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Elektra Entertainment has promoted Jacob Fain to executive vice president and head of A&R at the Warner Music-owned label unit. The Los Angeles-based Fain joined Elektra in late 2020 and was most recently senior vp of A&R and head of the label’s data and analytics team. He’ll continue to report directly to Elektra president Gregg […]
Rock-country artist Riley Thomas has signed with Elektra/DBLBLK Records, which will release his new single, “I’ll Be Damned,” on Friday (Aug. 18). Thomas scored a sleeper success with his debut single, “Cowboys Did Cocaine,” which has racked up nearly 14 million streams on Spotify since its release in June.
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and watching Riley develop as both a writer and artist for years,” said DBLBLK Records founder Jameson Roper in a statement. “It’s always been a question of when — not if — his moment would arrive. I am beyond thrilled to lock arms with my true partners at Elektra. They have always identified great music and supported our artists fully. For Riley, the music may be dark, but the future is bright.”
Thomas added, “As an artist focused on the reach of my music, I knew I wanted to be with Elektra after meeting the team. I’ve long admired Gregg Nadel, Johnny Minardi, and the staff’s ability to develop and sustain career artists. Moreover, their respect for good music and commitment to fostering growth gave me confidence that this is the place for me. With the addition of a tenacious Jameson Roper and DBLBK, I’m looking forward to a long ride with this family.”
Thomas is managed by Mike Easterlin at Glen West Entertainment and Jameson Roper at DBLBLK Management. His booking agent is Nate Towne at WME.
Daughtry signed with Big Machine Records, which released the band’s latest single, “Artificial,” on Aug. 11. Fronted by Chris Daughtry, the band has released a total of six albums to date.
Country singer-songwriter Walker Hayes announced a new partnership with Monument Records and RCA Records. Under the deal, Hayes recently released a new two-track bundle titled Strait Two Stepping featuring “Stetson” and “Show Me The Country.” Hayes is managed by Robert Carlton at SMACKSongs and represented by Aaron Tannenbaum at WME.
Nashville-based alternative singer-songwriter Max Frost signed to Nettwerk, which will release his new single, “Creep Back,” on Friday (Aug. 18.) Frost is represented by Ron Shapiro and Joe Hegleman at Have Fun Management and Marsh Vlasic and Craig Bruck at IAG for booking. He was formerly signed to Atlantic Records.
CMW Entertainment struck a partnership with Sony Music’s AWAL Recordings for CMW’s flagship artist, Mudrigo, whose latest single, “UH HUH,” was released under the pact on Aug. 2. The companies will collaborate to support Mudrigo with a full suite of services globally; AWAL will support his development by offering services including A&R, global marketing, creative, synch, brand partnerships, distribution and access to real-time analytics.
Mette signed to Since ’93 and RCA Records in the United States. The labels will release her upcoming EP, METTENARRATIVE, on Sept. 22, preceded by Mette’s new single, “VAN GOGH.” She is managed by Caron Veazey at ThreeSix Zero; booking is handled by Mary Hannon and Craig D’Souza at WME for the United States and United Kingdom, respectively.
SMACK has launched SMACKRecords, adding a label branch to the company and announcing its first signing, singer-songwriter-actress Jenna Davis. SMACKRecords marks the fourth enterprise to launch under SMACK, following publishing company SMACKSongs, SMACKManagement (which reps Walker Hayes and Kylie Morgan) and digital marketing company SMACKTok. Davis will also be represented by Marissa Turk at SMACKManagement. Her debut single, “DiCaprio,” was co-written by Hayes, Kelsea Ballerini and Ross Copperman. Davis also recently voiced the main character in the horror-thriller M3GAN. – Jessica Nicholson
Rock band Sheer Mag signed with Third Man Records, marking the group’s first partnership with a larger independent label. Under the deal, Third Man will physically and digitally re-release Sheer Mag’s entire back catalog — including EPs I, II and III as well as albums Need To Feel Your Love and A Distant Call — on Oct. 27. Third Man just released the band’s latest single, “All Lined Up.” Sheer Mag is represented by manager Mike Sneeringer at Another Management Company and booking agent Timmy Hefner at Ground Control Touring.
