International
Page: 34
Even for casual dance fans, the format is immediately recognizable. A tight shot of a DJ behind the decks, with a heaving, usually very enthusiastic, typically quite stylish crowd packed behind them, going for it.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Launched in 2010, as it so often touts “with a webcam taped to a wall,” Boiler Room has become one of the most influential brands in dance music, using a globally understood visual language to telegraph dance music from around the world to a sprawling online fanbase of roughly seven million subscribers across YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok. Based in London, Boiler Rooms claims its content reaches 283 million viewers every month.
They’re tuning in to watch DJ sets from Uzbekistan, Mumbai, Johannesburg, Osaka and other locales far from the standard-issue club circuit. This year, the platform will release a documentary on a pair of simultaneous shows it did in Damascus, Syria and in Berlin, home to a large population of the Syrian diaspora.
Trending on Billboard
“These kind of breaking ground events, like in Soweto, or Syria, or Uzbekistan, really come from the belief that there is club culture everywhere,” Boiler Room’s creative director Amar Ediriwira tells Billboard over Zoom from London. “In some cases it might exist as a form of political resistance, like in Palestine or in Syria. In other cases, it’s just a lens on youth culture, but it’s really our remit to go there and switch on the camera.”
The brand has also become an IRL juggernaut. Its 2023 World Tour hosted nearly half a million attendees in dozens of cities, drawing an average of 5,500 people to not just well-trod club culture capitals like New York City, Paris and Amsterdam, but to Seoul, Mexico City, Mumbai and Bristol. 20,000 showed up for Boiler Room’s festival at London’s Burgess Park last September, marking the platforms biggest ever show. Launching this spring, Boiler Room’s 2024 World Tour will hit 24 cities including Delhi, Bogota, Edinburgh, Rio de Janeiro and Las Vegas.
“We’re able to sell out these shows largely based on trust,” says Ediriwira. “People trust our curation, and they trust the experience and the special-ness you get our shows, which I think means we can platform more emerging artists, be more conceptual and present interesting programs.”
Boiler Room’s signature livestreams, invite-only events where the crowd is made up of people closest to the artist, have maintained the sort of underground authenticity that’s heavily valued in certain sectors of the dance scene, even while drawing its share of stars, with M.I.A. performing for 50 people in the Boiler Room office in 2022 and a 2023 reunion show from U.K. pop outfit Sugababes. A livestream from U.K. greats Chase & Status was the platform’s most viewed stream of 2023. But despite this star power, Ediriwira says the company is “fully focused on grassroots sounds, documenting local stories, spotlighting emerging artists.”
Boiler Room New York City 2023
Muccitas
To find these scenes, Boiler Room employees a 50-person London-based staff and “a giant network” of researchers, artists, curators, producers, designers, technicians, stage managers and promotion partners who offer expertise and the support often especially needed more off the beaten path locales. A 2022 livestream in Karachi, Pakistan required the team to locate CDJs and speakers when organizers ran into, Ediriwira recalls, “a complete lack of equipment.” Livestreams have also happened from a fish-and-chips shop, from beaches and from the top of a mountain.
Boiler Room’s ambitious efforts have had a huge impact in showing grassroots club culture — via programming that’s vastly more diverse and equitable than most U.S. club and festival lineups — to the world. So too has it turned local artists into global names. Palestinian producer Sama’ Abdhuladi became a star after her 2018 Boiler Room set, as did Pakistani producer Lyla. Fred again..’s viral 2022 Boiler Room set put a rocket launcher on an already rising name, with his stream generating 30 million YouTube views to date.
Boiler Room was acquired by ticketing platform Dice in 2021, and Ediriwira says the integration with DICE’s platform “has been transformative to us as a business” in how it allows for seamless ticket sales and a better connection with fans. The Dice deal also centralized operations like finance and human resources, leading to “a much happier and more aligned team.” While Boiler Room makes almost nothing from its YouTube content, as it doesn’t own any rights to the music (Ediriwira says the channel generates “significant revenues” for rights holders,) its revenue comes from brand partnerships — including long-term deals with Pernod Ricard and Ballantine’s — along with ticketed events and its apparel brand.
The rise of TikTok has also fueled the expansion of Boiler Room and its star-making power, with its easily recognizable, audio-lead format uniquely suited to create viral moments. Such moments help turn hyper-local artists into globally known names, with subsequent bookings on Boiler Room World Tour show offering a pipeline of exposure for some of these acts.
The brand has become so ubiquitous in the dance vernacular over the last 14 years that when Skrillex, Fred again.. and Four Tet announced they’d be closing out Coachella 2023 with a show in the round, many declared they’d be doing it “Boiler Room-style.”
“Boiler Room invented this type of communication that didn’t exist before, and so anyone from Fred again.. and Skrillex and Four Tet to these smaller localized streams could replicate that format,” says Ediriwira. “I don’t think we really see it as competition.”
Here, he discusses the past, present and future of the project.
Boiler Room puts on so many livestreams. With the number of events you’re doing, how do you assure each experience feels special?
The biggest conversation we have is about being cautious and protecting Boiler Room. I think we’ve gotten to this point by being super consistent and investing in this format. One of the most important goals for us is growing slowly and staying grounded in our values. We could probably double the capacity of some of our festivals next year, but we want to nurture what we’re doing.
One of the ways [we do that] is by limiting the number of broadcasts and productions each year [to] 100, which still sounds like a lot. But in the past, we’ve been doing 150 and even more. Scaling back in this way sounds counterintuitive, but it allows us to focus on the curation and experience of all these shows.
What was lost when you were doing 150-plus shows?
