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By now, you’ve heard the news that BMI is selling its interests to a shareholder group assembled by the private equity firm, New Mountain Capital. The sale has come with questions and consternation from songwriter advocacy groups — including the Music Artist Coalition, where I am a board member — and U.S. music attorneys. These songwriter advocates asked for (1) transparency about the sale and (2) a window of time after the sale that would allow unhappy songwriters to leave.
Most questions remain unanswered, and BMI has not opened a window for songwriters to leave. But the sale seems to be proceeding anyway, subject to “regulatory approval.” Given that, here’s what you should watch out for as a songwriter, a songwriter representative or someone who benefits from administration or co-ownership of a songwriter’s songs.
1. What Does This Mean?
In short, it means that BMI, which has been a not-for-profit organization since its founding in 1939, has turned into a for-profit organization and sold to a private equity company. Private equity companies acquire companies that they believe are undervalued in hopes of realizing a significant return on their investment in a relatively short period of time. This is called a “holding period.” While some private equity periods fall outside the average, in 2023 the average “holding period” for a private equity fund with a company it buys is just over seven years, which is the longest it has been in over two decades (in 2022 it was just under 6 years).
According to press reports citing sources, BMI in its first year as a for-profit entity has generated about $130 million in earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). In order for the shareholder group to be successful, it will need to continue to grow profits or EBITDA from where they are today. To do that, they have to increase revenue and/or decrease expenses. The concern underpinning the sale is that BMI has historically grown revenue in order to pass it on to songwriters and publishers. The only revenue BMI traditionally held back was to cover its overhead. Turning to a for-profit model with private equity owners means that BMI’s shareholders will expect to participate in the profits BMI generates (through distributions or leveraging BMI), which may mean that less of the revenue generated will be distributed to the writers and their publishers.
2. How Does This Compare With My Other Options?
That is one of the unanswered questions. BMI’s goal is that there will be no negative impact to writers and publishers. BMI says they have a “goal” (not a guarantee) not to withhold more than 15% of revenue for three years for profit and overhead, but this doesn’t apply to revenue from any new business lines the company now enters.
Without more specificity, it is hard to determine how this will be possible and whether songwriters will be negatively impacted. It would be great if BMI provided more details about how they will increase distributions and increase profits at the same time. Ideally, BMI would give their affiliates an audit right, so that songwriters and publishers can monitor whether BMI reaches its goal. Otherwise, it should continue to release its financials showing collections, distributions and EBITDA.
3. How Will I Know?
Unfortunately, transparency is an issue. BMI’s latest public filing contains very little information on the state of the company and its revenue. In fact, they provide far less financial information than they did just a few years ago. Larger market players (like music publishers) may be able to compare and contrast the revenue they receive from one PRO vs. another and compare it with general growth trends of the music business and growth in the particular market segments that pay for performance (radio, film/TV, streaming, bars/restaurants, etc.).
We hope that songwriter advocacy organizations, in conjunction with music publishers, will be able to create and provide some level of transparency in the future for all songwriters. As a board member of the Music Artists Coalition, we have determined to make this a priority. Information is power, and songwriters who signed up for BMI under the premise of it being a non-profit should work to get as much information as possible. Ultimately, what matters is what you make as a songwriter – so watch your statements.
4. Do BMI Writers Share in the Sale Proceeds?
A little. In response to pressure from advocacy groups, BMI said that $100 million will be shared with its affiliates. BMI, in its sole discretion, will determine who gets it and how much, but it has agreed to use prior payment principles to do so. Affiliates includes both songwriters and publishers, and how much of the $100 million will be distributed to each of those two groups has not been disclosed.
The rest of the estimated $1 billion goes to BMI’s shareholders, which are broadcasters. For some broadcasters, this is a rebate of the performance royalties they have paid over the last few decades. This may seem particularly gruesome to songwriters who are also recording artists in the United States, which is one of the only countries in the world where broadcasters do not pay performance revenue on recordings.
