News

10 Oct 2023

Travis Kelce’s 4-Year-Old Niece Is ‘Just Another Swiftie’ Trying to ‘Learn Football,’ Says Mom Kylie

Looks like Travis Kelce‘s niece is a fan of Taylor Swift. In a recent TikTok, the star’s sister-in-law Kylie Kelce revealed that her 4-year-old daughter, Wyatt, is a total Swiftie. And much like the others in the fandom, the little girl is taking a bigger interest in the NFL following her uncle’s rumored romance with the pop superstar

In the adorable video, Wyatt points out players on a screen and repeatedly asks her mom, “Who is that? Who is that?” Kylie shares the 4-year-old — along with 3-year-old Elliotte and 7-month-old Bennett — with Travis’ older brother, Eagles center Jason Kelce.

“Just another swiftie tryna learn football, or a kid tryna avoid a nap. Who knows?” Kylie captioned the Monday (Oct. 9) post, adding, “#GoBirds.”

The Eagles’ official account dropped by the comment section to cheer her on. “Good job Wyatt! ???,” wrote the team, which just so happens to be Swift’s hometown favorite.

Kylie’s video marks a sweet addition to the “Tayvis” lore, a rumored love story that’s been unfolding in front of Swifties and NFL fans alike in recent weeks. The Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end first professed his crush on the “Anti-Hero” singer earlier this year, and a couple months later, she was spotted cheering him on at two of his games.

Neither Swift nor Travis have confirmed whether they’re dating, but the Chiefs star did comment last week about how his life has changed following pop culture’s heightened attention on him. “We’re learning with the paparazzi taking photos from all over the place,” he said during a Friday (Oct. 6) press conference.

“At the same time, you know, it comes with it,” Travis continued. “You’ve got a lot of people that care about Taylor, and for good reason. You’ve just got to keep living and learning and enjoying the moments.”

The Kelce brothers’ mom, Donna Kelce, also recently weighed in on the Swift mania, a media blitz she’s been a key player in after cameras showed her looking cozy with the pop star at the Chiefs-Bears game in September. “It’s just very surreal,” she told the Got It From My Momma podcast last week. “I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. It’s not the one I grew up in, for sure. So it’s very, very fun, it’s exciting, but also taxing.”

Watch Kylie Kelce teach her young Swiftie all about football in her adorable TikTok below:

10 Oct 2023

Matty Healy Addresses Malaysia Festival Ban & ‘Liberals Outrage’

The 1975‘s Matty Healy has made responding to outrage over his latest provocations a near-nightly set piece during his band’s current Still… At Their Very Best U.S. tour. And, on Monday night (Oct. 9) in Dallas he was at it again, pulling out some notes to give his most extensive comments yet on the dust-up unleashed in July when he criticized the Malaysian government’s anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed bassist Ross MacDonald during a set at Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival.

“I don’t mind hollow shallow accusations of being racist and stuff like that, it kind of allows the show to do what it’s designed to do — expose inconsistencies and hypocrisies,” the singer said after apologizing to the crowd for drawing the “short straw” on a night when he had a lot on his mind.

He then went on to mention the band getting banned in Malaysia after the kiss incident and said that although the fine people of Texas had nothing to do with it, “Unfortunately there’s so many incredibly stupid people on the internet that I’ve just cracked,” he said, noting during the 10-minute rant that “everyone” has been telling him to stop talking about Malaysia. So, of course, he promised to talk about it “at length” during the show at Dickies Arena; the band has been asked to pay damages by the event’s promoter after the festival was cancelled in the wake of the kiss.

“I am pissed off, to be frank,” Healy said, reading notes from his phone. “The 1975 did not waltz in Malaysia unannounced, they were invited to headline a festival by a government who had full knowledge of the band with its well publicized political views and its routine stage show,” he said, adding that the organizers’ familiarity with the band’s outspoken, unpredictable nature was the “basis” of their invitation.

“Me kissing Ross was not a stunt simply meant to provoke the government, it was an ongoing part of the 1975 which has been performed many times prior,” he explained. “Similarly we did not change our set that night to play, you know, pro-freedom of speech or pro-gay songs. To eliminate any routine part of the show in an effort to appease the Malaysian authorities’ bigoted views of LGBTQ people would be a passive endorsement of those politics. As liberals are so fond of saying ‘silence causes violence, use your platform’ so we did that.”

That’s where things got complicated, according to Healy, noting that he believed that Malaysian authorities got angry because “homosexuality is criminalized and punishable by death in their authoritarian theocracy. That is the violent reality obscured by the more friendly term ‘cultural customs.’”

The singer seemed to suggest that the response was pretty much what he’d expect from such a regime, but that the “liberal outrage” against his band for “remaining consistent” with their pro-LBGTQ stage show was the most puzzling part of the reaction. “Lots of people, liberal people, contended that the performance was ‘an insensitive display of hostility against the cultural customs of the Malaysian government, and that the kiss was a performative gesture of allyship,’” he said.

“To start the idea of calling out a performer for being performative is mind-numbingly redundant as an exercise. Performing is a performer’s job,” he continued. “The stage is a place for artists’ expressions which are inherently dramatized. That’s why people go to f–king shows.” He then went on to say that other liberal voices argued that the kiss itself was a “form of colonialism,” and that the 1975 were following the tradition of “evil white men past” by forcing their Western beliefs on the Eastern world before going into a digression about the 17th century behemoth East India Trading Company.

“To call The 1975’s performance colonialism is a complete inversion of the word’s meaning,” he said. “Colonialism is the practice of forcible occupation and economic exploitation. Once again, the 1975 was INVITED into the country to headline Malaysia’s music festival in an effort to capitalize on our popularity so they could make money.”

Saying they were powerless against a government he claimed briefly imprisoned them over the incident, Healy also struck out other unnamed artists who he said took to Twitter to criticize his band in a “bizarre mangling of colonial identity politics merely served as an expedient way to express their own disappointment with the festival’s cancellation because it would be in poor taste, surely, to lament a loss of performance.”

The speech, which also included an aside about the United Arab Emirates’ “human rights abuses against the enslaved workers who built their soccer facilities — as well as a swing at the conservative Supreme Court’s Ruling curtailing women’s reproductive freedom in America — ended with Healy lashing out at the “contradiction at the heard of liberals’ outrage over our supposed cultural insensitivity. Their unconditional belief in inclusivity and tolerance has led them to indirectly support a government which is intolerant of their own existence.”

Check out Healy’s speech below.

10 Oct 2023

AI-Powered Hit Song Analytics Platform ChartCipher Completes Beta Phase

AI-powered hit song analytics platform ChartCipher has successfully completed its beta phase and is now accessible to the public, MyPart and Hit Songs Deconstructed jointly announced on Tuesday (Oct. 10).

“Our mission is to empower music creatives and industry professionals with comprehensive, real-time insights into the DNA of today’s most successful songs, and the trends shaping the music charts,” said Hit Songs Deconstructed co-founder Yael Penn in a statement. “Streams, engagement, and other performance metrics only tell part of the story. ChartCipher is the missing link. It provides comprehensive data reflecting the compositional, lyrical and sonic qualities fueling today’s charts.”

Added Hit Songs Deconstructed co-founder David Penn, “The correlations we can now draw between songwriting and production, spanning various genres and charts, offer unprecedented insights that have the potential to significantly enhance both the creative journey and the decision-making process.”

“ChartCipher’s beta phase confirmed that our AI analytics provide invaluable insights to music creatives and decision-makers,” said MyPart CEO Matan Kollenscher. “From selecting singles through exploring remix and collaboration opportunities to optimizing marketing investments and maximizing catalog utilization, ChartCipher equips users with unique, actionable data vital to making better informed business and creative decisions and understanding the musical landscape.”