When you don’t have necessarily a limit, it means there isn’t competition for ideas. If there’s a potentially a never-ending supply of productions and broadcasts, you can just keep adding things in. As soon as you put a limit of 100, it just forces this idea of quality. Like, we’re only going to do one broadcast in Seoul this year, so what’s the one idea the world should see.
You mentioned Boiler Room’s values — what’s the mandate there?
Our vision for programming has always been very consistent. Our thesis has always been around championing grassroots scenes and genres, emerging artists and hyperlocal [scenes.] That’s really in our DNA. It’s what the original streams in London were about — spotlighting and opening a vantage to a community, a scene and a sound coming out of London that happened to be incredibly fertile and had lot of artists involved that went on to have really big careers. Now, it’s that very localized emerging talent approach and the stories around those artists and the immediate community surrounding them.
[embedded content]
Boiler Room claims that 283 million people watch its content every month. Break that number down for me.
The format has been wildly famous. We’ve been working year after year, event after event with this one format in a very consistent way, building up an audience of fans.
I’d go as far as saying it’s become more than a brand; it’s become a global phenomenon and a dominant method of visual communication of club culture. Almost a form of documentary journalism, except that it’s very fun and entertaining and voyeuristic. And also, unlike journalism, it doesn’t have to impose a narrative, you’re simply putting a camera and decks in the room, and you can do whatever you want in that space.
There’s something remarkable in the way that spotlighting hyper-local scenes has become one of the most recognizable and influential things in the dance space. Why do you think there’s such a fascination with locations that one might not immediately associate with club culture?
I think the world has moved in that direction. I think it’s interesting, when you think of pop stars or famous people, a lot of them have some link back to an underground sensibility or something very localized. That’s increasingly happening. That’s something we’ve always been focused on, but the world has shifted in that direction.
We do also have bigger artists play the platform, obviously Fred again.. was a massive moment. We’ve had people like PinkPantheress, Sugababes, M.I.A. Largely when we work with them, we still keep to this concept of staging it in an underground setting, making it super intimate, invite-only… But at the same time, I think we’ve become known as one of the biggest early-stage springboards an artist can have. A lot of artists become overnight sensations with us, and a lot of artists kind of attribute that career-breaking moment to their Boiler Room moment. We saw that start happening with more frequency four or five years ago.
Tell me more about that.
What’s interesting is noticing how these breaking moments on our platform are starting to happen all over the world, and not just in Western or global northern cultural capitals like London or New York. The obvious example is when we did our first broadcast in Palestine [in 2018], and Sama’ [Abdulhadi] became an internet sensation overnight practically. That show’s on like, 10 million views.
Similarly, when we did Pakistan, Lyla’s went viral and hit half million plays in a matter of months. I think there’s just this fascination of, “What does club culture in Pakistan look like?” Especially when the dominant media narrative about place like Pakistan is very different.
[embedded content]
Obviously social media was much less of a factor when Boiler Room started in 2010. What affect have platforms like Instagram and TikTok had on Boiler Room?
In recent years, it’s completely exploded in short form. When we started out, short-form wasn’t even a consideration — but now with Instagram and Tiktok in particular, a key thing for us has been the rise of moments. You’re seeing a lot of artists break from their moments, not necessarily from their broadcasts. Tiktok has said to us that our format works really well because it’s recognizable in the feed, and it’s audio-led. Our content was popular there before we even started our own [TikTok] channel.
Then at the same time, it’s interesting, because people’s attention spans are shrinking — not to sound like an old person — but at the same time as short-form blowing up for us, we’re one of the few platforms I can think of in the music space, at least, that’s committed to long-form content. That’s our core format. That’s the archive.
Given Boiler Room’s cultural cachet, are a lot of brands vying to work with you? How judicious do you have to be about who you’re letting in?
It’s a good question. There’s a lot of brand interest in what we do. What’s interesting about that interest is people usually come to us because they know what we do, and because we’ve been investing in this one format in a very consistent way. So usually, they’re not coming to us looking to white label something or create some new concept, so much as to just invest in what we do.
It’s a really great position to be in, because I think it allows us to stay focused and consistent in what we want to do and stay true to the values we have. For us, it’s mainly about making sure we align with the brands that are interested in us, and if they’re about championing local sounds, championing emerging artists, all of those kinds of things, there’s no reason why we wouldn’t work with them, in theory.
Are there brands that come to you looking for a partnership where you’re just like, “Nah, not gonna work“?
No comment.
Is there anywhere in the world Boiler Room is particularly interested in going?
We just kicked off a series spotlighting music and cultures in the Pacific Islands with a show in Rarotonga, so we’re excited to make our return to this part of the world over the coming months and years. We’re also currently exploring launching a similar series in the Caribbean.
Is there anywhere you won’t go?
I don’t know if there’s an outright ban on anywhere off the top of my head. It all just comes down to what the story is and championing a local story or scene we feel is authentic and part the club culture we care about.
As Elyanna steps into a warehouse in downtown Los Angles for Billboard Arabia’s February cover interview and shoot, the weight of anticipation hangs heavily in the air. Despite battling nerves a mere 24 hours before her Dallas gig, the first show in her debut North America tour, Elyanna exudes a quiet determination characteristic of her rapid ascent in the music industry. With only two EPs to her name and a handful of singles, she’s already achieved the remarkable feat of selling out nearly every venue on her tour circuit – a testament to her burgeoning fanbase, undeniable talent and her unique sonic proposition, driving a future sound of global pop music unbound by language.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Guided by her artist management team at SALXCO and her family, Elyanna navigates the shoot with a delicate balance between preparation and preservation, immersing herself in a playlist with unreleased tracks off her forthcoming LP, shuffling alongside tracks by Ice Spice, Sherine and Doja Cat. The 22-year-old artist starts to find her groove, but she does this silently. In the hush of a prescribed, pre-tour vocal rest, moments of introspection emerge – and it is in these moments of silence we hear Elyanna’s message to the world.
