Innholdsfortegnelse for Oct-11-14 i Billboard Magazine

GLOBAL HITS BY A PAIR of chart rookies reach the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10, as Swedish artist Tove Lo’ “Habits (Stay High)” jumps 13-7 and U.K. dance quartet Clean Bandit’ “Rather Be” (featuring Jess Glynne) rises 11-10. The former climbed to No. 6 on the Official U.K. Singles chart in May, while the latter ruled that tally for four weeks beginning in February. “For me, just to get into the Hot “For me, just to get into the Hot 100 was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ” said Tove Lo during a visit to Billboard’s New York offices on Sept. 30, the day her debut LP, Queen of the Clouds, arrived. “I thought my music was going to be my indie career, on the side of my songwriting. Now…

THE TWITCHY TOP FIVE HIT OF THE Summer, “Turn Down for What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon, has been commissioned by Rock the Vote to soundtrack its voter registration/engagement PSA campaign for the 2014 midterm elections (Nov. 4). Premiering Oct. 6, the PSA will star Lil Jon and include cameos by celebrities from music, TV, film, comedy and other entertainment sectors motivating young people to “turn out for what ... Rock the Vote.” The primarily digital campaign will appear on various social media platforms and Rock the Vote’s website (rockthevote.com). For the first time, an app will allow users to register to vote on their phones in four minutes. “It’s fun and pretty hip,” says Lil Jon of the PSA. “It will do what it’s supposed to do.”…

Thom Yorke is trying to change the music business — again. On Sept. 26, the singer from Radiohead — a group that revolutionized direct-to-fan digital sales with its pay-what-you-want In Rainbows LP in 2007 — released his second solo album through BitTorrent, the developer of a . le-sharing protocol that began distributing music legitimately in 2013, after years of being favored by illegal download sites. Released as a BitTorrent Bundle (the company’s name for . le packages offered by artists), Yorke’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes racked up 1.1 million paid and free one-song downloads after six days. “We’re really happy with the number,” says Matt Mason, BitTorrent chief content officer. By Mason’s count, about 11,000 content creators had signed up to distribute content to BitTorrent’s 170 million monthly users before Yorke’s…

THE COSTS OF TOURING HAVE skyrocketed during the last 20 years, cutting into profit margins. Although Eric Mayers, tour manager for My Morning Jacket and other artists, says costs eat up less of an act’s gross as venue size increases, many arena headliners walk away with just $30 pre-tax from every $100 they earn. Jamie Cheek, an entertainment business manager with Nashville-based accounting firm Flood, Bumstead, McCready & McCarthy, says that roughly 40 percent of tour revenue goes to costs, 30 percent to commissions and 30 percent, pretax, to the act. “Pricing tickets is a delicate balance of art and science, says RZO Productions partner Bill Zysblat. “Accurate sales and cost projections are key.” So how does hitting the road break down for different levels of artists?…

Five years in, the crowdfunding model has yielded thousands of fully funded music projects, including these seven-figure successes 1 Rocker Neil Young’s digital music player Pono, which boasts high-quality audio, asked for $800,000 and raised $6.2 million. 2 Body sensors and a smart fit made the Dash Wireless Smart Headphones a reality. The $260,000 campaign raised $3.4 million. 3 “This is the future of music,” declared avant-cabaret singer Palmer of her 2012 bid, which asked for $100,000 and got $1 million-plus.…

”You should keep [your songwriting] going,” Iggy Pop said to music supervisor Gary Calamar after the two wrote “Let’s Boot and Rally” for HBO’s True Blood in 2012. “It might have been an off-the-cuff comment,” Calamar says now, “but him talking to me inspired me to take it to the next step.” Calamar, currently music-supervising Intruders for BBC America, Cocked for Amazon and the indie film Tumble Down, recorded demos of a half-dozen songs. While working with Atlantic Records’ Kevin Weaver on a True Blood soundtrack, he received further encouragement: a budget to finish the songs and release them digitally as the EP You Are What You Listen To, out Oct. 12. “I never really shopped around the songs — I just did it for myself,” says Calamar, who displays…

IF EVERYTHING HAD GONE AS planned, on Sept. 29, Tim Bergling, otherwise known as 25-year-old EDM superstar Avicii, would have been making his way from a headlining gig at TomorrowWorld in Atlanta to another at Storm Festival in Shanghai. Instead, he’s resting at home in Stockholm. Three weeks ago, on Sept. 8, Avicii canceled all tour dates and appearances to fully heal from the lingering effects of having his gall bladder and appendix removed in March. “Since my operation, I’d just been going and going,” says Avicii in his first interview since the cancellations. “I was dropping weight. I needed to take a break.” Avicii’s troubles began in January 2012, when he was hospitalized in New York for 11 days with acute pancreatitis, reportedly caused by the heavy drinking that…

