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The money streamers make these days may be calling Young Thug‘s name The Atlanta rapper stopped by Adin Ross‘ Kick stream and he was impressed with the way Ross lives his day-to-day life, telling the popular streamer that he wants to start streaming. “I gotta learn how to do this sh–,” he told Adin and […]
A lot of Oasis fans are counting down the days until the band finally reunites, including Bono.
While speaking to Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe in an interview posted Thursday (June 12), the U2 frontman had nothing but praise for the English pop-rock group, famously fronted by brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher. The band is currently in rehearsals ahead of a comeback tour slated to kick off in July, putting an end to a yearslong hiatus sparked by a feud between the two siblings.
“I love them,” Bono said. “I just love them. And what I really love is, the preciousness that had gotten [into] indie music, they just blew it out. There was just the swagger, and the sound of getting out of the ghetto, not glamorizing it.”
“They’re both funny,” the singer added. “I’m still very close with Noel, and he sent a message to me saying he’s kind of shocked by how great the band is [sounding]. I think we’re going to have a good summer.”
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The Gallagher bros will embark on their Oasis Live ’25 Tour on July 4, beginning with a show at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The rest of the trek will include stops in Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and Latin America.
The performances will mark Oasis’ first in about 16 years. Liam has also said recently that the group is playing better than ever as they prepare for liftoff, writing on X that a recent rehearsal “sounded f–king FILTHY.”
When they do return to the stage, the members of Oasis will have a big reputation to live up to. The band was one of the most influential groups on pop-rock in the ’90s, with Bono adding on Apple Music 1, “They had this rhythmic, beautiful quality to them … Manchester was very influenced by dance music, so they were groovier than anybody, they were rawer than anybody.”
Watch Bono’s full interview with Lowe above.
John Mayer knows exactly what you think about his high-profile dating history, and he’s ready to prove you wrong.
During a SiriusXM-presented live recording of SmartLess — the popular podcast hosted by actors and friends Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes — at Hollywood’s Avalon nightclub on Thursday night, the singer/songwriter served as the night’s “mystery guest” and was an open book about his love life, confirming that he’s currently single and “a catch.”
“I’m older now,” he said. “It’s been a very long time since I had my own situation. I stay inside the house. Aren’t I a good boy, America? I’m not dating anybody!”
After Mayer said he’s a big fan of the “skip the wait” upgrade on the dating app Raya (shoot your shot, ladies), Bateman asked whether the musician is looking for something different now than he was 10 years ago. “Let me ask you: What’s right and what’s wrong for a girlfriend vs. a wife vs. somebody that you might have a child with?” Bateman asked.
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“They’re one in the same,” Mayer said. “I would not date someone if it didn’t have the upward mobility of becoming a marriage.”
You can watch a preview clip of the conversation here:
Elsewhere in the conversation, Mayer said the biggest lesson he’s learned in relationships over the years is to not hide behind sarcasm and to leave himself open to potential pain.
“I think that younger people need to get a head start on being more vulnerable,” the 47-year-old artist told the trio of hosts. “Being sarcastically invulnerable and apathetic is a really good healing mechanism to get over the past breakup. … There’s a fear that there’s a generation of … people, men and women, who have decided to come into relationships in a very inflexible, sarcastic [headspace]. Vulnerability is the sh–. Leave yourself so vulnerable that you could die if someone said the wrong thing to you, and just die 1,000 times.”
Mayer has had a number of high-profile relationships over the years, including with Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift.
A lot of topics were covered during the live podcast recording, including Mayer’s experience trying his hand at stand-up comedy, his innate obsession with correct grammar and punctuation, and what musicians he would put in his dream band, dead or alive. “Alive,” Mayer deadpanned, before (literally) singing the praises of Eddie Vedder with a little impromptu take on Pearl Jam’s “Daughter.” He also offered up a medley of three of his songs: “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” followed by Hayes’ personal favorite “All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye,” and finally a sing-along of his breakthrough hit “No Such Thing.”
