Dance

12 Sep 2024

Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Get to ‘Talk Talk’-ing Before the ‘Brat’ Remix Album Drops: Listen

Sure, summer is over, but Brat season is here to stay. On Thursday (Sept. 12), Charli XCX unveiled her new “Talk Talk” remix featuring her Sweat Tour co-star Troye Sivan.

On the amped-up new remix, Charli and Sivan take the original lyrics depicting the early stages of romance and imbue them with new, sexed-up verve. Where the original saw Charli commiserating over miscommunication in a relationship, the remix sees Sivan getting straight to the point: “‘Kay, here’s the plan/ I wanna fly you out to Amsterdam/ I got a good hotel to f–k you in,” he sings.

The track also features a few spoken lines from Dua Lipa, who takes Charli’s request for someone to “Talk to me in Spanish/ Talk to me in French” to their literal conclusions. Opening the track, Dua invites Charli and Sivan to a party at her place in Spanish, before closing the song by saying she lost her phone at the soirée in French.

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But in the words of Steve Jobs, Charli had “one more thing” for her fans. Shortly after dropping her latest remix, the “360” singer announced the long-awaited album of Brat remixes via Instagram. Titled Brat and It’s Completely Different But Also Still Brat, the new version of the album will be available everywhere starting Oct. 11.

Charli and Sivan are currently finishing up preparations for their much-anticipated co-headlining Sweat Tour, which kicks off this Saturday (Sept. 14) in Detroit. The new tour will see the pair travel all around North America before concluding its run in Seattle on Oct. 23. In a recent cover story with i-D, Charli gave fans a tease of what to expect: “The staging is f–king crazy. I mean, not to hype it up too much, but it’s great,” she said.

Listen to Charli XCX & Troye Sivan’s “Talk Talk” remix and see Charli’s Instagram post below.



12 Sep 2024

New Campaign Aims to Get Artists’ Credit When Their Music Is Posted to Social Media By Other DJs

As the electronic music world continues to grapple with how to get producers credit when their tracks are played by other, usually more famous, DJs, a new campaign is attempting to fix the issue on social media.

Launching today (Sept. 12) and backed by the Association For Electronic Music (AFEM), the Respect the Creators campaign is aiming to get lesser known DJs credit on social media by having DJs, promoters and other platforms.

The campaign offers simple instructions, asking DJs that when they “post a video of a gig or a mix and the music isn’t yours, tag the artists, and list the full names of the tracks in the most visible part of your post.” Online platforms are asked to “include track lists for all sets, visible directly below the video or audio,” while promoters are asked to credit the music featured in all their promotional materials for events when posting to Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and other social media platforms.

The campaign advises that social media is crucial to music discovery, with the proper music attribution having the possibility of highlighting lesser known artists and helping them thrive. In a speech at the annual dance conference IMS Ibiza this past May, Dutch artist Frank Nitzinsky noted research that’s informed this campaign, which shows that on average, only 3% of a DJ’s set is music that they have produced themselves, while up to 90% of DJ performance content shared on Instagram does not credit the music being played in the video.

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In a statement, AFEM COO Finlay Johnson says that while the campaign “may seem like a straightforward initiative, encouraging people to share and credit new music addresses significant challenges in the discoverability of emerging artists. It also serves as a reminder for individuals to consider their metadata, which can directly enhance income through royalty collection. While white label and dubplate culture should be celebrated, the use of generic ‘original audio’ tags on social media does little to support artists. We encourage everyone to acknowledge and promote the team behind a record’s production and release.”

Respect the Creators is supported by AFEM, along with a number of organizations including Dutch collecting society Buma/Stemra, along with several venues and artists like Richie Hawtin.

“I thought supporting the community and the musicians who make the musical structure that our scene (and DJs) stand on was simply common decency (and sense),” Hawtin says in a statement. “So why do we see so many social media posts from DJs, promoters and festivals that completely fail to tag the music being played in the clips? It’s disrespectful and only takes further advantage of the musicians who are already struggling for recognition and a fair share of the economic pie of our ‘beautiful’ culture.”

