Events
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A billboard along the four-lane highway that runs from King Khalid International Airport across the desert into Riyadh features the smiling faces of the Kingdom’s founder, King Abdulaziz and its current ruler King Salman, as well as the stoic visage of a third, Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, colloquially known as MBS. “Our real wealth,” the sign reads in Arabic, as well as English, “is in the ambition of our people.”
A second billboard advertises the event I’m here to see and features the images of another three men who could, in their own way, be important to the future of the rapidly changing country: Marshmello, David Guetta and DJ Khaled. They are among the hundreds of artists who in 2022 flew in from around the world to perform at Riyadh’s third annual Soundstorm, a dance-music-focused mega-festival that drew more than 150,000 people a day, including myself, to a site the size of Coachella.
This year, the festival is drawing more superstars to the region, with Eminem, U.K. rock legends Muse, Jared Leto’s band Thirty Seconds to Mars and dance titans Richie Hawtin and Marco Carola set to headline Soundstorm 2024 this December 12-14. Many more acts will be announced in the coming weeks, with this fifth edition of the festival marking the first time all of these phase one artists, outside Carola, will perform in the country.
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Another act that made its Saudi Arabia debut at Soundstorm is Metallica. At the 2023 festival this past December, flames shot from the festival’s massive mainstage — dubbed “Big Beast” — into the cold desert air as the band’s singer James Hetfield demanded “Give me fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire!” while the crowd roared. Like the country’s electronic scene, the Saudi Arabian metal community once existed entirely underground, with secret shows happening at empty highway rest stations. In this new era of Saudi history, Soundstorm drew one of the genre’s most popular bands of all time to Riyadh. In the crowd, fans made devil horns with their hands and thrust them into the night sky as Hetfield yelled “Burn Riyadh, burn!”
This past December, Soundstorm — its scale matched only by longstanding dance festivals like Tomorrowland and EDC Las Vegas — also featured headliners including Calvin Harris, Will Smith, 50 Cent, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, H.E.R., Travis Scott and J Balvin, and followed an annual industry conference, XP Music Futures, that featured a mix of global and local music executives discussing AI, emerging artists, climate action and more.
This past May, the festival’s parent company, MDLBEAST, kicked off a series of day-long workshops for groups of roughly 30 people from the local music scenes in Kuwait, Tunisia, Oman and Saudi (last year they also hosted workshops featuring a music production course by Afrojackand a primer on artist management) and they’re gearing up for the next XP conference ahead of this December’s festival.
MDLBEAST, which is leading the charge on music-related endeavors in Saudi, also operate a members-only club in Riyadh similar to the Soho House — Beast House, which also houses a recording studio — and a Riyadh nightclub, Attaché. Saudi’s first opera house is currently under construction nearby, with an arena and art museum also forthcoming.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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British DJ and event producer Megatronic, whose Femme Fest event hosts shows by female-identifying artists and has been at the conference since its first year, says the event “is going to grow and be an important part of the fabric for the Gulf Region in terms of putting music out to the rest of the world.” She says international music industry figures have been moving to Saudi Arabia from Dubai — where she also lived for six years — because “Saudi is fresh; it’s vibrant compared to Dubai… in 10 years it might squash Dubai.” It’s also possible that with war affecting Israel’s position as the Middle East’s leading dance music destination, Saudi Arabia could rise up in its place.
This was all inconceivable less than a decade ago, when playing music in public was punishable by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Activities like dancing, public hugging and gender mixing were also prohibited, until bin Salman stripped the religious police of much of their authority when he rose to power around 2016 and launched his national development project known as “Vision 2030.”
As part of that plan, Saudi Arabia has been working to broaden its economy from oil dependency — the state-run ARAMCO posted $121 billion in profit in 2023 — to encompass businesses like sports, technology, tourism and media and culture. That includes getting into the music business, which the country is doing the way it does everything: Fast, and on a grand scale, with no expense spared.
In 2018, Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority announced plans to invest $64 billion — more than double the value of the entire global music industry in 2023, according to the 2024 IFPI Global Report — into entertainment over the next decade. In 2020, the country formally launched the Saudi Music Commission, with British music trade association executive Paul Pacifico joining as CEO in January 2023.
The hope is that Saudi Arabia will develop a music business that can generate jobs, turn regional artists into stars, help the country present a more modern face to the world and unlock the Middle East as music’s next big growth market.
“Over the next few years, it’s going to be all about building the structures that allow people to express themselves creatively,” Pacifico said at a November panel about the Saudi music business at LA3C, an event in Los Angeles run by Billboard parent company PMC. “And building platforms that will enable Saudi artists to tell their stories in a way that will be heard around the world.”
Music execs from companies across the business have flown to Saudi to assess the opportunity. In June, Saudi media company SRMG partnered with Billboard to launch Billboard Arabia and in December debuted its website and two global charts: The Billboard Arabia Hot 100 and the Billboard Arabia Artist 100, showcasing the most popular talent in the Middle East and North Africa regions.
