News
Page: 24
“Many Nashville publishers sold their firms, then cried swampfulls of crocodile tears all the way to the bank when they suddenly became multimillionaires.” That’s a 1988 hot take on country’s corporate makeover from Gerry Wood, a former Billboard Nashville bureau chief and editor in chief who passed away on May 3 at the age of 87.
Wood had worked in radio and PR before Billboard, and he was a character and the staff knew it. A 1988 retail convention photo identifies him as “Gerry Wood (back to camera — for a change).” From 1975 to 1991 — minus 1983 to 1986, when he worked elsewhere — Wood burned up the pages of Billboard with comprehensive reporting and crisp writing about country’s mainstream moment and how it changed Nashville.
Taking Root
“Country music has been spreading like kudzu,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 16, 1977, Billboard. “That’s the Southern vine that grows so fast it is rumored to be the cause of missing cows and pigs on Southern farms. Spawned in this fertile, blood-red soil of the South, this music has vined into the cities and countries where today’s frenetic, polluted environment grasps for something fresh, yet traditional. Often, that something turns out to be country music.”
Trending on Billboard
Head Games
This “was the year the music business stopped believing its own hype that it was a recession-proof industry,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 13, 1979, issue. Country seemed to fare better than other genres, though. “When CBS Records corporately cut some 300 heads, only one of those heads dropped in Nashville.” Some of that safety came from commercial crossover potential. “Lord knows,” Wood wrote, “if it keeps up, we’ll be seeing Gene Watson wearing KISS makeup with a flaming guitar.”
The Year Country Broke
“We’ve got to find some new words,” Wood wrote in the Oct. 18, 1980, issue, as Kenny Rogers and Urban Cowboy spurred a stampede toward Nashville. “All of the adjectives and adverbs have been used in past years. Best year. Exploding. Record-setting.” Not only had country “gone California and Texas and Tennessee,” Wood wrote, “it has gone Ohio and Canada and New York.”
Alphabet Soup
“Once upon a time Nashville was as easy as ABC. Now it’s as complex as SBK, BMG, TNN, CMT, WCI, and PolySomething.” So wrote Wood in the Oct. 15, 1988, issue. “The sleepy Southern village that gave America music from its soul in the ’50s and ’60s became the darling of corporate overtures in the ’70s and succumbed to the almighty dollar in the ’80s.” Even as Music City changed, Wood’s wit didn’t. “Too old to play musical chairs, Nashville has lately taken to playing musical managers,” he wrote in the same issue. “Artists have been dropping managers at the drop of a chart bullet.”
Next Big Thing
In the June 30, 1990, issue, Wood wrote a column “predicting the Roy Rogers of the ’90s.” His bets were prescient: Clint Black, Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson. One prediction, “country rap,” was decades ahead of the curve. But his crystal ball had one crack: “Willie Nelson’s Cowboy Channel will get off to a slow start, just like Willie did, but end up a winner, just like Willie did,” he wrote of Nelson’s planned cable network. It never even launched.
This story appears in the May 31, 2025, issue of Billboard.
After each individually holding the record, Kendrick Lamar and SZA combine forces to claim the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart as their collaboration “Luther” reaches an unprecedented 23rd week at the top. The crowning feat, on the list dated June 7, dates to the chart becoming the singular standard genre survey […]
ABBA‘s Björn Ulvaeus is working on a new musical using artificial intelligence. According to Variety, during a talk at SXSW London on Wednesday (June 4), the 80-year old Swedish pop legend said he’s tapping into AI because he believes it is an excellent creative tool.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“Right now I’m writing a musical, assisted by AI,” Ulvaeus said, noting that he’s about three-quarters of the way through the creative process on the unnamed project, the follow-up to the hugely successful pop quartet’s avatar stage show, Voyage.
“It’s fantastic. It is such a great tool,” Ulvaeus raved of AI. “It is like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame. It is really an extension of your mind. You have access to things that you didn’t think of before.” Unlike many in the industry who fear that AI is an existential threat to their existence and the traditional creative process, Ulvaeus is aware of the bugs in the system, which he said have helped him to merge AI with his already formidable songwriting skills.
Trending on Billboard
“It’s lousy at [writing a whole song]” and “very bad at lyrics,” he said about his AI helpmate, which has allowed him to navigate through some creative dead-ends. “You can prompt a lyric you have written about something, and you’re stuck maybe, and you want this song to be in a certain style,” he said. “You can ask it, how would you extend? Where would you go from here? It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea.”
