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Taylor Swift may be headed for a Songwriters Hall of Fame record. Swift, who received the Hal David Starlight Awards from the SHOF in 2010, is nominated for full membership in the organization. She would be the first person to graduate from the Starlight Award (which dates to 2004) to full membership status.
A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song. Swift’s first single, “Tim McGraw,” was released in June 2006. The SHOF gala is typically held in June, so she just makes it.
The list of nominees also includes several people who have won Grammys for song of the year – Terry Britten and Graham Lyle (“What’s Love Got to Do With It”); Kenny Loggins (“What a Fool Believes,” a co-write with Michael McDonald); and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” a co-write with Beyoncé, Terius “The-Dream” Nash and Thaddis Harrell).
The list includes several songwriters who have often collaborated with people who are already in the Hall: Walter Afanasieff (best known for his collaboration with 2022 inductee Mariah Carey); Andreas Carlsson (who cowrote Backstreet Boys’ megahit “I Want It That Way” with 2017 inductee Max Martin); Tom Snow (who has often collaborated with 2024 inductee Dean Pitchford); and Richard Carpenter (who cowrote many Carpenters hits with 2011 inductee John Bettis).
Several of the nominees have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: LL Cool J (who received a 2021 award for musical excellence from the Rock Hall); David Byrne (whose band Talking Heads was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2002); Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Jane M. Wiedlin (of Go-Go’s, who were inducted into the Rock Hall in 2021) and Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (of KISS, who were inducted into the Rock Hall in 2014).
Other members of prominent groups, not already mentioned, on this year’s ballot include Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings (The Guess Who); Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (America); and Harry Wayne Casey (KC and the Sunshine Band).
News of Simmons and Stanley’s inclusion comes days after the death of Ace Frehley, KISS’ original lead guitarist and founding member. Frehley, 74, died Oct. 16 in New Jersey.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating the popular music. The 2026 inductees will be announced in early 2026. The Induction & Awards Gala is typically held in New York City in June.Eligible voting members will have until midnight ET on Dec. 4 to turn in ballots, with their choices of up to three nominees in each of the songwriter and performing songwriter categories.
The 2025 class consisted of George Clinton; Ashley Gorley; Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins; Mike Love; Tony Macaulay; Tom Johnston, Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons of The Doobie Brothers and the late Bert Berns.
Here’s the full list of 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame nominees. The songs listed as examples of the songwriter’s work were supplied by the SHOF.
Non-Performing Songwriters
Walter Afanasieff – “All I Want for Christmas Is You” * “My All” * “Hero” * “Love Will Survive” * “One Sweet Day”
Pete Bellotte – “Hot Stuff” * “I Feel Love” * “Love To Love You Baby” * “Heaven Knows” * “Push It to the Limit”
Andreas Carlsson – “I Want It That Way” * “Bye Bye Bye” * “It’s Gonna Be Me” * “That’s The Way It Is” * “Waking Up in Vegas”
Steve Kipner – “Physical” * “Hard Habit To Break” * “Genie in a Bottle” * “These Words” * “Breakeven”
Jeffrey LeVasseur p/k/a Jeffrey Steele – “What Hurts the Most” * “My Wish” * “Knee Deep” * “The Cowboy in Me” * “I’d Give Anything/She’d Give Anything”
Patrick Leonard – “Like a Prayer” * “Live To Tell” * “Nevermind” * “You Want It Darker” * “Yet Another Movie”
Terry Britten and Graham Lyle – “What’s Love Got To Do With It” * “We Don’t Need Another Hero” * “Typical Male” * “Devil Woman” * “I Should Have Known Better”
Bob McDill – “Everything That Glitters Is Not Gold” * “Good Ole Boys Like Me” * “Gone Country” * “Don’t Close Your Eyes” * “Song of the South”
Kenny Nolan – “Lady Marmalade” * “My Eyes Adored You” * “I Like Dreamin’” * “Masterpiece” * “Get Dancin’”
Martin Page – “We Built This City” * “These Dreams” * “King of Wishful Thinking” * “Faithful” * “Fallen Angel”
Vini Poncia – “Do I Love You” * “I Was Made for Lovin You” * “Oh My My” * “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing” * “Just Too Many People”
Tom Snow – “He’s So Shy” * “Let’s Hear it for the Boy” * “Dreaming of You” * “Don’t Know Much” * “After All”
Christopher “Tricky” Stewart – “Umbrella” * “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” * “Obsessed” * “Just Fine” * “Break My Soul”
Larry Weiss – “Rhinestone Cowboy” * “Bend Me Shape Me” * “Hi Ho Silver Lining” * “Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore” * “Darling Take Me Back”
Performing Songwriters
Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (America) – A Horse with No Name * Ventura Highway * Sister Golden Hair * I Need You* Tin Man
David Byrne – Once In A Lifetime * Psycho Killer * Burning Down The House * Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place) * Strange Overtones
Richard Carpenter – Goodbye To Love * Top Of The World * Yesterday Once More * Only Yesterday * Merry Christmas Darling
Harry Wayne Casey – Rock Your Baby * Get Down Tonight * That’s The Way (I Like It) * (Shake Shake Shake) Shake Your Booty * Please Don’t Go
Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) – These Eyes * Laughing * No Time * American Woman * No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature
Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (KISS) – Rock and Roll All Nite * I Love It Loud * Calling Dr. Love * Shout It Out Loud * Christine 16
Kenny Loggins – Danny’s Song * Footloose * Celebrate Me Home * Return to Pooh Corner * What A Fool Believes
Sarah McLachlan – Angel * Sweet Surrender * I Will Remember You * Building A Mystery * Adia
Alecia B. Moore p/k/a P!nk – Glitter in the Air * Just Like A Pill * Raise Your Glass * So What * What About Us
Boz Scaggs – Lido Shuffle * Lowdown * We’re All Alone * Thanks To You * Look What You’ve Done To Me
James Todd Smith p/k/a LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out * I Need Love * Around The Way Girl * Going Back To Cali * Illegal Search
Taylor Swift – All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) * Blank Space * Anti-Hero * Love Story * The Last Great American Dynasty
Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Jane M. Wiedlin (The Go-Go’s) – We Got The Beat * Our Lips Are Sealed * Vacation * Head Over Heels * This Town
Sean “Diddy Combs is currently serving his prison sentence in one of the nation’s most notorious facilities, and according to a friend, there was a brush of violence for the beleaguered mogul. In a report, it was revealed by a friend of Diddy’s that a fellow inmate pressed a knife to his throat after sneaking into his cell.
As exclusively reported by The Daily Mail, Diddy, who is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, was approached by the inmate who fashioned a makeshift knife and held it against Combs’ throat, according to his best friend, Charlucci Finney.
“He woke up with a knife to his throat,” Finney told the outlet. “I don’t know whether he fought him off or the guards came, I just know that it happened.”
Finney continued, “If this guy had wanted to harm him, Sean would have been harmed. It would only take a second to cut his throat with a weapon and kill him. It was probably a way to say: ‘Next time you ain’t gonna be so lucky.’ Everything is intimidation. But with Sean it won’t work. Sean is from Harlem.”
Attorneys for Combs have attempted to have their client moved out of MDC due to the constant threat of violence and harm. They are angling to have Diddy moved to FCI Fort Dix in Hanover Township, N.J. This is a low-security facility where they hope to have Combs serve his 50-month sentence and enter a drug rehab program.
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Photo: Getty
Trending on Billboard Justin Vernon was a near-immediate critical sensation upon his late-’00s emergence with his first album as Bon Iver, the alt-folk opus For Emma, Forever Ago. With his unique falsetto, emotional delivery and irresistible backstory — retreating to a cabin in the woods following a pair of personal and professional breakups to record […]
Bruce Springsteen is continuing to speak out against Donald Trump, with the rock star offering up a “prayer” for “no kings” amid the ongoing protests against the president. At the American Film Institute Opening Night Gala on Wednesday (Oct. 22) — where Springsteen was in attendance to support new biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere — […]
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Irving Azoff recently slammed YouTube as “by far the worst offender” when it comes to paying creators fairly. As one of the largest and most successful managers of artists in history, his opinion carries a great deal of weight.
Songwriters specifically are paid through a complex, regulated environment, so digital services have myriad ways of manipulating the system. Those who care about creators often hear about how these platforms mistreat them — and if you ask 10 industry leaders who is the worst, you might get 10 different answers.
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To make sense of who is friend or foe, here is a ranking based on what they’re doing for and against songwriters today. Beyond their public relations and industry parties, it is essential to understand how these services actually treat the creators they depend on*,* so here are the broad criticisms.
One must start with Spotify, the largest music-focused streaming service. While Mr. Azoff ranks YouTube as enemy number one, when it comes to songwriters, no one comes close to Spotify.
