State Champ Radio Business
Page: 474
Simon Napier-Bell, the celebrated author, filmmaker and artist manager, who guided the careers of Rock Hall inductee George Michael and Wham and introduced the duo to Chinese audiences for a historic 10-day visit in the mid-’80s, becoming the first Western pop act to do so, joins the lineup of speakers for Bigsound 2023.
The British allrounder’s addition to the daytime Bigsound program is a timely one, coming fresh off the release of the popular Netflix documentary Wham, in which he appears.
It was Napier-Bell who masterminded Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s trip to China in 1985, a trailblazing moment that was captured for the documentary Wham! in China: Foreign Skies.
Across his colorful career, Napier-Bell, owner and CEO of music firm Pierbel Entertainment Group, has managed the likes of the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Ultravox, T Rex, Marc Bolan, Japan, Asia, Candi Staton, Boney M and Sinéad O’Connor, and written four best-selling books, including 2001’s Black Vinyl White Powder.
International speakers at this year’s music industry summit include English composer Simon Franglen, Cockenflap Festival promoter Cora Chan, ATC Live’s Caitlin Ballard, FKP Scopio’s Silke Westera, president of FUGA / Downtown Christiaan Kröner, Patrick Daniel from Reeperbahn, and more.
Organized by trade body QMusic, Bigsound will boast more than 100 speakers, from international and national buyers, agents, music supervisors, bookers and “industry decision makers,” plus upwards of 140 showcasing acts from around the world.
“Whether it’s helping formalize a global partnership or simply putting acts in a room where they could discover a piece of advice that could transform their career,” comments QMusic chair Natalie Strijland, “Bigsound is 100% dedicated to creating an environment for artist change, and providing the best people to help make those changes happen.”
Previously announced speakers include Omar Grant, co-president of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and former road manager for Destiny’s Child; Michele Ronzon, A&R coordinator for Interscope / Geffen / A&M Records; Hazel Savage, the Australia-born London-based spearhead for AI business Musiio and now VP of music intelligence at Soundcloud; and others.
This year’s edition will be held Sept. 5 – 8 in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley.
Earlier in the year, the Palaszczuk state government announced funding for Bigsound to the tune of nearly A$4 million over four years, a boost that comes the Queensland capital gears-up for the 2032 Olympic Games.
Bigsound 2023 is presented by Brick Lane Brewing and independent ticketer Oztix, and supported by national youth broadcaster triple j.
Visit bigsound.org.au for more.
GEMA, the German collective management organization (CMO), announced Monday (July 24) that it has acquired a majority stake in the SoundAware Group, a Dutch company that provides music recognition services to collecting societies (including those in the Netherlands and Belgium) as well as market research and media companies. SoundAware will continue to operate independently from […]
DJ John Summit publicly apologized Tuesday (July 25) for “all the drama” that he “stirred up” last week in a legal dispute with a smaller company over the name of his Off the Grid record label, vowing to change his company’s name to resolve the disagreement.
Early last week, Summit took to Twitter to blast the organizers of a rival “Off the Grid” music event, claiming they had “sued” him and were demanding “7+ figures” over their identical names. Summit, an electronic music A-lister who’s worked with Kaskade, Diplo and others, said at the time that it “f—ing sucks when ppl want to screw u over.”
But after deleting those tweets and going silent over the weekend, Summit made an about-face on Tuesday. In a new tweet, he said he had “acted out of emotion” in last week’s rant and wanted to “truly apologize” to the rival Off The Grid group.
“I’ve been talking w the OTG campout team and apologized to them directly but i also wanted to do so publicly,” Summit wrote. “They’ve agreed to stop pursuing legal action & my team and i are working on a rebrand. in the meantime, to all my fans, please stop sending negative messages to OTG campout. i was wrong in condoning that behavior in any way.”
Summit announced the launch of Off The Grid in March 2022, tweeting that he was “so stoked” to announce his own imprint where there would be “nothing off limits.” The label has since released music by artists including Mau P, Danny Avila and Summit himself, and has hosted live events, including a camping event in Tennessee this past April.