5. What Do I Do Next?
If you’re a BMI member, stay informed. Ask questions, read your statements, follow the news and watch for reports on distributions starting after the second half of 2024. Talk to your co-writers at other PROs and compare payments. It takes four and a half months from the end of a quarter until you receive your accounting.
Check your agreements to understand when you can terminate membership, and when you can withdraw your songs. If you are unhappy with the results of the sale, you have the right to leave, but it can be tricky. BMI (like ASCAP) has one window during which you can resign as a writer (often every two years), but a separate, often completely different window (often every five years) during which you can terminate your publishing entity. You have to watch your windows and send your notice in advance, adhering to the timeframes allowed for resignations and terminations. And don’t forget that your songs stay with BMI while they are subject to “licenses in effect,” meaning that even when a songwriter leaves, their catalog stays behind for the term of existing licenses.
6. What Does Google Have To Do With All This?
We aren’t really sure, other than the fact that CapitalG (Alphabet’s independent growth fund) is listed at the end of the press release announcing the sale. Google owns YouTube, which has a history of underpaying songwriters — at least for its ad-supported tier. We will be watching this one closely.
Jordan Bromley leads Manatt Entertainment, a legal and consulting firm providing services to the entertainment industry for over 45 years. He sits on the Board of Directors for the Music Artists Coalition, an artist first advocacy coalition established in 2019.
Riggs Morales, the veteran A&R executive who has played a hand in the rise of Eminem, 50 Cent, Wiz Khalifa, Janelle Monáe and many others, has joined the team at Def Jam Recordings.
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Based in New York, Morales is today (Nov. 28) named as executive vp of A&R, reporting to Tunji Balogun, chairman & CEO, Def Jam Recordings, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG).
Morales has runs on the board, particularly in hip-hop. He joined Atlantic in 2014 as vp of A&R & artist development, and was promoted to senior vp of A&R & artist development, his most recent role, in 2020.
There, he guided the careers of Khalifa and Monáe, and, in 2015, he signed and co-produced Hamilton: Original Broadway Cast Recording, which won the Grammy Award for best musical and is now certified Diamond by the RIAA. The following year, Morales executive-produced the all-star project, The Hamilton Mixtape.
“Armed with an instinct for creative development that keeps his artists first, Riggs has carved out a unique place for himself in our business, along with an absolutely blockbuster resume,” comments Balogun in a statement unveiling the new recruit. Morales’ “contributions to the culture are the stuff of legend,” he continues. “We’re excited to welcome Riggs to the Def Jam family.”
Those contributions include his work with Goliath Artists, Inc., whose roster included Eminem, Cypress Hill, Xzibit, The Alchemist and DJ Muggs. One year after landing with Goliath, Morales was rewarded with the role as director of A&R for the then-new imprint Shady Records, which, with Eminem and 50 Cent on its books, became one of the prominent labels in rap music.
“Growing up in New York City,” adds Morales, “Def Jam has served as a touchstone in my life for longer than I can remember. In my time as both a journalist and an executive, Def Jam has always been the pinnacle, the iconic hip-hop label, and the blueprint for others to follow.”
The A&R position has historically been one of music’s most glamorous executive roles. But it’s common to hear today that the job is closer to that of an anonymous Wall Street number-cruncher — many of the creative aspects have been removed.
Traditionally, A&Rs were tasked with finding the next generation of important artists, and then helping those acts make commercially successful songs. In the modern industry, in many cases, the A&R executives who play key roles in music-making decisions have been supplanted by those who are more interested in using hard analytics to find the next big hit. Taking advantage of the flood of data from digital platforms, music companies now often seek an edge over their competition by ingesting and analyzing reams of information from streaming services and social media sites.
“Over the past five years, everything has been centered around the data, the data, the data,” says Mike Weiss, head of A&R for the distribution company UnitedMasters. The industry now prioritizes “A&R guys who know that 10 is bigger than nine,” jokes Jeremy Maciak, a manager and former major-label A&R.
