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Gains in recorded music and improved digital royalties helped Reservoir Mediaâs revenue increase 19% to $35.5 million in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, the company announced Wednesday (Feb. 7).Â
Strong results in the quarter allowed Reservoir Media to raise its guidance for its full fiscal year ending March 31. Guidance for full-year revenue increased from a range of $133 million to $137 million to a range of $140 million to $142 million, implying 15% annual growth at the midpoint. Adjusted guidance on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) increased from a range of $50 million to $52 million to a range of $53 million to $55 million, which would be a 16.5% year-over-year improvement. Reservoir Media also raised its guidance when it released its previous earnings in November. Â
The results âdemonstrate our ability to manage the business and deploy capital to further grow our portfolio,â CEO Golnar Khosrowshahi said during Wednesdayâs earnings call. âAlong those lines during the quarter, we continued to invest in our business, with an emphasis on further diversifying our portfolio across various music genres.â
Recorded music revenues grew 32%, to $10 million, inclusive of catalog acquisitions. The segmentâs digital revenue grew 26% to $6.6 million while physical revenue rose 51% to $1.7 million. Synch revenue doubled to $800,000 and neighboring rights royalties gained 16% to $1 million.Â
Publishing revenue dominated total revenue, though, improving 15% to $23.1 million. Publishingâs digital revenues grew 30% to $13.9 million and synch revenue gained 9% to $4 million. Performance, mechanical and other revenue fell from the prior-year quarter.Â
Synch revenue from both segments was affected by the writer and actor strikes in 2023, explained CFO Jim Hendlmeyer. A âvery promisingâ ad market helped synch revenue during delays in TV and film production, he added.Â
The quarter was also helped by Reservoir Mediaâs numerous signings and acquisitions, including Theo Katzman, the founding member of Vulfpeck and a collaborator with such artists as Carly Rae Jepsen and Teddy Geiger. In December, Reservoir signed singer-songwriter grentperez, for whom it handles administration and creative aspects with its Australian sub-publisher, Mushroom Music. In October, the company signed a global publishing deal with Joe Walsh. Its last announced acquisition was the catalog of Arthur âBoogieâ Smith in November.Â
Reservoir highlighted Grammy success for the songwriters and producers on its roster. Among the winners was best folk album winner Joni Mitchell, who signed a publishing administration deal with the company in 2021. Killer Mike, who signed with Reservoir in 2022, won in three rap categories: Best Rap Song (âScientists & Engineersâ), Best Rap Album (Michael) and Best Rap Performance (âScientists & Engineersâ). Elsewhere, Khris Riddick-Tynesâ collaboration with SZA, âSnooze,â won best R&B song and Blue Raincoat Music client Phoebe Bridgers had a hand in four awards, including best rock song, with her group boygenius.
Shares of Reservoir Media increased 6.1% to $7.26 early Wednesday morning before falling to $6.49, down 5.1%, by midday.Â
Kelsea Ballerini has renewed her deal with her longtime label, Black River Entertainment. Ballerini first signed with Black River in 2013; over the ensuing decade, she has earned five No. 1 hits on Billboardâs Country Airplay chart, including âLegends,â âLove Me Like You Mean Itâ and the Kenny Chesney collaboration âHalf of My Hometown.â Variety […]
Since Laura Gonzalez lost her job as a Spotify software engineer in December, when the streaming giant cut 1,500 employees in its third round of 2023 layoffs, she has struggled to reassert herself in a shifting music business.Â
As companies like Universal Music Group and BMG downsize for strategic purposes, Gonzalez has observed through job listings and interviews â that public-relations, media and streaming jobs are thinning out while the social-media and ticket-sales sectors remain more or less robust. âIt is scary, Iâm not going to lie,â says Gonzalez, a San Diego singer and guitarist who fronts shoegaze band Memory Leak. She adds that the âcompetition is insane,â noting she spent her one-year Spotify career building revenue streams for artists beyond royalties. âI found myself having to study and refresh on topics I had not thought of since I was in university â data structure and algorithms.â
From the point of view of music-business job-seekers, the employment landscape has taken a recent turn into the unknown. For the last several years, boosted by streaming growth and a spike in demand during COVID-19 home quarantine, labels, DSPs (digital service providers) and other streaming-focused companies were expanding and hiring. But UMGâs chairman, Lucian Grainge, has warned staff for months that the worldâs biggest label is on the brink of severe cost-cutting.
