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Nashville’s Big Loud Records has inked a multi-year distribution deal with Mercury/Republic for all releases, effective immediately.
Previously, only releases from Morgan Wallen, Lily Rose and Dylan Gossett had gone through the partnership, while the rest of the Big Loud roster was distributed through Stem and Amped.
In a memo to the staff obtained by Billboard, Big Loud founders/partners Seth England, Craig Wiseman and Joey Moi stressed that the move is not an acquisition and that the full staff will remain intact: “This partnership allows for Big Loud Records to remain fiercely independent while leveraging their global distribution and resources, as needed, to best serve our world-class roster. Artists and our staff will see increased creative opportunities, robust international support, new multimedia partnerships, additional multi-format promotion muscle and merchandising resources, among many other benefits. And to clarify: Big Loud Records has not been acquired in any way. Our full staff will remain intact and will continue to lead with the artists we represent.”
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The move comes as Mercury/Republic parent Universal Music Group is undergoing a massive restructuring, with the East Coast labels realigning under a new structure called Republic Corps under chairman/CEO Monte Lipman. Mercury will continue to be led by president Tyler Arnold and general manager Ben Adelson.
The announcement arrives as Wallen’s One Day at a Time spends its 19th non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, breaking the previous record of 18 weeks held by Garth Brooks more than 30 years ago.
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The memo is in its entirety below.
Good afternoon everyone,
We’re writing to share an important update regarding our distribution for Big Loud Records and our affiliate labels.
After many incredible years with Stem and Amped we have decided to enter into a new multi-year distribution deal with Mercury Records/Republic, amplifying our existing partnership with Monte & Avery Lipman as well as Tyler Arnold and the greater Mercury Records/Republic team.
We are immensely grateful for the tireless efforts of Milana, Kristin, Bobby, Alison, and the entire team at both Stem and Amped who have supported our releases for the better half of a decade. Both teams have been an integral part of our growth story and remain a highly recommended distribution and artist resources solution for self-determined artists and companies. We remain proud investors of Stem to this day.
The Big Loud partners and executive leadership team are immeasurably proud of what this roster and staff have accomplished over the past eight years. Our songs, albums, artists, and company have seen the top slots of nearly every chart in our format. Best of all, we’ve earned those accolades with integrity. We’re reaching new heights with broadened creative ventures and international outposts leading our growth into new genres and markets. With this next chapter, we are thrilled to elevate with a like-minded, best-in-class team that’s effectively been the #1 all-genre record label in the business for the last decade. Rest assured, Mercury Records/Republic both mirrors and supports our renegade spirit.
This partnership allows for Big Loud Records to remain fiercely independent while leveraging their global distribution and resources, as needed, to best serve our world-class roster. Artists and our staff will see increased creative opportunities, robust international support, new multimedia partnerships, additional multi-format promotion muscle and merchandising resources, among many other benefits. And to clarify: Big Loud Records has not been acquired in any way. Our full staff will remain intact and will continue to lead with the artists we represent.
Our hope is that this announcement makes you as excited as the partners and the executive leadership team feel because we achieved this together. From the smallest artists to the biggest, it takes the entire village – we are confident Big Loud will be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
Please feel free to reach out to your department head, Patch, Austen, or Seth if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Seth, Craig, and Joey
LONDON (AP) — Adidas said Wednesday that it’s donated or is planning to give away more than $150 million to groups fighting antisemitism and other forms of hate from the sales of Yeezy shoes last year after it severed ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West.
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The German sportswear brand had 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) worth of popular Yeezy sneakers piled up in warehouses after it broke off its partnership with Ye in October 2022 over his antisemitic and other offensive comments on social media and in interviews.
Adidas decided to sell some of the remaining shoes in batches, with two releases last year and another that launched late last month, and donate a portion of the proceeds to anti-hate groups.
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The company has made donations to the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd.
Net sales of what’s left of Adidas’ former banner line of sneakers brought in about 750 million euros last year, compared with over 1.2 billion euros in 2022, the company reported.
