entertainment blog
Gwen Stefani Launches ‘GXVE’ Beauty: “This Feels Like the Next Chapter of My Life”
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. You can officially shop Gwen Stefani’s GXVE Beauty! The makeup line (pronounced “Give”) is a bold, high-performance collection featuring lipsticks, eyeliner, brow pencils, eyeshadows and more ranging from $24-$48. The 52-year-old pop legend has never revealed her signature shade of red lipstick, but fans can now enjoy Stefani’s staple lip color in three different formats: matte lipstick, satin lipstick, and liquid lipstick. “This feels like the next chapter of my life,” Stefani shared during an exclusive preview of the collection on Thursday (March 3) held a...
Endeavor Sued For Allegedly Stealing Marketing Ideas for IPO Effort
A consultant is suing Endeavor claiming he gave the company the blueprint to salvage its debut on the public market, which led to a successful $10.3 billion IPO, but he wasn’t compensated or given credit. David Carde began his complaint, which was filed Thursday in L.A. County Superior Court, by comparing this alleged theft to when the founders of Endeavor left ICM in 1995 and in the middle of the night “stole a bunch of client files and stuffed them into a SUV parked by a freight elevator.” “Following the embarrassment of the failed first IPO, Endeavor’s crushing debt became an existential threat after the COVID pandemic ground the Company’s business to a halt,” reads the complaint, which is embedded below. “However, once Endeavor stole and then embraced Mr. Carde’s approach of communicat...
The Ledger: The Major’s $25B in Revenue in 2021 Is Just the Start
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. Six years into the global music industry’s recovery, the largest labels and publishers are growing by leaps and bounds. The three major music groups — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — had combined revenues of $25.4 billion in calendar 2021, up 19.8% from calendar 2020, according to Billboard‘s calculations. That annual growth rate was more than a four-fold improvement from the companies’ 4.7% revenue growth in 2020 after a slowdown in physical goods sales during the pandemic. Combined, the companies had an operating profit was $4.1 billion in 2021, a 44.3% increase, with...
Snoop Dogg Shares He Owns the Masters to Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’
Snoop Dogg is now the owner of the masters of Dr. Dre’s first studio album, The Chronic. Last month, it was announced that Snoop Dogg had acquired Death Row Records after purchasing it from MNRK Music Group. In a recent interview with Elliott Wilson for TIDAL, the rapper shared that as part of the deal, he owns the masters for Dre’s The Chronic, as well as a few of his own projects, including Doggystyle, Tha Doggfather, Murder Was the Case, Dogg Food and Above the Rim. Snoop Dogg went on to clarify that he’s not the owner of any of the masters for Tupac Shakur’s releases. “As far as Tupac’s masters, Tupac’s masters came back to him last year,” he said. “But I got a great relationship with his estate, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be able to work something out … to continue some Death ...
Machine Gun Kelly Taps Lil Wayne for New Track and Video “ay!”
Machine Gun Kelly has employed Lil Wayne for his latest track and music video, titled “ay!,” off his forthcoming album, Mainstream Sellout. The visual, which MGK says he filmed “last night in [his] living room,” sees the chart-topper changing between a multitude of flashy outfits while seated at a table in a colorful closet among a group of friends. While Wayne does not physically appear in the video, a paper cut-out of the top-shelf rapper moves across the table throughout his guest verse. The track, produced by frequent collaborator Travis Barker, BazeXX and SlimXX, marks the second offering to arrive ahead of Mainstream Sellout‘s debut, following “Emo Girl,” featuring Willow, which was released early last month. While teasing “ay!” on Twitter earlier this week, the Blonde Don hinted at ...
Nike To Change Its SNKRS Pass From FCFS To A Raffle aka Draw
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Nike / NIke As sneakerheads continue to complain about not getting a fair shake on Nike SNKRS app due to bots, raffles, and “preferred” accounts, the Swoosh has announced new changes to another one of it’s apps features, “SNKRS Pass” in an attempt to level the playing field. In a statement released yesterday, Nike announced that going forward the “SNKRS Pass” method of securing a pair of sneakers at your closest Nike retailer will go from first-come, first-serve, to, wait for it… a raffle! SMH. If y’all thought it was impossible to win a draw on a regular release date, the “SNKRS Pass” offer a limited amount of sneakers at any given participating retailer so chances will be slimmer. Still, bots would eat merch before one could even press the “Reserve” but...