The 2024 IFPI Global Report found that total MENA revenues rose by 14.4% in 2023, following a 26.8% jump in 2022 that marked the world’s third-highest growth rate. According to the IFPI, streaming revenues accounted for 98.4% of the region’s market in the last year. While Saudi Arabia does not yet have its own collecting society, MDLBEAST Publishing was announced in June to support artists across the MENA region, partnering with U.K.-based publisher Sentric to provide global support with admin services like royalty collection.
Fans attend the perfomance of Dish-Dash DJ music artists during the Soundstorm 2022 music festival, organized by MDLBEAST, in Banban on the outskirts of the Saudi capital Riyadh on December 1, 2022.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
Pulling a traditional society into the 22nd century gives the country elements of the surreal. The image of the three royals from the highway billboard stares out from all over Riyadh, from banners on the sides of buildings to the Starbucks kiosk in my hotel lobby. In the room, an arrow on the ceiling points to Mecca — a common symbol at hotels across the Arab world to give Muslim visitors direction for prayer — and a live feed from the Great Mosque there plays 24 hours a day on the hotel TV. Other channels offer news, Middle Eastern soap operas and a falconry tournament. A U.K. woman here to work on the festival tells me that she, but not her male colleague, was escorted out of the hotel gym by staff — though hotels here are free to determine their own policies.
During my weekend at the rave, I’ll see a woman in a hijab dance to hip-hop and a tent where attendees observe the call to prayer while the music stops. I’ll be offered party drugs in a country where even alcohol is illegal and hear Fat Joe onstage demanding “what’s love got to do with a little ménage?” in a place where I’ve been advised to keep my ankles and elbows covered.
“This is all a huge change socially,” says Courtney Freer, visiting assistant professor of Middle Eastern studies at Emory University. Saudi women have only been able to drive since 2018. Over the last decade, the Saudi royal family has eased and in some cases eliminated other restrictions on women, including the requirement to wear a hijab, although many still do, often for their own cultural and religious reasons. Women can also now travel outside the country without a male guardian. Human Rights Watch senior women’s rights researcher Rothna Begum says that for some women, particularly the middle class, these changes are “significant,” even in some cases “life changing.”
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia formally opened to non-religious tourists in 2019, and it now takes only about 10 minutes to apply for a visa online. This past spring, the Saudi Tourism Authority web site FAQ was updated to declare that “Everyone is welcome to visit Saudi” in response to the question “Are LGBT members welcome to visit?” (This answer also asks that “they follow and respect our culture, traditions and laws as you would when visiting any other country in the world,” although it doesn’t specify them.) Other questions include “Is Saudi Arabia safe?” (“very”), “Is alcohol available in Saudi Arabia?” (“no”) and “Is it possible for women to wear swimsuits in public?” (“On public beaches, visitors are expected to wear modest clothing.”)
Partying with tens of thousands of strangers at a massive rave about 40 minutes outside of Riyadh is, apparently, perfectly fine.
But despite the new freedoms, there are still constraints. Free speech is not protected, and while the country has no written laws on sexual orientation, judges often use Islamic law to punish homosexual activity and sex outside marriage, and even advocating for gay rights online can be a punishable offense, according to Human Rights Watch LGBT Rights Program Senior Researcher Rasha Younes. In March 2022, the government passed a Personal Status Law that gave women certain rights but also requires that they get the approval of a male guardian in order to get married. This law also says that wives must “obey in righteousness” and that a husband can withhold financial support if his wife “refuses herself” without “a legitimate reason.”
In the historically progressive electronic music scene, a world pioneered by Black and gay people, the Saudi-funded Soundstorm is thus “very polarizing in our community,” says Silvia Montello, who was CEO of the Association for Electronic Music (AFEM) when we spoke.
“Beyond What You Think You Know”
To some critics, Soundstorm is a glitzy distraction from the Saudi government’s human rights violations. Women, LGBTQ people, migrant workers and journalists have faced repression from the same government that’s helping fund the country’s forays into music. In 2018, journalist Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul; in 2021, the Biden administration released a report saying bin Salman approved the killing of Khashoggi, although MBS has denied this. This past August, a retired teacher was sentenced to death for tweets criticizing the government, and in January a Saudi women’s rights activist was sentenced to 11 years in prison for charges including “indecent” clothing and promoting women’s rights on social media.
But some festival participants believe that music and events can drive social change and hope their participation will fuel more progress. “Some of my first shows in Saudi touched me deep,” David Guetta said during his 2022 XP keynote. “I’m sure everyone here can feel it. We’re witnessing a moment in history.”
“Ten or 20 years from now, there’s going to be books written about how Saudi changed,” says a non-Saudi music industry executive who’s worked with MDLBEAST. “If we all play our cards right, electronic music will be a chapter in that book. Don’t we all want that?”
People attend the MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 music festival in Banban on the northern outskirts of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on December 1, 2022.
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Social progress is part of the mission for MDLBEAST, the roughly 100-person organization that produces Soundstorm and several other festivals and events around the Gulf with a combination of government and private funding. Though it operates in partnership with various Saudi government divisions, the country’s politics “have nothing to do with us as an organization,” says its chief creative officer Ahmad Alammary, who goes by his DJ name, Baloo.
