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Live Nation had another record year in 2023, topping the all-time highs reached in 2022 when artists hit the road in heavy numbers after COVID-19 restrictions shut down the touring business for most of 2020 and 2021.
The concert promoter and ticketing giant had revenue of $22.7 billion in 2023, up 36% from the prior year, thanks to record levels of attendance, ticket sales and sponsorships. Adjusted operating income (AOI) was $1.86 billion, up 32% year-over-year and double the AOI from 2019, the last full year before the pandemic.
As artists went on tour in record numbers, there was ample fan demand to soak up the increased supply of live music. Concert attendance climbed 20.3% to 145.8 million. Attendance in North America rose 16.6% to 81.3 million and international attendance spiked 25.4% to 64.5 million. The biggest attendance gains came from stadium shows — notably Metallica, Beyonce and Luke Combs — which grew 60% to 29 million. The number of concerts — individual shows and festivals — rose 15.3% to 33,629 in North America and 13.5% to 16,430 internationally.
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The rise of K-pop and Latin music, along with Live Nation’s Dec. 2021 acquisition of Mexican promoter OCESA, led to an increasingly international concert business. Live Nation’s top 50 tours had 50% more international acts in 2023 than five years ago, and additional international dates meant tours had 15% more shows on average.
“Our digital world empowers artists to develop global followings, while inspiring fans to crave in-person experiences more than ever,” said president/CEO Michael Rapino in a statement. “At the same time, the industry is delivering a wider variety of concerts which draws in new audiences, and developing more venues to support a larger show pipeline.
The concerts division’s full-year revenue increased 39% to $18.76 billion as demand increased across markets and venue types. At Live Nation’s owned and operated venues — branded as Venue Nation — attendance increased 13% to 55 million and ancillary per-person revenue had double-digit growth. At its amphitheaters, per-person spending increased 10% to over $40. Because Live Nation owns and operates those venues, its bottom line benefits from increased fan spending on items such as beverages, food and merchandise.
At Ticketmaster, revenue rose 32% to $2.96 billion and AOI improved 35% to $1.12 billion. Total fee-bearing gross-transaction value (GTV) rose 30% to $36 billion — North America GTV rose 26% while international GTV jumped 42%. The number of fee-bearing tickets sold increased 17% to over 329 million. New clients accounted for 21 million additional tickets old, with about 80% of those coming from international markets.
The sponsorship and advertising division’s revenue increased 13% to $1.1 billion and its AOI rose 14% to $675.1 million. Led by growth in beverage, technology and financial services sectors, Live Nation’s sponsorship business had over 100 partners with multi-million-dollar, multi-year commitments.
In the fourth quarter, historically a slow period compared to the spring and summer months, Live Nation’s revenue rose 36% to $5.8 billion. The concerts division’s revenue soared 44% to $4.87 billion. The company’s AOI rose 20% to $116.9 million in the quarter.
Looking ahead, “we expect all our businesses to continue growing and adding value to artists and fans as we deliver double-digit operating income and AOI growth again this year, with our profitability compounding by double-digits over the next several years,” Rapino added. Through mid-February, Live Nation has sold 57 million concert tickets, up 6% year-over-year, and Ticketmaster had $13 billion in fee-bearing gross-transaction-volume for events so far in 2024, a double-digit increase. In addition, the company has booked 75% of its expected sponsorship commitments, also a double-digit increase from the prior-year period.
Event discovery platform Bandsintown will be directly integrated into Spotify via a new partnership with the streaming service. The agreement allows artists to directly reach fans through the Spotify app in order to drive stronger engagement and more robust sales for events around the globe. According to Bandsintown, in 2023, the platform increased the number of concerts listed in its database by more than 150,000 year-over-year, while Spotify says it has increased impressions for live events across its platform by 10 times in the last 12 months. – Dave Brooks
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Collectibles, toys and apparel company Super7 secured the rights to create a new set of Mötley Crüe action figures featuring all four members of the iconic metal band: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Mick Mars. The “ReAction Figures” are 3.75″ tall and retail for $20 each. Super7 has previously designed, manufactured and distributed officially licensed products for artists including Iron Maiden, the Misfits, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Beastie Boys.
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Music financing platform Duetti announced $90 million in new funding, including $15 million in new equity and a new $75 million credit facility. The equity financing is led by Nyca Partners alongside Viola Ventures, Duetti’s lead seed equity investor, and Cohen Circle. The credit facility comes from Northleaf Capital Partners. Duetti allows a wide range of artists to sell master catalogs, individual tracks or parts of tracks, opening up opportunities for those who wouldn’t ordinarily have access to such deals. The new funding will be used to accelerate the growth of Duetti’s catalog acquisitions, the development of the company’s prediction and analytics technology and the expansion of its catalog marketing capabilities. Duetti recently opened offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.