But label sources say that while the data can predict a hit single, it is far less effective at indicating who will become an enduringly popular artist. “We’ve all been burned to a certain degree,” says Tab Nkhereanye, a senior vp of A&R at BMG.
Arguing about the state of A&R is also arguing about the extent to which record companies can still provide artists with additional creative value. In theory, basing signing strategy on data helps labels unearth acts who are already exhibiting upward momentum and thus reduces the companies’ risk. And it’s a shortcut to nabbing market share in a hyper-competitive business where executive salaries — and shareholder confidence — are often tied to such metrics.
Relying on this type of quantitative research makes sense at a time when listeners have more choice than ever. Discovery has splintered in the era of personalization, and attention spans have evaporated. Since most of the levers the major labels once had to ensure exposure have lost their potency, signing artists who are already finding exposure on their own functions as an insurance policy.
“The world is different; the way that people connect with music is different; thus the A&R process has to be different,” says Jordan Weller, head of artist and investor relations at indify, a platform that helps independent acts find funding and support. “No executive can snap their fingers and guarantee that the world will buy into an artist anymore, because the consumers can finally decide what they want to listen to.”
Still, there is a concern — most pronounced among veteran A&Rs and managers — that the pendulum has swung too far towards analytics. “I have a saying to the A&Rs who focus all their time on data: You will be the first people replaced by a computer algorithm,” adds Mike Caren, who built up APG, his own label and publishing company, and served as a major-label A&R. He counsels younger employees, “don’t take the easy and short-term route of being 100% data reliant.”
All that data doesn’t communicate much about the artist behind the music. “It doesn’t tell the whole story,” Nkhereanye explains. “Can you perform live? Can you interview? Can you make more than two records that stream?”
In reality, managers and A&Rs say, few of the data-centric signings that landed big deals in recent years have been able to make even two tracks that stream. A number of these artists have been quietly dropped.
A former research-focused A&R acknowledges that the data-driven process surfaced a lot of duds. “I was getting frustrated because of the sheer amount of stuff coming up on research and then seeing it not really pan out a year later,” he says.
Labels are all also reviewing much of the same information — meaning everyone sees the next viral phenomenon within a day or two. “The companies get the same data, they’re all chasing the same artists,” longtime music attorney Don Passman recently told Billboard. If no one has a number-crunching advantage anymore, the labels that can provide the most creative assistance to the acts they sign might have the upper hand.
But that skill set may be in short supply precisely because the music industry has emphasized data so heavily in recent years. In Nkhereanye’s view, “companies started cutting back on paying great A&R talent. They would rather pay 10 research kids 100 grand and give them fake titles.”
“There are less A&Rs than ever that can help an artist cultivate their sound, and make better records for a broader audience,” adds J Grand, who has spent more than 15 years in A&R roles. “If all we do is rely on 0’s and 1’s, that’s a problem, especially with the rise of AI. We have to bring something else to the table.”
In this environment, “once the artist is signed, A&Rs don’t know how to help them,” explains Dave Gordon, a streaming consultant who worked at two major labels. And while not every artist needs help, some presumably would benefit from guidance.
In those cases, according to Gordon, the artist-label conversation becomes, “‘Do your thing; I don’t know how the f— you did it last time. Make another one for me, and I’ll turn it in for you.’”
Weiss distills the challenge facing contemporary A&R departments. “The people that have been able to catch things in that well of TikTok and data and research are all the ones that have been getting promoted,” he explains. Now, “the research well has essentially run dry. Everyone’s kind of looking around saying, ‘OK, how do we go back?’”
Listeners remain wary of artificial intelligence, according to Engaging with Music 2023, a forthcoming report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that seems aimed in particular at government regulators.
The IFPI surveyed 43,000 people across 26 countries, coming to the conclusion that 76% of respondents “feel that an artist’s music or vocals should not be used or ingested by AI without permission,” and 74% believe “AI should not be used to clone or impersonate artists without authorisation.”
