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James Blake is “the freest [he’s] ever felt,” tells Billboard over a recent Zoom call.
After about twelve years spent signed to Polydor Records, the producer/singer is now independent and experimenting with new ways to release his music to “match the speed of the internet,” he says.
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Blake released “Thrown Around,” his first single since he left Polydor. “I know it was an anarchistic move… Sunday’s a terrible day to release music, but I thought it was fun to try now that I can,” he laughs.
Part of Blake’s new post-label experiment includes paying creative collaborators both upfront (where applicable) and in “points,” or a percentage of the master recording royalties, so that everyone is “incentivized to push the song and to win together,” he says. Points on the master are typically only allotted to producers of a record, but Blake is going further, offering points to non-producing songwriters and his creative director, Crowns & Owls.
To pull it all off, Blake turned to Indify, a music company that lives by the slogan “artists are founders” and could benefit from raising capital for their releases similar to the way start-ups do. Instead of traditional label deals, Indify is a “service marketplace” for artists to meet strategic angel investors on a song-by-song basis, says CEO/co-founder Shav Garg. Interested acts select from an online leaderboard of angels – including music businesses like Thrice Cooked Media, Golden Kids Group and ATG and musically inclined Silicon Valley execs like Alexis Ohanian – to build their set of partners based on success metrics and the investors’ bios.
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Artists using Indify cede a percentage of streaming royalties for a given song until investors recoup the up-front funding and aid they offer. (Indify takes a 15% cut of the investor’s share of profits after recoupment and no investor is allowed to keep 50% or more of the streaming royalties after recoupment).
Founded in 2015, Indify is seen as a tool to “add gas to the fire,” as Garg puts it, on viral moments from independent artists. The company has had success stories include up-starts like Armani White, Pink Sweat$ and Anees, but Blake is by far the biggest artist to use the platform yet. “We’ve proven thus far that Indify can help artists go from, 20 to 70, but one of our goals has been taking an artist from 70 to 100, like major labels do,” says Garg. “I can tell James is willing and ready to lead the way for the next generation of artists and to take the jump, trying something like this first.”
Blake and Garg first bonded at a U.S. Open tournament several years ago and reconnected through Blake’s management when Blake began talking openly about his newfound independence and desire to handle his career differently going forward. Before “Thrown Around” dropped, Blake’s indie experiment included a partnership with superfans app Vault.FM to provide fans with unreleased demos for a monthly subscription. Garg and Blake aligned on the idea that “at a label, your music is subsidizing a million departments,” Blake says. “It’s a huge moving ship to steer, and it’s a bloated business with crazy overheads. I don’t want to pay for the CEO’s mansion in the Cayman Islands.”
Blake also felt there was a “lack of transparency” about how money was being spent on his behalf while signed to a label and that he didn’t have “much choice” in picking his team within the building, even if those assigned to him “didn’t really seem to understand” his project.
After going back and forth about what single to release as his first drop with Indify, Blake made “Thrown Around” and felt instantly that it was the right introduction to this new phase of his career. It’s easy to see why. The song (released May 26) and its video depict Blake as an artist desperate to get his music to go viral by any means necessary. At the end of the video, Blake is bloodied and bruised by all the ways he has dangerously attempted to feed the algorithm, and he ultimately learns that none of it was enough to sustain his art.
“James signed up online and used Indify just like anyone else does,” says Garg. Blake ultimately opted to pair with a combination of Good Boy Records and Stellar Trigger Marketing to build out his team for “Thrown Around” after finding them on the Indify leaderboard. Good Boy co-founder John Zamora says that “before the song came out, we already recouped the deal we did with James. We secured a pretty big synch, though I can’t say more than that.” Good Boy specialized in film/TV (or “synch”) licensing opportunities for Blake, but the company also connected with him over a shared interest in providing better compensation for songwriters.
In the last few years, songwriters’ dwindling payments in the streaming economy have made headlines, and a few indie labels have stepped in with a proposed solution to offer “points” for the songwriters who, unlike producers, typically don’t make money on the master recording side. As Billboard reported in December, this new cohort of companies includes Good Boy, The Other Songs, Facet Records and Nvak Collective. Some producers, like Good Boy co-founder Elie Rizk and Tre Jean Marie, have also been giving away some of their points to their songwriter collaborators. Now, with “Thrown Around,” Blake is joining the movement.
Stellar Trigger was brought into Blake’s Indify deal to aid with digital marketing. “Things have changed since I started,” Blake says. “Back then, it was quite easy to be mysterious. I mean, you have a whole generation of producers wearing masks. I think it’s pretty difficult to maintain that now and still get your music out there. It’s not the way it works anymore.”
Though Blake stopped short of wearing a mask, his early career characterized him as a mysterious musical genius with a “sad” disposition – an image he’s railed against in recent years. In a recent Instagram Reel, Blake wrote that he was “practicing looking sad for those who want me to be sad so that I make sad music forever,” in a cheeky dig at his fans.
“This is the most connected I’ve ever felt with the way my music is being pushed,” Blake tells Billboard. To brainstorm, he’s been in constant communication with Stellar Trigger co-founder Ryan Peterson to build the multimedia storytelling of “Thrown Around.” “We wanted it to be meaningful. There’s a lot of narrative here, with James leaving the major label and coming to independence,” says Peterson. “I’m constantly texting ideas back and forth with him.”
The story told in the “Thrown Around” music video was teased out, piece by piece, in meta social media posts about how artists have to make social media posts. Whether or not the song ever hits the Billboard Hot 100 is unclear, but Blake maintains that “Thrown Around” is still “more successful than any previous single campaign” of his career.
