Business
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Sonos, the audio technology company known for its elegant, compact speakers, has laid off approximately 200 people, the company announced on Wednesday (Feb. 5).
The restructuring follows the layoffs of 100 employees — about 6% of Sonos’ workforce at the time — in August 2024 after a disastrous rollout of a new smartphone app forced the company to lower sales projections and delay product launches. In the wake of the problems, CEO Patrick Spence resigned in January and was replaced by interim CEO Tom Conrad, Pandora’s chief technology officer during the groundbreaking internet radio service’s early years.
In a letter to employees posted on the Sonos website, Conrad explained that the company needed to reshape its organizational structure to become more efficient. “One thing I’ve observed first hand is that we’ve become mired in too many layers that have made collaboration and decision-making harder than it needs to be,” Conrad wrote. “So across the company today we are reorganizing into flatter, smaller, and more focused teams.
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“Most significantly, we are reorganizing our Product organization into functional groups for Hardware, Software, Design, Quality and Operations, and away from dedicated business units devoted to individual product categories,” he continued. “With this simpler organization in place, cross-functional project teams will come together to improve our core experience and deliver new products. Being smaller and more focused will require us to do a much better job of prioritizing our work — lately we’ve let too many projects run under a cloud of half-commitment. We’re going to fix this too.”
The company’s woes are evident in its financial statements. In fiscal year 2024 (ended Sept. 30, 2024), Sonos’ revenue dropped 8.3% from the prior year and came in 13.4% below fiscal 2022’s revenue. Over that time span, a $67.4 million net profit turned into a $38.1 million net loss despite Sonos reaching a high of 3.08 products per household, up from 3.05 in fiscal 2023, and being in 16.3 million homes. In addition to music-focused speakers, Sonos also sells “soundbar” speakers for TVs and in May 2024 launched a luxury headphone, Sonos Ace.
With news of the layoffs hitting after markets closed on Wednesday, Sonos shares fell 2.2%, to $13.95, in after-hours trading. The stock is well below its 52-week high of $19.76 set in March 2024 but has reclaimed some losses after falling to a low of $10.23 in August. Sonos hit an all-time high of $44.72 on April 14, 2021.
Publishing Briefs is a bimonthly bulletin of recent signings, deals and doings in the wide world of music publishing.
In case you missed it, the NMPA announced this week it will issue takedown notices to Spotify for 2,500 podcast episodes, alleging they contain unlicensed works from 19 member publishers. And this morning, Warner Music announced a new direct deal between its publishing arm, Warner Chappell, and Spotify. Caught up? Here’s what else is going on:
That little earthquake you feel? It’s a rush of new extensions from Downtown Music Publishing, including a renewed pact with iconic singer-songwriter Tori Amos. Under the renewal, Downtown will continue to represent Amos’ entire catalog, which spans 16 studio albums and several live releases. Renowned for her ethereal vocals, poetic lyricism and classically trained piano prowess, Amos has kept fans rapt since her 1992 breakthrough, Little Earthquakes, and high-charting followups like 1994’s Under the Pink and 1996’s Boys for Pele. Her iconic songs include “Crucify,” “Silent All These Years,” “Cornflake Girl,” “Caught a Lite Sneeze” and “A Sorta Fairytale,” among many others. DMP also extended its agreements with several other notable writers. These include Tim Kellett, known for his work with Olive, The Durutti Column and Simply Red. Also renewed are deals with Les Claypool, the inventive bassist and quirky voice behind alt-rock trio Primus; Geoff Wilkinson, founder of Us3 and producer of the classic “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”; and acclaimed songwriter Brett Dennen.