Warner Chappell Production Music (WCPM) and Warner Chappell Music (WCM) partnered to launch a new label, Run4Cover, which will pair WCM’s catalog with WCPM’s production expertise to deliver new arrangements of songs in order to minimize licensing complexities for productions and content creators. Run4Cover’s repertoire includes new versions of songs by artists including Radiohead (“Exit Music (For A Film),” “Karma Police”), Curtis Mayfield (“Move On Up”), Kool & The Gang (“Celebration”) and Donna Summer (“Hot Stuff”). The songs are rendered in “diverse styles,” according to a press release, from big band to nu-disco; Run4Cover will also offer custom covers. All Run4Cover compositions are controlled by WCM while the original master recordings are owned by WCPM. Clients will benefit from a streamlined clearance process through a single point of contact. Licensing inquiries can be sent to licensing@warnerchappellpm.com.
AXS and CTS Eventim were appointed the official ticketing services providers for the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. The two companies will form a joint venture to combine their tech and marketing assets to promote, sell and distribute LA28 tickets globally. Their online storefronts will be made available for the global distribution of Olympics 2028 tickets, which will also be sold through the LA28 website.
ADA Worldwide struck distribution deals with Charlotte, N.C.-based label South Coast Music Group and Valley Entertainment, an indie label with a focus on singer-songwriters, modern Irish artists and World music. Founded by Arnold Taylor, South Coast’s roster includes emerging hip-hop artists including Dustystaytrue, DeeYounginn, Luclover and Big Mali. Valley Entertainment’s catalog includes tracks by David Darling and Jonn Serrie and new recordings from frontline acts including Lisbeth Scott and Squeeze.
OneLand Music Group announced a deal with Create Music Group that encompasses Create’s acquisition of OneLand’s music catalog and a joint venture to release new music, beginning with Atomic Otro Way’s new EP, Dembow 5. “This is a full circle moment for both the Create and OneLand teams,” said OneLand Music Group co-founder Hector Morales in a statement. “In 2019 we partnered with Create to help them sign their first Latin artist. Ever since then, we’ve worked closely with Jonathan [Strauss] and Alex [Williams] to build opportunities for OneLand artists. This venture is a celebration of our shared musical vision and we’re thrilled to be in business with Create’s growing team.”
Music promotion platform Groover announced an $8 million Series A funding round led by investors OneRagtime, Trind, Techmind and MozzaAngels and supported by earlier backers Partech, Bpifrance‘s Tech & Touch fund, Verve Ventures and Frenchfounders. The new funding will help Groover integrate additional services into the platform including promotion, marketing, coaching and career development while supporting the expansion of Groover’s presence in the North American, European and Latin American markets. Launched in 2019 by Dorian Perron, Rafael Cohen and Romain Palmieri, Groover provides artists with the opportunity to network with music industry players to receive feedback on their work. According to a press release, Groover has so far drawn nearly 350,000 independent artists from more than 180 countries and generated more than 4 million personalized reviews.
Music collaboration platform ENGINEEARS closed a $7.5 million seed round led by Drive Capital, with participation from 645 Ventures, Slauson & Co. and FLUS Investment Group, the venture arm of SALXCO. The platform is designed to streamline music collaboration, make payment and project management processes easier and more.
Atlantic Records UK partnered with London-based agency EYC LTD, which specializes in talent and brand management and event planning. Under the deal, Atlantic UK will work closely with EYC to sign and develop artists under a new imprint, EYC Records, while serving as a connection between Atlantic UK’s roster and EYC LTD’s global client base, which includes Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, Bentley and Samsung. EYC Records will sign early-stage acts “aligned with the progressive, culture-first ethos of EYC LTD,” according to a press release, working with Atlantic UK and ADA to develop them. The first artist signed to the imprint is Betty, who has already released two singles under the deal: “Mum Says” and “Take Me Under.” EYC Records is also developing the artist project of poet, model and activist Kai-Isaiah Jamal, who will begin releasing music early this year. “I am extremely happy about the launch of EYC Records — a platform to develop the acts we believe in, facilitate brand partnerships in our field of expertise and push our creative visions to the next level,” said EYC LTD director Cora Delaney in a statement.
