Innholdsfortegnelse for Oct-25-14 i Billboard Magazine

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! No. 26? I’d be happy with 99!”Jimmy Fallon could hardly contain himself when told that his new novelty single “Ew!,” featuring Will.i.am, debuts on the Oct. 25 Billboard Hot 100 at No. 26. “You don’t understand how exciting this is for me,” says the host of NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about his first time on the chart. “I have to print this out and frame this.” The track starts with 77 percent of its Hot 100 points from streaming, having collected 6 million first-week U.S. clicks, according to Nielsen BDS. It enters Streaming Songs at No. 8 with nearly all of its streaming points from Vevo on YouTube plays for its comical official video. The premise? Fallon and Will.i.am dress up as BFFs “Sara”…

Will the U.S. music industry ever see another first-week million-selling album? That was an open question even as the CD suffered double digit sales declines for the last seven years. But with digital sales down 11.5 percent in the first nine months of 2014, industry executives are almost universally doubtful that any album can hit the mark, even though both Taylor Swift — whose Speak Now and Red scanned 1.1 million and 1.2 million units, respectively, in their debut weeks in 2010 and 2012 — and Lil Wayne — 1 million and 964,000 for Tha Carter III and Tha Carter IV in 2008 and 2011 — have albums due by the end of 2014. “I don’t know if anybody can do it, except maybe Adele,” says Trans World’s Ish Cuebas.…

A modern-day Trojan War is underway in Los Angeles, as the world’s two largest promoters, Live Nation and AEG Live in partnership with the Nederlander Organization, battle for possession of a trophy that is itself inspired by antiquity: the city’s iconic Greek Theatre. At stake is a multimillion dollar 10-year contract with two five-year options to manage the 5,900-seat outdoor amphitheater, which was built in 1929 and has hosted everyone from Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin to Lorde and Sam Smith. Nederlander, the 102-year-old, family-owned outfit that has managed the Greek since 1976, finds itself on the defensive as the decision is up to the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, which votes Oct. 23 to move a recommended contract forward to the City Council. Who has the advantage?…

HAVING DIRECTED THE 2005 Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, James Keach was cautious when meeting with Glen Campbell and his producer Julian Raymond, not wanting to be typecast as a guy who makes films about country singers. But their sit-down, when Campbell was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, was about making a film that examined the relationship between the brain and music that would be shot during the singer’s planned five-week tour in 2011. “How does a man walk onstage, play for an hour-and-a-half and then not know how to find the bathroom in his own house?” asks Leach, director-producer of Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, which starts its theatrical rollout Oct. 24 in New York. That five-week tour turned into a 151-show, two-and-a-half year trek, and…

1 Tom Hanks (left) with Sting at the singer’s new Broadway musical, The Last Ship, at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York on Oct. 11. 2 Ellie Goulding finishing the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in London on Oct. 12. 3 Stromae with his wax statue at Musee Grevin in Paris on Oct. 12. 4 Lorde greeting fans after her concert at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Oct. 8. Escape Music Festival NEW YORK , OCT. 11 - 12 THE INAUGURAL ESCAPE MUSIC FESTIVAL almost didn’t happen. After launching a promotional campaign and opening ticket sales to the public, organizers were forced to move the two-day festival from Brooklyn to Governors Island two weeks before kickoff — the team behind the event apparently hadn’t secured a permit…

At 70 years old, it’s fair to say Jimmy Page has seen and experienced more than most. And some highlights are documented in his self-titled autobiography, the only ever by a member of Led Zeppelin. “It’s a whole career in front of you in photograph s ,” says Page, the legendary band’s guitarist and founder, of the personally curated 500-page photo graphic account of his life, published Oct. 14 by Genesis Publications after an ultra-limited-edition deluxe version (2,500 copies) was printed in 2010. Why did you rerelease the book now? The original [edition] is astonishing. It’s an incredible work of art. I always hoped we could do an edition that was more user-friendly, more available and more affordable. We’ve also added some extra material, including Led Zeppelin meeting President Obama…

Burt & Dionne’s Christmas GiftFans of Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick’s collaborations should say a little prayer. An insider says Bacharach, 86, wrote and played on an original Christmas song for Warwick, 73, that should be out in time for the holiday season. Shhh!Elektra president Jeff Castelaz, Rock of Ages co-producer Janet Billig Rich, music producer Kerry Paul Brown and Chris Robinson Brotherhood bassist Mark Dutton are working on a hushhush immersive music project that will bring kids and their parents together to experience the most indelible tunes of the classic-rock era. “This will be a very large-scale touring production,” a source close to the endeavor tells Overheard. Sia Faces ForwardAustralian singersongwriter Sia (Furler) didn’t turn her back on Joni Mitchell when she honored the Laurel Canyon icon at the…

