent creating content such as YouTube videos dropped in the second quarter of 2024 — marking the first decline since 2021.
Similarly, the 120,000 tracks uploaded daily in 2022 may have marked a peak of musicians uploading their back catalogs to distributors. MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan has surveyed amateur and semi-professional creators for five years. “A lot of them are in their 40s and 50s, and probably a lot are people who have been playing in bar bands and whatever else,” says Mulligan. “And they say, ‘Oh, we’ve got these demos. Let’s put them on Spotify.’ And so, they had a lot of back catalog that hadn’t been digitized before to put up there.” Those tracks weren’t necessarily new, but they were new to DIY distributors and streaming platforms. Once the backlog runs out, these artists may not have any other recordings to distribute.
Yet another explanation is the rise of social media as a destination for new music. Music streaming platforms and DIY distribution have leveled the playing field and given every artist an opportunity to reach listeners around the world. Still, many artists have realized they aren’t the next Taylor Swift and can’t get much traction at services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Streaming can work wonders for big artists, but the promise of democratization “has lost a lot of sheen,” says Mulligan. Small artists who don’t attract a crowd at Spotify can use social media or user-generated platforms such as Audiomack to connect with listeners. “They would rather have a small fan base who they can interact with than a large audience they can’t interact with,” he says. “Add that with the remuneration issue and it’s a much less compelling premise to go on streaming now than it was three, four years ago.”
If Mulligan’s hypothesis is true, the artist-centric approach adopted by Spotify, Deezer and others could end up hurting its biggest proponents: the major labels. Streaming platforms have essentially told long-tail artists, “We’re not going to stop you from coming in, but you’re not really welcome,” says Mulligan, which he thinks could have unintended consequences somewhere down the road. “Stop a generation of artists coming in,” he says, “and there’s a really good risk that you’ll inadvertently stop a generation of fans coming in if those artists go elsewhere to build their fan bases.”
Live Nation’s Crew Nation nonprofit is stepping up to help music workers impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires.
The Crew Nation Global Relief Fund is committing $1 million to assist performing musicians, live music crew and live music industry workers affected by the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, it was announced Friday (Jan. 17). Live Nation established Crew Nation in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that limited work for live event professionals.
Crew Nation has opened applications for grants up to $5,000 for individuals currently employed within the industry who are facing displacement expenses due to mandatory evacuation orders, damage or loss. Those seeking support can apply for Crew Nation Fund grants here.
“L.A. is home to so many who help make live music possible,” said Live Nation Entertainment president/CEO Michael Rapino in a statement, “and Crew Nation is continuing its core mission of helping this hardworking community through unforeseen hardship.”
In addition, Live Nation is supporting impacted employees from its Los Angeles headquarters with direct relief through its Taking Care of Our Own program.
The live industry giant is also working alongside competitor AEG and the Azoff family to produce and promote FireAid, a benefit concert set for Jan. 30 in Los Angeles. The concert will take place at both the Intuit Dome and the neighboring Kia Forum, with performers including Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Jelly Roll, Gwen Stefani, Tate McRae, Rod Stewart, Sting, Stevie Nicks, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, John Mayer, Green Day, Gracie Abrams, Joni Mitchell, Lil Baby, P!nk, Stephen Stills and Earth, Wind & Fire, with more to be added.
FireAid will be broadcast at select AMC Theatres and via Apple Music and the Apple TV App, Max, iHeartRadio, KTLA+, Netflix/Tudum, Paramount+, SiriusXM, Spotify, SoundCloud, Veeps, YouTube, and Prime Video and the Amazon Music Channel on Twitch. Viewers will be able to contribute to the fundraiser as they watch.
Since Crew Nation’s 2020 launch, the nonprofit has helped get assistance to more than 16,000 crew globally thanks to a $10 million contribution from Live Nation, supplemented by $8 million from artists, fans and industry partners. Anyone looking to support live music artists and crews through the L.A. wildfires can donate to the organization here.
Country radio is a notoriously tough nut to crack: Song campaigns can often last a year or more, and the journey to the top can be arduous — only to maybe taste a week or two at the summit. So when a song sticks atop the chart for a month or more, it’s worth noting.
That’s what’s happened with Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph’s “High Road,” which this week spends its fifth week atop the Country Airplay chart — making it one of just six songs by artists with their first Country Airplay entries to spend five or more weeks atop the tally, and the first time two debutantes shared the honor. That’s a significant achievement on its own for RECORDS Nashville, the country imprint of Barry Weiss’ Columbia Records-affiliated label. But “High Road” reached the top immediately after a one-week No. 1 for George Birge with “Cowboy Songs,” another hit by the same label, giving RECORDS Nashville a run of six straight weeks atop the Country Airplay chart — and earning executive vp of promotion and commercial strategy Josh Easler the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Easler talks about the success of “High Road,” the difficulty of running two chart-topping radio campaigns simultaneously and how the Country Airplay format has evolved during the course of his quarter-century in the music business. “It’s been wild to watch the format diversify in sounds over the last 25 years, and especially in the last decade,” Easler says. “The radio side of things has changed so much it’s hard to even know where to start there.”
