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After 25 years, Jack Sussman is stepping down as executive vp of specials, music, live events and alternative programming for CBS Entertainment. Sussman, who will leave following the Feb. 4 Grammy Awards, will return to producing, including serving as executive producer of two tentpole CBS specials, the Tony Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors.
Mackenzie Mitchell has been upped to vp of specials, while Mitch Graham will continue to run unscripted as executive vp of alternative, which he has overseen since 2020. Graham will report to Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment, while Mitchell will report to Reisenbach and Bruce Gillmer, president, of music, music talent, programming and events for CBS parent Paramount and chief content officer of music of Paramount +.
“This is a storied department and I know both Mackenzie and Mitch will lead the team with distinction, transparency and positivity,” Reisenbach said in a staff memo obtained by Billboard. “They both launched careers and rose through the ranks at CBS while establishing deep roots in the TV community with limitless passion and creativity for making quality popular television.”
Sussman joined CBS in 1998 following roles at MTV, VH1, CNN and NBC and oversaw a wide variety of specials and yearly awards shows at the network. “I love live television,” he told Billboard in a 2017 profile. “You get one chance at it, and everybody’s got to be going in the same direction, because you are walking a tightrope.”
In an internal email, Sussman wrote to his colleagues, “I’m returning to my roots. I get to close out my career how I started in this business — producing. Working with talented artists and other creative producers has always been the best part of the job and now I will get to do that full time.” In addition to working on the Tonys and Kennedy Center Honors, Sussman says he will be “developing and producing outside passion projects for various platforms and live events along with the pro social and charitable organizations I have connected with throughout my career. A perfect next chapter as I look to slow down a little.”
Sussman has worked on more than 100 specials at CBS and with such artists as Garth Brooks, Bruno Mars, Celine Dion, Adele and Michael Jackson. “I’m so grateful to all the artists, managers, producers, record labels and production teams I’ve worked with along the way,” he wrote. “I had the good fortune early in my run at CBS of being mentored (and yelled at on occasion) by the giants who started the live television event business. I learned so much from them, and only hope I have been able to pass along some of that historical wisdom to this next generation.”
Both Graham and Mitchell have long tenures at CBS. Mitchell began at CBS in 2014 as a temporary assistant and had risen to vp while working on such annual shows as the Grammy Awards, Kennedy Center Honors and Tony Awards, as well as such specials as Garth & Trisha Live! and Adele: One Night Only. Graham started in the publicity department in 1999 and transitioned to the alternative department in 2013. He has worked on such shows as Amazing Race and Survivor. He has overseen the unscripted division since 2020.
“So proud to have watched these individuals and the collective team grow,” wrote Sussman in his memo to CBS staffers. “Mitch Graham is the best Alternative executive in town and Mackenzie Mitchell has grown into an outstanding executive overseeing our music and specials. You will not find two finer humans. The team is in great hands moving forward. They are simply the best, and a big reason this decision is both easier and harder.”
Sussman most recently oversaw CBS’ New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash. The Dec. 31 show averaged 8.31 million viewers, more than doubling its primetime audience in 2022. This made it CBS’s most-watched original entertainment special since the Grammy Awards in February 2023. CBS also scored a ratings win with Jan. 7’s Golden Globes, which averaged 9.47 million viewers in its first year on the network, according to Nielsen.
At the midyear point of 2023, Republic Records had put up a 12.46% current market share — defined as albums released in the past 18 months — which was a remarkable figure, and more than 4.5% higher than the second-largest label. Now, as 2023 has come to a close, Republic finished the year even higher, reaching an eye-popping 13.47% current market share for the year. That’s the highest full-year mark since at least 2015, when streaming began to lift the industry out of its post-CD doldrums, and more than 3% higher than its current share in 2022, which was a then-industry-leading 10.38%.
Republic’s high-water mark stems from a combination of both enduring releases dating back to the end of 2022 and massive albums from two of the biggest stars on the planet this year: Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen. For full-year 2023, Swift and Wallen (signed through Republic’s deal with Big Loud, which on its own commanded a 2.33% current share) combined for seven of the top 10 albums in U.S. consumption units, according to Luminate, including four of the top five. With Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains ranking at No. 10, Republic had an astonishing eight of the 10 biggest albums in the United States in 2023. And Republic’s fourth quarter was even more dominant: In the final three months of the year, the label’s current market share ballooned to 16.79%, buoyed by new albums from Drake, Nicki Minaj and Stray Kids. That’s higher than the current share of the entire Warner Music Group across that three-month period, which stood at 15.50%.
