Innholdsfortegnelse for Aug-30-14 i Billboard Magazine

IGGY AZALEA ALREADY HAS THE SONG OF THE SUMMER with “Fancy” (featuring Ariana Grande), which ruled the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. But now she’s eyeing fall, too, as “Black Widow” becomes her second Hot 100 top 10 as a lead artist, bounding 15-8. “Widow” also vaults 40-7 on Streaming Songs (6.1 million U.S. streams, up 155 percent, according to Nielsen BDS) after its video premiered Aug. 13. “Widow” is only the second follow-up to a Hot 100 No. 1 in the past year to reach the top 10, joining Lorde’s “Team,” which peaked at No. 6 after a nine-week reign by “Royals.” That’s a stark downtrend: From summer 2009 through spring 2013, 39 of 50 No. 1 follow-ups (78 percent) reached the top tier. Aiding Azalea and Lorde?…

Artists crave a booking on the MTV Video Music Awards (airing Aug. 24), but many might not appreciate the impact a preshow look can have. From Beck to No Doubt, Rihanna to Foo Fighters, careers have been launched by being the show’s warm-up act, which is aired. For the 2014 edition, it’s newcomers Charli XCX and X Factor U.S. finalist Fifth Harmony who stand to benefit from playing in the parking lot of Los Angeles’ recently renovated Forum. “It’s a time for many viewers to get their first exposure to these bands,” says VMAs executive producer Dave Sirulnick. “That has been a big part of our outlook and philosophy [for the preshow]. It sets a nice tone for the night.” But even with the VMAs bringing in record ratings during…

Nelly to Billboard ”We started a Mike Brown scholarship fund in order to send kids to college because Mike did graduate from high school. And even though we all make mistakes, he did have positive things that he wanted to do.” Killer Mike to Billboard “Being a cop is often seeing the worst of the human condition and behavior. With that said, there is no reason that Mike Brown and also Eric Garner are dead today except bad policing, excessive force and the hunt-and-captureprey mentality many thrill-seeking cops have adopted.” J. Cole to Complex “It could have been you. It could have been me ... We’ve been here five hours walking through these streets and there’s no violence, no looting, everything is love. You’ve got some people that are mad,…

With stadium-show production costs running as high as $1.8 million, Live Nation acts like Billy Joel and Jason Aldean are saving $500,000 to $700,000 apiece by sharing costs In order to minimize the significant costs of producing stadium shows, Live Nation has taken a creative divide-and-conquer approach by splitting production costs between two noncompeting acts that play back-to-back concerts in the same venue. The savings: $500,000 to $700,000 per act. Even with increased efficiencies in production that allow gear to be moved on fewer trucks, stadium shows cost $1.2 million to $1.8 million to mount — on average, triple what it runs to produce a show in an arena. But when such acts as One Direction and Billy Joel split costs on expensive line items like staging and labor with…

WORLDWIDE CEO OF THE AGENCY GROUP With the just-closed acquisition of a Nashville mainstay, the new chief talks about taking country global and competing with the behemoths HOW AN IRELAND-BORN, London-based music industry newbie made waves in Nashville by acquiring the respected 30-year-old Bobby Roberts Company has been a hot topic in Music City since the Aug. 4 contract was signed. Bobby Roberts, a successful indie booking agent based in Nashville for 30 years and representing country stars such as Merle Haggard, John Anderson and Marty Stuart, made the deal with 47-year-old Gavin O’Reilly, worldwide CEO of The Agency Group not necessarily because he was looking to sell, but because TAG’s philosophy jibed with his own. “They run their business like a large boutique operation,” says Roberts. “They have all…

Composer Howard Shore will receive the 2014 Maestro Award at the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference, set for Nov. 5-6 at the Globe Theater on the Universal Studios lot in Los Angeles. Shore has an impressive slate of films this year, including the final installment of the Hobbit trilogy (The Battle of Five Armies); Jon Stewart’s directorial debut, Rosewater; and David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars. Shore has won three Academy Awards, four Grammys and three Golden Globes. “Howard Shore’s talent spans not only genres but also proves to be timeless,” says Janice Min, co-president/chief creative officer of Guggenheim Media’s Entertainment Group. Says Shore: “I’m grateful for the acknowledgement from these two esteemed publications.” The conference features keynote speeches, panels and one-onone sessions.…

