Bruce Springsteen and Sony Music had different reasons for signing on to Deliver Me From Nowhere, the new biopic starring Jeremy Allen White as the Boss.

“I’m old. I don’t give a f–k what I do anymore,” Springsteen told Time. “As you get older, you feel a lot freer.” And while Sony was willing to do whatever Springsteen wanted to do, the label had other considerations, too: Its publishing company paid $500 million for Springsteen’s catalog in 2021, and one of the most powerful weapons it can deploy to boost streaming and revenue is a star-studded film. “The biopic is the cherry on top of the sundae, if you will,” says Sony marketing exec Monica Cornia. “Films bring more awareness to the artist brand and fans to the funnel.”

Cornia, senior vp of marketing and partnerships for Sony’s Commercial Music Group, adds that the late-2024 Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and the 2022 Elvis Presley biopic Elvis “created a new baseline for streaming” both artists’ catalogs. They had “double-digit growth post-release and have sustained elevated streaming levels to date,” adds a Sony rep. 

Deliver Me From Nowhere focuses on 1982’s Nebraska — not the most commercial of Springsteen’s albums. But the star power from The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen and Succession‘s Jeremy Strong as his manager, Jon Landau, will “create a huge cultural moment,” says Cornia, which Sony can use as “the initial exciting point for us to start to lean in.”

Over the past five years, the music business’ most successful songwriters have sold their catalogs (and sometimes other assets) for astronomical sums. In 2020, Dylan received a reported $300 million to $500 million for the publishing of his 600-plus songs, and Paul Simon, Stevie Nicks, David Bowie, James Brown and many others followed with deals estimated between $90 million and $250 million. “Everybody who’s acquiring a catalog is looking for opportunities to find new audiences and tap into a fanbase that’s already engaged,” says Sophia Dilley, executive vp of Concord Originals, the indie-label division that co-produced last year’s HBO doc Stax: Soulsville, U.S.A., about the storied Memphis recording home of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and others. “A natural place to do that is within the documentary or biopic space.”

After its November 2018 premiere, Queen‘s Bohemian Rhapsody biopic hit more than $1 billion worldwide in box-office sales over just five months, increasing the value of the band’s publishing and recording catalogs. In 2024, Sony purchased them for $1.27 billion. 

Two months before the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen’s catalog streamed 15 million times per week. Afterwards, it spiked to nearly 62 million, and settled by the end of 2018 to 38.2 million, according to Luminate. By comparison, Dylan’s catalog drew 7.1 million weekly streams two months before A Complete Unknown, spiked to 19.5 million after the biopic and dropped to 12 million in February, also according to Luminate.

It isn’t just the biopic itself that sets the streaming bar higher for iconic artists like Queen, Dylan, Presley and Springsteen — it’s the marketing campaign and social-media activity surrounding the films. In Springsteen’s case on Friday (Oct. 24), the heavily advertised Deliver Me From Nowhere arrives with a new release geared to superfans, the five-disc box set Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition, which includes Springsteen’s long-awaited electric version of the album and a performance film. “Our goal is to take advantage of the moment, but also to make sure we’re consistently marketing the catalog and the artist going forward,” Cornia says. 

Concord, like many labels and publishers, plans similarly broad marketing campaigns for its upcoming biopics on Mississippi Delta bluesman Robert Johnson (release date unknown) and R&B keyboardist and Beatles collaborator Billy Preston (sometime in 2026). “The risk is it doesn’t have the longevity you want it to,” Dilley says, “But in the immediate, it definitely has an impact, because you’re spending money on a campaign, which helps audience awareness.”

The timing of Deliver Me from Nowhere and A Complete Unknown, after the Springsteen and Dylan catalog sales, is probably not coincidental, according to Alaister Moughan, founder of Moghan Music, a London-based company that specializes in valuations of publishing catalogs. Major artists who sell catalogs, and top companies that spend big money to buy them, are highly aware that a well-timed biopic can improve the songs’ future value. “The past five years in particular, when an artist is looking to sell their catalog, they’ve been quite strategic,” he says. “They’re tying in, ‘We’ll be interested in a biopic.’” 

