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Pulse Music Group, which already houses music publishing and artist management arms, has started Pulse Records with Concord. Pulse Music Group co-CEOs Scott Cutler and Josh Abraham, along with Ashley Calhoun, president and head of creative, will lead the label, which will be part of Universal Music Group-distributed Concord Label Group.
The deal builds on a partnership between Pulse and Concord started in 2020 when Concord’s music publishing division acquired a stake in Pulse Music Group to form a joint venture that included Concord administering Pulse’s catalog and future signings.
Pulse is in talks with a number of acts to join its label roster. “We have been looking to grow our Pulse Music Group brand into the records space for a while now. Given our background as producers and songwriters in our own right, we bring a unique perspective to working in the label space—but we knew we had to get our footing right,” said Abraham and Cutler in a joint statement. “Now with the 15-year success of our publishing division, a company we have built from scratch, we are surrounded by the very best in emerging talent and a highly curated roster.”
The pair added, “With Pulse Records we will continue to set a very high artistic bar. In addition to launching emerging talent, we have plans to work with artists that helped to redefine genres with whom we have created very strong relationships over the years that will soon be coming out of their existing deals… It takes the right business partners to build a business like this, and we couldn’t be happier to have the backing of Concord and the support and business acumen of its senior leadership team as we continue to grow Pulse Music Group and launch Pulse Records.”
Bob Valentine, Concord’s incoming CEO (he replaces outgoing CEO Scott Pascucci, effective July 1), added, “Scott, Josh, Ashley, and the team at Pulse have been a great collaborator with Concord in publishing some of the highest charting songs in the world. Globally recognized as one of the leading frontline creative teams and first-class incubators for culturally relevant music, Pulse Music Group is a company that Concord continues to greatly admire, and we couldn’t ask for more exceptional business partners as we work to launch Pulse Records.”
Pulse Records’ growing staff also includes senior vp/head of marketing Lauryn Caldwell, who joins from mtheory, where she was vp of marketing and artist partnerships. Sarah Ahmed, who was previously senior director of marketing at Atlantic Records, comes aboard as vp of marketing. Tazita Makuria, who joined Pulse in 2022, has been named vp of creative for both the publishing and label divisions, while former Almo Records exec Bel Masbahi will serve as creative director of A&R for both divisions.
Pulse Music Group, which Cutler, Abraham and songwriter Anne Preven started in 2007, has been on a hot streak lately. Isaac “Zac” De Boni & Michael “Finatik” Mulé (who goes by FNZ) took home song of the year honors at BMI Pop Awards for The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber’s “Stay,” while Tyler Johnson won the Ivor Novello Award for co-writing for Harry Styles’ “Stay.” Angel Lopez co-wrote “First Class” by Jack Harlow, while Gregory “Aldae” Hein co-wrote Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers.”
Non-profit foundation Live Music Society has announced the first recipients of the Music in Action grant program, which provides anywhere from $10,000-$50,000 to small venues. For 2023, 17 venues with a maximum capacity of 300 were provided with a total of $500,000 to develop and implement creative ideas to engage their communities, expand audiences, and generate new revenue sources. This year’s recipients include The Rebel Lounge in Arizona, Sunset Tavern in Washington, Happy Dog in Ohio, Café Coda in Wisconsin and more.
Since the start of the global pandemic in 2020, Live Music Society has provided $3 million in grants to small music venues. The first three rounds of funding were aimed at providing pandemic relief, but the new grant program, Music in Action, is pivoting to help venues succeed and not just survive.
Live Music Society founder Pete Muller — who is also a touring musician — tells Billboard that the foundation understands that the economics for these small venues are difficult and the profit margins can be razor thin, even in non-pandemic years. Small venue owners, he believes, know their community and know the best ways to engage locals and bring people back to their rooms. This year’s ideas included The Stone Church in Vermont continuing their GRRLS 2 The Front program which dedicates the month of March to women and nonbinary-led groups and offers a stage management/sound engineering course. The Elastic Arts Foundation in Illinois will revive their Dark Matter performance series and enhance the AfroFuturist Weekend festival showcasing emerging and established Black artists across different neighborhoods of Chicago’s South and West Sides. Cafe CODA in Wisconsin will expand their COOL SCHOOL program, providing free music education activities and introducing a mobile stage for increased accessibility.