AFTER JESSIE WARE BROKE THROUGH with her 2012 debut, Devotion, everyone wanted a piece of her. For the British singer’s sophomore set, Tough Love (Oct. 21, PMR/Friends Keep Secrets/Interscope), Ed Sheeran came from Saturday Night Live rehearsals to work on the soaring “Say You Love Me”; Miguel took a break from penning his new album to cowrite “Kind Of … Sometimes … Maybe” and “You & I (Forever)”; and The xx’ Romy Madley Croft helped craft minimalist bonus cut “Share It All.” But that’s not all that has changed for Ware, 29, who married childhood sweetheart Sam Burrows on the Greek island of Skopelos in August: This time, she’s finally ready to be herself — even it means criticizing her old look. “It’s so camp!” she exclaims, eyeing the heavily…

CALLING ALL MATERIAL GIRLS! WANT a piece of Madonna’ material world? Next month, more than 130 of the pop legend’s personal and professional items are up for grabs — the largest collection of her memorabilia to hit the market — as part of Julien’s Auctions’ Icons & Idols in Rock ’n Roll. Fans around the world can bid on everything from her junior high school yearbook, a ’90s MTV Video Music Award moon man and rare photography to the wedding gown she wore when she married Sean Penn in 1985. “Madonna is a global fashion and music icon,” says the gallery’s co-founder Martin Nolan, who worked with a U.K. group of private investors to curate the collection. “She’s highly collectable.” Open for public viewing Nov. 3; auction takes place Nov.…

ACHIEVEMENTS Rodger’s main clients at Quest, Paul McCartney and Arcade Fire, were two of the largest arena draws this year and are poised for more big moves. McCartney has been quietly collaborating on new music with Kanye West and just completed a score for the popular video game Destiny; Arcade Fire became free agents after 2013’s Billboard 200- topping Reflektor — all its label and publishing deals are in play, the band having fulfilled its previous commitments. Lily Allen is Quest’s latest major signing, joining a roster that also includes Lykke Li, Mikky Ekko and partnerships with firms like U Rok (Tom Odell, Jess Glynne), Scruffy Bird (Kodaline, Lianne La Havas) and Stack House (Rudimental, Gorgon City). MUSICAL BACKGROUND Originally a musician (he played bass for early-1980s post-punk band Dif…

ACHIEVEMENTS Not only has Rudolph shepherded Miley Cyrus’ successful transformation from tween idol to grown-up superstar, he has helped longtime client Britney Spears reinvent her touring career — and the Las Vegas concert market — with a two-year residency at Vegas’ Planet Hollywood. “Vegas was a mecca for entertainment when the Rat Pack was here, but then it lost that cachet when it went the Cirque du Soleil route,” says Rudolph. “You’re seeing things shift from middle-aged couples to a younger audience of kids in their 20s and early 30s coming here to party, and the Britney show fits perfectly in that demo.” Up for renewal in December 2015, the show has already grossed $26.4 million from 41 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore. MAJOR CHALLENGE “The revenue models have all…

ACHIEVEMENT “During the Drake Vs. Lil Wayne Tour, we implemented a digital app component where fans actually got the chance to interact with the tour. I can’t take all the credit; it’s shared with Wayne and Drake. But it was definitely a groundbreaking move.” NEW ROLE “I’m interested in picking Guy Oseary’s brain as to how the hell he put U2’s album on every single iPhone. And the things that Jason Aldean is doing in country? I have no clue about the country music space. I just know they sell a lot of records and have a great loyal fan base. So I’m very interested in tuning in to the country music world.” NEW ERA Bryant compares the consortium to his favorite cartoon show growing up, Voltron. The show’s premise:…

THE 12 MONTHS COVERED BY THIS year’s Grammy Awards (from Oct. 1, 2013 to Sept. 30, 2014) revealed a music community that was prepared to try just about any strategy to make an album release feel like an event. Beyonce went with the sneak attack at dawn, complete with videos for every song. U2, of course, chose the direct assault through iTunes, while Thom Yorke attempted the old double-agent maneuver, aligning with BitTorrent. As streaming continues to surpass downloading, there’s no way to guess how long it will take for the mixed results of these tactics to sort out into anything resembling a coherent battle plan. What’s more interesting to consider, though, is that despite the chaos, there was still music with a real sense of zeitgeist and urgency, phenomena…

