State Champ Radio Business
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Electronic music producer Anyma has signed a global publishing deal with independent music publishing company Kobalt. The deal encompasses the artist’s catalog (including some of his work as part of the duo Tale of Us), along with future releases. The deal announcement follows the conclusion of Anyma’s buzzy residency at Sphere Las Vegas earlier this […]
A federal judge has dismissed civil racketeering accusations and other claims filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs by former collaborator Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, though he also allowed parts of the music producer’s sexual abuse lawsuit to move forward.
In a decision issued Monday, Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled that Jones could not sue Diddy and others under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – the federal “RICO” law often used against the Mafia and the same statute prosecutors are citing in their criminal case against Combs.
The judge said Jones hadn’t shown that the alleged illegal “enterprise” operated by Diddy – the kind of illicit operation outlawed by RICO – had directly caused the star to renege on paying Jones for his work Combs’ Love Album.
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“The court cannot identify any such causal link,” Oetken wrote. “Defendants’ alleged sex, drug, and gun trafficking activities — the vast majority of the predicate acts pleaded in the operative complaint — did not foreseeably or naturally preclude defendants from honoring their recording contract with Jones.”
Monday’s ruling dismissed the RICO charge against Combs, his chief of staff Kristina Khorram and his businesses. The judge also dismissed Jones’ breach of contract claim and several claims emotional distress, finding them legally deficient.
But Oetken allowed several other key accusations to proceed, including sex trafficking, sexual assault and the claim that Combs is liable for an alleged assault perpetrated by others at his house. Those claims will now proceed into more litigation and toward an eventual trial.
Reps for the defendants and an attorney for Jones did not immediately return a request for comment. Combs has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing; Khorram denied the accusations to CNN last week, saying she “never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone.”
Jones sued Combs in March 2024, accusing the rapper of assaulting him while he was working as a producer on the Love Album. But the case went far beyond that, also leveling sweeping allegations about a vast RICO conspiracy involving numerous others, including not just Khorram but also Universal Music Group and CEO Lucian Grainge.
After UMG and Grainge said they would seek penalties over those “recklessly false” allegations, Jones’ attorney Tyrone Blackburn conceded that there had been “no legal basis” for filing them and asked to have them “withdrawn immediately.”
In Monday’s decision, Oetken sharply criticized Blackburn, saying he found the lawyer’s conduct in the case “unsettling.” He noted that court filings had been filled with “insults, misstatements, and exaggerations,” and said Blackburn had leveled “schoolyard taunts” at opposing lawyers.
In one incident, the judge said Blackburn had referenced the criminal case before saying Combs and his companies were “presumed guilty of being a RICO criminal organization” – an obvious inversion of the bedrock “innocent until proven guilty” standard at the heart of American criminal law.
“That any licensed member of the bar would espouse such an absurd understanding of the law is not just disturbing, but shocking,” the judge wrote Monday. “While the court will not hold Blackburn’s antics against Jones at this point, it warns Blackburn that further misconduct may lead to sanctions or to referral for discipline.”
Jones’ lawsuit is just one of dozens filed against Combs over the past year accusing him of serious sexual abuse and other wrongdoing. He’s also facing a criminal trial in May on federal RICO and sex trafficking charges; if convicted, he’s looking at a potential life prison sentence.
The producers of four independent California festivals are offering a limited edition ticket that provides general admission access to the 2025 edition of each event.
Dubbed the “indepenDANCE Pass” the ticket is on offer for $599, approximately $1,400 less expensive than the cost of buying four separate tickets to each festival. A total of 100 indepenDANCE Passes are currently available, with profits split evenly between each event.
The passes are part of a campaign to bring attention to the state of independent music festivals, which have struggled following the pandemic due to rising costs of goods and services. The founders of each of the four festivals involved with the IndepenDANCE Pass recently gathered for a longform conversation about the state of the independent side of the festival industry.
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“Independent festivals have always been about community, and now we’re taking that to the next level,” Same Same But Different co-founder and CEO Brad Sweet says during the talk. “We pour everything we have into creating spaces where people can truly connect, dance freely, and experience something real, and now we’re uniting to create something bigger than any one festival, a collective that strengthens the entire scene and gives our community more access, more connection, and more unforgettable experiences across the festival season. By coming together, we’re making sure independent festivals don’t just survive, but evolve and flourish for years to come.”
