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As the world marks International Women’s Day 2023, a new study is illuminating the pervasive and ongoing barriers to gender equality in the music industry — and how to combat them.
Out Wednesday (March 8), 2023’s BE THE CHANGE: Gender Equality in the Music Industry study was conducted by Luminate, Tunecore and Believe. This study (available in full here) synthesizes the responses of more than 1,650 creators, industry professionals and executives from 109 countries and includes male, female and gender-expansive perspectives.
The globally distributed online survey considered respondents’ ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability status, parental status, location and age, among other factors.
Primary findings include that in the past year, 34% of women in the music industry had experienced sexual harassment or abuse, 60% of women and 62% of nonbinary individuals felt that discrimination based on age was a significant problem and 53% of respondents felt that cisgender men are paid more than others in the music industry.
The report also highlights a perception gap around these issues, stating that “the music industry has a clear disconnect in how we assume industry professionals and artists experience the industry and the reality.” The survey indicates that 60% of respondents believe gender discrimination is a major issue in the music industry. Women and nonbinary individuals are likelier to see gender discrimination as an issue as compared to men.
The report also found “alarming” rates of sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry, often against women and gender-expansive individuals. Many respondents reported that they did not find adequate resources for survivors or consequences for offenders. Thirty-four percent of women, 42% of trans individuals and 43% of nonbinary individuals who participated in the survey report being sexually harassed or abused at work.
The study also found that gender discrimination in the music industry is compounded by the discrimination of other marginalized groups, with inadequate representation and tokenism complicating women and gender expansive individuals’ experience in the industry. “Minority women, for example, are 114% more likely than average to feel that their hiring decision was, in part, based on their racial, ethnic, tribal background, or country of origin,” the report states.
The industry wage gap also remains a significant problem. Fifty-three percent of respondents agreed that cisgender men are paid more than others, while half of the surveyed women report “having their or another’s professional or career experience discredited, which impacts earning potential in the industry.”
These issues are also compounded by an ongoing lack of equal leadership, with 30% of women, 30% of underrepresented ethnic groups and 74% of transgender individuals reported being passed on for a promotion. Furthermore, 42% of women and 98% of trans people are said that they don’t have access to professional training/development opportunities.
Given these issues, it’s perhaps unsurprising that 76% of women, 82% of trans individuals and 89% of nonbinary individuals reported struggling with their mental health since entering the music industry.
The report also offers statistics on equality in streaming by determining the percentage of female and nonbinary artists represented in the top 50 artists by combined streams in multiple countries last year. South Korea ranked highest in equality, with 48% of the top 50 artist spaces occupied by female and nonbinary artists, while Colombia ranked lowest with just 10%. In the United States and Canada, 21% of the top 50 positions are occupied by women and nonbinary artists.
Beyond outlining the challenges, the report also suggests straightforward solutions. These include creating more transparent dialogues around pay within organizations, the creation of employee resource groups that help advance gender equality, the creation of diverse hiring committees, the creation and implementation of policies that protect survivors of sexual harassment and the removal of NDAs that often prohibit those that have experienced sexual harassment from speaking out.
Respondents reported that they believe executives, companies, major labels and artists are in the best position to create such changes.
“The good news is that BE THE CHANGE is now in its third year and we’ve seen the study’s impact,” TuneCore CEO Andreea Gleeson said in a statement. “It’s been quoted by the United Nations and widely discussed in creator and executive circles across the industry. But here’s the bad news – we need more change. We, as individuals and as an industry must heed the calls to action and do just that – take action. Small changes add up and if we each do something different each day, week, month, year, we will see a sea change in the industry. So let’s go!”
Spotify has announced the addition of new landing pages designed to help artists promote upcoming releases, including the option to add a pre-save button directly on Spotify.
Dubbed “Countdown Pages,” the new feature also allows artists to tease exclusive content, pre-order merchandise, preview track lists and add a timer counting down to release day all in one place. It was introduced at the company’s Stream On event in Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 8) by global head of artists partnerships and audience Joe Hadley and head of editorial Sulinna Ong, with help from the Jonas Brothers.
The pre-save feature is a long-awaited addition to the streaming platform. For years, artists have been creating their own campaigns via third-party pre-save services to get fans to save upcoming releases to their playlists before they’re released. Many believe that having impressive pre-save statistics can help artists, particularly DIY and emerging talent, receive better consideration for Spotify’s playlists given that a high amount of pre-saves likely indicates high demand.
