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As Sphere, the innovative new Las Vegas venue, opens its doors to the public with the debut of U2‘s 25-date residency on Friday (Sept. 29) and the premiere of the Darren Aronofsky film Postcard From Earth on Oct. 6, it’s doing so with an array of cutting-edge technology — much of which hadn’t been developed when the project broke ground in 2018.
“A lot of this stuff didn’t exist — it just didn’t,” says MSG Ventures CEO David Dibble, who oversees Sphere’s technology and content teams. “Necessity is the mother of invention, and by God, we had necessity.”
Plenty of Sphere’s advancements feel unique to the facility itself, including the geometry of its bowl-shaped theater and its 4D multisensory technology, which can generate effects like vibration, wind, scent and temperature fluctuations. But two key components — the venue’s audio and visual capabilities — could soon have a ripple effect across the concert business and broader live entertainment industry.
Sphere audiences will hear audio via Sphere Immersive Sound, a system created in tandem with the Berlin-based audio company Holoplot. “The problem that we tried to tackle from the beginning was not to build another sound system — because the world has enough sound systems,” says Holoplot CEO Roman Sick, who founded the company in 2011 with the goal of creating “a realistic, authentic audio experience that is not mainly determined by the room you’re having that audio experience in.”
Sphere executives discovered Holoplot after the company deployed its 3D Audio-Beamforming technology in Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, Germany’s largest train station, in late 2016, allowing multiple audio messages at the same frequency to be sent simultaneously to different parts of the facility.
Holoplot’s X1 Matrix array.
HOLOPLOT
“If you boil it down, we have two core capabilities,” Sick explains. “The functional level, from our perspective, is you can determine where you want to have sound and where you don’t want to have sound. … And the creative bit is the ability to now move audio objects three-dimensionally across that whole volume [of space in a venue] — from left to right and up and down, but also into the audience back and forth.”
Holoplot dubbed the former aspect 3D Audio-Beamforming technology and the latter one Wave Field Synthesis. With Wave Field Synthesis, Sick explains, Holoplot can make the origins of audio imperceptible to create “a hologram of sound” — an accomplishment he calls “the holy grail of spatial audio.”
To implement these features, Sphere Immersive Sound utilizes advanced hardware and software. Behind Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot LED screen sit hundreds of Holoplot’s X1 Matrix arrays, which combine the functionalities of vertical and horizontal line arrays to allow greater control over the formation and shape of audio waves. Holoplot’s software then utilizes proprietary algorithms and machine learning to synthesize creative input and environmental data, collected by sensors throughout the venue, to further refine the system’s audio output.
Sphere Immersive Sound might sound complicated — and it is — but like many of the venue’s production capabilities, it’s designed to be plug-and-play for visiting artists and their teams.
“You don’t need to be a scientist,” Sick says knowingly. “You just say, ‘Hey, I want sound here and over there, for this configuration.’ And the system says, ‘OK, here it is.’” According to Sick, the system has “a large number of preset formats” — mono, stereo, 5.1, Atmos and so on — for artists to choose from. Once they do, “boom, then it’s the normal workflow,” says Sick, adding that an artist’s audio engineer can even use their normal desk: “From that end, nothing really changes.”
Of course, Sphere’s audio advancements didn’t take place in a vacuum. In implementing Holoplot’s technology, Sick and his team had to consider numerous other stakeholders, chief among them those conceptualizing Sphere’s visual capabilities. “You put something in front of a speaker, it’s going to have an effect — and it’s a negative effect, usually,” says Sick, summarizing the challenge of placing high-end audio equipment behind Sphere’s LED screen. Compared to point source or line array speakers, Holoplot’s matrix array had an advantage — it diffuses energy over a larger surface area, reducing the energy passing through an obstruction, in this case Sphere’s LED screen, at any given point. But Sick’s team still had to find “the best compromise between acoustic transparency and meeting the visual requirements.”
Big Sky, the camera developed by Sphere Studios.
Sphere Entertainment
“It’s such a unique and groundbreaking technology that, maybe for the first time ever in the audio-visual world, the images, as incredible as they are, are almost subordinate to the audio experience,” says Andrew Shulkind, senior vp of capture and innovation at Sphere Studios, the Burbank-based entity Sphere launched to develop technology and content tailored specifically for the venue.
That’s saying something: Shulkind became involved with Sphere several years ago to help it create visual content — like Aronofsky’s Postcard For Earth — suited to its massive, high-resolution screen. Initially, Shulkind and his colleagues shot tests using camera arrays, a common but cumbersome filmmaking technique that stitches together video captured from multiple cameras to generate a more detailed product.
“It became pretty obvious quickly that we really need a single-camera solution, for a variety of reasons, for weight and for mobility and ergonomics, and to be able to take all the difficulty of maneuvering something heavy out of the way,” says Shulkind, who enlisted a colleague, Deanan DaSilva, to help create a new camera fit for Sphere.
