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With 2022 now officially in the books, the U.S. market share report is in: with Bad Bunny, Lil Nas X and Harry Styles leading the way, it was a banner year for Sony Music, as it gained in both overall market share and, more drastically, in current market share on the leading Universal Music Group, narrowing the gap among releases less than 18 months old to 6.58% in 2022 — a chasm that stood at 13.7% at the end of 2021.
But there was good news for UMG, too, as Republic Records rode a red-hot fourth quarter — led by Taylor Swift’s Midnights, the No. 2 album of all of 2022 despite only being released in October — to rank No. 1 among labels in current market share for the entirety of 2022, coming in at 10.38%. That makes it the only label to top double digits in the final ranking of the year. And UMG maintained a double-digit lead in overall market share over second-place Sony, leading 37.54% to 26.87% despite the latter’s gains throughout the year. Interscope Geffen A&M finished the year as the No. 1 label in overall market share once again, coming in at 9.63%, though it was down from the 10.08% share it held at the end of 2021.
Sony’s overall market share grew 0.76% year over year — up to 26.87% in 2022 from 26.11% in 2021 — marking a big stride forward for the music group. That gain was largely at the expense of Universal Music Group, which dropped 0.66% year over year, from 38.20% in 2021 to 37.54% at the end of 2022. Meanwhile, Warner Music Group’s market share grew from 16.06% in 2021 to 19.05% in 2022, though that is not an apples-to-apples comparison; this year, Warner-owned distributor ADA — which distributes dozens of independent labels — was factored into WMG’s market share, adding 2.96% to its total and accounting for almost all of Warner’s jump. (The move more accurately aligns Warner’s distributed market share with the other majors, which also include their distribution wings in their totals.) That switch also explains the commensurate dip for the indie sector, which fell from 19.63% in 2021 to 16.54% in 2022.
In current market share, Universal fell more than 4%, from 37.89% in 2021 to 33.57% in 2022, with all three other major players picking up that slack, led by Sony, which ballooned significantly almost 3 percentage points to 26.99% in 2022 — up from 24.19% in 2021. Warner — even taking into account the 3.32% in current share added by ADA — was also up, from 14.42% in 2021 to 18.30% in 2022 (an increase of 0.56% beyond the ADA bump), while the indie sector went from 23.50% last year to 21.14% in 2022, which is up 0.96% year over year when taking into account the loss of the ADA labels. Universal did, however, raise its catalog percentage from 38.33% in 2021 to 38.94% in 2022, while the other three all fell slightly.
Following Interscope in overall market share, Atlantic remained in second, at 8.89%, although it, too, was down slightly from 2021, when it posted a 9.17% overall share of the market. Republic ended the year in third — the only label in the top five to grow its overall market share year over year — with an 8.44% mark, up from 8.28% through the end of 2021, while Columbia (6.98%) and Capitol Music Group (6.40%) rounded out the top five. (A note on these labels: Interscope’s market share includes Verve [0.85%]; Atlantic’s includes the now-combined 300 Elektra Entertainment Group [2.35%], which would have been good enough for ninth place on its own; Republic’s includes Island [1.51%], Cash Money [0.71%], Big Loud, Imperial and Mercury; Columbia includes some indie labels from distributor RED; and Capitol includes Virgin [1.78%], Motown/Quality Control [1.05%], Capitol Christian Music Group [0.61%], Astralwerks and Blue Note.)
In sixth, Warner Records — which includes Rhino, Warner Latin and a chunk of Warner Nashville in its market share — grew year over year, from 6.16% in 2021 to 6.35% in 2022, having steadily increased its share each quarter of the year. RCA, whose market share stands alone, did the same; the label came in seventh, growing in each quarter to a finish of 5.12% — up from 4.89% in 2021 — wrapping the year strongly with the four-week No. 1 run of SZA’s S.O.S. In eighth, Epic Records also picked up market share, rising to 2.63% in 2022 from a 2.38% share in 2021. Def Jam, in ninth, faltered to 2.07%, down from 2.25% in 2021; while Sony Nashville jumped into 10th, leapfrogging UMG Nashville by growing its market share from 1.99% to 2.04% year over year.
UMG Nashville dropped to 11th, slipping from 2.04% in 2021 to 1.85% in 2022, while Concord jumped from 13th (1.68%) in 2021 to 12th (1.73%) in 2022. Disney — with its early-year Encanto boost — was up to 1.60% in 2022 from 1.40% the year before, good for 13th, while Universal Latin (1.47%) and Sony Latin (1.24%) rounded out the top 15, both up from the year prior as well.
Republic had a big fourth quarter (9.57%), with four major releases — Stray Kids’ Maxident, Swift’s Midnights, Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss and Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains, all of which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — collectively topping the Billboard 200 for eight weeks. That helped boost its current market share from 8.77% through the first three quarters of the year to 10.38% by year’s end, with that late push taking it to No. 1 among all labels in terms of current market share in 2022.
Atlantic, in second place in current share, essentially maintained its level from last year, coming in at 9.15% (from 9.16% in 2021), though it moved up one spot from third place; while Interscope dropped sharply, from a stellar 11.05% in 2021 to 8.72% in 2022, falling from first to third. Columbia and Capitol, in fourth and fifth, respectively, both fell in share, the former from 6.83% to 6.67% and the latter from 5.64% to 4.97%; while Warner and RCA, in sixth and seventh, both grew in share, the former from 4.48% to 4.86% and the latter from 4.37% to 4.65%.