Launched in April 2022, ChartCipher combines MyPart’s AI-powered analysis of songs’ compositional, lyrical and sonic qualities with Hit Songs Deconstructed’s analytics delivery platform and song analysis methodologies to offer real-time insights into the qualities that fuel today’s most popular music. The platform utilizes analytics from 10 of Billboard‘s most prominent charts going back to the turn of the century: the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Pop Airplay, Country Airplay, Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales.

“Billboard has consistently led the way in global music charts, and we are thrilled to introduce ChartCipher with analytics for 10 of their most prominent charts,” added Yael Penn. “Our longstanding relationship with Billboard, spanning over a decade, marks the start of an exciting new chapter. Together, we aim to provide even deeper, more actionable insights into the driving forces behind today’s most successful songs.”

Gary Trust, senior director of charts at Billboard, added, “Spotlighting ChartCipher’s intriguing insights about the sonic makeup of hit songs further rounds out Billboard’s coverage. We’re excited to add even more analysis of popular charting songs to our reporting on streaming, radio airplay and sales data, as provided by Luminate.”

To celebrate its official launch, ChartCipher has created a Billboard Hot 100 quiz available to anyone who would like to test their knowledge of the compositional, lyrical and production qualities driving the chart.

10 Oct 2023

Billboard’s 2023 Top Music Business Schools

The students who began their undergraduate education this fall at any of Billboard’s top music business schools are the first since the class of 2019 who can actually expect to spend four years on campus and in classrooms.

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As the COVID-19 pandemic spread in March 2020 and learning moved online, every student studying the music business, or any other field, took on a double major — in resilience.

“The resilience and positivity that our graduating students have shown over the last three years has been an inspiration,” said Sean McNamara, president/CEO of the Liverpool (England) Institute for the Performing Arts — the school that Paul McCartney co-founded in 1996 — as he presided over LIPA’s graduation in 2022, the school’s first inperson commencement since 2019. “I believe these qualities will see them successfully embark upon the next stage of their careers.”

Those attending any of Billboard’s top music business schools will be solidly positioned to pursue careers in an increasingly complex music industry. The schools listed are selected through executive recommendations, alumni information provided by honorees from our multiple power lists, information requested from each school and a decade of reporting on these programs.

We continue to prioritize more affordable public colleges and universities while also aiming for broad geographic diversity. Beyond the music capitals of New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Miami, students can find worthwhile curricula in Philadelphia, Memphis and New Orleans, as well as Syracuse, N.Y.; Kennesaw, Ga.; Stillwater, Okla.; and Cleveland, Miss. This list includes the Valencia, Spain, campus of Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music, the United Kingdom’s famed BRIT School outside London, LIPA and the BIMM Institute, the largest provider of contemporary music education in Europe.

Two noteworthy historically Black universities and colleges, public Tennessee State University in Nashville and private Howard University in Washington, D.C., also merit inclusion this year.

Billboard presents this list of schools alphabetically and declines to rank institutions in what would often be an apples-to-oranges comparison. (The past year has seen widespread criticism of college ranking practices.) For students seeking quantitative measurements — from admission percentages to tuition and fees to graduation rates — those data points are available through impartial sources such as College Navigator, a resource of the Institute of Education Sciences, a division of the U.S. Department of Education.

By any measure, however, the colleges and universities here offer impressive opportunities for students seeking an edge in music-industry careers — running campus record labels, devising business plans, volunteering at top festivals, traveling to major music industry events and meeting with leading artists and executives.

The faculty and administrators at any of these schools would echo the remarks of McNamara as their students complete their studies and move to reshape the music business: “We are immensely proud of them and extremely excited to watch them progress toward the next chapter in their lives.”

Abbey Road Institute
London

Established as a music production school in 2015 by Abbey Road Studios and the owner of the famed location, Universal Music, the flagship program is now located inside London’s Angel Studios, the site of recording sessions for acts including Adele, The Cure and Sam Smith. The institute also has sister programs across Europe and in the United States, Australia and South Africa. It offers a one-year intensive program, designed in collaboration with the music industry, that dives deep into music production, sound engineering and the music business.

Course: The core program offered by all of the institute’s campuses worldwide is the advanced diploma in music production and sound engineering.

American University
Washington, D.C.

Created in 2013 under the guidance of SoundExchange co-founder John Simson, the business and entertainment program at American University is housed in the Kogod School of Business and is already making a name for itself in the industry. The university is the alma mater of, among others, Rich Kepler, day-to-day manager of The Killers, and CAA agent Zack Borson. Given the school’s location, it’s an easy stop for industry professionals visiting the nation’s capital as well as local executives. Recent guests include Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange, and Audrey Fix Schaeffer, head of communications for concert promotion and production company I.M.P.

Course: Representing Talent: Agents, Managers & Lawyers, taught alternately by Simson and former Sony vp of marketing Stacy Merida, informs students about all participants on an artist’s team. The class also assists in managing regional recording artists.

Baldwin Wallace University
Berea, Ohio

This past year, Baldwin Wallace welcomed the largest-ever class of incoming students to its music industry program housed on its campus just 15 minutes from downtown Cleveland. The university, which in 2021 was invited to become an educational affiliate of the Grammy Museum, offers individualized instruction combined with hands-on experiences supported by Cleveland’s musical ecosystem, including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Internship partners range from Live Nation properties to small indie venues. In spring 2023, students had the opportunity to enroll in tour management, a special topics course taught by Lamba Productions president Hadden Hippsley, who has helped produce festivals including Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and Governors Ball, while some students served as volunteers at Bonnaroo in June.

Event: Stephanie Yeager — tour accountant for Foo Fighters, Phish, Bon Iver, Neil Young and Blake Shelton — recently visited the tour management class to provide insight into the financial components of a successful tour.

Belmont University — Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business
Nashville

Located less than a half-mile from Nashville’s Music Row, Belmont’s Curb College offers unique access to networking opportunities with industry professionals as well as affiliated programs in areas including audio engineering and songwriting. Courses such as Inside a Booking Agency (taught in association with CAA) and The Artist’s Team (which features industry guests representing each of the main roles on a recording artist’s team) are complemented by hands-on opportunities such as summer term Bonnaroo U. A partnership with the Songwriters Hall of Fame yielded a new SHOF scholarship, and Belmont songwriting majors Lauryn Marie Hedges and Zander Jett were named the inaugural recipients in May. Hit-maker Desmond Child presented a master class on songwriting and navigating the industry, the first of many in a series.

Event: In April, Belmont hosted Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw for an intimate Q&A about touring, marketing and getting his start in the business.

Berklee College of Music
Boston

Berklee offers two degrees for students pursuing careers in the industry: a bachelor of music in music business/management and a bachelor of arts in music industry leadership and innovation, which debuted in 2022. The school continues to attract top-level industry guests. Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, spoke in March on a keynote panel as part of its annual Career Jam that also featured former Beats by Dre president Luke Wood and Main Street Advisors founder and CEO Paul Wachter. Berklee also has an expansive alums network, which includes Live Nation senior vp of touring Jared Braverman and Netflix music data and insights manager Anahita Bahri.

Course: BPMI Live is a one-year program focused on the festival business. Students hone their skills in talent scouting, artist development, and concert promotion and production; the capstone includes opportunities to participate at Lollapalooza and Governors Ball, where they work as production and tour managers for artists.