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This week, Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph’s “High Road” spent its fifth consecutive week at No. 1 on Country Airplay. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
The first key decision that led to “High Road” being a five-week No. 1 goes back to the summer when we agreed on a partnership with Columbia Records to be the promotion arm for this song at country radio. We are grateful that Ron Perry, Peter Gray and the leadership team at Columbia came together with Barry Weiss and trusted us to take this song to country radio. Another key decision was the timing for the record to peak. We knew that if we could get into No. 1 ahead of the holidays, we would likely have a multiweek run at the top due to how few playlist changes happen over the holidays. It worked out perfectly.
The run for “High Road” came immediately after another RECORDS Nashville release, George Birge’s “Cowboy Songs,” spent a week atop the chart, giving RECORDS six straight weeks at No. 1. How significant of an achievement is that for the label?
Having the songs go back-to-back was a very significant achievement for the label, especially because it was the first Billboard No. 1 for all of the artists. It’s certainly the greatest airplay achievement for RECORDS Nashville so far. No. 1 airplay singles are difficult, so having back-to-back No. 1s is really special.
How difficult is it to run concurrent radio campaigns at country radio for different artists like that?
Great question. Part of what made concurrent singles doable was how different the artists and songs are. Although George Birge and Koe Wetzel are both from Texas, they are very different, both sonically and where they are in their careers. Koe was already a headliner when this project came out. His footprint in the musical landscape was already significant, and this No. 1 is another chapter in a robust story. George, on the other hand, is emerging as one of the most consistent hitmakers at country radio after the success of “Mind On You” in 2023 and “Cowboy Songs” in 2024.
Overall, only six songs by artists with their first Country Airplay entry have spent five or more weeks at the top. Why is that such a difficult feat, and what goes into keeping a song atop that chart for so long?
Getting to No. 1 is difficult; staying there for five weeks is very difficult and only happens if the song is a true bonafide smash hit record. Power rotations at radio are sacred. If a record spends multiple weeks at No. 1 it means the stations are leaving it in power for a long time, and that only happens for big hit records. What makes staying there so difficult is how hot the country format is right now. There were multiple monster records last year in our format. We were fortunate to have the timing we did, and it’s a testament to country radio supporting one of the biggest hits of the year.
How has the Country Airplay format changed over the course of your career?
I started professionally in the country format in the late ‘90s. I’m a child of the ‘80s and grew up on the music. I loved it, but it was very “one lane” at the time. It’s been wild to watch the format diversify in sounds over the last 25 years, and especially in the last decade. The radio side of things has changed so much it’s hard to even know where to start there. The biggest change in my opinion is how we have fewer and fewer gatekeepers with each passing year. Radio, understandably, has consolidated and programmers oversee multiple radio stations.
Over the past few years, the country genre has seemed to explode in popularity in pop culture and globally. What do you think is behind that, and do you see it continuing?
It’s so exciting to see what is happening to country music right now. The range of sounds and artistry is phenomenal. I do think this trend will continue for a few reasons. One is country radio is becoming more diverse. It’s great to see country radio leaning into more and more music that is coming at them from all kinds of different places. It’s no secret that country consumers are historically late adopters to newer trends, and the consumer behavior is catching up to modern music discovery outside of radio as well.
The country consumer is getting younger as well. If you haven’t seen a good club show recently from an emerging act, I highly recommend it. We are about to release an album by a newcomer, Ty Myers (The Select on Jan. 24), and it’s going to explode. He’s already selling out significant venues and the audience is very young — it’s incredible. Lastly, the quality of music being made in the core country lane and “fringe” lanes is excellent. There is so much talent out there right now, and with a plethora of ways to discover music, I don’t see this trend slowing down anytime soon. The circle will remain unbroken.
Tekashi 6ix9ine has filed a lawsuit against LA Fitness, claiming the gym chain is legally responsible for a 2023 “violent assault” in which he was attacked in the sauna at one of the company’s South Florida locations.
In a complaint filed Wednesday (Jan. 15) in Florida court, the controversial rapper (Daniel Hernandez) says LA Fitness owes him more than $1 million in damages over the March 2023 attack by three assailants, which he says left him hospitalized.
Attorneys for Tekashi say the gym failed to prevent the attack, including by “failing to implement reasonable security measures” and taking other steps that might have stopped it.
“As a direct and proximate result of the negligence … Hernandez was brutally beaten, assaulted and robbed, suffered bodily injury and resulting pain and suffering,” his attorneys write.
In the days after the incident, three men — Rafael Medina Jr., 43; Octavious Medina, 23; and Anthony Maldonado, 25 — were arrested and charged with carrying out the attack. According to court records, both Medinas quickly reached plea deals with prosecutors and were released on probation; the charges against Maldonado were later dropped entirely.
In his lawsuit Wednesday, Tekashi said the assailants were members of the Latin Kings criminal gang — and that LA Fitness should have had measures in place to prevent entry of “affiliates of violent gangs” and people with “aggressive and dangerous propensities.”
“Defendant … knew or should have known that LA Fitness was located in an area where crime statistics, including violent crime, had increased substantially in recent years,” his lawyers write. “Defendant had a duty to adopt and implement reasonable security measures commensurate with all attendant circumstances, including the prevalence of criminal activity.”
A representative for LA Fitness did not immediately return a request for comment.
The 2023 attack was hardly Tekashi’s first dust-up with criminal gangs.