Raised in Riyadh, Alammary grew up listening to music — house, disco, new wave — with his family and started DJing in 1997 while attending American University in Washington D.C., once receiving a call from the Saudi consulate telling him to stop playing at clubs if he wanted to keep his scholarship.
Nonetheless, he returned to Riyadh in 2002 with eight boxes of vinyl and began DJing illegal underground parties where, he says, “The people, the ‘extracurriculars,’ everything looked, felt and sounded like any other party I would attend around the world.” When an event Alammary was scheduled to play was raided in 2004, he moved to Dubai, scored a residency at a club in Bahrain, then moved to New York City and earned his Masters from Pratt Institute’s Design Management program.
When he returned home again in 2013, Alammary found “a different society — art exhibitions, film screenings, gatherings with mixed crowds.” In 2019, he helped form MDLBEAST with the government’s blessing, booking the first Soundstorm with local artists, plus dance music titans like Guetta, Steve Aoki, Tiësto and Afrojack. More than one member of the MDLBEAST team compares this first festival to the fall of the Berlin Wall. “Every Saudi DJ got off the decks in complete shambles, tearful, in disbelief,” Alammary recalls.
Alammary says most fans who were interested in this first Soundstorm didn’t even believe it would happen — “they were like, ‘bulls–t,’” he remembers — with the crowd only swelling on the second day when locals realized it was real and began arriving by the carload.
Now, with a staff that’s 50% women, the festival promoter seeks to become “one of the top brands known for gender diversity” with equitable lineups and “minority inclusion across our experiences,” according to an internal strategy document provided to Billboard, while it aims to “own the music industry in the Middle East” by increasing “the GDP of MENA [the Middle East and North Africa] Music Biz,” “promote Saudi as a global music destination,” “export cultural IP” and “inspire and promote progressive culture.”
“The truth is, though, we have to work harder because of where we’re from,” the document reads. “Beyond the money. Beyond the stereotypes. Beyond what you think you know.”
At The Festival
While female dancers in red, skintight latex bodysuits writhe around 50 Cent during a performance of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” on stage at Soundstorm this past December, festival attendees, all 16 and older, wear traditional robes or abayas, streetwear or jeans. Many women wear surgical masks to ensure they won’t be recognized in photographs. Ticket prices start at SAR 169, or about $45. A private suite with its own concierge goes for SAR 80,000, or about $21,000. Fans with premium access never even need touch the ground — a miles-long network of 15-foot-high walkways connect viewing areas at the event’s seven stages. On one stretch, a muscular man with army fatigues and a gun holster escorts a group of elegantly dressed women to the “VIB” — short for “very important beast” — area.
Each evening around seven, the music stops for about 15 minutes during the call to prayer, during which a small percentage of the crowd enters a designated tent to observe. Alcohol is illegal in Saudi, so the drink stands sell bottled soft drinks. Even so, a festival employee tells me backstage that “everyone here is shitfaced.” (I’m told that alcohol is brought in from Bahrain.) In the crowd a man offers me “pills to party.” I decline. A Soundstorm spokesperson says the festival has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol and security removes violators.
Attendees dance during the MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 music festival in Banban on the northern outskirts of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on December 1, 2022.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
The first year of Soundstorm was hard to book, as many artists were reluctant to play in the country, says MDLBEAST Strategy Director Nada Alhelabi. She says assembling the lineup “gets easier every year.” The industry executive who’s worked with MDLBEAST says that while artists earned two or three times their normal fee at the first festival, rates have since come down to standard (mid-to-high six figures for top-tier acts). As at most dance-focused festivals, the 2022 and 2023 Soundstorm lineups skew heavily male, although there are performances from women including Peggy Gou, Nervo, La Fleur, Anne-Marie, Carlita, Nora En Pure, and many Middle Eastern artists including Cosmicat, who grew up in the coastal city of Jeddah and was studying to be a dentist before a DJ career became possible.
Saudi’s General Authority of Statistics reports that 67% of the population is younger than 35, data cited repeatedly by artists and executives who are here to assess the market. Backstage before his Soundstorm 2022 set, Dutch producer Hardwell tells me that Saudi “feels to me how it did when I started playing in the States around 2010 when the whole EDM thing blew up.”
The country’s music investments still seem to exist outside the realm of supply and demand, however. Soundstorm is not yet profitable, although Alammary predicts it will break even in the next few years.
The most striking difference between Soundstorm and other festivals is that in 2022 and years prior, attendees were overwhelmingly male. In the 2022 crowd, I count roughly one woman for every 20 men. Sexual harassment has been an issue at Soundstorm since its 2019 debut, and every year, several female attendees post on social media about being harassed, even groped. Co-ed events are still relatively new, and organizers “are doing everything they can to make it safe for women,” says the industry executive who’s worked with MDLBEAST. “They’re not sweeping it under the carpet.”
