Business News
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LONDON — An eighth consecutive year of growth is undoubtedly great news for the music business — especially for anyone who worked in the industry during the near-decade of decline brought on by rampant piracy and falling CD sales. But this year’s IFPI “Global Music Report” also demonstrates a slowing rate of growth across all formats and in nearly all established markets.
Here are five takeaways from this year’s report:
Growth Slows Down
Total recorded music revenues climbed to $26.2 billion, up 9% in 2022, which, although impressive, is half of 2021’s growth, when revenues were up 18.5%. Paid-for streaming subscription revenue rose 10.3% to $12.7 billion in 2022, compared with a 21.9% year-on-year jump in 2021.
Total streaming (including paid subscription and advertising-supported) was up 11.5% to $17.5 billion, versus a rise of 24% the prior year.
Physical format revenue climbed 4%, compared to 16% in 2021, while music sales in the world’s three biggest markets — the United States, Japan and United Kingdom — all grew by around 5% last year, compared with double-digit gains for the U.S. and U.K. in 2021 (+22.6% and +13.2% respectively) and a rise of 9.3% in Japan.
IFPI attributed the slowing to 2021’s exceptional growth, which it said was partly fueled by a post-pandemic bounce back in music consumption, and execs at a London launch event Tuesday said they were confident the market was not about to plateau.
“I do think there are pockets of established markets where there is an opportunity to grow,” said Simon Robson, head of Warner Music Group’s international recorded music operations outside the U.S. and the U.K. He cited France as a major music market where streaming subscription penetration rates remain under 20%. “The challenge for today is how we better monetize other forms of music consumption,” he added, noting that “it would help if music subscription pricing could reflect the realities of inflation, which, as we’ve seen with video streaming services, have been putting up their prices quite significantly.”
When Robots Take Over
The future role that artificial intelligence (AI) will play in the record business was raised several times at the London launch event, with executives keen to highlight the technology’s potential for commercial growth, as well as some of the risks and challenges it brings. Some executives saw potential benefits in using AI to better analyze and understand fan engagement trends and artist discovery (something which platforms and music companies are already doing) and optimizing technical aspects of music production, including immersive sound.
On the flip side, execs issued a stark warning about human artistry being devalued at the expense of technology. AI developers, they said, could fail to respect the rights of creators by using artist recordings to generate new content without authorization – a threat that Michael Nash, executive vp, chief digital officer at Universal Music Group, said he placed “at the top” of industry issues that need to be addressed. “We need to work very hard to define new models so that we can enable generative AI without looking away from what is essentially going to be wholesale hijacking of the intellectual property of the entire creative community,” wrote Nash in IFPI’s “Global Music Report” document.
Streaming May Dominate, But Physical Is Far From Dead
Having enjoyed a post-pandemic renaissance in 2021 — when sales of CDs increased for the first time this millennium and overall physical sales grew 16.1% — physical format revenue continued to be surprisingly resilient last year, rising 4% to $4.6 billion. It was the second consecutive year of growth for the format, once considered dead. Almost half (49.8%) of those global revenues came from Asia, where the humble CD remains a popular music purchase, particularly in South Korea and Japan, the region’s largest music market and world’s second biggest behind the U.S.
Vinyl revenues’ upward trajectory also continued, rising 17.1% over 2021, and while global CD sales slipped 0.4% year-on-year (IFPI didn’t provide financial values for CD or vinyl income), physical revenues still accounted for 17.5% of the overall recorded music market last year. That’s just under what ad-supported streams generate for labels and rights holders (representing 18.7% of global sales) and more than the combined haul from sync, performance rights and digital downloads.
All Eyes Turn Towards Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa overtook the Middle East and North Africa as the fastest growing region in 2022, with music sales rising almost 35% year-over-year, reports IFPI. Driving that growth was South Africa’s thriving music industry, Africa’s biggest market, which climbed by more than 31% last year, compared to modest 2.4% growth in 2021.
Nevertheless, the challenge of converting users of ad-based music services to paid subscription remains a considerable one, said Temi Adeniji, president of Warner Music Africa, with South Africa having around 4 million paid subscribers out of a population of nearly 50 million people. Adeniji said the burgeoning global popularity of Amapiano, a genre which originated in South Africa, was already producing crossover hits in markets like Nigeria. She predicts “an infusion of Amapiano elements” into other international music scenes over the next few years to further drive the region’s development as a key music territory.
China Climbs to Become a Top-Five Music Power
For years, music executives have talked up China — the world’s most populous country, home to 1.4 billion people, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics – as a huge music market in waiting. In 2022, that potential was finally realized with China usurping France (a long-time mainstay in the upper echelons of the world music market rankings) as the fifth-biggest music market worldwide with revenues of $1.2 billion, up 28.4% year-on-year, according to IFPI. That’s on the back of 30% growth in 2021, when China was the world’s sixth-biggest music market.