Country duo Neon Union signed with CAA. The duo, which has played over 50 tour dates so far this year, is signed to Red Street Records and managed by Tristan Kirkbride.
Country singer-songwriter Annie Bosko signed a joint-venture management deal with Randy Bernard and Brown Sellers Brown (BSB) Management; she will be represented at the latter by Benny Brown, Jason Sellers and Angela Wheeler. Bosko also signed a label deal with Brown’s Stone Country Records and is now represented by CAA for booking.
Emerging country singer-songwriter Eli Winders signed to Atlantic Records/Bad Realm Records, which released his debut single, “Pack My Hometown,” on Friday (Aug. 11). He is managed by Layne Lindroth at C3.
Morgan Myles, the country singer-songwriter who was formerly a contestant on The Voice, signed with KZZ Music/Blue Élan, which released her new single, “Vertigo,” on Aug. 8. She’s represented by manager Ann Henningsen and booking agents Jennifer Hludzik at APA and Jared Caleb.
Singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer signed with New York-based management/distribution/merchandising company Invasion Merch and has signed a new contract with talent and literary agency Paladin Artists. Palmer recently earned two Grammy nominations and hosts the Apple Music show Color Me Country with Rissi Palmer. Earlier this year, Palmer’s Still Here documentary film was featured on PBS’ American Masters: In the Making series. – Jessica Nicholson
Singer-songwriter Ryan Larkins signed with CAA, where he will be represented by Marc Dennis. Larkins previously signed with Red Street Records, which released his debut songs as an artist — “Man That Holds the Beer” and “She’s the Tough One” — on Friday (Aug. 11).
The BBC’s historic Maida Vale Studios has been sold to a business partnership headed by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer and film producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, the British broadcaster announced Monday (Aug. 14).
The famous London facility has been used for music recording since the 1930s and has played host to everyone from Adele to David Bowie to The Beatles throughout its storied history. The BBC first announced its plans to close the building and relocate to a new purpose-built music base in 2018, although Maida Vale Studios was only officially put up for sale by the broadcaster in November.
The new owners, which also includes Zimmer’s business partner, Steven Kofsky, have said that the Grade II listed building — originally a roller-skating palace — will continue to operate as a music hub and will undergo a multi-million-pound refurbishment to create a “world-class studio space for the next generation of composers, producers, editors and engineers.”
Terms were not disclosed for the deal, but last year it was reported that the studios were being advertised on the property market for offers above £10.5 million ($13.3 million). According to Sky News, a rival business consortium that included Warner Music Group controlling shareholder Len Blavatnik and film producer Matthew Vaughn also made an offer to buy the studios but was rejected.
Zimmer, Bevan, Fellner and Kofsky said they will also establish a not-for-profit education facility at Maida Vale Studios that will provide jobs and opportunities for the local community.
In announcing the sale, the BBC’s director of music, Lorna Clarke, paid tribute to the important role the venue has played in British popular culture. “We are so pleased to secure a sale which looks to continue the bright, vibrant future of music-making in this iconic building,” she said in a statement.
Zimmer recalled the first time he worked for the BBC at the complex 45 years ago. “I still remember the strong pull, the desire to touch the walls, as if that would somehow allow me to connect to the artists whose extraordinary music had resonated against these walls on a daily basis,” said the composer.
Zimmer went on to say that he now wants to “close the circle” and make the facility an inspirational place “that gives the next generation the same opportunities I was given: to create and to never give up.”
Bevan and Fellner, co-chairmen of London-based film production company Working Title, called the acquisition a “once-in-a-lifetime project” that will continue the BBC’s legacy by attracting global talent to the United Kingdom.
In addition to playing host to a wealth of rock and pop stars over the years — a long list that also includes Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfield, Beyoncé and Bing Crosby, who made this final recording there in 1977 just days before he died — Maida Vale studios was previously home to the BBC’s pioneering Radiophonic Workshop.