The full episode will premiere July 24 on SiriusXM Stars (channel 109) and then become available on demand in the SiriusXM app and to SiriusXM Podcasts+ subscribers in Apple Podcasts. On July 31, it will be released widely wherever podcasts are available.
Mayer has his own SiriusXM station, Life With John Mayer, which debuted in November 2023 and airs on channel 14.
R. Kelly’s attorney claims the disgraced R&B star and convicted sex offender has been placed in solitary confinement as retaliation for publicizing bizarre allegations that prison officials tried to solicit a fellow inmate to kill him.
Kelly’s solitary confinement is the subject of a court filing late Thursday (June 12) from lawyer Beau Brindley, who earlier in the week petitioned a federal judge in Chicago to cut short the 30-plus-year prison sentence imposed on the singer (Robert Sylvester Kelly) for two sets of sex crime convictions.
Brindley claimed on Tuesday (June 10) that prison officials at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, N.C., are trying to have Kelly killed to keep him from divulging prosecutorial misconduct he’s supposedly uncovered since his trials. Brindley said a member of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang was tasked with Kelly’s murder.
Now, Brindley says Kelly is facing retaliation for publicizing his strange allegations. The defense lawyer claims Kelly was placed in solitary confinement within hours of filing the motion for release, without access to a phone to call his family or lawyers.
“Mr. Kelly has spiders crawling over him as he tries to sleep,” writes Brindley. “He is alone in the dark in miserable conditions.”
According to Brindley, Kelly has not eaten since being sent to solitary because he’s afraid that prison officials might have his food poisoned. Guards won’t let the singer access the peanut butter and crackers he previously purchased from the jail’s commissary, Brindley says.
Brindley’s filing reiterates his request to have Kelly immediately released on a temporary furlough or transferred to home detention.
Spokespeople for both the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago declined to comment on Brindley’s allegations on Friday (June 13).
While prosecutors have not yet responded to the substance of Brindley’s murder plot claims, they criticized the defense lawyer earlier this week for naming one of Kelly’s anonymous child victims in the Tuesday motion. The judge in the case made Brindley re-file the motion with proper redactions, and prosecutors are due to file their response on Monday (June 16).
Brindley, meanwhile, has been publicly asking President Donald Trump to pardon Kelly in conjunction with the long-shot allegations about a government conspiracy. In a statement earlier this week, Brindley said, “This is precisely the kind of prosecutorial corruption that President Trump has vowed to eradicate. We believe he is the only one with both the power and the courage to do it.”
Kelly was convicted in 2021 and 2022 at two separate federal trials, one in New York and one in Chicago, on a slew of criminal charges including racketeering, sex trafficking, child pornography and enticing minors for sex.
The former R&B star was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the New York conviction and 20 years in the Chicago case, although the vast majority of the second sentence will overlap with the first. Both convictions have been upheld on appeal.
The second day of this year’s Bonnaroo is not going quite to plan, with the Tennessee festival having to issue an evacuation notice Friday (June 13) as severe weather closed in.
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In an announcement posted to Instagram, officials asked attendants to “please head calmly to the nearest exit” and find a vehicle to wait in safely. “Severe weather is approaching,” the caption read. “Please exit Centeroo immediately and shelter in a vehicle. No vehicle? Find a friend.”
Shortly afterward, the festival shared another update. “We expect weather to impact The Farm for the next couple of hours, at least,” it read. “Centeroo and the tolls are closed until the weather has passed. Please remain in a vehicle. We know you’re curious about today’s schedule and we will update you as soon as we can.”
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Billboard has reached out to Bonaroo reps for more details.
The announcement comes as heavy thunderstorms are ripping through Manchester, Tenn., where the four-day music festival is held annually. Tyler, the Creator, John Summit and Glass Animals had been expected to perform later Friday night, with Megadeth, JPEGMAFIA, Marina, Goose and more acts also on the Day 2 lineup.
