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Sixty miles outside Taking Back Sunday‘s gig at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., last July, the alt-rock band’s driver woke up and informed tour manager Andrew Sprague: “Bus can’t move.” The bus company’s fleet was too depleted to supply a backup, so Sprague spent a day securing transportation for 12 musicians and crew, some of whom hitched a ride on touring mate Third Eye Blind’s bus.
But 2023 is different, Sprague says: “Fingers crossed, everything’s moving a little bit better.”
Personnel shortages and supply-chain issues continue to plague the touring industry, but as 2023 shapes up to be a gigantic year, with stars like Taylor Swift, Drake, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and The Cure selling out shows, bands and managers are noticing an economic tension release from the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s been full-tilt since April of 2022,” says Brent Dannen, studio general manager for Rock Lititz, the 96-acre Pennsylvania campus where artists rehearse and prep for major tours. “Certain supply-chain issues are not like they were pre-pandemic — we’re not back to that yet. But they have improved since this time last year.”
Robert A. Roth, a rental representative for Christie Lites, the lighting company that works with stadium stars such as Bad Bunny and Karol G, is even more upbeat, although he acknowledges freight costs remain “elevated” above 2019 levels. “If somebody’s looking for a doom-and-gloom outlook, you need to look somewhere else,” he says. “Are things more expensive than they used to be? Yes. Demand is high. Challenges remain. [But] things are improving.”
One reason for concert-business optimism is that touring artists, crews and vendors have adapted to challenges like bus-driver shortages and being forced to procure hard-to-find parts from international factories.
Hemphill Brothers, the Nashville bus-rental company that specializes in concert tours and has worked for artists like Janet Jackson and Mötley Crüe, spent the past year and a half training 60 full-time drivers and stocking up on hard-to-find tires. And bands have learned to book buses farther in advance than usual, sometimes 14 months before a tour begins. “In ’21, we were doing a lot of things for smaller acts,” says Joey Hemphill, Hemphill Brothers’ co-owner, chairman and treasurer. “Now the monster tours are back.”
Finding qualified tour personnel remains a struggle. John Benjamin “JB” Brubaker, lead guitarist for August Burns Red, says a key lighting director recently departed the band’s tour for “some bigger accounts,” but they were able to find a replacement. Michele Abreim, who manages Pierce the Veil, adds that the metal band has given raises to all of its crew members since a tour last September, with high-demand guitar and drum techs being especially expensive. “Normally, our crew is with us a longer period of time before we give pay bumps,” she says.
Rhino Staging, which supplies thousands of staff and crew for live-entertainment events, has aggressively trained workers over the past two years. According to CEO Jeff Giek, it’s still challenging to find people for specialized concert-production work like stage rigging – but new employees are slowly filling the spots. He adds that Rhino has turned down more work over the last 18 months than it has in the last 30 years, but that tours have not had to scale back dates or production due to lack of personnel. “There’s some sex appeal to working in the music business. We’re better off than some of the other industries — I have friends who have cleaning businesses or are in the restaurant business, and they’re really struggling,” Giek says.
Bands are still frustrated that supply-chain issues, due to lingering pandemic shipping delays and factory shutdowns after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, still translate into parts shortages. August Burns Red’s lighting fixtures require cooling fans that have been on back-order for weeks: “It’s just dead equipment sitting in the back of the tour bus,” Brubaker says. Pierce the Veil ordered new guitar cases months ago, but they won’t be ready for the band’s tour, which begins later this month in Mexico. “We’ll sometimes start a tour without everything we need,” Abreim says.
Some economic, logistical and emotional issues remain insurmountable for touring acts — especially in Europe, which, Brubaker says, is “extremely expensive” given high oil and gas prices. “It’s definitely still an issue,” adds Bob McLynn, who manages Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and others. “Costs are very high. It’s more difficult than it’s ever been. We had an act do a sold-out theater tour [in] Europe, came back, $60,000 loss on the tour. It’s brutal.”
Lorde, one of McLynn’s clients, wrote last fall of “truly mind-boggling” freight costs, crew shortages, overbooked trucks and other factors that created an “almost unprecedented level of difficulty.” Still, Lorde’s own international tour, which began last April, has achieved what McLynn calls her “greatest success ever, as far as ticket sales.” For 2023, many artists playing top venues say they’re seeing similarly high numbers, including rapper Key Glock, who has sold between 48,000 and 60,000 tickets for a tour of mid-size theaters that started in early March.
