Innholdsfortegnelse for March 18-24, 2017 i Billboard Magazine

THIS IS AN UNBELIEVABLE honor. We are so grateful to our fans for making this happen,” raved The Chainsmokers after learning of their latest achievement on the Billboard Hot 100 (dated March 18). The pop/EDM DJ duo of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart infuse the Hot 100’s top 10 with three songs: its Coldplay collaboration “Something Just Like This,” which charges from No. 56 to No. 5; “Paris” (6-7); and “Closer” (featuring Halsey; 5-10). The pair becomes just the third duo or group with at least three concurrent top 10s in the Hot 100’s 58-year history, joining the elite company of The Beatles, who charted as many as a record five simultaneous top 10s for two weeks (among 10 total weeks with at least three top 10s) in 1964, and…

DJ DUO THE CHAINSMOKERS just scored the latest in a string of milestones. Behind The Beatles and the Bee Gees, they’re the only duo or group to have three concurrent top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, among them the Halseyfeaturing “Closer,” which topped the chart for 12 straight weeks. The achievement also anoints Adam Alpert, CEO of Disruptor Records and Selector Songs and the architect behind their pop crossover, the status of major music business player. “I tell my artists: If they’re not listening to you, they’re listening to somebody else.” The 37-year-old helped birth The Chainsmokers by introducing his client Alex Pall to Drew Taggart in 2012. That life-changing moment followed nine years spent as director of marketing and promotion for New York hospitality company Butter Group,…

Jason Derulo Stays Clothed While Celebrating New Single Jason Derulo toasted the recent release of “Swalla,” featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla $ign, with a party at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood on March 3. Wearing a black shirt and a huge diamond necklace, Derulo strolled in at 12:30 a.m., champagne bottles with fizzing sparklers adorning his table in the VIP section, and took the stage an hour later. “We came for a purpose: to f—ing party,” stated the pop star before launching into “Swalla,” “Wiggle,” “Talk Dirty” and “Want to Want Me.” Female fans sang along and wanted Derulo to remove his shirt; unfortunately for them, he did not oblige. —SELMA FONSECA BSB Parties With Fans, Sings Migos In Vegas Backstreet Boys kicked off their 26-date Las Vegas…

The Shins have long used kaleidoscopic illustrations for their album covers, but the artwork for Heartworms, their fifth that’s out March 10, marks the indie group’s most striking imaging yet: a surreal design (left) born of the LP’s thematic duality. “After hearing the album, I had this vision of worms overtaking a lush garden, pouring out of a dead heart,” says artist Jacob Escobedo (who also designed the cover of the band’s 2012 album Port of Morrow). Shins leader James Mercer sent Escobedo photos of algae formations on glass as inspiration, which didn’t work; eventually the artist offered a design inspired by 19th-century Japanese yokai art, which depicts “evil spirits and monsters.” The style has been a longtime obsession for Escobedo, who also serves as the creative director of Cartoon…

THE “MIGOS FLOW” Drake aped the trio’s triplet technique on the remix to their 2013 mixtape hit “Versace,” and J. Cole, Kanye West, Jeezy and others followed suit. MIGOS > THE BEATLES Facts like The Beatles “never went platinum on Datpiff” and “never collaborated with Drake” fueled these 2014 jokes about Migos’ supremacy. THE DAB CRAZE Cam Newton, Hillary Clinton and millions more dabbed after Migos and fellow Atlanta rapper Skippa Da Flippa started the 2015 craze. ”BAD & BOUJEE” Donald Glover called it “the best song ever” at the Golden Globes after silly variations on the song’s “Rain drop, drop top” rhyme set fire to social media. SUPER BOWL PETITION In January, a fan-circulated petition demanding that Migos replace Lady Gaga at halftime collected 69,000 signatures.…

AS THE VIRTUAL REALITY market and the music industry increasingly cross paths, an immersive live-music experience no longer requires setting foot in a crowded venue. Companies have more creative freedom than ever when it comes to developing music-VR platforms. There’s TheWaveVR, allowing DJs to broadcast virtual sets; Ossic and Dysonics creating 3D audio (what you hear depends on your head position); and, on the ultra-ambitious end of the spectrum, MelodyVR, which has recorded 1,000- plus shows with more than 500 acts worldwide to create a virtual concert library. Recently, MelodyVR has captured performances by acts like The Chainsmokers, Fatboy Slim, Tegan & Sara and JoJo, and a recent partnership with Warner Music Group will soon give the company unprecedented access to WMG artists’ shows (a free, cross-device app will debut…

