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It’s time for another spindle around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music. For a summary of all the goings-on at UMG, scroll to the bottom. For everything else, read on!
Deezer‘s search for a permanent replacement for the departing Jeronimo Folgueira is underway, but in the meantime the Paris-based streaming service has hired a ringer of sorts to keep the CEO seat warm. Stu Bergen, a 14-year veteran of Warner Music and longtime CEO of the label group’s international and global services division, has stepped in to serve as interim CEO until a new chief is found. Bergen, who left WMG in early 2021, has been a member of Deezer’s board of directors for more than a year and will remain there after the executive search is complete. “Stu’s in-depth knowledge of the music and digital industries, coupled with his tenure as a director on Deezer’s board, positions him perfectly to boost the company’s strategic direction and facilitate a seamless transition,” the company said this week, adding it believes Bergen is perfectly suited to guide them in its international expansion and boosting subscribers in key markets. The company recently posted positive financial results for 2023, with revenue up 7.4% to $524 million and an 11.5% increase in subscribers (thanks to business-to-business partnerships).
”I am honored to accept the interim CEO role at Deezer at this pivotal time,” Bergen said. “I am committed to strengthening the company’s values and driving its growth trajectory forward. With the dedicated team and clear objectives already in place, I am eager to lead us through this period of transition, ensuring the company is prepared for its ambitious future.”
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Merlin, the digital music licensing go-to for indies everywhere, announced an expansive run of promotions and role tweaks at the company. Over on the member and partner success teams, Emma Robinson ascends to senior director of member operations after six years of service; Daniele Yandel was promoted to senior manager of member operations after four years; four-year veteran Jo Danher is now senior manager of member relations; and Poppy Waring (seven years) and Shannon Bradley (three) both step up to senior manager of commercial partnerships. As for the finance fam, Vincent Moyo is promoted to director of commercial finance, four years in; Grace Styles approaches her three-year mark with a promotion to management accountant; Savannah Puleston bumps up to operations and events coordinator, nearly two years after joining Merlin. Did someone say data? Mili Payne (two years) is elevated to senior royalty coordinator and Tom White has been named senior coordinator of business analytics in Merlin’s reporting and insights team. Finally, Tolis Koutronas was elevated to senior developer of technology and business solutions, rewarding four years of enhancing Merlin’s infrastructure, while four-year staffer Katie Eckett is now senior manager of business and legal affairs.
NAMM, aka the National Association of Music Merchants, appointed AJ Zane as the trade org’s new director of technology. Zane’s many duties include running point on NAMM’s product and platform technology, cybersecurity, cloud engineering, infrastructure, corporate IT and a host of other responsibilities only a “career technologist” (NAMM president/CEO John Mlynczak’s words) could muster. “He brings a diverse background and experience that align with our commitment to stay at the forefront of technology and harness its power to propel our organization into the future,” Mlynczak said. Prior to NAMM, Zane was an engineering manager at real estate data management tool Measurable and before that was a technical principal at Veyo.
Haley Evans was elevated to the role of president at Mega House Music, a songwriter-producer management company and music publisher. She has worked her way up at Mega House over the last four years, guiding the careers of writing talents like Casey Smith (“Moral of the Story” by Ashe, “Cool” by Jonas Brothers), Gian Stone (“Stuck With You” by Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande), Caroline Pennell (“Past Life” by Trevor Daniel and Selena Gomez, “Everytime I Cry” by Ava Max), and Peter Fenn (“Nathan (still breathing)” by Fred Again.., “Slow Down” by Laufey). Evans also works across the Mega House’s full roster, helping with Monsters & Strangerz, Joe London, Sol Was and others. She manages rising folk artist Mon Rovia as well and has played a meaningful role in the company’s expansion into Nashville and Miami. In her new role, she will continue to report to co-CEOs David Silberstein and Jeremy Levin. –Kristin Robinson
Academy Music Group (AMG) appointed Liam Boylan as chief executive officer of the UK venue owner and operator. AMG’s roster of medium-sized venues across the country include O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester, O2 Academy Birmingham and the soon-to-reopen O2 Academy Brixton. Boylan was previously stadium director at the legendary Wembley Stadium, and prior to that worked for years at SJM Concerts and Manchester Arena. “We’re delighted to welcome Liam to the AMG team and look forward to working with him,” said Denis Desmond, chairman of AMG. “He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the live industry and running major events. He will be a great asset.”
