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Megan Thee Stallion and Roc Nation are facing a lawsuit from a cameraman who claims he was forced to watch her have sex with a woman inside a moving vehicle while she was on tour in Spain.
In a complaint filed Tuesday (April 23) in Los Angeles court, Emilio Garcia accused the superstar of subjecting him to a hostile work environment due to the alleged incident, which he says amounted to harassment that left him “embarrassed, mortified and offended.”
“After a night out, plaintiff Stallion and three other women were riding in a SUV together,” Garcia’s lawyers write in the lawsuit, obtained by Billboard. “Suddenly, Stallion and one of the other women start having sex right beside plaintiff. Plaintiff could not get out of the car as it was both moving and he was in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country.”
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Garcia claims that the day after the incident — which allegedly occurred in June 2022 near Ibiza, Spain — Megan told him, “Don’t ever discuss what you saw.” He says she then “berated him” and made “fat-shaming comments” towards him.
In the months following the alleged incident, Garcia claims that Roc Nation switched him from a monthly rate to a per-assignment arrangement. He says he also “noticed a change in how he was treated and saw a decrease in the number of bookings he received from Stallion.” In June 2023, he claims he was told that he was told that “his services would no longer be required.”
Beyond the allegations of a hostile workplace, Garcia also claims that Megan and Roc Nation violated California wage-and-hour laws by failing to fully pay him for the “myriad” tasks he performed for the superstar as her personal cameraman: “More than once, Stallion interrupted plaintiff during dinner and demanded that he immediately shift his focus to assist with her TikTok creative ideas.”
Despite his status as an independent contractor, Garcia claims that Megan effectively treated him like an employee. He says she repeatedly told him explicitly that he was “not allowed to service any other client other than herself.”
Notably, Garcia is represented by the same attorneys (Neama Rahmani and Ronald Zambrano) who filed a high-profile hostile workplace case against Lizzo on behalf of three of her backup dancers. Like the new case, that earlier lawsuit also features allegations that employees were forced to watch sex acts in a European country during an overseas tour.
A rep for Megan and Roc Nation did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Pharrell faces another trademark dispute, this time filed by Pink over the term “P.Inc”; Madonna is sued again by fans angry about delayed starts to her concerts; YoungBoy Never Broke Again is arrested again on new drug and gun charges; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Pink v. P.Inc
Another week, another trademark dispute for Pharrell Williams.Less than a month after his longtime friend and musical collaborator Chad Hugo accused him of wrongly trying to secure trademarks to their shared “Neptunes” name, the superstar was hit with a similar action from the singer Pink.The disputed trademark? The term “P.Inc,” which Pharrell’s lawyers applied to register last year as a federal trademark covering a wide range of advertising and business services. Pink’s lawyers say the term is so similar to her own stage name that it would confuse consumers who see it.Strangely enough, Pink is actually not the first trademark owner to complain about Pharrell’s trademark application. Last month, the application drew another opposition filing from a retail giant that’s used the term PINK for decades. For more, go read our full story here.
Other top stories this week…
MADONNA SUED AGAIN – Madonna and Live Nation were hit with another federal class action lawsuit over late starts to her concerts, this time filed by spurned Washington D.C. ticket buyers who are accusing her of showing “total disrespect for her fans” by forcing them to wait “hours for her performance in a hot, uncomfortable arena.” The case comes three months after Madonna was hit with a similar case in New York – a case that she is currently seeking to have tossed out of court.YOUNGBOY ARRESTED – YoungBoy Never Broke Again (aka NBA YoungBoy) was arrested on new drug and weapons charges amid a years-long house arrest in Utah as he awaits trial on separate federal gun charges. Local police say he ran a “large scale prescription fraud ring” aimed at purchasing codeine from area drug stores, using associates to illicitly buy the pharmaceuticals under a real doctor’s name. Federal prosecutors, who had already accused the rapper of breaking the terms of his house arrest, quickly moved to revoke his pre-trial release altogether.MOTOWN LEGEND FIRES BACK – Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. fired back after being named as a defendant in an ugly legal battle pitting his son against a former business advisor and romantic partner, calling it a “craven, desperate, and disgusting attempt” to “shake down” his family.