The results are not surprising. Most listeners probably weren’t thinking much, if at all, about AI and its potential impacts on music before 2023. (Some still aren’t thinking about it: 89% of those surveyed said they were “aware of AI,” leaving 11% who have somehow managed to avoid a massive amount of press coverage this year.) New technologies are often treated with caution outside the tech industry.
It’s also easy for survey respondents to support statements about getting authorization for something before doing it — that generally seems like the right thing to do. But historically, artists haven’t always been interested in preemptively obtaining permission.
Take the act of sampling another song to create a new composition. Many listeners would presumably agree that artists should go through the process of clearing a sample before using it. In reality, however, many artists sample first and clear later, sometimes only if they are forced to.
In a statement, Frances Moore, IFPI’s CEO, said that the organization’s survey serves as a “timely reminder for policymakers as they consider how to implement standards for responsible and safe AI.”
U.S. policymakers have been moving slowly to develop potential guidelines around AI. In October, a bipartisan group of senators released a draft of the NO FAKES Act, which aims to prevent the creation of “digital replicas” of an artist’s image, voice, or visual likeness without permission.
“Generative AI has opened doors to exciting new artistic possibilities, but it also presents unique challenges that make it easier than ever to use someone’s voice, image, or likeness without their consent,” Senator Chris Coons said in a statement. “Creators around the nation are calling on Congress to lay out clear policies regulating the use and impact of generative AI.”
Atlanta prosecutors accused chart-topping rapper Young Thug of running a criminal street gang that operated like a “pack” of wolves during opening statements of the artist’s high-profile racketeering trial on Monday (Nov. 27).
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Kicking off a complex trial that is expected to last as long as a year, Fulton County Chief Deputy District Attorney Adriane Love read a passage from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book about wolf packs — and said that Thug’s gang had similarly “operated as a pack.”
“For ten years and counting, the group calling itself ‘Young Slime Life’ dominated the Cleveland Avenue community,” Love told the jury. “They created a crater … that sucked in the youth and innocence and even the lives of some its youngest members.”
Love repeatedly referred to Thug as “King Slime” and portrayed him as the clear leader of the gang: “The evidence will show that the members of YSL knew who their leader was, and they knew the repercussions of not obeying him.”
In an indictment unveiled last year, Fulton County prosecutors alleged that Thug (Jeffery Williams) and his “YSL” were not really a popular music collective called “Young Stoner Life,” but a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life” that committed murders, carjackings, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade.
Along with other charges, Thug is accused of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law based on the more famous federal RICO statute that’s been used to target the mafia, drug cartels and other forms of organized crime. If convicted on all eight of his counts, Thug faces decades in prison.
Go read an explainer of the YSL case here, including a full breakdown of the legal charges and a deep-dive into the background of the accusations.
After months of slow-moving jury selection, Monday morning was set to finally mark the start of the trial for Thug and five remaining alleged members of his gang. But the start of the hearing was delayed for an hour over a missing juror; then, just minutes into Love’s statements, the case was bogged down in objections, forcing Judge Ural Glanville to clear the jury from the courtroom.
Defense attorneys first claimed that Love was “burden shifting” in her explanation of the case to jurors – meaning she was wrongly making it appear that the defendants would need to prove that they were innocent. Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, then moved for a mistrial after he claimed that Love had shown jurors evidence that had already been explicitly banned from the case. Glanville later denied that request but admonished the state for how it had prepared its opening statements.
Eventually, after a lunch break and extended disputes among counsel for both sides, jurors returned to the courtroom for opening statements to continue throughout the afternoon.
This is a developing story and will be updated later today with more information from Monday’s hearing.
Most people send files to collaborators without a second thought — open a new email or text, click attach, hit send. Benjamin Thomas is not most people. “What I normally do is I encrypt it and send it with a 20 character randomized password via email,” he says. “And then I do a verbal confirmation of who the file is going to and deliver them the password through another method.”
