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D. Tobago Benito started his first brick-and-mortar record store in Atlanta in 1996. At the time, “there were about 400 to 500 Black-owned record stores around the country,” he recalls. “There were a lot of conferences. When I came in, senior store owners took me under their wing and showed me how the business operated.”
Benito’s still in physical retail 27 years later, running DBS Sounds. But the pool of Black-owned record stores has been decimated, falling to around 70, according to his count. (Some think it’s closer to 60.) Depending who you ask, there are between 1,800 and 2,100 independent record stores in the U.S., which means that Black-owned outlets now represent just a sliver of this market.
The decline is at odds with the popularity of Black music. R&B and hip-hop’s share of overall consumption was 26.8% in 2022, according to Luminate. While R&B and hip-hop doesn’t fare as well in the physical market, it still accounted for 14.3% of physical sales last year. Yet “we make up about 3% of the record stores out there,” Benito says. “It’s unacceptable. There are major markets around the country with no Black-owned stores: Birmingham, Nashville, Charlotte.”
“The numbers are astounding,” adds Sharod Bines, owner of Retrofit Records in Tallahassee, Florida. “A generation ago, it was not as uncommon to be a Black record store owner.”
While vinyl sales have been growing for 17 consecutive years, this rising tide hasn’t yet led to a major lift in the number of Black store owners. Benito is spearheading an effort he hopes will change that: In 2021, he joined with more than 20 other Black-owned stores to create the F.A.M.S. Coalition (Forever a Music Store). Some of the hurdles facing Black record stores are systemic — the racial wealth gap, gentrification, bias in the loan-application process. But for outlets that have overcome these obstacles, F.A.M.S. is intent on gaining more support from the music industry. This could be financial assistance as well as windowed exclusives, vinyl variants and release parties pegged to notable albums that might boost the presence of coalition members.
“We need people like Tobago to push to say, ‘we’re here, we’re growing, and we need equality,’” says Drew Mitchell, owner of 606 Records in Chicago. “We need to make sure there is equal opportunity for minority-owned stores — in the music business and in any business.”
In the early ’90s, “Black independent stores were really thriving, and they were an important part of the ecosystem when it came to breaking records,” adds Steve Corbin, Warner Music Group’s senior vice president of sales, counsel and culture. “We are in discussions with [F.A.M.S.] and working with them, whether it’s mentoring store owners or figuring out other ways to get involved with the community.”
One of the coalition’s biggest wins to date came when Beyoncé released the vinyl version of Renaissance in October 2022; F.AM.S. stores were given the chance to sell the LP a week before their peers. At the time, the coalition contained 26 stores — it’s now at 22 — which sold more than 1,000 copies of Renaissance combined. “That was huge for us,” says Marketta Rodriguez, a F.A.M.S. member from Houston who runs Serious Sounds. The first week of June, F.A.M.S. stores were able to boost their profile by hosting listening parties for Janelle Monae’s The Age of Pleasure three days before the album hit streaming services.
Some Black-owned stores serve up all styles of music — “I cover as many bases as possible,” Bines says — while others focus on historically Black genres. The latter camp faces a challenge as it tries to stabilize and ultimately grow. “There is a lack of new releases and catalog that are not available physically in rap and R&B,” explains Steve Harkins, vp of sales and marketing at Ingram Entertainment, the distributor that has been working closely with F.A.M.S. “It’s getting better with new releases, but these stores need more product in the marketplace. And this is also product that would benefit other independent stores as well.”
D. Tobago Benito
Raphael Simien
Rap was quick to embrace the digital economy — first through free download sites like Datpiff, which hosted copious amounts of mixtapes, and then through streaming, where hip-hop soared. But perhaps as a result of this success, the genre hasn’t paid much attention to the old-fashioned physical market. Harkins notes that “labels have said they’ve had challenges convincing artists and management to release their titles physically in some cases.”
While Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar have both sold heaps of vinyl, many major rappers still don’t release actual LPs. Often they would “rather put their money into music videos and digital marketing,” says Nima Nasseri, who manages the producer Hit-Boy. And vinyl still requires long lead times — it could be three to four months — which is a drawback in a genre that has thrived thanks in part to its relentless release pace. “By the time that a project is out, the majority of these artists are already working on the next project; they’re just over it,” says Aaron “Ace” Christian, who manages the rapper Cordae.
But around half of vinyl buyers don’t even own a turntable, according to Luminate, suggesting that fans want to support artists they favor through physical purchases even in cases when they can’t actually play the record they buy. And “especially when it comes to recouping, vinyl can put a huge dent in whatever you’re owing to these labels,” says Justin Lehmann, founder of Mischief Management. “It’s a missed opportunity for other artists if they’re not taking advantage of that,” he adds.
Lehmann has worked with his client Aminé to put out a vinyl version of every one of the rapper’s albums. Same goes for Cordae. “We sold out everything,” Christian says of his client’s LPs. “Fans like the memorabilia aspect of it.” “The popularity [of vinyl releases] is rising,” Nasseri adds. “Doing 1,000 copies for the diehard fans is a smart move.”
On the catalog front, some Black record store owners also worry about the “big void for ’90s R&B and hip-hop,” says Phillip Rollins, owner of Offbeat in Jackson, Mississippi. Labels are “re-pressing everything else, like 1,000 Grateful Dead live box sets,” he continues. “Where’s SWV and early Usher?” “It’s starting to look really weird when you can re-press 30 Rolling Stones records but not a core R&B title from the ’70s,” Rodriguez agrees.
Joe Lyle, owner of No Pulp Records in New Orleans, says F.A.M.S. has been working to make the labels aware of the demand for some of this classic material. Benito is starting to see some progress, pointing to represses of LPs from Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and Kingpin Skinny Pimp. In addition, Harkins helped secure a commitment from the manufacturer GZ North America to set aside capacity for both new hip-hop and R&B titles and represses.
There’s more to come: At the Music Biz conference in Nashville in May, members of F.A.M.S. met with Corbin to talk about the need for additional catalog releases. “What we agreed to is having them be somewhat of a curator — ‘we really think this Anita Baker record would be worth bringing out and repressing on vinyl,’” Corbin says. “Rather than us dictating and saying, ‘Hey, we’re gonna re-release these classic R&B records,’ we’re making it a collaborative effort,” and taking cues from the store-owners who are in touch with record buyers on the ground.
Benito’s dream is to grow the Black-owned sector of independent record stores to more than 5% of the total over the next five years. But for some owners, even just forming the coalition represents a victory. “We’re a minority within the minority of record store owners — it can feel like you’re kind of on an island out here,” Bines says. “It’s been nice to see there’s others out there trying to sustain the same thing that I am.”
After a lengthy delay, Spotify is reportedly planning to launch its high-fidelity subscription tier later this year. The audio streaming service first introduced the idea of a Hi-Fi audio offering in 2021, and is referring to the program internally as “Supremium,” Bloomberg reports. A more expensive subscription service would address two ongoing issues for the […]
Tamla Records, the precursor to the legendary Motown Records, is being relaunched by Capitol Music Group (CMG) and Capitol Christian Music Group (Capitol CMG) as a mainstream imprint specializing in positive R&B and hip-hop music. Supervising the imprint’s roster and staff will be Nashville-based EJ Gaines, current senior vp of marketing for Capitol CMG.
The first partner to sign with the new Tamla is Thomas “Tillie” Mann and his label Encouragement Music. Mann is Quality Control’s longtime mix engineer and collaborator who has worked with Lil Baby, Lil Yachty, Drake and Migos.
CMG chair/CEO Michelle Jubelirer said in a statement, “The relaunch of Tamla broadens our company’s commitment to hip-hop and R&B music, as well as to the artists, label partners and creative executives who have joined Capitol Music Group over the past 18 months. The artists EJ and his team will bring to Tamla will complement the incredible talent across our label group and will have everyone’s support throughout the wider company.”
