State Champ Radio Business
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Now that Kanye West has been dropped by the talent agency CAA and lost his deal with Adidas, Spotify needs to remove some problematic content from its platform. West’s music isn’t the issue, though.
On the Oct. 6 episode of Joe Rogan‘s podcast, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters says that Palestinians are concerned “that the Israelis seem now to have a policy of murdering so many of them that they are absolutely trying to create another intifada so they can make it an armed conflict,” in Waters’ view, “so they can just kill them all.” Rogan did not ask Waters for any evidence of this. Waters accused Israel of behaving “like people in the past behaved toward Jews in northern Europe” and complained that the Jewish community uses accusations of antisemitism to “smear anyone who dares to suggest there’s something bad about Israeli policies.”
Roger Waters attends the “Roger Waters Us + Them” Photocall during the 76th Venice Film Festival at on Sept. 6, 2019 in Venice, Italy.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/GI
There’s nothing wrong with criticizing Israel. But over the years, Waters’ advocacy for Palestinians has curdled into bigotry that features comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany and antisemitic conspiracy theories about media control. In a recent Rolling Stone interview that he complained to Rogan made him look bad, Waters says that Jewish Israelis “are not the descendants of indigenous people who’ve ever lived there” and suggests that some Jewish people in the U.S. and U.K. bear responsibility for the actions of Israel, “particularly because they pay for everything.” (Neither Spotify nor Waters responded to requests for comment on this matter.)
This kind of overblown rhetoric that feeds into antisemitic stereotypes is dangerous, and Spotify should edit or remove this interview and either drop Rogan’s podcast or make sure he’s prepared to ask hard questions of controversial guests.
But it shouldn’t remove West’s music — or Waters’ for that matter.
Weeks ago, Twitter and Instagram did the right thing by locking West’s social media accounts, while Revolt, Diddy’s media company, was wrong to show a lightweight interview with the rapper — and right to take it down afterward. West has the right to free speech, of course, but private companies also have a responsibility not to amplify his antisemitism. (West intends to solve this by buying his own social media company, Parler, which seems like a really bad idea for everyone involved.) Finally, on Tuesday, even Adidas dropped him. West’s deal with the Gap ended last month, but the company said it’s now taking “immediate steps” to remove his products from stores, Balenciaga ended its partnership with him, and stores like TJ Maxx and Foot Locker have also pledged to pull his shoes. At this point, West no longer even has a label (his recording contract with Universal Music ended last year) or a publisher (his administration deal with Sony Music Publishing expired earlier this year, although it will continue to administer his work for some time).
Now questions are being raised about what should happen to his old music, just as they were with R. Kelly and others. I object to West’s recent behavior about as much as anyone could: I’m Jewish (although I certainly don’t think one has to be to in order to object to antisemitism), and I think we all have an obligation to stand against racism (which West’s “White Lives Matter” shirt represents). But there’s nothing objectionable about West’s music. President Obama had it right: “He is a jackass. But he’s talented.”
There are two main reasons why activists usually call for the removal of music, or other work, from online platforms: It promotes hate, or it will benefit someone who promotes hate. Neo-Nazi bands fall into the first category, which is why almost all major platforms have a policy to take their music offline. For the same reason, Spotify should edit or remove Rogan’s interview with Waters.
West’s music isn’t hateful, though. And removing his music would also punish his label, his publishers, and numerous collaborators and songwriters who haven’t done anything wrong. (I think it behooves companies that own or distribute his music to condemn his behavior, but both his former label and publisher have done so.) That doesn’t mean other steps can’t be taken in order to put pressure on him: Apple pulled its West “Essentials” playlist, while Spotify leaves editorial playlist decisions up to individual editors, some of whom seem to have removed West’s music. These seem like smart decisions – and hopefully, if West apologizes, temporary measures.
Until West commits to changing his behavior, the music business should refuse to give West him platforms to spew his hate — and it should do the same with Waters (who should continue to advocate for his politics without crossing into hate or conspiracy theories). But it seems self-defeating to pull their music offline. If nothing else, it reminds fans of what great art they made before their genius was eclipsed by hate.
For the Record is a regular column from deputy editorial director Robert Levine analyzing news and trends in the music industry. Find more here.
Shawnae Corbett-Rice was promoted to senior vp of marketing at Warner Records. Based in Los Angeles, she will continue to oversee marketing campaigns focused on artist development. She reports to executive vp of marketing & artist development Dionnee Harper.
