business
Spotify Closing In on Sponsorship Deal With Barcelona Soccer Club
MADRID — Spotify is close to reaching a sponsorship deal with F.C. Barcelona, one of Europe’s leading soccer clubs, less than a year after Spotify’s founder, Daniel Ek, made an unsuccessful takeover bid for U.K. club Arsenal. According to Spanish media, a sponsorship deal could be announced as early as next week. The club says it would not comment on ongoing negotiations, which have been prompted by the fact that Barcelona’s current jersey sponsor, Rakuten, decided not to renew its agreement with Barcelona, which ends in June. Last year, Ek sought to buy Arsenal, saying that it would fulfill a childhood dream. “I’ve cheered for Arsenal as long as I can remember,” he said. But the family of Stan Kroenke, which currently owns Arsenal, rejected the Swedish billionaire’s offer, saying they wer...
Prince Heirs & Primary Wave Spar In Court Over How To Close Out Estate
Attorneys for Prince‘s heirs and Primary Wave wrangled Friday over how best to end six years of courtroom proceedings over the iconic artist’s estate, presenting alternate plans to a judge over how to start distributing his assets. At a hearing in Minnesota state court, attorneys for three of Prince’s siblings dueled over corporate structures with attorneys representing Primary Wave – which has acquired half the estate from three other siblings. Friday’s hearing came two weeks after the estate reached an agreement with the IRS to end a dispute over the proper tax valuation of the estate, setting the value at $156.4 million and avoiding a March trial against the feds. The tax settlement was the last major hurdle to closing out a messy case that has dragged on for nearly six years, since the...
EBIDTA, AOI, OIBDA, WTF? Why Companies Report Different Financial Metrics
With music companies’ fourth quarter earnings starting to roll out this week, news reports have been filled with the usual alphabet soup of accounting jargon, abbreviations and acronyms. It can get confusing, especially since some of the most visible financial metrics don’t have strict definitions. Spotify, Warner Music Group, Live Nation, SiriusXM and other companies publicly traded in the U.S. adhere to what are called Generally Accepted Accounting Principles set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. GAAP standards allow investors to reasonably trust companies will fairly represent their business results using the same rules and language. Left to creatively interpret their own finances, companies would have different approaches to measuring their revenue, expenses and liabilities....
Turnpike Troubadours Signs With TMWRK for Management Ahead of 2022 Reunion Tour
Turnpike Troubadours have signed with Andrew McInnes‘ TMWRK for management ahead of the group’s 2022 reunion tour. TMWRK’s Sydney Clark will serve as day-to-day manager for the group, while longtime agent Jon Folk with Red 11 Music in Nashville will continue to book their live performances. McInnes tells Billboard that he and TMWRK senior vp Paddy Scace were introduced to the band by David Macias at Thirty Tigers and that they eventually agreed to manage the six-person group after meeting the members in Oklahoma. He said Scace will manage the band’s touring business, while the staff at TMWRK will work with the group to develop a strategy around their independent record label, Bossier City Records. “They’ve always released their own records, and we excel at that business,” McInnes tell...
FTX exchange acquires Liquid and absorbs its subsidiary Quoine
The acquisition deal is yet to receive the green light from the financial markets regulator and shareholders Japan-based FTX users will be moved to Quoine after the completion of the deal Following a successful $400 million Series C funding round at the end of last month, FTX has moved to acquire Liquid – a Japan-based crypto exchange firm. The Bahamas-based exchange, led by Sam Bankman-Fried, is looking to seal the acquisition deal for Liquid by March. Neither party revealed the deal’s specifics, including the financial sum involved. This is not the first time that Liquid and FTX have crossed paths. Last year in August, the former suffered a hack that saw it lose up to $90 million worth of funds in almost 70 various crypto assets. Following the hack, FTX financed the exchange, offer...
Executive Turntable: Warner Records Taps Commercial SVP, Stem Strengthens Artist & Label Team
Josh Remsberg was named senior vp, commercial revenue at Warner Records. The Los Angeles-based Remsberg joins Warner from Universal Music Group’s Capitol Records, where he’s served as senior vp, commerce & business development since 2020. In his new role, he’ll report to and work closely with Warner Records executive vp, promotion & commerce Mike Chester to develop and implement the label’s new release and long-term sales strategy and artists campaigns across streaming, digital and commercial platforms and accounts. Remsberg joined UMG in 2001 as an 18-year-old college representative at the University of Michigan. After graduating, he was hired as a field rep for Geffen Records in Detroit. He later worked for UMG’s distribution arm with a focus on the Republic and Motown labels. He...
