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Apple reported a blowout quarterly earnings report, with its serviced division (which includes Apple TV+, Apple Music and other media-related offerings) hitting another new record with $22.3 billion in revenue.
That was up from $19.2 billion a year ago, and from $21.2 billion in its last quarter.
In total, Apple delivered revenues of $89.5 billion in its fiscal Q4, with profits of $23 billion, reflecting strong demand for its iPhone line.
“Today Apple is pleased to report a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record in Services,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, in a statement. “We now have our strongest lineup of products ever heading into the holiday season, including the iPhone 15 lineup and our first carbon neutral Apple Watch models, a major milestone in our efforts to make all Apple products carbon neutral by 2030.”
Apple is seeking to improve its revenues and margins in its services business, raising prices on Apple TV+ and other subscription offerings last month. Apple TV+ now costs $9.99 per month, though it is also included in the Apple One subscription bundle, which includes products like Apple Arcade, Apple News, and extra cloud storage.
“We achieved all time revenue records across App Store, advertising, Apple Care, iCloud, payment services and video, as well as the September quarter revenue record on Apple Music,” Cook added on the earnings call.
As for Apple TV+, Cook touted Martin Scorsese’s new movie Killers of the Flower Moon, and noted the awards that ths ervice has garnered.
“We’re telling impactful stories that inspire imagination and stir the soul,” Cook said. “Making movies that make a difference is also at the heart of Apple TV+, and we were thrilled to produce Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, a powerful work of cinema that premiered in theaters around the world last month.”
Apple CFO Luca Maestri added on the call that Apple’s services division now has “well more than one billion” subscribers.
Also on the call, Cook confirmed that the company is investing significantly in generative artificial intelligence: “Obviously we have work going on, I’m not going to get into details about what it is because as you know, we don’t we really don’t do that,” Cook said in response to a question from an analyst. “But you can bet that we’re investing, we’re investing quite a bit. We’re going to do it responsibly. And you will see product advancements over time where those technologies are at the heart of them.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s Friday! That means another spin around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the music industry.
Guitar Center tapped longtime board member Gabriel Dalporto to be the musical instrument re-and-etailer’s new CEO, effective immediately. The appointment follows the sudden departure of Ron Japinga, who joined the company in 2014 and has served as CEO since 2016. The company gave no reason for Japinga’s exit but did stress that he will no longer serve as a member of the board. Other changes in the offing include the return of Tim Martin as chief financial officer and the appointment of Ken C. Hicks as chairman of the board. Dalporto most recently served as CEO of online education platform Udacity, and he previously served in various senior roles at online lender LendingTree. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since 2018. Leading that board, effective immediately, will be Hicks, currently the executive chairman of Academy Sports. Additionally, Martin is back in the CFO spot, which he occupied from 2012-2022. (He spent his break from slinging guitars as COO and CFO of Torrid Holdings, a direct-to-consumer apparel brand specializing in plus-size clothing.)
Sean Michael Gross, the head of WMG’s classical music unit in the UK, has added North America to his remit. As vice president of Warner Classics UK & North America, Gross will split his time between London and the States, and continue to report to Warner Classics president Alain Lanceron. The California native joined Warner in 2021 and in that short time has grown the label’s market share and workeed with a roster that includes Fatma Said and Abel Selacoe, among others. Prior to joining WMG, Gross accumulated professional credits at IMG Artists, 21C Media Group and Askonas Holt. “Sean has been a tremendous asset to our global Classics team in the last couple of years,” said Lanceron. “He is always at the forefront of change in the classical music sector, taking an innovative approach that embraces the future.”
The Orchard‘s largest office outside of NYC has given its co-leaders some title bumps. Effective immediately, Ian Dutt has been elevated from managing director to president of UK operations, while Chris Manning will now put managing director, UK and Europe on his business cards instead of general manager. Both are based in London — where they oversee a team of 150-plus employees and will continue to lead global efforts and day-to-day operations for the Sony-owned distribution company. Dutt joined Orchard in 2016 as part of its merger with Sony RED UK, where he was MD. Manning began his Orchard journey in 2008 and has held a plethora of positions there including label and operations manager, and senior director of international operations. They’ll continue to report to Colleen Theis, president and COO. “Ian and Chris will continue to spearhead operations for our artist and label partners, expand our network, and seek out amazing independent talent in our second biggest market,” said Theis. “Together, they are an unparalleled team who work tirelessly to connect our clients from the region to audiences worldwide.”
Bay Area indie label, publisher and distributor EMPIRE elevated industry veteran Elliott Peters to general counsel. Peters, who joined the company in 2020 and was most recently svp of global business, will now oversee EMPIRE’s legal and business affairs and be the fine print point person for all deals with DSPs and retailers. Prior to EMPIRE, Peters spent nearly two years as vp of business and legal affairs at SoundCloud, and before that held executive roles at RDIO — as it was being sold to Pandora — and Apple. He kicked off his music industry career in 2000 at Warner Music Group and over the course of 10 years at the major, rose to svp of head of digital and legal affairs. “Elliott has been tremendous in helping EMPIRE scale globally,” said EMPIRE CEO and founder, Ghazi. “As we continue to enter new markets around the world, Elliott will spearhead our efforts worldwide.”
