Innholdsfortegnelse for July 27, 2019 i Billboard Magazine

Ten years ago, German media giant Bertelsmann enlisted veteran music executive Hartwig Masuch to launch BMG with three employees and the rights to a few recordings that were held back when the parent company sold its music business to Sony. Since then, the new Bertelsmann Music Group has grown to more than 850 staffers — and become the fourth-biggest recorded music and publishing company in terms of revenue, right behind the three major labels. BMG prides itself on being a different kind of music company, where many artists own their masters (and license them to the label), deal structures are less beholden to the past and costs are managed with more discipline. It was built during a decadelong corporate buying spree that started when music valuations were low. But…

070 MALICK The 21-year-old rapper never considered making music until he met the 070 Crew. Soon enough, he and Shake were recording together every day after high school. He recently released his two-years-in-the-making debut EP, MNIM, which features the menacing “Perfect,” and has already teased on Instagram that fans “can expect NEW stuff very soon.” 070 PHI The 070 Project: Chapter 1 was originally slated as a joint release between Shake and longtime rapper Phi. But “then we all started creating together,” recalls Phi. “Everything was falling into place perfectly.” The 25-year-old recently signed to Nas’ Mass Appeal Records, released his Outside mixtape in February and was featured in July on the soundtrack to Marvel’s The Fresh-Men web comic series. RALPHY RIVER River, who signed to G.O.O.D. Music in…

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AFTER TAYLOR SWIFT publicly decried the Ithaca Holdings acquisition of Big Machine — saying it meant that Scooter Braun was “about to own all the music I’ve ever made” — Kelly Clarkson tweeted a bold suggestion: Swift should consider rerecording the songs on the six albums she has released so far. “I’d buy all the new versions just to prove a point,” offered Clarkson. For most artists, that wouldn’t be practical. “A lot of people don’t have the wherewithal to start a business and become a competitor with their old label,” says attorney Brian Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt. Pop singer JoJo tried it, rerecording her first two albums during a dispute with former label Blackground Records, scoring modest sales and over 23 million…

TWENTY YEARS AGO, PAT Boone was mad as hell. Despite having sold over 45 million records and earning nearly 40 top 40 hits, the singer-songwriter of “Love Letter in the Sand,” “Speedy Gonzalez” and more found himself at the turn of the millennium out of favor and away from the spotlight. Like so many singers from that time, the multimedia personality and six-time Grammy Award nominee felt there was little industry interest in his work at a time when *NSYNC, Eminem, Britney Spears, Creed and Destiny’s Child dominated radio; Santana was in the midst of a comeback; and The Beatles’ 1 was, well, No. 1 on the Billboard 200. So in 1999, anger — and what Boone calls “opportunism” — led the singer to launch The Gold Label, an…

HUGH JACKMAN’S THE Man. The Music. The Show. tour has been the surprise boxscore hit of the season. The actor, singer and dancer pulled in an impressive $27 million across 17 shows in the month of June alone with a set that features songs from the movies and musicals Jackman has starred in, including The Greatest Showman, Les Misérables and The Boy From Oz. “It is unprecedented. A lot of us would count this as the biggest surprise of our career,” says AEG Presents senior vp global touring Rich Schaefer. “The U.K. and Europe went on sale before the U.S. did. I remember I woke up at four in the morning and got on the phone with [AEG Presents U.K.’s] Toby Leighton-Pope, whom we did this tour with. I…

Sheeran’s Collabs Checks In It’s a week where No. 6 is No. 1 as Ed Sheeran’s star-studded No. 6 Collaborations Project — boasting guests ranging from Camila Cabello to Chris Stapleton — debuts atop the Billboard 200, marking the singersongwriter’s third chart topper. The set bows with 173,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States during the week ending July 18, according to Nielsen Music — the largest week for a pop album by a male artist since Shawn Mendes’ self-titled set started atop the June 8, 2018-dated list with 182,000 units. Sheeran previously led the Billboard 200 with ÷ (Divide) in 2017 and x (Multiply) in 2014. The new album’s starting sum of 173,000 units comprises 70,000 in album sales, 10,000 in track equivalent album units and…