For that reason, according to Pieter Wolter, founder of The Music Recruiters, an Amsterdam-based company that recruits people in the music business and connects them to job opportunities, job-seekers with music-business experience in human resources, finance or other transitional skills might consider recession-proof sectors such as health insurance. He expects music-business job growth in artificial intelligence, data analytics and the metaverse, but perhaps not imminently.
âItâs not like all these people who are laid off will be able to transition easily into those areas. This will depend on network and experience,â he says. âItâs clear the music industry is changing. Thereâs not a single area where Iâm aware of super-strong hiring, like you could have seen in the past at digital distributors â or technology bursts you sometimes see.â
There are bright spots in the industry. Jon Loba, BMGâs new president of frontline recording, declared last month that he would immediately start beefing up his A&R team in Los Angeles. (In October, the Berlin-based label and publisher laid off 30 staffers as part of what CEO Thomas Coesfeld called âa strategy for future growth.â) And record-setting tours by Taylor Swift and BeyoncĂŠ have helped to create âlots of great growth opportunity for years to comeâ on the live side, Michael Rapino, president/CEO of Live Nation, told investors last August.Â
âJobs will look different and there will be more competition, but I donât think we need to completely freak out,â says Andreea Magdalina, Coachellaâs community director and founder of shesaid.so, a music-business community of women and nonconforming gender people that hosts an online job portal. âWhatâs tough is people looking for jobs right now, because things are shifting really quickly. The market is going through a consolidation phase.â
For now, though, online recruiters are seeing bleakness in the business. (In addition to recent layoffs at DSPs and labels, music journalism has taken a devastating hit, with Conde Nast downsizing Pitchfork and newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times firing entertainment writers and editors.) Recent music-related opportunities on ZipRecruiter, according to Julia Pollak, the companyâs chief economist, have been in teaching, therapy or junior-level positions.Â
âThereâs not tremendous growth happening in these industries,â she says. âThe sort of high-paying music-manager kind of roles that are the most attractive are in very short supply.âÂ
Noticing the same trends over two months of unemployment, Gonzalez has broadened her job search: âIâm hopeful that I can find something where I can make an impact, whether itâs in the music industry or a different industry. Itâs all a learning path.â
LONDON â Hipgnosis Songs Fundâs shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favor of passing a special resolution that authorizes the payment of up to 20 million pounds ($25 million) to prospective bidders seeking to acquire the fundâs assets.
The special resolution was approved by 99.9% of the fundâs shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting held in London on Wednesday (Feb. 7), according to a regulatory filing.
It gives Hipgnosis Songs Fundâs (HSF) board of directors the power to pay a fee capped at ÂŁ20 million to any prospective bidder or bidders making a âbona fideâ offer or offers to acquire one or more of the companyâs subsidiaries which own music assets, and/or some of the fundâs music rights on favorable terms. The fee is meant to reduce the risk of making an offer for Hipgnosis Songs Fundâs music catalogs by providing âsignificant protectionâ against their due diligence and acquisition costs.
In a statement, Robert Naylor, chairman of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, thanked shareholders âfor their continuing supportâ and said the companyâs board âremains focusedâ on its strategic review, âunder which it is looking at all options to deliver shareholder value.â
The London-listed fund, which owns full or partial rights to the song catalogs of artists ranging from Justin Bieber, Neil Young, Bruno Mars, Jimmy Iovine, 50 Cent, Shakira, Blondie, Justin Timberlake, Lindsey Buckingham and many more, hopes that the enticement of a large fee will help draw potential bidders.
