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Universal Music Group and Amazon Music have expanded their global partnership, embracing “Streaming 2.0” as both companies aim to enhance artist-to-fan engagement through exclusive content with UMG artists, innovative product opportunities and increased fraud protection.
The partnership will explore new and enhanced product opportunities, including advancements in audiobooks, audio and visual programming and livestreaming content. UMG and Amazon Music will also collaborate to combat issues such as unlawful AI-generated content, fraud and misattribution, ensuring the integrity of creative works.
“We are very excited to advance our long-standing, excellent partnership with Amazon Music that marks a new era in streaming — Streaming 2.0,” said Sir Lucian Grainge, chairman & CEO of UMG. “We appreciate Amazon Music’s deep commitment to the interests of our artists, and look forward to progressing our shared artist-centric objectives through product innovation and accelerating growth of their service.”
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UMG laid out its Streaming 2.0 strategy — focusing on innovation, consumer segmentation, geographic expansion and higher average revenue per user (ARPU) — at the company’s capital markets day gathering in August. UMG plans to grow subscriptions in developing markets, where subscribers significantly boost ARPU. Additionally, UMG aims to attract audiobook listeners and satellite radio subscribers to convert them into music streaming users, leveraging these new audiences to drive further growth.
Steve Boom, vp of audio, Twitch and games for Amazon, noted that the expanded partnership would redefine streaming services by introducing more artist-to-fan connections through innovative products and exclusive content. “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with UMG which will enable us to partner on meaningful new ways for artists to deepen their engagement with fans around the world, while working together to protect the work of artists, songwriters and publishers,” he said.
UMG has partnered with several AI technology companies to enhance artists’ creative and commercial opportunities while ensuring ethical practices. These collaborations include YouTube/Google, ProRata.AI, Endel, SoundLabs and BandLabs, among others.
The two companies expanded their working relationship in 2022 as well, providing Amazon Music and Twitch users with greater access to UMG content, including live streams, spatial audio, artist merchandise and other exclusive experiences.
In a miserable week for stock markets worldwide, Spotify continued to fall from its all-time high, K-pop stocks sank and one of the smallest companies on the Billboard Global Music Index posted a double-digit gain.
LiveOne was the week’s biggest gainer as the music streaming company’s shares rose 19.6% to $1.22 after it announced on Wednesday (Dec. 18) that its partnership with Tesla surpassed 350,000 subscribers. On Friday (Dec. 20), the company also said it has regained compliance with the Nasdaq exchange’s minimum bid price requirement.
Only two other music stocks posted gains this week. Sphere Entertainment Co. rose 2.5% to $38.74, bringing its year-to-date gain to 14.0%. Sphere Entertainment shares have lost 12.1% since the company announced its fiscal first-quarter results on Nov. 12. Reservoir Media also improved 2.3% on the week after jumping 4.8% to $9.26 on Friday.
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The Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) fell 3.3% to 2,168.69, lowering its year-to-date gain to 41.4%. Just three of the index’s 20 stocks finished the week in positive territory. After increasing each week from late October to early December, the BGMI lost 4.9% over two consecutive weekly losses. The latest 3.3% weekly decline is only the fourth time in 2024 that the index has dropped more than 3% in a calendar week.
Stocks’ bad week extended beyond music companies. In the United States, the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.8% to 19,572.60 and the S&P 500 declined 2.0% to 5,930.85. In the United Kingdom, the FTSE 100 was down 2.6% to 8,084.61. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index fell 3.6% to 2,404.15. China’s Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.7% to 3,368.07.
Among other music companies, Live Nation had a modest decline of just 2%, dropping to $133.17 despite more analysts increasing their price targets on the stock this week. Morgan Stanley raised its price target to $150 from $140 and Benchmark increased it to $160 from $144 and maintained its “buy” rating.
Spotify, the index’s most valuable company, fell for the second consecutive week. After closing above $500 on December 4, Spotify shares dropped 8.3% and closed at $460.88 on Friday, down 4.8% for the week. Overall, streaming had more losers than winners this week. Cloud Music fell 7.9% to 116.60 HKD ($14.99), marking the second-largest decline of the week. SPDB International began coverage of Cloud Music this week at a 145 HKD ($18.64) price target and “buy” rating. Elsewhere, Anghami fell 3.7% to $0.79.
Four K-pop stocks declined an average of 5.1% this week, reflecting the ongoing political uncertainty in the South Korean market. SM Entertainment was down 6.3%, JYP Entertainment fell 5.8%, HYBE dropped 4.3% and YG Entertainment sank 3.9%. Year-to-date, the four South Korean companies are down an average of 18.3%, a far deeper deficit than Universal Music Group (down 5.6% YTD) or Warner Music Group (down 12.9% YTD).
iHeartMedia, the week’s biggest loser, dropped 17.5% to $1.89. The radio company’s stock was trading at $1.00 on July 21 and rose to $2.61 on Dec. 6. In the last two weeks, however, its shares have slipped 27.6%.
