bbfree
BENEE Launches Olive Label, Signs Muroki: Exclusive
“I was listening to the track every day at one point,” she says, praising his “smooth and soulful” vocals. “Muroki’s such a sweet and genuine guy, just the sort of artist I’d like to work with.” BENEE introduced Elton John to Muroki when she met the Rocket Man on his Beat 1 radio show, and she’s currently touring with the teen in NZ. Leading Olive is label manager Trieste Douglas, formerly A&R for Universal Music New Zealand, and Poppy Tohill, from BENEE’s management team at CRS, Billboard can exclusively reveal. “The Olive team is already packed with some hardworking badass women,” comments BENEE (real name Stella Bennett), “and I feel this is an important time for us in the music business to come together and make some really cool shit happen.” She’s only 20 years of age, but BENEE i...
Australia’s Live Industry Welcomes Fine for Viagogo
In one example, the ACCC said the total price for two Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam) tickets was found to increase from A$450.00 ($357) to A$579.95 ($460), a rise of 29%, when the A$125 ($100) booking and A$4.95 ($4) handling fees were added. Justice Burley described one category of representations as having been made on “an industrial scale”. The company’s business practices were “unacceptable,” says ACCC Chair Rod Sims. “Viagogo misled thousands of consumers into buying tickets at inflated prices when they created a false sense of urgency by suggesting tickets were scarce and when they advertised tickets at a lower price by not including unavoidable fees.” The federal court’s stiff penalty is meant as a warning to other companies that breached consumer protections. The court also or...
Van Halen Album & Song Sales Spike by More Than 6,000% After Eddie Van Halen’s Death
In terms of songs, the group sold 31,000 tracks on Oct. 6 — up 6,317% compared to less than 1,000 sold on Oct. 5. Van Halen’s top 10 biggest-selling songs on Oct. 6 were: “Jump” (3,000), “Panama” (2,000), “Eruption” (2,000), “Runnin’ With the Devil” (2,000), “You Really Got Me” (2,000), “Dance the Night Away” (1,000), “Why Can’t This Be Love” (1,000), “Hot for Teacher” (1,000), “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” (1,000) and “Jamie’s Cryin’” (1,000). (Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.) “Jump” was Van Halen’s only No. 1 hit, among 16 top 40 hits, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending five weeks atop the list in 1984. News on any further sales gains, as well as significant streaming increases, will be reported in the coming days. It’s expected that Van Halen may impact a number of...
Tainy Tops Latin Producers Chart for Milestone 50th Week
Rank, Artist Billing, Title (producers in addition to Tainy)No. 3, J Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny & Tainy, “Un Dia (One Day)”No. 4, Ozuna x Karol G x Myke Towers, “Caramelo” (Yazid Rivera Lopez, Hi Flow, Alexis Gotay)No. 10, Tainy x J Balvin, “Agua”No. 19, Jhay Cortez & Bad Bunny, “Como Se Siente” (Ammunation)No. 27, Rosalia & Travis Scott, “TKN” (Rosalia, El Guincho, DJ Nelson, Alejandro Armes, Sky Rompiendo) Tainy has achieved three No. 1s on Hot Latin Songs as a producer: Wisin & Yandel’s “Pam Pam” (one week, 2006); Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Karol G, Ozuna and J Balvin’s “China” (12 weeks, 2019); and “Un Dia (One Day)” (five weeks, this year). Over on the Latin Songwr...
5 Epic Eddie Van Halen Guitar Solos
Van Halen would go on to become one of the biggest bands of their time, a Rock And Roll Hall of Fame-inducted stadium-filler with millions of fans around the globe. How big? Van Halen once scored a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Their $1.5 million payday from 1983’s Heavy Metal Day in San Bernadino was, at the time, the highest paid single appearance of a band. Eddie was always at the center of the action. The late, Netherlands-born multi-instrumentalist wasn’t the fastest shredder on the planet, and he didn’t invent the finger-tapping style for which he was renowned (he once pointed to the late English guitarist Allan Holdworth as “so damned good that I can’t cop anything. I can’t understand what he’s doing”). But he was the full package. A pioneer with style, hits, tri...
