Innholdsfortegnelse for Mar-29-14 i Billboard Magazine

TOURING By postponing the Australian leg of their 14 On Fire Tour following the death of Mick Jagger’ longtime girlfriend L’Wren Scott, The Rolling Stones and multiple parties involved in staging the tour potentially could be on the hook for as much as $10 million, industry sources tell Billboard. That includes everything from deposits on venues to the storage of gear to lost revenue, though it’s possible that some or all of those costs will be covered by insurance policies. Moving a tour the magnitude of a Stones outing is an epic, expensive affair, potentially involving millions of dollars in travel, transportation and other expenses. While some production work would have been done on the ground, the band had 60 trucks on hold to transport its equipment, and just chartering…

TV Jimmy Fallon’s arrival on The Tonight Show is having an unlikely effect on the battle to book big music stars on morning TV’s summer concert series. Sources tell Billboard that NBC’s Today is using Fallon’s initial ratings success as leverage in an especially aggressive campaign to win top acts from ABC’s Good Morning America. Both shows are booking 15 concerts that often air on the same days from late May through the end of August, while keeping the lineups close to the vest. Increasingly, the jockeying has become sharp-elbowed, with Today’ Toyota Summer Concert Series aided by the sheer number of outlets NBC can offer artists’ representatives in package deals. Though Today lags behind GMA in the ratings, with 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen, it’s broadcast from NBC’s…

Church Clothes 2 Lecrae Release date: Nov. 8, 2013 Rap Albums debut: No. 3 Label: Reach Records Sales*: 15,000 Rhyme: “I ain’t popping, rolling and I ain’t burnt, so tell Mary and Molly I don’t need ’em to party.” —“I’m Turnt” The Good Life Trip Lee Release date: April 10, 2012 Rap Albums debut: No. 3 Label: Reach Records Sales: 22,000 Rhyme: “I am not your robot, I am not a clone/You are not my puppeteer and I am not a drone/Got a new master and I follow him alone.” —“Robot” Love, Hope, War Da’ T.R.U.T.H. Release date: Jan. 29, 2013 Rap Albums debut: No. 10 Label: Xist Music Sales: 5,000 Rhyme: “Black professors, white scholars/Politicians, Dalai Lamas/Everybody in the whole wide world need hope/If I’ll be honest/I’m in that…

TOURING A trio of South American Lollapaloozas scheduled for this spring, including a first foray into Argentina, underscore how the events’ organizers are mining the buzzy South American market and could provide a road map for similar festivals looking to expand internationally. The first leg of the Lollapalooza tour, which will feature such acts as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, Arcade Fire, Pixies and Lorde, is slated March 29-30 in Santiago, Chile. It will be followed by the Argentine event in Buenos Aires and wrap up with a two-day festival April 5-6 in Sao Paulo. By bundling the three festivals to gether, event organizers including Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell, William Morris Endeavor, C3 Presents and local partners in each country were able to both lure bands to…

GEIGER BETS ON AUDIAM Marc Geiger, who’s always been bullish about streaming music, has put his money where his mouth is. The head of William Morris Endeavor’s music division has personally invested an undisclosed amount in Audiam, a company that collects YouTube payments on behalf of artists and publishers whose compositions appear in user-created videos. Geiger, who joins Audiam as an adviser, joins a list of power players in the music business who have collectively invested $2 million in Audiam, which TuneCore founder Jeff Price founded in June 2013. They include Jason Mraz, Jimmy Buffett, promoter Bill Silva and Brett Gurewitz, founder/owner of Epitaph and Anti- Records . —Alex Pham SONGS LANDS GERSHWIN SONGS Music Publishing, whose roster includes Lorde and The Weeknd, has been tapped to creatively market the…

While Linkin Park has paired with rappers in the past for collaborative works — most famously with Jay Z on Collision Course — the band throws a curveball with its latest song, featuring iconic MC Rakim. The new “Guilty All the Same” is the lead single from the rock group’s forthcoming studio album, due this summer. 25 “Guilty All the Same” arrives at No. 28 on Billboard’ Alternative airplay chart, marking the milestone 25th entry for Linkin Park. The song premiered through the Shazam app on March 5 and went on sale two days later. The tune bows on Alternative in its second week of availability, as the chart’s tracking week ended March 16. In comparison, Linkin Park’s last studio album had its first single, “Burn It Down,” blast in…

