business
Inside Superfly’s Web3-Powered Music Festival and How You Can Be a Part Of It
Superfly, Velvet Sea Ventures (VSV) and Tom Brady’s Autograph. io are officially unveiling their latest partnership: SuperNFTs. The project’s debut event will be SUPERF3ST, a community-built and Web3-powered music festival taking place in 2023. On Friday (July 15), 3,000 NFTs (dubbed SUPERPASS NFTs) will be minted and distributed to fans, who will in exchange receive the opportunity to help plan the upcoming festival as a SUPERF3ST Founder. SUPERPASS NFT owners will be a part of key decision-making moments from choosing a lineup to merchandise to location and more. Ahead of the minting, SuperNFT completed a $7 million Series A investment round with participation from JDS Sports, Art Blocks founder Erick Calderon (Snowfro), Pixel Vault, Inc. founder Sean Gearin (GFunk), marketing executive ...
Steve Smith, Legendary Radio Programmer Who Helped Launch the Hip-Hop Format, Dies at 62
The radio world is mourning the loss of revered programmer and consultant Steve Smith, who died suddenly last Thursday (July 7). He was 62. Tim Richards, Smith’s partner in Smith Richards Collective who first met Smith in 1992 at the MTV Awards in Los Angeles during a Westwood One broadcast, wrote on his Facebook page, “Steve was (that’s so hard to type) an incredible man. He was a radio innovator and one of the kindest and most creative programmers I’ve ever learned from.” Smith’s family confirmed his death in a statement to radio trade All Access, writing, “Steve unexpectedly passed away peacefully at home, in his sleep on July 7…Steve’s highly successful career spanned 40 years and has broken countless records, won countless awards, and has irrevocably changed the landscape of American ...
Steve Smith, Legendary Radio Programmer Who Helped Launch the Hip-Hop Format, Dies at 62
The radio world is mourning the loss of revered programmer and consultant Steve Smith, who died suddenly last Thursday (July 7). He was 62. Tim Richards, Smith’s partner in Smith Richards Collective who first met Smith in 1992 at the MTV Awards in Los Angeles during a Westwood One broadcast, wrote on his Facebook page, “Steve was (that’s so hard to type) an incredible man. He was a radio innovator and one of the kindest and most creative programmers I’ve ever learned from.” Smith’s family confirmed his death in a statement to radio trade All Access, writing, “Steve unexpectedly passed away peacefully at home, in his sleep on July 7…Steve’s highly successful career spanned 40 years and has broken countless records, won countless awards, and has irrevocably changed the landscape of American ...
Meek Mill Parts Ways With Roc Nation Management
Meek Mill has parted ways with Roc Nation Management, sources tell Billboard. Mill, who first signed with Roc in 2012 under a management deal, is no longer featured on the company’s website and has been removed from their social media pages. In 2019, Meek scored a joint venture deal with Roc for his imprint Dreamchasers, where he became president. Following his incarceration in 2018, Meek also teamed up with Jay-Z the following year and created Reform Alliance — a non-profit organization set to eliminate unjust sentencing laws in the United States. Earlier this year, Meek expressed frustrations with his label Atlantic Records after scoring a No. 3 debut on the Billboard 200 with his latest album, Expensive Pain. “They didn’t put nothing into expensive pain and then said I can’t ...
Amber Heard Seeks to Throw Out Verdict in Johnny Depp Defamation Trial
Amber Heard’s lawyers have asked a judge to throw out the $10.35 million verdict against her in the defamation case filed by ex-husband Johnny Depp, arguing that the verdict was not supported by the evidence and that one of the jurors may not have been properly vetted by the court. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In post-trial motions filed Friday (July 1), Heard’s attorneys call the jury’s June 1 award of $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages to Depp “excessive” and “indefensible.” They ask the judge to set aside the verdict and dismiss Depp’s lawsuit or order a new trial. Immediately after the verdict, the judge reduced the compensatory damages to $350,000 under a state cap. Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfa...
Crosby, Stills & Nash Music Returns to Spotify
Crosby, Stills & Nash music can now be streamed on Spotify once again, five months after David Crosby, Graham Nash and Stephen Stills requested their labels remove their recordings in support of Neil Young‘s decision to leave the streaming service. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Their music is available via Spotify as of Saturday (July 2). CSN will donate proceeds from streams to COVID-19 charities for at least a month, a source tells Billboard. In February, the band members commented, “We support Neil and we agree with him that there is dangerous disinformation being aired on Spotify’s Joe Rogan podcast. While we always value alternate points of view, knowingly spreading disinformation during this global pandemic has deadly conseq...
