BLACKPINK blast off into space in the effects-heavy video for the K-pop quartet’s English-language single “Go.” In the intergalactic visual for the song from the group’s new EP, DEADLINE, we watch as members JISOO, JENNIE, ROSÉ and LISA pose in ethereal, shimmering caves in high-fashion dresses and jewelry as ROSÉ sings, “I’m on a mission/ I’m in control/ I want your body/ I want your soul.”

The 3:21 second clip that mixes nautical, space and dancing themes bounces from the members practicing their moves on a ballet barre in all-black outfits, to shots of them holding rowing paddles and being strapped into what look like sleep pods on a space ship.

Less than a minute in, the song’s glitchy, pulsing beat explodes and the screen fills with the image of a silvery pod spinning in a void and a group of masked rowers propelling a sleek racing shell through the void. The song, co-written by the four women along with Danny Chung, Henry Russel Walter and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, was produced by Cirkut and the group’s longtime collaborator Teddy; it also marks the first time in their 10 years together that BLACKPINK have all gotten songwriting credits on the same track.

LISA, wearing a space-age white outfit, spits hard on the verse, rapping, “Go get it, I’mma go get it/ Never gonna settle for second, I need a gold medal/ Get up on the floor, tell me when to go, no slow jams,” before JENNIE pops in and adds, “Oh, no, I go when I wanna go, I’m so gone/ Go reckless, go off, like, What could go wrong?/ I’m goin’ all in, you should know that’s my go-to/ My whole crew with me, if I go, then they go too.”

The dystopian visions continue, with the members getting crushed by stones, strapped into ominous machines and singing the song’s uplifting chorus while glass wings sprout from their backs and they hurtle through empty space chanting: “BLACKPINK, BLACKPINK, BLACKPINK!”

After taking time off to work on solo projects, BLACKPINK reunited to record the five-track DEADLINE EP, which marks their first major music release since they topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2022 with Born Pink. They previewed the effort in July with the Diplo-assisted “JUMP,” which hit No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. And while “JUMP” was in Korean and English, the other four songs on DEADLINE are all in English.

Watch the “Go” video below.

Salt-N-Pepa recently suffered a loss in their quest to regain control of their sound recordings by exercising their termination rights, a crucial federal copyright provision that allows authors to claw back their works decades after they sell them away. A federal judge sided with their record label, and seemed to endorse the view that “work for hire” language in recording artist contracts can be used to strip artists of that right. We think that decision is wrong, and a reminder that the promise of termination rights is in no way guaranteed.

As we’ve seen first hand in our representation of Cyril Vetter, industry intermediaries often seek to restrict termination rights in legally suspect ways. The “work for hire” exception at issue in the Salt-N-Pepa case (and others) is yet another example of an intermediary clinging to rights that ought to be returned. As disappointing as that may be, what’s more troubling is that we, as artist representatives, have propped up their efforts by including virtually identical “work for hire” language in agreements with producers, side artists, and other studio collaborators. Like record label agreements, this language assumes that the creative contributions of these collaborators can be owned as works made for hire. But, in fact, the law only recognizes two types of works made for hire, and neither is typically applicable to these agreements.

In the first category are works made by employees pursuant to bona fide employment relationships.  In that case, the employer – not the creator – is considered the author. However, the vast majority of services provided in the creation of sound recordings are undertaken on an independent contractor basis. This is true as between artists and their labels as well as between artists and their studio collaborators. This lack of an employment relationship renders the first category of works made for hire largely irrelevant.

The second category is limited to a specific set of works made by non-employees. By law, to be an independent contractor work made for hire, the work must be specially ordered or commissioned (in writing) as such and the work must be one of the types of works listed in the Copyright Act as eligible to be a non-employee work made for hire. For example, translations, instructional texts, and test materials are listed as eligible. Crucially, “sound recordings” are nowhere to be found on that list.

Despite this, ownership-based recording agreements like Salt-N-Pepa’s invariably include “work for hire” language. At times, a record label will try to satisfy the requirements of the first category by classifying the recording artist as an employee for purposes of copyright law, but an independent contractor for tax and other purposes. This seems like an impossibly small needle to thread and is almost certainly unenforceable. Far more frequently, labels attempt to squeeze into the second category by taking the position that the creative contributions of recording artists can be owned as contributions to a “collective work” – a type of work that is on the list of eligible non-employee works made for hire.

This “collective work” argument has been around for a long time, but has been largely rejected by the courts in cases outside of the termination rights context. The labels know they’re on shaky legal ground. It’s why the recording industry unsuccessfully tried to amend the Copyright Act in the late ‘90s to expressly include sound recordings on the list of eligible works. It’s also why labels have generally been pretty quick to settle termination rights litigation brought by recording artists. But the Salt-N-Pepa case is a wake up call. What most of us may have considered a flimsy legal argument now has traction. And, as artist representatives, we shouldn’t assume that future courts won’t accept a legally suspect industry practice simply on the basis that it’s commonplace and longstanding.

