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Grouplove signed with Glassnote Records ahead of their sixth album, which is due out this year. “We just made the best album of our career and on our first call with Daniel, we could immediately tell that he agreed,” said the band in a statement. “Glassnote has so many amazing artists we respect and admire and we are so proud to call it our new home.”
B2B distributor FUGA, a division of Downtown Music, struck a distribution deal with Marathon Music Group that will see Marathon utilizing FUGA’s global digital and physical distribution offering for its own roster and all labels under the group’s umbrella, including Moves Recordings, New Soil, Mahogany and DMY. Marathon will also have access to other FUGA services including marketing, enhanced trends and analytics, synch and brand partnerships, YouTube services and audience strategy.
Spotify added over 10,000 Arabic songs to its platform via a new licensing deal with Rotana Music for the label’s full catalog. The songs will be available to Spotify users in Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Cyprus, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Pakistan Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Spotify will provide on-platform support by introducing “This is Rotana,” a destination that will serve as the home for some of the label’s most popular songs.
Music strategy and supervision agency Premier Music Group closed its second round of financing led by MEP Capital, which will join Premier’s board of directors. The investment will power Premier’s ongoing acquisitions, including, most recently, sonic identity and sound design firm We Are Listen. Premier, which did not disclose the dollar amount of the current round, was advised by Arnaud Levy at Qualia Legacy Advisors.
ASM Global‘s Tech Port Center + Arena in San Antonio has been renamed Boeing Center at Tech Port. Additionally, Boeing entered a seven-year partnership with the Kelly Heritage Foundation — an educational nonprofit affiliated with Port San Antonio, on whose behalf ASM Global manages the arena — to expand STEM learning and workforce development in South Texas via a $2.3 million investment from the aerospace company.
Music technology platform Orfium — which provides software, data and licensing solutions to the entertainment industry — acquired music cue sheet reporting and audio recognition company Soundmouse. “Over the past 20 years, Soundmouse has been building and setting the standard in cue sheet management and monitoring for the broadcast and entertainment production space,” said Soundmouse co-CEO Charles Hodgkinson in a statement. “Combine that with Orfium’s expertise in UGC tracking and claiming for publishers, labels and production music companies and we bring the worlds of digital and broadcast together in an integrated way.”
RECORDS Nashville, Barry Weiss‘ joint venture with Sony Music Entertainment, signed the James Barker Band. The group’s first single under the label, “Meet Your Mama,” drops Friday (Jan. 27). Comprised of James Barker, Taylor Abram, Connor Stephen and Bobby Martin, the band is signed with BOOM Music Group for publishing and Starseed Entertainment for management.
Live entertainment and concert production company Décibels Productions has acquired a majority stake in Olivier Gluzman‘s French talent agency Les Visiteurs du Soir (Rufus Wainwright, Angélique Kidjo, Pink Martini). The deal will allow Les Visiteurs du Soir artists to “tap into [Décibels’] production skills and global network,” said Gluzman in a statement. Morgan Production, the audiovisual company and festival organizer that first invested in Les Visiteurs du Soir in 2011, will remain a key stakeholder in the agency.
Sony Music and Todd Moscowitz‘s new artist and label services company Santa Anna signed a distribution agreement with indie label Listen to the Kids (Yeat, Alexander 23, Ericdo, Sally Bossa). Under the deal, Listen to the Kids’ roster will have access to Santa Anna’s marketing, distribution, legal and promotional support, among other services.
Big Loud Records artist Mackenzie Porter (“Thinking ‘Bout You,” “Pickup”) signed with CAA. She will be represented by the agency’s Bennett Beckner and Jeff Krones.
Riser House Records artist Meghan Patrick signed with WME for global representation and Make Wake Artists — where she will work with Chris Kappy and Randi McFadden — for management. Patrick released her new song “She’s No Good For Me” on Friday (Jan. 20).
Compass Records Group signed alt-country artist Robbie Fulks, who will release a new studio project on the label this spring. Fulks is ramping up for a U.S. tour that kicks off in April.
Kelsey Hart signed with Curb Records; he previously signed to Curb | Word Music Publishing as a songwriter for artists including Jake Owen, Dylan Scott and Trace Adkins. The label recently released two songs from Hart: “Forget to Remember You” and “My Daddy’s Fault.”
