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This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Two new misconduct lawsuits, one against publishing exec Kenny MacPherson and another against R&B star Jason Derulo; a ruling for Cardi B that a gossip blogger can’t use bankruptcy to escape a huge defamation judgment; a new Supreme Court case that’s “vitally important to the music industry”; and more.
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THE BIG STORY: Music #MeToo
The music industry was rocked last week by two new sexual misconduct lawsuits: one against a powerful publishing executive and another against a chart-topping R&B star.
In a complaint filed Wednesday, a woman named Sara Lewis leveled accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Kenny MacPherson, the CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s publishing unit. Lewis claimed she “endured an onslaught of unwanted sexual advances” from MacPherson while she worked as an A&R at Chrysalis Music during the mid-2000s when he served as the company’s president.
Through an attorney, MacPherson “vehemently” denied the allegations, stressing that the “unverified” claims stemmed from nearly two decades in the past. But Hipgnosis quickly placed him on leave of absence pending an internal investigation: “Hipgnosis Songs Fund has a policy of zero-tolerance to harassment or abuse,” a company spokesperson said.
A day later, a woman named Emaza Gibson accused singer Jason Derulo of repeatedly sexually harassing her, then dropping her from a deal with his Atlantic Records imprint Future History after she rebuffed his advances. He strongly denied the claims, calling them “completely false and hurtful.”
Nearly six years on from the start of the #MeToo movement, the music industry is experiencing a new wave of such accusations. Two women filed lawsuits late last year against Atlantic Records over sexual assault allegations against late co-founder Ahmet Ertegun; country star Jimmie Allen was hit with two sexual assault lawsuits in May; and Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter has been sued by three different women who claim he sexually assaulted them as minors in the 2000s.
Go read the entire story on the Derulo accusations here and the entire story on the MacPherson allegations here, featuring full breakdowns of the cases and access to the actual court documents.
Other top stories this week…
BETTER HAVE MY MONEY – Two years after Cardi B won a nearly $4 million defamation verdict against a YouTube host named Tasha K over her salacious lies about drug use, STDs and prostitution, a federal judge ruled that the gossip blogger could not use Chapter 11 bankruptcy to avoid paying most of the judgment.
TRANSATLANTIC CUSTODY SETTLEMENT – Lawyers for Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner, currently locked in a very public divorce, said the former couple was close to an “amicable resolution” to end Turner’s unusual federal lawsuit, which cited international treaties on child abduction to demand the return of the couple’s two young daughters to her native England.
ELECTRIC ZOO SUITS MOUNT – A month after this year’s chaotic iteration of the Electric Zoo festival in New York, a group of ticket buyers filed a class action over what they called an “absolute fiasco.” The lawsuit is at least the fourth such lawsuit filed against Brooklyn promoter Avant Gardner, the organizer of the popular dance music event.
FILE THE SUIT, PAY THE PRICE? – Sam Smith and Normani demanded to be reimbursed for money they spent defeating a failed copyright lawsuit that accused them of ripping off their 2019 hit, “Dancing With a Stranger,” from an earlier song. The final legal bill? A whopping $732,202.
MUSIC BIZ HEADS TO SCOTUS – The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for certiorari filed by Warner Music Group, agreeing to tackle a case over copyright damages that labels and publishers have called “vitally important to the music industry.” The case is complicated, so go read our deep-dive explainer here.
LADY GAGA DOGNAPPING CASE – A Los Angeles judge once again ruled that Lady Gaga was not obligated to pay a $500,000 reward for the return of her stolen French bulldogs to the very same woman who was criminally charged over the incident. Echoing an earlier ruling, the judge said the woman had “unclean hands” that prevented her from profiting from her actions.
‘MY HUMPS’ v. ‘MY POOPS’ – Abruptly ending what could have been a major battle over copyright fair use, BMG Rights Management reached a settlement to end a copyright lawsuit against toymaker MGA Entertainment over “My Poops” — a scatological parody song set to the tune of The Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.”
TUPAC MURDER CASE UPDATE – Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the man who prosecutors say masterminded the 1996 shooting death of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas, made his first court appearance. Davis, who had been a long-known suspect in the case and publicly admitted his role in the killing in a tell-all memoir, was indicted late last month on one count of murder with a deadly weapon.
The Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado has long been a must-play venue for touring artists and a top destination for music fans thanks to its natural beauty and geologically driven acoustics. Now, a recent economic impact report commissioned by Denver Arts and Venues [DAV], which owns and operates Red Rocks on behalf of the city of Denver, quantifies the financial power of the red sandstone venue first opened in 1941, estimating that the 9,525-capacity amphitheater is responsible for generating $717 million annually in the Denver metro area and the state of Colorado.
The first-ever economic impact study of Red Rocks Amphitheatre’s role in local economies, by BBC Research & Consulting (BBC), evaluated data from the 2022 Red Rocks concert season in hopes of quantifying the ripple effects of dollars spent in the region by fans, tourists and crews who bring shows to the 83-year-old venue’s iconic stage.
“Red Rocks is the most amazing concert venue in the world,” said Denver Mayor Mike Johnston in a statement. “This study proves what Denverites have known for years: Red Rocks, and Denver’s creative community, are powerful economic and cultural forces for our city.”
The report found that Red Rocks was responsible for 7,300 full- and part-time jobs last year, generating $216 million in payroll in the Denver metro area and an additional $6 million statewide. Last year, Red Rocks clocked in $186 million in ticket sales from an attendance of 1,747,465 at 217 ticketed events — an increase of nearly 300% from 75 events just a decade ago.
“From performers and stagehands to box office staff and maintenance crews, 1.5 million Red Rocks fans means a big boost for the local concert industry,” said Tad Bowman, venue manager at Red Rocks. “There will be 400 people working on-site each show, but there are literally thousands of jobs across the region supported by what happens at Red Rocks.”
The report found that 30 percent of fans, on an average night, travel to Red Rocks from from outside the Denver Metro Area, with the top visitor markets being Chicago, New York/New Jersey, Los Angeles, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Minneapolis-St. Paul and San Francisco.
Last year, Red Rocks recorded almost $40 million in gross concessions revenue and is the top on-premise location in the United States for sales of White Claw Hard. Overall, the venue sells more than 1 million malted beverages annually, including more than 400,000 seltzers.
“Every Coke or Coors sold has a long line of people who’ve gotten that beverage into a fan’s hands,” said Brian Kitts, who oversees Red Rocks’ corporate partnerships and marketing.
For its part, the city-owned venue spends $8.5 million on annual maintenance and notes that money spent at Red Rocks supports government and city arts and cultural programs, including $6 million in tax revenue to the city of Denver as well as money spent to enhance venue security and fan experience.
“The study makes it clear that regular re-investment back into the venues managed by DAV are crucial in ensuring Red Rocks is and continues to be a destination for visitors and an important piece of Colorado’s economic puzzle for years to come,” added Bowman.
More information, including the full study, can be found at RedRocksOnline.com/Impact.
UBS partnered with Billboard to help increase awareness about the financial resources available to all entertainers. In the second of four episodes, Wale Ogunleye sat down with UBS Wealth Planning Strategist Melissa Lilly to explore trends in the music industry, her role within the world of music finance, and how entertainers should factor a sale of […]
Another group of Electric Zoo ticket buyers have filed a class action over what they call the “absolute fiasco” at this year’s festival, marking at least the fourth such lawsuit filed against promoter Avant Gardner, the organizer of the popular dance music event.
