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Billboard’s peer-voted R&B/Hip Hop Power Players’ Choice Award is back for 2024 — and we’re asking music industry members from all sectors to honor the executive they believe had the most impact across R&B and hip-hop in the past year. Voting is open to all Billboard Pro members, both existing and new, with one vote […]
When deadmau5 got the masters of four of his biggest albums back from Ultra Records last June, his team had a plan to capitalize on the newly acquired intellectual property.
The first move was the release of a remix of the 2009 deadmau5 and Kaskade classic “I Remember” by current house phenom John Summit. After that dropped last July, the entire deadmau5 catalog saw a 45% streaming bump, the producer’s team reports. Additional remixes from these albums followed, wiht each LP subsequently seeing a 48% to 82% streaming increase. Vinyl reissues of the albums sold 25,000 units.
“All for albums that are over ten years old,” says deadmau5’s longtime manager Dean Wilson.
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With The Circuit Group — the company launched last year by Wilson and his wife/business partner Jessica Wilson along with Brett Fischer, David Gray and Harvey Tadman — the mission is to create this type of increasingly valuable IP for electronic artists at all levels, and in so doing help them create and maintain independence.
Upon launching last October, the company – which brought together members of management companies Seven20 and Ayita — outlined plans to acquire 50% ownership in artists’ IP portfolios and partner with them to build opportunities across verticals while also offering traditional artist management.
Now, The Circuit Group — which has offices in L.A., the United Kingdom and Miami — is expanding as it works to fulfill that mission, announcing seven key hires on Wednesday (June 12). They include James Sutcliffe, who joins as chief strategy officer, bringing years of leadership experience at companies including Ministry of Sound and LIVENow; and Simon Birkumshaw was hired as director of operations of label services, having formerly served in A&R roles at companies including LabelWorx and Defected Records.
Elsewhere, Ian Massoth, who helped launch projects including Chris Lake’s Black Book Records and Fisher’s Catch & Release label and event concept, joins as director of A&R of label services. Shivani Phull is the company’s new CFO advisor, Bianca Price joins as social media manager, Nick Sung is the new director of marketing and Charlie Tadman was hired as director of A&R. Together, the group of new hires have served in roles at companies including PIXELYNX, Spotify, various Insomniac Events properties and a variety of high-profile artist projects.
The company’s artist roster currently features more than 40 acts, including original clients like Chris Lake and Fisher, whose collaborative project, Under Construction, drew 12,000 people to a party on Hollywood Boulevard last October. (Dean Wilson says such events “are all done independently” under The Circuit Group umbrella in conjunction with various partners.)
Recently signed clients include longstanding electronic singer/producer Anabel Englund, ascending electronic act Clonee, and producer and vocalist Aluna, who will work with The Circuit Group to grow the events side of her Noir Fever label. While artists work with the company in varying capacities across publishing, management and development, Jessica Wilson says the focus is “all driven to the IP at the end of the day.”
“It’s finding and building opportunities outside the core business of making a record then putting a pair of headphones on and some USB sticks in and playing to fans,” adds Dean Wilson. “What we’re trying to show with The Circuit Group is that we can help artists grow their business better than anybody else, from the label, to publishing, merchandise business, tech ventures, touring IP and so on.”
The Wilsons say it’s especially crucial for artists to identify such business opportunities given how low, and volatile, streaming rates are.
“Even if they’re in a current deal or not, all of these artists want to get involved in building their own indie brand,” says Jessica Wilson. “They don’t want to be a so-and-so label artist. They want to be synonymous with their own label, and we’ve put the right people in the right places to help artists build their own brands, make their own output and do it as they want to do it.”
Below, Dean and Jessica Wilson talk to Billboard about expanding the company, creating independence for artists and electronic music’s growing value in the marketplace.
So an emerging artist signs with the company, then what happens?
Dean: It’s building a plan. In dance, you can be making records at home, then all the sudden one of them starts to get traction and suddenly they’ve got an agent and shows and are making real money.
We’ve all been there in this company, and we all made the decisions that, at that point, we were told to make, which was that you signed to a record label, got an agent and signed publishing. Those label and publishing deals paid you some money, so you’re selling your rights at that point. No one’s thinking 10 or 15 years down the road. They’re thinking, “I’m broke right now, so I need to do these deals.” And the manager, who’s also often a friend of the artist, is broke too, so he or she is happy to do the deals.
That’s not bad. We’ve all done those deals. What we want to impart is our knowledge of, “You don’t need to do those without the right infrastructure and the right team. You can do all of that and hang on and control your rights.”
How?
Dean: The first step is sitting down and planning with each artist what they want to do and showing them how we did things for [a variety] of artists. Each artist has a different brand and a slightly different mindset and might not want to do something a certain way. It’s about how far down the road you can look and work your way back from. That’s hard to do without a team infrastructure and people who’ve been there before who can help and advise, because otherwise you’re going to continue doing those short-term things that you have to do to pay the bills.
