Latest news with #Napster
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AI's Napster Moment May Be Next
Two years ago this month, the Writers Guild of America went on strike for, among other key issues, a set of landmark AI protections to safeguard our writing and our finished work. It took six months of sustained solidarity, picketing and an outpouring of public support — everyone from fellow unions, politicians and yes, even Elon Musk — before the studios finally met our demands. Today, writers, journalists and creatives across every medium are facing a new kind of existential threat to their professions from the interests of Silicon Valley. Tech companies have been openly lobbying the White House to rewrite copyright law to freely train their models on films, television shows, articles, books and beyond without paying so much as a dime to studios, publishers or writers. OpenAI has been referring to this as 'the freedom to learn.' In New Jersey, it's just called theft. More from The Hollywood Reporter New Report Portrays California's Film and TV Production Environment as Uniquely Burdensome and Expensive Kevin Costner Sued By 'Horizon 2' Stunt Performer Over Unscripted Rape Scene Will Smith Music Video Makes Union Deal With IATSE After Strike Three weeks ago, Shira Perlmutter, the Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, was fired shortly after publishing a new report on Generative AI Training. The release advocated for preserving current copyright law and signaled a setback for Sam Altman's craven attempt to expand the Fair Use doctrine into a smash and grab campaign on decades of copyrighted material. In other words, tech companies cannot use stolen intellectual property in their models. In the meantime, dozens of ongoing lawsuits against OpenAI (ChatGPT), Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini) and Meta (Llama) making their way through the courts. Without a sympathetic judge willing to distort fair use, these companies could find themselves liable in billions of theft, potentially even more in damages, and in some cases, face total bankruptcy. But we've been down this road before with Napster. The company launched as a free file-sharing app in 1999. Almost overnight people around the world could download entire music libraries in seconds. It was a groundbreaking use of technology that, at the time, felt too good to be true. And that's because it was. Napster was quickly sued out of existence for copyright infringement and racketeering. Since then, every major media tech platforms — YouTube, Spotify and even OpenAI until recently — have been making deals with studios, publishers and labels to compensate them for using their copyrighted work. While many of these agreements have been deeply flawed and exploitive, the firing of Shira Perlmutter represents a pivot to something much worse. Silicon Valley is now asking the government for permission to steal our copyright in order to escape their pending lawsuits. They are knowingly trying to de-value our professions and countless others in order to freely enrich themselves without caring about the consequences. In the case of screenwriters, copyright of an original script is sold to the studios in exchange for core benefits like health care, pension and residuals. This is one of the bedrock principles that has helped sustain writers during the highs and lows of this business. But if copyright protections were to be stripped away, then so begins the unraveling of the entire value proposition that union members past and present have fought so hard to maintain in the film and television industry. In April, Sam Altman appeared on stage with Chris Anderson, the head of TED, who pointed out, 'At first glance, this (ChatGPT) looks like I.P. theft.' The audience erupted in applause until Sam fired back, 'Clap about that all you want. Enjoy.' And then Sam said something far more revealing, 'We do need to figure out some new model around the economics for compensating creative output. Exactly what that looks like I'm not sure.' But the copyright system isn't broken. Companies like OpenAI simply don't want to negotiate consent and pay. So, Sam can shrug about 'the economics for compensating creative output' all he wants. Enjoy. The solution will always be the same. Stop stealing writers work and follow the law. Larry J. Cohen and Sarah Montana are the co-chairs of the Writers Guild of America East AI Task Force. Cohen is a writer, producer and director who currently serves on the WGAE council. Montana is a writer and public speaker who currently serves on WGAE council. Best of The Hollywood Reporter How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023 Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
This Puzzling Metaverse Company Just Renamed Itself Napster
