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JoJo Siwa takes us out to Priscilla’s and she shares her experience on Celebrity Big Brother U.K., her relationship with Chris Hughes, working with Rock Mafia on her new album, opening up about her sexuality, what fans can expect from her tour and more!
Tetris Kelly:Well, I feel like I live the coolest life ever, because I’m just casually hanging in Burbank with JoJo Siwa.
JoJo Siwa:We’re locals.
And this is Priscilla’s. So what is the story of this place?
They have this blueberry vanilla coffee that became my favorite thing ever.
OK so I wanna try.
So what is really special about this?
I would’ve never thought about blueberry and coffee.
So strange, right?
It’s awesome.
But here’s what’s cool is it’s like, you can see all their coffee beans. The bean is what’s actually flavored. So the coffee bean is infused, essentially, with blueberry. It’s cooked, I think, in oil. I don’t know how they do it. And then it has a vanilla powder in it anyways, I’m on my-
What did you get?
I’m on my English breakfast tea kick right now.
Oh, Miss U.K. right now.
I’m missing my people over there.
From across the pond. You’re going on the 22-date tour. I mean, you’re not new to touring, but like, what’s gonna be different about this summer?
I mean, I’m an adult now, which is crazy. There’s elements in this show that make it a lot different than just a typical concert. It’s been really fun. It’s been really fun to create it as it’s like, song, song, funny bit, song, song, dance moms reference song, song, Jojo the Bobo reference song, song, crowd interactions, there’s things from my life that people really like, quotes that I’ve said, half of them being with you-
All the quotes being with me.
Keep watching for more!
Great Oz! The first proper teaser for Wicked: For Good has arrived, and the characters are looking a lot different than they did when we first met them in Part 1.
Dropping Tuesday (June 3) — just one day ahead of the premiere of For Good‘s first trailer — the teaser opens with Cynthia Erivo fiercely staring down the camera, her hair down and outfit changed into a spookier black dress to show how her character, Elphaba, has fully embraced her role as the Wicked Witch of the West. On the flip side, Ariana Grande — who is the last to appear in the teaser — swapped her Shiz University uniform and pink bubble dress from the first Wicked film for a multi-colored ballgown and tiara, signifying how her character, Glinda, has leveled up as the people’s princess of Oz.
“I have been changed,” Erivo sings over the teaser, a snippet from the tear-jerking “For Good” duet in the Wicked Broadway musical.
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Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh also return in the teaser, looking more sinister after Part 1 revealed how their characters — The Wizard of Oz and Madam Morrible, respectively — intended to use their power for evil. Plus, Jonathan Bailey looks stoic as Fiyero in his green Emerald City uniform, while Ethan Slater appears as munchkin Boq in a gray getup.
For Good is set to hit theaters this November, one year after the first installment of Jon M. Chu’s live-action musical duology premiered. Things will take a darker turn in the sequel as Elphaba’s magic powers get the best of her, putting her relationships with Glinda, Fiyero, and Marissa Bode’s Nessa Rose in jeopardy.
“She’s able to access her rage more,” Erivo told Billboard Pride editor Stephen Daw of Elphaba’s transformation for her June cover story. “The scent I wore changed. The makeup changed. Little shifts that bring you to a more mature version of who Elphaba becomes. And she is delicious in this next one.”
As promised in the new teaser — which ends with text reading, “Trailer tomorrow” flashing across the screen — the first full preview of For Good is set to premiere in theaters Wednesday (June 4) as the first Wicked film returns to big screens for one night only in the United States and Canada. By the end of May, Wicked had grossed $755.9 million worldwide, more than any other film adaptation of a Broadway musical.
See the new Wicked: For Good teaser below.
Source: Mike Marsland / Getty / Ryan Coogler
Sinners took a tremendous bite out of the box office, but don’t expect the story of Stack and Mary to continue unless something significant happens to get Ryan Coogler back in the director’s chair.
Speaking with Ebony, Ryan Coogler revealed that he never planned on making a sequel to his period vampire flick, throwing a splash of cold holy water on any speculation that Sinners would become a franchise, like his other projects, Creed and Black Panther.
