business
Eric Clapton ‘Does Not Intend’ to Collect Money from German Widow in Bootleg CD Case
A German woman has been ordered to pay nearly $4,000 for attempting to sell a bootleg Eric Clapton CD on eBay, according to a report on the German website DW. But after facing widespread condemnation online, Clapton’s management team now says the musician won’t be pursuing what he’s owed. The 55-year-old woman, identified in court documents as Gabriele P., claims she inherited the bootleg CD Eric Clapton – Live USA from the estate of her late husband, who purchased it at a department store in 1987. But after listing it for sale on eBay for €9.95 ($11.27), lawyers for Clapton issued an affidavit in Düsseldorf regional court stating the CD was illegal. The court eventually issued an injunction barring the woman from selling the CD online and ordering her to pay €3,400 ($3,852) in legal fees ...
5 Seconds of Summer Hit with $2.5M Breach of Contract Suit by Former Management Firm
5 Seconds of Summer’s former management company, YM&U Group, is suing the Australian pop-rock band for breach of contract, according to court documents reviewed by Billboard. Filed in California Superior Court on Dec. 17 by YM&U attorneys Howard King and Stephen Rothschild of King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, the complaint alleges that 5SOS – with the encouragement of their current manager, Benjamin Evans – has refused to pay YM&U commissions the firm is owed for multiple lucrative deals it negotiated on behalf of the group, including a $10 million single-album recording contract with BMG and a $1.5 million merchandising extension with Bravado International Group. Evans is named as a defendant in the lawsuit alongside 5 Seconds of Summer members Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, As...
Hive Blockchain on track to mine more Bitcoin, less Ether this quarter
Publicly traded crypto mining firm Hive Blockchain is expecting to produce 6,900 Ether (ETH) and 670 Bitcoin (BTC) for the fiscal quarter ending on Dec. 31, marking a respective drop and increase over that of the previous quarter. In a Wednesday notice to shareholders, Hive said it had mined 6,280 Ether from Oct. 1 to Dec. 21 and was on track to mine more than 65 ETH daily for the remainder of 2021. This projected total — 6,900 ETH — would represent a decrease of more than 20% from the 8,688 ETH the company mined from July 1 to Sept. 30. However, Hive is expecting its Bitcoin production to increase by 2% quarterly, from roughly 656 BTC to 670 BTC. “This increase [in Bitcoin] has been driven by the previously announced investments that have been made into new generation miner...
Disney Taps Spotify Exec Horacio Gutierrez as General Counsel
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Chapek has found the successor to longtime Disney executive and general counsel Alan Braverman. Disney has named Horacio Gutierrez senior executive vp, general counsel and secretary for the company, succeeding Braverman, who is retiring at the end of the year. Guttierez joins from streaming audio giant Spotify, where he was head of global affairs and chief legal officer. The executive, who starts at Disney Feb. 1, previously served as general counsel at Microsoft. “Horacio is an incredibly skilled attorney and dynamic leader who comes to Disney with 35 years of legal experience in markets around the globe. Having spent more than two decades working for premier technology companies, he has an extensive understanding of the complex legal questions that come with techn...
Ubisoft Hit By “Great Exodus” of Developers and Employees
New reports have surfaced suggesting that Ubisoft has been hit with a “great exodus” of developers and other employees over the past 18 months. According to Axios, the French video game company has seen a significant loss in talent in recent times, with as much as 12% of its workforce leaving since mid-2020. Across its Montreal and Toronto branches, at least 60 staff members have departed within the last six months, including low and mid-level employees as well as those higher up in the hierarchy. Five of the top 20 developers credited for Far Cry 6 have left, and another 12 of the top 50 working on Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla are also gone. While former employees said having better, competing offers from new studios have been one of the key reasons for the large exodus of workers...
Crypto.com partners with Los Angeles’ Angel City Football Club
Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has inked another deal to expand its brand recognition in the United States with the professional women’s sports team Angel City Football Club. In a Tuesday announcement, Crypto.com said it had partnered with the Los Angeles soccer team in an effort to increase the awareness of and access to crypto, blockchain and Web 3.0 among Angelenos, soccer fans and the athletes themselves. The exchange said it plans to continue looking for “unique and impactful ways” to invest in L.A., with the partnership aimed at encouraging “financial education, independence and financial empowerment” for women. “Given the speed with which Web 3.0 and cryptocurrency is changing our world, we want to ensure that women are being brought along on the journey as investors and creator...
