Business
Page: 464
Round Hill Music Royalty Partners has acquired the royalty income stream of Steve Lillywhite, one of the premier rock producers of the last 45 years, in a deal that includes his share of royalties from such albums as U2’s October and War; Dave Matthews Band’s Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash; and The Rolling Stones‘ Dirty Work. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Additional recordings on which Lillywhite served as a producer or worked are covered by the deal, including music by Phish, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey, Talking Heads, Counting Crows, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Psychedelic Furs.
“As someone who grew up idolizing the bands and albums Steve Lillywhite produced, it is an honor to partner with him on this exciting transaction,” Round Hill Music CEO Josh Gruss said in a statement. “Steve’s catalog includes royalties to some of the most sought-after songs and albums of all time. We are thrilled to have reached this milestone transaction.”
For his part, Lillywhite added in a statement that the deal brings his catalog under “a kindred spirit [Gruss], who is a pioneer in the music royalty business and the ideal partner for me and my family as I look to my next steps.”
According to the announcement on the transaction, Lillywhite has produced or contributed to more than 500 records in his more than four-decade career. During that time, he won the Grammy for Producer of The Year in 2006 for U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which also won the Grammy for Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. He also won Grammys as one of the engineers/mixers listed on U2’s “Beautiful Day” and “Walk On,” which won Record of the Year in 2001 and 2002, respectively.
Other acts Lillywhite has produced or worked with during his career — and whose music is part of the acquisition — include XTC, The Pogues, Big Country, Joan Armatrading, Sinead O’Connor, Marshall Crenshaw, Crowded House, The Killers and Chris Cornell.
The Lillywhite deal adds to Round Hill’s overall investment portfolio, which has now taken in more than $200 million in investments in more than 40 acquisitions, according to the company.
BRISBANE, Australia — It’s closing time for Sanity, the once-great Australian music retail specialist which confirmed it would close all its bricks-and-mortar stores in the coming months.
In a statement issued Wednesday (Jan. 4), Sanity announced plans to close its remaining 50 stores by the end of April 2023, in line with the lease expiry of each outlet.
It’s a sad end to a music and entertainment chain which, like so many brands in the business of racking physical soundcarriers, has been left behind as consumers move to streaming platforms.
“With our customer shifting to digital for their visual and music content consumption, and with diminishing physical content available to sell to our customer, it has made it impossible to continue with our physical stores,” explains Sanity CEO and owner Ray Itaoui.
Despite the “challenging and ever evolving entertainment landscape,” the Sanity business has “prospered and remained successful for many years, quite an achievement in the fast-changing retail space,” Itaoui adds.
Founded by retail guru Brett Blundy, Sanity began life in 1980 with just one store. The retailer grew to become Australia’s leading music and retail chain, a status which has later challenged by JB Hi-Fi.
With Blundy at the helm, his Brazin company entered the U.K. in the early 2000s with the purchase of 77 Our Price branded stores from Virgin Group. The experiment ended in 2003 when Brazin sold its 118 Sanity Entertainment U.K. stores to an investment firm for an estimated £12 million ($16.67 million).
A consortium led by Itaoui acquired the business from Brett Blundy Retail Capital (BBRC) in 2009, when the Sanity chain boasted 238 stores across Australia, including Sanity and the domestic branches of U.K. High Street brands Virgin and HMV.
In the late 2000s, Sanity launched what it claimed was Australia’s first online music subscription service, LoadIt, at a time when the business had an estimated 23%-25% share of Australia’s physical music retail market. LoadIt shut down in early 2009.
Digital platforms, and streaming, in particular, is how Australians consume music in the 2020s.
The recorded music market in these parts expanded by 4.4% to A$565.8 million ($421 million) in 2021, for the third successive year of growth, according to trade body ARIA. Subscription services, contributed $377 million ($281 million) that year, up 4.1% from A$317 million ($236 million) in 2020.
Sanity’s online business will continue to operate, and the team is currently working to dispatch all over-the-counter orders, including pre-orders.
“There is so much to be proud of,” adds Itaoui. The Sanity brand “became synonymous with the go-to place to get anything that mattered in the world of music: from vinyl, to CDs and DVDs, hardware, accessories, and of course face to face advice on everything musical.”
Former Atlantic Records employee Dorothy Carvello lost her bid for a seat on Warner Music Group’s board of directors last month after failing to comply with certain requirements in the company’s bylaws, spokespeople for Carvello and the record label said on Tuesday (Jan. 3).
Under a new rule passed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year that makes it easier for minority shareholders to wage campaigns for board seats, Carvello sought to nominate herself for a seat on WMG’s board, to be voted on at the next shareholder meeting. The activist and author, who alleged in her memoir, Anything for a Hit: An A&R Woman’s Story of Surviving the Music Industry, that she was subjected to sexual abuse and misconduct while working at Atlantic from 1987 to 1990, plans to run again next year, according to her spokesperson.