Concord acquired a portion of Ed Sheeran compatriot Johnny McDaid’s song catalog and will also represent his future works. McDaid, a member of Snow Patrol since 2011, has written for artists like Sheeran, BTS and Pink, with notable hits including “Photograph,” “Bad Habits” and “Shivers.” Originally from Northern Ireland, McDaid moved to London as a teenager and later led the band Vega4 before joining Snow Patrol in time for its Fallen Empires album. Over the years, he’s collaborated with major artists across multiple genres, including Robbie Williams and David Guetta. His creative union with Sheeran has been particularly impactful, co-writing seven songs on Ed’s X album, including “Photograph,” and eight songs on ÷, featuring the ubiquitous “Shape of You” (4.2 billion streams on Spotify alone). He continued working with Sheeran on =, co-writing major hits “Shivers” and “Bad Habits.” “Johnny is a true artist,” said Jim Selby, chief publishing officer at Concord. “His catalog to this point has reached incredible heights, culturally resonating around the world. We’re thrilled to represent some of his iconic works and honored to partner with Johnny for the future.”
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Warner Chappell Music signed an exclusive worldwide administration deal with Luke Steele, the artist behind Australian electronic duo Empire of the Sun. The group has won multiple awards, including eight ARIA Awards, and sold over 5.5 million albums with 7.6 billion streams, WCM said in its announcement. Steele has also achieved success as a solo artist, collaborating with Jay-Z and Beyoncé. WCM co-chair and CEO Guy Moot praised Steele as one of Australia’s most influential musicians, adding “he’s consistently pushed boundaries and delivered groundbreaking work with every release.”
Prescription Songs signed Nashville-based songwriter Trent Dabbs, known for co-writing “High Horse” with Kacey Musgraves and “Girls Chase Boys” with Ingrid Michaelson. Dabbs recently worked on Stephen Sanchez’s singles “Evangeline” and “Emotional Vacation,” and collaborated with artists like COIN, Valley, Noah Cyrus, and NEEDTOBREATHE. In 2024, he released songs with Maggie Antone, Allen Stone, Wild Rivers, and Astrid S.
Big Yellow Dog Music welcomed country artist Ethan Garner to its artist and songwriting roster. After playing shows around the Nashville area, he earned an opening slot for Travis Denning. Garner joins a roster that includes songwriter Daniel Tashian, producer Jared Conrad, Dave Pittenger, Jessie James Decker and more. Garner is managed by Matt Musacchio of Champ Management/Red Light Management. –Jessica Nicholson
Universal Music Publishing Nashville signed country artist Dalton Davis to an exclusive global publishing agreement. Originally from North Carolina, the Nashville-based Davis is set to release his debut album in 2025. His second single, “Sit Crooked,” has nearly half a million streams, and his third single, “Blue Ridge Sky,” was released on Jan. 31. Roxy King, senior director of A&R at the company, praised Davis as the “rare artist that knows exactly who he is and what he wants to say,” while UMPG Nashville chairman and CEO Troy Tomlinson highlighted his “it factor.” Davis is represented by WME for touring and managed by Alex Lunt of Type A Management.
Electronic duo WAVES, consisting of Spencer Bridle and Frankie Grant, signed a global publishing deal with Position Music. Known for their “elevated rave” sound, WAVES scored radio airplay with singles “Mr. Wilson” and the followup “Jalapeño,” and in 2024 dropped a cover of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop,” titled “Pop Some Tags.” Their latest single, Stuck on You featuring Sarah de Warren, was released last month. WAVES join a Position roster that also includes Tinashe, Cannons, Audien and Judah & the Lion.
Bucks Music Group signed British rapper and producer CLAVIS 7EVEN to an exclusive worldwide publishing deal. The Congo-born CLAVIS 7EVEN first gained attention on BBC and elsewhere with his mixtape 7’s Deadly Sins. His single “LOSIN U” featured on Apple Music, and he was named BBC Introducing’s Artist of the Day last month.
Record Store Day on April 12 will feature more than 300 titles being released, including collectible music from Elton John, Post Malone, Prince, Gracie Abrams, Queen, Taylor Swift, John & Yoko, Charlie XCX, the Killers & Bruce Springsteen, and many more.