John Acunto, Cofounder & CEO of metaverse company Infinite Reality, which recently renamed itself Napster after acquiring the music sharing application for $207 million A Florida-based upstart called Infinite Reality held a private investors-only Zoom meeting on May 15, at which it told some of its 1,500 shareholders that it was rebranding itself as Napster Corporation, a nod to the peer-to-peer file sharing application cofounded in 1999 by Facebook's first president and now billionaire Sean Parker. (He's no longer affiliated with Napster.) The once-revolutionary app, which had some 75 million users at its peak, declared bankruptcy in 2002 after a U.S. copyright infringement ruling. It has since bounced around, picked up by Roxio, then Best Buy and later repackaged as a Spotify rival, recently ranking just 39th among music apps, Infinite Reality, which had been pitching itself until recently as a metaverse shop, acquired music-streaming company Napster in a $207 million deal in March. At the time, Napster had unpaid royalty fees of more than $56 million; its CEO Jonathan Vlassopulos resigned last week. Now Infinite Reality is rebranding itself as Napster, a provider of 'AI-powered digital experiences.' In that same call, the company told investors of a new plan for them to get liquidity, explaining that they could sell back their shares at $20 a pop (before fees) starting in June, thanks to an unidentified investor. Assuming Infinite Reality's share count hasn't materially changed in the last couple of months, that would imply at least $18 billion valuation—or more than 240 times its $75 million revenue last year. This is not the young company's first rebranding. John Acunto and some investors bought bankrupt social media Tsu in 2019. Later renamed Display Social, it brought in just $150,000 in revenue for the first three years combined. Acunto pivoted the company again in 2022 when he acquired production company Thunder Studios and nascent firm Infinite Metaverse in an all-stock deal for $235 million in January 2022. With a new name, Infinite Reality went on a shopping spree, picking up nine more companies, each one boosting the firm's valuation. Got a tip for us? Contact reporters Phoebe Liu at pliu@ and +1 678-834-4200 for Signal or WhatsApp, and Iain Martin at or +1 646-739-6427 for Signal or WhatsApp. It's the fourth time since 2022 that Infinite-Reality-now-Napster has promised to let investors cash out, but so far none have panned out. Around the same time the company rebranded as Infinite Reality, it also filed paperwork with the SEC to go public via a reverse merger. That fell through in December 2022. Two weeks later came an agreement to go public via SPAC, but that didn't happen either. (It began termination of the agreement in December, and the blank-check company is suing Napster over an alleged $7 million unpaid termination fee.) In January, shortly after announcing $3 billion in funding from an anonymous investor, the company announced a secondary share sale through Nasdaq Private Market, a trading platform for private company share sales. In a February investor call when he discussed the Nasdaq Private Market deal, CEO John Acunto boasted about how much wealth the company had created for its shareholders. 'We have over 600 millionaires as a result of their investment in Infinite Reality,' Acunto said. 'I want to remind you that our job is not just to create a great company, but to create value for our shareholders … and give you an opportunity to get that value extracted from the market.' But some shareholders were pretty jaded by this point. 'When I heard about the secondary market set of transactions, I was like, oh, cool, the latest in a line of things that's never going to materialize,' says a shareholder and former employee of the Nasdaq Private Market deal. It turned out they had good reason. First, the Nasdaq Private Market webpage to trade Infinite Reality shares was taken offline, then the deal was called off as of May 7, according to Gillian Sheldon, Napster's head of communications, who claimed that it was a mutual decision made by Napster and the trading platform. Nasdaq Private Market didn't respond to a request for comment and directed multiple shareholders' inquiries to Infinite Reality (now Napster). The latest promise to let investors sell shares appears to center around an anonymous investor represented by brokerage firm Cova Capital. According to its website, the Long Island-based firm has worked on transactions with Palantir, SpaceX and AI startup Cohere. Broker-dealer watchdog Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined Cova $30,000 in March this year for recommending three private share sales to retail investors without 'conducting due diligence sufficient to form a reasonable basis to believe that the offerings were suitable for, or in the best interest of, at least some investors.' That included claims that Cova didn't do enough to make sure the issuer actually had the rights to the shares or determine how much the shares had been marked up; Cova paid the fine 'without admitting to or denying the findings.' 