In a complaint filed Thursday in New York state court, lawyers for four attendees accused the Brooklyn-based company of false advertising, breach of contract and other wrongdoing over the event, which saw its Friday shows canceled at the last minute and Sunday plagued by problems.
“Normally this event is a transcendental audio-visual festival that creates everlasting thrilling memories for tens of thousands of EDM fans,” their lawyers wrote. “And while it did create everlasting memories in 2023, the memories created were not the ones which ticket holders were looking forward to.”
The “oversold, grossly understaffed” festival was “nothing short of an absolute fiasco,” attorneys for the concertgoers wrote, resulting in “long lines, massive overcrowding, and a literal stampede of people when it was discovered that the organizers oversold tickets.” The case was filed on behalf of Billy Ting, Duoc Vo, Garry Huang, Jeffrey Wang and Joshua Chin, but said it aims to represent as many as 75,000 ticketbuyers who had similar experiences.
Electric Zoo, held annually on New York City’s Randall’s Island, is one of the country’s top electronic dance festivals, but this year’s iteration – the second by Avant Gardner since the company acquired the festival in 2022 — was marred by issues.
First came an abrupt cancellation of Friday evening, meaning no performances by top names like The Chainsmokers and Kx5. That was followed by a delayed start and long lines on Saturday, and then a chaotic Sunday in which thousands of ticketholders were denied entry after the site reached capacity. Some fans jumped fences or ran through security checkpoints as a group.
Avant Gardner, which promised refunds for Friday and for anyone turned away on Sunday, blamed the problems on “global supply chain disruptions.” But sources later told Billboard that the Friday shutdown largely had stemmed from the promoter’s failure to pay vendors from last year’s festival, leading to a shortage of experienced concert professionals willing to work at this year’s event. Those shortages led to issues that caused city officials to withhold permitting approval until they were fixed. Citing internal sources, the New York Post also attributed the problems to staffing issues, as well as to a planning process that allegedly started months later than usual for a festival of its size and complexity.
Additionally, Sunday’s problems were caused by overselling the event by 7,000 people, according to an NYPD estimate reported by local news outlets. Shortly after the festival, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the city might launch an investigation into Avant Gardner over the debacle: “It’s unfortunate that the organizers wanted to turn our city into a zoo.”
Thursday’s lawsuit is at least the fourth such class action filed over the messy event. The first, filed on Sept. 13 in federal court, said Avant Gardner had caused “a nightmare endured by thousands of electronic music fans.” Another, filed just three days later in the same court, said the organizers had “lied to their guests at every opportunity.” In a third lawsuit, a Connecticut man said the festival’s “lack of planning and overselling of tickets” had caused dangerous overcrowding that caused him to “fear for his life.”
The specifics are varied, but all four lawsuits allege roughly similar forms of wrongdoing: That the Electric Zoo organizers misled ticket buyers, that they broke promises to concertgoers, and that they were negligent in failing to prevent the problems. Each case is seeking to represent hundreds or thousands of fans, and some or all of the cases could eventually be combined into a single, consolidated action.
A representative for Avant Gardner did not immediately return a request for comment.
The Electric Zoo class actions are only the latest legal issues for Avant Gardner, which operates an 80,000 square foot, multi-venue facility in Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood. The company and owner Jürgen “Billy” Bildstein have clashed for years with the State Liquor Authority over allegations of drug use and other safety issues, including a 2020 agreement in which the company agreed to a $100,000 fine and to retain an independent safety monitor.
In August, that state-appointed monitor, T&M Security LLC, sued the company, claiming Avant Gardner had terminated the arrangement prematurely and then refused to pay its fees. A month earlier, another case claimed that security guards had assaulted patrons while searching them for drugs during a pride event.
AI-powered hit song analytics platform ChartCipher has successfully completed its beta phase and is now accessible to the public, MyPart and Hit Songs Deconstructed jointly announced on Tuesday (Oct. 10).
“Our mission is to empower music creatives and industry professionals with comprehensive, real-time insights into the DNA of today’s most successful songs, and the trends shaping the music charts,” said Hit Songs Deconstructed co-founder Yael Penn in a statement. “Streams, engagement, and other performance metrics only tell part of the story. ChartCipher is the missing link. It provides comprehensive data reflecting the compositional, lyrical and sonic qualities fueling today’s charts.”
Added Hit Songs Deconstructed co-founder David Penn, “The correlations we can now draw between songwriting and production, spanning various genres and charts, offer unprecedented insights that have the potential to significantly enhance both the creative journey and the decision-making process.”
“ChartCipher’s beta phase confirmed that our AI analytics provide invaluable insights to music creatives and decision-makers,” said MyPart CEO Matan Kollenscher. “From selecting singles through exploring remix and collaboration opportunities to optimizing marketing investments and maximizing catalog utilization, ChartCipher equips users with unique, actionable data vital to making better informed business and creative decisions and understanding the musical landscape.”
Launched in April 2022, ChartCipher combines MyPart’s AI-powered analysis of songs’ compositional, lyrical and sonic qualities with Hit Songs Deconstructed’s analytics delivery platform and song analysis methodologies to offer real-time insights into the qualities that fuel today’s most popular music. The platform utilizes analytics from 10 of Billboard‘s most prominent charts going back to the turn of the century: the Billboard Hot 100, Hot Country Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, Pop Airplay, Country Airplay, Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales.
“Billboard has consistently led the way in global music charts, and we are thrilled to introduce ChartCipher with analytics for 10 of their most prominent charts,” added Yael Penn. “Our longstanding relationship with Billboard, spanning over a decade, marks the start of an exciting new chapter. Together, we aim to provide even deeper, more actionable insights into the driving forces behind today’s most successful songs.”
Gary Trust, senior director of charts at Billboard, added, “Spotlighting ChartCipher’s intriguing insights about the sonic makeup of hit songs further rounds out Billboard’s coverage. We’re excited to add even more analysis of popular charting songs to our reporting on streaming, radio airplay and sales data, as provided by Luminate.”
To celebrate its official launch, ChartCipher has created a Billboard Hot 100 quiz available to anyone who would like to test their knowledge of the compositional, lyrical and production qualities driving the chart.
The students who began their undergraduate education this fall at any of Billboard’s top music business schools are the first since the class of 2019 who can actually expect to spend four years on campus and in classrooms.
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As the COVID-19 pandemic spread in March 2020 and learning moved online, every student studying the music business, or any other field, took on a double major — in resilience.
“The resilience and positivity that our graduating students have shown over the last three years has been an inspiration,” said Sean McNamara, president/CEO of the Liverpool (England) Institute for the Performing Arts — the school that Paul McCartney co-founded in 1996 — as he presided over LIPA’s graduation in 2022, the school’s first inperson commencement since 2019. “I believe these qualities will see them successfully embark upon the next stage of their careers.”
Those attending any of Billboard’s top music business schools will be solidly positioned to pursue careers in an increasingly complex music industry. The schools listed are selected through executive recommendations, alumni information provided by honorees from our multiple power lists, information requested from each school and a decade of reporting on these programs.
