Entertainment
In Canada: How Connor Price Built a Global Fanbase Without a Label; Billboard Summit’s Toronto Debut
In just a few years, Toronto-born rapper and actor Connor Price has built a global audience and over 2 billion streams entirely on his own terms.
“Staying independent means ownership, creative control and being able to do things my own way,” says Price. “I can put out music when I want. I can say what I want. I can work with who I want. I can market it how I want. I don’t have to wait for a label.”
That mindset has already helped him carve out a career many would envy. Using social media, online savvy, and some help from his family and friends, Price has found a way to reach a wide fan base all over the world. It’s a 21st-century DIY rise. Build the fanbase first, then go out on the road. Release 110 songs, then record your debut album.
Connor Price stars on Billboard Canada’s new Indie Issue digital cover — a look at artists making it work without a label. In the story, he talks about going from a career as an actor into music and content creation, and the viral Spin The Globe project that has resulted in millions of streams not just for him but for independent artists all over the world.
“Being on the independent side and working so closely with my wife [Breanna, his manager], I have to know how the business side works,” he says. “Some artists might be in a label situation with a big team where all they have to do is focus on the music, which is great, all the power to them. But I actually have a lot of pride and enjoyment in both the business side and the creative side.”
It’s every starry-eyed artist’s dream to sign a record deal — or so the conventional wisdom goes.
The recorded music industry has been built on the label model from its earliest days, with record companies providing funding to artists in exchange for rights to the music.
As recording has become cheaper and more accessible, though, the whole paradigm is shifting. Now, many artists are choosing to remain independent — or, in the case of major Canadian breakouts like The Beaches and Nemahsis, seeing success as independent artists after leaving a label roster.
That dynamic has been changing for decades, with strong independent streaks in DIY-minded genres like punk and hip-hop, but the internet has upended the industry to such an extent that artists across all genres are weighing the benefits of independence.
When you don’t have a label fronting funds or tapping into established release strategies and promotional networks, you need to make sure you’ve got a strong community around.
Ontario indie artist Ruby Waters knows that firsthand. She’s become a major breakout Canadian indie rock act in the last five years, with two Juno nominations, international tours and millions of streams under her belt.
“The main force to my independence as an artist really comes down to the love and support I’ve had from my day one homies and fans throughout my whole musical journey starting from back when I was singing on the street,” she says in another Billboard Canada Indie Issue feature.
Read the whole feature, which looks at the tools artists have without label support, here.
Billboard Summit Brings Global Talent to Toronto This Summer
A major global initiative is coming to Canada.
The inaugural Billboard Summit will bring some of the world’s biggest artists to Toronto’s NXNE Festival for a series of dynamic, artist-led conversations in June.
The full-day event will go beyond industry panel conversations to centre musicians talking about what they’re most passionate about: their processes, collaborations and breakthroughs.
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Charlotte Cardin is the first artist announced to join the summit. The Montreal-based singer and songwriter has had an international breakout over the last few years, charting on multiple Billboard charts and touring throughout Canada, Europe and the Middle East.
Her global rise led from Billboard Canada Women in Music, where she was named Woman of the Year in 2024, to the global Billboard Women in Music stage in Los Angeles this past March, where she represented Canada as Global Woman of the Year.
Cardin will speak on the topic of Breaking Through Barriers by sharing experiences and moments that have defined her career and offering inspiration to anyone striving to push boundaries.
Other soon-to-be-announced names will include artists from around the world — from trailblazing Canadians who’ve built influential brands that have resonated across borders to international artists who’ve set chart and live music records throughout the globe.
Stay tuned for the full programming announcement, featuring an exciting lineup of diverse voices and thought-provoking speakers.
More info here.
PUP Chart on Billboard Canadian Albums for the Fourth Straight Time with ‘Who Will Look After The Dogs?’
Punk is back on the charts this week.
Toronto band PUP have debuted their newest album Who Will Look After The Dogs? on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart this week, dated May 17. The album enters at No. 72 and marks the band’s fourth consecutive album on the chart since its sophomore effort, The Dream Is Over, first landed at No. 48 in 2016.
The album is fun and self-deprecating in ways we’ve come to expect from PUP, but also reflects the band’s major life changes: members got married or had kids, one expanded his home studio, and singer Stefan Babcock ended a decade-long relationship.
Although they have previously reached higher peaks on the chart, the band has some serious momentum. Following a stint playing arenas opening for Sum 41 on the band’s farewell tour, they’re now currently on tour in Europe and will also celebrate the record with a citywide summer tour in Toronto. The Mega-City Madness Tour is set to kick off in July, with dates at six venues in PUP’s hometown.
