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Billy McFarland‘s long, strange redemption arch is taking another weird turn tonight in Austin, Tex., where the convicted Fyre Fest fraudster will fight in a karate tournament organized to entertain podcaster Joe Rogan and several hundred crypto executives attending a blockchain and Web3 conference.
McFarland will face Justin Custardo, best known for being the founder of the Web3 Breakfast Club channel on YouTube, which has about 1,000 subscribers. Organizers of the conference, dubbed Consensus 2024, insist the fight is an officially sanctioned bout by Karate Combat, a martial arts league built around crypto tokens that fans can trade while watching fights between former Olympians in their late 30s and early 40s. McFarland and Custardo will fight in the heavyweight division of Karate Combat’s Influencer Fight Club series, with Karate Combat oddsmakers giving Custardo a 52%-48% advantage over McFarland.
Since being released from prison in May 2022 after serving most of his six-year sentence on fraud charges related to the disastrous 2017 Fyre Festival in the Bahamas, McFarland has managed to stay in the limelight through a variety of media stunts and promises to repay the $26 million he admitted to stealing from investors. That includes a long-running promise to successfully stage Fyre Fest. The date for that event has been pushed back several times — it’s now supposedly scheduled for sometime in 2025 — with a location, lineup and plan of any kind all TBD at the moment.
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Tonight’s fight will be streamed across Karate Combat’s social media pages starting at 6 p.m. CT and will be attended by Rogan, who told viewers of his podcast earlier this week that he would be in attendance to watch the main event between American fighters Ross Levine and Adrian Hadribeaj.
McFarland has posted several videos on Instagram that show him training for the match, including one video where he punches through a pizza box housing a large pepperoni pizza and another in which he kicks a watermelon.
McFarland’s opponent Custardo appears to be taking a more holistic approach to training for the fight, focused on weight loss, technical skills work and mental acuity training through philosophical puzzles posed by his followers.
The men have been trading shots over social media in the lead-up to the fight. Yesterday, McFarland and Custardo came face to face at the official weigh-in in Austin, where the two men, clad in blue jeans and white button-up shirts, traded barbs and sized each other up, appearing to almost come to blows at one point.
“I’ve been training Muay Thai and I’m going to kick (Custardo) very hard,” McFarland warned when asked about his training regimen by the event’s emcee. At a press conference after the weigh-in, Custardo fired back, warning that “every punch [McFarland] takes is in honor of every person he scammed.”
McFarland told the audience he would donate all winnings to victims of his fraud.
Besides his restitution fund, McFarland faces a civil lawsuit claiming he ripped off an investor who gave him $740,000 after getting out of prison. An attorney for 54-year-old Jonathan Taylor of New York — who met McFarland while both were serving prison sentences at Elkton Federal Correctional Institute in Ohio, — claims McFarland needs to appear in court and agree to repay him or face legal action for civil fraud, conversion, civil conspiracy, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.
An attorney for McFarland said Taylor is trying to profit off his connection to McFarland, stating, “we tried multiple times to repay Jon his money, but his lawyers went silent despite our repeated attempts to contact them. We remain open to a settlement.”
Free music streaming shouldn’t be so free, Rob Stringer, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, suggested Wednesday during a presentation to Sony Corp. analysts and investors.
The value of paid subscription “remains incredible,” said Stringer in prepared remarks during parent company Sony’s Business Segment Meeting 2024. But recent price increases — by Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube and, most recently, Pandora — have widened what Stringer called the “price gap” between free and paid streaming. Now, Sony wants streaming companies to get more from their free listeners.
“In mature markets, we hope that our partners close that gap by asking consumers using ad-supported services to additionally pay a modest fee,” said Stringer. “This would help develop this segment of the streaming business to be more than just a marketing funnel for paid subscription and still be a tremendous value for users. We have a shared interest in better monetization of free tiers. At Sony Music, we think everyone is willing to pay something for access to virtually the entire universe of music.”