Jon Zellner was named president of programming operations and digital music for iHeartRadio, effective immediately. Zellner was previously president of programming operations. In the new role, Zellner will manage the programming, content and strategy for iHeartRadio’s digital channels and playlists while continuing to oversee iHeartMedia’s programming operations. In addition to running programming and strategy for the iHeartMedia custom and format center stations, he will continue to lead the company’s commercial production center, national imaging center, audio distribution center, on-air partner and client integration and the technical and broadcast operations teams.
Artist Partner Group (APG) promoted Brett Copell to senior vp of legal & business affairs and Alexis Warner to marketing director. The company also hired Sebastien Christie as senior director of A&R administration and Jesse Wylde as senior director of artist & business development. Copell will continue to act as lead attorney for both APG and its publishing arm, Artist Publishing Group. He will oversee legal and administration departments at both companies and focus on new business opportunities for APG at large, while Warner will continue spearheading marketing campaigns for APG artists. Christie, who previously operated his own music consultancy company, will focus on prepping releases by clearing samples, producer agreements and more. Wylde, who joins from Web3 startup Rally.io, will help develop the careers of APG artists and songwriters, focusing on promo, touring and business strategy/partnerships.
The Harlem Festival of Culture (HFC), launched in April 2022 as a reimagining of the Harlem Cultural Festival of 1969, appointed Fugees co-founder and solo artist Wyclef Jean as chair of the music advisory board for the organization. Jean will advise executive leadership and help engage the artist community to drum up support around the festival.
Big Loud Records hired Nate Yetton as vp of A&R, effective immediately. Yetoon will spearhead the discovery and signing of talent in alternative genres including Americana, indie, folk, acoustic, singer/songwriter/roots, alt-country and more in collaboration with existing Big Loud Records and Big Loud Publishing A&R teams. He can be reached at nate@bigloud.com.
BBR Music Group hired Allan Geiger as director of content creation and Taylor Scheese as manager of partnerships. The company also promoted Kennedy Nickerson to senior coordinator of A&R. Geiger, who joins from his creative agency Artistnoize, will handle the creation of creative assets and graphic design for the label group’s artist roster while reporting to vp of creative & imaging Jen Morgan. Scheese, who joins from Thinkswell, will work on driving brand partnership deals for BMG’s recorded label and publishing roster, with a focus on BBR Music Group’s artist roster, while reporting to director of brand partnerships Daron Moore. Nickerson, who has moved from BMG’s publishing arm where she served as income tracking coordinator, will report to vp of A&R Katie Kerkhover. Geiger can be reached at allan@bbrmusicgroup.com, Scheese can be reached at taylor.scheese@bmg.com and Nickerson can be reached at kennedy.nickerson@bmg.com.
Chris Taillie was promoted to vp at Shore Fire Media; he was previously publicity director. The New York-based Taillie’s music clients include Angélique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Esperanza Spalding, Floating Points, Jacob Collier and Rhiannon Giddens. Taillie can be reached at ctaillie@shorefire.com.
The Chamber Group promoted Shannon Atran to associate director of public relations and hired Edwin Tetteh as public relations manager. The New York-based Atran will serve as the company’s independent public relations executive, responsible for developing, executing and overseeing PR campaigns for clients including Big Sean, T.I., Lil Wayne, Pusha T and more. Tetteh will collaborate with internal and external partners in developing and implementing PR strategies on behalf of his client roster, which includes Jon Batiste and Mariah Carey. He joins from the Lede Company. Atran can be reached at shannon@thechambergroup.com and Tetteh can be reached at Edwin@thechambergroup.com.
Elijah B Torn was named head of creative production at Found Objects, the original music and sound collective founded by film and TV composers Jay Wadley and Trevor Gureckis. Torn, who was previously global creative director at MassiveMusic New York, will oversee the creative and production team.
Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. The question now is what the billionaire Tesla CEO will actually do with the social media platform.
Musk ousted three top Twitter executives on Thursday, according to two people familiar with the deal who said he was in charge. Such a shakeup was widely expected, but Musk has otherwise made contradictory statements about his vision for the company — and shared few concrete plans for how he will run it.
The people wouldn’t say if all the paperwork for the deal, originally valued at $44 billion, had been signed or if the deal had closed. A Delaware judge had ordered that the deal be finalized by Friday.
Late Thursday, Musk tweeted, “the bird has been freed,” a reference to Twitter’s logo.
Twitter’s users, advertisers and employees are parsing Musk’s every move in an effort to guess where he might take the company — but the mercurial tech executive has not made the job easy.
He has criticized Twitter’s dependence on advertisers, but made a statement Thursday that seemed aimed at soothing their fears. He has complained about restrictions on speech on the platform — but then vowed he wouldn’t let it become a “hellscape.” And for months it wasn’t even clear if he wanted to control the company at all.
