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Keyshia Cole, Monica and SWV are the performing stars enlisted to headline Femme It Forward’s first-ever cruise, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Presented in association with Sixthman and Vibee, Femmeland at Sea will sail from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas between Feb. 20-23, 2026.
Femme It Forward’s voyage aboard the Norwegian Pearl also marks the female-led music and entertainment firm’s transition into a 100% woman- and Black-owned company after a five-year partnership with Live Nation.
Femme It Forward president/CEO Heather Lowery, who founded the firm in 2019, tells Billboard, “I’ve always fought to have more equity in a company I’ve worked so hard to build. Now Femme It Forward is 100% woman-owned and Black- owned. I’m so excited! It feels like the beginning again, but this time I’m starting from a different place.
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“Live Nation was a great partner that allowed for a lot of business as well as personal growth,” continues Lowery, a Billboard Women in Music 2025 honoree. “They’ve provided me with a lot of resources for me to continue building Femme It Forward independent of the partnership. I’m super grateful for it all. We’re celebrating our five-year anniversary and there’s a lot of symbolism in the number five representing freedom, change, adventure and adaptability. I’m stepping into this next phase with open arms.”
In addition to the aforementioned live performances, Femmeland at Sea will also offer uniquely curated activities, live podcast recordings, parties, workshops/panels, mentorship labs, wine tastings and karaoke. The popular podcasts being featured include Keep It Positive Sweetie, hosted by Crystal Renee Hayslett, and Let’s Try This Again with B. Simone. Among the cruise’s additional activities will be wellness sessions helmed by WalkGood LA, Pretty Vee, Pretty Girls Sweat and Morning Mindset with Tai. Femme It Forward will also present its own branded activities such as Femme Salon and Femme Mentorship, with the latter hosted by mentors from the company’s Next Gem Femme and MUSE initiatives. Also on the schedule: Kirk Franklin’s Sunday School and #MusicSermon LIVE.
In the press release announcing the inaugural sailing, Lowery states in part that the cruise is “a vision I’ve had since our launch in 2020. I have always been bold about what Femme It Forward stands for and the experiences we create with women at the center. And despite the current optics and everything around us demanding we shrink, we will continue to do more — create more opportunities, make space for more representation and curate more experiences that amplify the voices of women everywhere.”
In turn, Femme It Forward will continue to present its various other events inaugurated over the last five years such as the annual Give Her FlowHERS Gala, the Femme It Forward High Tea and the My Sister’s Keeper Summit honoring artists and executives in music and entertainment. Future plans for its mentorship program include launching global chapters in South Africa and Europe.
Femmeland at Sea’s first round pre-sale sign-ups are available now through April 1 at 11:59 pm (ET). Final round pre-sale sign-ups will conclude on April 9 at 11:59 pm (ET). Public on-sales begin April 11 at 2:00 pm (ET), exclusively here.
The trend has been clear in recent years: Listeners are less enthralled with new songs. Current music’s share of ear-time has fallen from 27.8% in 2022 to 27.3% in 2023 to 26.7% last year, according to Luminate. In 2024, listening to catalog albums — releases more than 18 months old — increased by 6.5%, more than twice as fast as consumption of current albums.
Much of the music cued up on streaming services is still relatively recent: Luminate found that tracks released in the last five years account for roughly 50% of on-demand streams in the U.S. Even so, SoundCloud users are much more keenly attuned to the newest releases than the average listener — current music has accounted for more than 46% of plays on the platform in each of the last three years, according to SoundCloud’s latest Music Intelligence Report, an annual run-down of listener behavior which the company is making public for the first time.
The document “highlights some of our unique positions in the industry,” says Wyatt Marshall, the company’s director of music intelligence. “An artist might start on SoundCloud before they go somewhere else. [As a result], you get people coming to listen to new music on SoundCloud, because that’s where it exists first.”
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For young listeners, new music discovery is increasingly spread across a variety of short-form video platforms and streaming services; TikTok especially has commanded the conversation in recent years. Still, even “in today’s landscape dominated by TikTok and Instagram, SoundCloud remains a critical launchpad for Gen-Z’s emerging cult favorites,” says Corey Goldglit, manager of A&R at the distribution company Too Lost. “While social media fuels trends, and Spotify fuels hits, SoundCloud continues to be where devoted fans first discover raw, innovative talent like Fakemink, OsamaSon, 1oneam, and Nettspend.”
While SoundCloud is best known for nurturing rappers and electronic producers, it’s adding value in other genres as well: Sean Lewow, co-founder of the label Music Soup, has seen the platform introduce listeners to Waylon Wyatt and Vincent Mason, a pair of rising country artists on his roster. (Music Soup is a joint venture with Interscope Records and Darkroom Records.) Uploads of country and folk music on SoundCloud have risen by more than 50% in the last two years, while streams of these styles rose 15% on SoundCloud in 2024.
This mirrors the growing interest in these genres in the U.S. and around the world. “These scenes are attracting people [on SoundCloud] who have always been into it,” Marshall says, “but also engaging a new group of people who are discovering these sounds.”
