Innholdsfortegnelse for Jul-05-14 i Billboard Magazine

Maroon 5 charts a course back to familiar territory — the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. The band’s new track, “Maps,” soars in as the chart’s top debut at No. 14. The driving song — cowritten by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and others — is the first single from the group’s forthcoming fifth studio album, V (Sept. 2). The track also enters Digital Songs at No. 6 with 138,000 first-week downloads sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and Radio Songs at No. 32 with 40 million impressions, according to Nielsen BDS. Highlighting its launch at radio, it bows on Adult Top 40 at No. 16 with 1,909 first-week plays, the best opening-week total in the chart’s 18-year history. On the Billboard Twitter Top Tracks chart, “Maps” blasts in at No.…

ROK Mobile has big plans for the Fourth of July. The upstart company is celebrating Independence Day by offering customers independence from their phone carriers — unlimited voice, text and data for $49.99 per month, with music streaming and ondemand access to a catalog of 20 million songs, for no extra charge. Sign up and you can stream, download, create playlists and tap into an algorithm that allows you to fine-tune your radio according to your mood. “Music is ultimately about mood,” says ROK COO Gabriel Rene. Increasingly, that may or may not be true, but music is about mobile. After years of anxiously waiting for subscription services to enter the mobile mainstream, record labels are enjoying a moment of opportunity. Three major carriers have launched streaming initiatives in the…

Songwriter Ben Folds has sounded the alarms. Studio A in Nashville’s old RCA Building — which Chet Atkins built in 1964, and has hosted the likes of Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and George Strait — had been sold to a local developer. Folds, who had rented, renovated and recorded in the historic space, penned an emotional open letter aimed straight at Nashville’s heart. “The community needs to chip in and realize that if that’s gone, and a tipping point occurs, then we don’t have Music City anymore,” he tells Billboard. Folds, 47, says he has reached out to friends like Elton John, a big fan of country music, and received “an overwhelming response” locally. He plans to meet with the Country Music Hall of Fame, BMI and ASCAP, hoping they…

106 & PARK Since its debut almost 14 years ago, the daily music video show has been the network’s highest-rated program. Among the A-list artists and movie stars who have stopped by the studios: Beyoncé, Tom Cruise, Will Smith and Kanye West, to name a few. BET AWARDS Honoring the best in entertainment and sports, the network’s tentpole show averages more than 7 million viewers annually. In 2001, Outkast won the very first BET award for the song “Ms. Jackson” and will return in 2014 as the headliner for the BET Experience at L.A. Live. REAL HUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD Created by comedian Kevin Hart, the parody series, which mimics Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise, follows the laugh-out-loud domestic antics of Hart bros Boris Kodjoe, Nelly, Duane Martin, J.B. Smoove, Nick Cannon…

Lifetime is hoping fans of the late Aaliyah and Whitney Houston will deliver ratings gold when the network airs biopics about the singers’ lives and tragic deaths in the coming year. Disney actress Zendaya Coleman will star in Aaliyah: Princess of R&, while former America’s Next Top Model finalist Yaya DaCosta will play Houston. Both castings have stirred controversy. Aaliyah’s uncle and former manager Barry Hankerson and Houston’s sister-in-law Pat Houston have both expressed dismay that the singers’ stories only warranted a made-for-TV movie and hinted at possible legal action. But such attempts to “protect” their legacies don’t do the subjects justice, says Jeff Jampol of JAM Inc., which manages the estates of Tupac Shakur and Janis Joplin. “Many families aren’t using common sense or are not sure what to…

3 ways singers use their backpacks To stash cash Ludacris brought a whole bag of bills with him to Atlanta’s Diamond Strip Club, to help “make it rain.” To amp up a performance ASAP Rocky incorporated a white rucksack into his sporty look at the Best Buy Theater in New York. To hide from paparazzi Justin Timberlake used his pack as a shield from the photogs in Studio City.…

