International
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MUMBAI – Spotify has removed Indian record label Zee Music Company’s catalog after negotiations for a renewal of their licensing agreement fell through, Billboard has learned. As a result, the No.1 track on Spotify in India over the past two weeks, “Apna Bana Le” from the soundtrack to the 2022 Hindi film Bhediya, is no longer available on the platform.
“Spotify and Zee Music have been unable to reach a licensing agreement,” Spotify says in a statement sent to Billboard. “Throughout these negotiations, Spotify has tried to find creative ways to strike a deal with Zee Music and will continue our good faith negotiations in hopes of finding a mutually agreeable solution soon.”
Anurag Bedi, the chief business officer at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, declined to comment.
Apart from Spotify, Zee Music Company is also absent from Gaana, which it disappeared from in 2022 only a few months before the Indian audio-streaming platform became a subscription-only service.
On March 14, the last day its releases could be streamed on Spotify, Zee Music had over two dozen tracks on Spotify’s Daily Top 200 Songs chart for India. These included long-running Bollywood hits such as “Maiyya Mainu” from Jersey (2022), the title tracks from Kalank (2019) and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas (2019), “Makhna” from Drive (2019), “Namo Namo” from Kedarnath (2018) and “Zaalima” from Raees (2017).
The label’s catalog also includes soundtracks to films distributed by sister company Zee Studios, such as the 2018 rom-com Veere Di Wedding and the 2019 hip-hop-centric Gully Boy.
Zee Music Company, which is part of the Zee Entertainment Enterprises media conglomerate, is one of India’s largest domestic record labels. Its YouTube subscriber base of 93.6 million makes it the second most-subscribed-to Indian music channel after global leader T-Series, which boasts 239 million subscribers.
LONDON — Facebook parent Meta and Italy’s largest collecting society are locked in a dispute over the use of songs on the platform from thousands of songwriters and composers, with music rights groups accusing the tech company of using strong-arm tactics to try to get its way.
Meta has started to remove all licensed works from the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE). The company has “been unable to renew” its partnership agreement with SIAE and will therefore “no longer make available SIAE licensed works in Meta’s music library,” a spokesperson for Meta confirms to Billboard. The number of SIAE licensed music works that are affected by Meta’s actions is around 5.7 million works, according to SIAE.
The withdrawal means that any content-containing songs managed by SIAE, except those obtained through sub-licensing, will be blocked on Facebook, including Facebook Reels and Facebook Stories. On Instagram, content using SIAE members’ repertoire will be muted, unless users choose to replace the banned audio with another piece of music, Meta says.
The move affects repertoire from all European countries and multiple markets outside the European Union, but does not include the United States, an SIAE spokesperson tells Billboard.
Based in Rome, SIAE is the world’s sixth-largest copyright collective management organization, according to the International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies’ (CISAC), representing the rights of around 5.7 million Italian music works and around 95,000 members. The organization has agreements in place with 178 authors’ societies worldwide and administers public performance and other rights of 62 million Italian and international works, spanning music, cinema, literature and other areas.
Notable music artists it represents include composer Ennio Morricone, singer Zucchero and hard rockers Mäneskin. “It is important to notice,” a rep for SIAE said, “that in the midst of the removal process many other works from the international catalog and from international authors, thus not related in any way with SIAE, have been erroneously removed.”
Meta’s music-licensing agreement with the Italian society expired at the end of December. During negotiations for a new deal, Meta offered a lump-sum value without providing the necessary information for SIAE to evaluate whether it was fair compensation for rights holders, the SIAE spokesperson says.
The Italian organization also claims the tech company refused to share data about how its members’ repertoire was being used and monetized, citing internal policies. “When it comes to complex platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and their many services (posts, stories, reels), if we’re not given any clue about the amount of advertising, video and music that they host, it means we’re negotiating blindly,” Matteo Fedeli, the CEO of SIAE, tells Billboard.
Fedeli says Meta threatened to remove all music works managed by SIAE if the offer was not accepted. “Meta gave a take-it-or-leave-it final offer when our positions were still pretty far from each other,” he says. “That’s imposing, not negotiating.”