We continue to prioritize more affordable public colleges and universities while also aiming for broad geographic diversity. Beyond the music capitals of New York, Los Angeles, Nashville and Miami, students can find worthwhile curricula in Philadelphia, Memphis and New Orleans, as well as Syracuse, N.Y.; Kennesaw, Ga.; Stillwater, Okla.; and Cleveland, Miss. This list includes the Valencia, Spain, campus of Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music, the United Kingdom’s famed BRIT School outside London, LIPA and the BIMM Institute, the largest provider of contemporary music education in Europe.
Two noteworthy historically Black universities and colleges, public Tennessee State University in Nashville and private Howard University in Washington, D.C., also merit inclusion this year.
Billboard presents this list of schools alphabetically and declines to rank institutions in what would often be an apples-to-oranges comparison. (The past year has seen widespread criticism of college ranking practices.) For students seeking quantitative measurements — from admission percentages to tuition and fees to graduation rates — those data points are available through impartial sources such as College Navigator, a resource of the Institute of Education Sciences, a division of the U.S. Department of Education.
By any measure, however, the colleges and universities here offer impressive opportunities for students seeking an edge in music-industry careers — running campus record labels, devising business plans, volunteering at top festivals, traveling to major music industry events and meeting with leading artists and executives.
The faculty and administrators at any of these schools would echo the remarks of McNamara as their students complete their studies and move to reshape the music business: “We are immensely proud of them and extremely excited to watch them progress toward the next chapter in their lives.”
Abbey Road InstituteLondon
Established as a music production school in 2015 by Abbey Road Studios and the owner of the famed location, Universal Music, the flagship program is now located inside London’s Angel Studios, the site of recording sessions for acts including Adele, The Cure and Sam Smith. The institute also has sister programs across Europe and in the United States, Australia and South Africa. It offers a one-year intensive program, designed in collaboration with the music industry, that dives deep into music production, sound engineering and the music business.
Course: The core program offered by all of the institute’s campuses worldwide is the advanced diploma in music production and sound engineering.
American UniversityWashington, D.C.
Created in 2013 under the guidance of SoundExchange co-founder John Simson, the business and entertainment program at American University is housed in the Kogod School of Business and is already making a name for itself in the industry. The university is the alma mater of, among others, Rich Kepler, day-to-day manager of The Killers, and CAA agent Zack Borson. Given the school’s location, it’s an easy stop for industry professionals visiting the nation’s capital as well as local executives. Recent guests include Michael Huppe, president/CEO of SoundExchange, and Audrey Fix Schaeffer, head of communications for concert promotion and production company I.M.P.
Course: Representing Talent: Agents, Managers & Lawyers, taught alternately by Simson and former Sony vp of marketing Stacy Merida, informs students about all participants on an artist’s team. The class also assists in managing regional recording artists.
Baldwin Wallace UniversityBerea, Ohio
This past year, Baldwin Wallace welcomed the largest-ever class of incoming students to its music industry program housed on its campus just 15 minutes from downtown Cleveland. The university, which in 2021 was invited to become an educational affiliate of the Grammy Museum, offers individualized instruction combined with hands-on experiences supported by Cleveland’s musical ecosystem, including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Internship partners range from Live Nation properties to small indie venues. In spring 2023, students had the opportunity to enroll in tour management, a special topics course taught by Lamba Productions president Hadden Hippsley, who has helped produce festivals including Bonnaroo, Outside Lands and Governors Ball, while some students served as volunteers at Bonnaroo in June.
Event: Stephanie Yeager — tour accountant for Foo Fighters, Phish, Bon Iver, Neil Young and Blake Shelton — recently visited the tour management class to provide insight into the financial components of a successful tour.
Belmont University — Curb College of Entertainment and Music BusinessNashville
Located less than a half-mile from Nashville’s Music Row, Belmont’s Curb College offers unique access to networking opportunities with industry professionals as well as affiliated programs in areas including audio engineering and songwriting. Courses such as Inside a Booking Agency (taught in association with CAA) and The Artist’s Team (which features industry guests representing each of the main roles on a recording artist’s team) are complemented by hands-on opportunities such as summer term Bonnaroo U. A partnership with the Songwriters Hall of Fame yielded a new SHOF scholarship, and Belmont songwriting majors Lauryn Marie Hedges and Zander Jett were named the inaugural recipients in May. Hit-maker Desmond Child presented a master class on songwriting and navigating the industry, the first of many in a series.
Event: In April, Belmont hosted Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw for an intimate Q&A about touring, marketing and getting his start in the business.
Berklee College of MusicBoston
Berklee offers two degrees for students pursuing careers in the industry: a bachelor of music in music business/management and a bachelor of arts in music industry leadership and innovation, which debuted in 2022. The school continues to attract top-level industry guests. Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, spoke in March on a keynote panel as part of its annual Career Jam that also featured former Beats by Dre president Luke Wood and Main Street Advisors founder and CEO Paul Wachter. Berklee also has an expansive alums network, which includes Live Nation senior vp of touring Jared Braverman and Netflix music data and insights manager Anahita Bahri.
Course: BPMI Live is a one-year program focused on the festival business. Students hone their skills in talent scouting, artist development, and concert promotion and production; the capstone includes opportunities to participate at Lollapalooza and Governors Ball, where they work as production and tour managers for artists.
Berklee College of MusicValencia, Spain
The sister campus to Boston’s Berklee College of Music offers a one-year master’s degree in global entertainment and music business attended by students from more than 20 countries who can concentrate in live entertainment, entrepreneurship and the record industry. The program optimizes its location, bringing all students to the Future of Music Forum in Barcelona and to the Great Escape in Brighton, England, a conference and festival showcasing 500 emerging artists from around the globe. In addition, it annually welcomes high-level industry professionals. This year’s honorary doctorate recipient, Yvette Noel-Schure, known for her work with Beyoncé, Prince, John Legend and Chloe x Halle, was recognized at the 2023 commencement ceremony in July, and recent guests include Ithaca Holdings/SB Projects founder Scooter Braun and manager Sophia Chang, who has worked with acts ranging from Paul Simon to Wu-Tang Clan.
Course: Emerging Technologies and New Creative Frontiers prepares students to both understand and capitalize on technological change, from artificial intelligence to virtual reality.
Berklee College of Music in Spain presented an honorary degree to veteran music publicist Yvette Noel-Schure, known for her work with Beyoncé and others.
Tato Baeza
BIMM University — BIMM Music InstituteLondon
Given full university status by Britain’s Department for Education in July 2022, the newly named BIMM University now includes the BIMM Music Institute as well as schools for the performing arts, film and TV. The BIMM Music Institute, with seven locations in London and other cities across the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, draws on a 40-year history of educating its students with high-end facilities, industry experience, knowledgeable lecturers and music business connections. Courses include music business; music marketing, media and communications; and event management to train those aiming for industry careers.
Alums: Ella Mai, Fontaines D.C. and James Bay are among the graduates of the school.
The BRIT SchoolCroydon, England
The BRIT School, a tuition-free institution that educates students ages 14 to 19 for careers in performance and creative arts and related industries, was co-founded in 1991 by the British government and the British Record Industry Trust (the charitable division of U.K. labels trade group BPI, which presents the BRIT Awards). The school has specialists teaching courses in live sound, production, recording, music tech and the music business — while also offering a comprehensive nonvocational curriculum. Not surprising given its history, the school has exceptional connections within the British music industry for career opportunities post-graduation. Students have participated in sessions with industry figures from Disney composer Alan Menken to YouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen.
Alums: Artists including Adele, Jessie J, Loyle Carner, RAYE, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua have attended The BRIT School.
