In the summer of 2020, the historic Florida Theatre in Jacksonville, Fla., used the COVID-induced halt in touring to take care of some much-needed renovations. The former movie palace — which is now owned by the City of Jacksonville and the non-profit Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center — underwent capital improvements including new lighting, sound and video systems, as well as new seats — save for a pair in the balcony that were restored rather than replaced in honor of the theater’s ghostly friend, “J.”

According to multiple employees who spoke with Billboard, the grand, 1,900-seat movie palace — which took over a corner of Forsyth and Newman Streets that was formerly the site of a police station and jail — has hosted several paranormal specialists who claim to have witnessed ghostly activity in Section 500, Row E, Seat 2. This includes a figure seen sitting in the seat on video and sightings of what several have called an orb hovering over it. The alleged ghost haunting this spot got its name after a psychic consultant to a WJCT Public Television production said the apparition called himself J (either for Jay or Joy, an emotion the psychic said J felt for the theater). The psychic also noted that J was there to protect rather than harm.

“A lot of times when I’m in the theater, there’s only one seat that’s ever up, and it’s always the ghost seat,” says the theater’s marketing director Sarah Kraynik.

“There’s not a big sign [that] says ‘Ghost’ or ‘Beware of Ghost.’ It’s just, if you know, you know,” says Florida Theatre president Kevin Stone.

While the chairs look like all the others in the building, the theater gets calls from people throughout the year specifically asking to book the ghost seats, Stone says. The theater even sells a bumper sticker that reads, “I sat with the ghosts at the Florida Theatre.”

“There’s a little bit of a premium to those chairs,” says Stone. “It doesn’t hurt that the ghost seat is in the first row of the middle balcony, so there’s nobody in front of you.”

J may not be the only presence hanging around the ornate Mediterranean Revival building. Stone says construction workers have reported paint cans flying through the air and that multiple people have heard an electrical hum coming from unplugged items. Other strange occurrences, he says, include doors closing on their own and reports from theater staff of an unknown figure appearing in the projection booth.

“I can’t confirm or deny truth in that, but every now and then you get somebody who has a little feeling that there might be somebody there,” says Stone. “I haven’t encountered anything, but when I walk through the theater alone, I do acknowledge [out loud] that I come in peace.”

Of course, The Florida Theatre hasn’t survived nearly a century on lore alone. When it opened in 1927, the Jacksonville centerpiece was the largest movie palace in the state and sat on bustling Forsyth Street alongside five other movie houses. (The Florida Theatre is the only one of the six still standing.) The building incorporated French, Spanish and Italian motifs and furnishings; built in what is sometimes known as Spanish Eclectic Style, the theater features terrazzo and tile floors, decorative moldings, coffered ceilings and terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior.

Notably, the theater once boasted a Wurlitzer organ that was the second-largest Wurlitzer anywhere, according to the theater’s website, which also claims it was the first theater in the city with central air conditioning. Publix Theaters, the now-defunct arm of Paramount Pictures that constructed theaters, was the original owner of the building and had the foresight to add a stage big enough to accommodate live performances like Vaudeville acts.

The Florida Theatre did not become famous for live acts until 1956, when the King entered the building. The revue-style Elvis Presley Show was set to close out a seven-city tour on Aug. 10 and 11 at The Florida Theatre — the only venue in town that could host the 10,000 fans expected across both days of the show — with the iconic Hatch Show print hailing, “Hear him sing ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘Hound Dog’ and his other great recording hits.” The revue-style show — which included sets from The Jordanaires, Phil Maraquin, Frankie Connors and Blue Moon Boys — was scheduled to perform six shows over the two days. But the local Jacksonville government was concerned about the musician’s lewd on-stage behavior.

According to Stone, the legend goes that juvenile court judge Marion Gooding had arrest warrants ready for Presley — for “impairing the morals of minors” — if he shook those hips. “There’s a whole thing about [Presley] having to meet with the judge and promise that he wouldn’t have any of those lewd movements, and the lore is that’s what started his little smirk, his traditional Elvis smirk,” says Stone.

Black-and-white photos of the event show a row of police officers sitting in the orchestra pit facing a 21-year-old Presley instead of the crowd, largely made up of young women. “Traditionally, the officers are there to face outwards towards the crowd and [prevent] the crowd from working towards the stage, but it’s a line of police officers watching him,” says Stone, adding that Judge Gooding came and sat in an aisle seat in the back row to watch the show. Later, Judge Gooding’s son reportedly said his father actually allowed his daughters to attend the show despite his alleged reservations. “Elvis and [Judge Gooding] became friends, “ adds Stone. “Anytime Elvis came and played Jacksonville, he would get together with the judge.”