It was 65 years ago that Berry Gordy Jr. founded Tamla Records in June 1958. The label’s first release was the 1959 single “Come to Me” by gospel singer-turned-R&B artist Marv Johnson. Later renamed Motown, Tamla was also the home of icons Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles.
“We want to honor the iconic history of the label founded by Mr. Gordy,” commented Capitol CMG co-presidents Brad O’Donnell and Hudson Plachy in the Capitol press release. “And Tillie Mann and Encouragement Music are exactly the kind of partners that we want to work with. EJ is a seasoned executive who we know will guide Tamla along with the support of our overall Capitol CMG staff.”
“Tamla has always been home to incredible music that has shifted culture,” added Gaines. “I’m excited to continue its rich legacy with groundbreaking, mainstream music that is faith-formed and culture-forward. I’m grateful to Hudson, Brad and Michelle for trusting me with this honor.”
In an interview with Billboard, Gaines shared additional insights about the new Tamla and fostering what he calls “the positive sound of the generation.”
Why is now the right time to relaunch this legacy label?
As a Black man in America, a former Wall Street attorney and artist manager, I’ve seen virtually every aspect of the music industry. And it’s very incumbent upon me to use my experience and influence in a way that is going to help the music industry as a whole — but with a focus on helping underserved Black communities. I have two sons, six and three years old, and they need to know that their dad contributed to helping make this world better for them in every way. Music is such a powerful tool and that’s significant to me, especially with this being Black Music Month.
I also love the through-line of how Tamla started with Marv Johnson, a gospel singer who released his first song on the label before doing R&B. That’s something I’ve been trying to communicate ever since I got to Capitol CMG: that gospel music is part of Black music. It’s not separate faith music; it’s not exclusive. It’s part of what we do culturally. And Tamla was just sitting there, acknowledged for its value but not really being used to continue the legacy. So that’s where we’re picking up.
How do you describe the new Tamla?
We have great, tried and true artists on Capitol CMG like Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Ricky Dillard and Brian Courtney Wilson. But what I’ve also started to identify is a bunch of creatives — songwriters, producers and artists — that aren’t doing gospel or faith music that way. They want their music to be competitive with what they listen to outside of the [gospel] genre.
But increasingly, mainstream music has not been a place where Christian creatives can find themselves very easily. That’s because the lines have been drawn so distinctly that in order to go mainstream, these creators feel like they have to compromise their values, messaging and lyricism. They’re finding themselves without a space to live in. They want to find their own positive, non-explicit but not corny lane. Over the past seven years, that lane has become more open and ready. You see playlists on all the DSPs that lean toward very progressive R&B and hip-hop; what they used to call urban gospel. And now with TikTok and Instagram, there are opportunities for these artists to engage their fans without gatekeepers blocking them. But we need to be able to serve these creatives; to make the connection between them and the audiences that are sitting there waiting.
I call it “The positive sound of the generation.” It’s of right now; not dated and very relevant. It’s something that would be acknowledged by the mainstream as legitimate lyrically, sonically and production-wise. It’s not watered down. So what we’re doing is trying to identify significant mainstream partners making music who just happen to be Christians. But they don’t want to be referred to as gospel or inspirational. They’re just artists making music; young, hungry, aggressive and very open-minded as to what music can be. And they want desperately to have a voice to engage with their audiences. And Tamla will be the place where their creativity will be fueled to soar.
Who is the label’s target demo?
It’s the 13-25 age range, but people older will also enjoy the music. But I’m really going back to the young market, the market that’s dictating music consumption.
What’s been the reaction of artists that you’ve approached thus far?
When we tell them what we’re launching, they say it’s the supplemental support that they’ve been looking for … that they thought they would have to be independent. But we’re not going to work to cross these artists over. We’re going to place them there first [in R&B and hip-hop] and legitimize them in that space with the support of Capitol and the Universal Music Group. And programmers have said they’ve been looking for content that was positive but that didn’t compromise on the quality of the music. I’m being very intentional about legitimizing this movement so that people don’t see this as a warmed-over version of what they’ve already seen and heard before.
