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Music-licensing company Epidemic Sound has signed Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Jordin Sparks, the company tells Billboard. Under the deal, Sparks will collaborate with Epidemic’s in-house team — including musicians, producers and A&Rs — to create a collection of “classic Christmas songs” to be released later this year, with Epidemic distributing. The tracks will be made available to Epidemic’s global community of content creators along with being released to all streaming platforms.
“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with Jordin Sparks. Jordin is an extraordinary superstar who has significantly impacted the music industry,” said John Cleary, Epidemic’s director of music recruitment & music U.S., in a statement. “Creators, filmmakers, marketers, and storytellers know the power of music in telling a compelling story, and they seek amazing music to elevate their content. By collaborating with Jordin, Epidemic Sound can continue catering to content creators’ needs while simultaneously amplifying her artistry globally and unveiling her tracks to our global ecosystem of creators and international fanbase.”
Sparks rose to fame after winning season 6 of American Idol and has since released three Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles including “No Air” with Chris Brown, “Tattoo” and “Battlefield.” According to a press release, she’ has’s sold more than 10 million tracks in the United States alone. In 2014, Sparks won a BMI Pop Award in 2014 for co-writing Ariana Grande and Mac Miller‘s hit single, “The Way.”
“I’m excited for this new partnership with Epidemic Sound,” said Sparks in her own statement. “They have empowered artists to thrive commercially, creatively and to reach new audiences. The freedom they give artists to choose their own path and work on different projects at the same time is unique and inspiring. I’m excited to join a roster of incredible artists and I’m looking forward to working with Epidemic Sound’s team!”
Epidemic Sounds’ remuneration model offers upfront payments, a 50-50 royalty split from streaming revenue and a quarterly soundtrack bonus. The company allows artists to work under non-exclusive agreements.
Bryce Leatherwood, winner of season 22 of NBC’s The Voice, signed with Universal Music Group Nashville in alliance with Republic Records. His label debut, “The Finger,” releases Oct. 27. Leatherwood is also signed with Morris Higham Management, CAA, Sony Music Publishing and O’Neil Hagaman. – Jessica Nicholson
Canadian singer-songwriter ThxSoMch signed with UTA for global representation in all areas. His track “Spit in My Face!” has been certified platinum by the RIAA, broke into the Billboard Hot 100 and hit No. 9 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. His most recent singles include “Caroline,” “Hate” and “Crumbled,” while his debut EP, Sleez, was released May 19. ThxSoMch is signed to Elektra Records.
Berlin-based composer-producer Ben Böhmer signed to Ninja Tune, which just released his new single, “One Last Call” featuring Felix Raphael.
Swedish singer-songwriter Winona Oak signed to Nettwerk, which released her new single, “With Or Without You,” on Oct. 20. Oak is signed to The Very Good and PostOak LA for management, with booking by CAA in the United States and Wasserman in Europe.
Nettwerk also signed Toronto-based bedroom pop artist Peach Luffe (born Jong Lee). The classically-trained violinist released his latest single on the label, “Say It Back,” on Oct. 20. He’s managed by Michael MadConald at Lonely Beach and was previously signed to Lonely Beach Club; he’s slated to play next year’s South by Southwest.
Lastly at Nettwerk, the label signed Chicago-based singer-songwriter Wic Whitney. His first release under the label, “Ooolong,” marks the first single from his forthcoming EP, Afternoon Tea, which is slated to drop on Jan. 12. Whitney is managed by Colby Carlson.
Night Tales signed with Empire Dance and will drop a crossover single, “Work It Out” featuring Champion DI, on Friday (Oct. 27). The group is managed by the team at Prime Artists, including leaders Harrison Bamel, Adam Lynn and Zach Ruben, with booking by Hunter Williams and Jenna Adler at CAA. Night Tales was previously signed to Sony Music’s Ultra Records.
Easier Said, a recently-formed dance and rhythmic label founded by A&R exec Dominique Keegan, signed Party Pupils and will release the group’s new song, “Girlfriend” featuring MAX, bbno$ and MILLI. The label is an imprint of Firebird Music and has also released music by artists including Ian Asher, NALA, Roland Clark, Riva Starr and Maya Jane Coles.