Following Presley’s shows, The Florida Theatre focused more on film. However, as multiplexes rose in popularity, the venue began losing money to the modern movie theaters and became run down, ultimately closing its doors in 1980. At the time, Jacksonville mayor Jake Godbold set out on a mission to reimagine the theater, which was then the last remaining movie palace in northeast Florida, according to the theater’s website. Along with a coalition of local agencies and non-profits, the city purchased the building for $1 million in 1981, setting off a $4 million renovation funded by the Arts Assembly of Jacksonville.

The renovation included sectioning off the lobby from the theater and restoring balcony seats (only 803 of the theater’s more than 1,900 seats were still functional when it closed in 1980). In 1982, the Florida Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The following year, it reopened. In the time since, the venue has focused on live entertainment, with shows by acts including Fleetwood Mac, John Prine, Bon Jovi, Roger Daltrey, Katt Williams and Chris Cornell. On average, the Florida Theatre hosts more than 200 shows per year. One highlight for the venue took place in 2015, when Jacksonville natives Lynyrd Skynyrd played the band’s first two albums in their entirety at the theater for AXS TV.

The theater continues to host special movie screenings — often with stars of the films in attendance — though it stopped screening movies in 35mm film around 2015. “We were still doing 35-millimeter movies on occasion, which was tough because the quality of the film was not good and people’s expectations are high-quality video, high-quality sound, and ours are crackling,” says Stone. “Then we had a Rocky Horror [Picture Show] incident where the projectionist missed a reel, and if you know Rocky Horror, you can’t skip over the “Time Warp.” The theater went fully digital after that.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down mass gatherings in 2020 and 2021, the Florida Theatre experienced an unexpected boom. Because Florida reopened events much earlier than other states, the theater’s “phone was ringing off the hook,” Stone says, “because we were one of very few [venues] willing to do shows.”

The theater hosted five shows in its first week of reopening in December 2020, with acts Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, .38 Special, comedian Brian Regan and Travis Tritt playing to limited-capacity crowds. Because of Florida’s laxer COVID-19 policies, acts who played there could make small runs throughout the state, from Jacksonville to Tampa to Orlando, to make the economics work.

“Don’t get me wrong, there were many people who didn’t want to perform or patrons who didn’t want to show up, and that was totally fine,” says Stone. “Nobody’s forcing you to do anything. But for the artists that wanted to perform and the people who wanted to see them, we were able to.”

Those shows helped keep the theater afloat during the pandemic, since the non-profit ownership was responsible for keeping up the interior of the building and staff paychecks. (The city was responsible for the building’s exterior.)

In 2026, the theater received no financial support from the state of Florida due to budget cuts, leading the theater to push local residents to attend shows and sign up for its membership program to help keep it afloat. “When needed, the community steps up for The Florida Theatre because the thought of this place not being here is not one that the community is willing to handle,” says Stone, who adds that the goal is to push the membership program — which offers show pre-sales, concierge ticketing services, access to the newly built PNC Lounge and discounted rates on events — and “become a financially self-sufficient organization, so we’re not reliant on these entities that, with a swipe of a pen, are like, ‘You’re out this year.’”

Next year, the Florida Theatre’s 100th anniversary celebration will focus on gaining more members and reminding residents of the venue’s cultural importance. “You’re not going to be able to drive through Jacksonville without seeing something that acknowledges that it’s the Florida Theatre’s birthday,” says Stone of the celebration, which will include special events for the community and perks for members. “We’re just trying to set the stage for the next 100 years.”

Billboard Japan and Luminate held their business conference NOW PLAYING JAPAN Vol. 6 on Oct. 2 at Billboard Live Tokyo.

Luminate CEO Rob Jonas made his first appearance at the event, presenting an analysis of the Japanese music market from an overseas perspective. The company also presented concrete ways to use its consumption analytics service CONNECT. An upcoming update will integrate metadata into the platform, allowing users to track consumption trends and metadata at the same time, and the presentation showed how this can improve data accuracy while supporting trend analysis. Guest speaker Naohiro Kaji, director of the Culture and Creative Industries Division at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, also took the stage. Drawing on the Entertainment and Creative Industries Strategy 2026 released in August, he joined moderator Seiji Isozaki of Billboard Japan to discuss support measures and challenges in maximizing overseas revenue for Japanese content. Here’s a recap of the event.

Presentation 1: Rob Jonas (Luminate)

The first speaker was Rob Jonas, CEO of Luminate. He began by naming data accuracy and independence as the company’s core strengths and introduced three initiatives currently in trial: linking musical works to recordings, an AI analyst that users can query in Japanese, and AI music detection. On AI music, he said, “Our role is not to judge AI music. Our role is to measure it accurately, so that labels, publishers, platforms and charts can make their own decisions based on facts.”

