business
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino’s 2021 Bonus Worth $10.5M
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino is set to collect $10.5 million in stock as part of his annual performance bonus after hitting certain financial goals, defined by the company’s Compensation Committee, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday (March 4). Rapino also receives a $3 million annual salary, but is expected report a salary below $3 million for 2021 because of a voluntary pandemic pay reduction. The value of the shares will certainly change by the time they fully vest based on the company stock price at that time. Friday’s shares are valued at $114 per share based on the company’s most recent closing price, with about $5.3 million worth of shares (46,272 shares) vesting by May 10 and equal amount vesting by Aug. 16. Live Nation president and CFO Jo...
John Mayer to Leave Columbia Records After 21 Years
John Mayer is leaving Columbia Records after 21 years, the singer-songwriter revealed on Instagram Friday (March 4). “After 21 years, eight studio albums, and some wonderful personal and creative relationships, I have decided not to renew my recording agreement with Columbia Records,” Mayer wrote. “Hard as it is to say goodbye, I’m excited to pursue new avenues of making music, both of my own and with other artists. I love music more than ever, and I believe some of my best work still lies ahead.” Mayer arrived at Columbia via his original record deal with Aware Records, which at the time had a marketing and distribution agreement with the major label. Columbia went on to release a total of eight albums by Mayer, including the five-times platinum Room for Squares in 2001, three-times plati...
Endeavor Sued For Allegedly Stealing Marketing Ideas for IPO Effort
A consultant is suing Endeavor claiming he gave the company the blueprint to salvage its debut on the public market, which led to a successful $10.3 billion IPO, but he wasn’t compensated or given credit. David Carde began his complaint, which was filed Thursday in L.A. County Superior Court, by comparing this alleged theft to when the founders of Endeavor left ICM in 1995 and in the middle of the night “stole a bunch of client files and stuffed them into a SUV parked by a freight elevator.” “Following the embarrassment of the failed first IPO, Endeavor’s crushing debt became an existential threat after the COVID pandemic ground the Company’s business to a halt,” reads the complaint, which is embedded below. “However, once Endeavor stole and then embraced Mr. Carde’s approach of communicat...
The Ledger: The Major’s $25B in Revenue in 2021 Is Just the Start
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. Six years into the global music industry’s recovery, the largest labels and publishers are growing by leaps and bounds. The three major music groups — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — had combined revenues of $25.4 billion in calendar 2021, up 19.8% from calendar 2020, according to Billboard‘s calculations. That annual growth rate was more than a four-fold improvement from the companies’ 4.7% revenue growth in 2020 after a slowdown in physical goods sales during the pandemic. Combined, the companies had an operating profit was $4.1 billion in 2021, a 44.3% increase, with...
Russian national will use sales of her burning passport NFT to support Ukraine
Olive Allen, a Russian national and artist who has lived in the United States for more than 11 years, has burned her mother country’s passport in the hopes of raising awareness and funds related to the military conflict in Ukraine. Speaking to Cointelegraph on Friday, Allen described herself as “a child of new Russia” and said the country would always be a part of her identity, but she had chosen to cut ties with it based on its recent actions in the Ukraine. Standing in front of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York City, Allen burned her Russian passport — which she said was the only copy she had — and planned to auction the video as a nonfungible token (NFT), with the proceeds going to humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. “I do not consider Putin’s Russia my home...
Sports E-Commerce Platform Fanatics Now Valued at $25 Billion USD After Latest Funding Round
In a recent funding round, Fanatics, an e-commerce platform for sports apparel has raised $1.5 billion USD, valuing the company at $27 billion USD. New investors including BlackRock, Fidelity and Michael Dell’s MSD Partners were amongst those who were involved in the latest funding round. This is a significant jump for the company since it was most recently valued at $18 billion USD less than a year ago. Michael Rubin started the company back in 2011. Rubin is also the co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jerse Devils. Over the years, Fanatics has gained a major reputation amongst the professional sports apparel world and now has exclusive licensing deals with the NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB. They also have deals with many universities and colleges across the country to make and sell j...