Once a rising star in the world of hip-hop and social media, Tekashi was charged in November 2018 with federal racketeering and murder conspiracy charges over his involvement with a New York street gang called Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods. Prosecutors claimed the gang “wreaked havoc on New York City” by “engaging in brazen acts of violence.”
But just a day after being arrested, Tekashi cut a deal with federal prosecutors to flip on his crew in return for lenience. Taking the witness stand during a 2019 trial, he offered detailed and frank testimony about his involvement in the gang and his former gang mates.
Under the deal with prosecutors, Tekashi was sentenced to two years in prison and five years of supervised release. The sentence was set to run until July 2020, but Tekashi was released early, in April 2020, after his attorneys argued that the coronavirus pandemic posed an increased risk to him because he has asthma.
Tekashi recently spent another month in prison after prosecutors accused him of breaking the terms of his supervised release.
When Celia Cruz died in July 2003 at the age of 77, nearly 100,000 mourners paid their respects before her open casket viewing in Miami. In New York, Patti LaBelle sang at her memorial mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, then-Governor George Pataki declared “Celia Cruz Day,” more than 20,000 crowded the funeral home in the Upper East Side and a 30-block stretch of Fifth Avenue was shut down to accommodate thousands more. The death of the beloved “Queen of Salsa” from complications due to a brain tumor became an event as celebrated as her stunning performances during life.
Cruz, who defied Cuba’s communist government when she left her home country at the dawn of the 1959 revolution, also defied the odds of Latin music careers at the time by becoming the only Afro Latina singer to achieve enduring, global fame. Often compared to Ella Fitzgerald, Cruz recorded over 70 albums in a career that spanned three record labels, notching 28 entries on Billboard‘s Tropical Albums chart. More than 20 years after her death, she generated 64 million on-demand official streams in the United States in 2024, according to Luminate.
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Omer Pardillo — who became Cruz’s manager when he was in his 20s and is the executor of her estate — is a key reason the legendary artist remains relevant. When he was 17, he interned at RMM, the powerful tropical indie record label to which Cruz was signed, and worked on every aspect of her career. When Cruz left RMM, she named Pardillo her manager and executor.
“Even now, sometimes people tell me, ‘You got there at the very end [of her career],’” Miami-based Pardillo says. “But my loyalty was unconditional with Celia and something she saw from the very beginning.” That loyalty remains today. Since partnering with Loud And Live CEO Nelson Albareda in 2005, Pardillo has kept Cruz alive in the public eye with a U.S. postage stamp and a commemorative quarter, a Barbie doll, multiple exhibits, merchandise lines, a Telemundo TV series and even a namesake wine.
“I have these film reels because I’m in the process of digitizing footage of Celia from the ’60s and ’70s,” Pardillo says.
Alfonso Duran
Billboard spoke with Pardillo as he prepares to celebrate the centennial of the singer’s birth in 2025.
You are the executor of the Celia Cruz estate. What exactly does that entail?
I manage all assets that come into the estate — royalties, approvals from the labels, creative, productions, everything. As executor, I receive a percentage, and obviously, all the business deals I had or I bring, I charge 20%. The Loud And Live team, especially Nelson [Albareda], help me a lot. We did a deal with Mattel two years ago for a Celia Barbie; we put out a [Napa Valley-produced] wine to celebrate women; Celia was the face of Wells Fargo Bank for Hispanic audiences. One of the biggest achievements was our deal with the U.S. Mint. She’s the first Afro Latina on a coin and the first Latina artist on a coin. I always say Nelson invests 25 cents and gets a dollar in return. Sometimes I get carried away with nostalgia or feeling, and I’ll say, “We have to do something with this brand because they supported Celia once.” He makes me stop and analyze.
Was the U.S. Mint deal lucrative?
We don’t make money with the Mint. But the awareness of Celia Cruz through the coin has been incredible. The dollar is the most important currency in the world. And the fact that this woman — who was poor and Black and had to flee Cuba and was able to conquer the world with just her voice — is now on a U.S. coin is very relevant. Same thing with the Celia U.S. Postal Service stamp. They both have a huge sentimental value, but also economic, because thanks to the coin, for example, many other things have followed.
“This briefcase belonged to my grandfather, who carried it to work in New York,” Pardillo says. “Today, it serves as my lucky charm in the office.”
Alfonso Duran
Did Cruz own any of her catalog?
Not at all. That was her only mistake. Celia never owned anything. She recorded with Fania, which now is Craft; RMM, which is Universal today; and Sony. The best deal was Sony, where she was treated as an icon. It was different. The other deals were the kinds of deals from back then where they say, “Here’s X amount for a record deal, and we own everything forever.”
But Sony had great royalties, a great team behind Celia. We get royalties from Sony, Universal and Craft. I renegotiated royalties with Universal, Sony was always perfect, and Craft is something we’re working on. She’s collecting the same royalty they offered when she initially signed with them [decades ago]. Still, our revenue comes mostly from recording royalties and brand partnerships. We do three to four major partnerships a year. And on Spotify alone, we had 82.3 million [global] streams for the first six months of 2024. That’s not bad for an artist who’s been dead 21 years.
Have you tried to purchase her catalog?
No. It’s worth too much money.
It was recently announced that Hyphenate Media — Eva Longoria and Cris Abrego’s production company — was part of a group that acquired the rights to work on a movie about Cruz. What can you tell us about that?
