Business
Page: 487
LONDON — More people around the globe are listening to licensed music services than ever before, but piracy continues to have a harmful impact on creators’ careers, according to a new report from international trade body IFPI measuring global consumption and listening habits.
IFPI’s “Engaging with Music 2022” study reveals that music consumers are spending on average 20.1 hours listening to music weekly, a 9% increase from 18.4 hours in 2021.
The London-based organization found that 46% of the 44,000-plus music fans it surveyed for the report listen to their favorite artists through a premium subscription streaming service such as Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon Music, either using their personal subscription or via a shared account. That number rises to 74% when ad-supported music streaming is factored in alongside paid subscriptions.
Those streaming service numbers are slightly down from IFPI’s 2021 figures — when about 47% of respondents used a paid subscription service and 78% of people said they used either ad-supported or paid streaming – but IFPI says any decreases are the result of a change in accounting methodology, rather than a drop in real terms.
In this year’s report, the adoption of subscription streaming services is highest among younger listeners, with 54% of 16–24-year-olds and 56% of 25-34-year-olds surveyed saying they use subscription music platforms. Usage drops to 26% in the 55-64-year-old age bracket.
The top five countries where people spent the most time listening to music through a subscription streaming service were Sweden (56% of people surveyed), the United Kingdom (52%), the U.S. (51%), Germany (51%) and Mexico (50%). (Overall, IFPI reports a 10% rise in time spent listening to music on paid streaming services compared to the prior year.)
The IFPI report was compiled by surveying internet users aged 16-64 between June and September across 22 countries, including the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. Collectively, these markets accounted for more than 89% of global recorded music revenues in 2021, according to this year’s IFPI Global Music Report.
Writing in the study’s foreword, IFPI chief executive Frances Moore says the report’s findings show “how music engagement is thriving, driven by new genres [and] new formats,” as well as the global value of music, “and the need to protect and support it.”
Video-Based Music Consumption Dominates
Of those surveyed in the “Engaging with Music 2022” report, more than three-quarters say they consume music in multiple formats. On average, people use more than six different methods to engage with music, the most popular being video streaming, says IFPI.
Of the people surveyed, 82% said they regularly consume music through video streaming services like YouTube. Audio streaming was the second most popular listening format, followed by radio listening, and then short-form video formats such as TikTok. Meanwhile, 32% of respondents said they had watched a music concert livestream in the last month with more than half (58%) having recently watched a music-focused TV show or film.
Driven by the huge global popularity of TikTok, which says it has over one billion monthly active users, half of those surveyed said they use short-form video apps with 63% of respondents saying music is a key factor in choosing what content they consume on the platforms. South Africa and Mexico were the countries with the highest percentage of short-form video app users (both 78%), followed by Brazil (71%) and Argentina (66%), reports IFPI.
Pop was named as the most popular music genre globally, followed by rock, hip-hop/rap, dance/electronic, and Latin. When it comes to physical music, 12% of the people surveyed had bought a CD within a month of submitting their responses and 8% had purchased a vinyl record.
Survey data from China and India is not included in the main report’s global figures because IFPI says the size of the countries would have a “considerable impact on the weighted average figures used.” The listening study contains separate reports looking at music consumption in China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria. Results from Indonesia and Nigeria were also not included in the global round up as they were included in the survey for the first time this year.
In China, 96% of people surveyed use licensed music streaming services with 94% using short form video platforms. In India, 88% of respondents use music streaming services with 65% consuming short-form video.
Despite the growth in global music listening, the availability of unlicensed repertoire continues to pose a serious threat to the future health of the record industry, says IFPI. It found that almost one in three respondents (30%) admitted to using unauthorized or unlicensed methods to listen to or download music.
Stream-ripping sites remain the most popular way for consumers to access copyright-infringing music, IFPI found, with 40% of 16-24-year-olds confessing to using them. Almost one in five people (17%) said they had used an unlicensed mobile app to illegally download music.
Responding to its findings, Moore said IFPI will continue to fight against all forms of music piracy “to ensure that those seeking to profit from unlicensed and unauthorized music cannot threaten the vibrancy of a music ecosystem that is essential to artists and fans.”