Turning to the Japanese market, Jonas explained that total on-demand streams in Japan exceeded 106 billion in the first half of 2026, up 9.5% year over year and outpacing both the global market (+8.4%) and the U.K. (+4.1%). He noted that 75% of streaming in Japan comes from premium subscribers, and that Japan accounts for nearly one-third of all premium streaming in Asia Pacific. He also revealed that, among music listeners not yet paying for streaming, live music attendees are 90% more likely to subscribe within the next six months, followed by gamers (67%) and K-pop fans (38%).

Looking beyond Japan, the share of domestic streaming going to Japanese artists has risen to 75.2%, up from 72.8% in the first half of 2024. Jonas described this as a sign of strong fan loyalty, while pointing out that the biggest opportunity for growth lies outside Japan. Japan moved up to 12th in the world in the Export Power ranking, and outside Asia, J-pop streams are growing in the U.S. (+105.5 million), Mexico (+53.3 million) and Brazil (+14.9 million). While streaming services are the top discovery source for international J-pop fans, more than half of J-pop fans in Mexico said they discover music through anime.

In the transmedia section that followed, Jonas showed that six of the top 10 anime titles released in the U.S. (excluding Crunchyroll) in 2026 are on Netflix. As a case study, he presented The Ramparts of Ice, explaining that streams of its opening theme “Transparent (Toumei)” by Novelbright stayed high for 19 weeks as U.S. viewing of the series grew, and that Season 2, arriving this month, is effectively “a second launch” for the band. On gaming, he noted that YOASOBI ranks eighth in the world for interactive streams on platforms such as Fortnite Festival, with more than 40% of those streams coming from the U.S.

To close, Jonas recommended using the strength of the domestic market to fund overseas expansion, treating anime and games as launchpads for reaching global audiences, and, rather than relying on a handful of artists, building a system like K-pop’s, which grew in the U.S. with physical product in mass-market retail as one of its key pillars. He concluded, “Japan has the scale at home and the fans abroad. What connects the two is accurate, objective data.”

Presentation 2: Naohiro Kaji (METI) x Seiji Isozaki (Billboard Japan)

The talk covered how the Entertainment and Creative Industries Strategy 2026 came to set a specific overseas sales target for the music sector. The strategy aims to grow overseas sales from just under 6 trillion yen in 2024 to 20 trillion yen by 2033, with music targeted to rise from 0.1 trillion yen to 0.7 trillion yen and manga from 0.3 trillion yen to 1 trillion yen. Until recently, the music industry lacked adequate statistics on overseas expansion that could be shared across the industry as a whole. According to Kaji, the Report on Overseas Expansion Data in the Music Industry (April 2026), which researched and organized that data, is what “made it possible to set concrete targets and strategies.” He also explained the framework’s built-in midterm review of results in fiscal 2029, which will determine whether to accelerate, maintain or scale back measures. Since taxpayer money is involved, he said, the design reflects a self-imposed discipline that assumes course corrections from the outset.

Under IP360, each sector is assigned a role — anime driving awareness, games driving revenue and music generating enthusiasm — with the goal of 360-degree IP development. Citing Luminate data, Isozaki noted that unlike South Korea, Japan has consistently maintained a high share of catalog songs, creating a structure in which both new releases and older tracks support sustained growth. Kaji responded that the data would also be useful for individual companies in building their strategies. On the regulatory front, he touched on the record performance and transmission right, established in June 2026 through an amendment to the Copyright Act and set to take effect by June 2029 at the latest, and explained the need to develop the data required for distributing royalties. As an example of cross-ministry efforts, he also mentioned the Bookstore Revitalization Plan, issued jointly by seven ministries and agencies.

Toward the end, Isozaki outlined three possible outcomes on the ground if the 0.7 trillion yen target is achieved: companies focused on overseas markets will gain a bigger presence; internationally minded artists and fans will connect directly with overseas audiences without going through industry staff; and professionals with an overseas track record will become more valuable. Kaji closed by saying this would not be limited to major labels or indies, and that eventually, dedicated overseas departments may disappear altogether as everyone working in the entertainment industry comes to hold a global perspective. 

This article by Haruki Saito and Aoi Harigaya first appeared on Billboard Japan.

SINGAPORE — With its combination of speed, glamor, artistry and science, Formula 1 is a spectacle that travels at a speed and sound nothing else can match.