Crypto exchange Kraken acquires non-custodial staking platform Staked
Major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has announced that it purchased blockchain infrastructure company and investment manager Staked for an undisclosed amount. In a Tuesday announcement, Kraken — the crypto exchange aiming for a $10 billion valuation — said it had added Staked to its portfolio of yield products following the acquisition. The company described the Staked deal as “one of the largest crypto industry acquisitions to date” but did not disclose the amount. According to Kraken CEO Jesse Powell, Staked users will have access to Kraken’s portfolio of yield products. Staked CEO Tim Ogilvie cited the exchange’s “commitment to supporting proof-of-stake networks” as well its track record on customer experience and security in its decision to move forward with the deal. As we gear up fo...
OnlyFans Founder Tim Stokely Steps Down as CEO
OnlyFans founder Tim Stokely has stepped down as chief executive and will be immediately succeeded by Amrapali “Ami” Gan, the company said on Tuesday. Gan was most recently the chief marketing and communications officer for OnlyFans and will now “assume the day-to-day leadership” of the London-based company from Stokely, who is leaving to “pursue new endeavors,” OnlyFans said. Stokely will remain on as an adviser to assist with the leadership transition. A company spokesperson declined to comment further on Stokely’s reason for leaving the company. “Ami has a deep passion for OnlyFans’ business and I’m passing the baton to a friend and colleague who has the vision and drive to help the organisation reach its tremendous potential,” Stokely said in a statement. “OnlyFans is still a new compa...
Record Industry Makes Strides Toward Greener Future With Music Climate Pact
LONDON – When Will Hutton was appointed Beggars Group’s inaugural head of sustainability in September of last year, his first task was tackling “low hanging fruit” at the indie powerhouse, which includes labels 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, XL Recordings and Young labels. That included calculating the businesses’ carbon footprint and identifying areas where action could be taken quickly, such as reducing business travel, installing solar panels at Beggars Group’s London offices and improving the sustainability of products. “Now the conversation moves onto what we need to do as an industry,” says Hutton. This month, the global music business took a significant step towards a greener, more sustainable future when all three major record companies — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment...
Judge Recommends Russian Stream-Ripping Sites Pay $82.9M in Damages
A federal judge has recommended that the operators of two Russian stream-ripping websites pay more than $80 million in damages for circumventing YouTube’s anti-piracy measures and infringing copyrights of audio recordings. In a case brought by more than a dozen record labels, including UMG Recordings, Warner Records and Sony Music Entertainment, U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa Buchanan said the sites operated by Tofig Kurbanov, a Russian national, should be shut down permanently via injunctions and that statutory damages of $50,000 be awarded for each of the 1,618 copyrighted works the sites infringed. Kurbanov operates www.FLVTO.biz and www.2conv.com, which the Fourth Circuit has previously recognized as “two of the most popular stream-ripping websites in the world and…among the most popula...
Crypto exchange FTX US partners with four Washington, DC sports teams
The company behind four major Washington, D.C.-based professional sports teams has announced FTX US will be its official crypto exchange and nonfungible token partner. In a Monday announcement, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, or MSE, said FTX US would be the official crypto partner of the Washington Capitals hockey team, the Washington Wizards men’s basketball team, the Washington Mystics women’s basketball team and the Capital City Go-Go basketball team as part of a multi-year deal. According to MSE, FTX US’ NFT platform will have exclusive rights to future token drops by the four teams and the exchange will be a partner for an in-game highlight series, dubbed “Big Block-Chain.” “The integration of blockchain technology with the sports experience has only just begun, and together we ...
Former acting comptroller of the currency joins Voyager Digital’s board
Crypto trading platform Voyager Digital announced Bitfury CEO and former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks has joined the firm’s board of directors. In a Monday announcement, Voyager chair Philip Eytan said Brooks had joined the board as an “independent, non-executive director,” citing the former comptroller’s experience at crypto companies and his leadership behind regulatory initiatives in the United States during his time at the OCC. Brooks served as acting Comptroller of the Currency until January, was Coinbase’s chief legal officer from 2018 to 2020 and held the position of CEO at Binance.US for less than four months this year. Welcome Brian Brooks as the newest member of our Board of Directors Brooks, the Former Acting Comptroller of the U.S. Currency, is a globally rec...
