Business News
Page: 127
In 2022, SoundExchange reported that collections fell slightly to $1.017 billion from 2021’s $1.06 billion — a decrease of about $43 million, or 4.1%. Likewise, distributions fell 3.4% to $959 million from 2021’s $993 million.
However, those collection decreases mainly appear to be due to either revenue or content payout declines from digital services in direct licensing arrangements with labels as well as from foreign collection societies.
Of the $1.017 billion in total collections, $813 million was derived from statutory royalties, while $204 million was paid to SoundExchange via direct licensing deals between labels and services and from foreign collection societies. That’s a drop from the prior year when statutory royalty payments to SoundExchange were $824 million and direct licensing payments were $236 million. So while the statutory royalties fell slightly by $11 million — a decline of 1.3% — the bulk of the decline, or $32 million, was due to a 13.6% fall in direct licensing payments and from foreign societies.
Overall, SoundExchange president/CEO Michael Huppe declared 2022 a “tremendous year” for SoundExchange, in a note leading the organization’s annual report.
“Living up to our mission to foster an equitable music industry where all creators can thrive, the company collected $1.017 billion digital royalties from more than 3,600 digital streaming platforms and distributed them to more than 600,000 creators and rights holders,” Huppe wrote in the note. “In doing so, the company crossed the $[10] billion threshold for distributing royalty payments since its inception in 2003.”
As a percentage of revenue, SoundExchange claims a 6.6% operating administration rate or a 7.2% consolidated administration rate. Either way, the organization claims it has “maintained one of the music industry’s lowest admin rates.
However, expenses grew a whopping 17.5% to $74 million from the prior year’s total of $63 million. While SoundExchange didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, the cost increase could have been due to costs associated with upgrades to the organization’s technological infrastructure.
According to Huppe’s note in the annual report, SoundExchange also “unveiled a suite of next-generation solutions to make the business of music easier and fairer — including a new look, a new website that serves as a resource for creators, publishers, and digital service providers, and a mobile app to give creators easy on-the-go access to their accounts.”
Its expense structure is also undoubtedly impacted by finding and paying the correct rights holders, particularly on the indie artist side of things. According to a press release, “SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties on behalf of 650,000 music creators and growing.”
Finally, SoundExchange attributed the $10 billion in distributions to date to its “proprietary music tech solutions that turn data into accurate revenue.”
Global recording industry trade body IFPI announced on Thursday that Frances Moore will step down as CEO at the end of the year, ending a consequential tenure that began in 2010. Moore has agreed to assist in the search for her successor at the organization, which represents more than 8,000 record company members worldwide, including all three major labels.
Moore joined IFPI in 1994 as regional director for Europe; her 13-year tenure as chief executive makes her its longest-serving leader ever and, according to IFPI, the longest-serving leader of a recorded music trade body.
Under Moore’s leadership, IFPI has guided the global industry through a throng of seismic changes, namely its transition to digital streaming, along with major initiatives to strengthen copyright protections and intellectual property rights and the ongoing fight against music piracy. Those initiatives helped lay the groundwork for the recorded music industry’s year-on-year recovery from the lows of just over a decade ago when piracy was rampant.
When Moore started at CEO in 2010, global music sales had fallen to $13.8 billion from a high of over $22 billion in 1999. Last year, recorded music sales had rebounded to $26.2 billion, a rise of 9% on the previous year and the eighth consecutive year of growth, according to the organization’s most recent “Global Music Report.”
Noteworthy achievements during her 13-year tenure include the hard-fought enactment of the EU Copyright Directive – a landmark piece of legislation, which made online platforms like YouTube liable for unlicensed content, effectively closing safe harbor protections in Europe, and which was passed in 2019 after extensive lobbying from IFPI.
Moore’s reign has also seen IFPI take a leading role in combating stream manipulation and copyright infringing websites around the world. Legal action taken or coordinated by IFPI in the digital era has led to around 5,200 infringing sites being blocked or shut down, says the London-based organization.
As the music industry has become more global, IFPI also created the IFPI Global Charts and in 2015, IFPI struck a blow to piracy by aligning the global release of new music to Fridays.
“After three decades with IFPI, thirteen of which as its Global CEO, it is time for me to hang up my spurs!” Moore,who trained as a barrister, said in a statement. “I have loved working for IFPI and the recording industry and feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve in this role. I am very proud and appreciative of the IFPI team, both now and over the years. Every achievement has been the result of a team effort. ”
She continued, “I have had the good fortune of living through so much of the industry’s transformation from analogue to digital. On my first day at IFPI thirty years ago, I was dealing with legislation on blank tape levies and here we are today dealing with legislation on AI!”
