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Insomniac Music Group is expanding with the launch of a new publishing vertical, Insomniac Publishing. The current Insomniac Publishing roster includes 2Night Management (which represents the artists Matroda, San Pacho and Bruno Furlan), Aryay, Avi Snow, Benni Ola, Jasper, Joris Mur, Mattilo, Nuala, Omer Horovitz and Rami Jrade. Members of this group have writing credits […]
Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs filed their opening salvo in an appeal of a judge’s ruling denying him bail, arguing the “sensationalism” of the case led a judge to rule based on “purely speculative” concerns about witness intimation.
In an opening brief filed late Tuesday, the rapper’s lawyers urge the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit to grant him bail – their third attempt to secure his release from a Brooklyn jail while he awaits trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
Combs’ attorneys argue that a lower judge had relied on “exaggerated rhetoric” and “speculation” when it ruled that Combs posed a flight risk and might threaten witnesses.
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“The sensationalism surrounding his arrest has distorted the bail analysis,” writes Alexandra A.E. Shapiro and Jason A. Driscoll. “Mr. Combs is presumed innocent … and presented a bail package that would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses.”
Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But last month, he was indicted by federal prosecutors over accusations of sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery. If convicted on all the charges, he potentially faces a sentence of life in prison.
Prosecutors allege that Combs ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The charges detailed “freak offs” in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex with male sex workers, as well as alleged acts of violence and intimidation to keep victims silent.
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
A day after the indictment was unsealed, Judge Andrew L. Carter denied the rapper bail. Combs’ legal team offered to pay a $50 million bond and submit to strict monitoring to allow him to reside under house arrest at his Miami mansion.
But Carter (who has since been replaced by another judge) ruled instead that until trial Combs must remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center — a federal correctional facility long criticized for dysfunction and dangerous conditions. He was swayed by arguments from prosecutors that, if released, Combs would likely use his considerable wealth and power to obstruct the government’s case by pressuring witnesses.
In Tuesday’s brief, Combs’ attorneys argue that there was little hard evidence to support that conclusion. They say the government’s warnings had been based on “untested allegations” of contact with witnesses involved in the civil lawsuits against him, as well as his public denial of some of those claims.
“If denying accusations by civil plaintiffs could justify pre-trial detention, the liberty protections of the Bail Reform Act and the Constitution—not to mention the First Amendment—would be meaningless,” his lawyers write.
Read the entire brief here:
Big Machine Label Group (BMLG) has launched a synch licensing division dubbed Big SYNQ and tapped Maria Alonte to lead it as senior vp of synchronization, the company tells Billboard. The new division will oversee all aspects of synch licensing and placement for Big Machine Label Group and its publishing division Big Machine Music, as […]
On Aug. 28, just over six months after the death of country music star Toby Keith at age 62, NBC celebrated his work and his influence on some of country music’s biggest stars in a two-hour special, Toby Keith: American Icon. Eric Church, Tyler Hubbard, Parker McCollum, Jelly Roll, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood, Clay Walker and Lainey Wilson were among those who feted Keith, an oilfield worker-turned-musician known for his steely determination; burly, commanding voice; and top-flight, often witty songwriting that fueled many of his 20 No. 1s on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart.
The special drew 4.7 million viewers, was the No. 1 show in its time slot and was NBC’s most-watched primetime entertainment special of 2024, according to the network. And Luminate data shows a bump in the Oklahoma native’s streams in the weeks following its airing. On the Sept. 14-dated Digital Song Sales chart, streams of “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” totaled 3.4 million; a 344% jump.
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Spearheading the special behind the scenes were UTA’s Curt Motley — Keith’s personal agent for approximately three decades — and his colleague Nick Barnes. The duo packaged the concert and worked with Keith’s longtime manager, TK Kimbrell; the late artist’s family members; Universal Music Group Nashville; the label’s newly launched Sing Me Back Home Productions film/TV division; and Thinkfactory and its CEO, Adam Reed.
“We wanted artists who had connective tissue to Toby, whether they were his friends or had toured with him,” Motley says of the special’s lineup. “A lot of artists came forward and said, ‘We love Toby, and we sing his songs every night.’ There were also a handful of people on the show who had never actually met Toby but were huge fans. We wanted to honor that legacy through multiple generations of country music.”
