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At 50, hip-hop is “as fresh, in demand and modern as ever,” declared Frank Briegmann, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon. He said this to open the Sept. 7 event Universal Inside, the annual label showcase that this year was “Dedicated to hip-hop” in honor of the genre’s 50th anniversary. Example No. 1 was the night’s first performance, from Kontra K, a German rapper who performed “Für die Himmel durch die Hölle” (For Heaven through Hell) and “Summertime,” a No. 1 hit that samples Lana Del Rey’s “Summertime Sadness.”
German-language rap, the very concept of which would have been hard to imagine in the 1970s Bronx, is now the country’s most popular genre.
After the rapper badmómzjay performed, Briegmann spoke about the vitality of hip-hop, as well as the state of the music business in Germany. To mark hip-hop’s anniversary, Briegmann announced that Universal will release the collection Hip-Hop At Fifty (50 Jahre Hip-Hop), plus reissue classic albums like LL Cool J’s Radio and Eazy-E‘s Eazy-Duz-It, and put out vinyl box sets dedicated to Eric B. & Rakim and Public Enemy. At this point, of course, Universal Germany also has its own roster of Deutschrap stars, including Kontra K, badmómzjay, Sido, Luciano, Chapo102 and DJ Desue — all of whom performed later in the evening.
Briegmann also spoke about the more technical parts of the business, including the idea that there are more places than ever where labels can connect artists with fans – including smart automotive audio systems, fitness machines and metaverse platforms.
“We have gone from being labels to architects and builders of these integrated worlds,” he said. “Together with our artists, we create experiences that go far beyond pure audio consumption.”
One will be Universal’s “YOUniverse,” an interactive platform developed by Universal Music Central Europe that does not seem to exist yet in the U.S.
The music industry’s potential could still be limited, Briegmann said. He spoke about how the “value gap,” which labels and industry groups once invoked to point out that user-upload platforms like YouTube paid less than Spotify and Apple Music, still applied to short-form-video platforms. In the case of YouTube, he said, negotiations eventually led to fairer pay-outs – and he was hopeful the same would happen with these newcomers.
Briegmann also spoke about how artificial intelligence would affect the music business, including Universal’s recent deal with YouTube to develop AI technologies and protect artists from their misuse. The new technology is here to stay, and “we are united by the desire to view and develop AI tools from an artist’s perspective,” Briegmann said. “At the heart of our shared vision is the goal to build a safe, responsible and profitable ecosystem for music and video content.”
Greatest hits albums were once a key facet of the record business — a way for labels to repackage existing copyrights, for artists to make a statement about a body of commercial success and for consumers to get all their favorite hits by an artist in one collection.
The development of streaming hobbled that format. If a fan can create a playlist of all their favorite songs, why would they need to buy an album of those hits?
Best-of albums, though, are quietly hitting back — especially in the country format. MCA Nashville released Josh Turner’s Greatest Hits on Sept. 8, and Valory has Thomas Rhett’s 20 Number Ones scheduled for Sept. 29. Encore Music Group likewise issued Ricochet’s Then & Now on Aug. 18, with rerecordings of its four top 20 singles from the 1990s among the package’s 16 tracks.
“It’s kind of a milestone moment for me,” Turner says.
Indeed, in the old-school music business, hits albums carried a certain status. In their original, purest form, they signified that an artist had accrued enough successful individual titles that they could fill both sides of a vinyl release with familiar music. They sometimes expanded a fan base, too, as consumers who hadn’t necessarily kept tabs on a specific act suddenly recognized their accomplishments more fully.
“The greatest-hits aggregate, whether it’s physical or even just a digital collection, is kind of a marketing banner for the body of work,” says Fisher Entertainment Consulting founder Pete Fisher.
If the hits package has a throwback vibe, that’s appropriate since nostalgic vinyl is the format that’s most likely driving its return. Fans who want to hear the hits from the turntable at home can’t mix and match the songs for a 12-inch disc as they could on Spotify. The disc needs to be manufactured in a fixed order, and the best-of package offers real value.
“We’ve been selling a lot of vinyl on the road at my shows, so that’s a good sign to show that people really want the physical product,” Turner says. “Everybody’s familiar with the digital stuff now. Sometimes it’s kind of cool to just unplug and go to the record.”
