business
FAIR Act Bill to Repeal Amendment to ‘Seven-Year Statute’ Up for Vote in California Assembly
Artists and labels are headed for a face off Wednesday (March 30) in Sacramento as the California State Assembly holds the first hearing and vote on repealing an amendment to the state’s “Seven-Year Statute” following February’s re-introduction of the Free Artists From Industry Restrictions (FAIR) Act. Held by the Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment, sources from both sides expect the vote to pass. If it does, the bill would then move to the Assembly’s Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media for an April 19 hearing and vote. Assembly Bill 2926 builds on California Labor Code Section 2855. Enacted in 1944 after the judgment in actress Olivia de Havilland’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. Pictures, 2855 limits personal services contracts for state residents...
Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets introduces a MasterCard payment option
BTC Markets customers can now make direct credit, debit, and prepaid payments to purchase crypto MasterCard previously launched crypto-funded payments cards (for goods and services) in collaboration with crypto exchange CoinJar Legacy payments platforms have in recent months been diving deeper into cryptocurrencies via partnerships and flagships. The latest, albeit not unfamiliar, name to make headlines is MasterCard. The financial services firm is collaborating with the Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets. According to local reports, the partnership would see BTC Markets clients enjoy a provision to purchase crypto from the exchange via direct credit, debit and prepaid payments powered by MasterCard. The exchange users will now be able to enjoy ease and safety in completing payments fo...
Mark Karpeles announces commemorative NFT drop for Mt. Gox users
The former CEO of thnow-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox has announced that certain users will be eligible to receive commemorative nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. In a Monday announcement on Twitter, Mark Karpelès said that crypto users who were Mt. Gox customers between 2010 and 2014 — during which time the exchange was hacked and subsequently declared bankruptcy — could register to claim a free NFT. According to the CEO, the offer extends to users who had a balance or have claimed losses from the defunct exchange. “Mt. Gox customers are early adopters, some of them were on BitcoinTalk when Satoshi Nakamoto was still posting,” said the project website. “A new token or NFT airdrop is a great way to engage users and at the same time erase a bit of the loss incurred in Mt. Gox.” You can claim y...
Toronto Music Management Company CAMP Officially Launches
CAMP, the Toronto-based music management firm founded by Logan Kearns, made its official launch on Monday (March 28). Kearns, who landed his first industry job at Bedlam Music Management/Dine Alone Records in 2014, laid the groundwork for CAMP just two years later. He says it wasn’t until the pandemic hit, though, that he could finally dedicate his full attention to the company. “I decided it was time to focus on the growth, branding and restructuring,” he says. “Formally launching as we come out of the pandemic with an incredibly strong team of people behind it felt right. We also signed some incredible new artists during this downtime who are about to come out swinging.” One of the newest and key components of CAMP’s growing team is partner Riley Kirkwood, who started in management in 20...
UMG’s Music Health Alliance Partnership Is Literally Saving Musicians’ Lives
John Dufilho hadn’t had a routine physical in 10 years when the email from Universal Music Publishing Group arrived last fall. The film/TV composer and frontman of indie rock band The Deathray Davies worked as an independent contractor and could not afford health insurance. That changed when Dufilho, 52, learned from the email that UMPG, which handles his publishing, and parent company Universal Music Group (UMG) had partnered with Music Health Alliance (MHA), a Nashville-based nonprofit that since 2013 has saved 18,000 musicians, industry workers and their families an estimated $85 million in health care costs by helping them find insurance and navigate other healthcare issues, including counseling for survivors of the 2017 Route 91 Harvest festival mass shooting. Its services are free. D...
Crypto.com will air campaign in support of Ukraine during Academy Awards
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com plans to use its ad time during the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday to air a TV spot regarding the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. In a Wednesday announcement, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said the exchange had partnered with the International Committee of the Red Cross, or ICRC, to launch a campaign aimed at helping those suffering under war-torn conditions in Ukraine. The CEO did not specify what the campaign would entail, but the platform already allows donations in crypto, fiat and nonfungible token purchases to the humanitarian network Red Cross Red Crescent. The exchange will match up to $1 million in donations until March 31. “The humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine continues to escalate, and I believe it’s our responsibility to su...