As usual, the vast majority of the releases are vinyl LPs, many with a color or picture-disc slant; and also as usual, most releases will be in limited supply.
This will mark the 18th year of RSD, launched back in 2008 after the idea emerged at a gathering of indie record store owners and label executives. Since then, the event has single-handedly revived vinyl into a viable music format that sells over $1 billion annually in the U.S. alone. What’s more, RSD has also evolved into an international event.
Each year, stores wait in anticipation to see which titles will emerge as must-haves on the big day — the kinds of drops that bring long lines of fans waiting outside participating stores. With a limited supply for most titles, it can mean fans shuffle from store-to-store seeking their sought-after title. But while searching for those titles, it can also mean finding an unexpected treasure.
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“The whole energy in a record store is just super inspiring,” 2025’s Record Store Day Ambassador Post Malone said in a statement provided by the RSD organization in announcing the event. “I feel at home. It’s really an unexplainable feeling to hit up a shop and dig through crates, just see what grabs your eye.”
Malone will issue his Post Malone Tribute to Nirvana, a 2020 livestream performance of Nirvana covers accompanied by blink-182’s Travis Barker on drums, guitarist Nick Mack and bassist Brian Lee. Moreover, 100% of net proceeds from the release will be donated to MusiCares’ Addiction Recovery/Mental Health division.
Malone will also be participating in another RSD release, which is also expected to be a hot item as its a collaboration with 2022’s Record Store Day Ambassador, who also happens to be the biggest music artist in the world, Taylor Swift. They will release their collaboration track “Fortnight,” on a double sided 7-inch vinyl single.
While RSD brings out plenty of long-time collectors, i.e. older demographics, it was Swift who helped spread the day’s popularity to younger fans in 2023 when she caused traffic jams at stores filled with fans seeking her special release of folklore, the long pond studio sessions — a double LP that year. Last year, keeping the young flowing to record stores included releases from Olivia Rodrigo, Noah Kahan, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter.
This year’s titles for younger music fans include: Gracie Abrams: Live from Radio City Music Hall; Beabadoobee’s Live and Acoustic in London; Megan Thee Stallion’s Traumazine on double black vinyl; and two releases from Charli XCX, the first a collaboration title, Guess featuring Billie Eilish, on 7-inch vinyl; and an edited version of prior release: Number 1 Angel, on apple-colored vinyl with a new RSD exclusive cover. That title’s tracks were previously part of a double-LP release Pop 2.
Moreover, RSD continues to diversify its genres offerings as rap and hip-hop fans will be able to seek titles from Cypress Hill, Anderson .Paak, Snoop Dog and a new release from the Wu-Tang Clan in a collaboration with Mathematics as they release Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman: Wu-Tang, The Saga Continues Collection on 180-gram LP vinyl. What’s more Wu-Tang Clan are expected to make an appearance at the RSD press event today.
Jazz releases include music from Pharaoh Sanders, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio; while Harry Potter fans will be treated to five different soundtrack albums from that movie series, all on double-LP, clear vinyl.
Finally, in a move to revive another marketing tool previously used to promote RSD, this year’s event will feature a “Record Store Day Song of the Year,” with the tag being applied to the double-a-sided 12-inch single of “Be Here Now,” done by the song’s author George Harrison on one side, with Beck’s cover tribute on the other side.
Other new RSD titles expected to be popular this year include a 12-inch EP collaboration between the Killers and Bruce Springsteen; a David Bowie live-stream from 2003 will now be available as a vinyl and CD release; and a 12-inch, 180-gram yellow vinyl release of John & Yoko with the Plastic Ono Band of their live 1972 One-To-One concert.
What a difference a year can make.
Warner Music Group said on Thursday that revenue from its first fiscal quarter fell 5% to $1.67 billion from a year ago, as the company suffered tough comparisons to a period last year when it still had BMG as a physical and digital distribution client and enjoyed a $30-million boon from a digital licensing renewal deal.