Even though Coogler secured a historic deal by securing the rights to Sinners, meaning the rights of the film will revert to him after 25 years.
The director told the publication he “never” gave any thought to making a sequel to Sinners.
“I’ve been in a space of making franchise films for a bit, so I wanted to get away from that,” Coogler said. “I was looking forward to working on a film that felt original and personal to me, and had an appetite for delivering something to audiences that was original and unique.”
When watching his film, Coogler explained that he wanted to give audiences a “full meal.”
He continued, “I wanted it to be a holistic and finished thing. That was how I was asked all about it. That was always my intention.”
Coogler’s statement comes after false reports of a Sinners sequel in development flooded both Instagram and X, formerly Twitter, timelines.
‘SINNERS 2’ is rumored to be in development.
(Via: @prodweek) #Sinners pic.twitter.com/WprpwKF9vv
— CriticalOverlord (@CriticalOverlo3) May 29, 2025
Fans Seem To Be Happy A Sequel To Sinners Is Not In The Works
However, now that we know a sequel is unlikely, it seems most moviegoers are fine with the idea that Stack and Mary’s story ended with that post-credits scene.
Normalize not fucking things up with a sequel 🙏 https://t.co/gMVwFOjd5F
— bryo (@falloutbryan) June 2, 2025
We are not opposed to the idea of a Sinners sequel, but we want it to happen on Ryan Coogler’s terms, not the studio’s.
Hit the gallery below for more reactions.
6.
Why does everything have to have a sequel Sinners is brilliant it doesn’t need a cinematic universe.I can’t wait for Mr Cooglers next original film. Let the guy cook https://t.co/6XA1HxLXrb— Rich Brockwell (@richkbrock) June 1, 2025
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Lizzo is launching an appeal aimed at ending a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by her former backup dancers, calling it an “attack” on her “First Amendment right to perform her music and advocate for body positivity.”
The blockbuster case, filed in 2023, accuses the star (Melissa Jefferson) of sexual harassment and discrimination. Though a judge dismissed some claims last year – including a headline-grabbing claim about fat-shaming – he allowed the overall lawsuit to move ahead toward a jury trial.
In an opening brief filed last month, her attorneys urged an appeals court overturn that ruling and toss out the entire case. They say Lizzo’s behavior toward the dancers was clearly part of her artistic approach — and thus shielded by constitutional protections for free speech.
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“Plaintiffs’ suit [is] an attack on Lizzo’s First Amendment right to perform her music and advocate for body positivity,” writes Lizzo’s attorneys, who include prominent Hollywood defense attorney Marty Singer. “Rather than accept personal accountability, plaintiffs filed this shotgun action, taking aim at nearly every facet of Lizzo’s creative process.”
One key claim in the case against Lizzo is that she pushed the dancers to attend a sex show in Amsterdam’s Red Light District at a venue called Bananenbar, then pressured them to touch and engage with nude performers. But her lawyers say that incident – which they stress was entirely optional — was directly tied to the creation of her art and thus cannot form the basis of legal liablity.
“There’s no disagreement that Lizzo held these outings as a necessary part of her creative process,” Singer writes. “Early social gatherings during international tours (like the Bananenbar) are critical to teambuilding and fostering cohesion.”
The case against Lizzo, filed by Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, accused the singer and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of creating a hostile work environment via sexual harassment, religious and racial discrimination. It also accused her of disability discrimination based on weight-shaming – a loaded allegation against a star who had made body positivity a key part of her personal brand.
Lizzo quickly denied any wrongdoing, calling the claims “false” and “sensationalized” and vowing to fight back: “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”
The star’s legal defense centered on California’s so-called anti-SLAPP law — a special statute that makes it easier to quickly end lawsuits that threaten free speech. In seeking to dismiss the case under that law, Lizzo’s lawyers argued the dancers wanted to “silence” Lizzo and “weaponize” her creative expression against her.
In early 2024, Judge Mark H. Epstein partly endorsed that argument and tossed out several allegations, including the discrimination claims about fat-shaming. But he allowed numerous accusations to move ahead toward a potential trial, including those over the Amsterdam sex show.