Motown Records is motoring into the metaverse.
The fabled label and its artists will take the leap into the virtual world for the first time, through a partnership with Linden Lab’s Second Life and music integration platform STYNGR, which boasts a pre-cleared catalog of more than 100 million tracks.
Through the arrangement, which Billboard exclusively reveals today (June 20), Second Life will host an immersive Motown venue, where gamers can explore the label’s music and roster, and take a piece for the virtual road.
The digital experience is facilitated by STYNGR, whose licensing, technology, and platform specializes in imports curated music from music companies, and has recently struck deals with Warner Music Group, Merlin, Luminate and ICE Services.
Founded in Detroit in 1959 by Berry Gordy, Jr., Motown is, of course, home to such legendary acts as Diana Ross & The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Martha & The Vandellas, The Four Tops, and The Jackson 5. Its contemporary signings include YoungBoy Never Broke Again, KEM and Ne-Yo.
Alvaro Velilla, senior VP, new business, Universal Music Group, describes the partnership as “unprecedented,” one that provides Motown fans “with an unparalleled immersive experience.”
Visitors to the Motown hub can also nab so-called “Styngs,” which enables Second Life residents to attach music snippets to their avatars, like a digital badge.
Also, the new space is home to a dedicated Motown Records radio station, curated by Motown and STYNGR, with more experiences and music to roll out in the months ahead.
“Motown Records has always been at the forefront of culture and innovation, expanding the perceptions of what is to what could be,” comments Alex Williams, VP gaming strategy and business development, Motown Records, part of UMG. “As the convergence of music, culture, and tech continue to redefine the way fans experience music, partnerships like this enhance that connection building an even greater community among music lovers.”
Opening the doors to its virtual universe in 2003, Second Life was early on the scene. It has since seen nearly two billion user creations, according to San Francisco-based Linden Lab, which formed earlier, in 1999.
Music played a part in its early success, with the likes of Suzanne Vega, Duran Duran and Talib Kweli performing in-game gigs during its formative years.
Through partnerships and collaborations such as this Motown alliance, notes Brad Oberwager, executive chairman of Linden Lab, the tech specialist is keen to “improve, enhance, and enrich the in-world experiences” of the virtual world’s residents. Working with Motown Records and STYNGR on this campaign, adds Oberwager, is an “extraordinary opportunity” for Second Life.
As Trevor Noah builds out his post–Daily Show career, the comedian is adding a new job to his resume: Spotify podcaster.
Debuting later this year, the currently unnamed podcast will release weekly and feature Noah’s commentary on timely topics and in-depth conversations with influential figures from around the world, the company said on Tuesday at Cannes Lions.
The series will be a Spotify Original podcast, produced under the recently combined Spotify Studios umbrella that now includes podcast shops Gimlet and Parcast. But unlike Spotify’s major exclusive talent deals of the past, Noah’s podcast will be available on all major platforms.
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“It’s really exciting to be joining Spotify on a fun new adventure where we’ll engage in interesting and meaningful conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating people,” Noah said.
The comedian previously hosted The Daily Show podcast up until he exited the late-night talk show late last year to pursue other projects. “Maybe this comes with not being raised in America, but I believe that everything should end,” Noah told The Hollywood Reporter last November of his decision to leave the show. “A lot of American business and American media is just like, ‘Keep it going as long as possible,’ but I think it’s healthy for things to end when they’re still in a good place. I want to leave before I’m burnt out, because there are many other things I’d like to do.”
Since his exit, Noah has landed a book deal, hosted the Grammys and gone on tour. He will join Spotify’s roster of podcasting talent — which includes Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper, Anything Goes’ Emma Chamberlain and The Joe Rogan Experience’s Joe Rogan, among others — at a time when Spotify is adjusting its podcasting strategy, rethinking expensive star deals and laying off employees amid pressure from Wall Street to turn a profit on podcasting. The audio giant has also shed or otherwise ended many of the exclusive deals it brokered to help get its podcast business started, notably with the Obamas’ Higher Ground, Brené Brown, Esther Perel, and, as of June 15, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell.
