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Elvis Presley’s granddaughter, the actress Riley Keough, has filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking a looming foreclosure sale of the late singer’s historic Memphis home Graceland, calling the proceedings “fraudulent.”
In a case filed in Tennessee court last week, Keough alleged that the foreclosure was triggered by phony demands from a company called Naussany Investments – an entity that allegedly claims her late mother, Lisa Marie Presley, borrowed $3.8 million and used the famed mansion as collateral.
The alleged loans are recorded in documents supplied by Naussany that feature Lisa Marie’s signature, but Keough’s lawyers say those records are “forgeries” and that she “did not in fact sign the documents.”
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“These documents are fraudulent,” Keough’s attorneys write in their May 15 complaint, obtained by Billboard. “Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments.”
The foreclosure sale for Graceland had been scheduled for Thursday, but according to court records, Keough’s attorneys won a temporary restraining order last week blocking any sale until the judge can rule on the dispute. A court hearing is set for Wednesday on Keough’s efforts to secure a longer-term injunction blocking the sale.
Naussany (Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC) could not immediately be located for comment. An attorney for Keough declined to comment. News of the lawsuit was first reported Monday by the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
When Elvis died in 1977, his daughter Lisa Marie inherited his estate, including Graceland — a tourist mecca that pulls in millions of dollars a year in revenue. Until her death last year, she served as trustee of the Promenade Trust, an entity that controls the Memphis mansion. When she passed away, Keough assumed that same role and took control of the property.
According to the lawsuit, Naussany alleges it made the multi-million dollar loan to Lisa Marie in 2018 and recorded the transaction in Florida. But Keough’s lawyers say that Naussany is “a false entity created for the purpose of defrauding the Promenade Trust,” orchestrated by a man named Kurt Naussany who has sent “numerous emails seeking to collect the purported $3.8 million debt.”
Keough’s attorneys say the evidence “strongly indicates the documents are forgeries” – most notably, that the notary who allegedly signed off on the transaction has confirmed that she did not do so. “Indeed, she confirmed she has never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any document for her.”
Sony Music Publishing has entered into an agreement with Otis Redding‘s estate, now doing business as Big O Holdings, to administer the songs of the late soul legend in the United States. The singer’s widow, Zelma Redding, said SMP was the right partner to help in their “never-ending effort” to keep Redding’s legacy “recognizable around the world.”
Redding composed or co-wrote many of the songs readily associated with him, including “Respect,” which later became Aretha Franklin’s signature, “Mr. Pitiful,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” “Hard to Handle,” eventually adopted by The Black Crowes, and “These Arms of Mine,” later featured in Dirty Dancing. He also co-penned, with fellow future Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Butler, the searingly emotional ballad “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” which lifted all the way to No. 2 on the R&B chart in 1965.
Redding’s ethereal and timeless “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” which he co-wrote with M.G. guitarist (and future Blues Brother) Steve Cropper, was released in early 1968, a month after the singer’s tragic death in a plane crash on Dec. 10, 1967. “Dock of the Bay” whistled its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in March of 1968, the singer’s first visit to the chart’s top 20.
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“As one of the most significant songwriters of our lifetime, Otis Redding remains an American treasure,” commented Sony Music Publishing chairman/CEO Jon Platt. “Otis’ songs have shaped the cultural landscape across genres and generations, and it is a privilege to partner with the Redding family as stateside custodians of this singular music catalog.”
The Georgia native was a master interpreter as well, turning old standard “Try a Little Tenderness” into a frenetic hit in 1966, and he put his own spin on classics made famous by other soul icons like “Stand By Me” (Ben E. King) and “My Girl” (Sam Cooke). His version of The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which he and backing band Booker T. & the M.G.’s performed at the Monterey Pop Festival, was legendary for how much it deviated (“I can’t get me no…”) from the original. On his final album before his death, a two-hander with fellow all-timer Carla Thomas titled King & Queen, Redding scored hits with the boisterous “Tramp” and “Knock on Wood.”
Redding released six studio albums between 1964 and 1967, mostly via Stax sister label Volt. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994.
“Otis Redding was a rare talent – his songs are unmistakably brilliant, and their enduring impact remains strong to this day,” said SMP president and global chief marketing officer Brian Monaco. “We are honored to join forces with the Redding family to represent his catalog and strengthen his legacy as one of the most iconic songwriters in American history.”
