News

06 Sep 2023

Big Daddy Weave’s ‘Heaven Changes Everything’ Tops Christian AC Airplay Chart

Big Daddy Weave rolls up its seventh No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay chart, as “Heaven Changes Everything” ascends to the top of the tally dated Sept. 9.

The song increased by 4% in plays in the week ending Aug. 31, according to Luminate.

The track is an homage to Jay Weaver, the band’s former bassist from its inception in Mobile, Ala., in 1998. He passed away in January 2022 at age 42 from health complications due to COVID-19.

Big Daddy Weave frontman Mike Weaver (Jay’s older brother) wrote “Heaven Changes Everything” with Jeff Pardo and Matthew West.

“This song hitting No. 1 means so much to us, especially in light of my brother Jay going home,” Mike Weaver tells Billboard. “The stories that we hear from people who have heard this song and have gone through something like this have ministered to us and have given purpose to the pain we’ve been going through.”

In addition to Mike Weaver, Big Daddy Weave is comprised of Brian Beihl, Jeremy Redmon and Joe Shirk.

Big Daddy Weave first topped Christian AC Airplay with “Every Time I Breathe” for three weeks beginning in June 2007. It had most recently reigned with “Alive” for three frames in August 2019.

On the Christian Airplay chart, “Heaven Changes Everything” ranks at No. 3, after reaching No. 2, with 5.8 million audience impressions (up 2%). Big Daddy Weave has notched seven No. 1s among 21 top 10s on the survey.

“Heaven Changes Everything” follows Big Daddy Weave’s collaboration with Katy Nichole, “God Is in This Story,” which led Christian Airplay for two weeks and reached No. 2 on Christian AC Airplay in late 2022.

Big Daddy Weave’s Heaven Changes Everything Tour is set to start Sept. 20 in Meadville, Penn., and wrap Nov. 5 in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Hannah Kerr and Tasha Layton will serve as supporting acts.

06 Sep 2023

Zach Bryan Triples Up at No. 1 on Artist 100, Hot 100 & Billboard 200

Zach Bryan zooms from No. 16 to No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart (dated Sept. 9), becoming the top musical act in the U.S. for the first time, thanks to his new LP, Zach Bryan.

The set, released Aug. 25 via Belting Bronco/Warner Records, debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 200,000 equivalent album units in its opening week, according to Luminate. It becomes his first No. 1 album, after he charted five prior sets – all since only June 2022: American Heartbreak (No. 5 peak), Summertime Blues (No. 34), All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks) (No. 88), Elisabeth (No. 92) and Deann (No. 167).

All 16 of the new release’s tracks concurrently debut in the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100, led by “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves at No. 1. It’s the first Hot 100 leader for each singer-songwriter.

All 16 tracks also debut on the Hot Country Songs chart, with six in the top 10. Bryan is just the third act to land at least six in the top 10 at once, after Morgan Wallen (a record nine) and Taylor Swift (seven).

Bryan is just the second country act to top the Artist 100 in 2023, after Wallen, who has led the chart for eight weeks this year (among 13 total weeks on top). One country act ruled in 2022 (Luke Combs), after two each led in 2021 (Wallen, Eric Church), 2020 (Combs, Kenny Chesney) and 2019 (Combs, Thomas Rhett). (Still, country music is surging in 2023, thanks in large part to Wallen.)

Meanwhile, Bryan becomes just the the second country male soloist to simultaneously triple up at No. 1 on the Artist 100, Hot 100 and Billboard 200, after Wallen, who has scored four such weeks, including the most recent such frame among all artists: On the April 22 charts, he led the Artist 100 and paced the Hot 100 with “Last Night” and the Billboard 200 with One Thing at a Time.

Elsewhere on the latest Artist 100, Miley Cyrus jumps 22-7, driven by her new single “Used to Be Young.” The ballad begins at No. 8 on the Hot 100, becoming her 12th top 10.

Plus, Tyler, the Creator vaults 52-8 on the Artist 100 thanks to a new vinyl deluxe release of his former Billboard 200 No. 1 Call Me If You Get Lost. The set soars 143-11 on the Billboard 200 (37,000 units) and returns to No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart for a fifth total week on top.

The Artist 100 measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption, blending album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity.

06 Sep 2023

Electric Zoo Festival Canceled Friday Because It Didn’t Have Permits — And the Problems Didn’t Stop There

Organizers behind the Electric Zoo festival on Randalls Island in New York canceled the Friday (Sept. 1) opening day because Department of Parks & Recreation officials would not issue the permits needed to stage the city’s largest EDM festival, promoters behind the event have confirmed with Billboard.