But the third-biggest major music company also showed that the deep staffing cuts and wind-down of certain businesses over 2024 freed up money for investment — such as the $450-million acquisition of Tempo Music‘s catalog — and growth, like Atlantic’s half-a-percentage point market share expansion.
WMG’s quarterly results — which included a nearly 40% decrease in operating income and $27 million in restructuring costs and impairment charges — depict a company deep in transformation. Chief executive Robert Kyncl is trying to increase efficiency in legacy businesses and technology, while standardizing its sprawling global network, and striking more lucrative deals with streaming platforms.
Recorded music revenue in the first fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2024, fell 7% to $1.35 billion from last year’s quarter, as BMG’s termination of its distribution deal created a $32 million drag (evenly split between streaming and physical revenue). Last year’s quarter also included the extension of one artist’s licensing agreement worth $75 million, and the $30-million renewal of a digital partner’s license.
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WMG says if you strip those three things out, total revenue rose 3.4%.
Overall, digital revenue and streaming revenue each fell by around 2%.
Adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization (adjusted OIBDA)–which measures the profitability of a company’s core businesses–fell 19.5% to $363 million, and adjusted OIBDA margin fell to 21.8% from 25.8% in the prior-year quarter. If you take out the negative impacts of the licensing agreement and digital partner renewal, the company said its adjusted OIBDA fell by just 0.3% and adjusted OIBDA margin decreased 0.8 percentage point.
The company said adjusted OIBDA margin was also dragged down by the 8% rise in the value of the U.S. dollar since last year’s presidential election. (Almost 60% of Warner’s income is earned in euros and other currencies that trade against the dollar, according to the company.)
“All of these impacts will stabilize over time,” Kyncl said on a call with analysts discussing the earnings. “We’re confident about the future. Our goals are clear: increase our share of the pie, meaning market share; grow the pie itself by increasing the value of music; and become more efficient, providing greater cash flow, both for re-investment and for shareholder return.”
The company’s net income was up nearly 25% to $241 million, boosted by foreign exchange hedging activity and the sale of a $29-million of an investment. Free cash flow was up 12% to $296 million.
Other highlights from the company’s earnings and conference call:
» Within Recorded Music, digital and streaming revenue both fell by 3.9% and 3.7%, which reflects a 2% decline in subscription revenue and an 8.2%-decline in ad-supported revenue. If you strip out BMG’s termination and the digital partner’s license renewal, the company says recorded music streaming revenue was up 1.5% and subscription revenue increased 5.3%, while ad-supported revenue still fell by 7.9%. Nonetheless, physical revenue rose 7.8% thanks to the strength of releases by Linkin Park, Charli XCX, Teddy Swims, Mariya Takeuchi and Benson Boone.
» Music publishing revenue rose 6.3% to $323 million from growth in digital, performance and other revenue, partially offset by lower mechanical revenue.
» Warner completed multi-year publishing and recorded music licensing deals with Amazon and Spotify over the past year, Kyncl said, though he declined to provide much detail. The deal with Spotify notably includes a new publishing agreement with a direct licensing model with Warner Chappell Music for the United States and several other countries. “There’s more work to do with others and for all of this to cycle through, but this is a really great step in the right direction.”
» Atlantic’s market share ticked half a percentage point up, a small win Kyncl attributed to the growing investments made in A&R last year. He said the investments came as a result of money left over after it made” organizational changes and investments into technology … [and] exited some non-core businesses.” Kyncl later said, “Our goal was to reinvest the majority of those savings into strategically important initiatives that will propel our business forward. This enabled us to increase our A&R investment by double-digits last year and this year.”
» Kyncl said buying Tempo is “a great example” of the company’s acquisition strategy. “As we become more efficient, we are creating a virtuous cycle that will enable greater reinvestment that delivers accelerated growth.”
