business
SoundCloud Acquires Music AI Software That Claims to Predict Hit Songs
SoundCloud has acquired Musiio, an artificial intelligence imprint focused on creating technology that can “listen” to music and better predict a song’s success, the company announced this week. The acquisition will allow SoundCloud to further utilize its vast data to pinpoint up-and-coming trends in music and discover rising talent on its artist-first platform. Musiio, which is based in Singapore, was founded by British CEO Hazel Savage and Swedish CTO Aron Pettersson in 2018. The AI software is capable of “listening” to more tracks than humanly possible, which will allow SoundCloud to make confident trend forecasts that, in turn, increase their “hit-rate” and revenue. “SoundCloud hosts more music from more creators than any platform on the planet. Acquiring Musiio accelerates our strateg...
MicroStrategy booked losses in Q1, with plunging Bitcoin price
The largest corporate Bitcoin holder recorded a Bitcoin impairment loss of $170.1 million in the first three months of 2022 Its latest Bitcoin addition was funded by a $205 million Bitcoin-backed loan. The world’s largest enterprise Bitcoin hodler MicroStrategy on Tuesday released its first-quarter 2022 financials, revealing a total revenue of 119.3 million, down 2.9% on the year. A tough Q1 MicroStrategy also said it saw a cumulative impairment loss of $1.071 billion on its Bitcoin Strategy. In the three-month period ending March 31, during which Bitcoin dropped by 1.2%, the software intelligence firm held 129,218 BTC, which at the time had a total market value of $5.893 billion and a carrying value of $2.896 billion. The company’s most recent purchases saw as many as 4,167 BTC...
BTS, Justin Bieber Concerts Boost HYBE’s Quarterly Earnings
Korean music company HYBE, home to K-pop superstars BTS, posted revenue of 285 billion KRW ($226 million) in the first quarter of 2022, the company announced Tuesday (May 3). The result — which marks a nearly 60% revenue increase year over year but a decrease of 37.8% from last quarter — followed a record-breaking year for HYBE in 2021, when the company surpassed $1 billion in revenue for the first time thanks to its acquisition of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. The Q1 results were bolstered by a return to large-scale live events, including BTS’ Permission to Dance shows in Seoul in March, which drew over 45,000 fans in person. An additional 1.4 million fans viewed the livestream, which smashed box office records; the March 12 screening alone grossed $6.9 million in North America, making...
Drake Signs Expansive Deal With Universal Music Group That Could Be Worth Around $400 Million USD
Drake has signed a new deal with Universal Music Group covering “multiple creative lanes and revenue streams.” Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge confirmed the news during the label’s Q1 earnings call, stating that The Boy’s wide-ranging deal includes recordings, publishing, merchandise and visual media projects. Labelled by the music executive as “expanded portfolios,” Variety reports that an insider called the deal “LeBron-sized” and could be priced at around or higher than $360 million USD after Drizzy hinted at the signing with the bar “Three-sixty upfront, it all comes full circle,” which appears on the Scary Hours 2 cut “Lemon Pepper Freestyle.” A 2021 report from UBS Research named Drake as one of Universal Music Group’s 2021 “re-signings”; the label supposedly sp...
MicroStrategy may explore ‘future yield generation opportunities’ on 95,643 BTC holdings
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy said it will consider opportunities for yield generation on 95,643 “unencumbered” Bitcoin (BTC) held by its subsidiary MacroStrategy. In MicroStrategy’s report for the first quarter of 2022 released on Tuesday, the firm said it “may conservatively explore future yield generation opportunities on unencumbered MacroStrategy bitcoins” as a consideration following a $205 million BTC-collateralized loan issued by Silvergate Bank in March. As of March 31, MicroStrategy held a total of 129,218 BTC, which the firm reported had a carrying value of roughly $2.9 billion, reflecting cumulative impairment losses of more than $1 billion and an aggregate cost of $4 billion. “The original cost basis and market value of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin were $3.967 billion an...
MicroStrategy may explore ‘future yield generation opportunities’ on 95,643 BTC holdings
Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy said it will consider opportunities for yield generation on 95,643 “unencumbered” Bitcoin (BTC) held by its subsidiary MacroStrategy. In MicroStrategy’s report for the first quarter of 2022 released on Tuesday, the firm said it “may conservatively explore future yield generation opportunities on unencumbered MacroStrategy bitcoins” as a consideration following a $205 million BTC-collateralized loan issued by Silvergate Bank in March. As of March 31, MicroStrategy held a total of 129,218 BTC, which the firm reported had a carrying value of roughly $2.9 billion, reflecting cumulative impairment losses of more than $1 billion and an aggregate cost of $4 billion. “The original cost basis and market value of MicroStrategy’s bitcoin were $3.967 billion an...