Ulvaeus is part of an eclectic lineup for 2025 SXSW London, whose lineup includes Erykah Badu (as DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown), Tems, Mabel, Alice Glass and many more. Penske Media Corporation (which also owns Billboard) and the film and production company MRC invested in SXSW in 2021 following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic; two years later, Penske took majority ownership of SXSW.
The AI project, whose ultimate form has not yet been announced, is part of Ulvaeus’ ongoing partnership with Pophouse Entertainment, the company behind the ABBA Voyage production. The Voyage virtual residency opened in London in May 2022 and is slated to run through January 2026. The show is a combination of 10 live performers and digital avatars of the four ABBA members, who have not performed live since their split in December 1982; the group, which also features Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, released their first album in 40 years, Voyage, in November 2021.
Though Ulvaeus is happy to use AI in the creative process, he is also adamant about fighting for artists’ rights in the rapidly evolving digital age. “These AI models wouldn’t exist without the songs that we wrote,” he said.
Primary Wave has partnered with The Cars to acquire the rockers’ artist royalties, the company announced today (June 4). The deal, which encompasses classic rock staples such as “Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girl” and the Billboard Hot 100 top five hits “Shake It Up” (No. 4) and “Drive” (No. 3), follows Primary […]
Mariah Carey likes living on the edge. In a teaser announcing her new single Wednesday (June 4), the Songbird Supreme beats around no bushes when describing her type: dangerous. In a video posted to her social media accounts, Mimi sits behind the wheel of a luxurious car and poses in a “Type: Dangerous” tank top […]
Gracie McGraw — the daughter of country superstars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill — would like to set the record … well, not straight, but you get it. In a since-expired post to her Instagram Stories on Monday (June 2), McGraw posted a photo with the words “everyone get more gay now” written in bold […]
Big Machine Label Group is set to celebrate its 20-year anniversary with a Big Machine 20 concert in downtown Nashville on Aug. 29, featuring performances from Sheryl Crow, Riley Green and Brett Young.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The free-to-the-public celebration’s will kick off the rebranded Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR Series Championship weekend, and will include the fifth annual Freedom Friday event to honor military members, police, fire, first responders and frontline members. In 2024, the Freedom Friday event drew 118,000 attendees to Nashville prior to the NTT INDYCAR Series event.
“This year’s event has even more meaning as we celebrate 20 years of Big Machine,” said BMLG founder, chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta in a statement. “Nobody could’ve predicted our incredible success in a city we love so much. This is our thank you to Nashville and all the fans of our amazing artists and their music. This is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and one we’ll never forget!”
Trending on Billboard
Other performers on the lineup include newcomer Preston Cooper, as well as artists who have been part of Big Machine Label Group’s two-decade history, including The Band Perry, Danielle Peck, Danielle Bradbery, RaeLynn, Jimmy Wayne and Jack Ingram.
Borchetta launched Big Machine in 2005, following roles at labels including MCA Nashville and DreamWorks Universal. The label’s current roster includes Tim McGraw, Midland, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Brantley Gilbert, Carly Pearce, RaeLynn, Jackson Dean and Lady A.
Along the way, the label has also been an advocate for artists’ rights, with Borchetta launching the “Music Has Value” campaign and working with terrestrial radio broadcasters to earn sound-recording performance royalties for the label and its artists.
The label’s biggest alum, Taylor Swift, is not named among the Big Machine 20 event’s participants. Swift has not been aligned with the label since leaving for UMG’s Republic label in 2018 and following the 2019 sale of Big Machine Label Group — including the pop superstar’s recorded catalog — to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. In 2021, HYBE bought Ithaca Holdings. Swift recently regained ownership of her master recordings.
KATSEYE, which recently notched their first Billboard Hot 100 hit with “Gnarly,” is set to perform that feisty song on the 2025 Kids’ Choice Awards. The show, with Tyla hosting, is set to air live on Saturday, June 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California.
KATSEYE, a Los Angeles-based girl group (Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae), has been steadily building its fanbase over the past two years. With members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the U.S., KATSEYE is often described as a “global girl group.”
Trending on Billboard
The group first formed through HYBE and Geffen Records’ The Dream Academy competition and artist development program, later chronicled in the Netflix docuseries Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group received two nominations at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards: favorite K-pop dance challenge for “Touch” and favorite on screen for Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.
