Pro Posts – Billboard https://www.billboard.com Music Charts, News, Photos & Video Fri, 26 Jan 2024 05:14:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 With New Executive Structure, BMG Is Bringing More Resources to the U.S., New Signings — And Hiring, Too https://www.billboard.com/pro/bmg-jon-loba-interview-u-s-resources-new-signings-hires/ Fri, 26 Jan 2024 00:15:58 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235590003

Here’s the first change Jon Loba intends to make, in his new position as BMG’s president of frontline recordings in North America: “Immediately ramping up the A&R team in L.A.” 

So the Berlin-based music company is hiring? “Yes. Yes!” Loba says, by phone from the Detroit airport, near his home city north of Grand Rapids, Mich. “News at 10.”

Loba, who has spent the past seven years breaking country superstars such as Jelly Roll, Parmalee, Lainey Wilson and Blanco Brown in his role as the company’s Nashville president, will remain in Music City but broaden to other genres and U.S. cities. “BMG wanted to devote more resources to the U.S., and part of that was to focus even further on frontline, looking at the success we’ve had in Nashville,” says Loba, who plans to travel to L.A. every other week and New York sporadically. “The biggest challenge is keeping everyone patient.”

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BMG announced the Loba move Thursday morning (Jan. 25) with a concurrent one for Thomas Scherer, who moves from running publishing and recordings in L.A. and New York to head of global recorded catalog. The move effectively puts Loba in charge of new music and Scherer in charge of classics (while still in charge of publishing). BMG’s CEO, Thomas Coesfeld, took over the company last July and, Loba says, has veered away from the company’s April 2023 announcement that it would combine its frontline and catalog divisions.

“[Coesfeld] is incredibly analytical and had a different take on the business,” Loba says, “and felt the catalog business could benefit from even more focus and being separated out a little bit.”

BMG, part of the Bertelsmann publishing empire, was formerly a standalone label, then merged with major label Sony Music Entertainment before a 2007 uncoupling. It has since beefed up as a music company focused on publishing, acquiring or re-signing catalogs by artists from Paul Simon to Tina Turner, and developed a recorded-music division thanks in no small part to its Nashville office. Loba joined the company in 2017 when BMG purchased BBR Music Group — whose roster included stars Jason Aldean and Dustin Lynch — for $100 million. 

Bertelsmann, which recently failed to acquire Simon & Schuster, has pledged to invest billions throughout its companies, giving it considerable clout in a music industry dominated by the three major labels and smaller competitors such as Concord and HYBE. The company’s music divisions will be centered in the United States and the United Kingdom, not so much in Bertelsmann’s Berlin home base. “We are in an absolutely beautiful place,” Loba says. “The catalog allows stability and for us to take chances on frontline. We have the resources and reach of the three majors with the heart and tenacity and focus of an indie. There are few companies, if any, that have both.”

When Loba moves into his new position, effective immediately, he’ll begin expanding the label’s ability to discover and sign new artists. “Internally, for sure, there will be resources added. Our immediate focus is getting that world-class A&R team together, while removing, for the rest of the departments and staff, anything that’s not productive, getting rid of bureaucracy if there is any,” Loba says. “It’s just a real watershed moment for BMG. It’s our coming of age.”

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Mesita, Nicki Nicole, Emilia & Tiago PZK’s ‘Una Foto’ Rules Billboard Argentina Hot 100 for a Second Week https://www.billboard.com/pro/mesita-nicki-nicole-emilia-tiago-pzk-una-foto-argentina-hot-100/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 22:22:13 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589880

Mesita, Nicki Nicole, Emilia and Tiago PZK‘s “Una Foto” holds at No. 1 on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 chart (dated Jan. 27) for a second week.

The song earned Uruguayan Santiago Messano, better known as Mesita, his first champ on the overall Argentina songs chart, when it flew from No. 30 to No. 1 (list dated Jan. 20). While Nicki Nicole added her fourth leader and Emilia her third, Tiago PZK secured his sixth, entering into a tie with Maria Becerra for the second-most, both with six No. 1s, trailing only Bizarrap’s long-standing crown with nine rulers.

Argentinian rapper Khea earns his first top 10 in 2024, and sixth overall, as “Hola Perdida,” with Luck Ra, rises 8-2. Luck Ra captures his fourth top 10.

