Innholdsfortegnelse for May 13, 2023 i Billboard Magazine

HOW MAGICAL WOULD it be if we listened to music and music listened back to us?” asks Philip Sheppard, the co-founder/CEO of Lifescore, a U.K. startup that creates soundtracks tailored to users’ functional needs, from sleep to focus to fitness. Though the premise sounds like science fiction, a number of new companies are already working with technology that attunes music to listeners’ movements in video games, workouts, virtual reality — even the aesthetics of their Snapchat lenses. Much as a film composer accentuates pivotal moments in the story with perfectly timed swells and crescendos, these innovations are being used to create bespoke soundtracks in real time. One of the most fertile testing grounds for “dynamic” or “personalized” music, as it is called, is the gaming sector. Gamers tend to…

AGE Stella Quaresma, 21; Renée Downer, 20; Jorja Douglas, 21LABEL Island UK/Republic RecordsPUBLISHER Sony ATVMANAGEMENT Rob Harrison (Listen Generously), Sam Eldridge (Urok Management)TOTAL STREAMS 43.5 million In just one year, British R&B group FLO has created a significant buzz, thanks in part to debut single “Cardboard Box” and its critically acclaimed EP, The Lead. The trio, which won the 2023 BRIT Awards’ Rising Star trophy, recently tapped Missy Elliott for its single “Fly Girl,” which samples the rap icon’s 2002 hit “Work It.” Having wrapped a sold-out North American tour in April, the members of FLO are most grateful for their listeners; as Douglas puts it, “Having fans that actually love your music and want to be a part of your journey is really special.” Ahead, the trio is…

AGE 20LABEL PlatoonPUBLISHER Because MusicMANAGEMENT Outlier ArtistsTOTAL STREAMS 2.3 million Yunè Pinku, the Malaysian Irish U.K.-based producer-singer-songwriter, only began releasing music in 2021 — but the swell of support for her hypnotic singles has already been overwhelming, encouraging her to “be bolder and braver” on her debut EP, Babylon IX, which arrived in April on Platoon. (The project is also powering her first U.S. live shows this summer.) “It’s hard sometimes because there’s no rulebook, so you’re kind of blindly walking through it all,” she says of the industry. But it’s “pillar female artists” like Madonna, Björk, Lady Gaga and Imogen Heap who continue to inspire her. “There’s something I really admire about the unconventional woman in music, who just has this formidable permanence in the face of it…

AGE 19LABEL VPS Music via Warner LatinaPUBLISHER Warner Chappell MusicMANAGEMENT Jose Luis AguilarTOTAL STREAMS 217 million In April, DannyLux made his Coachella debut, performing his signature sad sierreño anthems in front of a significant crowd. It was a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter, who grew up in the Coachella Valley area. He says he’s most proud of bringing his family along with him, “and for them to experience all of this as well,” but his impact extends well beyond his circle: DannyLux is helping usher in a new global era for Mexican music, which led to a record deal last year with Warner Music Latina in partnership with his independent label, VPS Music. “I feel like there is a lot of pressure,” he says. “You have to stay consistent…

AGE 20LABEL Warner RecordsPUBLISHER Sony ATVMANAGEMENT NightTOTAL STREAMS 474.1 million Last fall, rising alt-pop star Nessa Barrett released her debut album, young forever, which was led by the aching single “Die First,” dedicated to her late friend Cooper Noriega. In February, she kicked off her first headlining outing of the same name in support of the project. “I never experienced anything like that,” she says. “I really found myself as an artist on the stage every night, and it makes me so excited for everything to come.” This year, she has released two new singles, “Bang Bang” and “American Jesus,” and most recently starred in the latest campaign for Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS.…

AGE 19LABEL Darkroom Records/GeffenPUBLISHER n/aMANAGEMENT Jacob Byrnes, Argenis HernandezTOTAL STREAMS 215.6 million SINCE DEBUTING with his Into the Unknown EP in 2020, Riovaz has released music at a steady pace, with uptempo dance hits like “Prom Night” and “I Feel Fantastic” being among fan favorites. Most recently, the New Jersey native boosted his catalog with his February EP, Disturb the Norm — his first project to arrive since signing to Darkroom Records, in partnership with Geffen, last summer. What are the biggest indicators of success in today’s music industry? A lot of people are focusing only on streams and followers, which to me doesn’t make me fall in love and remember an artist. Success, to me, is to be remembered for your contributions to the music industry and the…