The group made Billboard’s 21 Under 21 list for 2025 and has been named an Artist to Watch for 2025 by VEVO, DSCVR and TIDAL.
In September, KATSEYE attended New York Fashion Week for the first time. In November, joined by the L.A. Rams Cheerleaders, they performed on the MAMA Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. In December, they performed on select dates of the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball concert. This year, they were added to the performance lineups for L.A.’s Wango Tango in May and Lollapalooza, scheduled for August in Chicago.
“Gnarly” is set to appear on KATSEYE’s second EP, Beautiful Chaos, which is due June 27 via HYBE x Geffen Records. The group’s first EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong) — which featured contributions from such A-listers as Ryan Tedder, Omer Fedi and Blake Slatkin — reached No. 119 on the Billboard 200.
Now, they’re the first performers announced for an awards show whose young teen fanbase will overlap to a large degree with their own EYEKON fan army.
Nickelodeon is calling the show the biggest party of the summer. It is certain to have more epic slimings than any other show. Kids’ Choice Awards 2025 will simulcast across Nickelodeon, TeenNick, Nicktoons, the Nick Jr. channel, MTV2 and CMT, and also air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.
Leading the pack with four nominations each are Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar, followed by Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, Selena Gomez and Jelly Roll with three apiece.
First-time nominees include Gracie Abrams, Zach Bryan, Jordan Chiles, Frankie Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Doechii, Keith Lee, Chappell Roan, Shaboozey, Shohei Ohtani and Florence Pugh, among others.
Following in the footsteps of Hannah Montana and The Cheetah Girls before them, it’s time to meet your new favorite fictional Disney pop stars: Electric Bloom. The new musical comedy series Electric Bloom tells the story of how three budding BFFs — Posey (Lumi Pollack), Jade (Carmen Sanchez) and Tulip (Ruby Marino) — became “the […]
PRS For Music paid out £1.02 billion ($1.3 billion) in royalties to songwriters, composers and publishers in 2024, according to reports from the U.K. collection society.
That figure is up 8.1% from 2023, when royalty payouts to its members reached £943.6 million ($1.2 billion). This means that PRS For Music have delivered early on their five-year plan to achieve £1 billion in royalties paid out by 2026.
Last year, reported revenue growth was up 6.1% to £1.15 billion ($1.46 billion), marking a notable deceleration from the 12.5% increase recorded in 2023, when PRS For Music broke the billion-pound barrier for the first time.
Trending on Billboard
Elsewhere, international revenues at the end of 2024 jumped 79.6% from 2015 levels to £351.4 million ($448.8 million). The organization attributed the continued growth to “a renewed commercial mindset and investment in data and technology infrastructure.”
The society’s online royalties grew 9% in 2024 to £401.2 million ($512 million). Collections from the video games sector accounted for a significant portion of this increase, after PRS For Music secured a partnership with Sony Playstation’s streaming service to build on its long-standing download deal.
Public performance royalty collections were also a key driver of growth, increasing by 14% in 2024 primarily due to a lift in collections from the live sector, which were up 30% year-on-year.
In a statement, PRS For Music’s CEO Andrea Czapary Martin — who features in the inaugural Billboard U.K. Power Players list — said, “PRS members have the right to demand their society think differently, challenge the norms in an industry where tradition is too often an excuse for inaction. To constantly evolve to meet their changing needs and expectations.
“Indeed, it is because we recognize the need to constantly challenge ourselves that we have been able to double the royalties paid to songwriters, composers and publishers in less than a decade.”
The above figures were announced at PRS For Music’s annual general meeting, which took place in London on Tuesday (June 3) and was also where new council representatives were elected. Singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis has joined the Writer Council as a member alongside Tom Gray, chair of the Ivors Academy, and composer Philip Pope.
PRS for Music’s Publisher Council increased its membership, welcoming including Megan Hall, senior vp of business and legal affairs at Concord Music Publishing; Nigel Gilroy, global head of legal & business affairs at Novello and Company; Daniel Lang, senior vp of global society relations & digital rights at Warner Chappell Music; and Richard Paine, director of commercial rights & business affairs at Faber Music.
Julian Nott, chair of the PRS Members’ Council, said, “I’m delighted to welcome our new and re-elected Council members. The wealth of knowledge, experience and expertise that they have amassed during their careers will bring a huge amount of insight and ensure the Council continues to deliver the best possible society for members and that every part of the membership is served by the organization.”