Google Violated Import Ban in Sonos Patent Case, US Customs Agency Says
Google is still ripping off Sonos’ technology — according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In a public ruling issued Tuesday, the CBP found that Google products including Pixel smartphones, tablets and computers that utilize controller technology invented and patented by Sonos were in violation of a ban issued five months ago by the U.S. International Trade Commission. That previous ruling by the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Google had infringed five audio technology patents owned by smart speaker maker Sonos and banned the tech giant from importing the infringing products from China. Several other products that were previously found to have infringed Sonos patents – including Chromecast, Home and Nest audio players – however, were excluded from the latest ruli...
Here’s Why Day N Vegas 2022 Was Canceled
The hip-hop heavy Day N Vegas festival was canceled on Friday (June 1) due to poor ticket sales, making the event financially unsustainable, according to sources familiar with the situation. Promoter Goldenvoice knew there was an issue the day after tickets went on sale, June 10, sources tell Billboard. Ticket sales simply did not meet the sales goal that day, or the days that followed. By canceling Friday, with the start of the festival still more than 60 days away, AEG only has to pay 50% of the artist fee — a compromise that was reached with the major talent agencies last year amid touring’s return from the pandemic. Day N Vegas’ disappointing ticket sales came as a surprise for many since it was Travis Scott‘s first concert since the disastrous Astroworld festival in Houston last Novem...
How Brazil Is Stepping Up to Tackle Digital Piracy and Eying Metaverse Infringement
RIO DE JANEIRO – Authorities in Brazil are finding that fraudsters are using illegal download apps and websites to lure in music fans eager for a stronger connection to specific artists – and then profiting from reams of personal data they are mining from them. London-based IFPI and its recorded-music affiliate, Pró-Música Brasil, have been cooperating with a cybercrime unit of Brazil’s Ministry of Justice for over a year, working to root out services illegally peddling MP3 singles and albums from some of Brazil’s most popular artists, including Alok, Bruno & Marrone, Luccas Neto and Barōes da Pisadinha. Last month authorities shut down 461 illegal download apps and 11 websites — a record haul for a single anti-music piracy operation in Brazil. The apps generated more than 10.2 million...
The Ledger: There’s Still Room for Consolidation in the Festival Market
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. For all the consolidation in the concert industry in the last decade, the festival business remains a diverse array of events operated by independent companies rather than the corporate behemoths. That’s one takeaway from Billboard’s new list of the top 50 music festivals of 2022 that considers the quality, size and cultural impact of the biggest and best events around the globe. The top 50 list is filled with potential mergers and acquisitions for growth-minded promoters: 35 of the top 50 festivals are owned by either independent promoters or, in a handful of cases, non-profit organizations. Some festivals are fewer th...
June roundup: Who’s hiring and who’s firing in the crypto space
Amid the recent volatility in the crypto market affecting investments and stock prices, many firms made significant staff cuts in the last month while others continued hiring. In June, major crypto exchange Gemini was among the first to reportedly cut 10% of its employees amid the bear market, saying conditions were “likely to persist for some time.” Coinbase and Crypto.com followed, announcing plans to reduce staff by 18% and 5%, respectively. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited the so-called crypto winter as part of the reason for the cuts, but also stated the firm had been growing “too quickly.” Market conditions largely have not changed following many decisions to downsize, and other firms have been forced to make cuts. Crypto lending firm BlockFi announced it would be reducing staff by...
Ignite CEO announces departure after seven years
Peng Zhong, the chief executive officer of Ignite — formerly Tendermint and backer of the Cosmos ecosystem — has announced he will be leaving the firm. In a Friday tweet to his more than 20,000 followers, Zhong said Friday will be his last day at Ignite, where he has been working as CEO since May 2020. Prior to that, the now-former Ignite CEO was chief design officer at the firm’s Kuala Lumpur and Toronto offices since he started in 2015. It’s unclear what led to his decision to leave the company. Today is my last day at Ignite. Thank you for the camaraderie we shared as we built out this ecosystem. It’s been an honor to be a part of this team and this community. I will miss you. — Peng Zhong (@zcpeng) July 1, 2022 Ignite, formerly known as Tendermint, is a core contributor to the Co...