Young Miko nabs her highest-charting song with her first Bizarrap collab, “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 58”. The song, which gives the Puerto Rican her second top 10, picks up the Greatest Gainer honors of the week, as it climbs 55 rankings, from No. 58 to No. 3. Bizarrap ups his top 10 career count to 20. Young Miko is also set to receive the Impact Award at the 2024 Billboard Women in Music Awards, taking place March 6 and streaming on March 7.

Elsewhere, Emilia notches her 29th entry on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 as “Jet_Set.Mp3,” her team-up with Nathy Peluso, debuts at No. 30. The song, the Hot Shot Debut of the week, gifts Peluso her highest debut thus far, after “Argentina,” with Trueno, debuted and peaked at No. 48 in May 2022.

Further, two other songs debut this week, starting with “Tal Para Cual” by Salastkbron and Omar Varela, which starts at No. 55. The track brings back Varela to the tally, after “P Rreo,” with Kaleb Di Masi, Salas, and Alejo Isakk, took him to a No. 99 high in April 2022. Lastly, Ariana Grande secures her 11th chart entry with “Yes, And?” at No. 61.

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Michael Marcagi, Disturbed Lead on Rock Digital Song Sales Charts https://www.billboard.com/pro/michael-marcagi-disturbed-rock-digital-song-sales/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 20:55:32 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589814

Two acts earn new No. 1s on Billboard’s rock-, alternative- and hard rock-based digital song sales charts dated Jan. 27, one for the first time and the other for a seventh.

Michael Marcagi’s “Scared To Start” tops the Alternative Digital Song Sales ranking, while Disturbed’s “Don’t Tell Me,” featuring Ann Wilson, rules Hard Rock Digital Song Sales.

“Scared To Start” bows with 3,000 downloads sold in the U.S. in the Jan. 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate. It’s Marcagi’s first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, with his first song to appear as a solo artist.

Concurrently, the Warner Records-signed Marcagi opens at No. 2 on Rock Digital Song Sales. On the multi-metric Hot Rock & Alternative Songs list, the track debuts at No. 21; in addition to its download count, it earned 2.6 million official U.S. streams.

“Scared To Start” isn’t Marcagi’s first brush with Billboard charts. He previously fronted the band The Heavy Hours, which nabbed a pair of Adult Alternative Airplay entries with “Don’t Walk Away” (No. 21 peak, November 2020) and “Wildfire” (No. 33, September 2021).

His burgeoning solo career has been spurred by success on TikTok, with “Scared To Start” and additional song “The Other Side” (released in December 2023) racking up impressive metrics on the user-generated content platform.

Meanwhile, Disturbed’s “Don’t Tell Me” re-enters Hard Rock Digital Song Sales at No. 1, a new peak, thanks to 1,000 downloads, up 937%. The song debuted at No. 2 on the Dec. 3, 2022, survey; it returns thanks to the release of its official video Jan. 12.

Disturbed now boasts seven Hard Rock Digital Song Sales No. 1s, dating to the chart’s 2011 inception. The David Draiman-led rockers first reigned with “Hell” in October 2011, and prior to “Don’t Tell Me,” most recently ruled with “Unstoppable” in October 2022.

Seven No. 1s gives the band sole possession of the fourth-most in the tally’s history; Five Finger Death Punch leads all acts with 16.

Most No. 1s, Hard Rock Digital Song Sales:
16, Five Finger Death Punch
9, Linkin Park
8, Bring Me the Horizon
7, Disturbed
6, Breaking Benjamin
6, Falling in Reverse
6, Foo Fighters

Concurrently, “Don’t Tell Me” breaks into the top 10 of the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, jumping 13-10. It’s Disturbed’s 27th top 10, tying the band with Metallica for the sixth-most top 10s in the history of the 33-year-old ranking. Foo Fighters and Shinedown lead with 31 top 10s apiece.

Most Top 10s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:
31, Foo Fighters
31, Shinedown
29, Five Finger Death Punch
28, Godsmack
28, Tom Petty (solo and with the Heartbreakers)
27, Disturbed
27, Metallica
26, Papa Roach
26, Van Halen

The new ranking marks featured act Ann Wilson’s first on the chart as a soloist since “The Best Man in the World” peaked at No. 5 in January 1987. Heart, with Wilson as lead singer, boasts 10 top 10s, through “Black on Black II,” which peaked at No. 4 in November 1993.