BILLED AS A FESTIVAL BUT WITH MUCH MORE OF A concert vibe, Univision’s Uforia Music Festival brought together the best of hip-hop and Latin music. The eclectic lineup on two separate stages at Exposition Park in Los Angeles featured such acts as Kid Cudi, Dirty South, La Arrolladora Banda el Limon and Becky G. Regional Mexican star Luis Coronel also performed some of his signature hits. “Just to be on that stage is a really big opportunity,” said the 18-year-old crooner. St. Louisborn rapper Nelly was a highlight of the eight-hour-plus show for the crowd, performing a 30-minute set that included classics “Country Grammar (Hot Shit)” and “Hot in Herre.” But the musician also got personal with the audience, referring multiple times to the ongoing unrest in his home state…

What to Buy Wear And Know Now FOR MAISON KITSUNE, A FASHION HOUSE beloved by Pharrell Williams, Adam Levine and Azealia Banks, music is in its DNA. For starters, co-founder Gildas Loaec, 41, spent 15 years art directing for Daft Punk before launching the Paris-based line in 2005. Loaec also started a music label under the Kitsune name (it launched La Roux). It makes sense then that the brand is using its own easy-onthe-eyes artists to front its fall “London Beats” collection: 24-year-old indie “it” girl Kilo Kish, who released her Across EP July 8 and has recorded with Earl Sweatshirt and SBTRKT, and Citizens singer Tom Burke, who last year was a face of Saint Laurent. This season, Loaec and co-founder Masaya Kuroki, 39, drew from 1960s mod style,…

“I would love to see Madonna there because she is a huge inspiration!”—The Blonds “I dream of having ASAP Rocky, M.I.A. and Lorde on the front row. I love Lorde!” —John Patrick of Organic “It’d be beyond wonderful to have Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Beyoncé attend one of our shows.” —Giovanna Randall of Honor “The best get? Julian Casablancas. The Strokes are what Timo and I bonded over.” —Alan Eckstein of Timo Weiland “Florence Welch at one of my shows would be tremendous. She wore one of my pieces for the cover of ‘Shake It Out,’ which was shot by Karl Lagerfeld.” —Bibhu Mohapatra “Rufus Wainwright and Mark Ronson! Not only do I love their music, but I think they would both look good in our clothes!”…

Maroon 5 | V | Sept. 2 INTERSCOPE | JORDAN FELDSTEIN, CAREER ARTIST MANAGEMENT | BRIAN MANNING, CREATIVE ARTISTS AGENCY [CAA] THE LOWDOWN Adam Levine & Co. amp up the winning electro-pop formula on their aply named fifth album. STAR TRACK Gwen Stefani is featured on “My Heart Is Open,” co-written by Sia. INDUSTRY BUZZ ”We’re looking at this cycle as 18 months with five singles,” says Interscope chairman John Janick. “Just like last time.” ON THE ROAD With Levine committed to The Voice this fall, Maroon 5 will wait until February to kick off a world tour, says guitarist James Valentine. NOTABLE QUOTE “I think we will continue to make records,” says Valentine. “But if we stopped today, we could look back and say, ‘OK, that’s a pretty solid…

Don Omar | THE LAST DON 2 | November TBD UNIVERSAL MUSIC LATINO | RAPHY PINA | RAPHY PINA THE LOWDOWN “El Rey” celebrates the 10th anniversary of his platinum-selling solo debut, The Last Don, by returning to his reggaeton roots with some massive pop-appealing fusion. STAR TRACKS “Lock It Down,” a “moombah” mix of house and reggaeton (featuring Jennifer Lopez), and “En lo Oscuro” (featuring Wisin & Yandel). Other collaborators include Daddy Yankee and possibly Flo Rida. NOTABLE QUOTE “My fans wanted to hear me do reggaeton again,” Omar tells Billboard. “Looking back a decade, I fell in love again with urban music. It’s not a lie that we changed the music world.” Foo Fighters SONIC HIGHWAYS | Nov. 10 ROSWELL RECORDS/RCA JOHN SILVA, SILVA ARTIST MANAGEMENT DON MULLER,…

DURING THE EARLY 1960S, JOHNNY PACHECO was riding high on Cuban-based Latin music. Dominican-born and New Yorkraised, Pacheco was a Juilliard-trained multi-instrumentalist who found success performing and recording with his orchestra Pacheco y Su Charanga. On the scene he came to know Italian American cop-turnedlawyer Jerry Masucci, a passionate fan of New York’s Latin sound. When Pacheco’s marriage fell apart in 1962, he turned to Masucci to handle the divorce. While one union was dissolving, another was born: a Latin music label called Fania Records. The two put $5,000 into their venture and initially sold albums from the trunks of their cars in Spanish Harlem. The label, in short time, established the musical genre that would come to be known as salsa, a collision of traditional Cuban son and pan-Latin…