Motley, who joined UTA in 2016, also reps a roster that includes Jamey Johnson and Sawyer Brown.
“This [wine] bottle celebrates the life of the King of Wyoming, Chris LeDoux,” Motley says. “Music legend, [1976] world champion bareback rider and one of the finest humans to ever walk the earth.”
Diana King
Barnes, who joined the company in 2017, specializes in connecting music artists to projects in TV, film and branding while overseeing UTA’s Heartland division, which focuses on family- and faith-based storytelling. Those clients include film/TV creators the Erwin Brothers and Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen).
UTA’s Nashville team has simultaneously fostered the success of a crop of country newcomers that includes Megan Moroney (“Tennessee Orange”), Dylan Gossett (“Coal”), Brittney Spencer (“Bigger Than the Song”), Chayce Beckham (“23”), HunterGirl (“Ain’t About You”), Ian Munsick (“Long Live Cowgirls”) and Oliver Anthony (the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Rich Men North of Richmond”).
What can new artists learn from the career Toby Keith built?
CURT MOTLEY: Toby was fearlessly unapologetic. He had a vision for what he wanted to do, and he didn’t waver on that line. When you’re good at something like he was, you don’t need other people to validate you. It’s a much harder road, but the fruits at the end of it are so much greater.
How does UTA Nashville differ from other agencies’ country music divisions?
NICK BARNES: An artist’s career should be multihyphenate to have longevity. They should be touching film, television and branding. We are starting earlier than ever in artists’ careers to find opportunities outside of touring to broaden their reach. Historically, these opportunities have existed for artists that were well into their careers. For instance, a feature film based on a hit song or a theatrical tour documentary — [intellectual property] that reflects country music’s way of life. For a long time, it was an antagonistic view. Now this community is embraced more for what it is. The Heartland division serves as the crossover arm for music artists here and is having success in feature film, television, unscripted productions, book publishing and more.
The Toby Keith “Super Bowl” ring was created by Live Nation’s Brian O’Connell to commemorate his 11 USO tours and over 240 shows in support of America’s armed forces, Motley says. Only four exist.
Diana King
TikTok and other social media outlets have changed the game for new artists. How do you sift through viral moments to find acts that won’t be one-hit wonders?
BARNES: It’s a balance between a gut feeling based off our experience and the data that is brought and analyzed by our team at UTA IQ — a world-class group of data analysts with proprietary tools we have built and continue to improve.
When you consider signing an artist, do you determine if they’re a strong live act? It’s key to an act’s longevity.
MOTLEY: You also have to look at consumption numbers, including streaming and social growth velocity, as an indicator for live viability.
UTA recently launched a Christian music division that has Brandon Lake, Phil Wickham, Lecrae and Forrest Frank among its clients. What do you feel is driving the growth in that genre?
BARNES: When we told one of the artists on our roster about the announcement, they said, “That’s like the Avengers of Christian music.” There’s a broader trend afoot in the faith community. In the aughts, a lot of Christian bands wanted to cross over. They were like, “We are Christian bands but we want to be rock bands. We don’t want to be labeled as [contemporary Christian music].” We are seeing Christian bands and artists now that are leaning into who they are, and that’s resonating with the fans. When Forrest Frank is printing merch that says, “I am a child of God,” and he’s selling them as fast as they can put them on the merch table, and his shows are filled with kids and teens that are on fire for his music — I think that’s the correlation.
“I’m proud of the moment that Heartland comics are having right now,” Barnes says. “Both posters are from sold-out Nashville shows by two clients: John Crist and Leanne Morgan.”
Diana King
What kind of market share do you see Christian music attaining in the next five years, and what are the demographics of the fan base?
BARNES: We think consumption will double. Similar to other genres, streaming artists that aren’t dependent on radio are bringing a younger demographic into the market. Streaming has created a multigenerational fan base for the genre.
Country music streaming is surging globally. How does that affect your work?