More importantly, it serves as proof that digital storytelling, lean budgets, equity incentives and the freedom to pick partners on a song-by-song basis can lead to creative and financial success in today’s market. Now, he’s in talks with his team about working together again for a follow-up single.
“I feel we’ve made something groundbreaking [with ‘Thrown Around’],” says Blake. “I’m excited for the future.”
Artists at country singer-songwriter Ashley McBryde’s level of popularity can sell $16,000 to $20,000 worth of T-shirts and hoodies when they play 1,500-capacity venues. Layne Weber, director of merchandising and fan engagement for McBryde’s management company, Q Prime, says some venues took a 20% to 25% cut of her merchandise sales during her spring tour — which is standard in the industry but, he says, exorbitant for services rendered at many clubs. “I went to a show the other night and the merch table was next to the bar,” Weber says. “The merch seller was having to compete with the bartender who’s trying to sell the drinks. That was a venue taking 20% of the sales.”
Weber’s complaints, which many artists and their representatives share, are at the center of a long-running live-industry debate over merch percentages. For decades, artists, venues and promoters have haggled behind the scenes over percentages as part of every show contract, but they contend the stakes are now much higher. “Ever since we’ve come back from COVID, the merch numbers have gone through the roof for all genres of music,” says Crom Tidwell, owner of Crom Tidwell Merchandising in Nashville. And with so much money at stake, artists want a larger percentage of their own profits.
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“Bands are getting ripped off,” says Barry Drinkwater, executive chairman of Global Merchandising Services, which handles merch for top metal acts such as Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses. He adds that the venue’s cut particularly hurts small acts, which tour on slimmer margins and often operate their own merch tables. “They need the money that gets them food, gets them to the next show,” he says. “Then the promoter wants to charge them 20% of the gross.”
Live Nation has expressed sympathy for this point of view. Last fall, trumpeting an endorsement from Willie Nelson, the world’s biggest concert promoter unveiled its On the Road Again program, which eliminates merch-selling fees for artists at its clubs and provides a per diem of $1,500 in gas and travel cash for artists, among other benefits. Earlier this year, Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino told Billboard that the program had “already helped support 3,000 developing artists,” and a statement that Live Nation issued on May 22 said, “We’re incredibly proud of how On the Road Again is supporting thousands of artists and their crews, with 100% merch profits, $1,500 cash nightly for gas and travel costs and more. Developing artists are the future of live music, and we’re proud to keep this program rolling strong.”
Complaints over merch fees are not limited to clubs, however. At arenas, stadiums and other large venues, in-house concessions staff take over merch sales, and the 20% to 25% cut goes largely to these services. And at least one venue takes an even bigger chunk. Drinkwater says New York’s Madison Square Garden (MSG) charges artists 30% of their merch sales, plus credit card fees. He also notes that percentages can be higher in the United Kingdom. (A representative for the Garden declined to comment.)
Whether artists are handling their own merch tables or relying on in-house staffers, managers say they’re often unsatisfied with the services they get, given the cost.
“I don’t feel they’re worth 25% of the revenue,” says Rick Sales, who manages Slayer, Ghost, Mastodon and others. “It’s not good value for the money spent.”
Venue reps counter that long before fans step into their buildings, they negotiate deals with artists, including merch percentages. Not surprisingly, those with leverage receive favorable terms. “Every live performance is a negotiation,” a concert-business source says. “The band doesn’t like the merch percentage, find somewhere else to play.” Venue consultant Brock Jones, the former GM of Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, adds: “At the end of the day, venues have got to make money, too — electricity isn’t free, all that space isn’t free. Venues have to recoup those expenses. An 80/20 merch deal is absolutely fair when the venue is selling.”
Tidwell agrees that it’s a different story at arenas, which often are required to staff union employees at fixed salaries. “You’ve got to have a crew to facilitate the sales,” he says. “Somebody has to pay for the help.” But he also contends that artists complaining about high venue percentages in small venues have a point: “What are you doing for your 20%? You’re just providing a lobby and a table.”
Some small venues, still reeling from the pandemic, have expressed concern that Live Nation’s On the Road Again program might pressure them into following suit and giving up a crucial revenue source. “Temporary measures may appear to help artists in the short run but actually can squeeze out independent venues, which provide the lifeblood of many artists on thin margins,” the National Independent Venue Association said in a statement in September.
Arenas and stadiums are where the big merch money is. On her The Eras Tour last year, Taylor Swift made a reported $200 million on T-shirts and other goods sold at shows. In its 2023 financial report, Live Nation claimed “double-digit growth” in merch and concessions at the arenas it owns or operates, such as the Moody Center in Austin. Notably, the On the Road Again program does not apply to large venues. Drinkwater says the standard 20% to 25% cut applies and, like MSG, sometimes venues pass on credit card fees (usually 5%) to the artist. “We try with our artists to beat this down,” he says. “Sometimes we get a reduction if we can do big sales.”
This July, roughly six years after the debut of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) on the London Stock Exchange, the relatively short-lived experiment of publicly traded catalog funds — also known as investment trusts — will likely end. Global investment giant Blackstone is expected to win over at least three-quarters of HSF’s shareholders with its $1.58 billion offer to buy the 65,000-song catalog.
The only other listed fund, Round Hill Music Royalty Fund, was taken private in November when Concord acquired it for $468 million. But though their runs were short, these funds transformed how the investment world sees music. Hipgnosis founder Merck Mercuriadis led the charge to convince institutional investors of the stable, noncyclical nature of song rights, and they poured billions into the asset class, bid up the prices of song catalogs to unprecedented heights and fueled a frenzy for acquisitions, which meant creators got more money than ever for selling the rights to their work.