Carvello’s odds of being elected by WMG investors to a seat on the company’s board were slim because a sizeable chunk of the record label is owned by WMG vice-chair Leonard Blavatnik, the Financial Times reported earlier on Tuesday. Still, Carvello’s novel attempt could set the stage for future bids by activists aiming to bring attention to causes not often discussed in the staid corporate arenas of annual shareholder meetings.
“While this is an unfortunate attempt by the corporation to block an important mission, she will continue to seek to have her name placed on the ballot next year,” a spokesperson for Dorothy Carvello wrote in an email.
Carvello submitted her nomination notice to WMG in early December, but it failed to meet certain requirements in the company’s bylaws, including that Carvello be a registered shareholder, a spokesperson for WMG wrote in a statement. Because Carvello bought her WMG shares through the online brokerage Robinhood, the brokerage’s name was on the shares, not Carvello’s.
WMG said it gave Carvello additional time to resolve the issues but the documents ultimately did not fulfill company requirements.
“We value the input of all shareholders, and anyone desiring to nominate director candidates must satisfy the standard requirements of WMG’s Bylaws, including being a registered shareholder,” WMG said in the statement.
Requiring that investors be registered shareholders to submit proposals or board nominations at annual meetings is a common corporate rule. However, it presents a complication for retail investors who most frequently purchase stocks through brokerages.
Carvello has gained attention in recent months for a letter sent by her lawyer to WMG board members requesting records relating to the company’s investigations into previously-reported sexual misconduct claims and royalties accounting at the label. And last month, Carvello filed a lawsuit against Atlantic Records and the estate of its late co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, along with WMG and two former Atlantic executives, alleging she was “horrifically sexually assaulted” by Ertegun and Morris and that Atlantic, WMG and Jason Flom (whom the suit says was an Atlantic vp at the time) enabled the abuse.
In its statement, WMG said its board and management “have made significant enhancements to our policies and procedures and take any allegations of misconduct seriously and are consistently working toward eliminating all forms of discrimination and harassment.”
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 special New Year’s newsletter, looking back at the biggest legal stories from 2022, the top stories from over the holidays, and what to watch in 2023.A quick programming note: Starting immediately, the email version of the Legal Beat newsletter is now free. All current readers will continue to get the newsletter directly into their inbox every Tuesday, but now anyone else can also sign up HERE to receive a weekly recap of every big story from the world of music law.
Year In Review: 2022’s Top Legal Stories
Some of the most important music industry stories of 2022 were legal stories, so we put together a handy year-end guideto catch you up on all the big developments.As always, copyright cases dominated the list. Taylor Swift finally escaped a case over “Shake It Off,” Ed Sheeran won a big trial over “Shape of You (but faces another one soon over “Thinking Out Loud”) and Katy Perry made important case law when she defeated a case over “Dark Horse.”Cardi B had a big year all by herself. She won a $4 million defamation verdict against a bomb-throwing YouTuber, then beat back a multimillion lawsuit claiming she Photoshopped a random guy onto the “raunchy” cover of a mixtape. Oh, and she also resolved a long-standing criminal case in New York by taking a misdemeanor plea deal.But arguably the most important story of the year was the use of rap lyrics in criminal trials.Billboard did a deep-dive in March, detailing how the practice had persisted for years despite longstanding criticism that it unfairly sways juries and threatens artistic expression — and that was before we knew what the year had in store. In May, hip-hop superstars Young Thug and Gunna were hit with a sweeping indictment that quoted heavily from their lyrics and then left to sit in jail for months, bringing unprecedented new attention to the issue. Atlanta prosecutors offered no apologies for the music-heavy charges, but in September, lawmakers in California enacted landmark legislation that would sharply restrict the practice in that state, creating a blueprint that other jurisdictions might follow.
Top stories to watch in 2023…
RAP ON TRIAL – A big issue from 2022 figures to take center stage again in 2023. Jury selection in the case against Young Thug and other YSL members (though not Gunna, who pleaded out in December) will kick off next week in Atlanta, setting the stage for a blockbuster trial that could last many months. And after coming up just short in 2022, lawmakers in New York will again try to pass legislation that could limit how prosecutors in that state use rap music to win convictions.COPYRIGHT CONTINUUM – After a year full of big copyright cases, 2023 could be even more jam-packed. Dua Lipa will try to evade two separate infringement lawsuits over her smash hit “Levitating,” while Ed Sheeran will face a jury trial over whether his “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye‘s iconic “Let’s Get It On.” And don’t forget the big class actions against the labels over termination rights, the looming Supreme Court ruling over Andy Warhol’s image of Prince or the upcoming trial in a case against Post Malone.DR. LUKE V. KESHA – After nearly nine years of litigation, a trial is finally set for July in Dr. Luke’s defamation lawsuit against Kesha over her bombshell rape accusations against the producer. A trial had previously been scheduled to start in February, but it cannot take place until New York’s highest court decides two pending appeals dealing with big issues — big for both the case and for media law generally.