IT’S APPROPRIATE THAT FLORIDA Georgia Line took its name from both sides of a boundary, because the duo (Georgia-born Tyler Hubbard, 27, and Florida native Brian Kelley, 29) used its multiformat smash “Cruise,” and the party-themed album Here’s to the Good Times, to redraw — and partly erase — the once-thin lines that separate country from the rest of popular music. The pair wasn’t the first to introduce hip-hop elements to the genre — Jason Aldean did that in “Dirt Road Anthem,” and Colt Ford has built a solid touring career with a rap-country hybrid. But FGL took the approach to a new level by enlisting Nelly on a pop remix of “Cruise” and jamming a street flow into its Luke Bryan collaboration, “This Is How We Roll.” With that…

PRODUCER Jay Joyce LABEL Capitol Records Nashville RELEASE DATE Oct. 21 THERE’S A REASON LITTLE BIG TOWN gets compared to Fleetwood Mac, and it’s not just because two of the bandmates are married to each other or that the quartet performs a spirited take on “The Chain” in concert. It’s also because the coed Alabama foursome often sings about complicated matters of the heart in lush, layered harmonies. But the group’s full-lengths have only sporadically risen to the level of the potential shown on 2005’s breakthrough hit, “Boondocks,” or 2010’s “Little White Church.” Until now. Pain Killer, the group’s sixth studio set, is the album that Little Big Town fans have been waiting for. Forget about the first single, the gimmicky “Day Drinking,” which peaked at No. 10 on the…

DIRECTOR Joe Angio DISTRIBUTOR Music Box Films RELEASE DATE Oct. 29 Revenge of the Mekons is a valuable primer on the revered British band, which has remained a critical darling and cult favorite for decades. While the documentary doesn’t break ground, it does construct an alluring vision of the genre-smashing act through a simple mix of talking heads and concert footage. Director Joe Angio impressively traces a line from The Mekons’ late-1970s beginning as art students from Leeds, England, with no real musical ability, through each stage of their reinvention — punk, folk and alt-country included. But Angio’s real accomplishment is in compiling the telling asides and throwaway quips that capture their spirit. The band’s chemistry hums through the lens — as does a resigned awareness of the futility of…

When Pepe Aguilar was 5 years old, he’d go to the recording studio with his mom, singer actress Flor Silvestre, or play in the film editing room with his dad, actor-producer and ranchera icon Antonio Aguilar. “They were famous and they were singers,” says Aguilar. “It was normal [for me].” Today, Aguilar continues the tradition with the youngest of his four children, Leonardo, 15, and Angela, 10. He often shares the stage with them, including on MTV Unplugged. It’s the newest chapter in “the Aguilar dynasty,” and it has stirred up memories for the reigning patriarch, who got both unwavering support and pragmatic reviews from his parents.“I’m sure my own father was always very proud, even if he didn’t always say so,” says Aguilar. “He became a cheerleader in the…

CHART B E AT Hilary’s New Hit Hilary Duff charts her first song on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 airplay chart in seven years as “All About You” debuts at No. 40. She last appeared with the No. 25-peaking “With Love” in 2007. In 2004, “Come Clean” became her biggest hit on the ranking, reaching No. 9. Her new song previews her forthcoming first album for RCA. “I’m nervous,” she told Billboard in July. “I hope that what I’m writing and how I’m singing and my tastes are what people who have been my fans are going to respond to. I’m excited for the next phase.” —GARY TRUST Weezer Rocks Artist 100 Veteran alt-rock band Weezer (above) scores the highest debut — No. 38 — on the Billboard Artist 100, fueled…

RAPE, VERBAL AND PHYSICAL abuse, indentured servitude and mental torment were but a few of the allegations put forth in a lawsuit filed by pop singer Kesha against hit songwriter-producer Dr. Luke (aka Lukasz Gottwald) on Oct. 13 in Los Angeles Superior Court. The bombshell 28-page complaint was the talk of the industry in the days that followed, in large part due to the shocking nature of 27-year-old Kesha Sebert’s claims — among them that Luke, 41, drugged her and “forced himself” on her, threatened to take away her publishing rights and constantly belittled her appearance, driving her to bulimia. Luke in turn filed his own complaint claiming Kesha; her mother, Pebe; and Vector Management’s Jack Rovner of attempting to extort him in order to extricate her from contracts with…

TAYLOR, IGGY, KATY, NICKI, CHARLI, Jessie, Ariana — there’s no question that women are dominating the singles chart and leading the conversations when it comes to pop music. For the first time in the 56-year history of the Billboard Hot 100, solo female artists have occupied the top five positions on the chart for six consecutive weeks. Including featured guest spots, there are actually eight women in the top five: Meghan Trainor’ “All About That Bass” leads the charge, followed by Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora), Tove Lo’s “Habits (Stay High)” and “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. The feat breaks a 15-year record when Britney Spears, Whitney Houston and Sarah McLachlan were among the women holding down the…