Most musician biopics follow a familiar arc — a rise and fall, fueled by the childhood trauma behind it all, then a third-act redemption tied to a career peak. The rise usually involves a montage of tour buses and adoring audiences, the fall a montage of drug use and mistreatment of friends or colleagues. By 2007, the formula was so well established that it inspired the parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. More recently, Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, imaginative as they were, leaned on some of the same tropes.
As the producers behind the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown developed the project, they faced the challenge of making a film that didn’t rely on those plot points, about an iconic singer-songwriter who seldom reveals much. Dylan never derailed his career with a debilitating drug problem (his 1966 tour was fueled by amphetamines, by many accounts, and a motorcycle accident that summer gave him the chance to take some time off), and his career doesn’t have a clear arc so much as a series of sudden left turns. He established himself as a folk singer, then left that scene behind to become a rock star — then veered into country, made an album about his divorce and recorded three gospel albums as a born-again Christian, all in the first two decades of a career that has lasted more than six. It’s not an easy story to make into a film, let alone one with commercial appeal.
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The film works, though. As of the first week of February, the movie has grossed more than $67 million in the U.S. and more than another $20 million abroad, according to Box Office Mojo, and it’s already one of the 10 most successful music biopics in history. It has also received critical acclaim, and numerous Academy Award nominations — including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Timothée Chalamet as Dylan), Best Supporting Actress (for Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez), and Best Supporting Actor (for Edward Norton as a note-perfect Pete Seeger). Just as important for Dylan and the companies that have the rights to his music — Universal Music Group owns his publishing, Sony Music his recordings — the film has introduced both his story and his music to a younger generation.
From the beginning, the idea behind the film was to focus on a few years of Dylan’s life, from his 1961 arrival in New York to the summer of 1965, when he “went electric” by performing live with a rock band at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Dylan’s company had been developing a project set at this time, and in 2016 it optioned the rights to the Elijah Wald book Dylan Goes Electric! Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night That Split the Sixties, which HBO planned to develop into a film. Jack Cocks, who is credited with co-writing the screenplay to A Complete Unknown, wrote a script, but the project never moved forward.
A few years later, Alex Heineman asked his friend and fellow film producer Fred Berger if he would be interested in making some kind of Dylan biopic. “I asked, ‘How did you get the rights?’” Berger remembers. “And he said, ‘I don’t have them.’” The two went to Dylan’s management, which told them that HBO had the rights to another project.
Meanwhile, Berger and Heineman reached out to Chalamet, who was interested in playing Dylan. When the rights to the project became available in 2019, it ended up at Searchlight Pictures, with James Mangold directing — but it didn’t start shooting for another few years. “We got Searchlight and then we got Jim [Mangold], and then we got COVID,” says a source close to Dylan. After that came the writer’s strike.
By then, Mangold, along with Berger and Heineman and Dylan’s team, had the story, as well as an approach. “James Mangold and I and the other producers have a similar feeling about biopics, which is that a cradle-to-grave approach is an expanded Wikipedia page,” Berger says. (Mangold shares a co-writing credit with Cocks.) The director “focused on a narrow period of time” that offered a compelling story to make a larger point about Dylan and what drives him.
In his book, Wald shows that Dylan’s decision to go electric wasn’t just a matter of instrumentation but of leaving the folk scene, with its focus on authenticity and leftist politics, for a rock band and a style that involved more leather jackets than workwear. The original approach for the movie would have spent more time on that political context but the film casts the conflict in more personal terms: Dylan needs to turn away from familial figures, including Pete Seeger, in order to follow his muse. Mangold “approaches story from character,” Berger says. “It’s not about acoustic versus electric — it’s about the family that lifted him up and how those relationships are on the line.”
The stakes are personal, in other words, so A Complete Unknown lacks a rousing resolution, as well as rousing music to accompany it. (The last song Dylan is seen playing in the film is the same song that ended his actual Newport set, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” an acoustic kiss-off to a scene he had outgrown.) Afterward, Dylan seems to be contemplating his next move, rather than rejoicing in triumph, as Queen is seen doing in Bohemian Rhapsody after the scene set at its Live Aid performance.
