This week, CoJo Music/Warner Music Nashville artist Cody Johnson kept hold of the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, earning a second week at the top of the chart with “‘Til You Can’t.”

The hard-driving ode to making the most of every day also marks Johnson’s very first No. 1 hit at country radio, besting his former No. 11 peak on Country Airplay with “On My Way To You.” It has been a mountaintop moment for not only Johnson, but for his manager, Durango Artist Management’s Howie Edelman, who earns the title of Billboard‘s Executive of the Week.

“We never search for No. 1 hits. We search for great songs,” Edelman tells Billboard. “We have a group of people — Cody, Scott Gunter here at Durango who worked in publishing for 20 years, [Warner Music Nashville’s executive vp, A&R] Cris Lacy and Cody’s producer Trent Willmon, we are all focused on great songs and building his career.”

Johnson was doggedly building his career for well over a decade on the Texas music scene before inking a joint venture deal with Warner. His debut album for

the label, Ain’t Nothin’ To It, debuted at No. 1 on the Country Albums chart in 2019. “‘Til You Can’t” is from Johnson’s latest project, Human: The Double Album. He currently has three CMT Music Awards nomina-tions and will make his debut appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on April 8.

Here, Edelman discusses the success of “‘Til You Can’t,” pivoting during the pandemic, releasing John-son’s Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story documen-tary and more.

“‘Til You Can’t” is Cody Johnson’s first No. 1 Country Airplay hit and it is a two-week No. 1 hit. What were some key decisions you and your team made to help make that happen?

Coming out of COVID, it was a no-brainer to release “‘Til You Can’t.” Just the message of the song is so impactful. it was a unanimous decision between all five of us — Cody, me, Scott, Cris and Trent. It was just perfect timing, because that song had been pitched to every artist in town for the past six years or so.

How did you start working with Cody?

Executive of the Week: Cody Johnson Manager

Howie EdelmanB Y J E S S I C A N I C H O L S O N

(continued)

YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE

BulletinA P R I L 1 , 2 0 2 2 Page 1 of 31

• UMG’s Lucian Grainge Earned

$300M Last Year, Thanks to Public

Listing Bonus

• Superfly Co-Founder Sues

Former Partners After Firing Last Year

• Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Be Deposed in Eminem Copyright Infringement Suit

• Executive Turntable: Motown Records Names A&R VP,

MSG Entertainment Shuffles Leadership

• UMPG Wants More of Its Songwriters

Working in Podcasts

• Sony Must Face Lawsuit Over Future’s ‘High Off Life’ Album

Name, Judge Says

• Phoebe Bridgers Must Face Deposition

in Libel Lawsuit, Judge Rules

INSIDE

https://www.bmi.com/award-shows/trailblazers-2022/

Page 3 of 31

I met Cody in 2009 when he was opening a show in Texas. I heard him sing and was amazed by his stage presence. I introduced myself after the show and asked if he was working with anyone, and he said no. Cody was 21 at the time. I called contacts I knew in the bars to ask about him. Everybody said, “He’s very talented, but he’s a bull rider and he’s got an edge.” To me, it wasn’t him being cocky, it was him being confident. I grew up in that world, so I said, “Here’s the doors I can open for you and the people I can intro-duce you to.” We developed the fan base and slowly developed it nationwide. Everything doesn’t work at radio, that’s obvious. And some stuff that works at radio doesn’t sell hard tickets. So we set on a path to make as much noise as we could.

There used to be a bit of a stigma about Texas artists “going Nashville” to broad-en their fan bases. Have you experienced that in your work?

I think the broader your music is, the broader your audience will be. If you are just writing songs about bluebonnets and the Comal River, you’re going to pigeonhole yourself. It wasn’t just our era or our Texas Red Dirt thing. Think about when Willie Nelson didn’t work in Nashville and he came back to Texas and started a movement in Austin. It was no different than that.

You also work with Randall King, another Texas artist who just released an album. It feels like there is a resurgence

of ’90s country-inspired, neo-traditional sounds.

There has always been room for it and we’re proving it in hard tickets across the nation. I think Nashville tends to follow trends and with that, when something works, everyone follows it. But for us, we stuck to what we do. We are proving fans want this type of music across the nation. We were selling out 3,000-cap, 4,000-cap seaters before radio jumped on one song. That was the power of the internet. Before we signed with Warner, we were already over a billion streams. There were a lot of radio stations that were playing his music, but they were not monitored. There were tons of secondary stations that helped with our hard ticket sales. But we knew if we wanted radio, we needed to partner with someone who had those relationships. And Warner gives us creative freedom and sup-port to do what we do.

Last year, Cody also released a full-length documentary, Dear Rodeo: The Cody Johnson Story. What was it like working on that project and why did you feel it was important to release that at this point in his career?

That was just supposed to be a music video [for Johnson’s previous single, “Dear Rodeo”]. Shane Tarleton [executive vp at Warner] is the one that came with the idea of the documentary. It was right before the pandemic. We were playing direct to Mi-

randa Lambert in Nashville at the [Bridge-stone] Arena. Shane came onto the bus and pitched the idea, and then when we pitched the idea to the producer Shaun Silva, he just laid out this thing that was bigger than “Rodeo” and bigger than just a Cody John-son story. It impacted so many people.

And Cody’s a little like George [Strait], in that he keeps his family life and personal life more private. He kind of exposed him-self in that documentary and that was a big thing for him, to be able to say some of those things. No fan knows the pressure of this business. There aren’t a lot of humans that can deal with the pressure of this business, because the more successful you become, the more difficult it becomes and the harder you have to work.

What is one key aspect to succeeding in the country music business that many people tend to overlook?

Surround yourself with great people. For me, that’s been the most important thing. You can’t do it all yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

IN BRIEF

AUTHORITATIVE INTELLIGENCE.DELIVERED DIGITALLY. CLICK HERE

FOR FREE DELIVERY

DIGITAL NEWSLETTERS

The Music Finance Firm

Music financing where your clients retain 100% ownership and can access ongoing royalty cashflow. No personal guarantees or financial statements required.

Contact us today for your personalized client solutions.

You protect your clients.We fund their creativity.

Royalty Advances • Bridge Financing • Touring Advances • Catalog Sales Support

Providing artist-friendly funding to thousands of music creatives since 2014.

844-4ALL-MUSIC

UMG’s Lucian Grainge Earned $300M Last Year, Thanks to Public Listing BonusBY GLENN PEOPLES

Universal Music Group’s 2021 an-nual report, released Thurs-day, shows chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge earned total

compensation of 274.3 million euros ($303.6 million at the current exchange rate) in 2021, buoyed by three one-time bonuses paid by UMG’s previous owner, Vivendi.

UMG’s direct listing on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange on Sept. 21, 2021 — a spin-off by Vivendi — earned Grainge a one-time bonus of 195 million euros ($215.9 million), or 71% of his total compensation. Grainge was entitled to receive $150 mil-lion plus a 1% share of “the implied value of 100% of the equity of UMG in excess of $30 billion” multiplied by the percentage of UMG shares distributed to Vivendi share-holders prior to the admission [60%], ac-cording to the company’s 2021 prospectus.

In addition, Grainge, who topped Bill-

board’s 2022 Power Players list, earned a 17.5 million-euros ($19.4 million) bonus from a Tencent-led consortium’s purchase of a 10% stake in UMG, and a 20.9 million-euro ($20.3 million) bonus for Pershing Square’s purchase of a 10% stake in UMG ahead of its Sept. 2021 listing. Grainge also earned 24.7 million euros ($27.3 million) in bonuses for meeting certain financial and non-financial targets, and 3 million euros ($3.3 million) in other compensation on top of a base salary of 13.2 million euros ($14.6 million).

Vivendi did not give Grainge stock awards, commonly used as performance in-centives by publicly traded companies, since he became CEO in 2011. Rather, Vivendi gave Grainge a one-time bonus when UMG went public — a back-end payment not unlike the reward a startup founder might receive for scaling the company, building its valuation and guiding it to an initial public offering. UMG’s value has certainly appreci-ated greatly during Grainge’s tenure as CEO. He led UMG’s acquisition of EMI Music’s recorded music division in 2012 for 1.2 bil-lion British pounds ($1.9 billion). In 2013, Vivendi rejected SoftBank’s takeover offer for UMG of $8.5 billion. Four years later, Goldman Sachs valued UMG at 19.5 billion euros ($23.5 billion) at the time. The Tencent-led consortium invested in UMG at a 30 billion euros ($33 billion) valua-tion. By the time of UMG’s public listing in September, its market value was roughly

33.5 billion euros ($39.5 billion) and finished the first day of trading at 45.5 billion euros ($53.4 billion).

After Pershing Square’s purchase into UMG, famed hedge fund CEO Bill Ack-man applauded Grainge’s leadership as his reason for buying into the company. “Universal Music Group is one of the great-est businesses in the world,” he said. “Led by Sir Lucian Grainge, it has one of the most outstanding management teams that I have ever encountered.”

UMG’s biggest acts include Drake, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Bil-lie Eilish, Morgan Wallen, Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. Last year, the company earned over $10 billion — up 14.4% from 2021, or a 17% increase year-over-year in constant currency.

While Grainge’s public offering bonus is certainly remarkable, it’s not altogether uncommon among his music industry peers. Other top-level executives make similar-sized salaries and bonuses, and routinely receive stock awards. Warner Music Group CEO Stephen Cooper earned $16.0 million and $10.7 million in fiscal 2020 and 2021, re-spectively, according to WMG’s 2022 proxy statement. Much of Cooper’s compensation is tied to WMG’s stock accumulated since becoming CEO in 2011 when Access Indus-tries acquired WMG for $3.3 billion. WMG’s current market value is roughly $24 billion and Cooper’s 11.85 million WMG shares

Page 5 of 31

IN BRIEF

Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside (MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), it earned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac-cording to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Southside marks Hunt’s second No. 1 on the chart and fourth top 10. It follows freshman LP Montevallo, which arrived at the summit in No-vember 2014 and reigned for nine weeks. To date, Montevallo has earned 3.9 million units, with 1.4 million in album sales.

Montevallo has spent 267 weeks on the list, tying Luke Bryan’s Crash My Party as the sixth-longest-running titles in the chart’s 56-year history.

On the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside ar-rives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10 after the No. 3-peaking Montevallo.

Hunt first released the EP X2C, which debuted and peaked at No. 5 on Top Country Albums in August 2014. Following Montevallo, Between the Pines: Acoustic Mixtape started at its No. 7 high in November 2015.

Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country Airplay: “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make You Miss Me.” “Break Up in a Small Town” peaked at No. 2.

Hunt co-penned all 12 songs on Southside, including “Body Like a Back Road,” which was released in 2017. The smash hit ruled Country Airplay for three weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs chart for a then-record 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18).

“Downtown’s Dead,” which is also on the new set, reached Nos. 14 and 15 on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, respectively, in June 2018. “Kin-folks” led Country Airplay on Feb. 29, becoming Hunt’s seventh No. 1. It hit No. 3 on Hot Country Songs.

Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his eighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 in

sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil-lion audience impressions, up 16%).

TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Young achieves his fifth consecutive and total Country Airplay No. 1 as “Catch” (Big Machine Label Group) ascends

2-1, increasing 13% to 36.6 million impressions.Young’s first of six chart entries, “Sleep With-

out You,” reached No. 2 in December 2016. He followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case You Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I Loved You” (three, January 2018), “Mercy” (two, August 2018) and “Here Tonight” (two, April 2019).

“Catch” completes his longest journey to No. 1, having taken 46 weeks to reach the apex. It out-paces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.”

On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 for a new high.

COMBS ‘DOES’ IT AGAIN Luke Combs’ “Does to Me” (River House/Columbia Nashville), featuring Eric Church, ascends 11-8 on Country Airplay, up 10% to 24.7 million in audience. The song is Combs’ eighth straight career-opening top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, properly promoted No. 1 singles.

Church adds his 15th Country Airplay top 10.

THAT TOOK QUITE ‘A FEW’ MONTHS Travis Denning shatters the record for the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “After a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 mil-lion in radio reach.

The song surpasses two tracks that took 50 weeks each to enter the top 10: Easton Corbin’s “A Girl Like You,” which reached No. 10 in January 2018 be-fore peaking at No. 6 that February, and Aaron Watson’s “Outta Style,” which achieved its No. 10 high in December 2017.

“After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parker From Powder Springs” traveled to No. 32 in September 2018.

SamHunt’s Southside Rules Top Country Albums; Brett Young ‘Catch’-es Fifth Airplay

Leader; Travis Denning Makes History

ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.com

BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATE APRIL 13, 2020 | PAGE 4 OF 19

HU

NT

: M

ICH

AE

L M

AR

TIN

/NH

LI

VIA

GE

TT

Y I

MA

GE

S. Y

OU

NG

: E

TH

AN

M

ILL

ER

/GE

TT

Y I

MA

GE

S

HUNT YOUNG

(held as of Jan. 6) are worth about $440 million. Michael Rapino, Live Nation’s CEO, had compensation of $14.6 million and $4.8 million in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and realized $28.7 million in option awards and stock awards in 2020, according to the company’s 2021 proxy statement.