With Spotify’s new in-house pre-save option, fans who use the feature will get a push notification when the release is out, urging them to come back to the app and stream it. According to Spotify’s own research, over 80% of pre-savers stream the song within its debut week, and the new push notifications may boost this conversion rate.
Beyond the Jonas Brothers, Spotify showed clips of other popular artists endorsing the new feature, including Jennifer Lopez, Karol G, Luke Combs and 6lack.
“There’s a disconnect between where music is being teased and where music is actually being streamed,” said Ong, likely referencing the increased popularity of teasing songs on TikTok. “The most powerful time to reach fans is when they’ve chosen to engage with music, like when they open up Spotify. That’s why we’ve built Countdown pages.”
The Countdown pages will also allow the artist to incorporate Clips — aka short vertical video messages, similar to Instagram and TikTok Stories — to promote upcoming releases. Though Clips are not new on Spotify, the feature was previously limited to specific playlists and top stars. Slated to open up to more artists this spring, Clips can be featured on both Countdown Pages and an artist’s Spotify profile.
Spotify officially announced that it has expanded access to Discovery Mode, a contentious program that gives artists the chance to gain more algorithmic exposure on the platform — through Spotify Radio and autoplay — in exchange for a lower royalty rate. The company made the announcement during its Stream On event on Wednesday (March 8), where CEO Daniel EK unveiled what he described as “an entirely new and updated Spotify experience.”
Artists or their teams can now easily enter tracks into Discovery Mode through the Spotify for Artists tool as long as their distributors are participating in the program. “While labels can continue to access Discovery Mode through our team, I’m excited that Discovery Mode is now available directly within Spotify for Artists today,” Joe Hadley, the streamer’s global head of artist partnerships and audience, said on Wednesday. “Now, thousands of independently distributed artists and labels have access to Discovery Mode.”
Managers who are eager to get their artists’ music in front of as many people as possible have been enthusiastic about Discovery Mode — telling Billboard it’s a “brilliant tool” that can yield “incredible results,” for example. On the other end of the spectrum, music industry trade organizations and members of Congress alike have denounced the program as a new digital form of payola that will eventually lead to an overall decrease in the amount of royalties flowing from Spotify to labels and artists. Several members of Congress also questioned Spotify about whether Discovery Mode meets guidelines set forth by the Federal Trade Commission, which notes that “disclosures of paid content” should be “clear and conspicuous.”
Spotify’s announcement about Discovery Mode’s expansion should not come as a surprise to much of the music industry — for several months, it’s been quietly emailing artists to tell them they can use the program through Spotify for Artists. “We’ve been in testing mode, but the results speak for themselves,” Hadley told the Stream On audience. “On average, we’ve seen users save Discovery Mode songs 50% more often, add them to playlists 44% more, and follow the artists 37% more. And that’s just what they see in the song’s first month of Discovery Mode use.”
The streaming service first announced that it was testing Discovery Mode towards the end of 2020. In a blog post at the time, Spotify said it developed the program in response to artists “tell[ing] us they want more opportunities to connect with new listeners.” Discovery Mode provides artists and labels a chance to “identify music that’s a priority for them, and our system will add that signal to the algorithm that determines personalized listening sessions.”
“To ensure the tool is accessible to artists at any stage of their careers, it won’t require any upfront budget,” Spotify wrote in its blog post. “Instead, labels or rights holders agree to be paid a promotional recording royalty rate for streams in personalized listening sessions where we provided this service.” Last year, managers told Billboard that the royalties they received on plays from Discovery Mode were 30% less than the royalties they received from plays elsewhere on Spotify.
In 2021, Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Hank Johnson Jr. (D-GA) expressed their concerns about Discovery Mode, noting in a letter to Spotify that it could “set in motion a ‘race to the bottom’ in which artists and labels feel compelled to accept lower royalties as a necessary way to break through an extremely crowded and competitive music environment.” Last year, Reps. Yvette D. Clarke, Judy Chu and Tony Cardenas also wrote to Spotify, worrying that Discovery Mode “preys on unwitting” listeners who aren’t aware they’re being served a song thanks in part to a promotional program with a back-end cost.