Elsewhere on the chart, legendary British rock band Pink Floyd earns this week’s top debut on the chart with Pink Floyd At Pompeii: MCMLXXII, which lands at No. 45. It is the first-ever soundtrack album for the band’s 1972 concert film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, which was recently remastered in 4K and re-released in theatres. It is the only other debut on the May 17 chart.
Check out the whole Canadian Albums chart breakdown here. – Stefano Rebuli
The only sure thing in this earnings season is unpredictability. While the global economy remains resilient in the face of U.S. tariffs, and U.S. gross domestic product grew 3% in Q2, stocks took a hit from a weak U.S. jobs report on Aug. 1, and some experts believe a constant drip, drip, drip of negative developments will cause “death by a thousand cuts.”
Music companies’ early results also offered mixed signals. Spotify, the first music company out of the gate on July 29, posted solid year-over-year growth but disappointed investors with weaker-than-expected guidance for the third quarter. Spotify shares dipped 11.6% as a result. Two days later, Universal Music Group (UMG) posted 4.5% revenue growth and 8.5% subscription growth. But investors were hesitant — was it a lack of margin improvement or concerns about cash flow? — and UMG’s share price dipped 5.2% the following day.
Below are summaries, listed in alphabetical order, of every music company to report second quarter earnings as of Aug. 7. Billboard will update the page as more results are announced. (If the summary includes a hyperlink, click on it to get the full story.)
- Cumulus Media. The No. 3 radio company in the U.S. posted a 9.2% drop in revenue and an 11.3% decline in adjusted EBITDA. Broadcast radio revenue was down 13.0% and digital fell 1.4%. CEO Mary Berner referred to a “challenging” advertising environment for legacy media companies and noted that Cumulus created an additional $5 million in cost reductions in the quarter, bringing its total annualized cost cuts to $175 million over the last five years.
- Deezer: Total revenue was flat at 267.1 million euros ($298.1 million), and subscribers fell 7.6% to 9.2 million (subscriptions through B2B partnerships fell 21% to 3.9 million). But the French music streamer managed its costs, resulting in improved operating loss and adjusted EBITDA. The company reiterated its belief that it will finish 2025 with both positive cash flow (for the second consecutive year) and positive adjusted EBITDA. Go here for the full article.
- HYBE: South Korea’s HYBE said on Wednesday (Aug. 6) that its second quarter revenue rose 10.2% year-over-year to $516.7 million, while operating profit jumped nearly 30% to $48.3 million due to successful global tours and releases from several of its artists, including BTS members Jin and j-hope. Recorded music revenue fell by nearly 8.5%, but that was offset by double-digit year-over-year increases in merchandise and touring revenue. The company said news of BTS members completing their military service also drove record-high engagement for its superfan platform Weverse. For more, read the full article.
- Reservoir Media: Quarterly revenue rose 8% to $37.2 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2026 on strong recorded music and sync revenue. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a popular measure of profitability, was up 10% to $13.9 million. Acquisitions in the quarter, which contribute to the company’s revenue from catalogs, include a strategic partnership struck with Fool’s Gold and an investment in an experiential entertainment company called Lightroom. Go here for more details.
- SiriusXM: SiriusXM reported that overall revenue of $2.14 billion in the second quarter fell 2% from the year-ago quarter, pressured by lower subscriber growth, a legal settlement and higher operating expenses. The satellite radio giant is rolling out a new $7 subscription option to try to boost lagging ad revenue and subscriber growth. SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said they will cautiously roll out the new offering, as they push other initiatives aimed at improving their standing amid a “challenging…ad market.” The full story is here.
- SM Entertainment: Album sales and events revenue from RIIZE and NCT WISH helped SM Entertainment’s consolidated revenue increase 19.3% to $216.5 million. Album and digital music revenue jumped 37.9% to $70.8 million, and merchandise and licensing revenue rose 39.6% to $45.7 million. Concert revenue was flat at $24.0 million. For a breakdown of subsidiary revenue, check out the article.
- Sony Music: Led by Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, SZA’s SOS and Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia, Sony Music’s consolidated revenue up 5.3% to $3.22 billion in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30. A strong yen made year-over-year comparisons a challenge. Recorded music was up 0.7% to $2.09 billion but improved 8.4% on a dollar basis (Sony does not report results in constant currency). Music publishing revenue rose 2.1% as reported; on a dollar-denominated basis, is improved 9.8%. More info at the full article.
- Sonos. Revenue of $344.8 million was down 13.2% from the prior-year period, the company announced Aug. 7. Gross margin fell to 43.4% from 44.7% as CFO Saori Casey noted “a complex environment marked by tariffs and an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop.” Go here for Billboard‘s coverage of Sonos, its recent layoffs and how it cut sales projections after a disastrous app redesign in May 2024.