There’s an irony to the development. Producers have been known to add programmed needle scratches to digital music to give it a ’60s or ’70s atmosphere. Avoiding those pops and crackles were one of the supposed benefits of shifting to CDs. The digital disc’s rise pretty much ended a 30-year reign for 12-inch pressings around the early 1990s. Now the sonic imperfections add a new dimension to several generations of music.
“Vinyls are making a comeback, and [they’re] making a comeback among the younger generation,” says Ricochet founder Heath Wright. “It’s the thing now.”
That shift is opening up new possibilities for most of the music from the last three decades as it appears on a warmer, less brittle configuration.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve heard Ricochet music on vinyl,” Wright says, anticipating the release of the band’s material on black and yellow plastic.
Plenty of recent hits projects marked the first time the songs were available in the format. Among the best-of collections unveiled in the last two years are Heads Carolina, Tails California: The Best of Jo Dee Messina, Luke Bryan’s #1’s Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and a Justin Moore Greatest Hits originally offered in translucent red vinyl at Walmart. Much of Dolly Parton’s Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection — including “Jolene,” “9 to 5” and “Coat of Many Colors” — was initially issued on vinyl back in the day.
But vinyl isn’t the only point. Digital service providers have created their own playlists dedicated to specific artists. However, that same act may prefer a different set of songs as a career overview, and the makeup of those titles on a hits compilation aren’t subject to revisions by DSP managers.
“It’s a nice way to roll up an era and curate the hits from a label-centric perspective for all time,” 615 Leverage + Strategy partner John Zarling says. “Apple constantly updates their Essentials playlists and prominently features those for every artist of note. But if you think about 10, 20 years removed, are those playlists going to properly document a specific era for an artist?”
Hits projects also give the act’s team a chance to elevate a song that was overlooked publicly. “Desperado,” for example, was never a charting single for The Eagles or Linda Ronstadt, but it rose in significance after being featured on both acts’ best-of compilations.
“Think about the songs that might have been important,” says Zarling, “but were never big chart successes, that because they were placed on greatest-hits records, it became a part of that artist’s repertoire.”
Plenty of artists who would have qualified for best-of albums in a previous era have never issued one during the last 20 years. That includes Brad Paisley, Cole Swindell, Taylor Swift, Chris Stapleton and Miranda Lambert. As the hits album hits back, a template has been established that makes a best-of compilation a good bet again.
In addition to making a statement about the act, it’s also a good way to enhance the experience with fans. Turner and Rhett are both offering special packages that combine hits albums with other merchandise. Rhett’s 20 Number Ones can be purchased in two different collectible versions, including one with an autographed box set with a booklet for $125. Turner’s Greatest Hits is available in several configurations, including signed copies and/or Turner-branded clothing for up to $185.
“That’s a trend that’s not going to go away,” Fisher suggests. “The entertainment industry as a whole is just continuing to try and find very high-touch experiences and high-quality products for that premium consumer. There’s profit opportunities with the superfan, and I don’t think they’re disappointed to pay that way. It’s a way they vote in support of their favorite artists.”
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PodcastOne debuted its long-awaited listing Friday (Sept. 8), with officials from parent company LiveOne ringing the opening bell on the trading floor of the NASDAQ to celebrate what CEO Rob Ellin says is first ever spinoff of a minority stake in a publicly traded company. Shares of the new LiveOne subsidiary Courtside Group, better known as PodcastOne, fell 45% shortly after trading opened, dropping from $8 per share to close at $4.39.
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The tumble came amid growing criticism of one of PodcastOne’s acquisition targets — California-based Kast Media — by major podcasters like comedian Theo Von who accused Kast of failing to pay out $4 million in advertising fees collected by Kast on behalf of its podcaster clients.
In a video viewed more than 1 million times, titled “This Man Defrauded Our Podcast,” Von alleges that Kast Media founder and CEO Colin Thomson did not pay his show This Past Weekend with Theo Von for the advertisements it sold and booked for Von’s show. Von claimed This Past Weekend eventually cut ties with Kast Media, only to later be approached by Thomson and Ellin and was told on a phone call, “If you come over to our new network PodcastOne, we’ll pay some of what you’re owed in stock,” Von said, adding “it felt like to me they’re trying to leverage our podcast and other podcasts to then make their stock do well and if that happens, then we’ll get a share of our money.”