It was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who bagged the 2026 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix earlier this month with a pole-to-checkered flag win, an historic deed for the flying Dutchman who finally conquered a race that had eluded him for a decade.

If Verstappen was the king of the track, The Killers, Janet Jackson, Split Enz, JJ Lin and Lana Del Rey were the stars of the live show, a music festival that pumps away when the racing pauses.

With its flashy street circuit and three-day live music festival, the Singapore GP has a speed and sound quite unlike any other race on the calendar. Established in 2008, senior music industry executives are now calling it the premier annual music festival in Asia.

Billboard was there to catch the action Oct. 9-11, both on track and across the event’s 11 live entertainment stages.

Coachella of Asia

Concert promoters pray for sunshine. The team behind the Singapore GP’s music festival did just that, and their prayers were mostly answered.

Slippery conditions for a Formula One Grand Prix aren’t just a bummer, they can be downright dangerous. When these rockets on wheels fly around bends and top speeds of 230 mph on the straight, grip is paramount.

Neil Finn performed with Crowded House at the Singapore F1 GP last year, and returned this time with the reunited art-rock legends Split Enz. Finn always brings the weather with him, not a talent that’s ideal for these circumstances. So, for the Enz’ opening night set at the Wharf stage, in Zone 1, the New Zealand songsmith sent out a message of good luck “to all the drivers and all the teams. Let’s hope they go real fast. And stay real safe.”

Singapore in October is hot and humid, even through the evening. And this year, hazy, thanks to a bushfire crisis in neighboring Indonesia. Gloomy reports from the BBC on the eve of showtime warned that due to poor visibility and air quality, restrictions might be placed on the entertainment.

Promoting live entertainment, there’s never a dull moment.

Mother Nature didn’t go and spoil the fun. Rain fell prior to the Sprint Race, Saturday, Oct. 10, which meant for some adjustment to the start times of the following stage lineup, but the event and entertainment proceeded as planned, organizers say.

The weekend action occupies downtown Singapore and is within walking distance of roughly 25,000 hotel beds. It’s partly for this reason that international visitors account for half the GP’s 100,000-person daily attendance.

There’s no doubt that the sport of F1 is the main drawcard. But in Singapore, the music program is no passenger. “Singapore GP has become one of the most significant events in the region, often referred to internally at WME as the ‘Coachella of Asia,’” explains Brett Murrihy, head of Asia Pacific & partner agent, William Morris Endeavour (WME).

This year, WME brought as many as 12 clients to what is essentially an entertainment festival, with F1 as the headline act. When the driving stops, multiple stages around the circuit rev up. “No other festival in Asia possesses comparable buying power or influence,” Murrihy continues.  

The Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2026 welcomed 301,294 spectators, including Kim Kardashian, who was there to support her boyfriend, Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton. That was the second-highest attendance in the event’s history, and the highest since the Marina Bay Street Circuit layout was revised in 2023, pipped only by the event in 2022, when 302,000 spectators filed through the gates.

This year, the Singapore GP team booked and curated a lineup of 43 acts. That’s after the 2025 edition that featured performances from Elton John, Foo Fighters, Lewis Capaldi, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alan Walker, G-Dragon and more.

“While Formula 1 is the star of the show, we’ve always seen the event as more than a race and the concerts ensure that our race fans are entertained when F1 is not on-track,” explains Adam Firth, executive director, Singapore GP, an Australian expat who has called Singapore home for more than 10 years. “We want our crowds to have a total entertainment experience and feel they have received value for money.”

Firth’s team works throughout the year to identify artists and acts that “we believe will resonate with our fans” and complement the atmosphere and the diverse crowd. “We try to create a diverse lineup, one that appeals to a teenage Singaporean girl but also might appeal to a general middle-aged motorsport fan visiting from Europe,” he says.

Right on Track

What played out this time was a lineup that included regional stars CORTIS and JJ Lin, veteran U.S. rockers The Killers and Goo Goo Dolls, R&B super Janet Jackson, rising stars Zara Larsson and James Arthur, DJ sets, a slew of Australasian acts, and a closing headline spot by Lana Del Rey.

For the first time, organizers floated the Barge stage, which hosted back-to-back sets from the likes of DJ Snake, Major Lazer Soundsystem, TOKiMONSTA, Rev Run, Flight Facilities, Mark Ronson and ZHU. The cars aren’t the only assets that are tinkered with in the off-season.

“This has been my favorite F1,” Ronson told the crowd as he finished his set with the double punch of Amy Winehouse’s cover of “Valerie” and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.” “Everyone says this is the best F1, it really is.”