Artists including Adele (pictured), Jessie J, Loyle Carner, RAYE, Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis and Katie Melua have attended The BRIT School in England.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
California Institute of the Arts — The Herb Alpert School of MusicSanta Clarita, Calif.
CalArts students at the Herb Alpert School of Music immerse themselves in the business of music, but the school also ensures that every student — even those who plan to pursue nonperforming roles — lean into some type of music creation. Among its alums: Composer Raven Chacon and composer/sound artist Ellen Reid are both Pulitzer Prize winners; Greg Kurstin, a producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, has won nine Grammys and worked with artists including Adele, P!nk, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar. On the business side, courses such as AI Sonic Explorations, The Art of the Mix and The Art of Recording keep students ahead of the curve regarding evolving technology and work-flow models.
Faculty: Laurel Halo, a composer, producer, live musician and DJ, joined the faculty in fall 2022.
California State University, NorthridgeLos Angeles
While copyright law, publishing and licensing concepts, and the intricacies of recording and publishing contracts are key areas of focus in the classroom at CSUN, the school’s music industry studies program also delves into entrepreneurship and experiential learning. Aside from regularly hosting industry panels, the program — which counts singer-songwriter Andy Grammer as an alumnus — is home to Vove, a student-run record label where participants select, record, promote and manage an “artist of the year.” Thanks to its L.A. location, the school also boasts a robust internship program where all students must earn four credits working in a sector of the music business, from publishing to labels to live events. In addition to its undergraduate program, CSUN offers a master’s in music industry administration, with class schedules designed for fully employed students and midcareer professionals.
Event: The university recently presented a panel and networking discussion of songwriting with Jud Friedman, an Academy Award- and Grammy-nominated songwriter (Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” from The Bodyguard); Bonnie McKee, who co-wrote hits for Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson; and Joe Poindexter, vp of digital at Pulse Music.
Delta State University — Entertainment Industry StudiesCleveland, Miss.
Located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Delta State’s entertainment industry studies program offers small class sizes and hands-on opportunities including its entertainment industry entrepreneurship and record-label practicum: Fighting Okra Records, where attendees work at the student-run imprint. The school annually draws industry speakers, including recent guests Boo Mitchell, Grammy-winning producer and owner of Royal Studios in Memphis, and Jim Sonefeld, drummer, author and songwriter (Hootie & The Blowfish).
Alums: Erin Moorman, marketing coordinator at Syntax Creative, and Libby Switzer, executive assistant at Creative Strategic Management, both in Nashville.
Drexel University — Westphal College of Media Arts and DesignPhiladelphia
Students at Drexel’s Westphal College of Media Arts and Design begin taking music business-specific classes when they start the program freshman year. That allows them to engage in the school’s unique course offerings, including Women in Music Industry and Fan Engagement: One Direction, which uses the former boy band as a focal point to examine the past, present and future of fan engagement. As part of the curriculum, students spend six months working in the industry; this year’s class interned at companies such as Netflix, Goldenvoice, Universal Music Group, Republic Records, WME, Live Nation and AEG.
Alums: Universal Music Group senior director of artist and label services Deb Keller and The Orchard vp of international label management Marissa Putney.
Full Sail UniversityWinter Park, Fla.
Full Sail offers several nonperforming degree programs in areas including music business, audio production, recording arts and the live industry-centric program show production. The school also regularly hosts events where students can learn from first-hand experience of those in the industry. Its recent speaker roster includes Mike McGrath, tour manager for Jason Aldean, and Randall Foster, vp of business development at Symphonic Distribution, and it hosts executives — and potential employers — from companies including Microsoft Game Studios, Fever, Samsung, Disney and Carnival Cruise Line.
Alumnus: Music business program graduate Michael Cariglio is a vp of marketing at Republic Records.
Hofstra UniversityHempstead, N.Y.
The number of students enrolled inthe music business program at Hofstra has nearly tripled since the curriculum launched in 2017. The school has created a new bachelor of science in music business and also offers a music business major (for nonperformers) that leads to a bachelor of arts. Hofstra welcomes over 50 guest speakers on campus every year and offers internship opportunities year-round in New York (30 miles west of campus). A state-of-the art MIDI computer lab was completed in January, and a recording studio including a control room, live room, isolation booth and recording console is due to open at the end of the year.
Faculty: Kenyatta Beasley, a professor of music business who began teaching earlier this year, is a trumpeter, composer and music producer who has worked with Tru-Sound New York, Interscope/G-Unit Records, Helen Han Creative and Art vs. Transit Production.
Howard UniversityWashington, D.C.
The Warner Music/Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University, funded by a $4.9 million gift in 2021, offers a one-year fellowship program that provides fellows with coaching, specialized curriculum, mentorship and experience working with partner organizations. The Howard University School of Business takes the approach that the key to addressing the underrepresentation of Black executives and professionals in music and entertainment is intense coaching and immersion programs, and the Warner Music/Blavatnik Center frequently hosts industry executives for fireside chats, master classes and other programming. Recently, Combs Global president Tarik Brooks presented a “master mogul” panel discussion, and DJ Drama, a co-owner of Generation Now (home to Lil Uzi Vert, Killuminati and Jack Harlow), had a session with students.
Course: Among the university’s noteworthy offerings is the class The History of the American Music Industry: What Isn’t Black Music?
Indiana University — Jacobs School of MusicBloomington, Ind.
At IU’s Jacobs School, emerging professionals have the opportunity to establish a career path that pairs their interest in the music industry with a large set of career options. Among multiple paths of study, undergraduate students can earn a music-oriented entrepreneurship certificate that includes foundational courses at the university’s Kelley School of Business. The music school also hosts a strong roster of guest speakers. Austin Wintory, an award-winning composer for film and video games, recently visited the campus to talk with students in an event hosted by the Music in Games student organization and the office of entrepreneurship and career development.
Event: Indiana native John Mellencamp spoke about his life and career in March at the university’s Franklin Hall during a symposium discussing the social and cultural impact of his music. University president Pamela Whitten subsequently announced that Mellencamp would be donating archived collections of his work to IU.
John Mellencamp (left) answered questions from music writer Anthony DeCurtis during a symposium about his life and career at Indiana University in March.
Michael Claycamp/Indiana Daily Student
Kennesaw State University — Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business ProgramKennesaw, Ga.
Integrated within the university’s Coles College of Business, the Joel A. Katz Music and Entertainment Business Program teaches the business side of the industry while providing practical experiences, on-the-job training and exploration of career opportunities. The program offers an annual study abroad trip to London, including an all-day visit with international executives at Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. It recently formed a partnership with the book and online platform Music Business Toolbox and its creator, Bryan Calhoun, that provides tools, templates, forms and guidance to help students manage their music careers. The program recently established a partnership with the Dolby Institute, an educational division of the audiovisual technology company.
Artist in residence: David Ryan Harris, John Mayer’s guitarist and a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, is Kennesaw’s latest artist in residence as of fall 2023.
Liverpool Institute for the Performing ArtsLiverpool, England
Within LIPA’s curriculum on management for the creative industries and performing arts, students take the music industry management pathway train alongside performers, technicians, designers and filmmakers in the school’s facilities. In their final year, students participate in a three-month internship that reflects their career goals with companies such as Warner Music, Live Nation and Sentric Music Publishing. LIPA was co-founded in 1996 by Paul McCartney and Mark Featherstone-Witty, who retired as LIPA principal/CEO in 2021, succeeded by Sean McNamara.