Berklee College of Music
Valencia, Spain

The sister campus to Boston’s Berklee College of Music offers a one-year master’s degree in global entertainment and music business attended by students from more than 20 countries who can concentrate in live entertainment, entrepreneurship and the record industry. The program optimizes its location, bringing all students to the Future of Music Forum in Barcelona and to the Great Escape in Brighton, England, a conference and festival showcasing 500 emerging artists from around the globe. In addition, it annually welcomes high-level industry professionals. This year’s honorary doctorate recipient, Yvette Noel-Schure, known for her work with Beyoncé, Prince, John Legend and Chloe x Halle, was recognized at the 2023 commencement ceremony in July, and recent guests include Ithaca Holdings/SB Projects founder Scooter Braun and manager Sophia Chang, who has worked with acts ranging from Paul Simon to Wu-Tang Clan.

Course: Emerging Technologies and New Creative Frontiers prepares students to both understand and capitalize on technological change, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality.

Berklee College of Music in Spain, Yvette Noel-Schure, Top Music Business Schools

Berklee College of Music in Spain presented an honorary degree to veteran music publicist Yvette Noel-Schure, known for her work with Beyoncé and others.

Tato Baeza

BIMM University — BIMM Music Institute
London

Given full university status by Britain’s Department for Education in July 2022, the newly named BIMM University now includes the BIMM Music Institute as well as schools for the performing arts, film and TV. The BIMM Music Institute, with seven locations in London and other cities across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, draws on a 40-year history of educating its students with high-end facilities, industry experience, knowledgeable lecturers and music business connections. Courses include music business; music marketing, media and communications; and event management to train those aiming for industry careers.

Alums: Ella Mai, Fontaines D.C. and James Bay are among the graduates of the school.

The BRIT School
Croydon, England

The BRIT School, a tuition-free institution that educates students ages 14 to 19 for careers in performance and creative arts and related industries, was co-founded in 1991 by the British government and the British Record Industry Trust (the charitable division of U.K. labels trade group BPI, which presents the BRIT Awards). The school has specialists teaching courses in live sound, production, recording, music tech and the music business — while also offering a comprehensive nonvocational curriculum. Not surprising given its history, the school has exceptional connections within the British music industry for career opportunities post-graduation. Students have participated in sessions with industry figures from Disney composer Alan Menken to YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen.

Alums: Artists including Adele, Jessie J, Loyle Carner, RAYE, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua have attended The BRIT School.

Adele, The BRIT School, Top Music Business Schools

Artists including Adele (pictured), Jessie J, Loyle Carner, RAYE, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua have attended The BRIT School in England.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

California Institute of the Arts — The Herb Alpert School of Music
Santa Clarita, Calif.

CalArts students at the Herb Alpert School of Music immerse themselves in the business of music, but the school also ensures that every student — even those who plan to pursue nonperforming roles — lean into some type of music creation. Among its alums: Composer Raven Chacon and composer/sound artist Ellen Reid are both Pulitzer Prize winners; Greg Kurstin, a producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, has won nine Grammys and worked with artists including Adele, P!nk, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar. On the business side, courses such as AI Sonic Explorations, The Art of the Mix and The Art of Recording keep students ahead of the curve regarding evolving technology and work-flow models.

Faculty: Laurel Halo, a composer, producer, live musician and DJ, joined the faculty in fall 2022.

California State University, Northridge
Los Angeles

While copyright law, publishing and licensing concepts, and the intricacies of recording and publishing contracts are key areas of focus in the classroom at CSUN, the school’s music industry studies program also delves into entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Aside from regularly hosting industry panels, the program — which counts singer-songwriter Andy Grammer as an alumnus — is home to Vove, a student-run record label where participants select, record, promote and manage an “artist of the year.” Thanks to its L.A. location, the school also boasts a robust internship program where all students must earn four credits working in a sector of the music business, from publishing to labels to live events. In addition to its undergraduate program, CSUN offers a master’s in music industry administration, with class schedules designed for fully employed students and midcareer professionals.

Event: The university recently presented a panel and networking discussion of songwriting with Jud Friedman, an Academy Award- and Grammy-nominated songwriter (Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” from The Bodyguard); Bonnie McKee, who co-wrote hits for Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson; and Joe Poindexter, vp of digital at Pulse Music.

Delta State University — Entertainment Industry Studies
Cleveland, Miss.

Located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Delta State’s entertainment industry studies program offers small class sizes and hands-on opportunities including its entertainment industry entrepreneurship and record-label practicum: Fighting Okra Records, where attendees work at the student-run imprint. The school annually draws industry speakers, including recent guests Boo Mitchell, Grammy-winning producer and owner of Royal Studios in Memphis, and Jim Sonefeld, drummer, author and songwriter (Hootie & The Blowfish).

Alums: Erin Moorman, marketing coordinator at Syntax Creative, and Libby Switzer, executive assistant at Creative Strategic Management, both in Nashville.

Drexel University — Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
Philadelphia

Students at Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design begin taking music business-specific classes when they start the program freshman year. That allows them to engage in the school’s unique course offerings, including Women in Music Industry and Fan Engagement: One Direction, which uses the former boy band as a focal point to examine the past, present and future of fan engagement. As part of the curriculum, students spend six months working in the industry; this year’s class interned at companies such as Netflix, Goldenvoice, Universal Music Group, Republic Records, WME, Live Nation and AEG.

Alums: Universal Music Group senior director of artist and label services Deb Keller and The Orchard vp of international label management Marissa Putney.

Full Sail University
Winter Park, Fla.

Full Sail offers several nonperforming degree programs in areas including music business, audio production, recording arts and the live industry-centric program show production. The school also regularly hosts events where students can learn from first-hand experience of those in the industry. Its recent speaker roster includes Mike McGrath, tour manager for Jason Aldean, and Randall Foster, vp of business development at Symphonic Distribution, and it hosts executives — and potential employers — from companies including Microsoft Game Studios, Fever, Samsung, Disney and Carnival Cruise Line.

Alumnus: Music business program graduate Michael Cariglio is a vp of marketing at Republic Records.

Hofstra University
Hempstead, N.Y.

The number of students enrolled inthe music business program at Hofstra has nearly tripled since the curriculum launched in 2017. The school has created a new bachelor of science in music business and also offers a music business major (for nonperformers) that leads to a bachelor of arts. Hofstra welcomes over 50 guest speakers on campus every year and offers internship opportunities year-round in New York (30 miles west of campus). A state-of-the art MIDI computer lab was completed in January, and a recording studio including a control room, live room, isolation booth and recording console is due to open at the end of the year.

Faculty: Kenyatta Beasley, a professor of music business who began teaching earlier this year, is a trumpeter, composer and music producer who has worked with Tru-Sound New York, Interscope/G-Unit Records, Helen Han Creative and Art vs. Transit Production.

Howard University
Washington, D.C.

The Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University, funded by a $4.9 million gift in 2021, offers a one-year fellowship program that provides fellows with coaching, specialized curriculum, mentorship and experience working with partner organizations. The Howard University School of Business takes the approach that the key to addressing the underrepresentation of Black executives and professionals in music and entertainment is intense coaching and immersion programs, and the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center frequently hosts industry executives for fireside chats, master classes and other programming. Recently, Combs Global president Tarik Brooks presented a “master mogul” panel discussion, and DJ Drama, a co-owner of Generation Now (home to Lil Uzi Vert, Killuminati and Jack Harlow), had a session with students.

Course: Among the university’s noteworthy offerings is the class The History of the American Music Industry: What Isn’t Black Music?

Indiana University — Jacobs School of Music
Bloomington, Ind.