Thomas is not employed by the National Security Agency; he’s an engineer who works closely with the rapper Lil Uzi Vert. But since Lil Uzi Vert’s most passionate fans are not fond of waiting for him to release music at his own pace — they want to hear it now, and will happily consume leaked songs in whatever form they can find them — these sort of safeguards are necessary.
Thomas’ precautions have helped drastically reduce the frequency of leaks. “He’s got a real blueprint for engineers to keep sh– under lock and key,” says Jason Berger, a partner at Lewis Brisbois, where he represents a number of producers who frequently collaborate with Lil Uzi Vert. “Uzi’s stuff used to leak a lot,” the attorney notes. “From about March of 2020 until the Pink Tape dropped [in June, 2023], not one f—ing record leaked out.”
But leaks remain a fairly regular occurrence in the music industry, especially in hip-hop, and happen in myriad ways. Despite being digital natives, the younger generation which tends to drive music is susceptible to being swindled: The Federal Trade Commission reported last year that 44% of people ages 20 to 29 said they lost money to online fraud, compared to 20% of people ages 70 to 79. When it comes to music, a lot of leaks boil down to “doing dumb stuff on the internet,” as Thomas puts it.
He puts leak into two different categories: Some stem from carelessness, others from hacking. A lot of the careless leaks are the result of common email phishing techniques.
The producer Warren “Oak” Felder recently received an email from his assistant — or so he thought. “He was asking me for something that made sense: ‘Hey, I need the bounces for some records because management asked,’” Felder says. But one sentence in the email stuck out for its odd construction, so the producer texted his assistant, who confirmed he didn’t send the email. “The amount of fake emails I get is crazy,” Thomas adds.
The same thing also happens by text. “Friends of mine in the industry have fallen victim to people phishing, where they’ll get a text from somebody that is acting like somebody else, maybe an artist, saying they had to get a new phone, for example,” says Anthony Cruz, an engineer who works closely with Meek Mill. Maybe they ask for a demo, or maybe “they’ll send you a link, and that file ends up hacking your entire account,” prying loose any closely guarded tracks.
Obtaining leaks via hacks can be more sophisticated, like the technique known as SIM-swapping. “They’ll first find as much information as they can about the person that they want to hack,” explains the producer Waves, who has an unreleased song with Juice WRLD that’s floating around online due to a leak. “Then they would call your cell phone provider, say, ‘Hey, I lost my SIM card, I just got another one. Can you transfer my number over to this phone?’”
If the perpetrator has been able to glean enough personal information — ranging from troves of previously hacked passwords that exist online to things like a mother’s maiden name — they can waltz past account protections and take over the account of the target phone. “From there, they just look through your email,” Waves says. “Sometimes they’ll even find full Pro Tools sessions and they’ll sell those. Honestly, some of them are pretty good hackers.”
Even if engineers, producers and artists are vigilant about protecting their own phones and computers, that may not be enough. Studios can be surprisingly loose with valuable materials. “A year ago, one of my clients was in one of these major recording studios and all of a sudden he’s hearing a collaboration between an A-list artist and somebody else that nobody even knew happened,” says Dylan Bourne, who manages artists and producers. “He was hearing it by accident in the studio because it was just on the computer.” Thomas “heard a story about somebody sitting outside the studio who logged into the Wi-Fi from a car,” enabling him to make off with files.
And yet another moment of vulnerability occurs when artists ask other acts for features and send over a track. “Now you’re relying on that artist and their team to protect the files,” Cruz says. “It’s out of your hands. A couple of leaks that we have been a part of have been because of that.”
Due to the danger of files ending up in the wrong hands, “a lot of artists are starting to use private servers to share music,” according to Felder. “They’re saying, ‘listen, if you send me the record, don’t text it to me, don’t email it to me.’”
One of Bourne’s clients, a producer, recently had to determine splits on a song he worked on for an A-list artist. The artist convened a listening session on Zoom “so that they could know what it made sense to argue for, but not have access to the song in any capacity,” Bourne says. “In the past people would have sent listening links.”