AT THE BEGINNING OF 2021 — a year before she introduced herself to the world as Ice Spice, with her signature cinnamon curly afro — Isis Gaston wrapped her hair into two braids and tucked them underneath a silk scarf. Wearing a black lounge set, she smiled for the camera while a sample of Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” faded into the background and the hook of “Buss It,” rapper Erica Banks’ breakout 2020 single, started. The clip cut, and Gaston, now clad in a teal cut-out dress, dropped it low and twerked with her long, light brown locks cascading over her frame. The viral video was just one of millions from the “Buss It” TikTok challenge, which helped Banks earn her first Billboard Hot 100 entry, a Travis Scott…

WHEN EXECUTIVES from across the United States and international markets convene in Nashville May 15-18 for the Music Biz 2023 conference, they will connect with a trade organization widening its reach, with a leader boasting credentials that are uncommon in the music industry. Portia Sabin, who became Music Business Association president in September 2019, brings to her role a Columbia University doctorate in anthropology and education and savvy that she gained from a subsequent 13 years as president of the respected independent label Kill Rock Stars and eight years as host of music business podcast The Future of What. It’s no wonder that Sabin has cultivated an esteemed fan club of music industry professionals, including the heads of other trade groups. “Because of her background and her personality, she’s…

REMA AND SELENA GOMEZ’S “Calm Down” rises to a new No. 5 high on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated May 13), marking multiple unprecedented chart feats. The song ascends with 78.9 million in radio airplay audience (up 19%), 15.7 million official streams (up 1%) and 5,000 sold (up 3%) in the United States April 28-May 4, according to Luminate. Rema released the original version of “Calm Down” in February 2022 as a single from his debut solo album, Rave & Roses. Its remix with Gomez arrived last August, and that version’s official video premiered in September. Rema hits the Hot 100’s top five with his first entry on the chart. Gomez adds her fourth top five hit and first since “Lose You To Love Me” became her first No.…

PARIS — Believe — the Paris-based digital music company that operates in more than 50 countries and has over 1,600 employees — has grown rapidly in recent years from a pure-play European distributor to an international conglomerate, spanning labels, publishing, distribution, marketing, artist management and artist/label services. Fueling that rise has been a series of timely acquisitions, such as its 2015 purchase of TuneCore, and a focus on digital music and early investments in key emerging markets like China, India and Southeast Asia. Believe’s expansion comes as the major labels are increasingly concerned about the dilution of their share of the global streaming market, and now the company has its eyes set on the United States. Amid all this, Believe is still dealing with criticism over continuing to do…

AGE 20LABEL Galactic Records/Republic RecordsPUBLISHER Universal MusicPublishing GroupMANAGEMENT Giuseppe ZappalaTOTAL STREAMS 4.4 billion Since making his Hot 100 debut with the 2019 hit “Ran$om,” Lil Tecca has evolved his sing-song hooks and syrupy melodies. Now boasting 10 Hot 100 hits and three top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 (most recently with 2021’s We Love You Tecca 2), the New York rapper has released a string of singles, including “Fallin” and “Tressa,” over the past year, while also flourishing as a reliable guest star on collaborations with Internet Money, Rich Amiri and Mabel. He’s now teasing a new project on Instagram but says he’s most proud of “doing hella adult stuff like getting groceries and shit, that’s my favorite thing to do.”…

AGE 20LABEL Rebel Music/The Valory Music Co./Geffen RecordsPUBLISHER n/aMANAGEMENT Hard 8 Working GroupTOTAL STREAMS 538 million Since debuting on the Billboard charts with “Dirt Road” in 2020, Kidd G has maintained a presence with his Hot Country Songs hit, “Teenage Dream,” and a “Dirt Road” remix with BRELAND. This year, in between his headlining tour dates with opener CB30, he has been back in the studio crafting new music. “I feel like I’ve figured out what my sound is, and I’m excited to keep growing that,” he says, adding that he has been taking notes from Morgan Wallen. “I love his music and admire the way it draws you in. He also has a really good stage presence, which is something I look up to.”…