At IU’s Jacobs School, emerging professionals have the opportunity to establish a career path that pairs their interest in the music industry with a large set of career options. Among multiple paths of study, undergraduate students can earn a music-oriented entrepreneurship certificate that includes foundational courses at the university’s Kelley School of Business. The music school also hosts a strong roster of guest speakers. Austin Wintory, an award-winning composer for film and video games, recently visited the campus to talk with students in an event hosted by the Music in Games student organization and the office of entrepreneurship and career development.

Event: Indiana native John Mellencamp spoke about his life and career in March at the university’s Franklin Hall during a symposium discussing the social and cultural impact of his music. University president Pamela Whitten subsequently announced that Mellencamp would be donating archived collections of his work to IU.

Indiana University, John Mellencamp, Top Music Business Schools

John Mellencamp (left) answered questions from music writer Anthony DeCurtis during a symposium about his life and career at Indiana University in March.

Michael Claycamp/Indiana Daily Student

Kennesaw State University — Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program
Kennesaw, Ga.

Integrated within the university’s Coles College of Business, the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program teaches the business side of the industry while providing practical experiences, on-the-job training and exploration of career opportunities. The program offers an annual study abroad trip to London, including an all-day visit with international executives at Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. It recently formed a partnership with the book and online platform Music Business Toolbox and its creator, Bryan Calhoun, that provides tools, templates, forms and guidance to help students manage their music careers. The program recently established a partnership with the Dolby Institute, an educational division of the audiovisual technology company.

Artist in residence: David Ryan Harris, John Mayer’s guitarist and a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, is Kennesaw’s latest artist in residence as of fall 2023.

Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts
Liverpool, England

Within LIPA’s curriculum on management for the creative industries and performing arts, students take the music industry management pathway train alongside performers, technicians, designers and filmmakers in the school’s facilities. In their final year, students participate in a three-month internship that reflects their career goals with companies such as Warner Music, Live Nation and Sentric Music Publishing. LIPA was co-founded in 1996 by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty, who retired as LIPA principal/CEO in 2021, succeeded by Sean McNamara.

Speaker: Robert Plant participated in a Q&A with students in November 2022.

Los Angeles College of Music
Pasadena, Calif.

LACM’s music business program — which offers a 12-quarter bachelor of music degree and a six-quarter associate of arts degree — is committed to offering students hands-on experience and networking opportunities. On average, a student will meet and interact with more than 100 guest speakers and master class guests per year from all facets of the music industry, and the program also features field trips to companies such as Spotify, Hipgnosis, Universal and Disney. Recent industry guest speakers include Billboard’s Keith Caulfield, managing director of charts and data operations, and publishing reporter Kristin Robinson.

Faculty: Music business department head Erin Workman’s experience in artist development includes working with Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus and Ashley Tisdale.

Los Angeles Film School — The Los Angeles Recording School
Los Angeles

Located in the heart of Hollywood, the Los Angeles Recording School (a division of the Los Angeles Film School) is equipped with professional recording studios that let students train in a real-world work environment. The school offers an array of degrees across its music and entertainment business programs, which let students gain analytical and practical skills both in the classroom and in the field. New for 2023 is an 18-month online competition program that allows those with an associate degree to earn their bachelor of science in entertainment business. The school also boasts an active speaker roster. Recently, SunPop managing partner Will Tenney spoke with students from the entertainment business program during an on-campus event.

Alumnus: As president of Record Plant Studios, Jeff Barnes oversees business operations and booking and has worked with Justin Bieber, Beyoncé and Ariana Grande, among other artists.

Loyola University — School of Music and Theatre Professions
New Orleans

New Orleans is among the world’s most vibrant music cities, and Loyola University’s music industry studies program, within the School of Music and Theatre Professions, helps students build careers around their passions. Students learn from professors who are active in the industry and can create their own professional projects alongside creative peers. Loyola’s two Hilton-endowed professorships fund student travel and participation in various music industry conferences such as NAMM, Americana and Mondo — with future plans for South by Southwest and Music Biz. The program this year launched songwriter and music business camps where students worked directly alongside Grammy-winning rapper-producer D’Mile and Pulse Music Group’s Ricki Rich. The school also partners with the city so students can help produce the annual Freret Street Festival, which has drawn over 20,000 attendees a day.

Course: Record Label Operations brings a working music-label entity to campus. With a professorship-funded budget of $5,000, students in the course form a team to function as a label, recruiting and developing a young artist for commercial release.

Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Located less than an hour from the site of the Bonnaroo festival, where students regularly gain hands-on experience, MTSU offers an expanded focus beyond music recording into areas including live-event production, broadcast and streaming, and immersive audio for music, film and gaming. As such, courses in venue management, mixing techniques in immersive audio, and concert promotion and touring are popular with students. The school also hosts a revolving mix of industry speakers. Mixing engineer Andrew Scheps and recording engineer George Massenburg are among recent visitors to campus.

Event: This summer, MTSU students produced over 30 segments for Hulu’s Bonnaroo Music Festival channel, which streamed the event.

Monmouth University
West Long Branch, N.J.

Monmouth’s music industry program combines coursework from the university’s business school with its music and music business curriculum, a hybrid model that prepares students for a range of opportunities in the arts industry. Home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, the school incorporates hands-on activities like its student-run record label, Blue Hawk Records, and leverages partnerships with major music organizations, tech companies, agencies and a state-of-the-art recording complex in Asbury Park. Last year, the new Monmouth Artists for Diversity & Inclusion released an album on Blue Hawk, and the organization’s founding members were awarded a joint senatorial and gubernatorial proclamation from the State of New Jersey for contributions to society.

Alumnus: Joe Bognanno is director of music publishing licensing and partnerships at TikTok/ByteDance.

Musicians Institute
Hollywood

Anderson .Paak was once a drum student and a drum teacher’s assistant at Musicians Institute, whose Hollywood location puts it at the nexus of the entertainment world. The school’s music business program offers detailed specialization in every area of the industry through a frequently updated curriculum taught by professionals. Courses cover the gamut from law and contracts to music publishing and licensing to artist and tour management, A&R and record labels, distribution, promotion and marketing. Musicians Institute is also continually honing industry partnerships that serve as a direct line into the workforce through internships.

Event: During a recent online social media workshop, BRXND vp of artist management and digital strategy Dan Tsurif discussed the importance of social media marketing and explained how platforms can aid developing artists and brands.

New York University — Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
New York

The ongoing addition of courses like advanced topics in recorded music and music publishing, co-taught in person by RIAA chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier and National Music Publishers’ Association president/CEO David Israelite, is just one way NYU Steinhardt ensures students are learning from the leaders at the cutting edge of the music business. For the course Village Records, students work with independent artists on career development areas including live performance, sound recording, product management, publicity, management and fan engagement. The Steinhardt program also allows students to take classes at NYU’s Stern School of Business and offers options for them to complete studies on its campus in Nashville (through a program designed in partnership with Universal Music Group) or at any of 12 global campus sites including Los Angeles, London, Paris and Shanghai.

Speaker: David Gray, executive vp of U.S. A&R and head of global creative for Universal Music Publishing Group, is an executive in residence and engages with students at least three times each semester.

New York University — Tisch School of the Arts, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
New York

A holistic understanding of business, performance, production, writing, history and emerging media is the goal of the Clive Davis Institute, which counts Maggie Rogers among its notable graduates. Students work with resident artists, such as singer-songwriter Dawn Richard and singer Jamila Woods, and executives in residence. Columbia Records A&R executive Katie Vinten served in the latter role this past year and also led a summer accelerator program. Other recent speakers included Atlantic Records president of A&R Pete Ganbargs, Hipgnosis Songs Fund founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis and Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte. In partnership with Billboard, the institute offers an online music industry essentials course. In 2022, Barry Manilow and school officials joined Davis at the opening of the Clive Davis Gallery at NYU. The institute is also expanding geographically, recently launching a study abroad program in Berlin.

