International
It’s been an eventful year for music in Canada. Billboard Canada has published year-end versions of multiple charts: the Canadian Hot 100, Canadian Albums, Top Artists (which combines data from both), Canadian Airplay, Canadian Streaming and Canadian Digital Song Sales. Each one tells a story about the Canadian music landscape in 2024.
It’s no big surprise to see who tops the year-end Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart. Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” broke the record for longest-leading No. 1 hit this year, surpassing Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” for 20 weeks at the top and then extending the record to 25 weeks at No. 1. He set a similar record on the U.S. Hot 100, but did it in Canada first and for longer (on the U.S. Year-End Hot 100, “Tipsy” finishes second behind “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims.)
The biggest music story of the year was Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar. If one song can be declared the winner based solely on the charts, it’s “Not Like Us.” Even in Canada, Drake’s home turf, Kendrick’s irresistible diss track charted the highest. The song sits at No. 11 on the year-end Canadian Hot 100 and No. 11 on the year-end Streaming Songs chart. That chart success comes with some controversy, however, with Drake launching legal actions to accuse Universal Music Group, iHeartRadio and Spotify of conspiring to inflate the numbers. But the song was a bona fide hit.
Drake’s biggest hits, meanwhile, have little to do with his Kendrick beef. “IDGAF” with Yeat at No. 54, “Rich Baby Daddy” with SZA & Sexyy Red at No. 67, and “First Person Shooter” with J. Cole at No. 75 are all from his 2023 album For All The Dogs. And on the 2024 Artists chart for Canada? Drake is at No. 4 and Kendrick is at No. 17.
It’s never a surprise to see Taylor Swift ruling the year-end charts, but her unprecedented Eras Tour — undoubtedly the highest-grossing of all time — has given her an extra boost this year as she finished it off in Toronto and Vancouver in November and December. All of Taylor’s eras (or albums, if you’re old-fashioned) got a boost, which made her a lock for No. 1 on the Artists chart, which combines data from the Canadian Hot 100 and Canadian Albums chart. On the latter chart, Swift holds four of the top 10 spots: The Tortured Poets Department at No. 1, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) at No. 4 and Lover and Midnights at Nos. 9 and 10.
Check out a full chart breakdown — including trends like the resurgence of Canadian icons, homegrown radio hits and the success of francophone Quebec and Punjabi artists — here. And find all the year-end 2024 charts here.
This story was originally published by Billboard Canada.
With a career spanning over four decades, Abdul Majeed Abdullah has become a cornerstone of Arabic music, and his influence shows no signs of fading. Revered as “The Prince of Tarab,” Abdullah continues to captivate audiences with his unparalleled artistry, bridging generations and defining the sound of Khaleeji music while shaping the broader Arabic music landscape.
For Abdullah, 2024 was yet another landmark year, as the inaugural Billboard Arabia Music Awards in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, honored the iconic artist with multiple awards. At this groundbreaking event — a milestone for the region that took place at King Fahad Cultural Center on Dec. 11 — he received artist of the year in the Khaleeji dialect genre and top male artist in the Khaleeji dialect, alongside a prestigious lifetime achievement award, which recognized his profound and lasting impact on the Arab music world and on Khaleeji music in particular.
The ceremony celebrated the rich diversity of Arabic music, showcasing a wide array of subgenres, including the winners from Billboard Arabia’s various dialect charts: Khaleeji, Egyptian, Moroccan and Levantine. The awards also highlighted distinctive local cultural genres such as Mahraganat, a progressive and energetic contemporary iteration of Egyptian shaabi (popular folk) music, and Shelat, an evolving genre that has transformed from a poetic tribal chant to drive a new wave of Khaleeji music. In addition, the event spotlighted the dynamic rise of Arabic hip-hop and Arabic indie sounds, where global musical influences merge seamlessly with Arabic lyricism, creating a vibrant fusion of styles that reflects the evolving regional landscape. Sherine Abdel Wahab, recognized as a Global Force honoree at Billboard’s Women in Music event in March, was named artist of the year at the Billboard Arabia Music Awards.
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Since the launch of the Billboard Arabia charts in December 2023, Abdullah has consistently appeared on both the Billboard Arabia Hot 100 and Billboard Arabia Artist 100 charts. His track “Ya Ibn Al Awadam” from the 2021 album Aam Mouazy marked his debut on the charts, where it remained for nine weeks. Later in the year, he returned to the charts with songs from his latest album, including “Haki Wajid” and “Ya Meniti,” and with his pre-album single, “Lak Saqni Al Rab.” Throughout 2024, his presence on the Artist 100 chart was particularly remarkable: He only missed one week on the list, underscoring his enduring popularity and influence, and cementing him as the artist for Billboard Arabia to spotlight for this year’s Global No. 1s series.