Creem Entertainment Hires Former VICE Publisher John Martin as CEO
Creem Entertainment has announced a raft of new hires, led by former VICE publisher John Martin as CEO, the company tells Billboard. Additionally, BMG Cypress Ascendant Holdings — a partnership between music manager Tautua Reed, former music executive/agent Paul Coyne and investment fund Cypress Ascendant led by businessman Bill Trzos – have come on as investors in the venture. In his new role, Martin will work alongside Creem Entertainment chairman JJ Kramer — son of Creem magazine’s co-founder and publisher Barry Kramer — as well as the magazine’s original editor Jaan Uhelszki. Martin worked in senior leadership roles at VICE Media for 18 years, starting in sales and events before working his way up to publisher. While at the company, he co-founded Munchies, a food and drink joint ventur...
Mexican Rapper Gera MX Signs With Sony Music
Gera MX has signed a deal with Sony Music, Billboard can exclusively announce today (May 3). The Mexican rapper and major label have joined forces to “continue the steady growth and impact of his career and celebrate his arrival to the home of artists,” says an official statement. “I feel really excited about this new stage in my career,” Gera (real name: Gerardo Daniel Torres Montante) said. “I know this strategic alliance with Sony will be crucial to continue growing what has already been highly achieved in my career.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Born in Monterrey and raised in San Luis Potosi, the former Billboard Latin Artist on the Rise has a trajectory that spans over 10 years and credits artists such as Molotov, Control Mache...
Discogs to Boost Brick-and-Mortar Record Stores With New Initiative
In the wake of this year’s Record Store Day on April 23, Discogs is spinning up its own initiative to assist brick-and-mortar music sellers. The online physical music database announced Tuesday (May 3) that it’s set to launch its first annual Independent Record Store Month in June 2022. By connecting music fans and indie record stores across the globe, the initiative hopes to highlight the importance of physical record shops and their contribution to vinyl culture. During Independent Record Store Month, Discogs will launch The Store Explorer, a new, year-round online directory highlighting brick-and-mortar record shops around the world and encouraging fans to support them. Participating stores will also receive a digital badge that verifies which sellers in the Discogs marketplace are phys...
Weekly Report: New York resolute on blocking PoW mining
Planned launch of EFT Securities and Cosmos ETPs delayed Volt Capital’s Imran Khan predicts DAOs will touch $1 trillion in AUM by 2032 New York is closer to endorsing a two-year moratorium on PoW mining Ethereum layer two Optimism seeks to embrace governance structure EPL Club Liverpool reportedly eyeing a crypto shirt sponsor Launch of three crypto ETFs in Australia dealt with a delay Last week, three exchange-traded funds and the first of their kind in Australia were scheduled to list on the Cboe Australia. However, hours before going live on April 27, the securities and derivatives exchange said that products would be delayed pending prior checks. Cboe Australia held back in detailing the delay, only promising an update in the coming days. According to a report by the Australi...
Anchor Co-Founder Michael Mignano Resigns From Spotify
Michael Mignano, co-founder of the popular podcast creation platform Anchor, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019, submitted his resignation last week, a company spokesperson confirmed with Billboard. Mignano’s departure was first reported by The Verge. It is the latest shake-up on the podcasting side of Spotify. In April, a pair of top executives — Courtney Holt, head of talk partnerships, editorial and global markets, and Lydia Polgreen, managing director of Gimlet, which Spotify also acquired in 2019 — both announced plans to leave the company. Mignano founded Anchor with Nir Zicherman eight years ago. “We tried to start podcasts of our own… only to become discouraged by the complicated process and expensive hardware we found ourselves endlessly researching,” the two wrote in 2019...
Celine Dion Pushes European Tour Dates to 2023 Amid Ongoing Health Issue
Celine Dion is once again postponing a leg of her Courage World Tour amid an ongoing health issue. “I’m so sorry we have to change our tour plans for Europe one more time; first we had to move the shows because of the pandemic, now it’s my health issues causing us to postpone the shows,” Dion said in a statement posted to her website on Friday (April 29) announcing her European dates were rescheduled. In her message to fans, Dion directly gave a more detailed update about her condition, which she has previously identified as severe and persistent muscle spasms, promising that she is doing her “very best” to get back to being performance-ready. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I am doing a little bit better … but I’m still...
