business
Balenciaga to support Bitcoin and Ether payments in select US stores
The French luxury giant’s approval of the digital assets not only addresses a gap in crypto payments but also caters to a growing young population of online users The crypto payments support comes at a time when the digital assets are experiencing extreme levels of volatility in the market Balenciaga is the latest name in the luxury fashion industry to offer support for crypto payments. The Paris-headquartered fashion powerhouse announced this week that it would allow its customers to settle payments in crypto in some of its stores in the United States. Two Balenciaga stores – Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and Madison Avenue in New York – have moved to implement the plan. Acceptance of crypto payment is a long-term strategy Despite several digital coins haemorrhaging up to half ...
Australia’s Music Biz Welcomes Fresh Start With New Prime Minister, Government
BRISBANE, Australia — The Australian Labor Party’s victory in the federal election has been welcomed by the nation’s music industry as a fresh start, and as “great news” for a community that felt abandoned by the previous leadership during the most treacherous months of the pandemic. Prime Minister elect Anthony Albanese was sworn in Monday (May 23) as Australia’s 31st prime minister at Government House in Canberra, the capital. Four senior frontbenchers were also officially sworn in. After nine years in opposition, the new PM got to work immediately. Later on Monday, he visited Japan for a meeting with the leaders of the Quad — the United States, India and Japan. The music industry is also keen to get down to work with the ALP, the major center-left political party, and Albanese, who, wit...
‘WTF With Marc Maron’ Podcast Inks Multi-Year Deal With Acast
Marc Maron has struck a three-year deal with Acast to host, monetize and distribute the comedian’s hit podcast, WTF With Marc Maron. As part of the deal, which begins on July 1, WTF will also offer bonus content, merchandise and live event offerings via Acast+, the podcast company’s subscription service. The back catalogue of WTF, currently available without ads on SiriusXM’s Stitcher Premium, will also be taken down and moved over to the open feed when the deal goes into effect, though a “small portion” will be paywalled on Acast+, according to Acast spokesperson Ryan Hatoum. New episodes of the show will continue to be released twice a week and will be available for free across all major podcast platforms, while advertisers will be able to pla...
Oak View Group’s Acrisure Arena Strikes Social Impact Partnership With Stand Together
Entertainment development company Oak View Group has tapped community nonprofit Stand Together as the exclusive social impact partner and one of eight founding partners for Acrisure Arena, an OVG-owned and operated venue set to open in the greater Palm Springs area in December, the company tells Billboard. Stand Together will also serve as the social impact partner for the arena’s home team, the American Hockey League’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, who will be debuting in October 2022. In addition, the organization will serve as the arena’s music series title sponsor. “There is no denying the remarkable power of music to bring people together. With the launch of Acrisure Arena and our partnership with Stand Together, we will harness the power of music to bring people together and create mov...
Lin-Manuel Miranda to Receive NMPA Songwriter Icon Award for 2022
Lin-Manuel Miranda will receive the National Music Publishers’ Association’s (NMPA) Songwriter Icon Award at its 2022 annual meeting, the organization announced Monday (May 23), while the keynote speech will be delivered by Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. The annual meeting is being held at Lincoln Center on June 15, marking the first in-person iteration of the event since 2019. Manuel’s honor this year feels timely, arriving on the heels of his surprising Hot 100 No. 1 hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto soundtrack. NMPA president and CEO David Israelite says in a statement that the composer possesses “inimitable style and passion [that] continues to enrich our cultural landscape.” As the first-ever theatrically focused Songwriter Icon rec...
Travis Scott Caused Stampede at Rolling Loud Miami in 2019, Lawsuit Says
Travis Scott is facing new accusations that he caused a 2019 stampede at Rolling Loud in Miami, including by flatly ignoring police demands to shut down the “dangerous and uncontrollable” concert. Scott, who is separately facing hundreds of legal claims over the deadly Astroworld festival, was added last month as a defendant to an existing lawsuit filed against Rolling Loud’s organizers in 2020 by Marchelle Love, a woman who says she was severely injured during the May 2019 incident. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the latest version of the complaint, Love’s attorneys claim that police rushed backstage shortly after Scott began his set and demanded that he stop performing because the crowd was getting unsafe – a plea that the star ra...
