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SGAE, the collective management organization in Spain, took in the most money in its history in 2024, 390 million euros, or $422 million based on the average 2024 Euro-dollar conversion rate, it announced. That’s up 41 million euros ($44.4 million), or 11.7%, from 2023. The organization distributed more than 349 million euros ($377.6 million) to rightsholders, up 6%, its second-highest distribution ever. It also lowered its administration fees, resulting in an increase in distributions of 6.7 million euros ($7.3 million).
Unsurprisingly, the fastest-growing category of revenue was digital, which came in at 60 million euros ($64.9 million), up 25% over 2023. Of that revenue, more than 55% came from streaming, while 43% came from audiovisual content.
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The biggest source of revenue was TV and radio, which reached 110 million euros ($119 million) in 2024, up 18.9% over the previous year. Some of that bump comes from private TV companies paying for previous uses of music.
Concert collections also grew, increasing 16.2% to 64.1 million euros ($69.4 million). Much of that money came from live pop music, which brought in 48.7 million euros ($52.7 million), up 7.4%. The biggest shows were performances by Karol G, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, and Metallica.
Foreign revenue reached 35.2 million euros ($38.1 million), up 15.4%. The biggest source of that revenue was Europe, especially France and Italy, followed by Latin America, various Caribbean countries, the U.S., and Canada.
Revenue from private copying, the levies charged by collecting societies on blank memory and associated products, reached 16.2 million euros ($17.5 million). That represents a gain of 57.2% over regular collections in 2023, but a decrease of 38.1% once a special payment from 2023 is included. Mechanical rights revenue also climbed, by 11.8%, thanks to the vinyl boom, to 3.8 million euros ($4.1 million).
Texas rapper BigXthaPlug has carved out a nice career for himself over the past half-decade, amassing 16 hits and three top 20s on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, a handful of appearances on the back half of the Hot 100 and a successful touring base, emerging as one of the more distinctive voices of his generation of hip-hop artists. But he was always more than just a rapper, and his multi-genre Southern roots first came to the fore with his 2022 song “Texas,” the video for which saw him decked out in full cowboy regalia as he rapped about his home state over a country-inflected acoustic slide guitar.
The song, among other things, proved BigX’s versatility. But it also opened the door to something else: the country music community. And now, as his latest single “All The Way” featuring Bailey Zimmerman spends its second week in the top 10 of the Hot 100 after zooming in with a No. 4 debut last week, BigX has a bonafide smash hit country single, with a full country-infused project on the way.
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It’s a huge moment for BigX as he explores his country interests, and also a big pop moment for the Texas MC as well, representing far and away the biggest hit of his career so far. But it’s also a big moment for UnitedMasters, the company founded in 2017 by veteran record executive Steve Stoute that releases his music — and scored its own biggest hit so far with “All The Way,” too. (The song is officially credited as BigXthaPlug/UnitedMasters/Atlantic.) And it helps UnitedMasters vp of music/head of A&R Mike Weiss earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Weiss talks about what went into making the record, BigX’s country “side quest,” the crowded distribution space of the music business and how UM has helped develop BigX by following his vision. “The plan is simple: stay true to BigX, lean into organic collaborations and let the music speak,” Weiss says. “We’re not mashing together genres for the sake of it. We’re building something that reflects all sides of who he is as an artist and a person.”
This week, BigXthaPlug and Bailey Zimmerman’s “All The Way” spends its second week in the top 10 of the Hot 100, at number eight. What key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
This record didn’t happen overnight. It took a complete team effort to get us here with a vision for an overarching artist plan, rather than one single. My partner David Melhado and I sat down a year ago with the idea to start mapping out a course for a country-inspired BigX project. We knew from the start that authenticity had to be the foundation. If BigX didn’t feel it, it wasn’t going to happen and that filter guided every decision we made.
Around that time, BigX started spending time with a number of country artists who had become fans after his breakout single “Texas.” We knew there was an opportunity here. We have an amazing team of core producers in Charley Cooks, Tony Coles and Bandplay. They started working on ideas for a country direction that stayed true to BigX’s roots. The initial demo to “All the Way” was Ben Johnson’s vocals over a guitar that hinted at something special. We knew it needed to be “BigX-ified,” so Bandplay built a sound that was unmistakably BigX. We have an amazing A&R team that played it for BigX. He loved the record, and cut it immediately. BigX has some of the best instincts. He trusts his gut and doesn’t miss.
