One of Sabrina Carpenter‘s biggest hits feels anything but short and sweet in the trailer for The Housemaid, a new horror movie starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.

Previewing how the two leading ladies — one of them a live-in nanny and the other a nervous wife/mother — go toe-to-toe while seemingly hiding sinister secrets, the trailer heavily features a super creepy twist on “Please Please Please.” Rather than the sparkly, ’70s pop production we’re used to hearing on the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, Carpenter’s voice floats over anxiety-inducing strings and eerie ticking sounds that have been added to the track to give it an unsettling flair.

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“Whatever devil’s inside you, don’t let him out tonight,” the singer echoes over a shot of Seyfried’s character staring menacingly at Brandon Sklenar, who plays her husband, during a dinner party scene.

The music only ramps up in intensity as shots of Seyfried holding a bloody shard of glass, Sweeney appearing to bludgeon someone with an apple while wearing a schoolgirl uniform, and police showing up at the family’s home in the snow play in quick succession.

Based on the novel of the same name by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid will hit theaters Dec. 19. “From director Paul Feig, the film plunges audiences into a twisted world where perfection is an illusion, and nothing is as it seems,” reads a description. “Behind the Winchesters’ closed doors lies a world of shocking twists that will leave you guessing until the very end.”

Carpenter first dropped “Please Please Please” in June 2024 ahead of the release of her breakthrough album Short n’ Sweet. The track reached the top of the Hot 100 shortly afterward, marking the star’s first-ever No. 1 on the chart.

Listen to “Please Please Please (Creepy Version)” in the trailer for The Housemaid above.


  

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Before he became a Grammy and Academy Award-winning producer and songwriter, Mark Ronson was a nightclub DJ in New York’s underground scene. And now, Ronson released a new book about his life before stardom.

On sale for $21.74 (regularly $29) on Amazon, Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City follows chronicles Mark Ronson’s coming-of-age during the early ’90s, while the memoir portrays what it was like to be a club kid before the city became sanitized in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can order now and Night People will be delivered to your home in less than two days, thanks to Prime Delivery.

Not a member? Sign up for a 30-day free trial to take advantage of all that Amazon Prime has to offer, including access to Prime Video, Prime Gaming and Amazon Photos; fast free shipping in less than two days with Prime Delivery; in-store discounts at Whole Foods Market; access to exclusive shopping events — such as Prime Day and Black Friday — and much more. Learn more about Amazon Prime and its benefits here.

The biography is also available at BookShop.org for $26.97 (reg. $29), while Night People can be purchased at Barnes & Noble priced at $29. Additionally, B&N has a signed copy of the book for the same price.

How to buy 'Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City' by Mark Ronson online

‘Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City’

by Mark Ronson

$21.74 $29.00 25% off

Buy Now On Amazon


In addition, Night People is available as an Audible audiobook, which is free to listen to for subscribers only.

If you’re not a subscriber, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial. Audible starts at $14.95 per month and grants you access to one best seller or new release title per month, a library of thousands of podcasts, audiobooks, and originals, exclusive discounts and more. Once signed up, you’ll receive one credit for any audiobook on Audible, including Night People.

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox dealsstudio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.


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Lady Gaga makes a lively entrance on the Billboard Hot 100 with her latest single, “The Dead Dance.”

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The track launches at No. 40 on the Sept. 20-dated Hot 100 with 8.7 million official streams, 7.8 million in radio airplay audience and 5,000 sold in the United States Sept. 5-11, according to data tracker Luminate, after it was released Sept. 3. Boosting its profile, Gaga performed it, via a taped performance, in a medley with prior single “Abracadabra,” Sept. 7 on the MTV Video Music Awards, broadcast on CBS.

The superstar earns her 29th career top 40 Hot 100 hit and the fourth from her album Mayhem, released in March, with “The Dead Dance” now included on its deluxe edition. “Disease” hit No. 29 last November; “Die With a Smile,” with Bruno Mars, ruled for five weeks beginning in January; and “Abracadabra” conjured up a No. 13 peak in February.

Mayhem topped the Billboard 200 in its debut week in March, marking Gaga’s seventh No. 1.