Investments in music royalties keep thriving in the private market — where the Hipgnosis and Round Hill funds continue to do business — but the money is now flowing to asset-backed securities, the same financial vehicle used to create “Bowie bonds” in the 1990s. In the past two years, Concord, Kobalt, HarbourView Equity Partners, Chord Music Partners and others have raised $3.3 billion using securitizations, and music intellectual property investors say money of that magnitude will help keep catalog prices and multiples near record-high levels.
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Despite the game-changing effect that the Hipgnosis and Round Hill funds had on the music business, they faced a number of stumbling blocks. For one, investors “misunderstood” the way that music copyright grants administrative control to the owner, Round Hill co-founder Josh Gruss says. This was borne out by the due diligence report HSF released in March, which indicated investors didn’t comprehend the rights HSF had acquired or the lack of control it had over much of its portfolio.
But interest rates may have been the death knell. When rates were low, HSF and Round Hill offered attractive returns for an acceptable level of risk, but when rates began rising, the funds’ dividends weren’t nearly as attractive. By the end of 2022, the Bank of England’s official bank rate rose to 3.5%, which put downward pressure on HSF’s share price because the risk-free rate wasn’t far from the fund’s dividend. Round Hill was similarly affected. “If you can put your money in the bank and earn 4.5%,” Gruss says, “Round Hill should not [pay investors] 4.5%.”
HSF had other problems, too, including sizable debt and the lasting pall cast by a Sept. 7, 2022, Financial Times article that described HSF’s stalled growth as interest rates rose and a subdued share price that left the fund unable to sell additional shares to fund catalog acquisitions. “If the [Financial Times] thinks it’s a problem, it’s likely going to be a problem,” says Philipp Saure of ContourMusik, a firm that specializes in private securitizations of music assets.
Had HSF been founded today, it may have put more focus on asset-backed securitizations. First deployed in the music business by David Bowie in 1997 to raise $55 million from his recorded music catalog, they allow companies that own music rights to sell debt, using music royalties as collateral.
The size of recent ABS deals dwarfs the money raised by Bowie bonds. In 2022, Concord brokered a $1.8 billion securitization, and Chord, a venture of KKR Credit Advisors and Dundee Partners, did one for $733 million. Hipgnosis Song Management, a different Hipgnosis company that advises HSF, also raised $222 million through an ABS that year. In 2024, HarbourView and Kobalt put together $500 million and $267 million ABS deals, respectively, and sources say that far more unpublicized securitizations have closed in recent years.
While both the ABS and investment trust models let investors buy into recorded music and publishing royalties, there are key differences between the two. ABS debt is purchased by institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies with time horizons that match the long durations of music assets. “They’re not as impatient [as retail investors],” Saure says, “so you don’t have this ‘trial in the court of public opinion’ element.”
Institutional investors’ need for a specific rate of return is an approach that works well with established music catalogs that consistently generate cash. Shares in Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group are “speculative” investments that could lose money or produce double-digit gains, says a bank source, who adds that “public investors are growth investors, not just cash flow investors” who seek a steady return. In contrast, ABS investors know exactly what to expect over a specific period.
ABS deals are complex and involve ongoing administration and generally high costs, but they can be worth the effort. “Each structure has its pros and cons, and each is better-suited to varying market conditions,” Reservoir Media CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi says. “Securitization today is attractive because it lowers [the] cost of capital in this interest rate environment.”
Concord CFO Kent Hoskins says he prefers the flexibility of securitizations over traditional debt: “We’ve very much liked the capital structure that allowed us to relatively easily draw new debt for new acquisitions.” An ABS creates a trust that manages a collection of assets that acts as collateral for investors. If Concord is within its covenants, such as a specific loan-to-value ratio — the size of a loan compared with the value of an asset purchased with the loan — he explains, the company can get more debt out of a catalog’s particular value. Term loans are more restrictive, he adds, and give the borrower a lower loan-to-value ratio. Concord did an ABS deal in 2022 with what Hoskins calls a “relatively low” loan-to-value ratio in the “low 40s” compared with ABS deals that he says have gone as high as 65%. That buffer allowed the music company to do another issuance in 2023 for $500 million, which funded its $468 million acquisition of the Round Hill Music Royalty Fund in November.
Music may be a recession-proof, stable commodity, but well-diversified ABS deals aren’t without their risks. One source points to artificial intelligence as a factor that could jeopardize stable cash flows if it causes a major economic shift like pirated music did in the early 2000s.
In general, though, institutional investors see music as a safe asset class over time. “There has been strong demand for every music ABS deal we have done,” the same source says. “As some of the retail money is walking away,” Saure adds, “institutions are becoming more confident.”
At European collective management organizations (CMOs), the hits just keep on coming. On Wednesday (June 5), SACEM announced record results for 2023, with collections up 5% to €1.49 billion ($1.6 billion based on the 2023 average euro-to-dollar conversion rate) compared to the previous year and distributions rising 17% to €1.23 billion ($1.33 billion). The French CMO also announced that its board has voted unanimously to extend Cécile Rap-Veber’s term as CEO.
The results come amid a thriving period for European CMOs. In April, GEMA, the German collecting society, announced that revenue rose 8.4% in 2023 to €1.28 billion ($1.4 billion). PRS for Music in the United Kingdom followed at the end of May, disclosing 14.2% revenue growth to £1.08 billion ($1.34 billion). However, in both of those cases, as well as SACEM’s, the results followed years of more substantial growth fueled by music fans eager to get back to seeing live shows in the wake of the pandemic. A year ago, for example, SACEM announced that it had taken in €1.41 billion ($1.54 billion) in 2022 — 34% more than it did the prior year.