After Musk signed a deal to acquire Twitter in April, he tried to back out of it, leading the company to sue him to force him to go through with the acquisition.
Friday’s deadline to close the deal was ordered by the Delaware Chancery Court in early October. The New York Stock Exchange notified investors that it will suspend trading in shares of Twitter before the opening bell Friday in anticipation of the company going private under Musk.
Musk has been signaling more recently that the deal is going through. He strolled into the company’s San Francisco headquarters Wednesday carrying a porcelain sink, changed his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit,” and tweeted “Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!”
The people familiar with the deal said Musk has fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Chief Legal Counsel Vijaya Gadde. Both people insisted on anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the deal.
Musk privately clashed with Agrawal in April, immediately before deciding to make a bid for the company, according to text messages later revealed in court filings.
Around the same time, he publicly criticized Gadde, the company’s top lawyer, in a series of tweets. A wave of harassment of Gadde from other Twitter accounts followed, including racist and misogynistic attacks, in addition to calls for Musk to get rid of her. After she was fired, the harassment on the platform began again.
In his first big move earlier on Thursday, Musk said that he is buying the platform to help humanity and doesn’t want it to become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
The message appeared to be aimed at addressing concerns among advertisers — Twitter’s chief source of revenue — that Musk’s plans to promote free speech by cutting back on moderating content will open the floodgates to more online toxicity and drive away users.
“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk wrote in an uncharacteristically long message for the Tesla CEO, who typically projects his thoughts in one-line tweets.
He continued: “There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”
Musk has previously expressed distaste for advertising and Twitter’s dependence on it, suggesting more emphasis on other business models such as paid subscriptions that won’t allow big corporations to dictate policy on how social media operates. But on Thursday, he assured advertisers he wants Twitter to be “the most respected advertising platform in the world.”
The note is a shift from Musk’s position that Twitter is unfairly infringing on free speech rights by blocking misinformation or graphic content, said Pinar Yildirim, associate professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
But it’s also a realization that having no content moderation is bad for business, putting Twitter at risk of losing advertisers and subscribers, she said.
“You do not want a place where consumers just simply are bombarded with things they do not want to hear about, and the platform takes no responsibility,” Yildirim said.
As concerns rise about the direction of Twitter’s content moderation, European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton tweeted to Musk on Friday that “In Europe, the bird will fly by our rules.”
Breton and Musk met in May and appeared in a video together in which Musk said he agreed with the 27-nation bloc’s strict new online regulations. Its Digital Services Act threatens big tech companies with billions in fines if they don’t police their platforms more strictly for illegal or harmful content such as hate speech and disinformation.
Musk is expected to speak to Twitter employees directly Friday if the deal is finalized, according to an internal memo cited in several media outlets. There is internal confusion and low morale tied to fears of layoffs or a dismantling of the company’s culture and operations.
The Washington Post reported last week that Musk told prospective investors that he plans to cut three quarters of Twitter’s 7,500 workers when he becomes owner of the company. The newspaper cited documents and unnamed sources familiar with the deliberation.
Musk has spent months deriding Twitter’s “spam bots” and making sometimes conflicting pronouncements about Twitter’s problems and how to fix them.
Thursday’s note to advertisers shows a newfound emphasis on advertising revenue, especially a need for Twitter to provide more “relevant ads” — which typically means targeted ads that rely on collecting and analyzing users’ personal information.
Yildirim said that, unlike Facebook, Twitter has not been good at targeting advertising to what users want to see. Musk’s message suggests he wants to fix that, she said.
Executives at one of the largest independent ticketing companies in North America believe malware hidden inside a tracking pixel used for sending customers target advertisements was the source of two-and-a-half-year credit card skimming operation.
Company officials with See Tickets North America, a subsidiary of French entertainment conglomerate Vivendi, tell Billboard that criminals were able to operate a sophisticated credit card skimming fraud on See Tickets checkout pages. While See Tickets officials didn’t detail which events were impacted, the company is one of the largest ticketing sites for indie promoters in North America with clients that include Pitchfork Festival and Disco Donnie Presents’ Freaky Deaky festival, as well as venues like the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California.
Tracking pixels are typically used to identify customers and share information about the consumer with ad networks and other large technology companies. One popular use of tracking pixels in the events business is to serve ads to fans who visited a music festivals website but did not purchase tickets, in hopes of enticing them to make a purchase.
Company officials believe that an exploit in the pixel See Tickets was using allowed criminals to take snap shots of credit card transactions as they happened without having to break into See Tickets system or database. The malicious code first appeared on the site on June 25, 2019, about nine months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of the live entertainment industry.