“It’s almost 100% back to normal,” says Kyle Carter, Key Glock’s agent. “You’re seeing a lot more of these bigger shows go out — the Beyonces, the Drakes. They’re able to do the shows they want to do. It’s easier to find buses. It’s easier to find equipment we need.”
This is Signed, a new biweekly column that rounds up artist signings at labels, agencies, management companies and more.
Melanie Chisholm, better known as Melanie C aka “Sporty Spice” of the Spice Girls, joined the roster of management company Various Artists for global representation; her U.S. agent at the firm is Matt Luxon. According to a press release, Melanie C has co-written a total of 11 No. 1 singles in the U.K. Her booking agent in the U.S. is Marty Diamond of Wasserman Music, while her booking agent in the U.K. is Alex Hardee, also of Wasserman Music.
Boston rapper Rich Amiri (“Walk In,” “Poppin” featuring Lil Tecca) signed with 10K Projects imprint Internet Money Records, which released his new album, EVOLUTION, on March 17. Amiri is represented by manager Nissim Hershkowits at After Life Presents and MAC Agency for booking.
The Frontmen — a country band comprised of Lonestar‘s Richie McDonald, Little Texas’ Tim Rushlow and Restless Heart‘s Larry Stewart — signed with BMG/BBR Music Group, which will release new music from the band this year in addition to re-recorded versions of the members’ greatest hits outside the group. The trio also signed with Marc Oswald and Charlie Pennachio at Oswald Entertainment Group for management, Kaleb Tooker and Greg Janese at UTA for booking, Don Murry Grubbs at Absolute Publicity and business manager Clyde Bright.
Singer-songwriter Greylan James signed with BMLG Records, which released his brand new track, “Undermine,” on Friday (March 24). He’s also represented by Brandon Morlock, Will Hitchcock and Clinlt Highem at Morrish Highamm Management and Kevin Meads at WME in Nashville.
Lo-fi/R&B/electronica producer/drummer Ian Ewing signed with Nettwerk Music Group, which released his debut EP, Second Summer, on Friday (March 24). Another EP is slated to roll out in April. He’s managed by Paul George at Podwall Entertainment.
Country singer/songwriter Coby Hibbard (“Dying Breed”) signed a development deal with Droptine Recordings, which released his latest song, “Looking Back Now,” in February.
Electronic pop artist Daniel Allan‘s recently launched C-corp Daniel Allan Entertainment — which owns Allan’s IP, streaming, touring and Web3 income — raised a $1 million seed round to support the next stage of his career. The round was led by Coop Records with support from Palm Tree Crew Crypto, Noise DAO, Woodstock DAO and Fire Eyes DAO as well as several angel investors. Allan is represented by manager Delfina Glover and agent Phil Quist at CAA.
Austin-based “swamp-pop”/soul band Shinyribs signed with Hardcharger and Blue Élan Records, which will release the group’s upcoming album, Transit Damage, on July 14. Led by Kevin Russell, the band is represented by manager Rick Pierik at Nine Mile and booking agent Jon Folk at Red 11.
Nashville-based artist Stephen Wilson Jr. signed to Big Loud Records, which released his debut EP, bon aqua. He additionally signed with managers Alicia Jones at ALJ MGMT and Jordy Dettmer at Range Media Partners. His booking agents are Brett Saliba and Lance Roberts at UTA.
Sydney-based producer/multi-instrumentalist Skeleten (born Russell Fitzgibbon) signed to 2MR, which released his latest track, “Teenage of the Year” — a reworking of the song by Lo-Tel. He’s represented by Lucy Beaver of Melange Management; Matthew Thompson is his agent for Australia and New Zealand.
Country singer/songwriter Shelly Fairchild signed with Kill Rock Stars, which released her latest track, a cover of Loretta Lynn‘s “Fist City” with Shamir; she is currently at work on an album. She’s managed by Rochelle Shipman.
Artist/producer Trevor Horn (The Buggles) signed with PPL for the international collection of his neighboring rights royalties. Horn is managed by Paul Crockford at Crockford Management (paul@crockfordmanagement.com).
Australian/English pop artist Mereki signed with BMG, which released her debut solo album, Death of a Cloud, on Friday (March 24). Her project leads at BMG are Cydni Lynott and Ariana Rendon; she’s managed by David Zonshine at DH Systems.