Del Rey drew a massive crowd for her own set at the Padang Stage, the largest of the spaces with an audience of 60,000, with the U.S. singer and songwriter delivering her first major concert in this city-state. And she gave long-suffering fans a treat, with the live debut of new music — and the hint of a return.

Lana, The Killers and other major international acts “have leveraged the festival as their exclusive engagement in the market, reinforcing its strategic importance as a premier live music platform,” Murrihy says. “This exclusivity has not only driven significant consumer demand locally but has also helped build audience momentum and strengthen fan engagement across the broader Asian region, amplifying the festival’s influence and commercial impact beyond a single market.”

The touring landscape across Asia has expanded significantly over the past decade, explains Murrihy, who joined WME in 2015 when the talent and media agency acquired Artist Voice, which he co-founded with Matt Gudinski, now CEO of Mushroom Group. Major international artists, from Bruno Mars, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, The Weeknd and Olivia Rodrigo now regularly incorporate the region into their touring schedules, with many performing multiple region and stadium dates. It was at Singapore’s National Stadium where, in March 2024, Taylor Swift played six shows, her only dates in the region.

This year’s Singapore GP took off, despite competing directly with Austin City Limits Music Festival’s 25th anniversary in Texas, a sprawling, two-weekend music extravaganza whose performers, insiders say, can fill about 30 U.S. dates around that festival.

“Asia has become an essential and highly valuable market within the global live entertainment ecosystem, both commercially and strategically,” Murrihy continues, nothing that Indonesia, India and Philippines have emerged as “particularly important growth territories.” It’s an “exceptionally dynamic and exciting period for the live music industry in Asia.”

A Whole of Government Approach

Without support from the Singapore government, there’s no show. “It’s critical to this event,” Firth explained during a keynote for All That Matters 2026 at the Hilton Singapore Orchard, a multi-stream conference that raises the curtain on the GP. “There’s almost no agency that doesn’t touch the event” in the nine months that goes into building and tearing down the circuit, including police, transport, environment and customs.

In 2022, when rain delayed the race, a conversation with the government minister at 9pm on a Sunday night enabled organizers to extend the trains by more than an additional hour to about 1:30am, so that the event could proceed without shortening entertainment. “It’s really a whole of government approach to the event,” Firth admits.

Coachella doesn’t have an F1 race, but its live stream keeps music fans glued to their devices. “It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about,” Firth says of a streaming element. One of the issues is “we are, first and foremost, a Formula 1 race. Formula 1 has the TV rights, so that would need to be part of the discussions, alongside discussions with artists. Currently a key aim is to bring visitors to Singapore, so we prioritize building in-circuit audience. Streaming has been a strong brand-building tool for other major festivals.”

After a pause for some much-needed downtime, the team will get cracking on its wishlist for next year’s show. “Obviously, you hope that everyone is safe and has a good time,” Firth says. “There are so many things outside your powers, you just hope to run an event that’s good enough to meet fan expectations and better than the one you did last time.”

Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris is escalating her legal war with estate executor John Branca, claiming in new court filings he wants to pay himself more than $100 million for just two years of work without a proper explanation.

The younger Jackson, who has long sparred with Branca over his longstanding role as Michael’s executor, said in a Wednesday (Oct. 28) filing in Los Angeles court that he has offered only “defective filings” to support that massive payment of fees.

“This is not the first time Executor has avoided his disclosure obligations by means of incomplete filings,” the filing reads. “This instance, however, is particularly offensive in that Executor’s defective filings include a request for approval of more than one hundred million dollars in compensation.”

As a penalty for the alleged failures, the younger Jackson wants Branca’s compensation reduced from 15 percent to 10 percent of the estate’s gross entertainment-related income.

In a strongly worded response statement, the Jackson estate called Paris’ request “nonsensical” and “absurd.” It said Branca had in fact waived compensation from the start and has only ever been paid “a separate, court-ordered management fee for operating the hugely successful Michael Jackson business.”

“It is an understatement to say that this motion is completely without merit, nor is it argued on facts,” the estate added in the response statement.

Paris has been sparring with Branca for months. In November 2025, she said that Branca and estate co-executor John McClain‘s work, including a now-released Michael biopic, had been designed to “enrich and aggrandize” them rather than help the family. She cited the fact that movie star Miles Teller had been cast to portray Branca in the film.

Months later, the executors fired back, calling Paris’ objections “a profound waste of the court’s time and, ironically, the estate’s money.” They cited their well-documented business success, which took the estate from roughly $500 million in debt to a current valuation of more than $2 billion.

In May, Paris won a court ruling against the executors in which a judge ruled that $625,000 in bonuses paid to three outside law firms had been improper and must be “returned to the estate.” The judge said the large totals “appear arbitrary” and were merely “what Mr. Branca determined was appropriate.”