BARNES: When we’re watching the algorithm trends on the [digital service providers], they’re the same in Dublin as they are in Nashville. They’re the same in Australia as they are in Brazil, which are all burgeoning markets for country music. And we are starting to take artists to the U.K. first to build fans.
MOTLEY: Oliver [Anthony]’s Out of the Woods tour started in the U.K., and we started Dylan Gossett’s [No Better Time] tour in the same areas. They were incredibly well received.
What else are you doing to build fan bases overseas?
MOTLEY: Agents across the globe — especially in our London office — are leaning into country music and integrating it into the fabric of our business here. This allows us to get in early with partners abroad and leads to opportunities that allow aggressive first-look tours. Recent examples are Megan Moroney, Oliver Anthony and Dylan Gossett.
For a newer artist, what are other advantages of launching a tour abroad?
BARNES: One advantage is being able to start a business over there that you can return to when you need to take a break [from touring stateside]. In the American markets, oftentimes our clients have played a lot of hard- and soft-ticket tours and they need to let the U.S. cool off a bit. [If they have played overseas], we’ve already built relationships with promoters and have a base of fans.
“I’ve always been a Marty Stuart apostle,” Barnes says. “Marty once opened for The Steve Miller Band at the Ryman, and Steve signed this poster to Marty — including a few special doodles. It ended up forgotten in a closet, but when we moved offices, it was passed on to me as a gift.”
Diana King
MOTLEY: It is expensive to travel and perform abroad, but when you’re just starting out, your costs are going to be a lot less [because you’re doing smaller-scale shows]. If you wait too long, that opportunity cost is hard. But when you build that fan base from the get-go — we’re going back with Dylan this year and playing big rooms, and we just started in February.
Touring costs in general have increased significantly. How are artists navigating that?
MOTLEY: Post-COVID, we had that big wave where everyone had to get out and go see a show. There wasn’t a bus you could rent; there wasn’t a venue that was available anywhere. I think we are at the tail end of that now, but everything has remained more expensive. Just to lease a bus right now is more than twice as expensive as it was in 2019. It’s almost impossible for acts that tour in a window that’s only four to five months a year to be able to afford that, so we’ve got to charge more for tickets. The big, white-hot shows are largely unaffected right now, but for other things, people are making choices again. It’s probably a bit cyclical as well. I think we will see it even out. There has been a lot of debate about the climbing prices of concert tickets.
Do you think they’ve hit a ceiling?
MOTLEY: Although the pandemic curve has flattened, as it pertains to white-hot stadium-level artists, it does not appear that we have hit a ceiling — especially given the number of tickets and pricing on the secondary market. But underneath that, artists have to be conscious of the market to have the best chance at success.
Weeks after Nelly’s former St. Lunatics groupmates sued him for allegedly cutting them out of royalties for his chart-topping breakout album Country Grammar, three of the ex-bandmates now say they never wanted to be part of the lawsuit and must be removed immediately.
In a letter sent last month, Nelly’s attorney warned the lawyer who filed the case last month that Murphy Lee (Tohri Harper), Kyjuan (Robert Kyjuan) and City Spud (Lavell Webb) had recently retained his services and had “informed me that they did not authorize you to include them as plaintiffs.”
“They are hereby demanding you remove their names forthwith,” N. Scott Rosenblum wrote in the Sept. 24 letter, which was obtained by Billboard. “Failure to do so will cause them to explore any and all legal remedies available to them.”
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The move is a major twist just weeks after Harper, Kyjuan and Webb joined fellow St. Lunatics member Ali (Ali Jones) in filing the lawsuit against Nelly (Cornell Haynes). But it also makes sense after Nelly’s performance on Sunday (Oct. 6) at the American Music Awards, where all three men joined him on stage and appeared to be on good terms.
The withdrawal of Harper, Kyjuan and Webb means that the case is now essentially a dispute between Nelly and Ali alone. Ali’s attorney who filed the case, Gail M. Walton, did not immediately return a request for comment.
A group of high school friends from St. Louis, the St. Lunatics rose to prominence in the late 1990s with “Gimme What U Got”, and their debut album Free City — released a year after Country Grammar — was a hit of its own, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard 200.
