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The Oak View Group is working with Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group and officials of the city of Hamilton, Ontario on a plan to begin renovations on the 18,500-capacity FirstOntario Centre, a reimagined arena that will be the centerpiece in revitalizing the city as a music, sports and entertainment destination, 45 miles southwest of Toronto.
The $280 million renovation is spearheaded by Oak View Group who will transform the facility into an 18,000-seat capacity venue with a reimagined facade, premium seating, enhanced acoustics, improved sightlines, upgraded concourses, optimized clubs and suites and artist lounges. The newly modernized venue will accommodate shows unable to land an available date at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Scotiabank Arena is owned my Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, where Tim Leiweke, OVG Chairman & CEO, served as chief executive from 2013 to 2015.
Live Nation will serve as the arena’s booking partner and bring concerts and other live events to Hamilton. Work on the facility will begin in spring 2024, and the building is expected to open in fall 2025.
“Our timing is perfect,” says Leiweke, noting that billions of dollars in construction for ten projects in Hamilton is planned for the fast growing region. “It’s a great market as Toronto has run out space for new construction. We’re making a big bet but we feel great about it. We have a great team here in place, a lot of great companies that believe in us and we are feeling very optimistic.”
OVG recently worked with Louis Messina, promoter of the Taylor Swift tour, to sell sponsorships for the singer’s six night run in November 2024 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
“We already have a great infrastructure in place with a strong team up here,” said Leiweke. Besides Hamilton, Oak View Group recently completed renovations at the CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore and plans to complete work at Coop-Live arena in Manchester, U.K. later this year.
The Hamilton Arena Project was designed by Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects and is part of a larger downtown revitalization project known as “The Commons”, which includes the arena, renovated convention centre, the Art Gallery of Hamilton as well as new residential, office, and retail space development.
Leiweke tells Billboard the new facility “will completely transform the downtown area with its accessibility, technology forward improvements and priority on sustainability.”
A jury was finally seated Wednesday in the sweeping RICO case in Atlanta against Young Thug and other alleged members of a street gang called YSL, clearing the way for a trial to begin in late November after months of delays.
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At the end of a hearing in Fulton County Superior Court, Judge Ural Glanville swore in a jury to hear the case, in which prosecutors allege that Young Thug (Jeffery Williams) and his YSL were not really a record label called “Young Stoner Life” but a violent Atlanta gang called “Young Slime Life.”
The process of picking a jury began way back in January, but the effort was repeatedly delayed as the court struggled to find jurors who could commit to the massive case. With a trial expected to last many months, many prospective jurors successfully argued that they could not afford to halt their lives, citing the need to earn money, childcare commitments and health problems.
The original indictment, filed in May 2022 by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, named Thug and 27 other alleged gang members as defendants, but the upcoming trial will feature just seven. Many defendants have pleaded out of the case, including fellow star rapper Gunna (Sergio Kitchens), who accepted a plea deal last December. Others have been split from the proceedings into separate cases.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Glanville said the opening statements in the trial would kick off on Nov. 27. The jury is composed of seven Black women, two white women, two Black men and one white man, according to reports by Atlanta media outlets including the local NBC affiliate.
The YSL case is built around Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law based on the more famous federal RICO statute that’s been used to target the mafia, drug cartels and other forms of organized crime. Such laws make it easier for prosecutors to sweep up many members of an alleged criminal conspiracy based on many smaller acts that aren’t directly related. Notably, it’s the same statute that Willis is using to prosecute former President Donald Trump and several associates over allegations that tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Thug and the other defendants are accused of violating the Georgia RICO law through numerous individual “predicate acts,” including murders, carjackings, armed robberies, drug dealing and other crimes over the course of a decade, as well as other separate charges. Thug also faces several other charges over guns, drugs and other materials allegedly found in his home when he was arrested.
If fully convicted, he could face a life sentence. He’s already been in jail for 17 months since the indictment was handed down, after the judge repeatedly refused to grant him pre-trial release on bond.