With the launch of Billboard Arabia’s subgenre charts in August, which featured various musical genres and dialects, Abdullah quickly emerged as the dominant force in the Khaleeji category. He made an impressive debut, securing 11 songs on the Top 50 Khaleeji dialect chart in its first week. His record peaked at 12 songs in a single week, and throughout the year, the number of his songs on the list never dropped below seven — remarkable consistency and dominance that earned him the artist of the year - Khaleeji dialect award in 2024.
It’s noteworthy that Abdullah’s songs featured on Billboard Arabia’s Top 50 Khaleeji chart span four different decades. His track “Sahit Jamra,” from the 1990s, made an appearance, as well as “Insan Akthar” from the early 2000s. Additionally, his song “Ruh Al-Ruh” from the 2010s, along with multiple tracks from his album A Parallel World and his latest release, reflect his continued relevance and influence in the current decade. Meanwhile, Abdullah’s recognition with the inaugural lifetime achievement award honored his extraordinary career and lasting impact on the Khaleeji and Arabic music landscape. Over the past four decades, he has remained influential, continuously releasing music and performing to sold-out audiences. His most recent album, Abdul Majeed Abdullah 2024, further cemented his legacy, achieving widespread popularity and showcasing his ability to innovate within his genre. The honor celebrated Abdullah not only for his artistic excellence but also for his profound and enduring influence on the cultural consciousness of the Arab world.
A criminal investigation has been launched into suspected fraud at U.K. collecting society PPL after the organization discovered “suspicious activity” on a small number of member accounts.
PPL said one staff member had been dismissed following an internal investigation it carried out over several months earlier this year. The alleged crime is now being investigated by The Metropolitan Police, the CMO said in a short statement.
“We recently became aware of suspicious activity on a small number of member accounts. We immediately conducted an internal investigation, and one employee was dismissed,” said a spokesperson Thursday (Dec.19). The organization said it was “working with the limited number of impacted members to rectify accounts.”
PPL is the second largest of the United Kingdom’s two main collecting societies and licenses recorded music on behalf of labels and artists to U.K. radio and television broadcasters, as well as its use in bars, nightclubs, shops and offices.
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Last year, the 90-year-old organization — which has more than 110 neighboring rights agreements in place with international CMOs, including SoundExchange and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) in the United States — collected revenues of £285 million ($356 million), its highest ever annual total. In 2023, PPL paid out £247 million ($309 million) to almost 165,000 performers and recording rights holders.
Record industry sources tell Billboard that the suspected embezzlement is believed to have involved an individual or individuals posing as recording artists who were not registered as PPL members and then fraudulently claiming royalties on their behalf.
Billboard understands that PPL discovered the scheme when the real artists tried to register as members earlier this year. Sources say that the fraudulent royalty claims are believed to have taken place over a number of years, possibly as far back as 2016, with the fraudulent transactions believed to total around £500,000 ($625,000).
PPL said it was unable to comment on the case while a criminal investigation is underway and declined to answer questions on when it discovered the suspicious activity, the timeframe of the alleged offense or whether the impacted member accounts relate to U.K. artist members or overseas partner CMOs. The Metropolitan Police has been approached by Billboard for details.
The criminal investigation into suspected embezzlement at PPL comes as the music business battles on multiple fronts against fraudulent activity and rampant copyright infringement on a global scale.
In November, Universal Music Group (UMG), ABKCO and Concord Music Group filed a lawsuit against Believe and its distribution company TuneCore, accusing them of “massive ongoing infringements” of their sound recordings, seeking $500 million in damages (Believe refutes the claims). One month earlier, TikTok cited issues with “fraud” as its reason for walking away from renewing its license with Merlin, a digital licensing coalition representing thousands of indie labels and distributors.
There have also been several high-profile cases against individuals accused of defrauding streaming platforms, rights holders and collection societies in recent years.
In 2022, two men in Phoenix, Arizona pled guilty to claiming $23 million worth of YouTube royalties from unknowing Latin musicians like Julio Iglesias, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee despite having no actual ties to those artists.
More recently, a North Carolina musician was indicted by federal prosecutors in September in the first ever federal streaming fraud case. Prosecutors allege Michael Smith used two distributors to upload “hundreds of thousands” of AI-generated tracks, and then used bots to stream them, earning him more than $10 million since 2017.