In their Sept. 18 complaint, the bandmates claimed that Nelly had repeatedly “manipulated” them into falsely thinking they’d be paid for their work on the 2000 album, which spent five weeks atop the Billboard 200. But they said he never made good on the promises.
“Every time plaintiffs confronted defendant Haynes [he] would assure them as ‘friends’ he would never prevent them from receiving the financial success they were entitled to,” the lawsuit reads. “Unfortunately, plaintiffs, reasonably believing that their friend and former band member would never steal credit for writing the original compositions, did not initially pursue any legal remedies.”
During and after the Country Grammar recording session, the lawsuit claimed, Nelly “privately and publicly acknowledged that plaintiffs were the lyric writers” and “promised to ensure that plaintiffs received writing and publishing credit.” But decades later, in 2020, the lawsuit claimed that the St. Lunatics “discovered that defendant Haynes had been lying to them the entire time.”
“Despite repeatedly promising plaintiffs that they would receive full recognition and credit… it eventually became clear that defendant Haynes had no intention of providing the plaintiffs with any such credit or recognition,” the lawsuit read.
Limp Bizkit and frontman Fred Durst are suing Universal Music Group (UMG) over allegations that the label owes the band more than $200 million, with Durst’s lawyers writing that he had “not seen a dime in royalties” over the decades — and that hundreds of other artists may have been treated similarly.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Oct. 8) in Los Angeles federal court, attorneys for Durst and the 1990s rap rock band accused UMG of implementing a “systemic” and “fraudulent” policy that was “deliberately designed” to conceal royalties from artists and “keep those profits for itself.”
“UMG’s creation of such a system, while holding itself out as a company that prides itself on investing in and protecting its artists, makes plaintiffs’ discovery of UMG’s scheme all the more appalling and unsettling,” Durst’s lawyers write, adding that “possibly hundreds of other artists” had also “unfairlyhad their royalties wrongfully withheld for years.”
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In a stunning claim, Durst alleges that as recently as August, Limp Bizkit had “never received any royalties from UMG,” despite the band’s huge success during its turn-of-the-century peak. The lawsuit said the band’s albums had all sold millions of copies, and that Limp Bizkit continues to have “millions of streaming users per month on Spotify alone.”
“Despite this tremendous ‘come back,’ the band had still not been paid a single cent by UMG in any royalties until taking action against UMG, leading one to ask how on earth that could possibly be true,” Durst’s lawyers write.
A spokesman for UMG did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Durst claims that the current dispute dates to April when he retained new representatives who were “shocked” when he informed them he had “not received any money for any Limp Bizkit exploitations — ever.” He claims UMG had previously told him that he was not being paid because the band remained unrecouped — meaning its royalties still had not surpassed the amount the group had been paid in upfront advances.
“Durst explained that he had been informed by UMG that he had not received any royalty statements because UMG told him over the years that it was not required to provide them since his account was still so far from recoupment,” his lawyers write. “Durst’s representatives, suspicious that UMG was wrongfully claiming Plaintiffs’ accounts were unrecouped, suggested investigating further.”
When Durst’s reps contacted UMG, they say they learned that Limp Bizkit’s accounts actually held more than $1 million in royalties but that the label had “failed to alert” the band about the money. That prompted more suspicion about “UMG’s accounting and payment practices” and an investigation into Limp Bizkit’s records.
They didn’t like what they found. According to the lawsuit, UMG had allegedly failed to issue royalty statements at all during significant periods of the band’s history, including “during the height of Limp Bizkit’s fame.”
“UMG’s failure to issue royalty statements in particular from 1997-2004 — the height of the band’s fame and during periods in which they made record-breaking sales — with respect to its most popular albums suggests that UMG was intentionally concealing the true amount of sales, and therefore royalties, due and owing to Limp Bizkit in order to unfairly keep those profits for itself.”
The suggestion that the band’s albums are still unrecouped is also “highly suspect,” Durst’s lawyers write, citing the band’s huge commercial success during its early years: “Given that Limp Bizkit’s first three albums had already sold several million copies by the early 2000s, the recording funds and costs should have been quickly recouped, and UMG should have started paying royalties on those albums right away — not over twenty years later,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit also points to potential “fraudulent accounting practices” that Durst’s attorneys claim were used by UMG to improperly keep the band in the red and avoid paying royalties.