Laura Mendoza joined Sony Music Publishing as managing director of its Colombia office, effective immediately. She’s based in Bogotá and reports directly to Jorge Mejia, Sony Music Publishing president & CEO, Latin America and U.S. Latin. A creative executive with 20-plus years in the music industry, Mendoza most recently served as head of label and artist solutions Central America, Andean & Southern Cone Region at Believe Distribution Services. Prior to that, she worked at Altafonte Music Network and at EMI Music Colombia. In her new role at Sony Music Publishing, she’ll be responsible for overseeing SMP Colombia’s business operations and advancing its growth initiatives, working closely with the company’s Latin America and U.S. Latin teams, as well as industry partners across the region. “It is an honor to work alongside so many talented professionals across the company,” Mendoza says. “Both the challenge and the opportunity of developing the careers of such a fantastic roster will allow me to contribute to a better industry and to the growth of SMP songwriters globally.” –Sigal Ratner-Arias
ICYMI: BMG terminated about 40 employees on Oct. 27, including executive vp of global repertoire Fred Casimir and senior vp of global repertoire Jason Hradil. The cuts effectively halted its international marketing department for recordings as well as its Modern Recordings label … Sounds Australia veteran Esti Zilber will take the reins at the national music export body, succeeding Millie Millgate as executive producer.
Kobalt promoted Sean Dishman to senior director of creative. The Los Angeles-based exec has clocked nine and a half years at the publishing administration company and was most recently creative director, having signed acts such as Madison Cunningham, Mac DeMarco, Jamila Woods, Poppy and Magdalena Bay, as well as some of Kobalt’s more whimsically named clients like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Kobalt also credits Dishman with major assists in releases by Lil Yachty, The Wombats and Yeek, among others. “[Dishman’s] knowledge & passion for music spills over into all that he does for our clients,” glowed Jamie Kinelski svp and head of West Coast creative. “His impeccable taste makes him a valued member of our global creative team, and I am thrilled to see continued growth at Kobalt.”
Nashville-based writer/artist development company Eclipse Music Group promoted Penny Gattis to partner. As a co-owner, Gattis will continue overseeing the publishing division, while taking on an expanded role in the overall strategic direction of the firm, including the Eclipse Management and Penumbra Records divisions. Gattis joined Eclipse as general manager of publishing in 2020 and has since been instrumental in earning cuts with artists including Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan and Jake Owen, as well as sync placements with brands including Lexus, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Gattis’s career also includes time at Round Hill Music, BMI and Tom-Leis Music. “Penny has the perfect combination of creativity, tenacity and relationships to support our creative clients and to advance Eclipse to the next level,” said Kurt Locher, principal of Eclipse Music Group.
Entertainment business management firm FBMM has named Jen Conger and Erica Rosa as owners. Conger has expertise in royalty analysis, domestic and international touring, sponsorship and endorsement deal negotiations, commercial insurance and estate planning. She oversees over $90 million in revenue each year on behalf of her clients. Conger also became the first female associate business manager in the firm’s history, and five years later, was promoted to business manager. Rosa joined FBMM as the firm’s first full-time royalty employee and was named vp, royalties and contract compliance in 2021. From 2020 to 2023, she relocated to Los Angeles to help establish the company’s Los Angeles office. Rosa has played an essential role in multiple eight- and nine-figure catalog sales and also oversaw unpaid royalty recoveries and prevention of loss revenues of over $200 million.
Blue Raincoat Music, an artist management, publisher and label all rolled into one, increased it London office by four in one fell swoop. Founded in 2014 by Robin Millar and former Chrysalis CEO Jeremy Lascelles, the Reservoir-owned company welcomes…
Dan Walton, project manager of catalogue reporting to Dermot James. Previously a product manager at Demon Music Group.
James Batsford, project manager reporting to Dermot James. Previously a freelance label consultant, but before that managed releases at Domino Records.
Ben Asplin, copyright manager of commercial music operations reporting to Tina McBye. Previously a royalties manager at BMG.
Tian Anderson, artist management assistant reporting to Amy Frenchum and Rupert King.
SMACK added Jaice Cousins as digital coordinator. The Ohio native and Belmont University graduate previously served as product data management coordinator for Warner Music Group. In her new role, Cousins will oversee SMACK’s social media management across all digital platforms, as well as contributing to marketing campaigns and strategy for SMACK clients including Walker Hayes, Kylie Morgan and Jenna Davis. Cousins will report to director of marketing and artist development Molly Bouchon.
“Outlaws & Mustangs” singer Cody Jinks has put together a new, independent team as he gears up for the release of his next album in 2024. The team includes Malia Barrett (president, Late August Records), Amber Dee (director of tour marketing), Joe Greenwald (vp of radio and streaming, Late August Records), Logan Hacker (day to day manager), Keith Kilgore (tour manager) and Liz Slyman (director of marketing). Jinks said in a statement, “As my team and I traverse the next part of this journey, it’s hard not to think that now I am truly more independent than ever. That is exciting.”
Point72 Ventures hired Brett Kernan as a new advisor at the investment firm. Since its 2016 launch by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, Point72 has invested in 120-plus fintech, enterprise and consumer companies, including Range Media, Mirror and Hook. According to Kernan, he holds the distinction of being employee #1 at music tech company Splice, where he handled music partnerships for over seven years before co-founding early-stage investment group Wave7, where he has served as individual advisor for Soundful and JioSaavn.
The MAP Fund, a financial supporter of original live performance projects across the United States and its territories, appointed David Blasher as executive director. He had been interim executive director since the beginning of the year. Prior to joining MAP Fund, Blasher was director of global legal operations and innovation at NBCUniversal. MAP Fund also appointed Meital Waibsnaider as its new board chair and Ron Ragin as the inaugural director of programs.
Multi-discipline AI company Futureverse announced that Artist Partner Group founder and CEO Mike Caren has joined as a founding partner of its text-to-music venture called JEN. Expected to release in early 2024, Jen can form up-to three minute songs as well as help producers with half-written songs through offering ‘continuation’ and ‘in-painting’ as well. Other JEN principles include Futureverse co-founders Shara Senderoff and Aaron McDonald, as well as Alex Wang, the company’s head of AI research.