The last time a Gaga album had generated as many as four top 40 Hot 100 entries? 2013, when Artpop also produced four:  “Applause” (No. 4 peak); “Dope” (No. 8); “Do What You Want,” featuring R. Kelly (No. 13); and “Venus” (No. 32).

Two other Mother Monster albums achieved the feat, led by 2011’s Born This Way, which houses five top 40 Hot 100 hits, including four top 10s: the title cut (six weeks at No. 1); “The Edge of Glory” (No. 3); “You and I” (No. 6); “Judas” (No. 10); and “Hair” (No. 12).

Plus, Gaga’s 2008 debut LP, The Fame, includes four breakout classics that surged to the Hot 100’s top 10: “Just Dance,” featuring Colby O’Donis (No. 1, three weeks); “Poke Face” (No. 1, one week); “LoveGame” (No. 5); and “Paparazzi” (No. 6).

Beyond Mayhem, “The Dead Dance” is featured in the second season of Netflix’s Wednesday, in which Gaga appears. In August, she attended Netflix and Spotify’s Graveyard Gala in New York. “I’m so excited for you to see it,” she teased of the show’s return. She added that she had a “wonderful time” working on it and shouted out star Jenna Ortega and director/executive producer Tim Burton.


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Addison Rae is on her way to scream queen status. As showcased in a new trailer for Ryan Murphy’s upcoming Monster: The Ed Gein Story posted Tuesday (Sept. 16), the TikTok sensation is set to appear in her latest horror project, playing the victim of a brutal murder.

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The latest installment of Murphy’s true-crime anthology series, as the title suggests, will focus on serial killer Ed Gein, who was suspected of killing women and robbing graves in the 1950s. Rae reportedly plays one of his alleged victims, teenager Evelyn Hartley, with the trailer showing a disturbing scene in which she is tied to a chair wearing nothing but her underwear while the titular character (portrayed by Charlie Hunnam) forcibly shoves her head downward.

At one point, the camera zooms in on Rae’s face, and she looks properly terrified as Hunnam lurches toward her.

Premiering Oct. 3, The Ed Gein Story will mark the third edition of Murphy’s Netflix show. Previous subjects have been Jeffrey Dahmer and Lyle and Erik Menendez.

Rae has previously tested out her horror acting chops by starring in Eli Roth’s 2021 slasher film Thanksgiving. Before that, she made her acting debut in 2021’s He’s All That.

The social media star has also been growing her music career this year, unleashing debut album Addison in June. The LP reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. In an August Billboard cover story, Rae told senior writer Kristin Robinson about embracing new adventures, from music to acting. “I really just never give up and never quit, no matter what,” she said. “Really, what it comes back to is that I’m fearless — I’m not afraid of much. It doesn’t really take me much to try something new and go all in, and here, I went all in.”

Check out Rae in the trailer for The Ed Gein Story above.


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Jeezy’s bringing a chance of snow to the desert. The trap pioneer has announced plans to take his TM:101 live orchestra tour to Las Vegas for a residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

The residency will include four shows and a 101-piece orchestra surrounding Jeezy during his shows at the resort’s PH Live auditorium. He’ll take the stage on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, with spooky season in full swing for the fall-themed TM:101 Live – The Masquerade. The Atlanta staple will spin the block around the holidays for another two shows on Dec. 19 and Dec. 21, just ahead of Christmas, for the reimagined TM:101 Live – The Nutcracker.

Tickets for both pairs of shows go on pre-sale starting on Wednesday (Sept. 17), while the general on-sale for the new set of shows begins on Friday (Sept. 19).

Composer Derrick Hodge will direct the orchestra, while the shows will include live DJ sets from DJ Drama and DJ Ace.

While Jeezy’s been spending 2025 celebrating 20 years of his seminal Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101 major label debut album, he’s also going to have new music for fans this fall.

Jeezy announced he’s reuniting with DJ Drama for another Gangsta Grillz project with Still Snowin’ set to arrive on Sept. 28, which is the rapper’s 48th birthday.

“We’re celebrating 20 years of TM:101, which has been amazing and a milestone in my career,” Jeezy said in a statement. “I also wanted to keep going. I feel like I’m in the zone. I’ve got my second wind in my creative space. Still Snowin’ is a Gangsta Grillz. Sept. 28 (when it releases) is my birthday. It’s one of my favorite projects ever.”