Last year, the streaming giant revealed — months after imposing the scheme — that it had unilaterally added audiobooks to premium subscriptions so that it could attempt to qualify for paying a lower royalty rate — since music was now part of a “bundle.”
This scheme is currently being challenged in court by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which pays streaming royalties to rights holders. The NMPA has also pushed for a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation into this as an unfair business practice, as once Spotify imposed this bundle on its users, it raised prices and made it virtually impossible to return to a music-only premium plan.
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Spotify also has fought for extremely low royalty rates at the trial that determines streaming royalties, which takes place every five years in Washington, D.C. And when we, alongside NSAI, won a significant royalty increase in 2018, Spotify spent years appealing that decision. Eventually, they lost that appeal — but songwriters were denied much-needed income throughout the process. Justice delayed is justice denied.
The platform also has added insult to injury through tone-deaf PR stunts like its “Secret Genius” campaign — honoring the very songwriters whose genius is no secret — while it simultaneously fought them in court.
Another significant swipe at songwriters is its free service. Instead of being a free trial period or an on-ramp to encouraging users to pay for music, millions of users can listen to unlimited songs for free without ever signing up. This service delivers the most minuscule royalties to songwriters — it’s almost incalculable.
Mr. Azoff’s opinion about YouTube is shared by many in the industry. The service is notorious for using hardball tactics in negotiations. Since the YouTube platform largely involves synchronization (video) royalties — which are in a free market for songwriters — there is even more opportunity cost. The general perception for years has been that YouTube benefits much more from the music on its service than it pays.
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Amazon is complex in that music is only part of its much larger ecosystem. Unfortunately, it has also recently taken advantage of lower rates by bundling music with other services. However, it has not been as brazen as Spotify and has generally been more concerned with its relationship with songwriters. There are opportunities for the platform to improve, and we are hopeful that it continues to keep conversations open with the end goal of seeing music creators as business partners instead of pawns.
TikTok leads the world in social media music consumption — it is essential to the platform’s success. While deals have been struck in the past, the service has used its size to pressure songwriters and artists to return to the platform when there were attempts to negotiate fairer rates. Songwriters suffer disproportionately from this dynamic. While artists receive exposure on the service that can be monetized through touring and merchandise, songwriters need direct compensation, so holding out for more is essential, and thus far has been largely unsuccessful.
Apple Music continues to stand alone in several areas. When other services appealed the aforementioned royalty rate increase in 2018, Apple did not. Additionally, as Apple Music head Oliver Schusser announced at our Annual Meeting in Manhattan earlier this year, the platform will never give music away. “I think it’s crazy that 20 years in, we still offer music for free,” Schusser said. “We’re the only service that doesn’t have a free service. As a company, we look at music as art, and we would never want to give away art for free.” While we will still push for higher rates from Apple, this sentiment must be appreciated and amplified.
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Satellite radio shouldn’t be counted out. SiriusXM — which now owns Pandora — has a troubling history of paying extremely low rates to songwriters. In fact, today digital radio pays significantly more to artists annually than AM/FM radio pays songwriters. Think about that. The radio relationship has completely flipped. Songwriters used to make a large percentage of their income from terrestrial radio, and now they make less than artists make from satellite radio — which is dwarfed by interactive streaming — alone.
So who is the worst offender? The answer depends on who is in a current contract negotiation or a rate-setting proceeding. However, when entering into any of these marketplace or regulatory environments, it is crucial to understand where the players stand and how they have historically positioned themselves.
The Super Bowl of all of this starts in a few months before the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. At that time, the major streaming services will put forth their proposals for how they want to pay songwriters for 2028–2032. This will be illuminating, and all creators and advocates must seriously consider what they put forth. We will make sure songwriters know what they propose.
There is an opportunity for digital platforms to make serious headway in terms of their relationships with songwriters at this proceeding. So pay close attention, and we will adjust rankings after they reveal their positions. Stay tuned.
David Israelite is the president and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). Founded in 1917, NMPA is the trade association representing all American music publishers and their songwriting partners.
Source: Steph Chambers / Getty
On Thursday morning (October 23), the National Basketball Association was rocked with the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. Both men were arrested in connection to a pair of federal investigations into gambling, as reported by ESPN’s lead NBA insider Shams Charania.