At present, the facility is home to the BBC Symphony Orchestra and is regularly used to record a large number of music and drama sessions broadcast across the BBC’s radio and online network. The BBC says it has agreed to lease back the building from the new owners and will continue to use the studios until it moves to a new studio complex, which is currently under construction in East London and due to open in late 2025.
Universal Music, Sony Music and Concord are suing the Internet Archive over a project to digitize old vinyl records from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby and other iconic artists, calling it “blatant” copyright infringement under a “smokescreen” of preservation.
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In a complaint filed Friday in Manhattan federal court, the labels took aim at the Internet Archive’s “Great 78 Project,” in which thousands of physical records have been digitized and made available to users for free. They called the project “wholesale theft of generations of music.”
“The Great 78 website is a massive, unauthorized, digital record store of recordings,” lawyers for the music companies wrote. “Although Internet Archive describes the Great 78 Project’s goal as ‘the preservation, research and discovery of 78 rpm records,’ the Great 78 Project is actually an illegal effort to willfully defy copyright law on an astonishing scale.”
Though they claim “hundreds of thousands” of songs have been illegally copied, the labels are specifically suing over 2,749 songs – every single one of which, they say, is already available on legal digital services. They include iconic tracks like Crosby’s “White Christmas” and Sinatra’s “I’ve Got the World on a String.”
“Defendants [cannot] justify their activities as necessary to preserve historical recordings,” the music companies wrote. “These recordings face no danger of being lost, forgotten, or destroyed.”
The lawsuit is hardly the Internet Archive’s first dust-up with copyright law. The group fought to invalidate legislation passed by Congress in the 1990s that added years onto the length of a copyright’s term of protection, and is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed by the major book publishers over a COVID-era library project that scanned physical books and lent them to users for free. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that Internet Archive’s project was not a legal fair use of the publishers’ books.
In Friday’s complaint, the music companies cited the Internet Archive’s “long history of opposing copyright laws” and previous efforts to “improperly … wrap its infringing conduct in the ill-fitting mantle of fair use.”
“Having failed repeatedly in Congress and the courts, Internet Archive now chooses to simply willfully disobey the copyright laws of which it is acutely aware,” lawyers for the music companies wrote.
At issue in Friday’s complaint are so-called pre-1972 songs – a category of music that was previously not covered by federal sound recording copyrights. But in 2018, federal lawmakers extended such protection to the old songs as part of the Music Modernization Act. In their complaint, the music companies said they were suing to “vindicate the rights Congress has granted creators in pre-1972 sound recordings.”
“When Defendants exploit Plaintiffs’ sound recordings without authorization, neither Plaintiffs nor their artists see a dime,” the companies wrote. “Not only does this harm Plaintiffs and the artists or their heirs by depriving them of compensation, but it undermines the value of music.”
The lawsuit is seeking so-called statutory damages for each copyrighted song allegedly infringed, which could total $412 million if fully granted. But such damages totals are heavily litigated and could be substantially lower if the case ever reaches a final judgment.
In addition to naming the Internet Archive itself as a defendant, the lawsuit also individually names the group’s founder, Brewster Kahle, as well as George Blood, an audio engineer who allegedly worked on the Great 78 project.
The Internet Archive did not immediately return a request for comment.
Read the entire complaint filed against the Internet Archive here:
The Copyright Royalty Board’s final determination for royalty rates for making and distributing phonorecords for the 2018-2022 term (aka Phonorecords III) were published by the Federal Register late last week, following a legal review — and close check for typos — by the office of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter.
The majority of the rates determination is no surprise. Since the official remand by an Appeals Court in October 2020 — which followed a March 2019 appeal by digital services of the CRB’s February 2019 rates determination for the 2018-2022 term — the CRB judges had been wrestling with different aspects of the complicated mechanical rate formula cited by the appeal courts, with various aspects of the rates determination coming out in dribs and drabs over the last eight months.