Slower growth seems to be bringing with it a focus on controlling costs, and SACEM’s ratio of expenses to revenue collected is 10.76%, the lowest in its history. “What matters to me is the best value for our members,” SACEM CEO Cécile Rap-Veber tells Billboard. She adds that a more efficient disbursement of royalties boosted growth in distributions beyond that of revenue, saying: “We are distributing faster and faster.”
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The biggest source of revenue for SACEM was online, which rose 13% to €557 million ($602.67 million). The second biggest source was general royalties — a category that includes places where music is central, such as concerts, as well as places where it’s not — which was up 18.5% to €388 million ($420 million). Finally, broadcast rights, including TV and radio, brought in €318 million ($344 million).
Over the past few years, Rap-Veber has helped modernize the French CMO with an initiative known as “SACEM 3.0,” with a focus on delivering results at a reasonable cost.
“2023 was a year of confirmation in the implementation of our major strategic priorities,” Rap-Veber said in a statement. “We continued our transformation into Sacem 3.0 and worked to improve efficiency, ensuring the sustainability of our management account and optimising both our collections and the amount distributed to our members.”
More than ever, CMOs are competing for online rights — but also, on some level, for bragging rights. ‘Competition,” says Rap-Veber, “has forced a lot of us to improve.”
As music consumers increasingly demand sustainable options from businesses across the industry, AEG has struck a partnership that will bring a full-time reusable cup program to Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and Peacock Theater, the company announced Tuesday (June 4). In collaboration with reusable serveware company r.World, which produces reusable items for large-scale gatherings, the venues […]
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. This week: Cher wins a closely-watched termination battle against Sonny Bono’s widow; the massive copyright lawsuit against Bad Bunny and other reggaeton stars moves forward; R&B hitmaker The-Dream is hit with a sexual abuse lawsuit; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Copyrights & Divorces & Cher, Oh My!
Cher emerged victorious last week in a long-running legal battle with Sonny Bono’s widow that centered on the messy intersection between federal copyrights and state-level divorce law.The lawsuit was the industry’s latest test of copyright law’s “termination right,” which gives creators and heirs the power to reclaim control of works decades after they sold them away. Created by Congress in the 1970s, termination was designed to level the playing field for creators who faced an “unequal bargaining position” with big companies and sold their rights for cheap.Over the past few years, record labels have faced class actions from artists seeking to win back their masters; musicians have pushed for a rule change to make sure songwriters can actually start collecting streaming royalties after they take back their copyrights; and individual artists like Dwight Yoakam, 2 Live Crew and KC & the Sunshine Band have all fought their own lawsuits over termination.Cher’s case posed new and difficult questions. After using termination to take back control of Sonny’s copyrights, Mary Bono argued that she was no longer required to honor Sonny and Cher’s 1978 divorce settlement, which gave the superstar a permanent 50% cut of the publishing revenue from songs written before the couple split up.But in a ruling on Wednesday (May 29), Judge John A. Kronstadt sided with Cher, ruling that she must continue to receive publishing royalties for her catalog of songs created with Sonny, including “I Got You Babe,” “The Beat Goes On” and “Baby Don’t Go.”For more, go read our entire breakdown of the ruling, including access to the judge’s full written decision.
Other top stories this week…
REGGAETON CASE GOES ON – A federal judge ruled that a sprawling copyright lawsuit can move forward with accusations that nearly 2,000 reggaeton songs — including hits by Bad Bunny, Karol G and dozens of others — all infringed a single 1989 song called “Fish Market” that allegedly spawned the so-called “dem bow” rhythm. The stars had argued that the lawsuit aimed to “monopolize practically the entire reggaetón musical genre,” but a judge said it was too early to make that argument — and that he wasn’t particularly receptive to it anyhow.“A PROLONGED NIGHTMARE” – The-Dream, a singer and producer who has worked with Beyoncé, Rihanna and others, was hit with a sex trafficking lawsuit that claims he subjected a young songwriter named Chanaaz Mangroe to an “abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship” that included an alleged incident of rape. The lawsuit claims the producer (Terius Gesteelde-Diamant) used promises of career advancement to lure a “young and vulnerable artist” into “a prolonged nightmare” filled with “violent sexual acts.”MEGAN THEE STALLION HITS BACK – The superstar rapper fired back at a lawsuit that claims she forced a cameraman named Emilio Garcia to watch her have sex with a woman inside a moving vehicle, filing a scathing first response that called those claims “false and fabricated” and labeled her accuser a “con artist.”MADONNA SUED AGAIN – The Queen of Pop was hit with yet another class action over delayed concerts on her Celebration Tour, this time from a ticket buyer who also claims that the show — which allegedly featured “topless women” who were “engaging in simulated sexual acts” — amounted to a form of “pornography.”STUBHUB JURY VERDICT – StubHub must pay more than $16 million in legal damages after a jury decided that the ticketing giant screwed over a smaller company called Spotlight Ticket Management — first by failing to pay millions in commissions, then by torpedoing the startup’s lucrative concierge partnership with American Express.KANYE HARASSMENT SUIT – Kanye West was sued by a former assistant named Lauren Pisciotta over allegations of sexual harassment and wrongful termination. In a lawsuit that came with pages of graphic texts that the rapper allegedly sent to her, Pisciotta’s attorneys claim she faced a “systematic” onslaught of “unlawful harassment” during her year of working for Ye.SPOTIFY SUED OVER “CAR THING” – A group of angry consumers filed a class action against Spotify over its recent decision to kill its short-lived “Car Thing” device, claiming that the streaming company’s move left them “with nothing more than a paperweight that cost between $50 and $100”.AEG CEO TALKS LIVE NATION CASE – In the wake of the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation, AEG chairman/CEO Jay Marciano celebrated the case against its chief rival, saying it will bring “sweeping changes” to the live music industry. In an internal memo, Marciano said he believes that Live Nation “uses its monopoly power to impose its will on the live entertainment business.”
