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Paris-based music company Believe delivered strong results in its first year as a privately held company. Full-year revenue rose 12.3% to 988.8 million euros ($1.05 billion), with 11.5% of organic growth, the company announced Thursday (March 13). Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), a common measure of profitability, improved 33.5% to 67.1 million euros ($71 million). Revenue had been up 14% at the year’s mid-point.
This year should be equally strong: Believe forecasts organic growth of 13.0% in 2025 despite “limited ad-funded streaming growth” and assuming “no significant subscription price increases” at large music streaming platforms.
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Believe’s major event of the year was a successful bid by a consortium formed by TCV funds, EQT X and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie to take the company private. The consortium owns 96.6% of Believe’s share capital, leaving the company with a small public float. After the deal was completed, Believe’s board of directors added a new director representing EQT X, former Shazam CEO Andrew Fisher. A director representing Ventech, which sold its shares to the consortium, departed the board.
The company was also active in acquiring, partnering on and launching new businesses last year. It debuted two new imprints in Asia in 2024: PlayCode in Japan and Krumulo in Indonesia. It also fully acquired Turkish record label DMC in August; launched EDM label All Night Long in partnership with artist management company Kidding Aside; acquired Indian record label White Hill Music; and formed a partnership with EDM company Global Records, in which Believe acquired a 25% stake in July.
Believe saw strong growth in both its premium solutions and automated solutions divisions. Premium solutions, which mainly consists of the sale and promotion of digital content for artists and labels, had revenue of 942.2 million euros ($997 million), up 12.0% year over year. Automated solutions fared even better, improving 17.0% to 64.6 million euros ($68 million).
Digital sales grew above 10% throughout the year. Non-digital sales, which includes music publisher Sentric Music Group, which Believe acquired in 2023, were strong until September but were hurt in the fourth quarter by accounting changes in publishing in automated solutions, which includes digital distributor TuneCore, and lower concert activity and physical sales in premium solutions.
In Believe’s home country and largest single market, France, revenues grew 10.3% to 162.9 million euros ($172 million). Non-digital sales in France fell in the fourth quarter due to a drop in concert activity. Germany, the company’s second-largest single market, was up just 0.4% to 111.3 million euros ($118 million). Non-digital sales in Germany fell due to Believe’s decision to accelerate its exit from contracts the company called “too heavily reliant on physical sales and merchandising.”
European revenues (excluding France and Germany) rose 23.3% while the Americas grew 18.0% to 151.2 million euros ($160 million), due in part to “significant progress” in the U.S. and the performance of TuneCore. Revenue growth in Asia Pacific and Africa was far softer at 3.5%, to 237 million euros ($251 million), due to weak ad-supported streaming revenues and foreign exchange changes. Paid streaming, while less valuable than ad-supported streaming in Asia Pacific and Africa, “remained solid” but was negatively impacted in India by the shutdown of the streaming platform Wynk.
T-Pain loves him some Wiscansin. The rapper-singer announced on Thursday (March 13) that he’s heading to Milwaukee for his two-day Wiscansin Festival, which is set for June 13 and June 14. The Florida native and some of his musician friends will take over The Rave/Eagles Club on June 14 for his fourth annual Wiscansin Fest. […]
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Soulja Boy was hit with a lawsuit back in 2021, with a woman alleging that the rapper sexually assaulted her and kept her against her will. Now, Soulja Boy is heading to civil trial in the matter and has long since denied the explosive claims against him.
As spotted in USA Today, Soulja Boy, real name DeAndre Cortez Way, will be facing civil trial in Santa Monica, Calif., after a former personal assistant accused the star of several heinous charges, and some of the details explained in the matter are disturbing, so we urge caution in further reading.
We tried to locate the news release mentioned in USA Today‘s report, but our search on the Los Angeles County Superior Court website did not turn up anything. Hip-Hop Wired has requested the full news release regarding the case and will update this report should that request be filled.
As mentioned above, the charges against Way, 34, were first filed in 2021 by a Jane Doe who says she started working for the rapper in 2018. The woman claimed that Way would send inappropriate images to her shortly after she was hired and that they began a romantic union that devolved into a violent one. The woman claimed that Soulja enacted “numerous instances of physical violence” along with “sexual assaults, spitting on her body, and threats of physical violence and death.”
Soulja Boy came out in 2021, denying the claims and promising to fight the charges with his legal team. In that same year, just months after the aforementioned matter he’s slated to go to trial over, another woman filed a lawsuit that levied more charges of assault and partner violence.
Thus far, it doesn’t appear that Soulja Boy has made any public comments regarding the civil trial, which should hear opening statements in the coming days.
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Photo: Getty
Justin Bieber is feeling introspective. In a vulnerable post to his Instagram Stories on Thursday (March 13), the pop star shared some raw musings about his self-esteem, confessing that he often feels “unequipped and unqualified.”
In black text over white background, Bieber began, “People told me my whole life, ‘wow Justin u deserve that.’”