“At See Tickets we take securing customer information very seriously and deeply regret this incident occurred,” Boris Patronoff, CEO of See Tickets North America, told Billboard in a statement. “We also understand how this may have negatively impacted on our clients and their customers. We conducted an immediate investigation as soon as the issue was discovered and communicated with clients and customers the moment it was possible to do so. We have since taken additional measures to further strengthen our security,.”
Company officials became aware of the security breach in April 2021 after being contacted by credit card investigators looking at fraudulent charges linked to purchases on See Tickets website site. Within days of being notified, the ticketing company hired two forensic investigation teams to investigate the breach. In January of this year, the malicious code was eradicated from the site.
Last month, See Tickets concluded its investigation and began notifying state law enforcement officials with the details of the breach. While See Tickets’ own customer and promoter data was not accessed during the breach, criminals were able to obtain details from credit card transactions including full name, address, card number, expiration date and CVV.
See Tickets says a majority of ticket buyers who used the site were not impacted by the breach and note that social security numbers, state identification numbers and bank account information was not exposed due to this incident, as they are not stored in its systems.
The breach is the second major hack of a ticketing company in five years. In 2018, hackers briefly took over the Ticketfly home page and took parts of the company offline for months grinding much of the independent music industry to a halt. Ticketfly users and client data were stolen during the attack and wound up on the dark web because of the attack.
AEG Presents company The Bowery Presents announced today the acquisition and opening of Racket, its newest New York City venue. Opening in 2023, Racket takes over the old Highline Ballroom space on West 16th Street — right next to the Western Beef and across the street from the bustling Chelsea Market.
The general admission spot will be The Bowery Presents’ most intimate venue on the island and will serve as an important linchpin in the company’s ecosystem of artist development. The company has a well-documented history of working closely with artists as they ascend from intimate venues to sold out arenas and stadiums.
“We are excited to welcome Racket to The Bowery Presents family. Racket is very much the sister venue to Music Hall of Williamsburg: a fundamental building block for us in Manhattan, and an important addition to Bowery’s commitment to both artist development and amazing experiences for our fans and partners,” says the Bowery Presents founder John Moore and his partner Jim Glancy in a joint statement.
In addition to filling a much-needed gap in terms of capacity and location in the area’s live music scene, Racket will further expand Bowery’s venue ownership and booking footprint across NYC, joining Music Hall of Williamsburg (650 capacity), Webster Hall (1,350 capacity), Brooklyn Steel (1,800 capacity), Terminal 5 (3,000 capacity), and Forest Hills Stadium (13,000 capacity). The company also books and promotes hundreds of concerts in theaters, parks, and arenas in the region. Like all Bowery venues, Racket will be available for private events.
Racket’s opening lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.
Universal Music Group said revenues rose 13.3% to 2.66 billion euros in the third quarter at constant currency, as sales from BTS, BLACKPINK and Ado helped the world’s largest record label report growth across all segments on Thursday. Without considering changes in foreign currency exchange rates, revenues were up 23.7%.
The first of the major labels to report earnings this season, UMG said recorded music revenue grew 10.1%, music publishing revenues grew 6.9% and merchandise and other revenues grew 101.1% in the third quarter ending compared to a year ago based on constant currency conversion.
“Through our innovation, global reach, and unique understanding of the evolution of the market, we are continually improving the monetization of music and music-related content, generating high-quality revenue and recurring income from more sources than ever before,” UMG Chairman and Chief Executive Sir Lucian Grainge said in a statement.
UMG’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 9.1% compared to the year ago quarter, driven by the strong increase in revenue.
Included in the revenue growth for the quarter was a 71 million euro benefit from the settlement of a copyright infringement lawsuit with an internet service provider, the company said. UMG also said the quarter included a 21 million euro hit in its music publishing division from a change in accounting policy. These factors also provided a 52 million benefit and a 7 million euro drag respectfully to the company’s EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter.
Q3 Results:
Company-wide revenues rose 13.3% to $2.664 million in constant currency for the third quarter ending Sept. 30 from a year ago.Recorded Music revenues rose 10.1% to €2,060 million in constant currency.Subscription and streaming revenue grew 7.7% in constant currency, with subscription revenue up 8.7% in constant currency.Ad-supported streaming revenue grew 5.2% in constant currency.Physical revenue declined 9.6% in constant currency, which the company attributed to a weaker release schedule compared to the prior year.Downloads and other digital revenue were up 55.7% in constant currency in large part due to the settlement of the copyright infringement lawsuit.License and other revenue rose 30.2% in constant currency helped by strong touring revenues.Merchandising and other revenue of 189 million euros was up 101.1% in constant currency due to a rebound in touring-related merchandise revenue.