Pavement, James Blake, Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett and more have been announced as headliners for the 2024 edition of Seattle’s famed Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival held at Seattle Center. Kim Gordon, Freddie Gibbs, Aly & AJ, Cypress Hill and Marc Ribillet will also perform at the 51st edition of the festival, which is set to take place Aug. 31-Sept. 1.
The Labor Day weekend staple returned last year for its 50th anniversary with new production partners the New Rising Sun coalition, in the process bringing back a sense of local identity to the long-standing event.
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Last year’s return “was a huge success,” says McCaw Hall GM Joe Paganelli, who also co-leads New Rising Sun. “We wanted to realign the festival with Seattle’s changing growth, purpose and needs. We dug deep and invested heavily in visual arts and trying to create a spirit of discovery.”
After taking three and a half years off due to COVID-19, the revived festival saw great success last year with Pacific Northwest bands like Sleater-Kinney, Band of Horses and Sunny Day Real Estate on the bill. This year, organizers dug even deeper into the festival’s roots and brought back talent booker Chris Porter, who previously booked Bumbershoot for 18 years. Paganelli initially reached out to Porter for advice on the 2024 lineup before asking the veteran booker to return.
“I didn’t see it coming but I was very touched and honored,” says Porter, who adds that New Rising Sun was “bringing [the festival] back in the very similar spirit of eclecticism and discovery as we had done in years past, so I wanted to pick up where we left off.”
With a lineup that also includes Badbadnotgood, Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry, Carl Cox, Lee Fields, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, The Polyphonic Spree, Madison Cunningham and Andrew Bird, Porter focused on two main components to book this year’s festival: discovery and value.
“It’s great if people go to see their favorite bands or artists perform, but hopefully they’re going to find their new favorite band there too,” says Porter. “The only thing I wanted to do a little differently than last year is maybe broaden it a little bit, address some world/global music sounds more and stretch the demographics.”
The full Bumbershoot lineup also includes Acid Tongue, All Them Witches, Angélica Garcia, Automatic, Balthvs, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Corridor, Dean Johnson, Disq, Emi Pop, Flesh Produce, George Clanton, Gold Chisme, Grynch, Helado Negro, Hurray for the Riff Raff, I Dont Know How But They Found Me, k.flay, Kassa Overall, King Buffalo, Kultur Shock, Ladytron, Lemon Boy, Linda from Work, Lol Tolhurst x Budgie, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Mercury Rev, Moor Mother, NAVVI, Neal Francis, Oh, Rose, Parisalexa, Pink Siifu, Pom Pom Squad, Psymon Spine, Pure Bathing Culture, R E P O S A D O, Rocket, Spoon Benders, Squirrel Flower, Stephanie Anne Johnson, Sux, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, TEKE::TEKE, The Divorce, The Groovy Nobody, Thee Sacred Souls, TK & The Holy Know-Nothings, Tres Leches and Warren Dunes.
“We’re lucky to work in Seattle and doing this [festival] in this area. The community is very open-minded and open to discovering different sounds and different art,” says Porter. “It is really rewarding and I hope people like what we did this year.”
In addition to music, Bumbershoot will continue with its renowned visual arts component. The festival is reinforcing its commitment to the regional community with the return of fan favorites like the Fashion District, the Out of Sight exhibit and a film program while also introducing new programming including a unique partnership with NASA, a Bigfoot deepfake animation competition and more.
Additionally, the Century 21 District at the Pacific Science Center will feature a “Sculpture Parking Lot” featuring large-scale contemporary sculpture. “Songs for Space,” in partnership with NASA, will project James Webb Space Telescope images in the PACCAR IMAX theater alongside a range of different vocal groups, including gospel, opera and Gregorian chant.
The Recess District will present the art of performance with rollerskating, gymnastics, breakdancing, double-dutch jump rope and cheerleading as well as a skateboard competition and a wrestling showcase called Bumbermania!
New Rising Sun’s commitment to Bumbershoot is only in its second year, and Paganelli says growing the festival’s presence is a priority going forward. “We’re going to supercharge and expand the Bumbershoot brand with new and different opportunities throughout the year, which includes a brick-and-mortar venue that will harken back to Andy Warhol’s Factory,” he says. “Then there will be additional programming verticals coming out that we’re not prepared just yet to release but are in the planning process already.”