To try and curb the rise in fraudulent activity the music business has been ramping up its efforts to stop money being illegally siphoned out of the royalty pool.
Last year, a coalition of digital music companies, including distributors including TuneCore, Distrokid and CD Baby, as well as streaming platforms Spotify and Amazon Music, launched the “Music Fights Fraud” task force. The past 12 months have additionally seen Spotify and Deezer change their royalty systems to include financial penalties for music distributors and labels associated with fraudulent activity.
LONDON — The music business is calling on the U.K. government to robustly protect copyright and “safeguard against misuse” by technology companies in any future regulations governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
On Tuesday (Dec. 17), the British government launched a 10-week consultation on how copyright protected content, such as music, can lawfully be used by developers to train generative AI models.
The proposals include introducing a new data mining exception to copyright law that would allow AI developers to use copyrighted songs for AI training, including commercial purposes, but only in instances where rights holders have not reserved their rights. Such an opt out mechanism, says the government proposal, gives creators and rights holders the ability to control, licence and monetize the use of their content – or prevent their works being used by AI developers entirely.
The consultation also recommends new transparency requirements for AI developers around what content they have used to train their models and how it was obtained, as well as the labelling of AI-generated material.
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Policymakers will additionally seek views from stakeholders on the protection of personality and image rights, and whether the current legal framework provides sufficient protection against AI-generated deepfake imitations.
“Currently, uncertainty about how copyright law applies to AI is holding back both sectors from reaching their full potential,” said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in a statement announcing the consultation. “It can make it difficult for creators to control or seek payment for the use of their work, and creates legal risks for AI firms, stifling AI investment, innovation, and adoption.”
The government said that its proposed changes to copyright law will give clarity to AI developers over what content they are legally allowed to use when training generative AI models and “enhance” creators’ ability to be paid for the use of their work.
Before any new exceptions to copyright law can be introduced, further work would need to take place to ensure transparency standards and the mechanisms for rights holders to reserve their rights are “effective, accessible and widely adopted,” said DCMS.
“This government firmly believes that our musicians, writers, artists and other creatives should have the ability to know and control how their content is used by AI firms and be able to seek licensing deals and fair payment,” said Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, in a statement. “Achieving this, and ensuring legal certainty, will help our creative and AI sectors grow and innovate together in partnership.”
The start of the government’s long-awaited consultation on AI policy comes amid heightened lobbying from both the creative and technology industries. On Monday, a coalition of rights holders, including record labels, music publishers and artist groups, came together to call for copyright protection to be at the heart of any U.K. AI legislation.
The newly formed Creative Rights in AI Coalition, whose members include U.K. record labels trade body BPI, umbrella organization UK Music and the Music Publishers Association, wants policymakers to draw up AI laws that permit a “mutually beneficial, dynamic licensing market” built around “robust protections for copyright.”
The creative industries coalition said any future AI legislation must ensure accountability and compliance from AI developers and tech companies, who it said have thus far been exploiting copyright protected works “without permission, ignoring copyright protections and clear reservations of rights.”
The U.K. creative industries generated around £125 billion ($158 billion) for the country’s economy last year, according to government figures, with the music industry contributing a record £7.6 billion, up 13% year-on-year, of that total, according to UK Music research.
The U.K. is the world’s third-biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of $1.9 billion in 2023, according to IFPI. It is also the second-largest exporter of recorded music worldwide behind the U.S.
“Without proper control and remuneration for creators, investment in high-quality content will fall,” said the coalition, which also includes the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and British collecting societies PRS for Music and PPL, as well as trade groups representing photographers, illustrators, journalists, authors and filmmakers.
“Just as tech firms are content to pay for the huge quantity of electricity that powers their data centres, they must be content to pay for the high-quality copyright-protected works which are essential to train and ground accurate generative AI models.”
In a separate statement, BPI CEO Jo Twist said the organization was looking forward to working with the government on developing its AI policy but said it remains the BPI’s “firm view” that introducing a new exception to copyright for AI training “would weaken the U.K’s copyright system and offer AI companies permission to take – for their own profit, and without authorisation or compensation – the product of U.K. musicians’ hard work, expertise, and investment.”
“It would amount to a wholly unnecessary subsidy, worth billions of pounds, to overseas tech corporations at the expense of homegrown creators,” said Twist in a statement. She went on to say that opt-out schemes in other markets similar to what is being proposed by the U.K. government have been shown to increase legal uncertainty, “are unworkable in practice, and are woefully ineffective” in protecting creators’ rights.
