Business
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The music industry was radically reshaped in the three years since Ari Herstand last updated his how-to instruction manual for independent musicians, How to Make it in the New Music Business: Practical Tips on Building a Loyal Following and Making a Living as a Musician, first published in 2016. The pandemic changed how musicians monetize live music, social media apps re-wrote the rules about promoting music and blockchain-based products went mainstream.
“A lot has changed,” says Herstand. “I would say more has changed in the last three years than probably the last 20 years.”
Now in its third edition, How to Make it in the New Music Business has joined Don Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business as a go-to source for navigating the industry’s dire straits. Herstand augments the book with a podcast of the same name and his long-running blog, Ari’s Take, that are informed by his own music career. As a solo artist and the front man of the Los Angeles-based funk band Brassroots District, Herstand understands the tribulations of the working musician.
“It’s not a straight line anymore,” he says about becoming a successful musician in 2023. Marketing and promotion is fragmented. Some artists use TikTok while others reach fans through old-fashioned SMS marketing. Some artists take a traditional path of building a fan base through touring. They have multiple options for crowdfunding and merch sales. Independent artists can follow Herstand’s examples of getting their music used in television, films and advertisements. “There is no one way to create a successful music career.”
How to Make It in the New Music Business has sold well and become regarded as a must-read for musicians. Are you surprised by its success?
I’m grateful that so many people have taken to the book. You know, the reason that I felt I needed to write this was because I had felt there was a void in the industry for manuals and helpful guides for the working musician. There were no books out there helping musicians navigate this new music business. Most of the other music business books that were widely regarded as kind of the go-to music industry Bibles were written by lawyers decades ago, and started with the incorrect premise that the only way to succeed in the music industry is by getting a record contract and a record label.
I hear from musicians every day. I had my book signing last night and so I got to meet and talk to a lot of them. People have told me how much the book has really helped them. I’ve heard from Grammy winners, I’ve heard from other people who are navigating [the industry] as middle-class musicians.
Is the notion of a do-it-yourself musician kind of outdated in a complex music business or has the term DIY always undersold the amount of teamwork involved in an artist’s success?
There is no artist that is truly DIY. I think that the DIY term now refers to artists that aren’t working with a traditional team. But there are non-traditional teams, and I outline what the “new team” looks like in the new music business. It can be everyone from a graphic designer that you’re working with, or someone to help you run your social media ads, to a videographer, to someone that can help guide you with royalty collection. Everybody needs team members. It’s impossible to do all of this on your own. And so, it’s just about finding those people who believe in what you’re doing, want to be part of the journey with you in any capacity, and then use their strengths to fill in the blank where your weaknesses may lie, or maybe where you just don’t have the time, or knowhow or desire to do those things yourself.
It’s far too much to manage and handle for one person. I encourage artists to learn everything that they need to get done and then delegate. Some people will delegate with a traditional role like a manager. Other people will delegate to their friends who just want to come help out. They might not have the traditional title of manager, but they might be partners in various capacities.
At my book signings last night, I interviewed Theo Katman from the band Vulfpeck. I think he is a great example of a DIY icon. This is a band that has no manager, no record label, and they sold out Madison Square Garden, the Greek Theatre and Red Rock [Amphitheatre]. That’s something that was previously unheard of. Theo, as a solo artist, also does not have a manager. He told me he likes to maintain control. He doesn’t want to give up percentage of his career – 15-20% of gross – to anyone, and he’s playing to 3,000 capacity rooms all over the country right now and selling out these rooms.
About three years passed between editions of your book. What changed in the music business during that time that demanded inclusion in the new edition?
For one, the pandemic. You know, the industry looks quite different post-pandemic. There were over 100,000 livestream concerts that happened just in 2020 and 2021. TikTok came into prominence over the last three years. In the previous edition, I have one mention of TikTok. And now, I have an entire rewritten chapter on social media telling a lot of the stories of how TikTok has really enabled musicians to find an audience – some in a massive way and others in just a sustainable way. I talked about what’s happening with NFTs in the metaverse. And with the MLC [Music Licensing Collective] now in place I updated how royalty collection works, and how artists can structure their royalty collection and the parties that they need to work with if they’re remaining independent and aren’t working with a traditional publisher to collect their royalties or publishing royalties like mechanicals and performance.