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On Sept. 13, 2004, Van Halen was the first major music act to perform at the newly inaugurated Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan. That same year, local and international artists performed at the arena, including Draco Rosa, Daddy Yankee, Juan Luis Guerra, Andrea Bocelli and Korn.
“We wouldn’t have been able to have those shows if we didn’t have El Coliseo,” says ASM Global regional GM Jorge Pérez, who manages the venue. “It was the need we had at that moment in history.”
Mariela Vallines, executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Center District Authority, which owns the building and contracts with ASM to operate it, notes that over the past 20 years, the coliseum “has become a cultural hub for the island, bringing people together to celebrate music and sports as the host of world-class events and entertainment. The venue has contributed significantly to Puerto Rico’s economy, generating revenue for local businesses and providing employment opportunities on the island.”
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What’s more, she adds, “it has helped to position Puerto Rico as a premium entertainment destination attracting both local and international audiences that have surpassed 10 million visitors over the last two decades.”
Prior to El Coliseo’s construction, the Caribbean island hosted sporting and entertainment events primarily at two locations: Coliseum Roberto Clemente Walker and Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Still, a high-end venue was needed “to be competitive in tourism” because “we couldn’t only survive on leisure, travel and regular tourism,” Pérez says.
Since its inception 20 years ago, “El Choli,” as it is popularly called by locals, has become known both locally and internationally and the ultimate “dream arena” to perform at for many artists.
“The first goal of any artist, musician or DJ is to play in an arena that big,” says Puerto Rican artist Jay Wheeler, who made his Choli debut in 2022 with four sold-out shows. “It’s like winning a Grammy. Every artist from Puerto Rico will always have the goal of doing something in the coliseum.”
Ángela Aguilar, who graced the venue’s stage at the 2023 Premios Juventud.
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A wave of urban acts has not only received a seal of approval at the venue but also achieved milestones. Daddy Yankee, with his 2019 Con Calma Pal’ Choli shows, grossed $7 million, and Wisin y Yandel grossed $6.2 million with their 2018 string of concerts, according to Billboard Boxscore. The latter act holds the record for most sellouts, with 105,000 tickets sold across eight shows.
El Coliseo was No. 24 on Billboard’s 2023 year-end Top Venues global chart (in the 15,001-plus-capacity category), and it ranked fourth in the Latin/Spanish-language market venue after Miami’s Kaseya Center, Madrid’s WiZink Center and Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile.
Pérez recently spoke with Billboard about the past, present and future of the venue.
What void did El Coliseo fill when it was built 20 years ago?
The government noticed that there was a need to have a world-class arena. The building we had before was Coliseo Roberto Clemente Walker, which opened in 1973 and where concerts and sporting events were held in the 1980s and 1990s. We also have the Hiram Bithorn Stadium built in 1962. With that came the construction of the Convention Center, which was inaugurated one year after El Coliseo. But the vision was that we needed world-class venues to be competitive in tourism.
We couldn’t only survive on leisure, travel and regular tourism. We needed to provoke groups, meetings, conventions that would have economic movement. To complement that, the government really understood that we needed a top destination. So that’s kind of the history behind it.
There was a lot of criticism at the beginning, even when construction started. But when we look back, it was a very smart decision, considering the exposure Puerto Rico has had in the entertainment industry and how it has opened doors for our artists. When we look back, it was a visionary idea with positive results.
Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot is managed by ASM Global’s Jorge Pérez.
Fronthouse Media
What’s the story behind the venue being named after comedian José Miguel Agrelot?
There were a lot of names and ideas out there. In January 2004, José Miguel Agrelot — who was a comedian, radio/TV host, actor, producer and visionary — passed away. So his name came to the top of the list and it was approved.
One of his most famous TV characters was Don Cholito, which he played during the “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” segment on El Show del Medio Día (The Midday Show) in the late ’70s and early ’80s. “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” referenced the stringing of a wooden spinning top [a yo-yo] — in other words, to do it again and keep trying. That became an analogy of persistence and optimism of the day-to-day challenges that Puerto Ricans had at the time.
While promoting “The Night of Revenge,” one of the first boxing matches that took place at El Coliseo — where Miguel Cotto won the junior welterweight championship — sports commentator Elliott Castro was the first to say: “Let’s go watch boxing at El Choliseo.” Ever since, everyone knows the building by that nickname, El Choli.
Don Cholito provided optimism, a contagious smile and a vibrant personality — and that character was precisely about persistence and overcoming hard times. Those are some strong characteristics and traits that we have in Puerto Rico. Don Cholito’s spirit lives in every corner of El Coliseo.
Why does the venue play an important role in the career of a Puerto Rican artist?
First, it’s their hometown. We’re considered “The Cathedral of Reggaetón,” and for artists of that genre especially it’s important to play at El Coliseo because it’s like a big test for them. We’ve had the top urbano acts perform here. It’s a key venue, and it [marks] a point in each artist’s career of when they performed here, how well they did and how that impacts their careers moving forward.
Why has it become important for artists from other countries?
