Luke Bryan caught up with Lindsey Stirling on the red carpet at the ACM Honors 2025.
Cody Johnson caught up with Lindsey Stirling on the red carpet at the ACM Honors 2025.
Jessie Jo Dillon caught up with Lindsey Stirling on the red carpet at the ACM Honors 2025.
Carly Pearce caught up with Lindsey Stirling on the red carpet at the ACM Honors 2025.
Amy Grant caught up with Lindsey Stirling on the red carpet at the ACM Honors 2025.
As Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem sits at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for the 11th non-consecutive week, Billboard has learned that his team will not submit the album, any of the 37 songs on the voluminous set, or Wallen for consideration for the 68th Grammy Awards, to be held Feb. 1, 2026.
Hits Daily Double broke the news earlier Tuesday (Aug. 19) that the album would not be submitted, but Billboard understands that the action goes further and includes not putting Wallen forward in any category, such as best country solo performance, or any of the seven songs that he co-wrote in any song categories in any genre or general field.
However, Wallen and his camp are not stopping the other songwriters from submitting their works from the album, which has already spawned four No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and three chart-toppers on the Hot Country Songs chart. It has also generated one No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Wallen’s duet with Tate McRae, “What I Want.”
Wallen, whose 2021 Big Loud/Republic album Dangerous: The Double Album is Billboard‘s No. 1 album of the first 25 years of the 21st century, is removing himself from consideration from an awards body whose voters have almost totally ignored his musical contributions.
The only nominations that the country superstar has received in his nearly 10-year career were for his work on Post Malone’s F1 Trillion album. Their chart-topping duet, “I Had Some Help,” received nods for best country duo/group performance and best country song for the awards presented this past February. Wallen has never received any nominations for any works from his solo albums.
As of this week, Wallen has logged 40 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — a total matched or exceeded by only eight artists in the chart’s nearly 70-year history. All eight of those artists have won multiple Grammys.
Additionally, Wallen is one of only 19 artists to log 30 or more weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Wallen and The Monkees are the only artists with 30 or more weeks at No. 1 who have not won a Grammy.
First-round voting for the Grammy Awards runs Oct. 3-15 with nominations due to be announced Nov. 7.
Wallen’s action is not unprecedented among superstars. Both The Weeknd and Drake previously decided not to submit in the Grammy process. Their actions also followed years of feeling under-recognized.
The Weeknd decided to boycott the ceremony following his controversial shut-out at the 2021 ceremony. The R&B superstar was thought to be a strong contender for album of the year for his fourth LP After Hours, which spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, as well as for record and song of the year for his smash hit “Blinding Lights,” which became Billboard ‘s biggest Hot 100 song of all time. But when the 2021 Grammy Award nominations were revealed, The Weeknd’s name was nowhere to be found.
The Weeknd initially expressed his frustration toward the Recording Academy by tweeting, “The Grammys remain corrupt.” In his second Twitter missive, he wrote that he went from planning a Grammys performance to being “not invited.” The Weeknd later stated in a Billboard cover story that his snub in the top categories felt like “a sucker punch.”
Like The Weeknd, Wallen may find himself nominated despite his decision not to submit, for example, if McRae’s team submits their duet. The Weeknd was up for three awards at the 2022 ceremony thanks to his contributions to recordings by Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Doja Cat.
Drake blasted the Grammys following The Weeknd’s surprising shut-out at the 2021 Grammys. “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after,” he wrote on Instagram. “This is a great time for somebody to start something new that we can build up over time and pass on to the generations to come.”
Leading up to the 2022 Grammy Awards, Drake was initially announced as a nominee for best rap performance (for “Way 2 Sexy,” featuring Future and Young Thug) and best rap album (for Certified Lover Boy), but asked to have his name withdrawn from contention for both awards on Dec. 6, 2021. The Recording Academy honored his request and officially removed his nominations for both awards.
Since then, Drake has received eight nominations – all for collaborations with other artists.
Wallen’s representative declined to comment. Representatives from Big Loud, Republic and the Recording Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The singer and actress Apollonia, a Prince protegee who co-starred in his 1984 film Purple Rain, alleges in a new lawsuit that the estate of the late pop icon is trying to “steal” her name in bad faith trademark proceedings.
Apollonia (Patty Kotero) brought the claims in a Tuesday (Aug. 19) complaint against Paisley Park Enterprises LLC, one of the entities that has managed Prince’s affairs since his death in 2016. Apollonia rose to fame playing a character of the same name in Purple Rain, and has since used the moniker for music releases, acting credits and a podcast hosting gig.
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“All of the goodwill associated with the name and trademark ‘Apollonia’ for the past four decades is attributable to plaintiff,” writes her lawyer, Daniel Cislo, in the complaint. “There is only one Apollonia, and Apollonia is the source of the goods and services provided under this name. Therefore, to protect her brand, Ms. Kotero owns several ‘Apollonia’ trademark applications and registrations.”