On Friday, when event organizers with Brooklyn venue company and concert promoter Avant Gardner canceled the festival’s first day, they blamed “global supply chain disruptions” in a statement, saying, “These unexpected delays have prevented us from completing the construction of the main stage in time for Day 1.” Organizers did not provide further specifics. A rep for the festival told Billboard on Tuesday (Sept. 5) that the application for the permits had been made well in advance, adding that the permit issue was resolved when the festival finally opened on Saturday.

Touring industry sources, however, say it was due to organizers’ failure to pay vendors from last year’s festival that led to a shortage of experienced concert professionals willing to work at this year’s event. Specifically, the main festival stage caused the most issues early Friday during an inspection of the site hours before the event was scheduled to open. City officials demanded the festival staff fix several safety and security issues before the festival could open. It took organizers more than 24 hours to fix the issues, leading to the festival opening two hours late on Saturday.

The problems did not stop there, though. Making matters worse, many fans did not receive their festival wristbands and tickets in the mail as promised, forcing attendees to queue up for hours to retrieve their tickets. And then on Sunday, organizers were forced to shut down access to the festival after the site reached maximum capacity. Some fans who reached the festival site after the gates were closed decided to jump fences or run through security checkpoints as a group, joining other ticket-holding fans in mad dashes past security staff. Hoping to deter fans from boarding ferries to Randalls Island, festival organizers announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the event had reached maximum capacity for “unknown reasons” and promised “everyone denied entry today will be issued a refund.”

The problems experienced at Electric Zoo mirror ongoing issues at the Avante Gardner venue. Created by owner and creative director Jürgen “Billy” Bildstein in 2017, Avante Gardner is known as a favorite for fans and acts because of its size and flexible space. To state regulators however, the 6,000-capacity venue has been the subject of ongoing legal disputes and investigations by agencies like the New York State Liquor Authority over overcrowding and drug use since 2016, according to court records. On Aug. 22, liquor authority chair and commissioner Lily Fan testified that Avant Gardner “couldn’t care less what people do in their establishment so long as they made money.”

The price tag for this year’s chaotic festival — including refund costs to fans who didn’t make it in, as well as paying Friday night performers The Chainsmokers, Excision and Kx5 their full fees — could total $25 million, according to former insiders at SFX Entertainment, which owned the festival from 2013 to 2022.

Electric Zoo was originally launched in 2009 by founders Mike Bindra and Laura De Palma and grew to be the East Coast’s biggest electronic festival, always taking place over Labor Day weekend. In June 2022, Bildstein led the purchase of Electric Zoo from LiveStyle, a holding company created in the aftermath of SFX Entertainment’s bankruptcy in 2015. Bildstein agreed to pay $15 million for the festival property, Billboard reported at the time, paying about half the money in cash and while agreeing to a convertible debt note to cover the unpaid portion of the purchase.

Avant Gardner staged the 2022 festival and racked up debt with a number of talent agencies and vendors, sources tell Billboard, leading to delays building out the festival site in 2023 that were partially to blame for the permit delays.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams suggested the city will launch an investigation into Electric Zoo’s organizers for going beyond the festival’s approved capacity. The New York Police Department estimated event organizers oversold the festival’s 42,500-person capacity limit by 7,000 tickets on Sunday.

“It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo, and we were not going to allow that to happen,” Adams said during an NYPD briefing on Tuesday. “And we will be dealing with them in the next few days based on their behavior and actions.”

06 Sep 2023

Joe Jonas & Sophie Turner Speak Out on Divorce: ‘This Is Truly a United Decision’

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner are speaking out after news broke that they are ending their marriage.

In a joint statement posted to both of their social media accounts, the two stars said that they are parting on the friendliest of terms. “After four wonderful years of marriage we have mutually decided to amicably end our marriage,” their statement began. “There are many speculative narratives as to why but, truly this is a united decision and we sincerely hope that everyone can respect our wishes for privacy for us and our children.”

The Jonas Brothers member filed for divorce in Florida’s Miami-Dade County on Tuesday (Sept. 5), Billboard confirmed. He stated in the court documents that “the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.”

The former couple met in 2016, and married in two ceremonies in 2019. The first was a surprise Vegas wedding in May that they held immediately after attending the Billboard Music Awards, where the Jonas Brothers had just performed. They then threw a lavish wedding at the end of June in Southern France.

They kept their first pregnancy mum, never confirming that the Game of Thrones actress was expecting, even though she was spotted out with a baby bump. Their daughter Willa arrived in the summer of 2020, they confirmed in a statement to Billboard at the time. Jonas and Turner kept their second pregnancy even more private, revealing only that the actress had given birth to a second daughter in the summer of 2022, and have not yet revealed her name.