Trending on Billboard
Elyanna aims to elevate Arabic pop music onto the global stage while using her art to depict her homeland and culture beyond the lens of conflict. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, and moving to L.A. with her immediate family at the age of 15, she seeks to showcase her culture’s beauty in its entirety – its layers, textures, multi-colors and history – countering the media’s portrayal, dominated by the specter of war and destruction.
This carries into every one of her songs and live performances. Whether expressed through her instrumentation, lyrics or Arab-inspired fashion and accessories, we see Palestine through Elyanna’s eyes but also through that of her family. One cannot tell the story of Elyanna without also talking about how each family member plays a pivotal role in her career. Her sister Tali is her stylist, her brother Feras is her co-producer and video director, whereas her mother Abeer contributes to her songwriting. Meanwhile, her father, Amer, is the glue that holds the operations together.
“I would say that takes people who believe in you,” says Elyanna. “So I just surround myself with people that believe in me…. Like my family, like my friends, the people that believed in me and put time in me.”
It is not an exclusively Arab thing to keep your family close by, but it is very Arab to tell a story of generations in one song. We hear this in many of Elyanna’s tracks, first with the ambitious cover of Abdel Halim Hafez’s “Ahwak” (I Love You), a song that consistently permeated every generation since it was released nearly six decades ago. Elyanna’s rendition of “Ahwak” is a mesmerizing homage that breathes new life into the classic by setting the original lyrics against an acoustic piano, as her reverent vocals feel as though they are coming from another time.
“I know it’s a cover,” she says. “But I felt I brought it into my own world. I think that was the point where I knew what I should do next.”
On her 2019 debut original release, “Oululee Leh” (Tell Me Why), Elyanna unveiled her sonic potential to the world. Co-written by her mother Abeer Margieh, her brother Feras Margieh and songwriters Nasri Atweh, Sari Abboud and Martine Sinotte, the song delves into the profound loneliness born from loss and distance. Its poignant lyrics and haunting instrumentation evoke an intimacy that resonates with anyone who has ever felt like a stranger, offering solace in shared experience through a chorus that sings, “Ouloulee lee” (tell me why).
When I asked Abeer, her mother, whether the song was about the loss of a place or a person, she quickly responded with “a place.” But for Elyanna, it has a double meaning, one that the listener is left to decode independently. It is in this co-writing with her mother and brother that Elyanna’s songs cut across the temporal spectrum, collapsing past, present and future in a single note.
In 2020, Elyanna released her debut album, a self-titled body of work made up of six songs, including “Ouloulee Leh,” “Ahwak” and viral hit “Ana Lehale” (I’m on my Own) feat. Massari, showing an artist on the brink of finding her voice. Two years later, Elyanna dropped her follow up EP, Elyanna 2, driven by hits like “Ala Bali,” also featured in Mo Amer’s Netflix show, and “Ghareeb Alay” feat. Balti, which went on to amass over 50 million views on YouTube with its blend of Latin rhythms and relatable lyrics. With a steady flow of singles, including Elyanna’s 2023 release of “Sokkar,” an Arabic cover of the song by Zubi and Anatu, followed by “Mama Eh,” she continued to underscore her budding pop prowess.
In a short time, the artist managed to land a coveted spot in Coachella’s April 2023 lineup, where she performed the first ever complete Arabic set in the festival’s history. In another milestone moment, Elyanna’s heart-wrenching original song “Olive Branch” (co-written with her brother Feras) was performed live at the 2023 edition of the El Gouna Film Festival. It spotlighted the artist’s unique ability to use her music to drive awareness, while celebrating the richness and beauty of Palestinian culture.
[embedded content]
When asked about her role as an Arabic artist, Elyanna articulates a pressing imperative: to disseminate her culture worldwide. While such inquiries often provoke polarizing responses, she gracefully infuses each of her songs with glimpses of cultural richness of her heritage, but she does so in an accessible way.
Much like the intricate stitches of “tarteez” (Palestinian embroidery), Elyanna’s music weaves various influences into a harmonious whole. Each musical passage is akin to uncovering a hidden image as if each thread holds a story waiting to be explored, inviting listeners around the globe to find the patterns that speak to them while resonating with the whole. Now, on the brink of releasing her debut LP, Elyanna continues to blend her multiple cultural influences, be it the Latin textures inherited from her Chilean grandmother or the power of her Palestinian grandfather’s pen, all the while creating an entirely new pop sound.
“It’s really just taking things from life that I love, and now I want to do it in a project that I would call a piece of art,” says Elyanna. “And this project is really experimental.” Lead single “Al Sham” from her upcoming album embodies various cultural elements from the region, showcasing her spirit of experimentation. Fueled by electronic-dabke rhythms, she ingeniously interprets lyrics from Syrian singer Sabah Fakhri’s classic “Khamrat El Hob.” In Elyanna’s version, we dive into the song’s iconic line, “A life without love is like a river without water.” But it’s somewhere within the music video where we get a sense that Elyanna is not a victim of unrequited love or anything else. Instead, she is a formidable force, surrounded by her crew and imagery evoking empowerment, marking a pivotal moment in the lead-up to her debut North America tour.
[embedded content]
“I’m on a Billboard cover, and we have a sold-out tour, and I have an album coming,” says Elyanna. “It feels insane to me. I’m doing things I dreamt of my whole life.” She goes on to mention that the tour has the ability to gather Arabs in America together, which is something she looks forward to most.
After postponing her debut tour due to the war in Gaza, Elyanna eventually announced new dates, with 10 stops through the U.S. and Canada. Within 20 seconds of watching her perform, Elyanna’s star potential is undeniable. It’s not just her voice, message or rich influences, but the combination that shapes her artistry, its impact and the future sound of Arabic pop.