The resulting device, Big Sky, pushes the boundaries of modern filmmaking technology with a sensor 40 times the resolution of a 4K camera, lenses with high sharpness thresholds and even new data storage solutions to manage the large volume of information it produces. “This was something that [camera makers] weren’t expecting to do for another 10 years,” DaSilva says. “We had to figure out how to move that timeline up.”
Like Sick, ultimately Shulkind and DaSilva had to ensure that their advanced technology was accessible to the outside creators that Sphere wants to court. “We work with external creatives, they come in, they describe what they want to do, they have their support team and then we fill out the capture side,” Shulkind says. “We take the complications of any of these technologies out of the mix, and it becomes about, you know, what story are you trying to tell?”
Filmed by Aronofsky on every continent in conjunction with Sphere Studios, Postcard From Earth, Shulkind explains, was “really designed to take people to another place that they may not have been, or places that they may not have seen in that way before. Darren has been able to marshal all of the different aspects of the venue in service of that goal.”
Shulkind acknowledges Sphere Studios’ myriad technical accomplishments but has a broader view of their implications that transcends the wider implementation of any one of its technologies. For him, Sphere’s format could finally allow filmmakers to “break the rectangle,” or go beyond the rectangular framing of visual storytelling that emerged from rectangular film strips.
“Now that we have all the technology of the minute, whether it’s data storage, whether it’s the fidelity that we’re able to achieve with this high resolution, whether it’s the ability of creating glass that is able to be as sharp as it is, all the different aspects come together to create this greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts [product], radically rethinking how stories are told and how we experience content,” he says. “You’re looking at all these little composite technologies and all the growing currents of where technology has gone over the last 10 years. How do you apply that all for some creative purpose? I think that’s the real experiential success story.”
And that story isn’t over yet. While Sphere’s teams worked diligently to design and implement new technologies for the venue’s opening, Sick, DaSilva, and Shulkin all note that they’ll continue to iterate and improve their tools going forward.
As creatives “start to really discover how to tell stories in the venue … that’ll very clearly drive the technology evolution,” DaSilva says. “We’ve got a to-do list of all the things to try that we’ve not even scratched the surface on.”
“We constantly keep updating our technology,” Sick adds. “There’s new features that we will deploy over time, even after the venue has opened, that will give new capabilities to Sphere.”
It seems likely that at least some of these technologies will eventually move beyond the walls of Sphere’s Las Vegas facility to other venues — but what shape that proliferation will take remains unclear. After all, the Sphere team has already filed more than 60 patents. “One of the reasons we’ve been so aggressive on our patents is imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” Dibble says. “But we’d just as soon not be imitated, because we own it.”
This content was created in partnership with Kara Major. Kara Major is an ambassador of GLOW Beverages.
Emerging from the dazzle of neon lights and the infectious rhythm of electronic beats in Miami, EDM sensation Kara Major is taking 2023 by storm. Her recent track “Everything Works Out,” fuses soulful lyrics with pulsating melodies. Featured in publications like SweetnSour Magazine and Earmilk, its success spoke volumes to her core fanbase’s zeal and the weight of the message she bore.
Major’s previous professional settings— a mix of offices, board rooms and sports teams— plays a pivotal role in her approach to music. Writing songs and constructing beats has been second nature to her for as long as she can remember. Major used music as an outlet to combat the day’s monotony and satisfy her urge to release her pent-up emotions. Drawing on both celebratory moments and heart-wrenching experiences, Major’s music offers not just entertainment but comfort and hope for her fans. With a sizzling new music video that dips in the abstract, Kara’s larger than life message is reaching listeners across the country.
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Kara Major’s latest single “Glow”
Her latest track, “Glow,” is the third in her homage to mantric principles and has garnered significant attention from both media and brands. The single piqued the interest of GLOW Beverages, an electrolyte beverage company that is quickly gaining popularity. Partly owned by Kylie Jenner and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, the drink is a cult favorite for clubgoers and a guilty pleasure for techies. Now, Major is a member of a group of key influencers who are partnering with GLOW to connect with consumers, hooking onto both Kara’s song and the drink’s radiating personality.
Challenges and adversities have been part and parcel of Major’s journey. Every artist faces hurdles, but it’s these challenges that give music an edge and a rawness that listeners connect with deeply. Major’s ethos, which she shared with POP CULTUR, is clear: “Believe it to see it. Knowledge is the precursor to experience. Keep reaching for new information; new inspiration and new futures will find you.”
Kara Major in her music video for “Glow”
Łukasz Rucinski, Black Parrot Media
Beyond her music, Major has a greater vision. She is eager to collaborate with giants in the self-care and motivational speaking communities like Esther Hicks and Tony Robbins. What stands out is her belief that everyone has their own “inner music.” Major’s message to her fans and the world at large is rooted in the philosophy of finding one’s inner light and letting it “glow.”