The song exploded out of the gate, debuting last week at No. 4 on the Hot 100 and soaring in at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs, Digital Song Sales and Hot Country Songs charts and at No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs. Why did the song have such a huge immediate impact?
Back in February, BigX teased an early version of the record on Instagram. There was no set release date at the time, but the response was immediate and explosive. Within days, fans ripped the sound from the Instagram post and flooded TikTok with tens of thousands of videos. It was clear we had something special on our hands.
Even with that momentum, we resisted the urge to drop the record prematurely. There was external pressure to release it fast and not “lose the heat,” but we knew that a moment this big deserved a proper runway. We took the time to create the right content, shoot the music video and prepare a full rollout that matched the energy we were seeing online. We were also mindful that this was the first single off the project, and once we launched, we needed to be ready to move with full force.
That patience and discipline paid off. By the time the song dropped, there was such pent up demand that the record exploded.
With a song like that with so much immediate interest, what can you guys do to keep the momentum going?
Our priority is building sustained momentum for BigX as an artist, not just capitalizing on a single moment. From the beginning, our focus has been longterm artist development, and this moment is just one chapter in a much bigger story that BigX is telling with this country-inspired project.
We have an incredible body of work lined up, and we’re deep in the process of mapping out the next singles and the full rollout. Consistency is everything. With BigX, we take the approach of always being on cycle. We’re keeping our foot on the gas and continuing to invest in the music, visuals and storytelling that got us here, while building towards the next big moment.
After landing 16 songs on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, this is BigX’s first song that touches the country genre. What are your plans to make sure that his crossover there works?
Our intention isn’t to fully cross BigX into country. This project is more of a creative “side quest” that allows him to showcase his versatility and explore new territory without abandoning his core. It’s about expanding, not switching lanes.
This isn’t a trend-chasing move, it’s rooted in who BigX is. Back in 2022, we released “Texas,” a country-inspired hip-hop record where he was literally in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat in the video. That record sparked early interest from the country community and planted the seed for what we’re doing now. This moment is a natural evolution of that foundation, not a sudden shift.
The plan is simple: stay true to BigX, lean into organic collaborations and let the music speak. We’re not mashing together genres for the sake of it. We’re building something that reflects all sides of who he is as an artist and a person.
This is the biggest song in UnitedMasters’ history so far. What does that mean for the company?
This is an exciting moment for the company and for our team. We’ve been a partner to BigX for four years with a deep belief in artist development and doing what’s best for our artists. This shows that we can compete with anyone. We touched every aspect of the A&R process, rollout, marketing, digital and overarching strategy. This win further affirms that our model works. That independent artists with the right support can not only compete, but lead.
Just last year, we had a major global success with FloyyMenor’s “Gata Only,” the fastest Latin song in Spotify history to hit a billion streams. That was a global moment. But with “All The Way,” we’ve shown we can dominate domestically, too, and drive immediate, culture-shifting impact in the U.S. market. Delivering on both fronts shows that our approach scales. The exciting part is we’re still just getting started.
The distribution space is getting crowded. How do you make sure UnitedMasters stands apart from the competition?
We don’t see ourselves as just a distribution company, and we don’t operate like one. At UnitedMasters, we’re aiming to reimagine what a modern music company can be. Our mission is to reshape the industry by building something that lives at the intersection of a forward-thinking label, a tech-driven platform and a premium distributor.
What sets us apart is the ability to support artists at every stage of their journey, from emerging creators to global superstars, with a tiered system that scales alongside their growth. We’ve invested in world-class technology and paired it with an elite label services team that delivers across A&R, marketing, strategy and beyond. We’re not focused on just getting music to DSPs, we’re focused on building careers.
Prosecutors are firing back at efforts by Sean “Diddy” Combs to bar an infamous 2016 surveillance video from his upcoming sex trafficking trial, calling it a “desperate” attempt to avoid “crushing” evidence.
With his trial looming next month, Diddy’s attorneys argued last week that the clip — showing him assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel — has been deceptively edited and would “unfairly confuse and mislead the jury.”