Chicago-based indie band Brigitte Calls Me Baby signed to ATO Records, which will release its debut EP, This House Is Made of Corners, on Nov. 3. The group is managed by Phil Costello at Red Light; booking is handled by Jackie Nalpant and Kiely Mosiman at Wasserman in the United States and David Exley at Wasserman in the United Kingdom and European Union.
Global distribution and artist and label services company The Orchard recently expanded its operations in Africa and, as part of that move, signed a global distribution deal with Ghanian duo R2Bees.
Massachusetts-based rapper Millyz partnered with Create Music Group, which put out his new singles, “Passion” and “Soul Bleed” featuring DeeBaby. Millyz is managed by Ceize Gemini, Bryce Raines and Jeremy Karelis, with booking handled by Ashley Ventura at MAC Agency. His previous distributor was Perfect Time Music Group.
Singer-songwriter Fancy Hagood (“Blue Dream Baby” featuring Kacey Musgraves) signed with UTA for global representation in all areas.
New York-based singer-songwriter Odetta Hartman signed to Transgressive Records, which will release her second studio album, Swansongs, on March 22. The first single from the set, “Dr. No,” was released Oct. 17.
Australia-based singer-songwriter Kirin J Callinan signed with [PIAS] via his record label, Worse Records, for the release of his fourth album, If I Could Sing.
Indie rock band Brother Elsey signed to Nashville-based independent label River House Artists. The group’s inaugural releases on the label are the tracks “Passing Through” and “Babylon.” The group, which is currently on a U.S. tour through November, is managed by Jay Emmons and Jerrod Wilkins, with Grace Stern and Jay Williams at WME handling booking.
Singer-songwriter Dan Smalley signed with ONErpm Nashville, which will release a series of singles leading up to his next full-length album, The State of Country Music, next year.
South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim signed with Decca Classics. Last year, the 18-year-old became the youngest-ever winner of the Vin Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas. He will soon make his debut at Carnegie Hall and is also slated to perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris alongside and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He’ll release his debut album with Decca in spring 2024. Lim is represented by Nicholas Mathias and Federico M. Benigni at IMG Artists and in Korea by Sam Lee at MOC Production.
Wishy, a new band formed by Indiana songwriters Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites, signed to Winspear, which will release the duo’s debut EP, Paradise, on Dec. 15. The single “Donut” is out now.
Belarusian violinist Yevgeny Kutick signed with Epstein Fox Performances for North American and general management.
Black River Records signed Scotty Hasting to its roster. Hasting’s label debut single, “How Do You Choose,” will release Nov. 3. – Jessica Nicholson
Spotify reported its first profitable quarter in more than a year on Tuesday, after subscription price hikes, lay offs and marketing budget cuts helped boost revenues and operating income for music streaming and podcasting giant.
Spotify reported revenues for the third quarter rose 11% to 3.4 billion euros ($3.6 billion), and operating income over 32 million euros ($34 million). The company beat its growth guidance on both monthly active users and subscribers, adding 23 million monthly active users, a 26% uplift, for a total of 574 million compared to the year ago period. The number of premium subscribers rose by 6 million, or 16%, to 226 million from the year ago period.
The company said that the uptick in revenue is due to the early effects of its $1 price hike on premium individual plans and a rebound in the ad market, as improving podcasting trends and lower operating expenses after January’s company-wide cost cuts helped operating income turn a 1% profit.
The company told investors they could expect total monthly active users (MAU) and premium subscribers to continue to grow for the rest of the year–by 27 million net new MAUs and 9 million new subscribers in the fourth quarter 2023–which is expected to boost total revenues by 3% and gross margin by 0.2%.
Spotify reported a free cash flow of 216 million euros for the quarter, up from 25 million euros a year ago. As of Sept. 30, the company says it employed 9,241 full time employees worldwide, down from roughly 9,800 at the end of 2022.
Spotify has been managing a reboot of its podcasting strategy this year, moving away from the hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring podcast start-up and programing under former Chief Content Officer Dawn Ostroff. Spotify now hosts over 100 million tracks, 5 million podcasts titles, and 350,000 audiobooks.
The company also benefitted from a rebound in ad-supported revenue, which rose 16% to 447 million euros ($475 million), helped by a 20% uptick in music. “Podcast advertising revenue growthremained in the healthy double-digit range,” according to a Spotify release.