Tickets for the 2024 Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival are on sale now. Head here to check out the full lineup along with the festival’s culinary and visual arts programming.
Voice-Swap, an ethically-trained AI voice company, and BMAT Music Innovators, a company that indexes music usage and ownership data using machine learning, have partnered to launch a new technical certification for AI voice and music models. It is designed to verify that the audio content used to train voice models does not infringe on any […]
Steve Angello is bringing his selector skills to SiriusXM. The producer and Swedish House Mafia member is launching a new program, “Size Sound System,” on the SiriusXM station Diplo’s Revolution starting Monday night (May 20) at 9 p.m. ET. Hosted by Angello and the producer AN21 (who is also Angello’s younger brother, Antoine Josefsson), the […]
Spotify has once again shocked the songwriting community by attempting to use a legal loophole to find a new way to pay them less.
Music creators had enjoyed a relative period of peace with Spotify since songwriters and music publishers struck a deal with digital services in 2022 to raise royalty rates over the next five years. Unfortunately, the streaming giant is now perverting that agreement by using audiobooks to redefine and reduce how much they pay songwriters – the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. By unilaterally adding audiobooks to their premium music standalone service, they are now classifying that music service as a ‘bundle’ which means they can attempt to pay royalties under a different definition. In a single year this could cost songwriters an estimated $150 million.
Whether or not they can get away with this is still in question.
Record labels, who are in a free market, have immediate recourse against such underhanded tactics. They are not under a compulsory license like songwriters, and they have the freedom to negotiate directly with streaming services like Spotify. Crucially, this means if they don’t like the way their royalties are affected by Spotify’s bundling strategy, they can say no.
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Unfortunately, songwriters and music publishers cannot. They must go to court every five years and are at the mercy of three judges to interpret Spotify’s routing of the rules.
Spotify first aggressively came for songwriters in 2018. We had achieved a 44% raise in the headline rate for mechanical streaming royalties at the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) – raising rates from 10.5% to 15.1% of revenue. In an unprecedented move, Spotify launched an appeal of that decision, sending us into a half-decade legal odyssey which ultimately resulted in the upholding of our headline rate increase as well as a few new changes.
Fast forward to 2022. Having lost their appeal in regard to the headline rate, the streaming services came to the table to negotiate the next five-year period.
To avoid repeating another era of uncertainty, and to ensure rates and terms improved, we agreed to a deal with Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Pandora to cover 2023-2027 which included a phased-in headline rate increase. Critically, it also included strengthening bundle definitions by ensuring that services were no longer able to attribute all parts of revenue to other non-music offerings in the bundle. However, the court prevented us from doing away with bundle definitions altogether because when a service pays under the bundle definition, they pay at a discount since music is only part of the offering.
Only recently, when reporting of royalties by Spotify sharply decreased in the middle of a CRB rate period, were we alerted to the fact that Spotify was reinterpreting the new bundle rules to manipulate their payments. However, calling Spotify’s premium service a bundle is dishonest.
After raising prices last year, there was great hope that Spotify would better align pricing with market value and songwriters would see the benefits resulting from the deal we agreed to in 2022 which ensures that when prices go up, so do their royalties.
Only in Spotify’s world would a price hike for users mean a lower royalty rate for songwriters.
As we look to the next CRB trial, where we will again face the largest tech companies in the world, we had hoped to approach it as business partners, bolstered by several years of collaboration. This development has shattered that potential as Spotify has returned to attacking the very songwriters who make its business possible – and worse, they’re doing it through a dishonest work-around.
Bundles were conceived to apply when two standalone products were combined to incentivize new users and grow the paying consumer base. What Spotify has done is act as if audiobooks are a new, separate service, when they are in fact the exact same premium streaming option to which millions of users are already subscribed.
In fact, in a bombshell last week, it was found that if you can even find where to sign up for the audiobook-only option, the first question Spotify asks you is who your favorite performing artists are – exactly like onboarding a music-only subscriber. It then offers you all of the music on its platform on-demand.
We will not stand for their misinterpretation of bundles as precisely defined in our settlement. If allowed to abuse the statutory formula in this way, it will pave the way for other services to do the same.
That’s why several serious actions are in process. Last week, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) sued Spotify for improperly reporting its usage – a.k.a. underpaying songwriters by labeling their services as a bundle.
