Business
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Last week, Bloomberg reported that Spotify will be raising prices for its premium subscription in five markets later this month and do the same in the United States at an unspecified time later this year. For about $1 to $2 extra per month, depending on the market, premium users will receive audiobooks alongside podcasts and ad-free music listening in their subscription — but the change will have a knock-on effect for mechanical royalty rates for songwriters and publishers.
Once the price increases are launched, all premium subscribers will automatically be subject to the new offering unless they manually change their subscription tier. While the increased price will result in Spotify getting increased revenue, a representative for Spotify believes it also qualifies the popular premium tier for a discount on its royalty rate on U.S. mechanicals because it is now considered a “bundle,” similar to how Amazon bundles Prime and Amazon Music and Apple bundles Apple Music and Apple News.
“Spotify is on track to pay publishers and societies more in 2024 than in 2023,” a Spotify rep said, citing the company’s Loud and Clear report that says the streamer has paid nearly $4 billion to publishers, PROs and collection societies in the last two years.
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“As our industry partners are aware, changes in our product portfolio mean that we are paying out in different ways based on terms agreed to by both streaming services and publishers. Multiple DSPs have long paid a lower rate for bundles versus a standalone music subscription, and our approach is consistent,” the company added. Though Spotify premium users have already gotten access to audiobooks on the service since October for no additional charge, the company clarified to Billboard that its re-classification of the tier as a “bundle” is not retroactive to when it began testing audiobooks but only begins when the subscription price increases.
Music publishers have made it clear they are not going to accept the change without a fight. David Israelite, president/CEO of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), called out the service for the move, saying that “it appears Spotify has returned to attacking the very songwriters who make its business possible.” He went on to add that the company’s attempt to “radically reduce payments” to publishers and songwriters is “a cynical and potentially unlawful move.” If it is determined that Spotify’s move is not properly categorized as a bundle, the trade organization says it will consider “all options,” including the MLC or publishers taking Spotify to court or before the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), the entity that sets mechanical royalty rates for streaming in the United States. “We will not stand for their perversion of the settlement we agreed upon in 2022,” he warned.
Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) took to Instagram, urging their followers to cancel their subscriptions: “NSAI, along with the the @nmpaorg, is contemplating our next steps to fight this move. Stay tuned, but in the meantime remember they are doing all this in the worst possible show of disrespect to the songwriters who make them billions.”
Songwriters of North America CEO Michelle Lewis shared the perspective of songwriters, telling Billboard, “We are disappointed, but not surprised, to see Spotify once again on the forefront of finding ways to pay songwriters less. This reclassification, which we see as a deliberate misclassification, dangerously undermines the good faith of the last CRB settlement. It’s also duly noted that it is always the same company leading in this way.”
Phonorecords IV Settlement
Every five years, the CRB reconsiders the royalty rate for mechanicals in the United States. It is a complex, multi-pronged formula, setting the rate that each streaming service must pay to publishers and songwriters based on a number of contingent factors, including the subscription price, the amount the service pays to record labels and more. There are other caveats to consider when setting the rate based on how the user is subscribed with their streaming service, including whether the music was streamed on a free, ad-supported tier or on a paid, premium tier and whether the user is subscribed to the service through a bundle of other products.
In late 2022, NMPA, NSAI and Digital Media Association (DiMA) jointly announced that they had come to a voluntary settlement about what the U.S. mechanical royalty rate would be for the period of 2023-2027 (also called Phonorecords IV or “Phono IV”).
Even though the changes to the way bundling worked were considered a concession to streaming services, many in the music business celebrated the Phono IV settlement as an overall win, especially because the previous five-year rate (Phono III) was fought over for years, causing confusion over rates in the interim. When it was announced, the NMPA touted the Phono IV settlement as delivering the “highest rates in the history of digital streaming,” and many felt it signaled a new era of cooperation between streaming services and the music business. Israelite says now in his statement that Spotify’s latest move to bundle audiobooks “ends our period of relative peace.”
How Bundling Affects Mechanical Revenue
Even though the price of Spotify premium is rising, that additional revenue does not benefit songwriters and publishers. Now that premium is considered a bundled service with audiobooks, some of the subscription price is owed to book publishers and authors to license their works, too.
Mechanical revenue for bundles is calculated by seeing what audiobooks are valued at as a standalone offering ($9.99) and weighing that against the price of the premium bundle offering ($10.99), according to Phonorecords IV. The value of music is found by dividing the total premium price ($10.99) by the two services (audiobooks only and premium) together ($21), which results in music being valued at about 52% of the total bundle, or around $5.70 per subscriber.
How Bundling Affects the Total Content Cost
The first step in calculating the mechanical royalty rate a streaming service owes to songwriters and publishers is to find the “all-in pool.” This is the greater of either the headline rate (which ranges from 15.1% for 2023, 15.2% for 2024, 15.25% for 2025, 15.3% for 2026, and 15.35% for 2027) of Spotify’s revenue (which is now lowered to around $5.70 per subscriber) or the percentage of total content cost (TCC), a.k.a. what royalty Spotify pays to labels.
Previously, Spotify premium qualified for the full rate of the lesser of 26.2% of TCC for the period or $1.10 per subscriber. Now, after deciding to change its premium offering to include audiobooks, Spotify argues it qualifies as a “bundled subscription offering,” which moves its rate down to 24.5% of TCC for the accounting period.
Regardless of whether Spotify calculates its royalties due to songwriters and publishers based on the percentage of TCC or the headline rate, both options are affected by Spotify reclassifying premium as a bundle. One source close to the matter tells Billboard that Spotify has been paying based on the TCC recently.
It’s time for another spindle around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music.
