Innholdsfortegnelse for Sep-27-14 i Billboard Magazine

GIRL POWER FUELS the Billboard Hot 100’s upper ranks as women shut men out from the chart’s top five for a second straight week. Meghan Trainor’s debut hit, “All About That Bass,” is No. 1 again, followed by Taylor Swift’s former two-week leader “Shake It Off ” at No. 2. Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda,”Iggy Azalea’s “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora) and Minaj’s “Bang Bang” (with Jessie J and Ariana Grande), round out the all-female top five. How rare is this type of diva domination? This issue’s chart (dated Sept. 27) marks just the ninth week in the Hot 100’s 56-year history in which women have barred men from the top five. Before the Sept. 20 chart, ladies had last taken control of the region on March 3, 2012, thanks to hits…

SONY ENTERTAINMENT’S MUSIC division, which encompasses the 125-year-old Columbia Records along with labels RCA and Epic, is but a blip in the Tokyo-based electronic giant’s balance sheet — the company recorded overall revenue of $66.1 billion in 2013 but is anticipating a $2.15 billion loss for the fiscal year ending in March. But with such superstar acts as Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand, Adele and Justin Timberlake on its roster, and a market share of 27.5 percent so far this year, it’s one that has eyes peering toward the top of 550 Madison, where Doug Morris, soon to turn 76, sits perched as Sony Music CEO threeand-a-half years into a four-year contract. Multiple sources tell Billboard that a shift in top brass has been discussed with two names bandied about as…

As president of RCA Records, a label that has Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Foo Fighters, Pink and Kelly Clarkson on its roster, Corson works with several artists who could potentially pull off a marketing move as massive as U2 and Apple’s. A week after U2’s surprise, free release of its new album, Songs of Innocence, Corson weighed in on the potential benefits to other artists and labels, including his own. What’s your initial take on what U2 did? More than ever, there are no rules. Music has been moved into this access model over ownership; it really throws a lot of opportunities our way. You just have to measure it up and see if you can create a valuation for it. As long as all the parties involved — the…

Nashuva (Founder’s Church of Religious Science, 3281 W. Sixth St., Los Angeles) Incoming Universal Music Publishing Group chief Jody Gerson (pictured) and Creative Artists Agency music agent Jenna Adler are among the devotees of Rabbi Naomi Levy. Temple of the Arts at the Saban Theatre (8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills) “Music is a large component of what we do,” says Rabbi David Baron of his congregation, which employs a promoter in residence to book acts like Kenny Loggins. Temple Emanuel (8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills) Irving and Shelli Azoff, Maroon 5 manager Jordan Feldstein (pictured), industry vet Mo Ostin, attorney Don Passman and West Coast-based members of Clive Davis’ family congregate down the road from the Four Seasons. The Davis patriarch hosts Rosh Hashana dinner at his New York apartment.…

The year 2014 was shaping up to be a banner one for Devo, with two movies on deck, but it now appears only a concert film shot in late June will see a release (in October), while a longpercolating documentary on the band undergoes more editing. Hardcore Devo Live was filmed during the group’s U.S. tour, which featured songs written and recorded in the mid-1970s. The film, an MVD release directed by Keirda Bahruth, will premiere at October’s CBGB Music & Film Festival in New York. Surviving members of the band will also give a free performance. The tour raised money for the family of guitarist and founding member Bob Casale, who died in February of heart failure at 61. “It was almost a didactic lesson to the crowd,” says…

NESTLED ON THE NORTHWEST coast of Nantucket Island is an unassuming boutique named Jewel of the Isle that has been experiencing a business boom of late. Owners Gary and Kelli Trainor’s handmade seashell bracelets and basket charms have been a draw for more than 25 years, but the store has a new attraction: Their daughter Meghan’s first platinum plaque, presented to her on the Sept. 11 Ellen DeGeneres Show by DeGeneres herself for her smash debut single, “All About That Bass.” “My dad’s like, ‘Business is great now!’ ” says Trainor, 20. That isn’t the only good news Trainor’s parents shared with her recently. The singersongwriter’s mom was the first to tell her that “Bass” had boomed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, reaching Trainor, who had just…

