business
Chris Stapleton Postpones Shows to Rest Injured Vocals
On medical advice, Stapleton will “continue my vocal rest through the weekend in order to fully heal. I am sorry that so many of you have been inconvenienced and I’m truly thankful for your patience and understanding.” He continues, “Nothing is more personal to me than the experience of music. I’m eternally grateful for the privilege of sharing in that journey with all of you night after night. Thank you for your continued support and I hope to see you all very soon.” The Nashville, TN shows have been rescheduled for Dec. 10 and 11, and a replacement date for Ohio’s Riverbend will be locked in for 2022 and announced “as soon as possible.” The Lexington, Kentucky native is touring in support of his fourth full-length album Starting Over, which blasted to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top ...
Spotify Partners With Shopify for Artist Merch Sales
In an interview with Billboard, Camille Hearst, the head of Spotify for Artists, said the goal for that program is to provide “the information and resources that artists need to grow their fan bases and ultimately get paid for them,” and the Shopify partnership is the latest example of that. “As we think about what are all the ways we can help artists get paid, what are the ways we can help artists maximize additional revenue streams, merch is one of the things that comes top of mind,” Hearst says. “That’s why we are announcing this partnership with Shopify because we think it really is the next step in creating a holistic audience development platform.” “It’s just a natural fit for Spotify in many ways,” Hearst continues. “...
Mariah Carey Teams Up With Winklevoss Twins’ Cryptocurrency Platform for Education Campaign
Tyler Winklevoss shared his enthusiasm and strategy behind the collaboration with the pop superstar, saying, “It’s great to see Mariah and other celebrities discover bitcoin as an investment and hedge against inflation. Cryptos like bitcoin and ether were two of the best performing assets of the last decade. Our goal at Gemini is to help educate you on the promise of crypto and make it simple, easy, and safe for you to engage in this new asset class.” Carey credited Gemini’s free resources for her education in better investment skills using cryptocurrency in a video on Instagram. You might remember the Winklevoss twins from the 2010 film The Social Network, where they were both portrayed by Armie Hammer as Mark Zuckerberg’s classmates who accuse him of stealing the i...
UK Music Streaming Sector Faces Probe From Competition Watchdog
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee raised concerns about how the dominance of Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music was “distorting the market” and that the benefits of the music streaming boom were not being passed on to musicians. In the U.K., the three majors make up 75% of the recorded music market, with independents accounting for the remaining 25%, according to the Association of Independent Music (AIM). Streaming now accounts for four-fifths (80.6%) of all music consumption in the U.K., according to labels trade body BPI. “The U.K. has a love affair with music and is home to many of the world’s most popular artists. We want to do everything we can to ensure that this sector is competitive, thriving and works in the interests of musi...
APRA AMCOS Revokes Denis Handlin’s Ted Albert Award
The PRO’s decision comes exactly a week after the Australian Broadcasting Corporation aired Facing The Music, a 46-minute report which explored allegations of systemic bullying, discrimination and misconduct at the label under Handlin’s leadership. More than 100 current and former Sony Music employees were interviewed for the report. The Ted Albert Award is one of the most prestigious honors in the Australia music industry, and is typically presented during the annual APRA Awards. Past recipients have included the late Michael Gudinski, Michael Chugg, Fifa Riccobono and Archie Roach. In revoking the accolade, APRA AMCOS said it is “committed to fostering a music industry that upholds a high level of professional respect and conduct, and does not condone any form of bullying...
Coldplay’s ‘Music of the Spheres’ Makes Fast Start In U.K. Chart Race
Coldplay should keep their U.K. chart streak alive with Music of the Spheres (Parlophone), which surges into the lead on the midweek survey. Music of the Spheres is already the fastest-seller of the year. The album shifts more than 81,000 units over the weekend, the OCC reports, besting Dave’s previous 2021 best, We’re All Alone In This Together, which amassed 74,000 chart sales in its opening week back in July. Spheres is on track to become the first album to notch more than 100,000 chart sales in a week since Ed Sheeran’s No. 6 Collaborations project shifted 125,000 in July 2019, more than two years ago. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat a...