Bored Ape #9797, better known as “Jimbo,” has signed to Create Music Group for distribution and to Milo Stokes, who helped discover Trippie Redd and Tekashi 6ix9ine, for management. As a first order of business, Create will help release the NFT artist’s latest single and music video “Plastic,” out Friday (Oct. 28), which features the likeness of more than 25 Bored Apes throughout.
“Plastic” was produced by Dream Addix and written by Jimbo and Suie, a trap and hip-hop artist who is a collaborator of Lil Skies. Suie will collaborate on the creation of all forthcoming records with Jimbo, helping bring the Bored Ape to life. Its accompanying music video is directed by Themis “Reit” Chrysafidis, a young creative director and co-founder of 1UP Nova which partners with some of the most popular NFT and digital characters around the world.
When asked why he opted to choose Create as a partner for Jimbo, Stokes explained, “Create is known for being an innovative company in the music industry, and we thought it would be perfect to make a web3 initiative with Create to roll out Jimbo.”
Jimbo is one of many Bored Apes from the popular NFT collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), to enter the music business. As Billboard reported last year, Timbaland launched his indie entertainment company, Ape-In Productions (AIP), which uses Bored Ape characters (like its first signee, TheZoo), to perform music. Additionally, UMG’s 10:22 PM label launched KINGSHIP, a virtual group of Bored Ape characters, around the same time.
In addition to the virtual artists that have been formed from this project, BAYC has another tie-in the music biz with Guy Oseary, best known for managing Madonna and U2, who represents the BAYC project.
A key feature of buying a Bored Ape is that the NFT offers monetization or commercial usage rights of the cartoon’s likeness to purchasers. This means it is within a Bored Ape owner’s rights to use an Ape’s likeness to sell music or merchandise as a virtual artist. Although Apes seem to be the most popular collection to develop into virtual artists, Grimes, for example, has also launched an “A.I. girl group” called NPC in recent years.
This trend is in keeping with older animated acts such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Archies, or The Gorillaz, as well as virtual idols like Miquela — a virtual singer and influencer with millions of followers. Her song “Hate Me” peaked at No. 47 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2018.
Live shows are back in full force — Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, two years after the pandemic relegated it to hockey games in front of empty seats , is currently in a run of 12 shows in a 23-day period, including country concerts headlined by Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Reba McEntire and Wynonna Judd on successive Friday nights.
But the live-show reboot has come with its challenges. The volume of acts has caused logistical problems, including a shortage of available tour buses and operators to drive them. The loss of some venues during the shutdown — particularly at the club level — has increased competition among touring acts for bookings in the remaining outlets, creating routing issues. And artists in smaller venues often encounter spotty attendance, thanks to the glut of concert options for a fan base that isn’t entirely back: 20% of American adults remain uncomfortable with the prospect of attending mass public events, according to a May survey by CivicScience.
It’s in that context that independent singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters — whose body of smart, emotional work includes hits with Martina McBride‘s “Independence Day” and Faith Hill‘s “The Secret of Life” — has announced that her current concert tour will be her last. She remains open to performing the occasional one-off concert, much like George Strait has since he quit doing full-fledged tours in 2015. The feedback from fellow artists has been mixed.
“A couple of them said, ‘Oh, no, you can’t stop,’ you know, as if ‘the show must go on’ is actually a rule,” Peters says. “I thought that was an interesting reaction. But then I’ve also gotten — and I won’t mention their names because this is something everybody needs to make public for themselves — but I’ve also gotten quite a few ‘I’m right behind you, girl.’ I’ve gotten a few of those.”
To observers who see only the glamorous, onstage part of touring, the idea of walking away might seem shocking. But the road is never easy — it’s a business in which employees navigate a different working environment on a daily basis, and the lifestyle itself is physically taxing. The costs of putting on a concert in an era of 8% inflation have increased across the board, and many of those expenses are significantly higher. Bus drivers, when they can be located, are sometimes getting double the daily rate they charged before the pandemic. And security costs, compounded by the volume of mass shootings in the 21st century, have risen as much as six times in the last five to eight years.
Those costs are borne by promoters and the acts themselves, who already pay their bands and crews, share commissions with business associates, rent transportation and cover volatile fuel costs. Outside of the top-tier acts, artists are facing a financial squeeze.
“They can’t go out and charge $125, $150 a ticket, so they either have to cut their operating costs [or] go out with less crew, or that cost gets passed on to the promoter. And the only way for the promoter to recoup is to keep their costs down, which is very difficult to do,” says Action Entertainment Collaborative partner Nick Meinema (Trace Adkins, High Valley) . “But the audience is not willing, or in some cases not able, to afford a higher ticket price. That becomes a conundrum.”
