Business
Page: 124
It’s time for another spin around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. Don’t forget to dig into this year’s Indie Power Players list. We also have a weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry figures we’ve lost throughout the year.
Bravado, the merch and brand management arm of Universal Music Group, announced across-the-board changes to its leadership structure. Joining Bravado’s c-suite as chief financial officer is NYC-based Colin McIntosh, most recently CFO and chief operating officer at REVOLT Media. McIntosh reports to company president Matt Young, as do a slew of newly promoted Bravadoans. In Los Angeles, Alyssa Tobias is upped to svp and head of creative services, Ashley Fogerty is now svp of business affairs and Brian Schechter is senior vp and head of brand management. In London, David Boyne is managing director of Bravado, UK, while Rachel Redfearn continues to lead the region’s A&R and brand management and label liaison teams as svp of UK A&R. Working alongside McIntosh in the NYC office is Bill Ashton, who is promoted to svp of commerce at the company, and down Nashville way Stacie Swanson was elevated to vp of artist strategy. But wait there’s more: Reporting to Ashton in the commerce department is NYC-based Briana Farrell, who was promoted to vp of U.S. retail, and Londoner Keith Taperell, now the vp of licensing. “Helping artists connect with fans around the world will always be our driving force, and I’m excited to announce this new leadership, who will ensure that artists’ visions are brought to life,” said Young.
Trending on Billboard
Warner Records welcomed Terese Joseph as senior vp of A&R administration. Based in Los Angeles, Joseph will report to Karen Kwak, evp/head of A&R, and work closely with Julian Petty, evp/head of business and legal affairs. The veteran executive most recently served as head of label operations at Se LaVi/Rebel Music but launched her career at UMG, where she logged time at Def Jam, Victor Victor Worldwide and Capitol. “I’ve known Terese for many years, starting back in our Island Def Jam days in New York,” said Kwak, who oversaw A&R at UMG’s U.S. labels until 2016. “She’s a well-respected and knowledgeable player in the field, playing an integral role in the delivery of massively successful projects for music legends to newcomers alike.”
Sony Music Nashville promoted Lauren “LT” Thomas to svp of promotion, with Thomas having day-to-day oversight of both the RCA Nashville and Columbia Nashville imprints. Thomas will continue to report to evp of promotion Steve Hodges and work with him across the roster on all national promotional strategies and initiatives. During her tenure, Thomas has helped earn radio hits for artists including Luke Combs, Megan Moroney, Nate Smith, Mitchell Tenpenny and Old Dominion. Thomas joined Sony Music Nashville in 2009 and previously spent five years at KMLE in Phoenix, Arizona. Thomas is also a 2019 Billboard 40 Under 40 honoree. –Jessica Nicholson
AEG Presents ditched the “co-” from Don Strasburg‘s title and named the live music veteran as sole president of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest regions. The Denver-based executive will oversee AEG’s regional offices in the Colorado capitol and Seattle, and continue managing the team that books concerts in a full slate of venues. Until recently, Strasburg served as co-president of the expansive region alongside Brent Fedrizzi, who in May was promoted to president of North American regional offices. During a lengthy career, Strasburg has been a plank owner of sorts at Bill Graham Presents/Chuck Morris Presents, Live Nation and AEG Live. “Don has a drive to win and succeed that is unmatched,” noted Shawn Trell, AEG Presents’ evp, COO and general counsel. “He’s got an almost innate sense of knowing what the audience wants and where the trends are heading.”
Emre Dokucu
Turkish conductor, arranger, guitarist and pianist Cenk Eroglu joined Frontiers Label Group as the Italian metal label’s new in-house writer and producer. FLG is the home of such artists as Winger, Stryper and Blue Öyster Cult, among others. Eroglu has a long creative partnership with the former, having appeared on a Kip Winger solo album and later as a core player on the prog-adjacent rock band’s first release for Frontiers, 2006’s IV. “I am truly excited to welcome Cenk to Frontiers Records, and I am confident that his impressive background and top-notch craftsmanship will bring some major added value to our label,” said the label’s president Serafino Perugino. “I am looking forward to working together on new epic projects.”
Vickie Nauman, founder of music-tech consultancy CrossBorderWorks and a former executive at 7digital and Sonos, joined Musical AI as an advisor. Formerly Somms.ai, Musical AI provides tools to help rights holders monitor and manage how their IP can be used in AI creation. “Happy to be a part of this journey,” Naumna said on LinkedIn. “I believe AI can be transformative to us all if used wisely, and generative AI needs licensed models.”
Night Time Industries Association chief executive Michael Kill joined the International Nightlife Association, a Barcelona-based advocate for nightlife venues, as Vice President. In a joint announcement, the organizations called it a validation of Kill’s leadership and the NTIA’s “growing impact on global nightlife policy and advocacy.” Kill remarked that he’s “excited to collaborate with our international counterparts to drive positive change and innovation in the nightlife sector. Together, we will work towards a vibrant, sustainable, and safe nightlife environment for all.”
NASHVILLE NOTES: Contemporary Christian music industry veteran Tim Robinson launched Aligned Talent Agency. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based firm represents artists Love & The Outcome, Dan Bremnes, 7eventh Time Down, Ignescent and others. Robinson most recently served as a booking agent with Greg Oliver Agency –J.N. … Milestone Publicity promoted Campbell Jenkins to publicist, effective immediately. The Belmont University grad joined the Music City-based PR firm a year ago … BMG Canada appointed Bryan Columbus as vp of recorded music. He was previously label director for Concord Label Group/Canada.