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Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is caught up in an ugly legal battle pitting his son against a former business advisor and romantic partner – a lawsuit he says is a “craven, desperate, and disgusting attempt” to “shake down” his family.
In a filing Monday in Los Angeles court, attorneys for Gordy demanded that he be dismissed from the case, arguing that the legendary record executive had been unfairly dragged into the litigation to distract from “wanton acts of embezzlement” committed by his son’s accuser.
“Extortion—though illegal and highly unethical—is a powerful weapon,” wrote Gordy’s lawyers Christopher Frost and John D. Maatta. “Nowhere is that more true than here.”
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Gordy founded Motown in 1959, paving the way for the influential soul music sound that came to bear the same name. He eventually signed the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and Stevie Wonder and many others to the label, before selling it off to MCA in 1988.
His strongly-worded response on Monday came amid a back-and-forth legal dispute between his son, Kennedy Gordy (better known by his stage name Rockwell), and Anita Hawker Thompson, who previously served as the CEO of Kennedy’s company, Rockwell Entertainment Enterprises.
Kennedy’s company sued Thompson last year, claiming that he suffers from “psychological impairments” and that Thompson had abused her power over him to steal $1.7 million in royalty payments that had been paid to the company.
Last week, Thompson responded by filing her own scathing countersuit, accusing Kennedy of subjecting her to “physical, sexual, and psychological abuse” during a years-long romantic relationship. In it, she also named the elder Gordy as a defendant, claiming he knew about his son’s abusive conduct and “tried to cover it up.”
But in Monday’s filing, Gordy’s attorneys blasted Thompson’s allegations as “a falsified, unverified narrative” that was aimed at distracting from the fact that she had “illegally abused her position of trust over Kennedy.”
“The response of Ms. Thompson [is] a craven, desperate, and disgusting attempt to further shake-down the Gordy family and to attempt to manufacture a fabricated claim to conveniently offset the claim for theft and conversion that she is facing — to which she has no legitimate legal or factual defense,” Berry’s attorneys write.
In her lawsuit last week, Thompson’s attorneys included pages of disturbing allegations of “intimate partner violence,” including that Kennedy “beat, kicked, punched, and raped” her and then used “threats of violence and deportation to secure her silence.” But in his response Monday, the attorneys for the elder Gordy say that those “fabricated events” could only have plausibly taken place in the 1980s – well past the statute of limitations for bringing them to court.
“Ms. Thompson and her counsel, well-aware that the fabrications complained of occurred over thirty years ago, do not mention any dates when the fabricated wrongs are alleged to have taken place,” Gordy’s lawyers write.
Attorneys for both Thompson and Kennedy did not immediately return requests for comment on Tuesday.
Poems Publishing is just getting started, but the idea of the company has been in the making for over a decade. The new boutique publisher, based out of a midcentury modern house in Encino, Calif., was founded by a team of executives from all areas of the publishing business. Stefan and Jordan Johnson, who found Grammy-winning success as the writing/production duo The Monsters & Strangerz (Maroon 5’s “Memories”; Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart”; Justin Bieber’s “Ghost”), always wanted to start a publishing company with their brother, Christian, a former vp of A&R at Big Deal Music and Hipgnosis. But for the past decade, they had been waiting for the right situation to come along.
That situation finally materialized a few years ago when the brothers discussed their aspirations with Mega House Music’s co-founders David Silberstein and Jeremy Levin, who have managed The Monsters and Strangerz for about 10 years. Together, the group teamed up with Mega House president Haley Evans and manager Laura Higbee to launch Poems with the goal of offering high-touch service and creative mentorship in fair deals that “everyone can feel good about,” says Jordan.