The dominance of local streaming services QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, which are all owned by China-based Tencent Music Entertainment (TME, which publishes Billboard China), means that Western and international acts rarely feature on China’s many of domestic charts, which includes some run by China’s state-owned broadcaster. But the popularity of domestic pop stars like Jay Chou, Yisa Yu, Mao Buyi, Zhou Shen and Jackson Wang is now rapidly driving subscription take up in a country rife with piracy on a decade ago. TME’s most recent company filings report 85.3 million paying music users as of the third quarter of 2022.
Everydaydreamer, a purpose-driven creative studio specializing in music video/content commissioning and creative direction/production, is launching a new workshop series specifically for women and non-binary people of color, the company tells Billboard.
Dubbed SheMadeIt, the music video and content director workshop aims to “challenge the status quo in this field” and “make the entertainment industry a more equitable space,” according to a press release. The workshop series will offer intensive experiential opportunities, educational seminars and networking for underrepresented voices to gain access to mentorship and work opportunities. SheMadeIt is launching the series in partnership with Kids of Immigrants, Above Ground, Nowhere, Merman and Youth Mentoring Connection.
“There is a real need for new entry points for underserved and underrepresented talents to be showcased in the directorial and content space,” said Everydaydreamer and SheMadeIt founder Shadeh Smith in a statement. “We have gathered some of the most experienced, talented and respected creative professionals in this field, all with the collective commitment to cultivate new, burgeoning talent. Ultimately, we are dedicated to re-shaping the entertainment industry to be a space of equity, inclusion, and representation for all artists, especially those who aren’t given adequate access to the resources and platforms they need to thrive.”
Courtesy Photo
The first SheMadeIt workshop will take place in Los Angeles from April 28-30 and feature industry panels, practical assignments and access to long-term opportunities for 10 participants(applications will be available here starting Friday, March 24). Additional series are set to take place in London and New York, with details to be announced soon.
Panelists and mentors confirmed for the Los Angeles workshop include Kehlani (artist), Diallo Marvel (global creative director, Beats), Alex Thurmond (creative director), Alli Maxwell (executive producer, Somesuch Productions), Devon Libran (senior vp, Republic Records) Laura Tunstall (managing partner, Nowhere), Daniel Buezo (CEO, Kids of Immigrants), David Ali (CEO, Above Ground and artist manager), Ana Julfayan (executive producer), Kevin Kloeker (vp of creative & content development, Capitol Records), Kira Carstensen (managing partner, Merman), Dani Edgren (creative producer), Anna Heinrich (executive producer, Obsidian), Zsuzsa Cook (artist manager), Karine Benzaria (producer/writer), Emmanuelle Cuny (senior vp/head of visual creative & production, Motown Records), Byron Atienza (creative director) and Monica Kran (talent partnerships).
Full entry requirements and applications are available at www.everydaydreamer.co/shemadeit.
Global music sales rose for the eighth consecutive year in 2022, with recorded music revenues growing in every world market and across almost all formats, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) “Global Music Report 2023.”
Total revenues climbed to $26.2 billion, a rise of 9% on the previous year. Although that rate of growth is half 2021 year’s rise, when revenues were up 18.5% year-on-year, IFPI said it was still the fourth highest growth level the recorded music business has seen this millennium.
The leading driver of growth was a 10.3% rise in paid-for streaming subscription revenue, which totaled $12.7 billion last year. IFPI reports there were 589 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2022, up from 523 million in the previous 12 months and 443 million in 2020.
Streaming (including paid subscription and advertising-supported) now accounts for 67% of sales across the music industry, up from 65% in 2021 and 62% in 2020, although rate of growth is slowing.
In 2021, streaming revenues rocketed 24% to $16.9 billion. Last year, total revenues streaming revenues increased 11.5% to $17.5 billion.
Despite the dominance of streaming, physical music formats continue to be resilient with CD and vinyl revenues increasing for a second consecutive year — albeit at a slower rate than 2021’s 16.1% rise, fueled by a post-pandemic boom in home music purchases — to $4.6 billion, up 4% on the prior year.
Within physical music revenues, last year’s growth in CD sales proved to be a fleeting uplift with revenues falling 0.4% in 2022. Vinyl revenues shot up 17.1% (IFPI did not provide revenue numbers for CD or vinyl sales).
In terms of market share, physical accounted for 17.5% of the overall market last year (down from 19.2% in 2021) with Asia generating almost half (49.8%) of all global revenues for physical music sales.
