He’s worked in radio, written stories for a broadcasting trade magazine and conducted data analysis for the U.S. Air Force and the National Security Agency (NSA).

His life experience to date has prepared Russ Penuell to become Billboard’s country, Christian and gospel charts and data analyst on Sept. 16, replacing senior chart manager Jim Asker, who concluded 10 years of full-time work in the role in August.

“I don’t know that there’s been anything else that I’ve done that seems so fitting,” Penuell says. “It just kind of all came together.”

A native of Logansport, La., Penuell’s grandfather published a chain of newspapers in the state, and young Russ emulated his elder by hawking fact sheets and short stories at the side of the road much as other kids would sell lemonade. By his teens, Penuell was obsessed with another form of media, listening regularly to weekend countdown shows and taking them an extra step.

“I had a notepad and wrote down the songs, trying to predict where they would land on the countdown, not knowing what was going on behind it,” he recalls. “I was always fascinated with that.”

As a teen, Penuell badgered a local radio station for a job until management finally let him haul trash, and it grew into on-air work. When he landed a gig at KXKS Shreveport, La., the cluster included Country Radio Hall of Fame member Frank Page, whose 58-year tenure at KWKH included introducing Elvis Presley when The King debuted on the historic Louisiana Hayride in 1954. Penuell learned from Page’s work habits and stories on a weekend gospel show, developing a passion in the process for multiple formats of Christian music.

He moved on to jobs with WCKT Fort Myers, Fla.; WFUS Tampa, Fla.; KPLX Dallas-Fort Worth; and WSM-FM Nashville, where he served as PD. That led to a five-year stint as radio editor for trade publication Country Aircheck and subsequent work with CMT.

Penuell transitioned into public service from there, becoming an intelligence analyst with the U.S. Air Force and the NSA. It was, perhaps, an unusual career move, but it heightened his fascination with data.

“They put you through intense training in pattern recognition, trying to be objective and thinking outside of the box,” Penuell recalls. “If it taught me anything, it’s the importance of trying to look at a data set from all angles. Very often, it was stuff that you just didn’t even think was related, and then you start putting the puzzle pieces together and you realize you found important information through a more holistic approach.”

His extensive background will benefit Penuell — and Billboard — as he takes on the new position.

“We’re excited to welcome Russ to the Billboard family,” says Billboard executive vp of charts and data partnerships Silvio Pietroluongo. “His wide range of experiences with country and religious music genres, along with his data analytics skills, will bring a unique perspective to the role. Russ is only the fourth person to hold this position in the past 35 years, following Lynn Shults, Wade Jessen and Jim Asker, and I’m certain he’ll prove to be a worthy successor to that legendary trio.”

Asker, who will teach college courses after leaving Billboard, will continue with the company on a part-time basis to assist in the transition.

Demi Lovato is jumping into the deep end of her new music era with the announcement of a new album arriving this fall.

The singer-songwriter revealed on Monday (Sept. 15) that their ninth studio LP, It’s Not That Deep, will drop on Oct. 24, sharing the project’s cover and a few remarks on Instagram. “this music is a reflection of where i am now,” Lovato wrote triumphantly. “so proud of all the work I’ve done, and now, it’s time to celebrate and have some fun!!!”

On the front of It’s Not That Deep — which Lovato wrote is the “cover art of my dreams” in her post — the vocalist stands nude, covered by a pink dress still on its hanger as more than a dozen people go about their business in a confusing scene that unfolds around the star. A pair of men play chess, one little boy runs with a soccer ball in his arms, and one woman places a pair of headphones over a man’s ears.

“we created the most beautifully chaotic scene surrounding me, and you know i had to lock the f–k in,” Lovato wrote of the artwork. “and thank you to my lovatics — i love you and i’ll never let you go.”

It’s Not That Deep will mark the Camp Rock alum’s first proper album since 2022’s Holy Fvck, which reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200. While that LP was distinctly rock-inspired, Lovato is reportedly pivoting back to dance-pop on their latest album, as evidenced by lead single “Fast” and follow-up track “Here All Night.”

The project will also mark Lovato’s first album since marrying husband Jordan “Jutes” Lutes, with whom she collaborated on tracks on Holy Fvck. The two musicians tied the knot this past May.

See Lovato’s announcement below.

Pledis Entertainment is taking accountability after a mishap involving “defective” fireworks left at least two fans injured at the SEVENTEEN‘s recent concert.

In a statement posted to Weverse shortly after the show in Incheon, South Korea, on Saturday (Sept. 13), the entertainment company explained that some of the explosives used “during the final segment” of SEVENTEEN’s performance “unexpectedly fell toward the audience,” hurting several individuals in the crowd.