Outside the top seven labels, there was a bigger shakeup in current market share. Epic Records moved up to eighth place, gaining from a 2.04% current share in 2021 to 2.23% in 2022, while Sony Nashville jumped up to ninth, growing to 1.89% from 1.59% in 2021. Alamo made the biggest leap, all the way up to 10th in current share in 2021 at 1.56% in its first full year as a standalone Sony Music label; in 2021, its share was split between UMG and Sony as it was sold midway through the year, making an apples-to-apples comparison difficult. BMG, in 11th, held steady at 1.42%, while Disney, perhaps unsurprisingly, surged into 12th, up to 1.36% year over year from 0.52% in 2021. Def Jam, however, saw its current share sink from 2.21% in 2021 to 1.27% in 2022, finishing 13th, while Sony Latin (1.24%) and UMG Nashville (1.23%) rounded out the top 15.
As is generally the case, catalog market share tracked similarly to overall market share, as older titles generally perform consistently as a percentage of the market year over year. But both UMG and the indie sector grew year over year, while Sony and Warner, the latter accounting for the ADA switch, were both down slightly as well.
Harry Styles is on the legal offensive to combat fake merch on the internet.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chicago federal court, the pop star sued a number of online sellers for allegedly violating his intellectual property rights by selling counterfeit merchandise to unsuspecting Harry fans.
Arguing that the counterfeiters use misleading tactics to make it “difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer,” attorneys for Styles want a judge to issue a sweeping court order that would, among other things, force big web platforms like Amazon and Etsy (who are not named as defendants) to immediately shut down the listings.
“Plaintiff is forced to file this action to combat defendants’ counterfeiting of its registered trademarks, as well as to protect unknowing consumers from purchasing counterfeit products over the Internet,” the star’s lawyers wrote.
In bringing the case, Styles is employing an anti-counterfeiting tactic that’s frequently used by big brands to fight fakes on the internet.
Such cases, filed against huge lists of URLs rather than actual people, allow brands to shut pirate sites down en masse, win court orders to freeze their assets, and continue to kill new sites if they pop up. The lawsuits also usually result in massive monetary judgments against the sellers, but those are typically hard to actually collect from elusive counterfeiters.
Notably, the counterfeiters that Styles is targeting in the lawsuit are not currently disclosed, because such lawsuits are designed to take them by surprise: “If defendants were to learn of these proceedings prematurely, the likely result would be the destruction of relevant documentary evidence and the hiding or transferring of assets to foreign jurisdictions,” the pop star’s lawyers told the judge.
Such lawsuits are more common among big retails brands — Nike, Ray-Ban, Toyota and Tommy Hilfiger have all filed nearly-identical cases in the past two months — but the music industry also regularly uses the same tactic. Nirvana sued nearly 200 sites for selling fake gear in January; a few months later, the late rapper XXXTentacion’s company filed a similar case.
In his lawsuit, Styles claimed the counterfeiters are mostly located in China, or in “other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement system.” And he claimed they used sophisticated methods to target fans searching for Harry’s merch while avoiding detection, including “multiple fictitious aliases” and the use of meta tags.
“Tactics used by defendants to conceal their identities and the full scope of their operation make it virtually impossible for plaintiff to learn defendants’ true identities and the exact interworking of their counterfeit network,” the star’s attorneys wrote.
Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge has sent out his annual New Year’s memo to staff at UMG, within which he touted several of the wins — both artistically, but also culturally and socially — that the world’s largest music company achieved in the past year. But he also laid out several issues that he feels have arisen in the decade-plus since streaming was introduced and began to take over the music industry, and called for an “updated model” for the business that will be “an innovative, ‘artist-centric’ model that values all subscribers and rewards the music they love.”
Grainge, who just guided UMG through its first full year as a public company, touted the advances that UMG’s Task Force for Meaningful Change and other community efforts made around the world, including helping artists with health insurance through a partnership with Music Health Alliance and, through various initiatives, contributing to 500 organizations around the world. He also highlighted chart successes on all platforms, including the Billboard charts in the U.S. and in countries like Japan, China and the U.K., and UMG’s role in ushering in immersive and spatial audio, which has grown significantly in the past year.
But he also sought to position UMG as the lead innovator in the music business globally, particularly in a time of growth for the business in which “bad actors” have come in to take advantage of that growth.
“Unlike so many other players in the music world, especially the newer ones, UMG can never be regarded as merely a ‘checkbook and distribution’ company,” Grainge wrote. “Nor are we some convoluted financial instrument that seeks to exploit the recent growth in our industry. No, we are different. Very different. Because for all of us at UMG, music and the artists who create that music comprise our very raison d’être. It’s what gets us up in the morning.”
While championing the company for helping usher in the streaming era, he also attacked the ecosystem that streaming has created. “Today, some platforms are adding 100,000 tracks per day,” he added. “And with such a vast and unnavigable number of tracks flooding the platforms, consumers are increasingly being guided by algorithms to lower-quality functional content that in some cases can barely pass for ‘music.’ … For example, just witness the thousands and thousands of 31-second track uploads of sound files whose sole purpose is to game the system and divert royalties. The result? A less fulfilling experience for the consumer, diminished compensation flowing to artists that are driving the business models of the platforms, and fewer cultural moments that fans can collectively share, all of which undermines the creativity and development of artists and their music that the platforms were, in part, designed to foster.”