More comparable to Grainge is Ari Eman-uel, CEO of Endeavor, whose 2021 compen-sation package, valued at $308 million, was called “Hollywood’s biggest payday” by The Wall Street Journal — only $14 million was cash and the remainder was mostly unvested stock awards related to Endeavor’s 2021 IPO. Discovery Inc. Similarly, CEO David Zaslav’s 2021 compensation package rose to $246 million, compared with $37.7 million in 2020 and $45.8 million in 2019, based on a new contract and the pending acquisition of AT&T’s WarnerMedia.

Superfly Co-Founder Sues Former Partners After Firing Last YearBY DAVE BROOKS

Superfly, one of the most successful independent live entertainment companies in North America, qui-etly fired its co-founder Jonathan

Mayers seven months ago, according to legal filings reviewed by Billboard. Mayers is now suing his longtime partners for alleg-edly lowballing him during settlement talks, with a lawsuit claiming misrepresentation, breach and fraud.

Those same filings show that Mayers has not seen or spoken with co-founders Rick Farman, Richard Goodstone or Kerry Black since August and has been unable to reach a final settlement for his shares of the company. With negotiations stalled out, Mayers filed a lawsuit in New York on March 23 against Superfly, two of his three former business partners, and a California

private equity fund whose top executive, Jesse Watson, allegedly strung Mayers along for months promising $5 million in financing before firing him last summer.

Watson and Virgo Investment Group each face a single civil count of fraud in the lengthy March 23 civil complaint written by Mayers’ attorney Kenneth J. Rubinstein, along with civil charges of breach of good faith and unjust enrichment. Mayers is also accusing two of his former partners, Farman and Goodstone of breach, of fiduciary duty — a charge their attorney, Andrea Levin Kim of Houston firm Daniels & Tredennick, says is baseless and should be thrown out.

The bitter fight is a surprisingly acri-monious end to the partnership behind a company created in 1996 while Mayers, a native New Yorker, was working at New Orleans venue Tipitina’s and Farman and Black were students at Tulane who volun-teered to help promote a Medeski Martin and Wood show. Named after the Curtis Mayfield soundtrack Super Fly, the company began promoting shows around Jazzfest with an eventual goal to create a new model for festivals in the U.S. that mirrored major camping-based events in Europe.

In 2002, the four men identified a site in Manchester, Tennessee, to host a 70,000-person festival and with the help and blessing of promoter Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment, agent Chip Hooper of Paradigm and manager Coran Capshaw of Red Light – along with a buy-in from lumi-naries like Trey Anastasio from Phish, the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh and Bob Weir — launched and sold out the first Bonnaroo. Six years later, they struck gold again, join-ing forces with Gregg Perloff and Another Planet Entertainment to launch Outside Lands in San Francisco.

Both events were highly successful and over the years Superfly would experi-ment with new concepts like Vegoose in Las Vegas, headlined by Rage Against the Machine and Daft Punk in 2007, and the Great GoogaMooga in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in 2012 and 2013. Festivals are risky ventures and in some ways, Superfly was a victim of its own success — there were very few festival properties in the U.S. when Bonnaroo launched in 2002, but by 2018, the

market had exploded with competition and in order to stay competitive, Superfly began exploring a new round of capital raises. Ac-cording to Mayer’s lawsuit, a 2018 meeting with Watson and Virgo Investment Group to discuss a new investment was organized by Superfly’s attorneys at Loeb and Loeb.

With a $1.8 billion in funds under management, Virgo is considered small in the private equity world — most PE funds average about $5 billion under management, according to the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. The private equity business is often criticized for loading companies it acquires with debt and bankrupting them and Virgo is no excep-tion. A month before closing the Superfly investment, Virgo was sued by a federal bankruptcy trustee after it borrowed $41 million to purchase film distributor Mil-lennium Entertainment, paid itself a $14.5 million dividend and eventually bankrupted the company.

In August 2018, Virgo made a minority investment at an undisclosed amount to fund new capital ventures at Superfly. Virgo was granted a 13% ownership interest in Superfly, while Mayers and Farman held a 22% stake, Goldstone held an 18% stake and Black held a 9% stake (the remaining shares were held by previous investors).

Mayers had hoped to raise about $7 mil-lion for a new concept he had been devel-oping around popular TV shows like South Park, Arrested Development and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia while working on the Comedy-driven Clusterfest event in San Francisco. His idea was to license content from Viacom, NBC Universal and Warner Brothers for pop-up “step-inside the show” experiences based around popular shows. In 2019, he finalized a proof of concept activation based around the show Friends to run in New York and feature set recreations, original props and costumes, interactive exhibits, and a merchandise store with exclusive products.

The idea impressed Watson and during a 2020 board meeting in Santa Monica, Cali-fornia, Superfly’s co-founders agreed to re-organize parts of the company into separate business divisions. Mayers’ division would be called Superfly X and focus on “creating

Page 7 of 31

IN BRIEF

ISSUE DATE 4/23 | AD CLOSE 4/13 | MATERIALS DUE 4/14

2 0 2 2

On April 23rd, Billboard will publish its annual International Power Players list. This issue will profile the leaders in the global music industry including the label executives, concert promoters, managers, talent agents and lawyers, and recognize their achievements. Advertise and congratulate this year’s International Power Players to reach an influential audience of decision-makers worldwide.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

‘themed based entertainment’ fan experi-ences.” A proposed term sheet created by Virgo granted 58% of Superfly X to Mayers and a smaller percentage interest to Watson and the other co-founders.

As Mayers and Watson worked to finalize the restructuring agreement, Mayers made a series of personal investments into Superfly X equaling $1.4 million and raised an ad-ditional $1.35 million from an outside invest-ment group to fund operations. Rubinstein claims that Watson committed to investing $5 million into Superfly X, but only deliv-ered $3.5 million which fell short of the capital needed to license the rights and fund Superfly X’s ongoing and planned projects.

In late July 2021, Mayers, Watson and the original partners “reached agreement on the material terms” for Superfly X, Rubin-stein writes. Then, to Mayer’s surprise, he received a phone call from Watson and Guthrie on Aug. 12, informing him that “he was being terminated, without cause,” from both Superfly and the new Superfly X entity.

Mayers’ cofounders “were not on the call and have not had any contact with Mayers since the termination,” Rubinstein writes. The attorney added that the decision to sud-denly end negotiations with Mayers, after the other co-founders signed off on the new partnership, is a sign that Superfly had alleg-edly planned “to deprive him of the fruits of his labor” and prevent him from “owning a majority interest in the most profitable and promising business unit of the Company” so defendants instead allegedly “decided to ter-minate Mayers thereby triggering a buy-out provision of his interest for a fraction of the Company’s actual (and projected) value.”

Virgo is now required to buyout Mayer’s 22% stake in Superfly covering all of its busi-ness interests, including the experiences di-vision he had been developing. A few weeks after being terminated, Mayers submitted a valuation based on a recent term sheet “pro-vided by an independent third-party shortly before Mayers’ termination.” that were “based on recent valuations and/or industry comparables.”

The company responded with a valuation “which was a quarter of the value assigned by Mayers,” Rubinstein writes, and half of what the company was valued at when Virgo

bought first invested, telling Mayers that he needed to account “for the adverse impact to the Company from the departure of Mr. Mayers,” writing “the provision defendants referenced was clearly not drafted for a situation like the present where Mayers was terminated without cause.”

When asked for comment, a Superfly spokesperson told Billboard that “Superfly’s board of directors made the decision to part ways with co-founder Jonathan Mayers in August of 2021. As company policy, we do not discuss ongoing litigation. Since that time, Superfly has seen robust growth with current and new projects, licenses and cli-ents. Our business is healthier than ever as we wrap up Q1 2022.”

That includes Outside Lands 2021, which sold out within minutes of its on-sale an-nouncement, moving 225,000 tickets for the October festival. As well, the company is producing the launch of ‘Prince: The Immersive Experience,’ opening June 9 in Chicago in partnership with the Prince Estate, and last fall’s REVOLT Summit x AT&T event was recently named a finalist for the Ex Awards’ best multi-cultural event campaign.

Superfly X also continues, expanding The Friends Experience across the country with “strong sales in Phoenix in Febru-ary and D.C. and Denver this month,” new activations planned for San Francisco and Toronto and the one-year anniversary of NYC Friends flagship location. Superfly X recently wrapped the debut Office Experi-ence in Chicago on March 27 and will be announcing the next stop soon.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Be Deposed in Eminem Copyright Infringement SuitBY BILL DONAHUE, ED CHRISTMAN

A federal judge says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek must sit for a deposi-tion in a copyright lawsuit over Eminem’s music, rejecting the

streamer’s arguments that he’s not person-ally involved in “day-to-day” licensing op-erations or that he’s too busy to participate in the case.

Spotify claimed that Ek had little infor-mation to offer about the lawsuit and that Eight Mile Style was trying to drag him into a deposition simply to “harass and annoy” him. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley ruled Thursday (March 31) that the executive would need to find the time.

“Undoubtedly Mr. Ek has a full schedule [and] the Court credits Spotify’s assertion that he is very busy indeed,” Judge Frensley wrote. “Yet, the issue of proper licensing relationships with the artists whose work comprises the entirety of Spotify’s business and its sole product is surely also a matter of importance to Spotify, worthy of some of Mr. Ek’s time and attention.”

The ruling came in a copyright lawsuit filed by Eight Mile Style in 2019 that claimed Spotify had streamed Eminem’s music “billions of times” without obtaining the proper mechanical licenses. The 2018 passage of the Music Modernization Act was designed to fix that problem, but Eight Mile Style said the company had essentially ignored the law’s requirements and was still on the hook for infringement.

Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Spotify had sought a so-called protective order that would have shielded Ek from facing a deposition. The company’s attorneys argued he was not “directly involved in Spotify’s day-to-day licensing practices, let alone its

Page 9 of 31

IN BRIEF

MUSIC BIZ 2022

Advertise in this issue of Billboard to reach a well-connected group of music professionals - from musicians to executives.

Editorial content subject to change

C O V E R D A T E 4 / 2 3 | I S S U E C L O S E 4 / 1 3 | M A T E R I A L S D U E 4 / 1 4

2 0 2 2

In its 64th year, The Music Business Association will host its annual Music Biz conference May 9th to May 12th in Nashville, Tennessee.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

Founded in 1958, the non-profit organization creates the rooms in which the important conversations that shape the future of our industry take place. Gather-ing more than 2,000 industry executives for four days of keynote presentations, panels, meetings, and networking, Music Biz unites the global music business to discuss the future of the music business and foster relationships that will shape the industry for years to come.

U.S. mechanical-licensing practices in par-ticular.” And the streamer said a top-level executive should not be drawn into a court case without very good reason, because it imposes a heavy burden on someone who “leads a corporate entity with a global reach.”

But Judge Frensley didn’t buy it: “The Court is inclined to agree with plaintiffs that ‘Mr. Ek’s entire argument for burden is, es-sentially, that he is busy.’”

The judge did conceded some points. In order to “minimize the likely annoyance to Mr. Ek and the disruption of his sched-ule,” Judge Frenlsey said that Ek could be deposed for no more than 3 hours. And the hearing will take place remotely.

A trial is currently scheduled for Sep-tember 2023. It’s unclear when Ek will be deposed.

Spotify did not respond to immediate request for comment.

Executive Turntable: Motown Records Names A&R VP, MSG Entertainment Shuffles LeadershipBY CHRIS EGGERTSEN

Lisa Smith-Craig was promoted to vp of A&R and label operations at Motown Records out of Los Angeles, where she’ll oversee the

day-to-day functions of both the A&R de-partment and overall label operations. Her email is lisa.smithcraig@umusic. com.

Madison Square Garden Entertain-ment announced several changes at the ex-ecutive leadership level: executive vp Dar-ren Pfeffer transitioned to senior advisor,

Josephine Vaccarello is now interim head of MSG Live and Andy Lustgarten stepped down from his role at MSG Entertainment to focus on his duties as president and CEO of MSG Sports.

Dani Sawyerr was promoted to direc-tor of A&R at Universal Music Publishing Group U.K. out of London, where she’ll serve as publishing A&R for songwriters and artists including Holly Humberstone, S1m-ba, Shobeatz and Noizu while being an A&R link to publishing partners such as TAP. Her email is Dani.sawyerr@umusic.com.

Universal Music Group nominated Nicole Avant, Sherry Lansing, William Ackman and Cyrille Bollore to join its board of directors ahead of the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Amsterdam on May 12.

Marlee Ehrlich was promoted to the newly created role of executive vp of artist marking at 10K Projects out of Los Angeles, where she’ll oversee the marketing rollout of all projects that come through the label. Her email is marlee@10kprojects.com.

Caroline Abs was promoted to senior vp of strategic market development at Sony Music Latin out of Miami, where she’ll work closely with Sony Music Latin-Iberia CEO Afo Verde to find and create new op-portunities to expand the reach of the label’s roster. Her email is caroline.abs@sonymu-sic.com.

Mike Whelan was hired as senior vp and general manager at Round Hill Music Nashville. His email is mwhelan@roundhill-music.com.

