Innholdsfortegnelse for October 5, 2013 i Billboard Magazine

Johnny Wright estimates he was the first partner of Justin Timberlake to learn that his star management client had finally recorded new music, in mid-2012. Gary Tobey, CEO of Target’s media-buying firm Haworth, was “probably the third or fourth,” Wright says. ¶ “We’d been talking for five years now, in anticipation of when Justin would come back to music,” Wright says. “For a while it was, ‘No bonuses this year, guys.’ But the conversation would always end with, ‘Let’s do something big when Justin’s ready to come back.’” ¶ Announced through a splashy commercial that aired immediately after Timberlake’s performance during this year’s Grammy Awards, Target’s deluxe edition of The 20/20 Experience immediately became a best seller. The album is already the top seller of 2013—with more 2.5 million U.S.…

PJ Bloom Partner, Neophonic Owner, Black Magnetic Recordings and Music Publishing With a successful career as a music supervisor, PJ Bloom has been expanding into music publishing, owning a record company and striking business deals with bands that impress him, like Dead Sara. His latest signing is the Last Internationale, which has inked a deal with Epic. 6.30 AM Wake up. Shamefully reach for smartphone to make sure no spinning plates came crashing down during the night 7.30 AM Coordinate with [FX’s] “American Horror Story” production unit in New Orleans, the local musicians contractor, union coordinator Christine Day and music editor David Klotz to prep for an on-camera string trio performance of Franz Schubert’s “Last Waltz Op. 127, No. 5.” 8.15 AM Creative discussions with New York ad agency Avrett…

As the Country Music Assn. gears up for the 47th annual CMA Awards on Nov. 6, the organization has another pressing matter on its agenda: hiring someone to replace former CEO Steve Moore, who resigned June 30. “We’ve gotten a good number of résumés and people who have called members of the search committee to inquire about the job,” says John Esposito, president/CEO of Warner Bros. Nashville and secretary/treasurer of the CMA board of directors, who is heading up the search committee. “I’m excited by some of the people who have raised their hands with interest.” Esposito says the committee plans to meet at the end of September to “review all of the names that have been submitted with the hope of making a determination on what the most appropriate…

Apple. ITunes was late to the streaming party, but made up for lost time by accompanying the record-breaking debut of the iPhone 5c and 5s, which sold more than 9 million units during their first weekend. But iTunes Radio will need to hold on to early interest to keep sponsors like Pepsi for years to come. Pandora, Clear Channel and Spotify. Pandora has the lion’s share of marketing dollars spent on streaming radio, taking in $109 million in its fiscal 2013, up 51% year over year. Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio and Spotify, however, have attracted significant revenue increases from brands, including Coke’s minority investment in Spotify. Endorsement deals. From Beyoncé to Hunter Hayes to a global deal with singer Eva Simons, Pepsi has plenty of its own artist deals and can…

An Artful Cause It started out as one day. Last year it was two days. Now in its third year, the T.J. Martell Foundation’s Artworks for the Cure is expanding to three days (Oct. 11-13) at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. Highlighting the benefit weekend: the Spirit of Excellence awards dinner. The Oct. 12 affair will honor Spotify founder/CEO Daniel Ek, Atom Factory founder/CEO Troy Carter, Universal Music Group (UMG) president of global digital business Rob Wells, and Catherine An, founder of An Catering and Tiato restaurant. The headlining performer is singer/songwriter Colbie Caillat, and the MC is Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” host Mark Steines (Billboard.biz, Aug. 28). Artworks for the Cure stems from the vision of West Coast board chairmen Dick and Elsa Gary. “They were looking…

For Latin-American artists seeking international success, the smart thing may be not straying too far from their cultural roots The often-asked question at the recent Bogota Music Market (BOmm) held in Colombia’s capital city was, “How can my music be heard outside the country?” It is, of course, a question for the ages. All artists aspire to have their music succeed internationally and transcend their own borders. But at the BOmm music fair, the question was particularly poignant. The third annual event, sponsored by Bogota’s chamber of commerce, was surprising in the sheer amount of talent it attracted. More than 1,300 acts submitted their music for consideration to the fedgling music marketplace. Of those, 220 were selected to partake in one-on-one meetings with more than 70 local and international buyers,…

