Business
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Kanye West’s short but lucrative five-show run of listening parties for his Vultures 1 album with Ty Dolla $ign generated more than $12 million in ticket sales, Billboard estimates based on available data. West’s first two listening events in the United States — Feb. 8 at United Center in Chicago and Feb. 9 at […]
A woman who once appeared “obviously intoxicated” in a Kanye West music video cannot sue for defamation after the footage was used in the Kanye-focused Netflix documentary jeen-yuhs, a federal judge says, even if she later got sober and “turned her life around.”
Cynthia Love sued last year, claiming jeen-yuhs filmmakers Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah defamed her by including the footage in the 2022 Netflix series. The clip, which showed Love dancing and slurring her words at a Chicago barbecue spot, was originally shot for the 2003 music video for Kanye West’s debut single, “Through The Wire.”
Love’s argument was unusual. She admitted that the footage was authentic — normally the death knell for a libel lawsuit. But she argued that because she had later gotten sober, it had become false and defamatory to use it in the present day.
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In a ruling Tuesday (Feb. 27), Judge Steven Seeger sharply rejected that argument, ruling that the footage was “historically accurate” and shows a “a past truth,” even if it was a truth that Love did not want to remember.
“Holding up a mirror isn’t defamation. Holding up a 20-year-old picture isn’t defamation, either,” the judge wrote. “They both reflect reality, like it or not.”
It did not matter that Love had later “turned things around,” the judge wrote, or that the Netflix doc depicts her at her “darkest moments” years ago: “The ‘Jeen-yuhs’ video accurately portrays Love in a moment of time several decades ago. The video does not suggest that Love remains in an intoxicated state, or anything of that sort.”
Directed by Coodie & Chike (the moniker used by the filmmakers), jeen-yuhs depicted West’s career through unreleased archival footage, much of it filmed by Coodie over decades of working with the rapper. After landing at Netflix for a reported $30 million, the series was released in February 2022 — just months before West would receive widespread condemnation for a string of antisemitic statements.
Years earlier, Love had briefly appeared in the “Through The Wire” video, which was directed by Coodie & Chike in one of their first projects. The video showed Love drunkenly dancing in Chicago eater Original Leon’s Bar-B-Q. That footage, plus additional unused footage showing her interacting with West, later appeared in jeen-yuhs, making up about two minutes of footage total across two episodes.
Love sued last year, accusing Coodie & Chike and Netflix of defamation and a wide range of other wrongdoing. (West was not named or accused of any wrongdoing). She claimed they had “recklessly disregarded the truth” that she had made “an amazing transformation” since the ugly footage was filmed, hurting her reputation among present-day peers: “Neighbors, co-workers, and family cannot help but view and treat her as someone less worthy of their respect, esteem and trust,” her lawyers wrote.
But in Tuesday’s order dismissing those allegations, Judge Seeger pointedly noted that “sometimes the truth hurts, and when the truth hurts, it isn’t defamation.” Summarizing her argument as “the footage was true then, but it isn’t true now,” the judge told her that’s simply not how defamation law works.
“Plain and simple, any allegations about Love in the ‘Jeen-yuhs’ docuseries are true,” the judge wrote. “The docuseries includes real-world clips of Love, without doctoring the content or adding any false material. It shows true clips of a real event.”
Attorneys for both sides did not immediately return a request for comment.
In January 1999, Universal Music Group laid off hundreds of employees during a wave of consolidation with PolyGram. “The biggest staff cuts were at Geffen and A&M, two Los Angeles-based labels that have been folded into Interscope Records … and at Island Records, which has been merged with Mercury,” Billboard reported at the time, predicting that the cuts would affect label rosters, with “baby bands … expected to suffer the most casualties in the shake-ups.” In an interview with The New York Times, one artist manager described the impact of the merger on his band as if “a car [got] shut off in midgear.”
Roughly 25 years later, UMG is expected to cut hundreds of jobs to create “efficiencies in other areas of the business so we can remain nimble and responsive to the dynamic market,” according to a January statement from the company. Warner Music Group has announced layoffs of more than 800 people in two rounds over the last 12 months; on Monday, WMG label Atlantic Records announced additional cuts of about two dozen employees, primarily in the radio and video departments. (Sony Music is also expected to trim staff, according to sources; a rep for Sony declined to comment.)