NCT Dream Preps EP No. 3 NCT Dream (below) returns to the Social 50 at No. 6 as excitement for the NCT subunit’s third EP, We Boom, ramps up. The six-member group scores its highest rank since hitting No. 6 in December 2018, earning 694,000 reactions and 229,000 mentions on Twitter in the week ending July 18, according to Next Big Sound. The K-pop group initially released the single “Don’t Need Your Love” (with HRVY) in June and followed with “Fireflies” on July 15. Various photos of the group posted to Twitter followed, meant to promote We Boom, the follow-up to We Go Up, which debuted at No. 5 on the World Albums chart dated Sept. 15, 2018. Boom is out July 29. The late Johnny Clegg has the…

‘Missed’ Is A Hit The Head and the Heart (above) notches its second No. 1 on the Alternative airplay chart as “Missed Connection” rises 3-1. The band first led with “All We Ever Knew” for a week in December 2016. The new No. 1 previously topped Triple A for a week in June. It logs its fifth week at its No. 3 Rock Airplay high, up 9% to 8.6 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen Music. Atop Triple A, Vampire Weekend takes over with “This Life.” After first appearing on the chart in 2008, the act has earned its first two No. 1s this year, as “Harmony Hall” spent seven weeks at the summit beginning March 2. The Mainstream Rock airplay chart also welcomes a new No. 1 as…

Franklin Matches Sapp’s Mark “Love Theory” by Kirk Franklin (above) posts a 25th week at No. 1 on Hot Gospel Songs, marking a milestone for the genre star. The track is his second to top the tally for at least 25 weeks following “Wanna Be Happy?,” which reigned for 45 frames beginning in September 2015. Only one other act has notched a pair of No. 1s that led for at least 25 weeks each: Marvin Sapp, with “Never Would Have Made It,” which spent a record 46 weeks at No. 1 starting in August 2007, and “The Best in Me,” which ruled for 25 frames beginning in March 2010. “Theory” continues its domination with an 18% boost to 1.2 million U.S. streams, according to Nielsen Music, while topping Gospel…

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 on-demand streams where 100 streams equal 1 download (Gold). RIAA certification for 1…

In 1990, Whitney Houston recorded a cover of Steve Winwood’s 1986 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Higher Love” that he wrote with Will Jennings. Her version was never released stateside (it only came out in Japan). At the time, Clive Davis, then running his new label Arista, tabled the cover by the then-27-year-old and for the next eight years she worked solely on film soundtracks, including the Grammy Award-winning release for The Bodyguard. In May, more than seven years after Houston’s untimely death at age 48 in 2012, her sister-in-law and estate executor Pat Houston struck a deal with Primary Wave Music Publishing that called for the company to find new opportunities for the singer’s catalog, which is owned by Sony. In exchange, it acquired a 50% stake in…

Matchmaker In late 2014, Broken Bow Records founder Benny Brown introduced Southern California native Jennifer Wayne, now 37, to Floridian Naomi Cooke, now 29. They were both living in Nashville, and Brown suggested they write together. In June 2015, they invited to dinner Wayne’s former songwriting partner, Hannah Mulholland, now 28, to show her what they were working on. After hearing a ballad titled “Blue Roses,” Mulholland was eager to write with them. Within days, the three wrote 25 songs and decided to become a group. “We’re strong, independent women, and that can go two ways,” says Wayne. “Luckily, we all had the same vision.” Off To The Races Later that month, the group played four songs for Broken Bow; Brown offered it a record deal on the spot.…

“HOW MANY PEOPLE HERE ARE IN THEIR 30s?” SHERYL CROW DEMANDS OF THE AUDIENCE, GUITAR SLUNG ACROSS HER BACK IN THE MIDDLE OF A SET AT TORONTO’S BUDWEISER STAGE. THE RESPONSE, WHILE AUDIBLE, IS UNIMPRESSIVE. She then asks about those in their 40s, to a slightly more substantial cheer. When Crow wonders aloud how many people are in their 50s, though, the roar is almost deafening. She grins, strumming the opening chords of “Still the Good Old Days,” a collaboration with Joe Walsh from her 11th studio album, Threads (out Aug. 30), about living it up in middle age. “But we’re still having fun, right?” “Fun” has been a defining word in the 57-year-old multiplatinum, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter’s career (as has its frequent rhyme, “sun”), for better or worse.…

