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Martin Kirkup, the well-respected co-founder of Direct Management Group, died Sunday, Feb. 4 while vacationing in Hawaii, according to his family. He was 75.
Kirkup currently managed Katy Perry, k.d. lang and Au/Ra, but over his decades-long career had also worked with artists including the B-52s, Counting Crows, Tracy Chapman, the Go-Go’s, Adam Lambert and many others.
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“Martin Kirkup and I conceived Direct Management while drinking Raki at a restaurant high above the Bosphorus in Istanbul, escaping the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984,” said Direct Management Group co-founder Steven Jensen in a statement. “We were both fans of alternative pop music and focused on establishing a boutique management company to support that exciting genre of music. I’m proud to have built Direct Management with Martin and Bradford Cobb to the global presence it has today, with integrity, honor and ingenuity, much of which was contributed by Martin. His influence is a permanent fixture of the Direct Management culture.”
The Tynemouth, U.K.-born Kirkup came to the U.S. in 1973 as a visiting professor of English Literature at the University of Rhode Island. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and joined A&M Records as east coast publicity director, eventually ascending to vp of artist development and working with such artists as Peter Frampton, Styx, Squeeze, Joe Jackson, the Police and Joan Armatrading.
Kirkup and Jensen opened Direct in Los Angeles in April 1985, with early clients Boy Meets Girl, Echo & The Bunnymen and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, as well as guiding Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry on his first solo international tour. In 1989, Direct experienced tremendous success with the B-52s’ quadruple-platinum album, Cosmic Thing, which included the massive hit “Love Shack.”
In the ‘90s, Direct continued to grow, working with the Counting Crows for a decade during which the band sold more than 25 million albums. Other clients during that decade included David Byrne, Joe Jackson, Seal and the New Radicals. In 1998, Bradford Cobb joined the company as a manager, becoming a partner in 2012.
Under the three principals, the company flourished in the early 2000s, overseeing the careers of lang, Perry, the Go-Go’s and Jamie Cullum. Subsequent clients also included Lambert and Steve Perry. Signing Katy Perry in 2004 was automatic, Kirkup told Billboard in 2012. “To us, it’s not remarkable that she’s hugely successful-without sounding like wise-asses, that’s why we signed her,” Kirkup says. “We really believed in her and felt she had huge potential.”
“Martin Kirkup was a class act, a gentleman, and he was brilliant,” Cobb told Billboard in statement. “Over my 25 years working alongside him at Direct, he had a major influence on my growth as a manager and a human. Of his many talents, one that I admired most was his ability to take a problem and dissect it down to its core, finding a solution with a calm demeanor that gave everyone around him confidence. Martin had excellent taste in music, and he had great reverence for the artists who created it. He was witty with a wicked sense of humor. Martin was also warm and genuinely caring, and it was an honor to be his partner.”
Kirkup, who was on Billboard Power 100 list in 2017, was a fierce advocate for his artists, but always found time to help the next generation of executives. He doled out advice freely, mentoring a number of younger managers who came to him for advice.
He is survived by his wife Lale Kirkup, daughter Melisa Kirkup Blatt and son-in-law Ben Blatt, son John Kirkup and daughter-in-law Lorien Kirkup, and three grandchildren, Sam, Abigail, and Ivy. Details on a celebration of life will come at a later date.
Snoop Dogg and Master P are suing Walmart and Post Consumer Brands over allegations that the two huge companies sabotaged the rappers’ cereal brand with “underhanded dealing” and “diabolical actions.”
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Feb. 6), the rappers’ company, Broadus Foods, claimed that after they struck a partnership deal with Post, the company secretly “ensured that Snoop Cereal would not be available to consumers” or would “incur exorbitant costs that would eliminate any profit.”
Broadus Foods, represented by prominent attorney Benjamin Crump, claims the move was payback after Snoop (Calvin Broadus) and Master P (Percy Miller) refused to sell their company to Post.
