News

21 Jul 2023

Luke Bryan Did Not Ask for CMT to Pull His Videos in Support of Jason Aldean After Satire Site Story Goes Viral

Following a satire site posting a story that Luke Bryan, in solidarity with his friend Jason Aldean, has asked CMT to pull his music videos from the channel, posters on social media have run wild with the untrue story.

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Earlier this week, a CMT representative confirmed to Billboard that the outlet had stopped playing the video for Aldean’s “Try That in a Small Town” after playing it for three days following its July 14 release but did not comment further. The controversial video features footage of lootings, protesters taunting police, flag burnings and a convenience store robbery taking Aldean’s song about small town residents not allowing such actions within their city limits to a new level. 

On Friday (July 21), satirical website Uplifting Today posted a story with the headline, “Luke Bryan pulls his videos from CMT over Jason Aldean debacle: ‘Folks, it’s time for the Bud Light Treatment.’” Though it’s almost immediately clear upon reading the accompanying story that it is satire—the article claims that the President has canceled his CMT subscription and that Billy Ray Cyrus, following a challenge by Bryan, is writing a follow up to “Achy Breaky Heart” called “Achy Breaky Cart” about “a dangerous run-in at a rural Walmart”—but it would seem that many readers did not read beyond the headline and began posting the headline on social media, including Twitter.

They also missed the small print at the end of the story: Uplifting Today produces news satire and parody for global publication. Some of the content contained within this website and on accompanying social media accounts, however similar to real events, is fictitious and will also include this disclaimer. Any real, semi-real or similar names, places, people, products, services and locales are used purely for satirical purposes, and the corresponding story details are purely fictional. 

That hasn’t stopped Aldean supporters posting the headline across social media and even chatter within the country music community wondering if other artists were asking for removal.  

A representative for CMT confirms that Bryan, nor any other artist, has requested their videos be pulled from the channel. Bryan’s publicist did not reply to a request for comment. 

In related news, Nashville’s E3 Chophouse, which Bryan and Aldean are both investors in, posted today on Twitter that it is not playing CMT. “We stand with Jason! E3 supports the small town because that is who we are! We will not air CMT at any of our restaurants until a formal apology is made and Jason’s music video is reinstated.” 

Billboard has reached out to E3 Chophouse asking if the restaurant had been playing CMT in its restaurant prior to CMT’s action but has not heard back. 

21 Jul 2023

SiriusXM Stock Jumps 49% This Week Due to Short Squeeze

Shares of SiriusXM soared 49.1% this week due to a “short squeeze” related to a trading strategy involving its parent company, Liberty Media. The stock rose 49.1% to $7.08, turning an 18.7% year-to-date loss into a 21.2% year-to-date gain.

On Thursday (July 22), SiriusXM shares increased 42.3% as 128 million shares were traded — about 6.7 times the average daily trading volume. The price fell 9.3% on Friday to close at $7.08 as trading volume reached 132.9 million shares.

As an article at Barron’s explained, SiriusXM, a heavily shorted stock, has benefitted from investors taking a long position in Liberty SiriusXM Group — a tracking that includes SiriusXM — and a short position in SiriusXM. (A short position is a bet that a stock price will decline. A long position is a bet the stock price will increase.) Those positions would benefit if Liberty SiriusXM Group, viewed as an inexpensive alternative to SiriusXM, was able to narrow the gap to SiriusXM. But SiriusXM shares have risen in recent months, turning the short into a losing bet.

Investors who short a stock must buy back borrowed shares to cover their short position. When a stock has a small public float — as SiriusXM does — demand for a limited number of available shares can drive up the price. This isn’t happening just with SiriusXM: Heavily shorted stocks helped the stock market rally in the first half of the year. “As expected, shorts are getting squeezed in these losing trades and we are seeing short covering in these stocks — helping drive stock prices even higher alongside the momentum long buying we are seeing in these stocks,” Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of S3 Partners, told Yahoo Finance last week.

SiriusXM was — by far — the best-performing music stock this week, as the Billboard Global Music Index rose 6.8% to 1,447.32, bringing the year-to-date gain to 23.9%. Eight of the index’s 21 stocks were in negative territory, one was unchanged and 12 stocks posted gains this week.

French music streamer Deezer boasted the week’s second-biggest improvement after gaining 10.3% to 2.58 euros ($2.87). On Thursday, the company announced it had renewed its partnership with telecom company Orange, which will continue to drive customer acquisition in its home market. Under the new partnership, Deezer and Orange will offer new customers six free months of Deezer Premium.