Instead, the audio company has been pursuing a wider distribution model, releasing shows like Chamberlain’s once-exclusive Anything Goes on all major platforms and focusing on its advertising capabilities.
“Spotify is the ultimate audio destination, and partnering with Trevor Noah, one of the world’s most brilliant and distinctive voices, will make for captivating storytelling that will delight our more than 100 million podcast listeners around the world,” Julie McNamara, Spotify vp and head of global podcast studios, said. “We are excited to collaborate with Trevor to create an original podcast that seamlessly combines his unique humor, insightful commentary and consummate interview skills on a global scale.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Shares of SM Entertainment gained 15.3% this week, making the K-pop company the greatest gainer among the 21 music stocks in the Billboard Global Music Index. Although the company wasn’t the subject of any significant news items that typically affect share prices — earnings, investments or partnerships — its shares nonetheless rose to 117,600 KRW ($92.07), bringing the year-to-date gain to 53.3%.
It’s not just SM Entertainment, though. K-pop is booming in 2023. Shares of the index’s other South Korean music company, HYBE, gained 6.1% this week and have gained 71.5% in 2023. Outside the index, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment have gained 100.6% and 88.4%, respectively, year to date.
With 16 of its 21 stocks in positive territory this week, the Billboard Global Music Index improved 5% to 1,334.28, its best one-week performance since November. The biggest contributors to the index’s value posted strong single-digit gains. Spotify improved 6.3% to $159.99, Universal Music Group gained 3.8% to 20.16 euros ($22.11) and Warner Music Group jumped 9.3% to $27.16. Meanwhile, Live Nation gained 7.2% to $90.18 and on Thursday (June 15) closed above $90 for the first time since Sept. 15.
Two other stocks had double-digit gains this week. Streaming company LiveOne added 13.3% to $1.53, bringing its year-to-date gain to 137.6%, while Sphere Entertainment Co. climbed 10.9% to $29.29. Since Sphere separated from MSG Entertainment’s concert promotion business on April 20, its shares have gone up more than 14%. On Sept. 29, U2 will launch the MSG Sphere at the Venetian with a residency that extends through Dec. 16.
While stocks were generally up this week, music stocks fared better than the major indexes. The S&P 500 gained 2.6% to 4,409.59, its best week since March. The Nasdaq composite improved 3.2% to 13,689.57, also marking its best week since March. Outside the United States, South Korea’s Kospi index dropped 0.6% to 2,625.79, while the FTSE 100 in the U.K. gained 1.1% to 7,642.72.
German promoter and ticketing company CTS Eventim had the week’s largest decline at 18.2%, making it the only music stock on the index with a double-digit loss. As Billboard reported on Wednesday, the German company’s share price fell precipitously in the two days following a critical segment on the German public television show ZDF Magazin Royale.
Michael Jordan is finalizing a deal to sell the majority share of the Charlotte Hornets, the franchise announced Friday, leaving the 30-team NBA without any Black majority ownership.
Jordan is selling to a group led by Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall, the Hornets said. Plotkin has been a minority stakeholder in the Hornets since 2019. Schnall has been a minority owner of the Atlanta Hawks since 2015 and is in the process of selling his investment in that team.
It’s not clear how long the process of selling will take to be finalized by the NBA’s Board of Governors. Jordan plans to keep a minority stake in the Hornets, the team he bought in 2010 for about $275 million.
Jordan’s decision to sell ends his unsuccessful 13-year run overseeing the organization.
“In the same way that it’s wonderful that one of our greatest, Michael Jordan, could become the principal governor of a team, he has the absolute right to sell at the same time,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this month at the NBA Finals. “Values have gone up a lot since he bought that team, so that is his decision.”