“Essentially, because Snoop Dogg and Master refused to sell Snoop Cereal in totality, Post entered [a] false arrangement where they could choke Broadus Foods out of the market, thereby preventing Snoop Cereal from being sold or produced by any competitor,” Crump wrote in Tuesday’s complaint.
The lawsuit also named Walmart as a defendant, saying the retail giant played a key role in “the most egregious example” of Post’s alleged wrongdoing: “Post essentially worked with Walmart to ensure that none of the boxes of Snoop Cereal would ever appear on the store shelves.”
According to Snoop and Master P, the duo launched Broadus Foods and Snoop Cereal in 2022 in an effort to “add diversity to the food industry” and create a “legacy” that they could leave behind for their families. When they approached Post about a production and distribution partnership, they say the “breakfast juggernaut” attempted to buy the company outright, but that they refused.
Spurned from acquiring the upstart company, they claim Post agreed to a partnership whereby it would not only produce the products but also “treat Snoop Cereal as one of its own brands” and distribute it to major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Kroger and Amazon. But behind the scenes, they claim that Post was working to sabotage the new company.
“Unbeknownst to Broadus Foods, Post was not on board with their goals and dreams and had no intention of treating Snoop Cereal equally as its own brands,” Crump writes. “Instead, Post intended to only give appearances that they were following the Agreement.”
The worst case of such alleged mistreatment, according to the lawsuit, was the situation at Walmart. Snoop and Master P claim that Snoop Cereal initially sold well at the massive chain, but that Walmart’s system soon began to falsely show that the product was out of stock.
“However, upon further investigation by store employees, each of these stores had several boxes of Snoop Cereal in their stockrooms that were coded to not be put out on the store shelves,” the company’s lawyers write. “Unlike the other Post branded boxes of cereal around them, these Snoop Cereal boxes had been in the stockrooms for months without ever being made available to customers.”
In technical terms, the lawsuit claims that Post breached its agreements with and fiduciary duty to Broadus Foods, as well as defrauded the smaller company and made negligent misrepresentations. The case claims that Walmart committed so-called tortious interference by going along with Post’s scheme and that it aided and abetted Post in breaching its fiduciary duty. And the lawsuit claims that both companies committed civil conspiracy by working together.
Reps for both Post and Walmart did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday evening.
Kesha has signed with Crush Management, the company confirmed with Billboard. She will be co-managed by Charlie Adelman, Jonathan Daniel and Bob Mclynn. In December, the pop icon parted ways with longtime manager Jack Rovner and Vector Management. “Jack Rovner confirms, after 16 years, Kesha and Vector Management have agreed amicably to part ways, with […]
Crypto.com Arena and its concessions partner, Levy Restaurants, broke their previous record for food sales at this year’s 66th Grammy Awards, averaging $97.17 in sales per person, says Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater and LA Live. The sales figure was enough to top the record per cap of $95.94 at last year’s […]
The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) has selected its leadership for the coming year.
Lee Thomas Miller has been selected to serve as president, while Jenn Schott will serve as vp of the organization. Outgoing president Steve Bogard, who previously served as NSAI president from 2006-2012 and was elected to the role again in 2017, is the longest-running president in NSAI’s history. Bogard chose not to seek another leadership term, though he will continue serving on NSAI’s board of directors.
The results of the general election also include new board member Trannie Anderson joining for a first term, while 10 current board members were re-elected to two-year terms: Steve Bogard, Chris DeStefano, J.T. Harding, Byron Hill, Josh Kear, Jamie Moore, Jon Nite, Liz Rose, Jenn Schott and Emily Shackelton. Meanwhile, Roger Brown was re-appointed to a one-year term as legislative chair, while Rhett Akins and Caitlyn Smith were re-appointed to the organization’s “artist writer” board positions for one-year terms and Brett James was re-appointed to a one-year term in the industry liaison role.