Billups’ case reportedly stems from allegations that he was involved in an illegal poker operation with ties to members of three Mafia families. According to CNN, Billups allegedly took part in games which took place in Miami, Las Vegas, Manhattan and in the Hamptons. Billups, an NBA Hall of Famer and former champion with the 2004 Detroit Pistons, is in his fifth year coaching Portland who lost their season opener to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. He expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon for a preliminary hearing.
Rozier has been the focus of a federal investigation since a game on March 23, 2023 when Rozier was with the Charlotte Hornets as they played the New Orleans Pelicans. Several sportsbooks flagged suspicious activity coming in, tied to wagers on Rozier’s points, assists and rebounds totalling $200,000. Rozier left that game with a foot injury. Since then, Rozier and his agent have spoken with the FBI multiple times. The NBA stated that it also looked into the game and didn’t find any league rules broken.
According to reports, former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones was also arrested Thursday, on charges he provided inside information about players to co-defendants who used it to make sports wagers. He was allegedly also involved in the same illegal poker operation that Billups was involved in, and purportedly asked for a payment of $2,500 before taking part. Jones was an eleven-year league veteran, and coached under Tyronn Lue from 2016 to 2018.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected to hold a press conference later on Thursday morning, with director Kash Patel speaking in detail about the arrests along with the office of the Eastern District of New York. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, spoke to CNN, defending his client. “Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” he said.
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The Foo Fighters are gearing up for their next era. After teasing a typically hard-hitting new song earlier this month with a brief fist-pumping instrumental snippet, the veteran Dave Grohl-led band dropped the blistering “Asking For a Friend” single on Thursday morning (Oct. 23).
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The song opens with a gentle guitar figure and Grohl singing, “Save your promises until we meet again/ You can save all your promises until the bitter end/ What is real, I’m asking for a friend/ What is real, I’m asking for a friend.” Then, as is their wont, the loud-quiet-even-louder band explodes into a giant riff mania, with Grohl howling, “Or is this the end?” as the song picks up steam.
Over pounding drums and layers of guitar, Grohl pleads, “Lay your worry down/ Save your promises til we meet again/ Save all your promises until the bitter end,” later wondering, “when you’re alone, am I a part of you?/ Am I a part of you?,” before assuring, “You’re not alone/ I am a part of you/ When I’m apart from you.” The four-and-a-half-minute song’s see-saw journey explodes at the three-minute mark, picking up the pace and launching into a blitz of howling Grohl vocals and a barrage of speed-metal-like riffs as it sprints to a close.
At press time a spokesperson for the band had not returned Billboard‘s request for confirmation that former Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin plays on the track, though artwork for the song posted by the band on their Instagram on Wednesday (Oct. 22) included Rubin’s photo alongside the other members.
The dark rocker is a follow-up to the more upbeat previous one-off single, the emotional “Today’s Song,” and, after playing a series of intimate club shows with Rubin, the group also announced the first dates of their 2026 Take Cover stadium tour, their first run of stadium gigs since the 2023-2024 Everything or Nothing at All run.
The tour is slated to kick off on Aug. 4 at Rogers Stadium in Toronto and then hit Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Nashville, Washington, D.C., Fargo, N.D., Regina, Saskatchewan, Edmonton and Vancouver before wrapping up at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Queens of the Stone Age will open all the dates except for the Fargo stop, with Mannequin Pussy and Gouge Away also lined up to perform on select dates. A release announcing the shows suggested that “many more shows” are on the horizon.
A general on-sale for all shows will launch on Friday (Oct.31) at 10 a.m. local time, with details available here. Fans can sign up for an artist pre-sale now through Sunday (Oct. 26) at 11:59 PT.
In a lengthy Substack post announcing the shows and the new song, Grohl wrote about finding inspiration for the track while in Japan staring at the majestic, cloud-shrouded Mt. Fuji. “As the clouds slowly clear and life comes into view, there are many reasons to be grateful. And humbled. I know this and I feel this everyday,” he wrote.
“Since our return to the stage in San Luis Obispo five weeks ago, we have been reminded of why we love and are forever devoted to doing this Foo Fighters thing,” he continued. “From reconnecting as a band and staring at a list of 30 years worth of songs to brush off, to reimagining versions with the incredible blessing of the one and only Ilan Rubin behind the drums, to reuniting with our amazing fans and blasting them with everything we’ve got (no matter the size of the venue) because we would not be here without them, we have the most solid core. And the sun is finally rising over the horizon.”