Monthly active users rose by 26% to 574 million, compared to the third quarter 2022, beating guidance by 2 million.
The number of subscribers rose by 16% to 226 million from the year ago period, also ahead of guidance by 2 million.
Ad-supported monthly active users rose by 32% to 361 million from the year ago period.
Total revenue rose 11% to 3.36 billion euros ($3.57 billion) from 3.04 billion euros ($3.2 billion).
Revenue from preimium subscriptions rose by 10% to 2.9 billion euros ($3.08 billion).
Revenue from ad supported users rose 16% to 447 million euros ($475 million).
Operating income was 32 million euros ($34 million), bosted by higher gross margin and lower personnel and marketing costs.
The company’s gross margin was 26.4%, compared to 24.7% in the third quarter 2022.
Reports that singer Rihanna has inked a multi-year contract with Live Nation are “bogus” a source tells Billboard, pouring cold water on news that a live comeback for the superstar singer is imminent.
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On Sunday, the London-based Daily Mirror reported that the singer was planning a major world tour through 2024 and 2025 as part of a 32 million pounds ($39 million) deal with Live Nation. On Monday (Oct. 23), ET also ran a report saying Rihanna was “planning a world tour for 2024/2025 after striking a deal with Live Nation.”
But a high-level source who would be involved in such the talks said the 32 million pounds figure sounds made up and noted that “no tour has been confirmed for Rihanna.”
While promoters like Live Nation, or their competitive rival AEG, would be more than happy to book and a promote a global Rihanna tour, the source says “Bitch Better Have My Money” singer hasn’t yet committed to any touring projects for 2024.
As well, Live Nation has not placed any holds on venues for a potential tour. Typically, when a promoter begins booking a tour for a major artist, they will call different venues on the tour route and ask venue bookers to reserve various dates on their calendar to accommodate different routing scenarios for an upcoming tour. If Rihanna and Live Nation were to sign a deal, it would likely take several months to hammer out a potential tour route.
The demand for a Rihanna tour, and new music, is arguably unparalleled. She is one of the most commercially successful artists of all time, with 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a record surpassed only by The Beatles and Mariah Carey. Her last album was 2016’s Anti and her last tour was the one that followed that year. It generated more than $110 million in sales worldwide, and since its final stop in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 27, 2016, she has not performed a commercial concert. She has since only performed three times, including at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2023 and the 2023 Oscars.
While a new global tour would surely net hundreds of millions in ticket sales and merchandise, Rihanna doesn’t exactly need that money. A March 10 story from the Wall Street Journal estimated Rihanna’s business empire to be worth $1.4 billion, thanks to the success of her record sales and cosmetic company Savage X Fenty, which she owns in partnership with luxury brand LVMH.
She also has a compelling reason not to want to hit the road – in August, she gave birth to her second child Riot Rose, whom she shares with rapper A$AP Rocky. The couple’s oldest son RZA was born in 2022.
UBS partnered with Billboard to help increase awareness about the financial resources available to all entertainers. In the third of four episodes, Wale Ogunleye sat down with Billboard to share his experience managing personal finances throughout his NFL career and ultimately transitioning to his role at UBS today. Related Images:
The title of the U.S. version of the Rolling Stones’ first album was England’s Newest Hit Makers – but that was almost 60 years ago. Their latest is Hackney Diamonds, a polished, straightforward return to rock n’ roll from a band that helped define it. In between, the Stones released 24 albums, went through three guitarists and have had enough diva arguments to fill several books and documentaries. Leaving no stone unturned, Billboard rolled back the pages to shine a light through the past, darkly.Street Fighting Band
Reviewing the band’s U.S. debut single, “Not Fade Away,” in the April 11, 1964, issue, Billboard hailed “another hot GB group that proves how deep the R&B roots have gone over there.” “The Redcoats Are Coming” declared a June 6, 1964, headline of an impending Stones tour; in that same issue, a full-page ad trumpeted, “Watch the Rolling Stones crush The Beatles!” In smaller text: “This space has been given, in the public interest, by an advertiser.”
Paint It, Wack
By the Nov. 22, 1969, issue, the Stones had notched five No. 1s on the Hot 100 (of an eventual eight), but Billboard had a heart of stone when it came to their tour. The show worked, “but more because of who they were than what they did,” we wrote. “[Mick] Jagger’s theatrics became trite at times to an audience much older than the teeny boppers who flocked to see him in 1966.” And we must have been out of our heads in the June 12, 1971, issue, where we erroneously reported that “Wild Horses” featured “Keith Richards taking the lead” vocal.