As is already known, the CRB judges stayed with the escalating rate structure for the all-in percentage of revenue prong, which covers both mechanical and performance royalties, for on-demand streaming for the 2018-2022 period.
(The 21% of total content cost is for performance royalties are determined by a separate process but whatever was agreed to be paid to ASCAP, BMI and the other performance royalty organization is subtracted from the all-in bucket in one step of the process to determine one of the mechanical rates bucket.)
That rate structure escalated from 10.5% in the prior five-year term of 2013-2017 to 11.2% in 2018, 12.3% in 2019, 13.4% in 2020; 14.2% in 2021, and 15.1% in 2022. But in moving to the other all-in prong — the total cost of content prong, i.e. what the services pay the record labels — the CRB judges re-installed the ceiling, which prevents publishers and songwriters from automatically being rewarded when labels and artists negotiations higher rates from the services; and the judges abandoned the earlier escalating rate structure from its initial 2019 determination for the total cost of content prong, which similarly rose in annual increments from 21% of what’s paid to labels to 26.1% over the five year term. Instead, the judges stuck with 21% of total content cost for the full five-year term — the same percentage it had been in the previous five years.
(This article mainly uses the percentages from what’s known as the stand-alone portable streaming model, i.e. the main on-demand streaming vehicle, which at Spotify is known as the paid subscriber tier. The ad-supported rate is 22% of what’s paid to labels.)
In other moves, the CRB stuck with 9.1 cents per song for physical and downloads and 24 cents per ringtone for Phonorecord III. In Phonorecords IV, for 2023-2027, the royalty rate for ringtones would remain the same but the per song rate will earn 12 cents per track or 2.31 cents per minute of playing time or fraction thereof, whichever amount is larger for physical products and permanent downloads. Also, that rate will be subject to an annual cost-of-living adjustment.
Before an Appeals Court remanded a significant part of the CRB rate determination for 2018-2022 back to the CRB, digital streaming services were adhering to the structure of the initial determination which means that for some 33 months the formula applied the higher rates for the total cost of content prong without a ceiling. As such, industry sources speculate that some digital services overpaid during that period — and Billboard estimates that they might have over paid by $50 million.
But after the remand most services reverted back to the 2013-2017 rates of which used the headline rate of 10.5% of revenue, and consequently most industry financial sources suggest that the service underpaid from October 2020 through December 2022. Consequently, Billboard estimates that digital services collectively might owe $200 million to $250 million for the latter period. Looking at the two period, with the earlier one 2018-2020 partially offsetting the later period of 2021-2022, that could mean a $200 million windfall for publishers and songwriters.
Now that this has all been settled, the Mechanical Licensing Collective—working with required updated information from the digital services—has six months from the Aug. 10 date to make adjustments in what has been paid and what may still be owed from 2021 and 2022, the two years the MLC has been in operation. It will also have to rectify any under or over payments for unclaimed and unpaid royalties from the earlier periods before it began operations— a responsibility it was handed as part of the Music Modernization Act.
But besides the unpaid royalties, any needed adjustments to the rest of the payments made to publishers and songwriters during the 2018-2020 period will be handled by the digital services, likely with the help of their third party vendors, i.e. Music Reports Inc and the Harry Fox Agency.
The Phonorecords IV rate determination for 2023-2027 preceded the final determination for Phonorecords III, as it was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 16, 2022.
Multi-faceted entertainers Billy Ray Cyrus and FIREROSE have signed with Scott Adkins for exclusive management representation, and with Nick Meinema of Action Entertainment Collaborative for global agency representation.
Adkins also manages country singer-songwriter and Country Music Hall of Fame member Tanya Tucker and is president/CEO of public relations firm Adkins Publicity. Meinema’s Action Entertainment Collaborative also represents Trace Adkins, Terri Clark, James Barker Band, Sawyer Brown, Thompson Square and more.
“Billy Ray Cyrus is royalty in all aspects of the entertainment business who continues to reign as a true visionary, and FIREROSE is a multi-talented gem whose talent blew me away the moment I heard her stylistic voice. I’m thrilled to continue representing both artists in a management capacity after working with Cyrus for more than eight years,” Adkins said via a statement.