In both 2022 and 2023, LED signs and bathroom-stall posters promote Respect & Reset, MDLBEAST’S anti-harassment program, which brings in 250 staffers to offer support in the crowd at four tents, where anyone who has been harassed can report the incident and get support. More established events around the world devote fewer resources to the issue, says Respect & Reset Co-Director Judy Bec, who operates similar anti-harassment programs at festivals in her native U.K.
People attend the MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 music festival in Banban on the northern outskirts of Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on December 1, 2022.
Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
On Saturday night during Swedish House Mafia’s 2022 set, I’m groped from behind on two separate occasions by men who stick their hands between my thighs and grab. (I don’t report either incident, since both men disappear into the crowd.) A male friend does his best to protect me and a female companion, but being in the crowd is hectic until a group of courteous Saudi men create a wall around us. I don’t see any similar incidents in the premium viewing areas, where the crowd is older and more gender balanced. A female journalist who traveled from Europe for Soundstorm in 2022 and 2023 says that while the festival was generally less crowded in 2023, GA attendees at this most recent event were more gender balanced, a shift, this journalist says, that made the atmosphere less threatening and more like other festivals around the world.
On the final night of Soundstorm 2022, I see two men embracing on a patch of fake grass in the general admission area. Alammary, the MDLBEAST creative director, remembers asking a DJ he wanted to perform at Soundstorm questioning the offer because of the country’s hostility toward gay rights. “I told him, ‘I understand and respect that, but I need you to also understand that everyone is on the dance floor,’” Alammary remembers. “Everyone is behind the decks. We don’t care about anybody’s background or orientation.”
There’s evidence that he’s right. A 2021 U.S. State Department report on human rights in Saudi Arabia ends with a single sentence: “Observers at the December MDLBeast [sic] Soundstorm music festival reported that it included the public display of LGBTQI+ culture.”
“They’re Taking The Music Business Very Seriously”
Amy Thomson, Swedish House Mafia’s former manager who now runs her own rights management platform, travelled to XP 2022 to speak on a panel because she says “it was important for me to come see if they’re taking it seriously…and clearly, they’re taking the music business very seriously.” Though she says she nearly canceled the trip three times, she ultimately chose to attend, as “you can’t just run around the world just throwing your opinion without education.”
Mirik Milan, the former night mayor of Amsterdam and founder of the nightlife consultancy VibeLab, who has come to XP since its first year, says he’s seen “a cultural renaissance has taken place in the last couple of years,” but “we should also not be naïve. Music and nightlife have the power to change people’s lives, but they won’t inflict a power change in Saudi or anywhere in the world.” To him, the point is the people of Saudi experiencing the joy of dance music.
On the final night of Soundstorm 2022, three Saudi women in their early 30s, all of whom speak English, sit at a picnic table and talk about life before bin Salman’s reforms.
Until a decade ago, they say, the most exciting form of legal entertainment was a restaurant with dancing waiters. The reforms have made dating easier, they say, since they no longer have to chaperone one another on secret visits to mens’ houses. “We’d be nervous, like ‘don’t drink anything; be careful,’” says one. “Now you can just go to a coffee shop.” Even now, though, they say the lives of Saudi women depend significantly on the permissiveness of their fathers. “And if it’s not your dad, it’s your siblings, or your uncles, or your cousins,” says another. “Someone in the family is going to stand up and say ‘no.’”
Dressed in jeans and T-shirts, they say they’re happy that the women here in hijabs can experience the festival, because, the first one says, “It’s getting them out of their comfort zone.” The second says she was excited when tourists started coming, since “a lot of the terrorist [activity] created a big cloud on us that really doesn’t show who we are as people.”
That’s one reason they appreciate the DJs and artists who do make the trip. A third woman says she especially loves Guetta for coming here to play when the country first opened for foreign entertainment.
But she loves bin Salman even more, for making all of this possible.
“I am,” she says, “his biggest fan.”
About this reporting: Billboard assumed all costs related to travel to and from Saudi Arabia, including hotel accommodations. MDLBEAST helped arrange a travel visa. While in Saudi Arabia, the writer was part of a press entourage for which the festival provided transportation to and from XP and Soundstorm, along with sightseeing.
Billboard’s parent company, PMC, received a minority investment from SRMG, a publicly traded media company based in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, in early 2018.
Teyana Taylor, BET’s Connie Orlando and more were honored at the eighth annual Culture Creators Innovators & Leaders Awards Brunch on Friday (June 28) at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Hosted by journalist Gia Peppers, the exclusive fête brought industry icons, influencers and thought leaders together to pay tribute to extraordinary individuals who have left an indelible mark on Black culture across various sectors, including technology, business, sports, fashion, music and more.
It also benefitted The Culture Creators Foundation, a non-profit that is dedicated to bridging the gap between high school and college as well as college to graduation for underrepresented students in industries lacking diversity. The foundation empowers these students to thrive academically and professionally by providing resources, curriculum supplementation and membership. Funds raised during the brunch will support the 2024 Academic School Year Scholarship Program for the Campus Changemakers, the foundation’s inaugural cohort of students across 35 colleges and universities.
