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DJ Snake Covers Billboard France Ahead of Two Major Concerts: ‘The Goal Is to Make History’
On May 10, DJ Snake is set to perform consecutively in two of the largest concert venues in France: the Stade de France (80,000 people) and then the Accor Arena (20,000 people). It’s an unprecedented feat for an artist accustomed to breaking records as he prepares to release his third studio album.
DJ Snake stands relaxed yet alert, his eyes sharp in front of the lens of Nabil Elderkin—a renowned director and photographer known, among other things, for his work with Travis Scott and The Weeknd. The artist is about to give a landmark concert at the Stade de France, titled The Final Show, followed by an after-party at the Accor Arena. An unprecedented feat for a DJ in France and a testament to his popularity in his home country, the event sold out in just three minutes.
More than a decade after his rise began, he is now one of the most influential ambassadors of the French electronic scene and ranks among the 100 most popular artists in the world on Spotify. Four of his singles have made it into the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
“Paris is my city,” he declares at the start of the interview. He has a visceral connection to the capital that goes beyond simple geographical attachment. “It’s the city that taught me everything, really. Even musically—the strong influence of hip-hop in Paris, African music, Arabic music, French pop… That whole mix is what makes my music sound the way it does today.”
He found himself backed into a corner in the summer of 2012, after several years of DJing in the capital’s upscale clubs. Having already worked behind the scenes for artists like Lady Gaga (earning him a Grammy nomination), he felt limited in his artistic expression. So, he invested his savings into renting a recording studio and gave himself two months to make it as a solo artist. That risky bet turned out to be the launching point for a meteoric rise, beginning in 2013 with “Turn Down for What,” his collaboration with Lil Jon.
A Leading Figure of the French Electronic Music Scene
“With all humility, I don’t claim to represent France,” DJ Snake confides. “I represent a guy from Paris, who’s Franco-Algerian, and I just try my best to do interesting things.”
Yet with 13 billion streams on Spotify and four music videos surpassing one billion views on YouTube, DJ Snake undeniably carries the country’s colors on the international stage. “We have an incredible electronic scene that’s respected worldwide. Our older brothers did an extraordinary job—Daft Punk, Justice, Bob Sinclar, Martin Solveig, David Guetta, Madeon…”
The Stade de France, the largest venue in the country, marks the pinnacle of an unlikely journey: “It’s my destiny—to come from the very bottom, have an unconventional path, be a guy no one believed in at first, and end up at the top, at the Stade de France.”
More than just a concert, The Final Show represents a clear ambition for him: “The goal is really to make history.” When ticket sales opened, more than 500,000 people were in the queue at the same time. “We had planned a whole promo run—interviews, TV appearances, billboards in the streets of Paris… We had a full campaign ready, because never, ever, ever did I think I’d fill the Stade de France in three minutes.”
So the artist decided to extend the celebration: “I said to Julie, my manager, ‘Check if the Accor Arena is available.’ If it was, we’d throw the afterparty there. At least we’d have 20,000 people—20,000 lucky ones, 20,000 members of the Snake Army—with whom we could throw a massive event.” It was a winning bet: the Bercy venue also sold out.
DJ Snake
Supporting the New Generation
“You can come from a small suburb and do big things, with very little—just with drive, ideas, a group of friends, fun, and a lot of ambition,” says DJ Snake. “What I mean is, ‘Go for it, anything is possible.’ You’ve got a passport, you can travel—have fun, do what you need to do, and fight for your vision.”
The artist expresses confidence in the future of the new generation: “There are so many talented people, and I’m really not worried about the industry or the French scene. I think of someone like Trym, who’s bringing his hard techno vibe. His project is going to keep growing—Americans love it—and I think what he represents is really cool.”
The next step after his Stade de France triumph: launching a label dedicated to supporting new talent. “I think after my album, the goal is to start a new label and sign a lot of young artists. I want to give them a platform to express themselves.”
The Nomadic Spirit
While Paris remains his emotional home port, DJ Snake sees himself first and foremost as a citizen of the world. “I strangely feel at home everywhere,” he explains. “And I really have that nomadic thing. The nomadic spirit—it’s something that truly reflects who I am. It’s a rhythm I’ve had since I was young. I’ve always been on the move, I’ve always traveled.
“Now, I’m able to absorb the vibe of a city quickly. It’s crazy what I’ve managed to develop—I’m just realizing it now.” Still, it’s a demanding balance: “Traveling is very inspiring—meeting people, connecting with artists, discovering different cultures… But the travel itself is exhausting. It’s a lot of pressure. I have a hard time creating while on tour. I need to stop and settle somewhere. I stepped back a bit from social media when I was touring more, because I was finishing my album and needed not to be constantly on the move.”