What was your first investment? When I was 27, I invested in an incubator called Idealab. It was right before the tech bubble burst, so that’s how that went. What did that teach you? To diversify. When I came back into investing about eight or nine years ago, I made two bets: one offline — Vita Coco coconut water — and one online, with Groupon. Who do you look up to in the investment space? My partner, Ashton Kutcher, is a great investor. Smart as hell and very intuitive. He has an engineering background, so he understands the deep tech side of things. I don’t have that. I can name any song from the ’80s in the first two seconds, but that’s not going to move the deal. So what…

At a time when artists make precious little from selling albums and singles, touring has become more essential than ever. But if a band plays Peoria, Ill., and five people show up, that’s money spent, not earned. In 2016, help arrived in the form of three tour-optimizing startups — Fanbassador, RoadNation and Show4Me — that utilize crowdfunding strategies to steer live acts to markets where ticket demand is greatest. PITTING CITY VS. CITY Buffalo, N.Y.-based Fanbassador orchestrates ticket presale contests between two secondary markets. Whichever town sells the most tickets fastest gets the show. EARLY ADOPTERS We the Kings, Youth in Revolt WHAT’S AHEAD “We’d love to announce a tour in which the first 30 cities that fund shows will be where the artist plays,” says CEO Chris King. CROWDFUNDED…

Kathy Spanberger, president/COO for the Anglo-American region, came to peermusic nearly 38 years ago. “My first job was as a secretary to Ralph Peer II,” she says. Overseeing business in the United States, Canada and Australia, she seeks to give songwriters room to grow in their own careers. “Creative people need time to write songs. No one goes into a studio and says, ‘Today I’m going to write a hit,’” she says. “If you’re constantly chasing market share, you’re not focusing on the creative part of the business.” She cites The Audibles (who have co-written songs for Chris Brown and Justin Bieber, and are now working with Mary J. Blige), as well as Latin writers like Gloria Trevi, Victor Manuelle and Prince Royce. “The Latin business,” she says, “has always…

Michael Knox, peermusic vp Nashville, knows a country star when he sees one — he discovered Jason Aldean, and they have collaborated on 16 No. 1 Country Airplay hits. He also has produced songs for Trace Adkins and Thomas Rhett. More recently, Knox signed singersongwriter Michael Tyler — a distant cousin of country legend Jimmie Rodgers — proving that, at peermusic, the musical circle truly is unbroken. Knox, who also manages Tyler, developed him as an artist and songwriter for three years, and Tyler’s debut album, 317, arrives through Reviver Records in March. Knox oversees a select roster of songwriters who “know we’re in it for the long haul,” he says. “It doesn’t matter how big the business around us gets — we’re still here.”…

1960 Ralph S. Peer dies. Monique I. Peer becomes the company’s second CEO. “Georgia on My Mind,” composed by Stuart Gorrell and peermusic writer Hoagy Carmichael, hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for Ray Charles (above). 1961 Jimmie Rodgers becomes one of the first performers inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 1964 The British Invasion brings The Rolling Stones to the United States, playing hits “Not Fade Away” and “Tell Me,” both published by peermusic. 1966 Peermusic writer Donovan reaches No. 1 on the Hot 100 with “Sunshine Superman.” 1967 Pink Floyd co-founder Syd Barrett (right) writes the band’s debut single, “Arnold Layne,” backed with “Candy and a Currant Bun,” published by peermusic. 1970 The Carter Family, whose signature song “Can the Circle Be…

For the first time, an artist has achieved back-toback No. 1 debuts on the Billboard 200 in successive weeks. Future’s HNDRXX starts atop the tally, bumping his own self-titled set, which opened at No. 1 a week earlier, to No. 2. HNDRXX launches with 121,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. Future is also just the sixth artist — and first since 1968 — to replace himself at No. 1. It last happened with Simon & Garfunkel that year, when the duo replaced itself three times with Bookends and The Graduate. Before that, The Monkees, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, The Beatles and Peter, Paul & Mary managed the achievement (dating back to 1963, when the Billboard 200 combined its previously…