Watch the trailer for Jeezy’s Las Vegas residency below.

It’s been a massive year for Lady Gaga, who returned to the top of both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200 albums chart (with “Die With a Smile” alongside Bruno Mars and Mayhem, respectively), headlined Coachella and launched an acclaimed arena tour. This month, she continues her winning streak with an acting turn on the hit Netflix series Wednesday, and the accompanying new song “The Dead Dance.”

After an incomplete first week of tracking following its Wednesday, Sept. 3 release, “The Dead Dance” debuts at No. 40 on the Hot 100 in its first full week of release. It’s Gaga’s third top 40 hit of 2025 on the chart, following “Smile” and the No. 13-peaking “Abracadabra” — and shortly after its release, it was also included on a newly expanded edition of Mayhem, along with two additional new tracks, “Can’t Stop the High” and “Kill for Love.”

Is the song’s debut higher or lower than we expected? And is this Wednesday/”Dead Dance” era now a major part of Gaga’s 2025? Billboard staffers discuss these questions and more below.

1. Lady Gaga’s “The Dead Dance” debuts at No. 40 on the Hot 100 this week in its first full week of tracking. Is that bow lower, higher or about what you expected?

Katie Atkinson: Top 40 feels about right, as an end-of-MayhemWednesday-cameo treat for all the Little Monsters. This is a fun song with a great beat that’s cut from the same cloth as morbid disco classics like “Murder on the Dancefloor” or “Heads Will Roll,” and Gaga is one of only a handful of artists who can say Tim Burton directed a music video for them. But after a steady year of Gaga output, there might not have been as much anticipation for new music as there had been. Having said that, “The Dead Dance” did debut in the top 10 of the Global 200 chart, so international fans were hungrier for more ghoulish Gaga.

Chris Claxton: I think that’s actually lower than expected. This track had everything going for it, a major VMA performance, a viral TikTok dance, a feature in Netflix’s big summer hit Wednesday, a Tim Burton–directed video, and more yet it only peaked at No. 40. Not that No. 40 is bad by any means, but given how perfectly Lady Gaga executed every move, I was expecting it to chart much higher.

Stephen Daw: Higher that what I would have originally expected — mostly because I was not expecting a one-off single written and performed for a Netflix show to do huge numbers on the chart — but lower than I thought it might get after I heard it for the first time. It’s extremely catchy, fits into the sound of her last album and has a very well-produced music video. With all of that, and a live debut at the VMAs, I thought the song might get a bigger boost, but breaking into the upper echelons of this chart has proven to be harder and harder lately. 

Kyle Denis: Definitely lower. Between a Wednesday sync, a new music video and a VMAs performance — not to mention an accompanying dance that’s clearly jockeying for TiKTok virality à la “Bloody Mary” — I expected a 5op 25 debut at the very least.  

Andrew Unterberger: Given the unusual timing of the release, and the fact that Gaga’s solo streaming debuts aren’t always the flashiest, I think “Dead Dance” creeping into the top 40 is probably a little better than I expected. The real question is how long it can hang on the chart, which may be up to whether or not radio ends up picking up on it.

2. “The Dead Dance” received a big look at the VMAs as part of Gaga’s medley performance from her satellite gig at MSG — did the performance change your perception of or feelings about the song at all?

Katie Atkinson: I don’t love a satellite performance at an awards show – especially when the Mother herself was actually (briefly) in the building that night to pick up some hardware. This did mark the TV debut of the broken-doll choreography that perfectly matches the song, and for anyone who hasn’t yet seen the Mayhem Ball in person, it was a glimpse into Gaga’s latest live spectacle. But overall, I don’t know if the remote performance moved the needle for the song.

Chris Claxton: No, the performance didn’t change my view, I was already a fan of the song, and the show only amplified that feeling. Lady Gaga has always known how to put on a spectacle, and this track is no exception. The performance captured everything that makes her world so unique: theatrical visuals, flawless vocals, and that bold mix of art and pop she’s mastered throughout her career. It fits seamlessly into the Gaga universe, where music isn’t just heard, it’s experienced. For longtime fans, it felt like a reminder of why she’s one of the greatest performers of our time, and for newer fans, it was a perfect introduction to her artistry.