“But where did this additional $199,676.00 charged to the account come from?” his lawyers write, referring to one such alleged inconsistency. “It seems to have come out of thin air to overdraft Limp Bizkit’s due and payable account in order to defraud Limp Bizkit and show an unrecouped account.”
When those issues were raised with UMG, the lawsuit says the label argued that Limp Bizkit had been paid $43 million in recoupable advances over the years, which explained why the royalties had not started flowing into the accounts until recently. Durst’s attorneys say the label eventually released $1.03 million to the band and $2.3 million to Durst’s Flawless Records, but that they’re owed far more than that.
“Given the vast amounts of money collected by UMG in relation to sales of Limp Bizkit’s and Flawless Records’ albums over the years … UMG is liable to plaintiffs for tens of millions of dollars in copyright infringement, if not more,” the lawsuit reads. “Indeed, Plaintiffs allege that the amounts owed to them by UMG following the rescission of these agreements will easily surpass $200 million.”
In technical terms, the lawsuit seeks not only allegedly unpaid royalties, but also a ruling voiding the band’s contract with the label, the return of the band’s copyrights to their recordings and copyright infringement damages over those rights.
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A deep dive into the case against Diddy with the help of R. Kelly’s prosecutors; sexual abuse allegations against country star Garth Brooks; a judge refuses to rule on the rights to Jay-Z’s debut album; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Diddy’s Case, Explained By R. Kelly’s Prosecutors
In many ways, the charges unveiled last month against Sean “Diddy” Combs mirror those brought in 2019 against R. Kelly, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2022 after a jury convicted him of decades of abuse. Both cases center on allegations that a powerful musician broke federal racketeering laws – usually aimed at mobsters – by building essentially an organized crime syndicate aimed at facilitating his own sexual abuse.
So to understand more, I dove deep into the Combs case this week with Nadia Shihata and Maria Cruz Melendez, two of the lead prosecutors who tried the case against Kelly. Now in private practice, Shihata and Cruz Melendez discussed the Combs case with Billboard in separate interviews – about how a case like this is built, who else might face charges, and what the fight ahead will look like. Go read our full story here.
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Other top stories this week…
STUNNING ACCUSATIONS – Country music star Garth Brooks became the latest music industry figure to face abuse allegations, leveled by a unnamed woman who says he sexually assaulted her while she worked for him as a hairstylist. The case came with an unusual twist: the revelation that it was Brooks who had filed a mysterious John Doe lawsuit last month, seeking to block the publication of allegations that he called “extortion.” In a statement strongly denying the accusations, Brooks said he was “incapable” of such conduct and would “trust the system” to clear his name.
NO IDEA, YOUR HONOR – Martin Shkreli told a federal judge he couldn’t remember all the people with whom he shared copies of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, an ultra-rare Wu-Tang Clan album that he once owned – and that it’s “highly likely” that other people still have copies of the (supposedly) one-of-a-kind work. The disclosure came amid a lawsuit filed against him by PleasrDAO, a digital art collective that purchased Once Upon after Shkreli forfeited it to prosecutors as part of his securities fraud conviction.
REASONABLE DOUBT DISPUTE – With a court-ordered auction looming to sell off Damon Dash’s one-third stake in Jay-Z’s Roc-A-Fella Records, the judge overseeing the case said he would not rule on a thorny question of copyright law. That is: Can Jay-Z use copyright termination to retake control of the rights to his debut album Reasonable Doubt from Roc-A-Fella? That’s kind of a crucial question for the Dash auction, since the album is company’s only real revenue-generating asset. But the judge said the case was neither the time nor the place for such a ruling: “The court does not presently have jurisdiction over the validity of Carter’s copyright termination notice.”
THE PLAY MUST NOT GO ON – Ken Caillat, a music producer who worked on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of the hit Broadway play Stereophonic, claiming they stole material from his memoir about working on the legendary album. The lawsuit – which calls the play an “unauthorized adaptation” of his 2012 book — raises tricky questions about copyright protection and real-life stories.
