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If it’s Friday, you know it’s time for another spin around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the global music industry.
Tom Connaughton is out as Spotify’s managing director in the UK and Ireland, he announced this week on social media. The British-born executive joined the streaming giant in March of 2018 as head of artist and label marketing before getting a quick promotion three months later to his most recent role, which centered on driving content strategy and artist partnerships in the two powerful markets. He came to Spotify after seven years at Vevo, including two as senior vp of creative content & programming. In that role, he had responsibility for artist and label relationships across the U.S., U.K. and eleven different international markets and was based in New York at the time.
Earlier this week, Spotify chief Daniel Ek outlined an aggressive round of job cuts at the company, however a spokesperson for the company declined to comment when asked if Connaughton’s exit was related in any way. He has spent a good chunk of the last year on paternity leave, a perk that was the subject of a recent Fortune profile, and in his LinkedIn announcement, which was gracious and positive in tone, said he’s looking forward to “taking some time out to spend with my young family.” He added in his note: “The UK and Ireland is a massive market for Spotify, and the business today is unrecognisable to what it was when I first joined. That’s all been made possible by the incredible people that I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside. They all care so deeply about giving a platform to artists and creators, and to providing an amazing user experience for all of us to enjoy.”
As Music Business Worldwide noted in their coverage, Connaughton is the second market honcho to exit following last week’s departure of Jenny Hermanson as MD of the Nordics.
Warner Chappell Music tapped Jessica Entner to be its first vice president of creative sync strategy, a multi-faceted role focused on business development, partnerships and working directly with agencies and brands to realize WCM writers’ creative goals. Based in Los Angeles, she reports to Keith D’Arcy, WCM’s senior vp of sync and creative services. Entner arrives with roughly 24 years of industry experience under her belt, dating back to stints at Maverick Publishing, FM Rocks, Elias Arts and Massive Music, among others. Since 2016, she has helmed JEM, a music company focused on guiding creative strategy and production for advertising agencies and brands. “The media landscape is changing, and the creative needs of our clients in advertising, branding, and promotion are changing with it,” notes evp of global synchronization Rich Robinson. “Jessica is the perfect person to work with both our music partners and our songwriters to navigate these shifts and deepen the strategic relationship between music creators and brands.”
Elliot Grainge’s 10K Projects, which recently became a standalone label under Warner Music, named Max Gore to chief financial officer and promoted Blake Brown-Grakal to general counsel and Samuel Cohen to general manager. All three execs are LA-based. Gore swivels over from WMG, where he most recently served as vp of finance and operations at WMX. Brown-Grakal, a former drum tech for Ringo Starr’s band, joined 10K in 2020 as an associate director of business and legal affairs. Cohen has been with the label since 2017 and has worked across A&R, marketing and biz dev. “As we look forward to a new phase of growth at 10K, reinforcing our core executive team is crucial,” said Grainge. “Max brings with him well over a decade of finance experience, the majority within the Warner system. Blake’s facility in communicating with artists and their teams on business matters has been a game-changer for us over these past three years. And Sam has been at 10K since the very beginning, helping to guide every chapter of our development at the label.”
300 Entertainment promoted Lallie Jones to vp of marketing and Josh D’Amore to senior vp of digital and streaming. Jones — who was 300 Entertainment’s first employee, starting in 2015 as co-founder Lyor Cohen’s executive assistant — has overseen marketing campaigns for artists like PinkPantheress, $NOT and Phony Ppl, while D’Amore manages the commerce, digital strategy and streaming operation for the label. “Lallie and Josh are both incredibly valuable members of the 300 Entertainment team,” 300 co-presidents Selim Bouab and Rayna Bass said. “They have been a vital part of some of our biggest success stories, and will undoubtedly play crucial roles in many more to come.” –Dan Rys
Indie distributor TuneCore appointed Brian Miller as the company’s new chief revenue officer — a role last filled by the company’s now-CEO Andreea Gleeson. As CRO, Miller’s M.O. will be to spearhead revenue growth strategies, securing strategic partnerships and developing innovative ways to expand-and-retain TuneCore’s roster of artists and labels. Miller arrives from Angi (formerly Angie’s List), where for nearly three years he was chief growth officer at the popular DIY home services platform. Before that he spent six years in various executive roles at handyman-finding site Handy HQ, which was acquired by Angi in 2018. “Brian’s hands-on experience scaling SaaS businesses, forging dynamic partnerships and leading growth strategies—along with his passion for developing independent artists—make him an invaluable addition to our senior management team as we innovate to drive artist growth,” said Gleeson.