Concord Music Publishing hired Lüder Castringius for the newly created position of senior vp of legal and business affairs across Germany, Switzerland and Austria (GSA). In his new role, Castringius will play a “central role” in bolstering Concord’s interests in the sprawling region, remarked Duff Berschback, evp of legal and business affairs, who added: “The decision to create this position demonstrates our commitment to top-tier legal counsel and underscores our efforts to meet the rapidly evolving demands of the music market.” The Berlin-based exec arrives from BMG, where he rose to senior vp of business and legal affairs EU during a 15-year run at the company. Castringius reports directly to Berschback, who is based in Nashville, but will also work closely with Tina Funk, managing director of Concord Music Publishing, GSA. “We appreciate his sensitivity, his fighting spirit, and his commitment to shaping the character and roster of the publishing house… and ensuring the protection of our creators’ rights,” Funk said.
RADIO, RADIO: Audacy announced that svp of digital audio content Tim Clarke will depart at the end of the month, with his role — leading consumer-facing properties such as Audacy.com and the company’s radio app — being phased out and duties folded into other teams. Clarke joined Audacy in March 2021 as svp of market manager before quickly ascending to his current position. Prior to Audacy, he spent 12 years at Cox Media, rising to vp of audience and content for his last three. In a staff memo obtained by Radio Insight, chief digital officer J.D. Crowley called Clarke a “wonderful creative executive, a great friend and colleague to so many of us.”
Big Loud Rock, which specializes in big loud rock records, upped its visual marketing game with the appointment of Paul Wright as vp of creative strategy. Based in Los Angeles, he reports up to Lloyd Norman, svp of BLR, which is the alt-rock imprint of Big Loud Records. Wright joins from Red Bull Records, where as director of creative marketing he worked with Blxst, Albert Hammond Jr, AWOLNATION and others on tailored content. Prior to RBR, Wright racked up time at Nettwerk Music Group and Hopeless Records. Elsewhere at BLR, recent new hires and promotions include Dave Barbis as svp of promotion, Nicole Rich as director of promotion & publicity, Delaine Halpin as project marketing manager, Colleen Kennedy as operations manager and Bella DiDomenico as executive assistant to BLR president Greg Thompson. “We are thrilled to have an executive like Paul join the Big Loud Rock team and also to recognize the growth of our staff and the overall team building Big Loud Rock,” Thompson said.
Absolute Label Services added three new members to its London-based team. Joining as senior label manager is Dominic Squire, most recently senior international marketing manager at BMG. The independent services company also welcomed Jimmy Smith, formerly of Platoon, as a campaign coordinator. Finally, Finn Peat is now part of ALS’ digital right team in his first music industry gig.
Outback Presents promoted Fallon Nell to vp of booking, overseeing all Outback artist bookings for country, comedy and music events. Nell launched her career at Outback as the company’s first intern, before joining as a promoter representative in the company’s comedy department. She later transitioned to artist management at Alliance Artists (now Red Light Management Atlanta) before launching Brothers Management. Nell returned to Outback Presents in 2023, serving as senior booking manager. –Jessica Nicholson
NASHVILLE NOTES: Music City-based executive Kelly Bolton joined Warner Records as vp of A&R, focusing on country but reporting to Warner Records’ LA-based CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck. She arrives after more than five years at Tape Room Music, where she served as svp of A&R … Black River Records elevated Bill Mackay to vp of national promotion. Mackay joined the label in 2012 after more than 30 years in the industry, including stops at MCA, Sony and Stroudavarious Records, plus 16 years as a country radio programmer in markets including Pittsburgh, San Jose and San Diego. Congratulate Mackay at bmacky@blackriverent.com.
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) welcomed Julian Teixeira to the family as an agent in the music touring department. He arrives from The Bullitt Agency and brings a client roster that includes Dubfire, Chris Stussy, Dennis Cruz and Kölsch, among other. The George Washington University grad is based in CAA’s. New York offices.
ICYMI:
Following the curtain-raising of the Interscope Capitol Labels Group, chairman/CEO John Janick (pictured) announced more additions to his C-suite team (namely Gary Kelly and Jason Kawejsza), and a few days later fleshed out the structure of the new company … then UMG’s more East Coast-y labels reorganized under the new Republic Corps banner under Monte Lipman … and finally a member of the Corps, Mercury, announced several promotions and hires.
Last Week’s Turntable: Warner Chappell’s China Role
These days the music industry sometimes seems like a media business version of “Trading Places” in which every label wants to be a distributor and every distributor wants to become a label.
On March 7, Warner Music Group disclosed its interest in buying the French digital music distributor Believe, but all the label groups are focusing more on the distribution game – think Sony Music’s 2021 acquisition of AWAL and Universal Music Group’s October consolidation of Virgin Music and Ingrooves. At the same time, distributors are offering more of the services that only labels used to provide, including radio promotion and different kinds of marketing.
From the perspective of an independent creator, these two once-separate sectors have moved close enough that they’re competing – the majors are offering more flexible contracts that allow artists to keep their copyrights, while distributors are providing advances and an array of services to successful acts. For anyone who was in the industry before streaming became the standard, this seems like the music business’ Reese’s moment: You got your distribution in my label! You got your label in my distribution! To outsiders and young creators though, the distinction might not even make that much sense in the first place. Behind all the complicated corporate org charts, isn’t Sony just investing in, marketing and distributing Bad Bunny’s music (through The Orchard), just as it invests in, markets and distributes Beyoncé’s (on Columbia)?
