business
Terra partners up with Washington Nationals in a five-year $40 million sponsorship deal
Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon proposed the sponsorship at the start of the month, and the vote saw wide approval Terra will gain branding rights in the home team’s ballpark On February 1, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon submitted a proposal to sponsor a “household name” team in one of the four major American professional sports leagues. Yesterday, it was revealed that the tabled $40 million deal would be with The Washington Nationals baseball team in a five yearlong partnership. As details about the team to be included in this partnership had not been provided initially, the announcement brought to a halt a week-long period of speculation. “After much anticipation, we’re excited to announce that the [REDACTED] American professional sports partner of the Terra Community Trust (TCT) is the Washingto...
Brené Brown Will Resume Spotify Podcasts Amid Her ‘Tremendous Values Conflict’ With Joe Rogan
Brené Brown posted a message on her website Tuesday night (Feb. 8), sharing that, despite recent controversies, she remains committed to podcasting on Spotify and amplifying issues and voices that matter. Brown had, on Feb. 1, shared the decision to pause her podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead, to learn about the music giant’s policies in the wake of COVID-19 misinformation. “Unlike some creators, I don’t have the option of pulling my work from the platform,” Brown noted. This was an indirect reference to musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who have removed music from Spotify in protest of the streamer distributing Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast. “I’m always going to stand firmly on the side of free speech, so I had a lot of lea...
Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Widow Sues Over ‘At Least’ $1M in Unpaid Wu-Tang Clan Royalties
The widow of Ol’ Dirty Bastard is suing Wu-Tang Productions for breach of contract, alleging that the company has “willfully refused” to pay the late rapper’s estate at least $1 million in royalties. The complaint, filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday (Feb. 8) by attorney Brian Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt on behalf of ODB’s widow Icelene Jones, claims that the company – which is owned and operated by ODB’s cousin/Wu-Tang bandmate RZA (born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) – has made just one payment of $130,000 to the ODB estate over the last decade and has failed to provide detailed accounting statements during that time. The estate is seeking at least $1 million in damages plus interest, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. “Despite its repeated efforts and requests, th...
Japan-based messaging app will offer trial run of native token starting in March
Users of Japanese messaging giant LINE will soon be able to use the app’s native token for payments at select online merchants in a limited trial. In a Tuesday announcement, the LINE Corporation said that starting on March 16, users would have the option of paying with native LINK token (LN) — not to be confused with Chainlink (LINK) — at any of LINE Pay’s online merchants. The trial period, which will run until Dec. 26, is aimed at testing real-life use cases for the tokens in addition to increasing the convenience and number of payment options for users. Source: Mikhail Nilov, Pexels LINE Pay said it was considering adding other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its payments options in the future, in addition to strengthening its partnerships with blockchai...
FTX is running a Bitcoin giveaway alongside the Super Bowl ad
FTX plans to reward users with Bitcoin, whose amount depends on what time its Super Bowl ad will run CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has previously said that the advertisement stage doesn’t get any bigger than the Super Bowl. Bahamian-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX has told users that it will be giving away free Bitcoin alongside the airing of an advertisement during the upcoming Super Bowl LVI on February 13. Time is money, literally, since even though FTX has not said the exact amount that is out for grabs. The exchange has told the community that the winners would take home the same number of Bitcoin as the time the ad runs. Say the ad airs at 9:02 pm EST; FTX rewards 9.02 Bitcoin. “We’re giving some Bitcoin away! How much? $1 million worth? $1.5 million worth? We don’t...
Def Jam Names LaTrice Burnette EVP
Def Jam Recordings has named experienced label veteran LaTrice Burnette as its new executive vp, the company announced today (Feb. 8). As part of her move, Burnette will also be bringing her label 4th & Broadway, which she relaunched as president in November 2020, under the Def Jam umbrella. Burnette moves to Def Jam from Island, which she had joined in 2018 as executive vp/general manager. In 2020 she led the relaunch of 4th & Broadway — originally an Island imprint that had been founded in 1984 as a hip-hop and dance label, most notably home to recordings by Eric B. & Rakim — and has since signed artists including Young Devyn, Lil Migo, Pap Chanel, Chiiild and Kidd Kenn to the label. The artists, the label and the core staff of 4th & Broadway will follow Burnette to Def J...