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The company started slowly with the signing of one emerging singer-songwriter, Ella Boh, two years ago. Now, Poems is ready to expand. With a current roster of four — Boh, as well as Jack LaFrantz, Isiah Tejada and Jackson Foote — and an exclusive administration deal with Kobalt, Poems is seeing success with Benson Boone’s current Billboard Pop Airplay No. 1 “Beautiful Things,” which was co-written by LaFrantz (who is administered through a prior deal with Position Music), and “Love On” by Selena Gomez which was co-written and co-produced by Tejada (along with Stefan and Jordan).
“It’s really validating for us as a new publishing company,” says Silberstein of his writers’ recent breakthroughs. “It’s great to have songs at radio, performed by artists we love. It just makes us hungry for more. We’re trying to stack up those BMI and ASCAP awards.”
Why did it feel like this was the right time and the right situation to start a new publishing company?
Silberstein: Over the last 15 years, we’ve had a number of people approach us about different ventures. The Monsters and Christian have as well. It just never felt right. About two or three years ago, we started talking with Stefan, Jordan, Christian, Haley and Laura about forming a publishing company. We learned from our vantage point as managers that there’s a lot of value in having creatives involved at the publishing company that can provide mentorship and feedback that some executives might not have. We also know that Christian had been wearing the publisher hat for years and had a lot of valuable experience there. Our thought was instead of trying to do it all independently of each other, we could pull it all together and try to offer the greatest creative service of all publishers. Our goal is to be the No. 1 creative service publishing company.
Jordan: It was always our plan to start a publishing company some day. We’ve been working with Mega House for 10 years now, and when we started talking about the idea with them, it felt right to have them as partners. It helps Stef and I stay in the studio. We needed other members on the team who weren’t stuck in sessions eight hours a day.
Stefan and Jordan, you have had plenty of success creatively, and as Jordan said, your creative process can take up easily eight hours a day already. Why did you want to get into the business side?
Jordan: We’ve been through deals ourselves and seen what it’s like to not get the best end of the deal. We thought it’d be great to create a company where we can help the next generation of writers with their goals and with deals everyone can feel good about. It’s great to be in a place now where our success is not all just predicated on us being in the studio and writing songs. We can have more impact.
Stefan: There are some producers and writers that have created publishing companies that will far outlast them as a producer and writer and continue to create opportunity and help people’s dreams come true. We really love seeing the impact that’s possible.
What songwriter- or producer-led companies do you admire?
Stefan: Prescription Songs [founded by Dr. Luke], MXM Music [founded by Max Martin], Nice Life [founded by Ricky Reed], Pulse [founded by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, Josh Abraham] — those are all amazing companies that provide amazing service. Some of them are even so big now that some people don’t realize that it started with one producer or writer.
Jordan: We love the idea of it feeling like an entity of its own. It’s not the Monsters’ publishing company. It’s a company that we are partners of, and we help in any way we can.
David and Jeremy, why was it important to have your longtime management clients as part of this founding team at Poems?
Levin: Having the Monsters on board is great. They can answer a lot of questions for whoever is signed to us from a creative perspective. They’re professionals in the truest sense of the word. Partnering with them was really natural and a great way to continue our relationship with them forever.
Silberstein: A lot of the places we are beginning to pitch songs to as songwriter managers are to the producers — when the producers have control or executive production credit on the project. The Monsters are just the highest echelon of producers and have access to top projects and also to all their peers of other great producers and great artists. It will bring great mentorship and opportunities for the roster.
All of you have creative and A&R backgrounds. What are you looking for in potential signees to build this roster?
Christian: We’re building a roster from scratch so the person side is important. You want to develop a community. The best thing that can happen is that you build your roster and the roster is its own self-sustaining thing. Where the writers are bringing each other into sessions and looking out for each other.
Levin: As a foundation for us, we want to have writers and producers across genres and with different skill sets so that we have diversity across the board.
Silberstein: When an opportunity comes in, we don’t want to be like, “Oh, we have five people for this.” Maybe just one or two. We want to build the right community within the publishing company so there’s no feeling of competition for the same things.
Jeremy and David, you have been managing songwriters and producers for over a decade. I often hear that managers end up picking up a lot of the creative and A&R work for publishers these days, especially when the A&Rs at the publisher have too many songwriters to keep up with. Did that prior experience help your transition to working as a publisher?