AGE 20LABEL NLE Entertainment/Warner RecordsPUBLISHER n/aMANAGEMENT Tricky Montgomery, Angeleta Potts, Brandon PottsTOTAL STREAMS 5.8 billion Since emerging in 2019 with his hit single “Shotta Flow,” NLE Choppa continues to be a champion for the youth with his contagious energy. In 2023, the Memphis rapper scored two more Billboard Hot 100 entries, boosting his career total to 11, including “Do It Again” with 2Rare and “Slut Me Out.” The latter went viral and became Choppa’s highest-charting hit on the list, reaching No. 28. Despite “not getting enough rest,” Choppa maintains his hunger as an underdog — and believes in long-term planning. “I started at 16. Now I’m 20,” he says. “I got 20 more years, and I’m only getting better.”…

A SAKE LEANS BACK IN HIS CHAIR, PHONE GLOWING IN THE DARKENED STUDIO, as Olamide hunches over his right shoulder. Suddenly, the engineer signals, and the backbone of a song swirls through the speakers while Asake begins teasing out melodies and lyrics in Yoruba, a language of his native Nigeria. The engineer cuts, rewinds and plays, and the loop once again floods the vacuum-like silence that envelops a recording studio. Outside the room, the building is bubbling with activity and energy as artists, songwriters and engineers mill about, playing unreleased records and eating from a buffet of Nigerian food — smoked mackerel, okra soup, goat, garlic shrimp and crab — prepared by local chefs. But this is not West Africa; it’s San Francisco, at the new studio headquarters of…

IT’S FAIR TO say the rock world didn’t quite know what to make of Kansas when the band rolled out of Topeka 50 years ago. The original sextet — guitarist Richard Williams, drummer Phil Ehart (who are both still with the band), guitarist-keyboardist Kerry Livgren, singer-keyboardist Steve Walsh, singer-violinist Robbie Steinhardt and bassist Dave Hope — looked like quintessential Midwesterners but traded in compositional and lyrical complexities that sounded like something from across the pond. Blending blues-based hard rock and intricate progressive constructions, Kansas staked out its own musical territory, at once original and accessible. Signed to pop hit-maker Don Kirshner’s label, Kirshner Records, in 1973, Kansas built its following with its first three albums, released between March 1974 and September 1975, and nonstop touring before 1976’s quadruple-platinum Leftoverture…

Seventeen notches its highest-charting album, and third top 10, on the Billboard 200 as its 10th Mini Album: FML debuts at No. 2. The set starts with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States April 28-May 4, according to Luminate. It also launches at No. 1 on Top Album Sales (132,000 sold). —KEITH CAULFIELD NO. 12 A Monstrous Debut The National (above) rules the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart for a fifth total — and consecutive — time with its new set, First Two Pages of Frankenstein. The Matt Berninger-fronted band’s streak dates to May 2010’s High Violet. Frankenstein debuts with 32,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, including 24,000 album sales. The set also debuts atop Vinyl Albums (with 15,000 format copies),…

IS THERE ANOTHER $1 billion in global publishing royalties that rights holders can gain by using better technology? That’s what Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert says. When Kobalt was bought by Francisco Partners last September, the disruptive innovator known for its publishing administration clients like Karol G, Phoebe Bridgers and Max Martin said that a primary goal of this next chapter would be growing its little known and even less understood global digital rights collections society for compositions, the American Music Rights Association. In the months since, Kobalt and its new owners have refined their strategy for scaling this “unpolished gem,” as Francisco Partners and Kobalt board director Matt Spetzler calls AMRA. Their first hurdle? Explaining what exactly the global mechanical and performance rights society focused on collecting digital-specific income…

BEATDAPP co-founders and co-CEOs Morgan Hayduk and Andrew Batey were not initially focused on fighting streaming manipulation. Batey spent years in digital marketing, while Hayduk formerly worked as a lobbyist for the Canadian music industry in the area of copyright protection. At first, they teamed to build an auditing tool that would enable labels to evaluate inconsistencies between their sales reports and streaming services’ server logs. Conversations with label executives indicated that “there were pretty often material discrepancies,” Hayduk says. As he and Batey tried to understand those inconsistencies, it became clear that streaming manipulation was causing some of them, and Beatdapp embarked on developing a tool to detect fraudulent streams — which Hayduk defines as the leveraging of “bots, stolen accounts or manipulated platform features” to steal streaming…

