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In early 2011, Miguel was a rising R&B singer who had just released his debut album, All I Want Is You, and was seeing his single “Sure Thing” gain traction on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart. The song would eventually reach No. 1 that May, while also climbing to the summit of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and peaking at No. 36 on the Hot 100, where it spent 23 weeks between March and August, when it fell from the chart. After 59 weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, it eventually fell from that chart in 2012.
And that was the extent of its chart run — until this year, when a TikTok trend led to an explosion in streams, catapulting it back onto the charts — and to entirely new territory. Earlier this month, “Sure Thing” broke the record for most weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at 76 (it is now at 78), and this week it achieved a mainstream crossover, 12 years after its initial debut on the charts, by reaching No. 1 on Pop Airplay, the longest trip to the top of that chart from a song’s release in history.
It’s the latest example of older songs being reinvigorated and reaching new chart heights in recent months, following The Weeknd’s “Die For You” (after a remix featuring Ariana Grande) and Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary,” which also benefited from a TikTok trend. And it helps RCA senior vp of digital marketing Tarek Al-Hamdouni earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Al-Hamdouni explains how the track came back after such a long break, and how RCA helped spur it into a new realm. “We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out,” Al-Hamdouni says.
This week, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, 12 years after its initial chart run. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
The climb to No. 1 began in November of 2022 when we first saw the signs of organic growth and engagement on “Sure Thing” across socials and streaming services. The first major decision came in us validating the opportunity and investing in sustaining the activity across TikTok, Reels, Shorts & Snapchat. The initial goal was to “see how far we could take the trend,” knowing every jump in creations and streams was broadening our listener base and building familiarity, which would eventually result in bigger opportunities.
Miguel attends the 65th GRAMMY Awards on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Matt Winkelmeyer/GI for The Recording Academy
We knew the record was already a favorite among fans since its release, but the key component to this new activity is that it was coming from new listeners. This led us to make the key decision to treat “Sure Thing” as a new record in our marketing efforts, also giving us the new task of turning listeners into fans. To connect the dots, we worked closely with Miguel — who deserves all the credit in the world for leaning in with curiosity, passion and optimism around this new activity — to start to engage with fans and content across socials.
Our promotion team did a fantastic job in following along with all the activity we were generating and timed their impact such that we were already receiving pull from the markets and stations. The last key decision I’ll offer up is the move to leverage the activity around “Sure Thing” to prime the market for new music from Miguel, something that we kicked off with his new single, “Give It To Me.”
In its original run, the song was an R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay hit. Why did the song work at Pop radio this time around?
I think the beauty of an artist like Miguel is that he’s always been ahead of his time. While often thrown into the “R&B” box, his music and artistry have always pulled from diverse corners of the music spectrum. And when you look at the freedom streaming has given Gen Z to bounce from record to record and genre to genre with such ease, it’s no wonder they gravitate towards a forward-thinking artist like Miguel.
It’s also worth noting that the dynamic between data and radio has strengthened at a rapid pace over the last few years. This has given us the opportunity to build our case in advance of an impact, showing the audience potential and, in a lot of ways, letting the story and streams reach critical mass with core Gen Z music fans before taking it to the broader audiences that only radio can reach.
The song’s resurgence originated on TikTok with a sped-up version. How did that come about? How often are these sped-up versions of tracks spawning new life for songs?
The sped-up version of “Sure Thing” emerged purely as organic UGC on TikTok. It wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see the activity come from such an edit, as sped-up sounds have been a trend on TikTok and across UGC for quite some time now. That said, I do think it’s fair to say that sped-up sounds hit a bit of critical mass in early 2023 as we started to see platforms like TikTok create specific playlists centered around the phenomenon, all of which gave us more editorial placements and ways for Miguel to lean in.
The opportunities to breathe new life into a record through a sped-up sound are plentiful, but it’s important to note the viral success of a record like “Sure Thing” is still a huge outlier in terms of how much effect a campaign could have. At this point, I expect most singles to be accompanied by a sped-up version at some point in their life cycle.