This year’s Bonnaroo kicked off Thursday (June 12) with performances from Luke Combs, Dom Dolla, Insane Clown Posse and Rebecca Black. If the festival proceeds as planned, the next two days will see Olivia Rodrigo, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, RAYE, Tyla, Arcade Fire, Hozier, GloRilla, Vampire Weekend, Remi Wolfe, Role Model, Alex Warren and more take various stages on the grounds.
See Bonnaroo’s announcements below.
In 2023, Believe CEO Denis Ladegaillerie told Billboard he was eying the U.S. Two years later, the Paris-based company is ready to expand its artist and label services business to the world’s largest music market.
“We’re building teams in 50 countries, and we’re going to build more in other countries, starting with the U.S. this year,” says Romain Vivien, global head of music/president for Europe. In fact, Believe is currently hiring a Los Angeles-based vp of labels and artist solutions for the U.S. who can “grow, scale and motivate high output teams,” according to the job posting.
Founded in 2005 by Ladegaillerie, a former Vivendi executive, Believe has done brisk business by focusing on large European markets and developing markets globally. From 2020 to 2024, Believe’s revenue rose 124% to 988.8 million euros ($1.05 billion) through organic growth and a mix of acquisitions and investments. Its portfolio includes German record labels Nuclear Blast and Groove Attack; French label PlayTwo; and Doğan Music Company, Turkey’s largest independent record label. In 2023, the company moved into publishing by acquiring U.K.-based Sentric Music Group for $51 million.
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The opportunity in the U.S. is immense — but the market is crowded. The U.S. accounted for 38% of global recorded music revenues in 2024, according to the IFPI. That’s 2.8 times more than Believe’s top two markets, France and Germany, combined. Competition in the artist and label services realm already exists from Universal Music Group-owned Virgin Music Group, Downtown Music Group (acquired by UMG but not yet approved by the European Commission), Sony Music’s The Orchard, and AWAL and smaller independents.
The Americas accounted for only 15% of Believe’s revenue in 2024, well behind Asia/Oceania/Africa’s 24% and Europe’s 61%, according to the company’s earnings report. Much of that Americas revenue came from U.S.-based digital distributor TuneCore, acquired by Believe in 2015, which had revenue of 64.6 million euros ($69.9 million) but was dwarfed by the 924 million euros ($1 billion) generated from Believe’s “premium solutions” business that spans record labels and services for artists, labels and songwriters.
But the current U.S. market is more amenable to an independent like Believe that has a digital-first mindset. Over the years, legacy gatekeepers such as TV, radio and brick-and-mortar retail — which are impediments or costly promotional vehicles for an indie artist — have waned in influence. The rise of TikTok, Spotify and YouTube presents “more opportunity to develop artists [there] digitally,” Ladegaillerie told Billboard in 2023.
In focusing on mid-sized and developing markets, Believe foresaw a global music business where streaming and social media create vibrant local music scenes. As an independent, Believe didn’t suffer from “the innovator’s dilemma” that might inhibit larger companies from pursuing small opportunities that could contribute significant revenue over time. Those mid-sized and developing markets produced music but organized themselves independently because major music companies were investing in larger markets in North America and Western Europe. When digital services like YouTube and Spotify took off, artists and labels needed digital distribution services and marketing expertise.
“It’s first and foremost about being here for the local community of artists in each local market,” says Vivien, “helping the rise of local artists to develop in their own country and then, of course, outside of their own market.”
India, where Believe has operated for more than a decade, is the company’s third-largest market after France and Germany, according to Vivien, while ranking No. 15 globally in 2024, according to the IFPI. Indian music is hyper-regional but takes advantage of global streaming platforms to reach Indian communities in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. A third of Believe’s Punjabi streams come from outside of India, Vivien says.