In October, shareholders voted against the music royalties fundâs proposed $440 million deal to sell 29 catalogues to Hipgnosis Songs Capital â a partnership between investment giant Blackstone and the fundâs investment adviser Hipgnosis Song Management â citing the lack of an âup-to-dateâ valuation.
Octoberâs annual meeting of shareholders also saw a majority of investors vote against a resolution âto continue running the fund in its current formâ â a so-called âcontinuation voteâ â commencing a six-month countdown for the board to come up with a plan âfor the reconstruction, reorganisation, or winding-up of the company.â
That led to the installation of a new executive board with Naylor replacing Andrew Sutch as chairman in November.
Last year wrapped with Hipgnosis lowering the value of its music portfolio following what Naylor described to investors as a strained relationship with its investment advisor, the Merck Mercuriadis-led Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), over the catalogâs worth.
This year has so far begun on an equally rocky footing with the fundâs board of directors calling into question HSMâs ability to field competitive bids for its assets.
A major sticking point is the investment advisorâs call option, which gives it the right to purchase the companyâs portfolio if its contract with the fund is terminated with less than 12 monthsâ notice, among other scenarios. The fundâs board contends that Hipgnosis Song Managementâs call option harms its ability to receive competitive bids.
Last week, Mercuriadis announced that he will be stepping down as chief executive officer of Hipgnosis Song Management to take up a newly created chairman role with Ben Katovsky replacing him as CEO.Â
Hipgnosis Songs Fundâs share price was roughly flat at 65 British pence ($0.84) following Wednesdayâs extraordinary general meeting.
Tom March has been named the new chairman/CEO of Capitol Music Group, and Lillia Parsa has been named co-president of the label group alongside co-president Arjun Pulijal, Interscope Geffen A&M chairman/CEO John Janick announced in a memo today (Feb. 7). The new leadership group was announced one day after previous CMG chair/CEO Michelle Jubelirer announced she was stepping down with immediate effect yesterday (Feb. 6).
March, who has spent the past two years as U.S. president of Geffen Records, becomes the fourth head of Capitol in the 2020s, after longtime label chief Steve Barnett retired at the end of 2020, then A&R veteran Jeff Vaughn led the label for less than a year before Jubelirer took over in December 2021. Prior to his stint at Geffen â which is the home to Olivia Rodrigo, and has a high-profile partnership with BTS and HYBE, among other artists â March was the co-president of Polydor Records in the U.K. for six years, where he helped develop Glass Animals and worked the Interscope roster in the U.K. In his new role, heâll oversee Capitol Records, Blue Note Records, Motown Records, Astralwerks, Harvest Records and Capitol Christian Music Group, and report to Janick.
Parsa arrives at Capitol after six years at Universal Music Publishing Group, where she worked with the likes of recent best new artist Grammy nominees Ice Spice and Gracie Abrams, as well as Renee Rapp, Julia Michaels, Louis Bell, Omer Fedi and many more, with clients that worked on No. 1 Hot 100 songs like The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieberâs âStay,â Lizzoâs âAbout Damn Time,â Ariana Grandeâs âPositionsâ and more. Parsa will report to March and join Pulijal, who has been president of CMG since January 2022, as co-president. Both March and Parsa will be based at the Capitol Tower in Hollywood.