In that same news conference at the finals, Silver said the Board of Governors are focused on diversity in ownership groups.
“I would love to have better representation in terms of principal governors,” Silver said. “It’s a marketplace. It’s something that if we were expanding that the league would be in a position to focus directly on that, but in individual team transactions, the market takes us where we are.”
The sale price was not immediately announced; ESPN, citing sources, said the franchise was being valued at $3 billion. The most recent sale of an NBA team came when Mat Ishbia bought the Phoenix Suns, a deal that when struck in December valued that franchise at $4 billion.
Jordan declined comment on the sale through his spokesperson, Estee Portnoy.
For as great as Jordan was on the court — national champion at North Carolina, two-time Olympic gold medalist, six-time NBA champion and in the never-ending conversation for best player ever — the Hornets never reached a championship level during his time as the owner.
Charlotte went 423-600 in his 13 seasons in charge, the 26th-best record over that span. It never won a playoff series in that time and hasn’t even been to the postseason in the last seven seasons.
Other members of the new potential Hornets ownership group — pending the approval — are recording artist J. Cole, Dan Sundheim, Ian Loring, country music singer-songwriter Eric Church, Chris Shumway and several local Charlotte investors, including Amy Levine Dawson and Damian Mills.
Along with the Hornets, HSE ownership includes the NBA G League’s Greensboro Swarm and NBA 2K League’s Hornets Venom GT, as well as managing and operating the Spectrum Center, each of which is included as part of the sale.
When Jordan, who grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina, purchased majority ownership in the team, it created a great amount of buzz.
But the Hornets’ struggles and inability to turn things around bothered Jordan. The first inclination that he was looking to get out of the NBA ownership business came in 2020, when he sold a minority stake to Plotkin and Sundheim.
The Hornets are coming off an injury-plagued 27-55 season and hold the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft. Victor Wembanyana is expected to go first overall on Thursday night, leaving Charlotte with the choice of either G League star guard Scoot Henderson or Alabama’s Brandon Miller.
Charlotte’s biggest star is LaMelo Ball, and the team still has some decent foundational parts to build around including Terry Rozier, Gordon Hayward, P.J. Washington and Mark Williams, the team’s starting center who played well last year as a rookie.
Jordan was often criticized as an owner for not spending enough in free agency to make the Hornets competitive.
He took over a team in 2010 that had won 44 games the year before but had been swept by the Orlando Magic in the first round.
It went downhill from there.
Charlotte — still the Bobcats at the time — was 34-48 in its first year under Jordan and then an NBA-worst 7-59 the following year. But despite the abysmal record, Charlotte failed to land the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft lottery and Anthony Davis.
Charlotte got back to the playoffs in 2013-14 but was swept by the Miami Heat. Two years later, the Hornets won 48 games but lost again to the Heat in the first round, this time in seven games.
In the seven years since, Jordan’s Hornets have had only one winning season and have twice exited early in the play-in tournament as the 10 seed.
Charlotte has not won a playoff series since the 2001-02 season and has never won an NBA championship
Daddy Yankee, Karol G and dozens of other artists are asking a federal judge to toss out a sprawling copyright lawsuit that claims “Despacito” and hundreds of other reggaeton tracks infringed a single 1989 song, arguing the accusers are “effectively claiming ownership of an entire genre of music.”
The case, filed by Jamaican duo Cleveland “Clevie” Browne and Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson, claims that their 1989 song “Fish Market” has been sampled or interpolated into more than 1,800 songs in the years since it was released — and that each one amounts to an act of copyright infringement.
But in a motion filed Thursday (June 15), attorneys for the accused infringers finally struck back — arguing that after “30 years of inaction,” Clevie & Steely were unfairly trying to monopolize a whole style of popular music.
“Plaintiffs [are] effectively claiming ownership of an entire genre of music by claiming exclusive rights to the rhythm and other unprotectable musical elements common to all ‘reggaeton’-style songs,” wrote lawyers from Pryor Cashman, the same law firm that just won Ed Sheeran’s big trial with similar arguments.