Von told viewers he declined the offer.
Ellin addressed the Kast Media scandal on Friday during a post-market opening interview with Yahoo News. He noted that PodcastOne is no longer hiring Thomson to join his the publicly traded company, but noted he hoped to help creators hurt by the Kast Media controversy.
“We’ve bought a distressed asset called Kast Media, a very distressed, troubled asset (that) owed a lot of money to its podcasters and couldn’t really afford to pay them. And the banks pulled out. And that host pulled out. So we acquired those and have added some very serious revenues to it,” he said.
Von isn’t the only podcaster to go public about the Kast Media scandal. Pro Wrestling podcaster Jim Cornette and cohost Brian Last have detailed their own experience with Kast Media and PodcastOne in a series of at least seven podcast episodes over the last two months. Former Sirius XM host Jason Ellis has also spoken out against Kast Media in a recent viral video.
Von said he will continue pursuing Thomson for the money he is owed by Kast Media.
“You f—ed with the wrong rat, homie” Von said while a picture of Thompson aired on the screen. “You can’t get me to shut up.”
Thomson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
News that Concord plans to buy Round Hill Music Royalty Fund for $1.15 per share sent Round Hill shares soaring 64.4% on Friday (Sept. 8), from $0.6875 to $1.13 per share. They finished the week up 62.6%, leading all music stocks by a wide margin.
The deal, which must be approved by at least 75% of Round Hill’s shareholders at the company’s Oct. 18 general meeting, values the rights in the fund at nearly $469 million. On March 6, an independent valuation from Citron Cooperman put Round Hill’s economic net asset value at $519.6 million, according to the company’s 2022 annual report. That puts Concord’s bid at a 9.7% discount to economic NAV — a vast improvement from the 46% discount the stock had been trading at before the deal was announced.
Round Hill competitor Hipgnosis Songs Fund was also a beneficiary of Concord’s announcement. Shares of Hipgnosis rose 15.7% to 0.923 pounds ($1.15) on Friday, bringing the stock’s one-week gain to 16.8%. Hipgnosis shares have been trading at a steep discount to the company’s net asset value — a measure of the company’s catalog, less liabilities — and hadn’t closed above 0.923 pounds since Sept. 27, 2022. The fact that Concord found a buyer at a price close to its NAV could have signaled to Hipgnosis investors that its shares should be trading closer to its NAV. Some Hipgnosis investors may have also believed that, like the Concord deal, Hipgnosis could also find a suitor that would bid close to the NAV.
Round Hill and Hipgnosis were — by far — the biggest gainers of the week. Overall, the 21-stock Billboard Global Music Index dropped 0.8% to 1,348.41. Year-to-date, the index has gained 15.5%.
No other music stocks had a double-digit gain, and just six others finished the week in positive territory. Twelve stocks lost ground this week and one stock, music streamer Anghami, was unchanged. French music streamer Deezer gained 6.8% and was probably helped by its announcement of a partnership with Universal Music Group to adopt a new system for calculating streaming royalties. Universal Music Group shares improved 3.8% to 23.52 euros ($25.20).
Stocks were down around the world this week. In the United States, the S&P 500 fell 1.3% and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.9%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index lost 0.6%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 was a bright spot with a slight 0.2% gain.
With the help of Round Hill and Hipgnosis, the eight stocks in the record labels and publishing category on the Billboard Global Music Index had an average gain of 10.3%. The other categories saw losses; four live music stocks had a 0.9% average decline, six streaming stocks dropped an average of 3.9% and three radio stocks had a 4.7% average decline.
LiveOne shares fell 10.4% on Friday following the company’s spin-off of its PodcastOne segment on the Nasdaq exchange. That brought its shares’ one-week loss to 21.8%. LiveOne distributed about 19% of PodcastOne shares to LiveOne shareholders of record as of Sept. 5, but the podcast company’s trading debut got off to a rocky start on Friday. Trading under the ticker PODC, shares of PodcastOne owner and operater Courtside Group fell 45.1% to $4.39 from a starting price of $8 per share.