This is a translation of a cover story that originally appeared on Billboard Arabia.
Elyanna
Billboard Arabia
Universal Music Group is poised to open its first Capitol Studios outside of Hollywood, plus live performance spaces, music education academies and a new record label, as part of a collaboration with DGMC in the burgeoning music hub of the United Arab Emirates. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts […]
Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie has formed a consortium with investment funds EQT and TCV as part of a wider effort to acquire full ownership of the French music company and take it private. The triad announced their intentions on Monday (Feb. 12), and the Believe board of directors unanimously voted to welcome the proposal to review.
All told, the bid values Believe’s entire share capital at 1.523 billion euros (USD $1.64 billion) based on 101,547 million shares outstanding.
Before they can take Believe private, Ladegaillerie, EQT and TCV first must acquire shares owned by historical shareholders TCV Luxco BD S.à r.l., XAnge and Ventech, which combined amount to 59.46% of the share capital. After this already agreed-upon transaction, Ladegaillerie would then contribute a portion of his company shares, representing an additional 11.7%, to the bidding conglomerate, as well as sell his remaining portion of 1.29%. An additional 3% has been obtained from other shareholders, bringing this group’s share of the company to roughly 75%.
Once these acquisitions are approved by regulators, the conglomerate would then make a tender offer for all Believe outstanding shares at an offer price of 15 euros per share, representing a 21% premium over the last closing price before the proposed buyout was announced (12.4 euros on Feb. 9). If legal conditions are met at the end of the offer, the company will then request the implementation of a squeeze-out procedure.
Completion of the acquisitions of the blocks of shares is expected to take place during the second quarter of 2024, and the filing of the subsequent tender offer would be sent to the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), which regulates the stock market in France, soon after.
The French digital music company, which owns TuneCore, began trading on the Paris Euronext exchange in June 2021.
Believe’s board has appointed an independent expert, Ledouble, to draw up an opinion on the offer, and assigned three board members to assist with that effort and work up their own recommendations for shareholders and employees.
In prepared comments, Ladegaillerie said Believe has “systematically outperformed its objectives, delivering its IPO plan two years ahead of schedule” but “the strength of its operational performance has not been reflected in the share price evolution.”
He added, “Believe has a significant opportunity ahead to consolidate the independent music market and create the first global major independent, at the service of artists at all stages of their career. In achieving this ambition, I am glad to continue benefiting from the active support of TCV who has accompanied Believe since 2014 and to be partnering with Europe-based EQT who has a great track record in supporting high growth companies.”
Believe has appointed Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG and Gide Loyrette Nouel as financial and legal advisers to assist the company and the three-member committee in their evaluation of the offer.
From Celine Dion to Joni Mitchell and Allison Russell, Canadian artists made a big splash at the Grammys last weekend.
But there’s one Canadian music executive who also cleaned up. She may be the wealthiest, most influential, yet under-the-radar woman in the country’s music industry: Golnar Khosrowshahi of independent publishing and management company, Reservoir Media.
Among the 10 Grammy honours for Reservoir Media is Joni Mitchell at Newport, who won in the folk album category. The legendary singer-songwriter also made her Grammy performance debut. Following a brain aneurysm in 2015, Mitchell had stopped performing, but in 2022 she made a triumphant comeback at the Newport Folk Festival, bringing her living room jam sessions — Joni Jams — to the festival stage. At the awards, she took the stage accompanied by frequent collaborator Brandi Carlile, cello and violin duo SistaStrings, and Canadian Allison Russell on clarinet.
The NYC-based Reservoir firm has offices in L.A., Nashville, Toronto, London and Abu Dhabi and signed Mitchell to an all-encompassing global music publishing admin deal in 2021.
Notably, Reservoir is owned by the Iranian-Canadian Khosrowshahi family, who founded and then sold the Future Shop home electronics chain to Best Buy in 2001 for $580M. Reservoir is run by daughter Golnar, a classically trained pianist with impeccable business credentials.
The music firm now represents 150,000 copyrights and 36,000 master recordings that include the Tommy Boy and Chrysalis catalogues.
In addition to Joni Mitchell, Reservoir also represented winners by boygenius, SZA and Killer Mike. – David Farrell, Rosie Long Decter and Richard Trapunski
Charlotte Cardin Tops 2024 Juno Awards Nominations
Charlotte Cardin has earned the most nominations for the 2024 Juno Awards. The breakthrough Montreal pop singer-songwriter got six nods, including artist of the year, album of the year and pop album of the year (99 NIGHTS), single of the year (“Confetti”) and TikTok Fan Choice. She’s also nominated for songwriter of the year.
Daniel Caesar and TALK follow with five nods each. Allison Russell, Aysanabee, Connor Price, Lauren Spencer Smith, Tate McRae and DVBBS each received three nominations.
The nominations were announced on Feb. 6 in a press conference at the CBC Building. Comeback artist Nelly Furtado, who’ll be performing as well as hosting the broadcast ceremony, was a surprise guest at the nominees announcement. She also received a nomination for “Eat Your Man,” her collaboration with Dom Dolla, for dance recording of the year.
Punjabi-Canadian artist Karan Aujla, a cover star for Billboard Canada’s inaugural digital cover, was also nominated for breakthrough artist of the year and announced as a performer at the Junos ceremony at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax on March 24. He follows fellow cover star AP Dhillon, who played the first full Punjabi performance at the awards last year. Joining Aujla as performers will be country breakout Josh Ross and singer-songwriter TALK.