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These cuts herald a leaner approach to the major-label business, and some talent and their representatives are worried about how this impacts their future.
Artists “are going to be upset,” says Mike Biggane, who was head of curation for Spotify, then worked at UMG as global executive vp of music strategy and tactics until last year. “The teams that artists signed up for and have been going to battle with will all be gone. That is going to impact the managers and the remaining label staff, who are already spread too thin.”
“If you’re not a multi-platinum artist, good luck,” says Allen Kovac, a longtime manager who had several acts in the UMG system during the 1999 consolidation.
A rep for UMG declined to comment. Speaking to financial analysts on Wednesday, UMG CEO Lucian Grainge said that “when it comes to supporting their rosters, [labels] will have access to our highest performing internal teams and resources to bring the new artists to even higher levels of success.”
And some executives were more sanguine about the impact of the upcoming staff cuts. Chris Anokute manages Taela, who was signed by Michelle Jubelirer before she recently left Capitol Music Group. “I’m very grateful to Michelle for signing her,” Anokute says. “Now there’s new management, and I’m excited to work with the new team to keep on developing her. I’m not worried for one second.”
Major labels have been consolidating internally for more than two decades. In 2004, Atlantic Records and Elektra Records merged as part of a Warner Music Group shake-up that included 1,000 layoffs. “Warner began cutting money-losing and under-performing artists from its merged Atlantic-Elektra label’s roster, and is preparing to let go as many as half of the label’s 170 acts,” The Washington Post reported.
Later the same year, BMG and Sony Music merged. “In each market tough decisions will have to be made about the senior executive lineup, overall staffing and artist rosters,” Billboard wrote.
While layoffs were typically followed by roster trimming in the past, history can serve only as a limited guide when assessing the latest round of cuts. “The environment today seems quite different to that of the late 1970s and early 1980s — the first time the industry experienced serious contraction — or the early 2000s,” says Adam White, a former Billboard editor-in-chief who later served as UMG vp of international communications. “During both of those time periods, industry sales slumped significantly and staff cutbacks were widespread. Isn’t that in contrast to the current environment, with revenue admittedly not growing at previous, double-digit rates — but still growing?”
Nonetheless, with leaner staffs, “you either need to spread your remaining staff more thinly or serve a smaller roster,” says Peter Sinclair, who worked at UMG for five years before founding beatBread, an artist-funding platform, in 2020.
Some major-label executives contend the staffing changes their companies are making will let them offer more resources to artists, not less. WMG CEO Robert Kyncl, for example, told staff that the cost savings from recent cuts would free up money that can be put towards “increasing funding behind artists and songwriters,” while Atlantic Music Group chairman/CEO Julie Greenwald said the company would be “bringing on new and additional skill sets in social media [and] content creation” to “help artists tell their stories.” In a memo to staff on Wednesday (Feb. 28), Grainge wrote that “our long-term growth strategy, including this organizational redesign, represents a new paradigm for artist support.”
However, many acts believe major-label staffs are already stretched perilously thin, and that layoffs will only exacerbate artists’ feelings of being underserved. “Way too many of my clients complain about what the labels aren’t doing for them,” says Todd Rubenstein, an entertainment attorney. “Even if there is a whole plan they come in with, it’s still not getting serviced.”
“I’m not anti-label; I think every single artist we have is on a major label,” adds Crush Management founder Jonathan Daniel. But “the reason I set up my company the way I did” — Crush has its own marketing and radio promotion staff — “is because labels always have too many artists for how many people work there.”
Labels are already more willing to trim their rosters than they were in the past, and A&R executives say this may have intensified independent of the recent layoff announcements, after a period of excessive signing driven by pressure to maintain market share and an abundance of viral hits on social media. “Would [layoffs] speed up the process of trimming the roster?” asks entertainment attorney Michael Sukin. “Sure, but labels don’t need an excuse.”
That said, when employees are laid off or leave to take another job, some artists will lose their internal advocates. Executives believe it’s likely that there are acts in the UMG system who won’t have their options picked up after the layoffs because no one inside the buildings will fight to keep them.
“Any artist that’s more singles-based is more of a risk on your balance sheet,” says one A&R executive-turned-manager. “They want artists that have sticky fan bases that will be there and support them when they don’t have a hit.”
