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NMPA Annual Meeting Celebrates Continued Publishing Growth, Warns of Pre-Pandemic Threats

The National Music Publishers’ Association announced its fifth consecutive year of increased revenues, while noting the industry’s high-stakes legal cases still ahead. The National Music Publishers’ Association’s annual meeting was held virtually Wednesday (June 10) due to COVID-19, where president and CEO David Israelite reminded membership that music publishing is still facing pre-pandemic threats to its business. Namely digital streaming services’ Copyright Royalty Board appeal and the Department of Justice’s review of ASCAP and BMI consent decree — which could also be an opportunity, depending on how the DOJ rules. “We are now 2.5% years into the new [rating] periods but we still don’t have certainty on our rates because Spotify and...

Coachella, Stagecoach Music Festivals Pushed to 2021

The events were already rescheduled from April to October, as plans for a return next year still remain unclear. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and country music festival Stagecoach will not take place this year due to county and state restrictions. Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser told the  Los Angeles Times on Wednesday (June 10), the festivals would not be held in Indio, California, this October — as had been planned when promoter Goldenvoice was forced to reschedule from their original April dates last March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaiser cited California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s four-step outline for re-opening the state as the reasoning behind the decision, noting music festivals are not permitted to reopen until a...

Interior to push drilling in Florida waters after November election

That plan also included an expansion of offshore drilling in California, a move that would escalate the ongoing battles between the state and the administration over environmental issues since Trump took office. The people did not know whether the final proposal will include that section of coastline as well. “Whatever is decided is expected to come out within two to three weeks of the election,” said one person who has had recent discussions with Interior officials about the issue and who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity. The eastern Gulf is the “golden trophy” for the industry because it could be producing oil within 10 years using existing infrastructure from the Gulf’s western portion, the person said. A second person who recently spoke to Interior officials said they had...

Fed projects economy will shrink by 6.5 percent in 2020

But central bank officials signaled that they believe unemployment will one day fall to as low as 4 percent, though it will take longer than the next couple of years to reach that point. The jobless rate in February stood at 3.5 percent, its lowest reading since the 1960s. According to the Fed’s forecasts, the U.S. economy will grow at 5 percent next year and 3.5 percent the year after. The projections — which estimate future GDP growth, inflation, unemployment and the path of Fed rate moves — are normally a quarterly exercise, but the central bank did not release any in March because the situation was so uncertain. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful peop...

Fed’s dire outlook: GDP seen shrinking by 6.5 percent this year

“This is the biggest economic shock, in the U.S. and in the world, really, in living memory,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference after central bank officials met in Washington. ”We went from the lowest level of unemployment in 50 years to the highest level in close to 90 years, and we did it in two months.” Incumbent presidents are historically unlikely to be reelected when the economy is in dire straits, putting pressure on Trump to ensure a quick rebound. But the circumstances of the recession — a broad economic shutdown to stop the spread of a pandemic — could soften voter views of the president, who has consistently polled well on economic matters even as he lags behind Democratic rival Joe Biden overall. Powell, whose Fed has poured trillions of dollars in credit into ...

Social distancing will suppress recovery despite emergency aid, CBO chief says

“Continued business closures and the reduction in hours worked mean that the supply of certain goods and services will remain suppressed,” the head of the independent budget agency wrote. “At the same time, as people limit their social interactions, household and business demand for many goods and services will be subdued.” “Therefore, CBO estimates that as long as some degree of social distancing remains in place, the economic boost that might be expected from recent legislation will be smaller than it would be during a period of economic weakness without social distancing,” he said. Spending by individuals and businesses will be recovered in the future “as stay-at-home orders and other interventions continue to ease,” he said. Swagel cautioned that CBO’s projections are clouded by ...