Following Republic — which includes Island, Big Loud, Mercury Records, Cash Money and indie distributor Imperial in its market share — Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) came in second in current share, at 8.80%, up from the 8.72% it tallied in 2022. The label — which also encompasses Verve Label Group — scored another big success with Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album GUTS. It also saw critical acclaim for Verve’s Jon Batiste, once again a Grammy darling, and continued its extremely strong recent track record of breaking new artists, with Gracie Abrams up for best new artist at this year’s Grammys — a category the label has won in three of the past four years.
The success of Republic and IGA helped parent company Universal Music Group roar back to a 35.84% current market share for 2023, jumping two points year over year from 2022’s 33.57%. In second, Sony Music Entertainment also grew year over year, up to 27.08% from 2022’s 26.99%, while Warner Music Group dipped to 16.95%, down from last year’s 18.30%. The indies, by distribution ownership, accounted for 20.13% current market share, down from 21.14% in 2022.
In third and fourth place in current share among frontline labels are a pair of Warner Music Group labels, Atlantic Records (6.83%, down from 9.15% in 2022) and Warner Records (5.96%, up from 4.86% in 2022). Atlantic (encompassing 300 Elektra Entertainment), which dipped from second to third place year over year, scored a big win with the Barbie soundtrack as well as No. 1s from Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow, despite a two-plus point percentage drop in current share. Meanwhile, Warner Records — which includes Warner Latin, catalog label Rhino and parts of Warner Nashville in its share — surged from sixth place last year to fourth place this year with a more than 1% boost. Zach Bryan’s self-titled album and No. 1 Hot 100 single “I Remember Everything” led the way, with Bryan landing at No. 4 on Billboard’s year-end Artist 100 ranking and his “Something in the Orange” being the third-most-streamed song of 2023.
In fifth, Capitol Music Group also saw a big year-over-year boost in current share, from 4.97% in 2022 to 5.90% in 2023. The label — which remains in fifth place despite the jump in share and encompasses Motown/Quality Control, Blue Note, Astralwerks, Capitol Christian and indie distributor Virgin Music — enjoyed the breakout success of Ice Spice (signed in conjunction with 10K Projects) in the past year as well as a top 10 Hot 100 single from Toosii.
Sixth place in current share belongs to RCA Records at 4.70%, a one-spot jump over last year when it came in with 4.65%. The label, whose market share does not include any other labels or distributors, benefited from the enduring success of SZA’s multi-Grammy nominated S.O.S. album, the third-biggest project of 2023, as well as huge hits from Doja Cat, Tate McCrae and Ateez, the latter of which landed a No. 1 album in the fourth quarter. Dropping into seventh is Columbia at 4.67% of current share, down from fourth in 2022 when it had a 6.67% share. Columbia, which includes some labels from indie distributor RED in its market share, still racked up a big hit with Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” which spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 this year on its way to becoming the fourth-most-streamed song of 2023 and the most-heard song on radio in the United States, according to Luminate.
In eighth, Sony Nashville jumped a half percentage point year over year to 2.32% from 1.89% last year, with a big Luke Combs album helping it rise one spot from last year’s ranking. Meanwhile, Sony’s Epic Records slipped to ninth year over year, despite boosting its current share from 2.23% in 2022 to 2.30% in 2023 and scoring a pair of big projects from Travis Scott — whose Utopia album was the seventh-biggest of 2023, according to Luminate — and Tyla with “Water,” which roared into the Hot 100’s top 10 late in the year. Rounding out the top 10 is yet another Sony label, Sony Latin, which also had a huge year, upping its current share from 1.24% in 2022 to an impressive 1.95% in 2023.
In overall market share, Republic’s dominance with newer releases lifted it to the No. 1 slot over IGA, 9.83% to 9.65%, despite the latter’s industry-leading 9.93% share of the catalog market. Atlantic, at 8.09%, sits comfortably in third, while Warner Records and Capitol Music Group are neck-and-neck in fourth and fifth, with 6.68% and 6.66% overall share, respectively, with their catalog shares tied at 6.92%. Columbia’s 6.65% catalog share is enough to lift it into sixth in overall share, ahead of RCA, with the two separated at 6.14% and 5.16%, respectively, in overall share. Epic (2.61%), Sony Nashville (2.05%) and Def Jam (1.84%) round out the overall top 10 rankings.
Among the label groups, the weight of catalog once again lifts all ships, with UMG jumping to an industry-leading 38.46% overall market share, up from 37.54% in 2022. Sony also saw an increase year over year, ending 2023 at 27.18%, up from 2022’s 26.87%, while Warner dipped slightly year over year, to 18.62% in overall share in 2023 compared to 19.05% in 2022. The indies by distribution ownership also fell, to 15.74% from 16.54% in 2022.
Rapper, actor and activist Common has signed with SMAC Entertainment. The Grammy-, Emmy- and Academy Award-winning artist will work with the talent management, music, branding and production company to pursue “strategic brand partnerships and endorsements, non-scripted projects and brand development for future projects and collaborations,” according to a press release announcing the signing.