What you missed over the holiday week…
CARDI WINS AGAIN – A federal judge refused to overturn Cardi B’s courtroom victory in a lawsuit filed by Kevin Brophy, a man who was unwittingly Photoshopped to look like he was performing oral sex on the superstar on the cover of her debut mixtape. Two months after jurors cleared Cardi of any wrongdoing, the judge ruled that he would not “second-guess” the verdict.MEGAN HEADED TO TRIAL – A judge sided with Megan Thee Stallion in an early skirmish in her legal war with record label 1501 Certified Entertainment, refusing to grant the company a quick victory and ordering the case to instead be decided by a jury. 1501 had argued that the judge himself could decide whether her 2021 release Something for Thee Hotties counted as an “album” under her record deal, but her lawyers said she must be “allowed her day in court.” STEVEN TYLER ABUSE CASE – Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler was hit with a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a minor in the 1970s, claiming he convinced her parents to sign over custody and forced her to get an abortion. The case was filed by Julia Holcomb, who says she was the underage girl that Tyler repeatedly referenced in his racy 2011 memoir, in which he said he was “so in love I almost took a teen bride.”
NFTs had a wild 2022. January began with euphoric highs and a record $4.8 billion traded on OpenSea. By contrast, December ended the year with a hangover — volumes down by 95% with just $283 million traded in the month.
Still, the crypto winter hasn’t deterred musicians from embracing Web3. December saw an uptick in music NFT activity thanks to legacy artists Armin van Buuren and Styles P, as well as high-profile drops from crypto-native musicians like 3LAU and Daniel Allan. The first “billion club” NFT was released, unlocking streaming royalties in a track with more than a billion Spotify plays. Meanwhile, the independent scene continued to flourish with a seventh-straight month of rising volume on Sound.xyz – the largest platform for independent musicians.
Across the 10 biggest music NFT projects tracked by Billboard in December, sales volume was up 28% in ETH terms (751 ETH) and 23% in dollar terms ($949,781) from November. Based on analysis of sales data from 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases combined with secondary sales volume on OpenSea, here are the 10 biggest-selling music NFTs and collections in December 2022.
1/ Styles P – “The Farmacy Fantoms”Monthly trading volume: 205 ETH ($249,280 at month-end conversion rate)Primary sales: 170 ETHSecondary sales: 35 ETHDrop date: Nov. 28
The Farmacy Fantoms is a music NFT project by rapper Styles P. The collection of 6,666 animated ghost characters come with different visual traits and one of ten different tracks. In the future, holders will also get access to events and discounts on Styles P brand products.
View the collection on OpenSea.
2/ Armin van Buuren – “Armin’s All-Access (AAA)”Monthly trading volume: $210,120Primary sales: $189,448Secondary sales: 17 ETH ($20,672)Drop date: Dec. 13
Superstar DJ Armin van Buuren launched an all-access pass in December, granting NFT holders entry into a Web3 fan club community. The NFT unlocks an exclusive section of the DJ’s Discord server, as well as access to unreleased tracks, studio livestreams and exclusive events. Each NFT comes with music by the Dutch producer and 10 variations of digital artwork by Rik Oostenbroek. The duo sold 952 passes in December, at $199 each.
View the collection on OpenSea.
3/ Reo Cragun x Daniel Allan – “Criteria EP”Monthly trading volume: 138.67 ETH ($168,622)Primary sales: 94.247 ETHSecondary sales: 44.324 ETHDrop date: Dec. 15
Two of the biggest names in the independent music NFT scene teamed up to end the year with a bang. Criteria is an 8-track EP fusing electronic production from Allan and hip hop vocals from Cragun – who previously collaborated on Flume’s “Quits” EP. In December, the duo released 2,500 NFTs with a unique rarity structure. The rarest track, “Criteria,” has just 25 editions making it significantly more valuable than the most common track, “Supercharged” with 1,000 editions. “Supercharged” has a floor price of 0.056 ETH ($68) on secondary markets while the rare “Criteria” has a floor price of 3 ETH ($3,648).
Criteria was the largest ever drop on music NFT platform Sound.xyz, and despite the broader bear market in crypto, the drop sold out in approximately an hour. The collection was heavily supported by the leading music NFTs collectors, or “whales,” — many purchased more than 100 each.