Beyond indicting two of rap’s biggest stars, the YSL case also made waves because it cited their lyrics as supposed evidence of their crimes — a controversial practice that critics say unfairly sways juries and injects racial bias into the courtroom. California recently restricted the tactic in that state, but Willis has strongly defended using it against Young Thug.
The extent to which prosecutors can present lyrics as evidence at the upcoming trial is not yet settled. A hearing next week is scheduled to hear arguments from both sides before a ruling is issued ahead of the Nov. 27 start date.
Apple is shuttering the Apple Music Voice plan, which let users access songs only through Siri for $4.99 per month. Apple initially announced the Voice plan in October 2021. Users who found using the app too taxing or too expensive could request music by mood — tunes for a dinner party or for studying — […]
MNTGE, a vintage clothing brand that integrates blockchain technology into its garments, partnered with Grimes‘ Elf. Tech initiative for a limited-edition merch collaboration. The deal will encompass vintage, one-of-one NFC chip-enabled vintage t-shirts and denim jackets, screen-printed with AI graphics designed by Grimes on the back and an Elf. Tech graphic screen-printed on the sleeve. The NFC chips will provide both a digital rendering of the garment and a certificate of authenticity, as well as the ability to preview new music from Grimes by scanning the chips on a smartphone. The Grimes + MNTGE jacket retails for $200 and the t-shirt retails for $50 here.
In other Grimes-related news, CreateSafe — the company whose Triniti API powers Grimes’ Elf.Tech platform — partnered with music technology platform Slip.stream to make more than 200 GrimesAI songs available to creators and fans in their video content and live-streams on any platform. Grimes unveiled the Elf.Tech platform in beta this past May, allowing fans to create and upload songs by cloning the singer’s voice.
DistroKid struck an expanded agreement with TikTok that will make music from artists distributed by DistroKid available across CapCut and TikTok’s Commercial Music Library as well as its recently unveiled social music streaming service TikTok Music, which is now available in Brazil and Indonesia and in beta in Mexico, Australia and Singapore. This is the first time music from DistroKid artists will be available on TikTok Music.
Additionally, DistroKid partnered with digital audio workstation FL Studio to distribute works uploaded to FL Cloud — described as a new service within the FL Studio 21.2 update that will offer producers a growing library of royalty-free loops and one-shots, unlimited AI-powered mastering and unlimited music distribution to all major digital streaming platforms.
Esports company GameSquare Holdings entered into a “definitive agreement” with FaZe Holdings to acquire online gaming and youth culture brand FaZe Clan “in an arm’s length all-stock transaction,” according to a press release. The release states that FaZe Clan and GameSquare generated annual revenue of roughly $138 million and reached a 26.3% gross margin last year. “Management expects to realize over $18 million in run-rate cost savings from the FaZe Clan acquisition, supported by reduced duplicate corporate costs and other cost savings,” the release continues. The combined company plans to give guidance following the close of the transaction, after which Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson will take over as FaZe Clan CEO; Thomas “FaZe Temperrr” Oliveira will take over as president; and Yousef “FaZe Apex” Abdelfattah will take over as COO. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2023, subject in part to the approval of FaZe Clan and GameSquare shareholders.
The Circuit Group, a recently formed entity designed to create business opportunities around artists’ intellectual property, signed a strategic partnership with U.K.-based house music label Defected Records. Under the deal, The Circuit Group will offer Defected, along with its sister- and sub-labels, expertise across its suite of services to help the label build its presence in North America. In turn, Defected will support The Circuit Group as it expands its presence in the United Kingdom, Europe and other territories globally.
Defected Records also signed an agreement with Reactional Music, the maker of an interactive music engine for video games. Under that deal, Defected licensed the masters for a selection of tracks from its catalog for use on Reactional’s music delivery platform and personalization engine for game developers. Songs to be made available under the deal include cuts from Bob Sinclar, Dennis Ferrer, Kings of Tomorrow, MK and The Shapeshifters, CamelPhat, Honey Dijon and John Summit.