Stephen Daw: As a staunch Gaga lover, I was pretty immediately into “The Dead Dance” when it came out — so while that really well-done performance for the VMAs certainly made me happy, it didn’t really alter how much I was already into the track. 

Kyle Denis: Not particularly, but that may have been because Gaga paired “The Dead Dance” with the much stronger (and still infectious) “Abracadabra.” It was a very solid performance, though! 

Andrew Unterberger: I was impressed with how big and how immediately familiar “The Dead Dance” felt as part of that performance, like it’s always been a fixture of the Mayhem era. I do hope, though, that next time she’s in the building for the VMAs, she can hang around for long enough to perform there too.

3. Between “The Dead Dance” and her Wednesday cameo, does this moment feel like its own mini-era within Gaga’s 2025, or is it more of a footnote to her year?

Katie Atkinson: It feels more like Gaga is tying a shiny black bow on the Mayhem era than kicking off anything new. Even the Wednesday cameo fits into the aesthetic of her sixth album. Last August, she and Bruno wanted to die with a smile, and now, more than a year later, she still has one last breath in her to leave it all on the dance floor.

Chris Claxton: This honestly feels like its own mini-era. As a Wednesday fan, I can’t separate the two anymore: I associate the song with the show and the show with the song. Hearing the track and watching the performances almost feels like seeing Wednesday come to life in real time. I even half-expected Gaga to bring Jenna Ortega out during her MSG show. Either way, Lady Gaga is in the middle of an incredible 2025, and “The Dead Dance” is only adding to the momentum.

Stephen Daw: This, to me, feels like a coda for the Mayhem era, a little musical (and cinematic) motif to celebrate this particularly excellent album year that she’s found herself in. Even her appearance on Wednesday feels like it’s part and parcel with Mayhem — they’re both gothic, campy, horror-adjacent art pieces where Gaga gets to try some very fun new stuff. 

Kyle Denis:This feels like more of a footnote — especially since “The Dead Dance” has been added to Mayhem on streaming services. I don’t think “The Dead Dance” and her Wednesday season two cameo quite replicated the 2022 fervor “Blood Mary” did, which makes this month feel like an extension of Mayhem’s momentum instead of an entirely different juggernaut. And that honestly has more to do with the new Wednesday season having a far less feverish reception than the last. 

Andrew Unterberger: I think combined with Wednesday and some of the tour visuals, it’s been a really effective bonus extension of Mayhem in general — a way to keep Gaga and this era of hers in the pop culture mix at a time when album cycles usually don’t last long beyond their first month or two.

4. When you go back to Mayhem, will it be the deluxe version with this song, “Kill for Love” and “Can’t Stop the High” or are you good sticking with the original?

Katie Atkinson: Reissues often seem like afterthoughts to me, but I think “The Dead Dance” deserves to be in the mix on this project — so I’m voting for the deluxe. In the grand scheme of reissues, three extra songs is just a little icing on the already-delicious cake.

Chris Claxton: I’ll definitely be going back to the deluxe version — honestly, the more tracks the better. Songs like “Kill for Love” and “Can’t Stop the High” just add more depth to the project, and I feel like they expand the world of Mayhem in a really exciting way. The original holds up on its own, but the deluxe feels more complete, and that’s the version I see myself returning to.

Stephen Daw: I’m a big fan of all three new songs, so I will definitely be revisiting with the new additions. I especially appreciate that Gaga thought about where to place each of these songs on the album instead of simply tacking them onto the end as a series of bonus tracks. “Perfect Celebrity” bleeds perfectly into “Can’t Stop the High,” and “Kill for Love” is a great transition from “Don’t Call Tonight” into “Shadow of a Man.” The only one I wish she would’ve put at the end is “The Dead Dance,” if only because I already loved the album going from “Zombieboy” to “LoveDrug.” 

Kyle Denis: I’m…. good with the original. “Vanish Into You” is still in constant rotation. These new songs are all fine, but none of them get anywhere near my personal favorites on the original Mayhem tracklist. It’s pretty clear to me why these were relegated to bonus track/soundtrack status. 

