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24 Dec 2023

BLACKPINK’s Jennie Begins ‘Solo Journey’ With New Label and Company OA

Jennie is ending 2023 with a major announcement.

On Sunday (Dec. 24), the BLACKPINK superstar shared with her nearly 83 million Instagram followers that she is launching a new label and company called OA.

“Hi, this is Jennie. This year was filled with many accomplishments, and I’m so thankful for all the love I’ve received,” the K-pop singer wrote on her Instagram Story. “I’m also about what’s to come, as I start my solo journey in 2024 with a company that I have established called OA. Please show lots of love for my new start with OA and of course BLACKPINK. Thank you.”

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Jennie also posted a black-and-white photo of herself, tagging OA’s new Instagram account, which had already gained about 850,000 followers as of press time on Sunday morning. OA’s page featured two images with a caption briefly explaining its mission.

“OA, which stands for ODD ATELIER, is a space that aims to create new things that attract attention in a different way from what is usual or expected,” the artist captioned an image of the company’s logo emblazoned on dark hoodies. “It is a label founded by artist JENNIE in November 2023.”

She didn’t elaborate further on her specific plans for the new venture.

In early December, YG Entertainment announced that the agency renewed its exclusive contract with all four members of BLACKPINK, sending the company’s stock soaring on news that its most successful act would remain with the agency.

BLACKPINK is to date the most successful K-pop girl group to have impacted the U.S. market. The four-piece headlined Coachella earlier this year, and in 2022 became the third K-pop group to top the Billboard 200 with its album Born Pink.

Jennie had some major accomplishments of her own in 2023. In addition to releasing long-awaited solo music, she made her acting debut in the HBO drama series The Idol and was named an honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire.

See Jennie’s OA announcements on Instagram below.

23 Dec 2023

Laura Lynch, Founding Member of The Dixie Chicks, Dies at 65: Report

Laura Lynch, a founding member of The Dixie Chicks, has reportedly died after being involved in a car accident in Texas. She was 65.

The musician was instantly killed on Friday (Dec. 22) after another vehicle slammed head-on into her car as it was attempting to pass another vehicle on Highway 62 outside of El Paso, Texas, according to TMZ.

The driver of the other car was reportedly transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Lynch was declared dead at the scene.

Lynch was a co-founder of The Dixie Chicks — who now go by The Chicks — alongside members Robin Lynn Macy, Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin in 1989.

Billboard has reached out to representatives of The Chicks for comment on Lynch’s passing.

The Texas-born artist initially served as the upright bass player for The Dixie Chicks and eventually took on the role of singer. She recorded three albums with country music group — Thank Heavens for Dale Evans (1990), Little Ol’ Cowgirl (1992) and Shouldn’t a Told You That (1993) — before leaving the country group in 1993. Two years after departing, she was replaced by Natalie Maines.

Lynch is survived by her husband, Mac Tull, and their daughter, TMZ reports.

23 Dec 2023

Rapper G. Dep Granted Clemency by New York Governor for 1993 Shooting

Rapper Travell “G. Dep” Coleman, who walked into a New York police precinct in 2010 and admitted to committing a nearly two-decade-old cold case murder to clear his conscience, has been granted clemency by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

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Now 49, Coleman has served 13 of a 15-year-to-life sentence. With his sentence being commuted by the Democratic governor, he will now be allowed to seek parole earlier than his original 2025 date.

Coleman is one of 16 individuals granted clemency by Hochul in an announcement made Friday (Dec. 22). They include 12 pardons and four commutations. It marked the third time Hochul has granted clemency in 2023.

“Through the clemency process, it is my solemn responsibility as governor to recognize the efforts individuals have made to improve their lives and show that redemption is possible,” Hochul said in a written statement.

The rapper earned an associate’s degree while in prison and facilitated violence prevention and sobriety counseling programs, while also participating in a variety of educational and rehabilitative classes, according to Hochul’s office. His clemency application was supported by the prosecutor in the case and the judge who sentenced him.