Jessica: We’re geared up and ready to go. We have a distribution deal we’ve put in place. We’ve got a beautiful backend for rights that is going to make it easy for every label to plug into and automatically get everything uploaded… The excitement for us right now is that we’ve hired all of these key people to actually make it work. You’ve got deadmau5 bringing in great talent, you’ve got Chris [Lake] bringing in great talent. You’ve got people attracted to Fisher and Cloonee. All these people want to come and work with us, and we’re giving them a direct output line to go and do this themselves instead of helping to rely on a major.
How fundamental has deadmau5’s career as an independent artist been as a model for what you’re doing with The Circuit Group?
Dean: We’ve learned from the stuff that hasn’t worked more so than the stuff that did. He was the first electronic act to ever do a 360 deal when he was with EMI/Virgin. It was a complete and utter f—ing disaster. I put this beautiful business plan together and showed it to them, and within the first couple of months I’d gone, “Oh my god. They don’t get it.”
I remember talking to the chairwoman at the time and saying, “If we own the business together and we owned an ice cream shop and were 50/50 partners, and I had six people working full time and you had no one working full time, do you think that would be an equal partnership that would work?” She said no, and I said, “Well that’s how you’re behaving. You’ve done a deal for all the rights, but all you talk about is when the next record is coming.” It was that dawn of that moment of “Okay, we’ve got to work out how to do this independently.”
In terms of intellectual property, are there opportunities that are unique to electronic music?
Dean: In electronic music we’re really lucky because we do remixes and stem packs and remix competitions. And you can move quickly because it’s not like pop or country where there’s 20 writers on a record. And [The Circuit Group] can do all of these things because we’re in control of it all.
So you can jumpstart pre-existing material with strategic moments like John Summit’s “I Remember” remix?
Dean: It’s exactly that. That’s the opportunity in dance. We’re still a baby genre when it comes to real business. Yes, dance has been around since the early ‘90s, but it wasn’t a real business. It’s really only been 10 or 15 years that it’s been a multibillion-dollar business.
So now you have all this material that’s now 15 or 20 years old. Look at how many “Sandstorm” remixes you’ve heard. It’s still as big now as it was when it first came out, maybe even bigger. Those classic dance records just keep getting remade and resampled, and they live on forever and actually keep making more money. So, you’re creating more value and more IP on top of the original. The material has two value streams that we in the dance world can really only do at the speed that we do it, because of the way it’s made.
How do you see The Circuit Group continuing to grow?
Dean: It’s important to make it clear that we’re not trying to grow a massive management company, we’re trying to grow a business that is IP-centric and that supplies all the services as a flywheel around it. We don’t want 100 acts. We’re not trying to build Red Light. We want to get it right with the people we’re invested in and who we can see growing into the next Chris Lake or the next Fisher.
Jessica: Or the next Aluna. And to reiterate what Dean said, scaling management is not an easy task and not something we want to do in that regard. We are laser-focused on IP and on building those brands.
Natalia Lafourcade has signed with UTA for worldwide representation in all areas, Billboard can exclusively announce. The signing follows the Mexican artist’s latest Grammy win for De Todas Las Flores, which won best Latin rock or alternative album. The critically-acclaimed set also collected three awards at the Latin Grammys last year, including best singer-songwriter album. […]
U.K. music licensing company PPL signed singer-songwriter Kenya Grace for the collection of her international neighboring rights royalties. The company, which has also signed the likes of Ice Spice and Lewis Capaldi as of late, licenses the use of recorded music in the United Kingdom and collects neighboring rights royalties worldwide through more than 110 agreements with collective management organizations (CMOs) internationally.
Country singer-songwriter Carter Faith (“Late Bloomer,” “Strong Stuff”) signed with Universal Music Group Nashville, marking her first major label deal. She’s working on new music expected for release later this year. Faith is booked by Meredith Jones and Bennett Beckner at CAA and managed by Range Media Partners.
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L.A.-based band LA LOM signed to Verve Records, which will release the group’s debut album, The Los Angeles League of Musicians, on Aug. 9. The group is booked by Ethan Berlin and Karl Morse at Arrival Artists and managed by Alex Kadvan and Rick Goetz at Red Light.
Singer-songwriter Liam St. John signed with Big Loud Rock, which will release his upcoming EP, Believer, on June 28. St. John is managed by Aidan Crowley at Legacy Content.
Ashley Ryan signed with ONErpm Nashville. California native Ryan moved to Nashville in 2018 and has honed her skills performing at local venues including Whiskey Jam and The Listening Room. She also caught the attention of country artist Keith Urban, who invited Ryan to perform his hit song, “Without You,” at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena during his 2022 world tour. Ryan’s new single, “Them Cowboys,” was released on May 31. – Jessica Nicholson
London/Madrid-based singer-songwriter pablopablo (a.k.a Pablo Drexler) signed with Mom+Pop Music. The two-time Latin Grammy winner, who won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2022 ceremony for “Tocarte,” will release his debut album on the label. His new single, “Mi Culpa,” dropped on May 30.
Omaha, Neb., band Cursive signed to Run for Cover Records, which will release the group’s next album, Devourer, on Sept. 13. Cursive is booked by Eric Dimenstein at Ground Control Touring in the United States and Steve Zapp at International Talent Booking in Europe.