I have three projects with Celia pending: a Broadway musical, a documentary and the film. I think in the next five years, we’ll accomplish all three. Hyphenate Media bought the rights for film and TV, and the estate was represented by Raymond García of Uncontained Media. Producer Gloria Calderón Kellett, who is Cuban American, is working on the film project. The film is very important because it will tell things she never told and were not in the [Telemundo] series. Issues with racism, for example, that she never shared with anyone. She always said the negative had to be locked away so they couldn’t cause more pain.
“This chair was used by Celia in her office for over 30 years.”
Alfonso Duran
What are the advantages and challenges of managing the estate of an artist like Cruz?
The big challenge is we don’t own the music rights. So anything related to music, we have to go to the labels. For example, if Mattel wants Barbie to sing “Quimbara,” they have to negotiate those rights with Craft. If I had the ownership of the masters, I could do so much. With the Fania catalog, for example, I can suggest, but I don’t own. It’s frustrating. The advantage is we’re dealing with an artist that was always very respected, and that respect is still the same. There’s a love and a connection with fans, which is very, very important.
What do you have in the works for Cruz’s centennial?
We’re in the process of closing several brand deals, including a major clothing retailer who will put out Celia apparel. We’re also in negotiations with a major restaurant brand. Mostly, we’re focused on concerts. We’re talking with different venues to produce Celia Sinfónica, a series of concerts with different symphony orchestras in different countries, for example. And there’s an upcoming Smithsonian Latino exhibit that opens in May. We’ve had 20 exhibits since Celia’s death, and the Smithsonian has 33% of her outfits, shoes, documents and wigs in their collection.
I have to imagine that with artificial intelligence and new technology, you’re getting requests to produce new songs with Celia’s voice. Recently, Cuban artist Yotuel used AI to add her voice to a new version of “Patria y Vida,” for example.
I approve any use of name, music or image. We have an attorney who sends out letters declining proposals all year long. We really look after that [intellectual property]. Otherwise, the brand will either disappear or will become too accessible. Yotuel’s song was the first time anything was done with AI and Celia’s voice, and I think it came out very well. But from there to a full album, I’m not there yet. I could rerecord the entire catalog, but I feel we’ll lose the essence. I’m told there are producers who can make it sound exactly the same, but it’s not exactly the same because she’s not here.
Cruz’s dedication, which is framed with her 1998 album, Mida Vida Es Cantar, reads: “To Omer Pardillo, the person I most admire for his talent, professionalism, and I love him because I’m his second mom.”
Alfonso Duran
It’s surprising to me that no other woman has emerged in the tropical music scene since Cruz’s death. Why do you think this is?
It has to do with how professional Celia was. She was fully focused on her career. She was very forward-thinking; she was so flamboyant, long before Lady Gaga. She was so humble, and yet she had a divine grace and a power onstage that I have yet to see again.
She was such a fashion icon, with her wigs and her fantastic, glitzy dresses. Did she ever consider doing a fashion line?
No. Celia modeled for Dolce & Gabbana, Thierry Mugler, Valentino. But she was very focused on her career and her voice, and she never thought of a business beyond her music. She always said, “My voice is my business, and I live for my voice.”
This story appears in the Jan. 11, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Canada is the third biggest exporter of music to the world.
That’s according to the inaugural “export power” ranking in Luminate’s 2024 year-end report. The music data tracking company, which also tabulates Billboard’s charts, defines export power as “a country’s ability to export recorded music globally.”
Canada is behind only the U.S. and the U.K., which hold the top two spots on the export power ranking. Canada’s top importers of music are the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, while Canada is also the number one importer of music from the U.S., emphasizing the entwined nature of Canadian and American markets.
The rest of the top ten is rounded out by South Korea, Germany, France, Puerto Rico, Australia, Sweden and Brazil.
While that might seem like good news for Canadian music, the report also includes some indicators that Canada is not in a growth period for exporting music.
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When it comes to the share of global premium (audio and video) streams, Canada saw the third largest decline last year, with its share down from 3.73% to 3.34%, also behind the U.S. and U.K. Mexico, Brazil and India had the biggest stream share growth.
That points to a trend where music from the global south — and in languages other than English — is seeing a major explosion in popularity.
The report also highlights that English and non-English-language countries are showing different trends when it comes to local vs. foreign content.
“English-speaking markets are losing local share to non-English language imports,” the report states, “while many non-English speaking markets show local content gaining share.”
That provides further evidence that non-English language music is on the rise across the board. In the U.S., Mexico and Chile (and, surprisingly, Ireland) had the biggest stream share gains, while Canada, the U.S. and Nigeria saw the biggest stream share declines. Canada also saw some of the highest stream share declines in the U.K., Australia, Japan and Brazil.
Canadian songwriters, however, are going strong, thanks in part to a few of pop’s biggest stars.
Canada ranks third for songwriter representation among 2024’s top 1000 most-streamed songs, again behind the U.S. and the U.K.
The Weeknd is a big reason for that position, ranking third amongst the most prolific and the most-streamed songwriters in the top 1000 streamed songs.
Pop comes out as the fastest-growing genre in the U.S., followed by rock, Latin music and country. That growth is led by a big year for women pop singers like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter — and Canada’s Tate McRae, who places at No. 9 on Luminate’s Pop Artist Rank for the U.S.