Bieber-Hoff BromanceJustin Bieber and David Hasselhoff’s bizarre mutual wish — to work together — is coming true. Lanette Phillips, the executive producer of Bieber and Cody Simpson’ tentatively titled music video “Home to Muma,” tells Overheard that Bieber had his heart set on recruiting the former Knight Rider star for the Emil Nava-directed clip. “David and Justin had been wanting to work with each other,” says Phillips. “They love each other.” So, Nava’s camp contacted Darren Grant, the director of the new black comedy Killing Hasselhoff, and a deal was struck. The Hoff agreed to star in “Home to Muma” and, in return, Bieber will play the voice of KITT, the talking car from Knight Rider, in the film, which is about a man who attempts to win a celebrity…

After gunshots and zombie growls, Emily Kinney is the go-to sound for hit AMC show The Walking Dead, which returns for its fifth season on Oct. 12. Her character Beth Greene is known for her sweet singing, but in real life, Kinney, 29, is also a pop-folk singer who has dropped two EPs. How did you get your start in music? When I moved to New York from Nebraska, I pursued acting, but I was also singing backup in bands and hanging out at [Brooklyn venue] Pete’s Candy Store all the time. (Laughs.) How did your singing become such a big part of the show? When I auditioned, it wasn’t a part of the character. But they were looking for more sensitive moments, and they knew I could sing. Some…

HOME BASE Champaign-Urbana, Ill. WHAT IT DOES Raises money — with no administrative costs — to support oncology nurses working with patients undergoing bone marrow and stem cell transplants. TOTAL FUNDS RAISED More than $1 million to date. ORIGIN In the late 1980s, Josh Gottheil brought indie’s most influential acts (The Pixies, Jane’s Addiction) to Champaign-Urbana. “At 14 he started booking bands he had no business booking, at clubs he wasn’t legally allowed into,” says his sister, music executive Lisa Gottheil, who co-founded Grandstand Media & Management. After a 19-year-old Josh succumbed to lymphoma in 1989, the fund was created to give back to the nurses who cared for him. HIS LEGACY “To this day, [Gottheil’s memory] helps me stand strong in my efforts to keep music alive,” says Kristin…

AVE YOU SEEN WHEN THEY PUT the man in the box?” Charli XCX, 22, is poolside at West Hollywood’s Standard Hotel, taking a drag from a Marlboro Light. The fast-rising British pop star and seasoned songwriter is in town on this Friday, Aug. 22, ahead of Sunday’s MTV’s Video Music Awards, where she’s nominated as an artist to watch. (Charli, who lives outside London, will perform “Fancy,” the Iggy Azalea smash for which she provides the hook, during the broadcast and “Boom Clap,” the massive first single from her coming second studio album, Sucker, at the preshow.) The box she’s referring to sits near the reception desk at the hotel; the man is a scantily clad hard body — or lingeriebedecked woman — who enters the transparent plastic container nights…

WHEN NEW YORK DUO 3RD BASS — MC Serch (real name Michael Berrin) and Prime Minister Pete Nice (born Peter Nash), now both 47 — burst onto the scene in 1989 with the single “Steppin’ to the A.M.,” they were a revelation to the public. Serch’s first single, “Melissa,” which came out in 1986 on Warlock Records, “was a brick,” he says. “But I was a white boy who danced, so I got a lot of shows.” He caught a break in the summer of ’87 when hip-hop luminary Russell Simmons, then Def Jam and RUSH Artist Management head honcho, saw him rap at the New Music Seminar MC Battle. Serch recounts that when he walked off -stage, “Russell rubbed my shoulders and said, ‘If anyone asks you, tell them…

DURING THE FIRST PHASE OF HIS career, while under contract with Warner Bros., Prince released 18 albums in as many years. Four are absolute masterpieces; two or three others are damn close. During the next 18 years, after “emancipating” himself from the label’s “slave masters” in 1996, the Purple One produced roughly as many records — many solid, a few very good, none as great as Purple Rain, Sign O’ the Times or even Parade. Hence the widely held theory that Prince is better when he’s got some oversight, someone to save him from himself. And now comes a way to test that theory. After years of doing his own thing and dropping product in novel ways (online subscriptions, newspaper giveaways, exclusives with Target), Prince and Warner kiss and make…