Last Week’s Turntable: Three Six Zero Adds Caron Veazey as Partner
MNTGE, a vintage clothing brand that integrates blockchain technology into its garments, partnered with Grimes‘ Elf. Tech initiative for a limited-edition merch collaboration. The deal will encompass vintage, one-of-one NFC chip-enabled vintage t-shirts and denim jackets, screen-printed with AI graphics designed by Grimes on the back and an Elf. Tech graphic screen-printed on the sleeve. The NFC chips will provide both a digital rendering of the garment and a certificate of authenticity, as well as the ability to preview new music from Grimes by scanning the chips on a smartphone. The Grimes + MNTGE jacket retails for $200 and the t-shirt retails for $50 here.
In other Grimes-related news, CreateSafe — the company whose Triniti API powers Grimes’ Elf.Tech platform — partnered with music technology platform Slip.stream to make more than 200 GrimesAI songs available to creators and fans in their video content and live-streams on any platform. Grimes unveiled the Elf.Tech platform in beta this past May, allowing fans to create and upload songs by cloning the singer’s voice.
DistroKid struck an expanded agreement with TikTok that will make music from artists distributed by DistroKid available across CapCut and TikTok’s Commercial Music Library as well as its recently unveiled social music streaming service TikTok Music, which is now available in Brazil and Indonesia and in beta in Mexico, Australia and Singapore. This is the first time music from DistroKid artists will be available on TikTok Music.
Additionally, DistroKid partnered with digital audio workstation FL Studio to distribute works uploaded to FL Cloud — described as a new service within the FL Studio 21.2 update that will offer producers a growing library of royalty-free loops and one-shots, unlimited AI-powered mastering and unlimited music distribution to all major digital streaming platforms.
Esports company GameSquare Holdings entered into a “definitive agreement” with FaZe Holdings to acquire online gaming and youth culture brand FaZe Clan “in an arm’s length all-stock transaction,” according to a press release. The release states that FaZe Clan and GameSquare generated annual revenue of roughly $138 million and reached a 26.3% gross margin last year. “Management expects to realize over $18 million in run-rate cost savings from the FaZe Clan acquisition, supported by reduced duplicate corporate costs and other cost savings,” the release continues. The combined company plans to give guidance following the close of the transaction, after which Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson will take over as FaZe Clan CEO; Thomas “FaZe Temperrr” Oliveira will take over as president; and Yousef “FaZe Apex” Abdelfattah will take over as COO. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject in part to the approval of FaZe Clan and GameSquare shareholders.
The Circuit Group, a recently formed entity designed to create business opportunities around artists’ intellectual property, signed a strategic partnership with U.K.-based house music label Defected Records. Under the deal, The Circuit Group will offer Defected, along with its sister- and sub-labels, expertise across its suite of services to help the label build its presence in North America. In turn, Defected will support The Circuit Group as it expands its presence in the United Kingdom, Europe and other territories globally.
Defected Records also signed an agreement with Reactional Music, the maker of an interactive music engine for video games. Under that deal, Defected licensed the masters for a selection of tracks from its catalog for use on Reactional’s music delivery platform and personalization engine for game developers. Songs to be made available under the deal include cuts from Bob Sinclar, Dennis Ferrer, Kings of Tomorrow, MK and The Shapeshifters, CamelPhat, Honey Dijon and John Summit.
Michael Bublé launched Fraser & Thompson, a new whiskey brand in partnership with longtime friend and master distiller and blender Paul Cirka. The whiskey is blended and bottled by Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Ky. and will be brought to market by spirits incubator WES Brands.
Warner Music’s ADA renewed its longstanding partnership with independent label LAB Records, which has released music by artists including Tommy Lefroy, BEKA, Beach Weather, Antony Szmierek, Des Rocs, Aziya, Crawlers, The K’s, Nell Mescal and Yoke Lore.
Sphere Entertainment partnered with Madison Square Garden Sports on a deal that will see next-generation Las Vegas venue Sphere become the official jersey patch partner of the New York Knicks. The Sphere logo will now appear on all Knicks game jerseys during both home and away games in the 2023-24 season; it will also be on Knicks practice jerseys, warm-up shirts and jerseys sold at Madison Square Garden’s in-arena retail locations as well as on shop.MSG.com.
Copyright management firm Pex and its rights initiative, RME, entered a collaboration with copyright protection platform Cosynd. Under the partnership, RME’s community of creators and rightsholders can utilize Cosynd’s copyright registration API to register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office.
ASM Global struck a partnership with Adventist Health that will see the California City of Stockton’s 10,000-seat facility renamed Adventist Health Arena. Upgrades to the arena will include a new 360-degree LED center-hung, ribbon boards, back-of-house enhancements and more.
Elsewhere, ASM Global signed a deal with the City of Andover, Kans., to manage and operate the Capitol Federal Amphitheater for five years beginning on Jan. 1, 2024. It also renewed its management agreement with the Jekyll Island Convention Center in Jekyll Island, Ga. through 2029, with an option for an additional five-year renewal after that.
Investors want serious, swift changes to make Hipgnosis Songs Fund more profitable and stable. That was the key takeaway from more than 80% of investors’ votes last week on how the London-listed trust that owns rights to songs by Journey, Bruno Mars and Rihanna should proceed. While the landslide vote opened the door to possibly winding up the pioneering publicly traded music royalty trust, it doesn’t spell an immediate end — more like the long beginning of company-wide rethink to improve the company’s stock price.
More than 80% of Hipgnosis investors voted in favor of the board drawing up “proposals for the reconstruction, reorganization or winding-up of the company to shareholders for their approval within six months,” the board said in a regulatory filing.
“These proposals may or may not involve … liquidating all or part of the company’s existing portfolio of investments.” Adding further uncertainty to the fund’s future is that, while its board devises a plan to restore regular dividends and boost a lagging share price, it must simultaneously find replacements for its chair, Andrew Sutch, and two other members, after those three either resigned or failed to win re-election to the board seats last week.