The campaign follows the recent closure of Aslice, a platform with which DJs could donate a portion of their set fee to the artists whose music they played during the performance. The proper crediting and royalty payouts for artists in the electronic scene is a pernicious issue, as DJ sets are often made up of hundreds of songs by a wide variety of artists, many of whom never get credit for the use of their work.

Hawtin recently expressed his displeasure with the closure on social media, saying that “Aslice was working, and the only problem was that not enough DJs, especially the successful ones, agreed to sign up and share back into the music eco-system that they have built their careers on. Aslice did not fail, the famous, most followed DJ’s of our scene failed us all.”

12 Sep 2024

Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson’s ‘Symphony’ Continues TikTok Billboard Top 50 Reign

Clean Bandit’s “Symphony” and Surf Curse’s “Disco” take the top two spots of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the third straight week, while Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” inches nearer to the summit at No. 3 on the ranking dated Sept. 14.

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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity from Sept. 2-8. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.

“Symphony,” featuring Zara Larsson, takes hold of a third week atop the ranking, sporting yet another gain in official U.S. streams alongside it; it’s up 23% to 1.8 million listens in the tracking week ending Sept. 5, according to Luminate.

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The 2017 tune remains driven by a meme and trend on TikTok that features users posting videos of technicolor dolphins alongside humorous or dark captions.

It reigns ahead of “Curse,” which spends a third week at No. 2, driven by a multi-person dance trend that concurrently brings the 2019 song onto non-TikTok Billboard charts for the first time. Its 59% jump in streams to 4.5 million drives it to a No. 18 debut on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, plus a No. 24 premiere on Alternative Streaming Songs.

“Die With a Smile” is the mover of the group, albeit up one spot from No. 4 to 3 on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (a new peak). Since its Aug. 16 release, the song has been used in a variety of TikTok uploads, usually related in some way to romance, per the song’s theme. Some of the top-performing videos so far include homecoming proposals, footage from movies and TV shows such as Tangled and Elemental, and people talking about how they’d react if their significant other posted them set to the song.

“Die With a Smile” is currently No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 as the ranking’s latest Greatest Gainer/Airplay; it debuted at No. 3 in August.

Alphaville’s “Forever Young” follows “Die With a Smile” into a new peak on the TikTok Billboard Top 50, rising 5-4. Creations featuring the song, which peaked at No. 65 on the Hot 100 in 1988, continue to include posts showing the passage of time with loved ones, edits featuring fictional characters and a trend in which one person in a couple lifts the other in the air as they spray water down on both from a water bottle.

Though the songs listed so far were in the previous TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top five, there’s some more substantial movement going on across the rest of the chart, led by Kodak Black’s “No Flockin,” which shoots 20-6. It’s the first time on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 for the rapper, and it comes with a song that was originally released in 2015 and then peaked on the Hot 100 at No. 95 in 2017.

“No Flockin” has received some of its top-performing uploads in recent weeks from sports-related videos, plus other general content. The song is up 20% in streams to 3.6 million in the tracking week ending Sept. 5.

Adrianne Lenker’s “Anything” returns to the TikTok Billboard Top 5’s top 10, blasting 31-8 after previously reaching No. 8 in April. One of the song’s trends features one user asking the other person “Why are you always at my house?” or some variation, with the other lip-synching to Lenker’s “I just wanna be a part of your family” lyric.

And while Sabrina Carpenter’s “Taste” falls from its No. 3 peak to No. 7 on the latest ranking, another song from Short n’ Sweet joins it in the chart’s top 10, as “Bed Chem” vaults 18-9, mostly driven by lip-synch clips.

“Bed Chem” is the third song from Short n’ Sweet to reach the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10, following the aforementioned “Taste” and “Please Please Please,” the latter peaking at No. 2 in June.

See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.