WHEN AMIRAH KASSEM WAS ASKED BY Wu-Tang Clan to create a custom cake for an art exhibit honoring the group’s 20th anniversary last fall, the rappers seemed skeptical that the baker was familiar with their legacy. “The first meeting was the funniest thing ever,” says Kassem, 27, who works out of her home in Brooklyn. “They’re looking at me like, ‘This little blue-eyed girl is not going to know anything about what we’re doing.’ ” But when someone mentioned their song “Ice Cream,” Kassem began rapping. “The whole room started laughing,” she says. Apparently, her skills paid off. Kassem’s one-woman business, Flour Shop, was commissioned to make five Wu-Tang-inspired cakes , including a chess set celebrating its 1993 classic “Da Mystery of Chessboxin’.” The Mexico native, a former fashion stylist…

Alt-J doesn’t take hallucinogens to have a transcendental experience. For frontman Joe Newman, all he needed was a trip to Cornwall, England, and Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place” on repeat to take him to another orbit. “The mood of the song matched the mood of the weather, and it was just phenomenal,” recalls Newman, who, along with Gus Unger-Hamilton and Thom Green, won over the indie-rock world after the group’s 2012 debut, An Awesome Wave, sold 298,000 U.S. copies (according to Nielsen SoundScan) and landed Britian’s coveted Mercury Prize. “Stormy seas with Radiohead in my ears and an abandoned beach. If you find the right landscape and the right music, it’s kind of like you don’t need to use drugs.” For its second album, This Is All Yours (Sept.…

COM PILED BY JESSICA LETKEMANN “I want to have tampons as merch that say ‘Periods are punk.’ ” —CHARLI XCX The “Boom Clap” songstress, in an interview with Complex. “It tastes kind of like chicken liver.” —WENDY WILLIAMS The TV host, literally eating crow on her talk show after she lost her bet that Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s marriage wouldn’t outlast the reality star’s 72-day union to Kris Humphries. “People ... always want to think we’re in a boxing match, that we’re fighting, but we’re not. We were never enemies.” —YOKO ONO The artist-musician and John Lennon’s widow, on Paul McCartney. “CBS ... F— you! Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this.” —RIHANNA The singer on Twitter, after Jay Z’s “Run This Town” (featuring Rihanna) was reportedly pulled…

Madison Square Garden (thegarden.com) “Ever since I was a kid, my father has played there regularly. I sometimes think he’s more at ease at the Garden than when he’s playing the Steinway in his own living room.” The Living Room (livingroomny.com) “I’ve played quite a few showcases at this cozy East Village haunt —which is now moving to Brooklyn — and credit it for helping me get my sea legs as a performer.” Central Park (centralpark.com) “ It’s the soul of this city. There’s nothing more liberating than hearing great live music amidst the plush greenery and fresh air outdoors.”…

Mild BLAKE SHELTON Beloved as the foil to his fellow Voice coach Adam Levine, the 38-year-old’s next album is called Bringing Back the Sunshine. FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE The duo of Tyler Hubbard, 27, and Brian Kelley, 29, may be rap-friendly, but their MC of choice is the decidedly blithe Nelly. LUKE BRYAN The current party-time king, 38, encourages good, clean fun on record, and rowdier times at his spring break-themed concerts. Wild LEE BRICE “I Don’t Dance,” the title track and single from the 35-yearold’s new album, reveals a grump with a heart of gold. ERIC CHURCH On his latest album, The Outsiders, Church, 37, celebrates ear-splitting guitars and getting his “foundation quaking” with his wife after he’s back from tour. JASON ALDEAN He’s got a soft spot for small…

Homes THEN Villa Ferrari, his 18,000-square-foot, $10.5 million mansion on Palm Island NOW A $2 million beachfront high-rise condo 45 minutes north of Miami Girlfriends THEN Kim Kardashian, Lil’ Kim, Paris Hilton NOW Storch says he is not dating anyone famous Vices THEN Cocaine NOW Marlboro Reds, high-grade hydroponic, Nobu, milk, pickles Rides THEN Exotic collection of 15 sports cars, including a rare Ferrari, Bentley and Cadillac Escalade NOW $180,000 Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera THE SCOTT STORCH HIT LIST “You Got Me,” The Roots featuring Eykah Badu (MCA) “Still D.R.E.,” Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg (AFTERMATH/INTERSCOPE) Charting the Billboard Hot 100 success of the songwriter-producer “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” Eve featuring Gwen Stefani (RUFF RYDERS/INTERSCOPE) “Family Portrait,” Pink (ARISTA) “Cry Me a River,” Justin Timberlake (JIVE) “Can’t Hold Us…