After pointing out those issues, Grainge then called for change — change that he didn’t specify, but that he says will be “absolutely essential to promote a healthier, more competitive music ecosystem, one in which great music, no matter where it’s from, is easily and clearly accessible for fans to discover and enjoy. An environment where great music is not drowned in an ocean of noise. And one where the creators of all music content, whether in the form of audio or short-form video are fairly compensated.”
That, he says, will be one of the main goals for UMG in this coming year.
“[W]e need an updated model,” Grainge wrote. “Not one that pits artists of one genre against artists of another or major label artists against indie or DIY artists. We need a model that supports all artists — DIY, indie and major. An innovative, ‘artist-centric’ model that values all subscribers and rewards the music they love. A model that will be a win for artists, fans, and labels alike, and, at the same time, also enhances the value proposition of the platforms themselves, accelerating subscriber growth, and better monetizing fandom.”
Read Grainge’s entire memo below:
Dear Colleagues,
Happy New Year! I wanted to write to you to welcome you back and as promised, give you my thoughts about the year ahead. It’s hard to believe that just a little more than a year ago, UMG became a freestanding public company. It was a watershed moment in our history. And yet, in some ways, when it comes to what we do every day, we just kept doing what we’ve always done: bring great artists and their music to the world; break performance records of all kinds everywhere; and drive the industry forward though creativity, strategic investments and innovation.
And that’s exactly what we plan to do this year.
Now, with 2022 in the rearview mirror, I’d like to share with you a few thoughts about what was an extraordinary year for UMG and also express my gratitude to all of you for making the year so remarkable. I’ll have something to say as well about the very real challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for us in 2023, but first let’s take a brief victory lap to reflect on what we achieved last year.
Beginning with some accomplishments I’m particularly proud of, here are just a few examples of how, once again, you and our artists showed up big time to make our communities stronger and help those in need:
— Serving more than 20,000 meals around the world;— Building community gardens throughout the US, Europe and Australasia;— Working on vital education campaigns with organizations such as Mental Health Coalition; and— Extending our programs to benefit our artists past and present including assisting hundreds of artists in saving millions of dollars in healthcare costs through our partnership with Music Health Alliance in the U.S.
And our company’s Task Force for Meaningful Change continued its groundbreaking work in a variety of ways: funding programs to mentor the next generation of Black artists and Black music industry executives; fighting for criminal justice reforms; investing in community violence intervention programs and policy organizations; partnering with HBCU medical schools to widen the Black practitioner pipeline; and helping turn out the vote in the U.S. elections by providing more than 13,000 rides to and from the polls. Between the TFMC, our All Together Now Foundation, and our Employee Matching Program, we have contributed to more than 500 organizations in 2022 alone.
On the charts, the performance of our artists and songwriters remained stellar. So many artists from around the world contributed to 2022’s success, with standout performances from: Taylor Swift; Olivia Rodrigo; The Weeknd; The Beatles, Kendrick Lamar; Drake; BTS; Karol G; Luciano; Angèle; Glass Animals; Imagine Dragons; Rammstein; Helene Fischer; ABBA; Ado; Elton John; Eminem; Justin Bieber; King & Prince; Lil Baby; Billie Eilish; among many many others. Here are some examples:
— On Spotify: UMG had four of the Top 5 Artists globally; four of the Top 5 in the U.S.; 7 of the Top 10 in Germany and Italy, including No. 1s in both countries; and the top female artist in France;— On Apple Music: Universal Music Publishing Group had writer-interests in 9 of the Top 10 most-streamed songs globally;— On YouTube: UMG had 7 of the Top 10 Songs in the U.S.;— On Billboard: We had the No. 1 Song on the Hot 100 year-end chart and 7 of the Top 10 Albums;— On Deezer: UMG had the Top 2 Artists globally, and 5 of the Top 10;— In Germany: The Top 4 Albums and the Top 3 Singles;— In the U.K.: 6 of the Top 10 artists including No. 1;— In Japan: The No. 1 Artist on Billboard’s Year-end Chart;— On Vevo: The No. 1 Global Artist— And finally, in China: Eason Chan’s “Gu Yong Zhe” (“The Lone Warrior”), became the most-streamed song in UMG China’s history after topping the charts on all major streaming platforms.
All that — and so much more — didn’t just “happen.” To achieve such astonishing success for both developing and established artists, and to do so year after year, in every conceivable genre, often in regions beyond their home countries, is no accident. UMG’s unique artist-centric culture accounts for that repeated success and is at the heart of our company’s two-fold mission.
Our first, simplest, and yet most difficult imperative is to discover and break new artists and then sustain their careers over the long run. Unlike so many other players in the music world, especially the newer ones, UMG can never be regarded as merely a “checkbook and distribution” company. Nor are we some convoluted financial instrument that seeks to exploit the recent growth in our industry. No, we are different. Very different. Because for all of us at UMG, music and the artists who create that music comprise our very raison d’être. It’s what gets us up in the morning.