Silberstein: As managers, we always took the approach that, even though there are many incredible publishers, whatever the publisher did was going to be icing on the cake. We always had the mentality that as managers we would have to do it all, whether that’s setting up sessions, pitching songs — the things that publishers do. If we have a great publishing partner, that’s great, but we are going to service our clients regardless. We definitely take this mentality into our role as publishers now. We take this role super seriously because we’ve seen both the good and bad. There’s some incredible individual publishers who are just slapped with a 50-person roster, and it’s no fault of their own that they can’t service them fully.
Management companies that expand into publishing or records often sign whoever they manage to their new label or publisher. Do you plan to do this with your Mega House roster?
Levin: I don’t think there’s anything super wrong with that model, but it’s not something we’ve done a lot of. We try to keep them separate if we can.
Silberstein: We’ve found it’s the most impartial to represent somebody just as a manager and then try to help them negotiate a publishing deal with you as well.
You had a huge success recently with your signee Jack LaFrantz, who is the right-hand man for Benson Boone and co-wrote on his breakout hit “Beautiful Things.” What does this early win mean for Poems?
Silberstein: It’s really special for Poems, and I feel so proud and happy for Jack. It’s cool to see a writer as kind and talented as him have their first hit. It’s even cooler that Jack and Benson have been working together since Benson’s earliest days. They believed in each other through the years and stuck together.
Levin: Jack is so talented musically, and he’s one of those rare people that when you meet them you fall in love with them right away. He’s got a magnetic aura to him. The second we had a meeting with him, we knew he was great.
What’s the value of choosing a boutique, songwriter-led publisher like Poems over a large indie or major publisher?
Stefan: You can be at any one of the majors, and you can have a go-to person that’s really amazing. I don’t want to downplay what any one of the bigger publishers does, but with a boutique like us the engagement you’ll get is very high. We have more people on our team right now than we have writers because we want to provide the highest level of service, and we want to build our roster right. We’ve all been in the game long enough to know what a good and bad publisher does.
Jordan: Because of the way the team is rounded out, there’s always going to be somebody on the team who has the answer to a question or the expertise needed.
Christian: We will only grow very deliberately — that’s one of the words that we use frequently. When we sign, it is with intentionality, and songwriters can expect the service that comes with that.
Following an impressive run in 2023, producer BYNX officially partners with Zack Bia‘s label Field Trip Recordings and Capitol Records. In addition, BYNX will work with Yeat’s Lyfestyle Corporation, who will work with him on the marketing side.
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“BNYX is an exceptional musician, a true artist with a specific vision but, above all, an incredible human,” says Bia, founder of Field Trip. “Yeat brought him into our lives, and he’s turned into family. It is only right we would all partner to bring his music to the world as the first official signee to Lyfestyle Corporation / Field Trip / Capitol Records. We couldn’t be more honored and excited.”
Capitol Music Group chairman and CEO Tom March echoes Bia’s sentiments and is eager to see the Philly producer blossom under their tutelage. “As a producer, BNYX®️ has had a profound impact on both music and culture,” he says. “We’re thrilled to partner with him, his manager Ness, the brilliant Zack Bia, and Field Trip Recordings on the launch of BNYX®’s solo career. It’s a privilege to enter this new era together, continuing our longtime relationship with Zack and the Field Trip team.”
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BYNX expressed his gratitude, telling Billboard: “I’d like to thank God, my manager, and Rick Owens.”
BYNX carved out a formidable lane for himself on the hip-hop side, working with the likes of Drake, Travis Scott, Nicki Minaj and his running mate, Yeat. BYNX produced four records from Yeat’s 2023 album AftërLyfe and Drake’s “Search & Rescue,” which debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 last year.
The partnership with Field Trip and Capitol will enable BYNX to release his debut album and single soon. Fans of the BYNX and Yeat tandem can rejoice, as the producer will join the “IDGAF” rapper on a soon-to-be-announced run of special shows this summer.