Vocalist, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Croixx signed to Elektra Records, which released his new single, “Higher,” on May 31.
Alternative pop-rock artist Liam Benzvi (formerly of Strange Names) signed to Fat Possum. He will release his upcoming album, …And His Splash Band, via the label on Sept. 27.
The 55-member board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for 2024-25 will consist of 53% women and 27% members of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. That’s the same percentage of women as were on the 2023-24 board and a represents a two-point gain, from 25%, for members of an underrepresented racial or ethnic group. The Academy announced its new board on Monday (June 10). The governors will take office at the first scheduled board meeting of the new term.
Lesley Barber was re-elected to the board, representing the music branch. Barber is best known for her score for Kenneth Lonergan’s Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea. Her other credits include Late Night, Mansfield Park, Irreplaceable You, How to Change the World and You Can Count on Me.
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Barber will join returning governors Charles Fox and Richard Gibbs in representing the music branch.
Fox has scored more than 100 films. He has received two Oscar nominations for best original song, won a Grammy for song of the year for co-writing “Killing Me Softly With His Song” and won two Primetime Emmys for his music for Love, American Style. Fox was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004.
Gibbs’ film and TV scores include Say Anything, Dr. Dolittle, The Simpsons, Queen of the Damned, 10 Things I Hate About You and Battlestar Galactica. He has served as musical director for Chaka Khan, Tracey Ullman and The Muppets, and produced Eisley and Korn.
Incumbent governors reelected to the board (and their branches), besides Barber, are Rita Wilson (actors), Kim Taylor-Coleman (casting directors), Paul Cameron (cinematographers), Eduardo Castro (costume designers), Jean Tsien (documentary), Pam Abdy (executives), Terilyn A. Shropshire (film editors), Laura C. Kim (marketing and public relations), Brooke Breton (visual effects) and Howard A. Rodman (writers).
Elected to the board for the first time are Patricia Cardoso (directors), Jennifer Fox (producers), K.K. Barrett (production design), Chris Tashima (short films) and Andy Nelson (sound).
Returning to the board after a hiatus is Lois Burwell (makeup artists and hairstylists).
Returning governors (besides Fox and Gibbs) are Wendy Aylsworth (production and technology), Dion Beebe (cinematographers), Howard Berger (makeup artists and hairstylists), Jason Blum (producers), Rob Bredow (visual effects), Ruth E. Carter (costume designers), Megan Colligan (marketing and public relations), Paul Debevec (visual effects), Peter Devlin (sound), David I. Dinerstein (marketing), Ava DuVernay (directors), Linda Flowers (makeup artists and hairstylists), DeVon Franklin (governor-at-large), Rodrigo García (governor-at-large), Donna Gigliotti (executives), Jinko Gotoh (short films & feature animation), Chris Hegedus (documentary), Richard Hicks (casting directors), Lynette Howell Taylor (producers), Kalina Ivanov (production design), Simon Kilmurry (documentary), Ellen Kuras (cinematographers), Marlee Matlin (actors), Hannah Minghella (executives), Daniel Orlandi (costume designers), Missy Parker (production design), Lou Diamond Phillips (actors), Jason Reitman (directors), Nancy Richardson (film editors), Stephen Rivkin (film editors), Eric Roth (writers), Dana Stevens (writers), Mark P. Stoeckinger (sound), Marlon West (short films & feature animation), Janet Yang (governor-at-large) and Debra Zane (casting directors).
The production and technology branch and animation branch did not hold elections this year.
The Academy has 19 branches, each represented by three governors, except for the recently established animation branch, which is represented by two governors; the recently established short films branch, which is represented by one governor; and the production and technology branch, which is represented by one governor. Governors, including the board-appointed governors-at-large, may serve up to two three-year terms (consecutive or non-consecutive), followed by a two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for up to two additional three-year terms for a lifetime maximum of 12 years.
Representing all branches of the Academy, the 55-person board of governors is responsible for the governance, corporate oversight and strategic direction of the Academy. Governors have a fiduciary responsibility to the Academy and preserve the institution’s financial health while ensuring fulfillment of the Academy’s mission.
The board approves annual goals and the annual budget presented by the CEO, and it approves policies concerning governance, membership and awards. Governors generally attend 7 to 10 board meetings annually and serve on a board committee. Governors also serve on their branch’s executive committee and are expected to attend Academy events throughout the year.
To see a list of current 2023-24 Academy governors, click here.
For decades, the production power of a concert tour was measured in the number of trucks it took to haul its gear across the country.
But bigger isn’t always better, especially in a theater environment where the space across the proscenium arch has to support loudspeakers that maximize coverage without distracting from the look and feel of the show. For The Outsiders musical at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway in New York City, that has meant experimenting with the new, lighter, more compact L-Series line source loudspeakers from L’Acoustics.
The speaker deployment is a first for Broadway and part of Sound Designer Cody Spencer’s use of L’Acoustics L-ISA immersive audio technology for The Outsiders. The new show is nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Sound Design of a Musical.
