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When it comes to pop music track records, Cirkut’s illustrious résumé in the genre speaks for itself.
As a sought after electro-pop producer and songwriter, the 38-year-old artist born Henry Walter has spent the last two decades churning out hits for artists like The Weeknd (“Starboy, “Die For You”), Rihanna (“Where Have You Been”), Katy Perry (“Roar,” “Dark Horse”), Miley Cyrus (“Wrecking Ball”), Charli XCX (“360”) and dozens of others. But as he explains to Billboard, he goes out of his way to not get too comfortable with his success.
“I never want to rest on my past accomplishments, and that vibe of ‘Oh, do you know all my work? Do you know all my hits?’” he explains. “That doesn’t mean anything to me. Whether I’m working with the biggest star in the world or the newest artist, you have to prove yourself over and over again.”
By his own definition, Cirkut has done just that: Over the last month, the producer has helped launch two artists into the upper echelons of the Billboard Hot 100. His work with veteran hitmaker Lady Gaga on her dark pop single “Disease” sent the song to a No. 27 debut on the chart. Meanwhile K-pop sensation ROSÉ earned her highest-charting solo single with “APT.,” featuring Bruno Mars, arriving at No. 8, thanks in no small part to Cirkut’s catchy production. He earned writing credits on both tracks as well.
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The producer attributes the successes of both Gaga and ROSÉ to their singular ideas of what they want in their music — a trait he looks for in all the artists he works with. “When an artist doesn’t really know what they want to say, or is like, ‘I don’t know, just make me a song,’ that doesn’t interest me,” he says. “The best artists always have some kind of vision, whether it’s how they see the visuals coming together, how they want the guitar to sound, or how hard the kick drums hit.”
Below, Cirkut breaks down the writing processes for both “Disease” and “APT.,” why Lady Gaga stands out in a crowded field of pop stars, how an ad-libbed drinking game inspired ROSÉ’s hit song, and what he envisions for the future of pop music.
Let’s go all the way back to the beginning — when and how did you first get involved with Gaga and her team for this project?
It happened sometime last year — I had been working with [“Disease” co-writer/co-producer] Andrew Watt for a while. We [had] worked on a few different things together, and one day he called me and said, “What do you think about working with Gaga?” He said that we would be a great fit to do this project together. So, I met Gaga for the first time in the studio, and it was amazing. I was really excited to work with her, we were off to the races as soon as we met.
What immediately appealed to you about the prospect of working with Gaga?
I’ve been a fan over the years, she is just a legendary artist. There’s only one Gaga, and she has influenced so many of the artists who are out now. I think her music paved the way for so many people. Selfishly, I did want to see what I could accomplish with her. Just the thought of wondering what a Gaga record would sound like if I produced it was really exciting from the get-go.
When you look back on the inception of “Disease,” was there a stated goal with that song? What were you aiming to accomplish?
It was just one song in a collection that we worked on together, but fairly early in the process, we all loved it and knew that it would be some kind of cornerstone of this body of work. “Disease” [is] a daring record to me. It’s very aggressive. I wouldn’t say it’s a safe, “nice” song to ease you into things. I was spending some time with my mom the other day and she asked what I’d been working on — I threw on the music video for “Disease,” and she was just stunned and saying “oh my God” a lot. It’s a very in-your-face kind of record.
I do all kinds of music, but I love aggressive electronic music. When Watt and I get together, something just kind of happens — with his rock background, we end up bringing in a lot of heavy guitars, and I wanted to make it this cool, industrial synth dance record. When you listen to the final result, I’m pretty happy with how we melded those two things.
What do you remember from the studio sessions with Gaga here — were there any particular moments where it felt like things really locked in for you?
We all huddled up at the beginning to see if we had any common ground when it came to taste in music and the places we wanted to go with the sound. She was very instrumental in leading that discussion. We all wanted to make something that still felt like it was decidedly Gaga, but always asking the question of “What does that sound like today?” That’s always a challenge, especially with artists who have established themselves so firmly in pop culture, to figure out that balance. Do you do something so different that you move away from the things that you are known for? But if you just do the same thing that you’ve been known for, does that end up feeling like a “more-of-the-same” type situation? I wanted to make sure that we brought the essence of Gaga into this song and all of the things that are so great about her — the drama, the theatrics, that in-your-face sound — but still putting a fresh spin on it. That said, you also cannot overthink things too much on something like this. Ultimately, you just have to get in there and have fun.
We definitely had a synergy in the studio. In the beginning, it is kind of a trial run [with a new collaborator]. It felt a little bit like she was feeling me out, trying to figure out where I was coming from when it came to production. But then there was kind of a breakthrough moment — I had been working through something over my headphones, and when I played it out loud, she was just like, “Oh my God, Cirkut, that’s crazy.” And as soon as that happened it was like, “Great, I got through to her.” It’s not like she was difficult to impress, but I wanted us to be on the same page. I treat every project I work on like that — you have to approach it from the mind of being a student always, rather than a know-it-all. I’m always learning from new people.
You’ve worked on massive hits from artists like The Weeknd, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Kesha and Charli XCX. As someone who has been in the room with so many of these major pop stars, how does Gaga stand out amongst that pack?
I think something all the great artists that I’ve worked with have in common is that they all have a vision. Whether it’s fully realized or not doesn’t matter — there is always intention and direction behind the art that they’re making. Even if that’s not fully fleshed out, I find that to be really important. There is always an opinion.
Gaga is very much like that — she is very interested in the sonics of everything. She would say, “Maybe try a different drum here,” or she would hop on the synths and start playing things. She’s a musician and a visionary, and she knew all about the attack, decay, sustain and release settings on a synth. She is all about the details, which definitely sets her apart from a lot of artists. Also, the passion that she puts into her work is amazing. She really lives and breathes and eats and sweats and bleeds this music.
“Disease” is not the only track of yours currently on the Hot 100 — ROSÉ’s “APT.,” featuring Bruno Mars debuted at No. 8 debut earlier this month. Tell me a little bit about how you got involved on that song, and what ROSÉ and Bruno were like to work with?
I don’t try to say, “Oh, I knew this would be a hit,” because I simply do not have that kind of foresight. But I thought this one was a really great, fun, catchy song, and I really loved working with Rosie. I was so excited when she had played the song for Bruno and I heard that he was getting involved, because I genuinely feel like he took it to another level.
We worked together probably three days in a row in the studio, and I think [“APT.”] was one of the last ideas we started. It was the end of the night, we had just done a song or two, and we were like, “Might be time to go home.” And Rosie was sitting there and just sort of chanting to herself, “apateu, apateu.” I think it was [co-writer] Theron [Thomas] who stopped her and asked what it was. She said, “It’s just a Korean thing, it’s basically a drinking game.” All of us were immediately like, “Why is that not a song?” We took that and put together a very quick hook. It was kind of random — I love it when stuff like that happens! It’s not always planned. It’s not always, “We’re going to get in the studio and make a mega hit featuring Bruno Mars.” Sometimes it’s a spontaneous session based on a drinking game. Sometimes somebody is whispering something in the corner, and it becomes this incredible hook.
As someone who has been as vital as you are in creating these massive pop moments throughout your career, how do you view the direction pop music is headed today? What are you seeing in the pop space right now that feels like something that will continue on into the future?
More than ever, almost anything goes. Nowadays, because there’s so much music out there, listeners are so discerning. They like what they like, and it is up to us — creators, producers, songwriters, artists — to show people fresh, new things that they haven’t heard 1,000 times already. Sure, there are trends that go in and out of style, but sometimes, it can be about just changing one thing, and all of a sudden you’ve got a fresh new sound.
Honestly, I try not to think about all of this too much because it can be a little overwhelming. The “next sound” could literally be anything. I really try to just create and not think about the future because that can ultimately remove the spontaneity of it. Messing around and stumbling upon something you love is kind of the random magic that happens. In the age of [artificial intelligence], I think that’s a tool that is here to stay, whether people like it or not, and I do think it could help when it comes to creativity in the studio. But, at the end of the day, it’s the human element of production and songwriting that succeeds. People care about authenticity, they want something that’s real, and listeners are not stupid.
A version of this story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences releases its Academy Award shortlists in 10 categories on Dec. 17, the most immediately obvious change from past years will be that the number of shortlisted scores will jump from 15 to 20. The best song shortlist will remain at 15.
Nominations-round voting runs Jan. 8-12, and nominations will be announced Jan. 17. Final-round voting runs Feb. 11-18, and the 2025 Oscars will be held March 2. Billboard highlights some of the potential nominees in the best original song and best original score categories below.
“Forbidden Road”Sacha Skarbek, Freddy Wexler, Robbie WilliamsBetter Man, Paramount
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Better Man is a biographical film about British pop star Williams, who is portrayed as a chimpanzee through use of motion capture. All three co-writers are past Grammy Award nominees. Skarbek was nominated for song of the year for co-writing James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”; Wexler for album of the year for his songwriting contributions to the deluxe edition of Justin Bieber’s Justice; and Williams for a pair of music videos.
“Winter Coat”Nicholas Britell, Steve McQueen, Taura StinsonBlitz, Apple Original Films
Stinson was previously nominated in this category for co-writing “Mighty River” from Mudbound. If she’s nominated again, she’ll tie Siedah Garrett as the Black woman with the most nods in this category. Britell is a three-time nominee for best original score. Blitz director McQueen won a best picture Oscar as a producer on his film 12 Years a Slave in 2013.
“Never Too Late”Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt, Bernie TaupinElton John: Never Too Late, Walt Disney Pictures
John is a two-time winner of best original song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King and “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman. Taupin was a co-winner on the latter. Carlile has received four Grammy nods for song of the year, John has received two and Watt one. John’s victory lap also includes an EGOT-clinching Emmy win for Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium.
“El Mal”Clément Ducol, Camille Dalmais, Jacques AudiardEmilia Pérez, Netflix
Ducol and his personal and professional partner, Dalmais, composed the score and collaborated on the songs for this film. Audiard, the film’s writer, director and co-producer, joined them in writing this song. The film premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where the couple won the soundtrack award. In addition to her film work, Dalmais has recorded five albums in her native France.
“Mi Camino”Clément Ducol, Camille DalmaisEmilia Pérez, Netflix
Emilia Pérez is one of three films with a reasonably good chance of placing two songs on the best original song shortlist. Piece by Piece and Twisters could also do it. Last year, three films had multiple songs on the shortlist: Barbie led with three (two of which went on to be nominated), and The Color Purple and Flora and Son each had two.
“Beautiful That Way”Miley Cyrus, Lykke Li, Andrew WyattThe Last Showgirl, Roadside Attractions
Wyatt won in this category in 2019 for co-writing “Shallow” from A Star Is Born. He was nominated at this year’s Oscars for co-writing “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie. Wyatt has received three Grammy nods for song of the year for co-writing “Shallow,” Bruno Mars’ “Grenade” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night.” Cyrus was nominated in that category at the 2024 ceremony for “Flowers.” This would be her first Oscar nod.
“Beyond”Abigail Barlow, Emily BearMoana 2, Walt Disney Pictures
Songwriter-composer duo Barlow & Bear won a Grammy in 2021 for best musical theater album for The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical. This would be the first song by an all-woman team to be nominated in this category since the Diane Warren-Laura Pausini collaboration “Io sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead four years ago. Lin-Manuel Miranda was nominated in this category for writing “How Far I’ll Go” from the first Moana, released in 2016.
“I Always Wanted a Brother”Lin-Manuel MirandaMufasa: The Lion King, Walt Disney Pictures
Miranda has been just an Oscar away from an EGOT since 2014, when he won his first Primetime Emmy. He has been Oscar-nominated twice for writing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana and “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto. None of the songs from the 2019 reboot of The Lion King were nominated, but three were from the 1994 original, all written by Elton John and Tim Rice.
“For Real”Pharrell WilliamsPiece by Piece, Focus Features
Piece by Piece is an animated film co-produced and directed by Morgan Neville, who won an Oscar for best documentary (feature) in 2014 for directing 20 Feet From Stardom. It follows the life and career of Williams, who stars in the film, through the lens of Lego animation. The movie also features the voices of Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg.
“Piece by Piece”Pharrell WilliamsPiece by Piece, Focus Features
Williams was nominated for best original song for “Happy” from 2013’s Despicable Me 2. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks after he performed it at the 2014 Oscars. He received a second Oscar nod three years later as a producer of best picture nominee Hidden Figures. Williams has amassed 39 Grammy nods, including one for song of the year for co-writing Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”
“The Journey”Diane WarrenThe Six Triple Eight, Netflix
If Warren is nominated, she’ll tie midcentury lyricist Sammy Cahn for the longest streak of consecutive nominations (eight) in the history of the category. (Cahn was a contender every year from 1954 to 1961.) This would be Warren’s 16th overall nod in this category, more than any other woman. Among women, she’s currently tied with the late Marilyn Bergman.
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma”Jessi Alexander, Luke Combs, Jonathan SingletonTwisters, Universal
All three co-writers have received Grammy nods for best country song — Alexander for co-writing Blake Shelton’s “Mine Would Be You” and Lee Brice’s “I Drive Your Truck,” Combs for co-writing his own hit “Doin’ This” and Singleton for co-writing Tim McGraw’s “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools.” Twisters: The Album reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 7 on the Billboard 200.
“Out of Oklahoma”Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick, Shane McAnallyTwisters, Universal
McAnally is a two-time Grammy winner for best country song for co-writing the Kacey Musgraves hits “Merry Go ’Round” and “Space Cowboy.” Last year, he received a Grammy nod for songwriter of the year, non-classical. Dick was nominated for best country song for co-writing Miranda Lambert’s “Bluebird.” Wilson’s Bell Bottom Country won a Grammy for best country album in February.
“Kiss the Sky”Delacey, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack, Ali TamposiThe Wild Robot, DreamWorks Animation
Pollack received a Grammy nod for song of the year for co-writing Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers.” The Johnson brothers were nominated in that category for co-writing the Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey smash “The Middle”; Tamposi for co-writing Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).” Morris has received five Grammy nods for best country song. Singer-songwriter Delacey has written such hits as Halsey’s “Without Me,” which topped the Hot 100 in 2019.
