business
Fireblocks completes First DAG acquisition to extend its payment offering
This is Fireblocks’ first-ever acquisition Fireblocks aims to enhance its payment offerings to acquirers and payment service providers Crypto infrastructure provider Fireblocks revealed yesterday that it had completed a deal to acquire Israeli crypto payments processor First Digital Assets Group (First DAG). The acquisition of the digital asset payments technology platform is the first-ever Fireblocks has completed. First DAG employees absorbed into the firm as part of the agreement Though specifics were not revealed at the time of the announcement, Fireblocks said that the deal was completed in cash and stocks. Two sources familiar with the matter have indicated that the price could be in the region of $100 million. Fireblocks plans to expand its current payment offering to enable p...
Recorded Music NZ CEO Damian Vaughan Announces Resignation
After nine years leading Recorded Music NZ, Damian Vaughan is ready to the leave the job. Vaughan has served as CEO of New Zealand’s labels association since June 2013, following a years-long stint as NZ Licensing Manager at APRA, the Australasian PRO. In a statement distributed Thursday (Feb. 17) to the local music industry, Vaughan admits it’s time to “move on and find my next challenge.” The past decade, he notes, has been a transformative one for the domestic industry and music fans, one that finds itself in a much better place. Vaughan’s recruitment to NZ’s labels body coincided with the dawn of the streaming age. In 2013, he explains, wholesale industry revenues were NZ$67.4 million and were comprised predominantly of physical sales and digital downloads. Fast forward to 2022, and “t...
Release of Bob Saget’s Autopsy Records Blocked by a Judge
A judge in Florida on Wednesday (Feb. 16) agreed with a request from the family of comedian Bob Saget and temporarily prohibited the release of any photos, video or other records related to the investigation into his death, saying that doing so would cause them irreparable harm. Explore Explore Bob Saget See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Saget’s wife, Kelly Rizzo, and his three daughters filed a lawsuit the previous day in Orlando, Florida, asking the state judge for a ruling that would prohibit the release of any records from the local medical examiner’s office and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office involving the probe into Saget’s death. Circuit Judge Vincent Chiu issued the temporary injunction, saying that Saget’s family would suffer “severe men...
Fidelity International launches Bitcoin ETP on Deutsche Boerse
Major financial services firm Fidelity International will be listing a Bitcoin exchange-traded product on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Germany’s Xetra digital stock exchange. According to a Tuesday announcement from Deutsche Boerse, a physical Bitcoin exchange-traded product, or ETP, from Fidelity International is now available for trading on the Deutsche Boerse Xetra and Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker FBTC. In addition, the company reportedly said it planned to have the crypto investment vehicle listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in the coming weeks. Fidelity Digital Assets will act as the custodian for the physically-backed Bitcoin (BTC) ETP, which will be centrally cleared with global exchange Eurex Clearing. The ETP has a total expense ratio of 0.75%. At the time of publication,...
Don’t Call It a Comeback (Yet): How 2022 Could Determine the CD’s Fate
Two years ago, the long-running New England comic book and music retail chain Newbury Comics made an unexpected change: They created more space for CDs. “It was right before the pandemic started, after the 2019 holidays,” Newbury Comics senior buyer Larry Mansdorf tells Billboard on the decision to increase their in-store square footage dedicated to CD space. At that point, U.S. CD sales were steadily plummeting — as they had been for a decade and a half — but Mansdorf saw clear evidence of growing interest in compact discs. “We reacted to the previous 18 months’ worth of sales data to see what people were responding to,” says Mansdorf. Newbury began a process of increasing their CD inventory by 13% across their 30 locations, making sure stores that were primarily selling vinyl records fea...
BMG Goes ‘Boom Boom,’ Acquires John Lee Hooker Music Assets
BMG and its partner FujiPacific Music have acquired the music publishing catalog of John Lee Hooker, the companies announced on Wednesday. In addition, BMG alone has purchased his recorded masters royalties and some of the late blues master’s recorded masters spanning from 1980’s Alone Vol. 1 through 2020’s Black Night Is Falling. Terms of the deals with Hooker’s estate remain undisclosed, but the publishing catalog includes such classic tunes as “Boom Boom,” “One Scotch, One Beer” and “Boogie Chillen’.” BMG says that while some of the Hooker rights will still remain with third parties, the German company will now take the lead role in promoting the artist’s catalog. “As the longtime managers of the John Lee Hooker Estate, JAM, Inc. was happy to help the Estate and BMG conclude this transa...
