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With climate change having an increasing effect on the music industry, Billboard is partnering with the Music Sustainability Alliance to help foster impactful solutions to this urgent issue.
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Billboard will be the official media partner of the inaugural Music Sustainability Summit, happening Feb. 5 at the USC Campus in Los Angeles. Produced by the Music Sustainability Alliance, the event marks the first music industry climate summit in North America.
“Billboard is delighted to be partnering with the Music Sustainability Alliance to amplify their essential work in educating the music industry about climate action,” says Billboard‘s Chief Brand Officer Dana Droppo. “Dedicating our attention to environmentalism is an investment in future generations of fans and artists alike, and we can’t wait witness the exchange of ideas at this inaugural Summit.”
The Music Sustainability Alliance provides science-based solutions, business case analyses, best practices, and tools for operational change across the music industry. Tickets for the Summit — running 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. — are available on a sliding scale between $25 and $200 and are available now.
“The MSA is thrilled to partner with Billboard to advance meaningful climate action in the music industry,” adds Music Sustainability Alliance President and Co-founder Amy Morrison. “With the support of Billboard, The Summit will become an annual gathering of the tribes, bringing together the MSA team, our diverse group of stakeholders and new advocates.”
The Summit will feature speakers including Lindsay Arell, head of sustainability at ASM, Maggie Baird the founder of Support + Feed, John Fernandez, the director of the Environmental Solutions Initiative at MIT, Adam Gardner, the co-founder and Co-Director of REVERB (and also the guitarist and vocalist for Guster), Garrett Keraga, the senior manager of sustainability, policy & advisory at ClimeCo, Cassie Lee, the CEO of Sound Future, Michael Martin, the CEO and founder of r.World & Effect Partners, Amy Morrison, the president & co-founder of the the Music Sustainability Alliance, Lesley Olenik the vice president of touring at Live Nation and Jake Perry, the director of operations at C3 Presents. See the complete program here.
Verswire — a venture capital music startup launched by Veeps founder/COO Sherry Saeedi, Blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus and Lippman Entertainment partner Nick Lippman, with Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz on board as a strategic advisor — raised $12.3 million in seed and Series A funding led by E.O.A. Productions and idobi Radio along with Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman and Foo Fighters tour manager Gus Brandt. Concurrently, Verswise announced a new publishing arm set to launch this year in partnership with Kobalt Music Group.
Verswire has been described as a development incubator for both emerging and established artists that tailors a custom investment for each, including “funding, resources, tools, mentoring, support from prominent music executives and an ecosystem to own and operate their businesses within while allowing them to keep majority ownership of their masters,” according to a press release at launch. The company has signed two artists thus far: Beauty School Dropout and brand-new signee Girlfriends, an alt-rock duo composed of Travis Mills and Nick Gross.
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to director Alexandria Bombach’s Indigo Girls documentary Indigo Girls: It’s Only Life After All, which premiered on the opening night of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The distributor is planning a theatrical release for the film in the spring.
BMG acquired the majority of the recorded music catalog of French pop singer and composer Alain Chamfort. The acquisition comprises 13 albums, including Poses, Amour Année Zéro, Tendres Fièvres and Secrets Glacés as well as some of his biggest hits, including “Manureva,” “La Fièvre Dans Le Sang” and “Géant.” BMG will release Chamfort’s future recordings, including a four-track EP with Sébastien Tellier in January and a new studio album, L’Impermanence, in March. BMG will subsequently reissue several of Chamfort’s previous albums.
Additionally, BMG has strengthened its interest in Berlin band NENA‘s catalog, including the band’s global smash hit, “99 Luftballons.” Adding to its existing shares in the catalog, the company has acquired singer Nena’s U.S. recording copyright and ROW artist royalties, along with three band members’ artist shares. Other songs in the NENA catalog including “Nur geträumt,” “Leuchtturm,” “Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann” and “? (Fragezeichen).”
