Business
Page: 396
Pulse Music Group has formed a joint venture with publishing client Cordae, who signed in 2019. Though the company has not announced signees yet, their partnered publishing firm, dubbed HI-LEVEL Publishing, will sign and develop songwriters with Cordae acting as the company head.
Primary Wave has purchased a stake in the recorded music and publishing catalog of Sarah McLachlan. The partnership includes songs like “Angel,” “I Will Remember You,” “Hold On, and more.
Reservoir has acquired the publishing and recorded music catalog of Mannie Fresh, the former in-house producer for Cash Money Records. Mannie Fresh (real name Byron Thomas) is credited with producing nearly all the songs across 15 major albums for the label from 1998 to 2004, including projects by Juvenile, T.I. and Lil Wayne. Outside the booth, he is best known as half of hip-hop duo Big Tymers, alongside label co-founder Brian Williams, who went by Baby back then but is now Birdman. Their hits include “Still Fly” — with its 74 million streams on Spotify — as well as “This Is How We Do” and “Get Your Roll On,” among others.
Wise Music Group has acquired a controlling interest in Edition Peters Group, the storied music publishing house which was established in 1863. Wise will now own Edition Peters Group in partnership with Christian Hinrichsen, a descendant of the company’s founders. It is best known for its association with classical greats like Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Grieg, Gustav Mahler, Hugo Wolf, Richard Strauss, Morton Feldman, George Crumb, and John Cage.
Warner Chappell Music has signed Oliver Tree to a global publishing agreement. With multiple RIAA-certified Gold and Platinum records under his belt, Ryan Press, president of North America at WCM calls Tree a boundary pusher with “an innovative and future forward approach.”
Warner Chappell Music and Songs & Daughters Publishing have signed Kimberly Perry to a joint publishing deal. One-third of the sibling trio The Band Perry, Perry says signing this deal is “Beyond thrill[ing].”
Warner Chappell Music has signed Austin Shawn to a global publishing agreement. Shawn’s previous cuts include “Rock and A Hard Place” by Bailey Zimmerman, which is currently No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, a first for Zimmerman.
Primary Wave has acquired a stake in singer-songwriter Russ Ballard’s publishing catalog as well as the writer’s share of performance income. included in the deal are songs like “So You Win Again,” “Since You’ve Been Gone,” “I Surrender,” “New York Groove,” “You Can Do Magic,” and “Liar,” and “You Can Do Magic.”
Avex USA Publishing has signed Lucien Parker to a publishing deal. The hip hop producer and songwriter has penned a number of tracks with major stars already, including “My Friends” by Ty Dolla $ign, DJ Mustard, Lil Durk.
Kobalt and Clarence Coffee Jr. have joined forces to launch Artism Mind Music Publishing. Kobalt also announced Artism’s first signees Caroline “Sur Back” Sans and Dan Ewins.
Warner Chappell Music has signed up-and-comer Jossef to a global administration publishing deal. The urban singer-songwriter — who has yet to release his debut album — has scored collaborations with Ñengo Flow and Eix. “He has a promising career ahead,” notes Laz Hernandez, vice president A&R, U.S. Latin & Latin America, WCM.
Peermusic has signed Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee Loreena McKennitt to a global publishing administration deal, encompassing both McKennitt’s entire back catalog as well as works made in the future.
Kobalt has signed Leader Entertainment/ El Reino Infantil Network to a publishing administration agreement. The deal entails the administration of both Leader’s back catalog of kids’ music as well as future releases.
Lil Yachty has reached a settlement with a non-fungible token (NFT) seller called Opulous over allegations that the company used his name and likeness without permission to raise over $6.5 million in venture capital funds.
Yachty (real name Miles Parks McCollum) sued the company last year, claiming that Opulous launched an advertising blitz for a “Lil Yachty NFT Collection” that would give buyers access to new music from the rapper — without ever securing his approval.
But in a filing on Tuesday (April 11), attorneys for the company notified a federal judge that it had reached a settlement with Yachty to resolve the case. They said the case would be dismissed within 45 days, after the deal is finalized. Neither side offered additional details on the terms of the deal.
Yachty’s case against Opulous was one of several lawsuits filed last year over NFTs, a buzzy form of digital collectible that skyrocketed in popularity in 2021. But the market for NFTs largely collapsed last year, and the lawsuits filed over them are also beginning to drop off.
