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Over the past week, the feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake has entered into a new, more modern realm than any rap beef before it: AI.
As the back and forth has escalated, and fans wait to see what each of the hip-hop heavyweights will say next, a number of fan-fabricated diss tracks began circulating on social media using AI voices to mimic the emcees. And while some were obviously not real — and, thankfully, were voluntarily labeled AI by their authors — others were more convincing, leading to widespread confusion.
People questioned if Drake’s “Push Ups” was real (it was), and if Lamar’s supposed reply, “1 Shot 1 Kill” was real, too (it wasn’t). YouTube is rife with more AI replications, and some are amassing big audiences, including one called “To Kill A Butterfly,” which has amassed 508,000 views to date. To make matters even more convoluted, Drake himself took part in the trend, employing AI to replicate the voices of West Coast legends Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg on his diss “Taylor Made,” released on X and Instagram on Friday without their permission, prompting Shakur’s estate to send Drake a cease-and-desist letter.
The phenomenon has illustrated the sizable impact that AI has already had on modern fandom, as impatient fans use generative AI tools to fill in gaps in the conversation and imagine further storylines with a type of uncanny accuracy that was never before possible. And for better or for worse, it has become the most prominent use-case of generative AI in the music industry to date.
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This trend in AI use has its origins with Ghostwriter, the controversial TikTok user who deepfaked Drake and The Weeknd’s voices on his song “Heart On My Sleeve” one year ago, in April 2023. In a cover story for Billboard, Ghostwriter and his manager first compared AI voice filters to a form of “fan fiction — a fan-generated genre of music,” as the manager put it.
Traditional, written fan fiction has been a way for fans to engage with their favorite media for decades — whether that’s franchises like Star Wars, Marvel or Twilight, or the music of stars like Drake and Lamar. In it, fans can expand on details that were never fully fleshed out in the original work and write their own storylines and endings. AI fan creations inspired by Drake and Lamar’s beef are doing something similar, letting music fans imagine the artist’s next move and picture collaborations that haven’t happened yet.
Historically, fan fiction is great for the original artist from a marketing point of view. It is one of many forms of user-generated content (UGC) on the internet today that can engage superfans further with the original project without its author having to lift a finger.
But with traditional fan fiction, fans could easily tell where the official canon started and ended, and the writing was often relegated to superfan hot spots like Watt Pad, Discord, Reddit or fan zines. This new form of ‘AI fan fiction’ makes this distinction a lot less obvious and spreads it much wider. For now, trained ears can still tell when AI voices are used like this today, given the slight glitchiness still found in the audio quality, but soon these models will be so good that discerning AI from reality will be virtually impossible.
There is still not a good way to confidently figure out which songs use AI and which do not, and to make matters worse, these fan-made songs are more commonly posted to general social media platforms than written fan-fiction. In a search about this rap beef on X or YouTube, listeners are likely to run into a few AI fan tracks along the way, and many lack the expertise of a superfan to sniff out and differentiate what’s real and what’s fake.
In a time when fans demand nonstop connection to and content from their favorite talents, it is especially common for fans of elusive artists to take matters into their own hands with AI tools — including voices as well as other generative works like images, videos and text. In the absence of a Kendrick response to Drake last week, for example, “1 Shot 1 Kill” was produced by a 23-year-old fan who goes by Sy The Rapper. In an interview with Complex, Sy said he used the tool Voicify to imagine Lamar on the track. (Notably, the RIAA recently reported Voicify to the U.S. government’s piracy watch list).
Followers of famously elusive artist Frank Ocean also had fun with generative AI in the last year, with one fan, @tannerchauct, showing others on X how to create their own alternative forms of Ocean’s album artwork using DALLE-2, an image generator. A Cardi B fan, @iYagamiLight, even dreamed up the creative direction for an entirely fictional Cardi B project with AI, earning them thousands of retweets in October. The user’s cover art rendered Cardi B in a bedazzled corset and posing in a clawfoot bathtub, peacock feathers fanning out around her. They also created a fake tracklist and release date.
The downside of fan-made works has always been the same: they have the tendency to infringe on the artist’s copyrights, to use an artist’s name, image, voice or likeness without permission, or to generally profit from the artist’s work without sharing the spoils. This new age of AI fan fiction and UGC makes all of these pre-existing problems exponentially harder to police.
The Cardi B fan, for example, did not disclose that their work was AI-generated or fictional, and instead paired their creative direction with the misleading caption “Cardi B just announced her long awaited sophomore album “Mayura” coming out Friday 12th January 2024!”
In a recent music law conference at Vanderbilt University, Colin Rushing, general counsel of the Digital Media Association (DiMA) downplayed the commercial impact of AI in music so far, saying that, since Ghostwriter, “one of the things we really haven’t seen in the [last] year is an epidemic of ‘fake-Drakes’ climbing the charts. We’re not seeing popular examples of this in the commercial marketplace.”
Rushing is right — that hasn’t happened yet. Even Drake’s own AI-assisted song is not on streaming services, and thus is not eligible for the charts. (and if the lawyer for Tupac’s estate has his way, it will soon be removed from the internet entirely.) But this rap feud has revealed that while it hasn’t impacted the charts or the “commercial marketplace” all that much, it has impacted something possibly even more important to an artist today: fandoms.
