News
Page: 215
A federal judge is refusing to dismiss a civil lawsuit accusing electronic producer Bassnectar of sexually abusing three underage girls, sending the long-running case to a jury trial.
In a ruling Thursday (Dec. 6), Judge Aleta Trauger dismissed some aspects of the case but said that the overall lawsuit against the DJ (whose real name is Lorin Ashton) would be resolved by a jury of his peers. A trial is currently scheduled for February.
Attorneys for Bassnectar had made various arguments for why the case should be tossed out, including that he hadn’t known how old the accusers were and that they had lied about their ages. But in her order, Judge Trauger was unswayed.
Ruling on claims made by plaintiff Jenna Houston, the judge noted that she was “only sixteen” when they met and that Ashton was “obviously able to observe her in person,” meaning a jury could find that he had “recklessly disregarded the fact that Houston was underage during the first thirteen months of their sexual relationship.”
The judge cited deposition testimony from Ashton — in which he agreed that Houston “does not look like she’s 19 years old” in an old photo she allegedly emailed him, but later also said she looked “like 19, 20, 21” when they first met.
“A jury must resolve the question of whether Ashton deliberately disregarded obvious facts from which he should have known that Houston was still a minor when they met,” the judge wrote. “A reasonable jury could believe — based on photographs of Houston taken at or around the time she met Ashton and Ashton’s confusing testimony when he was confronted with such photos — that no reasonable person would have believed she was eighteen or older.”
Thursday’s order came more than three years after the three women — Rachel Ramsbottom, Alexis Bowling and Houston — filed their lawsuit, accusing Ashton of using his “power and influence to groom and ultimately sexually victimize underage girls.”
The lawsuit, which accuses Ashton of sex trafficking, child pornography and negligence, claims that the star would invite minors to his shows, bring them to a hotel room and provide “large sums of cash and other items of value” in exchange for sex.
In her ruling Thursday, Judge Trauger tossed out certain elements of those allegations. She ruled that Ramsbottom in particular had failed to show that she received any payments after she turned 18 — meaning she could not accuse him of sex trafficking after that point. And she rejected claims that the DJ had used “force, fraud or coercion” on any of his alleged victims.
“The psychological force she alleges he exerted over her amounts to nothing other than a desire to please a famous man she clearly admired and whose approval she sought,” the judge wrote of Bowling’s accusations.
Ditto for Houston: “The conduct she identifies as coercive — conduct that allegedly manipulated her into loving and trusting him, making her afraid to do anything that would cause her to lose his affection — does not qualify,” the judge wrote. “Heartbreak is simply not the form of harm envisioned by the sex-trafficking statute.”
But the ruling still leaves Ashton facing most of the lawsuit’s allegations, including claims that he had sex trafficked them as minors by paying them in return for sex. The DJ’s attorneys strongly deny that anything given to the women was a payment, but the judge said a jury might see otherwise.
“There is a question of fact as to whether the ‘travel money,’ free concert tickets, and free airfare Houston received from Ashton were causally related to Ashton’s allegedly enticing Houston to have sex with him and to provide her the means of traveling to see him again while she was underage in order to have sex,” the judge wrote.
In a statement to Billboard on Friday, the lead attorney for the accusers, M. Stewart Ryan, said: “Our clients are very happy that the Court agreed with us that this case must be heard by a jury. Rachel, Alexis, and Jenna all look forward to their day in court, yet another step on their journey to justice in this case.”
Representatives for Ashton did not immediately return requests for comment on Friday.
UPDATE: This story was updated at 2:03 pm EST on Dec. 6 with a statement from an attorney for the plaintiffs.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Many people tend to forget that British music star M.I.A. was signed to Roc Nation back in 2012. Alhough the relationship dissolved just two years later, M.I.A.’s interaction with Roc Nation boss Jay-Z seems to have left quite an impression on her.
On Friday (Nov. 29), the “Paper Planes” artist took to Instagram Live to spill some disturbing beans about what Jay-Z asked of her when she put her John Hancock on that Roc Nation contract and revealed that Hova actually implored her to get some plastic surgery done.
Word?!
