Business
Page: 434
Staff at Motown Records were hit with news of layoffs Thursday (Feb. 16) as the label gets reintegrated under the Capitol Music Group (CMG) umbrella, multiple sources tell Billboard. The number of people and departments affected are unknown as of press time.
A spokesperson for Motown Records confirmed the layoffs to Billboard. “As Motown returns to the Capitol family, certain positions that had been created when we became a stand-alone label have since become duplicative,” the person said in a statement. “These employees are leaving the company and our People, Inclusion and Culture department is helping them find new opportunities — either within or outside of UMG.”
Layoffs were feared by staffers since chairwoman/CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam’s sudden announcement of her departure on Nov. 29, at which point the future of Motown — which had been spun out of the Capitol Music Group into a standalone label in March 2021, with Habtemariam promoted to the top title — was unclear. In the weeks that followed, it emerged that Motown would be consolidated once again into CMG, at which point the prospect of layoffs loomed.
Motown had been under the CMG umbrella since 2014 when Universal Music Group (UMG) dissolved the Island Def Jam Music Group and moved Motown to Los Angeles to operate out of the Capitol Tower. Habtemariam, who had been president of Motown since that year, oversaw the shift from New York to L.A. and in 2015 led the signing of Motown’s landmark partnership with Atlanta-based Quality Control, which brought Migos, Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, City Girls and others to the label. That led to a surge in interest, signings and market share for Motown, resulting in the establishment of the label as a standalone frontline in 2021, with Habtemariam given the chairman/CEO title.
However, just 20 months after assuming that role, Habtemariam announced she was leaving UMG entirely to “pursue new endeavors,” departing a label that had been energized in recent years without a clear leader. As a standalone label, Motown maintained its own A&R and marketing departments, though it shared services such as radio promotion with Capitol.
CMG is run by Michelle Jubelirer, who was promoted from COO to chair/CEO in December 2021, succeeding Jeff Vaughn, who lasted just a year in the role. Jubelirer oversees a record group that also encompasses Blue Note, Astralwerks and Capitol Christian Music Group, in addition to Motown. While its market share remains under CMG, in September indie distributor Virgin was consolidated alongside Ingrooves and mTheory into the Virgin Music Group, whose co-CEOs report directly to UMG chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge.
However, Capitol will not have Quality Control in its purview moving forward, as the label was sold to HYBE America in a deal that was announced Feb. 8. That means that while Capitol will oversee Motown, it will not have any future releases from some of Motown’s biggest stars of the past decade.
Motown is the latest music company to undergo layoffs in recent months, as the global economy’s outlook remains uncertain. The tech sector was hit particularly hard in that respect, with Amazon, Google/YouTube, Spotify, Twitter, SoundCloud, BMI and others shedding jobs; many cited the dwindling advertising market, which has stubbornly retracted. In October, Grainge himself addressed the advertising market’s downturn when speaking about UMG’s third quarter financials, noting that ad-supported streaming revenue grew slower than expected, up just 5.2% over the third quarter period of 2021, though it was offset by increases in other sectors such as subscription, licensing, tour merchandising and publishing.
In 2022, Motown had raised its overall market share to 0.97%, up from 0.90% in 2021. In terms of current market share — music released over the most recent 18 months — Motown grew its share from 1.18% in 2021 to 1.33% in 2022. It had remained part of Capitol’s market share during that period, despite its ostensible status as a standalone entity. Capitol’s overall market share declined from 6.81% in 2021 to 6.40% in 2022, while its current share dropped from 5.64% in 2021 to 4.97% in 2022.
Additional reporting by Gail Mitchell.
A new London-based buyer has entered the already crowded catalog acquisition market. Called Bella Figura Music, the company was founded by former BMG U.K. president, Alexi Cory-Smith, who will act as CEO, and former BMG global investments division leader, Neelesh Prabhu, who will act as head of investments.
According to the company’s announcement, Bella Figura Music is a “purpose-built, artist-centric music company, bringing together leading technology and a relentless focus on creative excellence.”
Over the last year, Bella Figura’s team has been quietly amassing a catalog of recording and publishing assets with financing aid from private equity fund Freshstream.
So far, Bella Figura has acquired the publishing catalog of Guy Chambers, one of the songwriters behind Robbie Williams‘ “Angels,” “Feel” and “Let Me Entertain You,” as well as David Gray‘s record label IHT, which owns and controls all of the singer-songwriter’s albums, from 1998’s White Ladder to 2019’s Gold in a Brass Age.