It’s hard to know what the success of A Complete Unknown might mean for future music films, but it certainly opens up more possibilities. Coincidentally, one of the next rock biopics to come out will be Deliver Me from Nowhere, a movie about Bruce Springsteen essentially going acoustic, on his 1982 album Nebraska. (It’s Springsteen’s darkest and least commercial album, so don’t expect anthemic music there, either.) It will be interesting to see how that does — and what other stories will follow it to the big screen.
A long-running legal battle over the rights to Jimi Hendrix’s music is going to trial after a U.K. appeals court rejected Sony Music’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by his former bandmates.
The estates of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell say they own a share of the rights to three albums created by the trio’s Jimi Hendrix Experience, and they’ve been battling in court with Sony and Experience Hendrix LLC for more than three years to prove it.
In a ruling Thursday, the U.K.’s Court of Appeal upheld a decision issued last year that said the dispute must be decided at trial, rejecting Sony’s request to overturn that ruling and dismiss the case: “In my judgment the judge was correct,” Lord Justice Richard Arnold wrote in the new ruling, obtained by Billboard.
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In a statement celebrating that ruling, a rep for Redding and Mitchell’s heirs say that their case is now scheduled to proceed to trial in December – more than four years after they first sued.
“Noel and Mitch first issued their complaint in November 2021 and after the latest delaying tactic of Sony to deny them justice the case now moves to a full trial,” said Edward Adams, a director for the heirs. “We retain our faith in the justice system that they and [Experience Hendrix] will be finally held fully to account at that time.”
A spokesperson for Sony did not immediately return a request for comment on the ruling.
Hendrix teamed up with Redding and Mitchell in 1966 to form the Experience, and the trio went on to release a number of now-iconic songs including “All Along The Watchtower,” which spent nine weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1968 and peaked at No. 20. The group split up in 1969, a little over a year before Hendrix died suddenly at the age of 27 from an accidental drug overdose.
The current fight kicked off in 2021, when Redding and Mitchell’s heirs sent a letter in the U.K. claiming they own a stake in Hendrix’s music and arguing that they’re owed millions in royalties.
Experience Hendrix, a company that owns his intellectual property, and Sony, which distributes his music under a licensing deal, responded a month later by preemptively suing in New York federal court, aiming to disprove those allegations. Redding and Mitchell’s heirs then filed their own case against Sony in British court, seeking control of the records and accusing the label of copyright infringement.
After months of jockeying, a U.S. federal judge ruled in 2023 that the English litigation could take precedence.
Seeking to end that lawsuit, Sony argued that Redding and Mitchell both signed away their rights shortly after Hendrix died. In a 1973 legal settlement cited by Sony, the two men purportedly agreed not to sue Jimi’s estate and any record companies distributing his music in return for one-time payments — $100,000 paid to Redding and $247,500 to Mitchell.
But last year, a judge on London’s High Court ruled that the dispute – over “arguably the greatest rock guitarist ever” — was close enough that it would need to be decided at trial.
“My overall conclusion is that the claims in respect of copyright and performers’ property rights survive and should go to trial,” Justice Michael Green wrote at the time. The judge wrote that Redding and Mitchell’s heirs had “a real prospect of succeeding” on their argument that the decades-old releases “do not provide a complete defence” for Sony.
Sony appealed that ruling, setting the stage for Thursday’s decision. In doing so, the company didn’t actually challenge judge’s ruling on the core issue of the 1973 settlement; instead, Sony’s lawyers argued that Redding and Mitchell’s heirs were ineligible to file their case under various U.K. statutes.
Joined by two other appellate judges on the panel, Lord Justice Arnold rejected those arguments on Thursday, ruling that the heirs’ claims were fair game under the statutes cited by Sony.
