business
HYBE’s Revenues Soared in Q2, But That Doesn’t Account for BTS Break
With BTS on a break since June and its members pursuing solo projects, HYBE’s solid second-quarter earnings release was as much about what happens next than what already happened. HYBE’s total revenue improved 83.8% to 512.2 billion KRW ($397.7 million) from April to June. Most growth came from the company’s “artist direct involvement” segment, which increased 153%. Concert revenue grew to 85 billion KRW ($66 million) from nothing in the prior-year period on the strength of BTS’s four concerts in Las Vegas and Seventeen concerts in Japan. Revenue from ads, appearances and management grew 39% to 30 billion KRW ($23.3 million) While merchandising and licensing improved 97.2% to 98.8 billion KRW ($78.7 million), contents fell 22.6% to 70.7 billion KRW ($54.9 million), partially because online...
BMG Acquiring German Indie Label Telamo to Gain Control of Local Schlager Market
BMG is growing its share of the world’s fourth largest music market by acquiring German independent powerhouse Telamo, the country’s biggest indie imprint and market leader in Schlager music, a form of easy listening Europop. Berlin-based BMG did not reveal financial terms of the deal, which the Austrian Federal Competition Authority still needs to approve before it can be completed. BMG says it is the company’s largest label investment since it acquired Nashville-based BBR Music Group in 2017. That deal was worth around $100 million, according to sources at the time. In 2021, BMG generated revenues of €40 million ($40.6 million) in Germany across its recorded music and publishing divisions, according to parent company Bertelsmann‘s year-end financial report, with recordings accounting for...
Concord Acquires Australasian Music Publisher Native Tongue
Concord continues to expand, this time with the acquisition of Native Tongue, one of the leading independent music publishers in Australasia. A family business since it was established in 2003 by New Zealander Chris Gough, Native Tongue is sub-publisher for more than 40 international catalogs, including Barton Music, Because Editions, Boosey & Hawkes, Cloud 9 Music, Domino Publishing Company, Faber Music, Roys Boys, PULSE Publishing, Ultra Music and Wixen Music. The acquisition, announced Thursday (Aug. 4), is an extension to an alliance that has seen Native Tongue represent Concord in Australia and NZ for more than 12 years. Concord now has access to Native Tongue’s stable of songwriters, which includes Grammy-nominated writer/producer Stuart Crichton (Backstreet Boys, Kesha, Kygo, Ro...
Warner Records CEO Mo Ostin Remembered by Producer Russ Titelman: ‘He Had No Ego’
Grammy-winning producer Russ Titelman first met Mo Ostin, the legendary executive who ran Reprise and then Warner Records from 1960 to 1994, in the early ’60s when Titelman was still a teenager and freshly signed to Screen Gems-Columbia Music as a songwriter. Eventually, Ostin, who died July 31 at 95, and then head of A&R Lenny Waronker convinced Titelman to come to Warner Records, where he had an extraordinary run as an in-house producer for 25 years, working with such artists as Randy Newman, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Steve Winwood, Chaka Khan and so many more. Titelman, whose Grammy wins include record of the year for Winwood’s “Higher Love” (1986) and again for Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven,” as well as album of the year for Clapton’s “Unplugged” (1992), talked with Bill...
Riot Blockchain’s Bitcoin mining productivity dropped 28% YOY amid record Texas heat
Crypto mining firm Riot Blockchain reported it produced fewer Bitcoin (BTC) in July 2022 than that in July 2021 after scaling down operations at its Texas facility. In a Wednesday announcement, Riot said its miners had produced 318 Bitcoin in July, more than 28% less than the 443 BTC the firm reported generating in July 2021. According to Riot CEO Jason Les, the firm curtailed operations by 11,717 megawatt-hours in July in response to increasing demand on Texas’ energy grid. Many parts of the Lone Star State experienced several days with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, requiring additional power for air conditioners. “As energy demand in [Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT] reached all-time highs this past month, the company voluntarily curtailed its energy...
Bruno Mars Will Officially Open Sydney’s Allianz Stadium
Bruno Mars will bring some 24K magic to Sydney later this year when he officially opens the new Allianz Stadium. The pop superstar is booked to perform Friday, Oct. 14 and the following evening to raise the curtain at the rebuilt venue. Veteran concert promoter Paul Dainty, CEO of TEG Dainty, part of the TEG group, is producing the shows. “It’s incredibly exciting to welcome audiences back to Allianz Stadium in the heart of Sydney and who better to lead the opening celebrations than the legendary, record-breaking artist Bruno Mars,” he says in a statement. “These opening shows will go down in history as not to be missed.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Mars’ most recent studio album, 24K Magic, debuted at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart...
