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Travis Scott was fired up. “IM FCKING JUMPING THRU WALLS,” he wrote on Instagram. The reason: He planned to officially re-release Days Before Rodeo, his decade-old pre-stardom mixtape, on streaming services on August 23.
Sabrina Carpenter‘s Short n’ Sweet was slated to come out the same day, and before Scott’s announcement, it was expected to coast to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart — an inevitable coronation after a string of high-flying singles. Instead, Carpenter’s release squeaked out a No. 1 finish, earning 362,000 units to Scott’s 361,000.
Short n’ Sweet out-streamed the rapper’s old mixtape by a wide margin, racking up 233 million official on-demand streams to Scott’s 40.6 million. But remarkably, he sold 300,000 digital downloads of Days Before Rodeo, according to Luminate. On the final day of the tracking week, Scott put out six different digital variations of his album — each of which included at least two extra tracks and cost just $4.99, the minimum price for chart eligibility — as part of a ferocious last-ditch attempt to snatch victory from Carpenter. She responded in kind, serving up three $4.99 digital variants of her own and ultimately selling 45,000 digital downloads. (All nine variants were available exclusively on the artists’ web stores.)
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This tactic has been around for years: Release digital variants near the end of the week; sell them cheap; polish off a rival; tout the accomplishment. The technique is getting more attention lately because clashes between titans are being decided by digital variant release strategies. Scott was nearly able to erase Carpenter’s mile-wide streaming lead thanks in part to his blitz of variants. And these duels have spurred the latest round of music industry conversations about whether artists and labels are trying to game the charts — or take advantage of their most devoted followers.
“People are keeping that ammo in the chamber: ‘Let’s save these four variants that we know we’re going to have to drop at different times throughout this week,’” says one major-label A&R who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “Does it enhance the fan experience, or does it actually lessen it? I think it’s manipulative.”
When asked about this practice, another prominent manager would say only that “it’s ironic that the institution which is allowing the problem to exist is reaching out for a quote.” (“Billboard is always reviewing, in consultation with Luminate and the industry at large, what sales channels are included for chart eligibility, and has updated its policies when necessary based on market behavior,” Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard‘s executive vp of charts and data partnerships, said in a statement.)
On the other hand, some label executives believe that digital variants help create eye-catching first-week totals and race-to-the-finish-line dramas that are good for the music industry, sort of like its version of Barbenheimer: Before Taylor Swift’s showdown with Billie Eilish in May and Carpenter vs. Scott more recently, it had been a whopping eight years since two albums cracked the 300,000-unit mark during the same week.
And the contest between Carpenter and Scott was a nail-biter until the end, as both camps released their final variant in the last two hours of the tracking week. Since January 2020, there have only been seven weeks when the gap between Nos. 1 and 2 was less than 1,000 units. (Representatives for Carpenter and Scott did not respond to requests for comment.)
Despite the prominence of digital albums in some recent release campaigns, digital album sales have plummeted from 103.3 million in 2015 to 18.3 million in 2023, according to Luminate’s annual reports. Within this category, Luminate also tracks an “others” grouping that reflects sales from artists’ direct-to-consumer web stores along with non-major digital retailers. So far this year, sales in “others” total just 1.7 million, which amounts to 0.23% of year-to-date total album consumption (730.45 million equivalent album units*).
While this represents a tiny sliver of overall activity, it can make a difference in close chart races. Swift released additional digital variants when she went head to head with Eilish and against Ye and Ty Dolla $ign‘s Vultures 2 in August. (Eilish and Ye and Ty released their own as well, to no avail.) And Blink-182 used a digital variant of One More Time as part of a successful effort to scrape by Drake‘s For All the Dogs and nab No. 1 in October.
These face-offs also demonstrate how far labels and artists are willing to go to try to get that top spot. Getting a No. 1 demonstrates that labels “still have the ability to move the needle,” says industry veteran Ray Daniels. “That is a big reason why certain artists will go to certain labels.” And “ego is a lot of it,” adds Joey Arbagey, a former major-label A&R executive.
Most prominent artists want to top the chart as well, though they may be loath to admit it. “It’s a way of an artist on the rise saying they have arrived,” Daniels says. And scoring a No. 1 can then serve as a springboard, creating “a domino effect of other opportunities, whether that’s working with brands or getting significant press,” according to Nick Groff, an artist manager and former A&R.
In more recent years, artists and labels have used hyper-aggressive price discounting, bundling albums with tickets or merchandise, box sets, vinyl variants and other techniques to try to jack up an album’s chart position. (There are dissenters: “It’s crazy how much time and energy is wasted on shit like this,” says one former major label executive, practically eye-rolling through the phone, “instead of focusing on signing good artists and making good music.”) When chart rules change, so do the industry’s strategies for impacting them.
Some of these options disappeared in 2020 after Billboard stopped counting albums sold in merchandise bundles and ticket bundle offers. Label executives say selling digital variant downloads is one of the few maneuvers they have left to goose numbers late in a chart week. The other is putting a deluxe version of the album with additional tracks on streaming services, also an increasingly common tactic.
But adding an unreleased track or two onto the album and selling it exclusively through an artist’s web store is a more potent option. This can also be done quickly and at the last minute, as a Hail Mary when a chart race suddenly becomes competitive. Acts usually make these releases available for a limited time only, which both further juices fan interest and underscores that the artists are focusing on the all-important release week.