12 Sep 2024

Nocturnal Wonderland 2024 Canceled Due to Southern California Wildfires

As three wildfires rage throughout Southern California, electronic music festival Nocturnal Wonderland has been canceled due to its proximity to the blazes.

Produced by Insomniac Events, the festival was set to take place this weekend (Sept. 14-15) at the Glen Helen Amphitheatre in San Bernardino, Calif. But producers announced Wednesday (Sept. 11), that the festival will not happen because of the Line Fire, which is burning near the venue.

“We are saddened to inform you that new fires in the San Bernardino area have ignited over the last 35 hours and are now approaching the Glen Helen Amphitheatre,” the festival announced on social media. “The health and safety of festival attendees and staff is our highest priority. After further discussions with local authorities, due to the impact of the fires surrounding the venue, we will be unable to proceed with Nocturnal Wonderland.”

The statement notes that ticketholders will receive an email regarding ticket refunds in the coming days, along with information about how ticketholders can support local firefighters and the residents of affected areas.

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The Line Fire has been burning in the San Bernardino National Forest since Sept. 5, and expanded to 34,659 acres burned as of Sept. 11. As reported by the San Bernardino Sun, local authorities announced on Wednesday that “the worst is getting behind us” in terms of getting the fire contained. Two other fires, the Airport Fire and the Bridge Fire, are currently also burning in Southern California, forcing evacuations and affecting air quality throughout the region.

These blazes continue on the tail end of a signficant heatwave, which gripped the region over the last week and brought temperatures up to 112-degrees in parts of the city. Amid this heatwave, the Hollywood Bowl lost power on Sept. 8 and was forced to cancel a show by singer-songwriter Vance Joy. The region also experienced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time on Thursday (Sept. 12).

Nocturnal Wonderland is Insomniac Events’ longest running festival, with the 2024 iteration having scheduled featured performances by artists including Kaskade, RL Grime, Slander, Flosstradamus and other genre-spanning electronic acts.

In the comments section of the announcement, Insomniac Events Founder Pasquale Rotella wrote, “My thoughts and prayers go to all those affected by the fires. Heartbroken about the cancellation. Your support means the world. Can’t wait to celebrate together in the future.”

12 Sep 2024

IMS to Host Debut MENA Region Conference in Dubai This November

After 17 years in Ibiza, IMS is expanding to the Middle East.

The annual electronic music conference announced Thursday (Sept. 12) that it will host the debut edition of IMS Dubai on Nov. 14-15 at the W Dubai – Mina Seyahi.

The two-day event will feature MENA region-based speakers from YouTube, Warner Music Group, Anghami, Believe and more, along with artists and organizers of regional events including Morocco’s Oasis Festival, Dubai’s Soho Garden and Groove on the Grass, and Beirut’s Factory People.

Additionally, speakers from outside the Middle East will represent companies and brands including Tomorrowland, Defected Records, CAA, WME, He.She.They and the Association For Electronic Music.

An opening keynote will be delivered by Maha ElNabaw, managing editor of Billboard Arabia. Other speakers will include Aloki Batra, CEO of The Pacha Group and Five Hospitality; Janet Ashak, YouTube’s head of music in the region; and more. Artist participants include Iranian producer Deep Dish, and Saudi Arabian producer Cosmicat. As at the Ibiza event, IMS Dubai will be hosted by BBC Radio’s Pete Tong, who is also an IMS co-founder.

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The two-day conference will feature 13 panel discussions, with topics including navigating the music industry in the MENA region; a look at culture tourism focused on Ibiza and Dubai; MENA region investors; regional talent buyers; the growth of labels and streaming in the region; the underground scene in Dubai; a focus on the Egyptian market; MENA women in music; and more.

Passes for the event go on sale Sept. 19.