It’s unclear if Sony will file further appeals, or whether such additional challenges might delay the trial beyond December. Such rulings can typically be appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the country’s highest appeals court; but like the U.S. Supreme Court, the British top court only accepts a limited number of cases, based on whether they raise big and important legal questions.
If the case does proceed to trial, attorneys for the Redding and Mitchell estates said Thursday that they were looking forward to the showdown. In the statement, they compared their late clients to the Freddie Mercury’s bandmates in Queen.
“No one is denying that Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest guitarists of all time, just as Freddie Mercury was a great singer. But neither of them made their recordings alone,” said Lawrence Abramson of the law firm Keystone Law. “It has never been suggested that Brian May, John Deacon nor Roger Taylor should not have participated in Queen’s success so why should Noel and Mitch lose out from the success of the Jimi Hendrix Experience?”
Culture Wave, a new rock-focused management company founded by industry veterans Andrew Jarrín and Jason Mageau, officially launched on Thursday (Feb. 6) as a subsidiary of Red Light Management. Their roster includes rising artists like Spiritbox and Free Nationals, as well as rock veterans like Senses Fail, We Came As Romans and Kittie.
“I am so excited for what is to come with Culture Wave,” says Mageau. “This is something Andrew and I have been talking about for a while. We finally felt like it was the right time. The both of us have had an exciting career thus far with ups and downs, but it’s all part of the journey that has led us here. I am grateful to our partners at Red Light for their belief in our vision, our clients who were all so encouraging and supportive of this decision, and of course our staff who will help us build brick by brick.”
Prior to launching Culture Wave, Jarrín and Mageau spent five years at Roc Nation, and previously co-founded Royal Division Entertainment. Mageau also helped launch the ticketing company Sound Rink, Inc. and the indie label Pale Chord, in partnership with BMG.
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“Over the 15 years Jason and I have worked alongside each other we have seen and experienced a great deal,” says Jarrín. “This is now an opportunity for us to take bits and pieces of everything we valued from each relationship built over those years and craft it into something of our own. With Culture Wave, we intend to give our artists and team everything we always wanted in a company; and partnering with Red Light on this venture gives us additional tools and resources to help amplify those visions.”
Bruce Eskowitz, COO of Red Light, adds, “Andrew and Jason share a strong creative vision and a deep love for music. They are always pushing boundaries. We are excited to have them and their team at Culture Wave part of Red Light Management.”
One of Culture Wave’s first orders of business is the release of Spiritbox’s highly anticipated sophomore album, Tsunami Sea, on March 7 through Pale Chord / Rise Records. The progressive metal band, whose single “Cellar Door” was nominated for best metal performance at this year’s Grammy Awards, will kick off a U.S. headlining tour in April.
Check out Culture Wave’s full roster of talent, in alphabetical order:
After The BurialBrand Of SacrificeDr. BlumFree NationalsHoly WarsJose Mangin (Sirius XM Host)KittieLoatheNOWHERE2RUNPolarisSaint BlondeSaves the DaySenses FailSoul BlindSparrow Sound StudiosSpiritboxWe Came As Romans
Among the gold gramophones handed out at the recent 67th Grammy Awards was one for best reggae album: Bob Marley: One Love — Music Inspired by the Film (Deluxe). Now in addition to the soundtrack and the global box office success of its accompanying 2024 biopic, the celebration of the reggae pioneer’s generational legacy continues in 2025 in honor of what would have been his 80th birthday (Feb. 6).
In partnership with the Marley family, Acoustic Sounds’ Analogue Productions label is announcing its reissue of seven of the late artist’s most iconic albums. With specific release dates to be announced, the album series will launch this spring and is centered around the theme of uprising — also the title of Marley’s last studio project released during his lifetime. Reflective of his spiritual and prophetic vision, the 1980 set includes memorable tracks such as “Redemption Song,” “Could You Be Loved” and “Pimper’s Paradise.”