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Stated SMAC Entertainment CEO Constance Schwartz-Morini in the release, “We are beyond thrilled to welcome Common to the SMAC family. His commitment to keeping it real and making a difference aligns perfectly with our motivating force at SMAC, and we believe Common is not just a great fit; he’s a game-changer. We can’t wait to take off on this exciting journey together!”
Beginning immediately, the new association will be overseen by Schwartz-Morini and fellow SMAC executives April Guidone and Derek Sanderson. They will be working in tandem with Common’s teams at UTA, Ceremony Music, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, The Lede Company and Tamara Brown at Think Common Entertainment.
Upcoming on Common’s project slate is the Jan. 23 release of his latest book, And Then We Rise. Focusing on health and wellness, the book addresses various topics such as achieving overall well-being and health disparities within the Black community as well as share Common’s insights and advice gleaned from his own personal wellness journey.
On the acting front, Common appears in Apple TV+’s sci-fi drama series Silo, which has been renewed for a second season. He also debuted on Broadway in the 2022 production of Between Riverside and Crazy. During the show’s run, Common hosted “Justice Nights on Broadway,” which featured a special performance and discussion about the show for invited justice advocates, formerly incarcerated people, their family members and community activists.
The Chicago native is actively involved in his Common Ground Foundation’s Dreamers & Believers mentoring program. He’s also a co-founder of the tuition-free creative arts school, Art In Motion.
Established in 2011, SMAC Entertainment represents rapper Wiz Khalifa, television personality Michael Strahan and Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders, among other clients. The company’s recent television and film productions include the documentary BS High on MAX, the second season of Coach Prime for Prime Video as well as that streamer’s forthcoming feature film, The Underdoggs, produced by and starring Snoop Dogg.
Tennessee governor Bill Lee has announced a new state bill to further protect the state’s “best in class artists and songwriters” from AI deepfakes.
While the state already has laws to protect Tennesseans against the exploitation of their name, image and likeness without their consent, this new law, called the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act (ELVIS Act), is an update to the existing law to specifically address the challenges posed by new generative AI tools. The ELVIS Act also introduces protection for voices.
The announcement arrives just hours after a bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers revealed the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications Act (No AI FRAUD Act), which aims to establish a framework for protecting one’s voice and likeness on a federal level and lays out First Amendment protections. It is said to be a complement to the Senate’s Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act (NO FAKES Act), a draft bill that was introduced last October.
An artist’s voice, image or likeness may be covered by “right of publicity” laws that protect them from commercial exploitation without authorization, but this is a right that varies state by state. The ELVIS Act aims to provide Tennessee-based talent with much clearer protection for their voices in particular at the state level, and the No AI FRAUD Act hopes to establish a harmonized baseline of protection on the federal level. (If one lives in a state with an even stronger right of publicity law than the No AI FRAUD Act, that state protection is still viable and may be easier to address in court.)
The subject of AI voice cloning has been a controversial topic in the music business in the past year. In some cases, it presents novel creative opportunities — including its use for pitch records, lyric translations, estate marketing and fan engagement — but it also poses serious threats. If an artist’s voice is cloned by AI without their permission or knowledge, it can confuse, offend, mislead or even scam fans.
“From Beale Street to Broadway, to Bristol and beyond, Tennessee is known for our rich artistic heritage that tells the story of our great state,” says Gov. Lee in a statement. “As the technology landscape evolves with artificial intelligence, we’re proud to lead the nation in proposing legal protection for our best-in-class artists and songwriters.”
“As AI technology continues to develop, today marks an important step towards groundbreaking state-level AI legislation,” added Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “This bipartisan, bicameral bill will protect Tennessee’s creative community against AI deepfakes and voice cloning and will serve as the standard for other states to follow. The Academy appreciates Governor Lee and bipartisan members of the Tennessee legislature for leading the way — we’re eager to collaborate with lawmakers to move this bill forward.”
“The emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) resulted in fake recordings that are not authorized by the artist and is wrong, period,” said a representative from Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI). “The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) applauds Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, Senate Leader Jack Johnson and House Leader William Lamberth for introducing legislation that adds the word “voice” to the existing law — making it crystal clear that unauthorized AI-generated fake recordings are subject to legal action in the State of Tennessee. This is an important step in what will be an ongoing challenge to regulate generative AI music creations.”
“I commend Governor Lee of Tennessee for this forward-thinking legislation,” said A2IM president/CEO Dr. Richard James Burgess. “Protecting the rights to an individual’s name, voice, and likeness in the digital era is not just about respecting personal identity but also about safeguarding the integrity of artistic expression. This act is a significant step towards balancing innovation with the rightful interests of creators and performers. It acknowledges the evolving landscape of technology and media, setting a precedent for responsible and ethical use of personal attributes, in the music industry.”