Shore Fire Media promoted five staffers to key leadership posts at the 34-year-old public relations agency. Allison Elbl, Matt Hanks, Mark Satlof and Rebecca Shapiro are now co-presidents at Shore Fire, while Jaclyn D. Carter has been promoted to senior vice president. Founder and CEO Marilyn Laverty will continue leading the Brooklyn-based firm while taking on an expanded role at Dolphin Entertainment, which acquired Shore Fire in late 2019. The agency’s roster includes Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, the Avett Brothers, Sylvan Esso, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Robert Plant/Alison Krauss, as well as corporate clients including Rhino, Secretly and Gateway Studios. Geographically, Elbl heads Shore Fire’s West Coast office in Los Angeles, while Carter helms the Nashville outpost and Hanks, Satlof and Shapiro hold down the fort in Kings County.
“These executives each put their imprint on Shore Fire in a unique and powerful way,” said Laverty. “They have shaped Shore Fire with their passions, creativity, broad interests and expertise. I’m so grateful to work with them and thrilled to recognize their leadership with the announcement of these new roles. I anticipate great success as Mark, Rebecca, Matt, Allison and Jaclyn drive innovation and growth for both Shore Fire and Dolphin in the future.”
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Meanwhile…
Sony Music knew there was something about Harri Davies, hiring the industry veteran as head of A&R at RCA Records UK, effective immediately. As his title confirms, Davies will be handling all things A&R for the label — scouting, signings, strategy, etc — and will report into co-presidents Glyn Aikins and Stacey Tang. He’s got over a decade of experience in the bank, most recently as senior director of A&R at Concord Music Publishing. Davies’ more notable signings in the line of duty include Krept & Konan, Imanbek, Flowdan and Tyla. “Harri embodies the globally-minded, creative spirit that has always been at the heart of RCA UK,” said Aikins and Tang. “His understanding of the music landscape and passion for nurturing artists will undoubtedly have a positive effect, steering our team and artists towards further global success.”
Monument Records promoted Casey Thomas to vp of marketing & commercial partnerships, with Ansley Neeley promoted to manager, marketing & creative. Boston native Thomas joined Monument from the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2018, serving first as a manager of PR; she was elevated to publicist and later director of marketing, publicity and creative. Alabama native Neeley began her career at The Greenroom PR, before joining Monument in 2021 as the label’s promotion coordinator, before adding in marketing coordinator responsibilities in aiding the setup of all label releases, planning artist events and overseeing/developing the roster’s creative elements. Monument Records’ roster includes Walker Hayes, Tigirlily Gold and Shelby Lynne. –Jessica Nicholson
Bob Boilen
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RADIO, RADIO: NPR legend Bob Boilen, creator of Tiny Desk Concerts and All Songs Considered, is the next program director at DC-area community station Takoma Radio (WOWD-LP). The station said Boilen will take over from Steve Hoffman, the PD since 2017, starting June 1. The native New Yorker departed NPR last October after a 35-year run, having left his mark as a digital pioneer as a long-time producer at NPR Music. “It’s a thrill to be a part of community radio with a spirit of commitment and imagination that this station and its volunteers offer,” said Boilen, who already hosts My Tiny Morning Show on the 8-year-old station … SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein signed a three-year extension of his employment agreement, stretching until May 24, 2027. The former movie executive (USA Films, Miramax) is celebrating 20 years at the satellite radio giant.
Secretly Distribution hired Rich Thane as the new associate director of artist and label strategy. Based in London and reporting to Josh Madell, director of artist and label strategy, Thane is tasked with growing Secretly’s client roster of indie labels and forming label services deals with management firms and estates, among other duties. Previously, Thane rose to senior director of global playlist strategy during an eight-year stretch at Warner Music, where he led teams across London, NYC and LA. Thane has also held a variety of positions at Eventim, Billetto and Amazon Music. “Rich’s passion for and knowledge of independent labels and artists is unparalleled, and he comes to Secretly Distribution with a wealth of close personal connections across the global music community,” said Madell. “Add to this his deep understanding of modern playlisting strategy, and it’s hard to imagine someone better suited to this role, as Secretly leans into our global growth.”
Nashville’s Big Loud Records is making some changes in its radio promotion department. Current vp of radio promotion Ali Matkosky will soon exit the company for a new role with Relative Music Group, while director of promotion Southeast Tyler Waugh will take over the role at the label, home of Morgan Wallen, HARDY and Dallas Smith. “Ali has been an integral part of this team and her contribution over the past six years has been nothing less than significant,” Big Loud Records svp of radio promotion Stacy Blythe said. “Tyler’s unwavering passion and dedication have propelled him to the role of vp of radio promotion, where his leadership will continue to inspire and drive success.”
Sony Music stalwart Pauline Duarte was named vp of Columbia Records France. She’ll oversee all operations at Columbia France in addition to her other gig leading Epic Records France. Duarte succeeds Laurent Chapeau, who joined Sony in 2008 in a business development capacity and has helmed Columbia’s French division since 2013. Duarte has been a member of the Sony fam for roughly 14 of the last 21 years, only taking a Def Jam detour in 2013 before joining Epic in 2020. As part of the reorganization, Franck Hiag has been named director of Epic Records France, reporting to Duarte. “The vision of Columbia that Laurent Chapeau has developed over the past decade is outstanding,” Duarte said. “I admire his work with iconic artists and his ability to spot young talents. I’m delighted to succeed him and to be able to help shape the future of the label while respecting its musical heritage.”
LiveCo, an independent concert promoter, hired live events veteran Chuck Steedman as its next president and CEO. Steedman takes over from co-founder Brian Becker, who has helmed LiveCo since it was formed two years ago by consolidating five indie promoters — BASE Entertainment, Premier Productions, Icon Concerts, Rush Concerts and Peachtree Entertainment — under one roof. Steedman arrives at LiveCo from private equity fund Raptor Sports Capital, where he was a principal, and previous roles include global evp of strategy and development at ASM Global and chief operating and development officer at AEG Facilities. LiveCo brands specialize in country, faith music, family shows and comedy, and have the backing of private equity fund Waterland. “LiveCo is a fantastic company made up of some of the most innovative and talented people and brands in live entertainment,” said Steedman. “I am humbled that Waterland and LiveCo leadership have chosen me to lead this incredible organization into a new era of providing experiences for fans, artists, and entertainers across our amazing platforms.”
