The management shuffle is continuing at The Feldman Agency (TFA). The Toronto-based talent agency has parted ways with Rob Segal, previously president of brands and partnerships. 

Segal became a partner in the company in 2023 as part of an expansion to become a full-service entertainment company.

In 2024, Segal was named one of Billboard’s International Power Players alongside CEO Jeff Craib. He cited his biggest achievements from that first year on the job as “shepherding the new business in owned and operated properties,” licensing and branding opportunities for TFA’s artists and launching the first season of The Bowl at Sobeys Stadium, the outdoor concert venue series that then “hit pause” in 2025.

This news comes less than two months after TFA announced a series of internal promotions. Veteran Joel Baskin was named senior vice president, Josie Cheng was named managing director-administration, Amy Lloyd was given a new role as talent buyer, Emma Leblanc took the reins as marketing associate and Jessie Silverstein was promoted to senior coordinator. 

The appointments signaled TFA’s increased “strategic focus on talent buying, artist support and operational innovation across its offices in Toronto and Vancouver,” they said at the time.

When reached for comment, Craib confirms Segal’s departure. 

“While Rob Segal is no longer heading up partnerships, the exciting operational staff promotions we announced previously speak to TFA’s growth as a company,” he tells Billboard Canada. “Our strong work with brands, artists and our properties in this space continues.”

The Feldman Agency’s talent roster includes major names like Shania Twain, Daniel Caesar, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Josh Ross and Owen Riegling, plus non-music clients like All Elite Wrestling. 

Craib and TFA president Tom Kemp were named to Billboard Canada’s 2025 Power Players list, citing major tours for Alessia Cara, Mother Mother, Barenaked Ladies, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charlotte Cardin and more. – Richard Trapunski

—

Chad VanGaalen, Sunnsetter and More Pull Music From Spotify

A number of Canadian artists are removing their catalogues from Spotify.

Across the country, musicians are withdrawing their discography from the streamer, many citing co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek’s ties to an AI weapons company, Prima Materia.

It was reported in June that the organization led a new round of investment in defense company Helsing, which sells software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to inform military decisions. Ek is the chairman of Helsing and reportedly invested €600 million — approximately $961 million CAD.

The most recent artist to join the exodus is Ontario singer-songwriter Sunnsetter. On Sunday (July 27), the shoegaze musician, born Andrew McLeod, posted to Instagram to share his decision.

“I have no interest in supporting a platform that has almost single handedly dismantled the entire music industry and is tied directly to military industrial AI technology,” he wrote in a statement.

“Daniel Ek has literally taken the money that’s coming from YOU meant to pay artists, and used that money to then turn around and invest in AI killing technology meant to further facilitate genocide around the world and support military regimes and this turn towards fascism. It’s disgusting, it sickens me. I want to be freed from this cycle and I hate it.”

Sunnsetter added that their label, Paper Bag Records, was supportive of their decision to withdraw from Spotify.

McLeod joins a list of Canadian musicians taking a stand. Three days ago, Calgary artist Chad VanGaalen took to Instagram to share that he removed his music from the platform. Starting the process a few months ago, VanGaalen’s record labels, Sub Pop and Flemish Eye, executed what he called the “digital devil’s work” to remove his discography.

Citing “just the usual 2025 s–t,” — including investments in “AI weapons of war, drone technology” — VanGaalen confidently decided to depart.

“It made me feel really sad because I don’t want my art to be a part of that — and my art doesn’t need to be a part of that,” he said.

For fans missing VanGaalen’s music, he said his discography is available on Bandcamp for free.

Billboard Canada has reached out to Spotify Canada for comment.

Read more, including words from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Fiver, Xiu Xiu and more here. – Heather Taylor-Singh

—

Mustafa, Saya Gray, Yves Jarvis Make The Inaugural SOCAN Polaris Song Prize Short List

The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize has its inaugural short list. 

The list comprises songs recorded by Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Saya Gray, Yves Jarvis, Mustafa and Ribbon Skirt. The winner will receive $10,000 split between the song’s Canadian performers and the song’s credited Canadian songwriter(s), courtesy of Canadian performing rights society SOCAN.

Here is this year’s short list:

These songs were selected from the previously announced 20-song long list.

Of these five artists, only Toronto artist/poet Mustafa has previous experience of a Polaris-related short list, via a 2021 nomination for the Polaris Music Prize for his debut release, When Smoke Rises.

