South Korea’s HYBE said on Wednesday (Aug. 6) that its second quarter revenue rose 10.2% year-over-year to 705.6 billion KRW ($516.7 million), while operating profit jumped nearly 30% of 65.9 billion KRW ($48.3 million) due to successful global tours and releases from several of its artists, including BTS members Jin and j-hope.

Concert and merchandise revenue rose by mid-double-digit percentages following tours by SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and LE SSERAFIM in the first half of the year. J-hope’s 33-show tour, Hope On The Stage, sold nearly half a million tickets from February to June, followed by his headlining performance at Lollapalooza Germany. Jin’s 18-show run in nine cities marked his first tour as a solo artist.

HYBE executives said that news of BTS members completing their mandatory military service in South Korea and regrouping drove monthly users of its super fan platform Weverse to an all-time high of 12 million users, showing that the boy band’s enduring success is still a main driver for HYBE’s business.

Revenue from recorded music sales, concerts, advertisements and appearances, which HYBE lumps together as “artist direct involvement revenue”, rose by 5.7% year-over-year to 447.9 billion KRW ($328 million). While revenue from recorded music fell by 8.4% to 228.6 billion KRW ($167.4 million) year-over-year due to lower vinyl sales, revenue from concerts was up 31% to 188.7 billion KRW ($138.2 million). Earnings from HYBE artists’ advertising and appearances rose by nearly 1% to 30.6 billion KRW ($22.4 million).

Major releases in the quarter included Jin’s EP Echo, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200; j-hope & GloRilla’s single “Killin’ It Girl,” which reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100; SEVENTEEN’s HAPPY BURSTDAY, which was among the highest selling albums in the first half of 2025 in Korea; ENHYPEN’s mini album DESIRE: UNLEASH, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200; and ILLIT‘s 3rd mini album bomb.

Revenue from segments artists aren’t directly involved with — including official merchandise, intellectual property licensing, content and fan club memberships — totaled 257.8 billion KRW ($188.8 million), with merchandise and licensing revenue jumping a whopping 40% to 152.9 billion KRW ($112 million). Fan club revenue rose 46% to a record-high 34.6 billion KRW ($25.3 million).

Though it does not break out Weverse’s financials, HYBE executives said revenue for Weverse rose 41% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. The platform averaged 10.9 million monthly active users (MAUs) in the quarter.

HYBE CEO Lee Jae-sang spent several minutes on a call discussing earnings to address the restructuring of its HYBE America operations. In July, the company named Isaac Lee, previously chairman of HYBE America and chairman of Latin America, as CEO of HYBE America, taking over from Scooter Braun, who transitioned to advisory and board director roles.

Lee said the reorg was more than a short-term change and grew out of a review of the North America division’s past four years.

“It is about shifting our business focus to label business,” CEO Lee said. “Given that earnings from management business tend to fluctuate depending on the level of activities by artists, we would like to strengthen the label business to generate stable earnings based on streaming, thereby improving profitability and business fundamentals.”

The move flattens management of HYBE’s America and Latin America operations, with the aim of connecting its operations in both places “to further strengthen and broaden [HYBE’s] global business.”

The Rocky Horror Picture Show didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination when it was released in 1975, but the film has since become a cult classic, so much so that even the Motion Picture Academy has taken notice. On Sept. 26, the Academy Museum in Los Angeles will host a “50th Anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show” program.

Music industry legend Lou Adler, who was one of the producers of the film; Tim Curry, who starred in the film as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite alien scientist; and Sins O’ The Flesh are scheduled to appear. “Join us for a sing-along and shadow cast experience for this one-night-only 50th anniversary program,” the event’s notes advise. “Prop kits will be sold at the theater for maximum audience participation.”

The film also starred Barry Bostwick and future Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, and helped introduce future rock star Meat Loaf. The film was based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book and lyrics by Richard O’Brien. The cast album to that show bubbled under the Billboard 200 in November 1974.

The film opened in the U.K. at the Rialto Theatre in London in August 1975 and in the U.S. the following month at the UA Westwood in Los Angeles. Initial response was mixed to negative, but it soon became a hit as a midnight movie, when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976.

Adler received a Grammy nomination in 1976 for producing the cast album, which was released on his Ode Records (through A&M). The album eventually reached No. 49 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold. The track “Time Warp” has become a classic.

In 2005, the film was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Adler, 91, is an industry legend. He founded Dunhill Records in 1964, producing hits by such artists as The Mamas & The Papas and Scott McKenzie. He helped produce the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. He signed Carole King to his Ode Records in 1970 and produced eight Gold, Platinum or multiplatinum albums by her. In 1972, he and King won Grammys for album of the year (Tapestry) and record of the year (“It’s Too Late”).

