business
Publishers, Streamers Reach Deal for Highest Streaming Royalty Rate Ever: Here’s How It Works
Songwriter and publisher U.S. mechanical streaming royalty rates are going up — slowly — to a headline rate of 15.35% of total revenue from 2023-2027. That’s the big news out of Wednesday’s (Aug. 31) joint announcement on the “Phonorecords IV” settlement from the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Associations International and the Digital Media Association (DiMA). But how long will it take to get there and at what pace? What are the other conditions? Billboard now has more more key details about the deal. Under the new settlement agreement — which the NMPA touts will set the “highest royalty rate in the history of streaming anywhere” — the headline rate will escalate from 15.1% of revenue in 2023 to 15.2% in 2024 and then a half a percentage point inc...
J Balvin Returns to WME After Leaving Three Months Ago
J Balvin has returned to his longtime agency WME, sources tell Billboard. The move follows a short stint with UTA that started in May. No reason was given for his departure from or return to WME. Balvin left WME for UTA in May after postponing his 25-date José tour. The move was surprising considering Balvin’s long and storied history with the agency. WME began booking Balvin when he still an emerging artist, and the agency played an integral role in his global touring and branding, securing early placements for him in major festivals. UTA never formally announced its deal with Balvin, but the agency has been growing its Latin roster and currently represents several high-profile Latin stars. Bad Bunny, Balvin’s Universal Music labelmate Karol G and Brazilian powerhouse Anitta are...
You Can Now Experience COSMOS on 1xBit
COSMOS is taking crypto betting into the future: convenient, scalable, and lucrative. COSMOS has become the most recent cryptocurrency to join the 1xBit family bringing convenience in the revolutionary crypto betting one step further. With speedy transactions, easy-to-use software, and inter-blockchain communication, COSMOS is about to revolutionize the already groundbreaking betting on 1xBit and lead crypto gambling into the future. What is COSMOS Protocol? COSMOS is a Proof-of-Stake-powered crypto project that provides users with fast, easy access across multiple blockchains. Finding its origins in the Tendermint protocol, a major contributor founded in 2014, COSMOS released its whitepaper in 2016 and began token sales in 2017. The protocol is the brainchild of the founders of Tend...
Drake and LeBron James Are Teaming Up To Invest in AC Milan
It appears that one of baseball’s most elite is getting into the world of football. The Financial Times recently reported that Yankee Global Enterprises, which is the New York team’s parent company, has partnered with Los Angeles-based investment firm Main Street Advisors to go in as minority investors in Italian football club, AC Milan. Main Street Advisors includes NBA star, LeBron James and the 6God himself, Drake. Together, both companies are reportedly closing in on a deal to purchase shares of the reigning Serie A champion league for just a little over $1.2 billion USD. If this deal goes through, this would make James and Drake passive owners of the club. The Yankees have also partnered with private equity group RedBird Capital to secure the deal. RedBird has quite the portfolio when...
Prosecutors Rest in R. Kelly’s Federal Trial in Chicago
Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday (Aug. 30) at R. Kelly’s federal trial in Chicago after presenting two weeks of testimony, including from four Kelly accusers, in their bid to prove the singer enticed underage girls for sex, produced child pornography and successfully rigged his 2008 state trial. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Among the last prosecution witnesses was a 42-year-old woman who went by the pseudonym “Nia.” Taking the stand Tuesday morning, she was the fourth and final accuser to testify at the trial in Kelly’s hometown. A fifth accuser, who prosecutors had said during openings would testify, never did. They didn’t explain why. Through her testimony, Nia painted a picture of Kelly as a master manipulator who reeled...
Kesha Says Dr. Luke Has ‘Obstructed’ Defamation Case, Wants to ‘Get This Ordeal Behind Her’
Kesha told a New York judge Tuesday (Aug. 30) that Dr. Luke is at fault for delays that are threatening to derail their scheduled defamation trial in February, saying she wants to “get this ordeal behind her and move on with her life.” The singer said she’s “more than eager” to get to the February showdown and finally end a legal battle that’s been raging since 2014, but that Dr. Luke has delayed two key appeals that must be decided before the case heads to trial. “Kesha has … done everything in her power to try to ensure that trial will begin as scheduled, including by seeking to expedite proceedings in the Court of Appeals,” her lawyer Leah Godesky wrote in a letter to Judge Jennifer G. Schecter. “Dr. Luke has obstructed her efforts at every turn.” “Kesha has an overwhelming interest in ...
