Billboard is now live in India, the world’s most populous nation.
Launched in partnership with Other Side Ventures Pvt. Ltd. and headquartered in Mumbai, Billboard India is said to mark a new chapter in how Indian music is documented and celebrated worldwide.
The new title will be familiar to readers of the flagship Billboard, coupling a deep range of multimedia editorial content with charts, lists, music awards, and more, cut with a domestic flair to reflect the diversity of India’s vibrant music communities.
“India is already one of the world’s largest music markets by volume,” comments Priyanka Khimani, media advisor and driving force behind Other Side Ventures. “Our growth story isn’t from one city or one language. It’s from every corner of this country,”
Legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja is the first cover star of Billboard India. The homegrown screen music icon has composed for 1,500 film soundtracks, and this year celebrates his 50th year in music.
“There couldn’t have been a more superlative name to launch our first cover than Ilaiyaraaja,” adds Khimani. “His legacy, body of work and music superiority speaks for themself. It was our privilege to be able to capture him as he celebrates an important milestone in his career.”
A culturally rich nation, India, of course, is home to Bollywood, a film industry that creates stars who shine globally. Its 1.4 billion population is mostly young, and many are plugged into the country’s music and movie industries. Some 450 million Indians are under the age of 30, and, according to the IFPI, are increasingly captivated with the next generation of Indian music stars that are crossing over from the silver screen.
Experts predict a boom is on the way. Domestic creator collections roared to roughly US$75 million in 2024, according to data published by CISAC data, representing a 42% year-on-year increase. Separately, India now ranks as the world’s 15th largest recorded music market, the IFPI reports.
The new platform has no shortage of content to explore. Billboard India will capture the dominance of film soundtracks, through to the explosive rise of independent artists, a statement reads, and serve as the “definitive voice” of Indian artists across all languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and more.
Its leadership team is helmed by Preeti Nayyar, who is appointed chief operating officer, and Mohini Chaudhuri as content strategy director. Other key appointments include, Amruta Ramesh (creative director), and Vidya Sivalenka (charts lead).
“At Billboard, we are committed to celebrating any music ecosystem that includes artists, executives, trends, achievements and stories shaping today’s global music landscape,” notes Mike Van, CEO of Billboard. “Billboard India marks an exciting step in that mission, as the Indian music industry and its global diaspora continue to command growing attention and influence worldwide. With a market as culturally rich and diverse as India, this launch reflects both the scale of the opportunity and the strength of the Billboard India team, whose depth and editorial ambition set a powerful foundation for what’s ahead.”
It’s been 15 long years since R.E.M. called it a day. Michael Stipe isn’t looking back.
The Rock Hall-inducted singer stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night (June 2) for a performance of “I Played the Fool,” the theme song for the new Steve Carrell HBO comedy Rooster.
For the late-night spot, Stipe, bathed in green static light and wearing a beard that would make Santa envious, was joined by a full band featuring Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, and musician Andrew Watt, who co-produced Paul McCartney’s new solo album The Boys of Dungeon Lane and composed and produced the original score for Rooster.
Since R.E.M. officially disbanded in 2011, Stipe has released several solo songs including “Your Capricious Soul” (2019), “Drive to the Ocean” (2020) and “No Time For Love Like Now” with Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine side project (2020).
There’s still no word on when his long-awaited debut solo album will be released into the world. Stipe did touch on it in April during an interview with Stephen Colbert on the late-night talk show’s now-defunct Late Show. “One of the songs is the sound of a tree hearing itself for the first time,” he said at the time, cryptically, explaining that a friend had recorded the sound of a tree in his backyard in Georgia and then played it back to said tree for a song he described as Daft Punk-like. He added that he would be including his version of the standard sea chanty “Drunken Sailor” on the unnamed LP.
R.E.M. did reunite, briefly, in 2024 when the Athens, GA natives — Stipe, Mike Mills, Bill Berry and Peter Buck — got the old band back together to sing “Losing My Religion” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame gala in New York, on the night of their induction. Prior to that, the band’s last full public concert was in November 2008 in Mexico City, although the foursome did play a private party in 2016.
