International
Ennio Morricone and John Williams Honored For Film Scores
A Spanish foundation on Friday (May 5) awarded one of the country’s most prestigious awards to composers Ennio Morricone and John Williams for their film work. The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards said the Italian and American composers “have enriched hundreds of films with their talent.” The pair “demonstrate complete mastery of composition as well as narrative, building emotion, tension and lyricism at the service of cinematographic images.” Williams, 88, has scored movies such as “Star Wars,” “Jaws,” the “Indiana Jones” series and the first three “Harry Potter” films. Morricone, 91, has over the past seven decades created more than 400 scores for cinema and television. The €50,000 award ($56,700) is the first of eight prizes, including in the arts, social sciences and s...
How to Watch YouTube Originals’ ‘Dear Class of 2020′ All-Star Commencement
YouTube Originals’ “Dear Class of 2020” commencement ceremony, featuring Barack and Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, BTS, Lady Gaga, Maluma and more, will officially commence Sunday, June 7 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The four-hour virtual graduation, which was pushed back a day to honor George Floyd’s memorial service, will open with Lizzo and the New York Philharmonic performing “Pomp and Circumstance” and remarks from Alicia Keys. At the end of the celebration, Katy Perry will lead the graduates in the monumental tassel turn. Check out Sunday’s full line-up of commencement speakers, performers, featured celebrity guests and YouTube creators here. Viewers can attend the virtual ceremony by watching the livestream on the YouTube Originals channel and the L...
Baker Boy, Australian Hip-Hop Star, Shares Powerful Statement on ‘Rampant’ Racism Down Under
Baker Boy, the award-winning indigenous Australian rapper, has shared a powerful statement on the insidious nature of racism around the globe and in his homeland. Taking to Instagram, the hip-hop artist explains that he’s been called out for “not publicly sharing my rage about what is happening right now.” Baker (real name Danzal Baker) says he chooses a “path of positivity and light” with his musical persona, and typically leaves politics out of his dialogue on social media. There’s no doubt about it, he’s feeling pain like so many others. “Every damn day,” he writes. “I am a Yolngu Man from North East Arnhem Land,” he writes. “I am angry. I am scared. I feel every negative emotion that there is to feel about what happened to George Floyd.” He continues, “I feel these emotions EVERY DAMN ...
Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ Sets Impressive Pace For Midweek U.K. Chart Lead
Lady Gaga’s Chromatica (Interscope) is sprinting to the U.K. chart title. At the midweek stage, Gaga’s sixth studio album is outperforming the rest of the top 20 combined, the Official Charts Company reports. The new LP, which dropped last Friday (May 29), leads across all formats — physical, download and streaming — and is the fastest-selling vinyl album on the year, based on three days of sales. Across all formats, Chromatica has shifted more than 40,000 chart sales to take top spot on the Official U.K. Albums Chart Update. Gaga has tasted life at the U.K. Albums Chart summit on three occasions, with 2009’s The Fame/The Fame Monster, which was packaged as one album in the U.K.; 2011’s Born This Way and 2013’s Artpop. Elsewhere on the midweek albums chart, Norwegian prod...
Here Are All the Major Music Events Canceled Due to Coronavirus (Updating)
Billboard has compiled an ongoing list of major concerts and events that have been postponed or canceled due to the outbreak. As the coronavirus disease continues to spread, live event organizers have been canceling or postponing large gatherings from technology conferences to major concerts. Billboard has compiled an ongoing list of major concerts and events that have been postponed or canceled due to the outbreak. Cancellations Announced In June June 1: Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett announced that their summer stadium tour of North America is postponed until next summer, with rescheduled dates to come. Tickets will be honored at rescheduled shows; refund information is not yet available. Cancellations Announced In May May 29: The Faith No More and Korn joint tour, w...
Watch Nana Mizuki’s Fan-Favorite Concert at Japanese Baseball Stadium
J-pop singer Nana Mizuki will premiere the full concert footage from her NANA MIZUKI LIVE PARK 2016 concert at 7 p.m. Sunday (May 31) Japan time. This show, now considered “legendary” by fans lucky enough to witness it at the time, was the veteran voice actress’ first headlining concert at the historic Hanshin Koshien Stadium. Mizuki is a known fan of the Hanshin Tigers baseball team that calls the stadium home, and the show featured colorful “jet balloons” launched by fans — a familiar spectacle during the Tigers’ home games — among the dazzling stage production, including a mega-sized dinosaur fossil float and segments focusing on her playing instruments in the downpour that she managed to harness as a special backdrop for her energetic per...