Andrew Unterberger: I tend to be kind of a purist when it comes to album tracklists, so when I return to Mayhem it’ll almost certainly be the original version. But the new songs are all fairly strong, so if I accidentally end up queueing the deluxe instead, they’ll be pleasant surprises to me when they hit.

5. Gaga has been pretty active throughout 2025 — is there anything else she can still do to finish the year strong, or do you think she should just finish out her Mayhem Ball dates for the year and otherwise keep it low-key?

Katie Atkinson: She can (and should) coast through the end of the year on all the good will she’s built up over the past 12 months. After all, she just announced a 2026 extension of the tour, so people clearly want more Mayhem on a stage near them.

Chris Claxton: If Gaga decides to do more, that would be great, but honestly, if she just focuses on finishing out her Mayhem Ball dates, that’s more than enough. She’s been really active all year and has already given fans so much to take in. Either way, she’s been doing incredibly well, so whether she keeps the momentum going or chooses to keep it low-key, it still feels like a win for her fans.

Stephen Daw: While we have been spoiled for content with Gaga this year, I am holding out hope for just one more video. Gaga is the queen of visuals, and we have gotten four from this particular era. But the thought of there being a definitive, truly insane video for a song as chaotic and fun as “Killah” would be the cherry on top of this already very excellent year for her. 

Kyle Denis: I think she should finish out Mayhem Ball and announce her next film role to close out the year. She’s steered the Mayhem era brilliantly, especially for a pop star of her stature this deep into the streaming era. She deserves a low-maintenance end to a banner year. 

Andrew Unterberger: I don’t think she needs to do anything else — but if she can add a couple big Grammy nominations to her resumé in November, that’ll be a pretty nice note to end her extremely successful 2025 on.


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Billboard’s annual Hip-Hop / R&B LIVE took over New York City’s Webster Hall on Sept. 5 with unforgettable performances and a special partnership with State Farm®. Fans were treated to exclusive custom merch designed by HBCU alum KeShawn Sanders, celebrating culture, community, and the spirit of the genre.

Tetris Kelly: Billboard took over New York City’s Webster Hall on Friday, September 5th. We’re taking you to Billboard Hip Hop LIVE sponsored by State Farm.

Fans lined up outside the iconic venue to see Billboard rookies GELO, Odeal, and Ravyn Lenae take the stage. Billboard’s Breakthrough of the Year, Leon Thomas, closed out the night. During the event, fans were able to get custom screen printed t-shirts featuring the marquee sign. We had the chance to chat with KeShawn Sanders, the designer behind the tee. Here’s what he had to say about bringing the design to life.

KeShawn Sanders: My creative vision for this design was just recognizing the history behind this place. Like, Webster Hall has a very deep history with hip-hop and essentially black culture. It kind of brings, like, a grungy effect to it as well.

He also talked about the importance of brands like State Farm giving opportunities to young HBCU alums.

Sanders: It just highlights artists, really, and it shows that HBCU’s do cultivate a culture of understanding, intelligence and love with our crafts.

Fans were able to take home the tee as a souvenir to end an already memorable night. 

The Recording Academy has established the Music Education & Professional Development Committee (MEPD). The committee, co-chaired by industry executives Nikisha Bailey and Riggs Morales, aims to enhance synergies and amplify the Academy’s efforts around mentorship and education among the organization’s 12 chapters, Grammy U, the Grammy Museum, MusiCares, The Latin Recording Academy and the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation.

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“This committee was developed to ignite possibility through bold, hands-on learning experiences and professional development that only the academy can deliver,” Dr. Chelsey Green, chair of the Recording Academy’s board of trustees, said in a statement. “We’re dedicated to bringing our educational work to a global stage, opening doors of access and awareness to our membership like never before. … We are only beginning to unlock how powerful the academy’s exclusive Grammy educational experiences can be in shaping the future of music.”

“Nikisha and Riggs embody the spirit of intentional mentorship and bold vision that will propel this committee’s work to touch the world,” Dr. Green added. “Their leadership will expand the academy’s educational reach, connect communities, and bring a fresh approach to curating opportunities for members to sustain and grow their careers.”