BMI promoted Tim Pattison to senior director of creative, effective immediately. In this New York City-based role, Pattison scouts and signs new songwriters and publishers, plus acts as point-person for various writer-focused showcases including the monthly Acoustic Lounge, the funnily titled Speed Dating for Songwriters, and showcases at Austin City Limits, SXSW and others. Since joining BMI in 2015, Pattison has handled writer/publisher relations for a slew of BMI stars, namely Doja Cat, Ice Spice and Yung Gravy, among others. Prior to BMI, the Ohio University and NYU alum held positions at Spirit Music Group and Fat Possum Records.
All in the Family: Penske Media’s venerable Dick Clark Productions hired veteran executive Sara Kantathavorn as senior vice president of talent strategy and promoted Jeremy Lowe to vp of talent and partnerships. Kantathavorn arrives after a five-year stretch at Apple Music, where she rose to head of global talent development and managed and developed the streaming service’s roster of hosts worldwide. Prior to Apple, she served in vp-level roles at Viacom Digital Studios and Revolt TV. Lowe’s roots run deep at DCP, where he started as an intern in 2009 and was most recently an executive director of marketing and talent partnerships. He and Kantathavorn will work closely together to help shape the DCP talent strategy across its events, which include The Billboard Music Awards, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest and the Academy of Country Music Awards. “Sara’s experience leading talent teams and strategy coupled with Jeremy’s enthusiasm and passion for artist discovery make for a winning combination,” said Jay Penske, CEO, chairman and founder of Penske Media. “Talent will always be at the core of everything we do at DCP.”
London-based booking agency One Fiinix Live added veteran agent John Pantle to the team, effective immediately. Pantle joins after a five-year stretch at Sound Talent Group, where he was partner and handled a coming-with-him roster that includes Hatsune Miku, Julieta Venegas and Radwimps, among others. Prior to STG, he spent nine years at APA and three at UTA. “This business was built on creative ideas, entrepreneurship and personalities and John has all these attributes,” said One Fiinix Live founder and CEO Jon Ollier, who personally books the company’s biggest client (rhymes with Ned Beeran). Pantle will be based in Los Angeles but work London hours.
ICYMI:
Paul Vogel (pictured) will step down as Spotify’s chief financial officer on March 31, 2024 … Daniel McCartney and Brandon Frankel joined 33 & West, the L.A.-based booking agency … Luis Fernández is the new chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises … and Paul Hitchman was promoted to COO at AWAL.
Shane McAnally’s publishing, management and artist development company SMACK backed Molly Bouchon to be its director of marketing & artist development, effective immediately. Bouchon joined SMACK in 2019 as director of digital. In her new role, Bouchon will continue her digital work across SMACK and add SMACKRecords to her list of responsibilities. Bouchon will now oversee label marketing and social strategy, press/partner pitching and distribution for SMACKRecords artists. “Molly has made herself an integral piece of everything we do at SMACK. She has a unique role that interfaces with all the divisions here and works with them all at a high level. This promotion reflects her high quality of work within those roles and expands it with the addition of SMACKRecords,” say Robert Carlton, president of SMACK.