Spotify has defended Discovery Mode by touting its impact on artists’ streams and pointing to supporters, including TuneCore and Terrace Martin, that offer positive testimonials about the program on the company’s website. “Artist and label teams have told [us] for years that they want more agency in reaching new listeners and driving meaningful connections on our platform,” Spotify said in a statement last year. “Discovery Mode, in its early phase, delivers just that.”
The streaming platform also offers artists access to another paid advertising program called Marquee, which shows users a full-screen recommendation for a new release. Spotify has touted Marquee’s bang-for-buck, writing last year that it “delivered 10x more Spotify listeners for every dollar spent on similar social ads” and “a 100% higher click-to-listen-rate, on average, than similar social ads.”
During the company’s Stream On event, it announced that Marquee, which had previously just been available to artists in the U.S., will expand to acts in the U.K. and Australia as well. “It’s one of the most effective tools out there to market new releases,” said Sulinna Ong, Spotify’s global head of editorial.
Spotify is launching a TikTok-like vertical-swiped homepage to its mobile app. Though Bloomberg leaked the news last week, the new homepage was officially unveiled by company executives at Spotify’s Stream On event Wednesday (March 8).
The new homepage — unveiled during the demonstration led by Spotify co-president/chief product officer/chief technology officer Gustav Soderstrom — will trade Spotify’s formerly static carousels of playlist and song recommendations in favor of a vertical, swipeable, video-based interactive feed which will automatically play previews of music, podcasts and audiobooks for users in hopes of helping them discover new content.
The top of the homepage will continue to boast a few quick links to help users instantly find their favorite podcasts, audiobooks and playlists.
“When I open my home screen, I won’t have to choose what I might be interested in just based on a cover art that I’ve never seen before, or an episode name I’ve never heard of,” said Soderstrom. “Instead, I can instantly hear the most interesting part of a song or an episode.”
The new video-centric feed, as well as other announcements at Stream On, represent a move away from positioning Spotify as a solely audio-focused company and toward creating a more audiovisual platform. As Spotify CEO Daniel Ek noted in his introduction, “In the past few years, people likely thought of Spotify as being the best destination for listening. But today, this evolution is really about bringing Spotify to life.”
Spotify has spent years trying to assert itself as the world leader in audio products, diversifying its offerings from music to exclusive podcasts, live audio and — most recently — audiobooks. But not all of these pushes have played out well for the company. At least six of its live audio programs, for example, were canceled after roughly a year.
The company began to offer more visuals in recent years to strong success, including adding video capabilities to some podcasts and its Canvas feature which lets artists showcase a looping video to accompany their songs. According to Spotify, songs that use Canvas are 145% more likely to get track shares, while listeners are 5% more likely to continue streaming them.
The Canvas feature will now play an even bigger role at Spotify, Soderstrom noted, as artists’ Canvases will now serve as the visual backdrop for audio previews on the app’s newly designed homepage.
The news of its more interactive, vertical homepage marks Spotify as the latest major tech company to seemingly take cues from TikTok. Instagram and YouTube have made pushes to popularize short-form, vertical video offerings on their sites in the last few years, while on the music side, apps like Discz, a swipeable music discovery service à la Tinder, have proven there’s an appetite for interactive music recommendations. SoundCloud followed suit this week as well, announcing a vertically-based Discover page that uses AI to power tailored recommendations.
Chuck D, the leader and founder of Public Enemy, will receive NAMM’s inaugural Impact Music & Culture Award at the 2023 NAMM Show, which is being held April 13-15 in Anaheim, Calif.
The rapper will be on hand to accept the award, which will be presented at the TEC Experience on Thursday, April 13 from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. PT. The award will be presented by Brian Hardgroove, Public Enemy’s bassist and bandleader and founder of Resonant Alien.
“TEC honors the pioneers, the innovators, those who have moved us forward, and the products and technologies which have advanced music-making,” TEC committee member Tony Baraz said in a statement. “As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, we recognize the impact that pioneers like Chuck D and others have had on music, music products, the music industry, and culture as a whole.”
Public Enemy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy in 2020.
NAMM’s Impact & Culture Award was conceived by Hardgroove as an opportunity to recognize individuals who move culture through the power of music.
The recognition comes as part of The NAMM Show’s Hip-Hop@50 celebration, a curated slate of sessions and events throughout the conference. Also planned is a music video montage of the history of hip-hop from music/video mashup creator, producer, and director Mike Relm and a performance by Resonant Alien, the new band featuring Hardgroove and DJ Johnny Juice of Public Enemy.