And I talked about how record label record deals are structured. I interviewed a lot of artists that were offered 50-50 licensing deals from major record labels. This is something that was completely unheard of. I’ve never really seen a 50-50 licensing deal with a big advance –usually a six- or seven-figure advance – to completely independent artists with very little track record other than a TikTok song going viral.
I think the major labels are looking at these bands and they need to be far more competitive with the label services companies out there. Independent artists are realizing they don’t really need the record labels like they once did.
Independent artists tend to be quick to adopt new technologies. Let’s talk real quickly about a few of them. You mentioned TikTok. What’s the opportunity there for the independent artist?
I have never seen a social media platform be as effective as quickly. There’s never been on platforms to launch songs as quickly and as powerfully as Tiktok has been able to. I’m less interested in superstar stories – there’s always some people and money behind the scenes pulling the strings. But what is is more interesting to me are some of these artists that are completely independent where sure some of them go viral and then get offered major record deals, but more so it’s the ones that are using it on an ongoing basis to build a sustainable fan base and interact with their audience, tell stories about themselves.
And where TikTok is now moving in 2023, which I think is actually very exciting for the independent artists, is the “For You” page has become so niche and fragmented that artists can find their community and not have any songs go viral. The algorithm now has become so honed that it is now connecting artists with fans in a way that feels natural and is under the radar from most of the industry and the labels. It’s really helpful for these artists.
Web3: for the independent musician, is it a mirage, or a good place to put resources and time?
I think Web3 is going to continue to find its footing. And I don’t think it’s a fad. I know that it got a lot of hype a year or two ago when NFTs were all the rage. There’s a lot of utility that I’m seeing happen. There is the company Royal. There’s another company Labelcoin. [Herstand is on Labelcoin’s advisory board.] Fans are able to invest in artists’ songs that they might believe in participate in the share of royalties. Web3 technologies give a very streamlined ability to do this. It’s kind of like crowdfunding. I call it crowdfunding 3.0 Crowdfunding 1.0 was Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Crowdfunding 2.0 was Patreon, that ongoing support. Now crowdfunding 3.0 is a fan investing model. So that’s where some of the utility of Web3 is moving.
I see Web3 as something that is constantly evolving and starting to find its footing. I don’t see it going anywhere. It’s like, the internet wasn’t a fad. Social media wasn’t a fad, but it evolved and it isn’t what it was when it first came out. So that’s, that’s what we went through. It’s still very early stages. But it is a very exciting frontier.
There are a lot of platforms and services these days for funding, whether it’s crowd funding or advances or loans. What do you think of these opportunities for independent artists? Are they on artists’ radars?
Yeah, there are distributors out there that have built right into their platform. TuneCore does this. Because they have all of your streaming data, they can get through their own internal algorithms crunch the numbers offer their artists advances. There’s standalone companies out there as well that that artists can apply to to get royalties and get advances from. I don’t think enough artists know about these platforms, and they’re more popping up every day. But it is very exciting that they can say, “All right, well, let’s look at the previous three years of your streaming data. Okay, this song earned about $10,000 a year. So we anticipate this is probably going to earn $10,000 a year for the next five years. So, we can write you a $50,000 check today. And then we’re going to kind of take the first $60,000 that comes in from the song over the five-six years, and we’ll make a little profit, and you get $50,000 today.” That’s happening. That’s kind of what the TuneCore model is and what a lot of these other companies’ models are. That’s available for artists that have pretty good streaming numbers. It’s modest but that advance could help them with the marketing of their new music and help them go on tour or help them buy inventory.
It’s been a little over a year since the Dec. 15, 2021 plane crash that killed Puerto Rican producer Flow La Movie along with his partner Debbie Von Marie Jimenez García and their children, aged 21, 18 and four.
Born José Angel Hernández, Flow La Movie was 38 at the time of the crash and is survived by a daughter, Keigelyan Hernandez.
He also left behind a catalog of hit recordings released under his indie label, AH Entertainment, including the star-studded “Te Boté,” which topped Hot Latin Songs for 14 weeks, and the entire catalog of rapper Nio García, including “AM” and viral hit “La Jeepeta.”
Those songs, along with García’s recording contract, have been ensnarled in a complex legal battle that has prevented García –at the cusp of his career– from releasing any further material.
Until today, with the release of “Yeska”, his first single in more than a year.