In his January 2022 complaint, Yachty called the Opulous project, which also included images of him, a “blatant and conscious disregard for plaintiff’s exclusive legal rights.” It additionally claimed that the company did press interviews about his alleged involvement in the project.
His lawyers said that Opulous had pitched his management team about a potential partnership, and that he joined a second call for a “a general introductory meeting,” but that the two sides never came close to signing a deal.
“There were no further communications between the parties, and accordingly no agreement or deal terms for plaintiff’s involvement in the defendants’ launch of the Opulous platform was ever reached,” the lawsuit read.
But even without his approval, Opulous then allegedly announced it would be launching a line of music NFTs and be “kicking things off with a series of unmissable NFT drops led by world-famous artists including Lil Yachty.” That was allegedly followed by numerous social media posts featuring similar claims, as well as images of the rapper, the suit said.
The suit, which also named Opulous founder Lee James Parson and his Ditto Music as defendants, claimed a slew of specific violations, including trademark infringement, unfair competition and a violation of Lil Yachty’s so-called right of publicity — the right to control how your name and likeness are commercially exploited.
Maggie Rogers has signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group. The deal sees Rogers recorded music and publishing all joining under the Universal Music Group roof, given the singer-songwriter has been a longtime signee of Capitol Records.
Rogers got her start as a NYU student, writing and producing her own material. When Pharrell Williams gave a master class at the university, Rogers showed him a song she had been working on called “Alaska.” His astonishment at Rogers’ prowess as a producer, songwriter and singer was captured in a viral video that catapulted the young singer to instant acclaim. “Alaska” became her first major label release.
Since then, Rogers earned herself a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and released two albums Heart It In a Past Life — which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums and No. 2 on Billboard 200 — and Surrender (2022) — which landed at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart and No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart.
News of the publishing deal arrives just as Rogers prepares for her next tour through the U.S. and Europe. In an attempt to combat bots and scalpers, Rogers “went old school” as she put it in a recent Instagram post: she opted for an in-person, box office pre-sale for all tour stops. “F–k bots + f-k fees. come buy a ticket in person. tomorrow only… Come kick it like its 1965,” she wrote.
Rogers was previously signed to Sony Music Publishing.
Rogers said of her new publishing deal: “I’m so proud to call UMPG my home and can’t wait begin this next chapter of my career alongside so many writers and professionals I respect and admire.”
Jennifer Knoepfle, evp and co-head of A&R at UMPG, added, “Maggie is one of my favorite songwriters, and I have been lucky to work alongside her since the early stages of her incredible career. We are so excited for her next chapter in her new home at UMPG, and she will have the best support for her creative journey.”
MQA, the audio coding technology company that makes high-resolution streams for companies like Tidal, entered into administration after its founding financial backer stepped down from its board, according to company filings and media reports.
Anton Rupert, grandson of the billionaire South African tobacco tycoon of the same name, was terminated from the position of director of the board of MQA Limited on March 17, according to a filing. Rupert represented Reinet Investments S.C.A., MQA’s founding funder.
The London-based company specializes in making large music files small enough to be compatible on any service or playback device without losing any quality, it says. While it grew its brand presence through partnerships with major music compies like Xiami Music in China, Tidal and the independent music trade group Merlin, it has struggled to make a profit.
The company flagged its uncertain financial future in its most recent annual report, which was for the year ending Dec. 31, 2021. In a statement in the report, MQA chief executive Mike Jbara described the company as a “loss-making start-up” and said it is aware it faces competition for its employees from other U.K.-based technology companies offering certain financial incentives. The company also stated it had secured funding committments to maintain operations only through the first quarter 2023.
MQA’s business was built on driving demand for their tech by providing tools to content creators who would add to the catalog of music made using MQA’s technology. Those MQA files would make their way to consumers ears via distributors and broadcasters that have agreements with MQA.
For listeners, the proof would be in the quality of the stream. The company said it had 132 consumer product agreements as of Dec. 2021.
Last week, technology news website What HiFi? wrote MQA was going into administration, citing a statement from the company. What will happen to the services MQA provides to its partner companies is unclear, but going into adminstration does not always disrupt a companies’ core operations, at least not at first.