For all the value derived from social media, artists and labels have yet to generate revenue directly from their activity on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. In contrast, Weverse, a social media and e-commerce platform owned by South Korean company HYBE, changes up the typical social media dynamic by generating direct revenue from the fandom it facilitates.
This month, in an effort to generate even more revenue from superfans, Weverse introduced a digital membership tier that offers additional perks such as ad-free viewing, video downloads for offline access, high-quality streaming and language translation. The paid digital membership is separate from the fan clubs offered on the platform and Weverse’s own direct messaging feature that allows users — for a fee — to message their favorite artists.
“Digital membership, we believe, is the very first cornerstone of the future evolution” of the music business,” Weverse CEO Joon Choi tells Billboard. He adds that in the first two weeks that digital memberships were made available on the platform, 79 artists (out of 162 active artist communities on Weverse) have given fans the option of signing up for them.
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Weverse is an anomaly in social media: a platform with a small number of high-demand musicians rather than a large number of mostly unpopular artists. Launched in 2019, Weverse had 9.7 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of Sept. 30, according to HYBE’s latest financial results, down from 10.6 million a year earlier. The platform is a Swiss Army knife of a promotional vehicle. Artists not only post media content and updates but also conduct live-streams and respond — for a fee — to fans’ direct messages, while the platform additionally sells concert live streams, music and merchandise. And HYBE’s most popular artists can rack up amazing numbers on the platform: Earlier this week, BTS member Jung Kook set a Weverse record with 20.2 million real-time views of a 2.5-hour live broadcast in which he spoke to fans during a break from his military duty.
In recent months, Weverse expanded beyond K-pop artists by welcoming such Western, English-language stars as Ariana Grande and The Kid Laroi, hinting at possibilities that have record labels salivating. Goldman Sachs analysts have estimated that improved monetization of superfans — including new digital platforms, greater emphasis on vinyl buyers and higher-priced music subscription plans — could result in $3.3 billion of incremental revenue globally by 2030. Given the potential, it wasn’t surprising to hear both Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl and Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge express their interest in superfan products and experiences earlier this year. In September, UMG CFO Boyd Muir said the company was in “advanced talks” with Spotify about a high-priced superfan tier — something Chinese music streaming company Tencent Music Entertainment already launched with early success.
In the early days of its membership tier, Weverse is still figuring things out. “We are pioneering this field, so we see a lot of unknowns,” says Choi. For example, he says Weverse has heard from many labels that it should bundle the digital membership tier with fan clubs already offered by artists into something like a premium membership tier (of the 162 active artist communities on Weverse, 72 currently offer fan clubs). He adds that Weverse would not make the decision independently but is discussing it with labels. “Combining them together in the future, I think it’ll be stronger than what we offer right now,” says Choi.
The rollout of the membership tier hasn’t been without controversy, though. In October, an article at The Korea Herald quoted an email from Weverse to its partner record labels in which the company said participation in the membership tier is “mandatory for all artist communities hosted on Weverse.” The article also quoted a South Korean lawmaker who called on the country’s Fair Trade Commission to investigate Weverse’s “new forms of monopolistic practices and determine whether unfair treatment is occurring against affiliated companies using the platform.” Weverse says it has not been contacted or investigated by regulators.
Choi pushes back against the assertions in The Korea Herald, saying artists on the platform are not required to offer a subscription tier, in contrast with the email quoted by the newspaper. “That’s not mandatory,” he insists. In a separate statement to Billboard, Weverse said it “aims to roll out digital membership to all communities” but that the decision “is the choice of labels and artists” and, in any event, fans will still be able to use many existing Weverse services for free. Despite Weverse playing an integral role in the marketing and promotion of K-pop artists, Choi argues it doesn’t have enough market power to make such demands: “We are not in a dominant place where we can just present the policy and dictate our policy to the artist or labels however we want.”
Weverse has also received criticism for its revenue-sharing splits with labels, with The Korea Herald additionally citing an anonymous source as saying the company proposed a “disproportionate” share of the revenue ranging from 30% to 60%, leaving the artist and label with anywhere from 40% to 70%. Choi declined to comment on the business arrangements that determine how much subscription revenue Weverse keeps but noted the platform is investing money into the subscription tier to create features valuable to artists and their fans.