You have people [in Puerto Rico] who love and really appreciate live entertainment and can identify a good show. The energy here is amazing. We have an educated and knowledgeable crowd. When the crowd at El Coliseo accepts you as an artist, you know you’re en route to doing good things. That goes back to our culture — how we’re raised, how from a very small age we’re listening to music — we know what a top production is. When an artist gets onstage and feels that energy and acceptance, it fills them with confidence in what they’re doing and producing is special.
Daddy Yankee
Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images
Do Puerto Rican acts get preference in dates?
Not really. We manage our calendar very responsibly, and it’s on a first come, first served basis. I work directly with management or agencies or local promoters to try to find the best fit for dates.
What would you say has been the most logistically complicated concert?
It must be the World’s Hottest Tour. Bad Bunny wanted to break the attendance record, and to do so, they put a very small stage on the south side and put all the production [overhead]. From one point of El Coliseo to the other, all the sound and lighting was on [the ceiling] — that’s not normal. Usually, our stages are large, but they wanted to maximize the audience size. I hear that Bad Bunny’s show now with the Most Wanted Tour is also very complex.
What economic impact does the venue have on the island?
The entertainment and event industry is huge in Puerto Rico and creates 30,000 jobs. It creates $2 billion, and almost $400 million of it goes to the government in the form of sales, tax and other revenue they receive from activities that we host in our buildings. It’s a big chunk of the local economy.
We look at it as an important part of our economic ecosystem. We create a lot of entertainment tourism; people travel from different parts to see a show here. About 15% of tickets purchased at the venue come from a ZIP code not in Puerto Rico. Our vision is to keep promoting Puerto Rico as a premier entertainment and tourism destination. We have a social responsibility to help our community.
In terms of business opportunities that we can bring, the exposure Puerto Rico has gotten through El Coliseo and through the artists that act on our stage has helped put the country on the map. People are realizing that this is a top-notch venue.
Aventura
John Parra/Getty Images
How many people work an event at the venue?
On average at a sold-out event — from events staff to security to housekeeping to operation — we can have close to 400 to 500 staff, not considering the production staff on the artist’s side. We have 26 corporate suites; we have our food concessions. At an end stage, which is the most common setup, we fit 15,000 people, and basically, that’s the average staff that we must [have to] make sure everything moves smoothly.
El Coliseo is now also hosting televised awards shows.
The first one we hosted was the Billboard Latin Music Awards back in 2010, and we resumed in 2020 with Premios Tú Música Urbano. We’ve also hosted Univision’s Premios Juventud in 2022 and 2023. Awards shows are very particular because they take up a lot of time. The setup for one of these shows can be seven to 10 days prior to the show. It’s very complex production, and overall, it takes up a chunk of almost two to three weeks.
After the first awards show we hosted in 2010, looking and finding a three-week period that was not booked became a challenge for us. But when we started again, we realized it was a great showcase for the destination. Premios Juventud, for example, had great ratings and exposed us to an international audience.
What do you envision for El Coliseo 20 years from now?
We are already state of the art, but hopefully, we’ll have a new and larger Coliseo. Even though we maintain the venue in optimal condition, we really focus on keeping this building [able] to comply with all the production riders and high-quality shows that we’ve had.
But the truth is, 20 more years is a long time — and I think that in that time frame, we should be transitioning to a new Coliseo. There has been conversations about building a new stadium in Puerto Rico, too, but I see us transitioning to stay relevant and continue producing results. This was designed as a sports arena, but looking into the future, I’m thinking of a new building with a larger capacity and that’s more entertainment-related.
This story originally appeared in the June 1, 2024, issue of Billboard.
The-Dream, a singer and producer who has worked with Beyoncé, Rihanna and others, was hit with a sex trafficking lawsuit Tuesday (June 4) that accuses him of subjecting a young songwriter to an “abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship” that included an alleged incident of rape.
In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, Chanaaz Mangroe claims the producer (Terius Gesteelde-Diamant) used promises of career advancement to lure a “young and vulnerable artist” into “a prolonged nightmare” filled with “violent sexual acts.”
“Over more than a year, Ms. Mangroe experienced trauma that she has still not recovered from—she is broken as an artist, constantly afraid for her physical safety, and plagued by reminders of the violence and control she experienced at the hands of Dream, who has continued his successful career unscathed by his horrific acts,” her attorneys write.
In addition to numerous allegations of violent sex, the lawsuit includes an allegation that The-Dream raped Mangroe in May 2015. Her lawyers say he pinned her down inside a sprinter van, started “forcibly having sex with her” and choked her so intensely that she potentially lost consciousness.
Representatives for The-Dream did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
In addition to five studio albums of his own, The-Dream has credits on a wide range of hits, including Rihanna’s 2007 smash “Umbrella” and Beyonce’s 2008 chart-topper “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” He’s also worked with Britney Spears, Justin Bieber, Kanye West and numerous other stars.
Mangroe, a native of the Netherlands, claims that The-Dream reached out to her in 2014 when she was just 23 years old and working in the United States on an international visa. After she sent samples of her work, she says he invited her to Atlanta to work with him and his producing partner, Tricky Stewart.
Over time, her lawyers say The-Dream “used his age and influence in the industry to manipulate the young artist into believing that she needed him to be successful.” They say he promised to help her secure a visa extension, sign a record deal with a major label and even offered her a chance to open for Beyonce’s upcoming tour.
But in reality, her lawyers say The-Dream “used Ms. Mangroe for his base desires, which manifested in violent sexual acts and vicious psychological torture.” In addition to the alleged rape, they say he frequently subjected her to violent choking during sex, “berated” her during sex and used recordings of their sex to “threaten Ms. Mangroe into silence.”