PRODUCER SBTRKT LABEL Young Turks RELEASE DATE Oct. 7 BRITISH PRODUCER SBTRKT’S 2011 eponymous debut was tight and unified, not so gently nudging the moody bass that had bubbled up into the mainstream that year in a poppier, more club-friendly direction. As the lackadaisical title of his sophomore full-length, Wonder Where We Land, suggests, the Londoner (born Aaron Jerome) has all but abandoned that clubby coherence in favor of a meandering, experimental Lorde approach. The new album’s early recording process was free-form and impulsive, with close collaborators Sampha, Koreless and Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek often joining him in the studio as the tapes continually rolled, taking down every idea. This see-what-sticks strategy, while broadening the palette of its predecessor and producing some real standouts, is often confounding. On SBTRKT, the artist…

PRODUCERS Eric Rose, Benny Cassette LABEL Capitol RELEASE DATE Oct. 14 MY HEART’S TOO BIG FOR YOU TO understand me,” concludes Mary Lambert on “Monochromatic,” one of many self-reflective moments on her debut, Heart on My Sleeve. The Seattle native’s earnest songwriting exudes a warm directness that makes her an appealing new pop voice. But the downside of that lyric is also true: Lambert errs anthemic, producing life-affirming pop rock and sorrowful balladry while keeping her life out of focus. In this way, the LP is a likable, yet incomplete, opening statement. Lambert’s voice resonates in the same intimate way as her career-making turns on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love” and her own hit “Secrets,” while conveying heartbreak on “Wounded Animal” and romance on the title track with equal…

TYLER FARR Farr’s Columbia Nashville debut, Redneck Crazy, reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 in 2013, and he co-wrote the album’s hit second single, “Whiskey in My Water.” The title track to his second album, “A Guy Walks Into a Bar,” has reached No. 38 on the Hot Country Songs chart. DAVE TURNBULL Among Turnbull’s numerous Nashville hits are Kenny Chesney’s “The Boys of Fall” and Brad Paisley’s “Anything Like Me” and “Old Alabama” — which each hit No. 1 in 2011 on the Hot Country Songs chart, earning him the Country Music Association’s Triple Play Award in January 2012. HALEY REINHART Walmart exclusively released American Idol Season 10 Highlights: Haley Reinhart, which hit No. 37 on the Billboard 200 in 2011. She signed her worldwide publishing deal with…

TONY BENNETT AND LADY GAGA ARRIVE AT No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with their new collaboration set, Cheek to Cheek. It’s the second No. 1 for Bennett and third for Gaga. The standards album, released Sept. 23 on Streamline/Interscope/RPM/Columbia Records, sold 131,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It also hits No. 1 on the Traditional Jazz Albums chart. (Truly, who would ever have thought, when Gaga’s “Just Dance” came out in 2008, she would team with Bennett for a jazz album?) The 88-year-old Bennett is the oldest living artist to earn a No. 1 on the Billboard 200, beating a record he set himself in 2011. That year, when he was 85, Bennett scored his first No. 1 album with Duets II (which…

WHEN ONE DIRECTION MEMBERS Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne tweeted that fellow boy band 5 Seconds of Summer had a new single out in February, casual observers may have chalked up the endorsement to chummy camaraderie. After all, 5SOS, which formed a year after 1D debuted on the U.K. X Factor, were represented by the same company, London-based Modest Management, founded by music industry veteran Richard Griffiths. But relations between the two groups go deeper. According to multiple sources, 1D holds a financial stake in 5SOS. An Aug. 9 report in a U.K. paper was the first to make the connection, reporting that the five members of 1D, which also includes Harry Styles, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan, own a share of London-based company 5SOS LLP. Billboard has since confirmed…

For the longest time, digital media executive Lars Murray didn’t know what to do with Pandora. As vp marketing at Columbia Records, he recognized that it was the top streaming radio service in the United States (84 million monthly listeners in August 2014, per comScore) and accounted for nearly half of SoundExchange’s $650 million in 2013 payouts. But Murray, who became Pandora’s vp industry relations in July, says, “It was a black box; we knew it was significant, but. didn’t have much of a dialogue.” Now, Murray is one of the key executives hosting that dialogue with the industry, joining a list of recent hires from different corners of the music business. Together, they’re leading a charm offensive designed to put a fresh face on a company that just a…