The pushback encountered by Weverse foreshadows the challenges platforms and labels will face as superfan platforms proliferate and the stakeholders wrangle over how the money will be shared. Labels and publishers have spent decades trying to get more value from streaming services, and short-form video apps like TikTok necessitated new conversations about how to compensate creators for the value they bring to the platform. As Choi says, “What we’re doing is basically creating a new value by connecting the artist and super fans in the same place.” In the process, HYBE has pioneered a new model that could become standard practice for artists and labels in the music business of the future.
Last year, studio and production house OBB Media teamed up with iHeart to produce the annual Jingle Ball TV Special, the annual holiday event that airs on ABC each year as a two-hour broadcast. Featuring performances from some of the top artists in the business, the special is culled from the two live Jingle Ball holiday concerts held in New York and Los Angeles. Last year’s special, which aired Dec. 21, 2023, on ABC, landed as the No. 1 TV program among adults aged 18-49 and No. 2 overall on the night that it aired, with 9.5 million people tuning in — a 500% increase over the year prior. That marked the highest total viewers for the special since 2013.
This year, OBB and iHeart teamed up once again for Jingle Ball, which aired Wednesday (Dec. 18) on ABC and is now available to stream on Hulu. Featuring performances by the likes of Shaboozey, Benson Boone and Gracie Abrams, the special aimed to not only be a showcase for performances but an engaging presentation that went beyond just a filmed concert into “an experience and a show,” OBB Media founder/CEO Michael D. Ratner tells Billboard.
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Jingle Ball isn’t OBB’s only foray into the music world. This year alone, the OBB’s live division (the company also houses TV, film, music video, studio and branded content wings) produced a concert film for The Kid LAROI, the Hulu live special on the iHeart Music Festival, and, most recently, Sabrina Carpenter’s A Nonsense Christmas Netflix special, which highlighted the breakout star’s holiday fruitcake EP (which subsequently landed in the top 10 of the Billboard 200) as well as performances by Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Tyla, Shania Twain and more. And all that helps make Ratner Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Ratner discusses OBB’s work on Jingle Ball, the Carpenter special and what film and TV content can do for an artist’s career. “There’s a lot of clutter in the market,” Ratner says, “and content can be an incredibly powerful differentiator in helping artists pop, especially as the creation of content has become completely democratized.”
This week, OBB and iHeart worked to produce the annual Jingle Ball TV special, which aired Dec. 18 and is now streaming. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Audiences don’t just want a concert, they want an experience and a show. OBB partnered with iHeartRadio to make sure that the two-hour special is dynamic, funny, tells a story, brings you closer to the artist and, most importantly, delivers great music.
What stood out to you the most about working on this year’s event?
I really think this year’s show represented the next wave of incredible talent stepping into the spotlight — from Gracie Abrams to Tate McRae, Shaboozey, The Kid LAROI and Benson Boone, it was a really exciting group. Also, filming live in arenas is always invigorating, and it was exciting to film the L.A. show in the brand-new Intuit Dome.
You guys also worked on Jingle Ball last year, which was the No. 1 rated TV program among adults (18-49) and No. 2 overall on the night when it aired. What did you learn from working on it last year that you were able to apply to this year, and how did you do things differently?
Last year we saw social media engagement for the show spike about 10 times more than the prior year, so we leaned into that even further this year, focusing on cutting more social clips to engage individual fanbases and help build a community-watching experience. Also with the Thanksgiving break falling a week later this year, our turnaround time to deliver the special after the L.A. and New York shows was shrunk to four days — and it’s already a quick turnaround — so we were even more efficient and streamlined on the backend to navigate editorial, artist approvals and delivery.
You guys also produced Sabrina Carpenter’s A Nonsense Christmas special on Netflix. How did that come together, and what was that like behind the scenes?
We’re constantly trying to push the boundaries and think about innovative ways to collaborate with exceptional talent. We — and specifically Simone Spira, who is a production and development executive here — had the idea internally at OBB to do a holiday variety music special with Sabrina, as we all loved the fruitcake EP and knew she could carry her own, given her authentic love of the holidays and that she could dance, sing, act and do it all. This all proved to be true as the show is everywhere — it’s dominating the internet, Sabrina surprised fans at the NYC premiere which was awesome, she was on Colbert, and it even made the SNL Weekend Update, which was a personal favorite moment for me, as I grew up watching SNL all the time.
How important can a TV special be for an artist’s career?
Incredibly important. But it’s not just the TV special — content that brings you closer to your fans and your community is an essential companion piece to the music. Whether it’s a TV special, thoughtful social content, or anything in between, content is going to continue to be a larger piece of an artist’s strategy. There’s a lot of clutter in the market and content can be an incredibly powerful differentiator in helping artists pop, especially as the creation of content has become completely democratized.