Find more on Canadian data and trends in Luminate’s Year-End Report here.
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Unison Fund Launches Relief Program For Canadian Music Workers Affected By Los Angeles Fires
Canadian music industry charity Unison Fund has launched a new support program for music workers affected by the Los Angeles fires.
The Natural Disaster Relief Program provides one-time payments of $2,500 to Canadian music workers facing losses from natural disasters, including the wildfires.
The program is the latest initiative offering support to music industry members who have suffered devastating losses in the fires, which have resulted in at least 27 deaths destroyed more than 12,000 structures. The Palisades Fire is 22% contained as of Thursday, January 16, and the Eaton Fire is 45% contained.
“With so many Canadian music professionals living and working in L.A., it was important to create a program that offers meaningful support during difficult times like these,” executive director Amanda Power tells Billboard Canada.
“The Unison Fund Natural Disaster Relief Program is our way of helping our music community, providing immediate support to help rebuild lives and livelihoods after a crisis.”
Founded in 2010, Unison provides counselling and emergency relief services to Canadian musicians and the music community. The charity previously provided emergency support during 2020 and 2021 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, disbursing over $3.5 million in pandemic assistance.
Among the Canadians affected by the fires include Grammy-winning producer Greg Wells, who lost his home, and musicians Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida who were forced to evacuate. Tim Darcy of Canadian band Cola lost his house in the fire, with friends and community members fundraising to help Darcy and his partner Amy Fort, of FSR Radio.
To qualify for the Disaster Relief Program, applicants must have worked in the music industry for five consecutive years, with a majority of their income coming from music.
Anxious by nature, Matthew Willems has always been a planner. Founder of the electronic music label Perfect Driver and an engineer, DJ and producer who makes music as Matthew Anthony, Willems spent much of Monday, Jan. 6 at his apartment window. There he observed the strong, strange wind howling through Altadena, the eastern Los Angeles neighborhood where he and his girlfriend, Nicole Perkins, had lived for years.
Between the wind and lack of rain, Willems was uneasy. By 4 p.m. on Tuesday, he and Perkins packed go-bags with items including birth certificates, laptops and USB drives containing the source files for every track he’s ever produced and positioned them at the door of their one-bedroom apartment. At 6:50 p.m., they got the update Willems had been fearing.
“My friend who lives a mile down the hill said, ‘Dude, get out of your house immediately. The sky above it is red. I can see flames,’” he recalls.
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A minute later, the couple and their dog, a pittie mix named Honey, were driving away. On the road they passed six fire trucks heading into the neighborhood, the sirens and wind creating an urgent duet. An hour later, they’d made it to a friend’s house across town in Venice, at which point their phones blasted the emergency alert to evacuate Altadena. By the next morning, their entire neighborhood — the hardware store, the dive bar, the restaurants and houses, including their own — was destroyed.
“It was like a plane crashed, or a bomb went off, or like we were attacked in an active war zone,” Willems says of the scene he witnessed after he crossed police barricades and went to assess the damage on the evening of Jan. 8. As he left that night, he saw the president’s motorcade entering his neighborhood to tour the devastation.
Willems, like so many others in Los Angeles this month, lost everything: clothing, keepsakes and all his studio equipment. At the same time, thousands of residents of Pacific Palisades and Malibu were fleeing their own homes as another monster inferno devoured city blocks. And his story is an all-too-familiar one across the city, as the fires continue raging into their second week with definite end, much less a timeline to repair the damage or rebuild.
On Jan. 11, California Governor Gavin Newsom told Meet the Press that these fires will likely be considered one of the worst natural disasters in United States history. At least 27 people and countless animals died and approximately 12,300 structures were damaged or destroyed, to the cost of an estimated $250 billion so far. These numbers are stunning. They also do little to fully relay the feelings of panic, shock and devastation permeating Los Angeles during a week when ash rained even on parts of the city that weren’t actively aflame.
Like many other groups in Los Angeles, the city’s music community has been hit hard, and is suffering. A widely circulated spreadsheet of music industry professionals who have lost their homes contains more than 360 names — of musicians, publicists, engineers, studio techs, podcast hosts, photographers, record executives and more, along with numbers tallying respective spouses, children and pets. The list includes legendary producer Bob Clearmountain, Griffin Goldsmith of the band Dawes, the musician Poolside and many others, both well-known and rank-and-file industry members; many entries include GoFundMe links, as people search for ways to try to rebuild at least some semblance of the lives they led before the flames.
“Every piece of gear. Every guitar. Every flier I saved. Every record I dug for years and years. It’s all gone in an instant,” Poolside, whose real name is Jeffrey Paradise, wrote on Instagram while sharing videos of his smoldering home.
Some are finding solace in a determination to be helpful to those in need, and both the music community and the general population have taken quick action to support survivors. Within hours of the first fires, a dizzying number of volunteer opportunities were created to provide shelter, food, clothing and other support. The operators of Zebulon, an independent venue in the city’s Frogtown neighborhood, have transformed the space into a donation hub where volunteers have spent days accepting and sorting clothing, diapers, sleeping bags and other necessities. Guitar Center’s non-profit Music Foundation is helping musicians replace lost instruments, while We Are Moving the Needle is offering micro-grants to early and mid-career creators.