The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts is collaborating with Atlantic Records on a semester-long series of career development workshops and sessions with Atlantic executives, including A&R president Pete Ganbarg. Eight events held at the institute’s Brooklyn location and Atlantic’s Manhattan offices will offer students access to Atlantic executives to learn about opportunities on both the business and artistic sides of the label. It will end with a weeklong songwriting camp led by Atlantic staffer and institute alum Stefan Accardo that will match select students and alumni with Atlantic artists. The partnership kicked off on Feb. 13 with the first of two field trips to Atlantic Records’ New York offices.
Cloud-based end-to-end music rights and royalties administration platform RyteBox acquired SR1, a digitally-native royalty calculation suite, from Exactuals. Joe DeCanio, president/CEO of SR1, along with his team will join RyteBox following the acquisition. SR1 helps to streamline royalty management for its clients, including mechanical licenses and reporting; expense processing; royalty statement generation; deal management; sales and income processing; master licensing and invoicing; and neighboring rights. Those capabilities will serve to complement RyteBox’s current services, which include contract and catalog management; revenue and royalty calculations, statements, and analytics; and relationship management for recorded music and publishing.
NeueHouse, a private workspace and social club for creative workers, has teamed up with the Save the Music Foundation to become the official partner of NeueHouse’s Sunset Sounds live music series. The partnership will kick off with the next Sunset Sounds event on Feb. 22: a listening experience hosted by MGMT where guests will have the opportunity to listen to the band’s new album, Loss of Life, one day prior to release. Going forward, NeueHouse will tap Save the Music for programming opportunities for its various shows, with a portion of the proceeds from each going to fund Save the Music’s various student initiatives.
ASM Global has been contracted to manage and operate Thunder Ridge Nature Arena, a new 18,000-capacity venue in Ridgedale, Mo. ASM has partnered with Live Nation to produce live music events at the outdoor amphitheater, which is slated to open in May.
Oak View Group (OVG) acquired the Stadium Club division from Invited, a leading owner-operator of private golf, country and city clubs in North America. Under the deal, OVG will own and operate Stadium Club properties at universities across the United States; OVG and Invited have also struck a long-term partnership focused on “enhanced membership benefits and uniquely curated experiences for both Invited and OVG club members,” according to a press release. Stadium Club properties include Arizona Sands Club at University of Arizona, Baylor Club at Baylor University, Ken Garff University Club at University of Utah, Texas Tech Club at Texas Tech University, University Club of Virginia Tech at Virginia Tech and the Carolina Club at the University of North Carolina.
Big Machine Label Group and W!ZARD Radio Media entered an agreement to develop and launch a slate of new podcasts. Under the partnership, the two companies will handle production, distribution, marketing, promotion and ad sales functions of the podcast slate. The partnership launches with the sports-comedy podcast A Game of No Halves, hosted by British broadcasting legend “Whispering” Bob Harris and his son Miles Myerscough-Harris. The partnership also encompasses the re-launch of the podcast Songwriter Soup, hosted by songwriter Laura Veltz (“Speechless,” “I Could Use a Love Song”), financial advisor Tracy Hackney and producer Kevin Sokolnicki. – Jessica Nicholson
Primary ticketing and event commerce marketplace Tixr struck a deal with Eden Nightclub Ibiza making Tixr the club’s official ticketing partner. “Tixr’s advanced technological solutions provide a transformative answer to the longstanding challenges faced by nightclubs. From optimizing online ticket sales to implementing unique selling strategies and unlocking revenue streams beyond traditional ticketing, Tixr’s innovation resonates with our commitment to redefining the clubbing experience,” said Rinco Soesman, owner/director of Eden Nighclub Ibiza, in a statement.
Amuse struck an automated integration with YouTube for official artist channels (OACs). Users on Amuse’s Boost and Pro tiers can now request their OAC in a quicker, more streamlined process under the integration, merging all of their subscribers and content from different areas of YouTube into one channel. The YouTube OAC integration will now show as an option within an artist’s profile on the Amuse web app. Additionally, eligible Amuse artists will be granted access to supporting YouTube tools involving analytics, merch, ticketing and more.
Sony Music Publishing (SMP) won the quarter and the year on Billboard’s last Top Radio Airplay and Hot 100 Songs publishers rankings of 2023, while Warner Chappell held on to second place on the Hot 100 and took the No. 2 spot on Top Radio Airplay as well.
Taylor Swift and Doja Cat swapped the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the song rankings, with Doja’s “Paint the Town Red” winning Top Radio Airplay and Swift’s “Cruel Summer” taking the top spot on Hot 100 Songs.
The holidays added extra jingle to the late Johnny Marks’ royalty statement. He ranked as the top songwriter with four of his holiday classics on Hot 100 Songs, including Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” which ranked No. 6.