Fed’s Powell walks tightrope as economy faces new uncertainty

“What Powell has been warning is … ‘Don’t keep looking at us, what we’re doing is making sure it doesn’t get worse,’” said William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO. Central to the Fed’s messaging will be the release of its forecasts for how the economy will fare over the next few years, a quarterly exercise that the central bank declined to carry out in March because the situation was so uncertain. The projections — which estimate future GDP growth, inflation, unemployment and the path of Fed rate moves — will be less reliable than in normal times, said George Selgin, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. “But it’s still good news that they are prepared to make such a forecast,” he said. “The very fact that they’re making it means they’re getting a handle on things.” Selgin said th...

ARMY, K-pop Fans Become an Unexpected Ally to American Protesters

As American protesters took to the streets to mourn the death of George Floyd, they found an unexpected ally: K-pop fans. Floyd died May 25 after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving. K-pop fans galvanized by police brutality and political disappointments swiftly mobilized, re-purposing their usual platforms and hashtags from boosting their favorite stars to backing the Black Lives Matter movement. They flooded right-wing hashtags and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars. In a tweet Thursday to its 26 million fans, South Korean boy band BTS said it opposes racial discrimination and violence and announced a $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter. Fans quickly followed suit with the hashtag #MatchAMil...

Mark Opitz, Record Producer for AC/DC, INXS and More, Recognized In Queen’s Birthday 2020 Honours List

Record producer and audio engineer Mark Opitz has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, announced Monday (June 8). The Queenslander was feted for his service to the performing arts, particularly to music production, and is one of 933 Australians honored for their outstanding achievement. Opitz is among the very best in the business, having produced albums for a string of ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted artists including INXS, Cold Chisel, AC/DC and The Divinyls. During the ’90s, Optiz served with Warner Music as head of A&R and, later, joined the executive team at Michael Gudinski’s Mushroom Group, where he was responsible for overseeing Australian artists’ music projects. Opitz also had a productive stint oversees, during whic...

Atlantic Records UK Names Former Apple Music Exec Austin Daboh Executive VP

Former Apple Music executive Austin Daboh is moving over to Atlantic Records UK as executive vp, parent company Warner Music UK (WMUK) announced Tuesday (June 9). As Apple Music’s head of editorial for the UK and Ireland, Daboh oversaw the streaming platform’s playlist ecosystem, developing the Agenda brand which built out playlists with live concerts and immersive marketing initiatives. In his new role at Atlantic UK, he will be responsible for signing and developing domestic artists, and will join the WMUK leadership team. He’ll also work with Atlantic Records in the U.S. to “break the label’s black music roster in the UK,” according to a press release. Daboh will report to Atlantic co-presidents Ed Howard and Briony Turner, reporting more broadly...

Sports Team, All Time Low & Lady Gaga Lock Horns For U.K. Albums Chart Title

English indie-pop outfit Sports Team and U.S. alternative rock veterans All Time Low are in a tight battle for this week’s No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart. At the halfway point, Sports Team’s debut album Deep Down Happy (Big Desert/Island) has an advantage of just 300 chart units over All Time Low’s eighth studio album, Wake Up Sunshine (Atlantic). Deep Down Happy has the most vinyl sales over the weekend and comes in at No. 1 on the Official Chart Update, while Wake Up, initially released in April 2020, has the most CD sales to reenter the chart at No. 2. Lady Gaga is still in the hunt with Chromatica (Interscope), which last week blasted to No. 1 with the most sales of any album this year. Chromatica is the most downloaded and streamed album of the week so far and sits ...

How We Work Now: Concord Senior VP Synch Licensing Brooke Primont

In a series amid the coronavirus pandemic, Billboard is asking individuals from all sectors of the music business to share stories of how they work now, with much of the world quarantined at home and unable to take in-person meetings, attend conferences or even go into the office. Submissions for the series can be sent to HowWeWorkNow@Billboard.com. Read the full series here. This installment is with Brooke Primont, Concord’s senior vp of synch licensing. Brooke Primont: I commute into [Manhattan] every single day. I live in a small town about 40 minutes outside of New York, so when this came down, it wasn’t as painful for me because it’s an hour and 15, sometimes two hours, door to door, depending on the day. So the idea of working from home was welcomed, in a sense. But there...