The government’s recommendation to introduce a new copyright exception for AI training is an idea that it has floated before – and received strong push back from the music industry to. In 2021, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) was heavily criticized by artists, labels and publishers for suggesting a new text and data mining (TDM) exception that would have allowed AI developers to freely use copyright-protected works for commercial purposes (albeit with certain restrictions).
Those proposals were quietly shelved by the government the following year but progress on any U.K. legislation governing the use of AI has been slow to arrive. In contrast, the 27-member block European Union, which the United Kingdom officially left in 2020, passed its world-first Artificial Intelligence Act – requiring transparency and accountability from AI developers – in March.
Meanwhile, other major music markets, including the United States, Japan and China are advancing their own attempts to regulate the nascent technology amid loud opposition from creators and rights holders over the unauthorized use of their work to train generative AI systems.
Earlier this year, the three major record companies – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — filed lawsuits against AI music firms Suno and Udio alleging the widespread infringement of copyrighted sound recordings “at an almost unimaginable scale” Sony Music and Warner Music have additionally issued public notices to AI companies warning them against scraping their copyrighted data.
More recently, in October, thousands of musicians, composers, actors and authors from across the creative industries – as well as all three major record labels – signed a statement opposing the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI. The number of signatories has since risen to more than 37,000 people, including ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, all five members of Radiohead and The Cure’s Robert Smith.
The first-ever Billboard Arabia Music Awards (BBAMAs) lit up the stage on Wednesday (Dec. 11) at the King Fahad Cultural Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This landmark event celebrated the incredible talent shaping Arabic music, honoring artists who dominated Billboard Arabia’s charts throughout the year, alongside several honorary awards, including Icon of the Year, Lifetime Achievement and the Cultural Impact Award.
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This event underscores the growing significance of Arabic music on the global sound map, as it joins K-pop, Latin and African music among the fastest-growing music markets worldwide. Arabic music is echoing across the globe through a surge in international concerts, cross-cultural collaborations and a celebration of its rich and diverse sounds—all under the trusted Billboard umbrella.
Winners of the BBAMAs were determined based on their performance on Billboard Arabia’s diverse charts: the Hot 100, Artist 100, dialect-specific charts (Khaleeji, Egyptian, Levantine and Magharebi) and genre-specific charts such as Arabic Hip-Hop, Arabic Indie, Shelat and Mahraganat. These categories reflect Billboard’s signature approach to celebrating music that resonates globally.
Sherine’s music and voice continue to leave an undeniable mark on the Arabic music landscape, as she swept five awards, reflecting her continued ability to resonate with fans across the region. Not far behind was Al Shami, who claimed four awards, and ElGrande Toto, who took home three trophies, while Abdul Majeed Abdullah was given the Lifetime Achievement Award, in addition to Artist of the Year – Khaleeji Dialect and Top Male Artist – Khaleeji Dialect. Meanwhile, the Cultural Impact Award was posthumously presented to the late and iconic singer Etab by Paul Pacifico, CEO of the Saudi Music Commission, honoring her enduring legacy and profound influence on Arabic music.
The evening was marked by electrifying performances from regional and global superstars. Elissa delivered an unforgettable medley of some of her greatest hits against a cinematic, visually stunning set design, proving why she took home the coveted Icon Award. Tamer Ashour performed his chart-topping anthem “Haygeely Mawgoa,” which earned Song of the Year, while Elyanna dazzled the audience with a vibrant medley, including her hit “Ganeni.” Elyanna’s remarkable year was further celebrated as she took home Top New Artist and Top Arabic Indie Female Artist.
The coveted Top Dueto of the Year went to Ahmed Saad and Assala for their heartfelt collaboration “Sab Farhety.” Saad also set the stage ablaze with performances of his fan-favorite hits, including “Wasa Wasa” and “El Youm El Helw Dah.” The Khaleeji medley was another highlight, featuring breathtaking performances from Hams Fekry, Ayed and Oumaima Taleb. Ayed’s standout track earned him Top Khaleeji Song, while Oumaima was crowned Top Female Artist – Khaleeji Dialect.
Adding to the night’s significance, the BBAMAs coincided with Saudi Arabia’s historic announcement of winning the bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. In a special segment, Ayed, Ghada Sherri and Fahd Bin Fasla debuted the first official songs for the World Cup, making the awards’ debut ceremony truly unforgettable.
Who else made their mark at the inaugural Billboard Arabia Music Awards? Check out the full list of winners below to see who’s shaping the future of Arabic music.