“It is dangerous for the court to weigh in, ham-fisted, into constitutionally protected activity,” the judge wrote. “But it is equally dangerous to turn a blind eye to allegations of discrimination or other forms of misconduct merely because they take place in a speech-related environment.”
In appealing that ruling, Lizzo’s lawyers argue that it’s dangerous for judges to wade into an artist’s creative process. They cite earlier court rulings that say such work includes discussion of “many bizarre and potentially offensive ideas” and can be “unpredictable.”
“Judges must not dissect the creative process to determine what was necessary to achieve the final product and what was not,” Lizzo’s lawyers write. “By rejecting the artist’s proven experience for what is necessary to, and best enhances, her own art, the trial court stepped far outside its role.”
A rep for lawyers for Davis, Williams and Rodriguez did not immediately return a request for comment. They will file their own appellate brief later this month aimed at rebutting Lizzo’s arguments. The two sides will then argue the case before the court at some point in the coming months.
If the appeals court sides with Lizzo, the case will be dismissed. If the court sides with Davis, Williams and Rodriguez, the case will return to Epstein’s court and move toward an eventual jury trial.
Early in 2024, Clipse prepared to play a new album for their label, Def Jam. While these types of playbacks can be routine, this one was freighted with extra significance: The rap duo composed of brothers Pusha T and Malice had not released an album together since 2009.
Their comeback soon hit a speed bump. One song on the new album featured a guest verse from Kendrick Lamar, who spent part of 2024 in a venomous back-and-forth with Drake. And, as Pusha T recently told GQ, Lamar’s presence on the Clipse track made Def Jam’s parent company, Universal Music Group, uncomfortable.
“They wanted me to ask Kendrick to censor his verse, which of course I was never doing,” Pusha T told the publication. “And then they wanted me to take the record off [the album].”
Trending on Billboard
Clipse refused to make the requested changes, leading to the unravelling of Pusha T’s association with Def Jam — his label home for over a decade. Even though the rapper still owed Def Jam albums, he paid a seven-figure sum to get out of the deal, according to longtime manager Steven Victor. “If you’re an artist, your whole life is to create art and put it out,” Victor says. “If someone’s telling you that you can’t do that, or you have to do it within the confines of whatever box they put you in, that’s like creative jail.” (Reps for Universal Music and Def Jam did not respond to requests for comment.)
Pusha T has his own antagonistic history with Drake, which culminated in the scathing 2018 diss record “The Story of Adidon”; Victor says Pusha T’s verses have been facing strict label scrutiny ever since. Meanwhile, the fallout from Lamar’s battle with Drake is still ongoing: The latter has sued Universal Music Group, accusing the company of defamation over Lamar’s track “Not Like Us.”
Victor spoke with Billboard about the end of Pusha T’s relationship with Def Jam, and finding a new home for the rapper — and the Clipse album — at Roc Nation.
When you started to hear objections to the Lamar verse on the Clipse album, where were they coming from?
UMG has this department where they review lyrics. So it was that department. The real reason [that department] is there is to protect the artists and the label from lawsuits for copyright infringement. They do it for all the labels. Some labels adhere to it closer than others.
Let’s say you interpolate somebody else’s song. [That department] is there to make sure that the song is properly cleared. It’s not meant to be like, “You said XYZ about XYZ artist, so we’re not going to release this music.”
While you’ve been working with Pusha, have you ever had challenges with that department before?
In the beginning, no. But starting in 2018, yeah.
That’s the year Pusha released “The Story of Adidon.” He put that on SoundCloud, and it’s never been officially released on streaming services. Was that a way of getting around any internal objections?
Part of the reason, yeah, to avoid that. [Also] we never actually properly cleared it.
Pusha T mentioned two songs in his interview with GQ, Rick Ross’ “Maybach Music VI” and Pop Smoke’s “Paranoia,” where his verses were ultimately cut. Was that because of the same department’s scrutiny?