See the former couple’s full statement about their split below:

06 Sep 2023

UMG and Deezer Outline New Streaming Model to Cut Through Noise

Deezer plans to implement a new streaming model with Universal Music Group later this year — a step that Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira called “the most ambitious change to the economic model since the creation of music streaming and a change that will support the creation of high-quality content in the years to come.”

In an announcement on Wednesday (September 6), Deezer said it would roll out this “artist-centric” system in the French market starting in the fourth quarter of 2023. The new model aims to reward artists and songs that are driving listener engagement while also de-prioritizing white noise and other “functional” audio. “The sound of rain or a washing machine is not as valuable as a song from your favorite artist streamed in HiFi,” Folgueira declared.

As part of the new model, plays racked up by “professional artists” — which Deezer defines as acts with more than 1,000 streams per month spread across 500 unique listeners — with a “double boost.” (The announcement did not define what that “double boost” entails.) Similarly, songs that are driving listener engagement — the metrics for measuring this were also undefined — will receive the same bump.

In addition, Deezer plans to replace “non-artist noise content” — the sounds of whales or washing machines — with its own functional music, while also excluding this audio from the royalty pool so that payouts to raindrop recordings don’t come at the expense of payouts to singer-songwriters. “We are now embracing a necessary change, to better reflect the value of each piece of content and eliminate all wrong incentives,” Folgueira said in a statement. “There is no other industry where all content is valued the same.”

“With this multi-faceted approach, music by artists that attracts and engages fans will receive weighting that better recognizes its value, and the fraud and gaming, which serves only to deprive artists their due compensation, will be aggressively addressed,” added Michael Nash, UMG’s evp and chief digital officer. He also noted that the model may change in the future: “As the ever-evolving music landscape continues its rapid transformation, UMG and Deezer will rigorously address the impact of these changes as we incorporate new insights from data analysis and fine-tune the model, as appropriate.”

UMG’s quest for a new streaming ecosystem has been a major talking point for the company since January. That month, in a letter to staff, UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge called for the development of “a model that will be a win for artists, fans, and labels alike, and, at the same time, also enhances the value proposition of the [streaming] platforms themselves, accelerating subscriber growth, and better monetizing fandom.”

Since then, UMG announced partnerships with both Tidal and Deezer to try to determine what that model might look like. Streamers can do “a better job of monetizing these high integrity, high intense artist-fan relationships,” Nash told financial analysts in March. “We’ve been speaking with platforms… about the enhancement of offers to the consumer that reflect the engagement with artists that are really driving the economic models of the platform.” 

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, however, appeared less enthusiastic about implementing a major change to the streaming model during an earnings call in July. “Most studies we’ve done on this [show] that even if you change it to a user-centric or an artist-centric approach, it seldom leads to these gigantic differences that most people perceive it to do,” he said.

“But we’re always open to hearing how we can make the system [fairer] to more artists,” he added.

06 Sep 2023

Ethan Hawke Admits to Daughter Maya Hawke That Lame Flirting Attempt with Rihanna Has Become His ‘Family Shame’

Years before Rihanna was the mother of two, Ethan Hawke very publicly tried to shoot his shot with the “Rude Boy” singer at the 2015 NBA All-Star game. The photo of the incident went viral at the time after Hawke very slickly traded places with his son in the front row at the game and was photographed leaning wayyy back in his chair and chatting Rihanna up.

“I’ve been caught by the paparazzi openly flirting with Rihanna,” the actor said, with his daughter, Maya Hawke, correcting him by noting that he was “openly trying to” flirt with the singer. “Trying to flirt,” he agreed, “and that’s been to the family shame.” Maya tried to bail him out by saying, “no, it’s family pride.”

Hawke posted a picture of the incident on Instagram in which his son is doing a face palm motion while watching his dad chat up the music superstar, with the actor captioning the pics, “after Rihanna’s brilliant half time performance, I’m hoping my son can find it in his heart to forgive a Dad for taking his moment.”

The revelation came during a game of “How well do Ethan & Maya Hawke really know each other” in a bit for Variety, in which dear old dad totally blew it when asked what Maya’s first school play was — it was Jenny in Jenny and the School for Cats, not the Artful Dodger in Oliver. The father-daughter pair are promoting the new movie Wildcat, in which Ethan directs Maya as author Flannery O’Connor (A Good Man Is Hard To Find and Other Stories) in a chronicle of her attempt to get her first novel published. The chat heated up when the interviewer asked if Ethan would rather see RihRih or Lady Gaga in concert.