But in a response filing Friday, prosecutors say those arguments are “overblown” and are merely a pretext to prevent jurors from seeing “some of the most damning evidence of his sex trafficking.”
“The defendant has been overwhelmingly concerned with the existence of the video surveillance since the assault occurred and has taken great measures to ensure it was not released,” prosecutors write. “Now facing trial, the defendant attempts to keep this devastating proof from the jury. His grasping arguments to preclude this crushing evidence should be quickly dismissed.”
Combs was indicted in September, charged with running a sprawling criminal operation that aimed to “fulfill his sexual desires.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
Jury selection is currently set to start on May 5, with opening statements scheduled for May 12. If convicted on all of the charges, which include sex trafficking and racketeering, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
The Cassie video, which aired on CNN in May, showed him attacking her at the Intercontinental Hotel in March 2016. The clip drew far more public attention to the accusations against the star — who was then only facing civil lawsuits — and prompted an apology from Combs shortly after it aired.
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable,” Combs said at the time. “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry.”
In the lead up to the trial, Combs’ lawyers have repeatedly targeted the Cassie tape, accusing prosecutors of unfairly leaking it and alleging that CNN had unfairly edited it. Last week, they formally moved to ban it from the trial, calling it “inaccurate” and “unreliable” because of edits that were “specifically designed to inflame the passions” of viewers.
But in Friday’s response, the feds said those issues were quibbles that could easily be fixed at trial, not valid reasons to withhold the tape from jurors entirely. They pointed out that Combs himself had apologized over the clip and had not disputed its content; and they said that any problems with finding the original footage were caused by Diddy’s own efforts to destroy it.
“It is by the defendant’s own hand that the original version of this damning footage no longer exists: it was deleted and given to the defendant as part of a cover-up orchestrated by the defendant and his co-conspirators,” prosecutors write. “The Court must not reward the defendant for his actions by precluding the video that remains available despite the defendant’s obstructive efforts.”
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” landed a sixth week at No. 1 on the U.K. Singles Chart April 25, and becomes the longest running chart-topper since Sabrina Carpenter’s nine-week run with “Taste” in 2024. Last week, Warren broke the tie he held with Lola Young’s “Messy” for 2025’s longest running No. 1 in the U.K. “Messy” had […]
Taylor Swift has returned to the top of the U.K. Albums Chart April 25 with The Tortured Poets Department following a recent physical reissue. A new signed CD variant, released to commemorate the album’s first anniversary on April 19, propelled the album 23 places to the top spot. Upon release in April 2024 2024, The […]
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MSG Networks, a subsidiary of Sphere Entertainment Co., was able to negotiate a reduction in debt and the fees it pays to MSG Sports to broadcast professional basketball and hockey games, the company announced Friday (April 25).
The regional sports network’s borrowers forgave $514 million of debt. Along with cash contributions by Sphere Entertainment and MSG Networks, the old debt of $804 million was reduced to $210 million. Sphere Entertainment will pay $15 million to the borrowers while MSG Networks will contribute $65 million.
Sphere Entertainment Co. and MSG Sports are part of the entertainment empire owned by the Dolan family. James Dolan is CEO of both companies as well as live events company MSG Entertainment.
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All parties have agreed to the term sheet. Per the SEC filing, the consenting stakeholders “have agreed to implement the Transactions by June 27, 2025, which date may be extended or waived in writing by each of the Consenting Stakeholders and MSG Networks.”
The news provided a bounce to Sphere Entertainment’s share price, which has fallen sharply since President Trump announced his global tariff policy on April 2. Shares of Sphere Entertainment jumped 13.2% in early morning trading and had settled to $28.70, up 8.4%, by late morning. Even after the bounce on good news, the share price is down 32.4% year to date.
The fees paid to MSG Sports to broadcast games by the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers dropped by 28% and 18%, respectively. Neither team will receive annual rights fee increases. In return, MSG Networks will issue to MSG Sports penny warrants exercisable for 19.9% of equity interest in MSG Networks.
Sphere Entertainment Group and its subsidiaries will not be obligated to fund the borrowings of MSG Networks’ new term loan or pledge its assets as security.