There are ways to combat the problem. Some of Meinema’s artists are cutting fuel costs by refusing to tour west of the Rocky Mountains unless they receive a superb contract. Others are declining Canadian offers, choosing to avoid customs issues on top of the fuel costs, or they are asking to book 10-day runs that cover two weekends and the days in between instead of traveling only on the weekend before driving back home. Additionally, some artists are booking fewer dates and discovering in the process that they create higher demand — and higher grosses — by becoming a little more scarce.
“Country music artists overplay at every level,” Meinema says.
During 2023, Reliant Talent artist David Nail will be doing more soft-ticket shows — fairs and festivals — where the income is more reliable.
Transportation has not been. Nail had an issue this past summer when Nashville coach companies ran out of buses. Two days before a Thursday getaway, his team finally located a vehicle in Indiana: Someone had to travel to pick it up and drive it back to Nashville, adding gas charges in the process. And it was only the morning of their departure that they were able to fly a retired driver who still had his license from Texas to man the wheel.
“A lot of that has to do, obviously, with everybody touring, but a lot of huge tours have 15 to 20 buses,” Nail says. “I can remember thinking, ‘Man, I might have to call Luke Bryan and just see if maybe he could double up on the buses and maybe throw me a bone.’”
In the face of that shortage, Meinema has a client who plans to tour strictly in the spring and fall in 2023, taking a summer vacation from the road for the first time in 26 years after a lackluster 2022 experience.
“The shows were great, the money was great, the merch was great, the travel — it was too much, not the level that that artist was accustomed to having,” he says. “It just didn’t feel worth it.”
While much of the fan base is acting as if the pandemic is over, the coronavirus remains an unpredictable issue. Nail has picked up some good money by subbing last minute for other artists whose teams suffered COVID-19 infections. But the artists who have to back out of the shows still have to pay their bands and crews. And the thought of losing dates to the virus is haunting.
“It’s impossible to not feel a little different, whether it’s the meet-and-greets or whatever,” says Nail.
Peters has thought at times during a performance — particularly when the reboot began — that working without a mask made her vulnerable in smaller, indoor venues.
“I was very appreciative of the audience members that masked up early on,” she says. “But just to think, ‘Boy, how much air am I sucking in here tonight?’ I mean, I can’t wear a mask because I have to sing. For somebody with asthma, it was surreal and a bit terrifying.”
By contrast, Peters is comfortable with her decision to back out of touring, ready to discover how her work/life balance will change when her schedule is a little more predictable. She’ll miss the shows, but that’s the smallest portion of the day.
“There’s a whole list of other things that I really won’t miss,” she says. “[Particularly] airlines — I mean, it’s a long list.”
Nail, on the other hand, is committed to slugging it out, even if touring remains unpredictable for the near future.
“I don’t have that plan B,” he says. “This has to work, one way or another.”
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A federal judge has rejected one of Pandora’s key arguments in its legal battle with comedians, dismissing claims that a licensing group called Word Collections was operating as an illegal comedy “cartel.”
Months after a slew of comedians (including the estates of George Carlin and Robin Williams) sued Pandora to seek more royalties for spoken-word content, the streamer fired back in May with allegations that the comics had violated federal antitrust laws by doing so.
Pandora claimed that by teaming up with Word Collections to demand such royalties, the comedians were effectively trying to create a “monopolistic portfolio” of comedy rights, aimed at “dramatically increasing” the prices streamers must pay for comedy.
But in a ruling on Wednesday, Judge Mark C. Scarsi dismissed those claims. He said Pandora had not properly alleged that Word Collections and the comedians had conspired to fix prices, nor that they amounted to an illegal monopoly in the comedy world.
“Pandora’s description of Word Collections’ impressive but short list of comedians whose works it licenses does not suffice to demonstrate that Word Collections owns a dominant share of the comedy recording market in the United States,” the judge wrote.
The ruling is a blow for Pandora, though not a fatal one. The judge left open the possibility that the streamer could re-raise the issue, and the company can still pivot to other defenses, like the more fundamental argument that comics are simply not legally entitled to the added royalties they’re seeking.
A rep for Pandora declined comment.
Judge Scarsi’s decision came amid a long and tricky fight over how and when streamers like Pandora must pay for the comedy recordings that appear on their services – a more unsettled legal question than one might think.
Every piece of music is covered by two copyrights – one for the sound recording itself and another for the underlying work that’s been recorded. Streaming services like Pandora pay for both when it comes to songs, but for comedy records, they’ve typically only ever paid for the recordings.
Part of the problem is that there is no society like ASCAP or BMI to collect such royalties for spoken works. Over the past 18 months, two groups – Word Collections and Spoken Giants – have moved to fill that void and have begun asking streaming services to pay those fees for comedy; those efforts are what prompted Spotify to pull down some comedy content last fall.