First filed in 2021, the enormous lawsuit names more than 150 defendants, including “Despacito” stars Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber as well as Bad Bunny, Anitta, Pitbull, Karol G, Ricky Martin, El Chombo and many other artists, plus units of all three major music companies. The case claims that “Fish Market,” and several other songs that directly copied it, formed the basis for the “dembow” rhythm that’s been used in countless reggaeton songs in the years since.
But in Thursday’s response, lawyers from Pryor Cashman (who represent 89 of those defendants) said the size of the case had made it a procedural disaster — a confusing mess in which nobody knows exactly what they’re accused of doing wrong. Without those specific allegations, they said Clevie & Steely had failed to satisfy “the fundamental elements of a copyright infringement claim.”
“The [complaint] is a ‘shotgun pleading’ filled with conclusory allegations that lump defendants together, making it impossible for Defendants to determine what each is alleged to have done, what works are at issue and what in those works is allegedly infringing,” the attorneys wrote.
The lawyers for Daddy Yankee and the other defendants also sharply criticized the length of time that elapsed before bringing the case. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that copyright cases can usually be filed even decades later, but Thursday’s filing said that Clevie & Steely’s case pushed that system to its breaking point.
“Plaintiffs neither filed any action nor registered any copyrights until 2020 — at least thirty years after the creation of the works,” the lawyers for the accused artists wrote. “These failures constitute misleading inaction, during which an entire genre of reggaeton music developed, which plaintiffs now claim to own.”
An attorney for Clevie & Steely did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
Despite being filed in 2021, the case over “Fish Market” is still in the earliest stages, thanks in no small part to the procedural complexity of a lawsuit involving scores of defendants and hundreds of songs. If Thursday’s motion is denied, the case will proceed into discovery, where both sides will exchange evidence, and head toward an eventual trial. But such a resolution could still be years away.
Beyoncé’s career is filled with chart-topping albums, momentous concerts and her marriage to another musical trailblazer, Jay-Z. But recently, the “Cuff It” singer’s most unusual contribution to society might be her impact on Sweden’s stubbornly high inflation rate.
When Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour launched with two dates at Stockholm’s 46,000-capacity Friend Arena in May, it contributed about 0.2 percentage points to Sweden’s inflation rate for the month. “It’s quite astonishing for a single event,” Michael Grahn, chief economist for Sweden with Danske Bank, told the Financial Times. Termed the “Beyoncé blip” by Grahn, the small impact to Sweden’s overall appreciation in prices was caused by the singer’s fans’ buying up hotel rooms and spending money in restaurants.
The combination of relatively cheap tickets and a strong U.S. dollar — 9.3% more valuable to the Swedish kroner compared to the prior-year period — made Sweden an attractive alternative for Beyoncé fans priced out of concerts closer to home. That helped cause Sweden’s inflation rate — a staggering 9.7% compared to just 4.0% in the U.S. — to land half of a percentage point higher than expectations.
An influx of Americans is hardly the sole reason prices were stubbornly high in Sweden last month. As Forbes pointed out, Sweden’s inflation rate was plenty high before Beyoncé’s Stockholm concert, and one musician could only have a small impact relative to other factors such as food and non-alcoholic beverages (+14.8%) and furnishings and household goods (+10.4%).
Still, it says a lot about ticket prices — and U.S. consumers’ stomach for them — that Stockholm was a viable alternative for some Americans. The Beyoncé blip isn’t the first we’ve heard about her fans’ reaction to high prices for in-demand tickets. Buzzfeed wrote an article back in February about some sticker-shocked fans’ decision to travel great distances to save money. One Las Vegas-based Beyoncé fan told the outlet she couldn’t get into a Ticketmaster presale and ended up spending $300 on a Stockholm show instead. Another American fan said she purchased a floor seat in Stockholm for just $95.