The company and its borrowers had agreed to numerous forbearance agreements leading up to the agreement announced Friday. MSG Networks first announced in October it was attempting to refinance its term loan and had entered into a forbearance with its lenders. The latest forbearance period ended Thursday (April 24).
According to a report at the New York Post, the renegotiated debt paves the way for a merger of MSG Sports and the YES Network, the regional sports network that airs the games of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets.
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After 10 years, Ari Lennox and J. Cole’s Dreamville Records are parting ways. TMZ is reporting that the 34-year-old singer is now signed exclusively to Interscope Records.
Ari’s new single, “Soft Girl Era,” an upbeat, bouncy track, doesn’t list Dreamville in the credits.
The split is reportedly amicable. Earlier this month at the Dreamville Festival, the singer shouted out J. Cole during her curtain call saying, “Thank you for making my dreams a reality,” according to HotNewHipHop.
Their relationship has been fraught with some clashes over marketing and other support. Last year, Ari wrote on Instagram, “I want out of my contract.”
The “Shea Butter Baby” singer aired numerous grievances, including the release of a video she hadn’t approved and a lack of advertising, according to Complex.
“I’m saying very clearly I’m not comfortable with it being out for multiple reasons,” she wrote, and tagged both Interscope and Dreamville in the post, adding: “I just wish I had a label that cared, that would want to protect me. I wish I had a label that wouldn’t have me out here trying to explain that I need advertisement.”
“I just wanna be released, it’s that simple.”
In March, Solange’s Saint Heron shared that the Web Design and Creative Direction of AriLennox.com was being managed by the company.
Fans on social media have strong opinions about the announcement. On X (formerly Twitter) one fan wrote, “#Dreamville tried to do with Ari Lennox what #TDE did with SZA…and it failed miserably.”
While another fan wrote, “Ari Lennox fans blame every else but her.”
Ari Lennox signed to Dreamville in 2015 and released her first major label debut EP, Pho, in 2016. Her first studio album, Shea Butter Baby was released in 2019. The album spawned the singles “Whipped Cream” and the title track. The Associated Press rated it the No. 1 album of 2019.
She also released another EP, Away Message, in August 2022 and her second album, Age/Sex/Location, the following month.
A release date for a new album has not been announced.
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Anadolu / Ruth E. Carter
We continue to learn more about Marvel Studios’ Blade reboot, currently stuck in limbo, from those who were initially attached to the project.
Two-time Academy Award-winning costume designer, Ruth E. Carter, is spilling the beans on Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot that can’t seem to get off the ground.
Speaking on the Designing Hollywood podcast, Carter discussed her experience preparing for Marvel Studios’ Blade movie, revealing that the iteration of the film she was attached to at the time was going to be a period piece.
“I was prepping Blade for Marvel, and it was a 1920s Blade story, and it got shut down because of the writers’ strike and the actors’ strike, so I was just in limbo,” Carter revealed. “Having done a lot of research for this period piece about a vampire—Blade is a vampire story—[Coogler]’s wife, Zinzi, who also was a producer on [Sinners], she gave me a call and said, ‘I’m not gonna tell you the story, but Ryan has a story he’s going to tell you about … It is a period piece about vampires.’ And I thought, ‘Okay, I have already been living in that space for quite a long time prepping Blade, and Blade‘s not going to happen, so let me hear it.’”
Marvel Studios’ Blade’s Troubled Development
Since its announcement in 2019, the Blade reboot has had several different iterations. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one version of the film was supposed to take place on a “massive train.”
The version Ruth was attached to, the period piece, also starred Mia Goth as a vampire villain named Lillith who had a thirst for Blade’s daughter.
Goth is still attached to the project, but it sounds like we will never see that version of the film. Thankfully, for Carter, she was able to take that mindset from Blade to Sinners, helping her long-time collaborator deliver another box office win.
This latest development comes on the heels of Delroy Lindo speaking about his character in the Blade reboot and revealing that production “went off the rails,” leading to his departure from the project. He subsequently joined Coogler’s Sinners, where he is currently receiving praise for his performance in the film.
At this point, we hope this Blade movie starring Ali still happens.
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony famously could not re-assemble earlier this month to appear on comedian John Mulaney’s live Netflix late night talk show Everybody’s Live due to what the host said was a scammer posing at the Cleveland rap crew’s phony manager. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news But […]