Another Punjabi-Canadian artist, Shubh, is nominated for the TikTok Fan Choice, a fan-voted award, along with Aujla, Cardin, Ross, Caesar, DVBBS, Tate McRae, ThxSoMch and Walk off the Earth.
McRae’s “greedy,” which has topped the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 multiple times, is also nominated for single of the year, along with Cardin’s “Confetti,” Caesar’s “Always,” LU KALA’s “Pretty Girl Era,” and TALK’s “A Little Bit Happy.”
Nominated with Cardin for album of the year are Néo-Romance by Alexandra Stréliski, NEVER ENOUGH by Daniel Caesar, Mirror by Lauren Spencer Smith and Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees by TALK.
Cardin, Caesar, Smith and McRae, all relatively young artists, are all nominated for artist of the year as well, along with the legacy artist of the category, Shania Twain.
The Junos will be broadcast live on CBC from Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre on Sunday, March 24. Tickets for the show and the JUNO Week events are on sale at ticketmaster.ca/junos. The majority of the awards will be presented at The Juno Opening Night Awards the night before the main ceremony on March 23.
Find the full list of nominations here and interviews from the red carpet at ca.billboard.com – Richard Trapunski
How Canadian Music Took Over 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend
Toronto was alive with music at the 2024 NHL All-Star Weekend – not just on the ice, but all around the city. As the hockey spectacle returned to the city for the first time since 2000, and to Canada for the first time since 2012, the multiple-day event brought live music from major stars including Nelly Furtado, the Kid Laroi and Diplo.
As the stars of the game played each other in skills competitions and 3-on-3 hockey, music was an integral component. Each of the four teams chosen by an NHL player was co-captained by a celebrity: Tate McRae, Justin Bieber, Michael Bublé and Will Arnett. They weren’t just there to sit on the bench, but they helped choose each team at the player draft on Thursday night (Feb. 1). Bieber even helped out with the players’ on-ice warm-ups.
“We went all-in [with music] this year,” said Steve Mayer, the NHL’s Chief Content Officer. “We’re so happy that we have what represents not only the best in the NHL coming here, but in our minds, the best in Canadian music. And being here in Canada with seven Canadian teams, we better know our Canadian music.”
The headliner of this year’s NHL All-Star Game was one of the biggest artists in the world. McRae comes from a hockey family, and the sport’s culture is a major part of her current image. So it felt natural to see her perform on three different stages on the ice in a glittery top with six dancers and the production value you might see at a big award show.
“For the past year or two years now, I feel like I’ve fully immersed myself in the hockey world,” McRae told Billboard Canada.
Michael Bublé said he’s proud seeing what McRae has accomplished and called her before the game.
“I told her I was happy for and proud for her,” he remarked. “And as a Canadian, it made me happy to see another young Canadian breaking through….Honestly, we’re kind of dominating music right now. We are sending a ton of artists out there, and we’ve already got a ton of career artists out there. This little place made a bunch of great ones.”
The star factor revved way up on Thursday night (Feb. 1), when Justin Bieber played an invite-only concert at the 2,500-capacity venue History, his first gig in over a year. Diplo, The Kid Laroi and Nelly Furtado also played at concerts over the weekend, but Bieber’s was the one that captured the most headlines and social media attention in a set that spanned his whole career. – Richard Trapunski
Last Week In Canada: Drake’s OVO Sound Partners With Santa Anna
Global superstar Drake is making moves to expand his influence. His OVO Sound label has announced a new partnership with the Santa Anna Label Group, an artist and label services company launched by Sony Music last year.
Through the partnership, OVO will remain a distinct label with its own roster, but will benefit from distribution, marketing and promotion, A&R services, finance and accounting, and more from the American company.
Santa Anna is a new venture, launched in January 2023 by Sony Music and Alamo Records CEO Todd Moscowitz, with the goal of helping artists and entrepreneurs to develop their businesses within the industry. This isn’t Moscowitz’s first encounter with the Toronto label: the industry executive was CEO of Warner Records in 2012, when OVO was originally founded under the Warner banner.
“After 10 years, it’s exciting to reunite with the OVO Sound team to collaborate on new ways to support their impressive roster of artists,” Moscowitz said of the new partnership. “Together, I look forward to working with a best-in-class management team to develop opportunities to help scale their business and take their artistry to new heights.”
OVO was founded by Drake, producer Noah “40” Shebib and manager Oliver El-Khatib. The roster includes popular Toronto talent like Majid Jordan, DVSN and PARTYNEXDOOR, and is headed by former Warner A&R executive Mr. Morgan. This new announcement comes after Majid Jordan’s fall 2023 release of the duo’s latest LP, Good People, and ahead of PARTYNEXTDOOR’s P4, expected soon.
The OVO brand — October’s Very Own, named after Drake’s birth month — includes live music at OVO Fest and a brick-and-mortar clothing store in Toronto, as well as the label. In the decade-plus since OVO’s launch, the label has largely focused on Canadian acts, though they also represent Dutch artist (and their first female signee) Naomi Sharon.
The partnership indicates that Drake’s business ambitions are only growing. Will OVO expand its focus beyond Canada? Or will the new investment be directed towards discovering new artists like they did recently with 6ixBuzz collaborator Smiley? –Rosie Long Decter
Vancouver-Based Beatdapp Partners with Universal Music Group to Detect Fraud
Vancouver-based Beatdapp has become the leading streaming fraud detection company in the music industry today after successfully raising C22M in growth financing and newly announced partnerships with SoundExchange, Napster and a “strategic collaboration” with Universal Music Group.
Last year, the company analyzed more than two trillion streams and 20 trillion data points for its five core categories of customers: DSPs, music labels, collection societies, creator tool services and music distributors.