According to the company’s announcement, Gray is “closely involved with Bella Figura Music,” acting as an “interested party” in the catalog’s business dealings. Gray’s management team at Mick Management will remain closely involved with the catalog, new products and new initiatives. “Dave remaining involved financially and with creative controls and input intact was a key feature of us wanting to do the deal,” says Cory-Smith. “This is the kind of deal we really like.”
Other acquisitions by Bella Figura include R3HAB‘s recorded music catalog up until 2022, including “All Around the World,” “Sad Boy,” “Runaway” and “Call Me”; AWAL’s divested portfolio of rights, including shares of recordings by Gray, Placebo, The Wombats and Dashboard Confessional; songwriter-producer Darrell Brown’s publishing shares in 25 of his songs, including songs performed by LeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban.
“I view David Gray and Guy Chambers as the founding blocks on which we build the business,” Cory-Smith says. “One is records, the other is publishing — both top quality catalogues. I am very proud of what we have achieved in Bella Figura Music’s first year of business.”
Cory-Smith adds, “I’ve always wanted to have my own music company and after years in corporates, the timing to take an entrepreneurial path felt right.”
“I’ve been looking for a new partner for my music for quite some time, so when I heard about Alexi and Bella Figura I thought it had the potential to be a good fit,” says Gray. “They struck me as a company with serious ambitions, an eye for detail and a point to prove, and the fact that I had a good relationship with Alexi from her time at Chrysalis/BMG was definitely a major positive too. The world of music and technology is in a state of constant flux and it’s vital to work with people who are not only attentive to its challenges but also alert to its opportunities. I feel very optimistic that with Bella Figura I’ve found just that.”
“I’m so pleased to be working with Bella Figura,” adds Chambers. “I think Alexi is one of the most dynamic executives working in the music industry. Having Alexi at the helm of Bella Figura is an exciting prospect for what is a new and vital area for songwriters in the industry today.”
Condé Nast has reached a settlement to end a lawsuit against Drake and 21 Savage over their use of a fake Vogue magazine cover to promote their album Her Loss, Billboard has confirmed.
The agreement, first reported by the news site Semafor, includes a permanent injunction barring any further use of Condé Nast’s Vogue trademarks, as well as an undisclosed monetary payment from Drake and 21.
In an internal email independently obtained by Billboard, Condé Nast general counsel William Bowes said the company was “glad to put this matter behind us” but explained why the publishing giant had felt the need to file the lawsuit against the two rappers.
“As a creative company, we of course understand our brands may from time to time be referenced in other creative works,” Bowes wrote in the note. “In this instance, however, it was clear to us that Drake and 21 Savage leveraged Vogue’s reputation for their own commercial purposes and, in the process, confused audiences who trust Vogue as the authoritative voice on fashion and culture.”
Representatives for Drake, 21 Savage and Condé Nast all declined to comment.
The fake Vogue cover was part of a broader phony media blitz from the two stars, aimed at promoting the November launch of their album Her Loss. They also released a fake Saturday Night Live performance, teased a similar fake appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk series and created an elaborate deepfake interview with Howard Stern.
NPR and Stern both publicly embraced the joke, but Condé Nast wasn’t laughing about the fake Vogue cover.
In a lawsuit filed Nov. 7 in Manhattan federal court, the publisher called the stunt a “flagrant infringement” of the company’s trademark rights, aimed at exploiting the “tremendous value that a cover feature in Vogue magazine carries” without actually securing that honor. Condé specifically pointed to Drake’s Instagram post teasing the fake cover story, in which he personally thanked famed Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
“Vogue magazine and its Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour have had no involvement in Her Loss or its promotion, and have not endorsed it in any way,” the company’s lawyers wrote at the time. “Nor did Condé Nast authorize, much less support, the creation and widespread dissemination of a counterfeit issue of Vogue, or a counterfeit version of perhaps one of the most carefully curated covers in all of the publication business.”
Just days later, a federal judge largely agreed with Condé Nast, issuing a preliminary injunction forcing the stars to pull down all references to the fake Vogue cover. The judge said the faux cover likely violated the publisher’s trademarks by “misleading consumers” and “deceiving the public.”