Also... MICHAEL CERA SOUNDS OFF The actor dishes on his “sloppy” debut album. “SHMONEY” IN THE BANK Bobby Shmurda goes from dance craze to record deal. TAYLOR SWIFT POPS The artist completes her crossover from country star to full-on pop queen with her newest single. Music FOR MOST BANDS, AN EIGHT-YEAR BREAK would be career-ending. But for Death From Above 1979, it was a long, muchneeded breath of fresh air. The Toronto rock duo, consisting of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, blew minds and eardrums in 2004 with their brand of fierce dance-punk, pulling rave reviews for its sole full-length album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. And then, just like that, they broke up two years later, stressed out from skyrocketing success, grueling touring and inner turmoil. “We…

SPORTY STYLE Basketball jerseys, backwards baseball hats — Aaliyah showed her love for the game, somehow making XXL sportswear designed for men look sexy. CROP TOPS Aaliyah offset her love for baggy tomboy clothes by showing off perfect abs. The navel is making a comeback. (Girls, do your crunches.) SIDESWEPT BANGS half her face. Now the look is aped by Kim Kardashian, who tweeted a pic of herself with “Aaliyah hair.”…

Taylor Swift, “Shake It Off ” ON TAYLOR SWIFT’S BLOCKbuster 2012 album, Red, the country superstar explored several stylistic shades: arena rock, confessional folk, even dubstep. But the foundation of Swift’s fourth studio album was undoubtedly bubble-gum pop. Red — the last album by any artist to sell more than a million copies in a week — found her tapping hit producers such as Max Martin and Shellback, who helped dress her mainstream hooks in country trappings to ensure her new sound would be palatable to her core audience. On new single “Shake It Off,” the first from Swift’s forthcoming album, 1989, she reteams with Martin, but the duo is done toeing the line: The song suggests the world’s biggest country star now belongs to a different genre entirely. The…

LATIN POP STAR CHAYANNE HAS long balanced bold, romantic ballads with uptempo dance fare . Straddling styles has sustained his relevancy (with nine No. 1s on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart since his 1984 self-titled debut), pairing a sound anchored in melodic romance with songs that have consistently adapted to radio trends. His latest set, En Todo Estare , the 46-year-old’s first album in four years, doesn’t break rank, firming his ground in a contemporary landscape where legacy acts often struggle to find their place. Credit that to his hands-on approach: The LP marks his biggest bid as a songwriter with credits on almost every track, as well as some assistance from longtime collaborator Estefano and pop artists including Kany Garcia. The resulting tracks stay faithful to his sound (check…

IN FEBRUARY 1969, COUNTRY STAR Johnny Cash walked into San Quentin State Prison in California and staged a breakthrough: the milestone concert LP At San Quentin, the only album of his career to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in his lifetime. Recorded two days before Cash's 37th birthday, the raw, angry performance produced his only top 10 — and his biggest — hit on the Billboard Hot 100, “A Boy Named Sue,” the tale of a young man seeking revenge against the father who gave him a woman's name, which was written by humorist Shel Silverstein. The single peaked at No. 2 the same week that At San Quentin topped the albums chart: Aug. 23, 1969. Although Cash never served a prison sentence, he was arrested a number…

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With streaming curtailing downloads and the holiday shopping season suffering sales erosion in five of the last seven years, retailers can be buoyed by how the fourth-quarter release schedule is shaping up. At least four fall titles could be blockbusters, including Taylor Swift, whose 2012 Red debuted with more than 1 million units in week one, and Jason Aldean, whose last album, 2012’s Night Train, scanned 409,000-plus upon its debut (according to Nielsen SoundScan). Add to the mix potential albums by Lil Wayne (his Tha Carter IV almost hit 1 million units in its opening week ending Sept. 4, 2011) and One Direction (whose Midnight Memories scanned 546,000 units in the week ending Dec. 1, 2013) and the picture becomes even brighter. Merchants are also pinning their year-end hopes on…