“We’re thrilled we got the call and opportunity to represent Billy Ray Cyrus and FIREROSE, and are excited to put into motion the plan they have for their future, while building off of Cyrus’ indelible career as a bonafide hitmaker and entertainer, as we embark into the next chapter with FIREROSE,” added Action Entertainment Collaborative founder Meinema.
Cyrus and FIREROSE recently issued their new duet, the Diane Warren-written “Plans.”
“Like our song says, ‘It’s a new day.’ ‘New Day’ was FIREROSE and my first Top 20 radio hit together. It sowed the seeds for a lot of change still yet to come. A new beginning. This moment in time marks not only a new chapter but to be honest, it’s a brand new book,” Cyrus said in a statement.
“I am honored and thrilled to be represented by Scott Adkins and Nick Meinema,” FIREROSE added. “I’m very much looking forward to this next exciting stage of my career and taking my artistry to the next level with this power team. There’s a great synergy in our creative vision and trajectory for my artistic goals.”
Cyrus earned his breakthrough hit in 1992 with “Achy Breaky Heart,” which enjoyed a five-week run at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart beginning on May 30, 1992. One week later, his Some Gave All album hit the summit on Top Country Albums for the first of 34 total weeks, setting a precedent at the time for a debut album. He followed with country hits including “Some Gave All,” “It Won’t Be the Last,” and “It Could’ve Been Me.”
He went on to diversify his career, taking on acting roles in series including Doc and Still the King, as well as the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana with his daughter, singer-songwriter-actress Miley Cyrus. In 2019, he united with Lil Nas X for a remix of “Old Town Road,” which spent 19 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and is now certified 17-times multi-platinum by the RIAA.
FIREROSE and Cyrus previously collaborated on the song “New Day,” while FIREROSE is known for her indie-pop tracks “Fragile Handling,” and “Way Out,” which have each earned more than 1 million views on YouTube.
See the official video for the couple’s song “Plans” below:
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Warner Music Group’s share price didn’t improve much this week, but its 5.6% gain nevertheless led the 21 music stocks in the Billboard Global Music Index.
On Tuesday (Aug. 8), Warner Music Group (WMG) reported that its quarterly revenue increased 9% year over year in the fiscal quarter ended June 30. That was music to investors’ ears after WMG’s revenue grew just 1.7% in the previous quarter, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise: WMG executives had previously told investors that the company’s new release schedule was weighted in the back half of its fiscal year and that its financials would pick up accordingly. And a Billboard analysis of Luminate data found that the company’s U.S. market share had started to improve by early May.
Only four of the Billboard Global Music Index’s 21 stocks finished the week in positive territory. Sphere Entertainment Co., the company behind the state-of-the-art Las Vegas venue set to open in September, improved 5.5% to $39.77 and German promoter CTS Eventim gained 4.8% to 61.80 euros ($67.76). Elsewhere, Hipgnosis Songs Fund rose 3.9% to 79.8 pence ($1.01).
This was the third consecutive week the index declined in value after reaching an all-time high in the week ended July 21.
LiveOne shares dropped 4% this week despite the company raising guidance on its fiscal 2024 revenue and adjusted EBITDA. In the fiscal quarter ended June 30, the company — which is behind music streaming platform Slacker and podcast brand PodcastOne — posted revenue of $25.7 million, up 24% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA of $4.9 million, up 46% year over year.
iHeartMedia shares fell 24.9% to $3.38 this week after the company warned of continued softness in advertising. The U.S. radio giant posted second quarter revenue of $920 million, down 3.6% year over year. Other radio companies also declined. Cumulus Media fell 5.9% to $4.96, while Townsquare Media — not a member of the Billboard Global Music Index — fell 19.7% on Wednesday following the company’s second-quarter earnings results but recaptured some of the losses on Thursday and Friday to finish the week down 7.2% at $10.50.