Since SoundCloud artists and users can interact with music in ways beyond just clicking “play” and “skip” — commenting on songs, for example, or sending direct messages to peers — the platform has additional data to parse when trying to map scenes. “We look at social interaction amongst artists as an indicator of affinity,” Marshall explains. “Zooming out from that gives a feel for what shapes a scene.”
And for how scenes meld borrow from and build off each other. Historically, it’s been difficult for U.K. hip-hop to acquire fans en masse outside of its home country — even with other English-speaking listeners. The Music Intelligence Report, however, singles out two sets of British acts “that are building their sound around the U.S. underground while adding a unique English twist;” in the process, they are “drawing listeners from England and beyond.”
These two groups — the first includes fakemink, Feng, and GhostInnaFurCoat, while the other counts Rico Ace, kwes e, and TeeboFG as members — enjoyed a 71% uptick in streams in the past two years, according to SoundCloud’s data. “In recent months,” the report continues, “tracks from these artists are increasingly showing engagement spikes indicative of future success.”
The Music Intelligence Report identifies other sounds that SoundCloud believes are poised to become more popular in 2025: Vinahouse, which Marshall describes as a “hyper-speed, really energetic” style of club music that’s popular in Vietnam; Brazilian plugg, the latest mutation of a hip-hop sub-genre that has thrived on SoundCloud for several years; and shoegaze, which has also been enjoying a revival on TikTok.
New rappers continue to see success on the platform as well. The third most-played account created on SoundCloud last year belonged to BabyChiefDoIt, who trailed behind only VonOff1700 and Raq Baby. BabyChiefDoIt signed a deal with Artist Partner Group in August, and Izzy Elefant, the label’s head of streaming, calls the platform an “essential” part of the rapper’s rise.
SoundCloud’s features, especially “real-time comments and direct messaging, create an interactive experience that sets it apart from other streaming services,” Elefant continues. “These tools allow BabyChiefDoIt to engage with listeners directly, receive immediate feedback, and foster a sense of community.”
In a splintered landscape for music discovery, Lewow adds, it’s important to “leave no stone unturned.” SoundCloud “has opened our artists up to an audience that they might not have found otherwise.”
LONDON — Following the controversial ticket sale for Oasis’ reunion dates in the U.K. and Ireland this coming summer, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) has said that Ticketmaster may have “misled” fans over pricing for the shows.
In August 2024, the Gallagher brothers announced their reformation for 19 stadium shows, their first since their split in 2009. The tour will begin on July 4 at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, before heading to North America, Asia, Latin America and Australia in the ensuing months
The ticket sale process drew huge demand, but some fans complained of unclear pricing for tickets after long waits for the opportunity to purchase passes. An update to the CMA’s ongoing investigation highlights that Ticketmaster UK may have breached consumer protection law, by “Labelling certain seated tickets as ‘platinum’ and selling them for near 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium.”
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The update adds that demand meant that cheaper tickets sold out first, but that the release of more expensive tickets for similar places in the stadiums meant that “many fans waited in a lengthy queue without understanding what they would be paying and then having to decide whether to pay a higher price than they expected.”
More than 900,000 tickets were sold for Oasis’ long-awaited reunion tour, but the pricing strategy proved controversial when standard standing tickets advertised at £135 plus fees ($174) were re-labelled “in demand” and changed on Ticketmaster to £355 plus fees ($458).
Following the furore, Oasis issued a statement saying they had no “awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used” in the sale of tickets for the initial dates. The CMA launched an investigation in September to examine whether Ticketmaster had used “unfair commercial practices” to pressure fans into paying higher prices for tickets.
Ticketmaster denied the use of the so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ method, with the company’s U.K. director Andrew Parsons telling MPs in February, “We don’t change prices in any automated or algorithmic way.” He added that all prices are determined by artist teams and promoters SJM Concerts, MCD Promotions and DF Concerts, all of which have links to Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s owners.
The report acknowledges that since the opening of the investigation, “Ticketmaster has made changes to some aspects of its ticket sales process,” but that the CMA “does not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns.” The report does not directly comment on the alleged ‘dynamic pricing’ model, but cites other concerns around clearer sale practises.
The CMA says that, “Following a formal investigation, the CMA is now consulting with the ticketing platform on changes to ensure fans receive the right information, at the right time.”
In a statement to Billboard U.K., Ticketmaster U.K. said, “We strive to provide the best ticketing platform through a simple, transparent and consumer-friendly experience. We welcome the CMA’s input in helping make the industry even better for fans.”
Downing Street responded to the report (via the BBC) by repeating a quote given by culture, media and sport secretary Lisa Nandy following the news that the government announced plans to cap the value of resold tickets for live events like music. “The chance to see your favourite musicians or sports teams live is something that all of us enjoy… But for too long fans have had to endure the misery of touts hoovering up tickets for resale at vastly inflated prices.