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After five years of success as an artist at EMPIRE, Babyface Ray looks to take the next step and evolve into an executive. Today (April 26), Ray announces the partnership between his label, Wavy Gang, and EMPIRE, allowing him to sign and develop talent.
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Ray’s first two signings are Samuel Shabazz and Rally.
“I appreciate the partnership with EMPIRE. We have been partners for the last couple of years, and I’m excited for the next chapter with them and my label Wavy Gang Entertainment,” Ray tells Billboard. “I appreciate the team over there. Ghazi, Nima, Tina, Ari and everyone who has had an impact on my career. It’s time to embark on this chapter.”
Ghazi Shami, CEO and founder of EMPIRE expressed excitement about teaming up again with Ray and watching him leap forward to become an industry executive. “Me and Ray locked in seven years ago. I watched him build his career brick by brick. I’m honored to further our partnership together. His trajectory is limitless. Wavy Gang for life,” he says.
Not only is Ray celebrating the newly minted partnership with EMPIRE, but he’s also savoring his newest accolade: a certified RIAA-gold plaque for his song “Ron Artest,” which features 42 Dugg—his first.
With momentum on his side, Ray looks to ramp up the intensity with his weekly installment of “Face Fridays.” His newest song, “Glory,” is befitting, highlighting the wins in Ray’s life and his gratitude. “You startin’ your discipline, you’re having your business, you’re stackin’ your chips / I’m writing my goals down, I’m knockin’ them all down, I’m scratchin’ the list,” he raps on the BrentRambo and LulRose produced song.
Check out the “Glory” video below.
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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.
Sony Music Germany appointed Jean-Sebastien Permal and Jenny Walzer to run noted. records, the label giant’s newly launched electronic music imprint. A&R and strategy at the Berlin-based label will be handled by Permal, whose day job is vp of A&R for Europe & Africa, while marketing and operations will be the purview of Walzer, also a senior product manager at Sony Music. The label’s first signing is DJ-producer Anfisa Letyago, whose first track on noted. — “Feelin” — was just released.
Germany is the fourth-biggest market for recorded music, growing 7% in 2023, according to IFPI’s latest global report. The country also has the most dance music listeners on Spotify, on a monthly basis, according to figures via the annual IMS Business Report. Another key finding in that tome: “The global dance music business is now firmly in its post-pandemic growth phase,” with 17% annual growth and a valuation of $11.8 billion.
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“Electronic music as a genre has never been as potent as it is today,” said Permal. “We recognized the need to provide a home for artists with a strong and unique musical and visual identity. We are thrilled to have Anfisa Letyago as our first signed artist and are incredibly ambitious about her project.“
Meanwhile…
ASM Global named veteran sustainability strategist Lindsay Arell as its first-ever chief sustainability officer. The company’s portfolio already boasts more than 50 green certified venues, and Arell’s appointment speaks to its “leadership and commitment to sustainability,” says chief executive and president Ron Bension. Arell said she will will continue to lead Honeycomb Strategies, her 14-year-old consulting firm advising sports and events industry leaders on sustainable strategies. “I’m thrilled at the chance to spearhead ASM’s sustainability initiatives working alongside our teams and communities across our over 400 global venues.” Arell said. “By providing our venue teams with the necessary knowledge and resources, we can accelerate the progress of our program significantly.”
Reservoir made a slate of key promotions at Big Life, its UK-centric artist management agency. Kat Kennedy, Colin Roberts and Claire Kilcourse were promoted to partners, with Kennedy also taking on a new role as managing director, the company said. Combined, the trio have clocked roughly 46 years at Big Life — no small fete. “They’ve all shown incredible loyalty to the company,” said Big Life co-founder Tim Parry. “The longstanding relationships they have built with their clients are testament to their dedication, thoughtfulness, and expertise as managers, and I look forward to the continuing success they will bring to the Big Life brand.”
Samantha Sklar
Position Music promoted Samantha Sklar to vp of A&R at the Virgin Music-distributed indie publisher. Sklar, who joined Position in 2022 following a fruitful tenure at Warner Chappell Music, recently found success with the signing of Jack LaFrantz, who co-wrote Benson Boone’s hit “Beautiful Things.” While at WCM the A&R exec notably signed Stephen Kirk, co-writer of BTS’ “Butter.” Position Music head of A&R Mark Chipello dubbed Sklar a “publisher through and through [who] has an incredible drive to serve writers and create opportunities for them.”
Como No‘s founder Andy Wood announced he’s stepping down as director of the U.K.-based Latin music promoter company after 40 years, with Elena Beltrami unveiled as the new director. Wood will stay on as a non-executive board member. “On a daily basis I have felt humbled by the breadth of talent from Latin America and beyond that I have had the good fortune to work with,” said Wood, who formed Como No in 1985 and founded La Linea Festival, which just wrapped its 24th edition. “It’s been a privilege to work within a culture that I love, and with artists that I love in this great city of ours, for incredible audiences and with supportive venues and partners.” –Griselda Flores
AIM and BPI appointed Roxy Erickson as project manager of its ramped-up Music Climate Pact. The pact, initiated by the two UK organizations, works to bring music businesses together to take collective action to combat the climate crisis. The pact’s signatories include BMG, Beggars Group, Ninja Tune, Partisan Records, Secretly Group and the big three majors. Erickson is co-founder of Creative Zero, a collective of like-minded professions working to “generate positive environmental and social impact throughout the creative industries,” according to its website.