View the collection on OpenSea.
4/ Violetta Zironi – “Moonshot” / “Gypsy Heart”Monthly trading volume: 59 ETH ($71,744)Primary sales: 40 ETHSecondary sales: 19 ETHDrop date: April 2022
Violetta Zironi is establishing herself as one of the most consistent independent artists in the space, appearing in this top 10 for four of the last seven months. Her debut “Moonshot” collection — featuring artwork from her father, Disney animator Giuseppe Zironi — continues to generate strong sales on OpenSea with 19.24 ETH traded in December.
Her new collection Gypsy Heart is now being rolled out to existing fans and holders through an early access mint pass. Zironi sold 500 mint passes in December (out of a total 5,000), generating 40 ETH. The project will go live to the public in January.
View the collection on OpenSea.
5/ 3LAU – “Too Late for Love”Monthly trading volume: $58,839 (48.3 ETH)Primary sales: $58,839Secondary sales: N/ADrop date: Dec. 14
Electronic producer and DJ 3LAU set records back in 2021 with an $11.6 million NFT sale. Since then, he launched the Web3 music platform Royal, allowing fans to own a percentage of streaming royalties in tracks by The Chainsmokers, Diplo and others.
In December, 3LAU released his first single of the year, and his first NFT drop since 2021, “Too Late for Love.” Released via his platform Royal, the producer sold 330 gold tokens, each representing 0.1165% of streaming royalties in the track, and three diamond tokens, each granting 3.8488% of streaming royalties as well as backstage access to 3LAU events for life.
6/ Offset and Metro Boomin – “Rick Flare Drip”Monthly trading volume: 42 ETH ($51,072)Primary sales: 39 ETHSecondary sales: 3 ETHDrop date: Dec. 1
The first ever NFT from Spotify’s “Billions Club.” “Rick Flare Drip” has more than 1 billion streams on Spotify, and now fans can own a small piece of the future streaming revenue. The royalties were unlocked through a partnership with Bijan Amir — one of the producers on the track. “This is my first foray into Web3 and crypto,” said Amir. “I wanted to do something meaningful when I did. I love the idea of fans getting a share of my rights, instead of me selling a share of my masters to some investor.” The NFTs were sold via Anotherblock, a Web3 platform that sells streaming royalties in some of the world’s biggest tracks.
View the collection on OpenSea.
7/ KINGSHIP – “Key Cards”Monthly trading volume: 25 ETH ($30,400)Primary sales (in Dec): N/ASecondary sales: 25 ETHDrop date: May 2022
The Bored Ape supergroup secured its seventh-straight month in this top 10 thanks to consistent sales on secondary markets like OpenSea. In December, the group began teasing video footage from the studio where producers Hit-Boy and James Fauntleroy are currently working on the band’s music.
View the collection on OpenSea.
8/ Rae Isla – “Rocks”Monthly trading volume: 23 ETH ($24,320)Primary sales (in Dec): 20 ETHSecondary sales: 3 ETHDrop date: Nov. 28
Independent singer-songwriter Rae Isla was featured in November after selling the first 600 NFTs from her “Rocks” project — a collection of 1,000 NFTs made up of four tracks, each with different rarities and artwork released through Nifty Music — a music NFT accelerator. Isla returned to the top ten in December after selling the remaining 400 and capturing a further 3 ETH in secondary sales on OpenSea.
View the collection on OpenSea.
9/ WVRPS by WarpsoundMonthly trading volume: 20 ETH ($24,320)Primary sales (in Dec): N/ASecondary sales: 20 ETHDrop date: January 2022
WVRPSound is the biggest music NFT project ever in terms of trading volume. Since launching in January last year, the collection of AI-generated music and animated characters have earned more than 6,000 ETH in volume (approximately $7.3 million). In December, the project gave away an album of AI music to holders which triggered a fresh wave of trading activity.
WVRPSound also announced a tool for artists to create multitrack NFT albums. Now, an entire album can be minted as an NFT with interactive buttons to skip tracks. It sounds simple, but this hasn’t been done before at scale. Until now the only other example was an early experiment by an indie band called Talk Time. WRVPSound made the technology open source for anyone to use.
View the collection on OpenSea.
10/ Sammy Arriaga – “Pixelated”Monthly trading volume: 17 ETH ($20,672)Primary sales (in Dec): N/ASecondary sales: 17 ETHDrop date: June 2022
Bringing country to crypto, Sammy Arriaga is a singer-songwriter that launched an NFT project called “Pixelated” back in June. Based around 12 different versions of one song, Pixelated is a collection of 4,000 NFTs, each with a unique pixelated profile picture which Arriaga’s fans use across their social media accounts. The Pixelated project has enjoyed steady volume on secondary markets like OpenSea since the launch, but volume picked up in November and December.