In the internal letter announcing the settlement, Bowes said Condé Nast had repeatedly attempted to resolve the dispute without resorting to litigation but had been “left with no other option” after the superstars ignored their requests to stop.
“We have a fundamental duty to protect our IP when it’s clear that it’s being used without permission for something other than serving our audience,” Bowes wrote in the letter.
A formal notice of settlement has not yet been filed in the federal court overseeing the lawsuit.
A Chicago federal judge has rejected R. Kelly’s bid to overturn his conviction last year on child pornography charges, clearing the way for sentencing which is scheduled for next week.
Denying motions filed by Kelly’s lawyers seeking either a new trial or an outright acquittal, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled Thursday (Feb. 16) that federal prosecutors provided jurors with “enough evidence to sustain a guilty verdict on all six counts Kelly was convicted of.”
Among other arguments, Kelly’s lawyers had argued that one of his victims (known as “Jane”) gave false testimony on the witness stand about whether she planned to seek monetary restitution from Kelly if he was ultimately convicted. They said the incident suggested Jane had “motivation to share her story in ways that were not entirely honest.”
But Judge Leinenweber saw things differently: “Simply because Jane and her attorney considered the possibility of restitution, does not mean she lied during her testimony,” the judge wrote.
Following a four-week trial in Chicago federal court, Kelly was found guilty in September on three counts of child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor. He was acquitted of other charges that accused him of fixing a 2008 state-court trial over the same child pornography accusations.
That conviction came after a federal judge in New York previously sentenced Kelly to 30 years in prison in June on separate racketeering and sex trafficking convictions.
Kelly is set for sentencing on Feb. 23 on the Chicago charges. He faces as many as 90 additional years in prison on those convictions.
In seeking to overturn the conviction, Kelly’s lawyers made a number of arguments, including that the government had failed to show conclusively that the singer “enticed” Jane into making child pornography. But Judge Leinenweber ruled instead that there was “ample” evidence to support the charge.
“Jane testified about how Kelly gradually persuaded her into sexual activity with him,” the judge wrote. “Jane described how Kelly induced her into making Videos One through Three and that Kelly positioned the camera and told Jane exactly what to do and say while having sex with him.”
Thursday’s ruling is not the final decision on Kelly’s conviction. His attorneys can still challenge the outcome to a federal appeals court and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court, though they face long odds in overturning a jury’s verdict.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday’s order.
Read the judge’s entire ruling here:
A federal jury has issued a verdict mostly clearing Damon Dash in a lawsuit that accused the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder of sexually assaulting a photographer, Billboard has confirmed.
Monique Bunn sued Dash in 2019, claiming he had inappropriately touched her while she was sleeping at his house during a video project. She then tacked on defamation charges to the case, after Dash accused her on social media of charging thousands of dollars to a credit card without permission.
But following a four-day trial, the jury found that Dash was not liable for sexual assault, seemingly swayed by Dash’s testimony that the allegation was “ridiculous.” The jurors did find him liable for defamation but awarded Bunn just $15,000 in damages. A hearing on additional “punitive” damages is set for Thursday.
Bunn had sought tens of millions of dollars from the lawsuit, including for accusations that Dash failed to give her back a huge trove of her photos. But despite an earlier ruling by the judge that said Dash was liable on that claim, the jurors awarded Bunn no damages over the unreturned property.
The verdict was first reported by Law360 and confirmed to Billboard by attorneys for Dash. Attorneys for Bunn did not return a request for comment on Thursday (Feb. 16).
As reported in detail by Law360, Bunn testified last week at trial that the one-time hip-hop mogul had groped her during a 2019 video shoot at his house. While sleeping in his daughter’s room, she said she awoke to feel “something on the left side of my like lower back onto my butt, down my thigh.”
Bunn then also reportedly testified that Dash’s response to her allegations — a social media post and a radio interview in which he claimed she had stolen money from him — had destroyed her career. “I lost everything, I have nothing,” she said.
In his own testimony earlier this week, Dash reportedly called the allegations “ridiculous,” flatly denying any misconduct and calling Bunn a “con artist” who was making false accusations against him.
Following the verdict for Dash, either side can appeal the outcome — first by asking the judge to overturn the verdict against them, then by taking the case to a federal appeals court.