J-Pop Band RADWIMPS’ Dreamy New Video Features Footage by More Than 30 Visual Artists: Watch
J-pop band RADWIMPS shared the new music video accompanying “Neko-jarashi (Orchestra ver.).” The dreamy video features footage shot by many visual artists centering on those involved in the band’s past works. As COVID-19 throws the world into chaos, the creators captured scenes from daily life that we used to take for granted, based on their current perspectives and emotions. When joined together, the completed video reflecting each artist’s vision conveys the value of noticing new things in the midst of confusion and imagining the future that lies beyond. Watch below: Rachel Chie Miller helmed the visuals, with scenes provided by Tetsuya Nagato, Yasunori Kakegawa, Daisuke Shimada, Kanji Sudo, Satoshi Tani, Kazuma Ikeda, Yukihiro Shoda, Yasuhiko Shimizu, Hideno...
The 1975 Looking to Extend Chart Streak In U.K.
The 1975 are edging closer to a fourth consecutive chart crown in the U.K. with Notes on a Conditional Form (Dirty Hit/Polydor), though it’s a tight race with KSI‘s debut album Dissimulation (BMG) close behind. The 22-track Notes on a Conditional Form is the leader on the Official Chart Update, and takes an advantage on CD and vinyl sales into the final straight of the chart week. Matt Healy and Co. are on a perfect 3-0 winning streak with their previous albums all ruling the chart, The 1975 (2013), I Like It When You Sleep… (2016), and A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships (2018). British rapper and YouTuber KSI is making a fight of it with Dissimulation, which starts at No. 2 on the midweek chart and leads all albums on streams and downloads. Four tracks from Dissimu...
How We Work Now: Midem Director Alexandre Deniot
In a new series amid the coronavirus pandemic, Billboard is asking individuals from all sectors of the music business to share stories of how they work now, with much of the world quarantined at home and unable to take in-person meetings, attend conferences or even go into the office. Submissions for the series can be sent to HowWeWorkNow@Billboard.com. Read the full series here. This installment is with Midem director Alexandre Deniot, who was forced to make some big decisions about this year’s music business conference as the pandemic shut down France less than eight weeks before the annual event. Here, he speaks about how he balanced home and work while shifting the focus of the conference, which kicks off next week and runs June 2-5, to the first digital version of Midem in its 5...
Big Hit Entertainment, Home to BTS, Strikes Deal With Seventeen Label PLEDIS
Expanding its strategy to build a multi-label structure, Big Hit is now the largest shareholder of PLEDIS Entertainment. South Korea-based powerhouse Big Hit Entertainment has become the largest shareholder of record label PLEDIS Entertainment, home to K-pop superstars Seventeen and NU’EST, it was announced Monday. Under the terms of the deal, PLEDIS will retain its independence as a label, though its artists will now receive support from Big Hit’s business entities and support organizations to expand their reach into overseas markets — similar to the way Big Hit turned boy band BTS into a top-charting phenomenon across the globe. The PLEDIS deal is the latest move in Big Hit’s strategy to expand its multi-label structure following the company’s acquisition of Source Music last ...
The Beths, Haiku Hands, Tkay Maidza & More Among Levi’s Music Relief Fund Winners
Haiku Hands, Tkay Maidza, Jaguar Jonze and Miiesha are among the first five winners of the Levi’s Music Prize, which has been reimagined this year to spread the cheer to more Australian and New Zealand musicians during the health crisis. The winning acts all pocket A$4,500 ($2,960) cash, as will The Beths, who become the first New Zealand act to share in the prize which has been redesigned this year as the Levi’s Music Relief Fund. Now in its fourth year, the quarterly honor is said to be the largest single music prize in Australasia, and is typically awarded to those artists that have built “significant initial career momentum” through their performances at the annual Bigsound summit and showcase event, but who still require a cash injection. Across 2020, A$45,000 ($29,600) in cash will b...
Angelique Kidjo Covered Midnight Oil’s Politically Charged ‘Beds are Burning’ on ‘Colbert’: Watch
Few songs light the blue touch paper quite like “Beds Are Burning.” Midnight Oil’s signature work from 1987 was also a political weapon, a history lesson, and an apology to Aboriginal communities who were forcibly removed from their lands. “Beds are Burning” earned a Grammy nomination (for best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal), it came in at No. 3 on a poll of the greatest Australian songs of all time, conducted by APRA. And its parent Diesel & Dust is recognized as one of the great Australian albums. On Stephen Colbert’s A Late Show, Beninese singer-songwriter, activist and four-time Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo delivered a passionate, reimagined cover of the song. The artist has a strong connection with the land Down Under having made the long haul to ...