How important is music to what OBB Media does?
OBB is a storytelling company and we love making projects that are culturally relevant. Musicians have always been and continue to be key tastemakers and culture creators, so music is a key fixture in everything we do.
What’s next for you guys?
We have a VR special coming out on Meta Quest on Dec. 27 starring Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, which we filmed at the Forum during the SWEAT Tour. We love working on music projects in all of these different formats and mediums, and I think it’s a testament to how music is the throughline no matter how technology, viewing patterns and audience behaviors evolve. We’re also filming more of our Billions Club series with Spotify, and we’re excited for some major episodes with incredible artists that are coming soon. Looking ahead to 2025, we have some really big stuff coming that we can’t talk about quite yet, but stay tuned.
Daddy Yankee and his estranged wife Mireddys González reached a partial agreement in their first court hearing on Friday (Dec. 20) over his allegations that she withdrew $100 million in funds from two of his companies without authorization. Following private negotiations, both parties agreed that the artist born Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez will regain the […]
A criminal investigation has been launched into suspected fraud at U.K. collecting society PPL after the organization discovered “suspicious activity” on a small number of member accounts.
PPL said one staff member had been dismissed following an internal investigation it carried out over several months earlier this year. The alleged crime is now being investigated by The Metropolitan Police, the CMO said in a short statement.
“We recently became aware of suspicious activity on a small number of member accounts. We immediately conducted an internal investigation, and one employee was dismissed,” said a spokesperson Thursday (Dec.19). The organization said it was “working with the limited number of impacted members to rectify accounts.”
PPL is the second largest of the United Kingdom’s two main collecting societies and licenses recorded music on behalf of labels and artists to U.K. radio and television broadcasters, as well as its use in bars, nightclubs, shops and offices.
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Last year, the 90-year-old organization — which has more than 110 neighboring rights agreements in place with international CMOs, including SoundExchange and the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies (AARC) in the United States — collected revenues of £285 million ($356 million), its highest ever annual total. In 2023, PPL paid out £247 million ($309 million) to almost 165,000 performers and recording rights holders.
Record industry sources tell Billboard that the suspected embezzlement is believed to have involved an individual or individuals posing as recording artists who were not registered as PPL members and then fraudulently claiming royalties on their behalf.
Billboard understands that PPL discovered the scheme when the real artists tried to register as members earlier this year. Sources say that the fraudulent royalty claims are believed to have taken place over a number of years, possibly as far back as 2016, with the fraudulent transactions believed to total around £500,000 ($625,000).
PPL said it was unable to comment on the case while a criminal investigation is underway and declined to answer questions on when it discovered the suspicious activity, the timeframe of the alleged offense or whether the impacted member accounts relate to U.K. artist members or overseas partner CMOs. The Metropolitan Police has been approached by Billboard for details.
The criminal investigation into suspected embezzlement at PPL comes as the music business battles on multiple fronts against fraudulent activity and rampant copyright infringement on a global scale.
In November, Universal Music Group (UMG), ABKCO and Concord Music Group filed a lawsuit against Believe and its distribution company TuneCore, accusing them of “massive ongoing infringements” of their sound recordings, seeking $500 million in damages (Believe refutes the claims). One month earlier, TikTok cited issues with “fraud” as its reason for walking away from renewing its license with Merlin, a digital licensing coalition representing thousands of indie labels and distributors.
There have also been several high-profile cases against individuals accused of defrauding streaming platforms, rights holders and collection societies in recent years.
In 2022, two men in Phoenix, Arizona pled guilty to claiming $23 million worth of YouTube royalties from unknowing Latin musicians like Julio Iglesias, Anuel AA, and Daddy Yankee despite having no actual ties to those artists.
More recently, a North Carolina musician was indicted by federal prosecutors in September in the first ever federal streaming fraud case. Prosecutors allege Michael Smith used two distributors to upload “hundreds of thousands” of AI-generated tracks, and then used bots to stream them, earning him more than $10 million since 2017.
To try and curb the rise in fraudulent activity the music business has been ramping up its efforts to stop money being illegally siphoned out of the royalty pool.
Last year, a coalition of digital music companies, including distributors including TuneCore, Distrokid and CD Baby, as well as streaming platforms Spotify and Amazon Music, launched the “Music Fights Fraud” task force. The past 12 months have additionally seen Spotify and Deezer change their royalty systems to include financial penalties for music distributors and labels associated with fraudulent activity.
Spotify is firing back at Drake’s accusations that the streamer helped Universal Music Group artificially boost Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” calling the allegations “false” and blasting the rapper’s legal action as a “subversion of the normal judicial process.”