The creative team for next year’s SXSW London is taking shape with the appointment of Adem Holness as head of music and Katy Arnander as director of programming. Additionally, Alex Poohs will serve as a consulting creative advisor and Elliot Willis has taken the role of SXSW London’s commercial director. The festival and conference will take place over one week in June 2025 at venues and spaces around Shoreditch in east London. (In April 2021, it was announced that SXSW had signed a “lifeline” deal with P-MRC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC, making P-MRC a stakeholder and long-term partner with the Austin festival. P-MRC is the parent company of Billboard.)
Independent music distribution and marketing company Symphonic Distribution hired Guji Lorenzana as its first territory manager for Asia. Based in Los Angeles, Lorenzana is tasked with growing Symphonic’s presence in the region, by way of expanding its artist roster and forging new business partnerships. A former solo artist and member of Philippines boy-band TFTI, Lorenzana arrives from Ingrooves Music Group, where he was country manager for Philippines.
Aaron Hamel is the new label director for Materia Music, a Seattle-based video game imprint, distributor, publisher and rights administrator. Hamel’s appointment follows Materia’s recent acquisition of the remaining game music inventory of Ship to Shore, a boutique label he founded that’s centered on discovering and re-issuing cult soundtracks. “He shares our passion for discovering and promoting the rich musical heritage of video games as well as bringing innovative new products to the video game music community and marketplace,” said Sebastian Wolff, Materia Music’s founder and CEO.
Victoria Fleary was promoted to vp of social at iONE Digital, a content company targeting Black and urban lifestyle enthusiasts. Fleary joined the company two years ago as senior director of social following stops at Emmis Communications and BET. “Victoria’s promotion is a result of the dedicated work that she has put in since her first day at iOne,” said Sam Stiers, GM/evp. “Her relentless drive, creativity, and commitment to excellence in digital media has truly been an inspiration to everyone around her.”
Gregg Stewart is the new senior manager of communications at Universal Music Canada. Previously he worked with Bell Media for 12 years, leaving as Director of Music Strategy & Industry Relations. He was also with the Much MTV Group for a year and between 2000 and 2006 was with UMG’s digital marketing division. –David Farrell
Live Redesigned creative producer Melody Tseng is the art director and set designer for Alanis Morissette’s recently launched Triple Moon Tour, which carries through late September. Tseng joined the NYC-based live company three years ago as an associate creative producer. She previously worked on projects for Live Nation, Diversified Production Services and others. “Melody, as she always does, brought her unique creative vision to life as both the Art Director and Creative Set Designer for the tour through the artistic use of various stage and scenic elements.”
ICYMI:
Jess Ducrou
Jessica Ducrou is departing as co-CEO of Australia’s Secret Sounds Group, producer of Splendour in the Grass festival … Bradley Jordan‘s Peachtree Entertainment brought in Chuck Steedman of LiveCo, Nathan Baugh of 46 Entertainment and Shane Quick of Premier Productions … Fat Beats appointed Warner Music Group veteran Chris Atlas to president … Songtradr welcomed Harmonix co-founder Alex Rigopulos and music lawyer Priyanka Khimani to its board of directors.
Last Week’s Turntable: Sphere Goes Hollywood
One of Young Thug’s co-defendants is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to force the judge overseeing the rapper’s high-profile gang trial to recuse himself, arguing that a secret meeting with prosecutors and a witness was a serious violation of judicial ethics.
Judge Ural Glanville himself has already repeatedly refused requests from Thug’s attorney Brian Steel and other defense lawyers that he step aside over allegations about the so-called ex parte meeting – and instead ordered Steel jailed after he refused to divulge how he learned of it.
So on Thursday, lawyers for fellow rapper and co-defendant Yak Gotti (Deamonte Kendrick) filed an emergency petition asking the state’s high court to force Glanville to do so.
Trending on Billboard
“Glanville’s actions offend public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary,” wrote Yak Gotti’s attorney Doug Weinstein. “An appearance of impropriety and bias hangs over the present trial due to Glanville’s failure to follow the law.”
If the petition is granted, it would be the second time Georgia’s Supreme Court has jumped into the YSL trial. Last week, the high court hit pause on Steel’s jail sentence and agreed to review the judge’s decision to hold the lawyer in contempt.
Thug (Jeffery Williams) and dozens of others were indicted in May 2022 over allegations that his “YSL” was not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but rather a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life.” Prosecutors claim the group committed murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade. After kicking off in January 2023, the trial is already the longest in Georgia state history and is expected to run until early next year.
In an extraordinary courtroom episode last week, Steel revealed that he had learned of an ex parte meeting between Glanville, prosecutors and a witness named Kenneth Copeland. Steel argued that such a meeting, without defense counsel present, was clear grounds for a mistrial. He claimed Glanville had helped prosecutors coerce the uncooperative Copeland into testifying with threats of extended jail time.
Copeland is a central witness for the entire racketeering case against Thug and the other alleged YSL members, but he’s particularly important for the case against Yak Gotti. His testimony pertains to the 2015 murder of Donovan “Nut” Thomas Jr., which Gotti and fellow defendant Shannon Stillwell are directly charged with committing.
Rather than address Steel’s complaints, Glanville instead demanded to know how he had learned of the meeting, suggesting that it had been the result of an illegal leak. The judge eventually held Steel in contempt of court when the lawyer refused to name names, sentencing him to serve 20 days in county jail as punishment.
Earlier this week, Steel and other defense attorneys later demanded that the judge step aside from the case over the incident. In his motion, Thug’s attorney argued that Glanville had “forfeited [his] role as an impartial judge and has become a member of the prosecution team.” But the judge quickly denied the request, saying it was based on “bare assertions and legal conclusions.”
