business
‘Fortnite’ Developer Epic Games Acquires Bandcamp
Epic Games, the developer behind the battle royale game Fortnite, has officially announced its acquisition of music streaming and purchasing platform Bandcamp. Both companies confirmed the news on separate blog posts, but did not disclose the terms and cost of the deal. Bandcamp CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond also clarified that the acquisition will not change how the platform operates, stating that he will remain in his position and that Bandcamp will still be “a standalone marketplace and music community.” The involvement of Epic Games, however, will allow the platform to “expand internationally and push development forward across Bandcamp, from basics like our album pages, mobile apps, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features, to newer initiatives like ...
Dogecoin community donates $53K to Ukraine as country hints at upcoming airdrop
With the price of the meme-based token Dogecoin (DOGE) higher than that of the Russian ruble, Ukraine opened to DOGE donations for the first time. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov announced on Wednesday that the token had “exceeded Russian ruble in value” — though the ruble has dropped significantly against the U.S. dollar in the wake of U.S. and EU sanctions, its price has been lower than DOGE’s since January 2021. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Dogecoin is roughly $0.13 at the time of publication, having fallen by less than 1% over the last 24 hours. However, Fedorov’s message on Twitter also called for DOGE proponents including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Dogecoin founder Billy Markus to donate to Ukraine’s militar...
Trending Up: Ed Sheeran Has Hits for All Radio Formats — Plus YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Yeat & More
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: As Ed Sheeran makes multiple radio plays, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Yeat score viral hip-hop hits, and newcomer Maddy Zahm launches an emotional new trend. Ed Sheeran = Radio Ubiquity Although Equals (=), Ed Sheeran’s fourth solo album released last October, hasn’t risen to the level of chart-topping single success that 2017’s ÷ did (two No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Shape Of You” and “Perfect”), the project’s past six months have stil...
HYBE Revenue Jumps 58% to $1.1B in 2021 Following Ithaca Acquisition
HYBE, the home of BTS, blew past US $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2021 thanks to the South Korean entertainment company’s acquisition of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, HYBE posted revenue of $1.06 billion, up by 58% from 2020 and 114% greater than 2019. At the same time, operating profit lifted to $158 million, up 30.8% from the prior-year period. Ithaca Holdings helped HYBE’s album sales grow about 110% in 2021. Sales of HYBE’s Korean artists grew 18% to 15.1 million (in South Korea only). Ithaca Holdings contributed 7.5 million album equivalent units by SB Projects artists, mostly from Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, and another 4.8 million album equivalent units from Big Machine (HYBE’s earnings release gave U.S. sales only...
FC Barcelona is looking to develop a metaverse and an in-house crypto coin
The Spanish club’s president revealed this week plans to create a unique cryptocurrency Barca previously rejected sponsorship offers from several crypto brands, including Polkadot La Liga football giants FC Barcelona wants to develop its standalone crypto coin, according to recent remarks from its president Joan Laporta. Sports news outlet ESPN reported this week that the club aims to raise funds via the project so as to remain afloat. The Blaugrana has struggled financially over the past few years due to the mismanagement of funds by the previous hierarchy. “We want to create our own cryptocurrency and we have to do that ourselves. We are different because we survive financially from what we can generate through the industry of sport,” Laporta said during this year’s edi...
Dua Lipa Accused of Stealing ‘Levitating’ From Florida Reggae Band in New Lawsuit
Dua Lipa was sued for copyright infringement Tuesday (March 1) by a Florida reggae band that claims the British pop star stole her smash hit song “Levitating” from a lesser-known 2017 track. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court, the members of a band called Artikal Sound System claim that Lipa’s “Levitating” – which spent 68 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart and was the No. 1 Hot 100 song of 2021 – was ripped off from the band’s “Live Your Life.” Explore Explore Dua Lipa See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The complaint was very short and contained mostly boilerplate claims of copyright infringement, with little detail about how or why Lipa allegedly copied the song. But it said that the two tracks were so similar that it was “highly un...