The second part of our mission is to promote a healthy, sustainable and exciting music ecosystem in which our artists can thrive for years and decades to come. We fulfill that goal by using our ingenuity to drive the music industry forward as technology and the world around us keep changing. That is why, even as we diligently work, day-in and day-out, to break our artists and songwriters, we’re also pursuing unexplored avenues of creative and commercial possibilities and, whenever appropriate, taking the necessary steps to turn those possibilities into reality.
One powerful example of one of those possibilities becoming reality: immersive or ‘spatial’ audio. Seven years ago, we embarked on a journey to evolve the music listening experience. We approached Dolby with a proposal: if our two companies worked together, we could develop a new format that envelops the listener into a 360-degree immersive environment that provides artists with a broader creative palette on which to express themselves. We believed that this could be one of the most important developments in the recorded music listening experience in decades.
An advance as significant as immersive audio was no easy feat. It required years of investment and innovation. Much more. We built state-of-the-art recording suites within our network of iconic studios — Capitol Studios in L.A. and Abbey Road Studios in London, to name just two. We trained some of the world’s top engineers in how to make the best use of the format. And we conducted an extensive campaign to educate artists and artist estates about the limitless creative opportunities that immersive audio provides.
We’re already seeing the results. Nearly half of UMG’s streaming consumption and 80% of our top-50 streaming artists’ music are available in immersive (or Atmos) versions.
Who benefits from this landmark innovation? For starters, artists, of course. And by “artists,” I mean all artists, not just UMG’s. Thanks to our efforts, the entire industry has been releasing more and more music in immersive audio. And many platforms — including Apple Music, Tidal and Amazon Music — are offering this far superior experience to the other beneficiaries of immersive audio: music fans. Millions and millions of them around the world. And they simply can’t get enough.
This year fans will get even more. I am confident that we will see significant global growth in the availability of immersive audio as more and more automobile and device manufacturers introduce new products designed to deliver this greatly enhanced musical experience.
Looking beyond the expansion of immersive audio, our determination to drive change will only accelerate this year. Just as we’ve done so successfully in the past, we’re putting in place the strategies and resources to lead through every significant technological advance on the horizon. And each such advance — from web3 and the metaverse, to new applications for health and wellness and medical music delivery — will enable us to connect directly to consumers in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago and deliver significant long-term value to those fans, as well as to our artists, our employees and our shareholders.
That’s exactly the pioneering approach we took at the advent of streaming. Early on, we saw the potential inherent in streaming and subscription and jumped right in. Though it seems like only yesterday that we were working with Spotify to enable their U.S. launch, that “yesterday” was way back in 2011. While other companies were trying to hold their ground even as that ground was shifting beneath their feet, UMG leaned into what was the most profound business model shift the industry had ever seen, redesigning our global organization, becoming the first to adapt to and then thrive in the streaming era.
But if history teaches us anything, it is this: every blazingly transformative technological development inevitably creates new challenges for us to confront. So, it’s no surprise that after almost a dozen years of fundamentally transforming the music business, the manner in which music is presented and consumed on streaming platforms has itself evolved. And while that evolution has created enormous opportunities and benefits for artists and consumers — reflected in increased listening diversity that initially comes with adoption of subscription — it has also created byproducts that are increasingly confusing and unfulfilling for them as the volume of noise in the marketplace has increased. Today, some platforms are adding 100,000 tracks per day. And with such a vast and unnavigable number of tracks flooding the platforms, consumers are increasingly being guided by algorithms to lower-quality functional content that in some cases can barely pass for “music.”
Let me explain. In order to entice consumers to subscribe, platforms naturally exploit the music of those artists who have large and passionate fan bases. But then, once those fans have subscribed, consumers are often guided by algorithms to generic music that lacks a meaningful artistic context, is less expensive for the platform to license or, in some cases, has been commissioned directly by the platform. For example, just witness the thousands and thousands of 31-second track uploads of sound files whose sole purpose is to game the system and divert royalties. The result? A less fulfilling experience for the consumer, diminished compensation flowing to artists that are driving the business models of the platforms, and fewer cultural moments that fans can collectively share, all of which undermines the creativity and development of artists and their music that the platforms were, in part, designed to foster.
While this unsatisfying situation is discouraging, it’s not surprising. Now that the industry is growing again — in large part as a result of UMG’s strategy, investments and innovation — new players as well as some bad actors who do not share our commitment to artists and artistry have been swooping into the reinvigorated industry.
In the past, music industry conflict was often focused on ‘the majors versus the indies.’ Today, however, the real divide is between those committed to investing in artists and artist development versus those committed to gaming the system through quantity over quality. The current environment has attracted players who see an economic opportunity in flooding platforms with all sorts of irrelevant content that deprives both artists and labels from the compensation they deserve.
What’s become clear to us and to so many artists and songwriters — developing and established ones alike — is that the economic model for streaming needs to evolve. As technology advances and platforms evolve, it’s not surprising that there’s also a need for business model innovation to keep pace with change. There is a growing disconnect between, on the one hand, the devotion to those artists whom fans value and seek to support and, on the other, the way subscription fees are paid by the platforms. Under the current model, the critical contributions of too many artists, as well as the engagement of too many fans, are undervalued.
Therefore, to correct this imbalance, we need an updated model. Not one that pits artists of one genre against artists of another or major label artists against indie or DIY artists. We need a model that supports all artists — DIY, indie and major. An innovative, “artist-centric” model that values all subscribers and rewards the music they love. A model that will be a win for artists, fans and labels alike, and, at the same time, also enhances the value proposition of the platforms themselves, accelerating subscriber growth, and better monetizing fandom.
