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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.”
Channel Tres, Lizzy McAlpine and SG Lewis have all left their manager, Talya Elitzer, and Godmode, the boutique firm she co-founded, sources tell Billboard.
Channel Tres is now co-managed by William Robillard-Cole (Kaytranada) and Jerry Edouard (Saint Mino), sources tell Billboard. McAlpine has found a new manager in Molly Clark, who was formerly her day-to-day manager at Godmode and has now left the company as well, sources also say.
Elitzer declined to comment on the departures. The artists and their new managers also declined to comment.
Elitzer co-founded the independent firm in the early 2010s with producer Nick Sylvester. Prior, she worked as an A&R at Capitol Records. Channel Tres signed with Godmode for management in 2018. Last September, Godmode partnered with RCA to sign the artist to a major label deal. Since then, he has released one EP, this year’s Real Cultural Shit. His new single, “Walked In The Room,” arrives Thursday (Dec. 7).
Lewis and McAlpine both signed on as management clients this year, in April and May, respectively, on the heels of major successes. SG Lewis released his second album AudioLust & HigherLove in January, which featured Channel Tres, Tove Lo and others. It peaked at No. 13 on the Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
As for McAlpine, her breakout hit, “Ceilings,” marked her Hot 100 debut in February. By March, it became her first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, summiting Alternative Streaming Songs. This September, she collaborated with Noah Kahan on a duet rendition of his song “Call Your Mom,” while in October she joined Reneé Rapp on stage to perform “For Good” from Wicked.
Executive promotions are inevitably announced with press releases. Francesca Bodie‘s elevation to the newly created position of COO for the venue development, management and investment company Oak View Group (OVG), also comes with the announcement of two significant deals she led for the company founded by her father, OVG CEO Tim Leiweke and music’s multisector entrepreneur Irving Azoff.
Bodie, who served as OVG’s president of business development prior to her promotion, engineered the company’s strategic investment in Family Entertainment Holdings, the company behind the popular live franchises, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live, which is tied to the classic toy brand, and Magic of Lights, an all-ages holiday light show. OVG also unveiled activations with premium wine and spirits brand, Christian Navarro — including The NINETEEN 62 Club, a luxe lounge at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena and premium concession kiosks at four OVG facilities — the first offshoots of a venture with Navarro that Bodie also spearheaded.
Bodie’s new role will increase from capital development, mergers, and acquisitions to a focus on new revenue streams including overseeing all day-to-day operations for OVG globally, as well as leading OVG’s executive committee of highly diverse and accomplished executives into this next stage of growth.
According to the company, Bodie, a graduate of Stanford University who has worked in the facilities business since high school “when I helped load-in the Ringling Brothers Circus at STAPLES Center,” has raised more than $12-billion of invested capital for seven venues that OVG built and opened in the last 18 months, including the $1-billion-plus makeover for the redevelopment of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, New York’s $1.5 billion UBS Arena, the $375 million Moody Center in Austin, Texas; the $300 million Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif.; and the $200 million CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.
In an exclusive interview with Billboard, Bodie says that after OVG’s year-and-a-half growth surge, her father — who she refers to as “Tim” — identified a need for processes and communication. So, this position is about building depth and organizational structure, and to put processes in place for [OVG360 CEO] Chris Granger to grow his company.
Bodie, who is the mother of two sons, 8 and 4, says her new role “will also allow me to strengthen our international platform, which is going to be a huge focus for us these next few years.”
In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, Tim also said that international was a big part of OVG’s future.
I am very excited about it. The seeds that we planted even during COVID are just now showing fruition and growth. April 19 is the big opening for Coop Arena [in Manchester, England], which is the first facility we are opening internationally. It’s the largest arena in the United Kingdom, with the largest private investment in any facility in the U.K. It is going to change touring in Western Europe. That’s going to be the start of our domino effect. Our strategy has always been that we have to be in the most influential capital markets in the world. São Paulo, Brazil is under construction; Madrid is in our pipeline as is Vienna, after we won the bid against pretty tough competition. Once we make that private investment — and we have strong local partners in each of those markets — we’re going to expand our service business in coordination. Taylor Swift’s tour has shown that fans are traveling internationally, but the overseas markets don’t have the facilities that we have here. Acts are still playing in buildings that were built many decades ago. So, for us there’s a huge opportunity for the private sector to come in and create what the fans expect — which is acoustically perfect sound, huge amenities, a huge focus on premium hospitality, and then giving the artist a platform to play in an optimal environment, including taking care of them from a safety perspective as well as a sustainability perspective.