“Harper and Will Go West”Sean Douglas, Kristen Wiig, Josh GreenbaumWill & Harper, Netflix
Wiig was an Oscar nominee for best original screenplay for co-writing the 2011 smash Bridesmaids. She co-wrote four songs for the 2021 film Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Douglas received a Grammy nod for best country song for co-writing the Thomas Rhett hit “Die a Happy Man.” Greenbaum directed and co-produced this film, which stars Will Ferrell and Harper Steele.
Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios)Benjamin Wallfisch
This would be Wallfisch’s first Oscar nod. He received Grammy and Golden Globe nods for Hidden Figures and BAFTA and Grammy nods for Blade Runner 2049. Alien: Romulus is part of the Alien franchise, set between the events of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). Fun fact: Wallfisch was born less than three months after the release of the first Alien.
Blitz (Apple Original Films)Hans Zimmer
Zimmer has received 12 nominations in this category across five decades. He won for The Lion King (1994) and Dune (2021). Steve McQueen wrote, produced and directed Blitz, a historical war drama. The film stars four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson and Elliot Heffernan in his film debut. Following a theatrical run, Blitz is set for a streaming release on Apple TV+ on Nov. 22.
The Brutalist (A24)Daniel Blumberg
This would be the first nomination for Blumberg, an English artist, musician, songwriter and composer. The Brutalist stars Adrien Brody as Hungarian Jewish architect László Tóth, who survives the Holocaust and constructs a new life in America. The film, which also stars Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce, is scheduled to be released in the United States on Dec. 20.
Challengers (Amazon MGM)Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Reznor and Ross have received three nominations in this category, winning for The Social Network (2010) and Soul (2020), the latter a collaboration with Jon Batiste. In addition, they have jointly won an Emmy, two Grammys and two Golden Globes for their scoring work. Luca Guadagnino directed Challengers, about the love triangle between a tennis coach (Zendaya), her tennis player ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor) and her tennis champion husband (Mike Faist).
Conclave (Focus Features)Volker Bertelmann
Bertelmann won in this category for 2022’s All Quiet on the Western Front. He was previously nominated for Lion, on which he collaborated with Dustin O’Halloran. Conclave is a mystery-thriller directed by Edward Berger, who also directed All Quiet on the Western Front. In this film, a cardinal played by Ralph Fiennes organizes a papal conclave to elect the next pope. The film also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
Emilia Pérez (Netflix)Clément Ducol, Camille Dalmais
Emilia Pérez premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Jury Prize and its stars (Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Zoe Saldaña) jointly won the best actress award. Pathé released the film theatrically in August. It was selected as the French entry for best international feature film at the upcoming Oscars.
The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM)Tamar-kali
This would be the first nod for Tamar-kali, whose previous scores include Mudbound and the documentaries John Lewis: Good Trouble and Little Richard: I Am Everything. The Fire Inside, which tells the story of professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (played by Ryan Destiny) as she trains for the 2012 Summer Olympics, is set for release on Christmas Day. The film marks Rachel Morrison’s feature directorial debut.
Gladiator II (Paramount Pictures)Harry Gregson-Williams
This would be Gregson-Williams’ first nod. Hans Zimmer was nominated for scoring the original 2000 film, which won five Oscars including best picture. Ridley Scott directed both the original movie and this long-awaited sequel, which stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington — but not Russell Crowe, who won the best actor Oscar for the first film. Gladiator II is scheduled to be released in the United States on Nov. 22.
The Goat Life (Netflix)A.R. Rahman
Rahman won for scoring Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and was nominated again two years later for 127 Hours. The Goat Life was written, directed and co-produced by Blessy. The film is an international co-production involving companies in India and the United States. It’s an adaptation of the 2008 Malayalam novel Aadujeevitham, which is based on the real-life story of Najeeb, a Malayali immigrant laborer in the Gulf.
Here (Sony Pictures)Alan Silvestri
Silvestri was nominated for scoring 1994’s Forrest Gump, that year’s best picture winner. This film reunites the director (Robert Zemeckis), screenwriter (Eric Roth) and stars (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright) of that film. Silvestri was also nominated for best original song for co-writing “Believe” from yet another Hanks film, The Polar Express. Here depicts a single home and its inhabitants over time.
From left: Ryan Reynolds in IF, Inside Out 2, Zendaya in Challengers, Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux and The Wild Robot.
illustrations by Klawe Rzeczy
IF (Paramount Pictures)Michael Giacchino
Giacchino was nominated for scoring Ratatouille (2007) and won two years later for Up. John Krasinski wrote, directed, co-produced and co-starred in IF, which combines live-action and animation. The cast also features Cailey Fleming, Ryan Reynolds and Fiona Shaw. The film’s soundtrack includes a pair of pop classics, Tina Turner’s “Better Be Good to Me” and Nat “King” Cole’s “L-O-V-E.”
Inside Out 2 (Pixar)Andrea Datzman
With this release, Datzman became the first woman to score a Pixar feature film. This would be her first Oscar nomination. Datzman previously composed the music for the Pixar short Carl’s Date (2023) and co-scored the studio’s animated-shorts series Dug Days (2021) with Curtis Green. The first Inside Out (scored by Michael Giacchino) received two Oscar nods but was passed over in this category.
Joker: Folie à Deux (Warner Bros.)Hildur Guðnadóttir
Hildur won for scoring the first Joker. This sequel bombed at the box office and critics generally panned it, but the film’s music earned praise. If Hildur’s score is nominated, she would become the third woman to receive two or more nods in scoring categories, following Rachel Portman (who leads with three) and Angela Morley (who had two nods in the defunct original song score or adaptation score category).
Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM/Orion)Alex Somers, Scott Alario
This would be the first nomination for Somers and Alario, who were members of the Icelandic experimental duo Parachutes that recorded two albums and an EP in the 2000s. Nickel Boys is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Colson Whitehead. RaMell Ross directed and co-wrote the film, which follows two African American boys, Elwood and Turner, who are sent to an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida.
Nosferatu (Focus Features)Robin Carolan
This would be Carolan’s first nod. Nosferatu is a gothic horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers. It’s a remake of a 1922 German film, which was in turn based on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula. The film stars Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe. Nosferatu is scheduled for theatrical release in the United States on Christmas Day.
The Piano Lesson (Netflix)Alexandre Desplat
Desplat has amassed 11 nominations in this category, winning for The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and The Shape of Water (2017). The Piano Lesson is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 play by August Wilson. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Erykah Badu. Washington is the brother of the film’s director, Malcolm Washington (who is making his feature directorial debut). Their father is two-time Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington.
Queer A24Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
If Reznor and Ross are nominated for both Challengers and Queer, it would be the second time they were double-nominated in this category. They were in contention for both Soul and Mank four years ago. Luca Guadagnino directed Queer, which is based on a 1985 novel of the same name by William S. Burroughs. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the film stars Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey.
The Room Next Door (Sony Pictures Classics)Alberto Iglesias
Iglesias has garnered four nominations in this category for The Constant Gardener (2005), The Kite Runner (2007), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Parallel Mothers (2021). The Room Next Door marks his 14th collaboration with director Pedro Almodóvar. This film is Almodóvar’s first full-length feature in the English language and scheduled for a limited release in the United States on Dec. 20.
Saturday Night (Sony Pictures)Jon Batiste
Batiste won in this category for 2020’s Soul, a collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. He was nominated for best original song last year for co-writing “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony. Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, recounts the night of the 1975 premiere of NBC’s Saturday Night (as Saturday Night Live was originally called). In addition to scoring the film, Batiste plays Billy Preston, who performed on that first episode.
The Wild Robot (DreamWorks Animation)Kris Bowers
Bowers has received two Oscar nominations but not in music categories. He was nominated for best documentary short film for A Concerto Is a Conversation (2020) and won in that category for The Last Repair Shop (2023). Chris Sanders, a three-time Oscar nominee for best animated feature film, wrote and directed The Wild Robot, which features the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal and Catherine O’Hara.
Additional reporting by Melinda Newman.
This story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
On Christmas Eve in 2019 — while most music business executives were headed out to holiday parties or completing last-minute shopping — Warner Records quietly finalized a label deal with Jaten Dimsdale, a former member of a hair metal cover band outside of Atlanta who had also tried his hand at hardcore and hip-hop.
Dimsdale had posted a handful of viral YouTube covers: In his version of Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” uploaded earlier in 2019 on the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death, his buttery tone contrasted shockingly with his grizzled beard, gauge earrings and the hourglass tattoo stamped on the side of his head. Aaron Bay-Schuck and Tom Corson, Warner Records’ then-recently appointed co-chairmen, had been scavenging for stars to revitalize the faded label — so as the rest of the world hunkered down for the night and wrapped gifts, they inked a deal with Dimsdale, who had started performing under a different name: Teddy Swims.
Fast-forward four Christmases. At the end of 2023, Teddy Swims still lacked a signature hit, but Bay-Schuck spotted some encouraging data surrounding the singer’s single that had been hovering in the middle of the Billboard Hot 100. “I remember over the holiday break, ‘Lose Control’ was taking a positive turn,” he recalls of the singer’s single released in June 2023, “so we knew that was going to be a key song for us going into ’24.”
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During that same holiday downtime, Bay-Schuck also noted some positive numbers on TikTok for another relatively new Warner signing, singer-songwriter Benson Boone: The teasers for his unreleased “Beautiful Things” were gaining traction, so the label posted more snippets before the end of the year to further fuel its growth. “And also,” Corson adds of that particularly busy December, “our A&R team had identified [country singer] Dasha and [folk artist] Michael Marcagi, who were trending [on social media] significantly. We closed those deals, essentially, over Christmas.”
With that hectic holiday season, Warner set the stage for what would become an enormous 2024. In January, “Beautiful Things” rocketed to a startling No. 15 debut on the Hot 100 upon its official release. Dasha’s country clap-along “Austin” started morphing into a viral hit following its late-2023 arrival, and Marcagi’s wistful anthem “Scared To Start” gained immediate traction when unveiled in mid-January. As for “Lose Control,” Teddy Swims’ first Hot 100 hit has become a year-defining smash: It reached the chart’s top 10 during the week of Jan. 20, went to No. 1 the week of March 30 and now, in its 64th week on the Hot 100, remains in its upper reaches — and will likely finish quite high on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 chart. Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” which eventually peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 and logged 27 weeks in the chart’s top 10, likely won’t be far behind “Lose Control” on the year-end list. And as the year drew to a close, Boone and Teddy Swims both notched best new artist Grammy nominations in November.
Going into 2024, Bay-Schuck and Corson had recognized it would be a pivotal year for their regime at Warner Records, even if they might not have predicted the exact way it would unfold. After all, Zach Bryan and Dua Lipa, two of the label’s flagship artists, were expected to release new music — but Teddy Swims’ raspily belted soul-revival pop anthem and Boone’s existential ballad with its out-of-nowhere wailed chorus out-charting any new song by those superstars was less expected.
When reflecting on Warner’s surprising year, Corson offers some wisdom from the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” The startling triumph of relative unknowns like Teddy Swims and Boone, along with strong performances from the label’s A-list roster of talent, has made Warner much healthier than its fallow period in the mid-2010s.
Neither Corson nor Bay-Schuck expected this resurgence would sound like “Lose Control” or “Beautiful Things,” but when the moment arrived, they had already been working overtime to meet it. Unabashed music geeks with complementary talents — Corson the master marketer, Bay-Schuck the A&R whiz — the two label leaders can easily rattle off empirical and emotional takeaways from even their roster’s tiniest artists, and they’re hustling both on and off the clock, studying market inefficiencies and, as Seneca may have wanted, placing the label in a position to scoop up potential wins. “These songs didn’t sound like anything else that you were hearing on top 40 [radio],” Bay-Schuck points out. “That’s a big part of our brand at Warner Records. We aren’t trying to do what everybody else is doing — we’re trying to take risks and stand out.”
From left: Dasha, Dua Lipa, Zach Bryan, Benson Boone, Mike Shinoda and Billy Strings.
Illustration by Israel Vargas
As slow-burning smashes with 10-figure streaming numbers, “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things” headline a year for Warner that has also included country-rock virtuoso Bryan graduating to stadiums and scoring another hit album with The Great American Bar Scene, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200; Lipa earning her highest-charting album and best sales week yet with her third full-length, Radical Optimism; and eclectic acts like Linkin Park, Warren Zeiders, Billy Strings and Rüfüs Du Sol yielding success stories in rock, country, bluegrass and dance, respectively. As a result, Warner Records’ market share soared to third among individual labels (behind Republic and Interscope Geffen A&M) in Billboard’s 2024 midyear report, its highest ranking since Bay-Schuck and Corson were named CEO and COO of Warner, respectively, in 2018.
“Aaron, Tom and the team focus on signing and carefully nurturing original artists, and the result is a diverse roster of established superstars and emerging talent,” says Robert Kyncl, CEO of Warner Music Group. “At the same time, they’ve pioneered new ways of breaking through the clutter and grown their market share in an ultra-competitive environment.”
When Max Lousada, former WMG CEO of recorded music, recruited Corson from RCA Records and Bay-Schuck from Interscope to run Warner Records, both executives understood they had their work cut out for them. Outside of Lipa, who took home the best new artist Grammy Award in 2019, Warner ended the 2010s with an aging, rock-focused roster and a severe lack of new star power. “I’m going to quote Lyor [Cohen], a mentor of mine over the years,” Bay-Schuck says. “When we got this opportunity, he was like, ‘You better make sure they’re giving you five to seven years. That’s how long it takes.’ And I think he was spot-on, when you’re taking on a challenge like we did. We had a really unhealthy company that we inherited, and so the first couple of years were about the culture and getting the right people working here.”
In addition to bringing in deputies like executive vp/head of A&R Karen Kwak, senior vp of digital marketing Dalia Ganz and CFO Michele Nadelman, Corson and Bay-Schuck took a divide-and-conquer rebuilding approach that incorporated their personal expertise. Corson, a former president/COO of RCA Records, was tasked with maximizing the potential of Warner’s existing roster and catalog upon arrival, allowing Bay-Schuck, who previously ran A&R at Interscope, the necessary time to discover and develop new artists.
For Corson, the situation “was a combination of understanding roster catalog and needing to find revenue to buy us enough time.” Fortunately, the Warner catalog was filled with legendary artists — from Prince to Tom Petty to Fleetwood Mac to Madonna — even if, Corson says in disbelief, “there wasn’t anything strategic being done with them by the label.”