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Meanwhile, Ashley Gorley had a huge quarter as the leading songwriter on the Top Radio Airplay and Top Country Radio rankings, with nine and 16 song placements on the charts, respectively. His biggest hit on both was Morgan Wallen’s “Thinkin’ Bout Me.”
Although SMP topped both rankings, its market share and song count dipped across the board. Its Top Radio Airplay share declined from 30.06% in the third quarter to 27.69% and from a staggering 70 songs to a still-massive 64. On the Hot 100 Songs ranking, the publisher’s market share fell from 30.18% to 27.14% quarter to quarter, and its song placement dropped from 63 to 59. SMP’s top track for the quarter was “Cruel Summer.”
And after a five-quarter run atop the Country Airplay publisher ranking, the company fell to No. 2 with a 22.95% share, down from 28.14%.
Warner Chappell reclaimed the No. 1 Country Airplay spot, which it has held for 22 consecutive quarters before SMP’s ascendance, finishing the quarter with 30.58% of the market, up from 26.20%. That win was part of a stellar quarter for the publisher. Warner Chappell ranked No. 2 on Hot 100 Songs for the second consecutive quarter and was runner-up on Top Radio Airplay for the first time since the third quarter of 2021. Warner Chappell’s Hot 100 Songs market share was 20.65%, up from 18.18%, even though its song count fell from 49 to 44 quarter to quarter. Its Top Radio Airplay share rose more than three percentage points, from 15.87% in the third quarter to 19.12%, and its song count increased from 51 to 54. Warner Chappell’s top song was SZA’s “Snooze.”
Universal Music Publishing Group held steady at No. 3 on the Hot 100 Songs list with a 15.78% share, down from the prior quarter’s 17.95%. Song placement also fell from 43 to 41. UMPG’s 18.47% of the Top Radio Airplay market — down from 21.16% in the previous quarter, when it ranked at No. 2 — put it behind Warner Chappell. Its top song in the Hot 100 chart was “Cruel Summer,” while in the Top Radio Airplay chart it was “Paint The Town Red.”
Kobalt ranked fourth on both the Hot 100 Songs and the Top Radio Airplay charts, scoring a 10.83% market share with stakes in 29 songs on the former and an 8.81% market share with 30 songs on the latter. Kobalt’s showings on both tallies were down from the previous quarter when it had 11.33% market share with 36 songs on Hot 100 Songs and 9.94% market share with 31 songs on the Top Radio Airplay chart. Its top song in both charts was “Paint the Town Red.”
BMG moved up a position from last quarter on Top Radio Airplay to No. 5, growing its market share from 3.23% to 6.77%. Its song placements grew from 10 to 18. On the Hot 100 Songs chart, BMG stayed at No. 5, growing market share from 4.57% to 5.95% and placements from 11 to 16, also including “Paint the Town Red.”
Concord jumped four places from the prior quarter on the Top Radio Airplay rankings, growing its market share from 1.37% to 3.71% and more than doubling its song placements from six in the third quarter to 14. Its top song on that chart was Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang” (No. 8). The publisher returned to the Hot 100 Songs ranking, too, landing at No. 8 with a 1.91% market share, led by Tyla’s “Water” (No. 16).
Otherwise, Pulse held steady at No. 7 in the Top Radio Airplay publisher rankings at 2.66% market share, down from 2.80% in the third quarter. Purple Rabbit Music dropped to No. 8 with 2.07% market share from 3.52% as Luke Combs’ version of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” fell from the No. 1 spot in the third quarter to No. 9. Once again, Hipgnosis Songs Group placed No. 9, with a 1.48% share, down from 1.76% in the prior quarter. And Reservoir fell to No. 10 with 1.43% market share from the prior quarter’s No. 8 finish and 1.82% market share. “Cruel Summer” was the Hipgnosis top song while “Snooze” was Reservoir’s top song.
Rounding out the Top 10 for Hot 100 Songs, Johnny Marks St. Nicholas Music ranked No. 6 with 4.96% market share. Purple Rabbit landed at No. 7 with 1.99% market share. peermusic landed at No. 9 with 1.61% market share, making the ranking for the first time since the third quarter of 2020.Pulse finished at No. 10 with 1.31% market share.
Last Quarter: Tracy Chapman + Oliver Anthony Make History
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler of sexually assaulting a teenage girl decades ago, ruling that she had waited too long to bring her case.
Former teen model Jeanne Bellino sued the rocker in November, claiming he had forcibly kissed, groped and “humped” her twice over a single day in Manhattan in the summer of 1975. The case was filed under a recently-amended New York City law that allows abuse victims to sue over decades-old claims.