“The music industry impacts the world in a huge way, and I’m proud to be a part of it.” —Rob Light, CAA 1 High spirits: Universal Music Publishing Group chairman/CEO Zach Horowitz (left) and Warner/Chappell Music chairman/CEO Dave Johnson were among the notables at City of Hope’s Spirit of Life gala in Playa Vista, Calif., on Sept. 19, which honored Rob Light, Creative Artists Agency’s head of music and managing partner, for his philanthropic work. 2 Stevie Wonder hugged Rob Light after performing at the City of Hope event. PSY threw a listening party for his new album in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo on Sept. 20, drawing Billboard Group president John Amato, Republic Records chairman/CEO Monte Lipman and executive VP Charlie Walk, (from left) and others. The party eventually transformed…

How partnerships have worked in EPartnerships between music subscription services and telecommunications companies have been fairly common in Europe and elsewhere outside the United States. Here are four examples that are helping shape the digital music business. Spotify and Vodafone (u.K.): Subscribers to Vodafone’s new fourth-generation service can get up to two years of Spotify Premium included with the service. One challenge for Spotify was being offered as a bundle alternative to popular soccer-match video highlights from Sky Sports. spotify and telia (sweden): In 2009, Internet service provider Telia established a two-year partnership with Spotify to offer the music service to its mobile and broadband customers. In 2011, when the partnership was extended, Spotify said 25% of its Spotify Premium subscribers in Sweden were acquired through Telia. WimP and telenor…

In “HONESTLY, I’M JUST MASQUERADING AS A POP STAR.” Coming from Katy Perry—that most DayGlo of pop stars—such a statement could verge on the absurd. But today, Perry has stepped outside the smoke and mirror balls. Sitting on a couch in a rehearsal studio in Burbank, Calif.— where she is preparing for a live appearance at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas in just a few days—Perry carries only a feeting resemblance to the cotton-candied persona she’s crafted during the last five years. Wearing zero makeup, with her hair pulled back and sporting black Adidas workout tights and a faded hoodie over a “Christian Death Metal” T-shirt, Perry sips on a grande Starbucks iced green tea. She more resembles an art-school undergrad on her way to the gym than,…

When To Go Mercury Prize Oct. 30, 2013 The Mercury Prize, the hip alternative to the BRITs (although many argue that it too has become overly commercial), champions 12 albums by overlooked U.K. artists as decided by a panel of industry judges. David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys and James Blake are among this year’s nominees, with a winner to be announced at the Oct. 30 ceremony at North London’s Roundhouse venue. Big sales spikes can result for nominated and winning artists. INTEL: “The timing is perfect in terms of setting up the autumn campaign. The main focus of the Mercury is to shine a spotlight on amazing talent that will otherwise be ignored by mainstream media and with [2012 winner] Alt-J specific ally, they helped us really cross over. We wouldn’t…

AIR STUDIOS Lyndhurst Road, Hampstead, London, NW3 5NG +44 (0) 20 7794 0660 airstudios.com Founded in 1969 by Beatles producer George Martin, since 1992 AIR Studios has been based in historic Lyndhurst Hall, in the quiet London suburb of Hampstead. One of Britain’s premier recording facilities, AIR’s world-renowned scoring stages (including a 3,200-squarefoot hexagonal live area) and state-of-the-art mix rooms have drawn A-listers including Coldplay, Paul McCartney and Muse. INTEL: “AIR has two unique recording areas: Lyndhurst Hall, with adjustable acoustics, four booths and a 96-channel Neve desk, has allowed me to record a full-size orchestra alongside a band of drums, bass, piano, two guitars and vocals all at the same time. Studio 1 has booths and moving walls where I have recorded big bands and rhythm sections all at…

