business
Battle for Los Angeles Minifest Market Heats Up Between Live Nation and AEG
As the Southern California-Las Vegas corridor develops into the largest year-round U.S. festival market, rival live-industry giants Live Nation and AEG are battling for control through competing minifestivals — genre-specific, commuter-friendly events that require little or no travel commitment, have lower ticket prices and could work nationally, spurring growth in a crowded market. AEG-owned Goldenvoice once dominated that niche sector, but industry sources say the former talent buyer who delivered them there, Jeff Shuman, may have helped Live Nation build a superior model: a minifestival with the potential to generate Coachella-size attendance numbers. On Oct. 22, 23 and 29, Live Nation will debut When We Were Young, a pop-punk/emo minifest — headlined by My Chemical Romance and Paramore...
New Zealand Extends Copyright Term to 70 Years
New Zealand has agreed to extend the term of copyright in sound recordings, a development the domestic music industry is celebrating as a “long overdue change” that should further protect authors, performers and producers. Currently, NZ recording artists and right holders enjoy copyright protection on their recordings for 50 years from the date of release. Those protections will be extended to 70 years, thanks to a NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement — announced this week — which brings New Zealand’s copyright regulations into line with those across the European Union as a trading partner. Recorded Music NZ CEO Jo Oliver welcomes the outcome as one that places domestic artists and rights holders “on a level playing field with their overseas counterparts.” Oliver continues, “copyright enables artist...
Logic Signs With BMG After Def Jam Departure: ‘I’m Just Glad to Move On’
Logic has signed with BMG after exiting his previous deal with Def Jam, the Bertelsmann label announced Thursday (June 30). The first new music from the rapper-producer’s forthcoming studio album is expected soon. The international, multi-album partnership with BMG allows Logic to own his own sound recordings for the first time in his career. The move marks the artist’s first label switch since releasing his debut studio album, Under Pressure, via Def Jam in 2014. “There’s a lot of bulls— in the music industry,” Logic said in a statement. “I’m just glad to move on to a place where I can be independent and respected as an artist, and feel like I’m in control of my career.” Tim Reid, senior vp of repertoire and marketing at BMG, added, “As an artist, creator and entrepreneur, Logic is the pe...
Blizzard Eyes ‘Spellbreak’ Studio Acquisition to Push ‘World of Warcraft’ Development Efforts
Blizzard is reportedly eyeing an acquisition of Proletariat Inc., the video game developer behind third-person action-spellcaster Spellbreak. According to a new report from GamesBeat, the buyout comes as Blizzard hopes to bolster its World of Warcraft franchise with the help of Proletariat’s hundred-strong team of developers, especially for the upcoming Dragonflight expansion. While terms of the transaction were not publicly disclosed, the outlet claims it’ll be the biggest acquisition Blizzard has undertaken over the past decade, and the two companies have been working together since May. “We are putting players at the forefront of everything we do, and we are working hard to both meet and exceed their expectations,” said Blizzard president Mike Ybarra. “A critical part of ...
Ye Sued Over Sample Used on ‘Donda 2’ Track ‘Flowers’
Ye is facing yet another copyright infringement lawsuit over his unauthorized use of a sample, this time on a track from his most recent album, Donda 2. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Wednesday (June 29), the rapper (referred to as Kanye West in the suit) sampled Marshall Jefferson’s 1986 house track “Move Your Body” (a.k.a. “The House Music Anthem”) on the song “Flowers” without gaining permission or providing compensation. The suit claims that the sample is “repeated at least 22 times throughout” Ye’s song. Filed by attorneys Christine Lepera and Bradley J. Mullins of the firm Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp, the complaint was brought by Jefferson’s publisher Ultra International Music Publishing. Jefferson both wrote and performed “Move Your Body,” w...
FCC Commissioner Calls on Apple, Alphabet to Ban TikTok
A Federal Communications commissioner is urging Apple and Alphabet to remove TikTok from the companies’ app stores. According to a letter addressed to the chief executives of the companies, FCC commissioner Brendan Carr said TikTok poses an “unacceptable security risk” because it mines extensive user data, which is being accessed by employees in China. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance — an organization that is beholden to the Communist Party of China and required by the Chinese law to comply with PRC’s surveillance demands,” reads the letter sent on Tuesday. TikTok has run into problems with the government over its parent company’s ties to China. In 2020, former Preside...
