Music News
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A concert by popular Mexican corrido singer Luis R. Conriquez ended in chaos on Friday night (April 11) when the musician announced that his performance at the Feria del Caballo in the State of Mexico would not include narcocorridos due to a ban on expressions that glorify violence implemented in several municipalities in the central region of the country.
The singer was performing at a “palenque” (a more intimate format at popular fairs) in the municipality of Texcoco, featuring covers of other artists and his own songs, when the audience booed him because the setlist did not include some of his most famous corridos — several of which have been criticized for allegedly glorifying drug trafficking. Upset attendees began jeering, throwing punches, and causing damage at the venue.
“There are no corridos. What do we do? Should I just go home instead?” Conriquez is heard saying to the audience in videos of the moment before the chaos erupted, which are circulating on social media.
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Hours before the show, the musician had already warned his followers that narcocorridos would be removed from his setlist at the Texcoco Fair. “We’re entering a new phase, without corridos and all that. It feels bad not being able to sing what people want to hear, but we’re joining the cause of zero corridos and moving forward,” the singer said in an Instagram Story.
Although Conriquez tried to explain to the audience the reason for the absence of narcocorridos in the night’s repertoire, the angry crowd expressed their displeasure with boos and shouts and began throwing empty and drink-filled cups toward the stage, as can be seen in videos circulating on social media. In response to this reaction, Conriquez left the venue, which provoked a barrage of chairs and other objects.
“There are many people who don’t understand. They think we’re the ones setting the rules, but the truth is there won’t be any corridos at events from now on, for any artist, my people. Cheer up. I love you all. The people who truly support us will continue doing so, even if we’re playing bachata,” the Sonoran musician expressed in another Instagram Story hours before the show.
In Texcoco, along with two other municipalities in the State of Mexico (Metepec and Tejupilco), which neighbor the Mexican capital, expressions that glorify violence have been prohibited since April 9 following the implementation of a law targeting popular fairs and mass events, with sanctions of up to six months in prison, according to reports from newspaper Milenio.
So far, neither Texcoco authorities nor organizers of the Feria del Caballo have commented on the incident. Billboard Español has sent a requested for comment to Luis R Conriquez’s team but has not yet received a response.
The ban on narcocorridos in municipalities in the State of Mexico adds to similar measures in other regions of the country, following controversy sparked by the projection of images of a famous cartel leader at an auditorium of the University of Guadalajara in Jalisco on March 29 during a concert by the group Los Alegres del Barranco. This incident led to the U.S. revoking the work and tourist visas of the group’s members.
On Friday (April 11), the Jalisco government introduced a bill to reform the law against the glorification of crime in public or private performances. This initiative “empowers municipalities to regulate, and if necessary, prohibit and sanction musical groups that engage in any type of glorification of violence,” according to a post on X.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, through the Secretary of Culture of the Mexican Government, announced this week the binational contest México Canta (Mexico Sings), which seeks to encourage young artists — especially those in the trending genre of corridos tumbados — to create songs that don’t glorify violence or drugs.
Four people hospitalized after being rescued from the rubble of a roof collapse at a popular nightclub in the Dominican Republic died overnight, raising the death toll to 225, health officials said Saturday (April 12). Officials said 189 people were rescued alive from the rubble of the popular venue in the capital Santo Domingo. More […]
The upcoming remake of The Bodyguard has found its director. Grammy-nominated and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Sam Wrench, best known for directing the 2023 concert film Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, has been tapped to helm Warner Bros.’ reimagining of the iconic 1992 romantic thriller, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The original film famously starred Whitney […]
Benson Boone made a memorable Coachella debut on Friday (April 11), lighting up the main stage with surprise guest Brian May for a powerful rendition of Queen’s iconic 1975 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Wearing a white-and-blue outfit reminiscent of Freddie Mercury’s classic look, the 22-year-old singer delivered a high-energy set complete with his signature backflips. Midway through the performance, Boone sat at the piano to begin “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and moments later, May emerged dramatically from the top of the stage, guitar in hand, to join him.
The legendary Queen guitarist stuck around for Boone’s final song, “Beautiful Things,” adding signature Queen-style riffs to the emotional track, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2024.
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“It has changed my life this year and I hope you enjoy it,” Boon said prior to hit set, which was filled with fireworks and pyrotechnics.
May had teased the surprise appearance by posting a photo of himself and Boone on a plane headed to Palm Springs. “Look who I bumped into – on the way to the fabled Palm Springs,” May wrote on Instagram. “Maybe something will happen ?!”
Boone replied with a playful comment: “What are you doing with Pedro Pascal.” P!nk also joined in, commenting, “Perfect combo right here.”
During his set, Boone also announced that his second album, American Heart, is dropping on June 20. He premiered the title track and revealed the cover art, which shows him standing in front of an American flag.
Coachella’s opening day was packed with standout moments, including sets from Lady Gaga, Tyla, LISA, Mustard, and more. Catch Billboard’s full recap of day one here.
Coachella 2025 got off to both a literal and figurative hot start on Friday (April 11), with daytime temperatures in the desert hitting 100-degrees and a cavalcade of stars gracing the festival’s many stages. Among them were hip-hop legend Missy Elliott, South African star Tyla, pop queen LISA, rapper GloRilla and many others including Lady […]
Congratulations are in order — and overdue — for Mick Jagger and his longtime parter Melanie Hamrick, who are engaged.
Hamrick confirmed the news to Paris Match, revealing that the Rolling Stones frontman has been her fiancé for “two or three years.” On the topic of marriage, she shared, “Maybe one day we’ll marry, maybe not. We are so happy in our current life that I would be too afraid to change anything.”
