business
Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty Lingerie Brand Will Open Retail Stores in 2022
Rihanna announced on Friday (Jan. 7) that her Savage x Fenty lingerie brand will open its own brick-and-mortar stores this year. “2022, we coming in HOT! we bout to bring you a whole new #SavageXFenty experience with the launch of our brick-and-mortar retail stores!” she tweeted with an animation of what said stores would look like. It appears they’ll be featuring colorful wallpapers highlighting the rainbow assortment of lingerie, sleepwear and loungewear. Rihanna, 33, also listed out the first five locations of the Savage x Fenty stores: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. “Can’t believe it’s actually that time, and I can’t wait for you to have this experience irl,” she continued. Explore Explore Rihanna See latest videos, charts and news See latest v...
Phylicia Fant Exits Columbia Records
Phylicia Fant has exited her post as executive vp, urban music at Columbia Records, sources with knowledge of her departure tell Billboard. There was no reason given for Fant’s exit, and there’s also no word yet as to where Fant, who declined to comment, may be headed. A Columbia spokesperson confirmed Fant’s departure. Today (Jan. 7) is her last day at the label. Fant joined Columbia in December 2018 when she and Shawn Holiday were appointed co-heads of urban music. Over the last two years, the label has scored successes with projects from Lil Nas X, The Kid LAROI, Polo G, Chloe x Halle, 24kGoldn, Leon Bridges and Lil Tjay. Columbia is also home to Beyoncé, Tyler, The Creator, Pharrell and Raphael Saadiq. Holiday, who teamed with The Azoff Company’s Irving and Jeffrey Azoff in February 20...
Bad Bunny Tops Year-End Latin Songs, Albums Charts as Latin Music Consumption Soars
Latin music consumption in the United States continued its outsized growth trajectory, with a 21.1% increase in total album consumption in 2021 — more than any other core music genre and behind only comedy — according to MRC Data’s newly released year-end report. All told, total album consumption of Latin music — which comprises traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) — stood at 48.2 million, up from 39.8 million in 2020. It’s a robust showing that once again makes Latin the fifth most-consumed music genre in the U.S. behind country (72.2 million), pop (116.5 million), rock (178.7 million) and of course the behemoth that is R&B/hip-hop, which led with 247.5 million units earned in 2021. In terms of on-demand song streams, Latin’s sho...
Sega will likely not introduce NFTs for play-to-earn if ‘perceived as simple money-making’
The leadership at video game firm Sega Corporation’s holding company has suggested that they may avoid nonfungible tokens in play-to-earn model games based on the response from users. In a Dec. 14 meeting of Sega Sammy Holdings’ CEO Haruki Satomi, senior executive vice president Koichi Fukazawa, and Sega Corporation president Yukio Sugino, the trio said they needed to “carefully assess” how to potentially introduce nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into Sega titles to “mitigate the negative elements” and work within Japanese regulations. The executives cited “negative reactions” from users overseas rewarded in NFTs for gameplay. “In terms of NFT, we would like to try out various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this poin...
UK Music Sales Up 8.7% as Vinyl Outpaces Streaming Growth
LONDON – Vinyl sales grew twice as fast as streaming in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive an 8.7% rise in overall music spending, according to year-end figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). Vinyl album sales rose by 23% to £136 million ($184 million) in 2021, compared to 10.9% growth in subscription streaming revenue over the same period. Overall music spending rose to £1.68 billion ($2.3 billion), the organization says in its preliminary annual figures published on Wednesday (Jan. 5). While vinyl sales outpaced streaming, digital music services like Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music and Apple Music account for almost 80% of recorded music spending in the U.K., with subscription revenues climbing to a record high of £1.3 billion ($1.8 billion), up 10.9% f...
Kanye West to Headline Coachella 2022, Considering Sunday Service
Kanye West — who now goes by Ye — has been tapped to headline Sunday night at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and might also stage a second Sunday Service performance a source tells Billboard. Billie Eilish is also in talks to headline the event — likely Friday — sources confirms. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The headliner news comes after a chaotic 48 hours for festival organizer Goldenvoice as it moves artists in and out of the event’s three headliner slots, originally set for the 2020 iteration that was postponed several times during the pandemic. Billboard has confirmed that previous headliners Travis Scott and Rage Against the Machine will no longer headline the 2022 edition of the festival after originally bei...