Event: Pop Conference 2023, held in April at the institute, hosted guests including Timbaland, NPR music critic Ann Powers and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.

Clive Davis, New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, Top Music Business Schools

Sony Music Entertainment chief creative officer Clive Davis, who endowed New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, attended the 2022 opening of a permanent gallery focusing on his career at the school’s campus in his native Brooklyn.

Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

Northeastern University — College of Arts, Media and Design
Boston

Northeastern’s bachelor of science in music with a concentration in music industry encourages students to become entrepreneurial thought leaders and change agents across the music business. Aside from classes focused on topics including actionable analytics in the music industry and artist management, the school is home to Good Dog Licensing, a student-run music synch company through which students receive hands-on experience and offers four- or six-month co-op experiential learning opportunities. New this year is a university chapter of the nearly four-decade-old nonprofit Women in Music, dedicated to fostering equality in the music industry through the support and advancement of women.

Event: In honor of World Mental Health Day in October 2022, the Women in Music Boston chapter presented Mental Health Awareness for Artists and Their Allies, a panel to guide musicians with resources and information about emotional well-being.

Occidental College
Los Angeles

Occidental’s music business courses are embedded within its liberal arts curriculum, and many of the students in music department classes major or double-major in other disciplines such as economics, math, politics, chemistry, philosophy and physics. The school’s location gives students access to a capital of the music industry, providing immersive education through internships and other opportunities. In 2022, Occidental formalized its relationship with Warner Music Group (whose former CEO Steve Cooper is an alumnus) and has since hosted events with WMG executives for students from all majors who are interested in a career in music business.

Event: Warner Chappell Production Music vp/head of legal and business affairs Steve Touchton met with students in March to share his 25 years of experience, field questions and offer advice on entering the business side of the music industry.

Oklahoma State University — The Greenwood School of Music
Stillwater, Okla.

OSU’s bachelor of science in music industry, established in 2017, remains the fastest-growing music program at the school. Recent developments include the Greenwood School of Music’s new facilities, which opened in 2021, and a collaboration this year with Kicker, a Stillwater-headquartered audio manufacturer with which students partnered on the research and design of a potential new product. The student-run music company Poke U comprises a record label, music publisher, concert promotion and musical products divisions, and the school has a robust speaker and alums network. Once again, the New York Philharmonic residency returned to the university’s McKnight Center for the Performing Arts, adjacent to the campus, with the opportunity for students to work with the business staff of the orchestra.

Event: Alumnus Garth Brooks in April delivered two concerts at OSU: a scholarship benefit show and a free performance exclusively for OSU students.

Rhodes College — Mike Curb Institute for Music
Memphis

Rhodes College and the Curb Institute benefit from their location in the artistically vibrant city of Memphis, as Curb students tap experiential opportunities in the city. In 2022, the institute launched the Curb Community Fellows program, which provides funding for students to work directly with local professionals and organizations such as Goner Records, the Overton Park Shell, the Memphis Music Initiative and the STAX Museum of American Soul Music. On campus, they can engage with Dredge, a student-produced zine and social media platform focused on the Memphis arts scene, and Beyond Beale, a student-produced podcast that explores underresearched aspects of the city’s music history. The first two seasons received honorable mention recognition by the NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

Courses: In fall 2024, Rhodes will offer two new certificates in music industry studies — content production and arts entrepreneurship — that complement the college’s core liberal arts mission.

State University of New York, Oneonta
Oneonta, N.Y.

The music industry program at SUNY Oneonta is designed to appeal to aspiring executives, as well as students interested in technical fields like audio production or who are entrepreneurial musicians. In addition to the core courses, music industry students are required to complete a sequence of courses in the SUNY Oneonta School of Business, an array of general education courses and at least one course from a slate of electives such as concert production, through which students conceive, plan and manage a series of live concert events on campus and in the Oneonta community. Off-campus learning and networking experiences include a faculty-led trip to the annual NAMM trade show in Los Angeles.

Events: John Mayer recently engaged with music industry program students through a video conference; another event connected students with members of the Dave Matthews Band. (Mayer and Matthews are both clients of business manager and Cal Financial Group founder Rit Venerus, an Oneonta alumnus.)

Syracuse University — Bandier Program for Recording and ­Entertainment Industries
Syracuse, N.Y.
This year marked the return of the Bandier Program’s international immersion trip, with a dozen students traveling in May to meet with more than 40 executives at music companies in Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Bangkok. On campus, students choose from an ever-evolving variety of courses and also tackle entertainment industry exploration, the program’s capstone, for which seniors must build a functioning and profitable real-world business. The previous academic year also saw rapid growth in the readership of Full Rate No Cap, a free weekly email of industry analysis that program director (and former Billboard editorial director) Bill Werde crafts for students to read; the email underpins a weekly, programwide student-led discussion about industry trends and headlines. Subscribers number in the thousands and include top executives at virtually every major music company around the globe.

Event: The weekly Wednesday-night speaker series this past academic year scheduled over 25 guest lectures from industry pros including Warner Music Group chief digital officer/executive vp of business development Oana Ruxandra and Apple Music creative director/radio host Zane Lowe.

Temple University — Klein College of Media and Communication
Philadelphia

Temple University’s Klein College offers an interdisciplinary bachelor of arts in audio and live entertainment that also includes courses in the music and business schools. The college’s mission is to empower and prepare the media creators of tomorrow to be ethical, analytical and creative leaders. The faculty has a wealth of industry experience, and courses are often complemented by presentations by industry creatives and executives including Grammy and Academy Award winner Questlove and American Association of Independent Music CEO Richard Burgess. (Philly native Questlove received the college’s 2022 Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award.) A student-run record label interfaces with student radio, TV and other ventures in a collegewide media ecosystem, and a study abroad program offers opportunities in top global music markets such as Tokyo and London.

Alumnus: Multiple Grammy-winning producer Noah Goldstein, founder of Ark Publishing, has worked with artists including Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Rihanna and Paul McCartney.

Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication, Questlove, Top Music Business Schools

Questlove received the Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award from Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication in 2022.

Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images

Tennessee State University
Nashville

One of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, TSU is located in the heart of Nashville and offers a commercial music program as a concentration within the school’s music department. Perks include small class sizes, targeted courses such as music business and law, access to a variety of internships and mentor programs, and ample guest speakers who have recently included producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and BMI executive director, creative Shannon Sanders, a TSU alumna. Harry Fox Agency client solutions coordinator Dashawn Howard and Grammy-nominated producer Dwane “Keywane” Wier are among other alums.

Event: In May, the music business accelerator program, which offers Black college students in Tennessee career resources to help them break into the industry, held an event at TSU in partnership with Amazon Music, Nashville Music Equality, the RIAA and Wasserman Music.

University of California, Los Angeles — Herb Alpert School of Music
Los Angeles

Spurred by the success of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s music history and industry degree program and its music industry minor, the school this fall introduced a major in music industry. The new program, which complements the performance, composition, musicology and music education programs already offered, provides students with a high level of liberal arts integration to ensure they master the skills needed for a successful creative industry career. Classes immerse students in a range of subjects from data science for the music industry to music and activism, and internship and employment opportunities abound as those enrolled in the program benefit from the school’s relationships with an array of music companies. A major gift from former Warner Bros. Records chairman Mo Ostin, who died in 2022, funded construction of the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center.