Splice Staffer Christina Lee Remembered After New York Murder: ‘Our Hearts Are Broken’
Christina Yuna Lee, a senior creative producer at Splice, was found dead in her Lower Manhattan apartment on Sunday after she was fatally stabbed by a stranger who followed her from the street, up six flights of stairs and into her home. As news spread of the horrific event, friends and co-workers took to social media to remember the 35-year-old. “Over the weekend out beloved Christina Lee was senselessly murdered in her home. Our hearts are broken,” said Splice in a company statement, posted to its social media channels. “Always dedicated to making beautiful and inclusive artwork, Christina is irreplaceable. As we start to process this tragedy, we ask that you remember Christina Lee as the magical person she was, always filled with joy. We wish peace upon her family in their grief.” A gra...
Maverick Protocol closes $8M strategic fundraising led by Pantera Capital
The investment round featured several VC firms that will have a significant role in the network’s planned mainnet launch The funds obtained will be used to advance the proprietary Automated Liquidity Placement algorithm and strengthen Maverick’s position in the DeFi derivatives space Decentralised derivatives protocol Maverick on Tuesday announced it had successfully completed an external funding round netting $8 million. The fundraising was led by California-based crypto-focused fund Pantera with participation from other names, including Circle Ventures, Coral Ventures, Altonomy, Tron Foundation, Gemini Frontier Fund, Jump Crypto, LedgerPrime and Spartan Group. Maverick intends to use the funds to release its Automated Liquidity Placement model and open asset-listing function ...
Swizz Beatz Confirms Anthony Hamilton/Musiq Soulchild Verzuz Battle Will Be Free on IG After Triller Backlash
Verzuz co-creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland were elated when their pandemic-launched musical battle platform was acquired by the Triller Network in 2021, a year after the global livestream phenomenon launched and exploded during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Swizz told Billboard that they didn’t originally have any plans to monetize the business and were just focused on giving people “some live, love and happiness” during the pandemic. Explore See latest videos, charts and news And then came the backlash from fans when it looked like Tuesday’s (Feb. 15) long-awaited Anthony Hamilton vs. Musiq Soulchild Valentine’s Day showdown would be available only on the paid Triller platform instead of for free on Instagram Live, where it has been since its ince...
Olivia Rodrigo Signs With New Management
Olivia Rodrigo has signed with a new management team, sources tell Billboard. The seven-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter is now repped by Lighthouse Management + Media’s Aleen Keshishian and Zack Morgenroth for management in all areas. She joins the firm’s roster of talent, including Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Jason Bateman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Rudd, artist Petra Collins and supermodel Miranda Kerr, among others. Rodrigo split with her longtime manager Kristen Smith of Camp Far West Management in January. Earlier this month, it was announced Rodrigo would be named Billboard’s 2022 “Woman of the Year” at the annual Billboard Women in Music Awards, which will take place on March 2 at the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. Since starting her career as a ...
Singapore’s DBS Bank set to offer crypto services to retail customers
Singapore’s megabank DBS plans to expand crypto trading to the retail crowd CEO Piyush Gupta has highlighted that the plan is to expand into online trading and a 24/7 operational model DBS Bank was the first financial body to receive MAS approval last year Singapore’s largest lender DBS Bank has highlighted plans to expand the offering to retail investors by the end of the year. The bank is notable for being among the first financial institutions to host a crypto trading desk for institutional investors. The Bank CEO and Director of the DBS Group, Piyush Gupta, revealed during an earnings call for 2021 Q4 on Monday that it had already kickstarted the process of expanding territory. While he did not directly provide any details, he suggested that the bank had set in motion the p...
The Ledger: Hits Are Great, But Labels & Publishers Seek Higher Margins Too
There’s little doubt record labels and publishers will continue to improve revenues in the coming years on the backs of streaming subscriptions, stronger internet advertising and burgeoning sectors like social media and connected fitness. But there’s less certainty about how their margins will grow as industry revenues surge. Investors and analysts are making their best guesses. During Warner Music Group’s earnings call on Tuesday (Feb 8), RBC Capital Markets analyst Kutgun Maral asked management asked if recent deals “are indicative of a greater focus on M&A” and if they “are accretive or dilutive to margins.” CEO Stephen Cooper said WMG will “be quite assertive” in seeking deals it believes can be “immediately accretive [to margins].” Lou Dickler, senior vp, controller, added that th...