“We’ve also seen cases where a lack of transparency has meant customers have been caught unawares by last minute price rises for high demand events.”
Lynyrd Skynyrd signed a label deal with Frontiers Music Srl, which will release the iconic rock band’s live album and DVD, Celebrating 50 Years – Live At The Ryman, taped at its 50th anniversary concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 2022. The show featured the final performance of founding member Gary Rossington. The band is managed by Vector Management.
Downtown Neighboring Rights will manage and represent Jason Mraz‘s neighboring rights. Mraz’s catalog includes such hits as “I’m Yours,” “Lucky” featuring Colbie Caillat, “I Won’t Give Up” and “I Feel Like Dancing,” the lead single from his latest album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride.
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Sydney Rose (“Turning Page,” “We Hug Now”) signed to Mercury Records and will release her new EP, I Know What I Want, on the label on April 4. “We Hug Now” went viral on TikTok earlier this year. Rose is booked by CAA.
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Thelma & James (“Happy Ever After You”), a duo composed of married Nashville-based singer-songwriters MacKenzie Porter and Jake Etheridge, signed with Big Loud Records. The label released the duo’s new song, “First Love,” on March 14. Thelma & James is currently in the studio working on new music.
R&B singer JayDon signed a label deal with Usher and L.A. Reid‘s mega. The label released his single “I’ll Be Good” — which samples Usher’s “How Do I Say” — on March 14 ahead of his forthcoming EP Me, My Songs and I, which is set for release this spring. Under the name JD McCrary, JayDon is known for voicing Young Simba in 2019’s The Lion King and starring in films and TV shows including The Paynes and Little. He also appeared on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift soundtrack.
Country singer-songwriter Cole Phillips signed with WME for global representation. The Oklahoma native will release his EP Steel Toes and Texacos on April 11 on RECORDS Nashville. The EP will feature five songs he co-wrote, including “West Tx.” Phillips is repped by WHY&HOW for management. – Jessica Nicolson
Singer-songwriter Alexandra Savior signed with RCA Records and released a new single, “Unforgivable.” Savior previously released two albums, Belladonna of Sadness and The Archer, on Columbia and 30th Century Records, respectively.
Concord and Pulse Music Group’s Pulse Records signed Nashville-based singer-songwriter Elizabeth Nichols, who released her debut single, “I Got a New One,” on Dec. 6. Pulse released her latest single, “Bad Taste,” on Friday (March 21). Nichols is managed by Dylan Bourne and James Martin at Bourne Creatives and booked by Meredith Jones Long and Cheryl Paglierani at CAA.
Third Man Records signed Austin, Texas, rock band Die Spitz. The quartet, which has previously supported Amyl and the Sniffers, Sleater-Kinney and OFF! on the road, is slated to embark on a world headlining tour starting May 28, including slots at The Governors Ball and Bonnaroo.
Mexican pop group ALMAS — composed of Alegría, Dae, Dany and Steph — has signed to Universal Music Latino. “Being welcomed to the Universal Music Latino family is more than just a milestone for us — it’s a celebration of our journey, our voices, and the strength of women in music,” the band said in a statement. “We are excited to share our story with the world and continue to push innovative boundaries while staying true to who we are.” – Griselda Flores
Also signing with Universal Music Latino was emerging Colombian artist Annasofia. Based out of Miami, Annasofia is also a musician and producer, and the signing marks “the next step” in her career, according to a press release. The 24-year-old is a graduate of Art House Academy under the mentorship of renowned producer Julio Reyes Copello. – Griselda Flores
Billy Ray Cyrus and Scott Adkins (who manages Cyrus) signed Native American guitarist, songwriter and producer Micki Free as the flagship client of the duo’s newly-formed Roam Man Management. Free, who recently released an EP, Dreamcatcher, won a Grammy for his contribution to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack.
Americana artist Connor Daly signed with Burning Ground Entertainment for management. Daly released his debut album, Colors Fade, in July. Daly, who counts Jason Isbell, Zach Bryan and Ed Sheeran as inspirations, recently released a new single, “Curtains Never Close.” Burning Ground Entertainment also represents artists including Mic Drop, The Pretty Wild, and Tayiha. – Jessica Nicholson
Wolfgang Spahr, whose tenure as a Billboard correspondent covering the German music business lasted from 1973 to 2020, died Friday (March 21). He was in his mid-80s.
Spahr was well known in the German music industry for running a newsletter, in addition to writing for Billboard, and perhaps even better known for being a true character, a gregarious figure who seemed to know, and joke around with, most of the people he covered. Besides his work as an industry journalist and communications consultant, he oversaw public relations for a theater festival dedicated to the works of the German author Karl May, who wrote Westerns without ever visiting the U.S., and wrote the lyrics for the Udo Jürgens schlager song “Aber bitte mit Sahne” (Translation: “But please with cream),” a No. 5 hit in 1976 that is regarded as a classic of the genre.