Short term, there was plenty of new revenue to uncover. Initiatives included responding to significant album anniversaries with glossy vinyl box sets for classics like Green Day’s Nimrod and Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, strengthening relationships with the estates of artists like the Ramones and Mac Miller for special releases and also prioritizing new material from still-viable veterans like Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gorillaz. “Developing a high standard helped create a higher flow of product coming out of the catalog department,” Warner executive vp of promotion and commerce Mike Chester says. “And it really carried us. It allowed us to sign and develop Benson Boone and many others, because you need time to do that.”
With the exception of Lipa — whose 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, yielded hit after hit and also bought the new Warner regime more time to retool its roster — the label’s biggest new names are long-term development projects. Boone, a former American Idol contestant with a strong TikTok following but no original songs, signed with Warner in 2021; Bryan joined the same year, while he was still serving in the Navy and had yet to perform a proper concert. As Teddy Swims puts it nearly a half-decade removed from his own signing, “I speak for more than myself when I say just how thankful we are to [Bay-Schuck and Corson] for having the grace and patience to give artists like me the time and space to develop into what we are meant to be.”
Bay-Schuck points out that “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things” first became hits outside of the United States, dominating parts of Europe and the United Kingdom before igniting on the Billboard charts this year — but that similarity aside, they required wholly different strategies. “ ‘Beautiful Things’ was viral as f–k — I think that’s an industry term,” Corson says with a laugh, nodding to the dedicated social following and streaming activity that helped unlock radio and tidily set up Boone’s April album, Fireworks & Rollerblades.
On the other hand, Warner had to grind out “Lose Control” with old-school radio promotion, then harness digital marketing to widen its footprint. “It’s one of the most interesting records I’ve ever worked because it’s an eight-format record,” Corson says of the single, which has, in fact, charted on eight different genre-based charts, from Adult Pop Airplay to Rock Airplay to R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, and has topped three of them in addition to the Hot 100.
As for Bryan, whose singular mix of country and rock has also transcended genre lines, the label’s executives say that his sound, release rate and social media presence all come straight from the singer-songwriter, and they just fill in any of the necessary details. “It is entirely Zach’s vision,” Bay-Schuck says. “And the legacy of this label is exactly that. No one was telling Prince what to do, no one was telling Madonna what to do. You give them advice, you challenge them, you insert your opinions where you can. But ultimately, those artists thrive because the label understood how to let them grow and mature and take swings on their own.”
As they’ve settled into their respective roles, Bay-Schuck and Corson have also clicked personally. They didn’t know each other prior to working together at Warner, but in conversation now, they often finish each other’s thoughts, thank each other for specific achievements and describe developing a friendship “off the field” while sharing a philosophy in the office. “Tom is this masterful operator, and Aaron is serious but in a very nuanced way,” Chester explains. “You have two people working full tilt to keep everything aligned, and the more wins, the greater proof of concept, just doubles down on the relationship.”
The dynamic has impressed the roster’s newer additions. Dasha, whose “Austin” peaked at No. 18 on the Hot 100, remembers meeting with Warner prior to other labels and feeling like her mind was made up before any further conversations. “Tom has been such an angel since day one. He is like my dad — he’s so funny and so kind,” she says. “Aaron, the same thing. He has so much passion for what he does and so much drive that it makes me want to work harder.”
And the label’s veteran artists, too, have met Warner’s efforts to revitalize catalogs and mine new opportunities with open arms. After working with Bay-Schuck and Corson on multiple anniversary reissues, Linkin Park set up its next chapter with new co-vocalist Emily Armstrong under cover of darkness, working with Warner to plan a global livestream, arena tour dates and the Nov. 15 release of its latest album, From Zero. “The Emptiness Machine,” the lead single from the album, debuted at No. 21 on the Hot 100 — Linkin Park’s biggest hit in 15 years and one of fall’s hottest new rock singles. The band’s Mike Shinoda says that Bay-Schuck and Corson were “instrumental” in Linkin Park’s comeback. “They helped us choose ‘The Emptiness Machine’ as a first single before it was completed,” he says.
Next, Bay-Schuck and Corson are focused on building the profiles of Warner’s new stars beyond their breakthrough hits. Teddy Swims’ uptempo follow-up single, “The Door,” has peaked at No. 24 on the Hot 100, and a new album — billed as a “second part” of his debut, I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy — is slated for a January 2025 release. Meanwhile, Boone’s “Slow It Down” reached No. 32, and he spent the year touring the globe (including a few dates opening for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour).
The executives also rattle off a dozen rising prospects on their roster — from pop singer CIL to viral country artist Maddox Batson to drum’n’bass revivalist Kenya Grace — and stress a greater focus on hip-hop and R&B in 2025, including with the impending arrival of a new head of its urban A&R division.
Meanwhile, Bay-Schuck and Corson have recently begun overseeing Warner Music Nashville, taking a more hands-on approach with artists like Bailey Zimmerman, Gabby Barrett and Cole Swindell and providing Warner Records’ global resources to help broaden those artists’ international footprints. The move was part of the summertime shake-up at WMG that resulted in Lousada’s departure, as well as the installation of a new regime at Atlantic Music Group, with Julie Greenwald departing as chairman/CEO and 10K Projects founder and CEO Elliot Grainge taking her place.
“We’re getting to know Elliot and [new COO] Zach [Friedman] and [new GM] Tony [Talamo] in real time — so far, great experience,” Bay-Schuck says. “They’re young, they’re energetic, they’re fearless. They’re going to come up with some new ways of doing business that I’m sure will prove to be really great for Warner Music Group.”
Another more subtle change followed the WMG restructuring: Bay-Schuck and Corson now report directly to Kyncl, after previously reporting to Lousada. While both executives say that Lousada’s leadership proved invaluable to their current run of success, they’re happy to be ending a momentous 2024 with a bigger seat at the table.
“We now have visibility into things that we didn’t before,” Bay-Schuck says. “With the greatest respect to those who came before us.”
Corson adds, “We’ve earned this.”
This story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Lisa looks stumped. She raises her eyebrows slightly and purses her lips, staring out from underneath her immaculate, walnut-brown bangs. She is trying to answer a question that for most people qualifies as Small Talk 101, but for her is a Sphinx-level riddle: “Where do you live?”
“I can’t really tell where I’m based,” she says, breaking into a giddy giggle. As one-quarter of the record-setting, superlative-defying K-pop girl group Blackpink, she called Seoul home. But now? She’s all over the place: Los Angeles, where we’re meeting and where she’s been spending a lot of time recording new music; her native Thailand, where she also filmed the highly anticipated third season of HBO’s The White Lotus; and Paris, where you can find her front row at fashion shows as a new house ambassador for Louis Vuitton. “I don’t even know which time zone I’m living now,” says Lisa, clad in a Kith track jacket and baggy Celine jeans, as she sips orange juice in a tucked-away booth of the star-friendly Polo Lounge at The Beverly Hills Hotel.
In her rare downtime, 27-year-old Lisa (also known as Lalisa Manobal) likes to hit up Pop Mart, the international toy-store chain whose adorable characters she can’t get enough of. (She once visited three different Paris locations in a single day in search of a rare figurine, and she jokes that she has more collectibles than furniture: “I have no space to walk anymore!”) Or she’ll seek out the best Thai food wherever she may be. Everyone in L.A. tells her to go to Anajak or Jitlada, two local culinary institutions, “but it’s not the OG taste for me,” she says. “It doesn’t taste like home. It tastes different.” She prefers Ruen Pair.
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“I just randomly walk in. I don’t really do any makeup, so I just go in like this” — she pulls her hair over her face — “and they barely notice me.” When people do recognize her in public, they usually play it cool, at least in America. “They come to you like, ‘I just want to say I love your music, I just want to say hi!,’ and leave,” she says in a chirpy faux-American accent. And if they don’t? “Well, of course, I always have him,” Lisa says, nodding toward the burly tattooed man at the next booth over who, I now realize, is her bodyguard.
Welcome to the totally fabulous, totally exhausting, jet-setting life of one of pop’s most exciting stars. On her fast and furious recent single “Rockstar,” she recites airport codes like they’re her ABCs (“Been MIA, BKK so pretty!”), flexes her multilingual skills (“ ‘Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?’ I said, ‘Hai, hai!’ ”) and name-drops her designer partnerships (“Tight dress, LV sent it!”) with the casual ease of someone describing their sock drawer. She’s the rare pop star for whom bone-rattling bangers about life in the fast lane and personal, autobiographical material are one in the same. As Lisa embarks on a solo career outside the girl group that made her famous, this world-building has been one of her biggest joys. “At first, I was scared and nervous because I never really come out here to do my own stuff,” she says, before lowering her voice as if she’s not supposed to say what comes next. “And now I’m having fun,” she whispers. “When [my singles] came out, the reaction from the fans, it’s healing me. It’s like, ‘Oh, my God. Yeah — I did a great job!’ ”
Diesel dress
Joelle Grace Taylor
Success in a pop group is no guarantee of success as a solo artist, but then again, Blackpink is no ordinary group. With its multinational members, onomatopoeic hooks and blockbuster music videos, the quartet was practically engineered for world domination. Since 2016, Blackpink has racked up 40 billion official on-demand global streams, according to Luminate; scored nine Billboard Hot 100 hits; and played some of the world’s biggest stages. The act was the first Korean girl group to play Coachella in 2019 and the first Korean act of any kind to headline the festival in 2023. By the end of Blackpink’s 2022-23 Born Pink world tour, named for its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, the group was selling out stadiums in the United States — one of only a handful of K-pop acts to have done so.
Alongside peers like BTS, Blackpink helped dismantle the lingering walls between “K-pop” and the American mainstream, making regular appearances on morning and late-night shows, recording music in English and teaming with U.S. hit-makers, eased by a partnership between YG Entertainment, the group’s Korean home, and Interscope Records.
Though all of Blackpink’s members have star power in spades — Jennie’s unbothered cool, Rosé’s singer-songwriter smarts and Jisoo’s sly humor and older-sister elegance — Lisa is an unmissable force in the group. She raps with the big, bouncy energy of the Pixar lamp, and her swaggering flows have made her a compelling face of hip-hop’s globalization. Her 2021 solo track “Money,” released through YG and built around a brassy beat worthy of Hot 97, reached No. 36 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart — making her the first K-pop artist to enter its top 40 — and she fit right in next to Megan Thee Stallion and Ozuna on that year’s DJ Snake team-up, “SG.” As Lisa has been recording solo music, she has realized genre-fluency is her ace: “I kind of… kill it in every single thing?” she says sheepishly, twirling her hair. “So I’m like, ‘Oh, why not!’ ”
In the past, K-pop’s brightest breakout stars have typically pursued solo careers either independently (like rapper-singer CL of YG girl group 2NE1) or through the company behind their groups (such as the members of BTS, whose home base, HYBE, has a global partnership with Universal Music Group). Lisa, however, is pursuing a different model with the creation of her own management company and label, Lloud, and a partnership with RCA Records in which she will own her masters.
“It was very clear that she wanted to go for global domination as one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, and we’re right there with her,” RCA COO John Fleckenstein says. K-pop companies — typically one-stop shops that combine management, label, agent and other functions under one roof — “work in a certain way in terms of how they market, promote and A&R everything, and over the years, they’ve established this architecture that the fan base is really used to,” he says. “It’s pretty rare for someone to go from one architecture to another.”
Area jacket, Coperni boots.
Joelle Grace Taylor
And Lisa’s not the only one learning how — so are her bandmates, as they all simultaneously launch their next phases. Jennie released the sun-kissed bop “Mantra” in October through Columbia Records and her own Odd Atelier company. Rosé will release her debut album in December through Atlantic Records; her first single, the punky Bruno Mars duet “APT.,” debuted at No. 8 on the Hot 100 — a record high for a female K-pop soloist. Jisoo, meanwhile, has focused on acting in Korean TV shows and movies, but she unveiled her own company, Blissoo, in February, and Lisa thinks she’ll eventually do music, too. Coming from the world of K-pop idols — where stars are not exactly known for their agency and the quasi-diplomatic pressures on their shoulders can be immense — it’s a whole new competitive landscape.
As Lisa finishes her debut solo album against the ticking clock of Blackpink’s planned 2025 reunion, can she transform herself from a K-pop queen into a global girl boss? She’s up for the challenge. Technically, she’s the CEO of Lloud, though she squirms at the title. “I don’t want to say that,” she says, grinning. “Call me boss — call me Boss Lisa.”
When Blackpink wrapped its yearlong, globe-traversing, 66-date Born Pink world tour in September 2023, sleep was low on Lisa’s list of priorities. “I was super tired,” she says, “but I don’t know, I feel guilty when I’m not working. It’s like, I need to do something. It was weird. My body is sending me a sign: ‘Beep! Beep! Beep! Don’t rest too much!’ ”
She had already been thinking a lot about her future. Blackpink celebrated its seventh anniversary that summer — a critical milestone for K-pop groups, as seven years is a common contract length in the industry. (K-pop fans even speak of the “seven-year curse” to describe groups’ tendency to break up at this juncture.) For years, Blackpink’s trajectory had had a clear outline. But now, as its members pondered a contract renewal, they had to make decisions about an uncertain future — including what exactly they wanted from it, both together and individually. “Of course we want to do more, because Blackpink, it’s part of our lives. We still want to accomplish more,” Lisa says. “But on the other side, we also wanted to do something for our solo careers.”
They decided on an unusual arrangement: The members re-signed with YG for group activities but became free agents for their individual projects (though Rosé ultimately signed with The Black Label, which YG has had a stake in, for solo management). It was time for Lisa to chart her own course, and to do that, she needed her own team.
The first person she reached out to was Alice Kang, who had spent five years on the management team at YG’s L.A. branch, where she touched a bit of everything — marketing, merchandise, label relations — and got to know Lisa well. Joojong “JJ” Joe, who headed North American operations for YG for several years, had assigned Kang to be Lisa’s point person on staff. “Both of them have easygoing and fun personalities, so I think that’s why they have worked perfectly [together] so far,” he says. After spending a lot of time away from home on tour with Blackpink, Kang had left her job in late 2023 and was looking forward to some quiet time off as she figured out what was next. “I’m like, ‘Holidays are coming up, it’s the end of the year — family time!’ ” Kang says, laughing. “And then Lisa was like, ‘Hey!’ ”
Vaillant coat, Coperni dress.