WHILE 2013 WAS the year that Ticketmaster and StubHub battled each other in state legislatures over resale laws, 2014 has seen them face off with innovative products and marketing strategies. As Ticketmaster pushes its new TM+ platform to grow its share of the secondary ticket market, StubHub, which is owned by eBay, is betting on a new pricing strategy to protect its dominance. At stake: a U.S. market for ticket resales that Northcoast Research estimates is worth $5 billion annually. One year into the TM+ rollout, the platform has been used for 3,000 events, ranging from One Direction’s Where We Are Tour to Disney on Ice’s Frozen performances. When a customer searches a tour that employs TM+, tickets offered through a venue’s box office are listed along with those being…

6 Number of Grammys Campbell has won, including album of the year in 1967 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. 7 Years spent as a session guitarist playing on records by Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Monkees and Phil Spector’s artists. 36 Hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Rhinestone Cowboy” (1975) and “Southern Nights” (1977) were his two No. 1s. 91 Episodes of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (featuring writers Steve Martin and Rob Reiner) that ran from 1969 to 1972 on CBS. 151 Shows on Campbell’s farewell tour, which launched Aug. 31, 2011 in Toronto and wrapped Nov. 30, 2013 in Napa, Calif.…

Escape Music Festival NEW YOR K , OCT. 11 - 12 THE INAUGURAL ESCAPE MUSIC FESTIVAL almost didn’t happen. After launching a promotional campaign and opening ticket sales to the public, organizers were forced to move the two-day festival from Brooklyn to Governors Island two weeks before kickoff — the team behind the event apparently hadn’t secured a permit to host the 16,000 attendees and 30-plus acts, which included Neon Indian, STRFKR and Moby. In the end, the change of venue was a good thing. After boarding a free ferry to Governors Island Beach Club, dance friendly sets by local producers Moon Boots and Alex English took place against a scenic waterfront backdrop. Carnival-inspired dancers towered above DJ Boris during his booming, deep techno set on Oct. 12, and fans…

DEV HYNES Bainbridge says he has been buds with the singer-songwriter also known as Blood Orange for 10-plus years, but tracks on Hynes’Cupid Deluxe and Otherness are their first real tunes together, “if you don’t count joke covers in the back of the tour van.” ROBYN Otherness highlight “Who Do You Love,” featuring Robyn, is the true story of the Swedish pop star and Bainbridge roaming Stockholm “smashed” before jamming in a stranger’s music shop. “The next day she posted Instagram videos of me playing,” Bainbridge says. “It wasn’t my proudest moment as a drummer.” SOLANGE Bainbridge spent time producing songs for Solange’s next LP in Ghana and New Orleans, but is tightlipped about it. “When she’s ready to talk about it, I can’t wait.” JIMMY JAM & TERRY LEWIS…

In March, Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot Boy” (explicit version: “Hot N—a”) video hit YouTube. But it wasn’t until June, when Vine user Vladimir Francois looped the rapper’s Shmoney Dance move in the clip, that the song blew up. Now, Shmurda, 20, is signed to Epic Records, and “Hot Boy” rises 12-10 on the Oct. 25 Billboard Hot 100. Here’s how it happened: JAHLIL BEATS “I made the record two years ago for Lloyd Banks’ [“Jackpot”], but it didn’t really pick up much steam and he never paid for it. Bobby brought it to life and turned it into a club anthem. He really took advantage of the track — the way he flowed on it, the way he came in when the bass drops out, how he made the buildup go…

COMPILED BY JESSICA LETEMANN “I can, like, walk around naked now!” —SELENA GOMEZ The pop star during an appearance on Ellen, speaking about the benefits of living solo in her new apartment. “I want to build my empire. I have always seen men do it — from Diddy to Dr. Dre to Jay Z. Now it’s a woman’s turn.” —NICKI MINAJ The rapper discussing her future plans with L’Uomo Vogue. “Best night EVER at a karaoke bar in Nashville!!!!!!!!!” —SAM SMITH The British singer on Twitter just hours after tweeting, “Nashville, sorry I can’t come out to say hey tonight after the show!! Still not feeling 100% and need to sleep!!” “I don’t know … but I think this Ebola epidemic is a form of population control.” —CHRIS BROWN The…

GUY OSEARY HAS PROVEN, IF NOTHING else, that he can keep a secret. From everyone — the music industry, his colleagues, his clients, even his wife — and for months now. But the secret’s so important, so game-changing in its scope, that it has given him the rare occasion to be in Los Angeles long enough to accommodate a four-hour-plus block of meetings, keeping at bay a schedule filled with the global itineraries that come with managing superstar acts like Madonna, U2 and Alicia Keys — not to mention a tech fund with Ashton Kutcher and billionaire Ron Burkle, A-Grade Investments, that has more than 20 companies in its portfolio. Today, Oseary, 42, has privately invited eight of his fellow music managers to his spacious, Spanish-style Beverly Hills mansion for…