ALL IN THE FAM: Pam Sturchio is Billboard‘s new regional vp of brand partnerships, effective immediately. The Chicagoan joins Billboard after more than 10 years at Conde Nast, where she oversaw Midwest sales for the media company’s sprawling portfolio of brands … We also welcomed Lilian Gonzalez as our new e-commerce writer, based in Los Angeles. She was previously an associate producer at POPSUGAR, where she focused on all things beauty and fitness (including the Dance Fitsugar video series).
Joanne Hunter and Renata Muniz launched a new media and brand strategy agency called Out of Office Group. The partners, who both served as vps of media and brand strategy at Def Jam Recordings, have hit the ground running and are already working with several breakout acts, including KenTheMan, Shanae and Genia, among others. You can reach the LA-based Hunter and the NYC-based Muniz at info@outofofficegroup.com.
Dan P Carter, longtime curator of ‘The Rock Show’ on BBC Radio 1, joined Spinefarm Music Group as director of artist development. The London-based rock n’ roll evangelist will work alongside the Spinefarm team to sign and develop artists, and is set to report directly to general manager Jonas Nachsin. Other recent Spinefarm hires include Leah Devine and Tristan Pratt as marketing managers. Spinefarm’s current roster includes Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu, Airbourne, Killing Joke, Black Label Society and While She Sleeps, among others.
Please & Thank You, an agency specializing in VIP events & experiences, hired a couple veterans of the experiential arts. Meg Pollaro is the Eddie Meehan-founded company’s new vp of business development and partnerships, following notable roles at CAA, WME/Endeavor and Superfly. At P&TY, she’ll connect the dots between brands, consumers and artists. Jason Barrett joined as vp of strategy and development following a GM role at WMX, the creative services division of Warner Music Group. At his politely named new job, Barrett will focus his efforts on creating long-term deals for artists, managers and agents.
Kendra Whitehead
NASHVILLE NOTES: Brown Sellers Brown welcomed Kendra Whitehead as director of artist relations and day-to-day management of Joe Nichols. The veteran radio promoter previously banked 11 years with BMG, specifically with Wheelhouse Records and Red Bow Records … The Folk Alliance International named Jennifer Roe executive director of the organization after holding the post in an interim capacity. She was previously the FAI operations director.
Recording Academy veteran Jeriel Johnson is celebrating early successes following the launch of Telescope Arts & Music Group, his own artist management and consulting company. Johnson, former executive director of the Academy’s DC chapter and most recently a senior director at UMG, announced that his first signing, Bajan singer-songwriter Ayoni, signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings earlier this month. Johnson is also co-producing the next United States Army Field Band album and, as an artist, helped write a new track on Shenseea’s forthcoming album. You can reach Johnson at jeriel@telescopearts.com.
Endeavor hired public policy executive Matt Kaplan as vp of government relations. Kaplan was most recently director of public policy at Meta, with prior experience at Instacart and Lyft. In DC, he has worked for Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020. His appointment at Endeavor was first reported by Variety.
Greg Kastelman joined Park Avenue Artists as co-director of artist bookings, working alongside co-director Devi Reddy. Kastelman spent the last five years running his own booking agency and brings to PAA a roster that includes Brazilian singer Badi Assad and Ethio-American singer Meklit Hadero, among others. “PAA’s approach reaffirmed my confidence that artist managers and agents could be compassionate and forward thinking, affirming artists in their journey,” Kastelman notes. “I am thrilled to be working alongside Devi and the agency to tackle big challenges and embrace unique opportunities.”
BOARD SHORTS: Indie music publishers trade body IMPF elected six new members to its board at its 2024 general assembly in Dublin. They are Emily Stephenson (Downtown Music Publishing), Rosa M. Vizcaíno Gómez (Ediciones Musicales Clipper’s), Claudia Mescoli (Edizioni Curci), Tatjana Bukvić (Tin Drum Music), Cecilia Léon Rodrigo (Ediciones Joaquín Rodrigo) and Denise Andrikopoulou (D-Version Music Publishing) … The National Association of Broadcasters elected five new members to its NAB Radio Board: Mary Menna (Beasley Media), Chris Forgy (Saga Communications), Erik Hellum (Townsquare Media), Tim Swift (Bonneville) and Jerry “J” Chapman (Woof Boom Radio).
Symphonic Distribution hired BMG and UMG veteran Stephen Nightingale as vp of A&R and business development, Canada. Reporting to Symphonic’s chief creative officer, Randall Foster, Nightingale will be responsible for expanding the independent music distribution and marketing company’s roster and building up its partnerships in the region. Based in Toronto, Nightingale was most recently vp of recorded music in Canada for BMG. Earlier in his career, he was a marketing and business development exec at Universal Music Group.