Still, the focus on the lesser-known Nebraska, rather than, say, Springsteen’s later blockbuster Born in the U.S.A., which made him a worldwide star, suggests Springsteen and the filmmakers are not focused on quick streaming revenue. “Maybe it’s more of a long-term view,” Moughan adds, “rather than, ‘We want the Bohemian Rhapsody of Springsteen this year.’”

Joan Baez has a theory about Donald Trump, who is the subject of her new poem published Thursday (Oct. 23).

In the piece titled “Little Green Worm: A Note to the President” shared with Rolling Stone, the folk icon slams the politician’s lack of “empathy,” “impulse control” and “basic intelligence,” positing that Trump has none of the above due to a “little green worm” entering his brain and eating it all up. It comes amid the ongoing “No Kings” rallies protesting the twice-impeached POTUS’ policies.

“I’ve been thinking about a little green worm that has worked its way into your anterior insular cortex, the part of the brain where empathy originates,” Baez wrote. “The little green worm quickly devoured yours. He then munched onward until he came to the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in impulse control and regulating social behavior.”

“It’s meant to stop us from blurting out vulgarities such as ‘Grab her by the p—y’ and ‘S–thole countries’ or accusing all Mexican immigrants of being criminals, rapists and drug dealers,” the poem continued.

The piece closes with Baez illustrating how the little green worm eventually moves on to the part of Trump’s brain that should be “responsible for thought,” only to find that he doesn’t have one. “Oh s–t: there’s nothing there,” the musician concludes.

Billboard has reached out to the White House for comment.

As a musical pioneer of 1960s counterculture, Baez has long been open — in her music and otherwise — about her beliefs surrounding politics and social justice. In March, she told John Mulaney, “Our democracy is going up in flames … we’re being run by a bunch of really incompetent billionaires.”

While speaking to Rolling Stone about her latest piece, she explained that turning to poetry instead of songwriting has helped her process the overwhelming nature of today’s political landscape.

“When I’m present and looking out at my own yard and the trees and all of that, it’s still as beautiful as it ever was,” she told the publication. “And then there are times of great sorrow and times of frustration, like everybody. And I found that the poetry helps — just doing it and getting it down on paper or on computer to keep my head above water.”

The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) held its largest celebration for country songwriters of the year on Thursday night (Oct. 23) during the NMPA Gold & Platinum Gala, held at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

The event honored more than 150 songwriters whose country songs have reached Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum status, as certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from the July 2024-June 2025 eligibility period, including more than 70 multi-platinum songwriters who were honored onstage that evening.

Ashley Gorley was named top male songwriter of the year for a third consecutive year, as the non-performing male songwriter with the most certifications over the past year. Among his songs that earned certifications were “I Had Some Help,” “Rumor” and “You Should Probably Leave.”

“He is the Michael Jordan, the Patrick Mahomes of songwriting,” NMPA president/CEO David Israelite said of Gorley. In taking the stage to accept the honor, Gorley praised all of the songs that had been honored during the evening, particularly older compositions that have endured through the years.

“This is such a fun night, and such a variety of songs [being honored],” Gorley said. “I’m reminded, ‘Where the Green Grass Grows’ and ‘In Color,’ these are some of the best songs ever and I was very reminded of how great country music is and challenged on the bar of how great these songs have to be, and how they do live on….thank you for this award. I don’t take this lightly, I don’t take this for granted.”

Amy Allen was named top female songwriter of the year, for earning more certifications over the past year than any other non-performing female songwriter in the country genre. Allen was honored for her work on songs including the Koe Wetzel and Jessie Murph collaboration “High Road.”