Coop City is the first carbon neutral arena in the United Kingdom?
The first ever in Europe. In my new role, I’m going to be a huge advocate and partner of Chris in our GOAL [Green Operations and Advanced Leadership] initiative as well as our sustainable design. LEED certification is really just about how you design the building. Where we as an industry make the most impact on facilities is operations. Not every facility is going to be able to get to carbon neutrality, but everyone can move the needle in a better way. We track water, waste and energy usage, among other metrics, and if we can improve those markers every year, that is a good thing for our environment. Now, every building that we have [owned-and-operated facilities as well as venues OVG manages or where it handles food-and-beverage service] will be on the GOAL platform, which is in partnership with AWS (Amazon Web Services). Any facility with a mass gathering can join GOAL. We come in and measure every usage group that a facility has: water, air quality. sanitization around COVID, food waste, and obviously, carbon and energy is a huge portion of it. We take into account a facility’s age and determine what should be expected of the venue. Then we give them tools that identify areas that, operationally, they can drive better usage the next year.
In that same Billboard interview, Tim said that one day you are going to step into the CEO role. Your promotion to COO seems like the first step in a succession plan. Is there a timetable?
I can’t make that assumption. I will say this. Tim has never been more passionate about the industry or in better shape. I have worked with him officially since 2008, unofficially since 2004, and this is the most energetic and enthused he has ever been in his professional career. OVG hasn’t even hit the halfway mark. We’re going to double in value here in the next three to five years.
So, he hasn’t discussed this with you?
If that’s his plan he hasn’t shared it with me. He always says, “Earn your keep,” so he’s instilled a work ethic in me that I’m very grateful for, but our story is about depth right now. We made two critical hires with Chris Granger joining us — his vision around data and team-building is spectacular for that growth — and Ade Patton, a Fortune 500 CFO.
Can you put a number on the plan to double OVG’s value?
Tim’s goal is a $10 billion company and I’ll leave it at that.
What’s your perspective on the dearth of women in music industry C-suites?
I feel fortunate because there’s no gray area for Tim on this, and it’s not because he has a daughter. It’s just how he is. We have 50-50 representation on our executive committee. There are two women and four men on our board, and we all have equal votes. It’s very important to Tim to get voices and opinions from diverse backgrounds. I don’t want to dirt anyone, but I don’t see that call to action at Legends and ASM Global – and I worked at AEG and MLSE [Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment] —that enables the upward trajectory we have here. I’m also fortunate because [Azoff Company co-presidents] Beth Collins who’s been a great friend of mine and is also fellow board member, and Susan Genco, as well as the folks at Azoff have been incredible. Irving is a cofounder [of OVG] and I’ve known him since I was in seventh grade. It’s a shared culture system between Tim and Irving where they have strong women around them and they empower them in a way that is unique in the business.
How does your management style differ from the CEO?
Tim is a visionary. His thing is, Why not? Why can’t we do this? We are entrepreneurs. He also says, “We are not afraid.” We don’t make fear-based decisions. We stay focused. This promotion is an opportunity for me is to keep us focused as we expand. We have a tremendous appetite for additional M&A. That’s one of the reasons why we are very bullish on Family Entertainment Holdings. You are going to see our company triple down on content and make sure that our facilities have the best opportunities to diversify content. If existing facilities or new markets make sense and hit our return threshold, we are in that game of growth. And Chris Granger would echo me on the 360 side. They won 30 out of 33 bids last year, and they are on a rocket ship to diversification.
How does AEG’s sale of ASM Global to Legends affect your business?
We always anticipated there would be two [players in the facilities sector]. It doesn’t change where we’re investing capital or what our mission statement is. We have more entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to looking at partnerships and alignment. As for Legends, anybody who has dealt with the Feds recently knows that they will have to go through an approval process, just as we did with Spectra [the venue management and hospitality provider that OVG Facilities merged with in 2021 to create OVG360.]. I think they have their work cut out for them on the NFL side. That said, I have a tremendous amount of respect for that team. Shervin. [Mirhashemi, the CEO of Legends] was at my wedding and so was [AEG president/CEO] Dan Beckerman. I wish them the best, but I don’t think about them very much to be honest with you. None of us do.