Everybody loves “Latch” — and the numbers back that up. Disclosure’s breakthrough single, which features Sam Smith, premiered Sept. 7, 2012 and was an immediate hit in the United Kingdom, where it soared to No. 11 on the Official U.K. Singles chart. Since then, it has racked up more than 50 million views on YouTube, clocked more than 40 weeks on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart and just sold its 1 millionth download in the United States. It is on the verge of hitting the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, where it rises 14-12 on the July 5 chart. 100,000 Copies sold of debut album Settle in the United States 21 Months since original U.K. release 1M Downloads sold in the United States 16M SoundCloud views on Disclosure’s…

Skrillex DJ; FOUNDER, OWSLA At this point, Skrillex — born Sonny John Moore in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles — isn’t just an EDM power player; he’s the genre’s patron saint. Despite winning six Grammy Awards in two years, the 26-yearold DJ, producer and label chief just released his first full-length album this year, Recess. (Since 2010, he has been releasing only singles and EPs.) At OWSLA, he has signed some of the biggest names in EDM, like Zedd, Porter Robinson (see story, page 57), Jack Beats and Kill the Noise, and launched a fan-friendly membership program called Nest HQ, giving subscribers advance releases, early ticket sales and unreleased remixes. Plus, his mainstream credibility couldn’t be higher. He landed the cover of Rolling Stone in 2014, and The…

As the head of Armada Music, a leading dance label with over 25 sublabels that was founded in 2003, van Buuren, 37, is the first name in trance, a genre underappreciated in America but dominant in Northern Europe, Southeast Asia, India and Israel. Indeed, van Buuren’s own global dominance in the trance and house spheres — he once played five shows on two continents in three days — can be traced alongside that of the genres. Now five albums into a decade-plus career, the Dutch DJ is a perennial top name of DJ Mag’s influential Top 100 DJs poll (he was ranked No. 1 in the world five years in a row and has consistently placed in the top 3 during the past decade). In 2014, van Buuren scored a…

EDM is more than a fast-rising genre. It also is an increasingly attractive magnet for investors. Just ask Rhapsody, the streaming service that recently bought a stake in Dubset Media, which streams dance music and helps process royalties for longform DJ content. Rhapsody CFO Ethan Rudin says EDM’s rising popularity around the world was a big part of the draw. “We’re a global company and can’t ignore a global genre,” says Rudin, whose service is available in 33 countries. Rhapsody is not alone. EDM as an industry already brings in $6.2 billion annually, according to the International Music Summit Business Report, and there has been a flurry of new investment in the last seven months (and that’s not counting SFX Entertainment’s buying spree). Electronic Sound, an iPad magazine dedicated to…

From The Bronx Lineup Diego Capellan, Aneudy Hernandez, Jerry “Jay” Garcia and Jonathan Garcia (below, from left) Sounds like A young Aventura, heavy on romance, but with a smoother sound and a bigger R&B and Motown influence Lucky break Having bachata star Hector “El Torito” Acosta guest on 2009 single “Te Puedo Matar.” “We were in Dominican Republic recording and Torito was working on his album in the same studio,” says Jay Garcia. “We threw out, ‘Hey, do you want to contribute?’ He had me write down the lyrics, went to the booth and knocked it out. That’s when our career first took off.” Why now? Newly signed to Venemusic after time on Nu Life Entertainment, Bachata Heightz will soon release its sophomore album, followed by an all-acoustic CD/DVD in…

KIESZA CONNECTS Kiesza has gone from code breaker for the Royal Canadian Navy (yes, really) to breaking on the charts with “Hideaway.” The 25-year-old’s retro house track is in the top 15 and rising on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs and is bubbling under at top 40 radio. On July 9, Kiesza makes her U.S. TV debut on Late Show With David Letterman, a day after her Hideaway EP drops on Island/Republic. ‘GHOST ’ STORY U.K. pop singer-songwriter Ella Henderson enlisted Ryan Tedder and his songwriting partner Noel Zancanella to co-pen her debut single, and the resulting “Ghost” (Syco) bowed at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Singles chart dated June 28. Henderson competed on the British edition of The X Factor in 2012; her first performance won over Adele, who tweeted,…