As the MLC states in its complaint, “Spotify informs potential Audiobook Access subscribers that, unlike Premium subscribers, they will not have access to unlimited, ad-free, on-demand music. But in rolling out its Audiobooks Access plan, Spotify neglected to create a different product.”
Separately, NMPA also sent a demand letter to the streaming giant for its unlicensed use of musical works in its lyrics, videos, and podcasts. We also specifically warned Spotify about its rumored “remix” feature which would allow subscribers to “speed up, mash up, and otherwise edit” songs to create derivative works.
In addition to these legal challenges, soon we will unveil a legislative proposal to permanently fix the power imbalance songwriters face by being subject to a compulsory license for their songs.
Spotify’s cynical, and potentially unlawful, move should make all songwriters and artists question their relationship with the service. The strategy to rebrand music as a “bundle” further devalues their art and amounts to a complete betrayal.
David Israelite is the president and CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA). Founded in 1917, NMPA is the trade association representing all American music publishers and their songwriting partners.
Anti Social Camp is returning to New York City this summer, featuring a roster of over 200 artists, writers and producers. Perhaps the largest annual songwriting camp in the world, Anti Social Camp is a five day camp and festival, and this year, it will host artists like Jacob Collier, Alec Benjamin, Miranda Lambert and Rob Thomas.
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The team at Anti Social Camp hope to offer a more inclusive approach to the concept of a writing camp, which are typically private affairs tailored to the needs of one artist or project. Anti Social, by contrast, is a front-facing event that celebrates New York’s music scene.
In recent years, many of New York’s top talents have dispersed to other creative hubs, like Los Angeles, Nashville, and Austin, and to help grow local opportunities, Anti Social Camp is part of a larger effort each June to celebrate New York Music Month.
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“We want to put a spotlight on New York as a music capital of the world,” says Anti Social Camp Founder Danny Ross. “Artists are going to walk away with new hit records, access to key industry players, and new collaborators who will be influential in their careers far past the six days of Anti Social Camp. We’re making a real impact on creators and the New York music scene. What else can we ask for?”
That same month, the Big Apple will play host to a bevy of music industry events, including the Songwriters Hall of Fame, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)’s Indie week conference, the Libera Awards, Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP) Annual Meeting, the National Music Publishing Association (NMPA) annual meeting, and more.
Anti Social Camp
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Anti Social Camp is supported by New York City council member Carlina Rivera, chair of the committee on cultural affairs and libraries, who says “New York City is a beacon of creativity and the return and impact of Anti Social Camp demonstrates our city’s role as the music capital of the world. The music sector has an outsized economic output of over $20 billion and contributes to the vibrancy that makes our city one of a kind.”
The camp is continuing last year’s traditions and adding in new ones. This year, the camp will once again put together a compilation album of music created at the event, released with the help of Amuse. It will also be adding a new Anti Social ICON Award at this year’s opening ceremony. This year’s inaugural pick is multi-hyphenate musician Jacob Collier.
Other artists include: Lawrence, MICHELLE, Rosa Linn, Rachel Grae, Overcoats, Thutmose, Tim Atlas, Jukebox The Ghost, 41, Joe West, Kamino, Meryll, Riell, Chandler Leighton, Marian Hill, Ant Saunders, Morgxn, Kevian Kraemer, CID, Public Library Commute, Verite, Kidd Kenn, The Happy Fits, Haiden Henderson, Jared Benjamin, Zoe Ko, Madalen Duke, Jillian Rossi, Dezi, Norma Jean Martine and more. Platinum writers/producers include Doug Schadt (Maggie Rogers, Claire Rosinkranz), Andrew Maury (Shawn Mendes, Lizzo), Idarose (Joji, Becky G), Noise Club (Hailee Steinfeld, Tate McRae), Brent Kolatalo (Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey), Chelsea Balan (AJ Mitchell, lilyisthatyou), Ebonie Smith (Janelle Monae, Cardi B) and hundreds more.
Partners include: Title Partner Grayson Music; Presenting Partners Amuse, TIDAL, SoundExchange, DistroKid, Audio Technica and SESAC, The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media + Entertainment, SNGL, Ilegal Mezcal, YouTube Songwriters, Sound Royalties, Cloud Microphones, The Orchard, ONErpm The MLC, BMI, Amazon Music, Samply, Audiomovers, Topo Chico, Spotify; and Contributing Partners The Perfect Wines, ASCAP, Twitch, Groover, Duvel, Recording Academy New York Chapter, Jammaround, Bandsintown and New York City Tourism + Conventions.
