Innholdsfortegnelse for August 15, 2020 i Billboard Magazine

HARRY STYLES’ “WATERMELON SUGAR” TAKES THE TOP seed on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his first No. 1 on the chart as it blasts from No. 7. The single surges by 614% to 63,000 downloads sold in the tracking week, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. It also drew 71.7 million in radio airplay audience and 14.2 million U.S. streams. The song, from Styles’ December 2019 album, Fine Line, was on sale at the artist’s webstore in three physical/digital combinations and sale-priced at digital retailers during the tracking week. An official “behind the scenes” video for the song premiered July 31 and a “lost tour visual” clip arrived Aug. 3. Styles becomes the second member of One Direction to lead the Hot 100 following Zayn, whose “Pillowtalk” reigned in its…

OVER THE PAST few years, labels and music publishers have once again become a hot investment — see Warner Music Group’s initial public offering in June or Tencent’s purchase of 10% of Universal Music Group, which valued UMG at a dizzying 30 billion euros ($35.2 billion at current exchange rates) — partly because streaming revenue is expected to continue soaring over the next decade as new markets embrace the format. Even amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the live business temporarily shuttered, Spotify revenue grew 13.3% to 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion), according to second-quarter earnings that were released July 29. The three major labels aren’t faring as well. UMG, WMG and Sony Music each suffered second-quarter drops in revenue compared with the same period last year, according to their…

WHEN THE PANDEMIC HIT, TALENT manager Monique Blake first thought working from home would be a “nice and quiet” change of pace after 15 years spent crisscrossing the globe. Then her biggest client, producer Swizz Beatz, teamed up with Timbaland to launch Verzuz, which quickly became the most influential livestream in music, and “literally everybody” — broadcasters, streaming services, even gaming platforms — wanted to get in on the action. “Our audience was so locked into Instagram,” where the series had started, Blake recalled recently from her home in Brooklyn, and she knew they had to keep their Instagram presence, even though most of their suitors were not “really into that.” But Blake and her team eventually made a deal with Apple Music global creative director Larry Jackson that…

While writing and recording the third Disclosure album, Energy, out Aug. 28 on Capitol, brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence (29 and 26, respectively) made over 200 tracks during sessions split between London and Los Angeles. The duo ultimately pared down the list to the 11 on the album, which features vocals from Kelis, Common and Kehlani, among others. The pair selected collaborators who not only can rap and sing but also write, with friendliness being a strong consideration given the amount of in-person studio time spent together. “You can’t just email stuff back and forth,” says Guy of the prepandemic luxury. “You don’t get the magic in the room.” Howard calls Energy Disclosure’s first concept album, selecting only the tracks that “came out really quickly and easily.” Adds Guy:…

ON THE MORNING of March 13, Dolly Parton arrived at her Dollywood theme park, the crown jewel in her multimillion-dollar empire, for an annual preview day for seasonpass holders. Located in the town of Pigeon Forge in eastern Tennessee, not far from where Parton grew up, the park had introduced a number of changes in reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, including the installation of over 300 hand-sanitizer stations. The event was also supposed to show visitors how prepared Dollywood was to open the next day. Parton stayed all day to monitor the park and meet with Dollywood staff to talk about the latest news of the pandemic. By the time she left that night though, she was no longer convinced opening was a good idea. “We came to the…

IN 2013, WHILE ATTENDING AN industry showcase, songwriter Nicolle Galyon invited Ben Vaughn, then-Warner Chappell Music Nashville executive vp, to her car to listen to a rough mix of Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert’s “We Were Us,” a song she had co-written. “When it was over, he said, ‘I’ll see you at the BMI Awards next year. Have fun picking out your dress,’ ” she recalls. “That song went on to be my first No. 1.” Six years later, at its 67th annual Country Awards last November, BMI named Galyon songwriter of the year. Vaughn “poured rocket fuel” onto her career, says Galyon. A WCMN writer since 2007, she felt a momentous shift when Vaughn, who became president/CEO in 2019, arrived in 2012 after 10 years at EMI Music…

MICKEY GILLEY REMEMBERS THE moment he fell for the Urban Cowboy. It was 1978, and Gilley — the piano-playing cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis — was the namesake co-owner of Gilley’s in Pasadena, Texas, just outside of Houston. The massive honky-tonk claimed to be the world’s biggest nightclub — it held 7,000 on a good night — and was the setting for an Esquire cover story about refinery workers who rode a mechanical bull instead of the range. There was a busted marriage at the story’s center, and Gilley was no fan of its distinctly New York tone. “The article started out, ‘Boy meets girl, twang, twang,’ ” he says. “I thought it was poking fun at country music.” Then Gilley got a call from his partner, Sherwood Cryer,…