âIâve worked closely with Tom for the better part of a decade, first as he looked after IGA repertoire in his role as co-president of Polydor in the U.K. and more recently in his position as president of Geffen,â Janick said in a statement. âHe is a passionate and savvy executive who is a relentless advocate for artists and is committed to building successful executive teams. I know he will thrive in this important new role. Lillia is a gifted creative executive with very strong relationships throughout our business. Iâve personally gotten to know her over the years through artists weâve signed together and via the amazing roster of songwriters sheâs assembled at UMPG. Iâm excited for her to take on this key position at Capitol, working alongside Arjun to continue to build a powerful platform for Capitol Music Group.â
These executive moves come amidst a broader restructuring happening at parent company Universal Music Group, which chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge announced in an internal memo last week. As part of that overhaul, Janick will now oversee Interscope, Geffen, Capitol, Motown, Priority, Verve and Blue Note, while Republic Records CEO Monte Lipman will oversee Republic, Def Jam, Island and Mercury. That memo also included a note that said, âIn the coming weeks, John and Monte will be making further announcements about structure, resources and next-generation partnerships.â Jubelirerâs exit yesterday was the first exit since the announcement was made.
Jubelirer had been at Capitol for more than a decade, and had begun to turn around a recently-flagging label in her two years in charge: In 2023, Capitol racked up a 6.66% market share in the U.S., including a 5.90% current market share â which measures releases from the past 18 months â which was fifth among all labels for the full year. Both numbers were up significantly over her first year at the helm in 2022, when Capitolâs overall market share stood at 6.40% and current market share was 4.97%. That responsibility for the 80-year-old institution will now fall to March.
âIâm thrilled to be charged with leading Capitol Music Group,â March said in a statement. âThe companyâs deep legacy includes so many iconic artists and records that have long played important roles in my life, and the opportunity to help write CMGâs next chapter is a dream come true. Iâm excited for Lillia to be joining me to define the creative direction of the company; she is spectacularly talented, and one of the most respected A&R executives in the business today.
âTogether, weâll work with Arjun and the brilliant CMG team to enhance the careers of artists on our current roster, as well of those who will be joining us in the future,â March continued. âJohn Janick and I have forged a great working relationship over the past decade, and itâs only become stronger with our amazing run at Geffen. That will absolutely intensify as we take CMG to the next level and share in even greater success together. Iâm grateful to all of the artists at Geffen for their incredible music Iâve had the privilege to work on these past two years, and for the teams at Geffen and IGA who have been so supportive along the way.â
Capitol has a long history in the music business, having been the home of The Beatles, Bee Gees, ABBA, The Beach Boys, Nat King Cole and many iconic artists, and more recently the label for Katy Perry, Sam Smith, Maggie Rogers, Lewis Capaldi, Niall Horan, Toosii, Queen Naija, Ice Spice, Kodak Black and many more. Having been under the EMI Music umbrella for decades, Capitol was sold to Universal Music in 2012 in a $1.9 billion deal, after which it became a standalone frontline music group until this month, when it was shifted under Janickâs purview.
âIâm excited to be working with Tom to write the next creative chapter for Capitol Music Group; to work with an array of artists that currently call CMG home, as well as those that will be joining us in the near future,â Parsa said in a statement. âIâm also looking forward to working alongside Arjun as co-president of a company with such an illustrious and ongoing legacy. I thank John Janick for this great opportunity, and my longtime mentor [UMPG Chairman & CEO] Jody Gerson for always supporting me and encouraging this next important step in my career.â
Jermaine Dupriâs legendary So So Def Recordings has signed a multi-year agreement with Create Music Group that encompasses all of the labelâs recordings, publishing and back catalog. In addition, Dupri will supervise the launch of new artists and music under the partnership and double as Create Music Groupâs the newly appointed creative director.