JASON ALDEAN SAYS THAT when his team first broached the idea of adding stadiums to his tour route in 2013, “I thought they were just talking shit. We were all just drinking a bit too much one night, and that’s something they came up with,” the country artist told Billboard backstage before headlining Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park on July 19. “Then I realized they were serious.” Perhaps he and his team should do more brainstorming around a bottle. According to Billboard Boxscore statistics, Aldean’s graduation to stadiums has been a lucrative one. On Aug. 15, 2013, he sold out Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati and took in $667,590 from a sold-out crowd of 20,424. Not even a year later, Aldean’s Great American show grossed more than $2.6 million and…

JASON ALDEAN Aug. 1 Gross $2,484,731 Ticket prices $89.75, $39.75 Attendance 9,600 on the field; 38,725 total BILLY JOEL Aug. 2 Gross $4,122,996 Ticket prices $129.50, $49.50 Attendance 10,000 on the field; 40,335 total PRODUCTION Combined manpower for staging steel and production load-in (totals more than three days) 199 Combined manpower for load-out 196 (Saturday night to Sunday afternoon) TRUCKS Staging steel 8 For shared PA/video/lights 5 Aldean band/crew 14 Opening act Florida Georgia Line band/crew 2 Joel band/crew 8 VENDING FOR THE WEEKEND Gallons of soda 844 Hot dogs More than 5,000 Steak One ton Pretzels More than 6,000 Fries More than two tons COMBINED SHOWS Total gross $6,607,727 Total attendance 79,060…

Singer Deborah Cox on the “big shoes” she had to fill for Lifetime’s biopic IT DOESN’T AIR UNTIL 2015, BUT LIFETIME’S I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story, starring Yaya DaCosta, has already faced major challenges. Family matriarch Cissy Houston denounced the biopic, directed by Angela Bassett. Then there were problems securing the rights to Houston’s vocals. To overcome the latter hurdle, singer Deborah Cox, 40, was asked to re-create tracks. “I had some big shoes to fill,” says Cox. “But I did the job that needed to be done.” How did you become involved? Angela, who is a friend, approached me about singing a few songs. She and I — along with [songwriterproducer] Dick Rudolph, who is also closely supervising the music — went into the studio…

08-14 Rapper Beanie Sigel was released from jail following a two-year federal sentence for tax evasion and a concurrently served sentence for narcotics possession. Veteran music producer Rick Parashar, who worked on Pearl Jam’s seminal 1991 album Ten, died of natural causes at his home in Seattle. He was 50. 08-15 Actress and Elvis Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough got engaged to Ben Smith-Petersen, an Australian stuntman. Walt Disney World announced it will shut down its 5-yearold American Idol Experience attraction Aug. 30. 08-16 Keren Poznansky, director of publicity at Universal Music Enterprises, and husband Ross Sonnabend, vp operations at FileTrek, welcomed a son, Ash Harper Sonnabend, weighing in at 7 pounds, 9 ounces and 20.5 inches long. Paul Giamatti closed a deal to star in Straight Outta Compton, as Ruthless…

New York Fashion Week, which runs Sept. 4-11, is days away, and if you’re Hannah Bronfman — entrepreneur, co-founder of beauty and fitness booking app Beautified, celebrity DJ — you’ve got a schedule chock-full of things to do. (Previously, the 26-year-old’s itinerary has included everything from DJ’ing fashion label Public School’s after-party to walking in the DKNY show.) But that doesn’t mean the New York native doesn’t find time to play and share her fun with her 79,000 Instagram followers (@hannahbronfman). Bronfman gives Billboard the lowdown on where she fuels up and gets glam (check out those nails!) in between NYFW shows and gigs. EAT “It’s nice to go out to dinner during Fashion Week. Cafe Select [212 Lafayette St.] is always fun. There’s tons of runway models hanging out…

Enrique Iglesias has found a way to bring his swoon-worthy essence to the mass market. The Grammy Award winner’s first fragrance — named Adrenaline after his self-proclaimed appetite for adventure — hit CVS, Target and Walmart shelves in August in partnership with cosmetics company Coty, which also manufactures Jennifer Lopez’s scents. It is strong, “sensual” and a tad spicy, not unlike the 39-year-old star himself. But unlike many men’s colognes that lean too heavily on woodsy or smoky notes, Adrenaline is far from musky. Expect a sweet finish thanks to a citrusy, mandarin infusion. —M.B. BILLBOARD STAFF SMELL TEST “The fragrance is perfect for flying solo at a music festival because it’s carefree, earthy and bold.” — Nick Williams, 26, assistant editor “It’s light and not too imposing, but fresh…