Just one problem: A music promoter named Mikey Made Cromie had already been using the name Off The Grid since 2015 for his own dance music events, including a flagship three-day “campout” that draws as many as 1,000 fans.
In June, attorneys for Cromie sent a cease and desist letter to Summit over the name of his new label. They warned that Cromie claimed Off The Grid as an exclusive trademark and that Summit’s use of an identical name for a company that sells the exact same genre of music would clearly infringe it.
It was that letter that prompted Summit’s outburst on social media last week. “Getting sued for trademark over my ‘off the grid’ label name by a small promoter even tho it’s a common phrase and i built up this brand 100% myself,” Summit wrote at the time. “i REFUSE to get threatened for 7+ figures over a LABEL NAME.”
Cromie, meanwhile, denied that a lawsuit had been filed and said he had never made a demand for seven figures, but confirmed that he had sent the cease and desist letter and wanted Summit to stop using the name. In an email to Billboard last week, Cromie said that Summit’s team “knew about us the whole time and thought we were so small of a company that they could use the name without any recourse.”
In Tuesday’s new tweet, Summit suggested that some kind of formal settlement had been reached, saying he would be changing his name and Cromie’s company would stop pursuing any legal action. But he offered no additional details, like when the name would be changed or whether any money had changed hands.
“All we want now is for both our communities to come together and be able to dance as one,” Summit wrote in his tweet. “i def learned my lesson from this and from here on out, i’m going to focus my attention in a positive light so we can get back to releasing music and throwing fun parties.”
Cromie did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Billboard on Tuesday. But he seemed to confirm the settlement on his Facebook page: Above a giant image of a peace sign, he wrote simply: “Peace is always the answer!”
Organizers of the Good Vibes Festival in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, tell Billboard that the controversy surrounding The 1975’s performance at the festival, during which lead singer Matty Healy insulted the government and kissed a bandmate on stage, has left the festival in financial ruin and could limit future concerts in the country for years to come.
The claim is the latest in the fallout from Healy’s protest and the heavy-handed decision by the country’s communications and digital ministry to cancel the remainder of the festival while also banning Healy from playing in the country in the future. Malaysia places very restrictive rules on foreign artists performing in the country, and Healy’s manager “had acknowledged in writing that Matt Healy would adhere to all local guidelines and regulations” prior to his performance Friday, says Wan Alman, whose company, Future Sound Asia, has promoted the festival for more than 10 years. Alman adds that “artists are briefed on the guidelines before the event.”
Alman confirmed that Future Sound Asia is considering pursuing legal action against the band, as the cancellation led to heavy losses for the promoter. The company likely already paid out artist deposits for the entire festival and might soon be required to issue refunds to fans, depending on an outcome of an investigation by the Malaysian government. Festival organizers might be able to make a legal claim against the band, explained Tim Epstein, a leading attorney for independent festivals in North America, depending on the language of the contract between the band and the promoter.
Specifically, Epstein said he would look to see how the contract deals with potential instances of unlawful behavior and what, if any, language dealt with local guidelines and regulations around speech. He said he would also want to confirm where the talent agreement designated that legal disputes be heard; most contracts defer disputes to U.S. courts. Finally, Epstein said the festival’s event cancellation policy could offset any damages, depending on the language in the policy. While government intervention is typically covered under a policy’s “force majeure” language, the Good Vibes Festival’s specific policy might include other provisions that make collecting difficult.
The 1975 incident has cast a negative light on Malaysia — and documents obtained by Billboard show that foreign artists playing in the country must agree to guidelines that include a ban on men wearing shorts on stage, prohibitions on women “wearing clothes that expose the chest area or that are too high above the knees” and strict rules prohibiting “entertaining or mingling with the audience at any time.”
In order to invite foreign artists into the country, promoters must complete the Communication and Digital Ministry’s Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes — a 40-page document outlining how artists are allowed to dress on stage and what they aren’t allowed to say about the government.
