business
The Ledger: Tencent Music Highlights Risks of Doing Business in China
Doing business in China got tougher in 2021 after government agencies handed down new rules and levied fines against some well-known companies. For evidence this has made investing in Chinese companies more complicated, look no further than Tencent Music Entertainment’s annual report released Tuesday. All publicly traded companies’ financial statements include risk factors mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission to help investors understand companies’ unique challenges and possible negative outcomes if things go south. TME’s previous annual reports have listed numerous risk factors, ranging from licensing third-party content to its corporate structure. It’s a long list that just got longer. The new risk factors in TME’s 2022 annual report are further evidence of the challenges f...
Judge Bans Tyga’s Sneakers After Vans Lawsuit: ‘Striking Visual Similarities’
A Brooklyn federal judge on Friday sided with Vans and banned all future sales of Tyga‘s “Wavy Baby” sneakers, ruling that they likely violated the sneaker company’s trademarks. Two days after a key hearing, U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz issued a temporary restraining order blocking a New York art collective called MSCHF from continuing to sell the sneaker – a surreal, warped version of Van’s classic Old Skool sneaker launched in collaboration with Tyga on April 18. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Vans sued MSCHF earlier this month, calling the Wavy Baby “blatant trademark infringement.” MSCHF argued back that the shoe was a work of art protected by the First Amendment, but Judge Kuntz was unswayed. “Despite defendant’s assertion...
Stagecoach Bans Confederate Flags on Festival Campgrounds
Goldenvoice has quietly instituted a new rule banning Confederate flags at this year’s Stagecoach, according to the General Resort Rules page on the festival’s official website. The change was first spotted by Palm Springs’ Desert Sun. The rule bans “divisive symbols, including, without limitation, Confederate flags and racially disparaging or other inappropriate imagery/public displays” on Stagecoach’s campground, known as the “The Resort.” Goldenvoice declined to comment when Billboard reached out about the ban. Stagecoach attendees have previously complained in online forums about the display of Confederate flags at the festival. One of them, Gigi Mitchell, started a Change.org petition in 2020 calling for a ban, though it garnered just 57 signatures. The Confederate flag has long had a...
Capitol Studios Set to Close for Two Years, 13 Staffers To Be Let Go
Hollywood’s historic Capitol Studios are closing for as much as two years starting this summer, as the Capitol Records Tower building continues to undergo repairs. Thirteen studio staffers were informed Friday (April 29) that their jobs will be eliminated when the studio shuts down in a few months. Paula Salvatore, who has managed Capitol Studios for more than 30 years and is now VP, client relations and studio marketing, Universal Music Group, told Billboard in a statement: “I have been informed that Capitol Studios will have to shut down starting this summer for a lengthy structural improvement project. It’s the first time in the studios’ 66-year history that they will have to shut down for an extended period of time.” The legendary studio, which had stayed open during the pa...
Crypto start-up Argent announces $40 million raise
The London-based firm seeks to make it easier for users to manage its non-custodial wallet offering Part of the funds will be invested in initiatives around DeFi and Web 3 One of the co-founders noted that the firm intends to address the scalability issue of its wallet Argent, the firm behind the eponymous smart wallet, on Thursday disclosed it had completed a Series B funding round that saw it raise $40 million. Two VC firms Fabric Ventures and Metaplanet led the fundraising, which also had participation from Index Ventures, Creandum and Paradigm. Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, and Starkware (creator of rival Ethereum-scaling solution StarkNet) featured in strategic capacities. Worth noting, StarkNet is the host of Argent’s wallet – Argent X. This explains the strategic colla...
Jaxsta Promotes Beth Appleton to CEO
Beth Appleton is the new CEO at Jaxsta, the official music credits database. Less than a year after joining the company in the role of chief marketing officer, Appleton is promoted to the top job, while founder and former CEO Jacqui Louez-Schoorl assumes a different set of duties working alongside the new boss. The handover was announced Thursday (April 28) in a statement via the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), and is effective immediately. “With every business there comes a time for evolution and ensuring that strength and focus continues in the right areas as a business grows,” comments Appleton. “Jacqui and I are magnificent business partners and friends and this change allows Jacqui to focus on the Jaxsta product and our community relations and I can then drive the management and oper...
