Business news
Inside Track: NFT LA Brings Web3 Networking IRL; Miami Music Week’s Big Return
The NFT | LA conference brought web3 networking into real life this week, taking over the Los Angeles Convention Center and surrounding downtown restaurants, bars and venue spaces with the city’s first-ever blockchain-focused gathering of this size. From March 29-31, official programming at the convention center included panels and keynotes covering music, gaming, art, fashion, cryptocurrency and more intersections of culture, commerce and emerging blockchain technology. Mark Cuban, Sandbox CEO Mathieu Nouzareth, Andrew Yang and Baron Davis were some of the big names speaking, as startups showcased their new products, patrons sported shirts with their own Bored Ape characters on them and frames for displaying those virtual non fungible tokens in your IRL living room took up a considerable ...
New York Music Workers Seek Eligibility for Pandemic Relief Grants
New York touring musicians – led by the Music Workers Alliance – are seeking additional pandemic relief from the state after a tumultuous touring season this winter. Musicians including Esperanza Spalding and Marc Ribot are advocating on behalf of New York’s touring workers to be included in the New York State Legislator’s Small Business Recovery Grant — included in the New York State Senate’s budget proposal — as micro-businesses. Inclusion in the grant program would give music workers — or “independent arts contractors,” as they’re described in the budget — access to possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in relief funds. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) ended in September 2021. Shortly thereafter, touring musicians were inundated with another wave of cancellations due to the unp...
Radio Promotion Vet John Boulos Launches Consulting Firm
Veteran radio promotion executive John Boulos has launched a new consulting firm, JBoulos Music, it was announced Monday (March 21). The company will aim to develop and break new artists while also mentoring young music executives. JBoulos’ current clients include BlackBox Media Agency, In2une Music, Aware Records MGMT and unnamed major labels. Boulos most recently served as executive vp, promotion at the relaunched Arista Records for three years, where he oversaw all aspects of radio promotion for the label and built and led a multi-format national promotion team. Before exiting the role in June 2021 to spend time with his loved ones, he led campaigns for JP Saxe, including the singer’s Grammy-nominated duet “If the World Was Ending” featuring Julia Michaels. Before landing at Arista, Bou...
Paul Simon Shopping Simon & Garfunkel Recorded Royalties
A year after Paul Simon sold his song catalog to Sony Music Publishing, the legendary artist is now shopping his master recording royalties from his Simon & Garfunkel recorded works, multiple sources tell Billboard. The master royalties include the five Simon & Garfunkel studio albums that the duo recorded for Columbia/Sony starting in 1964, including 1971 Grammy album of the year Bridge Over Troubled Water. The duo has sold more than 100 million records, according to Sony. “The Sound of Silence,” “Mrs. Robinson,” “America,” “Homeward Bound,” “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” and “The Boxer” are among the classic recordings on these albums. A source says Art Garfunkel is not selling his master recording royalties. Simon, one of the most revered singer-songwriters in mo...
After Months Declining, Music Stocks Tick Up as Fed Raises Interest Rate
Music stocks that had been pummeled in recent months received a respite on Wednesday (March 16) after the Federal Reserve moved to combat inflation and soaring economy by raising the federal funds rate from 0.25% to 0.50%. The federal fund rate is the benchmark rate for inter-bank loans and borrowing costs for credit cards, mortgages and auto loans. Shares of Universal Music Group rose 5.0% on the day to 21.96 euros while Spotify improved 7.9% to $133.58 and Warner Music Group climbed 1.4% to $35.47. The Fed’s move had been expected since its first announced its intention to do so on Dec. 15, 2021. By raising the federal funds rate, the Fed will make borrowing money more costly, reducing businesses and consumer spending to rein in inflation. The Fed stated on Wednesday it “anticipates that...