Singer-songwriter Megan Moroney has inked a label deal with Sony Music Nashville and Columbia Records. During her opening performance slot for Warren Zeiders: The Up to No Good Tour on Wednesday evening (Nov. 16) at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl, Moroney announced her label signing, and also told the audience that her song “Tennessee Orange” will be sent to country radio.
According to Moroney’s manager, Punch Bowl Entertainment’s Juli Griffith, Moroney and her team were in talks with 18 record labels before signing with Sony Music Nashville and the NYC-based Columbia.
“We picked this combination because they understand exactly who Megan is and what she has already created,” Griffith tells Billboard. “Their plan is to come in and enhance what we are already doing under her creative vision.”
Moroney’s “Tennessee Orange” made its Billboard Hot 100 debut in October, entering the chart at No. 94. The song is currently at No. 19 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. Moroney wrote “Tennessee Orange” with Ben Williams, David Fanning and Paul Jenkins, with production from Kristian Bush. Moroney released her six-song EP Pistol Made of Roses in July.
A portion of the early appeal of “Tennessee Orange” lies in its backstory, with many fans believing Moroney wrote it about country singer-songwriter Morgan Wallen. In the song, Savannah, Georgia, native Moroney sings of being a University of Georgia fan (Moroney’s alma mater), but she is so besotted with a love interest that she is even willing to wear the University of Tennessee’s trademark orange color (Wallen is a UT fan).
In addition to her new label deal, Moroney’s team includes Griffith’s Punch Bowl Entertainment for management, as well as UTA booking agent Elisa Vazzana, and tour manager Alexandra Kolea.
“We are so happy to have built what we did with a small group of four amazing women (Team Lasso as we call ourselves). The time has come that we need to expand, and we are thankful to have been able to hand pick an amazing team to help us go forward in this journey,” Griffith adds.
Imagine a platform where fans can buy and sell streaming rights from the music they love, as easily as buying a stock on an investing site like Robinhood. This is the vision of Web3 music platform Royal, which today announces a music rights marketplace.
Founded by DJ and producer Justin Blau, Royal launched in January 2022 with high-profile NFT drops from Nas, Diplo and The Chainsmokers. The platform allows fans and investors to earn a percentage of streaming royalties alongside the artists. Thus far, the platform says it has paid out $100,000 to holders.
After proving the concept works, Blau says Royal is growing into its bigger vision. “The drops were very much a beta,” he tells Billboard. “We needed to show that you could actually pay out royalties in an efficient manner on chain … The next piece is the tradability of these assets.”
Royal’s marketplace allows fans to buy and sell music rights directly on the website. It includes a ‘portfolio’ where fans can manage their collection, track the performance of their assets and connect to a bank account. Since the beginning, Royal has worked to hide the crypto technology that underpins the platform, and that same Web2.5 philosophy applies to the new marketplace.
“You can buy and sell these things and never see crypto if you don’t want to,” Blau says.
Royal sees music as a rapidly growing asset class with global music revenues hitting $26 billion in 2021, according to IFPI. And while streaming accounts for 65% of recorded music revenue — also via IFPI — most of the value is locked up in legacy music companies and investment firms. “The private markets have controlled all the value in music rights,” says Blau. “It’s not moving between artists and fans, it’s moving between institutions.”
The concept of Royal’s marketplace is to unlock some of that value and let fans participate.
“If you’re a fan and you own a piece of a song and it comes on the radio, there’s something really special about saying you own that.”
Hanging over this announcement, however, is a lawsuit served to Blau over an $11 million NFT auction connected to his Ultraviolet album in 2021. Songwriter Luna Aura — who says she owns a 50% royalty share in one of the tracks on the album — claims she was not adequately compensated from the NFT sale.
Blau could not offer further comment on the details of the lawsuit, but did say the experience of releasing the Ultraviolet NFT and navigating IP laws with 21 other artists informed how they built Royal.