Former The Voice contestant Rachel Mac signed with Capitol Christian Music Group. Mac is managed by Jonathan Sell and Carter Hammond at UEG.
Los Angeles-based artist Lauren Early signed with Danger Collective Records for her debut LP, Don’t Take My Dream Away, which is due out May 10.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A court ruling on R. Kelly’s music royalties offers some answers but raises new questions; 50 Cent reaches a deal to end his lawsuit over alleged insinuations that he had penis surgery; Donald Glover defeats a copyright lawsuit over the Childish Gambino hit “This Is America”; Ohio cops sue Afroman for using their images after they raided his home with guns drawn; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Who Gets R. Kelly’s Record Royalties?
Twice convicted on allegations of sexual abuse and facing decades in federal prison, R. Kelly owes a lot of money to a lot of people. Luckily, a pile of recording royalties are sitting in his account at Sony Music. But who gets first access to them?
In a ruling last week, the Illinois Supreme Court said first dibs belong to Heather Williams, an abuse victim who won a $4 million civil judgment against Kelly in 2020. For procedural reasons, the appeals court said Williams should take priority over Midwest Commercial Funding, a Chicago landlord that’s owed $3.5 million from Kelly over unpaid rent at a local studio space. The court upheld an earlier ruling that had ordered Sony to hand over “any funds currently in Kelly’s royalty account” to Williams, and keep giving her his incoming royalties until the judgment was paid off.
While state high court’s decision offered some important clarity – the Sony account had been frozen for years while the case played out across the appeals courts – it left plenty of big questions unanswered.
-According to the decision, Kelly’s account held $1.5 million in 2020 when Williams initially demanded that Sony hand it over. But how much more money has been accrued since then? And how much is coming in each year? Sony declined to comment on the situation when asked.
-What about Kelly’s criminal victims? Federal judges in New York and Illinois have ordered him to pay more than $500,000 in restitution and fines after he was convicted on sex trafficking, racketeering and child porn charges. Should those victims also get access to the record royalties? Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Chicago both declined to comment on the situation.
-Kelly’s lawyers are currently trying to overturn the underlying $4 million judgment for Williams, arguing it was handed down when the singer was stuck in prison and that he was not afforded a proper chance to fight back. Those efforts face an uphill climb, but at the very least could delay any final payments.
-Finally, it’s important to note that last week’s ruling was limited to his record royalties. The extent to which Kelly is still earning money from his compositional rights, and whether he would be able sell those rights for anything other than “fire sale” prices, is an even murkier situation.
For a deeper breakdown of the situation, including access to the Illinois Supreme Court’s entire written decision, go read our full story here.
Other top stories this week…
“ENTIRELY DIFFERENT” – A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Donald Glover of ripping off his chart-topping Childish Gambino hit “This Is America” from an earlier song by a rapper named Kidd Wes called “Made In America.” The judge said the lyrics were “entirely different” and that the accuser failed to satisfy even basic procedural requirements.
CASE CLOSED FOR 50 CENT – The rapper reached a settlement to end a lawsuit in which he accused a Miami medical spa of exploiting an innocent photo of him to imply that he was a client — and, more startlingly, to falsely suggest that 50 had received penile enhancement surgery as part of his work. No word on the terms of the agreement.
COPS SUE AFROMAN AFTER RAID – The rapper Afroman was hit with a bizarre civil lawsuit from several Ohio police officers, who claim he’s caused them “emotional distress” by using their images after they staged a guns-drawn raid on his home last year that resulted in no criminal charges. The rapper says the case is baseless and he’s planning to counter-sue over damage done to his home.
NFT SETTLEMENT FOR 3LAU – Citing an imminent settlement, a Manhattan federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming that the DJ and producer 3LAU refused to properly share the earnings from an $11.7 million NFT auction with a musical collaborator named Luna Aura.
SONY SUES TIKTOK CREATOR – Sony Music Entertainment relaunched a lawsuit against Trefuego (real name Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt), the creator of a popular TikTok song called “90mh,” over allegations that he prominently sampled a 1986 track by Japanese composer Toshifumi Hinata without “paying a cent.”
NO CHARGES FOR NICK LACHEY – The 98 Degrees singer avoided criminal charges in Los Angeles in connection with a paparazzi run-in last March, in which he allegedly reached into a photog’s car and attempted to grab her phone. Under a deal with prosecutors, Lachey agreed to attend anger management classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Primary Wave Music has acquired the artist royalties of late Lynyrd Skynyrd founding member and drummer Bob Burns, whose credits include recordings on the band’s first two albums, 1973’s (Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd) and 1974’s Second Helping, plus subsequent compilations that those tracks appear on. While exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, the company said it was a multi-million deal.