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Yak Gotti’s attorney Weinstein echoed Steel’s arguments. He said the allegations against the judge “casts a pall” over the ongoing case and represents “obstruction of defendant’s right to a fair and impartial trial.”
“Defense counsel should have been afforded an opportunity to attend any hearing where a sworn witness in a critical stage of the trial is being coerced to testify,” Weinstein wrote. “The only logical conclusion for the secret nature of the proceeding was to give Glanville in conjunction with the State the unfettered ability to harass and intimidate the sworn witness into testifying.”
David Furnish felt a rush of endorphins wash over him. It was a warm June evening in 2023, and the surging crowd of over 120,000 had gathered to witness the first-ever Glastonbury Festival set — and, at least for the time being, the last public concert in the United Kingdom — by Elton John. That crush of concertgoers was screaming for Furnish’s star client — who also happens to be his husband.
“Even the concession stands in the back closed down so that they could watch the show,” Furnish recalls, still flabbergasted nearly a year later. “The crowd just filled in around the stands and along the entire north barrier. It was a sea of joy.”
The performance would break records for the annual festival: Along with that in-person crowd, John’s performance garnered 7.3 million overnight viewers on BBC One, making it the most-watched Glastonbury set in history. And if not for Furnish, it never would have happened.
Trending on Billboard
“Elton and I have been talking about it for years. He would say, ‘I just don’t know if I’m right for Glastonbury,’ ” Furnish tells Billboard over Zoom today as John chuckles next to him at their home in Windsor, just outside of London. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You’ll go down really, really well.’ And sure enough, it was overwhelmingly wonderful on every level.”
While Furnish, 61, has been a part of John’s life for just over three decades — the couple began dating in 1993, entered a civil partnership in 2005 and officially tied the knot in 2014 — he has spent the last nine years working as the icon’s manager, bringing his years of experience in advertising to preserving John’s legacy, reestablishing him as a legendary singer and revitalizing his brand. That meant taking an aggressive approach to telling John’s life story through a tell-all memoir (Me) and blockbuster feature film (2019’s Rocketman), introducing his music to a younger audience through strategic partnerships and closing out his touring career with a record-setting farewell outing that was the highest-grossing trek by any artist prior to Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour.
“I cannot think of anybody in the world who would have done a better job than David has over the last nine years,” John says. “This man has done the most incredible job with my career, and what’s more, he has helped me enjoy it even more than I thought I could.”
Jack Alexander
Born and raised in Toronto, Furnish didn’t imagine a future where he would be working behind the scenes for an entertainment legend. After graduating from high school, Furnish says he originally dreamed of becoming “a musical theater-type actor.” But on his family’s advice, he instead pursued a business degree at the University of Western Ontario, where he graduated in 1985. Recruited out of college by storied advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, Furnish thrived, becoming the youngest director at the company by the time he was 30.
“At the end of the day, I’m more of a creative than a businessman. That’s just the dominant side of my brain,” he explains. “I chose advertising because it was the most creative business I felt I could get into.”
But after meeting John in 1993 at a dinner party hosted by a mutual friend (they began dating shortly thereafter), Furnish found himself in need of something a bit more flexible. Leaving advertising behind, he pursued a career in film, producing multiple movies, including 1999’s Women Talking Dirty and 2006’s It’s a Boy Girl Thing, through John’s own cinematic imprint, Rocket Pictures — where he also made his directorial debut with the singer’s 1997 tell-all documentary, Elton John: Tantrums & Tiaras.
During that time, Furnish noticed that his husband’s career needed further direction. “I was trained to understand how you start at the beginning of a journey and then figure out what steps to take with the audience to get them from point A to point B,” Furnish explains. “I also knew the most important thing for Elton was keeping his songs alive and relevant for the next generation. So the rest came rather naturally.”
Taking over as the star’s manager in 2015, Furnish devised a business plan to reinvigorate John’s career — an approach the singer points to as a marked improvement from his past management. “Before David started managing me, our relationship with the record company [Universal Music Group] was just my former manager saying, ‘Let’s go in there and ask them for more money.’ And that is a terrible attitude to have,” John says with a laugh. “Now I have the best relationship with my record company because [David] came in with a plan to get us in better shape.”
Elton John and David Furnish with party attendees (clockwise, from left) Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Lucien Laviscount, Andrew Watt, Charlotte Lawrence and Brandi Carlile at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s annual Academy Awards Viewing Party in March.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images
After sharing his plan with John, Furnish says he immediately sent the strategy to UMG CEO Lucian Grainge, aiming to show the label that “things were going to be different.” That open line of communication led to a groundbreaking deal between Rocket Entertainment and UMG in 2018, in which the two companies signed a global partnership spanning recorded music, publishing and licensing rights for the rest of John’s career.
Furnish explains that, with John’s label contract set to expire in 2018, it felt right to begin renegotiations with UMG as soon as he signed on. “To do any negotiation, you want to have the most robust environment, and you want to do it at the right time,” he says. “We didn’t go in and say, ‘Here’s the new plan, so we want a new deal.’ It was a simultaneous conversation, and we all walked away happy with the results.”
With negotiations at UMG squared away, Furnish set his sights on bolstering John’s reputation among younger audiences. The first step in that direction came with Apple Music. Meeting with co-creator Jimmy Iovine “back when it was still called Beats Music,” Furnish pitched him on John as an asset for what would become Elton John’s Rocket Hour, now one of Apple Music’s longest-running programs. “We just took what Elton naturally does in his everyday life — he listens to everything — and found a passionate vehicle for it,” he says. The strategy worked: Along with burnishing John’s reputation among young listeners, the show has also championed vibrant new talent like Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama and, most recently, Chappell Roan.