Of the 300 million-euro profit it earned from the sales of Yeezy shoes last year, the company said it had given away or planned to donate over 140 million euros (about $152 million).
Adidas said deciding to sell a big chunk of its Yeezy inventory and improved operations helped it pull out operating profit of 268 million euros last year, a nearly 60% plunge from the previous year. It blamed a high tax rate for ending the year with a net loss of 58 million euros, a massive turnaround from net income of 254 million euros in 2022.
“Although by far not good enough, 2023 ended better than what I had expected at the beginning of the year,” said CEO Bjørn Gulden, who took over the top job last year.
Looking forward, Adidas expects to make about 250 million euros in sales of the remaining Yeezy shoes this year.
But the Herzogenaurach, Germany-based company points to North America as a persistent problem spot, expecting revenue to decline in the mid-single digits this year and grow everywhere else. It said that North America was “particularly affected by the negative Yeezy impact” and that revenue there dropped 16% last year.
Adidas expects to almost double operating profit to about 500 million euros this year despite “macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions.” It plans to further scale up popular shoe lines like Samba that are seeing “extraordinary demand,” launch new ones and get a boost from major sports events like the Paris Olympics this summer.
Adidas shares were up slightly in late morning trading.
Believe benefitted from geographical expansion and strong streaming growth to post revenue of 880.3 million euros ($952.8 million at the average exchange rate) in 2023, up 15.7% from the prior year, the company announced Wednesday (Mar. 13). Organic growth was 14.4%, matching the guidance the company provided in October of organic growth exceeding 14%. After adjusting for foreign currency headwinds, Believe’s adjusted organic growth rate was 19.5% in 2023 and 21.8% in the fourth quarter.
The current growth rate should extend into the current year. Believe expects to achieve organic revenue growth in excess of 20% in 2024, adjusted to 18% to account for expected foreign currency headwinds. That high growth rate stems from a healthy paid streaming market and the belief that the ad-supported streaming market will rebound in the second half of the year. Believe also expects to make market share gains, especially in countries where it is not yet a top three company for local artists.
In 2023, Believe was helped by price increases at music streaming services in 2023 — Amazon Music in January, Spotify in July and Deezer in November. The company had market share gains in all key countries and with all key digital service providers, Xaiver Dumont, chief financial and operating officer, said during Wednesday’s earnings call.
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Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EDITDA) of 50.3 million euros ($54.4 million) was up 45%. Adjusted EBITDA margin rose to 5.7%, surpassing guidance of at least 5.5%. Free cash flow was -3.1 million euros (-$3.4 million), although free cash flow turned positive in the second half of the year.
The earnings release arrived as Believe is the subject of a bid to be taken private by a consortium led by CEO Denis Ladegaillerie and investment firms EQT X and TCV. Warner Music Group (WMG) revealed last week that it’s interested in pursuing Believe and willing to beat the consortium’s offer. Believe’s executives did not address questions about the take-private bid during Wednesday’s earnings call, however.
The publicly traded French music company’s business model is built around helping to develop artists and using digital marketing and distribution to impact local charts. That approach is increasingly relevant when any artist can go viral on social media. Case in point: Believe landed a hit in 2023 when a 2022 single, “Si No Estás’” by Iñigo Quintero, become a TikTok hit in Spain before topping charts in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Austria and Belgium. “These success at the top are being achieved in a wider variety of genres of music” including hip-hop, pop and metal, Ladegaillerie said during the earnings call.
Believe also landed 42 albums in the top 200 in its home country and 48 singles in the Top 100 in its second-largest market, Germany. In the United Kingdom, consumption was up 394%. In China, Believe expanded to 80 staffers in five offices that serve 300 record labels. In India, where Believe acquired White Hill Music’s catalog in December, the company had 66 songs on local charts.