AGE 18LABEL n/aPUBLISHER n/aMANAGEMENT Pamela CornejoTOTAL STREAMS 1.1 billion Ivan Cornejo was 17 years old when he secured his first Billboard chart entry with his 2021 debut album, Alma Vacía, landing at No. 2 on Regional Mexican Albums. That same year, the project’s “Está Dañada” became the second regional Mexican song to ever enter the Billboard Hot 100. The singer-songwriter has since maintained momentum, with his sierreño tunes — mostly backed by melancholic requintos and emotional vocals — helping Cornejo score his first No. 1 on Regional Mexican Albums with his second set, Dañado. (A deluxe edition arrived last December.) “The most exciting part about being a young artist is the influence my music can have on other upcoming artists,” he says, which can best be reflected in the…

AGE 19LABEL Island Records/Republic RecordsPUBLISHER Warner Chappell MusicMANAGEMENT AG ArtistsTOTAL STREAMS 669.5 million Lauren Spencer-Smith is an open book and makes it look easy: After capturing attention with her devastating breakup ballad “Fingers Crossed,” which went viral on TikTok in early 2022 and eventually peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100, the singer-songwriter has continued to help fans heal with follow-up hits like “Flowers,” “Best Friend Breakup” and “28.” “Going viral is great, but what really matters is if your music is truly resonating with people,” says Spencer-Smith, who signed a joint deal with Island and Republic last year. “There’s no better feeling than watching your music help others. That’s when those viral moments will continue. That’s the real indicator of success.”…

AGE Bela Salazar, 18; Lucia de la Garza, 16; Eloise Wong, 15; Mila de la Garza, 12LABEL Epitaph RecordsPUBLISHER Warner Chappell MusicMANAGEMENT Fly South Music GroupTOTAL STREAMS 12.8 million Riding an initial viral wave in 2021 spurred by a live performance of its song “Racist, Sexist Boy” at the Los Angeles Public Library, the four-piece punk group settled in last year with its debut album, Growing Up, released on Epitaph. The act subsequently toured the project at festivals, as well as on North American and international treks, during which Lucia de la Garza says she “really got the idea of how widespread the reach of the internet and streaming platforms are.” In April, the band returned with single “Too Many Things” and a Coachella performance, which it will follow…

AGE 20LABEL Republic RecordsPUBLISHER Universal Music Publishing GroupMANAGEMENT LoyalT ManagementTOTAL STREAMS 460.2 million Plenty of aspiring artists write love songs in their bedrooms intended for their crushes. But few have evoked classic romance quite like Sanchez did with his waltzing, 1950s-indebted hit, “Until I Found You,” which soundtracked hundreds of thousands of TikToks featuring wedding and couple celebrations. The 2021 single crossed over from viral success to radio hit last year, reaching No. 23 on the Hot 100 and topping the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. And while the Republic Records crooner has released several versions of “Until I Found You,” he has also shared some new, retro-leaning tunes ahead of his fall tour. “There has been a really healthy growth and certainly lots of adjustment,” says Sanchez,…

AGE 19LABEL RCA RecordsPUBLISHER Sony Music PublishingMANAGEMENT Full Stop ManagementTOTAL STREAMS 2.3 billion After releasing her debut album, I Used To Think I Could Fly, last spring, Tate McRae has continued to drop pop hits, including “uh oh” and her Tiësto collaboration “10:35,” which peaked at No. 69 on the Hot 100 in February. And at the Juno Awards in March, McRae was up for five awards, including single of the year for “She’s All I Wanna Be,” album of the year for I Used To Think I Could Fly and songwriter of the year. She believes the most exciting thing about being a young artist today is also the most challenging: “It’s all in your hands — you have the freedom to become anything you want.” Contributors Rania…

Haley McCollister President, MTG Nashville // Messina Touring Group HALEY MC COLLISTER has had a busy spring: Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran, two of the flagship artists promoted by AEG Presents affiliate Messina Touring Group, launched stadium tours just seven weeks apart. McCollister, president of Messina’s Nashville office, joined Swift on the road for the opening weeks of her blockbuster The Eras Tour, which began March 17 — as she also readied the May 6 kickoff of the North American leg of Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour. “The past few weeks have been... wild,” says McCollister, 35, exhaling deeply as she anticipates hopscotching between the two runs. Yet she also points out that because she’s been through this exact daunting scenario before — when Sheeran and Swift had concurrent stadium treks…