But in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Bellino’s case did not qualify under the new statute. He ruled that the special “lookback” window only applies to cases where the abuser’s actions presented a “serious risk of physical injury” – and that Tyler’s alleged actions did not do so.
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“The complaint in this case does not alleged conduct presenting a serious risk of physical injury and therefore fails to state a legally sufficient claim under the [NYC statute],” the judge wrote.
Wednesday’s ruling could be legally significant. Numerous other alleged victims who have filed long-delayed abuse cases under the law in question — New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law – after it opened a two-year window for such lawsuits from March 1, 2023 to March 1, 2025.
Bellino sued in November, claiming she had suffered “severe and permanent emotional distress” over the incidents, which allegedly occurred when she was 17 and Tyler was 27. “Tyler used his power, influence, and authority as a well-known musician to sexually assault Plaintiff.”
In her complaint, Bellino claimed that she and a friend had arranged to meet Aerosmith in Manhattan. First, she said that Tyler pushed her into a phone booth and “stuck his tongue down her throat” before groping her and “humping her pretending to have sex with Plaintiff.” After she returned to a hotel with the band later in the day, she claimed that Tyler “again pinned Plaintiff against the wall” and forcibly kissed and groped her.
Tyler has not publicly commented on the lawsuit, but in court filings, his attorneys have said he “vehemently denies” the allegations. In their motion to dismiss the case, his lawyers argued Bellino could not use the New York City newly-enacted statute to sue over “purported sexual misconduct that occurred nearly half a century ago.”
“Ms. Bellino’s attempt to advance a claim based on legislative enactments decades after the purported misconduct occurred is contrary to the legislative intent, statutory construction, and fundamental notions of individual liberty and due process embedded in both the state and federal constitutions,” Tyler’s lawyers wrote in a motion earlier this month.
Wednesday’s ruling from Judge Kaplan granted that motion, dismissing the lawsuit. But the judge said Bellino could potentially seek to file an updated version of her case; he gave her until next month to request the right to do so. Neither side immediately returned requests for comment on Thursday.
The lawsuit was the second abuse case against Tyler in recent years. In 2022, the rock star was sued by Julia Holcomb, who claims that Tyler repeatedly assaulted her for three years starting in 1973, when she was just 16 years old. Holcomb claims to be the girl Tyler referred to in his memoir, Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?, when he wrote he “almost took a teen bride” and convinced her parents to grant him guardianship over her.
Holcomb’s case, filed in Los Angeles under a different look-back statute, remains pending. Tyler has denied those allegations, too, and his lawyers are seeking to have the case dismissed.
A new sexual assault lawsuit has been filed against Nigel Lythgoe, this time by an unidentified woman who claims the former American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance producer forcibly touched her in 2016.
The suit, filed on Saturday in Los Angeles Superior Court, is the latest against Lythgoe accusing him of sexual misconduct and abuse. After Paula Abdul sued the producer in December over two separate incidents of sexual assault, a pair of unnamed contestants on “AAG,” which is believed to be a reference to reality series All American Girl cited in a complaint from the women, came forward with accusations that he made unwanted sexual advances and groped them inside his Los Angeles home in 2003. That second suit was filed in January against a defendant with the initials “N.L.,” which multiple outlets identified as the producer.
Lythgoe stepped back from his on-camera and behind the scenes roles on SYTYCD in the wake of the allegations. The producer did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.
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The suit says the accuser met Lythgoe at a hotel in Beverly Hills and that he “insisted” on driving her home. The complaint describes the alleged assault, which took place inside his car over the course of at least ten minutes.
“Plaintiff tried to push Lythgoe away from her and instruct Lythgoe’s driver how to return to her house, but Lythgoe continued to grab at Plaintiff, fondle her breasts, and kiss her,” the suit states. “Lythgoe even shoved his hand up Plaintiff’s skirt and penetrated her genitalia.”
The woman claims the producer eventually relented once his driver arrived at her apartment after allegedly taking an unexpectedly long route. She alleges she continues to suffer severe mental anguish due to the incident.
The complaint brings claims for sexual battery, gender violence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks an unspecified amount in damages.
“It is troubling to hear of yet another alleged incident of a woman being taken advantage of and abused by a prominent public figure,” said Melissa Eubanks, a lawyer for the Jane Doe plaintiff who also represents Abdul in her suit against Lythgoe, in a statement.
In her complaint, Abdul accused Lythgoe of assaulting her twice during one of the early seasons of American Idol and years later when she was a judge on SYTYCD.