Performance rights revenue climbed 8.6% to $2.5 billion, representing 9.4% of global revenues, while sync income was up 22.3% to $0.6 billion, representing 2.4%.
Downloads and what IFPI classifies as other (non-streaming) digital formats was once again the only format channel to record a decline, falling 11.7% to $900 million and representing just 3.6% of the global market.
As per previous year’s reports, IFPI uses current exchange rates when compiling its Global Music Report, restating all historic local currency values on an annual basis. Market values therefore vary retrospectively as a result of foreign currency movements, says IFPI, which represents more than 8,000 record company members worldwide, including all three major labels, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group.
Thanks to sustained growth in streaming, global recorded music revenues have now reached their highest level since 1999 — when music sales totaled $22.3 billion – on an absolute dollar basis, not accounting for inflation, reports IFPI. Piracy and declining physical sales saw the market bottom out at $13.1 billion in 2014.
“Record companies’ investment and innovation has helped make music even more globally interconnected than ever,” said IFPI chief executive Frances Moore in a statement, accompanying the report.
As the music economy grows, however, “so too do the areas in which record companies must work to ensure that the value of the music artists are creating is recognized and returned,” Moore warned.
Referring to the ongoing threat of music piracy, she said the challenges for record companies, artists and creators are “becoming increasingly complex as a greater number of actors seek to benefit from music whilst playing no part in investing in and developing it.”
Writing in the report’s foreword, Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge said “to succeed, music’s future must be artist-centric.” He called on the industry to focus on building a “robust, growing and sustainable music ecosystem” in which “creators of all music content, whether in the form of audio or short-form video, are fairly compensated and can therefore thrive for decades to come.”
IFPI’s Global Music Report 2023 Topline Figures:
Global music sales up 9% to $26.2 billion
Streaming subscription revenues up 10.3% to $12.7 billion
Total streaming revenues (including paid and ad-supported) up 11.5% to $17.5 billion
Physical revenues up 4% to $4.6 billion
Performance rights revenues rise 8.6% to $2.5 billion
589 million paid music subscribers
Streaming’s share of global music sales: 67%
In terms of world markets, the U.S. retains its number one position with music sales growing 4.8% and exceeding $10 billion in recorded music sales for the first time.
Japan holds steady in second place with sales growing 5.4% in 2022. The third and fourth-biggest markets for recorded music remain the United Kingdom (+5.4%) and Germany (+2.2%), respectively.
The rest of the top 10 is made up of China (+28.4%), which becomes a top five global market for the first time, France (+7.7%), South Korea, Canada (+8.1%), Brazil (+15.4%) and Australia (+8.1%).
IFPI said that music sales were up in all 62 of the global markets it tracks. The organization’s free-to-access report does not provide market-by-market revenue breakdowns.
On a regional basis, it was a similar story with revenues from the U.S. and Canada region up 5%, while Latin America – where streaming now accounts for 85.2% of the market — saw growth of 25.9%
The fastest-growing market region in 2022 was Sub-Saharan Africa, which recorded a 34.7% rise in music sales, largely driven by the booming music market in South Africa, where sales were up by more than 30% year-on-year.
Revenues in Middle East and North Africa, last year’s fastest growing region, rose by almost 24%, driven almost entirely by streaming, which has 95.5% share of the region’s recorded music market – the highest share for any region worldwide, reports IFPI.
Revenues in Europe, the second-largest recorded music region in the world after the U.S. and Canada, grew by 7.5% — compared to the prior year’s growth rate of 15.4% — driven by gains in Europe’s three biggest markets, the U.K., Germany and France. Asia grew by 15.4%.
Only four of the 20 stocks in Billboard’s Global Music Index were in positive territory this week: Spotify climbed 4.5% to $127.09, Tencent Music Entertainment rose 4.4% to $7.85, Warner Music Group increased 1.5% to $30.21 and Reservoir Media improved 0.2% to $6.15.
Stock markets were rattled again this week by problems in the banking sector. Following a run at Silicon Valley Bank last week, Signature Bank and First Republic faltered this week. Credit Suisse required the backing of the Swiss National Bank on Wednesday after its biggest shareholder refused to inject money to provide much-needed stability. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% this week after dropping 1.2% on Friday (March 17). The S&P 500 improved 1.4% on the week despite falling 1.1% on Friday.
The Global Music Index declined just 0.4% to 1,188.02 despite most stocks falling into negative territory. Spotify and Warner Music Group are two of the most valuable companies in the index. Other large companies had only small declines: Universal Music Group dropped 1.7% to 21.38 euros, SiriusXM fell 0.8% to $3.64 and Live Nation declined 0.4% to $66.36.