Bailey has been at the nexus of artist development and technology for companies such as APG (Artist Partner Group), Atlantic Records, Nvak Collective and Universal Music Group. Bailey currently serves as a trustee from the Recording Academy’s New York chapter. She was also an ambassador for the academy’s Black Music Collective.

Morales has been a fixture in music for over two decades, first as a journalist for publications such as The Source, XXL and The Fader, and later as a record executive at Eminem’s Shady Records, Atlantic Records, Def Jam and Republic Records. Riggs has served on the Recording Academy’s national board of trustees from the New York chapter. In October 2020, he was instrumental in launching the academy’s Black Music Collective.

In his earliest days as a dance producer, John Summit spent many hours on his computer making music, then emailing it to indie dance labels he hoped might sign his demos.

He received a lot of rejections, but eventually gained traction when he signed his Touch Me EP to the Atlanta-based Psycho Disco! in 2018. A flurry of subsequent tracks were signed by Lee Foss’ Repopulate Mars, Gene Farris’ Farris Wheel Recordings and other artist-led labels. Summit pinballed from imprint to imprint as his profile rose to apex status. Now, he’s the one combing through the submissions inbox.

“I always knew I wanted to make my own label and have a home for the next generation of artists,” Summit tells Billboard. “I never expected it to grow and blow up as fast as it did.”

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Like seemingly all things attached to his name, Summit’s Experts Only is a runaway success and a new powerhouse in the dance label landscape. Launched in 2022 and distributed by Darkroom Records since early 2025, Experts Only maintains the nimbleness of an indie while also functioning like a major, because it’s run by execs with major label experience. Toby Andrews, the former president of Astralwerks, is label manager, and Jack David, who spent six years as head of electronic music, international at UMG in London, is head of marketing.

The core team is rounded out by Will Weston, who comes from throwing underground parties in New York and now manages Experts Only events — including the buzzy namesake shows Summit and his signees play across the U.S. and beyond. Named for Summit’s love of skiing, Experts Only events have taken place on the slopes of Lake Tahoe and Vail, along with more traditional dance circuit destinations.

Summit is, of course, the label’s de facto leader, working on everything from curation to marketing while also barreling through global clubs, festivals and large-scale venues (last weekend he headlined London’s O2 arena), and playing label music for tens of thousands of fans. His managers, Holt Harmon and Parker Cohen of Metatone, also oversee Experts Only alongside other core elements of Summit’s sprawling business.

“My approach is to bring together the hungriest people who bring their unique combination of experience and specialization to contribute to the team,” Harmon says. “The team is made up of people we’d crossed paths with over time who naturally felt like a fit for bringing our big visions for Experts Only to life.”

Over the past three years, those “big visions” have generated a slew of hits, a No. 1 ranking on Beatport’s label chart and a sprawling crew of affiliated artists whose work has helped define the Experts Only sound, identity and ecosystem, and whose careers outside the label have been boosted by their connection to it.

“Being on a major is maybe one of the hardest places to be in dance music right now,” says Andrews. “The curated, artist-led labels — us and the people around us like Gorgon City’s Realm, Fisher’s Catch and Release and Chris Lake’s Black Book — I think we’re people who are having a lot of fun at the moment, because people obviously admire the artists who run these labels, and everyone’s curating their own sound, their own group of artists and their own vision. I’m not sure how to do that from a major perspective in 2025.”

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This weekend (Sept. 20-21), the vision expands with the debut Experts Only festival at Randall’s Island in New York City. Co-produced by Medium Rare and Relentless Beats, the two-day fest will feature a pair of headlining sets from Summit, along with label artists like Roddy Lima, Tini Gessler and Layton Giordani. Joining them are artists who’ve been influential to the label and scene at large (“he’s the best selector of our generation,” Summit says of Experts Only NYC artist and revered curator Pete Tong) and artists whom Summit simply likes.

“The obvious next step is throwing a festival to showcase everyone,” he says. “I’ve grown close friendships with everyone, too, so it’s going to feel like a family affair and not a big corporate festival where we just tried booking DJs that would sell as many tickets as possible.

Summit is perfectly aware, however, that being one of the biggest DJs in the world helps fuel the label and the festival. “If I’m being honest,” he continues about this weekend’s event, “what does help is that I’m kind of the one that really pushes ticket sales, so from there I can just pick every act that I love.”