Dispelling any notion that she would need plastic surgery to get over any insecurity she may have, M.I.A. explained why she rebuffed the request saying, “Even when I met Jay-Z and signed to Roc Nation the first thing he told me to do was get plastic surgery. I’m not insecure because I would have got plastic surgery. So their argument of ‘Maya’s f-cking insecure, that’s why she needs to f*cking massage her ego,’ fails. Fails. Because you turn around and ask the mutha*cka – what women do you know who hasn’t had plastic surgery around you? All of them have. I’m the only one who didn’t, which already proves the fact it’s not insecurity.”
We can’t be mad at that at all. If the woman doesn’t want any work done on herself she shouldn’t have any work done even at the behest of her boss.
Continuing to explain herself, M.I.A. said, “Because if I was insecure I would have done that 100 times over. Even when I met Jay-Z and I signed to Roc Nation, the first thing he told me to do is get plastic surgery and I didn’t because it’s okay. Guess what, I’m 50. And I’m totally fine with the fact I am because, yeah, I f*cking took off when I was 30. It took 10 more f-cking years than any other f-cker because I was the first and I was the new. I was making something interesting happen that wasn’t f*cking happening before.”
Well, y’all can expect social media to be disgusted and begin to start going at Hov for trying to get M.I.A. to make some enhancements to herself. That being said, good for her for standing her ground and refusing the request.
According to MadameNoire, the relationship between herself and Roc Nation soured just two years after signing with them in 2012, and from the sound of it, it seems like M.I.A. not playing ball with them might’ve been the reason.
Per MadameNoire:
One of the first major issues was regarding a documentary that was about her. Roc Nation continued to delay the promotion for it and frustrations grew. The director of the project, Steve Loveridge, leaked the trailer for it, which Interscope immediately took down. This led to Loveridge quitting the project.
That next month, M.I.A. threatened to leak Matangi if Interscope wouldn’t stop delaying it and give it a release date.
The 50-year-old explained the reasons behind the delay of her fourth album, originally scheduled for release in December 2012.
According to Fader, in January 2013, months before her warnings, she told Gold Coast Bulletin about her label’s concerns with the project.
“I thought I’d finished it. I finished it and then I handed the record in, like a couple of months ago,” she said. “At the moment, I’ve been told it’s too positive. So we’re having a bit of an issue at the label. They’re like, ‘You need to like darken it up a bit’. I don’t know what it is but as soon as I work that out. I’m taking my time to decide what they mean. It’s an interesting one for me. It’s like ‘We just built you up as the public enemy No. 1 and now you’re coming out with all this positive stuff.’”
M.I.A. ultimately bounced before the end of 2013.
Check out M.I.A. talk about her situation at Roc Nation below, and let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Angela Alvarez, the Cuban singer-songwriter who made history in 2022 by winning the Latin Grammy for best new artist as a nonagenarian, died Thursday night (Dec. 5), her grandson, composer and producer Carlos José Alvarez, informed Billboard Español. She was 97.
She passed away peacefully in Baton Rouge, La., surrounded by her family and loved ones, added the musician, who produced her 15-track self-titled debut album, released independently (via Nana Album LLC) in June 2021. A cause of death was not provided.
“I feel so lucky to have shared our grandmother with the world. She was a gift to me,” Carlos José said. “What we accomplished together was extraordinary. She is an example of courage, love and the importance of keeping dreams alive. She taught us how art can heal in times of adversity.”
Trending on Billboard
He added: “Being able to work with her changed my life. The gift I thought I was giving her, was actually a gift she gave to me and in turn the world. She always said, ‘I want to leave this world knowing my music would live on,’ and it will. Her life was full and her legacy shines on.”
Born on June 13, 1927, in Camagüey, Cuba, Angela Alvarez learned to sing and play the piano early on, and later took on the guitar and started writing her own songs. “I loved music very much,” she told Billboard Español in November 2022 from Baton Rouge, where the work of her husband, a mechanical engineer in the sugar industry, took her decades ago. “When I was a child, I had two aunts that played the piano and taught me how to sing. Whenever there was a family gathering, I was the artist; they made dresses for me and I always liked to perform.”