Janet Kirker was hired as chief prod-uct officer at Synchtank out of New York, where she’ll be in charge of assembling the strategy and roadmap of Synchtank’s prod-ucts. Her email is janet.kirker@synchtank.net.

Cinematic Music Group announced several promotions in its marketing depart-ment: Tish Taylor-Searcy to executive vp of marketing, Katie Kay to senior director of marketing and Brian Glover to direc-tor of commerce and artist marketing. Taylor-Searcy will oversee the company’s artist roster (including projects released under Cinematic’s joint venture with Geffen Records), oversee marketing plan narra-

tive and strategy, assure each campaign is aligned with company goals and monitor commerce strategy and relations; Kay will manage, execute and amplify new releases from the company’s artists across multiple channels; and Glover is responsible for land-ing editorial playlisting and programming at DSPs.

Ryan Dokke was hired as vp of promo-tion and marketing at BMLG Records, where he’ll support the label’s roster, in-cluding Lady A the band, Brett Young, Riley Green and Laci Kaye Booth. His email is Ryan.Dokke@bmlg.net.

Rachel Powers was promoted to vp at Messina Touring Group out of Austin, where she’ll take on added responsibilities while spearheading tour marketing and pro-motion for Eric Church and Blake Shelton. Her email is rachel@messinatouring.com.

Chris Schreiber was hired as vp of marketing at Feed Media Group, where he will help boost the company’s growth in the B2B music streaming category. His email is Christopher@feed.fm.

Lickd, a service that provides video creators with access to label-owned music, expanded its senior leadership team by hiring Roshni Patel as finance director, John Bowman as e-commerce director, Ian Samuel as partnerships director and Olly Lynch as marketing director. Patel will put in place strategic and financial guidance to help Lickd continue to grow; Bowman will manage the company’s conversion and re-tention strategy; Samuel will help build out Lickd’s partner pipeline in both entertain-ment and tech; and Lynch will ensure Lickd has a fully integrated marketing strategy.

Chris Davis was hired as manager of product and strategy at J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, where he will help strategize and execute activations for both established and emerging talent and connect brands to artist campaigns. His email is chris@dreamville.com.

Kelly Ford was hired as vp of program-ming at live entertainment and artists pay-ments app PickleJar out of both Nashville and New York, where she will oversee the company’s social and content program-ming strategy; develop original on-demand content for the company’s OTT channel,

Page 11 of 31

IN BRIEF

On May 14th, Billboard will publish its annual 40Under 40 Issue, celebrating the next generation of leaders in the music industry. This issue will profile 40 power players who are making their mark in music, touring and live entertainment.

These progressive young leaders’ innovation and creativity will continue to create excitement in the music business.

Advertise in this issue to reach the music industry’smost influential and affluent - from the youngdisrupters to the seasoned veterans - who pavedthe way.

ON SALE : 5/14Issue Close: 5/4Materials Due: 5/5

ON SALE: MAY. 14, 2022

40 UNDER 40C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

PickleJar Plus; and oversee editorial and livestreaming content alongside select part-ners and PickleJar venues across the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Her email is kelly@picklejar.com.

The International Music Publishers Forum (IMPF) elected Mushroom’s Linda Bosidis and Talit Muzic’s Elisa Amouyal to its 2022-24 board, while Sheer Music’s David Alexander, Mushroom Music Pub-lishing’s Ian James and Velvetica’s Thomas Jamois retired from the board following the conclusion of their two-year term. Nineteen other board members were re-elected to the board for 2022-24, including Andrei Filip (K9 Music Publishing), Annette Bar-rett (Reservoir/Reverb Music), Emmanuel Delétang (22D Music Group), Ender Atis (Budde Music), Francesca Trainini (OYEZ!), Filippo Sugar (Sugarmusic), Ichiro Asat-suma (Fujipacific Music), Jennifer Mitchell (Red Brick Songs), John Telfer (Rock-ing Gorillas Music), Julio Guiu Marquina (Ediciones Musicales Clipper’s), John Fishlock (Active Music Publishing), Mary Jo Mennella (Music Asset Management), Mark Chung (Freibank Music Publishing), Niclass Björlund (Edition Björlund), Paulina Golba (Golba Music), Pierre Mossiat (Strictly Con-fidential Music Publishing), Sean McGraw (Songtrust), Simon Platz (Bucks Music Group) and Teri Nelson Carpenter (Reel Muzik Werks).

UMPG Wants More of Its Songwriters Working in PodcastsBY KRISTIN ROBINSON

Universal Music Publishing Group has announced a new partner-ship with narrative-focused pod-cast creator Audio Up, opening

up new opportunities for their songwriters to write original music for the company’s

programs. According to the announcement, UMPG writers can be “signed” by Audio Up to make these themes and scores.

Additionally, UMPG signed the com-pany’s CEO, “Jingle Jared” Gutstadt, to an exclusive global publishing deal. With a background in writing and producing for production and contemporary music, Gutstadt is the rare example of a working musician and music business entrepreneur. He founded both Audio Up and music pro-duction agency Jingle Punks, which sold to Anthem Entertainment (formerly known as Ole) in 2015.

Audio Up productions are supported by SiriusXM and Audible, and the company hopes to use podcasting as a “trojan horse” for introducing audiences to new tracks. In the past, Audio Up has worked with mar-quee acts like Machine Gun Kelly, T-Bone Burnett, Miranda Lambert, 24KGoldn and iann dior. It describes its model as similar to that of Broadway musicals, which weave catchy songs into larger stories and charac-ter arcs.

Marc Cimino, COO at UMPG, says that UMPG is “excited” to work with the “uniquely talented” Gutstadt “to discover and develop versatile songwriters who can create music both for these fan-favorite pod-casts as well as contemporary hits.”

Gutstadt added, “I’m thrilled to be part-nering with Universal Music Publishing on this first-of-its-kind endeavor. We see pod-casting as a gateway to music discovery and hit songs of the future. Our unique blend of music-based content unlocks incredible sto-ries and music by some of the top recording artists in the space. Our secret sauce is a Tin Pan Alley model with completely integrated and original music capabilities from within our walls. We’re excited to bring this to life and start signing next-generation songwrit-ers to plug and play within Universal Music Publishing and their greater capabilities alongside the power of Audio Up.”

Sony Must Face Lawsuit Over Future’s ‘High Off Life’ Album Name, Judge SaysBY BILL DONAHUE

A federal judge says Sony Music must face a lawsuit that claims the name of Future’s chart-topping album High Off Life

infringed the trademark rights of a creative agency that uses that exact same name.

Sony argued that the lawsuit should be tossed out immediately because the name of a creative work like an album is protected by the First Amendment, but U.S. District Judge Scott Hardy ruled Wednesday that it was too early to make that call.

Though he stressed that he was express-ing “no opinion” on the merits Sony’s free-speech defense, the judge said simply that “this is not the appropriate stage in the litigation to address that defense.”

High Off Life, Future’s eighth studio album, reached the top spot on the Billboard 200 in May 2020. It was originally set to be titled “Life Is Good” – the name of the album’s third single – but switched to the new name as the COVID-19 pandemic swept made life somewhat less than good.

In October 2020, Sony and Future’s Freebandz Productions were sued over the name by a company called High Off Life LLC, which claimed the album infringed its trademark rights to the phrase. The company says it started selling High Off Life apparel in 2009, expanded into hosting concerts after that, and in 2017 launched a creative agency that produces music and videos. It also operates a hip hop YouTube called “High Off Life TV.”

The case claimed that Sony’s promotion of Future’s album had buried the smaller company in search results: “Overnight, Defendants destroyed HOL’s investment of many years and many thousands of dollars

Page 13 of 31

IN BRIEF

ISSUE DATE 5/14 | AD CLOSE 5/4 | MATERIALS DUE 5/5

RIAA 70TH ANNIVERSARY2 0 2 2

The Recording Industry Association of America® advocates for American music and the people and companies that create it. RIAA’s several hundred members – ranging from major labels with global reach to small and local businesses and artist-owned labels they distribute and support – make up the world’s most vibrant and innovative music community, partnering with artists to help them reach their potential and connect with fans while supporting hundreds of thousands of American jobs. In both Washington, DC and the states, RIAA advocates for policies that grow and strengthen the modern music economy and create opportunities for every segment of our industry. Its tech and legal teams are the leading edge of online content protection, working 24/7 to stopunfair and damaging pre-release leaks and ensure artists and songwriters get paid everywhere and every time their work is used. It is the authoritative source for revenue data and research that reveals important trends and developments in the music business.

And for 60 years it has operated the Gold and Platinum program - a widely recognized bench-mark of success in our industry. In 2022, RIAA marks a major milestone – 70 years supporting American music. So, to honor this ongoing evolution and the RIAA’s commitment to great music and a strong healthy music ecosystem with opportunities for all, please join Billboard in congratulating RIAA on its 70th Anniversary.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

into building consumer recognition.”To beat the lawsuit, Sony and Freebandz

cited something called the Rogers test — a legal doctrine that makes it very difficult to win lawsuits over the use of brand names in expressive works like movies, television shows and music. The rule says that authors have a First Amendment right to use trade-marks in their work unless it explicitly mis-leads consumers, or is completely irrelevant to the artwork.

That’s a very high bar, and could very well doom High Off Life’s lawsuit eventually. But in Wednesday’s decision, Judge Hardy said he couldn’t make that decision without allowing both sides to gather evidence and build their cases.

“Given that further development of a factual record is necessary before conduct-ing an in-depth analysis of Defendants’ First Amendment defense, the Court declines to further consider Defendants’ First Amend-ment arguments at this stage of the proceed-ings,” the judge wrote.

In particular, Judge Hardy said additional evidence might show that the name had no relevance to the Future’s actual artistic message. He also said the First Amendment might not shield Sony from claims related to merchandise sold in connection with Future’s album.

A rep for Sony did not return a request for comment on Friday.

Phoebe Bridgers Must Face Deposition in Libel Lawsuit, Judge RulesBY BILL DONAHUE

A Los Angeles judge ruled this week that Phoebe Bridgers must sit for a deposition in a defamation law-suit filed against her by producer

Chris Nelson, apparently unswayed by the singer’s claim that it was nothing more than

“thinly veiled harassment.”In a ruling issued Tuesday, Judge Curtis

A. Kin agreed with Nelson’s argument that a deposition was necessary before the judge decides whether to dismiss his lawsuit, which claims Bridgers defamed him by echoing accusations of abuse made against him by another woman.

The judge said the case would live or die on whether Bridgers acted with “actual mal-ice” – meaning she either lied intentionally or recklessly disregarded the truth when she made the claims about Nelson. And that question can likely only be answered by Bridgers, the judge said.

“Because the subjective belief of [Bridg-ers] is critical, defendant herself is neces-sarily the primary, if not sole, source of evidence regarding actual malice,” Judge Kin wrote.

Nelson sued Bridgers in September in Los Angeles court, claiming she had defamed him by posting false information to social media as part of a “vendetta to destroy plaintiff’s reputation.”

He pointed to a series of October 2020 Instagram posts, in which the singer said she had “witnessed and can personally verify much of the abuse (grooming, steal-ing, violence) perpetuated by Chris Nel-son.” She also directed her followers to a separate thread from friend Emily Bannon, which contained more extensive allegations against Nelson.

Bridgers quickly moved to end the case, arguing that Nelson was using his lawsuit to silence her claims of abuse. Faced with that motion, Nelson demanded the right to depose her — saying it was the only way he could prove that his allegation was valid. He said denying him that chance would violate his right to due process.

Attorneys for Bridgers fired back earlier this month, claiming his request was merely designed to burden the star and delay the proceedings. “Mr. Nelson’s amorphous request for discovery based on his attorney’s circular statement that it is necessary is nothing more than thinly veiled harassment,” her lawyers wrote.

On Tuesday, Judge Kin avoided those alle-gations and merely ruled that “good cause” exists for a deposition in such circumstance

because a libel defendant is the “primary source of evidence regarding actual malice.” He ordered that the deposition must take place before April 29.

Attorneys for both sides did not imme-diately return requests for comment on Thursday (March 31).

Foo Fighters Won’t Perform at 2022 Grammys Following Taylor Hawkins’ DeathBY PAUL GREIN

Foo Fighters will not perform at the 2022 Grammys, a rep for the band confirmed to Billboard.

The band’s previously an-nounced performance on the show was thrown into question in the wake of the sud-den death on Friday of the band’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

Asked on Monday if Foo Fighters would appear on the show, Jack Sussman, EVP, specials, CBS, said, “I hope so. I don’t know. I think we need to give them a little time to deal with the tragedy that has impacted their family and listen to them and come up with something to honor Taylor’s memory that is appropriate and that they feel good about.”

On Tuesday, the band canceled all tour dates, saying in a collective note: “It is with great sadness that Foo Fighters confirm the cancellation of all upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss of our brother Taylor Hawkins. We’re sorry for and share in the disappointment that we won’t be seeing one another as planned. Instead, let’s take this time to grieve, to heal, to pull our loved ones close, and to appreciate all the music and memories we’ve made together.”

Still, it wasn’t immediately clear if the tour cancellation would include the Gram-mys. The Foos have had a strong relation-ship with the show over the years.