As the music streaming business matures, the way people listen to music could determine how artists get paid. Sitting back and letting a streaming service choose a song will result in a lower royalty than choosing the song yourself, if this week’s news of a new streaming model is any indication.
It’s not a phobia toward algorithms that’s driving the change. Rather, the approach rewards those artists who create the most active engagement. Songs that play in the background are deemed to be less valuable.
On Tuesday, French music streamer Deezer and Universal Music Group announced a partnership to reinvent how Deezer calculates UMG’s streaming royalties. The partnership will “[reduce] the economic influence of algorithmic programming” and reward “engaging content” with greater royalties, according to the companies’ press releases.
When they say, “algorithmic programming,” they mean the streaming service’s personalized recommendations about what song will play next. That’s a more passive, lean-back approach to listening than hunting and pecking on the app’s user interface to choose a song.
At some point between the launch of internet radio platforms and the present battle for better royalties, passive listening got a bad rap. What has the world come to, some people fret, when dreaded algorithms are deciding what music gets heard? What gives an algorithm such an important role in determining how royalties will be paid?
But algorithms are a common way to stream music. When given an on-demand streaming service, people often let an algorithm do the hard work of picking the next song. A 2021 MusicWatch survey found Spotify Premium users spent 25% of their time in “lean-back” listening rather than “lean-in” listening. That figure rose to 31% for Apple Music users and 32% for Amazon Prime Music users. In all, 48% of time spent listening to music was “lean back” listening on streaming services, broadcast radio and satellite radio.
Algorithms also drive helpful products such as Spotify’s Discover Mode, a promotional tool that allows artists and labels to find new listeners in return for a lower royalty rate. It works by increasing the likelihood a song will be recommended to a listener. It’s popular, too. From the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, Discovery Mode had a 98% customer retention rate, Charlie Hellman, Spotify’s vp/global head of music product said during the company’s 2022 investor day presentation.
When a streaming service does personalization well, it adds great value to a listening experience. Pandora was revolutionary when it launched in 2005 because it had a spooky sense of what people wanted to hear. Its Music Genome Project, a proprietary technology that classifies recordings’ various musical traits, gave it the ability to pick the right songs based on a history of giving other songs a “thumb up” or “thumb down” vote. Pandora took away the effort in digging for songs and provided a much broader catalog than broadcast or satellite radio.
Today’s music streaming services are superior to their predecessors — and their own previous iterations — specifically because they have mastered passive listening. Consider how far Spotify has come since it was launched. Spotify used to recommend songs based on a user’s social network — kind of an “if your friend likes it, you’ll like it” approach to song-picking. But it wasn’t a good listening experience. Spotify’s decision to acquire music intelligence startup The Echo Nest in 2014 was the cornerstone for a new approach to providing a personalized listening experience.
The proliferation of smart speakers only adds to the need for algorithmic listening. About two-thirds of U.S. smart speaker owners wanted to own the devices to discover new songs, according to a 2022 Edison Research survey, and their share of time spent listening to audio through a smart speaker increased 400% over the previous five years. The joy of owning a smart speaker is allowing the device and streaming service to do all the work — it’s passive listening at its best.
Most Americans use their favorite streaming service when doing things around the home such as cleaning, relaxing, cooking, eating and entertaining guests, according to the same MusicWatch study. Most people stream music when exercising. More than half of people also use their favorite streaming service when driving, although satellite and broadcast radio were preferred in the car over streaming. Streaming service Songza, acquired by Google in 2014, was built on the premise that people chose music for moods and activities. That approach to curation has since been adopted by most — if not all — streaming services.
The UMG-Deezer partnership is evidence that background listening is on its way to getting a demotion. Deezer will remove tracks of white noise, which account for 2% of its streams, from the royalty pool. That leaves more royalties for professional artists who depend on streaming to earn a living. Throughout the year, UMG has been calling out “functional music” — a term that has come to mean low-cost or generic music built for moods or activities — and drawing a distinction between artists who draw people to streaming services and sounds that people play in the background.