Sources say Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s outgoing board chair, Rob Naylor, is being considered to chair of Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board. Naylor is a former London banker and currently the chief executive officer of Intuitive Investments Group, a fund that invests in high growth life sciences companies. Naylor would have been closely involved in negotiating Round Hill’s $469 million sale of its public fund to Concord, which shareholders approved in mid-October and closed this week.
Jefferies analyst Matthew Hose says one route the board might take would be similar to Round Hill’s sale — Hipgnosis Songs Fund could sell itself to its sister fund Hipgnosis Songs Capital, which is jointly run by Mercuriadis’ investment advisor Hipgnosis Song Management and private equity goliath Blackstone, or it could sell itself just to Mercuriadis’ investment advisor Hipgnosis Song Management.
Although investors soured on an earlier plan to sell about 20% of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, with Blackstone’s backing it remains among the most capable buyers and it knows the portfolio of songs well, analysts agree. There’s also a clause in the investment advisory group’s contract that says if the public fund ends its contract with investment advisor, the investment advisor can buy out the fund. The clause, which was laid out in the fund’s 2018 filings when it went public, was intended to help Mercuriadis reassure artists whose catalogs Hipgnosis acquired that he would always stay on as the relationship manager in charge of their songs and legacy.
While Hose says a sale to Mercuriadis and the investment manager could benefit all parties, “the question is whether this board is able to propose an ‘open’ sale process for the portfolio that extracts this fair value for shareholders, while still honoring the manager’s option, or will the existence of the option simply prohibit any realistic bids?”
Analysts who cover investment trusts like Hipgnosis Songs Fund say that about 80% of the time following a no continuation vote, a fund winds up, either through selling its assets to multiple buyers or all of the portfolio to a single buyer and then distributing those proceeds to shareholders minus any debt repayments.
The deliberation over which direction to take the fund will also rely on an updated valuation of the portfolio, which Hose says will likely see a downgrade since the disclosure in October that the fund’s valuers had inaccurately estimated certain CRB III royalty funds.
“We see the potential for weakness in the portfolio,” Hose says. “An independent valuation of the portfolio by a new valuer that gains the trust of the market … could be crucial here.”
SYDNEY, Australia — Sounds Australia stalwart Esti Zilber will take the reins at the national music export body, succeeding Millie Millgate as executive producer.
With effect from Monday, Nov. 20, Zilber, currently creative producer, will lead a team that includes Glenn Dickie (export music producer), Dom Alessio (digital export producer) and Larry Heath (associate producer).
“Esti has been such an integral part of the growth of Sounds Australia over the last 13 years,” comments Millgate, who leaves the organization to lead Music Australia as its inaugural director, “and I’m truly excited for the future of the program knowing what a compassionate and formidable leader she will be. Sounds Australia is in extremely safe hands.”
Joining Sounds Australia in 2010, Zilber has played a key role in developing and delivering Sounds Australia’s program around the world. “Her work with inbound buyers across Australia’s domestic music conferences has seen thousands of invaluable connections made between international industry and local artists and managers,” reads a statement announcing her promotion.
During the peak-pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, Zilber managed Sounds Australia’s Export Stimulus Program, which saw $1.2 million distributed, across three rounds, to over 320 Australian artists, crew and music professionals. That financial support was used to realize “significant career-defining moments” in global markets and earn much needed income after 18 months of cancelled work due to the impacts of the pandemic.
Prior to working at Sounds Australia, she was the executive assistant to legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg and managed the offices of Chugg Entertainment and, before that, worked in book publishing in New York and was the executive producer arts and culture at FBi Radio, the Sydney community radio station.
Sounds Australia will next year celebrate its 15th anniversary. Since its launch in 2009, Sounds Australia has managed the presentation of over 2,200 Australian artists on global show stages, covering 86 different international events, in 75 cities, across 26 countries. Its presence can be felt at the Aussie BBQ and Australia House at SXSW, and, for its 10th anniversary in 2019, the Central Park SummerStage with Australian artists San Cisco, Hermitude, The Teskey Brothers, WAAX, Tkay Maidza Australian Music Prize winning Indigenous hip-hop act A.B. Original.
Sounds Australia will “imminently” kick start a recruitment process for Zilber’s replacement, reads a statement.
Just like the zombies, vampires and ghouls that inspired him, Bobby “Boris” Pickett rises from the dead every October to haunt the radio, streaming services, TV commercials and the hundreds of products named after his 1962 smash “Monster Mash.”
“Every single year my entire life, I get to hear my grandfather’s voice for a month,” says Pickett’s grandson, Jordan Huus, 34. “And he’s not crooning or loudly singing. I get to hear his speaking voice.”
Although more recent spooky hits challenge “Monster Mash” for dominance every October, Pickett’s weird Boris Karloff imitation remains an immortal Halloween anthem. During the past four Halloweens combined, the track received more than streamed 15.4 million on demand streams; during the same period, Michael Jackson‘s “Thriller” scored 16.7 million, Ray Parker Jr.‘s “Ghostbusters” 12.8 million and Andrew Gold‘s “Spooky, Scary Skeletons” 8.85 million, according to Luminate.
Billboard estimates “Monster Mash,” which was released in 1962, has generated nearly $350,000 in average annual revenue globally over the last three years from the master recording, not including whatever synch revenue it enjoys from commercial and film/TV use, nor licensing revenue from the various compilation albums the song has appeared on; and about $500,000 in annual global publishing revenue, including cover versions and synchronization. In all, combined revenue for the song could easily hit $1 million each year, Billboard estimates.