“For almost two decades, International Music Summit has united the global electronic music community annually in Ibiza to explore industry trends, innovations, and the challenges our diverse community faces,” the IMS founders said in a joint statement. “To make a global impact, IMS seeks to be where change is happening, which is why we’ve also hosted three editions of IMS Asia Pacific in Shanghai and one in Singapore, five IMS Engage events in Los Angeles, and three IMS College events in Malta. IMS Dubai will debut in the United Arab Emirates, marking a strategic expansion into the Middle East and North Africa.”

Organizers note that the conference “will not receive government or cultural funding or incentives for this initiative.” Digital download platform Beatport acquired a majority stake in IMS in 2023, with support for the event also coming from AlphaTheta, the owner of Pioneer DJ.

“Our goal is to inspire continued growth, support, and investment while addressing the unique cultural challenges musicians and start-ups face,” the statement continues. “Electronic music culture is built on long standing principles of bringing people together from diverse backgrounds on the dancefloor. Music has the power to unify and we all have a part to play in creating safer spaces for all; a principle that IMS and Beatport proudly stand behind.”

The MENA region is indeed a current buzzy growth market for electronic music and more. The 2024 IFPI Global Report found that total MENA revenue rose by 14.4% in 2023 following a 26.8% jump in 2022. According to IFPI, streaming revenue accounted for 98.4% of the region’s market over the last year.

11 Sep 2024

Raygun Is the Top-Ranked Breaker in the World? Sport’s Governing Body Explains

Australian breaker Rachael Gunn, or “b-girl Raygun,” holds the top spot in her sport’s latest world rankings despite Olympic performances that led to online ridicule.

On Tuesday, the sport’s governing body issued a statement to “provide clarity” on why Raygun tops the rankings.

Raygun, a 37-year-old university lecturer from Sydney, failed to score any points at the Paris Olympics in routines that included a “kangaroo” dance.

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The World DanceSport Federation said the ranking methodology is based on each athlete’s top four performances within the past 12 months — but excludes Olympic events including the Paris Games and Olympic qualifier series events in Shanghai and Budapest.

Additionally, no ranking events were held between December 2023 and the Olympics — to allow athletes to focus on qualification.

The federation clarified that the unusual circumstances of this year’s competition schedule resulted in many athletes being ranked based on a single event. In Raygun’s case, her first-place finish at the Oceania continental championships in October 2023 earned her 1,000 points.

Many within the breaking community have criticized the rankings for not giving a clear picture of breaking as a sport and as a culture.

“Speaking of the WDSF, they actually don’t have any real merit with the breakers or the breaking community,” said Zack Slusser, vice president of Breaking for Gold USA. “And they also haven’t been able to organize events by their measure that would contribute to creating an accurate world ranking.”

According to Slusser, breakers only performed in events organized by the WDSF — the Lausanne-based governing body for competitive dance sports — to get enough points to qualify for the Paris Olympics.

Breakers “had no incentive, no desire to even continue participating with the WDSF after that,” Slusser said. “Because they’re not cultural events. They are not enjoyable.”

11 Sep 2024

Michael Bibi Donates Funds From Comeback Show to the Hospital Where He Received Cancer Treatment

Michael Bibi‘s comeback story continues with the news that the English producer has donated money raised at his July comeback show to the London hospital where he underwent cancer treatment.

“To everyone that was part of this show thank you for making this possible,” Bibi wrote on Instagram with a photo of himself presenting a check to hospital staff. “Through dancing we have directly helped other people like myself and are helping to make a difference in saving more lives. My heart is full, thank you.”

The donation — about $162,815 — was raised at Bibi’s inaugural One Life show at London’s Finsbury Park on July 2, with the performance marking his first big U.K. set back after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His shows were canceled as the London-based artist went into treatment at the city’s Royal Marsden Hospital. Last December, he announced that he was officially cancer free.

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Representatives from the Royal Marsden hospital were on hand at the Finsbury Park show with information booths that raised awareness for cancer treatment and prevention.

Bibi’s One Life concept, which includes another five shows across Europe through late September, establishes a new normal for the previously globe-trotting DJ, with Bibi now playing a very select number of shows, most of them during the day and early evening.