Iron Horse Acquisitions Corp., a special purpose acquisitions company (SPAC), has raised $69 million from an initial public offering of 6,900,000 units at $10 each. Each unit consists of one share of common stock, one full warrant and one right to receive one-fifth of one share of common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination. The company’s units are listed on the Nasdaq and started trading under the ticker symbol IROHU on Dec. 27. Founded by Jose A. Bengochea, who serves as CEO, Iron Horse is described as a media and entertainment-focused blank check company that will focus on deals spanning verticals including music rights aggregators, music licensors, international music labels, K-pop, AI, production studios, celebrity-backed content creators, gaming, fantasy sports, social media marketers and talent management.
TRINITI, a generative artificial intelligence platform powered by music tech studio CreateSafe, has partnered with newly launched music production platform SOUNDS.STUDIO, which will use TRINITI technology to provide an in-browser music and audio AI tool allowing users to create and distribute music all in one place. TRINITI previously made news for powering Grimes‘ AI voice model. Under the new deal, SOUNDS.STUDIO will allow its users to have the GrimesAI voice model on their own music and then distribute it to the major streaming platforms via TRINITI’s distribution channels.
Lyrics licensing and data solutions company LyricFind acquired technology company Rotor Videos, which makes it easier and more cost-efficient for artists and labels to create video content for Spotify Canvas, Apple Motion Art, social media platforms and more. The Rotor Videos team will continue to be led by founder/CEO Diarmuid Moloney, who will report to LyricFind founder/CEO Darryl Ballantyne. Along with the acquisition, LyricFind and CD Baby have struck a partnership to launch integrations of the Rotor Videos tool and LyricFind’s video enterprise solution, enabling CD Baby artists to create video content directly on the CD Baby platform.
ADA Worldwide has struck a distribution partnership with Omnivore Recordings covering the label’s entire catalog along with new releases. Omnivore specializes in historical releases, reissues and previously unissued vintage recordings, as well as select releases of new music, on CD, vinyl and digital. Omnivore’s catalog includes recordings by such acts as The Muffs, Alex Chilton, Laura Nyro, Stephen Stills and Blood, Sweat & Tears.
ASM Global has renewed its management contract with the Wilmington Convention Center in Wilmington, N.C., extending the relationship through 2028. The relationship between the two extends back to 2008.
Colombian hemp and cannabis producer One World Products partnered with Kx Family Care, a CBD-enriched personal care product line created by Stephen Marley and Shelly O’Neill. Under the deal, One World will produce and distribute Kx Family Care products in Colombia and Latin America, with the two companies collaborating on efforts to market and distribute the products.
Kids’ music brand KIDZ BOP struck an exclusive apparel licensing deal with IHL Group. An all-new KIDZ BOP apparel line including activewear, intimates, sleepwear and loungewear is set to hit North American retailers in the third quarter of 2024.
On a recent balmy December afternoon in Los Angeles, The Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) sponsored a panel discussion on wellness for students at King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science. BMAC co-founder and chair Willie “Prophet” Stiggers was joined on the panel, titled Healing Through Music, with other music industry professionals who shared their wellness journeys.
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The students at King/Drew are held to high standards and face a rigorous curriculum. They’re also teenagers who are navigating all that comes with this stage of growing up, including their fast-approaching post-high school lives. While this can be exciting, it can also bring up uncertainty and anxiety.
Moderated by entertainment attorney, activist and BMAC founding member Dina LaPolt of LaPolt Law, P.C., the panelists included LaPolt’s client artist and songwriter Iann Dior, wellness and mental health expert Rebecca Kordecki, and songwriter/producer Maejor. The panelists discussed their mental health struggles and how they learned to cope. LaPolt has long been a supporter of King/Drew High School and has been a mentor to several students.
“I want to talk to you about something that’s very important in today’s world, especially after the pandemic, which is wellness,” LaPolt shared in her opening remarks to students just before holiday break. “Emotional, physical, and mental wellness. Anxiety, all kinds of depressing disorders can happen… it’s a lot.”