French streaming company Deezer fell 9.4% to 2.12 euros ($2.32) this week and has lost 16% since reporting mid-year earnings on Aug. 3. The company lowered its forecast for full-year revenue growth slightly to a range of 7% to 10%, down from a more than 10% increase. Although the company’s decision to raise its price in 2022 helped its average revenue per user to increase 8.3%, its subscribers declined by 100,000 to 9.3 million from the prior-year period.
In related news, Disney shares rose 4.9% after the company’s second quarter beat earnings expectations, even as it revealed that its Disney+ subscriber count fell 7.4% to 146.1 million in the second quarter. Starting in October, Disney will raise the prices for both ad-free and ad-supported tiers of Disney+ and Hulu by at least 20%. Following the price increases, ad-free Disney+ will cost $13.99 per month and ad-free Hulu will cost $17.99 per month.
Music services have been far more hesitant than streaming video-on-demand services to raise prices. Spotify just increased its individual plan price in the United States — by $1 to $10.99 — for the first time since launching in 2011. By contrast, Hulu last raised its prices in October 2022 and has increased its the price of its ad-free tier by 39% in less than a year.
Music stocks’ decline mirrored stocks’ broad declines this week. In the United States, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.3% and 1.9%, respectively. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 was down 0.5%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index declined 0.4%. News that the U.S. producer price index, a gauge of wholesale prices, rose 3% in July — the biggest one-month gain since January — was a factor in U.S. stock prices falling Friday.
It didn’t take long for news of a lawsuit against Lizzo to put a dent in her sales and streaming activity. Multiple metrics — such as on-demand audio streams and Instagram followers — reveal a small but noticeable fan backlash in the week following news that the singer was sued in a Los Angeles court by three tour dancers who claimed the “Special” singer subjected them to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
From August 1 — the day the lawsuit became public — to August 8, Lizzo’s daily U.S. on-demand audio streams fell 21.7% while her daily U.S. track sales have declined 35%, according to Luminate.
Almost half of the decline in U.S. track sales appears to be the result of a drop-off in sales of “Pink,” Lizzo’s contribution to the Barbie: The Album soundtrack. Excluding “Pink,” Lizzo’s track sales declined 19.3% from August 1 to August 8. The decline in her on-demand audio streams excluding “Pink” was unchanged at 21.7%.
The cumulative loss over the seven-day period is relatively minor: about 6 million on-demand audio streams with a royalty value of roughly $10,000 to her record label, according to Billboard’s estimate. Smaller yet is the cumulative decline in royalties from track sales of roughly $1,000 over the same period.
The financial damage would be far greater if Lizzo’s streams and sales continue to be impacted by the controversy. The lawsuit could remain in the public spotlight for some time: The attorney representing the three plaintiffs claims to have received “at least six other inquiries” from people with similar stories regarding their employment by Lizzo. If her U.S. sales and streams continued at the current rate, the cumulative decline in U.S. royalties from streams and track sales would amount to about $89,000 over the first 30-day period and $320,000 over a 90-day, three-month period.
Although her streaming numbers dropped considerably, Lizzo lost just 0.1% of her Spotify followers, amounting to roughly 6,000 of her 5.6 million followers, in the seven days after news of the lawsuit broke. But the singer took a bigger hit on social media. In the week after the lawsuit, Lizzo’s Instagram followers fell 1.7% to 13.4 million while her TikTok followers declined 0.7% to 26.8 million, according to Chartmetric.
Social media numbers fall when services occasionally remove fake followers, but “it is highly unusual to see these simultaneous declines in follower accounts on multiple services,” says Chaz Jenkins, Chartmetric’s chief commercial officer. Artists’ followers tend to increase steadily over time. In fact, before the lawsuit, Lizzo’s Instagram never declined more than 0.1% over any seven-day period in 2023. .
