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Concert Safety Tips: What to Do in Case of an Attack, According to Experts

Every time a terrorist or active shooter attacks a music event — from “>Israel’s Supernova Sukkot Festival invasion on Oct. 7 to the 2017 massacre at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas — police, promoters and venues pledge to improve concert security by adding things like metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs and even facial-recognition technology. And while it’s impossible to fully protect venues against gunmen with Kalashnikovs or organized terrorist strikes, three crowd-safety experts told Billboard how fans can help protect themselves in the event of an attack:

— Charge your phone – and consider bringing a portable charger to festivals. “It makes a difference,” advises Nicholas Dawe, fire marshal for Cobb County, Ga., which encompasses Atlanta. “You need a phone to connect with your friends.”  

— Use the buddy system. “Keep up with somebody. Watch each other’s backs,” Dawe says. “It’s easy to lose someone, especially nowadays. Four eyes is better than two.” 

Study the venue in advance. Track down a map and go over the sometimes detailed official safety precautions. “When I go to a venue, one of the first things I do is look at where my exits are, and possibly the secondary and maybe even a third exit,” says Howard Levinson, owner of Expert Security Consulting in Norton, Mass.

— Envision an escape route on-site. In an emergency, Levinson says, having a mental escape plan could save your life: “It might be smoke, it might be a situation [where] the lights are out. You picture what it would be like if you couldn’t see, if you had to go on your hands and knees and crawl out.” 

— “If you see something, say something.” It’s a cliche, and you might feel uncomfortable eavesdropping and reporting suspicious strangers, but this is standard anti-terrorism advice for large events, posted prominently on official websites for Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, the City of Chicago and elsewhere. “Telling your friends is not a good idea,” Dawe says. “Say something to security and police personnel.” 

— Keep your faculties. It’s hard to avoid weed-smoking and beer-drinking at shows, but avoid getting so blotto that you can’t clear your head and figure out what’s going on during a crisis. “I know it’s not the coolest thing to say, but it does impact how you perceive the circumstance,” Dawe says. “Being alert is pretty much your best option.” 

— In a pinch, look for a fire extinguisher. It can be a self-defense weapon. “If somebody is coming for you, before you lock yourself in a closet, an extinguisher could temporarily blind people to possibly allow yourself to escape and overtake them,” Levinson says. 

— Flee. Steven Adelman, vice president of the Event Safety Alliance, a concert-industry group of promoters and security experts that puts out a free crowd-management guide, reels off a macabre list of tragedies, from Columbine to Sandy Hook to the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and gives one word of advice: “Evacuate.” Then he adds: “Quickly.” Just as if there’s a lightning storm at an outdoor event. “We live in harm’s way — when we go to school or an entertainment event or a supermarket or a church,” he says. “What can people do? Be prepared to run.”

Travis Kelce Suggests What He Wore to Meet Taylor Swift ‘The First Time’ as Halloween Costume Idea

Halloween is right around the corner, and with interest in Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship dominating social media in recent weeks, the couple is destined to be a popular couples costume choice this year. Luckily, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end offered up an idea on how to dress like him for the spooky season.

In a Friday (Oct. 20) press conference, shared by the Chiefs on their website, the football player was asked by a reporter, “You and Taylor is a very popular Halloween costume coming up this year. What do people have to have if they’re going to dress up as you for their costume?”

“Man … um, the mustache is slowly starting to disappear, but I’ll tell you what man — that ‘stache and the 87 jersey was pretty iconic there for a little bit,” Kelce said. “I had it when I met Taylor for the first time.”

Accessorizing won’t be integral to completing his look either. He continued: “I guess just my ‘stache and yeah … maybe a [friendship] bracelet or something, I don’t know.”

Expect to see a lot of Taylor and Travises out on Halloweekend — according to an Oct. 9 report by WWD, searches for “Travis Kelce costume” and “Taylor Swift costume” soared by 761 percent and 464 percent respectively. The searched spiked after the “Anti-Hero” singer attended the Chiefs’ game against the Chicago Bears on Sept. 24.

Sadly, finding a Kelce jersey has become a difficult task, as sales of his jersey surged 400% after Swift attended his recent games, but you can find more couples costume ideas here.

Britney Spears’ ‘The Woman in Me’: 11 Biggest Revelations From Her Memoir

From her abortion to her “drug of choice,” the pop star reflects on her turbulent life in the new book.

Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me arrives on Tuesday, Oct. 24, and the Princess of Pop has not wasted her chance to tell her side of the story. Spears opens up about her highly publicized relationship with boy bander Justin Timberlake and elaborates on all the ways their time together has been misconstrued. She shares her thoughts on how being in the public eye shaped the woman she has become — for better and for worse — and how she has come to deal with the privileges and consequences of that fame in her current life.

Spears begins her story with heartbreaking detail about her sincere connection with the women in her family, and how their trauma has uncannily resurfaced in her own life. From a grandmother who lost a child and later found herself institutionalized, to how her own mother coped with her father’s heavy drinking. The pop star also details how, much like her grandmother, she felt silenced by her family as they controlled her through a conservatorship, and her disturbing belief that her own kin was on a mission to “kill” her.

In a quick 275-page read, Spears finally has the chance to tell her own narrative, to get her voice back after years of tabloid stories and a 13-year conservatorship that stripped away her autonomy. The Woman in Me is worth reading in full to understand the true depths of Spears’ experience through her own lens — or a few hours’ listen when actress Michelle Williams narrates the audiobook.

Britney Spears

Gallery Books

There are gossipy stories in Spears’ memoir that will certainly make readers gasp — though she has said that the memoir’s “purpose was not to offend anyone” — but there are also a lot of vulnerable and heartbreaking moments that could not have been easy to share. For a fraction of the story that one of the biggest cultural icons of a generation chose to share, Billboard has rounded up 11 of the biggest revelations from Spears’ book.

Imagine Dragons, Incubus & Wiz Khalifa to Headline SEMA Fest, An Event Bridging Music & Car Culture

The world’s largest automotive trade show is launching a music festival next month, bringing together live entertainment and car culture in Las Vegas.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) — a 60-year-old trade organization representing after-market auto part manufacturers and sellers — is launching the first-ever SEMA Fest at the Las Vegas festival grounds Nov. 3-4 with performances by acts including Imagine Dragons, Incubus, Wiz Khalifa, AJR, Third Eye Blind, Bush and Walk the Moon. The festival takes place during the annual SEMA trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which will open to the general public for the first time. Besides music, the festival will also include a full slate of immersive automotive lifestyle events, a consumer marketplace, world-class drifting, motorsports competitions and freestyle motocross.

“What we’ve noticed over the last 10 years is that the connection between a manufacturer and an end-user is getting closer and closer,” says Tom Gattuso, vp of events at SEMA.

“We decided as an association a couple years ago to open a membership category to an enthusiast or a consumer,” he added, noting that prior to 2023, the SEMA trade show was only open to wholesalers and retailers.

“And as soon as we opened it up, the consumer wanted to know how they could be part of the event,” Gattusto continued. “So we started to think how we could really engage consumers and have this complete distribution cycle where you’ve got manufacturing, distribution, and end-user all in one place. So we created SEMA Fest with an eye on automotive activation tying in another passion — live music — that would help our industry with growth.”

Tickets for the two-day festival start at $179, while tickets to both the Friday tradeshow and the weekend festival start at $299.

“Everybody remembers the first time they drove their car all by themselves — it was all about driving in the car, but also what you were listening to on the radio,” says Gattuso, who hired California talent buyer Roger LeBlanc to book the festival. “We really got positive response from both the industry and the public at large and we’re excited to see it all come together in November.”

SEMA Fest will be spread out over two stages, with the lineup of 21 artists also including The Struts, Ludacris and Dead Sara. There will also be three activation areas for Formula Drift, Hooligan off-road racing and Nitro Circus freestyle motocross.

“There will always be something to do as fans make their way through the festival grounds, either exploring something that may be new to them or exploring something that’s a deep passion for them and really interacting together in that space,” Gattuso says.

Click here to learn more about SEMA Fest.

Anitta, Gloria Trevi & More: Which Is Your Favorite New Latin Music Release? Vote!

This week, our New Music Latin roundup — a compilation of the best new Latin songs, albums and videos recommended by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — is powered by new music from Anitta, Fuerza Regida and Kali Uchis, to name a few.

A handful of talented women dropped new music this week, including Anitta, whose sensuality shined more than ever in her new single “Mil Veces.” The melodic Brazilian Funk, part of her forthcoming set Funk Generation, finds the pop star chanting about the ups and downs of a relationship while reminiscing on the “thousand times” she and her lover have been together and how much her desire is still alive.