Post-pandemic, artists are less shy about charging their fans higher prices for primary tickets. Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift are among the superstar artists who have elevated tickets’ face value, rather than let ticket scalpers capture the premium on the secondary market. Although Springsteen had kept prices relatively low throughout his career, tickets for the best seats on his 2023 tour, which went on sale last summer, cost upwards of $5,000. Tickets for U.S. dates for Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour typically cost $350 for decent seats, Billboard reported in May. There’s a large variation by city, too. Currently, the cheapest tickets available on SeatGeek for her tour range from $57 in Louisville, Ky., to $90 in Minneapolis, to $145 in Pittsburgh. Larger markets are far more expensive: Ticket prices start at $270 in East Rutherford, N.J., outside of New York City; and $282 in Philadelphia.
Every consumer has a breaking point, however, and people will take more affordable options when given the chance. Ticket buyers facing sky-high prices need only a passport and time off work to see a superstar at — compared to the United States — bargain prices. A person with frequent flier miles and hotel points to burn can easily get a vacation and a concert in a historic European city cheaper than a concert alone at home.
This presents an opportunity. Why not music tourism when medical tourism is a long-standing tradition?
Health care might be the only aspect of the U.S. economy with a lower public sentiment than concert tickets. Medical tourism is an established industry because healthcare costs are notoriously steep in this country. For patients who don’t mind travel and trust the level of care provided in other countries, elective surgeries can be obtained far more affordably outside the United States, in countries such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Thailand. South African companies sell package vacations that include plastic surgery and a safari. As long as you need the procedure, you might as well enjoy yourself!
Live music companies are already looking to capture a share of music fans’ travel budgets. As my colleague Dave Brooks reported this week, the concert business has put a renewed focus on destination events. Not content with capturing fans’ spending for tickets and concessions, promoters are increasingly interested in grabbing a share of the hotel and hospitality spending when fans travel for concerts and festivals. To that point, in April Live Nation announced a new travel and hospitality firm, Vibee, which offers “curated music experiences in the most sought-after destinations in the world,” according to its website.
Increasingly, going to concerts is more like taking a vacation. A Live Nation study found that fans attending Lollapalooza in Chicago last year spent about $49 million on hotels and over $80 million on food and beverages. Indeed, multi-day festivals, with their VIP packages and high-priced perks, have more in common with an overseas trip than a weeknight concert at a nearby amphitheater. Over time, if enterprising companies can create the right products and services, music tourism could be more than a financial blip, and — as these companies see it — Beyoncé fans might wind up paying you twice.
The production company founded by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, is splitting ways with Spotify less than a year after the debut of their podcast Archetypes.
It is unclear why the podcast, hosted by Meghan, is leaving the platform but Spotify and Archewell Audio said in a joint statement that the decision was mutual.
Archewell landed a multiyear partnership with Spotify in 2020 to create podcasts and shows that would tell stories through diverse voices and perspectives.
The podcast premiered in August last year with tennis great Serena Williams as a guest and it was an instant hit.
It topped Spotify charts in seven countries, including the U.S. and the U.K., and it won the top podcast award at the People’s Choice awards last year.
“I loved digging my hands into the process, sitting up late at night in bed, working on the writing and creative. And I loved digging deep into meaningful conversation with my diverse and inspiring guests, laughing and learning with them, and with each of you listening,” Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said at the time.
The show also had as guests Mariah Carey, Trevor Noah, Mindy Kaling and Paris Hilton.
Tech companies have been cutting costs in a rough economic environment and Spotify has not been immune. Six months after announcing that it would cut 6% of its global workforce, or about 600 jobs, Spotify said last week that it was trimming another 200 jobs.
The company said at the time that it would be combining podcast networks Parcast and Gimlet into its Spotify Studios operation.
Prince Harry has been at the High Court of London this month. He is accusing the publisher of the Daily Mirror of using unlawful techniques on an “industrial scale” to score front-page scoops on his life. The Duke of Sussex became the first senior member of the royal family to testify in more than a century.