Another cornerstone of Furnish’s plan came to fruition with the 2019 release of Rocketman, the award-winning musical biopic starring Taron Egerton and covering the early years of John’s career. The film scored John his second Academy Award win for best original song — with longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin for “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” — and introduced John’s catalog to an eager, younger audience.
As John puts it, “Things really started to change with the film.” Its themes of “self-love, addiction, familial love and acceptance” helped make the living legend’s career more accessible for less-familiar viewers, Furnish says. In the years since Rocketman’s release, he reports, 58% of John’s streams have been generated by 18- to 35-year-olds.
Elton John (left) and David Furnish onstage at the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s annual Academy Awards Viewing Party in March.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images
With more youthful listeners hearing John’s music, he and Furnish ensured that he would keep their attention with a pair of hit remixes: 2021’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix),” featuring Dua Lipa, and 2022’s “Hold Me Closer,” featuring Britney Spears. The tracks returned John’s music to the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in over 20 years, with both songs putting him in the chart’s top 10 for the first time since his 1997 No. 1, “Candle in the Wind 1997/Something About the Way You Look Tonight.”
The active effort to bolster John’s audience reflects the pair’s shared interest in holding on to his legendary catalog. While other legacy artists have sold off their song collections to companies like Primary Wave or Concord, Furnish and John remain steadfast in their desire to maintain control.
“To be the custodians of that legacy that Elton and Bernie built is more important to us than anything. Elton’s catalog is about as blue chip as I would want an investment to be,” Furnish says. “Look at the disruption that has happened with Hipgnosis [Songs Fund]; I can’t think of anything more worrying than selling your catalog to a group you liked and then suddenly, it’s in the hands of somebody else. That’s heartbreaking, especially after spending your life protecting it.”
With their two sons, Zachary (now 13) and Elijah (11), reaching school age, John and Furnish enacted the final component of their plan: ending the singer’s touring career. “It was never a question whether I wanted to stop, because I knew I needed to be with our boys. I had been on the road since I was 16, 17 years of age,” John says, sighing. “Of course, I’ve enjoyed it all, but you have to know when to quit. And I wanted to quit at the top.”
Starting in September 2018 and running through July 2023, John achieved his goal with the Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. Across 330 shows spanning five continents, the trek grossed a whopping $939 million in ticket sales, according to Billboard Boxscore, becoming the first tour in history to surpass the $900 million mark.
That figure is a point of pride for both John and Furnish, especially considering all the work they had invested in making John’s departure as spectacular as possible. “Elton put the most extraordinary foundation in place at the beginning of his career, and I got such a greater sense of appreciation for how hard he worked throughout this tour,” Furnish says. “As a businessperson, I knew how to chart a path that could get him to where he deserves to be. When you put those together, it’s a winning combination.”
The tour also secured John a prestigious honor held by only 18 other creatives — an EGOT — thanks to an Emmy win for outstanding variety special (live) for his Elton John Live: Farewell From Dodger Stadium special on Disney+. “It was such an important moment for Elton professionally and for us as a family,” Furnish says of the November 2022 performance, John’s last in North America. “To have it honored that way, and preserved in time forever, is really beautiful.”
[embedded content]
Yet despite pulling together an unheard-of string of accolades in his husband’s career, Furnish also speaks with unparalleled passion about his work as chairman for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Throughout his conversation with Billboard, he regularly mentions the organization’s work in Johannesburg, the southern United States and elsewhere to improve community access to standard HIV testing and treatment, reduce the stigma surrounding the spread of the virus and raise millions of dollars to help end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
It’s important, Furnish points out, to translate the success of both his and John’s careers into actionable, meaningful change in the world. “You need the other side of life to keep your feet on the ground, to take the gifts that you’ve been given and the opportunities that you’ve been given and help other people,” he says. “We both work incredibly hard, but we also realize we’re incredibly lucky. We have an obligation to give back.”
With so many career-defining victories over the last decade, John says he feels privileged to share them with his companion — in no small part because their partnership is what helped make those victories happen. “The complete trust that we have in each other is a godsend,” he says. “Looking at this from a completely egotistical point of view, I’ve always been a big artist. But what David has done lifted me into the echelon of artists like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Paul McCartney. That’s how good he is.”
Furnish quickly interrupts to correct his husband: “No — that’s how good you are.”
This story will appear in the June 22, 2024, issue of Billboard.
TikTok disclosed a letter Thursday that accused the Biden administration of engaging in “political demagoguery” during high-stakes negotiations between the government and the company as it sought to relieve concerns about its presence in the U.S.
The letter — sent to David Newman, a top official in the Justice Department’s national security division, before President Biden signed the potential TikTok ban into law — was submitted in federal court along with a legal brief supporting the company’s lawsuit against measure. TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, which is expected to be one of the biggest legal battles in tech and internet history.
The internal documents provide details about negotiations between TikTok and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a secretive inter-agency panel that investigates corporate deals over national security concerns, between January 2021 and August 2022.
Trending on Billboard
TikTok has said those talks ultimately resulted in a 90-page draft security agreement that would have required the company to implement more robust safeguards around U.S. user data. It would have also required TikTok to put in a “kill switch” that would have allowed CFIUS to suspend the platform if it was found to be non-compliant with the agreement.
CFIUS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Justice Department said it is looking forward to defending the recently enacted legislation, which it says addresses “critical national security concerns in a manner that is consistent with the First Amendment and other constitutional limitations.”