Brad Savage, triple A WCNR Charlottesville, Va. AlunaGeorge, “You Know You Like It.” We do well with songs that are hits overseas but left-of-center for here. This British duo’s song is soulful with tempo. I like this genre, which I call “Paris/London fashion show runway anthems.” HAIM, “The Wire.” This L.A. sister trio has resonated from the song’s first play. We already played its previous single, “Don’t Save Me,” to strong response, but this one is even better. It’s a sugarsweet song that our crossover audience from pop stations will be able to digest. Sarah Jarosz, “Over the Edge.” She’s just 24, but she has released three albums. Her “nu-grass”/roots style is accessible, even to nonaficionados of the genre. This is what triple A radio does so well: introduce quality…

Britney ‘Works’ It Again It’s British, bitch? Trying on a Cockney accent to enhance her ferocity, Britney Spears makes “Work B**ch!” an unexpectedly playful preview of her forthcoming eighth studio album. It’s a welcome change from the roboticized erotica of 2011’s Femme Fatale, which seemed to be more of a showcase for executive producer Dr. Luke than for its vocal star. Teaming with Will.i.am this time around, however, Spears sounds more engaged than she has in years. While some of the lyrics make the song sound like an exceptionally wellproduced soundtrack for Soul Cycle classes (“Bring it on/Ring the alarm/Don’t stop now/Just be the champion”), “Work B**ch!” subtly works its way to becoming a type of blue-collar anthem in a post-double-dip recession climate. Coming from a girl whose own humble…

The Weeknd—the 23-year-old, famously elusive R&B singer born Abel Tesfaye—sold 95,000 copies of his major-label debut album, Kiss Land, the week of Sept. 10, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The sales were enough for a No. 2 debut on the Billboard 200 in a neck-and-neck race with country star Keith Urban. Kiss Land trailed Urban’s Fuse for the No. 1 spot by fewer than 3,000 albums. But unlike Urban, the Weeknd didn’t have any charting singles or penetration at radio, and conceded to only one press interview—with Complex magazine in July—to support the project. Having risen to prominence in a furry of Internet buzz and curiosity two-and-a-half years ago, the Weeknd, perhaps more than any other artist of his generation, has built his profle in the negative wake of the old…

Coming To America Following recent imported hits like Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful” and Passenger’s “Let Her Go,” which scaled charts in multiple countries before crashing U.S. shores, John Newman’s “Love Me Again” (Republic) is building below Mainstream Top 40. The song received play on 26 chart reporters last week, spurring a 128% increase in spins, according to Nielsen BDS. The British native’s track has reached the top 10 in 15 countries and topped the Official U.K. Singles chart in July. Turner Starts ‘Keys’ California-raised singer/songwriter Leah Turner’s debut single, “Take the Keys,” gains traction just below the Country Airplay chart. She honed her music skills while attending college, where she met Kenny Loggins. He encouraged her to move to Los Angeles, where she worked with David Foster and Humberto Gatica…

Trend Report: Female Artists To Reach No. 1 On Hot Digital Songs With Debut Hits This week we look at the length of time taken for the first Billboard Hot 100 hits by lead solo women to reach No. 1 on Hot Digital Songs since the latter chart’s 2004 inception. 1 RIHANNA Her debut hit reached No. 1 on Hot Digital Songs in a swift six weeks. By the time she notched her second leader, “SOS,” a year later, her profile had been established enough that the song debuted at the summit. Rihanna’s 12 Hot Digital Songs chart-toppers to date lead all acts. Katy Perry follows with nine. 2 FERGIE Of the eight artists above, Fergie is the only one to gain significant acclaim in a group prior to starting…