ON DECK FOR THE FOURTH quarter: a virtual avalanche of all-covers albums. From the divas (see chart, below) to the showmen (Barry Manilow’My Dream Duets, out Sept. 16), rock radio vets (Bryan Adams’Tracks of My Years, out Sept. 30) to hipsters du jour (She & Him’Classics, out Nov. 10), it seems established artists have found a new safe haven for full-length releases, a role that holiday collections have served in the past. And it’s no wonder: Covers offer a low-risk alternative for an artist not only to take a creative break while maintaining their public presence, but also to have the potential for big returns. The two best examples from the last decade: Rod Stewart, who revitalized his career with his five-volume Great American Songbook series, which debuted in 2002,…

BY GLENN PEOPLES AND JEMASWAD Something was missing when the National Hockey League’s Nashville Predators played their first home game of the 2014-2015 season on Sept. 25: Gary Glitter. Previously, each time the team scored a goal, the Bridgestone Arena played a snippet of Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Part 2” — aka the ubiquitous “Hey Song” with the rolling beat and chantalong “Hey!” chorus. But the Predators may not have realized until recently that the song earns royalties for a man convicted of two child-sex offenses and accused of several more. Glitter, 70 (real name Paul Gadd), was a superstar in his native England during the glam-rock era of the early 1970s, with 10 top 10 singles, including three No. 1s. “Rock and Roll Part 2,” his biggest U.S. hit,…

AS YOUTUBE HAS exploded into a vintage video destination, MTV has been digging slowly through its vast vault, uncovering footage that has been buried for decades. On Nov. 24, Rhino will release the first fruit of those labors, REMTV, a six-disc box set that chronicles R.E.M.’s numerous appearances on the channel during the past 30 years. The collection features live performances, awards show highlights, interviews and a documentary, R.E.M. by MTV, by Alexander Young that traces the band’s appearances across Viacom’s networks. “We have such a long, storied history with R.E.M.,” says Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group at Viacom. “Their rise to fame chronicles MTV’s beginnings, and they did so much work for us around the world. We’re realizing as we’re unlocking our vaults how…

Aussie singer Cody Simpson enjoyed a sliming onstage at the Nickelodeon Slimefest at the State Netball & Hockey Centre in Melbourne, Australia, on Sept. 28. 1 Neil Diamond performed at alma mater Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn on Sept. 29. 2 The Raveonettes backstage at the Midpoint Music Festival in Cincinnati on Sept. 27. 3 Robert Plant on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Sept. 26. 4 Enrique Iglesias hoisted Gente De Zona’s Randy Malcom at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sept. 25. 5 Will.i.am with Lauryn Hill following her performance at the Dover Street Arts Club in London on Sept. 27.…

Lady Antebellum is trying something new. The trio (Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood) has risen to the top of Nashville’s ranks thanks to its country-pop blend, winning the record and song of the year Grammys in 2011 for the title track to its second LP, Need You Now. For its sixth album, 747 — released Sept. 30 on Capitol Nashville and projected by industry forecasters to sell 70,000 units in its first week — Lady A replaced longtime producer Paul Worley with Nathan Chapman, known for his work with Taylor Swift. Chapman’s other star client may have fully abandoned country for pop, but he didn’t lead Lady A in the same direction, as evidenced by the banjo plucks on the Country Airplay chart-topper “Bartender.”747 was also one of…

Producer Flying Lotus (born Steven Ellison) has become something of a god in the electronic beat scene. Known for records that straddle glitch hop and jazz fusion, he has upended genre lines with a crew of musical misfits signed to his Los Angeles-based Brainfeeder imprint. One such artist was Austin Peralta, a pianist who died in 2012 and to whom Lotus’ fifth studio LP, You’re Dead!, is dedicated . The album (due Oct. 7 on Warp) features Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and Herbie Hancock on keys. “[Peralta] would’ve been cheesing so hard,” Ellison, 30, says of Hancock’s playing. But Peralta wasn’t the only thing on Ellison’s mind when he brought You’re Dead! to life.…

JESSE ISRAEL HAS PERFECTED networking on the move — literally. The founder of Cantora Records, notable for signing MGMT, also runs the Cyclones, a bicoastal bike club favored by music-biz cool kids who prefer beer to bottled water after a ride. “It’s a social bicycling club,” explains Israel, 29, whose mission “is to bring great people together through adventures on two wheels.” Israel and New York attorney Matt Rising started Cyclones in June 2013 as a group outing for 15 friends. It quickly grew to around 900 members, with an average of 100 showing up for the five-hour-plus rides. Regulars include C3’s Taylor Hass (who also manages buzz band Wet), Anthony Demby of music branding agency Humble Riot, Neon Gold Records’Francesca Stabile, Full Moon Festival’s Max Pollack and Banks manager…