“I’m focusing on being healthy. Also being in a hospital bed for that amount of time, I had to have a couple of surgeries, which left me a bit immobile for a while,” Bibi told Billboard ahead of the Finsbury Park show. “I’m OK now, but there was a lot of rehabilitation from lying flat on my back for such a long period of time. So I’m in the gym now, just slowly rehabilitating myself, trying to get back to how I was, the old me. Eating well, three meals a day. Spending as much time as possible with my loved ones and my friends. Sleeping well is important to me. I’m not doing any shows that are late at night anymore. I’m just chilling for now. The doctor’s orders are literally, ‘Just chill,’ and that’s what I’m doing.”

Read Bibi’s Instagram post below:

11 Sep 2024

The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony Was a French Electronic Music Fête for the Ages: Photos

The closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games leaned fully into French electronic music, and with dazzling results.

The ceremony, which happened at Paris’ Stade De France on Sept. 8, assembled not only athletes, but a legendary crew of French dance producers that included the pioneering Jean Michel Jarre, Ed Banger founder Busy P, dance-pop master Martin Solveig, Kavinsky — whose 2010 classic “Nightcall” experienced a streaming surge when he also performed it at the Closing Ceremony of the 2024 Olympics Games — and other French Touch stars including Étienne de Crécy, DJ Falcon and Alan Braxe, Breakbot, Irfane, Chloé Caillet and more.

The ceremony also included the first performance from Cassius’ Boombass since the duo’s Philippe Zdar died in 2019 after an accidental fall.

The artists assembled played many of their classics, with Breakbot performing their 2010 era-defining hit “Baby I’m Yours,” while an assistant held an umbrella over a very sharply dressed Irfane as he delivered the vocals. Solveig lit up the stadium with pyro while playing his 2011 hit “Hello,” and the night reached a euphoric peak with the play of Daft Punk’s enduring “One More Time.”

“I see you my Malaysian, English and Ukrainian friends!” Busy P wrote on Instagram in a post of images from the rainy night. “If you still wonder what French Touch is, this is it! It’s us, you, them! Reuniting 24 DJs coming from various worlds, breaking boundaries is French Touch! Being emotional and dance at the same time to celebrate our brothers DJ Mehdi & Zdar is French Touch! Partying hard despite heavy rain is French Touch! Wearing cheap plastic ponchos on top of our Louis Vuitton suits is French Touch! Doing conga line while French techno queen [Anetha] is hammering le Stade de France is French Touch!

“French Touch is not only a music genre,” he concluded. “It’s a state of mind. I salute and send warm kisses to all my fellow DJs who embraced that feeling Sunday night.”

See photos from the night below.

10 Sep 2024

Charli XCX & Troye Sivan Share NSFW Snippet of Unreleased ‘Talk Talk’ Remix: Listen

On the second day of September, Charli XCX tweeted, “goodbye forever brat summer” — but it looks like she’s still got one last remix featuring Troye Sivan in the tank.

After keeping fans suspended in anticipation for weeks, the British alt-pop star finally shared a snippet of a “Talk Talk” remix with her Sweat Tour mate. In a video posted to X Monday (Sept. 9), the two stars dance around in a backstage area while lip-syncing along to the reimagined song, with Charli passing the camera off to Sivan when it comes time for his verse.

“OK, here’s the plan, I wanna fly you out to Amsterdam,” he sing-raps before detailing how he wants to get down and dirty with his love interest.

Based on the snippet, it seems as though Sivan’s verse picks up right where the original “Talk Talk” leaves off, with the “Rush” singer coming in right after Charli’s outro, where the song usually ends. Dua Lipa is also expected to appear on the track, although her voice isn’t audible in the new snippet; a few days after Charli reportedly shared a voice note from the “Levitating” artist on her private Brat Instagram account, Sivan’s “Rush” producers Zhone and Styalz Fuego said that they worked on the remix and tagged Dua on their Stories.