“Wolfgang was a very keen and passionate observer of our industry,” said Frank Briegmann, chairman/CEO of Universal Music Group Central Europe, in a statement. “I was always happy to welcome him to our events and I enjoyed his often-humorous comments on our business. He leaves a gap in the music business, and he will be missed deeply.”
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Spahr “was full of energy and he was very friendly to everyone,” remembers Hille Hillekamp, a music publisher and close friend of Spahr’s for decades. Many of his professional relationships were measured in decades, and he became a trusted advisor for many industry executives, both formally and informally.
“He was a great character and knew absolutely everyone in the German music business,” says Adam White, a former Billboard international editor and then the magazine’s top editor. “Yet he was a modest man with considerable charm and a warm sense of humor.”
Spahr may have been the longest-serving writer at Billboard. Although it is hard to determine exactly when he started, he is listed on the masthead as early as 1973 — as the correspondent for West Germany — and he kept contributing until 2020. During that time, he covered the rise of the country as one of the top global recorded music markets, the entry of Bertelsmann into the U.S. recording business and the industry’s digital transition. His access to sources was unparalleled. “You could call him and ask him about anything regarding the German industry and he would know it, and when he did not, he would always quickly get back to you,” remembers former Billboard international editor Emmanuel Legrand.
Legrand remembers seeing Spahr twice a year. “First at MIDEM, where we would share a few drinks, most of the time with his lovely wife Gabriele [Schulze-Spahr, a longtime lawyer at Warner Chappell], and then at the German Echo awards. At the afterparty, he would navigate between the various labels, and it was like seeing royalty. Everybody knew Wolfgang and he knew everybody.”
Over the years, whenever I met Spahr at a restaurant, he always seemed to know one of the owners, one of the chefs and at least a couple of other people — whether they had anything to do with the music business or not. More than a decade ago, at the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, I spent about 20 minutes with him walking the length of a city block, because he knew so many people and stopped to greet all of them.
His success as a songwriter, which he never mentioned, was no small thing. “Aber Bitte mit Sahne” was a defining hit for Jürgens, a German superstar from the 1960s to the end of the 1990s and beyond. Spahr is said to have written the words with the lyricist Eckart Hachfeld, but it is not entirely clear what exactly his role was. The song was an instant hit, and it aged into a classic — covered by numerous artists, used in a commercial with the name of the cream substitute Rama and remembered by millions of German music fans.
Spahr’s role in the annual Karl May theater festival in Bad Segeberg was substantial, too. May’s stories about a cowboy and an Apache chief became part of German pop culture, made into movies and TV shows – think Little House on the Prairie with the popularity of the X-Men comics – and the festival attracts hundreds of thousands of fans a year. Every year, it produces a new play, based on one of May’s stories, and Spahr would help recruit talent, plus work on marketing and communications.
Over the course of the last decade, especially as he reached his 80s, Spahr contributed fewer articles. (He died at 84 or 85, but even his close friends aren’t sure what year he was born.) As his health worsened, he withdrew from the industry. He died at home, in his sleep, of a lung infection. He is survived by his wife, Schulze-Spahr.
On Sunday (March 23), two days after a South Korean court ruled that ADOR, an imprint of K-pop giant HYBE, retains the right to manage the groundbreaking girl band NewJeans, the five-member act performed its first and possibly only concert in Hong Kong under a new moniker, NJZ — a result of its attempt to break free from the label. After debuting a new song, “Pit Stop,” the group announced to the sold-out crowd that it was going on hiatus “out of respect for the court’s decision.”
The pronouncement added another twist to a nearly year-long battle between HYBE-owned ADOR and its biggest act, who allege they were mistreated by the label. (ADOR disputes these claims.)
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It’s a fight that could have industry-wide ramifications. The country’s five largest pop music organizations argued at a press conference in February that if NewJeans/NJZ was allowed to break its contract with HYBE/ADOR, it could “break the K-pop industry from the inside,” according to Seoul newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily.
A separate lawsuit to determine if NewJeans/NJZ can legally terminate its contract with ADOR begins April 3, but if the court sides with HYBE/ADOR and the group refuses to make new music, industry insiders wonder whether a legal win would be a pyrrhic victory for HYBE.
HYBE/ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ declined to comment on the financial impacts of the disagreement. An ADOR spokesperson said only that its exclusive contract with NewJeans/NJZ is legally binding and called the group’s performance in Hong Kong as NJZ and its “unilateral announcement of a suspension of activities” regrettable. The members of NewJeans/NJZ filed an objection to the court ruling against its independent activities on Monday (March 24).
HYBE is the company behind one of the highest-selling K-pop acts of all time, BTS. When members of BTS took time away from the group for military service in recent years, the company sought to diversify beyond its tentpole artist with other acts — often through imprints like ADOR — and such acquisitions as Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, Atlanta hip-hop label Quality Control and Latin music company Exile Music Group.