Announced last year at L’Acoustics’ keynote event at the Hollywood Bowl, the L-Series speakers are being deployed at a number of new activations in the touring world, including their recent installation at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The L-Series speakers use up to 60% less material to construct, compared to speakers with similar sound power and coverage, and 30% less space. Unlike traditional line array configurations that must be hung at a J-shaped angle, the L-Series can be installed in a fixed configuration, requiring less physical space to deploy while allowing crew to make sound adjustments without mechanical ones.
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The loudspeakers are the latest of the line array speaker system first developed by L’Acoustics founder Christian Heil 40 years ago. Thanks to Heil’s work on Wavefront Sculpture Technology (WST) theory, line array technology has improved sound reinforcement for live performances and become the standard for sound coverage and clarity at large venues and festival spaces, allowing fans in the back to hear vocals and higher frequencies without the sound being distorted.
The new L Series speaker, starting with the L2, a 10-inch progressive ultra line source long-throw speaker “is the ultimate accomplishment of 30 years of technology improvements on the line array,” L’Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié said in a statement.
Laurent Vaissié
Hal Horowitz Photography
“When Christian started thinking about this back in the late 80s and early 90s, the idea was to create a fully coherent speaker configuration that was able to get uniform coverage from front to back,” Vaissié said. “With the L series, we’re able to eliminate more of the material and the physical boundaries between the different parts of the speaker and line array to make it even more compact.”
“We did this,” Vaissié explained, “by physically removing the articulation between the parts of the line array and creating the L2’s very specific shape.”
That shape was the result of analyzing “thousands of different shows where we looked at the audience configuration,” Vaissié continued. “We realized if we start with that shape already, we’re almost there in terms of coverage. We realized could eliminate the articulation of the line array and fine tune the coverage with electronics and software. And that’s the reason why I say it’s the ultimate evolution because 10 years ago, we could not have done the L2 because the electronics and the software were not yet at the level it needed to be. But today we finally got to the point where the mechanical design, software and electronics are converging so that we can have an optimized design for the L2, eliminate all the physical material that we didn’t need, make it smaller, and then adjust with software and electronics to get perfect coverage in the vertical domain.”
Spencer said the L2 speakers helped The Outsiders solve an issue created by the production’s use of a rain curtain, which pushed the show’s front-of-house speakers downstage.
The Outsiders
Cody Spencer
“I plugged them into our Soundvision model,” Spencer said in a press release, adding that he found that the L-series speaker “gave us three more rows of coverage in front of the orchestra over traditional line array loudspeakers.”
The L-Series speakers are currently on tour with Italian hip-hop duo Coez & Frah Quintale and will be used on Sarah McLachlan’s 2024 tour.
“We are sold out of L2 right now through the first quarter of next year. We could have more, but we’re trying to balance between the needs for the rental companies and the needs for the installation project,” says Vaissié. “The market has been responding very well and the demand is much higher than we anticipated.”
In 1995, Peter Shapiro purchased the New York club Wetlands. “That was the home of the jam band, Grateful Dead scene in New York,” he recalls. At the time, though, “it wasn’t cool to be a Deadhead. And Wetlands wasn’t necessarily the cool play.”
But styles that were frowned upon by one generation are often taken up by the next. While many artists — and the mainstream music business — ignored jam bands for years, this has started to change. Intrigued by the scene’s genre-hopping open-mindedness and the unwavering devotion of its followers at a time when “superfan” is the industry buzzword of choice, the rest of the music business has started to take an interest in a space it long kept at arm’s length.
“If you’re a pop artist, and you see a bunch of bearded weirdo hippies able to do whatever they want on their own terms, that’s an appealing path to think about,” says Mike Luba, longtime manager of the String Cheese Incident.
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At festivals, “you’re seeing jam bands pop up on lineups that are traditionally more indie rock or haven’t really touched the jam thing in the past,” explains Dave DiCianni, who co-manages Goose along with other jam bands like Eggy and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. “It’s cool to see it permeating into general pop culture,” he adds.
The Big Bang for jam bands, according to Shapiro, was the death of the Dead’s Jerry Garcia in 1995. “Everyone saw the Dead; they were the number one touring band in the 1990s,” Shapiro continues. “Garcia dies, and that audience of live music, improvisation-loving people splinters. That creates the jam band scene. Phish lifts up” — the band first cracked Pollstar‘s highest grossing U.S. tours list at the end of 1994 — “along with String Cheese Incident, Disco Biscuits, Medeski Martin and Wood,” and more.
Over the years, groups associated with the scene “will pop in and out of mainstream pop culture,” Luba says, pointing to Rusted Root and the Spin Doctors. But many of the acts in this space were overlooked, if not dismissed outright, by the mainstream music industry, in part because they didn’t generate chart hits or millions of streams, even as they moved lots of tickets. Nick Stern, whose management client Karina Rykman is “jam adjacent,” contends that the jam scene is “the most looked down-upon genre in the music business.”
For some artists, that gives it an inherent underdog appeal: “I’m interested in things that are unfashionable,” Vampire Weekend lead singer Ezra Koenig told The New York Times Magazine in 2020. He also noted that he finds Phish “more inspiring, forward-thinking, exciting and talented than a lot of what was higher up in the cool hierarchy;” Vampire Weekend recently hopped on stage with Goose, the new arena-filling stars of the jam scene.