Along with advocating and taking actions on behalf of it members, IFPI of course endures as the recorded music industry’s main resource for documenting the industry’s progress. It’s annual “Global Music Report” continues to be the standard, and under Moore IFPI launched the IFPI Global Charts, the industry’s official annual ranking for the best-selling artists.
In a written statement, the IFPI Main Board said, thanked Moore for “navigating IFPI through arguably the most demanding and complex period of modern music’s history. At once, she has led us through music’s digital transition and the industry’s expansion worldwide, enabling a return to growth that mutually benefits artists, labels and the broader music ecosystem. Not only has she herself been an excellent and effective advocate for labels and creators, but Frances has built an incredible team of professionals to assure that her legacy will carry on.”
BALI — When Denis Ladegaillerie takes his place on stage for the Music Matters conference in Singapore later this year, the Believe chief executive officer should have some tales to share. Success stories.
Ten years ago, Believe (then Believe Digital) embarked on an Asia Pacific odyssey. The risk is paying off, thanks in no small part to the expanding reach and adoption of streaming services, and the waves of regional acts passing through the pipeline, crossing borders like never before.
Ladegaillerie, the Paris-based music company’s founder, returns to the annual summit this September brimming with confidence for his business’s regional operations, which are now active in 15 APAC territories. Royalties to labels and artists have ballooned to €700 million ($784), Billboard can confirm. The magical €1 billion ($1.12 billion) milestone is on the horizon.
Believe established its APAC presence back in 2013, initially in Indonesia. Playing to the beat of its mantra, “local approach, global vision,” the brand set about building from scratch a network tuned to each local music scene, cognizant of the language, culture and genre specificities that make each market unique.
Believe paid tribute to its APAC origins in May by returning to Bali for a gathering of 130-plus staff, or “Believers” as they’re known within the company, from 11 countries.
Participants included Antoine El Iman; managing director of Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand; Dahlia Wijaya, country director, Indonesia; Georgette Tengco, country director, Philippines; Somwalee Limrachtamorn, country director, Thailand; and Mick Tarbuk, country manager, Australia & New Zealand, whose affiliate landed two ARIA No. 1 albums in 12 months, with Cub Sport’s Jesus At The Gay Bar (April 2023) and Northlane’s Obsidian (April 2022).
Cub Sport
Bryant
Also among guests, Believe’s streaming partners, including Paul Smith, managing director of YouTube Music APAC, one of the most powerful brands in the region (and also a guest speaker at ATM 2023), and several key artists, including Indonesia pop star Yura Yunita, a native of Bandung, West Java, who boasts more than 1.2 million followers on Instagram and upwards of 1 million subscribers to her YouTube channel.
The region “was untapped territory,” recounts Sylvain Delange, managing director Asia Pacific. “The business opportunity was tiny at the time because digital was not existent. Well, it existed, but it was ringback tones.”
The Frenchman is a big believer — in the traditional sense — that the pan-Asian music market could achieve lift-off; he was tapped to build the regional business from the ground up.
Previously, he served for five years in Tokyo, promoting French music abroad for the French Music Office. That organization no longer exists, though the relationships he built in Asia still do, and Delange got a head start.
Delange “is an instrumental part of the transformation of the market that we’ve been a part of,” notes Ladegaillerie.
Timing is everything. Launch before the streaming platforms mature and make inroads, and the ship has sunk before it sailed.
Start too late, you miss out.
“When you have international players, and especially big players, like Apple, Spotify or YouTube entering the market, that levels the playing field for everyone,” reckons Delange.
Those big players, when they arrived, brought with them certain standards. “Standards of business practices, content management, monetization, good practices, in terms of marketing releases, and so on,” he continued, creating “a much healthier environment for the music ecosystem.”
The Asian market is as exciting as it is diverse, and the recorded music business is spiking.
The numbers back it up.
Luminate’s 2023 “Midyear Music Report” found that, overall, on-demand audio and video streaming in the first half lifted by 107% year-on-year – a world-leading rate of growth.
And earlier, the IFPI reported that Asia notched double-digit growth for the third consecutive year, up by 15.4%, “outpacing the overall global growth rate.”
China, meanwhile, has joined the recording music industry’s elite. According to the IFPI’s Global Music Report, the world’s most populous market is now the No. 5 ranked country for the first time, bumping France into No. 6. APAC accounts for four of the top 10 markets (Japan at No. 2, South Korea at No. 7, Australia at No. 10), and four of the top 10 acts globally are from APAC – BTS, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, and Jay Chou.
Believe itself has evolved from pure distribution-driven business into one focused on “local content, globally,” explains Delange, who confirms the Asia Pacific activities has generated north of €700 million in distributions.