Revenue in France, where Believe is in the top three recorded music companies for local artists, rose 14.9% to 147.8 million euros ($160 million). Revenue in Germany dropped 2.4% to 110.9 million euros ($120 million), while revenue in Europe, excluding France and Germany, rose 25.9% to 264.6 million euros ($286.2 million). The Americas accounted for 128.1 million euros ($138.7 million), up 17.4% on strength in Brazil and Mexico. Asia-Pacific and Africa contributed 228.9 million euros ($247.8 million), up 14.9%, with China and Japan being particularly strong. India and Southeast Asia grew at slower paces due to those regions being affected by weakness in the ad-supported streaming market.
Revenue for the company’s premium solutions division rose 15.8% to 825.1 million euros ($893.1 million), while the division’s adjusted EBITDA improved 16.8% to 118.3 million euros ($128 million). Premium solutions mainly consists of the sale, promotion, marketing and delivery of digital content for artists and labels. It also includes some physical sales, synchronization services, neighboring rights and music publishing.
In the automated solutions division, revenue increased 14.6% to 55.2 million euros ($59.7 million), and adjusted EBITDA rose 53% to 10.1 million euros ($10.9 million). The slower growth rate was expected, said Dumont, because of lower ad-supported monetization and a new TuneCore pricing structure launched in 2022 that led to lower average revenue per client and was “not yet compensated by the ramp-up in new clients.”
Ladegaillerie has formed a consortium with two of its shareholders, investment firms EQT X and TCV, to take the company private at 15 euros ($16.43) per share. That offer ran into competition last week when WMG revealed its interest in Believe and said it might be willing to pay at least 17 euros ($18.62) per share. The consortium has attempted to speed the process and waive the board’s condition that an independent expert provide a report to Believe’s ad-hoc committee on the offer’s fairness from a financial viewpoint. The parties are now waiting for French financial regulators to say if the consortium can unilaterally waive the independent expert’s report and whether WMG’s preliminary proposal prevents the waiver of the board’s condition.
In February 2022, Farruko turned his La 167 Tour into a religious experience when he opened up to fans about his beliefs during his Miami concert.
“God loves you just the way you are. We’re all sinners, none of us are perfect,” he told the packed venue. At the show, he didn’t perform his biggest hit to date, “Pepas,” and in fact, asked fans to forgive him for the lyrics, which are about drugs and partying.
Since then, the Puerto Rican artist has steered away from the sultry and provocative lyrics that made him a household name and changed his words to more feel-good ones, as heard in singles like “Nazareno” and “Pasa_je_ro.” The latter is part of the latest Transition album, a 20-track project that highlights his personal journey as well as a new era for his label, Carbon Fiber Music.
“What we are currently living and experiencing with Carbon Fiber, with my life, with Farruko’s life, with the life of Raymond Guevara (formerly and artistically known as Lary Over) and other artists in the company is simply that God has called us to serve him,” Franklin Martinez, the label’s president and Farruko’s longtime manager, tells Billboard. “I can’t tell you what made this change, but I can tell you how it came into my life.”
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In the fall of 2021, and in the midst of “Pepas” having major success (it scored Farruko his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart on the Aug. 28, 2021-dated tally, where it crowned for 26 weeks), Martinez admits he was going through a deep depression that made him feel “empty, completely unhappy, and feeling dead.”
“I made the decision [to change my life] about seven months before Farruko did,” he elaborates. “I tried not to throw it in his face, but instead I told him that I was going through a personal situation and over time I would tell him, but I didn’t even have time to explain to him because God collided with him. That explanation, that trying to convince him, did not come from me, it came from Jesus directly.”
Though Carbon Fiber Music launched in 2014, Martinez had no explanation as to why the label’s literal transition is occurring a decade later, only saying that “God’s timing is perfect.”
Transition is packed with optimistic and motivational messages about relationships, life and praise —backed by hard-hitting hip-hop beats, mid-tempo reggaeton, infectious Afrobeats and dance melodies. In addition to Farruko, it includes Carbon Fiber artists such as Akim and Menor Menor as well as renowned Christian acts like Christian Ponce, Indiomar and Lirios.