“While a professional company established safe distances and directions and conducted repeated inspections before the concert, we understand that this incident occurred due to a defective product,” the Korean-language statement read, according to Google’s English translation. “We deeply apologize to all audience members who were surprised or inconvenienced by this sudden situation.”

The message went on to share that “the two audience members confirmed to have been injured at the venue received immediate treatment at the temporary clinic within the concert hall and returned home,” noting that Pledis will “actively support” those fans in any further treatments they might need.

“We will send a separate message to audience members on the day of the concert to determine whether there were any additional damages and to determine the specific circumstances,” it continued. “We sincerely apologize once again for any inconvenience or concern this may have caused. We will continue to prioritize the safety of our audiences and do our best to create an even safer performance environment.”

The concert in question was the kickoff show on SEVENTEEN’s New_ World Tour, taking place at Incheon’s Asiad Main Stadium. The band played a second show at the venue the following night, but the defective special effects were excluded from the program.

After the first show in Incheon, fans shared their experiences with the stray fireworks on social media. “It was really dangerous,” one person wrote on X, sharing photos of their burned shirt and thanking fellow audience members for helping to “put out the embers on my clothes with their bare hands.”

“I went to the burn specialist hospital emergency room yesterday for treatment, and it’s at least a 2nd-degree burn!” they continued in the replies, according to the platform’s English translation. “They say burn treatment needs to be monitored, and it could be a 3rd-degree burn or a deep 2nd-degree burn.”

As a “more thorough safety inspection” takes place regarding the tour’s fireworks, according to the Weverse statement, SEVENTEEN will continue the trek with two shows in Hong Kong at the end of September. The group will then perform a string of shows in the United States in October followed by a Japan leg in November.

The tour comes as members WOOZI and HOSHI are beginning their mandatory enlistments to the South Korean military, with the former starting service on Monday (Sept. 15) and the latter following suit one day afterward; JEONGHAN and WONWOO are already performing their military duties. According to Yonhap, WOOZI — who was already sporting a military ‘do — was spotted in the audience of the Sunday show. Afterward, he wrote on Weverse, “Today was my first time looking from outside. I was quite happy about that.”

SEVENTEEN last dropped an album in May, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart with Happy Burstday.

Just a day before his sold-out show at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, regional Mexican star Julión Álvarez posted an “urgent” announcement on his social media, informing the 50,000 fans who purchased a ticket to the May 24-dated show that it was cancelled.  

The reason: Álvarez’s work visa had been revoked and the artist could no longer legally enter the United States. The last-minute cancellation not only led to a total loss of over $2 million that went into the production of the event, but it also derailed an entire promotional plan that had successfully launched a month before with three sold-out dates at SoFi Stadium in L.A., marking the long-awaited return of the norteño artist. The “Box Office King,” who hadn’t performed in the U.S. since 2017, was once again sidelined by visa issues. To this day, his highly anticipated 4218 Tour USA 2025 remains in limbo.  

Over the past few months, an increasing number of acts — from Mexico, Cuba and other Latin American countries — have publicly or privately dealt with visa hurdles that have led to tour or show cancellations in the U.S. For some, their O-1 or P-1B visas, generally reserved for artists and musicians, have been suddenly revoked. Others have found their applications under stricter vetting by multiple U.S. government agencies who, under the Trump administration, have only made an already complex process even more complicated.  

The impact a denied or revoked visa can have on an artist varies case by case, taking into consideration where a particular artist is in their career. But either way, the recent cases have shaken up the Latin music industry. “Touring the U.S. is an important part of a release plan, whether it’s a bar with 600 capacity or an arena,” says Tomas Cookman, founder of Nacional Records and the LAMC, and partner at Magnus Talent Agency. “Many musicians feel that touring here is an important part of their process and trajectory as a global artist. It’s difficult to be at a certain level and not have toured the U.S., especially as a Latin artist who can visit so many Latino-populated hubs within the country that historically has always supported tons of live shows.” 

Nonimmigrant visas are not an indefinite type of visa; they offer a temporary stay in the United States for a specific purpose, as opposed to, for example, a green card or a permanent resident card that grants the holder the status of a lawful permanent resident. While visa revocations are not common, they can happen to anyone, at any time, holding a nonimmigrant visa and can occur for multiple reasons, including criminal activity, security concerns or violation of visa terms, to name a few factors.  

The State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs generally does not publish statistics on revocations. But since Trump took office in January, the State Department has revoked over 6,000 student visas, to name one classification, according to news reports. “No one knows how it’s being brought to the attention of those who are in the position to make these revocation decisions, or why they are deciding to do this now,” immigration attorney Daniel Hanlon previously told Billboard. “It could be completely politically motivated.” 