In the U.S., the Southern rock band’s entire catalog has averaged 666,000 album consumption units over the last three years, according to Luminate. Of that, the band’s Second Helping album accounted for almost 182,000 units over that time period, while the historical data for the first album was unavailable from Luminate at press time. Those albums include many of their signature songs, namely “Free Bird,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Gimme Three Steps,” and “Simple Man.”
“Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first two albums are timeless and are celebrated to this day,” Primary Wave Music’s svp of business & legal affairs Samantha Rhulen said in a statement. She goes on: “To have Bob Burns’ contribution to this iconic music as part of our catalog is an incredible honor and the team at Primary Wave will ensure that his legacy is recognized by generations to come.”
Burns died in a car accident on April 3, 2015 in Cartersville, Ga. at the age of 64. The band’s last surviving original member, Gary Rossington, died earlier this month at 71.
According to Luminate, Skynyrd has garnered 27.1 million album consumption units in the U.S. According to the Primary Wave announcement, the band has been ranked on several best-of lists, including Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Artists of All Time” — and in 2006, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Primary Wave continues to be a leading buyer of legacy rock and R&B. In the last six months, it has acquired entirely or an interest in the publishing and/or recording artist royalty income streams in the catalogs of Doors members Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, punk icon Joey Ramone, songwriter and E Street Band member Stevie Van Zandt, and Huey Lewis and The News.
It’s an uneasy time in the music industry. During a Jan. 31 call with analysts, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek emphasized the positive side of the streaming revolution — “there [are] a lot more artists that are mattering now than ever before” — while still acknowledging the anxiety that’s percolating through the business. “The big counter to that would be: Does it mean that you can sustain yourself, or does it mean we have more one-hit wonders?” Ek asked. “You’re seeing a little bit of both happening in the music industry at the present moment.”
Especially in an era when TikTok appears to run the music industry — trends on the app can send songs bounding up the charts, impacting signing decisions and marketing campaigns — it’s common to hear executives fretting about one-hit wonder overload and the lack of “artist development.” On any given day, a handful of songs flare on the app, soundtracking heaps of videos and leading to jumps in streaming. As a result, “more people are investing in songs that might not have the artist proposition attached to them,” one manager recently lamented to Billboard. “By default, if more of the people responsible for breaking acts are focused on songs, that’s how you have a landscape where there are a trillion one-hit wonders.”
Spotify returned to this theme during its recent Stream On event. Gustav Soderstrom, the platform’s co-president, took the stage to tout the power of features like Release Radar for driving streams and long-term engagement. “That’s why discoveries on Spotify, unlike many other platforms, give creators so much more than just a fleeting moment of viral fame,” he said. He didn’t name TikTok, but it was pretty clear who he was aiming at.
In a statement to Billboard, Ole Obermann, TikTok’s global head of music, hit back against the idea that the popular app prioritizes brief eruptions over long and healthy careers. “In the few years that our music teams at TikTok have been working closely with the musical creator and label community, our commitment to backing artists across the board has helped propel emerging talent and legacy acts to new points of success,” Obermann said. “Artists who broke out from TikTok such as Ice Spice, Lil Nas X, and Coi Leray have sustained multiple Billboard hits. We also see artists such as Tai Verdes, jxdn and Sara Kays who have grown substantial fan bases on TikTok and are building their music careers broadly rather than based on an individual hit song.”
Many in the music industry believe one-hit wonders are newly abundant. But do they show up on the Billboard charts?
Defining a one-hit wonder as an artist that cracks the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and never makes it back to that position, the annual percentage of acts fitting this criterion remained relatively constant from 2002 to 2019, according to Billboard‘s analysis. On average, 54% of the acts who made it into the top 40 during this period failed to return with at least a second entry. Though the fraction got as high as 61% and sank as low as 39% during this time period, there was no pronounced increasing trend visible over time.
In 2020 — the most recent full year it seems fair to judge — the portion of artists who made it into the top 40 but didn’t land a second entry was higher: 70%. Of course, this number may fall in the coming years, because these artists haven’t had much time to score a second hit. Changing the definition of a one-hit wonder to match the available data for 2020 — redefining it as an artist that cracks the top 40 and doesn’t make it back in the next two years — causes the portion of one-hit wonders to jump by more than 7% each year, on average. This means it’s likely that 2020’s one-hit wonder count will end up more in line with previous years.