Merck Mercuriadis is combining eight management companies for his new venture, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships.

Mercuriadis, known for popularizing the concept of music as an asset class with his previous suite of Hipgnosis catalog investment companies, detailed plans for his next venture during a keynote conversation at the Music Tectonics conference in Santa Monica, Calif., on Wednesday (Oct. 28).

A former artist manager himself for acts like Beyoncé, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, Mercuriadis previously announced that Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships would be aimed at sharing asset ownership between managers and musicians. During Wednesday’s keynote, moderated by Music Tectonics director Dmitri Vietze, Mercuriadis revealed for the first time that he is rolling up eight “very significant management companies to create a juggernaut management company.”

Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships has not named its target acquisition companies. The first of these transactions is set to be announced in the first quarter of 2027.

Mercuriadis detailed how Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships’ revenue-share model will work: Artists and managers will co-own all assets created during the life of the relationship, with the artist as majority shareholder and the manager as minority owner. The artist is free to leave, but “those assets that are created in the partnership always stay in the partnership,” Mercuriadis said.

“Day one when we’re writing checks for the artists, the majority of the money’s coming to the company, but money’s always flowing through to the artist, at least 20 or 30%, regardless of recoupment,” said Mercuriadis. “They recoup very, very quickly because they’re now recouping from all income streams. And then when they recoup and the company hits its return-on-investment targets, it’ll swing so they’re getting 80% of the money and the company’s getting 20% of the money.”

According to Mercuriadis, Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships is about a “value shift” — that is, moving money away from record companies and toward artists and managers. But he’ll still rely on the majors for publishing administration and label services: “We will lease the infrastructure of Universal, Warner and Sony, but Hipgnosis Artist Partnerships will be the ones to decide how the money is spent,” he said.

Mercuriadis built three companies under the Hipgnosis name starting in 2017, acquiring and managing a valuable catalog that included songs by Shakira, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fleetwood Mac and Diana Ross. He ultimately sold his stake to private equity backer Blackstone during a turbulent period in 2024. The consolidated companies, renamed Recognition Music, were acquired by Sony this past May.

Asked during Wednesday’s keynote what he thinks about those in the music industry who say he overpaid for the Hipgnosis catalog, Mercuriadis replied that he succeeded in his goal: elevating the value of songs.  

“When you then sell your catalog for $1.2 billion more than what you paid for it, that argument tends to go out the window,” added Mercuriadis. “To anyone who thought that I overpaid, god bless you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

Create Music Group has acquired a minority stake in DistroKid, Billboard can confirm.

The deal, which went down earlier this year, comes several months after CVC Capital Partners announced it had acquired a majority stake in the DIY distribution platform. That agreement was announced in July; while no terms were disclosed, MBW reported in January that DistroKid was exploring a sale at a valuation of roughly $2 billion. MBW was also first to report the Create deal.

In a statement sent to Billboard about the DistroKid minority acquisition, Create CEO and co-founder Jonathan Strauss said, “Create is home to some of the world’s largest and most storied independent record labels and artists, and DistroKid is where countless artists begin their careers. We’re excited to partner with CVC as a minority investor in the company and to support its continued growth.”

In March, Create announced it had raised $450 million through a combination of equity investments and debt capital, valuing the company at $2.2 billion. At the time, the company said it had invested more than $500 million over the previous year on acquisitions, advances and other growth initiatives. This included a $300 million investment in Canadian indie Nettwerk Music Group to support the label’s managers in buying out their existing investors. Prior to that deal, Create acquired the electronic labels Monstercat, !K7 and Cr2, along with deadmau5’s publishing and master recording catalogs and a 50% stake in the U.K. dance label and publisher Enhanced Music.

At the time of the March fundraising announcement, Strauss said in a statement that the $450 million would “not only accelerate our roadmap, expanding our footprint in media, IP and technology, but also empower our partners to build generational businesses that redefine culture and value creation across the global entertainment ecosystem.”

Create’s investors include Flexpoint Ford, Ares Management and 2 Mile. The company also operates the digital entertainment and marketing agency Flighthouse and indie music distribution platform Label Engine.

On Tuesday (Oct. 27), City of Hope hosted its annual Spirit of Life gala at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. This year, the organization honored Primary Wave founder/CEO Larry Mestel, who spoke passionately about his support of the organization, even calling Dr. Leo Wang, one of the doctors working with City of Hope, as “the real rock star tonight,” before adding, in a self-deprecating tone: “He cures cancer in children, and I buy music catalogs,” which got a laugh from the crowd.