As G. Dep, Coleman had hits with “Special Delivery” and “Let’s Get It” and helped popularize a loose-limbed dance called the Harlem shake in the early 2000s. The rapper was one of the rising stars of hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records label in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But his career slumped after his 2001 debut album, Child of the Ghetto, and the rapper became mired in drug use and low-level arrests, his lawyer said in 2011.

Attorney Anthony L. Ricco said at the time that Coleman “had been haunted” by the 1993 fatal shooting of John Henkel and decided to confess to shooting someone as a teenager during a robbery in East Harlem. Henkel was shot three times in the chest outside an apartment complex.

His brother, Robert Henkel, had demanded Hochul reject the urgings by prosecutor David Drucker to release Coleman, calling it a “farce.” He told the New York Post that “it is one thing to seek (clemency) for drug crimes — but not murder.”

23 Dec 2023

Timothée Chalamet Says He’s Heard 12 Hours of Unreleased Bob Dylan Music Ahead of Biopic

Timothée Chalamet says he’s been given access to a ton of unreleased Bob Dylan music in preparation for his role in an upcoming biopic about the iconic singer-songwriter.

During an interview with Happy Sad Confused’s Josh Horowitz, the Wonka star revealed that Dylan’s longtime manager, Jeff Rosen, sent him a 12-hour playlist of unreleased songs by the legendary artist, recorded between 1959 and 1964. Rosen is serving as a producer on the forthcoming film, titled A Complete Unknown.

“This might earn the ire and wrath of a lot of Bob fans, rightfully,” Chalamet told Horowitz. “But he sent me like a 12-hour playlist of unreleased Bob stuff from like 1959 to ’64. I feel like I’m holding onto gold or something.”

The Dune actor pointed out that some of the music is already available to fans through such bootlegs as The Minnesota Tapes.

A Complete Unknown stars Chalamet as Dylan, Benedict Cumberbatch as Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, and Elle Fanning in an unspecified role. Woody Guthrie will also be portrayed in the movie, though the actor cast for the role has not yet been announced.

The biopic, directed by James Mangold, is scheduled to begin production in August. The project is based on Elijah Wald’s book Dylan Goes Electric and a script from Jay Cocks.

Mangold previously confirmed that Chalamet will do his own singing in the forthcoming Searchlight Pictures film. During an interview with Collider at London’s Star Wars Celebration in early April, the director was asked whether the actor would do his own crooning in the movie, instead of dubbing in Dylan’s voice. Mangold replied, “Of course!”

“It’s such an amazing time in American culture,” Mangold said when asked what drew him to the Dylan film. “The story of a young, 19-year-old Bob Dylan coming to New York with like two dollars in his pocket and becoming a worldwide sensation within three years — first being embraced into the family of folk music in New York and then, of course, kind of outrunning them at a certain point as his star rises so beyond belief. It’s such an interesting true story and about such an interesting moment in the American scene.”

23 Dec 2023

In the Philippines, Christmas Season – and Its Music – Starts in September

Imagine a land where it’s never cold but Christmas celebrations, and the holiday music associated with them, last for months. Such is life in the Philippines, where Christmas songs are played from Sept. 1 through the holiday itself, generating good cheer — and royalties for rightsholders — for almost a full third of the year.

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The global pattern of Christmas music consumption is that countries with colder weather start listening to it earlier, which generally translates into more streams, according to internal data from a major label shared with Billboard. The Philippines is the giant exception.

The country, which has a population of 109 million — a bit less than a third that of the U.S. — was the sixth biggest market for holiday music for Spotify in 2021, according to the company, after the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Canada and Sweden. (This data is skewed by the popularity of Spotify itself in various markets, and it and YouTube are the dominant platforms in the Philippines.) It’s also Sony’s sixth biggest market for streaming holiday catalog music, according to that company. In general, the Philippines is the 32nd-biggest market for recorded music revenue, according to the trade organization International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

One reason for the popularity of Christmas music in the Philippines is that it’s a predominantly Roman Catholic country — the only one in Asia — because it was ruled Spain from the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. Later U.S. rule brought English and an immersion in American pop culture. One popular saying has it that the country spent “300 years in a convent, 50 years in Hollywood.”