Speaker: Robert Plant participated in a Q&A with students in November 2022.
Los Angeles College of MusicPasadena, Calif.
LACM’s music business program — which offers a 12-quarter bachelor of music degree and a six-quarter associate of arts degree — is committed to offering students hands-on experience and networking opportunities. On average, a student will meet and interact with more than 100 guest speakers and master class guests per year from all facets of the music industry, and the program also features field trips to companies such as Spotify, Hipgnosis, Universal and Disney. Recent industry guest speakers include Billboard’s Keith Caulfield, managing director of charts and data operations, and publishing reporter Kristin Robinson.
Faculty: Music business department head Erin Workman’s experience in artist development includes working with Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus and Ashley Tisdale.
Los Angeles Film School — The Los Angeles Recording SchoolLos Angeles
Located in the heart of Hollywood, the Los Angeles Recording School (a division of the Los Angeles Film School) is equipped with professional recording studios that let students train in a real-world work environment. The school offers an array of degrees across its music and entertainment business programs, which let students gain analytical and practical skills both in the classroom and in the field. New for 2023 is an 18-month online competition program that allows those with an associate degree to earn their bachelor of science in entertainment business. The school also boasts an active speaker roster. Recently, SunPop managing partner Will Tenney spoke with students from the entertainment business program during an on-campus event.
Alumnus: As president of Record Plant Studios, Jeff Barnes oversees business operations and booking and has worked with Justin Bieber, Beyoncé and Ariana Grande, among other artists.
Loyola University — School of Music and Theatre ProfessionsNew Orleans
New Orleans is among the world’s most vibrant music cities, and Loyola University’s music industry studies program, within the School of Music and Theatre Professions, helps students build careers around their passions. Students learn from professors who are active in the industry and can create their own professional projects alongside creative peers. Loyola’s two Hilton-endowed professorships fund student travel and participation in various music industry conferences such as NAMM, Americana and Mondo — with future plans for South by Southwest and Music Biz. The program this year launched songwriter and music business camps where students worked directly alongside Grammy-winning rapper-producer D’Mile and Pulse Music Group’s Ricki Rich. The school also partners with the city so students can help produce the annual Freret Street Festival, which has drawn over 20,000 attendees a day.
Course: Record Label Operations brings a working music-label entity to campus. With a professorship-funded budget of $5,000, students in the course form a team to function as a label, recruiting and developing a young artist for commercial release.
Middle Tennessee State UniversityMurfreesboro, Tenn.
Located less than an hour from the site of the Bonnaroo festival, where students regularly gain hands-on experience, MTSU offers an expanded focus beyond music recording into areas including live-event production, broadcast and streaming, and immersive audio for music, film and gaming. As such, courses in venue management, mixing techniques in immersive audio, and concert promotion and touring are popular with students. The school also hosts a revolving mix of industry speakers. Mixing engineer Andrew Scheps and recording engineer George Massenburg are among recent visitors to campus.
Event: This summer, MTSU students produced over 30 segments for Hulu’s Bonnaroo Music Festival channel, which streamed the event.
Monmouth UniversityWest Long Branch, N.J.
Monmouth’s music industry program combines coursework from the university’s business school with its music and music business curriculum, a hybrid model that prepares students for a range of opportunities in the arts industry. Home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, the school incorporates hands-on activities like its student-run record label, Blue Hawk Records, and leverages partnerships with major music organizations, tech companies, agencies and a state-of-the-art recording complex in Asbury Park. Last year, the new Monmouth Artists for Diversity & Inclusion released an album on Blue Hawk, and the organization’s founding members were awarded a joint senatorial and gubernatorial proclamation from the State of New Jersey for contributions to society.
Alumnus: Joe Bognanno is director of music publishing licensing and partnerships at TikTok/ByteDance.
Musicians InstituteHollywood
Anderson .Paak was once a drum student and a drum teacher’s assistant at Musicians Institute, whose Hollywood location puts it at the nexus of the entertainment world. The school’s music business program offers detailed specialization in every area of the industry through a frequently updated curriculum taught by professionals. Courses cover the gamut from law and contracts to music publishing and licensing to artist and tour management, A&R and record labels, distribution, promotion and marketing. Musicians Institute is also continually honing industry partnerships that serve as a direct line into the workforce through internships.
Event: During a recent online social media workshop, BRXND vp of artist management and digital strategy Dan Tsurif discussed the importance of social media marketing and explained how platforms can aid developing artists and brands.
New York University — Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human DevelopmentNew York
The ongoing addition of courses like advanced topics in recorded music and music publishing, co-taught in person by RIAA chairman/CEO Mitch Glazier and National Music Publishers’ Association president/CEO David Israelite, is just one way NYU Steinhardt ensures students are learning from the leaders at the cutting edge of the music business. For the course Village Records, students work with independent artists on career development areas including live performance, sound recording, product management, publicity, management and fan engagement. The Steinhardt program also allows students to take classes at NYU’s Stern School of Business and offers options for them to complete studies on its campus in Nashville (through a program designed in partnership with Universal Music Group) or at any of 12 global campus sites including Los Angeles, London, Paris and Shanghai.
Speaker: David Gray, executive vp of U.S. A&R and head of global creative for Universal Music Publishing Group, is an executive in residence and engages with students at least three times each semester.
New York University — Tisch School of the Arts, Clive Davis Institute of Recorded MusicNew York
A holistic understanding of business, performance, production, writing, history and emerging media is the goal of the Clive Davis Institute, which counts Maggie Rogers among its notable graduates. Students work with resident artists, such as singer-songwriter Dawn Richard and singer Jamila Woods, and executives in residence. Columbia Records A&R executive Katie Vinten served in the latter role this past year and also led a summer accelerator program. Other recent speakers included Atlantic Records president of A&R Pete Ganbargs, Hipgnosis Songs Fund founder and CEO Merck Mercuriadis and Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte. In partnership with Billboard, the institute offers an online music industry essentials course. In 2022, Barry Manilow and school officials joined Davis at the opening of the Clive Davis Gallery at NYU. The institute is also expanding geographically, recently launching a study abroad program in Berlin.
Event: Pop Conference 2023, held in April at the institute, hosted guests including Timbaland, NPR music critic Ann Powers and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.
Sony Music Entertainment chief creative officer Clive Davis, who endowed New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music, attended the 2022 opening of a permanent gallery focusing on his career at the school’s campus in his native Brooklyn.
Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
Northeastern University — College of Arts, Media and DesignBoston
Northeastern’s bachelor of science in music with a concentration in music industry encourages students to become entrepreneurial thought leaders and change agents across the music business. Aside from classes focused on topics including actionable analytics in the music industry and artist management, the school is home to Good Dog Licensing, a student-run music synch company through which students receive hands-on experience and offers four- or six-month co-op experiential learning opportunities. New this year is a university chapter of the nearly four-decade-old nonprofit Women in Music, dedicated to fostering equality in the music industry through the support and advancement of women.
Event: In honor of World Mental Health Day in October 2022, the Women in Music Boston chapter presented Mental Health Awareness for Artists and Their Allies, a panel to guide musicians with resources and information about emotional well-being.
