Month: October 2023

Dance music legend Danny Tenaglia is selling a collection of his albums, production equipment, memorabilia and other gear spanning his nearly 50 year career.

Bidding on the collection starts Monay (Oct. 2), via the online auction house Amplifyd. The items available now are largely pieces of studio equipment, with bidding on much of it starting at $1; the auction will be online for the next 28 days. A second bidding phase launching in November will feature items from Tenaglia’s vinyl collection, which spans his nearly 50-year history in electronic music.

“It’s been an incredible journey to have all of this in my possession for decades,” Tenaglia said in a statement, “and I’ve been thinking for quite some time now that these items and records might be better served in the hands of others who will continue to love and appreciate them just as much as I have.

“I’m excited to auction most of my collection on the amazing Amplifyd platform,” Tenaglia continued. “What would make me the most happy is if this massive record collection and various pieces of studio gear and DJ equipment can find a new loving home where they will continue to be appreciated and used.” 

The sale marks Amplifyd’s official launch out of beta, and follows the platform’s May partnership with Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas, which involved the auctioning of more than 30 experiences with artists including  Marshmello, Armin van Buuren, Yellow Claw and Loud Luxury. The initiative raised more $100,000.

Amplifyd is also set to host forthcoming auctions from Sasha and Felix Da Housecat, who’ll be selling rare vinyl, acetates, white labels, memorabilia and studio equipment.

“Being an electronic music artist myself over the past 15 years, it’s an incredibly exciting time for Amplifyd to partner with artists of Felix, Sasha and Danny’s extraordinary talent and pedigree,” said Amplifyd Founder Dan Willis. “Their contributions to the roots and infrastructure of the electronic music industry are monumental. Our collaboration promises a unique and unforgettable journey for fans and music enthusiasts.”

Amplifyd’s founding investor is Steve Anderson, who was also a founding investor in Instagram and other ventures.

You got your first music revenue paycheck. Great, congrats! Now what?

In a panel called “How to Manage Your First Big Paycheck: Step 1, Don’t Buy That Exotic Car,” presented by CN Bank on Monday (Oct. 2) during the opening day of Billboard Latin Music Week 2023, Rodrigo Nieto-Galvis, CN Bank’s vp/team leader, Entertainment Banking Miami spoke with Billboard‘s Leila Cobo about managing and protecting your music revenue.

According to Nieto-Galvis, you should seek advice and establish a plan before running out to buy that luxury car. No matter how big that check is, especially if you are starting out, “your income is not so constant because you are an independent worker, you’re not getting a monthly paycheck,” says the expert.

“You have to balance,” Nieto-Galvis explains. “First, financial psychology — why you want to buy that car … with, second, financial education — understanding that money can help you achieve your professional and life financial goals.”

“It doesn’t matter if that check is for $100,000 or a million,” he stressed. You need a team specifically dedicated to music and entertainment to be able to eventually buy the car of your dreams and also have financial stability.

Celebrated for more than 30 years, the 2023 edition of Latin Music Week includes a Superstar Q&A with Shakira; the Legends on Legends chat with Chencho Corleone and Vico C; Making the Hit Live! with Carin León and Pedro Capó; a panel with RBD’s Christian Chávez, Christopher von Uckermann, and Maite Perroni; Superstar Songwriter discussion with Edgar Barrera and Keityn, among many other panels, Q&As and workshops. See the ultimate Latin Music Week guide here. This year’s Latin Music Week, taking place Oct. 2-6, also includes showcases by Peso Pluma, Mike Bahía and Greeicy, DannyLux and Fonseca, to name a few. Check out the dates and times for the showcases throughout the week here.

Official partners of the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week include AT&T, Cheetos, CN Bank, Delta Air Lines, Lexus, Netflix, Michelob ULTRA and Smirnoff.

Latin Music Week coincides with the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, which will broadcast live from the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., on Thursday (Oct. 5), and will air on Telemundo. It will also broadcast simultaneously on Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.

A pair of collabs, from Wynonna Judd and Trisha Yearwood, and a collab between Flatland Cavalry with Kaitlin Butts, lead this week’s batch of new releases. Additionally, country group Sawyer Brown returns with a high-octane new song and new documentary, while Brittney Spencer pays homage to her musical heroes and CCM artist Anne Wilson continues her foray into country music.

Wynonna Judd and Trisha Yearwood, “Cry Myself to Sleep”

Two of country music’s most towering female vocalists—Yearwood and Judd—join forces to push this nearly four-decade-old song to loftier heights. In the mid-1980s, Wynonna and her mother Naomi originally recorded the Paul Kennerley-written song for The Judds’ 1986 album Rockin’ with the Rhythm. But here, sisters in song Wynonna and Yearwood trade angsty phrases, with Yearwood bringing one of her most blues-soaked vocals to date, matching with Wy’s snarling growl. The song will be included on A Tribute to the Judds, out Oct. 27 on BMG in honor of The Judds’ 40th anniversary.