Joelle Grace Taylor
Lisa pitched her on starting what would become Lloud. “She’s had this drive to really make her presence known in this U.S. music market,” recalls Kang, Lloud’s head of global business and management. Though Lloud brings to mind other artist-founded, multipronged companies like Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment, Lisa says she hasn’t thought about eventually signing other artists, and she doesn’t cop to having any Rihanna-level empire-building aspirations. “I feel like Lloud is like my safe zone that always focuses on Lisa, supports Lisa,” she says. “I was just thinking about what I want to achieve this year, [taking it] year by year. So this year, what I wanted to do is work on new music and focus on that.”
As Lisa and Kang mapped out the steps they would need to take, they also brought in Joe, who had left YG as well, as an adviser. (He has a brand consultancy, ABrands, and an artist management and consulting company, The Colors Artists Group.) Much of Joe’s job at YG had been networking and relationship-building in the United States, and he helped Lisa construct her core team and set up meetings with major labels.
Lisa clicked with RCA right away. “As soon as I got in the car [after meeting with them], I was telling Alice, ‘I kind of love them!’ ” she says. It was mostly a gut feeling, but Lisa appreciated that they had done their homework: Lisa has five cats, and RCA made her a gift basket with cat-themed paraphernalia like stickers and plushies. “They made the meeting very, very personalized to Lisa specifically,” Kang says, “and they had already thought out plans on what they were going to do to help support Lisa and make her a bigger star than she already is.”
The gist of their pitch: amplify Lloud’s work and complement Lisa’s strengths. “K-pop is kind of a defined universe in terms of what the fan base expects and what people are going to do, and for Lisa, it was a very conscious choice to work with someone like us, because of the resources and connections that we have,” says Fleckenstein, who notes, for instance, that terrestrial radio play is one area where acts from the K-pop world “struggle a bit.” “She’s very clear on where this is going and what it should feel like, but we help her fill in the gaps about how to get there.”
RCA also made some key introductions — like connecting her to choreographer Sean Bankhead, who’s worked with Normani and Tate McRae and collaborated with Lisa on videos and live performances, including her fiery MTV Video Music Awards medley in September. Bankhead calls Lisa a “robot” when it comes to picking up choreography and says she mastered much of the “Rockstar” routine on location in Bangkok the day before filming started. “Which is really unheard of,” he says. “She’s a trouper.”
Mugler dress, Paris Texas shoes.
Joelle Grace Taylor
For Lisa, directing this phase of her career has been eye-opening. Does being the boss of her own company mean she now enjoys such corporate thrills as, say, budgets and expense reports? “Oh, of course,” Lisa says. “Nothing is boring yet because everything is so new. It’s like, ‘Oh, my God. I have to do this too?’ OK!
“Now I know how much it all costs,” she continues. “I’ve been under YG, and everyone was taking care of that, so I never really knew what’s going on or how much we spent for our music videos or photo shoots or hotels. But now I do kind of know about it, so I was like, ‘Oh, OK — no first class anymore,’ ” she says with a laugh as she mimes poring over a spreadsheet. (“The worst boss would be the one who doesn’t make decisions,” Joe says. “She makes decisions, so that’s great.”)
Compared with a giant company like YG, Lloud feels “like a family business,” Lisa says. It has fewer than 10 employees right now, and in true startup fashion, department responsibilities are porous. “We’ve been just so busy, so we haven’t had time to hire people,” Joe says of the biggest challenges facing Lloud. They’re building the car as they’re driving to the destination. “We’re shooting a music video and discussing the next music video at the spot,” he says. “We’re always doing the next one when we’re doing something [else].”
Which, at least for now, is how Lisa likes it. “These days, when I go to a restaurant to have a meal with Alice and my team, we just can’t stop talking about work. Even though it’s like, ‘OK, for this dinner, we’re just going to celebrate’ — we can’t do that. There’s no line,” Lisa says. “There’s so much stuff going on, so when I think about something and it’s popping into my head, I just have to say it right away. Otherwise, I’ll forget.” She pauses. “Yeah, I need to fix that.”
Success for Lisa is in her name. Born Pranpriya Manobal, she auditioned for YG when she was 13 years old. When she didn’t hear back, her mother took her to a fortune teller who recommended she change her name for good luck — a common practice in Thai culture. “We really wanted to get it,” Lisa told me in 2021, when we were speaking about her YG solo tracks. According to Lisa, the week after she rechristened herself “Lalisa,” which roughly means “one who is praised,” YG invited her to train in Seoul.
K-pop’s trainee system is like an artist-development program on steroids. Aspiring stars — chosen through global auditions as tweens and teens — spend years studying music and dance as they vie for a spot in a group. It is a grueling, pressure-cooker environment, with long hours, few days off, frequent evaluations and the constant threat of being cut. For Lisa, who spoke some English but didn’t know any Korean when she started, it could be isolating. “They wanted me to focus on speaking Korean more, so they told all the girls who trained with me: ‘No English with Lalisa,’ ” she recalls. But for Lisa, there was no other path. “I feel like I’m born to be onstage,” she says. (Her future bandmates agreed: “Lisa would always get As for everything,” Jennie told Billboard in 2019.)
Joelle Grace Taylor
Now, in her solo career, Lisa has made her own artist development a guiding priority. One of the first things Joe did last fall was help set up recording sessions. “She’s been working with one producer,” Joe says, referring to Teddy Park, who is credited as a writer or producer on the majority of Blackpink’s songs. “So I’m like, ‘Maybe you should just work with a different producer to see who can work together well.’ ”
Unlike many pop-group alums, Lisa has not felt particularly stifled in Blackpink. She and her bandmates have always credited Park with encouraging their input, and though Lisa has started co-writing some of her new material, she won’t be racking up credits just to prove a point. “I’m not like, ‘OK, I’m going to sit down and write the whole thing,’ ” she says. Still, she had her defined role in the group and has played it dutifully. “In Blackpink, I’m a rapper, so I always rap,” she says. “But now it’s a chance for me to show the world that I’m capable of [so much more].”
With its pummeling beats and Tame Impala-esque breakdown, “Rockstar” bridged her Blackpink sound and her next chapter. “We knew on launch we really wanted to come correct with her existing core fan base,” Fleckenstein says. Subsequent singles gave Lisa more room to experiment and play with new textures in her voice. “New Woman” is a bilingual team-up with Rosalía that features a dizzying beat switch and credits from Swedish hit-makers Max Martin and Tove Lo. The syrupy “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me)” interpolates Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me” and is of a piece with recent disco-lite hits like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and Doja Cat’s “Say So.” “I feel like I have more creative freedom with everything,” Lisa says.
Diesel dress, Paris Texas boots.
Joelle Grace Taylor
That includes the freedom to be a little edgier. When pop stars go solo after starting in a group, they usually break from their youthful pasts with strong statements of adult independence. But the rules are often different for K-pop stars, who have historically been expected to maintain squeaky-clean images by abstaining from dating and partying (at least publicly). Although those norms are evolving, they still shape the industry: Seunghan, a member of the SM Entertainment boy band RIIZE, was suspended from and, this year, ultimately left his group after photos and videos of him kissing a woman and smoking leaked online.
Lisa has been growing up gradually. When Blackpink headlined Coachella, she took the stage for a pole-dance routine before launching into a new, explicit version of “Money” packed with F-bombs — and fans noted online how gleefully she seemed to deliver them. (“I was waiting for that moment to sing that version,” Lisa tells me, though she notes that the occasion was Jennie’s idea: “She was like, ‘Lisa, just do it. It’s Coachella. Everybody’s doing it at Coachella.’ ”) Today, there’s a palpable maturity to Lisa’s new era, from her October performance at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show alongside lingerie-clad models to some bolder lyrics. It’s hard to imagine a double entendre as blatant as “I’m a rock star … Baby, make you rock hard” fitting neatly into Blackpink’s brand of playful sensuality.
“It’s a little looser [now],” Lisa says of her image, but she feels she has earned it. “We’re not rookies anymore. I’m 27 and headed toward 30. Of course I’m still young, yes, but I feel like it’s more flexible for us. And it’s nothing crazy,” she adds. “I feel like I’m just doing whatever I want, and it doesn’t hurt anyone. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings.” (As for her dating life, when I gently tease her about the “green-eyed French boy” she sings about in “Moonlit Floor,” Lisa — who is rumored to be dating LVMH heir Frédéric Arnault — looks over her shoulder, delivers an expert hair-flip and says coyly, “Well, I didn’t write that [song].”)
Bankhead says she’s navigating her evolution in real time. “I’ve always had those performances or music videos that have shock value, whether it’s Lil Nas X dancing naked in the shower or Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion doing a scissor move at the Grammys,” he says of his previous work. With Lisa, “There are a couple of times that I will push the envelope, and she’s like, ‘I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that yet.’ And then other times, like when I had this idea to do a more sexy breakdown for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, she was like, ‘I think I want to do more.’ ” For now, any growing pains are primarily physical. Says Bankhead: “She had a little bit of a groin injury because we kept doing that split move in those heels.”
The best part of a Blackpink show isn’t the explosive pyrotechnics or glittering costume changes, but the encores: The four singers, dressed in their own merch, skip their usual windmill-limb choreography and just goof around with one another. They seemed like the rare girl group who, at the height of their powers, were not sick of one another. And their close bonds go way back. Lisa recalls that during trainee breaks, when most students would go home to visit their families, Jisoo — who grew up just outside of Seoul — would stay behind to keep her company.
Today, and as the members unveil their solo projects, they are among one another’s biggest supporters on social media.
“We know each other so well and know how much energy we have to put into every single project,” Lisa says. “So we want to support and say, ‘You did really well!’ Like, Jennie and Rosie just released their own songs, and we’re on texts, we’re on FaceTime. They’re like family. I’m just so happy that they’re releasing something. This is what we all wanted to do, so I just wanted to say that I really do love their songs.”
She confirms the group will reunite in 2025 — “I can’t wait,” she says — though exactly what form the reunion will take appears to be up in the air. YG announced earlier this year that the group would have an official comeback as well as a world tour next year. But when I mention the tour to Lisa, she squints. “That’s what they say?” she responds, in a voice that conveys some skepticism. (“I don’t know,” Kang tells me later. “We’ll have to wait and see what YG confirms.”)
How Lisa will juggle her own career with her group obligations going forward is something “we’re going to figure out as we go,” Fleckenstein says. “My gut feeling is, it will be a benefit to everybody. There really aren’t rules, and I don’t see why there should be any kind of rules around this either.”
Joelle Grace Taylor
Lisa currently doesn’t have plans to tour on her own, and she doesn’t think she can until she has a finished body of work. So for now, she’s full speed ahead on the album. “It’s so embarrassing to say this,” she says when I ask what music she has been enjoying lately, “but I listen to my album. I’m trying to figure it out, the track list and everything, what I can change in there.” Some unfinished songs her team plays for me evoke British iconoclast M.I.A. and Loose-era Nelly Furtado. Will there be ballads? “Everything’s there,” she says. “I think they’re going to be shocked at how capable I am [at] doing so many things.”
When I first met Lisa in 2019, on the band’s first proper stateside trip here in L.A., she seemed excited to take on the world — she bounded toward the window when she spotted the Hollywood sign — but also nervous about all the expectations on the group’s shoulders. The looser, wise-cracking Lisa of today seems like she is genuinely enjoying the ride. What advice would she give the Lisa of nearly six years ago?
“I’m not going to tell her anything,” she says, wide-eyed. “That’s not fun! It’s like when the fortune teller tells you something, and you have that stuck in your head. If someone says, ‘You’re going to win this thing,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh, well, I’m going to win that thing anyway, so I’m not going to do anything now,’ then you’re not going to achieve that. So I guess I will not say anything to my old self.” She leans back in the booth. “ ‘Whatever you’re doing right now? Just keep going.’ ”
This story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
When rumors of a lingering rift between two of KATSEYE’s six members reached the girl group this summer, they quickly turned the chatter into a viral moment. “We’re literally fine lol,” read the caption on a photo of Lara and Manon holding hands and posing on a backdrop of dolphins and rainbows, playing into a then-current TikTok trend around Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson’s “Symphony.”
“One thing I love about this group is how Gen Z we are,” says Manon. “We saw all of that and were like, ‘Okay, funny. Let’s do this TikTok and put an end to this.’” The 11-second post has since compiled more than 5.4 million views.
The savvy social media approach is just one of the effective strategies that the rising group and their team at HxG (HYBE x Geffen Records, which represents a joint venture between the Korean-entertainment conglomerate and Universal Music Group) employ to hook new fans. Another, naturally, has been with the music: KATSEYE’s latest single, “Touch,” packs crisp drum-and-bass production, twinkling electro-pop flourishes and a swirl of pop-R&B harmonies into two minutes and ten seconds. Co-produced by Cashmere Cat (Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Charli XCX), the hit has latched onto U.S. radio and helped to build the group’s following stateside.
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Sophia
Austin Hargrave
Megan
Austin Hargrave
KATSEYE was formed from HYBE and Geffen Records’ ambitious Dream Academy competition in 2023. The YouTube series sought to create a genuinely “global” girl group, and of a reported 120,000 applicants from around the world, 20 were selected to head to Los Angeles and prepare in the style of the infamously rigorous K-pop training methods before competing for a spot in the group. The multiweek contest concluded that November, with the six final members representing a culturally diverse lineup: Manon, 22 (from L.A.); Lara, 19 (Zurich); Daniela, 20 (Atlanta); Megan, 18 (Honolulu); Sophia, 21 (Manila, Philippines); and Yoonchae, 16 (Seoul, South Korea).
A subsequent Netflix series, Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, documented the behind-the-scenes journey of whittling down the 20-person training camp into its final form — including all of its biggest trials and tribulations — and creating a natural curiosity for viewers to check out the group’s music. Wisely, in the days leading to the eight-episode competition series’ premiere on the streaming service in August, KATSEYE released its debut EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong). The five-track project has writing contributions from HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk, Ryan Tedder and Justin Tranter (with the former two earning production credits as well), debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart, and appeared on the Billboard 200.
