business
NAMM Nudges Winter Gathering to June, Citing Pandemic Challenges
No more NAMM Show in Nashville, in 2022 at least. The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is delaying its winter show to June, when the music trade show will be held in-person at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. The show, where exhibitors showcase the latest in music gear and technology, was originally scheduled for Jan. 20-23 of next year. But according to a press release, concerns over the pandemic, new product development, available in-store inventory and travel restrictions led organizers to move the show to June 3-5. The new event, called The NAMM Show, will combine its winter and summer conferences, the latter usually held in Nashville. “The industry has not stopped evolving and innovating during the pandemic, and The NAMM Show is evolving as well,...
J.J. Cheng Named President of Latin-Focused Digital Service TuStreams
J.J. Cheng has been named the new president of all-Latin digital distribution company TuStreams, Billboard can exclusively announce. Cheng’s appointment to the Los Angeles-based position, which oversees global business strategies, was announced by TuStreams founder and CEO Tony Larios and is effective immediately. Calling her a passionate and “impactful global Latin music leader,” Larios said in his announcement that Cheng’s “cool demeanor and mastery of digital monetization, new strategic technology models to increase royalty profits, and data analytics in publishing and sound recordings are unmatched as a top authority in the space of public performance.” In her new role, Cheng, an award-winning music executive with a more than 20-year trajectory, and who wa...
Ed Sheeran Is Bringing ‘Shivers’ to the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards
This Toyota Stage performance marks his first VMAs performance since 2017, when he sang his smash “Shape of You” in tandem with Lil Uzi Vert, who performed his hit “XO Tour Llif3.” Sheeran took home the inaugural artist of the year award that year. That was Sheeran’s second VMA win. He won his first, best male video, in 2014 for “Sing” (featuring Pharrell Williams). Sheeran’s fourth solo studio album, =, is due Oct. 29. Doja Cat is set to host and perform on the 2021 MTV Music Awards, which will air live from Barclays Center on Sunday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Other artists set to perform on this year’s VMAs are Camila Cabello, Lil Nas X & Jack Harlow, Machine Gun Kelly, Olivia Rodrigo, Foo Fighters, Shawn Mendes & Tainy, Twenty One Pilots, Kacey Musgra...
Drake Smashes Australian Chart Record as ‘Certified Lover Boy Debuts’ Blasts to No. 1
Also hitting high on the current chart is Imagine Dragons’ Mercury – Act 1 (Interscope/Universal). It’s new at No. 10 for the American pop-rock band’s fifth top tier release. K-pop boy band Stray Kids make their first appearance on the ARIA Albums Chart with NOEASY (Orchard), the followup to their 2020 debut Go Live. It’s new at No. 14. Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s hit “Stay” (Columbia/Sony) enters week nine at No. 1, ahead of Drake’s “Girls Want Girls,” new at No. 2. “Girls Want Girls” is one of five new CLB releases to crack the Top 10. His 20 new entries to the chart breaks the record for most debuts in the Top 50 in one week. Finally, ABBA make their long overdue return to the ARIA Singles Chart with their “Don’t Shut Me Down” and “I Still Have Fait...
Alicia Keys Added to 2021 VMAs Lineup as MTV Confirms There Will Be No Video Vanguard Award Again
Keys first performed on the show in 2001 when she delivered her breakthrough hit “Fallin’” (with an interpolation of Beethoven’s “Für Elise”). In 2007, she performed “No One”/”Freedom.” But there will be no video vanguard award on the VMAs for the second year in a row, MTV confirmed to Billboard on Thursday (Sept. 9). This is only the third time in VMA history that the show will go two or more years without presenting that award, which has sometimes been presented as the Michael Jackson video vanguard award or as a lifetime achievement award. There was no video vanguard award in 2004 to 2005 and again from 2007 to 2010. But there was a seven-year streak from 2013 to 2019 in which the video vanguard award presentation was a highlight of the show. The recipients in those years were Justin Ti...
Warner’s ADA Adds Heads of US and International
“The independent music community is a vital part of Warner Music Group’s global business, and this move ensures that ADA is set up to continue super-serving our label partners and artists in the long-term,” said Kreidich. “With Marcus and Adriana at the helm, we’ll be organized to work even more strategically across the organization—accelerating our global capabilities and local impact as we push full speed ahead. I am thrilled to welcome these deeply respected, forward-thinking executives to the ADA family.” Siskind, known as “DL,” got started in the music industry in the late ’90s with the launch of his label and management company Mass Appeal Entertainment and over the years has worked with Lil’ Kim, Backstreet Boys, DJ Khaled and others. He formed the music comp...