NFT Roundup: Getty Images partners with Candy Digital to launch NFTs as LimeWire locks in UMG
Getty Images’ NFTs will be minted on the Ethereum sidechain Palm blockchain LimeWire recently partnered with UMG to allow artists signed to the entertainment giant to release NFTs in an upcoming marketplace British-American visual media firm Getty Images has completed an agreement with digital collectables company Candy Digital to release its first non-fungible tokens (NFTs). According to an official announcement published on Tuesday, the NFTs would be minted on Palm blockchain, an Ethereum sidechain. Getty Images intends to draw material for its NFTs from its collection having more than 465 million images, including 135 million previously unseen analogue archival works. Sales of the tokens would happen on Candy Digital’s marketplace, with the firm also tasked with developing the said...
eBay partners with Tezos-powered OneOf to launch the first NFT collection
The popular online marketplace has previously delved into NFTs, but this is the first instance of itself launching NFTs The digital collectibles will be centred around sports personalities E-commerce giant eBay announced on Monday it is unveiling an NFT collection ‘Genesis’ of non-fungible tokens, featuring animations of popular athletes, including ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. The NFT collection features thirteen digital collectibles available at different tiers. The launch is a joint venture with the NFT platform OneOf built on Tezos and Polygon. The companies confirmed that they would continue with the NFT drops beyond the ‘limited-edition’ digital collectibles. The NFTs will, however, focus on athletes featured on Sports Illustrated covers. There are four tiers – gree...
Inside Track: Creator Power, Spatial Audio & the Metaverse Dominate Music Biz 2022
For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, the Music Biz conference happened in person in Nashville this month, bringing together industry figures from across the globe to banter about the various topics facing the business after two years of relying on tech and streaming to connect an increasingly-fractured landscape. One conversation that seemed to permeate both panels and interpersonal conversations at the convention was the expanding role of artists in their own marketing and release strategy, whether they are signed to a major or not. During panels like “The Future of the Artist Deal” and “Navigating New Strategies,” speakers waxed near-philosophical on the improved standing of artists in advocating on their own behalf, while also examining the pitfalls that come from this mo...
The Ledger: Three Major Trends Revealed in Music Companies’ Q1 2022 Earnings
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. From streaming services to concert promoters and ticket sellers, music companies have reported encouraging first-quarter earnings results that show consumers continue to adopt subscription services and eagerly return to live events after COVID restrictions were lifted in late 2021. The same companies’ stock prices tell another story, however. While music companies posted double-digit gains in subscription growth, revenue, ticket sales and many other metrics, their share prices are down by double-digits in 2022. That’s not a surprise given the state of the economy: Inflation is at a 40-year high ; rising interest rates s...
OpenSea launches ‘Seaport’ marketplace protocol allowing NFT bartering
Nonfungible token marketplace OpenSea has announced the launch of a Web3 marketplace protocol for “safely and efficiently buying and selling NFTs.” In a Friday blog post, OpenSea said the marketplace protocol, dubbed Seaport, will give users the option to obtain NFTs by offering assets other than just payment tokens like Ether (ETH). According to the platform, a user “can agree to supply a number of ETH / ERC20 / ERC721 / ERC1155 items” in exchange for an NFT, implying bartering a combination of tokens as a method of payment. In addition, SeaPort users can specify which criteria — e.g. certain traits on NFT artwork or pieces part of a collection — they want when making offers. The platform will also support tipping, as long as the amount does not exceed that of the original offer. “OpenSea...
Ex-‘American Idol’ Star Caleb Kennedy Granted Bond in Fatal Car Crash
A South Carolina judge granted bond on Friday (May 20) to the former American Idol contestant accused of barreling into a man with his pickup truck and killing him. Caleb Kennedy, 17, received a $50,000 bond and was ordered to receive mental health treatment while in home detention, news outlets reported. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The country music singer had been jailed since February on a charge of driving under the influence resulting in the death of 54-year-old Larry Duane Parris. Police say Kennedy drove his truck up a private driveway in Spartanburg County and struck Larry Duane Parris, 54, pushing Parris into a building. A toxicology report showed that Kennedy had marijuana and Prozac in his system at the time. Ke...