TENNESSEE THOMAS has her dad, Attractions drummer — and one of rock’s all-time greatest percussionists —Pete Thomas, to thank for the name of her East Village boutique. “He had a thing called the Deep End Club when he was young and crazy,” says the 29-year-old shop owner and drummer (just like her dad). On tour, in his younger years, her father would jump into hotel swimming pools fully clothed whenever someone declared “a Deep End Club meeting.” Three years ago, Thomas jumped into the deep end herself: She quit her now-defunct indie-rock band The Like after 10 years of touring with acts including Kings of Leon, Phantom Planet and Muse and moved to New York from Los Angeles. In August 2013, she opened a two-week pop-up in the East Village,…

HBO’S GIRLS“I Love It,” the Icona Pop song co-written by Charli, played during a coke binge by Hannah Horvath, Lena Dunham’s character on the show. RIHANNA The singer, who claims 13 No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100, has brought in Charli to work with her. IGGY AZALEA “I’ll always have time for Iggy,” says Charli, who is featured on the hook of her summer smash, “Fancy.” COOKIE MONSTER The Sesame Street star did a rendition of “I Love It” as “Me Want It.” THE FAULT IN OUR STARSThis box-office hit’s soundtrack includes Boom Clap” as the lead single. Charli saw the movie but never finished the book. GWEN STEFANI Charli has written for the new Voice coach, who is now planning her next solo album as well as more…

IT’ A sweltering Southern California afternoon, nearly 100 degrees, and Gloria Trevi is about to chow down on some In-N-Out Burger. Already today, the Mexican pop star has worked out, boot camp-style, with a trainer she jokingly calls “the Evil Filipino.” The 46-yearold exercises for three hours daily when she’s not on tour, so even her lettuce-wrapped hamburger indulgence is moderate. On this Monday in September, Trevi is working from her manager’s Santa Clarita home, more than 1,500 miles away from where she resides with her two children and husband, attorney Armando Gomez, in McAllen, Texas. Fit and radiant, she’s wearing black leggings with a blouse of violet hues. Her shoulder-length auburn locks are perfectly in place, a major contrast to the Latin singer’s colorful beginnings, which included big, wild…

• DIRECTOR One9 • PRODUCERS One9, Erik Parker, Anthony Saleh • DISTRIBUTOR Tribeca Film • RELEASE DATE Oct. 1 FEW ALBUMS IN HIP-HOP HISTORY ARE AS universally celebrated as Nasir “Nas” Jones’ 1994 debut, Illmatic. But the story behind the LP’s creation — the concepts, production process and societal influences that put Nas at the forefront of the rap vanguard — is subject matter less explored. Twenty years after Illmatic’s release, the documentary Time Is Illmatic, from first-time filmmakers One9 and Erik Parker, aims to put the album into a more historic and visual context. Through archival video footage, photographs and interviews, Time Is Illmatic tells the origin story of one of rap’s greatest MCs, smartly focusing on personal and sociological factors that shaped him and his music. This is…

TALKS HIS TRACKS For Tracks of My Years (Verve), Bryan Adams’ first record in six years, the Canadian pop-rock star, 54, says he “fumbled my way through a bunch of covers.” The LP, which also includes one original, is an homage to the classics that influenced the hitmaker — whose legacy includes four No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 million U.S. album sales, according to the RIAA — as a child. Adams, who is releasing a 30th-anniversary edition of his Reckless album on Nov. 24 and is also working on a new studio set, took Billboard on a tour through some of Tracks’ best, well, tracks. “KISS AND SAY GOODBYE” (originally by The Manhattans) “I was messing around looking for Philadelphia soul and Motown on YouTube. I…

PRODUCER Nigel Godrich LABEL self-released RELEASE DATE Sept. 26 Thom Yorke is at a stage in his career where he’d rather innovate with distribution methods than music. Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, his second solo set, is the first record to be sold through BitTorrent (see story, page 12), but its sound isn’t as future-forward. The songs lie somewhere between Yorke’s first solo odyssey outside of Radiohead, 2006’s The Eraser (brittle, grayscale), and his 2013 release with supergroup Atoms for Peace, Amok (richer, fleshed out). It’s easy to imagine them slotting in nicely on the latter, brought to full strength by the addition of a Flea bassline or a secondary synth; cool and spare, the lesser tracks feel like glorified sketches. Here, Yorke employs a base set of themes and tones that…