'We represent an investor who has executed an indication of interest to make an offer to existing shareholders that will afford shareholders of record on May 31st, two weeks from today, a liquidity opportunity,' Edward Gibstein, CEO of Cova, told Napster investors on the May 15 call. Gibstein added that the investor had signed a letter of intent. Kendall Cluff, an account executive at cap table management firm Carta (which is set to administer the transaction), said that 'we don't know the exact amount of seller interest until we run the transaction, but we expect that it would end up being a multi-billion dollar transaction.' Cova and Napster have a relationship going back to 2021, per Gibstein—before it embarked on a string of headline-grabbing all-stock transactions for startups like Landvault and the Drone Racing League. An SEC filing tied to Napster's July 2024 fundraise also lists Cova as the broker. Around that time, Cova was trying to pitch six-month, high-interest (33%) loans with warrants to purchase Napster stock at a 'discounted' valuation of $1.25 billion, per documents viewed by Forbes. That same document indicated that if the company raised $20 million or more in equity funding before the loan was due, the investor could choose to get paid back early, at a lower interest rate. Per that document, that should have kicked in back in July, when Napster raised $350 million and in January, when the company said it raised $3 billion. But two investors who say they signed similar documents told Forbes they haven't yet been repaid. Five investors sued Napster in May alleging nonpayment of such loans, even after they sent the company a notice of default in December. A Napster spokesperson said the notes are in 'various stages of repayment.' Cova CEO Gibstein didn't respond to a request for comment on this latest deal, but he did comment on May 15, hours before announcing the offer to shareholders. At the time, Forbes was trying to figure out who had reportedly invested $3 billion in then-Infinite Reality at a $12 billion valuation. Gibstein wouldn't disclose the investor's identity, citing a non-disclosure agreement, but said he was a Cova client and confirmed that the company's big fundraising was 'not a debt transaction.' After Forbes published an investigation about Infinite Reality (now Napster) and its anonymous investor in April, the company issued a press release 90 minutes later, stating that 'following high media interest, Infinite Reality's $3B investor has come forward' and that Sterling Select, a New York venture development firm represented 'the significant $3 billion investment.' The press release was later amended to clarify that Sterling Select 'represents the investor,' but it never did reveal the investor's identity. The company's chief marketing officer KaringaKogan later told Forbes that Sterling Select isn't the $3 billion investor, but that it introduced Napster to 'investors' who in turn wrote the checks. Sterling Select did not respond to multiple requests for comment. All of this is just the latest chapter in the saga of a puzzling company. For many investors, the chance to cash out in June can't come soon enough. Many of these individuals have little experience in startup and tech investing and wrote checks as small as $50,000, hoping Napster would be the next big thing. 'Are these guys scam artists, or did I get very lucky to get into the next greatest company in AI?' a shareholder wrote to Forbes. In response, Napster's head of comms Sheldon wrote that 'the many individuals we have spoken to since our internal investor update are very pleased with the liquidity offer, and we're happy to say they represent the overwhelming majority.' Another shareholder told Forbes that their broker 'can't find me a buyer at my cost of under $2' per share, let alone $20, as recently as last week. His broker? Cova's Gibstein.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A Decentralized AI Hub for Creators
LimeWire has reemerged as a decentralized AI platform focused on content creation, storage, and infrastructure. It combines AI-powered image, audio, and video tools with end-to-end encrypted file sharing and unlimited storage. The platform partners with BNB Greenfield for secure decentralized storage and file transfer. Blocknode, a forthcoming decentralized marketplace for enterprise-level GPUs, will allow GPU providers to monetize idle times while providing AI developers with a cost-effective infrastructure. The LimeWire ecosystem includes LMWR, its native token for payments, rewards, and stake-based governance within the platform. Few digital brands have left a cultural imprint like LimeWire. In the early 2000s, it redefined how people discovered and shared media. With its cross-platform interface and easy file search, LimeWire introduced millions to digital music long before streaming was mainstream. Unlike Napster, which faced an early shutdown, or Kazaa, which