R. KELLY AT SCOTUS – The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from R. Kelly over his 2022 convictions in Chicago on child pornography and enticement charges, leaving him with no further direct appeals from a verdict that saw him sentenced to 20 years in prison. The ruling effectively finalizes one of Kelly’s two sets of sex abuse convictions; the other — a September 2021 guilty verdict on racketeering charges brought by prosecutors in New York that resulted in a 30-year prison sentence — is still pending on appeal before a lower appellate court.
TIKTOK LAWSUIT – Attorneys general for more than a dozen states filed lawsuits against TikTok over allegations that the app – a key marketing tool in the modern music industry — is harming the mental health of young people. The lawsuits claim TikTok made its algorithm intentionally addictive, despite knowing that prolonged use will lead to “profound psychological and physiological harms” in children.
As the third quarter of 2024 comes to a close, a familiar label is atop the current market share standings: Republic, which for the second straight quarter maintains a market share north of 15%, a remarkable achievement.
But while the story of Republic’s second quarter was the dominance of Taylor Swift — whose Tortured Poets Department remains far and away the biggest album of the year so far, more than doubling the second-placed title and still going strong — the story of its third quarter is the huge surge of Island Records, which is included under Republic’s market share alongside Mercury Records, Big Loud Records, Cash Money and indie distributor Imperial.
Buoyed by the breakout successes of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, Island posted a 3.81% current share (defined as released within the past 18 months) for the three months between June 27 and Sept. 26. If Island were broken out on its own, that would have been good for seventh among all labels for that period, which boosted its nine-month current market share to 2.15% — about 3.5 times higher than its current market share was through the first nine months of 2023, while that 3.81% mark for the third quarter was 6.5 times higher than for the corresponding three-month period in 2023. (With Carpenter’s Short N Sweet and Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Billboard 200 in this first week of the fourth quarter, that momentum is likely to continue.)
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That helped Republic post a 15.21% current market share through the first nine months of the year, itself a huge jump from its industry-leading 12.28% through three quarters of last year. But it wasn’t just Island: Republic itself is still floating on its TTPD high, while Post Malone’s F1-Trillion helped Big Loud and Mercury contribute to Republic’s share, too. And while Republic has receded slightly from the 15.72% it posted at midyear — when it outstripped the entire Warner Music Group — any label putting up a number higher than 15% is enjoying a massive year.
On the other coast, Universal Music Group’s other juggernaut, Interscope Geffen A&M, also saw a huge surge in the third quarter, which boosted its nine-month current share into double digits, as it posted a 10.13% share — up from 9.51% at the midyear mark and the 8.55% it held through the same period last year. The enduring success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — which will get a Super Bowl-sized bump early next year, too — and Billie Eilish’s still-hot Hit Me Hard And Soft album helped Interscope become the only other label to reach higher than 10%. (Interscope’s share also includes Verve Label Group.)
The success of both Republic and Interscope — the two labels around which UMG reorganized earlier this year — helped parent company Universal improve more than two percentage points in current share over the same period last year, jumping from 34.61% through nine months in 2023 to 36.65% this year. That gain has come at the expense of the other two majors, which slipped a bit year over year: Sony Music Group dipped from 27.50% through the first nine months of 2023 to 25.89% through the first three quarters of 2024; while Warner Music Group dropped from 17.46% last year to 16.25% this year for the same period, though the latter recovered enough from its 15.68% mark at midyear to climb back above Republic Records.
Year over year, the indie sector by distribution ownership also grew, up to a 21.21% current share through the first nine month of this year, as opposed to 20.43% during the same period last year, a significant uptick; the biggest song of the year so far, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” was released by indie EMPIRE. (EMPIRE does not report its market share to Luminate, so its individual share cannot be broken out.) By label ownership, the indie sector remains the biggest segment of the business, racking up a 37.09% current share of the market, though that has come down somewhat from the 39.49% it had through the same period in 2023.