South Park destroys Matt Damon’s Crypto.com ad in season premiere
More than three months after its release, the ad from crypto exchange Crypto.com featuring Hollywood star Matt Damon was the subject of ridicule in the latest episode of the animated series South Park. In the first episode of its 25th season titled “Pajama Day”, the creators of South Park took on people in the United States refusing to wear a mask and once again associated crypto investments with scams. Characters in the show attacked Damon’s appearance in an TV spot titled “fortune favors the brave”, showing the actor speaking about Crypto.com amid a digital landscape of historic figures. “My dad said he listened to Matt Damon and lost all his money…” “Yes, everyone did! But they were brave in doing so!” The criticism is likely related to cryptocurrencies losing more than $500 billion in ...
Rita Ora Signs Record Deal With BMG
Rita Ora has struck a partnership with BMG to release her future recordings, the company announced Thursday (Feb. 3). Under the new deal, Ora will own all of her future master recordings. “I’m THRILLED to announce that I am partnering with BMG!!! I couldn’t be happier that they will be my label family moving forward,” Ora said on social media. “Their approach to artist ownership and control is very much aligned with mine, and it’s so empowering to know that I will own all my master recordings that I make from now on. I also feel so motivated to be working with such a dynamic, creative, forward-thinking global company.” Ora is one of the largest pop acts BMG has added to its roster and follows the $10 million global deal the company signed with 5 Seconds of Summer in October. Ora has charte...
Nike Becomes an Equity Investor in the WNBA
NIKE, Inc. on Thursday became an equity investor in the WNBA, deepening its 25-year commitment to the league. The partnership will allow Nike to help grow the league by crafting authentic storytelling, offering widened visibility for WNBA athletes and establishing additional grassroots opportunities for girls to play basketball. “Women’s sport is one of the best investments, with great potential to impact and grow the next era of basketball,” said Sonja Henning, VP, NA Leagues Partnerships, NIKE, Inc., in a statement. “Nike has always been more than a sponsor with the WNBA — we’re a strategic partner. And we’re proud to be part of a movement that is redefining sport for a new generation — for WNBA players, fans and girls.” Through this investment, Nike’s main goal is to equip the league wi...
John Legend Dives Into NFTs With Our Happy Company’s ‘OurSong’ Platform
John Legend, the great-allrounder who has already completed an EGOT, the youngest person to do so, is spreading his wings into NFTs. The R&B star is named co-founder and chief impact officer at Our Happy Company, which today (Feb. 2) launches OurSong, its social NFT platform. With Legend in his dual-capacity, Our Happy Company has ambitions for OurSong to “build a better system for creators to be discovered, monetize their work, and engage with fans through NFTs,” reads a statement. The new platform is meant to appeal to those of us who don’t possess a degree in computer science, or have, at the very least, a lifelong tech habit. One of its points of difference is ease of use, for artists and consumers. OurSong users don’t need to hold a separate cryptocurrency wallet outside the...
Sony Creating Joint Venture In India For Film and Music Ventures
Sony Group is leveraging its music and movie entertainment divisions to create a joint company focused on developing investment ventures for media talent in India. The new venture, to be named Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India (SETVI), will draw from a “vast pool of commercial talent and star-power in India to build investment opportunities, partnerships, metaverse solutions and more,” the company says in a press release. Sony Music Entertainment is already a leading record label in India, with a strong presence in Bollywood and Tamil OST, across multiple genres that include national and regional pop. Sony Pictures Entertainment includes Sony Pictures Networks, a broadcast division with over 700 million viewers from 170 million households in 8,000 cities across India; Sony Pictures ...
Worldwide Independent Network Appoints Maria Amato as Chair
Maria Amato, CEO of the Australian Independent Record Labels Assn. (AIR), is appointed chair of Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), the organization that brings together local independent music trade bodies across the globe. Based in Melbourne, Amato becomes WIN’s first female chair and the organization’s first from the southern hemisphere. Amato is one of several new changes to the board of WIN for 2022. She’s joined by new directors Jeffrey Chiang (Fluxus Inc./LIAK, South Korea), Paul Pacifico (AIM, U.K.) and Sandra Rodrigues (ABMI, Brazil), who replace outgoing directors Carlos Mills (ABMI, Brazil), Chan Kim (Fluxus Inc,/LIAK, South Korea), and Kees van Weijen (IMPALA, Europe). “Today’s news marks the first time that WIN has been chaired both by a woman, and by someone from outside Eur...