Page 15 of 31

IN BRIEF

ISSUE DATE 5/14 | AD CLOSE 5/4 | MATERIALS DUE 5/5

THIRD EYE BLIND2 0 2 2

Since 1997, San Francisco's Third Eye Blind has recorded five best-selling albums and assembled one career retrospective. Led by Stephan Jenkins, 3EB has earned worldwide success during a tumultuous group of years when the major-label record-ing industry was finally losing its grip on an enterprise that for decades it had dominated with steely efficiency.

Third Eye Blind’s 2021 album Our Bande Apart was recorded when lockdown ended, with Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast and Ryan Olson of Poliça. The band has continued to have gained artistic clarification—and, surprisingly, a fanbase that is larger, younger and more dedicated than ever.

Now celebrating 25 years of their iconic self-titled album, the band has an upcoming summer tour and has teamed up with Smith & Cult to create a series of nail polish colors with proceeds from shade "Jumper" to support True Colors United - a foundation committed to supporting LGBTQ youth. The band will be supporting SeaTrees on their 2022 Summer Gods tour, an organization that helps restore a portion of the Palos Verdes Kelp Forest. The ocean has the power to restore climate change.

The latest science shows that globally, kelp forests can sequester more carbon than mangrove forests - restoring these sequoias of the sea is critical to solving climate change as 93% of all carbon in the carbon cycle is stored in our oceans (meaning just 7% is stored across our atmosphere and land biosphere.

C O N T A C T SJoe Maimone201.301.5933 | joe.maimone@billboard.com

Lee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 | laphotoglo@gmail.com

Cynthia Mellow615.352,0265 | cmellow.billboard@gmail.com

Marcia Olival 786.586.4901 | marciaolival29@gmail.com

Ryan O’Donnell +447843437176 | rodonnell@pmc.com

25TH ANNIVERSARY

The Grammys are certain to pay tribute to Hawkins, whose death sparked a wave of grief uncommon for a band member who wasn’t a frontman.

The Recording Academy had no official comment about tributes or possible replace-ment segments on the show. The telecast strives to have a mix of genres, and the Foos were the only rock act booked for the show.

The Foos are nominated for three Gram-mys — best rock performance for “Making a Fire,” best rock song for “Waiting on a War” and best rock album for Medicine at Midnight. The band have won in the lat-ter category four times, twice as often as anyone else.

Hawkins’ death was announced via a social media statement from the band’s accounts on Friday with no cause of death known. He was 50.

The Foo Fighters were scheduled to perform Friday night in Bogotá, Colombia, as part of Festival Estéreo Picnic. According to local news reports, the drummer was found dead in his Bogotá hotel room.

Victoria Monét, Thuy and DJ_Dave Discuss Their Independent Artist Journeys & Why They Have ‘Such an Amazing Bond’ With Their Female ManagersBY HERAN MAMO

Thursday (March 31) marks the last day of Women’s History Month, but the celebration and support of women in the music industry

must persist. Valeisha Butterfield Jones, co-president of the Recording Academy, said,

“There is a culture in music today of women supporting women, and women lifting other women up” while responding to the Recording Academy, Arizona State Univer-sity (ASU) and Berklee College of Music Institute for Creative Entrepreneurship’s inaugural “Women in the Mix” study pub-lished earlier this month. And that culture is ever-present in the relationship between independent female musicians and their female managers.

“Oftentimes, women are pit against each other and they feel like we can’t co-exist, we’re too catty,” Victoria Monét says. “And I think daily, we prove those things wrong — and it’s such an amazing bond to have someone who understands. There’s just something about speaking to another woman. We get each other.”

After a couple of stints at record labels, and an impressive songwriting resume that includes two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s with Ariana Grande‘s “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings,” Monét has made a name for herself as an equally impressive artist and perform-er. Rachelle Jean-Louis, her manager and former A&R at Keep Cool, connected with her during her music supervision gig when she helped place Lucky Daye and Monét’s “Little More Time” in the third season of HBO’s hit series Insecure. She calls working with the hitmaker “easily the most immer-sive experience in artist management.”

After years of working at big labels like Interscope and top management companies such as Maverick Management, Hannah Peale and Hannah Hicks stumbled upon what Peale calls the “most exciting thing that I’ve seen in the industry”: DJ_Dave, a synth-pop artist who produces and per-forms music through live-coding, a huge component of the algorave community. Each song she releases “is meticulously coded and recorded live in a process that has never been used before in a pop-sensible context,” according to her website. From performing at Elon Musk and Grimes‘ 2021 MET Gala after party and starring in Logitech’s “Defy Logic” campaign along the likes of Lizzo, what once was Dave’s school project has already started flourish-ing as a worthwhile career.

As for pop/R&B singer Thuy, school

almost took precedent so she could become a doctor and appease her Vietnamese immi-grant parents. “At first, it was really hard for me to step outside of the medical field and do music because I was so afraid of what my parents would think,” she recalls. “And eventually, I got to a mindset where I was just like, ‘You know what? I don’t care what they think, because I want to be happy.’ And they were seeing that I was so persistent at music to the point where they can say any-thing and it would not deter me. I think that that’s where I’m at now.”

Her career has taken off in recent years, with more than 60 million streams world-wide and her first tour coming up in May in celebration of her debut project i hope u see this. The timing was right when she met her manager Anh Vu, who worked her way up from the mailroom at CAA to spending five years at Universal Music Group on royalty operations and litigation support — and spe-cifically wanted to work with an artist who was also a woman of color. “I literally feel like you’re my sister,” Thuy says of working with Vu.

Billboard spoke to Monét, Thuy and DJ_Dave — as well as their managers — about the similarities and unique differences in their indie artist journeys, and the “amazing bond” they have with their predominantly female teams.

What inspired you to become an artist, and when did you realize you wanted to take the independent route?

Monét: I was always surrounded by music. My grandpa plays a bunch of instru-ments, my mom and my grandma sing. So it felt like a natural thing for me to fall in love with. As far as me wanting to be indepen-dent, it’s just been trial and error for me in the music industry. I moved here as a teen-ager and I got signed to a record label — and I’ve also signed to a producer, and through that producer, signed to a record label. I’m having those experiences not be as dreamy as I would have liked, so I decided to actu-ally beg my last record label to let me go.

At the time, I was just investing all of my savings and things that I would earn from writing into my artist career, and manag-ing myself and playing each position that a record label would have. I learned the ropes

Page 17 of 31

IN BRIEF

MUSICPUBLISHERSQUARTERLYBillboard’s Music Publishers Quarterlies deliver a digest of the latest news from the world of music publishers. From the artists on top of the charts to the publisher with the highest market share, Billboard reports the trends with unmatched authority and reaches the most influential people in the music industry.

Advertise in Billboard and align your catalog, songwriters, producers, and services with this coveted audience of:

• A&R Executives• Artists• Artist Managers

• Music Supervisors• Ad Agencies• Brand Agencies

• Media Agencies

CONTACT

East Coast: Joe Maimone | joe.maimone@billboard.comSoutheast: Lee Ann Photoglo | laphotoglo@gmail.comLatin: Marcia Olival | marciaolival29@gmail.comTouring & West Coast: Cynthia Mellow | cmellow.billboard@gmail.comInternational: Ryan O’Donnell | rodonnell@pmc.com

MPQ 1On Sale: 2/26Ad Close: 2/15Materials Due: 2/16

MPQ 2On Sale: 5/14Ad Close: 5/4Materials Due: 5/5

MPQ 3On Sale: 8/6Ad Close: 7/27Materials Due: 7/28

MPQ 4On Sale: 11/19Ad Close: 11/9Materials Due: 11/10

the independent way, and it felt freeing and gratifying to be able to carve my own path. Definitely very difficult, but it just felt like a better fit for me as far as even just happiness is concerned.

Thuy: I’ve always known that I wanted to sing, but school was more important and my parents put an emphasis on going to college and possibly being a doctor. But I felt like my real passion in life was music. After I graduated, I was juggling and changing jobs so often that I was like, “I’m so bored of this.” So I decided to quit and move to Los Angeles.

As far as the independent route, I’ve always had this underdog mindset of know-ing that I could do it on my own as long as I work hard and am consistent and have the talent and the gift to show people. In high school and junior high, I used to wrestle. Every time you would get the seeds [in competitions], I would always be ranked lower than what I thought. But I was like, “It doesn’t matter, because I’m just going to keep working hard and prove them wrong.” And I’d always win. When I first moved, it was like, “Being signed would be cool.” I felt like that was the benchmark for success. Eventually, I stopped worrying about that — and just seeing that you could do it on your own has really been pushing me to keep be-ing independent for as long as possible.

Dave: Deep down, I always wanted to become an artist. I was always really career-focused, and being an artist isn’t the most stable career you could ever go into. So it wasn’t what I set out to do initially, but when the opportunity presented itself, I was like, “This is what I need to do.” It felt like everything was falling into place all at the same time. That all kind of happened in the middle of the pandemic, when the music industry was figuring out what it was going to do and how everyone was going to get through this. Obviously, I was just starting out, so it wasn’t even a question if I was go-ing to be independent or not. I’m literally at my mom’s house, I’m not going to be doing anything crazy right now.

How did you start managing your art-ist?

Vu: I had just got out of managing a male artist, and it was a very traumatizing

experience — like, emotionally and verbally abusive. That’s when I told Jamie, our friend who connected [Thuy and me], that I want-ed to work with a woman, a woman of color. I’m passionate about it. I have never chased a guy, but I was chasing [Thuy] for a month, like, “Let’s get on a call!” And then on that two-hour call, I had my whole outline of what I would do: branding, live strategy, social media. She remembered it was a great vibe, and I’ll take that. Because at the end of the day, you’re going to be working with this person for all hours of the day, every day. You have to have that sense of camaraderie.

Peale: A friend of mine found Dave through a college streaming platform called Quadio. It just had artists that were still in college and they were putting their music up. I first heard Dave’s music and thought it was so, so dope. And then I found out she coded it and was like, “This is literally the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” We started working together, but it was mid-pandemic, so we were figuring out what that would look like — because obviously a huge part of her project is being live. I ended up bring-ing in Hannah Hicks, and we’ve worked together on some other artists in the past when she was managing the producers and I was managing the artists. We had different backgrounds and skillsets that fit with Dave, and that’s how we all got connected.

Hicks: I was just trying to find dope, especially non-male, producers and artists. So when Hannah brought me Dave and was like, “Hey, this could be a really cool thing that we could work on together,” it really clicked. It took me a while to find people that believe in themselves as much as I believed in them, and co-managers who shared that similar work ethic and vision.

Jean-Louis: I actually met Victoria because I helped put this song of hers and Lucky Daye’s in Insecure, and met her on set with Lucky and had no idea in terms of wanting to manage her. I just knew that she was super-talented, and loved her voice and obviously her writing. We met up and I had every intention of [being] like, “I just really want to sign you because you’re so under-rated. How do we work together?” And that didn’t work out, but it was a blessing in disguise that it didn’t work out in that way,

because there was something undeniable of wanting to help a person that was investing so much in themselves. It was definitely a kind of serendipitous thing, of just being re-ally passionate about her and her music and seeing the drive that she had. I just wanted to help and learn everything along the way.

Victoria, you were previously signed to Motown Records with your girl group Purple Reign, and then signed to Atlantic Records as a solo act. What has been the biggest adjustment for you as an inde-pendent artist?

Monét: Spending is a lot different. With labels being corporations, they have a lot more flex financially. So just making sure that whatever it is that you’re doing is some-thing that you’re completely sure about, because it’s oftentimes coming from you. Why I’m able to be independent is because I have an amazing manager who’s able to help me put our heads together and make the right moves. When I was doing it by myself, people who have followed my music before my project Jaguar, they’d see the creative differences, they would see how things were coming out and how I was moving. I was spreading myself really, really thin. It’s a huge difference, and a lot more freeing for me to have a brilliant manager on my side to help me navigate a lot of the things that I was just kind of freestyling before with my own cash.

Thuy, Khloe Kardashian played your single “day dream” on her Instagram Story and Lisa from BLACKPINK put “in my bag” on her playlist. How influential are celebrity co-signs in terms of promot-ing your music?

Thuy: I get excited in the moment, but I definitely don’t depend on that to break my career. I just keep going regardless. But sometimes it’s nice to have those moments, like, “Damn, you’re going in the right direc-tion. Your music is traveling very far.” I feel like [Lisa’s co-sign] might be more impactful for me because she’s an artist, too. For me to get co-signs from other musicians, I think that’s cool — because it’s like camaraderie within the industry.

Dave, you produce and DJ music with live-coding. When did you find your niche in straddling both the music world and

Page 19 of 31

IN BRIEF

the tech world?Dave: When I was first exposed to live-

coding, I just had this vision for it. There were so many opportunities it wasn’t being used for. It was honestly really exciting, because it made a lot of sense where I could see this in places it hasn’t been before. And I am really blessed to be the first one that gets to bring it to these to these different spaces.

For the managers, when you’re work-ing at a label, sometimes you might be stuck in the day-to-day or coordinator positions without seeing much room for growth toward an artist manager level. What advantages do you see working with an independent artist over someone who’s signed?