The track is out on Glad Empire, the Orlando-based indie entertainment company that used to distribute AH Entertainment, and also works with artists like Anuel. Glad is now in the process of negotiating a new distribution deal Garcia.
“For a while, I thought this moment would never come,” García said in a press release. “I was crazy to release new music for my fans.”
But García could not release music because his recording contract was tied to AH and Flow La Movie, aka Hernandez.
According to García’s lawsuit, filed last year, the problems started when Hernández’s mother, Ilianes Ruiz, claimed to be the sole heir to Hernández’s estate, via a will allegedly signed by Hernández. Because she controlled the estate, Ruiz did not allow García to release new music, as his recording contract was part of Hernández’s estate.
However, the signature on Hernández’s will was determined to be suspect. As a result, Hernández’s only living child, Keigelyan Hernandez, claimed the inheritance as hers, and joined the lawsuit that García had already filed against Ruiz.
Hernández’s estate went into probate, and all contracts and music tied to it came to a screeching halt until Dec. 13, 2021, when all parties signed a global settlement agreement that names Hernández the personal representative of her father’s estate. The agreement, shared exclusively with Billboard, also released García from any obligation with AH, allowing him to enter a new recording agreement with Glad Empire.
“The only thing we wanted to do was continue to release music and carry out Flow La Movie’s wishes and legacy,” says Camille Soto, CEO of GLAD Empire, who late last year, after the agreement was signed, released a compilation of Flow La Movie’s top hits, titled Flow Movie Remixes.
“I am so happy his music can live on.”
Music publisher BMG is suing a toymaker for promoting a brand of “unicorn poop” toys by releasing a song called “My Poops” – a scatological parody set to the tune of Black Eyed Peas’ “My Humps.”
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the publisher accused toymaker MGA Entertainment of infringing the copyright to the band’s smash 2005 hit, which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and spent 36 total weeks on the chart.
Released to promote MGA’s Poopsie Slime Surprise toys – unicorns that release sparkling “unicorn poop” slime – the song at issue features similar musical elements to the original, but with joke lyrics like “Whatcha gonna do with all that poop, all that poop.”
In addition to copying key musical elements, BMG says MGA’s song features a lead vocalist who “sounds very similar” to Black Eyed Peas lead singer Fergie.
“Music, especially a hit song such as ‘My Humps,’ adds great value when incorporated into a product or used in a video advertisement, because it increases consumer recognizability, consumer engagement and attention to the product,” BMG wrote in its lawsuit. “The infringing work is so substantially similar to ‘My Humps’ that it is obvious that the infringing work was intentionally copied.”
MGA’s song was released as a music video on YouTube, but BMG claims the copycat song was also incorporated into actual products. A sticker on the Poopsie Slime Surprise packages directed users to the video, the publisher says, and the actual dolls will play a snippet of the song when a “heart-shaped bellybutton” is pressed.
“Defendant has been selling the Dancing Unicorn Toys incorporating the Infringing Work all over the world and has received substantial revenue,” BMG’s lawyers wrote. “The Poopsie Slime Surprise product line has generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue for Defendant.”
In musical terms, BMG says that MGA’s song stole a number of key elements, including the melody, bass line, rhyme scheme, chord progression, cadence and others, and that the “My Poops” singer uses “a similar delivery and vocal inflections as used by Fergie.” It also says the name of the song is “an obvious play” on the name of the original.
Neither BMG nor MGA immediately returned requests for comment on Friday.
The new lawsuit sets the stage for a high-profile dispute over parody songs – a complex area of federal copyright law.
The legal doctrine of “fair use” expressly empowers people to parody existing copyrighted works, and one of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most seminal copyright rulings held that 2 Live Crew was legally allowed to release a bawdy parody of Roy Orbison’s rock ballad “Oh, Pretty Woman” without paying royalties. But the music industry’s premiere parodist, “Weird Al” Yankovic, voluntarily chooses to license all of the songs that he parodies. And the legal analysis is undoubtedly trickier when a parody song is used for outright commercial advertising or as part of an actual consumer product, rather than merely as a new song.
A more recent case pitted the Beastie Boys against a toy company called GoldieBlox, which released a viral parody of the group’s 1987 song “Girls” to promote its engineering and construction toys for girls. After the band threatened copyright infringement, GoldieBlox argued fair use – saying it had aimed to criticize the “highly sexist” message of the original Beastie Boys track and “further the company’s goal to break down gender stereotypes.”