Michael Bublé launched Fraser & Thompson, a new whiskey brand in partnership with longtime friend and master distiller and blender Paul Cirka. The whiskey is blended and bottled by Heaven Hill in Bardstown, Ky. and will be brought to market by spirits incubator WES Brands.
Warner Music’s ADA renewed its longstanding partnership with independent label LAB Records, which has released music by artists including Tommy Lefroy, BEKA, Beach Weather, Antony Szmierek, Des Rocs, Aziya, Crawlers, The K’s, Nell Mescal and Yoke Lore.
Sphere Entertainment partnered with Madison Square Garden Sports on a deal that will see next-generation Las Vegas venue Sphere become the official jersey patch partner of the New York Knicks. The Sphere logo will now appear on all Knicks game jerseys during both home and away games in the 2023-24 season; it will also be on Knicks practice jerseys, warm-up shirts and jerseys sold at Madison Square Garden’s in-arena retail locations as well as on shop.MSG.com.
Copyright management firm Pex and its rights initiative, RME, entered a collaboration with copyright protection platform Cosynd. Under the partnership, RME’s community of creators and rightsholders can utilize Cosynd’s copyright registration API to register their works with the U.S. Copyright Office.
ASM Global struck a partnership with Adventist Health that will see the California City of Stockton’s 10,000-seat facility renamed Adventist Health Arena. Upgrades to the arena will include a new 360-degree LED center-hung, ribbon boards, back-of-house enhancements and more.
Elsewhere, ASM Global signed a deal with the City of Andover, Kans., to manage and operate the Capitol Federal Amphitheater for five years beginning on Jan. 1, 2024. It also renewed its management agreement with the Jekyll Island Convention Center in Jekyll Island, Ga. through 2029, with an option for an additional five-year renewal after that.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) is planning to roll out new legislation to beef up the BOTS ACT and combat the growing use of automated software to attack high-demand online ticket sales for major concert tours.
In November 2022, unknown individuals attacked Taylor Swift’s ticket sale for her Eras tour, using automated software to overwhelm the Ticketmaster platform and prevent some fans from accessing tickets.
The BOTS ACT, co-authored by Blackburn at the end of 2016 and signed into law by then-president Barack Obama, outlawed the use of bots to attack ticket sales and jump the line to buy tickets ahead of consumers, but the law has only been enforced once in the seven years it’s been on the books. Blackburn is hoping to change that with the adoption of the Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for (MAIN) Event Ticketing Act, a bill she co-authored with Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) that would create new reporting requirements for online ticket sellers attacked by Bots and enact new security requirements for sites like Ticketmaster.
“A fan should be able to buy tickets to live events without bots stealing them and hiking the price,” said Sen. Blackburn in a press release provided to Billboard.
Under the BOTS Act, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has exclusive power to file suit against bot users and work with FBI and DOJ officials to bring criminal charges. Individuals caught intentionally breaking the law can face civil fines of $10,000 per violation.
“We have given the FTC the tools they need to help reduce ticket costs and protect consumers and artists from scammers,” Blackburn adds. “Now we must ensure they are enforcing it. This bipartisan legislation builds upon my work to safeguard artists and their fans in the online ticket marketplace.”
The new legislation would create a new forum for online ticket sellers have to report successful bot attacks to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and create a complaint database so consumers can also share their experiences with the FTC, and various state attorneys general. The bill also includes evolving data security requirements for online ticket sellers and requires the sharing of information between the FTC and law enforcement; as well as an annual report from the FTC to Congress on BOTS enforcement.
“Live entertainment is one of America’s greatest pastimes, and all Americans should be able to enjoy it without the fear of being scammed,” said Senator Luján. “I’m proud to join Senator Blackburn in introducing legislation to expand the BOTS Act. This bill will allow the FTC to enforce safeguards and set requirements to protect consumers from online ticketing schemes.”
Officials from Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster told Billboard they supported the legislation, saying in a statement: “We commend Senators Blackburn and Lujan for introducing this update to the BOTS Act. Ticketmaster leads the industry in fighting bots, and we see first-hand that scalper bot armies are only getting larger and more sophisticated. Scalpers make billions each year, and until there are real consequences, they will continue to rob fans of tickets at the onsale which is why we’ve long supported much stronger enforcement.”