Following the success of Alt-J’s 2012 debut LP, An Awesome Wave, the British band has returned with its second effort, This Is All Yours (Infectious/Canvasback/Atlantic). The alt-rock trio’s set debuts at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 (its first top 10 album) and No. 1 on Top Rock Albums. 68K This Is All Yours sold 68,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 28, according to Nielsen SoundScan, giving the band its biggest sales week yet. Bonus: The Mercury Prize-winning An Awesome Wave (Infectious/Canvasback/Atlantic) surpassed 300,000 in total sales (in the week ending Sept. 14). 16% The new album’s current single, “Left Hand Free,” rises 8-5 on the Alternative airplay chart (up 16 percent in plays, according to Nielsen BDS). It’s the act’s highest-charting single, surpassing the No. 9 rank of…

Trainor All About No. 1 Meghan Trainor takes over as the top artist in the United States, rising 3-1 on the Artist 100 chart. As her breakout debut hit, “All About That Bass,” leads the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth week (see page 3), digital sales account for 53 percent of her Artist 100 points. Radio airplay (19 percent), streaming (17 percent) and album sales (10 percent) follow. The release of Trainor’s introductory EP, Title, has helped her reach the Artist 100 summit. It has spent its first three weeks in the Billboard 200’s top 25, selling 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The Billboard 200’s new leaders, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, launch at Nos. 15 and 17, respectively, on the Artist 100. With their collaborative Cheek to…

The fourth quarter is looking robust, with big releases ranging from Kanye West to Barry Manilow, but its secret weapon is an unusually strong slate from the country sector. “It’s the busiest in the five years I have been down here in Nashville,” says Warner Nashville president John Esposito. The genre came into the quarter powered by a booming September: Kenny Chesney (who has nine albums that have scanned more than 1 million units) had first-week sales of 130,000 with The Big Revival, according to Nielsen SoundScan; George Strait (19 million-sellers) scanned 51,000 in the first week of The Cowboy Rides Away Live; 10-time million-seller Tim McGraw moved 71,000 copies of Sundown Heaven Town in its first week; Lady Antebellum (three million-sellers) released 747 on Sept. 30, which is projected…

SUBWAY Want to #Meet Taylor? Sandwich chain Subway (through codes on limited-edition Diet Coke cups) is giving Swift fans a chance to win a trip, complete with meet-and-greet passes, to her 2015 tour. $10M Estimated media spend of Subway’s six-week ad campaign. DIET COKE After signing Swift as a brand ambassador in January 2013, the soda giant will amp up its support with a mid-October TV campaign set to debut a fresh track from 1989. $26M 2013 media spend behind Diet Coke’s Swift campaign, according to Kantar Media. PAPA JOHN’ Fans who wanted a side of pop-tinged heartbreak with their pepperoni and breadsticks could purchase 2012’s Red with a one-topping pizza for $22. The stunt helped secure a No. 1 debut for the album. 9,000 Copies Papa John’s sold of…

Annie Lennox, NostalgiaOut on vinyl now (CD and digital on Oct. 21), it’s the four-time Grammy winner’s first non-Christmas release since 2007’s Songs of Mass Destruction. Barbra Streisand, PartnersWith Michael Buble, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Blake Shelton, Lionel Richie and others, the duet set is her 10th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Bette Midler, It’s the GirlsThe Divine Miss M’s salute to girl groups (due Nov. on Warner Bros.) features covers of everyone from The Supremes to TLC. Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett, Cheek to CheekThe jazzy duets collection tops the Billboard 200 dated Oct. 11, moving 131,000 units in its first week. Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva ClassicsCovers on the RCA LP include songs by Adele (“Rolling in the Deep”) and Alicia Keys (“No One”). —KEITH…

BY MEGAN BUERGER PHOTOGRAPHED BY DOROTHY HONG WHEN KICKSTARTER MOVED into Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood in January, renovating a former pencil factory into 29,000 square feet of high-tech office space that includes a theater, library and rooftop garden penthouse (price tag: $7.5 million), employees of the 5-year-old company — and its newly named CEO Yancey Strickler, 35 — seemed to still be metaphorically pinching themselves. “We never imagined we’d have 100 people working for us; we hoped 100 people would know about us,” says the unmarried Strickler, a co-founder of Kickstarter with Charles Adler and former CEO Perry Chen. Today, millions of people use the site each day, adding up to a daily average of $1 million in pledges (some 70,000 campaigns have launched on the site). The tally since 2009:…

A song by husband-and-wife team Us the Duo is featured twice in the Fox animated feature The Book of Life: Placido Domingo sings “No Matter Where You Are” with Zoe Saldana, and it’s reprised over the end credits. The placement is the latest in a string of recent successes by Michael and Carissa Alvarado, one of the first acts signed to a major label — Republic — from a Vine video. Mexican-style covers of Radiohead’s “Creep,”Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” and Mumford & Sons’ “I Will Wait” are also featured in the film, along with a half-dozen other songs arranged by Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla, who wrote two originals for the film with Paul Williams. Fox had all the selections chosen except for a wedding song, and put a call…