1 YEAR AGO After years on rap-centric indie Stones Throw, Blacc, 35, signed with XIX Recordings/Interscope and began work on Lift Your Spirit with producer DJ Khalil (Eminem, Pink). Blacc wrapped the album in early 2013. Around the same time, he linked with Avicii in Los Angeles, cowriting and singing the DJ/producer’s “Wake Me Up!” The song debuted June 17, 2013, and quickly took off. Blacc’s challenge? Cluing the song’s fans to his solo work, as his name wasn’t credited. “The lyric video went to 80 million YouTube hits before it even went to radio,” says Blacc. “That’s confirmation to me that it’s just good songwriting.” 5 MONTHS AGO With “Wake Me Up!” flying 48-17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated Aug. 17, Blacc released the Wake Me Up…

Lil Wayne gave a surprise performance of “A Milli” at MTV college channel mtvU’s music honors, while Drake, The 1975, Chance The Rapper and Ed Sheeran took home the big prizes “We don’t endorse music as a competition, but if you’re going to give us an award, then give it here!” —Matt Healy, The 1975 1 From left: Echosmith’s Noah and Sydney Sierota with American Authors’ Dave Rublin and Zac Barnett at the mtvU Woodie Awards and Festival in Austin on March 13. 2 Fashion-forward couple Wiz Khalifa and wife Amber Rose hit the Woodies in style. 3 Australian rapper Iggy Azalea channels some Lone Star state style before igniting the stage with Charli XCX to perform their hit “Fancy.” 4 Bad Things guitarist and Olympian snowboarder Shaun White (left)…

STYLE Designer men’s sneakers that are every bit as vibrant as the ruby-red Adidas Originals that Pharrell wore at the Academy Awards are blowing up thanks in part to their growing popularity with artists, including ASAP Rocky, a fan of Rick Owens’ and Raf Simons’ collaborations with Adidas. “The business is on fire,” says Eric Jennings, men’s fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, which devotes the first-foor rotunda of its Beverly Hills men’s store to luxury offerings from the likes of Giuseppe Zanotti, Maison Martin Margiela and Paris newcomer Louis Leeman. Jennings says the typically restrained designer sneaker is heading in bolder directions, following the lead of R&B and pop stars who favor vivid colors (think Kanye West’ scarlet Air Yeezys), metallic finishes and eye-catching hardware: “They’re showing a new…

“It’s funny because when I finally — no pun intended — let go of trying to fit myself into a certain mold, that’s when I had the most success,” says Menzel, photographed March 17 at Ludlow Studios in New York City. Styling by Kemal & Karla On Menzel: Marchesa gown, Stuart Weitzman heels and Chelsea de Luca earrings. “Hey, it’s me.” ¶ The whistles and screams that greet this bit of dialogue are more Madison Square Garden than Broadway. And in fact, the crowd looks younger than usual at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. This house is dotted with tweens who call themselves “Fanzels” and who have helped make Frozen the top-grossing original animated film of all time, with worldwide box office of more than $1 billion, and pushed the soundtrack…

Music publishing giant Sony/ATV, which in the past licensed rights to songs in two of Broadway’s top-grossing hits, Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys, is exploring a potentially more lucrative, albeit riskier, role on the Great White Way: producer and backer of jukebox musicals, the stage productions where scores are based on previously released songs instead of original material. The publishing company, which is co-owned by Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson, already has taken the first steps. It is one of two top-billed producers for Beautiful, a show featuring songs from the early career of singer-songwriter Carole King that opened in January. The company also is a financial backer of Motown: The Musical, the story of Motown founder Berry Gordy. Doug Morris, CEO of sister company Sony Music…

Divergent isn’t just the third youngadult franchise to be adapted for the big screen by Summit/Lionsgate, following Twilight and The Hunger Games. It’s also the recently merged studio’s latest bid to create an equally lucrative soundtrack series, after five Twilight soundtracks for Atlantic/Chop Shop and two (and counting) Hunger Games albums for Republic. Where those albums often skewed toward indie-rock and alt-folk, respectively, Divergent (released March 11 on Interscope, debuting at No. 29 on the March 29 Billboard 200) is a blend of EDM and pop befitting the film’s setting in a dystopian future. Zedd’s lead single, “Find You” (featuring Miriam Bryant and Matthew Koma), has started slow, peaking at No. 11 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. But it’s Ellie Goulding’s “Beating Heart” that has been featured in the film’s TV…