“There’s a lotta you!” a surprised Courtney Barnett said from the stage on June 19, the opening day of the third annual Firefly Festival in Dover, Del. The Aussie rocker, one of the first acts to play the fest, drew a big crowd with her witty lyrics. “I was scared about how many people would come to our show,” she added. Barnett needn’t have worried. Attendance at the event, which grew from three days to four, swelled to 80,000, a 30 percent jump over the 2013 edition, according to organizers. “When we played Firefly for the first time, it was kind of a secret. That was part of what made it cool,” says Young the Giant percussionist Sameer Gadhia. “But I’m excited to see how it’s grown, and it still…

THE BEGGING BEGINS ABOUT 55 SECONDS into “You’re My Fantasy,” the opening track on Paula. Over gentle salsa strums, Robin Thicke pleads “please” seven times in a row to a woman whose absence feels ghostlike (“I can smell your perfume/ Your legs are on my walls/Your body’s on my ceiling/Your giggle down the hall”). Paula, Thicke’s seventh album, is a post-breakup record, named after his high school sweetheart and now estranged wife, actress Paula Patton. And it’s a sharp departure from the blithe mood of 2013’s Blurred Lines, which gave him a No. 1 smash. The couple separated in February, with some tabloids blaming Thicke’s alleged infidelity. Paula is his chance to atone and, as the lead single is titled, “get her back.” But an apology album from an already…

Jessie Ware started out as a backup vocalist before landing a guest spot on SBTRKT’s “Right Thing to Do,” which spotlighted a voice as smooth as silk sheets and previewed the British singer’s remarkably mature 2012 debut, Devotion. For “Tough Love,” the first U.K. single from the 29-year-old’s forthcoming follow-up on Interscope, the artist links up with production team BenZel, with whom she worked to cover Brownstone’s 1994 R&B hit “If You Love Me.” “Tough Love” adheres to a similar electro-soul aesthetic, with her falsetto’s rounded edges curling around spacy synths and a heartbeat with Prince-inspired drum machines. The wide-open spaces and minimalist touches — a reverberating bass string, slight tremors at the end of every word — induce chills. —Harley Brown ARCTIC MONKEYS “Snap Out of It” Interscope Records…

Smith Bows Big In The U.K. Sam Smith (above) arrives at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with his debut full-length album, In the Lonely Hour, selling 166,000 copies in the week ending June 22, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In turn, he earns the largest opening-week sales for a male U.K. artist’s first album since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. The biggest debut for any U.K. act’s first album is Susan Boyle’s I Dreamed a Dream, which launched at No. 1 with 701,000 in the week ending Nov. 29, 2009. Unlike the artist that beat Smith to No. 1, Lana Del Rey (Over the Counter, page 75), Smith was omnipresent on the promotional trail. During release week, he played CBS’Late Show With David Letterman, ABC’s Good Morning America and…

The West Coast radio world was rocked in mid-June by revelations that a Univision executive had manipulated the ratings to boost a Spanish-language talk show. The scandal, which cost the employee his job, rattled confidence in the Nielsen system. The company has been scrambling to reassure networks and advertisers alike of the security of its system ever since. A Nielsen representative confirmed that the company, which dominates the domestic U.S. ratings industry, has held conversations with concerned clients. “Nielsen is committed to upholding the highest standards of data integrity in our panels, and we are working closely with the Audio Advisory Council, the Media Rating Council and the radio industry to minimize the risk of reoccurrence,” the rep said in a statement to Billboard. “Additionally, Nielsen will be launching an…

Ambulances swarmed an Avicii show in Boston on June 25, as dozens of concertgoers were rushed to area hospitals, suffering from complications due to alcohol, drugs and extreme heat. The number of people affected was unusual. Authorities said that more than 50, many of them minors, were treated on the scene. But the problem has become far too familiar at EDM shows. What’s the view from the stage? Billboard spoke with Marshall Weinstein, 33, who has been performing as DJ Martial for over 20 years in Boston and New York and runs SET Artist Management, which reps 30 DJs around the country. What do you make of the situation in Boston? It’s important to keep it in perspective. If you have 25,000 people in that arena, and 50 people are…

