Business News
Page: 143
Ryman Hospitality Properties’ country-focused entertainment business, Opry Entertainment Group, saw its revenue grow 57.3% to $77.2 million in the third quarter, the company reported Monday (Oct. 31). Through the first nine months of 2022, the entertainment segment grew 86.2% to $183.6 million.
Excluding acquisitions and investments over the last three years, Opry Entertainment Group revenue and EBITDA were 19% and 21% higher than over the same period in 2019, said CEO Colin Reed. Among its properties are Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium and Wild Horse venues, as well as the media network Circle, a three-year-old joint venture with Gray Television.
“This is the same type of growth we saw pre-pandemic,” said Reed. However, the company lowered the top end of its guidance range for full-year entertainment adjusted EBITDAre (a real estate version of EBITDA) from $80 million to $76 million (the bottom end of the range remained at $72 million).
Opry Entertainment Group is benefitting from increasingly strong tourist interest in Nashville. Outgoing CEO Reed said Nashville International Airport had a record 1.83 million travelers in June, up 9% from the same month in 2019. Nashville also set a record for hotel demand in June of 875,000 room nights, 11% greater than in June 2019.
Ultimately, Ryman wants Opry Entertainment Group to “flourish as a standalone, separate entity,” said Reed. To that end, in the second quarter, Ryman sold 30% of Opry Entertainment Group to investment firm Atairos Group and media giant NBCUniversal for a combined $300 million in a deal that closed in the second quarter. The new investors have a right to request an initial public offering four years after the deal — in 2026 — or sell their stake back to Ryman for cash or shares, said president Mark Fioravanti, who will succeed Reed as CEO on Jan. 1, 2023. Prior to the seventh anniversary in 2029, Atairos Group and NBC Universal can sell their stake back to Ryman if there has not been a sale, spin-off or IPO.
Bringing aboard new investors should help Opry Entertainment Group’s efforts to capitalize on the popularity of country music and culture. Ole Red, a chain of multi-level bar/music venues the company created in partnership with country star Blake Shelton, opened its fourth location in Orlando in 2020 and a fifth location in May at Nashville International Airport. A sixth location in Las Vegas is scheduled for 2023.
The company branched out to another fast-growing city in the second quarter by closing its acquisition of Block 21, a mixed-use property in Austin, Texas that includes ACL Live at Moody Theater, home of the television show Austin City Limits Theater, as well as the W Austin Hotel and retail and office space.
Reed is optimistic that Nashville’s growth will benefit Opry Entertainment Group without hurting its core hospitality business. There are more than 50 new hotel developments in Nashville-Davidson County, Reed said, and the city projects over 2,600 additional rooms will be available in the next two years. These hotels aren’t competitors to Ryman’s Opryland Resort and Convention Center on the outskirts of town, he noted, and they will bring additional customers to Ryman’s entertainment properties in the city.
“Many of these new visitors will end up seeing a show at the Ryman, touring the Opry House or spending an evening at Ole Red or the Wild Horse,” another downtown Nashville venue in its portfolio, said Reed. “When they leave Nashville and return home, or they go to Austin or Las Vegas for their musical pilgrimage, we’ll be there, continuing to engage with them whether through our investments in expanding the Ole Red footprint or deepening our virtual reach across linear television, digital streaming or online.”
Primary Wave Music has partnered with Huey Lewis and the News to purchase ownership of all Lewis and the band members’ shares of their musical composition copyrights, including writers’ shares of income. With a $20 million price tag, according to a source close to the deal, this encompasses their full discography from the group’s self-titled debut album up to 1994’s Four Chords & Several Years Ago.
This time period, spanning about 25 years, was the band’s most fruitful run, including hits like “Hip to Be Square,” “The Power of Love,” “If This Is It,” “Workin’ for a Living” and “The Heart of Rock and Roll.” The band’s landmark third album, the 7x-platinum Sports, turns 40 next year.
With a catalog that helped define 1980s rock n’ roll, Huey Lewis and The News’ likely best-known single to date is “The Power of Love” which was written for the Back to the Future soundtrack. After peaking at No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart, it earned the band nominations for a Grammy, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.
Along with the transfer of ownership of the aforementioned catalog, Primary Wave will provide Huey Lewis and The News with marketing and publishing administration. This also includes digital strategy, licensing, synch opportunities and film & TV production.
The deal follows up the announcement that Primary Wave has received $1.7 billion from the Canadian investment company Brookfield Asset Management, Inc. to fund song catalog acquisitions as well as the announcements of over $300 million worth of other deals in 2022 so far, including the purchase of music and/or estate rights from members of Def Leppard, Alice in Chains, America, The Strokes, Prince, and more.
Outside of the discography included in the catalog agreement, Huey and the band continued on into the 21st century, releasing lesser known albums like Plan B (2001) and their Stax Records tribute, Soulsville (2010). By 2018, Lewis announced that he was losing his hearing due to a battle with Ménière’s, an inner ear disease, but he brought the crew together for their 2020 comeback record, Weather.
Primary Wave Music’s David Weitzman says of the deal, “In the 1980’s, everyone heard Huey Lewis and the News’s many smashes on radio and saw their iconic & fun videos which appeared on MTV in endless rotation. Their incredibly crafted songs still made me smile, remind me of that seemingly more innocent era, and make me want to sing along at the top of your lungs. Primary Wave look forward to working with Huey to create new opportunities for his storied song catalog into the future.”
John Luneau, senior counsel for Primary Wave, added “We’re honored to welcome the music of Huey Lewis and the News to Primary Wave. Our entire team is looking forward to working with them to generate new and exciting opportunities for their iconic catalog.”