She came to consider music as a profession after finishing high school, but neither her father — nor her husband, years later — found that kind of life suitable for her. So she moved on with her life. Music, nevertheless, was always there for her, as it helped her cope with the ups and downs of life: from love and motherhood to a near-two-year separation from her children after the Cuban Revolution triumph, when she was supposed to travel to the U.S. with them but was not allowed to board the plane; to her relentless efforts to reunite her family and the eventual loss of her beloved husband and, years later, of her only daughter — both to cancer.
“I think that music is the language of the soul,” Alvarez said in the same interview with Billboard, estimating at the time that she had written around 50 songs, including “Romper el Yugo” (“Break the Chains”), “Añoranzas” (“Yearnings”), “Mi Gran Amor” (“My Great Love”) and “Camino Sin Rumbo” (“I Wonder Aimlessly”), all included in that first and only album that led to her improbable nomination for best new artist and her eventual victory — in a tie with Silvana Estrada, who was 70 years younger.
Angela not only impressed the Latin Recording Academy and its voting members. During the album’s recording process, her grandson invited Andy García to listen to her songs, and the Cuban-American actor and musician not only ended up executive producing and narrating a documentary about her titled Miss Angela, but also invited her to appear in his remake of Father of the Bride as Tía Pili and sing “Quiéreme Mucho” as part of the soundtrack.
Angela Alvarez is survived by three children (her only daughter died years ago), nine grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Kyle Denis, Trevor Anderson, Carl Lamarre and Damien Scott discuss Kendrick Lamar’s GNX chart takeover, along with their initial reactions to the surprise drop, Drake’s legal battle with UMG over “Not Like Us,” J. Cole’s Inevitable podcast series and his 10-year anniversary show at MSG for Forest Hill Drive.
Carl Lamarre:I think his run this year is probably comparable to what we see maybe from like an ‘08 Wayne, an ‘03 50, a 2018 Drake.
Kyle Denis:I don’t like this arriving during, you know, GNX week, it’s like … it’s a little bit pathetic.
Trevor Anderson:Oh I already know I love this. I just haven’t had access to it and you mean to tell me it’s right here, you know, on the app that I already use. Like, let’s go, let’s download it, let’s play it.
Carl Lamarre: Before the break, Compton superstar Kendrick Lamar did a surprise drop. Now I’m here to talk about it with you guys. GNX, his sixth studio album, 12 tracks, featuring SZA, a slew of up-and-coming L.A. rappers. The project came No. 1 on the 200, 319 album equivalent units, seven records in the top 10 of the Hot 100. He’s occupying the top five, No. 1 with “Squabble Up.” Mr. Lamar is back in full force, gentlemen. How do we feel about this album?
Damien Scott:Fire, in a word.
Carl Lamarre:Fire?
Damien Scott: Fire. Also, just straightforward rap. You know, just like … I know that PG, Dave and Kendrick love to be subversive, they love to just do what everyone is not expecting them to do, and I think this album is a great example of that. Every Kendrick album is like a grand affair. It has this big, huge meaning that has to get worked through.
Keep watching for more!
Despite stiff competition from a pair of festive classics, Gracie Abrams’ breakout single “That’s So True” has landed a fifth week at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart. Earlier this week, Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” – which was recently remixed for its 40th anniversary – was on course to take […]
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department has notched its ninth non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the U.K. Albums Chart (Dec. 6). The achievement comes following the release of Swift’s Anthology edition on Nov. 29, which includes all 31 songs and acoustic versions on physical formats and streaming. The Official Charts Company reports that 79% […]
For K-pop girl group TWICE, the second go-round with Megan Thee Stallion is definitely two times dope. The nine-member group dropped their new seven-track mini-album Strategy on Friday (Dec. 6), along with the video for the title track featuring their latest collaboration with the “Hot Girl” rapper.
The brightly colored clip for the bouncy pop bop features members Jihyo, Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu striking sultry poses all around the city as they count down the step-by-step process of catching the eye of a love interest.
“Step one, do my highlight/ Make me shine so bright in the moonlight/ Step two, silhouette tight/ Baby, even my shadow looks good, right/ Step three, when I arrive/ Make you look my way with your heart eyes/ Step four, got you on the floor,” Chaeyoung, Mina, Dahyun and Sana sing as they pose and dance their way through shooting ranges and candy-colored downtown streets before the Houston rapper pops in for some real talk.