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Concurrent with his new appointment, Dupri will segue from CEO of So So Def Recordings to its chairman & founder. He, in turn, has named Bryan Patrick Franklin to replace him as CEO and Joe Romulus Esq. as head of legal business affairs. In his role as creative director for Create Music Group, Dupri will work on âexpanding the companyâs impact on the cross-section between music and culture,â as noted in the press release announcing the news.Â
Dupri, a Grammy-winning producer and member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, stated in the release, âI have been looking for a home for the entire So So Def brand so I can continue to do what I started.â Last year, So So Def celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Jonathan Strauss, CEO & founder of Create Music Group, commented, âJermaine has been one of the most successful and impactful forces in music for the last three decades. We are honored that he and his team have decided to partner with us for both his catalog and future output.â
Dupriâs talent as a songwriter-producer is behind such platinum and multi-platinum songs as Mariah Careyâs âWe Belong Togetherâ (which won him the Grammy for best R&B song), Usherâs âNice & Slow,â Xscapeâs âJust Kickinâ Itâ and his own âMoney Ainât a Thangâ featuring Jay-Z. He also produced the hits âBurnâ and âConfessions Part II,â from Usherâs diamond-certified Confessions album. Upon founding So So Def Recordings in 1993, Dupri helmed a roster of R&B/hip-hop and pop hitmakers that included Xscape, Da Brat, Jagged Edge and Anthony Hamilton. A DJ and the second rapper after Jay-Z to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Dupri also established the plant-based ice cream alternative JDâs Vegan.
Create Music Group was founded in 2015. The Hollywood-based data-driven media and technology firm has worked with stars and global brands such as Jennifer Lopez, Marshmello and PepsiCo. Among the media networks that Create Music Group operates are the independent music distribution platform Label Engine and the Gen Z-focused digital entertainment and marketing agency Flighthouse.
Martin Kirkup, the well-respected co-founder of Direct Management Group, died Sunday, Feb. 4 while vacationing in Hawaii, according to his family. He was 75.
Kirkup currently managed Katy Perry, k.d. lang and Au/Ra, but over his decades-long career had also worked with artists including the B-52s, Counting Crows, Tracy Chapman, the Go-Goâs, Adam Lambert and many others.Â
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âMartin Kirkup and I conceived Direct Management while drinking Raki at a restaurant high above the Bosphorus in Istanbul, escaping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,â said Direct Management Group co-founder Steven Jensen in a statement. âWe were both fans of alternative pop music and focused on establishing a boutique management company to support that exciting genre of music. Iâm proud to have built Direct Management with Martin and Bradford Cobb to the global presence it has today, with integrity, honor and ingenuity, much of which was contributed by Martin. His influence is a permanent fixture of the Direct Management culture.â
The Tynemouth, U.K.-born Kirkup came to the U.S. in 1973 as a visiting professor of English Literature at the University of Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and joined A&M Records as east coast publicity director, eventually ascending to vp of artist development and working with such artists as Peter Frampton, Styx, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, the Police and Joan Armatrading.
Kirkup and Jensen opened Direct in Los Angeles in April 1985, with early clients Boy Meets Girl, Echo & The Bunnymen and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, as well as guiding Roxy Musicâs Bryan Ferry on his first solo international tour. In 1989, Direct experienced tremendous success with the B-52sâ quadruple-platinum album, Cosmic Thing, which included the massive hit âLove Shack.â
In the â90s, Direct continued to grow, working with the Counting Crows for a decade during which the band sold more than 25 million albums. Other clients during that decade included David Byrne, Joe Jackson, Seal and the New Radicals. In 1998, Bradford Cobb joined the company as a manager, becoming a partner in 2012.Â
Under the three principals, the company flourished in the early 2000s, overseeing the careers of lang, Perry, the Go-Goâs and Jamie Cullum. Subsequent clients also included Lambert and Steve Perry. Signing Katy Perry in 2004 was automatic, Kirkup told Billboard in 2012. âTo us, itâs not remarkable that sheâs hugely successful-without sounding like wise-asses, thatâs why we signed her,â Kirkup says. âWe really believed in her and felt she had huge potential.â
âMartin Kirkup was a class act, a gentleman, and he was brilliant,â Cobb told Billboard in statement. âOver my 25 years working alongside him at Direct, he had a major influence on my growth as a manager and a human. Of his many talents, one that I admired most was his ability to take a problem and dissect it down to its core, finding a solution with a calm demeanor that gave everyone around him confidence. Martin had excellent taste in music, and he had great reverence for the artists who created it. He was witty with a wicked sense of humor. Martin was also warm and genuinely caring, and it was an honor to be his partner.â
Kirkup, who was on Billboard Power 100 list in 2017, was a fierce advocate for his artists, but always found time to help the next generation of executives. He doled out advice freely, mentoring a number of younger managers who came to him for advice.