View the collection on OpenSea.
Methodology: The chart was compiled using data from primary music NFT sales across 19 different NFT platforms, independent releases and combined with secondary volume data from OpenSea. Data was captured between Dec. 1 – Dec. 31, 2022. Conversion rates from crypto to US dollars were calculated on Dec. 31.
Disclosure: The author owns music NFTs from Reo Cragun and Daniel Allan, however, the above list is based purely on sales data.
Stanley Mills, a former music publisher who served on the boards of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and the Harry Fox Agency, has died at the age of 91.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Mills, the son of Mills Music Publishing Company founder Jack Mills, died on Thursday (Dec. 29) at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y. A cause of death was not provided.
Mills was born on Feb. 18, 1931. He began his career by working for his father at Mills Music. He remained with the company after it was sold to EMI Music Publishing in 1964. Two years later, he joined E.B. Marks (now Carlin America). In 1968, with the urging of his songwriter friends, Mills founded September Music and Galahad Music, representing many influential songs at the time, including “Cara Mia,” “Hands Up,” “My Melody of Love,” and the “Chicken Dance.”
Mills sold both September Music and Galahad Music to Memory Lane Music in 2015.
He is survived by his sons, Kenneth Mills and Mitchell Mills; nephews, Joshua Mills and Peter Alpert; and five grandchildren. Services will be private.
A woman who alleges Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1986 sued the comedian-actor, NBCUniversal and other companies Friday (Dec. 30) in New York, where five other women filed a similar lawsuit earlier this month.
Stacey Pinkerton says she was a 21-year-old flight attendant and model that year when she claims Cosby drugged her at a restaurant in Illinois and took her back to a hotel room in Chicago. The lawsuit alleges Cosby “engaged in forced sexual intercourse” with her while she was incapacitated from the drugs.
The lawsuit comes more than a year after Cosby left prison after his 2018 sexual assault conviction in Pennsylvania was overturned. Earlier this year, a Los Angeles jury awarded $500,000 to a woman who said Cosby sexually abused her at the Playboy Mansion when she was a teenager in 1975.
Pinkerton says the alleged assault came after she had met Cosby in New York and he promised to help her career. She says she had a role in an episode of The Cosby Show on NBC, but did not appear in the final edit.
Months after the alleged assault, Pinkerton said Cosby invited her to his show at a Chicago theater, where she claims he forcefully kissed and touched her.
“Cosby engaged in the same or similar pattern of conduct with his victims,” Pinkerton’s lawsuit says, “including expressing interest in advancing their careers, giving them roles on The Cosby Show, using The Cosby Show and its filming locations as a means to access, isolate, sexually harass, and sexually assault women, using drugs to incapacitate his victims, and forcibly engaging in sexual acts with them without their consent.”
The lawsuit alleges that NBC, Kaufman Astoria Studios and Carsey-Werner Television should have known Cosby was a danger to women and failed to protect Pinkerton from him.
Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said Friday night that Cosby “continues to vehemently deny all allegations waged against him and looks forward to defending himself in court.”
“As we have always stated, and now America can see, this isn’t about justice for victims of alleged sexual assault, it’s ALL ABOUT MONEY,” Wyatt wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “We believe that the courts, as well as the court of public opinion, will follow the rules of law and relieve Mr. Cosby of these alleged accusations.”
Representatives of NBCUniversal, Kaufman Astoria Studios and Carsey-Werner Television did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday night. All three companies were involved in the production of The Cosby Show,” Pinkerton’s lawsuit said.
The lawsuits by Pinkerton and the five other women were filed under New York’s one-year window for adults to file sexual abuse complaints for allegations that had fallen outside the statute of limitations to sue.
Cosby served nearly three years in prison before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction, finding that he gave incriminating testimony in a deposition about the encounter only after believing he had immunity from prosecution. The trial judge and an intermediate appeals court had found no evidence of such immunity.
Seven other accusers received a settlement from Cosby’s insurers in the wake of the Pennsylvania conviction over a defamation lawsuit they had filed in Massachusetts. Their lawsuit said that Cosby and his agents disparaged them in denying their allegations of abuse.
Mariah Carey may have had the most popular song of the 2022 holiday season, but Pentatonix was its most-listened-to act. The five-person vocal group had 92 recordings in the top 10,000 holiday tracks and total consumption of 2.58 million song units, based on sales and streams from Nov. 4 to Dec. 22, according to Luminate — more than any other artist.