Musicians On Call, the non-profit bringing live music to hospitals, announced the inaugural members of its national Music Industry Advisory Board. The members of MOC’s Music Industry Advisory Board are: Jessica Abel (G7 Entertainment Marketing), Adrienne Assip (Epic Records), Erin Burr (RIAA), Alex Ciasnocha (Warner Music Nashville), Hayden Coplen (Wasserman Music Los Angeles), Stephanie DeMarco (Spotify), Laura Fuller (FlyteVu), Kristen Reed (Universal Music Group), Rachel Inglesino (Jonas Group Entertainment), Sydni Joseph (Big Plan Holdings), Derek Roberge (Sony Music Entertainment), Torianne Valdez (Musicians On Call), Liliana Villarreal (iHeartRadio).
Radio, Radio: Cumulus Media is elevating Collin Jones to president of Westwood One, starting New Year’s Day, taking over for a departing Suzanne Grimes. Jones joined Cumulus in 2011 and later helped with the acquisition of Westwood One before eventually becoming evp of corporate strategy and development. Grimes has overseen Westwood One’s vast network of radio stations since 2015 and was integral in pushing the company into podcasting. She has the dual title as evp of corporate marketing at Cumulus … iHeartMedia restructured its Markets Group to introduce five new division presidents overseeing the company’s region, metro and community divisions. At metro will be Kristin Foley, Chris Soechtig and DJ Hodge. Over in the region division, Bernie Weiss and Paul Corvino will lead … Then, iHeart announced two other division presidents would be departing: markets group president Scott Hopeck and division president Kim Guthrie … Warner Music Nashville‘s national director of radio, Chris Fabiani, is leaving the label in the new year. He joined WMG in 2020 following a decade with UMG.
Last Week’s Turntable: Former Vevo CEO Lands at Lyrics Platform
Dolly Parton has long poured her time and talents into Nashville, and now she’s doing it again. The Dollywood Company, a joint venture between Parton and Herschend Enterprises, has acquired a downtown office and retail building located at 211 Commerce Street in Nashville, the company has confirmed to Billboard. “Since the pandemic, commercial real estate […]
Live Nation has expanded its partnership with SoLa Impact’s SoLa Foundation, funding a major investment in SoLa’s second state-of-the-art youth center in L.A. and a program that will provide fully subsidized educational and workforce training opportunities in music and technology.
The touring giant has agreed to finance the completion of the new campus, which will be named SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation. Opening in early 2025, the new 8,500-square-foot technology and entertainment center will be located on the ground floor of the “Crenshaw Lofts,” SoLa Impact’s new 195-unit workforce and affordable housing development located near Crenshaw and Leimert Blvds.
The center will host the 18-week Live Nation Next Gen Program, which offers paid apprenticeships for historically excluded youth (ages 16-21) from South L.A. The program helps students explore entertainment and production careers and learn directly from Live Nation staff and executives about various aspects of live entertainment — from booking to marketing to operations and more. The program, which will work in partnership with Live Nation’s School of Live, will culminate with the group promoting, ticketing and producing a community concert.
“We are incredibly inspired and encouraged by Live Nation’s continued partnership and their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the live music industry and beyond,” said Sherri Francois, SoLa Impact’s chief impact officer and executive director of the SoLa Foundation. “This is another amazing example of the power of mission-aligned corporate and nonprofit partners working together with focus and determination to solve seemingly intractable challenges.”
The new SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation will service more than 1,000 students annually, with a long-term goal to close the socio-economic access gap for careers in the entertainment, science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) fields. Within the music sector, students will also be trained in the business and technology of the live entertainment industry, audio engineering and recording, coding, 3D modeling and animation, graphic design, digital content creation, entrepreneurship, and practical life and career skills. The center will also be a space for cultural, economic and civic events for the wider community.
“Live music isn’t a standard part of most schools and colleges, even though it continues to be a growing industry,” added Michael Rapino, president/CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. “By partnering together with SoLa, kids learn the business of music and we help them get first-hand experience, which unlocks a whole new world of careers, which has been incredible to be part of.”
SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation, set to open in early 2025 in South LA.