“Remember how I told you we were so back?” Fuego wrote, reposting Charli and Sivan’s snippet.

The original version of “Talk Talk” appears on Brat, which the singer dropped in June to critical acclaim. The project later peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, Charli’s highest peak on the chart to date.

The musician has spent the summer boosting the album with a series of remixes, with the “Talk Talk” revamp following Brat collaborations with Addison Rae, Robyn, Yung Lean, Lorde and Billie Eilish. Teaming up with Sivan was only natural given their plans to embark on a joint tour this year, something the duo spoke about in a recent interview with i-D.

“Our shows at the moment are very different from each other and both speak to different elements of pop,” Sivan told the publication. “I think that the collision of it is going to be cool.”

Listen to a snippet of the “Talk Talk” remix below.

10 Sep 2024

Richie Hawtin Laments Closure of DJ Revenue Sharing Platform Aslice: ‘Famous’ DJs ‘Failed Us All’

Following the recent announcement that DJ revenue sharing platform Aslice is closing, Richie Hawtin has shared his thoughts on the news.

In a 10-minute statement posted to YouTube and social media, the pioneering techno producer expressed his disappointment that many big-name DJs did not participate in Aslice, a donation-based platform launched by DJ Zak Khutoretsky in 2022 that allowed DJs to voluntarily share their set playlists and contribute part of their performance fee to the artists whose music they played.

“The closing of Aslice is a huge disappointment,” Hawtin says. “Perhaps the biggest disappointment that I felt in our community, our scene since I’ve been part of it.”

Last week, the company announced it was closing and released a lengthy report that cited reasons including industry skepticism (“despite outreach to over 2,000 professional DJs, many remained hesitant,” the report says), difficulties the platform faced in gaining widespread adoption, the company’s difficulty in achieving financial sustainability, mixed engagement among DJs, and limited adoption by the leading and most well-played DJs.

Trending on Billboard

The report notes that “only 4.7% (56) of the top 1,199 DJs on Resident Advisor [with more than five upcoming performances] participated in Aslice.”

Hawtin has a sharp critique for these non-participating DJs, writing in his Instagram caption that “Aslice was working, and the only problem was that not enough DJs, especially the successful ones, agreed to sign up and share back into the music eco-system that they have built their careers on. Aslice did not fail, the famous, most followed DJ’s of our scene failed us all.”

With its closing announcement, the Aslice team said that since launching, they’ve paid out $422,696 to musicians with money from DJs who participated in the platform. They add that all participating artists with remaining balances will be paid out by the end of 2024.

Hawtin shared that since 2021, he has personally paid out €88,950 (roughly $116,268) to the producers whose music he played during his sets, at the expense of what averaged out to be roughly $800 per gig.

Noting that he wasn’t an investor in Aslice, Hawtin explained that it “was a platform that was built to rebalance the economic inequalities that are a big part of our scene. The economic inequalities between how much a DJ or musician and a producer gets paid for the music they make and the money that goes into the pocket of us DJs when we perform playing other people’s music.”

Hawtin said that while most bands perform their own music and earn commensurate royalties, “in our own beautiful scene where we have the largest paid performers playing other people’s music, that system doesn’t work. And it’s only gotten worse as we moved into digital distribution and streaming.”

He added that he’s seen many talented producers stop making music because they couldn’t support themselves and their families by doing it, even though their music might have been getting played by famous DJs in their sets. He says the platform was “a way to recognize the musicians and support the actual foundation of our whole scene. Without music, there’s no DJs.”

Hear Hawtin’s complete statement below.

The Aslice report notes that the platform was an especially vital tool in the electronic music world, given that PROs’ “failure to support the electronic music scene is evident in several key areas,” including, the report says, their technological stagnation, a lack of proactive outreach and community building, complex registration processes, an inability to track unreleased music, outdated distribution models, low accuracy rates, and a lack of retroactive payments for producers who weren’t registered when their music was played.