Seeing some fans’ reaction to Lizzo’s lawsuit recalls how Doja Cat lost about 600,000 Instagram followers in roughly two and a half weeks, according to Chartmetric, after the rapper traded barbs with her fans. She received none of the groundswell of support that Jason Aldean experienced after CMT’s decision to pull the video for his song “Try That in a Small Town” sparked a national conversation. From July 1 to August 10, Aldean’s YouTube subscribers grew by 10.9% to 2.7 million, his Instagram followers increased 5.9% to 4.3 million and the track went to No. 1 on the Hot 100. But, as Kanye West’s rebounding music consumption suggests, listeners may not stay mad for long.
Round Hill Music has acquired the remaining share of Big Loud Shirt’s catalog of music publishing rights, bringing Round Hill Music’s ownership of Big Loud Shirt’s music catalog to 100%. Round Hill previously acquired a share of the Big Loud Shirt catalog in 2014.
Round Hill has also acquired 50% of the writer’s income streams from songwriter/producer Craig Wiseman, the founder/owner of Big Loud Shirt.
The Big Loud Shirt catalog comprises more than 1,200 songs recorded by artists including Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Luke Bryan and Tim McGraw. The majority date prior to 2015, with 75% of them at least seven years old.
According to a press release announcing the deal, streaming income generated from Big Loud Shirt’s catalog increased approximately 200% from 2017 to 2021.
The deal brings new rights into Round Hill’s portfolio and expands its existing interests in songs including McGraw’s “Live Like You Were Dying” (co-written by Wiseman), Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” and “Blown Away” and Strait’s “I Saw God Today.”
According to a release, this acquisition also increases Round Hill’s exposure to the country music market, which as of December 31, 2022, comprised 11% of their portfolio.
Round Hill Music CEO Josh Gruss said in a statement, “Craig Wiseman and his publishing company, Big Loud Shirt, have produced some of the highest profile, most recognizable and enduring country music hits of the last three decades, bringing them firmly in line with the song profile of the Company’s portfolio. We have a terrific working relationship with Craig, who we have known for many years, and are deeply familiar with these songs. This investment not only enables us to further increase Round Hill Music’s exposure to the fast-growing Country music genre but also provides an exciting opportunity for us to leverage our in-house platform to manage these incredible songs, maximizing their income streams and further growing their value.”
Wiseman added, “I have known and been working with Round Hill for a decade and I’m thrilled to be expanding our relationship by sharing these incredible pieces of art with them. I know they will manage these songs carefully and effectively, identifying creative opportunities to bring them to new audiences worldwide.”
When Travis Scott decides to do something, he usually goes big.
And with his latest album, he decided to go colossal, with a 60,000-person concert unveiling his latest release, Utopia, at Rome’s iconic Circus Maximus, the ancient stadium that used to serve as a chariot racing venue during the Roman Empire. The event came together in less than a week and served as a capstone to the rollout for what became the biggest debut week for a hip-hop album this year, and the third-biggest week of any album at all in 2023, moving 496,000 equivalent album units.
Even more remarkable for an album in a genre that heavily over-indexes in streaming, half of the units moved for Utopia came from sales, as Scott continues to be one of the most innovative artists in music with his sales strategies. Helping him pull all this off has been his manager, Cactus Jack GM David Stromberg, who earns the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Stromberg talks about the huge first week for Utopia, the challenges in pulling off that show at the Circus Maximus and why artists should be celebrated for their approach to merchandising and sales. “A24 releases merch for their big movies, Disney and Marvel create massive product lines around their blockbusters, fans line up for jerseys and official merch at every sporting event,” he says. “But strangely in music, it’s now considered a negative towards overall consumption and metrics behind a project. I feel record-breaking artists who are able to move merchandise at an elite level should be celebrated at a time when branding, creativity and marketing [are] generally nonexistent in the music industry.”
This week, Travis Scott’s Utopia debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 496,000 units, the third-biggest debut week of any album this year and by far the biggest for any hip-hop album. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
Our small core team has been together since the start of Travis’ career. Cactus Jack is essentially an independent label and polymath-driven creative agency — we oversee everything from marketing strategy to design and execution. I also handle everything on the business end. For this project, Travis really wanted to lean into building a strong visual language. Producing his film CIRCUS MAXIMUS on an insanely tight timeline, shooting in exotic locations around the world and premiering the album within a film in theaters nationwide was a massive undertaking but definitely set up the project in a unique way. We are all super proud of the final product and it was amazing to see the world’s reaction.