“The Artist Rights Alliance is grateful to Gov. Lee, State Senator Jack Johnson and Rep. William Lamberth for launching this effort to prevent an artist’s voice and likeness from being exploited without permission,” said Jen Jacobsen, executive director of the Artist Rights Alliance. “Recording artists and performers put their very selves into their art. Scraping or copying their work to replicate or clone a musician’s voice or image violates the most fundamental aspects of creative identity and artistic integrity. This important bill will help ensure that creators and their livelihoods are respected and protected in the age of AI.”
“AI deepfakes and voice cloning threaten the integrity of all music,” added David Israelite, president/CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association. “It makes sense that Tennessee state would pioneer these important policies which will bolster and protect the entire industry. Music creators face enough forces working to devalue their work – technology that steals their voice and likeness should not be one of them.”
“Responsible innovation has expanded the talents of creators — artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, and visual performers, among others — for decades, but use of generative AI that exploits an individual’s most personal attributes without consent is detrimental to our humanity and culture,” said Mitch Glazier, chairman/CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). “We applaud Governor Bill Lee, State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth’s foresight in launching this groundbreaking effort to defend creators’ most essential rights from AI deepfakes, unauthorized digital replicas and clones. The ELVIS Act reaffirms the State of Tennessee’s commitment to creators and complements Senator Blackburn’s bipartisan work to advance strong legislation protecting creators’ voices and images at the federal level.”
“Evolving laws to keep pace with technology is essential to protecting the creative community,” said Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange. “As we embrace the enormous potential of artificial intelligence, Tennessee is working to ensure that music and those who make it are protected under the law from exploitation without consent, credit, and compensation. We applaud the cradle of country music and the birthplace of rock n’ roll for leading the way.”
According to a press release from the state of Tennessee, the ELVIS Act is also supported by Academy of Country Music, American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), The Americana Music Association, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Church Music Publishers Association (CMPA), Christian Music Trade Association, Folk Alliance International, Global Music Rights, Gospel Music Association, The Living Legends Foundation, Music Artists Coalition, Nashville Musicians Association, National Music Publishers’ Association, Rhythm & Blues Foundation, Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Society of European Stage Authors and Composers (SESAC), Songwriters of North America (SONA) and Tennessee Entertainment Commission.
Taylor Swift dominated the U.S. market in 2023 by accounting for 1.8% of music consumption and one out of every 78 audio streams, according to Luminate’s 2023 year-end report released Wednesday (Jan. 10). But even without Swift, last year Americans streamed a record amount of music and purchased more albums than the year before.
U.S. music consumption grew 12.6% in 2023 to 1.1 billion units (measured as album sales plus track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums). With that double-digit gain, the U.S. market easily exceeded the 9.2% improvement from 2022 and had its biggest one-year gain since consumption grew 15% in 2019.
The streaming market picked up momentum in 2023 despite on-demand services already reaching mainstream status and subscription prices increasing in recent years. On-demand song streaming — both audio and video — climbed 14.6% to 1.5 trillion streams, an improvement on the 12.2% growth in 2022 and 10% growth in 2021. On-demand audio streams from services such as Spotify and Apple Music rose 12.7% to 1.2 trillion.
It was another good year for vinyl LPs and CDs as consumers continued to keep the album format alive in an era of single-serving music. Overall U.S. album sales rose 5.2% to 105.3 million — a rebound from 2022, when overall sales fell by 8.2%. Physical album sales grew 8.9% to 87 million while digital album sales fell 9.3% to 18.3 million.
Repeating a trend seen in recent years, the music Americans consumed in 2023 got a little older. The share of album consumption for catalog — releases more than 18 months old — was 72.6%, a slight increase from 72.2% in 2022. Total catalog album consumption increased 13.2% to 796.8 million units. Current music’s share of album consumption dropped to 27.4%, though current album consumption still increased in unit terms, rising 10.9% to 300.4 million units.
In the year it celebrated its 50th anniversary, hip-hop was the most popular genre in the United States with a 25.3% share of album units (album sales plus track equivalent albums plus streaming equivalent albums) — even though no hip-hop song topped the Hot 100 until Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red” did it in September. Rock was No. 2 with a 19.4% share and pop was No. 3 with a 12.3% share. Country and Latin rounded out the top five with 8.4% and 6.9% shares, respectively.
Rock led album sales with a 41.5% share, more than triple No. 2 hip-hop’s 12.9% share and No. 3 pop’s 12.7% share. Country was No. 4 with a 7.8% share and World — mainly K-pop — was No. 5 with a 6.9% share.
In terms of growth rate, World music — which also includes J-pop, or Japanese pop, and Afrobeats — topped all other genres with a 26.2% increase in U.S. on-demand audio streams to 5.7 billion. No. 2 Latin was close behind with 24.1% growth but was far larger with 19.4 billion on-demand audio streams. Country was No. 3 in terms of growth, up 23.7% and with a total of 20.4 billion on-demand audio streams.