For Foster The People, the antidote to writer’s block was hiding on the coast of Morocco. “There’s something mystical that floats in the air there,” says frontman/multi-instrumentalist Mark Foster, calling in from somewhere between France and London on the band’s recent tour. “Everything around us had a golden haze of beautiful, Dr. Seusslike strangeness.” Foster decamped to Essaouira, a city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, for eight days with Grammy-winning producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence & The Machine, Coldplay) to begin work on the Los Angeles group’s second album, Supermodel (released March 18 on Columbia) — and to conquer the anxiety that plagued him about following up the runaway success of the trio’s hit single, “Pumped Up Kicks.” Foster, a former jingle writer, released the song for free online…

If “Move That Dope” (A1/Freebandz/Epic) is any indication, Future has refound his footing for his forthcoming sophomore album, Honest. The song’s skull-rattling production by Mike Will Made It is raw power, instantly disposing any lingering memory of the album’s previous soft-landing singles — by comparison, the title track, released last September, sounds like a kitten purring. The guest stars carry the baton nicely: Pusha T spins another signature coke-slinging yarn, and Pharrell Williams goes back to his Skateboard P days, taking a break from disco-pop stardom with a surprisingly nimble rapid-fire rap about his “Gandalf hat.” (Rapper Casino also appears on the track.) But Future, Atlanta’s favorite shape-shifting rapper-singer, carries the load here, setting his Auto-Tune melodies aside to deadpan about turning back to the streets: “Keepin’ it soft like…

Blondie Brought ‘Rapture’ — And Rap — To No. 1 “Debbie Harry doing rap disco may seem bizarre, but it works here. The production is expectedly slick and the playing is tight.” Despite seeming bemused, Billboard praised Blondie’s “Rapture” in its review of the song in the issue dated Jan. 31, 1981 — the same day the track’s video premiered on Solid Gold. That week, the Mike Chapman-produced song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 61, just as Blondie’s previous single, “The Tide Is High,” crowned the chart. Eight weeks later, “Rapture” blasted from No. 6 to No. 1. The key word in Billboard’ review of “Rapture,” clearly, was “rap.” The song is widely regarded as the Hot 100’s first No. 1 to feature the genre. MTV also…

Megamanager Irving Azoff clearly played the pivotal role in the process that led to NBA legend Phil Jackson becoming the president of the New York Knicks, but he says he has no designs on adding “sports mogul” to his résumé The music- industry dealmaker and manager made headlines when he told Bloomberg News he brokered the deal that installed Jackson in the Knicks’ front office. Azoff brought Knicks owner and Madison Square Garden Co. executive chairman James Dolan and Jackson together at his L.A. house in December and attended four meetings with the team and its future coach. A longtime member of the Los Angeles Lakers’ “floorseat mafia,” he has known Jackson since his days as the team’s venerated coach. He is also Dolan’s friend and business partner. In September…

NBC’s Late Night, which in five years with Jimmy Fallon as host became a playground for adventurous musical acts, has fresh marching orders from new host Seth Meyers that are leading it in a less tuneful direction. Industry sources, including several who worked with the show on its first two weeks of bookings (when ratings opened at 2.7 million viewers, then dropped to 2.1 million the second, according to Nielsen), say Meyers is booking fewer performances overall and isn’t keen, as Fallon was, on incorporating music into the broadcast. Meyers, who started the new gig on Feb. 24 after eight years of serving as head writer on Saturday Night Live and hosting the show’s satirical news segment “Weekend Update,” is a current affairs wonk whose young tenure at Late Night…

CHRISTIAN “Hip-hop is an expression of what is dearest to you,” says Christian rapper KB. “It’s coming from who I love. And who I love is Jesus.” The religious artist’s passion was rewarded earlier this month when his most recent EP, 100, became a minor crossover success — in part because of a special promotion that involved free devotions for fans through the YouVersion Bible app. 100 went on to hit No. 1 on Billboard’ Christian Albums chart, No. 4 on Rap Albums and No. 22 on the Billboard 200, selling more than 14,000 the first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The release, about living life with love, is the latest hit for Atlanta-based Reach Records, founded in 2004 by Christian rap star Lecrae. The label is making inroads into…