Trending on Billboard
“Do you like that?/ When I smack it and you watch it bounce it right back?/ He really lost it when he saw me do the right, left/ I’m a man eater, you just a light snack/ I got him pressed like he’s workin’ on his triceps,” Meg raps from a rooftop before she joins the rest of the crew to share more advice on her slam-dunk love attack strategy.
The JYP Entertainment group spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the follow-up to their appearance on the remix of Megan’s hit “Mamushi,” explaining why the MC’s persona fits their vibe.
“She has a powerful, strong image. We were wondering, would that fit in with our style of music and our image?” Jeongyeon told the magazine. “Once we recorded, we thought we actually fit really well, a lot better than we imagined. I feel like Megan’s style really enhanced our part of the music. When we were shooting the music video, Megan really wanted to learn Korean, so she kept saying like, ‘귀여운,’ which means cute. That ‘you’re very cute’ or ‘that’s really cute.’ She did a lot of Korean-style jokes and those hand hearts that Koreans do a lot to break the ice.”
The bubbly “Strategy”clip is also TWICE’s first to feature another artist, with Tzuyu saying the group’s members were initially “quite shy” about bringing Meg in because “she’s so famous and well-known… [but] Megan really tried a lot to break the ice. She kept trying to learn Korean and make jokes and just kept saying, ‘Let’s just have fun together.’ I feel like the music video turned out very well.”
Watch the “Strategy” video below.
Tired of seeing Taylor Swift fans lose out in the great war against Ticketmaster and StubHub, Swifties Courtney Johnston, Angel Richards, and Channette Garay came together to create an X account, known as ErasTourResell, to help broker Eras Tour ticket resales between buyers and sellers.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
They’ve made sure fans get access to tickets for face value or less, rather than at multiples of face value sold on other resale sites. All buyers and sellers need to do is fill out a form and the ErasTourResell team tackles the rest.
In the beginning, buyers would express interest via direct messages or replies, but with over 330,000 followers it quickly became unmanageable. Buyers now fill out a form and a random generator selects who gets the tickets. The tickets have been verified by the team who ask for a screen recording as well as the ticket confirmation to be forwarded to their email — a reluctance to do this is one of the biggest tells someone isn’t legit, Garay says.
Trending on Billboard
Despite being located on opposite sides of the country — Johnston in California and Richards and Garay in Connecticut — they have been connected digitally through the fandom for years. Using their knowledge of Taylor Swift they can tell when someone is and isn’t a fan, Johnston says.
“We’ve been doing it so long, it’s easy to spot these little things other people probably would think of,” she added. And even if something looks a tiny bit off, they will triple check the seller’s details, Garay says.
Though many ticket touts and scammers prowl social media, so far, no fans have been scammed using this system, which has played a part in the account gaining trust within the community, Richards says. Their receipts are the success stories that fill their page on show days.
“There was a woman who is a breast cancer survivor and she was like, ‘I just beat breast cancer and I really want to celebrate this moment,’” Richards says. “She lives in New York and we posted a ticket for London. She was like, ‘I will fly out today, I just really want to do this.’ So she did, she got the ticket. She flew out that day, sent us pictures.”
“She’ll still message us sometimes just saying how grateful she was.”
ErasTourResell is just one of several fan-led accounts that has been making the Eras Tour more accessible over the past two years. Regardless of where Swifties are in the world, and whether they had tickets or not, they have been able to follow Taylor Swift’s every move as she goes from state to state and country to country via glitchy livestreams, Reddit megathreads, and social media alerts. They’ve even been one step ahead, placing bets on her next move through the fan-created Mastermind game.
The Eras Tour has been a “powder keg” moment within the fandom, says Georgia Carroll, a sociologist who focuses on fan culture and wrote her thesis on the superstar.
There was an unprecedented hunger from fans, old and new, to hear Taylor Swift’s music live – since she had three untoured albums from the pandemic period and then released several Taylor’s Versions re-recordings as well as Midnights in 2021-22, Carroll says. With this immense hunger came an imbalance of supply and demand for tickets around the world. The fandom stepped in with active service, in the form of livestreams, updates and games, to show “it doesn’t matter if you don’t get to be at the stadium or the arena or whatever — we can still come together and have fun and enjoy this,” she added.