But six months later, GoldieBlox agreed to a settlement in which it apologized to the Beastie Boys and agreed to donate a portion of its revenues to charities of the band’s choosing.
Read BMG’s entire lawsuit here:
Brazilian powerhouse singer-songwriter Ludmilla has inked a new management deal with WK Entertainment and Central Sonora. The alliance arrives after she won a 2022 Latin Grammy for her album Numanice #2, and after making history as the first Afro-Latina artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify.
“[This deal] is a very important step in my career,” Ludmilla tells Billboard Español. “WK Entertainment/Central Sonora, together with my company Sem Querer Produções, will add structure and they will assist in enhancing my musical work, which is my focus. I am very happy and excited about this partnership and I am sure it will yield many results.”
Together, the teams will work to further amplify Ludmilla’s global artistic development. Central to this growth is Central Sonora’s CEO Cesar Figueiredo, who is leading this new stage in the artist’s career. He will oversee all management functions of the project. Walter Kolm, who is the founder and CEO of WK Entertainment and WK Records, will also provide support while helping develop key relations for Ludmilla’s continued growth.
“Ludmilla reflects the true sonority that exists in Brazil today. She is ready to conquer the world by exploring our Brazilian culture,” Figueiredo said in a statement shared with Billboard Español. “Our alliance began a few years ago as a friendship and has since blossomed, giving us the opportunity to finally work together professionally. It is truly an honor for me as a manager to represent a highly regarded and iconic artist such as Ludmilla.”
“This is a phase in my career that is very diverse and different from anything I’ve ever done, a phase that accompanies my current state and the work I propose, which has 100 per cent my truth and [aligned with] my artistic vein,” the artist adds.
With her propulsive pop and funk formula, Ludmilla has become a force to be reckoned with in her native Brazil and beyond. And her ever-expanding fan base further testifies her rise to prominence — she currently has 28.8 million followers on Instagram and 10.5 million on Twitter. The singer-songwriter navigates stylistic configurations with ease, whether she’s soulfully singing an R&B ballad (“Quem é Você”), spitting some funky carioca bars (“Tic Tac”) or charming listeners with sweet samba songs (“Maldivas”). Her gritty trap features equally intrigue, like on “Tanto Faz.”
“I think of funk as an agent of change, especially in the lives of so many peripheral people who don’t have opportunities,” she says. “Funk embraces and elevates, it makes is claim our place in the world.”
Ludmilla is poised to drop her next singles “Sou Má,” featuring funk MCs Tasha and Tracie, as well as “Nasci Pra Vencer” on Feb. 2. “The lyrics [to the latter trap song] tell my story, which is similar to the story of those who come from a place without [economic] gains, but with talent and hard work, we can reach places we never thought possible. It’s about me, but it’s also about others who I hope feel represented,” she says.
Last week, Billboard Español exclusively announced WK Record’s Brazilian operational expansion, which began quietly running last year. It will function to develop the careers of local talent with global appeal, while creating international opportunities for them.
“I am delighted to welcome Ludmilla to our family of artists and join her in this exciting new journey, in partnership with Central Sonora,” Kolm stated. “Our companies look forward to amplifying Ludmilla’s career around the world and to consolidate [her] position as one of Brazil’s top artists.”
Ludmilla is currently working on an eclectic album which, she mentions, will span genres like pop, R&B, funk, trap and more.
Tracy McKnight is joining BMI as vp of creative, film, TV & visual media. In the role, McKnight will lead the day-to-day functions of the department while identifying and signing new affiliates to BMI and cultivating relationships with the company’s roster of film, TV and visual media composers. Additionally, she will help develop programs and events that support career development while providing opportunities to highlight the work of BMI’s composers. She is based out of BMI’s Los Angeles office and will report to BMI executive vp of creative & licensing Mike Steinberg; she assumes the role on Jan. 23. McKnight most recently oversaw the film score acquisition department at Wise Publishing.
Riccardo Loda was promoted to head of A&R at Warner Chappell Music (WCM) Italy; he was previously A&R manager. Based in Milan, he’ll report to WCM president of Southern Europe Santiago Menéndez-Pidal.
Anton Powers joined Sony Music Entertainment’s Ministry of Sound Records as head of A&R. Powers joins the label following three years at Warner Records. He reports to Columbia Records UK president Dipesh Parmar.
