After Viña del Mar postponed its Tuesday activities due to a massive blackout in Chile that left most of the country without power, the festival resumed on Wednesday (Feb. 26) with an electrifying performance by Carlos Vives. The Colombian superstar made his grand return to Viña — with his vibrant band La Provincia in tow — for a remarkable fifth time in his 30-year career, and seven years since his last performance there in 2018.

Transporting the Quinta Vergara to his hometown of Santa Marta, Colombia, Vives took the stage shortly after 7:50 p.m. ET and kicked off with the vallenato anthem “Pa’ Mayte,” which of course got the entire audience on their feet. The accordion-powered track, one of Vives’ earliest hits, definitely set the tone for the rest of the set, with the Latin Grammy-winning artist winding through his most iconic songs, including “‘Ella Es Mi Fiesta,” “Fruta Fresca,” “La Gota Fría” and “La Tierra del Olvido.”

“Good night, Viña,” Vives greeted the crowd — most often referred to as the monster for their high standards for festival performers. Looking like a total rockstar and working the entire stage singing, dancing and playing the harmonica, the 63-year-old hitmaker was in awe of the crowd’s embrace. “Where are the people who are going to ride the bike with me tonight? Where are the cumbia dancers?” The bike referencing “La Bicicleta,” his song with Shakira, which he also performed tonight. For that specific song, he joined the crowd, at times dancing alongside fans.

One of the most special moments of the night was when Vives returned to the crowd area to serenade his wife Claudia Elena Vásquez with “Volví a Nacer,” his performance sealed with a passionate kiss. “I want to share with you something very special, this song was composed during a difficult moment of my life,” he prefaced the song. “We all spend difficult nights, but we know that the next day the sun rises. I composed this song for a person at a very special moment and from this song things changed in my life, and I want to dedicate it to everyone because I know that at some point we will all be born again.”

“Thank you Chile, thank you Latin America for these 30 years,” Vives said before the crowd awarded him the Gaviota de Plata. Shortly after, former Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo handed the singer his very own national team jersey — a special gift for the self-proclaimed soccer fan.

In another emotional moment, Vives remembered his compadre Egidio Cuadrado, wishing him a heavenly birthday. His longtime accordionist, who would have turned 72 today, died in October. He went on to sing “Carito,” which they wrote together. During that performance, a little girl dressed in a gorgeous dressed with the colors of the Colombian flag took the stage with Vives and showed off her dance moves, immediately stealing the spotlight.

Right after receiving the Gaviota de Oro, Vives brought out fellow colombiano Sebastián Yatra to sing “Robarte Un Beso.” Yatra returns to the amphitheater on Saturday (March 1) for his own set. Vives closed his riveting set with “Cuando Nos Volvamos a Encontrar.”

“Thank you, Viña,” he expressed before leaving the Quinta Vergara stage.

Later tonight, Mexican music star Carín León will close day three of the festival.

On Thursday (Feb. 27), Viña will continue with Incubus, Juan Carlos López and The Cult; Feb. 28, urban night, with headliner Duki, Eladio Carrión and Kid Voodoo; and, rescheduled from Tuesday night, on March 1 Colombia’s Morat and Sebastián Yatra will close out this year’s edition of Viña del Mar.

A U.S. federal court judge has ruled that Ultra Music Publishing must change its name within six months after a jury found that the company breached the “Ultra” trademark owned by the Sony Music-owned Ultra Records.

Ultra Music Publishing is owned by Patrick Moxey, who also founded Ultra Records in 1995 and sold his remaining 50% share of the label to Sony Music in 2021. Sony brought the lawsuit against Ultra Music Publishing the following year, attesting that Moxey (who founded the publishing company in 2004) had signed away his rights to the trademark after selling his stake in the Ultra label.

At the December trial, lawyers for Sony/Ultra Records argued that the label had impliedly licensed the Ultra trademark to the publishing company but that, after terminating that license in March 2022, the publishing company had continued to use the trademark in bad faith. The jury in the case agreed, also finding that the Ultra mark was distinctive, that Ultra Music Publishing was in breach of the license and that its use of the Ultra name was “likely to dilute [Ultra] Records’ Ultra trademark.”

However, the jury also found that Ultra Music Publishing’s use of the trademark wasn’t “likely to cause confusion among [Ultra Music] Publishing’s customers, and that [Ultra] Records suffered no
damage from Publishing’s breach of the license.” As a result, the jury awarded no damages or legal costs to Sony/Ultra Records.