Songwriter, producer and podcast host Maejor travels to underserved communities and teaches about breath work, wellness and the importance of “setting intention.” Maejor’s journey to wellness began when he was diagnosed with cancer. It was during this time that he was bombarded with info on healing, some of which he had a hard time taking seriously. His interest was piqued by what he was learning about the effects of sound on well-being, and he highlighted the chanting of monks as an example. He was inspired to use what he was learning from science, the spiritual community and the music industry.
For several minutes, Maejor filled the auditorium with one of his compositions that he described as utilizing the A444 frequency — the relaxation frequency.
Wellness and mental health expert Rebecca Kordecki has worked as a motivational speaker for over 20 years. It was during this journey to wellness, that she discovered the importance of breath work. “We breathe involuntarily,” Kordecki told students. “The beautiful thing about breath is that we can voluntarily manipulate the breath to do things for us. For instance, we can manipulate the breath to give us energy, we can manipulate it to calm us down, we can manipulate to put us to sleep at night. So, learning how to use the breath is a really powerful tool.”
She added, “Eight years ago, I discovered breath work and it changed the game for me. I was doing fitness training, working with celebrities and doing all these amazing things but from the outside in. Helping people get six pack abs, feel stronger, and make better movies and all those things, but they were still unhappy inside, I would notice. I thought, how can I get people to connect with their inside while working with them on the outside? That’s when I started to incorporate breath work into the work I do with clients so that they can connect to themselves.”
Kordecki lead everyone in a few breathing exercises, including “box breathing”, which she demonstrated as a four-count inhale, a four-count hold, and then a four count exhale. The technique is often used to help young children learn to regulate their emotions. It is also a great tool for handling anxiety.
Iann Dior, who was impressed the students got out of class to attend the event, was the most in his element, and related easily with the students. At only 24, Dior has already achieved multi-platinum status with “Mood,” his 2020 Hot 100 No. 1 with 24KGoldn.
“One way that I find myself, calming myself down before I go out on stage and everything, is just being by myself,” Ian shared. “I go into the room, and I chill and kind of talk to myself. I remind myself, ‘You’ve been through a lot. You’ve seen a lot of things that normal kids don’t have to see’ … and I remind myself that I’m thankful for all those bad times.”
“Anytime something bad happens, or something doesn’t go my way, I’m thankful for it,” he continued. “I talk to myself, and ask myself, why is this happening, because I need to overcome this and next time something happens again, I move past it.”
He invited the audience to share their stories of what is troubling them. A student near the front shared how it’s been a stressful week due to final exams, and how her academic performance affects her self-esteem. Another shared, through nervous giggles and tears, that she’d been fighting with her friends and learned that her boyfriend had been cheating on her.
Prophet acknowledged from the stage that everyone has experienced that pain and that everyone could relate.
Ian asked the audience to raise their hand if they had a goal or a dream for their life. He shared that at one point he was homeless while living in Puerto Rico. He shared that focusing on what would happen if he didn’t do something to achieve his dreams and advised setting realistic goals and working towards them.
LaPolt then gave the audience a parting task: “When you get home tonight, I want you to look into the mirror and give yourself a high-five and say you got this. That’s want we got to do. We’ve got to motivate each other, but the first thing you have to do is motivate yourself.”
Bob Fead, who held key positions with such powerhouse labels as Liberty Records and A&M Records from the 1960s into the 2000s, died Tuesday (Jan. 2) at the Motion Picture and Television Fund Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 89.
Fead was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska — the youngest of four children and the son of a semi-pro baseball player who died at an early age. Fead found work in Omaha selling men’s clothing but had a dream to move west. He soon found himself in Los Angeles working for a shirt company, but a chance meeting at a party with a record executive landed him a promotions job, on the spot, at Liberty Records.
Fead thrived at Liberty and helped drive radio airplay for such artists as Bobby Vee, Gene Pitney, Willie Nelson, Jan and Dean, Del Shannon and Vikki Carr. He worked alongside famed producer (and longtime friend) Snuff Garrett.
