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SM Entertainment, Cloud Music Lead Music Stocks to Small Gain as Markets Tumble

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With stock markets slipping and tariff concerns rising, music stocks from South Korea and China were the best performers for the week ended May 23.

K-pop company SM Entertainment, home to aespa and RIIZE, led music stocks with a 10.6% gain. Two Chinese music streamers, Netease Cloud Music and Tencent Music Entertainment (TME), followed with gains of 7.0% and 5.4%, respectively. HYBE, home to BTS and its members’ solo projects, was close behind with a 4.0% gain. 

Driven by the gains in Asian stocks, the 20-company Billboard Global Music (BGMI) rose 0.2% to a record 2,800.92. The small gain marked the seventh consecutive weekly gain after a two-week loss centered around President Trump’s April 1 tariffs announcement. Proving that music performs well in times of economic uncertainty, the BGMI has gained 31.8% year to date, far exceeding both the Nasdaq (down 4.5%) and S&P 500 (down 2.4%). 

U.S.-listed stocks performed especially poorly this week. Only one music stock traded on a U.S. exchange, TME, posted a gain this week. (TME is dual listed and also trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its American Depository Receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange.) Of the 12 stocks on the BGMI that lost value this week, only German concert promoter CTS Eventim trades outside of the U.S. 

U.S. stocks finished the week on a sour note after President Trump recommended a 50% tariff on the European Union after trade negotiations stalled. The S&P 500 dropped 2.6% and the Nasdaq fell 2.5% amidst a battery of warning signs for the U.S. economy: Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. debt rating, the resulting concerns about the U.S. debt and a drop in the Leading Economic Index, among other factors. The U.S. is experiencing “death by a thousand cuts” and suffering from “the drip, drip, drip of poor fiscal news,” Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid wrote this week.

CTS Eventim, which fell 4.7% to 106.60 euros ($121.21), was the only music company to announce quarterly results this week. While the 2024 acquisition of See Tickets helped revenue jump 22%, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved just 8.9% and the company missed some analysts’ expectations. After Thursday’s announcement, the company’s share price fell as much as 14.7% before ending the day down 6.2% to 105.60 euros ($111.09). 

Among multi-sector companies in the label and publishing business, Universal Music Group fared well, gaining 1.8% to 27.77 euros ($31.57). Warner Music Group fell 5.3% to $26.22 despite a lack of market-moving news or analyst comments. Reservoir Media, which reports earnings on May 28, dipped 1.2% to $7.23.

Streaming services were a mixed bag. Spotify fell 0.4% to $653.82. Deezer rose 0.8% to 1.31 euros ($1.49). Anghami sank 5.1% to $0.56. LiveOne was one of the week’s biggest losers after dropping 20.8% to $0.76. On Thursday (May 22), LiveOne announced it secured $27.8 million of convertible notes financing and drew down $16.8 million on May 19. The notes convert into shares of LiveOne common stock at $2.10 per share.

Live Nation fell 1.8% to $145.01. Macquarie increased its price target to $175 from $165 and maintained its “outperform” rating. On Tuesday, Live Nation named Richard Grenell, an appointee during President Trump’s first term, to its board of directors.

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Myke Towers & Quevedo Set Charts Ablaze With ‘Soleao’

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Myke Towers and Quevedo propel “Soleo” to the top of Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart as the song jumps a spot to No. 1 on the list dated Aug. 9.

Their first collab, “Soleao” (which translates to “sunny” in English), was released May 20 on One World International/Warner Records/Warner Latina. It leads the way in its ninth chart week, after an 11% growth in audience impressions, to 9.1 million, across U.S. panel-contributing Latin radio stations in the tracking week of July 25-31, according to Luminate.

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Towers claims his 15th Latin Airplay champ, and third consecutively of 2025, after one-week rulers “Otra Noche,” featuring Darell (February), and “Degenere,” featuring Benny Blanco (May).

Further, Towers adds to his satchel of wins as he accomplishes a third trio of No. 1s in a single year. Rewind to 2021, when (after landing two early chart-toppers, for that matter) the Puerto Rican delivered a streak of three straight No. 1s: “Bandido,” with Juhn; “Pareja del Año,” with Sebastián Yatra; and “Bésame,” with Luis Fonsi, that June, August and November, respectively. In 2024, Towers replicated the success with another trio of consecutive No. 1s: “Borracho y Loco,” with Yandel; “La Falda”; and “La Capi,” between that February and May.

Meanwhile, Quevedo makes a comeback to No. 1 on Latin Airplay. He previously led, for four weeks, with “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52,” with Bizarrap, in 2022.