Fourth-quarter releases. No artist releasing an album between now and Christmas will have multimillion dollar marketing support from three major brands like Timberlake. Still, acts like Katy Perry and Britney Spears are finalizing deals with multiple sponsor partners to help spread the word about their new music. Target. The retailer scored its third biggest selling album since 2003 with the first volume of Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, based on seven years of fan anticipation for new music. With first week sales forecasting half of its predecessor, can the second release get the same mileage out of Target? The Grammys. With sessions for both albums occuring during a 20day span in 2012, RCA will submit the two as one collection for Grammy Award consideration. At one point, Timberlake’s management considered releasing…

Digital piracy remains a problem for the entertainment business, but it’s disproportionately hurting the f lm and TV industries more than music and is more of a problem outside of North America. A new report by Netnames titled “Sizing the Piracy Universe” and commissioned by NBCUniversal shows that bandwidth stemming from infringing content has increased 159.3%—from 3,690 petabytes to 9,567 petabytes—between 2010 and 2012 in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacif c region. The f gure represents 23.8% of all residential and commercial Internet users in the three regions. BitTorrent is a popular protocol for engaging in digital piracy. Infringing use of BitTorrent accounted for 12.4% of all bandwidth in North America in the first half of 2012. But BitTorrent is just one avenue for piracy. Netnames estimates the entire…

Shortly after the Latin Grammy Awards nominations ceremony in Hollywood, Natalie Cole declared that she was “foored” by the news that her first Spanish-language project, En Español, was nominated in three categories. She is the first non-Hispanic American artist to be up for album of the year. Cole will compete in the field of 10 with Latin artists including Colombia’s Carlos Vives, a leading contender with five nominations; Spanish pop singer Miguel Bosé, who is the Latin Grammy Person of the Year; superstar singer/songwriter Alejandro Sanz; and rock iconoclast Draco Rosa. Cole gave credit for her nominations to her father, Nat “King” Cole, whose pioneering Cole Español albums featured some of the same classic ballads as her chart-topping Latin album. “The Latin audience is steeped in tradition, and the parents…

RECORD COMPANIES Veteran music industry executive diarmuid Quinn joins Kobalt Label services as president of North America. His tasks include leading Kobalt’s expanding label services operations in the United States, signing artists for global release campaigns and developing North American marketing campaigns for international KLS clients. With more than 30 years in the business, Quinn has served as COO of Warner Bros. Records and president of Reprise Records. Most recently, he was chief executive of his own management and marketing company, TourDForce Productions. In related news, Kobalt Music Group appoints Sue Drew GM of creative and acquisitions for the United States. She was senior VP of membership at ASCAP. Island Def Jam, Motown and republic records promote Elise Mora to senior VP of production. She was VP. Universal Strategic Marketing…

The Kindness Factor ‘The Voice’ producer Mark Burnett wants to make talent shows that aren’t about humiliation Kindness is in vogue,”Mark Burnett said during a cocktail party and dinner to celebrate the start of the ffth season of “The Voice” on NBC. To a certain extent, a gentle but frm hand—guidance over criticism— has been the mantra for the “Voice” leadership and on-air talent. With the return of Christina Aguilera and Cee lo Green to the coaches’ seats this season, “kindness” may play an even larger role. During the opening of the Sept. 23 premiere, Burnett and his team encapsulated that spirit with the original four coaches—Blake Shelton and Adam Levine have sat in the oversized red chairs every season—reuniting on the set and a string of strong performers. One…

Pasquale Rotella Founder/CEO, Insomniac; Night Owl, Experience Creator What did you wake up thinking about this morning? I haven’t woken up too many times in recent months where my new wife, Holly [Madison], and our daughter haven’t been at the house with me. I’m dreading that this week will be the longest I’ve been apart from them. They’re at home in Las Vegas, where I live. But there’s so much going on in Los Angeles that I’m spending time here. DESCRIBE A LESSON YOU LEARNED FROM A FAILURE. There have been a few times where I was really stressed about things happening in the business, whether it was other businesses people were building or personal problems due to the business I’m in. It took me a minute to block all…