LARRY MILLS WALKED INTO SONY/ATV chairman/CEO Marty Bandier’s office three years ago with a slightly offbeat idea. He suggested that the company promote hundreds of young artists who had performed cover versions of chart-topping songs. At the time, says Mills, he had no idea what reception he would get from his boss. This was, after all, a phenomenon that big music outfits were more accustomed to policing than promoting. But Bandier, a longtime believer that publishers should more aggressively develop new revenue streams, enthusiastically embraced Mills’ pitch. As a result, Sony/ATV, the world’s largest music publisher, launched We Are the Hits, a multichannel network (MCN) on YouTube, in 2011. The gamble has paid off. By late 2013, We Are the Hits was amassing nearly 130 million views per month. Now,…

Every music genre has its landmark movie. Woodstock, Monterey Pop and The Last Waltz defined classic rock; punk and metal got two volumes of The Decline of Western Civilization; hip-hop found its heart in Boyz N the Hood and 8 Mile; and disco exploded along with Saturday Night Fever. But despite dance music’s popularity and global dominance during the last 20 years, a big-screen moment has eluded EDM. That’s an injustice directors and Magical Elves principals Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, the team behind docs about Justin Bieber (2011’s Never Say Never) and Katy Perry (2012’s Part of Me), along with executive producer Pasquale Rotella (his company Insomniac launched EDC) and tastemaker and KCRW Santa Monica host Jason Bentley, hope to change. The Focus Features film arrives June 27. Enter…

“ROCK AND ROLL GO HAND IN HAND with style ... Just ask #JOEPERRY,” wrote Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler on his Instagram during the conclusion of Milan Men’s Fashion Week. The singer shared the sentiment with a snap of the duo sipping Champagne with designer Roberto Cavalli, following their appearance at his spring/summer show on June 24. The legendary artists were in town for a stop on the band’s Let Rock Rule world tour, but they weren’t the only musicians who made a point to get to the shows in the Italian city. GQ’s cocktail soiree at the exclusive Milan hangout Ceresio 7 honored “Blurred Lines” sexpot Emily Ratajkowski, while Joe Jonas hopped from front row to front row: The singer was spotted everywhere from John Varvatos to Missoni. Iggy Azalea…

As one-half of the band Singtank, international fashion plate and wife of music producer Mark Ronson, Josephine de La Baume is used to being in the spotlight. But last year, while shooting Otar Shamatava’s movie Ursus in Ukraine, the singer-actress enjoyed being off the grid. “Silence and privacy are a real luxury today,” says de La Baume, 29, of the time she spent disconnected from her phone and computer. Despite being part of a generation that thrives on technology, de La Baume and her brother, Alexandre, 28 — who’s the other half of Singtank — sing about this and weightier issues on their sophomore album, Ceremonies, out this September. “Being disillusioned about your city, your generation, the people you love and you lose, somehow there’s still some kind of poetry…

Classixx Think of Los Angeles’ best dance duo as Disclosure’s American cousin. Longtime friends and suburbanites Michael David and Tyler Blake deliver catchy hooks and high-octane grooves that are the perfect soundtrack for a late-night freeway joyride. Darkside New Yorkers Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington are psychedelic wonders whose live shows feature a deluge of fog machines, flashing lights and throbbing beats. The only thing missing from their trippy mix of jazz, hip-hop and house is a bong. Duke Dumont He topped the U.K. singles chart in 2013 with “Need U (100%),” which also snared a Grammy nomination for best dance recording. Like Disclosure, he draws from ’90s garage, house and techno, but torques it into a familiar, finely tuned swing. SBTRKT Once-anonymous post-dubstep producer Aaron Jerome has already worked…