Nearly 50 years after being forced to close its doors in 1975, venerable label Stax Records became a Grammy winner once again in 2024. During the 66th annual Grammy Awards in February, the golden gramophones for best album notes and best historical album were awarded to the seven-disc box set Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos.
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Now in further testament to the gifted artists, songwriters, producers, musicians and engineers behind the label’s treasured catalog — and the team of dedicated and persevering executives helming operations behind the scenes — comes Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. Produced and directed by Jamila Wignot, the HBO Original documentary series premieres tonight (May 20, 9 p.m.-10 p.m. ET/PT) with two back-to-back episodes. The final two episodes will air tomorrow (May 21) in the same time slot. The series is a production of Laylow Pictures and White Horse Pictures in association with Concord Originals, Polygram Entertainment and Warner Music Entertainment.
The four-part series tells the story of the family-owned Memphis label, founded by Jim Stewart in 1957 and co-owned by his sister Estelle Axton, whose color-blind approach to music turned a deaf ear to the prevailing segregation of the times. The result? Music that hurdled racial barriers to become mainstream classics by artists such as Otis Redding ([Sittin’ On] the Dock of the Bay”), Isaac Hayes (“Theme from Shaft”), Sam & Dave (“Soul Man”) and Booker T. & the MG’s (“Green Onions”).
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In relaying its story, Stax: Soulsville U.S.A. integrates restored and remastered archival performance footage and interviews with the creatives and executives who helped shape the label’s musical and cultural impact amid its business highs and lows. Stewart and Axton, former Stax president and owner Al Bell, guitarist Steve Cropper, musician/songwriter David Porter, singer-songwriter Carla Thomas and Bar-Kays members James Alexander and Willie Hall are just a few of those recalling their experiences in Soulsville.
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In advance of the documentary’s HBO premiere, director Wignot and former Stax director of publicity Deanie Parker (co-writer of the Grammy-winning notes for Written In Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos) share their reflections about the label’s legacy with Billboard.
Why does Stax still resonate with music fans today?
Parker: Because it’s distinctive. Stax music — a fusion of Negro spirituals and gospel, influenced by white country music and nurtured on the downhome blues of Blacks – was not a sheet music rendition. But rather authentic, heartfelt, cadenced expressions recorded in legendary Studio A. It’s a style of music birthed in our souls and dubbed rhythm and blues (R&B). Stax music is a feeling.
Wignot: Because it’s great art. It gives voice to powerful and universal human themes — love, sorrow, joy, tenacity, freedom. It’s music that’s original. You can feel in it that these were artists who had the determination to make their music their way. They were in search of and achieved honest expressions.
What new revelations does the documentary unveil or is there any mis-information that it corrects?
Wignot: It was my hope that the series would provide a complex and nuanced portrait of the label’s story and of the rich community of artists who comprised that story. I think it will surprise audiences familiar with the likes of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and The Staple Singers to know just how tenacious the label had to be to achieve the success it did. And how determined it had to be in the face of the powerful forces — industry bias, racism, corporate greed —that stood in the way of its dream, which was a simple one: to make great music and have it reach audiences hungry for that singular sound. The emphasis we place on Stax’s latter chapter, 1968-1975, will illustrate what a profound effect the label had on the industry and the possibilities it created for Black artists.
Parker: The documentary producers’ interviews with Stax Records employees, in first person, expose the depth of the pain and trauma most of us experienced that resulted from the company’s forced bankruptcy. It also validates the joy and happiness of the authors of the hits produced and respected worldwide. The documentary reveals our pride over the music catalog’s longevity and musical influence that continues today, thanks in part to Concord and our Stax Music Academy.
What do you hope fans will remember the most after viewing the documentary?
Parker: I hope music fans will appreciate the value of teaching and preserving a uniquely soulful style of music produced collectively by talented men and women with diverse backgrounds – Black and white. Stax Records happened because we practiced and perfected creating together harmoniously.
Wignot: Stax is a music story. But it’s also a story about what can happen when you refuse to accept limitations imposed upon you by the world. Its tragic ending is made less so by the music that survives and reminds us every day of possibilities.
STAX: Soulsville U.S.A.