Mariah Carey & More Celebs Targeted by Atlanta Gang, According to New Indictment
A prosecutor on Monday (Aug. 29) announced a sprawling indictment targeting members of what she said is a violent street gang that has been targeting the Atlanta area homes of famous athletes, entertainers and others who flaunt expensive possessions on social media. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Singer Mariah Carey, Marlo Hampton of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Atlanta United soccer player Brad Guzan and Atlanta Falcons football player Calvin Ridley all had their homes broken into, the indictment says. The 220-count indictment was filed Aug. 22 and charges 26 people, most of whom are accused of violating Georgia’s anti-gang and racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the crimes alleged in the indictment ...
Sony Lawsuit Claims Triller Hasn’t Paid in Months But Is Still Using Its Music Catalog
Sony Music Entertainment is suing Triller for breach of contract, claiming the video-sharing social networking app has failed to make payments for months and after being served a termination notice has also failed to pull the company’s catalog of music from the platform. According to Sony’s lawsuit filed Monday (Aug. 29) in New York, Triller has “historically failed to make payments in a timely manner” but those “failures” escalated in March 2022 when the company “failed to make any monthly payments required under the Agreement, totaling millions of dollars.” Since then, Triller has allegedly continued to fail to pay its outstanding fees, despite Sony’s requests (“and near-total radio silence in response,” the suit states). On July 22, Sony notified Triller that it was in material breach o...
CME Group launches euro-denominated Bitcoin and Ether futures
Derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has launched trading for Bitcoin euro and Ether euro futures contracts. In a Monday announcement, CME Group said that it launched contracts for euro-denominated Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) futures sized at 5 BTC and 50 ETH per contract. Both contracts will be listed on CME, cash-settled and based on the CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate, respectively. “Our new Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures will provide institutional clients, both within and outside the U.S., with more precise and regulated tools to trade and hedge exposure to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap,” said CME Group global head of equity and FX products Tim McCourt. First announced on Aug. 4, the euro-denomin...
Sam Bankman-Fried denies report FTX plans to purchase stake in Huobi
Global crypto exchange FTX will not be acquiring a majority stake in Huobi, according to CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF. In a Monday tweet, SBF explicitly denied a Bloomberg report that claimed FTX was planning to purchase crypto exchange Huobi. Cointelegraph reported on Aug. 12 that Huobi co-founder Leon Li was considering selling his majority stake, valued at more than $1 billion, in the company. “We are not planning to acquire Huobi,” said SBF. Just to be explicit because apparently a lot of people are saying this: No, we are not planning to acquire Huobi. — SBF (@SBF_FTX) August 29, 2022 Under SBF’s leadership, both FTX and Alameda Research have stepped in a few times amid the bear market to bail out crypto firms facing liquidity issues. In a June NPR interview, Bankman-Fried...
Cleopatra Records Founder on How to Make It as an Indie Label for 30 Years
Goth, industrial, punk and space-rock fans were the first to discover Los Angeles’ Cleopatra Records in the 1990s. The independent upstart — formed in 1992 by Brian Perera — initially rode the second wave of goth music right into the bins of indie record stores and chains. During that decade, it presciently created electronic music label Hypnotic Records (in 1996) and hair metal imprint Deadline Music (1998) ahead of the EDM explosion and the hard rock revival. Perera noticed the electronic body music movement in Europe expanding into trance and big beat and licensed earlier releases by U.K. stars like Juno Reactor and The Future Sound of London. The business strategy of signing ’80s hard-rock groups for moderate advances with low expectations and then watching the genre revive worked out ...
NFL’s First Head Of Music On Halftime Show Planning & Why They Don’t Pay Performers
Even before the National Football League announced that Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem would perform during the Pepsi-sponsored halftime show at Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 13, Seth Dudowsky knew he had a crucial sound issue to solve. One of his many responsibilities as the point person for the production at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., which would be seen by 103.4 million television viewers (and rack up more than 121 million YouTube views), was keeping the set list under wraps. The problem, however, was the venue, which is next door to the NFL’s Los Angeles-area headquarters where he works and is anything but soundproof. “It’s technically an outdoor stadium with a roof,” Dudowsky says. “So sound blows out the [open] sides of the stadium.” Knowing that medi...