Jam acts may also be benefitting from the catholic tastes fostered in the streaming era — as DiCianni puts it, listeners’ interests are now “less compartmentalized.” And artists and managers in the jam band scene posit that its emphasis on being present, in the moment, with a like-minded community for an ever-changing live experience offers an increasingly potent antidote to the distracted, frenetic, nichified, social media-driven world.
But there’s another reason why the mainstream music industry is increasingly interested in jam acts. “People outside the jam band space are coming to me almost in awe of the fandom in this scene,” says Ben Baruch, Goose’s other co-manager.
In interviews over the last six months, many of the most powerful executives in music have talked up the importance of cultivating “superfans.” Despite music’s popularity, it is poorly monetized compared to spaces like gaming. This is partially because the music streaming model currently offers artists few ways to foster meaningful connections with followers. Jam bands have been doing this for decades — perhaps because they didn’t get much support from the traditional industry, and have never depended on record sales or streaming.
Jam band devotees are impressively diligent about attending shows, buying merchandise, and streaming live performances, which change nightly. “They almost treat their favorite bands like a sports team, where they’re following along with what happens in every moment in every show,” says Ethan Berlin, who is co-agent for Goose, Pigeons and Rykman, among others. “They’re so invested — for years.”
And these fans have long had “ears that are a mile wide,” according to Rykman. At a time when the walls between the jam world and the rest of the music industry appear more porous, jam enthusiasts have flexed their muscles to help propel some artists from adjacent worlds to greater heights.
Take Billy Strings: The versatile guitarist and songwriter, now signed to Warner’s Reprise Records, has picked up Grammy nominations for Best American Roots Performance and Best Country Duo/Group Performance; he won the award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2021. At the same time, Strings has played with Bill Kreutzmann (a founding member of the Dead), String Cheese Incident and Goose, among others. He saw “there’s another whole world where traditional bluegrass can actually cross over and be accepted,” Luba says. Strings’ current tour includes multiple arenas.
Berlin is also the agent for Khruangbin, a trio whose dreamy instrumental grooves now attract 10,000 to 25,000 tickets per market; Berlin describes them as “not quite jam, maybe not even jam-adjacent, but definitely jam-friendly.” Notably, “they were embraced by that scene early in their career, ” he continues. “One of the first looks they had outside of Houston, where they’re from, was when they were invited to play Lockn’ Festival [one of the leading jam gatherings] in 2016.”
For Rykman, whose 2023 debut album featured guitar from Phish co-founder Trey Anastasio, this is one of “the beautiful things about the jam space.” “Myself, Khruangbin, Vulfpeck, we’re not jam bands with capital J’s — none of us play two sets, we still play three-minute songs,” she continues. “But jam band fans were early” to signal appreciation.
Similarly minded artists — what Rykman calls “singular groovy organisms” — might also want to court this community — music-loving superfans hiding in plain sight who can help them build the sort of formidable live business that ensures a long career. Another one of Baruch’s management clients is the Disco Biscuits; in the past 18 months, he says “they’re growing more than they have in 20 years.”
“What musician wouldn’t want that level of diehard fan?” Berlin asks.
Spotify’s stock price rose 3.9% this week after the company’s announcement of a U.S. price increase on Monday (June 3) sent the stock on a roller-coaster ride. Shares rose to a new 52-week high of $331.08 on Wednesday — its highest point since Feb. 25, 2021 — before closing at $308.11 on Friday (June 7).
After raising subscription prices in the United States and many other major markets in July 2023, Spotify further hiked rates in the United Kingdom and Australia in May. The additional U.S. price increase, which goes into effect in July, will raise individual rates to $11.99 per month and family plans to $19.99 per month. The higher prices will help Spotify cover the costs of bundling music with limited free streaming of audiobooks. The streamer is giving its customers plenty of options, though. A music-only tier has been introduced in the United Kingdom that costs 10.99 pounds ($13.99) per month, compared to 11.99 pounds ($15.26) per month for the music-and-audiobook option. Two-person Duo plans and student plans also offer discounts to the standard individual plan.
The Billboard Global Music Index rose 0.1% to 1,801.44 as Spotify’s gain helped overshadow losses by 13 of the index’s 20 companies. Other of the index’s largest companies posted modest declines this week: Warner Music Group fell 0.9% to $29.51, Universal Music Group fell 1.2% to 28.23 euros ($30.53) and Live Nation dropped 3.4% to $90.56. The index is 2.5% below its high of 1,847.64, set the week ended May 3, 2024.
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iHeartMedia, the index’s greatest gainer for the second consecutive week, rose 35% to $1.25 a week after gaining 6.4%. In just two weeks, iHeartMedia’s year-to-date loss has improved from 67.4% to 53.2% without any major news releases or regulatory filings. At the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday (June 5), shareholders reelected CEO Bob Pittman and CFO/COO Rich Bressler to the board of directors and approved an advisory vote on the company’s 2023 executive compensation.
