business
Elwood Technologies bags $70M in investment from Goldman Sachs and Barclays
Elwood Technologies aims to invest in infrastructure rather as opposed to injecting funds into short-term initiatives The company’s latest funding pushed its valuation to $500 million Crypto trading software provider Elwood Technologies has secured a $70 million investment that pushed the company’s valuation to half a billion. According to a report published by Financial Times on May 15, Goldman Sachs and Barclays have teamed up to finance the crypto trading platform founded by British billionaire Alan Howard. The report detailed that venture capital firm Dawn Capital as well as the venture divisions of Germany’s Commerzbank and Galaxy Digital, also took part. The move comes as the crypto scene contends with the top 500 of leading digital assets losing over 50% in value as the crypto ...
Universal Music Partners With LimeWire 2.0 for Use of Its NFT Marketplace
LimeWire has signed a new partnership with Universal Music Group that will allow the record giant’s artists to use the NFT marketplace to sell and market music-focused NFTs, it was announced on Tuesday (May 17). This marks the first major-label partnership for the newly rebooted LimeWire, which relaunched as an NFT marketplace in March. Under the partnership, UMG will provide content licenses to LimeWire, enabling the marketplace to partner with UMG artists to sell audio recordings, audiovisual content, artwork, bonus tracks and more directly to fans. Collectibles from these artists can be purchased with a credit card, and the LimeWire platform will handle gas fees and “technical hurdles on behalf of its users,” according to a press release. Originally founded as a peer-to-peer file-sharin...
Tencent Music Revenues Fall 15%, Subscriptions Grow Amid Regulatory ‘Headwinds’
The effects of government intervention on Tencent Music Entertainment, the leading music streaming platform in China, were visible in the first quarter as the company’s revenues dropped 15.1% to RMB 6.64 billion ($1.05 billion) from the prior-year period. Shenzhen-based TME operates QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing. In a statement, executive chairman Cussion Pang attributed the decline to “headwinds in an evolving market landscape,” a reference to the difficulties created by increased Chinese regulations and increased competition from Cloud Village, the music streaming platform spun off by Netease in Dec. 2021, and Quishiu Yinyue, a new music service by Douyin, the Chinese version of short-form video platform TikTok. The quarterly report’s bright spot was music subscripti...
Mac Miller Drug Supplier Gets 17 Years in Prison for Selling Fatal Pills
A California man charged with supplying fentanyl-laced pills before Mac Miller’s fatal 2018 overdose was sentenced Monday to more than 17 years in prison. At a hearing in Los Angeles federal court, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright sentenced Stephen Andrew Walter to 210 months in prison over his role in Miller’s death. As part of a November plea deal, Walter admitted to supplying a drug dealer with the counterfeit oxycodone pills that ultimately made their way to Miller. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Walter pleaded guilty to a single count of fentanyl distribution, which carries a mandatory 20-year sentence. But under the agreement, federal prosecutors only requested 17 years and 6 months. An attorney for Walter did not immediately r...
Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ Celebrates 40th Anniversary With Double-CD Set
Prefaced by Maxwelll’s emotive cover of “The Lady in My Life” at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards last evening (May 15), Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson are formally announcing the release of Thriller 40. Arriving Nov. 18 in celebration of the groundbreaking album’s 40th anniversary, the double-CD set will package the original Thriller (whose nine songs included “Lady”) along with a bonus disc of never-released tracks that Jackson had worked on for the album. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Released Nov. 30, 1982, Thriller spun off seven top 10 singles with three achieving No. 1: “Beat It,” “Billie Jean” and the title track. In addition to winning eight Grammys and setting various chart records, the album has since bee...
The Ledger: How the Industry Went From Discussing Fairness to Accuracy – And Why it Matters
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. What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, most music industry conferences played like long, geeky arguments between technology companies that said they represented the future of the business and labels and publishers that wanted that future to involve getting paid. At one memorable SXSW panel, independent artists and small label owners seethed over their inability to get YouTube to permanently remove their music from user-generated videos. At MIDEM in 2010, a year before Spotify launched in the U.S., Americans heard horror stories from European executives about the platform’s minuscule royalty rates for ad-suppor...