Beatdapp asserts that as much as 10% of global streams are fraudulent, with the result that as much as US$1B in royalties end up in fraudsters’ pockets. Latest statistics suggest more than 100,000 tracks are uploaded every day. These are on top of the 100M tracks Spotify hosted in 2023, with over 30M added annually at the current rate of uploading.
The company claims to detect fraud with more than 99% accuracy. That’s become especially pertinent as Spotify has eliminated royalties for songs with less than 1,000 songs, in a claimed effort to crack down on fraud. Fraud is also a major topic of conversation when it comes to artificial intelligence, a point of existential angst for many in the music industry.
Recently, Universal Music Group has also been up front when it comes to fair distribution of royalties, pulling its entire song catalogue from TikTok at the end of January. In a widely distributed open letter, the major record company accused the platform of “trying to build a music-based business, without paying fair value for the music,” according to a new open letter.
In the meantime, companies offering fraud detection or protection could have major value within the music industry. –David Farrell & Richard Trapunski
Tokyo Police Club Says Goodbye
Tokyo Police Club, one of the most successful Canadian indie rock bands of the last two decades, is calling it quits — but not before four more hometown goodbye shows in Toronto from Nov. 27-29 at History.
Though they began in Ontario, a press release announcing the band’s breakup says the members of the band are now spread out from Los Angeles to Toronto to Prince Edward Island.
In a joint statement signed by “Dave, Graham, Josh and Greg,” the group explains that, “It’s time for us to say goodbye! This band has meant so much to us for so many years, but all magical things must come to an end. Tokyo Police Club will always stand for the connection we have shared ever since we were teenagers, and it’s brought so many amazing people and moments into our lives.”
Tokyo Police Club was formed by four high school friends in Newmarket, Ontario, and comprises vocalist and bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook, and drummer Greg Alsop. The group made a splash with an acclaimed debut EP, A Lesson In Crime, in 2006, going on to release two more EPs and five full-length albums and tour internationally, from Coachella to The Late Show with David Letterman.
Among other nominations, the band was twice up for the Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year, in 2011 for Champ and in 2019 for TPC, its final full-length release.
After the band’s first goodbye show was announced, there’s been overwhelming demand for more. Now, it’s a four-night stand in Toronto. Additional live dates could also be in the works, they hint. –Kerry Doole
Last Week in Canada: Chilly Response to Pitchfork Changes
LONDON — Mattias Hjelmstedt, the co-founder and former head of Utopia Music, has exited the company following a shake-up of the Swiss-based firm’s executive ranks earlier this year.
Hjelmstedt departure from Utopia was announced in a memo to staff on Thursday (Feb. 1) sent by recently appointed CEO Michael Stebler and the board of directors.
The memo, which has been viewed by Billboard, states that Hjelmstedt handed in his resignation after “long discussions” with board members because he wanted to dedicate more time towards pursuing “new projects and challenges.”
“The board and I are, as I’m sure you are too, extremely grateful to Mattias for creating and running this amazing company for significant periods of time,” Stebler, who represents the majority shareholder group behind Utopia Music, told staff.
Referring to the company’s well-documented past struggles, which included multiple rounds of job cuts, company divestments and ongoing legal actions, Stebler said he was grateful for the “tough but necessary decisions” that Hjelmstedt began implementing in late 2022.
“I can say with absolute certainty that this was necessary for the company’s survival,” said Stebler, who has been at the helm of Utopia Music since mid-January.
In the memo, Hjelmstedt said the decision to step down from his roles with Utopia “was not taken lightly, but it comes with a deep belief that it’s the right thing to do.”
He went on to say that he firmly believed the company “will continue to grow and succeed” said the new management team means that the firm, which is headquartered in the Swiss-town of Zug, is “in capable hands.”
“As I move forward, I am excited to see how Utopia will evolve and I am cheering you all on, as I will always be one of Utopia’s biggest fans,” the co-founder told staff.
Swedish entrepreneur Hjelmstedt co-founded Utopia Music in 2016 with Thomas Gullberg and led the company through a period of intense hyper-growth between 2020 and 2022 when it rapidly bought up 15 companies.
Acquisitions in that time included music tech company Musimap; Lyric Financial, a Nashville-based provider of royalty-backed cash advances; and Proper Music Group, the United Kingdom’s leading independent physical music distributor, which provides distribution services for over 5,800 indie labels and service companies.
A just-as-quick downsizing swiftly followed, beginning with the axing of around 230 jobs in late 2022 and the subsequent offloading of three of Utopia’s businesses — Absolute Label Services, U.S.-based music database platform ROSTR and U.K.-based publisher Sentric.
During this rocky period, Hjelmstedt served as interim chief executive — taking over from Markku Mäkeläinen — and stayed at the helm of the company up until the appointment of Alain Couttolenc as chief exec last October. (Couttolenc switched roles to deputy CEO earlier this year when Stebler was appointed to the top job).
More recently, Hjelmstedt held the post of Utopia executive’s chairman and, since December, served as a member of the board.
The company he co-founded and which counts the United Kingdom and United States among its biggest revenue markets provides music companies with a range of financial and tech product services, including royalty tracking and processing, as well as its core U.K. physical distribution business operated through Proper Music Group and Utopia Distribution Services (formerly Cinram Novum). The latter’s clients include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and [PIAS].
Speaking to Billboard in January in a rare interview, Hjelmstedt said the ethos behind Utopia Music, whose motto is “Fair pay for every play,” has always been to use technology to help artists, creators and rights holders receive higher returns.
“We have never been about disrupting or taking over the industry,” said Hjelmstedt. “It’s always been about helping the industry be better and grow.
LONDON — Record labels, publishers and streaming services in the United Kingdom have signed up to a voluntary code of good practice that requires them to provide clear and transparent information to artists and creators about how their streaming royalties are calculated.