Watch Stipe and Watt’s performance on ABC’s Kimmel below.
Saint Etienne’s goodbye lap will make it to Australia and New Zealand later this year.
The beloved British indie electronic-pop act will get their final Australasian tour underway with a concert Nov. 20 at Auckland’s Powerstation, followed by a show Nov. 21 in the New Zealand capital, Wellington.
Presented by Destroy All Lines, the jaunt then skips the Tasman for shows in each of Australia’s five capital cities: Adelaide (Nov. 23), Melbourne (Nov. 26), Sydney (Nov. 27), Brisbane (Nov. 29) and a tour closer Dec. 1 in Perth. The general onsale starts Friday, 9am local time at destroyalllines.com.
Across a career spanning more than 35 years, Saint Etienne earned a reputation for creating the creamiest, classiest of pop, with electronic touches and swinging ’60s flair. Saint Etienne is one for the connoisseurs.
The farewell tour follows the release of their final studio LP, International, via Heavenly Recordings, which dropped in September 2025. International has an Australian connection, a collaboration with Brisbane electronic-pop act Confidence Man on the track “Brand New Me.”
That collection peaked at No. 8 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, one of the act’s three career top 10 appearances, and 11 entries in the top 40. The group also landed 17 tracks on the top 40 of the Official U.K. Singles Chart, including a top 10 appearance with their year 2000 collaboration with Paul Van Dyk on “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)” (reaching No. 7).
Saint Etienne bandmates Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have known each other since childhood, and turned that friendship into a band in 1990 with their cover of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.” The first thing they ever recorded, which they completed in just two hours in a bedroom studio in Pollards Hill, north of Croydon, also gave Saint Etienne their first and only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, topping out at No. 97 in 1992.
Singer Sarah Cracknell completed the lineup when she joined for their third single “Nothing Can Stop Us” and the 1991 album Foxbase Alpha.
Saint Etienne “aren’t splitting up as such,” reads a statement from the band. They “still remain the best of friends after 35 years recording together – but they don’t feel like they want to go on forever and wanted to go out with a bang.”
Before making the long haul, Saint Etienne will criss-cross the United Kingdom and Europe for a run of summer festival shows and headline concerts.
TEG taps Melvin Koh to lead Ticketek’s growth push across Asia.
Based in Singapore, Koh is appointed general manager, ticketing Asia, with duties for overseeing Ticketek’s operations, strategic partnerships and platform growth across the region as TEG “accelerates its presence in the region,” a company statement reads.
Koh boasts more than 18 years’ experience across sports, entertainment, venue management, commercial strategy and ticketing. Most recently, he served in a senior leadership post at the Singapore Sports Hub, where he established the Ticketing and Access Management function, and shaped its strategy and operating model.
His background, with extensive stints in both venue and promoter operations, positions him well to represent Ticketek’s platform to venues, promoters and rightsholders across Asia, reads the statement.
“The opportunity to lead Ticketek’s growth ambitions in Asia from Singapore is one I’m genuinely excited about,” comments Koh on his fresh role. “The live entertainment market in this region is growing rapidly, and venues, promoters and rights holders are increasingly looking for a technology and data platform that can keep pace with that growth.”
The new recruit joins Ticketek Entertainment Group (TEG) soon after the promotion of Cameron Hoy as chief executive officer, succeeding Brad Banducci.
“Melvin’s appointment reflects our ongoing commitment to Asia, a region we have operated in for many decades,” Hoy comments on the latest appointment. “Melvin brings deep experience across both venue and promoter operations, precisely the perspective needed to represent the full breadth Ticketek’s, ticketing, digital marketing and data capabilities to our partners across the region.”
TEG, the live entertainment, ticketing and tech giant, is owned by Silver Lake, the U.S.-based private equity company which specializes in technology investing, through a deal struck in 2019 worth more than A$1.3 billion.