In the U.S. market, Believe will find a growing number of artists who want help building a career while retaining ownership of their rights. Independent distributors accounted for 91.8% of the 99,000 tracks uploaded to streaming platforms daily in 2024, according to Luminate, and independents’ recent share of current recorded music consumption has ranged from 15.6% in 2024 to 16.5% in 2022 by distribution. Within the major labels’ share is an increasing number of licensing deals and joint ventures that give the artist greater ownership control.
The exact terms of Believe’s client deals vary, but the company takes a share of the revenue generated by artists’ music. Vivien says the deals can vary from co-production deals to distribution-and-services deals. Believe can cover marketing, promotion, content creation, neighboring rights, synch, merchandising, branding and, in France, touring. Believe sometimes funds advances, too — as of Dec. 31, 2024, the company had 293 million euros ($305 million) of artist advances on its books.
The key, Vivien tells his team, is not to enter into a deal without “perfectly understanding” what the artist needs. “Some of them [have] very strong management. Some of them can produce,” he says. “Some of them are well funded, so they don’t need advances to produce their master. Some of them actually need funding. Some of them need marketing. Some of them are very local. Some of them need services outside of their market.”
Larger competitors have followed Believe’s emphasis on label services and emerging markets. In the last year, UMG acquired the remaining majority interest in [PIAS] and, through its Virgin Music Group, purchased Downtown Music Group. Sony Music bought artist services provider AWAL in 2021. Warner Music Group expanded its presence in India in 2024 through a partnership with Global Music Junction and an investment in live entertainment and ticketing platform SkillBox.
Believe went public in 2021 and was taken private in 2024 by a consortium led by Ladegaillerie and two investors, EQT and TCV. (In April, the company launched a bid to acquire the small number of remaining 3.3% of share capital, valuing the company at $1.75 billion.) The consortium survived an interested Warner Music Group, leaving Believe outside the control of the three major music groups. Not only did the move allow Believe to retain its independence, it left the company well funded to pursue its mission. As Vivien puts it, “We are entrepreneurs who are helping and serving other entrepreneurs.”
Fans will be able to catch Young Thug live later this year in Las Vegas. The lineup for this year’s ComplexCon was announced on Friday (June 13) and it features two days of performances. Yeat & Friends will headline day one on Saturday, Oct. 25, with Peso Pluma and Central Cee also set to perform. […]
Shortly after attending the Stanley Cup Finals in Florida with Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift surprised patients at a children’s hospital in the Sunshine State on Friday (June 13). In photos and videos that have been surfacing on social media, the pop star — wearing a chic sage green dress — walks through the halls and […]
Reneé Rapp became a movie star in 2024 by starring as Regina George in the film version of Broadway’s Mean Girls — but according to the pop star, there’s another blonde character she’d never want to portray in a live action film.
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In an interview with Ziwe posted Thursday (June 12), Rapp was frank when asked whether she’d play Elsa in a live-action version of Disney’s animated film Frozen. “No,” the singer-actress replied. “I don’t like the braid and the blue dress.”
“Also, she’s kind of annoying to me,” Rapp added of the ice queen, laughing. “It’s OK, girl, just relax.”
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Frozen premiered in theaters in 2013, with stage legend Idina Menzel providing the original voice of Elsa — and earning a Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Let It Go” reaching No. 5 on the chart. The film was later adapted into a Broadway musical that debuted in 2017.
Mean Girls, Tina Fey’s 2004 comedy, became a hit Broadway show in 2018. Six years later, Rapp — who starred as Regina George on Broadway — adapted her role for the screen.
For the Mean Girls film, Rapp also released an original song titled “Not My Fault” featuring her now-friend Megan Thee Stallion. The singer has been vocal in her love for the rapper, including when it comes to Meg’s legal battle with Tory Lanez, who in 2023 was convicted of shooting her in the foot in 2020 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. “I love Megan Thee Stallion,” Rapp told Extra last year. “I love her. If anybody tries her when it comes to that sorry a– man, it’s a do or die fight for me.”