The new additions join existing board members Miller, Kelly Archer, Sarah Buxton, David Hodges, Jessie Jo Dillon, Tim Nichols, Josh Osborne, Rivers Rutherford, Anthony L. Smith, Troy Verges and Parker Welling, whose terms expire in 2025.
“Steve Bogard led NSAI through complicated trials where we sought higher streaming rates, the Music Modernization Act, and many challenges as we sought to improve compensation for American Songwriters,” said NSAI executive director Bart Herbison in a statement. “Every songwriter in the United States owes him a handshake and thank you for his work and the thousands of hours he sacrificed. We are also glad to welcome Lee Thomas Miller who has served as President previously and is a proven, effective advocate. And Jenn Schott who will serve as NSAI Vice-President after years of experience on our board and Executive Committee.”
NSAI Board elections happen in two phases: voting by the NSAI professional songwriter membership and appointments by the NSAI board of directors. The board terms begin each year at the April meeting.
Ricardo Chamberlain has been named COO of Puntilla Music, where he will oversee the music company’s distribution, record label and publishing divisions, Billboard has learned. “I feel immensely proud and excited to embark on this journey with Puntilla and its visionary team,” Chamberlain said in a press statement. “Working side by side with Claudio Pairot […]
Taylor Swift’s lawyers are threatening to sue a Florida college student who runs social media accounts that track celebrity private jets, calling it “stalking and harassing behavior.”
According to a report Tuesday (Feb. 6) by the Washington Post, Jack Sweeney received a cease-and-desist letter from Swift’s attorneys in December, warning they would have “have no choice but to pursue any and all legal remedies” if he did not stop posting the locations of Swift’s private jet.
Sweeney runs social media accounts that track flights by celebrities and other public figures, ranging from Kim Kardashian to Bill Gates to Donald Trump. In 2022, he was banned from X (formerly Twitter) after he posted such info for billionaire Elon Musk, the site’s owner. He cites publicly-available government flight data, alongside estimates of carbon emissions from each flight.
In the legal letter, Swift’s lawyers (led by Katie Wright Morrone of the firm Venable LLP) warned Sweeney that his posts posed an “imminent threat” to Swift’s “safety and wellbeing.” The letter said Sweeney’s posts were “in violation of several state laws,” but did not specify which ones.
“While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our Client,” Morrone wrote, according to the Post. “Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm.”
The letter also referenced the earlier dispute with Musk, including Sweeney’s offer to delete the account for $50,000: “We are aware of your public disputes with other high-profile individuals and your tactics in those interactions, including offering to stop your harmful behavior only in exchange for items of value.”
News of the dispute with Sweeney comes just weeks after a man named David Crowe was arrested outside Swift’s Manhattan home and charged with stalking; prosecutors say Crowe was spotted more than 30 times outside her apartment and had repeatedly attempted to enter the building. In 2022, another man was arrested after he crashed his car into her building and attempted to get inside.
In a statement Tuesday on the letter to Sweeney, Swift’s spokeswoman, Tree Paine, stressed the risk of stalkers: “We cannot comment on any ongoing police investigation but can confirm the timing of stalkers suggests a connection. His posts tell you exactly when and where she would be.”
According to the Post’s report, many of Sweeney’s posts are derived from government data compiled by the Federal Aviation Administration. Though celebrities can request to hide their planes from those databases — and Swift appears to have done so — volunteer hobbyists can still track such aircraft via the signals they broadcast, and they often upload such info to independent public websites.
In the Post report, Sweeney said that he was merely posting public information that’s “already out there.” His attorney went further, calling the claims from Swift’s attorneys “hyperbolic and unfounded” and saying the posts posed “no threat” to the superstar.
Queen is finally getting close to selling its catalog, according to sources — and may even already be in an exclusive period with an undisclosed suitor.