- Spotify: The streaming giant enjoyed another quarter in which it beat its own subscriber and monthly user growth targets, but a lukewarm financial forecast from executives and lower quarterly operating income due to currency fluctuations and taxes caused a sharp one-day selloff in its stock. Check out our article about the earnings release and a follow-up story with takeaways from the company’s second quarter results.
- Universal Music Group: Revenue increased 4.5% to $3.38 billion while recorded music subscription revenue rose 8.5% to $1.36 billion (all growth figures in constant currency). Elsewhere, music publishing soared 14.5% with a boost from Chord Music Partners, but both merchandising and physical recorded music dipped. For more, read our earnings story and a follow-up article with takeaways from the results.
- Warner Music Group: WMG reported revenue grew to $1.7 billion in the last quarter thanks to a double-digit increase in publishing revenue and strong subscription streaming returns. That helped offset the impact of losing BMG as a distribution client and helped push Warner’s stock price up by 3.5%. All the details at the full article. More insights are in the follow-up article.
Selena Gomez is looking back on her music catalog with fondness.
Before launching her solo career, the 33-year-old singer and actress fronted the pop-rock band Selena Gomez & the Scene, releasing three studio albums between 2009 and 2012. Now, she’s reflecting on a standout track from those early days.
In an interview on the Therapuss podcast, released Wednesday (Aug. 6), Gomez told host Jake Shane that her favorite song from her time with the band is “Who Says,” the lead single from their final album, When the Sun Goes Down. The track peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 2011.
“It’s the most powerful moment when I get to perform it,” the Only Murders in the Building actress said. “That’s honestly the only reason I would ever do a tour again … is if I could perform ‘Who Says.'”
Gomez, who hasn’t toured since 2016, said she’d need to “take it down an octave from each year I’ve sang it” if she were to perform it today. She’s also open to re-recording the track, noting that her voice on the original sounds “young.”
“I need to redo it,” she said. “I should recut it.”
The Emilia Pérez star also opened up about the song’s empowering message and revealed that she once teared up while hearing it on the radio during a trip abroad.
“I was like, ‘Why the f—k am I tearing up to my own song?'” she said. “But it was because it was the little me who was there saying these really powerful messages that I still need to hear.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Rare Beauty founder reminisced about how she first bonded with longtime friend Taylor Swift nearly two decades ago — after both experienced breakups with the Jonas Brothers.
“She and I like to say the best thing we got out of those relationships was each other,” Gomez told Shane. “We became best friends, bonded over the breakup, as girls do. Then we just stuck around for all the ups and downs that came after, and here we are now 16 years later.”
Most recently, the Wizards of Waverly Place alum dropped a joint album with fiancé Benny Blanco, I Said I Love You First, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in May.
Watch Gomez talking about “Who Says” at the 21-minute mark in the Therapuss interview below.
Justin Bieber is soaking up some quality time with his 11-month-old son, Jack Blues.
On Saturday (Aug. 9), the 31-year-old pop superstar shared a series of heartwarming selfies on social media, showing sweet moments with Jack Blues, who will celebrate his first birthday on Aug. 22.
In the Instagram carousel, Bieber posted three photos featuring the father-son duo, with Jack’s face intentionally kept out of view. In the first snapshot, the “Dadz Love” singer gazes into the camera while his son’s tiny feet peek into the frame. The next two images capture tender moments, with Bieber lovingly kissing the back of his Jack Blues’ head.
Last month, Bieber — who shares Jack Blues with his wife, Hailey Bieber — also gave fans a peek at their little one during a visit to the recording studio, where he was likely working on his latest album, Swag. The project dropped on July 11 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Jack Blues and Hailey also appear in the music video for Justin’s new song “Yukon,” released on Aug. 5. The black-and-white visual, directed by Cole Bennett, shows the Bieber family basking in the sun aboard a sleek yacht resembling the logo of Justin’s new apparel brand Skylrk. The video captures tender moments as the couple cuddles their son and kisses his tiny toes while creating an adorable family portrait.
“We shot this a couple weeks back over the course of a few days in Spain & Italy. Shot on FX3 & GoPro, printed on 16mm film. I’ll remember these memories for the rest of my life. Thank you for everything,” Bennett wrote on Instagram, tagging both Justin and Hailey.
“Yukon” marks Jack Blues’ official music video debut, while Hailey has previously made appearances in several of her husband’s visuals, including DJ Khaled and Drake’s “Popstar,” Dan + Shay and Bieber’s “10,000 Hours,” and Ariana Grande and Bieber’s “Stuck with U.”
Check out Bieber’s adorable father-son selfies on Instagram here.
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