Ukraine launches NFT museum ‘to keep the memory of war’
The Ministry of Digital Transformation in Ukraine has started an online nonfungible token museum aimed at preserving the timeline of major events starting with the Russian military invading the country. In a Friday tweet, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said the government launched an initiative with nonfungible token, or NFT, artwork depicting key moments from the Ukrainian perspective from Feb. 24 onward. The NFTs feature events starting at 5:45 AM local time on the day of the conflict, when Russia announced a “special military operation” in the Donbas region of Ukraine. According to the NFT museum website at the time of publication, 54 NFTs of key moments in the war between Feb. 24 and Feb. 26 will be available starting on March 30, with proceeds of the sal...
New York Music Workers Seek Eligibility for Pandemic Relief Grants
New York touring musicians – led by the Music Workers Alliance – are seeking additional pandemic relief from the state after a tumultuous touring season this winter. Musicians including Esperanza Spalding and Marc Ribot are advocating on behalf of New York’s touring workers to be included in the New York State Legislator’s Small Business Recovery Grant — included in the New York State Senate’s budget proposal — as micro-businesses. Inclusion in the grant program would give music workers — or “independent arts contractors,” as they’re described in the budget — access to possibly hundreds of millions of dollars in relief funds. Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) ended in September 2021. Shortly thereafter, touring musicians were inundated with another wave of cancellations due to the unp...
Exxon Mobil is using excess natural gas to power crypto mining: Report
United States-based energy producer Exxon Mobil has reportedly been running a pilot program aimed at using the energy from excess gas to power crypto mining rigs — and it may be expanding its operations to four other countries. In a Thursday report, Bloomberg said Exxon Mobil had inked a deal with Crusoe Energy to use excess gas from oil wells in North Dakota to run Bitcoin (BTC) miners. The project reportedly uses 18 million cubic feet of natural gas per month — roughly 0.4% of the oil giant’s reported operations in the state, producing 158 million cubic feet of natural gas each day. The company launched the pilot program in January 2021 and is now reportedly considering expanding to Nigeria, Argentina, Guyana, and Germany in addition to launching a similar project in Alaska. Cointelegrap...
CTS Eventim Revenues Grew Nearly 60% in 2021 With Help of Economic Aid
German ticketer and concert promoter CTS Eventim generated revenue of 407.8 million euros ($449 million) in 2021 – half of which came from government COVID-19-related economic aid, the company announced Thursday (March 24). That was up 58.8% from 256.8 million euros ($283 million) in 2020 but less than one-third of its revenues of 1.44 billion euros ($1.54 billion) in 2019 and less than half of the 1 billion-plus euros it achieved in both 2017 and 2018. Ticketing revenue of 224.1 million euros was 39.7% above 126.6 million euros in 2020 but less than half of pre-pandemic levels in 2018 (447.1 million euros, $492 million) and 2019 (481.6 million euros, $530 million). The segment’s revenues were helped by 112.2 million euros ($124 million) of COVID-19 economic aid from Germany and other gove...
Multiplayer P2E game Mavia seeks ‘Verified by Machinations’ seal
The seal demonstrates dedication to maintaining a sustainable and healthy in-game economy The Heroes of Mavia strategy game is backed by leading exchanges Crypto.com and Binance Skrice Studios’ multi-player play-to-earn online game Heroes of Mavia has just announced an initiative towards a sustainable in-game economy as it seeks the Verified by Machinations’ seal. Heroes of Mavia is backed by crypto exchanges Crypto.com and Binance and offers players gaming actions largely rewardable by RUBY, the game’s native token. Machinations will track Mavia’s economy Gaining the Machinations seal is crucial in ensuring the viability of P2E gaming platforms, especially those built around crypto and the general Web3 space (characteristic of liquidity pools, decentralised autonom...
Google to Reduce App Commission Fees for Spotify Under Expanded Pact
Users who download the Spotify app from the Google Play store will soon be able to decide whether to subscribe to the audio streaming service using Google Play or Spotify’s separate payment services, the companies said Wednesday. The updated payment feature will roll out later this year and will essentially allow Spotify to lose less in commission fees to Google, should users choose to subscribe to the streaming service via Spotify’s payment service. Last October, shortly after the high-profile antitrust case between Apple and Epic Games that ruled, in part, that Apple’s 30 percent commission fee for in-app purchases was acceptable, Google said it would be decreasing its service fees on in-app Android subscriptions to 15 percent beginning in January 2022. Specific terms of the revenue shar...