Can you elaborate on the challenge Legends faces regarding the NFL?
If you look at Legends’ role in the last bit of NFL stadiums that have come up for service bids, project management or premium or sponsorship, they have the lion’s share of them, which would seem to put customers at a disadvantage when one company will have that much market share of NFL stadiums for F&B, premium/sponsorship sales and operations.”
Have you done any new deals in the last six months that you can talk about?
We’ve done a few that will be announced in the new year that will expand our portfolio in a meaningful way in London. We are very focused on growth there. We have relationships and deals from the arena perspective both in Cardiff, in partnership with Live Nation, and in Bristol which is a great sister market to Coop. You’re going to see us continue to be very aggressive in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the surrounding regions because there isn’t a tremendous amount of density there. From a service add perspective, we’re going to be aggressively growing our executive team and actively bidding on food and beverage and facility management.
You are spearheading OVG’s Las Vegas development. There are so many venues there. How are you going to make this one different?
Vegas is this anomaly where there’s never a glass ceiling to what it can be. Look at the Wynn. It’s the most profitable hotel on the strip and it has been for decades. And every time someone tries to match it, the Wynn raises the bar a notch. T-Mobile Arena was the last facility Tim built before he left [as president/CEO of AEG]. That building is 10 years old, and, no disrespect, it’s great for [Las Vegas’ NHL hockey team] the Golden Knights. But what we see is the need to set a new bar on touring, and that venue needs to speak to what is best in class today.
The slowdown in corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives inspired the theme at this year’s ADCOLOR Conference: “Double Down & Double Up,” representing a call to expand DEI efforts in the advertising industry. And the speakers, nominees, and honorees at this year’s event — held Nov. 9–11, 2023, in L.A. — provided numerous examples of how different experiences, viewpoints and backgrounds expand the reach to audiences.
Since Tiffany R. Warren founded the conference in 2005, ADCOLOR has brought LatinX, Black, Asian, LGTBQ+ and disabled creatives to the forefront of a conversation that had long excluded them. The upbeat and informative event celebrated how far the industry has come, yet reminded attendees of the importance of sharing knowledge and opportunities to ensure that progress continues.
This year’s event was the first since the United States Supreme Court further weakened affirmative action policies in a decision handed down in June. A video highlighting the decision was displayed on video screens as attendees participated in panels and workshops, serving as a constant reminder of what was at stake.
In a panel titled “Men of Color in the C Suite,” Epic Records president Zeke Lewis, Mediahub executive vp/executive director Alejandro Claiborne and Billboard president Mike Van shared insight on what it means to be part of a rare club and the unique responsibility of being a trailblazer in the top job.
“Race and gender manifest differently,” Claiborne noted in response to a question about making space for women on their team. “My job is to advocate, to create a safe space…psychological, socially, physical. When in mixed company, I try to make sure her voice is heard so others know I have her back.” Van also shared that the Billboard executive team is majority women: “The sooner I can work with women on a team, the likelihood of success is very high.”y
As Van noted, the journey to the C-suite will include failures along with successes. “Figure out and understand what you stand for,” he said. “Don’t expect success to be linear.”
ADCOLOR Nominees and Winners
The ADCOLOR 17th annual awards ceremony was held on the final night of the conference, with the black-tie event celebrating creators of inclusive advertising. Below, the winners of Ad of the Year and Most Valuable Partnership honors shared their thoughts on their respective wins.
Ad of the year
Campaign: “The Black Elevation Map”
Client: Black & Abroad
Agency: Performance Art
Honorees: Eric Martin (co-founder/chief creative officer, Black & Abroad) and Kent Johnson (co-founder/chief strategy officer, Black & Abroad)
The Black Elevation Map is a digital app that was created for Black and Abroad, a travel and lifestyle company that focuses on unique experiences for Black travelers. Inspired by the Green Book, a guide for black roadtrippers that highlighted businesses that would welcome them, the app “takes cultural data, including Black population data, historical markers, Black-owned businesses and social media activity, and visualizes it as points of interest on a dynamic, searchable elevation map of the United States.”