ACHIEVEMENTS A key architect, with Oseary, of Maverick’s latest incarnation, Laffitte is a secret weapon for the new venture’s many partners. He teamed with Oseary to co-sign Alicia Keys to a management deal in July, booked studio time with client Ryan Tedder for U2’s Songs of Innocence, partnered with Caron Veazey’s I Am Other to co-manage Pharrell Williams and is sharing resources and other projects with Scott Rodger, including a recent investment in Filter magazine co-founder Alan Sartirana’s latest venture, Anthemic. NEW ERA Though eight of Maverick’s nine partners joined Live Nation under then chairman Irving Azoff’s Front Line, “Everything will be rebranded,” says Laffitte of the companies’ assets, from their respective websites to their business cards to their email addresses. “This feels very different, because Irving and Guy are…

ACHIEVEMENTS Describing himself as “an artist manager first,” Leber notes he also wears a second hat as a surveyor of “emerging technologies and strategies growing out of Silicon Valley, figuring out what companies I can get behind and how my artists can help those companies.” This year, Leber made a large investment in Sherpa Ventures, the venture capital fund of Shervin Pishevar, whose major past investments include Uber, Warby Parker and Tumblr. NEW ROLE Partners with Larry Rudolph in Reign Deer for 12 years, Leber has previously collaborated with Guy Oseary and Gee Roberson. In addition to strengthening those ties, Leber is excited about working more closely with Scott Rodger, Ron Laffitte and the other Mavericks. “Every single person that I either knew prior or know now is a team…

ACHIEVEMENT Scoring Jason Aldean his second consecutive Billboard 200 chart-topper, Old Boots, New Dirt, with first-week sales of 278,000 — without the aid of a major label. Aldean has been signed to indie Broken Bow since 2005, and recently renewed his relationship for several more albums. “I think the Town,” says Spalding, referring to his Nashville peers, “felt that as soon as Jason finished this deal we’d go major. And I told everyone, ‘There’s no place we’d rather be than Broken Bow.’ It’s nimble, it’s a great team, and I don’t know where else I’m going to get that kind of attention, because we are the big boy on the label.” NEW ROLE As Maverick’s sole Nashville member, Spalding has interacted the least with the group prior to joining it.…

What are some misconceptions about voting? Who’s voting is a big misconception. A lot of people think that it’s a public vote or based on charts. The Grammy is a peer award. I also hear a lot of knee-jerk reactions about the nominations review committee: “It’s a bunch of label executives sitting around a room and divvying up all the nominations among the major labels.” It’s the opposite of that. This is an opportunity for experts to level the playing field. For example, in 2011, Esperanza Spalding got nominated for, and then won, best new artist. Because she’s a jazz artist, she didn’t have as high a profile as some of the others that year, but the committee recognized that her talent is enormous, potentially influential and deserving. When will…

PRODUCERS Keyshia Cole, Manny Halley LABEL Interscope RELEASE DATE Oct. 7 KEYSHIA COLE’S EMOTIONAL FEROCITY has always been the linchpin of her career, charging ballads and bangers with lyrics about love, both bright and soured. But as the years wore on from her sweet and-spicy 2005 entry The Way It Is, the Mary J. Blige torchbearer gradually lost the welcoming warmth she once fervently channeled, hardening her shell with each subsequent release. By 2012’s Woman to Woman, Cole had almost fully completed her transformation from cautious romantic optimist to dedicated skeptic of true love, fixating on the darker corners of relationships. After that, the vindictive tone of Cole’s sixth album, Point of No Return, comes as no surprise. Her soft side eroded, she’s frustratingly lost the ability to emote anything…

PRODUCERS Don Was, Jacknife Lee LABEL Capitol RELEASE DATE Oct. 21 AT 73, THE ONLY REASON FOR A NATIONAL treasure like Neil Diamond to still be making albums — let alone entirely self-written ones — is because he wants to. He already has pulled the nest-egg moves: His last four releases were a covers LP, his third Christmas album, his seventh live collection and his umpteenth greatest-hits collection. And he’s decades past needing new music as a calling card for his ultralucrative tours. Yet here he is, with a new label and his 32nd studio set, produced by the intriguing tag team of Blue Note president Don Was (Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, The Rolling Stones) and Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M.). While that pair brings back the big, lush arrangements Diamond’s…

A lot can happen between Bob Seger albums: changes in presidential administrations, a few iPhone generations, a third of Derek Jeter’s baseball career. “I’m so fast,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer says with a hearty laugh. Ride Out — his 17th studio album, and first in eight years — is a modest affair, touting both originals and covers of John Hiatt, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg and Wilco. With the LP arriving Oct. 14 on Capitol, Seger is ready to talk. Another album that took its sweet time. How do you decide when they’re ready? A good song, bottom line. If anything’s on the bubble of being an average song, it’s gone. I just try to keep the quality up as high as I can. It’s an ongoing thing…

