On Wednesday (Dec. 10), Spotify announced it will now allow users to personalize their algorithm.

“Imagine a Spotify that doesn’t just passively learn from you but literally listens to you,” a company blog post reads. “For the first time, your ideas, your logic and your creativity can actually power the Spotify algorithm, directing how it thinks, adapts and responds to you.”

As part of the rollout, the blog post introduces a feature called the “Prompted Playlist,” which will first roll out in beta to premium users in New Zealand on Thursday (Dec. 11.) Essentially, this lets users use AI to generate a playlist — a similar concept to Spotify’s recent integration with ChatGPT to allow for prompt-based music and podcast recommendations.ree

“You could ask for ‘music from my top artists from the last five years,’ then push it further with ‘and feature deep cuts I haven’t heard yet,’” the blog post continues. “Or you could request ‘high-energy pop and hip-hop for a 30-minute 5K run that keeps a steady pace before easing into relaxing songs for a cool-down,’ and layer on something like ‘include music from this year’s biggest films and most-talked-about TV shows that match my taste.’ You choose how broad or specific you want to go.”

From there, users can “fine-tune the results by editing the prompt or start fresh whenever you want.” Each song included in the playlist will include descriptions and context to tell the user why Spotify selected that song, “so the playlist feels alive and crafted specifically for your prompt and your taste.”

This can refresh on a periodic basis — daily or weekly — and Spotify refers to the feature as a way to “curate your next Discover Weekly.” For those who don’t know what to prompt, there will be an “ideas” button that helps select prompts for the user.

News of the feature arrives just weeks after Instagram announced the launch of a somewhat similar feature, allowing “for you to tune your algorithm on Instagram by adding and removing topics based on your interests,” Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri wrote on Threads.

The Spotify blog post says this launch “is just the beginning of a new phase [of Spotify] where listeners take the lead and make even more of every minute,” noting that there’s more to come in 2026.

Blanco Brown has left Wheelhouse Records/BMG to start his own label, Trailer Trap.

Brown is best known for 2019’s massive viral hit and dance “The Git Up,” which spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and has been certified five-times platinum by the RIAA. In 2021, he and former labelmates Parmalee reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with “Just the Way.” As a producer and songwriter, he has also worked with Monica, Pitbull, Fergie and 2 Chainz, among others.

His last project released on Wheelhouse was a trio of EPs released in 2024: Heartache & Lemonade, Cedar Walls & Whiskey and Back 2 Basics.

“I felt like I was being shelved. When I looked around and I saw everything that was going on,” Brown tells Billboard. “There’s no hard feelings over at BMG, but for me to have creative control, be able to put out stuff whenever I want to, that’s what I would rather do.”  Brown also praised Jon Loba, BMG’s president of Frontline Recordings for The Americas, for his support, but says, “he still couldn’t get people outside of the label to believe in me as much as he did.”

BMG representatives did not respond to a request for comment.

Brown says his BMG partnership was a licensing deal, so he retains ownership of his masters, as well as his name, likeness and website.

Trailer Trap takes its name from the term Brown coined years ago to describe his blend of country and rap music. He plans to sign artists, but for now, he’s working on a new project that he will release on the label. “Sometime next year, I’ll be dropping a very great project,” he says. I wish I could tell you the title, but I can’t right now, because I’m in between two or three different titles.” Following the release of that project, he will turn his focus to signing artists.

Brown has been in the news lately following the success of Breaking Rust, an AI-assisted artist that reached No. 1 in November on Billboard’s Country Digital Song Sales chart for a thumping track called “Walk My Walk.” People noticed the stylistic similarities to Brown’s music, and that Abraham Abushmais, one of the creators possibly associated with “Walk My Walk,” had worked with Brown on his label debut, 2019’s Honeysuckle & Lightning Bugs.

Brown made and released his own version of “Walk My Walk” nearly two weeks ago, and then on Friday (Dec. 5) released what he called a “derivative” version that had some changed lyrics. He also released an AI-created video for the song.

“When I first heard [‘Walk My Walk’], I said, ‘Man, this right here has a lot of grit, and it reminds me of my tone, but he doesn’t sound like me. I can just tell that I inspired him,” Brown says. “But it’s like putting the two pieces together, knowing that somebody I mentored actually created [Breaking Rust]. Then it all started making sense, because people were actually hitting me in my inbox and saying, ‘Hey, man, this song that’s going up the charts, and it seems like it could be No. 1 soon, it has a little reminiscent feel of how you approach songs.’ And you know, that’s how it all started.”

Brown says he had never used AI to create any music or videos before, and aside from the “Walk My Walk” video, still doesn’t plan to, but knows he may be in the minority as AI’s usage grows. “I could care less how people create music. When I create music, it’s because I got to get it out of my soul, off of my chest,” he says. “For other people, it’s about money. It’s about making a dime. Just like the industry, the industry is all about money, all about making a dime.”

The singer adds that he will not be signing AI-assisted artists to Trailer Trap’s roster. It will be “real creatives in the flesh,” he says. “That’s the way God intended for it to be because music can heal, break or destroy you.”

Marc Anthony climbs back to No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart through the Wisin pair-up, “Que Me Quiera Ma,” as the song lifts 2-1 on the chart dated Dec. 13.

“Que Me Quiera Ma” was released Sept. 25 though Bolero Records –Marc Anthony’s new label distributed by Sony Music Latin. It claims the top spot in its 10th week, after spending six weeks in the top 10. During the tracking week of Nov. 28-Dec. 4, it registered 9.5 million audience impressions in the United States, a 7% increase, according to Luminate.