Featuring dance, funk, global music and more, Joshua Tree Music Festival happens both this May 15-18 and October 9-12 (the pass is good for just one of the events) in Joshua Tree, Calif. Happening in Lake Perris, Calif. this Sept. 26-28, Same Same But Different has previously featured artists including Griz, Big Gigantic, Polo & Pan and Louis the Child, with the 2025 lineup to be announced in the coming months.
Meanwhile the longstanding house and techno festival Desert Hearts 2025 happens July 3-7 in Flagstaff, Ariz. The electronic-oriented Northern Nights, which has this year partnered with Dirtybird Campout, happens Cook’s Valley Campground in Northern California on July 18-20, with the lineup also to be announced in the coming months.
Prompted by Chappell Roan’s comments about health insurance from the Grammy stage on Feb. 2, over the last several weeks an important conversation has been taking place about financial stability and health among those who work in music. At MusiCares, we celebrate this conversation and want to collectively seize this moment for real change. To do this, we need to go deeper than just a conversation. It is important to understand and focus solutions on data-backed, long-standing issues around fair pay and health in the music community.
In fact, MusiCares was founded with this mission in mind. The Recording Academy formed MusiCares as an independent 501c3 charity in 1989 to be a shared service for the larger music industry because even back then, it was difficult to ensure fair pay across all sectors. As a result, many music people were falling on hard times. Health and welfare problems are exacerbated in low-income environments. This problem continues in music today, even after MusiCares has provided over $118 million in direct assistance to people from every music profession, genre and U.S. state.
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We know this because we research it. Financial instability is a major concern for people in music, affecting their household economics, physical well-being and mental health. Our Wellness in Music survey, open to anyone in the U.S. working in music, shows that 69% of respondents cannot comfortably cover their expenses through work in music alone and 47% attribute their stress to financial instability. Furthermore, 65% of respondents are not confident about the trajectory of the industry. These are major red flags for both the well-being of our music community and the sustainability of this industry in its current form.
MusiCares provides customized care, often with substantial financial assistance to cover basic living needs and other expenses, when music people face economic hardship. Many people in music never get guidance on how to manage their money. For this reason, we also focus on the preventive side of financial health, including financial management services and tax support. The tragic fires in Los Angeles and hurricanes in the Southeast demonstrate how perilously close so many people in our community are to financial ruin. While some music people had substantial loss, many of the 5,000+ individuals we supported through our recent disaster relief efforts needed support simply because they lost a gig or two: $200 or $300 in income was often what separated them from security and an inability to pay their basic living costs. Higher wages are essential, but we also need to grow financial safety nets, which include funding and resources to support music professionals through hard times. This requires substantial and ongoing investments from the industry to ensure qualified non-profit organizations can meet the need.
Health insurance has also been a major topic in recent weeks, and it’s an important one. But health insurance alone is not enough. Our Wellness in Music survey consistently shows that 87-90% of music professionals have health insurance, just slightly the below US national coverage. While universal coverage is the goal, the barrier many people in music face is an inability to use the insurance they have. Most MusiCares clients have health insurance but may not use it because they can’t afford the deductible, their provider doesn’t take insurance, or the provider is out of network. Overwhelmingly, music people are not accessing preventive care services, like mammograms, dental cleanings and hearing screenings, at healthy rates. For this reason, we work with a carefully vetted network of hundreds of licensed health providers across the United States and have provided over 45,000 free preventive clinic visits. We need to keep closing the gap in economic and logistical access to essential medical care. This includes access to quality health insurance, additional funding to cover out of pocket costs and dedicated providers who can work with music professionals on their unique needs.
Inability to use insurance affects mental health too. The American Psychological Association estimates that about one in three therapists do not take insurance. Access to care is further complicated because people in music are highly mobile. Licensing regulations may mean people can’t work with their mental health provider or worse, end up receiving care from unlicensed providers. In the absence of access to licensed, affordable care, many music people are vulnerable to unregulated initiatives that have no grounding in science.
Music people in need of substance use treatment often face similar challenges. In-network treatment centers may have no space or it’s not the right fit for their needs. For single parents, highly mobile workers or those who need to keep working, in-patient treatment may not be an option. To get people the care they deserve, we need to expand access to substantial financial assistance for addiction recovery, in addition to tailored and long-term care options, referrals, and placement.