In the coming weeks, the platform will also host more than a dozen new drops from independent artists, starting today with Bingo Players & Zookëper and their new single “Bathroom Line,” followed by “I’ll Wait” by Madison Ryann Ward, as well as music from Yemi Alade, 27Delly and Matt Cooper.
As job applications go, Tim Hinshaw’s wasn’t quite traditional.
While angling for a position in the hip-hop & R&B division of Amazon Music in 2018, Hinshaw recruited a few old friends to record themselves hyping him up. “Oh, hey. This is Donald Glover/Childish Gambino saying you should probably hire Tim,” the multihyphenate star says, winking at the camera. Cut to Anderson .Paak: “I’m telling you, he’s the one. You need him on your squad.” “Tim is a good dude, and he knows what he’s doing!” Scarface adds before noting that he himself is an Amazon Prime member. The video closes with the late Mac Miller playing a white grand piano, then turning to the camera to implore: “Hire Tim. I know I would.”
Hinshaw edited the clips together, then passed the supercut to Amazon — an effort, he says, “to show the breadth of my relationships, from the current generation to the legends.” The promo worked: Within a few weeks, Hinshaw was hired as Amazon Music’s senior manager of hip-hop artist relations and within a year, he was promoted to head of hip-hop & R&B. But it was also an apt advertisement for the talents that would help Hinshaw succeed long term at the company. The close relationships and credibility he has within the artist community — developed over the course of 13 years working in management and artist relations roles — along with a penchant for innovation and a personality that Amazon Music vp Steve Boom calls “super smart, genuine and incredibly humble” have all allowed Hinshaw and the team he has built to elevate Amazon Music’s hip-hop & R&B division into a global leader in the genre.
“Tim has put Amazon Music into the conversation in the hip-hop and R&B community in a massive way,” says Boom, “and in a way, frankly speaking, we were not.”
“When I thought about the landscape, it was like, ‘Amazon is already in everybody’s homes,’ ” says Hinshaw of his initial strategy. “I knew if I could authentically bridge the gap between company and artist and tell that story to consumers in an authentic way, I could help Amazon be a major player in this entertainment space.”
Thanks to his efforts, in the past year hip-hop and R&B have become the leading genres for Amazon Music livestreams, with the platform’s three most-viewed livestream events featuring Kanye “Ye” West, Drake and Tyler, The Creator. “Tim’s trajectory is so amazing to watch,” says Tyler. “I love him so much.”
Tim Hinshaw photographed on October 27, 2022 at Harun Coffee in Los Angeles.
Kathryn Boyd Brolin
Last December, Drake and Ye’s #FreeLarryHoover benefit concert at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum streamed in 240 countries on Amazon Music’s Twitch channel and the Amazon Music app. Just weeks later, Amazon Music partnered with The Weeknd for a livestream event promoting his new album, Dawn FM, and the platform livestreamed J. Cole’s Dreamville festival in April.
Hinshaw has also been instrumental in securing talent for the just-launched Amazon Music Live. Airing after Thursday Night Football, the weekly livestream program, which launched Oct. 27, is hosted by 2 Chainz and has already featured performances from Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion and Kane Brown. In late October, Hinshaw and his 12-person team — “a bunch of young, hungry Black and brown executives,” as he describes them — touched down in Paris to produce a livestream of the second of Kendrick Lamar’s two shows in the city on his current The Big Steppers Tour. That 65-date run is sponsored by Amazon Music’s flagship hip-hop and R&B Rotation playlists — an idea Hinshaw originated and oversaw. (Hinshaw also led the 2019 development and launch of Rotation itself, which encompasses the R&B Rotation and Rap Rotation brands.)
“For me to be on a business-class flight to Paris with arguably the world’s biggest hip-hop artist,” says Hinshaw, “it was like, ‘Wow, we’ve come a long way from Compton.’ ”
Tim Hinshaw (right) with Kendrick Lamar in October 2022 in Paris.