“Lythgoe shoved Abdul against the wall, then grabbed her genitals and breasts and began shoving his tongue down her throat,” the suit stated.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
In September 2020, Kanye West fired off a series of “NEW RECORDING AND PUBLISHING DEAL GUIDELINES” on Twitter, the app now known as X. He called for artist-friendly income splits — 80% to the musician — and contracts that are easy to understand. “The artist owns the copyright in the recordings and songs,” West proposed, “and leases them to the record label / publisher for a limited term.”
His new album Vultures 1, a full-length collaboration with the singer Ty Dolla $ign, arrives with even fewer strings attached — he doesn’t have a label partner, just a distribution company (Label Engine) to help ensure the music’s presence on streaming services. This arrangement outside of the major label system means that West and Ty Dolla $ign are likely taking home even more than the 80% cut the rapper tweeted about in 2020. Although Label Engine advertises that clients get 82.5% of revenue, stars like West almost certainly have the leverage to push that number significantly higher.
Billboard estimates that Vultures 1, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, earned a little more than $1 million in its opening week in the United States, mostly from streaming (around $892,000 from close to 169 million on-demand streams) plus a little extra from sales (roughly $145,000). If West and Ty Dolla $ign are giving up 5% for distribution — which might be high — they take home around $986,000. (More when you factor in global streams and publishing.)
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Contrast this with the situation West faced at the start of his career in the major label system: Images of old contracts he tweeted in 2020 indicate that when he made The College Dropout, he earned a 14% royalty on albums sold in the U.S. As is typical in a royalty deal, West’s old contract notes that “no royalties shall be due and payable… until such time as all advances have been recouped.” That recoupment comes out of an artist’s share, meaning that measly 14% rate has to do all the heavy lifting to earn the advances back.
In a theoretical example, if West was in this deal and he had just $1 million in recoupable expenses (such as an advance) associated with an album — which would be low for him, historically speaking — that release would need to generate more than $7 million in total sales income for him to recoup and start earning money from his music going forward. (In this simple hypothetical, an artist is only generating income through sales, not synchs or other ancillary sources, and the royalty rate isn’t increasing when an artist hits certain sales thresholds.)
To generate around $1 million in royalties for its creators, as Vultures 1 did for West and Ty Dolla $ign in just one week, the album stuck in a 14% royalty deal would then have to earn an additional $7 million in total sales revenue. Translated to on-demand streams, that would mean around another 1.3 billion plays.
Since West is no longer affiliated with a major label, the commercial success of Vultures 1 has been lauded on social media as a breakthrough moment for the independent sector. But while calling the rapper independent is technically accurate — he’s not working with a major label — it’s also misleading. Imagine if Lebron James retired and people started describing him as an amateur basketball player because he was no longer on an NBA roster.
The term independent gets thrown around a lot these days. gamma boss Larry Jackson recently called Usher “the first independent artist to ever play the Super Bowl.” (Usher, by the way, has the No. 2 album in the country with Coming Home.)
Both West and Usher built their superstar careers within the major-label system, however. They were thrown lavish budgets to make their albums. And they benefited from the full weight of the record companies’ promotional muscle at a time when those companies had a lot of influence over what the public heard.
In West’s case, images of recording agreements he tweeted in 2020 showed that Universal Music Group forked over an $8 million advance for Yeezus, along with another $4 million for recording and sample clearances. The contract photos also indicated that Universal was prepared to pay a $3 million advance and an additional $3 million for recording and clearances for The Life of Pablo. UMG also poured money into marketing and radio promo over the years. It’s hard to imagine West — who has since arguably become as well known for his troubling history of antisemitic comments, which have lost him numerous business deals, as for his music — reaching the level of cultural ubiquity he achieved without that investment from the majors.
And even if the rapper is enjoying a larger share of profits from his music these days, the real money may be coming to him from outside of the music industry: West recently claimed he made more than $19 million off of clothing sales in a single day.
Livestream shopping platform NTWRK is acquiring streetwear, music and sports-centric media company Complex Networks. The deal will create a new entity that the two companies claim will be “a new destination for ‘superfan’ culture” and bring an e-commerce marketplace into the former media brand’s ecosystem.
The news was announced Wednesday (Feb. 21), with investment from Main Street Advisors, Universal Music Group, Goldman Sachs and Interscope Records founder Jimmy Iovine. UMG will also come on board as a strategic partner and current Interscope chairman/CEO John Janick will join the company’s board.
NTWRK is acquiring Complex from Buzzfeed, which purchased the streetwear-focused media company in 2021 for $300 million. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though The New York Times reported last October that a deal worth $140 million was close; subsequent reporting in December put the price at slightly more than $100 million. NTWRK co-founder/CEO Aaron Levant — who initially created NTWRK alongside Jamie Iovine and Gaston Dominguez-Letelier, and co-founded ComplexCon with Complex founder Marc Ecko in 2016 — will become CEO of the new company.