In many cases, this strategy is effectively a sale of a lone song masquerading as an album purchase — artists often just add one live track or unreleased loosie to the original project and make it available as a new variant. Some artists don’t even include a new song in a digital variant; they just change up the artwork, or digitally “sign” the album art.
“If there is exclusive music available in these variant releases, that can be a great strategy and a fun way to engage with your fan base,” says Greg Hirschhorn, founder of the distribution company Too Lost. “If there is only a change in the track list or a different album artwork, I feel like the only real goal or outcome is chart manipulation.”
Steeply discounted digital variants also threaten to snub the diehards who ordered an album ahead of time at full price. If a fan pays $9.99 for a pre-order on iTunes, they may feel like a sucker when they see the same album augmented with bonus material and made available for just $4.99 near the end of the tracking week. “It feels like people should wait until Thursday afternoon to buy the album” and get the best deal, the major-label A&R says.
But for now, any potential fan backlash to the rise of variants appears to be outweighed by their impact on the charts. “When you’re in it and you’re fighting so hard for No. 1, it can seem obnoxious [to people outside the industry], but that’s the only thing that matters,”Arbagey says. “They’re pulling out all the stops.”
“I’ve definitely been in one of those heated races,” Groff adds. “You figure out everything you can possibly do to boost the numbers.”
*Through the week ending Aug. 29, total U.S. album consumption in 2024, as represented by equivalent album units — excluding units caused by user generated content — equals 730.45 million, according to Luminate. Each equivalent album unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.
By some measures, the recorded music business has never been better. U.S. sales grew 8% in 2023 to hit a record high $17.1 billion; streaming continues to grow around the world; and revenue and operating income are rising at the three major labels and many smaller companies as well. The subscription streaming model is appealingly predictable, and the explosion of other forms of online media, from video games to virtual exercise programs, is creating plenty of opportunities for growth.
By other measures, the industry is in a tough spot. The flood of new music pouring into streaming services — both legitimate and not — is diluting the royalty pool for professional musicians. (This, and some other things, might be good for some players, but it seems to be bad for the business.) Although comparisons are complicated, it seems harder than ever to break new acts. Underneath all of this is the part of the iceberg most people don’t see: The deals labels sign with acts are generally less advantageous, because artists have more leverage than ever.
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The numbers say it’s the best of times. Layoffs at Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group say otherwise. And although the recorded music business isn’t in any real danger — the only question is how fast it’s going to grow — it’s hard to escape the idea that something just feels off.
Welcome to the music business version of the “vibecession” that’s affecting the U.S. economy as a whole. The term, coined in June 2022 by the financial analyst Kyla Scanlon, describes the apparent disconnect between positive economic indicators and negative public perceptions. In layman’s terms, if the numbers look so good, why do things feel so bad?
Outside the music business, most of the economic news is good, or at least good-ish by the standards of the dismal science. Inflation is down and the economy seems to be growing again. The problem, in industry terms, is that people just aren’t feeling it. One example: Job loss concerns are high at a time when the level of layoffs is low, according to Marketplace. The article compares the current situation to a doctor talking to a healthy patient who thinks he’s sick. There are explanations for this: Perhaps our minds are still adjusting to higher prices, which continue to rise even as the rate of inflation declines, or maybe troubling political news just makes more of an impression than economic indicators.
This could be more than a feeling, as a Boston economist might say, since people and companies that believe the economy will decline might cut back their spending and, inadvertently, contribute to making it happen. Although the music business is much harder to measure, the same thing could happen there. The pessimism that has already led to layoffs and restructuring means there will be fewer A&R executives signing fewer acts and then spending less money on marketing and promotion. That might be necessary. But it’s unlikely to help.
What’s killing the vibe in music? Partly, expectations have changed. The hypergrowth phase of streaming is ending, but big music companies, especially UMG and WMG, are under some pressure to grow faster than the overall business. Subscription streaming is going from the savior of the music business to another new format that boosts some kinds of music at the expense of others. There aren’t many new stars — one of the big hip-hop stories this year was the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. (This is both the winter of our discontent and the season of diss content.) And new albums by established stars like Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa are off to a slow start (although it’s hard to know what that means in a streaming-driven business).
There may also be a sense, both in the music business and in the economy as a whole, that the foundation is not as solid as it seems. There’s more talk of quick fixes, both in the overall economy (Blockchain!) and in the music business (NFTs!). But there’s not much effort to get at the heart of the problems: The economy seems increasingly rigged toward finance and the pro-rata royalty distribution of streaming services prizes viral sensations in a way that may make it hard for different kinds of artists to build careers.
In the meantime, the numbers keep going up. The stock market has skyrocketed, undeterred by COVID, inflation and conflict in the Middle East — but that can’t last forever. The recorded music business keeps growing, too, and it will almost certainly continue to do so — just perhaps not in the ways we have come to expect. Over the past few years, labels have spent fortunes signing viral superstars who win big — but how many of them will be around in a decade? Meanwhile, popular tastes are harder than ever to predict. Two years ago, when it seemed like the future belonged to hip-hop, could anyone have predicted such a big country comeback? Giving people what they want is a fine strategy — but only if they keep wanting it.