Along with many others in the music world, we share deeply held principles about the value of artistry and the artist-fan relationship. This year, we will be working on the innovation that is absolutely essential to promote a healthier, more competitive music ecosystem, one in which great music, no matter where it’s from, is easily and clearly accessible for fans to discover and enjoy. An environment where great music is not drowned in an ocean of noise. And one where the creators of all music content, whether in the form of audio or short-form video are fairly compensated.
Achieving such a profound change will present challenges as well as opportunities. I’m confident, however, that our long and deep involvement with music and artists will enable us to safely and profitably navigate our way forward through the industry’s next big shift.
I’m looking forward to being on this journey with all of you!
Our past is prologue to a future where the solutions we find and the steps we take to implement them will contribute to another era of growth for UMG and the industry at large. I believe there is no better team anywhere than the one we have right here at UMG.
Thank you once again for incredible 2022 in which our artists and our company achieved remarkable things.
I am immensely proud of all of you.
I’m excited for what will be an eventful and prosperous 2023.
Lucian
The National Independent Venue Association has announced music policy advocate Stephen Parker as its new executive director. Parker will take over the position from Rev. Moose, who previously served as NIVA and National Independent Venue Foundation founding executive director. NIVA announced in August that they would begin the search to fill both of Rev. Moose’s positions, so he could focus on his creative marketing firm, Marauder.
Parker has served as an advisor and consultant at the Country Music Association, senior special assistant to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, senior policy advisor at the National Guard, and, most recently, as vp of public affairs and communications at gener8tor, an organization focused on entrepreneurship and the creative economy. Parker serves on several non-profit boards, including the Country Music Association Foundation board of directors.
Parker tells Billboard that he greatly admired NIVA for their work since they were founded in 2020 to help independent music venues survive through the pandemic, calling the association the most successful lobbyists in the country in 2020. That year, NIVA successfully advocated for $16 billion in federal funds through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
“I ultimately came upon this job by talking to different members at the conference that they had in July of last year (NIVA ‘22), but also just from knowing independent venue owners, board members, different staff members of NIVA,” says Parker. “This [association] is the crown jewel of anybody who cares about public policy, and in music, and art and live entertainment and comedy. There is no place like it. This organization is built on advocacy. And for me with my political background, it was an incredible fit. I feel honored and humbled every day that they chose me.”
Stephen Parker
Courtesy Photo
In his new role, Parker will be tasked with continuing to grow the association’s numbers and advocate for NIVA members at the federal and state level. One of Parker’s first missions is to advocate for fans who are being impacted by deceptive ticketing practices, including speculative ticketing — where ticket resellers post tickets on secondary sites like StubHub or Viagogo before those tickets even go on sale. Additionally, Parker says some state and local governments still have remaining pandemic relief funds from the federal government that can continue helping independent venues that have not fully recovered from the mass gathering shutdowns and customers hesitancy to return to live events.
Advocacy, he adds, could also come in the form of getting NIVA members elected to local government positions. “We have so many members that want to do something and want to continue to push things forward when it comes to advocacy,” says Parker. “Making sure that they have toolkits and resources to make their voices heard for the communities that they live in is a huge priority for me.”
“We look forward with immense optimism to NIVA’s next crucial chapter of growth and development to best serve members who fight tirelessly to improve their communities, workplaces and entertainment experiences,” said NIVA board president Dayna Frank in a statement. “With Stephen’s leadership, energy, and enthusiasm we are in the best possible hands. His experience with advocacy and relationship development in a longtime-successful association will ensure we flourish together today, tomorrow and in the future. We’re so lucky to have his determination and expertise.”
In addition to advocacy, Parker’s role will be to strengthen the association itself. NIVA intends to expand their healthcare coverage for members and their local venue workers, organize venues for purchasing power on common goods and continue to develop educational programs for members on sustainability, DEI practices and more. In recent months, NIVA has announced partnerships with voter registration non-profit Headcount and r.Cup, a sustainable platform providing reusable cups to eliminate single-use plastic.
“Growth for growth’s sake, is never good, but growth to make sure that we can continue to serve our members better, that we can continue to make a case to new members to join our organization and so we can continue to do the work and the services to make sure our venues can survive and thrive, that’s the reason for growth. And that’s what we’re looking at,” says Parker.
TikTok’s CEO met Tuesday with European Union officials about strict new digital regulations in the 27-nation bloc as the Chinese-owned social media app faces growing scrutiny from Western authorities over data privacy, cybersecurity and misinformation.
In meetings in Brussels, Shou Zi Chew and four officials from the EU’s executive Commission discussed concerns ranging from child safety to investigations into user data flowing to China, according to European readouts from two of the meetings and tweets from a third.
TikTok is wildly popular with young people but its Chinese ownership has raised fears that Beijing could use it to scoop up user data or push pro-China narratives or misinformation. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020.
U.S. states including Kansas, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Virginia have moved to ban the video-sharing app from state-issued devices for government workers, and it also would be prohibited from most U.S. government devices under a congressional spending bill.
Fears were stoked by news reports last year that a China-based team improperly accessed data of U.S. TikTok users, including two journalists, as part of a covert surveillance program to ferret out the source of leaks to the press.