On the other end of the spectrum was comedy, which excels at YouTube and TikTok but lost 10.2% of its on-demand audio streams in 2023. New age fell 6.9% and children’s music dropped 6.2%.
Led by Peso Pluma, Regional Mexican grew 60% to 21.9 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams, with Peso ranking No. 43 overall in U.S. on-demand audio streams with 1.9 billion. Another rising Regional Mexican artist, the group Eslabon Armado, amassed 1.3 billion U.S. on-demand audio streams — good for No. 71 overall.
J-pop totaled 1.67 billion on-demand audio streams (of J-pop tracks ranked in the top 10,000 world music songs). J-pop’s success comes from a youth movement: Fans are 95% more likely than the general population to be Generation Z and 94% more likely to identify as LGBTQ+, according to Luminate.
Direct-to-consumer album sales increased 38.6% to 11.8 million units as record labels put greater resources behind selling albums to their fans from artist and label websites. Rock was the D2C leader with a 38.6% share, followed by pop with 18.3% and R&B/hip-hop with 13.2%. D2C vinyl sales grew by 1.9 million to 6.8 million, up from 4.8 million in 2022. D2C CD sales rose 400,000 units to 3.9 million, up from 3.5 million.
The average U.S. monthly spend on music increased to $116 in the third quarter of 2023 from $96 in the prior-year quarter. That was about even with the $117 average monthly spend seen in the full-year 2021. Live music accounted for 62% of average monthly spend.
Globally, on-demand song streams — both audio and video — reached 7.1 trillion, up 33.7% from 2022. Global audio on-demand streams totaled 4.1 trillion, up 22.3%.
The United States ranked first globally in total streaming volume with 1.45 trillion, approximately 40% ahead of No. 2 India’s 1.04 trillion and nearly four times No. 3 Brazil’s 374 billion. But India ranked No. 1 in new net streams with 463.7 billion, an increase of 81% from 2022, while the United States ranked No. 2 with 184 billion net new streams and Indonesia was No. 3 with 93.1 billion net new streams (and No. 5 in total streams with 235.5 billion).
By almost every metric, the music business in 2023 has been defined by Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen. Collectively, they have led the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 for 23 of the 52 weeks of the year, with Swift topping Billboard’s year-end Top Artists chart and Wallen ruling both the year-end Billboard 200 Albums and Hot 100 Songs charts with One Thing at a Time and “Last Night,” respectively.
Combined, the two recording artists have an astounding 2.49% in overall U.S. album consumption unit market share, according to Luminate. (Year-to-year percentages are based on data from Dec. 29, 2022, through Dec. 28, 2023.) Their domination underscores a year of explosive growth for country — of the two rerecorded albums Swift released in 2023, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) qualified in the genre — which is up 21.8% year over year. That’s almost double the 12.6% year-to-year growth of recorded music overall for the same period and nearly five times the 4.8% increase the genre had from 2021 to 2022.
Country music accounted for 8.40% of the recorded-music market in 2023, up from 7.76% the year prior — and Swift and Wallen weren’t the only acts fueling those gains. Hit albums by Zach Bryan, Luke Combs and Bailey Zimmerman helped country’s current market share — defined as releases that arrived within the past 18 months — surge from 7.97% to 10.37% year over year, a 30% gain. And while that’s only good enough for third place when the genres are ranked by current market share, No. 1 hip-hop and No. 2 pop both fell year over year: the former from 26.72 % to 22.32%, the latter from 13.07% to 11.13%.
Country’s growth almost outstripped Latin music’s strides. Which isn’t to say Latin had a down year — the genre grew 21.9% year over year, the third-highest mark in the industry, largely due to the mainstream success of such new acts as Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado, and its volume growth (13.5 million units year over year) bested that of pop (11.6 million). In 2021, Latin’s share of the overall industry was 6.33%; in 2023 that number has jumped to 6.86%, and its 37.8 billion on-demand streams for current releases is the third-highest among genres.
R&B/Hip-Hop Slips Again
R&B/hip-hop remains firmly entrenched as the No. 1 U.S. genre with 25.27% of the market, largely because of its outsize percentage of on-demand streams. (The genre accounts for more than one in four streams.) But some metrics indicate that hip-hop’s dominance — it commanded nearly 30% of the overall market in 2020 — may be waning.