BY KEITH CAULFIELD JASON ALDEAN NABS HIS SECOND NO. 1 ALBUM on the Billboard 200 as his new release, Old Boots, New Dirt, explodes atop the list. The country titan’s latest effort struts in with 278,000 copies sold in the week ending Oct. 12, the third-largest sales week of 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The arrival also pushes Aldean to No. 1 on the Artist 100 chart (see page 82). Only the arrivals of Coldplay’s Ghost Stories (383,000) and fellow country star Eric Church’s The Outsiders (288,000) logged bigger frames this year. Old Boots also notches the largest sales week of 2014 for an independently distributed album. (It’s distributed by RED, Sony Music’s independent distribution arm.) Aldean bumps another country giant out of the No. 1 slot: Blake Shelton, whose…

IN 1985, MTV, ALREADY KNOWN FOR making stars of such visually driven music acts as Duran Duran and Madonna, added another notch to its belt: A-ha’s ascension to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The Norwegian trio — Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, who were 22, 26 and 24, respectively — released its debut album, Hunting High and Low, in 1985, and shot an eye-catching video for lead single “Take On Me.” Directed by Steve Barron (Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”), the clip’s combination of pencil-sketch animation and live action earned it heavy rotation on MTV, and the track reached No. 1 in its 15th week on the chart, making A-ha the first Norwegian group to top the Hot 100. The video won six MTV Video Music Awards…

When Capitol Music Group chairman/CEO Steve Barnett announced on Jan. 15 that Morrissey had signed with CMG’s Harvest Records, he praised the artist for staying “consistently true to his artistic vision and ethical principles since he first exploded onto the scene in the 1980s.” Months later, those principles exploded, all right, as Morrissey, 55, blasted his record company for allegedly not properly promoting his new album, World Peace Is None of Your Business, which arrived July 11. Below, a blow-by-blow primer of a fight where both sides say, “F— Harvest.” June 10 Morrissey cancels tour dates due to illness, claiming opener Kristeen Young gave him a “horrendous cold” and apologized for doing so. She denies both claims, saying she had allergies. Aug. 6 Morrissey praises fan music videos for “World…

A SOLUTION TO THE long-contested issue of nightclub performance royalties may come in the form of a small black box. Leading audio-equipment manufacturer Pioneer has developed a product — KUVO, a play on kumo, the Japanese word for cloud — that is plugged into a mixer and tracks each song played through cloud-based technology. And the company, supported by the newly formed Association for Electronic Music, will share the data with performing rights organizations for free. The move is part of AFEM’s “Get Played, Get Paid” campaign, which seeks to steer performance royalties into the hands of songwriters and producers by streamlining the methods used by rights organizations to track music played in nightclubs. AFEM estimates that about $160 million worldwide was lost due to misallocated performance royalties in 2013.…

CHA IRMAN/CEO O F LATIN AMERICA, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL AT SONY MUS I C ENT E RTAINMENT THE 50 OR SO EMPLOYEES at Sony Music Entertainment’s Miami headquarters are used to seeing Afo Verde walk briskly, fitting for a part-time soccer player. But today, he limps, still recovering from a 3-month-old ankle fracture sustained during his company’s weekly soccer match. “I’d love to say I was scoring a goal but the truth is, I stepped in a pothole,” Verde admits. That’s not to say the sporting tradition will stop. The Friday evening bouts have been in place for years and draw such soccer- loving acts as Carlos Vives, Michel Telo and Chayanne when they’re in town. That mingling between artists and executives defines the culture of Sony’s Latin music operations…

How an Oscar winner and ASCAP’s president brought the film’s characters alive Two-time Oscar winner Gustavo Santaolalla and songwriter/ASCAP president Paul Williams were already working on a stage musical adaptation of Pan’s Labyrinth when Santaolalla received the call to score Fox’s animated The Book of Life. Director Jorge R. Gutierrez’ screenplay asked for two songs to complement the covers interspersed throughout the love story populated with Mexican Day of the Dead characters. “The first one we wrote was ‘The Apology Song’ — an apology to the bull that comprises all the bulls that were fought before by [the bullfighter’s] ancestors,” says Santaolalla, 63. “The message of the song is simple: If you forgive, love will always live.” Armed with the two songs, he moved on to giving covers of such…