suffered from malware issues, LimeWire remained a staple until legal battles forced its closure in 2010. Now it's back, with a new architecture and mandate. LimeWire has rebuilt itself as a Web3-native platform centered around generative AI, decentralized compute, and creator monetization. It's not just reviving its legacy. It's rethinking the content stack from the ground up, layer by layer. The new LimeWire rebuilds the content creation stack with a focus on technical composability and open access. Instead of relying on siloed tools and cloud services, it combines AI-powered generation and editing with decentralized storage, encrypted file sharing, and permissionless access to compute resources. Before we dive into Limewire, let's discuss Artificial Intelligence, which has become a big driving force in digital content creation, changing how media is produced, consumed, and monetized. The rise of generative AI has changed how content is created, personalized, and distributed. From AI-written scripts to machine-assisted visual design, tools powered by models like Stable Diffusion and GPT are making creativity faster but not always AI-generated content market is expected to surpass $12B by 2033, and companies like Netflix have already embraced AI for personalization and production, exploring AI-driven script generation and video editing workflows to scale output. But this momentum hasn't translated into a fully usable creative stack for most people. Many AI workflows remain siloed, fragmented across tools that don't talk to each other. A creator might generate an image using one platform, upscale it on another, manage edits through a third-party tool, and then store the final asset in a separate cloud service. This lack of integration leads to duplicated work, broken workflows, and a heavy reliance on centralized storage or third-party plugins that may compromise security or limit collaboration. There's also the issue of quality control. As more users access free or open-source models, inconsistency in output quality, model drift, and fine-tuning limitations begin to surface, especially for non-technical users who lack the expertise to optimize generation parameters or retrain models for specific outcomes. And for larger teams, managing AI-generated assets presents additional pain points: version control, metadata accuracy, multi-user editing rights, and end-to-end security, none of which are natively handled by today's most popular AI content platforms. LimeWire addresses these gaps through a unified platform that combines content generation, enhancement, and decentralized storage. Users can access top-tier models like Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, and LimeWire's in-house Blue Willow, streamlining the path from concept to final asset. Whether creating visuals, music, or video, creators operate within a single, consistent environment; no external plugins or tools are required. Integrated editing features, smart metadata tagging, and encrypted file sharing remove the friction of managing large creative projects, while unlimited storage ensures that creators and teams don't have to compromise on scale. For solo creators and digital studios alike, LimeWire turns generative AI into a full-stack toolset, not just a model playground. Integrating generative AI tools with secure file-sharing, monetization, and scalable GPU access, enabling creators to produce, enhance, and distribute their work more effectively. Focusing on three parts: AI-powered image Generation: Leveraging Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, and proprietary AI models to give creators an intuitive way to generate stunning visuals. Whether it's concept art, marketing assets, or AI-assisted illustrations, these tools remove technical barriers and allow users to focus on creativity rather than complex design processes. AI-Assisted Music & Video Creation: Simplifies the production process for musicians, podcasters, and video creators. Features like automated composition, remixing, and smart video editing help users go from concept to polished product faster. AI-powered beat generation, adaptive mixing, and automated scene assembly enable more efficient workflows without sacrificing quality. Real-time Editing & Enhancement: AI-powered tools enable smart upscaling, auto-tagging, and seamless file conversion, making it easier for creators to refine and optimize their work. It can also enhance video resolution, clean up audio, or automate metadata generation, improving content quality without the complexity of traditional editing software. They aim to streamline digital content management by reducing reliance on multiple third-party apps and minimizing friction in file transfers and collaborations. Security risks are significantly lowered without a single centralized server dependency, ensuring creators and businesses maintain control over their assets. This improved efficiency allows users to focus on