Occidental CollegeLos Angeles
Occidental’s music business courses are embedded within its liberal arts curriculum, and many of the students in music department classes major or double-major in other disciplines such as economics, math, politics, chemistry, philosophy and physics. The school’s location gives students access to a capital of the music industry, providing immersive education through internships and other opportunities. In 2022, Occidental formalized its relationship with Warner Music Group (whose former CEO Steve Cooper is an alumnus) and has since hosted events with WMG executives for students from all majors who are interested in a career in music business.
Event: Warner Chappell Production Music vp/head of legal and business affairs Steve Touchton met with students in March to share his 25 years of experience, field questions and offer advice on entering the business side of the music industry.
Oklahoma State University — The Greenwood School of MusicStillwater, Okla.
OSU’s bachelor of science in music industry, established in 2017, remains the fastest-growing music program at the school. Recent developments include the Greenwood School of Music’s new facilities, which opened in 2021, and a collaboration this year with Kicker, a Stillwater-headquartered audio manufacturer with which students partnered on the research and design of a potential new product. The student-run music company Poke U comprises a record label, music publisher, concert promotion and musical products divisions, and the school has a robust speaker and alums network. Once again, the New York Philharmonic residency returned to the university’s McKnight Center for the Performing Arts, adjacent to the campus, with the opportunity for students to work with the business staff of the orchestra.
Event: Alumnus Garth Brooks in April delivered two concerts at OSU: a scholarship benefit show and a free performance exclusively for OSU students.
Rhodes College — Mike Curb Institute for MusicMemphis
Rhodes College and the Curb Institute benefit from their location in the artistically vibrant city of Memphis, as Curb students tap experiential opportunities in the city. In 2022, the institute launched the Curb Community Fellows program, which provides funding for students to work directly with local professionals and organizations such as Goner Records, the Overton Park Shell, the Memphis Music Initiative and the STAX Museum of American Soul Music. On campus, they can engage with Dredge, a student-produced zine and social media platform focused on the Memphis arts scene, and Beyond Beale, a student-produced podcast that explores underresearched aspects of the city’s music history. The first two seasons received honorable mention recognition by the NPR Student Podcast Challenge.
Courses: In fall 2024, Rhodes will offer two new certificates in music industry studies — content production and arts entrepreneurship — that complement the college’s core liberal arts mission.
State University of New York, OneontaOneonta, N.Y.
The music industry program at SUNY Oneonta is designed to appeal to aspiring executives, as well as students interested in technical fields like audio production or who are entrepreneurial musicians. In addition to the core courses, music industry students are required to complete a sequence of courses in the SUNY Oneonta School of Business, an array of general education courses and at least one course from a slate of electives such as concert production, through which students conceive, plan and manage a series of live concert events on campus and in the Oneonta community. Off-campus learning and networking experiences include a faculty-led trip to the annual NAMM trade show in Los Angeles.
Events: John Mayer recently engaged with music industry program students through a video conference; another event connected students with members of the Dave Matthews Band. (Mayer and Matthews are both clients of business manager and Cal Financial Group founder Rit Venerus, an Oneonta alumnus.)
Syracuse University — Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment IndustriesSyracuse, N.Y.This year marked the return of the Bandier Program’s international immersion trip, with a dozen students traveling in May to meet with more than 40 executives at music companies in Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; and Bangkok. On campus, students choose from an ever-evolving variety of courses and also tackle entertainment industry exploration, the program’s capstone, for which seniors must build a functioning and profitable real-world business. The previous academic year also saw rapid growth in the readership of Full Rate No Cap, a free weekly email of industry analysis that program director (and former Billboard editorial director) Bill Werde crafts for students to read; the email underpins a weekly, programwide student-led discussion about industry trends and headlines. Subscribers number in the thousands and include top executives at virtually every major music company around the globe.
Event: The weekly Wednesday-night speaker series this past academic year scheduled over 25 guest lectures from industry pros including Warner Music Group chief digital officer/executive vp of business development Oana Ruxandra and Apple Music creative director/radio host Zane Lowe.
Temple University — Klein College of Media and CommunicationPhiladelphia
Temple University’s Klein College offers an interdisciplinary bachelor of arts in audio and live entertainment that also includes courses in the music and business schools. The college’s mission is to empower and prepare the media creators of tomorrow to be ethical, analytical and creative leaders. The faculty has a wealth of industry experience, and courses are often complemented by presentations by industry creatives and executives including Grammy and Academy Award winner Questlove and American Association of Independent Music CEO Richard Burgess. (Philly native Questlove received the college’s 2022 Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award.) A student-run record label interfaces with student radio, TV and other ventures in a collegewide media ecosystem, and a study abroad program offers opportunities in top global music markets such as Tokyo and London.
Alumnus: Multiple Grammy-winning producer Noah Goldstein, founder of Ark Publishing, has worked with artists including Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Rihanna and Paul McCartney.
Questlove received the Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award from Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communication in 2022.
Kayla Oaddams/Getty Images
Tennessee State UniversityNashville
One of the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities, TSU is located in the heart of Nashville and offers a commercial music program as a concentration within the school’s music department. Perks include small class sizes, targeted courses such as music business and law, access to a variety of internships and mentor programs, and ample guest speakers who have recently included producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and BMI executive director, creative Shannon Sanders, a TSU alumna. Harry Fox Agency client solutions coordinator Dashawn Howard and Grammy-nominated producer Dwane “Keywane” Wier are among other alums.
Event: In May, the music business accelerator program, which offers Black college students in Tennessee career resources to help them break into the industry, held an event at TSU in partnership with Amazon Music, Nashville Music Equality, the RIAA and Wasserman Music.
University of California, Los Angeles — Herb Alpert School of MusicLos Angeles
Spurred by the success of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music’s music history and industry degree program and its music industry minor, the school this fall introduced a major in music industry. The new program, which complements the performance, composition, musicology and music education programs already offered, provides students with a high level of liberal arts integration to ensure they master the skills needed for a successful creative industry career. Classes immerse students in a range of subjects from data science for the music industry to music and activism, and internship and employment opportunities abound as those enrolled in the program benefit from the school’s relationships with an array of music companies. A major gift from former Warner Bros. Records chairman Mo Ostin, who died in 2022, funded construction of the Evelyn and Mo Ostin Music Center.
Speaker: Amy Davidman, founder of and agent at TBA Agency, recently spoke with students on campus.
University of Colorado DenverDenver
The university offers two course tracks for students interested in pursuing a career in the music industry: one for performing students and another to provide the chops to work as managers, publishers, music supervisors and/or marketers. Students in the lattermost progression take courses examining music supervision and synch licensing, music publishing, music marketing, law and the music industry, artist management and more. Additionally this year, the Mechanical Licensing Collective appointed faculty member Dan Hodges as one of its educator ambassadors to advise students on the importance of registering music with the MLC to collect interactive streaming royalties.
Partnership: The Nashville Songwriter Association International this past year launched a chapter at the university.
University of Miami — Frost School of MusicMiami
Under director Serona Elton, whom the Music Business Association recently named the first music business educator of the year, Frost’s music industry program is expanding. It recently launched a bachelor of arts in music industry major for nonperformers, an addition to its well-established bachelor of music in music industry and master of arts in music industry. Along with its diversity of courses and proximity to the Latin offices of many major music companies, the program also offers a variety of student-run enterprises including ’Cane Records, Cat 5 Music and Frost Sounds, as well as a campus radio station, concert production organization, numerous concert halls and music industry student association.
Course: Students in recorded-music operations learn about A&R, production, distribution, marketing/promotion, licensing and royalties and use Chartmetric to analyze the consumption of their favorite artists’ tracks.