Nettwerk signed producer Donovan’s Playground, a new project from Fallen Roses member Donovan Ferra; Smile High, the solo project of Ben “Smiley” Silverstein of The Main Squeeze; and Malaysian alt-pop artist A Kid Named Rufus. The label will soon release Donovan’s Playground’s debut album To My Past Self, Smile High’s EP Snack Pack and Rufus’ single “Eighteen” featuring Cole Bauer.
Matador Records signed Brooklyn duo Water From Your Eyes and will release their new album in the first half of the year. Water From Your Eyes will host a weekly live residency in New York throughout the month of March leading up to the release.
Six months ago, in an email to staff, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said that the company would “be a bit more prudent” in its hiring over the next few quarters. That came a week after Spotify’s June 8, 2022, investor day presentation on its plans to improve its margins.
The key would be podcasts, executives said, along with a new foray into audiobooks. Within three to five years, podcasts could bring in gross margins of 30-35%, which could later rise to 40-50% — far more than the company can earn from recorded music.
The company’s podcast business hasn’t come cheap, though. Spotify – which on Monday (Jan. 23) announced plays to lay off 6% of its workforce, as well as the voluntary departure of chief content officer Dawn Ostroff – spent hundreds of millions of dollars acquiring podcast start-up and programing. Ostroff spent big to get exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, as well as projects from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions; Kim Kardashian; and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle.
From a programming perspective, the podcasts worked. Spotify is now the most popular podcast platform in the U.S., as well as many other markets, and the exclusive programming helps attract advertisers. The company also introduced new podcast advertising formats that helped it grow its podcasting business to $200 million annually.
The podcasts didn’t solve Spotify’s financial issues, though. The company has always grown fast by any measure, including audience, subscribers, and revenue. But since it paid out a significant share of its revenue to labels and publishers, Spotify never had the profit margins of former Wall Street darlings like Facebook and Netflix. Podcasts were supposed to solve this, but they cost so much up front that they caused a $103 million drag on gross profit, CFO Paul Vogel said during the June presentation.
Last year was difficult for stocks in general, especially those of many technology companies, but Spotify has suffered more than most. Riding high on lockdown-time gains, its share price peaked at $364.59 on Feb. 19, 2021. By a year later, it had fallen 58% to $152.27, and then on Nov. 4, 2022 bottomed out at $69.29 — 81% below its all-time high closing price. Had it made more progress on improving margins, Spotify’s share price probably would have weathered the storm a bit better.
Now, the market will find out if the adage “to cut is to cure” applies to the music streaming business. The layoffs Spotify announced Monday will involve around 600 employees. Not among them is chief content officer Dawn Ostroff, who chose to depart the company. Alex Norström, currently chief freemium business officer, will be responsible for product and will share co-president title with Gustav Söderström, currently chief research & development officer.
Citi analyst Jason Bazinet believes the layoffs are about “trying to stem the losses in podcasting.” Investors aren’t convinced Spotify has a viable business model, he says. “The revenues have done well but there’s not a lot of cash flow. A lot gets paid back to the labels.”
The market’s response to the news was positive, but muted. Spotify shares closed on Monday at $99.94, up 2.1%, after spiking to $104.00 that morning.
Overall, podcasting doesn’t seem to be working as well, or as quickly, as Spotify had hoped. While Spotify beat expectations for subscribers and monthly active users in the third quarter, its gross margin and operating loss were below earlier guidance.
The podcast business is an obvious place for Spotify to start cutting. The company began paring expenses in October by eliminating some original podcasts and cutting “at least” 37 positions at its Parcast and Gimlet studios.
“I think it’s the right strategy,” says Bazinet. “It’s going to be difficult to shift the balance of power with record labels.”
Now, the goal is to make Spotify more efficient, according to CEO Daniel Ek’s open letter released on Monday. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth,” Ek wrote – meaning investing in personnel, not companies. The layoffs, as well as an organizational restructuring, will both control costs and quicken decision-making, he explained. Ek isn’t alone in highlighting efficiency lately. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a hard line on underperforming employees. New Twitter CEO Elon Musk expects whatever workers remain at the company to be “extremely hardcore.”
Spotify’s numbers suggest that the company may have room for improvement. Bazinet points out that in 2016 Spotify’s roughly 2,100 employees generated an average of 1.41 million euros per person while in 2021 its 6,600 employees’ per-head revenue was 1.46 million euros. That implies that Spotify failed to achieve the kind of operating leverage that would create additional value as it added employees.