“Alongside others in our intelligence community and in Congress, the Justice Department has consistently warned about the threat of autocratic nations that can weaponize technology — such as the apps and software that run on our phones – to use against us,” the statement said. “This threat is compounded when those autocratic nations require companies under their control to turn over sensitive data to the government in secret.”
The letter sent to Newman details additional meetings between TikTok and government officials since then, including a March 2023 call the company said was arranged by Paul Rosen, the U.S. Treasury’s undersecretary for investment security.
According to TikTok, Rosen told the company that “senior government officials” deemed the draft agreement to be insufficient to address the government’s national security concerns. Rosen also said a solution would have to involve a divestment by ByteDance and the migration of the social platform’s source code, or its fundamental programming, out of China.
TikTok’s lawsuit has painted divestment as a technological impossibility since the law requires all of TikTok’s millions of lines of code to be wrested from ByteDance so that there would be no “operational relationship” between the Chinese company and the new U.S. app.
After the Wall Street Journal reported in March 2023 that CFIUS had threatened ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban, TikTok’s attorneys held another call with senior staff from the Justice and Treasury departments where they said leaks to the media by government officials were “problematic and damaging.”
That call was followed by an in-person meeting in May 2023 between TikTok’s attorneys, technical experts and senior staff at the Treasury Department focused on data safety measures and TikTok’s source code, the company’s attorneys said. The last meeting with CFIUS occurred in September 2023.
In the letter to Newman, TikTok’s attorneys say CFIUS provides a constructive way to address the government’s concern. However, they added, the agency can only serve this purpose when the law – which imposes confidentiality – and regulations “are followed and both sides are engaged in good-faith discussions, as opposed to political subterfuge, where CFIUS negotiations are misappropriated for legislative purposes.”
The legal brief also shared details of, but does not include, a one-page document the Justice Department allegedly provided to members of Congress in March, a month before they passed the federal bill that would require the platform to be sold to an approved buyer or face a ban.
TikTok’s attorneys said the document asserted TikTok collects sensitive data without alleging the Chinese government has ever obtained such data. According to the company, the document also alleged that TikTok’s algorithm creates the potential for China to influence content on the platform without alleging the country has ever done so.
LONDON — European independent labels trade body IMPALA is rolling out its carbon footprint calculator project to the U.S. as part of a free one-year pilot to help American music companies measure and reduce their emissions.
IMPALA first launched a carbon calculator in Europe in 2022 in partnership with U.K. sustainability charity Julie’s Bicycle. The resource is designed to help record labels track their environmental impact by measuring energy and water use, staff commuting and business travel, as well as the manufacture and distribution of physical products such as vinyl records or merchandise.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), which represents more than 600 independently owned U.S. labels, is partnering with IMPALA on the pilot. The carbon calculator project is supported by global digital licensing agency Merlin, which has provided funding.
Trending on Billboard
Indie powerhouse Beggars Group, whose labels include 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings, and London-headquartered Ninja Tune are among the imprints with U.S. offices taking part in the project. A2IM and IMPALA say they are currently talking to other interested labels to complete the core group with a full list of participants due to be published later this year.
In a joint press release, the two indie trade groups called the launch “the first step towards rolling out the tool in the world’s biggest music market” and its expansion into other non-European countries.
“We are very excited that the U.S. is the first territory in the internationalization of IMPALA’s Carbon Calculator,” said Richard Burgess, A2IM president and CEO, in a statement. “Thanks to Merlin‘s support, our members will be able to shape the tool for the U.S. market and play a key role in the expansion of its use.”
In a statement, Karla Rogozar, IMPALA’s sustainability lead said it was important to give U.S. indie labels access to the carbon calculator “to help standardise the [indie] sector’s approach across regions.”
IMPALA’s carbon calculator is part of the Brussels-based organization’s sustainability program, which aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 and achieve net zero emissions before 2050.
Since its launch in April 2022, nearly 150 labels have signed up to the carbon calculator initiative from 24 countries. The first report based upon data they submitted was published by IMPALA last year and found that labels using the tool produce the average equivalent of 3.21 kgCO2e for each physical CD or vinyl record they release (based upon the total carbon emissions produced across a label’s whole business, not per physical release).
The biggest source of carbon emissions for the indie sector is manufacturing, which accounts for 76% of emissions on average. Over three quarters of this figure is attributed to vinyl production, which has a higher manufacturing carbon footprint than CDs.
The second highest source of emissions is the distribution of physical products, accounting for 15% of the carbon footprint for labels on average. That’s followed by day-to-day operations, including procurement, business travel and office energy, water and waste (around 9%).
A second edition of the carbon calculator report will be published later this year, said IMPALA, which represents more than 6,000 independent music companies spread across 31 countries.
The U.S. rollout of IMPALA’s carbon calculator is part of a growing industry-wide push to improve environmental and sustainability practices across the music business.
Last year, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group joined forces to establish the Music Industry Climate Collective (MICC) – a new alliance to address and lessen the sector’s environmental impact, which is being assisted and advised by A2IM.
In 2021, all three major record companies, plus independent labels BMG, Beggars, Partisan, Warp, Ninja Tune and the Secretly Group, signed up to the Music Climate Pact, a wide-ranging commitment to “decarbonize” the global record business.
“Our path towards a more sustainable future involves all of us working together,” said Jeremy Sirota, Merlin’s CEO, in a statement on Thursday (June 20). He said the roll-out of IMPALA’s carbon calculator in the U.S. would “help more independents build that future together.”
Chiara Badiali, Julie’s Bicycle’s music lead, called the pilot project “an invaluable opportunity” to share understanding between European and U.S. independent music companies. “Because meeting the climate crisis head-on means coming together, learning from and with each other, and taking action collectively,” said Badiali.