Another tactic Felder has taken up is “naming things cryptically.” This way, in case someone gets into a Dropbox folder or email and roots around for demos of songs featuring notable artists, at least that person can’t easily figure who is recorded on what.
Leaks are “not a situation that’s going to go away,” Bourne continues. “Artists who care have to get ahead of it and be more protective about the music.”
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between. This week: A preview of the massive YSL RICO trial in Atlanta in which rapper Young Thug is accused of being the boss of a violent street gang; a flood of sexual abuse cases against music industry bigwigs just before a Thanksgiving deadline; and a lawsuit pitting Hall against Oates over efforts to sell to Primary Wave.
THE BIG STORY: Young Thug Heads to Trial In Atlanta
At the end of 2021, Young Thug was one of hip-hop’s biggest rising stars: a critically-adored rapper with three chart-topping hits, three-chart topping albums, a Grammy for song of the year and his own record label (YSL, short for Young Stoner Life) under Warner Music’s 300 Entertainment.
Two years later, Thug (real name Jeffery Williams) is set to face a grueling trial starting today over allegations he ran a violent Atlanta street gang that committed murders, carjackings and many other crimes over the course of a decade — charges that, if proven, could send him to prison for decades.
Reporter Jewel Wicker will be in the Fulton County courthouse today reporting on opening statements for Billboard, so stay tuned for a full breakdown of the start of the trial.
But before then: To get you up to speed on one of the music industry’s most closely-watched criminal trials in years, I dove deep and broke down every aspect of the case, including the complex RICO charges at the heart of the case; the controversial use of lyrics as evidence; the strange connections to former President Trump; and what exactly to watch for at this week’s trial.
Go read the full story here.
THE OTHER BIG STORY: A Final Flood of Abuse Cases
With New York’s Adult Survivors Act expiring on Thanksgiving, last week saw a flurry of high-profile abuse cases filed just before the deadline – including many against top names in the music industry.
The ASA created a limited window for alleged abuse victims to take legal action over years-old accusations that would typically be barred under the statute of limitations. Over the past year, it was cited in cases against former Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow, label exec Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the estate of late Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun and, earlier this month, an explosive (and quickly settled) rape lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
But as the deadline approached, a wave of cases hit the courts. Many targeted defendants outside the industry, including former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and actor Russell Brand. But many of the biggest names came from the music business. They included:
–Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose, who was accused of sexually assaulting a Penthouse model named Sheila Kennedy in a New York City hotel room in early 1989.
–Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine, who was sued by an unnamed woman for sexual abuse, forcible touching, sexual harassment and retaliation over an incident that allegedly occurred in New York in 2007.
–Actor/singer Jamie Foxx, who was accused of sexual assault and battery by a young woman who claims the singer and actor groped her at a New York restaurant in 2015 after she asked if he would take a photo with her.
–Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was sued again by two more women over allegations of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s.
SAY IT AIN’T SO: Hall v. Oates
News broke last week that Daryl Hall was suing John Oates for breach of contract, arguing that his longtime music partner’s plan to sell off his share of their joint venture to Primary Wave would violate the terms of a business agreement the duo had forged.
The lawsuit, which was initially shrouded in mystery because it was filed under seal, is aimed at preventing the sale from closing while the two sides battle in ongoing private arbitration proceedings over the terms of agreement.
Two more women have come forward to accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse, one week after the music mogul settled a separate lawsuit with the singer Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse.
Both of the new suits were filed Thursday (Nov. 23) on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.
The filings detail acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging allegedly committed in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community.
One of the accusers, Joi Dickerson, said she was a 19-year-old student at Syracuse University when she agreed to meet Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in 1991. After their date, Combs “intentionally drugged” her, then brought her home and sexually assaulted her, according to the filing.