Live music companies also had a good week. Shares of Sphere Entertainment Co. gained another 8.9%. German concert promoter CTS Eventim improved 6.9%. And Live Nation shares rose 2.5% after Oppenheimer initiated coverage of the company with a $110 price target, suggesting the stock has a 14% upside from its $96.84 closing price on Friday.

21 Jul 2023

Joey Bada$$ “Eulogy,” Bas ft. J. Cole “Passport Bros” & More | Daily Visuals 7.21.23

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Wale, Currensy & Joey Badass x Amazon Music

Source: James Farrell / Amazon Music

It’s been a year since Joey Bada$$ dropped his critically acclaimed album 2000 and to celebrate the anniversary of his third studio album, the Brooklyn MC releases a visual for one of the project’s standout cuts with a touch of vintage to it.

Choosing to breathe life into the head boppin’ cut “Eulogy,” Joey Bada$$ goes the old school VHS route and uses “ancient” technology to record and showcase the life he’s been living in 2023 including performing at shows, shopping sprees and visiting foreign countries that still may use VHS or DVD’s to watch movies. Okay, we’re exaggerating, but still, gotta appreciate the grainy footage for nostalgia sake.

Speaking of foreign countries, Bas and J. Cole know a thing or two about traveling abroad and in their clip to “Passport Bros” hit up exotic restaurants and clubs that may or may not be located outside of America. We never actually see them get on a plane so you never know. Just sayin.’

Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Dej Loaf, Dave East, and more.

JOEY BADA$$ – “EULOGY”



BAS FT. J. COLE – “PASSPORT BROS”



DEJ LOAF – “SPACE JAM”



DAVE EAST – “STILL HERE”



GUCCI MANE – “MARRIED WITH MILLIONS”



SEXYY RED – “HELLCATS SRT’S”



TEE GRIZZLEY & SKILLA BABY – “GORGEOUS”



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21 Jul 2023

Here’s How SZA Reacted to Barack Obama Putting ‘Snooze’ on His 2023 Summer Playlist

It’s that time of year again — former president Barack Obama took to his Twitter account on Friday (July 21) to share all the songs that ended up on his summer playlist this year. And one artist in particular could not hold her excitement at being recognized by president No. 44.

“Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new. Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed,” Obama tweeted, along with a list of all the tracks in his rotation. Of the many included, SZA‘s “Snooze” made the list.

Upon seeing her inclusion, SZA took to her Instagram Stories and wrote, “My forever president said hurry up w the video and I heard him,” she wrote over his post, potentially hinting at corresponding visuals for the track.

Also included on the former president’s playlist were: J Hus and Drake’s “Who Told You,” Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro’s “Vampiros,” Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana” and Janelle Monáe’s “Only Have Eyes 42.” Obama also had country represented in the rotation with Luke Combs’ chart-topping take on Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” along with indie rock with Boygenius single “Not Strong Enough.”

SZA wasn’t the only who reacted to being included. Lucy Dacus — who is one third of boygenius alongside Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker — took to Twitter to retweet the playlist, and wrote that Obama is a “war criminal :(” in response. (She did not specify what Obama’s war crimes were in her tweet.)

See SZA’s response to being included in Obama’s playlist below.

21 Jul 2023

Drake & Central Cee Link Up for ‘On The Radar’ Freestyle: Watch

Drake and Central Cee dropped some heat together on their highly anticipated On The Radar freestyle Friday (July 21).

“‘Cause we know some demon guys with jealous and evil eyes/ You know that’s how Jesus died, you know that’s how Julius Caesar died,” Drizzy rapped during the first verse before Cench came in the second half and rapped, “Why you swearing to God? You don’t even believe in Christ.”

The two have been linked since 2021, when Central was the face of Drake’s Nike x Nocta collection in 2021. The Canadian rapper brought out the West London MC to perform his hit “Doja” during his private concert in St. Barts last December. The following month, Central made a cameo in Drake’s “Jumbotron Sh– Poppin” music video. Earlier this week, Drake gave a shoutout to his “twin” Central during an NYC stop of his It’s All A Blur tour.

“A little exercise on a off day…me and Cench @ontheradarradio loading,” Drake wrote Thursday on Instagram underneath their promo photo.

Power 105.1 radio personality Gabe P hosts On the Radar, a New York-based platform that has interviews and freestyles featuring the hottest up-and-coming rappers and especially spotlighted artists coming out of New York’s drill scene.