After five years at Liberty, Fead was recruited by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss to join them at their fledgling A&M Records, where he eventually rose to senior vp of sales and marketing. While there, Fead worked with such legendary acts as Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66, Quincy Jones, the Carpenters, Cat Stevens and Peter Frampton. As part of a deal that moved manufacturing and distribution to RCA, Fead shifted to RCA to oversee all aspects of sales and distribution for A&M and associated labels.
Fead later launched Alfa Records, a U.S.-based division of Japan’s Alfa Music, and found immediate success with 1960s singing star Lulu, whose “I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do)” made the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1981. Alfa also put Billy Vera and the Beaters on the map with a pair of Hot 100 hits that same year: “I Can Take Care of Myself” and “At This Moment.” The latter song belatedly reached No. 1 in January 1987 (on Rhino Records) after it was featured on the hit TV series Family Ties.
Fead also served as president of both Monument Records and Michael Nesmith’s Pacific Arts Video. In February 1982, A Pacific Arts Video release, Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts, won a Grammy for video of the year — making it the first Grammy ever awarded for a video.
Fead was next tapped to be president of Famous Music, a division of Paramount Pictures, where he managed music rights related to such classic films as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Godfather and Footloose.
Fead next landed at Warner/Chappell Music, where he managed publishing rights for his old friend, Quincy Jones, and developed a longtime publishing relationship with Burt Bacharach, serving as president of Bacharach’s publishing company.
Bacharach died last February. A&M co-founder Moss died last August, as did Harold Childs, the label’s senior vice president of promotion and sales.
Fead gave his personal time to various philanthropic ventures, including serving as president of the music chapter of City of Hope. He also served as a board member and later became president of Society of Singers, a philanthropic organization that helped singers experiencing financial problems. He would often invite friends to entertain at a small venue in L.A. and donate all the money from ticket sales to the organization. Some of the artists who performed, at Fead’s request, included Mac Davis, Jeff Barry, Jerry Fuller and the long-married Jackie DeShannon and Randy Edelman.
Fead additionally served on the board of ASCAP and The Johnny Mercer Foundation.
Fead was introduced to his future wife, Beverlye, 40 years ago by music agent John Doumanian. The Feads were longtime residents of Montecito, Calif. In 2018, Beverlye wrote a warm recap of her husband’s life and career for The Montecito Journal. In the piece, she told the story of his fortuitous hiring at Liberty Records.
“After college, he came to California to work for a shirt company,” she wrote. “The first night he arrived in Los Angeles, he went to a party, and it changed the course of his life forever. He met a man who said Bob would make a good promotion man in the music business. He was willing to pay $85 a week, which was a lot of money in those days; Bob accepted the offer on the spot. He had no idea what to do, or what a promotion man was. His new employer gave him a record, told him to take it to radio stations to promote. He did. That was how he came to Liberty Records and to a business he has loved to this day.”
Until his retirement at age 81, Fead commuted between his home in Montecito and L.A. for work. More recently, the Feads returned to L.A. to be closer to family.
Songwriter and current ASCAP president Paul Williams issued a statement on the passing of his longtime friend (and fellow Omaha native): “Bob was an important piece of so many success stories, including mine…his passion was wrapped in a camouflage that made people comfortable and accepting of his opinion of a new artist. Both [his] opinion and advocacy changed lives! To those who were blessed to know him, may your sweetest of memories grow stronger with every mention of his name. God bless you, Bob Fead.”
Fead is survived by his wife, Beverlye; children Michael (and his wife, Tera) and Laurella Fead (from a marriage to Marilyn Fead); brother Bill Fead; grandchildren Max Clark and Jackson Fead; and relatives from his wife’s side of the family, including Jim and Leslie Hyman, Terry Hamermesh, Tessa Hamermesh, Alex Hyman and Gideon Hyman.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests tribute donations be made to the Motion Picture Television Fund (Compassionate Care Fund) at https://mptf.com/ways-to-give/.
Universal Music Group (UMG) has acquired the catalog of Oriental Star Agencies (OSA). Founded in 1966 in London by Pakistani immigrants Muhammad Ayyub and his brothers, OSA is known as one of the United Kingdom’s top labels for South Asian talent.