Billboard Arabia
Song of the Year
“Haygely Mawgow” by Tamer Ashour
Artist of the Year
Sherine Abdel Wahab
Top Male Artist
Amr Diab
Top Female Artist
Sherine Abdel Wahab
Top Band
Cairokee
Top New Artist
Elyanna
Highest Gainer
TUL8TE
Top Arabic Dueto of the Year
Assala Nasri and Ahmed Saad – “Sabb Farhety”
Top Khaleeji Song
Ayed – “Lammah”
Artist of the Year – Khaleeji Dialect
Abdul Majeed Abdullah
Top Male Artist – Khaleeji Dialect
Abdul Majeed Abdullah
Top Female Artist – Khaleeji Dialect
Oumaima Taleb
Top Egyptian Song
Tamer Ashour – “Haygely Mawgow”
Artist of the Year – Egyptian Dialect
Sherine Abdel Wahab
Top Male Artist – Egyptian Dialect
Amr Diab
Top Female Artist – Egyptian Dialect
Sherine Abdel Wahab
Top Levantine Song
Al Shami – “Sabra”
Artist of the Year – Levantine Dialect
Al Shami
Top Male Artist – Levantine Dialect
Al Shami
Top Female Artist – Levantine Dialect
Nancy Ajram
Top Magharebi Song
Saad Lamjarred, Shreya Ghoshal and Rajat Nagpal – “Guli Mata”
Artist of the Year – Magharebi
Dystinct
Top Male Artist – Magharebi Dialect
Dystinct
Top Female Artist – Magharebi Dialect
Manal
Top Arabic Hip-Hop Song
ElGrandeToto – “Blue Love”
Artist of the Year – Arabic Hip-Hop
ElGrandeToto
Top Arabic Hip-Hop Male Artist
ElGrandeToto
Top Arabic Hip-Hop Female Artist
Khtek
Top Indie Song
Al Shami – “Sabra”
Artist of the Year – Arabic Indie
Cairokee
Top Arabic Indie Male Artist
Muslim
Top Arabic Indie Female Artist
Elyanna
Top Mahraganat Song
Eslam Kabonga – “Aywa Ya Habibty Wahashtiny”
Artist of the Year – Mahraganat
Essam Sasa
Top Male Mahraganat Artist
Essam Sasa
Top Shelat Song
Abdullah Al Farwan – “Jamalek Gheer”
Artist of the Year – Shelat
Mohammed Bin Garman
Top Male Artist of the Year – Shelat
Mohammed Bin Garman
Best Composer
Amro El-Shazly & Mehdi Mzayen
Best Songwriter
Aleem
Best Music Producer
Tareq Hjeily
TikTok is taking the Canadian government to court.
Last month, the popular social media app was ordered by the federal government to “wind down” its operations in Canada following a national security review.
“We will challenge this order in court,” TikTok said at the time.
Now, the company is following through on the promise. TikTok Canada has filed notice of application for judicial review, which is an official legal challenge to the decision.
“This order would eliminate the jobs and livelihoods of our hundreds of dedicated local employees – who support the community of more than 14 million monthly Canadian users on TikTok, including businesses, advertisers, creators, and initiatives developed especially for Canada,” the company wrote on its official website. “We believe it’s in the best interest of Canadians to find a meaningful solution and ensure that a local team remains in place, alongside the TikTok platform.”
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TikTok posted the whole legal filing on its website, which you can read here. The document breaks down the order of events, suggesting TikTok cooperated with the security review but was surprised by the abrupt announcement.
The company is requesting a court date to challenge the decision in Vancouver, B.C., one of the two locations of its offices. The other is in Toronto.
The filing calls the order “grossly disproportionate” and says it “will result in the termination of hundreds of employees in Canada and the potential termination of over 250,000 contracts with Canadian-based advertisers.”
The legal filing also focuses on the impact to those creators who use the platform, stating that the order “will cause the destruction of significant economic opportunities and intangible benefits to Canadian creators, artists and businesses, and the Canadian cultural community more broadly.”
The federal government made the decision to shut down TikTok’s Canadian operations following a review of its Chinese parent company ByteDance Ltd., calling the operation “injurious to national security.” Canadian users would still be able to use and access TikTok, but the company would be forced to close its offices in Canada.
The filing follows a new law in the United States that would require ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19, 2025 or face a ban in the country. – Richard Trapunski
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Charlotte Day Wilson to Play Special Orchestral Concert in Toronto in 2025
Charlotte Day Wilson is preparing for a hometown concert that she calls “a dream opportunity.”