SXSW Expands Into Australia
Austin’s famed South by Southwest conference and festival is headed to Australia. The Texas-born event bring its famed celebration of the technology, film and music industries to Sydney, Australia across seven days and nights from Oct. 15-22, 2023. SXSW Sydney will bring together the industries of music, gaming, film, television, technology and innovation much like the American version that launched in 1987. “Every day of the year we connect people to each other, developing events and content that celebrate the inter-relatedness of current and emerging topics. We continue to push our own boundaries by evolving and expanding as we strive to deliver an experience of unexpected discovery and inspiration,” said SXSW CEO Roland Swenson in a release. “We believe that Sydney’s similar future-focu...
Who Will Lead Warner Music Next? The 12 Top Candidates to Fill Stephen Cooper’s Role
With the announcement last week that Stephen Cooper would be stepping down from his role as CEO of the Warner Music Group by the end of 2023, industry speculation has ramped up around who might replace him. Cooper took over WMG in the summer of 2011 at a time when the company and the music business at large were in very different places than they are now: industry revenues had been tanking for a decade with no end in sight; Spotify had launched in the United States just a month prior, with streaming still a speculative format; Warner was a newly private company under the umbrella of its then-new owner, Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries; and the music group, as with much of the recorded-music sector at the time, was struggling. Cooper at the time was chairman of the company’s board and had ...
The FAIR Act to Repeal California’s ‘Seven-Year Statute’ Amendment Fails in the State Senate
The major record companies emerged victorious as the Free Artists From Industry Restrictions (FAIR) Act failed to pass out of the California State Senate’s Judiciary committee on Tuesday (June 28) in Sacramento. The Fair Act, also known as AB Bill 983, received four votes, two short of the six needed to reach a majority from the 11-member committee. The bill was the latest effort to repeal a 1987 amendment to California’s “Seven-Year Statute” (a.k.a. California Labor Code Section 2855). That amendment allows record labels to sue artists for damages (including potential lost revenue) if they leave after seven years but before delivering the required number of albums in their contract. Though the committee addressed the bill early in the afternoon, it took until the conclusion of the 13...
Roger Ver denies CoinFLEX CEO’s claims he owes firm $47M USDC
Roger Ver, an early Bitcoin investor and Bitcoin Cash proponent, has pushed against claims from crypto investment platform CoinFLEX regarding an alleged $47-million debt. In a Tuesday tweet, Ver — not mentioning CoinFLEX by name — said he had not “defaulted on a debt to a counter-party,” and alleged the crypto firm owed him “a substantial sum of money.” The denial followed rumors on social media that the BCH proponent was involved in the platform halting withdrawals due to “a high-networth client who has holdings in many large crypto firms” not covering their debts. CoinFLEX CEO Mark Lamb took to Twitter shortly after the statement to claim the company had a written contract with Ver “obligating him to personally guarantee any negative equity on his CoinFLEX account and top up margin regul...
How crypto is attracting some institutional investors — Huobi Global sales head
James Hume, head of sales at Huobi Global, said that while some institutional investors have gotten “cold feet” over crypto, many with billions of dollars are exploring the space. Speaking to Cointelegraph at the European Blockchain Convention on Tuesday, Hume said that the crypto exchange had observed increasing interest from institutional investors within the last one to two years in entering the digital asset space. According to Hume, it took a long time for certain firms and hedge funds to “build teams, raise capital and understand the infrastructure” to participate in crypto, estimating that 20–30 firms with more than $1 billion could start trading within the year. “I think it’s a pretty exciting time,” said Hume. “A lot of the more speculative bets in crypto… Some have got a bit of c...
Sony Music to Offer Financial Support for College Students With New Initiative
Sony Music Group will offer financial and other support to students studying music and music business-related fields via a new program announced Tuesday. Funding for the program is being provided by Sony’s $100 million social justice fund, unveiled by the company in June 2020. The Sony Music Group Global Scholars Program will provide scholarships to up to 50 students from diverse backgrounds who are enrolled at accredited colleges and universities across the globe. Students accepted into the program will receive annual financial support for the period of the degree program or upon completion, whichever is sooner, depending on a student’s financial need and the region where they’re based. For students in countries where colleges and universities are publicly funded or subsidized, applicants...