This engagement from fans hasn’t come out of nowhere. The relationship of fans receiving a deeper and more revelatory Taylor Swift experience in exchange for engaging with her work in a scrupulous, detail-oriented fashion has been seeded from the very beginning — even in her earliest album where she was already encoding secret notes in her liner notes, says Paula Harper, a musicologist at the University of Chicago who is co-editing an academic book on Taylor Swift.
“It may feel like it’s been relatively fast stardom, but this has been 20 plus years in the making,” says Mary Lauren Teague, an assistant professor of music business at Belmont University. “She’s always prioritized her fans and in exchange she’s seeing how that pays off.”
What is keeping fans hooked on this seemingly “unending” tour is the small pockets of variation that exist, which fans can latch on to in an almost gamified way, Harper says.
“What are the surprise songs going to be? … Are there going to be new outfits?”
This weekend will be the last time Swifties uncover Eras Tour Easter eggs as the tour comes to an end in Vancouver, Canada. The fans who run livestream accounts are expecting some of their biggest viewership figures.
Ammir Shah, a 25-year-old Youtuber who livestreams from the U.K. and has over 81,000 subscribers, is expecting his viewership figures to increase by around 25% for the final night as people tune in to see what surprises Swift has up her sleeves.
Tess Bohne, the 33-year-old “livestream queen” from Utah, saw her average surprise song viewership figures of 100,000-200,000 spike to around 318,000 on Nov. 26, 2023, the end of the first leg of the tour. She isn’t expecting as high a spike for closing night because more streamers are now in the game.
Bohne and Shah operate like DJs curating the Eras Tour livestreams that fans post on social media to create the best possible viewing experience at home. As one the first accounts to do this, Bohne recognized a gap in the market because it could be hard to find consistently good streams on social media.
“I learned that it wasn’t just me who had gone to a show who wanted more,” says Bohne .
“I also learned how many people were like, ‘I’m in a country where it’s too far for me to travel, I’m not able to do this’ and how many people due to different mental or physical illnesses were unable to go to concerts too and just how grateful they all were to have something where they’re able to enjoy [remotely watching] the concert,” she added.
However, being a streamer on the ground is not for the faint-hearted. They need to be prepared with multiple battery packs and comfortable pointing a phone for three plus hours — sometimes in tight quarters — while it consumes enormous amounts of data and power. Fans used a record 5.58 Terabytes (TB) of data at one night of Taylor Swift’s dates at Wembley Arena in London, which was the most mobile data ever used at a standalone show at Wembley, and the equivalent of streaming her music catalog 4,500 times.
To manage switching between different streamers, Bohne has a setup of two monitors — one for her TikTok stream and another to search for backup streamers. She also remotely controls a separate computer in her house which forwards the TikTok feed onto her Instagram and YouTube accounts. On an iPad she’s streaming “The Break Room,” which is a behind-the-scenes space where Bohne can talk with fans.
“There are people who are confused [by the livestreams], but I’ve really related it to sports,” Bohne says. “This is our favorite athlete and we’re watching them perform.”
Swifties even have a sports betting equivalent in Swift Alert, an app founded by Kyle Mumma, a 34-year-old product manager from North Carolina. The idea for the app emerged when Mumma noticed livestream chats continually filling with questions about the tour.
The app — managed by Mumma, his wife, and a friend based in Minnesota — alerts fans to key moments each night and enables them to play Mastermind, a game where fans can make predictions about each era’s outfit and the surprise songs for each show and compete against each other for bragging rights and even prizes, often a package of signed Taylor Swift vinyls, CDs, and merch items.
“It is a lot of work,” Mumma says. “We watch every show … We’re entering Mastermind answers. We’re updating the song tracker. We’re sending out the alerts in real time. We learned pretty early on that she’s going to — with no warning — pop out in a new Speak Now dress and we’ve got to be ready to send that new outfit alert. There’s no way to automate it.”
It’s even more work for the team when Swift is on the opposite side of the world, and they are juggling lack of sleep and full-time remote jobs. But the sleep deprivation is worth it based on impact alone, Mumma says.
“We’ve heard from a lot of people who have basically said, ‘The first few months of the tour, I was really sad knowing that I was not going to get to ever go,’” Mumma says. “‘And since the introduction of Mastermind and Swift Alert and this community that’s built around it, it’s felt like I’ve gotten to be a part of the tour even though I haven’t gotten to attend.’”