The Last Time?
Billboard was hip to the Stones by the release of Some Girls, saluting their “diffuse yet coherent sense of rhythm and urban angst” in the June 17, 1978, magazine. In the same issue, Billboard embraced what has now become a 45-year tradition: predicting the end of the band. “Also note major tour. Possibly the last.”
Sympathy for the Regional Promoter
The Dec. 9, 1989, Billboard reported on the band’s game-changing Steel Wheels tour, for which the group embraced sponsorships and “a national promotion arrangement,” which “alarmed top regional tour promoters.” In a Billboard interview, Jagger dismissed the concerns: “I like seeing the most efficient way of doing business … It’s not a charity.” Richards agreed — “What do they want, a pension?” — but admitted to being amused by the flood of Stones-branded clothing. “I’m in the rag trade here,” he said.
As Years Go By
Drummer Charlie Watts died in 2021 at age 80, but the band had been reckoning with his mortality during sessions for 2005 album A Bigger Bang as Watts endured cancer treatment. “There’s suddenly Mick and I looking at each other and going, ‘Possibly we’re the only two left of the originals,’” Richards said in the Aug. 6, 2005, issue. But “you don’t talk about that sh-t, you know?” By then, the Glimmer Twins were getting along glowingly. “There are too many pluses for an odd minus to get in the way,” Richards continued. “Maybe it’s called growing up.”
At the top of 2020, Nick Mueller found himself in the throes of his first Grammy week. “I was lucky enough to be at a lot of the events because of what was happening in my business at that time – but there were a lot of people that weren’t,” he recalls, speaking of his peers, many of whom were also in their early twenties. “That week specifically is very power driven; You’re not invited to certain things unless you’re of certain stature and you’re doing things at a certain level. And I wanted to create something that didn’t feel like that.”
Growing up in Dallas, Mueller (now 25) started unofficially managing local high school acts his junior year. After graduating in 2016, he worked for Austin-based production, promotion and management company Scoremore. Two years later, he moved to Los Angeles to ultimately pursue management full time.
By 2019, Mueller was enjoying his first major win as his client Ant Saunders scored a viral hit with the melodic pop song “Yellow Hearts.” Less than a year later, Mueller founded Golden Kids Group alongside his business partner Lil Fogarty and in 2021 he not only launched the company’s label arm but decided to make good on his promise of creating an event that felt more aligned with his position in the industry – and Golden Hour was born.
“Lil and I discussed, ‘How can we create an atmosphere for young people?’ And by young, there’s no age restriction, it was more the energy that people brought to the environment,” says Mueller. “How can we create an event where people feel like they’re equal to each other and build relationships and friendships, whether or not it translates to business…It’s more about connecting people with similar interests on the same journey in L.A. and watching what comes of it.”
The first Golden Hour – hosted at the picturesque Harbor Studios in Malibu – was held in fall 2021 for about 120 people. “The feedback was immense,” says Mueller. “People would come back to us and say, ‘I got a job from this.’” In its second year, Golden Hour doubled in size. And this year, Mueller estimates the event hosted over 300 attendees.
“The music industry can be so fiercely competitive but from the beginning, Nick and I have seen how powerful it is to choose to be collaborative instead,” says Fogarty, 26. “The business is a tricky world to navigate – especially as a young exec dealing with a lot of industry firsts – but it’s a lot less tricky when you have a community of people to lean on for guidance. Not only is it empowering to share knowledge, but by collaborating we get to put our artists in better situations too.”
Golden Kids is a small but mighty team of three, with Zoe Burbridge assisting with administrative work. The company’s size is something Mueller says he and Fogarty discuss often, considering how much the roster has grown. To date, the management side alone boasts 347aidan, Ant Saunders, Sky McCreery and TELYKAST. (SEB and Anees round out the recording roster.)
“We have such a system in place that allows us to operate at a high level without feeling overwhelmed, but still being able to bring the utmost value to everyone that we touch,” says Mueller, “which is kind of the MO of the company.”