Broken Record For his new album, Moby got the job done with old, barely working equipment that fills his L.A. studio Moby’s new studio, built high up in Los Angeles’ Beachwood Canyon, the area that’s home to the Hollywood sign, isn’t that different from the one he built in a lower Manhattan apartment. It occupies a single small bedroom, with various electronic devices arranged with museum-like care, and guitars and keyboards no more than a step or two from the computer. “They are both monastic, one-man studios,” Moby says. The key difference is apparent only at night, when he steps outside and feels the darkness and isolation of the canyon. “In Manhattan I walk out my front door and there are millions of people everywhere. I walk out my front…

Launched: 2011 Developer: Cricket Wireless Muve subscribers: 1.7 million Cricket subscribers: 4.6 million Monthly fee: Muve is free with mobile plan Average revenue per user (Cricket): $44.89 ARPU pre-Muve: $38.14 There’s no better example of the marriage of music and mobile devices than Muve Music, the on-demand subscription service developed by prepaid mobile carrier Cricket Wireless. The innovative service bundles all-you-can-eat music—tethered downloads only, no streaming—with unlimited talk, text and data plans. Although innovative and successful in many regards, the data shows that Muve has had mixed results in fulfilling its goals to Cricket. THE GOOD Muve’s strong start shows what can happen when mobile and music companies work together to attract customers. The service had more than 1.7 million customers at the end of June, giving it the largest…

LIke tHe CIty ItSeLf, London’s music scene is equal parts historic and cutting edge. From Handel to the Beatles, the Sex Pistols to the Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse to Adele, the city has hosted music icons for centuries. It’s home to 8 million residents, and seemingly as many influential music movements: Britpop, punk rock, dubstep, ska and many more. Here, in our music-biz guide to the British capital, we give you insider info on the venues, studios, events and power players that are both upholding London’s long musical traditions and boldly forging its future. TOP AND Where London livens up O2 Academy Brixton 211 Stockwell Road, London, SW9 9SL +44 (0) 20 7771 3000, +44 (0) 844 477 2000 (box office) o2academybrixton.co.uk This 5,000- capacity Art Deco theater located in…

KEVIN BROWN, HEAD OF LABEL RELATIONS FOR EUROPE, SPOTIFY “For breakfast meetings it has got to be the Dean Street Townhouse—good food and service, Wi-Fi, and you always bump into someone you know. Tapas Brindisa on Broadwick Street is a winner for a lunch meeting or a quick dinner before a gig. Be sure to try the scallops.” HARRY MAGEE, CO-FOUNDER, MODEST! MANAGEMENT “Our international colleagues are often skeptical, but the days when London had to apologize for its food are long gone. Our favorite restaurants include the River Cafe on the Thames in Hammersmith and Riva in Barnes.” JEREMY KING, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, O2 ARENA “It is hard to look past Roka on Charlotte Street—its black cod is legendary.” MILE KANE, SINGER/SONGWRITER “I really like The Stag in Hampstead. They…

“People who know me know not to bet against me,” Matt Goss says with a f ash of Hollywood smile. As someone who has experienced his fair share of professional highs and lows, and who has also maintained a long-running weekly residency in Las Vegas, Londonborn Goss knows a thing or two about beating the odds. His first big win came with Bros , the British pop act that he formed as a teenager alongside twin brother Luke and school friend Craig Logan. Although Bros failed to break in America, the group was hugely successful in the late ’80s throughout Europe, where it scored a string of multiplatinum albums and hit singles, including “When Will I Be Famous?” and the 1988 U.K. No. 1 “I Owe You Nothing.” After Bros…

Avid baseball fan Scotty McCreery stands on the mound for his own double-header. In addition to hitting the promotional and touring circuits for new studio album See You Tonight (Oct. 15), the singer is concurrently enrolled at North Carolina State University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications. “The plan wasn’t to pursue a music career at 17,” McCreery says in the sonorous voice that clinched the “American Idol” crown in 2010. “I would have done that down the road after college.” His change of plan resulted in a platinum album (Clear As Day), two gold top 20 singles (“I Love You This Big,” “The Trouble With Girls”), a holiday album (Christmas With Scotty McCreery), the opening slot on country star Brad Paisley’s 2012 tour and best new artist accolades from…

