business
Kering Founder François Pinault Could Acquire Deezer That’s Valued Over $1 Billion USD
Billionaire and Kering founder François Pinault and other founders of I2PO, a blank-check firm are set to acquire French music streaming platform Deezer at a valued deal of over $1 billion USD. According to Business of Fashion, Pinault and two other members of I2PO are planning on buying Deezer for approximately $1.16 billion USD and take the company public. Currently, the deal is allowing the combined entity is to raise at least 120 million EUR with original investors so plans to go public in July can proceed. Deezer is considered and unprofitable streaming platform with direct competition from major platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Deezer’s largest markets include France, Brazil and Germany and will be expected to expand to the U.S. and U.K. post-acquisition. By 2025, Deezer aims ...
Here’s Why Snoop Dogg Says He Pulled Death Row’s Catalog From Streaming
Snoop Dogg’s first course of action after purchasing the Death Row Records brand and catalog in February was seemingly pulling the whole catalog off streaming services — now he’s explained why. In a new interview with REVOLT’s Drink Champs on Friday, Snoop said he removed Death Row’s music — including his 1993 debut Doggystyle and Dr. Dre’s seminal The Chronic — from traditional streaming services “because those platforms don’t pay.” Instead, the rapper claimed he’s planning to launch a standalone “Death Row app” that will host the label’s music. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Those platforms get millions and millions and millions of streams and nobody gets paid other than the record labels,” said Snoop. “So what I wanted to do is snatch...
Art Rupe, Pioneering Record Executive Who Helped Launch Little Richard’s Career, Dies at 104
Music executive Art Rupe, whose Specialty Records was a premier label during the formative years of rock ‘n’ roll and helped launch the careers of Little Richard, Sam Cooke and many others, has died. He was 104. Rupe, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, died Friday (April 15) at his home in Santa Barbara, California, according to the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. The foundation did not release his cause of death. The Greensburg, Pennsylvania, native was a contemporary of Jerry Wexler, Leonard Chess and other white businessmen-producers who helped bring Black music to a general audience. He founded Specialty in Los Angeles in 1946 and gave early breaks to such artists as Cooke and his gospel group the Soul Stirrers, Little Richard, Lloyd Price, John Lee Hooker and C...
Crypto is going mainstream: Here’s how the future founders will build on it
Crypto has long been criticized for its lack of inherent value. However, the shift toward contactless transactions amid the pandemic has emphasized the value of digital currencies and blockchain technology in the modern world. For this reason, merchants have been slow to adopt cryptocurrencies as a form of payment. As it gains widespread usage, however, we can expect to see more businesses accepting crypto in the future. The global pandemic has changed the way a lot of us do business. The shift away from cash and face-to-face transactions toward digital cashless ones has introduced many people to the convenience of paying digitally. So, it’s no surprise that crypto is starting to gain traction as a viable payment option — one that will only continue to evolve. While sti...
Swedish House Mafia Make History With First-Ever Spotify Livestream at Coachella Afterparty
The dance music mega-group Swedish House Mafia made history early Saturday (April 16) when the trio became the first artists to be livestreamed by Spotify as part of the streaming platform’s new Spotify Live offering. Axwell highlighted the news while the Swedes performed at a private Coachella afterparty hosted by Spotify to celebrate the release of Swedish House Mafia’s first studio album, Paradise Again. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The group performed for over two hours at a highly curated event at a private mansion near the Coachella festival grounds with a faux lake and beach, where a bevy of VIP influencers, the DJ Alesso, the pop star Anitta and Euphoria actress Chloe Cherry also made appearances. They played many of the...
Cumulus Media Subject of $1.2B Acquisition Bid by Jeff Warshaw-Led Consortium
A consortium of investors led by veteran radio industry executive Jeff Warshaw has made an unsolicited $1.2 billion bid to buy Cumulus Media, the radio network that owns and operates 406 radio stations, the Westwood One syndication operation and a digital radio platform. According to press reports, Warshaw’s consortium is willing to pay $15-$17 a share for Cumulus and may go even higher if due diligence of the company’s financials justifies an increased valuation. Besides Warshaw, the other members of the investor consortium haven’t been disclosed. The news was first reported by Reuters. Warshaw is the founder and CEO of Connoisseur Media, which owns and operates 13 radio stations that broadcast in Connecticut, Maryland and Long Island, according to the company’s website. In 2020, he also ...