The OSA catalog consists primarily of recorded music, but the new UMG deal encompasses all of its master recording holdings and its publishing. This includes 18,000 songs and video recordings, including from Malkit Singh, a well-known Bhangra artist; Bally Sagoo; and Attaullah Khan. It also includes works from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a prolific, Grammy-nominated artist and film composer who is known for popularizing a form of Sufi devotional music, called “qawwali,” outside of his native Pakistan.
The sounds of OSA artists were able to permeate the United Kingdom’s musical consciousness even further at the turn of the 21st century, when several older OSA tracks were placed on the soundtrack of the hit soccer movie, Bend It Like Beckham, released in 2002. The label continued to operate independently until 2017 when it sold to Hi-Tech Music, another British record label.
According to IFPI’s Global Music Report, the Asian recorded music market grew 15.4% in 2023, marking the third consecutive year the continent has experienced double-digit revenue growth. Now, Asia accounts for just under 23% of the global market and is expected to continue to expand. Japan, South Korea and China account for the majority of Asia’s global music exports, but South Asian countries overall continue to grow year after year.
In recent years, as the music catalog market grew red hot and competition among buyers became greater than ever, some investors showedincreased interest in acquiring music from typically underrepresented genres and nationalities in the catalog market. Reservoir, for example, invested in new relationships and catalogs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt; Wahoo Music Fund One focused solely on Latin music purchases; Singapore-based blackx tried to corner the Asian music market; and Armada Music’s BEAT started buying up dance catalogs.
According to a press release about the OSA deal, the catalog acquisition “complements UMG’s current service offering and will help drive momentum for the South Asian music market, enabling local artists to reach the largest possible audience in the global community.”
“This acquisition of a hugely successful and iconic British-Asian label specializing in South Asian music will further increase Universal Music Group’s exposure to, and participation in, a fast growing and rapidly changing market,” said Adam Granite, executive vp of market development at UMG, in a statement. “I am particularly pleased that Universal Music Group will become the next custodian of Oriental Star Agencies, a label that has played an unparalleled role in bridging the musical identities of the UK and South Asia, taking the unique sounds of its artists to a broad audience. We believe this catalog has huge potential, and look forward to taking it to the next generation of music fans globally.”
“This is a momentous day for OSA and all our artists,” added Mohammed Twassen of OSA. “Becoming part of the UMG family will turbo-charge our South Asian music, helping it to get in front of more music fans across the world. The past decade has seen a true global explosion of music from the region, and now, under UMG’s stewardship, the next decade promises to be even more exciting.”
Sphere Entertainment Co. has promoted Ed Lunger to senior vp/GM of Sphere, the groundbreaking venue that opened in Las Vegas last September.
After previously serving as Sphere’s vp/assistant BM of back of house operations, Lunger will now oversee building operations, event production, technical operations, guest services, food and beverage, merchandise operations and ticket operations. He will also work across the Sphere organization to develop, execute and support strategic plans aligned with the venue’s overall business objectives.
“Being part of the Sphere team opening this next-generation venue has been an honor, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to now lead our venue operations team in this new role,” Lunger said in a statement. “Sphere is setting a new standard for the in-venue guest experience, and I look forward to working with my colleagues across the organization as we continue to deliver unforgettable moments for our guests right here in Las Vegas.”
“I am pleased that Ed has taken on a new leadership role with Sphere,” added Rich Claffey, Sphere’s executive vp/COO. “Since its opening, Sphere has been delivering a first-of-its-kind experience to guests. With his deep expertise in venue management and operations, including at other venues in the MSG Family of Companies, Ed will ensure that Sphere is well positioned to continue building on our world-class experience.”
Lunger is based in Las Vegas and has been on Sphere’s venue leadership team since 2020. He previously spent seven years on the venue operation team at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., and also worked in various venue operations and engineering roles at Madison Square Garden.