“Nearly a decade later, Ms. Mangroe is still putting the pieces of her life back together, but she knows that without speaking up about what Dream did to her, she will never be able to heal from the harm he has caused,” her lawyers write. “She therefore brings this lawsuit to speak up for herself and other female artists who have been tormented by powerful and selfish men in the recording industry.
In addition to The-Dream, the lawsuit also names Sony Music’s Epic Records as a defendant, arguing that the producer’s “depraved behavior” was facilitated by the company. The lawsuit claims Epic “benefited from facilitating his behavior to the extent it kept their relationship with the talented musician viable and ensured continued profit from his work.”
Reps for both Epic and parent company Sony Music did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed by Douglas Wigdor, a New York attorney known for representing alleged sexual assault victims. Wigdor’s firm has filed numerous abuse cases against music industry figures in recent months, including the bombshell case against Sean “Diddy” Combs filed by his ex-partner Cassie.
Last October, REVOLT — the Black-owned and operated digital cable network co-founded by Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2013 — celebrated its 10th anniversary. Now, eight months later, the multi-platform media company is celebrating its rebirth as an employee-owned entity.
Announced today (June 4) by REVOLT CEO Detavio Samuels, the historic business shift follows in the wake of Combs’ stepping down as company chairman last November after being served with multiple sexual assault lawsuits. In keeping with Samuels’ and his team’s determination that REVOLT remain Black-owned and operated, the equity move — in which Diddy sold his stake back to the company, which is then distributing shares among its current employees — underscores the company’s original vision to pioneer a new era of entertainment while also establishing a new media model.
“I needed my employees to be incentivized, excited, to feel like they have skin in the game,” Samuels exclusively tells Billboard. “It’s about generating wealth for marginalized communities who have been historically left out.”
Atlanta-based Samuels joined REVOLT as COO in 2020 and was promoted to CEO a year later. It’s his hope that “more CEOs embrace and embody this idea of linked prosperity: if the company wins, every single person wins. We’re trying to set an industry standard where this type of thing becomes the norm.” In the following interview, Samuels outlines REVOLT’s journey to that decision.
At what point was the decision made to seek a new owner for REVOLT?
After all of the allegations in November became clear, stepping into 2024 for that association with Sean Combs could be a distraction to the mission that we had been on for the last four years. So at that point in time, we had very real conversations. You know, you can’t force anybody to sell their shares in the same way that nobody could force you to sell your house. But Sean Combs understood the assignment and elected to sell his shares so that the mission could continue.
In March there were media reports that Richelieu Dennis, the owner of Essence magazine, was buying REVOLT. Was that true? Were there other suitors for the company?
There’s been tons of speculation and rumors, as you can imagine. What we wanted to do was find the best home for REVOLT. At the end of the day, we want this business, which is stronger than ever, to continue to thrive. So absolutely, we’ve had lots of conversations with people. What we realized is that you can search the whole world, but we came to the conclusion that the only people we needed was us. We were the ones that we were looking for. I hope that can be a signal just to us as Black people and the Black community in general about self-reliance, unity. Nobody’s coming to save us. We have all we need to save ourselves.
When you came on board as CEO, was such a notion on your mind then?
One of the biggest things I wanted to do was just make sure that employees could benefit in the success of this company. And it’s been a conversation that we’ve had, specifically at the management level, for the last four years since I’ve been here, looking for the opportunity to ultimately make it happen. I’m a big believer in the idea of linked prosperity, meaning that as REVOLT wins, everybody in our ecosystem wins. Our values are reflected in our business model. We’ve given 50-plus entrepreneurs capital with no exchange of equity. We’ve put more than $50 million recirculated back into the Black community every single year. We have the biggest deals with the biggest content creators, but all of them also have upside participation in the content we co-create.
When we’ve had big years and blown our numbers out the water, our employees got big bonuses — every single one of them. So this was kind of like the missing piece. How do we put our employees, who are giving us their blood, sweat and tears every single day, in a position where they can benefit from the economics of their genius? So I’m thrilled that we are finally at that point where the people who are the backbone of our success now to get to be shareholders in the company.
At the bottom of the press release announcing REVOLT’s new owners, it says, “Shares held by the company’s former chair have been fully redeemed and retired.” What does that mean exactly?
Some people still aren’t clear. So that [statement] is enough to make it very clear: He [Sean Combs] is not the chairman of the company. He’s not on the board of this company. And he owns zero equity and zero shares in this company.
How did you decide to distribute the shares among employees? Were they all given equal shares?
Everyone is not going to be given equal shares. What we’re doing right now is working through a distribution process where we can ensure everything is smooth and fair. And two of the key components, of course, will be seniority and our vesting schedule. We plan on rolling that out over the course of the next few months.
And by employees, that includes yourself and the rest of the executive team as well?
If you are a full-time employee at REVOLT, you will receive something from this distribution.
Was there any pushback to this plan?
There was no pushback. In fact, if anything, I need to celebrate my amazing board, who immediately latched onto the idea. Their work was critical in helping us get here, so no pushback. Everybody knows that REVOLT is a values-driven brand. We don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk.
How many members comprise the board and what are the names of some of those members?
We’re going to keep that side confidential.
And new employees will be eligible to be shareholders as well?
New employees will be eligible for this equity incentive pool as well. In the short term today, there are no massive changes happening to our organizational structure. We will continue to stay on brand; the vision and mission are the same. We want to shift the narrative for Black people globally by building the world’s most powerful Black storytelling engine on the planet, powered by creators. In fact, as we lean into this idea of being powered by creators, we are trademarking a new term: we are “pioneering a new era of entertainment.” Media is in chaos right now. But we believe that we’ve got a new model that works in this chaotic world that we live in. And we’re getting ready to make a run and show the world what it’s supposed to look like. The only other way to say this is that we’re about to dream bigger and we’re about to dream Blacker. That’s all it is.