“The UK Code of Good Practice on Transparency in Music Streaming” was published Wednesday (Jan. 31) by the U.K. government’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
It obliges key players in the British music industry to supply musicians, songwriters, composers and producers with “timely, accurate and clear royalty accounting information,” as well as detail any deductions that have been applied.
Signatories include representatives of major and independent record labels, publishers, creators, collecting societies and streaming services.
Trade bodes BPI — which represents more than 500 labels, including the U.K. arms of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — and the Association of Independent Music (AIM), which acts on behalf of U.K. independent record labels and music companies, are among the music groups backing the pledge.
The U.K. government says the agreement forms a “significant point” in improving transparency around licensing deals and music streaming royalties that will build greater trust between record labels, streaming services and creators.
“This pioneering code, designed by the music industry with Government backing, has trust at its core,” said Viscount Camrose, minister for AI and Intellectual Property, in a statement.
The cross-industry pact, said Camrose, will “help ensure artists get the royalties and protections they deserve when their music is played on streaming platforms.”
Wednesday’s transparency agreement is the latest in an ongoing series of government-led interventions into the U.K. music industry fuelled by artist discontent over low payments from streaming.
In 2021, a Parliamentary inquiry into the music streaming business called into question the major record labels’ dominance of the industry and branded the global streaming model as unsustainable in its current form, saying it “needs a complete reset.”
Numerous government-led working groups, investigations and initiatives spun out of the eight-month-long Parliamentary probe, including last year’s industry-wide pledge – also made at the behest and overseen by the IPO – to improve the digital metadata for song recordings.
The new transparency agreement further increases the obligations on rights holders and digital services to address long-standing issues in music streaming, but it does not constitute a regulatory change and it is not clear what, if any, repercussions a record label or DSP would face for breaching its terms.
Rather, the voluntary code is intended as a stimulus for music companies to lift standards and deliver more accurate returns to artists by following a number of agreed principles.
They include labels, publishers and managers making it clear to artists the terms of their contracts, licence deals and remuneration terms, including any recoupable costs.
Streaming services are required to provide to all relevant rights holders accurate and timely usage data. The code also states that artists and creators should have a contractual right to audit financial information, including royalty payments, from labels, publishers, distributors, collecting societies and, in the case of self-releasing artists, streaming services that they hold contracts with.
Other music groups backing the transparency code include the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA), whose members include streaming services; the Music Publishers Association (MPA); Musicians’ Union (MU); Featured Artists Coalition (The FAC); Music Managers Forum (MMF); Music Producers Guild (MPG) and U.K. collecting societies PRS for Music and Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL).
The code will come into force on July 31 with the IPO set to carry out a first review of its implementation early next year.
In the meantime, several other government initiatives looking into the digital music business will continue to operate in the background, including a new working group –made up of industry stakeholders — looking into artist remuneration from music streaming.
Details on membership of the remuneration working group, which was first announced last May, will be published shortly, said the government. A report into equitable remuneration commissioned by the IPO is due to be published in the coming months
Commenting on the new transparency requirements, BPI chief executive Jo Twist said the “landmark agreement… builds meaningfully on the recent progress around metadata and other significant measures addressing creator concerns around music streaming.”
U.K. trade group The Council Of Music Makers said that while the commitments contained in the code “are modest, it provides a framework that can be used to start tackling the “systemic lack of transparency” in music streaming. The organization said it will be launching a complaints mechanism when the code comes into force for artists and their managers to report non-compliance with its terms.
“The big music and streaming companies need to stop using ‘artist-centric’ as a hollow buzzword and actually put artists and other music-makers at the centre of their businesses,” said a Council Of Music Makers spokesperson.
LONDON — A U.K. Parliament committee is calling on the British government to address the “endemic” misogyny and discrimination that many female artists face in the music industry.
A report from the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) published Tuesday (Jan. 30) urges ministers to take legislative steps to protect musicians and creators from sexual harassment, including banning the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases involving sexual abuse, bullying or misconduct.
The highly critical 70-page report acknowledges that female representation is improving in many areas of the business but warns that progress remains slow with sexual harassment and abuse against women common occurrences in an industry “still routinely described as a boys club.”
“People in the industry who attend awards shows and parties currently do so sitting alongside sexual abusers who remain protected by the system and by colleagues,” said the cross-party committee of MPs.
Their inquiry found a “culture of silence” existed across the music industry with many victims of sexual harassment or abuse afraid to report such incidents.
Victims who do speak out struggle to be believed or may find their career ends as a consequence, the committee found. They said that much of the evidence they had received had to remain undisclosed, “including commentary on television shows and household names,” due to confidentially and legal clauses.
The report follows an inquiry into misogyny in the U.K. music industry, which began in June 2022 and saw a number of artists and executives give evidence, including senior executives from all three major labels, representatives of the live industry, former BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac and British pop singer and Ivors Academy board director Rebecca Ferguson.
Giving evidence in September, Ferguson, who first shot to fame on the U.K. version of The X Factor, said that misogyny in music was just “the tip of the iceberg of the things that are happening behind the scenes.”
She said that women in the music business who experience abuse often feel that they “can’t speak up” because “they are scared they will never work again.” Ferguson told MPs that she had been informed rapes were going unreported.
In addition to sexual abuse and harassment, the inquiry found that women pursuing careers in music face limited opportunities compared to men, a lack of support and persistent unequal pay, while female artists are “routinely undervalued and undermined.”
The committee recommends that ministers introduce legislation to give freelance workers the same protections from discrimination as employees, as well as imposing a legal duty on companies and employers to protect workers from sexual harassment by third parties.
On the subject of non-disclosure agreements, the report said the government should consider a retrospective moratorium on NDAs signed by victims of sexual abuse.