Courtesy Live Nation
The Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has announced its new Supplemental Matching Network, which consists of five companies that specialize in data matching. This is aimed to help The MLC continue to up its match rate, which is currently at 90%. (According to The MLC, the match rate is defined as the percentage of total royalties processed that were able to match to a registered work in its database.)
The first five companies included in the Supplemental Matching Network are Blokur, Jaxsta, Pex, Salt and SX Works (a SoundExchange company). The list of companies that are part of the network may grow in the future to continue to bolster The MLC’s matching process. The MLC conducted qualitative evaluations of these vendors before choosing to partner with them, including testing the products through pilot programs as well as a “Request for Information.” This is the same process that The MLC has used for other strategic vendors.
While these five vendors will all provide key data to The MLC, the companies do not specifically address the most difficult songs to match: those created by DIY, unsigned songwriters, many of whom are still unaware of The MLC.
“We conducted an extensive due diligence process to select the initial set of vendors for our Supplemental Matching Network,” says Andrew Mitchell, head of analytics & automation at The MLC. “These vendors bring complementary technologies and capabilities that can be effectively leveraged to serve our members. This network reflects our ongoing commitment to evolve in innovative ways to best achieve The MLC’s mission.”
The MLC is a non-profit organization based in Nashville. It was formed as part of the Music Modernization Act (MMA), a landmark law that created a new blanket license for musical work mechanical royalties that greatly simplified the music licensing process for digital services like Spotify, Apple Music and more. It passed in 2018.
Previously, the industry operated on a piecemeal licensing system that was complicated for the services and also the music business, leading to a pool of over $400 million in unallocated streaming royalties because the compositions’ owners couldn’t be found. (This is colloquially known in the business as “black box” money, although The MLC uses the term “historical unmatched royalties.”) The MLC was tasked to implement and administer this new blanket license and distribute the money in this stagnant royalty pool. It officially opened its doors on Jan. 1, 2021.
Learn more about the five new vendors below:
Blokur
A music data and licensing platform that works with music rights owners and online platforms to connect music and companies providing online experiences. It is built on data matching and rights identification technology to ensure accurate payment.
Jaxsta
Jaxsta is a database for music credits, sourced from the official owners of that data. This includes record labels, distributors, publishers and industry associations. It provides recording matching services for PROs, MROs, CMOs and publishers, helping identify recordings to their underlying musical works. They assist in collecting payment for mechanical, performance and synch royalties.
Pex
Pex specializes in content identification and UGC data powering copyright compliance. Pex’s music recognition technology (MRT) is designed to identify works at scale, including modified audio, live versions and cover versions, so rightsholders can capitalize on all of the content they own.
Salt
Salt is a digital royalty collection platform that helps music societies streamline their disjointed music rights and royalty systems into one global network. Salt processes usage, matches ownership and calculates distributions, providing societies with matching and royalty–processing infrastructure
SX Works Global Publisher Services
SX Works Global Publisher Services, a SoundExchange company, provides administration solutions to music publishers, self-published songwriters and organizations who own, represent and/or engage with music to manage their repertoire across the music ecosystem. SX Works’ team and technology provides partners with access to metadata designed to ensure that musical works can be accurately licensed, identified and paid for their usage.
Lil Durk is facing a lawsuit that claims he signed deals with two different entities for the same song rights — a move that one of the buyers now calls a “manifest fraud.”
In a complaint filed Wednesday (Dec. 6) in Manhattan federal court, a fintech firm called Exceed Talent Capital says Durk (real name Durk Derrick Banks) agreed to grant the company the recording royalties from his song “Bedtime” even though he had already signed an exclusive deal with Sony’s Alamo Records.
“Despite defendants’ unambiguous contractual representations and warranties regarding their rights in the Banks recording, Exceed has now learned that Banks previously had assigned to a third party the exact same rights,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit claims that the move by Durk — who reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 earlier this year with his “All My Life” — caused Exceed to incur more than $12 million in damages.