George Gershwin‘s heirs have opted to renew their long-term publishing administration deal with Raleigh Music Publishing. The deal is specifically for the works owned under A Gershwin, LLC, which holds a major share of Gershwin’s copyrights, including “Rhapsody in Blue” (arr. Ferde Grofé), works from musicals like Porgy and Bess, Shall We Dance, Crazy for You, An American in Paris, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and more. Songs from these stage productions remain some of the most vital musical works in American history, including “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Love Is Here to Stay,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” “A Foggy Day,” and “Summertime.”
Sony Music Publishing has extended its global partnership with David Gates and his publishing company Kipahulu Music which began in the 1960s. Gates is best known as the frontman of the band Bread and as the songwriter of hits for The Murmaids and The Monkees, and worked with Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Merle Haggard and more. His hits include “If,” “Everything I Own,” “It Don’t Matter To Me,” “Baby I’m-A Want You,” “Make It With You” and many more.
Warner Chappell Music has signed a worldwide publishing deal with MZMC Inc. Korea Co. — a popular production and publishing company in the K-pop market. Under the partnership WCM will be administering MZMC’s entire music catalog worldwide, including hits like ‘Fine’ by Taeyeon; ‘Ko Ko Bop’, ‘Love Shot’, and ‘Tempo’ by EXO; RBB (Really Bad Boy)’ by Red Velvet, as well as ‘We Go Up’ by NCT DREAM.
Ultra International Publishing has expanded its Afrobeats operations to Nigeria and has formed a new creative hub there. Ultra has appointed Harold Serero, a London-based A&R manager, to oversee the operation. The company’s signings within the genre include Tejiri Akpoghene who is signed jointly between Ultra and Revels Group’s publishing arm Coup D’Etat Music. They have also signed Maesu, a rising Afrobeats artist, and Amexin to publishing agreements.
Marv Green has inked a global publishing deal with Red Door Music Group and Warner Chappell Music. Over the past few years, he has worked with Morgan Wallen, Jake Owen, Eric Church, Brooks and Dunn, Jon Pardi, Midland, Lee Brice, Tim McGraw and more. He is most known for his BMI Song of the Year-winning track “Amazed,” which was released by Lonestar.
Boosey and Hawkes, which is part of Concord, has added ballet score Mythologies to its catalog. Written by Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, the ballet set to his score has been touring France and Italy since April 2022.
Warner Chappell Music, Liz Rose Music and Jimmie Allen have come together to jointly sign Cameron Bedell to a global publishing agreement. The singer-songwriter from Wichita, Kansas recently co-penned “Down Home” by Allen.
Sentric Music has signed Mason, a Dutch producer and DJ, to an exclusive publishing administration deal. The talent has been making dance music since his breakout song “Exceeder” in 2006. Since then he has worked with Roisin Murphy, Shingai, Aqualung, Kurtis Blow, Sway, and more.
Minds on Fire, a pop and dance-focus music publishing company, has announced that it is partnering with BMG. Its catalog will now be administered by BMG and future co-publishing signings will be done jointly with the Berlin-based company as well. The first signings to this new deal are Emre Turkmen and Michael Goldsworthy, founding members of the group Years & Years.
King Pen Music and Warner Chappell have joined together to sign a global publishing agreement with Liam St. John, a blues singer-songwriter and former contestant of The Voice (Season 19).
Daniel Mora has been appointed managing director of Warner Music Andes, where he will oversee the company’s operations in Colombia and Peru, and will report to president of Warner Music Latin America, Alejandro Duque, the company announced. Mora replaces Maria Montejo who left the company earlier this month.
Mora first joined Warner Chappell Music in 2013 as an A&R/Sync consultant at the Colombian office and was later promoted to managing director of WCM Colombia in 2019.
“After spending so many enjoyable years at Warner Chappell Music, I’m pleased to be staying within the WMG family and stepping into this role on the Recorded Music side,” he said in a press statement. “Latin music is in my blood, and I’m delighted to see how it’s currently growing and connecting with people around the world. There are so many great opportunities for our artists to become global stars and I’m looking forward to helping them achieve their dreams. I’d like to thank Alejandro for this new opportunity, and Gustavo Menendez, Guy Moot, and Carianne Marshall for all their support during my time at Warner Chappell Music.”
In addition to his experience as an industry executive, Mora is also an artist and entrepreneur. He previously toured Latin America as part of the tropipop band, Bonka, which made waves with their debut single “El Problemón” (2006) and freshman studio album Lo Que Nunca Nos Contamos; and launched his own audiovisual company in Bogotá, producing films and commercials for brands such as Chevrolet and Adidas, to name a few.