Beyond Republic and Interscope, there is more good news from Warner Records (which includes catalog label Rhino and parts of Warner Nashville), as it stays on the hot streak it has been on for the entirety of 2024. Its 6.54% nine-month mark keeps it in third place once again, a full percentage point above fourth-placed Atlantic (which includes 300 Elektra Entertainment), which posted a 5.51% current mark, better than its first two quarters but still down significantly from its 7.39% mark at the three-quarter period of 2023. (Remarkably, despite coming out of the gate so hot this year, Warner Records hasn’t cooled down: its 6.98% third quarter was its best three-month period of the year.)
In fifth and sixth are a pair of Sony Music labels that move up a spot in the rankings year over year, though both dropped in market share over the same period last year: Columbia Records, which includes some RED labels in its share, posted a 4.41% current mark, a slight uptick from its midyear 4.35% but down from last year’s 4.93% nine-month mark, when it was sixth; and RCA, at 4.30%, a dip from the 4.64% it had nine months into 2023, though it is up from seventh to sixth for this quarter. Capitol Music Group, in seventh place so far this year, posted a 4.04% current share; through nine months of 2023, it was in fourth place, at 6.01%.
Epic Records, with several high-flying hip-hop releases this year from Future, boosts its share from 2.39% three quarters through 2023 to 2.79% through the first three quarters of this year, rising to eighth place; while Sony Nashville (2.10%, down from 2.50%) and Sony Music Latin (2.05%, up from 1.96%), round out the top 10 labels by current share.
Overall market share — which combines all a label’s releases in the marketplace, rather than just those of the past 18 months — rearranges the board slightly, though Republic (10.49%) and Interscope (9.98%) still lead the way, both with slightly improved totals from last year’s period. Atlantic’s vast catalog means that it leapfrogs Warner Records into third, with a 7.66% overall share (down from 8.31% last year), while Warner’s 6.86% — up from 6.63% in 2023 — sees it move from fifth place last year into fourth this year. Capitol and Columbia come in fifth and sixth, though in a virtual tie at 5.87%; Capitol edged out Columbia by three thousandths of a percentage point, essentially a rounding error. RCA (5.03%), Epic (2.75%), Sony Nashville (2.07%) and Universal Music Nashville (1.84%) round out the top 10.
Among the label groups, overall market share remained largely static year over year: UMG and Sony each inched up, to 38.47% and 27.25% respectively year over year, while Warner dipped slightly to 18.42% and the indies, at 15.85%, remained flat. The catalog side is largely the same story: UMG dipped two tenths of a percent year over year, while Sony gained half a point and WMG and the indies were down slightly. Among the individual labels, Interscope took the top catalog slot, jumping above Republic to take a 9.93% share of the market, with Republic’s 8.87% edging out Atlantic’s 8.39%.
More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the popular short-form video app is harming youth mental health by designing its platform to be addictive to kids.
The lawsuits stem from a national investigation into TikTok, which was launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from many states, including California, Kentucky and New Jersey. All of the complaints were filed in state courts.
At the heart of each lawsuit is the TikTok algorithm, which powers what users see on the platform by populating the app’s main “For You” feed with content tailored to people’s interests. The lawsuits also emphasize design features that they say make children addicted to the platform, such as the ability to scroll endlessly through content, push notifications that come with built-in “buzzes” and face filters that create unattainable appearances for users.
In its filings, the District of Columbia called the algorithm “dopamine-inducing,” and said it was created to be intentionally addictive so the company could trap many young users into excessive use and keep them on its app for hours on end. TikTok does this despite knowing that these behaviors will lead to “profound psychological and physiological harms,” such as anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia and other long-lasting problems, the complaint said.
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“It is profiting off the fact that it’s addicting young people to its platform,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in an interview.
Keeping people on the platform is “how they generate massive ad revenue,” Schwalb said. “But unfortunately, that’s also how they generate adverse mental health impacts on the users.”
TikTok does not allow children under 13 to sign up for its main service and restricts some content for everyone under 18. But Washington and several other states said in their filing that children can easily bypass those restrictions, allowing them to access the service adults use despite the company’s claims that its platform is safe for children.
Their lawsuit also takes aim at other parts of the company’s business.