In 2014, Spinnin’ Records reached into the heart of America, and won it. Founded in Holland 15 years ago, the label’s breakout global success is due in large part to 18-year-old DJ Martin Garrix, whose track “Animals” went from underground anthem to U.S. radio hit as a dance instrumental. With an artist roster that reads like a who’s who of EDM, Spinnin’ and its family of sublabels are propelling many different genres of electronic dance music. NUMBER Nearly 6 million YouTube subscribers, up from 1 million in April 2013. PATRICK MOXEY Owner, Ultra Records; president of electronic music, Sony Music Moxey helped break Calvin Harris into the mainstream when Ultra single “Feel So Close” started getting mainstream radio play in 2011. Now, as Sony’s head of electronic music, the influential…

BY RAY WADDELL The top headlining DJs can rake in from $300,000 to more than $1 million for a headlining gig at major festivals — the most lucrative, career-building gigs for the profession. Beyond that, EDM’s elite are capable of headlining arenas and amphitheaters in many major U.S. and international markets. Billboard talked to talent buyers and agents to determine the top-ranking DJs and the range of money they earn per gig. The list here is by no means final: The value of an act rises in direct correlation to the needs of the buyer, and one act might be top tier on one night and third tier the next. Also, it’s worth noting that scarcity breeds demand and, often, the acts who work the least are paid the most.…

Also... ROBIN THICKE’S LONG APOLOGY The “Blurred Lines” singer spends his entire new album saying sorry. “CRAZY, WACKY PEOPLE”Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale talks the inspirations behind her country-pop debut album. FOO FIGHTERS LIGHT UP FIREFLY Dave Grohl and company cover The Rolling Stones and Queen at Delaware’s growing festival. Music Porter Robinson still misses the digital worlds he grew up in. The 21-year-old breakout star of the post-EDM “beatsy” scene, as he describes it, spent most of his adolescence immersed in so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) like Star Wars Galaxies and City of Heroes. “The thing that’s different about MMORPGs as opposed to single-player games is that, if the company goes under, the world ceases to exist because you have to be connected to their server,”…

In 2014, America finally went ape for Arctic Monkeys. At home, in England, where all five of their albums have topped the charts, the four lads from Sheffield have been revered as saviors of indie rock from practically the second they picked up guitars. But it has taken eight years for the Monkeys to finally reach headliner status on this side of the pond. The band’s 2013 album, AM (Domino), reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200, its highest charting yet, and single “Do I Wanna Know?” gave the group its first Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at No. 70 on March 8. But AM still has legs months after its September release: Arctic Monkeys unleashed a music video for “Snap Out of It,”AM’s sixth single — yes, sixth —…

It may be the age of TMI, but British duo Jungle is more into mystery. “We’re using Jungle as a place to escape our own egos — a place to be creatively pure,” says Josh Lloyd-Watson . “But for other people, it feels like you’re withholding.” Even while selling out shows and watching their hip-shaking alt-funk pick up radio play during the past few months, Lloyd-Watson and his bandmate, Tom McFarland, initially clung to anonymity, often using only their first initials in public and releasing surrealist photos and videos that feature other people. The 20-somethings (they declined to give their exact ages), who grew up together in London and cite faceless acts Gorillaz and Basement Jaxx as inspiration, insist it’s about letting the music speak for itself rather than building…

For urban music touring, these could be considered the best of times, with a whirlwind of road activity from superstars and rising artists alike. Beyoncé just finished a $200 million-plus global tour, and this summer’s run with husband Jay Z is on a pace to gross close to $100 million. Rihanna grossed nearly $130 million in 2013, according to Billboard Boxscore, and will launch the Monster stadium tour with Eminem in August. Mainstream destination music festivals also now routinely book urban acts — because they sell tickets. “The genre itself is doing amazing on the live side,” says veteran hip-hop agent Peter Schwartz of The Agency Group. “We are already booking deep into fall, and we will have at least eight to 10 hip-hop tours out, plus countless spot dates…