Without naming names, Martinez says that some Carbon Fiber artists have left the label since the change in direction while others are supporting it, though he calls it “a constant battle and not easy.”
“We can no longer and don’t want to continue carrying a message of destruction to humanity,” he says. “I don’t want to continue sending messages of violence and sex, I think that God has given us a talent to be able to transmit a message that fills and not a message that destroys.”
He concludes: “‘Transition’ is just that. We are going through a process and this album is a stage that represents what’s happening with the label.”
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A criminal case against YoungBoy Never Broke Again over federal gun charges must be put on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a closely-watched Second Amendment battle this spring, a federal judge says — likely delaying a trial that had been scheduled to start in July.
In an order Wednesday (Mar. 13), U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick said she would wait to proceed until after the justices had issued their gun-control ruling since the Supreme Court’s looming decision will likely touch on the same Second Amendment questions at play in NBA YoungBoy’s case.
YoungBoy’s lawyers say the law he’s accused of breaking — a ban on convicted felons possessing firearms — is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, which protects the right to “keep and bear arms.” The pending Supreme Court case, meanwhile, will decide the constitutionality of a similar federal ban on gun ownership for domestic abusers.
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After years of house arrest, YoungBoy (Kentrell DeSean Gaulden) had finally been set for a trial in July. Wednesday’s order will likely delay that trial since it could be June before the high court even rules on the pending case. But the delay might be worth it: If the Supreme Court rules against the gun restrictions in that case, it could greatly help YoungBoy beat his charges altogether.
The rapper’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment.
YoungBoy was indicted by federal prosecutors in March 2021 after he was allegedly found with two guns during a September 2020 incident in Baton Rouge, La. He was charged with violating a long-standing federal law that bans convicted felons from ever again possessing guns — a rule that applied to him because he was convicted in 2017 of aggravated assault with a firearm.
In a motion filed last month, attorneys for the rapper argued that the charges against YoungBoy must be dismissed without trial because that federal ban violates the Second Amendment. They cited a landmark gun control ruling issued by the high court in 2022, which struck down a New York state law that had placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home.
Echoing the language of that ruling, YoungBoy’s lawyers said the federal felon-in-possession statute was similarly unconstitutional because it was “inconsistent with our nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
“This prosecution seeks to restrict and deny Mr. Gaulden’s Second Amendment right to possess a firearm based solely on his status a felon and his alleged failure to comply with bureaucratic regulations,” the star’s attorneys told the judge.
In a response this month, federal prosecutors sharply disagreed, arguing that the gun ban for convicts had already been upheld in “hundreds of cases” since the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling. They acknowledged that a few judges had ruled otherwise, but that the “overwhelming majority of courts” had continued to enforce the law.
In Wednesday’s order, Judge Dick said she could not decide those arguments until the Supreme Court rules on United States v. Rahimi, the pending case challenging a federal law that prohibits the possession of firearms by persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders. The case, argued last fall, is expected to be decided by June.
It’s difficult to predict how the Supreme Court might rule on a given case, but the tea leaves don’t look good for YoungBoy’s position. After arguments in the Rahimi case in November, Reuters reported that the court “appeared inclined to uphold the legality” of the domestic violence gun restrictions, with several justices suggesting the Second Amendment wouldn’t stop the government from banning “dangerous” people from owning guns.
Whenever the Supreme Court rules on the Rahimi case, YoungBoy and federal prosecutors will have 14 days to file briefs on how the case should proceed.
When the board of directors at Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) cut the value of the company’s catalog by 26% last week, it admitted something investors had long believed. Although the London-listed royalty fund had amassed an enviable collection of songs since going public in 2018, changes in market conditions and the very nature of some of those rights may have merited a significantly lower fair value all along.