The biggest loser of the week was K-pop company SM Entertainment, which fell 23.5% to 113,000 won after HYBE canceled its bid to take control of the company. Last week, SM Entertainment was the Global Music Index’s biggest gainer, improving 14.4% to 147,800 won, after Kakao announced a tender offer to acquire up to a 35% stake from minority shareholders at 150,000 won per share.
The soft advertising market continued to be a problem for radio companies’ stocks. iHeartMedia dropped 12% to $4.31 and Audacy fell 12.5% to $0.14. Morgan Stanley analysts cut the price target for iHeartMedia to $5 from $8 due to “concerns regarding the long-term growth potential of broadcast radio,” according to a March 16 investor note. Year to date, iHeartMedia is down 29.7%, Cumulus Media is off 35.9% and Audacy has declined 39.1%.
Jonas Wikström was promoted to managing director of the Nordics at Universal Music Publishing Scandinavia, succeeding Martin Ingeström, who will remain with the company as chairman of UMP Nordics until his retirement in June. Reporting to UMPG COO Marc Cimino, Wikström is responsible for UMPG’s creative and business operations in the Nordics; he was most recently executive vp of A&R/creative.
Veronica Sanjines was named general manager at Arista Records. The New York-based executive will report to Arista president/CEO David Massey as she oversees general operations for the label and collaborates with the entire roster. She was most recently vp of marketing at Warner Records.
Arica Ng was named president of Asia Pacific at Warner Chappell Music. She joins the company from Meta, where she served as head of music business development in the Asia Pacific.
FUGA appointed Dorothée Imhoff as chief commercial officer, Liz Northeast as senior vp of EMEA and Sven Zeevalk as global head of operations. Meanwhile, former chief commercial officer David Driessen will move to the new position as chief business officer of FUGA’s parent company, Downtown Music, while Darren Owen has been promoted to COO at FUGA. Imhoff has been with FUGA since 2014 when he joined as a business development consultant. Northeast, who was previously FUGA’s GM, U.K., will be responsible for the company’s commercial strategy and business within the wider U.K. and EMEA markets. Zeevalk, who was previously regional head of operations at FUGA, will be responsible for the company’s global operations, including overseeing the regional heads of APAC, EMEA and Americas as well as all client integrations and the global support team. He’s been with FUGA since 2017 when he joined as content manager. Erica De Marchi will take on the role of regional head of operations following Zeevalk’s promotion.
John Coletta was promoted to senior vp & managing director of international at BMI; he was previously vp of international legal & business affairs. Based in New York, Coletta will report to BMI executive vp of licensing & creative Mike Steinberg while overseeing the company’s international department, working closely with foreign performing rights societies to improve business practices and identify growth opportunities. He will additionally work to modernize BMI’s reciprocal agreements and oversee global copyright initiatives. He succeeds BMI vp of international society relations Karen Buse in the role; Buse helped manage the international team on a temporary basis.
Songwriter-producer Bloodpop founded and launched game development studio Genpop Interactive alongside former DeNA and BANDAI NAMCO executive Aubrey Tennant; he will serve as CEO and game director. The studio’s focus is on “building original AAA games that will drive forward the next-gen of music, fashion and gaming culture,” with its first project described as “an ambitious third person shooter with novel movement and combat mechanics.” The company recently raised $6.5 million in seed funding. In a statement, Bloodpop said: “At a time when low risk tolerance among established studios has resulted in predictable re-releases capitalizing on millennial nostalgia, Gen-Z is eager for new IP that speaks to them, and has a long legacy that defines their generation. Major studios have become complacent, relying on giving the Weekend at Bernie’s treatment to their old IP with their publicly traded necromancy. We aren’t just on a mission to create the next great game, but nurture the next generation of popular culture.”
300 Entertainment promoted three executives: Ryan MacTaggart to senior vp of artist development & lifestyle marketing, Gary “Bolo” Sargeant to vp of urban & rhythm promotion and Michael McArthur to vp of A&R. MacTaggart will continue to focus on immersive marketing and artist development, Sargeant will lead promotion at the urban and rhythm formats and McArthur will sign and develop new talent. All three are based in New York.
Shawna Spears was named vp of brand marketing at Venice Music. Joining from TikTok, where she led artist and manager partnerships in hip-hop and R&B, Spears will build and lead the company’s brand marketing team, develop and execute the marketing roadmap across distribution channels and more. She reports to Venice Music executive vp and GM Fadia Kader and can be reached at shawna@venicemusic.co.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) promoted Evan Plake to director of partnerships and Chirag Patel to associate of membership. Additionally, Greyson Zeng was hired as community manager and Nicolle Gutierrez Ospina was hired as executive assistant and accounts administrator. Plake oversees brand partnerships and creative collaborations across the organization’s membership, Patel will continue connecting and supporting indie labels and Zeng will help grow and curate A2IM’s digital and in-person community. Gutierrez Ospina joins from Gold Business Management. Plake can be reached at evan@a2im.org, Patel can be reached at chirag@a2im.org, Zeng can be reached at greyson@a2im.org and Gutierrez Ospina can be reached at nicolle@a2im.org.