In recognition of ADHD Awareness Month, Billboard has partnered with All Day Dreaming, a virtual coworking platform and community for talented ADHD artists and entertainment executives and its founder Hyla to host conversations with some of the creative ADHD brains in and around music.
Here, Hyla speaks with Damien Hooper Campbell, chief impact officer at StockX, the popular online marketplace for sneakers, apparel, electronics and more. After living decades with undiagnosed ADHD, Campbell has learned to manage his condition and has become a formidable business leader reshaping workplace misconceptions about ADHD in the process.
“The best way to establish an inclusive culture is to lead by example,” says Campbell. “As executive leaders, it’s important for us to be real human beings who do not always show up like everything’s perfect. It’s important that we are open to talking about it when it’s appropriate.”
Many people with ADHD are stuck in positions without the resources they need to succeed and many managers have no idea how to utilize their neurodivergent employees. More executives are needed to help set the tone at their companies and tell their story of how ADHD can be a major company asset if you know how to use it. Campbell breaks down his journey and shares the latest insights and techniques for employees, managers and executives on how best to navigate ADHD in the corporate world.
Below is a condensed and edited version of Hyla and Campbell’s conversation. Listen to the full interview on the All Day Dreaming podcast here.
Hyla: How old were you when you first realized you had ADHD?
Campbell: My elementary school years. I got expelled from two schools between kindergarten and first grade. The administrators would tell my mother, “He’s smart, he’s in advanced reading and mathematics classes but he’s got to stop walking out in the middle of class and getting into fights. We think Damien has ADHD.” In the ’80s, there was a negative stigma around any kind of learning disability so my mother, a strong, loving and protective single Black parent, was afraid and felt like, “Oh no, not my baby.” I had to learn to just push through.
At 26 things came to a head in my life. I was in investment banking working 70 to 90 hours a week and I couldn’t understand why I was watching other people zip through stuff. I knew I was smart and had the aptitude, but I was having a challenge. It became desperation.
I went to see Dr. Robert Johnson, dean of the medical school at Rutgers. He’s a Black man who focuses on young adults and adolescents. I didn’t go in talking about ADHD per se but in our first session he clearly picked up on it and asked, “Have you ever been tested for ADHD?”
I soon got tested and he said, “You’re off the charts for this,” and prescribed me Concerta.
How did it feel knowing you would have to take a pill everyday?
There was a bit of a stigma at first, like, do I want people to know that I take a pill every single day? But beyond my insecurity and near-term desire to hide it from the world was hopefulness because I knew that if the diagnosis was correct, and if the medication worked, that it was going to unlock a lot of things for me and make life better.
Also, I thought that this pill was going to solve everything. Like, I take this pill and it would be like the movie Limitless and I’d be good to go, but that’s not the case. You still have to put in your own effort, the pill is just an aid, essentially.
What are other tools and techniques you use to manage your ADHD? What makes you feel your most productive and focused?
At 44 years old, sleep is by far number one. Exercise is crazy important to me and diet goes right along with that. Meditation and prayer too. At one point, I was doing a good deal of chanting, it’s something that I want to get back into, I found that to be very, very centering.
You also need to think about the energy around you. It’s become cliche to say “protect your energy”, but man, it’s true. There are energizers and de-energizers; the older I get, the more intentional I am about the people around me. I’ve got a big heart and I love helping others, but I also need some people who are pouring into me. A big part of that is learning to say “no” and not always feel like I need to give a detailed reason why. Simply saying, “I’m sorry, I can’t but good luck with what you’re doing,” is really important.
When did you feel comfortable telling people at work you had ADHD? What prompted you to do it and how did you prepare?
In 2014, I was leaving the finance field in New York and moving to California to work at Google. I was literally trading suits and ties for hoodies. The tech space was so different – the offices had nap rooms, there were free Twizzlers in the cafeteria, people rocked purple hair, you could bring your dog to work, and all the cool things. Talk about sensory overload. I thought to myself, “let me pressure test this and see if they really want me.” I revealed it to the person who would become my manager in the interview process.
After a few rounds of interviews I said I want to be upfront that I have ADHD. I take medication for it every single day. Here’s some of the things it does and here’s what that means. I wanted my manager to understand how that lands on the team an how I work best.
I figured, if I’m going to do this – if I’m going to make this change – let’s go all the way and be completely transparent. That way I know you want me for who I am.
So in the interview process, you’re basically saying, “This is how I work and how I can be an asset to you”?
Sort of, but even to this day, I’m figuring out how I can be an asset with my ADHD. What I knew for sure, was that I was not going to be the most organized individual, and I wasn’t a project manager so I needed them to know that.
If it comes to engaging with other human beings, being creative, brainstorming and even strategy, I’m most certainly your guy. As for the operational execution, that’s something I’m gonna have to work a little bit harder at. While finding the right balance is something I’m still figuring out today, I’ve come to learn that more structure is actually good for me.
What do you say to someone who is afraid to tell their employer they have ADHD for fear it could hurt their standing at work?
First, I would validate them and say that’s a real feeling. It’s easy for me to tell you, “Oh, don’t worry about that. Forget it.” That’s a bunch of BS.
Second, I would ask that the person do a visualization. Close your eyes and think one year out. You’re in that job and you haven’t disclosed your ADHD. You haven’t discussed your needs and you’ve been wearing the mask that we all put on so many times as human beings, the mask that we think our employer wants to see. Think about the moment when the real you starts to rear its face in the form of ADHD. Now you’re having to compensate, and use your energy not towards the job but to cover your ADHD. Maybe you’re underperforming, maybe you’re having to overproduce and overcompensate. Now think about the burnout and anxiety that comes with that.
