business
Netflix, TikTok Block Services in Russia to Avoid Crackdown
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday (March 6) as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. TikTok said Russian users of the popular social media app would no longer be able to post new videos or livestreams and they also wouldn’t be able to see videos shared from elsewhere in the world. Netflix said it was suspending its service in Russia but didn’t provide additional details. The actions are likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services and technology products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday...
Weekly Report: BitDAO makes bold bet with $633 million allocation
Here are some of the interesting headlines you might have missed in the cryptocurrency sector this week: Rarify gets a $10 million boost in a funding round led by Pantera Capital Rarify, an infrastructure firm that provides businesses and institutions with a platform to natively incorporate non-fungible tokens (NFTs), has completed a $10 million funding round. The raise, which now puts the firm’s valuation at $100 million, was led by asset management company Pantera Capital, with the involvement of other investors including Slow Ventures, Greycroft, Protocol Labs, Hyper, and Eniac Ventures. By providing infrastructure to support enterprise-scale NFT integration, Rarify helps companies jump into the NFT scene with ease. According to the firm’s co-founder Revas Tsivtsivadz, the firm aims to ...
‘Do The Right Thing Here’: Primary Wave Supports Morris Day in Prince Estate Feud
Days after the Prince estate sparked outrage by moving to block longtime collaborator Morris Day from using his band name “The Time,” the people who will soon take over control of the estate say they fully support Day’s right to keep using his name. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The controversial move, which prompted Day to complain on social media that the estate was “taking my name away from me,” was instigated by Comerica — a bank that has been serving as the court-appointed administrator of Prince’s assets during a years-long legal battle. But those proceedings are nearly complete and set to wrap up later this year, and the groups of heirs that will soon take control of the estate are now speaking out in Day’s favor. Primary Wave, a promi...
Hipgnosis Buys Leonard Cohen Song Catalog
Hipgnosis Song Management has acquired rights to the entire song catalog of Songwriter Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Leonard Cohen. The deal gives the company 100% ownership of Cohen’s songwriter’s share of all 278 songs and derivatives written over the course of his life. A renowned songwriter, poet, novelist and performer, Cohen is best known for penning one of the most frequently covered songs of all time: “Hallelujah,” which is included in the Hipgnosis deal. Among its over 300 estimated renditions, some of the most famous cuts of the track include those by the likes of Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright and Pentatonix. Cohen’s catalog is often characterized in two distinct groupings: Stranger Music (known as all Cohen releases up to the year 2000) and Old Ideas (rel...
Joe Hadley Exits CAA, Joins Spotify as Global Head of Artist and Audience Partnerships
Joe Hadley is leaving his position as one of the most powerful booking agents in hip-hop to join Spotify, the streaming company confirmed to Billboard. In his new role, Hadley will serve as Spotify’s global head of artist and audience partnerships. Based in Los Angeles, Hadley joined CAA in 2016 after five years at Windish Agency and was promoted to serve as global co-head of hip-hop and R&B at the agency along with Mark Cheatem in February 2021. The 34-year-old’s clients at CAA include Beyonce, A$AP Rocky, Zayn, Anuel AA, Koffee and Jorja Smith. Hadley is also reported to have led CAA’s diversity and inclusion efforts. A graduate of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Hadley got his start in music by promoting concerts in Germany before relocating to Chicago, wher...
Executive Turntable: CMG Names Digital Marketing SVP, Atlantic Taps Viral Marketing Head
Rebecca “Dimplez” Ijeoma was named senior vp, digital marketing & content development at Capitol Music Group (CMG). Ijeoma will co-lead the company’s digital department alongside CMG senior vp, digital strategy, business development & operations Nicholas Osborne out of CMG’s Hollywood headquarters. In the role, Dimplez will be tasked with strengthening marketing collaborations with digital and social media partners through campaigns and projects, while focusing on direct-to-fan engagement and commerce on a marketing campaign level. Dimplez’s hire marks a return for the executive at CMG, where she previously served as director, digital marketing from early 2017 through more than half of 2018. In that role, she was a key force in launching R&B singer Queen Naija, among other proj...
With ‘Donda 2’ Stem Player Release, Kanye West Skips Streamers — And the Charts
After releasing 16 tracks from Donda 2 to his Stem Player last week, Kanye West is so far staying true to his promise to hold back the album from streaming services. The artist and entrepreneur, who now goes by Ye, reported $1.3 million in Stem sales via Instagram in the 24 hours after announcing Donda 2 would be released exclusively on his $200 proprietary hockey-puck-sized streaming devices, which allow users to remix songs as they listen. While new Stem purchases appear to come preloaded with 2019’s Jesus Is King, last year’s Donda and Donda 2, anyone who purchased the device when it was released last year can also upload the Donda 2 songs — or others — using their computer and a USB-C cable. Ye said at time of his Feb. 18 Instagram post that he had sold 39,500 Stem Players to date — fo...
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...