The bill has also received the support of the National Independent Venue Association which issued a statement applauding Blackburn and Luján for “introducing the MAIN Event Ticketing Act to further crackdown on ticket-buying bots that rob fans of the opportunity to see their favorite artists. The Act builds on the BOTS Act of 2016, which put in place foundational guidelines to prevent ticket resellers from engaging in predatory ticketing practices. We believe in restoring trust in the ticketing experience for fans, and we stand ready to work with Senators Blackburn and Luján to ensure this legislation advances as part of critical comprehensive ticketing reform.”
UTA has signed The War And Treaty for booking representation, with exclusive worldwide representation in all areas. Founded in 2014 by the husband-and-wife duo Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter, The War And Treaty has quickly become one of the most exciting new musical acts. They recently teamed with Zach Bryan for the song “Hey […]
Investors want serious, swift changes to make Hipgnosis Songs Fund more profitable and stable. That was the key takeaway from more than 80% of investors’ votes last week on how the London-listed trust that owns rights to songs by Journey, Bruno Mars and Rihanna should proceed. While the landslide vote opened the door to possibly winding up the pioneering publicly traded music royalty trust, it doesn’t spell an immediate end — more like the long beginning of company-wide rethink to improve the company’s stock price.
More than 80% of Hipgnosis investors voted in favor of the board drawing up “proposals for the reconstruction, reorganization or winding-up of the company to shareholders for their approval within six months,” the board said in a regulatory filing.
“These proposals may or may not involve … liquidating all or part of the company’s existing portfolio of investments.” Adding further uncertainty to the fund’s future is that, while its board devises a plan to restore regular dividends and boost a lagging share price, it must simultaneously find replacements for its chair, Andrew Sutch, and two other members, after those three either resigned or failed to win re-election to the board seats last week.
Sources say Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s outgoing board chair, Rob Naylor, is being considered to chair of Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s board. Naylor is a former London banker and currently the chief executive officer of Intuitive Investments Group, a fund that invests in high growth life sciences companies. Naylor would have been closely involved in negotiating Round Hill’s $469 million sale of its public fund to Concord, which shareholders approved in mid-October and closed this week.
Jefferies analyst Matthew Hose says one route the board might take would be similar to Round Hill’s sale — Hipgnosis Songs Fund could sell itself to its sister fund Hipgnosis Songs Capital, which is jointly run by Mercuriadis’ investment advisor Hipgnosis Song Management and private equity goliath Blackstone, or it could sell itself just to Mercuriadis’ investment advisor Hipgnosis Song Management.
Although investors soured on an earlier plan to sell about 20% of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund to Hipgnosis Songs Capital, with Blackstone’s backing it remains among the most capable buyers and it knows the portfolio of songs well, analysts agree. There’s also a clause in the investment advisory group’s contract that says if the public fund ends its contract with investment advisor, the investment advisor can buy out the fund. The clause, which was laid out in the fund’s 2018 filings when it went public, was intended to help Mercuriadis reassure artists whose catalogs Hipgnosis acquired that he would always stay on as the relationship manager in charge of their songs and legacy.
While Hose says a sale to Mercuriadis and the investment manager could benefit all parties, “the question is whether this board is able to propose an ‘open’ sale process for the portfolio that extracts this fair value for shareholders, while still honoring the manager’s option, or will the existence of the option simply prohibit any realistic bids?”
Analysts who cover investment trusts like Hipgnosis Songs Fund say that about 80% of the time following a no continuation vote, a fund winds up, either through selling its assets to multiple buyers or all of the portfolio to a single buyer and then distributing those proceeds to shareholders minus any debt repayments.
The deliberation over which direction to take the fund will also rely on an updated valuation of the portfolio, which Hose says will likely see a downgrade since the disclosure in October that the fund’s valuers had inaccurately estimated certain CRB III royalty funds.