The new filing is the first response to a petition filed last month in which Drake accused UMG and Spotify of an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar’s song — a track that savagely attacked Drake amid an ongoing feud between the two stars.
In a motion filed Friday in Manhattan court, the streaming giant says it has found zero evidence to support the claims of a bot attack, and flatly denies that it struck any deal with UMG to support Lamar’s song.
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“The predicate of Petitioner’s entire request for discovery from Spotify is false,” the company’s lawyers write. “Spotify and UMG have never had any such arrangement.”
Beyond denying the allegations, the filing repeatedly criticizes Drake for going to court in the first place — calling his claims of a conspiracy “far-fetched” and “speculative,” and questioning why Spotify (a “stranger” to the “long-running fued” between Drake, Kendrick and UMG) is even involved.
Spotify also criticized Drake for the way in which he brought his claims to court — not as a full-fledged lawsuit, but as an unusual “pre-action” petition aimed at demanding information. The company accused Drake of using that “extraordinary” procedure because his allegations are too flimsy to pass muster in an actual lawsuit and would have been quickly dismissed.
“What petitioner is seeking to do here … is to bypass the normal pleading requirements … and obtain by way of pre-action discovery that which it would only be entitled to seek were it to survive a motion to dismiss,” Spotify’s lawyers write. “This subversion of the normal judicial process should be rejected.”
A spokesperson for Drake and his legal team did not immediately return a request for comment on Spotify’s filings.
Drake went to court last month, accusing UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often used against organized crime. He accused Spotify of participating in the scheme by charging reduced licensing fees in exchange for recommending the song to users. A day later, he filed a similar action in Texas, suggesting that UMG had legally defamed him by releasing a song that “falsely” accused him of being a “sex offender.”
The legal actions represent a remarkable twist in the high-profile beef between the two stars, which saw Drake and Lamar exchange stinging diss tracks over a period of months earlier this year. That a rapper would take such a dispute to court seemed almost unthinkable at the time, and Drake has been ridiculed in some corners of the hip-hop world for doing so.
The actions also represent a stunning rift between Drake and UMG, where the star has spent his entire career — first through signing a deal with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, which was distributed by Republic Records, then by signing directly to Republic.
UMG has not yet filed a responded to the litigation in court. But in a statement issued at the time, the music giant called Drake’s allegations “offensive and untrue”: “No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
In Friday’s filing, Spotify echoed that criticism — arguing that civil RICO cases are difficult to prove even with ample evidence, and that Drake hardly has any: “The Petition asserts no specific facts of any kind in support of these alleged RICO and deceptive practices violations,” the company wrote. “Instead, it relies exclusively on speculation … or the claims of anonymous individuals on the internet.”
Spotify’s attorneys seemed particularly focused on disputing the idea that swarms of bots had been able to flood the platforms to fraudulently boost Lamar’s track — a hot-button issue in the modern music industry. In an affidavit attached to Friday’s filing, Spotify’s vp of music offered sworn testimony that the company “invests heavily” in efforts to “mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform.”
“When we identify attempted stream manipulation, we take action that may include removing streaming numbers, withholding royalties and charging penalty fees,” David Kaefer wrote in the filing. “Confirmed and suspected artificial streams are also removed from our chart calculations. This helps us to protect royalty payouts for honest, hardworking artists.”
Time for a pre-holiday madness edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard’s compendium of promotions, hirings, exits and firings — and all things in between — across music.
Read on for better-late-than-never personnel news and don’t forget to check out WMG chief Robert Kyncl’s year-end note to staff and dig into all of our year-end business content, plus peruse our weekly interview series spotlighting a single c-suiter and our daily calendar of notable goings-on.
Luke Armitage was appointed senior vp of global marketing at Warner Records, where he’ll oversee international marketing for the label’s U.S. roster. Based in Los Angeles, he reports to Warner Music’s chief marketing officer, Jessica Keeley-Carter, and collaborates with Warner Records’ co-chairmen Tom Corson and Aaron Bay-Schuck. Armitage joins Warner after six years at Capitol Music Group’s Astralwerks Records, where he led global marketing for artists like Marshmello and Katy Perry. He also contributed to projects by The Chemical Brothers, FISHER and Meduza, among others. Prior to Astralwerks, Armitage held court at Universal Music’s international division in London, Metropolis Studios, and Universal Music Publishing.
