business
Astroworld Victims’ Attorneys Now Say Over 4,900 People Were Injured
More than 4,900 people were injured in some capacity at the deadly Astroworld music festival, according to the latest tally by the attorneys representing victims. That’s a substantially higher total than previously claimed. When the litigation over the disaster was combined into a single large lawsuit in late January, the attorneys involved listed 387 separate cases, with estimates of roughly 2,800 alleged victims. But “tag along” cases were expected, and one filing said new claims were “being filed nearly every day.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Several months later, it appears that the number of people who have made claims in the case has ballooned. A new filing on Monday listed 4,932 total alleged victims. In addition to 10 people...
El Salvador buys the dip to boost government’s coffer with 500 BTC
The Central American nation now holds 2,301 BTC Despite recent Bitcoin additions, its use as legal tender remains unpopular with Salvadorans The president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele, has remained resolute, sticking to his grand Bitcoin adoption masterplan. The Central American nation, earlier this week, boosted its Bitcoin position following another bulk purchase during the recent market dip. The second BTC purchase this year Tweeting out the news on Monday, President Bukele confirmed that El Salvador added 500 BTC for $15.37 million, translating to an average price of $30,744. Notably, this was a more enticing price level than the $36,585 average price for the 410 Bitcoins the country added in January. “El Salvador just bought the dip! 500 coins at an average USD price of ~$30,744,” ...
Artists Without Labels Must Be the ‘CEO of Their Brand’ (Music Biz 2022)
One of the most significant byproducts of the streaming era has been the increasing number of ways that artists can make money outside the traditional record label system. But there’s often less attention paid to the actual ramifications of artists choosing to go that route — and the roles that distributors, managers, digital marketers and others play in filling that gap while using the data offered by digital service providers to help an artist succeed in whichever way they choose. That was the topic of the panel “Navigating New Strategies: How A&R, Artist Marketing & Distribution Come Together in the Age of Streaming” at the Music Biz 2022 conference on Monday (May 9). Moderated by Label Logic co-founder, digital strategy Jay Gilbert, the panelists — Rareform co-founder Hallie An...
Spotify to Host First-Ever Investor Day on June 8
Spotify will host an investor day at the company’s New York City office on June 8 at 10 a.m. EST, the company announced Monday (May 9). This will be streamers’ first investor day since going public in 2018. The event will feature a series of presentations from Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, CFO Paul Vogel and other members of the leadership team, followed by a live Q&A focused on the progress Spotify has made since its direct listing in April 2018 along with its current roadmap and future growth opportunities. A live webcast of the investor day will be available at investors.spotify.com, while in-person attendance is by invitation only due to limited capacity. Additional details will be sent out in advance of the event. The investor day was announced as Spotify stock reached an all-time low of...
Head of Bitstamp’s European arm becomes latest CEO of global crypto exchange
Bitstamp, one of the oldest crypto exchanges in the world, has announced the appointment of Jean-Baptiste (JB) Graftieaux as its new global CEO following the departure of Julian Sawyer. In a Monday announcement, Bitstamp said Sawyer, who first became CEO of the crypto exchange in October 2020, “has decided to pursue other opportunities.” Graftieaux took over the position on May 7, having been the Bitstamp Europe CEO since May 2021. According to the exchange, Graftieaux has 20 years of experience in “crypto, payments, and financial sectors,” having first joined Bitstamp in November 2014 as the firm’s chief compliance officer following five years at PayPal. “JB was with Bitstamp in its early days, and has admirably led our European business over the past year,” said Bitstamp’s board of direc...
Weekly Report: BitMEX founders fined, California hunting first-mover advantage in Web3, and more
Here are this week’s top stories from the cryptocurrency space: Pantera Capital aims to boost its presence in India with scaled investments Argo Blockchain’s Helios Facility is now energised and set to start mining next week The three BitMEX co-founders have each been ordered to pay a $10 million civil monetary penalty Rapper Ice Cube supports Dogecoin and spurs the largest commercial transaction of DOGE in an NFTs purchase California aims to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for Web3 technology Pantera Capital doubles down on crypto firm funding in India Cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Pantera Capital has divulged that it’s enhancing its investment push in India. According to Paul Veradittakit, a partner at the firm, Pantera has closed around ten deals in India, notably the...