While Pentatonix doesn’t have the same kinds of smash singles as Christmas-time mainstays like Carey, Andy Williams and Burl Ives, the group uses a combination of quantity and popularity to drive its seasonal success. Pentatonix’s top holiday track, a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” ranked No. 43 and accounted for about 10.5% of its total track consumption. Its cover of the David Foster-Jennifer Thompson-Jenner song “Grown Up Christmas List” ranked No. 187 and its rendition of the traditional songs “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Deck the Halls” were Nos. 189 and 191, respectively. Additionally, Pentatonix’s collaboration with Maren Morris, “When You Believe,” from the 1998 animated feature The Price of Egypt, ranked No. 188.
While most artists are content with the occasional holiday release, Pentatonix has released four studio albums comprised mostly or entirely of holiday music since Oct. 2018: Christmas Is Here! In 2018, We Need a Little Christmas in 2020, Evergreen in 2021 and Holidays Around the World in 2022. In addition, the group released a compilation album, The Best of Pentatonix Christmas, in 2019. Some recordings from its 2012 EP PTXmas and its 2014 album That’s Christmas to Me remain popular to this day. In addition, each November and December, the group tours U.S. arenas to perform holiday music.
Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” was once again the most popular holiday track with 1.29 million song units, narrowly beating the 1.24 million song units of Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” But Carey, the self-described “Queen of Christmas,” doesn’t have Pentatonix’s depth of holiday catalog. She ranked fifth in total consumption with 1.96 million units from 36 tracks within the top 10,000. Her second-most popular holiday recording, a cover of Darlene Love’s 1963 standard “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” ranked only No. 68. Her 2010 original recording “Oh! Santa” ranked No. 110 and her version of the traditional Christmas carol “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” was No. 130.
The No. 2 holiday artist was Bing Crosby with 2.43 million song units from 61 tracks in the top 10,000. Crosby’s top recording, “White Christmas,” was No. 13. “Hawaiian Christmas Song” at No. 38, “Winter Wonderland” at No. 63, “Silent Night” at No. 72, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” at No. 83, “The Little Drummer Boy” at No. 86 and “Do You Hear What I Hear?” at No. 95.
At No. 3 was Michael Bublé, whose 25 recordings in the top 10,000 amassed 2.39 million song units. Bublé had numerous songs in the top 100, including “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” at No. 16, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” at No. 31, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” at No. 45 and “Holly Jolly Christmas” at No. 46. Bublé also stands out for having numerous recordings in the top 100 that are the second-most popular versions of the songs. (Burl Ives’ version of “Holly Jolly Christmas,” ranked No. 4 while Perry Como’s “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” ranked No. 10.) But Bublé is also notable for knocking off some holiday legends. His 19-year-old version of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” ranks 38 slots above Bing Crosby’s historic recording from 1943.
Nat King Cole ranked fourth in holiday music consumption with 2.1 million song units from 33 recordings in the top 10,000. Cole’s top recordings were his now-standard versions of “The Christmas Song” at No. 12 and “Deck the Halls” at No. 15. “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Joy to the World” were also in the top 100, at Nos. 51 and 82, respectively.
After Carey at No. 5, artists in the top 10 were Andy Williams (1.84 million), Frank Sinatra (1.71 million), Perry Como (1.38 million), Burl Ives (1.37 million) and Brenda Lee (1.31 million).
Arriving just before New Years’ Eve, on Friday (Dec. 30), the Copyright Royalty Board judges issued their ruling on streaming royalty rates for songwriters for the period of January 2023 to December 2027, upholding a settlement proposed by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Digital Media Association (DiMA), and Nashville Songwriters’ Association International (NSAI) in late August. This ruling sets the rates for Subpart C and D of the five year period known as Phonorecords IV (or “Phono IV” for short), and it represents a compromise between the music industry and the streaming services, creating certainty around the royalties owed to songwriters for U.S. mechanicals.
According to the settlement, which the NMPA touts as the “highest rates in the history of digital streaming,” the headline rate will increase from 15.1% of revenue in 2023 to 15.2% in 2024 and then up a half a percentage point in each of the remaining three years, peaking at 15.35% in 2027, the final year of the term.
For stand-alone portable subscription offerings — like Spotify — the total content cost (TCC) component of the rate formula will be set at 26.2% of what’s paid to labels for the entire term, or $1.10 per subscriber, whichever is lower. Previously, those numbers were 21% of revenue and 80 cents per subscriber.
This means that the resultant TCC pool is measured against the total service revenue. Whichever is larger is designated the “all-in” pool, including both performance and mechanical royalties. After this is established, performance royalties are subtracted out, leaving behind solely the mechanical royalties.