Additional Hip-Hop@50 events planned during the 2023 NAMM Show include a Friday, April 14 session from 5-8 p.m.: “Chuck D on Hip-Hop at 50, Hosted by Brian Hardgroove,” presented by Black to the Future and showcasing an historical look at the American music and cultural phenomenon.
On Saturday, April 15 from 3-5 p.m., the Yamaha Grand Plaza stage will come alive with the MIDI@40 celebration showcasing a performance by Resonant Alien. The performance will recognize the impact that hip-hop and MIDI — as an underlying, enabling technology — have had in breaking down barriers. MIDI drum machines, sequencers, synths, and turntables are at the heart of many of the iconic records that made hip-hop the cultural phenomenon that it is today. Learn more about MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 events here.
Additionally, awards will be given to TEC Experience finalists in 21 technical achievement and one studio design project categories. View the complete list of finalists here.
The NAMM TEC Experience is a communal reception that gathers the crossroads of the industry to applaud the achievements of the researchers and developers, product designers, marketers, and innovators behind the innovations in pro audio.
The TEC Experience, MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 join the return of industry events, including the Parnelli Awards and the She Rocks Awards, as well as other event gatherings and networking opportunities, including the Top 100 Dealer, Pro Audio Pool Party, Women of NAMM and NAMM Young Professionals receptions, and more. View the schedule here.
Registration for the 2023 NAMM Show is now open here.
More than 20 live music organizations are calling on lawmakers to reform the ticketing space and crack-down on scalping,.
Today (March 8), a coalition of talent agencies, management companies, labels and promoters have joined Live Nation and Ticketmaster in support of the Fans & Artists Insisting on Reforms — or FAIR Ticketing Reforms, for short. Signatories include Universal Music Group, Red Light Management, all four major music talent agencies (CAA, UTA, Wasserman and WME) and groups like Black Music Action Coalition in calling on Congress to “ensure a fair ticketing experience for live music fans” by handing more control to the creators.
The letter, however, is missing a few key names including rival promoter AEG and its ticketing arm AXS as any independent US promoters like Another Planet Entertainment, Jam or Outback Presents. The letter is a followup to proposed legislation last month and appeals appeals to policymakers for a handful of “common sense” improvements to the ticketing space, drafted into five principles, which, combined, would “protect fans, artists and the vitality of the live entertainment industry.”
They include giving artists the right to decide how their tickets can be sold, transferred and resold; making “speculative” ticket selling and other “deceptive practices” illegal; expanding and creating stricter enforcement of the 2016 BOTS Act; policing and fining resale sites that serve as a safe haven for scalpers and “knowingly sell tickets that are illegally acquired”; and mandating all-in pricing across all ticketing marketplaces nationally, so that concert-goers know the full out-of-pocket cost of a ticket plus fees right upfront.
“Opponents to these common sense reforms have an agenda to continue to keep tickets flowing directly to both scalpers and the secondary market.” reads a statement in which FAIR Ticketing Reforms is announced.
“Scalpers are fighting hard for unlimited resale – and, unfortunately, they are winning, as there are 12 states where these laws are already in effect or going to a vote for passage soon,” the message continues, noting that through scalper lobbyists, and clever branding, ticket touts are “ultimately harming fans”.
The campaign is a national one, but is sure to catch the attention of live music industries around the world which have long grappled with organized scalpers.
FAIR Ticketing launches as ticketing faces extraordinary scrutiny in the United States. Some of that heat has come from Ticketmaster’s record-busting presale for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, during which 2.4 million tickets were sold in a single day. The Swift Eras presale was spoiled by a cyberattack, which disrupted over 100,000 transactions, and resulted in fingers pointed (and lawsuits targeted) at Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
Following that debacle, Live Nation and its sister company decided on a strategy to hit-back at scalpers while educating consumers about how fees are assessed. Through that, Ticketmaster targeted scalpers through legislation and drafted a bill, the FAIR Ticketing Act, that would outlaw drip pricing and grant artists the ability to ban scalper websites from reselling their tickets.
FAIR Ticketing, an extension of that mission, is “not about locking down resale to any one ticketing site, it’s about letting artists set the terms on which their tickets are sold,” reads the official launch statement.