According to Amnesty International, in Malaysia it is illegal to protest the government, dress in drag or possess films or movies deemed to have LGBTQ+ elements. Much of the country’s criminal code is enforced through imprisonment with access to a court hearing, public flogging and, up until last year, the death penalty, which is currently banned under moratorium.
Neither The 1975’s agent, Matt Baum with Primary Talent — which represents the band in Asia — nor its manager, Jamie Osborne, would comment for this article.
An agent familiar with international bookings who did not want to speak on the record tells Billboard that the number of countries run by repressive regimes that host concerts is still relatively small, and it’s typically the promoter’s job to explain the rules to the band booked for a show.
That can be a double-edged sword, the agent explains, noting that the festival promoter “also may not want to be overly open about it for fear of discouraging people from playing.”
In many cases, the promoter does their best to balance the artist’s own right to expression while also being careful not to anger the host government.
“The 1975 shouldn’t have played there if they feel so strongly but I understand how they got to where they are,” the agent said.
Since opening the country to concerts by foreign artists in 2000, the Malaysian government has required visitors to adhere to a fairly restrictive code of conduct. Among other things, it requires modest attire and a ban on “provocative acts” like kissing a member of the opposite sex in front of a live audience.
The rules were updated in March by Malaysia’s communications and digital minister, Fahmi Fadzil, to include bans on cross-dressing on stage and “criticizing any government agency charged with upholding the law.”
Also banned under the guidelines are women’s clothes with “high slits, and clothes that are too tight or figure-hugging,” as well as a general ban on “performing in a wild manner, provocatively and displaying actions that are contrary to the performance code of ethics.” Other no-nos include “performing actions or making utterances that may be deemed as seditious” and “entertaining or mingling with the audience at any time.”
While some LGBTQ+ activists accused Healy of cynically protesting homophobia in the country for attention, others said it’s the government’s heavy-handed decision to cancel the festival over a same-sex kiss that deserves condemnation.
The controversy over LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression in Malaysia won’t likely go away any time soon. Coldplay is set to perform at the country’s Bukit Jalil National Stadium in November for a show promoted by Live Nation, which is also expected to produce a concert for the group Lany in the country in August.
Video game giant Activision is suing a prominent TikTok music critic over a viral audio clip that he created, claiming he is unfairly demanding that some social media users pay him “extortionate” settlements after they re-use the heavily-memed clip.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
In a complaint filed Monday in California federal court, Activision accused Anthony Fantano of “misusing” intellectual property laws by threatening to “selectively” sue TikTokers who use “enough slices!” — a popular audio clip that originated with a video Fantano first posted in 2021.
Activision, which says it received such a threat after it used the clip in a promotion for its Crash Bandicoot game franchise, claims that Fantano intentionally made the clip available through TikTok’s audio library — meaning he cannot now sue the hundreds of thousands of users that chose to use it.
“This dispute is a textbook example of how intellectual property law can be misused by individuals to leverage unfair cash payments,” Activision’s lawyers wrote. “Fantano was very happy to receive the benefit of the public use of the Slices Video. It was only after he identified a financial opportunity — namely, receiving unjustified settlement payments — that he suddenly decided that his consent was limited.”
“The law does not permit, and the court should not countenance, such overt gamesmanship,” Activision’s lawyers wrote.
Fantano, a popular internet creator who reviews music on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms, first uploaded the “slices” video in 2021. The clip — showing Fantano getting aggravated as a pizza is cut into increasingly smaller slices before screaming, “It’s enough slices!” — has garnered tens of millions of views. In the two years since, the audio has become internet shorthand for a situation that starts out well but eventually goes too far.
In its lawsuit, Activision says there’s an obvious reason why the clip was used so widely: Fantano “deliberately and knowingly” added the audio to TikTok’s library, making it easily available for millions of other users to incorporate into their own videos. They say he even opted into the “Commercial Sounds” library, which means he agreed his clip could be legally used in promotional videos for brands.