Yes. What happened on the Pop Smoke song is that UMG thought that he was dissing Drake on that song. He wasn’t, but they thought he was. Pop Smoke was released on my label [Victor Victor], and obviously I managed Pusha. So they came to me and said, “We’re not going to put this out now, unless you get Pusha to change these lyrics.” Even though it has nothing to do with Pop Smoke, they’re like, “Either he changes these lyrics, or we’re not putting the album out.”
What happened to freedom of speech? First of all, he’s not dissing Drake. But how do you get to tell him to just change his lyrics or you’re not putting this album out?
From what Pusha told GQ, this Kendrick verse they’re concerned about on the new record is not dissing Drake, either.
Yeah, I don’t know what their concern is. But they were like, “There’s a line here; we think it’s controversial; [Kendrick] needs to change it, or we’re not putting it out.” We’re not going to ask him to change the verse. You guys are wrong. Stop looking at this this way. None of this makes any sense.
It got to the point where the conversation became, “You can’t keep stopping this guy from being able to put out his art.” He’s a rapper. Every time he puts out an album or a song, you can’t listen to it to make sure that he’s not dissing somebody before you put it out. He has to think about what he’s saying before he’s saying it in the hopes that you might not think that he’s saying the wrong thing? Who could live their life like that?
I went to them and I said, “Let us put the song out somewhere else since you guys have an issue with it. You guys won’t have to stand behind whatever complications come from it. We’ll put the song out somewhere else, and we’ll license it back to you guys when the album comes out.” Their response was, “How about you just find somewhere else to put out Clipse? Just pay something to us and put it out somewhere else.”
My thing was, we can’t do that — Pusha and the Clipse are one thing. [At this point], he clearly doesn’t trust you guys. You guys haven’t been good stewards of his career.
So they said, “Find another deal, and let’s figure out a business.” They didn’t drop us. They were like, “Pay us this money” — which was an exorbitant amount of money, a s—t ton of money — “and we’ll let you out the deal.” That’s what happened. We paid them the money, an insane amount of money. It wasn’t, like, $200,000. It was a lot of money for an artist to come up with. They bought themselves out of the deal.
How many solo albums did Pusha have left on his deal with Def Jam?
I don’t really want to talk about that part. He had like three albums left.
So you had to pay seven figures to get out of the deal?
Yeah.
How quickly were you able to get another deal in place?
It happened simultaneously [with getting out of the previous deal]. It took a couple of weeks for us to figure out the paperwork. Again, it was a lot of money — we kept on going back and saying, “Can we pay you this amount of money and a part of the profit? Can we figure out a deal where we pay you as the guys make money from the new release, instead of coming up with this large sum of money [right now]?” They said no. They were like, “We want our money, and we want some of the profits.”
Once I knew that we had, in principle, a deal in place with Def Jam [to leave], I got on the phone with Jay-Z. I was like, “Look, this is what’s happening. We’ve been talking about doing X, Y, Z, together. There’s an opportunity here to do this album. What do you think?”
He hit me back right away, like, “You just made my day. Let’s figure it out. What do we need to get it done?” I went back to Pusha, and said, “Listen, Jay’s gonna give us a very artist-friendly deal, we get to own the masters, and they’ll put the marketing power of Roc Nation behind it. You guys are friends. It’s a great outcome.” We worked out the deal in less than 24 hours.
You had to pay Def Jam a lump sum to get out and also give a cut of what you make off the new record?
Yeah, we had to give them a cut also, which is insane. But the good thing about it is that Pusha is in control of his future. Now he has three deals in three different places. At the beginning of his solo career, we put out records independently with Mass Appeal; he owns those records. Then we did the deal with G.O.O.D. Music/Def Jam; when Kanye left Def Jam, we worked out an agreement with him where he gave Pusha his masters back on the G.O.O.D. Music side. And now we did this deal with Jay.
Pusha is having way more success creatively, financially and professionally, than he did at the peak of his career, which was when [Clipse’s] “Grindin’” came out. Smart and steady wins the race.
What appeals to you about taking the independent route?
I still think there’s a place for major record labels. But if you can get away with being at a place that understands the culture that you’re in a lot more, moves more nimbly, and you can get the same resources that you would from a major, why would you go to a major, especially with the way the deals are structured?