That pile includes its businesses in India, Southeast Asia, China, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, where Believe is ranked No. 3 in terms of digital market share, according to Oricon market research, behind Universal and Sony Music, and ahead of Warner Music.
Acquisitions, investments and partnerships will continue to play a part. Notable deals struck in recent years include the acquisition of a stake in Philippines-based Viva Music and Artists Group (VMAG); the acquisition of India’s Venus Music, and subsequent rebranded to Ishtar; and the purchase of a 76% interest in South Indian soundtrack specialist Think Music, all in 2021.
“The objective for us is to is to strengthen our position on market segment by bringing in people that have a very specific expertise,” explains Delange. “Our positioning is to basically build on our past 10-year success, continue to educate. There’s still a lot of education to be done on many topics. We will continue to build on our teams, we’re going to continue to invest in local players, we’re going to continue to build the partnerships closely with the DSPS.”
Soon, the “emerging markets” tag will be gone from the vernacular.
A decade from now, “Asia would have been very-well emerged,” says Delange. “We do anticipate that Asia Pacific is going to become the largest music market in the world in the next 10 years.”
HarbourView Equity Partners has acquired selected recorded and publishing assets of Blackbear, the hit songwriter and artist whose credits include “Hot Girl Bummer,” “Do Re Mi” and songwriting collaborations like Justin Bieber‘s “Boyfriend.” In the U.S., Blackbear’s catalog has generated 4.45 million album consumption units, according to Luminate. While the deal announcement doesn’t specify what […]
KOMI, a creator commerce tool used by Lizzo and Elton John, said on Tuesday (July 18) that it raised $12 million from a group of investors including venture capital firms RTP and Third Prime, as well as Sony Music and Live Nation. In addition to the $5 million in seed funding KOMI says it raised […]
Houston-based rapper KenTheMan (born Kentavia Miller) signed a label deal with Roc Nation, which released her latest single, “I Love a Freak,” on Friday (July 14), with an EP on the way. The rapper, known for tracks including “Not My N*gga” and “He Be Like,” is slated to perform at Rolling Loud Miami on Sunday (July 23).
YG Entertainment K-pop group TREASURE signed a label deal with Columbia Records in the United States. Columbia will release the group’s forthcoming album in partnership with YG.
Paris-based indie distributor IDOL signed a direct artist partnership with U.S. rapper-producer (and Flatbush Zombies founding member) Erick the Architect (“Death by Dishonor,” “Let It Go”). IDOL will handle global digital distribution and marketing for his debut solo album, to be released on his own label, Architect Recording Company; the first single, “Parkour” (produced by James Blake), dropped on July 11. He is managed by Quincy Jones Productions.
Virgin Music signed an agreement with Paul Rosenberg‘s Goliath Records for Rise of the Silverback, the upcoming album from battle rapper and social media personality Nems. The album will be preceded by the single “Drip.” Nems is represented by managers Busy Rivera and Mex Guevara, the latter of whom also serves as his booking agent.
New York-based nonprofit Daniel’s Music Foundation launched Just Call Me By My Name, a new record label focused on musicians with disabilities. Distributed by The Orchard, the label will release compilation albums coinciding with “key disability awareness dates.” The first EP, Just Call Me By My Name: Volume 1, will drop on Friday (July 21). It features five artists: singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist James Ian (who has spinal muscular atrophy type 3); singer-songwriter, piano player and mixer-arranger Devin Gutierrez (on the autism spectrum and with optic nerve hypoplasia, which causes blindness); 12-year-old opera singer Iolanta Mamatkazina (who is blind); rock and blues guitarist Jake Nielsen (who has cerebral palsy); and singer-songwriter/Daniel’s Music Foundation co-founder Daniel Trush and his songwriting partner Gerard Powers. Musicians on the label are sourced through the Danny Awards, an annual awards show produced by Daniel’s Music Foundation that recognizes musicians with disabilities.
Madrid-based artist Ralphie Choo signed to Warner Records, which will release his debut album, SUPERNOVA, in partnership with RUSIA IDK on September 15. The album is preceded by the single “MÁQUINA CULONA” featuring Mura Masa.
Republic Records China signed Mandarin pop star Hannah Rebecca Jin, who has been a recording artist in her native country for over 20 years and broke through in the late ’90s with albums including Wake Up Your Ears and So Proud. The signing marks a reunion between Jin and Tony Wen, the producer Jin worked with at the beginning of her career who now serves as MD of Republic Records China. Jin’s first single for the label is a reimagined version of her hit single, “So Proud.” She will next team up with Wen to co-produce an all-new original album for the label.
