business
Here’s How Much Lin-Manuel Miranda Has Made in Royalties From ‘Encanto’ Song Publishing
As Billboard has written about extensively recently, penning a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit as a solo writer is a rare thing in this day and age. But being the lone song author behind an entire hit soundtrack, as Lin-Manuel Miranda has done with the songs to the runaway Disney smash Encanto, is even more unusual — and more lucrative. Billboard estimates that the eight songs that Miranda wrote — each without co-writers — for the animated musical have thus far generated a combined $4.7 million in global publishing royalties. (Miranda’s share of the royalties will depend on what kind of publishing breakdown his deal has — but at the very least, if he has a straight publishing deal without any publisher share, he will get half that amount.) That includes about $1.275 million in publishing royal...
Nintendo Is Acquiring ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ Collaborator SRD
Nintendo is finally acquiring long-time collaborator Systems Research and Development Co. (SRD) after four decades of partnership. Regularly partaking in the development and programming process for many of Nintendo’s games and consoles, SRD was founded back in 1979 and began working with the Japanese gaming giant during production for the Famicom/NES. Since then, they’ve aided in the development of almost every Nintendo console and hundreds of video game titles, including nearly all The Legend of Zelda installments as well as the latest hit Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Specific details revolving around the acquisition remain scarce, but the deal is expected to close on April 1. No monetary figure has been revealed either, although we know SRD will become a wholly-owned subsidi...
Oak View Group Rebrands Facilities Division as OVG360, to Launch New Suite of Services
Months after finalizing the purchase of Spectra, Tim Leiweke‘s Oak View Group has rebranded its OVG Facilities division as OVG360 and announced plans to launch a new suite of services for its venue management and hospitality clients. The news comes after six years of rapid growth across Oak View Group in partnership with music executive Irving Azoff and private equity firm Silver Lake, going from six employees in 2015 to more than 25,000 employees and more than $5.3 billion in deployed capital across nine projects, including the recently opened Savannah Enmarket Arena in Georgia. Last year, Oak View Group opened the $1.2 billion, 18,100-seat Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle as well as UBS Arena, a $1.1 billion multi-purpose, state-of-the-art arena located on the grounds of Belmont Park in E...
Who Gets Paid for a Stream?
Over a trillion times a year, somebody streams a song within the United States and sets in motion the process of paying royalties to the rights holders and creators responsible for the music. Each individual payment is minute — usually less than a cent — but for the most popular songs, royalties can add up to millions of dollars in a single year. Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” for example, which was 2021’s most-streamed song in the U.S., according to MRC Data, earned her, its songwriters and its various rights holders about $4 million, Billboard estimates. Exactly how each involved party is paid varies, but the recipients are the same: record label, performing artist, songwriter, music publisher and an intermediary or two. Both the sound recording and its underlying musical work receive royaltie...
Many ETHDenver attendees report positive COVID-19 tests and few masks
The transmissibility of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 seems to have affected many attendees at the ETHDenver developer conference, who reported symptoms and positive test results following the event. Many social media posts from ETHDenver attendees after the conclusion of the Feb. 11–20 conference claim they tested positive for the virus. A local news outlet reported that more than 12,000 people from 100 countries attended the event, which resulted in many infections among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. Finally got my first COVID infection courtesy of #ETHDenver pic.twitter.com/TDR3OEteI5 — T h i r k (@theThirk) February 22, 2022 According to ETHDenver’s COVID policies, attendees and staff were required to “take a rapid [antigen] test, on-site, prior to picking up their badge” and...
FC Barcelona turns down sponsorship offers from crypto brands
Several entities in the crypto sector presented offers, but the football club turned them down The Catalan club is said to be in the final stages of sealing a deal with Spotify Cryptocurrencies have gained mainstream adoption over the last couple of months, leading to an intersection between the industry and other niches. Notably, cryptocurrency firms and brands have injected huge sums into various sports, especially in the US and Europe. For the former, crypto platforms have targeted the major professional sports leagues, including the NBA and MLB. In Europe, crypto entities have eyed top professional football clubs as they guarantee a lot of exposure crucial for brand awareness. Earlier this month, Tezos announced an agreement with Premier League club Manchester United that will see the ...