“As defendants have failed and refused to acknowledge any responsibility for their intentional misrepresentations and material contractual breaches, let alone take action to rectify the same, Exceed was compelled to bring the present action to obtain legal redress,” the company wrote.
According to the complaint, Exceed agreed to pay Durk $600,000 for the recording rights to “Bedtime.” The company says it wanted to package Durk’s track into a fractional investment vehicle, which would allow investors to buy the right to receive ongoing royalties to the song.
“Where I’m from, few own anything,” the rapper said in a press release announcing Exceed’s royalties investment product. “As The Voice of the Trenches and for my label OTF, I’m always looking for ways to expand and give back to my people. Exceed makes it possible for my fans to become part of my team and share in our success together.”
But in May, Exceed received a cease-and-desist from Alamo. The label informed the fintech firm that Durk was “signed to an exclusive recording agreement with Alamo” and that he did not possess the right to sell his recording royalties to anyone.
“Rather, as Alamo informed Exceed, Alamo possesses those (and a number of further) exclusive rights pursuant to an agreement that Alamo entered into with Banks [in 2021], well over a year before defendants entered into, respectively, the [agreement with Exceed].”
Exceed says it demanded that Durk either fix the situation or refund $450,000 that had already been paid, but that he “utterly ignored” those requests. The lawsuit says the debacle forced Exceed to cancel the sale after it had already “expended significant time, effort and financial resources” in getting it approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Exceed was compelled … to return the funds that had been invested by third parties in the Offering, further significantly damaging Exceed’s reputation and relationships with its partners and investors,” the company wrote.
Hal Leonard has combined with Muse Group, which is home to digital music tools like MuseScore, Ultimate Guitar and Audacity. Hal Leonard is known as one of the world’s leading brands in sheet music and music education materials. As part of the deal, the two brands will retain their respective headquarters in the USA and Cyprus and their distinct operations. The deal was supported by Francisco Partners, an investor who recently purchased Kobalt and AMRA and has also invested in Native Instruments, iZotope, JKBX and more. Now, musicians can look forward to digitized and interactive formats of Hal Leonard’s arrangements and content via Muse platforms.
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Universal Music Publishing Group has signed Danny L Harle to a global publishing administrative agreement. News of the deal comes just after the release of “Houdini” by Dua Lipa, which he co-wrote and co-produced alongside Kevin Parker, Dua Lipa, TK. He is also a trusted collaborator of Caroline Polachek, Charli XCX, Flume, Clairo, Rina Sawayama, PinkPantheress, Lil Uzi Vert, Nile Rogers, Elton John, Shygirl and more, and is up for his first Grammy this year for his contributions to Desire I Want To Turn Into You by Polachek.
Pulse Music Group has joined with Dan Wilson (Adele, Taylor Swift, Weezer, Celine Dion, Nas, Panic! At the Disco, John Legend, Keith Urban) to launch Supermoon Songs. A publishing joint venture, Pulse co-CEO Scott Cutler and vp a&r Annie Aberle played key roles in facilitating the partnership. Wilson’s manager Jim Grant and business partner Rick Markowitz are also co-founders with Dan in Supermoon Songs. The first signing is artist Paul Dally.
Reservoir and Mushroom Music have jointly signed grentperez to a global publishing deal, including his full catalog and future works. Reservoir will work collaboratively with the leading Australia/New Zealand music publishing on all creative and administrative aspects of grentperez’s writing career.
Primary Wave has acquired the master royalties and writer’s share of publishing royalties from Marillion’s Derek “Fish” Dick in a new deal. Best known for 80s hits like “Kayleigh,” “Lavender” and “Incommunicado,” dick was the band’s primary singer and lyricist.
Jody Williams Songs and Warner Chappell Music have jointly signed Driver Williams to a publishing agreement. A songwriter for Eric Church, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean, Morgan Wallen, Jon Pardi, Lainey Wilson, Jackson Dean and others, Williams is also a talented guitarist, holding the position of Church’s lead guitarist since 2005.