Ice Spice included her On The Radar freestyle — which she recorded in May 2022 — on the deluxe version of her Like..? EP, which was also released today.

Watch their On The Radar freestyle below.

21 Jul 2023

Spotify to Raise Individual Subscription Price by $1 in the United States: Report

Spotify will raise the price of an individual subscription in the United States by $1 — from $9.99 to $10.99 — according to a report Friday (July 21) at the Wall Street Journal.

The move has been widely expected by investors and analysts following numerous comments by Spotify executives about an eagerness to raise the price in the United States and a belief it could do so without turning away customers.

“I think we are ready to raise prices, I think we have the ability to do that, but it really comes down to those negotiations” with major music industry stakeholders, CEO Daniel Ek said during an earnings call on April 25. Those negotiations likely started last year. During an October earnings call, after Apple Music and Amazon Music raised the monthly price of individual subscription fees in the United States by $1, Ek said Spotify could raise prices in 2023 after it has conversations “with our label partners.”

Spotify has left the individual subscription price untouched at $9.99 per month since it launched in the United States in 2011. It did, however, raise the price of its family plan from $14.99 to $15.99 back in 2021. The company has dabbled with price increases in other markets, mainly focusing on student, Duo — an account for two subscribers — and family plans.

Assuming a higher price does not increase subscriber churn — and Spotify appears confident it will not — a small price increase stands to help boost top-line revenues and improve music gross margins. JPMorgan Chase analysts said in a March 8 report that a Spotify price increase for U.S. individual plans would create incremental annual revenue of about $200 million.

Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.

21 Jul 2023

Cardi B Asks Tasha K’s Husband To Provide List Of His Assets To Settle Debt

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Cardi B Charlamagne Tha God

Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz83

It seems Cardi B is leaving no stone unturned to collect from Tasha K. She has now asked Tasha’s husband to provide a list of his assets.

As spotted on HipHopDX the Bronx native’s legal team is working overtime to ensure the YouTube personality pays her tab. The media outlet obtained court documents relating to Bardi’s legal win over Tasha K (LaTasha Kebe). On July 18 her lawyers submitted a “subpoena duces tecum” (Latin for “you shall bring with you”); a type of subpoena that requires the witness to produce a document or documents pertinent to a proceeding. This order allows Cardi B, via her legal representation, to review Cheickna Kebe’s financial assets on Monday, August  7 in Miami.

“The examination may continue from day to day until completed,” the documentation reads. “If the examinee receives this notice less than 14 days prior to the scheduled examination date, the examination will be rescheduled upon timely request to a mutually agreeable time.” In essence the review of Kebe’s assets could take more than a day to complete. Additionally, the review will be captured on tape (“The examination is pursuant to Bankruptcy Rule 2004 and Local Rule 2004-1, and will be recorded by video and/or stenographic means before a court reporter or any officer duly authorized.”).

On January, 24 2022 Cardi B was awarded a judgement against Tasha K for starting “malicious campaign” against the rapper with false rumors. The “Bodak Yellow” rapper was issued a verdict and was awarded $1.25 million in damages. Further proceedings brought the total fine against Kebe to $3.82 million. Tasha K has yet to acknowledge the subpoena.

You can read the filing below.

Photo: Bernard Smalls

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21 Jul 2023

JAY-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation Teams With Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism to Stop Book Bans

On the heels of the stunning Book of HOV exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library, JAY-Z’s The Shawn Carter Foundation & Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism have joined forces for an initial $2 million fund to stop the spread of book bans. The announcement arrived today (July 21) via a press release.

Through the foundations’ collaboration, the Brooklyn Public Library will receive $1.5 million to bolster the library’s overall operations and support its Books Unbanned initiative, a nationwide campaign dedicated to providing young people with free access to books without restrictions. The funds will also provide much-needed support to a wide range of the library’s programs, including teen and children’s programs, justice initiatives, entrepreneurial support, and efforts to combat censorship.

Since the launch of The Book of HOV — a sprawling exhibit honoring Jay-Z’s life, legacy, and career — opened to the public at the library’s central branch on July 14, the Brooklyn Public Library has experienced a massive surge in attendance. The donations from the Shawn Carter Foundation and Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism will support the influx of patrons, a figure that has tripled in size since the exhibit’s debut. Book bans have become a hot political topic in recent years as various state and local governments seek to censor books that deal with marginalized identities and histories,

Last week, also on July 14, the Shawn Carter Foundation, co-founded by the “99 Problems” rapper and his mother, Gloria Carter, raised $20 million through their 20-year anniversary black-tie charity gala. Notable celebrities in attendance included Beyoncé, Babyface, Blue Ivy, Jeff Bezos, and Jack Dorsey.