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Taylor was honored as Innovator of the Year with a celebratory video montage that highlighted her incredible career in entertainment, from choreographing Beyoncé‘s “Ring the Alarm” music video and signing to Pharrell Williams‘ Star Trak Entertainment when she was only 16 years old (when the world also watched her epic birthday bash on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16) to later signing to Ye‘s GOOD Music when she was 21. Since then, the multihyphenate star has earned eight gold-certified singles from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while “Gonna Love Me” from her 2018 album K.T.S.E. is certified platinum. She’s creative directed shows and tours for Usher, Latto, Summer Walker, Diddy, Glorilla, Lil Durk and Lil Baby.
She also won the video director of the year award at the 2020 and 2023 BET Awards. While Taylor’s gearing up for her directorial debut, Get Lite, she’s also had a successful run in front of the camera: Her starring role in A Thousand And One earned her the best breakthrough performance award at the 2023 National Board of Review Awards and 2023 Critics Choice Awards, and she’s set to star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest untitled feature and Tyler Perry’s Straw film.
“Teyana Taylor is a one of one. She’s a person who helps us mark time, a time in culture and different times of our lives. We’ve Googled her, we’ve celebrated her Sweet 16, we’ve watched her be our favorite baby mama next door, we’ve watched her slay rap battles (some of y’all remember that?), we’re watched her conquer choreography that would even make Janet Jackson blush,” said Emmy-winning screenwriter, producer and actress Lena Waithe while she was presenting the award to Taylor.
“She’s given us timeless music videos, unforgettable performances like the one she beautifully delivers in A Thousand And One. I’ve gotten a front row seat to her journey in becoming a serious actress. I’ve watched her break down both in front of and behind the camera. She let us watch her tears fall so others wouldn’t be afraid to cry.”
Taylor held back tears as she began her acceptance speech, which took the form of a prayer.
“Heavenly Father God, I thank you for who you are. All-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful. Let me tell you something about your favor. Father God, your favor cannot be stopped, you hear me? I know you’re hear me, so let your daughter cook. Let me cook. Lord, you told me in John 8:12 that you are the light of the world and if I followed you, I wouldn’t have to walk in darkness because you would have the light that leads to life,” she said.
“Thank you for wiping away every tear away when I thought the weight was punishment, ’cause you’ve made it very clear now that it was just preparation. Thank you for never letting my crown fall because you keep my head high. Thank you for teaching me the power of grace as I walk in it.”
She thanked her 8-year-old daughter Junie, who stood on stage beside her, for her “protection” and “being so pure. Thank you for loving me the way that you do. Thank you for teaching me how to be fearless,” Taylor said. And to her 3-year-old daughter Rue, “she knocked out in the green room,” Taylor revealed, which was met with roaring laughter. “I love you too, girl! …. One thing Rue gon’ do is never make it to the table, you hear me. My girl be knocked out like she work five jobs.”
After thanking her parents, her longtime friend and The Aunties production company co-founder Coco Gilbert, “Auntie” Natina Nimene, executive vp of promotion and artist relations at Def Jam and the rest of her team, Taylor returned to her prayer.
“I want to thank you for having me in this room full of amazing, talented innovators and leaders. Thank you for using me as an affirmation to everybody and every hardworking person in this room today that we are here because we belong here in this moment, it was already written in the palm of your hand…. And thank you for telling us ‘yes’ when naysayers told us ‘no.’ In Jesus’ name, Amen.” But right before she left the stage, Junie took the microphone for a precious scene-stealing moment. “And I love my mom! I love my mom!” she exclaimed.
Former BET Networks CEO/chairman Debra Lee presented presented an award to her former colleague Orlando, BET’s EVP specials, music programming & music strategy.
“I don’t think anyone in this room would disagree with the statement that everybody loves Connie,” said Lee, who collected proof in the form of a four-page document filled with responses from Orlando’s friends and business contacts about why everyone loves her. “Jesse Collins, her producing partner on many BET specials, says, ‘Words that describe Connie: integrity, her word is her bond; patience, in a world of folks seeking instant gratification with very little effort, she stands out as someone who puts in the work in order to make sure whatever she is working on is perfect; style, just look at her; love, Connie is love. Her heart is always open for anyone that needs it. And that is probably her greatest talent because, please know, she is not to be taken lightly or toyed with and will gladly let you see the girl from Queens if she has to. But after she pops out and shows you, she will always send you on your way with a hug and a smile. And you gotta give her credit for the BET Awards and all the moments she creates.’”
After Lee continued singing her praises, Orlando took the stage and choked back tears while crediting Lee as the reason why she was there in the first place.
“I’m honored to accept this year’s Culture Creator Award and to receive your generous recognition of my contributions to the world of television and film. I stand before you filled with so much gratitude. It is a blessing to do the work that I love,” she said while addressing Culture Creators founder Joi Brown and the Culture Creators Advisory Council. “Working in the mediums of television and film, I am keenly aware of how much time the average person spends watching the screen of some kind, at any given moment. With billions of people consuming content everyday, there lies a unique opportunity to foster meaningful discussions, to create pathways of understanding, to uplift and to educate countless numbers of viewers. Though entertainment is at the core of what we do, we can use the power of media to speak life into our audiences, to tell authentic stories and ignite a light in the darkness that exists in our world today.”