productivity, especially when handling large files and complex workflows. The explosion of AI-driven applications, from generative art to large language models, has sparked an unprecedented demand for compute power. While models and tooling have advanced rapidly, access to the hardware that powers them, specifically high-performance GPUs, remains prohibitively centralized and expensive. The numbers reflect the scale of the problem. The global AI GPU market, valued at $17.5B in 2024, is expected to reach $113.9B by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 30.6%. However, the majority of that capacity is controlled by a handful of cloud hyperscalers such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure, underpinned almost entirely by NVIDIA hardware. This concentration creates a chokepoint: Access is expensive, availability is inconsistent, and pricing lacks transparency. According to a 2024 McKinsey report, global demand for high-performance GPUs is projected to grow by 4x between 2023 and 2027, driven largely by the scaling needs of AI model training and inference. For startups and independent developers, this is a non-trivial barrier. A 2025 Deloitte survey found that 41% of AI startups cite GPU access and cost as their top technical hurdle. At the same time, thousands of GPUs across mining farms, data centers, and on-prem hardware sit idle, completely detached from the AI ecosystem due to a lack of liquid infrastructure to onboard them. This imbalance between skyrocketing AI demand and underutilized hardware has created a clear gap: How can GPU supply be made more liquid, discoverable, and affordable? Recognizing the need for a more accessible and cost-effective alternative, LimeWire has introduced Blocknode, a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) designed to disrupt the AI compute market. Monetizing Idle GPUs: GPU owners ranging from individual miners to data centers can rent out unused computing power through Blocknode, earning rewards in return. Affordable AI Compute: Developers and AI researchers can access a distributed network of GPUs, eliminating the need to rely solely on centralized providers like AWS. Decentralized & Transparent Pricing: Blocknode operates on a bid-based system, where AI developers use LMWR tokens to pay for GPU power, ensuring fair and transparent pricing. By tapping into idle GPU cycles, the network lowers overall costs and reduces GPU 'waste.' For instance, a GPU provider might see up to 25% ROI on hardware that would otherwise sit idle, while dev teams can save 20-30% compared to large, centralized cloud providers (LimeWire GPU pilot study, mid-2025). Case Example:If you require 400 GPU hours to train a generative model for a new NFT series, you can place a spot bid on Blocknode. Under light usage, spot instances might drop by 30–35% below typical rates, while GPU owners earn incremental LMWR on top of minimal downtime. Blocknode isn't just a cost-saver. It's a fundamental re-architecture of how AI compute is sourced, priced, and provisioned, one that decentralizes control and broadens participation in the next wave of AI innovation. Payments and incentives flow through $LMWR, LimeWire's multi-chain token deployed across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Base for low-fee, high-frequency usage. Users can stake $LMWR or use it directly to bid for compute, with over 60% of advanced users combining both to optimize for yield and utility across fluctuating market conditions. Paul Zehetmayr is a co-founder and the co-CEO of LimeWire. Before LimeWire, he was the CEO of ZeroSSL, a company specializing in SSL certificates. He also served as CEO of Eversign, an electronic signature platform, and Invoicely, an invoicing software solution. His past ventures include APILayer, a software development company acquired by Idera, Inc., and Stack Holdings, where he focused on building user-friendly digital solutions. Julian Zehetmayr is also a co-founder and co-CEO of LimeWire. He previously built and led several successful ventures, including Stack Holdings and APILayer, which Idera Inc later acquired. In 2016, he launched Eversign, a widely adopted e-signature platform, and Invoicely, a small-business billing software. His work in AI and Web3 has fostered one of the largest AI communities on Discord, with over 2M active members. Once known for music sharing, LimeWire has reinvented itself as a full-stack AI platform, blending file sharing, compute access, and creator monetization. With unlimited storage, robust encryption, decentralized GPU access, and $LMWR incentives, it has everything in place to become an indispensable hub for creators, developers, and businesses. By combining DeFi, AI, and a heritage brand name, LimeWire offers a comprehensive approach to crypto-driven content creation, and if the early adoption metrics are any indicator, it's only just getting started. Suppose you're working on AI-native creative tools, decentralized compute infrastructure, or building at the intersection of media and Web3. In that case, LimeWire provides the rails to launch, scale, and monetize content in a fully composable stack. Explore the platform at or learn more about the $LMWR ecosystem at Sign in to access your portfolio