“Roar.” “Royals.” “Timber.” “Demons.” “Happy.” Notice a common thread among these recent hits? The number of charting songs with one-word titles continues to grow, with single-monikered tracks now making up nearly a third of the Billboard Hot 100 each week. This year, two single-word titles have set the record for the Hot 100’s top two longest stays: Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” (up to 81 chart weeks as of the March 29 chart) and AWOLNATION’ “Sail” (which totaled 79). On the March 29 Hot 100, one-word titles bookend the survey, from No. 1 (Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”) to No. 100 (Disclosure’ “Latch”), while 31 such hits also dot the chart. A decade ago, there were only 19 one-worders on the chart dated March 20, 2004, while on the corresponding chart 25 years ago,…

DEATHS George Donaldson, frontman of Irish vocal group Celtic Thunder and a successful solo artist, died March 12 at his home in Glasgow, Scotland, after sufering a heart attack. He was 46. South Carolina up-and-coming rapper Speaker Knockerz died March 6 from unknown circumstances after having been missing for at least two days before being found in his garage. He was 19. Scott Asheton, the original drummer and a co-founder of legendary punk-rock band The Stooges, died March 15 in Ann Arbor, Mich., of a heart attack. He was 64. Concert business pioneer Bill Ballard, who co-founded Concert Productions International, died March 14 after a battle with cancer. He was 67. MARRIAGES Singer-actress Jamie Lynn Spears, 22, wed businessman Jamie Watson, 31, on March 15 in New Orleans before a…

Birds Of Tokyo Take Flight Already a breakout hit in the band’s native Australia, Birds of Tokyo’ atmospheric “Lanterns” (Republic) bullets at No. 29 on Triple A and No. 37 on Alternative. Last year, the track was the most-played song on commercial radio Down Under, according to Aircheck. The group is now visiting and performing at U.S. radio stations, notably throwing in fun, curve-ball covers like Survivor’ “Eye of the Tiger.” ‘Rain’ Rises Anthony Lewis, 17, wasn’t born when Soul for Real’ “Candy Rain” topped the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart in 1995, but that didn’t stop him from remaking the classic, which opens at No. 38. Lewis’ version features labelmate Billy Bang and interpolates 2 Chainz’ “I’m Different.” It was the 10th-most-played song on SiriusXM channel The Heat for the…

Ty Dolla Sign seems to be living up to his name. In the issue dated March 29, the Los Angeles rapper/singer/producer’s newest single, “Or Nah” (featuring Wiz Khalifa), debuts at No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100, jumps 30-24 in its third week on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and has sold 54,000 units to date, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s his second current entry on the charts: His B.o.B-featuring breakout hit, “Paranoid,” spends a second week at No. 32 (after peaking at No. 29) on the Hot 100, remains at its peak (No. 9) on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It has sold 406,000 copies to date. “ I knew it was going to cross over,” says Ty, 28, of “Paranoid.” “But I still can’t believe it sometimes — it’s just cool seeing…

Converse celebrated The Fader’s 15th anniversary, while in New York, ASCAP Latin honored the legendary Fania All-Stars “These boys are playing in the same key they did 40 years ago.” —Fania All-Stars’ Johnny Pacheco 1 SZA (left) and JoJo backstage at the Fader Fort presented by Converse on March 15. JoJo, who has signed a new deal with Atlantic, treated the crowd to her hits “Too Little, Too Late” and “Leave (Get Out),” plus songs from her #LoveJo covers EP. 2 Travis Scott warms up with a dance ahead of his performance on March 15. 3 Theophilus London poses for a portrait backstage on March 13 while decked out in Nike Air Yeezy 2 sneakers (aka Red Octobers), which now sell for upwards of $4,500. 4 Model Ashley Smith got…

The burgeoning Williamsburg nightclub scene just got more crowded. The trendy Brooklyn neighborhood’s Wythe Avenue, previously known for stereotypical hipster bars, is looking a little like Manhattan’s Meatpacking District now that three neighboring dance clubs have opened there in the last year, and an established lounge is about to expand. The most recent arrival is Verboten, a 750-person performance space and megaclub on North 11th Street and Wythe that opened quietly on March 14. “Verboten came out of our experience working at big clubs in Manhattan at a time when the city was shutting down nightlife left and right,” says coowner John Perez. “We’d come out of work and be greeted by NYPD klieg lights and mounted police.” The Verboten brand initially started as a pop-up house and techno party…