“We had a great year last year with ‘Monster Mash,’” says Rell Lafargue, president/CEO of Reservoir, which owns Pickett’s publishing share and scored a “nice, healthy six-figure synch” for a 2021 General Mills cereal commercial relaunching Franken Berry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula. “We probably have 15 to 20 licensing requests on the line as we speak. Every year, people gear up for Christmas and other holidays, but the ‘Monster Mash’ is always there.”
Since its release on the late producer Gary Paxton‘s independent label, Garpax, “Monster Mash” has navigated a complicated path through the music business. Its two songwriters are Pickett and a friend, Leonard Capizzi, who sang doo-wop together on the beach in Los Angeles before cooking up the novelty song. After Paxton failed to sell the single to a bigger label, he gave it to radio DJs, who turned it into a hit; afterward, London Records agreed to distribute, and Stuart Hersh, Pickett’s longtime manager, says the company retained ownership of the master — now controlled through major label Universal Music Group’s Decca U.K. subsidiary.
As for publishing, Capizzi, who died in 1988, retained his share, and, as Pickett said in a 1995 interview, “his widow and child are getting all of his royalties.” Paxton, the “Monster Mash” producer, took over Pickett’s publishing and made a deal with publisher Acoustic Music, which changed hands to several other companies before Reservoir acquired it in 2014. Huus doesn’t know all the specifics, but his mother, Pickett’s daughter Nancy Huus, received publishing royalties until her death in February 2023, leaving her widower to control the family share.
“My mother left those to my father, who will in turn leave those as a split to my sister and I,” Huus says.
After its original 1962 release, various indie labels reissued “Monster Mash,” including Parrot Records 11 years later, when the song returned to the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 10. By the ’90s, according to Hersh, Pickett had participated in a K-Tel compilation remake that included backup Tennessee vocalists who pronounced the chorus “monster may-ash.” Pickett called this version “Monster Mish.”
Says Hersh: “Mish-mosh aside, I said to Bobby, ‘Why don’t I produce a new version for us that’ll be our master, and I’ll try to cut it as close to the first one as possible?’” Hersh brought in 1950s drums and created the track-opening creaky door with an actual creaky door, as opposed to the original effect, a nail slowly pulled out of a surface.
Convincing Pickett to use his higher-pitched voice from the 1962 version, Hersh re-released the track, Taylor Swift-style, and landed synch deals such as the 2005 John Cusack movie Must Love Dogs and a line of musical Hallmark greeting cards for Halloween. “I said to Bobby, ‘We’ve got to make this thing sound perfect and give it to independent films, and give people a chance, and it’ll be your master,’” Hersh recalls. After Pickett died in 2007, Nancy Huus gave the rights to the re-recorded 1993 master to Hersh, who still manages Pickett’s career, attending seasonal conventions and linking to streams and downloads of the reissue on themonstermash.com. “Our [version of the track] is the one with the black-and-white photo of Bobby over the gravestone,” Hersh says.
Hersh has no idea, however, who owns the name “Monster Mash” as it pertains to product titles. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lists 60 active and abandoned applications carrying that name, including General Mills (for its Monster Mash cereal), Friendly Ice Cream (Monster Mash sundaes) and a Hong Kong company called Longshore Ltd. (for board games). “It was never trademarked back then, and I really don’t know who did it this time,” Hersh says. “I would think it’s been used so many times, at this point, it’s just like a regular phrase.”
Jordan Huus was 8 when his late mother, who was adopted, met Pickett, her biological father, for the first time. Since then, Huus recalls a family fascination with Halloween that lives on in his own household. “Oh, man, if you have like an hour or two, I could point out each decoration,” Huus says, describing his mother’s hand-crafted Halloween wreaths, plus posters and records honoring Bobby “Boris” Pickett. “Of course, we have to bring out the ‘Monster Mash’ stuff.”
Ed Christman contributed to this story.
LONDON — Currently languishing near the bottom of the fourth tier of English football, Forest Green Rovers don’t have the global profile, colossal riches or superstar players of the world’s top teams. But despite their small stature, the Rovers enjoy one major bragging right: they’re the first European soccer club to be sponsored by Rock & Roll Hall of Famers the Grateful Dead.
“For us, it’s a perfect match,” says the California band’s archivist and legacy manager, David Lemieux. “Forest Green Rovers is a team that really follows Grateful Dead values, which is to say that we’re both conscious of the world around us and we want to make sure that we leave it a better place than when we arrived.”
Grateful Dead’s decades-long promotion of environmental causes is well-known throughout the music business, but Forest Green Rovers’ eco credentials are equally impressive.
Based in the small town of Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, just over 100 miles outside London, Forest Green Rovers Football Club has been recognized by both the United Nations and football’s international governing body, FIFA, as “the world’s greenest football club.” The team and its owner, Dale Vince, have won praise for pioneering sustainable practices like using renewable energy to power its 5,000-capacity ground, transporting players in an electric bus and serving vegan food to players, staff and fans.
Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince at a Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Oct. 8, 2023.
OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
The idea to partner Grateful Dead with Forest Green first landed on Lemieux’s desk 18 months ago when it was presented to him by the retail and licensing team at Warner Music Group’s services division WMX, which looks after the group’s merchandising rights outside of touring and online. (Grateful Dead’s music catalog is handled by WMG’s Rhino Records, which also runs the band’s Dead.net website, while Warner Chappell Music represents the act’s publishing interests globally, in conjunction with the Grateful Dead’s company, Ice Nine).
At the time of WMX’s pitch, Lemieux wasn’t familiar with Forest Green Rovers, which has spent much of its 134-year history competing outside the top level, with its best-ever finish coming in the 2021/22 season when the club was crowned champions of League Two (they were relegated 12 months later). But after researching the club and its energy industrialist owner, he says it was a natural fit for the two organizations to team up on a clothing merch deal that sees Grateful Dead’s iconic green skull logo featured on a range of Forest Green co-branded sporting wear, t-shirts and hoodies, produced by U.K. sustainable clothing business I Dress Myself.