With “Disco Maghreb” in 2022, DJ Snake reached a form of personal fulfillment. The instrumental track with Algerian influences came from a deeply intimate place. “The impact of ‘Disco Maghreb’ was huge. It was unprecedented, and I really didn’t expect it. I was the first to be surprised,” he says. “It will still be played at weddings 20 years from now.
“Algeria gives me so much love. It’s really hard for me to walk down the street there, for example. That’s something I don’t experience anywhere else, even though I’m known pretty much worldwide.”
For him, the real victory lies in his ability to make traditional music resonate far beyond its original audience: “When I’m performing in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Taiwan or Japan, and I see people dancing to Algerian rhythms—that’s a cultural victory.”
DJ Snake
A New Album After Six Years of Waiting
DJ Snake is preparing to make his return with a new project, with the announcement coinciding with his show at the Stade de France. “It’s true that it went by quickly,” he admits, reflecting on the time since “Carte Blanche.” “I felt the need to offer a new chapter in my career. I had things to say, things to offer. With the Stade de France, I thought, ‘I think we’re going to make a great combo, Stade de France, album. We’re going to have fun.’
“It’s an album where I had fun. I pushed creativity to the max. Of course, it’ll still be DJ Snake, I’m not coming back with a funk album or a drum and bass album. There will be electronic sounds, there will be touching moments, and we’re going to have fun.”
This versatility is one of the artist’s signatures: “I release ‘Let Me Love You’ with Justin Bieber, the next month I drop a dubstep track called ‘Propaganda,’ which is super aggressive. Then I do something like ‘Magenta Riddim’ with Indian influences. After that, I can do a house track, I can do ‘Disco Maghreb’…. I really took people on a journey from left to right. But always with integrity and my vision. That’s why people have never seen me as an opportunist, because my approach has always been sincere.”
He embraces this diversity as an integral part of his identity: “When you’re in music, your art has to be solid, and it has to touch people. There has to be emotion, but it has to connect with the audience. I don’t understand artists who make the same song every time. They have a hit with something, and then they make five follow-ups with the same rhythm, the same guitar. I’d go crazy. That’s why I always need to reinvent myself and offer something different.”
In Search of Authenticity
In an electronic landscape where trends, particularly on social media, often overshadow creative choices, artistic independence is a fundamental principle for DJ Snake. “My vision is what matters the most to me. I’ve done everything to protect it and to maintain this independence, this freedom to navigate.”
For the producer behind global hits like “Let Me Love You” and “Lean On,” he says “the impact of TikTok” has changed electronic music, with consumption becoming increasingly rapid. “The industry has changed. The way entertainment, not just music, is consumed has made it so very little remains,” he observes.
“Since I was young, I’ve always been on the move, I’ve always traveled… We’ve met the biggest artists in the world, the biggest celebrities, visited the most beautiful places on the planet. But at some point, you go through all of that and you start to appreciate the simplest things.”
This quest for authenticity shows up both in his music and his creative approach: “My music is a reflection of my daily life, my life—it’s me, really. I translate what I feel. For sure, there will be simpler things than what I’ve done before.”
His side project, The Outlaw, under which he will perform at the Accor Arena, also allows him to return to his roots: “It was really about having total creative freedom, not worrying about my image, my status, or having to play all my pop hits all the time. It’s really a kind of outlet.” He shares that he aims to release an EP under The Outlaw in the coming months.
This article originally appeared on Billboard France.
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Entertainment
Music Industry Veterans Jackie Stevens, Kylie Morgan Launch Createurs Studio in Nashville
Nashville’s artists will soon be getting a new creative space in Music City, when the artist-driven studio Createurs opens Aug. 25.
Founded by Nashville music industry veteran Jackie Stevens (who serves as the company’s CEO), artist Kylie Morgan and Los Angeles-based cinematographers William Carnahan and Sam Shimizu-Jones of Will Call Media, the 2,000-square-foot space will offer a destination for creators to record, shoot and edit content. The space offers flexible membership options, corporate membership packages and one-time booking availability.
Located at 305 14th Avenue North in Nashville, Createurs aims to serve as a creative hub for music artists, influencers, podcasters, visual creators, athletes and labels, among others. The space will offer a photography studio, a green screen room, a podcast suite, an education space, a performance space, dressing rooms, a collaborative social space and on-site creative experts to aid in supporting and curating content sessions.