Sphere opened to much fanfare in September with a residency from U2. In December, Billboard Boxscore reported that the band’s 17-show run at Sphere generated nearly $110 million in ticket sales; a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Dec. 5 notes that those shows generated a total of $30.7 million in revenue for Sphere Entertainment through Nov. 30. Meanwhile, Sphere Entertainment’s own content offering, Darren Aronofsky’s Postcard from Earth, generated approximately $44.5 million in total revenue from ticket sales from 111 showings.
U2‘s residency has been extended multiple times, with the final shows slated for May. Phish will play its own four-show Sphere residency this April.
Universal Music Group and Tencent Music Entertainment have renewed their multi-year licensing agreement, the companies announced on Wednesday (Jan. 3). Under the renewed agreement between TME and UMG — first signed in May 2017 — Tencent will continue to distribute UMG content on its associated streaming platforms QQ Music, Kogou Music and Kuwo Music, as […]
Hit singles by Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and SZA helped lift the U.K. streaming market to a record high last year with more than 179 billion music tracks streamed across the 12 months, up 12.8% on 2022’s total, and nearly double the volume of audio streams registered five years ago, according to year-end figures from labels trade body BPI.
Female artists fueled the growth in streaming consumption, spending an unprecedented 31 weeks at No. 1 on the United Kingdom’s official singles chart – the highest total since the charts launched in 1952.
Leading the pack is Cyrus’s “Flowers,” which spent 10 weeks atop the U.K. charts and was the year’s biggest song with 198 million streams.
In total, seven of the ten most popular songs in the U.K. in 2023 were by female acts with SZA, Swift, Cameroonian American singer Libianca and U.K. artists PinkPantheress, RAYE and Ellie Goulding (in collaboration with Calvin Harris) joining Cyrus in the annual best-sellers list. BPI reports it is the highest number of female artists in the year-end top 10 in more than 70 years.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of tracks by British rappers Dave and Central Cee, Nigerian singer Rema and Harry Styles.
Across the year, almost half (48.5%) of the songs that entered the top 10 of the U.K.’s weekly official singles chart were by female acts, either solo or in collaboration with other artists.
Jo Twist
Courtesy Photo
Reflecting on a record-breaking year for female artists, BPI chief executive Jo Twist said the achievements of stars like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and RAYE should be celebrated, but cautioned against complacency in the industry “to ensure that this becomes the norm.”
BPI reports that streaming now makes up more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K., compared to 64% five years ago, with physical formats accounting for 9.4% of today’s market.
The trade body says that more than 2,500 tracks generated over 10 million audio and video streams in 2023, compared to around 1,100 songs reaching the same total in 2018.
Overall, music consumption rose for a ninth consecutive year with the equivalent of 182.8 million albums streamed or purchased in 2023 across digital and physical formats, up 10% on the previous 12 months.
Vinyl album sales rose for the 16th consecutive year, growing at their fastest rate this decade (up almost 12%) to 6.1 million units and marking the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, when Phil Collins, Elton John and Madonna were among the year’s best-selling 12-inch releases.
In 2023, that accolade was won by Swift, who holds three places in the year’s top-selling vinyl album charts, including the No. 1 spot with 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Other entries in the top 10 included records by The Rolling Stones, Lana Del Rey, Fleetwood Mac, Blur, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Rodrigo.
CD sales dropped 6.9% year-on-year to 10.8 million units, while cassette sales stayed broadly level with recent years at 136,000 units. Digital album sales dropped 4.6% to 3.5 million units with best-sellers including Trustfall by Pink and But Here We Are by Foo Fighters.
Despite the dominance of streaming, BPI reports that physical format sales made up more than half of all chart-eligible sales for the vast majority (86%) of albums that debuted at the top of the U.K. charts last year.
Across digital and physical formats combined, The Weeknd’s The Highlights was the year’s most popular album in the U.K., followed by Swift’s Midnights and her 1989 (Taylor’s Version) set. Elton John’s Diamonds, which was first released in 2017, ranked at No. 4 thanks to the singer’s farewell tour and high-profile Glastonbury headline performance in the summer.