“We love to partner with cool people, cool companies and cool organizations who are trying to make a positive difference,” says Lemieux, a self-confessed “hippy Deadhead” who has worked for the legendary California-formed group for 25 years and been a follower of English football since the late 1990s, when he studied in the United Kingdom and would regularly attend matches.
Courtesy of Warner Music and Forrest Green Rovers.
Financial terms of the deal with Forest Green have not been disclosed, although Lemieux describes it as “not a huge money-maker for anyone.” (The most expensive clothing item on sale in the Forest Green online store is a “Grateful Dead Lightning Hoodie” featuring the green skull motif that costs around $75.00.)
For custodians of Grateful Dead — which officially disbanded in 1995 following the death of guitarist and songwriter Jerry Garcia but has continued to tour in various incarnations, most recently as Dead & Company, featuring original members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart — the tie-up with Forest Green is the latest in a vast and ever-growing line of merch and licensing deals helping keep the Grateful Dead brand alive.
At present, the band has deals with more than 100 merch partners and more than 750 products on sale in over 50 territories, spanning everything from water bottles to cosmic mushroom foraging tools to camping equipment to Grateful Dead-branded skis and snowboards, as well as an extensive range of t-shirts and clothing.
Historically, the bulk of those merch deals have been with companies in North America, Grateful Dead’s biggest market for touring and record sales. But Lemieux says he’s now seeing an increasing number of licensing offers come in from Japan, England, South America and other international territories.
“Brand awareness is growing and it’s growing fast in the international markets,” says Lemieux. He credits Warner Music’s licensing teams in New York and England for working hard to find “best in class” partners.
“At the heart of everything Grateful Dead do is sustainability, so when we work on projects for them, whether it’s a multi-million-dollar deal or a small project, they need to know about its sustainable nature,” says WMX licensing and record retail account director Alex Mitchell, who oversaw the merch deal with Forest Green Rovers.
Courtesy of Warner Music and Forrest Green Rovers.
Mitchell says the season-long partnership with the club (with an option to renew next year) is one of several licensing deals WMX are working on to “make the Grateful Dead story better known” in the United Kingdom and Europe beyond “just being a cool band t-shirt.”
Sports and music brand tie-ups are, of course, nothing new, and Grateful Dead has struck similar deals in the past (the band famously sponsored Lithuania’s cash-strapped 1992 Olympic basketball team and more recently held one-off brand partnerships with various baseball, basketball and ice hockey clubs in North America). But Forest Green marks its first real foray into the world’s most popular sport.
The deal comes at a time when soccer’s profile in the United States continues to climb, especially among young Americans, fueled by the arrival of global superstars like Lionel Messi to Major League Soccer and the crossover success of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso and the hit FX series Welcome To Wrexham, which documents the fortunes of Wrexham A.F.C (who play in the same league as Forest Green) and its Hollywood actor owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Why are hip-hop and R&B still popular streaming-wise but less so on the live music front? How can superfans and generative AI help further music industry growth? Those are just two of the hot topics addressed in Trapital’s second annual report on major trends in music, media and hip-hop. Presented by the ticketing company DICE, 2023’s The Trapital Report is being released today (Oct. 31) in tandem with Billboard‘s exclusive first-look preview.
“This report is for the key decision makers in music, media and entertainment, the executives, founders and investors in the space,” Trapital founder Dan Runcie tells Billboard. “These are the people who are working actively to serve the artists that they work with. They’re working actively to provide an experience to the end consumers as well as fans. And to do that they need to be as close as possible to the current trends that are happening within the actual revenue. But looking fast forward, what are the things that they need to invest their time and money in? How do they better understand this audience? Our report is able to offer those insights.”
The report begins with a look at the slowing growth of streaming. While music streaming revenue was $17.5B in 2022 versus $15.7B in 2021, that only represents 11% growth. That percentage figure is down from 24%, 19% and 29% in prior years, per Trapital’s analysis of data from Luminate, MRC, Nielsen and the IFPI Global Music Report 2022.
Explains Runcie, “Streaming growth has started to slow down from a revenue perspective year over year, especially from the heights that we had seen in the pandemic. That has sparked a lot of industry discussions about how to split the pie like pushes to raise prices and increase the payouts to certain types of artists; reducing the noise and fraud. But I do think that the two big opportunities that the industry has to grow the overall pie is to look at the superfan and lean into generative AI.”
“I do think even alone on the streaming services, they have a lot of valuable data and understanding as to who the superfans are,” says Runcie. “And as well to all of the combinations of things that can be offered, whether it’s exclusive access to fans, community input … I think there are different ways to have different tiers to enable that.”
Acknowledging the intense discussions emanating over the use of generative AI, Runcie says the emerging technology represents another growth opportunity by increasing derivative work.
“Anytime in the history of recorded music, derivative work grows and that overall demand grows the pie,” he explains. “And it can do that because the underlying asset that a lot of popular derivative work comes from is work that the record labels already own. It’s what the rights holders already have. So being able to find the right attribution, being able to do it in a way that acknowledges both the safety and rights that the artists and the rights holders have, I think all of this is possible if you accept the fact that this isn’t necessarily a genie that’s going to go back in the bottle. It’s still very early, but no different than YouTube being able to figure out Content ID. The same can be possible for generative AI and allowing superfans to create making music, anything that enables that as that continues to grow, it only adds more value adds to the artists and the rights holders who have the valuable intellectual property.”
On the hip-hop front, the report notes the genre’s total global revenue rose slightly between 2021 ($2.72B) and 2022 ($2.78B). But its share of total revenue has dipped from 27.7% in 2021 to 26.8% in 2022. And while only three rap albums have hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2023 — Lil Uzi Vert’s Pink Tape, Travis Scott’s Utopia and Drake’s For All the Dogs — hip-hop still reigns as the top genre. It accounts for 33% of all albums on the Billboard 200, more than twice pop and rock combined at 16% each.