The refusal to share relevant information, says SIAE, places Meta in contravention of the European Copyright Directive approved by the European Union in 2019, which requires platforms that rely on user-generated content — such as YouTube, TikTok or Facebook — to obtain “fair remuneration” license deals with rights holders and provide them with transparent reporting on revenues generated from the use of their work.
Meta responds that it has successfully renewed music licenses with many of its largest partners throughout Europe — including the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France and Sweden — based on the same fee model and terms it offered SIAE.
“Protecting the copyrights of songwriters and artists is a top priority,” a spokesperson for Meta says in a statement. “We continue to have music deals in more than 150 countries and remain committed to reaching an agreement with SIAE that works for everyone.”
Meta’s fallout with SIAE comes after the company announced on March 14 it would trim 10,000 jobs and would not be filling 5,000 open positions as part of cost-saving measures. In November, the company announced 11,000 job cuts, representing about 13% of its overall workforce.
On Friday, music rights and publishing trade bodies slammed Meta for its decision to pull SIAE repertoire from its platforms.
“Meta has decided to use its position as a corporate mega power to hold artists at gunpoint and undervalue their hard work and creativity,” the Brussels-based Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF) says in a statement. “Fair and honest negotiation is the only way forward. Meta needs to retract.”
John Phelan, director general of ICMP, an international music publishing trade association, criticizes Meta for “using unsurprising strong-arm tactics of demanding a ‘take it or leave it’ fee and when not happy, removing music to try and devalue the deal.”
The tech company, Phelan says in a statement, “must obey the law and take a full and fair license for the music it wants to use and profit from. If it does not, it is in breach of Italian and EU law.”
Fedeli says the music industry “understands that there is a problem with [the] value gap and that the excessive power of [tech] platforms allow them to pursue such unilateral actions.” He is, nevertheless, keen to resume negotiations.
“We want to reach an agreement in good faith that is satisfying for both parties,” he says. “We know that we’re not aiming for the moon. We’re asking for a perfectly reasonable figure.”
Additional Reporting By Federico Durante Of Billboard Italy
HYBE founder and chairman Bang Si-hyuk said his company is only getting started in its bid to grow into a global music powerhouse that can rival the three major labels.
The South Korean company’s two U.S. acquisitions — Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings and QC Media Holdings, parent company of hip-hop label Quality Control Music — are “just the beginning,” Bang said Wednesday at Gwanhun Forum in Seoul. The executive behind supergroup BTS insisted HYBE must have a “sense of urgency” and look outside of Korea to continue to grow.
“We are living in an era where everything we do in the content industry resonates beyond geographical boundaries,” Bang said. “At the same time, K-pop has become a global industry that can only continue to grow by targeting both domestic and international markets.”
At home, Bang said HYBE and its Korean rivals can’t do it alone. In his speech, he called on the South Korean government to support the K-pop companies in their bid to take on the global majors – Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — by helping them become national champions in the way that electronics companies Samsung and LG have become global powerhouses with government support.
While K-pop built HYBE into a powerhouse, the company might have only a brief window to capitalize on its global success. “K-pop is in crisis,” the HYBE chief said, asserting that by most measures the genre is in decline in Southeast Asia, other than growth in China and spending per consumer. In the United States, 53% fewer K-pop tracks charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022 than the previous year, according to Bang. He attributed the K-pop slowdown to BTS’ hiatus as a group in 2022 and said he doesn’t believe the group’s eventual comeback will bring back the lost revenue.
When Bang talks about exporting K-pop around the world, he isn’t referring to just a genre of music. To him, K-pop is “a culture that encompasses music-oriented systems such as music and content production, distribution, marketing, communication with fans, and other systems of music.” In HYBE’s “multi-label” structure, he added, the Korean headquarters provides guidance to its labels and disperses the risk so its subsidiaries can operate “in a healthy competition that drives each other to improve.”
For HYBE to make inroads in the United States, the world’s largest music market, it needs “a strong network and infrastructure … to minimize the cost of trial and error” involved in exploring an unfamiliar landscape, Bang added. In the U.S., Braun leads HYBE America, the umbrella organization for SB Projects’ management clients, Big Machine Music Group and Quality Control. HYBE also has a joint venture in the U.S. with Universal’s Geffen Records to develop a girl pop group for the domestic market.