The genre’s market share has dipped every year since that 2020 peak, as has its share of on-demand streams, which stood at 30.11% in 2021 and is now at 26.63%. Current consumption of R&B/hip-hop has also slipped 7.4% from 2022 to 2023 and is down in every format for the same period — including the genre’s strong suit, streams, which dropped 7.0% to 93.2 billion. Despite No. 1 Billboard 200 releases from Travis Scott, Drake and Rod Wave, among others, hip-hop albums have continued to lose share since the midyear headlines that the genre had not produced any full-length chart-toppers. That said, its 93.2 billion current streams is more than double the 38.8 billion racked up by 2023’s second-place genre, pop, which sustained overall growth this year. And while R&B/hip-hop’s overall growth, at 5.9%, was 10th among genres, it finished third on that metric in overall volume, adding 15.6 million equivalent album units over last year, behind only rock and country.
Tipping The Sales Scales
While overall album sales have seesawed over the last few years, they have shown growth this year — up 5.2% after a down 2022. Driving sales once again is rock, which has a monumentally large share of the market: 41.47% of all album sales and 43.36% of physical sales. Those numbers are larger than the next four genres — R&B/hip-hop, pop, country and World music, in that order — combined and largely stem from immense catalog sales. Rock sales account for 47.50% of the entire catalog category — defined as music older than 18 months — a 4.0% year-over-year increase. Rock catalog album sales totaled 30.8 million units in 2023, more than the combined sales — current and catalog — of the next two genres, pop and R&B/hip-hop.
Latin music’s album sales growth is the inverse of rock. With just 0.57% of overall album sales in 2023, the genre ranks 14th out of the 15 core genres tracked by Luminate — lower than blues, jazz, classical and holiday/seasonal. Only new age placed below it.
Like hip-hop, Latin’s huge overall growth comes mostly from on-demand audio streams, but also a big chunk of the on-demand video streaming market, 10.0%, which is larger than its 6.86% overall market share. Pop is the only other genre on this chart where its market share of on-demand video streams exceeds its overall percentage by that much: 17.35% to 12.33%.
World Music’s Gains
Latin is just one genre of non-English-language music that occupies more and more of the mainstream U.S. music market. The umbrella genre of World music, which includes K-pop and Afrobeats, among other styles, has grown massively. In 2019, World music accounted for 1.69% of the overall industry; in 2023, that’s up to 2.73%, a 35.3% jump. That growth is most evident when looking at album sales. World music captured 6.93% of the market this year, with physical sales totaling 7.96% of that figure. The bulk of those sales is attributable to K-pop, which surged 88.8% year over year. Afrobeats also had a big impact on the genre, particularly in on-demand streaming, where it was up 54.3% year over year.
Titanic Taylor
Swift’s dominance of music and popular culture this year has been well documented. But how big is she in genre terms? With 18.89 million in album consumption units so far this year, her industry market share is 1.79%. If Swift was her own genre, she’d rank at No. 9 based on the data used here — just a few thousand units shy of Christian/gospel’s 1.76% market share and ahead of children music’s 1.11%. In 2023, Taylor Swift is bigger than jazz.
A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers announced a new bill on Wednesday (Jan. 10) that regulates the use of AI for cloning voices and likenesses. Called the No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas And Unauthorized Duplications Act of 2023 (“No AI FRAUD” Act), the bill aims to establish a federal framework for protecting one’s voice and likeness and lays out First Amendment protections.
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More federal and state legislation regulating artificial intelligence is expected to be announced later today, including a bill from Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee also regarding AI voice and likeness cloning. On Jan. 5, Gov. Lee hinted at the subject of his forthcoming legislation: “As the technology landscape evolves with artificial intelligence, we’re proud to lead the nation in proposing legal protection for our best-in-class artists and songwriters.”
The No AI FRAUD Act was introduced by Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL), the lead Republican sponsor of the bill, alongside Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Joe Morelle (D-NY) and Rob Wittman (R-VA). It is said to be based on the Senate discussion draft Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act (“NO FAKES” Act), which was announced last October.
“It’s time for bad actors using AI to face the music,” said Rep. Salazar. “This bill plugs a hole in the law and gives artists and U.S. citizens the power to protect their rights, their creative work, and their fundamental individuality online.”
AI voice synthesis technology poses a new problem and opportunity for recording artists. While some laud it as a novel marketing, creative or fan engagement tool, it also leaves artists vulnerable to uncanny impersonations that could confuse, scam or mislead the public.
An artists’ voice, image or likeness may be covered by “right of publicity” laws which protect them from commercial exploitation without authorization, but this is a right that varies state by state. The No AI FRAUD Act aims to establish a harmonized baseline of protection. Still, if one lives in a state with an even stronger right of publicity law than the No AI FRAUD Act, that state protection is still viable, and may be easier to address in court.
This bill is keeping with regulations that a number of music business executives, including those at Sony, ASCAP, UMG, have called for in recent months — following incidents like the viral fake-Drake song “Heart On My Sleeve.”