SM Entertainment dropped 8.5% to 83,500 won ($60.51) amidst controversy over an alleged sex scandal involving Johnny and Haechan of the group NCT, which SM Entertainment has denied. Such a large drop isn’t uncommon when a K-pop company’s artists are plastered across the South Korean news. In October, K-pop stocks dropped on news that SM Entertainment artist Exo was leaving for a different agency. In April, HYBE shares fell sharply after news broke that Min Hee-jin, CEO of HYBE imprint ADOR, had attempted to take over management of the subsidiary label.
Elsewhere, CTS Eventim rose 4.3% to 82.80 euros ($89.56). On Thursday (June 6), the German concert promoter and ticketing company finalized a $327 million acquisition of Vivendi’s festival and ticketing businesses. Last year, See Tickets sold 44 million tickets and had revenue of 105 million euros ($114 million). The deal does not include See Tickets France.
SiriusXM shares fell 9.5% to $2.56 this week, bringing its year-to-date loss to 53.2%. The satellite radio company, which also owns streaming platform Pandora, is betting on the success of the new streaming app it launched in December and its $9.99-per-month price. The in-car satellite product, which includes streaming access, costs “about $19” per month, CEO Jennifer Witz said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference Conference on May 21. The company is attempting to maintain those satellite customers while attracting new streaming customers and reducing its reliance on promotional discounts. “I do think we’ll have opportunities to both capture more demand but also maintain that full price base at those higher price points and implement rate increases over time,” said Witz.
Some U.S. stock indexes reached all-time highs this week. The S&P 500 hit a record 5,375.08 Friday, although it closed at 5,346.99, down 0.1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite reached a new high of 17,235.73 on Thursday and ended Friday at 17,133.12, up 2.4% from the prior week. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 0.4% to 8,245.37. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 3.3% to 2,722.67. China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.2% to 3,051.28.
The Canadian government has made a major announcement about the implementation of the Online Streaming Act, with implications for artists and music companies at home and abroad.
The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission) has revealed that foreign streaming services with significant revenues will have to make base contributions to Canadian content. Streaming companies with no affiliation to Canadian broadcasters and over $25 million in annual contributions revenues will have to pay 5% of those revenues into specified funds.
Those contributions will be used to boost Canadian content in the music, news and film industries, generating an estimated $200 million in increased funding altogether.
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The decision comes after a consultation process that included public hearings last fall, as well as over 360 written submissions.
The government specified that these contributions will go towards “areas of immediate need,” prioritizing already existing funds in order to expedite the delivery process. Those funds include FACTOR and Musicaction, which industry groups like CIMA and the Canadian Live Music Association say are in need of increased funding.
The Beaches Awarded Group of the Year at Billboard Canada Women in Music Launch Announcement
Billboard Canada and iHeartRadio teamed up to present a big award to a major Canadian group this week.
The Beaches received the first-ever Billboard Canada Women in Music Award for Group of the Year on Wednesday (June 5), honoring the Toronto quartet’s breakout year. The band was on hand for the announcement of Billboard Canada‘s Women in Music celebration event, which is officially set for September 7, 2024.
The band was presented with the award by Billboard Canada CEO Amanda Dorenberg and CCO Elizabeth Crisante. At the event, more Canadian artists (including a few legends of the industry) will be recognized and honored for their artistry and blazing trails as women in the industry.
Receiving the award as part of a livestream performance on iHeartRadio’s YouTube, The Beaches played a stripped-back set of three songs from their hit 2023 album, Blame My Ex. The acoustic set saw drummer Eliza Enman McDaniel with just a shaker, leaving space for Jordan Miller’s powerful lead vocal and light harmonies by guitarists Leandra Earl and Kylie Miller.
After the performance, iHeartRadio’s Shannon Burns did a Q&A with the group, joking about playing pool with them and asking them audience-submitted questions. The band talked about their experiences as women in the music industry, providing some advice for up-and-coming female artists.
“Make sure you do it with your friends,” McDaniel said. The group spoke about how isolating it can be to be a woman in a still-male-dominated — though gradually changing — industry. It’s important to be surrounded by women you trust, they emphasized, whether in your band or on your team.
Watch the full performance and announcement here.
Lowell Wins the First Billboard Canada Non-Performing Songwriter Award
Lowell has won the first Billboard Canada Non-Performing Songwriter Award (presented by SOCAN), which honors a Canadian songwriter making a big impact behind the scenes.
The win was announced at Billboard Canada‘s Power Players event on Sunday (June 2) at the CN Tower. The award was presented to Lowell (Elizabeth Lowell Boland) by SOCAN CEO Jennifer Brown and vp of creative and member relations Cameron Kennedy.
“Songwriters have it really tough,” Lowell said while accepting the award. “We make no money, and then we very silently make other people really famous and then just cry about it at night because no one loves us,” she joked.
“So it’s really nice that you guys are giving me a little pat on the back — I’m going to take this on behalf of all of my amazing songwriter friends that have not gotten that pat on the back, yet.”