On Feb. 28, 2025, the Grammy nominated R&B/soul singer-songwriter will play a Red Bull Symphonic concert with members of the the Symphonic Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall, the home of the acclaimed Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Charlotte Day
Emily Lipson
Tickets go on sale Friday, December 13, 2024 at redbull.ca/symphonic.
Previous editions of Red Bull Symphonic in Atlanta and Los Angeles have featured Rick Ross and Metro Boomin, plus special guests including John Legend, Swae Lee and more.
It will be the first orchestral concert for Wilson, and she’s approaching it as a full vision of her current state as a musician.
“I want people to come away from it understanding the musical makeup that I have and of my sense of self within music,” Charlotte Day Wilson tells Billboard Canada over Zoom from her apartment in Toronto.
She’s still in her early 30s, but Wilson has been recording and performing for well over a decade. With two albums and multiple EPs, she has a full body of work to play from, and she’s excited to rethink it in a new context.
Her 2024 album, Cyan Blue, has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, and though Jack Rochon was the primary engineer, Wilson says the two of them made everything in the room together as “an exchange of two people producing and engineering and writing all in tandem.”
Charlotte Day Wilson’s soulful voice and songwriting chops have become a secret weapon for many renowned musicians. She’s performed and collaborated with Kaytranada, Daniel Caesar, Mustafa, BadBadNotGood and Nelly Furtado, and one of her songs was even sampled by Drake.
The Grammy recognition and the ability to do a full-scale orchestral concert feels like a mark of wider recognition in a field that can often include a lot of isolation. It also feels like a “maturing moment,” she says, which fits her mindset right now.
“It’s something I think about a lot as an artist,” she says. “In an industry that is ruthlessly obsessed with youth, how do we graduate into a next chapter of life and still maintain our integrity and relevance. That’s something I think about all the time, and it’s something I want to approach really deliberately.” – R.T.
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Patrick Watson’s ‘Je te laisserai des mots’ Becomes First French-Language Song To Hit A Billion Spotify Streams
Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson has made history on Spotify.
His 2010 song “Je te laisserai des mots” is now the first French-language song to hit a billion streams on the platform.
The song, a wistful composition led by piano and strings, was first written for the 2009 film Mères et Filles.
Listeners clearly agreed that the song has a cinematic quality: it went viral in 2021 and 2022, used by thousands of TikTokers — including Justin Bieber — to soundtrack serene or sad moments in their own lives during Covid restrictions.
Watson joins Bieber and other Canadian artists like Drake, Tate McRae, Alessia Cara and Shawn Mendes in Spotify’s Billions Club. Most of the other Canadian members are major label signees with a pop-oriented sound, which makes Watson — an acclaimed indie singer-songwriter represented by Montreal’s Secret City Records — a more unusual entry into the club.
“Je te laisserai des mots” was the most-streamed French language track both in Canada and globally this year on Spotify, while the veteran songwriter and producer is the No. 6 most popular Québécois artist on Spotify this year in Canada. He finishes alongside Quebec legends Les Cowboys Fringants and Celine Dion, pop star Charlotte Cardin and rappers Souldia and Enima.
Spotify notes that since 2019, listening to music in French has jumped by 94% on the app — which means after Watson, another Billions Club French-language song could only be a matter of time. – Rosie Long Decter
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Music Business Year In Review
When Martyn Stewart was 11 years old, he spent countless hours in the woods near his family’s home in Birmingham, England. It was the mid 1960s, and out there in the untouched forest he was captivated by the sounds of nature: the wind, the animals, the water in the streams.
It was around this time that he acquired a recording device and brought it outside. “The first recording I ever made that I kept was the Eurasian Blackbird,” Stewart says today. “He became my mate. He was the guy who taught me melodies.”
Decades later, Stewart’s collection of nature sounds includes 97,000 individual recordings making up 30,000 hours. (That’s roughly 3.5 years.) The library includes the sounds of more than 3,500 bird species, countless insects, and myriad frogs, toads, mammals, trees, deserts, oceans and more, with Stewart capturing these field recordings in more than 60 countries.
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Now, a select few of them are folded into Imperfect Cadence, a collaborative album by Stewart and Robert Shields, a Scottish singer, songwriter and producer who makes music under the moniker ONR. On the album, Shields sings and plays instruments that complement and fuse with sounds Stewart recorded in Scotland during the mid-1970s, a time he spent traveling across the country — often on foot — recording the symphony of its vast, untouched and famously stunning wilderness.