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“Complex has been a beacon of culture and innovation for over two decades,” Levant said in a statement. “My journey with Complex began as an admirer of their original magazine in 2002 and it has now come full circle as I step into the leadership role. Alongside this impressive team, we will create the definitive global content, commerce and experiential platform of convergence culture.”
NTWRK has previously worked with several UMG artists, including Billie Eilish, Post Malone and BLACKPINK, the latter of whom worked with Takashi Murakami for Interscope’s 30th anniversary vinyl collection. UMG’s involvement, however, is not an exclusive one, and the new platform will remain open to artists of any label, major or independent.
“This partnership will give our artists access to a dynamic network to deepen connections with superfans through unique collaborations and cultural moments,” said Janick in a statement. “We share a collective vision on how D2C, experiential, brand partnerships and content are mutually reinforcing cornerstones of the fan experience. We will continue to sign and elevate new generations of great talent and we believe that we can best serve these artists through a holistic set of capabilities.”
The focus on the superfan is one that is a priority for UMG this year, with UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge writing in his New Year’s memo to staff that “the next focus of our strategy will be to grow the pie for all artists, by strengthening the artist-fan relationship through superfan experiences and products,” which he called part of “the blueprint for the labels of the future.”
The new company also comes amid a lot of changes in both the music and media spaces. UMG announced a huge label restructuring earlier this year, with Janick taking on oversight of Capitol Music Group and other labels, as the music major approaches looming layoffs. At the same time, Buzzfeed is believed to be selling Complex for much less than half of what it acquired it for just three years ago, amid a wider run of layoffs and closings of media outlets across the industry. Warner Music Group, which last year laid off 600 people, also announced that it would be selling some of its owned media properties, such as HipHopDX and Uproxx.
“Aaron Levant, along with Jamie Iovine and Gaston Dominguez-Letelier, are building an incredible platform and this acquisition will exponentially accelerate its growth,” Jimmy Iovine said in a statement. “Combining the power and reach of Complex with the NTWRK engine serving creators across music, fashion and art will be transformative for the next generation of consumer technology.”
Kobalt is raising $266.5 million through the sale of a security backed by the publishing royalties of a 5,000-song catalog that includes YoungBoy Never Broke Again (a.k.a. NBA YoungBoy), AJR, Busta Rhymes and Jessie J.
The securitization is backed by a catalog valued at $410 million by Virtu Global Advisors, according to a pre-sale report by Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) released Tuesday (Feb. 20), which gave Kobalt’s asset-backed security an A- preliminary rating.
The bond allows Kobalt to raise capital on the value of the catalog and pay back investors with the publishing royalties the compositions generate. That puts music royalties in the company of common asset categories such as auto loans, mortgages and credit card receivables — all have a contractual obligation to pay — that are frequently used in asset-backed securities.
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The proceeds are expected to be used to fund reserve accounts, pay certain transaction expenses, repay existing debt and for other general corporate purposes, according to KBRA’s report.
Kobalt’s asset-backed security is the latest in a handful of large securitization deals in the music industry in recent years. Since 2021, Concord, Hipgnosis Song Management, KKR Credit Advisors (with a catalog owned and administered by Kobalt) and Northleaf Capital Partners have raised money through music asset-backed securities rated by KBRA.
The catalog backing Kobalt’s bond is diversified but younger than the typical multi-million-dollar music asset transaction. About 40% of the total net publisher share comes from compositions released since 2019 and about 43% comes from compositions first released between 2011 and 2018. Less than 3% of the total net publisher share comes from compositions from 2000 or earlier.
Nearly a third of the catalog — 29% of the last 12 months’ royalties collections — may be terminated prior to the legal final payment date in 2064, but no termination windows will fall within the next 30 years, according to KBRA. The catalogs of two artists, which account for about 1% of the catalog’s value, are subject to contractual reversion or termination prior to the final payment date. One song is currently subject to a copyright infringement claim that would result in legal expenses and reduced cash flows.
Pop music accounts for 52% of the catalog’s value while hip-hop represents 28% and rock accounts for 9%. Revenue from the United States makes up 63% of gross collections compared to 12% for the European Union and 10% for the United Kingdom.
During its first week of release, Vultures 1, the first full-length release from the artist formerly known as Kanye West and singer Ty Dolla $ign, changed distributors, was pulled from Apple Music temporarily and got cut by a song to ward off a possible copyright infringement issue brought up by Donna Summer’s estate. So far, the story of the album may be as interesting as the music itself — and Billboard has reported that some samples remain uncleared, which suggests that this could only be the beginning.