Similar to declaring bankruptcy in the U.S., entering into administration in the U.K. protects insolvent company from creditors. This breathing space gives the company time to pull itself out of its financial problems or the court-appointed administrator will advise taking steps — such as selling off assets — to help pay off the company’s debts.
MQA did not respond to a request for comment.
In their last annual report, the company said it is “confident that we will obtain additional funding commitments during those discussions in (the first quarter) 2023.”
National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped NPR’s main account with labels the news organization says are meant to undermine its credibility.
“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” NPR said in a statement Wednesday.
Last week, Twitter labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media” on the social media site, a label also used to identify media outlets that are controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media” and gave it to at least one other public news organization, the BBC.
“We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence,” NPR’s statement said.
The Public Broadcasting Service said Wednesday it has also stopped tweeting from its main account because of its new label and has no plans to resume. PBS said: “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
NPR’s main account had not tweeted since April 4. On Wednesday, it sent a series of tweets listing other places to find its journalism.
The company said NPR journalists, employees and member stations can decide on their own if they want to keep using the platform.
NPR’s chief communications officer, Isabel Lara, said in an email that “NPR journalists and employees will decide on their own if they wish to remain on the platform, same for NPR member stations as they’re independently owned and operated.”
NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than 1% of NPR’s annual operating budget.
Twitter’s new labels have often appeared arbitrarily assigned. It tagged NPR with the “state-affiliated” label after Musk participated in a public conversation about NPR on Twitter, and then deleted mention of NPR, but left up BBC, on a web page where it described why they should not get that label.
Since then, it has given NPR, BBC and some other groups a “government-funded” label but hasn’t done the same for many other public media outlets, such as their counterparts in Canada and Australia.
In an interview Tuesday with a BBC technology reporter at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, Musk acknowledged that the British news organization “is not thrilled” about the state-affiliated labels and asked the reporter for feedback.
“Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible,” Musk said. “So I think we’re adjusting the label to be ‘publicly funded,’ which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We’re trying to be accurate.”
SBS Entertainment, the live event arm of Spanish Broadcasting Systems, and global venue development company Oak View Group (OVG) have inked a multi-year strategic agreement, the companies tell Billboard.
The deal, which has been in the works for two years, is described as an effort to “reimagine the live industry landscape” and an opportunity to reach new markets with Latin-focused music events.
Founded in 2015, OVG has grown to work with more than 400 venues worldwide. The deal with SBS marks the first time they’ve teamed up with a Latin company that focuses on producing and promoting large-scale live events. For 16 years now, SBS has produced L.A.’s Calibash, the best-known urban Latin festival in the U.S. that has boasted J Balvin, Daddy Yankee and Karol G as headliners over the past few years. It also produces the New York-based Mega Bash concert (presented by SBS radio station La Mega 97.9), which in December will take place for the first time at UBS Arena — marking the first event announced under the partnership.
Conversations about a possible partnership began when New York’s OVG-developed UBS Arena, which opened in November 2021, was still under construction. It was then that Mark Shulman, the facility’s senior vp of programming, invited the SBS Entertainment team to tour the grounds.
“When you look where [UBS] is located and [the] diversity nearby, Latin music should be a core of what this building is built on,” says Shulman. “I reached out to SBS, being such a leader in live events, and brought out their entire team so they could experience it from its early days. That began the explorations of what the possibilities might be. What started as a New York discussion quickly turned into a national discussion.”
But it wasn’t until last year that the national deal was sealed, and it happened when Francesca Bodie, president of business development at OVG, and Alessandra Alarcón, president of SBS Entertainment, met at Billboard‘s Women In Music 2022 event (both women were honored that year).
“I knew Mark had a relationship with SBS, but Alessandra and I just sat together at the event and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to work together?’ The fact that our venue in Palm Springs will do over 20 Latin shows this year, we thought, ‘This is not just a New York thing, this is going to be a nationwide opportunity,’” says Bodie. “We could’ve easily done a one-year commitment but doing a multi-year deal instead was a no-brainer. They have the team that can execute these marquee events and we have state-of-the-art arenas in the U.S and in the world. It was just a natural fit.”
“In our continuous dialogue with OVG about where to take the shows next, we suspect we’re going to be bringing our marquee shows to other markets,” says Christopher Martinez, director of business affairs at SBS. “We are focusing a lot on growing our heritage brands. There’s also a focus on regional Mexican and we’re planning on bringing one-off shows to Austin and also to Palm Springs. We’re definitely looking at expanding and not just focusing on reggaeton.”