South Africa-based crypto exchange VALR completes a $50M Series B funding round
The raise was completed at a $240 million valuation with participation from big names like Pantera Capital The exchange will use the capital to add more products, expand into other markets, and hire more people In what is the largest ever raise by an African crypto firm, crypto exchange VALR, has today announced it completed a $50 million Series B funding round led by Pantera Capital. Several other institutional investors were involved, including Coinbase Ventures, Third Prime, Alameda Research, Distributed Global, and Fidelity Investments’ affiliate Avon Ventures. Following the raise, VALR has a $240 million valuation. VALR launched in June 2019 and has previously concluded a Series A funding round of $3.45 million back in July 2020 at a valuation ten times less than the current. Th...
Crypto dealer SFOX gets trust charter approval from Wyoming regulators
The State of Wyoming has approved California-based crypto broker SFOX for a trust charter, allowing the firm to provide custodial and other crypto-related services to institutional clients. In a Tuesday announcement, SFOX said the Wyoming trust charter will allow the firm to operate in the state as the SAFE Trust Company, offering services to institutional clients, private clients, and advisers. According to the company, SAFE will “serve in a variety of fiduciary roles” including direct trustee, discretionary trustee, trust advisor, and protector. “The new charter will enable us to provide secure, reliable and efficient investment, trading, and custodian services for a wide range of digital assets, meeting the needs of investors, particularly small-to-mid-sized firms, which until now have ...
T.I.’s Grand Hustle Films Partners With HBCU for Film & Mentorship Project
Students at Marshall, Texas HBCU Wiley College will have the opportunity to assist in producing a film alongside Tip “T.I.” Harris’ Grand Hustle Films, it was announced Tuesday (Mar. 1). The film will be bankrolled with funds awarded by The Propel Center, a recently-established HBCU technology and learning hub that provided a $300,000 grant for the project. Last Wednesday (Feb. 23), students selected to participate in the project — which is designed to help increase representation in the entertainment industry — joined T.I., the founder of Grand Hustle Records, for a virtual lunch to announce and celebrate the partnership. “I know that there is just as much of a need to cultivate and support the young creatives in our communities as there is for the young scholars and the educators. This i...
Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre Announces Crystal Longo as General Manager
Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre has announced Crystal Longo as general manager for the 93-year-old building. Longo first served as deputy general manager for the theater in January 2020 before leaving due to the pandemic. Upon her return, Longo was asked to helm the venue that underwent a $95 million renovation between 2010 and 2015. Longo started her career in live music as a bartender at New York’s iconic Webster Hall while in college. The New York native then made her way to Hammerstein Ballroom where she worked her way up from operations and concessions to booking and venue management before joining The Bowery Presents as director of operations. While with Bowery, Longo led the team at Times Square’s PlayStation Theater and worked on the renovation and reopening of Webster Hall in April 2019....
UMG Teams With Tribeca Enterprises for Music-Driven Event Series
Universal Music Group for Brands (UMGB) is partnering with Tribeca Enterprises for a series of music-driven events to take place throughout 2022, it was announced Tuesday (Mar. 1). The forthcoming series will include six exclusive events based around new film, TV and podcast projects from UMG’s Mercury Studios, Polygram Entertainment and UMG record labels. It kicks off with the world premiere of Mercury Studios’ feature documentary Mixtape, slated for Thursday, Apr. 7 at the United Palace theater in New York City. Presented by Rémy Martin, the premiere will feature a live performance from Jadakiss. Co-produced by Saboteur Media in association with Def Jam Recordings, Mixtape is directed by Omar Acosta and will feature music icons including Funkmaster Flex, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne and “mixtape k...
Songwriters Protest Spotify in LA: ‘I Just Want to Be Able to Pay My Bills’
A group of songwriters led by the organization The 100 Percenters gathered outside of Spotify’s old West Hollywood office Monday afternoon (Feb. 28) to protest the streaming service’s low royalty rates. Dubbed “#WeWroteThat,” the collection of creatives began congregating around noon while holding signs with phrases like “My time costs money,” “Would you work for free?,” “Spotify is valued at $67 billion — pay artists” and “1 cent per stream.” Event organizer Tiffany Red — a professional songwriter and founder of The 100 Percenters who has credits on songs performed by Jennifer Hudson, Jason Derulo and more — says the protest at 9200 Sunset Blvd. (a building Spotify previously occupied before moving to its current headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles’ Arts District in 2018) was motiv...