Indian Express
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Top 10 greatest albums of 21st century: Not Taylor Swift; Grammy's most-awarded artiste takes the top spot
Top 10 greatest albums of 21st century: The 21st century didn't just change how we listen to music, it transformed the very nature of what music means. At the turn of the millennium, building a music collection meant spending thousands on physical CDs. Fast forward, and now the entire history of recorded music fits in your pocket. It is streamable, sharable, and algorithmically sorted. From the rise of Napster to the reign of Spotify, the way we consume music has been completely rewritten. And yet, through all the technological upheaval – from MP3s to iPods, from torrents to TikTok – the album has endured. Even as playlists and singles took over the mainstream, the best artists doubled down on the long-form format, treating it not just as a collection of songs, but as a statement of vision and purpose. Today, a major album release is treated as a cultural moment, complete with countdown clocks, viral theories, and $40 vinyl reissues for records fans already stream daily. Artists like Beyonce and Taylor Swift evolved from hitmakers to era-defining auteurs. Others – like Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Bad Bunny, and Radiohead – reshaped the sound and soul of entire genres. They built new worlds in the wreckage of the old. Rolling Stone recently undertook the monumental task of ranking the 250 greatest albums of the 21st century, a list that spans continents, genres, and decades, showcasing the vibrant evolution of modern music. We've sifted through their ranking and curated a definitive Top 10 – the crème de la crème. These are the records that defined eras, elevated artistry, and changed the game. Whether you're a lifelong fan or a curious explorer, this list is a reminder of how powerful and transcendent music can be. With the drop of Is This It, The Strokes sparked a cultural reset. With their effortlessly cool, downtown NYC swagger and a sound that felt both vintage and vital, they delivered a debut that lit a fire under the rock scene. Drawing from the sharp edges of bands like Television and the Cars, and the laid-back attitude of Lou Reed and Tom Petty, they weaponised their influences. But it wasn't just nostalgia; The Strokes fused it all into something nervy, slick, and impossibly catchy. The album became the blueprint for a new wave of indie rock in the 2000s. Un Verano Sin Ti was Bad Bunny's sun-soaked tribute to Puerto Rico, a mix of dreamy nostalgia and political defiance. Packed with summer anthems like Después de la Playa and emotional cuts like Otro Atardecer, the album became 2022's most-streamed release globally and the first Spanish-language LP ever nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys. It was a bold cultural statement, capped off in concerts with El Apagón, where Bad Bunny celebrated his island while confronting its colonial struggles. Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is hip-hop at its most extravagant and visionary. A maximalist masterpiece, it fuses grand orchestration with raw emotion, pairing soaring production with deeply introspective lyrics. Featuring an all-star cast, from Nicki Minaj's career-making verse on Monster to Bon Iver's unexpected transformation on Lost in the World,' the album is a genre-blurring triumph. With its lush soundscapes, bold sampling, and cinematic ambition, MBDTF remains a towering artistic achievement that few albums since have dared to rival. SZA made fans wait five years after her stunning debut CTRL, but SOS was more than worth it. With fearless honesty and genre-blurring sound, she delivered a raw, emotionally charged exploration of heartbreak, identity, and self-worth. Blending R&B with hip-hop, rock, and even country on the breakout hit Kill Bill, SZA showed there's no lane she can't own. Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d city stands as a defining hip-hop album of the 21st century, a gripping coming-of-age narrative set against the backdrop of Compton. Released in 2012, it's both deeply personal and universally resonant, tracing Lamar's struggles with violence, addiction, and identity. Blending intricate storytelling with rich production and features from the likes of Pharrell and MC Eiht, the album is cinematic in scope and lyrical in depth. On Folklore, Taylor Swift shed the stadium lights for candlelight, trading pop bombast for hushed introspection. Written in isolation with Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, the album marks her boldest creative pivot — a moody, indie-folk departure filled with fictional storytelling and haunting melodies. From the aching grace of The 1 to the wistful high school love triangle spanning Cardigan, August, and Betty, Swift crafted a masterpiece. OutKast kicked off the 2000s by blowing open the boundaries of hip-hop with Stankonia, a fearless, genre-bending explosion of sound and style. From the frenetic energy of B.O.B. to the timeless soul of Ms. Jackson, the duo fused everything from gospel to funk to psychedelia into a singular vision. It marked the last time André 3000 and Big Boi's creative worlds fully aligned, resulting in a dazzling, chaotic, and deeply influential masterpiece. Frank Ocean took four years to create Blonde, a deeply personal and experimental follow-up to his acclaimed debut Channel Orange. After fulfilling his Def Jam contract with the visual album Endless, he surprised fans by releasing Blonde just hours later. The album blends futuristic R&B with dreamy, psychedelic textures, drawing inspiration from legends like Marvin Gaye and Brian Wilson. Featuring collaborations with Andre 3000 and Beyonce, Blonde explores themes of nostalgia, vulnerability, and self-discovery, capturing Ocean's raw emotions with a unique, introspective sound. When Kid A dropped in October 2000, the world was still optimistic and unfamiliar with the upheavals to come. Radiohead's fourth album broke new ground by fusing electronic textures, experimental sounds, and unconventional instrumentation to capture a growing sense of alienation and uncertainty. Songs like Idioteque and Everything in Its Right Place initially puzzled listeners but quickly gained acclaim. Since her 2013 self-titled album, Beyoncé has pushed boundaries, but Lemonade stands as her most raw and powerful work. It turns personal pain into a bold exploration of identity, blending genres from reggae to rock to country. It is a cinematic statement on Black womanhood and resilience, influencing culture and politics. Lemonade cemented Beyonce's legacy as one of the greatest artists of all time.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Morgan Wallen Barely Misses Hitting No. 1 On Multiple Billboard Charts
Morgan Wallen is inching closer and closer to the release of what may be the largest album debut of 2025: his upcoming full-length I'm the Problem. He's already produced a slew of hits from a project that isn't even out yet, and which won't be for several weeks. The country superstar dropped a brand new single a little over a week ago, and it's immediately become another smash to add to his ever-expanding list of favorites. 'I Ain't Coming Back,' his latest collaboration with Post Malone, almost returned him to the No. 1 spot on a pair of Billboard rankings. This frame, the tune misses that mark by a single space, becoming another hit — but not a champion. 'I Ain't Coming Back' launches in the runner-up spot on both the Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales charts. The former list covers all genres and ranks the most-played titles across major platforms such as Tidal, Apple Music, Napster, iHeartRadio, and Spotify. The latter focuses specifically on the top-performing country tracks in terms of digital purchases, with each tune's style defined by Billboard. While Wallen doesn't add to his growing list of leaders this frame, he's previously topped both of these charts. He has now earned four No. 1s on the Streaming Songs tally, which is a significant achievement for a country musician. Two singles from I'm the Problem — the title cut and 'Love Somebody' — each spent one turn at No. 1. His prior team-up with Malone, 'I Had Some Help,' earned two weeks at the summit. 'Last Night,' arguably his biggest smash, ruled the Country Digital Song Sales chart for 19 frames. While it doesn't top every chart this frame, 'I Ain't Coming Back' does manage to conquer one Billboard tally. The cut opens in first place on the latest edition of the Country Streaming Songs chart. It opens at No. 1, earning Wallen his sixteenth leader on that roster and giving Malone his second career chart-topper in the country field. Different tracks block Wallen and Malone from hitting No. 1 on both the Streaming Songs and Country Digital Song Sales lists. On the former, newcomer Alex Warren surges to the summit with 'Ordinary,' which is quickly shaping up to be not just his breakout tune, but one of the hottest hits of 2025. On the Country Digital Song Sales roster, 'Hard Fought Hallelujah,' a duet between Brandon Lake and Jelly Roll, reigns. The track had been available for a while as a solo cut, but the addition of Jelly elevates it to the top of this genre-specific list. 'I Ain't Coming Back' debuts on eight Billboard rankings this week. It opens inside the top 10 on all but two of them, and manages to enter that uppermost tier on three of the most important lists published by the company: the Hot 100 (No. 8), Digital Song Sales (No. 4), and, of course, Streaming Songs rosters (No. 2).