Sam Jackson was named controller at BBC Radio 3, succeeding Alan Davey, who will step down from the position in March after eight years. In the role, Jackson will drive creative and managerial responsibility for running Radio 3 while delivering on the annual classical music festival BBC Proms. He was most recently executive vp of global classics & jazz at Universal Music Group. Jackson begins his new role in April, reporting to BBC director of music Lorna Clarke.
Tracklib hired Michael Cassidy as chief product and technology officer and tapped Andreas Liffgarden (Soundtrack Your Brand) to serve as an advisor on the company’s board. Cassidy formerly served as chief innovation officer at FUGA and was a consultant on strategy and technology for Downtown Music Holdings.
Adrian Karvinen was appointed vp of music business & partnerships at Web3 entertainment company Hume, which creates virtual artists. Karvinen will be tasked with building partnerships with brands and artists for the company’s so-called “metastars.” He was most recently director of North America and head of crypto-integration and catalog acquisitions for AI music company Snafu Records.
Nicholas Brema was promoted to business manager at Leftbrain. He can be reached at nbrema@useleftbrain.com.
Lily Collins was named account manager at Milestone Publicity in Nashville; she was formerly associate publicist. She can be reached at LCollins@MilestonePublicity.com.
Tenasie Courtright joined Jody Williams Songs as creative coordinator. Based in Nashville, she previously worked as a brand ambassador for Simple Logistics Solutions. She can be reached at tenasie@jodywilliamssongs.co.
Google is laying off 12,000 workers, or about 6% of its workforce, becoming the latest tech company to trim staff as the economic boom that the industry rode during the COVID-19 pandemic ebbs.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, the parent company of Google, informed staff Friday at the Silicon Valley giant about the cuts in an email that was also posted on the company’s news blog.
It’s one of the company’s biggest-ever round of layoffs and adds to tens of thousands of other job losses recently announced by Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta and other tech companies as they tighten their belts amid a darkening outlook for the industry. Just this month, there have been at least 48,000 job cuts announced by major companies in the sector.
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth,” Pichai wrote. “To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
He said the layoffs reflect a “rigorous review” carried out by Google of its operations.
The jobs being eliminated “cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions,” Pichai said. He said he was “deeply sorry” for the layoffs.
Regulatory filings illustrate how Google’s workforce swelled during the pandemic, ballooning to nearly 187,000 people by late last year from 119,000 at the end of 2019.
Pichai said that Google, founded nearly a quarter of a century ago, was “bound to go through difficult economic cycles.”
“These are important moments to sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities,” he wrote.
There will be job cuts in the U.S. and in other unspecified countries, according to Pichai’s letter.
The tech industry has been forced to freeze hiring and cut jobs “as the clock has struck midnight on hyper growth and digital advertising headwinds are on the horizon,” Wedbush Securities analysts Dan Ives, Taz Koujalgi and John Katsingris wrote Friday.
Just this week, Microsoft announced 10,000 job cuts, or nearly 5% of its workforce. Amazon said this month its cutting 18,000 jobs, although that’s a fraction of its 1.5 million strong workforce, while business software maker Salesforce is laying off about 8,000 employees, or 10% of the total. Last fall Facebook parent Meta announced it would shed 11,000 positions, or 13% of its workers. Elon Musk slashed jobs at Twitter after after he acquired the social media company last fall.
Those job cuts are hitting smaller players as well. U.K.-based cybersecurity firm Sophos laid off 450 employees, or 10% of its global workforce. Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase cut 20% of its workforce, about 950 jobs, in its second round of layoffs in less than a year.
“The stage is being set: tech names across the board are cutting costs to preserve margins and get leaner” in the current economic climate, the Wedbush analysts said.
Employment in the U.S. has been resilient despite signs of a slowing economy, and there were another 223,000 jobs added in December. Yet the tech sector grew exceptionally fast over the last several years due to increased demand as employees began to work remotely.
CEOs of a number of companies have taken blame for growing too fast, yet those same companies, even after the latest round of job cuts, remain much larger than they were before the economic boom from the pandemic began.
A court in India has ordered internet service providers to block access to 20 sites that were used to illegally download audio and video streams in India from platforms like YouTube, the IFPI says.