At MusiCares, we’ve provided over $25 million in direct assistance to music people and placed them in therapy and substance use treatment. Currently, MusiCares is the only philanthropic organization that covers the full costs of substance use treatment for music people. While financial support is essential, we find it is only effective because we have specialized providers o meet the needs of music people as well as follow-up care, like sober living, accountability coaching and support for basic living needs during key recovery junctures.
Finally, we need better coordination to create comprehensive support for everyone who works in music. At MusiCares, we have never gone at it alone and have no interest in trying. We need to work in tandem with health care providers, music industry companies and non-profit partners to ensure no one slips through the cracks. Those of us who work in this space have an opportunity for stronger coordination, including sharing our data and best practices, so that we are all making evidence-based investments that address the very real challenges within our community.
We all need music. Music needs a safety net.
Laura Segura is executive director and Theresa Wolters is vice president of health & human services at MusiCares.
Ángel del Villar‘s criminal trial case could set a precedent in Latin music. The CEO of regional Mexican powerhouse label, Del Records, is accused of doing business with a concert promoter linked to Mexican drug cartels. Del Villar’s ongoing trial began on March 18 at a downtown Los Angeles federal courtroom and follows a 2022 criminal […]
Japanese entertainment company Avex announced a major move to increase its investment and presence in the U.S. on Tuesday (March 25), naming S10 founder Brandon Silverstein CEO of its newly formed Avex Music Group. AMG will focus on promoting Avex artists globally, building its music publishing portfolio, expanding into music catalog deals and much more.
“Avex has always been driven by a bold vision: to shape the future of music,” Avex CEO Katsumi Kuroiwa said in a statement. “Since forming our strategic partnership with Brandon, we have strengthened our presence in the U.S. market, and now, we are taking that vision to the next level.”
Previously known as Avex USA, all assets and staff will be consolidated under AMG, which will continue to be headquartered in Los Angeles. Silverstein will oversee all company operations in addition to being a partner in AMG with an equity stake and joining its board of directors.
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“It is an honor to work alongside Katsumi and contribute to Avex’s legacy of innovation and excellence,” Silverstein added. “My mandate is to build Avex Music Group into a dynamic, full-service music company that creates global opportunities for our creative community.”
In conjunction with Silverstein’s new role, Avex – which had an estimated global revenue of $1 billion USD in 2024 – has acquired 100% of the S10 Music Publishing song catalog and an additional stake in S10 Management. Avex now has the largest share in S10 Management alongside Silverstein and Roc Nation. S10’s existing team and operations will remain unchanged.
Silverstein founded S10 Publishing in 2020 as a joint venture with Avex. Its catalog includes Hot 100 No. 1s such as “Peaches” by Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Caesar and Giveon; “Greedy” by Tate McRae; “First Class” by Jack Harlow and more, alongside hits by Rihanna, Bad Bunny, Post Malone and others.
S10’s Management roster includes Myke Towers, Big Sean and Madison Bailey.
“By deepening our commitment and entrusting Brandon to lead our U.S. operations, we are not only expanding our footprint but also positioning Avex as a potent force in the international music landscape,” Kuroiwa said. “Together, we will create new opportunities for creatives, introduce Japanese talent to a wider global audience, and push boundaries to redefine what it means to be a global powerhouse in music and entertainment.”
The digital media and ecommerce company Infinite Reality announced that it acquired the streamer Napster for $207 million on Tuesday (March 25). This marks the third time Napster has changed hands in the last five years.
“With Infinite Reality’s expertise in immersive 3D technology, we will transform Napster into a next-generation platform where fans don’t just listen on their own — they experience music in entirely new ways,” Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos said in a statement. “This isn’t just a new chapter for Napster, it’s the beginning of a more interactive and social music experience for the next era of the internet.”
Working with Napster, Infinite Reality aims to provide artists with the tools to create 3D virtual spaces and sell physical and virtual merchandise. “Imagine stepping into a virtual venue to watch an exclusive show with friends,” said Vlassopulos, or to “chat with your favorite artist in their own virtual hangout as they drop their new single.” Vlassopulos previously served as head of music at Roblox, which has offered similar experiences to artists and labels.
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Infinite Reality has been expanding rapidly in recent years, reporting that it spent around $800 million on acquisitions in 2024 alone. The company’s goal is “lead an internet industry shift from a flat 2D clickable web to a 3D conversational one,” according to Infinite Reality CEO John Acunto.