Without her knowledge, Combs videotaped the assault and later shared it with several friends in the music industry, the suit alleges. The public exposure sent Dickerson into a “tailspin,” contributing to severe depression that landed her in the hospital and forced her to drop out of college.
In a separate lawsuit filed Thursday, an unnamed woman accused Combs and an R&B singer, Aaron Hall, of sexually assaulting her and a friend, then beating her several days later.
The woman — identified only as Jane Doe — said that she and her roommate returned to Hall’s home with him and Combs after a music industry event in 1990 or 1991. The accuser said she was coerced into having sex with Combs. Afterward, as she was getting dressed, “Hall barged into the room, pinned her down and forced Jane Doe to have sex with him,” the suit states.
When the victim later spoke to her friend, who is also not named, she learned that her friend “had been forced to have sex with Combs and Hall in another room,” according to the suit. “Upon information and belief, when Combs finished with Jane Doe, he and Hall switched, and they commenced assaulting Jane Doe’s friend,” the suit states.
A few days later, an “irate” Combs allegedly showed up at the home of the two women in an attempt to stop them from speaking out about the abuse. He then choked the woman identified as Jane Doe until she passed out, the suit states.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations, accusing the two women of seeking to exploit the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.
An email inquiry to Hall was not returned.
Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney for the unnamed accuser, said his client was in the process of securing medical documents and witness statements to support her suit, which was filed late Thursday “in an effort to preserve the statute of limitations.”
The suit brought by Dickerson notes that the victim filed police reports in New York and New Jersey after the abuse. Inquiries to the New York City Police Department were not immediately returned. It was not clear which other jurisdictions the reports may have been filed.
After the filmed assault, Dickerson said she approached friends in the music industry asking them to confirm the existence of the “revenge porn” tape, but was rebuffed by those who were “terrified that Combs would retaliate against them and that they would lose future business and music opportunities.”
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Dickerson has done.
In years after the alleged assaults, Combs, now 54, would found his own label, Bad Boys Records, helping to produce Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls on his way to becoming one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives in the genre’s history.
The pair of lawsuits follow a separate set of explosive allegations made last week by Cassie Ventura, who said that Combs subjected her to a pattern of abuse during their yearslong relationship, which began in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37.
Among the allegations, Ventura said Combs plied her with drugs, subjected her to “savage” beatings, and forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and filmed them. When she tried to end the relationship in 2018, Combs raped her, she alleged.
The lawsuit was settled one day after it was filed for an undisclosed sum.
In a statement shared by her lawyers, Ventura said she wanted to resolve this matter “on terms that I have some level of control.”
Combs said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”
Have some more turkey, have some more pie — it’s time for another Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings (and all things in between) across the music industry.
Sony Music Publishing UK promoted a trio of executives in its A&R department: Felix Canetty-Clarke to vp of UK A&R strategy & international research; Sarah Gabrielli to senior director of A&R, UK & Europe; and Saul Fitton to senior director of A&R, UK, effective immediately. Cannety-Clarke joined SMP in 2018 with a focus on research and analytics, and in his new job will continue those data-driven A&R initiatives and extend his focus across operations and strategy, the company said. Gabrielli and Fitton, whose start dates at the company were 2016 and 2020, respectively, will keep on keeping on in terms of driving opportunities for the company’s writers and artists. Since joining, Gabrielli’s portfolio has included beabadoobee, Baby Queen and Jim Legacy, while Fitton’s signees include Pablo Bowman and Bastille, among others. “Sarah, Saul and Felix are the very best talents in the UK,” said David Ventura, president and co-managing director of SMP UK. “Their passion for music, their drive and their unique daily dedication for our songwriters are exemplary. Together they bring the future of our company and with Tim we have been inspired to see everyone recognising their successes and achievements.”