Better accessibility from tools, such as the livestreams and Swift Alert, hasn’t taken anything away from the tour itself. Last week fans were still competing for $15 CAD “listening-only” tickets for the closing nights. These tools are really a “win-win-win” for Swift, says music business professor Teague.
“It’s free publicity and marketing for the artist,” Teague says, “And it’s also not taking away from the ticket sales, because Taylor Swift has sold out this tour. It’s not like fans were saying, ‘Oh I was going to buy a ticket, but instead I changed my mind and decided to do the livestream.’”
Swift Alert launched in Tokyo to a few thousand users — a “blessing in disguise” since they were still ironing out technical glitches — and now daily active users, on show days, sits between 350,000 and 400,000.
With a live show, there’s no practice runs and issues need to be worked out on the fly. The highest-stakes moment is always the surprise songs — two non-setlist songs selected from Taylor Swift’s 11-album back catalog. Viewership will peak when the surprise songs come on and drop off after, Bohne says. The priority is finding the most consistent streamer for that moment because it’s what fans are waiting for, Shah says.
Not every artist could pull off the surprise songs the way Taylor Swift does, says musicologist Harper. Swift benefits from her sizable back catalog and her fans enthusiastically memorizing that entire back catalog, a behavior typically seen in more “masculine-coded genres” such as rock, she added.
“Fans are engaging with [her back catalog] in these very, very particular ways that are decently off-norm for the genre-situated and identity-situated performer that she is,” Harper says.
The mashups — a combination of multiple songs during the surprise song set — are now a huge part of the tour, despite being introduced during the Asia leg.
“She’s very, very clever as to how she’s keeping people’s attention and keeping so many people interested all of these months into the tour,” says Carroll.
Posts about surprise songs gain the most engagement for tswifteratour — an anonymous X account that posts Eras Tour updates to over 800,000 followers. However, the account’s most memorable moment came from when they let their guard down in September last year.
“I actually woke up late because no one knew she was going to attend that [Kansas City Chiefs] game,” says the 20-year-old Singaporean who runs the account. “I thought, ‘Oh what is something interesting that I can tweet so it doesn’t look like I missed out on everything.’”
“There’s this picture, let me just crop it and post she’s eating chicken and ketchup and seemingly ranch.”
“Seemingly ranch” took the internet by storm, putting a huge spotlight on the account. After the tweet, brands raced to capitalize on the moment, with many companies and news outlets contacting the account for comment and partnerships. Heinz launched a limited-edition version of “Ketchup and Seemingly Ranch” sauce — which they sent over 10 bottles of to tswifteratour’s house — while the Empire State Building was lit up in “seemingly ranch” colours. It’s also now frequently listed on the menus of stadiums hosting the Eras Tour.
“Other tweets I’m planning them out, I have them in my drafts … and all those tweets don’t do as well. This random tweet about ranch changes my life.”
Tswifterastour nabbed the username on the day the tour was announced. They haven’t been too worried about Swift’s team shutting them down since they’ve received plenty of interactions from Taylor Nation, a social media account linked to Swift’s team. “That was a big relief,” says the account holder.
Shah was also worried about how Swift’s team would react, but noticed that Taylor Nation had reposted content with people dancing and singing along with his stream in the background. “I felt a bit of ease and I was like if they’ve done that then they obviously know what’s on the screen behind the person,” he says. Mumma believes there’s been a conscious choice made by their team to let them provide this value to the fan base.
The times that Taylor Swift has gotten litigious in her career, it has most frequently been exercised against other powerful entities rather than fans, musicologist Harper says.
Swift is no longer signed to a traditional record deal where she is required to make music exclusively for a label, says music business professor Teague. If she had been signed to a label then those entities might not have liked it because it takes money out of their pockets, she added.
“There would have been some cost benefit analysis undertaken when the livestream first popped up,” Carroll says. “But they would have realized, ‘Oh, hey, this is a lot more eyeballs on you. This is a lot more people talking about you. This is a lot more attention. They’re working for you. Just let it be.’”
Ultimately it’s a form of marketing for Swift, getting her more attention, increasing demand, and eventually leading to more money for her, Carroll says. Swift could in theory bring some of these tools in-house, but it would be a fine line to walk.