Third, I’d say you’ve done a bait and switch on your employer. You wouldn’t want them showing you a misleading glossy brochure. Oh, look at this wonderful, beautiful place to work, and everybody’s so happy and then you get there and find out that it’s toxic. You’d be pissed. So why do it to them?
Lastly, I’d say, it’s better to know now that you can be the real you rather than find out later that you can’t be yourself. And you’d have nobody else to blame except yourself. It’s one of those very personal and professional maturity stages that get you to feel confident enough to say “I need to disclose this now because it won’t be good for either one of us if I don’t.”
Would you recommend people bring up their ADHD in the interview process? What’s your advice on how to approach that?
A lot of that depends on where you are in your life, how comfortable you are saying it, and the severity of how you’re affected by it. I don’t have a one size fits all prescription for folks.
The first thing you should do is research the hell out of whatever organization you’re going to work for to see what their company culture is like. Do they have an ERG [Employee Resource Group] or a benefits team that actually focuses on things that one would classify as a disability? Are they the kind of company that actually welcomes people who have those disabilities with open arms?
If you’re junior in your career, and depending on your socioeconomic group, you might not have the luxury of getting passed up on a job that your family might be depending on you for. I can’t front and act like everybody has the luxury of feeling free to tell their employer. However, the more senior I’ve become, I’ve learned that having that conversation on the front-end has led to better resources. For example, getting an executive assistant was a game changer. You mean, there’s somebody who’s going to help me make sense of all the ideas in my mind that sometimes isn’t super productive? Beautiful!
In addition to an executive assistant, what are some resources, at all levels of the org chart, that are reasonable to ask for? Maybe things people wouldn’t think they could have access to.
Again, ask if there’s an ERG, or an affinity group at the organization that’s focused on inclusion. Companies these days often have employee resource groups for women, LGBTQ+, Black and Latinx communities, and more.
Additionally, ask about benefits. We often talk about benefits in the context of monetary compensation like bonus structures or equity, but ask what kind of insurance platform the company uses. Ask about access to therapy. Are they allowing you a certain number of sessions with a therapist? Is it unlimited? If not, how much will it cost me to keep going? Do they actually give you the ability to choose a therapist of color, specific gender or speciality? Does the insurance cover prescription drugs? Do they have a program where your medication can be delivered to you? I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve totally screwed myself because I waited for my prescription to run out. If I can’t get a session with my therapist right away then I’m stuck without my meds.
Third, if project management and organizational structure is a challenge for you, see what resources they have to help with that. We don’t all have to be experts at everything; maybe there are developmental opportunities you can tap into.
I’ve also heard from people in the All Day Dreaming community that you should think about where you sit. Are you more productive around others or better alone? At 8 a.m. or 8 p.m.? Is there flexibility for when you’re available? And asking for things like noise canceling headphones or paying for your Headspace app. It’s your boss’s job to put you in a position to win and these are easy things to help you do that. Also ADHD is covered under the Disabilities Act so there are legal protections employees have.
Totally. There’s some things that you can try to solve for in advance. And then there’s some things that you do once you start, which I call “contracting”. If you’re a manager, you should be contracting with your team about what works best for you and what works best for them around communication. A few examples:
If you receive an email on the weekend, are you expected to respond immediately?What’s the most efficient way for you to communicate? Email, Slack?What forms of communication are you uncomfortable with? Text, social DMs?
Even if you’re not the manager, it’s important to contract on those things and make sure your team knows what works best for you – obviously, within reason – and vice versa.
What’s your advice to a manager or executive who doesn’t know how to best utilize or manage a person with ADHD?
Be clear on your expectations of the outcome, but also give them the space to be creative in how they get there. You want to provide some structure by being really clear about what you expect and what the non-negotiables are. At the same time, you’re also giving them the space and freedom to be creative. People with ADHD often take a route many have never considered to get something done.
The other thing that’s really important is to have frequent check-ins on how it’s going. As roles and projects evolve, what you contracted on day one may need to change on day 90 or year two.
Finally, give ADHD people latitude for creativity. Celebrate them and leverage their spontaneity when team culture gets a little stale. They can be a great asset.
A large percentage of ADHD people work in creative industries. However, I hit a wall when it came to finding music executives at high levels willing to talk about their ADHD publically. This was especially true of the women I spoke to who know the power of their story but weren’t ready to tell it.
You’re one of the few C-suite execs of any industry who is very publicly open about it. What’s your advice for someone at your level who wants to share their story?
I think there’s two layers of going public about it. Start with your team. I talk to my teammates about it, I’m okay with it, and I’m very proud of it. I explain to them how seeing a therapist, getting a diagnosis, and taking medication has changed my life. Then normalize it at the company level.
One of the first times I brought it up in a company-wide all-hands meeting, I was traveling around the world to the company’s different global locations. I misplaced my luggage and was without my medication for four days. I got up on stage in front of 300 employees and I said, “Look, I’m here with you but if you see me rambling a little bit, just know, it’s because I have ADHD.” And told them the story of losing my bags and meds. After that session I had an employee come up to me and say they really appreciated that I shared my story because they had never seen a leader do that publicly. They told me that they also have ADHD and take the same meds.
I’m fortunate at StockX because we have an amazing benefits program that offers therapy and more. We have a CEO who understands the importance – he sits on the board of nonprofits that focus on mental health – so it’s really part of the company culture. While we continue to create new initiatives around inclusion, I’m of the mind that the best way to establish an inclusive culture is to lead by example. As executive leaders, it’s important for us to be real human beings who do not always show up like everything’s perfect. It’s important that we are open to talking about it when it’s appropriate.