So what to do? We’re not naive enough to think that “work for hire” language can be negotiated out of ownership-based record deals. But we should no longer allow record labels to control the narrative. Continuing to use their preferred language in our collaborator contracts is tantamount to an endorsement of a legal argument used to deny artists their termination rights.

The alternative we’ve adopted is simple: instead of “work for hire” language, we include an unconditional and irrevocable disclaimer by the collaborator of any intent to be a joint author of the sound recording copyright. Courts have held that a written contract between creative collaborators evidencing intent to be or not to be joint authors is dispositive of the issue. Therefore, a written waiver of joint authorship status by the collaborator leaves the principal artist with sole copyright ownership of the sound recording from inception, thereby accomplishing what “work for hire” language dubiously attempts. But to remove any doubt, immediately following the waiver of joint authorship, we tack on a contingent copyright assignment by the collaborator in favor of the artist. With that safety valve, this alternative becomes unimpeachable.

There are, of course, likely other alternatives and we welcome further discussion on the best way forward. Most importantly, however, any alternative must avoid the doublethink required to argue, on one hand, that record deal “work for hire” language is ineffective and can’t be used to avoid statutory termination rights, but on the other, that artists can use that same language in agreements with their collaborators. At bottom, we urge our artist representative colleagues to treat the sound recording “work for hire” language as the shell game that it is. A good start would be to stop making each other play the game.

Loren Wells and Tim Kappel are the founding partners of the law firm Wells Kappel, where they represent creators, professionals and businesses in the music industry. They recently secured a landmark victory on global termination rights, in the case Vetter v. Resnik, that artist advocates hailed as a “game-changer for music creators.”

Teyana Taylor, Miles Caton, Tyler Okonma, Paul W. Downs and Megan Stalter are among the presenters set for the 2026 Actor Awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards. The show will stream live on Netflix on Sunday March 1 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles.

Taylor and Caton are both double nominees at the Actor Awards – for both ensemble and individual honors – for their performances in One Battle After Another and Sinners, respectively. Okonma, who recently received six Grammy nominations for recordings as Tyler, the Creator, is nominated here as a member of the ensemble cast of Marty Supreme. Downs and Stalter are nominated as part of the ensemble cast of Hacks.

Taylor is also a current Oscar nominee for best supporting actress and a current NAACP Image Award nominee in multiple categories including entertainer of the year. Earlier this year, she won a Golden Globe for One Battle After Another and received a Grammy nomination for best R&B album for Escape Room. On Tuesday, it was announced that she will receive the Visionary Award at this year’s Billboard Women in Music celebration. Keke Palmer will host that show, which is set for April 29 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles.

Kristen Bell will host The 32nd annual Actor Awards Presented by SAG-AFTRA. Harrison Ford will be presented with the Life Achievement Award, the union’s highest honor. Prior to the ceremony, Paige DeSorbo and Scott Evans will host The Actor’s Red Carpet: The 32nd Annual Actor Awards Official Pre-Show streaming live on Netflix at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT.

The Recording Academy is taking the end of its deal with CBS as an opportunity to do a reset.

February’s 68^th annual Grammy Awards wound down a 10-year deal between the Academy and the network to broadcast the annual awards show and affiliated specials.

Starting in 2027, a new 10-year global deal brings the Grammy ceremony to ABC, Hulu and Disney+, Billboard can exclusively reveal.  The Academy will also produce a number of Grammy-branded music specials and programming across Disney platforms.

“The Disney opportunity was an exciting threshold — or tipping point almost — for us as an Academy, because it is going to make us look at everything we’re doing. How can we do everything we’re doing and evolve it and be better?” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. tells Billboard.

Mason compares the situation to the reassessment that took place when he took over as CEO five years ago. “We’re using this moment as a chance to make sure that the academy and the Grammy organization is structured to best serve music people and to continue to grow our services and our programs.”

To help facilitate these changes, the Academy has appointed its first chief strategy officer, naming former Yellowbrick founder Ankit Dhir to the position last fall. Additionally, Branden Chapman has been promoted to chief global entertainment officer from chief operation officer and Sean Smith has been upped to chief communications and marketing officer from executive vice president. “[We’re] trying to evolve what we’re doing as an organization and bringing the most talent to our leadership team as possible,” Mason says.