BEFORE LAUNCHING INTO A RENDITION OF “OLD BROWN Shoe” at George Fest, which celebrated the late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, funny-guy Conan O’Brien primed the audience with a joke: “I want to apologize. I was told this was going to be a tribute to George Michael, so I spent a week learning the song ‘Faith.’ ” The comedian, who ran a week-long tribute to Harrison pegged to the release of The Apple Years: 1968-1975 (a box set of the Beatle’s solo work) on Conan, was among dozens of famous musicians, including Brian Wilson, Norah Jones, Wayne Coyne, Brandon Flowers, Ann Wilson, “Weird Al” Yankovic and Ben Harper, to take the stage at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre. The event, which was overseen by Harrison’s son Dhani, also doubled as a benefit…

IGGY AZALEAplayed byCHLOE GRACE MORETZ “I saw the way you dance, girl. You could play me.” PETE WENTZ OF FALL OUT BOYplayed byBILLY ZANE “We’d have to shorten his legs — he’s very tall.” MACKLEMOREplayed byMACAULAY CULKIN “Macaulay Culkin in 1991. Final answer!” VINZ OF NICO & VINZplayed byIDRIS ELBA “Idris Elba, just for the coolness.” TYLER GLENN OF NEON TREESplayed byMILEY CYRUS “Miley can play me. We have similar hair.”…

ON PAPER, TINASHE MAY COME OFF like a former teen rebel: skipping prom and getting kicked out of her high school musical. And her slinky hit “2 On,” a paean to the almighty “turn-up,” teases out that narrative. But in reality, the R&B upstart — who’s releasing her debut album Aquarius Oct. 7 on RCA — was simply too busy taking meetings with Hollywood studios and touring with Justin Bieber to take a smoke break behind the bleachers. “I was really independent, ambitious,” says the singer, 21, born Tinashe Kachiogwe. “I was focused at a young age. I always knew where I wanted to go.” And now she’s finally arriving. “2 On” picked up steam earlier this year, powered by a smoky beat courtesy of DJ Mustard and a Schoolboy…

“I am shocked and disgusted at the amount of racism that has been infecting my account.” —FKA TWIGS The British singer tweeting after fans of Robert Pattinson, whom she is rumored to be dating, began harassing her on Twitter. “Wedding? What wedding? I was at a bar mitzvah.” —BONO The U2 frontman to People magazine on George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin’s nuptials. “It’s nice that it sounds better for the fans, but I live in the now. I don’t have to go backwards to celebrate.” —PRINCE The Purple One to The AP about a 30th-anniversary rerelease of Purple Rain. “When you stop having more good times than bad times, it’s time to call it quits.” —JASON DERULO The “Wiggle” singer discussing his split from singer Jordin Sparks during an On…

BEN BALLER’S LIST OF CLIENTS READS like a top hits chart: Kanye West, Drake, Nas, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd, Snoop Dogg, The Black Eyed Peas, Mariah Carey, Odd Future, Joel Madden and Rita Ora. “It’s a pretty long list,” the 41-year-old music executive-turned-custom jeweler says, naming just a few celebrity clients (who pay —at minimum — $25,000 for his designs). In just a decade, the married L.A. native who was born Ben Yang has supplanted Jacob the Jeweler as the go-to — and perhaps blingiest —jeweler to the stars, making grills for Justin Bieber and diamond-encrusted belt buckles for the late Michael Jackson. “He has his finger on the pulse of what’s next for the hip-hop genre’s jewelry culture,” says client Pusha T. Prior to hawking diamonds, Baller made a…

Neon Gold co-founders Lizzy Plapinger, 26, and Derek Davies, 27, played a critical role in establishing Charli XCX’s U.S. stardom. The artist approached the two to release her first EP through Warner in 2011, but a contract with Sony’s Columbia prevented them from doing so. Instead, Plapinger and Davies booked Charli for Neon Gold’s influential Popshop showcases in New York and at South by Southwest — gigs that have helped propel such acts as Ellie Goulding, Haim and Tove Lo to stateside fame (all three issued their first releases on the label). Plus, Davies adds, “I put up Charli and her band at my loft downtown on their first trip” to New York, establishing a fast friendship. After Neon Gold signed to Warner’s Atlantic in January 2014, Davies and Plapinger…