“Don’t Tell Me” is the fourth single from Divisive, Disturbed’s eighth studio album, following “Hey You,” “Bad Man” and “Unstoppable.” The set debuted at No. 1 on the Hard Rock Albums chart in December 2022 and has earned 138,000 equivalent album units to date.

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Google Trained Its AI on Copyrighted Music, Sources Say — Now It’s Trying to Make Deals https://www.billboard.com/pro/google-youtube-trained-ai-copyrighted-music-before-deals/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 20:31:24 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589241

Lyor Cohen’s first encounter with Google’s generative artificial intelligence left him gobsmacked. “Demis [Hassabis, CEO of Google Deepmind] and his team presented a research project around genAI and music and my head came off of my shoulders,” Cohen, global head of music for Google and YouTube, told Billboard in November. “I walked around London for two days excited about the possibilities, thinking about all the issues and recognizing that genAI in music is here — it’s not around the corner.”

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While some of the major labels are touting YouTube as an important partner in the evolving world of music and AI, not everyone in the music industry has been as enthusiastic about these new efforts. That’s because Google trained its model on a large set of music — including copyrighted major-label recordings — and then went to show it to rights holders, rather than asking permission first, according to four sources with knowledge of the search giant’s push into generative AI and music. That could mean artists “opting out” of such AI training — a key condition for many rights holders — is not an option.

YouTube did make sure to sign one-off licenses with some parties before rolling out a beta version of its new genAI “experiment” in November. Dream Track, the only AI product it has released publicly so far, allows select YouTube creators to soundtrack clips on Shorts with pieces of music, based on text prompts, that can include replicas of famous artists’ voices. (A handful of major-label acts participated, including Demi Lovato and Charli XCX.) “Our superpower was our deep collaboration with the music industry,” Cohen said at the time. But negotiations that many in the business see as precedent-setting for broader, labelwide licensing deals have dragged on for months.

Negotiating with a company as massive as YouTube was made harder because it had already taken what it wanted, according to multiple sources familiar with the company’s label talks. Meanwhile, other AI companies continue to move ahead with their own music products, adding pressure on YouTube to keep progressing its technology.

In a statement, a YouTube representative said, “We remain committed to working collaboratively with our partners across the music industry to develop AI responsibly and in a way that rewards participants with long-term opportunities for monetization, controls and attribution for potential genAI tools and content down the road,” declining to get specific about licenses.

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GenAI models require training before they can start generating properly. “AI training is a computational process of deconstructing existing works for the purpose of modeling mathematically how [they] work,” Google explained in comments to the U.S. Copyright Office in October. “By taking existing works apart, the algorithm develops a capacity to infer how new ones should be put together.”

Whether a company needs permission before undertaking this process on copyrighted works is already the subject of several lawsuits, including Getty Images v. Stability AI and the Authors Guild v. OpenAI. In October, Universal Music Group (UMG) was among the companies that sued AI startup Anthropic, alleging that “in the process of building and operating AI models, [the company] unlawfully copies and disseminates vast amounts of copyrighted works.”

As these cases proceed, they are expected to set precedent for AI training — but that could take years. In the meantime, many technology companies seem set on adhering to the Silicon Valley rallying call of “move fast and break things.”

While rights holders decry what they call copyright infringement, tech companies argue their activities fall under “fair use” — the U.S. legal doctrine that allows for the unlicensed use of copyrighted works in certain situations. News reporting and criticism are the most common examples, but recording a TV show to watch later, parody and other uses are also covered.

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“A diverse array of cases supports the proposition that copying of a copyrighted work as an intermediate step to create a noninfringing output can constitute fair use,” Anthropic wrote in its own comments to the U.S. Copyright Office. “Innovation in AI fundamentally depends on the ability of [large language models] to learn in the computational sense from the widest possible variety of publicly available material,” Google said in its comments.

“When you think of generative AI, you mostly think of the companies taking that very modern approach — Google, OpenAI — with state-of-the-art models that need a lot of data,” says Ed Newton-Rex, who resigned as Stability AI’s vp of audio in November because the company was training on copyrighted works. “In that community, where you need a huge amount of data, you don’t see many people talking about the concerns of rights holders.”

When Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business and U.S. sales for Sony Music Entertainment, spoke at a Senate forum on AI in November, he rejected the fair use argument. “If a generative AI model is trained on music for the purpose of creating new musical works that compete in the music market, then the training is not a fair use,” Kooker said. “Training in that case, cannot be without consent, credit and compensation to the artists and rights holders.”

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UMG and other music companies took a similar stance in their lawsuit against Anthropic, warning that AI firms should not be “excused from complying with copyright law” simply because they claim they’ll “facilitate immense value to society.”

“Undisputedly, Anthropic will be a more valuable company if it can avoid paying for the content on which it admittedly relies,” UMG wrote at the time. “But that should hardly compel the court to provide it a get-out-of-jail-free card for its wholesale theft of copyrighted content.”

In this climate, bringing the major labels on board as Google and YouTube did last year with Dream Track — after training the model, but before releasing it — may well be a step forward from the music industry’s perspective. At least it’s better than nothing: Google infamously started scanning massive numbers of books in 2004 without asking permission from copyright holders to create what is now known as Google Books. The Authors Guild sued, accusing Google of violating copyright, but the suit was eventually dismissed — almost a decade later in 2013.

While AI-related bills supported by the music business have already been proposed in Congress, for now the two sides are shouting past each other. Newton-Rex summarized the different mindsets succinctly: “What we in the AI world think of as ‘training data’ is what the rest of the world has thought of for a long time as creative output.” 

Additional reporting by Bill Donahue.

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Ariana Grande Tops Streaming Songs Chart With ‘Yes, And?’ https://www.billboard.com/pro/ariana-grande-yes-and-number-1-streaming-songs-chart/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:24:37 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589580

Ariana Grande earns her fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart with “Yes, And?,” which starts atop the Jan. 27-dated tally.

In the Jan. 12-18 tracking week, “Yes, And?” earned 27.2 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.

It’s Grande’s first ruler since “Die for You,” her collaboration with The Weeknd, led for a week in March 2023. Her other Streaming Songs leaders include “Thank U, Next” (seven weeks, beginning in November 2018), “7 Rings” (eight weeks, beginning in February 2019) and “Positions” (two weeks in November 2020). All but “Die for You” debuted at No. 1.

With five No. 1s, Grande moves into a tie for the fourth-most rulers in the 11-year history of Streaming Songs, alongside Travis Scott. Drake leads all acts with 20 toppers.

Most No. 1s, Streaming Songs:

  • 20, Drake
  • 8, Taylor Swift
  • 6, Justin Bieber
  • 5, Ariana Grande
  • 5, Travis Scott
  • 4, Cardi B
  • 4, Lil Baby
  • 4, Miley Cyrus

Concurrently, as previously reported, “Yes, And?” debuts at No. 1 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, Grande’s seventh leader and sixth No. 1 debut. In addition to its streams, the song earned 24.8 million radio audience impressions and 41,000 digital downloads toward its Hot 100 premiere.

“Yes, And?” is the lead single from Eternal Sunshine, Grande’s seventh studio album. It’s expected March 8 via Republic Records, and will be her first full-length since 2020’s Positions. Positions led the Billboard 200 for two weeks and has earned 2.5 million equivalent album units to date.

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Trans-Siberian Orchestra Rules December Boxscore Report — Again https://www.billboard.com/pro/trans-siberian-orchestra-number-1-december-boxscore-report-fourth-year-consecutive/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:36:36 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589478

Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) once again rules Billboard’s monthly Top Tours chart in December, with the act now ringing the No. 1 bell for the final month of the year in 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2019. (Of note, there was no chart in 2020 due to COVID-19’s impact on touring.) Over 73 shows between Dec. 1-30, the classical holiday collective grossed $51.5 million and sold 657,000 tickets according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore.

With ensembles on both the East and West Coasts, TSO was able to play at least two shows per day — and used the additional bandwidth to its advantage, squeezing the most performances into this December than it has in any year since 2016. Despite a 6% dip in attendance compared with last year, revenue increased by 1%, marking the highest grossing month for TSO in its illustrious 25-year touring history.

Overall, TSO grossed $68.2 million and sold 873,000 tickets on its 2023 tour. The group saw consistent increases in its annual grosses through the end of the 2010s, up 10%, 13%, and 18% in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The 2021 season, flanked by the first wave of COVID-19’s Omicron, dipped back by 18%, while last year’s tour came within half a percentage point of the 2019 peak. Finally, with the effect of COVID in the rearview mirror, this year’s revue establishes a new high dating back to the collective’s 1999 touring debut.