Courtesy of HBO
Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) stock rose 15.7% to $15.43 after the release of its first-quarter earnings on Monday (May 13), which showed net profit rising 28% to $212 million as music subscription revenue surpassed $500 million and the company’s subscribers rose by 7 million to 113 million. Online music revenue climbed 43% to $693 million, helping offset a nearly 50% decrease in social entertainment revenues to $244 million.
Numerous analysts upped their price targets for TME this week following the company’s earnings release. Jefferies raised TME to $15.40 from $12.00. Mizuho raised its price target to $15.00 from $13.00. HSBC also raised TME to $15.00 from $13.00.
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Another Chinese music streaming company, Cloud Music, jumped 11.7% to 105.00 HKD this week after it announced a licensing deal with Kakao Entertainment for distribution in China. Kakao has over 50 “star” artists and 70,000 tracks, according to a press release announcing the pact. Cloud Music has not announced a date for its first-quarter earnings release.
Shares of TME have risen 97.6% over the last 52 weeks and gained 71.3% in 2024. The company (which trades on the NYSE and Hong Kong Stock Exchange) and Cloud Music (which trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange) are part of an upswing in Chinese stocks in 2024. After falling in January, the Shanghai Composite Index is up 15.5% since Feb. 2 — far better than the gains of the FTSE 100 (10.6%), S&P 500 (7.0%) and Nasdaq composite (6.8%) over that period.
TME has come a long way since being targeted by government regulators in 2021 for anticompetitive behavior. Its shares traded below $5 for much of 2022 and dropped as low as $3.14 in October of that year.
The 20-company Billboard Global Music Index rose 3.3% to a record 1,847.64, topping the previous high mark of 1,841.66 for the week ended April 5. While there were an equal number of winners and losers, the three top performers had double-digit gains — Cumulus Media was up 18% — while the worst-performing stock, Sphere Entertainment Co., fell 8.1%. Most of the index’s most valuable companies posted gains this week: Spotify increased 2.8% to $302.84, Universal Music Group rose 2.6% to 28.74 euros ($31.31) and Warner Music Group gained 1.3% to $32.04.
Music stocks bested numerous indexes. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite rose 2.1% to 16,685.97 and the S&P 500 gained 1.5% to 5,303.27. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 0.2% to 8,420.26. South Korea’s KOSPI Composite Index dropped 0.1% to 2,724.62.
B. Riley resumed coverage of Reservoir Media on Thursday (May 16) with a “buy” rating and an $11 price target. Reservoir shares rose 0.2% to $8.40 this week. The company will release first-quarter earnings on May 30.
Elsewhere, iHeartMedia dropped 6.2% to $1.21 this week. Guggenheim lowered its price target to $3 from $5 following the radio company’s earnings release on May 9, which prompted the stock to fall 36% last week. While Guggenheim maintained its “buy” rating, it dropped its price target to account for “headwinds at the core broadcast business,” analysts wrote in a May 15 note to investors.
Sphere Entertainment Co. dropped 8.1% to $36.07, bringing its year-to-date gain to 6.1%. The company announced Monday that it bought out the remaining shares of Holoplot GmbH, the German company that provided the 3D audio technology for the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Outside of the Billboard Global Music Index, JYP Entertainment fell 13.4% to 60,000 won ($44.30) following the company’s release of first-quarter earnings after the markets closed on May 10. Revenue increased 15.6% to 136.5 billion won ($100.8 million) but operating profit declined 20% to 33.6 billion won ($24.8 million) and net profit fell 26.3% to 31.4 billion won ($23.2 million). Operating profit and net profit declined due to increases in artist fees, labor costs and commissions at JYP Three Sixty, the company’s businesses that produce merchandise and license artists’ intellectual property.
Another non-index stock, Sony Corp., rose 11.1% to $83.74 following its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings release Tuesday (May 14). Driven by subscription streaming growth and aided by foreign exchange, Sony Music’s yen-denominated revenues jumped 23.5% to $2.85 billion in the quarter and the music division was the parent company’s largest contributor of operating income.
Officials with the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division plan to sue Live Nation after they wrap up a two-and-a-half-year investigation into the company, according to two high-level sources with knowledge of the matter.