It’s a good time to toast the good times — but it’s tempting to ask for a strong drink, too. Both the music industry and the broader economy keep climbing over problems to reach new peaks. And they’re great places to be — until you realize that it’s all downhill from there.
Welcome to another edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. While you’re here, check out Billboard’s fresh list of top R&B and Hip-Hop executives leading the genres forward, plus our weekly interview series spotlighting a single executive and a regularly updated gallery honoring many of the industry figures we’ve lost throughout the year.
Erika Savage has joined the entertainment department of top music law firm King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, Billboard can announce. A multi–year honoree in our annual list of influential women in music, Savage was most recently senior vp of global music operations at United Talent Agency, where she oversaw all operational elements of UTA’s global touring division. The bulk of Savage’s roughly 25-year career, however, was spent at Universal Music Group, where she rose to senior vp of strategic development at Interscope Records, developing integrated artist brand strategies across music, brand partnerships, merchandise and touring. “We are delighted to supplement our deep bench of entertainment attorneys with someone at the top of her game,” said managing partner Howard King. Here, Savage expands on her big move from agency life to KHPS:
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Why join private practice at this point in your career? The idea of artist advocacy. Being an artist lawyer in the music industry is the greatest privilege because you are entrusted to protect your client’s rights and to bring value as a strategic advisor. After many incredible experiences gained working within a major label, building brands, and in global touring, I finally feel like I’m doing what I was meant to do – directly advocating for artists. I’m particularly inspired by the fact that more women artists, producers and songwriters are looking for women to be part of their team as lawyers, managers, agents and business managers. It’s exciting that our shared experiences as women in music will allow us to find ways to be entrepreneurial together.
What issue concerns you the most in music? When I started in business affairs at UMG, the major label deal was largely considered the path to superstar artist status. Now, while it’s great that there are fewer gate keepers and far more access points for artists to distribute their music, the legal landscape is far more complicated for developing artists. Navigating all these distributors and platforms can be really overwhelming for an artist just trying to break through. Being a TikTok artist is an incredible catalyst but career longevity requires a strategy beyond achieving 24 hours on the top of a For You page. We represent some incredible legacy artists. We want to make sure that our clients who are currently young and developing clients have similarly vibrant legacy careers in 20 years.
Meanwhile…
All My Friends, the event production company behind the floating dance festival FriendShip, hired industry veteran Randy Sosin as its first head of creative content. As AMF’s creative chief, Sosin will manage everything from ideation to delivery of all areas of creative branding and promotion for the company, founded by dance impresario Gary Richards. Sosin arrives to AMF following a six-year stretch as chief content officer at The X, a digital content agency not to be confused with the social network. He has also held senior roles at Insomniac Events, MTV, Gang of Fore and Interscope, where he spent the early aughts producing videos, short films and other visual goodies for artists including Eminem, 50 Cent, Enrique Iglesias and others. “I am so fortunate that I am able to come on board and help Gary and AMF grow and expand FriendShip (the greatest party in the world), but also be a part of an amazing team,” said Sosin. “Gary is an inspiration to me, and I look forward to helping show the world what I have known for years.”
Christoffer Lindh was promoted to head of A&R and Atena Banisaid to general manager of Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia. Both Stockholm-based execs will continue reporting to Johnny Tennander, managing director and svp of A&R international for SMPS. As his title implies, Lindh is now tasked with leading the company’s A&R-related endeavors across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark). In his 15 years at the publisher, Lindh has signed and/or worked with Yung Lean and Sad Boys, Scarlet Pleasure, Cashmere Cat and others. For Banisaid, her role as GM means growing the overall business and crafting forward-thinking initiatives. She’ll also continue lending a hand on Lindh’s A&R team, where she has worked with Benjamin Ingrosso, Giift and other artists. “It feels very good to elevate Christoffer and Atena to these key positions for Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia,” noted Tennander. “They have for a long time both proven to be incredibly important to our A&R team, but also to our wider team and company.”
Downtown Music promoted David Driessen to chief commercial officer, effective immediately. He’ll lead efforts to drive revenue across the company’s four divisions — publishing, distribution, artist/label services and financial services — and continue to report to CEO Pieter van Rijn. Driessen was previously CCO of FUGA, the Downtown-owned B2B music distributor, before sidling over to Downtown in early 2023 to become chief business officer.
PULSE Music Group promoted Tizita Makuria to senior vp of A&R for both PMG and PULSE Records. She’ll focus on signing and developing new talent, and then finding creative opportunities for them. Based in Los Angeles, Makuria holds bragging rights as the company’s first hire to PULSE Records, where she was part of the team that signed “Million Dollar Baby” phenom Tommy Richman to the PULSE/ISO Supremacy joint venture. Prior to joining PMG in 2022 as vp of A&R, Makuria held down the senior director of A&R role at Artist Publishing Group. “Tizita brings a positive energy to every meeting—she’s passionate about her writers and recording artists and she has a relentless drive to deliver good results for them,” said co-CEOs Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham, and president Ashley Calhoun. Earlier this summer, PMG upped Steven Gringer to svp of A&R.
Mike Harris announced his departure as executive vp and COO of Universal Music Group Nashville. According to Music Row, Harris is leaving the position at the end of the month for an as-yet unannounced opportunity. A source tells Billboard that a replacement will be announced soon. Harris joined UMGN in 2016 as COO following a three-year stint as evp/general manager of Caroline, UMG’s since-renamed label and artist services company. Harris’ previous work experience includes 15 years with EMI in a variety of roles, including evp/GM for label services, evp/finance director, global A&R operations for EMI’s new music division and evp/CFO for various labels and divisions within EMI.