Flatland Cavalry with Kaitlin Butts, “Mornings With You”

Flatland Cavalry’s bandleader and chief songcrafter Cleto Cordero’s wife, ace singer-songwriter Butts, has been a frequent collaborator on the band’s previous albums. Their harmonies purvey a particularly conversational appeal on this warm, easygoing track about briefly leaving the grind of road life behind for contented morning moments with a lover. Cordero wrote the song with Nick Walsh and “The Blade” hitmaker Ashley Monroe.

“Mornings With You” will be included on Flatland Cavalry’s upcoming Oct. 27 album Wandering Star, which will mark the band’s first deal with Interscope.

Brittney Spencer, “Bigger Than the Song”

In 2020, Spencer caught the attention of music lovers with her sterling rendition of The Highwomen’s “Crowded Table.” Since then, she’s release the EP Compassion, performed on the CMA Awards alongside Mickey Guyton and Madeline Edwards, and earned awards nominations from the Americana Music Association and from CMT.

On her latest, Spencer, a cooly assertive-yet-nimble vocalist, offers a thunderbolt of musical recognition for her sheroes on this masterly tuneful track, namechecking a platoon of artists whose music has left an indelible imprint — including Reba McEntire, Alanis Morrisette, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears and Beyonce.

Spencer wrote the song with Jennifer Wayne and Tofer Brown. “Bigger Than the Song” previews Spencer’s upcoming debut album My Stupid Life, which will be released Jan. 19 on Elektra.

Anne Wilson, “Rain in the Rearview”

Though Wilson broke through in Contemporary Christian Music circles with songs like “My Jesus” and “Sunday Sermons,” her Kentucky twang and country-leaning songcraft sensibilities were apparent from her debut album (which featured Lady A’s Hillary Scott on one track). She’s since made her Opry debut, recorded with Josh Turner and performed alongside Jordan Davis during the recent ACM Honors. Now, she aims to expand beyond the CCM genre, fusing the two genres on her three-track project The Beginning, and releasing “Strong” to Christian radio, while releasing “Rain in the Rearview” to country radio.

She wrote “Rain in the Rearview” with Zach Kale, The Cadillac Three’s Jaren Johnston and CCM star Matthew West (also a co-writer on “My Jesus”). She nods to Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel” on this moody track, as she sings of accelerating through pain and disappointment, her rootsy and soulful voice bolstered by spirals of acoustic guitar, while an acoustic coda showcases Wilson’s ceiling-scraping vocal capabilities — though here, she employs that power judiciously, keeping the focus on the message rather than the messenger.

Sawyer Brown, “Under This Ole Hat”

As the appetite for revivalism for ‘80s and ‘90s country music stays high, Sawyer Brown nods to their own four-decade here, defined by high-octane performances and highly-engaging songs such as “The Dirt Road” and “Some Girls Do,” not only with new documentary Get Me to the Stage, but their latest song “Under This Ole Hat.”

The group proves they’ve still got plenty of swagger on this flat-out rockin’ track that sounds as if it would have nestled in perfectly on the group’s classic early albums. The rhythm charges with precision, and lead singer Mark Miller’s voice still sounds as energetic and charismatic as ever as sings of “40 years of road-dogging,” and ”breaking out of Nashville chasing a sound,” while namechecking Charley Pride, James Brown and the Charlie Daniels Band, and at times nodding melodically to “Some Girls Do.” The song will be included on the group’s Blake Shelton-produced new album, slated for 2024.

Veronique Medrano, MexiAmericana

Brownsville, Texas native Medrano exalts the influence, roots and heritage of Latin music and culture within country music throughout her recently-released album, MexiAmericana, which she crafted in Corpus Christi and San Antonio. Almost a decade ago, Medrano issued her debut album Encantadora, and has garnered several Tejano Music Awards nominations. Medrano’s 11-song album offers a range of styles, deftly melding country, airy pop, Tejano, conjunto and more. She nods to Latin country trailblazers, including Freddy Fender with “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” reimagining the song with an accelerated tempo and searing accordion. She offers a bilingual version of the Roy Orbison classic “Crying,” but also the irresistible Tejano dance grooves of “Pam Pam Pam” and the biting rock of “Que Suerte Tienes.” The smooth, plaintive pop of “Get to Heaven” resides alongside the blistering “Que Hueva,” a retort to the recent strike-down of Roe v. Wade. In the process, Medrano has meticulously crafted an essential album in the towering canon of Latino-country projects.

Meghan Patrick, “The Boy Who Cried Drunk” (Demo)

Patrick sends off a warning shot against domestic violence, cataloging a litany of red flags in this dark, gripping song. Here, she’s the wise best friend delving into her own experience and pain, spilling truth about the temporary highs and toxic lows of getting involved with an abuser who blames his ways on alcohol. The track’s polished but never overdone production places the focus on Patrick’s warm yet world-weary vocal, and on this essential message. Patrick wrote “The Boy Who Cried Drunk” with Billy Dawson and Jacob Hackworth.