Kobalt has signed New Zealand artist and producer 9lives to a global publishing administration deal, including sync and creative services for his existing catalog and future releases. A favorite of artists like Trippie Redd, Rico Nasty, JELEEL!, and more, his production has earned him two No. 1s on Spotify’s viral songs chart.
Universal Music Publishing Group has formed a joint venture with DnB Allstars, a London-based label and events company that specializes in drum and bass music. Notable artists to emerge from DnB Allstars include Vibe Chemistry and Alcemist, and the new JV will include writers like Grace Barton, Elipsa, and Tsuki.
Next Era Music Publishing will now partner with Downtown Music Publishing to streamline the collection and administration of its clients. Representing 45 songwriters and over 7000 titles, Next Era’s catalog will use Downtown for admin globally, apart from Korea and China.
Warner Chappell Music has signed Conexión Divina (Liz Trujillo, Sandra Calixto, and Ashlee Valenzuela), a Gen Z all-female sierreño group, to a global publishing agreement. The news comes just after Conexión Divina’s nomination for Best New Artist at the 2023 Latin Grammy awards.
Brill Building Publishing has signed artist and songwriter Brando to a co-publishing agreement. An independent publishing outfit out of Los Angeles, helmed by executive Benjamin Groff, Brill Building’s signees are administered through Kobalt.
Paul Vogel will step down as Spotify’s chief financial officer on March 31, 2024, the company announced Thursday (Dec. 7). As the streaming giant searches for a replacement, Ben Kung, vp of financial planning and analysis, will take on expanded responsibilities to support “the company’s realignment of its financial leadership team,” the announcement stated. Vogel […]
Universal Music Group (UMG) is proposing a $250 million music and educational complex in Nashville‘s Berry Hill area at a site covering 4.15 acres, including several buildings on Columbine Place and E. Iris Place. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news A rendering of the mixed-use development shows […]
Music tech company Splice has partnered with Billboard to exclusively release key data about what sounds have trended among their usership over the last year. This is the first time the company has made their end-of-year data public.
Since its founding in 2013, Splice has offered music makers a constantly evolving sound library of millions of samples and loops for royalty-free use, ranging widely from kick drum to kopuz (a Turkish string lute) samples. Its sounds are widely used by producers of all sizes — from hobbyists in their bedrooms to the talents making Hot 100 hits with Justin Bieber, Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift and Travis Scott.
Splice has users in virtually every country around the world, but it is particularly popular in its top ten markets: U.S., U.K., Germany, Canada, France, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Italy and India. 44% of its registered users identify as Gen Z.
To organize its ever-growing library, Splice uses a tagging system, adding genre and subgenre signifiers to help users find the sample they need. Some sounds have multiple genre tags. As the company’s creative director of Splice Sounds, Jay “Capsun” Pulman, explains, “when we have sample packs that are released that are tagged as K-pop, for instance, the vast majority of the time, they’ll be made by an artist, producer, or songwriter who is actively involved in K-pop in some way. They’re involved in that scene. The samples come out of the genre, as opposed to tagging every sound that could be used from Splice and made into K-pop.”
In sharing this data, Pulman, says the company can shine a light on the “very starting point of music making…It shows us the start point of where eventual trends bubble, even before getting to see [the trends] in mainstream hits.”
African Music
Most notably, downloads for sounds tagged as “amapiano,” a South African dance music genre often featuring log drums, are up 826% year-over-year. Its searches are up 309%, and it is trending in 17 cities. In Los Angeles, the highest trending city for the genre, its growth is up 1,003% year-over-year. It is also popular among Atlanta producers, surging 956% in the city this year.
According to Pulman, the discrepancy in downloads versus searches for amapiano suggests that users might not know to look up this nascent genre by name through their search bar. However, they’re still gravitating towards it when it’s featured in other ways on the site. On the Splice home page, the Splice team often creates groupings of sounds for different genres, moods and other categories to entice users to download sounds.