NASHVILLE NOTES: The Core Entertainment added day-to-day managers Jackie Gomez and Brittani Johnson to the company’s artist management team in Nashville. Gomez most recently served as DtD manager of Charlie Puth while at Friends at Work, where she also A&R’d a number of up-and-coming artists. Johnson arrives from Big Loud, where as director of Southwest promotion she played a major role in boosting the signals of Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Ashley Cooke and others … Invasion Group expanded with the launch of a new Nashville office. Leading the Music City office is artist manager Courtney Oertel. Among the artists on Invasion Group’s roster are Ani DiFranco, John Driskell Hopkins, Rissi Palmer, The Righteous Babes, Blackstar Symphony and Ken Butler.
Jared Gibo was named CEO of specialty live entertainment company LiveCo’s new full-service, global faith-based promotion arm, TPR. TPR merges three promotion companies that LiveCo previously acquired—Transparent, Premier and Rush Concerts—into the newly-minted TPR. With the creation of TPR, Transparent Productions founder and CEO Tim Taber has been promoted to the LiveCo management team as chief strategy officer. Premier Productions CEO Michael Pugh was also promoted to LiveCo as chief operating officer. TPR works with artists including Anne Wilson, Cece Winans, Chris Tomlin, Forrest Frank, Gaither Vocal Band, Dude Perfect, Jeremy Camp, Josiah Queen, KB, MercyMe, Tauren Wells and more. –Jessica Nicholson
Music curation and licensing firm SoStereo elevated Lindsey Camerota to CEO, effective immediately. Camerota joined SoStereo in March, as chief marketing officer, following senior marketing roles at fintech startup Tomo, experiential tech company Superlogic, something called “Spotify” and fitness giant Equinox. Earlier in her career, Camerota served as a marketing manager at Republic Records. “Building a career in the music industry has been a lifelong dream,” she said. “I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to advance SoStereo’s mission of making brand narratives powerful, memorable experiences with accessible, high-quality music.”
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Amanda Smith is promoted from president to chief executive officer of Fairchild Media Group, overseeing a portfolio of brands that includes Women’s Wear Daily, WWD Weekend, Beauty Inc, Footwear News, Sourcing Journal, Rivet and Fairchild Live Events. Like Billboard, FMG is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Prior to joining Fairchild in September 2020, Smith served in senior positions at print powerhouses including Fast Company, The New York Times, Vogue and The Wall Street Journal, among others. She is based in NYC and reports to Celine Perrot-Johnson, executive vp of operations and finance at PMC.
Kerri Kolen is the new vp of PAVE Publishing House, the independent print and audiobook division of PAVE Studios. Kerri was previously vp and head of audiobooks at Pushkin Industries and a creative executive at Audible, and has worked with notable authors and celebrities, including Kelly Osbourne, Carrie Fisher, Kate Winslet and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, among others.
ICYMI:
Jackie Winkler
Recent executive of the week Jackie Winkler was promoted to senior vp and head of A&R at Island Records … Martijn Tel joined BMI as the performing rights organization’s new chief financial officer … Ultra Records veteran Eddie Spears joined Republic Records as its new evp of creative … and Rachelle Jean-Louis was named executive of the year in Billboard‘s 2024 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list.
Last Week’s Turntable: HYBE-Owned Label ADOR Replaces CEO
Maddox Batson, a 14-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose breakthrough song, “Tears in the River,” made its way to the top 20 on Spotify’s U.S. Viral 50 chart earlier this year, has signed a deal with Warner Records, the company tells Billboard. On Thursday (Sept. 5), Batson also releases a new song, “X’s” (video below).
“Just seeing what they did with [Batson’s now-Warner labelmates] Zach Bryan, Warren Zeiders, Bailey Zimmerman, all those people, it just felt like a no-brainer for me [to sign with Warner],” Batson tells Billboard via Zoom. “I could tell they were going to take care of me and not push me to do things that I don’t want to do. They make sure I do everything right for my artistry and everything that’s right for my fans.”
In March, Batson released a video for “Tears in the River” on TikTok. The clip has since surged to 12.5 million views, and the impact has spilled over into streaming — the song, which Batson wrote with Nick Bailey, Josh Dorr, Benjamin Negrin and Elysse Yulo, has earned over 6 million streams on Spotify’s platform alone.
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“It was one of my first-ever writing sessions with more than just one person,” Batson says. “We got in the room and were thinking, ‘What do girls want to hear?’ They want to hear that you want to take care of them, maybe they got out of a bad relationship, they come to you and now it’s going to be a good relationship. And that’s what we wrote.”
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Batson’s follow-up single, the polished pop-country track “I Wanna Know,” has more than 2 million streams on Spotify. But it’s not only his music that’s connecting with fans — so is Batson’s gregarious, social media-savvy persona. A TikTok clip released in February that showed him getting ready to attend a dance earned over 30 million views.