It also featured performances by Melissa Etheridge — a breast cancer survivor herself — along with Jackson Browne and Stevie Nicks, all of whom have professional ties to Mestel and Primary Wave. There was also a virtual performance by Pete Townshend from his home, as he could not attend that night due to a medical reason.

“For a long time, when my team asked me what I wanted my legacy to be, I had an answer,” Mestel explained in his acceptance speech. “I wanted to build a respected and large independent music company, but when I got involved in City of Hope, I realized I was wrong. I still want to build that music company — but I want our company to have a philanthropic impact. I don’t want my kids to look back someday and simply say, ‘Our dad worked hard. He left a great business behind.’ I want them to say: ‘Our dad built something meaningful, but more importantly, he was a good person and made a positive impact while doing it.’ And that brings me to why tonight means so much to me.”

Mestel paused, overcome by emotion before continuing: “Last year, I lost my sister to breast cancer and three months ago my uncle to Lymphoma. Losing them changed me a bit…it made cancer personal.”

He added: “I don’t look at this award simply as an honor. I look at it as a call to action. We can be better. We all have to be better.”

At another point in the night, Universal Music Publishing Group president of North America Evan Lamberg, who serves as chairman of the board for City of Hope’s music, film & entertainment industries division, acknowledged Mestel’s tribute to his sister and uncle, saying, “Your sister Marcy and Uncle Herve are looking down on you and smiling tonight.”

Founded in 1913, City of Hope is one of the United States’ biggest cancer research and treatment facilities. Its Spirit of Life event is always well attended by the music industry, and it has become a tradition for the gala to select one entertainment executive each year for their support of the organization.

This year, Spirit of Hope aimed to raise $10 million. Proceeds from the evening will go to City of Hope’s work in CAR T cell therapy and other cellular immunotherapies designed to harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer with greater precision and effectiveness.

City of Hope is recognized in the medical field as a leader in cellular therapy and is considered one of the nation’s largest outpatient CAR T cell therapy programs. A share of the proceeds from the gala will also support City of Hope’s advanced breast cancer research and care initiatives.

Along with honoring Mestel for his commitment to City of Hope, the event also featured a fundraiser allowing attendees to pledge anywhere from $1,000 to $100,000. Members of the Primary Wave staff also matched some donations to further the goal. For those not in attendance, Fandiem Relic and Primary Wave provided materials for the “More Than Words” auction, which allows anyone to bid on rare items like handwritten lyrics from Sting, Natasha Bedingfield and Little Big Town. There will also be more musical memorabilia available through Julien’s Auctions, including pieces associated with Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Itzhak Perlman and Guns N’ Roses.

Nicks delivered a touching tribute to end the night when she performed her hit “Landslide” accompanied by an acoustic guitarist. She also spoke about her own connection to City of Hope and how it changed the lives of four cancer survivors she knows personally: her “best friend Robin,” a vocalist she works with, “an amazing producer” and “my brother.” “The City of Hope has meant so much to me because those four people I know who went through there loved it so much,” she said.

Two-time Grammy winner Lauren Daigle has signed with Capitol/Interscope/Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG), Billboard can reveal.

Known for songs including the Billboard Hot 100 top 30 hit “You Say” and Christian Airplay chart-toppers including “Trust In You,” “Thank God I Do” and “You Say,” Daigle has also earned seven Billboard Music Awards, 10 GMA Dove Awards and four American Music Awards.

Of the new label partnership, Daigle said in a statement, “I’m really happy to be joining the Interscope / Capitol and CCMG family as we set sail for the adventure of creating new music. I have such respect for the talented visionaries leading these great companies and deeply look forward with excitement to all that is to come!”

John Janick, chairman/CEO of Interscope Capitol Label Group, added, “Lauren is the rare kind of artist who has simultaneously built an exceptionally loyal following while creating music that transcends boundaries in very powerful ways. We are so happy to have her in the Interscope Capitol family and are excited to be working with her and her incredible team.”

CCMG president Brad O’Donnell added, “Lauren is an icon, a one-of-a-kind artist with a voice and message that resonate around the world. We can’t wait to work with her and our partners at Capitol to grow her audience and build on her incredible legacy.”

Tom March, chairman/CEO of Capitol Music Group, added, “It’s been fantastic spending time with Lauren and getting to know her over these last few months. She’s brilliant and has been so welcoming.  It’s very special to be working with an artist like Lauren, who has already achieved so much in her remarkable career, but where there’s still so much further to go. We can’t wait to get started.”