“Daniel is a brilliant exec who has experience of being on both sides of the fence – first as an artist and now as a leading industry figure,” Duque added. “His understanding of both perspectives makes him the perfect fit for Warner Music and our artist-first philosophy. His appointment will enable us to work even closer with our partners at Warner Chappell Music and will open up more opportunities for collaboration. Latin music is exploding around the world and I’m excited to see how Daniel can further propel our Colombian and Peruvian artists internationally.”
For more than two years, Another Planet Entertainment has been quietly working with the creator of iconic venues like Manhattan’s Mercury Lounge and LA’s Teragram Ballroom to launch a new 1,600-capacity venue in downtown Los Angeles — with a goal to shake up the city’s highly competitive venue landscape.
The real estate for The Bellwether, located at 333 Boylston between third and fourth streets just west of downtown and the 110 freeway, was discovered in 2020 by Michael Swier, one of the original partners in New York’s Bowery Presents and an owner of the Teragram and the Moroccan Lounge. Hoping to keep the project off the radar of better financed competitors, Swier began looking for a partner on the 49,000 sq-ft- multi-genre performance space, with an open GA floor, wrap around balcony, multiple bars, a commercial kitchen and a private 600-capacity event space.
333 Boylston has mostly been occupied by night club operators the past three decades, including Prince, who named the night spot after his song “Glam Slam” and from 1992 to 1995 adorned it with huge purple dance floors, heavy gold mesh fabric and a jewel-strewn bed cradled in a sculpted hand from Prince’s Erotic City concert tour. What followed was nearly three failed decades of trying to operate the multilevel space as a dance club. Thinking a music performance venue was a better fit, Swier would eventually find a partner, striking a deal with Another Planet Entertainment’s Gregg Perloff and Allen Scott to partner on a long-term lease and two-year renovation effort expected to wrap up this spring.
Scott and Swier were at the Bellwether earlier this week, touring the sprawling complex which will also house a year-round bar and restaurant, a 600-capacity private event space and offices for both Another Planet and Telegraph Road Management, Laurence Freedmans management company whose clients include Billy Idol, Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, Cherry Glazerr, Miya Folick and Advertisement. The Bellwether is Another Planet’s first foray into Los Angeles, hometown turf for APE’s two main competitors in the Bay Area where Perloff and company operate the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the Greek Theate, Oakland’s Fox Theatre, the independent and San Francisco’s famed Castro Theater, currently under renovation. Live Nation’s holdings in San Francisco include the Fillmore and the recently opened August Hall, while AEG operates the Warfield, the Regency Ballroom and the Great American Hall.
LA’s venue landscape is even more crowded with each company operating a half-dozen venues in the city and independently owned venues like the Troubadour, Largo and the Knitting Factory in North Hollywood. Size wise, the Bellwethers 1,600-capacity lands it between the Live Nation-owned Wiltern Theater (1,850 capacity) and AEG’s El Rey Theater (1,200).
Swier, a New Yorker who recently bought a loft in LA in preparation for the opening of his third venue in the city, is a highly accomplished venue designer and independent live music operator who along with his late wife Margaret and architect brother Brian Swier is best known for New York’s iconic Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge. Swier is a co-founder of New York powerhouse promotion company Bowery Presents and is responsible for relaunching and redesigning Terminal 5 and the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Swier would eventually part ways with Bowery Presents, and in 2017, Bowery would sell a 50% stake in the company to AEG.
Perloff’s career has parallels to Swier – the Maryland native had a knack for concert promotion in college and caught the attention of legendary San Francisco promoter Bill Graham, who famously hired a young Perloff to avoid competing with him. Perloff became Graham’s understudy, and together with longtime BGP pioneer Sherry Wasserman, the three created the business model for the contemporary concert business. After Graham died in a helicopter crash, BGP was sold to SFX and eventually became one of the core components of Live Nation, which stills owns and manages the bulk of the BGP venue portfolio.
Perloff and Wasserman founded Another Planet in 2003 and launched the Outside Lands festival in 2008. Today it is the largest independently operated festival in the U.S., according to Billboard.