CAA account executive Lorrie Bartlett — whose client roster includes Andra Day, Fantasia, Regina King, Rachel Zegler, Michael Keaton, Travis Kelce, Jeymes Samuel and more — received the Icon Award for her commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion within the entertainment industry, while spearheading initiatives promoting equity within Hollywood. Additional honorees included Reign Venture Capital’s co-founder Monique Idlett; Brown Girl Jane CBO and media personality Tai Beauchamp; FashionBombDaily CEO/founder Claire Sulmers; social impact and brand engagement strategist Alencia Johnson; WME Sports agent and executive Cecil White; celebrity stylist duo Wayman + Micah; AI innovator and immersive technology expert Alton Glass; and The Doux haircare brand creators Maya and Brian Smith.
Four months out from its October conference in Amsterdam, ADE is adding a new batch of names to the program.
Today (June 27), ADE announced the addition of Empire president Tina Davis, who will give a keynote question and answer session about her role in expanding the influence of Empire, with a focus on the independent label’s expansion into Afrobeats and Latin.
Amid the explosion of music from the region, Spotify’s head of music for Sub-Saharan Africa Phiona Okumu will talk about elevating African artists and Spotify’s initiatives to support emerging and female artists. Grimes’ manager Daouda Leonard will give a talk looking at the intersection of music, AI and technology, along with artist management and ways to give artists control over their careers and businesses.
Believe’s global head of music Romain Vivien and TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson will give a joint keynote address as part of ADE’s Insider Knowledge series that will focus on how artists can navigate the evolving music landscape. Additionally, as part of a new partnership between SoundCloud and ADE, leaders from the platform will present a session on how independent artists can make the most of it.
Along with these execs, electronic artists including Palestinian techno producer Sama’ Abdulhadi, Ukrainian artist Miss Monique and Dutch producer Chris Stussy all join the program. Previously announced speakers include Timbaland, Martin Garrix, Laurent Garnier, music executive Grace Ladoja and representatives from fabric London, Armada Music, WME and UTA, with more names to be announced in the coming months.
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ADE 2024 is taking place Oct. 16-20 at locations throughout Amsterdam. The conference will again be divided into Lab and Pro programming, with Lab content tailored for people trying to get into or just starting out in the industry and Pro programming designed for established managers, label execs, artists, streamers, marketers, promoters and more.
The conference also offers consumer-facing events, with last year’s musical offerings happening in more than 200 venues around the city.
This year’s Roots Picnic was a celebration of music, culture, and community that brought fans from all over the world together for two days of electric performances and camaraderie.
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Grand Marnier joined in on the festivities with another iteration of its signature event series, Encounters on the Road, treating fans to a resort themed oasis with covered seating, custom cocktails, branded merch, and more.
The luxury spirits brand was born out of an unexpected pairing of ingredients, when Louis Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle had a vision to blend Cognac with Orange Liqueur, creating an iconic blend of flavors. The Grand Encounter is an unexpected and exciting meeting of flavors that inspires us to look out for other unexpected combinations all around us.
At the Grand Encounter, fans +21 responsibly sampled Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge and ordered the brand’s signature summer cocktails including the Grand Margarita, Grand & Ginger, and On the Rocks.
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In addition to cocktails, Grand Marnier provided attendees with photo moments to create lifelong memories from an unforgettable weekend. The Grand Encounter activation was amongst the most attended all weekend long, with lines of fans eagerly awaiting their chance to enjoy all things Grand Marnier.
This year’s Roots Picnic delivered a stacked lineup of eclectic artists and unexpected musical pairings. Renowned pianist Robert Glasper backed a beautiful set from rising star Yebba that left fans in awe. Musical director, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Adam Blackstone curated a set with R&B superstar Fantasia and Gospel singer Tasha Cobbs Leonard. Finally, the legendary Roots closed out the Picnic with an epic performance, joining forces with Billboard-chart-topping artist Lil Wayne.
For those unable to partake in the festivities firsthand, Billboard social media provided an exclusive glimpse into the Roots Picnic experience, including highlights from Grand Marnier’s Encounters on the Road.
Whether enjoying Grand Marnier at your favorite summer festival or at home with your crew, please do so responsibly.
From signature cocktails to stunning photo ops, the Grand Encounter was the place to be at this year’s #RootsPicnic. Dive into the exclusive experience and see how @grandmarnierusa brought the flavor to Philly.
Love Renaissance (LVRN) has invested in Jerk X Jollof, an event series dedicated to celebrating Afro-Caribbean culture, Billboard can exclusively announce Thursday (June 6).
LVRN’s investment comes more than a year after the Atlanta-based label and management company itself received an investment from Matt Pincus‘ MUSIC, valuing LVRN at more than $100 million. LVRN’s Jerk X Jollof investment is part of its commitment to developing the Afro-Caribbean entertainment space.
