Drex, CEO of OVO, takes audiences through his journey from The Remix Project to leading one of Canada’s most influential brands in conversation with Tyrone Edwards. In this compelling talk, Drex reflects on pivotal moments including a life-changing call from Noah “40” Shebib and shares what it takes to grow from grassroots creative to CEO. Learn about building a brand, leading artists, and preparing the next generation of creatives.
As demand for concerts appears strong heading into the busy summer months, Live Nation led nearly all music stocks this week by jumping 7.7% to $148.87. On Friday (June 20), the concert gian surpassed $150 per share for the first time since Feb. 25, and its intraday high of $150.81 was roughly $7 below its all-time high of $157.49 set on Feb. 24. Earlier in the week, Goldman Sachs increased its price target on the stock to $162 from $157, implying Live Nation shares have an 8.8% upside from Friday’s closing price.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI), which tracks the value of public music companies, finished the week ended June 20 down 2.4% to 2,853.13, its second consecutive weekly decline after nine straight gains. Despite large single-digit gains by Live Nation, MSG Entertainment and SM Entertainment, the index was pulled down due to losses by its two largest components: Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG). The week’s decline lowered the BGMI’s year-to-date gain to 34.3%, though it’s still well ahead of the Nasdaq (down 0.9%) and the S&P 500 (up 0.4%) on that metric.
Markets sagged in the latter half of the week as investors expressed concerns about tensions in the Middle East and the potential impacts on global oil supplies and gas prices. The tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the week up 0.2% to 19,447.41 while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,976.97. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 dropped 0.9% to 8,774.65. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index jumped 4.4% and China’s SSE Composite Index dipped 0.5%.
New York-based live entertainment company MSG Entertainment rose 5.6% to $38.44, bringing its year-to-date gain to 7.1%. Elsewhere, SM Entertainment stock saw a 4.5% improvement, taking its 2025 gain to 90.4% — the best amongst music stocks save for Netease Cloud Music, which has seen a 111.2% year-to-date gain.
With streaming stocks posting the biggest gains of the year, Spotify shares reached a record high of $728.80 on Wednesday (June 18) but stumbled over the next two days and finished the week down 0.5% to $707.42. That decline took Spotify’s year-to-date gain down to 51.6%.
UMG shares fell 4.2% to 26.73 euros, marking its largest one-week decline since falling 9.2% in the week ended April 4. At the same time, Bernstein restarted coverage of UMG shares this week. Analysts believe it’s a “best in class” music company, which “implies predictability, a capital allocation framework consistent with industry trends, and steady operating leverage,” analysts wrote. Bernstein set a 33 euro ($38.03) price target, implying 23% upside over Friday’s closing price.
Shares of music streaming company LiveOne fell 6.5% on Friday and finished the week down 10.0% after the company released earnings results for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended March 31. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue fell 37.6% to $19.3 million due primarily to a decrease in Slacker revenue. For the full year, revenue slipped 3.4% to $114.4 million and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 18.7% to $8.9 million.
Billboard
Billboard
Billboard
Given the enormous stakes at play, when business leaders talk about AI, people listen.
In May, Dario Amodei, CEO of AI firm Anthropic — who stands to personally benefit from companies’ widespread adoption of his technology — gained widespread attention after he predicted that AI will wipe out half of all entry-level jobs within five years. And in music, Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer, in an annual presentation to investors, said the company is “going to do deals for new music AI products this year” and that it has “actively engaged with more than 800 companies” on various AI-related initiatives.
Perhaps most notable, at least on the music front, are the comments made about AI in various interviews given by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in recent years. In them, he’s provided insights into how Spotify, the most valuable and important music platform in the world, approaches the technology. Ek’s comments carry weight: While generative AI platforms such as Suno and Udio have stirred the greatest amount of fear over AI’s ability to undermine human creativity, the largest music platforms will play a huge role in how both creators and listeners engage with it.