In the last year, African music has become popular on the Billboard charts as stars from the continent like Rema, Burna Boy, and Tems, crossed over into the American mainstream. “Calm Down” by Rema, with an assist from popstar Selena Gomez, peaked at No. 3 this year on the Hot 100 and even made the difficult move to No. 1 on the pop radio airplay chart for five straight weeks. In an acknowledgment of African music’s growth, Billboard launched a dedicated U.S. Afrobeats chart in association with Afro Nation, and Billboard reporters Heran Mamo and Dan Rys frequently cover the latest in the genre with their monthly roundup, Afrobeats Fresh Picks.
Amapiano’s growth on Splice represents the continued proliferation of African music globally. To further fuel growth in trending genres, Pulman says Splice’s Sounds team watches their data carefully and hires musicians native to those genres to amass more authentic samples for the platform to offer its users.
Meanwhile, sounds that are tagged as “afrobeats” or “afropop” have declined by 45%, particularly in African metropolises like Lagos, Nigera. Splice believes this is because “users want authentic sounds from more specific Afro genres rather than generic samples that fall under a larger umbrella.”
Hip-Hop / Rap
Hip-hop remains the most popular genre on Splice, accounting for 19% of total downloads. Still, the genre is down 11% from 2022. This may foreshadow continued difficulties for hip-hop music on the charts. This year was widely considered to be an especially stagnant year for the highly-streamed genre, and that was reflected on the Billboard charts: August 2023 marked a full year since a rap song had been No. 1 on the Hot 100 – the first time this has happened in 23 years.
Splice has found that downloads of trap sounds are down by 14% globally since last year, even in the genre’s birthplace of Atlanta, where those downloads fell by 20%. (Meanwhile, Atlanta saw a 50% growth in techno downloads, a 21% growth in dubstep, and a 20% growth in soul).
Still, 86% of Splice users downloaded a hip-hop sample in 2023, and 57% of Splice users told the company in a recent survey that hip-hop interests them most when searching for samples. Pulman adds that producers who are making hip-hop, for example, might use sounds tagged as other genres in eventually creating hip-hop songs.
Phonk
This year, Splice introduced a tag for phonk music, and so far, the genre has seen growth of 1,246% year-over-year to more than 1 million downloads since the tag first became available. (This percentage is available because Splice says it has retroactively applied the “phonk” tag to older sounds in its catalog, created prior to the tag). Phonk samples are trending primarily in cities like Los Angeles, Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago, and Seoul. The new genre, which sounds like slowed down Memphis rap samples set to lo-fi beats, is especially well-known among gamers and car enthusiasts who are passionate about “drifting.” It is often used by those communities to soundtrack their social media videos. While phonk still isn’t well-known among the general public, it’s gained a much wider reach this year, thanks in part to its inclusion on the latest Fast and Furious mixtape, which was released alongside the franchise’s 10th movie earlier this year.
Electronic / Dance
Dance music genres saw a comeback this year on Splice. The company says drum & bass was one of the fastest growing genres this year, ranking as the 10th most downloaded genre in 2023 with 85% growth year-over-year. Jersey Club, a fast-paced subgenre that fuses elements of house and rap, also saw major growth with a 178% increase in downloads year-over-year. It’s trending in Nashville and six other cities.
Sounds tagged as “U.K. garage” are trending in nine cities Pulman says that while “it’s a fairly niche genre, it has made its way into larger genres like K-pop, for instance.” It also made its mark on Western pop through the work of PinkPantheress.
Various subgenres of house are also growing in popularity on Splice. Downloads for house samples are up 27% overall, and searches for the genre are up 17%.
K-Pop
Sounds tagged as “K-pop” have declined 17.97% on Splice in 2023, but the company states that this “may not be indicative of the genre itself declining,” given that K-pop is an amalgamation of various influences spanning from U.K. garage to trap.