Taylor Swift and Drake may rule the charts, but functional music is mainstream, too. Of U.S. music streamers who listen to playlists, many of them listen to playlists for white noise (36%), rain sounds (45%) and relaxation (61%), according to a 2023 MIDiA Research survey. In recent years, streaming services have broadened their playlists and radio stations to address the fact that consumers want a variety of sounds.
Artists with small followings will get less, too. Deezer will “boost” the royalties of “professional” artists with at least 1,000 streams per month by a minimum of 500 unique listeners. That will relegate hobbyists and artists early in their career development to a different tier. Exactly how many artists will be affected isn’t clear, but Deezer says just 2% of artists on the platform have more than 1,000 monthly unique listeners.
UMG and Deezer aren’t exactly taking an innovative stance, however. The music industry — at least in the United States — has already determined that active, on-demand listening is more valuable than passive, non-interactive listening. The Deezer-UMG partnership merely codifies for an on-demand service what is standard at internet radio. In the United States, non-interactive internet radio streams from the likes of Pandora pay 0.24 cents per ad-supported stream (and 0.3 cents per subscription streams). That’s less than any on-demand stream from a premium streaming service such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
In effect, a streaming service pays less for non-interactive streams because it gives the listener less value than on-demand services. To qualify for the lower royalty rate, a non-interactive streaming service cannot have the same robust features as an interactive one. At Deezer, a listener can stream any song from any artist any number of times. They can listen to playlists and build playlists, too. They can listen to songs shared by friends through SMS or social media. That’s all lean-in listening, and it’s more valuable because people will pay $11 a month to do it.
Until now, on-demand services’ standard pro-rata model hasn’t separated passive from active listening. When labels negotiated licensing deals with streaming services, they have always treated one stream the same as any other stream. A stream from a user-curated playlist is treated the same as a stream from an algorithmically created radio station. Whether the listener actively hits the play button to listen to a particular track isn’t taken into account. Right or wrong, that’s how the pie has been divvied up.
A couple of decades into the life of the pro-rata system, Deezer shows there is a greater willingness to treat active listening differently than passive listening. MIDiA Research’s Mark Mulligan called this demotion “a very welcome and long overdue move” that will “disincentivis[e] the commodification of consumption by rewarding active listening.” There’s certainly a logical argument to be made here: The artists people actively seek out arguably provide the most value — give the streaming service the most foot traffic, so to speak — while less popular artists play the important but less financially valuable role of giving breadth and depth to music catalogs.
Time will tell if and how other streaming services follow Deezer’s lead. An alternative already exists: In 2022, Warner Music Group adopted the user-centric model that SoundCloud rolled out to independent artists the prior year. That system pays royalties based on an individual subscriber’s listening rather than pooling all subscribers’ fees into a larger pool. So, a subscriber who listens to out-of-the-mainstream or independent artists is assured their money is not going to popular artists.
Over the next few years, labels and services are likely to experiment with different approaches to calculating streaming royalties. But regardless of how the dust settles, streaming services and rights holders should respect what passive listening brings to their listeners.
Cody Alan is joining SiriusXM’s The Highway with a new daily show set to launch Monday (Sept. 11).
The new show, titled Highway Mornings with Cody Alan & Macie Banks, will air weekdays from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET on SiriusXM’s The Highway (channel 56), as well as on the SXM app. Alan will also continue to host CMT’s flagship weekly music TV show Hot 20 Countdown.
Highway Mornings with Cody Alan & Macie Banks will offer the latest in country music, pop culture and entertainment, with Alan and Banks interviewing celebrity guests, chatting with listeners and sharing their own personal stories. The new show follows the exit of former The Highway morning show host Storme Warren, who left The Highway earlier this year to join Garth Brooks’s The Big 615 country station with TuneIn.
“Cody is a well-respected and long-time member of the Country music community and we are thrilled to welcome him to The Highway family,” said SiriusXM senior vp/GM of music programming Steve Blatter in a statement. “Cody’s deep roots and connections in country music will keep our listeners’ fingers on the pulse of Nashville every morning as they tune in to Cody and Macie.”