Mitch Glazier, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), released a statement, showing support for the No AI FRAUD Act. “The No AI FRAUD Act is a meaningful step towards building a safe, responsible and ethical AI ecosystem, and the RIAA applauds Representatives Salazar, Dean, Moran, Morelle, and Wittman for leading in this important area. To be clear, we embrace the use of AI to offer artists and fans new creative tools that support human creativity. But putting in place guardrails like the No AI FRAUD Act is a necessary step to protect individual rights, preserve and promote the creative arts, and ensure the integrity and trustworthiness of generative AI. As decades of innovation have shown, when Congress establishes strong IP rights that foster market-led solutions, it results in both driving innovation and supporting human expression and partnerships that create American culture.”
Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, also shared his praise for the new bill in a statement: “Universal Music Group strongly supports the ‘No AI FRAUD Act’ because no one should be permitted to steal someone else’s image, likeness or voice. While we have an industry-leading track record of enabling AI in the service of artists and creativity, AI that uses their voice or identity without authorization is unacceptable and immoral. We call upon Congress to help put an end to nefarious deepfakes by enacting this federal right of publicity and ensuring that all Americans are protected from such harm.”
Merlin, the global digital licensing agency for the independent music industry, has unveiled its new board – one that doesn’t feature co-founders Martin Mills and Michel Lambot.
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The new board comprises leaders from the indie sector in 12 different countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania, and includes six new faces.
Exclusively revealed by Billboard today (Jan. 10), Merlin welcomes new board members Golda Bitterli, VP of sales, Revelator (Israel); Jeffrey Chiang, director of global business, Fluxus (South Korea); Fer Isella, founder and CEO, limbo music (Spain); Irina Lipczyk-Kolakovska, digital distribution lead, e-muzyka (Poland); Simon Wheeler, director of global commercial strategy, Beggars (U.K.); and Megan Jasper, CEO, Sub Pop (U.S.).
They join returning Merlin board members Pascal Bittard, founder and CEO, IDOL (France); Marie Clausen, managing director North America, Ninja Tune (U.S.); Tom Deakin, head of EMEA, AudioSalad (U.K.); Chris Maund, COO, Mushroom Music (Australia); Carlos Mills, founder, Mills Records (Brazil); Louis Posen, president & executive director, Hopeless Records (U.S.); Michael Ugwu, CEO, Freeme Digital (Nigeria); Darius Van Arman, co-CEO, Secretly (U.S.); Horst Weidenmueller, CEO & Owner, !K7 (Germany); and Justin West, president & CEO, Secret City (Canada).
Van Arman is reappointed as chairperson for a second term, having first joined the board in 2015, and playing an “instrumental” role in guiding the organization’s strategic direction, reads a statement.
Additionally, Jennifer Newman Sharpe, general counsel, Exceleration, and Dorothee Imhoff, CCO, FUGA, are appointed board advisors this year.
Merlin’s board is elected from and by its membership, which represents tens of thousands of independent record labels, distributors, and rightsholders, including K7!, Because Music, Beggars Group, Better Noise, CD Baby and Downtown Music (including FUGA), Exceleration, and many others.
In the upcoming year, explains Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota in a statement to Billboard, the organization “is committed to fostering meaningful, sustainable and value-driven member growth.”
Its mission, “to support labels and distributors who invest in artists and their unique cultural contributions. By associating with members who invest in high-quality music around the world, Merlin aims to strengthen its network, while offering unparalleled access and benefits to our members, and enriching the global music landscape.”
Sirota and Merlin also pay tribute to outgoing board members Martin Mills (Beggars), Merlin co-founder, board member and former chairperson, and Michel Lambot ([PIAS]), Merlin co-founder and board member, two giants of the independent music community whose “long-standing leadership” helped members “around the world own their independence.”
Also, Sirota points to the completion last year of the initial build of a Data Warehouse, which should enable Merlin to make “significant strides in data, analytics, and insights to further advance our mission and our members.” In 2024, “we will now start to provide actionable insights derived from our collective data,” he adds. Part of that plan includes expanding Merlin’s data and insights team, which in time should “deliver insights that help our members make informed decisions and foster growth.”
Martha Henderson, the banking star who had a major role in City National Bank financing the entertainment industry over four decades, and whose expertise has seen her repeatedly honored on Billboard’s “Women in Music” and other power lists, is set to retire.
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Currently serving as vice chairman of entertainment banking at City National Bank, Henderson will step down on Feb. 2, 2024, ending her 40-year tenure with the organization.
Los Angeles-based Henderson joined City National in 1983 from Wells Fargo, where she launched her career in its private bank unit serving the entertainment industry.
With Henderson at the helm, City National’s team serving the entertainment industry now provides financial expertise to more than 90% of entertainment business managers, according to a statement from the bank, plus more than 50% of all Broadway shows, and upwards of 80% of the country music industry in Nashville.