“Independent music companies are always facing challenges from major corporations, who are threatened more than ever by their increasing success,” said Moxey in a statement sent to Billboard following Tuesday’s ruling. “With 13 songwriters nominated across seven categories at this year’s Grammys, and their participation in winning Album of the Year, R&B Album of the Year, and Rap Album of the Year, we are proud of the many successes of the songwriters we represent. Our roster of talented writers and producers, alongside our executive team will keep doing what they do best — delivering the exceptional work that has made us who we are. Nothing changes except the name.”

Sony Music declined to comment on the ruling.

Though the trademark case is now resolved, the legal battle between Sony Music and the publisher isn’t over. Last November, Moxey’s Ultra International Music Publishing and Ultra Music Publishing Europe sued Sony Music Entertainment and its subsidiaries — including Ultra Records — over allegations of copyright infringement, claiming Sony and its affiliates had been using Ultra Publishing’s compositions without a license. Last week, Sony Music Entertainment asked a judge to throw out that lawsuit, calling the complaint an act of “retaliation” against the major label for filing its trademark suit against the publishing outfit two years prior. That case is ongoing.

Tom Waits has added his talents to the final episode of Italian documentary series, Il Fattore Umano (The Human Factor), with his work accompanying stories of homelessness in America.

The eight-part series, created by the Italian public television channel RAI3, offers investigative insights into how human rights have been violated by authoritarian regimes, autocracies and even democratic regimes. Focusing on how the most vulnerable and minorities face oppression in these countries, the final episode – titled Ultima Fermata (The Last Ride) – serves as an in-depth look at American poverty.

Looking specifically at four southern states – Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana – filmmakers travel through the regions on public buses, discovering forgotten communities while exploring the dignity and solidarity of those forced to live in marginalized conditions thanks to a system that lacks safety nets.

The Last Ride pairs the stories of these individuals with the voice of Waits, who shares performances on acoustic guitar and piano while also reading from his poem Seeds on Hard Ground. A trailer for the episode is soundtracked by Waits performing “The Fall of Troy,” which originally appeared on the soundtrack to 1996’s Dead Man Walking.

“I am an individual who is deeply concerned with the inequities as we all are, but ill equipped to solve any of them,” Waits said in a statement. “I tell the world in the only way I know how: through my music. I don’t deal with politics or laws, and I don’t have answers to the big questions that concern us all. All I can do is try – through songs and poems – to inspire someone. I’m here to open up the window and open up our eyes. I guess a little bit, if I can.”

The Last Ride was written and directed by Angelo Loy, Martino Mazzonis and Luigi Montebello for RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana’s Il Fattore Umano. The episode will be available for global streaming on Wednesday (Feb. 26) via RAI’s RaiPlay streaming platform.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is scrutinizing iHeartMedia’s upcoming iHeartCountry Festival in Austin as part of an investigation into whether radio stations have been offering airplay to artists in exchange for free shows.

In a lengthy letter sent Monday (Feb. 24) to iHeartMedia chairman/CEO Robert Pittman, FCC chairman Brendan Carr — who was appointed to the FCC board in 2023 by former President Joe Biden and promoted to chairman via an executive order from President Donald Trump on Jan. 21 — said he “want[s] to know whether iHeart is effectively and secretly forcing musicians to choose between, one, receiving their usual, ordinary, and full scale compensation for performing or, two, receiving less favorable airplay on iHeart radio stations.”

Carr went on to note that “certain owners of federally licensed radio stations are effectively compelling musicians to perform at radio station events or festivals for free (or for reduced compensation) in exchange for more favorable airplay,” a practice he warned violated federal bans on practices like payola.

The letter follows a previous letter sent by U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) to the FCC earlier this month in which she asked the agency to take action to prevent the alleged practice, claiming it was “critically impacting Tennessee’s content creators.” The FCC subsequently issued an enforcement advisory in which it warned that promising radio play in exchange for free concerts would break federal law. The agency further said it would “consider investigating substantive allegations of payola that come to its attention.”