The music assets include recorded music, publishing and ancillary income streams, according to sources, who suggest Queen is seeking a $1.2 billion payday. Those ancillary revenue streams include revenue from the 2018 smash film Bohemian Rhapsody, merchandise and other licensing opportunities. The deal may also include royalties from the North America master recordings catalog, which Queen sold to the Disney-owned Hollywood Records at some unknown point since the label began licensing the band’s recordings in the early 1990s.
In the past, Hollywood has maintained that when it acquired Queen’s master recordings it was for life of copyright, which could mean the label has the band’s later albums in the U.S. for a total of 35 years, given that U.S. copyright law allows creators to terminate and reclaim their copyright after that term.
There have been numerous media reports about Queen seeking a record $1 billion catalog sale since the band started shopping it in May 2023 — the first of which by Music Business Worldwide. While many of those stories suggested that Queen was in discussions with Universal Music Group and that Disney, Hollywood’s owner, was also approached, sources say that the band’s music assets were shopped to only a few select suitors because the band members wanted to be comfortable in entrusting stewardship of its catalog. Moreover, because of the price the band is seeking, sources suggest that some of the potential strategic buyers may have partnered with financial institutions to make an offer.
Sources say that each band member — Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the estate of the late Freddie Mercury — has his own lawyer involved to collectively shop the deal. Billboard reached out to lawyers who are or were officers for the band’s company, Queen Productions Ltd., as well as Hollywood Records and UMG, all of whom either declined a request for comment or didn’t respond.
The Queen catalog includes iconic hit songs such as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Killer Queen,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Somebody to Love,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “You’re My Best Friend, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.” Since 1991, the Queen catalog has generated nearly 38 million album consumption units in the U.S.; and has nearly 41.7 billion in global on-demand streams, according to Luminate.
Since late 2018, Queen’s sales and streaming activity has been turbocharged by the Bohemian Rhapsody theatrical film that came out that year.
For perspective, from 1991 to the end of 2017, Queen’s U.S. sales and streaming activity totaled 25.9 million album consumption units, according to Luminate. And in the three years leading up to the Bohemian Rhapsody film’s release, Queen’s annual catalog album consumption averaged about 752,000 units. But then in 2018, with the film’s release that November, the band’s album consumption unit count jumped to 2.074 million. In 2019, its catalog activity exploded to nearly 3.58 million units.
At the end of 2023, Queen’s U.S. album consumption sales activity to date since 1991 totals nearly 37.7 million units, an increase of 45.5% from the 25.9 million in 2017.
According to financial reports from Queen’s shared company, Queen Productions Limited, filed with the United Kingdom’s Companies House agency, the band reported a net profit of 18 million pounds on nearly 41 million pounds in revenue for the year ended Sept. 30, 2022. The company also reported 32.4 million pounds in gross profit and 22.16 million pounds after expenses but before taxes. For the prior fiscal year, the company reported 13.6 million pounds in net profit on revenues of 39.2 million pounds.
Music assets usually trade based on financial models built around an average of the catalog’s performance for the most recent three years. They trade on what’s known as net label share — gross profit after cost of goods but before marketing costs. Or, in the case of publishing, net publishers share — gross profit after paying out royalties.
However, the Bohemian Rhapsody film produced incredible financial rewards, throwing off the kinds of averages commonly used to price these deals. When investors look at music catalogs, they try to eliminate what they consider one-time activity bonanzas like a new boxset coming out; or in the case of Queen, setting aside the sales and streaming activity in the immediate aftermath of the film.
By the time the Queen music assets came to market in May 2023, interested suitors were likely scrutinizing the catalog’s activity from 2020 to 2022, when the band’s music averaged nearly 1.53 million album consumption units a year. That’s more than double the 752,000 album consumption units that the band averaged in the three years before to the film’s release. After discounting 2018 and 2019 as an anomaly, Queen’s camp, however, is likely arguing that the movie has brought Queen to a bigger audience and that success will be sustained. But suitors considering the Queen acquisition nevertheless might be worried that some of that activity might still be from the film’s afterglow. And if so, how much decay might still occur before sales and streaming activity level off and become predictable?