TUPAC SHAKUR’S LIFE WAS FILLED WITH events a playwright wouldn’t dare invent. His mother was a Black Panther who was in prison while pregnant with him; he signed to Suge Knight’s Death Row Records while in prison for felony abuse; he miraculously survived one shooting, only to be taken down by another in 1996 at age 25 — possibly as a result of a beef with former friend and collaborator The Notorious B.I.G. But surprisingly, new musical Holler If Ya Hear Me — named after one of his most timeless songs and co-produced by his mother, Afeni Shakur — isn’t about the rap icon’s tragic story; instead, it uses his songs as a means to tell a different one. However, even after a tiring two-plus hours, it’s unclear just what…

Michael Chugg has a surprising well of energy, especially for a man who has been involved in the cut and thrust of concert promotion for 50 years. Just two days after the legendary Australian impresario turned 67, he’s on another trip to present Keith Urban’s show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Chugg, born in Tasmania, based in Sydney and known throughout the music world, is battling a chest infection, but it’s not slowing him down. He finishes an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and heads out early to the venue. It’s one of scores of shows produced this year by Chugg Entertainment. He says Urban’s Light the Fuse tour is “doing very well” at the box office. And this particular date is a family affair. Urban, raised in nearby…

NEARLY TWO YEARS INTO the Billboard Hot 100’s existence, the top of the chart was essentially a boys’ club. Starting with Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool,” which led the inaugural list on Aug. 4, 1958, only one of the first 29 No. 1s featured prominent female vocals: “To Know Him, Is to Love Him” by The Teddy Bears, a vocal trio featuring one female member (as well as a young Phil Spector). But on July 2, 1960, Connie Francis made history when “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool,” recorded with the Joe Sherman Orchestra, rose 2-1. By year’s end, three more No. 1s by solo women would rule: Francis’ follow-up “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own” and Brenda Lee’s “I’m Sorry” and “I Want to Be Wanted.” During her career, Francis,…

The next great rock band could be discovered by you. That’s the central appeal of a soon-to-be-released video game for PlayStation Vita called BigFest, the brainchild of Sony Entertainment and the creation of U.K.-based On the Metal. The free game allows music lovers to build their own festival from scratch, starting with a tiny stage in an empty field and growing into a DIY Coachella. The coolest element of the game, developer Steve Oldacre tells Billboard, is that it could put the next obscure band on the map. That’s because players can tap into a massive database of unsigned artists through Jamendo, a free music website that’s partnering with Sony to provide the content. As players create their own festivals by building stages, designing posters and adding speakers, they also…

“Just heard a Gaga shoutout on law & order SVU. YASSS.” — LADY GAGA The “Do What U Want” singer, tweeting about getting name-checked during an episode of the NBC series. “HAPPY BDAY LANA DEL REY!! I’m OBSESSED with the RIDE video!” — JAMES FRANCO The Of Mice and Men Broadway star, tweeting his admiration to the newly single Ultraviolence singer on her 28th birthday. “Every No. 1 song, every top 10 song, every song in the top 40 is at least 6 months old. We should be able to make music and put it out now.” — PRINCE The legendary musician, expressing his frustration with the industry, during a preview of his upcoming album. “I’m on it as soon as I wake up. I scroll with one eye open.…

THREE DECADES IS A MIGHTY LONG TIME to be in any industry, which makes Debra L. Lee, 58, chairman/CEO of BET Networks, even more of a wonder to behold, having survived and thrived while building the leading cable TV network targeting African-Americans. “I grew up with a small room and a little record player playing The Supremes, The Temptations and James Brown on 45s,” says the former law clerk and Brown University graduate, who joined BET in 1986 as a vice president and general counsel. “Music was so fun and inspirational. Here I am, 29 years later, still at BET and able to showcase those musical artists that are still so important to our young people and to our history.” During Lee’s tenure, she has seen the channel transform from…

