Here are this week’s music Artist Power rankings, focusing on Bad Bunny’s disruptive surge and SZA’s new corporate post.

Links:

Pollstar Charts ending 8-15-2025 - https://www.pollstar.com/charts/4481/Artist-Power-Index/chart

Vans Names SZA as Artistic Director, Announces Multi-Year Partnership - https://www.vans.com/en-dk/news/vans-sza

SZA Expands Her Vision Beyond Music & Joins an Iconic Brand as Its Artistic Director - https://www.billboard.com/culture/product-recommendations/sza-vans-artistic-director-1236044237/

Bad Bunny’s Global Tour Shatters Records, Sells Over 2.6M Tickets - https://news.pollstar.com/2025/05/16/bad-bunnys-global-tour-shatters-records-sells-over-2-6m-tickets/

How Bad Bunny concerts fuel Puerto Rico’s independence movement - https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/bad-bunny-puerto-rico-independence-68ct07mcv

Last week’s Artist Power Ranking Episode:

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References for This Episode:

psyop (noun)

* : a military operation usually aimed at influencing the enemy's state of mind through noncombative means (such as distribution of leaflets)

* : someone or something used by the government to influence the population's opinions and attitudes

-Merriam-Webster Dictionary

We Are Listening 34: "The Hidden Curriculum" and "Black Roots" of Sesame Street

Articles:

* The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Congressional

* How Lloyd Morrisett Built Sesame Street, from the Foundation Up

* The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education (With PDF Report)

* Dr. Chester Pierce and the “Hidden Curriculum” of Sesame Street

* Psychiatry, Racism, and the Birth of ‘Sesame Street

Extra Credit:

Who Was Sesame Street’s First Black Muppet?

Bread & Circuses: Why do you...?

Thanks for reading Bread, Circuses, Ticketing, & Tech! This post is public, so feel free to share it.

Here is your weekly Artist Power Index from Pollstar, giving you the news on which artists are making the biggest moves on all of the charts! This week, we are especially focusing on Beyoncé and Drake.

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In this episode we’ll talk about the wisdom of Miyamoto Musashi from The Book of Five Rings and stepping back to reconsider strategy when stagnancy sets in.

The Book Of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi

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This episode can also be streamed on YouTube and Spotify

Over the weekend, I just watched the Netflix Series Trainwreck episode, The Astroworld Tragedy, and had a couple of quick observations I wanted to share. Additional reference links are below.

* Netflix: Trainwreck: The Astroworld Tragedy Trailer

* Chaos in the crowd at Astroworld 2021 (YouTube Video)

* Four years of the Astroworld stampede: The tale of the survivors and a Netflix Documentary

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You saw the title. Now watch or listen.

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Welcome to the first episode of Bread, Circuses, Ticketing, & Tech. In this episode, I discuss the legendary theater-maker Shelly Garrett. As a high-schooler in the late 80s and early 90s, I had a front row seat for one of the greatest influences in theater and contemporary entertainment. Yet, I don’t hear his name often. I never hear it. Shelly Garrett provided the road map for entertainment giants like Tyler Perry and David E. Talbert. The story of his breakout production, Beauty Shop, is what legends are made of, and I saw it firsthand. I wanted to take a moment to share Garrett’s spirit of entrepreneurship, independence, and marketing be known to a younger generation that may not know and remind those that have forgotten. Below are links that I reference in the podcast. Thanks for being here, and I’ll talk to you again soon!

* The Unbelievable and True Story Behind Shelly Garrett’s Beauty Shop

* Shelly Garrett Biography

* Shelly Garrett, ‘The Godfather Of Urban Theater,’ Has Died

* 21 Extraordinary Facts About Shelly Garrett

The Prodigal's Prerogative is an audio/video project dedicated to those who have lost their way in life at one time or another but still refuse to lose.

Let's discuss REAL POWER on a personal level.

#power #realpower #personalpower #ahmedsvoice

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It was all a dream...or was it?

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Support:

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