In Seoul, the epicenter of the K-pop industry, Splice has seen sounds from amapiano, phonk, Jersey club, Baltimore club, U.K. garage and big room house trend in the last year.
Latin
Despite breakout stars like Peso Pluma and Grupo Frontera hitting the charts this year, Splice has not seen a notable uptick in the use of regional Mexican samples, including the subgenres ranchera, norteño, banda and mariachi. Splice says this is likely because most regional Mexican music makers do not heavily rely on sampling.
Reggaeton sounds saw 23% growth in downloads year-over-year, making it the 29th most downloaded genre on the platform. Reggaeton’s top city on the platform is Los Angeles, where the genre grew 26% year-over-year.
Sounds tagged as “baile funk,” or “funk carioca,” has also grown this year by 107% globally. This is likely thanks to exposure on TikTok with viral hits like “Automotivo Bibi Fogosa” by Bibi Babydoll, Dj Brunin XM, and KZA Produções and “Tuburao Te Amo” by Dj LK da Escócia, Tchakabum and MC Ryan SP. Downloads for the genre have grown especially quickly in Sao Paulo (92%), Mumbai (179%), Tokyo (81%), and Guadalajara (888%).
Country
Country music is not considered a sample heavy genre, but it is still growing among Splice users. Over the last year, Splice saw downloads for sounds tagged as “country” grow by 67%, while searches are up 21%. This mirrors the genre’s growth on the Hot 100 this year as country hitmakers like Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Jason Aldean and Zach Bryan became mainstream stars.
BERLIN — Deutsche Grammophon marked its 125th anniversary in Berlin last night (Dec. 6) at the first of three concerts to celebrate the classical music label’s legacy, as well as its current stars. At the city’s storied Konzerthaus, new signing Joana Mallwitz conducted her orchestra; violinist Bomsori Kim and cellist Kian Soltani performed Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Triple Concerto, and Bruce Liu played the German master’s Choral Fantasy. Liu, one of the label’s rising stars, in 2021 won the International Chopin Competition.
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The Berlin concert will be followed by concerts in Philadelphia and Seoul. The U.S. event, on Dec. 9, will feature María Dueñas, Hélène Grimaud and Moby, who has recently released some work on the label; and in South Korea, on Dec. 15, Vikingur Ólafsson will perform the “Goldberg Variations.”
“To this day, Deutsche Grammophon is home to the biggest classical stars of their time,” said Frank Briegmann, chairman and CEO of Universal Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon, at a reception before the concert. “It is the guardian of a cultural treasure of incredible proportions.”
Deutsche Grammophon, a cultural institution in the classical music world, is the oldest operating record company. It was founded in 1898 by Emile Berliner, a German Jew who moved to the U.S. and in 1887 patented the “Gramophone,” a technology for recording and reproducing sound by engraving and tracing it with a stylus – initially on a cylinder and then on a flat disc. After licensing the rights to manufacture his invention, he sent his nephew, Joseph Sanders, to open a German subsidiary, which severed its relationship with the parent company in 1914.
In 1941, the company was purchased by Siemens & Halske, a corporate ancestor of today’s Siemens company. Over the next two decades, Deutsche Grammophone became known for its distinctive yellow logo and high-fidelity classical music recordings that were marvels of technology at the time and are still considered iconic today. As its rival recording companies shifted toward pop, Deutsche Grammophone focused on classical, and then also contemporary music. In 1962, Siemens formed a joint venture with the Dutch company Philips to run the company that became PolyGram International – which in 1999 was purchased by what was then the parent company of Universal Music Group and merged with it.
The company’s catalog, reputation and logo still endure, and about a year ago it launched Stage+, a high-fidelity subscription streaming service that includes access to performances on video. The label’s anniversary concerts will be shown on the service.
“Nothing has changed,” said label president Dr. Clemens Trautmann, referring to the company’s record for using the new technology of the time. “And everything has changed.”