Lenny Kravitz has reason to walk tall these days. In recent years, the singer-songwriter has become more known for acting, thanks to his role as Cinna in the first two films of the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise. But on Sept. 23, Kravitz returns to music and hits the 10-album mark with the release of Strut — the first for his own Roxie Records label (named for his mother, actress Roxie Roker) — followed by a world tour kicking off Oct. 22 in Moscow. Before his whirlwind fall takes off, Kravitz talked about his new LP and plans post-Hunger Games. Strut definitely plays to your rock side. What led you there? I had nothing to do with it. It came together by itself. I really had no idea I was about…

PRODUCER: Aphex Twin. LABEL: Warp. RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23 BEFORE EDM BECAME PASSE, THERE WAS IDM — intelligent dance music, that is. Today’s sounds, from maximalist house-pop to arena dubstep, appear astonishingly conventional compared with the boundless experimentation and extremity Aphex Twin and his peers refined beginning in the early 1990s. But the bold sonic future they plotted out never quite happened, and Aphex, the scene’s most revered and most irreverent figure, unceremoniously dropped out more than a decade ago following the doubledisc hard drive dump Drukqs and its cynically titled follow-up 26 Mixes for Cash. A lot has happened in his absence, but the producer, real name Richard David James, seemingly hasn’t paid it much mind. From the curious appearance of an Aphex Twin blimp over London to his…

ASCAP, BMI and SESAC offer educational workshops and scholarships for aspiring musicians, with details available on the respective websites of each of the performing rights organizations. Perhaps the largest songwriters workshop is the star-studded ASCAP “I Create Music” Expo, which will next take place April 30-May 2, 2015 in Los Angeles. Many educational, artist development and humanitarian programs are supported by the ASCAP Foundation. At a benefit gala in New York on Nov. 17, five musical greats — Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim and Stevie Wonder — will receive the ASCAP Centennial Award from ASCAP president/chairman Paul Williams. Billboard is a media partner for the gala.…

CHRISTIAN RAPPER LECRAE COLLECTS HIS first no. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as his new Anomaly opens atop the list. It sold 88,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s also the first charttopper for Lecrae’s label, Reach Records. Anomaly’ launch is Lecrae’s best sales week, trumping the 72,000-unit start of 2012’s Gravity, which debuted and peaked at No. 3. (Gravity was also Lecrae’s highest-charting album — and only top 10 — until Anomaly’s arrival.) Anomaly is the Grammy winner’s sixth No. 1 on the Gospel Albums chart and his fifth leader on Christian Albums. (Most Christian hip-hop releases are eligible to appear on both sales charts.) Thus, Anomaly is the first title to crown both Gospel Albums and the Billboard 200, and just…

THE WORLD BEGAN TO FALL IN LOVE with ABBA in 1974, when the Swedish pop group, which began singing together on a beach vacation in Cyprus four years earlier, won the Eurovision Song Contest with its oh-so-catchy “Waterloo.” The ebullient tune soon became the act’s first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 6 in August. ABBA’s two 20-something couples — Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus, and Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad — later saw the Waterloo album, their first American release, peak at No. 145 on the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 21. Greater success would follow, including five top 40 albums and 14 top 40 Hot 100 singles. Powered by its immaculate harmonies and pristine pop hooks, ABBA has sold 380 million albums worldwide, according…

A AZOFF MSG ENTERTAINMENT is betting big on dance music. The joint venture among Irving Azoff, Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan and billionaire investor Ron Burkle, reportedly backed by $175 million in funding, has acquired a 50 percent stake in ATM Artists, the management and marketing company run by Amy Thomson, who catapulted Swedish House Mafia into the global spotlight. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal sees music industry veterans of touring, ticketing and talent representation shift their gaze to the $6.2 billion electronic music business. Thomson, 39, the candid Brit at the center of the deal, proceeded with caution. “I’ve seen what happens when big money smells opportunity — it’s awful,” she says. “But I welcome certain clever investors who bring more than just money to the…

LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN HIGH NOTE Letterman would doubtless point to one of his all-time favorites, Ryan Adams — when he finished “Gimme Something Good,” Letterman asked him to do it all over again, and he did. LOW NOTE Interpol. Just when I thought I’d erased Ultravox from my memory, Interpol (aka Joyless Division) had to go and make a comeback. THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON HIGH NOTE The Replacements, of course, tearing through “Alex Chilton.”Paul Westerberg, his voice as sinewy as his arms, looked elated, and the way Fallon announced the band and the song showed that he got it. LOW NOTE Alicia Keys’ awesomely mawkish new world-peace anthem “We Are Here” nabs the low note with ease. JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE! HIGH NOTE Kimmel has late night’s…

NICKERS AND HEAD SMACKS ASIDE, the deposition in the lawsuit to determine whether “Blurred Lines,” written (officially, anyway) by Robin Thicke, 37, and Pharrell Williams with an assist from T.I., plagiarized Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” provides a rare glimpse into how hits are made and monetized. Among the realities revealed when the testimonies went public on Sept. 15: 1 Gifting songwriting credit, a practice as old as the first wax records, is alive and well. Williams explained in his testimony that he wrote and recorded “Blurred Lines” himself, although he did include some of Thicke’s melodic suggestions. Thicke, admitting he lied in interviews about writing the song, says Williams, 41, was “generous” in giving him a songwriting credit. 2 Artists don’t always know their splits. Thicke admitted…

THE HISTORY OF THE MUSIC industry may yet be written by David Massey, 56, who has filled 35 volumes of his diaries with experiences that go back to swinging London. In 1962 his mother, Marion, began managing fledgling pop star Lulu, and he grew up “absorbed with the business,” he says. Massey started out managing Wang Chung in 1982, transitioning to the label side (and trading London for New York) in 1991, when he became vp A&R at Epic, and counted Oasis among his first signings. In 2007, he left Sony for Universal and a chance to run his own label, Mercury, expanding his portfolio in 2013 to include president of Island, where he signed Avicii and brought Iggy Azalea to Island Def Jam. In April, the two labels split,…

Film documents the career of middleaged rock photographer Jini Dellaccio Already middle-aged and entirely self-taught when she fixed her camera on the burgeoning Seattle music scene in the early 1960s, improbable rock photographer Jini Dellaccio became a consistent chronicler, capturing both the area’s rising ambassadors —The Sonics, The Wailers — and more famous passers-by like The Rolling Stones, The Who and Neil Young. That Dellaccio largely slipped under the greater pop-culture radar is being corrected with Her Aim Is True, a documentary by Karen Whitehead, executive produced by Eddie Vedder, and filmed a few years before Dellaccio died in July at age 97. The film is winding through the festival circuit and is available stateside through video-on-demand. The reality that her subjects were 20 years younger and living a lifestyle…

1 Joe Perry considers Steven Tyler family, despite the fights. He’s the brother I never had, which is a lot of the basis for our dynamics. [The other band members] play an important part in mediating. Though when push comes to shove, when the two of us are in a room and it gets down to the real nitty-gritty, we have to deal with it ourselves. That’s what makes it exciting. 2 Groupies? No thanks. I was always kind of a one-girl guy, and I was always looking for the right girl. I finally found her [wife Billie Perry]. We have a 30-year marriage, and we’re still going strong. I have a guitar with my wife’s picture on it — most people don’t know who it is. A lot of…

From Tetney, England Age 18 First stepHenderson finished sixth on the U.K. X Factor in 2012. With a smoky, soulful voice, she was often described as a budding Adele. Reboot After The X Factor, she signed with Simon Cowell’s Syco Music and finished her debut, Chapter One, due Oct. 13. “[Cowell] never rushed me,” she says, “and is always reminding me to enjoy this ride because he has seen so many artists forget to.”Influences One of the first songs Henderson remembers hearing is Billie Holiday‘s “God Bless the Child.” “It just captured me,” she says. “She was the first female voice I fell in love with.”Big win Henderson’s Ryan Tedder-helmed “Ghost” hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom. Up next Henderson’s folllow-up is “Glow,” co-written by Camille Purcell and Steve…

After the tepid media reaction to its opening slot on tour with the Eagles, JD & The Straight Shot, the rock band fronted by the Knicks, Cablevision and Madison Square Garden scion, could use some rebranding. A few suggestions: JD & The No-Shot-At-Contention JD & The Azoff Favors Jim Dolan & The My Arena, My Rules Blues Straggler JD & The Wait-A-Minute-We-Came-To-See-The-Eagles ON THE B LOCK 1963 Chevrolet Corvette split window coupe ELVIS’ COUPE WHERE YOU’VE SEEN IT The 1964 film Viva Las Vegas starring Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret PERFECT FOR Gamblers. Check out the “7/11” dice, which appear on the doors, hood and rear deck WHERE TO GET IT Barrett-Jackson collector car auction in Las Vegas, Sept. 25-27 (barrett-jackson.com)…