This all sounds nerve wracking for artists, who are, after all, the lifeblood of record companies. In reality, though, an artist who was a label’s 40th most important act may not have been getting a ton of help anyway — as a UMG executive told The New York Times around the time of the Polygram merger, “for the [artists] we let go, they’ve probably already been dragged over the coals by a record label that can’t do the best job for them.” Nick Stern, another longtime artist manager, is fond of saying “there’s nothing better than being a top five priority at a major label, and nothing worse than being 20 to 50.”
And while artists who got dropped by a major label in 1999 didn’t have many ways to get their music heard around the world, that’s not the case in today’s digital industry. Song creation, distribution and marketing are now all far more affordable. “As the majors’ gatekeeping role shrinks, artists have more options, more leverage, more control and more creative freedom,” Sinclair says. “If you’re an artist and you get dropped by the majors, I’d recommend you take it for what it is: an opportunity.”
When Biggane left UMG last year, he started Big Effect, a company developing technology designed for smaller artist teams to release products and manage catalog effectively. He predicts an “exodus of talent on both sides — people working in the industry trying to provide services and artists looking for services.”
“They’re all going to come out in the independent market,” Biggane says, “and try to find each other.”
Additional reporting by Kristin Robinson
For as long as there’s been a “music business,” creators have been fighting for their fair share, and modern history is replete with examples of corporations trying to shortchange music makers.
Case-in-point: AM/FM radio, where U.S. broadcasters have been getting away with paying artists $0 from their $15 billion-a-year revenue – despite the fact that music is their main input. Their argument? Because radio is supplying “free promotion” for the musicians, they don’t deserve a cut of the profits. Big broadcasters have been pushing this excuse since the 1930s.
Fast forward almost a century, and we’re now seeing this play out with new technology – most recently with the dispute betweenTikTok and Universal Music Group (UMG). Using the same argument as radio broadcasters, TikTok claims its platform provides “free promotion” to artists, and it’s therefore trying to undercut what they pay for the use of their music. But UMG refused to fall for this ploy and has now pulled all of its content from the platform until TikTok agrees to an appropriate licensing fee. As a result, about one-third of the most popular recordings on TikTok, including music from Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish, are now unavailable on the platform. (And this trend may grow if the dispute expands to the publishing side of the business, with indie publishers’ TikTok license due to expire in April.)
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UMG is doing the right thing by standing up for its artists. The label is making the case that creators should be paid fairly for the use of their tracks, in line with other platforms. (It also seeks to protect artists from the harmful effects of unregulated AI and encourages online safety protocols for users, two things all of us should support.) UMG recognizes that the lure of potentially viral promotion is in no way a substitute for fair compensation to hard-working creators.
Long before social media, companies using others’ musical property have sought to avoid paying fairly for that privilege because of this outdated argument around “promotion.” They tried it in the case of piano rolls, silent movie theaters, retail stores, music venues and even peer-to-peer file sharing platforms like Napster and Grokster. In each of those instances, companies tried to underpay (or not pay at all) for the music on the bogus theory that creators should “just accept the promotion, be thankful for whatever they get, and be on their merry way” – regardless of the immense profits they were making from the use of that music.
Thankfully, in the above cases, players in the music industry stood firm and refused to be blinded by the siren song of promotion. But that clearly hasn’t stopped others from trying the same trick.
TikTok is abusing its reputation as the place where new music is discovered. It’s true that many of today’s popular artists (like Lil Nas X, Doja Cat and Lizzo) first found fame on the platform. It’s also where catalog music is finding new life. There is no disputing the important role TikTok plays in the current music ecosystem. But that is an altogether different question than whether or not TikTok should compensate artists fairly.
Instead of using its power to pay artists less, TikTok should take the opposite approach. It should seek to be the digital home for musicians, the place not just where they can be heard, but where they want to be heard and where their value is recognized. This holds true for superstars, middle-class musicians and up-and-comers praying for their first breakout hit. And it starts with paying all of them fairly in recognition of the critical role they provide to the business, whether they’re receiving “promotion” or not.
Going forward, it’s important that key players, like UMG, take a stand against inequity on every platform that seeks to take advantage of creators.*
*SoundExchange is not involved in collecting sound recording royalties from TikTok.
Michael Huppe is president and CEO of SoundExchange.
