Scott Stapp is set to make a cameo as Frank Sinatra in the Ronald Reagan biopic Reagan, and Billboard has the first look at the Creed frontman as the beloved singer before the film hits theaters Friday.

In the photo, Stapp is seen dressed as Sinatra in a sleek black-and-white suit, singing into an old-school microphone. The project includes a scene in which Stapp performs as Sinatra at Hollywood’s famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub, at a time when Reagan was president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Dennis Quaid is set to play Reagan in the film.

Stapp will also be featured on the movie’s forthcoming soundtrack, covering “Swinging on a Star,” originally introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1944 film Going My Way and later recorded by Sinatra for his 1964 album Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners. The pop standard, written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke for Going My Way, won the 1944 Oscar for best original song.

The star-studded cast also includes Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan, Mena Suvari as Reagan’s first wife Jane Wyman, Kevin Dillon as Jack Warner, and Jon Voight as a KGB agent who tracked Reagan for decades.

“Sinatra in performance mode was an exercise in restraint,” Stapp previously said in a statement. “He had this steely, stylish swagger and his sheer presence commanded a room. I was excited to join the cast and blown away by the on-set attention to detail, style, and overall production.”

Coldplay’s sprawling Music of the Spheres World Tour – 156 shows on four continents over two and a half years so far – continues, taking the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s monthly Top Tours chart. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the Brits brought in $72.2 million and sold 575,000 tickets over 11 shows in July.

It’s the fourth time that Coldplay has led the monthly review, all of which happened during its current tour (the monthly Boxscore charts launched in February 2019), following victories in July 2022, March 2023 and January of this year. The first of those was while the band played in Europe. The second was for shows in South America, and the third in Asia.

The Music of the Spheres World Tour clinches its most recent monthly victory with a return to Europe, marking the third continental leg of the tour. Stops in Rome, Dusseldorf and Helsinki packed the July calendar, peaking in the former with $29.4 million and 252,000 tickets at Stadio Olimpico July 12-13 and 15-16. That’s enough to take the No. 1 spot on Top Boxscores as well.

Beyond the chart triumph on July’s Boxscore report, Coldplay’s tour has now reached record-breaking heights. Since its kick-off in March 2022, it has eclipsed $1 billion in concert grosses and sold almost 9.3 million tickets through Aug. 25. That makes it the highest grossing and bestselling rock tour in Boxscore history, surpassing Elton John in the former metric and U2 in the latter.

Four dates remain to be reported in Dublin, plus 11 in Oceania later this fall. Having averaged more than 50,000 tickets on all nine legs of the world tour so far, it’s likely that the Music of the Spheres World Tour will surpass 10 million tickets.

The $1 billion gross and 10 million ticket thresholds are both unprecedented in Boxscore’s almost 40-year history. The obvious asterisk is unreported figures for Taylor Swift’s ongoing The Eras Tour, likely closer to $2 billion than one now that its own 48-date European leg has wrapped, and approaching 10 million tickets itself.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band are No. 2 on July’s Top Tours ranking, pulling in $65.4 million from 500,000 tickets over nine shows. The Boss also earns his chart rank from shows in Europe, specifically playing in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and others, before closing out the run with two shows at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Springsteen’s London dates grossed $25.2 million and sold 154,000 tickets, mirroring his No. 2 rank over on Top Boxscores. A double header at Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden followed with $9.7 million and 108,000 tickets, landing further down the list at No. 23.

Since kicking off in May, the ’24 European leg of Springsteen’s tour brought in $158.5 million and sold more than 1.2 million tickets over 22 concerts. Though he has wrapped overseas, The Boss made his way over the pond, launching another leg of U.S. shows last week and ensuring a return on the August recap.

Europe fills out the top four spots, with Travis Scott and P!nk at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. It was the first extended European tour for Scott, who was met with a well of pent-up demand. From June 28 through Aug. 4, he grossed $58.9 million and sold 520,000 tickets in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Portugal, and more. It’s the most that a solo rapper has earned on tour outside of the United States.