“We’re saying, ‘give us your idea and we will mitigate that risk by giving you money to do it,’ That’s what the grant is,” says Muller. “Hopefully that allows them to do something that’s inspiring and helps the club, but also inspires other places…. It’s seed money. Our return is not cash, it’s creating energy in this ecosystem.”
Funds for the grants come from Muller and other supporters. Live Music Society’s board selected the 17 venues and their programs out of more than 100 applications this year, focusing on ideas that champion historically marginalized groups such as BIPOC, Latinx, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities.
Music in Action is about trusting that music venue owners know what they need to flourish, says Live Music Society executive director Cat Henry, adding “asking [venue owners] was important, not telling them.”
“One of the biggest things we’ve heard from venue owners is that this is unique. There’s not really a lot of funding opportunities, especially for for-profit [businesses],” says Henry. “It changes the way they think about things knowing that somebody cares about this, that there’s an advocate out there that is looking out for the sector as a whole.”
Live Music Society has also teamed up with trade association National Independent Venue Association for the second annual National Independent Venue Association conference set to take place in July in Washington, D.C. Live Music Society will do an introduction to their grantees at the NIVA ‘23 Independent Awards Gala, a panel discussion with key stakeholders from the small venue community and sponsorship of a Salute to Small Venues concert at Pie Shop. Additionally, they will provide a networking space called the Live Music Society Cantina, located across from The Anthem, the main venue hosting conference programming.
Check out a full list of 2023 Music in Action grantees below.
The 2023 Music In Action Grant Recipients:
Big Room Bar, Columbus, OH
Cafe Coda, Madison, WI
Caffé Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
Chocolate Church Arts Center, Bath, ME
Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
Dazzle, Denver, CO
Drom, New York, NY
Elastic Arts Foundation, Chicago, IL
Happy Dog, Cleveland, OH
Hey Nonny, Arlington Heights, IL
Ivy Room, Albany, CA
Stone Church, Brattleboro, VT
Sunset Tavern, Seattle, WA
TAC Temescal Art Center, Oakland, CA
The Muse Performance Space, Lafayette, CO
The Parlour, Providence, RI
The Rebel Lounge, Phoenix, AZ
Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to run alongside its annual R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list of the genres’ most influential executives. This new R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive in the genres whose peers believe has had the greatest impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing […]
Patrick Moore has been named as CEO of Opry Entertainment Group (OEG), a division of Ryman Hospitality Properties. His new role includes oversight of OEG’s growth plan, day-to-day operations and business development activities at the company, which has a portfolio that includes the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. Moore replaces former OEG CEO […]
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would not take up a lawsuit claiming Google stole millions of song lyrics from the music database Genius.
Genius — a popular platform that lets users add and annotate lyrics — had asked the justice to revive allegations that Google improperly used the site’s carefully-transcribed content for its search results. The company argued that a ruling dismissing the case last year had been “unjust” and “absurd.”
But in an order dated Monday, the court denied Genius’s petition to hear the case, cementing Google’s victory. As is typical, the court did not issue a written ruling explaining the denial. Such petitions are always a long shot, as the Supreme Court takes less than 2% of the 7000 cases it receives each year.
Genius sued the tech giant in 2019, claiming Google had stolen the site’s carefully-transcribed content for its own “information boxes” that appear alongside search results — essentially free-riding on the “time, labor, systems and resources” that go into creating such a service. In a splashy twist, Genius said it had used a secret code buried within lyrics that spelled out REDHANDED to prove Google’s wrongdoing.