ROYAL TEA: Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have a new executive communications team in place. Charlie Gipson is director of communications and will be point of contact for all UK and European media outlets. Kyle Boulia is deputy press secretary and director of communication for US media relations and is based in Los Angeles. They replace Miranda Barbot, who has been upped to vp of programs and media operation for the D&DofS.
ICYMI:
Elliott Wilson
Gary Roden abruptly resigned as general manager of Oak View Group’s Co-op Live, the UK’s biggest arena that’s been beset with hiccups ahead of its opening … Audacy reduced its workforce by “less than 2%” … Elliott Wilson was named editorial director of UPROXX, HipHopDX and Dime magazine … Kelli Skye Fadroski joined the AEG-owned Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater, and L.A LIVE as Manager of Communications.
Last Week’s Turntable: ‘Tiny Desk’ Maestro Has New Job
A time-tested revenue model in the theater and concert world is to price the front seats highest, and sell them early to the act’s dedicated followers, then fill out the house with cheap seats to optimize cash flow and lower risk. Recorded music does the opposite: when an album drops, an artist’s music is immediately available on all streaming services to every subscriber, leaving no room for passionate fans to self-select into pricier options.
In gaming, at least since the days of Minecraft, superfans have been given early access to titles prior to their publication, generating revenue, feedback and word of mouth.
Movie studios use a similar model, charging for early access to cinema screenings of major films roughly 45 days before they are widely available to stream (typically first as a purchase, then as a rental). Apple used this windowed approach seeking to maximize revenue with Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon, as did Amazon Prime with Air.
The record industry seems to have missed the memo. Other than an early misfire trying out streaming exclusives on the artist-owned Tidal service, it doesn’t use a windowed approach. This is a huge missed opportunity.
One way for recorded music to open a more lucrative, superfan-based future is to turn to one of the icons of its past: vinyl records. Rapper Travis Scott figured this out, pressing 500,000 double-vinyl records of his Utopia album and making it available the same day he dropped it on streaming services. Scott has now sold the majority of them at $50 a pop, taking the risk, and reaping the reward. What if he had released those analog vinyl records before the album was launched digitally on streaming? If he had sold half the stock before the digital release, he would have grossed $12.5 million, perhaps banking $10 million of that as profit, all while supercharging his marketing machine as all those superfans paraded their prized product to their friends.
A limited-edition package of Scott’s Utopia on red vinyl.
Courtesy of Cactus Jack Records
Like the boy who cried wolf, we’ve been told again and again that the resurgence in vinyl is a blip, not a trend. Yet for 18 straight years it has continued to surpass expectations. For the past three years, it’s made up over a tenth of all label revenues from the consumer and this year will see labels reap over a billion vinyl dollars, with no slowdown in sight.
Analog is surging in book publishing, too, as printed books are now outselling their digital counterparts 4-to-1 and bookstores are ascending. Not long ago that would have seemed inconceivable.
Now let’s look at where the vinyl meets the road: the math. While streaming is a music industry success story, it’s also a commoditization story – selling more and more for less and less. Back in 2001, Rhapsody charged $9.99 to access 15,000 catalog songs; today Spotify et al charge roughly the same for 120 million songs. Add the impact of family plan, where typically three people share a $15 per month account and the value of an account user has fallen by 10% and that’s before you adjust for inflation. Vinyl is bucking this trend. Since 2016, retail prices for the platters that matter have risen 30%.
Will Page
Anjelica Bette Fellini
For a streamer to provide a record label the same amount of value from an album as a vinyl buyer, a customer would need to press play over 5,000 times — or stream for almost two weeks straight without sleep. Let’s be crystal clear on what this comparison really means: consumers are paying more for the same with vinyl but paying less to access more with streaming. So if you want to hedge your intellectual property bets, you’d better put some chips on black and spin the wheel at 33 1⁄3.
Management guru Peter Drucker once quipped that “the customer rarely buys what the company thinks it’s selling him.” In the case of vinyl, over half of buyers don’t even own a record player. So they’re not buying the music — they’re buying merchandise that gives them a sense of identity and connection to the artist. With streaming, you merely press your thumb on a piece of glass; owning, holding and displaying a curated vinyl record with unique artwork has much deeper meaning to a fan.
There are similar conundrums concerning vinyl’s relationship with the creator. Remember that streaming unbundled the album – so you could have nine filler songs on a killer Number One record yet not get paid for those songs. The book Pivot showed that Gotye’s 2011 debut Making Mirrors was the most streamed album of the year, but it was all down to one hit: Somebody I Used to Know. Strip that hit out and this record falls out of the Top 100.
Vinyl captures more in the unit value — no fan can realistically give your album $30 via streaming — and all songs receive the same payout. Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is arguably the greatest vinyl success story in history; yet the obscure Ralph MacDonald track “Calypso Breakdown” from that album earned the same as the Bee Gees signature track “Staying Alive” for every album sold. Investors in music catalogs should take note: supporting more vinyl releases stands to monetize the vast majority of songs currently owned that make almost no money from streaming.
