Business news
UnitedMasters Names David Reich President
David Reich has been named president at UnitedMasters, the company announced Friday (Dec. 17). He succeeds Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood, who departed the role in May to join SoundCloud as chief content and marketing officer. Reich arrives at UnitedMasters following five years at Uber, where he led product and growth in 60 countries before founding and leading Uber Transit as general manager and head of product. Prior to that, he was a founder and CEO at Assured Labor, a digital recruitment platform in Latin America. “David has played a key role in building some of the most impactful digital marketplaces in the world,” said UnitedMasters founder and CEO Steve Stoute in a statement. “We are excited that he has joined the UnitedMasters team at such an important inflection point in the music industr...
How Spotify Helped Nearly 300 Afghan Music Students and Teachers Reach Portugal
On Dec. 1, Elizabeth Nieto‘s boss at Spotify — chief human resources officer Katarina Berg — learned that nearly 300 Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) students and teachers and their families were in limbo in Doha, Qatar. Promised asylum in Lisbon, Portugal, they were attempting to charter a plane to the European city and needed money. “See what we can do,” Berg told Nieto, the streaming giant’s global head of equity and impact. Nieto had to wrangle with Spotify’s in-house lawyers to cut a sizable check for the plane by Dec. 6; on Monday (Dec. 13), the SAS flight carrying 273 Afghans landed in Lisbon, where the musicians and faculty members will be able to recreate their school. “The renaissance of Afghanistan music will start in Lisbon,” Nieto says. “We have an opportunity to...
Duke Concept Launches Live Nation Joint Venture
While Burna Boy will make history this spring when he becomes the first Nigerian artist to headline New York’s Madison Square Garden, the April 28 concert also marks a major milestone for promoter Osita “Duke” Ugeh, CEO of concert promoter Duke Concept, who has spent the past 10 years bringing African artists to the U.S. With Burna Boy’s Madison Square Garden show, Ugeh — who’s Nigerian-born and based in New York — launches a new joint venture with Live Nation to co-promote African artists touring in the U.S. Through Duke Concept, Ugeh and Live Nation have been co-producing concerts together for years, and under the new arrangement, Ugeh will retain the autonomy to continue to independently promote his own events. “Over the past few years working with Duke, our relationship has grown immen...
Travis Scott’s Cacti Hard Seltzer Discontinued by Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch InBev revealed Friday (Dec. 10) that it is discontinuing its Travis Scott-backed hard seltzer brand, Cacti, less than nine months after the product first went on sale. “After careful evaluation, we have decided to stop all production and brand development of CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer,” said an Anheuser-Busch InBev spokesperson in a statement. “We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision.” The discontinuation comes a little over a month after 10 people died and hundreds more were injured in a crowd crush that occurred during Scott’s performance at the Astroworld festival in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 5. An Anheuser-Busch representative would not confirm whether the discontinuation was related to what happened at the festival, but a spokesperson for Scott tel...
Secretly Group Releases Sustainability Plan, Aims to Be ‘Climate Positive’ by 2026
Over the course of its 25-year history, Secretly Group has made numerous stabs at implementing more environmentally friendly practices — from nearly eliminating its usage of plastic jewel cases to installing a solar array on its main warehouse. Now, the company is unveiling a wide-ranging sustainability plan designed to cut down on its greenhouse gas emissions across the board. Officially dubbed The Secretly Affiliates Sustainability Plan, the 11-page document outlines a series of concrete actions Secretly Group will take to lessen its climate footprint, including investing in energy efficiency in its buildings, assessing opportunities to replace natural gas equipment with electric options, switching to 100% renewable energy and measuring and reducing the company’s “Scope 3” emissions — a ...
Discord Testing Subscription Feature Allowing Creators to Monetize Their Servers
Discord is introducing monthly subscriptions to its service, initially with a pilot program for select creators. The subscriptions, which have been dubbed Premium Memberships, are designed to support Discord servers – digital conversation hubs that connect Discord users via audio, video or text – and the creators who lead them. Creators have the option of dividing memberships into tiers, with each tier boasting unique pricing (subscriptions can range from $2.99 to $99.99 a month) and perks. Creators will also have access to analytics to see how their memberships are performing. Long before this announcement, which was made Tuesday, Discord creators had been figuring out ways around the lack of a subscription feature on the platform, including by tokenizing communities as well as selling ac...