“There’s an argument to be made that it would be great if we saw more professional livestreams for accessibility purposes,” Carroll says. “ … But I don’t think it would have the magic. It would be a more corporate experience, versus the grainy livestream on TikTok with 100,000 other fans who are there for the love of it.”
While these fans may be indirectly bolstering Taylor Swift’s earnings, none are earning a profit, nor did they really intend to — many only switched on donations at the urging of supporters. Any donations made on show days were below minimum wage, says Bohne, who relies on brand sponsorships these days. The ErasTourResell team says their donations were often nice little bonus moments like “a $25 Starbucks gift card for the three of us.”
“It has not been enough to go pay each of us salaries — other than our engineer,” says Mumma, who charges $1.99 for the premium version of Swift Alert. “It’s something that we’ve done for the experience and the fun, and not because it allows me to go buy a new house.”
These tools have been a way for fandom to cope with the phenomenon of Post-Eras Tour Depression, a feeling of loss that fans experience after attending the concert — and a feeling they will have to reckon with all over again as the entire tour comes to a close.
“It’s going to be a bit of a shock to the fandom system when it ends, because there’s always been another livestream and another leg of the tour and another something to look forward to,” says Carroll.
Mumma still sees a future for Swift Alert even as this era comes to an end. The ability to send push notifications to 1.5 million users is a huge benefit for artists in a time when it’s difficult to cut through the noise on social media and he wants to explore this further. He already rolled out Sabrina Alert, providing updates on pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour. Several of the livestreamers and X accounts also intend to continue in some capacity, but likely with a more casual approach going forward.
“It scares me for what’s gonna happen after these last shows,” Bohne says. “Back to the sports metaphor, it’s almost like your favorite sports team is still there, but you don’t know when they’re gonna play the next game … it’s definitely gonna leave a huge hole.”
Taylor Swift could tide the fan base over by announcing surprises this closing weekend. Fans are speculating she could announce one of her remaining re-recordings or a documentary during the final shows. On the closing night of the European leg she released the “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart” music video minutes after the show ended.
“I feel like in this fandom, it’s ‘expect the unexpected,’” Richards says. Mumma doubts Swift would let the tour end without announcing something, but “if one thing is true, I’ve been wrong about Taylor Swift a lot, my Mastermind score will confirm that.”
One thing that is for certain is there will be a global Swiftie Post-Eras Tour depression, Carroll says.
“Taylor is the star of the Eras Tour, it’s her show,” she says. “But it’s the fans who have really made it what it has become.”
Fifteen days after Shakira announced that she would give away her 2022 purple Lamborghini Urus, the winner was announced on Friday (Dec. 6) on Univision’s morning show Despierta América.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The lucky one was Michael Mejia, who won for his creative video in which his drawing of Shakira comes to life to the beat of “Soltera.” “We did it! We did it! We did it!” Mejia chants in a new Instagram post celebrating his victory. On his account bio, he describes himself as an artist who also designed Fariana’s latest album cover, according to a post on his Instagram account.
Shakira also shared the news on her Instagram Stories.
Trending on Billboard
The contest — in partnership with Univision and in support of her latest single “Soltera” — was launched on Shakira’s Instagram Nov. 20. “A promise is a promise! I confirm! I’m going to give my car to someone who really wants to have it and enjoy new unforgettable moments with the people I love the most,” the Colombian singer captioned a set of photos in which she’s posing with her customized purple vehicle.
To participate, fans had to upload their dance to “Soltera” on Instagram and TikTok with the hashtag #ElCarroDeShakira by Nov. 29. Shakira then selected five finalists who were voted on by the public on Dec. 5. The contest applied only for U.S. residents who are 18 years or older.
“This car was a gift to myself as I began my single life, but I realized that what truly matters is human connection,” Shakira said in a press statement when the contest was announced. “The car, the clothes, the material things — they don’t transform us. It’s the people we love and the connections we build that truly make a difference.”
“Soltera,” a tropical-pop fusion with notes of Kizomba and Calypso rhythms, encapsulates the pleasures of being single. The song earned the Colombian superstar her 25th No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay in October, also putting her in a tie with Enrique Iglesias for the most rulers among all acts, a record the latter has held since 2000.