In May, Serona Elton (right), director of the music industry program at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, received the Music Business Association’s first music educator of the year award, presented by president Portia Sabin.
Laura E. Partain
University of North Texas — College of MusicDenton, Texas
Options abound at UNT’s College of Music, located on the northern edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the country’s largest public-university music program. It offers degrees from bachelor to doctoral levels and is home to the world’s first jazz studies degree program, now in its 75th year. The school is continually adding faculty and courses to the curriculum, offered fully online or in a hybrid format, with options ranging from music leadership to performing arts management to touring. The curriculum leading to a master’s in music business, launched just three years ago, supports student goals within music technology and entrepreneurship. In 2021, the Yamaha Institution of Excellence program included the UNT College of Music in its inaugural list of 10 distinguished colleges and universities recognizing extraordinary commitment to innovation in the study of music.
Event: Julian Peterson, associate director at Gearbox Software and a composer, audio programmer, sound designer and researcher, recently met with students.
University of Rochester — Eastman School of MusicRochester, N.Y.
It’s all about flexibility at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School. Students can earn a double degree, a minor concentration or just take courses related to their interests. Among the options, Eastman offers a master of arts in music leadership and a commercial music industry experience through the Beal Institute for Film Music and Contemporary Media, where students have opportunities to work with the Rochester Institute of Technology’s film, animation and video game development schools. The Electroacoustic Music Studios at Eastman introduces students to electronic music technologies. And student-run ensembles provide commercial and music leadership skills, including the Empire Film and Media Ensemble, a live-to-film ensemble, and OSSIA, the school’s student-run new music ensemble.
Alumnus: Eastman’s Beal Institute was named after its founder, alumnus Jeff Beal, a five-time Emmy-winning composer of film and TV scores. Beal is a frequent guest speaker and students have traveled to Los Angeles to work with him for an immersive experience.
University of Southern California — Iovine and Young AcademyLos Angeles
USC’s Iovine and Young Academy innovators forum hosts leaders in diverse disciplines, industries and the arts to present and discuss problems facing society and to critique real-world projects. Recent guests have included TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie. That’s just one way the interdisciplinary-focused academy provides a framework for students interested in the music industry to study topics from reimagining virtual concert events to building a new artificial intelligence-driven music platform. Endowed by industry entrepreneurs Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, the academy offers a bachelor of science in arts, technology and the business of innovation and a master of science in integrated design, business and technology.
Event: For the Masters of Scale podcast in June, Iovine spoke with Angela Ahrendts, former CEO of Burberry and former senior vp of Apple, about success, motivation and education.
University of Southern California — Thornton School of MusicLos Angeles
Close ties with the L.A. music community are core to the DNA at USC Thornton, which offers both an undergraduate and 18-month master’s program in the music industry. Students benefit from an abundance of networking, internship and job opportunities across areas such as touring, marketing, branding, business and law, and the school provides a classroom guest list that recently included Ali Harnell, global president/chief strategy officer of Live Nation Women. Collaboration and camaraderie are also emphasized among students who will one day join an alums network that includes DreamWorks Animation senior vp of TV music Alex Nickson and Warner Records senior vp of creative sync licensing Julia Betley.
Events: Thornton’s producers forum has hosted speakers including Merck Mercuriadis, founder and CEO of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and Lee Zeidman, president of Crypto.com Arena, Peacock Theater and L.A. Live.
William Paterson UniversityWayne, N.J.
William Paterson University’s music and entertainment industries program focuses on today’s industry from an independent artist and label perspective. Courses, including the popular Backstage: The Business of Touring, focus on three key pillars of music income: live, recording and publishing. The program has hosted visiting resident experts including Kate Hyman, former vp of A&R for BMG, and Mark Robinson, senior vp of music strategy, business and legal affairs at Paramount. And while internships are a core tenet, students also benefit from industry professionals who come to campus, including Vydia co-president Jenna Gaudio in a recent visit.
Alums: Theresa Abou-Daoud, production assistant with Tyler, The Creator, and Nathaniel Meyerowitz, associate manager of experience at Wasserman, are among recent graduates of the program.
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 7, 2023, issue of Billboard.
British rapper Central Cee (“Doja,” “Sprinter”) signed with Wasserman Music for global representation. His agents are Brent Smith, Lauren Marker, Tom Schroeder and Jesse Fayne. The deal follows the rapper’s signing to Columbia Records and Sony Music U.K. in June.
Dominican rapper El Alfa (popularly known as “The King of Dembow”) signed an eight-figure deal with royalty-financing company Sound Royalties ahead of his forthcoming album, El Rey Del Dembow, as well as a multi-city tour slated for this fall. “This multi-million-dollar funding will be instrumental in continuing to build my legacy and cement my influence in the Latin music space,” said El Alfa in a statement. “Beyond that, it is foundational for promoting and marketing my music, launching new career opportunities, and releasing more work through my own music label, El Jefe Records.”
Singer-songwriter-producer-DJ Mayer Hawthorne signed with Las Vegas-based MAC Agency. Hawthorne recently announced a forthcoming tour as well as the release of his sixth studio album, For All Time, on Oct. 27. He made his MAC Agency debut at Vegas’ Park On Fremont last month. Hawthorne is managed by ATC Management and signed to P&L Records.
Independent record label Absolutely Kosher is relaunching after a 12-year absence with a slate of new releases and initiatives for the 25th anniversary of its founding. Releases announced at launch include new music from singer-songwriter-producer Charles Bissell — who released the album Meadowlands from his former band, the Wrens, on Absolutely Kosher in 2003 — now recording under the name Car Colors; as well as Sybris, the Chicago band that released its album Into the Trees on Absolutely Kosher in 2008. The reanimated label will also put out two previously-released albums on vinyl for the first time: Edinburgh School for the Death‘s New Youth Bible and Brabrabra‘s Mangooona. Absolutely Kosher has a global deal with Downtown Music Holdings’ FUGA for distribution.
Rock-pop outfit Hey Violet signed with Hopeless Records, which will release the group’s next single, “I Should Call My Friends,” on Friday (Oct. 13). Hey Violet was previously signed to Capitol Records.
PPL signed Afrobeats star Libianca, producer-songwriter-artist Lewis Thompson and British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason for international royalty collections. PPL licenses recorded music when it gets played in public as well as on the radio or TV in the United Kingdom. It also collects neighboring rights royalties for performers and recording rightsholders when their music is played around the world through agreements with collective management organizations (CMOs) in other countries.
Hip-hop supergroup CZARFACE — comprised of Inspectah Deck, Esoteric and 7L — and its record label, Silver Age, signed a global deal with Virgin Music for the release of the group’s next studio album. The trio is managed by Dustin Winegardner.
Alt-pop singer BIZZY signed to Big Loud Rock, the alternative/rock imprint of Big Loud Records. The news was accompanied by her latest single, “I Don’t Get Breakups.” BIZZY is managed by Nicolette McCann at TWIST Music Group.
Big Loud Records also signed singer-songwriter Zandi Holup to its roster. Holup, who released the song “Gas Station Flowers” on Friday (Oct. 6), recently signed a publishing deal with Arthouse Entertainment and TurnTable Music in partnership with Universal Music Publishing. Her booking agents are Marissa Smith and Josh Garrett at UTA.