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“We at LVRN are excited to expand our reach within the Afro-Caribbean community with the investment in Jerk X Jollof,” said Tunde Balogun, CEO/co-founder of LVRN, in a statement to Billboard. “This is yet another impactful way to further the culture and unify like-minded people from the diaspora through the transformative power of music and entertainment.”
Last year, for the unveiling of Billboard’s U.S. Afrobeats parties guide, Jerk X Jollof founder Brendan Asante told Billboard that the Jerk X Jollof series initially started in 2014 as “an idea in college. Some friends of mine and I just threw a sweaty dance party. Someone brought some jerk chicken, someone brought some jollof rice, and it translated.” Asante and the other founders officially brought the party series to Detroit, Mich., in 2016, and since then, Jerk X Jollof has expanded to cities around the world including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Berlin, Johannesburg and Accra, Ghana. Uncle Waffles, Skepta, Sarz, Spinall, DJ Tunez and more have all performed at the popular party, while previous all-star attendees include Ayra Starr, Davido, Brent Faiyaz and Chris Brown.
“It was an obvious decision to partner with LVRN in order to broaden the Jerk X Jollof brand,” said Asante in a statement. “The alignment of our vision for the enhancement of Afro-Caribbean culture was immediately evident, and we eagerly anticipate the future of this joint venture.”
LVRN and Jerk X Jollof first collaborated on a party during New York Fashion Week in 2022, an event that was also a partnership with Afropunk. “That one was so wild because Brent Faiyaz [pulled] up to the party. [We brought] him, Kawhi Leonard, Joe Freshgoods through the side door. This s— is so comical because I never thought in a million years that I would be dealing with these dope people that are coming to the party,” Asante previously told Billboard. “From that moment, thinking about when it was a sweaty dance party in a college basement, I think that’s one of my favorite memories. Ari Lennox came through, and I was chopping it up with her before she left. I was talking about how she came to Ghana and how she enjoyed it. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you should come back.’ Those type of moments happening under the roof of us doing something just gave me a glimpse into what the future could hold for it.”
Last month in Atlanta, LVRN and Jerk X Jollof partnered again on a Memorial Day function that was hosted by local music festival brand Milk + Cookies. Another notable achievement in the partnership is the creation of the Jerk X Jollof Stage at Promiseland Australia, which will take place at Doug Jennings Park in Gold Coast Oct 4-6 following the scheduled Jerk X Jollof parties in Melbourne on Sept. 27 and Sydney on Sept. 29. The Jerk X Jollof and LVRN teams worked with the festival to curate an amapiano stage that would showcase a diverse lineup of the genre’s leading talent including Uncle Waffles, Major League Djz, Focalistic and Tyler ICU, along with Jerk X Jollof mainstay hosts/DJs Jae Murphy, Blakito and V-Live — all booked by Jerk X Jollof.
The third annual Gold Gala event will take place at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles on May 11 and feature appearances from Saweetie, Lucy Liu, Cynthia Erivo, Padma Lakshmi and the cast of Beef.
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The definitive annual gathering of top Asian Pacific and multicultural leaders will bring together more than 600 guests to celebrate the 2024 A100 list — which will be announced on May 1 — which counts down the 100 most impactful Asian Pacific changemakers in culture and society over the past year.
With 2024’s theme of A Gold New World, the event will imagine “a tomorrow for all, built by all,” according to a release announcing the event’s details, with award-winning fashion designer Prabal Gurung bringing the theme to life as the event’s first-ever creative director. Guests will dine on a Michelin-level three-course dinner from OpenTable, with a menu designed by Lakshmi and Gold Gala executive chief Vijay Kumar and his team from the Michelin-starred New York restaurant Semma.
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The night will close out with a performance from 2023 A100 honoree Saweetie, who will receive the first-ever Billboard Gold Music Honor recognizing her boundary-pushing musical accomplishments at the event. In addition, the cast and creators of Emmy-winning Beef will receive the Gold Icon Honor for their groundbreaking representation of the Asian American experience, while Wicked star Erivo will be given the Gold Ally Honor for her work to advance inclusive representation in front of and behind the camera.
“Gold House and Gold Gala have become a beacon for the Asian Pacific community to unite, invest in, and celebrate our inventiveness and impact. This year, I’ve focused on making Gold Gala look truly global while feeling local, balancing the breadth of our expansive diaspora with its bold, unified heart,” said Gurung in a statement. “From the organic and towering arboreal growths to our centerpiece spheres that shape us — the sun, the moon, our Earth — we envisage a new, more holistic, more centered world that enables all of us to bloom.”
HYBE founder and chairman bang Si-Hyuk will be bestowed with the lifetime achievement Gold Legend Honor and Hello Kitty’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated with the Gold Generation Award.
The Gold Gala will be followed by the inaugural Billboard x Gold House Founders Party, which will feature a headlining set from producer/DJ Steve Aoki, as well as a special performance from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 winner Nymphia Wind, a karaoke room presented by Rakuten Viki and an additional set from DJ Hu Dat.