The group’s aptly titled first single “Debut” arrived in late June to kick-start the project’s rollout, but even then, the members were even more excited for their next release, the alt-pop smash “Touch.” “It was all of our favorite when we first heard it,” says Daniela. “We just had that gut feeling.” Adds Manon: “Our creative director Humberto [Leon] kept telling me, ‘‘Touch’ is the one, just wait and see.’”
From left: Sophia, Daniela, Manon, Megan, Lara and Yoonchae of KATSEYE photographed October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
Manon
Austin Hargrave
The group made a strong push on social media for the song when it arrived on streaming services on July 26. In hopes of creating a viral dance trend, KATSEYE executive creator Son Sungdeuk crafted choreography designed to be both simple and memorable. Small, TikTok-friendly moves — like the chorus’ pinky-to-thumb touching gestures — were intentional hooks meant to attract fan engagement. “I feel like it’s not so hard for people to learn,” says Daniela, adding that the “little booty pop” — which Sophia interjects is “my favorite!” — was another move to draw in listeners. “I was like, ‘People are going to gag.’ It’s so cute.”
KATSEYE’s multi-pronged digital focus for the song included partnering with fan bases in the K-pop world, such as a TikTok post of Manon and Yoonchae dancing to “Touch” with Heeseung and Ni-ki of ENHYPEN (a boy band under HYBE sublabel Belift Lab). The video has 27 million views to date, while three other clips showcasing “Touch” on the group’s account have more than 15 million. Importantly, such success helped prove that KATSEYE was ready to thrive in more traditional stateside promotions.
“We had our eye on radio but knew we needed key levers to feel confident it was the right time to go,” says Mitra Darab, president of HxG at HYBE America. “We would see significant growth weekly not only at DSPs [digital service providers], but in TikTok and Reels creates and their social growth. We also knew we needed a big cultural moment to bring awareness to the group, which we achieved with the Netflix documentary. Once that was released, all our goals started to fall into place.”
Daniela
Austin Hargrave
From left: Lara, Daniela, Megan, Manon, Yoonchae and Sophia of KATSEYE photographed October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
To gauge their appeal in the U.S., KATSEYE held a meet-and-greet and performance at Minneapolis’ Mall of America in October to connect with the growing fandom, collectively known as EYEKONS. Thousands of fans showed up. “Mall of America proved to us that this isn’t just about ‘Touch,’” says Darab.
“I think we built a fanbase that is just like us,” Lara adds. “EYEKONS are so funny; they have the same humor as all of us. I feel like they are the types of people that we would be friends with in real life.”
By October, “Touch” had appeared on several of Billboard’s international charts, including in the Philippines, Canada, Taiwan and Malaysia and cracked the upper half of the Billboard Global 200. It also reaches a new No. 32 high on the U.S.-based Pop Airplay chart dated Nov. 16, and the song has 229.9 million official on-demand global streams through Nov. 7, according to Luminate. “We couldn’t help but put so much heart into it,” says Sophia. “We really could feel that this was going to bleed through to the fans.”
Yoonchae
Austin Hargrave
Lara
Austin Hargrave
While planning is already in full swing for 2025, KATSEYE is now preparing for a performance, which will feature the Los Angeles Rams cheerleaders, at the 2024 MAMA Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 21 — marking the first time the eminent K-pop awards show will take place in the U.S. — and slots on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour (visiting Dallas and Boston in December). “We don’t want to move on from ‘Touch’ just yet, but we’re never not working,” Manon says, true to her word as they talk to Billboard over a Zoom video call from their L.A. rehearsal studio. “A black box with a white light where we spend most of our days,” they crack, all in dance gear.
For KATSEYE, that drive is for a greater good. The young women see KATSEYE’s multicultural makeup as a starting point to shake up the sound of pop worldwide. “It’d be so nice to incorporate that within our music so it’s something different than we’ve been hearing before,” says Megan. “It’s such a superpower that we all come from different parts of the world.”
A version of this story appears in the Nov. 16, 2024, issue of Billboard.
By the time surging newcomer Zach Top released his debut country album, Cold Beer & Country Music, in April, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter was already seeing a groundswell of support from fans and his fellow artists. With his unabashed devotion to traditional country sounds on songs like “Bad Luck” and “There’s The Sun,” matched with his unmistakably country drawl, the singer-songwriter from Sunnyside, Wash., has drawn comparisons to such ’90s country luminaries as Alan Jackson, Doug Stone and one of his musical heroes, Keith Whitley.
Top, who is signed with label Leo33 and managed and published by Major Bob Music, has been on tour with reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson since May. He was a guest at Dierks Bentley’s early September headlining show at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and most recently teamed with bluegrass luminary Billy Strings to release a trio of collaborations for Apple Music.
As Top’s “Sounds Like the Radio” continues to grow on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, reaching a new No. 16 high on the Nov. 9-dated list, another track from Cold Beer & Country Music has also grown into a chart hit: “I Never Lie.” After the slow grooving, sarcastic song became his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in September (it has since reached a No. 68 high), his team pushed “I Never Lie” to country radio. It debuted on Country Airplay in late October, giving Top two songs simultaneously on the ranking — a feat more typically reserved for arena- and stadium-headlining stars in the genre.
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He’s up for new artist of the year at the CMA Awards later this month, and his rising career has led to additional dates to his 2025 Cold Beer & Country Music Tour, which launches Jan. 16 in Nebraska, with openers Jake Worthington and Cole Goodwin.
Billboard caught up with Top to discuss “I Never Lie” reaching new chart heights, as well as his thoughts on his upcoming CMA Award nomination for new artist of the year and who he thinks will take home the entertainer of the year honor.
“I Never Lie” was included on your debut studio album, Cold Beer & Country Music. How did the song come together?
I wrote it with Carson Chamberlain and Tim Nichols. I have one of my more clever rhymes on there, with the “Angel” and “April” rhyme in the first verse [“You still look like an angel/I heard you’re doin’ fine, got promoted back in April”]. We cut it pretty old-school with the band, and I sang and tracked the vocals as they were playing. They never hear the song until the day we record it. I’ll have an acoustic recording of it on my phone, and they hear it once or twice, and that’s it. It’s two or three takes and we play it like we feel it. We might overdub a thing or two or add some fills, but it’s all played live, nothing computerized about it. Carson produced it and [engineer] Matt [Rovey] mixed it up.
What has been your reaction to it connecting with fans on this level?
It may be the countriest song on the record. It sticks out and there’s nothing but steel guitar on there — you haven’t heard a song like that, sonically, in a long time. I think people have had an appetite for my kind of country for a little while, and we’re getting a dose of it. Songs like “Sounds Like the Radio” and “Cold Beer & Country Music,” you would expect those to be hits because they are up-tempo. This song goes in the face of what’s out there right now.
When did you first realize the song was a hit?
We had been playing it in live shows, so people already knew it. Around April 5, we had our album release show, and over the last four months, it has really taken off. Our fans know every word of every song on the album — they are not just waiting to hear one song. It gives me chills every night when we play that first riff [of “I Never Lie”]. They don’t need to hear no words, they know it from that first note.
“I Never Lie” debuted on Country Airplay in late October, giving you two current hits on the Billboard chart, including the top 20 hit “Sounds Like The Radio.” How does that feel?
I’m excited, because you don’t see that a lot with an artist as new as me. I’m proud to have the success so far and not be just a one-hit wonder.
You’ve also gained traction on TikTok with “I Never Lie.” What is your approach to social media?
I don’t get on social media much. There is a girl named Cheyenne in my band who has TikTok and she’ll tell me about videos that have “I Never Lie” or other songs in them. I was never very into social media — it was just a tool to get music out there. Early this year, I turned it all over [to my team]. I don’t have the apps on my phone, and I don’t think I have the logins. It can suck you in, scrolling through, and I think it’s probably healthy for me to stay off it.
You are nominated for new artist of the year at the CMA Awards on Nov. 20. What do you remember about finding out about your nomination?
It’s funny because I got a couple of texts that said, “Congratulations,” and I was like, “It’s not my birthday. What’s going on?” They sent me screenshots and filled me in. There are a bunch of big artists on that list, and I’m proud to be in this group.
Who do you think will win entertainer of the year at the CMA Awards?
I think Lainey [Wilson] would be a good pick. She puts on a hell of a show and is a great entertainer. And [Chris] Stapleton, I saw his show at [Nashville’s] Nissan Stadium, and I had not seen his show before and it’s pretty old-school with the band up there. He sings and captivates people with his voice and music, so he gets my vote, too.
A version of this story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
This has been a season of milestones at the colleges and universities preparing young people for careers in the music business.
At New York University (NYU), the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music marked its 20th anniversary in April — on the very day one of its most successful alums, Maggie Rogers, announced her first arena tour.
Middle Tennessee State University’s Department of Recording Industry granted its first degree 50 years ago and has since graduated 7,500 “industry-ready alumni,” declares the school’s anniversary announcement. “MTSU is truly a unique place where students are nurtured, inspired and challenged,” says Beverly Keel, dean of the university’s College of Media and Entertainment.
Other schools are writing new chapters in the story of music business education, often with the support of industry benefactors.
Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business is planning a major expansion on Nashville’s Music Row with a significant donation from the Mike Curb Family Foundation. Occidental College has launched the John Branca Institute for Music with a gift from the renowned music attorney, who is an alum of the liberal arts college in Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock neighborhood. At Syracuse University in New York, the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries — endowed by music publishing veteran Martin Bandier — is adding a master’s program.
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At a time when diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have come under attack, Howard University in Washington, D.C., has pushed back — with a program endowed by Warner Music Group and the Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund. At one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, Howard’s program offers students a unique certification: Social Justice in the Music Industry for Leaders.
Billboard chooses its top music business schools based on industry recommendations, alumni information provided by honorees from our multiple power lists, information requested from each school and nearly a decade of reporting on these programs. While online education programs have proliferated, our choices are campus-based and bestow bachelor’s or associate degrees.
The schools here are not ranked; they are listed alphabetically. “Rankings have created an unhealthy obsession with selectivity,” U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a 2023 speech. He noted the U.S. Department of Education “hosts a free online tool called the College Scorecard to help students and families make more informed decisions. The scorecard provides data on college costs, graduation rates, employment, student debt and more.”
Recognizing the significant financial challenge of higher education, Billboard has prioritized the selection of more affordable public colleges and universities. And this list is geographically diverse. Beyond music industry capitals, tomorrow’s executives study at Auburn University in Alabama, Baldwin Wallace University outside Cleveland, Delta State University in Mississippi and the State University of New York in Oneonta, N.Y.
At the 20th-anniversary party for the program he endowed at NYU, Clive Davis, chief creative officer for Sony Music Entertainment, may well have been speaking for all who enroll in the schools profiled here when he said, “What is my fond hope for the future? I hope students continue to find success and really emerge as the leaders in the 21st-century music business.”
Abbey Road InstituteLondon
In the decade since it was established as a music production school by Abbey Road Studios and the studio’s owner, Universal Music Group, the institute has created affiliated programs across Europe and in the United States, Australia and South Africa. The institute’s specialist music production program provides hands-on practical training in all areas of music production, engineering and music-making. Its courses are designed in collaboration with the industry to offer a fast-paced and intensive education that reflects the realities of the business. Its alums have earned multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy Award nominations. According to the school, over 90% of the graduates of the program in London secure industry-related jobs within six months of graduation.
Event: Among the numerous engineers and producers who have been guest speakers at the institute is Phill Brown, a veteran of sessions with Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Traffic, Cat Stevens and Bob Marley.
American University (Business & Entertainment Program)Washington, D.C.
Housed in American University’s Kogod School of Business, this business and entertainment program offers core classes in marketing, accounting and finance alongside specialized courses taught by entertainment industry veterans. Students of Linda Bloss-Baum, formerly of Warner Music Group and currently at SoundExchange, attend South by Southwest each March, and this year, they helped promote a National Independent Venue Association showcase. The program recently welcomed adjunct professor David Hughes, former chief technology officer at RIAA, and has now incorporated artificial intelligence into all of its classes. Beyond benefiting from the school’s location in the nation’s capital, students can join annual trips to Los Angeles, Nashville and New York, where stops have included CAA, Sony Music Entertainment, WME and UTA.
Courses: The business and entertainment program is launching two new classes: one that explores issues regarding name, image and likeness rights in the age of AI and Entertainment Accounting, which will be taught by industry veteran Steven Ambers, formerly vp of corporate development at SOCAN.
Auburn University (Music Studies Program)Auburn, Ala.
One of the state’s flagship public universities, Auburn is constructing a 4,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art recording studio situated within the music studies complex at Goodwin Hall on the campus. That building also houses two performing spaces. Auburn’s music department has become the second-fastest-growing department within its College of Liberal Arts. Following the introduction in recent years of majors in commercial music and composition and technology, the university last year created a new music business minor. Students in the program have interned at companies including Sony Music, Universal Music Group and CAA and worked backstage on tour with James Taylor. Sony Nashville CEO Randy Goodman was a recent speaker at the Music Business Association, a student organization.Alums Derek Crownover, a partner at Loeb & Loeb; Jennifer Bohler of Alliance Artist and Media Relations; and saxophonist Khari Allen Lee, who is a professor of practice at the university.
Sony Nashville CEO Randy Goodman with Oakley Holmes,
an Auburn University graduate and member of the school’s Auburn Music Industry Network who is now the label’s digital marketing and artist development coordinator.
Sony Nashville
Baldwin Wallace UniversityBerea, Ohio
Located 15 miles from downtown Cleveland, the city that proudly calls itself the birthplace of rock’n’roll, Baldwin Wallace has helped prepare students for successful careers in the business for more than three decades, offering a bachelor of arts in music industry. Named as an educational affiliate of the Grammy Museum in 2021, the school is the alma mater of Music Asset Management founder and CEO Mary Jo Mennella and Live Nation Midwest region vp of regional marketing Katie Rose and a frequent stop for industry executives including recent speaker Rick Fagan, tour manager for Disturbed. Students also benefit from a large roster of internship partners ranging from Blossom Music Center to Beachland Ballroom & Tavern to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Event: In spring 2024, students in the Music Industry II course traveled to New York to meet with industry professionals from BMI, The Bowery Presents, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall and Carl Fischer Music.