Outside of official organizations, a quick scroll through Instagram after the fires first broke out found individuals offering services ranging from free acupuncture to sketches of the homes people lost.
“The response has been immediate,” says Alejandro Cohen, director of music content at the city’s globally influential NPR affiliate, KCRW. “It’s been heartwarming to see the outpouring of support in the form of something as simple as saying, ‘I’m here thinking of you,’ to financial donations, to material donations in the form of instruments or in the form of saying, ‘I have a recording studio. Do you want to come and finish the job you were working on?’ Any form of support you can imagine, everyone is offering it up.”
The station itself is serving the community by quickly building a robust online resource hub for how to get and give support, along with, Cohen says, just “sharing the music that provides comfort, companionship and sometimes even just a way to escape for a moment.”
The fires have upended the city’s event schedule and rippled through the music industry at large. The Weeknd cancelled his Jan. 25 show at the Rose Bowl and postponed the release of a new album, while Beyoncé postponed an announcement scheduled for Jan. 14. Many shows have been cancelled or postponed, with others shifting gears to become fundraisers. Meanwhile many large and small-scale benefits by a genre-spanning collection of artists and promoters will happen throughout the city in the coming weeks.
A Jan. 8 photo of a mobile home park that destroyed during the Palisades Fire.
Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images
On Jan. 13, while firefighters were still working to contain the Palisades and Eaton Canyon fires, the Recording Academy announced the Grammy Awards ceremony will still happen on Feb. 2 at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, along with myriad related events such as the annual MusiCares fundraiser, which will raise funds for relief efforts. (Amid some backlash, the statement by the Academy stressed that all of the events “will have a fundraising element.”) MusiCares tells Billboard that it has already received more than 2,000 requests for assistance from music professionals affected by the fires, with the volume of need exceeding $4 million.
Universal, BMG, Sony and Warner, among other music companies including Billboard, subsequently cancelled their parties and events around the ceremony, with some of the money used to host these parties being diverted to fire aid support. Meanwhile, artists including Metallica, the Eagles, Doja Cat and Beyoncé have pledged millions to help support victims, as have corporations like Amazon, YouTube, Netflix and more.
But so far, Willems says the only immediate assistance he’s received has been from his GoFundMe. The day after his home was destroyed, he spent three hours on the phone with FEMA trying to access a $770 grant the organization is offering to fire victims; FEMA’s support team ultimately wasn’t able to provide the money. Willems says his email to MusiCares has not yet been answered, given the sheer volume of requests for assistance.
“Our team is working tirelessly to process these requests with the utmost care and urgency,” says Laura Segura, executive director of MusiCares. “Each individual’s request is carefully reviewed to ensure effective and equitable support is provided. For those with more significant needs — such as individuals experiencing medical challenges, the loss of essential music equipment, or longer-term displacement — we are conducting additional follow-ups to offer tailored assistance.”
“The minute I heard the apartment was gone I wrote copy [for my GoFundMe], found a compelling image then emailed the fundraiser to my music friends,” says Willems. “That’s the real community backing me up.” Willems has thus far been offered help by headliner level DJs he’s never spoken to before, along with many fellow artists and industry professionals who are sending money, helping him and his girlfriend find a new place to live and just checking in daily to make sure they’re okay.
Among the many things Willems lost in the fire was a jacket he got while working at electronic digital download platform Beatport. “I was really proud of that coat,” he says. “The someone else who works there was like, ‘Hey man, you can have mine.’ So now I own one coat.”
He calls such acts of kindness stabilizing in a deeply stressful and uncertain moment, when he and others have lost their homes, all their belongings and the sense of safety created by these things. Many of these people have reported bumping into price gouging as they re-enter the city’s already expensive rental market. Willems, like many others, observed looters rooting through burned down homes in Altadena before the fire was even out. He says he and Perkins will not be returning to the neighborhood, largely due to concerns about air quality during the coming cleanup.
“It’s not a day, and it’s not a week,” says Willems. “This is a recovery that’s going to take us years. We haven’t stood in front of our apartment to have a good cry. We haven’t had a chance yet. We’re too busy trying to not get f–ked.”
For more information or to apply for support, contact MusiCares at MusiCaresRelief@musicares.org or call 1-800-687-4227. To donate, visit musicares.org/firerelief.
Time for an abbreviated edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard’s compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the music business.
Due to the wildfires across Los Angeles, West Coast companies are dealing with matters more pressing than onboarding and promoting executives. We have compiled ways these and other music companies are coming together to support those affected by the blazes, plus a running list of organizations offering relief for musicians and music industry professionals, as well as a tally of affected industry events. More coverage here.
Concord promoted Lidia Kim to senior vice president of the company’s new digital division of business and legal affairs for Concord Music Publishing. Based in New York and reporting to general counsel Amanda Molter, Kim will lead global digital business initiatives, including licensing strategies, rights enforcement, direct deal negotiations and partnerships with DSPs. The Nashville-based company said Kim will work closely with other key execs, including Jim Selby, Duff Berschback and Jeff Van Driel, to modernize and optimize Concord’s digital rights infrastructure. Kim has been with Concord since its 2017 acquisition of Imagem, contributing to all things legal and business affairs related. She played a critical role in integrating multiple acquisitions and preparing Concord for future expansion. “She fiercely advocates for every artist and songwriter we represent,” said Molter. “Her aptitude, combined with her demonstrable passion for music, makes her uniquely qualified to take on the challenge of growing this new division.” Kim, an alumna of NYU and Notre Dame Law School, previously served as a legal fellow at Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, providing legal services to artists.