The deal between SBS Entertainment and OVG comes at a time when Latin music continues to see global growth across multiple metrics, particularly in touring. The top 25 Latin tours of 2022 grossed $990.8 million and sold 8 million tickets (based on Billboard‘s Boxscore reporting period of Nov. 1, 2021-Oct. 31, 2022). Moreover, in 2022, Latin music outpaced growth in the overall industry with a 24% increase, totaling $1.1 billion in revenue, according to the newly-released RIAA U.S. Latin revenue report, which also highlights an all-time high in terms of market share for the genre at 6.9%.
“Companies like OVG are prioritizing the Latin space and now see the value of partnering with media companies like us because we are the general market now,” says Martinez. “We’re seeing people responding to what the new normal is [with] respect to Latin music.”
Adds Bodie, “As we look at the way we want to continue to anchor and prioritize [Latin], it is critically important that we have alignment with SBS.”
With OVG venues under development in the United Kingdom and Brazil, Bodie hopes to keep expanding their deal with SBS by developing Latin-focused content and activations in those markets. “We’ll definitely talk about what those opportunities will look like in the future.”
Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is facing another sexual abuse lawsuit, this time from Melissa Schuman – a former member of teen-pop group Dream who has long claimed that she was assaulted by the singer.
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles court, Schuman formalized her longstanding accusation that Carter sexually assaulted her in 2003 when she was 18 years old, while the two were starring in the teen horror movie The Hollow.
Schuman says that during a party, Carter fed her drug-laced alcohol, led her away from the group, and then repeatedly assaulted her despite clear statements that she did not consent.
“Plaintiff was too terrified to say anything,” Schuman’s lawyers wrote. “Defendant Carter exerted his control over plaintiff, despite knowing she did not consent, for his own sexual gratification.”
The lawsuit claims that the assault left Schuman infected with HPV, and that he had continued to “harass and manipulate” her after the alleged attack.
The new case came months after Carter was hit with a similar lawsuit from Shannon “Shay” Ruth, a woman who says he raped her on a tour bus when she was 17 years old following a 2001 concert in Washington state.
But it also came two weeks after a Nevada judge ruled that Carter could continue to sue both Ruth and Schuman for defamation over their accusations. Carter’s lawsuit claims the accusations from the two women are a “conspiracy” that aims to “to harass, defame and extort” him by exploiting the #MeToo movement.
In a statement to Billboard, Carter’s attorney Liane K. Wakayama called Schuman’s allegations “false” and noted the recent ruling in Nevada, saying it proved there were “strong grounds” for Carter to “proceed with his lawsuit against Ms. Schuman for plotting to damage, defame and extort Nick.”
“In light of our progress in Nevada, this kind of response is at once both predictable and pathetic,” Wakayama wrote. “But this PR stunt won’t shake Nick from his determination to hold Ms. Schuman and her co-conspirators to account for the immeasurable pain and suffering their extortionate conduct has caused.”
Like the case filed by Ruth, the new lawsuit against Carter contains explicit and disturbing details of the alleged sexual assault.
After giving her a drink that contained “some form of flunitrazepam or a similar drug,” Schuman’s attorneys say, he led her to a bathroom, where he began to perform non-consensual oral sex on her. The lawsuit says he then demanded that she perform oral sex on him, before he took her to a bedroom and “climbed on top of her.”
“Again and again, plaintiff said NO!” her lawyers wrote in the complaint. “She told him over and over that she was a virgin, that she was saving herself for her future husband, and that she did not want to have sex. Defendant Carter continued to force himself on her, whispering in her ear that he could be her husband. Plaintiff could not get away from him, he was too heavy.”
Following the alleged assault, Schuman says she quickly told her parents, her manager, a therapist and others about the incident, but did not formally report the incident because her manager warned her that doing so could “ruin her career.”
Schuman first publicly accused Carter in 2017, saying that the music industry had “enabled abusers forever” and detailing why she had failed to come forward earlier.
“I didn’t have the money, the clout or access to an attorney who was powerful enough to stand up against my abuser’s legal counsel,” she wrote on her blog at the time. “I was told I would likely be buried in humiliation, accused of being fame hungry, and it would ultimately hurt me professionally as well as publicly.”