TSO hit 21 markets in November and another 42 in December. As always, major markets prime for double-headers are saved for mid-to-late December when seasonal hype reaches its apex. The average gross per city in November was $835,000, while December’s pace rose to $1.2 million.

Cleveland and Tampa were standout markets, and the first to ever generate more than $2 million in TSO history. Two shows at the former’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse grossed $2.02 million from 26,000 tickets, and a double-header at the latter’s Amalie Arena earned $2.08 million from 25,600 tickets.

Including its Y2K launch (Dec. 10, 1999, to be exact), TSO has grossed a reported $802.4 million and sold 15 million tickets from 1,893 shows. While that situates it just outside the top 20 grossing acts in Boxscore history, its rank based on attendance makes it one of the top 10 artists since Boxscore’s late-‘80s start.

TSO’s fourth month at No. 1 ties Bad Bunny and Beyoncé. Only Elton John has spent more time on top, having reigned for seven months, spread between 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. While its annual touring window is limited to holiday months, its dominance is reliable, likely to be repeated in Decembers to come.

Given the sheer abundance of shows in TSO’s calendar throughout all of December — compared with most tours wrapping up halfway through the month — the group’s victory this time of year can feel inevitable. Still, the No. 1 spot was claimed by just a 3% margin, narrowly fending off U2’s eight-show run at Las Vegas’ Sphere.

U2 earned just over $50 million and sold 133,000 tickets during the Dec. 1-16 leg of its residency at Sphere, claiming the No. 1 spot on Top Boxscores. Combined with the first leg, which stretched from late September to early November, the rock legends have earned $159.8 million at the groundbreaking Vegas arena. Beginning this weekend, Bono & Co. are slated for 15 more shows through March 2.

U2 isn’t the only Vegas residency act to impact the December recap. Bruno Mars is No. 4 on Top Boxscores with a five-show return to MGM’s Dolby Live. The pop-R&B chart-topper grossed $10.3 million toward the end of the month, including a New Year’s Eve performance. At the same venue, Usher is No. 30 with the final two shows of a 12-date leg that began in early November. At Resorts World Theatre, Carrie Underwood pops up at No. 22, with $4.1 million from eight of nine shows that kicked off on Nov. 30.

While Vegas leads the way, half of the 30-position Top Boxscores chart took place outside of the mainland U.S., ranging from Latin America (RBD) and Europe (Madonna) to Asia (SEVENTEEN) and Australia (50 Cent). Paul McCartney takes up the most real estate with four appearances, all of which were in Brazil. Shows in Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba rank at Nos. 3, 12-13 and 18, respectively. Three shows at Allianz Parque lead the pack with a $16.2 million gross and 149,000 attendance count over three shows.

And while Sphere enjoys a commanding lead over the Top Venues (15,001+ capacity) chart, it’s a New York theater that reigns over all concert halls in December. Radio City Music Hall crowns the Top Venues (5,001-10,000 capacity) list with $80.6 million and 133 shows. Even more efficient than TSO, The Radio City Rockettes headlined this year’s annual Christmas Spectacular, earning a gargantuan $116.7 million over 193 shows between Nov. 17 and Jan. 4.

A version of this story will appear in the Jan. 27, 2024, issue of Billboard.

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Spanish Is Now the Second Most Consumed Language for Music in the World  https://www.billboard.com/pro/spanish-language-music-consumption-data-latin-luminate-analysis/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 16:48:51 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589343

Among the top 10,000 tracks measured by Luminate in its recently-released 2023 Year End Music Report, streaming share of English language content went down by 3.8 percentage points since 2021. Which begs the question: Where did that 3.8% go?  

It went fully into the streaming share of Spanish language tracks, which went up by 3.8%. 

Indeed, today, Spanish is the second most consumed language in music, both in the U.S. and globally.  

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In the United States, the top three languages in music consumption by percentage of the total are, of course, English (88.8%), followed by Spanish (8.1%) and Korean in a distant third (0.7%).    

The most recent numbers show Spanish language music’s market share among the country’s most popular songs almost doubled over the past two years — jumping from 4.2% of the top 10,000 tracks in 2021 to 8.1% in 2023. Overall, consumption of Latin music in the U.S grew by 19.4 billion on-demand audio streams in 2023, a 24.1% jump. In total number of streams, it was second in growth only to country, which grew by 20.4 billion streams. 