Alan added, “I’m thrilled to be joining the SiriusXM family on The Highway. It will be a fresh start in mornings, with Macie Banks returning soon to join me. I plan to lean into my love for country music and my years of strong relationships in Nashville. The new show will be friendly and fun, and continue with an emphasis on artists and authenticity. After all, real life makes the best country songs, and from my experience, the best on air moments too! Also, I’m very excited to be part of The Highway’s rich tradition of passionately introducing fans to country music’s next generation. I can’t wait to get going!”
During his career, Alan has been named the 2021 national on-air personality of the year by the Country Music Association and has twice been named the Academy of Country Music’s personality of the year. After gigs in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Alan made it to the major leagues at age 23 when he landed at KPLX in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Alan was also a nine-time recipient of the country music director of the year award during his tenure in Dallas.
In 2017, Cody made national headlines after coming out as gay. He partners with GLAAD to host the annual Concert for Love and Acceptance and was honored with the 2022 visibility award from the Human Rights Campaign for his efforts in the LGBTQ+ community. The multi-faceted Alan also released the book Hear’s The Thing in 2021, writing about his on-air adventures, his coming out story and the lessons he’s learned from listening to others.
Sean “Diddy” Combs just scored a significant win in his case against alcohol giant Diageo after a judge denied two crucial motions filed by the liquor maker, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Combs himself was present in court for the ruling, during which New York state judge Joel M. Cohen rejected Diageo’s motions for the case to be dismissed or, alternatively, sent to private arbitration. The case will now move forward in state court, with the trial open to the public.
The lawsuit, brought by Combs in May, claims Diageo breached its partnership deal with the artist and entrepreneur for its DeLeón Tequila by failing to properly support the brand, thereby harming its sales. Combs’ lawsuit also leveled accusations of racism against the alcohol company, accusing it of treating his product line “worse than others because he is Black.”
In June, Diageo fired back by calling Combs’ racism accusations “false and reckless” and part of an effort to “extract additional billions” from the company while concurrently filing motions for dismissal or arbitration. At the same time, a spokeswoman for Diageo noted the company had permanently severed its business relationship with Combs, claiming the rapper had “repeatedly undermined our partnerships and threatened to publicly defame Diageo if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands.” The company additionally painted Combs as “an unreliable and untrustworthy business partner” who failed in his obligations to support DeLeón.
In asking Cohen to keep the case out of court, the company argued that the “garden variety” business dispute should have been decided under a binding arbitration agreement previously signed by both parties. But the judge clearly disagreed, striking down Diageo’s motions after hearing oral arguments from attorneys on both sides of the case for more than 90 minutes on Thursday.
“This case has always been about getting fair and equal treatment,” said Combs’ lawyer John Hueston in a statement. “Today’s decision is an important step in the right direction. Diageo tried to end this action. Today the judge soundly rejected that effort.”
Combs added, “I’m fighting for fair and equal treatment for everyone. This isn’t just about me. I look forward to continuing this fight in court. We all deserve the same 24 hours.”
A spokesperson for Diageo sent the following statement: “While we are disappointed with yesterday’s procedural decision, it is important to underscore that this is not a ruling on the merits of the claims, which we maintain are false and baseless. We are currently considering all legal options.”
Demi Lovato has a new manager. The superstar has signed with Brandon Creed and his newly-launched firm Good World Management. At the end of August, Billboard broke the news that Lovato had parted ways with Scooter Braun‘s SB Projects in July. Lovato signed with Braun and his SB Projects firm in 2019. She was previously […]
This week, it’s almost more difficult to find a music chart that doesn’t lead with Zach Bryan. The Oklahoma native’s new self-titled album exploded out of the gate, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 200,000 equivalent album units, while its focus single, “I Remember Everything” featuring Kacey Musgraves, simultaneously debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, his first No. 1 on each chart.
But that’s just scratching the surface. The album — which qualifies for both the country charts and the rock charts — is the first rock album to hit No. 1 in over a year; had the biggest week for a rock album in four years; and accumulated the biggest streaming week for a rock album in history. Meanwhile, “I Remember Everything” becomes the first song in history to hit No. 1 on all of the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts, while all 16 of the album’s tracks are in the top 50 of the Hot 100, resulting in 20 of the top 40 songs on the chart being country songs for the first time… ever. If that’s not enough, “I Remember Everything” is the fourth straight country song to reach the top of the chart (following Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” Jason Aldean’s “Try That In a Small Town” and Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond”) — also for the first time in history.