The opposite of a one-hit wonder is an act who enjoys a steady stream of popular singles. Say a “career artist” appears at least 10 times in the top 40 as a lead or featured collaborator: Around 10% of all acts who reached the top 40 once between 2002 and 2020 went on to achieve this goal. The frequency of career artists hasn’t changed much over the years either — roughly the same number emerged from the first half of the time period examined as from the second half.
There is one other noticeable trend in top 40 data: The number of new artists appearing on the upper reaches of the chart is gently declining over time. The fall is gradual, approximately one less new artist every two years. This mirrors a decline in new artists getting top 10 hits, but the trend is less pronounced in the top 40. That’s presumably because it’s easier to reach the top 40 than the top 10, and because there are fewer top 10s annually.
Taken together, this indicates that it is somewhat harder to get a top 40 hit than it was two decades ago, but once artists get that breakout hit, they have roughly the same odds of eventually building a catalog of big tracks. The first development is cause for concern. But the second should be reassuring — the more things change, the more they stay the same.
The laureates for the 2023 Polar Music Prize have been revealed. They are Chris Blackwell, who founded Island Records, one of the U.K.’s most successful independent labels; Angélique Kidjo, dubbed “Africa’s premier diva” by Time; and Arvo Pärt, who created the minimalist compositional style known as tintinnabuli, and is one of the most-performed classical composers in the world. All three will be honored in the presence of the Swedish Royal Family at a ceremony and banquet on May 23 at Stockholm’s Grand Hotel.
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The prestigious Polar Music Prize was created by Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, famed Swedish writer/producer/label owner/publisher and manager of ABBA, and first presented in 1992. This year’s laureates, who will all be in attendance, will each receive a cash prize of 600,00 Swedish kronor (approx. $58,000 U.S.).
Blackwell built an impressive roster of artists for Island, including Bob Marley, Cat Stevens, Roxy Music, Steve Winwood, Robert Palmer, Nick Drake, Melissa Etheridge, Tom Waits, Grace Jones, U2 and Marianne Faithfull. Kidjo relocated from her home country of Benin to Paris, where Blackwell heard her sing and signed her to Island. Her life of music and activism was praised by President Bill Clinton, who cited her “passionate call for freedom, dignity, and the rights of people.” Influenced by sacred music, including Gregorian chants, Pärt is known for his laconic, reduced compositions, with his style evolving from neo-classical in his early years to more avant-garde music.
Blackwell has a long history with Sweden, first traveling there in the late 1950s. In 1960, he met with Dag Haeggquist, a beloved figure in the Swedish music industry, who was running the independent Sonet label. “I really liked him,” Blackwell tells Billboard. “So when I was back in Jamaica, I did a record there and thought it sounded okay. I sent it to Dag to see if he might be interested in releasing it, and that’s what happened. It didn’t do well but I worked with Dag for many years after that.”
One of Blackwell’s most memorable times in Sweden was a visit on his 30th birthday in 1967, when he was in Gothenburg, on tour with Traffic. “A few people were smoking what they were not supposed to be smoking and everybody was shocked that I’d never smoked any weed before in my life. ‘You? Coming from Jamaica and you’ve never smoked any weed?’ And I said no. I never had – at that time.”
Kidjo also has many memories of Sweden, though one that stands out is laced with tragedy. “I was on tour and was supposed to play in Stockholm,” Kidjo recalls to Billboard. “The night before, I heard that a discotheque had burned down with all the kids in it.” (On Oct. 29, 1998, an arsonist burned down a discotheque in Gothenburg. There were 63 deaths and 213 people were injured). “I thought, ‘How are we going to do this concert?’ Everybody wanted to cancel, and I said, ‘No. Please, let’s do something. Let’s celebrate the spirit of those kids that are gone. Let’s help heal the wound.’ It was one of the most difficult things that you do as a performer, knowing that the youth [who died] were never going to be there anymore and thinking about the pain of the parents and the loss of the parents. I use music to be the art of healing, building bridges. Music has come to my rescue so many times that I ask myself sometimes, ‘If I was not a singer, how would I live in this world?’”