Though it sounds like a copyright case, Genius didn’t actually accuse Google of stealing any intellectual property. That’s because it doesn’t own any; songwriters and publishers own the rights to lyrics, and both Google and Genius pay for the same licenses to display them. Instead, Genius argued it had spent time and money transcribing and compiling “authoritative” versions of lyrics, and that Google had breached the site’s terms of service by “exploiting” them without permission.
In March 2022, that distinction proved fatal for Genius. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed the case, ruling that only the actual copyright owners — songwriters or publishers — could have filed such a case, not a site that merely transcribed the lyrics. In technical terms, the court said the case was “preempted” by federal copyright law, meaning that the accusations from Genius were so similar to a copyright claim that they could only have been filed that way.
In taking the case to the Supreme Court, Genius argued the ruling would be a disaster for websites that spend time and money to aggregate user-generated content online. Such companies should be allowed to protect that effort against clear copycats, the company said, even if they don’t hold the copyright. “Big-tech companies like Google don’t need any assists from an overly broad view of copyright preemption,” the company wrote.
But last month, the U.S. Solicitor General advised the Supreme Court to steer clear of the case. It said Genius’s lawsuit was a “poor vehicle” for reviewing the issues in the case, and that the lower court did not appear to have done anything particularly novel when it dismissed the case against Google. Such recommendations are usually very influential on whether the justices decide to tackle a particular case.
Varnell Harris Johnson, who held senior executive roles at Capitol-EMI, Blue Note, Jive, Island, Elektra Records and more throughout his career in music and who was president of the Living Legends Foundation, has died. He was 76.
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Johnson — or “VJ,” as his peers knew him — passed away on Wednesday (June 21) at 6 p.m. ET of congestive heart failure, Billboard has learned.
Johnson has been credited for recruiting several Black executives, including many women, into key music industry positions. He had an ear for talent and had a hand in bringing Tina Turner over to Capitol Records as a solo artist, and brought the Isley Brothers with him from Elektra to Island. With his knowledge of how influential gospel music was to the community, he helped establish the gospel-focused Verity Records.
“This is a major loss,” says David C. Linton, friend of Johnson and chairman of the Living Legends Foundation. “At the time he broke into the industry, he was able to work in every aspect of the business. Varnell was one of the first Black executives to have total autonomy within the label system. He not only signed some great artists, but he also hired other Black executives and molded so many of our careers. He had a lot of ‘firsts’ in his career. He was always caring, he promoted women, and you could always call him for advice – he was that great link.”
Living Legends Foundation vice president Jacqueline Rhinehart, a marketing professional, remembers him as “the quintessential record man. He was a straight shooter and someone who was great at maintaining relationships at all levels of the industry … He never lost his role as an influencer — it wasn’t reliant on what job he held at what label.”
“He was a people person, a good person to know,” Ray Harris, a veteran record promotion executive and a founding member of the Living Legends Foundation, says. “And I have such a deep appreciation for him because he got on board with the Living Legends Foundation right from the beginning. The organization grew substantially thanks to his participation and leadership. He was always a voice of common sense, wisdom, and calm, and we’re going to miss that voice.”
Johnson was born in Philadelphia. He played football and basketball at Simon Gratz High School and graduated at 16. He then enlisted in the Army at 17, serving as a combat medic in the Vietnam War. Following an honorable discharge, he went to Temple University and graduated with a marketing and advertising degree. Harold Childs, a Philadelphia neighbor, influenced Johnson to get into the music business.
His career in music started as a gofer at A&L Record Distributors before becoming general manager for Philly Groove Records. His was then hired as a marketing/promotion director at GMC, which led to him landing at EMI/United Artists’ newly formed R&B division in Los Angeles in 1979.