While Bang didn’t say which companies HYBE is targeting for further acquisitions, in a press conference after his speech he noted HYBE’s interest in Latin labels. The company certainly has the resources to buy additional record labels, artist management firms or tech platforms to further fuel its expansion: HYBE had cash and cash equivalents of 903 billion won ($689 million) as of Sept. 30, 2022, the latest date for which data is available. The goal, said Bang, is to achieve scale “that can’t be ignored.”
Even though HYBE dominates K-pop and generated revenue of $1.4 billion in 2022, Bang described his company in biblical terms: He is David, the three major labels are Goliath. Major K-pop companies account for less than 2% of the global music market, he said, while the majors own 67.4%.
Looking around the world, Bang sees “alarming trends,” including K-pop commanding fewer chart positions in 2022 than in the previous year. “In this context, the existence of global K-pop artists without a dominant global entertainment company inevitably leads to concerns about the industry’s ability to be on the lookout for future uncertainties,” he said.
What will it take for HYBE to turn from David into a sustainable Goliath? Bang wants more scale and stronger distribution partners to give K-pop additional bargaining power to negotiate more favorable distribution rates. In that way, he said, HYBE can improve its financial performance “and enable the company and our artists to grow.”
Further entering the U.S. market will require building “a strong network and infrastructure,” Bang said. “Through this, we need to minimize the cost of trial and error caused by situations that are difficult for us to change, or due to our unfamiliarity with the local conditions, and secure an equal level of presence and influence in the mainstream market equivalent to local companies.”
Breaking artists isn’t a matter of “luck or sheer intuition,” the HYBE founder added. Rather, success is the result of a management process that can be systemized and replicated in other markets. HYBE’s multi-label structure demonstrates this approach, Bang said: “It is a system that has been meticulously established based on experience, trial and error, and contemplation to enable the company’s success.”
Additional reporting by Jeyup S. Kwaak
There are 29 debuts on the March 18-dated Billboard Global 200 and 25 of those come from Morgan Wallen. The hit parade doesn’t stop there, with Wallen breaking ground among country – and all – artists on Billboard’s flagship global chart.
On top of Wallen’s 25 debuts, he adds five re-entries. More, four of his tracks hold over from last week’s chart. All of that adds up to 34 placements on this week’s Global 200, more than any artist has ever simultaneously charted in the list’s two-and-a-half-year lifespan. Taylor Swift previously held the record, with 31 songs on the Nov. 27, 2021, list in the wake of the release of her country-pop rerecording Red (Taylor’s Version).
Wallen’s total streaming figure and record-breaking hold on the chart are unqualified triumphs for any artist and especially so for country acts. Since launching in September 2020, the Global 200 has had 125 instances of an artist charting 10 or more songs at once, but only three of those belong to a current core country artist – in each case Wallen. He landed 19 songs on the Jan. 23, 2021-dated tally and 10 the following week. His new album, the Billboard 200-topping One Thing at a Time, sparks his latest chart haul, just as the arrival of his prior LP, Dangerous: The Double Album, yielded his big weeks on the Global 200 two years ago.
To find a full-on country act other than Wallen with a noteworthy robust one-week sum, we arrive at Luke Combs, who totaled six songs on the Nov. 7, 2020-dated Global 200. There have been 591 counts of an artist with six or more titles on the Global 200, spread among 65 distinct acts, but just 11 by two artists – 10 by Wallen and one by Combs – among country artists.
Country music has long struggled to find crossover success internationally. The genre is native to the United States, headquartered in Nashville and driven in large part by U.S.-based country radio, while often honoring authenticity above all else. That means that hometown (and in the case of these charts, home-country) pride goes a long way and could make exporting to Asia, Europe, South America and beyond difficult.
Wallen’s own chart entries perhaps prove that point. His song titles alone are specifically American, referencing Ford trucks (“F150-50”), Tennessee (“Tennessee Numbers” and “Tennessee Fan”) and the particulars of a certain baseball team’s near-championship run from 25 years ago (“’98 Braves”). Those songs, and most others from his latest album, storm the Global 200 powered by domestic streams but miss out on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart.