While HYBE has successfully expanded into an entertainment powerhouse built around its multi-label structure, the Korean corporation says it has investigated one of its crown jewel agencies, ADOR, the home of chart-topping girl group NewJeans.
Since its launch in late 2021, ADOR (an acronym for the phrase All Doors One Room) has been led by Min Hee-jin, a veteran creative in the K-pop industry who famously helped develop the scene’s penchant for artistic concepts and craft era-defining K-pop acts like Girls’ Generation, SHINee, f(x), EXO and Red Velvet during her tenure at SM Entertainment. After Min’s exit from SM, she joined then–Big Hit Entertainment in 2019 as chief brand officer and helmed the company’s rebrand into HYBE. During the 2021 rebrand reveal, HYBE announced Min as CEO of a new label, ADOR, with plans to debut the girl group that would become NewJeans.
Earlier this month, a report by Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service revealed that Min controlled an 18% stake in ADOR since late last year. HYBE previously had complete control of the label but now boasts 80%, with an additional two percent owned by other company executives. HYBE reportedly invested 16.1 billion won (about $11.7 million) to establish ADOR.
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Less than two years into NewJeans’ history-making debut, HYBE is asking Min to step down from ADOR after an audit of her, the label and its executives.
HYBE confirmed to Billboard that on April 22, the company “invoked the right to audit CEO Min Hee-Jin and top executives of its subsidiary label ADOR.” HYBE said it “called them to summon a shareholder meeting and sent an official letter to ask CEO Min to step down.” HYBE added that it could not provide further information on reason or reasons for the audit or why it is asking Min to step down.
Since news of the audit went public, ADOR and Min Hee-jin have gone on the offensive in the Korean media.
In a series of statements, ADOR claims HYBE’s newest act, the five-member girl group ILLIT under another subsidiary, BELIFT LAB, is copying NewJeans. With HYBE founder and current chairman Bang Si-hyuk involved in ILLIT’s debut album Super Real Me (No. 6 on the World Albums chart after three weeks), ADOR claims both BELIFT LAB and HYBE are complicit in the alleged infringement. ADOR says they raised the copycat issue internally a month ago but did not receive answers, claiming now that HYBE’s attempt to remove her as CEO is a result of bringing up the alleged problem. Min gave an additional interview to Korean outlet Sports Ilgan to fire back at rumors she was trying to break ADOR away from HYBE or seek outside investors to go independent with her 18% stake.
Min Hee-jin has not responded to Billboard‘s request for comment.
Min and ADOR quickly spun NewJeans into a slew of record-setting achievements including a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with 2023’s Get Up just a year after the debut, five Hot 100 hits to their name, a well-received live debut in the U.S. at Lollapalooza last year, plus honors like Top Global K-Pop Artist at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards and the first K-pop act honored as Group of the Year for Billboard‘s Women in Music. In 2023, Min earned a spot on Billboard‘s International Power Players and Women in Music executive lists and also collaborated with V of BTS on the overall production of his debut solo album, Layover, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in September.
The K-pop power clash comes as NewJeans prepares for several releases including new singles “Bubble Gum” and “How Sweet,” with the former’s music video scheduled to drop April 26 on the HYBE LABELS YouTube channel. NewJeans is also preparing their first-ever Japanese singles “Supernatural” and “Right Now,” as well as a new album planned for the second half of 2024.
Elsewhere in the HYBE universe, ILLIT’s “Magnetic” is currently at No. 91 on the Hot 100, making it the first debut single from a K-pop act to enter the ranking. New music from HYBE artists like Zico (under HYBE LABELS’ KOZ Entertainment) and SEVENTEEN (PLEDIS Entertainment) are also coming this month. Historically, internal company issues can affect K-pop music or content releases, but no updates have been shared as of press time.
Spotify reported on Tuesday that first quarter revenue jumped 20% and gross profit topped 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion), returning the now 18-year-old streaming company to profitability and putting it on track to meet its 2024 growth target.