The post also touched on his long friendship with QOTSA singer/guitarist Josh Homme and the many special moments they’ve had together over the past 33 years as they gear up to rock stages together again. “I have shared some of my life’s most rewarding musical moments with my dear friend, Josh. A lifelong bond that goes far beyond the sound we’ve made together,” Grohl wrote. “So it is with great happiness that we can share this next chapter together with his almighty Queens of the Stone Age.”
Then, seemingly teasing that the band has follow up to their 2023 album But Here We Are in the works, Grohl warned fans to “take cover,” adding, “But none of this would be complete without new music to share from Pat [Smear], Nate [Mendel], Chris [Shiflett], Rami {Jaffee], Ilan and I. ‘Asking for a Friend’ is a song for those who have waited patiently in the cold, relying on hope and faith for their horizon to appear. Searching for ‘proof’ when hanging by a wish until the sun shines again. One of many songs to come.”
Check out the Take Cover Tour poster and listen to “Asking for a Friend” below.
Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, click here.
Earlier this month, Chappell Roan wrapped a brief run of concerts in the United States, paired with a few European dates in August. The Visions of Damsels & Dangerous Other Things Tour complemented Roan’s ongoing sweep of dominant festival performances over the last year and a half, cementing her as one of her generation’s fastest-growing live acts. She finished her recent tour, her only headline shows for 2025, playing to crowds of 30,000 and more, marking an eye-openingly fast rise to the biggest venues in the world.
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According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, Roan’s 11 headline shows in 2025 grossed $28.3 million and sold 276,000 tickets. They split between three overseas and eight in the United States. Some of the shows were in arenas and amphitheaters: Zurich’s Hallenstadion (12,539 tickets) and New York’s Forest Hills Stadium, which despite its name, is significantly smaller than a typical football or baseball stadium (53,458 tickets, spread across four shows). The others escalated her reach in Edinburgh, Kansas City, and Los Angeles.
Two nights at Royal Highland Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland drew 60,000 fans, averaging 30,000 per show. Two dates at Kansas City’s Liberty Memorial Park sold 69,600 tickets, averaging 34,800. The final two concerts, at Brookside Park at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., moved 80,000 tickets, eclipsing 40,000 each night.
These venues are flat parks that recreate the sprawling crowd shots of Roan’s famed festival performances, more so than a typical football stadium with its enclosed stadium-style seating. But the number of tickets sold is comparable to any baseball stadium in the United States and far exceeds – roughly doubles – the capacity of an arena show.
These stadium-sized Boxscore figures elevate Roan even beyond the startling heights of her 2024. Her North American headline shows from last year broke into three legs. She averaged 2,083 tickets per show while performing one-offs during her opening stint on Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS World Tour (Feb. – April). In May and June, following the release of breakout hit “Good Luck, Babe!,” she paced 3,581 tickets. By October, she was up to 10,179. One year later, Roan sold 25,389 tickets per show, ranging from 13,365 in New York to 40,010 in Los Angeles.
All of that growth, and all of these fans, with just one album under her belt. Selling out stadiums is a career-capping accomplishment for any artist, but almost an unfathomable one just two years removed from the release of one’s debut LP. The umbrella of stadium acts has grown wider in the years since returning from the COVID-19 blackout, but Roan’s supercharged ascent is still quite notable.
Zach Bryan first elevated to stadiums in 2024, almost exactly two years after he cracked the Billboard 200 with American Heartbreak. But his discography expanded by the time he played Oakland’s RingCentral Coliseum, with two more top 10 albums and four other charting titles. Fellow country chart-topper Morgan Wallen played one such show in 2021, three years and two albums deep.
Global stadium schedules have also welcomed younger artists who don’t primarily perform in English, specifically Latin and Korean acts. Still, all of them had meatier discographies than Roan’s to fill out their stadium setlists: Bad Bunny released three albums in three years before his stadium debut. Karol G and SEVENTEEN each had four albums in seven years. TWICE had six entries on the Billboard 200, all between 2020-23, before reporting a stadium show. By the time Fred again.. announced similarly eye-popping stadium shows, he had a few albums to his name.
Closer to Roan stylistically, Lady Gaga hit Mexico City’s Foro Sol (now called Estadio GNP Seguros) in May 2011, ending The Monster Ball in stadiums a year and a half after beginning it in theaters. Still, she had two top 10 albums and was weeks away from releasing her third. The year before, Taylor Swift also capped her debut headline tour at a stadium, but she was supporting her sophomore set Fearless, which won the Grammy for album of the year months prior.