Lowell, who has also released music under the same name, was one of five finalists for the inaugural edition of the award — the first in Canada recognizing songwriters’ work for other artists. Other shortlisted writers included Tobias Jesso Jr., Jeremy Fedryk, Ali Willa Milner and Aaron Paris — an extremely strong initial shortlist featuring a crop of writers responsible for songs that garnered Grammy nominations, top chart placements and millions of streams.
Lowell has had a major year, including co-writing credits on “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “Bodyguard,” two of the biggest hits on one the year’s biggest albums, Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter. The award considered songs from 2023 before Cowboy Carter was released, but beyond Beyoncé, Lowell has shown a unique ability to help artists break through to a new level.
Lowell additionally co-wrote and co-produced Blame My Ex, the breakthrough album from Toronto band The Beaches, including the Lowell-penned hit “Blame Brett,” which held No. 1 at alternative radio for 17 weeks and is rising at U.S. and Canadian Top 40. She’s also a close collaborator of Lu Kala, the Congolese-Canadian artist who made her Hot 100 debut this past year, co-writing Kala’s emotional ballad “Nothing But Love.”
In her acceptance speech, Lowell highlighted the importance of supporting Canadian talent.
“Some people think I live in L.A. but I don’t, I live in Toronto,” she said, addressing the room full of powerful and influential members of the Canadian music industry. “I like to find talent here, I like to see who L.A. is not looking for and what the world needs, and that’s a lot of people that are here either in this room or working with people in this room. […] My goal is to largely not ignore the real talent which is in this f—ing city,” she continued to a round of cheers.
It’s time for another Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. We also have a weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry figures we’ve lost throughout the year.
ByteDance has hired former Warner Bros. Pictures legal honcho John Rogovin as the Chinese company’s new global general counsel, effective immediately. He reports directly to Liang Rubo, CEO of ByteDance. The role includes oversight of TikTok, which has a lot going on right now. Rogovin’s arrival comes as TikTok and ByteDance engage in a monumental battle with the United States government following the passage of legislation requiring the parent company to sell the app or face a national ban. In early May, the company filed a federal lawsuit aimed at overturning the law, calling it an “unconstitutional” action aimed at “silencing” more than 170 million Americans who use TikTok. TikTok chief Shou Chew rightly said Rogovin’s arrival comes at an “important time” for the company. Rogovin, who clocked time at both the FCC and the DOJ earlier in his career before a 14-year run at WB, added that he looks forward to “helping to ensure that our platforms continue to provide a critical forum for more than two billion users worldwide to entertain, teach, and connect with one another.” Rogovin succeeds departing general counsel Erich Andersen, who has shifted to special counsel.
Trending on Billboard
Federica Tremolada
Spotify
Federica Tremolada was promoted to general manager of Europe for Spotify, effective immediately. Tremolada, who spent the last five years as managing director of Southern and Eastern Europe, fills the shoes of Michael Krause, who earlier this week announced his departure after a seven-year run as GM. Both execs made their own announcements on Linkedin, with Krause calling it a “perfect time to pass the baton” and spend time with family before seeking “new adventures later this year.” Tremolada, meanwhile, called working at Spotify “one of my biggest dreams come true” and listed opening Casa Spotify in Milan, where she is based, and growing the podcast business in the region as some of her tenure highlights. Prior to joining Spotify, Tremolada spent more than a decade at Google, where she rose to head of international partnerships for the YouTube TV squad.
Austin Jenkins was named vp of A&R at Island Records. Based in Nashville, Jenkins started at Island in 2023 and played a pivotal role in the signing and development of artists including Wyatt Flores and Medium Build at the label. He will continue leading Island’s Nashville operations. Jenkins was formerly the founder, guitarist and songwriter for Texas band White Denim. He later founded Fort Worth, Texas, recording studio Niles City Sound with Josh Block and Chris Vivion, where Jenkins and Block co-produced, recorded and mixed Leon Bridges‘ full-length debut album, Coming Home. Jenkins performed guitar and bass on the album and also toured with Bridges as part of his band.
Adam Salomon was named senior director of A&R at Concord Music Publishing. Salomon joins Concord from London-based music management company Chosen Music, where he led A&R efforts. He reports to Concord Music Publishing executive vp of worldwide A&R Kim Frankiewicz. Originally from Sweden, Salomon has held A&R and management roles across independent and major labels in the country, including Universal Music Sweden, where he led the Svenska Inspelningar label.
Producer, songwriter and rapper Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins launched a new record label, Alienz Alive, which Jerkins described in a statement as “a collaborative community of creatives that are Christ-centered where artist development is key. We encourage our artists to use their gifts to uplift and inspire. Sonically speaking the influences are Hip Hop, R&B, and Indie Rock. As long as it glorifies God and it’s dope, all are welcome.” At launch, the Alienz Alive roster includes Jon Keith, GAWVI, IMRSQD Alex Jean and TJ Carroll. Jerkins will be involved in the label’s day-to-day operations.