Swier didn’t know much about Perloff prior to reaching out to him in 2020 to discuss a potential partnership for the building. Both men decided to keep the project, keeping every detail of the project out of the public domain as they worked to sign the lease and then begin renovations. The stealth campaign worked – maybe too well. Months away from opening, the partners realized they needed to reach out to agents to start booking the building, which would end the secrecy. In fact, today’s decision to announce the existence of the project was made yesterday, a week earlier than planned. Meetings and private tours of the Bellwether are planned for next week during the annual Pollstar Live! conference in Los Angeles.
Alliance Entertainment’s plan to go public through a reverse merger with Adara Acquisition Corp. — a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) — got sideswiped by the collapse of the SPAC market.
While the deal was finalized Monday (Feb. 13) and Alliance Entertainment is now a publicly traded company, it leaves the media wholesaler without the initial intended benefit of reaping tens of millions of dollars in new funding to continue making acquisitions to fuel growth and to modernize its warehouse equipment.
That’s because only Adara shareholders owning 167,00 shares (out of 10 million total) have chosen to participate as stockholders in the merged entity. As a result, Alliance Entertainment only received about $1.67 million, which likely isn’t enough to cover the legal and investment banking fees for the transaction.
Alliance Entertainment Holding
The company’s light stock float also leaves it ineligible to be listed by the New York Stock Exchange as originally planned, so now Alliance is being carried on the OTC pink-sheet marketplace.
Alliance Entertainment — which carried a $480 million valuation going into the deal — remains a formidable powerhouse as a one-stop rack jobber and independent distributor and overall entertainment software wholesaler, however. While the company brought in $28.62 million in net income on revenue of $1.42 billion for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, it lost $8.34 million on sales of $238.7 million for the three-month period spanning from July to September.
Alliance Entertainment announced its plans to go public via a SPAC reverse merger in June 2022. At that point, investor excitement over the SPAC route to public listings had already cooled from its high in 2021, but by the end of the year, it had totally tanked. And even if Alliance Entertainment didn’t raise as much money as it had hoped by going public, there are other benefits. As a publicly traded company with audited financial statements that need to surpass the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission, it should now be able access capital and options to raise funding through debt beyond its previous reliance on bank loans.
“We believe that today’s milestone combined with our strong revenue growth, expanding customer base and product offering, and several successful acquisitions, will help accelerate our future expansion initiatives,” said Alliance Entertainment CEO Jeff Walker in a statement. “Alliance Entertainment today is well positioned to continue to capitalize on shifts towards eCommerce and Omni-Channel strategies, especially with retailers and manufacturers’ vastly increased reliance on their DTC (Direct to Consumer) fulfillment and distribution partners. We are at an inflection point that now positions us to execute a multi-prong growth strategy that we expect will deliver a double-digit revenue growth rate with strong cash generation to the bottom line.”
Alliance Entertainment serves as a physical music, movies and video games wholesaler to retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Kohls and Gamestop, as well as independent stores; it’s also a rack jobber to chains like Walmart and Barnes and Noble. It additionally provides e-commerce fulfillment to many of those retailers and runs its own online websites including Deepdiscount.com, Popmarket.com, Importcds.com, Critic’s Choice Video, Collectors Choice Music and Movies Unlimited, while fielding its own brands on eBay, Amazon Marketplace and Discogs as well. In total, nearly $540 million, or 38% of Alliance’s revenue, is generated through the above online sales.
In total, Alliance says it stocks over 485,000 unique entertainment products from Microsoft, Nintendo, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, Funko, Disney, Warner Home Video, Universal Video, Sony Pictures, Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Warner Music, Sony Music, Universal Music, Mattel, Lego, Hasbro, Arcade1Up and another roughly 500 entertainment product manufacturers. Within that, the company also fields independent distribution companies like music distributor AMPED, video distributor Solutions and video game distributor Cokem that exclusively carry over 57,000 vinyl, CD, DVD and video games titles combined.
“This business combination [with Adara] will further enable our significant focus on a strategic roll-up strategy of acquiring and integrating competitors and complementary businesses which we believe will drive an accelerated competitive position and value creation,” said Alliance Entertainment chairman Bruce Ogilvie in a statement. Being a publicly traded company will allow for further investment, he added, in automating facilities and upgrading proprietary software, which he said makes management “confident we can grow revenue and expand margins.”
Ogilvie continued, “We will also continue to expand into new consumer product segments, growing our product offering and providing more to our existing customer base while attracting new customers in the process.”