A new valuation by Shot Tower Capital put the portfolio of music rights — which includes Neil Young, Shakira and Red Hot Chili Peppers, among other A-list artists and songwriters — at $1.8 billion to $2.06 billion. As recently as Sept. 30, the catalog was given a fair value of $2.62 billion by HSF’s longtime valuation expert, Citrin Cooperman (previously Massarky Consulting). Six months earlier, it was said to be worth $2.8 billion.
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HSF’s new board of directors hired Shot Tower in the wake of investors’ Oct. 26 votes against continuation and a partial catalog sale — effectively a vote of no confidence in both the previous board and the investment advisor, Hipgnosis Song Management. Shot Tower will give HSF’s board its final due diligence by Mar. 25, and HSF will provide an update on those findings by Mar. 29.
Some longtime critics of HSF’s previous valuation found validation in Shot Tower’s lower number. Stifel analysts claimed the new number shows HSF “clearly overpaid for catalogs,” they wrote in a Mar. 4 investor note. To date, HSF has spent about $2.2 billion on acquisitions. It raised over 1.3 billion pounds ($1.67 billion) from an IPO and seven successive offerings and has drawn $604 million from a revolving credit facility.
Such a large decline in the valuation suggests the various experts had differing opinions on both the catalog’s revenues and the riskiness of those revenues. Shot Tower calculated HSF’s net revenue after third-party royalties and administration expenses at $121.7 million for the 12-month period ended June 30. The accounting firm BDO calculated a similar amount — $119.4 million for the 12-month period ended Sept. 30 — for a quality of earnings analysis.
The higher $2.62 billion valuation appears to be based on a higher annual net revenue. A July 2023 investor presentation put HSF’s annual revenue at $134 million (based on a $2.8 billion portfolio fair value and an implied historic net publishers share, or NPS, multiple of 20.89). That’s $12.3 million more than Shot Tower’s figure and $14 million more than BDO’s estimate. The difference in annual revenues, however, only explains part of the difference in valuations.
The discount rate appears to have also played a major role in HSF’s lower valuation. Shot Tower used a weighted average discount rate of 9.63% for the entire catalog, more than 1.1 percentage points higher than the discount rate used for previous valuations. Experts Billboard spoke with called the rate “on the high side” and “a particularly high number.” Some other recent valuations used a lower discount rate. Discount rates and valuations are inversely related: A higher discount rate will produce a lower present value of cash flows, and vice versa.
Until this week, HSF had been valued using an 8.5% discount rate since the Sept. 30, 2020, valuation conducted by Citrin Cooperman. FTI Consulting’s valuation of a Kobalt portfolio used in an asset-backed security (ABS) offering in February used an 8.5% discount rate for songs older than 18 months (and 11.75% for songs aged 3 to 18 months). FTI’s valuation of the portfolio behind Concord’s $1.65 billion ABS used an 8.25% discount rate for catalog songs (and 11.75% for recorded music frontline content and options for future releases).
The HSF discount rate has been a point of contention amongst analysts and investors in recent years. When HSF lowered its discount rate to 8.5% in 2020, analysts complained the valuation increased even though the investment manager had not yet added value and market assumptions hadn’t changed. When interest rates started rising in 2022, analysts wondered why HSF stuck with the 8.5% discount rate.
The discount rate depends on the riskiness of those future cash flows. Perfectly safe revenue is discounted using a risk-free rate of return such as a 10-year U.S. Treasury Rate. Because no business is without risk, a company’s revenues would merit a higher rate. If a company carries debt, its borrowing cost — also more than the risk-free rate — would also be baked into the discount rate.
Shot Tower’s discount rate took a variety of factors into account, according to the press release, which could explain how it got to 9.63%. For example, Shot Tower found that 65% of HSF’s revenue derived from passive rights where the company does not control publishing, administration or licensing. In many cases, HSF owns only a songwriter’s share rather than the publisher’s share, or the producer’s royalties from a sound recording. Investors might have assumed that HSF had more control over administration, distribution and licensing: In HSF’s annual report for the year ended March 31, 2022, it said it had 100% interest ownership in 96% of the songs in its catalog (138 of the 146 catalogs).