You can get everything and more from somebody that not only looks like you, but behaves like you, has the same mindset as you. You’re not dealing with layers and layers of corporate bureaucracy and nonsense. And all artists are not treated equally in the major record label system.
One thing you still hear about the majors is that, to the extent that radio matters, they have the muscle there, and they also have an international presence that’s hard to replicate.
Cap. I call cap. I’ve done it on a smaller scale and on the larger scale. All you need is a team. You can hire and you can outsource a great international team, a great radio team. For some artists it’s definitely more beneficial to be part of a major record label. But you don’t need to be on a major record label to find success.
Obviously Pusha T and Def Jam had a long relationship. Is it tough to see it end this way?
Pusha has been signed to Def Jam for almost 15 years. We’ve been there for a long time; we’ve seen different regimes come and go. But at the end of the day, if a relationship is not working, for whatever reason, it doesn’t make any sense to stay there, regardless of how much you might like it or might feel comfortable. And I don’t know if the amount of attention, focus and detail that we were looking for [on this album rollout] would have happened there anyway.
Is this the start of a potentially closer relationship between Victor Victor and Roc Nation?
I’d say so. There’s a lot going on, a lot of moving parts. But the focus right now is definitely this Clipse album.
JoJo Siwa has been on a real rollercoaster ride over the past month. The reality dance star turned pop singer went from having her honor defended by housemate Chris Hughes on Celebrity Big Brother UK after homophobic comments from actor Mickey Rourke to breaking up with then-partner Kath Ebbs at the show’s wrap party and then partnering up with Hughes.
Now, reunited with Billboard‘s Tetris Kelly — he of the infamous “Gay Pop” interview — Siwa says “30 days ago I would have never even imagined I’d be friends with Chris Hughes,” calling their now-official relationship “the weirdest” idea. But, the heart wants what it wants, and, as of this week, the couple are Instagram official and appear to be inseparable.
In the episode of “Take Us Out” recorded at Burbank Priscilla’s (watch the full video above), JoJo says that Hughes is now the closest person in her life, someone she would “die for… when someone comes into your life and you enjoy it, you can tell.” That said, Kelly wondered how it’s felt for Siwa to be figuring out her sexuality in front of the whole world.
“It’s really hard because people tear it apart,” she says of her full embrace of queer life. “I understand if you have no context why people tear things apart… there’s people going through this same thing that I’m going through. There’s somebody who’s identified as one sexuality and then maybe had this realization within themselves but they don’t now feel they can’t change or grow.” Siwa says she felt like she was being placed in a box she wasn’t meant to be in when she came out. “I’ve dated beautiful women, I’ve date beautiful non-binary people, I have dated men… but I realize that’s just who I am. I realize for myself that I just like humans.”
Siwa also touches on her excitement in the run-up to her 22-date An Unforgettable Night Out summer tour, which kicks off on July 10 in Houston, TX. “I’m an adult now, which is crazy,” says Siwa, 22, about her first outing in three years and first one as a legal grown up. “There’s elements in this show that make it a lot different than just a typical concert,” she explains about the show that will mix her songs with bits about her time on Dance Moms, funny sketches and JoJo the Bilbo references.
She made a point of addressing that flap over the $900 “Dream Guest VIP” ticket offer, in which she told fans they would get to help her “build the set” for the show. “People did take that as actual building the set,” she says, making a wrenching motion. If you want to carry props out on stage, JoJo says that’s fine, but that’s not what she intended.
“The point was people are going to get to have their say in what we actually do that night,” she clarifies about allowing four die hards at each stop help put together that night’s set list.
In a vulnerable moment, Siwa talked about the trepidation she felt before releasing her March single “Bulletproof,” in which she publicly embraced her queerness. “Music is probably the thing I’m most insecure about,” she says. “I think a lot of people have a lot of things to say and I think I’ve also done some things that have fueled that fire… it’s vulnerable. And now it has put me in a place where I don’t like to say I’m a singer.”