The other six albums comprising the series are: 1973’s Catch a Fire (“Stir It Up,” “Concrete Jungle,” “Kinky Reggae”), 1973’s Burnin (“Get Up Stand Up,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” “Burnin’ & Lootin’”), 1974’s Natty Dread (“No Woman No Cry,” “Them Belly Full [But We Hungry],” “Lively Up Yourself”), 1976’s Rastaman Vibration (“Roots Rock Reggae,” “War,” “Rat Race”), 1977’s Exodus (“Three Little Birds,” “Jamming,” “One Love”) and 1978’s Kaya (“Is This Love,” “Satisfy My Soul,” “Easy Skanking”).
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Bob Marley, ‘Kaya’
Acoustic Sounds is reissuing the albums in a number of deluxe configurations, varying by title: 33rpm UHQR (ultra high quality record), 45rpm UHQR, 2LP 45rpm, SACD (super audio CD) and reel-to-reel tape (15 IPS on 1/4-inch tape). The UHQR and 2LP 45rpm releases will be sourced from the original master tapes and mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. Pressing will be handled by Acoustic Sounds’ Quality Record Pressing plant in Salina, Kansas.
“We’re honored to be working with the Marley Family to give these records the treatment they deserve,” said Acoustic Sounds founder Chad Kassem in a statement. “The experience of going to Jamaica, visiting Tuff Gong and meeting the people carrying Bob Marley’s legacy forward was incredible, and we believe this series is a beautiful tribute to one of music’s greatest innovators.”
More about Kassem’s time in Jamaica and the making of Uprising can be found HERE. Acoustic Sounds’ recent vinyl releases include Steely Dan’s 1970s recordings, Buena Vista Social Club’s self-titled album and Miles Davis’ Birth of the Blue.
Spotify and Warner Music Group have signed a new multi-year agreement covering both recorded music and music publishing, following Spotify’s similar deal with Universal Music Group earlier this year. The partnership, announced today (Feb. 6), aims to drive innovation and increase the value of music for artists, songwriters and fans.
The agreement focuses on advancing audio-visual streaming, expanding music and video catalogs, and, notably, introducing new paid subscription tiers with exclusive content bundles. It also reinforces “artist-centric” royalty models that reward artists for attracting and engaging audiences. Additionally, the new publishing deal introduces a direct licensing model with Warner Chappell Music in several countries, including the U.S.
In a statement, WMG CEO Robert Kyncl emphasized the collaboration’s role in expanding the music ecosystem and delivering value to artists and songwriters.
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“It’s a big step forward in our vision for greater alignment between rights holders and streaming services,” Kyncl said. “Together with Spotify, we look forward to increasing the value of music, as we drive growth, impact, and innovation.”
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek highlighted 2025 as a pivotal year for Spotify’s innovation, “and our partners at Warner Music Group share our commitment to rapid innovation and sustained investment in our leading music offerings. Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for audiences worldwide—making paid music subscriptions more appealing while supporting artists and songwriters alike.”
During Warner Music’s August 2024 earnings call, Kyncl addressed the relationship between labels and digital service providers and refuted the notion that they are entrenched adversaries. “I know that investor attention has recently been focused on the dynamics between labels and DSPs, with some speculating that we’re adversaries playing a zero-sum game,” he said. “That’s simply not the case. We’re actively engaged with our partners around ways to drive growth for all of us.”
WMG announced its new pact with Spotify moments before reporting results for is fiscal first quarter, which saw a dip in revenue that it attributed to the termination of its distribution agreement with BMG, among other factors. The label group on Thursday also announced that it had agreed to purchase a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investment, a catalog company that owns rights to songs by Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line and others, in a deal sources say is worth several hundred million dollars.
Warner Music Group is buying a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investment, a catalog company that owns rights to songs by Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line and Brett James, in a deal sources say is worth around $450 million. WMG said it will acquire the stake from Tempo’s founder, Providence Equity Partners. Providence will remain a […]