Speaker: Amy Davidman, founder of and agent at TBA Agency, recently spoke with students on campus.

University of Colorado Denver
Denver

The university offers two course tracks for students interested in pursuing a career in the music industry: one for performing students and another to provide the chops to work as managers, publishers, music supervisors and/or marketers. Students in the lattermost progression take courses examining music supervision and synch licensing, music publishing, music marketing, law and the music industry, artist management and more. Additionally this year, the Mechanical Licensing Collective appointed faculty member Dan Hodges as one of its educator ambassadors to advise students on the importance of registering music with the MLC to collect interactive streaming royalties.

Partnership: The Nashville Songwriter Association International this past year launched a chapter at the university.

University of Miami — Frost School of Music
Miami

Under director Serona Elton, whom the Music Business Association recently named the first music business educator of the year, Frost’s music industry program is expanding. It recently launched a bachelor of arts in music industry major for nonperformers, an addition to its well-established bachelor of music in music industry and master of arts in music industry. Along with its diversity of courses and proximity to the Latin offices of many major music companies, the program also offers a variety of student-run enterprises including ’Cane Records, Cat 5 Music and Frost Sounds, as well as a campus radio station, concert production organization, numerous concert halls and music industry student association.

Course: Students in recorded-music operations learn about A&R, production, distribution, marketing/promotion, licensing and royalties and use Chartmetric to analyze the consumption of their favorite artists’ tracks.

University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, Serona Elton, Portia Sabin, Top Music Business Schools

In May, Serona Elton (right), director of the music industry program at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, received the Music Business Association’s first music educator of the year award, presented by president Portia Sabin.

Laura E. Partain

University of North Texas — College of Music
Denton, Texas

Options abound at UNT’s College of Music, located on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the country’s largest public-university music program. It offers degrees from bachelor to doctoral levels and is home to the world’s first jazz studies degree program, now in its 75th year. The school is continually adding faculty and courses to the curriculum, offered fully online or in a hybrid format, with options ranging from music leadership to performing arts management to touring. The curriculum leading to a master’s in music business, launched just three years ago, supports student goals within music technology and entrepreneurship. In 2021, the Yamaha Institution of Excellence program included the UNT College of Music in its inaugural list of 10 distinguished colleges and universities recognizing extraordinary commitment to innovation in the study of music.

Event: Julian Peterson, associate director at Gearbox Software and a composer, audio programmer, sound designer and researcher, recently met with students.

University of Rochester — Eastman School of Music
Rochester, N.Y.

It’s all about flexibility at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School. Students can earn a double degree, a minor concentration or just take courses related to their interests. Among the options, Eastman offers a master of arts in music leadership and a commercial music industry experience through the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, where students have opportunities to work with the Rochester Institute of Technology’s film, animation and video game development schools. The Electroacoustic Music Studios at Eastman introduces students to electronic music technologies. And student-run ensembles provide commercial and music leadership skills, including the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a live-to-film ensemble, and OSSIA, the school’s student-run new music ensemble.

Alumnus: Eastman’s Beal Institute was named after its founder, alumnus Jeff Beal, a five-time Emmy-winning composer of film and TV scores. Beal is a frequent guest speaker and students have traveled to Los Angeles to work with him for an immersive experience.

University of Southern California — Iovine and Young Academy
Los Angeles

USC’s Iovine and Young Academy innovators forum hosts leaders in diverse disciplines, industries and the arts to present and discuss problems facing society and to critique real-world projects. Recent guests have included TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie. That’s just one way the interdisciplinary-focused academy provides a framework for students interested in the music industry to study topics from reimagining virtual concert events to building a new artificial intelligence-driven music platform. Endowed by industry entrepreneurs Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, the academy offers a bachelor of science in arts, technology and the business of innovation and a master of science in integrated design, business and technology.

Event: For the Masters of Scale ­podcast in June, Iovine spoke with Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry and former senior vp of Apple, about success, motivation and education.

University of Southern California — Thornton School of Music
Los Angeles

Close ties with the L.A. music community are core to the DNA at USC Thornton, which offers both an undergraduate and 18-month master’s program in the music industry. Students benefit from an abundance of networking, internship and job opportunities across areas such as touring, marketing, branding, business and law, and the school provides a classroom guest list that recently included Ali Harnell, global president/chief strategy officer of Live Nation Women. Collaboration and camaraderie are also emphasized among students who will one day join an alums network that includes DreamWorks Animation senior vp of TV music Alex Nickson and Warner Records senior vp of creative sync licensing Julia Betley.

Events: Thornton’s producers forum has hosted speakers including Merck Mercuriadis, founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater and L.A. Live.

William Paterson University
Wayne, N.J.

William Paterson University’s music and entertainment industries program focuses on today’s industry from an independent artist and label perspective. Courses, including the popular Backstage: The Business of Touring, focus on three key pillars of music income: live, recording and publishing. The program has hosted visiting resident experts including Kate Hyman, former vp of A&R for BMG, and Mark Robinson, senior vp of music strategy, business and legal affairs at Paramount. And while internships are a core tenet, students also benefit from industry professionals who come to campus, including Vydia co-president Jenna Gaudio in a recent visit.

Alums: Theresa Abou-Daoud, production assistant with Tyler, The Creator, and Nathaniel Meyerowitz, associate manager of experience at Wasserman, are among recent graduates of the program.

This story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.

10 Oct 2023

Kim Petras Talks About Unplugging With Motorola Razr & Her Must-Have Tour Essentials

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Unplugging from your phone can be a challenge — especially if you’re prone to FOMO, but Kim Petras has found an easy yet stylish way to disconnect (and it doesn’t require shutting off your phone). The Motorola razr has become one of the “Alone” singer’s favorite accessories, as it not only features the retro flip phone look, but has been modernized with a touchscreen giving you the ability to go on social media, create content and now, use new the Moto Unplugged feature.

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If you ever feel like taking a break from technology, the new feature allows you to customize your experience for specific situations, whether it’s going to the gym or just needing some time to focus on music lessons or school work. Petras especially has taken advantage of the new feature to focus her time and energy on other activities such as yoga.

“I get a lot of messages and calls all the time, so it’s really nice to be able to set your time and be doing yoga, or practicing meditation or putting down lyrics and just have no one bother you,” she tells Billboard. “And I love social media, I love my fans, but there’s definitely times where I just need to be focused on songwriting, need to be focused on details with the show — so it really helps to be able to just set yourself a time and a window [that] you’re not available.”

light purple flip phone

Motorola

The new Motorola razr doesn’t just feature Moto Unplugged, but comes in a variety of vibrant shades including a Summer Lilac and Sage Green. Its foldable design and Flex View capabilities allow you to customize your user experience, and it also has a camera-mirroring ability where people can see themselves while you snap a picture of them — or take a selfie.

And if you want additional savings, you can snag the Motoroloa razr+ in hot pink (Petras’ favorite shade) for 20% off on Amazon for Prime Big Deal Days.

Besides learning about the 33-year-old’s love for the brand, Billboard also had a chance to learn what she does in her off time, her Feed the Beast world tour and any must-have touring essentials.

What drew you to Motorola?

Well, I used to have the iconic pink Motorola razr, so I love the feeling of hanging up on people and just slapping it — it’s my favorite feeling in the entire world. But I just love this revamp, and when I saw that they had come out with the iconic pink color again, I was really into it. You know, I’m a ’90s baby, and I grew up with 2000s phones, and I love that you can use it as an accessory and clip it to your bag and clip it to things. I don’t necessarily always carry big bags, so like I clip it to my jeans or my T-shirt or things like that, which is really great because usually all I need is my phone and my cards,and that’s it.