The civil ruling, published in the High Court of Delhi on Jan. 12, was the first such action in India to tackle the practice of stream-ripping, one of the country’s most rampant forms of piracy. The 20 blocked sites collectively received nearly half a billion visits last year from users based in India, according to the IFPI, which coordinated the action with the Indian Music Industry (IMI) on behalf of Sony Music India, Universal Music India and Warner Music India.
The labels told the court that the “rogue websites” were providing services in which copyrighted content on various platforms, primarily YouTube, could be downloaded in mp3 or mp4 format by copying the link in the space provided in the websites. Because the details of the websites’ real administrators are masked, the plaintiffs’ lawyer argued it would be impossible for them to pursue the websites in separate proceedings regarding individual copyrighted content.
Justice C Hari Shankar, who wrote the order, directed India’s government to issue a notification calling upon the various Internet service providers to block access to the websites in India. (The court order reviewed by Billboard says there are 18 defendants, but IFPI says the decision targets 20 infringing websites and more than 50 urls.)
In India, websites are regularly blocked on the basis of copyright infringement using Section 69A of the Information and Technology Act 2000 (as amended in 2008), Information Technology Rules 2009 and civil procedure rules, the IFPI tells Billboard.
“We welcome this decision and the strong message it sends to operators of stream ripping sites, wherever they may be based, that we are prepared to take the appropriate action against them,” Frances Moore, IFPI’s chief executive, says in a press release.
“Given that it’s the first time a website blocking order has been granted against stream ripping websites, this precedent is an important step in the right direction for the Indian recorded music industry,” Blaise Fernandes, IMI’s president and CEO, says in the same release.
Digital music has been leading the way in the rapid growth of India’s music market, which booked $219 million in recorded music revenues in 2021, up 20.3% from 2020. Streaming, which grew by 22.5% in 2021, now represents 87% of total trade value in the 17th-largest music market, according to IFPI’s Global Market Report.
But the IFPI notes that a study last year found that India still has a rate of piracy more than twice that of most major music markets, with 73% of internet users using unlicensed or illegal methods to listen to music, compared to a global average of 30%. Intellectual property rights theft “is like a cancer,” Fernandes wrote in a 2020 op-ed. “You need both palliative care via social messaging, as well as chemotherapy via the Indian Penal Code or laws that keep up with the needs of India’s digital requirements.”
Beyond India, the recording industry has stepped up efforts to crack down on stream-ripping websites. Courts and authorities in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Ecuador, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Peru, Russia and Spain have all issued decisions over the last few years ordering service providers to block customers’ access to such websites, the IFPI says.
U.S. music companies have also battled stream-rippers, who are often based outside the country. In a case brought by more than two dozen record labels, a U.S. magistrate judge in Alexandria, Va., recommended in December 2021 that the operator of two Russian stream-ripping sites, Tofig Kurbanov, pay $82.9 million in damages for circumventing YouTube’s anti-piracy measures and infringing copyrights of audio recordings.
Kurbanov’s piracy operation drew more than 300 million global users to the sites from October 2017 to September 2018 alone, the court said. (U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton accepted the $82.9 million recommendation last February. In March, Kurbanov told the court he would appeal the judgement.)
As the streaming market has grown globally, the IFPI has also helped coordinate court and police actions to shut down sites peddling fake streams in major recording markets like Brazil and Germany, which are artificially juicing the success of songs and albums.
In France, the fifth-largest music market, a study released this week by a French government organization found that one billion streams — or between 1% to 3% of all streams in the market — were fraudulent in 2021. The report, which analyzed data from Spotify, Deezer and Qobuz, notes that “the methods used by fraudsters are constantly evolving and improving,” and that “fraud seems to be getting easier and easier to commit.”
Subscribers to Amazon Music Unlimited in the U.S. and U.K. will have to pay a higher price for the on-demand streaming service starting in February. According to Amazon’s customer service pages in both countries, subscribers to both individual and student plans will begin paying more starting Feb. 21.
In the U.S., Amazon Music Unlimited will increase from $9.99 to $10.99 for individual subscribers and climb from $4.99 to $5.99 for subscribers to the student plan. Likewise, U.K. prices will increase from 9.99 pounds to 10.99 pounds for individual subscribers and from 4.99 pounds to 5.99 pounds for student subscribers.