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Free streaming provides an opportunity to attract paying subscribers but returns far less per listener than subscriptions. Even though Spotify has 62% more free listeners than subscribers, advertising accounted for just 10.7% of first-quarter revenue compared to 89.3% from subscriptions. Another round of price increases by Spotify this month in the U.K. and Australia portend additional price increases in the U.S. and other major markets. Further subscription price increases will widen the gap between premium and free streaming, and “even if advertising will become a better part of the story, it’s still a relatively small part of our overall revenue mix,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said during the April 23 earnings call.
Charging for ad-supported music would break from a long tradition of providing listeners with a free, on-demand streaming option. YouTube and Spotify are the two largest on-demand, ad-supported platforms that stream music. Amazon Music has a free tier with limited functionality. In the U.S., Pandora has about 39 million monthly active users for its ad-supported internet radio service that has less interactive capabilities than YouTube or Spotify. But paid, ad-supported streaming is common in the video world. Video on-demand services such as Hulu and Netflix offer low-price tiers with advertisements and charge higher prices to eliminate advertising altogether.
Sony Music also wants to extract more revenue from short-form video platforms such as TikTok that command huge audiences but provide relatively few royalties. “Premium-quality artistry drives the appeal of these services, with music being central to approximately 70% of videos created on them,” said Stringer. “These companies play a larger and larger role in music discovery and engagement amongst young listeners. More and more, these are primary consumption sources, and they need to be valued accordingly.”
Stringer, who does not comment during the parent company’s quarterly earnings calls, spoke and answered questions for 40 minutes about Sony Music artists, chart successes, growth opportunities and efforts in emerging markets. After highlighting Sony Music’s efforts in Latin America, India and China, he focused on the newest — and most vexing — technology on the music industry’s horizon. Artificial intelligence, he said, “represents a generational inflection point for music” and Sony Music will take “an active role” in creating a “sustainable business model” that respects the company’s rights.
But Stringer was clear that Sony Music is taking a hard line in the battle to shape AI in music. “We won’t tolerate the illicit training of AI models by reckless and unlicensed misuse of this art,” he warned. “We believe strongly that permission is the only way AI models can be trained with our content, and followed protocols of the EU AI act by sending over 700 letters to AI developers to opt our copyrights out of training.” Sony Music has also issued “over 20,000 takedowns of AI generated soundalikes over the past year,” he added, while working with legislators around the world “to shape policy and rights” on AI issues.
“With the right frameworks in place, innovation will thrive, technology, music will benefit and consumers will enjoy your experiences,” Stringer said. “We have prospered from disruptive market changes before so we are confident we can navigate this chapter successfully.”
A well-known hacking group claims to have breached Ticketmaster and is attempting to sell the personal data of 560 million Ticketmaster users, including their payment details, for $500,000, according to the website Hackread.
Alleged hacking group ShinyHunters has claimed credit for the break-in, resulting in the theft of 1.3 terabytes of stolen data that includes usernames, contact information, order info and partial payment details, like the last four digits of a customer’s credit card, expiration dates and even details designed to prevent fraud (i.e. mother’s maiden name).
Officials with Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, have not responded to requests for comment from Billboard or confirmed that the breach took place, but Australian officials with the country’s Department of Home Affairs told the Australian Broadcasting Company that it was aware of a cyber incident that was part of a data leak expected to impact millions of Ticketmaster customers globally.
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A spokesperson from the Department of Home Affairs told the ABC that the department is “working with Ticketmaster to understand the incident”.
“The data breach, if confirmed, could have severe implications for the affected users, leading to potential identity theft, financial fraud, and further cyber attacks,” the Hackread site explains. “The hacker group’s bold move to put this data on sale goes on to show the growing menace of cybercrime and the increasing sophistication of these cyber adversaries.”
The hack comes as Ticketmaster and Live Nation face attempts by the federal government to break the company up on antitrust grounds. Last week, the Department of Justice’s antitrust division sued Ticketmaster in New York’s Southern District, alleging that the company acted monopolistically. Company officials have vowed to fight the lawsuit.