Sam Fender Blasts to No. 1 In U.K. With ‘Seventeen Going Under’
Also flying high is electronic artist and singer James Blake, whose fifth LP Friends That Break Your Heart (Polydor), bows at No. 4, for a new career high. Once again, Adele fever appears to be sweeping the nation. Following the announcement of the popular singer’s fourth album, 30, due out Nov. 19, her most recent effort, 2015’s 25 (XL Recordings) leaps 27-6 on the Official Albums Chart, and her sophomore album 21 improves 48-14. After three consecutive weeks at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart” (EMI) lifts to No. 1. As previously reported, “Cold Heart,” a mashup of classic Elton songs remixed by Sydney electronic trio Pnau, racks up 64,000 chart sales, including 5.9 million streams and 5,000 copies on limited edition CD ...
Adele’s ‘Easy On Me’ Is Powering to No. 1 In U.K.
If it holds its course, it would be Adele’s third U.K. chart-topper, following “Somebody Like You” (2011) and “Hello” (2015). Since it dropped Oct. 14, “Easy on Me” has already broken streaming globally on several platforms, and powered her previous albums up the U.K. chart. “Easy on Me” set the new record for global streams on Spotify in a single day, received “the most first-day Alexa song requests in Amazon Music history,” and its set to make a “splashy” start on the Billboard Hot 100, a chart she has led on four separate occasions. It’s the lead track from the north Londoner’s forthcoming fourth album, 30, slated for release Nov. 19. The Official U.K. Singles Chart is published late Friday, local time. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So...
Live Nation, Oak View Group and GL Events Team Up for New São Paolo Arena
The 20,000-capacity venue begins construction next year and is slated to open in 2024. Live Nation, the world’s largest entertainment company, and global development company Oak View Group are teaming up for a 20,000-capacity arena in São Paulo, Brazil. The city’s mayor, Ricardo Nunes, announced the collaboration — which will be in partnership with Brazilian-based event company GL Events — on Friday (Oct. 15). The city of São Paulo, which has a population of 12 million, awarded the three entities a 30-year lease for the Anhembi campus, which spans 4 million square feet. Arena São Paulo, as it will be called, will anchor the Anhembi entertainment district and produce live even...
LeBron James’ SpringHill Co. Sells “Significant” Minority Stake to Nike and Epic Games
LeBron James‘ SpringHill Company has reportedly sold a “significant” portion of its minority stake to major companies RedBird Capital Partners, Fenway Sports Group, Nike and Epic Games. According to Deadline, SpringHill is valued at $725 million USD. The latest investments will allow SpringHill to continue to expand their portfolio into existing businesses in live events, content creation, commerce, brand consulting and IP development. On the digital front, the company is looking to tap into the creator community and build games and other experiences to further their online footprint. Their new partnership with Epic opens up SpringHill to a broad range of content for the metaverse. RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale said, “Our partnership with SpringHill should enable us collectively to opt...
Beatles Royalties & Family Conflicts: We Read UMG’s 300-Page Prospectus. Here’s What We Found
In order to become a publicly traded, stand-alone company, Vivendi had to do an internal reorganization in 2020 to align the parameters of what would become Universal Music Group. As part of that, some of the liabilities directly assumed by Vivendi had to be transferred to UMG for the latter company to have control of all the music assets. It also had to assume the obligations and liabilities that came with them. One such Vivendi obligation that UMG had to take on was to provide security for royalty payments capped at $100 million euros to the Beatles, Yoko Ono and certain Apple entities. But that’s not surprising considering that the ownership of EMI, acquired in 2012, was directly under Vivendi, not UMG, so they had to do some internal asset a...
ARIA Board Strips Denis Handlin of His Icon Award
The trade body’s Icon Award is periodically presented at a VIP ceremony in Sydney, in the hours prior to the annual ARIA Awards. Just five ARIA Icons have been awarded. The first went to the late Mushroom Group founder Michael Gudinski in 2013, followed by Handlin, Sebastian Chase (2016), Roger Davies (2017) and Michael Chugg (2019). ARIA’s u-turn follows the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s premiere Monday night (Oct. 11) of Facing the Music: The Sony Music Scandal, a 47-minute documentary which exposed the “culture of fear, harassment and bullying” in a workplace Handlin led for 37 years. The following day, trade body Q Music revoked the honorary award presented to Handlin at the 2020 Queensland Music Awards, in his hometown Brisbane. The documentary, noted QMusic CEO Kris Stewart, ...