Weekly Report: Bison bank wins crypto license, Nexo and MasterCard to launch a crypto-payments card
Nexo Card was termed the world’s first crypto-backed payments card Circle has completed a $400 million funding round Michael Saylor says MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buying spree will continue Portugal’s Bison Bank snaps the first-ever VASP license to a bank in the country Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer is unimpressed by Elon Musk’s attempt to acquire Twitter ‘Tremendous success’ CEO Michael Saylor hails MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin buying spree In a recent letter to investors, MicroStrategy CEO and crypto bull Michael Saylor has lauded the decision to flood the firm’s treasury with Bitcoin. He said the company intends to continually “vigorously pursue” this ambition into the future. In the letter embedded in MicroStrategy’s 2022 Proxy Statement dated April 14, Saylor explained to stockhold...
Drake Outstreams All Pre-1980 Music: The 2021 Streaming Market, by Decade
The most popular oldies are getting younger. Since at least 2014, the market share of catalog has been rising – from just over 65.1% in 2020 to 69.8% of album consumption units last year, according to Luminate (formerly known as MRC Data). At the same time, though, the music that dominates the catalog category – defined by Billboard as albums released more than 18 months ago, as long as they’re not being actively promoted by labels or in the top half of the Billboard 200 – is more recent than ever. In a trend apparently driven by streaming, growth is now being driven mostly by older albums from newer artists – sometimes referred to as “shallow catalog” – rather than the “deep catalog” of the ’60s and ’70s rock acts that used to dominate the category. To get a sense of how profound this shi...
(This Is) Not Your Father’s Catalog Music
Streaming has made catalog music more important than ever – it jumped from about 65% of the market in 2020 to about 70% last year. But the catalog that’s growing isn’t necessarily what you’d expect. Icons like The Beatles are thriving, but the category is now dominated by Drake, Taylor Swift and other modern acts. Billboard explains where the growth is – and how it could continue. Plus: Why Drake streams as much as all music before 1980 combined, how TikTok turns yesterday’s tracks into today’s hits, how classic rock acts are holding up and why the only thing that hasn’t changed is the industry’s ability to hype up trends. Related Related Deep Dive: A Musician’s Guide to Web3 04/15/2022 Read the full Deep Dive here. More Swift Than Dylan: How Newer Hits Overtook Classic Rock to Rule ...
More Swift Than Dylan: How Newer Hits Overtook Classic Rock to Rule the Catalog Market
At the beginning of the year, Luminate (formerly MRC Data) issued its 2021 annual report, which showed that catalog music — which Billboard defines as a track that is older than 18 months — increased its share of overall U.S. music consumption from 65.1% in 2020 to 69.8% last year, as measured by album consumption units. The initial interpretation of that data was that, more than a year into the pandemic, listeners were soothing themselves with nostalgia — relaxing with Fleetwood Mac, rather than blasting Doja Cat. The market share of catalog has actually been rising since 2014, back when sales still dominated the industry, when it accounted for just 35.8% of the business. Since then, the popularity of catalog has climbed steadily, until its big jump last year – when consumption in the cat...
Major Labels Appeal to Keep Mechanical Royalty Rate at 9.1 Cents
The RIAA and the three major record labels have filed a motion with the Copyright Royalty Board asking to limit the scope of a recent ruling to reconsider the long-standing 9.1 cent mechanical royalty rate on physical and download format sales. The motion, filed April 5, seeks to confirm that when the CRB rejected a settlement between the labels and the National Music Publishers’ Association to keep mechanical rates frozen at 9.1 cents for the 2023-2027 term that it only applied to the music of George Johnson, the independent songwriter who objected to the agreement. It also requests that the CRB extend the response period to 60 days, instead of requiring participants in the proceeding to respond by April 22. But RIAA CEO/chairman Mitch Glazier tells Billboard the intent for the filing is ...
After Deezer Failed to Go Public Years Ago, Now Timing Is Everything
Since 2020, nine music-related companies — including the first- and third-largest record labels — have gone public to take advantage of renewed investor interest in a once-struggling industry. Add French music streaming service Deezer to the list. According to a report on Wednesday at The Wall Street Journal, Deezer, which first attempted an initial public offering in late 2015, is planning to go public with a European special purpose acquisition corporation, I2PO, backed by Groupe Artémis, a holding company behind fashion brand Puma and French investment banker Matthieu Pigasse, a partner at Paris-based Centerview Partners. Deezer had no comment to Billboard on the news. Representatives for I2PO did not respond to a request for comment. Deezer — led since last year by CEO Jeronimo Folguei...