21 Jul 2023

Have Taylor’s Version Re-Recordings Crowded Out the Originals?

With Taylor Swift’s re-recorded version of Speak Now topping the Billboard 200 albums chart and achieving the biggest week of 2023, the singer has pitted her new versions against the original versions she released through Big Machine Label Group in 2010. That could be seen as another blow for Shamrock Capital, which purchased Swift’s Big Machine catalog in 2020. But if Swift thought her re-recordings would erode the performance of the Big Machine originals, she was wrong — for the most part. The original versions owned by Shamrock did well through 2022 and haven’t shown much clear evidence of attrition until 2023, according to Billboard’s analysis of Luminate sales and streaming data in the United States.

Through 2022, Swift’s Big Machine catalog has performed roughly in line with industry trends. Take Swift’s 2008 album Fearless, for example: It generated on-demand audio streams of 230.5 million in 2019 and 345.3 million in 2022 — an increase of 49.8% over three years. Had the album’s streams grown in line with the industry’s annual growth in on-demand audio streams — 48.3% from 2019 to 2022 —Fearless would have had 341.9 million on-demand audio streams. That’s only a 1% variation.

The original version of Swift’s 2012 album Red did even better than Fearless, generating 283.5 million on-demand audio streams in 2019 and 484.7 million on-demand audio streams in 2022, about 19% greater than what would be expected. Had the album’s streams grown in line with the industry’s annual growth in on-demand audio streams — 17.3% in 2020, 12.7% in 2021 and 12.2% in 2022 — Red would have had 420.6 million on-demand audio streams.

At the same time, Swift’s re-recordings have done phenomenally well. Since the beginning of 2021, the three Taylor’s Version albums have accounted for 3.88 billion on-demand audio streams to the original versions’ 2.86 billion on-demand audio streams. The actual numbers are even more skewed in the Taylor’s Versions’ favor since the re-recordings of Speak Now were released on July 7 of this year and have a brief streaming history. Since 2021, Red (Taylor’s Version) has generated 2.6 times more on-demand audio streams than the original version, while Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has about 1.9 times as many on-demand audio streams.

All the work Swift did to promote her re-recordings, as well as the success of her Republic Records albums and her current U.S. tour, may have also helped sales of the original Big Machine catalog. The original version of Red has sold more albums — 26,000 — through week 28 of 2023 than in all of 2022 and is already close to surpassing sales numbers for calendar years 2019, 2020 and 2021. Speak Now has also surpassed last year’s album sales and is on track to beat annual sales from 2019 to 2021.

Of course, Shamrock does not enjoy the spoils of the three albums of re-recordings. Through week 28 of this year, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) have sold 2.23 million units in the United States. But these couldn’t be considered sales that were lost to Shamrock. Whether or not Swift re-recorded the three albums, Shamrock would benefit only from the sales of the original versions. And so far, it doesn’t appear the Taylor’s Version albums are crowding those out.

Streaming is a different story, though. There is some evidence that the Taylor’s Version reissues have led to a decline in streams for the original Big Machine albums. In the 18 weeks before the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) on Nov. 11, 2021, the original version averaged 9.7 million on-demand audio streams per week. In the 18 weeks after Red (Taylor’s Version) was released, the original version’s weekly on-demand audio streams declined 41% to 5.7 million.

And despite putting up decent streaming numbers through 2022, the original versions of Fearless and Red have underperformed expectations in 2023. The overall market’s on-demand audio streams grew 13.5% in the first 28 weeks of 2023. Had Fearless matched the market’s growth, the album would have generated about 296 million streams through week 28. Instead, the original version of Fearless had roughly 162 million streams — more than 45% below expectations. Red performed better but was also off the market’s pace. Through week 28, the original version of Red had 181.6 million on-demand audio streams — about 14% below expectations.

While the original versions have held up fairly well in purchases and, until this year, on-demand audio streams, the biggest loss is probably the lack of synch opportunities. Swift’s re-recordings have been used in a Match.com ad in 2020 (“Love Story [Taylor’s Version]”), the movie Spirit Untamed in 2021 (“Wildest Dreams [Taylor’s Version]”) and the movie DC League of Super-Pets in 2022 (“Bad Blood [Taylor’s Version], the only song from the album 1989 that has so far been re-recorded).