There are also concerns that the company is sending masses of user data to China, in breach of stringent European privacy rules. EU data protection watchdogs in Ireland have opened two investigations into TikTok, including one on its transfer of personal data to China.
“I count on TikTok to fully execute its commitments to go the extra mile in respecting EU law and regaining trust of European regulators,” Vera Jourova, the commissioner for values and transparency, said after her meeting with Chew. “There cannot be any doubt that data of users in Europe are safe and not exposed to illegal access from third-country authorities.”
Caroline Greer, TikTok’s director of public policy and government relations, said on Twitter that it was a “constructive and helpful meeting.”
“Online safety & building trust is our number one priority,” Greer tweeted.
The company has said it takes data security “incredibly seriously” and fired the ByteDance employees involved in improperly accessing user data.
Jourova said she also grilled Chew about child safety, the spread of Russian disinformation on the platform and transparency of paid political content.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who’s in charge of competition and antitrust matters, met with Chew to “review how the company is preparing for complying with its obligations under the European Commission’s regulation, namely the Digital Services Act and possibly under the Digital Markets Act.”
The Digital Services Act is aimed at cleaning up toxic content from online platforms and the Digital Markets Act is designed to rein in the power of big digital companies.
They also discussed privacy and data transfer obligations in reference to recent news reports on “aggressive data harvesting and surveillance in the U.S.,” the readout said.
Chew also met with Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders and Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
Reynders tweeted that he “insisted on the importance” of TikTok fully complying with EU privacy rules and cooperating with the Irish watchdog.
“We also took stock of the company’s commitments to fight hate speech online and guarantee the protection of all consumers, including children,” he said.
Chew is scheduled to hold a video chat with Thierry Breton, the commissioner for digital policy, on Jan. 19.
More than four years after gunmen killed emerging rap star XXXTentacion during a robbery outside a South Florida motorcycle shop, three suspects are now scheduled to go on trial. Shooting suspect Michael Boatwright, 28, and his accused accomplices, Dedrick Williams, 26, and Trayvon Newsome, 24, could all receive life sentences if convicted of first-degree murder. They are also charged with armed robbery. They have pleaded not guilty.
A fourth man, Robert Allen, 26, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and is expected to testify against the other three. Jury selection is set to begin Jan. 18 and is expected to last three weeks. The trial is expected to last into March. In pretrial hearings, the defendants’ attorneys have suggested there were others who had financial and personal motives for killing the singer, including members of his family and other rappers.
“It’s been over four long years in the making. We are excited to take this first step to bringing Dedrick home,” said Mauricio Padilla, Williams’ attorney. The attorneys for Boatwright and Newsome did not respond to emails seeking comment. The COVID-19 pandemic and legal wrangling delayed the start of the trial.
Circuit Judge Michael Usan rejected last week an attempt by Boatwright’s attorney, Joseph Kimok, to have him declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. He also rejected a motion by the defendants’ attorneys to try the three separately.
They argued that evidence presented against just one defendant would be prejudicial to the other two. They also argued that each defense attorney could try to establish his client’s innocence or mitigate his guilt by pointing fingers at the other two suspects — they argued that would unfairly prejudice the jury against the trio. Prosecutor Pascale Achille told Usan that any evidence presented would pertain to all three.
Usan ruled the defense attorneys’ arguments could apply in all trials where there are multiple defendants, but in this case they don’t outweigh the needs of “judicial economy” to not hold three trials if not absolutely required.
XXXTentacion, whose real name was Jahseh Onfroy, had just left Riva Motorsports in suburban Fort Lauderdale on June 18, 2018, with a friend when his BMW was blocked by an SUV that swerved in front. Two masked gunmen emerged, confronted XXXTentacion at the driver’s window and one shot him. They then grabbed a Louis Vuitton bag containing $50,000 cash the singer had just withdrawn from the bank, got back into the SUV and sped away.
XXXTentacion, 20, died at the hospital shortly after. He pronounced his name “Ex ex ex ten-ta-see-YAWN” and was a platinum-selling rising star who tackled issues including prejudice and depression in his songs. He also drew criticism over bad behavior and multiple arrests, including charges that he severely beat and abused his girlfriend.
Investigators say surveillance video from the store and other evidence links the three defendants and Allen to the killing.
They say video shows the SUV arriving at the motorcycle shop just as XXXTentacion and his friend entered. Williams and Allen followed them inside, with Williams making a small purchase. They then walked back to the SUV. About 10 minutes later, XXXTentacion and his friend tried to leave, but the SUV blocked them. Prosecutors say Boatwright and Newsome were the gunmen who confronted the rapper, with Boatwright firing the fatal shots.
Investigators say Boatwright’s fingerprints were found on the driver’s door of the rapper’s BMW. Williams was identified by a Riva Motorsports clerk, who said he was a regular customer. Williams told investigators he did not know the other three were planning a robbery.
A search of Williams’ social media showed photos of him with Allen, who was then identified from the surveillance video. Williams’ girlfriend told investigators that he told her that the other gunman was Newsome. They say cellphone data also links the defendants to the scene.
Photos of Boatwright and Newsome holding up large amounts of $100 bills, timestamped on the night of the killing, were also found on their phones, prosecutors say.