Hyla is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, interviewer and the founder of All Day Dreaming, a community for talented ADHD creatives and entertainment executives struggling with focus, productivity and burnout. All Day Dreaming hosts daily virtual co-working sessions, weekly Q&As with experts, a newsletter and a podcast. For more information and memberships go to AllDayDreaming.org.
Billionaire Elon Musk is already floating major changes for Twitter — and faces major hurdles as he begins his first week as owner of the social-media platform.
Twitter’s new owner fired the company’s board of directors and made himself the board’s sole member, according to a company filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He’s also testing the waters on asking users to pay for verification. A venture capitalist working with Musk tweeted a poll asking how much users would be willing to pay for the blue check mark that Twitter has historically used to verify higher-profile accounts so other users know it’s really them.
Musk, whose account is verified, replied, “Interesting.”
Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists, as an elite status symbol.
But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.
“The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” Musk tweeted Sunday in response to a user who asked for help getting verified.
On Friday, meanwhile, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. The news raised concerns among some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.
Murphy tweeted that he is requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to investigate the national security implications of the kingdom’s investment in Twitter
“We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy tweeted. “There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review.”
Having taken ownership of the social media service, Musk has invited a group of tech-world friends and investors to help guide the San Francisco-based company’s transformation, which is likely to include a shakeup of its staff. Musk last week fired CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives. There’s been uncertainty about if and when he could begin larger-scale layoffs.
Those who have revealed they are helping Musk include Sriram Krishnan, a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which pledged back in the spring to chip in to Musk’s plan to buy the company and take it private.
Krishnan, who is also a former Twitter product executive, said in a tweet that it is “a hugely important company and can have great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen.”
Jason Calacanis, the venture capitalist who tweeted the poll about whether users would pay for verification, said over the weekend he is “hanging out at Twitter a bit and simply trying to be as helpful as possible during the transition.”
Calacanis said the team already “has a very comprehensive plan to reduce the number of (and visibility of) bots, spammers, & bad actors on the platform.” And in the Twitter poll, he asked if users would pay between $5 and $15 monthly to “be verified & get a blue check mark” on Twitter. Twitter is currently free for most users because it depends on advertising for its revenue.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April but it wasn’t until Thursday evening that he finally closed the deal, after his attempts to back out of it led to a protracted legal fight with the company. Musk’s lawyers are now asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the case, according to a court filing made public Monday. The two sides were supposed to go to trial in November if they didn’t close the deal by the end of last week.
Musk has made a number of pronouncements since early this year about how to fix Twitter, and it remains unclear which proposals he will prioritize.
He has promised to cut back some of Twitter’s content restrictions to promote free speech, but said Friday that no major decisions on content or reinstating of banned accounts will be made until a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints is put in place. He later qualified that remark, tweeting “anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.”
The head of a cryptocurrency exchange that invested $500 million in Musk’s Twitter takeover said he had a number of reasons for supporting the deal, including the possibility Musk would transition Twitter into a company supporting cryptocurrency and the concept known as Web3, which many cryptocurrency enthusiasts envision as the next generation of the internet.
“We want to make sure that crypto has a seat at the table when it comes to free speech,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told CNBC on Monday. “And there are more tactical things, like we want to help bring Twitter into Web3 when they’re ready.”
He said cryptocurrency could be useful for solving some of Musk’s immediate challenges, such as the plan to charge a premium membership fee for more users.
“That can be done very easily, globally, by using cryptocurrency as a means of payment,” he said.
From deconstructing Rosalía’s success to announcing a novel partnership between See Tickets and Spain’s powerful media conglomerate Grupo Prisa, networking, technology and live events were at the forefront of the tenth annual edition of BIME, the international music industry gathering that took place in Bilbao, Spain, Oct.26-29.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Created by entertainment company Last Tour, best known for its live events, BIME remains focused on bridging the Latin American and European markets, with a focus on live events.
This year’s anniversary event highlighted a recovered, post-COVID scene, with some 2,500 in-person attendees for both the “Pro” side of the event (made up of panels, speed dating and networking) and over 60 live shows through out Bilbao. Here are some stand out moments:
1. Rebeca León on her gut instinct and Rosalía’s au natural posts: “The pendulum has swung to the less pretentious,” said super manager León when asked about Rosalía’s frequent clean-faced, home-made posts. “It’s more about hand-held videos as opposed to showing things like a private plane.” And while León’s instinct may have served her well when she signed a still-unknown Rosalía several years ago, León admits she sometimes has to quiet her gut to take stock of opportunity. “Even when my intuition says run, run, run, I stop and listen. It’s important to consider all offers.”
2. De La Ghetto gets pragmatic: The Puerto Rican reggaetonero with multi-genre sensibility displayed sophisticated business savvy and was generous in his advice to up and coming artists. He is involved “in every single aspect of my business,” he said bluntly. In his early days, he recounted, he was relentless in giving away his music–CDs were still around—so fans would get to know him. Now, he uses social media relentlessly for the same objective. “Believe in yourself,” he said. “No one thought someone who looks like me, and who sang with an R&B sensibility would do well.” More important, he stressed, never sign anything that your lawyer doesn’t look at. “I have my lawyer, my manager has his lawyer,” he said. “Having a lawyer is the best investment.”
3. Ady Harley and Nerea Igualador on digital marketing strategies: Harley, Meta’s head of music label partnerships for Latam and U.S. Latin, and Igualador, VP of digital business for Sony Music Entertainment, provided a roadmap for effective social media marketing and promotion. “Today, you can create a marketing plan on social media that leads to consumption,” said Harley.