In its fiscal 2024, HYBE reported its highest revenue-generating year in its nearly 20-year history, having generated revenue of 2.25 trillion Korean won ($1.58 billion). But operating profit, a financial metric that subtracts operating costs like legal fees from a company’s gross profit, fell 38% from the prior fiscal year to 184 billion won ($128.7 million), a decline the company attributed to BTS’ temporary break, a shift in sales mix due to new debuts, and strategic investments in infrastructure and new businesses.
The controversy with ADOR and NewJeans/NJZ coincided with a steep decline in HYBE’s share price in 2024. HYBE stock was priced at 230,500 won ($172.33) on April 19, the day HYBE launched an investigation into whether ex-ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin — who is a defendant in the lawsuit — usurped management of NewJeans/NJZ. Min was asked to resign, and in the weeks that followed, HYBE accused Min of trying to take ADOR independent and, with it, NewJeans/NJZ. On Sept. 23, after a YouTube video of the NewJeans/NJZ members demanding that Min be reinstated went viral, HYBE’s stock price plunged to a 52-week low of 158,000 Korean won ($112), down 31.5% from that April high.
While its share price has rebounded — on Tuesday (March 25), it was worth 240,000 Korean won ($163.49), 14.5% from a year ago — the dispute with NewJeans/NJZ may lead to sunk costs.
As with A&R across the music industry, the model for producing a K-pop supergroup is costly at the outset. It can cost between 1 billion Korean won ($681,000) to 10 billion won ($6.8 million) up front, according to a K-pop executive quoted in Korea JoongAng Daily. K-pop companies first pay off debt, then investors, before paying the artists. If the artists break their contract to go to another agency before ultimately turning a profit, the agency is left holding the bag, the executive told the paper. Bunnies, the official fan club of NewJeans/NJZ, criticized this statement, saying the group is seeking creative autonomy and a better deal.
NewJeans announced in February it wanted to go by a new name — NJZ — and member Pham Ngoc Han, who goes by Hanni, told CNN she hoped the new name would help the group turn “this rough period into something more exciting.” ADOR requested Billboard refer to the group as NewJeans, saying, “The Korean court … confirm[ed] ADOR’s status as the legitimate exclusive management agency of the NewJeans members and prevent the Artists from entering into advertising contracts independently without ADOR’s approval.”
The five women in the group — who perform as Minjin, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein and Hanni — formed NewJeans/NJZ in 2022, and they now range in age from 18 to 21. Several have said they are concerned the legal battle with ADOR would define their careers.
“We’ve known from the start that this journey wasn’t going to be easy and even though we accept the court’s ruling and this whole process, we had to speak up to protect the values that we believe in,” the members said at the end of their hour-long headlining performance in Hong Kong on Sunday, adding it’s a decision they “don’t regret at all.”
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Miley Cyrus can’t escape a copyright lawsuit claiming she stole her “Flowers” from a Bruno Mars song; more drama in Drake’s lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”; Mariah Carey wins a copyright lawsuit over “All I Want For Christmas Is You”; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Miley Can’t Wreck “Flowers” Copyright Case
When Miley Cyrus was sued last year, accused of ripping off her chart-topping “Flowers” from the Bruno Mars song “When I Was Your Man,” it wasn’t Mars or any of the song’s co-writers who filed the case. Instead, it was a financial entity called Tempo Music Investments, which had bought out the rights of co-writer Philip Lawrence.
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Does that matter? Miley’s attorneys certainly thought it did, arguing in a motion to dismiss that it represented a “fatal and incurable defect” in the lawsuit. But in a ruling this week, a federal judge rejected that argument, calling it “incorrect” and a “misunderstanding” of legal precedent.
In doing so, the judge warned that restricting entities that buy partial copyrights from enforcing them in court — a major issue in the music industry after a years-long catalog acquisition bonanza — would be a radical shift in the legal landscape with major economic consequences.
“Such a limitation would diminish the value of jointly owned copyrights, because buyers would be less interested in purchasing a copyright that they cannot enforce, thereby disincentivizing co‐authorship and collaboration in works,” the judge wrote. “This would undermine Congress’s intent.”
For more on the ruling, go read our entire story here, including the full ruling issued last week.
Other top stories this week…
MORE DRAKE v. UNIVERSAL – UMG asked a judge to halt all discovery in Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” arguing that he was unfairly demanding “highly commercially sensitive documents” — including Lamar’s record deal. The star’s lawyers fired back just days later, arguing discovery should continue because they would likely win the case, noting that “millions of people” around the world think Kendrick was literally calling Drake a pedophile.
CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY – A federal judge dismissed a copyright lawsuit against Mariah Carey that accused her of stealing key elements of her perennial holiday classic “All I Want for Christmas is You” from a little-known 1989 song of the same name by an artist named Vince Vance. In doing so, the judge endorsed reports by musicologists who said the two tracks were “very different songs” that shared only “commonplace Christmas song clichés” that had been used in many earlier tracks.
LIMP LITIGATION – A federal judge shook up Limp Bizkit’s $200 million lawsuit against UMG, sending much of the contentious legal battle to state court but reviving some of its key accusations. In an earlier ruling, the judge had outright rejected the band’s “rescission” demand seeking to void its contracts with the music giant; in the new decision, the judge left that question open for a future ruling by a state court. The ruling means that the band’s copyright infringement allegations, which carry the potential for a large damages award, are also back in play.