Kidjo is looking forward to seeing Blackwell for the first time since the pandemic began. “I couldn’t dream of a better person to share this with because he was the one who taught me what it is to be on a major label, to be humble, to keep grounded and focus on the music. The first 10 years of my career brought me to where I am today because Chris won’t lie to you. If it’s not good, Chris is going to tell you. When he would listen to my demos, he would call me right away and say, ‘I like this number and this number, but I didn’t like that.’ And he’s always right.”
The citation that will be read at the ceremony for Blackwell says, in part, “As a record producer and genuine music lover, Chris Blackwell has been one of the key figures in the development of popular music for half a century. When Island Records was founded in Jamaica in 1959, he began his mission to introduce the world to ska and reggae. In folk, rock and disco, he has invested in uncompromising artists and helped them become the best version of themselves. Never focusing on sales figures, but on the songs and albums as works of art, Chris Blackwell has expanded the world and abolished border controls between genres.”
Calling her “unique and unstoppable,” Kidjo’s citation reads, in part, “Angélique grew up in Cotonou, surrounded by the dynamic Beninese culture and listening to music from all over the world: soul, jazz, reggae, Afrobeat, pop, classical. When a communist dictatorship tried to silence her, she moved to Paris and became even more active. Angélique Kidjo invented the word batonga, a response to those who think girls don’t belong in schools, and runs the Batonga Foundation, which seeks out girls and provides them with education. Bono has said of her, ‘In Africa’s new morning, Angélique Kidjo is the warmth of the rising sun.’”
Pärt’s citation says he “has likened his music to white light. It is in the encounter with the prism of the listener’s soul that all colors become visible. Arvo Pärt has created the compositional style tintinnabuli, from the Latin word for ‘bell,’ in which the music moves according to a given structure. In 2006 and 2007, Arvo Pärt dedicated the performances of his works to the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and other dissidents in Russia. Arvo Pärt’s courageously beautiful music creates depth in every sense.”
Marie Ledin, managing director of the Polar Music Prize, tells Billboard, “It was so great to be back last year staging the Polar Music Prize after two years away due to COVID. And this year I feel that the committee has again risen to the challenge of choosing three laureates that are so well-deserving. It’s a great privilege for the Polar Music Prize to be able to put these three remarkable talents in the spotlight and hopefully introduce new audiences to their music. I’m looking forward to a wonderful evening of great music at the ceremony in Stockholm on May 23.”
Blackwell, Kidjo and Pärt join a long list of laureates that includes Elton John, Ravi Shankar, Metallica, Ennio Morricone, Led Zeppelin, Renée Fleming, Paul McCartney, Grandmaster Flash, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Isaac Stern, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Sonny Rollins, Diane Warren, Gilberto Gil, B.B. King, Emmylou Harris, Yo-Yo Ma, Miriam Makeba, Björk, Wayne Shorter, Patti Smith, Dizzy Gillespie, Iggy Pop, the Kronos Quartet, Youssou N’Dour and Chuck Berry.
Ticketmaster has rolled out crypto wallet integration for Avenged Sevenfold’s upcoming tour, allowing NFT holders from the heavy metal band’s fan club — Death Bats Club — to get priority access to tickets and reserved seating with no queues.
Fans have already used the feature to purchase tickets for events at New York’s Madison Square Garden and The Forum in Los Angeles ahead of the general public. Now the initiative will now go live for the rest of the dates available on Ticketmaster. “We have integrated Death Bats Club into Ticketmaster,” confirmed singer Matt Sanders on Twitter, “assuring that fans get the best tickets at the best prices without bots, scalpers and long wait-times.”
Shadows was instrumental in pushing the Ticketmaster integration forward, and has been an early advocate for NFTs and Web3. The band launched the Death Bats Club in 2021 — a collection of 10,000 NFTs with unique visual traits that unlock real-life perks such as care packages, meet-and-greet opportunities, and now early-access ticketing.
Ticketmaster has already issued more than 5 million NFTs as commemorative tokens for major events including the Super Bowl, but this is the first token-gated integration for purchasing tickets directly. Currently it is a pilot program but may roll out to more artists based on demand. “Avenged Sevenfold used the capability to offer first access to tickets, but there are a variety of ways it can be used by artists in the future,” said David Marcus, Ticketmaster’s executive vp of global music, in a statement. “From unlocking premier seats to special experiences like sitting in on soundcheck.”
Ticketmaster’s token-gated sales are currently compatible with tokens minted on Ethereum and stored in dapp wallets, such as MetaMask or Coinbase.
