Music Biz Features

Human pop stars? That’s so pre-pandemic. I was skeptical, a few weeks ago, as I approached the doors to a taping of Alter Ego, Fox’s new singing competition with a high-tech twist, but itfelt the same as entering any old sound stage —at least for the first minute or so. …

In the quest toward rock stardom, buzz is nearly impossible to bottle — everyone who’s made it in the music industry knows it’s at first a grueling long-distance run, then suddenly a give-it-all-you’ve-got sprint — so in the summer of 2020, when music critics showered the Chicago post-punk foursome Ganser …

This story appears in Rolling Stone‘s 2021 Future of Music issue, a special project delving into the next era of the multibillion-dollar hitmaking business. Read the other stories here. The biggest companies in music agree: Streaming manipulation, a practice that falsely inflates artists’ stream counts and reduces payouts for smaller …

Everyone can be certain, but not everyone can be right. The music industry is currently suffering from an abundance of the former, as warring factions debate a potential change to the core business model of music streaming. To recap: Politicians in the UK have, for months, been gathering oral and …

In 2017, a stage diver landed on a man’s head at a punk music festival in New Jersey. That man, who experienced significant spinal damage, successfully sued the show’s organizer for $2 million. Will we see an explosion in these types of liability lawsuits in the coming months, as music …

Kaskade hasn’t been able to step onto a real stage in a year. But on Friday night (March 26th), the DJ will host a flashy, color-filled virtual rave that serves as Fortnite‘s first concert of 2021. Kaskade’s show is by no means random: He’s been the poster boy for Psyonix …

Big Hit Entertainment, home to K-Pop superstars BTS, floated a portion of its company on the Korean stock market last Thursday, October 15th. Thanks to stock-buying demand whipped up by BTS megafans, Big Hit’s share price opened at a wild $235 (270,000 South Korean Won) — double its initial public …

Two weeks ago, Brian Fallon, known for his work as a solo artist and a member of the Gaslight Anthem, scheduled his first Zoom songwriting session with Jason Wade and Steve Stout of the band Lifehouse. “We didn’t have anything specific planned,” Wade says. “But we were texting back and …

For years, Chris Cornell — the CEO of Manhead Merch, which handles T-shirts, posters, and other music merch for artists, including Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and Alanis Morissette — considered his industry to be recession-proof. But when COVID-19 struck and shuttered concerts, Cornell found his company abruptly …

(UPDATE 3/5): In a statement provided to Rolling Stone and available in part on Instagram, Megan The Stallion expressed her gratitude that the court denied her former label 1501 Certified Entertainment their request to dissolve the temporary restraining order. “I’m extremely pleased that 1501 and Carl Crawford were denied the …