Entertainment
billboard
pandora's risky business
with 78 million users, streaming’s original music service remains an online radio giant — but increasingly threatened by subscription blue chips like spotify and apple music. now, amid layoffs and acquisition rumors, co-founder/ceo tim westergren is about to launch an ambitious bid for subscribers of its own: “the other products out there are unsatisfying”
10+ min |
january 28, 2017
Billboard
Town And Country
Taylor Swift wrote their latest hit, and the Ryman just honored them with a residency. But lately, the sumptuously soft-rocking Little Big Town come off less like Nashville insiders than they do outlaws, stirring up controversy with “Girl Crush,” working with Pharrell and urging all people to overcome their differences: “There’s probably not a house in America that’s not divided right now”
9 min |
April 15, 2017
Billboard
Bishop Takes Rock
With a big voice and some self-doubt, Bishop Briggs enters festival season: “A huge part of me is in disbelief”
4 min |
April 15, 2017
Billboard
'We Carved Our Own Path'
Alt-rock standouts Incubus reflect on prescient sound, 20-year legacy and coming out of it ‘alive’
7 min |
April 15, 2017
Billboard
The Three Amigos
A rowdy trio raised together in North Atlanta, Migos cut a singularly now path to pop stardom: STEP 1 Launch a dance craze. STEP 2 Score a No. 1 with the help of a meme. STEP 3 Spend Grammy night partying with superfans Chance the Rapper and Chris Brown — as Billboard tags along. “I try not to be cocky,” says Takeoff, “but hey, we the shit, man”
10+ min |
March 18, 2017
Billboard
California's Hero Of Cannabis Legalization
Lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom has rock star friends, his own clubs and a progressive agenda that got his state’s landmark Proposition 64 legislation passed — and the music industry rallying behind him
7 min |
January 28, 2017
Billboard
The Green Album
As vinyl sales hit a nearly 30-year high, Slightly Stoopid’s managers create a novelty that music-loving potheads could only dream of: an LP made entirely of hash
1 min |
January 28, 2017
Billboard
Simon Cowell, the Svengali's Second Act
From 1D to Fifth Harmony, the TV and music mogul owns pop culture. Now 56, he’s going in front of the camera again as he heads to America’s Got Talent, talks Harry Styles solo, plays with his 2-year-old son and reveals a certain sentimentality about American Idol: ‘I like to torture myself’
10+ min |
April 2, 2016
Billboard
Twenty One Pilots on Their Musical Bromance and Fleeting Fame
Twenty One Pilots have blown up at top 40 radio, sold out massive arenas and even drawn the ire of millennial-bashing columnists with an unapologetic mashup of suburban angst, rap and reggae. But to Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, all that matters is their bond - with each other and their (millennial) fans. “It probably seems like two good-looking guys making pop music. But really it’s just the opposite.”
10+ min |
April 16, 2016
Billboard
Gone Girl
Camila Cabello Kicked Off Her Solo Career and Her Band Sisters in Fifth Harmony Unexpectedly Denounced Her for It. Now She’s Got a Top Five Single, a Much-anticipated Album Coming and Zero Second Thoughts: “you Have to Honor That Inner Voice”
10+ min |
February 25, 2017
Billboard
The Rise And Fall And Rise Of Nicky Jam
Born in the USA, catapulted to teen fame in Puerto Rico and practically washed up by his 20s, Nicky Jam went to Medellín, Colombia — a city haunted by its drug kingpin past — to find sobriety, love and greater-than-ever success. Billboard spends 48 hours with the reggaetón superstar in his adopted home as he prepares for his wedding — and, oh yeah, scores a No. 1 Latin album
10+ min |
February 25, 2017
Billboard
Fifth Harmony: Pretty Little Fighters
Girl groups were supposed to have been kaput when The X Factor threw together five ambitious teens with hard-knock childhoods. But as Fifth Harmony finally attains the upper reaches of the Hot 100, the tight-knit group finds itself “traumatized” by the strain of prepackaged fame, isolated from family and struggling to stay balanced. Now, they’re eager to assert their opinions on the industry, politics and Kanye West: “We finally have a damn voice.”