The lawsuit will take aim at Ticketmaster’s use of exclusive venue contracts for its ticketing services, the sources say. Last week, Live Nation officials met with attorneys from the Department of Justice to discuss the case, including DOJ Assistant Attorney Jonathan Kanter, but neither the DOJ nor Live Nation commented on the meeting’s details. There’s no clear timeline on when the DOJ plans to officially close its investigation or file suit, and the two sides could meet again to discuss the case. Both The Wall Street Journal and Politico have previously reported that the DOJ planned to sue Live Nation in published reports earlier this year.
Live Nation officials are continuing to cooperate with the investigation, company president Joe Berchtold indicated on a May 2 earnings call. Based on the issues the DOJ has raised with Live Nation, Berchtold said he believes the lawsuit is related to “specific business practices at Live Nation” and “not the legality of the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger.”
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That’s both good and bad for Live Nation officials. On the one hand, if the merger isn’t central to the government’s case, then ending the merger and splitting the company up probably isn’t on the table — at least according to Berchtold. Alternatively, if the government believes that the company’s use of exclusive ticketing contracts with venues is monopolistic, it could propose an even harsher penalty.
That’s because politicians like Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who chairs the anti-trust subcommittee in the Senate, have zeroed in on Ticketmaster’s 70-80% market share of the top 100 highest-grossing theaters, arenas and stadiums in North America. Klobuchar has repeatedly said she believes Ticketmaster uses exclusive contracts to lock up market share. In contrast, Ticketmaster attorneys and industry advocates have argued before that the exclusive nature of these contracts benefits venues because it simplifies the ticket-buying process for consumers and generates important revenue for venues that they would not earn without an exclusive agreement.
DOJ officials are also expected to argue that Live Nation has illegally abused its power in the concert business to drive up ticket prices over the last decade, in part through additional fees that can add as much as 30% to ticket prices.
But officials from Ticketmaster, which Live Nation controls, have long argued that artists set their ticket prices, not Ticketmaster, and that only a small percentage of the fees collected above face value go to the ticketing company, with the vast majority of those funds going to venues to help cover the costs of a concert.
The government also bears the burden of proving why its proposed remedies — like forcing Live Nation to sell its stake in Ticketmaster — would benefit consumers.
Simply being named in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Kanter has the potential to significantly damage Live Nation reputationally and financially. A detailed lawsuit against it could galvanize the company’s critics behind a narrative that alleges the concert conglomerate acts monopolistically and abuses its power, undoing the company’s efforts in recent years to improve its image and destigmatize its business model.
A lawsuit will also likely have a negative impact on the company’s share price and serve as a major distraction for Live Nation when it would otherwise be focused on strategic expansion following its most successful fiscal year ever, with revenue up 36% from the previous year and an impressive $1.8 billion in adjusted net income.
Instead, Live Nation may face the full weight of America’s top law enforcement agency, which this year has taken on companies like Apple and Google with market capitalizations that are each 100 times larger than Live Nation’s. While Kanter’s efforts against these companies have been applauded by powerful allies including Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who has vowed to “make antitrust sexy again,” Kanter’s efforts so far have been unsuccessful, with the DOJ losing the bulk of the major antitrust cases it has filed. In December 2022, a judge dismissed the DOJ’s efforts to block a merger between security firms Booze Allen Hamilton and Everwatch as well as mergers between UnitedHealth Group and Change Healthcare, U.S. Sugar Corp and Imperial Sugar, Meta and Within, and Microsoft and Activision.
Kanter also lost a major ruling in the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google earlier this year when a judge struck down a request to bar the tech giant from offering up evidence that activities the government had deemed anti-competitive also had positive qualities that improved the product and generated positive consumer feedback.
“If the government can tip the scales and prevent courts from considering pro-competitive effects, the government could win every case by default,” wrote Sean Heather, a senior vp at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a recent paper on the Google case.
The Google litigation, which deals with ongoing business practices at the company as opposed to a merger, could be a litmus test for a yet-to-be-filed Live Nation suit. In the Google case, the government alleges that the company controls 90% of the online search advertising market by paying out billions of dollars each year to companies like Apple and Samsung to be the default search engine on their computers and smartphones.
While Live Nation officials are confident they can prevail in the looming antitrust case, they will do so with far fewer resources than other companies hauled before the Justice Department in recent years. Live Nation’s market cap currently sits at $22 billion, whereas Google and Apple’s combined market cap is $6.7 trillion, making Live Nation one of the smallest companies in recent decades to be the subject of such a lawsuit.
Live Nation declined to comment for this story. The Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment.