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15 May 2023

Missy Elliott & Atlantic Records to Be Honored by National Museum of African American Music

Hip-hop icon Missy Elliott and Atlantic Records will be honored at the National Museum of African American Music’s Celebration of Legends on June 2 at the museum in Nashville.

Elliott is scheduled to attend, as are Mya, one of the artists on the all-star remake of “Lady Marmalade” which Elliott produced; and Sylvia Rhone, chairwoman/CEO of Epic Records, who became senior vice president and general manager of Atlantic Records in 1986 and who worked with Elliott when she headed eastwest Records.

Previous honorees include Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Elliott was recently announced as the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2019, she became the first female hip-hop artist/songwriter to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Elliott has amassed nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Work It,” which logged 10 weeks at No. 2. She also reached the runner-up spot as a featured artist on Ciara’s “1, 2 Step.” A four-time Grammy winner, Elliott has won video of the year at the VMAs twice, as a featured artist on “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink in 2001 and with her own “Work It” two years later.

Atlantic Records was founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Over its first two decades, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American record labels, specializing in jazz, R&B and soul recordings by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was enhanced by its distribution deal with Stax Records. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop.

The National Museum of African American Music was designed to celebrate and preserve African Americans’ influence on music and provide Nashville-area residents and visitors alike with diverse cultural offerings. The museum opened in 2021.

15 May 2023

Offset Showers Cardi B With Love & Luxury Gifts for Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to Cardi B! The “I Like It” rapper took to social media on Sunday (May 14) to show off the gorgeous gifts that her husband Offset gave to her to celebrate the holiday.

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“I love my man he really HIMothyyy,” Cardi wrote on Twitter alongside a video of the couple’s foyer, which was decorated with nine massive bouquets of roses in tall glass vases. “My man really is HIM!!!! I’m never getting off from him !!!!!!!!”

Over on her Instagram Stories, the “Up” superstar posted videos of two Chanel bags that Offset gifted her: one green quilted bag and another identical one but in pink. “I love it, thank you baby Daddy,” Cardi says in the clip, jokingly adding that she doesn’t wear “the other green purse” the Migos rapper bought for her. “I’m over-pursed, but I never get tired of getting new purses.”

Watch her Stories before they disappear here.

“We’ve been through a lot with each other,” Offset previously told Billboard of keeping his relationship strong with Cardi, whom he’s been married to since 2017. “Some people in Hollywood live through Hollywood, but we live through each other and keep our stuff at home good. We go through ups and downs at home but have a great support system. Everybody listens to each other and have each other’s back. At the end of the day, our mission is to be successful and take care of the family.”

The couple shares two adorable children, four-year-old daughter Kulture and one-year-old son Wave.

15 May 2023

Eslabon Armado & Peso Pluma’s ‘Ella Baila Sola,’ Grupo Frontera & Bad Bunny’s ‘Un x100to’ Top Billboard Global Charts

Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” returns to No. 1 for a second week atop the Billboard Global 200 chart (dated May 20).

Plus, Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny’s “Un x100to” notches a third week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. survey.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, which began in September 2020, rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by Luminate. The Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the United States.

Chart ranks are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations.

‘Ella Baila Sola’ Back Atop Global 200

Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” rebounds 2-1 to top the Billboard Global 200 for a second week, with 92.9 million streams (down 7%) and 3,000 sold (down 30%) worldwide May 5-11. The collab initially led three weeks earlier, becoming the chart’s first No. 1 for the regional Mexican genre.

Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny’s “Un x100to” drops to No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200, following two weeks at the summit, as it became the second regional Mexican leader on the list.

Fifty Fifty’s “Cupid” shoots 5-3 on the Global 200 for a new high, up 8% to 84 million streams and 38% to 5,000 sold worldwide; Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma’s “La Bebe” recedes to No. 4 from its No. 3 best; and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” slips 4-5, after 12 weeks on top in January-April.

‘100’ = 3 Weeks at No. 1 on Global Excl. U.S.

Grupo Frontera and Bad Bunny’s “Un x100to” rules the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart for a third week, led by 73.7 million streams (up 3%) outside the U.S. May 5-11.

Fifty Fifty’s “Cupid” flies 6-2 on Global Excl. U.S. for a new best, up 8% to 66.7 million streams and 24% to 2,000 sold outside the U.S.

Peso Pluma ranks at Nos. 3 and 4 on Global Excl. U.S., as “La Bebe,” with Yng Lvcas, falls to No. 3 from its No. 2 high, and “Ella Baila Sola,” with Eslabon Armado, descends 3-4, after reaching No. 2; and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” holds at No. 5, following a record-tying (with Harry Styles’ “As It Was”) 13 weeks at No. 1 beginning upon its debut in January.

The Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts (dated May 20, 2023) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday (May 16). For both charts, the top 100 titles are available to all readers on Billboard.com, while the complete 200-title rankings are visible on Billboard Pro, Billboard’s subscription-based service. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

15 May 2023

Noriko Ashizawa of Spotify Japan on the Past & Future of the Music Industry: Billboard Japan Women in Music Interview

Billboard’s Women in Music event has celebrated artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to the music industry and empowered women through their work since 2007. In 2023, Noriko Ashizawa of Spotify Japan was recognized on this esteemed list.

Billboard Japan launched its Women in Music initiative last year, highlighting women in the country’s music industry through projects including interviews by leading figures in their respective fields. As the next featured guest in this series, Ashizawa spoke about working to support up-and-coming artists as Spotify’s Head of Music Planning and Operations in Japan. She also shared the company’s efforts to expand the reach of domestic artists and their work beyond borders to new listeners and fans. As the one who has been involved in the process that the streaming service has become the mainstream way of listening to music in Japan, how does she see the future of the music industry?

Congratulations on making Billboard’s Women in Music list for 2023. Could you tell us how you feel about this honor?

Noriko Ashizawa: Honestly, I was surprised to hear the news because I never expected to be chosen for such a prestigious award as someone who works in Japan. It still feels kind of unreal, but if it means that Spotify’s various efforts in Japan were acknowledged, I feel very honored about that.

Spotify encourages the activities of female creators in music through its global EQUAL project. What have been the results so far?

Spotify’s EQUAL program has selected 700 women around the world across various genres as ambassador artists, and more than 4,000 acts have been featured in the related playlists. We launched the localized program, EQUAL Japan in 2021, continuously spotlighting the works of Japanese female artists and creators and their voices through playlists. So far, a diverse range of female acts including the all-women band CHAI, rapper Awich, and Utaha of WEDNESDAY CAMPANELLA have been also highlighted as ambassador artists in the project. Moving forward, we’d like to further raise awareness of the program itself and make it more meaningful for artists to participate in it.

When a platform highlights that many artists, it definitely creates more opportunities for users to discover them. By the way, the year-end Billboard Japan top 100 chart for 2022 shows a noticeable gender imbalance with 58 male artists, 27 female artists, and 15 mixed groups. Spotify also has its own annual rankings. What trends do you see?

Spotify releases various annual rankings at the end of each year. Looking at last year’s ranking from the perspective of gender balance, there were 11 female acts including solo artists and groups on the “Top 50 Most Streamed Domestic Artists in Japan” list and 3 mixed groups with women as main vocalists. The “Top 50 Most Streamed Domestic Songs in Japan” tally saw similar results, with 10 out of the 50 songs by female acts. The ratio of women announced globally the year EQUAL launched was one in five, so it could be said that gender imbalance still exists on a worldwide level.

But there were some major differences between the global and domestic rankings. Looking at the “Top 5 Most Shared Artists” globally, female artists ranked in the upper tier with Taylor Swift at No. 1 and Lana Del Rey at No. 4. In Japan, the top 3 were boy bands — JO1, BE:FIRST, and INI — and the “Top 10 Most Shared Songs” list was dominated by tracks by these three groups.

That’s an interesting result. Do you know the demographics of their fans?

The majority of listeners supporting these boy bands are women. Supporting your favorite artist or act in a tangible way is called “oshikatsu” in Japanese, and especially during the pandemic, momentum rose to support those artists by listening to their music on streaming and then sharing it proactively via social media. In fact, when this ranking was announced, female fans of these groups posted many comments on social media expressing their joy. Looking over at K-pop, many female artists are also very popular among women in Japan, but it seems that in such cases, it’s more of a “listening for themselves” kind of mentality at work, encompassing feelings of empathy and admiration, rather than actively expressing their support for those artists.

It’s interesting to hear that men are dominating the charts fueled by the power of women. How do you analyze the current situation where women account for only one-fifth of the most played songs and artists on Spotify, both in Japan and globally?

I think there’s probably a gender imbalance in the number of creators to begin with. Many next-generation artists aspiring to become stars like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish are emerging, but I think it’ll still take a bit more time to change this situation in a significant way.

What do you think about the gender balance on the production side of the music and entertainment industry?

Many women work at Spotify and looking around the workplace, not only at Spotify but also at other companies in Japan, I don’t see any significant lack in the number of women these days. But if you look at the industry’s senior management, it still feels like it’s mostly men, and I think there is a difference between the state of frontline workers and that of management.

Could you share some of your background? Did you envision a particular kind of woman you wanted to be growing up?

I don’t think I’ve ever thought about men and women in a separate way. I don’t personally share the view that being a woman should be given special weight, so I respect the type of woman who can assess any given situation to realize her goals as an individual human being.

You’re certainly someone who has stuck to that value of making decisions as an individual person, transcending labels and existing frameworks imposed on you by others. How did you come to work in the music industry?

I’ve been loving music since I was a child, and always vaguely wanted to make a career of it. I listened to Western music (along with J-pop), so I became interested in English and studied abroad during my college years. After joining Sony Music Entertainment Japan and building my career in the International music division, I gradually became more interested in production work, so I chose to move to a domestic label where I was in charge of A&R for a number of years. Then, when I got transferred to Sony Interactive Entertainment in 2014, I became involved in the formation of the PlayStation Music. Until then, I’d only been involved with the artists and labels that created and delivered the music, but I had an opportunity for gaining a new point of view by working on the side of a digital platform for the first time in my life.

That was just at the time when people in Japan were starting to think that the ways of listening to music might shift from physical formats to streaming. After a while, I was fortunate to get involved in the launch of Spotify in Japan as an external partner at PlayStation Music, and although I then had to return to my previous workplace as my transfer period came to an end, I decided to work at Spotify considering much potential in streaming as a game-changing platform for bringing more opportunities to various creators by enhancing discovery between listeners and artists.

Reaching out to a global audience, which had been a high bar in the past, is now relatively easier to achieve through streaming. For instance, Fujii Kaze’s “Shinunoga E-wa” hit No. 1 on Spotify’s viral chart in 23 markets outside Japan last year and spread throughout the world. The more successful cases of Japanese artists I actually see, the more I believe there’s a lot of potential in the Japanese music industry and that we can work together to make unprecedented dreams come true.

That must have been the period when people thought it’d be hard for streaming to penetrate the Japanese market, but it turns out you made a bold decision. And since then, you and your team have supported a variety of artists to build a career in a way that might not have been possible before. Are there any female artists or acts you’d like to shout out at the moment?

Rina Sawayama’s work has been particularly remarkable lately, and her message of inclusiveness of diversity has encouraged many people. In 2020, she was selected for Spotify’s “RADAR: Early Noise,” a year-round emerging artist support program in Japan, and now she’s a superstar with a global following. Haru Nemuri is one of this year’s RADAR: Early Noise artists, and it’s really encouraging to see Japanese artists like her who convey strong messages from various angles being supported overseas even more so than in Japan, and I’d like to see this movement spread domestically as well.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

15 May 2023

How K-Pop Is Inspiring a More Connected East Asian Market (Guest Column)

TOKYO — The traditional path to financial independence through music creation has been evolving for years. While there was once a clear-cut approach that included labels, publishers, touring, and CD sales, now the vast majority of artists need to find a different way to make it. The world is bigger now, and the borders and boundaries of music are being torn down piece by piece. Not only are more and more people listening to music from outside their markets, even in once more locally focused countries like Japan, Korea and India, but more and more people are watching how other music pros operate and taking notes.

This means that new markets are opening up to creators in the United States and that, simultaneously, Asian artists are rethinking their whole approach to the business. Together, these dynamics are leading to new career paths and new sounds.

In Japan, we’ve witnessed a huge change in the incentive structure. I’ve worked for years in the Japanese market as a producer and have watched things change firsthand. One of the biggest sources of change came not from our market, but from South Korea. BTS broke the world charts and now everyone’s looking outside of Japan. Korea opened their eyes.

BTS, BLACKPINK, and other K-pop groups set a precedent and demonstrated what’s possible. Before, everyone assumed you had to change for export, to sing in English, to adjust your look and feel. But these young Korean stars didn’t initially feel a need to sing in English; instead their fans learned Korean. Korean artists and producers were able to prove that an Asian person who doesn’t know English or even have perfect pronunciation can top charts and win a Grammy. The most important factor is entertainment. Are you entertained? If so, that’s all you care about as a fan.

Watching BTS take the world by storm, Japanese artists began to expand their ambitions, and the industry has had to respond. Music professionals used to be focused on monetizing this island and that alone, but now younger artists are looking outside and considering their options. The entire ecosystem of labels and publishers has come into question, as young artists are asking why they should sign to a label. Talented musicians who sign to a major are a huge deal now. Artists know they have to pull through all their fanbase themselves.

As young Japanese creators think globally, the market is starting to open up more and more to new global talent. Yet creating the relationships to make this openness work has proven a slow evolution, not a quick pivot. The first and foremost reason that there’s a disconnect is the language barrier, as not everyone in the Japanese industry feels comfortable conducting business in English. They can’t communicate the way they’d like.

This further enhances local skepticism about working with foreign producers. Instead of a set deal, things change as the project evolves, terms change, as, say, three more writers start asking for advances out of the blue, all problems that I’ve heard about from A&Rs I’ve talked to. Relationships with people in Japan make project management easy. Because of the way publishing works in Japan, local producers cost less and everyone knows the terms of a standard contract. No negotiation is required. It’s safe and administratively simple, by comparison.

Yet if a Japanese A&R exec turns to a producer who isn’t big in Japan, they can feel shocked by higher prices and more complex terms, with international publishers and other parties involved. They have to put out their neck personally and that’s a major risk. As things change at home, however, and Japanese creators rethink their strategies, this risk can feel worth taking, and more and more tools and services are working to enable better communication and collaboration.

This has implications for artists far from our corner of the world. Artists in the United States are fighting for attention for percentages of pennies—this is not new information to anyone. In Japan, however, one play of an artist’s track in a karaoke booth can generate a hundred times as much revenue as a Spotify stream. Write, produce, or perform a hit that gets played regularly in karaoke rooms across Tokyo, especially if it’s a song that works for weddings, birthdays, or graduation, and you could receive a comfortable check for life. Yet even as artists continue to search for new ways to stand out from their peers, opportunities in East Asia often get overlooked as viable options. I see this changing, as both Japanese and non-Japanese players understand one another better, and it’s thrilling.

We’ve entered a space without borders, where business practices as well as sounds cross and blend. We can look at each other, communicate and share information any time, even across languages. The quicker that moves, the quicker the trends flow. We don’t go through decades of rock; it’s a one-month period of rock, until someone comes up with a new crazy sound. This is often happening on platforms with global reach, key gateways to new music and to what kids are making right now. How the next steps unfold–how labels, publishers, and established players react to this new global exchange–are still being determined. But once distant markets are growing closer, and the entire business stands to benefit.

Kenneth Kobori, CEO of SURF Music, is a songwriter and producer in Japan as 2SOUL. He achieved early success with “Story” by AI in 2005, which charted in Oricon’s top 10 for 73 weeks. He’s worked with Earth, Wind & Fire and Little Glee Monster, among others, and is also a former executive and startup member of Breaker, Inc.

15 May 2023

Halle Bailey Lights Up ‘American Idol’s Disney Night by Singing ‘Part of Your World’: Watch

The countdown to Disney’s The Little Mermaid continues, and to celebrate, American Idol‘s Disney Night saw its top five contestants battle it out for the remaining three spots in the competition. As part of the night’s events, Halle Bailey performed the film’s beloved song “Part of Your World” live from Disneyland on Sunday (May 14).

Bailey took the stage in a stunning sea-blue ruffled custom gown by Michael Fausto and gave a passionate take on the track in front of an audience in the darkened amusement park.

“Flippin’ your fins, you don’t get too far/ Legs are required for jumping, dancing/ Strolling along down a—/ What’s that word again? Street/ Up where they walk, up where they run/ Up where they stay all day in the sun/ Wanderin’ free/ Wish I could be part of that world,” she sang as water and bubble projections lit up Sleeping Beauty’s castle in the park.

Following the performance, Bailey tweeted to share that she hadn’t sang the track in a while. “First time singing part of your world live since filming,” she told followers. “thank you @AmericanIdol for giving me the chance to do so on stage at Disneyland ..singing vocals in freezing cold weather at 3am while park is closed is no joke but we did it! only 11 more days until you all can watch the film !”

In the American Idol episode, Iam Tongi, Megan Danielle and Colin Stough were crowned the show’s final three contestants.

Watch Bailey’s performance of “Part of Your World” in the video above.

15 May 2023

J Balvin Signs With Roc Nation for Management

Colombian star J Balvin has officially joined Roc Nation as a management client, where he will be overseen directly by Jay Brown and Chris Knight.

Balvin was previously managed by Fabio Acosta and Scooter Braun’s SB projects. He parted ways with the latter on June 30, 2022, after nearly three years together. He continued working with Acosta and his company, Akela Family Music, through March. Acosta had managed or co-managed Balvin in some capacity for the past decade. Sources say the two parted on amicable terms.

Balvin, one of the biggest Latin stars in the world, has had a series of management shifts over the past five years. In 2019, he parted ways with manager Rebeca León, who had managed him since the onset of his career in the United States, and signed with Braun. Throughout both deals, Acosta remained part of his management team and worked in partnership with SB Project, helping bring in groundbreaking deals and partnerships. These included his celebrity menu collaboration with McDonald’s — a first for a Latin act. Balvin was also the first Latin artist to collaborate with Nike and Michael Jordan on an Air Jordan collaboration, and in November of 2020, he performed in Fortnite, marking the first performance ever by a Latin act for a gaming company.

Last year, Balvin also briefly split with his longtime agency, WME, and went to UTA, after postponing his 25-date José tour. But after four months, he returned to WME.

Balvin is currently featured on the Fast X soundtrack with the track “Toretto.” He’s also announced a series of European tour dates, mostly festivals, beginning with a June 24 performance at the Solydays festival in Paris.

Balvin’s full touring schedule is below.

6/24 – Paris – Solydays 25th Anniversary Festival
6/26 – Ibiza – Pacha Nightclub
6/30 – Seville – Puro Latino Fest
7/1 – Madrid – Puro Latino Fest
7/3 – Ibiza – Pacha Nightclub
7/8 – Liege, Belgium – Les Ardentes Festival
7/9 – Constanta, Romania – Neversea Festival
7/11 – Milan – Milano Latin Festival
7/12 – Bern, Switzerland – Gurten Park
7/14 – Tenerife – Ritmo del Mundo
7/15 – Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal – Meo Mares Vivas Festival
7/21 – Byron Bay, Australia – Splendour in the Grass
7/23 – Melbourne – Margaret Court
7/25 – Sydney – Hordern Pavillion

15 May 2023

Kang Variant Vibes: Jonathan Majors & Meagan Good Reportedly Dating, Twitter Reacts

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Jonathan Majors was at the moment of superstardom after a show-stealing turn as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel’s latest Ant-Man film and a major role in the boxing drama, Creed until domestic violence allegations surfaced. Amid the drama, it is being reported that Jonathan Majors and Meagan Good are now dating, prompting some reactions from Twitter.

TMZ was the first to exclusively report that Jonathan Majors, 33, and Meagan Good, 41, are romantically involved. Sources tell the outlet that Majors and Good are spending time in Los Angeles and aren’t hiding their romance from the expected paparazzi.

Dating back to March, Majors is still facing criminal charges after he allegedly slapped and harmed his ex-girlfriend after an altercation got physical. He faces three counts of attempted assault along with assault, one count of aggravated harassment, and a single count of harassment.

Folks online believe the timing of the budding relationship is curious considering the legal hill Majors will have to climb as the case in New York continues to take shape. It isn’t clear how dating Good helps Majors as some might allege, nor does it explain where his case is headed.

Still, the comments online are all over the place regarding Majors and Good as a couple and we’ve got all those reactions below.

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Photo: Getty

15 May 2023

Sam Asghari Slams Media for Putting Britney Spears ‘Under a Microscope’: ‘Absolutely Disgusting’

Sam Asghari went off on a strongly worded diatribe defending Britney Spears over the weekend.

In a since-expired Instagram Story, the fitness trainer spoke out about people trying to capitalize on her life story and referenced the nearly 15-year legal conservatorship she was placed under for much of the 2000s.

“The last thing I wanna do is speak on my wife’s behalf, I will never do that. I respect her privacy, that’s why I don’t talk as much. And I found it absolutely disgusting for the people that were in her life at the time, when she didn’t have a voice, they went and told her story like it was theirs,” Asghari said. “It was absolutely disgusting.”

“And how are you gonna take the most influential person of our generation, the Princess of Pop, America’s sweetheart, and put her in prison?” he continued. “Where her father tells her what to do, what water to drink, who to see, and use her as a money-making machine. And then all the sudden after fifteen years, when she’s free after all those gaslighting and after all those things that went down, now you’re gonna put her under a microscope and tell her story? No. That’s also disgusting, so don’t do that.”

The model, who first met his future wife on the set of the music video for her Glory-era single “Slumber Party,” then went on to decry coverage of Spears online and cautioned fans not to believe everything they read about the star’s personal life. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, those are all clickbaits for you to click and for them to make money, and that time is over,” he said. “Not gonna allow that, and that should stop. That should stop, absolutely, the gaslighting and all that s–t? Gotta stop.”

While he didn’t mention the project directly, Asghari’s impassioned defense of Spears comes shortly after TMZ announced it would be premiering its new special, TMZ Investigates: Britney Spears: The Price of Freedom, Monday night (May 15) on FOX.

15 May 2023

Kobalt’s ‘Unpolished Gem’ Has Come to Collect — Inside AMRA’s Aggressive Growth Plan

Is there another $1 billion in global publishing royalties that rights holders can gain by using better technology? That’s what Kobalt CEO Laurent Hubert says.

When Kobalt was bought by Francisco Partners last September, the disruptive innovator known for its publishing administration clients like Karol G, Phoebe Bridgers and Max Martin said that a primary goal of this next chapter would be growing its little known and even less understood global digital rights collections society for compositions, the American Music Rights Association.

In the months since, Kobalt and its new owners have refined their strategy for scaling this “unpolished gem,” as Francisco Partners and Kobalt board director Matt Spetzler calls AMRA. Their first hurdle? Explaining what exactly the global mechanical and performance rights society focused on collecting digital-specific income can accomplish. “Too few people know what AMRA does,” says Hubert.

In an industry where, according to ­CISAC’s 2021 annual report, over 36% of global music publishing revenue royalties come from digital sources — a figure AMRA says will grow to 80% within five years — Kobalt believes AMRA can better leverage its technology and its direct agreements with digital service providers to streamline digital royalty collection across 212 countries, cutting out the friction or delays of a traditional performing rights organization (PRO). Their biggest licensees include some of the largest DSPs, like Spotify and Apple Music, but they are also working with promising new brands like China-based TikTok rival Kuaishou and others.

AMRA says it is a one-of-a-kind service, providing clients faster turnarounds for royalty collection (in six to nine months), more precise accounting for digital royalties and audit rights, and greater transparency that its executives say make AMRA clients and the wider industry a lot more money.

How much? AMRA CEO Tomas Ericsson estimates that clients can gain “as much as 30%” more royalties in certain regions. Hubert contends that if his companies can reduce the percentage of money that leaks from the $8 billion to $9 billion of royalties collected by the global music industry on the publishing side, excluding writer’s share — “leakage” that stems from high intermediary costs, poor matching, undercollection and underlicensing — AMRA and other players in the industry could grow the pie by another $1 billion for collection and distribution. AMRA could be a tool to help accomplish that, Hubert says.

Ericsson explains that AMRA can go to streaming services and “offer the entire catalog for Kobalt music publishing and an additional three publishers and an additional 180 writers to these streaming services, and we can give them those rights globally under one license. [The streaming services] report to us directly, and they pay us directly.

“In doing so, we can avoid a lot of noise, high fees, inefficiencies, poor technology and local issues,” Ericsson says.

Since its acquisition by Kobalt in 2015, AMRA has distributed almost $500 million in digital royalties on behalf of songwriters and rights holders. Managed as a separate entity under the Kobalt umbrella, AMRA generated $117.3 million in revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and the company currently expects AMRA will generate $150 million in revenue during this fiscal year. Hubert declines to provide specific financial targets but says he expects double-digit revenue growth this year from AMRA, and that its growth rate will substantially exceed Kobalt’s.

Apart from its DSP licensees, AMRA works with songwriters such as Julia Michaels, Lindsey Buckingham, Sam Hollander and independent publishers like Sundae Music Publishing, Anthem and Spirit. It’s also partnering with functional or mood-music companies, such as Strange Fruits, Vanity Snare Music, Lullify Music and Acrylic Records, whose music is popular on passive-listening playlists. Kobalt remains AMRA’s largest licensee, Ericsson says.

Kobalt, AMRA and its new owners are aligned on their aim to massively scale AMRA. Those owners are Francisco Partners, a California-based private equity firm that favors tech-forward music companies; MUSIC, the firm of music industry veteran and investor Matt Pincus; and Dundee Partners, the quietly influential family office of Stephen and Sam Hendel whose investments range from The Knitting Factory to the Fela! musical to music investing platform JKBX. Kobalt founder and chairman Willard Ahdritz and Hubert also have equity stakes in the company and have signed long-term contracts to remain in their roles.

Through interviews with all those stakeholders, AMRA’s emerging growth strategy has three prongs. The first is to expand its list of publishing clients, looking for small, medium and large indie publishers.

At a faster and larger clip, AMRA also aims to exploit opportunities with other niche music genres in the Latin and African markets in a bid to replicate the success it had partnering with mood-music companies. It also aims to take on more clients on the “long-tail end of the business” — songwriters who may not be published or affiliated but have steady streaming income.

This last prong of the strategy reflects the influence of Francisco Partners. In the past two years or so, the firm has invested $2 billion in six music companies, five of which are geared toward music creators, ranging from audio production and DJ’ing software and hardware to a plugin platform with marketing, distribution and authorization services. Managed under the umbrella of SoundWide, Francisco Partners says these companies have a combined 7 million users.

“We have seen the marketplace has shifted and grown around the creator community,” Hubert says. “We have the capabilities from a scaling and tech stack perspective to go after that market.”

AMRA faces hurdles if it’s to maintain formidable growth. Tracking digital royalties is challenging, given metadata errors and fast-growing use cases. The association is also held back when it comes to nondigital royalties, where existing laws and collection societies prevent it from operating as swiftly or accurately as it can with digital revenue. Songwriters in particular are the most restricted: They can use AMRA to collect their digital performance and mechanical royalties, as well as offline royalties, but the offline royalties still pass through a traditional PRO before reaching AMRA, meaning the writer will be charged two fees: one from the traditional organization, then a “significantly lower” fee from AMRA. Also, although AMRA collects in 212 countries, two of the world’s most royalty-rich nations, China and the United States, are not part of their offering due to local laws.

Still, AMRA will bring all of its promised efficiencies to the digital side, which is what the company anticipates will far outweigh offline royalties soon. The company believes it to be uniquely positioned to collect those royalties. As it likes to say: “AMRA is a category of one.”