LIVE NATION SETTLEMENT – The concert giant agreed to pay $20 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it failed to warn investors about the kind of anticompetitive behavior that ultimately led to the Justice Department’s sweeping antitrust case. Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the deal provides a “fair, reasonable, and adequate result” from the lawsuit, which claimed Live Nation saddled shareholders with significant losses because it didn’t disclose the “regulatory risks it was currently facing” before news of the big antitrust case was made public.
DIDDY DECISION – A federal judge dismissed racketeering accusations and other claims against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a civil lawsuit filed by former collaborator Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, ruling that the music producer failed to meet the legal requirements to sue under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. But the judge also allowed other parts of Jones’ sexual abuse lawsuit to move forward, including claims that Combs sexually assaulted him.
BUZBEE WITHDRAWAL – Elsewhere in the world of Diddy, attorney Tony Buzbee withdrew from 15 abuse lawsuits in New York federal court, two days after telling a judge he had “made an error in judgment” by failing to disclose that he was not admitted to practice law in that court. Buzbee, who has filed more than 20 Combs cases and fought an acrimonious battle with Jay-Z, said his admission problems had “become a distraction” from the allegations in his cases.
DERULO TRIAL AHEAD – A federal judge ruled that Jason Derulo must face a jury trial over allegations that he improperly failed to credit or pay a co-writer named Matthew Spatola on the chart-topping hit “Savage Love.” Seeking to dismiss the case, Derulo had argued that Spatola didn’t deserve a stake in the copyright just because he was present for a few studio sessions, but the judge said jurors might see things differently. A trial is tentatively scheduled for May.
CASE DISMISSED – Showtime won a ruling dismissing a lawsuit by a woman who claimed George & Tammy — a TV series about country music legends George Jones and Tammy Wynette — unfairly turned her late husband George Richey, who was previously married to Wynette, into “the villain.” The show might have been “unflattering” to him, the judge said, but the accuser didn’t meet the legal requirements for her to sue Showtime for unjust enrichment: “Normally, a plaintiff who cries unjust enrichment must have actually enriched somebody,” the judge wrote.
EMINEM LEAK CHARGES – Federal prosecutors charged Joseph Strange, a longtime former employee of Eminem, with criminal copyright infringement over allegations he leaked the rapper’s unreleased music on the internet. In charging documents, the feds said Strange played or distributed over 25 songs online without Eminem’s or his label’s consent: “The significant damage caused by a trusted employee to Eminem’s artistic legacy and creative integrity cannot be overstated,” the rapper’s spokesman said.
“MAFIA-LIKE ORGANIZATION” – Eugene “Big U” Henley Jr., who helped launch the late Nipsey Hussle‘s career, was hit with a federal criminal case that claims he ran the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips as a “mafia-like” group despite outwardly posing as an anti-gang activist and music executive. Among other allegations, the feds say Henley was responsible for the murder of a 21-year-old aspiring rapper who was signed to his Uneek Music label.
DJing just got a bit more streamlined, with Apple Music today (March 25) announcing a new feature called DJ With Apple Music. The integration allows DJs to build and mix sets directly from the DSP’s catalog of over 100 million songs.
The technology was made in partnership with DJ software and hardware platforms AlphaTheta, Serato, and inMusic’s Engine DJ, Denon DJ, Numark and RANE DJ. It expands an initial Apple Music integration with Algoriddim’s djay Pro software.
“Apple Music is committed to supporting DJs,” says Stephen Campbell, Apple Music’s global head of dance, electronic & DJ Mixes. “With this latest integration, we’re taking that commitment even further—seamlessly connecting Apple Music with the industry’s leading DJ software and hardware. This innovation brings the full power of Apple Music into the creative workflow, making it easier than ever for DJs to access, play, and discover music in real time.”
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“The integration of djay with Apple Music across mobile, desktop, and spatial devices opens up a world of creative possibilities for both beginners and seasoned pros,” adds Algoriddim CEO Karim Morsy. “With instant access to Apple Music’s catalog of over 100 million songs, DJs can mix anytime, anywhere – transforming the way they discover and play their favorite music. Whether using Automix for a seamless, hands-free experience or crafting their own unique sets with djay’s powerful mixing tools, this integration marks a major milestone in making DJing more accessible than ever.”
With the launch, Apple Music joins the list of DSPs that allow DJing directly from the platform, with Tidal, Deezer, Beatport and Soundcloud all featuring similar technology.
DJ With Apple Music expands the platform’s investment in DJ sets, as last December Apple Music launched Apple Music Club, a live, 24/7 global radio station featuring curated mixes from a wide collection of DJs. Today’s launch also includes a new DJ with Apple Music category page listing, a statement by the company says, “a series of DJ-friendly editorial playlists, along with new curator pages for each DJ software and hardware platform showcasing any mixes or sample playlists that can be used to practice.”