Overall, in 2019 — the year the band’s financials were most impacted by the film — Queen reported 72.8 million pounds in revenue and, after cost of sales, a gross profit of 58.8 million pounds. In the three years prior to the movie being released, from 2016 through 2018, the Queen catalog averaged 17.6 million pounds — due to an atypically low 2016 when revenue was only 12.34 million pounds — while gross profit averaged 13.5 million pounds. From 2020 through 2022, the catalog averaged revenues of 40.7 million pounds, and gross profits of 22.2 million pounds.
It’s likely that the Queen financials don’t include all Queen revenue, as well. For example, while it may include music publishing royalties paid to the band’s publishing company, it likely doesn’t include the individual payouts from global collection societies that are paid directly to writers. With that under consideration, Billboard estimates Queen’s publishing revenue likely totals about $17 million annually, based on the 2020–2022 three years average.
For masters, Billboard estimates — also based on a three-year average — annual global revenue of about $48 million for the Queen catalog. Of that, about $16 million is from North America — where sources say the band receives artist royalties. For the remaining $32 million outside North America, Queen owns its catalog. Figuring Queen takes a quarter of the revenue from North America, and three-quarters elsewhere, the band would earn roughly $28 million annually off recorded music.
In all, that’s about $45 million that Queen earns from recorded and publishing annually, based on estimates.
Sources say Queen’s annual royalties in the deal total about $50 million, which likely also includes royalties from Bohemian Rhapsody DVD and Blu-Ray sales, band merchandise and Queen theatrical productions in the U.K.
Valuing Queen’s publishing catalog at a 25-times multiple would come to about $420 million. The masters and other income streams at a 20 times multiple would bring that valuation to $660 million. And then, adding in other tertiary income streams and then likeness and image rights could get it to $1 billion valuation.
Queen is seeking more than that, though. And the steep $1.2 billion price tag sources suggest could be one of the reasons why the catalog has been in play for so long. Now, though, it seems a deal may finally be close.
Sammy Hagar‘s company is demanding that a federal judge shut down an allegedly unauthorized Hollywood location of his Cabo Wabo Cantina, claiming that a former franchisee has gone rogue and is damaging the rock star’s reputation.
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Attorneys for Hagar’s company (Red Head Inc.) sued last month, claiming that franchisee Robert Azinian had opened a new Cabo Wabo on Hollywood Blvd across from the TCL Chinese Theatre even though his licensing deal had been terminated. Now, in a new filing Monday, they asked for an immediate injunction blocking Azinian from continuing to use the name or any other company branding on his new eatery.
“Every day that the Cabo Wabo Cantina at the new Hollywood location continues to operate under the ‘Cabo Wabo’ brand, it soils the name, reputation, and goodwill that Red Head has developed,” the company’s lawyers write. “Defendants were instructed to discontinue any and all use of the marks, but they have ignored that request.”
Hagar and his Van Halen bandmates opened Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 1990; after buying out his partners, he later launched a line of tequila under the same name. Hagar sold the liquor brand to Gruppo Campari for $101 million, but his Red Head Inc. continues to operate the restaurant in Cabo and later franchised locations in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Last month, Red Head sued Azinian in California federal court, claiming he had essentially gone rogue after years of successfully running the Los Angeles location. The lawsuit claimed that Azinian had closed his original spot on Hollywood Blvd and “surreptitiously” relocated across the street, all without seeking the required approvals. They warned the new Cabo Wabo was already causing confusion with customers, citing Instagram comments like one in which a user wondered “is Sammy Hagar still affiliated?”
In Monday’s filing, Red Head echoed those arguments in asking for a preliminary injunction, which will block Azinian from continuing to use any Cabo Wabo branding while the case plays out. Without such an order, Hagar’s company warned that the unauthorized eatery could cause severe damage to Cabo Wabo’s reputation.