“If all resellers would play by the rules of the content owners, the problem would be solved, and that’s what FAIR reforms aim to make happen.”
Visit FairTicketing.com for more information.
A Los Angeles judge has handed The Offspring a victory in its long legal battle with former drummer Ron Welty, who claimed he was owed millions more in profits from the veteran punk band’s $35 million catalog sale.
Welty, the band’s drummer from 1987 to 2003, claimed that lead singer Dexter Holland tried to “erase” his contributions to the Offspring’s golden era, including by failing to pay him his rightful cut of the sale of the band’s rights to Round Hill Music in 2015.
But Judge William F. Fahey largely rejected his accusations after a bench trial last fall, calling some of Welty’s allegations “completely illogical.” And in a final ruling on Monday, the judge sided with the Offspring on all remaining claims.
“Judgement is entered in favor of defendants Offspring Inc.,” the judge wrote. “Plaintiff Ron Welty shall take nothing.”
In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday, Welty’s attorney Jordanna G. Thigpen vowed to continue the fight: “In the few months I have been working with my deserving client and attempting to resolve this matter, it has become clear that the lower court was not the place where justice will be done. We are absolutely appealing, and look forward to higher authorities’ review of this court’s several decisions and its ultimate judgment.”
An attorney for the Offspring declined to comment on the decision.
Come Out and Pay
Welty joined the Offspring in 1987 and served as the band’s drummer across its heyday, including on its breakout 1994 album Smash and its 1998 peak with Americana, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spent more than a year on the chart. When he left the band in 2003, no reasons were reported at the time.
But 17 years on, Welty filed a sweeping lawsuit in September 2020, claiming Holland and the other members had “forced him out of the band without cause” despite his “significant contributions to The Offspring’s success.” His lawyers claimed he was owed millions of dollars, and that the band was trying to “erase Mr. Welty and his achievements from the band’s history.”
“This lawsuit seeks, among other things, redress for The Offspring’s failure to pay Mr. Welty his rightful share of the band’s proceeds and a prohibition against their ongoing efforts to harm Mr. Welty, his legacy with the band, and his ongoing career,” his attorneys wrote at the time.
In particular, Welty’s lawsuit challenged the 2015 sale of the band’s music to Round Hill, which saw the company pay a reported $35 million for both the recorded masters for six studio albums and a greatest hits album, as well as the band’s music publishing rights covering its entire career.
But as revealed in later court filings, that deal was really structured as two separate deals: one $20 million payment split among the band’s key performers for the rights to the recorded masters, and another $15 million paid directly to Holland for the publishing rights, which he had retained exclusively.
In his lawsuit, Welty claimed he had not only been underpaid for his portion of the recordings, but that he was owed a portion of the $15 million Holland had earned from sale of his publishing rights.
But at a bench trial held in October, the other members of the Offspring’s best-known lineup testified that structure of the deal was fair. Both Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman and Gregory “Greg K.” Kriesel told the judge that Holland had written all of the band’s music, thus had rightly retained all publishing rights.
In a written decision in January citing that testimony, Judge Fahey ruled that the deal had been “structured in accordance with industry standards” and that Welty had failed to prove that he was entitled to a cut of Holland’s $15 million.
“It is hard even to envision a reason why these two other band members would agree to such a structure unless they believed that Holland was the creator and owner of the music compositions,” the judge wrote at the time.
“To adopt Welty’s theory would require this court to conclude that Wasserman and Kreisel knowingly walked away from a share of the additional $15 million … as part of some scheme to deprive Welty of additional compensation,” Judge Fahey wrote. “Such a conclusion is completely illogical as well as unsupported.”
The January ruling also rejected Welty’s separate accusations that he was owed hundreds of thousands in unpaid royalties.
Following that decision, other issues in the case remained technically unresolved, and the case might have proceeded to another trial at some point in the future. But in Monday’s decision, Judge Fahey made clear that his January decision had effectively ended the case and that “no issues remained to be tried.” All of Welty’s remaining claims against the band were “premised on the same allegations and present the same factual and legal issues on which the court already ruled in defendants’ favor,” he wrote.
SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz said on Tuesday that the company’s recent job cuts were difficult but “the right thing to do” as the business grapples with lower ad sales, a still-delayed recovery in automotive subscription business and major investments in its technology.