Michelle Teh was named senior vp of global classics & jazz at Universal Music Group. She assumes the role after serving on UMG’s global priorities team.
Jesus Trivino is taking on an expanded role at TIDAL; he will continue to lead the company’s Latin team but will now also serve as head of TIDAL’s industry relations (for general market) team.
Vanessa Kanapin was named director of A&R for Germany, Switzerland and Austria at Ultra International Music Publishing. The Berlin-based executive will report to company founder/CEO Patrick Moxey. She joins Ultra from German independent publisher Budde Music, where she was A&R and song plugging manager. Kanapin can be reached at vanessa.kanapin@ultrapublishing.com.
Former Virgin EMI Records senior director Tony Barnes was announced as the co-founder of Karta, a metaverse studio established in 2021 that provides experiential marketing for musicians, brands and sports teams. He co-founded the company with CEO Erik Londré. “Since its launch, Karta has delivered successful projects across Roblox, Fortnite and Decentraland for the likes of Amazon Music, Fnatic, Unilever and Ronald McDonald House,” reads a press release, which notes the company also recently built a fan hub on Roblox for K-pop group TWICE. Barnes can be reached at tony@karta.game.
Jason Leiss was promoted to business manager at FBMM, where he will continue to lead a team of five and oversee all financial aspects for his clients in both business and personal finance.
Following Bandcamp’s sale to Epic Games last year, employees at the popular independent music streaming and sales platform are making efforts to unionize.
On Thursday (March 16), Bandcamp workers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to authorize a union election, marking the latest push by music company employees to unionize. If approved, the workers will hold an election to officially form the union. The effort follows similar initiatives from employees at indie label Secretly Group and YouTube Music, as well as workers at broader tech and media companies like Amazon, Disney and Tesla.
Bandcamp United is a group of “designers, journalists, support staff, engineers and more,” according to a statement, that is “committed to protecting the benefits we have, fixing historical disparities within and across departments, and promoting equitable conditions and economic stability for all of our colleagues.”
“If you think about Bandcamp, it’s about paying artists fairly for the music that we love so much,” says Eli Rider, a Philadelphia-based data analyst for the music streaming and sales platform, and one of the union organizers, in a phone interview. “So, the workers that build the site and support it also would like to have fair and transparent wages.”
Rider wouldn’t elaborate on specific issues around wages or workplace conditions that prompted the employees’ move to unionize. She also wouldn’t specify how many workers were involved in the union effort, but said, “We have a broad base of support,” including from U.S. and international Bandcamp employees.
Discussions around unionizing began during online meetings last July, according to Rider. “Folks just started talking more about what they were experiencing at work,” she says. “It was mostly talk, but then someone had the idea of getting organized.” At that point, they reached out to existing unions, before deciding to affiliate with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 1010.
Bandcamp was sold to Epic Games, the company that owns Fortnite, for an undisclosed amount in March 2022. After the sale, Rider says there was “a shift in our workplace conditions” that he describes as “unexpected.”
In a statement Thursday, Bandcamp’s CEO Ethan Diamond responded: “We are aware that some Bandcamp employees are seeking to organize a union and [we] are reviewing the petition to understand their concerns.”
Formed in 2007, Bandcamp was a crucial outlet for indie musicians after touring revenue disappeared during the COVID-19 quarantine period. Artists relied on the Bandcamp Fridays promotion to sell merch and music; on those days, they received 93% of the revenue compared to 82% on a typical day. On the first Bandcamp Friday after concerts shut down in 2020, fans bought 800,000 items from artists on Bandcamp totaling $4.3 million.
“It is important to us that Bandcamp’s artist-first mission continues with clarity and accountability, with all resources afforded to us distributed in the fairest and most transparent way possible,” the workers said on their website. “We feel a responsibility to support those who are most marginalized, to use our platform with integrity, and to provide reasonable protections and accommodations for those at-risk.”
This is Signed, a new biweekly column that rounds up artist signings at labels, agencies, management companies and more.
Two-time Grammy winner Tori Kelly signed with Epic Records, which will release her latest single, “missin u,” on Friday (March 17) with an album to follow. She’s managed by SB Projects.
Singer-actor Dove Cameron (“Boyfriend”) signed with WME in all areas. She’s signed to Columbia Records and represented by LBI Entertainment, attorney Patti C. Felker and Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis.