Big Noise Music Group signed 16-year-old rapper and pop-punk singer and content creator Gavin Magnus to a multi-album deal. Magnus previously signed with Columbia Records at age 12. His first release on Big Noise will be the single “PSYCHO.”
New Jersey-based band Nicotine Dolls, whose lead singer, Sam Cieri, previously appeared on America’s Got Talent, signed to Nettwerk. The label will release the band’s new single, “How Do You Love Me,” off its forthcoming EP. Nicotine Dolls is represented by manager JR Schumann and booking agents Winston Simone and Sara Schlievert at Paladin Artists.
Golden State Entertainment signed tiny deaths, a project from Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Claire de Lune, who was a founding member of all-women group The Chalice alongside Lizzo and Sophia Eris. Formed in 2022, Golden State Entertainment is an affiliate company of the Golden State Warriors that creates original content. In addition to her artist career, de Lune works as a sportswriter for The Guardian, where she is a regular NBA columnist. She was previously signed to Handwritten Records.
WME signed Seedphrase (born Daniel Maegaard), an artist, DJ, entrepreneur and early-stage crypto investor whose digital art collection includes some of the rarest NFTs in the world. He is slated to drop original music this year, in addition to various Web3 releases. Seedphrase is managed by Three Six Zero.
Vere Music and Brickhouse Entertainment signed pop singer-songwriter Mary-Clair, with Vere serving as her distributor and Brickhouse as her management. The first release under the deal is Mary-Clair’s debut single, “Heaven in the Way,” which was co-written by Tedd T.
Since the rise of digital music technology in the 1990s, royalties from online music have proved bountiful for star performers.
But back then, forward-thinking music industry executives and musicians helped make sure that non-featured performers on recordings, like session players and backup singers, could also share in digital music royalties. One of those income streams — the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution (IPRD) Fund, which marks its 25th anniversary this year — reports paying out $650 million to date to such artists.
For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2021 — the most recent full year for which its finances are available — the nonprofit fund has distributed $57.2 million to eligible performers.
Most of the fund’s revenue comes from SoundExchange, which collects royalties for every song played on digital radio like Pandora, webcasters like iHeartRadio and satellite radio services like SiriusXM. Those royalties are split: 50% to the record label, 45% to the featured artist and 5% to non-featured performers.
Fund participants span a spectrum of musical skills and styles. They include vocalists such as Carmen Carter (who has recorded with Beyoncé, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston and Luis Miguel), Wendy Moten (Carrie Underwood, Buddy Guy, Cece Winans) and Dan Navarro (Dolly Parton, Julio Iglesias, Neil Young), as well as musicians like guitarist Michael Landau (Enrique Iglesias, Diana Ross, LeAnn Rimes), keyboardist Greg Phillinganes (Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder) and drummer Abraham Laboriel Jr. (Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus), among many others.
But while collecting royalties from Sound Exchange is easy and many musicians are easy to find, tracking down every performer who should get a cut can be a challenge. Though the fund paid out royalties to some 27,000 non-featured musicians last year, many are still unaware of its existence — or that they might have royalties to be claimed, says fund CEO Stefanie Taub.
“The big thing for us is we really want to make sure that the non-featured performers are aware that we’re here and there is this money source for them,” says Taub, a 25-year AFTRA and SAG-AFTRA veteran who prior to leading the fund sat on its board of directors.
The SoundExchange royalties paid to labels and performers are the result of the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recording Act of 1995 and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which between them amended copyright law so that, among other things, digital and satellite radio services pay royalties for recorded music. (Terrestrial radio doesn’t make any payments to record labels and performers but pays royalties to songwriters and music publishers.)
As part of the revamped copyright law, AFM (American Federation of Musicians) was designated to be the agent to pay out half, or 2.5%, of the 5% due to non-featured musicians on songs played on digital and satellite radio, while AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) was designated to oversee the other half (2.5%) of the royalties for non-featured singers.
The two unions agreed to collaborate on a single administrator to collect and pay out the royalties. Thus, the AFM & SAG-AFTRA IPRD Fund was born.
“Back then, it made sense to create this fund so they didn’t waste money with duplicate efforts,” Taub says. “So it’s very unique that these two completely separate unions came together to create this fund.”
Stefanie Taub
Courtesy of AFM SAG-AFTRA Fund
How do you view this anniversary of the fund?
We’re very proud of the fact that we paid over a half-billion dollars to non-featured performers in our 25 years. We’re in a unique space because many people are aware of how featured artists — name artists on recordings — get paid for their music. But there’s not as much awareness that our fund exists and that it pays the non-featured performers. People really don’t know we exist, especially when we first started out. Back then, we were collecting a very small amount: under $100,000 a year. Nowadays, we collect more than $50 million a year. So that is something we really want to promote: This money is there for these performers, and we are here to pay it to them.