It starts with generation an audience, says Igualador, and that requires three steps: “Discovery; I need my audience to discover me. It’s one of the biggest challenges. There are 60,000 songs released per day, and you have to define their place and audience.” The second step, she says, is taking that audience to consume the music. “All our actions have consumption as a final objective.” And finally, there’s engagement. “Once my audience discovers me, how do I keep them engaged.”
4. James Cruz gets emotional: In a conversation with BBC London’s Beatriz de La Pava, the rap and hip-hop producer lamented the loss of community in rap music. “I come from hip-hop where we really tried to help each other,” he said. “I don’t see a unified front anymore.” Cruz also recalled growing up Latin at a time when being Latin was far from appreciated. “When I see the growth of Latin music, I get tears in my eyes. It’s incredible. We had to take the jobs no one wanted to do […] We had to create our on status and our own algorithm.”
5. See Tickets and Grupo Prisa Announce partnership: The global ticketing platform, which operates in 10 countries, and the Spanish media conglomerate announce an exclusive alliance. Not only will See Tickets sell Prisa’s many festivals and concerts, it will also receive promotion and placement on Prisa’s multiple media platforms, including leading Spanish daily El País, leading radio network 40 Principales and its social media.
6. Billboard announces the launch of Billboard Español: Billboard officially launched Billboardespañol Sept. 15. A little after the one month mark, visits to the all-Spanish site are growing 24% week by week. The site was officially presented to the Spanish industry during BIME.
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online.
Apple Music may have opened the floodgates on Monday when it announced that it will raise prices on its Apple Music subscription service, as well as its Apple TV+ streaming video on-demand service and its Apple One bundle of services (which includes Apple Music).
Apple wasn’t the first music streaming company to broadly raise prices. Deezer started raising prices in France in January. In May, Amazon hiked prices for Prime members for Amazon Music Unlimited from $7.99 to $8.99 (or $79 to $89 if paid annually) and for the single-device plan (for Amazon’s Echo and Fire TV devices) from $3.99 to $4.99 per month. And Spotify started testing the waters in 2021 by modestly raising prices on some plans in select markets – 46 price increases in total, according to company executives. In the U.S., the family plan price increased from $14.99 to $15.99.
But Apple’s decision to ask subscribers for more money signals a tide change and will likely embolden competitors to follow suit. Speaking during Spotify’s earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Daniel Ek strongly signaled the company would follow Apple’s lead. A price increase in the U.S. “is one of the things we would like to do,” Ek told investors, and Spotify could raise prices in 2023 after it has conversations “in light of these recent developments with our label partners.”
Prices for music subscription services have remained stubbornly low for the past decade — to the chagrin of rights holders and creators who want higher royalties from streaming platforms. Spotify launched in the U.S. in 2011 at $9.99 per month. Apple Music launched in 2015 with a standard $9.99 individual plan and a $14.99 family plan, the first of its kind to offer up to six subscriptions per account for $14.99. Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music and the now-defunct Google Play Music followed with equivalent offerings in the following months. Family plans resulted in a lower average revenue per user but helped reduce churn, Spotify has said repeatedly, and has increased the average subscriber’s lifetime value. Those gains obviated the need to raise prices and allowed Spotify and others to focus on growth instead.
Apple and Amazon certainly had incentive to raise music subscription prices. Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited offer high-fidelity audio as a standard feature even though licensing deals with record labels for premium audio are more costly for streaming services, according to industry sources. Unless Apple and Amazon raise prices to offset the lower margins, they must eat the higher costs associated with offering better audio quality. Spotify, on the other hand, does not yet offer high-fidelity audio. Plans for just such a product, called HiFi, have not materialized after announcing the project would come out in 2021. Recently, the company has been surveying customers regarding a more expensive package that would include HiFi, as well as other products.
But now Apple has effectively given its competitors cover to raise their prices, too — whether they offer high-fidelity audio or not. Deezer already planned to raise prices in the U.S. and Germany this month and in Brazil in December. Still, its competitors’ decisions to raise prices “makes us more competitive,” Deezer CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said during Friday’s earnings call, and “opens the door for further prices increases down the line.”
Spotify certainly appears confident it can charge more. Thus far, its price increases had results “as good as we would have hoped for,” said Ek said during the earnings call. “We believe we have significant pricing power and we’re offering an amazing consumer value proposition.” Other metrics seem to have convinced Spotify the time is right to raise prices: engagement continues to increase, and Spotify has “the lowest churn of any competitor,” according to Ek. Put another way, Spotify thinks it can raise prices without fear that a significant number of people will walk away.
While accepting the Spirit of Life award at the City of Hope’s star-studded 2022 gala alongside his longtime business partner and even longer-time brother Monte on Thursday evening, Avery Lipman couldn’t let the moment pass without nodding to the siblings’ breakthrough act.
“After a few close calls with Chapter 11, our first big break came…with a band called the Bloodhound Gang,” said the Republic Records co-founder, eliciting a clap from what sounded like a single person in the crowd. “Yeah, I usually get that reaction,” he cracked. “Liked by few, hated by most, but what can I say.”
It was a cheeky moment that preceded a moving declaration from Monte, who co-founded Republic with his younger brother from their kitchen table in 1995. After listing all the roles he’s known for filling — music executive, husband and father — he continued, “But what you don’t know about me, [is] I’m also a cancer survivor.”
“What started out as a routine trip to the doctor eight years ago escalated into a full-blown medical emergency that changed my life forever,” Monte recounted. “For those of you in this category, you understand the crippling fear and anxiety you experience during those dark moments. I’ve always been sympathetic and responsive to cancer-fighting initiatives, but until you go through the fire yourself, you don’t really understand the gravitas of the emotional distress which becomes all-consuming. You can’t eat, you can’t sleep and you can barely breathe.”