How does it feel to win Ad of the Year on your first try?
Eric Martin: It’s exhilarating. Mainly because when we started the work, we had no idea of where we were heading as a business. This was in the prime of the pandemic. There was literally no signals of when this thing would be over. …We just worked with what we had. We spent almost a year putting this together. When we launched it [during] Black History Month 2022, we had no idea where it would go, we just knew we were doing what we could. We were keeping it authentic, and we had an amazing pool of talent that we were able to tap into. An amazing run of businesses that were willing to participate and enlist themselves. And then we had the support of our community.
Why was the message of the ad important to you?
Ken Johnson: I think the Black community was looking for a way to share that information. There had been a consolidated moment. We were sharing lists of our favorite restaurants, etc., but it didn’t seem like it made it accessible if I’m out and about and I want to pull up a map around me that I could patronize immediately. We didn’t see that platform out there, so that was our driving force. We were tapping into the legacy of Victor Green, creator of the Green Book. How do we tap into what he’s done and bring it to our time and make it accessible and familiar for everyone? We all know how to pull up a map on our phones, but if we are able to pull up a map that already has our interests in mind, what would that do for the businesses being impacted?
How was it inspired by the Green Book?
Johnson: The Green Book was a tool for survival. The energy has shifted to how do we in the community make sure these businesses survive. We want to see these businesses around. We want entrepreneurs in our space to be able to make it past those first couple of years that are the hardest. Now we make sure that businesses are able to keep payroll up, reach new audiences. The spirit of survival is still there, [but] the direction is commerce.
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Most valuable partnership
WhatsApp and Translation
Honoree: Ghada Soufan, integrated marketing manager, WhatsApp; founder of MENA for ADCOLOR
WhatsApp teamed up with creative agency Translation for Naija Odyssey, a short film in which Greek-Nigerian Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo “tells his origin story of many origins as he reconciles his roots, birthplace and sense of belonging between cross-cultural worlds.” The film derived from an endorsement deal Antetokounmpo signed with WhatsApp last year.
What’s behind the growth of WhatsApp?
WhatsApp connects over 2 billion people around the world, which is really amazing. It has grown so much over the past two years. It really is the utility app that connects diasporas, communities, families, loved ones, friends, academic groups, elementary schools. So it’s been amazing to see the growth, but also the usage standpoint, the utility and the connections it’s provided for our users.
How do you handle that kind of rapid growth?
We handle the growth with excitement. We were excited about telling the story of WhatsApp as a brand. A lot of people use WhatsApp, [and] being able to really deliver [on] its purpose in connecting loved ones and representing marginalized communities, and really being for the people, and delivering features that can help anyone from teenager to a grandma to use it simply and reliably, has been really amazing.
A lot of people leave accessibility out of the DEI conversation.
That’s why we really refocused our audience with that partnership with Translation on people that are dual culture or multihyphenated. They work between the hyphen. For myself, it’s Arab-American, someone else it might be African-American, Nigerian-British. Wherever you are, we provide the closest thing to [a] face-to-face relationship, that intimate connection, through our app.
How does having a diverse team add to the success?
We have one of the most international teams. We truly have representation [and] truly a global diverse team. We have people from India, Brazil, Germany, U.K., U.S., Asia, Nigeria. We look for diversity not just in terms of a Western point of view, we’re a global diverse perspective. We aim to celebrate those people in our work and in how they use the app.
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Geffen Records has a new dance label, Disorder. The label is being launched Thursday (Dec. 7) by Geffen in partnership with longstanding electronic music executive David Dollimore. Based in London, Disorder will sign DJs, producers, artists, brands and labels.
Dollimore has a long history as a dance music tastemaker, working at London’s lauded Ministry of Sound (where he started as an intern) for 15 years and helping develop the careers of artists including Eric Prydz, Duke Dumont, Axwell, Benny Benassi, MK and Avicii. When Ministry of Sound was acquired by Sony Music UK in 2016, Dollimore became president of RCA Label Group, which clocked dance hits from artists including CamelPhat, London Grammar and Jade Thirlwall during his tenure.