Carter denied the allegations at the time, saying Schuman had “never expressed” to him that “anything we did was not consensual.”
The last time film and TV screenwriters went on strike, for a hundred days in the winter of 2007 and 2008, production on shows and movies abruptly shut down, advertising plunged and pink slips were passed out. Freelance music supervisors like Julie Glaze Houlihan, whose credits include Malcolm in the Middle and Roswell, also felt the pain.
“My husband and I both were independent music supervisors, so the money just fell. We struggled,” she recalls. “We had savings and we dipped into it. We had three small children. It was a difficult time.”
Unlike actors, directors, music editors and other unionized professionals who would still receive contractual benefits in the event of a strike, music supervisors are a largely freelance group of specialists who lack employer-provided healthcare, paid leave and safety protections. So the supervisors are more vulnerable than many of their colleagues if the Writers Guild of America follows through with a walkout when its members’ contract with studios and networks expires May 1.
“We all care about the writers getting a fair deal. We’re all in it together,” says Houlihan, who recently supervised music for Glass Onion and is working on upcoming ESPN and MGM+ docuseries. “But if they strike, it’ll affect all of us. Other people have some type of safety net and we have nothing.”
The Writers Guild unions, east and west, represent 11,000 movie and TV writers and began negotiations March 20 for a three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Few expect a fast resolution over issues like higher compensation, more contributions to health and pension funds and improvements in workplace standards. Anticipating a strike, studios are rushing production schedules for existing shows.
A strike “would definitely be scary,” says Justin Kamps, who works on Grey’s Anatomy and Bridgerton. “If you can’t get the scripts written and the shows brought into post-(production), there’s not much you’re going to be doing as a supervisor. You’re going to be out of luck.”
A prolonged strike could narrow the opportunities for music synchs in shows and movies, which generated $318 million in 2022, or 2% of overall revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. “The most obvious point is that if there is a strike, it’s going to put a hold on shows being put out, which means there’s no music being requested for shows,” says Sara Torres, synch and licensing supervisor for ASAP Clearances, which clears songs for TV.
Uncertainty has kicked in. “I’ve been meeting on a new project and they have been in a holding pattern, waiting to see what happens. They are not able to actually hire anybody until that is sorted out,” says Kier Lehman, a music supervisor whose recent works include Abbott Elementary and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. “Without having new things starting, it definitely would affect us and our income — if it goes on for a long time, I could see it having a big effect.”
Like everybody in Hollywood, music supervisors are scrambling to figure out where the money might come from in the event of a strike. Houlihan doubles as a music editor, an industry with its own unions, so she expects to receive certain benefits no matter what. Torres’ company emphasizes reality shows, which surged in the ratings during the last strike (including, notably, Donald Trump’s The Celebrity Apprentice); she suggests reality shows might temporarily dominate the synch business and indie artists might have more opportunities to place songs.
“People are always looking for music,” she says. “It’s just being able to pivot.”
Music supervisors are not unionized, but last October, a group of Netflix supervisors filed to certify their union with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking representation with the labor union the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, or IATSE. Netflix opposed the move and the NLRB’s decision is pending. (Netflix reps did not respond to inquiries.) If the board rules in the supervisors’ favor, they can negotiate a contract with the streaming giant — “which would make a great precedent,” says Lindsay Wolfington, a music supervisor for shows including Virgin River and The Venery of Samantha Bird and has been active in the Netflix unionization efforts.
Laura Webb, who frequently works with Wolfington, says the supervisors want more reliable payment deliveries, cost-of-living increases and healthcare and retirement and pension plans — as opposed to relying on the gig economy. “We’re not paid by the studios that would allow us to have the same safety net that most employees get,” adds Joel High, president of the Guild of Music Supervisors. “We don’t have health insurance through anybody. We don’t have a 401(k). We’re basically left to our own devices, working from show to show and studio to studio.”
Supervisors say they’ll keep working on shows after writers have finished their work. “Most of our job is post-production, so hopefully things don’t change that much,” says Webb, who works on Wolf Pack, Monster High the Movie Sequel and others. Adds Lehman: “If there was a show that was already written, and just being finished, that becomes the complicated issue.”