The spending spree has continued this year. In January, Infinite Reality announced that it had raised $3 billion. A few weeks later, it acquired the company Obsess, which has worked on 3D digital stores and experiences for brands like Ralph Lauren, Crate & Barrel, and J.Crew. Napster is Infinite Reality’s latest target.
Napster famously launched in 1999 as a file-sharing service that allowed users to download tracks for free. It later became a licensed streaming service, albeit a small one: It had a little more than 1 million monthly active users at the end of 2020, according to Music Ally.
That year, the virtual reality concert app MelodyVR bought Napster for $70 million. Hivemind Capital Partners and cryptocurrency company Algorand became the streamer’s new owners in 2022.
In an interview after that acquisition, Vlassopulos said he hoped Napster could foster “much more of [a] community experience” and not just be “a transactional consumption vehicle.”
Infinite Reality’s Acunto echoed that rhetoric this week. “I firmly believe that the artist-fan relationship is evolving,” he said in a statement. “Fans [are] craving hyper-personalized, intimate access to their favorite artists, while artists are searching for innovative ways to deepen connections with fans, and access new streams of revenue.”
Private equity firm Silver Lake has completed its acquisition of 100% of the stock of sports and entertainment giant Endeavor to take the company private in a deal that values it at $25 billion, the firm announced on Monday (March 24).
As part of the deal, Endeavor stockholders will receive $27.50 in cash per share, which represents a 55% premium to the company’s closing price of $17.72 on Oct. 25, 2023 — the day before Endeavor announced Silver Lake’s plans to take the company private.
Endeavor, which owns the talent agency WME, marketing agency 160over90, brand licensing agency IMG Licensing and more, will be renamed WME Group. Endeavor is the largest company in the media and entertainment sector ever to be taken private by a private equity sponsor, Silver Lake said in a press release.
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Silver Lake co-CEO Egon Durban said his firm has never sold a share in Endeavor since its first investment in the company in 2012, and over that time, Endeavor’s “revenue has grown by twentyfold.”
“Silver Lake has previously invested on six separate occasions to support Endeavor and now, with this latest investment, it is the single largest position in our global portfolio,” Durban added.
Endeavor founder and former CEO Ari Emmanuel will move into the role of executive chairman of WME Group. On Monday, Emmanuel cashed out a portion of his ownership stake in the company for $173.8 million, per a regulatory filing first reported by Variety. Patrick Whitesell, who was previously executive chairman of Endeavor/WME received a $100 million payout, Variety reported.
Following the deal Endeavor will hold on to its majority stake in TKO Group Holdings, a separately traded sports and entertainment company whose assets include wrestling promotor WWE and Ultimate Fighting Championship. The valuation of $25 billion includes TKO’s assets.
In addition to WME, 160over90 and IMG, Endeavor’s portfolio includes Pantheon Media Group, live event hospitality firm On Location and sports betting data firm OpenBet.
Led by co-CEOs Durban and Greg Mondre, Silver Lake has $104 billion in combined assets under management, and its portfolio includes stakes in companies including Oak View Group, Fanatics, TEG, Waymo, Stripe, Plaid, SoFi and Madison Square Garden Sports.
Ed Sheeran has enlisted an all-star cast to back his written plea for the U.K. government to provide stronger support for music education in schools, with signatories including Sir Elton John, Harry Styles, Coldplay and more.
In an open letter to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer ahead of this week’s budget announcement, Sheeran says that while he acknowledges a recent package from the Labour government on arts education, “we urgently need funding going directly into the hands of schools and communities on the ground. We’re losing time.”
In an accompanying statement, Sheeran added, “This creative industry brings so much to our culture, our communities, our economy, our personal wellbeing, but music education has fallen through the gaps. That’s why I’m tasking government, collectively, to correct the mistakes of its past and to protect and grow this for generations to come.”
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The letter specifically calls for a £250 million ($322.6 million) U.K. music education package “to repair decades of dismantling music” and calls upon a number of government departments (Culture, Education, Foreign Office, Health & Social Care and Business & Trade) to contribute to the fund. It also highlights five key areas for growth: music funding in schools, training for music teachers, funding for grassroots venues/spaces, music apprenticeships and a diverse music curriculum.