When Ziwe asked for Rapp’s opinion on recent reports that Lanez was stabbed in prison, the singer echoed her past sentiment. “I feel like a lot of people get stabbed, and that’s OK,” Rapp said. “Maybe we should be doing it more. Maybe we should be stabbing more.”
Rapp’s interview with Ziwe comes as the pop star is gearing up to release new album Bite Me on Aug. 1. The LP was preceded by edgy single “Leave Me Alone,” which she performed at the 2025 American Music Awards after it dropped in May.
The Sex Lives of College Girls alum last released an album in 2023, unveiling Snow Angel and reaching No. 44 on the Billboard 200.
Watch Rapp on Ziwe above.
Rodney Brown, drummer on 1967’s “Funky Broadway,” a Dyke & the Blazers classic and one of the first hit songs to use a variation on the word “funk” in its title, died May 17 of unknown causes in an unknown location. The lifelong Phoenix resident, who’d been the last surviving member of the band’s original lineup, was 78.
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Brown’s distinctive skipped-beat syncopation on “Funky Broadway,” a track covered by many artists, most notably Wilson Pickett with a Billboard Hot 100 No. 8 hit later that year, turned out to be influential. Clyde Stubblefield employed a similar technique on James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” released in 1970, which became a widely sampled breakbeat on numerous hip-hop classics.
“‘Funky Broadway’ started the funk beat that was heard around the world,” says Lucius Parr, a veteran Phoenix guitarist whose ’70s band, the Soul Keepers, featured Brown on drums. “‘Funky Broadway’ had a break where they gave Rodney this drumbeat solo — ‘wiggle your waist, baby, shake, shake, shake,’ all that stuff. It was just Dyke and the drummer.”
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The original “Funky Broadway” single, split into two pieces, with “Part 1” on the A-side of the single and “Part 2” on the B-side, peaked at No. 65 on the Hot 100 in August 1967, as well as No. 17 on the R&B chart (now the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart). The band’s independent label, Artco, struggled to break the song on the radio because programmers responded, “You can’t say ‘funk’ on the radio,” according to John P. Dixon, an Arizona music historian who helped found the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. DJs at white stations, at the time, associated the word with Black culture and avoided it: “It was just one of those words, they felt, as a rock ‘n’ roll radio station, they would have a hard time,” Dixon says. “People would get turned off by it.”
(Jazz tracks had used the word several times before “Funky Broadway,” including Horace Silver’s “Opus de Funk” in 1953, but these songs were never chart hits. Also, country singer and comedian Ray Stevens, who is white, had a No. 91 Hot 100 hit in 1966 with “Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band).”)
Pickett’s version had the effect of desegregating the word, but tragically, the Blazers were never able to fully capitalize on the song’s success: Frontman Arlester “Dyke” Christian was shot to death in Phoenix in 1971.
Influenced by James Brown and the Temptations, Rodney Brown first picked up drums after he was playing basketball in a park and happened to see a band playing nearby. His mother bought him a drum kit. Dyke & the Blazers’ saxophonist, Bernard Williams, invited him into the band, and his first gig with them was at a local Elks Club. “When we made the record, they gave me a drum solo,” Brown said in a 2004 interview for the Arizona Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. “I’d only been playing six months when we made ‘Funky Broadway.’”
After performing before large crowds on a 1967 tour — including a run at New York’s Apollo Theatre, where James Brown was in attendance, according to interviews with band members — the original lineup broke up. Christian convened a new version of the Blazers, which at one point included James Gadson, a prolific session drummer who appeared on songs by the Jackson 5, Paul McCartney, Herbie Hancock, Bill Withers and many others.
This Blazers iteration, including musicians who would go on to play with the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band and Earth, Wind & Fire, hit No. 4 on the R&B chart with “Let a Woman Be a Woman – Let a Man Be a Man” and No. 7 with “We Got More Soul,” both in 1969.
Rodney Brown played in bands sporadically after his Dyke & the Blazers experience. At the time of his death, he was working in real estate. “Funk started right here in the desert,” he said in 2004, “and we were part of the group that started it.”