10+ min |
May 14, 2016
Billboard
Jennifer Nettles: A Star Goes Back To Her Roots
Four years after Sugarland’s split, Jennifer Nettles is supporting Hillary and advocating for female artists (bro country be damned): “It’s in my blood”
5 min |
May 14, 2016
Billboard
Life's Been Good To Niall (So Far)
A year-and-a-half ago, Niall Horan was basking in the shrieks of One Direction superfans. Now, with the group in limbo and his mates making moves in everything from R&B to acting, “the cute one” is painstakingly crafting an album as a California rocker — and hanging with astronauts, Selena Gomez and (yes) the Eagles. All while staying truly hashtag-humble: “I’m a simple old soul, me”
10+ min |
June 3-9, 2017
Billboard
Becoming Chris Cornell
Years before he was minted as a proper platinum-selling star, the late Soundgarden frontman tore off his thrift-store T-shirts and wailed like Robert Plant, transfixing a fledgling Seattle scene with little use for rock gods.
7 min |
June 3-9, 2017
Billboard
Nathan Sykes Second Act
Nathan Sykes, 23, has risen from the ashes of boy band fame to propel himself as one of this year’s buzziest new artists.
3 min |
September 17, 2016
Billboard
People Are So Sensitive
Jason Aldean returns from controversy (and blasts “bro country”) ahead of his aptly titled new album, They Don’t Know: “Media tends to make a big deal out of things”
5 min |
September 17, 2016
Billboard
A Leap Of Faith
His 1987 blockbuster made him a global icon. By 1992, he’d sued his record company and turned his back on pop stardom. “He had principles,” says his former manager.
7 min |
January 14, 2017
Billboard
Andrew Dreskin
One year in, the ticketing pioneer on why Pandora’s $450 million investment was a “fair price,” and the future of the secondary market.
5 min |
October 8, 2016
billboard
smoking in the backroom with 2 chainz
perusing the plants and product at the local dispensary with the stoner rapper royalty and “executive boss"
3 min |
january 28, 2017
Billboard
Skylar Grey is Still Evolving
More than a decade into her career, pop singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, 30, has netted a lengthy résumé on the strength of her songwriting (Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie,” Zedd and Foxes’ “Clarity”) and features for others (Diddy and Dirty Money’s “Coming Home,” Dr. Dre and Eminem’s “I Need a Doctor”).
2 min |
September 24, 2016
Billboard
Elliot Groffman
The veteran attorney on streaming royalties, revenue models and industry prospects under President Trump.
6 min |
February 25, 2017
Billboard
Lyor Cohen 3.0
Hired by Robert Kyncl as Youtube’s Head of Global Music, the Controversial Former Label Boss and Entrepreneur Has Embarked on an Unlikely Mission to Unite the Video Giant and a Deeply Suspicious Industry — Even as Some Bizzers Predict “war”: “would They Prefer a Career Employee, or Someone Who Got Into the Boiler Room?” Asks Cohen
10+ min |
March 11, 2017
Billboard
Made In Amerikkka
A genre star in search of a wider audience, Joey Bada$$ is balancing a promising acting career with a pissed-off worldview.
4 min |
March 18, 2017
Billboard
The (Really) Radical Rock Of PWR BTTM
Groundbreaking Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright Interviews the Buzzy, Glam, Gender-nonconforming Duo Du Jour.
4 min |
March 18, 2017
Billboard
Jeffrey Harleston
Universal Music’s top lawyer on negotiating with streaming services, exclusives and the paltry number of black execs in the music business.
5 min |
October 15, 2016
Billboard
He Believed In The Healing Power Of Music Honoring the late, legendary Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt
TOWNES VAN ZANDT RANKS ALONGSIDE Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan,” says Grammy-winning country artist Rodney Crowell of the late singer-songwriter. “He inspired so many songwriters to shoot for something that’s timeless.”
3 min |
October 15, 2016
Billboard
Dreaming Up Desert Trip
Goldenvoice’s Paul Tollett on how the rock mega-concert became a two-weekend reality.
2 min |
October 15, 2016
Billboard
The Young Ones
With all the eligible music finally on sale (or streaming) and ballots about to hit the mail, America’s other campaign season starts now for the 59th annual Grammy Awards (Feb. 12, CBS, in Los Angeles), as women dominate (Adele, Beyoncé), hip-hop royalty likely reigns (Kanye, Drake) and the potential best new artist nominees — CHANCE THE RAPPER, MAREN MORRIS and ALESSIACARA — have never looked so revolutionary.
9 min |
October 15, 2016
Billboard
How Griange And EK [Finally] Got It Done
The New Licesing Deal Between UMG And Spotify Gained Both Parties Valuable Wins. Where Do They Go From Here?
4 min |