An interesting facet of this short list is that all five of the artists listed are also on the 10 album short list for the 2025 Polaris Music Prize. As a result, they will all be performing at the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony, at Toronto’s Massey Hall on Tuesday, September 16. Both Prizes will be awarded at that event. 

As with the Polaris Music Prize, the Song Prize is voted on by the members of the Polaris jury without regard to musical genre, label affiliation or commercial popularity.

The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize is the organization’s first new award since the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize was introduced in 2015 to award albums from the pre-Polaris Prize era. The launch of the Song Prize is part of an extensive initiative of programming changes announced for the organization’s 20th anniversary. – Kerry Doole

The U.K. Singles Chart has its first K-pop No. 1 in 13 years as KPop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” hits the top spot on Friday (Aug. 1). The song features on Netflix’s animated musical and is credited to the group HUNTR/X, and is sung by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami. 

“Golden” also becomes only the second K-pop single ever to hit No. 1 on the Official Singles Chart following PSY’s 2012 mega-smash “Gangnam Style.” The former has risen rapidly on the U.K. charts, and jumps eight places week over week from No. 9; “Golden” currently sits at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

A number of singles from K-pop artists have come close to hitting the top spot on the U.K. chart in recent years. Two of BTS’ singles have hit No. 3 (“Dynamite” in 2020 and “Butter” in 2021), and BLACKPINK’s Rosé’s “APT.” (2024) peaked at No. 2 to become the highest charting K-pop solo female artist on the list.

The last time a track from an animated film or television reached the top spot was in 2022 with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto. Other animated characters to hit the top spot in the U.K. include The Simpsons (“Do the Bartman,” 1991), Mr Blobby (“Mr Blobby,” 1993), Bob the Builder (“Can We Fix It,” 1999 and “Mambo No. 5,” 2000), Crazy Frog (“Axel F,” 2005) and Gorillaz (“DARE,” 2005).

Two additional tracks from Kpop Demon Hunters make the top 20 of the U.K. Singles Chart: Saja Boys’ (Andrew Choi, Neckwav, Danny Chung, Kevin Woo and samUIL Lee) “Your Idol” lands at No. 10 and “Soda Pop” places at No. 11.

After giving the Canadian his eighth No. 1 single, Justin Bieber’s “Daisies” falls to No. 2 and MK and Chrystal’s “Dior” finishes at No. 3 following its recent two-week stint at the summit. Drake and Central Cee’s “Which One?” is the week’s highest new entry at No. 4, and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” closes at No. 5.

Following a rocking tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in Birmingham, England, on Wednesday (July 30), the late musician’s presence is still felt on the charts as Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” rises 12 places (No. 20), and his solo song “Crazy Train” earns a new peak (25).

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

Music festivals are the perfect time to think outside-the-box when it comes to hair and makeup looks.

Whether you’re going for a laid-back flower-infused breezy look or a neon-coated color infusion, there are beauty products that will make it easy to bring your idea to life. Remember that the best part about festival dressing is that it’s a time when you can truly exercise creativity without any judgment, so make sure you have fun with it!

We’ve broken down beauty products into face, body and hair categories. Think of festival dressing as a time to try out that thing you’ve always wanted to try. Dying your hair bright blue or pink? We found a day-only temporary hair dye that will help you create the look. Always wanted to wear face gems and temporary foil tattoos? We’ve found some great ones.

No matter what look you’re going for, remember that you’ll be in the hot sun all day so sunscreen is absolutely necessary. Luckily, brands like Kopari and Vacation have come through with non-greasy formulas that smell great and even feature glitter for an added dash of fun. Speaking of the hot sun, make sure you’re looking for products that are long-lasting. We’ve found eyeshadows, temporary tattoos and face and body glitter that will stay on until you want them off.

Shop our selects below, and remember that festival season is a time for self-expression and fun.

Festival Face Makeup

We’ve rounded up the best long-wearing liquid eyeshadows, face sunscreens and jewels and glitter that will leave you absolutely bedazzled.

Festival Body Products

The themes for festival body looks are sun protection and glitter. Go forth and conquer.

Festival Hair Looks

Whether you’re thinking flowers or iridescent sparkles, we’ve got you covered. Feel free to wear a few of these in the same look!