ALL IN THE FAM: Penske Media Corporation launched PMC Brand Group (PMBG), an in-house agency dedicated to building licensing programs, partnerships and consumer products for PMC’s portfolio of brands including this one, plus The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Rolling Stone, SXSW, The Golden Globes, VIBE and quite a few more. The PMBG team will be led by Thomas Ferguson, vp of licensing, partnerships and consumer products, with assistance from Laura Ongaro, associate vp of licensing and partner management, and Noelle Hickey, who is promoted to associate director of marketing and partner management.
Allie Gruensfelder
Allie Gruensfelder joined marketing agency The Syndicate as director of publicity. In her new role, Gruensfelder will focus on overall press strategy and creating opportunities for national and local media coverage for clients. Prior to The Syndicate, she led campaigns for Hoobastank, The Maine and other acts as vp of Trendsetter Media & Marketing. Gruensfelder will report to Jeff Kilgour, svp of business development, and work from the firm’s office in Weehawken, NJ. “Allie is an exceptional talent and her experience, creativity, and passion will be invaluable to the company,” said Kilgour. “She always brings innovative ideas to her campaigns and we’re thrilled to have her fresh perspective strengthen the team.” Reach her at allie@thesyn.com.
Sea Gayle Music executives Chris DuBois and JD Groover have joined with Geoff Ogunlesi of The Ognlesi Group to form a new management company, 1221 Artist Management. Groover will take on the title of vp of management at 1221 while keeping his senior creative director/A&R role at Sea Gayle. DuBois, who is CEO of Sea Gayle, and Ogunlesi will oversee 1221 while continuing at their respective operations. The execs see only benefits to adding management services to their arsenal. “In today’s publishing world, having turnkey management services is a natural way to grow and support an artist’s career,” said DuBois. Ogunlesi, whose LA-based management company counts Young Thug and Reyna Roberts as clients, said he found the right partners. “As our company has thought about expanding into the country space and into Nashville, we wanted to do so with integrity as I have the utmost respect for the culture and the people involved,” he said.
NASHVILLE NOTES: The Country Music Association promoted Michelle Kirk to senior director of integrated marketing, and Mary Overend to senior director of marketing. Kirk previously re-joined the CMA in 2019 after time at WME. Overend joined the CMA in 2015 following time at Carters/OshKosh B’Gosh … Ashley Gorley’s publishing company Tape Room Music elevated Caroline Hodson to director of A&R. The native Mainer joined TRM as an intern in 2020, the year she graduated Magna Cum Laude from Belmont University. “Caroline has been a rockstar since day one and is immensely deserving of this promotion,” shares president Blain Rhodes. “She is an integral part of our team, and our writers are lucky to have her in their corner.”
Melissa Newhart, an executive in UTA‘s music brand partnerships division and a former vp at Roc Nation, joined the board of directors of WhyHunger. The non-profit, which advances initiatives aimed at ending world hunger, also appointed philanthropist Jimmy Zankel to the board.
Max Cutler, former head of talk creator content partnerships at Spotify, launched a new multi-media storytelling company called PAVE Studios. According to the announcement, PAVE Studio will work to build a “unique ecosystem of genre-specific brands” creating hyper-targeted content across audio, video, books, live experiences and more. “Storytellers who successfully engage audiences and create fandoms through written, audio, and video content have led the charge in cultivating their robust communities into diverse businesses,” Cutler said. “PAVE Studios will set the stage for a better way of producing, distributing and consuming the world’s greatest original content, all while empowering creators, simplifying content discovery, and fostering vibrant fan communities.”
ICYMI:
Cindy James
The Verve Label Group promoted Joseph Oerke to executive vice president of Decca Records U.S., tasked with leading it into a “new era as the leading classical record company in America” … One-time executive of the week Cindy James was promoted to general manager of Virgin Music Group‘s operations in North America … and Telemundo‘s got a new structure.
Last Week’s Turntable: BMI’s New Digits
Two weeks ago, FloyyMenor and Cris MJ made history as the first Chileans to enter the top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart since La Ley and Ednita Nazario’s “Tu Sabes Bien” did so 25 years ago. The only other Chilean artist to have reached similar heights was Myriam Hernández with 1998’s “Huele a Peligro,” which peaked at No. 5. This week, the emerging pair catapulted to No. 1, dethroning Xavi’s months-long reign with “La Diabla.”
The song making waves is “Only Gata,” a sly reggaetón number about online flirtation. According to Luminate, the viral track registered 11.11 million official U.S. streams, a 33% gain from the previous week. That landed them a No. 34 debut on the Streaming Songs chart and gave them a second week atop the Latin Streaming Songs chart. “Gata Only” also occupies No. 48 on the Hot 100. Last week it was at No. 74.
But how did two relatively unknown Chilean artists manage to not only break through on the global music scene but also clinch the top spot on the Hot Latin Songs chart? The success story begins with some strategic planning, innovative marketing and a dash of serendipity.
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Initially, FloyyMenor was a mysterious figure circulating online who had scored a few local hits. His identity was obscured and the art on his early YouTube releases was composed of car imagery, never revealing his face. “You needed to go to the nightclubs to see him,” says Adrian Mainou, artist marketing manager of Latin/U.S. at UnitedMasters.
The Latin team at UnitedMasters had been monitoring the Chilean music scene, having signed Nicko G over two years ago and being fans of Paloma Mami and Polimá Westcast. When the company’s Latin A&R lead, Gerardo Mejía — a music veteran with 30 years of experience and a former rapper/singer originally from Ecuador — began scouting the country’s music scene in the summer of 2023, he encountered FloyyMenor performing live and was captivated by the young artist’s unique appeal and the audience’s enthusiastic response.