HOMEBASE Asbury Park, N.J. WHAT THEY DO “We utilize the power of music to raise money and awareness to defeat Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases,” says cofounder Tony Pallagrosi, a veteran show promoter. TOTAL FUNDS RAISED More than $2.5 million to date. ORIGIN After manager Bob Benjamin was diagnosed, music-biz friends donated to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation for his 40th birthday in 1998. Two years later, he tapped Pallagrosi and musician Joe D’Urso to form Light of Day and set up a benefit at Asbury Park’s Stone Pony. Light of Day now hosts 80 events a year. STAR ATTRACTION Light of Day is named after a song by Stone Pony alum Bruce Springsteen, who has played 10 Light of Day events, including in 2003, when he was joined by Michael…

Many of pop’s royalty are trading in their crowns for custom-made toppers by Los Angeles hat designer Nick Fouquet. Pharrell Williams and Madonna both took the Grammy stage this year wearing his one-of-akind designs, and Chris Brown, Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway also count themselves as fans. “[Hats are] the pinnacle of elegance in so many ways, both for their fashion and utilitarian purposes,” says the 31-year-old hatmaker (“not milliner, there’s a difference,” he’s quick to note; milliners use “sectional blocking technique” unlike the unified block technique employed by hatmakers, says Fouquet), whose studio is tucked away off Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Born in New York and raised in Florida and southern France, Fouquet holds a degree in environmental sciences and sustainable development and, between modeling gigs for Ralph Lauren,…

JAMES BROWN NEW YORK, 1979 “I was looking through film one day a couple of years ago and saw this picture of him — and it shocked me. I had absolutely no memory of ever taking it, I swear to God! I must have followed him out of the building. It was an absolute delight to find this photo — now it’s one of my favorites.” —Nick Williams PRINCE NEW YORK, 1980 “This was at The Bottom Line. He was a new, young kid from Minneapolis with a lot of buzz. It was just the two of us in this little room. I got a side of him that doesn’t exist on film. I got another picture of him performing that night and he’s a totally different person.” MADONNA NEW…

PRODUCER: Ric Ocasek LABEL: Republic RELEASE DATE: Oct. 7 E EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT IN THE END MAY BE Weezer’s best album since 2002’s Maladroit, but its competition within the band’s catalog isn’t exactly steep. Instead of continuing on with overproduced hits for alternative and pop radio, the Los Angeles quartet recruited Cars frontman Ric Ocasek — who produced 1994 debut The Blue Album and 2001 comeback The Green Album — to mount a return to peak power-pop condition for its ninth studio LP. On paper, the collaboration seemed promising, but mining the past for the future proves challenging for Weezer. The ways in which the band returns to form here emulate its early-aughts reinvention (as a hip post-millennium rock group) more than its mid-1990s glory days. Even still, these…

ON AUG. 17, EXPERIMENTAL DUO DARKSIDE tweeted that it was “coming to an end” with one final New York show. Fans responded with surprise and disappointment. Electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and multi-instrumentalist Dave Harrington had intrigued listeners with their stylishly muscular beats-and-blues since they released an eponymous three-song EP in 2011, but the duo reached a wider audience with both 2013’s Psychic LP (Other People/Matador) and the critically lauded Random Access Memories Memories, a collection of leftfield Daft Punk RAM remixes that took the upbeat tunes to, well, darker territory. Jaar, who released his sole solo album, Space Is Only Noise, in 2011 through Circus Company, once described Darkside as “experiential rather than musical” — something the group stuck to through the end. At Brooklyn’s imposing Masonic Temple, just a…

PRODUCERS: Kenny Chesney, Buddy Cannon LABEL: Blue Chair/Columbia Nashville RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23 LIKE JIMMY BUFFETT IN A COWBOY HAT, Kenny Chesney keeps assuring us there’s virtually no problem that a cold beer on a tropical island won’t set right. No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems isn’t just the title of his 2002 multimillion-selling album — it’s Chesney’s motto. He began bringing the beach to landlocked flyover states more than 20 years ago, long before today’s bros could legally drive a pickup or the Zac Brown Band dipped its toes in the water. He sells a lifestyle that, if not downright hedonistic, celebrates making the most of every moment. Chesney returns to that sentiment again and again on his 17th studio album, The Big Revival. He’s referring to life, not…

