Morgan Wallen and his team are having to pay up after Wallen’s recent headlining set on Friday, Aug. 22 at Gillette Stadium (home of the New England Patriots) in Foxborough, Mass., exceeded curfew by about 15 minutes.

According to The Boston Herald, the town of Foxborough had set a curfew for 11:30 p.m., while Wallen’s final song began at 11:44 p.m. — 14 minutes past curfew. The fine was 25 cents per attendee, which totaled $15,705. A statement from a Foxborough spokesperson given to The Boston Herald added, “The Morgan Wallen concert on Friday night is being fined for exceeding the curfew and his team is aware of this.”

Billboard has reached out to a rep for Wallen for comment.

As with many stops on his tour, the country star’s Gillette Stadium shows included some surprise guests, with Wallen welcoming former Patriots player Rob Gronkowski and Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.

According to Boston 25 News, Wallen is not the artist who was fined the most for seeing his concert exceed curfew at Gillette. That distinction reportedly goes to Bruce Springsteen, who played until nearly midnight in 2016, and in turn was fined more than $22,000.

As Wallen’s album I’m the Problem, the namesake for his current tour, continues holding down the top slot on the all-genre Billboard 200, he is continuing on his headlining tour, with upcoming stops in Canada, including Toronto on Sept. 4-5, and Edmonton on Sept. 12-13.

I’m the Problem marks Wallen’s third consecutive project to top the Billboard 200, following his 2023 album One Thing at a Time and his 2021 album Dangerous: The Double Album. Wallen has also earned four chart-toppers on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, with “Last Night,” “I Had Some Help,” “Love Somebody” and “What I Want.”

Justin Bieber is giving his thirstiest fans exactly what they want.

As shared in a Monday (Aug. 25) post on Instagram, the pop star recently took a moment in the gym to snap a couple of shirtless selfies, flexing his muscles in the mirror and showing off his tattoo-covered arms and torso. Beyond a white beanie and gold chain around his neck, the only items he wears in the pictures are a pair of gym shorts and Calvin Klein boxers that show at the waistband.

In his caption, Bieber wrote, “thirstrap fa u hoes.”

The posts come amid an active social media streak for the Biebs, who’s been sharing glimpses into his life surrounding the release of his new album, Swag. Featuring the hit “Daisies,” the LP debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Also on Instagram in recent days, Justin has posted praise for his wife, mogul Hailey Bieber — “Love this picture of you baby gurrllll,” he gushed on Monday (Aug. 25) of a photo from her Byrdie shoot — and shared snaps of his son, Jack Blues, who turned 1 earlier in August. (On the little boy’s birthday, the Rhode founder wrote on her profile, “1 year of you my beautiful boy … you are joy personified.”)

But for those who are specifically looking for more shirtless Bieber content, the singer also recently stripped down to his undies for a late-night swim in the music video for “First Place,” which arrived Aug. 13. “FORGIVE MY CHICKEN LEGS,” he joked of the visual when it dropped.

See Bieber’s selfies below.

Joe Hickerson, a singer-songwriter who served as the lead archivist for folk music at the Library of Congress for 25 years has died at 89. According to The New York Times, Hickerson passed away on Aug. 17 at a care facility in Portland, Ore., as confirmed by his partner, Ruth Bolliger.

At the height of folk revival, Hickerson began what became more than a quarter-century tenure at the Library of Congress in 1963, swiftly establishing himself as a knowledgeable guide to the sometimes convoluted collections of recordings, documents and oral histories that were vital to performers, songwriters and historians of the genre. The Times noted that Hickerson was a physical embodiment of the massive library’s holdings, thanks to his work memorizing hundreds of traditional songs from around the world, from the lyrics and melodies to the history of each tune and its provenance.

The Library of Congress is nation’s largest public collection of sound recordings and radio broadcasts with more than 3.5 million recordings representing 110 years of sound recording history, including half a million LPs, 450,000 78-RPM discs, 200,000 CDs and many more on formats ranging from wires, cylinders, music box discs and others.

In addition to his archival work, Hickerson was a folk performer, regaling audiences with a stripped-down, conversational style he referred to as “vintage pre-plugged paleo-acoustic.”

Joseph Charles Hickerson was born on Oct. 20, 1935 in Highland Park. Ill. and first became interested in folk music after seeing a 1948 performance by beloved folk singer/labor activist Pete Seeger at a campaign event for the Progressive Party. Before launching his career in music preservation, Hickerson attended Oberlin College in Ohio from 1953-1957. It was there that he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, while also expanding his passion for folk music by helping to organize Seeger’s performances at the liberal arts college and at other universities, as well as serving as the first president of the Oberlin Folk Song Club and fronting the group the Folksmiths.

A bio from his personal archives at Indiana University, where his papers are kept, noted that he became friendly with Seeger and went on to write two verses to one of Seeger’s most popular songs, 1960’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” One of the verses went: “Where have all the soldiers gone?/ Long time passing/ Where have all the soldiers gone?/ Lone time ago/ Where have all the soldiers gone?/ Gone to graveyards, every one/ When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”

After graduating from Oberlin, Hickerson and the Folksmiths released their album We’ve Got Some Singing to Do, which featured the first known commercial recording of the beloved Black spiritual “Kumbaya,” a folk staple that has been recorded by everyone from Joan Baez to children’s performer Raffi, Odetta, Sweet Honey in the Rock and many others around the world.