While the gala, held on the grounds of the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, was an opportunity for music luminaries to mix and mingle, the evening kept a heavy focus on the City of Hope’s life-saving work as a world-class cancer care facility. In addition to soliciting and receiving donations of up to $100,000 — including from the Lipmans themselves — the event featured live testimonials from a number of City of Hope patients who recounted their experiences and successful cancer treatments at the world-renowned facility.
Also offering a testimonial on Thursday evening was Republic signee Billy Porter, who played emcee for the evening, exuberantly making his way through the crowd of well-heeled attendees to solicit personal anecdotes about the Lipmans from longtime colleagues including Michele Anthony, Wendy Goldstein and Jody Gerson. In addition to cancer research and treatment, Porter noted that City of Hope is also devoted to two diseases he has personally been diagnosed with: diabetes and HIV. “Unfortunately these diseases are something that touch us all, but together I know we can make a difference,” he said from the stage.
Of course, every City of Hope gala is ultimately a celebration, and entertainment for the evening was provided by Republic artists including Porter — who performed the single “Audacity” from his forthcoming album — as well as Jack Johnson and new signee Sekou, who performed a stunning rendition of late Republic Records star Amy Winehouse‘s “Back to Black.” Capping the evening was a surprise performance by the Jonas Brothers, who performed two songs: their 2021 Marshmello collaboration “Leave Before You Love Me” and 2019 Hot 100 No. 1 single “Sucker.”
Jonas Brothers perform onstage during the MFEI Spirit of Life Honoring Monte and Avery Lipman on October 27, 2022 in Los Angeles.
Lester Cohen/GI for City of Hope
While Republic’s biggest star, Taylor Swift — currently enjoying massive sales for her latest album Midnights — was not in attendance, she did take part in a pre-taped sketch that saw her pit the Lipman brothers against one another in a Succession-style skit. “I think Monte’s holding you back,” Swift tells Avery over the phone as someone off-camera pours champagne into her glass. “He’s like sort of a house cat and you’re more of a snow leopard type, you know what I mean?”
The night did boast several Republic stars IRL, including John Legend, The Weeknd and recent signee Yung Gravy, who told Billboard that part of the reason he signed with Republic was because the Lipmans “don’t feel like a boss…they feel like friends.”
Speaking of bosses, the evening featured a head-spinning lineup of top music executives. In addition to the Lipmans’ Republic Records and UMG colleagues — also including UMG CFO and executive vp Boyd Muir, Capitol Music Group chair and CEO Michelle Jubelirer, Republic Records CCO Dave Rocco and UMPG president Evan Lamberg, who made the evening’s opening remarks — other bigwigs in attendance included Sony Music Publishing CEO Jon Platt, former Recording Academy chairman and CEO Neil Portnow, iHeartMedia entertainment president John Sykes LaPolt Law founder Dina LaPolt, CAA Music head Rob Light and Epic Records CEO and 2019 Spirit of Life honoree Sylvia Rhone.
Shawnae Corbett-Rice was promoted to senior vp of marketing at Warner Records. Based in Los Angeles, she will continue to oversee marketing campaigns focused on artist development. She reports to executive vp of marketing & artist development Dionnee Harper.
Jon Zellner was named president of programming operations and digital music for iHeartRadio, effective immediately. Zellner was previously president of programming operations. In the new role, Zellner will manage the programming, content and strategy for iHeartRadio’s digital channels and playlists while continuing to oversee iHeartMedia’s programming operations. In addition to running programming and strategy for the iHeartMedia custom and format center stations, he will continue to lead the company’s commercial production center, national imaging center, audio distribution center, on-air partner and client integration and the technical and broadcast operations teams.
Artist Partner Group (APG) promoted Brett Copell to senior vp of legal & business affairs and Alexis Warner to marketing director. The company also hired Sebastien Christie as senior director of A&R administration and Jesse Wylde as senior director of artist & business development. Copell will continue to act as lead attorney for both APG and its publishing arm, Artist Publishing Group. He will oversee legal and administration departments at both companies and focus on new business opportunities for APG at large, while Warner will continue spearheading marketing campaigns for APG artists. Christie, who previously operated his own music consultancy company, will focus on prepping releases by clearing samples, producer agreements and more. Wylde, who joins from Web3 startup Rally.io, will help develop the careers of APG artists and songwriters, focusing on promo, touring and business strategy/partnerships.
The Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC), launched in April 2022 as a reimagining of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, appointed Fugees co-founder and solo artist Wyclef Jean as chair of the music advisory board for the organization. Jean will advise executive leadership and help engage the artist community to drum up support around the festival.
Big Loud Records hired Nate Yetton as vp of A&R, effective immediately. Yetoon will spearhead the discovery and signing of talent in alternative genres including Americana, indie, folk, acoustic, singer/songwriter/roots, alt-country and more in collaboration with existing Big Loud Records and Big Loud Publishing A&R teams. He can be reached at nate@bigloud.com.
BBR Music Group hired Allan Geiger as director of content creation and Taylor Scheese as manager of partnerships. The company also promoted Kennedy Nickerson to senior coordinator of A&R. Geiger, who joins from his creative agency Artistnoize, will handle the creation of creative assets and graphic design for the label group’s artist roster while reporting to vp of creative & imaging Jen Morgan. Scheese, who joins from Thinkswell, will work on driving brand partnership deals for BMG’s recorded label and publishing roster, with a focus on BBR Music Group’s artist roster, while reporting to director of brand partnerships Daron Moore. Nickerson, who has moved from BMG’s publishing arm where she served as income tracking coordinator, will report to vp of A&R Katie Kerkhover. Geiger can be reached at allan@bbrmusicgroup.com, Scheese can be reached at taylor.scheese@bmg.com and Nickerson can be reached at kennedy.nickerson@bmg.com.