Nashville Music Manager Stan Moress Dies at 83
Moress founded Nashville-based management and consulting firm the Consortium in 2001, alongside partners Bernard Porter, Al Schiltz and Mike Martinovich. Among those artists The Consortium repped over the years were Joe Diffie, Sherrié Austin, Billy Ray Cyrus and Catherine Britt. In 2005, Moress, Schiltz and Martinovich helped launch Midas Records Nashville. Moress’ clients and colleagues remember him as a generous spirit, who often felt like a family member and was always willing to go out of his way to help. Black, a Moress management client in the early 1990s, tells Billboard, “He always had a special place in my heart. We tended to be a comedy team when together, he the straight man, and I the jokester. We always had fun and I held him in great esteem. On top...
StubHub Clears Final Hurdle of Viagogo Merger With Sale of Non-U.S. Assets
The sale ends a period of government-imposed silence between the two firms, which were allowed to communicate while the agreement worked its ways through the U.K. regulator system. “We are finally allowed to collaborate and begin planning the integration between the two companies,” says Jill Krimmel, StubHub’s interim president who said she will stay on as president once the integration is complete. That process couldn’t begin until the sale of StubHub’s international business was completed. It’s unclear how much Digital Fuel Capital paid for the international assets, which include 23 companies and limited liability corporations held by StubHub including its branded marketplaces in the U.K., Germany, Taiwan and parts of Europe through its Luxembourg ...
Yebba’s ‘Dawn’: The Long, Difficult Road to the Stunning Singer’s Debut
But just before 2016 ended, Yebba agreed to perform alongside Chance the Rapper for his Saturday Night Live appearance — and ended up stealing the show. She and her team, then a bare-bones operation led by co-manager Ross Michaels and his Park Avenue Artists team, decided to capitalize on the moment and uploaded a clip from the Sofar set of Yebba singing her first original song, “My Mind.” It went viral, raking in over 18 million YouTube views. “It was like a one-two punch,” says Michaels. That kind of start-stop trajectory has hampered Yebba’s promising launch for nearly five years, with her fans begging for her debut album online. “There has never been a moment where I was like, ‘Man, we really lost out,’ because when she puts out a song, it’s amazing,” says Michaels. “It has this e...
Iron Maiden Battles Drake For U.K. Chart Crown
In the first half of the cycle, 8,000 combined sales separate the two albums, according to the OCC. Bruce Dickinson and Co. have five U.K. No. 1 albums from a 40-year career, with their latest two studio LPs Final Frontier (from 2010) and The Book of Souls (2015) going-back-to-back. Meanwhile, Drake has three career U.K. No. 1 albums and, with CLB, he should snag his tenth Top 10. Coming in at No. 3 on the albums chart blast is London rapper Little Simz’s Sometime I Might Be Introvert (Age 101), while Newcastle rockers The Wildhearts are set for a career high with 21st Century Love Songs (Graphite), new at No. 4 on the midweek chart. Kanye West’s Donda (Def Jam) falls 1-5, as ABBA’s Gold (Polydor) is fueled by the Swedish pop greats’ comeback announcement and the release of two songs. The ...
Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Debuts at No. 1 In U.K.
Also new to the Official U.K. Albums Chart is Maisie Peters’s debut album You Signed Up For This (Gingerbread Man), which starts at No. 2, while Scottish synth-pop outfit Chvrches bow at No. 4 with Screen Violence (Virgin), their fourth studio effort. Halsey completes the Top 5 with If I Can’t Have Love I Want Power (EMI), her fourth LP. It’s the U.K.’s best-selling album on vinyl in the latest cycle. British singer and songwriter Becky Hill enjoys a Top 10 start with her debut Only Honest At The Weekend (Polydor), new No. 7, while KSI’s All Over The Place (BMG) vaults 20-10 following the release of a deluxe edition. With ABBA making a much-hyped comeback, fans of the Swedish pop legends are digging for Gold. ABBA’s Greatest Hits (Polydor) lifts 14-12 following news of their new...
ABBA Eyeing Return to U.K. Top 10
Both songs have been streamed over 500,000 times this weekend, the OCC reports, and “Don’t Shut Me Down” is the most downloaded song so far this week. The tracks, should they hold their momentum, will mark ABBA’s first U.K. Top 10 singles since “One Of Us”, which peaked at No. 3 in December 1981. The two new singles are taken from Voyage, ABBA’s first new studio album in 39 years, due out Nov. 5. The foursome will support the LP with a 2022 concert event, featuring avatars of Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid, accompanied by a 10-piece live band, in a custom-built arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East London. Tickets go on sales Tuesday (Sept. 7). Currently, ABBA has nine U.K. No. 1 singles and 19 Top 10s. They’ve also landed nine No. 1 albums in the territory. Meanwhile, Dra...