Vinyl is not without its challenges. Measuring the size of its remarkable continued success story is just one. Recent changes by Luminate, the go-to source for industry data, wiped off 40% of the measured volume overnight, by flipping from extrapolating the size of the market to counting only those who opt in. That’s getting fixed, and will assuage the people it’s upset, but the point remains, there’s way more vinyl being purchased than Luminate measures.
Fred Goldring
Natasha Fradkin
There are other challenges, too. If counting bricks & mortar retail is hard, what about tracking online physical retail that’s based anywhere yet serves everywhere? London-based Juno is a corner kick from Camden’s famous market and serves not just the UK and US, but Brazil and China in equal measure. Add the burgeoning second-hand platforms like Discogs and you get a sense that the true size of the market is a lot bigger than we give it credit for.
This brings us back to the potential of vinyl’s first mover advantage. Until the latter part of 2023, vinyl faced an enormous manufacturing backlog and demand far exceeded supply for even the biggest artists. Many vinyl albums were released many months after their initial streaming release.
A rise of small vinyl manufacturing plants have significantly decreased lag time and backlog. Travis Scott used the Poland-based team at Pressing Business to manufacture 500,000 double-disc, multi-cover, multi-colored Utopia albums in just five weeks, allowing for the highest vinyl debut for a hip-hop artist since records began in 1991. Combined with streaming, the album stayed at #1 for five weeks.
The record industry should start selling and delivering vinyl as an early access opportunity, not an afterthought. Pre-stream vinyl releases can create scarcity, exclusivity and therefore additional revenue from superfans who will jump at the chance to be the first to hear the music or own a limited edition version. Artists will benefit creatively as well, as superfans are the ones most likely to truly appreciate the album as a body of work, curated as the artist intended (and, many would argue, with better sound). Once music is thrown into the ocean of streaming, it often gets lost at sea, and all stakeholders lose something valuable. It’s time for the record industry to embrace the vinyl first mover advantage that is hiding in plain sight.
Will Page is the author of Pivot and former chief economist of Spotify, and Fred Goldring is an Entrepreneur, Entertainment Lawyer and co-founder of Pressing Business.
The troubled launch of Co-op Live, the United Kingdom’s biggest entertainment arena, has hit further difficulties with GM Gary Roden resigning from his role just a few days ahead of the venue’s already delayed opening.
Roden’s exit was announced late Thursday evening (April 25) U.K. time by Jessica Koravos, president of Oak View Group (OVG) International. “Gary Roden has decided to resign,” said Koravos in a statement. She went on to thank the outgoing exec for “his help bringing the UK’s newest arena to live entertainment fans” and wished him “the best for the future.”
Replacing Roden in the position of interim GM is Rebecca Kane Burton, who ran the U.K.’s highest-grossing venue, London’s The O2 arena, from 2012 to 2016 before serving as CEO of LW Theatres. Burton takes over at Co-op Live with immediate effect, said Koravos.
The change of leadership at Co-op Live follows a tumultuous week at the 23,500-capacity venue, which was originally due to open on Tuesday (April 23) with the first of two consecutive shows by British comedian Peter Kay.
Those plans were postponed after a heavily publicized preview show at the Manchester arena 48 hours prior, headlined by Rick Astley, which saw Co-op Live cut capacity, resulting in large numbers of fans’ tickets being canceled on short notice as the venue was not ready.
Two days later, Co-op Live announced that Kay’s opening shows were being rescheduled to Monday (April 29) and Tuesday (April 30) to give operators “the extra time we need to continue testing” the building’s infrastructure and power supply, according to a venue spokesperson.
At the time of publication, representatives of Co-op Live had not responded to inquiries from Billboard asking if the two Kay shows were still going ahead next week — or if a 10,000-capacity test concert by The Black Keys scheduled for Saturday (April 27) was still taking place.
Koravos’ statement doesn’t mention either upcoming event and simply says, “We are focused on opening Co-op Live.”
Set to be the United Kingdom’s biggest and most sustainable arena, Co-op Live is the first major project outside the United States from Oak View Group (OVG), the Denver-headquartered global management and development giant co-founded in 2015 by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff. (Harry Styles, who grew up in the small Cheshire village of Holmes Chapel, around 30 miles outside of Manchester, is an investor in the project and advised on aspects of the venue’s design).
Prior to his sudden and unexpected exit on Thursday, Roden had sparked ire from U.K. trade body The Music Venue Trust for comments he made in an interview with the BBC in which he reportedly said that some small grassroots venues were “poorly run” and that calls for a £1 ticket levy from every arena ticket to support pubs and clubs was “too simplistic.”
Referencing those comments, Koravos said that “neither Co-op Live nor Oak View Group share the sentiment expressed by former Co-op Live General Manager Gary Roden regarding the grassroots industry.”
Koravos went on to say that the venue remains “committed to grassroots music in Manchester and beyond” and will donate over £1 million a year to good causes via the Co-op Foundation.
“Oak View Group and Co-op Live remain happy to meet with grassroots organisations once the venue is fully operational,” Koravos’ statement concludes.
Artists confirmed to perform at the venue this year include the Eagles, Take That, Liam Gallagher, Olivia Rodrigo, Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi, Slipknot, Eric Clapton, Pearl Jam, Justin Timberlake, Noah Kahan and Megan Thee Stallion.