Of Wallen’s 34 Global 200 entries, just one appears on Global Excl. U.S., where “Last Night” debuts at No. 103. It’s his first song to ever hit that tally, and though it’s a debut worth celebrating, it’s dwarfed by the track’s No. 5 rank on this week’s Global 200 (and No. 1 status on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100, where Wallen achieves his first leader). Further, it’s just the second song by a country act (excluding Swift), to appear on Global Excl. U.S.. The other was Combs’ “Forever After All,” which hit No. 105 for one week before falling off, while peaking at No. 4 on the Global 200 in the first of 38 weeks on the chart.
Among songs on both of this week’s global charts, the average streaming breakdown is 25% domestic and 75% international. Wallen’s “Last Night” is all the way at one end of that spectrum, with 84% U.S., well more than three times the average and distinctly separated from even the next highest-U.S. share, Nicki Minaj’s “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” with 65%. One Thing at a Time’s 36 songs go even further, averaging out to 88%. Hip-hop has its own noted difficulty spreading outside the U.S., making Wallen’s more extreme lack of international streaming even more stark.
Wallen’s drastically stateside lean falls in line with the near-total lack of country consumption outside the U.S., but there are small caveats. “Last Night” is on two of Billboard’s Hits of the World charts, at No. 6 on Australia Songs and No. 10 on New Zealand Songs. Oceania has historically been a friendly non-U.S. market to country acts, even supplementing Morgan’s top 10 appearance with Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” at No. 23 on the former chart. Next week, Wallen will play two arena shows each in Sydney and Melbourne alongside ERNEST, Hardy, and Bailey Zimmerman, before returning to North America for a supersized stadium tour.
Like Wallen, most country acts don’t play many concerts outside of North America. Australia and London have been welcoming, but barring major pop crossover stars like Swift or Shania Twain, genre artists remain focused on honing their U.S. fan bases. As the premier country superstar of the streaming era – a democratized and globalized evolution of a previously segmented music industry – Wallen’s ballooned presence on Billboard’s global charts could be the foot in the door for Bryan, Combs, Zimmerman, and others to test the boundaries of international music consumption.
TikTok was dismissive Wednesday of reports that the Biden administration was calling for its Chinese owners to sell their stakes in the popular video-sharing app, saying such a move wouldn’t help protect national security.
The company was responding to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., part of the Treasury Department, was threatening a U.S. ban on the app unless its owners, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., divested.
“If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem: a change in ownership would not impose any new restrictions on data flows or access,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said. “The best way to address concerns about national security is with the transparent, U.S.-based protection of U.S. user data and systems, with robust third-party monitoring, vetting, and verification, which we are already implementing.”
The Journal report cited anonymous “people familiar with the matter.” The Treasury Department and the White House’s National Security Council declined to comment.
Late last month, the White House gave all federal agencies 30 days to wipe TikTok off all government devices.
The Office of Management and Budget called the guidance a “critical step forward in addressing the risks presented by the app to sensitive government data.” Some agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State, already have restrictions in place. The White House already does not allow TikTok on its devices.
Congress passed the “No TikTok on Government Devices Act” in December as part of a sweeping government funding package. The legislation does allow for TikTok use in certain cases, including for national security, law enforcement and research purposes.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in both the House and Senate have been moving forward with legislation that would give the Biden administration more power to clamp down on TikTok.
Rep. Mike McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has been a vocal critic of the app, saying the Chinese Communist Party is using it to “manipulate and monitor its users while it gobbles up Americans’ data to be used for their malign activities.”
“Anyone with TikTok downloaded on their device has given the CCP a backdoor to all their personal information. It’s a spy balloon into your phone,” the Texas Republican said.
TikTok remains extremely popular and is used by two-thirds of teens in the U.S. But there is increasing concern that Beijing could obtain control of American user data that the app has obtained.
The company has been dismissive of the ban for federal devices and has noted that it is developing security and data privacy plans as part of the Biden administration’s ongoing national security review.
Bang Si-hyuk, HYBE label chairman, made an appearance on Wednesday (March 15) at the Gwanhun Forum, where he shared a speech and held a press Q&A, discussing the company’s plans to expand K-pop globally. He also touched on plans for BTS following their mandatory military enlist.
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Bang revealed that there is no set date for BTS’ comeback as a group, and requested respect for the band’s privacy regarding military service and their plans for their careers. In October, HYBE’s BIGHIT Music said all seven members would serve in the military and the group is expected to reconvene in 2025, though now that date is not confirmed.