Below, he explains what drove him to launch his own firm and why creating space for young executives to connect remains as much of a priority as helping an artist catch their big break.
How do you perceive the role of a young manager in this business?
We have to always be of the mindset of, ‘How can we help people win?’ It doesn’t matter what they can bring to us or provide for us. If we can do that, opportunities are going to present themselves. And maybe it’s cliche, but life is short and this business is small, and at the end of the day, yes, we’re impacting people and we’re building careers and changing fans’ lives through the music, but it’s not that deep. One day when it’s all gone, if you didn’t have fun and you didn’t help people along the way, then it’s pointless in my eyes.
How does that approach and hosting an event like Golden Hour help you and your company’s visibility?
When we’re in meetings, people will bring it up and say, ‘Oh, my friend that lives in New York has never even been, but that’s how they know about Golden Kids.’ We’ve seen that where the company is recognized not because of the artist, but because of the event, which is spectacular and at the end of the day when you bring people together and you have the intentions that we have, naturally, it’s going to help the brand build. I think that goes for anything. And I think it’s important to us that we’re providing an atmosphere to grow and to win. When you do that, things work out.
How would you describe where Golden Kids is at right now?
We’re in a very pivotal point of the company and a lot of the artists are at that cusp where they could either break or they don’t. And so for us, the focus has to be 10x what it was when we were just starting with them and that’s why we can’t take on everyone that we would love to. But we still find ways to advise or consult. Artists call me all the time and say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? Should I do this deal? What do you think about this manager? What do you think about this agent?’ And I’m always open to that. And there’s no strings attached.
For other young managers whose artists are on the cusp of breaking, what’s your advice for navigating that window of time?
I think the most important thing is the relationship that you have with the artists, because as artists grow and get bigger, there’s a lot of people and a lot of voices that come into the mix, whether it’s a label, a publisher, bigger managers that want to partner with you… you have to be extremely tight with the artists and with the crew around the artists in those moments, because the easiest place to derail a team is at that moment when they’re breaking. Because it’s exciting, there’s a lot of things happening, there’s a lot of people that want to talk, there’s a lot of people that want your attention. And that’s the nature of the business that we work in. But you have to trust the decisions that you and the artist want to make, and go with those.
Looking back on the past year, what are you most proud of?
I’m extremely proud of how we operate and how we’re building the company, the artists and each other up. As a manager and as an executive it is so important to make sure [our artists are] happy and that they’re constantly excited and feeling like [their break is] just around the corner, because the second that they lose hope is a very dangerous thing. So for me, the biggest achievement in the last 12 months is just where all of our artists’ heads are at.
Dusty Street, a pioneering DJ who is best known for her time working at Los Angeles-based alternative rock station KROQ-FM and later at SiriuxXM, died Saturday in Eugene, Ore. She was 77.
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Her friend Geno Michellini, who worked for many years at L.A.-based station KLOS-FM, shared the news on Facebook.
“I have been in Eugene the last two days at Dusty Street’s bedside,” Michellini posted Saturday. “The numerous afflictions that she has been so indomitably fighting these last years finally caught up to her. I am writing with a broken heart to say that Dusty left us tonight. She died peacefully, quietly and surrounded by love in a beautifully serene location overlooking the most beautiful lake you could ever want. As befitting the queen that she was. Tonight I lost one of the best friends I ever had and the world lost a radio and music legend … . She was all that and so much more. There will never be another Dusty Street. The queen is gone, but she’ll never be forgotten.”
Street most recently worked at SiriusXM for more than 20 years as host of the shows Deep Tracks and Classic Vinyl.
“We have lost one of our own,” SiriuxXM posted on Facebook. “Dusty Street has passed away after 77 joyous trips around the sun. And yes, Dusty Street was her real name. Dusty was one of the first female rock jocks on the west coast working at KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco from 1967 through 1978 before heading to Los Angeles where she held court in the evenings from 1979 through 1996 on KROQ. … We are heartbroken.”
Street was known for being outspoken, opposing the Parents Music Resource Center for attempting to apply a ratings system to rock music. She once said she was let go from KROQ for being a “renegade” as the station was implementing “tighter and tighter” control over the programming.
In 2015, she was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame. Earlier this year, she took part in the Epix documentary San Francisco Sounds: A Place In Time, which spotlighted recording artists from the Bay Area that were popular between 1966 and 1976, including Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Tower of Power, and the Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin.