Other big-name co-signers to the letter include Annie Lennox, Ben Lovett & Ted Dwane (Mumford & Sons), Central Cee, Dave, Eric Clapton, James Bay, Myles Smith, Robert Plant and Stormzy.
Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the exchequer, is due to present her spring budget statement to parliament on Wednesday (March 26).
The Ed Sheeran Foundation
Courtesy of The Ed Sheeran Foundation
The letter comes amid a renewed focus on music education in the U.K. In January, Sheeran launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation to highlight the lack of music education funding and help provide opportunities. He wrote at the time, “Even when I was in school it was seen as a ‘doss subject’ and not taken seriously. There’s a misconception that it’s ’not a real job’ — when the music industry accounts for 216,000 jobs in so many different fields, and bringing as much as £7.6 billion ($9.3 billion) in a year to the UK economy.”
In the letter, Sheeran additionally calls for an extra £32 million ($41.3 million) a year towards the Music national Music Hub program, set up by the U.K.’s Department of Education (DfE) to provide high-level music education to state schools. In 2025, the program will provide schools with funding of up to £79 million ($101 million).
At the BRITs earlier this month, several high-profile acts used the ceremony to call for better music foundations for emerging artists and school pupils. Speaking from the stage after collecting the BRITs Rising Star Award, Myles Smith said, “If British music is one of the most powerful cultural exports we have, why have we treated it like an afterthought for so many years? How many more venues need to close? How many more music programs need to be cut before you realize that we can’t just celebrate success, you have to protect the foundations that make it?”
Experts have also highlighted the need to provide ample education around not only music performance but the diverse job opportunities available in the industry overall. In a previous interview with Billboard UK, Ben Selway of Access Creative College said, “The lack of access to music education for under-16s results in a generation of young people who’ve not been afforded the opportunity to spark their interest in music and realise their talent.”
Read the full letter and see the list of signatories here.
Forest Hills Stadium in Queens says it’s planning to move ahead with its 2025 concert season, amid reports that the New York Police Department (NYPD) has revoked the venue’s permits due to an ongoing conflict over noise complaints between the stadium and its residential neighbors.
“Forest Hills Stadium is moving forward with our 2025 concert schedule as planned and our permitting timeline is on its standard schedule,” reads a statement from the New York venue that was posted to social media on Sunday (May 23). “As happens every season, the vocal NIMBY minority of Forest Hills Gardens are attempting to roadblock yet another enjoyable season of music.”
The statement follows a report from the New York Post published Sunday that claimed the stadium — which has long been plagued by noise complaints from neighbors and in 2023 was hit by a lawsuit from the local homeowners association, the Forest Hills Garden Corporation (FHGC), seeking to shut down its summer concert program — had its sound amplification permits revoked by the NYPD last week due to an impasse in the conflict between the FHGC and the West Side Tennis Club, where the stadium is located. According to the article, the FHGC announced it would no longer grant the NYPD permission to close the streets around the stadium, which the FHGC privately owns, leaving the NYPD with no choice but to revoke the sound permits.
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Billboard has confirmed that the FHGC has refused to grant the NYPD permission to close the streets bordering the stadium for its upcoming summer concert season, essentially making it impossible for the department to do its job.
“This is a disagreement between the Forest Hills Garden Corporation (FHGC) and the West Side Tennis Club,” a spokesperson for the NYPD said in a statement provided to Billboard. “We understand that many people enjoy these concerts every summer, but we must be able to take appropriate action to keep people safe. We trust that the FHGC and the West Side Tennis Club will be able to reach an appropriate compromise.”
Despite the standoff, the venue says it still intends to move forward with the upcoming concert season that would include performances from Bloc Party, The Black Keys, Leon Bridges, Alabama Shakes, Tyler Childers and two nights of Phish.
In October 2024, a year after the FHGC filed its lawsuit, a judge dismissed five of the seven claims brought by the homeowners association, including claims that the West Side Tennis Club was in violation of its contract with the neighborhood and that it had unjustly profited from the stadium’s growing success. The ruling left only FHGC’s public and private nuisance claims intact, though the judge in the case, Joseph J. Esposito, did not find in FHGC’s favor on the merits of the nuisance claims. He merely held that they had stated a claim sufficient to survive the motion to dismiss, which they must now prove through discovery.