AARON TVEIT If Broadway were a boy band, Tveit would be its Justin Timberlake. Although the dashing 30-year-old hasn’t been onstage since 2011’s Catch Me if You Can, Tveit wowed the world — and certainly its women — playing Enjolras in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Miserables. A leading role on TV’s Graceland followed, along with a sold-out, multinight cabaret show at New York’s 54 Below, which featured covers of Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift. The resulting live album marked Tveit’s recording debut. LAURA OSNES This 28-year-old set the princess bar high with her transformative, delightful turn in the title role of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. A part made famous by Julie Andrews and then Brandy, Osnes earned a Tony nomination in 2013 for the performance. The Minnesota native…

BENJ PASEK AND JUSTIN PAUL Before you scoff at A Christmas Story, keep in mind it earned the two co-writers a Tony Award nomination. They also won the Lucille Lortel Award for best off-Broadway musical for Dogfight. With a long future in front of them, Pasek, 28 (left), and Paul, 29, are working on a movie for Disney, and director Michael Greif (Rent, If/Then) is slated to helm their next musical. Also on their résumé: music for Smash and the Disney Channel show Johnny and the Sprites. JASON ROBERT BROWN A fan of Stephen Sondheim and Billy Joel (though he leans more toward Sondheim), Brown composed the score for the adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County, which currently is on Broadway. A big-screen version of his 2001 musical The…

MUSIC THE HOT NEW RELEASES NOW The words “Abandon Taste” glow on a neon sign in the main room of Jacknife Lee’s Topanga Canyon recording studio, part of a three-structure compound that also includes his home — and a yurt. It’s an ironic statement, considering Lee, real name Garret Lee, is the acclaimed, Grammy-winning producer featured on Taylor Swift’s Red, U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, R.E.M.’s Accelerate and Weezer’s The Red Album. More recently, he produced “Cannibal,” the crunchy new single from Silversun Pickups’The Singles Collection, released Feb. 25; and “I Won’t Let Go” by frequent collaborator Snow Patrol, a heartfelt highlight from the Divergent soundtrack (see story, page 37), released March 11. Like most of Lee’s recent (and best) work, it was recorded here, on an impossibly…

Reviews ALBUM It’s a fne thing when music that’s historically valuable also happens to be a good listen. Such is the case with Out Among the Stars — so much so you’d hardly know that when these long-lost performances were recorded, in the early 1980s, Johnny Cash was at one of his lowest career ebbs. His style of country music had faded out of vogue, his record sales were tanking, and he had become, as he put it in 1997’s Cash: The Autobiography, “invisible” to his label, Columbia. In an attempt to change the situation, Cash teamed up for a few sessions with producer Billy Sherrill, who’d recently been named vp at CBS Nashville. The tactic made sense: Sherrill had displayed his hitmaking mojo time and again with George Jones,…

OVER THE COUNTER KEITH CAULFIELD Spring has arrived, but don’t tell the Frozen soundtrack. The wintry Disney album returns to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a sixth week, selling 99,000 copies in the week ending March 16 (down less than 1 percent), according to Nielsen SoundScan. A week ago, Frozen sold 100,000 and came in at No. 3. With its latest sales sum, Frozen becomes the first album to sell a million units in 2014 (1.1 million so far this year). Its total sales stand at 1.4 million, as the set was released last November and sold 338,000 in 2013. Last year, the industry waited until the week ending March 31 for 2013’s first million-seller: Justin Timberlake’The 20/20 Experience. It crossed the million mark after two weeks on…

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian can move forward with their lawsuit against YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley, a judge ruled, following a post by the tech entrepreneur to his new site MixBit that featured secretly recorded video of the couple’s engagement. West and Kardashian allege Hurley had not been invited to the event, held Oct. 22 at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. John Malone, the billionaire chairman of Liberty Media, has withdrawn his bid for a total takeover of SiriusXM. Malone, who already controls 53 percent of Sirius stock through Liberty, had proposed buying out the remainder of the satellite radio giant in a deal that would have valued the company at $23 billion. Liberty Media has been simultaneously attempting to acquire Time Warner Cable. Former Universal Motown Records president Sylvia Rhone,…