Greg Noire
Like Lamar, Hinshaw, 32, was raised in the South Los Angeles neighborhood where so many of hip-hop’s legends started out. With his father serving a 20-year prison sentence for nonviolent drug-trafficking charges while he was young, Hinshaw was raised by his mother. Once he was a teenager, she enrolled him 30 miles away at the tony Palisades High School, driving her son 60 miles round trip so he could experience life outside the three blocks in which he had grown up.
After graduation, Hinshaw nearly joined the U.S. Coast Guard, but was talked out of it by his brother, the singer-songwriter Prince Charlez, who encouraged him to pursue music instead. Hinshaw co-managed his brother to a joint-venture label deal with Island Def Jam before landing management jobs in the artist relations and music marketing divisions at Fender and Vans, respectively, and through them forging the relationships that have proved invaluable in his current role.
“I can’t tell you the number of meetings I’ve been to with Tim and an artist or manager where the level of respect and love they have for him is transparent,” says Boom. “It leads to very different, more productive and more collaborative meetings that benefit the artist and Amazon Music.”
In genres where authenticity is paramount, the trust Hinshaw has developed in the hip-hop and R&B community has also helped bridge the gap between a massive corporation and the artists it hopes to work with. Most crucial are honest conversations about “getting what we want out of said deal without making the artist feel like they’re a walking commercial,” says Hinshaw. “You’re not going to put a logo on Kendrick Lamar’s forehead.”
Tim Hinshaw photographed on October 27, 2022 at Harun Coffee in Los Angeles.
Kathryn Boyd Brolin
That straightforward approach has led to collaborations with A-list figures like H.E.R. and Kid Cudi; Summer Walker; Chance the Rapper; Tyler, The Creator; DJ Khaled; LeBron James and Mav Carter, co-founder/CEO of James’ entertainment company, SpringHill. But Hinshaw’s team’s cred also extends to emerging acts, which it supports with Rap Rotation. Since its 2019 launch, streams on the playlist have doubled — just one indication of overall demand for the genre exploding on Amazon Music since Hinshaw’s arrival. Global customers asked Alexa to play hip-hop and R&B tracks over a billion times in 2021 alone.
The ripple effect of Hinshaw’s work extends across Amazon Music. Boom calls his artist merchandise collaborations “instrumental” in the growth of fashion initiatives like The Showroom, a collection from Amazon Music and Hypebeast creative agency Hypemaker that paired rising artists like Flo Milli, Lucky Daye and Fousheé with rising streetwear designers. Philanthropy initiatives Hinshaw and his team have carried out — like sponsoring 21 Savage’s 2021 and 2022 back-to-school drives in Atlanta — build different kinds of bridges, Hinshaw says, “open[ing] doors for kids in communities like the one I grew up in.” And his team’s work with Prime Video through livestreams has, Boom adds, “allowed us to expand our ambitions as a company.”
Those successes are the product of 11-hour workdays that begin after Hinshaw and his wife drop off their two kids (Sadie, 5, and Tim Jr., 4) at school. If he’s not in back-to-back meetings, he’s cold-calling managers to follow leads about forthcoming projects he wants to get involved with — efforts Hinshaw says are still crucial in determining next steps for his already accomplished team.
As Hinshaw’s sphere of influence keeps expanding, however, its core remains the same as when he wrangled his superstar pals to help him land the job. He’s still in close and constant contact with artists and their teams (his email alert dings roughly 30 times during our interview), knowing that, as details can get lost in translation, the ability to get an artist or manager on the phone is essential to keep things in motion. And as always, he knows those relationships aren’t just about business: Hanging with artist friends for birthday parties and casual dinners, or just sending a text to check in, could be the key to making the next big project happen.
“Continuing our artist-first vision,” he says, “is always going to put us in the place we need to be.”
This story will appear in the Nov. 19, 2022, issue of Billboard.
Already looking ahead to 2023, Paramount Global is announcing a cross-brand partnership involving its broadcast, cable, streaming and digital brands to commemorate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The company’s expansive, year-long slate of programming initiatives also includes an alliance with The Recording Academy.