Leon Bridges’ Coming Home returns to the Billboard 200 at No. 98 thanks to the new HBO series Big Little Lies. The show’s Feb. 26 episode prominently featured album track “River,” helping spur renewed interest in the set: It earned 7,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 2 (up 354 percent). The song itself sold 14,000 downloads — up 8,260 percent (from a negligible figure in the previous week). Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, the Dear Evan Hansen original Broadway cast recording vaults 172-67 after its CD arrived Feb. 24. The set earned 9,000 units for the week (up 95 percent) with 7,000 of that from traditional album sales (up 171 percent), of which about 5,000 were of the CD. The album was previously available only as a…

Little Big Town’s eighth studio album The Breaker arrives as the group’s third Top Country Albums No. 1 and the third to open atop the chart. It starts with 51,000 equivalent album units (44,000 from pure sales) in the week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. The quartet previously led with Tornado for five weeks in 2012 and The Reason Why, which reigned on Sept. 11, 2010. Beginning at No. 2 on the list is Vaquero from Texas country artist Aaron Watson. His seventh charted title (and third top 10) enters with 39,000 equivalent album units, with 37,000 from pure sales, his biggest sales week to date. Meanwhile, Chris Young’s “Sober Saturday Night” (featuring Vince Gill) ascends 2-1 on Country Airplay (41 million audience impressions, up 5 percent), becoming…

Prince Royce crowns the Top Latin Albums chart for a fourth time as his latest studio album, Five, arrives with 19,000 album equivalent units earned in the tracking week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 16,000 were traditional album sales, marking the biggest sales frame for a Latin album since Gerardo Ortiz’s Hoy Mas Fuerta bowed at No. 1 with 20,000 sold in the issue dated June 6, 2015. Five marks Royce’s first Spanish-language arrival since Soy el Mismo topped the chart for two weeks in 2013, and follows his previous English-language release, Double Vision, which landed at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 on Aug. 15, 2015. Elsewhere, Five’s current single, “Deja Vu” (featuring Shakira), hops 18-13 on Hot Latin Songs in its second charting…

LEGEND ◯Bullets indicate titles with greatest weekly gains. Album Charts ◯Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA) certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 500,000 albums (Gold). △RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 1 million units (Platinum). Numeral noted with Platinum symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ⋄RIAA certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 10 million units (Diamond). Numeral noted with Diamond symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. ◯Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 30,000 units (Oro). Latin albums certification for physical shipments & digital downloads of 60,000 units (Platino). Numeral noted with Platino symbol indicates album’s multiplatinum level. Digital Songs Charts ◯RIAA certification for 500,000 paid downloads and ondemand streams where 100 streams equal 1 download (Gold). △RIAA certification for 1 million…

© Copyright 2017 by Prometheus Global Media LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. BILLBOARD MAGAZINE (ISSN 0006-2510; USPS 056-100) is published weekly except for two issues in January, March, June and August; three issues in April, May, July, September, November and December; and four issues in October by Prometheus Global Media LLC, 340 Madison Ave., Sixth Floor, New York, NY 10173. Subscription rate: annual rate, continental U.S. $299. Continental Europe £229. Billboard, Tower House, Sovereign Park, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England LE16 9EF. Registered as a newspaper at the British Post Office. Japan ¥109,000. Periodicals postage paid…

Which new sights and sounds in Austin made the strongest impact on the scouts in attendance? Some of their most impressive finds in recent years The 1975 Six months before dropping its debut LP, the British rock group cut its teeth at tiny venues like Club Deville in 2013. “I went to every single show of theirs,” says Lehman, “and became a mega fan for years.” KEVIN ABSTRACT For Tanners, the rapper’s 2015 performance was so thrilling he still believes the Corpus Christi, Texas, MC will cross over. “It signaled much of what Kevin has become as a challenging artist,” says Tanners, “even if he hasn’t scored a hit yet.” UBER Taubenfeld says the ride app blew up once his inner circle used it to get around Austin in 2014.…

WHETHER IT’S A$AP ROCKY SPORTING A GUCCI hoodie in the front row of the brand’s recent fashion show in Milan or A$AP Ferg in a fluffy white fur coat over a T-shirt at Balmain’s Paris Fashion Week afterparty, comfort is key for the members of A$AP Mob, whose relaxed, nonchalant sense of style inspired fashion’s current “cozy” movement. “ ‘Cozy’ is more of a feeling than anything,” notes Ferg, whose sartorial choices range from velour tracksuits to the finest tailored couture, but ultimately are a reflection of his mind-set. “You can be in a suit, meeting with billionaires, but if you’re confident, you feel cozy. You’re in a room full of sharks and you’re swimming very well.” Ferg, who also designs the Trap Lord streetwear brand, gives credit for coining…