THE MOST VALUABLE BACKPACK IN LOS Angeles is a capacious, sturdy-looking black number loaded with a pair of stickeremblazoned MacBook Pro laptops, a set of headphones and a mobile Internet hotspot. It belongs to the 35-year-old DJ-producer Wesley Pentz, better-known as Diplo, and it’s with him wherever he goes. The money is in the matched pair of computers. He uses one when he DJs — playing hundreds of gigs a year, including a weekly residency in Las Vegas. (Billboard estimates he makes $100,000 to $250,000 a pop.) The other is dedicated to music production and contains in-progress tracks for an entire Grammy ceremony’s worth of A-list artists who are expected to release music this fall, from Madonna and Usher to Skrillex and Chris Brown. (Diplo’s premium rate to create a…

EVERY AUTUMN, A HANDFUL OF ARTISTS SCRAMBLE to release albums before the Grammy deadline, which this year falls on Sept. 30. Leonard Cohen, Barbra Streisand and Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett will sneak in under the wire, and rumors swirl that Kanye West could drop new material before October. Annie Lennox’s covers collection, Nostalgia, will have a vinyl-only release on Sept. 30 to make the cutoff, then a full release on Oct. 12. And when electronic producer Steve Aoki’s next album Neon Future was bumped from Aug. 12, it landed smack dab on Sept. 30. Aoki’s previous release, Wonderland, was nominated for the best dance/electronica album Grammy in 2013, and noms have real value: They can lead to the TV bookings, radio play and press that drives an act forward.…

44% Growth of vinyl sales in 2014, through Aug. 10. 4.9M Number of vinyl albums sold to date in 2014. Vinyl makes up 3.4 percent of the entire market. 500K Worldwide shipments of the mono Beatles vinyl albums, out Sept. 9. Approximately half of those will be distributed in the United States, with retailers picking this as the must-have holiday item. IN THE WORKS Hilary Duff TBD | TBD RCA ANDRE RECKE, BOO MANAGEMENT Following her 2007 release, Dignity, Duff took a break from music to focus on acting and her family. But she kicked back into gear with the July 23 announcement of her signing to RCA Records for her untitled fifth album. Colbie Caillat, Jason Reeves and Toby Gad handled songwriting duties for the breezy first single, “Chasing…

Fania was one of the soundtracks of my life growing up in New York. It’s not only the cultural significance of it all, but the artistic importance. For anybody interested in any kind of art, this is like opening a treasure chest. There is a world of music you can just dive into. Playing [Fania artist] Hector Lavoe in El Cantante was one of the biggest challenges for me, not only as an actor, but as a singer. His voice, his timing was brilliant. If I were to introduce you to just his music, you would want to know the man. If I were to tell you his amazingly crazy story, you would want to hear his music. And when you have both, it’s a story that needs to be…

MICHAEL CERA Actor Michael Cera has always had a flirtation with music, recording vocals on Weezer’s 2010 track “Hang On,” playing bass with bands Mister Heavenly and The Long Goodbye and rocking onscreen in the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. On Aug. 8, the 26-year-old quietly released an album, True That, to Bandcamp . Currently in New York for a Broadway stint in This Is Our Youth, Cera explained how his nighttime hobby became a surprisingly good 17-track LP of lo-fiscuzz-folk. Did you record these songs knowing that you would eventually release them? There was no intention of that at all. I’d just amassed all of these tracks that I liked enough to put out. I really didn’t even consider it an album so much as some of…

ON HER AUNT’S PORCH IN HAINES CITY, FLA., in 2001, you could find a 15-year-old Sevyn Streeter doing her best Aaliyah impression. She and her cousin would glide from side to side, emulating the R&B icon’s fluid choreography. “We were so excited to move like her and have that same vibe,” remembers Streeter, now 28 and one of several new soul stars whose sound and style are blatantly influenced by Aaliyah. “When I think back on that, I realize how long she’s not only been in me, but in our generation, and how long we’ve tried to imitate her.” It’s been more than a decade since Aaliyah Haughton died in a plane crash on Aug. 25, 2001, at 22, and 20 years since her 1994 debut, Age Ain’t Nothing But…