“I personally have always felt unworthy,” he continued. “Like I was a fraud. Like when people told me I deserve something. It made me feel sneaky like. Damn if they only knew my thoughts. How judgmental I am, how selfish I really am. They wouldn’t be saying this.”
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The two-time Grammy winner added, “If you feel sneaky welcome to the club. I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days.”
Bieber’s post comes as he’s been teasing that he’s working on new music a full four years after his last album, 2021’s Justice, which spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The day before his message about self-worth, he posted a photo of himself recording in a music studio, tinkering with a piano.
The singer has been active on social media in recent weeks, with other past posts of note including a video of himself smoking what appeared to be a blunt or cigar while dancing and listening to Don Toliver’s “Hardstone National Anthem.” Before that, he shared a video of himself freestyling over a beat while hanging with a friend, rapping, “High like a fly guy/ I fly high like a magpie/ I go high like a bad guy.”
Both clips came shortly after a rep for Justin and his wife, model Hailey Bieber — with whom he welcomed a son named Jack Blues in August — shut down rumors that he was using hard drugs. In a statement shared with TMZ at the time, the rep called the speculation “exhausting and pitiful,” and added, “Despite the obvious truth, people are committed to keeping negative, salacious, harmful narratives alive.”
Bieber’s latest note also isn’t the first time he’s leveled with fans in a serious way in recent weeks. In February, he wrote on his Story, “It’s time to grow up. Changing is about letting go!”
“Are you tired of trying to follow all of the rules in hopes to get the results you crave?” he added at the time. “Ive found love to be more powerful than rules. I tried to follow the rules. Im not good at it … Today im letting go and remembering the weight isnt on me to change. The weight is on God. So I give all my insecurities and my fears to him this morning. Because I know he gladly takes it. Asking Jesus to genuinely help me with simply the next step today.”
Lizzo is continuing the rollout of her upcoming musical era with a video for her latest single, “Still Bad.” The clip seemingly continues the story from her comeback track, “Love in Real Life,” released in February. That video ends at nighttime, with the superstar dancing in the street with zombies as a white car pulls […]
Country Music Hall of Fame duo Brooks & Dunn has rescheduled its concert that had been slated for Thursday night (March 13) at United Supermarkets Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, after an explosion in a tunnel apparently sparked fires around the campus on Wednesday evening, leading to power outages […]
Offset is suing a producer who worked on his 2023 album Set It Off, claiming the one-time collaborator has been demanding a large increase in fees and royalties long after the deal was done.
In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court, attorneys for the former Migos member say that reps for ChaseTheMoney (Chase Rose) signed a contract ahead of the album’s October 2023 release, covering payment for his production work on the track “Worth It.” But months later, ChaseTheMoney’s new manager allegedly reached out to demand more money for the same work.
“The new manager proposed new terms for the producer agreement, including a producer fee that was more than five times the amount of the producer fee that was agreed upon, and a royalty percentage more than double,” Offset’s lawyers write in their Tuesday (March 11) court complaint.
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After Offset’s team “promptly responded” the deal had already been locked down and “would not be re-negotiated,” his lawyers say reps for ChaseTheMoney repeatedly offered other versions of the contract, each containing “different proposals as to the financial terms.”
When Offset’s team allegedly continued to refuse to alter the deal, the lawsuit claims that ChaseTheMoney began claiming that the previous manager who had negotiated the Set It Off deal — a man identified only as J Hill in court documents — was actually “not his manager” at the time the original deal was struck.
But according to Tuesday’s lawsuit, ChaseTheMoney clearly sent them to J Hill to work out the deal, saying the producer told Offset and his team via text message that Hill would “figure logistics” for clearing his contributions to “Worth It.”
“ChaseTheMoney referred to J Hill as his manager in various correspondence to Offset and his A&R team [and] ChaseTheMoney directed Offset and his A&R team to discuss the clearance of the recording with J Hill on ChaseTheMoney’s behalf,” Offset’s lawyers write. “J Hill had confirmed in writing that he represented ChaseTheMoney as his manager, and no person affiliated with or connected to ChaseTheMoney had ever claimed or contended prior to July of 2024 that that J Hill was not ChaseTheMoney’s manager.”
The terms of the original deal, according to Offset, gave Chase a $10,000 producer fee and half of the 2 percent producer royalty, minus certain amounts that were deemed recording costs and recoupable advances.
When reached for comment Thursday (March 13) via direct message on Instagram, ChaseTheMoney said: “I’m not being sued. It’s the other way around lol.” He declined to comment further, then deleted those messages. After a review of court records, Billboard was not able to locate a lawsuit filed by Chase against Offset.
Reps for Offset did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.
In technical terms, the lawsuit filed this week is what’s known as a “declaratory judgment” action —meaning Offset is not accusing Chase of legal wrongdoing but instead is arguing that Chase is improperly accusing him of doing something wrong. By filing such a case, Offset is asking a judge to rule that the original contract is valid and enforceable and that he has complied with all of its requirements.
Tuesday isn’t the first time Offset has filed such a lawsuit over a music contract.