ShinyHunters emerged on law enforcement’s radar in 2020 and has been linked to breaches affecting more than 60 companies. The group is known to use dark web forums to threaten to leak sensitive consumer information unless the affected companies pay an online ransom. Most breaches are carried out using sophisticated phishing pages that mimic their target’s login portals, tricking employees into entering account credentials and other sensitive data. Members of ShinyHunters then use the stolen credentials to log in to company systems and steal data and customer information.
In January, a U.S. District Court in Seattle sentenced alleged ShinyHunters member Sebastien Raoult to three years in prison and restitution of $5 million after Raoult pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The 22-year-old French national was arrested in Morocco in 2022 and extradited to the United States in January 2023.
ShinyHunters is reportedly selling the Ticketmaster data on Breach Forums, an illegal marketplace that just two weeks ago had been seized by the FBI.
On May 13, FBI officials apprehended the site’s administrator and seized access to login credentials for the entire infrastructure of Breach Forums, including the backend, across its dark web and clear web sites.
“From June 2023 until May 2024, BreachForums was operating as a clearnet marketplace for cybercriminals to buy, sell, and trade contraband, including stolen access devices, means of identification, hacking tools, breached databases, and other illegal services,” FBI official said in a statement at the time.
But several days later, ShinyHunters allegedly contacted the domain registrar of Breach Forums and successfully regained access, according to Hack News, with the FBI seizure notice on the site replaced by a “Site Temporarily Unavailable” message. Earlier today, Breach Forums was updated again, this time with the alleged stolen Ticketmaster data posted on the site for sale.
Sony is the undisclosed suitor that Queen was in an exclusive period with in negotiating the sale of its catalog and other music assets, as reported by Bloomberg today. There have been multiple reports that the catalog was up for sale since Music Business Worldwide first broke the news last May.
So far, Queen is believed to have had initial conversations about the potential deal with Disney, which owns the band’s masters for North America, and Universal Music Group. According to sources, the deal is being shopped by the band’s lawyers.
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In fact, each band member was said to have their own lawyers for the deal; early this year, some sources suggested that John Deacon’s share of the band’s assets might not be included in any potential agreement. Putting a deal like this together is a very complex process and with all the personalities involved, it’s still a question of whether one will ultimately be struck. In fact, that very issue — band members with different agendas — is said to have derailed a deal for the Pink Floyd assets a while back. That deal was expected to go for $500 million before it collapsed sometime in 2022.
Sources previously told Billboard that Queen was seeking $1.2 billion for its music assets, a price tag that limited the number of prospective suitors. In order to swallow the hefty price tag, Sony is reportedly partnering with an undisclosed financial player. Previously, Sony had help in acquiring the Bruce Springsteen master recording catalog from Eldridge Industries, which at one time owned Billboard.
Queen’s lawyers and Sony Music representatives were not immediately available for comment.
The Queen catalog includes iconic hit songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Somebody to Love,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “You’re My Best Friend, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.” Since 1991, the catalog has generated slightly more than 38 million album consumption units in the United States and has nearly 46 billion in global on-demand streams, according to Luminate. Go here for a full breakdown of the band’s catalog and financial performance.
If Sony completes the deal, it could very well be the biggest music asset deal ever made, even if it does not command the highest valuation for an artist’s music assets. Late last year, Sony bought half of the Michael Jackson estate for about $600 million, according to sources, though Sony never confirmed the acquisition.
DMX’s estate has a new partner. The late rapper’s family has selected Artist Legacy Group (ALG) as the estate’s exclusive and global representative, according to an announcement today by ALG CEO Ashley Austin.
“A force of nature. That is how I would describe DMX,” Austin said of the artist, born Earl Simmons, who died in 2021 at 50. “Rapper, poet, actor, preacher—the man’s talent was truly limitless. I am honored to work alongside Desiree and Sasha as we maximize the estate’s potential. Together, we will ensure that his message and music lives on.”
The co-administrators of the estate, DMX’s fiancée Desiree Lindstrom and daughter Sasha Simmons, are confident ALG can continue the hard-hitting MC’s legacy.