In December 2021, when Michelle Jubelirer became Capitol Music Group chair/CEO — and Capitol’s first female chief executive in its 80-plus-year history — she didn’t take much time to dwell on her historic accomplishment: She had a flailing company to save.
“The challenges [I inherited] were plentiful,” Jubelirer admits. CMG faced a falling market share, staff turnover, pandemic challenges and an unwieldy artist roster. “The truth is,” she says, “a lot of change happened in a short period of time.”
Many believed Jubelirer, then CMG’s COO, was destined for Capitol’s top job the year prior. By that time, her résumé already included a stint at a white-shoe law firm, years in legal affairs at Sony and nearly a decade as an artist lawyer for acts like Nas, Pharrell Williams and Frank Ocean — plus almost a decade in Capitol’s top ranks. When her longtime mentor, Steve Barnett, stepped down as CMG chair/CEO at the end of 2020, Jubelirer seemed to some to be a natural choice to replace him. But Universal Music Group (UMG) chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge handed the role to Capitol Records president Jeff Vaughn instead. (In the shift, Jubelirer was elevated to CMG president/COO.) When Vaughn assumed his new role, the company was already on shaky ground; under his leadership, it continued to falter.
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After less than a year as CEO, Vaughn left the company, and Jubelirer was elevated to the post. With her guidance, the label group’s fortunes quickly started to change. At a time when minting new superstars is harder than ever, the company won a bidding war (alongside 10K Projects) in fall 2022 for Ice Spice, who would become the defining breakout star of 2023. It also topped the Billboard Hot 100 with queer anthem “Unholy” by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, worked with Universal Music Enterprises to bring back The Beatles with the artificial intelligence-powered single “Now and Then,” achieved TikTok virality with Doechii’s “Block Boy (What It Is)” (in a new partnership with Top Dawg Entertainment) and reinvigorated the art of the music video — which has declined in popularity in recent years — with Troye Sivan’s creative clips for “Rush,” “One of Your Girls” and “Got Me Started.”
Those successes didn’t insulate CMG from impact amid UMG’s widespread restructuring in 2024, though. On Feb. 1 — shortly after Jubelirer’s interview for this story — UMG revealed much of its plan: Its frontline label system would be split beneath one East Coast executive (Republic’s Monte Lipman) and one West Coast executive (Interscope’s John Janick), Grainge explained in a letter to staff. The restructure would have moved Jubelirer, who was reporting directly to Grainge, under Janick. Six days later, Jubelirer wrote a heartfelt message to her staff announcing her exit, effective immediately.
“When I joined Capitol, I made a stringent promise to myself,” Jubelirer said in a Feb. 2 speech at an Entertainment Law Initiative event in Los Angeles. “The day I stopped changing the record company more than it was changing me would be the day I would walk away.”
As she finalizes the details of her exit from UMG, Jubelirer declined to discuss her future plans — or Capitol’s. But whether she stays in the label business, goes into management or does something else entirely, her impact on Capitol and its artists is clear. “She’s the fiercest when it comes to protecting artists,” says Jody Gerson, chair/CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and Jubelirer’s longtime friend. “She’s not afraid to fight for what she believes is right.”
“I’m so honored to have worked with such a great woman and boss like Michelle,” Ice Spice says. “She always believed in me and supported my vision from the very beginning. I’m so grateful for her and all that she has done.”
Jubelirer with her son, Stone.
Yuri Hasegawa
What are some of your biggest wins over the last two years?
First and foremost, I think the biggest win is the incredible team. And what we’ve been able to do in two short years, I think it’s the fastest turnaround of a record label. And quite frankly, we’ve been able to sign a diverse roster of artists and modernize the label while prioritizing artists and ensuring that each artist gets uniquely what they need.
How do you balance Capitol’s storied history and what you want it to represent today?
Given that it has been in existence for 80-plus years, it wasn’t lost on me that I was the first woman chair/CEO. And that’s not a great fact, let’s admit, for all women. But the reality is the grandeur of the company and its [previous] artists’ paths are not the focus. The focus is the new, fresh artists that we are breaking day in and day out.
How has your background at Capitol helped you as chair/CEO?
It’s kind of funny: I think I’ve been leading the company all along in my 11-plus years here. [When I became CEO], I knew all of our team, I knew all of the artists. That really helped. But first and foremost, the most educational piece for me was before I got to Capitol, when I was an attorney. In my heart of hearts — no matter what my title is or where I work — I am an artist advocate at my core. That’s who I am. That’s the thought I bring every single day to my job.