Jean-Louis: Everything really falls on you, right? It’s their career, but you’ve been tasked with the responsibility of making sure that you steer it and that you’re advis-ing them in the right direction, and making sure that they’re supported in every way as possible. When you’re independent, you literally are building their company. So every aspect of the team, you have to go out and find and interview and figure out who makes the most sense. You can’t really escape that part of it, it’s so crucial.

Peale: It’s really interesting because I’ve worked with people at the very top and I’ve also been managing developing artists. It’s like two different skill sets, a much differ-ent hustle, different relationships, different thinking. You have to make things hap-pen with little to no budgets. But because [Hannah and I] love A&R, too, we love to see things grow. With Dave’s project being the most exciting thing that I’ve seen in the industry — and pretty much anybody that comes across it feels the same way — it’s the most rewarding thing I could be doing.

Which opportunity did you feel like was the turning point of your career?

Monét: I was scheduled to go on tour – I’m not going to even say what tour I was scheduled to go on – and I was super excited about it. It was at the time where as a song-writer, I felt like I had peak level of success [because] it was when “Thank U, Next” and “7 Rings” were really successful. Rachelle was like, “I don’t think you should go on this tour.” It was a really big opportunity. And

I’m like, “What? What do you mean?” And she was like, “My gut’s telling me you need to have the opportunity to create the music that you want to make with the people you want to make it with.”

So I sat on that idea. I was kind of bummed about it because I was really excit-ed to get out in the world and do my thing. But it was the smartest, most eye-opening thing for me, because I feel like in those weeks of sessions – that’s actually where Jaguar was created – I had so much fun, I felt so free and seen and creative. And I was so proud of the work that we were able to come out of that crucial decision in my career. And I think that’s where the founda-tion of my sound as an artist has come from. Shout out to Rachelle for that call.

Dave: When I first learned about live-coding, I could just see it on a festival stage. It’s such a visual practice, like you have your code up on the screen, you have people interpreting what you’re writing. I want this to be a huge production, like I want to see it on an LED screen with a big audience. That’s my dream for this: to see it reach its fullest potential and being able to include other artists, like visual artists. I got booked for my first festival this summer, Electric Forest. So that was a turning point – being like, “Wow, this is the dream I had for it.”

Dave, I read that you use samples from tracks by female artists in your live-coded algorithms to show off the power of female collaborations. How has the algorave community embraced women?

Dave: When I first went into it, I was not expecting to see that many women in it because the majority of people in STEM are not women. I was thinking that I was going into this male-dominated space, and global-ly, that is the case in live-coding. The people that coined the term “algorave” is like a group of 25-year-old white men. In other cities, it’s like 99% guys. But in the New York algorave community, for some reason, it’s a very mixed bag of people. There’s a lot of women, a lot of non-binary people, a lot of trans people — a lot of diversity, which is really cool. I feel very lucky to be in this city doing algorave.

For the managers, I’ve heard lots of harrowing accounts, like not getting an

introduction in the studio when all the men in the room do, or being hit on while on the job. How do you demand respect in your position?

Vu: Sometimes it’s literally just stand-ing tall and taking up space in the room. I remember one time I went to my artist’s listening session and it was all dudes. He introduced me to this other artist/producer, who shook my hand and was like, “Oh, wow, you didn’t tell me your manager was cute.” I literally dropped my jaw, and I was still shaking his hand and I just firmly gripped it.

It’s little microaggressions like that, so sometimes it has to be physical — like taking up space, speaking a little louder. Sometimes I don’t put she/her in my email just to see if I’m reacted to differently, because my name is Vietnamese and unisex. And I hate to depend on co-signs, but I’m grateful for people who speak on my behalf. I’ve had people having to pull somebody aside and be like, “That’s my manager. You should treat her with more respect.”

What are some of the biggest blessings and challenges you’ve encountered in your journey?

Monét: My biggest challenge has been patience. If you would have told me when I moved to L.A. as a teenager that it would be this many years before you get to checking off this one goal, I would have been discour-aged by the timeline. My biggest blessing is finding synergy in my team, a team full of women, especially Rachelle heading that. I’m really thankful to be surrounded by re-ally fire women.

Dave: The biggest challenge has been rewiring my brain to decide that I’m doing this. I was a very career-focused person, and stability was important to me. So taking the jump to not having that was an adjustment. But the biggest blessing was that I stumbled upon this idea of using live-coding in a mainstream context that has made it really easy for me to enter the music industry.

Thuy: Blessings: being able to touch so many people with my music. To see my mu-sic being played in Indonesia, Australia and all of these places that I’ve yet to even visit is insane to me. Challenges: funding. When you take money from people, obviously you have to give up some type of ownership.

Page 20 of 31

IN BRIEF

Page 21 of 31

That challenge has pushed me so much to be resourceful and creative in terms of the music video aspect. We’re going to think outside of the box and see what can we do with this amount. It’s great to be able to do that early on because then when you have the big budgets, then it can be even bigger.

Victoria, you were known as a hitmak-ing songwriter and producer, especially for Ariana Grande, before your own mu-sic really started to take off. How were you able to finally get music fans and the music industry to understand and respect that duality?

Monét: That definitely took a lot of work for me, because I worked so hard as a song-writer to be recognized for my work, which I loved. But when it trumps something else that I’m doing, it can be kind of discourag-ing. So I just had to realize that no matter what you do in life, sometimes people try to pigeonhole you to whatever they met you as first. I think it comes down to what they see you doing more of, and they’ll get ac-climated to it. Just don’t be discouraged by people’s limited ideas of what you’re capable of. I’m passionate about both things, and I have to worry a little bit less about how people perceive me and what they want to try to contain me as.

Thuy, I read that the medical field was your plan B. When did you realize that you could pursue singing full time? Victo-ria and Dave, what was your plan B if you had one, and when did you realize that you didn’t have to take that route?

Dave: When I graduated, I had a job lined up as a graphic designer (which is what I went to college for). When Hannah Peale found me, she was like, “Do you want to get on a call?” And I was like, “Sure.” I had liter-ally just released a couple of songs as part of a school project. On the call, she was like, “Where do you see this going?” And I was like, “I don’t know. I have a job.” And she was like, “Would you ever quit your job?” And I was like, “No, this is what I studied.” As time went on, I was like, “Oh, this could be a thing.” It was a dream that I had never entertained for myself. Eventually, my job started annoying me and music started really working out. And then it made sense for me to quit my job and pursue music full

time. And I haven’t looked back, it’s been great!

Thuy: When I first moved back after col-lege, I was going to school at a community college to finish up some credits so I could go to P.A. school. In the meantime, I was working at a dental office and I got bored of that. Then I moved to another dental office, moved to dermatology, moved to optometry and then I was shadowing a physician’s assistant. I was making music during that whole time, too, and I felt like I was getting bigger than where I was at. I was like, “I need to make a decision.” The P.A. applica-tion was coming up, and I had missed the application deadline by one day. My parents were already asking me, “What are you do-ing with your life?”

And it’s funny because when I would go to the studio, I would never tell my parents. And then a couple rooms opened up in Los Angeles [with] an engineer that used to engineer me when he was living back in San Mateo. And I remember being like, “Hey, you guys want to move to Los Angeles?” to my friend, who was a DJ and an artist, and my boyfriend, who’s also an artist and my co-writer. And they were like, “Yeah, f—k it.” I put in my two weeks, and it was the best decision I could have ever made for myself.

Monét: No plan B. This is what I love to do.

For the managers, what were your plan B’s if you had one, and when did you realize that you didn’t have to take that route?

Jean-Louis: No plan B. I’m either work-ing in music or there is no alternative.

Vu: After five years at Universal, I left the music industry completely for two years. I thought about going into non-profit, but I was like, “No, I f—king love music, and I want to do something that’s very impactful.” My plan B was using my business degree and going into music tech or something on the corporate side of music, but more in marketing or something that would help art-ists. But then the pandemic happened and it makes you realize how do you want to spend your time? I think me putting it out into the ecosphere that I want to manage and I want to manage an artist who’s a woman just manifested itself.

Peale: I had no plan B to be honest. I studied business in college, which was sort of my parents’ plan B. In retrospect, I’m definitely very glad I did it. It’s not directly applicable, but it helps me with my work ethic more than anything.

Hicks: My plan B is interesting – I was going to be a park ranger and wilderness trip leader. I actually led groups of young girls on like 19-day wilderness trips. I was like, “Yo, this is fire. I could just be out here in the woods, and the world is over there.” It taught me a lot about physical and mental strength and testing what you think you’re capable of. The only thing I miss about being out of the wilderness is I can’t really listen to music. There’s no outlet in the trees. I couldn’t really choose both, but I’m definitely happy I chose to be in civilization and in the music industry.

What’s something on your professional bucket list that you’d like to cross off soon?

Thuy: I always set little goals for myself just to keep myself motivated. My next thing is I really want a plaque. I really want to go gold, and it’s going to happen. I want to keep touring and go everywhere, like global.

What advice do you have for fellow Asian, Black and queer women who have aspirations of becoming a full-time musi-cian?

Monét: There’s really no way around the work. It seems like people just blow up overnight and there’s this viral thing that you feel like you can make happen. But I think opportunities like that may be short-lived, because you can’t hide the fact that you haven’t rehearsed or you haven’t done the work or you didn’t invest the time in yourself. I would say, with balance and self-care, there’s just no way around that 10,000 hours. If you’re serious about it, drop that plan B and really pursue it. It’ll get you places.

Thuy: I feel like I’m the bigger sister to a lot of Vietnamese Americans. A lot of them come up to me and say, “I want to make music, too,” or “I want to create art,” and they’re afraid of what their parents think. My advice to them is to not care what people think, whether that’s your mom or your dad — because at the end of the day, they’re going

IN BRIEF

Page 22 of 31

to love you. I felt this immense pressure to make them proud and do something that they can feel like all their sacrifices were worth it. But I wasn’t doing something that was fulfill-ing to me. My advice would be to follow our gut and do what fulfills your life.

Dave: Believe in yourself. There’s nothing different about being a woman, you can do all the same s–t. And people can react differently to it, but that doesn’t mean that anything you’re doing is different from what your male counterparts are doing. Trust that your judg-ment matters and your opinions matter and your taste matters. Just go for it.

Snoop Dogg Teases ‘Nuthin’ But a G Thang’ as First NFT Release on Revamped Death Row RecordsBY DARLENE ADEROJU

On Thursday (March 31), Snoop Dogg was virtually joined by longtime friend and collaborator Ice Cube for a YouTube Live

discussion about the digital future of his newly acquired Death Row Records.

The nearly 25-minute conversation was hosted by BUX Crypto and also included ris-ing Death Row artist October London, who said he’s known Snoop Dogg since 2016.

After revealing his plans for future Death Row signees, the Dogg teased, “I just might sell ‘Nuthin’ But a G Thang’ next month.” The Snoop-featuring lead single from Dr. Dre’s 1992 debut solo album The Chronic peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in 1993. Billboard has confirmed that all the new Death Row releases will be NFTs, and it sounds like “G Thang” will be the first drop.

Following Snoop’s purchase of the iconic

brand and catalog in February — and his promise to turn it into an “NFT label” or, more accurately, the first label on the blockchain — fans were surprised to find several key Death Row albums missing from streaming services, including The Chronic and Snoop’s own seven-times platinum 1993 debut Doggystyle. The “G Thang” sale should show how the new label plans to operate.

When asked Thursday about his plans for Death Row’s emerging artists, Snoop said, “Death Row Records is the first major label to be an NFT label … creating content where people can actually own and trade. We dropped a mixtape last month and it did a great thing for us as far as communicating, getting us in the community [and] engaging with a lot of artists that had no foundation or platform.

“It also showed us that this community is in dire need of great music and that’s what we plan on doing,” he added. “We plan on bringing great music and great artists. … This is what Death Row is all about, trying to expand and take it to new regions.”

Snoop also confirmed that Gala Music will be the “exclusive place that Death Row lives in the Metaverse. … We plan on giving people access to buying and trading some of these classic songs, classic records that were the foundation of Death Row and along the lines get these new records.” Gala is aiming to “build a decentralized world of music that uplifts artists, fans and collectors” through rewards, NFTs and Web3, according to a rep for the company.

Ice Cube chimed in: “As a creator, this is a dream-come-true space.” The hitmaker said Death Row artists have an advantage “to be able to go directly to the fans and to make a relationship directly with your fans is always the best way.”

Snoop Dogg purchased Death Row Records from the Blackstone-controlled MNRK Music Group (formerly eOne Music) last month.

Nashville Nominees Explore Why This Year’s Grammy Awards MatterBY TOM ROLAND

When members of the Nashville music commu-nity head to Las Vegas for the 64th annual Grammy

Awards on April 3, much of the commentary will surround the entertainment value and the fascination with celebrity that are part and parcel of the ceremony.