Janet Yang Is Fourth Woman Elected President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
Producer Janet Yang was elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s board of governors. Her election was announced on Tuesday (Aug. 2). Yang is the fourth woman, and second person of color, to serve in that post. The first woman to serve as president was screen legend Bette Davis, though she served for just two months in 1941 before resigning. The other women to serve as president are Fay Kanin (1979-83) and Cheryl Boone Isaacs (2013-17), who is also the only previous person of color to serve in the post. Yang is beginning her second term as a governor-at-large, a position for which she was nominated by her predecessor as Academy president, David Rubin, and elected by the board of governors. Yang, a member of the producers branch since 2002, b...
Crypto miner Digihost plans to move rigs from New York to Alabama
Digihost, a United States-based cryptocurrency mining company, has announced plans to move part of its fleet from New York to Alabama in an effort to lower energy costs. In a Tuesday announcement, Digihost said its 55-megawatt (MW) facility in Alabama — which the company acquired in June — will host some of its crypto miners from New York, leading to lower operating costs. According to the mining firm, it aims to have a hashing capacity of 28 MW at the Alabama facility by the fourth quarter of 2022, and 55 MW by the second quarter of 2023. Like other crypto miners dealing with rising energy costs amid a bear market and record heat in parts of the United States, Digihost reported that it sold Bitcoin (BTC) produced in July. As of July 31, the company reported it held roughly 220 BTC and 1,0...
Michael Saylor will step down as MicroStrategy CEO but remain executive chair
Bitcoin maximalist Michael Saylor has announced that he will step down as the chief executive officer of MicroStrategy, the business intelligence firm he helped co-found in 1989. In a Tuesday notice on its second quarter earnings for 2022, MicroStrategy said Saylor would be assuming the new role of executive chair at the company, while president Phong Le will become CEO. The changes are expected to take effect on Aug. 8. “I believe that splitting the roles of Chairman and CEO will enable us to better pursue our two corporate strategies of acquiring and holding Bitcoin and growing our enterprise analytics software business,” said Saylor. Please join the @MicroStrategy management team at 5pm ET as we discuss our Q2 2022 financial results, executive transition, and answer questions about our ...
Billboard Welcomes Andrei Radaza to Executive Team, Promotes Anjali Raja
Billboard is pleased to announce two updates to our executive team: Andrei Radaza is joining Billboard as svp/head of sales and Anjali Raja has been promoted to svp of business ops and audience development. Radaza is a new hire who began his advertising career with True Agency back in 2004 working on multicultural accounts for Nissan and Infiniti. Since then, he’s also held sales positions at Blackrock Digital, Vox Media and Complex, where he was vp of brand partnerships and oversaw the outlet’s Style vertical. Radaza also comes to Billboard with a requisite passion for music grounded in an early love of ’90s and 2000s hip-hop. The proud father of two currently has everything from Tyler, the Creator and Freddie Gibbs to Snoh Aalegra, Tems and Cleo Sol cycling on his playlist of favorites. ...
Mo Ostin, Legendary Warner Bros. Records Chief, Dies at 95
Mo Ostin, the legendary label executive who led Warner Brothers Records through a storied time of both artistic and commercial success for more than 30 years, died in his sleep July 31, at the age of 95. Ostin, who signed and/or worked with such acts at The Kinks, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, R.E.M., Randy Newman and many more, was “one of the greatest record men of all time, and a prime architect of the modern music business,” said Tom Corson, co-chairman and COO, Warner Records, and Aaron Bay-Schuck, co-chairman and CEO, Warner Records, in a joint statement. “For Mo, it was always first and foremost about helping artists realize their vision,” their statement continues. “One of the pivotal figures in the evolution of Warner Music Group, in the 1960s Mo ushered Warner/Repri...
Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival Canceled After Court Ruling Made It Illegal to Keep Guns Out of Event
The long-running Music Midtown festival at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, scheduled for Sept. 17-18 with headliners My Chemical Romance, Future, Jack White and Fallout Boy, has been called off, according to a statement issued by festival organizers. The likely cause, industry sources tell Billboard, are recent changes to Georgia gun laws that prevent the festival from banning guns on to the publicly owned festival grounds. “Hey Midtown fans — due to circumstances beyond our control, Music Midtown will no longer be taking place this year,” a statement posted on Music Midtown’s website reads. “We were looking forward to reuniting in September and hope we can all get back to enjoying the festival together again soon.” While owner Live Nation didn’t provide any additional details for the ...