What was your first move as CEO to course-correct Capitol?
The three primary pillars I worked on were signing a diverse group of artists, ensuring that the company was reorganized in a way for artists to interact with labels in the way that fans interact with artists and ensuring that artists were prioritized in a way that was right for them specifically.
Capitol Records/10K Projects signee Ice Spice was one of 2023’s biggest breakout stars. What sets her apart?
There’s no question about it: She is the breakout artist of 2023. I don’t think anyone could argue otherwise. And getting into business with her [has been] incredibly exciting and motivating. Ice is a girl’s girl, and she surrounded herself with strong women and signed with strong women. I’m just one of them. She signed with [UMPG’s] Jody Gerson on the publishing side. She has made the right choices in her career every step of the way, from her look to her flow to her collaborations. She knows exactly who she is, and she’s unwavering about it.
What is the key to label success today? You’ve had new successes in the last year while many labels have struggled to break any artists.
Ultimately, everything is about the artist and the team of people. We have those both in spades. I mean, it was incredible to see the fact that we were the No. 1 TikTok label for 2023. Who would have thought that a year or two ago for Capitol Music Group?
Did you always dream of being a record-label CEO?
My dad died when I was 3 years old. I watched my mother struggle to figure out how to take care of our family. Music got me through all of the hard times. Unlike our artists, however, I had zero talent, and I knew it from a young age. (Laughs.) I wasn’t getting into music based on any talent that I had.
My father was a lawyer, and I knew that financially I needed a way to take care of myself. So I went to law school, graduated with a lot of debt and became a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at a big white-shoe law firm in Manhattan. If you know anything about me, you know that I am not the conservative type; I often wear a “F–k you” belt. I didn’t really fit in at the white-shoe law firm, but I had a plan to go into the music industry.
As soon as I paid off my loans, I got a job as a lawyer at Sony Music. I was there for two years, and I did not love being a cog. I had been in New York City for 10 years at that time and was ready to try Los Angeles. I was also dating a guy in Los Angeles, and that was part of the reason that I moved — as I tell you that, I see the feminism seeping outside of my body, but that’s true.
When I got to L.A., I called all the lawyers I had negotiated against who were artists’ attorneys and met Peter Paterno. I got a job working for him [at the firm now known as King Holmes Paterno & Soriano] and told him that for one year I would service his clients, and then I would have all my own clients after that.
While that may seem like bravado, that came to fruition. I became a partner there after three years and practiced law there for nine years, representing artists. Then I met Steve Barnett, who was co-head of Columbia Records at the time. We negotiated against each other in a deal for Odd Future and Tyler, The Creator. He said, “You pantsed me in that deal, you pantsed Columbia in that deal. If I ever go somewhere else, you’re going to be my first hire.” And it happened. I was his first hire [when he became CMG CEO].
Yuri Hasegawa
How did he convince you to move to the label side?
I always dreamed of running a record label from when I was 12 years old. I didn’t know if it would ever happen because, quite frankly, I absolutely love representing artists and the artists that I had. When Steve approached me, believe me, I put him through the wringer. I asked him every hard-hitting question I could as I decided whether I could still be myself and be an artist advocate within the system.
Ultimately, I chose to make the transition for two reasons. No. 1: I felt like now, more than ever, artists and record labels need to partner with each other. And you need an artist advocate within the label in order for an artist to feel truly comfortable and at home. No. 2: I felt like I could make a bigger change at a record label than I could make being an artist attorney.
In your career, have you faced adversity or discrimination that your male counterparts haven’t?
Since I entered the music industry as a lawyer, I’ve been afforded a shield that many women in the music industry don’t have. Because of that I have been protected from a lot — because, quite frankly, people are afraid of lawyers.
But the reality is, when I started as a lawyer, I didn’t have that shield. In one of my first annual reviews at [my first law firm], I was wearing a white shirt. I’m someone who always wears black, and the partner giving me my review took his water bottle [and] sprayed it on me. You can imagine what he could see. Then he said, “All right, we’re ready for your review now.” At the time, I folded my arms and just plodded on and let him give me his review. I did nothing about it. I beat myself up to this day that I did nothing about it because I’m sure he then did that to multiple women after me. Now I will not be quiet when things like that happen around me.