But one of the major reasons the Record-ing Academy’s event has endured in music circles is that its focus goes much deeper than surface power and popularity. The Grammys often recognize music that falls beyond the top 10, and this year is no excep-tion. The nominee list includes outliers such as Mickey Guyton’s “Remember Her Name,” heralding a woman’s reclamation of her original self; Brothers Osborne’s “Younger Me,” in which a man imagines the words he would have told himself when he felt bullied and disconnected; Yola’s “Diamond Studded Shoes,” an Americana call for common-man engagement in reshaping the culture; and the Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile release “A Beautiful Noise,” an underdog anthem up for song of the year that features six Nashville-connected women among its eight female co-writers.

Sure, the Grammys recognize fun favor-ites, too — Walker Hayes’ “Fancy Like,” Elle King and Miranda Lambert’s “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” and Dan + Shay’s “Glad You Exist” are also among the finalists — but the weighty material is more promi-nent at the Grammys than at the other major music awards shows, in part because it’s voted on strictly by the creatives. And they tend to focus as much on making emotional connections as financial ones.

“Completion of the songwriter circle is

IN BRIEF

Page 23 of 31

when we create it and then somebody says, ‘Me, too,’ and they grab a hold of it,” says Grammy-nominated Josh Jenkins (“Fancy Like,” “Buy Dirt”). “There’s this bond that’s formed with the art and the person, and as a songwriter, you get to partake in that. That’s the gift.”

The power of music has been on tragic display over the last month in basements and piles of rubble in Ukraine. A 7-year-old girl sang “Let It Go” from the movie Frozen for adults sheltering from bombs, inspiring tears around the globe and earning an invite to perform her country’s national anthem at a stadium in Poland for a Together With Ukraine charity concert. A Mykolaiv resident played the national anthem on saxophone from his balcony daily. A Kharkiv cellist offered a Bach suite from the street in front of a bombed-out police station. Bon Jovi’s “It’s My Life” provided a soundtrack as defiant Odessans stacked sandbags as they prepared to defend their city.

It’s easy to take music for granted, espe-cially when millions of songs are available through a handheld device, but its ability to change a mood, to motivate a crowd, to bond people with their neighbors or to simply re-mind us that we’re still alive is what makes people engage with it in the first place.

“It communicates louder than any news headline, for some reason, because we’re musical people,” says songwriter Laura Veltz, who is nominated for co-writing Maren Morris’ “Better Than We Found It.” “We’re affected by the sound of poetry and song.”

Morris’ emotional track exemplifies the thought. It was written in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, when COVID-19 was killing thousands of people weekly and America was in a contentious election cycle in which many felt democracy itself was under siege.

“This song particularly was written in a state of panic,” Veltz says. “We wrote it on Maren’s porch with all of us wearing masks and worried as hell and concerned about the world. And I mean, it was very like, ‘We have to do something,’ and it’s amazing how much those moments continue to rise. I do believe in the power of music, and I hope that song soothes somebody because that’s

how we’re going to heal the world.”That does not discount the impact of

dance songs or high-energy music as a form of transcendence. A CNN interview with a Ukrainian teen on March 24, found the boy — bedridden with leg injuries sustained during the war — crying as he talked about his mother, who had been killed in a blast. But he temporarily regained determination, pride and even a hint of joy as he played chords for the interviewer on his guitar.

Similarly, the Grammy-nominated “Fancy Like” — as whimsical and carefree as it seems — was a sort of antidote to a really tough day.

“When we wrote ‘Fancy Like,’ we talked about God for three hours, and then that song came in about 30 minutes,” co-writer Shane Stevens says. “We were just talking about what we’d all gone through in the year and how grateful we were to be [together] in a room.”

Kacey Musgraves’ plaintive divorce song “camera roll,” Chris Stapleton’s fiercely bit-ter “Cold” and Luke Combs’ convincingly committed “Forever After All” each own a complex set of emotions that helped them earn their Grammy nominations. Their abil-ity to assist listeners in accessing those feel-ings and processing them for a scant three or four minutes is what makes music — and the people who create it — so valuable in the culture.

And it’s why the Grammys call attention to songs like “A Beautiful Noise,” a work that celebrates protest, demonstration and freedom of speech, the very foundation of America. Watching the Russian govern-ment close off its society from the truth is a stark reminder of what Ukraine is fighting for — and what some U.S. citizens take for granted. The Grammys, at their best, recog-nize the artists, musicians and songwriters who help free societies express their truth.

“I feel like my job is to write songs for people who can’t write songs,” says “Noise” co-writer Brandy Clark. “So if something touches me, I should put it into words and music because someone else who doesn’t write songs, that’s when they hear it and say, ‘Oh my God, I feel that.’”

Subscribe to Billboard Country Up-date, the industry’s must-have source for

news, charts, analysis and features. Sign up for free delivery every Monday.

2022 Dance/Electronic Grammy Preview: Marshmello on His First Nomination & Why ‘It’s Going To Be a Party, Regardless’ of Who WinsBY KATIE BAIN

Editors note: In this series, Billboard Dance is speaking with each 2022 Grammy nominee from the dance/electronic categories ahead of the

64th Annual Grammy Awards on April 3, in Las Vegas, NV.

Bass, tech house and Jersey Club have historically had little to zero representation at the Grammys, but this year, Marshmello is bringing all of these subgenres in through the front door via a best dance/electronic al-bum nomination for his 2021 LP, Shockwave.

The album, a dozen tracks formed from a flurry of styles and made alongside a flurry of collaborators, has given the Los Angeles-based star his first Grammy nomination. He’s up for the award alongside fellow high-profile first time nominees Black Coffee, Major Lazer, Ten City and Illenium — who, together, mark the Grammys acknowledging a group of acts who’ve long been at the fore-front of their scene and respective sound.

Here, the producer talks about why he wishes the Grammys would get even more expansive when it comes to electronic mu-sic, and what he’s going to do to celebrate after the awards in Las Vegas this Sunday.

Where was Shockwave made, and how long did it take to make?

IN BRIEF

Page 24 of 31

Shockwave was made right when the pan-demic and quarantine started, in Hollywood, in my old house. I obviously wasn’t touring or anything, so I was just at home, so it too me about three months front to back.

Who was the first non-album collabo-rator you played it for, and what was their reaction?

I was in the studio working on something else, a studio that wasn’t in my house, and I remember playing it for some friends and people I was working on music with. Like, “Yo, I have some ideas for this album; this is the direction I’m going.” Their response was really great. I showed my manager as well, Moe [Shalizi]. I’m very private about my music, even to my close team, until I get it to a point where it’s like, “Okay I could release this right now,” so I was just showing them snippets here and there. Then I delivered the whole album all at once, finished.

This album was, at least a lot of the drums, very hip-hop inspired. On “Fai-rytale,” on “VIBR8,” it’s all hip-hop drums. I just wasn’t sure how they would take it — because, you know, Joytime III was more pop-punk leaning, and Joytime and Joytime II were more my old style. So I wasn’t really sure. But the response was great, and I was really excited.

Did you know the special album was special or a “hit”?

I can only hope to be Grammy nominated. I try not to overthink too much about the music I put out. I just think, “I like this, I think it sounds really good, I’m going to put it out.” That’s where my mind was going into this album. Not overthinking it, just do-ing what I want to do.

What were you doing when you found out you were nominated?

I was waking up and looking at my phone. I saw… I don’t even know how many texts. The whole screen was full. I had to scroll down. I was like, “Oh my god, what hap-pened?”

Why do you think Shockwave appealed to Grammy voters?

I would like to think because it’s a wide range of genres within the electronic dance music genre. That’s what I was going for. With my other albums I wanted to hone in on a certain sound, but with this one, I was

working on hip-hop beats a lot, I was doing this and that in a bunch of different genres and was like, “What I just try this?” Because even when I play my sets, it’s very multi-genre.

One thing that consistently stood out to me during the album-making process was listening and thinking, “Can I play this live? Would this go off live?” Some of my other albums were intentionally chiller or just kind of more song-y electronic music. If you look in my live sets, I play every single song from Shockwave. They’re all there.

The collection of albums nominated in the dance/electronic categories this year is really sonically diverse, from house to future bass to bass and beyond. What’s your take on disparate styles of dance music competing against each other in the same category?

Yeah, you know that’s the great thing about… I don’t like saying “EDM,” but in let’s just say “in EDM.” I think it’s really representative of how diverse the whole culture is. Like you said — there’s house, there’s future bass. I’m obviously proud that my album got picked, because it’s diverse in itself. I’m kind of representing multiple genres. I personally listen to a lot of genres in general, so it’s kind of in my blood to do that. I also had a bunch of favorite artists I was listening to, and I would go see their sets when I could. I just knew I could put something together with everybody that I like, regardless of what genre they are, and make it work.

In this category its the first nomination for you, Illenium, Major Lazer, Black Cof-fee and Ten City – why do you think it’s taken so long for such a well-established group of artists to get the nod?

I’m not sure. I’m close with most of the people nominated in the genre. I feel like we’re all just kind of… not shocked, but kind of like, “Whoa.” We’re all just super grateful. I’ve been working at this for a long time. We’ve seen all the waves in EDM, you know what I mean? I just think that everybody who is nominated has their place in electronic dance music. Everybody who got nominated represents their genre very well. We definitely have a sound and we have stuck to it and just kept doing it, doing

it, doing it.Is there anything you would like to see

the Grammys change, evolve or expand in the way they handle electronic music?

This goes back to what I said before, that there’s a lot to explore in EDM. [I’d like to see] the Grammys just really dive in and get more into the nitty gritty of EDM, of producers who might not be the biggest, but who really put a lot of passion and time into their artwork. There’s so many of us.

If you got a chance to perform during the telecast, what would you do?

I’m obviously a producer, but I always really like getting hands on, whether it’s a guitar or drums or something. I would maybe do a rendition of a big song of mine with a band.

What’s the best Grammy afterparty you’ve been to?

I can’t even remember.Are you going to Vegas for the show?Definitely.If you win, how will you celebrate?I’m just super happy and grateful to be

nominated, and to get to go under a nomina-tion. I’m actually playing XS that night, so it’s going to be a party, regardless.

BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Awards Honors Gospel Hits for 2022BY JESSICA NICHOLSON

The 2022 BMI Trailblazers of Gos-pel Music Awards were held in Nashville on Thursday (March 31) at the National Museum of African

American Music. Hosted by BMI president/CEO Mike O’Neill and BMI VP, creative-Atlanta Catherine Brewton, the night was a celebration of music, faith and joy.

There was a four-way tie for BMI gospel songwriter of the year involving Aaron Lindsey, J Drew Sheard II, Kierra Sheard

IN BRIEF

Page 25 of 31

and Jeshua “TedyP” Williams. Lindsey was recognized for two songs — “It Belongs to Me” (co-written and performed by Juan and Lisa Winans feat. Marvin Winans) and “Thank You for It All” (co-written by Jarome E. Davis and Martin Sapp).

BMI’s gospel song of the year was “Speak to Me,” co-written by Troy Taylor and featuring samples from Donnie McClurkin’s 1996 single “Speak to My Heart.” Performed by Koryn Hawthorne, “Speak to Me” spent 41 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Chart and was nominated for song of the year at the 2021 Dove Awards.

BMI’s gospel publisher of the year honor went to Be Essential Songs for a repertoire including “In Spite of Me,” “Movin’ On,” and “Never Lost.”

J Drew and Kierra Sheard were honored for co-writing “His Love” and “It Keeps Happening,” which was Sheard’s her third No. 1 on the Gospel Airplay chart — and her first as a solo artist. Jeshua “TedyP” Wil-liams was honored for his work on “Hold Me Close” and for co-writing “Trouble Won’t Last” with Keyondra Lockett, who won her first BMI award for the song.

Mali Music kicked things of with the Grammy-winning “Movin’ On,” which was co-written with Jonathan McReynolds and Terrell Demetrius Wilson. Natalie Grant performed Donald Lawrence’s hit “God,” which she is featured on. Meanwhile, CeCe Winans offered up a stirring performance of “Believe for It.”

The evening additionally featured performances from BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Icons Marvin Sapp and Kirk Franklin, in addition to rising artist DOE. Sapp performed “Thank You for It All” shortly after earning his sixth BMI Gospel Award for the song. DOE offered a rendi-tion of “Brighter” from her 2020 self-titled EP, while Greg Cox joined Franklin onstage for a rendition of “Strong God.” Franklin also picked up his 19th BMI Gospel Award. Franklin also honored Dr. Bobby Jones, who earned a standing ovation for his decades of supporting gospel music with his BET show Bobby Jones Gospel.

The evening also celebrated the top 20 gospel songs of the previous year. A total of 27 writers received their first BMI awards,

including Byron Cage, Emerald Campbell, Quennel Gaskin and Juan Winans.

Snoop Dogg Releases First Metaverse Music Video With ‘House I Built’: ‘It’s About Keeping It Real’BY DARLENE ADEROJU

Thanks to his track “House I Built,” new Death Row Records owner Snoop Dogg has released the first-ever virtual music video pro-

duced in the Sandbox Metaverse.The Sandbox and Animoca Brands an-

nounced the news Thursday. Later this year, Snoop Dogg will helm his debut Metaverse concert, also in The Sandbox. His tune “House I Built” appears on his latest album, BODR, which dropped via Death Row Re-cords in February.