With her unique blend of musical talent, introspective lyrics and a vision that transcends the boundaries of EDM, Kara Major is making her place in the industry and setting her Major message in motion.
Las Vegas police made an arrest on Friday morning (Sept. 29) in one of the most vexing high-profile cold cases in the city’s history. According to the Associated Press, Las Vegas PD arrested Duane “Keffe D” Davis in connection with the unsolved drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur on the Las Vegas strip on Sept. 7, 1996.
The unsolved murder of the legendary rapper in a brazen nighttime assault on the city’s most famous boulevard had vexed authorities and fascinated the public for nearly 30 years, spawning a number of documentaries, investigative TV series, books and theories about who gunned down the then-25-year-old MC.
Davis was reportedly arrested early Friday morning, with the exact charges he was taken in on not announced at press time; two officials with first-hand knowledge of the arrest said Davis was expected to be indicted later in the day.
The 60-year-old alleged member of the South Side Compton Crips street gang was the uncle of gang member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, long considered the prime suspect in Shakur’s killing. Anderson was beaten by the rapper and his entourage on the night of the murder, allegedly in retaliation for Anderson’s role in snatching a Death Row chain at a Los Angeles Mall in July 1996; Anderson, 23, who denied involvement in the Shakur murder, was shot and killed in 1998 in a gang shooting and was never charged with the killing.
Las Vegas PD announced in July that they had searched Davis’ Henderson, Nevada home in connection with the Shakur murder investigation, though they did not give any additional information at the time about what they found or what spurred the search.
NBC News reported at the time that a copy of the warrant it obtained noted that authorities were looking at computers and other electronic devices, as well as audio recordings and that they took away a Pokeball USB drive, a black iPhone, two iPads and a purple Toshiba laptop, among other items.
Shakur was gunned down inside a black BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight when it was stopped at a red light near the Las Vegas Strip on the night of a Mike Tyson fight. A white Cadillac pulled up next to the passenger side of Tupac’s car and someone inside fired 14 rounds. Hit four times, Shakur was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he died a week later. The unsolved case has spawned a number of conspiracy theories about the murder, including allegations that it was tied to the similarly unsolved murder of the Notorious B.I.G. in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997 as part of a media-whipped East Coast-West Coast rap rivalry.
In 2018, Davis claimed in an episode of BET’s Death Row Chronicles that he knew the name of Shakur’s killer, though he did not supply one at the time, even as he said Anderson could have been the gunman. Davis also claimed in his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the Cadillac on the night of the shooting and has described himself as the last living witness to the incident. No arrests had previously been made in the decadeslong investigation and Nevada does not have a statute of limitations for prosecuting homicide cases.
Retired LAPD detective Greg Kading — who spent years investigating the Shakur murder and wrote a book about it — interviewed Davis in 2008 and 2009 during the LAPD ‘s investigation into the Shakur and Smalls killings. He told the AP that he thought the Shakur investigation gained momentum recently after Davis’ description of his role in his memoir.
“It’s those events that have given Las Vegas the ammunition and the leverage to move forward,” Kading told the AP before Davis’ arrest. “Prior to Keefe D’s public declarations, the cases were unprosecutable as they stood… He put himself squarely in the middle of the conspiracy,” Kading said of Davis. “He had acquired the gun, he had given the gun to the shooter and he had been present in the vehicle when they hunted down and located both Tupac and Suge (Knight).”
Rick Ross has officially brought his Maybach Music Group imprint to Larry Jackson‘s gamma with the release of his and Meek Mill’s latest collaboration, “Shaq & Kobe.” Though the rumor mill had been swirling regarding the nature of Ross’ tie-up with gamma, which was confirmed by Billboard last month, “Shaq & Kobe” signals the first release for the […]
There is consistency in an ever-changing industry — and there is what Rod Wave has been doing over the past three years. This week, his latest album, Nostalgia, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making the Florida-based rapper and singer just the second artist to land three new albums at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the past three years, joining Taylor Swift. And it wasn’t a near thing — Nostalgia’s debut was Wave’s biggest first week of his career, with 137,000 equivalent album units, according to Luminate.
Being in the company of Swift is an achievement for anyone. But Rod Wave has always done things his way, with minimal press and minimal features on each release and, while he placed all 18 songs off Nostalgia on the Hot 100 this week, he’s had success largely with his complete bodies of work, as none of his Hot 100 chart entries have cracked the top 10 of the chart. It’s a relatively unconventional way to navigate today’s increasingly singles-driven music industry — and it helps earn his manager, co-head of Hit House Entertainment Dereck Lane, the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Lane talks about the consistency of execution that has helped get them to this point. “Yes, Nostalgia is our standout album,” he says, “But we didn’t change the approach that we take when it comes to the music.”