This is the latest example of an older track coming back to be a force at radio and in pop culture — something that almost never used to happen. Are you guys increasingly focused on working catalog songs in a similar manner to new songs?
We don’t focus solely on the “catalog” aspect of any record at this point as much as we’re focused on using the influx of data we receive from social and streaming platforms to ensure we never miss an opportunity. We know activity can spring up at a moment’s notice, and when it does, the best labels are able to move quickly and turn a spark into a flame before it goes out.
The reliance on data is important because our core mission as marketers is to create this activity and engagement out of the gate. By collaborating with our internal data teams, we can build tools to monitor the key aspects we believe drive streaming growth while spending the majority of our time and energy collaborating with our artists and building next-level marketing campaigns.
Although to be fair, I think the rediscovery of music by the next generation of listeners is something that has happened for quite some time. Prior to shortform video, syncs played a huge role in this rediscovery, going back to examples like Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” in Volkswagen’s 2000 Cabrio commercial to the much more recent lift of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” off the back of its inclusion in season four of Stranger Things.
The song also broke the record for most weeks ever spent on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, now at 78. How did you help market the track beyond radio and TikTok?
Outside of those two platforms, we worked to ensure this record and Miguel’s content was spread far and wide across the internet. We built custom campaigns for Instagram and YouTube, we drove awareness and engagement through savvy ad spends and boost campaigns. And we worked closely with media accounts and press outlets to drive consistent presence in front of a wide range of audiences.
What have you learned from the song’s surprise success that you can use moving forward on other projects and songs?
When you zoom out far enough, you start to see that the equation we’re chasing with a resurgence is new context for a great record with a new, young and engaged audience. Additionally, the benefits of driving engagement through a catalog record doesn’t require the type of success we’re seeing on Miguel to be meaningful. Going forward, we see this as a key way to drive engagement and build demand for new music for any artist with an established catalog.
Previous Executive of the Week: Corey Calder of APG
A Texas grand jury has officially indicted TakeOff’s alleged shooter on murder charges, KHOU reported Thursday (May 25) after receiving confirmation from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
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Takeoff (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed during a private party he attended at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with his uncle and bandmate, Quavo, on Nov. 1. The Migos rapper, who was 28 at the time of his death, was killed by “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm,” according to a report from the Harris County coroner’s office.
The alleged shooter, Patrick Xavier Clark, was arrested on the east side of Houston the same night and charged with murder. Another man allegedly involved in the incident, 22-year-old Cameron Joshua, was arrested and charged with the unlawful carrying of a weapon. Clark was subsequently released on $1 million bond in January.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a request for confirmation on Clark’s indictment. Clark’s attorney, Carl Moore, also did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In a statement to KHOU, Moore said the indictment was expected, stating, “We would ask people to remember that getting an indictment requires meeting a very, very minimal standard of proof. When we get inside a courtroom and in front of a jury, where we will be able to put on our evidence and cross-examine the state’s witnesses — where the standard of proof is guilt beyond reasonable doubt – we expect the jury will come back with a verdict of not guilty.”
According to court records, following his release on bond, Clark was put under 24/7 house arrest, forbidden from having contact with anyone involved in the incident and required to wear a GPS monitor that would immediately notify prosecutors and defense attorneys of any violations. He was also asked to submit to drug testing and could not drink alcohol, as court records indicate that “alcohol was a factor in the offense.”
As Blake Shelton winds down his 23-season role as a coach on The Voice, he’s far from finished with TV and other content initiatives. Shelton has teamed with showrunner Lee Metzger to form the new production company Lucky Horseshoe Productions, following the success of their collaboration on the TV series Barmageddon. With the production company, […]
Adidas secretly filed a legal action last year in federal court that successfully froze $75 million in bank accounts held by Kanye West’s Yeezy brand after their high-profile split, newly unsealed court documents show.