The district alleges TikTok is operating as an “unlicensed virtual economy” by allowing people to purchase TikTok Coins – a virtual currency within the platform – and send “Gifts” to streamers on TikTok LIVE who can cash it out for real money. TikTok takes a 50% commission on these financial transactions but hasn’t registered as a money transmitter with the U.S. Treasury Department or authorities in the district, according to the complaint.
Officials say teens are frequently exploited for sexually explicit content through TikTok’s LIVE streaming feature, which has allowed the app to operate essentially as a “virtual strip club” without any age restrictions. They say the cut the company gets from the financial transactions allows it to profit from exploitation.
Many states have filed lawsuits against TikTok and other tech companies over the past few years as a reckoning grows against prominent social media platforms and their ever-growing impact on young people’s lives. In some cases, the challenges have been coordinated in a way that resembles how states previously organized against the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TikTok, alleging the company was sharing and selling minors’ personal information in violation of a new state law that prohibits these practices. TikTok, which disputes the allegations, is also fighting against a similar data-oriented federal lawsuit filed in August by the Department of Justice.
Several Republican-led states, such as Nebraska, Kansas, New Hampshire, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas, have also previously sued the company, some unsuccessfully, over allegations it is harming children’s mental health, exposing them to “inappropriate” content or allowing young people to be sexually exploited on its platform. Arkansas has brought a legal challenge against YouTube, as well as Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram and is being sued by dozens of states over allegations its harming young people’s mental health. New York City and some public school districts have also brought their own lawsuits.
TikTok, in particular, is facing other challenges at the national level. Under a federal law that took effect earlier this year, TikTok could be banned from the U.S. by mid-January if its China-based parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform by mid-January.
Both TikTok and ByteDance are challenging the law at an appeals court in Washington. A panel of three judges heard oral arguments in the case last month and are expected to issue a ruling, which could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Billboard‘s data partner Luminate has launched a new tool designed to measure artists’ influence for brand partnerships and more, the company announced Tuesday (Oct. 8).
Informed by Luminate’s industry-leading streaming data — which is pulled from all major music streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music — along with its global consumer research insights, the tool, dubbed the Luminate Index, will provide “influence scores” for artists based on five areas: their music streaming footprint; their social media footprint; public awareness of the artist; their public appeal; and overall fan engagement in relation to their live shows and other events.
The tool was developed to allow brands, agencies, labels and others to help evaluate artists in terms of partnerships, endorsements, marketing campaigns, creative integration and more.
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According to Luminate, the 10 highest artist scores from the first iteration of the Luminate index for Q3 of 2024 are (out of 100):
Taylor Swift, 100
Adele, 92
Beyoncé, 91
Elton John, 90
Rihanna, 90
Eminem, 89
Shakira, 88
Ariana Grande, 88
Lady Gaga, 88
Dolly Parton, 87
In addition to the announcement of the index, Luminate revealed a new deal through which it will provide high-level insights and consultation to Sony Audio. According to a press release, Luminate has been “tasked with aligning deeper cultural connections between the [Sony] brand with relevant audiences across all forms of entertainment.”
“Existing at the center of all things entertainment and data, Luminate is uniquely positioned to see and analyze information that is invaluable in identifying cultural trends,” said Rob Jonas, CEO at Luminate, in a statement. “Beyond measurement, a job we take very seriously when it comes to verifying final data for the weekly Billboard Charts and the new Streaming Original Charts with Variety, we are a company that can extract insights across all areas of entertainment and fan engagement. Our goal with this new tool is to provide artists, brands, labels, talent representatives and more with intelligence that will allow them to make more informed business decisions.”
Added Jordy Freed, head of brand, business development & strategy, personal entertainment business at Sony Corporation of America: “As an audio brand heavily focused on music, entertainment, and culture, verifiable proprietary data has never been more important given the current speed of trends. Luminate is a proven leader in harnessing data and insights to demonstrate tangible customer behavior across music, film, and television. We are incredibly excited to be a ‘Day-One’ Luminate brand partner, which equips us with invaluable tools to strengthen our cultural compass and benchmark our investments connecting to fandoms.”
You can learn more about the Luminate Index here.