Kali Uchis, on the other hand, released “Te Mata,” a gorgeous and profound bolero, produced by Josh Crocker and Manuel Lara, where she sings about discovering her self-worth after a toxic relationship. “Me, I am the devil of your story. The one that knew that in order to fly, I would have to find my own wings … I allowed your actions, they hurt me like bullets, the one that cried to sleep and would wake up to continue the nightmare,” she chants. Uchis’ new single forms part of her highly-anticipated Spanish-language album, Orquídeas, on January 12. 

Speaking of albums, Mexican-American group Fuerza Regida unleashed its 30-track set Pa’ las Baby’s y Belikeada, where they embark on a daring and audacious expedition of fearless corridos bélicos with a distinctive drill influence. Featured acts in the album include El Fantasma, Maria Becerra, Marshmello, Gabito Ballesteros, Manuel Turizo, Chino Pacas, and more

In our most recent New Music Latin fan-related poll, Feid’s MOR, No Le Temas A La Oscuridad album won with more than 69 percent of the votes. What’s your favorite new Latin music release of the week? Vote below!

Billie Eilish Says She ‘Couldn’t Be More Single’ After Report of Dating Tattoo Artist

Billie Eilish would like a word. On Thursday, the “What Was I Made For?” singer took to Instagram to clarify her dating status after false rumors circulated online of her dating celebrity tattoo artist David Enth.

The Sun published a report stating that Eilish had a “new boyfriend” that looked like an older version of her ex, The Neighbourhood frontman Jesse Rutherford. “Their romance is super low-key but they’ve been on quite a few dates,” a source alleged to the tabloid. “He is used to tattooing celebrities and he came highly recommended. They’ve really hit it off. David is very much her type because she likes a bad boy with face tattoos—her ex looked like an older version of him. It is all very new but they make a great couple.”

Following the report, Eilish took to Instagram to categorically deny the rumor. “I’m so dead, literally couldn’t be more single right now LMFAO what the hell is all this,” she shared in a text post published to her Instagram Story.

The seven-time Grammy winner’s last documented relationship was with Rutherford. The pop star opened up about dating the singer in her annual Vanity Fair video interview in November 2022, saying that she successfully “pulled” him after being a fan of his.

“It’s really cool, and I’m really excited and I’m really happy about it,” she gushed. “I managed to get my life to a point where I not only was known by a person that I thought was the hottest f—ing f—er alive, but pulled his a–! Are you kidding me? Can we just [get a] round of applause for me … thank you, Jesse Rutherford, everyone! I pulled his a–. All me. I did that sh–.”

The pair ultimately broke up after seven months of dating, with a source explaining the split was an amicable one. “We can confirm Billie and Jesse did split amicably and remain good friends,” a rep for Eilish told Page Six, who broke the news. A rep for Rutherford also confirmed to Billboard that “All cheating rumors are false. Both are currently single.”

Brandy Gets Festive for Upcoming Christmas Album, Featuring a Collab With Her Daughter

The holiday season is just around the corner, and Brandy got fans in a festive mood on Friday (Oct. 20) by announcing her upcoming album, Christmas With Brandy.

The album will feature a fresh take on festive classics, including “Someday at Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls.” She’ll also team up with her daughter Sy’Rai on “Christmas Gift,” and puts the soul on tracks like “Christmas Party for Two” and “Feels Different.”

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The album, out Nov. 10 via Motown Records will come just a week before Brandy stars in the Netflix original film, Best. Christmas. Ever!, on Nov. 16. The Mary Lambert-directed film stars Brandy as Jackie, who sends out a holiday newsletter every year that makes her college friend Charlotte (Heather Graham) feel envious. When Charlotte, her husband Rob (Jason Biggs) and their family end up on Jackie’s and her husband Valentino’s (Matt Cedeno)’s house before Christmas, Charlotte sets out to prove that Jackie’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems.

Pre-save Christmas With Brandy here.

Bizarrap & Milo J Unite Atop Billboard Argentina Hot 100 With ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 57’

Bizarrap extends his No. 1 record on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart as his latest release, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 57” with Milo J, surges 35-1 on the Oct. 21-dated ranking.

“Vol. 57” ejects Luck Ra’s “La Morocha,” featuring BM, from its five-week domination, with a 1-2 dip.