SYDNEY, Australia — Jessica Ducrou is exiting as co-CEO of Australia’s Secret Sounds Group, producer of Splendour in the Grass festival and a slew of live music brands.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
As co-founder of Splendour, Australia’s flagship mid-winter camping festival, Ducrou is the nation’s leading female concert and festival promoter.
With co-CEO Paul Piticco, Ducrou built Secret Sounds Group, one of the largest music group in the country, representing Splendour, Harvest Rock, Falls Festival, Secret Sounds Touring, Village Sounds booking agency, Secret Sounds Connect commercial rights and creative agency, North Byron Parklands, The Triffid live music venue in Brisbane and more.
In 2016, Live Nation acquired a controlling stake in Secret Sounds Group.
Trending on Billboard
Ducrou announced her departure on Friday morning, June 21, one month before the 2024 edition of Splendour in the Grass was meant to play out in Byron Bay, with a bill featuring Future, Kylie Minogue, Arcade Fire and many others.
That isn’t happening. Splendour, as previously reported, canceled this year’s event just days after tickets went on sale to the public, becoming the highest-profile casualty of a batch of brands that have decided to pause or close for good.
“So many memorable moments over the last almost decade with Secret Sounds, what a wild ride it’s been,” Ducrou comments in a statement. “I’m well due for an overseas summer holiday so it’s a good time to take a break before I embark on my next chapter.”
Established in 2001 and held each year in Byron Bay, a picturesque beach town on the most easterly tip of Australia, Splendour is a destination event.
The fest would become the hottest ticket in the coldest months.
In recent years, however, the show endured a particularly tough run, first with the pandemic, which saw the fest announced, then shelved several times. Then, in 2022, extreme weather conditions wrecked the first day of Splendour 2022, contributing to softer-than-usual ticket sales for the 2023 edition.
It was Ducrou who faced the media when the heavens opened, and on the occasions when Splendour was pushed back. In 2021, when the health crisis shut down festivals everywhere, Ducrou led a novel project that would turn Splendour into a virtual world, with more than 50 exclusive, in-game performances.
Ducrou will take time out with her children, travel, and, in the interim, will continue in her duties as chair of SoundNSW and deputy chair of the Australian Festivals Association.
“It has been an epic journey that has been truly inspiring, and an opportunity to collaborate with the best in the business,” she continues. “It would not have been as rewarding, possible or enjoyable if it weren’t for the people I have worked alongside of. Paul Piticco has been a great business partner for more than 30 years and we will no doubt continue our friendship well into the future. The Secret Sounds team, notably Elise Huntley and the festivals gang, are the absolute best, I will miss working with the awesome individuals who inspired me every single day. I wish all at Secret Sounds and Live Nation the very best success in their future endeavors.”
Miley Cyrus has signed with CAA, re-joining the agency more than four years after moving to WME, it was announced Thursday (June 20).
The signing comes roughly a year and a half after Cyrus enjoyed her biggest hit to date, “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100. In February, the song also netted Cyrus two Grammys: record of the year and best pop solo performance. Earlier this year, she dueted with Beyoncé on the Cowboy Carter track “II MOST WANTED.”
Cyrus has been a household name for nearly two decades, ever since breaking through as the star of Hannah Montana, the Disney Channel sitcom that skyrocketed her to fame as both an actress and a singer. As Hannah Montana, she racked up 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits, including one top 10 (“He Could Be The One”), and scored three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 (Hannah Montana, Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana: The Movie).
After Hannah Montana concluded in 2011, Cyrus enjoyed success under her own name, notching 61 entries on the Hot 100, including 13 top 10 hits and two that topped the chart: “Flowers” and 2013’s “Wrecking Ball.” She also scored two more No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: 2008’s Breakout and 2013’s Bangerz.
Trending on Billboard
In recent years, Cyrus appeared on a 2019 episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror and brought Miley’s New Year’s Eve Party to NBC in 2022 with executive producer Lorne Michaels, hosting the show alongside her godmother, Dolly Parton.
Cyrus’ philanthropic endeavors include the launch of her Happy Hippie Foundation, which has raised millions to support youth suffering from homelessness, especially those identifying as LGBTQ+. This year, she announced the launch of the Miley Cyrus Foundation, an extension of her philanthropic work that focuses on supporting mothers.
Cyrus continues to be represented by Crush Management and attorney Bill Sobel at Laird and Sobel.
A federal judge says Megan Thee Stallion didn’t copy her chart-topping “Savage” from an earlier song, ruling there’s no evidence the superstar has ever even heard the little-known instrumental track.
In a decision issued Tuesday (June 18), Judge Katherine Polk Failla dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by producer James A. Greene, who claimed that Megan’s mega-hit infringed the copyrights to his own song “It’s About To Be On.”
Green claimed he had “no doubt” that “Savage” infringed his rights, but Judge Failla ruled that the two songs were clearly different.
Trending on Billboard
“Plaintiff’s work is an instrumental piece, with little variety in sounds and instruments used throughout,” the judge wrote. “By contrast, ‘Savage’ is a pop song, featuring lyrics as well as a more upbeat tempo. Plaintiff’s work is qualitatively different from ‘Savage,’ and any similarities implicate common, non-copyrightable elements of any song.”
The judge also ruled that the case was flawed for a simpler reason: That it was unlikely Megan and her co-writers had “access” to his song to copy it — a key element in any copyright lawsuit. Green had argued that he passed along CDs in the early 2000s to someone who might have later given them to “Savage” producer J. White Did It.