Longtime record label marketing and branding executive Brian Nolan is joining Artist Partner Group as president of global marketing and synchronization, the company announced Tuesday (Jan. 10). Nolan, who begins his new role this month, will oversee all domestic and international marketing, artist development, sales and streaming and synchronization initiatives at the Mike Caren-helmed company, including international expansion, artist development and brand partnerships, in addition to serving on the APG executive committee.
Nolan has spent the past six years at Universal Music Group, most recently as executive vp at Motown, where he oversaw the label’s marketing efforts. Prior to that, he was senior vp of brand partnerships at Capitol Music Group, where he ran the Seventeenfifty division. At UMG, Nolan brokered deals for artists like Lil Baby, Halsey and Migos; for the latter group, Nolan created a partnership with Mountain Dew for a year-long TV campaign with their song “Position To Win” and landed their song “Stir Fry” in the NBA All-Star Weekend promo slots on TNT. Upon joining CMG in 2017, Nolan created a program called Bonus Tracks alongside the Compton Unified School District, aimed at helping students learn about the music industry through seminars, internships and scholarships. The program has since expanded to Detroit and Atlanta.
“I am so fired up to join APG and grateful to Mike Caren for this opportunity,” Nolan said in a statement. “APG’s model and vision redefine what it means to be a partner with the artist. Coming on board with this team, I will be relentless in our pursuit of this goal so that our artists can achieve their dreams.”
Prior to UMG, Nolan spent a dozen years at Sony Music and Columbia Records, where he worked at Sony’s creative agency and served as vp of international marketing for Columbia, working on projects for artists such as David Bowie, Rachel Platten and Leon Bridges.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings, and all the fun stuff in between. This week: A huge group of artists push to clear up uncertainty about termination rights and streaming royalties, Dr. Dre threatens to sue Marjorie Taylor Greene, the man accused of murdering Takeoff is released on bond, and more.
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THE BIG STORY: Top Artists Demand Streaming Royalties Rule
When I first reported in October that the U.S. Copyright Office was looking to enact an “obscure” rule change about termination rights and streaming royalties, I received a bit of light-hearted criticism from some folks who had been following the issue closely. They conceded that the subject matter was complex — it’s mind-meltingly complex, trust me — but also said that the stakes were huge.
I guess others agree: In a letter sent last week, more than 350 artists, songwriters, managers and lawyers threw their weight behind the Copyright Office’s proposed rule change, saying they were worried about music creators being “deprived of the rights afforded to them by copyright law.” Signed by Don Henley, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Bob Seger, Maren Morris, John Mayer, Dave Matthews, members of The Black Keys and many others, the letter said that opposition to the agency’s new rule would constitute “a vote against songwriters.”
What’s this new rule they’re so fired up about? As mentioned, it’s pretty arcane stuff. (Go read our explainer if you want more details.) But basically:
The group created by the Music Modernization Act in 2018 to collect mechanical royalties from streaming services (the Mechanical Licensing Collective, or MLC) enacted a new policy in 2021, dealing with who should receive such royalties after a songwriter invokes their termination right. Termination is a provision under copyright law that allows creators to take back control of their works decades after signing them away to a publisher. The problem? The MLC’s new policy seemed to say that if a song had already been uploaded to Spotify’s server prior to when a songwriter invoked their termination right, those royalties would need to keep flowing to their old publisher — seemingly forever — regardless of who now owned them.
That bizarre outcome would seem to be at odds with the basic point of termination, which is designed to help original creators finally derive value from their own works. So in October, the Copyright Office proposed a new rule requiring the MLC to “immediately repeal its policy in full,” calling it an “erroneous” reading of the law. And last week, spurred by groups like the Music Artists Coalition, a huge number of influential members of the music industry said they agreed.
Some of the wording of the letter — about a “vote against songwriters” — was pretty ominous. But it doesn’t seem like there’s any real industry opposition to the Copyright Office’s change. The National Music Publishers’ Association has quibbles about how such changes are enacted, fearing that they might lead to uncertainty and litigation over past practices. But the group says it fully supports a rule change and the goal of making sure that terminating songwriters actually get paid.
Will the Copyright Office enact the new rule as originally proposed, or make changes when the final rule is released? We’ll let you know what the final rule looks like — and whether everyone likes it.
Other top stories this week…
DR. DRE WARNS REPUBLICAN – Dr. Dre sent a scathing cease-and-desist letter to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, threatening the conservative lawmaker with a copyright lawsuit for using the rapper’s 1999 smash hit “Still D.R.E.” without permission in a social media post. “One might expect that, as a member of Congress, you would have a passing familiarity with the laws of our country,” the letter read.
MORE MUSIC TROUBLE FOR TRILLER – Universal Music Group filed a lawsuit against Triller over allegations that the video-sharing app has failed to make payments for months under its music licensing agreements, despite “lavish” spending elsewhere.
MIGOS MURDER SUSPECT RELEASED – Patrick Xavier Clark, the man accused of murdering Migos rapper Takeoff, was released from a Houston jail after posting a $1 million bond. He was placed under house arrest and will be subject to GPS monitoring.
LAWSUIT OVER UMG’S SPOTIFY STAKE – ’90s hip-hop duo Black Sheep filed a class action against Universal Music Group over the label’s ownership stake in Spotify, claiming UMG has accepted low royalties in return for stock in the streaming service. Seeking to represent thousands of others, the case says UMG is “withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.”