Understanding Spotify’s approach to AI doesn’t always require reading tea leaves. Some of its products that use AI are out in the open. For example, in 2023, the company launched two major products that utilize the technology: a personalized AI-powered DJ and a voice translation tool for podcasters that can translate recordings into other languages.
Still, given that the company’s attitudes and approaches to AI will affect Spotify’s 678 million monthly users and millions of creators, it’s worth examining Ek’s statements to see how Spotify intends to incorporate AI, embrace opportunities and address concerns. To that end, this author examined 10 podcast interviews, numerous online articles and a 2024 open letter Ek penned with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to get a better sense of how he views the technology.
The one aspect about AI that Ek has talked about most often is its ability to help Spotify deliver to listeners the right audio — whether it’s music, a podcast or an audiobook — at a particular moment. He has described a mismatch between supply and demand, and how using new innovations can help better connect listeners and creators. Right now, Spotify users can search and find what they want 30% to 40% of the time, Ek told the New York Post in May, adding that he believes AI can improve that number. “So, we still have some ways to go before we’re at that point where we can just serve you that magical thing that you didn’t even know that you liked better than you can do yourself,” he explained.
Most germane to people reading this article, the interviews show that Ek has consistently voiced a respect for creators and a belief that AI should enhance creativity, not replace it. That may not reassure songwriters who are receiving fewer royalties after Spotify adopted a lower royalty rate afforded to bundles in the U.S. Ek’s stated respect for artists also contrasts with the criticism Spotify has attracted — as detailed in the book Mood Machine and news reports — for paying flat fees for music tagged with fake artist names and inserted into playlists in order to reduce its royalty obligations. (Spotify denied claims that it’s created fake artists.) But in his public comments, Ek’s support for creators doesn’t waver, and there’s no indication that Spotify will follow in the footsteps of Tencent Music Entertainment, which offers music-making generative AI tools — it incorporates Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s large language model — and allows users to upload the resulting songs to its QQ Music platform.
But AI can aid the creative process without stepping on creators’ rights, and Ek has talked with excitement about how AI tools can help lower barriers to entry and help musicians bring their visions to life. Although making music no longer requires learning and mastering an instrument, there’s still some technical know-how involved in producing music on digital audio workstations (DAWs). AI tools can reduce the complexity of DAWs and increase creators’ productivity. “We’re most likely going to have another order of magnitude of simplicity,” Ek said on the Acquired podcast in 2023.
At the same time, Ek admits there are some frightening potential applications for AI. In 2023, he told CBS Morning that AI can make experiences in every field “better and easier,” while admitting that the notion that AI will be smarter than any human is “daunting to think about what the consequences might be for humanity.” And despite the potential for AI to unleash untold amounts of creativity, Ek admits that the ultimate outcome for creators is difficult to ascertain. “We want real humans to make it as artists and creators, but what is creativity in the future with AI? I don’t know,” he said in May at an open house at Spotify’s Stockholm headquarters, according to AFP.
Just as lawmakers and music industry groups are pushing for legislation to protect artists’ names and likenesses, Ek has revealed concern about AI’s ability to replicate a musician’s voice. “Imagine if someone walked around claiming to be you, saying things that you’ve never said,” he told Jules Terpak in 2024. Spotify wouldn’t allow it on the platform without the artist’s permission, Ek said, citing Grimes — who launched a project in 2023 allowing fans to replicate her voice to use in their songs and evenly split the royalties — as an example of permissible use of an AI-generated name and likeness. “Of course, we will let her experiment, because she’s fine with it,” Ek said.
Now that Spotify is in the audiobook business, the company’s use of AI will impact a wider swath of creators than just musicians. As Ek told The New York Post, Spotify “can play a role” in getting more books converted into audiobooks using AI — specifically smaller authors who can’t afford the expense of hiring someone to read them. Such affordable text-to-voice tools already exist and are offered to authors who would otherwise be locked out of the audiobook market. It makes sense: Just as Spotify was built on providing listeners the long tail of music, it doesn’t want its audiobook selection to be limited to major titles. If Spotify builds or buys such a tool, it could vastly increase the number of audiobooks available to its listeners.