Harry Styles’ Harry’s House secured fifth place in the overall year-end albums tally, while Barbie: The Album was the year’s top compilation.
BPI’s preliminary year-end report, published Wednesday (Jan. 3), doesn’t include financial sales data. Instead, it uses Official Charts Company data to measure U.K. music consumption in terms of volume.
The London-based organization will publish its full year-end report, including recorded music revenues, later this year. Another British trade body, the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), is due to report on annual music retail spending later this month.
The U.K. is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of just under $1.7 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2023 Global Music Report.
U.K. OFFICIAL ARTIST ALBUMS CHART 2023
1. The Weeknd – The Highlights
2. Taylor Swift – Midnights
3. Taylor Swift – 1989 (Taylor’s Version)
4. Elton John – Diamonds
5. Harry Styles – Harry’s House
6. Fleetwood Mac – 50 Years – Don’t Stop
7. Eminem – Curtain Call – The Hits
8. SZA – SOS
9. Arctic Monkeys – AM
10. ABBA – Gold – Greatest Hits
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U.K. TOP TEN OFFICIAL SINGLES CHART 2023
1. Miley Cyrus – Flowers
2. Dave & Central Cee – Sprinter
3. RAYE ft 070 Shake – Escapism
4. Taylor Swift – Anti-Hero
5. Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding – Miracle
6. Rema – Calm Down
7. SZA – Kill Bill
8. PinkPantheress – Boy’s A Liar
9. Harry Styles – As It Was
10. Libianca – People
The Billboard Global Music Index — a diverse collection of 20 publicly traded music companies — finished 2023 up 31.3% as Spotify’s share price alone climbed 138% thanks to cost-cutting and focus on margins. Spotify is the single-largest component of the float-adjusted index and has one of the largest market capitalizations of any music company.
The music index was outperformed by the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite, which gained 43.4% with the help of triple-digit gains from chipmaker Nvidia Corp (+239%) and Meta Platforms (+194%). But the Billboard Global Music Index exceeded some other major indexes: the S&P 500 gained 24.2%, South Korea’s KOSPI composite index grew 18.7% and the FTSE 100 improved 3.8%.
Other than Spotify, a handful of major companies had double-digit gains in 2023 that drove the index’s improvement. Universal Music Group finished the year up 14.7%. Concert promoter Live Nation rode a string of record-setting quarters to a 34.2% gain. HYBE, the increasingly diversified K-pop company, rose 34.6%. SM Entertainment, in which HYBE acquired a minority stake in March, gained 20.1%.
A handful of smaller companies also finished the year with big gains. LiveOne gained 117.4%. Reservoir Media improved 19.4%. Chinese music streamer Cloud Music improved 15.8%.
The biggest loser on the Billboard Global Music Index in 2023 was radio broadcaster iHeartMedia, which fell 56.4%. Abu Dhabi-based music streamer Anghami finished 2023 down 34.8%. After a series of large fluctuations in recent months, Anghami ended the year 69% below its high mark for 2023. Hipgnosis Songs Fund, currently undergoing a strategic review after shareholders voted against continuation in October, finished the year down 16.6%.
Sphere Entertainment Co., which split from MSG Entertainment’s live entertainment business back in April, ended 2023 down 24.4%. Most of that decline came before the company opened its flagship venue, Sphere, in Las Vegas on September 29, however. Since U2 opened the venue to widespread acclaim and earned Sphere global media coverage, the stock dropped only 8.5%.
For the week, the index rose 1.1% to 1,534.07. Fourteen of the index’s 20 stocks posted gains this week, four dropped in price and one was unchanged.
LiveOne shares rose 15.7% to $1.40 after the company announced on Friday (Dec. 29) it added 63,000 new paid memberships in December and surpassed 3.5 million total memberships, an increase of 29% year over year. iHeartMedia shares climbed 14.6% to $2.67. Anghami continued its ping-pong trajectory by finishing the week up 16.9%.
12/29/2023
The year saw K-pop companies making mega moves on a global scale, while the catalog market remained hot.
12/29/2023