This week, Rod Wave’s Nostalgia debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
The key to Rod’s success is his team. We’re grass rooted. Yes, Nostalgia is our standout album, but we didn’t change the approach that we take when it comes to the music.
This album also came in with his biggest week yet. How did you approach the rollout of this differently than other projects?
You’re in the industry so I’m sure you know that Rod doesn’t do a lot of album promo. The whole team felt that this album was definitely a special one. With that being said, I pushed him to do as much promo as possible to make sure we got the word out while also continuing to maintain and stay true to himself.
This is his third No. 1 album in the last three years, making him one of just two artists to have a new No. 1 album in each of the past three years, alongside Taylor Swift. How have you worked to build his career over that period to achieve something like that?
I’ve always told Rod from the beginning to maintain his integrity as an artist. As long as you stay true to yourself you’ll build genuine, long-lasting core fans. I feel when artists try to go with the new wave or fad they lose who they really are and, in return, lose fans. This business is all about the fans.
In a music business that’s often very singles-driven, Rod Wave has succeeded most through his albums, which is increasingly rare these days. Why do his albums work so well, and how do you make sure that you maximize their impact?
The key word is substance. Rod writes about life experiences. The good, the bad and the ugly. We aim to make real, timeless music that everyone can resonate with.
How has the music industry changed over the course of your time in the business?
I could take up the next couple hours answering this question. But let me say this: I have people in high places in the industry calling asking me for favors. But like Rod said on “Long Journey”: “Dear God, I thank you for everything you gave to us.”
Last Week’s Top Executive: Sandbox Entertainment’s Leslie Cohea
If it’s Friday that means another spin around the Executive Turntable, Billboard’s comprehensive(ish) compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across the music industry.
Sony Music UK and Ireland‘s stalwart COO, Nicola Tuer, announced she is stepping down at the end of the month for family reasons. Tuer started her groundbreaking 28-year run at Sony in 1995 in the label’s sales division and rose to senior vp of commercial sales before her elevation to executive vp of the entire imprint in 2011. In 2014, Tuer earned the keys to the C-suite as the label’s first female chief operating officer — making her “one of the most senior women in the UK industry,” boasted Jason Iley, longtime CEO of SMUK&I. As COO, she has overseen the running of the U.K. and Ireland businesses, including frontline, catalog and label services, as well as sales, partnerships and other departments. “Nicola lives and breathes Sony Music,” Iley added. “She has, time and again, gone above and beyond to ensure not only that Sony succeeds, but more importantly, that our artists succeed.”
Tuer has been a near–constant presence on Billboard‘s various lists of influential executives, deservedly so, including this year’s roundup of International Power Players. The dynamic duo of Iley/Tuer were lauded for landing the top-selling single and album of 2022, with Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and his hit “As It Was.” And as head of Sony UK’s commercial group, Tuer got a shout-out for helping Wham!’s “Last Christmas” top the charts for the first time in 38 years.
Beatport promoted Charles Morgan to chief marketing officer. Morgan joined the company in early 2022 as senior vp of strategy. As CMO, Morgan will oversee marketing strategy and execution across Beatport’s suite of companies, which includes the Beatport digital download store, the open-format DJ oriented Beatsource, sample pack provider Loopcloud, software platform Plugin Boutique, label management and demo submission platforms ampsuite and LabelRadar, along with Beatport Media Group. He’ll be based out of the company’s London office and report directly to Beatport Group CEO Robb McDaniels. “Since his arrival at Beatport, Charles has been instrumental in the transformation of our brand and creative teams, playing a pivotal role in repositioning the company’s leading products,” says McDaniels. “His work has been integral to the growth we’ve seen across our various products for DJs, producers and labels.” –Katie Bain
Universal Music Taiwan
Universal Music Greater China brought in William Hsieh as general manager of its Universal Music Taiwan unit, as well as senior vp of UMGC. Based in Taipei and starting immediately, Hsieh reports directly to UMGC chairman and CEO Timothy Xu. Hsieh joins UMG from fitness tech firm Fiture, where he served as vp of content. Prior to that, he was group vp for Space Cycle, a boutique wellness studio chain. He has also held senior positions at Electronic Arts Asia, and earlier in his career took on managerial gigs at EMI Music and Sony Music Greater China. The Taiwan-born, SoCal-raised Hsieh got his education in New York — at Columbia and NYU. Xu pegs Hsieh as being “perfectly positioned to spearhead our business expansion, innovation, and growth for the Taiwan market,” adding the island nation’s “pop music culture holds an indispensable value in the wider Chinese music scene.”