It was “a sanctuary where I could go and lose myself, basically,” Stewart says. “Anywhere you dropped a microphone, you got a fantastic recording.” (Years later, when he was in his late 20s, Stewart learned that his biological father was Scottish, which he believes accounts for his affinity for the country.)
Martyn Shields in the 1970s
Courtesy of Martyn Stewart
Shields got involved in the project through Steven Melrose, the global head of creative at Los Angeles-based publishing company Seeker Music, who is also Scottish. Melrose was working with ONR when he was approached by Stewart’s niece, Amanda, who was hoping to mesh her uncle’s recordings with music in a respectful and contemporary way. Melrose introduced Shields and Stewart, and it was decided — given everyone’s connection to Scotland — the project would focus there.
Shields and Stewart subsequently met on Zoom to chat about making something together. Shields found himself entranced by Stewart’s life story and work. “The real kicker was when he then sent me the audio, which is just unbelievable,” Shields says.
Recordings include those Stewart made in areas around the famously picturesque Rannoch Moor, Culloden Moor, the site of a famous 1746 battle, and while walking along Hadrian’s Wall, an ancient Roman stone fortification dating back to 122 AD. “You kind of get into that mood of desolation and isolation,” Stewart says of being in these locations, even just through the audio. “You almost feel your primal self again. You can feel the blood pulsing through your veins.”
“The last thing I wanted to do was to take the audio and to mutilate it,” says Shields. “It was so beautiful in its raw form that I knew I had to treat it as a collaborator and not as a canvas.” Both artists were conscious of not wanting make “spa music, or something a little bit trite,” Shields adds.
Rannoch Moor, Scotland
Courtesy of Martyn Stewart
Imperfect Cadence is far from it. From the bird calls playing in tandem with Shield’s rich voice on the stirring opener “You & I” to the gentle waves on the orchestral “Than Water,” the project is a sophisticated and moving balance of input from both artists. “It was a genuine collaboration with the sort of oddity that Martyn wasn’t contributing musically,” says Shields. “He was contributing to the overall atmosphere and theme.”
Imperfect Cadence was released Dec. 5 on Seeker Music, with the company’s Melrose saying that given the album’s beauty, power and emotional depth he “couldn’t be prouder to be part of it alongside Martyn and Robert. Nature loves us unconditionally — we would do well to show it more love in return.”
Nature has indeed taken a hard hit in the decades since Stewart began recording it. Imperfect Cadence presents moments from the natural world that in many cases no longer exist due to subsequent human development and the noisy hum of traffic and people that it brings.
“Two-thirds of my archive is now extinct,” says Stewart. “We think of dinosaurs and dodos and Irish Elks being extinct, but we don’t look at sound as something that can disappear. But you can’t replicate what I’ve done. You can’t drop a microphone in the Serengeti and get what I did 20 years ago, because now there’s a road going through it.”
In more ways than one, Stewart understands what it’s like to look extinction in the eye. Three years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer and given three to five years to live. These days he says he’s largely “bungee-corded to a hospital,” although when we speak, he’s in Louisiana on an expedition to make field recordings on the bayou. He’s planning to return to both Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Scotland’s Outer Hebrides islands to record.
“I’d like to go back to places to hear how much things have changed,” he says. “And I aim to. I’m living with cancer. I’m not dying with cancer.”
Imperfect Cadence is only one component of Stewart’s significant contribution to natural history, recorded sound and people interested in both. Roughly a decade ago, he was offered “a huge amount of money for the archive” by a company that makes videogame consoles. “I asked them where the library was going to end up, and they said it would be in a basement somewhere,” he recalls. “That was just absolutely a definite no.”
Instead, Stewart wants his prolific body of work to be used academically for students “who could benefit from the sounds” and by then be inspired to explore and protect nature. He foresees a portion of his catalog being donated to the British Library. “It has to be a voice for the natural world,” he says.
In fact, it already is. Imperfect Cadence is included in the Sounds Right project, a cross-DSP initiative launched in April that’s made “Nature” an official artist, with songs that incorporate nature sounds collected on a “Feat. Nature” playlist that’s earning royalties for conservation projects. (In October, the initiative announced that in its first six months, it raised $225,000 for conversation projects in Colombia’s Tropical Andes, a region with one of the world’s highest rates of biodiversity and native species.)
Robert Shields
Courtesy of Robert Shields
“It’s opened my eyes to the fact that there are incredible people working on sustainability, environmentalism, conservationism,” Shields says of being involved in Sounds Right. “When you get to dip your toe into a different world and see people who are committing so much time and energy to this stuff, it’s genuinely awe inspiring.”