AC/DC Are Ready to ‘Power Up,’ Blast New Single ‘Shot In The Dark’: Stream It Now
It’s the first track lifted from their forthcoming album Power Up, which will arrive Nov. 13 in various formats, including a limited edition deluxe “lightbox”. Power Up welcomes the return of British singer Brian Johnson, who stepped aside in 2016 on doctor’s orders due to hearing-loss issues, and sees drummer Phil Rudd return to the fold after a stint in rehab. Fans of AC/DC got an unexpected shot in the arm when the band fired off a teaser last month, “ARE YOU READY? #PWRUP,” and revealed its line-up consisting of Johnson, Rudd, lead guitarist Angus Young, bassist Cliff Williams and rhythm guitarist Stevie Young. AC/DC’s last studio set, 2014’s Rock or Bust, peaked at No. 3 in the U.S. and U.K. and No. 1 in Australia. Stream “Shot In The Dark” below. You Deserve t...
The Highwomen Return to ‘Tonight Show’ for Virtual ‘Crowded Table’ Performance: Watch
With their latest appearance on The Tonight Show, The Highwomen can boast a very special achievement. The country supergroup stopped by Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show Tuesday night for a performance of “Crowded Table,” the second single off the Highwomen LP. It’s not the first time they’ve performed the song on Fallon’s show. Maren Morris, Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby were musical guests back in July 2019, for a performance of “Redesigning Women” and, yes, “Crowded Table.” You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back...
Jaden Smith Performs ‘Boys and Girls’ on ‘Kimmel,’ Urges Americans to Vote: Watch
Jaden Smith is no longer the Karate Kid. He’s all grown up and the election is on his mind. Jaden dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night for a performance of “Boys and Girls,” set to a backdrop of Black Lives Matter protests and climate change action. Wearing a jacket emblazoned with a rainbow-colored “Vote,” the singer and actor finished his performance with a raised fist. “This is the most important election of our lifetime. Don’t forget to vote.” You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back...
Indie Venues Devastated After Trump Kills Stimulus Talks: ‘This Is Real. We Need Help’
“It’s devastatingly horrible news,” says Stephen Chilton with the Rebel Lounge in Phoenix. “More venues are going to close — I think the reason we haven’t seen even more venues shut down is because everyone is holding out hope that Save Our Stages passes. I’m not sure how much longer people can hold on — there’s rent, there’s debt obligations and there’s a lot of costs. It’s already been six months with zero revenue.” The news came as a major disappointment for two major independent arts associations who were encouraged last week when Pelosi announced that the Save Our Stages Act would be included in the $2.2 trillion Heroes Act. Save Our Stages would have provided up to $18 million to any independent music ...
As Grammy Voters Rush to Meet First-Round Voting Deadline, Here Are 14 Questions This Year’s Awards Process Will Answer
The Academy added something new this year: For the first time in this first round of voting, voters can listen to recordings for which entrants provided links on select streaming services. Before, this service was only available in the final round of voting. Final-round voting, to determine the winners, will run from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4, 2021. The winners will be announced on Jan. 31. Here are 14 big questions that this year’s Grammy process will answer. Will Taylor Swift return to the album of the year finals after her last two albums were passed over in that category? Swift’s last two albums, Reputation and Lover, were passed over for album of the year nods, but the not-to-be-denied Swift just redoubled her efforts and came up with an album they can’t overlook. Folklore spent seven wee...
That Time Eddie Van Halen Became an ‘SNL’ Musical Guest Just Because He Was in the Building
Eddie Van Halen was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s because he just happened to be in the building that evening. The legendary rocker, who died Tuesday at the age of 65, was accompanying his then-wife Valerie Bertinelli to Studio 8H because she was hosting on Feb. 28, 1987. He had zero plans to appear on TV himself — but then house band guitarist G.E. Smith worked his magic. “He doesn’t want to follow his wife around like a puppy dog,” Smith remembered in an interview years ago. “So he finds out about the music office, and he comes in and hangs out — because you can do whatever you want in the music office. We’re in there drinking, smoking, whatever. He was comfortable there. It was his people, band guys. He got that. He could relax.” ...
Five Burning Questions: Machine Gun Kelly’s ‘Tickets to My Downfall’ Debuts at No. 1
1. Machine Gun Kelly posts the best sales numbers and first No. 1 debut of his career with Tickets to My Downfall this week, his first full pop-punk album. What do you think the biggest reason is that his rock reinvention has been so successful? Katie Atkinson: It feels like his sound finally caught up to his persona. MGK had brushes with crossover success in the past — like Camila Cabello duet “Bad Things,” his highest-peaking Hot 100 hit to date (No. 4), or his headline-grabbing battle with Eminem — but those moments were always shared with other, bigger names. And the thing casual observers might remember best about him is his tall, tattooed frame, looking like a modern-day Tommy Lee (he even portrayed the Motley Crue drummer in Netflix’s&nbs...