Worldwide, English-language music consumption among the 10,000 most listened to tracks fell substantially in 2023, from 67% in 2021 to 54.9% in 2023. Spanish-language music consumption also dipped, from 12.4% in 2021 to 10.1% in 2023, while consumption of music in Hindi grew from 6.1% to 7.8%, and in Japanese from 1.3% to 2.1%. However, all told, Spanish is still the second most listened to music language in the world, according to the study. 

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In the U.S., Spanish-language music’s growth has been a very gradual process that’s come with the growth of streaming, a bigger Latin population, and with a major cultural shift that accepts that there are more cultures and languages that can coexist. Chief among them is Spanish, which benefits from being the lingua franca of an entire continent, plus Spain. While Latins are not monolithic, as many have long pointed out, they are all (with the exception of Brazilians) united by language; go to any Latin music concert in the U.S., and you’ll find a plethora of nations gathered under the same roof enjoying the same music, regardless of its origin.  

The shift in consumption has been noticed by mainstream labels; 25 years ago, Latin acts like Shakira and Ricky Martin, had to record in English to garner widespread promotion. Spanish, the language which has long defined “Latin” music, was conversely, widely seen as stepping stone on the path to international superstardom but not as the goal.  

Today, for the first time, mainstream labels are signing and developing artists who record solely, or almost solely in Spanish, such as Yahrtiza y su Esencia to Columbia Records and Xavi to Interscope.   

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There is strength in numbers, and those numbers opened the door for Latin artists to scale the charts by singing only in Spanish, as well as for predominantly Spanish-language series –like “Narcos” and the new “Griselda”—to score big viewing numbers despite what many would have perceived as a language barrier years ago.  

But clearly, today there is a growing number of non-Spanish speakers who also listen to music in Spanish. According to recent consumer research insights from Luminate, for example, 25% of U.S. music listeners (ages 13+) said they engage with Spanish-language music, even though Hispanics account for 19% of the population.  

People may not speak Spanish, but they’re definitely listening to the music.

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Cody Carnes Scores His First Christian AC Airplay No. 1 With ‘Firm Foundation’ https://www.billboard.com/pro/cody-carnes-firm-foundation-number-1-christian-ac-airplay-chart/ Thu, 25 Jan 2024 15:19:41 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589288

Cody Carnes tops Billboard’s Christian AC Airplay chart for the first time, as “Firm Foundation (He Won’t)” ascends to No. 1 on the survey Jan. 27. In the Jan. 12-18 tracking week, the song increased by 3% in plays, according to Luminate.

On the genre’s overall Christian Airplay chart, the track holds at its No. 2 best, up 2% to 5.4 million in audience.

Carnes, Austin Davis and Chandler Moore wrote the song, which Davis produced.

The 34-year-old Carnes, from Atlanta, banked two prior Christian AC Airplay top 10s. “Ain’t Nobody” hit No. 2 last April and “The Blessing: Live,” with Kari Jobe and Elevation Worship, reached No. 5 in August 2020.

Carnes and Jobe married in November 2014.

Little, Stone Roll to No. 1

Damon Little’s “No Stressing,” featuring Angie Stone, rises to No. 1 on Gospel Airplay (up 3% in plays). It becomes Little’s second chart-topper and Stone’s first, in her first appearance on the ranking.

Little solely wrote and produced the song.

Little, from Baltimore, follows his first Gospel Airplay No. 1, “Stand Up,” which led for a week in December 2021. He boasts three prior top 10s: “I Won’t Be Defeated” (No. 2, February 2017), “Because of You” (No. 9, January 2015) and “Do Right,” with Nu Beginning (No. 7, April 2005).

Stone, 62, was formerly in hip-hop act The Sequence before posting seven solo entries on the all-genre Billboard 200 between 2000 and 2015. She hit a No. 11 high on the chart with The Art of Love & War in 2007.