JP Saxe was planning a fall headlining tour for rock clubs in the 1,000-2,000 capacity range to support the second half of his two-part album Make Yourself at Home. But after tickets went on sale, the Grammy-nominated singer announced on a brutally honest TikTok earlier this week that if he didn’t sell an additional 20,000 tickets for the run of shows he would have to cancel the entire thing.

“If we’re just not in a place yet to sell yet to sell out these two or three-thousand-cap venue that’s fine,” he said in the video. “It’s always been my goal to connect deeply not widely and I stand by that.” The clip was followed by another super honest one in which Saxe described his friends encouraging him to ask for help moving tickets, to which he said he initially respond, “no, that’s scary, I’m a man, I must do it all by myself.”

The 27-date North American tour slated to kick off Sept. 9 in Edmonton, AB at Midway Music Hall was booked to play venues including San Francisco’s Masonic, Nashville’s Cannery Hall, Detroit’s Saint Andrew’s Hall, Toronto’s Massey Hall and Brooklyn Steel in New York through an Oc. 15 gig at the Beachman in Orlando.

Then, on Wednesday (July 30) Saxe offered an update, saying that he’d sold “a few thousand extra tickets” since his initial plea, which he said he was grateful for and praised as a reminder that honesty and “being transparent in failure” can be more powerful than the “facade of success.”

“But what those few thousand tickets are not is enough to save this tour,” he lamented. “I’m really sorry. I’m so sorry,” he added, offering refunds for all the tickets purchased for the tour. And while he admitted to being “a little embarrassed,” Saxe said he is also feeling “a lot of ambition” to make sure he’s never in this position again and to make the most honest music he can going forward so he can fill those rooms in the future.

Saxe further explored the tour’s failure to launch in an essay for Variety on Friday (Aug. 1), in which he said the quiet part that most musicians (and their managers) don’t often say out loud about why they’re pulling dates after they’ve been announced.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances… The circumstance: I didn’t sell enough tickets,” he began. “Last week, my team told me we were going to have to cancel my fall tour. Ticket sales weren’t where they needed to be. The suggestion was: take the L, try again next year.” And while he wrote that he knows this kind of situation is often met with press releases about “wrong timing” or “a scheduling conflict,” the reality is something he knows you’re not supposed to admit: “‘I guess people aren’t really f–king with me right now.’”

He noted that the 20,000-tickets-or-bust video got a “few million views” and his grassroots army of “emotional song-loving cuties showed up” for him. But, alas, it wasn’t enough. “If you’re only as successful as you appear to be, then success starts to depend on your ability to shape perception,” he wrote about the difference between how an artist is actually connecting versus the perception of their success.

“In scroll-world — where there’s no time for nuance — the flash becomes the fact,” he said. “That’s why if a show is over 80 percent sold, you call it sold out. It’s not a lie, it’s marketing. We’ve all seen it work. You create the illusion of buzz, people get curious, the crowd grows — and suddenly the buzz is real.”

By sharing that his ship was sinking, Saxe said some people jumped on board to help and what was initially embarrassing to admit began to feel “weirdly empowering,” with the honesty cracking something open. He said that fissure was filled by messages from “many other” unnamed artists praising his boldness, as well as calls to his team from others in the industry commending his truth-telling.

His action comes more than a year after the Black Keys abruptly pulled the plug on their 31-date fall 2024 North American tour and split with their management and Jennifer Lopez cancelled her 2024 This Is Me… Live arena tour in order to, as a release said, take time off “to be with her children, family and close friends.”

“It’s not just about making something worth caring about — it’s about knowing how to make people care,” Saxe concluded. “I’m scared I’m only ever as successful as I’m perceived to be. That to feel successful, I need to look successful — to my peers, my friends back home, my family, their families,” Saxe added, wondering how much of that brave face is just, well, lying.

“Very few artists want to be sleeping in their car eating ramen, but every artist wants to say they used to sleep in their car eating ramen,” he said about the RAV4-to-riches tales of other acts who’ve climbed from penurious obscurity to high-flying chart dominance. “So if I really believe (which I do) that I’m going to sell out arenas someday… then I also have to believe in how much better it’ll feel when I get there,” he wrote. “Knowing I can tell the story about that one time, in the fall of 2025, when despite the support of a few thousand beautiful strangers on the internet… I had to cancel my whole tour.”