The Christmas season traditionally starts in what Filipinos call the “ber” months — SeptemBER, OctoberBER and so on — when the weather turns a bit cooler and workers look forward to a bonus 13th month of pay.

“There’s a stereotype that we can all sing, and we have a very communal culture,” says Victoria Maria Malong, Warner Music Philippines’ marketing & audience engagement director, domestic. “So we have lots of Christmas parties, with lots of food and singing — sometimes drunken singing.”

The big Christmas hits in the Philippines are mostly the songs you would expect — there’s a lot of “lean-back listening,” driven by playlists, according to Sony. “In terms of Christmas songs, it’s mostly the same around the world,” says Enzo Valdez, managing director of UMG Philippines Inc. (Universal Music Group’s business there goes by that name, since there’s an independent label Universal Records in the country.)

There’s one major exception, in the form of Jose Mari Chan, a performer, songwriter, and businessman known as the King of Philippine Christmas Carols. Although music isn’t his main job — he also runs a sugar company owned by his family — Chan is one of the country’s iconic singers, who is known for holiday songs like “A Perfect Christmas” and especially “Christmas in Our Hearts.” His biggest Christmas album, Christmas in Our Hearts, came out on Universal Records — the local company — but is now distributed by Ingrooves, which is owned by Universal Music.

As the dominance of streaming drives Christmas recordings to the top of the charts every year in the Philippines, just as it does in the U.S., Chan has become an online harbinger of the season, albeit one that appears earlier than Mariah Carey. Memes of Chan peeking through an opening door start to appear around Sept. 1, and he has capitalized on this success. In a country where tours of malls are part of promotion and endorsements are an important revenue stream, Chan has signed a deal with Uniqlo that has him singing the chain’s Christmas jingle, and appearing at events.

Playlist promotion works much the same as in other markets, and preparation for holiday music marketing starts in the summer. Sony Music has a Christmas music team with a core of eight to 10 executives that expands to about 30 internationally. “It’s international music and some of ours,” Malong says, “so it’s Mariah Cary and Jose Mari Chan and our challenge is to put [Warner Music Group artist] Michael Bublé into the conversation.”

Emerging local artists want to be part of that, too, and “we also have a lot of younger acts who are making new Christmas songs,” Valdez says. The duo Ben and Ben collaborated with Chan, and the young singer Juan Karlos has a new song, “Maligayang Pasko” (Merry Christmas in Tagalog, a dominant language), which came out November 10. Now, Valdez says, “Karlos plans to do a full Christmas album next year.”

23 Dec 2023

Here’s When Kiss’ First Digital Avatar Shows Will Take Place

Kiss fans will have to wait a little longer to see the band’s first avatar performance.

On Friday (Dec. 22), the legendary rockers — who played their final concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden earlier in the month — shared a teaser clip through social media revealing the date of their digitized characters.

“50 years is a long time, and what the future holds is in the making,” Kiss captioned the clip on X (formerly Twitter).

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The 25-second teaser includes previously seen footage of Kiss’ digital avatars and concludes with the message, “2027 A Show Is Coming.”

During their the last concert of their End of the Road farewell tour on Dec. 2, Kiss made a surprise announcement that they will continue on as digitized versions of themselves going forward.

After the concert, the quartet — comprising co-founders founders Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons as well as guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer — shared a two-minute video on YouTube teasing their next chapter.

“The future is so exciting,” Simmons says amid behind-the-scenes snippets of the band wearing motion capture suits to develop their high-tech avatars. Stanley adds, “We can live on eternally.”

Kiss’ avatars were created by George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, in partnership with Sweden’s Pophouse Entertainment Group, according to the Associated Press. The companies recently collaborated on the ABBA Voyage show in London, a virtual concert performed by the Swedish pop group.

“Kiss could have a concert in three cities in the same night across three different continents. That’s what you could do with this,” Pophouse CEO told the AP.