HFA/Rumblefish promoted Lauren Apolito to executive vice president of strategy & business development. She was previously senior vp at the synch licensing company, which is part of SESAC. Apolito joined HFA (The Harry Fox Agency) way back in 2001 and stayed on board when the venerable rights management agency was scooped up by SESAC in 2015. The company said that in the last year alone, Apolito’s efforts have “fueled revenue growth, client diversification, licensing opportunities and a new service offering” at Rumblefish. Apolito, a 2019 digital power player, has also focused on simplifying direct licensing deals between publishers and distributors. “She operates at the intersection of music, data and technology and has leveraged seismic industry changes into new revenue opportunities and streamlined administration for both rightsholders and music distributors,” glowed HFA/Rumblefish president Michael Simon. “We’re thrilled to expand her role with this well-deserved promotion.” Reach her at lapolito@rumblefish.com.
Big Machine Music has promoted Michelle Attardi to the role of senior director, publishing. Since joining Big Machine Music (a division of HYBE America) seven years ago, Attardi has been central in the signing of songwriters Daniel Ross, Matt Roy, Troy Cartwright and Geoff Warburton to the BMM roster, and has secured cuts with Jon Pardi, Lady A, Jason Aldean, Jake Owen and Mitchell Tenpenny, among others. –Jessica Nicholson
Oak View Group appointed Kristina Heney as executive vp of marketing, media & conferences. As evp of mmc, Heney will handle all marketing and communications for OVG and oversee its media and conferences division — which includes the Pollstar and VenuesNow media brands. She joins the OVG family following a five-year stint at Cirque du Soleil and before that, a 15-year tenure at MSG. Before that, she worked in merchandising at the NBA. “With her deep understanding of the live events and experiential industry, we are confident Kristina can continue our substantial growth momentum while transforming the OVG brand story and our Media and Conferences Division to support OVG and our growth vision,” said president of biz dev Francesca Bodie, to whom she’ll report along with OVG360 president Chris Granger.
SGPS/ShowRig elevated live industry veteran Ned Collett to president of the Las Vegas-based production company. Collett joined SGPS/ShowRig in 2022 following the passing of founder Eric Pearce. As president, he’ll oversee and direct all activities for the company’s global operations, which now includes its first European office, located in Utrecht, Netherlands. Collett was previously Midwest president of LiveStyle, and has also held roles at Oak View Group, Live Nation Entertainment and Base Entertainment, among others. “I am proud to continue Eric Pearce’s guiding principles of always demonstrating boundless creativity and providing exceptional client service,” Collett said. “I am honored to be the person charged with incorporating that philosophy while simultaneously bringing the company forward with new technologies, partners, European expansion, and domestic growth.”
Feed.fm, the business-to-business music streaming platform, hired Ryan Morris as its new director of engineering. At Feed.fm, Morris will lead expansion efforts as the company works to meet demand for a scalable, effective platform for providing music for businesses. Morris was most recently director of software engineering at Slack, which experienced massive growth during his six-year tenure as more businesses turned to remote work. Prior to Slack, Morris was an engineering manager at Pandora. “Ryan’s part of a new breed of technologist in the B2B music space who has a unique mix of high growth tech platform leadership experience alongside a deep understanding of the music industry,” said Jeff Yasuda, CEO of Feed Media Group. “His addition will strengthen Feed.fm’s position to become the leader in a new category of turnkey music solutions for the world’s top brands.”
Entertainment lawyer Zachary Bohlender officially launched Charta, a new company with a mission to modernize and automate the logjam-prone process of getting clearance agreements done quickly so that, ultimately, artists can release music faster. Bohlender’s platform, cofounded with Arash Rashidi, an engineer with a background in AI, aims to distill producer and side-artist agreements to a few key provisions that can be quickly negotiated and then slotted into standardized contracts. “There’s no single bigger pain point in the industry than clearance agreements,” Bohlender said. Charta investors and advisors include Che Pope, Matt Colon, Aloe Blacc, Boys Noize and Milana Lewis of Stem, who calls it “an incredibly powerful tool towards building a better future where artists can be paid more expediently and accurately.”
ASM Global‘s new vice president of live entertainment is Alex Bowen, a familiar player in Louisiana’s entertainment industry. In his new job, Bowen will oversee content and bookings for ASM venues in New Orleans, including the Caesars Superdome and Smoothie King Center, along with the new Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in Missouri’s Ozark region. He’ll also handle bookings for venues across the Southeast U.S. region. Bowen arrives from Live Nation, where he was a senior talent buyer in multiple markets.
Round, the creative digital agency with a client list that includes the Big Three labels and a slew of festivals and events companies, promoted Simon Friend to chief operating officer and Ray Uscata to managing director of North and South America. “The importance and power of digital marketing is growing exponentially and is now an integral part of the way in which consumer facing brands engage with their audiences; but it is a competitive marketplace that demands specialist expertise and tools to achieve cut through,” said Round CEO Aaron Sayer.
Last Week’s Turntable: Blue Raincoat Founder in Transition
Lizzo has lodged her first legal response to the lawsuit brought by three of her former dancers in August.