Bang also revealed that BTS haven’t yet renewed their contract with HYBE, adding that the company “still has time left” until the boy band’s contracts expire, according to The K-Pop Herald. “We’ll discuss [contract renewal with the members] within the time, and I believe it will be right for us to speak about it after the discussion ends,” he explained.
Just days after the release of their anthology album Proof — released as a celebration of the septet’s ninth anniversary — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook shared in a video posted in June 2022 that they plan to take a break from group activities so they can all have time to work on personal and solo endeavors.
In January, 30-year-old Jin became the first member of the septet to begin his mandatory 18-month stint in the South Korean army. At press time it had not yet been announced when Jin’s bandmates will begin their service.
Additional reporting By Jeyup S. Kwaak.
Recorded-music revenue hit an all-time high in Spain last year, growing by double digits over 2021, reports Productores de Música de España (Promusicae), the association that represents 95% of the country’s recording industry.
In 2022, Spain’s recorded music market earned a total of 462 million euros ($494.5 million), marking an increase of 12.4% over the 411 million euros ($440 million) in revenue achieved the year prior, Promusicae reported Monday (March 13).
Eighty-seven percent of last year’s total revenue number — or 402 million euros ($429 million) — was generated by music sales, up 9.3% from 2021. The digital market accounted for nearly 86% of music consumed in Spain last year at 345 million euros ($370 million), 98% of which, or 340 million euros ($364 million), came from streaming. Meanwhile, physical sales, which generated 56 million euros ($60 million) in revenue, continued to decline despite growth in the vinyl market.
In the digital sphere, consumption of both audio and video music streams grew by 13% and 16%, respectively, compared to 2021. That translates to 17 million Spaniards using audio streaming platforms in 2022, with 5.2 million of those listeners holding premium subscriptions — up 18% over the previous year. Overall, nearly 36% of the Spanish population used audio streaming platforms in 2022.
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
The physical music market continued to shrink despite another strong year for vinyl, which grew 15% and generated 29 million euros ($31 million) in sales, compared to 26 million euros ($29 million) generated by CD sales. In units, more CDs are still being bought than vinyl (2.6 million units compared to 1.7 million vinyl records were shipped in 2022), even as more-expensive vinyl surpassed CDs in revenue terms. Rosalía‘s Motomami was Spain’s top seller on vinyl last year, though Promusicae did not provide sales numbers for the title.
The Promusicae report also notes that revenue from intellectual property rights has been booming for record labels, increasing by 42% last year to 56 million euros ($60 million). The report cautions, however, that the increase is distorted somewhat by a return to normal activity in sectors like hospitality and nightlife following pandemic-era restrictions.
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
Meanwhile, Spanish-language music further solidified its dominance in the country, with Bad Bunny, Rosalía and C. Tangana outpacing Anglo artists like Harry Styles and Taylor Swift in overall sales (see charts below).
“Closing 2022, maintaining a sustained growth in the last five years — despite the slowdown of the pandemic — is great news that rewards the effort, work and investment of the entire recording industry in our country,” Promusicae president Antonio Guisasola says in a statement. “It opens a window of hope to reach levels of the previous decade.”
Guisasola adds that other European countries, such as the United Kingdom or Italy, “are achieving great benefits that redound to the brand and culture of the country through music, and ours cannot be left behind in this highly competitive environment in which we have the strategic asset of the Spanish language.”
Courtesy PROMUSICAE
On the downside, piracy continues to be a problem in Spain. Promusicae notes that according to the IFPI Engaging With Music 2022 report, 32% of Spaniards use unauthorized or unlicensed methods to listen to or download music. The percentage is even higher for individuals between 16 and 24 years old, with 49% of that age demographic listening to pirated music.