Kim Petras x Flip Your Look with razr

Mario Schmolka

Any other favorite Motorola razr features?

I personally really love the outside camera that you can take pictures [of people with], and they can see themselves. I very often have to take so many pictures of people because, you know, it’s like back and forth, like they’re going to check if the pictures are good and all of that. It just makes it so much easier for me to find a pose, and find a good angle and find the lighting immediately when I can see myself on the camera on the outside of the phone.

How do you like to unplug from your phone?

I try to meditate — I love meditation. I think it’s kind of necessary if you have a job that’s really intense at times and really, really busy at times. I definitely listen to a lot of music, I make music, I write down little song ideas. That’s usually what relaxes me and keeps me unplugged from everything.

I have three dogs, so I make sure I get outside with them every day, which really helps. I love nature, I love planning trips with my friends and just being in nature, and around mountains, and beautiful things and I think that really kind of reminds me how kind of small my problems are and you know that I’m a person and not just a work machine, but I really, truly enjoy my work.

Looking at your Feed the Beast tour, what can we expect, and any song you’re looking forward to performing the most?

I’m very excited to sing songs from the newest project [Problématique]. I’m excited for honestly all the songs. I always have different kind of sections in my shows because I have many, you know, EPs and different projects that are very specific, different versions of myself — like “Turn Off the Light” is a very dark version of myself and then “Slut Pop,” which is a very over-sexualized version of myself, and I love kind of switching it up during the show.

I’m most excited honestly for people to see the stage. I worked really hard on the stage and it has kind of its own character and movement, and the technology on this tour is really, really sick. There’s a lot of surprises and the stage just kind of can transform and has a mind of its own, which is really cool and kind of makes everything a little eerie and haunted mansion feeling.

That’s perfect, just in time for spooky season.

Yes, totally, and spooky season is definitely my favorite. I’m such a fall person — I dread summer, to be honest. I’m so excited that I’m getting to go tour during this time because it’s beautiful everywhere during this time and I love being on a bus, I love looking out into the world and seeing different places.

Do you have any must-haves that you take on tour?

My Motorola razr, of course. I need a humidifier, that’s really, really important — the air is so dry traveling a lot [and] it’s just for my voice. Then I just like to bring cards. I like to play with my friends, my dancers with the crew. I play video games in my kind of little room on the bus and invite my friends to do the same thing and watch movies. My little teddy bear, his name is Teddy, who I take everywhere because I won’t have my dogs on tour — I’ve had him since birth and I take him everywhere with me, helps me sleep. And of course speakers, music all the time — there’s so many things, It’s very unfortunate. But, yeah, I just need to make my little room my own, hang up some pictures of my dogs, bring some things that remind me of them.

And are there any upcoming projects you can hint or tease?

My fans are always asking for more, they’re never satisfied, which I love about them — they keep me on my toes. I have an exciting collaboration coming up that I’m super excited about, which might be happening pretty soon. I have some pretty cool performances at some pretty cool televised things that I’m excited about, but mostly I’m just focused on this tour. I’m working on whatever’s next. Right after tour I’m going back to the studio — I’m writing on the tour, which I hope I come back from this tour with my next album, you know.

For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Bluetooth earbuds, studio headphones and portable recording booths.

10 Oct 2023

Former Porn Star Mia Khalifa Loses Playboy & Endorsement Deals Over Support For Hamas & Palestine

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Mia Khalifa caused a storm of controversy over the weekend after expressing support for Hamas and Palestine amidst the war situation happening in the region. As a result, Mia Khalifa lost her business arrangement with Playboy and an endorsement deal due to her support of Hamas.

On Monday (October 9), Playboy, which now operates as a subscription-based digital platform, sent out an email to its users stating that Mia Khalifa, real name Sarah Joe Chamoun, will no longer share content across its network.

“We are writing today to let you know of our decision to terminate Playboy’s relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia’s Playboy channel on our creator platform,” the email said, as reported by Daily Mail.

Khalifa, 30, has been actively sharing replies on X, formerly Twitter, regarding the situation between Israel and Hamas. For those unaware, Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist militant group that was founded in 1987 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Taking to X, Khalifa wrote, “Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal” in one reply. In another, she wrote, “I can’t believe the Zionist apartheid regime is being brought down by guerrilla fighters in fake Gucci shirts – the biopics of these moments better reflect that.”

After Hamas gunmen attacked the Supernova Festival this past weekend and left over 260 dead, images from that incident and accounts from survivors made their way to social media. Again, Khalifa showed support for the actions, depicting one such image of Hamas as a “resistance painting” but that X reply no longer exists.

Beyond Playboy, Khalifa also lost an advisor deal with Red Light Holland, a company that produces “magic mushrooms” in the Netherlands and also entered into business with Wiz Khalifa via the Mistercap brand owned by the former adult star. The CEO of Red Light Holland, Todd Shapiro, fired Khalifa online and she screencapped the exchange with her own X quote reply that we’ve posted below.

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Photo: Edward Berthelot / Getty

10 Oct 2023

Signed: Central Cee Pacts With Wasserman; El Alfa Strikes Eight-Figure Sound Royalties Deal

British rapper Central Cee (“Doja,” “Sprinter”) signed with Wasserman Music for global representation. His agents are Brent Smith, Lauren Marker, Tom Schroeder and Jesse Fayne. The deal follows the rapper’s signing to Columbia Records and Sony Music U.K. in June.

Dominican rapper El Alfa (popularly known as “The King of Dembow”) signed an eight-figure deal with royalty-financing company Sound Royalties ahead of his forthcoming album, El Rey Del Dembow, as well as a multi-city tour slated for this fall. “This multi-million-dollar funding will be instrumental in continuing to build my legacy and cement my influence in the Latin music space,” said El Alfa in a statement. “Beyond that, it is foundational for promoting and marketing my music, launching new career opportunities, and releasing more work through my own music label, El Jefe Records.”

Singer-songwriter-producer-DJ Mayer Hawthorne signed with Las Vegas-based MAC Agency. Hawthorne recently announced a forthcoming tour as well as the release of his sixth studio album, For All Time, on Oct. 27. He made his MAC Agency debut at Vegas’ Park On Fremont last month. Hawthorne is managed by ATC Management and signed to P&L Records.

Independent record label Absolutely Kosher is relaunching after a 12-year absence with a slate of new releases and initiatives for the 25th anniversary of its founding. Releases announced at launch include new music from singer-songwriter-producer Charles Bissell — who released the album Meadowlands from his former band, the Wrens, on Absolutely Kosher in 2003 — now recording under the name Car Colors; as well as Sybris, the Chicago band that released its album Into the Trees on Absolutely Kosher in 2008. The reanimated label will also put out two previously-released albums on vinyl for the first time: Edinburgh School for the Death‘s New Youth Bible and Brabrabra‘s Mangooona. Absolutely Kosher has a global deal with Downtown Music Holdings’ FUGA for distribution.

Rock-pop outfit Hey Violet signed with Hopeless Records, which will release the group’s next single, “I Should Call My Friends,” on Friday (Oct. 13). Hey Violet was previously signed to Capitol Records.

PPL signed Afrobeats star Libianca, producer-songwriter-artist Lewis Thompson and British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason for international royalty collections. PPL licenses recorded music when it gets played in public as well as on the radio or TV in the United Kingdom. It also collects neighboring rights royalties for performers and recording rightsholders when their music is played around the world through agreements with collective management organizations (CMOs) in other countries.