The Dogg appears as a voxel avatar in the visual, which features Blondish along with Steve Aoki and was created using VoxEdit and Game Maker, The Sandbox’s free user-generated content creation tools.

Snoop Dogg said in a statement, “The ‘House I Built’ track draws a parallel between how I’ve constructed my life and career and how I’m building out my Snoopverse virtual world in The Sandbox. Whether in the Metaverse or the universe, it’s about keeping it real, being yourself and making the most of every opportunity.”

Arthur Madrid, CEO and co-founder of The Sandbox, said in a statement, “We are building a new entertainment platform where artists, talents of all kinds and brands can access a new generation of consumers that own and collect digital properties like LAND and digital memorabilia moments.”

“Today in The Sandbox, Snoop Dogg is building the Snoopverse, a place where his avatar can perform exclusive concerts only

accessible to his fans,” he added. “Snoop’s new, first-of-its-kind, Metaverse music video ‘House I Built’ provides a tangible example today but there is more coming very soon.”

See the “House I Built” music video below:

How the Fruits of Producer Nascent’s Labor Paid Off With Grammy-Nominated Hits, Ye’s ‘Hurricane’ & SZA’s ‘Good Days’BY HERAN MAMO

Patience is the fourth fruit of the Spirit, and religious or not, pro-ducers have to practice it while waiting on placements with major

artists. But Nascent has figured out how to handle it.

For someone who got their first place-ment at age 18 with 50 Cent – he helped produce “Strong Enough” on Fif ’s 2009 album Before I Self Destruct – success still didn’t come overnight for him. Over the last two decades, he’s produced for Chance the Rapper, Lil Wayne, Brent Faiyaz, BJ the Chicago Kid, Orion Sun and many more.

“I was still grinding, which was confus-ing at times. I guess I started backwards for that being my first one,” he tells Billboard five days before the 64th annual Grammy Awards. Nascent is nominated this Sunday (Apr. 3) for his work on two completely different tracks this year: He’s up for album of the year for Ye’s Donda (which is also up for best rap album) because he co-produced “Hurricane,” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby (which is up for best melodic rap performance), as well as best R&B song for

IN BRIEF

Page 26 of 31

SZA’s “Good Days.”“A lot of times the things we do aren’t a

reflection of, ‘Oh we just made that last year’ — all this stuff is me just showing up and working and not knowing what’s going to happen,” says Nascent (real name Christo-pher Ruelas). “Three years later, now we’re here. And it be like that. That’s why you got to show up every day.”

Nascent knew he was destined to be a producer ever since he was 13, five years before his first placement. Now, at age 33, he says that “it don’t even feel like a job. It’s just who you are” – which makes sense given that the first three descriptors in his Instagram bio are “Chicagoan. Producer. Tallest Mexican.”

While celebrating his nominations on the Thursday night (March 31) before the awards show, Nascent, with his towering stature of maybe 6’ 4,” surveys his guests from behind an adorned DJ booth with a floral tapestry of the Virgin Mary at Highland Park’s historic The York Manor, which used to be a church. He’s wearing a black bomber jacket with the Mexican flag embroided on his right shoulder and “PAY BLACK ARTISTS” — and he’s clearly worked with some of the biggest ones — stitched on the left shoulder, as well as “Fuck I.C.E.” on the back. Piñatas of Corona bottles and Grammys are also make up the inside decorum, while outdoor attendees treat themselves to tacos, burritos, quesadil-las and more from the ¡Chingón! Catering food truck.

In the moments celebrating what he does, Nascent brings all aspects of who he is to the forefront. And when it comes to his music, he finds his own unique identity, which he classifies as “nostalgic but doesn’t feel old.” The birds subtly chirping throughout “Good Days” and a hip-hop-yet-soulful sample he used and chopped on the original iteration of “Hurricane” are his signature.

“I come from chopping samples, so going through all those stacked records and just listening to all those songs and how they had feeling and soul – it was something,” he says. “Even when I’m doing stuff with Brent or the new stuff we got, I still bring those elements. Like if you hear ‘Clouded,’ that sounds like a sample chop, but it’s an origi-

nal piece of music and it’s hip-hop.”But Nascent experienced his own wave

of nostalgia the morning of Nov. 23, when this year’s Grammy nominations were an-nounced. “I found out when I went home for Thanksgiving, staying in the neighbor-hood I used to stay at before I moved to L.A., which is Humboldt Park. I got an Airbnb there,” Nascent recalls. “It was full circle because the last time I was in that neighbor-hood, my money wasn’t right, I was a little frustrated, but I still did what I was doing. To find out that I got nominated at home, to me, that was the best way. And specifically where I was at, the neighborhood I was in, it was symbolic because I knew the last time I was there. And it was a different story.”

When “Good Days” dropped as a surprise on Christmas Day 2020, after SZA teased it at the end of her “Hit Different” music video, it also came as a surprise to Nascent, one of the three producers on the record along-side Los Hendrix and Carter Lang. Five years after he built on a voice note of Los’ sweet-sounding guitar riff with his own lush drums and sent it to Lang, who eventually played it for SZA in a session where she instantly cut to it, the dreamlike track became an unex-pected smash. “Good Days” became SZA’s first solo top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B Streaming Songs chart.

With “Hurricane,” Nascent helped cut the original version back in 2018 when his frequent collaborator Chance invited him to a session and he reconnected with fellow producer BoogzDaBeast. “The only song that came out from those sessions was ‘Hur-ricane.’ Everything else… it never came out,” he reveals. “Hurricane” was originally slated for Ye’s shelved project Yandhi, and three years later found a home on his 10th album Donda with two special guest stars. “It’s totally different, but it’s still cool to be a part of that. Being from Chicago and being that Kanye West is, for our generation, one of the most influential artists – and he makes sample beats – there’s a lot of symbolism.”

Despite the track’s turbulent title and ride from recording studio to Recording Acad-emy, Nascent learned to embrace the calm before the storm. “Obviously, it teaches you patience — but it teaches you to always try

to maintain a level of stillness,” he explains about getting a placement. “If it happens, cool. If it doesn’t, cool. When you get ahead of yourself too much, you start idolizing things and you just set yourself up. This is why you have to keep showing up every day. It teaches you to be present.”

2022 Dance/Electronic Grammy Preview: Ten City on Friendship, Frankie Knuckles & Never Betting Against HouseBY ZEL MCCARTHY

Editors note: In this series, Billboard Dance is speaking with each 2022 Grammy nominee from the dance/electronic categories ahead of the

64th Annual Grammy Awards on April 3, in Las Vegas, NV.

For Ten City, the last year has been more than just a reboot of a 90s classic. After a 25 year break and a minor casting shakeup, the Chicago house duo is as fresh and relevant as ever.

As a first-time Grammy nominee for best dance/electronic music album, Judgment — released in 2021 via Ultra Records — is a breakthrough for house music in a field that has historically been dominated by EDM and electronica. Given that Ten City dropped its major label debut several years before half of their fellow nominees were born, it’s more than just genre that makes their nomination exceptional.

In the group’s original run, Ten City released four albums between 1989 and 1994, with eight singles reaching Billboard‘s Dance Club Songs chart. In 2020, vocalist and songwriter Byron Stingily embarked

IN BRIEF

Page 27 of 31

on a revival, with longtime producer Mar-shall Jefferson now as a group member.

The creative partnership between Stingily and Jefferson shines in their music, but their friendship — over thirty years and count-ing — shines brighter as they speak with genuine admiration for each other’s work while interjecting a steady supply of inside jokes, and smack talk to keep it spicy.

Where was Judgment made, when?Byron Stingily: Starting in 2020, Mar-

shall was living in England, one of our string and horn arrangers was in Virginia, our bass player was in Florida, one of our background singers was in L.A., and I was in Chicago.

Marshall Jefferson: Everybody was everywhere.

BS: Years ago, when we were in the studio working on one of Ten City’s albums, Mar-shall turned to me and said, “hey man, in 30 years, we can probably be making an album, and you’ll be in Chicago, and I’ll be some-where else in the world. We’ll hit a button on a computer and send files.” I was just like, you’ve been watching Star Trek again. Marshall is a huge Trekkie.

MJ: It was inevitable. That’s just the way technology was going. I have other predic-tions about the future too, but… it’ll mess you up.

How long did you work on the album?BS: Several months. Originally, our label

said that they wanted five or six songs—MJ: Byron knew it was going to be an

album. We just kept doing songs, and it just blew up to the final total.

BS: I just said, we’re not doing five singles unless we do an album. EPs do not get nomi-nated for Grammys.

Did you ask anyone outside your col-laborators for feedback?

BS: Marshall and I tell each other the truth. The first time he met me in the studio, I was working on a song and he walked up and said, “Hey, I love the lyrics, I love the melody, but that music sucks.” He said, “How about I do some music for you and you do some lyrics for me?” That’s how we started working together. It was cool. I like somebody to be honest with me.

I remember when Marshall played me “Move Your Body” and I wasn’t really moved by it. He was like, “This is going to be

my biggest record.” That weekend, I went to the club and Ron Hardy played it about eight times and people were slamming into each other running to get to the dancefloor. I was like, “Oh wow, he was right.” I was glad he was right.

MJ: Byron will write lyrics anywhere. I was in the car with him one time and he just said the words to [Marshall Jefferson’s 1988 solo release] “Open Our Eyes.” It just blew the top of my head off. I went home the next day and came up with some music. Same thing with “Devotion.” We went on a double date with two ladies, and Byron wanted to show off a little bit—

BS: No, he was like, “You know my boy B sings,” and I was like, “No, Marshall, stop!”

MJ: No! No, no, no, no. You started sing-ing! That’s when we came up with “Devo-tion,” our first Ten City single.

Why do you think Judgment appealed to Grammy voters?

BS: Marshall is the creative force behind us. We complement each other. When he was doing records back in the day for indie labels, I told him, “You’re a big fish in a little pond.” So we went to New York to get a major label deal.

MJ: Byron called all the labels, and they took all the meetings. I wasn’t thinking about labels. Just like [with Judgment], I wasn’t thinking about Grammys. I was just thinking about making hot music.

BS: For me, I think what resonates is the quality of the musicianship. We used real violins, real horns, real guitars. We used some of the best singers like CeCe Rogers, Josh Milan. Some dance music is still made in bedrooms, and that rawness is good. But we start in there and keep adding layers.

What were you doing when you found out you were nominated?

BS: I was in a meeting for my day job, and my phone kept buzzing. I had all these texts saying “congratulations.” I was like, “What the heck is happening?” Until it hit me: we got nominated for a Grammy!

Along with your fellow nominees, the music in this category is sonically diverse, from future bass to bass, from house to deep house. What do you think this says about dance music in this mo-ment?

BS: It’s interesting to me, because when I started out I had a love for dance music, period. I used to listen to artists like Yazoo and Chaz Jankel. I consider Boy George a great dance artist. Kraftwerk, the B-52’s, along with Philadelphia International Records. So when I thought of house music, it wasn’t one specific thing. To me, it meant the best of dance music — whatever would get played at the Warehouse.

MJ: That was my attitude from the begin-ning. It was whatever Frankie Knuckles or Ron Hardy would play in the club. Just the best and coolest dance music. If they didn’t play it, it wasn’t cool enough.

BS: I even listened to a record by The Police, “Voices Inside My Head.”

MJ: I was more a “Driven to Tears” man myself.

BS: I don’t pigeonhole dance music. I mean, Madonna. I used to love that people would look at me like I’m crazy for playing Madonna in the hood.

MJ: A lot of people get locked into subgenres. That means you’re listening to the same beat all day long. I think that’s detrimental to your musical education. You don’t want to listen to a specific genre. You want to listen to everything. That’s how I came up. The piano on “Move Your Body” came because I like Elton John. I thought on “Bennie and the Jets” he sounded like a Black church piano player from Chicago.

Would you like to see the Recording Academy in any way expand or update the way they handle electronic music?

BS: There should be a house music cat-egory.

MJ: They got a blues and jazz category, why not?

Are you excited to go to Vegas for the show?

MJ: It might be my only chance so I’m definitely going. I guess we’ll just enjoy the event.

BS: The year that Frankie Knuckles won his Grammy, I didn’t go to the awards, but I went to all the afterparties with him. He was a really good friend of mine, so it was just cool to be there with him and watch him celebrate. I was even more excited for him than he was. But now I think a lot of people around me are even more excited than I am.

IN BRIEF

Page 28 of 31

You both were close with Frankie Knuckles. What would he think of Ten City being nominated for a Grammy?

BS: I think Frankie would be very happy for us. He would be thrilled. I remember working on my first few records and he would pop into the studio. He was very respected in Chicago, and to have him walk into my session when I was a teenager, that meant a lot to me. He broke down a lot of walls, a lot of phobias with a lot of people. He told me I was like his little brother. I think Marshall’s older than Frankie, so…

MJ: Oh! OH!

New Around the World: Demi Lovato’s ‘Cool for the Summer’ Reheats on Global ChartsBY ERIC FRANKENBERG

Glass Animals, GAYLE and Anitta infuse the upper reaches of the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S.

charts (dated April 2) with songs from 2020, ’21 and ’22, respectively. But elsewhere on the global tallies, a hit from the mid-2010s roars back.