As for Ostroff, her departure could mark the end of the first chapter of Spotify’s podcast business. Neither Spotify nor investors seem to have much appetite for writing big checks these days. And exclusive content seems to have an inherently limited life span. Obama’s Higher Ground Productions left for Amazon. Brené Brown’s two exclusive podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead, have come to an end.
Ostroff certainly made her mark on the company, though. The Joe Rogan Experience has battled through controversies to become the platform’s most popular podcast, heard by a quarter of Spotify users; and 19% of all podcast listeners in the U.S. listen to TJRE, according to a recent Morgan Stanley survey. Kardashian’s true crime podcast got off to a great start in October by beating TJRE and Markle’s Archetypes. Spotify’s foray into spoken-word audio may have been costly, but it was effective.
Now, Spotify enters a new phase of cost conscientiousness. With the layoffs and reorganization, it has given investors a tangible commitment to deliver on the aggressive goals it laid out in June. That heightens expectations, though. If Spotify can’t maintain its growth with a slightly smaller headcount, it will be hard for it to deliver better margins – and the market is unlikely to be forgiving.
The LGBTQ community has a long history of influencing music history for the better — be it through the creation of whole genres, the success of mainstream queer artists or otherwise. Now, Spotify wants to help amplify that influence.
On Tuesday (Jan. 24), the streaming service debuted their latest music program, GLOW. The project — much like fellow equity global music programs EQUAL and Frequency for female and Black creators, respectively — is specifically catered to LGBTQ artists, aiming to “elevate LGBTQIA+ creators, both on and off platform,” according to Spotify.
To fulfill that goal, GLOW will have a year-round hub on the platform housing LGBTQ-dedicated playlists for fans to discover new music from queer-identifying artists, with new playlists set to be introduced each month. One of these playlists is a global flagship playlist of the same name, featuring LGBTQ voices from around the world and refreshing each month with new offerings.
As with previous equity programs at Spotify, GLOW will also benefit from a “360 program,” which will provide opportunities for editiorial and marketing partnerships with other major brands as well as providing charitable giving to organizations benefiting LGBTQ arts causes, including QORDS, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts (The BTFA Collective), It Gets Better and more.
GLOW will additionally shine a spotlight on different LGBTQ artists every month, with 11 — including Sam Smith, Arlo Parks, Tove Lo and Pabllo Vittar — showcased at launch. Future spotlight artists will be featured on Spotify’s For the Record editorial channel as well as on a Times Square billboard.
Cahleb Derry, an associate manager of music marketing at Spotify, said in a statement that the aim of GLOW was to provide needed support for a community that often doesn’t receive it. “The question we go back to is, ‘How do we tangibly influence the resources that LGBTQIA+ artists have?’” he said. “We know that a lot of artists only get hit up in June during Pride to do campaigns. And then July 1 hits and there’s no work to be found again … we, at Spotify, have a responsibility as the largest music audio platform in the world to fill in these gaps.”
The GLOW launch is a bright spot that comes amid Spotify’s announcement on Monday that they would be cutting 6% of their global workforce and that chief content & advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff would be departing her role. “I hoped to sustain the strong tailwinds from the pandemic and believed that our broad global business and lower risk to the impact of a slowdown in ads would insulate us,” Daniel Ek said in a note to employees posted on the company’s website. “In hindsight, I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth.”
Check out the official GLOW Spotify hub here.
Spotify’s Dawn Ostroff praised the growth of the audio giant’s podcasting expansion shortly after CEO Daniel Ek revealed a major leadership reorganization on Monday morning that will see Ostroff exit the company.
The reorganization, accompanied by a round of layoffs that will impact roughly 600 employees, involves consolidating Spotify’s business operations under co-president Alex Norström, who most recently oversaw the company’s freemium business. Ostroff, who joined Spotify in 2018 from Condé Nast Entertainment, will transition to an adviser role before formally leaving the company as her divisions now fall under Norström’s purview.
In a note to staff, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Ostroff praised Norström and reflected on the growth and impact of Spotify’s podcasting team, writing that the platform’s original and exclusive shows — which includes hits like The Joe Rogan Experience, Call Her Daddy and the original series Caso 63 — account for roughly 20 percent despite representing about 0.05 percent of shows on the platform.