PRODUCERS: Halatrax, Stereotypes, Mario Marchetti, Michael Mani, Jordan Omley, Keith Harris, others LABEL: Mass Appeal/BMG RELEASE DATE: Aug. 25 BEST SONGS: “Switch,” “Deja Vu,” “Paper” THE NOTION THAT FANS’ APPETITE for boy bands of yore is not only alive but downright lusty was borne out most effectively by the 2011 project NKOTBSB, which brought together members of New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys for an album and tour. Nick & Knight, the new project of NKOTB’s Jordan Knight and BSB’s Nick Carter, distills that idea even further: What if a pair containing one member of each group did the same? The duo’s peppy self-titled debut proves that the concept can not only work but occasionally triumph. Both Carter and Knight have already used their boy-band cred to establish…

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack defends its position at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second week. The compilation album sold another 93,000 copies in the week ending Aug. 17, according to Nielsen SoundScan (down 15 percent from the previous week). Soundtracks have crowned the chart for 15 weeks in 2014 — nearly half of the year so far. Earlier this year, the soundtrack to Frozen clocked 13 weeks atop the list. Speaking of Frozen, thanks to sale pricing in the iTunes Store, the album rebounds 8-3 on the Billboard 200, selling 43,000 (up 53 percent). It sits behind the nonmoving Now 51 various-artists compilation at No. 2, which sold 52,000 (down 45 percent). YouTube star Troye Sivan, 19, starts at No. 5 with his new five-song…

I IT WAS LIKE A CAREFULLY planned breakup. First came the unabashed pop bangers on Taylor Swift’s last album, 2012’s Red, “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Then, in June, Big Machine chief Scott Borchetta spoke diplomatically of her next LP (titled 1989 and due Oct. 27): “Fans are going to love it. Will country stations play a complete pop song just because it’s her? No.” Then, word began to spread about Swift’s new single, “Shake It Off,” another pop radio-ready track helmed by hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback. Later, sources hinted there isn’t a single acoustic guitar on 1989. Finally, Swift, 24, dropped the “p” word before premiering the song during an Aug. 18 worldwide webcast: “I woke up every day not…

THOSE STILL MOURNING THE MAY death of East Village Radio, the guerrilla-style online station that highlighted indie, hip-hop and dance subgenres, may find hope in DJ Skee’s new online and mobile platform, DASH, which debuted with 50 stations on Aug. 19 (a studio in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn is also planned). A longtime host for the likes of Clear Channel and most recently SiriusXM’s Hip-Hop Nation, Skee, aka Scott Keeney, is looking to bring an old-school approach to online listening and has lined up some big backers, including L.A. Reid, Matt Michelsen (co-founder of Backplane), Mike Lazerow (former CEO of Buddy Media), Minnesota Vikings MVP Adrian Peterson and EVR co-founder Peter Ferraro. Tech N9ne’s Strange Music, XXL and reggae label VP Records will all help curate genre stations, while…

1994 1. Billy Joel & Elton John (Face to Face Tour), July 22-29 STADIUM Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. GROSS $14,889,127 ATTENDANCE 293,539; five sellouts TICKET PRICES $85, $46 2. The Rolling Stones, Counting Crows (Voodoo Lounge Tour), Aug. 12-17 STADIUM Giants Stadium GROSS $9,531,214 ATTENDANCE 201,547; four sellouts TICKET PRICES $50, $25 3. The Rolling Stones, Seal (Voodoo Lounge Tour), Oct. 26-31 STADIUM Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, Calif. GROSS $9,431,700 ATTENDANCE 199,285; four sellouts TICKET PRICES $50, $25 4. Billy Joel & Elton John (Face to Face Tour), July 8-12 STADIUM Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia GROSS $7,315,495 ATTENDANCE 150,511; three sellouts TICKET PRICES $85, $46 5. The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Voodoo Lounge Tour), Oct. 19-22 STADIUM Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif. GROSS $6,153,301 ATTENDANCE 119,140; two…

“I choose not to talk to the papers about every aspect of my personal life. But just know I had a damn good reason.” —CALVIN HARRIS The DJ responding on Twitter to ex Rita Ora’s claims he forced her to cancel a Teen Choice Awards performance of “I Will Never Let You Down,” which he wrote. “Maybe you should focus on your records a little more and they’d be better.” —ACE FREHLEY The former Kiss guitarist criticizing ex-bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley over their investment in an arena football team. “Everything’s perfect.” —TINA KNOWLES The mother of Beyoncé addressing her daughter’s marriage to Jay Z. “[I] haven’t watched the Taylor Swift video, and I don’t need to ... to tell you that it’s inherently offensive and ultimately harmful.” —EARL…