“We see the potential for weakness in the portfolio,” Hose says. “An independent valuation of the portfolio by a new valuer that gains the trust of the market … could be crucial here.”
Duane Keith “Keffe D” Davis, the former street gang leader charged with masterminding the 1996 drive-by killing of Tupac Shakur, is slated to appear in court on Thursday (Nov. 2) for his arraignment in the case. According to the Associated Press, however, it’s unclear if Davis will have a lawyer representing him during the appearance after losing his bid to be represented in court by the lawyer who spoke out in public about his defense two weeks ago.
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Attorney Ross Goodman said on Oct. 19 that he saw “obvious defenses” in the murder case, pointing out that police and prosecutors do not have a murder weapon or the car used in the shooting, as well as “no witnesses from 27 years ago.” Prosecutors have said that Davis is the last person alive who was in the car that night.
Goodman told the AP on Wednesday (Nov. 1) that Davis, 60, could not meet terms of an agreement that the judge in the case gave two weeks to hash out on Oct. 19; Goodman did not specify what was holding up such an agreement. When Davis appears in court today, Clark County District Court Judge Tierra Jones could order a financial accounting of Davis’ assets to determine if he can afford a lawyer of if she needs to declare him indigent and name a public defender to handle the case.
A deputy in the Clark County public defender’s office told the AP that they are reviewing the case to determine if they can represent Davis or if they have a conflict of interest such as representing other people involved in the case in the past. The judge may also name a private practice defense attorney to represent Davis at taxpayers’ expense, or assign a public defender from the county.
“We’re just not sure at this point how this will play out and who will end up representing him,” said Jordan Savage, assistant special public defender. Davis’ longtime Los Angeles personal lawyer, Edi Faal, said he expected a public defender would be named to defend Davis; Faal previously said he was helping Davis find a defense attorney in Nevada and confirmed Goodman’s involvement two weeks ago. Davis is expected to plead not guilty to the murder charge, which could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
Davis was arrested outside his suburban Las Vegas home on Sept. 29 on the same day an indictment was filed against him accusing the self-proclaimed street gang leader of orchestrating the shooting that killed Shakur, 25, and wounded his label boss, imprisoned music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight.
Davis’ nephew, gang member Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson, 23, was involved in a brawl with Shakur in a Las Vegas casino on the night of the shooting and denied being involved in the shooting; he was killed in a May 1998 shooting in Compton and the other two men in the car with Davis and Anderson are also dead. Davis, meanwhile, has discussed his alleged role Shakur’s death in interviews as well as in a 2019 tell-all memoir describing his time as a Crips gang leader in Compton, including claiming that he provided the gun, was in the car and was the “on-ground, on-site commander of the effort” to kill Skakur and Knight that night.
Nashville-based booking outfit The Neal Agency, known for a roster that includes artists Morgan Wallen and Bailey Zimmerman, has launched a music publishing division, Billboard can reveal.
The Neal Agency’s head of business development, Ryan Beuschel, will spearhead the new division. Beuschel joined The Neal Agency earlier this year following stints at Warner Chappell Nashville (as vp of A&R/strategy and ASCAP.
The new division’s first signing is singer-songwriter Palmer Anthony via a co-publishing venture with Warner Chappell Music (WCM). Anthony previously signed with The Neal Agency for booking.
“The ultimate goal for the company is to be truly a place to develop artists,” Neal tells Billboard. “Obviously, a big part of that is on the road, but [also] being able to have a hand in the creative process. … As the music industry continues to evolve, we have the opportunity to help create and build artists from the ground up.”
Beuschel says, “I think Palmer is a great example of being the first person that we did this with because he was signing to the agency, and then shopping around and looking into publishing deals. At one point, he mentioned, ‘It would be amazing if we could work together,’ and we knew each other before he signed with The Neal Agency. He had been touring in Texas and was writing some really compelling stuff alone and with co-writers. I felt like it was a great opportunity for The Neal Agency to have creative direction and touring strategy inside the same building, communicating with each other back and forth to push his career as far and as fast as we can.”