In a roundtable interview, Stanley noted that Kiss “deserves to live on because the band is bigger than we are,” adding, “It’s exciting for us to go the next step and see Kiss immortalized.”

Simmons pointed out that the forthcoming digital band will be able accomplish things the original members couldn’t dream of doing.

“We can be forever young and forever iconic by taking us to places we’ve never dreamed of before,” the bassist said. “The technology is going to make Paul jump higher than he’s ever done before.”

See Kiss’ announcement on X below.

22 Dec 2023

Josh Groban Explains Reason for Leaving ‘Sweeney Todd’ & Reflects on 20 Years of ‘Closer’

Josh Groban shocked the theater community when he and his Sweeney Todd co-star Annaleigh Ashford announced that they will be playing their final shows on Jan. 14, 2024, with Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster set to replace the pair. While Groban expressed gratitude for getting to be in the show in his departure announcement, the star provided additional context as to why he left in a new interview with Billboard News.

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“I think that we feel whether we stayed in it another year, whether we left tomorrow, I think Annaleigh and I feel like we did what we came to do,” Groban explained to Billboard‘s Rebecca Milzoff. “We wanted to get it off the ground in a way that we were really proud of, to get a response that [Stephen] Sondheim would have been really excited by and proud of, we wanted to bring our essence to the role and do something to it that we personally would be really proud of. And then it comes down to, how long do you stay fresh in that and how long do you feel like you have something really vital in your tank to give it.”

Their revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, to use its full title, received eight Tony nominations, including best revival of a musical and best actor and actress in a musical for Groban and Ashford. The cast album from the show is nominated for a Grammy for best musical theater album. Final-round voting is currently underway. The awards will be presented on Feb. 4.

Elsewhere during Groban’s interview, he spoke about his link to David Foster, who mentored him throughout the process of recording his 2001 self-titled debut album, and revealed that the experience gave him the tools necessary to soar on his sophomore follow-up, Closer. Groban reflected on the album hitting No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and being surprised because it felt “a little more expressive” than his debut.

“I remember it didn’t open at No. 1. I remember being surprised [when] I got the call that it had gone No. 1 when that’s usually not the case. Usually, you have your big opening week, at least that’s the way the business is now, so that was a really special feeling.”

Closer entered the Billboard 200 at No. 4 in November 2003 and finally reached No. 1 in its ninth week in January 2004. “You Raise Me Up,” a Foster-produced track from the album, became his first hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and brought him his first Grammy nod (best male pop vocal performance).

“That was the first album I started to write on,” Groban recalls. “I felt like that was the first album that I started to explore more eclectic taste and took more risks and dipped my toes into waters that felt a little more self-expressive.”

He continued, “Your first album you’re just so careful, you got a lot of chefs in the kitchen. When you got someone like David Foster, you’ve got Gordon Ramsey in your kitchen — in a good way. So that album doing what it did really made me realize that my fans are in it for the long run. That album going to No. 1 made me realize, ‘Oh we’re gonna have a journey together.’ … They were open to other styles. They were open to me being me.”

Watch Groban’s full interview with Billboard News in the video above.

22 Dec 2023

Josh Groban on Leaving ‘Sweeney Todd,’ 20th Anniversary of ‘Closer’ & More | Billboard News

Josh Groban spoke with Billboard’s Executive Features Editor Rebecca Milzoff about leaving Sweeney Todd, earning a Grammy nod for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2023 Broadway Cast Recording), the 20th anniversary of his album Closer, working with David Foster, his friendship with Leslie Odom Jr. and Josh Gad, and more.

Josh Groban:
The Jonas Brothers were across the street from us at The Marquee. They would come out to greet stage door, right at the time that I think, like, I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s a big death at the end with a quiet moment right afterwards, and so the audience would chuckle because this very serious dramatic death would happen and then there would be these just absolute screeching, scream outside the theater.

Hi, it’s Josh Groban, and you’re watching Billboard News.

Rebecca Milzoff:
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Billboard News. I’m Rebecca Milzoff, executive features editor at Billboard, and I’m here today with Josh Groban.

