Billboard Magazine

Written for music industry professionals and fans. Contents provide news, reviews and statistics for all genres of music, including radio play, music video, related internet activity and retail updates.

Cardi B’s ‘WAP’ Is Winning At Radio

Billboard

Risky Business • When concerts open up next year — hopefully! — big promoters will try to shift the uncertainty onto talent

INDEPENDENTS, TOGETHER • SMALL VENUES AND PROMOTERS HAVE BIG PROBLEMS. CAN INDUSTRY ALLIANCES SAVE THEM?

Poll Positioning • Musicians are desperately trying to reach prospective voters — especially Latin ones. Will they be able to rock the vote?

A Pandemic Boom In Publishing Deals • COVID-19 seems to be bringing buyers and sellers into the market, as prices hit historic highs

An FAQ On The CRB • On July 28, a court threw out the Copyright Royalty Board’s publishing rate determination for streaming services. Here’s what that means

A Letter From Harvey Mason Jr. • The Recording Academy chairman and interim CEO on the importance of supporting musicians through a time of hardship

HELPING CREATORS GET HELP FROM D.C.

Bringing Background Music To The Foreground • A Swedish startup wants to get rights holders paid accurately for songs played at stores and restaurants. So far, the industry likes what it hears

OANA RUXANDRA • Chief Digital Officer/Executive VP Business Development Warner Music Group

HALLS OF FAME • Grammy Award-winning music creators and executives reveal where they stash their trophies

THE GRASS IS GREENER • Country singer Cam’s boundary-pushing new album will finally arrive this fall — and on a new label

‘OTHERSIDE’ OF THE EQUATION • HOW CAM’S LONGTIME MARKETING WHIZ, RCA SENIOR VP MARKETING VAL PENSA, EXPERTLY WORKED AROUND A SHIFTING TIMELINE — AND THEN A PANDEMIC

Long Time Coming • Herb Alpert finally agrees to document his life for the silver screen

LOUS AND THE YAKUZA

Punch The ‘Clockface’ • Elvis Costello’s new album sounds both current and timeless — and he’s looking back at his catalog, too

Kylie Minogue

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN ON K-POP

HEAVY REIGN • Deftones have been a hard-rock success story for over two decades — and brought back their old producer to ensure another win

‘Put On Your Superhero Suit’ • With soul-reviving dancefloor anthems and an imaginative, merch-mad rollout plan (jockstraps!), LADY GAGA figured out how to be a pop star in a year unlike any other

Do The Right Thing Do The Right Thing • After years on the indie circuit, El-P and Killer Mike of RUN THE JEWELS took on 2020 with a big new label deal, a Grammy-worthy album and a heightened sense of purpose — when the world needs their fearless voices the most

TOO BIG TO FAIL • K-pop artists took the U.S. by storm in 2020. Will an increasingly global Grammys recognize them — and their telecast-ready star power?

‘FOLK’ HERO • Making a surprise album in isolation, Taylor Swift revealed new layers of her songwriting — and some of her best music yet — thanks in part to an unlikely collaboration with The National’s AARON DESSNER, a versatile artist in his own right and likely award nominee

Big Band Vs. Big Tech • Jazz orchestra leader Maria Schneider — a Grammy favorite and a fierce advocate for artists’ rights — takes on the Data Lords with her newest album

A PIVOTAL YEAR FOR ALBUM OF THE YEAR • In the wake of #GrammysSoWhite and this year’s reckoning with systemic racism, how will voters approach music’s biggest honor?

URBANO GOES POP • Latin’s dominant genre keeps getting lumped in with others at the Grammys. This year, a category rethink might change that

For Your Consideration — Reconsidered • Getting voters’...