For songwriters, the subject of artificial intelligence is an especially fraught one: Will technology that learns by watching and listening to us enhance human creativity or replace it? These initiatives, emphasizing the collaborative possibilities inherent in AI, insist that the former is possible — from using Watson technology to inspire composers to uber- personalizing already existing tunes. THE CREATIVE ASSISTANT THE PROJECT IBM’s Watson Beat THINK OF IT AS... IBM engineer Janani Mukundan calls Watson Beat a “creative assistant”: It listens to existing music and scans social media chatter to find trends that could inform new work. RECENT WIN Alex Da Kid used Watson Beat to write “Not Easy,” which peaked at No. 48 on Billboard’s Rock Airplay chart in 2016. THE INSTAGRAM OF AI THE PROJECT Jukedeck THINK OF…

Crafting a varied, lively set poses a formidable challenge to any DJ: how to strike the balance between preparedness and flexibility while sifting through the overwhelming quantity of new music available? That’s where Kado comes to the rescue. The new program — developed by a former Twitter engineer, a former Google product manager and a DJ/tech expert — crunches through more than a half-million set lists to create a database of what music gets played in clubs and how frequently. Want to construct an entire disco set around Chic’s “I Want Your Love”? Enter the song in Kado and you’ll get a selection of tunes — ranked by popularity, tempo, release date and more — that other DJs have played before or after Chic’s classic. “What I love is that…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Newman’s first big victory: finding evidence of the song’s publishing before Warner/Chappell’s 1935 copyright claim. Last fall, after a multiyear legal battle, a judge invalidated the copyright — which once brought in around $2 million annually — and the song entered the public domain. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND “From the ’30s through the ’50s, folk music was big, and it seems like people went out and copyrighted songs that were floating around,” says Newman. This one doesn’t generate much revenue, but he wants it free based on historical significance. WE SHALL OVERCOME The 2013 film The Butler paid $15,000 to use a mere 10 seconds of this civil rights anthem. Newman calls it “basically a public domain song taken from the public domain and copyrighted”…

1 “YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE” Writer Jimmie Davis Performed by Davis, Gene Autry,Bing Crosby 2 “GEORGIA ON MY MIND” Writers Hoagy Carmichael, Stuart Gorrell Performed by Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Willie Nelson 3 “OLD TIME ROCK & ROLL” Writers George Henry Jones, Thomas Earl Jones III Performed by Bob Seger 4 “UMBRELLA” Writers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Terius Youngdell Nash, Thaddis Laphonia Harrell, Shawn Carter Performed by Rihanna 5 “FIREWORK” Writers Ester Dean, Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, Sandy Julien Wilhelm, Katy Perry, Tor Erik Hermansen Performed by Katy Perry 6 “EVERYDAY” Writers Buddy Holly, Norman Petty Performed by Buddy Holly 7 “SINGLE LADIES (PUT A RING ON IT)” Writers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Terius Youngdell Nash, Thaddis Laphonia Harrell, Beyoncé Knowles Performed by Beyoncé 8 “WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN” Writer Liam Hillard Sternberg…

1940 With the outbreak of war limiting opportunities in Europe, Ralph S. Peer and his wife, Monique I. Peer, move to Mexico City and begin decades of support for Latin music. Peermusic publishes the global hit “Bésame Mucho,” written by Consuelo Velázquez. 1941 New peermusic copyrights include “Take Me Back to Tulsa” by Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan, “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” by June Hersey and Don Swander, and “Tico-Tico No Fubá” by Zequinha de Abreu. 1944 The Peers relocate to Los Angeles, which is about to experience a post-war boom that includes the growth of the music business. Ralph S. Peer and Walt Disney (left) collaborate on the music for The Three Caballeros. 1946-1949 Peermusic expands worldwide, establishing new companies in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Columbia,…

1980 Ralph Peer II succeeds his mother as the third CEO of peermusic. 1982 Chicago’s “Hard to Say I’m Sorry,” published by peermusic, spends two weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100. 1984 Ralph S. Peer is inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Los Tigres del Norte (below) release their breakthrough hit, “Contrabando y Traición,” published by peermusic. 1987 The Bangles’ ”Walk Like an Egyptian,” by peermusic writer Liam Sternberg, is the No. 1 song of the year on the Hot 100. 1991 Luis Miguel’s album Romance features 12 classic boleros and introduces a new generation to peermusic’s Latin standards. 1992 Peermusic copyrights “I Have Nothing” and “Run to You,” co-written by David Foster (right) and Jud Friedman, respectively, appear on the Bodyguard soundtrack, which becomes…