“This kid was packing venues [with audiences] singing lyric after lyric,” recalls Mejía. At the time, FloyyMenor’s big local hit was “pa la europa,” while “Gata Only” was just a song people knew from his live shows and online teasers. Eager to sign the promising talent, Mejía had to wait until Floyy turned 18 in December.
After the signing, UnitedMasters released “Gata Only” in December — and the song began gaining traction within the first week and a half of its release. Not long after, Cris MJ — a Chilean act who had gained recognition from Karol G’s remix of “Una Noche en Medellín” featured in Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season) — reached out to Floyy, expressing his love for the song and his desire to be part of it.
As Mejía recalls: “When I got back to Chile in January, [Floyy] called me and said, ‘Cris MJ loves the song.’ I said, ‘Cool. We’ll do the remix.’ He said, ‘No. He loves the song so much he wants to be the original.’ I was like, ‘My brother, if Cris MJ calls you, then get on it with their teams and go record.’ We pulled down the original and waited maybe two weeks before we released it [on Feb. 2] with Cris MJ, and the rest is history.”
In a conversation with Billboard, Mejía and Mainou provided an in-depth look at the strategic rise of “Gata Only” to the top of the Hot Latin Songs chart. See below for the full interview.
The accomplishment alone as the first Chilean acts to make the top 10 of the Hot Latin Songs chart in 25 years is already very impressive, then to top the chart at No. 1. How does that happen?
Adrian Mainou: It was a very interesting and entertaining build up. [After we officially released it], we saw social growth and began working with a press team in Chile. It was a no-brainer to see the movement on TikTok and that we needed to lean into this. So I activated the first phase of influencers with Kono Sur [marketing y diseño]. We pushed [the song] in Chile, Argentina, and Ecuador, and we were able to see a lot of reactions on YouTube from those countries. Once we saw that, we had Floyy go to Argentina and do some shows while pushing press and [involving] influencers. For an artist coming out of Chile, having the Argentina push is a very cool look; it’s a very important country to connect with. For Floyy, it was pretty easy. He loves Argentinian culture. He got in on a Monday, did a show that same Tuesday, and by Thursday it was No. 1 on Spotify Argentina.
[Publicist] Cris Nova then joins the team [and he] was able to paint the narrative with press across socials, streaming and [seeing] the bigger perspective. At this point, we activate a second phase of influencers in Mexico, who helped us create more noise. [Mexico is] the third country in his top demographic at the moment.
Activating influencers. Please explain.
Mainou: We looked at lip-synching which fueled social media content. Then we looked into dance challenges. This is where we can start connecting with other countries and going global. We moved from lip-synching to the dance challenge [because] we knew it’s an easier thing for people in other countries to tap into.
We saw a couple of fan [pages] chiming into this. It was key to leverage from this and create new [dance challenges]. We were like, “Let’s take advantage of that and work with them.” We collaborated with fan accounts on TikTok, being like, “Yo, let’s work together. Put this [song] up.” At the end of the day, it’s content that they’re pushing on an organic level.
Once we got into Mexico, it was a no-brainer to start activating DJs for the song. We did that across Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Miami, targeting different demographics. We were able to get data on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. That puts us on this new level, and the song started translating into the U.S., and it was going crazy in the U.S.
FloyyMenor is a relatively unknown artist. What is your thought process when attempting to break an unknown act into the U.S.?
Mainou: This is an independent artist, so I don’t have a lot of money. How can we take advantage of what we’re doing? I connected with the digital team to give me Mexico influencers [whose] second-biggest demographic is in the U.S. With that mindset, I can pay for the influencer Mexico fee. Then it caught U.S. growth; [Mexican influencers] have a very strong presence in U.S. Latin culture. That can cover almost every big Latin influencer in the U.S. doing the song without us having to pay. We saw the song growing to almost 20 million streams on Apple, and from that a large portion came from the U.S. That took me into this current new position where I’m starting to push specifically the U.S. The song is already here, and we know it’s [playing] in nightclubs, people doing remixes, and the DSPs are supporting. He’s gotten [on] pretty much every single cover [of official playlists on] DSPs, and social support. We’ve seen artists [using] the audio [on social media], from Kenia Os to Shadi and Malu Trevejo…as well as Trapeton, Trap House Latino, etc.
Why do you think “Gata Only” is resonating with the masses?
Mejía: The lyrics talk about TikTok, about likes, about following. I think that he hit something that resonates with the kids. To top it off, it’s such a great melody. And having Cris MJ never hurts.
Mainou: The sound is very particular. I’ve become a very big fan of the Chilean sound from “Ultra Solo” [by Polimá Westcoast and Paloma Mami] a couple years ago, and from working with Nicko G. I think the production is very Chilean, [combined] with very good vocals and great analogies.
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What is UnitedMasters doing different than other management and agency companies?
Mejía: At UnitedMasters, our mission is to be a tool for the artists and get them wherever they wanna get. We work with independent artists, and that has some challenges around it. Not all of them have managers, nor friends that can make them music videos; not all of them have a studio that they can record music at. We sat down with Floyy, we were able to not only get to know him but make him look at the bigger picture. We told him, “This is what we can do with you if you trust us, if you listen to us. This is where we can take you.” It’s about sitting down with the artists, understanding their needs, and being able to make a plan around it, creating a timeline.
TikTok has returned to the bargaining table with Universal Music Group (UMG), but a fast-tracked Congressional bill that could result in the platform being sold, or, as a last result, banned in the United States may reach President Joe Biden’s desk before those negotiations are finished.
A source familiar with the talks says Bytedance — the Chinese company that owns TikTok — has returned to the bargaining table with UMG after the label group pulled its music from the social media platform at the end of January citing its refusal to address three “critical” issues: “appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters,” “protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI” and “online safety for TikTok’s users.”