DIGITAL Apple has opened exploratory talks with senior label executives about launching an on-demand streaming service that would rival Spotify and Beats Music, according to three people familiar with the conversations. The surprising discussions are one part of a two-track strategy to deal with the double-digit decline in U.S. download sales at Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the largest music retailer. The other approach that iTunes executives Eddy Cue and Robert Kondrk have broached would institute exclusive album-release windows in which digital versions would go on sale ahead of the CD release. Individual tracks would not be available for sale until the CD versions hit shelves. With iTunes accounting for more than 40 percent of U.S. recorded-music revenue, any decision it makes about its business model will have a significant impact.…

Compiled by Jessica Letkemann “I’m no expert, but up close this does look like a plane and an oil slick.” COURTNEY LOVE The rocker, tweeting a satellite image of an ocean area she suggested might be the crash site of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. “I had such a big burst of creativity that I was thinking, ‘I should have been locked up years ago. I would have come up with a couple of great albums by now!’ ” GEORGE MICHAEL The pop veteran, on feeling inspired after he served a jail sentence in 2010 for driving under the influence. “A huge problem with the music industry is that the guys who started the businesses either sold out or died. And the new guys left.” BEN HOROWITZ The Andreessen Horowitz…

Pandora Wins Latest Royalty Battle But Could Become Prisoner Of War Is Pandora’s box of money one step closer to opening? Publishers and songwriters long have complained that they’re shortchanged by the Internet radio giant, which operates under a provision of copyright law that allows it to play popular songs with a royalty rate set by a court. But a March 14 ruling in Pandora’s favor actually could end up backfiring. Publishers could pull their catalogs from collection societies like ASCAP and BMI and try to force Pandora into direct negotiations for access to their most popular songs. In the latest battle, ASCAP had sought an increase from 1.85% of Pandora’s revenue to 3%, while Pandora was seeking a reduction to 1.7%. The court ruled the 1.85% rate will stay…

MANAGEMENT Atom Factory management, the entertainment, technology and branding firm founded by Troy Carter, promoted Julius “J” Erving and Ty Stiklorius to co-presidents. Erving most recently served as Sony music Entertainment’ vp artist relations and brand integration, forging partnerships with Reebok, AXE, GTV Vodka, PopWater, Songza and HarperCollins. Stiklorius, meanwhile, first partnered with Carter in 2012 and co-manages such artists as John Legend, K’naan and Lindsey Stirling. She’s also a partner with Legend and Mike Jackson in Get Lifted Film. Previously, Stiklorius was a consultant in the media and entertainment practice at LEK Consulting. LABELS Island Def Jam music Group named Sam Watters vp A&R for Island records. As a songwriter-producer, he has worked with Celine Dion, Afrojack and 5 Seconds of Summer, among others. PUBLISHING Round Hill Music appointed…

The same Taylor Momsen who once starred on the CW hit Gossip Girl is far away from New York’s tony Upper East Side. She’s half-naked, gothed up in black eye shadow and surrounded by burning books and tatted-up teens in the video for “Heaven Knows,” the hit song from Going to Hell, the sophomore album by her band The Pretty Reckless, released March 18 on Razor & Tie. Aided by the edgy video, “Heaven Knows” is spending its second straight week at the apex of Billboard’ Mainstream Rock radio airplay chart dated March 29. But the song is notable not just for Momsen’s first breakthrough as a musician — it’s also just the second No. 1 on Mainstream Rock in the last 24 years to feature a woman singing lead.…

THE BEAT “Just run in right now. Do it, let’s go.” —Tyler, The Creator 1 Kanye West channels Yeezus onstage during his Samsung Galaxysponsored show with Jay Z at SXSW on March 12 at the Austin Music Hall. 2 Tyler, The Creator leads moshers at the Thrasher/Converse day party at the Scoot Inn on March 13, wearing items from his Golf Wang clothing line. He was arrested at Austin-Bergstrom Airport on March 15 for inciting an outdoor riot while the venue was at full capacity. 3 In celebration of new LP FOOD, out April 22, Kelis passes out sliders to fans from her #KelisFoodies truck courtesy of Roaming Hunger on March 13. 4 The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’s Charlotte Kemp Muhl prior to her performance with bandmate Sean…