Today’s announcement (Nov. 17) is an expansion of Hip Hop 50, a three-year initiative that Paramount cable network Showtime launched in late 2021 in association with Mass Appeal, the music label, film and TV company co-founded by rapper/entrepreneur Nas. Focusing on the stories, personalities and legends behind the genre, the partnership has thus far presented several programs on Showtime such as Supreme Team, Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain, You’re Watching Video Music Box and Ricky Powell: The Individualist, about the well-known New York street photographer.
Moving forward, Showtime will present more programming under the Hip Hop 50 banner from Mass Appeal and other production companies. Those offerings will include a documentary about legendary rapper Biz Markie, a series showcasing the power of women in the genre and another series exploring the SoundCloud scene.
On CBS, Paramount’s cross-company hip-hop celebration will include a special performance at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023. Later in the year, the TV network will also present a special music event in honor of the genre’s golden anniversary in partnership with The Recording Academy.
Paramount’s year-long celebration of hip-hop’s cultural impact will feature additional new and returning content across its other brands, including:
BET, which will produce a documentary about its iconic series, Rap City, and further honor the anniversary through its longstanding BET Awards and Hip Hop Awards telecasts. BET.com and BET social will also spotlight the culture and profile its legends throughout 2023.
MTV Entertainment Studios, which is set to produce new episodes of Behind the Music and various hip-hop documentaries to be announced at a later date. Fans will also get a chance to celebrate the anniversary via in-show moments during the VMAs and EMAs.
Paramount+, which will continue to stream 50 iconic episodes from MTV Entertainment’s original series Yo! MTV Raps for the first time since it premiered. In addition, the rebooted series is now also available to stream alongside the home makeover series Hip Hop My House.
John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp. said Thursday that its board of directors has authorized management to pursue a split-off of the Atlanta Braves and its associated real estate development project and the creation of a new Liberty Live Group tracking stock, which will house the company’s 31 percent stake in Live Nation Entertainment, among other things.
Tracking stocks are designed to let investors track specific businesses that are part of a larger company. Liberty has used such tracking stocks in the past in the hopes of highlighting the performance and value of parts of its wide-ranging portfolio of assets.
“We plan to split off the Atlanta Braves into an asset-backed stock to better highlight its strong value. Additionally, post-split-off, we plan to recapitalize all of Liberty Media’s remaining common stock into three tracking stock groups,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty Media president and CEO. “These actions will provide greater investor choice and enable targeted investment and capital-raising through more focused currencies, while maintaining an optimal capital structure for Liberty Media and preserving optionality with respect to our subsidiary SiriusXM and our Live Nation stake.”
The split-off will be accomplished “through the redemption of Liberty Media’s existing Liberty Braves common stock in exchange for common stock of a newly formed company to be called Atlanta Braves Holdings Inc.,” the firm said. “Atlanta Braves Holdings would hold all of the businesses, assets and liabilities currently attributed to the Braves Group, including Braves Holdings LLC, which is the direct or indirect owner and operator of the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball Club, certain assets and liabilities associated with the Atlanta Braves’ stadium and mixed-use development project, The Battery Atlanta, and corporate cash.” In connection with the Split-Off, Liberty Media would redeem each outstanding share of its Series A, Series B and Series C Liberty Braves common stock for one share of the corresponding series of common stock of Atlanta Braves Holdings. As a result of the Split-Off, Liberty Media and Atlanta Braves Holdings would be separate publicly traded companies. It is expected that the intergroup interests in the Braves Group held by Liberty Media’s existing Liberty SiriusXM Group and Formula One Group would be settled and extinguished in connection with the Split-Off in a manner to be determined.”
Following the completion of the split-off, Liberty Media wants to create a new tracking stock group, the Liberty Live Group. It would then have three tracking stocks: the Liberty SiriusXM Group, Formula One Group and the Liberty Live Group. The company said the third one would include “its interest in Live Nation Entertainment Inc., corporate cash, certain public and private assets currently attributed to the Formula One Group, Liberty Media’s 0.50 percent Live Nation exchangeable senior debentures due 2050, margin loan obligations incurred by its wholly owned special purpose subsidiary, which are secured by shares of common stock of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., together with other assets as may be determined from time to time by Liberty Media.”