Joshton “Peas” Harris joined Spotify as the head of hip-hop and R&B, artist partnerships, overseeing a team handling artist and manager relationships in those key genres. Harris previously held a similar marketing role at Amazon Music, which he joined in April 2020 following several years in talent management, marketing and other creative work during stops at Cinematic Music Group, Cashmere Agency and EQT Recordings. Over in playlists land at the music streaming giant, Cecilia Winter is the new global hits editorial lead, overseeing programming, editorial strategy and content brand extensions across Spotify’s family of ‘Global Hits’ playlists, including ‘Today’s Top Hits,’ ‘Pop Rising’ and the all-powerful New Music Friday. Previously at YouTube Music, where she rose to music programming manager in her five years there, Winter now reports to J.J. Italiano, the head of global music curation and discovery.
All In the Family: Billboard parent Penske Media Corporation promoted Brooke Jaffe to senior Vice President of public affairs and strategy, effective immediately. Over the span of four years, Jaffe has held a number of roles at PMC, including contributing editor, head of public affairs and communications, and, most recently, vp of public affairs and strategy. In her elevated position, she’ll keep driving impactful communications strategies on behalf of the PMC portfolio, which also includes Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, and she’ll continue to focus on public policy and external relationships. In recent years, Jaffe added oversight of the PR team for Dick Clark Productions and is a core leader for the LA3C festival. Prior to joining PMC, Jaffe held senior roles at fashion tech startup Eight and Bloomingdale’s. Jaffe continues to be based out of LA, where she reports to PMC CEO, chairman and founder Jay Penske.
ICYMI: While the week leading up to Thanksgiving is typically a slow week for HR departments, that was not the case at ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which fired its co-founder and leader Sam Altman under undefined circumstances, then hired him back a few days later after hundreds of employees threatened to quit … In less dramatic news, former CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux announced he has stepped down from his role as chief commercial officer at Downtown Music Holdings.
Neon Records co-founder Patrick “Smiley” Cleary stepped down as CEO of the UMG-owned dance music label in order to focus on his Peppermint Blue Publishing company. The announcement, first plucked by The Music Network, was made in a memo to staff from Universal Music Australia and New Zealand chief Sean Warner, who noted that UMA’s “long standing partnership with Smiley has been significant and fruitful.” Founded by Smiley and Carl West as a label under Warner Music, the Australian imprint later went to Universal and over the years has worked Milky Chance, Skrillex, Rudimantal and Timmy Trumpet. Neon’s current roster includes Young Franco, Chloe Wilson and Nia Archives, among others. In his memo, Warner said Neon “has become an iconic label in ANZ thanks to [Smiley’s] vision, creativity, and passion, and we will take great pride in continuing to expand and enhance the Neon legacy, that we have all built together.”
Warner Records promoted Atticus George Carroll to vp of business and legal affairs, reporting to head of b&la Julian Petty out of Los Angeles. The Austin native joined WMG in June 2019 as director of business & legal affairs, and got her start in music as an artist before pivoting to practicing law on the business side of things. The move was first reported by Hits.
Nashville-based TV production company C.A.M.P. 615 added Shanna Strassberg as vp of development and strategy. Strassberg arrives from CMT, where she was vp of music and talent. Formed by producer/director Robert Deaton alongside Red Light Management’s Mary Hilliard Harrington and Coran Capshaw, C.A.M.P. recently scored a multi-year deal with CBS to produce its New Year’s Eve Live: Nashville’s Big Bash, which this year will feature Lynyrd Skynyrd, Thomas Rhett and Lainey Wilson. C.A.M.P. partner Mary Hilliard Harrington said Strassberg’s “relationships run deep and her instincts are always dead on. We just have an incredible level of trust with her, and I’m so happy she wasn’t scared to jump into the unknown with us as we build out C.A.M.P.” She can be reached at shannastrassberg@camp615.com.
Last Week’s Turntable: There Was a Minor Adjustment at the Emmys
BMG has extended its global publishing deal with Pitbull. He first signed to the company nearly a decade ago, and under this renewed partnership, his back catalog of hits and future songs will be administered by the BMG team. Warner Chappell Music has signed singer-songwriter Dido to a new publishing deal, including her back catalog […]