Based in Sydney, TEG’s empire collects the ticketing powerhouse Ticketek, TEG Dainty, TEG Van Egmond, plus TEG Live, TEG Sport, TEG Experiences, Ovation and other businesses.
Luke Taleno isn’t short of courage. Or talent, as it turns out.
Taleno stepped into the America’s Got Talent auditions on Tuesday night, June 2, with a performance that was nothing short of golden, and a story that reads like a book.
Born in Cuba, and a cancer survivor, Taleno relocated at the age of just three to the United States, his parents chasing a “good life,” he explained in the preamble. Before he could speak a lick of English, he understood the language of music and its power to connect people. “Actually, that was how I got to learn the language. And the best way I could express myself.”
At 13, he was diagnosed with leukemia. “Writing songs, and music, got me through it,” he remembered.
After high school, Taleno took on odd jobs to pay the bills. “Music was the only thing I loved.” So, he started busking, rapping on the streets. Trying to find that small window of opportunity to chase his dream. Last season, he watched AGT from the audience, as a guest of his friend Jourdan Blue. That experience “made me realize,” he recounted, “this is what I’m supposed to do.”
He didn’t waste the opportunity then to get in front of Simon Cowell. “Remember this face,” he told the British hitmaker and AGT judge a year ago, “because next year I’ll be on this stage. And I expect that golden buzzer.”
Under the bright lights of the AGT stage, he pronounced: “I’m here for a reason, everything in my life prepared me for this moment right here.“
Taleno didn’t waste the opportunity before the entire panel of judges, either. Performing an original number, “From Seat to Stage,” a nod to his real-life AGT experience, Taleno showed he could walk it, and talk it.
“That’s how you take your moment,” Cowell remarked at the close. “I loved it. It was amazing,” Sofía Vergara enthused. “I am so glad that you made it to the stage because you deserve to be on the stage. Good job.”
Mel B doused the vibe by pointing out it wasn’t the greatest of all auditions. His breath work needs improvement, the Spice Girl explained. Cowell wasn’t having any of it. “I really admire people who just do it,” he stated.
Taleno just did it.
Howie Mandel, after giving a standing ovation, spoke last. Taleno, he said, is the poster boy of authenticity. “Last year you predicted something, and I have just one question,” he reacted. After a pregnant pause, and a response to his own question, Mandel hit the Golden Buzzer. With that, Taleno automatically advances to the Live Shows for AGT season 21.
Barry Can’t Swim, Interplanetary Criminal and Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman) are the top billed talent for Bizarro’s 2026 festival run of Australia, which will drop into three east coast cities across one long weekend this October.
The electric music heavyweights lead the Labour Day weekend action at Overtone, set for Friday, Oct. 2 at Musgrave Park on the Gold Coast/Kombumerri; Freeform, Saturday, Oct. 3 at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne/Naarm (presentedin collaboration with Crown Ruler), and Mode, Sunday, Oct. 4 at Cockatoo Island/Wareamah in Sydney/Eora.
Each respective lineup is unique and “centered on the same DNA celebrating electronic music on day-to-night dancefloors, while also being individually sculpted by the cities and spaces around them,” reads a statement from Bizarro, the Sydney-based promoter.
While Australia’s festivals scene is in a state of flux, with banner events Bluesfest, Splendour in the Grass, and many others either taking a pause or folding altogether, dance music events are playing to a different beat.
Creative Australia’s Soundcheck report from 2024 mapped the nation’s festivals circuit and found that dance music was the top genre, accounting for almost one in every four fests in these parts. Money is tight, but Aussies love a party. Further proof came earlier this week, when homegrown EDM superstar Dom Dolla sold out his homecoming show at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in record time, an historic moment for electronic music in these parts, say promoters Untitled Group and Frontier Touring.
The general on-sale for Overtone, Freeform and Mode festivals begin on Thursday, June 11, with the portal for early access opening the day before, on Wednesday, June 10.