SoundCloud, Solid Foundation Management Form ‘Groundbreaking’ JV
SoundCloud and Solid Foundation Management form a joint venture that both parties hope, with its combined might, will weaponize more artists and unearth new talent. Described in a statement as “groundbreaking,” the alliance sees Solid Foundation parent QC Media Holdings’ invest in Soundcloud with an undisclosed sum. Also, QC Media co-founders Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas and their Solid Foundation artist management team, based in Atlanta, will work collaboratively with the SoundCloud to “identify, invest in, and foster the careers of artists featured.” “Coach K and P are two of the most influential voices in music, having identified, developed and grown some of the most successful hip-hop acts of our time,” comments Eliah Seton, president of SoundCloud. With this deal, Seton c...
After Rocky Launch, HitPiece Is Trying to Recruit Artists to the Platform
After sparking music industry outrage over a plan to auction an NFT for every song in the world — without first securing rights holders’ permission — NFT platform HitPiece now reaching out to artists’ teams in hopes of forging official partnerships. Co-founder Rory Felton also tells Billboard the company has hired Gary Greenstein of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati “to represent the company in discussions with rights owners and to advise HitPiece on legal matters.” After HitPiece’s beta launch in caught the industry’s attention in February for pulling artwork and other information off of Spotify without artists’ permission, the backlash caused Felton’s company to pull its site offline. Days later, the RIAA — on behalf of the major labels — threatened a lawsuit against HitPiece and...
Luna Foundation Guard raises $1B to form UST reserve denominated in Bitcoin
The nonprofit organization focused on the open-source stablecoin network behind Terra USD, Luna Foundation Guard, has closed on a $1 billion raise through the sale of LUNA tokens. In a Tuesday tweet, Terra said Jump Crypto and Three Arrows Capital led the $1 billion round with participation from DeFiance Capital, Republic Capital, GSR, Tribe Capital and others. The platform said proceeds from the sale — $1 billion — would “go towards establishing a Bitcoin-denominated Forex Reserve for UST,” a stablecoin in the Terra ecosystem. 1/ The long awaited [REDACTED] 3 is here! The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) has closed a $1 billion private token sale to establish a decentralized $UST Forex Reserve denominated in $BTC! — Terra (UST) Powered by LUNA (@terra_money) February 22, 2022 “One common ...
Journalist alleges Mimo Capital co-founder was behind 2016 exploit of The Dao: Report
Laura Shin, a cryptocurrency journalist and host of the Unchained Podcast, claimed to have discovered the identity of the individual behind an exploit which drained more than 3.6 million Ether from Germany-based startup Slock.it’s The DAO in 2016. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, Shin claimed that she had “extremely strong evidence” that Mimo Capital co-founder Toby Hoenisch was responsible for removing more than 3.6 million Ether (ETH) from The DAO in June 2016 — roughly $50 million at the time. An unknown hacker used an exploit to drain roughly a third of The DAO’s ETH supply, forcing developers to hard fork the network and leaving the illicit funds in what became the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain. EXCLUSIVE: With the publication of my book today, I can finally announce: in t...
UMG Launches Def Jam India Amid Hip-Hop Boom
MUMBAI —Universal Music Group, already home to some of the biggest names in Indian hip-hop, are further seizing on the popularity of the genre there by starting a new label division, Def Jam India. The new sub-label, to be based in Mumbai, will feature some popular commercial names and up-and-coming artists, but not necessarily household names like Badshah, with whom Universal is working to engineer a definitive crossover to international stardom. Def Jam India “will be infused and inspired by local street and rap culture, Indian sounds and unique multi-lingual flows,” said Devraj Sanyal, managing director and CEO, Universal Music India and South Asia. Def Jam India’s first artist signings are rappers Dino James and Fotty Seven. “Lost” from James and Fotty Seven’s “Banjo,” both of which ar...
UK law firm Gunnercooke starts accepting crypto payments for legal services
Gunnercooke says one of its clients, Attestant, has already paid up for services in Ether Crypto adoption will also favour partners at the firm who would prefer getting paid in alternative methods As mainstream crypto adoption continues rising, more industries and sectors are trying their bit to incorporate these digital assets. In the US, a number of legal firms have been accepting crypto for a while now, including Steptoe & Johnson, Perkins Coie, Frost Brown Todd, McLaughlin & Stern, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. In the UK, law firm Gunnercooke revealed yesterday that it started accepting crypto payments in Bitcoin and Ether. The move, Gunnercooke said, made it the first among major firms in the country to do so. In taking legal fees in crypto, the firm intends to su...
