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The iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 show descended upon L.A.’s Kia Forum over the weekend, and Billboard was backstage to bring you every exclusive moment.
In-between sets by Fall Out Boy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phoenix and Jack White, Billboard social media coordinator Lucy Blonstein chatted up the likes of Jared Leto, CHVRCHES and more on Saturday night. Below, we’ve rounded up seven moments you have to see from backstage.
Leto revealed backstage that out of all the bands on the lineup, he’d want to collaborate with Muse if his band, 30 Second to Mars, ever got the chance. “Because we’ve toured together before, we love them. Great guys, and I think we’d be an interesting, interesting pairing,” he said, standing in front of a giant portrait of Katy Perry. “Yeah, Muse.”
Billboard was also on the ground to catch Fall Out Boy headed backstage after their nostalgia-fueled set, which included classic hits like “Sugar We’re Goin’ Down,” “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race,” “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up),” “Thnks Fr the Mmrs” and more, and even caught a candid Pete Wentz whistling as he made his way through the backstage throngs, his long, bleach-blonde hair tied up in a bun and wearing the band’s own merch.
CHVRCHES, meanwhile, shared their “quite boring” pre-show rituals with Billboard, which happen to include vocal and instrument warm-ups, a couple of cocktails made by touring drummer Jonny Scott and listening to music to “get in the ‘zone’,” as singer Lauren Mayberry said. “And that’s about it,” she added. “But yes, no Satanic rituals yet. Maybe on album five.”
Billboard‘s December 2022 Chartbreaker Rosa Linn was also at the big show, where she performed “WDIA (Would Do It Again),” “Never Be Mine” and TikTok breakthrough “Snap.” The Eurovision competitor posed for our camera after leaving the stage, showing off “#ARtSAKH” painted on the sleeve of her jacket to bring attention to the ongoing blockade between Artsakh and Armenia.
Other famous faces we caught up with backstage included Phoenix, Jack White and Beach Weather. Check out exclusive photos and videos from backstage at iHeart’s ALTer EGO show below.
Jared Leto Shares His Dream Collab
Pete Wentz & Our Backstage POV of Fall Out Boy
Pete Wentz backstage at iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 at L.A.’s Kia Forum
Wes and Alex
CHVRCHES Share Their Pre-Show Rituals
Jack White Backstage
Jack White backstage at iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 at L.A.’s Kia Forum
Wes and Alex
Phoenix Backstage
Phoenix backstage at iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 at L.A.’s Kia Forum
Wes and Alex
Rosa Linn Backstage
Rosa Linn backstage at iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 at L.A.’s Kia Forum
Wes and Alex
Beach Weather Backstage
Beach Weather backstage at iHeart ALTer EGO 2023 at L.A.’s Kia Forum
Wes and Alex
Shawnae Corbett-Rice was promoted to senior vp of marketing at Warner Records. Based in Los Angeles, she will continue to oversee marketing campaigns focused on artist development. She reports to executive vp of marketing & artist development Dionnee Harper.
Jon Zellner was named president of programming operations and digital music for iHeartRadio, effective immediately. Zellner was previously president of programming operations. In the new role, Zellner will manage the programming, content and strategy for iHeartRadio’s digital channels and playlists while continuing to oversee iHeartMedia’s programming operations. In addition to running programming and strategy for the iHeartMedia custom and format center stations, he will continue to lead the company’s commercial production center, national imaging center, audio distribution center, on-air partner and client integration and the technical and broadcast operations teams.
Artist Partner Group (APG) promoted Brett Copell to senior vp of legal & business affairs and Alexis Warner to marketing director. The company also hired Sebastien Christie as senior director of A&R administration and Jesse Wylde as senior director of artist & business development. Copell will continue to act as lead attorney for both APG and its publishing arm, Artist Publishing Group. He will oversee legal and administration departments at both companies and focus on new business opportunities for APG at large, while Warner will continue spearheading marketing campaigns for APG artists. Christie, who previously operated his own music consultancy company, will focus on prepping releases by clearing samples, producer agreements and more. Wylde, who joins from Web3 startup Rally.io, will help develop the careers of APG artists and songwriters, focusing on promo, touring and business strategy/partnerships.
The Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC), launched in April 2022 as a reimagining of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, appointed Fugees co-founder and solo artist Wyclef Jean as chair of the music advisory board for the organization. Jean will advise executive leadership and help engage the artist community to drum up support around the festival.
Big Loud Records hired Nate Yetton as vp of A&R, effective immediately. Yetoon will spearhead the discovery and signing of talent in alternative genres including Americana, indie, folk, acoustic, singer/songwriter/roots, alt-country and more in collaboration with existing Big Loud Records and Big Loud Publishing A&R teams. He can be reached at nate@bigloud.com.
BBR Music Group hired Allan Geiger as director of content creation and Taylor Scheese as manager of partnerships. The company also promoted Kennedy Nickerson to senior coordinator of A&R. Geiger, who joins from his creative agency Artistnoize, will handle the creation of creative assets and graphic design for the label group’s artist roster while reporting to vp of creative & imaging Jen Morgan. Scheese, who joins from Thinkswell, will work on driving brand partnership deals for BMG’s recorded label and publishing roster, with a focus on BBR Music Group’s artist roster, while reporting to director of brand partnerships Daron Moore. Nickerson, who has moved from BMG’s publishing arm where she served as income tracking coordinator, will report to vp of A&R Katie Kerkhover. Geiger can be reached at allan@bbrmusicgroup.com, Scheese can be reached at taylor.scheese@bmg.com and Nickerson can be reached at kennedy.nickerson@bmg.com.
Chris Taillie was promoted to vp at Shore Fire Media; he was previously publicity director. The New York-based Taillie’s music clients include Angélique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Esperanza Spalding, Floating Points, Jacob Collier and Rhiannon Giddens. Taillie can be reached at ctaillie@shorefire.com.
The Chamber Group promoted Shannon Atran to associate director of public relations and hired Edwin Tetteh as public relations manager. The New York-based Atran will serve as the company’s independent public relations executive, responsible for developing, executing and overseeing PR campaigns for clients including Big Sean, T.I., Lil Wayne, Pusha T and more. Tetteh will collaborate with internal and external partners in developing and implementing PR strategies on behalf of his client roster, which includes Jon Batiste and Mariah Carey. He joins from the Lede Company. Atran can be reached at shannon@thechambergroup.com and Tetteh can be reached at Edwin@thechambergroup.com.
Elijah B Torn was named head of creative production at Found Objects, the original music and sound collective founded by film and TV composers Jay Wadley and Trevor Gureckis. Torn, who was previously global creative director at MassiveMusic New York, will oversee the creative and production team.
iHeartMedia Atlanta president Drew Lauter has departed the radio giant after video surfaced of the executive using racial and misogynistic slurs. The national radio conglomerate confirmed to Billboard on Friday (Oct. 14) that Lauter was no longer with the company, stating, “allegations of this nature go against our company values and our policies and we take them very seriously.”
The videos – provided to the local news station WSB-TV Atlanta, which first reported the news – shows Lauter repeatedly telling the driver, a fellow iHeartMedia executive, to “run over n—os” and using other racist language in front of two other iHeart employees, one of whom filmed the incident. According to attorneys Jason Castle and Roosevelt Jean, who are representing the client who filmed the incidents, the videos were recorded in August 2021 after a charity event.
In two videos, Lauter can be heard repeatedly using racial and sexist slurs and groping a male coworker while stating, “you better give me that t-tty.” Castle and Jean’s client – who is a top-ranking Black iHeart executive in the Atlanta region – claims to have reported the incident to his immediate supervisor at the time. He informed his attorneys that this was not the first instance of Lauter using racially insensitive language in front of employees.
In a statement provided to Billboard, an iHeart spokesperson said, “As soon as [the videos] were brought to our attention we acted quickly, retaining an outside investigator to conduct a thorough review, and when we received the outside investigator’s findings we immediately took decisive action.”
“From our client’s perspective, this isn’t about our client,” Castle tells Billboard. “It’s that this particular video is a representation of the hostile work environment and the discriminatory and racially insensitive, as well as sexually harassing environment that existed in the iHeart Atlanta offices.”
iHeart employees were reportedly informed of Lauter’s departure on Thursday, the same day the WSB-TV investigative report aired.
Castle says his client has not filed any legal action against iHeart or Lauter.