Perhaps Peso Pluma comes closest to mirroring Roan’s timeline to stadiums. He played Monterrey, Mexico’s Estadio Mobil Super in November 2023, about 15 months after his first Billboard chart appearance. Even so, Genesis, his breakthrough album from 2023, was his third. J-Hope, JIN, and SUGA each hit at least one stadium on their first tours, but their history as part of BTS surely added depth to their respective ticket-buying bases.
Clearly, Roan has built a large, dedicated fan base from just one album. After first debuting on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100 in April 2024, she jumped from clubs to theaters to festivals, and then to solo headline stadium-sized engagements, all in the span of less than 18 months. Her recent tour was brief but mighty, leaving little to the imagination as to her potential box office success whenever her next shows are announced, whichever venues she decides to play.
Billboard‘s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, click here.
Source: Stefanie Keenan / Getty
Kevin Gates always says, “I don’t get tired”, but after seeing how much money his ex-wife wants, he just might be exhausted.
Dreka and Kevin were married for 9 years when, in July 2025, they decided to part ways. Since then, they have both been spotted out with new people, looking to have a smooth breakup. Fast forward a year later, and Dreka is seeking $ 70,000 per month in spousal and child support. Stating that the Louisiana rapper started to “dismantle the financial foundation of their family.”
Additionally, it is alleged that Kevin stopped assisting with payments for property taxes and their children’s private school tuition. Kevin’s ex-wife requested from the courts for him to pay $27K per month in child support and $46K per month in spousal support. That is not cheap…
Now, in Kevin’s eyes, he felt like he shouldn’t have to pay anything due to they were never legally married.
Back in September, Dreka was linked to rapper Offset, where dating rumors sparked when he posted a picture of her on his IG story. Kevin was also linked to a celebrity post-breakup. His short-lived relationship with Brittney Renner was all over the blogs. During that time, Renner found herself connecting with a new faith-based system and converted to Islam.
During that time together, the two were spotted all up under each other before eventually breaking up months later.
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Rayna Bass and Selim Bouab have been appointed executives-in-residence at the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The pair are the co-presidents of 300 Entertainment and Atlantic Records Hip-Hop, R&B and Global Music.
Bass and Bouab’s appointment is in keeping with the center’s goal to connect Howard University’s students with top executives in the global music industry. The program provides one-on-one mentorship, master classes and practical insights about executive leadership, creativity and the future of the business.
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In the press release announcing the duo’s new roles, Jasmine Young, MBA, director of the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University, commented, “Rayna Bass and Selim Bouab are two of the most visionary leaders in the industry, and we are honored to welcome them as executives-in-residence. Our students will benefit directly from their knowledge, creativity and commitment to breaking barriers. This appointment reflects our mission to provide Howard students with direct access to the highest levels of leadership in the global music industry.”
“Howard University, together with the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business, has a strong legacy of cultivating bold, creative leaders,” said Bass and Bouab in a joint statement. “That mission aligns with what we do at our label, and we’re excited to share our experiences and help raise up the next generation of music business innovators.”
Bass took on an expanded role within the Atlantic Music Group earlier this year when she was appointed co-president of Atlantic Records Hip-Hop, R&B and Global Music. She initially joined 300 Entertainment as its first marketing hire in 2014. Promoted to senior vp of marketing in 2019, Bass was elevated to co-president of 300 Entertainment in 2022. A Billboard Women in Music and R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players honoree, Bass has helmed campaigns for Megan Thee Stallion, Young Thug, Gunna, Mary J. Blige and PinkPantheress, among other artists.
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Since joining 300 Entertainment as well in 2014, Bouab later served as the label’s senior vp and head of A&R before being named co-president with Bass in 2022. Then again alongside Bass, Bouab added the co-president post at Atlantic Records Hip-Hop, R&B and Global Music this year. Along the way, he has signed, developed and collaborated with artists including Megan Thee Stallion, Fetty Wap and Tee Grizzley as well as Young Thug, Gunna and Jordan Adetunji. Bouab, who’s also established his own Unauthorized Entertainment label, is a multiple-year Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players honoree.
“Rayna and Selim embody what it means to lead with both innovation and integrity,” stated Julian Petty, executive vp and head of business/legal affairs for Warner Records and the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center’s Visionary. “Their careers represent the possibilities for our students, and their willingness to pour into the next generation is what makes this partnership so special. The center continues to set the standard for excellence in music business education, and I am thrilled to see Rayna and Selim take on this role.”