Back in 2022, the rapper filed a similar declaratory judgment lawsuit against Quality Control Music, the record label that helped launch his career as a member of Migos. In it, he claimed the company was continuing to seek to control of his solo work, even though he had “paid handsomely” for the right to break free from his original record deal: “Offset now brings this action to vindicate his rights and to make it clear to the world that Offset, not Quality Control, owns Offset’s music.”
The star later dropped that lawsuit in August 2023.
Ramón Ayala has revealed the date for his final concert, marking the end of a successful career that began in the 1960s. The final show of the norteño music legend will take place on Sept. 13 at the Arena Ciudad de México, as announced on his social media.
“After 60 years of career, the King of the Accordion is bidding farewell to his audience in style with two concerts on the ‘Historia de un Final’ tour,” the post reads, also referencing his show scheduled one day earlier at the Arena Monterrey. It was in that city where the musician began his journey alongside Cornelio Reyna, with whom he formed Los Relámpagos del Norte, before continuing with his own group, Ramón Ayala y los Bravos del Norte.
In February 2024, Ayala announced the tour El Principio de un Final, which was not completed due to differences with the promoter. Instead, he began that March the ‘Historia de un Final’ trek, with which he has toured dozens of cities in Mexico and the U.S.
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In an exclusive interview with Billboard Español ahead of the tour, Ayala conveyed last May the excitement he felt about going on with his career after more than half a century on the road. “Knowing that there’s a large audience that follows us both in Mexico and in the United States, that fills our concerts and is awaiting our new music, motivates me,” he said.
Ayala’s musical journey began when he was just five years old and he accompanied his father playing the accordion to bring money home in his native Monterrey, Nuevo León, cradle of one of the three strands on which regional Mexican music is based: norteño, mariachi and banda sinaloense.
Throughout his long-lasting career, he has recorded over 100 albums, two of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Regional Mexican Albums chart: Arriba El Norte (1991) and Antología De Un Rey (2004). He’s also placed 12 songs on Hot Latin Songs, including “Del Otro Lado del Portón”, at No. 12, and “Quémame los Ojos”, at No. 19. And he’s received two Grammy Awards and two Latin Grammys, among other accolades.
An undisputed icon of regional Mexican music, many contemporary artists of the genre often include Ayala classics, like “Tragos de Amargo Licor,” in their concerts — among them Edén Muñoz and Alfredo Olivas, whom the veteran musician has cited among his favorites of the new generation.
Playboi Carti is having himself a busy week. Not only is the eccentric Atlanta rapper expected to finally drop his third album this week, he also interviewed FKA Twigs for i-D’s latest cover story and revealed that the unlikely pair go way back. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
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UFC is heading back home to Las Vegas (UFC Vegas 104). Two premiere middleweight fighters are set to battle in the octagon as the main event for UFC Fight Night. Marvin Vettori (19-7-1) faces off against Roman Dolidze (14-3-0) in a rematch on Saturday, Mar. 15.
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Two years ago, Vettori won the first matchup with a decision in the third round, so Dolidze is looking to settle the score with victory.
UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2 takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a start time of 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. The main card is expected to begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
If you want to watch UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2 (also known as UFC on ESPN+ 112) online, the MMA event livestreams on ESPN+ for subscribers only.
Not a subscriber? A monthly subscription to ESPN+ goes for $11.99 per month. However, you can go with an ESPN+ annual subscription for $119.99. This saves you 15% compared to the month-to-month subscription price.
Check out the complete UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2 fight card below:
Main Card, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT — ESPN+
Marvin Vettori vs. Roman Dolidze (Flyweight) — Main Event
Chidi Njokuani vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (Welterweight)
Alexander Hernandez vs. Kurt Holobaugh (Lightweight)
Da’Mon Blackshear vs. Cody Gibson (Bantamweight)
Diyar Nurgozhay vs. Brendson Ribeiro (Light Heavyweight)
Choi Seung-woo vs. Kevin Vallejos (Featherweight)
Prelims Card, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT — ESPN+
Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Ryan Spann (Heavyweight)
You Su-young vs. AJ Cunningham (Bantamweight)
Carlos Vera vs. Josias Musasa (Bantamweight)
Stephanie Luciano vs. Sam Hughes (Women’s Strawweight)
Daniel Barez vs. André Lima (Flyweight)
Josiane Nunes vs. Priscila Cachoeira (Women’s Bantamweight)
Yuneisy Duben vs. Carli Judice (Women’s Flyweight)
Additionally, you can get the Disney Trio — which comes with ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+ — starting at just $16.99 per month for both services in one package.
What Is Vettori vs. Dolidze’s Walkout Music for UFC Fight Night?
While UFC has yet to announce each fighter’s walkout music for the main event of UFC Fight Night, the fighters usually go out to the octagon to the same songs during their matches. Marvin Vettori typically walks out to “The Italian Dream” by Greg Willen, while Roman Dolidze prefers to walk out to “Vígspá” by Danheim & Skarphedin Son. So these songs will likely make an appearance during the MMA event.
UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2 is streaming on ESPN+ on Saturday, Mar. 15, starting at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. The main card begins around at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN+.
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