Kelly Bradshaw to Oversee MTV Entertainment Brands Outside U.S.
A new executive is taking charge of ViacomCBS’ MTV Entertainment Group brands abroad. Kerry Taylor is leaving her post as executive vp of MTV Entertainment International, with Kelly Bradshaw taking on the new role of senior vp of MTV Entertainment Brands International. In that role, she will lead the MTV Entertainment brands, which include the likes of MTV, Comedy Central, Paramount Network and VH1, outside of the U.S. “Long-time partner and friend” Taylor has “after 14 tremendous years … decided to step away,” ViacomCBS Networks International president and CEO Raffaele Annecchino said in an internal memo obtained by THR. “As many of you who have worked with Kerry Taylor can attest, she will be greatly missed as she has made remarkable contributions to our brands a...
Mushroom Group Parts With Harbour Agency Following Investigation
Mushroom Group, the Australian independent music powerhouse, has ended its decades-long association with The Harbour Agency. The split, confirmed in a statement from Melbourne-based Mushroom Group, was triggered by an investigation into claims from former Harbour Agency staff on past management behavior and workplace culture. “Mushroom Group can confirm that The Harbour Agency is no longer part of the Mushroom Group of Companies,” reads the message, seen by Billboard. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “For many years now Harbour has operated independently of the Mushroom Group,” the statement continues. “Unlike all other Mushroom Group companies it has not shared HR, legal, finance or other group corporate services.” Mushroom has distanced itself...
Live Nation Finalizes $416 Million Acquisition of Mexican Promotion Giant OCESA
More than two years after it was first announced, Live Nation has finalized the acquisition of a 51% interest in Mexican concert promoter OCESA Entretenimiento, the company announced Monday. Live Nation bought its stake from CIE, a Latin American entertainment company, and media company Grupo Televisa, for MXN $8.84 billion – $416 million at Monday’s exchange rate but $444 million when the deal was announced in July 2019. OCESA significantly improves Live Nation’s presence in Latin America and further expands its international business. In 2019, OCESA’s holding company, Grupo Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento, reported $233.2 million in ticket sales to 936 events for 4.3 million fans from 3,400 shows spanning from the U.S. to Colombia, according to Billboard’s 2019 y...
UK Streaming Reform Bill Put On Ice After House of Commons Debate
LONDON – The British government said Friday that it recognizes there is a problem around the low rates of pay some artists and performers receive from music streaming — and refused to rule out legislating change if the industry can’t work together to find its own solutions. “We want a fair streaming environment in which the U.K. music industry can thrive and artists are properly rewarded,” George Freeman, a Conservative government minister, said during a four-hour debate in the House of Commons over a bill that seeks to reform music streaming payouts. The Copyright (Rights and Remuneration of Musicians) Bill failed Friday to progress to the next stage of the legislative process as proceedings overran. That means the bill remains on the agenda of Private Members’ bills to be debated by MPs ...
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is the Highest-Grossing and Most-Attended Venue of the Year Globally
In an unstable year for touring, an unlikely contender has risen to become the highest-grossing and most-attended venue of the year. According to data provided to Billboard Boxscore, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado is not only the biggest moneymaking venue with a capacity between 5,001-10,000 of 2021 but the top-grossing venue of any size, in the world, for the year. With 134 shows reported to Boxscore, the beloved, 9,500-seat outdoor venue brought in more than $61.6 million. To further contextualize Red Rocks’ extraordinary performance, the amphitheater out-earned the next highest-grossing venue overall — Las Vegas’ 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena, which took in $37.2 million last year according to Billboard Boxscore — by more than $24 million. The next highest-reported ...
My Chemical Romance and Gerard Way Sign With CAA
My Chemical Romance and lead singer Gerard Way have signed with CAA for representation in all areas. Both the group and Way solo will be represented by the agency in North America, Australia, Mexico, Japan, the Middle East and Africa. The Grammy-nominated rock band originated in Newark, New Jersey and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love independently in 2002. One year later, the band signed to Reprise Records and released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004, which has now reached 3x Certified Platinum. According to MRC Data, My Chemical Romance has six charting albums on the Billboard 200, including three top 10s (The Black Parade which hit No. 2; Danger Days...