“I’m so proud that we’ve built a home for creators to bring their art to the world in ways no one could have previously imagined. And while I’m very much excited about my next step, working alongside and learning so much from so many of you has been a privilege,” Ostroff wrote. “The memories of the moments, the stress, and the laughter we shared have helped me grow and better appreciate the journey … and for that, I will always be grateful. I wish you every success on the next chapter of the Spotify story.”
Read the full memo below.
Looking back on the past four and a half years, I am incredibly proud of what we’ve built together. It’s our best-in-class music operation where we have strengthened our relationships across the business, earned the respect of the industry, and become great partners. The entire music team is the heart and soul of this company.
Working together, our podcasting team has revolutionized the space. This organization’s trajectory has been astonishing, going from practically zero market share and a handful of podcasts, to the leading platform with more than five million podcasts today and a 30x increase in podcast consumption on the platform. And I’m really proud of what we have built with our original and exclusive shows–despite being just .05% of the number of shows on the platform, they account for ~20% of consumption. This includes a string of hits that had Spotify O&E shows occupy 6 of the top 10, and 24 of the top 100 slots on our global charts in 2022. In addition, we’ve learned so much from creators about the opportunities in video as we’ve seen the numbers surge.
Over the past two years, we’ve modernized the advertising business to make it essential to brands and clients. And we have delivered, doubling our ad revenue to well over a billion euros in the process. The technology and innovation that the global ad and sales team has brought to market ensures that there will be billions more to come. That growth is set to change the marketplace forever, especially under the strong leadership of my dear friend Alex, who has my every confidence.
We’ve championed marginalized voices and worked to drive much-needed change in the audio industry. I’m so proud that we’ve built a home for creators to bring their art to the world in ways no one could have previously imagined. And while I’m very much excited about my next step, working alongside and learning so much from so many of you has been a privilege. The memories of the moments, the stress, and the laughter we shared have helped me grow and better appreciate the journey … and for that, I will always be grateful. I wish you every success on the next chapter of the Spotify story.
Dawn
This story was originally published on THR.com.
Spotify Technology SA said on Monday it would cut its workforce by 6% amid a broader leadership shuffle, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company said it estimates 35-45 million euros ($38-$49 million USD) of charges related to letting these employees go, and that its chief content & advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff will also leave the company. Ostroff will act as a senior adviser helping to facilitate the reorganization, which will include Alex Norström, currently freemium business officer, and Gustav Söderström, currently chief research & development officer, becoming co-presidents of Spotify.
Spotify is the latest big tech company to announce a wave of layoffs, following a similar announcement by Google parent company Alphabet, which said last week that it would let go of some 12,000 workers.
Companies, including Spotify and Alphabet, staffed up during the pandemic and are now looking to cut costs amid slowing global economic growth.
Spotify employed 9,800 employees, according to recent filings. The company will announce its most recent quarterly earnings on January 31.
Several music companies let go of staff or cut investment budgets in the second half of 2022 in preparation for a possible economic downturn. Spotify said it would cut hiring by 25%, SoundCloud laid off 20% of its staff and BMI said it was cutting just under 10% of its total workforce, through a combination of letting 30 people go and leaving certain jobs unfilled.
Spotify is set to have layoffs as soon as this week as the company moves forward with plans to reduce operational expenses, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The layoffs are expected to be more broad than a previous round of cuts in October, which impacted staff members working on canceled shows from in-house podcast studios Gimlet and Parcast.
A representative for Spotify declined to comment.
Spotify executives have previously signaled plans to reduce headcount-related expenses, with CEO Daniel Ek telling staff last June that the company would reduce its hiring growth by 25 percent and “be a bit more prudent with the absolute level of new hires over the next few quarters.” Paul Vogel, the company’s chief financial officer, also pointed to “increasing uncertainty regarding the global economy” at Spotify’s investor day in June as a reason for “evaluating [Spotify’s] headcount growth in the near term.”
Though the exact number of layoffs — first reported by Bloomberg — is not immediately clear, other tech companies like Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have each announced major rounds of layoffs impacting thousands of employees in recent months. The most recent layoff announcement came from Google parent company Alphabet, which is set to reduce its staff by 6 percent, which represents around 12,000 employees.
As of the end of the third quarter, Spotify employed around 9,800 people. The audio company brought in €3.04 billion in revenue and added 195 million paid subscribers during the third quarter. At the time, Ek said the economic downturn had not had a “material impact” on the company’s business but that Spotify would be “more selective” with its “overall spending.”
