Indie digital rights organization Merlin has announced the participants for its third annual Merlin Engage program, which is designed to help promote and support female leaders in the independent music industry. Over a six-month period, the program connects young women aspiring to careers in the music business with senior leaders within it, and this year it will expand to include community building.

The program, which began in 2023, saw a 70% increase in nominees for participation over last year. Mentees are offered one-on-one sessions with their mentors, receive peer support from other participants in the program and have the opportunity to go to skill-building workshops, according to a press release. Harvard Institute of Coaching fellow Miriam Meima will also return as program facilitator for a second year.

“The power of Merlin Engage goes beyond mentorship — it’s about building a community where women across the Merlin membership can find support, encouragement and guidance as they build their careers in the music industry,” Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said in a statement. “I’m incredibly proud that we continue to expand this program, the commitment to mentor from our most senior leaders, and support from the entire Merlin Board in driving positive change within the industry.”

This year, mentors will include executives from companies like Exceleration, EMPIRE, Secretly, Domino, Beggars, Ninja Tune, Epitaph, BMG and more; mentees hail from companies like IDOL, OneRPM, Hopeless Records, Stones Throw Records, Better Noise, Sub Pop and Nettwerk. (A full list of mentors and mentees is below.) Merlin consultant Dan Nevin is also returning to help support the program.

“It’s incredibly important to support, encourage and empower women to expand their career paths in the music industry,” said Liz Erman — managing director at Nettwerk Music Group and a former mentee who is returning to the program this year as a mentor — in a statement. “We have so much to contribute and can elevate the level of success of any company if we can access the right leadership opportunities. I hope that by sharing my experiences and guidance, I can help others reach their goals more easily.”

Another former mentee, Exceleration Music digital operations manager Larissa Woss, called the program “a transformative experience” in a statement. “My mentor truly listened to me, taking the time to understand my challenges and goals, which gave me the confidence to take the next step in my career,” Woss said. “Equally valuable was the incredible network of people I connected with. This program is not just about developing skills — it’s about fostering a supportive, empowered generation of female leaders in the independent music industry. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Below is the full list of participants this year.

Mentors: Amy Dietz (Partner, Exceleration), Anne Jenniskens (General Manager, Paradise), Bria Fisher (VP of Communications, EMPIRE), Chloé van Bergen (VP Operations, UK & EU, Secretly), Clare McKinney (Director, Commercial and Business Affairs, Domino), Dionna Johnson (VP of Marketing, EMPIRE), Emma Lomas (Head of Licensing & Creative, Beggars), Eniko Gallasz (Managing Director, WMMusicDistribution), Liz Erman (Managing Director, Nettwerk), Marie Clausen (Managing Director, US, Ninja Tune), Megan Jasper (CEO, Sub Pop), Narin Karadaghi (General Counsel, Amuse), Nitsa Kalispera (EVP Global Recorded Music Supply Chain Operations, BMG), Patra Sinner (General Counsel, Symphonic) and Sue Lucarelli (President, Epitaph).

Mentees: Allison Kleshefsky (DSP Editorial & Partnerships Lead – Americas, IDOL), Diana Schweinbeck (Senior Director, Artist & Label Services, Cinq Music, USA), Dominique de Solminihac (Artist Marketing Manager South Cone, ONErpm), Francesca Caldara (Vice President, Recorded Music, UNIFIED), Gianna Archetti (Head of Operations, iGroove), Jovana Medic (Director of IDJTV/Director, IDJDigital), Lexie Viklund (Director of A&R, Better Noise), Lisa Riepe (Head of Sales & Marketing, Zebralution), Maiko Okabe (Global Campaign Manager, Warp Records), Maya Kalev (Label Manager, UK & Europe, Stones Throw Records), Naomi Bressani (Head of Digital, Republic of Music), Nele Knueppel (Director, Digital Rights & Distribution, Nettwerk Music Group), Nicole Abea (Director of Influencer & UGC Promotions, Marketing/Promo, Hopeless Records), Phoebe Petridis (Senior Manager, Digital Operations and Technology, Domino Recording), and Rachel White (Director of Audience Development (Marketing), Sub Pop Records).

It’s been a long road from Playboi Carti’s Whole Lotta Red to Music. King Vamp ended the drought with his first album in four-plus years on March 14.

The loaded 30-track album features superstar guests from The Weeknd to Travis Scott, and showcases Carti’s full artistic repertoire. Billboard Unfiltered returned on Wednesday (March 19) with a new episode covering Carti’s new LP from all angles.

“I think this Music album is probably the best showcase of all the different sides to Carti,” staff writer Kyle Denis said. “You get his pop sensibility side on records like ‘Backr00ms,’ and you get some of the rage rap stuff … I love how throw-everything-at-the-wall it was.”

Denis “sighed” every time Travis Scott popped up for a feature. “The best Travis verse for me that was on ‘Backr00ms,’ and that one wasn’t on the album,” he added. “I love how Kendrick kind of slid into Carti’s world. I think that was the highlight for me, seeing him adapt to the vamp stuff.”

Denis “had a great time with Music,” but thinks that it was way too long at 30 tracks. “There’s a great 16-track album hidden somewhere,” he said.

Music is expected to debut atop the Billboard 200, and all 30 tracks could possibly enter next week’s Billboard Hot 100.

Senior charts and data analyst Trevor Anderson highlighted “Evil J0rdan” as when the album really started to take off for him, and noted Kendrick Lamar’s performance in Carti’s world holding his own. “I think he does a good job of playing in the background, but obviously making his presence known,” he said.