In what amounts to a 31-point rebuttal against claims that the dancers were subjected to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment while on tour with the singer, Lizzo and her Big Grrrl Big Touring company are requesting that the court dismiss the case with prejudice (meaning it cannot be refiled). In the event the court declines to dismiss it, the defendants are requesting a jury trial.
In the original complaint, filed Aug. 1 in Los Angeles court, dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez accused Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) and Big Grrrl Big Touring of several allegations. Among them: that Lizzo pressured dancers to attend a sex show in Amsterdam and interact with the nude performers; that dance team captain Shirlene Quigley repeatedly engaged in behavior that made them feel uncomfortable; that Lizzo “called attention” to a dancer’s weight gain following a performance; that employees of the touring company singled out Black dancers by accusing them of “being lazy, unprofessional and having bad attitudes”; and that Lizzo denied dancers bathroom breaks during an “excruciating re-audition” process.
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The new document — filed Wednesday by Lizzo’s lawyers, Martin Singer, Michael Weinsten and Melissa Lerner — offers more than 30 wide-ranging defenses to the dancers’ complaint. They include:
That the plaintiffs “ratified, acquiesced, condoned, and/or approved of the acts or omissions of Defendants, in whole or in part, about which Plaintiffs now complain”;
That the defendants’ alleged conduct “was undertaken in good faith and with good cause” and “undertaken for legitimate reasons reasonably related to one or more lawful business purposes”;
That the plaintiffs are “guilty of unclean hands,” which in legal terms means they have done something unethical and should therefore be denied relief;
That the plaintiffs should be barred from pursuing the case based on the doctrine of estoppel, meaning they have acted unfairly or made false representations in bringing the lawsuit;
That the plaintiffs failed to “mediate in good faith pursuant” to their contract terms with Big Grrrl Big Touring and are subject to arbitration under those terms;
That the claims are preempted by California’s Workers’ Compensation Act and should therefore be decided by the workers’ compensation appeals board as opposed to the court;
That if the plaintiffs were harmed as alleged, the plaintiffs and/or others who are not listed as defendants “contributed, in whole or in part,” to that harm;
That the defendants’ alleged actions arose from the exercise of their rights of free speech and/or religion;
That plaintiffs failed to “avail themselves” of internal anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies and complaint procedures while employed on the tour;
That plaintiffs’ claims regarding discrimination or retaliation should be barred because any employment decisions were made “for legitimate, non-discriminatory, non-pretextual reasons and Defendants acted out of business necessity”;
That the plaintiffs “have failed to plead and cannot establish facts sufficient to support allegations of malice, oppression or fraud”;
That defendants are not liable for punitive damages because they did not “engage in wrongful conduct,” “authorize or ratify any wrongful conduct,” or “have advance knowledge of the unfitness of any employee and employ that employee with a conscious disregard of the rights and safety of others.”
“This is the first step of a legal process in which Lizzo and her team will demonstrate that they have always practiced what they’ve preached — whether it comes to promoting body positivity, leading a safe and supportive workplace or protecting individuals from any kind of harassment,” said Lizzo spokesperson Stefan Friedman in a statement. “Any and all claims to the contrary are ridiculous, and we look forward to proving so in a court of law.”
In response to the new filing, the dancers’ attorney, Neama Rahmani, released the following statement: “Lizzo’s answer merely consists of boilerplate objections that have nothing to do with the case. That said, the key takeaway is that Lizzo is agreeing to our clients’ demand for a jury trial. We look forward to presenting our case in court and letting a panel of her peers decide who is telling the truth, Lizzo and her team who continue to shame the victims or the plaintiffs and so many others who have come forward sharing similar stories of abuse and harassment.”
Though this is Lizzo’s first legal response to the lawsuit, the singer categorically denied the dancers’ claims two days after it was filed, stating on social media that the allegations were as “unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”
“These sensationalized stories are coming from former employees who have already publicly admitted that they were told their behavior on tour was inappropriate and unprofessional,” she added. Later that day, the dancers appeared on CNN This Morning to rehash their allegations and called Lizzo’s statement “disheartening” and “incredibly frustrating.”
Two weeks later, Lizzo’s Big Grrrls dance team released a statement in support of the singer, saying they “had the time of our lives” on the tour and continuing, “The commitment to character and culture taking precedence over every movement and moment has been one of the Greatest lessons and Blessings that we could possibly could ask for.”
The Aug. 1 lawsuit is the first of two that have been brought against Lizzo. Earlier this month, the singer — along with her wardrobe manager Amanda Nomura, tour manager Carlina Gugliotta and Big Grrrl Big Touring — were sued by clothing designer Asha Daniels, who alleged sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, illegal retaliatory termination and more while working on Lizzo’s Special tour.
The second lawsuit dropped the same day Lizzo was due to receive the Black Music Action Coalition’s Quincy Jones Humanitarian Award at the organization’s 2023 gala.