Traditionally, payola investigations have dealt with music labels and publishing groups paying radio stations to illegally promote commercial music and boost album sales. In 1959, popular radio personalities like Alan Freed were investigated by both the U.S. House and Senate for accepting cash “consulting fees” to play songs on the radio as requested by the shadowy radio promotion industry. In the 1970s, the investigation expanded to include the Italian mafia, whom the FCC accused of using drugs like cocaine for payola. In the 1990s, former NY District Attorney Elliot Spitzer won payola settlements against Sony, BMG and Warner Music, and won a civil lawsuit against Entercom.

Carr’s letter to iHeartMedia hints that the federal government may adopt a novel legal theory that radio promotion concerts, held by large FM radio stations in markets across the U.S., could be a form of payola. Specifically, Carr singles out the May 3 iHeartCountry Festival in Austin, Texas.

Carr’s three-page letter to iHeart included eight lengthy questions he asked Pittman to answer within 10 days. Among other things, Pittman is requesting a list of all artists playing iHeartCountry Festival at Austin’s Moody Center, how much they would normally be paid for a concert appearance and whether any of the artists “will receive better or worse airplay on iHeart radio stations based on their participation in the Festival or the compensation they receive for performing at the Festival.”

In the music business, artists’ appearances are typically delineated into two categories: promotional, or media, appearances, when an artist is promoting a new venture like an album or a film and appears on a talk show to promote that project; and paid appearances, when an artist performs or showcases their talents to audience members who have typically paid some type of admission fee. Artists aren’t usually paid for promotional appearances, and radio concerts have long been categorized by radio stations as promotional in nature and typically do not include payments.

Carr continued that he wants to learn more about the upcoming iHeart concert so that he can get “a real-world example of how such events are put together—including artist solicitation and compensation—and the procedures that are in place to ensure compliance with the relevant statutes and regulations.”

Officials with iHeartMedia responded to the letter in a statement, noting that the company looks forward to “demonstrating to the Commission how performing at the iHeartCountry Festival — or declining to do so — has no bearing on our stations’ airplay, and we do not make any overt or covert agreements about airplay with artists performing at our events.”

The iHeart statement goes on to say, “The iHeartCountry Festival provides the same kind of promotion that that we see with artists on talk shows, late night television, the Super Bowl and in digital music performances and events: the promotional value to the artists is the event itself, and, in our case, is unrelated to our radio airplay.”

This lineup at this year’s iHeartCountry Festival lineup, which is slated for May 3, includes Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett, Rascal Flatts, Cole Swindell, Sam Hunt, Megan Moroney, Bailey Zimmerman and Nate Smith.

Olivia Kuper Harris didn’t just step onto The Voice stage—she transported it to another era. Taking on Doris Day’s timeless ballad “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” the Dallas-born singer draped the room in nostalgia, delivering a performance so rich and velvety it felt like a lost recording from jazz’s golden age.

John Legend, Adam Levine, and Kelsea Ballerini couldn’t resist.

Legend was the first to turn his chair, drawn in by Harris’ effortless control. Levine wasn’t far behind, nudging Ballerini to do the same. “What are you waiting for?” he asked, prompting her to hit her button.

“I don’t know! You’re so right,” Ballerini admitted.

As the final note hung in the air, Levine turned to Harris with a grin. “You’re really special,” he said, making it clear she had impressed him. Then, in true Adam fashion, he took a playful jab at his fellow Coach. “And Michael Bublé is a fool.”

Legend, ever the strategist, made his pitch. “What got me at first was just the beauty of your tone,” he said on the warmth and elegance Harris brought to the song. Ballerini added that Harris’ voice had a rare quality—something that could transcend genres and connect with all types of listeners.

Harris, overwhelmed with emotion, took a deep breath. She had come looking for a sign, a confirmation that this was the path she was meant to follow. “Being on stage, I feel like it’s my purpose in life,” she said. “It makes me emotional because I’ve looked for so many other things I could possibly do… and this is it, man.”

With three Coaches vying for her, the decision was hers.

Ultimately, it was Legend’s pitch that resonated most with Harris. She joined his team, adding another unique voice to his roster for The Voice Season 27.

Harris’ audition stood out not just for its technical precision but for its ability to evoke an era long past. While many hopefuls lean into pop, R&B, or powerhouse ballads, Harris took a different route—one that paid off in a big way.

As the competition heats up, it remains to be seen how Harris will evolve under Legend’s mentorship. But if her Blind Audition was any indication, The Voice might have just found its next great jazz revivalist.