He wonders if Carti can have that pop breakthrough run as a hitmaker, but couldn’t land on one track he thought would take off. “‘Rather Lie’ could be a radio record,” Denis said. “Both Kendrick joints will probably do fine. ‘Fine Shit’ is one that popped out to me.”

Lizzo returned last week with her “Still Bad” single as she plots her comeback for 2025. That didn’t come without an X rant, in which she clapped back at haters of the track and called out the mistreatment of Black women artists.

“This is not the first time she has had records that haven’t connected. Right after ‘About Damn Time,’ she tried to push ‘To Be Loved,’ and that didn’t really pop off in a way remotely comparable to ‘About Damn Time.’ I don’t think the culture’s moved beyond corny pop songs,” Denis said. “There’s always going to be an audience for that.”

Watch the full episode above.

As two short blonde hitmakers, Dolly Parton and Sabrina Carpenter have a lot in common. But they also have some key differences, and according to the country legend, there were a couple things the pair had to agree on before she signed on to do the 25-year-old pop star’s “Please Please Please” remix earlier this year.

In an interview with Knox News published March 18, Parton had nothing but praise for Carpenter — even if the “Espresso” singer does “talk a little bad now and then.”

“I told her, I said, ‘Now, I don’t cuss,’” continued the “9 to 5” singer. “‘I don’t make fun of Jesus. I don’t talk bad about God, and I don’t say dirty words on camera, but known to if I get mad enough.’”

Those ground rules led the Girl Meets World alum to scrap the famous “motherf–ker” bomb from the chorus of “Please Please Please” for her version with Parton, with the pair instead singing the much cleaner line, “I beg you, don’t embarrass me like the others.”

When Carpenter first announced in February that she and Parton would be teaming up, the former wrote on Instagram, “and yes that does say featuring Miss Dolly Parton…. 💋💋💋she wouldn’t want me to swear but holy s–t!!!!!”

“She was so sweet,” Parton added of Carpenter in the interview before praising two of her other recent collaborators. “And Beyoncé’s great, and Miley [Cyrus], you know I love her. So, I’m just having fun with all of it.”

The Dollywood founder made a cameo on the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer’s Billboard 200-topping Cowboy Carter, which also featured Bey’s updated version of Parton’s “Jolene.” Parton and the “Flowers” artist have worked together a number of times, with the godmother-goddaughter duo recently releasing a duet version of Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball” for the country icon’s 2023 Rockstar album.

As for which modern star she wants to work with next, Parton said, “Whoever calls me that I like … I’ll I say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that!’”

Her conversation with Knox News marks one of the Tennessee native’s first interviews since the death of her husband, Carl Dean, who passed away a few weeks prior at the age of 82. At the time, Parton wrote in a statement, “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years.”

During the interview, Parton shared an update on how she’s faring since the loss. “I’m doing better than I thought I would,” she said. “I’ve been with him 60 years. So, I’m going to have to relearn some of the things that we’ve done. But I’ll keep him always close.”

“I’m at peace that he’s at peace,” she added. “But that don’t keep me from missing and loving him.”

Regional Mexican superstar Gerardo Ortiz testified against Ángel del Villar, the CEO of his former label Del Records, on Wednesday (March 19) in a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom. The West Coast-based executive’s criminal trial began on Tuesday where he is accused of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels.

The trial follows a 2022 criminal complaint that charged Del Villar, among other defendants, with conspiring to violate the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act. The complaint also alleged that on April 19, 2018, FBI agents approached Ortiz in Phoenix to inform him about Jesus “Chucho” Pérez Alvear’s designation under the Kingpin Act. Mexican concert promoter Pérez Alvear — who was killed in 2024 — ran a company called Gallistica Diamente (Ticket Premier) and until March 2019, promoted concerts in Mexico for DEL Entertainment.

The designation prohibited Ortiz from conducting business with Pérez and performing concerts that Pérez promoted. Prosecutors claim that the música mexicna hitmaker went on to perform concerts organized by Pérez after Del Villar “convinced” Ortiz to “ignore the FBI warning.”

Ortiz — who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in the case and is cooperating with the FBI — took the stand and told the jury he saw Pérez Alvear with Del Villar at the Del Records office in Los Angeles two or three times, according to Univision Noticias. He added that Pérez Alvear was at the office to hire bands and artists to perform at his shows in Mexico. He went on to confess that he had performed at Feria de San Marcos in Aguascalientes, Mexico in April 2018, promoted by Pérez Alvear, even after he had already been designated under the Kingpin Act and FBI agents had alerted him that if he performed at the Feria, he could face up to 10 years in prison and pay a fine of $1 million — which is why he was charged initially.

The “Dámaso” singer — who signed to Del Records in 2009 and parted ways with the company in 2019 amid a contract dispute — testified a day after the trial began where Del Villar’s lawyers argued in the opening statements that the Latin music executive was allegedly “manipulated” by former Del Records employee Brian Gutiérrez who “convinced” Del Villar that “everything” the company was doing was “legally acceptable,” according to reports by Rolling Stone.

“There is something deeply wrong and manipulative about how this case was created and investigated,” Del Villar’s defense lawyer Marissa Goldberg said on Tuesday. “The ones who actually created this crime, who manufactured it, are not sitting as defendants, which is even more deeply wrong.”

Founded by Del Villar in 2008, Del Records is considered a powerhouse in regional Mexican music. The label has been música mexicana giants including Ortiz, Ariel Camacho and Eslabon Armado, whose global hit, “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma, became one of the biggest songs of 2023.

Passed in 1999, the Kingpin Act allows the U.S. to impose targeted sanctions on foreign individuals involved in the illegal drug trade and ban U.S. residents from doing business with them. If convicted of violating the law, Del Villar would face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.