Music has become a key component in ending a beloved TV series. Think Breaking Bad, which used Badfinger’s “Baby Blue,” and The Sopranos’ famous last scene soundtracked by Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.” The FX hit Sons of Anarchy, ending after seven seasons this fall, is following suit, and, no surprise here, the scene promises to be squeamish. One difference in how SOA handles music, however, is that the show takes the more affordable route (a one-time sync by a top act can run north of $30,000) by having its de facto house band, The Forest Rangers (featuring music supervisor Bob Thiele Jr.), cover well-known classics. For instance, Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and The Association’s “Never My Love” will be heard on the Sept. 9 season premiere. Creator-writer Kurt Sutter has relied…

Wiz Khalifa got lifted by the crowd during his performance at a “Wiz Khalifa: A Tumblr IRL” listening party event to fete the release of his third album, Blacc Hollywood, at Ironwood Hall in Austin on Aug. 16. The event also featured Tumblr artist Uzi. Singer Rita Ora joined the ranks of the numerous celebrities who have taken part in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge by get ting splashed in New Yo rk on Aug. 18. Aft e rwa rd , she challenged rapper Iggy Azalea. 1 LeAnn Rimes during the Charlotte Pride Festival in Charlotte, N.C., on Aug. 17. 2 Rod Stewart at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 14. 3 Foxes backstage at the V Festival at Weston Park in Staffordshire, England, on Aug. 17. 4…

DAD: EDGAR MILES BRONFMAN JR. Pops is the former Warner Music Group chairman/CEO. (Bonus: Mom Sherri Brewer appeared in the 1971 flick Shaft and was once engaged to Miles Davis.) BIG BRO: BENJAMIN BRONFMAN Founder of Green Owl Records, he helped produce Kanye West’s “New Slaves,” which earned Bronfman a Grammy nod. BOYFRIEND: BRENDAN FALLIS Like his girlfriend, he’s a highly sought-after DJ among the fashion set. The 33-year-old’s other gig: acting as manager for rapper Theophilus London. HER NEPHEW’S MOM: M.I.A. The rapper is the mother of Hannah’s 5-year-old nephew, Ikhyd Edgar, with her brother Ben (the couple are no longer together).…

Music festival merch is getting a stylish upgrade thanks to Zara Terez, a New York-based fashion brand known for its ultra-colorful and breathable Spandex leggings. Scouted at a Las Vegas trade show earlier this year, the label’s namesake, Zara Terez, and her business partner, Amanda Schabes, were tapped by Perryscope Productions (now owned by SFX Entertainment) to design event-branded shorts, tanks, leggings and crop tops for the Mysteryland and Electric Zoo festivals (held in 2014 May 23-26 in Bethel, N.Y., and Aug. 29-31 in New York, respectively). “I’ve been going to concerts since the day I could walk so I knew exactly what the void in the market was,” says Terez. For Mysteryland, Terez and Schabes created digitally subliminated prints inspired by the nighttime main stage. And for Electric Zoo,…

MADONNA Diplo, who’s working on Madge’s new album, says, “I got really lucky because she’s been really understanding and open to my ideas. And she’s like, ‘I hate sleeping.’ ” USHER He’s collaborating on tracks for the R&B artist’s next album, too. “When I’m working with Usher,” he says, “I’m thinking I want to express what I love about him.” RIFF RAFF “Everybody disagreed when I brought Riff Raff into the fold [for his debut album, Neon Icon],” says Diplo. “But he’s still one of my favorite songwriters.” LORDE “My publisher, Ron Perry at Songs, is doing the next Hunger Games soundtrack with her, so maybe one of my songs goes to her and Lorde has a friend do the hook I wrote for it.”…

Charli XCX | SUCKER | Oct. 21 NEON GOLD/ATLANTIC | DAVID BIANCHI, VARIOUS ARTISTS MANAGEMENT MARTY DIAMOND, PARADIGM TALENT AGENCY THE LOWDOWN The electropop singer-songwriter’s second album is at once a pushback and an embrace of the recent success of her first Hot 100 top 10 single, “Boom Clap,” and her even bigger collaboration with Iggy Azalea on the No. 1 summer smash “Fancy.” NEW SINGLE “Break the Rules,” the pop byproduct of her punk phase. FEATURED ARTISTS Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend. NOTABLE QUOTE “Part of this record is me being angry at the commercial pop world and the people who run it,” says Charli, “and part of it is me enjoying being a part of the circus.” Jason Aldean OLD BOOTS, NEW DIRT Oct.…