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Eden Muñoz’s ‘Como en Los Viejos Tiempos’ Hits No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay Chart https://www.billboard.com/pro/eden-munoz-como-en-los-viejos-tiempos-regional-mexican-airplay-chart/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 23:34:06 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235589100

Eden Muñoz acquires his fourth No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “Como En Los Viejos Tiempos” rallies 8-1 to lead the Jan. 27-dated ranking. The nostalgic ballad checks into the penthouse after a bulky 64% boost in audience impressions, to 7.4 million, earned in the U.S. during the Jan. 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate.

“Como En Los Viejos Tiempos” ejects La Fiera de Ojinaga’s “La Neta Que No” from the lead after its one week in command. The song drops to No. 10 with a 42% drop (to 4.22 million impressions).

“Tiempos” is the title track and first single of the Muñoz’s 18-track eponymous album, which debuted and reached No. 19 on Regional Mexican Albums last December.

The song, released Nov. 20 via Muñoz’s own EMC/Bajo label and Sony Music Latin, takes the indie imprint to its first No. 1 on any Billboard chart.

Further, as the norteño and banda singer-songwriter and producer sends “Viejos Tiempos” to his roster of No. 1s, here’s a look at Muñoz’s four No. 1s on Regional Mexican Airplay :

Peak, Title, Artist, Weeks at No. 1
May 21, 2022, “Chale!,” three
July 2, 2022, “Hay Que Hacer Dinero,” Banda MS featuring Muñoz, two
Nov. 11, 2023, “Amor Clandestino,” with Maná, one
Jan. 27, 2024, “Como En Los Viejos Tiempos,” one

Beyond its Regional Mexican Airplay win, “Viejos Tiempos” takes Muñoz to the upper region on the overall Latin Airplay tally, with a 20-4 surge.

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Mocktails & Sober Spaces: Inside the Concert Biz’s Push for Inclusivity (And More Revenue) https://www.billboard.com/pro/mocktails-sober-spaces-concerts-inclusivity-revenue/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:56:26 +0000 https://www.billboard.com/?post_type=billboard_pro_post&p=1235588744

As alcohol consumption declines among young adults and awareness about the mental health benefits of sobriety grows, nonalcoholic cocktails could prove key to finding new food and beverage revenue for the concert business.

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In 2023, CMA Fest, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Danny Wimmer Presents’ Louder Than Life and Bourbon & Beyond were among a dozen festivals to include mocktails and sober spaces at their events; Live Nation introduced the “no-jito” to its venue menus; and Oak View Group launched an elevated nonalcoholic beverage program at its Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif. And while conventional wisdom held that nonalcoholic drinks beyond soda and water would diminish alcohol sales, venues are finding that’s not the case.

“Since launching the mocktail program, our alcohol sales have remained steady, and overall beverage sales have increased by a margin that we are very pleased with,” says Daniel Griffis, president of global partnerships at Oak View Group. It has gone so well that OVG plans to start rolling out the program at other venues.

After launching in October in the premium level and expanding to the entire arena in January, Acrisure has sold more than 2,000 mocktails at $14 each — including the Blackberry Smash and the Firebirds Spritz, which use Lyre’s nonalcoholic spirits — says John Page, senior vp of Acrisure Arena, AHL team Coachella Valley Firebirds and OVG360 Facilities. “There have been a lot of positive comments that we are recognizing people that want to really experience the live event and have something different in terms of the beverage space, not soda or water,” he says. “This is one way that we can continue to show that we are aware and we have something for everyone in the venue.”

These activations were all launched in partnership with the nonprofit Stand Together and its 1 Million Strong initiative founded with sober community The Phoenix. They follow an open letter published in Billboard in January 2023 that featured 50 music industry leaders pledging support to 1 Million Strong.

“What I am excited to see, a year after, are those people actually doing it,” says Colette Weintraub, head of Stand Together Music, Sports & Entertainment.

At Live Nation, the initiative has brought a new corporate focus as well. Last May, the concert giant launched its Sober Nation program focused on fostering sober-inclusivity and destigmatizing addiction at their venues and offices. On Jan. 30 the company will host a Grammy-week brunch with 1 Million Strong and DMC of Run-DMC to raise awareness among staff and connect employees to available recovery and mental health resources.

For an industry that places a lot of emphasis on alcohol — from beverage sales to alcohol sponsors — Weintraub says the initiative has received a warm welcome so far. “We’re not saying ‘sober music industry,’ ” she says. “We’re saying this is an opportunity to expand and open the doors to more people and let more people participate in what’s important in life and supporting more people in achieving their full potential.”

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