Warner Records CEO/co-chairman Aaron Bay-Schuck told Billboard in a statement, “Several members of our Warner A&R team were the first people to bring Maddox to my attention after seeing his growth online. We were immediately drawn to his star power and charisma, as well as his fantastic instincts with respect to self promotion. While the social metrics were outpacing the consumption story, what we did find is that Maddox is a naturally gifted songwriter who sees an open lane for himself and has a clear vision for how he is going to own it.
“We look forward to nurturing his artist development process as he hones his craft, works with those who will help make him better and solidify his sound, and continue to build a strong fanbase that is with him not only for his online persona but because they love the music he makes and what he represents. We are confident we have Country and Pop’s next young star in Maddox.”
Batson was born in Nashville and raised in Birmingham, Ala. Growing up, he was inspired by ‘80s and ‘90s country artists including Alan Jackson and George Strait, but also the pop sounds of artists such as Justin Bieber. Last summer, he played more than 20 shows, honing his sound and developing his musical skills through playing with his musician father.
Maddox says he was inspired to write his new song, “X’s,” after attending an Abby Anderson concert at Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville.
“I walked in and of course, your boy is not old enough to drink alcohol, so the security guard drew a big X on my hand. The show was great, and when I went to the studio the next day and this guy saw the X on my hand — I promise, I shower, it was just written in Sharpie — but he saw my hand and we just wrote this song in 15 minutes. It was one of the easiest writing experiences of my life.”
Recording the song, however, was not without a minor challenge or two.
“Just seeing that song coming from the demo to the final version is just so crazy because my voice changed while we recorded those two different versions [demo and master recording] of the song,” Batson says. “So we had to [record] it in a completely different key. But seeing it come out is going to be absolutely money. I’m so excited.”
In addition to writing his own hits, Batson’s song “Tough” — which he wrote about his father and grandfathers — was recently recorded and released by Lana Del Rey (who is prepping a country album titled Lasso) and Quavo.
“I come from a long line of farmers,” Batson says of writing the song. “My mom’s dad was a tobacco farmer and my dad grew up in the construction sites, so just really work ethic-heavy people, and hopefully that got passed down.”
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Batson, who is signed with Prosper Entertainment for management, WME for booking and Warner Chappell for publishing, says he expects a project to be released in 2025. In June, he joined singer-songwriter Wyatt Flores to perform Flores’ “Please Don’t Go” during Nashville’s CMA Fest. Days later, he also became the youngest artist to perform at the popular Nashville music series Whiskey Jam, with a full-capacity audience that caused Whiskey Jam to expand entry to the normally 21-and-up show to fans of all ages.
Presently, Batson — who is starting ninth grade and transitioned to homeschool just before releasing “Tears in the River” — is balancing school with a slate of primarily weekend tour dates opening for “I Hope” hitmaker Gabby Barrett.
“Yeah, when I finish up this interview, I’m enrolling for the new school year,” he says.
Spotify has defeated a long-running lawsuit that claimed Eminem’s music was streamed illegally “billions” of times on the platform, winning a ruling that sharply criticized the rapper’s publisher for filing the case in the first place.
Eminem’s publisher, Eight Mile Style, sued Spotify in 2019, claiming the streamer had made hundreds of the rapper’s songs available without proper licenses. That included mega-hits like “Lose Yourself,” which has been streamed more than 1 billion times on the service.
But in a decision last month, a federal judge dismissed those accusations entirely, ruling that Eight Mile had essentially manufactured a lawsuit for its own gain. The publisher knew for years that its songs were being played on Spotify, the judge wrote, but had chosen to do nothing in order to build a more lucrative legal case against the streamer.
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“Eight Mile Style was not a hapless victim,” Judge Aleta A. Trauger wrote. “While Spotify’s handling of composer copyrights appears to have been seriously flawed, any right to recover damages based on those flaws belongs to those innocent rights holders who were genuinely harmed, not ones who, like Eight Mile Style, had every opportunity to set things right and simply chose not to do so for no apparent reason, other than that being the victim of infringement pays better than being an ordinary licensor.”
An attorney for Eight Mile Style did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision. Eminem himself was not involved in the case.
At the center of the long legal battle is the chaotic system that governed streaming royalties in the U.S. for much of the 2010s, in which streamers like Spotify often failed to pay the proper rights holders. That messy situation was mostly fixed by the 2018 enactment of the federal Music Modernization Act (MMA), which created a single blanket license for streamers to pay.
The MMA largely immunized streamers like Spotify from lawsuits over past misdeeds, wiping the slate clean if they paid for the blanket license and complied with other requirements. But a year after the statute was enacted, Eight Mile sued anyway — arguing, among other things, that the landmark law itself was unconstitutional because it violated due process and negated the company’s copyrights.
In her ruling last month, Judge Trauger entirely avoided those lofty constitutional questions about the MMA, saying she would leave them “for a future case involving an appropriate plaintiff.” But like other aspects of her ruling, she suggested that “teeing up a constitutional showdown” had been another “strategic” decision by Eight Mile aimed at securing a bigger payout.
“The MMA framework was the culmination of what may have been one of the most high-stakes policymaking efforts in the history of copyright, and whether that framework survives has implications for the economy of music that go far beyond the rights of any individual artist, even a popular one like Eminem,” the judge wrote. “A lawsuit that imperiled the MMA could cost Spotify a great deal more than any one artist could ever claim — and could, potentially, justify a more generous settlement.”