The company says it was surprised, then, when it received a legal threat from Fantano after it used “enough slices” in a TikTok video depicting the creation of custom Crash Bandicoot sneakers. He allegedly told the gaming giant the use of the clip not only used his name-and-likeness rights without permission, but also violated federal trademark laws by suggesting he had endorsed the company’s games.
Activision says it agreed to pull the clip down, but that Fantano demanded the company “eitherimmediately pay him substantial monetary damages or be prepared to defend a lawsuit.” The exact amount of money demanded was not included in the lawsuit, but Activision says Fantano asked for a “six-figure sum” and said that other companies had “paid a similar sum in order to avoid the expense of litigation.”
Rather than doing so, Activision responded by filing Monday’s lawsuit, which is aimed at proving the company and other TikTok users owe Fantano nothing for the use of his clip.
“With Fantano’s approval and encouragement, hundreds of thousands of TikTok users have incorporated the Slices Audio into their own videos over the past two years,” the company’s lawyers wrote. “But now … Fantano has embarked on a scheme whereby he selectively threatens to sue certain users of the Slices Audio unless they pay him extortionate amounts of money for their alleged use.”
Activision is seeking a so-called “declaratory” ruling that Fantano cannot sue TikTok users over the clip, as well as an order forcing him to repay the company’s legal bills.
Fantano did not immediately return a request for comment through his website.
Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to run alongside its annual Latin Power Players list of the genres’ most influential executives. This new Latin Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive in the genre whose peers believe has had the greatest impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing […]
Billboard is introducing a peer-voted award to run alongside its annual Latin Power Players list of the genre’s most influential executives. This new Latin Power Players’ Choice Award will honor the executive in the genre whose peers believe has had the greatest impact across the music business over the past year, from recording and publishing […]
Over the last three years, the Tony Bennett catalog generated an average of almost $2.17 million in global revenue, not including synchronization, while his estimated share of duets albums with Lady Gaga brought in another $1.22 million for a total of about $3.4 million, according to Billboard’s calculations.
Bennett, who died last week at the age of 96, enjoyed a recording career that extended back to 1952, with some 60-plus studio albums, 11 live albums, more than half a dozen collaborative albums and over 30 compilations, almost all of which were released through Columbia Records. His final album, released in September 2021, was Love For Sale, his second of two collaborative albums with Lady Gaga, and was nominated for album of the year at the 64th annual Grammy Awards.
Overall, Bennett’s solo catalog has averaged almost 122,000 album consumption units annually over the last three years, while his collaborations with Gaga have averaged about 88,000 album consumption units during that time period. Besides the greater volume for his solo output, there is also a greater disparity in individual year performances for the Bennett-Gaga catalog, with that catalog’s album consumption unit count jumping from 19,000 units in 2020 to 175,000 units in 2021, thanks to the release of Love For Sale that year, before falling back to nearly 70,000 units in 2022.
But due to how each catalog performs in the various music formats, the overall dollar volume comes out almost the same for both Bennett’s solo work and his work with Gaga. The Bennett/Gaga albums’ revenue is slightly bigger than Bennett’s solo catalog revenue, coming in at an estimated $2.4 million, vs. his estimated solo revenue of $2.17 million. When split in half, their duets recordings revenue comes out to $1.216 million for each artist.
But the revenue sources for the two catalogs are very different, with physical formats dominating the Bennett/Gaga offering — coming in at $1.75 million in average annual revenue globally, Billboard estimates — vs. Bennett’s solo catalog, with an estimated $450,000 in global revenue from physical formats.
Like most heritage acts, Bennett lags far behind in streaming, averaging 129 million on-demand U.S. streams annually over the past three years, while globally his streams averaged 233.7 million plays. (In other words, U.S. plays comprised 55% of his global streams.) Even though Bennett lags behind most big acts in streaming, that’s more than twice as large as the nearly 60 million average annual streams that the Bennett/Gaga duet albums had. Consequently, Bennett’s solo streams generated an estimated $1.4 million per year vs. the duet albums, which garnered an average of $325,000 in annual revenue over the last three years.