Spotify will report its fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 31 before the market opens.
This article originally appeared in THR.com.
For the first time in three years, Spotify will host a pre-Grammys performance showcase for the year’s best new artist nominees.
Spotify’s 2023 Grammys party will take place on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 2, in Los Angeles, Billboard can exclusively reveal. All 10 of this year’s best new artist nominees — Anitta, Omar Apollo, Domi & JD Beck, Muni Long, Samara Joy, Latto, Måneskin, Tobe Nwigwe, Molly Tuttle and Wet Leg — will be in attendance, with multiple performances and surprise guests planned.
Spotify launched its best new artist Grammy soiree in 2017, and last held its nighttime showcase in 2020, when artists like Lizzo, Lil Nas X and eventual winner Billie Eilish performed intimate sets. After taking off 2021 due to the pandemic, Spotify hosted a poolside brunch last April when the Grammys were held in Las Vegas, with best new artist nominees in attendance but no performances.
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“Spotify stands for new artist discovery and we take great pride in championing the next generation of superstars early on. For each of the past six years, our Best New Artist campaign has celebrated the category’s nominees in increasingly impactful ways,” says Jeremy Erlich, Global Head of Music at Spotify. “These nominations mark a pivotal moment in their careers, and we want to help them further capitalize on that momentum with our marketing muscle and global reach, culminating in our annual BNA Party in Los Angeles. This is the largest class of performing nominees that we’ll have in one night and it’s bound to be our biggest and best event yet.”
In 2021, Spotify filled the void of its best new artist party by launching a Spotify Singles series featuring that year’s nominees in the week leading up to the Grammys, which included Phoebe Bridgers reworking her song “Kyoto” with Jackson Browne and Chika covering Billie Eilish’s “My Future.” That series continued last year in the lead-up to the 2022 Grammys, and Spotify confirms that a new batch of Spotify Singles featuring the best new artist nominees is coming soon.
The 2023 Grammy Awards will be presented Sunday, Feb. 5, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Click here to see the full list of nominations, including best new artist.
She can buy her own flowers and set her own records! Miley Cyrus broke the Spotify record for the most-streamed song in a single week on Thursday (Jan. 19) thanks to her latest hit “Flowers.”
After the streamer shared the news on its social channels, the superstar took to her own Instagram Stories and Twitter to react. “Thank you so much @Spotify and my amazing fans,” she wrote, using a red heart emoji to communicate her gratitude for all the support the song has received.
So far, the lead single off the upcoming Endless Summer Vacation has bowed at No. 1 on the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia and No. 2 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart. The song will make its official mark on the Billboard Hot 100 when the coming week’s charts are unveiled on Monday (Jan. 23), though Billboard readers already voted it as their favorite new release last week.
“Flowers” has also received a resounding stamp of approval from none other than Gloria Gaynor. “I’m in Nashville working on new music and just heard, ‘Flowers,’ for the first time @MileyCyrus,” the disco icon tweeted. “Your new song carries the torch of empowerment and encourages everyone to find strength in themselves to persevere and thrive. Well done Miley!”
In addition to flipping Bruno Mars’ 2014 single “If I Was Your Man” on its head, part of the song’s appeal comes from the litany of potential Easter eggs pointing to its narrative being about Cyrus’ relationship with ex-husband Liam Hemsworth, from her choosing to release the track on his 33rd birthday to a reference to the Woolsey Fire that burned down the couple’s Malibu home back in 2019 tucked into the lyrics.
Check out Spotify’s announcement of Miley’s new record and read her sweet reaction:
More than 1 billion music streams in France — or between 1% and 3% of all streams in the country — were detected to be fraudulent in 2021, according to a report released this week by a French government organization that analyzed data from Spotify, Deezer and Qobuz.
If the report’s number were to hold true for the worldwide music market — which the IFPI valued at $16.9 billion in 2021 — that would mean approximately $170 million to $510 million of streaming royalties are being misallocated globally. This is roughly in line with a 2019 estimate of $300 million lost to streaming fraud cited during Indie Week.
The Centre national de la musique (CNM), an organization created by the French government in 2020 that operates under the Ministry of Culture, found that fraud is widespread in France, the fifth-largest music market, to a sobering degree: “Irregularities are spotted” on both major-label and independent releases, national and international albums, old catalog and fresh new singles alike, the CMN says in its 56-page study. “The methods used by fraudsters are constantly evolving and improving,” it notes, “and fraud seems to be getting easier and easier to commit.”