In the interview with CBS Morning, Ek quoted Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to explain how he finds inspiration in innovation. “He says that the future is already here,” Ek said during the 40-minute talk. “It’s just not evenly distributed.” What Ek means is that he looks around the world, sees what others are doing with technology and then considers how he can bring those innovations to a wider audience. And as the CEO of the world’s largest and most influential audio streaming service, how he chooses to approach AI will go a long way in determining — for better or worse — how millions of people create, consume and profit from music, podcasts and audiobooks in the future.
Summer has officially arrived, and to celebrate the three-month long season, this year running from June 20 to Sept. 22, Billboard has curated the ultimate Latin playlist.
The nearly two-hour list has 35 songs that have been released in 2025 so far and will make for the perfect soundtrack to blast on a hot poolside day, breezy beach afternoon, or at a carne asada with family and friends.
There are a handful of salsa tunes including Bad Bunny’s “Baile Inolvidable,” which currently tops the Hot Tropical Songs chart; a salsa version of Piso 21’s “Volver” in collaboration with Marc Anthony and Beéle; and “Si Llamas,” the first collaborative effort between salsa newcomers Luis Figueroa and Christian Alicea.
On the Billboard Latin Summer playlist, fans will enjoy bachata with songs like Natti Natasha’s “Desde Hoy” and Prince Royce’s “How Deep is Your Love”; merengue such as Fariana and Kiko El Crazy’s “Me Muevo”; Afrobeat as in Kapo and Myke Towers’ “ILY”; cumbia with Elena Rose, Camilo, and Los Ángeles Azules’ “Carteras Chinas”; Yailin La Más Viral’s dembow in “Todos Mienten”; and even the rhythmic reparto from Cuba with Bebeshito’s “Tacto que llegó el Reparto.”
And, let’s be frank, what’s summertime without a good mix of reggaetón bangers? The list also includes Alemán and Netón Vega’s saucy “Te Quería Ver,” J Balvin’s “Rio,” and Karol G’s “Verano Rosa” in collaboration with her boo, Feid.
Below, check out the complete playlist to enjoy during the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons:
Join Billboard Canada Woman of the Year (2024) and Billboard Canada’s Global Woman of the Year (2025) Charlotte Cardin in an intimate conversation with Tara Slone about breaking barriers in the music industry. From her early days on La Voix, to representing Canada as a bilingual artist on the global stage, Charlotte opens up about her journey, creative control, and overcoming self-doubt. A must-watch for anyone navigating identity, creativity, and growth in music.
Tyla talks about hosting the Kid’s Choice Awards, loving KATSEYE’s “Gnarly” and her excitement to watch their performance at the show, performing at Coachella, what fans can expect from her new music, why she wanted to be a part of The Smurfs soundtrack and more!
Tetris Kelly: Tyla is hosting the Kids Choice Awards, and before the big show, we got her to talk about new music and so much more.
Tyla: This is my first time not trying to think about it too much. Like, I’m literally just gonna be my vibe. You know, Tyla vibe. Fun, I love partying, so this is a warehouse party, so it’s my lane, so I’m just gonna have fun with the kids.
I’ve actually met [KATYSEYE]. Like, a while ago, I was shooting for Vogue, and they came to me, and they’re like, “Hi, we are new group, KATSEYE,” and they wanted to sing “Water” for me. And, like, they literally the cutest group … So, yeah, they’re cute. I’m excited to see their performance.
Coachella was insane. It was my first time performing there, so that was really fun. Like, especially the second week, I was vibing, yeah, and now I have some more in Europe and everything.
I literally love The Smurfs and Rihanna being Smurfette. So I’m happy that I’m a part of that one.
Keep watching for more!
Electronic music icons deadmau5 and Rezz come together for a candid fireside chat moderated by Fab Strong. From early musical inspirations to navigating the industry and pushing sonic boundaries, the conversation dives into the creative chemistry between these two global artists. Tune in for thoughtful reflection and hilarious moments between collaborators who continue to redefine electronic music.