It’s unclear whether any progress has resulted — neither UMG nor TikTok will comment — but ByteDance currently faces a more urgent, existential issue now that the Speaker of the House of Representatives has attached what’s being called the TikTok national security bill to the foreign aid package for Ukraine and Israel that is expected to move quickly through Congress. The House may vote on it as early this weekend and the Senate is expected to act quickly. If it passes in both houses, President Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
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Officially titled The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the proposed legislation was drawn up after White House national security and intelligence leaders briefed House lawmakers on the potential dangers that TikTok, which is used by 170 million Americans, poses to the nation.
What the TikTok National Security Bill Does
If Biden signs the bill into law, ByteDance will have approximately a year from its enactment — the original bill gave it just 90 days — to sell TikTok to a buyer in a country that the United States does not consider a foreign adversary. If ByteDance, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party and is subject to its government, refuses to divest itself of TikTok or does not meet the deadline, then the app could be banned from being downloaded or used in the United States.
Rick Lane, TikTok Coalition.org leader and child safety advocate, says the TikTok bill “is moving forward very quickly. The language between the House and Senate is so close — they are millimeters apart, and I think agreements are being made to bring them together. Unless something drastic happens, I don’t see this bill’s momentum slowing down, no matter who’s on the other side. That is why adding it to the foreign aid bill makes sense.”
At a time when Congress is mired in ideological infighting, particularly among Republicans, the House of Representatives moved with remarkable speed to mark up and pass the bill and send it to the Senate.
Despite a deluge of calls and messages from TikTok users protesting the legislation, the House passed it, 352 votes to 65, on March 13 — less than a week after national security and intelligence officials held a classified briefing for an executive session of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A music industry source familiar with activity on Capitol Hill tells Billboard that, before the briefing started, “members and staffers devices were taken away, and the committee room’s AV systems and the like were removed.” Following the morning briefing, the committee marked up the bill that afternoon and voted unanimously to advance it to the full House of Representatives.
A classified intelligence briefing was also held in the Senate and prompted similar remarks of concern. Republican senator from Missouri Eric Schmitt told Axios that the Chinese-controlled platform’s “ability to spy is shocking.”
“We don’t know exactly what was briefed,” says the music industry source. “But what is absolutely crystal clear is that whatever has been presented to Congress members by the intelligence community is clearly driving this. You don’t see — particularly Congress members — reacting with that kind of dispatch and unanimity.”
A ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Alarm
“This is really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of alarm,” the source adds. “People who have been around the Hill for decades don’t remember there ever being this level of concern.”
An unclassified 2024 Annual Threat Assessment issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in February may offer a glimpse of these security concerns. The assessment reported that “China is demonstrating a higher degree of sophistication in its influence activity, including experimenting with generative AI. TikTok accounts run by a [People’s Republic of China] propaganda arm reportedly targeted candidates from both political parties during the U.S. midterm election cycle in 2022.”
In response, a TikTok spokesperson referred Billboard to its written response to the ODNI, dated March 15, which asserts that the social media platform “regularly takes action against deceptive behavior, including covert influence networks throughout the world, and has been transparent in reporting them publicly. TikTok has protected our platform through more than 150 elections globally,” the response continues, “and is continuing to work with electoral commissions, experts, and fact-checkers to safeguard our community during this historic election year.”
In addition to the intelligence briefings, Billboard obtained a slide presentation that one Capitol Hill source says has been shown to staffers for over 40 senators. The presentation cobbles together previously published articles, analyses and reports about TikTok’s alleged dissemination of disinformation and propaganda to much of the same demographic that uses the app for music discovery. (According to a 2024 Pew Research Center report, 56% of U.S. adults 18 to 34 use the platform and 52% of the users in this age group have posted a video to the platform.)
‘TikTok Is a News Organization‘
As one tech policy expert says, “TikTok is a news organization. Trends are indicating that up to 40% of adults 18-to-29 will be getting their news from TikTok in 2024. It’s their CNN or Fox News or MSNBC.”
One of the first slides, titled “TikTok Has Rapidly Evolved From an Entertainment to a News Platform, Enormously Expanding Its Influence on The U.S. Population,” includes a graph built from Pew Research Center data that shows 43% of TikTok users regularly got their news from the platform in 2023, nearly double the 22% that did so in 2020. Only X (59%) and Facebook (54%) were higher. And nearly a third of that 43% were adults under 30 years of age.
Although music’s role in TikTok’s alleged dispersal of disinformation is not examined in the presentation, the tech policy expert says it’s definitely a factor. A 2023 report released by the rights management startup Pex in February revealed that 85% of TikTok videos contain music, more than YouTube (84%), Instagram (58%) and Facebook (49%), and the tech policy expert says that music played on the platform often functions as an emotional gateway to propaganda.
“The power of music is what draws people to social interaction,” the source says. “They’re taking music that gets people excited and, for instance, following them with horrific videos — and the interaction of those data points creates this powerful tool to affect policy.” The expert adds that TikTok’s algorithm enables the platform to essentially tailor its approach to each user. “It’s no longer just one size fits all; the ability now is to take visual cues, music and sound and target each individual with what sets them off — and they can do that on a massive scale.
“The argument in favor of TikTok is that Meta and Alphabet are collecting data from even more people, but they are not based in an adversarial country,” the expert continues. “There’s another key difference as well. TikTok sends you videos that they think you are interested in no matter what. Most young people want to be influencers. In order to be an influencer on TikTok, you have to follow what’s trending, so your video is blasted to more people. You tag along with feeds. In the policy realm, if they want to influence public policy, your view is going to be whatever direction that feed is going in.”
A TikTok spokesperson responds: “There is absolutely no evidence to these assertions. We have clear rules prohibiting deceptive behaviors.”