Maya had a very fast answer for that one, because that information is “really available online,” she smirked in reference to the flirty pics. While Ethan said “both,” his daughter corrected him, saying the answer was “RihRih by a long shot.” To be fair, Ethan said he’s been to a Gaga show, but really would like to see Rihanna live sometime. Then, in a total dad moment, Ethan said he remembers taking Maya to see Lady Gaga once, with his daughter correcting him by noting that they went to see Madonna and Gaga was sitting near them at the show.

“We did have an amazing year where we went to see Madonna, Taylor [Swift] and Adele, and it was highly educational, very motivational year for me,” said Maya, who is also a recording artist who released her Moss album last year. If you’re keeping score, Ethan kind of got it when asked to name the fist song Maya ever wrote, remembering that the tune was written at their family home in Nova Scotia, though she was a bit fuzzy on how many Oscar nominations her dad has had (the answer is four, if you’re keeping score).

Watch the Hawke’s discuss the Rihanna incident below.

06 Sep 2023

Jung Kook Joins Global Citizen Fest 2023 As a Co-Headliner

2023 has been a huge year for Jung Kook. Not only did the BTS member earn his first solo credit atop the Billboard Hot 100 in July when “Seven,” featuring Latto, debuted at No. 1 on the chart, but the South Korean pop star is set to join the 2023 Global Citizen Festival lineup as one of its co-headliners. This not only marks Jung Kook’s Global Citizen Festival debut, but the global star’s debut performance at a U.S. festival (although it’s worth noting he performed as part of the 2023 GMA Summer Concert Series and was spotted at Coachella earlier this year as a fan).

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“I’m so thrilled to join this year’s Global Citizen Festival as a headliner!” said Jung Kook in a statement. “The festival sheds light on important causes and drives action and I’m happy to take part in it. I can’t wait to perform in front of many people at the Great Lawn in Central Park.”

The Global Citizen Fest takes place in New York City’s Central Park on Saturday, Sept. 23, as a free, ticketed event; people can earn tickets by taking action to help end extreme poverty via the Global Citizen app and on the organization’s website. With this fall concert, Global Citizen is urging world leaders gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly to tackle climate crisis, equity for women and girls and the global hunger crisis.

Jung Kook joins previously announced headliners Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ms. Lauryn Hill and Anitta. Conan Gray, D-Nice, Megan Thee Stallion, Sofia Carson and Stray Kids will also perform. Global Citizen Fest will be broadcast and livestreamed around the world.

06 Sep 2023

Renée Rapp Says ‘Snow Angel’ Title Track Was Inspired By Drugging That Let Her ‘Missing For Seven Hours’

Renée Rapp is speaking out about the scary 2022 incident that inspired the urgent title track to her Snow Angel album. The former The Sex Lives of College Girls star recently released her debut full-length album on Interscope — with the title song serving as the first single — and in a new interview with On Purpose podcast host Jay Shetty she revealed that dramatic song was inspired by a traumatic experience last year in which she was drugged and lost nearly an entire night.

“I was drugged, and I had just been missing for seven hours,” Rapp told Shetty about a night out in 2022 when she went to a party with a new group of friends after a breakup. “I really let my judgment go when it came to the people that were around me. We were all out, and it was just situation after situation where they were just not trustworthy, and then the next thing you knew, I was face up, laying down in a bathroom stall in a hotel bar, just waking up at 5 in the morning, completely alone.”

Rapp said when she woke up alone in the bathroom stall early in the morning she had no idea what happened and saw that she’d missed two texts from people she’d started hanging out with the night before.

“First to arrive, last to leave/ What’s misery without company?/ It’s hard to laugh when it’s hard to breathe/ It’s white outside, but red underneath,” she sings in the opening verse of the song before dipping into the pre-chorus, “Feel the tip of my nose/ It’s burning, but it’s ice cold.”

Rapp said when she woke up the next day she saw blood on her pants and had no idea what happened during that lost time. “I was drugged, and I had just been missing for seven hours. I stopped being friends with those people and stopped doing as much partying as I was doing,” she said. “I told my parents, told some of my friends. I explained it in a very matter-of-fact way, and they were all very concerned and I didn’t even understand what was happening.”

It was hard to process the night at first and she couldn’t wrap her head around what happened for several months. But once Rapp started working with the song’s co-writer, Alexander “23” Glantz, they found a way to turn the scary event into a moving song.

“‘I really want to write a song about this,’” she said of the incident she turned over-and-over in her mind, telling the story to a number of friends who didn’t seem to be comprehend what she was saying. “We started writing it, and it was just the two of us. And the entire time I was writing it, I felt nothing,” Rapp said. “Until we recorded the song and the whole thing was done and I played it for my friends and my manager and everybody was like, ‘This is insane.’ But for me, that whole year of my life was inherent resilience.”