In technical terms, Judge Trauger’s ruling cited the legal doctrine of equitable estoppel, which bars litigants from behaving unfairly to win advantage in court cases. In applying that rule to Eight Mile, she said the publisher “improperly chose the cultivation of infringement damages over the proper functioning of the copyright system.”
Eight Mile clearly knew that some of its most valuable IP was being used by Spotify, the judge wrote, and the entire lawsuit could have been avoided if Eight Mile had “simply sent a single, clear cease-and-desist letter.” But she said the company instead “simply allowed its rights to be violated.”
“If Eight Mile Style had come forward to contest the status quo, it would have brought this situation to a much quicker end, but it did not,” Judge Trauger wrote. “The only plausible reason for this course of action is that … allowing infringement to continue on a large scale is more economically beneficial to the purported victim than the licit streaming economy would be.”
Even if Eight Mile’s accusations against Spotify had been legally valid, the judge ruled that the damages wouldn’t have been Spotify’s to pay. Instead, she ruled that the liability would have belonged to Kobalt, because the company had signed a licensing deal with Spotify for the Eminem songs at issue and had agreed to indemnify the streamer for any such legal problems.
As it was, that question was largely moot because the judge had mostly rejected Eight Mile’s lawsuit. But she ruled that Kobalt would likely need to cover Spotify’s legal expenses incurred in defending the lawsuit — likely a sizeable sum after five years of litigation. That issue will be subject to future proceedings.
A representative for Spotify did not immediately return requests for comment. A representative for Kobalt declined to comment.
When Michael “Mike” Smith was indicted Wednesday (Sept. 4) over allegations that he used an AI music company to create “hundreds of thousands” of songs and then used bots to artificially earn $10 million in streaming income since 2017, prosecutors claimed that some of the money flowed back to that AI music company. The indictment also claimed that Smith was in consistent contact with its CEO — but it never revealed their names.
ASCAP/BMI Songview records and the MLC database indicate that Alex Mitchell, CEO/founder of popular AI music company Boomy, is listed as the co-writer on at least hundreds of the 200,000 plus songs that are registered to Smith. Boomy also released a song, “This Isn’t Real Life,” jointly with Smith, CVBZ and Stunna 4 Vegas.
In a statement to Billboard, Mitchell says: “We were shocked by the details in the recently filed indictment of Michael Smith, which we are reviewing. Michael Smith consistently represented himself as legitimate.”
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The indictment alleges that around 2018, “Smith began working with the Chief Executive Officer of an [unnamed] AI music company and a music promoter to create thousands of songs that Smith could then fraudulently stream.” Within months, the CEO was allegedly providing Smith with “thousands of songs each week.”
In June 2019, the indictment says that Smith reported to the AI music CEO and the promoter that “we are at 88 million TOTAL STREAMS so far!!!” Smith explained to the CEO and promoter that his streams were earning about $110,000 per month and that the two men were each receiving 10% of the proceeds. Smith later asked the AI CEO to provide him with another 10,000 AI songs so that he could “spread this out more” with his streams. The indictment states that this was “to evade detection from streaming platforms.”
Eventually, according to the indictment, Smith entered a “Master Services Agreement” with this AI music company that supplied Smith with 1,000-10,000 songs per month. The deal stated that Smith would have “full ownership of the intellectual property rights in the songs.” In turn, Smith would provide the AI company with metadata and the “greater of $2,000 or 15% of the streaming revenue” he generated from the AI songs.
“Keep in mind what we’re doing musically here… this is not ‘music,’ it’s ‘instant music’ ;)” the AI CEO wrote to Smith in an email that was included in the indictment.
Mitchell’s publisher is listed as Songtrust, a publishing administration company owned by Downtown, which typically earns a percentage of signees’ royalties in exchange for services. Smith’s publisher, Smithhouse Music Publishing, also lists Songtrust as its point of contact on Songview.
A representative for Songtrust declined Billboard’s request for comment. However, a source close to the matter tells Billboard that Smith and Mitchell’s Songtrust deals were terminated more than a year ago.
While it is not unheard of for an AI company to be approached by customers who are looking to buy a large number of songs, multiple AI music executives tell Billboard that it is common to know why the customer wants the tracks and to do “KYC,” or “know your client,” checks to ensure they are above board.
Typically, customers for large sums of songs tend to be companies that are seeking cheap music alternatives, often for social media content. Other requests tend to come from unknown individuals outside of the U.S., especially streaming fraud hotspots like Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam and Brazil. These parties are often denied. Two sources say it’s surprising to see a CEO’s name listed in the credits as a songwriter when these transactions occur.
Boomy has been at the forefront of AI music since its infancy. Records vary as to when Boomy launched in beta, with some online sources saying 2018 and others saying 2019. It officially debuted in 2021, according to an announcement from Axios. The company claims on its website to have made over 20 million AI-generated tracks to date.
Boomy has also won the respect of the music industry establishment. For years, Boomy was distributing many of its AI tracks through a partnership with New York-based music services giant Downtown. Though this partnership was in place during the same time frame as Smith’s alleged fraudulent activities, it is unclear if any of Smith’s allegedly fraudulent AI tracks were distributed through Downtown. The indictment does state, however, that Smith used two distributors to upload content from 2017-2024, one based in New York and one based in Florida.