System of a Down and Deftones are set to perform the first after-dark performance at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco this August. Promoter Another Planet Entertainment announced the groundbreaking event Tuesday (April 9), alongside Live Nation; it will also feature performances from The Mars Volta, Viagra Boys and VOWWS. Explore See latest videos, charts […]
Billboard’s Latin Music Week, the most prestigious and longest-running week dedicated to the celebration of Latin music, will return to Miami this October.
Set for Monday, Oct. 14 to Friday, Oct. 18, Latin Music Week 2024 brings together top and emerging Latin music artists and executives from around the world for a week of showcases, networking, exclusive conversations, panels, workshops, activations and concerts.
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The event, which last year featured superstar Q&As with the likes of Shakira and Fonseca and in-depth panels anchored by Peso Pluma, Wisin, Fuerza Regida, Young Miko, Nicky Jam, Arcangel, Ivy Queen and Myke Towers, among others, is known as the top gathering place for the most influential and impactful artists today, both established and emerging, as well as the ultimate meeting ground for top music executives.
“We’ve created the single most important event in Latin music and the only gathering place for top artists to come together in art, conversation, and creativity,” says Leila Cobo, chief content officer of Billboard Latin/Español. “We’re thrilled to be returning to Miami to celebrate this over three-decade-long legacy, and we look forward to announcing this year’s roster of superstars, executives, and rising talent.”
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Over 5,000 registrants attended last year’s event, which featured over 50 artists, 40 artist and executive conversations, panels and workshops and more than 50 executives in an unprecedented five days of activities.
Marquee panels included Latin Music Week’s now-iconic Women’s Panel and “Making the Hit Live,” which last year featured Pedro Capó and Carin León, who wrote a song live that was released on Sony Music.
To see an overview of last year’s events, look here.
Programming will be expanded in this 2024 edition to accommodate audience demand.
Registration and additional details will be released in the coming weeks, with official registration opening soon and special rates available for returning attendees and students. Latin Music Week is expected to sell out, as it has for the past 10 years. For real time updates please visit BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com.
The desert heat is turning up with 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival just around the corner. Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat and Lana Del Rey are leading the pack as this year’s headliners.
Del Rey will take the stage on Friday (April 12 and 19), with Peso Pluma, Lil Uzi Vert, Justice, Bizarrap, Deftones, ATEEZ, Everything Always, Peggy Gou, Young Miko, Sabrina Carpenter and more also set to perform. Tyler, the Creator will then headline on Saturday (April 13 and 20), with Blur, Ice Spice, Gesaffelstein, Sublime, Jungle, Dom Dolla, Bleachers, Grimes, Jon Batiste, LE SSERAFIM and more also on the bill. Doja will round out the weekend on Sunday (April 14 and 21), alongside J Balvin, Jhené Aiko, Khruangbin, Carin León, John Summit, Lil Yachty, DJ Snake, LUDMILLA, the Rose and more.
No Doubt is also on this year’s lineup, marking the Gwen Stefani-led group’s reunion for the first time in nine years.
In addition to the star-studded lineup during the festival itself, there are countless parties and events in between sets and after hours where fans can enjoy even more action — from Neon Carnival and Revolve Festival to Heineken House and beyond.
See below for where festivalgoers and artists will be hanging out during the weekend. (Updating ahead of Coachella weekend 1 with new events. Most events are invitation-only.)
Friday, April 12
On Thursday (Mar. 7), Pop Conference 2024 will kick off three days of programming that includes a keynote session with funk legend George Clinton, as well as with musical duo and Prince & the Revolution members Wendy & Lisa.
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This year’s PopCan, titled “Legacy! Legacy! Music Collections and Archives,” will be held Mar. 7-9 on the USC University Park campus. For the first time in the annual summit’s 22-year history, Pop Conference will be hosted by the USC Thornton School of Music, in collaboration with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
“For 22 years the Pop Conference has been an incredible gathering of pop music writers, journalists, critics, scholars and musicians,” says dean of the USC Thornton School of Music Jason King, who serves as the USC conference producer and keynote curator for PopCon. “It’s an unparalleled opportunity to engage in sustained, thoughtful discussion on pop music over the course of a weekend.
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“This year’s theme—all about music legacies, archives and collections—is a topical one, given that we’re living in a moment where we are witnessing polarizing cultural debates around the value of history, memory and the past,” King continues. “I’m so happy to bring this conference to USC and Los Angeles.”
The first day of PopCan will be highlighted by A Little Light Under the Sun: The Unstoppable Funky Genius and Cosmic Legacy of George Clinton, in which the icon will discuss “history, legacy and impact in relationship to his personal archives and history,” per programming. On Friday night (Mar. 8), Wendy & Lisa will be in conversation with Timothy Anne Burnside, museum curatorial specialist at the Smithsonian National African American Museum of History and Culture.
In addition, a roundtable discussion “A Seat at the (Mother)Ship: The Reclamation of Women’s Stories in Parliament-Funkadelic” will center and recognize the women who became fundamental in building the legacy of P-Funk. PopCon programming will be rounded out by more panels and discussions, mentorship sessions and performances.
Pop Conference 2024 is free and open to the public, with advance registration here.