The daughters of some of the most prominent financial executives are making music instead of money, from a hedge fund billionaire’s daughter with four albums under her belt to Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman’s daughter Caroline, a 17-year-old student at New York’s exclusive Spence school who’s pounding the pavement to land a record deal herself. “One thing about Caroline, she’s entirely self-motivated,” says the elder Gorman. Whether or not this is tomorrow’s crop of rising pop stars, these four young women certainly aren’t following in their fathers’ footsteps. The daughter Caroline D’Arcy Gorman, 17, high school senior The dad Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman (reported 2013 compensation: $9.75 million) The music “We’re definitely looking for a label to take us on,” says Caroline of her band Madness & The Film,…

CURSES Maison Premiere oyster bar (298 Bedford Ave.) “The boldest Manhattan is at Maison Premiere — in-house brandied cherries and a stiff tall rye make the mark.” Saint Vitus bar and music venue (1120 Manhattan Ave.) “The most delicious yet evil Picklebacks are at Saint Vitus. This metal bar makes their pickle brine in house, spicy with a kick.” DANNY TENAGLIA San Marco Pizzeria (577 Lorimer St.) “For the best pizza slice.” Frost Restaurant (193 Frost St.) “Seafood. Been there since I was a baby.” BAAUER Le Barricou bistro (533 Grand St.) “Yummy snails.” LuckyDog bar (303 Bedford Ave.) “They let dogs hang out there and they have shuf leboard, which is my fave game to play when drunk.”—Frank DiGiacomo 1 DJ Yip Deceiver opened for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.…

When Rio was released in 2011, the soundtrack market was less than promising — the animated feature grossed $143.6 million, though the will.i.am-helmed soundtrack sold only 148,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But since then, audiences have begun buying movie music — the Pitch Perfect soundtrack has sold 1 million, and the Frozen soundtrack has sold 1.4 million, returning to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the week ending March 16. “Kids’ movies at some point looked over, and it’s a real playing field now,” says Fox Music executive vp Danielle Diego, who provided in-house music supervision on Rio 2. “It’s a different world now.” Rio 2 was conceived as a musical from the start, with songs contributing to the story. Janelle Monae, recruited by writer-director Carlos Saldanha two…

Ellie Goulding photographed Jan. 13 in London. I NEED TO SORT MY LIFE OUT,” says Ellie Goulding with a sigh, fddling with her bright blonde hair as she talks. “And if I don’t do it soon, I may as well just be forever on the road, because that’s what it feels like.” Curled up in the corner of a black leather couch in her modest dressing room backstage at a Washington, D.C., venue, Goulding describes her next six months as if she’s been asked to run endless wind sprints. (Although, as it turns out, that might make this ftness addict happier.) This is what you dream of when you imagine being a pop star: hit singles, a world tour, award show performances, screaming fans. But the reality is not exactly…

On March 6, Katy Perry tweeted that she is “obsessed” with “Catch,” the airy, synth-pop debut single by singer Allie X, posting a link to the “spring jam” for her 51.3 million followers. “That was crazy,” Allie X tells Billboard in her first major interview. “I’d been locked in my shoebox apartment for two years making music and not sharing it with anyone — because I wasn’t ready.” Perry likely heard “Catch” through Cirkut, who coproduced seven songs on her latest album, PRISM, including “Roar.” The “20-something” Allie X, who frequently performed on Toronto’s indie scene under her real name, Allie Hughes, began working with Cirkut after scoring a publishing deal last July and moving to Los Angeles, where she also linked with producer- songwriter Billboard (Britney Spears’ “Hold It…

After winning two consecutive best dance/electronic album Grammys (for 2010’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites and 2011’s Bangarang), Skrillex has released the first thing his own team is actually willing to call a real album. And he did it without warning, through a videogame app that slowly started unlocking songs on March 9 — servicing the fans first, as is his way. It’s a slight distinction, really, from his past eforts: Recess is 11 tracks, about four more than his three previous EPs, which were still long enough to qualify for those Grammy nods. But this album is his biggest, grandest statement to date — and that statement might just be, “I told you so.” The world judged Skrillex, born Sonny Moore in Los Angeles — “the world” in this…

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