15 GARTH BROOKS The Ultimate Collection Garth Brooks’ Target-exclusive 10-CD box set The Ultimate Collection has gained a second life on the chart, thanks to clearance pricing. The title, which initially sold for $29.99, had its price drop to $8.98 in recent weeks. In turn, after a four-week vacation from the tally, the set returned on the Feb. 18 list and has spent the last two weeks in the top 20. With another 27,000 copies sold in the week ending March 2, Ultimate’s sales stand at 523,000 — Brooks’ 18th album to sell a half-million. —K.C. 14 METALLICA Hardwired... To Self-Destruct The band’s former No. 1 surges (28,000 units) with a 108 percent gain, driven by sales of the set with a concert ticket/ album promotion. Hardwired... To Self-Destruct sold…

The second coming of Lorde (below) starts off strong on Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks as “Green Light” debuts at No. 2 after its March 2 release. The song previews her second full-length album, Melodrama. Twitter reports that more than 350,000 tweets were generated about the song within 24 hours of the track’s release, including shout-outs from Katy Perry and Camila Cabello. “Light” also arrives on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 100 after less than 12 hours of sales and streaming activity for the weekly cycle. Ariana Grande prevents a Lorde takeover at No. 1, however, as the former’s “Everyday” (featuring Future) surges 35-1. The “Everyday” eruption comes after its music video release on Feb. 26. The clip, centered on a frenzy of PDA cases, has raced to more…

John Mayer lands his second No. 1 on Top Rock Albums in little more than a month as The Search for Everything: Wave Two opens atop the chart with 31,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. The four-song EP’s reign on the March 18 ranking follows Wave One’s lead (Feb. 11; 49,000 units), marking the shortest span between new No. 1s on the chart, which launched in 2006. Previously, Five Finger Death Punch led with two volumes of The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell in a nearly four-month span in 2013. A 5-year-old cover song makes its maiden appearance on Hard Rock Digital Song Sales at No. 1, as Godsmack’s 2012 live take on The Beatles’ 1969 Billboard Hot 100 leader “Come Together” arrives…

The soundtrack to The Shack, which opened in theaters March 3, bows at No. 1 on Top Christian Albums, earning 13,000 equivalent album units in its initial week (ending March 2), according to Nielsen Music. It also starts at No. 6 on the Soundtracks chart (see page 74). The movie, starring Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington, is based on William P. Young’s 2007 faith-based novel about a father’s spiritual journey after the death of a child. The Shack’s soundtrack sports a mix of contemporary Christian and country acts, including Dan + Shay, whose “When I Pray for You” flies 23-11 on Hot Christian Songs (after arriving at its No. 3 high on Feb. 25). It surges by 183 percent to 6,000 downloads sold and rebounds 15-3 on Christian Digital Song…

1970-2017 I first met Tommy Page on a grand night for Sire: the New York premiere of Madonna’s Who’s That Girl film in 1987. Afterward, several of us headed downtown to Nell’s, which had become a hotspot for the music-business and art crowds. The coat-check boy was Tommy Page. Somehow he recognized me and said, “Seymour Stein, I’ve been waiting to meet you all my life!” He looked so young — he was 17 at the time — and admittedly, I was a bit tipsy, so I replied, “Well, that can’t be a very long time!” A month or two later, he sang a few things for me and I signed him to Sire. His big break came in 1990, when he collaborated with New Kids on the Block on…

ON A CLEAR AFTERNOON IN FEBRUARY, Joey Bada$$ is talking about aliens and Donald Trump. “We don’t doubt that [aliens] exist, but we don’t truly believe it because we got so many distractions,” says the 22-year-old rapper, laughing in his black Jeep, which is parked alongside Brooklyn’s Williamsburg waterfront. “Like, ‘Yeah, I know these aliens are going to come, but let me get this selfie, though.’ ” But now, five weeks into Trump’s presidency, Bada$$ knows it is not the time for distractions. “Now that Obama’s out of office,” he declares, “it’s time to wake the f— back up.” This mix of wild imagination and social consciousness has been a theme for Joey, born Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott in East Flatbush, since he broke onto the scene with his debut mixtape,…