Macca’s Amoeba Gig Bows Paul McCartney’s new Amoeba Gig live album arrives at No. 14 on Top Album Sales, selling 5,000 copies in the week ending July 18, according to Nielsen Music. The set, released July 12, chronicles McCartney’s June 27, 2007, gig at the Amoeba Music store in Los Angeles in front of 700 lucky fans crowding the aisles (including Ringo Starr and Alanis Morissette). The album — which was issued on CD, LP and digital download — presents, for the first time ever commercially, the complete concert performance of 21 songs. Previously, four tracks from the show were released on a 2007 EP titled Amoeba’s Secret, which sold 29,000 copies. Amoeba Gig was issued on two-LP 180-gram black vinyl, as well as a limited-edition color variant for…

AIRPLAY DATA COMPILED BY RADIO SONGS: The week’s most popular songs, ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen Music. Stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. DIGITAL SONG SALES: The week’s top-downloaded songs, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen Music. POP/RHYTHMIC/ADULT: The week’s most popular current songs at mainstream top 40, rhythmic, adult contemporary and adult top 40 formats, respectively, ranked by radio airplay detections, as measured by Nielsen Music. Songs are defined as current if they are relatively recently-released titles, or songs receiving widespread airplay and/or sales activity for the first time. Stations are electronically monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. See Charts Legend on billboard.com/biz for complete rules and explanations. All charts © 2019,…

Lizzo Nets Career First Lizzo (above) earns her first No. 1 on a Billboard radio chart as “Truth Hurts” jumps 5-1 on Rhythmic. The single soars with a 19% gain in plays during the week ending July 21, according to Nielsen Music. It becomes the sixth leader in as many weeks on the ranking, the quickest carousel of No. 1s since January/February 2018. “Truth” maintains forward progress on other radio charts as well, powering 15-8 on Rap Airplay with a 35% surge in audience during the week, enough to secure the Greatest Gainer prize. In addition, the song finds new peaks on Mainstream Top 40 (No. 7) and the all-genre Radio Songs chart (No. 8). Elsewhere, Monica also lands a new radio No. 1 as “Commitment” climbs 2-1 on…

TOUGH LOVE “Nicki is a force who loves what she does, and it radiates through every project she gets behind. I call her Mom!”—ALESSIA CARA In April 2015, Canadian R&B singer Alessia Cara released her anti-partying anthem “Here” on Def Jam. The track connected “instantaneously,” says Farag, whose team leveraged its popularity on Shazam to guide it to the No. 1 spots on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 and Rhythmic Songs charts during a nine-month push. Cara’s debut album, Know-It-All, followed, earning her the Rule Breaker award at Billboard’s annual Women in Music event in 2016. Farag attended with Cara, who that fall also graced the cover of Billboard’s Grammy Preview issue alongside Maren Morris and Chance the Rapper. The next year, Farag appeared for the first time as one…

ANDREW GERTLER’S OFFICE is in New York City, but he’s spending most of the summer on the road with his star client, Shawn Mendes, as Mendes’ arena tour weaves its way across the American Southwest. On the mid-July afternoon after a show at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, he and Mendes, 20, “stayed in Park City and had a little day in nature, which was very nice,” says Gertler, 30. And with six more weeks of North American shows, followed by runs through Asia, Australia and South America, Gertler won’t be behind his desk much for the rest of this year. That’s fine with Gertler, a Chicago native who attended the University of Vermont before getting a job at Warner Music Group and moving to…

AT 18, 070 SHAKE STARTED MESSING around on a Casio keyboard and recording songs on a laptop with her friends. By the time she turned 21, the singer-rapper found herself in Kanye West’s inner circle. Her gritty and loose vocals were featured on albums by West, Nas and Pusha T as part of G.O.O.D. Music’s deluge of summer releases in 2018. Says Pusha T: “When Kanye had her try the hook on ‘Santeria,’” — a standout track off Pusha T’s Daytona that he and Shake performed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon — “we just knew it was right.” Now, at 22, Shake has opened for The 1975 and partnered with The North Face for its #NeverStopExploring campaign. This year she guested on DJ Khaled’s Father of Asahd…