With the move, 16-year-old rapper Milo J claims his first champ among 15 entries. The Argentinian previously reached a No. 11 high through “Dispara***,” with Nicki Nicole (July 15-dated list). Bizarrap, meanwhile, captures his ninth No. 1 on the tally and extends his record for the most champs since the chart launched in 2018. Let’s look at the leaderboard:

9, Bizarrap
6, Maria Becerra
5, DuKi
5, Tiago PZK



Further, Bizarrap and Milo J join forces with four debuts. El “Fruto” leads the new recruits as the week’s Hot Shot Debut, at No. 11. “Toy En El Mic” follows at No. 15, “No Soy Eterno” at No. 21, and “Penas De Antaño” No. 31.

Continuing with the top 10, Emilia’s “GTA.Mp3” falls 2-3, Grupo Frontera and Ke Personajes’ “Ojitos Rojos” holds at its No. 4 high for a second week, while Myke Towers’ “Lala” completes the top 5 with a 6-5 jump.

The week’s Greatest Gainer goes to Marka Akme, Migrantes, Lauty Gram, Peipper, and DJ Tao’s “Linda” which rallies up 66 ranks, from No. 91 to No. 25.

Three other songs arrive on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 list this week: Darell adds his 10th career entry with “Lollipop” at No. 53. Further, BM, Big One and Tini’s latest team-up, “Lágrimas I CROSSOVER #4,” debuts at No. 69. Lastly, WOS clocks his sixth entry with “Morfeo” at No. 77.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=itO5dBpsWB0&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

Other Music Publishers Say They Aren’t Experiencing Anything Like Hipgnosis’ Accounting Issue

Rarely does an accounting issue move markets and surprise people throughout the music business. But that’s what happened Monday when Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the publicly traded investment trust backed by the catalogs of such artists as Neil Young and Stevie Nicks, announced it will cancel a planned quarterly dividend payment to shareholders.

According to Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board of directors, the decision was the result of the company’s independent valuation expert, Citrin Cooperman, reducing its expectations of “industry-wide” retroactive payments from the Copyright Royalty Board’s Phonorecords III (a.k.a. CRB III) ruling that increased the royalties music publishers receive from on-demand music streaming services for the years 2018 to 2022. Billboard estimated that the music industry would gain over $250 million in total, and another industry expert recently told Billboard they estimated the industry-wide retroactive payment will approach $400 million.

Hipgnosis’ adjustment was substantial: down roughly 54% from $21.7 million to $9.9 million. Meanwhile, Billboard continues to stand by its previous estimate and no other publishers or rights funds that spoke for this story have had to decrease their projections.

“Frankly, I’m shocked… I really do not understand this,” says one music publishing executive.

Multiple sources say there have been no new updates regarding CRB III in recent weeks that would cause a publisher to cut their expectations for accruals by more than half, and it must be an accounting error unique to Hipgnosis and Citrin Cooperman. “None of the data points have changed,” explains another publishing executive. “The ruling is what it is, so they must’ve made a mistake here.” Citrin Cooperman did not respond to Billboard’s request for comment.

The fallout Monday was immediate: With the sudden change in expected retroactive royalties, Hipgnosis Songs Fund was forced to cancel a dividend payment to not risk violating the debt covenants for its $700 million revolving credit facility. That dividend — 1.3125 pence per ordinary share — was announced on Sept. 21 and was to have a payment date of Oct. 27. The company’s share price dropped 10% on Monday’s news. Dividends are an integral component to the fund’s strategy of providing investors with stable returns from proven, successful music catalogs. Since its initial public offering in July 2018 through March, Hipgnosis Songs Fund had declared dividends of 21.6 pence per share, according to the latest annual report.

While the retroactive CRB III payments would be less than Hipgnosis Songs Fund expected and impacted a dividend payment this quarter, the resulting cash crunch likely won’t happen until 2024. Streaming royalties due for the period 2018 to 2020 will be paid directly to rights holders, with everything after that flowing through the Music Licensing Collective with a Feb. 9, 2024, deadline. Most of the adjustment will come from the 2021-2022 royalties owed to the MLC, according to sources. Considering the time it will take the MLC process the distributions, publishers probably won’t receive this tranche of royalties until the spring 2024.