“That control has a lot of value,” explains an industry insider. Strategic buyers — usually music publishers and record labels — will pay a premium to control a song’s administration and licensing or a recording’s distribution. Passive rights typically trade at a discount because they carry more potential risks of counterparts (co-writers, for example) and potential collection risk (as is the case when royalties are re-directed from a label rather than received from a PRO). With a writer’s share, “you’re a lot more along for the ride,” this insider says. The producer royalties that HSF acquired — such as RedOne, Jimmy Iovine and Timbaland — are also passive.
For a company looking to bolster its credibility with investors, Shot Tower’s valuation was a double-edged sword. The lower number confirmed some investors’ long-held belief that the portfolio is worth less than HSF had claimed. But the decrease in valuation further hurt HSF’s share price. Shot Tower’s lower valuation prompted HSF’s board to commit to using its cash to pay down debt rather than resume the dividend it suspended in October. So, while the lower valuation better reflected HSF’s market capitalization, the continued loss of a dividend was the likely cause behind the stock dropping 11% the day of the announcement.
AEG Presents, the second biggest live events company in the world, and powerful Latin entertainment company Cárdenas Marketing Network (CMN), have partnered in a deal that will combine both companies under one roof. The partnership, in which AEG acquired an undisclosed stake in CMN and which AEG Presents chairman and CEO Jay Marciano describes as a “full partnership,” will explosively boost AEG’s Latin music business and is AEG’s first Latin partnership of this scope.
CMN ended 2023 at No. 4 on Billboard’s Top Promoter chart, and in 2022, it was No. 3, an enormous achievement for an independent company that CMN founder and CEO Henry Cárdenas self-describes as a “boutique concert promoter.” But it’s a very powerful boutique operation, with a slate that included Bad Bunny’s stadium tour in 2022 and currently Luis Miguel, Marc Anthony and Don Omar, among many other.
On its end, AEG is of course the powerhouse company behind Taylor Swift’s global tour and culturally-defining events like Coachella. Latin, however, was not its strong suit, although it promoted Karol G’s arena tour in in 2023. Now, AEG will have the Latin clout while CMN while have the global reach, and both companies will work together to create elevated and expanded experiences for artists and fans, with each benefitting from the complementary strategic alliance.
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“We are excited to partner with AEG Presents, one of the most powerful global forces in live entertainment. Together we look forward to making an even greater impact on the explosive growth in the Latin market,” said Cárdenas in a statement.
In an exclusive interview with Billboard, Cárdenas added: “We wanted to be bigger and more global. AEG is a giant company that also has venues and I’ve known Jay Marciano for 40 years, since he was president of Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. Jay knows who I am, and I know who he is.”
Marciano added: “Henry is a true entrepreneur and visionary, and what he and his team have built is simply awe-inspiring. We have been looking to expand our presence in Latin music and concerts for quite some time, and it was important that we took the time to find the right partner; we found it in Henry and CMN.”
The partnership between AEG and CMN has been actively in the works for approximately six months, but it was in both Cárdenas’ and Marcianos’ minds long before then.
“I feel like I’ve been chasing Henry for 40 years,” laughs Marciano. “It’s like the girl I’ve been chasing forever, and she finally said yes […] Henry was in Latin music way before any of us figured out it was an industry. Timing is everything. And I think the timing for us and for him finally, after all these years, aligned perfectly.”
Cárdenas has been in Latin music promotion for 44 years. In 2001, he sold CFA (Cardenas, Fernandez & Associates) — which at one point was the biggest Hispanic-owned event-promotion company in the U.S. — to Clear Channel Entertainment and Grupo Televisa. In 2004, he launched CMN on his own and quickly grew it all over again, eventually becoming the top Latin promoter in the country. In all his years of operation, he says, he has never lost money, save for during the pandemic.
“I’m a boutique concert promoter. I take care of my business. My tours have to be profitable, and we take care of each tour,” he says, emphasizing that his is not a cookie cutter approach to concert promotion.