Regional Mexican artists have mainly borne the brunt of this situation with publicly known cases for Álvarez; Los Alegres del Barranco, who lost their visa after the group portrayed images “glorifying” drug kingpin “El Mencho” at a concert in Mexico in March; and Grupo Firme, which canceled its participation at La Onda Fest in June over visas delayed in administrative processing.  

For one executive at a regional Mexican indie label, who prefers to remain anonymous and is not associated with the aforementioned acts, their marquee artist suddenly having to cancel shows in the U.S. over visa uncertainty led to higher-than-usual stress levels, to the point where they questioned if the company could survive those cancelations. “When our main source of income loses a large percentage of that income, you enter a moment of uncertainty because we didn’t know if this would be remedied quickly or if there was a bigger problem than just losing a visa,” the executive explains.  

Even today, when Latin music has gone global and there’s a huge number of Latin artists touring in other markets, including Europe, the U.S. remains the No. 1 market for any artist, and losing a gig here is a major financial blow. “You get guys like Firme and Julión who gross $10 million in one night [in the U.S.],” CMN’s Henry Cárdenas previously told Billboard. “This is where you make the big money — you don’t make that money in Mexico, with all due respect.”  

Besides touring in the U.S., promoting their work here — from radio shows to making the rounds at DSPs and attending major award shows that take place in the U.S. like the Billboard Latin Music Awards and Latin Grammys — remains crucial for any artist. The country continues to be the No. 1 global music market, with music revenue growing 2.2% year-on-year, according to the IFPI Global Music Report 2025, powered by streaming revenue that is greater than in any other country.  

The per-stream rate varies from country to country, but a stream coming from Mexico is worth about 2% of a stream coming from the U.S., Josh Norek, president of Regalias Digitales, previously explained to Billboard. For a DSP like Spotify, a premium account is worth more on a per-stream basis than a free account. “You go from paying like $10 a month for Spotify Premium here to the [more common] free ad-supported tier in Mexico, Guatemala or Venezuela and it will generate almost nothing,” added Norek. That makes it even more important for Latin artists to build fan bases in the U.S., given how dominant streaming is in the current music business. 

For Cuban artists — who have another set of challenges to deal with due to the ever-shifting diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba, and sanctions that have cut off the island from Spotify or Amazon Music (YouTube is available but it’s not monetized) — the impact goes beyond just financial. “There’s a toll on their mental health as well,” says Collin Laverty, whose expertise on U.S.-Cuba relations has led him to work closely with several Cuban artists, including Cimafunk. “Being able to travel to the U.S. and tour is an important outlet economically and psychologically, so complicating that on the immigration front is so detrimental to a career but also the psyche.”   

The most common issue for Cuban artists under President Trump is approval delays and extreme vetting at U.S. embassies and consulates following the Trump-imposed travel ban on several countries, including Venezuela and Cuba. The ban partially restricts and limits the entry of both immigrants and nonimmigrants from those nations. “There’s still a legal avenue but it’s hard to meet the threshold to get approval for a visa and root out the politics,” Laverty says. Because Cuba is on the state sponsors of terrorism list under the Trump-imposed travel ban, “90% of visa applicants get sent to admin review status, which is a multi-agency review that can take months,” he adds. “They are almost always approved but almost always delayed, so that makes it difficult for promoters and festivals to even book Cuban artists.” 

Travel restrictions for Cuban artists already existed pre-Trump. In the early 2000s, U.S. visa restrictions tightened under the Bush administration, which made it difficult to get permission to travel to the U.S. During that time, the U.S. State Department’s crackdown on Cuban visitors impacted Latin Grammy-nominated artists who secured visas just days before the event, while others, for lack of visas, were forced to miss the Latin Grammys ceremony in Miami in 2003. That was reversed during the Obama administration which, like the Biden administration, facilitated visas as much as possible, allowing for more cultural exchange between the two countries, albeit with some challenges created outside of the executive branch.  

Trump’s latest administration overturned that policy just as a burgeoning new urban movement, led by a new generation of reparto artists, has gained momentum outside of Cuba, including in Miami, home to the largest Cuban population outside of Cuba.  

“It’s more essential now than ever for an artist to be able to promote their music in the U.S.,” says Laverty. “It’s a tough reality to be a Cuban artist and feel trapped because Cuba is going through a real difficult moment economically, socially and politically. There is a fan base here, with more than 2 million Cuban Americans living in the U.S. Sure, you can go to Europe and Latin America but there are less Cuban nationals living there, less money, less industry infrastructure. And, if you’re trying to get nominated for an award and you can’t participate in showcases or in person meetings, it makes it really difficult for career growth.”