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Soundstripe, the music licensing tech company, appointed Jeff Perkins as CEO. With a proven track record of scaling businesses, Perkins will lead Soundstripe as it prepares to launch a new “click-to-license music solution” later this year. Co-founder Travis Terrell will become president, focusing on partnerships and business development, while co-founders Micah Sannan and Trevor Hinesley will serve in advisory and CTO roles, respectively. Soundstripe supports over 1,000 enterprise clients and one million content creators with a diverse catalog of more than 15,000 sync-ready songs, enhanced by advanced AI tools. The company has distributed $13.2 million in payouts to artists. Before joining Soundstripe, Perkins spent five years at ParkMobile, where he served as chief marketing officer and later CEO, growing revenue by 233% and leading to its sale to EasyPark Group in 2021. Prior to ParkMobile, he was CMO at QASymphony (now Tricentis), where he secured a $40 million Series C. He has also held senior marketing roles at PGi and AutoTrader, as well as gigs in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi and Havas. “He has proven himself a highly effective leader with experience scaling businesses that cater to both large enterprises and individual users,” said Terrell. “We know Jeff is the right person at the right time to lead Soundstripe into our next stage of growth.”tk
Berklee appointed Betsy Newman as executive vp, effective Jan. 1. With over a decade under her belt at Berklee, including serving as interim evp for the past 18 months, Newman has been instrumental in advancing the institution’s strategic goals alongside Provost David Bogen and president Jim Lucchese. In her new role, Newman will focus on student-centric strategies to foster innovation and growth, continuing her commitment to prioritizing student success. As senior vp for student enrollment and engagement, she led initiatives that improved recruitment, retention and graduation rates. Newman also developed the Berklee Bridge program, funded by a $1.8 million grant, to enhance student success. Notable achievements include launching the Center for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, student success programs like the Black Scholars Initiative and Thrive Scholarship. “Betsy Newman brings a tremendous wealth of leadership experience to her role as executive vice president at Berklee,” said Lucchese. “Her commitment to Berklee and our students sets a standard for excellence. I look forward to collaborating with Betsy on empowering our students to live creative lives on their own terms.”
Caldecott Music Group promoted David Nam Le to managing director of Vista Musical Instruments and hired Jon Bahr as senior advisor of artist and label services at BandLab Technologies. Le, with a career at Swee Lee, Harmony, MONO and Heritage Guitars, will lead strategy and cross-group initiatives. Bahr, formerly vp at Downtown Music Holdings, brings expertise in licensing, distribution and publishing to enhance BandLab’s artist services. Both gents report directly to group CEO Meng Ru Kuok, who emphasized the appointments “underscore Caldecott Music Group’s commitment to our mission of empowering our community of artists, creators and fans.” Singapore-based CMG is comprised of BandLab Technologies, NME Networks and Vista Musical Instruments.
River House Artists opened key promotions within its team: Zebb Luster to executive vp, Lance Houston to general manager and vp of streaming and radio, and Raines Edenfield to director of A&R. Luster, the company’s first hire in 2017, will oversee all divisions, including the label and publishing arms, while focusing on strategic growth. Houston, who joined in 2022 with nearly three decades of radio experience, will handle day-to-day operations and maintain relationships with radio and streaming partners. Edenfield, a 2020 addition, will lead talent scouting and oversee creative processes for the artist roster. Luster has been instrumental in signing talent like Hudson Westbrook and Austin Snell, while launching a successful publishing arm. Houston has strengthened industry ties and led impactful radio campaigns. Edenfield has championed artists like Zach Seabaugh and John Harvie, securing pop star Knox. Founder Lynn Oliver-Cline praised their dedication, saying “this is the most vibrant and excellent team to date.”
NASHVILLE NOTES: Farris, Self & Moore promoted Sally D’Avanzo to associate business manager as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. D’Avanzo, who started as an office administrator, has been with FSM since college. Partner Catherine Moore praised her dedication, knowledge and alignment with the boutique business management firm’s values. “Sally encompasses the FSM values of all in, boutique, authentic and innovative and she continues to exude those values whether it’s working with clients or mentoring staff,” said Moore … Fair Trade Services promoted Kai Elmer to vp of national promotion. Elmer launched his career at Moody Broadcasting Network, and joined Fair Trade as manager of national promotion in 2007. Elmer has worked with artists including MercyMe, Phil Wickham, CeCe Winans, and Colton Dixon through his role at Fair Trade promoting songs to Christian radio. —Jessica Nicholson
Black River Entertainment promoted Micah McNair to creative director. McNair, who joined as video content manager in August 2023, quickly made an impact, earning multiple Telly Awards for his work with artists like MaRynn Taylor, Scotty Hasting and Pryor Baird. With over a decade of experience, McNair’s career began in 2010 as a photographer and now includes a video portfolio with over 250 million views. His work spans live worship albums, GMA Dove Awards performances, and collaborations with major artists such as Kelsea Ballerini, Riley Green, and Kirk Franklin. Tanya Schrage, Black River’s Vice President of Marketing, praised McNair’s ability to create authentic and meaningful visuals that enhance the music. Black River’s roster includes Kelsea Ballerini, Chris Young, MaRynn Taylor, Scotty Hasting, and Pryor Baird.