Hip-hop supergroup CZARFACE — comprised of Inspectah Deck, Esoteric and 7L — and its record label, Silver Age, signed a global deal with Virgin Music for the release of the group’s next studio album. The trio is managed by Dustin Winegardner.

Alt-pop singer BIZZY signed to Big Loud Rock, the alternative/rock imprint of Big Loud Records. The news was accompanied by her latest single, “I Don’t Get Breakups.” BIZZY is managed by Nicolette McCann at TWIST Music Group.

Big Loud Records also signed singer-songwriter Zandi Holup to its roster. Holup, who released the song “Gas Station Flowers” on Friday (Oct. 6), recently signed a publishing deal with Arthouse Entertainment and TurnTable Music in partnership with Universal Music Publishing. Her booking agents are Marissa Smith and Josh Garrett at UTA.

French psychedelic rock band SLIFT signed to Sub Pop, which will release the trio’s upcoming third album, ILION, on Jan. 19, 2024. The title track is now out on all digital service providers. SLIFT is managed by Hélène Maigné, who also handles the band’s booking in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and North America. Beth Morton and Oliver Ward at UTA are responsible for bookings in the rest of the world.

Singer-songwriter Ivan Theva signed to Descendent Records/Sony Music Entertainment, which will release his debut album, GARDENS, on Oct. 27. Theva is represented by Steve Ford at SF3 Management and Kevin Castleman at Reliant Talent for booking.

New York-based pop singer-songwriter Angélica Garcia signed to Partisan Records. The deal was announced along with the release of two new tracks: “Y Grito” and “El Que.” Garcia is managed by Tim Vigon and Riley Moriarty at Three Six Zero, with Frank Riley at High Road handling booking. She was previously signed to Spacebomb.

Country music trio The Castellows — comprised of sisters Ellie, Powell and Lily — signed with Make Wake Artists for management and WME for booking. According to a press release, the group has built a following of more than 1 million across social media platforms after releasing several covers highlighting their vocal harmonies. At Make Wake, Chris Kappy will serve as manager while HB Riordan will handle day-to-day. At WME, the band’s representatives will include Nashville office co-head/partner Joey Lee and agents Kanan Vitolo and Kevin Falck.

Alt-rock band House Parties signed with Equal Vision Records, which will release its forthcoming single, “Braindead,” on Thursday (Oct. 12).

10 Oct 2023

Christina Aguilera Announces New Series of Las Vegas Shows With ‘A Truly Modern Twist’

The genie is officially out of the bottle: Pop superstar Christina Aguilera is heading back to Las Vegas.

On Tuesday (Oct. 10), Aguilera exclusively announced with Billboard her new series of shows set to take place at the Voltaire Belle de Nuit at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas starting New Year’s Eve weekend. Taking place in Voltaire’s “seductively cozy” performance space, the show will follow the singer through two decades of hit songs.

“I look forward to bringing Las Vegas a new show that fuses music, sophistication and art in ways I have never performed before,” Aguilera says in a statement. “What I love about the intimacy at Voltaire at The Venetian Resort is how up-close-and-personal I can be with the audience … a truly modern twist on the performance experience.”

The new shows will officially kick off Dec. 30 and 31, with future dates set to be announced on Friday (Oct. 13). In a statement, Voltaire founder Michael Gruber says the venue’s goal is to create “superstar artist experiences in Las Vegas” and that the “incredibly talented” Aguilera will help “highlight that Voltaire experience.”

Aguilera is not the only artist set to grace the Voltaire stage this year: Back in July, pop singer Kylie Minogue announced that she would be the first performer to bring a residency to the venue starting Nov. 3. In a subsequent interview with Billboard, the “Padam Padam” singer described the venue as “a cross between a ‘30s cabaret club and Studio 54.”

Meanwhile, Aguilera made headlines for her own live performance earlier this year when she headlined NYC’s Pride Island back in late June, where she celebrated the LGBTQ community with a set of her biggest hits to date. “There’s a lot of bleak things out there right now,” she told the crowd during her dazzling set. “We are here tonight and we stand in unison to be free to be ourselves.”

Tickets for the opening dates of Christina Aguilera’s Voltaire shows go on sale Friday (Oct. 13) at Voltaire’s website.

10 Oct 2023

Warner Music Names YouTube Veteran Carletta Higginson Chief Digital Officer

The Warner Music Group announced former longtime Google executive Carletta Higginson as its new executive vp/chief digital officer today (Oct. 10). Higginson, who will join the company Oct. 16, replaces outgoing evp of business development/chief digital officer Oana Ruxandra, who announced her departure Oct. 4 after five years with the label group.

Higginson is the latest WMG exec to arrive from Google, where CEO Robert Kyncl spent over a decade as chief business officer at YouTube before taking over the top WMG job in January. With a background in business development and the legal sector, Higginson was most recently the global head of music publishing for YouTube and Google Play.

“This is a very exciting time to be in music with many new avenues opening up,” Higginson said in a statement. “I’ve worked closely with the outstanding team at WMG for many years, and I’m very happy to be joining Robert and everyone at WMG to help chart the future together. Above all, I’m a huge fan of the company’s incredible roster of songwriters and artists.”

Higginson, who will report to Kyncl, will oversee the company’s global digital partnerships and explore avenues for new partnerships and innovations in the future.

“It’s rare to find someone of Carletta’s multifaceted expertise — who understands the full scope of the music publishing and recorded music businesses as well as the dynamics of streaming, social media, and AI,” Kyncl said in a statement. “She has great commercial instincts, a sharp legal mind and a collaborative approach to building well-aligned partnerships. As we pioneer the future of music with our artists and songwriters, she’ll be an invaluable addition to our senior management team.”

Higginson joined Google in 2013, working through the ranks to global head of music publishing by January 2019. She was in charge of YouTube’s licensing strategy and partnerships with publishers, PROs and others during that time, while also overseeing new partnerships with digital companies and efforts to support writers and producers on YouTube’s massive platform. Before Google, she was a partner at Jenner & Block LLP, focusing on copyright disputes on both the recorded music and music publishing sides, among other areas of entertainment and media law.

10 Oct 2023

Rich Paul Was Asked If We Can Call Adele ‘Mrs. Paul’: ‘You Can Say Whatever You Want’

Last month Adele referred to her longtime boyfriend, sports agent Rich Paul, as her “husband” during one of her Las Vegas residency shows while turning down a fan’s marriage proposal. The couple began dating in 2021 in what has been Adele’s first publicly confirmed relationship after her divorce that year from entrepreneur Simon Konecki, with whom she shares a 10-year-old son.

And while fans took Adele’s matrimony quip with a grain of salt, when Rich appeared on CBS Mornings on Monday (Oct. 9) and was asked by Gayle King to clarify the rumors, the low-key superagent politely said that he doesn’t really discuss his private affairs. But… if he was going to give anyone tea, it would be Oprah’s bestie.

“She’s been great, I think she would agree that we’ve definitely helped each other,” the father of three said. “I’m in a good space, we’re in a good space. Happy. She’s superb… She’s been great for me. We’ve been great for each other.” Again stressing that his personal life is “not for the media,” when King asked if she should refer to the Grammy-winning singer as “Mrs. Paul” the next time she sees her, Mr. Paul said, “you can say whatever you want.”

During the viral moment at her Vegas “Weekends With Adele” residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace a fan asked if they could marry her, to which Adele responded, “‘You can’t marry me, I’m straight my love… And my husband’s here tonight.”

Watch Rich Paul’s CBS Mornings interview below (Adele talk starts around 6:35 mark):