Hickerson went on to study folklore and ethnomusicology in graduate school at IU in Bloomington, where his master’s thesis was a 1,300-item annotated bibliography of North American Indian music north of Mexico, which received funding from the National Science Foundation.

During his years at IU, Hickerson frequently performed on and off campus, including stints as a strolling minstrel at the annual Madrigal Dinner, as well as gigs singing folk songs at the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation chapter. He was also a founding member of the IU Folksong Club and a director and host of a number of radio and TV programs on folklore and folk music that aired on the public radio station WFIU.

During his time as a reference librarian at the Library’s Archive of Folksong Hickerson released the albums Folk Songs and Ballads Sung by Joe Hickerson With a Gathering of Friends (1970) and the two-volume collection of traditional songs Drive Dull Care Away (1976). Hickerson retired as the director of the Folksong division in 1998 after more than three decades.

Spotify is giving its driving-age users a new way to slide into people’s DMs with a new feature called Messages, part of the audio streamer’s push to give users more ways to share and discuss content with friends and family.

Launching this week in select Latin American markets for free and premium users aged 16 and up, Messages enables one-on-one chats using text and emojis with people you’ve previously connected with through Jams, Blends, collaborative playlists or shared family plans. Expansion to the U.S., Canada, Brazil, EU, UK, Australia and New Zealand is coming soon.

Playback functionality will remain unchanged for users using the chat box — shared Spotify content will begin playing instantly, even before a message is accepted. Video content will still auto-expand to full view, and users can tap shared cards to navigate directly to full entities like playlists, albums or show pages. Users can share directly from the Now Playing view.

Spotify said the feature is designed to streamline the whole sharing process by giving users a dedicated inbox to track and discuss songs, podcasts and books, and emphasized that Messages is meant to complement —  not replace — existing share-heavy platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp.

“For artists and creators, easier sharing means more word-of-mouth recommendations and helps create new fans,” the company said.

At launch, Messages is primarily designed for sharing between users. Billboard understands that simply following an artist won’t make them a suggested contact, as artists and creators can only receive messages from approved users and cannot initiate or participate in mass messaging within the feature.

A Spotify spokesperson outlined some of the privacy and safety measure that will be in place. Messages are encrypted both in transit and at rest, and Spotify uses proactive detection technology to scan for harmful content. Users can accept or reject message requests, report inappropriate messages, block accounts, or opt out of Messages entirely via settings.

Middle Tennessee State University has renamed its College of Media and Entertainment the Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment, in honor of the founder/chairman/CEO of Big Machine Label Group.

A ceremony commemorating the change is being held Tuesday (Aug. 25) at MTSU’s Bragg Media and Entertainment Building on the Murfreesboro, Tennessee, campus. Borchetta; his wife, Sandi; executives from Big Machine Label Group and the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix; members of the Nashville music community; and MTSU students and faculty are expected to be in attendance.

“I am humbled and profoundly grateful to have MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment bear my name,” Borchetta told Billboard. “The opportunity that this school affords to its students didn’t exist for me through college education in the 1980s, so it is an honor to now be part of building those bridges for young minds. My goal is to inspire others and give back, betting on the creativity of students who dedicate themselves to the entertainment field. The Scott Borchetta College of Media and Entertainment represents the next generation of innovators and creators, whose bold ideas will transform the media landscape.”

Borchetta’s ongoing support of the College of Media and Entertainment over the years has helped fund technological upgrades as well as student experiences, including trips to the Grammy Awards.

“As one of Music City’s leading entrepreneurs and visionaries, Scott Borchetta has earned the reputation as one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and forward-thinking leaders,” MTSU president Sidney A. McPhee said in a statement, adding, “We are here to publicly recognize what happens when one’s vision and passion combine with dedication and hard work.”

Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel called Borchetta the school’s “secret weapon,” thanks to his support. “I can’t overestimate how important this is to the life and history of the college,” Keel said. “This propels us to international acclaim because Scott’s name is recognized and respected around the world. By partnering with Scott, we are exposing our students to cutting-edge ideas and perspectives.”

In addition to the broad support Borchetta has provided, Keel cited very specific additions and improvements his backing has funded, including hiring a strategic communications specialist and sponsoring the Southern Oasis Film Festival.

The renaming has been several years in the making, with initial conversations between Keel and Borchetta first taking place in late 2020. The pandemic put everything on hold, and the decision was made to hold the announcement to time it with Big Machine’s 20th anniversary this year.

Borchetta and his wife have a long history of philanthropy, including partnering with Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital to launch a neonatal intensive care unit wing, The Big Machine Neighborhood, as well as the Music Has Value fund that supports music in schools and music therapy.

The College of Media and Entertainment has been a perennial entry on Billboard’s annual list of top music business schools. Artist alumni include Chris Young, HARDY, Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Mitchell Tenpenny, Evanescence’s Amy Lee and Daisha McBride, while music executives who attended include Kane Brown’s manager Martha Earls and publishing head Kent Earls, Big Machine Publishing’s Mike Molinar, Jason Aldean’s manager Chris Parr and Riley Green’s manager Daniel Miller.