Does a musician need to be in the union to qualify for funds?
That’s a misconception. Even though the unions created this fund, their executives sit on the board, and our name includes the unions; the fund distributes to all performers without regard to union status. We’re required by law to distribute to everyone [regardless of] status.
Where does the Screen Actors Guild, which represents and pays actors, come into the picture? Are its funds blended into what you collect?
SAG represents mostly actors but also other performers in film and TV, [so] if a singer did a song in a film, that would be represented by SAG; if they do a record, they are represented by AFTRA. But the SAG funds are completely separate, and what we collect is completely separate from anything that the unions do on their own.
Your financial statement for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, shows that the fund collected $63.1 million in royalties. How much came from SoundExchange?
It fluctuates, but it has been around $50 million or more for [each] of the past five or six years.
Foreign royalties also flow into the fund. What’s the source of those monies?
They are due to copyright treaties and to reciprocal agreements with collection organizations in other countries — and those royalties consist of many different things, including what they call “private copying”; in some foreign countries, they collect a royalty on devices like iPhones and iPads and things like that. Some countries do pay the U.S. [royalties] on broadcast terrestrial radio and even [on] what they call “communication to the public,” like songs played in nightclubs and restaurants. Every country is a little bit different in what royalties they pay to the U.S.
So, percentagewise, what would you say the breakout is from SoundExchange versus the other sources of income?
I would say SoundExchange is about 80% of what we collect. But we’re growing in the international space every year, and we’re hoping to increase that as time goes on. We had a very good year last year. Our financials are not showing yet for that, but we collected over $25 million internationally last year.
Are there other challenges your organization faces in paying out royalties?
When we reach out to people [eligible for payments], some don’t believe us because no one has ever gotten a secondary income stream from their recordings. Of course, we need to verify their identity and we ask for certain information. And these days, everybody’s concerned about their privacy, so they think it’s a scam sometimes. But the more we can get our message out, the more that creates awareness, so [that] people actually do sign up for us.
How do you reach musicians who might be due money?
We have a whole department called artist relations, and their only job is to either take incoming inquiries or to actively search for folks where we’ve seen their names on credits but need to find them. We use all types of resources, whether it’s the internet, social media or other publicly available information. We also try to get other participants who have been paid to let their friends know about our fund.
A big question for funds like yours is, how much of what you collect do you match with eligible recipients and pay out every year?
Our current percentage is about 82% payout, and we are reducing the unmatched number every year.
And your administrative costs are about 14% of your revenue.
We have an obligation to make sure we’re doing the right thing with other people’s money. It’s not my money, so I always look at the most efficient way to get the job done so that as much of what we collect as possible can go out the door to the performers.
What if the album credits don’t specify who played on what song?
When we get the money from SoundExchange, we do our research on a track-by-track basis and by individuals. It’s very difficult because, depending particularly on the age of the recording — or where it was done — sometimes there’s no information at all. That’s why we really encourage people to also look at the list on our website of all the recordings that we have money for. If they make a claim on a recording, then we always require proof that shows they are on the recording. That proof could be a union contract, liner notes or something printed somewhere on the internet. And we cross-check multiple sources to make sure that everything’s matching.
What if the featured artist says, “Yeah, he played on my track”?
We accept that, too. Or often there might be other side musicians on the track who vouch for the third, and we will accept that.
How many titles do you research and pay out on?
In April 2023, the fund distributed royalties on 50,000 titles. And we’re increasing that every day. But it’s very time-consuming to research non-featured artists, especially now when there is often no printed [credits] because there is no physical recording. But there’s a current drive to get more metadata to be included in a lot of [digital] tracks.
It’s the record labels that should make sure songwriters, publishers, side musicians and singers are listed.
Yes, and they’re not as driven to make sure that the non-featured artists are getting credit.
There have been some recent grievances with the fund, including a suit over $45 million in undistributed funds and another complaint about a data purchase and service fee paid to the unions. What has happened with those complaints?
The former was settled in November 2020, and the latter was resolved in March 2022. We welcome the resolution of these matters so we can focus our resources on what we do best, which is putting money into artists’ pockets.
Are there any other messages you would like to get out?
Just to let people know that they should take a look at our website and make sure that if they’ve done any non-featured work on songs, they should sign up and create an account so that we can find them and pay them. That’s the whole reason we exist — to pay performers. We want to make sure that we’re creating that awareness.
This story originally appeared in the July 15, 2023, issue of Billboard.
BRISBANE — Budjerah signs with United Talent Agency (UTA) for representation in the Americas, Billboard can exclusively reveal.