Walker and Ogilvie retain nearly 95% ownership in Alliance Entertainment and their shares are subject to an extended lock-up period.
Baton
Baton is a collaboration platform that solves chain of custody for work in progress material, ensuring artists are properly credited and compensated for their work. Think of them a bit like GitHub for music.
Since launching a private beta this past fall, Baton has helped connect hundreds of artists with multiple Grammy-winners and has protected the IP of thousands of songs.
The team is a mix of creative technologists from NYU ITP, an “art school for engineers or an engineering school for artists” and industry veterans that have spent over a decade working with many of the largest artists in the world.
Gabe Warshaw, CEO & Founder, Baton said, “The vast majority of music that gets made never gets released. So much of it is incredible, and it’s never been easier to create without a professional studio. At the same time, remote collaboration has left creators increasingly vulnerable to stolen IP. Baton is building an ecosystem that helps musicians find their people. It allows material to be worked on and shared safely with anyone in the world, so creators know that wherever their work ends up, they’ll get credited and compensated in the way they should.”
BEEPR
BEEPR allows fans to opt-in to push notifications about music from their favorite artists, creating ephemeral moments between fans with shared interests. Launched in Summer 2020, BEEPR has garnered 300,000 registered users and 100,000 monthly active users with $0 spent on marketing. BEEPR has helped DSP’s gain over 70 million streams this year. BEEPR’s goal is to create moments in music powered by push notifications.
Jake Zinn, CEO & Founder, BEEPR stated, “Technology has made the music listening experience more convenient. While the streaming services have provided fans what they want to hear, BEEPR provides when they want to hear it.”
Confetti
Confetti is a content creation and live-streaming app that enables couples to get the most out of their weddings by empowering in-person and virtual guests to create fun and memorable content through custom prompts. Say goodbye to stale photos, videos, and your aunt going live on FaceBook, and say hello to beautiful and unforgettable memories that will last a lifetime, whether you’re seated at Table 8 or 3,000 miles away. With Confetti, you have one less thing to worry about on your big day.
Andrew Vuu, CEO, Confetti, said: “Today, wedding guests are creating amazing content and sharing media, which has generated hundreds of billions of impressions on social platforms. However, the problem is that the only way couples can access this great content is through clunky shared albums or by harassing people via text. Currently, we are revolutionizing the wedding industry by providing social media communities with front-row access to their favorite creators’ biggest day through our platform. We are on track to reach 100 million fans across 10 different countries over the next year and have organically generated over 15 million social media views on our path to transform the wedding experience. We are thrilled to extend the power of Confetti to couples everywhere this summer.”
Five Mics
Five Mics is a digital hip-hop trading card game (think Yugioh or Hearthstone, but with rappers and DJs, not elves and dragons). Players construct their decks based around different card styles and can choose to play either casually with friends or competitively in tournaments. With each win, players can also earn new cards, which they own and can collect, trade, or gift to other players.
The collectible card game market is expected to reach $32B by 2027, and hip-hop (the #1 streaming genre in the US accounting for $2.7B in 2021) is arguably the most popular music genre in the world, influencing Latin Trap, Afrobeats, K-Hip-Hop, and more around the globe. Five Mics is determined to bring the two together in an authentic way never before seen, made by the culture, for the culture.
Ace Patterson, CEO, Five Mics, added: “Go on Twitch right now, and more likely than not you’ll find gamers streaming while playing hip-hop music. That’s the dope thing about hip-hop: it’s truly universal. It’s not just for ‘some’ people – it’s for ALL people. And as someone that’s both a hip-hop artist that loves playing trading card games, I truly believe that combining both worlds will impact culture in a seismic way.”
Haven
Haven’s network of event & lifestyle brands host sound-based experiences in stunning outdoor & unconventional indoor spaces. It could be a harpist in a canyon at sunset for Floating or a pioneering composer performing in a historic cathedral for Ambient Church, over 16,000 people gathered with us (in person!) this past year in NYC, LA, Chicago, Portland and Seattle. Other investors include 6lack, Oleg Stavitsky (Co-Founder / CEO, Endel), and Anthony Batt (Founder, SpinMedia).
Brian Schopfel, CEO, Haven, said: “Tech, entertainment and wellness industries have continued to become more algorithmic, reward based, and impersonal; only fueling burnout long term. Haven encourages being vs. doing, inclusion vs. achievement, and IRL vs. URL, and we’re thrilled to be a part of the Techstars Music program to continue to learn, grow and share our experiences with as many people as possible.”