Demi Lovato debuts in the top half of both global charts with 2015’s “Cool for the Summer,” at No. 66 on the Global Excl. U.S. list and at No. 93 on the Global 200. The song, from 2015, earned 13.4 million official streams and sold 950 downloads worldwide in the week ending March 24, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. Those fig-ures represent increases of 224% and 573%, respectively, week-over-week.

“Cool” is resurging as a sped-up, pitched-up remix of it has gone viral, soundtracking numerous dance videos on TikTok. The renewed activity has also inspired an official “Sped Up Remix,” currently available for

pre-save/pre-add, as well as a re-servicing of the song to radio.

Global streams for “Cool” have ballooned over the last month, rising weekly by 25%, 32%, 82% and now 224%. The gains for the track by the U.S.-based Lovato haven’t been the same in every pocket of the world, though; U.S. streams have increased by 17% and 111% the last two weeks, while non-U.S. streams have jumped by 95% and 261%. While “Cool” derived 38% of its worldwide streams from the U.S. in the week ending March 3, that share has shrunk to 16% in the current tracking week. While the song and Lovato’s catalog as a whole usually splits more toward the U.S., the TikTok virality has expanded the song’s reach to a wider global audience.

“Cool” also debuts at No. 23 on the Lyr-icFind Global chart, indicating curiosity around the single. Following its original re-lease, it debuted on the July 18, 2015-dated Billboard Hot 100 at No. 36, ultimately rising to No. 11 that September. It also hit No. 3 on Pop Airplay.

“Cool” is Lovato’s fifth song to crack both global charts (dating to their 2020 launch). It follows “OK Not to Be OK” with Marsh-mello; “What Other People Say” with Sam Fischer; “Dancing With the Devil”; and “Met Him Last Night,” featuring Ariana Grande.

Also representing the 2010s, Pharrell Williams’ “Just a Cloud Away,” from 2013’s Despicable Me 2 soundtrack (which also includes his 2014 10-week Hot 100 No. 1 “Happy”), debuts at No. 163 on the Global 200, likewise boosted by TikTok, while Jus-tin Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” which topped the Hot 100 in 2016, enters the Global Excl. U.S. at No. 190.

Lady Gaga to Perform at 2022 GrammysBY PAUL GREIN

Lady Gaga will perform at the 2022 Grammy Awards, which will air live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday,

April 3.Gaga and Tony Bennett are nominated

for five awards, including album of the year for their second collaborative album, Love for Sale, and record of the year for “I Get a Kick Out of You.”

The announcement of Gaga’s booking comes just three days after Foo Fighters canceled their tour in the wake of the sud-den death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. On Thursday, the Recording Academy con-firmed that the tour cancellation included the band’s previously announced perfor-mance on the Grammys.

It is possible that Bennett will join Gaga to perform and/or to accept awards, should they win, but that was not announced. Gaga has two solo numbers on the Love for Sale album, “Let’s Do It” and “Do I Love You.” The album consists of songs written by Por-ter, one of the main architects of the Great American Songbook.

This will be Gaga’s first performance on the Grammys since she sang “Shallow” on the 2019 telecast, backed by her co-writers on that song, Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Anthony Rossomando.

Gaga has been one of the most frequent performers on the Grammys since she burst to stardom nearly 15 years ago. She opened the 2010 telecast in a collab with Elton John on her songs “Poker Face” and “Speechless” and his classic “Your Song.” The following year, she performed her smash “Born This Way.” In 2015, she and Bennett sang Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek.”

The range of artists Gaga has performed with on the Grammys, in addition to John and Bennett, underscores her remarkable versatility. In 2015, she and Nile Rodgers

IN BRIEF

Page 29 of 31

performed a tribute to David Bowie. The fol-lowing year, she joined Metallica to perform their song “Moth Into Flame.” In 2018, she and Ronson performed “Joanne and “Mil-lion Reasons.”

Trevor Noah is set to host the 64th an-nual Grammy Awards, which will air live on Sunday, April 3, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. The show will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

This is the second year in a row that Noah has hosted the show. It’s the first time the show has aired from Las Vegas – or from any city other than Los Angeles or New York – since 1973, when it aired from Nashville for the first and only time.

The show is produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers, and Jean-nae Rouzan-Clay as co-executive producer. Hamish Hamilton returns as director, and Eric Cook as supervising producer with Tabitha D’umo, Patrick Menton, Fatima Robinson, and David Wild as producers.

Wilco and Bleachers Among Headliners at Roots N Blues Festival in Central MissouriBY MARC SCHNEIDER

Wilco, Jon Batiste and Bleachers lead the lineup for this year’s Roots N Blues Festival, the

three-day multi-genre event that takes over Columbia, MO every fall. After pulling off an ambitious women-led lineup for 2021, organizers are widening the palette for 2022 with a slate that includes straight-up leg-ends Tanya Tucker and Chaka Khan, as well string-folk favorites Old Crow Medicine

Show and The SteelDrivers.Roots N Blues is set for Oct. 7 through

Oct. 9 and will span two stages in Stephens Lake Park, about a 20 minute walk from the University of Missouri (Mizzou) campus.

Hippo Campus, Tank and the Bangas, Brittney Spencer, Larkin Poe, The Heavy Heavy, Cautious Clay, Jackie Venson and more will also perform at the festival.

Owned and produced locally by Tracy Lane and Shay Jasper of Trio Presents (they bought out a third partner last spring), the festival planned an all-female lineup for its 2020 edition but, like just about every other live event that year, was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully, nearly all the artists booked for 2020 were still available for a 2021 re-boot, which took place in September and featured Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Mickey Guton, Mavis Staples, Betty Who and Nikki Lane, along with local sibling group The Burney Sis-ters and others.

According to Lane and Jasper, the 2021 edition had more fans in the 18-34 age range than in any previous year, and its female-focused lineup resulted in women making up 60% of all festival goers.

“The central focus of our vision for the future of this festival is equity – both on and off the stage,” says Lane. “We strive to remove the barriers around live music – gender, age, race, ability, and income – for our artists, staff, and audience.”

Roots N Blues launched in 2007 (back when it had an extra ’N BBQ’ in its name) and over the years has featured artists ranging from Maren Morris, Fitz and the Tantrums, Dwight Yoakum, Robert Cray, Jason Isbell, The Black Crowes, Margo Price, John Prine, The Avett Brothers, Los Lobos, Band of Horses and Al Green, among dozens more. Trio Presents purchased the festival at the end of 2019, so this will be their second installment as co-owners given the 2020 cancellation.

Tickets are on sale now, though VIP packages are no longer a thing at the festi-val. Instead, fans can snag VIP-like perks by making a $200 donation to Friends of the Festival, a nonprofit formed by organizers during the pandemic in order to help keep the event alive and financially healthy.

Roots N Blues 2022 Line-up Wilco Jon Batiste Chaka Khan Bleachers Tanya Tucker Old Crow Medicine Show Hippo Campus Larkin Poe Tank and the Bangas Houndmouth Cautious Clay Jackie Venson The SteelDrivers Jaime Wyatt The Dip Brittney Spencer Liz Cooper Kassi Ashton The Heavy Heavy The Kay Brothers Sifa J.ARTiz & the MO’ Soul Collective Meredith Shaw Jen Norman

Machine Gun Kelly Shoots Down Australia’s Chart With ‘Mainstream Sellout’BY LARS BRANDLE

Machine Gun Kelly has his first No. 1 on Australia’s albums chart as Mainstream Sellout (Interscope/Universal) debuts

at the top spot.Mainstream Sellout is the sixth studio

album from the American pop-punk artist, and the followup to 2020’s Tickets To My Downfall, which peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Chart.

The new collection features the single “Maybe,” a collaboration with British guitar

IN BRIEF

Page 30 of 31

band Bring Me The Horizon, which holds at No. 38 on the latest ARIA Singles Chart.

Michael Bublé goes high on the latest tally with his 11th album, Higher (Warner), new at No. 2. The Canadian crooner now has nine Top Two releases, including his last album, Love, from 2018.

Bublé has led the ARIA Chart on several occasions: with Michael Bublé (May 2004), Call Me Irresponsible (May 2007), Crazy Love (October 2009), Christmas (Decem-ber 2011) and To Be Loved (April 2013), the charts compiler reports.

Following the untimely death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins on March 25, aged 50, the Foos’ career retro-spective returns to the top tier. Originally released in 2009, the Foos’ Greatest Hits (RCA/Sony) zooms 38-4.

Hawkins played on all seven of the Rock Hall-inducted rock band’s studio albums that have hit No. 1 on the ARIA Chart, according to ARIA, most recently 2021’s Medicine At Midnight.

Meanwhile, Australian singer and song-writer Xavier Rudd lands a seventh Top 10 appearance with Jan Juc Moon (Virgin Music/Universal), new at No. 6, while Brit-ish alternative rock outfit Placebo earns a fourth Top 10 with Never Let Me Go (ADA/Warner), their first album in over a decade. It’s new at No. 10.

Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” (Polydor/Universal) enters an eleventh non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart. The British indie act’s breakthrough hit now joins Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” (July 1991), Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” (No-vember 1996), Drake’s “God’s Plan” (Febru-ary 2018), The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” (January 2020) and 24kGoldn’s “Mood” (October 2020) as eleven-week leaders.

“Heat Waves” is now nine-times platinum certified and it has logged 69 weeks on the chart.

The highest new entry this week belongs to German acts AnnenMayKantereit and Giant Rooks as “Tom’s Diner” (Capitol/Universal) blasts to No. 18. First released in 2019, the track, a cover of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” has surged on TikTok, where it’s topped 10 million views.

‘Carpool Karaoke’ Is Finally Back & Nicki Minaj Is Kicking Off Its ReturnBY JUDE ZHU

At last! James Corden of The Late Late Show announced on Twitter Friday (April 1) that his popular “Carpool Karaoke“ segment is

returning on April 6 after a two-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting social distancing restrictions.

In a clip teasing the bit’s return, the late-night host reveals his first guest, and it’s Nicki Minaj singing along to the rapper’s 2014 hit “Anaconda.”

“It feels like there’s a whole raft of artists that we are desperate to do it with,” the Emmy- and Tony-winning host said on The Ellen Show last June, who had anticipated a comeback of “Carpool Karaoke“ by the end of the year. “We seem to work in the strict-est building — maybe on Earth.”

The recurring skit usually features Cor-den carpooling with a musical guest, singing along to a medley of the singer’s hits while driving around L.A. Past guests include Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Britney Spears and Adele. Niall Horan was the last star to be featured on the skit before the pandemic.

Corden announced in the same video that Camila Cabello is appearing for the seg-ment on April 18. Last September, Cabello was on a one-time revival of the skit as part of the cast of Cinderella with co-stars Billy Porter and Idina Menzel, delivering musi-cal numbers including “Mamma Mia,” “Mil-lion to One” and “Defying Gravity.” Corden also made a cameo in the movie as one of Cinderella’s mice.

Cabello’s upcoming third album, Familia, is due on April 8. The singer has shared the album’s tracklist, including collabs with Ed Sheeran, Willow, Yotuel and Maria Becerra.

Watch Corden’s announcement below:

The Judds to Reunite for CMT Music Awards PerformanceBY JESSICA NICHOLSON

Mother-daughter duo and five-time Grammy winners The Judds will reunite on a nationally televised music

awards show stage for the first time in more than two decades when they perform as part of the 2022 CMT Music Awards on Monday, April 11. The show will air on CBS and Paramount+.

The duo’s Naomi and Wynonna Judd will perform their signature, Grammy-winning hit “Love Can Build a Bridge” in downtown Nashville, with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in the background — a nod to the duo’s upcoming 2022 induction into the esteemed hall.

Kacey Musgraves, who is nominated for two CMT Music Awards honors this year, will introduce the duo’s performance. This marks The Judds’ inaugural performance on the CMT Music Awards stage. Wynonna performed with Kid Rock on the show in 2011, while Naomi was a presenter in 2008 and 2009.

In the 1980s, The Judds were the most successful duo in country music, thanks to a lengthy list of No. 1 hits, including “Why Not Me,” “Mama, He’s Crazy,” “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days).” By 1991, they had also released six full-length albums (including a Christmas project). They also won nine CMA Awards along the way.

In 1991, Naomi revealed the devastating news that she would be retiring from the road due to her struggle with Hepatitis C. Meanwhile, Wynonna went on to have a sterling solo career. Her self-titled debut solo album earned an album of the year nomina-tion at the CMA Awards, and she received three female vocalist of the year nominations.

IN BRIEF

Page 31 of 31

The Judds have occasionally reunited for performances at events such as Stagecoach Festival and CMA Music Festival, and came together for their The Last Encore Tour in 2010-11.

Other performers set for the CMT Music Awards include the show’s co-host Kelsea Ballerini (who will host alongside Anthony Mackie), as well as Kane Brown, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Maren Morris and Ryan Hurd, Carly Pearce, Cole Swindell and Lainey Wilson, Keith Urban, and the Ram Trucks Side Stage performers Priscilla Block, Breland, Jessie James Decker, Parker McCollum, Elvie Shane and Caitlyn Smith.

IN BRIEF