Chief among the expansion plans is to grow the organization internationally to reflect the increasingly global nature of music. This effort is already underway and included inviting the 3,800 Latin Recording Academy voters to vote for the Grammy Awards last November, as well as the launch of Grammy House Giza, a multi-day event coming in October that will celebrate music creation. Grammy House events have taken place in Los Angeles and New York, but the Egypt celebration will be the first out of the U.S.

“Because music is becoming more and more global, I want to make sure our organization is positioned to reflect that and honor that,” Mason says, citing K-Pop Demon Hunters’ “Golden” win for best song written for visual media in February. Its triumph marked the first song from the K-pop genre to win a Grammy.  

The global initiative also includes building membership in areas where music scenes are exploding, including Africa, Asia and the Middle East. “We’re going to continue to try and make sure that we’re honoring these not just from one part of the world, but from the entire world,” Mason says.

When asked if the Recording Academy would look at starting a new awards show that focused solely on international music or music from a specific region, such as Africa, Mason says, “I think it’s too early to talk specifically about that. I will say I’m working really closely with the Board of Trustees and our chair and our national leadership to make sure that we’re representing and serving music from all around the globe. What form that takes will evolve over the next few years.”

Another central pillar is a content-first strategy. The Academy produced up to three specials with CBS outside of the Grammys annually and the plan is to increase that number greatly and with a broader range of options, both within the Disney deal and beyond.

“My hope is that we can celebrate more music and more music storytellers, more genres, more things that are happening in music ecosystem because there’s more happening than a show or a special,” Mason says.

Chapman, who oversees production and event division, artist relations, production and business development and the digital media team, helms Grammy Studios, the Academy’s in-house studio which has existed for two years but will greatly ramp up production on several different platforms.

The Academy has more than 2.8 million subscribers on its YouTube channel, which streams such short form programming as Grammy Rewind and Road to Recognition.

While the Academy already mines the Grammys for short-form programming, Chapman plans to greatly expand its offerings. “Just taking a look at Grammy Week alone, we have 23 events that we do, most of which — aside from news coverage or red-carpet coverage — are private events,” he says. “We’re going to start taking a look at our entire event strategy, as well as launching new content and new events to expand our mission and our goal of serving music and its makers.”

Among the Grammy-week events he plans to find a streaming or broadcast home is the MusiCares Person of the Year event, which features top music names honoring a superstar. The last time the tribute aired was on Netflix in 2021 when Dolly Parton was honored.

“Person of the Year is absolutely one of the events that we see as a great opportunity to expand to a larger audience than just the invited guests,” Chapman says. “It is one of the opportunities we plan to take to Disney and expand into a traditional format.”

Additionally, the Disney partnership offers other expansive rights and opportunities. “What I’m most excited about is to really, for the first time ever, get into formats that we haven’t traditionally been in before such as potentially a prime-time series,” Chapman explains. “It’s things that we haven’t traditionally done because we’ve been very focused on specials…I see a huge opportunity to expand into traditional series, potential documentaries and feature films,” he adds.

Disney will have first pass on many of the offerings, and Chapman says content could even roll out through the new deal before the 2027 Grammy Awards, though he also adds there is one more unannounced Grammy Salute that will air on CBS in May, which is when the current deal will sunset. Both the specials, and especially the Grammy Awards, continue to provide a streaming and sales boost to many participating artists.

Reiterating Mason’s global perspective, Chapman says, “It’s not just that viewing has changed or that the technology has changed,” he continues. “It’s how we as an academy have shifted our mission and look at the marketplace as a worldwide marketplace, not just a U.S. marketplace.”

While Grammy Studios will take the lead on all its live events and will staff up accordingly, Chapman stresses that they will continue to work with many of its outside production partners such as Ben Winston’s Fulwell Entertainment and Jose´Tillan, who co-produced the Grammy Salute to Latin Music.

As the expansion into these areas occurs, there may also be a contraction of offerings that no longer serve the membership.

“We will be probably pulling back from some things because our industry has changed,” Mason says, though he declined to offer specifics. “What the music community needs has changed, how we generate value and revenue and programs and activations for different people has changed… We have limited resources, we’re going to have to choose the things that are working and enhance those. Things that aren’t working, we’ll probably pull back from.”

One area the Academy won’t retreat from is advocacy. Mason says that area will likely grow as music creators face hurdles from areas like AI. “We’ll probably do more because it’s becoming more and more challenging for our people to protect their works, to monetize their works, or remain in control with approvals. Advocacy is going to be an area where you’re going to see growth,” Mason enthuses.

With an eye to the future, Mason also expects expansion in the academy’s education efforts. “I think we will double down on education and how we’re bringing in the next group of music people, not just songwriting, but business and A&R. We have to foster the next round of people that are going to run and lead our business and our creative sector.”