Any of which would be notable achievements on their own. But to set each mark all at once is, frankly, a little overwhelming. It’s been a long time coming for Bryan, whose last album, his major-label debut American Heartbreak, hasn’t fallen out of the top 40 on the Billboard 200 in the 67 weeks since it first debuted in the top 10 in June 2022. And the success of the project helps earn Warner Records vp of A&R Miles Gersh the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Gersh helps to break down the success of the album and its big single, the recent run of success for country songs and where the label can help take the project from here. “I think the surge is really due to the quality of the songwriting attracting fans that want something that they feel they can relate to.”
This week, Zach Bryan’s self-titled album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 200,000 equivalent album units, his first to top the chart. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
This album was all about Zach. Coming off the great success of American Heartbreak and his sold-out tour, I think naturally the label wanted to pull out all of the stops to make this the biggest album possible. But the best decision that we — alongside [Warner Records co-chairman/CEO] Aaron Bay-Schuck — made was to give Zach the artistic freedom to create the album he wanted. We went against some industry norms with no advance singles or videos, but it turned out to be the exact right way to roll it all out.
At the same time, Zach and Kacey Musgraves’ duet “I Remember Everything” debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100, the first chart-topper for each artist and Warner’s first Hot 100 No. 1 in a decade. How did the track come together and what was behind its big debut?
This was actually the last song on the album to come together about a week before release. Zach always wanted this song to be a duet with a female vocalist and there was some back and forth about who made the most sense. For a moment it looked like it could just be Zach on the song, but when Zach’s manager Stefan Max played me Kacey’s verse, it was a no-brainer. We knew it was the moment the album was missing, and I’m glad it’s resonated with fans. I’m honored to be a part of not only a No. 1 song for Zach but a big hit for Warner as well.
The album is the latest in a line of projects that qualify for both the country and rock charts — and “I Remember Everything” is the first song in history to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot Country Songs and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs charts. What do you think is behind this surge in these types of projects, and how does Zach’s album fit into that?
Zach’s music has always been genre-less in my mind. I understand where both the country and rock designations come from, but he’s always just seemed like a singer/songwriter. By producing and writing 100% of this album he was able to experiment with the sounds that inspire him. I think the surge is really due to the quality of the songwriting attracting fans that want something that they feel they can relate to.
The album also now has the biggest streaming week for a rock album in history and becomes the first rock album in over a year to top the Billboard 200. For a genre that doesn’t often over-index in streaming, how did this album break through?
Although you hear some rock production on this album, I wouldn’t say it caters to the traditional rock fan. This album was able to break through because of the authenticity and relatability of Zach’s music, and really just him as a person.
“I Remember Everything” also marks the fourth straight country song at No. 1 on the Hot 100, something that has never happened before in the entire history of the chart. Why do you think country music is resonating in the U.S. right now?
I think there’s a couple reasons for this. First, growing up in L.A. in the ’90s and 2000s there was a stigma around country music that it just wasn’t cool. That’s completely disappeared with artists like Zach, Tyler Childers and others. Second, as streaming has grown throughout the country, places where people typically listened to the radio and bought songs on iTunes have transitioned into streaming, and they’re streaming a lot. So while I think there are a ton of new country music fans, it’s also the way that they’re consuming music that has changed.
After such a scorching-hot debut, how do you continue to boost this album and its singles moving forward?
While we’re all so excited about the success of this album out of the gate, I think it will continue to grow on people as they decipher and discover the meanings of each song. Zach’s team — Danny Kang and Stefan Max — is fantastic and with them we will find tasteful and authentic ways to expose the music to more people. That may be through music videos that Zach also writes himself, through moments like the Grammys and great work on the digital side.
Argentine singer-songwriter Abel Pintos has signed an exclusive global publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), the company announced on Thursday (Sept. 7). Known for his folk-tinged intimate heartfelt songs, Pintos’ career spans over nearly three decades. Since debuting at age 13, the Gardel Award-winning artist has released 14 albums (12 studio albums and two live albums). […]