Adler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 (receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award, presented by Cheech & Chong, for whom he produced four Gold albums). He received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2019.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has had a long afterlife. The Rocky Horror Glee Show aired on Fox in October 2010 as part of the second season of Glee. It featured cameos by Bostwick and Meat Loaf. An EP from the show, which included “Time Warp,” “Damn It, Janet” and “Sweet Transvestite,” reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

In October 2016, Fox aired a modern-day “reimagining” of the film titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.

Coachella is famously one of the most trendsetting festivals on the planet, meaning that a strong performance there can significantly boost an artist’s profile and trajectory.

A new documentary series from Coachella producer Goldenvoice explores this phenomenon through the lens of 2025 performances from Shaboozey, Ivan Cornejo, Djo, The Marias and The Dare. Sponsored by T-Mobile and co-produced by creative agency MGX, the five-part Arrival began unrolling on YouTube earlier this summer, with the final episode featuring Djo debuting more recently.

Arrival looks at how artists often design their entire annual schedule around a Coachella set, with Djo’s manager Nick Stern saying in the doc that “it was really an exciting moment when we found out we got our Coachella offer. We had been planning the album cycle and the touring cycle really based around Coachella, so in a way, it was a big relief to get that offer, but also always exciting to be asked to play for 20,000 people.”

Taking viewers behind the scenes, from each artist preparing for the show to the performance itself, Arrival looks at how playing Coachella is a milestone moment for most any act. “Thankfully we got through … all of those really difficult and awkward moments to now playing the Outdoor Stage at Coachella,” María Zardoya of indie pop band The Marias says in the group’s episode, with the bandmate Josh Conway adding that “we stuck to our gut, and here we are.”

“I’m so grateful that Goldenvoice Productions chose us to document such a special moment for us in Arrival,” Zardoya tells Billboard. “It memorialized a performance that ended up being my favorite in the band’s history. It truly felt like the ‘moment’ we had been working toward over the last eight years as a band. I know it won’t be our last; main stage next.”

“Making the episode of Arrival really put everything into perspective for us,” adds Conway. “Between the conversations about our experience and history as a band, and going through our memory boxes, it made an already monumental Coachella performance even more special.”

Arrival follows a 2024 mini-documentary from Goldenvoice Productions called Busy P Says Oui that explores the process of booking Daft Punk’s history making 2006 Coachella set.

“When we began this partnership between MGX and Coachella, our goal was always to create a series that went beyond just the lead-up to the festival,” series director at MGX CEO Karam Gill tells Billboard. “We wanted each episode to explore deeper cultural themes, creative influences, and personal stories — giving fans an intimate look at some of this year’s most exciting artists.” 

Watch the Djo episode below and find the complete Arrival series on YouTube.

For the foreseeable future, Megyn Kelly will probably be shopping at American Eagle, not Levi’s, for all of her denim needs. Amid the controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney’s new American Eagle commercials, the conservative commentator has thrown her support behind the Euphoria star while pitting the actress against Beyoncé.

In a Tuesday (Aug. 5) post on X, Kelly reshared a photo of the 35-time Grammy winner modeling an outfit by Levi’s — which Bey has been the face of since last year — and wrote, “This is the opposite of the Sydney Sweeney ad.”

“Quite clearly there is nothing natural about Beyonce,” she continued. “Everything – from her image to her fame to her success to her look below – is bought and paid for. Screams artificial, fake, enhanced, trying too hard.”

When one person accused the former Fox News anchor of bullying Bey, Kelly replied, “It is not possible for me to ‘bully’ BEYONCÉ, literally one of the richest, most privileged/connected/famous ppl in the world.”

Billboard has reached out to Beyoncé’s rep for comment.

Kelly’s comments come as many conservatives — including President Donald Trump, who recently wrote on Truth Social, “Go get ‘em Sydney!” — are rallying around Sweeney in response to the backlash her American Eagle jeans commercials have received. In the ads, the White Lotus alum boasts about her “great genes,” using the phrase interchangeably with “great jeans.”

As Sweeney is a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, many critics have compared the messaging to racist Nazi propaganda, though the fashion brand has said in a statement that the campaign “is and always was about the jeans.”

Denim aside, this isn’t the first time Kelly has taken issue with Beyoncé. In June, the media personality accused the Destiny’s Child alum of “playing victim” after Bey included footage of Kelly dissing her in visuals for the Cowboy Carter Tour.

“Here is another one of the most privileged, beloved women in the world,” Kelly said on The Megyn Kelly Show at the time. “But [she] still has to look for the one sliver where she could play the victim and be aggrieved, because big bad Megyn Kelly said something completely milquetoast about her entry into country music.”