Country singer-songwriter Nate Smith (“Whiskey On You”) signed with WME for global representation in all areas. He’ll be represented by Joey Lee, Sloane Cavitt Logue and Braeden Rountree at the agency. He’s signed to Sony Music Nashville and managed by Kevin “Chief” Zaruk and Simon Tikhman at The Core Entertainment.
Bettye LaVette signed with Steve Jordan and Meegan Voss‘ Jay-Vee Records, which is distributed by MRI Entertainment. Jordan produced two previous albums for LaVette, 2018’s Things Have Changed and 2020’s Blackbirds. She’s represented by manager Kevin Kiley; agents Seth Rappaport and Steve Martin at Paladin Artists (North America) and Neil O’Brien of Neil O’Brien Entertainment (international); and publicist Carla Parisi at Kid Logic.
ONErpm signed singer-songwriter Chance Peña, who got started as a contestant on The Voice in 2015. He’s currently working on a new EP to follow up 2019’s project anxiety & mixed emotions and 2020’s The Inevitable. He’s managed by Liz Baylog at Bread City.
Universal Music Group Nashville teamed with Universal Music Canada to sign country singer Josh Ross (“First Taste of Gone”). He’s represented by managers Chief Zaruk and Simon Tikhman at The Core Entertainment, booking agent Adi Sharma at The Neal Agency and publicist Jodi Dawes at UMG Nashville.
Country singer-songwriter Ella Langley (“If You Have To,” “Damn You,” “Country Boy’s Dream Girl”) signed with Columbia Records/Sony Music Nashville. In January, Langley was named to Spotify’s list of Hot Country Artists to Watch.
Toronto rock band Half Moon Run signed with BMG, which will release the group’s fourth studio album. Previous album releases for the band — a two-time winner of adult alternative album of the year at the Junos — include 2013’s Dark Eyes, 2015’s Sun Leads Me On and 2019’s A Blemish in the Great Light. The group is managed by Mathieu Drouin and Marie-Eve Carriere; their label representative at BMG is Steve Nightingale.
Texas-based band Pecos & The Rooftops (“This Damn Song”) signed to Warner Records, which released their latest single, “5AM,” in the leadup to their forthcoming album. The group is represented by managers Chase Cooper and Jeb Hurt at Floating Leaf Entertainment, booking agent Chad Kudelka at CAA and A&R Miles Gersh.
South Africa-born, Canada-raised rapper ARDN signed to Capitol Records, which will release his major label debut single, “Plain Jane” and forthcoming EP, The Bronze Age. ARDN gained notice when a snippet of his song, “Til the Morning,” went viral on TikTok last year.
Los Angeles duo SkyeChristy signed to Warner Records, which released their new single “Beach Zombies.” They’re represented by manager Jesse Beer at The MGMT Company and Bex Majors at Sound Talent Group.
Milk & Honey signed singer-songwriter-producer JHart, production duo The Elements and songwriter-producer-composer Alexis Kesselman, who performs under the name Idarose. The company will manage all aspects of their music careers, including artist projects. JHart will be managed by Lucas Keller, Nic Warner and Danny Herrle; The Elements will be managed by Ant Hippsley, Keller, Warner and Justin Frazier; and Kesselman will be managed by Keller, Warner and Frazier.
Minneapolis indie-rock trio Yam Haus signed to Big Loud Rock, the new alternative/rock imprint of Big Loud Records. The label released the trio’s latest single, “Rafters.” The group is represented by managers Deborah Wilson and Doug Wilson at Wilspro and agent Sara Schlievert at Paladin Artists.
Pittsburgh-based rock and blues group Ghost Hounds signed to Gibson Records, which will release the band’s fourth studio album on June 29 in partnership with distributor Firebird Label Services. It will mark the second album release from the recently-formed Gibson Records following Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators’ album, 4, last year.
Drummer-producer-emcee Kassa Overall signed to Warp Records, which will release his new single “Ready To Ball.” He previously released two studio albums, 2019’s Go Get Ice Cream and Listen to Jazz and 2020’s I Think I’m Good.
Los Angeles-based “grit-pop” duo ill peach signed to Hardly Art, which released their new single, “Heavyweight,” on Feb. 28. Ill peach is managed by Chris Mcilvenny and Nic Damasio at Tap Management.
Country artist Kirk Jay signed to Yung Bleu’s label Moonboy University, which is distributed by EMPIRE. Jay was a finalist on The Voice in 2018.
Philadelphia rapper Sheedts signed to Great Day Records, the label launched in January by Barolilne Diaz in partnership with Todd Moscowitz‘s Santa Anna and Alamo Records. The news coincided with the release of a video for “Rockin’ & Rollin’,” a track off Sheedts’ 2022 album 5ive. He’s managed by Rahee “Heezy” Ellis.