While accepting the honor that evening, Lizzo — who was introduced by cast members from her Emmy-winning reality show, Watch Out For the Big Grrrls — gave an emotional speech in which she said, “I’m going to continue to be who I am, no matter who’s watching. I’m going to continue to amplify the voices of marginalized people because I have a microphone and I know how to use it. And I’m going to continue to put on, represent and create safe spaces for Black fat women because that’s what the f— I do!”
She continued, “This support right now means the world to me.”
Hipgnosis Songs Fund has set a date of Oct. 26 for its shareholders to vote on the proposed sale of some 29 song catalogs and a separate vote on whether to keep the fund going under founder Merck Mercuriadis‘ advisory, the company said on Thursday (Sept. 29).
Earlier this month, Hipgnosis announced its plans to sell a package of assets that includes rights to songs performed by Shakira, Barry Manilow, Rick James and others to its sister fund — the privately held Blackstone-backed entity, Hipgnosis Songs Capital — for $440 million.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund — or SONG, as it’s abbreviated on the London Stock Exchange — has struggled with a sagging share price that values the company at a discount to its assets’ worth. The Oct. 26 shareholder vote represents a key milestone in the young company’s five-year lifespan.
In its statement on Thursday, Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board said it’s in talks with third parties to consider outside bids for the package of assets, with those discussions set to resolve by Oct. 23. The board previously said it would use proceeds of any asset sales to buy back up to $180 million of the company’s stock and pay down its revolving debt balance, two measures aimed at achieving a “re-rating of the share price.”
If a majority of shareholders vote “yes” on the company’s continuation vote, the board has committed to holding the next continuation vote in January 2026, followed by a third in 2028.
The board also said that if the discount between Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s share price and operative net asset value reaches 10% or more on average over the month of January 2025, it will terminate its investment advisory agreement with Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Song Management. The agreement with the founder as an investment advisor will be “terminable by the company on 12 months’ notice,” according to the statement.
The board added that chair Andrew Sutch will retire as a director before the next annual meeting in 2024, and that Andrew Wilkinson will retire from his director role by the end of this year. Cindy Rampersaud will take Wilkinson’s place after he retires. The departures mean Hipgnosis Songs Fund will have five directors in the future.
In a vote of support for retaining Mercuriadis’ Hipgnosis Song Management as SONG’s investment adviser, the board said its approach had led to a 44% total return on the 29 music catalogs that Hipgnosis Songs Fund proposes to sell to its private sister fund since the initial dates of purchase.
“The board and the investment adviser firmly believe that the company has a unique portfolio of iconic, culturally significant songs that will deliver strong long-term value as they benefit from the structural tailwinds in the music industry,” according to the statement. “Furthermore, the board believes that the investment adviser’s approach to song management should enable the company to outperform the wider music market.”
Since LiveOne announced plans to acquire Kast Media in May, CEO Rob Ellin has not budged on his offer to compensate the podcasters to whom Kast owes millions of dollars. Ellin’s best offer: one-third of the money Kast Media owes them in cash, one-third of what they are owed in promissory notes to be paid over two years and one-third of what they are owed in stock from LiveOne subsidiary PodcastOne. In exchange, the podcasters must sign a multi-year agreement with PodcastOne and agree to reduce their cut of ad sales from 80% to as low as 60%.
“We’ve spoken to every podcaster. We’ve offered really fair deals — equity in our IPO to help them,” Ellin told Podcast Business Journal on Aug. 11. (Technically PodcastOne wasn’t actually going public via IPO, but making its shares available through a direct listing on the NASDAQ.) Podcasters had a tough choice ahead, Ellin explained — dig in their heels or take the settlement offer. “No other platform is going to pay them for the past,” he said. “They’re only going to work with them in the future.”
PodcastOne and its parent company LiveOne were, however, willing to pay at least one podcaster what Kast owes them in full — even if it meant taking out a high interest loan. Records obtained by Billboard show that in early August, LiveOne borrowed $1.7 million from CapChase, an online bank based in Madrid. That money, Billboard confirmed, was borrowed to pay UFC fighter-turned-podcaster Brendan Schaub what he was owed by Kast Media, the Los Angeles-based podcast company launched in 2016 by founder and CEO Colin Thomson. Kast Media, like PodcastOne, is a podcast network that provides a variety of services to podcast creators like production assistance, show distribution and, most commonly, advertising sales. Among its top shows are Logan Paul’s Impaulsive and Theo Von’s This Past Weekend.
In February, Schaub and other podcasters noticed that Kast’s payments on advertising money were becoming irregular, before falling off all together by the end of the month. By August, Kast Media owed Schaub, an accomplished podcaster with three successful shows – the Golden Hour, The Fighter and the Kid and the Brendan Schaub show – a whopping $1.6 million in unpaid revenue. A month later, Schaub and his co-host Bryan Callen announced on the Fighter and the Kid podcast that they were leaving Kast Media and joining PodcastOne.