The fast-rising Australian singer and songwriter is repped by global touring agent Noah Simon, whose roster has included Post Malone, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jacob Collier, Masego and others.
Hailing from Fingal Head, New South Wales, Budjerah is one of the most promising young artists in his homeland. The 21-year-old singer and songwriter was the inaugural winner of the Michael Gudinski prize at the 2021 ARIA Awards, won his first APRA Music Award in 2022 for most performed R&B/soul work of the year for “Higher” with Matt Corby, and collected best new artist at the 2023 Rolling Stone Australia Awards.
The young man with the golden voice has several chances to add to his collection next month at the 2023 National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs); he’s in the hunt for artist of the year, song and film clip of the year, both for “Therapy,” which has chalked up more than 6 million streams.
[embedded content]
On the live front, Budjerah supported Ed Sheeran on the Brit’s 2023 stadium tour (and jumped on a remix of Sheeran’s “2step”), performed a sold-out headline show at the Sydney Opera House for Vivid LIVE, scored a slot on the For The Love festival run, and he’s booked for the traveling Spilt Milk fest in November and December.
The Coodjinburra artist’s career is guided by Lemon Tree Music, Regan Lethbridge and David Morgan’s Australia-based artist management company, whose stable includes Tones And I and Tash Sultana.
“I am thrilled to represent Budjerah and proudly welcome him to the UTA family,” comments Simon. “He is undoubtedly a singular talent with a timeless voice and in close collaboration with Lemon Tree, we’re excited to introduce his exceptional artistry to the Americas.”
To celebrate the UTA pact, Budjerah shares the new single “Video Game” (via Warner Music Australia), a “thank you to all my fans who’ve supported me at my shows over the last year,” he says in a statement.
Penned by Meg Mac, Matt Corby and Chris Collins, the stripped-back track explores the emotions behind growing up and finding himself, and can be streamed below.
[embedded content]
Shares of SM Entertainment gained 11.8% to KRW 117,900 ($92.88) this week, making the K-pop company the greatest gainer on the Billboard Global Music Index. The home of groups such as NCT 127 and Red Velvet, SM got good news this week after boy band EXO’s latest release, EXIST — The 7th Album, sold over 1 million copies in South Korea on its first day of release. In the United States, the group currently has four of the top five songs on Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart. Year to date, SM Entertainment shares are up 37.5%.
Led by SM Entertainment’s double-digit gain, 13 of the Billboard Global Music Index’s 21 stocks finished in positive territory this week. The index rose 1.7% to 1,355.35, its third-straight weekly increase and the sixth in the last seven weeks. Music stocks lagged behind many major indexes, however. In the United States, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite gained 2.4% and 3.3%, respectively. The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 improved 2.4%. And South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 4%.
Spotify continues its hot streak by gaining 9.6% to $172.03, bringing the stock’s year-to-date improvement to 117.9%. The streaming giant got a boost this week after analysts at Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo increased their price targets to $185 and $250, respectively. Wells Fargo analysts are enthusiastic about Spotify’s prospects to improve its margins following the company’s layoffs and reduction of podcast content costs. Long-awaited price increases in the United States could improve Spotify’s gross margin by three percentage points and add nearly $727 million of revenue in 2024, according to the analysts.
Another K-pop company experienced the index’s largest decline this week: Shares of HYBE, home to BTS and Tomorrow X Together, fell 10.3% to KRW 256,500 ($202.08). The company was in the South Korean media this week following complaints of sexual harassment by security guards at an &TEAM singing event in Seoul. In a statement, HYBE apologized to the fans and explained that attendees at such events are searched to prevent recordings from leaking to the public.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd.’s decline of 3.9% to 0.74 pounds per share was the index’s biggest decline of the week after HYBE. On Thursday (July 13), Hipgnosis reported a $12.9 million improvement in pro-forma annual revenue million in calendar year 2022, although both gross and net revenue declined due mainly to two large, non-recurring adjustments. Still, investors remain wary of the stock, which has declined 14.3% year to date. As Billboard reported this week, Hipgnosis is shopping some assets that could help bolster its share price if sold. Shareholders will get a chance to weigh in on the fund’s future at the annual meeting in September by voting to change fund managers, liquidate the fund or stay on course.
Marti Cuevas is the new president of the The Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame (LSHOF), Billboard can exclusively announce. Additionally, the organization said Mauricio Abaroa will serve as the chairman of the newly-established ‘Latin Angels’ La Musa Capital Funding Committee. The company’s former president, Delia Orjuela, will continue in her role of president emeritus. According to the LSHOF, the new additions and re-alignment “reflect the expansion of responsibilities commensurate with the continuing growth of the Latin Songwriters Hall Of Fame in membership, activities and stature.” The LSHOF’s main event each year is the La Musa Awards, which honors the world’s greatest Latin music creators and their memorable songs.