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Avex USA promoted Ryusuke (Ryan) Kamada to CFO, recognizing his pivotal role in the company’s growth since its 2020 launch. Ryan joined Avex in 2018 and transitioned from Avex’s Japanese headquarters to Avex USA, where he leveraged his expertise in global finance and law to expand operations in North America. He developed Avex USA’s corporate strategy, co-manages the Future of Music Fund and spearheaded partnerships with S10 and Roc Nation, among others. In Japan, Kamada was chief producer of Avex’s investment group, leading M&A and corporate venture capital investments. Prior to Avex, he worked in JP Morgan’s Tokyo office. The University of Pennsylvania grad began his career in Toyota’s legal division, handling major U.S. litigation and congressional hearings. Avex USA CEO Naoki Osada commended Ryan’s strategic vision, financial acumen, and “sincere respect and passion for songwriters are integral to the company culture.” Since its launch in Los Angeles in 2020, the U.S. branch of the Tokyo-based music and entertainment company has established a publishing division, a music start-up investment program and a record label.
Sphere Entertainment appointed Marcus Ellington as executive vp of ad sales and sponsorships, effective immediately. Ellington will develop and lead an ad sales and sponsorships unit to maximize revenue for Sphere’s assets, including the Vegas venue’s unmistakable exterior, known as the Exosphere. He’ll also drive brand-centric opportunities and broader marketing partnerships. Ellington is based in New York and reports to Jennifer Koester, Sphere’s president and COO. Ellington joins Sphere from Google, where he held various sales and partnership roles, most recently as director of Americas partnerships solutions. His experience includes overseeing relationships and ad revenue for Google’s largest media and entertainment partners. Prior to Google, he worked at Interactive One and CBS, and over the years has received industry awards and served on several boards. Koester praised Ellington’s innovative leadership and track record with premier brands “across a range of industries, which will be an asset as we continue evolving how brands can partner with Sphere to create impactful experiences unlike anywhere else.”
Melanie Santa Rosa
Third Side Music named Melanie Santa Rosa as its new head of copyright, based in New York. Reporting to co-founder/CEO Patrick Curley, Santa Rosa will lead the copyright department, focusing on transparency, efficiency and maximizing value for the independent publisher’s extensive roster, which includes Kurt Vile, SOFI TUKKER, Future Islands, Sky Ferreira and more. Santa Rosa brings a wealth of experience to the role, having previously served as executive vp of global digital copyright administration at Word Collections, managing worldwide copyright and royalty administration. She also spent 12 years at Spirit Music Group, rising to senior vp of global administration, and worked at BMI for a decade, collaborating with songwriters, publishers, and performing rights organizations. An advocate for creators, Santa Rosa serves on the AIMP New York Chapter board and is active in several industry organizations. Patrick Curley praised Santa Rosa’s expertise and reputation: “She is precisely the person we needed to lead the operation and development of Third Side Music’s worldwide collections platform in the years to come,” he said.
Infinite Reality, a leader in digital media and e-commerce leveraging spatial computing and AI, appointed Drew Wilson as chief operating officer. Wilson, who most recently served as both COO and chief financial officer at SoundCloud, will manage business operations, drive revenue, and advance iR’s strategic vision. Under his watch at SoundCloud, the audio platform achieved profitability for the first time in the company’s history, driving significant revenue growth, margin improvements and product innovation. He has also held key roles at First Look Media, AwesomenessTV, RLJ Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery, contributing to revenue growth and digital transformation. John Acunto, iR’s co-founder and CEO, praised Wilson’s proven ability to scale digital media businesses and his expertise in technology and fan engagement.
AEG Presents promoted Evan Marks to talent buyer for the Rocky Mountains region. Previously an assistant in the role, Marks will now oversee bookings at prominent venues like Mission Ballroom, Ogden Theatre, Gothic Theatre, Bluebird Theatre and some outdoor spot called Red Rocks. Based in Denver, he’ll report to Don Strasburg, president of Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. A Houston native, Marks has been active in the Colorado music scene for nearly 15 years. After graduating from CU Boulder, he began his career as a talent buyer at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom in 2017 before joining AEG Presents Rocky Mountains in 2022. Strasburg commended Marks for his passion and dedication to live music, highlighting his deep musical knowledge and strong execution skills. “Evan’s wide berth of musical knowledge and ability to execute will meet and exceed the lofty expectations of our music community.”
Eddie Kloesel has been named partner at WHY&HOW, the management company founded by Bruce Kalmick. Joining at its inception in 2020 as vp of touring and sponsorships, Kloesel was later promoted to executive vp, playing a pivotal role in shaping the company’s strategic goals. He has spearheaded brand partnerships, touring strategies and album releases, contributing to the success of clients like Whiskey Myers and Chase Rice. With a music industry career spanning nearly two decades, Kloesel began in 2005 as a day-to-day tour manager for Brandon Rhyder and joined Triple 8 Management in 2011 before becoming a member of WHY&HOW’s founding team. Kalmick calls Kloesel a a “trusted strategic thinker who approaches our clients’ business like an entrepreneur,” adding, “He’s always thinking outside the box and has brought forward opportunities that are not only lucrative for our clients but are also unique within the industry.”