Liberty Media said it expects to complete the split-off and the tracking stock reclassification in the first half of 2023.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Sheltered Music Publishing has acquired “significant” interest in Dennis Linde‘s musical catalog, including hit songs like “Burning Love,” (Elvis Presley) “Goodbye Earl” (The Chicks) and “Callin’ Baton Rouge” (Garth Brooks). “It is not often that a catalog as distinguished and diverse as Dennis Linde’s becomes available,” said Sheltered Music svp, Darrell Franklin. “As a music publisher, this is the quality of work we all aspire to represent. I’m honored to be able to do that with this music and to help further raise awareness and appreciation of one of Nashville’s greatest songwriting talents.”
Downtown Music Services has signed Masego to a global publishing administration deal. The new agreement includes Masego’s Grammy-nominated back catalog as well as his future works, including his upcoming album, set for release in February 2023. Masego says of the new signing, “Sarah McCann [svp, international creative at Downtown Music Services] is the reason why I chose to work with the publishing company. Through her, I saw that Downtown and me shared a similar vision of creating global, unique, and impactful art.”
Warner Chappell has signed the catalog of Scissor Sisters. A popular early aughts pop group, Scissor Sisters’ works includes hits like “Laura” “Comfortably Numb” “Take Your Mama” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’.” The band, whose membership include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic (vocals), Scott ‘Babydaddy’ Hoffman (multi-instrumentalist) and Del Marquis (guitar/bass), has also appointed Fascination Management as their legacy managers.
Concord Music Publishing has signed Jennifer Wayne to a worldwide deal that includes her future works. Best known as part of the all-female country trio Runaway June, Wayne also has writing credits on songs for Keith Urban, Marie Osmond, Eric Paslay, RaeLynn, Brittney Spencer and The Shires. “I’m over the moon about signing with Concord. It’s a family and they are so passionate, creative, supportive, and work as a team to win for their writers,” says Wayne.
Bucks Music Group has signed Tom Webber to an exclusive worldwide publishing deal. The rising talent was awarded Best Demo at Glastonbury 2022, and has supported acts like Nick Lowe, Deacon Blue and Richard Hawley. Webber says of the deal, “I’m very happy to have signed with Bucks Music Group. Simon, Sarah, James and the team really helped me make the decision to join them an easy one.
Singer/songwriter Taylor Grey has signed a new worldwide publishing administration deal with Regard Music, including global sync and creative services for her existing and future catalog. She joins Regard Music’s boutique roster, which includes Robin Thicke, Lyle Lovett, Tom Kelly, meditation company Headspace, and more.
Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Songland season 2 champion Madeline Merlo to a publishing administration deal. The Canadian singer and songwriter caught the industry’s attention with “Champagne Night,” a country radio hit performed by Lady A, and soon after her work earned her a nomination for Canadian Country Music Association’s Songwriter of the Year Award. She also has released music of her own, including her new four-track EP Slide. “I am looking forward to working with this world class team that makes you feel like family every time you walk in the door! This is a huge next step for my career and truly is a dream come true,” says the songwriter.
Primary Wave and the estate of James Brown are facing a new lawsuit that claims their $90 million catalog sale last year violated an agreement that the iconic singer had struck decades earlier with another company.
Announced in December, the sale saw Primary Wave scoop up a portion of Brown’s publishing rights, master royalty income and name/likeness rights from the singer’s estate – adding the “Soul Brother No. 1” to the likes of Whitney Houston and Prince in the company’s growing catalog.
But in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday (Nov. 15) in Manhattan federal court, David Pullman’s Pullman Group says the blockbuster sale represents a breach of a contract it struck with Brown way back in 1999 that guaranteed the company the right to broker any such deal in the future.
And Pullman says the breach was no small error: It’s demanding more than $11 million in damages from the Brown estate, and a whopping $125 million from Primary Wave.
“The Primary Wave transaction violated The Pullman Group’s exclusive rights under the exclusive engagement letter to arrange such asset sales for Brown and his estate,” Pullman’s lawyers wrote in their complaint.