But Judge Failla said that wasn’t enough: “Plaintiff is unable to allege any chain of events that creates anything more than the ‘bare possibility’ that defendants gained access to plaintiff’s work.”
The judge also ruled that Green’s song was not popular enough that Megan might have heard it on her own: “At best, plaintiff alleges that he undertook his own efforts to distribute the work throughout the music industry to A&R’s, management teams, etc.,” Judge Failla wrote. “Yet such efforts alone fall short of widespread distribution.”
Greene sued Megan (Megan Pete), J. White (Anthony White) and Warner Music Group last year, claiming “Savage” had borrowed material from his “It’s About To Be On,” a three-minute instrumental track he says he released in 1999. He claimed that the two songs shared the same drum pattern and piano note pattern as well as similar siren sounds.
But in Thursday’s ruling, Judge Failla said each of those elements was different in Megan’s song, including the siren sounds.
“In [Green’s song], the siren sound is an atonal chord that appears to be created using a synthesizer,” the judge said. “By contrast, in ‘Savage,’ the alleged siren sound is not a siren at all, but rather is a distorted vocal sample. Put simply, no reasonable listener would discern any similarity.”
Neither side immediately returned a request for comment on Thursday (June 20).
Most of the men in Dorothy Carvello‘s new novel The Circle Broken are horrible: Bucky, a Nashville record-label chief who screams in a crowded restaurant that his wife is the “whore of Babylon”; The Colonel, who controls his country-star client and takes 40% of his royalties, leaving the singer with just 10%; and Michael, the tortured young talent who suffers a traumatic brain injury and berates and gaslights his partner.
“All my books that I write — and will be writing — will always have the theme of the corruption of the music business,” says Carvello, whose previous book was 2018’s Anything for a Hit: An A&R Woman’s Story of Surviving the Music Industry, which she followed up with a December 2022 sexual-assault lawsuit against two major labels and three longtime record executives. “And there will always be themes of women as the unsung heroes behind the men in any place in the music business.”
Carvello’s lawsuit repeated many of the allegations from her first book. She accuses the late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun and former Universal, Sony and Warner chief Doug Morris of “horrifically sexually assaulting” her and claims Atlantic, its parent company Warner Music Group and former Atlantic exec Jason Flom “knowingly enabled … outrageous workplace sexual assault.” Among her claims: Female employees were “routinely exposed to Mr. Ertegun masturbating”; Morris carried a pornographic magazine around the office and placed it on Carvello’s desk when she was Ertegun’s secretary; and Ertegun committed “forceful and nonconsensual attacks” on Carvello at a Skid Row concert and in a corporate helicopter afterward.
Trending on Billboard
(Flom did not respond to requests for comment. Warner has said in a statement that the labels “take allegations of misconduct very seriously. These allegations date back 35 years, to before WMG was a standalone company. We are speaking with people who were there at the time, taking into consideration that many key individuals are deceased or into their 80s and 90s.” Morris, through his attorney, said Carvello’s allegations are “without legal or factual merit.” And Rick Werder, a former attorney for Ertegun’s widow, Mica, who filed a motion to dismiss Carvello’s lawsuit before her death last December at 97, called Carvello’s claims “utterly meritless.”)
Oral arguments were scheduled to begin in New York Supreme Court in mid-June, but a judge postponed them to September. “My jury will have to have trigger warnings because there’s a lot more that wasn’t in the book,” Carvello says, during a half-hour discussion about her writing career and the lawsuit.
Below is an excerpt of the conversation.
The only character name that appears in The Circle Broken as well as Anything for a Hit is Joel Katz, the real-life music attorney. In the new book, the fictional Katz gives a speech honoring a Nashville record mogul and says he’s “proof that If you do good enough in this town, you’ll be rewarded in kind. Unless you’re Jewish.” How conscious was your decision to put Katz in both books?
It was a conscious decision, because Joel Katz was the only premiere lawyer involved in so many people’s careers, artists and executives, and pretty much ran the town of Nashville. Also, I wanted to show that if you’re Jewish, Nashville is a town that’s hard. If you’re gay, Jewish, if you’re not white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant, it’s a tough town.
Why in general did you set The Circle Broken in Nashville?
I started to go to Nashville in 1988 and my first experience was at Atlantic Records Nashville. They were trying to sign an artist, and I was sitting there, and the person said to the artist, “Jesus wants us to have your publishing.” I was blown away by that. It always fascinated me, the religious undertones of Nashville. Even when I went down as recently as five years ago, a label head asked me what church I belonged to. I said, “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Catholic church — we have our own bank and we have our own ambassadors.”
Cee Cee, the singer-turned-manager in the book, is the victim of abuse and, despite making a few questionable decisions, she’s full of empathy and has a lot of love to give. How personal was writing that character?
I wanted to show all the characters struggling with religious oppression, in a way. I went to an all-Catholic school, a Catholic college. Religion teaches you to obey. As women, we get it no matter where we turn. And in the music business, there are very few women. We’ve never had a woman even run a major corporation. We still have three white men running the game. When the Warner Music Group just changed CEOs [in September 2022], they had a chance to really do something and they still stuck with a white male [Robert Kyncl]. I wanted to show a woman who breaks free and makes a choice who gets away from that religious stuff and falls in love and goes for it.
Why write Anything for a Hit first, then file the lawsuit afterwards?
The law changed in New York in 2022. [The state passed the Adult Survivors Act in May of that year, eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual-abuse cases for a year — which led to more than 3,000 civil suits through last Thanksgiving, including Carvello’s in December 2022.] I couldn’t sue because I was time-barred. The book was published in 2018, and when I found out the law changed, I interviewed lawyers and decided to sue.