Josh Groban:
Hi!

Rebecca Milzoff:
Hi, Josh.

Josh Groban:
Thanks for having me.

Rebecca Milzoff:
You may not remember, but we actually met once before six years ago, when you were making your Broadway debut in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.

Josh Groban:
I do remember that. Yes, I knew when we met that we’d met before, I just couldn’t remember exactly when it was.

Rebecca Milzoff:
Well, I remember that you said at the time that you were excited by educated risks.

Josh Groban:
Yes.

Rebecca Milzoff:
I thought that was such a great thought and I imagine Sweeney was very much one of those.

Watch the full interview above!

22 Dec 2023

Top Country Music Stories of 2023

As the year draws to a close and the country music business looks toward 2024, it’s time to contemplate the headline-making moments of the genre over the past year. 2023 saw monumental crests for country music on the Billboard Hot 100, with songs and albums that cemented superstar status for some artists, such as Morgan Wallen, and brought unprecedented breakthroughs for others.

The continuing sea change of the way listeners consume music bolstered many indie artists to finding streaming success — with one in particular, Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond,” becoming a two-week No. 1 all-genre Hot 100 hit.

Some songs’ successes — notably, “Rich Men” and Jason Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” — were in part spurred by controversy. Meanwhile, other artists, including Dolly Parton, saw genre-traversing success with songs and/or albums that not only impacted the country charts, but the rock charts as well.

In November, this year’s CMA Awards also brought monumental triumphs for Tracy Chapman and Lainey Wilson. Additionally, country music continued its history of big media moments at the Super Bowl, with Chris Stapleton performing the national anthem just before the kickoff of this year’s game.

Meanwhile, this year also saw the ascension of Cindy Mabe to the top role at Universal Music Group Nashville. And, all of these milestones have come as country music has seen a surge not only domestically, but globally.

Here, we look back at 10 of the top stories in the country music business over the past year.

22 Dec 2023

BMG Exits Live Music Business By Selling Its Stakes In Undercover and Karo

BMG is getting out of the live music business. The German music company agreed to sell its stakes in two live music companies, Undercover and Karo, to the minority shareholders, the company announced Friday (Dec. 22).

The move comes less than a month after the company said it would focus on its core recorded music and publishing businesses and announced a new organizational structure. “Fifteen years after the emergence of streaming, music is going through another tectonic change,” new CEO Thomas Coesfeld, who replaced Hartwig Masuch as CEO in July, said at the time. “It is vital we now reengineer our business to make the most of that opportunity.

In an interview with Billboard in October, Coesfeld talked about adopting a more streamlined business model. “I’m truly convinced we can only be effective if we are not focusing too much on ourselves — not building too much resources internally — but instead focusing on the value creation and service delivery for the artists and songwriters.”

A few years ago, BMG wanted to provide more than recorded music and publishing services to artists. The company made its first foray into live music in 2020 by acquiring a majority stake in concert promoter Undercover. The deal was “the logical extension of BMG’s plan to integrate all the services an artist could need under one roof,” BMG executive vp of repertoire & marketing Continental Europe Dominique Casimir explained at the time. The following year, BMG acquired a majority stake in Karo, best known for its Taubertal-Festival.

In a statement, Michael Schacke, founder/owner of Undercover, called the new deal “the best solution for Undercover and our artists. Undercover will remain strong and independent in the future. We wish BMG and its team all the best and every success in focusing on its core business.”

“It has been a pleasure working with Michael Schacke and Dominique Casimir and we are pleased yet again to be pursuing an independent course as we near the 30th year of existence of Taubertal in 2026,” added Volker Hirsch, founder/owner of Karo.

“Michael Schacke (Undercover) and Volker Hirsch (Karo) are seasoned entrepreneurs who have built enviable reputations in the live music business,” said Dominique Casimir, who was promoted to chief content officer at BMG last year. “We are pleased to have agreed terms which allow them to pursue an independent future and we wish them and their teams the best for the future.”