Polygon raises $450 million from token sale to fund Web 3 development
The Ethereum secondary scaling solution gave out MATIC tokens to the participating investors at a discount The blockchain founders intend to dole out the funds across its scaling products and in building Web3 applications The blockchain scalability platform Polygon has announced the completion of a private token sale through which it was able to net $450 million. The raise doesn’t come as a surprise as TechCrunch disclosed at the end of last year that a number of venture capital firms were looking to provide financial muscle to Polygon. Venture funds are shifting focus to scaling projects and Web3 The token sale led Sequoia Capital India, featured over 40 investors in and out of the blockchain space. Some notable names include SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Tiger Global, Accel, Dragonfly Capital,...
Alice In Chains’ Music Rights Acquired by Primary Wave and Round Hill
The catalog includes such hits as “Man in the Box,” “Rooster” and “Would.” In the U.S. alone, the band’s activities generated more than 18 million album consumption units, including 12 million CD sales. “Primary Wave is pleased to partner with the estates of Layne Staley and Mike Starr to honor their musical legacies as part of the classic era lineup of Alice In Chains, who created the amazing songs and records that comprise the albums Dirt and Facelift, and the acoustic EPs, Jar of Flies and Sap,” said Primary Wave’s David Weitzman in a statement. “These projects represent the greatest works from one of the best artists of the iconic ’90’s Seattle based grunge era.” Lead singer Staley died of a drug overdose in 2002, while bassist Starr died of an overdose in 2011. Meanwhile, in addition ...
ENS dumps director of operations in condemnation of homophobic tweets
True Names Limited, the nonprofit behind distributed domain protocol Ethereum Name Service, announced it would be ending its contract with director of operations Brantly Millegan after many uncovered his previously posted anti-LBGTQIA tweets. On Feb. 6, the decentralized autonomous organization of Ethereum Name Service, or ENS, asked users to weigh in on what actions, if any, should be taken against Millegan in regards to a May 2016 tweet in which he said “homosexual acts are evil” and “transgenderism doesn’t exist.” The DAO said some had proposed suspending Millegan from his leadership roles at ENS, voting to remove him as a director of the ENS foundation, and asking him to step down from his position. Though the DAO did not officially vote on any resolution as of the time of public...
Fat Joe’s Legal Battle Over ‘All the Way Up’ Isn’t Over Quite Yet
A man who unsuccessfully sued Fat Joe and Remy Ma over allegations that he helped create the 2016 hit “All the Way Up” is now heading to a federal appeals court in an effort to revive his lawsuit. Eric Elliott claims he co-authored the song and has been cheated out of proper compensation and ownership rights, but a federal judge ruled last month that there was “no dispute” that Fat Joe had already paid him for his alleged contributions to the song. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news On Friday, Elliott signaled that the battle isn’t over just yet. He filed a notice that he will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, a process that could take more than a year. His specific arguments are not yet available, but will be ...
Spotify CEO Addresses Joe Rogan’s N-Word Use, Doubles Down on Keeping Podcaster on Platform
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has addressed the weeks-long blowback against his company, and for the “deeply hurtful” remarks that have surfaced from Joe Rogan, whose podcast triggered the latest round of controversy. In a letter sent to Spotify employees, seen by Billboard, Ek says he “strongly” condemns Rogan’s prior use of “racially insensitive language,” which, he continues, does “not represent the values of the company.” Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Swedish executive has spoken with Rogan and his team about of the content in the show, and, according to Ek, the message got through. The show will go on. Rogan and his under-fire podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience, has been the heavily criticized in recent weeks for the raconteur’s decision...
Bill Cosby Likely to Avoid Testifying in Sex Assault Lawsuit
A Los Angeles judge on Friday (Feb. 4) appeared strongly inclined to allow Bill Cosby to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege and avoid giving a deposition in the lawsuit of a woman who alleges he sexually abused her when she was 15 in the mid-1970s. At a hearing to argue the issue, Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan agreed with Cosby’s attorney that the 84-year-old has a reasonable fear of again facing criminal charges for one or more of the many sexual assault allegations that have been publicly aired against him, and has a right to avoid saying anything under oath that might lead to such charges. Explore Explore Bill Cosby See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “It does appear he has a reasonable fear of prosecution, and if new information came out, that co...