Joyce Ostin, Daughter-in-Law of Music Exec Mo Ostin, Dies at 64
Joyce Ostin, a photographer and daughter-in-law of legendary music executive Mo Ostin, died Dec. 29 at her Pacific Palisades home after a battle with cancer, her family announced. She was 64. Ostin spent her first years raising her three daughters while battling breast cancer, and in 2001, she published Hollywood Moms, a best-selling coffee-table book with a foreword by Carrie Fisher that featured photographs of Goldie Hawn and daughter Kate Hudson; Dyan Cannon and daughter Jennifer Grant; Jennifer Lopez and her mom, Guadalupe; and Rosie O’Donnell and her daughter, Chelsea. In 2007 came Hollywood Dads, with an introduction by Paul Reiser and photos of Robin Williams, Michael J. Fox, Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Willis and other fathers with their kids. Explore See latest videos, char...
Moneygram buys 4% stake in crypto ATM operator Coinme
Money transmission network MoneyGram now has a minority investment in crypto ATM operator Coinme following a Series A funding round. In a Wednesday announcement, MoneyGram said it had purchased a roughly 4% ownership stake in Coinme — likely more than $764,000, given its valuation of $19.1 million in June — as part of a strategic investment in the crypto company. The investment follows a May 2021 partnership between the two firms aimed at expanding access to crypto-fiat exchanges. “We continue to be bullish on the vast opportunities that exist in the ever-growing world of cryptocurrency and our ability to operate as a compliant bridge to connect digital assets to local fiat currency,” said MoneyGram CEO Alex Holmes. “Our investment in Coinme further strengthens our partnership and co...
Where Podcast Producers May Turn for Deals in 2022
If 2020 and 2021 were the years Hollywood stars proved their mettle in podcasting, 2022 could be the year top influencers find their stride in audio. A survey of U.S. listeners by Acast and Nielsen finds nearly 40 percent of respondents said they wanted podcasts from YouTubers and influencers, outranking interest in shows from music and TV personalities. “We anticipate that this consumer desire will drive content creators who are looking to please their fans to pick up microphones and test the waters in podcasting this year,” Tommy Walters, Acast’s North America Commercial Insights Manager, said in an email to The Hollywood Reporter, noting that “smart content creators” understand the potential of podcast advertising will be able to carry their followings over to t...
Ted Gardner, Artist Manager and Lollapalooza Co-Founder, Dies at 74
Ted Gardner, a longtime artist manager who co-founded the Lollapalooza festival with Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, died Dec. 28. He was 74. “I’m sad to report Ted Gardner, Our manager passed away today surrounded by his loving family,” tweeted Anton Newcombe, whose band, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, has been managed by Gardner since 2004. “We will miss a great manager, mentor & friend. Our condolences to all his family & friends.” The funniest story he told me was of a meeting when @lollapalooza went mega, and he walks in and @perryfarrell goes “ted, we got Metallica to headline” he goes “fuck, you just wrecked this festival.” Perry goes “ted, they are on speakerphone now” ☎️ “hi ted” 😂 — anton newcombe (@antonnewcombe) December 28, 2021 A more tha...
Mozilla Foundation announces it is accepting crypto donations
Member of the community were displeased by the move, with some threatening withdrawal of monthly donations Mozilla Foundation disclosed last Friday that it would be taking donations in crypto coins. The foundation, whose subsidiary Mozilla corporation oversees several internet-linked applications, including popular browser Mozilla Firefox, noted it would accept Dogecoin, Ether and Bitcoin. The announcement detailed that the non-profit organisation’s move would be facilitated by the popular crypto payments processing firm BitPay. The donations received in crypto would be converted into fiat to skirt any potential volatility. “Dabble in Dogecoin? HODLing some Bitcoin & Ethereum? We’re using BitPay to accept donations in cryptocurrency,” Mozilla posted on Twitter. Many users disapproved o...
Anitta Signs Global Deal With Sony Music Publishing
Sony Music Publishing, the current leading publisher for the Top Radio Airplay and the Hot 100 Songs charts, has announced the signing of pop sensation Anitta. Known across the world for her fusion of latin, radio pop and Brazilian baile funk, Anitta’s new agreement will see the young star represented by the publisher in all territories. The new deal arrives after a breakthrough year in the U.S. market for the singer, whose songs “Girl From Rio” featuring DaBaby, and “Faking Love” featuring Saweetie, both cracked the top 40 on Billboard‘sPop Airplay charts in 2021. In her native Brazil, Anitta reigns as the country’s highest streamed artist, and she made history this year as the country’s first musical export to perform at the MTV VMAs. She is also a six-time Latin Grammy nominee and nine ...