Finally, the resultant mechanicals are compared against a pool, calculated by multiplying a streaming service’s total subscribers by 60 cents per person. Whichever of these two totals is bigger becomes the final mechanical royalty pool paid out to publishers and songwriters. Previously, the multiplier for the last 10 years had been set at 50 cents per subscriber.
This final ruling, reached two days before its rates are set to take effect, is a striking contrast from the lengthy proceedings to set streaming rates for Phonorecords III (2018-2022). Though that five year period is nearly over, its rates are still not finalized. In 2018, the music industry initially won the increase of the headline rate from 11.4% to 15.1% over the five year period, but the following year, Spotify, Amazon, Google and Pandora appealed, hoping to secure a lesser rate. This resulted in a legal back-and-forth that continues today, and although it is nearing its completion, it has created uncertainty surrounding what songwriters are owed for their work.
In hopes of streamlining the process and avoiding lengthy proceedings, the three settling parties worked together to propose a settlement for approval or denial by the CRB. Though other participants and interested parties outside of those who took part in the settlement were given the opportunity to explain their point-of-view during the month-long “comment period,” which ran from Nov. 7 to Dec. 7, the board explained in its ruling that its role is to either adopt or decline the settlement’s terms as presented, not to “modify” or add “requested adjustments.”
The ruling makes note of concerns provided by the 20 total commenters who weighed in on the settlement during the period, including that to some independent songwriters “the proposed rates might seem inadequate” and that several commenters prefer “alternative methods for inserting inflation adjustments.” “However,” the board states in the ruling, “the settlement is what is before the judges for consideration, not alternative rates or proposals for alternative procedures.”
In a statement Friday, NMPA president and CEO, David Israelite, celebrated the news. “Starting January 1, songwriters will enjoy the highest rates in the world and the highest rates in the history of digital streaming,” he said. “Thanks to the many songwriter advocates who worked hard to make this happen. There are still many challenges ahead to ensure that songs receive their proper value, but the future is bright.”
DiMA president and CEO, Garrett Levin, added, “We appreciate the Copyright Royalty Board for recognizing the benefits of this landmark agreement and the certainty it provides for streaming services, publishers, and songwriters alike. Thanks to the agreement, we can kick off 2023 focused on fans and continuing to grow streaming for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Additional Reporting by Ed Christman
This year, a handful of new recordings beat long odds and were among the 50 most popular holiday tracks: Lizzo’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Someday at Christmas” and Lauren Spencer-Smith’s version of “Last Christmas” by Wham! ranked Nos. 39 and 47, respectively, in consumption – measuring track sales and streams – from Nov. 4 to Dec. 22, according to Luminate. Kane Brown’s version of “Blue Christmas,” made famous by Elvis Presley, ranked No. 48.
If historical trends persist, though, many of this year’s new holiday recordings won’t even survive the summer. Creating a holiday standard is one of the most difficult, unlikely tasks in all of songwriting.
Looking back over the last five years shows the slim odds a new recording faces in becoming an annual favorite. In 2017, 72 newly released tracks made the top 1,000 holiday recordings of the last two months of the year. Three of them — Sia’s “Santa’s Coming for Us” (No. 37), Pentatonix’s “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (No. 68) and Us the Duo’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (No. 98) — made the top 100. Gwen Stefani had eight of the 72 new recordings in the top 1,000. Hanson’s “Finally, It’s Christmas,” at No. 610, was an original song competing against new recordings of well-worn favorites like “Wonderful Christmastime” and “The Christmas Song.”
Five years later, only 30 recordings released in 2017 remained in the top 1,000. Sia’s “Santa’s Coming for Us” dropped from No. 37 to No. 171, while her song “Snowman” has risen to No. 53 to become the most popular recording of the class of 2017. Stefani had only three recordings from 2017 in the top 1,000, and her top-ranked holiday song, “You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” released in 2011, slipped to No. 42 from No. 18 five years earlier. Hanson was in the top 1,000 — with “What Christmas Means to Me,” originally recorded by Stevie Wonder in 1967, not its original song from five years earlier.
To become a holiday favorite, a new recording must prove itself by competing against popular holiday songs that have withstood decades-long wars of attrition. Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is a relatively young holiday standard at 28 years old. “Last Christmas” by Wham!, ranked No. 5 this holiday season, is 36. Ariana Grande’s “Santa Tell Me” (No. 7) and Kelly Clarkson’s “Underneath the Tree” (No. 8), just 8 and 12 years old, respectively, have beaten the odds to challenge established recordings like Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (No. 6), released in 1963 and often heard in advertisements and movie soundtracks.
That weeding-out process isn’t enough to deter songwriters from trying to create the next holiday hit and collect royalty checks year after year, though. This year, Chris Isaak, Backstreet Boys and Thomas Rhett released albums or EPs of Christmas songs. Sam Smith, Alanis Morissette, Dan + Shay, Joss Stone, Lukas Graham and Remi Wolf released individual tracks.