“Disorder will be an incubator for the future of dance music and redefine the landscape as we see it,” Dollimore said in a statement. “This label will be a portal to the underground club world, distilling future trends for mass consumption. We will be leading a generation forging alternative routes to the top, outside the confines of dated traditional structures. The Disorder artist will resonate in fashion, culture, lifestyle and entertainment, across multiple platforms, forming a newgen of future visionaries within the field.”
The first project from Disorder is WHP Records, an imprint created in collaboration with The Warehouse Project, the tastemaking Manchester-based dance events brand that’s been putting on shows in and beyond the city since 2006. Founded by Richard McGinnis and Sam Kandel, The Warehouse Project sells more than 300,000 tickets every winter season. WHP Records is intended to transmit the sounds of its events to the world.
“Having spent the last two decades dedicated to finding and breaking talent, we can’t believe it has taken us this long to make this jump but David was the one person we wanted do it with,” McGinnis and Kandel said in a joint statement. “Being able to work with artists in a whole new way, providing tangible support in the live space alongside equitable partnerships, with David and Tom who share our passion for this culture is an exciting new chapter for us.”
“Together,” added Dollimore, “[Geffen Records president] Tom March, Rich, Sam and the impressive team at The Warehouse Project and I, have the network, the platform and the global infrastructure with Universal to make this one of the most successful partnerships in dance music.”
March has his own storied history with electronic music, having started his career in dance music PR and working with artists including Avicci, Alesso, The Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Deadmau5, Jax Jones, DJ Snake, Zedd, Meduza, Swedish House Mafia and Becky Hill.
“At Geffen we are always looking to partner with our industry’s most successful and innovative entrepreneurs,” March said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to partner with David as he heads back to what I consider him to be the best in the world at — signing and A&R-ing dance music. Between us, we have worked with many of the great names in the last twenty years of electronic music. I am so happy to be joining forces with him now.”
Buying concert tickets could become an easier, more straightforward process after the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Commerce passed the Speculative Ticketing Oversight and Prohibition (STOP) Act on Wednesday (Dec. 6). The bill is now eligible for a vote by the full House.
The STOP Act, which Rep. Gus Bilirakus (R-Fla.) called the “biggest ticket reform in years,” does far more than prevent speculative ticketing, though. The bill also addresses a range of deceptive ticketing practices and transparency issues that perplex, aggravate and annoy consumers.
For starters, the bill requires ticket sellers to conspicuously show the final ticket price at the beginning of the purchase process rather than at check-out. “The first price that you see when you order the ticket is the price that you pay — not a penny more,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) during Wednesday’s hearing.
The bill also ensures ticket buyers can get refunds when concerts are cancelled or postponed. Ticket buyers will have the option of receiving a full refund or, subject to availability, a replacement ticket if the event is postponed and rescheduled in the same or a “comparable” location.
“Consumers should not be left on the hook if an event is canceled or postponed and should have the option to receive a full refund or comparable ticket to a rescheduled show or game,” said Rep. Frank Pallone (C-NJ).
The STOP Act also helps consumers know if they’re buying a ticket from the primary seller or a secondary marketplace. The bill would require ticket sellers to provide buyers with a “a clear and conspicuous statement” that the provider is engaged in the secondary sale of the ticket. In addition, the secondary ticket marketplace cannot state that it is “affiliated with or endorsed by a venue, team, or artist” unless a partnership agreement exists.
Deceptive websites that could mislead ticket buyers are also banned. Ticket providers are prevented from using a domain name or subdomain that contains the name of a specific team, league, venue, performance or artist — including “substantially similar” and misspelled names — unless authorized by the owner of the name. Ticket sellers must also make their refund policies known up front.
Finally, as the name of the bill implies, the STOP Act bans speculative ticketing, in effect barringprimary and secondary ticketing marketplaces from selling tickets they do not possess.
For its part, Live Nation, owner of the country’s largest ticketing company, Ticketmaster, welcomes the new measures. “We’ve long supported a federal all-in pricing mandate, along with other measures including banning speculative ticketing and deceptive websites that trick fans,” the company said in a statement. “We’ll continue working with policymakers, advocating for even stronger reforms and enforcement to stop predatory practices that hurt fans and artists.”