She recalls opening up about that fear on Big Brother, where she proclaimed that she “can’t sing, but I can release a song. And I can make a point” while casually teasing that she’s working on her first-ever full length album with her favorite production team, Rock Mafia. She admits that she’s dying to be on the hit Peacock competition show The Traitors, while simultaneously pitching her own reality show starring all her best pals from previous gigs on Dancing With the Stars, Special Forces and Big Brother.
Watch JoJo talk about “Bulletproof,” “Fighter,” balancing stage JoJo vs. real life JoJo and her tangled love life in the video above.
A documentary on Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Noah Kahan is on the way, it has been confirmed.
The currently untitled film is the product of Live Nation Productions, Federal Films, Polygram Entertainment and RadicalMedia, with Nick Sweeney serving as director, and RadicalMedia on board as the production company.
The film is set to portray Kahan’s rise from his Vermont roots to global stardom, tracing his early musical ventures, leading into the release of early albums such as Busyhead and I Was / I Am, and the household name status that would follow as the result of 2022’s Stick Season.
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Following the release of his Stick Season album, which would hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and see its title track hit No. 9 on the Hot 100, Kahan found himself firmly in the spotlight, receiving widespread acclaim and even a Grammy nomination for best new artist.
As the documentary follows his journey, it shows Kahan grappling with the realities of becoming a prominent voice in the conversation surrounding mental health, the pressures surrounding his success, and the challenges of following it up. The intimate look also captures Kahan returning to Vermont as he reconnects with the people and places that helped shape him while also navigating through the challenges of life and changing relationships.
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The film has already wrapped production and is currently in the market for distribution with CAA. The film’s producers include Ryan Kroft, Vaughn Trudeau and Anna Keegan for Live Nation Productions, Jeff Ludwig and Devon Libran for Federal Films, David Blackman for Polygram Entertainment and Samantha Mustari, Dave Sirulnick and Stacey Reiss for RadicalMedia.
Executive Producers on the project include Michael Rapino, Jessica James Batista, Michael Yerke and Alex Maxwell for Live Nation Productions, Drew Simmons and Ryan Langlois for Foundations, Ben Adelson and Alex Coslov for Mercury Records, Monte Lipman and Jeffrey Remedios for Federal Films and Jon Kamen for RadicalMedia. Asher Brown and Henry Allison also serve as co-producers.
Following the release of Stick Season in 2022, Kahan has since released two expanded editions of the record, including 2023’s Stick Season (We’ll All Be Here Forever) and 2024’s Stick Season (Forever).
In August 2024, he released the Live from Fenway Park album, with the next month seeing Vermont governor Phil Scott proclaim Sept. 19, 2024 as Noah Kahan’s Busyhead Project Day in recognition of Kahan’s efforts surrounding mental health.
Spotify has launched a new masterclass to help artists understand what artificial streaming is and how to prevent them from falling for scams related to it. Featuring Bryan Johnson, head of artist and industry partnerships, international at Spotify; Andreea Gleeson, CEO of TuneCore and member of the Music Fights Fraud Alliance; and David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, the executives also tell artists in the masterclass what to do if they’ve noticed abnormal and suspicious streaming activity has occurred on their accounts.
In recent years, artificial streaming (sometimes known as ‘streaming fraud’) has become a hot topic in the music business, but last year, the issue hit new heights when the first-ever U.S. streaming fraud case was brought against a man named Michael Smith in the Southern District of New York. According to the lawsuit, Smith allegedly stole more than $10 million in royalties across all streaming platforms by uploading AI-generated songs and driving up their stream counts with bots.
Trending on Billboard
A lot of artificial streaming instances, however, are not so extreme — or deliberate. It’s an issue that can impact even well-meaning independent artists, looking earnestly for marketing and promotion help. Whether it’s a digital marketer on Fiverr promising to get an artist on a playlist, or a savvy promoter DMing an artist on Instagram, promising a certain number of streams, many artists, particularly those without representation, fall for a scheme which, as Gleeson puts it, “is too good to be true.”
“It undermines the fair playing field that streaming represents,” says Johnson in the masterclass. “If left unchecked, artificial streams can dilute the royalty pool and shift money away from artists who are genuinely trying to release music and build an audience, and it can divert that money to bad actors looking to take advantage of system.”