Federal court records obtained by Billboard show that the case was filed on Nov. 11, just weeks after the German sneaker giant publicly terminated its relationship with the embattled rapper (sometimes known as Ye) in the wake of his antisemitic statements and other erratic behavior.
Adidas filed the case to ensure such funds were not transferred out of Yeezy’s bank accounts while the two companies litigated their business divorce via private arbitration. And a federal judge quickly granted the company’s request for such an “attachment” order on a so-called ex parte basis — meaning the judge issued the freeze without giving Yeezy a chance to make counter-arguments.
“Petitioner has demonstrated that it has satisfied the grounds for an ex parte attachment because the court is satisfied that there is a risk that Yeezy will remove or dissipate assets if notice of this request for attachment is given to Yeezy,” Judge Valerie E. Caproni wrote in her Nov. 11 order freezing the money.
The existence of the litigation was first reported Wednesday evening (May 24) by the legal news outlet Law360.
The newly-revealed litigation with Yeezy is just one piece of a messy breakup for Adidas. With the company sitting on $1.3 billion worth of unsold Yeezys, CEO Bjorn Gulden announced earlier this month that Adidas would begin selling them, but would “donate money to the organizations that help us and were harmed by what Ye said.”
While West himself had previously disclosed that Adidas filed a federal case to freeze assets — he claimed in a November video that the company had “put a $75 million hold” on his bank accounts — the actual existence of the case could not be independently confirmed because it was filed “under seal,” meaning it was not made public like normal legal filings.
But last week, the case and its key documents were unsealed, thanks to another ruling earlier in the month by Judge Caproni. Referencing West’s own comments disclosing the case, the judge said the desire of both sides for “confidentiality” was now outweighed by the public right to access court records.
“Notably, the attachment itself is no longer confidential as Ye discussed Adidas’s decision to ‘freeze’ his accounts in a public interview, and accordingly, no confidentiality interest exists as to the existence of the attachment order,” Judge Caproni wrote on May 9. “The court further finds that any trade secrets or sensitive business information may adequately be protected through redaction.”
Now, the newly-unsealed court docket shows that lawyers for Adidas and Yeezy are currently sparring over whether the asset freeze should remain in place going forward.
In an April filing, Yeezy’s lawyers urged Judge Caproni to undo the freeze, arguing that Adidas had “failed to show that it was ever entitled to such an order in the first place.” Yeezy’s lawyers said Adidas had made procedural errors in securing the order and had not provided enough proof that it needed the freeze to remain in place.
“Adidas has offered no evidence that Yeezy is currently insolvent or that it has made any effort to conceal its assets or put them beyond Adidas’s reach in the event Adidas obtains an arbitral award against Yeezy,” attorney Peter D. Hawkes wrote for the brand. “Nor has Adidas offered anything more than speculation that, in the absence of attachment, collection of any arbitral award would be more challenging.”
Adidas strongly disagrees. In its own brief filed in early May, the company argued that West had demonstrated a “pattern of volatile behavior” and was in “severe financial stress,” imperiling Adidas’s ability to recover the funds the company believes it will win in the pending arbitration battle.
“There is every indication that if released, Yeezy will spend them, misusing Adidas’s property and rendering an award against them ineffectual,” the company wrote.
Adidas also warned that, if the $75 million is released, West’s conduct had severely harmed his own ability to earn it back in other ways. The company rattled off a list of alleged incidents, including West “stating his admiration of Hitler” and “suggesting that Jewish people ‘are used by the Chinese’ to control Black people.”
“Ye [has] further diminished the value of his endorsement and commercial opportunities by continuing to make racist and incendiary statements,” Adidas’s lawyers wrote.
A lawyer for Yeezy did not return requests for comment on Thursday. A spokesman for Adidas declined to comment.
Now that the pandemic is over, “it is anything but ‘business as usual’” at CISAC, the international trade organization for copyright collecting societies, according to director general Gadi Oron in its 2023 annual report.