In May 2023, Boomy told users via Discord that Spotify had shut down its ability to upload songs to the DSP and that some of their released tracks had been removed. “This decision was made by Spotify and Boomy’s distributor in order to enable a review of potentially anomalous activity,” Boomy said at the time. Spotify later confirmed that the “anomalous activity” was related to possible streaming fraud detected on certain tracks. A Spotify spokesperson said at the time, “Artificial streaming is a longstanding, industry-wide issue that Spotify is working to stamp out across our service.”
In fall 2023, Boomy announced that it had partnered with fraud detection company Beatdapp to combat streaming manipulation. A month later, Boomy also announced that it had reached a new distribution partnership with ADA Worldwide, a company under the Warner Music Group (WMG) umbrella.
WMG is one of Boomy’s top investors, making both a pre-seed round as well as a seed round investment. Other Boomy investors include Sound Media Ventures, First Check Ventures, Intonation Ventures, Future Labs, Boost VC and Scrum Venture, according to Crunchbase.
According to Songview and the MLC database, the same tracks that list Smith and Mitchell as co-writers also list a music industry veteran named Bram Bessoff, founder of promotional platform Indiehitmaker. Typically, these tracks allocate 10% of publishing ownership and royalties to Bessoff, which matches the amount the indictment indicates was paid to the unnamed promoter. Bessoff’s publisher is listed as Songtrust as well. (A source close to the matter says Bessoff’s deal with Songtrust was also terminated more than a year ago).
Bessoff declined Billboard’s request for comment, citing his cooperation in the ongoing investigation.
The Spanish recorded music industry is having a promising year, so far. PROMUSICAE (Productores de Música de España), which represents more than 95% of Spain’s recording industry, recently released half-year figures — and they continue to ascend. The recorded music industry has generated a total revenue of 249.8 million euros ($277.3 million) during this period, reflecting an impressive growth rate of 16.6% compared to the same period in 2023 when the income stood at 214.3 million euros ($237.9 million).
“It is very encouraging that in this first part of the year the figures growth of recorded music in Spain keep over 16%, as this highlights that the efforts and talent of Spanish artists and recording companies bear fruit, and music continues grabbing the interest of the public,” said Antonio Guisasola, president of PROMUSICAE.
The digital market remains a catalyst for this growth, experiencing a significant rise of 18.8%. Digital formats now account for 89.7% of the industry’s turnover, totaling 224.15 million euros ($248.82 million). That’s nearly all streaming, which captured 88.8% of the total market and generated revenues of 221.86 million euros ($246.28 million) — up 19.1% compared to the first half of 2023.
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Audio streaming represented 83.5% of all consumption and contributed 185.22 million euros ($205.6 million) to the industry. Video streaming accounted for 36.64 million euros ($40.67 million), totaling to 16.5% of streaming.
Karol G, Sabrina Carpenter, Spanish indie rock band Arde Bogotá, Dani Fernández, and Benson Boone are some of the artists that have placed No. 1 songs on the Spanish charts. Meanwhile, albums by Quevedo, Karol G, Bad Bunny, Aitana, and C.Tangana continue to dominate the 100 Albums annual chart.
Guisasola added, “Streaming is obviously the main way in which we consume recorded music and the greatest economic support of recording market, but the public is still demanding physical products such as vinyl, which sales steadily grow and is most valued by consumers.”
The physical market this year so far matches the growth of the same period of 2023, ever so slightly increasing to 0.03%. The consumption of vinyl rose 11.9% in 2024, like last year, whereas CD purchases decreased by 15%. Other formats also decreased compared with the same period of 2023, down 32.9%, and DVD salesdecreased by 15.1%.
“The challenge remains to push the Spanish recording production even stronger, helping companies of our country to invest in national talent, for which it is essential to be supported with public measures as can be tax incentives to Spanish production and the support to internationalization of our recording production,” stated Guisasola.
He mentioned that the challenges the industry faces is to get the public to “make a decided commitment to consume music through payment subscriptions, as it happens in our surrounding advanced countries.” Guisasola stated that this not only enhances the listening experience but also provides the financial returns needed to continuously support our artists’ talent.
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Despite his high-profile arrest for a DUI on June 18 on Long Island, Justin Timberlake didn’t see much impact on the ticket sales for his Forget Tomorrow World Tour, which is on track to gross more than $250 million over 87 dates, according to Billboard Boxscore data.
The estimated sales figure means each concert has generated about $2.8 million so far, before the tour stopped reported grosses when it crossed over into Europe, where he is playing 27 dates across Poland, Germany, Belgium, the U.K., the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and France. While there’s not much data on how European tickets are selling, there’s no indication that sales have fallen off. In fact, in the months leading up to it, there were plenty of signs that Forget Tomorrow was one of the strongest selling tours of Timberlake’s career.
In the immediate aftermath of Timberlake’s arrest — which produced the singer’s reported response, “This is going to ruin the tour,” which became a viral meme — prices on secondary sites for some of his shows did drop, in some cases to as low as $20 per ticket. But those drops were likely publicity stunts by resellers trying to drive traffic to their websites. Prices on the secondary market have since recovered: His Sept. 4 concert in Hamburg, Germany is selling for slightly over face value, with some floor tickets selling for 250 euros ($277), about 25% higher than face value for those seats.