Belmont University (Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business)Nashville
In April, Belmont University received a $58 million gift from the foundation of music executive and philanthropist Mike Curb for the expansion of its program that bears his name. The largest gift in the school’s history will support the renovation of existing buildings and construction of a state-of-the-art facility on Nashville’s Music Row. Offering bachelor’s degrees in music business and business administration, Belmont provides students direct access to Nashville’s thriving music scene as well as “Belmont USA” semesters in Los Angeles, New York or Atlanta. Organizations like the Showcase Series let students work with vendors to produce six arena shows throughout the year. Notable classes include Intro to the Creator Economy — taught by Andrew Graham, CAA’s head of digital corporate advisory and partnerships, and CAA agent Chris Wittine — which melds social, video and monetization.
Event: In April, the inaugural Belmont at the Opry convened songwriters and performers including alums Trisha Yearwood, Brad Paisley, Ashley Gorley and Hillary Lindsey.
Berklee College of MusicBoston
Alongside its long-standing bachelor of music business program that focuses on management, marketing and entrepreneurship, Berklee now offers a bachelor of arts program in music industry leadership and innovation, designed for nonmusicians with an interest in music, business and technology. Both offer ample guest speakers, industry partnerships, on-campus events and networking opportunities. In partnership with SALXCO/XO Records, students in the Trends and Special Topics course prepare a customized branding and social media campaign for a recording artist. The Berklee Popular Music Institute’s flagship BPMI live program offers a yearlong experience in which students scout, develop and tour with emerging artists. The school’s music business summer program, open to students ages 15 to 19, is a five-day experience designed to teach aspiring artists, managers and entrepreneurs how to launch a successful career in the music industry.
Event: This year, the Music Business/Management department hosted its 30th annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture Series, featuring TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson.
Berklee College of MusicValencia, Spain
Students who want a global view of the industry join with peers from more than 20 countries for Berklee’s one-year master of arts in global entertainment and music business program in Valencia. The program offers three concentrations — live entertainment, entrepreneurship and record industry — and students also work on real-life projects including the on-campus record label Disrupción Records, with the Rototom Music Festival or with companies including Chartmetric, Warner Music Group, Warm and Audiense. Courses include Emerging Technologies and New Creative Frontiers, which covers tech from AI to metaverse communities, and Music Publishing and Music Supervision. The Berklee Global Career Summit, held annually in January, is a four-day boot camp focused on professional development and career paths through keynotes, panels, workshops and mentoring sessions.
Alums: EMPIRE marketing director Alán Hensley, TikTok agency solutions lead Aman Wadhwa and Warner Chappell Music A&R manager Andres Arenas.
BIMM University (BIMM Music Institute)London
BIMM Music Institute is a division of BIMM University, a group of colleges given full university status by Britain’s Department for Education in 2022. The university offers courses in music, film, performing arts and gaming at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. It has a 40-year history of offering students a hands-on education in state-of-the-art facilities and a wide network of industry connections. BIMM Music Institute now operates in London, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham, England, as well as Dublin and Berlin. It offers bachelor’s degrees in the music business; music marketing, media and communications; and event management.
Events: Speakers have included Glastonbury Festival co-founder Michael Eavis, Chic’s Nile Rodgers, members of the band IDLES (who are also alums) and British rapper Stormzy.
The BRIT SchoolCroydon, England
Co-founded in 1991 by the British government and the British Record Industry Trust (the charitable division of U.K. labels trade group BPI, which presents the BRIT Awards), The BRIT School offers a tuition-free education for students ages 14 to 19 for careers in performance and creative arts and related industries. It has specialist teachers in live sound, production, recording, music technology and business. The school has two working venues on-site and also houses the Sir George Martin Recording Studio, plus audiovisual hubs with professional standard equipment and the YouTube Music Studio for live broadcast and radio. Speakers have included Sony Music Entertainment U.K. chairman Jason Iley and Billy Bragg, who came to celebrate 40 years since the release of his Life’s a Riot album and discuss his career with the students.
Alums: Adele, RAYE, Amy Winehouse and Loyle Carner.
California Institute of the Arts (The Herb Alpert School of Music)Santa Clarita, Calif.
Every student at CalArts’ Herb Alpert School of Music engages in some aspect of creating music, even those who intend to pursue nonperforming roles. The school, which is rooted in experimentation and diverse approaches to arts and culture, believes this depth of exploration equips students to be more informed about their work after graduation. On campus, students benefit from teachers and mentors with a breadth of knowledge and passions. Simon Reynolds, a faculty member in the Experimental Pop program and author of Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, among other titles, teaches the new Writing About Music course that examines critical writing about popular music. Laurel Halo — a composer, producer, live musician and DJ — joined the faculty in fall 2022.
Course: AI Sonic Explorations features hands-on workshops exploring the critical, speculative and practical ways of applying AI to working with sound and musical composition.
California State University, NorthridgeLos Angeles
Cal State Northridge offers classes including copyright law, recording contract formation and negotiation, and marketing, as well as a two-semester course that covers copyright, publishing, licensing and music industry contracts. To ensure students have the skills they need for careers in the industry, the school also emphasizes experiential education, from its student-run record label to its robust internship requirement and deep connections with Los Angeles-based industry professionals, who often visit the campus for panel discussions, guest lectures and mentoring. A recent screening of the documentary Immediate Family, about the hit-making L.A. studio musicians Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel and Waddy Wachtel, was followed by a Q&A with director Denny Tedesco, who also directed the documentary The Wrecking Crew.
Alums: Mike Elizondo, Grammy-winning songwriter, producer and instrumentalist; artist Andy Grammer; and Andy Summers, guitarist for The Police.
Delta State University (Delta Music Institute)Cleveland, Miss.
Graduates of Delta State’s Delta Music Institute who earn a bachelor of science degree in entertainment industry studies enter the music business with a range of skills in entrepreneurship and audio engineering technology. The program’s small size enables more personal instruction and one-to-one connections, and students benefit from the institute’s breadth of industry partnerships. It’s an education partner of the Grammy Museum Mississippi, an Avid Learning partner offering Pro Tools certification, a Dolby Institute academic partner and a Grammy U affiliate. It frequently hosts music industry experts, including recent guests Robert Ellis Orrall, founder of Infinity Cat Records; Charles Newman, co-founder of Mother West Records; and Matt-Ross Spang, recording engineer and studio owner.
Alums: Ike Illoegbu, owner of Brooklyn-based i2 Mastering Studios, and Zack Woodard, program coordinator at Grammy Museum Mississippi.
Drexel University (Westphal College of Media Arts and Design)Philadelphia
Program-specific classes begin freshman year at Drexel’s Westphal College, where students take on courses ranging from 50 Years of Hip Hop to Women in the Music Industry to classes focused on marketing and promotion, entrepreneurship, media promotion, live music and more. The quick immersion provides a foundation for the school’s co-op program, through which all students spend six months working in the field. The program also publishes a zine featuring student-conducted interviews with Drexel alums working in the music industry, sponsors a collegiate chapter of Women in Music and houses FLUX, a student-run organization that produces live-music events on campus.
Event: A group of Drexel students visited the Universal Music Group offices in New York and heard from executives including Jordan Moran, director of audience growth and marketing at Universal Music Enterprises, and Sarah Tully, manager of commercial strategy and partnerships at Island Records.
Full Sail UniversityWinter Park, Fla.
Artists including Elvis Costello and Aoife O’Donovan and executives such as Sony Music Latin vp of A&R Alejandro Jiménez and MOXIE Nashville founder Vannesia Darby have recently spoken at Full Sail, whose music business program hosts frequent full-day workshops on industry-related topics like branding, AI, social media, live events and career paths. Many times, these sessions also include guests representing a diverse range of industry disciplines. The recent Hip Hop Music Industry Panel brought Goodie Mob’s T-Mo, GYMINI and Vinny Idol to the school. Students gain hands-on experience through the program’s Artist Development initiative, where they assist working artists in areas including social media support, marketing content creation, music video development and promotion.
Course: In Music Supervision, students learn how to serve as a creative liaison between the music industry and the visual-media industries, including film, TV, gaming and advertising.
Hofstra UniversityHempstead, N.Y.
Enrollment in Hofstra’s music business program increased by more than 300% from 2017 to 2023, and its offerings have expanded accordingly. A new series of six-week courses — taught by executives including Atlantic Records senior vp of international marketing Danielle Geiger and Thirty Tigers vp of A&R Lee Dannay — focuses on four different topics per semester. Students in the Promotion in the Music Industry course create a marketing plan for an artist and present it to a jury of industry professionals. Students also participate in internships at Live Nation, ASCAP, SoundCloud and Wasserman, to name a few, and benefit from more than 50 speakers who visit campus annually, such as recent guest Rich Holtzman, AEG Presents senior vp of marketing and artist development.
Event: In March, Hofstra hosted a Mental Health in the Music Industry panel featuring Geiger, Sound Mind Live executive director Chris Bullard and Rock Star Advocate founder Suz Paulinski.
Howard University (Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business)Washington, D.C.
Unique in its curriculum designed to foster innovation, positive change and social justice, Howard’s music business program offers industry support, mentorship, career development opportunities and global reach. It was endowed in 2021 with a $4.9 million gift from Warner Music Group and the Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund and provides students with wide access to industry professionals and resources. Students graduate with a Chartmetric Data Analytics certification and the first-ever Social Justice in the Music Industry for Leaders certification. The program has hosted over 55 executive and artist speakers this past year. Its reach extends to Ghana, where a partnership with the local government facilitates artist exchanges and industry mixers. Partners including CAA, Wasserman, RIAA and The Tom Joyner Foundation offer internships and job placement opportunities.
Event: The program’s director, Jasmine Young, received the 2024 Howard Forward Award and the Changemaker Award for cultivating positive and effective change schoolwide. She also spoke at the inaugural West Africa Music & Arts Festival in Accra, Ghana.
Jasmine Young is director of the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University.
Justin Knight
Kennesaw State University (Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program)Kennesaw, Ga.
Endowed by — and taking its name from — leading entertainment lawyer Katz, the program at Kennesaw State offers a 24-credit certificate program and an 18-credit undergraduate minor for those seeking careers in the entertainment business. Experiential offerings abound. For more than a decade, Katz MEBUS students have worked with Sixthman to create marketing plans for the company’s music festivals and aid its work with Norwegian Cruises. A partnership with Dolby enables students to train in the latest technologies, and the program’s annual trip to London features meetings with executives at Sony Music Entertainment, Abbey Road Studios, Universal Music Group, Dolby, Royal Albert Hall and others. Each year, MEBUS students also develop digital marketing strategies inside the Sony Entertainment boardroom to help launch emerging artists.
Faculty: Bryan Calhoun — head of digital strategy for Blueprint Group/Maverick who has developed digital initiatives for Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, T.I. and The Roots — is serving as executive-in-residence at the program.
Liverpool Institute for the Performing ArtsLiverpool, England
Co-founded in 1996 by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty (who retired as principal/CEO in 2021 and was succeeded by Sean McNamara), LIPA’s student body comprises musicians, dancers, engineers, producers, technicians, designers and filmmakers, all honing their talents in world-class facilities. Those planning nonperforming careers can follow a music industry management track taught by faculty with experience in performing, producing, managing and record-label ownership. The curriculum begins in its first year by teaching essential management skills before students begin specializing. In their second year, they can work on a three-week, student-run music festival, 2ube Extra, staged in The Paul McCartney Auditorium. Their third year brings a three-month placement at leading companies including Warner Music and Live Nation, which often leads to full-time employment.
Event: In May, Björn Ulvaeus — composer, songwriter, musician, producer and founding member of ABBA — visited LIPA for a Q&A with students.
Long Island University (Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment)Brooklyn
Launched in fall 2021, the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at LIU will graduate its first full class in spring 2025. Students in each of its three music majors take foundational business courses, and the curriculum is available to those studying in the applied music or music, technology, entrepreneurship and production majors. It has already become a magnet for leading creatives, legal experts, A&R executives and digital and brand experts, and speakers at the school have included Megan Thee Stallion, Fat Joe, Rapsody, Sony Music Publishing CEO Jon Platt, Roc Nation vice chairman Jay Brown and Roc Nation CEO Desiree Perez. The school has also hosted the EmpowHERment Summit to amplify the role of women across the music industry and partnered with MetaMoon Festival to host an inaugural summit focused on Asian representation in live music and touring.
Course: The school partners with JPMorgan Chase on the Game-Changing Finance course that teaches aspiring executives how to understand contract terms, spend thoughtfully, save responsibly and borrow wisely to navigate their financial futures.
Jon Platt, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Publishing, is among the top executives who have met with students at the Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University.
Nadav Kander
Los Angeles College of MusicPasadena, Calif.
Los Angeles College of Music launched a master’s program in March 2023, which augments its 12-quarter bachelor of music degree and six-quarter associate of arts degree. Committed to offering students hands-on experience and networking opportunities, the school hosts over 120 industry guests, panelists and master-class speakers each academic year. In addition, the LACM program hosts quarterly field trips to companies including Warner Chappell, Spotify and Disney, where students meet with industry executives and grow their networks, and the school partners with Grammy U, Ableton and audio company AIAIAI. Its student-run, faculty-advised 370 Music Group comprises 370 Artists, which provides artist marketing, development and distribution services in partnership with distributor Vydia, and 370 Songs, which curates original student material for synch and licensing opportunities.
Event: A partnership with DISCO — an industry resource for file storage, sharing and presentations — enables students to have their music heard by music supervisors, publishers and more.
Los Angeles Film School (The Los Angeles Recording School)Los Angeles
Students explore the entire record-making journey at The Los Angeles Recording School, a division of Los Angeles Film School, which is located in the heart of Hollywood and equipped with professional recording studios for a real-world work environment. The school offers an array of degrees, including an associate of science in audio production and music production and a bachelor of science in audio production, entertainment business, music production and media communications. It also hosts an active speaker roster: Universal Music Group vp of sound and picture Roey Hershkovitz spoke with students in June. All students receive a TechKit that includes a MacBook loaded with software including Avid Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Ableton Live, an Auralia/Musition bundle and a MIDI keyboard.
Alums: Hannah Lux Davis, an award-winning music video director known for her work with Ariana Grande, Halsey, Demi Lovato, Nicki Minaj and Kacey Musgraves.
Loyola University (College of Music and Media)New Orleans
The New Orleans music scene is the backdrop for Loyola’s industry studies program, housed in its College of Music and Media. In 2024, the university sponsored one of the largest stages at New Orleans’ French Quarter Festival, which hired students as interns at more than 25 stages during the four-day event. The program offers an extensive curriculum, including the Record Label Operations course, and ample opportunities for experiential learning across the country and abroad. Students travel to industry conferences such as NAMM, Americana Fest, South by Southwest and Music Biz. This past summer, a new two-week, three-credit course brought students to London for classroom instruction at Regents University and field trips to U.K. entertainment companies.
Course: Digital Strategies is a new course that delves into the use of predictive modeling through trending data in the industry and teaches students how to access the technological tools of tomorrow and use them to build creative careers.
Middle Tennessee State University (College of Media and Entertainment)Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of MTSU’s Department of Recording Industry, which, as part of the school’s College of Media and Entertainment, operates alongside complementary disciplines including film, animation, TV, live-event broadcast, photography and digital media. The department offers undergraduate degrees focused on music business, audio production and commercial songwriting, two graduate degrees and an interdisciplinary degree. The school’s proximity to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival enables students to produce over 30 hours of concert livestreams from the fest on Hulu. Last year, students worked at the Grammy Awards, the Country Music Association Awards and South by Southwest, among other events, and provided live sound, video and lighting for Khalid’s on-campus performance. Experiences in audio production, music business and commercial songwriting are part of a robust internship program.
Event: Kerry Gordy, the son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, visited the campus to speak about Motown’s impact, working in fields including copyright recapture and finding a distinct career path.
Monmouth UniversityWest Long Branch, N.J.
The home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, Monmouth’s industry program combines coursework from the university’s business school with its music and music business curriculum in an interdisciplinary model that prepares students for a range of opportunities. Students work curating exhibits, in merchandising and in behind-the-scenes roles at the Archives, while the campus record label, Blue Hawk Records, enables them to take on roles as A&R representatives, managers, producers and artists. One of four collegiate chapter affiliates of Women in Music, the program also partners with major music organizations, tech companies, agencies and a state-of-the-art recording complex in nearby Asbury Park, N.J.
Event: In April, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, Mavis Staples and Dion DiMucci were honored at the second American Music Honors Awards, produced at Monmouth by the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. All honorees were present, as were Springsteen and Darlene Love. A film of the event will be shown on campus Nov. 1.
From left: Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, Darlene Love, Dion, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne onstage at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music Honors in April at the Pollack Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J.
Danny Clinch
New York University (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development)New York
Led by Larry Miller, who was honored as the music business educator of the year by the Music Business Association, the music business curriculum at NYU Steinhardt offers undergraduate and graduate degrees that are integrated with the university’s Stern School of Business. Courses are taught by faculty and leading industry practitioners including RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier and National Music Publishers’ Association CEO David Israelite, and recent guest speakers include songwriter-producer Benny Blanco and Shira Perlmutter, director of the U.S. Copyright Office. Students take classes on the business of recorded music, music publishing, live performance, management, publicity and fan engagement at the main campus in New York and satellite sites in Nashville, Los Angeles, Paris, Prague and Shanghai. Starting in 2025, NYU will offer a bachelor of science degree in music business, with the first year of study being held in London. Artist and producer Joe Henry is this year’s NYU-Americana Music Foundation artist-in-residence Nov. 11 to 13. Latin Grammy winner Ella Bric will visit in the spring.
Course: Howie Singer and Bill Rosenblatt, co-authors of the book Key Changes: The Ten Times Technology Transformed the Music Industry, teach Data Analysis in the Music Industry.
From left, Larry Miller, clinical professor and director of the music business program at NYU Steinhardt, with RIAA chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier; Judy Tint, music attorney and clinical associate professor at the school; and NMPA president/CEO David Israelite. Glazier and Israelite also teach in the Steinhardt program.
Courtesy of NYU Steinhardt
New York University (Tisch School of the Arts, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music)New York
The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts marked its 20th anniversary this year educating students pursuing music business careers alongside musical creatives. Seeking to prepare students to lead across a range of industry fields, the institute recently added marketing and management executive Naima Cochrane — who has worked for Bad Boy, Arista Records, Columbia and Epic Records — to its faculty. Pure Tone Records founder Pete Ganbarg and Big Beat Records GM Gina Tucci were among executives who met with students at the school’s Atlantic Records Songwriting Camp and Warner Chappell Music songwriting rooms in Warner Music Group’s New York headquarters. The weeklong camp featured collaborative writing sessions by CDI alums and students and daily guest lectures, discussions and Q&As with WMG executives.
Alum: Maggie Rogers, a Grammy-nominated artist and founder of Debay Sounds, graduated with degrees in music production and English.
Northeastern University (College of Arts, Media and Design)Boston
In recent months, Drew Simmons, Noah Kahan’s manager and Northeastern alum; Andrea Espinoza, assistant tour manager for Olivia Rodrigo; and Sam Alpert, senior vp of marketing at Wasserman Music, all came to campus to talk with students on track to receive their bachelor of science in music with concentration in music industry. The program is designed for those interested in every facet of the industry, with a focus on entrepreneurial thought leadership and ethical change. On campus, the school offers a breadth of classes ranging from Actionable Analytics in the Music Industry to Copyright in the Creative Industries to Making a Festival. Off campus, it provides students with a host of experiential learning opportunities.
Event: The university’s cooperative education program offers the opportunity to make valuable industry connections, broaden perspectives and acquire skills and knowledge outside the comfort zone of the classroom.
Occidental College (The John Branca Institute for Music)Los Angeles
At Occidental, the John Branca Institute for Music launched in July — endowed with a $5 million gift from the alum and leading music attorney whose clients have included the estate of Michael Jackson and some 30 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The Mike Curb Foundation has gifted another $500,000 to the institute. Devoted to the study of the industry and popular music, the institute features formal cooperation with other educational entities including Los Angeles City College and Harvard University and music companies such as Warner Music Group (whose former CEO, Stephen Cooper, is an alum). The college also has recruited a tenure-track assistant professor of Popular Music and Music Production: musician, multimedia artist and scholar Ramona Gonzalez. Occidental’s music program will remain anchored in the school’s liberal arts focus, ensuring students develop critical thinking skills.
Course: A class titled Copyright, Originality, and Theft in American Popular Music examines how ideas about musical copyright, originality, authenticity and appropriation have evolved over the history of the American popular music industry.
Music attorney John Branca has endowed the newly launched John Branca Institute for Music at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
John Lamparski/Getty Images
Oklahoma State University (The Michael and Anne Greenwood School of Music)Stillwater, Okla.
Hit songwriter, producer and former Arista Records Nashville president Tim Dubois is an OSU graduate (and this year was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame). The school’s bachelor of science in music industry program was established in 2017, and in 2021, the Greenwood School of Music opened facilities adjacent to the McKnight Center for the Performing Arts, which provides learning and cultural experiences for music majors. A $50 million programming endowment has enabled a New York Philharmonic residency to take place in Stillwater. Students have access to four studios, including the multimillion-dollar Dick & Malinda Berry Fischer Recording Studio, as well as the student-run music company Poke U. They can also start an MBA program their senior year in conjunction with the Spears School of Business and earn their master’s degree with only one additional postgrad year.
Faculty: Music engineer-producer Luke Tallon (Killers of the Flower Moon) recently joined the faculty.
Rhodes College (Mike Curb Institute for Music)Memphis
Endowed by the Mike Curb Family Foundation in 2006, the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes College offers a music- and entertainment-based education that enables graduates to learn not only how to work in the industry, but how to think broadly about the world. Rhodes offers two certificates in music industry studies — one in content production and one in arts entrepreneurship. Classes are continually evolving, like the new course Songwriting in Memphis, in which students examine songwriting from multiple perspectives. The program is also home to student-produced zine Dredge and student-produced podcast Beyond Beale. The Curb Community Fellows Program provides funding for students to work directly with local professionals and organizations such as Goner Records, Royal Studios and the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
Event: In partnership with the college’s endowed Springfield Music Lecture Series, the Curb Institute hosted Grammy-winning songwriter Jason Isbell for a conversation in February.
Rowan University (College of Performing Arts)Glassboro, N.J.
Rowan University’s music industry program, housed in its College of Performing Arts, offers a dynamic curriculum and a flexible bachelor of science degree with concentrations in technology (production/recording studio) and business (marketing/management) so students can tailor their studies to their specific interests. Each concentration includes credits from the College of Business. In addition to its annual career fair, which attracts top industry employers such as Live Nation, Rowan maintains strong partnerships with area community colleges, ensuring transfer students find an accessible pathway to their careers. Among its alums: SiriusXM host Erin Constantine, Sony Music Entertainment senior label analyst Ricardo Oropeza and Universal Music Group assistant manager of e-commerce Gabriella Bruckner.
Faculty: Michael McArthur, the program’s professor of practice, is vp of A&R at 300 Entertainment/Warner Music Group and was named to Billboard’s 2023 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list.
State University of New York, OneontaOneonta, N.Y.
All music industry majors at SUNY Oneonta complete a curriculum that features five core courses, including a seminar that explores contemporary issues in the music industry; a career preparation class focused on music, media and entertainment opportunities; and a course that examines legal issues in music, media and entertainment, with focuses on intellectual property law, contract law and ethics. Students also participate in activities, including The Music Industry Club — which produces concerts, seminars and presentations and runs record label Red Dragon Records — and campus radio station WONY (90.9) Oneonta. The school offers a regular series of alumni presentations, and a Backpacks to Briefcases series of networking field trips to New York to meet with alums working at music, media and entertainment firms.
Event: Last year, alum Jenn Federici, a leader in tour management, marketing and live events logistics and compliance who has held positions at Goldstar Management, Momentum Worldwide and Interscope Records, returned to campus to speak to the music industry concert production class.
Syracuse University (Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries)Syracuse, N.Y.
Enrollment in the Bandier undergraduate program is capped at 30 students annually, ensuring individualized attention to those developing the professional and human skills required to succeed in the music business. The curriculum enables students to study for a semester in Los Angeles or New York, as well as one semester abroad; the program also takes an annual trip to emerging music industry markets. Previous trips have included visits to Beijing, Singapore and Seoul. The program — endowed by music publishing executive Martin Bandier — is launching a graduate program, which will begin accepting students in summer 2025. It’s also creating an advisory board of industry experts — all Bandier or Syracuse graduates.
Course: Students in the Business of Live Music & Experiential Brand Activations course work with local promoter Eric Binion of After Dark Presents to present a show, from booking talent and branding to social media and promotion to sales and settlement.
Laufey and Bill Werde, director of the Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries at Syracuse University, at the launch of the school’s new music business master’s program. A Bandier alum, Laufey has endowed a $100,000 scholarship for the program.
Arnold Turner
Temple University (Klein College of Media and Communication)Philadelphia
Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication offers an interdisciplinary bachelor of arts in audio and live entertainment. The program combines courses in the communication, music, business and event management schools. Class topics range from artist management and event operations to publishing, hip-hop media and culture, and more. At the university’s campus in the heart of Philadelphia, groundbreaking is planned for a new Klein College building that will house a reconstruction of the iconic Sigma Sound Studio 1, where Philly soul acts like The O’Jays once cut hits. The student-run label Bell Tower Music works with student radio, TV and other ventures, and the school’s deep industry relationships have fostered internships and jobs at Interscope Records, Kobalt, Primary Wave, Red Light Management, SoundExchange, Warner Music and more.
Event: Grammy- and Academy Award-nominated songwriter Stephan Moccio, who has collaborated with The Weeknd, Miley Cyrus and Céline Dion, recently came to campus to talk with students.
Tennessee State University (Commercial Music Program)Nashville
TSU is both a public university and one of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities; for those seeking music business careers, it distinguishes itself with its location in the heart of Nashville. It also boasts faculty who come from and remain active in the industry. TSU’s program is up to speed on current industry trends and best practices. Its small faculty-to-student ratio also enhances the learning experience, as do frequent site visits, guest speakers — Sweetwater senior director of recruitment Jordan Applegate recently visited campus — industry-related events and internships. Sydney Verge, operations coordinator at the Recording Academy, is an alum.
Course: Students enrolled in Music Business and Law study intellectual property, contracts and various sources of revenue flow including publishing, touring, performing rights organizations and merchandising.
University of California Los Angeles (Herb Alpert School of Music)Los Angeles
The new music industry bachelor of arts program builds on the success of the Herb Alpert School of Music’s popular undergraduate minor. According to statistics compiled by the university, more than one-quarter of the nation’s music industry job postings are in California, making UCLA ideally located for those pursuing a music business career. The music industry major is also designed to attract and support incoming transfer students from California community colleges, which creates affordability and access. Students benefit from the program’s immersion in the L.A. music industry and from a continually expanding roster of guest speakers — including Nabil Ayers, president of Beggars Group and host of the Identified podcast, and Tiffany Red, Grammy-winning songwriter and founder of The 100 Percenters — and adjunct professors.
Faculty: Kathryn Frazier, founder of public relations firm Biz 3, whose clients include The Weeknd, J. Cole, Lil Baby and Lauryn Hill, recently joined the faculty and teaches the course Finding Your Voice.
From left: CAA’s Rob Light, Black Music Action Coalition co-founder Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, Biz 3’s Kathryn Frazier and Aqil Davidson attend BMAC’s pre-gala dinner in Los Angeles. Frazier teaches at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music.
Johnny Nunez/WireImage
University of Colorado Denver (College of Arts & Media)Denver
CU Denver, as the public university is known, prepares students for success in the music business and to move the industry forward, both locally and globally. Students in the Music Cities class last year engaged online with industry leaders in international markets including Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, as well as with leading professionals in U.S. markets including Nashville, Los Angeles, Austin and Seattle. Many of the business faculty have substantial industry experience and use their relationships to open opportunities for jobs and internships. The College of Arts & Media is the home of one of the first student chapters of Nashville Songwriters Association International, further strengthening opportunities for networking.
Course: Music Business in the Digital Age studies current trends, practices and business models, with an eye on their implications for the future, covering topics including AI, data analysis, privacy and technology surrounding live-music ticketing.