As Johnson explains in the masterclass, whether the artificial streaming scheme was done wittingly or not, there can be real consequences. If an artist is caught with suspicious streaming activity, the track can no longer earn royalties, future streams do not count toward public metrics, future streams do not positively influence recommendation algorithms, and the activity is reported to the distributor or label. In a worst-case scenario, the song can also be removed from Spotify playlists, or the platform overall, and the artists’ label or distributor will be charged a fine.
“This is something we take seriously at every level, all around the world, and our efforts are working. Less than 1% of all streams on Spotify are determined to be artificial,” says Johnson.
Johnson, along with Gleeson, spoke to Billboard to explain why they teamed up on this masterclass, and what they hope artists take away from it.
“Our tactics are working, but this is not the time for us to pause. We have to keep going, because this is a moving target. We have to keep investing, keep educating, and keep trying to minimize the impact of artificial streaming,” says Johnson.
Why did you decide to do this masterclass now?
We have an existing video on artificial streaming from a few years ago, but we think this is a great way to update what we’ve done previously. This moves so quickly, and we will keep building on this and updating it. This masterclass now includes information that wasn’t around a few years ago. Why now? We found it’s very clear on our socials that people want to know about artificial streaming. We’ve read through a lot of comments, talked to industry partners and tried to figure out what information people want to see from this. And how can we do this in a way that will deter people from falling for this in the first place?
If artists only took one thing away from this video, what would you want them to have learned?
Gleeson: The big thing that that we really stress is that artists should know who they’re working with. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So do your education up front with the marketing programs that you are utilizing. If a company is guaranteeing playlist placements or a certain number of streams or it sounds just way too good to be true, it probably is. If I can add a second thing it would be: start to open up a proactive discussion with your distributor or your label to make them aware if you see anything abnormal happen to your account. This can help you reduce any penalties, like the risk of your music getting taken down. Spotify also now has a way to submit information if you think there’s abnormal activity on your account. Reporting it is really important.
Bryan, often in these conversations about artificial streaming, it’s hard to know where the buck should stop. Is it the distributors fault? The user’s fault? The streaming service’s? How are you approaching it at Spotify?
Johnson: I think it’s an industry responsibility. There’s an industry body called Music Fights Fraud Alliance, which is a collection of digital services, like Spotify, and rights holders, like distributors and labels. And it’s an opportunity for the industry to come together and rally around the same topic and share information, share intel. And it’s been highly effective — super, super productive. We have a responsibility. We are the leading streaming service globally. We are across 184 markets with a huge audience, and we are a significant partner to the music industry. So it’s important that we come to the table, and we’re part of this conversation.
Scammers evolve quickly over time. It’s often said that there’s a danger in educating the public too much about artificial streaming, for fear that it will help the scammers evolve and better their efforts. How did you guys approach that challenge with this master class?
Gleeson: It’s always a work in progress to figure out the right balance of education and secrecy. You want to be specific to help educate, but you don’t want to give someone a playbook of how to do the fraud either.
From your vantage point, what are some of the measures that have been have implemented over the last few years that have shown really strong results in decreasing artificial streams? What has been the most effective?
Gleeson: We’ve tried to take down some of the playlists where this is happening. That can be a little bit of Whack-a-Mole, but that has been really effective. What we’ve observed also is the [streaming services] that focus on the reporting tools for artists and preventative tools have much lower abnormal stream levels than other [streaming services]. And it makes sense, right? If you’re a bad actor, you’re going to go to the path of least resistance. If a [streaming service] hasn’t invested yet in a robust reporting system, you can do your scam there and achieve more with less effort.
Johnson: We launched the very effective tool around a year ago, and it’s essentially a form that artists can go to, and they can tell us if they’ve seen abnormal activity, like in their Spotify For Artists data, and if they think they’ve been added to some sort of suspicious playlist. This born out of their feedback. We were getting requests online for a way in which they could let us know directly. Yes, they let their label and distributor know, but they also wanted to let Spotify know directly, and it’s super useful for us. We’re able to use that information effectively to stop artificial activity. So I think that playlist reporter form has been, has been really useful.