Top 10 albums by revenue in 2022:
Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti
Rosalía, Motomami
C. Tangana, El Madrileño
Harry Styles, Harry’s House
Rauw Alejandro, Vice Versa
Sebastián Yatra, Dharma
Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG
Manuel Carrasco, Corazón y Flecha
Taylor Swift, Midnights
Mora, Microdosis
Top 10 songs by revenue in 2022:
Bizarrap x Quevedo, “Quevedo: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 52”
Manuel Turizo, “La Bachata”
Rosalía, “Despecha”
Bad Bunny, “Tití Me Preguntó”
Sebastián Yatra, “Tacones Rojos
Bad Bunny, “Me Porto Bonito” feat. Chencho Corleone
Rauw Alejandro, “Desesperados” feat. Chencho Corleone
La Pantera, Quevedo Juseph, Cruz Cafune, Abhir Hathi “Cayó La Noche (Remix)”
Shakira, “Te Felicito” feat. Rauw Alejandro
Bizarrap x Tiago PZK, “Tiago PZK: BZRP Music Sessions, Vol. 48”
SEOUL — K-pop juggernaut HYBE has withdrawn its bid to control rival agency SM Entertainment and has instead decided to collaborate with SM as well as rival bidder Kakao, marking a sudden détente. Announced early Sunday, the resolution paves the way for K-pop agencies to not only bury the hatchet but also continue their push to monetize fandom with idol-related online content.
“Proceeding with a higher tender offer [to beat Kakao’s bid] may have in turn caused a negative impact on our shareholders and we also judged it may have further overheated the market,” HYBE said in a statement. The agency of boy band BTS had secured about 15% of SM, a former market leader, mostly by acquiring shares from SM founder Lee Soo-man, who was recently pushed out from the agency. A previous tender offer to increase HYBE’s stake in SM didn’t move the needle and a counteroffer by Kakao remains outstanding until March 26.
On Monday, the market reacted by dragging SM stock down more than 23% to 113,000 Korean won, making Kakao’s current offer at 150,000 won more attractive. A HYBE representative said Monday it has not decided whether to sell the SM shares. He added that it was studying possible avenues for collaboration with SM and/or Kakao but declined to comment further. HYBE and Kakao shares have jumped 3.21% and 4.65%, respectively.
SM, which has played a key role in K-pop’s popularity and overseas expansion, has resisted HYBE’s acquisition, slamming it as “anticompetitive.” The two agencies in recent years have dominated the charts, together accounting for nearly half of all albums sold in 2022, according to Korean chart company Circle Chart. But despite its success, shareholders have been calling for changes to the Lee-controlled single-pipeline structure, as rival agencies grew larger by delegating creative direction to mostly autonomous teams. Lee was also being paid millions of dollars a year in producer fees, though he held no managerial position there, an arrangement that shareholders have scrutinized in recent years.
In a drive for reform, SM’s management in February said it would issue new shares to be sold to Kakao as part of a wide-ranging partnership. Lee, then-the biggest shareholder, protested but management overrode him. Lee then offloaded most of his shares to HYBE, which in turn tried to up its stake with a tender offer. Lee successfully challenged the Kakao deal in court, prompting the latter to issue a higher counteroffer.
“Kakao vows to guarantee operational independence at SM, respecting its strongest asset and impetus, the employees, artists and fans,” said Kakao chief investment officer Bae Jae-hyun in a statement on Sunday. Bae added that Kakao and SM would “create new synergies, based on SM Entertainment’s global IP and production system as well as Kakao’s IT expertise and IP value-chain business capacity.”
HYBE, SM and other rivals have in recent years pushed proprietary platforms like Weverse and Beyond Live to foster online fan communities for all fan activities, free or for-pay. Kakao’s platform and search-engine rival Naver in 2017 also inked a deal with YG Entertainment, home to girl group Blackpink, to push YG artists’ content.
SM did not return calls for comment.
Kalush Orchestra, the Ukrainian act that captured the world’s attention last year when it won the Eurovision Song Contest as its country was being torn apart by war, wraps up a second North American tour on March 16 with a performance at SXSW in Austin.
The seven-member group’s song “Stefania” won Eurovision in Turin, Italy, with a record-setting 438 points from the public, reflecting the widespread pro-Ukraine sentiment at least year’s event three months after Russia launched its unprovoked invasion.
After the competition, Kalush Orchestra did an 18-show promotional tour, with performances in Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and at Glastonbury Festival in the U.K., before embarking on a 13-city North American tour. The shows helped raise funds for the Ukrainian armed forces. The group also sold its Eurovision trophy for $900,000, with the proceeds earmarked for the purchase of combat drones for Ukraine’s military. (The band raised $1.6 million overall.)