Also, she created a team to serve the needs of Latin entertainers, expanded its business to New York, Miami, Atlanta and on Music Row in Nashville, and more.
“Martha is an institution at City National and I am grateful for her extraordinary service,” comments Kelly Coffey, CEO City National Entertainment. “Her decades of leadership and the profound impact she has had are felt throughout the organization.”
As she prepared for retirement over the last several years, explains Howard Hammond, CEO, City National Bank, Henderson “invested herself in ensuring the continuing entertainment banking leadership team is well prepared to support our clients,” singling-out experienced teammate JaHan Wang, executive vice president of entertainment banking.
Henderson’s financial wizardry hasn’t gone unnoticed outside of the bank. Billboard named her to its “Power” list in 2023 and 2022, and recognized her in its “Women in Music” list of the most powerful women in the music industry for 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
Separately, Variety named Henderson in its “Women’s Impact Report” as one of the most important women in Hollywood, doing so in 2016, 2019 and 2020, while Barron’s profiled her as the most powerful banker in Hollywood in 2017.
“Among the career highlights I am most proud of is the opportunity I had to grow and develop the next generation of leadership at the bank to continue our focus on serving clients,” comments Henderson ahead of he departure. “I’m confident City National’s unwavering dedication to the industry will only grow.”
A judge set bail Tuesday at $750,000 for a former Los Angeles-area gang leader charged with orchestrating the killing of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur in 1996 and said he can serve house arrest with electronic monitoring ahead of his trial in June.
Court-appointed attorneys for Duane “Keffe D” Davis told The Associated Press after the hearing in Las Vegas that they believe he can post bail. They had asked for bail of not more than $100,000.
The lawyers argued in a court filing a day before that their client — not witnesses, as prosecutors had said — faced danger. And they say that their 60-year-old client is in poor health after battling cancer, which is in remission, and that he won’t flee to avoid trial.
“We believe he can” post bail, public defender Robert Arroyo said after Tuesday’s hearing.
The lawyers accused prosecutors of misinterpreting a jail telephone recording and a list of names provided to Davis’ family members, and of misreporting to the judge that Davis poses a threat to the public if he were released.
Davis “never threatened anyone during the phone calls,” said Arroyo and Charles Cano, deputy special public defenders, in their seven-page filing Monday. “Furthermore, (prosecutors’) interpretation of the use of ‘green light’ is flat-out wrong.”
The “green light” reference is from a recording of an October jail call that prosecutors Marc DiGiacomo and Binu Palal provided last month to Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny, who presided over the bail hearing.
The prosecution’s filing made no reference to Davis instructing anyone to harm someone, or to anyone associated with the case being physically harmed. But the prosecutors added that “In (Davis’) world, a ‘green light’ is an authorization to kill.”
“Duane’s son was saying he heard there was a greenlight on Duane’s family,” Davis’ attorneys wrote, using his first name. “Duane obviously did not know what his son was talking about.”
Davis’ lawyers also used his first name Monday, asking Kierny to consider what they called “the obvious question.”
“If Duane is so dangerous, and the evidence so overwhelming,” they wrote, “why did (police and prosecutors) wait 15 years to arrest Duane for the murder of Tupac Shakur?”
Prosecutors point to Davis’ own words since 2008 — in police interviews, in a 2019 tell-all memoir and in the media — that they say provides strong evidence that he orchestrated the September 1996 shooting.
Davis’ attorneys argue that his descriptions of Shakur’s killing were “done for entertainment purposes and to make money.”
Davis, originally from Compton, California, is the only person still alive who was in the car from which shots were fired in the drive-by shooting that also wounded rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight. Knight is now serving 28 years in a California prison for an unrelated fatal shooting in the Los Angeles area in 2015.
Davis’ attorneys noted Monday that Knight is an eyewitness to the Shakur shooting but did not testify before the grand jury that indicted Davis ahead of his arrest arrest Sept. 29 outside his Henderson home. Las Vegas police had served a search warrant at the house in mid-July.
Davis has pleaded not guilty to murder and has been jailed without bail at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas, where detainees’ phone calls are routinely recorded. If convicted at trial, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Davis maintains he was given immunity from prosecution in 2008 by an FBI and Los Angeles police task force investigating the killings of Shakur in Las Vegas and rival rapper Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, six months later in Los Angeles.
DiGiacomo and Palal say any immunity agreement was limited. Last week, they submitted to the court an audio recording of a Dec. 18, 2008, task force interview during which they said Davis “was specifically told that what he said in the room would not be used against him, but (that) if he were talk to other people, that could put him in jeopardy.”
Davis’ attorneys responded Monday with a reference to the publication 12 years ago of a book written by former Los Angeles police Detective Greg Kading, who attended those interviews.
“Duane is not worried,” the attorneys said, “because his alleged involvement in the death of Shakur has been out in the public since … 2011.”