PUT KIESZA ON A ROOFTOP WITH a rifle and she could probably shoot you down from a block away — not that she’s planning to. Prior to her amazing one-take video for her debut single, “Hideaway,” going viral (to the tune of 132 million-plus views since February), the dance-pop singer-songwriter from Canada chased her teen obsession with boats all the way to the Royal Canadian Navy, where she excelled on the shooting range. “They put you in a war scenario, and you have to test your accuracy,” says Kiesza, forking a grilled salmon fillet in Manhattan restaurant HK Hell’s Kitchen. The thought, however, of training a weapon on a human being torpedoed her naval dreams. “It’s fun when you’re a kid to try to shoot a target, but then reality…

ON A RECENT THURSDAY NIGHT in New York, the scene inside SoulCycle’s Leroy Street studio was a departure from the usual 45- minute spinning class: Singer Nicole Scherzinger was hosting a private ride. From the podium, she told the room: “I’ve never done anything like this before — tonight it’s balls to the wall!” But the former Pussycat Doll’s class wasn’t just about feeling the burn. She is one of many music stars working with the 8-year-old cult spinning company to release new music to influential audiences. “It’s like a listening session, but it’s a workout listening session,” says Lauren Ceradini, Epic Records vp publicity, who coordinated Scherzinger’s Oct. 2 ride to preview songs from her upcoming LP Big Fat Lie for “press, tastemakers and VIPs.” Epic approached SoulCycle after…

Rostam Batmanglij doesn’t need his music to be the main event. In Vampire Weekend, he plays guitar and keyboard and sings behind frontman Ezra Koenig. Now, he’s backing up the Broadway revival of Kenneth Lonergan’This Is Our Youth, a coming of-age drama starring Michael Cera that opened Sept. 11. Batmanglij, 30, composed the play’s incidental music. What inspired you as you were writing? I avoided making a very ’80s score. The play is set then, but the things it deals with are timeless, so it was better to try to create music that was timeless. I was influenced by Arthur Russell and Brian Eno, but the music is more classical. How do you think this play is timeless? At one point, a character talks about how kids in the ’60s…

Annie Clark, 32, from Tulsa, Okla. Took her name from a Nick Cave lyric about a New York hospital. Margiela trench coats, 3.1 Phillip Lim dresses, violet-gray hair David Byrne, Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens Playing SNL; covering “Lithium” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the remaining members of Nirvana. Vincent, eligible for AARP, from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. (Spoiler alert!) Annointed a saint by his 11-year-old neighbor. Camo cargo pants, muscle shirts, wrinkled oversized dress shirts His neighbors; Daka (Naomi Watts), a pregnant prostitute. Saving fellow soldiers in Vietnam; betting on a winning trifecta of horses.–BROOKE MAZUREK…

ACHIEVEMENTS Oseary started as an independent A&R rep in 1989, at age 17, managing hip-hop performers Hen-Gee and Evil-E, and soon became one of the first employees of Madonna’s Maverick record label in 1992, where he eventually rose to partner (alongside the singer’s former manager Freddy DeMann). His first major signing was Candlebox in early 1994, at the age of 21, followed by Alanis Morissette — whose Jagged Little Pill ranks as one of the biggest-selling albums of the 1990s, with U.S. sales of more than 16 million, according to SoundScan. The name Maverick “has been part of so much of my life, and it really says it all,” says Oseary. “It didn’t come from some executive somewhere. It came from a manager and an artist.” More than 20 years…

ACHIEVEMENT “As far as innovative deals [I’ve brokered], there’s the venture with Nicki Minaj and her Moscato wine line, Myx Fusions. The beverage is exploding at a great rate; it’s now at Walmart and other chains. It’s another example of the power of branding and helping an artist become multilayered.” NEW CONNECTIONS “I’m a fan of synergy. I’ve always been a fan of collaborating with other managers. There is nothing more important than to surround yourself with likeminded individuals and nothing more attractive than to build a canopy of fellow managers from different sides of the industry.” MAJOR CHALLENGE “The heavy decline of album sales. You can be in the top 10 of an album chart now by just selling 20,000 records. That’s challenging. And the only way to meet…

ACHIEVEMENT Implementing an epic clip for Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” billed as the first 24-hour music video. Guest cameos included Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt and Steve Martin. “Our team took that chance on a wild idea several months after the song and Despicable Me II had come out,” recalls Veazey. “It grew socially and virally, inspiring people from every area of the globe to make their own version.” Next, she’ll work with Snoop Dogg on an album for I Am Other/Columbia. NEW ROLE I Am Other joined forces with fellow Maverick Ron Laffitte in 2012. “Ron is the only one in the group that I’ve worked with previously. But I’m looking forward to working closely with all of them.” NEW ERA “The consortium feels like a co-op of…