The Ledger: Leaving Russia Will Have Little Impact on Streaming Services, Record Labels
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. Strong steps taken by Western music companies to cease operations in Russia will have a big impact on the country but will do little damage to the global market. Russia is the 16th largest recorded music market in the world with a trade value $199 million in 2020, according to the IFPI. That was on par with Sweden, which has about 7% of Russia’s population, as well as Mexico, India and Switzerland. For the largest record labels, music publishers and music streaming companies, each with multi-billion-dollar revenues, Russia is a tiny part of their worldwide businesses. Spotify’s decision to suspend operations in Rus...
Russia Blocks Instagram Amid Widening Social Media Crackdown
(AP) — Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national access to Instagram because the platform is spreading “calls to commit violent acts against Russian citizens, including military personnel.” Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram, didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Roskomnadzor specifically cited a Thursday tweet by Meta spokesman Andy Stone conveying a company statement saying it had “made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally viola...
CAA Names Hilary Krane as Chief Legal Officer
Creative Artists Agency has hired former Nike exec Hilary Krane as its chief legal officer. In her new role, Los Angeles-based Krane will oversee all legal matters, including strategic business initiatives, mergers and acquisitions and international expansion at CAA. That M&A activity includes CAA’s proposed acquisition of ICM, which the U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing for the impact of the major agencies’ proposed merger on the entertainment industry. The acquisition, unveiled in Sept. 2021, is looking to be completed in the second quarter of this year. “CAA’s devotion to, and consistent success for, the world’s top talent and brands unquestionably begins with its exceptional internal culture of service and collaboration. To play a role in that special environment and help ...
Downtown Launches $200M Fund to Support Indie Artists & Entrepreneurs
Downtown Music Holdings has established a fund to invest over $200 million in support of independent artists and entrepreneurs, the company announced Wednesday (March 9). The fund, which is supported by a new credit facility with Bank of America, will be spread across Downtown’s distribution, publishing administration and artist and label services operations. In a statement, Downtown Music Holdings CEO Andrew Bergman said the financing from Bank of America “enables us to expand our music services business by giving creators and business owners the ability to finance projects in an environment where the options are often unpalatable.” Downtown chief investment officer Alan Goodstadt added, “We are immensely gratified that Bank of America shares our vision of building financial solutions for...
Music Earnings Q4 2021: Taking Stock of Spotify, WMG, SiriusXM & More Companies
Most public music companies continued hot streaks by turning in good or excellent numbers for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021. For the majority of them, however, it would have been difficult not to impress in 2021 compared to 2020. COVID-19 shut down the touring business for three quarters of 2020, hampered brick-and-mortar retail for much of the year and hammered advertising spending, which affected radio broadcasters as well as streaming services. By the end of 2021, businesses’s main problems were rising costs and labor shortages, not unemployment and unpredictable consumer spending. Each component of the music ecosystem had encouraging results. The three majors — Universal Music Group, Sony’s music division and Warner Music Group — had combined revenues of about $25.4 billion, up 19.8%...
Netflix, TikTok Block Services in Russia to Avoid Crackdown
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday (March 6) as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. TikTok said Russian users of the popular social media app would no longer be able to post new videos or livestreams and they also wouldn’t be able to see videos shared from elsewhere in the world. Netflix said it was suspending its service in Russia but didn’t provide additional details. The actions are likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services and technology products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday...
Executive Turntable: CMG Names Digital Marketing SVP, Atlantic Taps Viral Marketing Head
Rebecca “Dimplez” Ijeoma was named senior vp, digital marketing & content development at Capitol Music Group (CMG). Ijeoma will co-lead the company’s digital department alongside CMG senior vp, digital strategy, business development & operations Nicholas Osborne out of CMG’s Hollywood headquarters. In the role, Dimplez will be tasked with strengthening marketing collaborations with digital and social media partners through campaigns and projects, while focusing on direct-to-fan engagement and commerce on a marketing campaign level. Dimplez’s hire marks a return for the executive at CMG, where she previously served as director, digital marketing from early 2017 through more than half of 2018. In that role, she was a key force in launching R&B singer Queen Naija, among other proj...