MONDAY, APRIL 3 Amélie The adaptation of the beloved 2001 French film stars Phillipa Soo, a Tony nom for Hamilton, as a waitress whose arrow is aimed at a poor artist working in a sex shop. Porn and pain au chocolat! THURSDAY, APRIL 6 War Paint Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, both two-time Tony winners, bring the most glamorous duel of all time to the Great White Way as rival makeup entrepreneurs Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. Michael Greif, who helmed the original Rent production, directs. MONDAY, APRIL 17 Groundhog Day With Andy Karl taking on the role that Bill Murray made famous, the comedy earned raves from its London tryout and could compete against Dear Evan Hansen for best musical. THURSDAY, APRIL 20 Hello, Dolly!…

Blockchain is an emerging open-source, decentralized ledger technology made famous by the digital currency Bitcoin. And a handful of tech entrepreneurs are betting it will soon solve a thorny issue for the music industry: ensuring that songwriters and copyright holders don’t get stiffed on royalties because of dicey metadata embedded in songs and commercial platforms that aren’t scrupulous about paying for the music they’re playing. The blockchain operates as a secure database that supports and connects capsules of information, called blocks, and records each alteration made by an authorized party. Applied to the music industry, one block would represent one song and contain information identifying every rights holder associated with the track. Blockchain technology essentially would prevent a platform like Spotify or YouTube from uploading a song without a complete…

THE LUXE LEADER HTC VIVE The most immersive headset, its whole-room tracking ability allows for experiences like Jaunt’s “Paul McCartney: My Valentine,” placing the viewer in his studio as he writes a song and shoots its music video. $799 THE TRAILBLAZER OCULUS RIFT It’s good enough for Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook’s Oculus has great design, super-advanced tech and now comes with handheld “touch” controllers (but, like Vive, requires a pricey VRcompatible PC). $598 THE SOLI D SPLURGE SONY PLAYSTATION VR The most affordable non-smartphone headset has great motion control — helpful with immersive apps like Harmonix Music VR, which lets you experience tunes in fantastical worlds. $399 THE CROWD PLEASER SAMSUNG GEAR VR The most popular headset (more than 4.5 million sold in 2016), it’s comfy and simple to use (just…

1920-1923 Ralph S. Peer’s early career milestones include producing “Crazy Blues,” sung by Mamie Smith; “Carolina Shout,” by pioneering jazz pianist James P. Johnson; and “Sobbin’ Blues” by King Oliver & His Creole Jazz Band, featuring Louis Armstrong. 1926 Peer joins the Victor Talking Machine Company (right) to sign and record talent. In lieu of a large salary, he retains control of the mechanical publishing rights on records he releases. He begins to assign a portion of those royalties to songwriters who are performing their own work. 1927 Peer records Jimmie Rodgers (below) and The Carter Family during the Bristol Sessions, a landmark event in early country music. Under Peer’s management, Rodgers becomes one of the biggest stars of the era. 1928 Southern Music Publishing, the predecessor to…

Nigel Elderton, president of Europe and managing director for the United Kingdom at peermusic, oversees the work of some 40 employees in nine offices, all of which sign writers as well as manage the company’s international repertoire. He’s also guiding some of peermusic’s most important global business at a time of unprecedented change. Much of Elderton’s attention of late goes to the European Unionmandated shake-up of the continent’s copyright collection societies, which now compete to license digital rights across Europe. (The collection societies will still maintain their national monopolies offline.) In practice, that means music publishers have to choose a collecting society to represent them. Peermusic was one of the first publishers to withdraw its digital rights from the national collecting societies, and it now licenses its Anglo- American repertoire…

2000 Winner of the Grammy Award for album of the year, O Brother Where Art Thou? includes several peermusic songs, such as “Man of Constant Sorrow” by Carter Stanley. 2001 Peermusic signings include Christopher “Tricky” Stewart and, through the company’s Toronto office, The Tragically Hip. Ralph Peer II receives the Abe Olman Publisher Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. 2002 BMI names peermusic its Latin publisher of the year for the fifth time. 2007 “Umbrella,” written by Christopher Stewart and recorded by Rihanna, spends seven weeks atop the Hot 100. 2008 Peermusic is the first independent music publisher to establish Pan-European licensing. 2009 Donovan is named a BMI Icon at the performing rights organization’s annual awards in London. 2010 Christopher Stewart’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” a…