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Sort of. Companies spend less, and make less, on the music they distribute, while acts signed to labels represent bigger bets both in terms of investment and potential upside. Distribution is steadier, while the label business involves more risk and some very profitable successes that more than make up for them. That’s not new. What is new, though, is how what was once a binary choice has become more of a question of finding the right point on a spectrum of risk and reward that has a traditional label deal at one end, distribution on the other and plenty of options in between.
It’s easy to understand why distributors are offering services that were once solely the domain of labels – pure online distribution has always been a low-cost commodity business, and label services offers are one way to get better margins. But what about the opposite? Why are labels getting into a lower-profit business that essentially endangers the best part of their existing business? Especially as label deals get less standard, companies make higher margins on acts that are early in their careers, before they score the success that gets them the leverage to negotiate a better deal.
Understanding why the major label groups are investing so much in a less profitable sector than the one they’re in requires seeing the issue like a media executive in the Internet Age, which is to say through the lens of disruption. This is the idea that companies which pioneer a good-enough product or service at a much lower cost will eventually challenge the market leaders – think of Netflix and cable television, for example. Although the theory isn’t as simple or as applicable as technology executives say it may well apply here: The market share of recorded music from traditional labels is slowly but steadily shrinking, in favor of distributors. The good news for the major labels is that much of that shift involves distributors they own, including The Orchard, owned by Sony, which raised its U.S. market share from 1.5% in 2021, to 7.1% in 2022, to 8.7% in 2023, according to Luminate. Much of that business comes from Bad Bunny, of course, but the company already has another bona fide Latin music superstar in Peso Pluma.
The labels basically just want to disrupt their own businesses before other companies can. If you think this kind of change is inevitable, it’s worth running toward it. (The music business has a reputation for being fearful of technology because it took so long to embrace the internet, but the business school idea of disruption doesn’t apply to pirated music; Napster wasn’t offering another product – it was offering the same product illegally.)
The second reason companies are buying distributors is, as MUSIC founder and CEO Matt Pincus recently told Billboard, “it solves a real stack problem for them.” Pincus was talking specifically about Warner, which like all label groups focuses on trying to break and market stars. A “stack” – programmer-speak for underlying technology – would let the company serve beginning creators and more emerging ones, as well as stars and a few artists that it wants to develop into stars. Warner already does this with ADA, which distributes independent labels, but ADA has tended to focus on a moderate number of mid-size indies, rather than a larger number of smaller ones.
But the most important reason labels are investing more on distribution could be the sector’s potential to serve as a kind of talent farm system. In the movies, label executives discover artists in bars or office auditions, but that hasn’t been the dominant way of doing business for a generation. These days, even beginning creators are distributing their music online, starting their careers on their own rather than trying to be discovered. Which means that by the time a major label gets interested in them, they may already have a deal. Since it’s easier to sign an artist who’s already involved with another division of the company, it makes sense to cast the biggest net possible. This is a defensive move, too: Now that Sony and Universal have big distribution businesses that can potentially serve as talent pipelines, Warner arguably needs one, too.
For that matter, the same applies to Believe. Most indie creators want to start their careers with basic distribution deals – but few of them want to stop there. Believe could be much more attractive to creators if it could offer them a place to grow to as well as services to grow into.
Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that he will put together an investor group to buy TikTok after the House passed a bill that would ban the popular video app in the U.S. if its China-based owner does not sell its stake.
During an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Mnuchin, who served under President Donald Trump, said he had spoken “to a bunch of people” about creating an investor group that would purchase the popular social media company. He offered no details about who may be in the group or about TikTok’s possible valuation.
“This should be owned by U.S. businesses,” Mnuchin said. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China.”
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TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The House bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. Lawmakers in the Senate have indicated that the measure will undergo a thorough review. If it passes in the Senate, President Joe Biden has said he will sign it.
House lawmakers acted on concerns that TikTok’s current ownership structure is a national security threat. Lawmakers from both parties and administration officials have voiced concerns that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, could be compelled by Chinese authorities to hand over data on American users, spread pro-Beijing propaganda or suppress topics unfavorable to the Chinese government.
TikTok, for its part, has long denied that it could be used as a tool of Chinese authorities. The company insists it has never shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government and will not do so if asked. To date, the U.S. government also has not provided evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with authorities in China.
The White House had no immediate reaction Thursday to Mnuchin’s potential bid for TikTok.
“We’re still focused on continuing to work, providing some technical support and assistance to Congress, as this bill, which just passed the House, moves on to the Senate,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said when asked about whether the Mnuchin consortium could assuage the administration’s national security concerns about TikTok.