According to the lawsuit, Prince never had an issue with Apollonia using this name professionally and even encouraged her to do so. But after the singer’s death, Apollonia says, his estate has been on a mission to “acquire all things related to Prince even though it has no legal right to do so.”
Apollonia alleges that as part of that mission, Prince’s heirs have “embarked on an aggressive campaign” to cancel her trademarks and claim ownership of the name “Apollonia” at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).
Prince’s estate has allegedly claimed that Apollonia signed over her rights to this name as part of her Purple Rain movie contract in the 1980s. But she argues in Tuesday’s lawsuit that this is legally meritless.
“Even assuming arguendo that Plaintiff signed any agreement decades ago, the statute of limitations for breach of contract expired long ago, and neither Prince nor anyone on his behalf ever requested Apollonia cease using her name or demanded she stop using her name on a personal or professional level,” the lawsuit reads. “Contrary to defendants’ claims before the TTAB, Prince and Apollonia were friends, and he wanted her to be successful as Apollonia.”
Apollonia is now seeking a court declaration that she, not Prince’s heirs, owns this name. She claims the Prince estate’s trademark litigation is threatening “to disrupt not only Apollonia’s livelihood, but also her identity.”
Legal reps for the Prince estate did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Apollonia’s song from Purple Rain, “Sex Shooter,” spent six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984. She continued collaborating with Prince after the film, providing vocals on his No. 25 hit “Take Me With U” and co-writing the Bangles hit “Manic Monday” with the High Priest of Pop. She went on to appear in the soap opera series Falcon Crest and release the self-titled album Apollonia via Warner Bros. in 1988.
Ariana DeBose is mourning the death of her mother, Gina Michelle DeBose, who died on Aug. 17 at age 57 after battling Stage 3 ovarian cancer.
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In a touching post on Instagram on Tuesday (Aug. 19), DeBose wrote: “At 10:28 am on August 17th my gorgeous, hilarious, outspoken, warrior queen Mother – Gina Michelle DeBose – passed away due to complications with stage 3 ovarian cancer. I couldn’t be more proud of her and how she fought this insidious disease over the past 3 years. She was 57 years young.
“She was my favorite person, my biggest fan and toughest critic. My best friend. She was my date to every important moment in my professional and personal life – and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It had always been the two of us for as long as I can remember. Through lean times, and there were many of those & green times. She fought like hell to give me a good life, a good education and every opportunity in the world. I wouldn’t be where I am without her. I meant it when I said my Oscar “is just as much hers as it is mine.”
DeBose did just say that when she won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 2022 for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s reboot of West Side Story. “I’m gonna wrap this up and talk about my family. My mother, who is here tonight. Mama, I love you with my whole heart, and this is as much yours as it is mine.”
DeBose had earlier received a Tony nomination for playing “Disco Donna” in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical in 2018. She also hosted the Tony Awards three years running from 2022-24. She was the first person of color to host three times in the show’s history, which dates to 1947.
In her post, Ariana DeBose, 34, said her mom’s “life’s purpose, aside from being my mom, was educating young people. She passed just shy of delivering 30 years of service as a public school teacher (most currently 8th grade social studies). And, my god, did she thrive in a classroom. Her creativity knew no bounds. She was beloved and incredibly respected by her colleagues and students alike.”
DeBose concluded her salute by saying: “For the record: my greatest and most proud achievement will always be to have made her proud. I love you mommy. Now travel amongst the seas, the winds and the angels as I know you always loved to do.”
“Six thousand seats is the sweet spot for Live Nation right now,” company CEO Michael Rapino said during a press conference in Salt Lake City on Tuesday (Aug. 19) to unveil one of the company’s newest venues, a 6,000-seat concert hall being constructed in partnership with Smith Entertainment Group.
Live Nation is currently on a building spree, developing more than a dozen mid-sized venues across the country as it looks to create new opportunities for artists like Bailey Zimmerman and Goose to connect with fans. Many of the venues, like the downtown Salt Lake City concert hall detailed during the press conference, will anchor mixed-use developments and host an average of 200 events annually, including an estimated 100 concerts, Rapino explained.
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The new venue is part of a larger effort to expand Live Nation’s presence in sports districts across North America including MGM Music Hall at Boston’s Fenway Park, Citizens at The Wylie in Pittsburgh, a new concert venue in downtown Indianapolis being built with Boxcar Development and the new Centennial Yards project in downtown Atlanta near Mercedes Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Salt Lake City project is meant to capitalize on the traffic from both the Utah Jazz and Salt Lake’s new National Hockey League franchise, the Utah Mammoth. The Mammoth are set to open their second season in October and draw 1 million people downtown, where the new venue will sit at the heart of the city’s planned Sports, Entertainment, Culture and Convention Center District.