Shakira is getting ready for her 2025 Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, a stadiums and arenas trek produced by Live Nation. The North America dates kick off May 13 in Charlotte, N.C., at Bank of America Stadium, followed by a show at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., along with stops Boston, Miami, Las Vegas and more major cities before wrapping up June 30 in San Francisco at Oracle Park.
See Michael Mejia’s winning entry below:
Swifties are trying to get last-minute tickets as Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour heads to Vancouver tonight (Dec. 6) – but resellers are beating them to the punch.
With demand sky-high for the final shows on the massively popular Eras Tour, Taylor Swift released a batch of unique ‘no view’ tickets (which offer fans a view of the screens beside the stage but not the stage itself) for her three upcoming Vancouver dates this week at just $16.50 per ticket.
As Swifties rushed to Ticketmaster to wait in large queues for the chance to hear (but not see) their favourite star, resellers were scooping up the cheap tickets.
Trending on Billboard
Before they knew it, the Ticketmaster drop had ended and many of the ‘no view’ tickets were now on StubHub – for thousands of dollars, as fans posted on social media.
Some lucky fans did manage to score the no-view tickets. But the massive resale markups of $16.50 tickets are another indicator of just how hard it is for actual Taylor Swift fans to get into the Eras Tour.
Many fans have gone through several rounds of attempts at securing tickets through Ticketmaster or ticket giveaways, spending hours waiting in queues and scouring social media for ticket tips.
Meanwhile, Vancouver is preparing for its Taylor Swift era, altering a local sign to read: Swiftcouver.
The Eras Tour concludes in Vancouver with three performances December 6-8, 2024.
[more]
Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ Debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart
Kendrick Lamar has claimed a new No. 1 album in the home country of his biggest rival.
GNX, K-Dot’s surprise sixth studio release, arrives in the top spot on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart, dated December 7.
But unlike in the U.S., Lamar didn’t manage to hit No. 1 on the Canadian Hot 100.
Gracie Abrams holds onto that spot with “That’s So True” for the second week as the Eras Tour (where she’s performing as Taylor Swift’s opening act) rolls into Vancouver this week from Dec. 6-8.
Kendrick Lamar is still well represented at the top of the Canadian Hot 100, though. His sleek slow jam “Luther” featuring SZA is at No. 2, and “Squabble Up” – which claimed the No. 1 spot south of the border – is at No. 3.
Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” meanwhile, drops to No. 5, indicating his record-setting run might really be done.
Those are strong numbers for Kendrick Lamar in Drake’s home country, even if the Compton rapper hasn’t hit the same highs as in the U.S. just yet.
Lamar will be taking his GNX on the road next year on the Grand National tour, with two Canadian date in Drake’s hometown, at the Rogers Centre stadium on June 12 and 13 with SZA.
[more]
Les Cowboys Fringants, Charlotte Cardin Most Streamed Québécois Artists on Spotify in Canada in 2024
As individual Spotify Wrapped graphics take over social media feeds, the streaming giant has shared some insightful Canadian Wrapped data.
Spotify shared the top Québécois artists streamed in Canada, with rock group Les Cowboys Fringants taking the top spot, followed by Charlotte Cardin and Céline Dion.
Les Cowboys were very active this year following the 2023 death of frontman Karl Tremblay and the outpouring of support from Quebec fans showing their immense influence in the province. The new full-length Pub Royal debuted at No. 3 on the Canadian Albums chart. The group also won big at the ADISQ Awards, taking home wins for Author or Composer of the Year and Song of the Year.
Charlotte Cardin in No. 2 comes as no surprise, given the pop singer-songwriter’s international breakout following 2023’s 99 Nights. Cardin also won the first Woman of the Year award at Billboard Canada Women in Music this year.
Céline had a huge streaming moment following her comeback performance at the Paris Olympics, spiking her own catalogue as well as Edith Piaf’s. The soundtrack to her documentary I Am: Celine Dion also charted on the Canadian Albums chart, bringing back some of her immortal hits.
Canada Most-Streamed Québécois Artists
Les Cowboys Fringants
Charlotte Cardin
Céline Dion
Souldia
Enima
Patrick Watson
KAYTRANADA
Alexandra Streliski
Simple Plan
Men I Trust
[more]