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“Earl was devoted to his fans. He was grateful that they stayed by his side and walked with him through his ups and downs,” explained Lindstrom. “Sasha and I are confident that ALG is the right team to partner with to honor Earl’s music and legacy. For my son and all of Earl’s children and fans, we will keep Earl’s spirit alive.”
Sasha Simmons added, “My father, Earl, was more than an icon; he was my inspiration and guiding light. His music touched countless lives, and his legacy will forever resonate in our hearts. With ALG by our side, Desiree and I are committed to preserving his spirit, ensuring that his art continues to inspire generations to come.”
With his signature growl and underdog story, DMX made his mark on hip-hop over the years with six top 10s on Rap Airplay, including “What You Want” and “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” as well as the six-week No. 1 “Party Up (Up in Here).” He recently made his Mainstream Rock Airplay debut with a featured role on Five Finger Death Punch’s “This Is the Way,” a mash-up between DMX’s “The Way It’s Gonna Be” and FFDP’s “Judgement Day.”
The family and Artist Legacy Group are working on “innovative projects” for fans, industry insiders, and music enthusiasts worldwide, according to a press release. ALG is a renowned entertainment management and legacy preservation firm that provides comprehensive services for estates, including intellectual property management, brand partnerships, media projects and more. Some of the other acts on their roster include Sam Cook, The Blues Brothers, Iggy Pop, Bootsy Collins, John Belushi and Dean Martin.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a series of executive promotions as part of an organization-wide effort to unite teams on Wednesday (May 29). “As the Academy evolves, we are bringing teams together to create a better sense of shared purpose across the organization,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement.
Amy Homma has been appointed director and president of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In her new role, Homma will lead the strategic creative vision of the Academy Museum. She succeeds film scholar and TCM host Jacqueline Stewart, who is returning to her faculty position at the University of Chicago. Homma will report to the museum’s board of trustees and Academy CEO Kramer.
Homma has been with the Academy Museum for five years and is currently the museum’s chief audience officer. She previously served as the Academy Museum’s vice president of education and public engagement.
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Jennifer Davidson has been promoted to the newly-created role of chief marketing and communications officer, effective June 1. In this expanded role, she will oversee marketing and audience development, communications, digital/social and creative brand strategy for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation, Academy Museum and the Oscars.
Davidson has served as chief communications officer since December 2021.
Jenny Galante has been promoted to the newly-created role of chief revenue officer, effective June 1. In this role, Galante will drive diversified and global revenue growth for all arms of the Academy, including the Academy Foundation and Academy Museum. She will continue to oversee strategic brand partnerships, including Oscars sponsors and advertisers, and lead efforts for Academy100, a $500 million global revenue diversification and outreach campaign the Academy publicly launched in early May.
Galante, who joined the Academy staff in 2013, most recently held the position of executive vice president, revenue and business development and served as senior vice president, business development.
Matt Severson, director of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, has been promoted to the newly-created position of executive vice president, Academy collection and preservation, effective July 1. He will oversee all collections, archival, preservation, registration, conservation and cataloging work of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy Film Archive and Academy Museum. This role centers, for the first time, all collections and preservation efforts for the entire 23 million-item Academy Collection.
Severson began his Academy career in 1997 in the Photograph Archive. He became head of the Photograph Archive in 2009 before becoming the head of the Margaret Herrick Library in 2018. He recently edited the Academy Museum exhibition catalog Agnés Varda: Director’s Inspiration, published by the Academy and DelMonico Books last year.
Previously, Severson reported to Randy Haberkamp, executive vice president, Library, Archive and SciTech, who will retire from the Academy on Aug. 2 after 23 years. Haberkamp will continue in a consultant role with the Academy until next spring.