90% of surveyed central banks are exploring CBDCs — BIS
A survey conducted by the Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, suggested that many central banks around the world are looking into rolling out a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. In a paper released on Friday, the BIS Monetary and Economic Department said 90% of 81 central banks surveyed from October to December 2021 were “engaged in some form of CBDC work,” with 26% running pilots on CBDCs and more than 60% doing experiments or proofs-of-concept related to a digital currency. According to the BIS, the increase in interest around CBDCs — up from roughly 83% in 2020 — may have been driven by a shift to digital solutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the growth in stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies. “Globally, more than two-thirds of central banks consider that they ...
Bad Bunny Tops Spotify Records for Most-Streamed Album in 2022, Most-Streamed Artist Globally in a Day
Bad Bunny‘s new album Un Verano Sin Ti is already making a splash on streaming services. In its first day of release, Friday (May 6), the Puerto Rican star broke two records, Spotify announced. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti became the most-streamed album in 2022 so far. The artist also reached the milestone of becoming the most-streamed artist globally in one day, with 183 million streams. Drake previously held this record, with 176.8 million streams. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On Friday, all 23 songs on Bad Bunny’s new album ranked in the top 30 of Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart, with nine of those tracks finding their way to the top 10. Bad Bunny, who was Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide in both 2020 and 2021,...
The Ledger: How Much Will Music Subscriptions Grow in 2022?
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. Earnings season is a great time to read the tea leaves about the future of the streaming and subscription businesses. How much growth is ahead? Where will that growth come from? Is pricing headed up or down? The answers are vital for investors but are also important to labels, publishers and creators. In the last two weeks, three companies — Spotify, Universal Music Group and Believe — provided some outlook on the streaming market during their earnings calls with analysts. Their earnings reports appeared in the wake of Netflix’s warning of subscription growth slowdown and the abrupt demise of CNN’s subscription platform...
Dave Chappelle Attack Suspect Charged With 4 Misdemeanors
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed four misdemeanor charges on Thursday (May 5) against suspect Isaiah Lee after the onstage attack of comedian Dave Chappelle during his set at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday. This follows the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office announcing earlier in the day that it declined to pursue felony charges. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office has filed charges of battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance and commission of an act that delays an event or interferes with a performer. “This alleged attack has got to have consequences,” Feuer said, in part, in video footage po...
Coinbase’s plans to purchase firm behind Mercado Bitcoin fall through: Report
Coinbase and Brazilian company 2TM, the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin, have reportedly scrapped talks around the crypto exchange purchasing the firm. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, 2TM and Coinbase have ended discussions around the United States-based crypto exchange buying the Brazilian company, which was valued at more than $2 billion. It’s unclear what led to the purchase not going through, as 2TM reportedly declined to comment and a Coinbase spokesperson said it was simply “committed to the Brazilian market.” Coinbase and 2TM scrapped talks over a possible purchase by the exchange of the Brazilian cryptocurrency brokerage https://t.co/HmZxDj7Koi — Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) May 4, 2022 As the parent company of Mercado Bitcoin — one of the largest crypto brokerage firms in...
Cumulus Media Rejects $1.2B Acquisition Bid by Jeff Warshaw-Led Consortium
Cumulus Media has rejected an unsolicited $1.2 billion bid to buy the company and instead is offering shareholders a $50 million stock repurchase program, according to a letter to shareholders the company filed with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission in conjunction with its first-quarter financial results. In that letter from Cumulus Media president/CEO Mary Berner, the company said that its board of directors, along with financial and legal advisors, have concluded that the $15-$17 a share bid “significantly undervalues the company and is not in the best interest of it shareholders.” While the letter doesn’t reveal the identity of the bidder, Reuters, which initially broke the news about the bid on April 14, identified the suitor as a consortium of investors led by veteran radio indu...