‘They Deserve It’
The music industry’s view of the proceedings in Washington is mixed. The perspective of artists and songwriters is arguably best expressed by David Lowery, the artist rights activist and frontman for the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, who also was one of more than 200 creators that, in early April, signed an open letter to tech platforms urging them to stop using AI “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”
“The rates TikTok pays artists are extremely low, and it has a history — at least with me — of using my catalog with no licenses,” Lowery says. “I just checked to make sure and there are plenty of songs that I wrote on TikTok, and I have no idea how they have a license for those songs.”
As a result, Lowery says that while “I’m kind of neutral as to whether TikTok needs to be sold to a U.S. owner, the bill pleases me in a general way because I feel that they’ve gotten away with abusing artists for so long that they deserve it. I realize the bill doesn’t punish them for doing that,” he continues, “but that’s why a lot of musicians feel they really deserve it.”
The consensus among label executives is that TikTok is not going anywhere, but were the app banned in the United States, they wouldn’t spill many tears. In early April, Billboard reported that two months after UMG pulled its music from TikTok, its market share and chart appearances had not been greatly affected. And though numerous UMG artists have devised workarounds to maintain a presence on TikTok, one senior label executive says, “When you’re looking at the competitive set for TikTok, you see a migration to YouTube, Instagram and Snap. And those platforms see a real opportunity, so they’re starting to lean in. The absence of TikTok would just mean migration to other platforms and, frankly, because those platforms monetize better, even if you lose a significant chunk of your audience, you’re still going to make more money.”
$8.7 Million For Lobbyists
Capitol Hill sources say ByteDance has enlisted a small army of lobbyists to keep TikTok on U.S. mobile devices. In 2023, ByteDance spent $8.7 million on lobbyists, according to the nonprofit government transparency organization OpenSecrets. That’s almost double the $4.9 million it dropped in 2022, although a TikTok spokesperson attributes the year-to-year increase to “a unique, one-time higher expenditure in the third quarter of 2023 that reflects the vesting of Restricted Stock Units related to the launch of our U.S. buyback program.” (Data for 2024 lobbyist expenditures were not available at publication time.)
That 2023 outlay was the fourth-highest amount spent on lobbyists by a tech company that year, behind Meta ($19.3 million); Amazon.com (nearly $19.3 million) and Alphabet (almost $12.4 million). In 2019, ByteDance spent less than $1 million on lobbyists.
Lobbyists hired by ByteDance include Rosemary Gutierrez, the former deputy chief of staff for Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee — which will review the TikTok legislation before a floor vote is taken — and Kellyanne Conway, former senior counselor to President Donald Trump. Conway is reportedly considering joining Trump’s reelection campaign, but last month, Politico reported that she was working for the conservative Club for Growth to lobby on TikTok’s behalf.
One of the Club for Growth’s biggest donors is billionaire Jeffrey Yass, who owns 15% of ByteDance, which is reportedly worth roughly $40 billion. Yass’ trading firm, Susquehanna International Group, is also the largest institutional shareholder — 2% — of Digital World Acquisition Corporation, which merged with Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of the former president’s Truth Social app, and took it public in late March. (The New York Times reported that it’s unclear if Susquehanna still owned the shares at the time of the IPO.)
Given Yass’ support of Trump, it’s not shocking that, after attempting to ban TikTok during his time in office, Trump has said on social media and in interviews that though he still considers TikTok a national security risk, he has reconsidered banning the platform. One reason he has cited is that such a move would benefit Meta and its social media app Facebook. Trump has made no secret of his enmity for Meta’s chairman/CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, which banned him in 2021. (Trump was reinstated in 2023.)
The Taylor Factor
The news last week that Taylor Swift had restored her Taylor’s Version songs to TikTok in the run-up to the April 19 release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department led to speculation that the superstar singer-songwriter — who has often spoken out for artists’ rights — could be weaponized by TikTok in its standoff with UMG. In Washington, however, TikTok Coalition leader Lane says, “Taylor Swift being or not being on TikTok has never come up in any meeting I’ve been in on Capitol Hill.” He sees Swift’s return to the app as “a business decision” that’s no different than President Biden’s and Congress members’ presence on the app, or even UMG’s continued talks with TikTok. “It doesn’t diminish the strong bipartisan/bicameral support within Congress and the White House that TikTok is a clear and present danger to the U.S. national security and needs to be divested from ByteDance,” he says.
Trump’s sway over the GOP has some on Capitol Hill predicting that passage of the TikTok National Security bill in concert with the foreign aid package is not a slam dunk. “It’s hard to say how it’s going to play on the Republican side,” says the music industry source familiar with the Capitol Hill proceedings. “Because while they’re feeling pressure from the former President on one hand to oppose the bill, they are also feeling heat from their constituents to support it.”
The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) has unveiled programming for its third annual conference. NIVA ‘24 will take place in New Orleans from June 3-5 with speakers from Eventbrite, National Independent Talent Organization, Wasserman, Live Music Society, Spotify, Meta and hundreds of independent venues and promoters from across the country.
This year’s speakers will include IAG’s Marsha Vlasic, United Talent Agency’s Nick Nuciforo, Grammy Award-winning Rebirth Brass Band, Eventbrite co-founder/CEO Julia Hartz, Bandsintown’s Fabrice Sergent, NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner Tank and the Bangas and George Porter, Jr., founding member of the band Meters.
The 2024 edition will also spotlight NIVA’s New Orleans venues including Generations Hall, Tipitina’s, Republic NOLA and d.b.a.
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“The nation’s independent live entertainment community has finally found a home to focus on the preservation and elevation of our industry at the annual NIVA Conference in New Orleans,” said Jamie Loeb, chair of NIVA’s conference programming committee and senior of marketing at Nederlander Concerts, in a statemenet. “Agents, bookers, venue owners and operators, promoters, and festivals will come together to showcase the vibrant voices and experiences of the live entertainment ecosystem. This year, we gather to celebrate our past successes and to chart a collective path towards a more dynamic and inclusive future for independent stages nationwide.”