“There is an ongoing legislative process for that. We obviously want to see the Senate take it up swiftly and we’re focused on making sure we’re providing them the context and information we believe is important so that this bill can actually do and address the national security concerns that we have with respect to TikTok.”
The fight over the platform takes place as U.S.-China relations have shifted into strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technology and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security.
If passed and signed into law, the House bill would give ByteDance 180 days to sell the platform to a buyer that satisfies the U.S. government. It would also require the company to give up control of the TikTok algorithm that feeds users videos based off their preferences.
In addition to Mnuchin, some other investors, including “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, have voiced interest in buying TikTok’s U.S. business. But experts have said it could be challenging for ByteDance to sell the platform to a buyer who could afford it in a few months.
Big tech companies are best positioned to make such a purchase, but they would likely face intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators, which Mnuchin emphasized.
“I don’t think this should be controlled by any of the big U.S. tech companies. I think there could be antitrust issues on that,” he said during the interview. “This should be something that’s independent so we have a real competitor. And users love it, so it shouldn’t be shut down.”
He also said the app would need to be rebuilt in the U.S. with new technology.
In many ways, social media companies have become battlegrounds for partisan disagreements about how to control disinformation while protecting free speech. Mnuchin’s effort to buy TikTok comes as Trump and his allies have long complained about what they see as social media muzzling conservative voices.
Trump himself has voiced opposition to the House bill, saying that a ban on TikTok would help its rival, Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss. Some other Republicans who oppose the bill say the U.S. should simply tell Americans about the security concerns with TikTok, but let them decide if they want to use the platform.
Meanwhile, some Democrats have expressed concern about singling out one company when other social media platforms also collect vast amounts of data on users. Opponents of the bill also say it would disrupt the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income and run afoul of the First Amendment, which protects free speech.
This isn’t the first time a TikTok sale has been in play.
When Mnuchin was Treasury secretary, the Trump administration brokered a deal in 2020 that would have had U.S. corporations Oracle and Walmart take a large stake in TikTok on national security grounds.
The deal would have also made Oracle responsible for hosting all TikTok’s U.S. user data and securing computer systems to ensure national security requirements are satisfied. Microsoft also made a failed bid for TikTok that its CEO, Satya Nadella, later described as the “strangest thing” he had ever worked on.
Instead of congressional action, the 2020 arrangement was in response to a series of executive actions by Trump targeting TikTok.
But the sale never went through for a number of reasons. Trump’s executive orders got held up in court as the 2020 presidential election loomed. China also imposed stricter export controls on its technology providers.
A London appeals court on Thursday (Mar. 14) overturned the murder conviction of Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel, ruling that the 2014 guilty verdict was tainted by allegations that one juror attempted to bribe others.
The ruling came more than a decade after Kartel — a popular Jamaican artist who has worked with Rihanna, Jay-Z and others — and three others were convicted in Kingston, Jamaica of the 2011 killing of an associate named Clive “Lizard” Williams, whose body was never found.
In the decision, the appeals court ruled that the judge overseeing the 2014 trial had made a “fatal” error: allowing the jury to proceed to a verdict despite news that one of the jurors had attempted to bribe others. That juror was not removed, and soon after the jury returned a guilty verdict.
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“There should have been no question of allowing Juror X to continue to serve on the jury,” the appeals court wrote Thursday. “Allowing Juror X to continue to serve on the jury is fatal to the safety of the convictions which followed. This was an infringement of the defendants’ fundamental right to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court.”
The decision came from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, a London court that decides last-resort appeals from certain countries belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations, including Jamaica.
The ruling overturned Kartel’s conviction and his 32-year prison sentence, but he could still face a retrial on the same accusations. The appeals court said that Jamaican courts would decide whether such a trial will take place.
Kartel — along with co-defendants Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John — faced a 64-day jury trial in early 2014 over accusations that they had killed Williams after he failed to return two unlicensed firearms they had lent him.
But on the final day of the trial, the judge was told that Juror X had attempted to “persuade another member of the jury” to acquit the defendants by offering bribes of 500,000 Jamaican dollars (roughly $3,200 US).
After receiving that information, the judge was faced with an unusually difficult choice. Because another juror had already been discharged over a separate issue, the only choice was to end the trial entirely after weeks of testimony or allow the case to continue to a verdict.
“It might have been possible simply to discharge a miscreant juror and to allow the remaining members of the jury to return verdicts [but] that was not possible here,” the appeals court wrote Thursday.
Though the appeals court said it had “considerable sympathy with the judge’s dilemma,” it said the decision to proceed with the problematic juror had been a “serious irregularity” that would result in a “miscarriage of justice” if allowed to stand.