“Defendants’ continue to use the Cabo Wabo marks in connection with their operation of the restaurant — but Red Head has no oversight, control, or even visibility as to the quality of any one aspect of Defendants’ business, such as the quality of décor, the quality of staff, the quality of materials, or the quality of food,” the lawyers write. “Red Head currently has no control over any of it.”
Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Tuesday.
Capitol Music Group chair and CEO Michelle Jubelirer is exiting the company, she announced in a memo to staff this morning (Feb. 6) that was obtained by Billboard. The move comes less than a week after Universal Music Group chairman/CEO announced a restructure of the label groups at the company that would shift Capitol, among other labels, under the oversight of Interscope Geffen A&M chairman/CEO John Janick.
Jubelirer, who has held her current title since December 2021, will depart the label after today.
“I am deeply saddened that I will no longer be at the company we rebuilt and took to new heights over the past two years,” she writes. “As I’ve said before, I don’t think any label group has been able to turn things around as quickly as we have managed to, and I’m certain that we’ve set Capitol Music Group on course toward a great future.”
Jubelirer joined Capitol in early 2013 as executive vp under then-CMG CEO Steve Barnett, and quickly became his second in command at the music group, which also encompassed Motown, Blue Note, Astralwerks and, until recently, indie distributor Virgin Music. In 2015 she was promoted to COO, a role she held throughout Barnett’s reign atop the label, which ended at the end of 2020. She remained on as COO under Barnett’s successor, Jeff Vaughn, who spent a short time in the top role, before Jubelirer succeeded Vaughn at the end of 2021.
A longtime attorney who also spent time at Sony Music prior to joining Capitol, Jubelirer was part of the revitalization of the storied label following UMG’s acquisition of EMI in 2012, and has been a regular on Billboard’s Women in Music and Power 100 features in the years since. Upon her appointment in 2021 to the top job, Jubelirer became the first female executive to head Capitol in its 80-plus-year history.
In 2023, Capitol racked up a 6.66% market share in the U.S., including a 5.90% current market share — which measures releases from the past 18 months — which was fifth among all labels for the full year. Both numbers were up significantly over her first year at the helm in 2022, when Capitol’s overall market share stood at 6.40% and current market share was 4.97%.
Last week, Grainge announced a restructuring of UMG’s labels, returning the company to an operational structure more similar to the one that existed from 1999 through 2014, prior to the full integration of Capitol. Under this new configuration, which is loosely an East Coast-West Coast alignment, Janick is overseeing Interscope, Geffen, Capitol, Motown, Priority, Verve and Blue Note, while Republic Records CEO Monte Lipman will oversee Republic, Def Jam, Island and Mercury.
See her letter to staff below in full:
To my Capitol Music Group Team,
I wanted you to hear this news directly from me: I’ve made the extremely difficult decision to leave the company that has been my home for more than a decade, and so, today will be my last as Chair & CEO of Capitol Music Group.
I am deeply saddened that I will no longer be at the company we rebuilt and took to new heights over the past two years. As I’ve said before, I don’t think any label group has been able to turn things around as quickly as we have managed to, and I’m certain that we’ve set Capitol Music Group on course toward a great future.
Together, we became a real team; a diverse group of individuals bonded by our love of music and passion for artistry, and whose differences in backgrounds and cultural tastes made each of us stronger advocates and champions for our artists. In such a competitive and fast-paced world, we gave it our all—every minute of every day—so that our artists could seize the opportunity to realize their dreams and ultimately succeed.
I am so fortunate to work in a business that I love and be constantly surrounded by music and the talented people that create it. Every day, I renewed my promise to do my very best for our artists, and they have given me so much in return. No matter where I find myself in this business, I will always approach my relationships with artists as their advocate, their protector, and their fan.
I will let you know of my future plans as soon as I can.
In closing, let me simply say to each of you: Thank You. It has been my honor to be on this journey with you.
With love and appreciation,
Michelle