The current five-city U.S. jog cements the group as one of the few Eurovision winners to turn a victory at the pan-European competition into global success, following in the footsteps of ABBA, which won with “Waterloo” in 1974, and Måneskin, which triumphed with “Zitti e Buoni” in 2021. Billboard talked to the Kalush Orchestra’s founder and leader, rapper Oleh Psiuk, via Zoom about returning to the U.S., the impact of Eurovision on the band’s career and the ongoing war with Russia, which is now in its second year.
BB: Who came up with the idea for this new tour?
First, we were invited to the big showcase festival SXSW in Austin. We considered it to be a very cool opportunity, so we decided we should show our creativity, our works and of course we decided that then we could visit several cities which we’ve never been to in the U.S. before. That’s how our new tour was born, even though the previous one was just five months ago.
What was that first tour like and what would you like to see this time?
We had 18 concerts during the previous tour, and they were daily, so unfortunately, we saw only airports and the venues where we had those concerts. But still, we had a little bit of time to see sunny Los Angeles. L.A. is my favorite because I’ve always been listening to the music and to the performers from that area. And this time I do hope we’ll have more time to see and enjoy your country.
What performers from the West Coast are your favorites?
I love the performers from the so-called Golden Era. Like N.W.A, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. I listen to lots of music from the West Coast.
Last time you met Arnold Schwarzenegger, and he appeared in your video for ‘Generous Evening’ and spoke in Ukrainian. Are there any plans this time to meet any celebrities or government figures?
We don’t have any plans now, but honestly speaking we didn’t have any plans then as well. We wrote to Arnold that very day when we met and that was a lucky coincidence. So we do hope that this time we’ll also have such a day when we write to someone famous and we’ll have an opportunity to meet.
In the U.S., Eurovision is not that well known, though the Will Ferrell film (Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga) has helped increase awareness. How did American audiences find you on your first tour?
The bigger part of our audience was still Ukrainians who are living in the U.S. But there were other people who were coming to our concerts. The people who knew Eurovision, what it is, or people who just saw some announcement or billboard in the city and they decided to see us. They were just curious to get to know who we are, but after the concert, all kinds of people came up to us because they really loved it.
What are the main goals you want to accomplish for both the band and Ukraine?
First, we would like to show our music, for it to be known both in the U.S. and in Europe. Whatever city we visit, we’d like to perform and disseminate Ukrainian culture, for it to be well known anywhere. And, of course, we are raising money using the QR codes and the auctions. Last year, we raised 60 million hryvnia ($1.6 million) and we do hope to raise even more this time.
What does the money you raise support?
We send this money to some of the well-known foundations like United24 and the Sergey Prytula Foundation. And we buy armored vests and helmets and other important things for our war servicemen and military.
Kalush Orchestra
Katrin Oleynik
How do you feel when you’re out of your country? Does the trauma of the war continue?
Honestly speaking, it does not affect me. It does not influence me whether I’m in Ukraine or not, because there are lots of relatives and my parents and close friends, my good acquaintances who are now in Ukraine and I would say that I worry for them more than for myself. Because I don’t worry about myself that much. Obviously, I carry this burden with me everywhere and this kind of anxiety for them.
Let’s talk about what American audiences can expect on this current tour. Will you play new songs?
Yes. We have prepared a program which includes some of the new songs and some of the ones which have just been issued. For instance, we just issued a very new song which has the title “Changes.” It’s a very cool song with a cool video, which reflects all the changes which we are waiting for. We have a program which unites something authentic with some new styles.
Will an album be coming out soon?
So far, we plan to release singles. If we speak about the album coming out, it is planned closer to the end of the current year or maybe in the beginning of the next year. So far, we are issuing singles with cool videos in English.
It’s been not quite a year since you won Eurovision. How has your life changed, and the career trajectory of the band changed since?
We can now play a bigger role. We can have more impact on the bigger and vaster audience. We can disseminate our concert abroad and we can cover a broader audience with that. We can tell more about Ukrainian culture abroad.
That must have been an important reason for participating in Eurovision in the first place.
Yes, there were many reasons. Not only this one, but it was so important for us to win at this Eurovision, because victory is so important for Ukraine in every aspect. We made lots of people happy with this victory and we do hope it will go on like this.
Ukraine first won Eurovision in 2004 when Ruslana triumphed with “Wild Dances.” Where were you that year when she won? What did her victory mean to you and Ukraine?