“Content has changed every part of the way we do business in Nashville,” Stevens said in a statement. “But too many artists are priced out and need more support. We built Createurs as a place to remove that pressure so artists can focus on what matters, creating.”
Stevens previously served as executive producer for Westwood One’s The Big Time with Whitney Allen and Nights With Elaina. She also earned multiple ACM, CMA and Gracie Award wins and nominations along the way. In 2019, she joined UMG Nashville (now MCA) as director of promotions for EMI Records, working with artists including Eric Church, Brothers Osborne and Morgan, the latter known for her top 40 Country Airplay hit “If He Wanted to He Would” and her 2023 debut country album Making It Up As I Go.
The facility was designed and constructed by artist/designer Danielle Joy Art, while Shannon LaBrie of LaBrie Spaces added design elements.
Entertainment
Kneecap Blasts Norwegian Government at Oslo Festival, Accusing It of Funding ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians
Irish rap group Kneecap – which has drawn a storm of criticism, support, attention and legal action over the past half-year – continued to speak out about the war in Gaza during an afternoon set at the Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway, on Friday (Aug. 8).
Right before the trio of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí took the stage, an English-language white-text-on-black-background message played on a video screen, accusing the Norwegian government of “enabling” the “genocide” against the Palestinian people via investments held in the county’s sovereign wealth fund (referenced as “oil pension fund” in the message). “Over 80,000 people have been murdered by Israel in 21 months,” the band’s message continued. “Free Palestine.” The message was greeted readily by a cheering audience. Most estimates (including those from health officials in the area) place the Palestinian death toll at more than 60,000. That number does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas militants. An estimated 18,500 of those killed were children.
While conflict between Israel and Palestinian territory has been ongoing for decades, the conflict escalated on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants entered Israel and killed 1,200 people, more than 800 of whom were civilians, and took 251 hostages, at least 40 of whom have been killed; around 50 hostages, both dead and alive, remain unreleased. Israel’s ensuing invasion of Gaza has killed an estimated 60,000 and led to an ongoing humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced and facing starvation. Gaza health authorities have reported that almost 200 people have died of hunger since the conflict began and the United Nations has estimated that some 1300 were killed while seeking food, though Israel has frequently disputed the UN’s figures. Israel’s security cabinet recently approved a plan to take complete control of Gaza City and forcibly relocate at least 600,000 Palestinians, a move decried by many world leaders.
The Norwegian government’s connection to the war in Gaza is complicated. While Norway has broken with the United States and Israel by recognizing Palestine as a state, the Government Pension Fund of Norway – which invests surplus revenues from the country’s petroleum industry and has more than $1.9 trillion in assets – is under scrutiny after a recent piece by Aftenposten, Norway’s largest printed newspaper, reported that the sovereign wealth fund invested around $15.2 million in Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd., a jet engines parts manufacturer supplying the Israeli military, between 2023-2024. While Norway’s Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg has ruled out wholesale divestment of Israeli companies, the newspaper’s revelation spurred the government to launch a review of the sovereign wealth portfolio to ensure that it was not investing in Israeli companies contributing to the war in Gaza.
Halfway through the Belfast group’s hour-long performance, they offered up more detailed thoughts on Norway’s purported connection to the conflict. “I don’t have to lecture you people,” said Kneecap’s Mo Chara, wearing a keffiyeh. “I can understand there’s people here like, ‘All right, we get it, I’m sick of yous going on.’ I wish I didn’t have to talk about this, I wish I didn’t have to get on stage every gig and talk about this. The fact is, as long as we’re on stage and as long as nothing is changing, Kneecap will always use this platform and this stage to call out the genocide and the war criminals. I don’t need to lecture you people when your oil fund is being used to fund the genocide.” The majority of Kneecap’s massive crowd greeted his speech with cheers and applause; many waved Palestinian flags as he spoke. The Israeli government has flatly denied committing genocide against Palestinians, and the term remains hotly debated. Some say those who accuse Israel of genocide are motivated by antisemitism, though two Israel-based human rights organizations recently began adopting the word with regards to the war in Gaza.
Mo Chara gave a “quick shout-out” to Øyafestivalen for “standing by Kneecap” despite calls for its removal from the lineup, but added that he thinks “it’s a disgrace and a shame that KKR” – a global investment firm that owns Superstruct Entertainment, which runs Øyafestivalen, among many other international music festivals – “is behind all these festivals. No company investing in Israel while they commit war crimes should be involved in and taking part in music festivals,” he concluded, with the crowd voicing its agreement.