However, Cárdenas also wanted to grow and become more global and in 2019, he acquired Arena Bogotá in Colombia. At this point, merging made sense, especially with a company like AEG, which has assets and artists that Cárdenas can work with in Latin America, and likewise, offers Cárdenas’ artists an entree into other markets.
The key, however, was the relationship with Marciano.
“It’s about people in this business,” says Marciano. “If you don’t have the right people, chances are you won’t be successful. With Henry we knew he had the foundation for decades and he could teach us a lot that we were missing.”
Cárdenas and Marciano had initial conversations several years back, at which time Marciano said: “Henry, I’m not going to hound you. But come the day you feel we’re better together than apart, give me a call.”
Last year he did, and conversations began in earnest.
“I think Henry believes Latin music is not just becoming big in North America but has the potential to become big in Europe and Asia and Australia and he can use our expertise and local offices,” said Marciano. “And we can also use his help because he understands the part of Latin music we’re just getting familiar with.”
Cárdenas will now take over AEG’s Latin activity and touring roster, which includes Carin León. In the spirit of AEG’s existing partnerships, such as the Messina Group or Golden Voice, Cárdenas will run the business, and make decisions on which artists and tours to bring to the business.
“I told Jay, ‘This needs to be fun. If it’s not going to be fun, it’s not interesting.’ I want to run CMN like I’ve always done,” says Cárdenas.
The AEG-CMN merger follows the 2021 acquisition of Mexican concert promoter OCESA Entertenimiento by Live Nation for $416 million for a 51% interest in the company.
No amount or stake percentage was disclosed for AEG’s purchase of CMN. But, says Marciano, “I think I have the Latin partner That I always wanted.”
03/13/2024
Billboard pays tribute to the executives, songwriters, managers, producers, promoters, radio hosts and more who passed on this year.
03/13/2024
The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app TikTok if its China-based owner doesn’t sell, as lawmakers acted on concerns that the company’s current ownership structure is a national security threat.
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The bill, passed by a vote of 352-65, now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear.
TikTok, which has more than 150 million American users, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chinese technology firm ByteDance Ltd.
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The lawmakers contend that ByteDance is beholden to the Chinese government, which could demand access to the data of TikTok’s consumers in the U.S. any time it wants. The worry stems from a set of Chinese national security laws that compel organizations to assist with intelligence gathering.
“We have given TikTok a clear choice,” said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. “Separate from your parent company ByteDance, which is beholden to the CCP (the Chinese Communist Party), and remain operational in the United States, or side with the CCP and face the consequences. The choice is TikTok’s.
House passage of the bill is only the first step. The Senate would also need to pass the measure for it to become law, and lawmakers in that chamber indicated it would undergo a thorough review. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he’ll have to consult with relevant committee chairs to determine the bill’s path.
President Joe Biden has said if Congress passes the measure, he will sign it.
The House vote is poised to open a new front in the long-running feud between lawmakers and the tech industry. Members of Congress have long been critical of tech platforms and their expansive influence, often clashing with executives over industry practices. But by targeting TikTok, lawmakers are singling out a platform popular with millions of people, many of whom skew younger, just months before an election.
Opposition to the bill was also bipartisan. Some Republicans said the U.S. should warn consumers if there are data privacy and propaganda concerns, while some Democrats voiced concerns about the impact a ban would have on its millions of users in the U.S., many of which are entrepreneurs and business owners.
“The answer to authoritarianism is not more authoritarianism,” said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. “The answer to CCP-style propaganda is not CCP-style oppression. Let us slow down before we blunder down this very steep and slippery slope.”
Ahead of the House vote, a top national security official in the Biden administration held a closed-door briefing Tuesday with lawmakers to discuss TikTok and the national security implications. Lawmakers are balancing those security concerns against a desire not to limit free speech online.
“What we’ve tried to do here is be very thoughtful and deliberate about the need to force a divestiture of TikTok without granting any authority to the executive branch to regulate content or go after any American company,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, the bill’s author, as he emerged from the briefing.