SiriusXM announced this week it was letting go of 475 employees, or roughly 8% of its workforce, which totaled 5,869 employees as of Dec. 31, 2022.
“It’s really tough to see the number of talented employees leaving the business,” Witz said Tuesday at a conference hosted by Morgan Stanley. “It was the right thing to do for the business. We absolutely want to make sure we’re disciplined. We will operate much more efficiently going forward and that’s going to give us even more flexibility to invest where we need to to build out this platform and generate future growth.”
Among the employees impacted were Steve Leeds, vice president of talent and industry and a 17-year veteran of the company who developed SiriusXM’s artist branded stations like E Street Radio and recruited talent like Lou Reed and Marshall Chess; and Roger Coletti, senior director and executive producer talk programming who, during his eight years at SiriusXM, helped create Volume, SiriusXM’s talk radio channel dedicated to music topics.
SiriusXM is the latest in a long list of companies in technology, consumer products and other industries to announce it was cutting its workforce and operating leaner due to the uncertain economic climate. Layoff.fyi, a website tracking job cuts in the technology sector, estimates more than 126,000 employees have been let go from tech company jobs so far in 2023, compared to 161,000 employees let go in all of 2022.
Witz, a former Viacom executive who has been with SiriusXM since 2002, said the company has been reviewing areas to reduce costs since the middle of last year. It made cuts to new hiring, content development, discretionary marketing and the company’s real estate footprint, but ultimately prepared to reduce staff as ad sales slowed in December.
“Advertising is definitely a headwind,” Witz said. “That’s 20% of our revenue… And subscriber volume — we expect this to be modestly negative. The auto sales, we haven’t seen a recovery materialize. The first quarter is going to be tough.”
Witz said that operating with a leaner workforce will enable the company to capitalize on growth opportunities she sees in automotive subscriptions at the high end, where customers pay as much as $35 per month.
SiriusXM reaches roughly 150 million listeners across its divisions, including 34.3 million Sirius XM subscribers, 6.2 million Pandora subscribers, and podcasts, according to the company’s most recent annual report.
SiriusXM’s core product — satellite subscription radio programs — have historically been consumed in cars, with SiriusXM radios available in about 152 million vehicles, as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to filings.
As the company looks to smart speakers and other connected devices to expand its reach to consumers, it is also expanding it content offering and prioritizing podcasting.
“We do see a bright spot in podcasting,” Witz said.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers on Wednesday (March 8) posted a 14% increase in collections to $1.522 billion while also reporting its fund available for distributions to songwriters and publishers grew 10.7% to $1.388 billion in 2022. In the prior year — 2021, when the economy was still impacted by the COVID pandemic — the performance rights organization disclosed revenues of $1.335 billion and distribution funds at $1.254 billion.
Moreover, the double-digit percentage increase for collection and distribution funds represents a significant bump from the pandemic-scarred 2021 when ASCAP posted a less than 1% increase in collections from 2020’s $1.327 billion and a 3.4% increase in distribution funds from $1.213 billion.
The PRO attributed its rebound and continued growth to its 2015-launched strategic growth plan, which focused on revenue growth, technological innovation and operational efficiency.
“It is our technical innovation coupled with an unparalleled work ethic that grew our domestic revenue 16.5% in 2022 and yielded a 6% compound annual growth rate since the inception of our strategic plan eight years ago,” ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews said in a statement. Beyond that, ASCAP also noted the organization had achieved a 7% compound annual growth rate for total distributions to members over the same time period.
In an apparent reference toward ASCAP’s competitors — BMI, SESAC and GMR — Matthews continued her statement by noting it is “the only US PRO that operates on a not-for-profit basis which is a key differentiator among PROs. ASCAP creator and publisher members are the sole beneficiaries of this growth because we invested years ago in cloud computing, enabling us to address the challenges of digital streaming efficiently, and because we only pay songwriters and publishers, not private investors.”
Breaking out collections, ASCAP said its domestic receipts grew 16.5% to $1.178 billion from 2021’s $1.011 billion; while foreign receipts grew 6.3% to $344 million from the prior year’s total of $323.5 million. It attributed the discrepancy in growth rates to “challenges due to foreign currency exchange volatility.”
Moving over to funds available for distribution, ASCAP said domestic distribution funds totaled $1.048 billion — a 14.9% increase over the prior year’s total of $912.6 million, and further noted that it was the first time those funds had surpassed the $1 billion mark.