“Working with Ryan, with his background at ASCAP and Warner Chappell, this partnership makes a lot of sense,” adds Warner Chappell Music Nashville president/CEO Ben Vaughn. “I met Palmer because of [Beuschel and Neal] and it’s been really cool to watch Palmer starting to network through the town and co-writing. It’s great to build this new thing out with them.”
Anthony grew up primarily in northern California and went on to play baseball at the University of California, Santa Barbara, before pursuing songwriting. After graduation, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and immersed himself in the Texas music scene, opening for artists including Riley Green, Chase Rice and Randall King.
The Neal Agency agent Haley Teske was responsible for bringing Anthony’s talent to the attention of the company in the first place, leading to his initial signing for booking.
“I saw him at [Nashville music event] Whiskey Jam and I could tell he was a hard worker, and [I] just kept in touch until the time was right,” says Teske.
“I’ll say it was a best-case scenario for me, too,” Anthony says, “because Haley was a supporter very early in the whole scene and the fact that all these pieces kind of fell into place, with Ryan at The Neal Agency and Ben at Warner Chappell. It was a perfect scenario for me to keep it kind of in-house for publishing and booking.”
Neal launched The Neal Agency in 2022, following his departure from WME. The company’s initial roster included Wallen, ERNEST, Riley Green, HARDY, Seaforth, John Morgan, Chase Rice. and Ashland Craft. It has since grown to include Zimmerman, CCM/country artist Anne Wilson, Ella Langley and lifestyle brands Stevenson Ranch and Whiskey Jam.
Neal says passion — not an allegiance to a certain genre — will continue to drive new signings.
“Me, personally, I listen to a lot of alt-rock. I grew up on Southern hip-hop, Project Pat,” he says, noting that the agency also works with rapper mike for booking. “So we’ve grown to understand that, having to forge relationships with promoters and festivals that we didn’t before, is that there are no barriers for us as a company. It’s about passion, not genre, for myself and all of our agents and staff.”
SYDNEY, Australia — Sounds Australia stalwart Esti Zilber will take the reins at the national music export body, succeeding Millie Millgate as executive producer.
With effect from Monday, Nov. 20, Zilber, currently creative producer, will lead a team that includes Glenn Dickie (export music producer), Dom Alessio (digital export producer) and Larry Heath (associate producer).
“Esti has been such an integral part of the growth of Sounds Australia over the last 13 years,” comments Millgate, who leaves the organization to lead Music Australia as its inaugural director, “and I’m truly excited for the future of the program knowing what a compassionate and formidable leader she will be. Sounds Australia is in extremely safe hands.”
Joining Sounds Australia in 2010, Zilber has played a key role in developing and delivering Sounds Australia’s program around the world. “Her work with inbound buyers across Australia’s domestic music conferences has seen thousands of invaluable connections made between international industry and local artists and managers,” reads a statement announcing her promotion.
During the peak-pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, Zilber managed Sounds Australia’s Export Stimulus Program, which saw $1.2 million distributed, across three rounds, to over 320 Australian artists, crew and music professionals. That financial support was used to realize “significant career-defining moments” in global markets and earn much needed income after 18 months of cancelled work due to the impacts of the pandemic.
Prior to working at Sounds Australia, she was the executive assistant to legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg and managed the offices of Chugg Entertainment and, before that, worked in book publishing in New York and was the executive producer arts and culture at FBi Radio, the Sydney community radio station.
Sounds Australia will next year celebrate its 15th anniversary. Since its launch in 2009, Sounds Australia has managed the presentation of over 2,200 Australian artists on global show stages, covering 86 different international events, in 75 cities, across 26 countries. Its presence can be felt at the Aussie BBQ and Australia House at SXSW, and, for its 10th anniversary in 2019, the Central Park SummerStage with Australian artists San Cisco, Hermitude, The Teskey Brothers, WAAX, Tkay Maidza Australian Music Prize winning Indigenous hip-hop act A.B. Original.
Sounds Australia will “imminently” kick start a recruitment process for Zilber’s replacement, reads a statement.