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Spotify reported 3.6 billion euros ($3.9 billion) in first quarter revenue, up from 3.04 billion euros ($3.3 billion) a year ago, and gross profit rose 31% to 1.004 billion euros ($1.08 million) from 766 million euros ($833 million), according to filings.
Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek said that revenue growth accelerated and the company had record-high profits in the quarter, while total monthly active users grew 19% to 615 million and premium subscribers increased by 14% to 239 million — both compared to last year’s first quarter.
“As an adult company we are now consistently profitable, which is great news,” Ek said in a video posted to LinkedIn.
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Spotify raised prices by $1 — to $10.99 a month for individuals, $16.99 a month for families — in the U.S., one of its largest markets, last year for the first time, and it is reportedly considering increasing prices again later this year, Bloomberg reports. The initial round of new price hikes — $1 a month for individuals, $2 a month for duos and families — will hit the U.K., Australia, and Pakistan, among others, according to Bloomberg.
Those price increases helped Spotify reach profitability in the third quarter of last year. But in the fourth quarter it reported an operating loss of 75 million euros ($82.7 million). In the first quarter earnings reported on Tuesday, Spotify was again profitable with 168 million euros ($181 million) in operating income.
While revenue from premium subscribers of 3.247 billion euros ($3.5 billion) grew by 20% compared to the first quarter last year, it inched up just 2% from the fourth quarter. Ad-supported of 389 million euros ($419.8) revenue rose 18% from the first quarter last year, but it declined by 22% from the fourth quarter.
Monthly active users of 615 million for the quarter was up 19% from a year ago and up 2% from the prior quarter but missed the company’s target of 618 million in the quarter.
Total Revenue grew 21% year over year, or 20% to €3.6 billion on a constant currency basis.
Premium ARPU grew 7% year over year on a constant currency basis.
Gross margin was up 27.6%, and gross profit surpassed €1 billion for the first time in Spotify’s history.
Operating Income finished at a record high of €168 million (a 4.6% margin)
Monthly active users grew 19% year over year to 615 million on annual and quarterly growth in all regions.
Premium subscribers grew 14% to 239 million, led by growth in the streaming giant’s bundles–Family and Duo plans.
Following her departure from longtime home Sony Music Nashville last year, Miranda Lambert has signed a new deal with Republic Records. Nashville’s Big Loud will provide country radio promotion and marketing efforts as part of its partnership with the Universal Music Group-owned label.
As the first salvo in the new deal, Lambert will release the new track “Wranglers” on May 3. It will mark her first new music since the release of her 2022 album, Palomino. “’Wranglers’ is a tale of a woman taking her power back. I think we can all identify with the character in this song, because we have all had a time in our life that we needed to find a way to find our strength and also get a little revenge on someone that did us wrong or hurt us,” she said in a statement. Lambert will likely premiere the song during the seven-time CMA female vocalist’s headlining Stagecoach Festival appearance this Saturday (April 27).
Lambert’s affiliation with Republic comes as the New York-based label has moved more into country music and further into its partnership with Big Loud; in March, Big Loud inked a multi-year distribution deal with Mercury Records/Republic for all of its acts. Previously, only releases by Big Loud acts Morgan Wallen, Lily Rose and Dylan Gossett had gone through the partnership. Notably, Gossett is signed to Big Loud Texas, an imprint Lambert and Jon Randall started last year through Big Loud.
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“Being in Texas with Jon, recording where I cut my teeth as a young artist, felt like coming home. I thought about the women — and men — who’ve lived, loved and found power in my music, and I wanted to get back to the root of those spaces,” continued Lambert, who is managed by Marion Kraft. “Talking to [Republic founder/chairman Monte [Lipman], [Republic founder/vice chairman] Avery Lipman and the team at Republic, as well as [Big Loud CEO] Seth [England] and the Big Loud folks who are leaning in, everyone understood my desires and vision for this next era of my music. Aligning like that is empowering; it gives you a license to really chase it. Signing with Republic has inspired me to find the sweet spot for me and all the people like me. I can’t wait for everyone to hear ‘Wranglers,’ and the rest of this record.”