The immersive, 360-degree, 3-D photography of Metallica in performance makes “Through the Never” a breakthrough for the concert film genre. An up-close intensity permeates the stage footage, the visceral impact coming from the sense of being shoulder to shoulder with singer/guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo for an evening. It’s not so much a concert film as it is a chance to shadow members of heavy metal’s greatest practitioners. Metallica is filmed on a cross-shaped stage with each member at a point. The audience surrounds them, and the spacing gives the 24 cameras under Gyula Pados’ direction enough room to move around the subjects, presenting them as individuals unifed through intent. Think of the experience as watching pistons fring in an engine…

“They tell me I’m too country to do TV,” says Justin Moore, whose third Valory Music album, Of the Beaten Path, bows atop Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and claims No. 2 on the Billboard 200, selling 97,000 units, according to Nielsen Sound-Scan. “I’ve never been on an awards show and I’ve never been on national TV. Country radio is what got me this far in my career, and we have an incredibly loyal fan base.” Moore’s 2009 self-titled debut arrived at No. 3 on Top Country Albums while sophomore efort Outlaws Like Me bowed at No. 1. He’s placed 10 titles on Hot Country Songs including the No. 1s “Small Town USA” and “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away.” Current single “Point at You” remains at No. 10 this…

Singer/songwriter Jack Johnson claims his fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as From Here to Now to You bows atop the list with 117,000 sold in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The new efort is his third consecutive studio set to debut at No. 1, following Sleep Through the Static (2008) and To the Sea (2010). (He also opened at No. 1 with his soundtrack to the film “Curious George” in 2006.) From Here to Now to You, however, starts with Johnson’s lowest debut sales week since his first album, 2001’s Brushfre Fairytales. That set arrived in February of that year, selling fewer than 1,000 copies in its first week. Comparably, Johnson’s last two albums started with more than twice the opening sum of From Here…

SFX Valued At $1.1 Billion SFX Entertainment, the EDM promotions company founded in 2011, filed details with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its initial public offering, which put the company’s market value at up to $1.1 billion. The plan calls for the company to raise $200 million by offering 16.7 million shares at a price range of $11$ 13. SFX, which is owned by Robert F.X. Sillerman, has acquired or taken significant stakes in a number of national and international dance musicrelated companies after Sillerman announced last June that he would spend $1 billion in acquiring EDM entities. Sportify Spotify Spreads Global Reach Spotify is expanding its international reach by launching its digital music service in four new countries: Taiwan, Argentina, Greece and Turkey. The latest additions mean…

Music and cars have always gone well together. In a partnership to push the Blue Note brand into the automotive world, Blue Note Records signed a licensing deal with Panasonic to help develop and co-market a car audio system that would be tuned to the types of music featured in Blue Note’s catalog, whose artists range from The lonius Monk to Norah Jones and Gov’t Mule. Neither company disclosed terms. Panasonic’s automotive infotainment business is the world’s largest by revenue, capturing 12% of the $34.6 billion market for factory installed entertainment systems in 2012, according to estimates released last month by IHS. Panasonic has done three other similar arrangements. Its first occurred a decade ago with producer/engineer Eliot Schneier, who helped develop Panasonic’s ELS Surround Premium Audio System, currently installed…