Ultimately, however, Swift’s re-recordings may be more responsible for her consumption boom than the original Big Machine versions. Swift’s annual on-demand audio streams more than doubled between 2019 and 2022 — from 3.12 billion to 7.85 billion. If she continues her current pace, her on-demand audio streams will increase more than 74% in 2023. The re-recordings have added to the deafening buzz around her Republic Records albums. The Big Machine originals are merely along for the ride.

Shamrock did not respond to Billboard‘s request for comment on this story.

21 Jul 2023

White House Secures AI Safety Pledge From Amazon, Google & More Big Tech Companies

President Joe Biden said Friday that new commitments by Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and other companies that are leading the development of artificial intelligence technology to meet a set of AI safeguards brokered by his White House are an important step toward managing the “enormous” promise and risks posed by the technology.

Biden announced that his administration has secured voluntary commitments from seven U.S. companies meant to ensure their AI products are safe before they release them. Some of the commitments call for third-party oversight of the workings of commercial AI systems, though they don’t detail who will audit the technology or hold the companies accountable.

“We must be clear eyed and vigilant about the threats emerging technologies can pose,” Biden said, adding that the companies have a “fundamental obligation” to ensure their products are safe.

“Social media has shown us the harm that powerful technology can do without the right safeguards in place,” Biden added. “These commitments are a promising step, but we have a lot more work to do together.”

A surge of commercial investment in generative AI tools that can write convincingly human-like text and churn out new images and other media has brought public fascination as well as concern about their ability to trick people and spread disinformation, among other dangers.

The four tech giants, along with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and startups Anthropic and Inflection, have committed to security testing “carried out in part by independent experts” to guard against major risks, such as to biosecurity and cybersecurity, the White House said in a statement.

That testing will also examine the potential for societal harms, such as bias and discrimination, and more theoretical dangers about advanced AI systems that could gain control of physical systems or “self-replicate” by making copies of themselves.

The companies have also committed to methods for reporting vulnerabilities to their systems and to using digital watermarking to help distinguish between real and AI-generated images known as deepfakes.

They will also publicly report flaws and risks in their technology, including effects on fairness and bias, the White House said.

The voluntary commitments are meant to be an immediate way of addressing risks ahead of a longer-term push to get Congress to pass laws regulating the technology. Company executives plan to gather with Biden at the White House on Friday as they pledge to follow the standards.

Some advocates for AI regulations said Biden’s move is a start but more needs to be done to hold the companies and their products accountable.

“A closed-door deliberation with corporate actors resulting in voluntary safeguards isn’t enough,” said Amba Kak, executive director of the AI Now Institute. “We need a much more wide-ranging public deliberation, and that’s going to bring up issues that companies almost certainly won’t voluntarily commit to because it would lead to substantively different results, ones that may more directly impact their business models.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he will introduce legislation to regulate AI. He said in a statement that he will work closely with the Biden administration “and our bipartisan colleagues” to build upon the pledges made Friday.

A number of technology executives have called for regulation, and several went to the White House in May to speak with Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other officials.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a blog post Friday that his company is making some commitments that go beyond the White House pledge, including support for regulation that would create a “licensing regime for highly capable models.”

But some experts and upstart competitors worry that the type of regulation being floated could be a boon for deep-pocketed first-movers led by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft as smaller players are elbowed out by the high cost of making their AI systems known as large language models adhere to regulatory strictures.

The White House pledge notes that it mostly only applies to models that “are overall more powerful than the current industry frontier,” set by currently available models such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and image generator DALL-E 2 and similar releases from Anthropic, Google and Amazon.

A number of countries have been looking at ways to regulate AI, including European Union lawmakers who have been negotiating sweeping AI rules for the 27-nation bloc that could restrict applications deemed to have the highest risks.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently said the United Nations is “the ideal place” to adopt global standards and appointed a board that will report back on options for global AI governance by the end of the year.

Guterres also said he welcomed calls from some countries for the creation of a new U.N. body to support global efforts to govern AI, inspired by such models as the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The White House said Friday that it has already consulted on the voluntary commitments with a number of countries.

The pledge is heavily focused on safety risks but doesn’t address other worries about the latest AI technology, including the effect on jobs and market competition, the environmental resources required to build the models, and copyright concerns about the writings, art and other human handiwork being used to teach AI systems how to produce human-like content.

Last week, OpenAI and The Associated Press announced a deal for the AI company to license AP’s archive of news stories. The amount it will pay for that content was not disclosed.