In August, the Copyright Royalty Board stated its final determination for how songwriters and publishers would be paid for the period of 2018-2022. These rates were hotly contested between the music business and streaming services over the past six years. Though rates were nearly finalized in 2018, some streamers remanded it back to the CRB in 2019 in hopes of getting more favorable terms. In the meantime, the streaming services paid songwriters and publishers under the guidelines set by the previous period, Phonorecords II, which was lower than what was ultimately set for 2018-2022.

Ever since, the music business has been preparing for when the 2018-2022 rates would finally be settled, and streaming services would have to undergo a massive recalibration of what they had previously paid out. When the judges released their final determination in mid-August, it proved that these streaming rates overall would lead to more money for publishers and songwriters.

Other publicly traded publishing companies have also announced the amounts of their expected adjustments ahead of receiving the money. Universal Music Group-owned Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the world’s largest music publishers, expects to book a catch-up adjustment of nearly 30 million euros in the third quarter of 2023 related to Phonorecords III, UMG said in its July 26 earnings call. Warner Music Group, which often ranks as the third largest publisher, according to Billboard’s Publishers Quarterly, recognized a benefit of $20 million — less than the amount of Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s initial estimate — in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2022, resulting from the CRB’s ruling July 1, 2022, ruling.

Reservoir Media accrued less than $3 million in royalties in the third and fourth quarters of calendar 2022 related to the CRB III decision, says CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi. Reservoir Media doesn’t expect to adjust the size of the CRB III adjustment. “We continue to believe our estimates are accurate,” says Khosrowshahi. “We’ve applied an appropriate level of conservatism in recording that revenue.”

The amount of the expected windfall appears to have received a great deal of consideration inside Hipgnosis Songs Fund. According to Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s latest annual report, the company compared the Phonorecords III accrual estimates to estimates provided by the independent valuer — Citron Cooperman — as well as the fair-value appraiser for the City National Bank-led revolving credit facility. The 182-page report mentions the term “CRB III” 49 times and includes lengthy discussions of the company’s regulatory environment and how the CRB III determination raised the headline royalty rate due to music publishers by 44% from 10.5% to 15.1%.

CRB III will give publishers less than a 44% rate increase, though. The amount owed to music publishers is a complicated formula that includes minimum per-subscriber fees and percentage-of-revenue calculations. Publishers typically received above the headline rate from streaming services from 2018 to 2022, meaning extra amounts owed retroactively will be less than they would otherwise. Sources tell Billboard the effective rate for some streaming services was in the range of 12% to 13% of service revenue rather than 10.5%.

Hipgnosis did not respond to Billboard’s request for comment.

PETA Slams ‘Washed-Up Musician’ Aaron Lewis for Spelling ‘Trump 24’ With 32 Dead Coyotes

PETA is criticizing Staind‘s Aaron Lewis after the rocker posted a photo of 32 dead coyotes spelling out “Trump 24” on social media.

“How vile and pathetic that a washed-up musician, desperate for relevance, terrorized and killed animals to get a brief taste of the attention he obviously craves,” Lisa Lange, PETA’s senior vice president, says in a statement to Billboard. “Just like the dogs who share our homes, coyotes feel pain and fear and love their families, and because they’re one of the few species found in nearly every U.S. state, they’re beloved by many as America’s ‘song dog.’ PETA encourages Aaron Lewis to seek attention through some act of kindness, rather than slaughtering individuals who are simply trying to eke out an existence in an increasingly paved-over world.”

Lewis, who is also a country musician, began sharing the photo on social media Wednesday (Oct. 18) on Facebook, Instagram and Truth Social.

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“Another incredible 3 night hunt,” his caption on the twice-impeached former president Donald Trump’s social media platform read in part, also indicating that the hunt took place in Texas. “Who knew it would take exactly 32 dead coyotes to write such a poignant message to this amazing country we are all watching crumble before our eyes.”

The non-profit animal rights organization isn’t the only one upset by Lewis’ photo.

“I’m pro Trump, pro guns, pro hunting and like Arron Lewis but have some damn respect for the animals!” commented one follower on Facebook. “Who raised you??”

“I’m a hunter and own livestock and farm and I don’t destroy huge populations of apex predators,” wrote another. “I make sure I secure my domestic animals because I’m educated and know this isn’t conservationism.”

More fans on Instagram slammed the Staind frontman over his photo of the dead coyotes; he has since hidden comments and removed the ability to respond to the post.

Billboard has reached out to Staind’s rep for comment on Lewis’ photo.