In response to the allegations, a rep for the Brown estate told Billboard on Wednesday that the lawsuit “has no merit and the Estate and Trust intend to vigorously defend the action.” A rep for Primary Wave did not immediately return a request for comment.
Pullman is best known for creating so-called Bowie Bonds – a novel financial vehicle that offered investors the right to collect future royalties in return for a lump payment to an artist. He pioneered the arrangement with a $55 million deal with David Bowie in 1997, hence the name.
In the new lawsuit, Pullman Group says it created such a bond offering for Brown in 1999 to help the late singer deal with “financial difficulties,” which were spurred by his “spending habits and legal problems.” Under the terms of the deal, Brown received an up-front payment of $26 million in exchange for future royalties over a set period of time.
But crucially, Pullman’s lawsuit says the deal also guaranteed the company “exclusive rights to arrange all future refinancing or asset sales of Brown’s assets.” It says the that contractual sweetener was included because the deal was risky for Pullman and the company had already agreed to waive its normal up-front fees in Brown’s case.
But in December 2021, Pullman says it learned from media reports that Brown’s estate had reached a deal with Primary Wave. The agreement had been struck “secretly and behind The Pullman Group’s back,” and the estate had instead used a company called Shot Tower Capital to arrange the deal.
“By working for years in secret on the Primary Wave transaction, Primary Wave and Shot Tower Capital intentionally and maliciously interfered with The Pullman Group’s exclusive contractual rights,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit says Pullman would have been entitled to a 12.5% fee from any rights deal struck by Brown’s estate – meaning the estate owes the company $11.3 million from Primary Wave’s $90 million payment.
Pullman wants far steeper damages from Primary Wave and Shot Tower Capital. Accusing them of so-called tortious interference with a contract – meaning an outside party essentially induced someone to break their word – Pullman is seeking at least $125 million in damages from each company.
A rep for Shot Tower Capital did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit’s accusations.
In a statement to Billboard, David Pullman said he and Brown had a “great mutually successful and beneficial relationship and friendship for years,” but that the current legal dispute had been caused by those running his estate.
Read the entire lawsuit here:
On the heels of their recent Billboard cover story, in which they detailed their acquisition of much of the Whitney Houston estate and catalog, Primary Wave Music has added to their collection of Whitney-related rights by acquiring an interest in much of the publishing catalog for Houston co-writers Boy Meets Girl. The duo, made up of Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill, played a hand in penning “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” and “How Will I Know,” both of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Included in the deal are the writer’s share of royalties from the two Houston cuts, as well as the duo’s successful self-released songs, including “Oh Girl” and “Waiting for A Star to Fall.” Under the agreement, Merrill and Rubicam will have access to Primary Wave’s marketing and branding teams, along with the company’s publishing infrastructure that includes licensing and synch opportunities.
The timing of the acquisition comes just ahead of the Dec. 21 release of the Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, a major part of Primary Wave’s campaign to revitalize the Houston catalog. The company purchased a 50% stake in the singer’s publishing, master recording revenue, name, likeness and brand for an estimated $14 million in May 2019 and has been working on efforts to introduce or remind the public of Houston’s venerable legacy ever since, including with two new photo books, Funko! Pop dolls, Whitney-themed Peloton classes, a perfume line, a MAC makeup collection and more.
Rubicam and Merrill have worked as musical partners since the mid-1980s when both were hired to perform at a wedding. They subsequently formed Boy Meets Girl and released their first album in 1985, featuring the song “Oh Girl.” Soon after, the duo kickstarted their songwriting career by penning two of Houston’s biggest hits, earning them Grammys for song of the year in the process. The duo continued to release their own music as well, achieving top 5 success on the Hot 100 with “Waiting for a Star to Fall” in 1988 (a song originally written for Houston). By the 1990s, however, the duo was more focused on writing for others than for themselves, working on songs for OTT and Girlthing, among others. Since then, they have returned to releasing their own work as Boy Meets Girl, including the albums Wonderground (2003) and Five (2021).