TikTok has long denied that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has said it has never shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it is asked. To date, the U.S. government also has not provided any evidence that shows TikTok shared such information with Chinese authorities. The platform has about 170 million users in the U.S.
The security briefing seemed to change few minds, instead solidifying the views of both sides.
“We have a national security obligation to prevent America’s most strategic adversary from being so involved in our lives,” said Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y.
But Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said no information has been shared with him that convinces him TikTok is a national security threat. “My opinion, leaving that briefing, has not changed at all,” he said.
“This idea that we’re going to ban, essentially, entrepreneurs, small business owners, the main way how young people actually communicate with each other is to me insane,” Garcia said.
“Not a single thing that we heard in today’s classified briefing was unique to TikTok. It was things that happen on every single social media platform,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif.
Republican leaders have moved quickly to bring up the bill after its introduction last week. A House committee approved the legislation unanimously, on a 50-vote, even after their offices were inundated with calls from TikTok users demanding they drop the effort. Some offices even shut off their phones because of the onslaught.
Lawmakers in both parties are anxious to confront China on a range of issues. The House formed a special committee to focus on China-related issues. And Schumer directed committee chairs to begin working with Republicans on a bipartisan China competition bill.
Senators are expressing an openness to the bill but suggested they don’t want to rush ahead.
“It is not for me a redeeming quality that you’re moving very fast in technology because the history shows you make a lot of mistakes,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
In pushing ahead with the legislation, House Republicans are also creating rare daylight between themselves and former President Donald Trump as he seeks another term in the White House.
Trump has voiced opposition to the effort. He said Monday that he still believes TikTok poses a national security risk but is opposed to banning the hugely popular app because doing so would help its rival, Facebook, which he continues to lambast over his 2020 election loss.
As president, Trump attempted to ban TikTok through an executive order that called “the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China)” a threat to “the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.” The courts, however, blocked the action after TikTok sued, arguing such actions would violate free speech and due process rights.
Mercury Records is expanding its executive team amid the broader restructure of Universal Music Group’s labels, the company announced today (March 13). The news comes as the label, which had been operating as an imprint of Republic Records since its relaunch in April 2022, has a hand in the top two albums on the Billboard 200 this week — Morgan Wallen’s One Thing At a Time (Big Loud/Mercury/Republic) and Noah Kahan’s Stick Season (Mercury/Republic).
Now, with the reorganization of UMG’s East Coast labels under Republic co-founder/CEO Monte Lipman, Mercury joins Def Jam, Island and Republic as part of the larger group, with a central organizational hub called Republic Corps. helping each label with marketing, promotions, publicity and legal support. And Mercury president Tyler Arnold and general manager Ben Adelson have made three appointments to their team in the new operation.
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Alex Coslov, a marketing veteran who had worked across both Mercury and Republic, will now be working full time at Mercury as its new executive vp, while Republic senior vp of media Marisa Bianco slides over to work on Mercury full time, while also reporting in to Republic Corps. head of media Joseph Carozza. Additionally, the label hired Mario Vazquez as vp of audience and streaming, who will work at Mercury while also reporting in to Republic Corps. executive vp of global commerce and digital strategy Kevin Lipson.
“Ben and I are thrilled to welcome Alex, Marisa and Mario to our team at Mercury Records,” Arnold said in a statement. “From day one, our goal has been to foster a creative, supportive and forward-thinking home for our artists to thrive. We are incredibly grateful to expand our team with this talented group of executives who will help further that mission as we usher in our next chapter.”
Arnold and Adelson are themselves Republic veterans, emerging from the A&R department at the label, and when the imprint relaunched in 2022 it came with several artists and partnerships that Arnold and Adelson had signed at Republic, including Post Malone, Kahan, James Bay, Lord Huron, Jeremy Zucker and others, as well as Republic’s relationship with Big Loud for Wallen, which Arnold had originally brokered. The label is also home to Stephen Sanchez, Zayn and AJR, among others.