This is his first album since 2018’s Astroworld, which also posted around 500,000 units in its first week. After five years, how did you work to set up this release to the point that it nearly equaled his last?
While the numbers are powerful and have important historical context, our focus is always primarily on the music and world-building. ASTROWORLD was such a seminal moment in culture, we wanted to level up that energy and recapture the feeling of event albums, which are clearly lacking in music lately. UTOPIA‘s first-week global streaming numbers actually almost doubled ASTROWORLD, Billboard just quantifies merch bundles differently now than in 2018 [in terms of sales]. On a global consumption level, it’s safe to say it actually far surpassed ASTROWORLD.
Of those units, about half came from streaming and half came from sales. What was the strategy around each side of that, particularly the sales side?
One thing that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough when judging music consumption data is the inherent disadvantages hip-hop faces in manufacturing physical music product. Due to the fluid nature of rap collaboration, leak culture and last-minute changes, vinyl lead time always far exceeds album delivery dates for rap. Pop artists are usually able to turn in their albums five to six months early and manufacture a significant amount of vinyl with a robust retail plan in place. Vinyl often ends up accounting for well over 50% of these pop artists’ first-week totals, whereas hip-hop is judged entirely on streaming. In an even playing field, rap stars are going to far out-stream even the biggest names in pop music, but for whatever reason they aren’t graded on the same sales curve. Going into this rollout we wanted to crack the code — we successfully manufactured our own vinyl and CDs in record time and built an e-com plan to leverage day-and-date physical music for the first time in modern mainstream rap. It was a really ambitious plan but thankfully everything came together smoothly. Huge thank you to recent Billboard cover hero Larry Jackson for his invaluable guidance and strategy throughout this whole process.
How important are direct-to-consumer sales and merch to an artist like Travis?
Man… I’d love to eventually have a deeper conversation around this topic at large. For some reason, direct-to-consumer and merch is used as a negative connotation against artists like Travis, oftentimes by artists or labels doing the exact same thing in their online stores to diminishing returns. Why stigmatize artists with extremely active fan bases who want to engage and support the album, even at a much higher price point than just a la carte music? Since the inception of rock and roll, merch has always been an important part of supporting your favorite artists. A24 releases merch for their big movies, Disney and Marvel create massive product lines around their blockbusters, fans line up for jerseys and official merch at every sporting event. But strangely in music, it’s now considered a negative towards overall consumption and metrics behind a project. I feel record-breaking artists who are able to move merchandise at an elite level should be celebrated at a time when branding, creativity and marketing [are] generally nonexistent in the music industry.
How did you choose the Circus Maximus for that performance, and what were the challenges in pulling it off?
Ancient worldwide settings were an early reference point for this album. Travis was particularly interested in civilizations that transcended technological and cultural limitations to reach new heights. Part of the film is essentially a live performance from the ancient Pompeii amphitheater ruins. We have a couple other Wonders of the World locations held for possible performances, currently studying timing and logistics. With the Circus Maximus show we basically put it on sale, designed the stage, produced the livestream ourselves and sold 60,000 tickets in less than a week. It was a crazy challenge but one of the most rewarding and epic shows of his live career. The energy and hearing the album live for the first time in that setting was an unforgettable experience and iconic way to conclude the first week of UTOPIA rollout.
How are you working to keep the momentum for this release going in the weeks and months to come?
I don’t want to say too much, but there is a lot in the works. Definitely continuing to build the UTOPIA world in unexpected ways. We just released the CIRCUS MAXIMUS film on Apple Music after a week of exclusivity in theaters. We’ve been thinking a lot about touring in different, innovative ways and utilizing new technologies in live performance. And Travis is always working on new music.