The two companies didn’t specify how much the venue would cost to build or how long it would take, although Ryan Smith, chairman/CEO of Smith Entertainment Group — which manages the Delta Center, the 20,000-capacity home to the Jazz — did note that the two companies were sharing the project’s costs via what he described as a joint venture.
Rapino said Live Nation wouldn’t likely have built a venue in Salt Lake City without a partner like Smith Entertainment Group, noting, “We would fly over Salt Lake. It wouldn’t be a market we would play, so this can open a great opportunity and we’re thrilled to be part of it.”
“When you’re building 6,000 [capacity venues], it’s a little riskier,” Rapino says. “If you’re in a suburb or the middle of nowhere — because you’re debating what part of the city will drive to that show — it makes it a little harder. That’s where we end up maybe doing 3,000 or 4,000 [capacity], but when you can be in the center of a downtown where you know the nucleus will be, it just opens up rare real estate. So other than Fenway — and probably we’ve got 40 of these on the on the docket that we are exploring — they’re all more mixed use outside of the downtown. So this is a rare opportunity.”
Global dance music production company Insomniac Events claims in a bombshell new lawsuit that a trio of Miami club operators is trying to “bully” its way into total control of two of the city’s dance venues — including by threatening to launch a “smear campaign” against Insomniac CEO Pasquale Rotella.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 4 in Florida federal court, targets promoters David Sinopoli, Davide L. Danese and Jose Gabriel Coloma Cano. The three men, referred to in the lawsuit as “CDD,” are longstanding figures in Miami nightlife who assumed control of the city’s famed Club Space in 2016. They are also half of a now-soured partnership with Insomniac for the joint operation of the Club Space venue and upstart club Factory Town. At the heart of the lawsuit are allegations that the trio failed to meet agreed-upon obligations regarding the operation of Factory Town — claims the trio refutes.
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“This is not a case of how David stood against Goliath. Rather, it is a case about how no good deed goes unpunished,” Insomniac’s lawyers wrote in the legal complaint. “Insomniac invested in and elevated the enterprise of three relatively unknown event promoters, and, after making millions of dollars, those three promoters simply got too big for their britches.”
But speaking to Billboard on Tuesday (Aug. 19), a person with an interest in Club Space says it’s actually Insomniac that soured the partnership, by changing the terms of the Factory Town deal. CDD is now preparing a counter-lawsuit against Insomniac, this person says.
“Insomniac is not acting like a partner that you can do business with,” this person continues. “The things that they are doing at this business don’t make sense for anyone other than Insomniac. CDD are good stewards of capital, and they don’t want to do things that are going to harm Club Space. And it seems like Insomniac is prioritizing itself over Space, over basically everything.”
Insomniac’s lawsuit alleges that before the company got involved in Club Space in 2019, CDD was “cruising in mediocrity” and operating the legendary Miami venue “on a whim without so much as an ownership interest in the very name and brand that the business relied upon for its success.”
Insomniac, a company in which Live Nation has a 50% ownership stake, says it rescued CDD by buying a majority stake in Club Space in 2019, licensing these important IP rights and negotiating a long-term lease with the venue’s landlord. Club Space’s revenue increased by 700% over the next six years, according to the lawsuit.
In the wake of this success, Insomniac and CDD decided to work together on a second Miami venue: Factory Town. That’s when the trouble allegedly began. Insomniac says it committed $40 million in funding to the Factory Town project, only for CDD to back out in 2024 and start making “outrageous demands” for millions of dollars and increased ownership percentages. (The person with an interest in Club Space refutes these claims, saying that Insomniac attempted to go behind the back of CDD and independently negotiate a long-term lease with the Factory Town landlord.)
“Tellingly, the CDD parties did not raise any credible misconduct or violations of contract, common law or statute as the basis for their demands,” reads the complaint. “Instead, CDD threatened to file a lawsuit containing a thirty-page smear campaign against Insomniac’s CEO and founder — Pasquale Rotella — along with a pre-planned press campaign to go with it.”
Insomniac and CDD took their contract dispute to private mediation, which also quickly soured, according to the lawsuit. Insomniac alleges that CDD then falsely started telling industry players — such as a “reputable promoter” in Ibiza — that they had “won their lawsuit against Insomniac” and now had exclusive control over Factory Town.
According to the lawsuit, CDD is now trying to wrest control of two upcoming Miami events — the Halloween party Hocus Pocus and programming during Art Basel Miami in early December — from Insomniac. The company says it has the contractual right to spearhead these events, but CDD has been selling tickets and making offers to talent without its approval.
“What has become evidently clear is that CDD’s intentions throughout the dispute were never to find a resolution,” write Insomniac’s lawyers. “Instead, CDD has been working to bully Insomniac and push it out of the parties’ partnership.”
Insomniac’s exact legal claims against CDD are redacted, as is much of the publicly filed complaint. But the company says it’s bringing the lawsuit to protect its operations at Club Space and Factory Town and get recourse for “millions of dollars in damages and irreparable harm to its business.”