For the time being, Stewart and Shields plan to meet in Scotland next month to make live versions of some of the album songs in several of the places where Stewart made the original recordings years back. “I’m so looking forward to that,” says Stewart. “And if that’s the last breath in my body, I’ll die a happy man.”
“We’ll have a whiskey and talk about the project,” says Shields.
“Or two whiskeys,” suggests Stewart.
European artists, managers, independent labels and venue operators are calling on policymakers to overhaul “outdated and discriminatory” tax measures that they say are being “unfairly” applied to thousands of musicians touring Europe.
The campaign is being led by the European Music Managers Alliance (EMMA), which represents more than 3,000 managers and 10,000 artists. The organization is petitioning the European Parliament to revise current tax laws that require many touring musicians to pay a “withholding tax” charge when they perform in certain EU markets.
Withholding tax is typically deducted as a percentage of a touring artist’s gross payment on a per show basis to cover taxes owed in the country of earning. However, inconsistencies in the way that the tax is applied mean that European artists are often being unfairly penalized compared to those from other international markets, specifically acts from the United States, say artist managers.
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Unlike most European artists touring Europe, U.S. acts performing on the continent do not have to pay withholding tax until they earn over a certain threshold, typically set at around $20,000 per year, due to international treaties in place between the U.S. and majority of EU nations.
This exemption allows U.S. artists to maximize their touring income while reducing the ability of European artists to compete in their own home market, says an open letter from EMMA to the European Parliament, also signed by European independent labels body IMPALA and the International Federation of Musicians. Other trade groups backing the campaign include Paris-based artist organization IAO, the European Music Exporters Exchange (EMEE) and live music associations Live DMA and Liveurope.
Small and mid-sized European touring acts are also being disproportionally punished due to irregularities in how withholding tax is charged in different European markets, they argue.
At present, the amount of withholding tax an artist pays is based upon the gross payment an artist receives for a festival performance, concert or tour in most European markets, rather than net profit, meaning that costs are not taken into account. As a result, many small and medium-sized touring acts who make only a minor profit from European treks, or return home having made a net loss, often overpay the amount of tax they owe.
“Reclaiming these overpayments is frequently an arduous and sometimes impossible task,” says the letter to members of European Parliament.
Meanwhile, withholding tax rates vary wildly between EU member states with Italy applying the highest tax rate at 30%, Spain charging up to 24% and Germany fixing the tax rate at 15.8%. The lowest rates can be found in Eastern Europe, Luxembourg and Malta who all apply a 10% withholding tax charge. In contrast, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and the Netherlands do not collect withholding tax from foreign artists on short-term visits.
Outside of the EU, similar tax clauses exist for foreign artists touring the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom and Australia, but they only apply if the tour is profitable.
To address the many inconsistencies around withholding tax in Europe, music groups want policymakers to standardize how the tax is applied within the EU, thereby reducing the costly administrative and financial burden for emerging and mid-level touring artists.
One proposed solution is applying the $20,000 minimum threshold for U.S. acts to all European artists performing live shows in the 27-member EU bloc.
A more radical recommendation is that all 27 EU member states, including the major touring markets of France, Germany and Spain, follow the examples of Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and the Netherlands and stop collecting withholding tax from foreign artists altogether.
In instances where withholding tax is still applied, European music trade groups want to see expenses and costs deducted before the charge is calculated.
“The cost burdens shouldered by European artists when they want to perform live shows have increased enormously over recent years. To the point where touring across Europe has become financially precarious, especially for small and mid-sized artists who are building an audience,” said Jess Partridge, executive director of EMMA in a statement.
“An already impossible situation is being compounded by the unfair and discriminatory way in which withholding taxes are collected,” said Partridge, calling an overhaul of the current tax regime “imperative” if European artists are to be “given parity with their U.S. counterparts.”
Per Kviman, founder of Swedish management company Versity Music and chair of EMMA added: “If we want European artists to compete on a global stage, then it is vital the European Parliament acts on this issue.”
Thousands of people from the global dance music community gathered in Amsterdam this past October for ADE 2024. The dance industry’s largest conference, this year’s event featured (as always) panels, keynotes, workshops and educational sessions. And, naturally, a lot of dancing. Many of the artists who took part in sessions during the day got behind […]
12/10/2024
The list reflects data collected at 146 events during the October dance music gathering in Amsterdam.
12/10/2024