Draco Rosa and his company Phantom Vox have established an alliance with La Buena Fortuna Global, an artist management, booking and event production company with a focus on promoting Puerto Rican talent internationally, Billboard Español can announce. The agreement is aimed at expanding Rosa’s career internationally. “It is with deep emotion that I share a […]
K-pop giant HYBE sold a portion of its stake in rival South Korean music group SM Entertainment worth $50 million, or roughly 3% of the company, according to a filing made public on Tuesday (May 28). Though it sold roughly 755,500 shares worth 68.4 billion Korean won, HYBE still owns some 2.2 million shares comprising […]
On a recent trip to New York, I spoke on a panel discussing the state of the global music industry. During the Q&A, someone asked, “When will the day come that Taylor Swift isn’t the biggest artist in the world?”
Answer: She already isn’t.
Now, maybe it’s a matter of perspective. From a Western vantage point, it’s a valid question. Given Swift’s ubiquitous media coverage, it’s hard to imagine a day when she isn’t at the top of our industry. In the past year alone, she has broken records, won awards, and inspired fans. But her achievements are only one slice of the global picture.
The music industry is increasingly interconnected, with content moving across markets and access to that content expanding in ways many do not see. With that comes the opportunity to reach massive populations from emerging markets, whose focus rests on domestic artists and local language content. I think a future where the next big global star arises from somewhere other than the U.S. is barreling towards us, and they won’t be singing in English.
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My confidence here is informed by my home, the United Arab Emirates, which sits at the intersection of Asia, Africa, and Europe, and has a population representing over 200 nationalities. I am deeply embedded in this region and its music industry, and I have firsthand exposure to music’s evolution in these markets, watching the increasing dominance of local language music and recognizing how it is reshaping pop culture. That change is happening quickly across listenership, subscription growth, access to music and more.
Evaluating a superstar from the West against a superstar from the East is not an apples-to-apples comparison. There is important context missing from the raw numbers, particularly in available streaming metrics, which fail to fully represent the consumption in the East or the potential for monetization in the years to come.
The multinational streaming platforms have thoroughly established themselves as the leaders in monetization. For example, Spotify has carved out a reputation as the market leader with over 602 million monthly active users globally, 236 million of which are paying. However, those multinational platforms are relatively new to the MENA region and other emerging markets and are still building a user base. In contrast, domestic streaming platforms in the wider region have had longer to build a strong user base (e.g., India’s Gaana boasts 200 million monthly active users), but their monetization hasn’t caught up yet.
However, if we look at the sheer market size, the opportunity in emerging markets is undeniable. The populations of the U.S. (330 million) and the U.K. (67 million) are dwarfed when compared to India (1.4 billion), MENA (489 million people), Pakistan (243 million), or Nigeria (227 million). Music consumption in some of these markets is already outpacing the West (in rate of growth) and will soon surpass the West (in volume).
The data is there. Emerging markets have been the major driver of global subscription growth since 2021, and Goldman Sachs’s 2024 Music in the Air reports their contribution is expected to reach 70% by 2030. In Luminate’s 2023 report they highlighted that India’s streaming volume increased by nearly half a trillion streams year-over-year vs. 184 billion for the U.S. At that rate, particularly as the U.S. reaches a point of saturation, we could see India surpass the U.S. in consumption this year.
You might think that the increased availability and monetization of streaming platforms in emerging markets would translate to the Taylor Swifts of the West reaching even more listeners. The truth is those listeners increasingly care more about their own domestic stars and regional music culture than what the West exports to them.
YouTube launched globally in 2005 and has long been the established service for streaming and discovering music, thereby more adequately reflecting music listening preferences in the region. If we look specifically at Swift, there is no denying she is massively popular on the platform. On YouTube’s Global Music Charts for April 19-25 (the week her latest album dropped), she sat squarely at #1. However, eight of the Top 10 songs that week were actually non-English releases by artists from around the world. How many of you know the Bhojpuri hit “Maroon Color Sadiya” (which was #3 that same week)? Expand that to the Top 40, and only eight songs are in English. This is only on YouTube; consider the impact of additional domestic streaming platforms, which are even more skewed toward local language artists in each market.
Local language matters; the era of pop music being defined as “Anglo-American” is over. Looking at streams per day in India in 2023, Statista found Hindi represented over 40% versus English’s 25% share. What’s more, vernacular language and regional music, which made up the remaining 34%, was notably the fastest-growing genre from 2020 to 2023. In its 2023 report, Luminate highlighted how the share of English language music declined by 12% globally since 2021, while the share of Hindi music has essentially doubled. Even in the U.S., the share of English language content is down 3.8% since 2021.