The good news is that Rapp, 23, said she’s cut ties with those people, but she still doesn’t know exactly how she feels about it. “I just know that I feel weird… and very resilient,” she said. “I was just like, ‘I don’t care what you know or what you claim to know or don’t know.’ I just want to let it go.”

Rapp wil kick off her Snow Hard Feelings Tour in Houston, TX on Sept. 15.

Watch the “Snow Angel” video below.

06 Sep 2023

Putri Ariani Leaves Simon Cowell ‘Speechless’ With U2 Cover on ‘AGT’: Watch

America’s Got Talent just found what it’s looking for — Putri Ariani.

Earlier in the competition, the Indonesian teenager blew minds and broke hearts with her audition, a performance of Elton John and ‎Bernie Taupin’s “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word.”

The gifted youngster lit up the screen, showcasing a delicate mix of pop tones, power, vocal maturity and unreal control, and earning the Golden Buzzer from judge Simon Cowell.

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The 17-year-old is blind, an obstacle she overcomes when she’s performing. “When I’m singing I feel like a superstar,” she said earlier in the season.

On Tuesday night’s (Sept. 5) live qualifier, she sat at the grand piano, without backing or pyrotechnics, and delivered another lesson in talent.

Putri covered “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” an appropriate, spiritual number lifted from the U2’s The Joshua Tree from 1987, an album that confirmed U2 as the biggest band in the world.

When her latest performance wrapped, another standing ovation.

“I’m actually kinda speechless right now,” Cowell admitted. “What a beautiful voice you’ve got. What a beautiful version. And honestly Putri, this is why I still do this job. For moments like this, genuinely. That was so beautiful.”

Cowell noted that U2 personally cleared the song for Putri to sing on AGT. “They saw her audition,” he remarked. “And they knew how much this would mean to her.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard something more beautiful in my life,” said Sofia Vergara. “That was spectacular.” It was the “perfect, perfect, perfect act.”

Added Heidi Klum, “you sounded so beautiful and I thought to myself this probably is what it sounds like when an angel is singing. Literally. So beautiful. I do hope Bono gets to hear this.”

“Perfection,” was all Howie Mandel had to say.

Putri had the final word. She thanked Cowell, his fellow judges and supporters. “You already changed my life,” she enthused.

Now it’s America’s turn to vote.

Watch the performance below.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=rfWgKu5WTDk&version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

06 Sep 2023

Apple Buys Swedish Classical Specialist BIS Records

Apple Music is doubling down on classical music with the acquisition of Swedish label BIS Records.

Following the launch earlier this year of its standalone app Apple Music Classical (AMC), the tech giant makes its move for BIS, a classical specialist which has operated since 1973.

The acquisition ticks several boxes for both parties.

For BIS, the timing, and its new teammates, were right. “A few days ago BIS Records turned 50 years old and I am immensely proud of what our small team of people has accomplished during this half-century,” writes BIS founder Robert von Bahr in a blog post.

Its strong suit, “while paying our dues to the core repertoire,” he continues, “has been to nurture young classical artists and interesting living composers and to safeguard the musical treasure that we all represent long into the future. It is to that end that, after much careful consideration, and having just turned 80, I am excited to announce the rather momentous news that we have made the decision to become part of the Apple family.”

For Apple, the hardware colossus with a market cap that’s fast approaching $3 trillion, its latest purchase is a statement of intent. Classical music is hot right now, the newest member of its family comes bearing the goods, with a catalog of contemporary composers and early music. And Apple wants ownership.

Apple made its splash in the classical water with the March launch of AMC, stemming from its August 2021 acquisition of Primephonic.

The new app, Apple boldly declared at the time, was the “ultimate classical experience” with the “largest classical music catalog,” boasting over 5 million tracks and works from new releases to recognized masterpieces.

The game is changing, fast. Last November, Deutsche Grammophon launched a new standalone streaming service, Stage+, catering to its own catalog and that of Decca Classics. And, recently, Universal Music Group bought Hyperion Records, and announced its asset would finally enter into the streaming age.

Following the latest transaction, BIS will become part of Apple Music Classical and its artist services service Platoon. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed. At the time of writing, BIS Recordings were available on Apple’s DSPs and eClassical.

Von Bahr and his staff won’t be going anywhere. “As proud as I am of this milestone,” he writes, “I am even more proud of the fact that the entire personnel of BIS, including me, have been retained. We all look forward to a future, filled with new music and artists in golden sound from this increased force in classical music.”

Read more here.