Chris Taillie was promoted to vp at Shore Fire Media; he was previously publicity director. The New York-based Taillie’s music clients include Angélique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Esperanza Spalding, Floating Points, Jacob Collier and Rhiannon Giddens. Taillie can be reached at ctaillie@shorefire.com.
The Chamber Group promoted Shannon Atran to associate director of public relations and hired Edwin Tetteh as public relations manager. The New York-based Atran will serve as the company’s independent public relations executive, responsible for developing, executing and overseeing PR campaigns for clients including Big Sean, T.I., Lil Wayne, Pusha T and more. Tetteh will collaborate with internal and external partners in developing and implementing PR strategies on behalf of his client roster, which includes Jon Batiste and Mariah Carey. He joins from the Lede Company. Atran can be reached at shannon@thechambergroup.com and Tetteh can be reached at Edwin@thechambergroup.com.
Elijah B Torn was named head of creative production at Found Objects, the original music and sound collective founded by film and TV composers Jay Wadley and Trevor Gureckis. Torn, who was previously global creative director at MassiveMusic New York, will oversee the creative and production team.
Bored Ape #9797, better known as “Jimbo,” has signed to Create Music Group for distribution and to Milo Stokes, who helped discover Trippie Redd and Tekashi 6ix9ine, for management. As a first order of business, Create will help release the NFT artist’s latest single and music video “Plastic,” out Friday (Oct. 28), which features the likeness of more than 25 Bored Apes throughout.
“Plastic” was produced by Dream Addix and written by Jimbo and Suie, a trap and hip-hop artist who is a collaborator of Lil Skies. Suie will collaborate on the creation of all forthcoming records with Jimbo, helping bring the Bored Ape to life. Its accompanying music video is directed by Themis “Reit” Chrysafidis, a young creative director and co-founder of 1UP Nova which partners with some of the most popular NFT and digital characters around the world.
When asked why he opted to choose Create as a partner for Jimbo, Stokes explained, “Create is known for being an innovative company in the music industry, and we thought it would be perfect to make a web3 initiative with Create to roll out Jimbo.”
Jimbo is one of many Bored Apes from the popular NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), to enter the music business. As Billboard reported last year, Timbaland launched his indie entertainment company, Ape-In Productions (AIP), which uses Bored Ape characters (like its first signee, TheZoo), to perform music. Additionally, UMG’s 10:22 PM label launched KINGSHIP, a virtual group of Bored Ape characters, around the same time.
In addition to the virtual artists that have been formed from this project, BAYC has another tie-in the music biz with Guy Oseary, best known for managing Madonna and U2, who represents the BAYC project.
A key feature of buying a Bored Ape is that the NFT offers monetization or commercial usage rights of the cartoon’s likeness to purchasers. This means it is within a Bored Ape owner’s rights to use an Ape’s likeness to sell music or merchandise as a virtual artist. Although Apes seem to be the most popular collection to develop into virtual artists, Grimes, for example, has also launched an “A.I. girl group” called NPC in recent years.
This trend is in keeping with older animated acts such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Archies, or The Gorillaz, as well as virtual idols like Miquela — a virtual singer and influencer with millions of followers. Her song “Hate Me” peaked at No. 47 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2018.
Warner Music Group (WMG) is collaborating with NFT marketplace OpenSea to enable select WMG artists to build and extend their fan communities in Web3. Under the partnership, WMG artists will be offered early access to OpenSea’s new drops product along with improved discoverability, personalized storytelling on customized landing pages and OpenSea’s safety and security features. They will also receive dedicated support and best practices from the OpenSea team while enjoying their own dedicated drop pages to host limited-edition projects. The first collection will be a collaboration between Warner Records UK and Web3 company Probably Nothing, which recently launched Probably a Label, a Web3 record label in partnership with Warner Records.
Audius, a decentralized music community and discovery platform for developers, artists and fans, acquired virtual music experience platform SoundStage.fm. Based in Barcelona, SoundStage.fm offers interactive experiences for fans — enabling engagement through dancing and live-reaction based functions — while providing new branding and monetization opportunities for artists. The platform has featured artists including Firebeatz, Kill Paris and ill.Gates.
Independent digital music licensing partners Merlin signed a new partnership with China-based short-form video platform Kuaishou. Under the agreement, Merlin members’ music will be available across Kuaishou products including Kwai and SnackVideo. Kuaishou boasts over 1 billion monthly active users across the globe, according to a press release.
Exceed Talent Capital, a platform that enables people to purchase SEC-compliant shares of talent, partnered with Lil Durk to offer an IPO for his upcoming OTF collaboration release of the song “Bedtime” with his artist Doodie Lo, allowing fans to participate in revenues of royalties from the song. To celebrate the partnership, Lil Durk and Exceed will release the “Trenches All-Access Pass” NFT, enabling exclusive access to the private Grand Theft Auto roleplay server built by Lil Durk and his OTF Gaming company. The Exceed presale will grant immediate lifetime access, limited edition in-game wearables and offer holders first dibs on shares from the music IPO.
Sony Music Entertainment Middle East and Kuwait-based creative studio, music and video production company Ghmza partnered to produce music and promote emerging Khaleeji pop artists across the Middle East. Actor and Arabic pop singer Bader Al Shuaibi and Kuwaiti singer, songwriter and TV personality Bashar al-Shatti will be the first two artists to work with Sony under the new partnership.