The wide range of panel topics will include community programming, marketing, performing rights organizations, sponsorships, comedy booking, ticketing, breaking emerging talent, safety, and food and beverage. This year, the National Independent Venue Foundation (NIVF), in collaboration with NIVA, will offer a certified harassment training workshop, delivered in partnership with Calling All Crows and Spotify Plus 1.
NIVA ‘24 will also feature an opening night party presented by Lyte on Sunday (June 2), NIVA Gras presented by Eventbrite on Monday (June 3) and NIVA Night in NOLA featuring a Live Music Society lounge at d.b.a. on Tuesday (June 4).
The conference will also include an operations networking session presented by Protect Group on Monday, a booking networking session presented by VenuePilot on Tuesday and a working lounge presented by Live Music Society for the duration of the conference. Programming will conclude with a happy hour each day presented by Etix on Monday, Prekindle on Tuesday, and Live Music Society with D Tour and Midtopia on Wednesday (June 5).
A full list of panels, speakers and more information on the conference can be found here.
MediaCo Holding has acquired all of Estrella Media’s network, content, digital and commercial operations, the company announced on Thursday (April 18). According to a press release, the transaction — which closed April 17 — will see Estrella Media brands join MediaCo. These include the EstrellaTV network’s linear and digital video content business, Estrella Media’s digital […]
On Jan. 30, the day before Universal Music’s deal with TikTok lapsed, the company announced in an open letter that “we must call time out on TikTok,” for not paying rightsholders and creators enough. Universal immediately began removing its recordings from the platform — then, by the end of February, took down every composition to which it had some rights. Essentially, Universal went to war for the value of music, to benefit not only it and its artists and songwriters, it said, but the entire industry. And although the two other major labels declined to comment at the time, Primary Wave, Downtown and Hipgnosis publicly backed Universal, and in late March Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer told the Financial Times that he did not rule out taking the same action as Universal.
Not Taylor Swift, though.
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By April 11, a little over a week before the release of Swift’s new album —The Tortured Poets Department, which comes out April 19 — songs from Swift’s albums to which she owns the rights were available on TikTok. Which made for an uncomfortable conversation, you’d have to imagine — and that’s about all you can do, because neither Universal nor Swift’s representative would comment and TikTok could not be reached for comment.
It seems that Swift’s contract with Universal allows her to either license the recordings she owns herself or somehow opt out of label licensing policies, which is an unusual amount of independence. Usually acts with that kind of leverage choose to leave their music off of new services — the Beatles waiting to offer their music on the iTunes Store is the classic example — or strike some kind of exclusive deal, like Garth Brooks did with Amazon Music. It’s hard to think of another example where a label announced it was going one way and its biggest artist — although she hasn’t said anything about her decision — went another.
That’s a big deal. Eventually, Universal’s other megastars — think Morgan Wallen, Drake, or The Weeknd — might want that same freedom or start to think about using whatever freedom they already have. Some artists have more power than others, though: Swift’s contract is generally thought to be more like a distribution deal, where she owns her new recordings, including the Taylor’s Versions of her old albums, but licenses them to Universal. Also, with 18.9 million album consumption units in 2023, more than some divisions of major labels, she has more market power than any other artist.
Given TikTok’s relatively low payouts, many executives assume that Swift appreciates the platform’s promotional value, even though she doesn’t exactly need it — Tortured Poets would almost certainly be the biggest album of the year either way. There’s also speculation that she wants to reach out to younger fans with shorter attention spans.
This reasoning seems to go against Swift’s reputation for sticking up for the value of music more broadly, as she did when she declined to release her 1989 album on Spotify, pushed Apple Music to pay rightsholders for plays during the service’s free trial period and insisted that Universal pay artists their share of the proceeds from its Spotify stock sales whether their deals had recouped or not. “This is not about me,” she wrote about the Apple situation at the time, but rather about emerging artists. What happens to them now? It has even been suggested that Swift essentially crossed a picket line of sorts.
That’s a bit much. The concept of a picket line implies a situation in which people who are paid on a scale are bargaining collectively, and that’s not the case here. And it’s not Swift’s responsibility to fight for the overall health of the music business — she’s an artist and she’s already done far more than most. For that matter, there’s more to creators’ rights than the size of a check. If you think about the way Swift re-recorded her old albums, she may place as much value on control — not only how much she makes on an album, but who owns it, how they present it, and where and under what circumstances it can be heard. I’m not sure whether her decision about making her music available on TikTok is the right one, but I am completely positive that it’s not mine to make.
This is all based on the assumption that Swift’s agreement with TikTok is vaguely similar to the one labels have, but that may not be the case. If you think about Swift’s instinct for navigating the music business, her deal could be much better — perhaps with an advance or guaranteed minimum or other kinds of considerations. (Just to be clear, I have no idea.) If you were, or managed, an artist with that kind of market share, what would you ask for? And if you worked for TikTok, facing political pressure in the U.S., as well as a difficult negotiation with the biggest music company in the world, how much would you be willing to offer?
In the modern media business, market share doesn’t just create efficiency — it also offers important negotiating leverage, especially with technology companies that operate on a global scale. That’s why music and film companies are buying rivals, getting deeper into the distribution business, and pursuing growth so aggressively in the first place. Swift may be the only artist there is who can offer real scale by herself, built on recordings she owns herself, so labels don’t need to worry about this becoming a trend. But whatever Swift’s decision means for the industry at large, it seems somewhat inevitable that she would pursue, and at some point use, the power her market share gives her — just as the major labels do.
Telemundo Enterprises announced on Thursday (April 18) a new structure for its entertainment studios to “boost its scripted content,” according to a press released issued by NBCUniversal’s Spanish-language division. The restructure, which will merge the media company’s linear and streaming studios (launched in 2021) into one unit, was unveiled by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises chairman Luis Fernández. “At […]
Many songs from across the musical canon feature the sound of ocean waves, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, bird calls and other sounds of nature. Now, nature itself is being recognized as an artist for these contributions in an initiative to raise money for global conservation efforts.