Johnson moved to parent company Capitol Records as vice president of A&R, working with artists including René & Angela, A Taste of Honey, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, George Clinton, Freddie Jackson, Natalie Cole, Peabo Bryson, Roberta Flack, Tina Turner and Ashford & Simpson. His next gig, as vice president of promotion and marketing at Capitol’s Manhattan/Blue Note Records division, brought him back to the East Coast. There, he worked with Dianne Reeves, Bobby McFerrin, Phyllis Hyman, The O’Jays and Shirley Jones.
Johnson was hired as vice president of marketing and promotion at Jive Records in 1992. He worked with R. Kelly, A Tribe Called Quest, KRS One and Aaliyah at Jive. Next, he made his mark at Elektra Records, where he served as vice president and worked with Keith Sweat, Kut Klose and Ron Isley, and then was offered the position of senior vice president and general manager for Island Records’ Black music division; the Isley Brothers followed him, joining a roster with Dru Hill, Karen Clark Sheard and Kelly Price.
Johnson went on to run Junes Entertainment Inc., his own consulting firm, and most recently resided in New Jersey. He is survived by his wife Darlene, son Varnell, (nicknamed “June”) and daughter Tracey.
Funeral arrangements will be announced at a later date.
Shares of Cumulus Media gained 9.7% this week, the leading stock in the Billboard Global Music Index and one of only four stocks in the 21-company index to end in positive territory Friday (June 23).
Overall, the Billboard Global Music Index declined 3.5% to 1,287.41 — more than double the 1.4% declines of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Music stocks were more in line with the Nasdaq when the overpowering effects of a small number of tech companies are removed, however. That’s because a few powerhouses — such as Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and Amazon — often account for a large fraction of the Nasdaq’s gains. To that point, QQQE, an exchange-traded fund that gives equal weight to 100 Nasdaq stocks, declined 2.9% this week.
In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 declined 2.4%. South Korea’s KOSPI index fell 2.1%. Central banks in England, Turkey and Norway raised interest rates this week. Investors can reasonably expect more rates hikes in the United States, too. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the central bank may continue to raise rates — there have been 10 since March 2022 — but “to do so at a more moderate pace.” When central banks raise interest rates, stocks tend to fall because businesses and consumers are expected to cut back on spending and higher rates make bonds relatively more attractive to stock returns.
Cumulus Media improved to $3.40 a week and a half after the company announced it will sell about 1.75 million Class A common shares — nearly 10% of outstanding shares — at $3.25 per share in a modified Dutch auction that closed on June 9. While the sale will gross about $5.7 million, not including fees and expenses, the final result was well below the company’s goal to sell up to $10 million of shares as part of a previously announced $50 million share repurchase plan.
Shares of French music streaming company Deezer gained 3.6% to 2.32 euros ($2.54), bringing the stock’s year-to-date loss to 20.5%. U.S. streaming company LiveOne gained 3.3% to $1.58. Year-to-date, LiveOne has gained 145.3%. The only other company with a week-over-week improvement was South Korea’s HYBE, which improved 1.2% to 301,000 KRW ($236.91).
The other three Korean music companies declined this week: SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment each fell 5.6% and JYP Entertainment dropped 3.5%. Still, K-pop has been a resounding success for investors in 2023. Led by JYP Entertainment’s 93.7% year-to-date gain, the four Korean companies’ stocks have risen an average of TK% in 2023.
One company, Anghami, was unchanged and the index’s other 16 stocks were in negative territory this week. MSG Entertainment had the Billboard Global Music Index’s largest decline after dropping 17.1%. Sphere Entertainment Co., which spun off MSG Entertainment in April, intends to sell part of its 33% stake in MSG Entertainment. The news dropped the live entertainment company’s share price 12.1% on Wednesday. At Friday’s closing price, Sphere Entertainment’s sale of 5.25 million shares would gross about $170 million that could help fund the state-of-the-art Sphere at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas that’s set to open in September.