“Brendan spoke to a number of agencies, and the company that gave us the best deal when we were out this money was a company called PodcastOne,” Callen said at the time. “PodcastOne has been the agents of a lot of people we know, and they have been very happy with them.”
A rep for Schaub declined to comment for this story. LiveOne did not respond to requests for comment.
After announcing LiveOne’s plans to acquire Kast Media in May, Ellin revealed that the deal would only close if 70% of Kast’s podcasters would join LiveOne under the proposed settlement terms. To date, PodcastOne has not announced the closing of the Kast Media acquisition. On Sept. 8, the day PodcastOne was listed on the NASDAQ, LiveOne released a statement increasing its revenue and earnings guidance for the year that included Kast Media’s revenue and adjusted earnings and assumed “the previously announced Kast Media” acquisition “would have taken place at the start of the fiscal year,” which is April 1, 2024. On Wednesday (Sept. 27), LiveOne issued a press release saying that it “reiterates” its previous revenue guidance.
That reiteration has not helped the company’s share price. In July, ValueScope, a third-party valuation firm hired by parent company LiveOne, valued PodcastOne between $230 million and $275 million, which came out to $8 to $12 per share, a valuation Ellin had hyped to podcasters considering joining PodcastOne.
That estimate ended up being overly optimistic — PodcastOne’s share price immediately dropped 46% after being listed on the NASDAQ and has since tumbled even further. Three weeks after being listed on the NASDAQ, the stock closed Tuesday at $1.91 per share with a $45 million market capitalization, a drop of more than 80% after less than three weeks of trading.
“I hope this serves as a wakeup call for creators, because long-term, they’re much better off doing everything themselves – they don’t need these big podcast networks,” says Bryan Last, president of Arcadian Vanguard and the on-air co-host of The Jim Cornette Experience and Jim Cornette’s Drive-Thru. While Arcadian Vanguard produces each episode, it started contracting its advertising sales to Kast Media in 2018, in 2023 it brought sales back inhouse.
“Any service a network offers, most podcasters can do themselves,” he tells Billboard. “When their model puts an entire community of creators at risk, there’s obviously something wrong with the model.”
Epic Games has sold Bandcamp to Songtradr, an online music licensing marketplace. News of the sale arrives as the Fortnite developer also announced plans to eliminate 16% of its workforce — around 830 jobs — and to spin off its SuperAwesome services division, according to a memo on Epic Games’ website.
“We’ve been spending way more money than we earn…We’re cutting costs without breaking development or our core lines of businesses so we can continue to focus on our ambitious plans,” explained Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in the memo.
Epic Games acquired the independent music platform for an undisclosed sum in March 2022. Though the purchase initially shocked the music business, several music executives explained to Billboard right after the sale that the motive behind buying Bandcamp might be to improve Epic’s relations with musicians or ease synch licensing. According to Epic Games at the time of the sale, “Bandcamp will play an important role in Epic’s vision to build out a creator marketplace ecosystem for content, technology, games, art, music and more.”
In the company’s latest memo, it continued to stress its desire to build itself into a wide-reaching “ecosystem for creators” but added that it needed to reach profitability.
In the past few years, Songtradr has been active in acquiring new businesses to expand its reach. In March 2023, it purchased B2B music company 7digital for a reported $23.4 million. It also recently acquired AI metadata and music search platform MusicCube in 2022, Massive Music and Song Zu in 2021, and Big Sync Music in 2019. Other companies in its expanding portfolio include Tunefind and Pretzel; it also invested $1 million in music credits database Jaxsta.
Bandcamp’s new owner says it will continue to operate the platform as a marketplace and music community with an artist-first revenue share, while the acquisition will enable it to expand its capabilities to support the artist community. In addition, Songtradr will now offer all Bandcamp artists the ability to have their music licensed to all forms of media, including content creators, game and app developers, and brands.
In a press release announcing the acquisition, Songtradr added that Epic Games is “exploring ways” to allow Bandcamp artists to opt-in to have their music licensed for use in Epic’s gaming and metaverse ecosystem via a partnership with Songtradr. Epic will continue to collaborate with Bandcamp on Fortnite Radio and “is investing in Songtradr to support Bandcamp’s successful integration into” the company, according to the Songtradr release.
“The acquisition of Bandcamp will help Songtradr continue to grow its suite of services for artists,” said Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire in a statement. “I’m a passionate musician myself, and artistry and creativity have always been at the heart of Songtradr. Bandcamp will join a team of music industry veterans and artists who have deep expertise in music licensing, composition, rights management, and distribution.”
“Songtradr shares Epic and Bandcamp’s values around ensuring artists are fairly compensated for their work,” added Epic Games vp/GM, store Steve Allison. “Bringing Bandcamp to Songtradr will make it easier for independent artists to connect with creators and developers looking to license their music and enable Epic to focus on its core metaverse, games, and tools efforts.”