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This new projects, Sounds Right, includes “Nature” getting an artist page on Spotify, with this page populated by new music and older songs remixed to “Feat. NATURE” by artists including David Bowie with Brian Eno, Ellie Goulding, U.K. electronic outfit London Grammar, neo-soul and folk artist UMI with V of BTS, Indian artist Anuv Jain, Norwegian singer Aurora and many more.
These songs will also be available on all major streaming platforms, with royalties going to Sounds Right. The project is projected to raise more than $40 million for conservation efforts from more than 600 million individual listeners in its first four years.
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Launched Tuesday (April 18), the Spotify playlist currently features 15 tracks, with more to be added as Sounds Right grows. Currently available songs include a “Nature Remix” of Goulding’s 2020 song “Brightest Blue” that now incorporates sounds of the Colombian rainforest. The 1995 Eno and Bowie collab “Get Real” features the sounds of hyenas, rooks and wild pigs, while Jain’s “Baarishein” includes the sound of an Indian rainfall.
Revenue will be collected by conservation nonprofit EarthPercent, then allotted to biodiversity conservation and restoration projects in threatened ecosystems around the world. The Sounds Right Expert Advisory Panel, a group of established biologists, environmental activists, representatives of Indigenous Peoples and experts in conservation funding, will advise on how funding should be dispersed.
“It’s been fantastic to see so many brilliant artists excited to engage creatively with the sounds of nature and supportive of Sounds Right’s core objective to see that nature is fairly compensated for her musical contributions,” EarthPercent’s Co-Executive Director Cathy Runciman said in a statement. “We know that many artists care deeply about protecting and restoring nature, and it’s a privilege to launch these collaborations via the Feat. NATURE playlist and together generate positive impact for biodiversity.”
Sounds Right was developed by the Museum for the United Nations and UN Live, Copenhagen-based organizations that use culture to crate local action and global change, in collaboration with a variety of climate-focused partners.
Utah police are accusing YoungBoy Never Broke Again (aka NBA YoungBoy) of running a “large scale prescription fraud ring” aimed at purchasing codeine from local drug stores, according to new legal filings that shed light on his arrest earlier this week.
In an affidavit disclosed in court documents Thursday (April 18) and obtained by Billboard, the Cache County Sheriff’s Office said it had executed a search warrant Monday on YoungBoy’s home – where he’s been living under house arrest for more than two years while awaiting trial on federal gun charges.
According to the filings, the raid followed a monthslong investigation into allegedly fraudulent prescription drug purchases at multiple Utah drug stores by “associates” of YoungBoy (real name Kentrell DeSean Gaulden). The search allegedly turned up prescription drugs bearing the names used in some of the phony purchases, as well as a gun.
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“Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, also known as NBA YoungBoy, has been a target of investigation by the Cache County Sheriff’s Office after being identified as a suspect in a large scale prescription fraud ring,” reads the affidavit, signed by a local police officer. “The prescription fraud ring is known to have attempted or has acquired various prescription medications … from multiple pharmacies in Cache County as well as throughout the state of Utah.”
Thursday’s affidavit from local police was disclosed by federal prosecutors, who filed it along with a request for a federal judge to revoke YoungBoy’s pre-trial house arrest and place him in detention until his trial.
YoungBoy’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. The Cache County Sheriff’s Office has not yet responded to requests for comment on YoungBoy’s arrest.
According to Thursday’s filings, Utah authorities claim that multiple people used a real doctor’s name and identification number to call in prescriptions at local pharmacies for promethazine with codeine, a cough suppressant-opioid mix that’s best known as an ingredient in “purple drank” or “lean.” Several such people were reportedly arrested in a car registered to YoungBoy; several of them were also allegedly recorded as visitors to the mansion where he is serving house arrest.
“A suspect calls in a prescription, claiming the identity of a real doctor and using a fraudulent patient name and birthday, all for Promethazine with Codeine,” the Utah police affidavit reads “Sometime after the prescriptions are called in, they are filled and picked up by various individuals that have been found to be involved in the organized criminal dealings.”
The filing sheds light on YoungBoy’s sudden arrest Tuesday, when the rapper was hit with six new charges, including procuring or attempting to procure prescription drugs; possession of other controlled substances; possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person; a “pattern of unlawful activity”; identify fraud; and forgery.
The new accusations came as YoungBoy was awaiting trial on federal firearms charges filed against him in March 2021, stemming from a September 2020 incident in Baton Rouge, La., in which he was allegedly found with two guns. He was charged with violating a long-standing federal law that bans convicted felons from ever again possessing guns — a rule that applied to him because he had been convicted in 2017 of aggravated assault with a firearm.
The rapper had finally been set for a trial on those charges this July. But in a March ruling, a federal judge paused the case to await a Supreme Court ruling on a major gun-control case that could play a key role in YoungBoy’s efforts to avoid a conviction.
While awaiting trial, YoungBoy has been confined to his Salt Lake City mansion — a house arrest that has now lasted more than two full years. In October, his attorneys pleaded that the “long period of social isolation” was harming his mental health and asked that the judge loosen restrictions, including allowing him to travel to a recording studio to create new music. But that request was largely denied in November.
Now, based on the new Utah arrest, federal prosecutors are seeking to revoke YoungBoy’s house arrest arrangement entirely: “The United States respectfully requests that this court issue an order to arrest the defendant, set a hearing to determine whether the defendant’s pre-trial release order shall be revoked, and detain the defendant pending trial.”
YoungBoy remains in Cache County jail as of Thursday, according to inmate records. Utah authorities have asked that he not be granted bail until the federal judge rules on the request to revoke his house arrest and detain him.