Andrew Mains learned marketing during his eight years at Interscope Records, where as vp digital he worked with artists like 50 Cent and Trent Reznor. Now, after years of working for different startups, he’s putting his expertise to use as a cannabis consultant with one goal: combating the issue of perception. “The music industry is phenomenal at making people understand why something is fun, why it makes you feel good,” says Mains. “That was, in so many ways, the entire point of the record industry.” For the past four years Mains has worked with over a dozen clients spanning the cannabis supply chain, from farms to THC and CBD manufacturers to companies creating vape pens, beauty products and coffee. Last May he launched his own company, Hemp & CBD…

IN June 2010, Justin Bieber, then a 16-year-old boy wonder, opened the Foxborough, Mass., show on Taylor Swift’s Fearless tour, along with two other acts. That same evening, Scooter Braun, who had discovered Bieber on YouTube and signed him to a management deal three years earlier, first met Scott Borchetta — who in 2005 had signed a 15-year-old Swift to his then-new label, Big Machine. “Our stories were similar,” recalls Braun on a recent afternoon, speaking by phone from his office in Santa Monica, Calif. “Everyone at Big Machine — Taylor was kind, Scott was kind — everyone was kind to me and Justin when we were doing that show, and you don’t forget those things. I never forgot that, and we started a friendship.” On June 30, that…

Purple Mountains Scale Chart Purple Mountains enter Emerging Artists at No. 11 as their self-titled debut album arrives at No. 23 on Top Album Sales with 4,000 sold, according to Nielsen Music. The band is a new project from David Berman (above), who drew earlier buzz via his work with Silver Jews before he stepped away from music in 2009. A pair of hard-rock acts also opens in the Emerging Artists top 20, led by Torche at No. 17, as the band’s Admission bows at No. 35 on Top Album Sales (3,000). Plus, Oh, Sleeper enters Emerging Artists at No. 19, powered by a No. 38 start on Top Album Sales with Bloodied/Unbowed (3,000). —Kevin Rutherford CHART BEAT MILSAP’S ‘RAIN’ SHINES AGAIN The new version of “Smoky Mountain Rain”…

That’s ‘Some’ No. 1 Eric Church (above) banks his eighth Country Airplay No. 1 with “Some of It,” which reigns with a 9% increase to 41.1 million audience impressions, according to Nielsen Music. The song is the second single and first leader from Church’s sixth studio LP, Desperate Man, which debuted as his third Top Country Albums No. 1 last October. The set has earned 413,000 equivalent album units, including 222,000 in traditional album sales, to date. Miranda Lambert’s “It All Comes Out in the Wash,” the first single from her upcoming album, blasts onto Country Airplay at No. 19 with 11.2 million in reach. Lambert lands her second-highest debut among 31 career entries, after “Vice,” which arrived at No. 18 in August 2016. She makes her first visit…

Nicky Jam, Ozuna Lead Latin Airplay “Te Robaré” by Nicky Jam (above right) and Ozuna (above left) jumps 4-1 on the Latin Airplay chart, earning the artists their 10th and 11th No. 1s, respectively. The track collected 13.5 million audience impressions in the week ending July 21 (up 25%), according to Nielsen Music. The Chris Jeday- and Gaby Music produced song also leads Latin Rhythm Airplay with a matching 4-1 sprint. On Latin Airplay, “Te Robaré” bests the peak of Nicky Jam and Ozuna’s last collaboration, “Te Boté,” alongside Casper Mágico, Nio García, Darell and Bad Bunny, which reached No. 2 on Sept. 8, 2018. (Nicky Jam and Ozuna notched another hit prior to “Te Boté”: the No. 7-peaking “Bonita,” with J Balvin, Jowell & Randy and Yandel, in…

Avicii’s ‘Heaven’ Hits No. 1 Avicii (above) posthumously earns his third Dance/Mix Show Airplay leader, bounding 8-1 with “Heaven.” The track follows “SOS,” featuring Aloe Blaac (No. 1, June 1), and “Wake Me Up!” (10 weeks at No. 1, 2013). “Heaven” ties Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus (8-1, May 25), for the second-greatest vault to No. 1 in 2019, after David Guetta’s “Stay (Don’t Go Away),” featuring Raye (11-1, July 13). Additionally on Dance/Mix Show Airplay, Zack Martino and Dyson add their second and first top 10, respectively, with “Mood” (16-10). Tycho debuts at No. 3 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums with Weather, which starts with 7,000 equivalent album units, according to Nielsen Music. His fourth top 10 follows Epoch, which launched as his first…