This story will appear in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Bucks Music Group has launched Chelsea Songs, a joint venture with music publishing veteran Eddie Levy. The new publisher represents works by Bill Withers, Andre Rieu, the Barton Music catalog – which contains standards such as “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head,” “Come Fly With Me” and others – and hits such as The Hues Corporation’s “Rock The Boat,” Janet Kay’s “Silly Games,” and Buscemi’s “Ole Ole We Are The Champions” for the UK at launch. As part of the agreement, Bucks will handle administration and creative sync.
Third Side Music has signed the late Alan Watts to a new worldwide publishing deal. Known as one of the defining writers and scholars of the Beat Generation, the deal with Watts is through his estate, The Alan Watts Organization. As part of the deal, Third Side Music will now foster unique creative music opportunities for Watts’ trove of 500+ house of audio commentary, lectures and radio programming for use in new songs, films, TV shows, ads, and more.
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Milk & Honey Music + Sports has signed Grammy-winning songwriter and artist Jozzy (Beyoncé, Summer Walker, 21 Savage) to a new management deal. Along with the new signing, the company’s founder and CEO, Lucas Keller, has announced the addition of manager Jason Ramos (previously of Roc Nation) to the Milk & Honey team.
Prescription Songs has extended its publishing deal with Vaughn Oliver. A multi-platinum producer, sound designer, DJ, and mix engineer, Vaughn began his partnership with Prescription in 2019 and since then, has worked on a number of top tracks, including “Super Freaky Girl” by Nicki Minaj, “Big Energy” by Latto, and “Her” by Megan Thee Stallion.
C3 Management launches C3 Publishing, a joint venture with Warner Chappell Music. Founded by Charlie Walker and Charles Attal of C3 Presents and C3 Management and led by Russell Baltera, the company will employ WCM’s help with a&r, creative, and sync. Its first signee is Natalie Jane, a rising singer-songwriter.
BMG has extended its publishing administration agreement with Too Lost, a music technology company and distributor. The companies’ partnership began in 2021, and under the terms of the deal, the two handle the rights for songs like “Jocelyn Flores” by XXXTENTACION, “BEEF” FloMix by Flo Milli and more.
Universal Music Publishing Group has signed the members of indie pop band The Wallows to global publishing deals. Known best for their song “Are You Bored Yet?” (feat. Clairo), the SoCal trio is comprised of actor Dylan Minnette, Braedon Lemasters and Cole Preston.
Spirit Music Nashville/2 Mix Music has signed Ryan Beaver to a worldwide publishing deal. Named the “Rising Songwriter of the Year” for 2023 by the AIMP Nashville Country Music Awards, Beaver recently penned the track “Pretty Little Poison” b y Warren Zeiders and “Party Mode” by Dustin Lynch. He has also written songs for Blake Shelton, Ryan Hurd, HARDY, Larry Fleet, Parker McCollum, Josh Abbott, Catie Offerman and Luke Bryan.
Warner Chappell Music has signed Brazilian producer Zerb to a global publishing deal. News of the deal arrives just the rise of Zerb’s biggest hit to date: “Mwaki” featuring Kenyan vocalist Sofiya Nzau, which has gained even more traction with recent remixes by Major Lazer and Tiësto.
Warner Chappell Music has signed emerging singer-songwriter Evan Bartels to a global publishing deal.
Wise Music Group‘s Bosworth Music has signed a new long-term administration agreement to represent the publishing catalog of Random Noize Musick. The roster includes German electronic talents like as Markus Popp (Oval), Annika Henderson (Anika), Pilocka Krach, T.Raumschmiere, Apparat, Moderat, and Sascha Ring.
Downtown Music Publishing has signed French artists Boombass and Étienne de Crécy to worldwide publishing agreements. Boombass is best known as one half of the renowned duo Cassius and and de Crécy has gained acclaim as a DJ and producer.
AMC Theatres beat Wall Street expectations, reporting fourth-quarter revenue of $1.10 billion, up from $990.9 million in 2022 and a net loss of $182 million, compared to a net loss of $287.7 million in 2022.
For the full year, the theater chain reported total revenue of $4.8 billion, up from $3.9 billion in 2022. Net loss improved to $396.6 million, up $577 million from a year earlier.