ITunes Puts Pepsi On The Radio WHAT: Apple’s launch of iTunes Radio on Sept. 18 brought a list of category-exclusive sponsors for 2013—McDonald’s, Nissan and Procter & Gamble among them—but only one with its own branded stations. Pepsi, iTunes Radio’s premier beverage sponsor, debuted four of its own channels, dubbed “Pulse of Now,” at itunesradio.com/pepsi. Other brands in the PepsiCo portfolio, including Mountain Dew and Frito-Lay snacks, are expected to roll out their own channels during the course of the company’s sponsorship, which is committed through the end of 2014. Pepsi’s stations are dedicated to pop, country, Latin and EDM, and will feature Pepsi-backed acts like Mexican DJ collective 3BallMTY and country singer Hunter Hayes, as well as global Pepsi artists like Eva Simons, with whom the company works in…

A federal judge in New York won’t allow user-generated-video site Vimeo, owned by Barry Diller’s IAC, to dodge a copyright lawsuit. Capitol records and other labels brought the legal action in December 2009, alleging that Vimeo copied, performed and distributed sound recordings by acts including the Beatles, Daft Punk, Radiohead, Beyoncé and the Beach Boys. Vimeo responded that it was free of liability thanks to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, however, has denied that defense with respect to 55 of 199 videos in question— clips with which employees had some interaction. The ruling is another major one on the liability of Internet service providers, the second in the past month following the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s win over cyber…

Meaningful, but not devastating.” That’s the opinion of Ed Rubenstein, CEO of Arena Network, on the impact of the Afordable Care Act—better-known as Obamacare—on the arena business. Many provisions kick in Jan. 1, including the individual insurance mandate, the creation of health insurance exchanges and the so-called employer “play or pay” penalties. At this point, there are many opinions but not a lot of hard, cold facts as to the impact of ACA on the live biz. Billboard estimates up to 1 million part-time workers annually come into play for tours, whether it’s the concessions workers, ushers, parking attendants, custodial staff, security or ticket takers onsite, or the crew that moves the music down the road. The vast majority of employees on tour aren’t the responsibility of the artist or…

1 Feel the love: Among the many highlights at the third annual iHeartRadio Music Festival, which took place Sept. 20-21 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, were sets from Elton John and J. Cole, who performed his duet with TLC, “Crooked Smile,” for the first time on day one of the fest. “Finally, we made that happen,” Cole told Billboard. “And we couldn’t have picked a better place to do it at, because this [festival] is so huge.” 2 IHeart Macca: Paul McCartney with Clear Channel president of national programming platforms Tom Poleman (left) and Clear Channel Entertainment Enterprises president John Sykes. McCartney kicked off day two of the iHeartRadio fest, previewing some of his upcoming album, New. “We like to say, ‘It’s headliners from start to finish,’” Poleman…

Beats Music has a simple question for mobile carriers: Why not subsidize music rather than hardware? That is, can you sell more phones by offering 20 million songs for free? Beats Electronics cofounder/CEO Jimmy Iovine has told mobile carriers that music, rather than smartphone rebates, can help set them apart from their competitors. “Why don’t you take a chance on giving us $100 rather than giving Samsung $100?” Iovine has asked, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Along with Beats Music, other subscription services, and record labels, are making their pitches to U.S. mobile carriers in an efort to add subscribers and work toward the scale necessary in the digital music business. Digital music is notoriously difcult. The largest subscription services have between 4 million and 6 million…

Aaron Bruno is writing again and trying not to think about “Sail,” a song he first recorded under the name AWOLnation more than three years ago, which would be a lot easier if it weren’t everywhere he turned. A creeping stain of synth rock with startlingly confessional lyrics and a frayed, single-word climactic chorus (“Sail!”), the song has soundtracked an endless string of movie trailers, viral videos, CW dramas, and car and liquor commercials since its January 2011 release—each one extending what has become a historically lengthy life cycle. Now a staple at mainstream top 40 radio, “Sail” climbed to No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 the week ending Sept. 21, making it the first song in history to reach a new peak after spending more than a year…

Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen 2-4 Hoxton Square, London, N1 6NU +44 (0) 20 7613 0709 mamacolive.com/hoxton Mumford & Sons, Vampire Weekend and Florence & the Machine are among the long list of now-famous names that started out playing this 300- capacity venue in East London’s trendy Shoreditch area, which remains an industry hotspot for catching the latest buzz acts. A rousing playlist of indie, rock, soul, pop and electro can be heard on Fridays and Saturdays, when live acts give way to clubbing revelers. INTEL: “I’ve always enjoyed seeing new and exciting acts from the U.K., U.S. and all over the world here. It’s a great venue built around this lovely traditional London square, and is just the right size to ensure a decent turnout that will give the…

PAUL EPWORTH Arguably the most successful and infuential British producer of the past 10 years, Paul Epworth’s work with Adele on her all-conquering 21 (XL) resulted in four Grammy Awards, including the 2012 producer of the year statuette and global sales of 25 million-plus and counting, according to XL parent Beggars Group. Following his work on three tracks on 21, he reunited with Adele for the James Bond song “Skyfall,” taking home the Academy Award for best original song in February. It capped an extraordinary run for Epworth, who also scored big with Florence & the Machine, Cee Lo Green, Foster the People and others. Epworth says he couldn’t have done it anywhere else. “The weird career path that I’ve had—working in a studio during the day, playing in a…

Nearly a decade ago, when an emerging Matisyahu was the frequent subject of conversations and magazine articles crowning him the king of Hasidic Jewish reggae, it would have been difcult for him to conduct an interview on the streets of Brooklyn without attracting some passing gawkers. Talking to Billboard nearly two years after shaving his traditional beard and sidelocks, clad in sweatpants and a tattered V-neck T-shirt, the artist born Matthew Miller can conduct business while remaining highly incognito. Appearances and media hype aside, he’s been living the artist life like no other, writing on spiritual excursions to the Ukraine and singing on topics of faith and tradition, while working with producers from the secular pop world. Matisyahu is currently working on his ffth studio album, a so-far untitled efort…

BOYS NOIZE DJ/producer Boys Noize (real name Alex Ridha) heads out on a world tour this fall, featuring select appearances with his Skrillex-teaming side project Dog Blood and booked by new agent Lee Anderson of AM Only. Routing: Anderson hoped to curate a list of smaller, intimate and “cool” spots. “The big dance festivals are great experiences, but sonically the artists kind of blend together,” he says. “Our strategy was to come in, strip it down, hit venues like Beta in Denver [Oct. 17], Output in Brooklyn [Oct. 22, 24] and Grand Central in Miami [Oct. 31], mixed with festivals, where it’s really going to pop—like Voodoo in New Orleans [Nov. 1] and Freak Night in Seattle [Oct. 26].” Boys Noize will also play In the City in Johannesburg (Oct.…

Justin Timberlake is subscribing to the theory that one can never have too much of a good thing by releasing The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 just six months after issuing his first new album in seven years. The songs on this sequel also overindulge: Ten of the 11 tracks surpass the five-minute mark, and two songs, the campy dance cut “True Blood” and gentle love anthem “Not a Bad Thing,” stretch past nine minutes. Timberlake’s charismatically rhythmic pop is most effective when its focus is sharp, such as on the slithering opener “Gimme What I Don’t Know (I Want)” and the austere Drake collaboration “Cabaret.” But after the first volume served as a romantic paean to Timberlake’s new marriage through a throwback-R&B lens, its more contemporary sister album can’t…

3 MONTHS AGO The album was announced June 10 along with single “I Got You” and an iTunes pre-order. Johnson’s label Brushfire had initiated the release strategy with iTunes a few months earlier, selecting the September release date to coincide with a scheduled appearance by Johnson at the iTunes Festival on Sept. 16. “At that point we became very focused on a good plan with iTunes,” says Emmett Malloy, Johnson’s manager and cofounder of Brushfire. “The first component was the preorder, and we had the video for the single out at the same time. I could tell the imagery got people into the song.” 1 MONTH AGO Although parent company Republic doesn’t typically do prerelease album streams, Brushfire planned for iTunes to stream From Here to Now to You the…

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