The genres which had the highest percentage of fraudulent streams detected in the CNM’s report were background music (4.8% on Deezer) and non-musical titles (3.5%). While the raw number of fraudulent streams detected was highest in rap — the most popular genre in France — that represented just 0.4% of overall plays in the genre on Spotify and 0.7% on Deezer.
CNM’s report appears to be the first country-wide investigation of streaming fraud. “We’re happy with the effort by the CNM and the French government as a whole to look into this and take it seriously,” says Morgan Hayduk, founder and co-CEO of Beatdapp, a Canadian company that provides fraud detection software to streaming services, labels, and distributors. “This issue deserves the weight and attention that they gave to it.”
CNM’s report comes with several caveats, however. The organization’s data does not include information from Apple Music, YouTube and Amazon, who declined to share information about fraud on their platforms. According to a recent estimate from MIDiA Research, those three services account for slightly more than 35% of global streaming subscriptions. (MIDiA did not share country-level figures.)
In addition, Hayduk says, the report only looks at country-level data. This means it does not account for VPN usage that allows fraudsters to mask their country of origin.
Bad actors committing streaming fraud often “rotate through multiple countries redirecting traffic constantly,” says Andrew Batey, Beatdapp’s other co-CEO. “It’s not uncommon when we find fraud cases to see 15 devices spreading plays across 30 countries.” To catch that, he says, “you need a global view.”
Fraudulent streams, once defined by former Napster executive Angel Gambino as “anything which isn’t fans listening to music they love,” have become a major topic of music industry concern in Germany, France and Brazil. That’s because undetected fraudulent streams can impact market share calculations and divert money from honest artists.
The countries have taken different approaches to combat this fraud. The IFPI led a legal effort to shut down German websites that offered streams for cash starting in 2020. The organization made the case that manipulating play counts allows artists to create a false impression of popularity, ultimately misleading consumers and violating Germany’s Unfair Competition act.
In Brazil, law enforcement worked in conjunction with Pro-Música, IFPI’s Brazilian affiliate, to shut down 84 stream-boosting sites in the country in 2021. Prosecutors there argued that sites that offered fraudulent streams were violating Brazil’s Consumer Defense Code and treated the activity as a criminal act.
Brazil’s coordinated effort — dubbed Operation Anti-Doping — determined that the fraudulent streams were actually being generated outside of Brazil, illustrating the limitations of a single-country approach to fraud reduction. “No company in Brazil has the technology to make these fake streams,” Paulo Rosa, Pro-Música’s president, told Billboard in 2021. “This technology comes from websites hosted in Russia.”
The U.S. industry has historically appeared less bothered by streaming fraud — or at least less willing to acknowledge its existence publicly, with executives and streaming services reluctant to discuss the subject. This may be starting to shift, however. At a Music Biz panel in May, SoundCloud vp of strategy Michael Pelczynski noted that the current streaming ecosystem is rife with “very prevalent fraud and abuse,” and that this activity has “cultural ramifications.” When undetected fraudulent streams “start influencing the way we measure the success of music, we are literally supporting inauthenticity,” Pelczynski said.
The CNM appeared heartened by the fact that, since the summer of 2021, it has seen “the growing mobilization of platforms, distributors and producers” worried about fraud, resulting in the creation of “dedicated teams” and the outlay of increased resources to battle “manipulation.”
But there remain several key challenges when attempting to tackle fraud. The lack of transparency from some streaming platforms, and the inability to push toward assembling a comprehensive global data set, means that the scale of the problem is still unknown.
What’s more, as the CNM points out, it’s nearly impossible to punish those engaged in fraud because they are rarely identified. The penultimate section of the report lays out potential legal remedies that could be used to fight fake streams in France — if authorities were able to prove that bad actors violated laws related to illegal hacking or unfair business practices. They include fines of up to 300,000 euros ($324,000) and prison sentences of up to five years for perpetrators.
The CNM pledged to release a follow-up report in 2024.
Graham Rothenberg was named partner at entertainment marketing agency The Syndicate, with his title elevated to president & general manager. Rothenberg, who has been with the company for 18 years, has served as general manager since 2018. He will now lead the agency alongside partners Jon Landman, Tracey Zucatti and Chris Elles. During his tenure, he has been a key force in campaigns including the Interpol “Big Shot City” exhibit and Panic! At The Disco’s crop circle tour announcement.