A superfan accused of hacking Kelsea Ballerini and leaking her unreleased music has reached an agreement with the star’s lawyers not to share her songs with anyone else — and to name any people he’s already sent them to.
Just a week after Ballerini sued Bo Ewing over accusations that he illegally accessed her unfinished album and shared it with members of a fan club, attorneys for both sides said Wednesday (April 24) that they have agreed on a preliminary injunction against Ewing that will remain in place as the case plays out.
Under the terms of the injunction to which his lawyers agreed, Ewing is not only banned from disseminating any of Ballerini’s materials, he’s required to divulge who he has already shared them with and how he came into possession of her music.
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“Defendant shall, within thirty days of entry of this order, provide plaintiffs with the names and contact information for all people to whom defendant disseminated the recordings,” the agreement reads. “Defendant shall use his best efforts to disclose to Plaintiffs from whom and by what means he obtained the recordings.”
The agreement avoids a court battle over such an injunction, which Ballerini’s attorneys were asking a federal judge to impose regardless of Ewing’s cooperation. In doing so, they warned that the hack had caused “immediate and ongoing harm” that would get far worse if Ewing was allowed to widely release the allegedly leaked songs online.
“The most critical time for an album’s success is its initial release date,” Ballerini’s attorneys wrote in a motion demanding such an injunction. “Hacks like this substantially diminish both performers’ and labels’ ability to realize the full benefits of the release because the work is already available for download, for free, at the time of the official release.”
Ballerini sued last week, claiming that Ewing — allegedly a former fan who had become disillusioned with the star — had gained illegal “back-door access” to a device holding recordings of 12 songs still in production. Her lawyers say he then shared them with members of an online fan club.
“Because the recordings are not the completed master, the songs are not final and are subject to revision,” her lawyers wrote. “Ms. Ballerini and her team are the only people who can say when the recordings are complete. Defendant’s actions have stripped plaintiffs of that right and caused the distribution of unfinished work that may not yet be up to plaintiffs’ high professional standards.”
Almost immediately, the federal judge overseeing the case issued a so-called temporary restraining order — an emergency order that banned Ewing from sharing any of Ballerini’s materials. That order set the stage for a longer-term preliminary injunction, which both sides were set to debate at a hearing on Thursday (April 25).
Instead, Ewing’s attorneys struck Wednesday’s deal accepting such an injunction. Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. signed off on the agreement on Thursday. Neither side’s lawyers immediately returned requests for comment.
Only one word really describes Drake’s shift from objecting to an AI impersonation of him to using similar technology to add imitations of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg to his Kendrick Lamar diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle”: Chutzpah. (Drake had a bar-mitzvah-themed 31st birthday party, so he probably knows the term.) Last year around this time, the infamous “Heart on My Sleeve,” which featured AI vocal imitations of Drake and The Weeknd, shifted the debate about music and AI into high gear. Ever since, industry lobbyists and artists rights groups have been pushing legislation to regulate generative AI technology based on concepts of rights and permissions. Now Drake goes and blatantly breaks the main principle involved. It’s like something out of a political attack ad: He was against this before he was for it!
To me, using artists’ voices without their permission is wrong and it’s even more wrong — creepier — if the artist in question died relatively recently. The legal situation around this, and AI in general, is in flux, though. Tennessee’s ELVIS Act just passed, and a few federal bills have significant support. But the main point of the ELVIS Act and most of the recently proposed legislation is to impose penalties for exactly the kind of thing Drake did.
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And Drake, who must know these laws are necessary because a year ago they would have helped him, just made it harder to pass them. Imagine you’re a music business lobbyist who spent the last year explaining to members of Congress how important it is to protect the unique sounds of particular performers and then suddenly one of the biggest artists in the world goes ahead and violates every principle you’ve been discussing. Forget about Lamar — where’s the diss track from the RIAA?
It’s hard to say for sure whether what Drake did was illegal because laws vary by state — that’s why we need federal legislation in the first place. But Drake seems to have released the recording without his label, Republic Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, which could indicate some concerns. (A representative for Drake declined to comment and Universal did not respond to requests for comment.) And Tupac Shakur’s estate has threatened to sue if Drake doesn’t take the track offline. (Snoop Dogg’s reaction — “They did what? When? How? Are you sure?,” followed by a weary sigh — is a work of art in itself. 10/10, no notes.) Litigation could be complicated, though. The Shakur estate threatened to sue for a violation of Shakur’s right of publicity, as well as for copyright infringement, which may be harder but comes with high statutory damages.
Howard King, the lawyer for Shakur’s estate, lays out the issue in his cease-and-desist letter to Drake. “Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights,” King writes, “it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use.” The use of 2Pac’s voice was especially inappropriate, King suggests, since Lamar is “a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac.”
In music critic terms, Drake is using simulacra of 2Pac and Snoop to call out Lamar by implying that he’s unworthy of their legacy. In legal terms, this might violate Shakur and Snoop Dogg’s rights of publicity or likeness rights, and there are precedents that would suggest it does — Tom Waits and Bette Midler each won a case about (human) vocal imitation. In moral terms, this feels so wrong because it forces Shakur and Snoop to say something they would never have said in real life. In hip-hop, reputation is everything — you own your words in both senses of the term — and Snoop and Shakur have every right to guard theirs.