University of Miami (Frost School of Music)Miami
With a wide range of courses and proximity to the Latin offices of many major music companies, University of Miami’s Frost School offers a bachelor of arts in music industry for nonmusicians and a bachelor of music in music industry for performers. Its faculty are highly experienced industry professionals who are active in the field, and courses — including Music Publishing, where students learn about the A&R process and how publishing agreements are structured — continually evolve to keep pace with the industry. The program also offers a variety of student-run enterprises including ’Cane Records, Cat 5 Music and Frost Sounds, as well as a campus radio station, concert production organization, numerous Frost concert halls, the student Music Industry Association and an active Grammy U community.
Faculty: Olga Cardona, a 16-year veteran of Universal Music Publishing Group, brings with her three decades of experience in the Latin music business, with expertise in performing rights and publishing.
University of North Texas (College of Music)Denton, Texas
UNT’s College of Music, located on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, boasts the country’s largest public university music program. It offers degrees from the bachelor to doctoral levels and is home to the world’s first jazz studies degree program, now in its 77th year. The school continually adds faculty and courses to the curriculum, offered fully online or in a hybrid format, with options ranging from music leadership to performing arts management to touring. The school’s MBA in music business, launched just three years ago, supports student goals within music technology and entrepreneurship. In 2021, the Yamaha Institution of Excellence program included the UNT College of Music in its inaugural list of 10 distinguished colleges and universities recognizing extraordinary commitment to innovation in the study of music.
Event: Julian Peterson, associate director at Gearbox Software and a composer, audio programmer, sound designer and researcher, recently stopped by to talk with students.
University of Rochester (Eastman School of Music)Rochester, N.Y.
Students at University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music benefit from the ability to combine a master of arts in music leadership with other disciplines including an MBA from the university’s Simon Business School. The curriculum emphasizes developing arts administration and leadership skills and requires real-world experiences through a capstone project. Eastman also offers commercial industry experience through the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media — founded by alum and five-time Emmy-winning composer Jeff Beal — where students compose and produce music, perform and conduct in studio orchestras and can collaborate on cross-disciplinary projects in tandem with the Rochester Institute of Technology’s film, animation and video game-developing schools. Those interested in electronic/dance music currents can practice their craft in the school’s Electroacoustic Music Studios.
Event: Former Boston Symphony Orchestra CEO Mark Volpe offered workshops, presentations and individual advising with students last spring and was the 2023 commencement speaker.
University of Southern California (Thornton School of Music)Los Angeles
For nonperformers who want to understand the complexities of the music business, USC Thornton offers an expansive curriculum, well-respected faculty — including new adjunct professors Jane Davidson, an entertainment law and litigation attorney, and Joe Poindexter, chief communications officer/executive vp of digital at Pulse Music Group — and close ties with the L.A. music community. Students can earn either a bachelor of science or master of science degree in music industry, and they benefit from an abundance of networking, internship and job opportunities, leveraging their relationships with fellow students, faculty and guest speakers. Among recent guests on campus: Nederlander senior vp of marketing Jamie Loeb; Marty Hom, a tour director/manager who has worked with Beyoncé and Olivia Rodrigo; and Virgin Music Group president Jacqueline Saturn.
Alum: Justin Lubliner developed a marketing and PR company while at USC Thornton that evolved into his artist development company, The Darkroom. His second signing was Billie Eilish.
William Paterson UniversityWayne, N.J.
Internships are the backbone of the music and entertainment industries major and minor programs at William Paterson University. The school bolsters its forward-looking curriculum with workshops on topics including résumé-building and creating LinkedIn profiles, as well as professionalism seminars — all geared toward success in the real world. William Paterson’s alumni include Joelle Filippi, senior label analyst at Columbia Records; Shannon D’Amore, manager of booking at Prudential Center and White Eagle Hall; and Stephanie Grimes, senior manager of copyright at Downtown Music Publishing and, previously, at Songtrust. The program also hosts numerous industry insiders each year, including Symphonic Distribution chief creative officer Randall Foster, who recently stopped by to share wisdom.
Course: Students in the Entrepreneurship in the Music & Entertainment Industry class envision a new company — and then create a business plan for it.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
As the pandemic was waning, John Summit, an emerging Chicago DJ whose music had blown up online during lockdown, had a plan to translate that internet presence to real life. “Our strategy was to be everywhere,” says Summit’s manager, Holt Harmon. “Like, omnipresent.”
In 2021 and early 2022, Summit and his team canvassed North American nightclubs as they reopened, showing promoters (and themselves) that Summit’s online hype could turn into in-person fun. In May 2021, he sold out a 500-capacity venue in Tempe, Ariz., in just 12 seconds.
The team then transitioned from clubs to 2,000-capacity rooms, investing profits into production for stage rigs. “We were smart with how we were living at the time,” Harmon says. “I did everything from a kitchen table with my business partner, and John was working from his parents’ house.”
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Since then, Summit has sold out headlining sets at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium and Madison Square Garden in New York, with a three-night stint at L.A.’s Kia Forum set for mid-November. The large-venue bookings function as part of a three-pronged touring plan for Summit, which also includes his intimate Experts Only shows at clubs and festival sets as Everything Always, Summit’s duo project alongside Australian producer Dom Dolla.
The hybrid approach allows for different creative opportunities: Experts Only parties, for instance, offer no-frills production and let Summit stay close to his audience and test new music. They’re also easy to take on the road, often in destination venues like The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn. (“My goal is Experts Only Alps,” says Summit, who named the party, and his label, after his love of skiing. “That would be f–king sick.”)
Arena and stadium sets, meanwhile, satisfy massive audiences, including fans who might just be getting into electronic music through Summit’s accessible style of progressive house. And Everything Always lets two artists unite to play “bigger, more impactful things than if it was [them] separately,” Harmon says, such as the duo’s Coachella performance in April. “People ask how we keep cycling through markets year after year,” says Harmon, who is also co-founder and CEO of management firm Metatone. “It’s that we can come through as three different forms.”
The plan is to do it again internationally. With 50% of Summit’s 2025 touring happening overseas, Harmon says “the future of John Summit is a global business.” Now, Summit’s biggest sets require a crew of 180 and cost approximately $1.5 million to produce. But despite the growth, the essential goal remains the same as it was in the early days. “I’m still working from the kitchen table,” Summit says, “but it’s my own kitchen table now.”
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
With Billboard Hot 100 hits like “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Union of the Snake,” “New Moon on Monday” and “A View to a Kill,” Duran Duran’s catalog is frighteningly fitting for spooky season. So in 2022, when the English quartet found itself playing a Halloween-night gig in Las Vegas ahead of its induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the band decided to don costumes, sprinkle in seasonally appropriate covers and embrace the darkness.
The show was successful enough to inspire the band’s 2023 album, Danse Macabre, a top 10 hit on the Top Album Sales chart. With an expanded version of the album out now, the veterans — who have grossed $118.6 million and sold 1.8 million tickets since 1987, according to Billboard Boxscore — are set to play a show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Oct. 31 that keyboardist Nick Rhodes promises “will be entirely different than any other Duran Duran show you will ever see.”
Is Halloween as big in the United Kingdom?
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We don’t celebrate it in such grand style as you do in America. I remember the first time I came to America was over the Halloween period. I literally thought, “Wow, they’re so far ahead of us. Why don’t we have these giant blow-up things outside our houses? Why can’t bats be 20 feet wide?” I love the sense of fun, the absurdity and that everybody gets to be a villain for a day.
The deluxe Danse Macabre has “New Moon (Dark Phase),” a moodier take on one of your classics; a cover of ELO’s “Evil Woman”; and “Masque of the Pink Death,” which I’m guessing is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe.
I’ve always been a great admirer [of Poe]. We grew up in England in the ’70s, where Hammer horror movies on [TV on] a Friday night, whether it was a Dracula or a mummy movie, were the thing you looked forward to all week. Plus, [I love] Tim Burton’s great contribution to everyone who loves goth. Those things shape the way you feel about life and the possibilities creatively. That’s what makes artists unique — their influences and the different areas they take from, even if it’s subliminal.
The Madison Square Garden show will be your second Halloween-themed concert. Do you see this becoming a tradition?
I don’t know. It’s a lot of work for one show. But Madison Square Garden just happened to be available, and New York is such a good place to be for Halloween. It was irresistible. We are going to make it something unusual and special. It won’t be like a regular show at all. The fans in Europe have been writing in already saying, “When are you going to do one in Europe? This is the second one in America; that’s not fair.” I sympathize with that. We always like to try to balance things, so maybe [we’ll do] one in Europe next year.
You have several other U.S. shows this fall beyond MSG. Will Halloween elements work their way into those?
I suspect some of them will feature a few bits that we’re preparing for Halloween. We didn’t think we’d be back in America this year, but when we decided to do the Halloween one, we slotted some more in. I rather like that way of working. For many years, we haven’t been a band that announces big world tours and ends up on the road for 18 months. But we do seem to play a lot of shows. We just add them when we want to, and somehow the chaos is working.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Pianos anchor both Abigail Barlow’s and Emily Bear’s Los Angeles apartments. Self-described “Barbie girl” Barlow, 25, has a shiny magenta lacquered Yamaha U1, as brightly hued as her hair and her bedazzled Stanley mug. The “old-ass” Steinway upright — a refurbished turn-of-the-century specimen purchased from “a random warehouse downtown” — belongs to 23-year-old Bear.
It would be tempting to assume that the two musicians are polar opposites, based on their instruments as well as their backstories. Barlow is a pop singer-songwriter who first dreamed of becoming “a musical theater actrice”; Bear was a wunderkind classical and jazz pianist, a Quincy Jones protegée who played for Beyoncé on the Renaissance tour and was intent on writing film/TV scores. And while both entered the industry in their teens, it wasn’t until a mutual friend introduced them in 2019 that they started writing songs together. Their creative partnership (and friendship) has been, as Barlow says, “just like alchemy,” ever since.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Barlow & Bear co-wrote The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Album, inspired by the book series and hit Netflix drama, which became a viral sensation, racking up 60.3 million on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate, and winning the duo the best musical theater album Grammy Award in 2022. (Netflix sued the pair that July for copyright infringement when it put on a live, for-profit performance of the album at the Kennedy Center; the suit was reportedly settled out of court a few months later.) But now, their collaboration is about to hit the mainstream. Barlow & Bear’s music for Moana 2, in theaters Nov. 27, will make them the youngest (and only all-women) songwriting duo to create a full soundtrack for a Disney animated film. Two of their songs — “Beyond,” a soaring showcase for star Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), and “Can I Get a Chee Hoo?” for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Maui) — will, Disney reveals, be submitted for Academy Award consideration.
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Like much of the musical theater-loving world, Walt Disney Music president Tom MacDougall first became aware of Barlow & Bear as a team through Bridgerton. (For Bear, it was also a full-circle moment: As an 8-year-old pianist, she had met MacDougall, who gifted her a Tangled score signed by storied composer Alan Menken that still hangs on her wall.) About three years ago, he met them for lunch to “sort of put it on our radar that he might have a project for us,” Barlow recalls. She and Bear didn’t expect much to come of it — but MacDougall was impressed by the storytelling in their Bridgerton music. “That spirit of deciding to musicalize this thing that wasn’t a musical gave me the confidence they could pull [a Disney film] off,” he says. “If they could conjure up the spirit to create songs where they didn’t exist, I had a good feeling that if we gave them moments to build songs around, they’d be able to deliver.”
Abigail Barlow (left) and Emily Bear
Maggie Shannon
A year later, in 2022, Barlow & Bear met with the creative team for Moana 2 — a sequel to the 2016 animated film about the titular young girl who sets out to save her Polynesian island — which was then planned as a Disney+ streaming series. “Both of us, weirdly, were going through similar struggles to what Moana faces in this new journey,” Bear explains. “It was easy to put ourselves in her shoes and understand that she’s just a young woman trying to find her place in the world, as are we.”
Around the middle of last year, Disney reenvisioned Moana 2 as a feature film — by which point Barlow & Bear were immersed in learning the ropes of composing for Disney, absorbing some imparted wisdom of their Moana composing predecessor, Lin-Manuel Miranda. “He gave me a stack of books about how to structurally craft a lyric not only to be storytelling-accurate, but to roll off the tongue, to fly off the page and into people’s minds and hearts,” Barlow says.
For her part, Bear dove into the treasure trove of foundational material from Moana by their soundtrack teammates, composers Opetaia Foa’i (a Samoan-born singer whose Polynesian music group, Te Vaka, performs on both Moana soundtracks) and Mark Mancina. “They recorded a huge library of logs and skins and vocal samples, so there were grooves that inspired entire songs,” Bear says. “Even if we started or wrote a song on our own, the root of it was still Opie.”
Though Barlow and Bear both admit that working on Moana 2 still feels surreal, they don’t have much time to soak it in: They’re booked and busy, in part because of that Grammy win. But both say the award’s significance to them was more symbolic. “We grew a lot as human beings through the whole [Bridgerton] process, and becoming like, ‘mature, professional girlie’ was something my soul desperately wanted and needed,” Barlow says. Bear agrees. “I’ve done a lot, but mostly as a kid, and for some reason that felt like it didn’t really count. I’ve been working so hard to outrun the ‘prodigy’ label,” she says. “[The Grammy] was really big for me because it was the first time people purely judged me based off music I did as an adult.”
Abigail Barlow (left) and Emily Bear
Maggie Shannon
Their post-Moana 2 slate as a duo includes the forthcoming biopic of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers starring Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley and their first produced stage musical, currently in development with a creative team attached. Bear (who is also an Emmy winner for her score for the PBS documentary Life) has scored two forthcoming films: Anderson .Paak’s feature debut, K-Pops, and Our Little Secret, a Netflix Christmas film starring Lindsay Lohan. Barlow, with a chuckle, says she may soon “release the album I wrote, like, a year-and-a-half ago.”
And then there’s the mystery “little musical idea” that first brought them together, a “very production-heavy” show “bringing you down the rabbit hole of what pop musical theater can be… which is very dear to us,” Barlow says with a knowing grin. It’s a reminder of the excitement they felt when they first met — and still feel in any session together. “We’re in love, musically,” Barlow says, “for real.”
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.