In a time of change for collecting societies, which bring in a combined 9.6 billion euros a year, CISAC’s priorities include lobbying governments in support of member societies, continuing its campaign to support the ISWC code system to identify works, and navigating the challenges of AI, which Oron calls “our biggest priority now in terms of policy.”
The biggest news in the report about a particular market is the success of Autodia, the Greek collecting society that has become prominent since the 2018 dissolution of AEPI. “In 2018, I gave a presentation to the board [of CISAC and said we must do something,” Oron remembers. AEPI’s collapse was epic, complete with a 2017 police raid and a failure to pay out 42.5 million euros (more than the total amount it distributed some years), according to an audit ordered by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Oron feared the potential collapse of a market that had been worth about 50 million euros a year in the late 1990s, so he asked the CISAC’s board to support a plan to fund and help Autodia, which was then a small nonprofit society that in 2018 collected less than a million euros.
In 2022, Autodia collected 16.2 million euros, and it now collects for all three major publishers, BMG, and many of its sister societies, according to CEO Margarita Panagiotopoulou. “We are growing fast and gaining market share,” Panagiotopoulou says, “and that is on track to continue.”
Autodia now faces competition from EDEM, which mostly represents Greek repertoire and took in about 8 million euros last year.
The first phase of CISAC’s plan was to get Autodia loans from its member societies and send to Athens consultant Declan Rudden, who became interim CEO of Autodia to get the society running. He helped make reciprocal agreements with international societies and court publishers, as well as compete with EYED, a government-controlled entity that was designated as the temporary successor to AEPI. (Some major publishers originally signed with EYED but most of them are now with Autodia.) One day, as Rudden and team were putting together desks in the Autodia office, it was raided by the Greek department of labor and fined for keeping employees after 5pm without notifying them in advance. (This is illegal in Greece, but raids are uncommon.) “They did everything to make our life difficult,” remembers Rudden, who runs the consultancy SaorServices.
Gradually, the local team took over, and Autodia took in more than 4 million euros by 2019, then more than 12 million euros by 2022, as the pandemic subsided. “The contribution of CISAC was very important,” Panagiotopoulou says, in terms of funding, legitimacy and lobbying both the Greek government and songwriters themselves.
Greece is still a contested market. “Market share is a matter of disagreement,” says EDEM COO George Myzalis. (Panagiotopoulou says Autodia has more than 85% market share, but the respective royalty collection numbers imply a lower number.) Along the way, the technology company Orfium, which has some operations based in Athens, almost entered the market as well, but it ultimately withdrew. (The company operates in other sectors and did not respond to a request for comment.) Right now, venues and broadcasters in Greece need licenses from both Autodia and EDEM, especially if they want to play both the international repertoire that Autodia dominates as well as the Greek compositions that EDEM tends to have.
Some big publishers believe that the growing success of Autodia limits the possibilities for the kind of direct licensing model that they see as more efficient. One idea that at least some of them favored was to establsh EDEM as an organization that would offer more optionality by requiring less exclusive grants of rights – and a model for what they believe could be a more efficient future for the publishing business. As Autodia grows, that is becoming less likely – which some publishers see as a wasted opoortunity and other societies and some other publishers and songwriters see as a win for the current structure, which for all of its complexity offers more of a balance of power between big players and small ones.
The only things most executives seem to agree on is that the situation in Greece is far better than it was under AEPI and that it is getting better, even if it’s not where it should be. “AEPI was a disaster,” says Peermusic European president Nigel Elderton. “Autodia have their act together and they’re paying royalties through and they’re starting to grow.”
At a time when the traditional collecting society model is being challenged by direct licensing and a growing number of for-profit royalty organizations, both the other societies that supported Autodia and the publishers that favored another model agree that the implications of the society’s success go beyond Greece. Now that CISAC has showed it can help turn around a society in a market that’s perceived to be dysfunctional, it could potentially do so again.