NO. 1 FUTURE The rapper holds at No. 1 on the Artist 100 as he scores unprecedented debuts atop the Billboard 200 albums chart in consecutive weeks (see page 72). March 18 2017 Marian Hill’s ‘Down’ Is Up Marian Hill (above) continues to hit new heights thanks to its breakthrough hit “Down.” The duo of singer Samantha Gongol and producer Jeremy Lloyd pushes 34-29 on the Billboard Artist 100 as “Down” rises 25-21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track builds on the momentum of its synch in an ad for Apple iPhone 7 + AirPods (following its Jan. 14 premiere) as it climbs 10-9 on Digital Song Sales, up 4 percent to 46,000 downloads sold in the week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. It surges 29-19 on…

The Academy Awards have left a golden glow on the charts. The top three titles on the Soundtracks tally are direct beneficiaries of performances on the Oscars telecast (Feb. 26), while the soundtrack to best picture winner Moonlight debuts at No. 22 At No. 1, the Trolls soundtrack — which features best original song nominee “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” performed by Justin Timberlake — jumps up a rung with 50,000 units (up 35 percent) earned in the week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. The set surges with a 41 percent gain in traditional album sales as well, rising to 35,000 copies sold. Timberlake opened the Oscars with a performance of the song, which zooms 35-6 on Digital Song Sales (51,000 sold; up 124 percent) and rebounds 29-13 on…

Brazilian singer Ivete Sangalo (above) debuts on the Social 50, bowing at No. 14 following a flurry of activity around the Rio Carnival (Feb. 17-March 5). A poll on Billboard.com named her Carnival Queen, and she garnered 6.4 million Instagram reactions and 252,000 new followers on the service in the tracking week ending March 5, according to Next Big Sound. Nicki Minaj vaults 43-4, her highest rank since last November, after a busy week on social media. She teased a video shoot with Future and turned heads with a series of breast-flashing photos on her Instagram feed from Paris Fashion Week. She jumped 564 percent in overall reactions across all monitored metrics. Some of her Twitter mentions (453,000 in all) are owed to her continued spat with Remy Ma. Meanwhile,…

Dance superstar Calvin Harris (above) scores the Hot Shot Debut on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs as “Slide” (featuring Frank Ocean and Migos) enters the chart at No. 13. The R&B-tinged single earns Harris his second entry on the chart, following a 20-week stint as a featured guest on Rihanna’s “We Found Love” in 2012 (No. 54 peak). The arrival gives Ocean his second-highest chart peak (after “Thinkin Bout You” reached No. 7 in 2012) and Migos’ third-best. Some 93 percent of the song’s debut frame points stems from streams and song sales, including 11.2 million streams in the United States in the week ending March 2, according to Nielsen Music. On Rap Digital Song Sales, Remy Ma makes a top 10 debut, landing at No. 9 with her Nicki Minaj diss…

The Chainsmokers again replace themselves at No. 1 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (dated March 18), logging an unprecedented third consecutive leader by the same artist with “Something Just Like This,” with Coldplay (6-1). “Paris” rose 2-1 on the March 11 ranking, dethroning “Closer” (featuring Halsey), which reigned for a record 27 weeks. Plus, “Something,” “Paris” and “Closer” rank at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the list, marking the first time that an act has monopolized the top three dating to the chart’s inception on Jan. 26, 2013. “Something” surges to the summit following its first full week of tracking after its Feb. 22 release (see page 3). The song is the DJ duo’s record-extending sixth No. 1 on Hot Dance/ Electronic Songs, double the sum of runner-up Calvin Harris.…

Bruce Springsteen (above) tops the Boxscore chart with nine concert engagements landing on the chart — including eight of the top 10 — from his five-week sweep through Australia and New Zealand in January and February. The rock legend’s Summer ’17 Tour included both arena and stadium dates in seven cities, as well as performances in two of Australia’s popular outdoor concert sites. Two nights in Melbourne produced the No. 1 boxscore, a $7.3 million grosser at the city’s 30,000-seat sports stadium, AAMI Park, with more than 51,000 fans on Feb. 2 and 4. He also played double-show dates in both Sydney and Brisbane, as well as a three-night stint in Perth to kick off the jaunt. The outdoor events were at Hanging Rock Recreation Reserve north of Melbourne and…