And since February, a number of comedians have taken the issue to court, accusing Pandora of willfully refusing to pay for content: “Pandora did what most goliaths do: it decided it would infringe now to ensure it had this very valuable intellectual property on its platform to remain competitive, and deal with the consequences later. Later is now.”
Pandora has sharply refuted the allegations, arguing it has “always satisfied its copyright obligations” by paying “millions of dollars in license fees every year” for comedy recordings. It says that comedy records are less akin to music and more like movies, for which streamers like Netflix typically pay only a single, all-encompassing license, regardless of the various elements that are used in the film.
If Pandora’s antitrust counterclaims remain dismissed, those core arguments about copyrights and licenses could now take center stage in the case.
Richard Busch, a prominent music litigator who is representing the comedians, told Billboard on Thursday that he and his clients are “obviously very happy with the decision.”
“We always believed the antitrust counterclaim Pandora brought was ludicrous and a transparent attempt to intimidate these legendary comedians,” Busch said. “The court could not have been clearer in its ruling. We now hope to be able to focus on and litigate the serious copyright infringement claims that are at the heart of this litigation.”
Warner Music Group (WMG) is collaborating with NFT marketplace OpenSea to enable select WMG artists to build and extend their fan communities in Web3. Under the partnership, WMG artists will be offered early access to OpenSea’s new drops product along with improved discoverability, personalized storytelling on customized landing pages and OpenSea’s safety and security features. They will also receive dedicated support and best practices from the OpenSea team while enjoying their own dedicated drop pages to host limited-edition projects. The first collection will be a collaboration between Warner Records UK and Web3 company Probably Nothing, which recently launched Probably a Label, a Web3 record label in partnership with Warner Records.
Audius, a decentralized music community and discovery platform for developers, artists and fans, acquired virtual music experience platform SoundStage.fm. Based in Barcelona, SoundStage.fm offers interactive experiences for fans — enabling engagement through dancing and live-reaction based functions — while providing new branding and monetization opportunities for artists. The platform has featured artists including Firebeatz, Kill Paris and ill.Gates.
Independent digital music licensing partners Merlin signed a new partnership with China-based short-form video platform Kuaishou. Under the agreement, Merlin members’ music will be available across Kuaishou products including Kwai and SnackVideo. Kuaishou boasts over 1 billion monthly active users across the globe, according to a press release.
Exceed Talent Capital, a platform that enables people to purchase SEC-compliant shares of talent, partnered with Lil Durk to offer an IPO for his upcoming OTF collaboration release of the song “Bedtime” with his artist Doodie Lo, allowing fans to participate in revenues of royalties from the song. To celebrate the partnership, Lil Durk and Exceed will release the “Trenches All-Access Pass” NFT, enabling exclusive access to the private Grand Theft Auto roleplay server built by Lil Durk and his OTF Gaming company. The Exceed presale will grant immediate lifetime access, limited edition in-game wearables and offer holders first dibs on shares from the music IPO.
Sony Music Entertainment Middle East and Kuwait-based creative studio, music and video production company Ghmza partnered to produce music and promote emerging Khaleeji pop artists across the Middle East. Actor and Arabic pop singer Bader Al Shuaibi and Kuwaiti singer, songwriter and TV personality Bashar al-Shatti will be the first two artists to work with Sony under the new partnership.
FaZe Holdings, parent company of gaming and youth culture platform FaZe Clan, will develop original content, private fan events, exclusive merchandise and more in partnership with Xfinity. Under the deal, Xfinity will become the official internet and mobile provider for FaZe Clan. The two companies will also host The Gig, a series of private music and gaming-crossover events for college students, featuring hip-hop artist and longtime FaZe Clan family member Offset. Fans in attendance will have the opportunity to meet FaZe Clan members, learn about exclusive Xfinity offers for students and more. The first show will take place Nov. 3 at Boston’s MGM Ballroom, followed by a second at the Tabernacle in Atlanta on Nov. 10. The two companies will additionally produce an original series, Rig Raiders Brought to you by Xfinity, featuring FaZe Clan members and special guests delivering game set-ups for underserved creators and communities. Xfinity branding will also be integrated into FaZe Clan’s ongoing programming across all channels and content.
Community-driven, open-source artificial intelligence company Stability AI announced $101 million in funding. The round was led by Coatue, Lightspeed Venture Partners and O’Shaughnessy Ventures LLC. The company will use the funding to accelerate the development of open AI models for image, language, audio, video, 3D and more, for consumer and enterprise use cases worldwide. Stability AI is the company behind Stable Diffusion, a free and open-source text-to-image generator that launched in August. Stability AI’s consumer-facing product DreamStudio boasts over 1 million registered users across more than 50 countries, according to a press release.