“In coming to this conclusion, the Board is mindful of the very serious consequences which may flow from having to discharge a jury shortly before the end of a long and complex criminal trial,” the appeals court wrote, noting that England has statutes aimed at dealing with such situations.
“However, in the absence of such a provision — and there is no such provision in Jamaica — there will be occasions on which, as in the present case, a court will have no alternative but to discharge a jury and end the trial in order to protect the integrity of the system of trial by jury,” the court wrote.
While the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s announcement last month about the “final final” Phonorecords III Copyright Royalty Board rate determination adjustment seemed to imply songwriters and publishers were due another roughly $400 million to, sources say the number likely overstates the coming financial windfall.
After a more than two year wait that included an appeal process, a remand, a new partial rate trial, and then the time to recalculate and resubmit adjusted play reports, sources say that number may correctly assess how much more money was earned and reported due to the CRB determination covering 2018 through 2022 — but it also likely includes payments that have already been made.
Within the total adjustment, about $250 million in net extra mechanical royalties will be paid out thanks to the adjustment, with practically all of that coming from the 2021-2022 period. Those royalties will be paid out beginning in May by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the agency created by the Music Modernization Act to collect and disburse mechanical royalties from on-demand digital streaming services. This means adjusted monies paid out by the MLC will probably begin reaching songwriters from their publishers in the following quarter.
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The rest of the roughly $400 million adjustment comes from performance royalties. But sources at the U.S. performance rights organizations say they are surprised by the MLC’s claim that another $138 million has been discovered in the resubmitted play reports required by the final rate determination.
The MLC may be the best positioned to understand this, though. Because the mechanical rate formula calls for the digital service providers to report how much they paid in performance royalties each month — or estimate how much they will pay — the MLC has insight into how much was reported collectively for mechanical and performance royalties for the period of 2018-2022 before the rate determination was finalized. It also has insight into how much performance royalties totaled after the play reports were resubmitted with the adjustments due to that final determination. The final determination happened in August 2023, eight months after the 2018-2022 term ended, with the resubmitted reports due Feb. 9, 2024.
In contrast, the PROs themselves only know what they each individually have been paid, and each digital service only knows what they individually have paid out to each PRO. Neither of those sides can see the whole performance revenue pool like the MLC can, unless they share information with competitors, which is unlikely but possible. Consequently, sources at PROs and digital services say they are surprised and puzzled by the MLC’s announcement that more performance royalties were found due to the adjusted reports. Others say the MLC’s announcement has caused consternation between songwriters and PROs. One source at a PRO suggests that the MLC including performance royalties in its report was a “marketing mishap.”
PRO sources insist that whatever performance royalties came in have largely already been paid out, and they don’t expect any new windfalls. And sources at the digital services say that, from what they can tell, the streamers have already paid out all the performance royalties that were due and they don’t expect to be making further payments.
Meanwhile, sources at PROs say the MLC’s announcement has caused significant confusion, leading songwriters to inquire about when they will get additional payouts for performance and why they were not made aware of this sooner.
Even if the performance royalties have already been paid, many executives in the music industry are speculating about what caused such a significant increase. The all-in mechanical formula that was determined by the CRB in Phonorecords III, by itself, doesn’t do anything to change performance royalties, which are typically decided by private negotiations between PROs and streaming services.
It’s possible digital services made mistakes when they reported the monthly performance royalties the first time around. The MLC could also have made a mistake either when it added up all the interim royalties paid while parties were awaiting a final determination or when it subsequently adjusted performance royalties for the period.
Alternatively, some of the PROs could have negotiated deals that tie their performance rates to the statutory mechanical rate. That would mean when digital services reverted to paying a lower mechanical rate while the 2018-2022 rate was still being determined, they wound up paying lower performance royalty rates, too — which later increased after the final CRB rate determination. But while some PRO sources concede that they try to negotiate for at least 50% of the statutory rate as a floor, they also say they don’t have any deal triggers specifically tied to the mechanicalrate.
Another theory is that one or two of the PROs might have been operating under an interim royalty rate with one or more streaming services while working through negotiations, which hypothetically weren’t finalized until recently. If those performance royalty rates have now been decided, the adjustments could be reflected in this total reported number. But several sources say they aren’t aware of any instances where this has happened.
It isn’t unusual for there to be streaming royalty adjustments after the fact, even without a new subsequent “final final” rate determination, sources point out. As it is, streaming services will sometimes need to make estimates on reporting monthly performance and mechanical royalty payments and then later adjust if necessary once the period has closed. At that time, the new payment would be made and the expense adjustment would be reported to the MLC — not two years later, sources say.
Performance and mechanical royalties have a see-saw effect where an increase in one will result in a decrease in the other. That’s because the formula for calculating the mechanical rate includes a first step in the formula that initially acts as a cap for an all-in publishing royalty pool that combines the two. This has publishers worried. If the services have already fulfilled all of their performance payments and the PROs have paid out all the received performance royalties, then how can the services now claim that $138 million as an additional deduction in the resubmitted reports? By claiming additional performance payouts, that would likely reduce the potential mechanical royalty payouts on the resubmitted report.