Even if the STOP Act passes in the full House, the U.S. Senate must pass a version of the bill for it to become law. Two similar bills have already been introduced in the Senate. Like the STOP Act, the TICKET Act, introduced by Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would prevent hidden ticket fees, require upfront pricing and stop speculative ticket selling. The Unlocking Ticketing Markets Act, introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), would limit exclusive, multi-year ticketing contracts in live entertainment.
AEG Presents is the latest music-related company to announce a move to the Nashville mixed-use district Nashville Yards, which is being co-developed by AEG and Southwest Value Partners.
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AEG Presents will relocate its regional office to Nashville Yards in 2025. The company’s new location will be comprised of the company’s regional office, members of its global touring division and the Nashville outpost of AEG Presents partner Messina Touring Group. Combined, these three entities oversee everything from bookings at intimate clubs to stadium tour dates, having promoted tours for artists including Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church and more.
AEG will also book and operate the upcoming 4,500-capacity music venue that’s slated to open in Nashville Yards in 2025.
Rick Mueller, president of AEG Presents North America, said in a statement: “We’ve been hyper-focused on expanding our presence in Nashville for a few years now. It’s a big opportunity for us to be consolidating all our operations under one roof at what’s soon to be one of the most popular destinations in the city, and to be booking and operating a new, state-of-the-art music venue on-site makes it that much more exciting.”
“We have an exceptional partnership with AEG, and together we believe we are constructing one of the most uniquely attractive music, retail and creative workplace environments in the world,” added Cary Mack, managing partner of Southwest Value Partners. “Independent of that, AEG Presents is a preeminent entertainment brand and operator of world class entertainment venues, and we are very excited to have their extended presence at Nashville Yards.”
In November, booking agency CAA announced that its Nashville office will also relocate to Nashville Yards in 2025. Upon completion, the 19-acre mixed-used development will feature pedestrian pathways, open green spaces, plazas and Class A+ office, residential, hospitality, entertainment, retail and culinary offerings.
Nonprofit organization Live Music Society is continuing its efforts to support small venues and listening rooms across the country. Today, the organization announced more than $200,000 in additional grants distributed to 31 independent venues, which brings its annual granted funds to over $800,000 so far.
The so-called Toolbox grants are designed for uses including regulatory compliance, enhanced accessibility and upgrading crucial systems such as ticketing and sales. This month’s recipients include xBk in Des Moines, Iowa, which will be installing a portable wheelchair ramp and ADA-compliant stage to better serve artists with disabilities; and The Hideout in Chicago, which will be hiring a social media consultant to improve its understanding of audience metrics and social media management systems and marketing practices. Another recipient, Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz, Calif., will be installing a large flatscreen behind the stage to serve bands with visual elements in a space that cannot accommodate projection.
“These grants go beyond just supporting performance spaces; they foster a vibrant community where venues exchange knowledge, evolve together, and weave a richer cultural tapestry for our nation,” said Live Music Society founder Pete Muller in a release. “This expansion isn’t just about financial assistance; it’s about helping to create an ecosystem where artists and audiences flourish hand in hand.”
Additional venues assisted by this month’s grants include Alex’s Bar, Roots Music Project, Jalopy Theatre, One Longfellow Square, 20 Front Street, Beat Kitchen, Belltown Yacht Club, Cafe Colonial, Casbah, Drkmttr, Floyd Country Store, Hoosier Dome, La Peña Cultural Center, Moe’s Alley, Natalie’s Grandview, Next Stage Arts, New Deal Café, No Class, Opolis, PAUSA art house, Portland House of Music, Rambling House Music Bar, Real Art Tacoma, ShapeShifter Lab, The Egremont Barn, The Goodfoot, The Hideout, The Lost Church, The Parlor Room and The Venue.
“Small venues are the heartbeat of musical growth — they’re where artists learn, make mistakes, and connect with communities,” added Live Music Society board member and singer/activist Nona Hendryx. “Our commitment lies in supporting these venues and understanding that they’re vital launchpads for artists, where songs transform from garage or bedroom creations to stage sensations. Without them, stepping stones in the artist’s journey are missing.”
Live Music Society has continued to expand its programming since its inception in 2020 in response to mass gathering bans that impacted music venues during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in 2023, it provided $100,000 in Toolbox grants and an additional $500,000 for its Music in Action initiative, which helps venues develop and implement creative ideas to engage their communities, expand audiences and generate new revenue sources.