“Miranda Lambert’s legacy as both a consummate storyteller and legendary performer speaks for itself. Her new music is spectacular and we are thrilled and honored to welcome her to Republic Records in partnership with Big Loud,” added Monte Lipman.
Lambert added that the move has been inspiring. “Having a new home has given me a hunger I didn’t realize I still had inside me,” she said. “This song feels like it could be on the same record as ‘Gunpowder & Lead’; it has that same fury. I can’t wait to get out there with this new label and this new music… Monte Lipman and his team fire me up!”
“Gunpower & Lead,” featured on Lambert’s second album, 2007’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, became her first top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.
There’s no word on when Lambert will drop a new album, but Republic president/COO Jim Roppo said in a statement, “As she puts the final touches on her fantastic new body of work, it has all the hallmarks of her signature sound, yet she continues to push herself as a songwriter, producer and performer. We’re all at the beginning of a very special moment, and we’re grateful to be on this journey with her.”
Lambert, the most awarded artist by the Academy of Country Music Awards, recently wrapped her residency in Las Vegas and will be on the road through September, during which time she will headline several music festivals.
Range Media Partners has secured a substantial minority investment from a strategic investment group encompassing Liberty Global, Wildcat Capital Management and family entertainment company Playground Productions, the company announced Tuesday (April 23).
The investment will help finance growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions for Range, a diversified management firm that operates across music, entertainment, sports and digital. It will also be used to bolster the company’s position in the U.S. market while scaling it in new and existing international markets.
Launched in the summer of 2020, Range provides a full stack of shared services encompassing all areas of content production and commerce-based initiatives. Over the past year alone, Range has merged with production company Automatik; executed a growth strategy for Range Sports that included acquiring growth-stage companies within the media rights, athlete marketing and golf verticals; launched a music publishing division led by former Hipgnosis Songs Fund executive Casey Robison; and opened a Nashville office.
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Under the deal, Rick Hess — founder/managing partner of Cobalt Capital and a strategic advisor to Forest Road Acquisition Corp, which led the investor group — was appointed to serve on Range’s governing body as representative of Liberty Global and Wildcat Capital Management.
Previous Range investors include Point72 Ventures and A+E Networks.
Range’s music clients including Jack Harlow, Saweetee, Cordae, Midland, Murda Beatz, Nova Wav, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Hailey Whitters, Lauv, MAX, HARV, Sean Douglas, Wondagurl, Yola, Pentaonix, Luke Grimes, Russell Dickerson, Dylan Gossett, Shaboozey, Ryan Bingham and Tanya Tucker.
“We founded Range with the express intention to build a multi-vertical, full-service offering, one that extends beyond the traditional business of film & TV representation in order to catapult client careers and ambitions through the broader entertainment & media landscape as well as through technology and diversified ventures,” said Peter Micelli, CEO of Range Media Partners, in a statement.
Micelli continued, “We saw the dynamic changes happening, our clients were feeling them through the ripple effect, and we wanted to be more aggressive in how we could advantageously leverage those changes accordingly.”
Range managing partner Jack Whigham added, “Liberty Global, one of the most widely respected industry leaders worldwide, along with Wildcat Capital Management and Playground Productions are ideal strategic partners for Range’s next stage of growth. We have been very deliberate during this process, wanting to find top-tier, blue-chip partners who have a unique perspective on our industry and are as committed as we are to an innovative long-term strategy to unlock global value for our clients. We are honored to move into this transformative phase with Liberty Global, along with the other first-rate financial sponsors, at our side to continue to meaningfully diversify our business through investment & acquisition.”
ACF Investment Bank advised the investor group, with Greenberg Traurig serving as its legal counsel. Cooley was legal counsel for Liberty while Range was represented by Jones Day.
Milk & Honey Music + Sports + Ventures has acquired VMG Sports, the boutique sports agency that’s home to Kansas City tight end, three-time Super Bowl winner and Taylor Swift love interest Travis Kelce along with 14 other NFL players. In a deal broked by Milk & Honey president/founding partner Lucas Keller and VMG agents […]