Criticism of KKR wasn’t limited to Kneecap’s set. Outside the festival entrance on Friday, a small but vocal group of protestors gathered to urge people to boycott Øyafestivalen over KKR. At a different stage, more than an hour later Kneecap wrapped, Irish rockers D.C. Fontaines flashed an onscreen message of “Free Palestine,” which was also greeted enthusiastically by the crowd.
Mo Chara is currently facing a terrorism charge from the British government over purportedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in November 2024, where the group allegedly said “up Hezbollah, up Hamas.” Since then, the punk-leaning rap group released a statement declaring “we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah” and described video footage as “deliberately taken out of context.” Mo Chara alluded to the charges during the show, saying, “we love the English people, it’s the English government we don’t like.” Not long after Kneecap first hit the Øyafestivalen stage, they urged the audience to give them more of a response: “For f—k sake, we’re up in court on terrorism charges – give me a bit of energy.”
In July, Kneecap were banned from performing in Hungary over what a Hungarian politician described as “antisemitism and glorifying terror,” calling them a “national security threat.”
“The authoritarian government of Viktor Orban say we ‘pose a national security threat,’” the group wrote in a statement after the ban. “There is no legal basis for his actions, no member of Kneecap has ever been convicted of any crime in any country. We stand against all hate crimes and Kneecap champions love and solidarity as well as calling out injustices where we see it…. It’s clear this is political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people.”
HYBE was the week’s top performing music stock after its share price jumped 15.9% to 291,000 KRW ($209.33) following the company’s Q2 earnings on Wednesday (Aug. 6). The K-pop giant’s revenue rose 10.2% year-over-year to $516.7 million, while operating profit jumped nearly 30% to $48.3 million
Other K-pop stocks also posted big gains. YG Entertainment rose 17.4% after reporting an 11.6% revenue gain in Q2. JYP Entertainment climbed 14.5% even though the company did not report earnings this week. SM Entertainment, which reported a 19% increase in consolidated revenue in Q2, gained 8.3%. Collectively, the four K-pop companies posted an average stock price gain of 14.0%.
A week after nearly all music stocks suffered losses, a handful of Q2 results helped the Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) gain 9.0% to 2,980.51. Stocks improved in markets around the world after taking a drubbing a week earlier. In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite rose 3.7% and the S&P 500 improved 2.3%. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 improved 0.3%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 2.9%. China’s SSE Composite Index improved 2.1%.
Warner Music Group (WMG) shares jumped 10.8% to $31.71, its best closing price since March 27, following the company’s earnings results on Thursday (Aug 7). Encouraged by streaming growth, market share and cost-cutting, among other developments, some analysts raised their WMG price targets following the announcement. J.P. Morgan lifted WMG to $36 from $33, citing revenue that came in ahead of estimates and “margin-accretive growth” to come from renewed licensing deals with streaming platforms. TD Cowen raised WMG to $46 from $36. Guggenheim maintained its buy rating and $37 price target.
Live Nation shares gained 4.7% to $153.13 and reached an intraday price of $156.65 on Friday (Aug. 8), less than $1 below its 52-week high, after the company’s earnings results released Thursday showed a 16% spike in total revenue and a 19% jump in concert revenue. Many analysts lifted their price targets on Friday, including Benchmark (to $180 from $178), Wolfe Research (to $173 from $168), Guggenheim (to $182 from $170), Goldman Sachs ($168 from $162), Roth Capital (to $180 from $164) and JP Morgan (to $180 from $165).
The biggest streaming companies also posted strong gains. Spotify, the BGMI’s most valuable component, jumped 12.4% to $706.22 after dropping 9.4% a week earlier. Currently valued at approximately $145 billion, Spotify is well below its 52-week high of $785.00 set on June 27. Netease Cloud Music rose 9.0% to 266.80 HKD ($33.99), bringing its year-to-date gain to 133.6%. Tencent Music Entertainment rose 7.7% to $22.13, raising its 2025 gain to 95.0%.
Cumulus Media, which reported earnings on Thursday, saw its shares fall 6% on Friday but finished the week up about 14%. Investors reacted to the 9.2% decline in revenue in the second quarter and CEO Mary Berner’s description of a “challenging” advertising landscape. Adjusted EBITDA fell 11.3% to $22.4 million from $25.2 million in the prior-year period.
iHeartMedia was the week’s biggest loser, falling 11.6% to $1.60. The company will report second-quarter results on Monday (Aug. 11).
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