French psychedelic rock band SLIFT signed to Sub Pop, which will release the trio’s upcoming third album, ILION, on Jan. 19, 2024. The title track is now out on all digital service providers. SLIFT is managed by Hélène Maigné, who also handles the band’s booking in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland and North America. Beth Morton and Oliver Ward at UTA are responsible for bookings in the rest of the world.
Singer-songwriter Ivan Theva signed to Descendent Records/Sony Music Entertainment, which will release his debut album, GARDENS, on Oct. 27. Theva is represented by Steve Ford at SF3 Management and Kevin Castleman at Reliant Talent for booking.
New York-based pop singer-songwriter Angélica Garcia signed to Partisan Records. The deal was announced along with the release of two new tracks: “Y Grito” and “El Que.” Garcia is managed by Tim Vigon and Riley Moriarty at Three Six Zero, with Frank Riley at High Road handling booking. She was previously signed to Spacebomb.
Country music trio The Castellows — comprised of sisters Ellie, Powell and Lily — signed with Make Wake Artists for management and WME for booking. According to a press release, the group has built a following of more than 1 million across social media platforms after releasing several covers highlighting their vocal harmonies. At Make Wake, Chris Kappy will serve as manager while HB Riordan will handle day-to-day. At WME, the band’s representatives will include Nashville office co-head/partner Joey Lee and agents Kanan Vitolo and Kevin Falck.
Alt-rock band House Parties signed with Equal Vision Records, which will release its forthcoming single, “Braindead,” on Thursday (Oct. 12).
The Warner Music Group announced former longtime Google executive Carletta Higginson as its new executive vp/chief digital officer today (Oct. 10). Higginson, who will join the company Oct. 16, replaces outgoing evp of business development/chief digital officer Oana Ruxandra, who announced her departure Oct. 4 after five years with the label group. Higginson is the […]
Shortly after Michael Cherman founded his apparel company, Market, in 2016, he designed and sold a tie-dyed T-shirt with the Grateful Dead’s dancing bears spiraling toward a center point. Spotting the trademarked image online, the Dead’s official merchandise company, Rhino Entertainment, contacted him and asked: “Would you like to do this more legit instead of bootlegging it?”
“Yes,” he responded, and today, the company’s streetwear products include a $200 Grateful Dead screen-printing kit and a $45 trucker hat with the lightning-skull Stealie Rose logo. “This has unlocked the world for me,” says Cherman, whose company sells clothing licensed from the estates of Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix and others. “People just came to us and said, ‘Hey, how can you do that for us?’”
Since the Dead sold one of its earliest T-shirts in the late ’60s, featuring keyboardist Ron “Pigpen” McKernan and designed by Hell’s Angel Allan “Gut” Terk, its merchandise business has evolved into an international brand licensed to dozens of companies and sold in stores from Walmart to Saks Fifth Avenue. What Cherman calls the “holy trinity” of Dead logos — dancing bears, lightning bolts and skeletons — is on thousands of products. Online, fans can buy a pair of tie-dyed Crocs containing pink-and-yellow dancing-bear charms for $160; a $70 Teton hoodie designed for snowboarding; Grateful Dead leggings marked with “GD” and pink roses, $38; Grateful Dead fluorescent green Nike skateboarding shoes, $110; a psychedelic Air Garcia skateboard, $65; and a pair of Grateful Dead skis topped with the “Steal Your Face” skull logo, $750.
The band’s merch machine has also served as an exemplar of how an act can expand its brand into a multimillion-dollar business, raking in revenue years, and even decades, after the deaths of such core members as McKernan, Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter.
Dead products are a sliver of the nearly $4.4 billion music merch licensing industry, as valued by trade organization Licensing International in 2022, an increase from $3.7 billion in 2019. Universal Music Group, which owns merch giant Bravado, earned $618 million from product in 2022, according to financial reports — a 70.2% increase from $363 million the previous year. Much of that revenue comes from traditional sales (T-shirts, hoodies and caps sold at concerts), and contemporary stars like Taylor Swift and BTS dominate the business. But classic-rock merch is booming, too.
“That universe has expanded,” says Rhino president Mark Pinkus, who oversees the Dead account. “The shirts are being worn by people of all ages.” Jeff Jampol, CEO of Jam Inc., which manages licenses for The Doors and the estates of Janis Joplin and others, adds that classic-rock merch has evolved from basic black T-shirts to a diverse fashion industry “largely driven by 10- to 20-year-old females and their moms.”
The rich and famous also boosted demand. In the late ’90s, Brad Beckerman, who worked with his father at the sports-licensing company Starter, noticed that most music merch came in the form of mass-marketed T-shirts and saw an opening. Beckerman’s company, Trunk, secured 76 licenses, including Madonna and The Beatles, and expanded the market to high-end customers and department stores. Trunk sold T-shirts, but also jackets and rhinestone belts, Japanese denim and Italian leather for prices that could approach $1,000. “It was unbelievable, the exposure we got,” he recalls. “We had hundreds of celebrities buying these things.”
Until the early 2000s, the Dead — whose members weren’t getting along at the time, according to their former longtime publicist, Dennis McNally — ran Dead Merchandising. Later, the band licensed its name and various logos to just a few companies, like Ripple Junction and Liquid Blue, and mostly focused on T-shirts. “It was easier to go their own ways and let somebody else deal with the business,” McNally says.
According to a source who works in the business, merch licenses are normally structured as a percentage of the licensee’s gross sales income. Smaller licensees typically pay 12% of gross revenue; national licensees, 4% to 5%; and for internet sales, where there is less overhead, it’s a few points higher.
In 2006, after the Warner Music Group-owned Rhino took over the Dead’s merch, Heather Lewis, vp of merchandising for Warner’s artist-branding division WMX, saw how well the band’s CDs and box sets, such as the dozens of Dick’s Picks live albums, were selling, and steered Rhino’s Dead team toward a similar strategy for merch. “Over the past decade, it has been about growing not just the merch but the creative aspect of the merch and working with Deadhead artists,” she says.
One of Rhino’s challenges is when to turn a blind eye to bootleggers — such as the Shakedown Street vendors who sell unlicensed products at spinoff concerts such as Dead & Company — and when to shut them down or, as with Cherman and Market, license their creations.
The Dead’s first line of merch gatekeeping is archivist David Lemieux and Pinkus, a Deadhead who recently flew to Boulder, Colo., to attend three Dead & Company shows. Their shared philosophy for licensing the band’s nine trademarks: “The Grateful Dead should be everywhere, for everybody, at all price points and in all styles,” Pinkus says. Accordingly, he and Lemieux are “easy to find and open to doing licensing deals.” They recently approved Dead-branded coolers, hammocks, camping equipment and polo shirts with embroidered lightning bolts where you might typically find a horse or alligator. They run every potential licensee proposal by the band members and the estates of those who’ve died, but they usually approve the decisions. (A representative for the band members said they declined to comment.)
“My impression is that Rhino tries to honor the Grateful Dead example, which was choosey, low-key, and generally it wasn’t to make money,” McNally says. “It’s like everything else about the world of the Grateful Dead. It just grew.”
Reservoir Media has signed a publishing deal with Latin songwriter and producer Rudy Perez, the company tells Billboard. According to Reservoir, the deal includes the acquisition of Perez’s catalog as well as a publishing deal for his future works. Throughout his career, Perez has collaborated with artists such as Christina Aguilera, Julio Iglesias, Luis Miguel […]