The global diaspora which is consuming Arabic, Hindi, and other global languages is in the West too, augmenting the shift I’m describing. The meteoric transformation of K-pop into a global phenomenon is a particularly strong example of this expansion, thanks to groups like BTS, BLACKPINK and Stray Kids. In addition to its huge following in Korea, the genre has swept the West, with Korean being the 3rd biggest language by consumption in the U.S. in 2023, according to Luminate.
So, is Taylor Swift really the biggest artist in the world? Given the change I’ve described in streaming adoption across emerging markets, the importance of domestic platforms, and the sheer fact that on a country-by-country level domestic acts reign, the answer is no. Last time I checked, India, Pakistan, the Middle East, China and most of Africa have their own superstars — and they represent most of the populated world. There’s no telling how high those local artists will climb before their stars eclipse the likes of Swift in ways that become much more obvious to the rest of us.
Spek is the founder/CEO of PopArabia & ESMAA and the executive vp of international & emerging markets at Reservoir. He was recently named to Billboard’s International Power Players 2024 list, having previously appeared on the list in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Irish rock band The Script signed a global deal with BMG. Managed by Simon Moran and Martin Hall at Hall or Nothing, the group now consists of Danny O’Donoghue and Glen Power following the death of their bandmate Mark Sheehan last year. According to a press release, the band’s global streaming tally stands at 10 billion.
Stockholm, Sweden-based, Venezuelan-born singer-songwriter Omar Rudberg signed to Elektra Records and released his major label debut single, “Red Light,” on May 17. Rudberg was previously in the Scandinavian boy band FO&O before going solo. He’s also known for starring in the Netflix series Young Royals.
TMWRK signed three artists to its management roster: ††† (Crosses), Wavves and Noeline Hofman. The company’s founder, Andrew McInnes, manages ††† (Crosses) alongside Ben Matusow, who also manages Wavves. Hofman, an Americana artist, is managed by senior vp of management Paddy Scace and executive vp/partner Nick Palmacci.
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Singer-songwriter Cameron Whitcomb (“The Devil I’ve Seen”) signed with Atlantic Records, which released his latest single, “Rocking Chair,” on May 17. Whitcomb is managed by Todd Dunsmore and John Caton at Fifthline and booked by Matt Runner and Jonathan Insogna at Wasserman.
MNRK Heavy signed Colorado-based hardcore group Fox Lake to its roster for the release of the band’s upcoming album. The group is managed and booked by Travis Porter at Forthright Booking.
“Hard house” producer and DJ Ben Keen, a.k.a. BK, signed to Hannah Laing‘s doof, which released his latest single, “No Fool,” on May 17. BK is managed by Lee Haslam at LGRP and booked by Josh Haygarth at Active Talent Agency.
North Carolina-based country singer Wesko signed to Warner Records/Underscore Works Recordings, which released his debut EP, Lost Boys, on Friday (May 24). He’s managed by Charly Salvatore and Becca Campbell at underscore works.
Mahogany, the music brand and record label behind the Mahogany Sessions video channel, launched digital distribution and artist service platform Mahogany Songs, with Dom Wallace aboard as label & marketing manager. The first signing for the new entity is singer-songwriter Áine Deane. Mahogany Songs will release Deane’s new EP, tales of a twenty something, later this year.
Boston-based indie rock-funk band Bermuda Search Party signed to Nettwerk, which released the group’s new song, “Asking 4 A Friend,” on May 17. The band is managed by Zoe Salvucci at Seven Hills Management and booked by Kameron Salek at Bandit Booking.
BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville signed duo Ryan and Rory. The band, which includes Nashville native Ryan Follesé and North Carolina native Rory John Zak, released its single “Pour Decisions” on Friday (May 24). Ryan and Rory’s self-titled debut EP will release July 26. – Jessica Nicholson