Campaigning got a bad name at the 2014 Oscars after email drives and lavish parties to whip up support for nominated songs created controversy and resulted in a disqualification. Now the academy has stepped in to prevent a repeat of the situation by enforcing strict regulations related to the behavior of its music branch members during award season. Among the no-no’s: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences music branch members may not attend any special live performances of eligible songs unless they are attached to a screening, according to new guidelines approved by the board of governors on June 25. And music branch members may not contact one another to promote the nomination of their own song in any way, including through mail, email, telephone or social media. Emails…

Will Google Glass revolutionize the music industry? According to early adopters of the wearable computer — such as French horn player Sarah Willis and hip-hop producer Young Guru — the odds are in the new technology’s favor. Live concerts streamed through Google Glass, saved playlists available on command and the possibility of remotely recording music are just a few of the ways the head-mounted computer slowly is making a mark on the industry. Willis has been a Glass Explorer (someone invited by the company to test-drive Google Glass) since the first version came out in June 2013 and has served as the first Explorer in Germany. At the NEXTBerlin conference in May, she shared the atypical ways the product has benefited her career as a professional musician in the Berlin…

It has been a couple of years since Disclosure’s Howard and Guy Lawrence stashed their records and clothes at their parents’ house in the London suburb of Surrey, went off on their first U.S. tour and, at some indeterminate snare kick along the way, established themselves as the global faces of a house music revival. In addition to selling out every American show, the brothers have collaborated with Mary J. Blige (“F for You”) and emerged as Madonna’s favorite new EDM act. Best of all, their Sam Smith-buoyed single — “Latch,” No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 — has become a song-of-summer phenomenon, almost 20 months after its original release in the United Kingdom in October 2012. “We thought ‘Latch’ was too weird for the radio and not clubby…

The life of a superstar DJ isn’t for the faint of heart. Or a normal human being with a functioning immune system. Thirty-six hours with Steve Aoki? Be prepared to forgo the little things. Like sitting, or sleep. Aoki is in such demand that he averages 300 shows a year, and as one of the highest-paid DJs in the world, Billboard estimates he earns upwards of $11 million a year. However, he’s just getting warmed up. He’s already beloved by dance music fans, but after this summer, Aoki could become the biggest DJ success story of 2014. His hotly anticipated new album, Neon Future 1 — the follow-up to his 2012 Grammynominated debut, Wonderland — arrives in mid-August. If there’s an EDM festival happening during the next few months, he’s…

1969-2014 1960s The Winstons release “Color Him Father.” The song contains the “Amen Break,” which will spawn entire genres of dance music. 1970s Club Pacha opens in Ibiza, Spain. Kraftwerk releases its first commercially significant LP, Autobahn. Synth disco king Giorgio Moroder co-writes Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby.” The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing” is the first No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. ABBA releases ”Dancing Queen.” Studio 54 opens. Chic releases “Le Freak.” Saturday Night Feveropens. 1980s Moroder produces Blondie’s “Call Me” for American Gigolo soundtrack. Depeche Mode releases its debut, Speak & Spell. Cybotron releases early Detroit techno (and electro) classic “Alleys of Your Mind.” The act initially consists of Richard “3070” Davis and “Godfather of Techno”Juan Atkins — one of the “Belleville…

The just-wrapped fourth edition of Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival broke its own records as the world’s largest dance festival, hosting a record 400,000 attendees who flew out to catch over 200 performers play 10 neon-lit stages across three nights in the desert. While not without controversy (two festivalrelated deaths had been reported at press time), the Insomniac-produced event is a big draw and moneymaker for the Vegas dance scene, with dozens of shows taking place across the Strip and first-time sponsors like 7 Up and Bud Light Platinum onboard. Billboard breaks down the estimated revenue from this year’s epic dance party. —Ed Christman and Andrew Hampp Total Economic Impact (millions) $322.3 Attendees 400,000 • Food and beverage $52.2 • Hotel rooms $29.0 • Transportation $25.6 • Gaming $22.7 •…