AMC Theater CEO Adam Aron said that “literally all” of the increase in revenue in the fourth quarter was driven by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. Total attendance in the fourth-quarter grew to 51.9 million, up 4.7% from a year ago.
“What is particularly noteworthy is how much AMC benefited from our trailblazing industry leading efforts with our highly successful distribution of two concert movies Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé,” Aron wrote in the press release. “Despite a diminished box office overall, in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago, AMC’s revenue grew by 11.5 percent and AMC’s adjusted EBITDA almost tripled. Literally, all of that increase in AMC’s Revenue and EBITDA is attributable to our having shown these two movies in our theatres in the U.S. and internationally.”
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On the earnings call, AMC Theatres management said it is introducing a new version of its Nicole Kidman commercial.”
“Before every movie starts, and starting March 1, we’re going to show three different, 30-second Nicole Kidman commercials before the movie starts on a rotating basis,” Aron said.
A spokesperson later clarified that the spots are not “new ads or sequels” but “never-before-seen-in-theatres versions of the original, iconic ad.”
Aron said the company’s “phones have been ringing off the hook” with requests from musical artists and that the theater chain will have more concert movies “later in 2024 and/or 2025.”
Aside from these two films, fourth-quarter domestic industry-wide box office was down 35% versus 2019, as the industry continues to deal with lingering impact from the dual strikes. Still, Aaron said he believes the strike impacts will starts to ease up this spring.
“AMC believes that the box office will start to strengthen again as soon as this coming month of March, in some of the summer months and especially in the latter third of this year. And over the medium term, we are both bullish and optimistic. With all the caveats that no one’s crystal ball is perfect, we currently expect that the industry box office in 2025 will grow by $1 to $2 billion, or more, in size over 2024,” he said.
Due to the impact from the strikes, which Aron reiterated he believes is “temporary,” AMC has “tightened” its operating hours, cut costs, “right-sized” its theater portfolio, as in adding two new high performing theaters and closing nine underperforming locations, and “pushed the innovation envelope in merchandise and food & beverage sales,” Aaron wrote. Part of off-setting the strike impact was also establishing a new revenue stream through the distribution of concert movies.
The company also conducted several stock exchange agreements at the end of 2023 to pay down some of its debt. In the full year 2023, AMC reduced the principal balance of its debt by $448.1 million.
“Given AMC’s proven ability to thread the needle in coping with one Herculean challenge after another, we are confident in our company’s future,” Aron said.
Still, during the call, Aron addressed the pain he believes is felt by his retail shareholders noting that “it was not a good year” for them. He added that he is a shareholder in the company too and has also felt their pain, but will now be taking an added step.
Last week, Aron said he recommended to the AMC Board of Directors that for 12 months, starting now, his target compensation be reduced by 25% versus the previous year’s target.
“I am a shareholder. I am holding. I’m not selling. I ride with you,” Aron said. “So when you do well financially with AMC, I will too. But if you’re hurting from that investment, I believe that I too, should be hurting with you as well.”
At the end of the call, Aron addressed the retail investors who have helped prop up the stock, noting that “it was not a good year,” for them, and to whom he said he had promised “straight talk” on what’s happening at AMC.
He said he also wanted to address the “garbage information floating around Twitter, YouTube and other corners of the internet about AMC,” including the “hubbub and litigation” that surrounded AMC and the Delaware Courts in 2023 and further dilution of their shares by selling preferred equity units in Aug 2022 or APES. The cash from these sales was necessary to keep the cash afloat, he argued.
“We did, in dilution, what was absolutely vital for your company to do to get through the many challenges that were thrown our way,” he said.
He also addressed a conspiracy theory about the management team at AMC.
“It’s disappointing how many people out there typing into their Twitter feeds that the management team at AMC is somehow actively working against the interests of our real retail shareholders, and standing nefariously on the side of evil,” Aron said, pointing to this quarter’s results.
“One doesn’t launch popcorn to the home, or blaze new trails with innovative concept movies that have been incredibly profitable and reputationally enhancing for AMC, if one is trying to undermine our company’s success,” he added.
Still, even after that outreach, the stock continued falling 9 percent after the call Wednesday.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Swedish company Pophouse has been a player in the rights market since 2022. Led by former Universal Music Sweden chief Per Sundin, they backed ABBA’s Voyage show in London, and acquired rights from Swedish House Mafia and Avicii.