This might seem like an awfully pretentious way to talk about what will almost certainly be remembered as a minor track from a major artist. Are reputations really at stake? Doesn’t anyone with even the slightest interest in pop music know that Drake used AI?
That’s a very current way of thinking about a technology that’s evolving really fast. What happens when millions of hobbyist producers release thousands of songs with imitations of hundreds of artists? (There are fan-made AI tracks out there already.) Who’s to know who dissed whom, let alone who favors what politician or endorses which product? For that matter, what happens when this comes for politicians? You can’t regulate digital technology with the legal equivalent of an umbrella — you need to prepare for a flood.
The ELVIS Act and the EU AI legislation represent a good start for that preparation, and most of the federal legislation under discussion seems solid. Hopefully, by the time the flood hits, we’ll remember “Heart on My Sleeve” as the beginning of an important debate and “Taylor Made Freestyle” as an amusing aside.
Just days after launching an audit into subsidiary label ADOR and asking its CEO, Min Hee-jin, to exit, the Korean entertainment giant says it will report the executive to police.
The announcement came ahead of Min holding an emotional press conference in Seoul, where she refuted allegations of usurping ADOR girl group NewJeans‘ management, shared conversations she had with the group’s members and addressed other rumors as the Billboard 200–topping girl group prepares to launch its new single, “Bubble Gum.”
On Thursday (April 25) local time in Korea, HYBE shared the following statement with the media as an update to its audit regarding ADOR, CEO Min and other executives at the label:
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On April 25 KST, HYBE announced that the company will report CEO Min Hee-Jin of its subsidiary label ADOR to police for a breach of trust and other related allegations today.
HYBE secured substantial evidence to prove that Min deliberately led the plan to take over management control of the subsidiary, through the audit process. The evidence included detailed discussions that Min has ordered the ADOR management to find ways to pressure HYBE into ultimately selling ADOR’s shares. One of the audited parties submitted information assets to seize the management of ADOR and to attempt to contact external investors. The auditee also admitted to creating the documents to attack HYBE.
In the meantime, HYBE will continue to provide attentive mental and emotional care to the company’s artist NewJeans and best support for their upcoming comeback. The company will meet legal representatives of the respective members as soon as possible to discuss the plan to protect the act.
As previously reported, Min earned an 18% stake in ADOR in late 2023, when HYBE moved from full ownership of the label to 80%, with the additiona 2% owned by other company executives.
Following Min Hee-jin and ADOR going on the offensive with interviews and multiple statements to various Korean media alleging that HYBE has been exploiting ADOR and allowing NewJeans’ concept to be plagiarized, the K-pop industry veteran held a press conference with her lawyers that lasted more than two hours on Friday.
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According to the Korea JoongAng Daily‘s minute-by-minute report, Min arrived for the 3 p.m. press conference casually dressed in a baseball cap and simple T-shirt to be greeted by a slew of photographers — so many that at one point, the executive said she wouldn’t be able to speak if the camera flashes continued. Throughout the two-hour event, Min proclaimed her innocence, shared her disagreements with HYBE’s leadership, rebutted their conclusion that she wanted to seize NewJeans’ management and tried to shift focus back to her original internal complaint regarding plagiarism. Under Min’s leadership, ADOR previously claimed that HYBE’s newest act, the five-member girl group ILLIT formed under another subsidiary, BELIFT LAB, is copying NewJeans.
While weaving through stories with her lawyers alongside her, an at-times sobbing Min also addressed rumors regarding current and past HYBE artists including BTS, GFRIEND, LE SSERAFIM and more.
During the first half hour of the presentation, Min shared text message chats she claims she had with HYBE founder/chairman Bang Si-hyuk and HYBE CEO Park Ji-won. These alleged texts, according to Min, show Bang’s interest in buying Source Music, where Min previously worked, to launch a girl group. She also revealed that she recruited NewJeans’ eldest member, Minji, from Source’s trainee pool for ADOR. Min further claimed that HYBE’s debuting LE SSERAFIM under the Source label led to NewJeans being cast aside and created internal issues.
In a 2022 Billboard interview shortly after NewJeans’ debut, Min described her move away from Source Music by noting that “there would have been a number of different challenges involved” at the time and that she instead focused on creating “an independent label,” which became ADOR. “ADOR is a label that started with guaranteed autonomy, so it has no ties with HYBE’s management,” Min said. “They actually didn’t have any knowledge about anything we were going to release up until the first music video was released.” In the same interview, a question regarding Minji’s time as a trainee under Source Music was never addressed by press time.
After the first hour of the press conference, Min added claims that her contract terms with HYBE were unfair, though her lawyer said the details of the contract are confidential. Min also alleged that HYBE spun her contacting a law firm as external consulting, creating the current situation. Min pointed to multiple misunderstandings, including those that arose from jokes between her executive team, and added that HYBE still owes her money.
Through tears, Min revealed more text messages claiming that a NewJeans member’s mother called her to encourage her to speak out. During the Q&A with the press in attendance, Min contended that NewJeans members Hanni and Haerin have specifically reached out to her in support.