Singer-songwriter and American Idol alum Harper Grace signed with Curb Records, WME and Jonas Group Entertainment. Her first original song is set to drop on Friday (March 17).
Arthur Moon, Cale Hawkins and Raia Was have joined together to form Switch Hit Records, described as a “musicians-run cooperative record label committed to giving artists 100% of the profits from their work” that’s comprised of “a collective of multi-hyphenate artists: producers, instrumentalists, composers, musical directors and business owners.” Moon, Hawkins and Was have all released singles through the label, while full-length albums from all three are expected for release later this year.
Metallica has always had a strong independent streak for a band that spent its formative years on a major label. Now, a decade after getting the rights back to their biggest albums, the band is buying Furnace Record Pressing, a plant in Alexandria, Va., to serve its vinyl business, which has grown by keeping catalog albums in print and releasing ambitious box sets aimed at its legions of hardcore fans.
For a decade, Furnace has pressed records for the band, which has a reputation for releasing high-quality vinyl. At a time of supply-chain issues and manufacturing delays, the plant helped the group keep most of its albums available, plus a growing number of ambitious box sets. (Its most recent “black album” box set includes a double LP of the album, three live LPs, 14 CDs and 6 DVDs.) Last year, the group pressed more than 902,500 pieces of vinyl for more than 620,000 packages, according to management, not all of which are made at Furnace. The band sells roughly half of these in the U.S.
“We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace,” and its founders “to the next level,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich in a statement. James Hetfield, the singer-guitarist who co-founded the band with Ulrich, said that the plant had been “great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans,” and that the purchase would ensure that potential vinyl buyers “will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
Those fans are already buying a good deal of vinyl. In 2022 and 2021, Metallica rated among the best-selling acts on vinyl in the U.S., according to Luminate – No. 6 in 2022, with 387,000 albums sold and No. 7 in 2021 with 337,000 sold. That’s especially remarkable for a brand that hasn’t released a new album since 2016. (In 2022, the group’s most popular release was Master of Puppets, which sold 91,000, followed by “the black album” and Ride the Lightning.) In most years, the U.S. accounts for roughly half of the group’s vinyl sales worldwide.
“Metallica over-indexes dramatically with physical product,” says Marc Reiter, who helps run Blackened Recordings, the band’s label. “The fans enjoy owning the physical product.”
Although the band hasn’t released a new album since 2016 – the new album, 72 Seasons, comes out April 14 – there’s plenty of product out there. The band regularly releases box sets devoted to their albums, most recently Bob Rock-produced “black album,” and does a good job keeping in print its older releases.
Its relationship with Furnace, which goes back almost a decade, has been part of that. “The catalog is always being pressed,” says Brant Weil, head of marketing at Q Prime, the band’s management company. A couple of years after the band got back the rights to its older albums, its management team realized that it needed a steady supply of vinyl that could live up to the bandmembers’ high standards.
Furnace, which then also brokered vinyl pressing capacity at other plants, arranged a deal with Pallas, a German pressing plant with a reputation for high-quality work, and Q Prime was able to arrange to essentially lease its own presses there. “We never want to be out of stock on Metallica vinyl,” Weil says. “I didn’t want our release plans to be dictated by manufacturing timelines.”
At that point, “any vinyl shortages ceased to be,” Reiter says. Eventually, as Furnace started pressing more records itself, they started pressing more for Metallica as well.
Gradually, the two companies grew close. “We looked at them as more of a partner than a client,” says Furnace found CEO Eric Astor. (As it happens, the first record Furnace worked on was the 2008 re-release of “the black album” as an audiophile edition.) Furnace, like Pallas, has a reputation for doing quality work at a time when some pressing plants have sacrificed quality for output. “We’d rather throw out some bad records than make as many as we can,” says Furnace COO Ali Miller. (Discarding some vinyl is a factor in quality control.) Furnace has been pressing copies of the band’s forthcoming album, 72 Seasons, since January.
Furnace will not change much, Astor says, and plans call for the plant to keep working on other projects, as well as ones for Metallica. “They want to keep the quality and service the whole industry,” Astor says. “It will give us the opportunity to invest more.”
The hope is that Furnace can grow – as both a partner to the band, as well as an investment the group and its team have come to understand well. “They have the same indie spirit we have,” Reiter says, “and they like doing things the right way, which is also the Metallica way.”
Recorded-music revenue hit an all-time high in Spain last year, growing by double digits over 2021, reports Productores de Música de España (Promusicae), the association that represents 95% of the country’s recording industry.