Aside from whether more money is coming, how these publishing royalties are paid — as performance or mechanicals — matters to publishers and songwriters.
For example, if that newfound $138 million in performance royalties needed to be paid out, it would likely mean that only about $120 million to $125 million of it would flow to songwriters and publishers because of the PROs’ overhead expenses.
If, instead, that $138 million was mechanical royalties, the songwriters and publishers would get all of that because the MLC has no overhead expense deduction since digital services finance the operation. But, instead of it getting paid out separately and directly split between publishers and songwriters, these royalties are paid to publishers, who then distribute royalties to their writers, but usually after recouping. So, the difference in where the payment comes through matters significantly to songwriters and publishers.
Overall, this adjustment seems to weigh more favorably for the mechanical royalty pool. Previously, during the interim period, the $2.77 billion in total publishing royalty payouts from digital services were weighted 50.93% to mechanical and 49.07% to performance. But after adjustments, including subtracting a slight overpayment in mechanicals for the years of 2018-2019, the $3.16 billion in total publishing royalties paid out by digital services to the PROs and the MLC works out to 52.63% paid in mechanical and 47.37% to performance, or nearly a two-percentage point increase for the former.
Eventually, when the MLC digs into the resubmissions and compares them to the earlier monthly play reports, it will likely be able to discern if the additional $138 million is coming across the board from all services or if a specific service or two accumulated the bulk of the new reported performance royalties. But if that doesn’t solve the mystery, another process is beginning that could bring in an answer. Last month, the MLC served notice on some 50 digital services that it is performing audits on them. If all else fails, that should bring some clarity to the mystery.
Domelipa is ready to launch her music career under her new signing with Westwood Entertainment, Billboard can exclusively announce today (March 14). She will be managed by Jorge Juárez, who currently also manages Carin León. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Mexican influencer — who boasts more […]
Kelly Clarkson’s ongoing legal battle with ex-husband Brandon Blackstock is expanding with a new lawsuit aimed at potentially going much further than the $2.6 million ruling she won against him last fall.
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With Blackstock currently appealing that November decision, Clarkson filed a new case Monday in Los Angeles court, seeking a ruling that he and his father’s management firm had been violating state labor rules all the way back to back to the very start of their relationship.
Clarkson’s new lawsuit is seeking an order that would require the return of “any and all commissions, fees, profits, advances, producing fees or other monies” she paid to Blackstock’s father’s company, Starstruck Entertainment, dating back to 2007 – much further back than the earlier judgment, which only reached back to 2017.
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The new case is the latest development in a sprawling legal battle between the two ex-spouses, who split in 2020 after seven years of marriage. The divorce itself was finalized in 2022, but that personal settlement didn’t resolve tricky business entanglements with Blackstock’s father’s firm, which managed her for years.
Shortly after Clarkson filed for divorce, Starstruck sued her for millions in allegedly unpaid fees, claiming it had “invested a great deal of time, money, energy, and dedication” into her and had “developed Clarkson into a mega superstar.”
Clarkson responded by filing a complaint with California’s Labor Commissioner, arguing that Blackstock and Starstruck had violated California’s Talent Agencies Act (TAA) by serving not just as her personal managers, but as unlicensed talent agents who booked business deals.
In November, Commissioner Lilia Garcia-Brower ruled that Blackstock had indeed procured a number of deals for Clarkson, including her lucrative role as a judge on The Voice, that should have been handled by her talent agents at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The decision ordered Blackstock to repay Clarkson more than $2.6 million in commissions she paid to him for handling those deals.
In December, Blackstock and Starstruck challenged that ruling in court, demanding that same questions be re-decided by a Los Angeles judge rather than by the Labor Commissioner. That case remains pending and is set for a hearing in August.
With her new lawsuit, Clarkson could win a ruling that would effectively confirm the findings of the Labor Commissioner. But the case could also give her a vehicle to expand the Commissioner’s decision – a ruling that went her way, but also rejected some of her core claims against Blackstock and Starstruck.
For instance, the commissioner rejected Clarkson’s claim that Blackstock was also required to pay back commissions he earned from helping to secure The Kelly Clarkson Show — which could have seen him owe much more. His involvement in that deal, including “strategizing” with her agents, was clearly “at the request of CAA” and thus not a violation of the law, the commissioner ruled.
An attorney for Blackstock did not immediately return a request for comment.
After a marriage of seven years, Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock in June 2020. The case was finalized two years later, with the singer agreeing to pay her ex-husband monthly child support of $45,601 for their two children, plus a one-time payment of just over $1.3 million.