Netflix Appoints Former Spotify Head of Music Marian Lee as CMO
Netflix has appointed Marian Lee as its chief marketing officer, the company confirmed to Billboard. Lee replaces former CMO Bozoma Saint John, who has departed the company. The news was first reported by Variety. Lee, the former co-head of music at Spotify, joined Netflix as its vp, U.S. and Canada last July. “Netflix is an incredible brand with the best content and creative teams in the world,” Lee said in a statement to Billboard.”I am confident our most exciting work is ahead of us and I am honored to lead this best-in-class global marketing team into the future, and continue to connect our incredible series and films with audiences around the globe.” “Marian is a strategic marketer with deep experience not just in entertainment but also more broadly having worked at fashion and media ...
Prince Estate Told Morris Day He Could Not Use ‘Time’ Band Name, Docs Show
Attorneys for the Prince estate sent a letter warning longtime collaborator Morris Day that he could not use the name of his band The Time “in any form,” according to documents obtained by Billboard — sparking a sharp response on Thursday (March 3) in which Day accused the estate of trying to “rewrite history.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Day, the lead singer for the Prince-affiliated funk band The Time, claimed in a social media post Thursday that the Prince estate had told him he could no longer use the name “Morris Day and The Time.” He said he had “spent 40 years of my life” building the name and that Prince had “no problem” with him using it. “Now that Prince is no longer with us, suddenly, the people who control his multi million doll...
Man Pleads Guilty to Killing Wife of Music Legend Clarence Avant
A 30-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday (March 3) to the murder of philanthropist Jacqueline Avant, the wife of legendary music executive Clarence Avant. Aariel Maynor pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of Avant and the attempted murder of her security guard at her Beverly Hills home in December, Los Angeles County prosecutors said. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Maynor also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of burglary. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30 and could be sentenced to up to 170 years in prison, prosecutors said. “This crime continues to shock the conscience,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “Mrs. Avant’s death was a tragic loss felt by our entire community.” Gascón said Maynor will be ineligible fo...
Virgin Music President Jacqueline Saturn on Navigating COVID, a Rebrand & the Distribution Craze
Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Caroline Distribution staffers were able to renovate their floor of the famed Capitol Tower to meet their particular needs: open floor plan, no offices, a collaborative environment where sharing ideas freely became paramount. So when office life shut down, president Jacqueline Saturn did what she could to try to preserve some of that open-air feel in which her team had begun to thrive: she invited the staff to her back yard, where a friend had a banner made with the division’s logo that hung above an area where her team could work outside. “People really needed a safe space, so that’s how it started — we could have people spaced here, people could wear their mask and be six feet apart and that was the beginning of it,” she tells Bill...
U.S. Investigation Launched Into TikTok’s Effect on Kids’ Health
State attorneys general have launched a nationwide investigation into TikTok and its possible harmful effects on young users’ mental health, widening government scrutiny of the wildly popular video platform. The investigation was announced Wednesday by a number of states led by California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont. U.S. lawmakers and federal regulators have criticized TikTok, citing practices and computer-driven promotion of content they say can endanger the physical and mental health of young users. The platform has an estimated 1 billion monthly users and is especially popular with teens and younger children. Last month, Texas opened an investigation into TikTok’s alleged violations of children’s privacy and facilitation of human traff...
Netflix Announces Acquisition of Next Games
Finnish mobile game developer Next Games has just announced that Netflix will commence a tender offer process to acquire all of its issued and outstanding shares. Shareholders of Next Games (NXTGMS) will receive €2.10 EUR in cash per share for a total of €65 million EUR. Michael Verdu, Vice President of Games, Netflix, comments, “Next Games has a seasoned management team, strong track record with mobile games based on entertainment franchises, and solid operational capabilities. We are excited for Next Games to join Netflix as a core studio in a strategic region and key talent market, expanding our internal game studio capabilities. While we’re just getting started in games, I am confident that together with Next Games we will be able to build a portfolio of world-class games that will del...