Beyond its Latin Airplay coronation, “Soleao” likewise lifts 2-1 on Latin Pop Airplay. There, Towers tallies a third No. 1 and Quevedo, his first. Further, the song adds a second week atop Latin Rhythm Airplay.

Banda Carnaval Ignites Regional Mexican Airplay: Elsewhere on the Latin charts, Banda Carnaval secures its eighth No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay, and second of the year, as “Ya La Hice” bounds 9-1 with 6.6 million audience impressions, up 47%, in the tracking week. The act’s “Pude” led for a week in March.

“We are deeply grateful to our fans for taking ‘Ya La Hice’ to No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart,” Banda Carnaval tells Billboard. “This song represents a very special moment for us, and seeing it connect with people in this way fills us with pride and emotion. Thank you to everyone who has made it their own, to the composers for this great story, and to our team who continues to believe in our music. Let’s go all the way with Síganme Tirando!”

“Ya La Hice” earns Greatest Gainer honors, awarded to the song with the largest week-over-week increase in impressions at the format. Leading the charge during the tracking period are Univision stations, with standout support from KSCA-FM Los Angeles, KLNO-FM Dallas, and WOJO-FM Chicago.

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Ice Cube’s ‘War of the Worlds’ Film Has a 0% Rating on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ & Cube’s Son Is Weighing In

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Ice Cube‘s latest movie is off to a slow start on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. According to 15 critics (and counting), War of the Worlds so far has a zero percent rating on the Tomatometer scale, while thousands of moviegoers have given it at 14 percent rating on the Popcornmeter.

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One review in particular, from Variety‘s Peter Debruge knocked the film for essentially doubling as a commercial for Amazon, writing, “Even with a Prime subscription, you have to sit through two minutes of ads to watch 90 more of what amounts to a feature-length commercial for all things Amazon,” while another from The Telegraph‘s Ed Power wasn’t really into all the screen time Cube got, saying, “It is silly, shoddy and features far too much of rapper-turned-leading man Ice Cube staring at a computer screen while looking as if he’s working through a reasonably urgent digestive ailment.”

An adaptation of H. G. Wells’ classic 1898 novel The War of the Worlds, this version is an Amazon Prime production directed by Rich Lee and also starring Eva Longoria. Cube plays Will Radford, a surveillance expert at the Department of Homeland Security, and most of the movie takes place on his computer screen as he deals with a hacker and an alien invasion while trying to keep his family out of harm’s way.

The synopsis on Prime Video reads as follows: “A gargantuan invasion is coming with this fresh take on the legendary novel of the same name. Renowned actress Eva Longoria is joined by iconic rapper and actor Ice Cube, along with Michael O’Neill and Iman Benson, for a thrilling out-of-this-world adventure that is filled with present-day themes of technology, surveillance, and privacy.”

Cube’s son, actor O’Shea Jackson Jr., replied to a tweet on X of a video clip from the movie in which an Amazon Prime delivery person tells Cube’s character to cop a USB from Amazon, so he can deliver it via Prime Air with a drone. “I truly can’t believe this adaptation of War Of The Worlds is actually a real film with a real budget and Ice Cube is actually in it,” a fan posted, with Jackson replying that the movie was “Shot during the pandemic. Released 5 years later.”

Billboard has reached out to Ice Cube’s team for comment.

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Cara Lewis Group Hires Ashley Ventura, Who Will Bring Bhad Bhabie & More to the Agency

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Cara Lewis Group (CLG) has hired agent Ashley Ventura, who will bring her clients to the independent agency.

“CLG is an obvious fit for her talents,” said founder/CEO Cara Lewis in a statement. “The entire Cara Lewis Group team is thrilled to have her as a valued addition. We look forward to continuing our mantra of artist development, creating stars and long lasting careers.”

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Ventura has worked as an agent in the hip-hop and R&B space for more than five years, previously working at MAC Agency. A press release announcing her hire described her as a “proven” leader and “one of the newest, most exciting agents in the industry.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Cara Lewis Group and to continue pushing culture forward alongside such a respected team,” added Ventura. “This new chapter marks an exciting step in my journey, and I’m looking forward to building with incredible artists and creating what’s next.”

Ventura will be bringing a number of talented artists to the CLG roster, including hip-hop icon French Montana and reality TV star and rapper Bhad Bhabie. Her other clients include Atlanta rapper Anycia, Bay Swag, Bktherula, Gashi, K Camp and Kentheman, all of whom are following her to CLG.

CLG’s roster currently includes Eminem, Travis Scott, Khalid, Don Toliver, Clipse, The Roots, Russ, Jill Scott, Ludacris, Ice Spice, BIA and Erykah Badu. Lewis is one of the most successful independent agents in hip-hop, having spent more than 20 years at William Morris as a partner, where she built the urban-pop division before joining CAA’s music department.

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