SONY SETTLES FUTURE CASE – Sony Music reached a settlement to end a lawsuit that claimed the name of Future’s chart-topping album High Off Life infringed the trademark rights of a company called High Off Life LLC, a creative agency that says it’s used the name for years.
ROCKER ARRESTED ON GUN CHARGES – Matt Shultz, the lead singer of the band Cage the Elephant, was arrested in New York City and hit with two charges of criminal possession of a weapon after police found two loaded firearms in his room at the Bowery Hotel.
MARILYN MANSON CASE DROPPED – A federal judge tossed out one of the several sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Marilyn Manson, dismissing a case filed by model Ashley Morgan Smithline because she failed to retain a new lawyer after splitting with her old legal team last fall.
GLORIA TREVI ABUSE SUIT – Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi was hit with a new lawsuit over a decades-old claim of sexual assault against two minors, who alleged the singer “groomed” and “exploited” them when they were between the ages of 13 and 15 back in the early 1990s. Trevi strongly denied the accusations, saying she’d been “totally acquitted” when such claims were made in a criminal case in Mexico in the 2000s.
Nicki Minaj has signed a management deal with Range Media Partners, according to sources close to the situation. Managing partner Melissa Ruderman will oversee her career.
Ruderman joined Range Media Partners as a partner in the music division at the top of 2021. She is no stranger to working with superstars, having a yearslong partnership with Mariah Carey, including previously at Roc Nation (their relationship spans back to 2005, when Ruderman handled Carey’s day-to-day under veteran manager Benny Medina).
As of last spring, Minaj was self-managing after a short stint working with Wassim “Sal” Slaiby‘s SALXCO — with whom she announced she was working in September 2021. From 2019-2021, Minaj was working with Irving Azoff at Full Stop Management, and then before that was repped by Gee Roberson and Cortez Bryant at Blueprint/Maverick Management.
Range Media launched in Sept. 2020 by former Entertainment One chief strategy officer Peter Micelli and a coalition of former CAA, WME and UTA agents. By July 2021, the company formed Range Music, a record label under the Range Media umbrella and a partnership with Capitol Music Group and Virgin Music & Artist Label Services.
Range clients include Jack Harlow, Justin Tranter, Cordae, Midland and many more.
As for Minaj, her solo catalog has logged 11.9 billion on-demand official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Her albums have earned a combined 14.1 million equivalent album units, selling a combined total of 3.9 million copies across four full lengths.
Minaj has scored two No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. On the Hot 100, she has three No. 1s: “Trollz,” “Kiss Me More,” and most recently “Super Freaky Girl.” She is signed to Republic Records.
One day after Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) announced chairman/CEO Mike Dungan’s retirement in March, the company has officially named the label’s current president, Cindy Mabe, as his successor, effective April 1.
Mabe was named president of UMGN in 2014. With her ascension, she becomes the first woman to serve as chairman/CEO of a Nashville-based major-label group.
“We’re thrilled to have Cindy step into this role,” said Universal Music Group chairman/CEO Lucian Grainge in a statement. “She is a transformational executive, who has a distinguished track record of designing and implementing innovative strategies to help build artists’ careers and bring their music to fans around the world. Cindy’s credibility in the artist community and her deep experience will help us deliver countless additional artists’ successes going forward.”
Mabe joined UMGN in 2012 as senior vp of marketing, leading marketing initiatives across Capitol Records Nashville, EMI Records Nashville, MCA Nashville and Mercury Nashville — UMG’s expanded suite of country labels following its acquisition of EMI. Prior to that, Mabe spent five years at Capitol Records Nashville as senior vp of marketing.
Mabe said in a statement, “For the past 15 years, Mike Dungan has been my mentor and partner. He has built one of the most enduring and impactful legacies in country music history. He’s also been my friend. I’m grateful for the chance he took on me and so very proud of what we have built together over those 15 years with our staff and the most enviable roster in music.
“To now be in a position, as Mike’s successor, to advance the musical and cultural impact of Universal Music Group Nashville into the future is truly a humbling honor. Country music has been my life’s passion. It’s my childhood and my future. It’s the heartbeat that speaks truth to all walks of life in the best and worst of times. It’s truly a gift to get to honor, protect and build the next era of country music history with UMGN … I want to thank Sir Lucian Grainge for his belief in me, his brilliant leadership and for building this incredible culture that puts artists and music first.”
Mabe is known as a fierce advocate for artists. As Keith Urban said of Mabe when she was named Billboard’s Country Power Players executive of the year in 2019: “Cindy is the quiet oracle. She has her antenna tuned in to things I often can’t see at the time, but she proves time and time again to be spot on.”
In addition to Urban, UMGN is home to such artists as George Strait, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood, Jon Pardi and Dierks Bentley. UMGN finished 2022 at No. 1 on Billboard‘s year-end Top Country Labels chart.
A North Carolina native, Mabe attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and graduated from Belmont University in Nashville with a B.S. in business administration. She began her music career as promotions coordinator at RCA Nashville, before shifting to sales and then artist marketing and development, during which time she worked with artists including Clint Black, Martina McBride and Alabama. She later served as senior director of marketing and artist development at Arista Records Nashville from 1999-2007, working with the likes of Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley, Underwood, Brooks & Dunn and Diamond Rio before joining Capitol Records Nashville in 2007.