Diddy was very publicly the face of Revolt. How do you plan to forward and reinvent the brand out of his shadow?
Diddy wasn’t the face of the brand, I don’t think, inside of the company. Since I’ve been here, he’s never been part of the day-to-day operations and the teams have had zero interaction with him. So there’s no difference on our side; no difference with our clients and our affiliate partners, our customers. So really the only place where I think there’s this, you know, massive association with him and REVOLT is with the culture.
The way we will respond to that, first and foremost, is with this announcement so that everybody knows every time you support REVOLT, you are standing by the people and the employees who are building this thing. The second thing is, it was never supposed to be built on one person. REVOLT has never believed that it is one person, one idea, one lens. You can’t shift the narrative for Black people through one lens. So we will continue to bring on the biggest and baddest creators in the culture. And it is through this “for us, by us” model that we will get people to shake this association from Sean Combs and make it about the people who are building the culture today.
Are you planning to continue REVOLT’s events business as well as the television and podcasting initiatives?
Last year’s REVOLT WORLD summit was just the pilot and it took off like a rocket ship: 30,000 people [in attendance] during three days. Now we’re moving ahead with our vision and strategies clear. We haven’t announced this year’s REVOLT WORLD yet, but it will be in September. Last year’s was sponsored by Walmart, Pepsi, McDonald’s and other brands who have continued to stand by us through all of this.
The other piece is about this new era of media. Gone are the days where there’s a single-lane media company, where you can only be cable, only be a podcast, or only be live events. We believe we have this special model where we are able to be fast, efficient and effective, partner with the dopest creators in the culture, shoot once and be able to deliver that in whatever format — cable, streaming, podcast, live events — that our audience wants to consume it: Spotify, Apple, all cable, CTV, YouTube, so be it. It’s imperative that we reach our audience wherever they live and breathe. You name it, we’re going to be there.
What is REVOLT valued at and is it profitable?
I can’t tell you the valuation. But REVOLT has been profitable since at least 2018. I took over [as CEO] in the COVID year, 2020. If you compare the numbers we finished in 2020 to the numbers we finished in 2023, EBITDA is up 3.5x. If you want to compare advertising numbers, those are up six times. The business is healthy, the business is sound. That’s why we’re ready to make this next run.
Are there plans to continue to shop REVOLT in the future, or is this the ownership structure you guys are committed to now?
I am 100% committed to this new ownership structure. I’m big about the history and the history of America says that Black people have been responsible for building trillion-dollar industries in this country, whether we’re talking about the cotton and tobacco industries or now hip-hop. But they’ve never been able to fully reap from the economics that their hard work and genius have built. Black and brown people deserve to benefit from the economics that their genius creates.
A second thing also underscores my commitment and why this announcement is so important and historic. Usually when you run into these kinds of situations, the companies reflect what I consider the old America majority: white people. Marginalized groups barely get a benefit when these types of things take off. But with REVOLT, you’re talking about a company that’s majority Black and 50% women. So when we make this run to become the next Black unicorn, when we hit that billion-dollar valuation, those people who have historically been left out of the wealth-building opportunities in America will be left out no more. So for those reasons, I’m committed. Does that mean that we won’t have to take back equity in order to raise capital to make that run to that billion-dollar number? No. But what it means is our employees will always have a share and ownership in this company that they’re creating.
With the ownership situation behind you, what are you looking forward to next?
I’m most excited about the bunch of coming announcements that I’m sitting on right now and can’t wait to roll out. For now, people can see that we’ve started to sow some seeds, like launching REVOLT Sports. People may think we’ve been a little quieter than usual. And in full transparency, we have been: the only hit show we have running at this time is Drink Champs on YouTube. But they’re about to find out really quickly that REVOLT is about to get real loud real fast. So ask me this question in December, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to talk about.
Revolt announced on Tuesday (June 4) that its employees will become the company’s largest group of shareholders.
The announcement follows a report in March that Sean “Diddy” Combs, who founded the company in 2013, sold his shares to an anonymous buyer. Combs is facing multiple sexual abuse lawsuits, with two more complaints filed against him in May; he has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement on Tuesday, Revolt CEO Detavio Samuels said “we succeed because we have a dedicated team who has been committed to advancing our purpose, our community, and our culture every single day.”
“Without question, they deserve participation in our growth,” he added, “and I could not be more honored to continue on this journey with them, leveraging our collective strength, pushing boundaries, and achieving new heights together.”
Speaking to The New York Times, Samuels also noted that “One-hundred percent of Sean Combs’s shares have been redeemed and retired” and “we have completely separated and dissociated from each other.”
Combs stepped down as the chairman of the Revolt board in November, not long after he was accused of sexual and physical abuse by his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who performs as Cassie. (The suit was settled a day later.) Earlier this year, Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles homes were raided by federal agents, part of what Homeland Security described as “an ongoing investigation.”
Samuels told The Hollywood Reporter that Revolt has been unaffected by the allegations against its founder. “Since [his departure], there’s been no interaction or anything in terms of leading or driving the brand,” he said in March. “We lost no clients, we lost no employees, we didn’t lose a dollar. Q4 was the largest quarter in the history of Revolt, and 2023 was the best advertising year we’ve had in the history of Revolt. In all ways it was record-breaking, even in the middle of a crisis.”
It’s become more common for new media companies to offer employees a stake in their success. Publications like Defector, Hell Gate, and 404 Media are worker-owned. The start-up Puck also offers employees “a small ownership stake in the company,” according to The New York Times.