For years, singer-songwriter Sierra Hull has checked two bags of music gear for free as part of a longstanding Southwest Airlines policy allowing two free checked bags per passenger. But when the troubled, cost-cutting airline announced March 11 that it would strike the musician-friendly perk, the bluegrass mandolinist was outraged.
“The policies they’ve changed over the last year or so have made it tougher for musicians,” Hull says. “Now there’s going to be an extra several hundred dollars for most bands just to get where they’re going. Festivals are going to have to start paying the bands even more for the band to even say yes — which means they’re going to have to raise the ticket price.”
The Southwest announcement, coming when touring costs are “definitely staggering,” as one top agent puts it — particularly buses, hotels, food and fuel — has frustrated artists prepping for spring and summer tours, especially in Nashville. “We’ve got dozens of people on the crew that utilize that airline regularly. Most people have one to two bags,” says Bill Orner, manager of Billy Strings, who’s scheduled to headline arenas, festivals and amphitheaters this summer — most of them after Southwest’s policy takes effect May 28. “Think of the financial implications on any given tour. I guess they’ve got a reason for it, but [it’s] certainly not ideal.”
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Although Southwest has yet to announce how much the checked bags will cost after May 28, Brian Ross, manager of Thievery Corporation, Blackalicious and others, estimates that a quartet traveling with two crew members will soon have to pay an additional $35 to $40 for each set of two bags, which adds up to $840 to $960 per round-trip flight. “It’s really bad,” he says. “You get diminishing benefits and increasing fees, and everything is getting like that on airlines.”
A-list touring stars won’t notice an additional $800 to $1,000 in costs, and smaller artists generally drive in vans and buses, meaning mid-level artists who play 1,500-to-2,000-seat theaters will be most impacted by Southwest’s policy change. “It’s a big bummer,” says Kevin Spellman, who manages bluegrass singer Molly Tuttle. He calls Southwest the “airline of choice for the musician community, particularly Nashville artists” — until now — and says artists traveling with a crew of 15 people could lose “a couple thousand dollars” from their bottom line. “If you’re doing really well, you’re trying to aim for 25% of the gross [ticket sales] as your profit margin,” he says. “It starts cutting into it tremendously.”
Reps for Southwest declined to comment, pointing to a company statement at a recent financial conference suggesting the change would lead to “significant new revenue initiatives.” The company took in $73 million from bag fees in 2023, according to the Department of Transportation, a crucial revenue source for an airline that laid off 1,750 employees in February. (Southwest will continue to offer two free bags for “A-List Preferred” customers.)
Some airlines see opportunity in Southwest’s change, although it’s too early to say whether they’ll go after the touring-musician community. On Tuesday (March 25), Frontier Airlines announced it would offer free bags for customers who book flights on its website, as well as “economy bundles” that include a free carry-on and other benefits. Kristi Gordon, owner of Fuzed Travel, which helps negotiate airfare, hotel and vehicle costs for touring artists, predicts top airlines such as American and United will pay close attention to Southwest’s revenue in the first two quarters of 2025 and consider promotions geared to lure the airline’s lost musician customers.
Until then, Gordon advises artists to sign up for frequent-flier programs at a particular airline and build up miles for future discounts. And if she could speak to a Southwest exec who authorized the free-bags policy change? “I would just say: ‘You lost an opportunity to have all the entertainment business.’”
Days after Kathryn Frazier lost her Altadena home in January’s Los Angeles wildfires, she returned to survey what was left. “On my property, I had four little sheds and [one] was a healing room. There was a 300-pound citrine crystal in the middle and a Reiki table,” she says. “When I drove up there, the entire street was gone. Everything on my property was gone — except for that healing shed.”
Frazier has worn many music industry hats across her 30-plus year career. In 1996, she founded the publicity firm Biz 3, which has staffers working remotely in several states. Its roster of 200-plus clients, who are primarily in the music business, includes The Weeknd, Lil Yachty, Chappell Roan and Victoria Monét, as well as known figures in film, TV, sports and comedy. In 2011, Frazier co-founded independent label OWSLA with Skrillex and others. And in 2018, she became an International Coaching Federation-designated Professional Certified Coach, enabling her to guide clients on professional and, if they choose, personal matters. She also teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, is a certified reiki master and authored an upcoming book about co-parenting.
“All of the tools, routines and perspective that I’ve been cultivating for the last 30 years literally felt like I had the world’s biggest, best insurance policy for emotional and mental health when something devastating or tragic happens,” Frazier says, reflecting on the fires. “And it saved me.”
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Frazier used those tools to keep working despite the personal devastation she had suffered. The fires had upended clients’ plans and her expertise was needed to, for example, help deal with the cancellation of The Weeknd’s Los Angeles show and postponement of his sixth album, Hurry Up Tomorrow.