“[Marti and Mauricio] will help us continue to build and expand the world’s first organization that truly honors and celebrates the lives and music of Latin music’s greatest songwriters and composers,” added Rudy Pérez chairman and CEO of LSHOF — which he co-founded in 2012 with Desmond Child. –Griselda Flores
Rami Mohsen was appointed managing director of Sony Music Middle East, where he’ll drive the label’s overall strategy and operations across the fast-growing market. Mohsen arrives at Sony following a brief stint as Spotify’s head of music for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia — but for the bulk of the last 20 years he worked his way up to oversee operations at Cairo-based Nogoum FM, the first private radio station in Egypt and one of the largest in the Middle East. In a statement, Sony executive Shridhar Subramaniam said “Rami is well-positioned to take [SMME] to new heights,” and the company has good reason to be optimistic. A surge in recorded music revenues in the MENA market made it last year’s fastest growing region, rising by almost 24% and driven almost entirely — a 95.5% chunk — by streaming, reports the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
Primary Wave Music promoted veteran creative specialist Marty Silverstone to president of global sync. Based out of their new Beachwood Canyon office in Los Angeles, Silverstone will continue to oversee a crack synch licensing department responsible for placing a number of roster songs across TV (Stranger Things, Ted Lasso), film (Elvis and The Fabelmans) and this thing called the Super Bowl (nine commercials in the three years, the company says). Silverstone is 13 years into his PWM tenure — having joined senior creative director before stepping up to svp/head of sync in 2014. Prior to Primary Wave, Marty was head of creative licensing at independent publisher North Star Media. “[Marty’s] vision for how our catalog of music can be reimagined has no bounds,” commented founder and CEO Larry Mestel. “He and his team have brought new life to our iconic and classic songs helping to usher them into the modern era.”
Veteran artist manager Christian Stavros just revived Little Operation, the Los Angeles-based agency he originally founded in 2010, bringing with him an artist roster headlined by Angel Olsen, Devendra Banhart, Best Coast, Morgan Nagler and King Tuff. Stavros’ right hand is McKenzie Rice, who’ll handle day-to-day operations while also managing Little Op client Jack Van Cleaf. The two managers previously worked together at Other Operation, the creative house Stavros co-built and launched in 2021. You can reach Stavros and Rice at info@littleoperation.com.
Other Operation’s other co-founder, Heather Kolker, announced the formation of her management company this week as well. At Dreamshop Management, she’ll continue to represent Icelandic indie folk rockers Of Monsters and Men, queer indie-pop band MUNA, and the solo projects of OMaM singer-guitarist Nanna and MUNA member Naomi MacPherson. Joining Kolker as day-to-day manager at Dreamshop is Megan Manowitz, who previously worked in booking and tour management at Ground Control Touring and most recently project managed at Mondo Mondo, a luxe brand. Kolker can be reached at heather@dreamshopmgmt.com.
ICYMI: A flurry of senior executives and staff members have left posts at Hipgnosis Song Management in recent months … The board of directors at Gibson Brands confirmed Cesar Gueikian as president and CEO.
Sony Music Nashville named Fred Rubenstein as vp of digital marketing, to be responsible for overseeing the digital marketing team and leading the strategy, execution and implementation of social media and digital marketing campaigns across the Sony Nashville roster. Rubenstein will also focus on new partner/platform opportunities to advance digital discovery, enhance artists’ brands and drive consumption. Rubenstein was most recently senior. manager of creator acquisitions & development for Amazon’s live streaming service Twitch. Prior to his role at Twitch, Rubenstein was a member of digital marketing teams at Elektra Music Group and Roadrunner Records. –Jessica Nicholson
Kobalt Music appointed Teresa Romo as senior creative director for Latin America, responsible for overseeing the independent music services company’s expansion in Mexico. She’ll remain based in Los Angeles and report to Nestor Casonu, president of Latin America, who remarked the “market is in need of someone that not only has a deep understanding of the genre but also the vibrant and fascinating Mexican culture.” Prior to joining Kobalt, Romo served as Latin head of creative for BMI, where she signed and developed a songwriter roster including Edgar Barrera, Ana Barbara, Geovani Cabrera, Kuinvi, Alemán and Carla Morrison. Earlier in her career, Romo held senior publicity and communications roles at The Recording Academy, NBCUniversal, Universal Music Latin Entertainment and Warner Music.