Jagger and Hamrick, a former ballerina and choreographer at American Ballet Theatre, have been together since 2014. She says their love was a slow burn, as Jagger was still dating the late model L’Wren Scott when they met in Japan, where the Stones and the American Ballet Theatre were both touring at the time. “We didn’t even exchange phone numbers,” she recalled. “At the time, I wasn’t in a relationship, but he was.”
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The couple share eight-year-old son Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger, and the sweet boy is often featured on his mother’s Instagram account.
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Jagger has seven other children, welcoming his eldest daughter, Karis, 54, with actress Marsha Hunt in 1970. The year after, he married ex-wife Bianca Jagger and the couple welcomed their daughter Jade, 53. With his ex-wife Jerry Hall, Jagger shares four children — daughters Elizabeth, 41, and Georgia May, 33, as well as sons James, 39, and Gabriel, 27. He also shares son Lucas, 25, with model Luciana Morad Gimenez.
Starting early Thursday morning (April 10), Coachella campers arriving a day early to set up their campsites and attend the festival’s first-ever Day Zero dance party took to social media to post troubling dispatches about long lines and a lack of bathrooms or shade as they waited for hours to get in. According to sources close to the festival, the likely culprits for the traffic jam were two small changes at the festival’s popular car camping ground.
The first change was that the campgrounds began letting people in on Thursday at 9 a.m. this year, which is later than in past years, according to sources and fans posting on social media. The second was the festival’s launch of a preferred campsite program for the campground closest to the festival entrance.
On its website, Coachella describes the Preferred Front Row Car campground as an upgraded experience where attendees can “arrive at your leisure in a guaranteed spot in the front row of the lot closest to the venue.” The cost for a preferred car campsite is $462.17, while the cost for a regular car campsite is $179.37.
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Administering the new preferred campsite program, which replaced the traditional first-come, first-served system with a reservation-based system, took a little more time per camper to manage, sources tell Billboard — and that extra few minutes per camper quickly mushroomed into extra hours as the day wore on.
Slowing things down even more was that many diehard fans arrived as early as 2 a.m. to get first crack at the best campsites in the general camping area. On social media sites like Reddit and TikTok, some fans have claimed that Goldenvoice opened access to the camping area as early as 3 a.m., with many sharing tips on when to arrive; sources close to the festival say the festival sometimes opened as early as 6 a.m. The official entry time for the campgrounds in both 2024 and 2025 was listed as 9 a.m.
Whatever the case, the decision to open the campground no earlier than 9 a.m. this year created a large backlog of fans who had to wait hours to go through the festival’s check-in process, which often includes a security screening for all campers.
The changes caused frustrating delays for fans as they waited in their cars for hours to get in, sitting in the hot desert sun with temperatures peaking at 100 degrees and no options for shade or public bathrooms.
There was a small silver lining to this year’s changes that many fans embraced. For the first time in Coachella’s 25-year history, organizers added a live performance on the opening Thursday of the festival, known in Coachella fan parlance as Zero Day. For some fans, the hours-long set by veteran electronic artist Chris Lake helped balance out the difficult start to the day.
“[The traffic jam] doesn’t take away from this,” one festival goer told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s in the past. We’re about to see the G.O.A.T. and we’re living in the present now. It’s all right.”
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As artificial intelligence continues to blur the lines of creativity in music, South Korea’s largest music copyright organization, KOMCA (Korea Music Copyright Association), is drawing a hard line: No AI-created compositions will be accepted for registration. The controversial decision took effect on March 24, sending ripples through Korea’s music scene and sparking broader conversations about AI’s role in global songwriting.
In an official statement on its website, KOMCA explained that due to the lack of legal frameworks and clear management guidelines for AI-generated content, it will suspend the registration of any works involving AI in the creative process. This includes any track where AI was used — even in part — to compose, write lyrics or contribute melodically.
Now, every new registration must be accompanied by an explicit self-declaration confirming that no AI was involved at any stage of the song’s creation. This declaration is made by checking a box on the required registration form — a step that carries significant legal and financial consequences if false information is declared. False declarations could lead to delayed royalty payments, complete removal of songs from the registry, and even civil or criminal liability.
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“KOMCA only recognizes songs that are wholly the result of human creativity,” the association said, noting that even a 1% contribution from AI makes a song ineligible for registration. “Until there is clear legislation or regulatory guidance, this is a precautionary administrative policy.”
The non-profit organization represents over 30,000 members, including songwriters, lyricists, and publishers, and oversees copyright for more than 3.7 million works from artists like PSY, BTS, EXO and Super Junior.
Importantly, the policy applies to the composition and lyric-writing stages of song creation, not necessarily the production or recording phase. That means high-profile K-pop companies like HYBE, which have used AI to generate multilingual vocal lines for existing songs, are not directly affected — at least not yet.
While South Korea’s government policy allows for partial copyright protection when human creativity is involved, KOMCA’s stance is notably stricter, requiring a total absence of AI involvement for a song to be protected.
This move comes amid growing international debate over the copyrightability of AI-generated art. In the U.S., a federal appeals court recently upheld a lower court’s decision to reject copyright registration for a work created entirely by an AI system called Creativity Machine. The U.S. Copyright Office maintains that only works with “human authorship” are eligible for protection, though it allows for copyright in cases where AI is used as a tool under human direction.
“Allowing copyright for machine-determined creative elements could undermine the constitutional purpose of copyright law,” U.S. Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter said.
With AI tools becoming increasingly sophisticated — and accessible — KOMCA’s policy underscores a growing tension within the global music industry: Where do we draw the line between assistance and authorship?
This article originally appeared on Billboard Korea.