“A lot of times, you have to keep going because it’s your livelihood,” she says. “And of course all my camps were so loving and like, ‘Please take what you need.’ But there was a certain drive in me [to be] of service to others, whether it’s in a philanthropic way or [the way] I’ve dedicated myself to helping [their] art. It does take you out of yourself in a healthy way. It’s like walking on a tightrope, but because of all the years I’ve been doing this, my tightrope is a wider path, almost like a bridge.”
How have you coped these last few months?
I’ve done a lot of surrendering, a lot of acceptance. For the first month, did I [use] all my tools? No, I was waking up every day in fight-or-flight [mode], just trying to emotionally process. Grieve. Get my family set up so we have somewhere to live. You’re really, truly kind of starting over. And then also taking care of business. The day I woke up from the fires, I had the launch of The Weeknd’s album campaign with a magazine cover. And I just didn’t stop. It was a really big test of how I operate or show up when shit hits the fan. And all the tools absolutely served me.
Why did coaching feel like a necessary next step in your career?
I was becoming very disenchanted with the industry and felt really empty. Then I started to see a lot of people suffer — and not even people I work with. A lot of addiction, a lot of mental health stuff, a lot of just being worn. Resentment, anxiety, depression, all of it. I had a bigger calling, and why not be able to help people [spread their] art? Whether it’s me doing their press or marketing or getting someone into a better headspace. That’s why labels and managers want me to see their artists. And I always encourage people to have [their artists] see me when they’re just beginning so that they don’t go off the rails. Versus bringing me someone who’s totally at the bottom and struggling and now has to cancel a hundred-date tour or something. It’s preventative medicine.
How big is your coaching client list?
I have a waitlist that I operate from. But because my coaching clients travel so much, I can always get people on the list. I coach a lot of large artists. I coach [senior] executives. And I also coach people who have nothing to do with any of that. The one thing I find is it doesn’t matter who they are or what their position is in life. The inner self-talk tends to be the same. The obstacles tend to be the same.
Since you’ve started coaching, have you seen a shift in how the music industry supports the wellbeing and mental health of its artists and executives?
I still constantly hear of people or see people being pushed and propped up, and I don’t think the music industry is negligent. It’s more that people don’t know where to go or they don’t have the resources. They don’t know what to do with a drug-addicted client. Like, “Who do I call? Do you know any sober coaches?” Often, it’s not knowing how to have the hard conversations when you see someone struggling. Many times over the years, I have gone up to artists — and again, a lot of them are not people I rep — when I can tell they’re struggling, in particular with addiction, or when I hear that they’re canceling a lot of tours and shows, I’ll be like, “Sweetie, tell me what’s happening. I can see you’re struggling.” And almost every time, they literally fall into my arms. They want to talk. They want help.
How are you working to broaden a community that can help?
It’s what I’m teaching. My course at UCLA is about the music industry, and it has become really popular. The kids call it “the manifestation class.” It’s half “What do you need to do to move forward in music?” Almost all of them are musicians, as well as people who want to be in the industry working. It’s also [half] “How do you navigate your own inner voice?” The negative self-talk, the imposter syndrome, the scarcity mindset, the indecision, compare-and-despair. And then, “How do you navigate and handle the outer voice?” The media voice, the public voice.
Your partner Dana Meyerson represents Chappell Roan. How did you feel about Chappell’s Grammys speech regarding the industry supporting artists’ mental and physical health?
I got tears in my eyes immediately and I had a resounding “Fuck yes” come through me. Because we do need to take care of the people who are actually creating the business of this entire business. And I so applaud anyone with a platform using it in service of helping other humans, especially with their mental and emotional health. It made me very proud that [Chappell is] a part of Biz 3. It made me so proud that I have a business partner in Dana that can recognize amazing talent and also have artists that say something on our roster. Dana has truly done the come-up in this industry and now is the reigning queen of PR, in my opinion. She finds the best, most amazing artists and builds them up to massive success.
Have you thought about helping other music companies establish career and wellness coaching?
That would be my dream. The main thing that would require is a budget. If even the smallest amount of earnings could go into hiring a couple of [personal and professional] coaches that could help your staff and your artists for 45 to 50 minutes every other week, you would have such a different company culture. When I quote unquote retire, it’ll just mean I’m fully coaching, writing books and teaching. And maybe that’s me trying to spearhead coaching divisions at companies.
How has the role of a publicist expanded over the years?
All the big press stuff is still there, but there’s also a lot of paid media. That’s been the most disheartening part for me. I’m afraid for it to go too far because then we stop having editorial, we stop having curatorial voices, we stop having people who are truly discovering what is amazing out there versus what got paid for. So I’m really hoping that doesn’t usurp the true editorial and curatorial.
We’re also seeing an uptick in influencer-based media. How does that affect your approach to publicity?
It changed the scope. There are more conversations with YouTubers that review or do music or certain shows [on] TikTok. I am 1,000% a glass-half-full person — I’m a recovered cynic. I’m like, “All right, what new opportunities are there for us?” There might be some magazines shuttering, but what other interesting way can you get good art out to the masses? Like, I’m not going down with the ship. Let’s keep it moving.