I was only 10 years old then, so I don’t remember that much. But I do remember that it was a big noise, a big event in Ukraine. It had a huge resonance as an event. It was because Eurovision for Ukraine was always a very important competition.
What is next for the band after the American tour? Will there be any more touring in other countries?
Sure. We would like to get to as many of various festivals as possible to show our music and culture to the maximum. We would like to have as productive a year as the previous one was, to raise as much money and to disseminate information about us, about Ukraine.
The Kalush Orchestra’s 2023 U.S. tour dates:
March 9 — Cleveland, OH @ Cleveland Masonic
March 10 — Orlando, FL @ The Beacham
March 11 — Detroit, MI @ The Magic Stick
March 12 — Atlanta, GA @ District Atlanta
March 16 — Austin, TX @ SXSW
LONDON – Vinyl sales generated more money for record labels and artists than CDs for the first time in more than three decades in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive a 4.7% rise in overall music revenue, according to annual figures from labels trade body BPI published Thursday (March 9).
In 2022, sales of vinyl LPs climbed 3.1% year-on-year in the U.K. to £119.5 million ($142.4 million) and now account for over half (55%) of all trade revenues from physical sales. The last time vinyl revenues eclipsed CD sales in the United Kingdom, BPI says, was in 1987 when Michael Jackson’s Bad was the year’s best-selling album and Rick Astley had the best-selling single of the year with “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
In total, 5.5 million vinyl LPs were sold in the United Kingdom last year. That marks the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, according to BPI figures released in January measuring music consumption. The best-selling vinyl titles in the U.K. in 2022 were Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Arctic Monkeys’ The Car.
Despite the ongoing vinyl revival, overall revenue from physical formats was down 10.5% to £216 million ($258 million), with CD sales slipping 24% to £89 million ($107 million).
Offsetting that decline was 6.3% year-on-year growth in streaming revenues, which climbed to £885 million ($1 billion) and accounted for 67% of U.K. recorded music revenues in 2022 — up from 66.2% the 12 months prior. Vinyl sales made up 9% of the market in terms of annual trade revenues, while CDs accounted for 7%.
Breaking down streaming revenue, paid subscriptions generated £763 million ($910 million), up 4.8% on 2021, while ad-funded revenue grew by more than a fifth (22%) to £63 million ($75 million). Digital download sales fell 17.5% to £28 million ($33 million).
Synch revenues were up even more sharply, rising 39% year-on-year to £43 million ($51 million), while public performance income spiked 23% to £143 million ($170 million).
Total U.K. recorded music sales — comprising digital and physical revenues, public performance rights and synch — climbed 4.7% to £1.32 billion ($1.57 billion) in 2022. That marks a rise of 36% over the past five years, according to BPI, as well as the eighth-consecutive year of growth.
The United Kingdom is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the United States and Japan with sales of just over $1.8 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2022 Global Music Report. (BPI’s year-end sales figures are based on pound sterling, rather than the far stronger U.S. dollar, hence the perceived decline in overall revenues when BPI’s figures are converted into dollars at a constant currency basis).
“2022 was another great year for British music, but we must guard against any complacency in the face of growing challenges and keep promoting and protecting the value of music,” BPI chief strategy officer and interim CEO Sophie Jones said in a statement. She also called upon the U.K. music community to work together to “create the impetus” for further growth and “futureproof the success of British music in an increasingly competitive global music market.”
As previously reported, British artists accounted for the top 10 biggest-selling singles in the U.K. last year (either as the lead or as a featured artist) for the first time since year-end charts were introduced more than 50 years ago. Leading the pack was Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which topped the U.K. singles chart for 10 consecutive weeks (it also spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100) and was streamed more than 180 million times in the country.
Joining Styles in the U.K. top 10 was Ed Sheeran, Cat Burns, Glass Animals, Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott, LF System, Sam Fender and Kate Bush, whose 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” spent three weeks at No. 1 following its high-profile Stranger Things synch; it was streamed 124 million times in her home country last year.
Styles also landed the year’s best-selling album with his third studio set, Harry’s House, making him the first artist to have both the United Kingdom’s top single and top album since Lewis Capaldi in 2019. Sheeran’s = (Equals) and Swift’s Midnights were the year’s second and third-best-selling albums.