“Thank you for inspiring me,” Allen said from the stage. “My heart has always led me toward country music because of my love for storytelling. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be half the songwriter or person I am today without my founding fathers, Dolly Parton and John Prine, and my real Holy Trinity, which is Natalie Hemby, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey. I cannot express how much I have learned from these three women about songwriting, but most importantly, about what it looks like to lift one another up in the industry and to write from a place of honesty.

Nashville has been a place of endless inspiration and a school of songcraft and genuine lyricism and the home of so many of my favorite collaborators,” she continued. “Thank you Nashville for taking me in with open arms. I cannot express how really grateful I am for that. Koe and Jessie, I love your hearts and I love your brains and I’m so honored to get to be a part of the songs we did together this year. I love them and I don’t take them for granted.”

Country Music Hall of Famer Dean Dillon accepted the platinum anthem award as a co-writer on the highest-certified song of the year, the RIAA 17x platinum-certified “Tennessee Whiskey,” which was first released in 1981 by David Allan Coe, though Chris Stapleton’s bluesy rendition of “Tennessee Whiskey” brought the song to a new generation of listeners.

In accepting the honor, Dillon thanked his co-writer on the song, Linda Hargrove. He also praised Music City’s songwriting community, saying, “Nashville songwriters, in my humble opinion, are the best in the world.”

ERNEST then paid tribute to the song with a faithful rendering of “Tennessee Whiskey.” 

“It is an honor to get to honor you. As a kid who grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, I’m living my dream every day by getting to write country songs,” Ernest said to Dillon, adding, “Getting to sing a song for you and because of you has me rattled.” 

Other performers during the evening were Brothers Osborne and Maddie & Tae. Maddie & Tae performed their 4x platinum-certified hit, “Die From a Broken Heart,” and told the crowd they “learned everything we know about songwriting from this beautiful community.”

In perhaps the evening’s most delightfully unexpected moment, a dog made its way onto the stage and joined them as they finished the song. Maddie & Tae then performed a newer song called “Somebody Will,” which they called “one of our favorite songs we’ve ever written.” 

Brothers Osborne performed their 3x platinum-certified 2015 hit “Stay a Little Longer,” recalling how the brother duo used to work as servers at the Country Music Hall of Fame before finding success as songwriters and artists. “It’s an honor to be here,” they said, before performing an acoustic rendition of “Stay a Little Longer” and turning it into a righteous guitar jam spectacle.

Allen perhaps summed up the evening best, saying simply, “Long live songwriters.”

See the list of songwriters who were in attendance and honored for their songwriting works below:

2x Platinum:

Thomas Archer and Chris LaCorte, “Wind Up Missin’ You”

Jess Leary, “Where the Green Grass Grows”

Josh Hoge and Matthew McVaney, “Used to Love You Sober”

Erik Dylan, “There Was This Girl”

Josh Turner, “Long Black Train”

Jason Gantt, “Take it From Me”

Doug Johnson, “She Won’t Be Lonely Long”

Austin Nivarel, Joe Ragosta, and Robert Ragosta, “Need A Favor”

Bill Luther, “My Best Friend”

David Lee and Wynn Varble, “Me And My Kind”

Russell Dickerson and Parker Welling, “Love You Like I Used To”

Connie Harrington and Jordan Schmidt, “Caught Up In The Country”

3x Platinum:

Kelly Archer and Brett Tyler, “Wild As Her”

Paul Jenkins and Ben Williams, “Tennessee Orange”

John Osborne and TJ Osborne, “Stay A Little Longer”

Keith Follese, “Something Like That”

Greylan James, “Next Thing You Know”

Thomas Archer and James McNair, “Lovin’ On You”

Scotty Emerick and the late Toby Keith, “I Love This Bar”

Steve Dorff, “I Cross My Heart”

Cary Barlowe, “Famous Friends”

Tyler Reeve, “Does To Me”

Renee Blair and Jordan Schmidt, “Wait in the Truck”

4x Platinum:

Zach Kale, Emily Landis and Jim McCormick, “The Good Ones”

Josh Hoge, Jared Mullins and Christian Stalnecker, “Thank God”

Justin Ebach, “Singles You Up”

Marty James, Alexander Palmer, Frank Romano and Austin Shawn, “Religiously”

Brock Berryhill, Taylor Phillips and Will Weatherly, “Good As You”

Danny Wells, “Check Yes or No”

Maddie Font, Taylor Kerr, and Deric Ruttan, “Die From A Broken Heart”

5x Platinum:

Chris DuBois and Ashley Gorley, “You Should Probably Leave”

Ben Stennis, “‘Til You Can’t”

Dallas Davidson, Ashley Gorley, and Ben Johnson, “One of Them Girls”

Stephony Smith, “It’s Your Love”

James Otto and Lee Thomas Miller, “In Color”

Ashley Gorley and Ernest Keith Smith, “I Had Some Help”

Brandon Lancaster, “Greatest Love Story”

Chris DuBois and Chris Janson, “Buy Me A Boat”

Sean Cook and Jerrell J-Kwon Jones, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”

6x Platinum:

Ashley Gorley and the late Kyle Jacobs, “Rumor”

Jacob Hackworth, Jet Harvey and Heath Warren, “Rock and a Hard Place”

Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson and Ben Hayslip, “I Don’t Want This Night to End”

Jerry Flowers, “House Party”

7x Platinum:

Dallas Davidson, Chris DeStefano and Ashley Gorley, “That’s My Kind Of Night”

Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose, “Girl Crush”

8x Platinum:

Zach Kale and Jon Nite, “I Hope”

Diamond/10x Platinum:

Matt McGinn and Jordan Schmidt, “What Ifs”

Rob Snyder and Channing Wilson, “She Got The Best of Me”

11x Platinum:

Thomas Archer and Taylor Phillips for 11x Platinum, “Hurricane”

Matt McGinn for 11x Platinum, “Heaven”

17x Platinum:

Dean Dillon, “Tennessee Whiskey”

Bunnie XO is standing by Jelly Roll. Shortly after the country star publicly revealed that he previously had an affair, the podcaster took to social media to explain why she thinks she and her husband are stronger for the experience.

In a Thursday (Oct. 23) post on her Instagram Story, Bunnie shared a screenshot of a comment she’d received in the wake of Jelly opening up about his past affair on a recent episode of the Human School podcast. “You took him back and have sung perfection since,” the person wrote in part. “We can’t look up to you now … how can anyone support this?”

In response, the influencer wrote, “It actually takes a stronger woman to face pain head-on, do the work, and rebuild with the man she loves — instead of running or gossiping.”

“Growth isn’t weakness, it’s grace,” she continued. “But not everyone’s built for that kind of strength. I pray you never have to feel that pain bc you’re judging another woman’s life.”

The post comes one day after Jelly’s confession came to light, with the singer sharing on the podcast that “one of the worst moments” of his adulthood thus far had been when he’d “had an affair on my wife.” And, like Bunnie, he also emphasized the importance of doing “the work” to rebuild their relationship.

“The repair has been special,” he said at the time. “And we’re stronger than we could have ever been. I wish our story would have went in a way that it never had an affair, but — and I’m in no way glad it happened — but man, I’m proud of who we are today.”

From Jelly’s past issues with substance abuse to Bunnie’s ongoing IVF fertility journey, the couple has long been open about their personal struggles. They’ve previously shared that they briefly broke up in 2018, but as of this past September, their marriage is nine years strong.

“9 years of us,” the pair wrote on Instagram in celebration of their wedding anniversary, with Jelly adding of Bunnie, “I love more and more every single day.”

Plus, fans will also get to hear Bunnie’s side of the cheating story soon. “I just opened my eyes TMZ jeez,” wrote the influencer, who’s gearing up to publish a memoir titled Strip Down in February. “Anyways, whole story is in the book.”