“Token-gated ticket sales are available as part of our expanding Web3 services and other features that help artists set their own terms on how tickets get to fans,” said Marcus. “Any artist who is minting their own NFTs or partnering with another independent community can explore with token-gated ticketing now.”
This marks the latest mainstream Web3 wallet integration after Spotify recently launched token-gated playlists as a pilot feature with several NFT projects including KINGSHIP and Overlord. Holders can connect their wallet and listen to exclusive playlists curated by their communities.
The Web3 fan club model — such as Death Bats Club — has emerged as a resilient use-case for blockchain technology even as the hype around NFT trading fades. Artists such as The Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki and Portugal. The Man have found token-gated communities as a way to engage more closely with their biggest fans and deliver exclusive perks and content.
For example, Chainsmokers host a Discord community open only to NFT holders where the duo regularly talk directly with their fans and offer meet-and-greet exclusives. Steve Aoki launched the “Aokiverse” NFT club with six different levels of ownership offering discounts and backstage access. Santigold, Tycho and Sigur Ros have all launched free Web3 fan clubs using a white label tech platform called Medallion where fans get first access to exclusive content.
Prophets Over Profits, a Brooklyn-based art collective that raises funds and awareness for marginalized voices, will hold its sixth annual charity event on Saturday (April 1) at immersive Brooklyn venue ArtsDistrict Brooklyn.
Inspired by the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C., the collective’s mission is to empower more femme-led experiences, inspire consistent activism and encourage financial transparency in fundraising. This year, Prophets over Profits is supporting Girls Write Now, an organization thatbreaks down barriers of gender, race, age and poverty to mentor and train the next generation of writers and leaders for life.
Themed “Ain’t Foolin’ Us,” this year’s event will feature bands and DJs including Lion Babe, Hot Honey Sundays, SUSU, Synead, Big Body Kweeng, Miss Sabado and Hannah Noelle performing at ArtsDistrictBrooklyn, formerly known as House of Vans. The sprawling venue will feature local vendors and music in the main hall, a skate yard next to the East River, and art for sale curated by local woman-owned gallery The Locker Room. Girls Write Now mentees will be sharing powerful poetry while local comedians Kate Robards and Glorelys Mora will be curating two comedy hours in the Gallery Space.
At the event, guests can taste delicious meals catered by Beck + Call with cocktails by Ilegal Mezcal, mocktails by Curious Elixirs and brewskis by Heineken Silver. Taxi cab app Curb is offering a $5 discount to guests.
Prophets Over Profits founder Dani “SLOWKEY” Slocki, an award-winning producer and founder of virtual space vSpace, each year chooses a new organization that aligns with the collective’s mission.
“I recently learned that less than 3% of authors in the US are women of color. If we want to change the #StatusBro we must change the narrative by directly investing in diverse narrators,” says Slocki. “That’s why we’re proud to raise funds and awareness for the Girls Write Now.”
“Most investors and funders are men, which is why the majority of funds invested or donated will continue to be into other male lead businesses and nonprofits unless we call out unconscious bias,” she adds. “I truly believe most people want to help but they would rather have a trusted voice guide them than do their own research. I’m here to be that trusted voice.”
For those who can’t attend, vSpace is debuting the ArtsDistrict virtual twin to host a re-broadcast of the show. No hardware or app download is required, allowing anyone, anywhere, on any device to attend. Visit popdonate.com to learn more.
Scenes from the 2022 Prophets Over Profits event.
Sasha B Photography
Scott Borchetta, founder/president/CEO of Big Machine Label Group, was involved in a car crash while racing at a Trans Am Series event at Road Atlanta on Sunday (March 26).
A statement from the label confirmed the crash and his condition but was scant on details: “Big Machine Label Group Chairman and CEO Scott Borchetta was involved in an accident yesterday, Sunday, March 26 while racing in the Trans Am Series. He was taken to the hospital to assess his injuries and is currently in stable condition. We ask everyone to please respect the Borchetta family’s privacy during this time.”
Borchetta had to be extracted from his car after the crash, which happened on lap 24. He was taken to an Atlanta hospital, according to racing website TobyChristie.com. According to the site, Borchetta, a racing enthusiast, has competed in 34 Trans Am Series events.
Borchetta owns Big Machine Racing, a NASCAR Xfinity team, which, according to its website, has seen multiple top 5 and top 10 finishes for its drivers since launching in 2021. The team logged its first win at the Texas Motor Speedway in 2022.