Each of Daigle’s studio albums, most recently 2023’s self-titled project, has hit the pinnacle of Billboard‘s Top Christian Albums chart. In December, Daigle will launch her 10th annual Behold Christmas Tour, which begins with two shows at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. She is also set to reveal upcoming holiday music.

BERLIN, Germany — Parcels is the latest addition to BMG’s music publishing roster.

The independent music company will represent the Australian five-piece on a global basis, after signing a deal at the company’s European headquarters in Berlin.

Formed 2014 in Byron Bay, the picturesque beach spot on the most easterly point of Australia, Parcels relocated to the German capital in the mid-2010s, where they set about building their audience and shaping their sound.

It proved to be the right move. Daft Punk co-produced their 2017 single “Overnight,” which blew up and opened the gates for an international following, and festival spots everywhere from Coachella to Glastonbury. Parcels have accumulated more than 1.5 billion total career streams across three studio albums and several live efforts.

Through the new partnership, announced today (Oct. 28), BMG’s global network will “support Parcels’ international ambitions,” a statement reads.

The publishing agreement was led by Jasper Niebuhr, managing director, BMG Germany / Switzerland / Austria, in close collaboration with the company’s publishing teams across continental Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, and Australia, with key contributions from Alistair Norbury, Monti Olson, and Heath Johns.

“Parcels are one of the most distinctive and compelling bands of their generation,” comments Niebuhr in a statement. “Their extraordinary musicianship, songwriting, and creative vision have enabled them to build a truly global career on their own terms, without compromising what makes them unique.”

With their “Australian roots, creative history in Berlin, and strong presence in the U.S., they embody a truly international spirit,” Niebuhr continues. “We share their ambition to keep pushing boundaries and are excited to bring the strength of our global network to the next chapter of their remarkable journey.”

The electronic-leaning indie-pop band — Anatole Serret, Jules Crommelin, Louie Swain, Noah Hill, and Patrick Hetherington — dropped a third studio album, LOVED, in 2025, and supported the collection with a world tour that included first-ever U.S. arena headline dates.

Ahead of the BMG announcement, Hetherington and Crommelin launched a new project, Dream Boat, which released its debut single “Real!“ on Oct. 21. Separately, Hills launched his own solo project with the album Ok ok now, which dropped last month.

“What really stood out to us was the genuine excitement for Parcels across the entire BMG team,” comments Parcels manager Birger Luedemann. “From Berlin to London, the U.S., and Australia, we felt a shared understanding of the band’s vision and a real ambition to build something special together. We’re incredibly excited about this partnership and look forward to bringing some amazing projects to life as we look ahead to what’s next for Parcels.”

Zara Larsson is in a record-breaking mood.

The Swedish pop star has just completed her sold-out Midnight Sun Tour of Australia and New Zealand, which wrapped with an historic two-night stand at Auckland’s Spark Arena.

Larsson welcomed 12,796 fans to her first show on Sunday, Oct. 25, busting Spark Arena’s all-time record, according to Live Nation, which promoted the tour and operates the venue.

The following night, Oct. 26, she raised the bar again with 12,798 attendees. That’s 25,594 fans across the two nights, another record for the country’s biggest arena, which opened its doors to the public in 2007.

“Zara’s meteoric rise is unparalleled and a reflection of her talent, her warmth, and the genuine connection she has with fans around the world,” comments Mike Ross, tour promoter, Live Nation. “Breaking the all-time record at Spark Arena is a rarefied achievement amongst the many legendary names who have played the venue over the last 19 years – to do it twice, on consecutive nights, is incredible.”

Linkin Park previously held the record with 12,736 tickets sold for a show in March 2026.

“We are thrilled that Zara has broken the house record,” adds Mark Gosling, GM, Spark Arena. “It’s great to see artists pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at the arena, and Zara has set a figure that may be hard to beat. Congratulations to Zara and her team from all of us at Spark Arena.”

Earlier, on Friday, Oct. 23, she performed the biggest headline show of her career to almost 18,000 fans at Afterpay Arena in Sydney.

For her debut headline tour of Australia and New Zealand, Larsson swept in with 10 shows across six cities, all of them sold out.

Larsson got her break at just 10 years of age when she won Talang, the Swedish edition of Got Talent, in 2008. Four years later, she signed a record deal and began building a pop career that would land her seven appearances – and counting – on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Midnight Sun,” “Lush Life,” “Never Forget You” and more.

She earned a Grammy nomination in February for “Midnight Sun” (for best dance pop recording) and received the breakthrough award at Billboard‘s Women in Music event at the Hollywood Palladium in April.

Earlier this month, The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people, presented Larsson with its 2026 mental health champion of the year award, celebrating her longstanding advocacy for LGBTQ+ people and her openness about mental health.