However, in the report section titled “From URL to IRL” it points out the glaring fact that despite hip-hop and R&B’s popularity in terms of streaming and social media, pop and rock still command the live music front: 27% of concert revenue/33% of streaming revenue in the U.S. versus 11% of concert revenue/27% of streaming revenue for R&B/hip-hop according to Trapital’s analysis of stats from Pollstar and Luminate.
The report explains the disconnect is related to several factors. Among them: that hip-hop artists didn’t consistently begin touring on a global arena level until the 2000s; the hesitancy on the part of concert promoters to book rap acts owing to violence and safety concerns even though “rock acts often had worse violence issues”; younger fan bases; and the fact that many hip-hop and R&B acts “have clustered around larger festivals like Rolling Loud, the club circuit and other festival appearances” which are more economical than paying for expensive concert tickets.
“This is something I’ve been eager to dig into,” says Runcie. “And I’m glad we were able to do it with this report. When you transition from stream URL to in real life, hip-hop and R&B don’t necessarily dominate in the same way. Even though we’ve seen hip-hop and R&B artists that have done arena tours like Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, other hip-hop/R&B artists who’ve had very popular music haven’t quite gotten to that same point on the live music side.”
To that point, the report includes a breakdown of which artists can sell out a tour at each venue level. The list encompasses 30+ stadiums (Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, Lady Gaga), 10K+ arenas (SZA, Lizzo, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus), 5K+ amphitheatres (Lil Uzi Vert, Janelle Monae, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Baby, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie) and 2K+ ballrooms (Latto, Chloe Baily, Yeat, Denzel Curry, Glorilla).
Also of interest in The Trapital Report is a look at Latin music’s popularity, the largest DSPs and most valuable private companies, indie artist case stories, audience profiles, the most valuable songs streamed on Spotify and YouTube and the top 1% of artists in streaming. According to Runcie, the full reports features detailed analyses on streaming revenue, music genre trends, live entertainment, short-form video, chart analysis among other topics.
For more information, visit trapital.co/report
Spotify’s third-quarter earnings results helped give investors confidence about the company’s path and sent its shares up 10.3% to $170.63 on Tuesday before closing at $159.35 on Friday — up 6.3% for the week. Not only did the streaming giant turn an operating profit of 32 million euros ($34.8 million) — compared to a $247 million euro ($269 million) operating loss a year earlier — it added 6 million subscribers in the same quarter a price increase went into effect.
That third-quarter growth will help the NYSE-listed, Swedish company exceed its expectations for subscriber gains this year. “We walked into 2023 thinking we would do just over 20 million in net subscriber adds for the full year,” CEO Daniel Ek said during Tuesday’s earnings call, “but we’re actually on track to deliver 30 million.”
Morgan Stanley analysts raised their Spotify price target from $190 to $200 on Wednesday, writing in an investor note that the company is “a superior product with pricing power” that will continue to expand gross margins. Likewise, analysts at JP Morgan increased their Spotify price target from $190 to $205 with a belief that the operating margin and free cash flow milestones reached in the quarter will attract more investors to the company.
Led by Anghami’s 11.5% improvement to $1.07, six music streaming companies had an average gain of 4.3% this week. China’s Tencent Music Entertainment, which will report third-quarter results on Nov. 14, gained 7.2% to $7.13, while another Chinese music streamer, Cloud Music, gained 3.3% to 85.50 HKD ($10.93). Meanwhile, U.S.-based LiveOne gained 1% to $1.00.
Overall, the 21-stock Billboard Global Music Index dropped 0.7% to 1,304.74 this week, marking its third consecutive weekly loss and tenth down week in the second half of 2023. The slight decline dropped the index’s year-to-date gain to 11.7%. Of its 21 stocks, 13 finished the week in negative territory, seven posted gains and one, Round Hill Music Royalty Fund, was unchanged. (Round Hill’s purchase by Concord for $469 million was approved by shareholders on Oct. 18.)
Despite the widespread losses across the music business, the Billboard Global Music Index fared better than many indexes. In the United States, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite each declined 1.9%, while the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 dropped 1.5% and South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3%.
The Nasdaq has slipped 10.3% from its peak on July 31, officially putting it in correction territory — a 10% decline from a high — on Wednesday. The Billboard Global Music Index hasn’t entered a correction yet, but it’s close, having declined 9.9% from its peak of 1,447.32 on July 21.
Shares of Universal Music Group (UMG) fell 4.2% to 23.31 euros ($24.46) this week, with the company’s third-quarter results on Thursday preceding a 7.2% decline on Friday. Guggenheim analysts maintained both their buy rating on UMG’s stock and their 27.00 euro ($28.56) price target. But the analysts dropped their fourth-quarter forecasts for UMG’s streaming revenue (from 4.4% to 3.5%) and subscription revenue growth (13.0% to 12.8%).
Radio stocks were hit particularly hard in the wake of Cumulus Media’s third-quarter earnings, which showed that the company’s revenue declined 11% year-over-year, to $207.4 million. That was chalked up to “weakness in national markets,” the company said on Friday. Cumulus Media’s share price fell 11.7% to $4.77 on Friday and finished the week down 5.4%. iHeartMedia, which will report earnings on November 9, fell 4.9% on Friday and finished the week down 12.7%.
K-pop stocks had a tumultuous week following Wednesday’s arrest of Lee Sun-kyun — an actor and member of the group BIGBANG known as G-Dragon — on charges of using illegal drugs. Lee, whose exclusive contract with YG Entertainment ended in June, denied the charges. Following his arrest, shares of YG Entertainment fell 7.9% to 50,200 won ($37.01) on Thursday, though they recovered most of the loss to finish the week down 2% to 52,600 won ($38.78).