Young Thug Lawyer Alleges ‘Inhumane’ Conditions in Jail, Appeals for Release
On Friday (May 13), a lawyer for Young Thug filed an emergency motion with the Georgia Superior Court alleging that the rapper has been jailed in “inhumane” conditions and requesting he be granted an “expeditious” bond hearing or be placed in a “non-torturous” environment while behind bars. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Specifically, the State of Georgia, by and through its public officials, has detained Mr. Williams in dungeon-like conditions,” wrote attorney Brian Steel in the filing (Young Thug’s real name is Jeffrey Williams). Those conditions are said to consist of “solitary confinement/total isolation”; a “windowless cement compartment with only a bed and a toilet and an overhead light which remains on 24 hours per day, prevent...
Crypto donations fund ATVs and gas masks for Ukrainian military
Ukrainian officials have used funds from the crypto donation platform launched by the government to purchase supplies for the country’s military amid its ongoing war with Russia. In a Friday tweet, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced that the country had purchased five all-terrain vehicles, which “will come in handy for a challenging environment” — possibly referring to conditions near the front lines with Russia or where roads have been damaged or destroyed. Funds for three of the ATVs originated from Aid for Ukraine, a platform the government launched in March that accepts crypto donations “to support people in their fight for freedom.” Three ATVs for defenders are funded for crypto donations @_AidForUkraine, two more — supplied by the Minister of De...
Disney+ Surpasses Subscriber Growth Expectations, Gaining Traction on Netflix
It appears that Disney+ is one step closer to eclipsing Netflix as the top streaming platform. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney+ has surpassed Wall Street’s performance expectations from last quarter, adding 7.9 million subscribers to its platform. Wall Street only expected Disney+ to add 4.5 to 5 million new subscribers. While the subscriber count has been up, Disney fell slightly short on the expected earnings. Disney reported revenue of $19.2 billion USD falling short of Wall Street’s $20.1 billion USD expectation. Disney also reported an income of $3.7 billion USD. After this quarter, Disney+ now has 137.7 million subscribers in total, putting them ahead of Hulu and ESPN+. Disney’s media and entertainment distribution division also saw growth reporting a 9% increase in reven...
Naomi Osaka Announces Athlete Management Company, Evolve
Naomi Osaka and Stuart Duguid, her longtime agent, have officially launched their athlete management company named Evolve. According to reports, the company covers brand partnerships, investing, creating athlete-owned business and philanthropy, and marks the pair’s newest venture following 2021’s KINLÒ skincare line. “Evolve represents the evolution of not just my business career, but also the way athletes can control their destiny,” the tennis star said to Variety. “I’ve always thrived on pushing the boundaries and challenging the status quo. Stuart and I have been business partners for years now so it’s a very natural and inspiring move to make.” “Athletes have completely changed the dynamics of what’s possible in the corporate world. They are no longer just ambassadors for hire, but tru...
Major Labels Bolster Diversity of Music Teams With ‘A&R Academies’
LONDON — Growing up in the town of Watford, located 15 miles outside of London, Zara Stewart dreamed of pursuing a music career. But she felt she lacked the connections or background to make it a reality. “I assumed it was an industry where it was all about who you know,” says Stewart. “And I didn’t know anybody.” Believing music wasn’t a viable option, Stewart focused her education on languages, studying Spanish and Portuguese at Leeds University. After graduating in 2019, she briefly worked in fashion retail and medical recruitment, but still found herself pining for a job in the record business. Now Stewart, 25, has landed her dream job as a paid A&R intern at Sony Music UK imprint Dream Life Records. She joined the company earlier this year as part of its A&R Academy – one of s...
Disney+ Hits 137.7M Subscribers, Beats Wall Street Expectations
Disney once again beat Wall Street expectations last quarter in streaming, adding 7.9 million Disney+ subscribers, and suggesting that the company may be positioned to take a lead in what has become a cutthroat race to the top in streaming. While Wall Street expectations for Disney+ were varied, a midpoint expectation was 4.5 million to 5 million adds. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Disney reported revenue of $19.2 billion and income of $3.7 billion, with earnings per share of $1.08. Wall Street expectations were for revenue of $20.1 billion, operating income of $3.3 billion, and EPS of $1.17. The EPS miss could be due to a change in tax regulations, which saw the company’s effective tax rate balloon from 8.8 percent a year a...