CCM singer Brandon Lake recently surprised his “Hard Fought Hallelujah” collaborator Jelly Roll with some stellar news about their hit collab.
In a video he shared on Instagram on June 20, Lake surprised Jelly Roll with a plaque commemorating that “Hard Fought Hallelujah” had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of at least one million units.
The song, which is featured on Lake’s June 13-released album King of Hearts, was certified Platinum before the album was even released.
In the video, Jelly Roll says, “We were just talking about this like six months ago,” and later adding, “This might be my favorite plaque I’ve ever had.”
Their collaborative version of “Hard Fought Hallelujah” cracked the top 40 on Billboard‘s all-genre Hot 100, while also reaching the top 15 on the Hot Country Songs chart.
“I released [the solo version of] this song, and then I felt like, ‘This is too special to not share this song with somebody,’” Lake recently told Billboard of bringing in Jelly Roll to record the song with him. “Thinking about the lyrics, I was like, ‘Man, I think Jelly Roll would resonate with the story of this song.’ I’ve been so inspired by his story, the things he’s overcome. I remember seeing him sing “Believe” with Brooks & Dunn [at the 2024 CMA Awards], and I just bawled my eyes out. It gave me all the faith to reach out. The craziest part of that is he had already heard the song on TikTok and loved it.
“We hopped on the phone, and we didn’t talk music for the first hour. We just instantly became like brothers and talked about life, parenting, touring, family. It was a real friendship off the bat. There’s a reason why he is on top of the world right now, and it’s not just because his songs are amazing — it’s because he’s amazing,” Lake added.
See the video below:
On June 13, the rain was coming down on the farm in Manchester, Tenn., where Bonnaroo is held — and things weren’t looking great for the 2025 edition of the festival.
Hours after sending out an evacuation order to its tens of thousands of attendees, Bonnaroo canceled the rest of its 2025 edition entirely due to a weather forecast that — as the festival said in its announcement — called for “significant and steady precipitation that will produce deteriorating camping and egress conditions in the coming days.”
It was a heartbreaking situation for all involved, from the event’s producers — who in their announcement said they were “beyond gutted” — to the fans who’d trekked to Tennessee to the many artists who were slated to play.
Among the latter group was Remi Wolf, who had been selected to perform at Bonnaroo’s fabled Superjam — an annual set that brings a fleet of artists together on stage. (Past Superjam leads include Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Skrillex.) Wolf had spent nearly a year preparing for the Saturday night show, formally titled “Remi Wolf’s Insanely Fire 1970s Pool Party Superjam,” recruiting fellow artists including Paramore’s Hayley Williams and Mt. Joy.
With the festival canceled, Wolf and her team were committed to making the show happen elsewhere. So on the night of June 13, Josh Mulder, the director of A&R at talent agency TBA, which represents Wolf, jumped into action, getting on the phone to secure another venue for the concert. After many phone calls, Mulder and the team locked in Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, where Wolf performed the following day alongside Williams and a host of other guests, performing songs like Chaka Khan’s “Sweet Thing” and “Tell Me Something Good” with Rufus, Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and Hall and Oates’ “Rich Girl.”
Here, Mulder talks about pivoting from the farm to the Bowl.
When did it become clear that the Superjam at Bonnaroo wasn’t going to happen?
Looking at the weather all week going into the festival, we all knew we were in for a wet weekend. All day Friday, we were in close contact with [AC Entertainment’s] Steve Greene and his team on what was happening. He called me while I was at dinner in Nashville on Friday night, saying the show was coming down and explained the situation. I then spent the next hour outside of the restaurant on the phone gathering information and updating our teams to make our next moves.
Did you and the team even make it on-site? If so, how was it looking?
Remi and her band made their way through rehearsal in Manchester with the guests on the show on Friday. TBA had people on the ground at the festival on Thursday and Friday, sending constant reports that it was absolutely dumping rain on site, and it wasn’t looking great. We were actively working through an initial wave of weather-related cancellations on Friday afternoon, with the Live Nation team trying to figure out the best course of action for those artists to make the most of their time in Tennessee for the fans.