Street once commented that people often asked her if her name was real, and that people were surprised to hear it wasn’t a stage name.. “My father’s name was Emerson Street. We used to live on Emerson Street on Palo Alto, which was pretty funny. Emerson Street on Emerson Street,” she said.
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
Head versus heart; science versus art.
In the digital era where data abounds, old-fashioned music skills and modern spread sheet analysis can coexist, but deciding when to employ them is part of the art.
That was a key takeaway from an Oct. 18 panel discussion featuring two Big Loud executives, senior vp/GM Patch Culbertson and senior vp of A&R Sara Knabe, presented by the Association of Independent Music Publishers at SESAC Nashville.
In the Big Loud model, gut-level assessments dominate in signing artists and writers, while number-crunching drives the decisions when the label takes singles to radio. But with digital consumption providing the bulk of record-company revenue, getting onto the nation’s airwaves isn’t even a consideration unless the numbers justify it.
“Radio’s honestly the last thing we talk about with any artist that’s interested in partnering with Big Loud,” explained Culbertson. “It is the last thing we talk about in terms of your marketing strategy and campaign. What I want to equip all our radio team with is the power of the audience telling those stations that [something] is a hit, not that the radio person has to convince them.”
He added, “Especially for developing artists, you’re talking about the 55- to 60-week debut-single campaign. If you don’t have the hit in your hand, why are you going to go and do three or five months of radio setup and launch with that, and it’s going to be crickets when you are performing those records in front of those fans?”
The label’s roster houses 27 artists, he said, and only three of them were “research signings”: “Everybody else was a story of just either an incredible voice, incredible songs, just flooring us either performing on a stage somewhere or in our own offices, or just star quality they give off when they walk into the room.”
The approach has worked. Since its 2015 launch, Big Loud has signed and developed the genre’s most-consumed current artist, Morgan Wallen, plus HARDY, ERNEST and Hailey Whitters, a Country Music Association Award nominee for best new artist. It has also developed gold singles for Larry Fleet and Lily Rose — signs of strong market penetration, even if the songs didn’t become top 10 titles at radio.
Big Loud’s volume approach to recording may play a part as well. Since core fans demand a constant supply of new music, the label encourages artists to cut songs when they’re ready, even if no album or EP is planned. It’s part of the development process — “Even studio experience is part of their growth,” Knabe said — and more music increases the possibility that something breaks through with strong numbers.
In the Big Loud model, that’s when the head takes over from the heart.
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Shares of K-pop companies sank this week following news that a member of K-pop ground EXO is leaving SM Entertainment for a different agency. According to reports, D.O. will leave SM Entertainment for a new agency being established by his longtime manager. D.O.’s contract expires in early November, SM Entertainment said in a statement, and the artist “will continue with his EXO activities with SM” but pursue acting and other activities through the new agency.
SM Entertainment shares fell 9% to 113,400 won ($83.93). Shares of YG Entertainment, home of girl group BLACKPINK, dropped 9.3% to 53,700 won ($39.74). Shares of JYP Entertainment, home of Stray Kids and Twice, plummeted 11.1% to 100,900 won ($74.67). HYBE, home to BTS and Tomorrow X Together, fell 8.2% to 224,500 won ($166.15). Shares of Kakao Corp. dropped 9.6% to 39,050 won ($28.90). Kakao and its subsidiary Kakao Entertainment own 40% of SM Entertainment’s common stock. Earlier this year, Kakao Entertainment formed a North American joint venture with SM Entertainment.
With all K-pop stocks moving in synch, investors appear to be concerned that the established agencies could be threatened by upstarts. Because Korean companies have far smaller rosters than publicly traded Western music companies such as Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Believe, any one departure can have an outsized impact. When BTS announced it planned to go on hiatus, HYBE’s share price dropped nearly 25% the following day.
Separately, the chief investment officer of Kakao, Bae Jae-hyun, was charged with manipulating SM Entertainment’s stock price in connection with Kakao’s bidding war against HYBE over SM Entertainment in the first quarter of the year. According to Bloomberg, the executive was arrested Thursday for buying 240 billion won ($178 million) worth of SM Entertainment shares in an effort to disrupt HYBE’s tender offer.