Like many hip-hop artists, Ye makes music that involves both snippets of other recordings (samples) and passages of other songs that are re-recorded (interpolations, which confusingly are often referred to as samples as well). Samples generally require a license from the owner of the recording and the underlying composition, while interpolations only require the latter. West seems to have cleared some of the samples and interpolations he’s used, but not all of them.
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There was a time when that would have been dangerous. When the music business was dominated by physical media, rights holders whose work was used without a license had the legal leverage they needed to take most, or even all, of the rights to a song, as ABKCO famously did with the Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” which sampled a version of the ABKCO-controlled Rolling Stones song “The Last Time.” The Verve’s only other choice would have been to destroy all existing copies of the album it was on and stop promoting what became its breakthrough hit.
West won’t face those issues, partly because no single song on Vultures 1 depends as much on one sample or interpolation, and partly because the nature of streaming means that most music — most art, really — isn’t ever really final anymore. When the estate of Donna Summer said that West had used elements of “I Feel Love” without a license for “Good (Don’t Die),” the song was simply pulled offline. Uncleared samples could be re-recorded, if West can get permission from a publisher but not a label, or simply replaced by other musical elements. Albums can evolve for legal reasons as well as artistic ones.
This is an extreme example of what seems like a general trend, as is the Travis Scott album Utopia which Billboard recently reported has its own issues with songwriting credits and royalty splits. In this case, Scott worked with producers and co-writers but didn’t finalize all of the relevant agreements. Scott is far from the only artist to deal with this issue. Here, too, Scott’s collaborators could sue — although this would be a foolish move since many of them depend on his star power to market their work and the nature of streaming blunts potential legal threats.
In both cases, the balance of power in a licensing system that initially gave more leverage to songwriters and other rights holders is now tilting toward recording artists, especially powerful ones. That could be bad for other creators, because the less money they make, the more tempted they are to take any deal they can get to keep money coming in. In most cases, delays in negotiation and payment are just that — arranging all the co-writing deals gets very complicated because there’s only so much credit, and thus royalties, to go around. But the way the leverage shifts toward artists doesn’t exactly inspire their teams to deal with this as fast as possible.
The same kind of pressure doesn’t apply to publishers that control interpolation rights for older songs, but it’s important to remember that this money, too, goes to creators — often on better terms than streaming revenue does. Financial issues aside, creators also have the right to decide if they want to be associated with other creators, just as they have the right to turn down advertisement opportunities. In West’s case, Ozzy Osbourne turned down West’s request to sample a live version of “Iron Man,” which he wrote with his bandmates in Black Sabbath, because of West’s antisemitic comments. So West simply went ahead and sampled his own song, “Hell of a Life,” which uses the same riff. Osbourne should be able to prevent that — his team didn’t comment on West’s use of this other song — and he may decide to try.
The music business needs a code of conduct to deal with this situation before it gets any worse. If it’s overly strict to require artists to sort out all rights before the release of an album, a voluntary code could mandate having rough agreements in place or requiring final ones to be completed within a certain amount of time. The idea would be to give artists the time they need to sort out rights issues, within reasonable deadlines that will keep negotiations relatively equitable. If artists can’t figure out the credits issues that get their collaborators paid, maybe they shouldn’t submit their music for the Grammy Awards — which are voted on by other creators — or even be allowed to. The idea isn’t to penalize anyone, just to create a hard deadline.
None of this would address Osbourne’s issue with West, which I can’t help but take more seriously than the others. Think about it: The No. 1 album in the country this week is by an antisemite who has praised Adolph Hitler and the Nazis and will soon headline a major festival. (In December, West apologized for his comments with a statement in Hebrew but it’s hard to know how seriously to take that, considering that this album has a line about how “I just f—ed a Jewish b—-.”) I think it’s possible to enjoy good art made by bad people, and I assume that most people listening to Vultures 1 don’t agree with the crazy things West has said. At the same time, it feels wrong to write about the copyright issues West faces without acknowledging how hateful he has been. Presumably, West will find ways to license the snippets of music he uses on this album or else replace them. But as he faces pushback from creators and rights holders who are reluctant to be associated with him, as Osbourne is, perhaps he’ll begin a more serious effort to make up for some of the awful things he’s said.
Spotify is launching a music advisory agency for brands, the streamer announced on Wednesday (Feb. 21). For its inaugural campaign, the agency, dubbed AUX, connected Coca-Cola with the DJ-producer Peggy Gou. The two have “built a long-term partnership that will span live concerts and events, social media content, a branded playlist, and on-platform promotional support,” […]