A&E’s latest reality star? A country rapper named Big Smo. Real name John Smith, the 39-year-old Unionville, Tenn., native falls somewhere between Colt Ford and Bubba Sparxxx. Smo’s self-titled series, which premiered June 11, follows the self-proclaimed “Hick Ross” as he climbs the music-biz ladder. After first making noise independently on YouTube, he released his major-label debut, Kuntry Livin’ — song titles include “Redneck Rich” — on June 3 through Warner Nashville. So, how does a “hick” become a major-label rapper with a TV show? I’m a product of my surroundings. I grew up on Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed and also Run-D.M.C., the Beastie Boys, the Fat Boys and Biz Markie. Between you and Colt Ford, is country rap becoming a full-fledged genre? I don’t like putting…

Lucy Hale, the star of ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars, didn’t celebrate her debut album, Road Between (which bowed at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart dated June 21), with a raucous Hollywood party or bottles of Cristal. “I wanted to be by myself and soak it in,” says Hale, 25. “So I bought some ramen noodles, sat on my floor and wrote a song.” Highsodium treats aside, Hale explains here that her creative fire is fueled by family, country classics and more. Country’s storytellers “The whole reason I love country music is for the amazing songs where you see a whole story played out before you. Rascal Flatts made me fall in love with lyrics. ‘Skin’ is about this girl who was diagnosed with cancer and how…

NUMBERS: KENNY CHESNEY Kenny Chesney lassos his 77th Hot Country Songs hit, as “American Kids” bounds in at No. 17 — the chart’s third-highest debut this year. The lead single from his upcoming album is a plucky singalong sprinkled with pop-culture references, from MTV to RCA. 40k With less than three full days of sales, the song sold 40,000 downloads in the week ending June 22, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It hit digital retail June 20, following its radio debut that day. On Country Digital Songs, the tune bows at No. 7. 12.9M “American Kids” bows at No. 27 on Country Airplay with 12.9 million in audience, according to Nielsen BDS. It’s Chesney’s 10th top 30 debut — more than any artist since the chart’s 1990 launch. Garth Brooks ranks…

Tom Krell, aka How to Dress Well, released his gorgeously mournful third LP, What Is This Heart?, on June 24 through Domino/Weird World. The album boldly expands the 29-year-old singer’s intimate, atmospheric sound, often called “indie R&B,” into ambient, pop, new wave and beyond. What kind of music inspires such a quixotic singer to make such a wide-ranging album? Krell explains. —Nick Williams BRIAN ENO, “AND THEN SO CLEAR” ”In my mind this is his perfect pop song. It’s Auto-Tuned, harmonium voice, with guitar and distant drums. I got into it about two years ago, and I listen to it constantly. It was the Eno I was looking for, where he hybridizes pop with ambient and experimental aspects.” FUTURE, “BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS” “This song is so beautiful, especially the guitars.…

WHAT DOES AN 81-YEAR-OLD COUNTRY MUSIC legend do to keep life interesting for himself? Go back to something he’s good at: writing songs. This is, astonishingly, the first Willie Nelson album to be dominated by self-penned material since the one-two punch of Spirit and Teatro, released more than 15 years ago. Less astonishingly, it’s his best work by far since then, almost completely free of the questionable song choices and duet overloads that marred his albums in the intervening years. (Sure enough, the sole duet here, with Jamey Johnson on a cover of Billy Joe Shaver’s “The Git Go,” is also the weakest track, despite its warm, wizened gospel-blues vibe.) Right from the first few jaunty seconds of the opener, “Bring It On” — the wailing harmonica, the swooping pedal…

Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey captures her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, as Ultraviolence bows atop the list. The set, which was released June 17, sold 182,000 in the week ending June 22, according to Nielsen SoundScan — her best sales week yet. Del Rey’s arrival is the largest sales week for a female artist since the week ending Dec. 29, 2013, when Beyoncé’s self-titled album sold 310,000 in its third week on the chart. Notably, Ultraviolence captures the No. 1 slot even though Del Rey hasn’t performed on American TV in more than two years. (Believe it or not, Del Rey’s last U.S. TV performance was on March 22, 2012, when she appeared on Fox’s American Idol.) She is seemingly taking the less-is-more approach when it comes…