As “Que Me Quiera Ma” ascends to No. 1 on the overall Latin radio list, it swaps places with Prince Royce’s bachata cover of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” which slips 1-2 with 8.6 million audience impressions, down 12%.

“Que Me Quiera Ma” marks Marc Anthony’s 15th No. 1 on Latin Airplay. The singer last claimed the top spot with “Mala” in 2022. Since then, he has charted four straight top 10, including the No. 3-peaking “Ale Ale” in July 2024.
Wisin, meanwhile, secures his 24th No. 1 three months after “Luna,” with Kapo, claimed the crown in September.

“Que Me Quiera Ma” also takes over the Tropical Airplay chart with an equal 2-1 jump. There, Marc extends record-breaking run with 38 No. 1s. The song joins another Marc song, his rendition of “Feliz Navidad/ I Wanna Wish You A Merry Christmas,” at No. 14.

For Wisin, the new No. 1 marks his sixth and first in over three years, since the four-week peaking “Soy Yo,” with Don Omar and Gente de Zona (July 2022).

Banda MS & Fuerza Regida Join Forces on Regional Mexican Airplay: Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Banda MS and Fuerza Regida’s second collab proves successful as“Seguro Le Dolió” claims the top spot on Regional Mexican Airplay, earning the weekly Greatest Gainer honor, for the largest jump in impressions.

“Seguro Le Dolió” rallies 8-1 after a 23% growth in audience impressions during the tracking period, to 6.4 million. The song earns Banda MS its 22nd No. 1, breaking from a tie with Intocable for the second-most champs, and trailing only Calibre 50’s 27 rulers. Regida captures its eighth No. 1

The song also earns Banda MS its first top 10 of the year on Latin Airplay chart, after a 15-4 surge.

Are the estates of Jimi Hendrix’s bandmates entitled to royalties from the rock legend’s catalog? The thorny legal question will be decided at a trial that began this week in London’s High Court.

Court proceedings kicked off on Tuesday (Dec. 9) in long-running litigation between Hendrix’s estate and Sony Music on one side and the heirs of Hendrix’s former bandmates in The Jimi Hendrix Experience — namely bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell — on the other.

Redding and Mitchell’s estates allege they’ve been unfairly deprived of royalties from three classic Hendrix Experience albums, including the 1968 chart-topper Electric Ladyland. According to The Independent and Agence France-Presse, barrister Simon Malynicz KC argued in a written submission Tuesday that both musicians “died in relative poverty, having earned almost nothing from the recordings that defined their careers and their lives.”

Malynicz reportedly told the court that Hendrix “would have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.”

The barrister for Sony Music Entertainment UK, Robert Howe KC, countered in his own written submission on Tuesday that Redding and Mitchell forfeited the right to sue during probate proceedings that followed Hendrix’s 1970 overdose death.

Howe also argued that Redding and Mitchell’s heirs are going after the wrong party by suing Sony, which distributes Hendrix’s music under a licensing deal with his estate.

“In essence, what the claimants have done in this action is the equivalent of suing the sub-tenant of one room in a house for trespass, as a device to try to obtain a declaration as to their alleged ownership of the house,” wrote Howe, per The Independent.

The trial’s liability phase is expected to run through Dec. 18, with a written judgment to follow. If Redding and Mitchell’s heirs win their claims, the court will then hold a second trial to determine financial damages.

Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell collaborated via The Jimi Hendrix Experience from 1966 to 1969. The group’s 1968 album Electric Ladyland spent 40 weeks on the Billboard 200, including two weeks at No. 1, and the set’s hit track “All Along the Watchtower” peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The legal feud began in 2021, when Redding and Mitchell’s heirs began asserting rights to Hendrix’s music and claiming they were owed millions in royalties. Dueling lawsuits ensued, both in New York and the U.K., and the English court case was ultimately granted precedence.

A London judge ruled at the beginning of 2024 that the dispute would have to go to trial, unpersuaded by Sony’s arguments that the claims were entirely barred by Redding and Mitchell’s 1973 probate settlements. Those settlements, which resolved the musicians’ claims against Hendrix’s estate, amounted to one-time payments of $100,000 and $247,500 each.

An appeals court agreed with that assessment this past February, teeing up the current trial in London.

Charlie Puth‘s just gotta know: How long will these SpaceX launches be going on? After one of Elon Musk‘s rocket missions lifted off at 3 a.m. in Southern California — terrifying the musician’s family in the middle of the night — Puth gently called out the tech billionaire on X for the loud disruption.

In a post written Wednesday (Dec. 10), the songwriter-producer kept things cordial while describing how SpaceX’s latest launch affected him and his wife, Brooke Sansone, who is currently expecting their first child following the couple’s wedding in September 2024. “Hi @elonmusk,” Puth wrote. “…these sonic booms have gotten progressively louder since they started launching the rockets in Santa Barbara.”

“This one at 3am today felt like 150-160 dB, violently shook our whole house, and really frightened my pregnant wife,” he continued. “I hope they do not get louder :/”

At press time, Musk has not responded to Puth’s plea.

Billboard has reached out to SpaceX for comment.

According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, volume levels above 120 dBA are “not safe for any period of time.” Wednesday’s SpaceX launch took place at 3:40 a.m. PT, with the company’s Falcon 9 model launching 27 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

A disclaimer on SpaceX’s website reads, “There was a possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties may have heard one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experienced depended on weather and other conditions.”

The next launch in the area is scheduled for early in the morning of Dec. 14.