Average annual downloads over the last three years were about the same in terms of revenue, coming in at an estimated $135,000 for the duets albums and $120,000 for Bennett’s solo recordings.
It’s important to note that this article only estimates how much revenue Bennett’s master recordings generate and doesn’t put an amount on his earnings. That’s because there’s no way to know what kind of royalty rate he gets, which could vary wildly. Would it be the 6% paid to artists back in the 1950s and 1960s? The 22% rate most superstars get nowadays on physical product? A higher percentage for digital and streaming? A rate of 50% or higher, since all of his albums have long since recouped? Does Bennett own his Columbia albums like other Sony superstars appear to have negotiated back in the day? And what kind of financial arrangements were made for the recordings with Lady Gaga? All these are questions with answers that remain unclear.
Unlike the revenue estimates in the above story which are derived from annual unit counts, revenue estimates for the Bennett song chart below was derived using 2022’s year-end unit counts for all activity to date since the release of the music recordings, based on format counts generated by the “artist summary” feature in Luminate’s trend reports.
Zena White, COO of Partisan Records; Beggars Group president Nabil Ayers; Hays Rudolph, general counsel and VP of business and legal affairs at Secretly; and Tony Alexander, president and managing director of Made in Memphis Entertainment (MIME), are among the fresh faces on the American Assn. of Independent Music (A2IM) board.
White, Ayers, Rudolph, Alexander are newly-elected to the board, which oversees the governance of A2IM, represents the not-for-profit organization’s membership at large, and assists in setting the priorities and direction for the organization.
Also announced today (July 25) is A2IM’s executive committee, led by Heather Johnson, director of label operations at FIXT, who is named as chair. Meanwhile, Victor Zaraya, COO of Concord, is appointed as treasurer, and MIME’s Alexander becomes secretary.
“We are so grateful to have such a talented and dedicated group of individuals willing to serve on the 2023/24 board of directors for A2IM,” comments Dr. Richard James Burgess, president and CEO of A2IM. “Their expertise and passion for independent music will play a vital role in shaping the future of our organization and the industry.”
A2IM represents over 600 independent record labels.
Additionally, the trade body welcomes a raft of advisory board members who will lend their expertise and counsel. They include Kristin Epstein (operations director of Screenwave Media), Steve Kline (president/COO of Better Noise Music), Jennifer Newman Sharpe (general counsel and head of business & legal affairs of Exceleration Music), Elliott Peters (senior VP, global business at Empire), Jason Peterson (CEO of Cinq Music/GoDigital Media Group) and Reed Watson (co-owner of Single Lock Records).
“With these new executive committee and advisory board members, we are confident in our ability to advocate for the needs and interests of independent record labels,” adds Burgess. “I am honored to work alongside this exceptional team to support and celebrate the power of independent music.”
Headquartered in New York City, A2IM exists to support and strengthen the independent recorded music sector, and celebrates the scene by organizing the annual A2IM Libera Awards.
A2IM’s current board of directors:
A2IM’s current board of directors:Tony Alexander – MIME (Made In Memphis Entertainment)Nabil Ayers – Beggars GroupMariah Czap – Yep Roc Music GroupDee Diaz – Reach RecordsWilson Fuller – Merge RecordsMary Jurey – Blue ÉlanHeather Johnson – FiXTTony Kiewel – Sub PopHays Rudolph – SecretlyVictor Zaraya – ConcordZena White – Partisan
Advisory board members:Kristin Epstein – Screenwave MediaSteve Kline – Better Noise MusicJennifer Newman Sharpe – Exceleration MusicElliott Peters – EmpireJason Peterson – Cinq Music/GoDigital Media GroupReed Watson – Single Lock Records.
Beatport on Tuesday (July 25) announced its second annual Diversity + Parity Fund, with which the company will award $150,000 to initiatives that expand diversity and equality in dance music. The fund will award two kinds of grants: one that awards amounts between $3,000 to $15,000 to smaller organizations consisting of one to three staff […]