Even though the odds of writing a holiday standard are slim, the payoff is a lure, says Rhett Miller, singer for the alt-country band The Old 97’s. Miller and his musician friends have told “a probably apocryphal story” amongst themselves about musician Nick Lowe walking to his mailbox one day in a bath robe and finding a check for a million dollars not knowing that Curtis Stigers’ cover of his song “Peace, Love and Understanding” was featured on the soundtrack to the movie The Bodyguard that would go on to sell 44 million copies worldwide.
“In the olden days, landing a song on a soundtrack like that was sort of the end all be all,” says Miller. “But, really, the Christmas song is the biggest dream of any songwriter — to have a song that connects and becomes a standard.” Miller acknowledges the long odds a holiday recording faces in becoming a recurring hit. Writing a holiday standard is like winning the lottery: A jackpot is exceedingly unlikely, but, as the saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t play. “I did have an idea that if we contributed an album of holiday songs to the conversation, we would at least be in the running for one of those songs that connected,” says Miller.
Miller has the benefit of having an influential company in his corner: Disney. James Gunn, writer and director of Marvel Comics’ Guardians of the Galaxy movie franchise, cast the Old 97’s for the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special that premiered on Disney+ video on-demand streaming service in November. The Old 97’s re-recorded their original song, “Here It Is Christmastime,” with actor-singer Kevin Bacon, and performed the song wearing prosthetic makeup. That helped “Here It Is Christmastime” debut at No. 7 on the Holiday Digital Song Sales and No. 27 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales charts for Dec. 10. Although the recording ranks only at No. 865 this holiday season, it will likely benefit from Marvel Comics fans viewing the special in the coming years.
In the streaming age, nothing helps posterity like a partnership with a giant multi-national entertainment platform. Lizzo, Spencer-Smith and Brown, the top of the Class of 2022, recorded their holiday tracks under exclusive partnership with Amazon Music. In earlier years, Amazon Music has released original holiday recordings by Katy Perry (“Cozy Little Christmas” in 2018), Carrie Underwood (an original song, “Favorite Time of the Year,” in 2020), John Legend (“Happy Christmas [War Is Over]” in 2019), Taylor Swift (“Christmas Tree Farm [Old Timey Version]” in 2019) and Camila Cabello (“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” in 2021).
“Each year, we really look to work with artists that we know our customers love and who we think are going to be a good fit for our holiday listeners and really work with them to find the right track,” says Stephen Brower, global co-lead, artist relations at Amazon Music, “whether that’s a cover in the case of Lizzo doing Stevie Wonder’s ‘Someday at Christmas’ or in Katy and Carrie’s cases, having brand new songs.”
What holiday listeners seem to want every November and December is comfort music that harkens back to eras bygone. Even an original holiday song must have a classic, throwback sound that takes from late ’50s and early ’60s pop and rock. The rockabilly in Bobby Helms’ “Jingle Bell Rock” and Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” production in The Ronettes “Sleigh Ride” set a template that’s been closely followed by later artists. “Ever since Mariah, only songs that had that ’60s Spector feel seem to be getting any traction,” says Sean Ross, author of the Ross on Radio newsletter.
Christmas is no time to reinvent the wheel. Recreating the sounds of Christmas past gives Lizzo, Spencer-Smith and Brown the best chance at capturing an audience and maintaining momentum for the next five years. “Because the Christmas music season is typically only about six weeks, people don’t get tired of them,” Tom Poleman, chief programming officer for iHeartMedia, says in an email to Billboard. “As a result, there’s a huge supply of great songs to play, making it hard for new ones to cut through. The ones that do break through are usually well-made remakes of holiday classics by a big star like Kelly Clarkson.”
This holiday season, Clarkson’s covers of Chuck Berry’s “Run Run Rudolph” (No. 103) and Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” (No. 238) were the first and second most popular versions of those songs after the originals. She also has popular versions of “My Favorite Things” (No. 282), “Please Come Home for Christmas” (No. 317) and “Silent Night” (No. 382). But Clarkson is the rare contemporary artist whose original songs are more popular than her covers. In a few years, “Under the Mistletoe” (No. 105) from 2020 and “Christmas Isn’t Canceled (You Are)” (No. 168) from 2021 could become the next “Underneath the Tree” (No. 8).
Miller is aware of the long odds that “Here It Is Christmastime” faces in the coming years – but he’s hopeful he can have a Clarkson-level hit one day. “It’s going to be something,” he says. “But will it be my Nick Lowe-in-a-bath robe moment? I don’t know. It would be great if something broke through.”