BOARD SHORTS: The Women’s Music Business Association announced its 2025 leadership, including officers and board of directors. WMBA operates with two main boards: the board of directors, overseeing governance and strategy, and the Board of Officers, managing daily operations and implementing strategies. The 2025 Officers include president Mackenzie Adkins, vp Megan Astri, secretary Rachel Mangan and treasurer Kelsey Roche. The board of directors is led by chairwoman Amery Fridenstine, alongside industry leaders Sheree Spoltore, Jensen Sussman and Christy Walker-Watkins. Brandi Simms will continue as board Emeritus, while Lauren Spahn serves as legal counsel … The AIMP Nashville Chapter unveiled its 2025-2026 officers. John Ozier, vp of creative at Reservoir Media Management, has been elected chapter president, succeeding Ree Guyer of Wrensong Music, who’ll step down but remain on the board. Other newly elected officers include Courtney Crist (Eclipse Music Group) as vp, Janine Ebach (Ebach Entertainment) as secretary, and Kari Barnhart (Studio Bank) as treasurer.
ICYMI:
Patrick Spence
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence stepped down from the top job and his seat on the board after the speaker company faced months of challenges and layoffs following a fraught redesign of its mobile app … WME added veteran music agent Lance Roberts as a partner in its Nashville-based country music division.
Last Week’s Turntable: Disney Veteran Dips for Sphere CFO Role
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday (Jan. 17) upheld a federal statute that will effectively ban TikTok from the country over national security concerns, rejecting the company’s arguments that the law violates the First Amendment.
In a unanimous ruling, the high court said the law – set to go into effect on Sunday — was fair game because the U.S. government has valid fears about China’s control over TikTok, a popular social media service with 170 million American users that has also become a key cog in the modern music industry.
Attorneys for TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent ByteDance had argued that the law was clearly unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment’s protections for free speech. But in Friday’s decision, the high court was unswayed.
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“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the justices wrote. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The ruling has major implications for the music industry. TikTok has become a key part of the modern music ecosystem – a core promotional tool for labels and a jumping off point for many new artists, albeit one that has occasionally butted heads with rights owners and can sometimes prove difficult to harness into lasting success.
Friday’s decision will allow the ban to go into effect on Sunday, but it’s unclear exactly what will happen next. President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office on Monday, has vowed to “negotiate a resolution” to save the platform. And even outgoing President Joe Biden, who championed and signed the law, has reportedly signaled openness to prevent TikTok from going dark.
The TikTok law, which requires the app’s Chinese-owned parent ByteDance to either sell the app to a U.S. company or face a total ban on January 19, was approved by wide bipartisan majorities in Congress last year and signed by President Biden in April. Proponents have argued that TikTok presents a national security threat because of its connections to the Chinese government and access to millions of Americans.
TikTok and ByteDance sued in May, calling the law “unprecedented” violation of free speech aimed at “silencing” more than 170 million Americans. But in December, a lower federal appeals court rejected those arguments, ruling the law was aimed at protecting Americans from a “foreign adversary nation.”
Friday’s decision upheld that ruling, repeatedly stressing concerns about the Chinese government’s control over TikTok and the information it could pull from it.
“Petitioners do not dispute that the Government has an important and well-grounded interest in preventing China from collecting the personal data of tens of millions of U. S. TikTok users,” the justices wrote. “Nor could they. The platform collects extensive personal information from and about its users.”
Much of the ruling – a so-called “per curiam” decision that was not signed by any particular justice – was spent deciding on the level of “scrutiny” that such a ban should face under the First Amendment. While TikTok’s attorneys argued it was the kind of egregious intrusion into free speech that merits “strict scrutiny” by judges, the high court instead ruled that the law was the kind of less-problematic restriction that warrants only “intermediate scrutiny.”
Under that looser standard, the justices ruled Friday that the TikTok ban passed constitutional muster — deciding that the law served an “important government interest” and didn’t restrict free speech any more than was necessary to accomplish that goal.
The federal government was clearly justified in preventing a foreign adversary from “collecting vast swaths of sensitive data about the 170 million U. S. persons,” the justices wrote. And they said the TikTok ban was sufficiently limited in addressing that specific goal to avoid violating the First Amendment.
“Rather than ban TikTok outright, the Act imposes a conditional ban,” the justices write. “The prohibitions prevent China from gathering data from U. S. TikTok users unless and until a qualified divestiture severs China’s control.”
The government had also separately argued that the TikTok ban was fair game because of the power China could wield by using TikTok’s algorithm to influence Americans. But the justices effectively sidestepped that argument in their decision, saying it was not necessary to decide the case.
Ahead of Friday’s ruling, the music industry was already preparing for such an outcome. As Billboard‘s Elias Leight writes, record labels have been gearing up for the potential of life without TikTok: “Where is new artist discovery happening in 2025 if this app completely disappears?” The live music business has also been preparing to lose the platform, Billboard’s Dave Brooks writes, since festivals and other promoters have increasingly relied upon TikTok in recent years to reach ticket buyers.
Read the Supreme Court’s full decision here.