Supreme Music secured the exclusive services of renowned sound designer Markus Stemler, celebrated for his Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning work on All Quiet on the Western Front. This collaboration strengthens Supreme Music’s sound design and audio post-production for advertising and branded content. Stemler, known for projects like The Matrix Resurrections and Cloud Atlas, brings expertise in dialogue editing, ADR, Foley and re-recording mixing. His recent credits include Tides (2021) and Perfect Days (2023). For Supreme Music, he has contributed to standout campaigns such as Penny’s Wonderful World and the American Red Cross’ Mom, showcasing his exceptional artistry and versatility.
HarbourView Equity Partners partnered with The CultureShaker to lead its brand, marketing and PR efforts. The CultureShaker’s founder, Lucinda Martinez, will now serve as chief marketing officer of the investment firm, joined by Deborah Renteria as vice president of brand and content strategy. Martinez, known for award-winning campaigns like Game of Thrones and Insecure, brings a quarter-century of experience from Netflix, HBO and Comedy Central. Renteria brings complimenting expertise in content development and audience engagement from roles at Lionsgate, Facebook, and HBO. HarbourView CEO Sherrese Clarke Soares praised the team’s cultural and strategic insights, essential for the firm’s rapid growth, adding: “The CultureShaker is our first operating partner under our Create Platform, further cementing our position as a valued partner to artists, content creators, investors as we broaden our footprint and deepen our focus across the entertainment and creative ecosystem to continue to drive ROI.”
Curbside Concerts, a Canadian company that produces curbside concerts, welcomed Tracy Posadowski and Tom Yeates as managing directors of sales and marketing. Posadowski, co-founder of ATTCo Global Services, and Yeates, with extensive revenue management experience, aim to expand the company in Canada, enter the U.S. market, and explore new business avenues. Founded by Matt and Amanda Burgener during the COVID-19 pandemic to support struggling musicians, Curbside Concerts has grown significantly in its first four years, bringing music to people’s yards and curbs.
Isekai Records, a joint venture with Broke Records, launched in August 2024 by Ewan Jenkins, Jack Mangan and RJ Pasin, aims to be artist-friendly. Jenkins and Mangan, co-founders of E2J Artist Management, gained recognition in 2023 by managing Pasin, whose TikTok followers grew from 10,000 to 2.8 million and Spotify listeners to 7.5 million monthly. Isekai Records leverages their expertise to support emerging talent. Their debut release, “Embrace It” by Ndotz, marked their global entry and commitment to artist-centric music production.
ICYMI:
Hugh Forrest
The board of directors of Farm Aid appointed Shorlette Ammons and Jennifer Fahy to lead the non-profit effective Jan. 1 … Hugh Forrest was promoted to president of South by Southwest, where he’ll continue to oversee programming and assume full leadership of an organization. Jann Baskett, the current co-president and chief brand officer, prepares to step down on New Year’s Eve.
Last Week’s Turntable: Red Light Green Lights Former Warner Nashville Prez
The Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation has joined forces with Warner Music Latina for a 2025 scholarship that will be good toward a bachelor’s degree at Berklee College of Music, Billboard can announce.
The four-year Prodigy Scholarship, which will cover tuition and room and board for the 2025 fall semester, as well as wrap-around services provided by the foundation, marks the first time a Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation scholarship has been sponsored by a record label.
“This partnership embodies one of our core values: to cultivate intellectual and artistic potential by removing barriers that often impede exceptional musicians from realizing their vision,” said Alejandro Duque, president of Warner Music Latin America, in a statement. “Through strategic educational support we’re not just investing in individual careers, but in the broader cultural landscape of musical innovation.”
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Roberto Andrade, MD at Warner Music Latina, added: “At Warner Music Latina, we’re proud to support young talent through this scholarship. By empowering aspiring musicians, we’re investing in the voices that will shape tomorrow’s soundtrack. This is more than an opportunity — it’s a commitment to creativity, talent and the future of music.”
In addition to the Prodigy Scholarship, three other scholarships — from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, the Gil Family Foundation and Gibson Gives — will be available for music students between the ages of 17 and 25 with financial limitations who have a passion for Latin music.