Did any favorite holiday songs inspire the sound of your album? I’m not a huge connoisseur of holiday music, but I love orchestral jazz — it bears a lot of similarities to holiday music. As far as holiday records, gosh, I don’t know — the Home Alone soundtrack? “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” a duet with Sara Bareilles, is one of the more recognizable songs on the record, but also one of the more controversial since its Frank Loesser heyday. What made you want to tackle it? That’s a song that has somehow made the leap into the modern era without being called out for what it is. The girl is clearly saying no. But again, it’s just a joy to sing against orchestration that’s that good — you’ve really got…

Cosa Nuestra by Willie Colon featuring Hector Lavoe, 1969 The titillating cover, showing Colon with his trombone case — akin to a gun case — standing over a dead body, has more to do with circumstance than music. “I came from a really tough neighborhood. Almost everybody went to jail,” recalls Colon. “I was able to be a badass gangster and not do it for real.” Barretto Power by Ray Barretto, 1972 Barretto wanted his musicians on the cover, but designer Sanabria didn’t want the same old boring band art. He went to the Bible for inspiration, using the story of Samson and the surrealism of Salvador Dali. “You have this gigantic hair blowing in the wind and you see this little guy looking up at this huge, powerful thing.”…

BROOKLYN RAPPER BOBBY SHMURDA’S RISE HAS been almost as fast as the Web connections that fueled it. In March, he released his raw, homemade debut video for his aggressive breakout single “Hot N—a.” At one point in the clip, the Jamaican-American rapper tosses his hat in the air and hits his now-ubiquitous Shmoney Dance, a deceptively simple, side-to-side hip swing (see above). “We Caribbean — you know we dance,” says Shmurda, 20, born Ackquille Pollard. “We’ll dance and shoot the shit out of somebody right after.” A Vine user looped the moment on June 24, and Shmurda’s dance quickly went full meme, with hundreds of other users posting imitation clips. Celebs like Kevin Durant and Beyoncé eventually joined in on the fun. The original Vine has been looped more than…

ALL ‘WORKS’ MORE PLAY Prospect Park Records quartet Knox Hamilton leaps 60 percent in plays with its dance-popped “Work It Out” and approaches the Alternative airplay chart, led by 41 spins on SiriusXM’s Alt Nation — its ninth-most-played song in the week ending Aug. 17, according to Nielsen BDS. A ROUND OF APPLAUSE Tre Buggs (real first name: Holton) bubbles under the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart with his first single, “Clap Dat.” The 16-year-old Houston singer-dancer, currently opening for Keyshia Cole, is working on his debut album, Monsters Under My Bed, for Diamond Style Records. NO LONGER ‘UNKNOWN’ Jukebox the Ghost nears its first Triple A hit with the hooky “The Great Unknown” (Yep Roc). The pianodriven single has shades of Ben Folds and A Great Big World, and it’s no…

EVEN BY THE STANDARDS OF THIS ADD-addled age, Ty Segall is a monstrously prolific artist, with an avalanche of albums, singles and cassettes under his name and those of his other projects (Fuzz, White Fence, Mikal Cronin) during the past six years. His music is basically a garage-pop-psychheavy rock mix, and each of his releases usually focuses on one of those elements (2012’s Twins was brawny and aggressive; 2013’s Sleeper was acoustic and occasionally Bowie-esque). Often, the problem with such fertile artists is that albums can feel more like a collection of rough drafts: While there are many fine songs in Segall’s overstuffed oeuvre, there also are a lot of dashed-off tracks. But Manipulator, Segall’s seventh solo LP, was a deliberate attempt to focus — he spent 14 months preparing…

Ariana Ascends; Taylor Returns Ariana Grande takes over as the top artist in the United States, vaulting 4-1 on the Billboard Artist 100. As she logs her first week at No. 1, she also becomes the first female artist to lead the list (which launched six weeks ago). Grande reaches the summit with a 54 percent surge in overall points, with digital song sales as the biggest driver — 47 percent — of her total weekly activity. She boasts three songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 (see page 3), including “Break Free” (featuring Zedd), which sports a 54 percent gain to 116,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan, after its video premiered Aug. 12. A fairly even split of streaming, radio airplay and social activity follows Grande’s song sales,…