Billboard surveyed a sample of additional schools that offer music business education programs and their replies appear in-depth at Billboard.com/education. These are selected high points of the programs at those schools. The College of Saint Rose (Albany, N.Y.) guides each student in the creation of a CD of original music, a graduation requirement. The album can be written, performed, produced, engineered, edited, mixed and mastered in the college’s Saints and Sinners Recording Studio. The Harris Institute (Toronto), through its arts management program, offers a fast-track 12-month diploma program that features 60 courses focusing on the new music industry, from evolving technologies and business models to entrepreneurial opportunities. New Jersey City University (Jersey City, N.J.) provides students with a cooperative education experience, arranging for internships at major record labels, talent agencies,…

WEDDING MARCH Panama Wedding’s joyful “All of the People” debuts on Alternative at No. 39, more than a year after the alt-pop act, led by Peter Kirk, released the song on SoundCloud, where it has racked up 800,000 plays. Since then, the New Yorkbased band signed with Glassnote and released the EP Parallel Play, produced by Andrew Maury, a former member of RAC who has worked with Tegan & Sara and Ra Ra Riot. ZHU’S ‘ FADED’ SHINES After peaking at No. 3 on the Official U.K. Singles chart in August, Zhu’s chill house track “Faded” (Mind of a Genius/Th3rd Brain) bullets at No. 15 on Dance/Mix Show Airplay. Zhu first built viral buzz earlier this year with his uncredited medley of Outkast tracks, “Moves Like Ms. Jackson,” which won…

How does a band mark a 50th anniversary as an event rather than a footnote? Universal Music Publishing Group thinks it has a plan to breathe new life into The Grateful Dead. Formed in 1965, the iconic psychedelic act toured up until a month before founder Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, and had historic success in the live arena — it was a top 10 draw throughout the 1990s, and ranked No. 1 twice. The group also scored a hit single — “Touch of Grey” peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987 — and cultivated a legendarily devoted fan base. Still, says UMPG North America president Evan Lamberg, “Young people may know the name Grateful Dead, but not be as familiar with their music. If you’re…

HERE’S A REASON why U2’s Bono is considered such a showman. In the wake of the band’s controversial free launch of its new album, Songs of Innocence, through a free iTunes download, Bono participated in a Time cover story touting another Apple surprise: a “secret project ... a new digital music format in the works [that] will prove so irresistibly exciting to music fans that it will tempt them again into buying music ... boosting the music industry — and maybe even saving it.” However, the actual “format,” which is intended to accompany the band’s next album, Songs of Experience, is decidedly less revolutionary. A source with knowledge of the situation tells Billboard that Bono’s use of the word “format” was a misnomer. “It’s not a new format, but rather…

The first major casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., opened in the late 1970s and early ’80s — welcoming such performers as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli and Paul Anka — and for years the town thrived as a well-positioned market for artists routing tours through the Northeast. But the gambling mecca of the East Coast is expected to lose five of its 12 casinos by the end of 2014, brought on by competition from other gambling properties in neighboring states. In early September, the local music scene lost the 2,550-capacity House of Blues at the Showboat and the 5,000-capacity Ovation Hall at Revel. The market will take another hit in November with the expected closing of Trump Taj Mahal, which houses the 5,300-capacity Mark G. Etess Arena. Several…

THE 2013 HIT MOVIE THE GREAT GATSBY has spawned another 1920s-themed musical with a modern twist: the film Ziggy starring Dane DeHaan and Rooney Mara as star-crossed lovers in the time of Prohibition — he playing a hunchback escape artist who arrives in New York and falls in love with the fiancee (Mara) of a powerful media mogul. But anyone expecting the sounds of Thoroughly Modern Millie or even Chicago is in for a surprise. Director Diesel Schwarze, a Baz Luhrmann protege making the transition from commercials to features, has tapped Grammy-nominated producer-songwriter Alex Da Kid (Imagine Dragons, Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna) to spearhead the film’s original contemporary music. Ziggy, produced by Lynette Howell and Jamie Patricof’s Electric City Entertainment, will likely be akin to Luhrmann’s…