In a time when a lot of dance artists and labels struggle to break through the noise, this rising-tide-lifts-all-ships mentality is helping make Experts Only genuinely impactful.

Experts Only launched in 2022 with its first release, “In Chicago,” a tech house track by Summit. At the time, the imprint was called Off The Grid, although this name was changed in 2023 after an underground events company in California also named Off the Grid threatened legal action. (Summit calls the situation “a huge business lesson on my end, because it made me realize that I can’t literally do everything I want. Like, there are rules.”)

The first record after the name change was Odd Mob’s and Omnom’s “Losing Control,” a September 2023 release that Summit feels sums up the label’s sound and ethos. “It has big, commanding synths and a strong vocal hook that’s catchy and memorable. You can play it at Sound in LA, but you can also play it on the mainstage at EDC, and it works really well in either place. That’s the goal of Experts Only — versatile records that can’t be pigeonholed.”

Meanwhile, Summit’s own career had gone stratospheric following the March 2023 release of “Where You Are,” his collaboration with British vocalist Hayla, a record Andrews says “we obviously tried to sign” when he was still at Astralwerks.

This familiarity led to a conversation with Harmon and Cohen after Andrews left the label. “We knew we wanted Toby on board from the second we were able to speak about the possibility,” says Harmon.

Andrews brought a boots-on-the-ground understanding of the structure of a major-sized electronic imprint, which helped the team understand how they’d scale. To do it, they’d need a dedicated marketing person, so David was hired. “If it wasn’t John, and if it wasn’t Experts Only, I probably wouldn’t have considered it,” David says. “The fact that it was one of the biggest DJs on the planet, along with Holt and Parker, sold it to me. When those guys do something, they do it properly, and they wanted to go all in on the label.”

Summit maintains his position as the label’s chief A&R, creative guide and musical soothsayer. (He “doesn’t sit in the background and let us get on with it,” says David.) Summit declares he “genuinely loves marketing” and, crucially, is also behind the decks somewhere in the world every weekend playing releases and testing music.

“The key difference [between us and a major] is having a label figurehead who’s a live act and is out there able to support the records,” says Andrews. “On a promotional level, we don’t have to go chase for crowd reactions or proof that the records we’re signing are the right ones.” 

Summit’s touring schedule also demands that he constantly finds new music, which he says leads him to “dig through demos to see if I can get anything worth playing. If you think about a major label, their A&R is in some boardroom or whatever, my A&R room is literally playing to a crowd of 10,000 people and seeing if it works.”

The music that works is brought to the team, with the team also showing Summit music they think he might like. “Sometimes you send him something you think he’s going to like, and he’s not into it,” says Andrews. “Then you send him something unexpected, thinking it’s a shot in the dark, and he hears something in it. He’s very thoughtful and definitely does not react to something just because it’s shiny.”

This high level of curation means a slower release schedule than most dance imprints, with Experts Only dropping just two to four tracks a month. “We stay away from weekly, because I don’t think it gives everything a chance to breathe,” says Andrews. “We want people to notice [the music]. We don’t want it to become like ‘Here’s the weekly Experts Only email.’ We don’t want it to lose that glamour.”

The approach also allows David and Summit to make comprehensive marketing plans for each release — rollouts that can include multi-post social rollouts and David hand-selecting territories he thinks each track would work in.

“It’s not a case of just sending the record to our entire contact list and hoping someone picks it up,” he says. “When you do that over and over, people kind of switch off to you because you’re not tailoring anything.”

Instead, for example, David will take a new song he thinks is in line with what dance radio stations in Berlin or Amsterdam typically play and personally send it to his contacts there. “If they like it and start playing it and their audience reacts, you’re going to see it on the Shazam or Spotify viral chart,” says David. “Then you’ve got data, and you haven’t hit up anyone else yet, but you’ve slowly started lighting the fire in that market.”

David says this strategy worked well for Colorado-born producer Disco Lines, who released “Wide Open” on Experts Only this past January and for whom the metaphorical fires were subsequently lit when he released his global smash collab with Tinashe, “No Broke Boys,” in June.