The e-commerce giant’s decision follows Apple’s move in October to charge higher prices for Apple Music as well as other cloud-based entertainment platforms and services. Apple Music also raised individual subscriptions from $9.99 to $10.99 per month in the U.S. It also increased the price of family plans, which offers up to six accounts under a single subscription, from $14.99 to $16.99 per month. Deezer, a small player in the U.S., raised the price of individual plans to $10.99 per month in 2022.
In May 2022, Amazon raised the price of Amazon Music Unlimited for Prime subscribers from $7.99 to $8.99 per month, and from $79 to $89 annually.
Spotify, the largest music subscription service, could soon follow suit. On the heels of Apple’s announcement, CEO Daniel Ek said during the company’s Oct. 25 earnings call that a U.S. price increase “is one of the things we would like to do.” Spotify has not raised its standard price from $9.99 since launching in the U.S. in 2011.
Emmy Lovell was named global head of music at SoundCloud, the company announced Thursday (Jan. 19).
In the role, Lovell will lead SoundCloud’s global music strategy and oversee its artist and label relations as well as its commercial label partnerships teams. She joins SoundCloud from Napster, where she most recently led the Napster app relaunch as interim CEO; prior to that, she was the company’s chief strategy officer. Based in London, she’ll report to SoundCloud chief content and marketing officer Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood.
“Emmy is the consummate music executive,” said Wirtzer-Seawood in a statement. “Her passion for the business and deep expertise in partnering with artists at all stages of their careers is critical as we continue to pioneer the future of fandom and unlock the full potential of the artist and fan relationship on SoundCloud.”
Lovell’s hire comes amid a company revamp that has seen SoundCloud working to reinvent itself as a distribution and artist and label services operation. Last year, the company struck a joint venture with Quality Control’s Solid Foundation, launched SoundCloud for Artists and signed direct partnerships with artists including Lil Pump, Tekno and Kelow LaTesha while also beefing up its artist partnerships team with the hires of Jessica Rivera and Maurice Slade. But it also experienced setbacks; in August, the company announced it would be cutting 20% of its workforce, with a rep stating the layoffs were “due to a significant company transformation and the challenging economic and financial environment.”
Elsewhere, SoundCloud partnered with the music collaboration and data management tool Session, acquired music AI company Musiio and signed a global licensing deal with Warner Music Group that adopted the user-centric “fan powered royalties” model — a switch from the pro-rata model traditionally utilized by streamers.
In addition to Napster, Lovell previously served as executive vp of WEA, part of Warner Music Group’s artist and label services arm, and also had stints at EMI Music, Bauer Media and the BBC.
“SoundCloud’s influence in pop culture is felt globally and their fast-paced and progressive approach to challenging the status quo in the music industry is refreshing,” said Lovell. “I look forward to working with Lauren and the team to continue the brilliant and innovative work SoundCloud has already done to create connection between their vibrant artist and fan communities.”
Texas promoter Edwin Cabaniss with Kessler Presents has announced plans to restore Dallas’ Longhorn Ballroom. The notorious nightclub was once owned by Chicago mob associate Jack Ruby, who famously shot and killed John F. Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald as he left Dallas Police headquarters on Nov. 23, 1963.
The Longhorn opened in the 1950s as singer Bob Wills’ Ranch House. It was later operated by recording artist and record label boss Dewey Groom through the ’60s and ’70s, hosting concerts by Nat King Cole, Patsy Cline, T- Bone Walker and many more.
Cabaniss plans to incorporate the venue’s long history when it reopens this spring, in part with the original museum-style display cases built into the walls. The venue has traded hands a number of times in recent years and closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These cases include everything from Tex Ritter’s suit to James Brown’s robe; an extraordinary collection of guitars from artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, and BB King,” according to a press release announcing the reopening plans.
“As a 5th generation Texan, I know how important the return of the Longhorn Ballroom is to Texas in general and to Dallas specifically,” says Cabanis. “The lore is real. The floors have secrets and the walls have memories. And we’re excited to tell these stories with each show we present.”
Cabannis previously restored The Kessler Theater in Dallas and The Heights Theater in Houston.
In a statement, Dallas mayor Eric Johnson added that the venue is “a monument to our city’s rich music history,” calling the project “a wonderful opportunity to help preserve a piece of our past.”
For grand opening details and lineup announcements, visit longhornballroomdallas.com.