“PEOPLE, YOU CAN CHANGE THE F—ING WORLD! IT’S NOT f—ing corny. It’s what we f—ing need!” declared 67-year-old Patti Smith, the “Godmother of Punk,” during a raucous performance dedicated to late husband Fred Smith, whose birthday fell on the closing day of Riot Fest. The punk spirit prevailed for the festival’s 10th edition (and third at Humboldt Park), despite its growing expansion — marked this year by seven stages and more than 100 bands spanning all genres and generations. Kicking off with a triumphant (and bloody) return from thrash metal group GWAR, the rain-battered first day also brought a politically charged panel with Pussy Riot, moderated by former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins. Saturday featured a rowdy set from Wu-Tang Clan, while The Flaming Lips dazzled with giant mushrooms and…

The British Invasion has taken over the turntables. U.K.-born DJs Chelsea Leyland and Nikki Pennie have quickly risen in the ranks during the past few years, regularly rocking A-list parties for Chanel, Diplo, Armani, Harry Styles and others. Pennie calls Los Angeles home and Leyland lives in Brooklyn, but with their fashionista-friendly looks and clientele, it’s hard not to compare the two Brit “it” girls. Chelsea Leyland 26 West London “Mostly electronic,” plus Arctic Monkeys and Mother Parties for Vogue, Chanel, Fashion Rocks and Valentino “I met Ben Watts, Naomi Watts’ brother and an amazing photographer. He heard me play in Montauk [N.Y.] and asked me to DJ his annual July Fourth party.” She chills with Styles (right), Theophilus London and her “closest friend”Kilo Kish. “Loud accessories. It’s cool to…

Jimmy Fallon’s Napkin Trick Jimmy Fallon treated patrons at Rao’s restaurant in East Harlem to a high-spirited performance on Sept. 14 that included pulling a dinner napkin from his pants. The Tonight Show host engaged in an impromptu a cappella session with his dining companion, music-industry veteran Tommy Mottola and the owner of the fabled eatery — where reservations are virtually impossible to get for non-regulars —Frank Pellegrino. During an ear-splitting rendition of “Stand by Me,” Fallon flitted among tables, guzzling patrons’ drinks, sampling their overflowing pasta dishes and producing said napkin from his pants, which he draped around a woman’s neck. At that point Mottola wisely said, “We have to go, Jimmy,” and the duo left to raucous applause. In May, the media reported that Fallon — once again…

Since her star-making turn as Effie in the 2006 film Dreamgirls, which took her from American Idol also-ran to Academy Award winner, Jennifer Hudson has left no doubt that she can crush a big ballad. Now, on her third album, JHUD (Sept. 23, RCA), the singeractress flips the script, hitting the dancefloor with beats by Pharrell Williams and assists from R. Kelly, Iggy Azalea and T.I. As she gets her new groove on, the Chicago native, 33, dishes on her dream role, going gospel and being sick of singing that song. You collaborated with Pharrell Williams on your new album. What was that like? We both love old-school music. He’ll come in with a track, and then I’m like, “I already know where I’m going with this. I feel you.”…

As the offspring of Billy Joel, the third-best-selling solo artist of all time, and supermodel Christie Brinkley, Alexa Ray Joel is no stranger to glamour. The 28-year-old singer prefers vintage silk to sweatpants and a wardrobe made up of “mom’s hand-me-downs.” “I tend to feel naked without jewelry,” jokes Joel, who for four years has resided in a two-bedroom apartment in a sunlight-filled Soho building in New York. “My boyfriend [restaurateur Ryan Gleason] makes fun of me because we’ll just be watching a movie at home and I’ll need to add earrings.” Whether it’s her closet or her home decor, Joel says her taste is “a medley of vintage meets bohemian meets old Hollywood with a little edge.” It’s a fitting match for Manhattan’s historic Cafe Carlyle, where she performed…

L LET’S GET ONE THING CLEAR: JASON ALDEAN IS not your bro. “This whole bro-country thing, whoever coined that ridiculous phrase, it’s about beer or trucks or whatever,” says the 37-year-old singer, agitation creeping into his otherwise laconic Georgia accent as he gets started up on the topic. “Yeah, we’ve had some songs that talk about that stuff. But that’s also what we really grew up doing. A lot of us grew up in these little towns where there wasn’t a whole lot to do, and we were entertaining ourselves. I can’t sing you a song about being a stockbroker on Wall Street, because I don’t even know where the hell Wall Street’s at.” At this moment, anyway, Aldean — temporarily hatless and tucked into a back room of a…