What do you recall about the moment the festival was canceled and how you and the team responded? Was it immediately obvious that a relocation would be possible?
My first call was to Remi’s management team. The word was getting out, and the consensus from us and directly from Remi out of the gate was that we had an obligation to save the Superjam. It was an important moment for Remi, but equally such an important moment for the guests who we have been working with for months. It was a tornado of information being shared as quickly as possible regarding what was happening on site and how the fans were affected as well, which informed how we responded.
How did you pivot to Brooklyn Bowl? What calls had to be made, and was it the first venue you sought out?
Immediately on one of those first calls, we started exploring options to relocate the show in Nashville. Through that conversation, we asked about a handful of rooms, and after clicking through a few options, we all came to the conclusion that Brooklyn Bowl was the best space available. Before pushing the go button and officially confirming the venue, we needed to figure out how many of our guests were actually able to join, so we knew if we had a show or not. Hats off to Josh Roth from the Bonnaroo team, as well as Remi’s management. It was a tag team effort to circle the wagons and reconfirm these amazing artists to round out the show with Remi.
Remi Wolf
Patrick Maciel
How did ticketing work? Do you have any sense of how many attendees were people who’d had to leave Bonnaroo?
Right from the start, we were all aligned on making this an affordable option for fans and realized the level of devastation that everyone was feeling, given the news of the festival canceling. We landed on a $35 ticket, which just felt right given the scenario. We announced the show with no guests around 11 p.m. on Friday night, with an on-sale time of Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The show sold out in about one minute, which we anticipated happening but was also a big relief.
From my understanding, there were many fans who were able to make it off the site before the show and ended up coming to Brooklyn Bowl. The crowd was electric and brought that Bonnaroo flair with them to the room. All night long, the conversation was about how amazing it was to see their spirit continue there, which was complete with many pool floaties and more usual ‘roo style.
Did all of the special guests slated for Bonnaroo make it to the Nashville show?
Naturally, given the situation, we were prepared for a few acts to not be able to make it. But we held most of the lineup together with Hayley Williams, Mt. Joy, Gigi Perez, Grace Bowers and Brian Robert Jones. Then we were able to add Grouplove and Medium Build at the last minute, which of course ended up being incredible moments in the show.
What were the highlights of the event for you?
Anyone who knows me knows I am personally such a huge Paramore fan, so I’d have to say Hayley Williams. Seeing Remi and Hayley on stage brought some tears of joy to my eyes. Just such a special moment.
How did you and the team celebrate after it was finished?
There were many hugs and beverages shared in the green room after the show. Spirits were very high, and it was just such a special moment to share with everyone there.
A hot new bombshell has entered the villa Thursday night (June 19): Megan Thee Stallion guest starred on the latest episode of Love Island USA.
She teased her appearance with a clip of her strutting into the villa while wearing a gold cut-out bikini as her song “Her” was playing in the background. “HOTTIES A REAL BOMBSHELL IS ENTERING THEE VILLA,” she captioned the X post with a fire emoji.
The Grammy-winning MC got all of the girls to engage in some “real cheeky behavior,” according to the dating reality show’s TikTok account, by wearing her new Hot Girl Summer swimwear line that’s available at Walmart. But don’t worry, the boys got in on the action too during the twerking challenge for the first round of a three-round competition, which ended in a tie.
“Twerking is really dangerous sport. It get crazy, dragging the wagon around all day. This is not easy,” she warned the islanders. The boys won the second round, which was a classic game of limbo, while the girls won the third round by completing a puzzle of their new bombshell first.
At the end, the “Savage” hitmaker introduced the two real bombshells as they entered the villa: 23-year-old TJ Palma from Westchester, New York and 24-year-old Andreina Santos from Jersey City, New Jersey.
“It’s so easy to watch people on TV and just forget that these are real human beings. These are real ladies, these are real women with real feelings,” Meg said during her confessional.