UTA promoted Brandi Brammer to senior vice president of global music operations, an upgrade from her previous role as vp of people and business partnerships at the mega-agency. She’ll continue to be based out of Nashville. In her new role, Brammer will lead the day-to-day operational work of UTA Music, spanning human resources, legal and business affairs, finance, facilities and technology initiatives. Before joining UTA in 2021, Brammer served as vp of human resources at WME, leading HR for the agency’s music division.
Music and culture agency Premier Music Group promoted Winslow Bright and Aaron Mercer to co-president roles in charge of its music supervision and strategy teams across advertising, film, TV, and podcasts. They’ll both report to CEO Josh Deutsch and creative director Randall Poster. Bright joined PMG in 2020 from Search Party, the music supervision company acquired by Deutsch, and Mercer arrived in 2019 after Premier snatched up Wool & Tusk. Premiere also elevated longtime music supervisor — and former Search Party-er — Meghan Currier to executive producer. “Each of them brings a new perspective to the work we do,” commented Deutsch.
The Academy of Country Music announced a round of new hires and promotions. Kris Reyes has been hired as director, finance and operations; Kortney Toney has been hired as manager, programming & community engagement; Libby Gardner has been promoted to senior manager, content & editorial; Jesse Knutson has been promoted to senior manager, publicity & media relations; Haley Montgomery has been promoted to senior manager, awards & membership; Taylor Wolf has been promoted to senior manager, ACM Lifting Lives; and Alexis Bingham has been promoted to coordinator, events. Reyes has previous experience in operations accounting at TravelCenters of America. Toney previously worked at Opry Entertainment Group and Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Knutson is a multiple Emmy winner, having served as a TV reporter in Nashville, Seattle and Harrisburg, PA, and as a producer at Los Angeles’ KNBC. Montgomery joined the Academy in 2020 as manager of awards & membership after holding a variety of multi-discipline roles across the industry. –JN
Women in Music, a nonprofit founded in 1985 that works to empower and advance women in the music industry, recently welcomed new ambassadors and advisory board members. This year’s ambassadors include: rapper Rapsody, CD Baby executive Faryal Khan-Thompson, veteran booking agent Amy Davidman, Atlanta agency owner Dina Marto, and REBEL vp Adriana Arce. WIM 2023 advisory board is: Lauren Apolito, Nikisha Bailey, Erin Barra, Cindy Charles, Liz Cimarelli, Alex Flores, Maureen Ford, Ali Harnell, Ariel Hyatt, Lauren Iossa, Sari Kohen, Bea Koramblyum, Linda Lorence-Critelli, Molly Neuman, Mayna Nevarez, Jennifer Newman Sharpe, Jessica Sobhraj, and Monika Tashman.
Former TikTok creative licensing executive Rich Sica and commercial music industry veterans Jack Bradley and Aleena Bissett have teamed up to launch Juice, a new music company focused on “speed and the ear-worm ethos” to produce short-form social and other online content for brands and creators. Sica, Juice’s advising creative director, oversaw creative music licensing across North America and LATAM during his two-plus years at TikTok. Managing director Bradley and head of production Bissett arrive from commercial music shop HiFi Project, which they’ll continue to run.
Cade Price was promoted to general manager at Play It Again Entertainment, the label and management company founded by singer-songwriter Dallas Davidson. In his new role, Price will oversee daily operations of PIAE and its roster of artists, including rising singer Dylan Marlowe, whom Price manages. The Missouri native, who is now based in Nashville, joined Play It Again five years ago and has worn many hats across publishing, marketing and A&R. “Cade Price thinks outside of the box,” said Davidson. “I love that about him. Just look at what he did with Dylan Marlowe. He took his talent and the music Dylan was making and made sure that millions of people got to hear it.”
PR firm Shore Fire Media promoted Taylor Perry to senior account executive. The Brooklyn-based publicist joined Shore Fire in 2020 as a publicity assistant and since then was upped to account executive, leading campaigns for Samara Joy, Jewel, Rhino Records and other clients.
Blue Raincoat Artists has hired veteran artist manager Amy Frenchum, who brings along her clients Ezra Collective and Yazmin Lacey to the London-based agency. BRA is the artist management arm of Blue Raincoat Music, a Reservoir company, and has a roster including Arlo Parks, The Nova Twins, Skunk Anansie, The Mysterines, Cigarettes After Sex and Phoebe Bridgers.
Nashville Bites: Ruth Todd was appointed Bonneville executive vp/chief content officer. A former TV news anchor, she was most recently senior vp/chief reputation officer for beauty and wellness company Nu Skin. Bonneville’s country stations include KNCI Sacramento, Calif., and KYGO Denver… The Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. established a Music City Host Committee to assist in booking events and raise funds for the city’s newly approved stadium. Eric Church is the lone artist on the 16-member panel, chaired by former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. –Tom Roland