In 2022, Spain’s recorded music market earned a total of 462 million euros ($494.5 million), marking an increase of 12.4% over the 411 million euros ($440 million) in revenue achieved the year prior, Promusicae reported Monday (March 13).
Eighty-seven percent of last year’s total revenue number — or 402 million euros ($429 million) — was generated by music sales, up 9.3% from 2021. The digital market accounted for nearly 86% of music consumed in Spain last year at 345 million euros ($370 million), 98% of which, or 340 million euros ($364 million), came from streaming. Meanwhile, physical sales, which generated 56 million euros ($60 million) in revenue, continued to decline despite growth in the vinyl market.
In the digital sphere, consumption of both audio and video music streams grew by 13% and 16%, respectively, compared to 2021. That translates to 17 million Spaniards using audio streaming platforms in 2022, with 5.2 million of those listeners holding premium subscriptions — up 18% over the previous year. Overall, nearly 36% of the Spanish population used audio streaming platforms in 2022.
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
The physical music market continued to shrink despite another strong year for vinyl, which grew 15% and generated 29 million euros ($31 million) in sales, compared to 26 million euros ($29 million) generated by CD sales. In units, more CDs are still being bought than vinyl (2.6 million units compared to 1.7 million vinyl records were shipped in 2022), even as more-expensive vinyl surpassed CDs in revenue terms. Rosalía‘s Motomami was Spain’s top seller on vinyl last year, though Promusicae did not provide sales numbers for the title.
The Promusicae report also notes that revenue from intellectual property rights has been booming for record labels, increasing by 42% last year to 56 million euros ($60 million). The report cautions, however, that the increase is distorted somewhat by a return to normal activity in sectors like hospitality and nightlife following pandemic-era restrictions.
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
Meanwhile, Spanish-language music further solidified its dominance in the country, with Bad Bunny, Rosalía and C. Tangana outpacing Anglo artists like Harry Styles and Taylor Swift in overall sales (see charts below).
“Closing 2022, maintaining a sustained growth in the last five years — despite the slowdown of the pandemic — is great news that rewards the effort, work and investment of the entire recording industry in our country,” Promusicae president Antonio Guisasola says in a statement. “It opens a window of hope to reach levels of the previous decade.”
Guisasola adds that other European countries, such as the United Kingdom or Italy, “are achieving great benefits that redound to the brand and culture of the country through music, and ours cannot be left behind in this highly competitive environment in which we have the strategic asset of the Spanish language.”
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
On the downside, piracy continues to be a problem in Spain. Promusicae notes that according to the IFPI Engaging With Music 2022 report, 32% of Spaniards use unauthorized or unlicensed methods to listen to or download music. The percentage is even higher for individuals between 16 and 24 years old, with 49% of that age demographic listening to pirated music.
Top 10 albums by revenue in 2022:
Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti
Rosalía, Motomami
C. Tangana, El Madrileño
Harry Styles, Harry’s House
Rauw Alejandro, Vice Versa
Sebastián Yatra, Dharma
Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG
Manuel Carrasco, Corazón y Flecha
Taylor Swift, Midnights
Mora, Microdosis
Top 10 songs by revenue in 2022:
Bizarrap x Quevedo, “Quevedo: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 52”
Manuel Turizo, “La Bachata”
Rosalía, “Despecha”
Bad Bunny, “Tití Me Preguntó”
Sebastián Yatra, “Tacones Rojos
Bad Bunny, “Me Porto Bonito” feat. Chencho Corleone
Rauw Alejandro, “Desesperados” feat. Chencho Corleone
La Pantera, Quevedo Juseph, Cruz Cafune, Abhir Hathi “Cayó La Noche (Remix)”
Shakira, “Te Felicito” feat. Rauw Alejandro
Bizarrap x Tiago PZK, “Tiago PZK: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 48”
Sean “Diddy” Combs is looking to acquire a majority stake in Paramount’s BET businesses, which includes BET, VH1, BET Studios and the streaming service BET+, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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As previously reported, if a deal closes, Paramount is expected to maintain a minority stake in the business, as well as a commercial relationship. Scott Mills currently serves as BET’s CEO. In January, the company announced plans to merge its Paramount+ and Showtime businesses.
In addition to Diddy, possible buyers include BET partner and producer Tyler Perry, as well as Weather Channel owner Byron Allen.
Diddy is a longtime entertainment mogul, and continues to diversify his portfolio of music, fashion, drinks and TV ventures internationally. In 2013, Combs launched REVOLT Media & TV, the first Black-owned multiplatform cable music network, and has since expanded with new businesses like Empower Global formally Shop Circulate, Our Fair Share, Love Records and cannabis distribution by acquiring Cresco Labs.
In February 2023, he rebranded his parent company from Combs Enterprises to Combs Global.