Now the company has announced its first deal with a U.S. artist, the rainbow-haired pop icon Cyndi Lauper. The deal includes the majority share of Lauper’s publishing as well as her royalties from her recorded music. Lauper has sold more than 50 million records worldwide, with hits including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “True Colors,” and she has writing credits on some of her biggest hits, including “Time After Time” and “She Bop.” (The deal does not include her Broadway music, which includes the hit show Kinky Boots.) The share acquired by Pophouse was not disclosed.
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Pophouse, which was founded in 2014 by investor Conni Jonsson and ABBA frontman Björn Ulvaeus, is known for trying to add value to its rights acquisitions with creative productions and installations, including ABBA Voyage in London, which uses virtual “ABBAtars” in a live musical show. It also operates the “Avicii Experience” museum in Stockholm, and it is working with KISS on its next avatar show.
The deal announcement says that Pophouse will “create new content and experiences to enrich Cyndi Lauper’s catalogue for fans old and new,” although it does not provide specific details. As an ‘80s icon, though, Lauper would be ideal for a show or a museum that could appeal to a broad audience worldwide. Fans just want to have fun, after all.
“Pophouse has impressed me with their commitment to maintaining and developing my professional life’s work and ensuring its legacy,” Lauper said in the press release about the deal. “Their creativity and vision, combined with my continued involvement via our unique joint venture is what is most exciting to me.”
Pophouse did not say whether the deal includes name, image and likeness rights, although it will work with Lauper on a joint venture, which presumably has the permissions it needs to create installations or experiences around the pop star’s career. “We set ourselves apart through our emphasis on artist and brand development so that we can nurture the value of our investment,” Sundin said in the press release, “and we are pleased Cyndi endorses our vision for her remarkable catalogue of work.”
Chris Young has joined the artists roster at Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management, the company tells Billboard. At Red Light, Kailyn Finnegan will serve as Young’s manager. Finnegan worked with Young at his previous management home, The AMG. Prior to The AMG, Finnegan worked at Live Nation. “I’m excited to work with her and everybody […]
French streaming company Deezer‘s revenue grew 12.1% to 130.7 million euros ($141 million) in the fourth quarter, bringing its full-year revenue to 484.7 million euros ($524 million), up 7.4% year over year, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 28).
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Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (ABITDA) was roughly halved to -28.8 million euros (-$31 million) and net loss was cut by almost two-thirds to 59.6 million euros ($64 million).
This year, Deezer expects to achieve a 10% growth in revenue — to roughly 533 million euros ($575 million) — and again halve adjusted ABITDA to -15 million euros (-$16.2 million) behind improved gross margins and cost controls.
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Deezer’s subscriber count grew 11.5% to 10.5 million from 9.4 million at the end of 2022. The entire gain in subscriptions came from business-to-business partnerships, which grew by 1 million to 4.8 million. Last year, Deezer launched new partnerships with home audio company Sonos, media company RTL in Germany and e-commerce company Mercado Libre in Brazil and Mexico to power those companies’ branded music streaming services. It also renewed partnerships with mobile carrier TIM in Brazil, retailer Fnac Darty in France and mobile carrier Orange in France.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) from B2B subscribers rose from 2.6 euros ($2.81) to 2.8 euros ($3.03) per month. “Our partnership strategy is bearing fruit, driving our overall growth and helping us win market share outside France,” CEO Jeronimo Folgueira said in a statement.
Deezer’s direct subscribers remained flat at 5.6 million but those user’s ARPU increased from 4.7 euros ($5.09) to 4.9 ($5.31) euros per month. Last year, the company raised monthly subscription fees in France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from 10.99 euros to 11.99 euros with “minimal churn” on its subscriber case, according to the earnings release.
The company also announced Wednesday that Folgueira is stepping down “to pursue personal projects.” Folgueira joined Deezer as CEO in 2021. During his tenure, Deezer went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, I2PO, in 2022, and forged a partnership with Universal Music Group in 2023 to introduce an artist-centric model for royalty calculations.
Shares of Deezer rose 0.5% to 2.18 euros ($2.36) Wednesday before the company released earnings results. The stock has almost doubled its 52-week low of 1.19 euros ($1.29) on April, 2023, 13 but is well below its 52-week high of 3.19 euros ($3.46) set on Nov. 2, 2023.