A year ago, Matt Najdowski, like many business managers for top artists, was routinely going over royalty statements when he discovered an unusual plunge in revenue.
For years, Pandora, the internet-radio streaming service, had paid 50% of song royalties to the artists through a collection agency called SoundExchange. But suddenly, artists signed to Universal Music Group were receiving a much lower percentage, similar to what they received from on-demand streaming services like Spotify or YouTube. And the payments were now arriving directly from UMG instead.
Najdowski researched further and learned UMG was able to change the way it reported Pandora revenue because Pandora itself had changed. In 2016, the streaming service began evolving from webcasting to a Spotify-style “search and play what you want” model. Because Pandora now offers an interactive service, rather than a non-interactive webcaster, it needed to make new deals with labels rather than relying on a government-mandated compulsory license at a standardized rate.
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As such, UMG and other labels were able to change the flow of royalties so they collected and paid them directly — rather than SoundExchange distributing to artists, as law mandates under these compulsory licenses. With UMG’s change in policy last year it became the first and only label so far, according to sources, to take advantage of this change. With that, the royalty splits for artists changed, too, from a 50% split through SoundExchange to whatever, often smaller, percentage their record deals dictated for on-demand streaming revenues. That’s significant as the world’s biggest record label contributed $135 million to SoundExchange as part of its Pandora share for artists, according to Billboard estimates based on financial reports and other public information.
“That specific royalty stream can range from a couple hundred dollars per month to a couple thousand. It can be a significant amount of money,” says Najdowski, royalty manager for Farris, Self & Moore. This change in accounting, he adds, “is more or less taking money out of [artist’s] pockets.”
Perhaps most notably, Najdowski discovered that the many UMG artists who are unrecouped – meaning they have yet to earn back the money the label spent on recording, marketing and other costs – were receiving a worrisome amount: zero. These acts were previously being paid directly by SoundExchange, so their unrecouped status with UMG was not an issue for these royalties. “A lot is being withheld, and it feels like a grab for money from the labels,” says Heather Gruber, royalty manager for Fineman West, a business-management firm that represents artists.
Although Pandora has struggled in recent years – monthly users have dropped from 81.5 million in 2014 to 46 million in 2023 – it remains a potent outlet for hitmakers such as SZA, Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Durk, as well as bubbling-under singles like contemporary-Christian singer-songwriter Lauren Daigle’s “These Are the Days.” Newer artists rely on the exposure, too, and Pandora royalties have provided crucial revenue while they absorb touring and merch expenses. “If you’re making millions of dollars, this isn’t going to have a big impact on you,” says Harold Papineau, associate lawyer for King, Holmes, Paterno and Soriano, which represents Metallica and others. “But if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, then this is a significant problem. Now you’ve lost money that you may have relied on to pay your bills.”
In a statement, a UMG representative responded by explaining the difference between interactive (like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music) and non-interactive streaming services (like internet radio). For the former, recording royalties are “subject to direct negotiation between an individual rights owner and the service,” the rep said, adding that Pandora “has substantially changed its functionality such that it has evolved into an interactive service, where users can select tracks on demand.” In other words: The label has every right to make this change.
Still, UMG didn’t fully change the way it reported the royalties to artists until 2022, and it caught many business managers and music attorneys by surprise. “It kind of happened in the dead of night,” says Mike Merriman, a business manager for the firm PARR3 who represents DJ Alison Wonderland, singer 6lack and producer Louis Bell, among others. “It does create some ambiguity and lack of transparency.”
When the Pandora change first kicked in, business managers were confused about the streaming service’s identity. “We’re still running analysis on it,” says Erica Rosa, owner/vp of royalties and contract compliance at FBMM, a business management firm that represents top artists. “I’ve asked a lot of questions to attorneys and various industry figures: ‘How would you define Pandora? Would you consider it to be an interactive or non-interactive stream? I don’t know that anyone has given a clear definitive answer yet.”
Additional reporting by Glenn Peoples.
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Position Music has acquired the catalog of French producer, artist and DJ Gesaffelstein. As part of the deal, Position will own and administer the publishing rights to the catalog prior to his 2016 Sony Music Publishing deal. In addition, the company has also acquired the writer, artist and producer royalties for Gesaffelstein’s entire catalog, including “Lost in the Fire” ft. The Weeknd, “I Was Never There” and “Hurt You” by The Weeknd, “Black Skinhead” by Kanye West, and more.
UMPG has signed Yusuf/Cat Stevens to an exclusive global publishing administration agreement. Known for hits like “Father and Son,” “Wild World,” “The Wind” and “Morning Has Broken,” the singer-songwriter recorded music and publishing catalogs are now united under one roof for the first time at UMG.
Reservoir Media has signed Kings of Leon to a go-forward publishing agreement, including the group’s upcoming project Can We Please Have Fun. The deal arrives just after Kings of Leon announced their 2023 world tour, including 26 cities across the U.S. and Canada.