1968 Born Feb. 15 in Monterrey, Mexico. 1975 Sneaks off with the family housekeeper to enter a Mother’s Day poetry contest and wins. 1985 Joins the short-lived all-girl band Boquitas Pintadas (Painted Lips). 1989 Releases her first solo album, ¿Que Hago Aqui? (What Am I Doing Here?). 1989 Nearly banned from Mexican network Televisa for showing her underwear, ripping her nylons and generally acting “too aggressive.” 1991 Releases sophomore album, Tu Angel de la Guarda (Your Guardian Angel), featuring the hit “Pelo Suelto” (“Loose Hair”). 2000 Detained in Brazil with then-manager/boyfriend Sergio Andrade; both are accused of kidnapping and corrupting minors. 2002 Gives birth to son, Angel Gabriel, in a Brazilian prison. 2009 Marries attorney Armando Gomez. 2013 Appears on Televisa telenovela Libre Para Amarte (Free to Love You); releases…

“L.A. LOVE (LA LA)” WILL.I.AM/INTERSCOPE It has been eight years since Fergie blasted into solo stardom with The Dutchess, and time hasn’t deflated her swag. She pulls out all the right stops here, drawling nails-tough raps over a DJ Mustard beat. It’s only the hook, a literal listing of city names, that’s clumsy. Let’s hope the second time’s a charm. —STEVEN J. HOROWITZ WALK THE MOON “SHUT UP AND DANCE” RCA RECORDS This Cincinnati indie-rock quartet has always erred on the kitschy side, but it goes fullblown yacht rock on “Dance,” dedicated to a “discotheque Juliet teenage dream.” Frontman Nicholas Petricca . aunts his emotive yelp over grumbling disco bass and new-wave synth glitter, tossing off vocal runs catchier than most bands’ choruses. —RYAN REED AZEALIA BANKS “CHASING TIME” SELF-RELEASED…

PRODUCER Scott Hendricks LABEL Warner Bros. Nashville RELEASE DATE Sept. 30 THANKS TO HIS COACHING GIG ON The Voice, Blake Shelton has morphed from country headliner to household name in the past three years. Now, the Oklahoma boy is out to prove he’s still in touch with his roots on his 11th studio LP, Bringing Back the Sunshine. It’s a wise move on Shelton’s part — to embrace his base rather than continuing too far down the crossover TV star path. His 2013 album, Based on a True Story..., felt like an inconsistent rush to capitalize on his Voice fame and fell victim to Auto-Tune dabbling, among other indiscretions. His latest sets out to right that wrong, and the result is one of Shelton’s strongest recent efforts. The LP kicks…

R ROBERT OTT WAS JUST 19 YEARS OLD when he started his own music publishing company and recording studio — with the otherworldly name of Lunar Music — in his native Canada. The big guys in the business took notice and soon came calling. Ott wound up with a job at BMG Music Publishing Canada and eventually rose to become vp/GM of that company. But the entrepreneurial streak that led Ott into the music business as a teenager couldn’t be denied. In 2004, he and business partner Tim Laing founded ole, a music publishing company in Toronto. Ott today, at 50, is chairman/CEO of ole, which this year marks its 10th anniversary as one of the top 10 largest music publishing companies in the world. And in the world of…

KING-SIZED HIT Mix Duffy’s vocals, The Black Keys’ urgent rhythms, and a hook and tempo that recall Pink’s “So What” and you have Elle King’s catchy and clever RCA debut, “Ex’s & Oh’s.” Ahead of her 2015 debut LP, King (the daughter of comedian-actor Rob Schneider) is earning support at triple A radio, including WFUV New York, after touring with acts including Train and Ed Sheeran. FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR Alt-metal group Islander bullets at No. 26 on Mainstream Rock with the aggressive yet melodic “Coconut Dracula.” (The quirky title’s inspiration? Singer Mikey Carvajal misheard his grandfather, who was speaking in Spanish.) The Greenville, S.C., band released its debut studio album, Violence & Destruction, on Victory Records in July and has opened for metal heavyweight Rob Zombie.…

25 Years Ago SOME THINGS ARE WORTH THE WAIT. On Oct. 7, 1989, Paula Abdul’s debut album, Forever Your Girl, made music history when it completed the slowest climb to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. By the end of 1989, Abdul, then 27, was inescapable on the charts and on the radio. The former Laker Girl dominated the Billboard Hot 100 that year with three No. 1 singles from the album: “Straight Up,” the title track and “Cold Hearted.” But though the album spent most of the year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, it didn’t hit No. 1 until its 64th week — a record that still stands today. Forever Your Girl would ultimately spend 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and go on to sell…