“We are elated to share these historic financial revenue and distribution results for 2022 with our songwriter, composer and publisher members, who are the foundation of the music we all love,” ASCAP chairman and president Paul Williams said in a statement. “In the US, we have competition, meaning that creators have a choice, and that choice should be ASCAP. It is in ASCAP’s DNA to ensure that we operate in the best interest of all our members. Our financial success for over 100 years, and a singular commitment to nurture their careers and maximize the value of their music, prove that our not-for-profit model of collective licensing works.”
Meanwhile, foreign revenue funds available for distribution totaled $340 million, or $1 million less than 2021’s total of $341 million. The latter total was larger than the $323 million reported for 2021 foreign receipts, and ASCAP attributed the unusual occurrence to “technological and distribution process efficiencies and timing.”
Finally, the organization said it delivered 90 cents on the dollar back to its members and affiliates, thus implying its expense structure costs 10% of revenue — and that’s down from 12.3% of collections in 2015 — the last time ASCAP publicly revealed detailed financials including a breakdown in its expense structure.
In its latest results, ASCAP said that it grew every major category of performance licensing, reporting general licensing revenue increased by 40%, radio by 32%, audio streaming by 16% and audio-visual by 7%, without breaking out the actual revenue numbers those income streams achieved in 2022 or 2021.
Comedian Bert Kreischer is ready to go back out with a blackout, pulling himself up to the bar for round two of his party-driven Fully Loaded Comedy Festival beginning June 14 and hitting 16 ballparks and arenas across the country.
Aside from Kreischer, this year’s lineup includes Mark Normand, Shane Gillis, Tiffany Haddish, Stavros Halkias, Fortune Feimster, Dave Attell, Lewis Black, Jim Norton, Andrew Santino, Big Jay Oakerson, Jay Pharoah, Dan Soder, Chad Daniels, Ralph Barbosa, Rosebud Baker and Tammy Pescatelli.
“Fully Loaded is the best ticket you can buy in entertainment this summer – Indoors, outdoors, baseball stadiums, arenas, and The Gorge,” Kreischer says, calling the traveling festival “an absolute no-brainer for any comedy fan.”
The concept for the Fully Loaded Comedy Festival, promoted by Outback Presents, was conceived during Bert’s 2020 Hot Summer Nights Tour while performing outdoor shows at drive-in venues (a pandemic consideration). The idea was to created a traveling comedy festival inspired by the original Lollapalooza touring festival and encompass everything he loves: “comedy, the outdoors, good times, and drinking with friends to give fans an experience they will be talking about for years to come,” a release announcing the festival explains.
This year the festival will partner with the charity Comedy Gives Back, an organization founded as a safety net for comics by providing them with financial crisis relief, mental health support and more.
On March 14, he will release his highly anticipated fifth stand-up special, Razzle Dazzle on Netflix and will star in the Legendary/Sony Picture film, The Machine, premiering May 26.
“Set 23 years after the study abroad experience he chronicled in his 2016 Showtime stand-up special, the movie follows Kreischer as the Russian mafia finally catches up with him after all these years and seeks retribution for the crimes that he committed in their country as a rowdy, drunken college student,” according to a press release.
Kreischer is also a popular podcast host with several top comedy podcasts including Bertcast and Two Bears One Cave that he co-hosts with Tom Segura. He also hosts the popular YouTube cooking show, Something’s Burning.
Presale passes are now on sale with a public on-sale scheduled for March at 10 AM. FULLY LOADED COMEDY FESTIVAL 2023:06/14/23 – Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium06/15/23 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena06/16/23 – Moosic, PA – PNC Field06/17/23 – Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion 06/22/23 – Traverse City, MI – Turtle Creek Stadium06/23/23 – Fort Wayne, IN – Parkview Field06/24/23 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center06/25/23 – Lincoln, NE – Pinnacle Bank Arena 07/06/23 – Huntsville, AL – The Orion Amphitheater07/07/23 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King Center07/08/23 – Memphis, TN – AutoZone Park07/09/23 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom Center 07/12/23 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena07/13/23 – Salt Lake City, UT – Vivint Arena07/14/23 – Boise, ID – ExtraMile Arena07/15/23 – George, WA – Gorge Amphitheatre