“I’ve known Graham for over 20 years and have watched him grow from College Radio Music Director (WICB) to College Radio Promoter at The Syndicate to becoming our General Manager and now being elevated as our President and a Partner of the company,” said managing partner/CEO Jon Landman in a statement. “Graham’s leadership and creativity have been instrumental in advancing our organization to new levels while staying true to the grassroots connection to music and artists on which we founded the company. As we enter our 25th year of The Syndicate, we can’t wait for what’s on the horizon.”
Rothenberg added, “It’s an immense honor to be named Partner at The Syndicate, a company I’ve been privileged to grow with over the past 18 years. Starting as a college radio promoter back in 2004, I’ve been able to watch The Syndicate evolve into the unique agency it’s become today. I’m extremely excited to work even more closely with Jon, Tracey, and Chris while continuing to lead our incredible staff in moving culture forward and helping our clients achieve their most creative goals.”
Jackie Augustus joined Spotify‘s artist partnerships team to lead country and folk artist partnerships for the streamer. Augustus, who was named to Billboard‘s Country Power Players list in 2022, most recently served as strategic partner manager of music at Instagram.
Chris Schuler was named vp of promotion at Capitol Records Nashville where he will lead the promotion team previously headed up by Bobby Young. He most recently served as vp of promotion at Arista Nashville. Schuler can be reached at chris.schuler@umusic.com.
Sherry Lansing was designated chairman of the board on Universal Music Group‘s board of directors, effective Jan. 10. Lansing, a retired film studio executive who previously served as CEO at Paramount Pictures and president of production at 20th Century Fox, succeeds Judy Craymer, who retired from the position to focus on her film and theater production projects.
Jitze de Raaff was appointed president of CTM Entertainment, effective Jan. 1. He was previously managing director of CTM Publishing and Music in the Benelux region. De Raaff, also co-shareholder of the company, will now be responsible for all other CTM activities in addition to music. He will additionally play a bigger role in the company’s international expansion alongside CTM CEO André de Raaff. He can be reached at Jitze.deRaaff@ctm.nl.
BMG appointed Stefan Lehmkuhl programmer for Berlin’s historic 1,700-seat Theater des Westens, which the company announced it had leased for two years last September. Lemkuhl has curated and produced music events including Melt Festival and Lollapalooza Berlin for two decades. He will be joined by event producer Parker “Pansy” Tilghman.
Randy Reyes was promoted to senior director of rhythmic promotion at Atlantic Records. Reyes has worked in rhythmic and pop mix show promotion at the label for the past nine years.
Tvg hospitality, founded by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, named Jayne Davis COO and Katie Millar gm of the Orion Amphitheater. The New York-based Davis arrives from OTG Management where she served as senior vp of operations development, while Millar previously served as manager at Paramount Fine Foods Centre & Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.
James Ainscough was appointed to the role of CEO at the Royal Albert Hall, where he will lead the execution of the venue’s post-pandemic business plan; he previously worked at the Hall from 2008 to 2017 as director of finance and administration and then as COO. He joins in late spring 2023 from the charity Help Musicians, where he currently serves as CEO. Ainscough replaces Craig Hassall, who stepped down from the CEO role last month. COO Dan Freeman will continue serving as interim CEO until Ainscough officially joins.
Mandy McCormack was named executive vp/marketing & partner strategy for Trisha Yearwood, Inc. In her enhanced role as part of Yearwood’s management team, McCormack will manage brand partnerships, oversee marketing plans, seek out new business ventures and provide strategic consultation in all aspects of the country star’s business. McCormack most recently served as senior vp of radio promotion & marketing/artist strategy at Garth Brooks’ Pearl Records and Team TY (Trisha Yearwood). McCormack can be reached at mandy@trishayearwoodinc.com.
Tristra Newyear Yeager was named chief strategy officer at music/tech PR firm Rock Paper Scissors (RPS), while Travis Feaster was named new business manager at the company. Newyear Yeager, who has been with RPS for 17 years, was previously director of strategy and will now oversee PR and client services and guide strategic planning at the firm. Feaster was most recently national sales manager at Boutique Amps Distribution.
Jayne Hamblin was named manager of management and records at Creative Nation, where she will oversee the day-to-day responsibilities for Creative Nation’s artist clients while serving as a liaison between them and outside partners. Hamblin can be reached at jayne@creativenationmusic.com.