ON A SCORCHING WEDNESDAY IN AUGUST in Miami Beach, Scott Storch is blasting a new dance track of his from the elevated DJ booth at Mansion nightclub. Puffing on a Marlboro Red and dressed in designer jeans, spotless white Louis Vuitton sneakers and a gray Diesel T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Mr. Cool,” he is waving his arms and driving an adoring crowd into a frenzied state as lasers flash and semi-clad dancers writhe in time to the music. It’s a seductive scene, but a manufactured one. Outside Mansion it’s actually late afternoon, and aside from the throng around the DJ booth, the club is empty. At the age of 40, Storch is shooting a music video for what he hopes will be his second act. After a whitehot career…

DIRECTOR/WRITER: John Ridley PRODUCER/MUSIC DESIGNER: Danny Bramson DISTRIBUTOR: XLrator Media RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26 APENETRATING AND INSIGHTFUL performance from Andre Benjamin lends sufficient gravitas to John Ridley’s fact-based tale of Jimi Hendrix in the year leading up to his debut at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Benjamin — aka Andre 3000 of rap duo Outkast — convincingly inhabits Hendrix during a largely unknown period of his life, imbuing the character with alternating currents of confidence, tumult and prescient wordplay; everything about the performance is lyrical. The first film from Ridley since his Oscar win for 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, Jimi: All Is by My Side skirts around the Hendrix estate’s tight control of his catalog by focusing on the artist’s life in 1966 and 1967. At the time,…

WHEN THE FRONT DESK person at the Marriott hotel in downtown Minneapolis asked, “What brings you to town?,” I would have won instant acceptance, or at least comprehension, if I had answered “a secret Prince concert.” Or better yet: “The Vikings game. Hurts about Adrian Peterson, doesn’t it?” But when I said, “The Replacements,” she gave me that gently mournful glance reserved for grown men heading off somewhere dressed like Mr. Spock, and I felt the need to explain. “First show back in their hometown in 23 years.” The hint being: You ought to enlighten yourself with a Google search when we’re done here. Her eyes flashed blankly: Sorry, nobody home. Even in their ’80s heyday, when the indierock pioneers had “one foot in the door, the other in the…

T THE LATE SUMMER SUN STREAMS INTO the top floor of a building at the center of the University of Southern California campus as more than 30 excited college freshmen and their parents gather with school officials in a dramatic, circular space stocked with computer workstations, 3-D fabricators and a towering vertical whiteboard. They’re here not only to celebrate the start of a new school year, but also the launch of a new school. Every student wears a black T-shirt reading, on the front, “The USC Iovine and Young Academy,” and on the back, “The Degree Is in Disruption.” These are members of the generation expected to create the next “disruptive” industries, businesses that overturn existing models through technology. Their school has music industry patrons, but it is not a…

On Sept. 9, U2 announced its new album, Songs of Innocence, and released it on the same day (for free) to all customers of iTunes and Beats Music in a historic deal with Apple. Naturally, the album, and its lead single “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone),” got off to a fast start. 38 M According to Apple, 38 million people have listened to some or all of U2’s album through Sept. 17. That global figure includes plays and streams through iTunes, iTunes Radio and Beats Music. 358% U2 has sold a combined 75,000 albums and digital songs in the week ending Sept. 14, according to Nielsen SoundScan — a gain of 358 percent. On the Billboard 200, six of the band’s sets dot the list, led by The Joshua Tree…

Banks, U2, Beatles Bow Los Angeles alterna-pop singer-songwriter Banks (above), who was born Jillian Rose Banks, checks into the Billboard Artist 100 at No. 56. Having first built buzz opening for The Weeknd on tour, along with Ellie Goulding professing her fandom, Banks bows fueled by the entrance of her debut fulllength album, Goddess, on the Billboard 200. The set starts at No. 12 with 25,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, with album sales accounting for 96 percent of Banks’ Artist 100 points. (She’s also growing airplay for the set’s “Beggin for Thread,” which is bubbling under the Alternative chart.) Meanwhile, two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bands make their first Artist 100 appearances, led by U2 at No. 35. As the group released Songs of Innocence for…