Kendrick Lamar On Glastonbury Lineup with Billie Eilish & Paul McCartney
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: JMEnternational / Getty The famous Glastonbury Festival will have a historic tinge to it this year, as Billie Eilish is set to become the youngest performer to headline the event while K. Dot will also be on hand. The largest festival in the United Kingdom took to social media to announce their lineup, with Eilish being front and center as a headliner. When it begins on Friday, June 24th, she will be 20 years and 6 months at the time being the youngest solo artist to do so. She’ll be joined by the iconic Paul McCartney, who will headline on Saturday, June 25th and Kendrick Lamar who will close things out on June 26th. McCartney and Lamar were set to perform at Glastonbury for its 50th Anniversary in 2020 with Taylor Swift, but that was canceled due ...
Nicki Minaj & Janet Jackson Announced As Essence Fest 2022 Headliners
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Essence Fest is back, and to celebrate, two of the biggest artists on the planet will be headlining. Nicki Minaj and Janet Jackson were announced as headliners for Essence Fest when it makes its triumphant in-person return to New Orleans after being canceled in 2020, understandably due to the pandemic and going completely virtual in 2021. Minaj and Jackson will be the main attractions of the four-night concert series that will go down at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome from June 30 to July 3. Essence Festival marks the return of the Minaj to the US Festival stage before she heads across the pond for the UK’s Wireless Festival. Minaj has been quite busy as she is full album mode unleashing two new singles on us, “Bussin” and “Do...
Gucci Mane Appears To Fire Back At NBA YoungBoy Diss On “Publicity Stunt”
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Scott Legato / Getty Gucci Mane earned the reputation of a man you may want to avoid having issues with but NBA YoungBoy threw shots on his recently released “I Hate YoungBoy” track with little regard. Guwop seemingly responded with a new track titled “Publicity Stunt” that may signal that a war of words is soon to come. For context, NBA YoungBoy appears to be addressing several artists on “I Hate YoungBoy” such as Lil Durk, and he explicitly took shots at Gucci Mane with the line, “Used to f*ck with Gucci ’til I seen he like them p*ssy n*ggas.” Related Stories Earlier in the week, Gucci posted an image standing in front of an expensive vehicle and all smiles with the caption reading, “I feel like I’m Gucci Mane in 2006,” a line that NBA YoungBoy used on ...
Armin van Buuren, Afrojack, More to Perform at Tomorrowland’s 2022 Winter Edition
Over 100 DJs and 18,000 ravers are set to heat up the snowcapped mountains of southeastern France this month. Tomorrowland Winter is slated for March 19th to 26th. An offshoot of the iconic Belgian dance music festival, the weeklong event takes place at the Alpe d’Huez Grand Domaine Ski, an idyllic ski resort situated in the heart of the Central French Western Alps. In typical Tomorrowland fashion, organizers have once again recruited a stellar lineup of electronic music’s finest. Afrojack, Armin van Buuren, Steve Aoki, Lost Frequencies, Netsky, Anfisa Letyago, Vintage Culture, Martin Solveig and many more will perform at this year’s fest. During the day, attendees can ski and snowboard on the range’s top-rated slopes, as well as take in a va...
Here Are the Set Times and Schedule for CRSSD Festival 2022
The area around Downtown San Diego will once again welcome thousands of techno and house music fans as the city prepares to host the spring edition of CRSSD Festival. The genres’ top acts will perform across three stages this weekend, March 5-6, inside the city’s scenic Waterfront Park. In preparation for the two-day fest, organizers FNGRS CRSSD have revealed the set times so attendees can start planning out their weekend. Both days will see gates opening at 12PM, with Saturday’s festivities ending at 11PM and Sunday’s at 10PM. Notable highlights on the schedule include a jam-packed Saturday on the Palms stage, which will host big names in house music all day long. PAX will take the stage at 3:45PM, followed by Solardo, Kyle Watson, John Summit, and Gorgon...
From Stem Players to NFTs, Artists Are Getting Creative With New Music Releases
Technological advancements have opened up new ways for artists to connect with their fans through music releases. Last week, Kanye West unveiled his highly-anticipated Donda 2, forgoing a traditional drop on streaming services and opting instead to release the studio album exclusively through his Stem Player hardware device. Though the rapper was reportedly offered $100 million USD to make the album an Apple Music exclusive, the 16-track LP is only available on the hockey puck-shaped device, developed by his brand Yeezy Tech and shipped out with the original Donda album pre-downloaded. Despite its $200 USD price tag, the rapper’s community has seemingly embraced the quirky new device. In the first 24 hours following the debut of Donda 2, over 8,000 Stem Players had been sold, according to ...