Highly Liquid
Highly Liquid is a streetwear brand born on the internet: a fashion house that combines both digital and physical worlds to create limited-edition drops of apparel, software, and CPG. Our products are designed to spark meaningful conversations around sexuality, gender, and identity, and their role within the financial landscape.
Izzy Howell, CEO, Highly Liquid, said: “Selling panties on the internet doesn’t really sound like the start of a revolution, but by creating NFTs that can be redeemed for IRL panties that say ‘highly liquid’ on the crotch, we are effectively starting a new wave in streetwear – one that puts hyper-femininity at the forefront of culture.”
HomeRoom
HomeRoom is a software platform that unlocks the powerful growth potential of online communities. In the digital age, it’s become increasingly difficult for businesses, creators, and musicians to cut through the noise. HomeRoom provides a suite of tools to enable community leaders to save time with their daily tasks, analytics to measure success, and plugins for hosting memorable community events.
Launched to the public in September 2022, HomeRoom now powers 170+ communities of over 200k combined members and has scaled to $22k MRR with only 70 paying customers. With integrations planned for Twitch, Mastodon, and GitHub by the end of 2023, HomeRoom is building the “Google Analytics for community.”
Arjay Ruggles, CEO, HomeRoom says: ”Audiences are exhausted by the deluge of ads inserted into every aspect of their online experience and have turned to online communities as a source of respite. In response, we’ve seen several companies capitalize on the moment: AirBnB ramped up their community strategy in 2020, cut their marketing spend in half for two years in a row, and have reached a $71 Billion market cap. I believe all businesses and creators should have access to the tools necessary to build the same opportunities for themselves. Community is the future of growth, and HomeRoom is building the foundation upon which all businesses can thrive.”
OBEYme
OBEYme is a social platform where African music fans compete to make songs go viral globally by hosting virtual parties. The most engaging users are rewarded with a pro-rata share of net subscription revenues daily. The result: African tastemakers can host the continent’s hottest parties but also monetize their local influence sustainably. In its first 3 months, 50k South African youth party-hopped virtually on OBEYme’s Beta platform.
Ygor Francisco, CEO/founder, OBEYme, stated: “The time is ripe for leveraging a music-based social platform that rewards Africa’s most influential music fans for driving the culture. Pop culture is dominated by Afrobeats and Amapiano, yet offers African fans and artists disproportionate compensation for their contribution to global music culture.”
RYLTY
RYLTY is a back-office application that helps music catalog owners maximize their investments. The first tool scans owners’ catalogs to seek out errors and omissions that cause royalty underpayments. What used to take a team of royalty accountants, analysts, and administrators days to complete, can now be done with the push of a button. To date, RYLTY has corrected over 3,000 errors and recovered more than $20 million in catalog value. Select customers include Tempo Music, Influence Media Partners, Doja Cat, Troye Sivan, and J.I.D.
Nicholas Judd, CEO, RYLTY, said: “You can’t build a company like ours in a bubble and Techstars Music is the perfect partner to help us expand our reach to help more musicians and catalog owners. We are taking a practical, multi-disciplinary approach to solve this multi-billion dollar problem. Our team is made up of some of the brightest minds in both music and fintech allowing us to take what used to be a manual process and scale it to reach every recording artist, songwriter, and catalog owner in the music industry.”
Seed
Even though Latin artists dominate the music industry today, there’s at least 25 million Latin music creators that don’t have access to music business education, losing time, money and opportunities.
Seed helps Latin music creators and their teams navigate the music industry, protect their rights and make money through an ever-growing catalog of online courses and community. Think of a private business school minus the crippling debt.
In just 15 months, Seed has enrolled more than 921 students from 36 countries, made almost half a million dollars in revenue, and closed more than 5 corporate partnerships. If you want to become a music business professional or entrepreneur, join Seed today!
Alexiomar Rodriguez, CEO, Seed, stated: “The Latin music market is a driving force behind the global music industry, with US Latin music revenues reaching $1 billion in 2022. However, in many Latin American countries, there are no music business schools, and most Latin music creators and aspiring professionals can’t afford to move to the US to attend a university and pay $40,000 in tuition per year. As a music lawyer and producer, I believe bridging this gap will open a whole new world of possibilities.”