News of Lee’s arrest sparked days of frenetic media coverage in South Korea, hurting other K-pop stocks and eliciting statements from K-pop agencies to quash any speculation their artists might be involved. Shares of HYBE fell 10.7% to 204,000 won ($150.42) on Thursday. The company issued a statement to the local press saying “BTS is in no way related to the rumors spreading online,” according to reports. HYBE shares recovered some of Thursday’s losses with a 3.9% gain on Friday and finished the week down 5.6% to 212,000 won ($156.32).
SM Entertainment, home to K-pop groups NCT and Red Velvet, fell 5.1% on Thursday and closed the week down 8.4% to 103,900 ($73.61). JYP Entertainment, the agency behind Stray Kids and Twice, lost 6.2% on Thursday but finished the week up 2.7% to 103,600 won ($76.39).
Even amid the streaming-driven spectacular recovery of the music business, rights management organizations are thriving. Music rights collections reached €10.83 billion ($11.4 billion) in 2022, according to CISAC, the trade organization of collective management societies, a historic high that represents 28% growth over 2021 revenue, partly because the live business is recovering so fast.
“It’s an excellent result,” CISAC director general Gadi Oron told Billboard. “It’s record-breaking in terms of collections, since we exceeded €12 billion” — CISAC member societies racked up €12.1 billion ($12.7 billion) in revenue, counting audiovisual, literary and other collections — “and it’s record-breaking in terms of year-on-year growth.”
This arguably undervalues the rights business, because it only counts money that goes through rights management organizations — both collective management societies and private businesses that license the same rights — and not revenue from direct deals with publishers. In the U.S., the world’s biggest market, for example, it counts public performance royalties but not the mechanical royalties handled by the Mechanical Licensing Collective. Add in that money and, although an apples-to-Apple Music accounting would get complicated, the total is almost certainly more than half of the $26.2 billion global recorded music revenue that IFPI reported for the same year. That’s a lot of money flowing through organizations with unpronounceable initials.
At first glance, it looks like revenue from collections is growing much slower than those from recordings — music rights collections are up 31% since 2018, while recording revenue is up nearly 50%. But that may not paint a full picture. Most of the growth in the recording business is tied to streaming — much of its future growth will come from streaming in the developing world. The same is true of collections, except that digital only became the biggest source of revenue this year, representing 38% of the total. Most other sources of collections revenue are growing slower, except for live, which was whipsawed by the pandemic and will only recover fully this year. And since 2018, digital collections grew by150% while global digital revenue grew by just under 100%.
The current pace of growth is unsustainable, since it includes the once-in-a-century recovery of revenue collected from live performance, which grew 185.7%. But digital collections alone grew 33.5%, and that revenue will make up a larger share of total revenue in the coming years, which implies faster growth overall. In five years, “the one thing I’m certain of is that digital will become more than a third of the pie,” Oron says. It could even be half — presumably without much erosion in live revenue and other sources of income.
As in the recorded music business, the larger amount of that money will come from countries that thus far have had small, or even negligible, music industries. The countries that brought in the most revenue in 2022 aren’t so different from the usual — the U.S. in the lead with €2.6 billion ($2.7 billion, up 30.5%), then France with €1.3 billion ($1.3 billion, up 39.3%), the U.K. with €1 billion ($1 billion, up 24.3%), Germany with €903 million ($951 million, up 17.9%) and Japan with €848 million ($893 million, up 10.1% in local currency). That’s similar to the biggest markets for recorded music, only France does better in collections, comparatively, while Japan fares a bit worse. (Europe still accounts for 51% of collections revenue, with another 27% coming from the U.S. and Canada.) “The countries in the top 10 have always been the biggest collectors,” Oron says.
The balance of power will tilt even more toward some of these markets, however, as the biggest and most important European societies — SACEM in France, PRS for the U.K. and GEMA in Germany — sign more affiliates to collect more digital revenue. Those societies now have the repertoire, and thus the leverage, to negotiate better deals with big platforms that cover much of the globe. Some of the growth in collections is fueled by the fact that “many societies renegotiated,” Oron says, and he predicts that “hubs” will become more popular over the next decade.
At the same time, the fastest growth is coming from developing markets that are almost entirely digital: Vietnam, India, Indonesia and Thailand. Collections in Latin America grew almost 65% in 2022. As in recorded music, these markets never accounted for much revenue of any kind, so their emergence is almost entirely pure growth. And since not all of the countries with fast-growing music businesses have collecting societies that function well, rights organizations could face a stark choice: Reform them or work with them in order to collect a range of royalties; or try to license streaming services that operate in those markets from outside the countries to ensure that the fastest-growing stream of revenue will flow more directly to songwriters and publishers?
One of the questions around the future of collections is artificial intelligence, the industry’s favorite savior or bogeyman, depending on the day, and the CISAC report devotes most of two pages to it, in the form of forewords by Oron and CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus. “There is no question that the way we address it now will have a huge bearing on collections in the future,” writes Oron, who calls the technology an “existential issue” that presents both “threats” and “amazing opportunities.”
Ulvaeus takes the same tone. “Fresh from COVID and the economic squeeze, what we now face is a potentially far more serious, existential challenge — that of Artificial intelligence,” he writes. “I think of it as having the power to extend the human mind and potentially create wonderful art. But it brings dangers too, and without hard rules protecting human creators it could also threaten their livelihoods on a huge scale.”
Both Oron and Ulvaeus say CISAC intends to play a leading role in making sure AI helps, rather than hurts, creators. Collecting societies could be an important part of any such solution, given the amount of material that would need to be licensed. Right now, “you don’t know what you’re licensing and to whom,” Oron says. “The most important issue is transparency.”