For now, music supervisors remain hopeful the writers and studios will come to an agreement and avoid a strike, even as unionization is gathering momentum in the U.S., with workers from Amazon to YouTube Music filing for certification. “If there’s an atmosphere to strike in, it would be now,” Houlihan says. “Go, writers! I hope they don’t have to strike.”
Provident Entertainment has signed five-time Grammy winner Brandon Lake to its artist roster.
Lake’s song “Gratitude” is in its 11th week atop Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart and previously reached No. 1 on the Christian Airplay chart (where it currently resides at No. 3).
“I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Provident and for what’s to come,” Lake said via a statement. “With their team, I feel a genuine friendship and partnership, and know that there is a united goal of wanting to serve. This isn’t just about success, or trying to get the next #1; it’s about people, and serving people well.”
Lake’s most recent album, Help!, draws awareness to mental health and includes the Christian Airplay top 20 hit “Fear Is Not My Future (featuring Chandler Moore) and “Don’t Give Up on Me.” In addition to his solo music, Lake is known for his collaborations with Elevation Worship, Bethel Music and Maverick City Music. He is currently on the road on the 26-city Miracle Nights Tour with guest Benjamin Williams Hastings, and this fall, Lake will co-headline arenas on the Summer Worship Nights Tour with Phil Wickham.
“Very rarely do you get to come alongside an artist like Brandon whose songs, music, and ministry are already having such a significant impact around the world,” said Holly Zabka, president of Provident Entertainment, via a statement. “His passion for the Gospel and desire for teamwork has been evident each time we met about this new partnership. We are thrilled to welcome Brandon, his family, and the entire Brandon Lake team as new members of the Provident Entertainment family.”
“We’re thrilled to announce that Brandon Lake has signed with Provident Entertainment,” added Lake’s manager, Brandon Breitenbach. “Brandon is an exceptional artist whose music has already touched countless lives, offering a message of hope and redemption that have the power to transform hearts and minds. With Provident’s support, I’m confident that Brandon will continue to make a meaningful impact in the world. We’re excited to witness this next chapter in Brandon’s career and look forward to supporting him every step of the way.”
At this year’s Grammy Awards, Lake was honored for his work on a few songs, including “Fear is Not My Future,” which won best contemporary christian music performance/song, while his work with Maverick City Music on the 2022 EP Breathe garnered a best contemporary christian music album Grammy.
Lake previously told Billboard that he is working on a new album.
“I have a ton of songs and we are figuring out which ones will land on the new album and we are getting into pre-production,” he said. “We also have some songs on the next Elevation Worship record that are coming out, so collaboration is not slowing down.”
Latin music revenues in the United States hit an all-time high last year, exceeding the $1 billion mark on the wings of 24% growth that outpaced the overall market.
According to the RIAA’s year-end Latin music report for 2022, total revenue jumped from $881 million in 2021 to $1.1 billion in 2022, with Latin music’s overall share of the total music market lifting from 5.9% in 2021 to 6.9%.
“Latin music revenues in 2022 exceeded $1 billion for the first time and grew significantly faster than the broader industry. That sustained expansion speaks to an openness to new artists, music and ways of listening,” says RIAA senior VP, state public policy & industry relations Rafael Fernandez Jr.
Months earlier, the RIAA’s mid year report had already suggested that Latin music revenues would reach a new peak, driven by the success not only of Bad Bunny — who ended the year as the most streamed artist in the U.S. and around the world — but also a cadre of other artists who have had major streaming success, including Rosalía, Karol G and Rauw Alejandro.
Streaming makes up a stunning 97% of Latin music revenue, accounting for more than $1 billion. Within that, paid subscriptions were the biggest growth driver, contributing 71% of streaming revenues and posting revenue growth of 29% to $758 million.
Another major contributor to growth was ad-supported on-demand streams (from services like YouTube, Vevo and the free version of Spotify), underscoring how important video is to the Latin fan. Revenue from this space grew 24% to $230 million, a 21% share of total Latin music revenues, over-indexing compared to the 11% average of the overall market.
Conversely, revenue from digital services like Pandora and SiriusXM decreased 5% to $73 million, making up 7% of streaming revenues. Permanent downloads also fell 15% to $11.7 million. They now make up only 1% of revenue.
And while physical sales remain a tiny percentage of revenue – less than 1% – they are growing. CD revenues were up 60% to $3.1 million and vinyl grew 67% to $9.1 million, signaling a fresh area of growth potential for Latin music.