Separately, two NewJeans members have made public appearances amid the K-pop power struggle. Minji attended a Chanel pop-up store opening on Tuesday (April 23) in Seoul, while Danielle attended different fashion events on the Tuesday and Wednesday, though neither has made public statements on the matter.
Throughout the press conference, Min also touched on BTS (refuting an online rumor that she claimed the Billboard chart-toppers had copied her ideas), GFRIEND (saying she had nothing to do with the group’s abrupt 2021 disbandment soon after her formal start at HYBE) and took several shots at the teams behind ILLIT by sharing how the members are innocent but “it’s the adults that have sinned…copied all the formulas that we had with NewJeans,” from the concept to fashion collaborations, as reported by the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Just as HYBE did in its statement, Min ended her press conference by re-focusing attention on NewJeans. Despite the clash, the K-pop group’s upcoming music video for “Bubble Gum” is still set to premiere on Friday (April 26) via the HYBE Labels YouTube channel.
Audacy has reduced its workforce by 2%, according to a company spokesperson. Affected employees included a Boston sports reporter who was laid off the day before today’s NFL Draft, a Chicago afternoon news anchor and roughly 98 other employees, according to reports. “It’s like, ‘How many layoffs can they go through before there’s nobody left?’” […]
Armada Music‘s BEAT Music Fund has acquired Cloud 9 Music, an Amsterdam based music publisher. As part of the acquisition, the teams of Armada Music’s existing publishing company, Armada Publishing B.V., and Cloud 9 Music will merge to form Armada Music Publishing. The company’s BEAT Music Fund is dedicated to building a catalog of dance and electronic classics and now, after its purchase of Cloud 9, is well on its way. Its catalog now includes Armin van Buuren’s Grammy Award-nominated “This Is What It Feels Like,” “Reality” by Lost Frequencies and Da Beatfreakz’ co-written share in “Prada” which was originally performed by Cassö, D-Block Europe, and Raye.
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Pulse Music Group has launched a new publishing venture with singer, songwriter and producer Jon Bellion. Called Beautiful Mind, the new publisher will be helmed by Bellion and his longtime manager Matt Maschi as CEO. Louis Coppola will handle day-to-day operations. Along with the news of his new company and its staff, Pulse and Bellion have announced that Beautiful Mind has signed artist, songwriter, and Bellion collaborator Elijah Noll to the company.
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Warner Chappell Music and ICE have extended and expanded their multi-territory digital partnership. As part of the deal, WCM will move all online processing from other European digital licensing administration partners to ICE. This follows a thorough 10 month review by WCM which assisted its existing providers and new entrants to figure out the solution that best serves its songwriters.
Warner Chappell Music has signed the Red Clay Strays to a global publishing deal. After independently releasing their 2022 album Moment of Truth, the band broke through on TikTok, eventually landing the single “Wondering Why” on the Hot 100 chart. Now they are ready to take their career to the next level. Along with their new WCM publishing deal, the group also signed a label deal with RCA Records.
5 Alarm Music (a large indie production music library and a subsidiary of Anthem Entertainment) has entered a new exclusive partnership with Paramount to launch the program First Time Composer (“FTC”) with Paramount Music’s Anita Chinkes Ratner and Rochelle Holguin Capello leading the charge. The program begins with a writing camp at Sound Factory in Los Angeles from April 25-26. 14 participants will be split into four groups, each paired with a 5 Alarm producer who can guide the newcomers through the process of writing to specific song briefs.
BMI has launched a new royalty dashboard for songwriters and composers, providing more transparency into performance royalty earnings. The move is part of the newly for-profit PRO’s broader growth plan to enhance customer service. Now, BMI’s affiliates can have a fully interactive view of royalty statements and can view their top performing titles, search individual works, monitor quarterly and annual earnings trends, explore international earnings and more.
Concord Music Publishing has extended its agreement with Jeremy Lutito. Along with his publishing deal, which encompasses both his back catalog and future works, Concord and Lutito are also launching Mezzanine, a joint venture under which Lutito will sign and develop up and coming writers at Concord. The first Mezzanine signing is Jon Class, a frequent Lutito collaborator.
Spirit Music Nashville has renewed its deal with artist/writer Tim Montana. The news follows Montana’s recent breakthrough at rock radio, notching his single “Devil You Know” on both Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay and Rock & Alternative Airplay charts.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Randall King to a new publishing agreement. With songs like “You In A Honky Tonk” “Hey Cowgirl” and “Mirror Mirror,” King is known for bringing tried-and-true Texas twang to Nashville.
Major Bob Music has signed a management and publishing deal with Leah Blevins. The singer-songwriter has built a following in Nashville for her unique sound and her touring chops. Over the last few years, the artist has toured with Lainey Wilson, Marcus King, Flatland Cavalry, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Oates, Amanda Shires, The War And Treaty and more.
Global Music Rights (GMR), the boutique performing rights organization, has reached a settlement in its copyright infringement lawsuit with Vermont Broadcast Associates. As part of the settlement, VBA has secured a long-term GMR license and settled for its past alleged infringements.