“We are so pleased to have placed our songs into the capable and creative hands of the team at Primary Wave. If ever there was a perfect home for our songs at this time, without a doubt this is it. We are excited and honored to be a part of the Primary Wave family and look forward to seeing what else we might cook up together,” says Merrill and Rubicam in a statement.
“When Shannon’s and George’s songs are played – anywhere around the world – people will sing along the minute they begin,” added Justin Shukat, president of publishing at Primary Wave Music. “It’s rare for songwriters to not only see that type of response, but to write #1 hits for both themselves and for other artists. That’s what makes the two of them true songwriting legends. Their catalog of songs fit right at home at Primary Wave, the home of legends.”
Amid a broader economic downturn, Endeavor — the parent company of assets like agencies WME and IMG, sports league UFC, events firm On Location and online gambling platform OpenBet — is pausing new hires through the end of the year.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter by phone while attending an RBC Capital Markets investor event, Endeavor president Mark Shapiro said that the firm will put in place a hiring freeze until 2023 but noted that the Beverly Hills-based conglomerate will be backfilling positions. The Endeavor executive emphasized that no broader cost-cutting would be instituted and travel/expenses, bonuses and spending would not be subject to review at this time for the company’s roughly 8,000 employees.
“The state of the business is strong, but we have to be responsible given the time of the year and the national economic environment,” Shapiro told THR.
The Endeavor exec stressed that the move was being made from a position of strength, as the firm — unlike other Hollywood giants — has been insulated from economic headwinds like those impacting advertising-reliant companies. And the time frame for the hiring pause, as the holiday season approaches, arrives at a typically slower cycle for major agencies, which tend to mostly close up shop in the last couple weeks of the year.
“We need to really be prudent, we’re in — or walking in — to a recession,” Shapiro said about the hiring freeze during a panel moderated by RBC’s Kutgun Maral. “There’s a lot of fear out there, there’s a lot of fearmongerers. And we just need to keep a lean cost-structure, frankly. As tight as we can have it. And hiring over the holidays does no good, you’re just giving them vacation anyway.”
Shapiro added during the panel that, “at a time like this of uncertainty, we need to be conserving cash and just working on the balance sheet.” The Endeavor exec forecast that the focus in 2023 would be more free cash flow — a profit metric showing an ability to fund operations without outside financing — and expanding margins in each business unit.
But the hiring freeze does arrive as Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal and others are instituting belt-tightening measures, including cutting back on spending and staff reductions. Disney CEO Bob Chapek warned in a memo to staff on Nov. 11 of “limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze” while layoffs have been ongoing at the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros. Discovery, impacting multiple divisions including CNN, whose chief, Chris Licht, forecast in late October that restructuring will “accelerate” and will result in layoffs and budget cuts.
On Nov. 10, Endeavor disclosed its third-quarter earnings, with its WME and IMG representation unit seeing revenue fall year-over-year to $388 million from $664 million — due to the sale of 80 percent of Endeavor Content to South Korea’s CJ ENM as part of a deal with the Writers Guild — even as the core agency business made strides. Meanwhile, the company’s owned sports properties, like UFC, saw revenue gain from $288.5 million a year ago to $402 million in the third quarter this year and its events unit stayed about even year-over-year with $440 million in revenue for the frame.
Overall, citing foreign exchange rate changes, Endeavor posted a loss for the quarter of $12.5 million compared to a gain of $63.6 million in the same time frame in 2021. During an earnings call, Endeavor chief Ari Emanuel noted “our business continues to perform well despite the macro headwinds,” and touted comedy bookings as well as growth in music touring, experiences and demand to attend live events.
“Spending habits have shifted, but our company has a presence at every point on the purchase chain,” Emanuel added. “During COVID people were buying stuff, and post-COVID, they are more focused on experiences, and we are the benefit of that side of the equation.”
Since Jan. 3, the first day of trading this year, stock in Endeavor has fallen about 34 percent, from 34.81 a share to 22.92, while the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index has dropped about 10 percent.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.