Combined with the North American shows from autumn 2023 and winter 2024, the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour has brought in $154.7 million and sold 1.2 million tickets over 63 shows. Scott has a slate of shows in Latin America and Oceania before closing for good on Halloween in Auckland, New Zealand.

For P!nk’s part, the Summer Carnival Tour continued with a second leg of European stadiums. Reaching a monthly high at Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena, she totaled $46.8 million and 377,000 tickets during July. Since its launch last June, the entire tour has grossed $469.3 million and sold 3.6 million tickets – not including the Trustfall Tour, which interrupted the stadium run with a swing of North American arenas, adding $60.8 million and 257,000 tickets to Pink’s enormous post-pandemic return to the stage.

On Top Boxscores, Europe takes up the top six spots with engagements from Karol G and Metallica in addition to Coldplay and Springsteen. There’s two more in the top 10 (Luis Miguel and P!nk), and eight more on the chart, including The Killers with six shows at London’s O2 Arena and Ed Sheeran at Polsat Plus Arena in Gdansk, Poland.

On Top Stadiums, European venues make up seven of the 10 spots, including the entire top five. Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu rules with $37.2 million and 309,000 tickets, thanks to two shows from Luis Miguel ($13.6 million on July 6-7) and four from Karol G ($23.6 million on July 20-23). The latter closed out her yearlong world tour at the chart-topping stadium, re-setting her own records among women in Latin music.

Stateside, Las Vegas dominates the biggest and smallest venue charts. Sphere is No. 1 among rooms with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas is tops among venues with a cap of 2,500 or less.

Spotify is demanding that a federal judge toss out a lawsuit filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective over royalty rates, calling the case “nonsensical” and “wasteful.”

The MLC sued earlier this year, claiming Spotify had “unilaterally and unlawfully” chosen to cut its music royalty payments nearly in half through bookmaking trickery – namely, by claiming that the addition of audiobooks to the service entitled the company to pay a lower “bundled” rate.

But in a motion to dismiss filed in court Tuesday, Spotify calls those claims “meritless and wasteful” – arguing that making hundreds of thousands of audiobooks available to subscribers was not a “token” gesture aimed at reducing music royalties.

“MLC’s position is nonsensical and factually unsupportable,” Spotify’s lawyers write. “And it profoundly devalues the contributions of the tens of thousands of book authors whose works are available with a Spotify Premium subscription—from literary luminaries, to mainstays on best sellers lists, to up-and-coming writers who are finding their audience.”

The MLC, which collects streaming royalties for songwriters and publishers, filed its lawsuit in late May — a week after Billboard estimated that Spotify’s move would result in the company paying roughly $150 million less over the next year. In its complaint, the MLC claimed Spotify was “erroneously recharacterizing” the nature of its streaming services to secure the lower rate.

“The financial consequences of Spotify’s failure to meet its statutory obligations are enormous for songwriters and music publishers,” the group’s attorneys wrote at the time. “If unchecked, the impact on songwriters and music publishers of Spotify’s unlawful underreporting could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.”

At issue in the lawsuit is Spotify’s recent addition of audiobooks to its premium subscription service. The streamer believes that because of the new offering, it’s now entitled to pay a discounted “bundled” royalty rate under the federal legal settlement that governs how much streamers pay rightsholders.

In Tuesday’s motion, Spotify’s lawyers strongly defend that interpretation. They argue that the market for audiobooks has attracted “billions in consumer dollars” and that adding books was the kind of valuable new perk that had been intended to be covered by the lower bundled rate.

“At the heart of this dispute is an easily answered question: Is audiobook streaming distinct from music streaming, offering greater than token value?” the company’s lawyers write. “The answer is indisputably yes, and there is no need for federal court litigation to confirm it.”

The rule at issue says that streamers can use the bundled rate if they offer “one or more other products or services having more than token value.” Claiming that more than 200,000 audiobooks does not qualify under that rule is “baffling,” Spotify’s lawyers write.