“The support of our donors makes the fulfillment of our mission to provide educational opportunities that advance Latin music and its heritage a reality,” added Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza, executive director at the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. “We are grateful to Warner Music Latina, Frost School of Music, Gibson Gives and the Gil Family Foundation for hosting these scholarships, providing opportunities to aspiring Latin music creators in need of financial aid to pursue their dreams.”
Applications for all of the scholarships will be open between now and 11:59 p.m. ET on April 10, 2025. For more information and to apply, click here.
Several more players in the independent music community have called on regulators to block the acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Universal Music Group (UMG) announced this week, arguing the deal “would seriously distort the global music market” and “reduce competition and the independents’ bargaining power.”
Virgin Music Group, which is owned by UMG, announced Monday (Dec. 16) that it had agreed to buy Downtown Music Holdings for $775 million in a deal that would beef up the music giant’s market share by absorbing Downtown’s stable of indie distributors, publishing and rights administrators including FUGA, CB Baby, AdRev and Songtrust. The deal came just two months after UMG acquired the remaining shares of indie label group [PIAS], including its services division, Integral — an agreement that was similarly criticized by indie trade groups, who have asked regulators to launch an investigation into the pact.
In a joint release Thursday (Dec. 19), several indie music leaders said the deal, if allowed to go through, would result “in fewer options for smaller companies to negotiate fair terms and compete on equal footing, leading to higher costs and less choice.”
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“We are the global independent music community,” said Noemí Planas, CEO of Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), in a statement. “UMG trying to present this as an investment in the independent ecosystem is fooling no one. This is wealth extraction from the independents, another step in UMG’s relentless path to dominance and stifling competition. Independent music is the lifeblood of cultural innovation and market consolidation threatens the diversity that makes music so rich and compelling around the world. We call on regulatory bodies to block the deal.”
Also speaking out against the acquisition was A2IM CEO Richard James Burgess, who stated: “Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown Music’s assets continues a troubling trend of consolidating independent music infrastructure, following acquisitions of InGrooves, MTheory, and PIAS. This increasing level of market concentration chips away at the competitive landscape, making it increasingly difficult for truly independent artists and companies to operate freely and equitably. These acquisitions risk silencing the independent voices that drive innovation and creativity in the music industry.”
Added Darius Van Arman, CEO of Secretly Distribution and co-founder of Secretly Group, “When near-monopolist Universal acquires Downtown, one of the largest independent music ecosystems, and does so in the name of independence, it cheapens what the word means. Market consolidation at this scale is not only anti-competitive, it is a fundamental threat to true independence.”
Virgin’s purchase of Downtown is just the latest in a string of similar acquisitions by major labels over the last several years. In 2024 alone, UMG acquired Outdustry, a label services and rights management firm that works across China, India, and other Asian markets; Thailand-based recorded music catalog RS Group; Nigerian record label Mavin Global; and a minority stake in U.S.-based Chord Music Partners, among others. Two years ago, Sony Music made a splash when it acquired AWAL and Kobalt Neighbouring Rights from Kobalt Music Group, followed by the more recent acquisitions of companies like Spanish label and distributor Altafonte and Greek independent label Cobalt Music. And Warner Music Group has snapped up minority stakes in European indie labels of late, including Dancing Bear Music (Croatia), NIKA (Slovenia) and Mascom (Serbia); it also fully acquired the Dutch label Cloud 9 Recordings in October.
“Whilst we are in favour of free enterprise, monopolies dominate market forces and remove the ability to compete,” said Maria Amato, CEO of Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), in a statement on the Downtown deal. “There must be regulation to ensure that Universal who is already the largest music business in the world with a large stake in Spotify does not dictate prices and the ability for artists and labels to negotiate fair and equitable terms.”
“The recent acquisition by large corporations of companies that until recently were independent is a red alert for the entire global independent music community,” added Felippe Llerena, president of Brazilian trade association ABMI. “The Orchard, AWAL, Som Livre, Proper Music, Altafonte and now Downtown Music are examples of how multinational capital is reshaping the sector. ABMI believes that it is our duty to protect and promote an independent ecosystem, where artists, labels and companies can create freely and sustainably. Our fight is for the appreciation of music as art, culture and expression, not as a simple market product.”
In her own statement, Cecilia Crespo, GM of the association of Argentinian record labels ASIAr, said: “Concentration not only has a negative impact in the way platforms distribute royalties to artists and rights holders (based on market share), but also due to the unregulated use of data and intelligence from the analysis of the data and the behavior of all actors involved (artists, audiences, and users).”
On Tuesday (Dec. 17), several other indie music players came out in opposition to the Downtown acquisition, including indie labels trade body IMPALA, the U.K.-based Association of Independent Music (AIM) and global indie music publishers trade body IMPF.
UMG didn’t immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment on the latest statements of opposition.