“This was 10 times harder than I could have imagined,” Oron says. “But we’ve proven to ourselves that we can do it. Whether we can do it in other countries depends, but we have proof that we can do it.”
Instagram’s director of music partnerships, Perry Bashkoff, was one of the about 6,000 Meta employees whose roles were eliminated by Meta leadership on Wednesday (May 24). “Yes, I was one of them,” Bashkoff confirmed on Thursday in a LinkedIn post. As Bashkoff noted, he was “part of the team that brought music to the Meta […]
Juanes has renewed his recording contract with Universal Music Latino, Billboard Español can announce on Thursday (May 25). With this deal, the Colombian rocker extends a 23-year-old partnership with the label.
The news comes just days after the release of Vida Cotidiana, his first album with original music in four years.
“Throughout the years Universal Music Latino has become a second home and I am excited to continue working with such a respected label,” Juanes said in a press release. “I believe that my musical career will continue to thrive and grow within this new creative cycle. I am eager to see and share what the future holds.”
Jesús López, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Latin America & Iberian Peninsula, added that the label “will continue to support and grow with Juanes,” whose “talent and professionalism have made him one of the most sought out acts for so many decades.”
No additional details of the deal renewal were announced. As for publishing, Juanes remains with Warner Chappell Music.
Juanes made his solo debut in 2000 with the Gustavo Santaolalla-produced Fíjate Bien, and rose to fame soon after with hits like “A Dios Le Pido” from his sophomore album Un Día Normal (2002,) which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and “La Camisa Negra” from Mi Sangre (2004), which spent eight weeks at No. 1. “Me Enamora”, “Nada Valgo Sin Tu Amor” and “La Fotografía,” with Nelly Furtado, are some of his other chart-topping hits.
Among other achievements, Juanes has won three Grammy Awards and 24 Latin Grammys, and was named the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year of 2019 not only for his work as a musician, but also as an activist with his Fundación Mi Sangre.
In a recent interview with Billboard Español, the superstar spoke in depth about his most recent production, Vida Cotidiana, in which he reflects on his relationship with his wife and children and the problems that afflict his country. Juanes is currently preparing to announce his Vida Cotidiana Tour, with expected dates in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe.
Indie music company Reservoir Media has acquired the rights to the full catalog of drummer and songwriter Enrique “Kiki” García. García, who was part of Miami Sound Machine, penned many of the group’s biggest hits in its heyday with Gloria Estefan as its lead singer, including the much synchronized “Conga.”
García also wrote Miami Sound Machine’s 1984 breakout “Dr. Beat” and co-wrote several tracks along Estefan, including “1-2-3,” “Give It Up,” and “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” for the group’s final album, Let it Loose.
But García is best known for “Conga,” which he famously penned on a flight from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, after playing a successful club show the night before.
“The performance stayed on my mind all night,” García recounted in the book Decoding Despacito: An Oral History of Latin Music. “The next day, as we got on the plane and I sat down, this song comes flying out of my mind. I start tapping on the seat table in front of me and I’m singing, “Come on, shake your body, baby, do the song. The rest was sketchy, but by the time we landed I had it all put together. I got up and sang my idea to Emilio and he loved it from the start.”
“Conga” would go on to became an international hit, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Feb. 8, 1986.
After leaving Miami Sound Machine, García continued working with top Latin musicians like Chayanne and Julio Iglesias, while “Conga” and his other hits remain widely and constantly licensed.
“Kiki has contributed so much to the face of modern music as we know it. His collaborations with the Miami Sound Machine brought Latin music to mainstream audiences,” said Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir’s founder & CEO, in a statement. “Embarking on this deal with Kiki marks a notable expansion of our rights in Latin American music and is an exciting opportunity to further diversify our catalog while maintaining our focus on acquiring the rights to evergreen hits.”