Despite the week’s heavy losses, K-pop stocks are among the best performing music stocks in 2023. Through Friday, HYBE, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment have gained an average of 37.1% year to date. JYP Entertainment leads the four companies with a year-to-date improvement of 48.8%.
The 21-stock Billboard Global Music Index fell 3.1% to 1,313.44, lowering its year-to-date gain to 12.5%. It was the biggest one-week drop for the index since July and just the seventh time this year the index dropped by more than 3% in a week. Losses were widespread and only four of the 21 stocks posted gains.
Stocks generally had a miserable week. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.2% and the S&P 500 declined 2.4%. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 dropped 2.6%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index sank 3.3%. As the first wave of companies released third-quarter earnings this week, one of the standouts was Netflix. The streaming video giant gained 16.1% on Thursday after announcing it added 9 million subscribers in the quarter and will raise prices in the U.S., U.K. and France.
Anghami was the index’s greatest gainer for the second straight week after increasing 16.6% to $0.96. Last week, shares of the Abu Dhabi-based music streamer jumped 18% after the company received a written notification from the Nasdaq Stock Market on Oct. 12 regarding its closing share price falling below $1.00 for the previous 30 days. On Tuesday, Anghami issued a press release to reveal the Nasdaq Stock Market issued a written notification notifying the company it is not in compliance with the exchange’s requirement that listed companies maintain a minimum market value of $15 million. Anghami fell below the $15 million threshold from Aug. 29 to Oct. 10. Anghami has until April 8, 2024, to regain compliance.
Hipgnosis Songs Fund gained 4.9% to 0.775 GBP ($0.94) this week despite dropping 9.3% on Monday following news the company canceled a planned dividend payment. As the week progressed, the London Stock Exchange-listed company’s stock price steadily increased and was helped by the board of director’s announcement on Thursday of a strategic review to help calm investors’ nerves. After Monday’s decline, the share price rose 15.6% through Friday (Oct. 20) to reach its highest closing price since Oct. 3. At the company’s annual meeting on Oct. 26, shareholders will vote to approve a $440 million catalog sale intended to reduce the share price’s discount to Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s net asset value. Shareholders will also vote on a continuation resolution.
The world’s largest automotive trade show is launching a music festival next month, bringing together live entertainment and car culture in Las Vegas.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) — a 60-year-old trade organization representing after-market auto part manufacturers and sellers — is launching the first-ever SEMA Fest at the Las Vegas festival grounds Nov. 3-4 with performances by acts including Imagine Dragons, Incubus, Wiz Khalifa, AJR, Third Eye Blind, Bush and Walk the Moon. The festival takes place during the annual SEMA trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which will open to the general public for the first time. Besides music, the festival will also include a full slate of immersive automotive lifestyle events, a consumer marketplace, world-class drifting, motorsports competitions and freestyle motocross.
“What we’ve noticed over the last 10 years is that the connection between a manufacturer and an end-user is getting closer and closer,” says Tom Gattuso, vp of events at SEMA.
“We decided as an association a couple years ago to open a membership category to an enthusiast or a consumer,” he added, noting that prior to 2023, the SEMA trade show was only open to wholesalers and retailers.
“And as soon as we opened it up, the consumer wanted to know how they could be part of the event,” Gattusto continued. “So we started to think how we could really engage consumers and have this complete distribution cycle where you’ve got manufacturing, distribution, and end-user all in one place. So we created SEMA Fest with an eye on automotive activation tying in another passion — live music — that would help our industry with growth.”
Tickets for the two-day festival start at $179, while tickets to both the Friday tradeshow and the weekend festival start at $299.
“Everybody remembers the first time they drove their car all by themselves — it was all about driving in the car, but also what you were listening to on the radio,” says Gattuso, who hired California talent buyer Roger LeBlanc to book the festival. “We really got positive response from both the industry and the public at large and we’re excited to see it all come together in November.”
SEMA Fest will be spread out over two stages, with the lineup of 21 artists also including The Struts, Ludacris and Dead Sara. There will also be three activation areas for Formula Drift, Hooligan off-road racing and Nitro Circus freestyle motocross.
“There will always be something to do as fans make their way through the festival grounds, either exploring something that may be new to them or exploring something that’s a deep passion for them and really interacting together in that space,” Gattuso says.
Click here to learn more about SEMA Fest.