The report also called for stronger safety requirements for industry sectors where harassment and abuse are known to take place, such as recording studios and music venues.
Additionally, managers of artists should be licensed, while record labels were recommended to regularly publish information about the diversity of their creative rosters, workforce and gender and ethnicity pay gaps – a practice that many labels and large music companies already do.
The committee said the music industry and the British government should increase investment and support in diverse talent, particularly in male-dominated areas such as A&R, sound engineering and production.
“Women’s creative and career potential should not have limits placed upon it by ‘endemic’ misogyny which has persisted for far too long within the music industry,” Caroline Nokes, chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, said in a statement.
Responding to Tuesday’s report, Jo Twist, CEO of U.K. labels trade body BPI, and Yolanda Brown, BPI chair, said all parts of the music industry have “a shared responsibility” to tackle misogyny in music “head on.”
Silvia Montello, CEO of the London-based Association of Independent Music (AIM), said the report “makes for uncomfortable but sadly unsurprising reading.”
“It should not still be this hard, here in 2024, for women to be supported to succeed and to be taken as seriously as our male counterparts,” said Montello in a statement.
Earlier this week, Anna Wintour, chief content officer of media company Condé Nast, announced that Pitchfork will become a vertical at men’s magazine GQ and will undergo restructuring and layoffs. Many Pitchfork employees were laid off, including features editor Jillian Mapes, longtime employee and executive editor Amy Phillips and current editor-in-chief Puja Patel, according to Wintour’s memo to staff.
“Without Pitchfork, there will be fewer avenues for Canadian artists to reach a broad American audience,” says Polaris Prize-winning musician Cadence Weapon — real name Rollie Pemberton — who received coverage from the site early in his career and began writing reviews for it as a teenager.
“When Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire got boosted by the Pitchfork Effect in 2003 and 2004, it gave independent Canadian musicians hope,” Pemberton tells Billboard Canada. “Back then, anything that wasn’t on a major label was largely ignored by our own country.”
“Getting a thoughtful and favourable Pitchfork review for The Shape of Your Name in 2019 cracked open the door for me into the U.S., which ultimately led to American labels and my agents coming on board,” says Canadian singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield. “I think that ultimately the changes at Pitchfork will create another barrier [to] entry for Canadian musicians when it comes to growing their careers outside of Canada.”
The concerns extend beyond Pitchfork. Many artists, writers and music industry members see the layoffs as part of broader trends in the music and media industries.
Andrew McLeod, who releases music as Sunnsetter and performs in Zoon and Ombiigizi, argues that the only obvious way to make new fans is to go viral.
“In the phase of the internet that we’re currently living through, it’s much harder to create new mechanisms of any significant size that exist outside of the structures of these massively capitalized platforms like Spotify, Meta, TikTok,” he explains. Major labels have the resources to mount massive social media campaigns, but for independent artists, it’s challenging to break through.
Read more about the impact of the loss of music media here. – Rosie Long Decter
Boots and Hearts Producer Launches Management Arm, RLive
Republic Live, producers of the annual multi-day Boots and Hearts country music festival north of Toronto, has launched a management division called RLive. Newly appointed Alberta native Casadie Pederson has been named as director of artist management and development.
RLive will be based in Nashville, where Pederson will work alongside Republic Live’s festival booker Brooke Dunford. The Republic Live Canadian office has also added Hannah Buske in Toronto. She will support Dunford in future festival bookings and support management and marketing initiatives.
RLive is a natural extension of the festival’s opening night emerging artist showcase. In an earlier interview, Dunford stated that promoting Canadian talent at Boots and Hearts Music Festival — which annually attracts 40,000 a night and offers on-site camping, carnival rides, food trucks and other amenities — has always been one of its chief mandates.
The first signing for RLive is Tyler Joe Miller, a Surrey, B.C. singer-songwriter who has scored seven top 10 Canadian country hits since launching himself in 2019 with two back-to-back No. 1 hits – “Pillow Talkin” and “I Would Be Over Me Too.” Miller joins fellow CanCountry stars Shawn Austin and Andrew Hyatt on a 20-city, west-to-east Country MixTape Tour of casinos, theatres and concert venues that opens in April.
Republic Live is a privately held Canadian company formed by the Dunford family that owns the 585-acre Burl’s Creek Event Grounds north of Toronto, where Boots and Hearts is staged annually.
Canadian venture capitalist Stan Dunford and Nashville-based live music promoter Nick Kulb were early backers of what has become one of the largest multi-day festivals in North America. – David Farrell
Chantal Kreviazuk Sells Song Catalogue to Anthem Entertainment
After decades as a Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada songwriter, Winnipeg-born singer Chantal Kreviazuk announced that her song catalogue has been acquired by Anthem Entertainment.
It’s a major acquisition. In addition to CanCon hits of her own like “Before You,” “Boot,” “In This Life,” “Time,” “Weight Of The World” and “Get To You,” she’s also written songs by artists like Drake, Avril Lavigne, Shakira and Carrie Underwood. Her catalogue includes diverse hits like “Feel This Moment” by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera, and “Rich Girl” by Gwen Stefani.
Kreviazuk has won three Juno Awards and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2014, along with her husband, Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace, for their efforts to raise awareness and support for human and animal rights, mental health, education and the environment.
As for Anthem Entertainment, the Toronto-based company has made a major move into acquiring more publishing catalogues over recent months, including rising country singer Jordan Davis and some of Timberland’s catalogue, including cuts with Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z.
Last year, the independent company made some major executive moves, instating Jason Klein as the new permanent CEO. – David Farrell & Richard Trapunski
Last week in Canada: Top Vinyl Sales & Amazon Music’s Artists to Watch