Primary Wave Music has acquired Skillet‘s music publishing interests as well as their recorded music royalties across five of their critically acclaimed albums, released from 2003-2016, in a multi-million dollar deal. Some of their biggest hits include “Whispers in the Dark,” “Awake and Alive,” “Feel Invincible,” “Monster,” “Hero,” and “The Resistance.”
Big Yellow Dog Music has signed BSAMZ (Brandon Sammons) to its publishing roster. With more than a decade of experience as a co-writer with artists like Lady Gaga, Kygo, Bryce Vine, Adam Lambert, Culture Club, Sam Feldt and many more, BSAMZ is still continuing to write hits, most recently with K-Pop group Girls’ Generation’s “You Think” off of their No. 1 album Lion Heart.
Reservoir has signed singer, rapper, and songwriter Armani White to his first-ever global publishing deal. The agreement entails both the artists’ back catalog and future works, including his viral hit “BILLIE EILISH” which reached No. 58 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Peermusic has signed singer-songwriter Alejo to an exclusive worldwide publishing deal. The deal encompasses all of the Puerto Rican artist’s catalog, including his new album El Favorito de las Nenas, released on May 4. The deal also includes his hit songs “Pantysito” with Feid and Robi; “Un Viaje” alongside Karol G, Jotaerre and Moffa; “Volar” by Wisin, Chris Andrew ft. Los Legendarios; and “Estrella” with boy band CNCO.
Warner Chappell Music has signed a global publishing deal with Canada-based country act Josh Ross. Named a Spotify Hot Country Artist to Watch for 2023, Ross has been building his profile with key opening slots, supporting talent like Bailey Zimmerman Nickelback, Lee Brice, Chase Rice, Brantley Gilbert.
Wise Music Group has signed a deal with DJ and producer Ron Trent. With almost 30 years of experience in the dance/electronic space, Trent first became acclaimed as a DJ with the release of Altered States at age 15. Under his new project WARM, Trent is still continuing to release enduring electronic works.
CD Baby has mostly exited the physical distribution business: “Going forward, we won’t have a warehouse, we won’t stock CDs, we’re no longer doing mail orders and that sort of thing,” says Scott Williams, president of CD Baby.
“We don’t take a decision like this lightly,” he adds. “But it’s just not as not as relevant for us and not as valuable to the artists that we serve. And so it’s time has come.”
That said, CD Baby isn’t exiting the physical business completely: Artists can still get CDs and vinyl manufactured through the company, CD Baby just won’t warehouse them. “We will still sell them, but those will be shipped to the artists that have purchased them,” Williams explains. “They can use Bandcamp; they can set up their own Shopify site. We have a lot of overlap today with Bandcamp — a lot of people that use us for digital distribution prefer to do their own physical distribution through Bandcamp, and they can still do that.”
CD Baby was founded roughly 25 years ago to sell compact discs for independent artists. (Downtown Music acquired CD Baby’s owner in 2019.) But CD sales started to decline in the 2000s, falling for 17 years straight until experiencing a small uptick in 2021. Sales of vinyl, the other primary physical music product, have traced the opposite path, recently celebrating their 17th consecutive year of growth.
In the first 10 weeks of 2023, CD sales ran slightly ahead of 2022 — 6.8 million in 2022 to 6.9 million, according to Luminate. CD prices are more affordable than vinyl, which often pushes past $30, executives say, and there are fewer production delays. Stars often sell them as a collectible item, and for touring acts, CDs are easier to take on the road to sell at shows.
Some distributors have seen the growth of the vinyl market as an opportunity to get into the physical distribution side of the business. Symphonic Distribution announced that it was adding physical distribution capabilities in partnership with AMPED in 2020. Pieter van Rijn, CEO of FUGA, told Billboard last year he was excited about the company’s recent entry into the physical distribution space. (Downtown also owns FUGA.)
But Williams says the CD has “fade[d] in relevance” for many of CD Baby’s acts. “Operating the fulfillment side of it isn’t going to be part of our core strategy going forward,” he continues. “I think we have better opportunities and things to focus on on the digital side.”