For parents and priests back in the ‘80s worried about subliminal, evil messages in heavy metal music, Cold Slither was their worst nightmare. Or at least the four-piece hard rock band would have been if they’d been flesh-and-blood instead of a cartoon band from the iconic animated series G.I. JOE: A Real American Hero. But at San Diego Comic-Con, Cold Slither – the villainous metal band whose music was laden with subliminal messages from terrorist organization Cobra – is coming to life for the first time.
On July 24 at San Diego’s Brick by Brick, Cold Slither will take the stage for a one-night-only show presented by Hasbro and Reigning Phoenix Music. The evil (but honestly kind of doltish) band of swamp mercenaries working for Cobra Commander will be brought to life by Gus Rios (vocals/bass, portraying Zartan), Ross Sewage (guitar, portraying Torch), Matt Harvey (guitar, portraying Ripper) and Andy Selway (drums, portraying Buzzer).
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The day after the concert, Friday, July 25, Cold Slither’s debut album will drop. It features the “Cold Slither” song that appeared in the Dec. 2, 1985, episode of the series that introduced the band, as well as nine additional tracks, including “Thunder Machine,” which debuts today. Pre-orders are available now.
Soldiers and mercenaries who swing by the Hasbro and Reigning Phoenix Music booths can pick up the “Zartan Chameleon Blue” and “Blood Moon Red” vinyl variants, respectively, both exclusive to San Diego Comic-Con. Fans can also pick up limited-edition action figures of the hard-rocking Dreadnoks at the event.
Courtesy Photo
“This isn’t just an album – it’s a sonic strike straight from Cobra Command!” the band says. “We’re back, louder, heavier and deadlier than ever. We can’t wait for G.I. JOE fans and metalheads to experience the raw power of our music, culminating in our live debut at San Diego Comic-Con. Prepare your ears for total domination… Let’s Rock and Cobra Roll!”
Check out the Cold Slither album tracklist below.
Cold Slither1. Welcome to the Swamp (Intro)2. Cold Slither3. Knock ‘Em Dread4. Thunder Machine 5. Zartan’s Revenge 6. Snakes on the Bayou7. Torched8. Under the Dreadnok’s Spell9. Master of Disguise10. The Ballad of Buzzer11. These Fluffies Are Fatal
Taylor Swift’s many fans celebrated the pop superstar finally purchasing the masters of her Big Machine albums (the first six studio albums in her discography) by throwing a consumption party, flooding digital services to download more of her albums and stream more of her songs.
In the aftermath of her 11:30am ET announcement on Friday (May 30), early data reveals that the U.S. activity around her complete catalog — both the six albums released by Big Machine and her subsequent albums and re-recordings on Republic — jumped to averaging nearly 35,000 album consumption units for that day and Saturday, May 31, a 55.1% increase, from the average daily activity in the prior 12-day period, when her catalog average 20,000 units, according to preliminary data from Luminate. In fact, Saturday’s numbers were even bigger than Friday’s performance for the overall Swift catalog as the celebration apparently picked up steam among the Swifties.
Within her album consumption units, the biggest gainer was album downloads, which, according to early reports, jumped from averaging slightly over 100 units a day to over 5,000 copies. That two-day average is a whopping 3,520.6% improvement over the preceding 12-day average unit count. Meanwhile, physical albums improved to averaging just over 4,000 copies for the two days, which is 153.2% greater than the less than 2,000 copies her catalog averaged in the prior period. Overall, surging album sales — digital and physical — accounted for nearly 54% of Swift’s catalog’s album consumption unit increase.
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Over at the streaming services, Swift’s catalog on Friday and Saturday (May 30-31) averaged 32.91 million streams, a 35.6% increase over the 24.26 million streams her music accumulated as an average over the 12 days preceding the May 30 announcement.
Likewise, radio rewarded Swift fans by adding a few spins, or a 2.2% increase, to the 3,000-or-so daily plays her song catalog received in each of the 12 days before May 30.
Billboard will continue to track how Swift’s catalog performs in the coming days, as well as look at what albums are benefiting the most as more account reports are filed to Luminate.