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Warner Chappell Music has signed Yellowstone actor and artist Luke Grimes to a global publishing deal, in collaboration with Range Media Partners. His debut song “No Horse To Ride” was featured in the mid-season series finale last year, driving Grimes up the Billboard Country charts. His debut album will be released on March 8 under UMG Nashville’s Capitol Records.
The 100 Percenters has linked with Spotify to offer ten $2,500 career stimulus grants for songwriters and producers. The grants are supported by Spotify’s Creator Equity Fund. Applications will open Friday, March 15, and will close Monday, April 15. Applicants must be members of the 100 Percenters community and must have at least two years of professional experience, have three or more commercial songwriting or producer credits, be a U.S. citizen, earn an annual income of less than $100,000 and submit verifiable proof of income.
SMACKsongs has signed an exclusive publishing deal with Sarah Buxton, the Nashville-based hitmaker behind songs like “Stupid Boy” and “Put You In A Song” recorded by Keith Urban, “Sundaze” by Florida Georgia Line, “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” by The Band Perry, and “Fix” by Chris Lane.
BMG has extended its publishing agreement with Grammy-nominated DJ and producer Robin Schulz, which began in 2016. As part of the extension, BMG has also acquired the co-publishing rights to Robin Schulz’s entire song catalog, including “Waves,” “Prayer,” “Sugar,” “Alane,” “All We Got,” and “Young Right Now.”
The Other Songs Live, a songwriter night featuring performances by some of music’s top hitmakers, will be returning to the London Palladium on Monday, May 20. Presented by indie music company The Other Songs in partnership with The Ivors Academy, the event will raise money for three music-related charities, including The BRIT School, The Ivors Academy Trust and Nordoff and Robbins. In the past, the show has featured artists, including Raye, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nile Rodgers, Dave Stewart and Katie Melua.
peermusic UK has signed Nothing But Thieves to a global publishing deal. The deal includes the band’s fifth studio album, which will be released later this year. Their prior catalog remains with Sony Music Publishing.
Warner Chappell Music and Katy Perry‘s Unsub Publishing have signed rising singer, songwriter and producer Debbii Dawson to a global co-publishing deal. Perry says of Dawson, “She’s a rare find and someone I believe has the brightest of futures ahead of her as an artist, songwriter, and creative force.”
The Nashville-based Edgehill Music Publishing has signed songwriter Carys Selvey to a global publishing deal. Founded by Josh and Tara Joseph, Edgehill adds the London-based Selvey to a growing roster that also includes Dave Villa, Rob Williford, LOCASH and more.
Spirit Music Group has signed worldwide publishing administration deals with Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson of rock band The Black Crowes. The deal includes the band’s albums Warpaint and Before The Frost…Until the Freeze as well as their latest album Happiness Bastards, out March 15.
Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing deal with AntsLive, the viral London rapper behind the popular song “Number One Candidate.” Nominated for two MOBO Awards in 2024, including Best Newcomer and Best Video, the musician says he decided to join the WCM roster after attending the company’s songwriting camp in Las Vegas.
BMG has acquired 100% of the catalog of Cologne-based record label Coconut Music, including the recorded rights to tracks by Haddaway, Bad Boys Blue, London Beat, and Wolfgang Petry. The deal builds on BMG’s 2022 acquisition of Haddaway’s recorded music royalties. Under the new agreement, BMG now controls 100% of Haddaway’s biggest track “What Is Love.”
Major Bob Music has re-upped its publishing agreement with writer/producer Colin Healy. Before signing a publishing deal, Healy got his start as bassist and music director for Dustin Lynch, a gig he held for thirteen years. Then, in 2019, he signed to Major Bob Music to further his career as a writer. Since then, Healy has landed cuts with Megan Moroney, Avery Anna, Tayler Holder and more.
Warner Chappell Music has signed Nashville-based talent Josh Montgomery to a global publishing deal. Known for his ability to work across genres, Montgomery has already earned cuts with Ashley Kutcher, Jessie Murph, Tyler Halverson, Graham Barham, Jax, and Dasha.
Wise Music Group‘s Chester Music has signed a new publishing agreement with performer, composer and Olivier Award-winning choreographer Dickson Mbi. Born in Cameroon and raised in East London, the multi-talented Mbi has worked with artists like Russell Maliphant, Boy Blue Entertainment, Robbie Williams, Corrine Bailey-Rae, Black Eyed Peas and choreographed the “Leave A Trace” music video for CHVRCHES.
Wise Music Group has signed Icelandic composer Högni Egilsson has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with the newly opened office, Wise Music Iceland, marking the first signing of the Iceland office, since it launched in November 2022. A leading voice in Iceland’s music scene, Egilsson will be administered by Wise for all future works.