EVERYTHING IS NEW FOR WIZ KHALIFA RIGHT NOW, FROM HIS ALBUM, THOSE PURPLE LOCKS TO EVEN HIS MARITAL STATUS, AS HE MODELS FALL’S MOST-WANTED STREET STYLES WIZ KHALIFA IS IN the midst of a metamorphosis. In addition to the release of his fifth studio album, Blacc Hollywood, the rapper born Cameron Jibril Thomaz is juggling an acting career (the sequel to Mac and Devin Go to High School with Snoop Dogg), his own label (Taylor Gang Records) and — in a nod to his stoner persona — a line of smoking accessories with Raw Rolling Papers. In his personal life, the 27-year-old is undergoing the now high-profile divorce from model Amber Rose, 31, on which he refused to comment (their Twitter accounts offer glimpses into both sides of the story).…

Not since “Greased Lightnin’ ” and “Night Fever” electrified the movies in 1978 have soundtracks proven to be such an indomitable force in the music industry. Triple-platinum sales of Disney’s Frozen soundtrack, the No. 1 album of 2014, and its anthemic single “Let It Go” set the tone for a blizzard of outstanding albums throughout the year. (Two single versions, a studio offering by Demi Lovato and a theatrical version by Idina Menzel, made it the year’s ubiquitous classic.) The Frozen behemoth — No. 1 for 13 nonconsecutive weeks — even threatened to dislodge the peak performance by the Titanic soundtrack, which held the No. 1 spot for 16 weeks in 1998 Movies tug at our emotions through nostalgic songs, as powerfully experienced in the quirky space adventure Guardians of…

TAYLOR SWIFT “OUT OF THE WOODS”BIG MACHINE/REPUBLIC The vast chorus of Taylor Swift’s new single combusts like the closing sequence of a 1980s action movie, a muscular chant that finds Swift asking, “Are we out of the woods yet? Are we in the clear yet?” Kaleidoscopic synthesizers and stacked drums once again demonstrate how far Swift has strayed from her acoustic country roots. But her lyrical details are as evocative as ever, as she spins a story of tenuous romance that includes images of a car crash, a forgotten Polaroid and a decision “to move the furniture, so we could dance.” —JASON LIPSHUTZ MILA J FEATURING TY DOLLA SIGN “MY MAIN” SP/MOTOWN/IDJMG A compelling account of rideor-die friendship, “My Main” finds R&B singer Mila J (sister to Jhene Aiko) scooping…

PRODUCER Tom Brenneck LABEL Daptone Records RELEASE DATE Oct. 21 A PUNISHING SET OF INSTRUMENTALS that pivot off 1970s TV themes, retro rock psychedelia and African funk, Burnt Offering, the fourth album from The Budos Band, is its most potent work to date. Trippy yet rooted, the LP takes soul into a realm where the act has rarely ventured: It’s party music with a scary edge, diving headfirst into a mud bath of demonically dusty organs, cowboy guitar riff s and crunchy drum breaks. But mostly, it’s all about that airtight horn section, which takes the lead and delivers one solar-plexus punch after another. Ethiopian jazz, Nigerian Afrobeat and late ’60s/early ’70s rock are clear touchstones, but the Staten Island group incorporates other novel ingredients: “Black Hills” settles into a…

MTV Goes South Of The Border Regional Mexican star Pepe Aguilar cuts first MTV Unplugged set with ranchera flavor By Leila Cobo TATTOOS CREEP UP AND DOWN PEPE AGUILAR’S forearms. On the left, in hues of gray and black: the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most revered icon; Aguilar’s father, Antonio, imposing atop a rearing horse; and Quetzalcoatl, the Mayan feathered serpent. On his right arm there’s a skull punctuated with red and green, the symbol of the Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday, and an elaborate dragon that snakes around Aguilar’s arm and shoulder all the way up to his clavicle. “I like dragons,” he says, rolling down the sleeves of the denim shirt he wears over a plain black T-shirt. “I like that they symbolize strength, deity, transformation.”…

SUFJAN STEVENS’ S I ST E R ACT Teenage sisters Lily & Madeleine (Jurkiewicz) return Oct. 28 with their second LP, Fumes, on Asthmatic Kitty Records, cofounded by Sufjan Stevens. The Indianapolis duo, which reached the Heatseekers Albums and Folk Albums top 15 with its self-titled 2013 debut, has a new single, “Rabbit,” that’s being supported by NPR’s All Things Considered and KCRW Los Angeles. ‘GERONIMO’ ! S H E P PARD SOARS Following Sheppard’s chart-topping success in Australia in 2013 with “Geronimo” (Republic), the sixpiece band is off to a fast start in the United States thanks in part to a viral video. The former No. 1 Australian single appears in a popular lip-dub wedding proposal clip promoting NBC’s Marry Me. The video garnered 1.2 million YouTube views in…