Sony Music struck a joint venture with Josh and Sam Fluxgold under the banner Oneway Records to sign and develop artists in Israel. The JV will focus on artists with international appeal. (Variety)
Dim Mak En Fuego — the Latin imprint of Steve Aoki‘s record label Dim Mak — has signed Ecuadorian-Colombian producer and DJ 2DEEP. The co-owner of reggaeton-electronic event Reggaetonlandia, 2DEEP most recently co-produced Natanael Cano and Aoki’s “Nataaoki,” which dropped earlier this year. He’s slated to release his freshman EP next year, his first project under Dim Mak En Fuego. 2DEEP is the first producer/DJ to join the label’s roster, which includes artists such as Andrezka and AquihayAquihay. – Griselda Flores
Melle Brown and ESSEL are among the first signees to Parachute, Virgin Music UK‘s new distribution and artist services arm for dance and electronic artists with crossover appeal. The imprint is inspired by the late ’70s sounds of Casablanca’s Parachute Records. The first unofficial single from Parachute was Brown’s “Feel About You” feat. Annie Mac. It was followed by ESSEL’s “Don’t Walk Away.”
Volumetric capture and immersive content company YOOM, formerly known as Tetavi, raised $15 million from investors including Jimmy Iovine, Finneas O’Connell, SpringHill Company CEO Maverick Carter, Darkroom CEO Justin Lubliner and Main Street Advisors founder, chairman and CEO Paul Wachter. All have signed on as strategic partners, joining the company’s largest existing investors and shareholders including Insight Partners, Marc Rowan and Aaron Stone.
Musician and Web3 artist Daniel Allan signed with CAA for representation. According to the agency, Allan’s NFT music projects have generated over $700,000 and more than 20 million streams worldwide. Like his sophomore EP Overstimulated, his latest EP Glass House was released with the use of NFTs on Sept. 30.
Session and Songwriters of North America (SONA) partnered to make Session’s app, Session Studio, available to all SONA members. Session Stuio allows SONA members to capture song and recording data at the point of creation and deliver it downstream to managers, labels, publishers, CMOs and digital service providers. Members will also have access to Session Studio’s collaboration tools. Exclusive resources will be rolled out to SONA members as part of the collaboration.
American Idol runner-up HunterGirl signed with 19 Recordings/BMG. The singer-songwriter released her debut track on the label, “Hometown Out of Me,” on Friday (Oct. 21).
Oak View Group (OVG) signed an exclusive multi-year arena naming rights agreement with Baltimore-based CFG Bank. Under the deal, OVG’s forthcoming arena in the city will be renamed CFG Bank Arena. The venue is projected to open in February 2023. The agreement includes prominent exterior and interior signage, exclusive benefits to CFG Bank clients, cardholders and employees and the launch of a new community engagement program. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The Hives signed with Matt Greer at ATC Management. Greer will co-manage the Swedish five-piece rock band alongside Brian Message and Courtyard Management’s Chris Hufford. The band was previously managed by Cyndy Villano at Do Good Work Management.
Production music company KPM Music launched a Web3 community that will offer music creators the opportunity to purchase digital collectibles entitled KPM Music Genesis Collection, including music from KPM’s “Greensleeves” series. The collectibles will be available exclusively on TuneGO, a Web3 platform operating on the Flow blockchain.
Indie singer VÉRITÉ partnered with Troy Carter and Suzy Ryoo‘s Venice Music. Venice offers tools, services and support on part with major labels while allowing artists to retain ownership and creative autonomy over their work.
J-Pop star Ado signed with Geffen Records. Ado — the voice actor behind the lead character in One Piece Film Red, the 15th film in the blockbuster Japanese franchise — provided vocals for seven songs featured in the film and on its official soundtrack.
Vietnamese/Chinese-American artist Spence Lee, formerly known as Shotta Spence, signed with 88rising in partnership with Mike WiLL Made-It/Ear Drummers Records. He will release his latest single, “On God,” on Friday (Oct. 28).
Turkish rapper and DJ Lil Key signed with Atlantic Records Germany, marking the first time the label has signed an artist from outside Germany.
CD Baby signed an agreement with fan engagement platform Laylo to offer CD Baby users an exclusive discount on Laylo’s Pro tier. Laylo allows artists to notify their fans about new music releases, content, merch and event announcements via text, email and Facebook Messenger.
Nettwerk Records signed Massachusetts-based lo-fi artist and music producer Towerz and Mississippi-based rapper/singer/producer Laeland.