Rihanna’s lingerie brand, Savage X Fenty, has a new CEO: Hillary Super, former CEO of Anthropologie Group and a veteran of such apparel companies as Guess, American Eagle and Gap. According to various reports, Vogue Business, Rihanna will remain the company’s executive chairman. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts […]
Musician David Kushner has signed with WME in all areas. The Chicago-born Kushner continues to be managed by Brent Shows of ALTAR MGMT. In April, Kushner broke onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart with his single “Daylight” and plans to take his talent on the road this fall. After releasing his debut EP Footprint I […]
Reps. Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) and Ben Cline (R-VA) have joined together to re-launch and co-chair the bipartisan Congressional Songwriters Caucus to focus on advancing policies that support independent songwriters and strengthen copyright protections.
The new caucus has support from the Recording Academy, Nashville Songwriters Association International, BMI, ASCAP and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), according to a press release. No specific names of independent songwriters were included in the release, and a representative for Lieu has not responded to Billboard’s requests for more information.
The caucus was originally formed in 2003 by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) when she served as a House representative for Tennessee. According to her website, part of her focus at the time was cracking down on China’s intellectual property theft and how that affected songwriters and other creatives.
The interests of musicians is also represented in Congress with the Recording Arts and Sciences Congressional Caucus, which was established in 2005 and continues today, helmed by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and new Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Hailing from Southern California, Rep. Lieu says he understands first hand how “talented songwriters… contribute to so much of our culture and society. I’m thrilled to join Congressman Cline in co-chairing the new bipartisan Congressional Songwriter’s Caucus, which will work to support America’s brilliant songwriters by ensuring they can protect their work and make a living doing what they love. Music contributes so much to our way of life, and we must ensure those creating it are compensated fairly. I’m grateful to the numerous songwriter advocacy organizations who’ve partnered with us on the creation of this caucus and look forward to working together to support our artists.”
“Making art, specifically music, is a powerful way to leave a mark on the world,” says Rep. Cline. “It’s a part of our everyday lives, from what we listen to on our commutes in the morning, to the music we select for our most important life events, such as birthdays, weddings, and funerals. But today’s modern music landscape can make it more difficult for certain artists, especially independent songwriters, to make a living. That is why I’m proud to co-chair the Congressional Songwriters Caucus, which will play an important role in promoting the songwriting community by working to ensure the creative rights of songwriters are protected.”
“It All Begins With A Song,” says Bart Herbison, executive director of NSAI. “the entire music ecosystem. Since the Songwriters Caucus was initially launched 20 years ago, technology has completely changed the way music is delivered. American songwriters still face challenges in the digital era and we are very grateful to Congressmen Cline and Lieu for their bipartisan support.”
“On behalf of our over one million affiliates, I’d like to thank Representatives Cline and Lieu for co-chairing the Congressional Songwriters Caucus. Both have always been champions for creators, and we are in excellent hands with them leading the charge for songwriters and composers on the Hill. We stand ready to work with them to ensure creators are supported by strong copyright law and that they are fairly compensated for their work,” adds Mike O’Neill, president and CEO of BMI.
“Songwriters are the foundation of America’s vibrant music industry, and we appreciate Representatives Cline and Lieu recognizing the importance of ensuring we have champions in Congress. As technology transforms the music landscape, ASCAP looks forward to engaging with members of the Congressional Songwriters’ Caucus to protect the rights of American music creators and defend the value of their hard work and creativity,” says Paul Williams, president of ASCAP.
“We applaud Representatives Cline and Lieu for leading the Congressional Songwriters Caucus and we are excited about today’s launch. NMPA is the leading advocate for music publishers and their songwriter partners and we greatly look forward to working with the Caucus to advance policy interests that will protect creators and ensure that songwriters thrive,” says NMPA president and CEO David Israelite.
“The Recording Academy is proud to support the re-launch of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus which helps connect songwriters and composers with lawmakers to ensure that their unique interests are heard and understood. We are grateful to the new Caucus Co-Chairs, Representatives Ben Cline and Ted Lieu, for their support and leadership and we look forward to working with stakeholders across the songwriter community to advance the Caucus forward,” says Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.