Madison House is building a bigger booking agency with the hiring of industry veteran Thomas Ponsart as booking agent and Ruby Williams and Madison Dawson as agent assistants. Bay Area-residing Ponsart has more than a decade of experience and learned under the tutelage of Tom Chauncey and Hank Sacks at Partisan Artists. He brings with him a roster that includes John Craigie, Monophonics, Parlor Greens, Madeline Hawthorne, Kelly Finnigan, Anthony Villacari and Goodnight, Texas. Williams arrives from Freshwater Art Gallery & Music Venue in Boyne City, Mich., where she booked artists of all stripes, and is now based in Madison House’s office in Ann Arbor. Dawson is a recent Belmont grad and intern at Madison House in Nashville, where she is based. “The ultimate decision to join forces with Madison House is our shared values, growth mindset, adaptability, freedom to pursue new clients, and their tech forward approach to new systems,” said Ponsart. “Madison House has instilled these values in their team for decades and it makes them a commendable and unique business that I’m excited to call my new home.”
Riser House Records named Amy O’Connor as head of sales and streaming. O’Connor previously served as marketing director at Sony Music/Legacy Recordings, working Sony’s country legacy catalog including music from Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, as well as working with artist estates including Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn. O’Connor previously led the streaming team at Better Noise Music, working on projects for Papa Roach, Mötley Crüe and Five Finger Death Punch. –Jessica Nicholson
Filmmaker and music producer Jesse Lauter joined Peter Shapiro’s Dayglo Presents as head of production & media. In this newly created position, Lauter will oversee the creative side of video and audio production for Dayglo venues, including The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY and the Brooklyn Bowl mini-chain (Brooklyn, Las Vegas, Nashville and Philadelphia), along with the newly added Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock. One of his main responsibilities is directing live-streams for FANS.live and Relix out of the Capitol Theatre. Lauter most recently directed Learning To Live Together: The Return of Mad Dogs & Englishmen about Joe Cocker, and is currently working on a film about swamp rock legends Little Feat. He’s also worked with Dayglo on a part-time basis for years. “I’ve been a part of this family for a long time, and have so much love and respect for Pete and what he has built,” he said. “It’s a perfect fit.” each Lauter is reachable at jesse@dayglopresents.com.
Courtney Zeppetella is no longer senior vp, controller and chief accounting officer of Madison Square Garden Entertainment. Zeppetella’s resignation, effective May 31, was disclosed in an SEC filing three days prior to her exit. The NYC-based executive joined MSGE in May 2022 following a 21-year run at KPMG, where she rose to audit partner. Michael J. Grau, the company’s executive vp and CFO, will serve as the company’s interim principal accounting officer until a replacement is named.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Billboard‘s longtime Australian correspondent Lars Brandle is now head of content at The Brag Media, where he’ll oversee strategy across Rolling Stone Australia and New Zealand, Variety Australia, The Music Network, Tone Deaf and more titles. Brandle joined Billboard in 2000 out of the London bureau and for many years served as global news editor and later as overnight editor — along the way amassing a paltry 835 pages of written articles. New gig aside, Brandle isn’t fully free of Billboard‘s clasp just yet — The Brag Media holds the license for Billboard in Australia. Talk soon, mate!
Sphere Entertainment hired industry veteran Chandra Allison as executive vp of sales and service at the Las Vegas megavenue. In her new role, Allison will drive sales strategies, develop conferences and events, oversee service teams, and build on Sphere’s strong relations with fellow stakeholders in Vegas. Allison, who has done consultant work for Sphere, most recently served as senior vp of strategy and growth at Oak View Group, where she oversaw growth and strategy for its OVG360 portfolio. Prior to OVG, Allison put in nearly 25 years at The Venetian Resort, where she rose to svp of sales and marketing. “Sphere is a game-changer in this dynamic market,” she said, “and this is a tremendous opportunity to continue working with the team to develop one-of-a-kind experiences that enhance Sphere’s presence in Las Vegas across a range of event categories and guest experiences.”
NASHVILLE NOTES: Kelli Haywood and Leigh Holt teamed to launch Hsquared Management. The company combines the artist rosters from their respective companies, KCH Entertainment and maddjett, while they also reveal their first signing together, Capitol CMG singer-songwriter Riley Clemmons. The Hsquared client roster also includes Lauren Daigle, Carlos Whittaker, Annie F. Downs and Megan Danielle –J.N. … UMG Nashville‘s director of radio marketing Donna Hughes departed after 13 years. Hughes was previously national director of radio syndication at Capitol/EMI Records before those imprints were joined UMG.
ICYMI:
Lee Anderson
Warner Music Group hired Michael Ryan-Southern to lead the company’s acquisition efforts … CAA appointed Darryl Eaton, Emma Banks and Rick Roskin as co-heads of the global touring division … French collective management organization SACEM extended Cécile Rap-Veber’s term as CEO … MNRK Music Group president and CEO Chris Taylor is resigning effective June 28 and will be replaced by COO Sean Stevenson … Lee Anderson was named president of Wasserman Music … Lionel Ridenour was named executive vp of promotion at gamma. … Dennis Ashley Jr. and son Dennis Ashley III launched a new multimedia firm … Day After Day Productions hired Melanie Davis as head of tour marketing, while promoting Marc Ertel to head of creative and Erin Patterson to head of marketing.
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