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Prices get even higher on the secondary market in the U.S. when the tour returns in October, starting Oct. 6 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. While there are a handful of tickets listed below $75, the majority are marked up significantly, with lower bowl tickets selling for double the face value at more than $250 each and floor seats moving for over $400.
Even as the tour moves into softer markets like Orlando, Fla., and Milwaukee, prices on secondary resellers are holding strong and going for three to four times face value. By the time the Forget Tomorrow World Tour ends on Dec. 20 in St. Louis, it will very likely rank as one of the top 10 tours of the year and be remembered as one of Timberlake’s most profitable runs.
LONDON — The U.K. competition regulator has launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over its much-criticized sale of tickets for Oasis‘ reunion tour, which prompted hundreds of complaints from fans and fierce condemnation from British politicians.
The probe was announced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday (Sept. 5) – less than a week after tickets for Oasis’ Live ‘25 tour went on sale. The investigation will look into whether Ticketmaster broke consumer protection laws and engaged in “unfair commercial practices” by failing to notify ticket buyers in advance that prices would surge based on demand.
Standard standing, or general admission, tickets for Oasis’ U.K. and Ireland comeback tour were advertised as costing £148.50 ($195), but the price unexpectedly soared to £355.00 ($467) after several hours of being on sale due to high demand, provoking an angry backlash from fans.
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The CMA said its investigation would examine whether consumers were given “clear and timely information” to explain that the tickets would be subject to dynamic pricing, including the price they would eventually pay for purchases.
CMA officials will also look at whether people were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time at a higher price than they originally intended to pay.
The competition regulator said it will be engaging with Ticketmaster, the band’s management and event organizers to gather evidence to assess whether the Live Nation-owned ticketing company broke consumer protection laws.
Officials will also consider whether to widen the scope of the investigation into other companies involved in the highly anticipated reunion tour, which is jointly promoted by Live Nation, SJM Concerts, MCD and DF Concerts.
Fans who purchased, or attempted to purchase, tickets from Ticketmaster for the shows are invited to submit evidence to the watchdog, including an screenshots they may have taken during the purchasing process. Submissions close on Sept. 19.
“It’s important that fans are treated fairly when they buy tickets, which is why we’ve launched this investigation,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell in a statement.
“It’s clear that many people felt they had a bad experience and were surprised by the price of their tickets at check-out. We want to hear from fans who went through the process and may have encountered issues so that we can investigate whether existing consumer protection law has been breached,” said Cardell.
Ticketmaster did not respond to requests to comment when contacted by Billboard on Thursday. The company has previously stated that all ticket prices for Oasis’ reunion tour, including platinum, in-demand (dynamic) and VIP were set by the tour promoters and management.
In the fallout to the weekend’s ticketing furore, the British government said it would be looking into the practice of dynamic pricing for music concerts as part of its previously announced consultation into the secondary ticketing market.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 450 complaints about “misleading claims about availability and pricing” concerning the sale of Oasis’ tickets by Ticketmaster. The regulator said it was “carefully assessing these complaints” and couldn’t comment further.
Responding to the hundreds of complaints from frustrated fans, a representative of Oasis said on Wednesday that the decision to apply surge pricing to its reunion shows was made by the band’s management and tour promoters, and “and at no time [the group] had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used.”
“While prior meetings between promoters, Ticketmaster and the band’s management resulted in a positive ticket sale strategy, which would be a fair experience for fans, including dynamic ticketing to help keep general ticket prices down as well as reduce touting, the execution of the plan failed to meet expectations,” said the statement from Oasis’ publicist. “All parties involved did their utmost to deliver the best possible fan experience, but due to the unprecedented demand this became impossible to achieve.”
Earlier this week, Oasis announced the addition of two new dates at London’s Wembley Stadium to next year’s tour, bringing the total number of shows up to 19. To avoid a repeat of the weekend’s on sale debacle, tickets to the two new Wembley shows are to be sold via an invitation only ballot that gives preference to fans who failed to get tickets in the initial launch.
According to organizers, the Oasis Live ’25 tour was the biggest concert launch ever seen in the U.K. and Ireland with more than 10 million people from 158 countries attempting to buy tickets, which all sold out in less than a day.
Billboard is bringing back its highly anticipated Billboard Live Music Summit and Awards, taking place on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles.
After a four-year break, the event returns in collaboration with AEG Presents and Live Nation, marking its first occurrence since 2019.
The one-day event will feature a series of panels and thought leadership discussions, followed by the prestigious Billboard Live Music Awards, all programmed by Billboard’s Dave Brooks, Senior Director of Live Music and Touring.
“We’re excited to bring this program back to the epicenter of the concert business,” said Brooks. “This summit is a marketplace for ideas and brings together some of the biggest names in the business. This year, we will explore the industry’s challenges and opportunities, as well as celebrate how far we have come since 2019.”
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The event is expected to attract executives across artist representation, management, concert promotion, and the experiential sector, providing a unique platform for collaboration with top-charting artists. Topics will include the current landscape of the live music industry, strategies for navigating its evolving challenges, and insights into future opportunities.
Further details on the summit, including panelists and award categories, will be revealed in the coming weeks. For additional information, visit billboardlivemusicsummit.com.
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Billboard Live Music Summit and Awards follow in the footsteps of other notable events such as the Billboard Music Awards, Billboard Women in Music, and Billboard Latin Music Week, which connect the industry’s top talent and key players with music fans worldwide.