ON JULY 10 — SIX WEEKS AFTER THE POLICE killing of George Floyd ignited protests around the world — Jimmie Allen released his Bettie James EP. One track, “Why Things Happen,” particularly stood out: With its lyrics about life’s fleeting nature and a plaintive refrain asking “why things happen like they do,” it poignantly captured the mood of a nation torn apart by both a pandemic and racial tensions that had reached a boiling point. But it was the voices on the track that made it most powerful: Allen, Darius Rucker and Charley Pride — three generations of Black country stars singing together. “We got a chance to represent Black country artists for younger Black kids who want to do country but don’t feel anyone out there looks like…

ON JUNE 13 AND 14, OVER 200 friends and patrons of Nashville’s Douglas Corner came to an indoor yard sale. Wearing masks, they picked up pieces of the venue’s storied history — posters, stage equipment, merchandise — and said goodbye to a place they had never imagined losing. After nearly 34 years, owner Mervin Louque had announced the official closure of his singer-songwriter haven where artists such as John Prine, Jon Bon Jovi, Garth Brooks and Neil Diamond had once dropped in to watch shows. “This COVID thing changed everything,” says Louque. When he announced Douglas Corner’s closure, the Nashville community rallied around him, from individuals offering to set up GoFundMe campaigns to groups of investors — including Nashville Songwriters Association International executive director Bart Herbison, who helps run…

IT’S AS MUCH A PART OF presidential campaigns as reporters interviewing voters in swing-state diners: Candidate, usually Republican, plays song at rally; creator objects; creator’s lawyer sends cease-and-desist letter. Traditionally, that’s where the issue ends. Most candidates are reluctant to alienate songwriters, even though the public performance licenses they have — from ASCAP or BMI, for example — usually allow them to play their compositions. Nothing about this presidential campaign is normal, though. The disdain of many creators for President Donald Trump, combined with the fact that the coronavirus pandemic is pushing most political events online, could lead to an amount and intensity of legal wrangling over music never before seen in a U.S. election. Already, in addition to the usual letters, The Rolling Stones in late June credibly…

LONDON — In May, as the coronavirus spread through Europe, Serbian prime minister Ana Brnabić tried to stop her country’s summer EXIT Festival from becoming another casualty of the pandemic. Started in 2000, after the end of a series of bloody regional conflicts, the four-day event — held at the Petrovaradin Fortress on the Danube River — has served as a symbol of the country’s openness. So Brnabić urged organizers to move the festival from July to August rather than cancel it. The Serbian promoters slashed the event’s daily 55,000 capacity by half and instituted safety measures including mandatory COVID-19 tests and isolation facilities for attendees who show symptoms of the virus. Since Serbia had relatively few cases, hopes were high that EXIT could happen. Then in July, when…

How and when did conversations start about signing Bright Eyes? We had been working with Phoebe Bridgers, and Phoebe and Conor [Oberst] were making the Better Oblivion Community Center record with us. We knew there was a Bright Eyes record being imagined, and when they were ready to talk to labels, a bit after the Better Oblivion record had come out, they said, “Would you guys be interested?” Mike Mogis said he had never attended a marketing meeting prior to joining Dead Oceans. Why is it important to include your artists in business conversations? I wouldn’t say Saddle Creek not having done that decades ago surprises me; the music business is just a lot different now. Back then, it was very traditional. Critics’ lists would drive sales, there wasn’t…

When the annual Billboard Song of the Summer chart launched after Memorial Day, the 2020 race featured competitors like Doja Cat’s “Say So,” Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé’s “Savage Remix” and the Lady Gaga-Ariana Grande duet “Rain on Me.” Since then, DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” featuring Roddy Ricch, has sprinted ahead to what may be an insurmountable lead, notching seven nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 as both a streaming juggernaut (529.9 million U.S. on-demand streams, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data) and radio smash. “The song is a perfect storm,” says Dion Summers, vp urban programming at SiriusXM, citing strong internal research and steady consumption that’s “through the roof.” Chalk up part of the appeal of “Rockstar” to its star power: Roddy Ricch spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 earlier…

GROWING UP IN ROSARIO, Argentina, Nicki Nicole would pay special attention to people’s cellphone ringtones “because that’s how you knew back then what type of music was popular.” She says she was a musical “sponge,” and by the time she was 17, the artist (born Nicole Cucco) started experimenting with hiphop after meeting friends who would freestyle in the streets. Her open-minded musical upbringing informs the R&B and trap fusions that she both sings and raps on — and has helped her stand out in an increasingly crowded field of emerging Argentine trap artists. In 2019, at age 18, Nicki Nicole released her debut single, “Wapo Traketero,” a slower R&B track marked by her tender vocals. She continued to share a small handful of singles, all of which raked…