He is survived by his wife Lale Kirkup, daughter Melisa Kirkup Blatt and son-in-law Ben Blatt, son John Kirkup and daughter-in-law Lorien Kirkup, and three grandchildren, Sam, Abigail, and Ivy. Details on a celebration of life will come at a later date.Â
Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing Walmart and Post Consumer Brands over allegations that the two huge companies sabotaged the rappersâ cereal brand with âunderhanded dealingâ and âdiabolical actions.â
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Feb. 6), the rappersâ company, Broadus Foods, claimed that after they struck a partnership deal with Post, the company secretly âensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumersâ or would âincur exorbitant costs that would eliminate any profit.â
Broadus Foods, represented by prominent attorney Benjamin Crump, claims the move was payback after Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) refused to sell their company to Post.
âEssentially, because Snoop Dogg and Master refused to sell Snoop Cereal in totality, Post entered [a] false arrangement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing Snoop Cereal from being sold or produced by any competitor,â Crump wrote in Tuesdayâs complaint.
The lawsuit also named Walmart as a defendant, saying the retail giant played a key role in âthe most egregious exampleâ of Postâs alleged wrongdoing: âPost essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that none of the boxes of Snoop Cereal would ever appear on the store shelves.â
According to Snoop and Master P, the duo launched Broadus Foods and Snoop Cereal in 2022 in an effort to âadd diversity to the food industryâ and create a âlegacyâ that they could leave behind for their families. When they approached Post about a production and distribution partnership, they say the âbreakfast juggernautâ attempted to buy the company outright, but that they refused.
Spurned from acquiring the upstart company, they claim Post agreed to a partnership whereby it would not only produce the products but also âtreat Snoop Cereal as one of its own brandsâ and distribute it to major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Kroger and Amazon. But behind the scenes, they claim that Post was working to sabotage the new company.
âUnbeknownst to Broadus Foods, Post was not on board with their goals and dreams and had no intention of treating Snoop Cereal equally as its own brands,â Crump writes. âInstead, Post intended to only give appearances that they were following the Agreement.â
The worst case of such alleged mistreatment, according to the lawsuit, was the situation at Walmart. Snoop and Master P claim that Snoop Cereal initially sold well at the massive chain, but that Walmartâs system soon began to falsely show that the product was out of stock.
âHowever, upon further investigation by store employees, each of these stores had several boxes of Snoop Cereal in their stockrooms that were coded to not be put out on the store shelves,â the companyâs lawyers write. âUnlike the other Post branded boxes of cereal around them, these Snoop Cereal boxes had been in the stockrooms for months without ever being made available to customers.â
In technical terms, the lawsuit claims that Post breached its agreements with and fiduciary duty to Broadus Foods, as well as defrauded the smaller company and made negligent misrepresentations. The case claims that Walmart committed so-called tortious interference by going along with Postâs scheme and that it aided and abetted Post in breaching its fiduciary duty. And the lawsuit claims that both companies committed civil conspiracy by working together.
Reps for both Post and Walmart did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday evening.
Kesha has signed with Crush Management, the company confirmed with Billboard. She will be co-managed by Charlie Adelman, Jonathan Daniel and Bob Mclynn. In December, the pop icon parted ways with longtime manager Jack Rovner and Vector Management. âJack Rovner confirms, after 16 years, Kesha and Vector Management have agreed amicably to part ways, with […]
Crypto.com Arena and its concessions partner, Levy Restaurants, broke their previous record for food sales at this yearâs 66th Grammy Awards, averaging $97.17 in sales per person, says Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater and LA Live. The sales figure was enough to top the record per cap of $95.94 at last yearâs […]