The Tennessee Bluegrass Band, “Coming Down the Line”

With their 2022 debut album, The Future of the Past, this group of mostly 20-somethings quickly established their penchant and skill for performing — and in the process, helping pass down — traditional-minded bluegrass.

The latest iteration of the band includes newcomers Geary Allen, who wrote “Comin’ Down the Line,” as well as bassist/vocalist Anissa Burnett, who both join founding members Aynsley Porchak, Lincoln Hensley and Tim Laughlin.

This group releases the first look at their upcoming second album with a song that further conveys The Tennessee Bluegrass Band as keen bluegrass practitioners, while expanding the genre’s canon of train songs, with twin fiddles mimicking the sound of a train horn, followed by fleet-fingered picking and syrupy-smooth harmonies.

Doja Cat completes a fourth consecutive week at No. 1 in the U.K. with “Paint the Town Red” (via Ministry of Sound).

The U.S. star’s hit is, once again, the most-streamed single in the U.K. with more than 6 million plays over the past seven-day cycle, the Official Charts Company reports.

The leader at the midweek stage, “Paint the Town Red” holds-off a fast-rising Kenya Grace, whose “Strangers” (FFRR) lifts 3-2, for a new peak.

Also on the jump is Cassö, RAYE and D-Block Europe’s “Prada” (Ministry of Sound), up 4-3 for a new high.

Canadian singer and songwriter Tate McRae’s break-up anthem “Greedy” (Ministry of Sound) lifts 8-5 for a new peak position – giving venerated British dance label Ministry of Sound three of the top 5 singles. “Greedy” is closing in of McRae’s career best chart performance in the U.K., which she set in 2020 with “You Broke Me First,” which reached No. 3.

The top new entry on the latest chart, published Friday, Sept. 29, belongs to Nines as “Daily Duppy” (Zino) starts at No. 20. That’s the London rapper’s fifth top 40 entry.

Close behind is Tom Odell’s “Black Friday” (Urok) new at No. 21, for the British singer and songwriter’s fourth U.K. top 40 single.

Meanwhile, reunited pop-punk veterans Blink-182 land a 12th U.K. top 40 single with “One More Time” (Columbia), the title track from their forthcoming album. It’s new at No. 28 for the trio’s highest-charting U.K. single 2004’s “Down” hit No. 24. ONE MORE TIME is due out on Oct. 20 via Columbia Records.

Finally, Doja Cat’s Scarlet album cut “Agora Hills” bows at No. 29, while two tracks from Headie One and K-Trap impact the top 40. “Triple Threat” with Clavish debuts at No. 31, while “Park Chinois” improves 50-39. Both titles appear on the British hip-hop acts’ U.K. top 10 collaborative mixtape Strength To Strength.

Kylie Minogue can’t be stopped in the U.K. chart race, as Tension (via BMG) blasts to No. 1.

Australia’s “princess of pop” bags a ninth leader with Tension, which earns 53,000 chart sales in its first week (including market-leading vinyl sales), to outsell the rest of the top 5 combined, the Official Charts Company reports.

The runaway leader at the halfway stage, Tension features the U.K. top 10 single “Padam Padam” and is Kylie’s 16th studio album.

Tension joins Minogue’s previous U.K. leaders, which include 1988 debut Kylie, 1989’s Enjoy Yourself, 1992’s Greatest Hits, 2001’s Fever, 2010’s Aphrodite, 2018’s Golden, 2019’s Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection and 2020’s Disco.

With that feat, Kylie levels-up with Bob Dylan and Coldplay on the list of acts with the most No. 1s albums on the Official Chart, with nine apiece.

The only female solo artists ahead of Kylie on the all-time list are Taylor Swift (with 10) and Madonna (12).

Meanwhile, Olivia Rodrigo’s former leader Guts (Geffen) holds at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, published Sept. 29, and the Weeknd’s career-retrospective Highlights (Republic Records/XO) is unchanged at No. 3, in its 138th week on the survey.

Homegrown hip-hop stars Headie One and K-Trap bow at No. 4 with their first collaborative album, Strength to Strength (via One Thousand8). It’s Headie One’s (real name: Irving Ampofo Adjei) third top 5 appearance following 2019’s Music x Road (No. 5 peak) and 2020 chart-topper EDNA; while K-Trap (real name Devonte Kasi Martin Perkins) scores a career peak, beating 2022’s The Last Whip II, which topped out at No. 12.

Doja Cat’s nabs her third top 40 appearance with Scarlet (Ministry of Sound), new at No. 5. Doja’s previous appearances on the national albums chart included 2021’s Planet Her (No. 3) and 2019’s Hot Pink (No. 38).

Finally, North London-born experimental artist Bakar (real name: Abubakar Baker Shariff-Farr) earns a career best with Nobody’s Home (Black Butter), new at No. 15, while Scottish alternative rock legends Teenage Fanclub bag a 10th U.K. top 40 album with Nothing Lasts Forever (Pema), new at No. 30.