All artists who release on Experts Only receive weekly reports with high-quality data on the track’s streams, market traction and more, with the aim being for every artist to have a rollout experience that better positions them in their career at large.

“We want to promote that family feel,” says David. “When you sign a record to this label, even though we’re only signing one, we don’t just work that song and say anything outside that isn’t our problem. We want artists to leave in a much stronger position than when they first released their record.”

John Summit

John Summit

Sam Neill

The ability to better position artists is buoyed by the fact that they can be booked for Experts Only events. Rising Brazilian producer Roddy Lima released two records on the label in March and July of this year, was featured on a recent Experts Only compilation (special projects the label has done since its inception), made an episode for the Experts Only mix series, played the label’s Miami Music Week showcase and will play the festival this weekend.

Other artists whose names are linked with the label include Max Styler, Chris Avantgarde and Kevin DeVries. And it’s not just focused on rising artists, as the label has released music by legends and peers like Green Velvet, Gorgon City, Subtronics and Tape B. Summit’s solo releases also come out via the Experts Only/Darkroom Records partnership.

“John excels not only as an artist and creative but also as an executive,” says Darkroom CEO Justin Lubliner. “Having cultivated such a strong relationship on the creative side, it was a natural decision to partner on distribution for his Experts Only label and continue to build with him holistically.” 

Experts Only ranked No. 1 on Beatport’s global label chart in 2024 and for much of 2025 so far. The achievement is evidence that, says Andrews, “we’re putting out records that are resonating with the core base of DJs, producers and club fans. We know we’re doing a good job servicing the right songs and marketing plans to them.”

He adds that the team is also “obviously proud of the gains the label has taken in terms of overall sales volume.”

Dance music is an extremely fast-paced genre where songs can come and go on TikTok in a flash. Andrews emphasizes that Experts Only isn’t chasing virality. “We’re not signing things because of momentum and then trying to retrofit that into an Expert Only release. John is much happier to release a song that he’s played, that he believes in, that’s by a producer that he wants to support, than me finding something on the internet and sending it to him. We’re not looking for one off moments — he wants to build the next generation of experts.”

Barbra Streisand is remembering one of her most iconic onscreen love interests following Robert Redford‘s death at the age of 89 on Tuesday (Sept. 16).

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Shortly after the legendary actor’s publicist confirmed in a statement to the press that he’d passed away in his Utah home earlier that morning, the Broadway icon shared a black-and-white photo of herself and Redford circa 1973 on Instagram. “Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy,” Streisand wrote in her caption, referencing the quintessential Sydney Pollack romance in which the pair starred as star-crossed lovers.

“We were such opposites: he was from the world of horses; I was allergic to them!” she continued. “Yet, we kept trying to find out more about each other, just like the characters in the movie. Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting — and one of the finest actors ever.”

“The last time I saw him, when he came to lunch, we discussed art and decided to send each other our first drawings,” she added. “He was one of a kind and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him.”

Though both Streisand and Redford boast two of the most illustrious acting careers in Hollywood history, their performances in The Way We Were are arguably some of their most beloved. The former played Katie Morosky while the latter starred as Hubbell Gardiner, two opposites who nevertheless found themselves attracted to one another. Streisand’s performance of the film’s theme, “The Way We Were,” won best original song at the Academy Awards.

“It was great fun to work with Bob,” the actress wrote of Redford in her 2023 My Name Is Barbra memoir, according to People. “He and I had a real rapport and the audience could sense it. It’s hard to explain why a certain combination of two actors works, but in one interview, Bob tried: ‘Barbra … her femininity brings out the masculinity in a man, and her masculinity brings out a man’s femininity, vulnerability, romanticism, whatever you want to call it.’ No wonder I liked him. He’s very perceptive.”

In her statement on Redford’s death, publicist Cindi Berger noted the acclaimed performer had died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.”

“He will be missed greatly,” she added. “The family requests privacy.”

Redford’s career extends far past his unforgettable performances in films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men. He was also a distinguished director of projects such as Ordinary People — for which he won the best director Oscar in 1980 — as well as a devoted environmentalist. He is a five-time Golden Globe winner.

He is survived by his wife, artist Sibylle Szaggars, daughters Shauna Redford Schlosser and Amy Redford, and seven grandchildren.


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