After Anything for a Hit came out, did you hear back from the people you wrote about?
No. I received not one pushback, not one letter, not one lawsuit, nothing. Dead silence.
One of the most disturbing details in Anything for a Hit, amid many descriptions of sexual abuse, is your allegation that Ertegun fractured your arm because he was angry about a subpar Skid Row concert after you’d steered Atlantic into signing the band. How long did it take you to get over that abuse, if at all?
Well, I’m not over it, and I probably never will be. I know what happened to me. I know what that truth is and I’m prepared to air that truth in a court of law, with a jury of my peers, at 60 Centre Street [site of the New York County Courthouse].
After the #MeToo movement led to men in the music business being publicly accused of sexual assault, has anything changed?
We’ve had no #MeToo in the music business. Where is the #MeToo?
Several men have been called out in lawsuits and press reports — most recently Diddy, but also Russell Simmons, L.A. Reid, Charlie Walk.
No. I don’t think anything’s changed. Like I said, we have three white males running the business.
How were you able to make the transition from non-fiction and get a book deal in the fiction world?
I had to get a different agent and sell him on the idea, and that was not easy because the book tells two stories — my critique of the music business overall in Nashville, and the story of a woman, two women actually, struggling to help this one man. I had to learn how to write fiction. It took three years. The next book is almost finished and that’s taken me less than a year.
What can you say about it?
It’s called Frontman, and it’s going to be about a rock star and the six women in his life throughout his career that started in the ’70s in the U.K.
When did you notice that you had what the music business calls “solid gold ears,” and the talent to be a record-label A&R person?
When we were doing it in the ’80s and the ’90s, you had radio, and you could get a feel for what was happening and go out and see somebody play live and see how people reacted to the songs. I never say I have great ears. I want to clear my name. I want to reclaim my position in history as the first woman at Atlantic Records.
Where are you right now?
In New York. Born and raised. You’ll never get me to Nashville.
The three major music companies are weighing a lawsuit against AI startups Suno and Udio for allegedly training on copyrighted sound recordings, according to multiple sources.
The potential lawsuit, which would include Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music, would target a pair of companies that have quickly become two of the most important players in the emerging field of generative AI music. While many of its competitors focus on generating either music or lyrics or vocals, Suno and Udio both allow users to generate all three in the click of a button. Two sources said the lawsuit could come as soon as next week. Reps for the three majors, as well as Suno and Udio, did not respond to requests for comment.
Music companies, including UMG, have already filed a lawsuit against Anthropic, another major AI firm, over the use of copyrighted materials to train models. But that case dealt only with lyrics, which in many ways are legally similar to written subject matter. The new suit would deal with music and sound itself.
Trending on Billboard
Just a few months from its launch, Udio has already produced what could be considered an AI-generated hit song with “BBL Drizzy,” a parody track created by comedian King Willonius and popularized via a remix by super producer Metro Boomin. Later, the song reached new heights when it was sampled in Sexyy Red and Drake‘s song “U My Everything,” becoming the first major example of sampling an AI-generated song.
Suno has also achieved early success since its launch in December 2023. In May, the company announced via a blog post that it had raised a total of $125 million in funding from a group of notable investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross.
Both companies, however, have drawn criticism from many members of the music business who believe that the models train on vast swathes of copyrighted material, including hit songs, without consent, compensation or credit to rights holders. Representatives for Suno and Udio have previously declined to comment on whether or not they train on protected copyrights, with Udio’s co-founders telling Billboard they simply train on “good music.”
In a recent Rolling Stone story about Suno, investor Antonio Rodriguez admitted that Suno does not have licenses for whatever music it has trained on, but he said that was not a concern to him, adding that this lack of such licenses is “the risk we had to underwrite when we invested in the company, because we’re the fat wallet that will get sued right behind these guys… Honestly, if we had deals with labels when this company got started, I probably wouldn’t have invested in it. I think that they needed to make this product without the constraints.”
In a series of articles for Music Business Worldwide, founder of AI safety non-profit Fairly Trained, Ed Newton-Rex, found that he was able to generate music from Suno and Udio that “bears a striking resemblance to copyrighted music. This is true across melody, chords, style and lyrics,” he wrote. Both companies, however, bar users from prompting the models to copy artists’ styles by typing out sentiments like “a rock song in the style of Radiohead” or from using specific artists’ voices.
The case, if it is filed, would hinge on whether the use of unlicensed materials to train AI models amounts to copyright infringement — something of an existential question for the booming sector, since depriving AI models of new inputs could limit their abilities. Content owners in many sectors, including book authors, comedians and visual artists, have all filed similar lawsuits over training.
Many AI companies argue that such training is protected by copyright’s fair use doctrine — an important rule that allows people to reuse protected works without breaking the law. Though fair use has historically allowed for things like news reporting and parody, AI firms say it applies equally to the “intermediate” use of millions of works to build a machine that spits out entirely new creations. That argument will likely be the central question in any lawsuit over AI training.
Some AI companies have taken what is often called a more “ethical” approach to AI training by working directly with companies and rights holders to license their copyrights or form official partnerships instead.
So far, the majors have embraced partnering with AI companies in this way. Already, UMG and WMG have worked with YouTube for its AI voice experiment DreamTrack; Sony has partnered with Vermillio on a remix project for The Orb and David Gilmour; WMG has worked with Edith Piaf’s estate to recreate her voice using AI for an upcoming biopic; UMG launched an AI music incubator with YouTube Music; and most recently, UMG has teamed up with SoundLabs to let their artists create their own AI voice models for personal use in the studio.