FaZe Holdings, parent company of gaming and youth culture platform FaZe Clan, will develop original content, private fan events, exclusive merchandise and more in partnership with Xfinity. Under the deal, Xfinity will become the official internet and mobile provider for FaZe Clan. The two companies will also host The Gig, a series of private music and gaming-crossover events for college students, featuring hip-hop artist and longtime FaZe Clan family member Offset. Fans in attendance will have the opportunity to meet FaZe Clan members, learn about exclusive Xfinity offers for students and more. The first show will take place Nov. 3 at Boston’s MGM Ballroom, followed by a second at the Tabernacle in Atlanta on Nov. 10. The two companies will additionally produce an original series, Rig Raiders Brought to you by Xfinity, featuring FaZe Clan members and special guests delivering game set-ups for underserved creators and communities. Xfinity branding will also be integrated into FaZe Clan’s ongoing programming across all channels and content.
Community-driven, open-source artificial intelligence company Stability AI announced $101 million in funding. The round was led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC. The company will use the funding to accelerate the development of open AI models for image, language, audio, video, 3D and more, for consumer and enterprise use cases worldwide. Stability AI is the company behind Stable Diffusion, a free and open-source text-to-image generator that launched in August. Stability AI’s consumer-facing product DreamStudio boasts over 1 million registered users across more than 50 countries, according to a press release.
Sony Music struck a joint venture with Josh and Sam Fluxgold under the banner Oneway Records to sign and develop artists in Israel. The JV will focus on artists with international appeal. (Variety)
Dim Mak En Fuego — the Latin imprint of Steve Aoki‘s record label Dim Mak — has signed Ecuadorian-Colombian producer and DJ 2DEEP. The co-owner of reggaeton-electronic event Reggaetonlandia, 2DEEP most recently co-produced Natanael Cano and Aoki’s “Nataaoki,” which dropped earlier this year. He’s slated to release his freshman EP next year, his first project under Dim Mak En Fuego. 2DEEP is the first producer/DJ to join the label’s roster, which includes artists such as Andrezka and AquihayAquihay. – Griselda Flores
Melle Brown and ESSEL are among the first signees to Parachute, Virgin Music UK‘s new distribution and artist services arm for dance and electronic artists with crossover appeal. The imprint is inspired by the late ’70s sounds of Casablanca’s Parachute Records. The first unofficial single from Parachute was Brown’s “Feel About You” feat. Annie Mac. It was followed by ESSEL’s “Don’t Walk Away.”
Volumetric capture and immersive content company YOOM, formerly known as Tetavi, raised $15 million from investors including Jimmy Iovine, Finneas O’Connell, SpringHill Company CEO Maverick Carter, Darkroom CEO Justin Lubliner and Main Street Advisors founder, chairman and CEO Paul Wachter. All have signed on as strategic partners, joining the company’s largest existing investors and shareholders including Insight Partners, Marc Rowan and Aaron Stone.
Musician and Web3 artist Daniel Allan signed with CAA for representation. According to the agency, Allan’s NFT music projects have generated over $700,000 and more than 20 million streams worldwide. Like his sophomore EP Overstimulated, his latest EP Glass House was released with the use of NFTs on Sept. 30.
Session and Songwriters of North America (SONA) partnered to make Session’s app, Session Studio, available to all SONA members. Session Stuio allows SONA members to capture song and recording data at the point of creation and deliver it downstream to managers, labels, publishers, CMOs and digital service providers. Members will also have access to Session Studio’s collaboration tools. Exclusive resources will be rolled out to SONA members as part of the collaboration.
American Idol runner-up HunterGirl signed with 19 Recordings/BMG. The singer-songwriter released her debut track on the label, “Hometown Out of Me,” on Friday (Oct. 21).
Oak View Group (OVG) signed an exclusive multi-year arena naming rights agreement with Baltimore-based CFG Bank. Under the deal, OVG’s forthcoming arena in the city will be renamed CFG Bank Arena. The venue is projected to open in February 2023. The agreement includes prominent exterior and interior signage, exclusive benefits to CFG Bank clients, cardholders and employees and the launch of a new community engagement program. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The Hives signed with Matt Greer at ATC Management. Greer will co-manage the Swedish five-piece rock band alongside Brian Message and Courtyard Management’s Chris Hufford. The band was previously managed by Cyndy Villano at Do Good Work Management.
Production music company KPM Music launched a Web3 community that will offer music creators the opportunity to purchase digital collectibles entitled KPM Music Genesis Collection, including music from KPM’s “Greensleeves” series. The collectibles will be available exclusively on TuneGO, a Web3 platform operating on the Flow blockchain.
Indie singer VÉRITÉ partnered with Troy Carter and Suzy Ryoo‘s Venice Music. Venice offers tools, services and support on part with major labels while allowing artists to retain ownership and creative autonomy over their work.
J-Pop star Ado signed with Geffen Records. Ado — the voice actor behind the lead character in One Piece Film Red, the 15th film in the blockbuster Japanese franchise — provided vocals for seven songs featured in the film and on its official soundtrack.
Vietnamese/Chinese-American artist Spence Lee, formerly known as Shotta Spence, signed with 88rising in partnership with Mike WiLL Made-It/Ear Drummers Records. He will release his latest single, “On God,” on Friday (Oct. 28).
Turkish rapper and DJ Lil Key signed with Atlantic Records Germany, marking the first time the label has signed an artist from outside Germany.
CD Baby signed an agreement with fan engagement platform Laylo to offer CD Baby users an exclusive discount on Laylo’s Pro tier. Laylo allows artists to notify their fans about new music releases, content, merch and event announcements via text, email and Facebook Messenger.
Nettwerk Records signed Massachusetts-based lo-fi artist and music producer Towerz and Mississippi-based rapper/singer/producer Laeland.