“The creative output of these authors is not merely of ‘token value’,” Tuesday’s filing says. “Acceptance of that unassailable, commonsense proposition should end this meritless and wasteful litigation.”

MLC’s attorneys will file a formal response to the motion in court in the coming months. In a statement to Billboard on Thursday, the group said: “The MLC’s general practice is not to comment publicly on pending litigations. That said, we would reiterate that we take the enforcement obligations assigned to us by Congress extremely seriously and would refer you to the complaint we filed in this matter for more details regarding our position on this matter.”

The Thicket is just a week away from release, and Billboard is exclusively sharing a clip featuring Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

In the clip from Tubi Films’ adventure-thriller, Peter Dinklage’s character demands payment from Dr. Grace, as Hetfield’s character is seen at the table. An altercation between the two occur, with Hetfield left with his hands up in surrender to not be the next victim.

It’s hardly Hetfield’s first time on the big screen, as he previously appeared in films and TV shows including Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, Skylanders Academy, American Dad! and more.

The show, written by Chris Kelly and based on the novel of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale, promises “vengeance, justice, and unlikely companionship,” and the Elliott Lester-directed adaptation follows the story of bounty hunter Reginald Jones (Dinklage) after he’s recruited to track down a brutal killer known as Cutthroat Bill (Juliette Lewis). He then rallies a band of unexpected heroes to take down the enemy, leading them into the treacherous “no-man’s land” known as The Thicket.

In addition to Dinklage, Lewis and Hetfield, The Thicket also stars Esmé Creed-Miles, Levon Hawke, Macon Blair, Andrew Schulz, David Midthunder, Arliss Howard, Leslie Grace and Gbenga Akinnagbe.

The Thicket hits theaters Sept. 6. Check out the exclusive clip via Billboard below.

J Balvin has been tapped as ESPN’s official Monday Night Football music curator for the 2024-25 NFL Season. Balvin will work with ESPN throughout the 2024-25 NFL season to curate music for select ESPN Monday Night Football games. Balvin’s music selections will play in Monday Night Football promo spots, live telecasts and Monday Night Countdown for seven weeks this season, including two NFL Playoff weeks.

In all, Balvin will provide music for seven games, kicking off his curation stint with his new song “DOBLEXXO” featuring Feid, off his recently released album Rayo. The first game for which Balvin will curate is the New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers on Monday, Sept. 9. However, Balvin’s music selection will begin playing this Friday (Aug. 30), when his track will be used during ESPN’s Week 1 Monday Night topical spot, a fast-moving clip featuring players from the Jets and the 49ers on the field, with Balvin’s music playing as the soundtrack. You can watch it here.

Balvin is the latest superstar to join the Monday Night Football music curation program, joining a list that includes music curators Timbaland and Justin Timberlake (2023), Marshmello (2022), Drake (2021), DJ Khaled (2020) and Diplo (2019).

“ESPN’s Music curation program with Monday Night Football continues with an artist that will amplify the bold and new music strategy,” said Curtis Friends, ESPN’s vp of sports marketing, in a statement. “J Balvin is a global icon whose influence hits with diverse cultures and genres. His music choices embrace the anticipation and excitement the ESPN football season offers, and we can’t wait for him to come along the season-long ride with us.”

Following the first game on Sept. 9, Balvin will select one song to use for each designated week. Although the tracks to be used have not been announced, they can be his own or someone else’s.

Here is J Balvin’s music curation schedule for the 2024-25 NFL season:
• Week 1: New York Jets at San Francisco 49ers
• Week 5: New Orleans Saints @ Kansas City Chiefs
• Week 6: Buffalo Bills at New York Jets
• Week 11: Houston Texans at Dallas Cowboys
• Week 18 Doubleheader: TBD
• Monday Night Super Wild Card: TBD
• Divisional: TBD

Balvin has long been associated with different sports and athletes, and in 2022, he became the first Latin artist to headline an NFL kickoff concert, performing at Long Beach, Calif., ahead of the first regular season game of 2022. Below is the first spot using Balvin’s music.