Johnny Depp’s Abuse Allegations Cost Actor Sixth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Film, Court Hears
May 27, 2016, was the day that Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s marriage went from private misery to public, career-killing spectacle. Heard, who had just filed for divorce, arrived at a Los Angeles courthouse that day to seek a temporary restraining order, showing up with a clear mark on her face, which she said Depp inflicted during a fight six days prior. Photographers captured the scene, and the allegations became tabloid fodder across the globe. Depp says he never hit her, and now he’s suing Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court. On Wednesday, jurors in the case heard from police officers who responded to the couple’s penthouse immediately after the fight. None of the officers saw the red mark that was so prominent six days later. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See ...
Jordan Hallpike Joins WME UK Office as Crossover Music Agent
WME today announced that Jordan Hallpike has joined the company as a crossover agent in the music department, based in London. In his role, Hallpike will focus on forging new creative opportunities on behalf of WME’s client roster in addition to serving as a lead for business development projects. Hallpike comes to WME with over 10 years of experience across the music and creative sectors in Europe. He has served as the director of music at the Ibiza Rocks Group where he was responsible for talent booking, event programming, and creative direction. Hallpike is also the co-founder of the creative studio Midnight Movement, where he worked with Live Nation, Island Records, Sky, ITV, and Warner Music Group. Hallpike’s hire comes on the heels of several key promotions in the agency’s musi...
KuCoin announces a $100 Million Fund to Empower Web3 Growth
KuCoin’s role in empowering the Web3 universe continues, this time with the launch of a new $100 million fund. Spearheaded by KuCoin, the leading crypto exchange, together with its brand new NFT trading platform’s KuCoin NFT Marketplace-Windvane and venture capital arm KuCoin Ventures, the $100 million “Creators Fund” targets the incubation of early-stage NFT projects. Empowering Web3 Universe The goal, according to a press release the platform shared, is to use the funds to support the NFT Metaverse ecosystem. As such, projects drawn from fields such as arts, Esports, PFPs, GameFi, and Asian culture among others, are set to benefit. To help accelerate this growth as Web3 takes shape is KuCoin’s launch of a new decentralised NFT marketplace dubbed “KuCoin NFT Marketplace-Windvane. Pe...
Razer Shareholders Agree for Company to Go Private at $3.17 Billion USD Valuation
Razer is now planning to go private again after it obtained approval from an overwhelming majority of shareholders. According to a new report from Reuters, the gaming peripheral giant is looking to purchase all remaining shares and take the company private under chairman and founder Min-Liang Tan and non-executive director Kaling Lim, who own roughly 57% of the company. The deal would value the Hong Kong-listed company at $24.7 billion HKD (approximately $3.17 billion USD) and translate to a purchase price of $2.82 HKD (approximately $0.36 USD) per share for the remaining shares. The current offer price marks a 44% premium over the company’s closing price on October 28, 2021, a day before Razer went into a trading halt due to discussions of a deal. It’s also 5.6% above market close on Wedn...
Twitter Experiences Mass Deactivations After Elon Musk Takeover
Twitter saw mass “organic” deactivations and huge fluctuations in follower numbers for some of the platform’s highest-profile users in the days after Elon Musk agreed to a $44 billion takeover deal of the social media giant. According to an NBC News report published Tuesday, the follower numbers for some of Twitter’s most-followed accounts, including former President Barack Obama, singers Katy Perry and Taylor Swift all dropped by hundreds of thousands. Obama, who is Twitter’s most-followed user with 131.7 million followers, saw his follower count fall by 300,000 since Monday. Perry, who has 108.8 million followers, lost 200,000. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Twitter routinely purges the platform of bots and fake accounts which can le...
Ferrum Network integrates with Algorand to advance EVM and AVM interoperability
Ferrum’s integration with Algorand provides for seamless Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and Algorand Virtual Machine (AVM) interoperability. The integration expands Ferrum’s staking-as-a-service solutions onto the Algorand blockchain. Ferrum also plans to launch a multi-chain token bridge for Algorand before the end of Q2, 2022. Ferrum Network, a cryptocurrency network that seeks to help existing blockchain networks address interoperability issues via a suite of multi-chain infrastructure solutions, has announced successful integration with the Algorand blockchain. With this integration, the blockchain interoperability platform’s staking-as-a-service solutions are now accessible to projects in the Algrorand ecosystem. The Ferrum Network announced this via a press release shared...