Big Machine was founded in 2005. Among its first successes was Taylor Swift‘s debut album, released in 2006. Its current roster includes Carly Pearce, Tim McGraw, Thomas Rhett, Chris Janson, Brantley Gilbert and Brett Young. Ithaca Holdings bought Big Machine in 2019 for around $300 million, while HYBE bought Ithaca Holdings for $1.05 billion in 2021. Borchetta has remained head of Big Machine through the transitions.
Generative AI is hot right now. Over the last several years, music artists and labels have opened up to the idea of AI as an exciting new tool. Yet when Dall-E 2, Midjourney and GPT-3 opened up to the public, the fear that AI would render artists obsolete came roaring back.
I am here from the world of generative AI with a message: We come in peace. And music and AI can work together to address one of society’s ongoing crises: mental wellness.
While AI can already create visual art and text that are quite convincing versions of their human-made originals, it’s not quite there for music. AI music might be fine for soundtracking UGC videos and ads. But clearly we can do much better with AI and music.
There’s one music category where AI can help solve actual problems and open new revenue streams for everyone, from music labels, to artists, to DSPs. It’s the functional sound market. Largely overlooked and very lucrative, the functional sound market has been steadily growing over the past 10 years, as a societal need for music to heal increases across the globe.
Sound is powerful. It’s the easiest way to control your environment. Sound can change your mood, trigger a memory, or lull you to sleep. It can make you buy more or make you run in terror (think about the music played in stores intentionally to facilitate purchasing behavior or the sound of alarms and sirens). Every day, hundreds of millions of people are self-medicating with sound. If you look at the top 10 most popular playlists at any major streaming service, you’ll see at least 3-4 “functional” playlists: meditation, studying, reading, relaxation, focus, sleep, and so on.
This is the market UMG chief Sir Lucian Grainge singled out in his annual staff memo earlier this year. He’s not wrong: DSPs are swarmed with playlists consisting of dishwasher sounds and white noise, which divert revenue and attention from music artists. Functional sound is a vast ocean of content with no clear leader or even a clear product.
The nuance here is that the way people consume functional sound is fundamentally different from the way they consume traditional music. When someone tunes into a sleep playlist, they care first and foremost if it works. They want it to help them fall asleep, as fast as possible. It’s counterintuitive to listen to your favorite artist when you’re trying to go to sleep (or focus, study, read, meditate). Most artist-driven music is not scientifically engineered to put you into a desired cognitive state. It’s designed to hold your attention or express some emotion or truth the artist holds dear. That’s why ambient music — which, as Brian Eno put it, is as ignorable as it is interesting — had its renaissance moment a few years ago, arguably propelled by the mental health crisis.
How can AI help music artists and labels win back market share from white noise and dishwasher sounds playlists? Imagine that your favorite music exists in two forms: the songs and albums that you know and love, and a functional soundscape version that you can sleep, focus, or relax to. The soundscape version is produced by feeding the source stems from the album or song into a neuroscience-informed Generative AI engine. The stems are processed, multiplied, spliced together and overlaid with FX, birthing a functional soundscape built from the DNA of your favorite music. This is when consumers finally have a choice: fall asleep or study/read/focus to a no-name white-noise playlist, or do it with a scientifically engineered functional soundscape version of their favorite music.
This is how Generative AI can create new revenue streams for all agents of the music industry, today: music labels win a piece of the the market with differentiated functional content built from their catalog; artists expand their music universe, connect with their audience in new and meaningful ways, and extend the shelf life to their material; DSPs get ample, quality-controlled content that increases engagement. Once listeners find sounds that achieve their goals, they often stick with them. For example, Wind Down, James Blake’s sleep soundscape album, shows a 50% listener retention in its seventh month after release. This shows that, when done right, functional sound has an incredibly long shelf life.
This win-win-win future is already here. By combining art, generative AI technology and science, plus business structures that enable such deals, we can transform amazing artist-driven sounds into healing soundscapes that listeners crave. In an age that yearns for calm, clarity, and better mental health, we can utilize AI to create new music formats that rights holders can embrace and listeners can appreciate. It promises AI-powered music that not only sounds good, but improves people’s lives, and supports artists. This is how you ride the functional music wave and create something listeners will find real value in and keep coming back to. Do not be afraid. Work with us. Embrace the future.
Oleg Stavitsky is co-founder and CEO of Endel, a sound wellness company that utilizes generative AI and science-backed research.