business
Mila Kunis’ studio debuts an NFT-backed animated web series ‘The Gimmicks’
A public NFT mint is planned for Friday, via which users could get one of 10,000 NFTs to join the show’s community Holders would be able to vote on the direction the show’s story takes Web 3 animated studio Toonstar has partnered with actress Mila Kunis’ production studio, Sixth Wall, to launch an animated wrestling show that follows the lives of retired professional wrestlers, The Gimmicks. The show’s creators aim to build an NFT community around The Gimmicks, whose members would vote on which path the storyline should take next at the end of every episode. The show, loosely described as ‘South Park meets WWE, but interactive and greasier’ by Toonstar CEO John Attanasio, was conceptualised following the release of athletes by WWE at the onset of the COV...
Magic Eden completes $27M raise, aims to conquer the Solana NFT space ahead of OpenSea
Paradigm Capital led the NFT marketplace’s Series A raise Magic Eden is investing in Solana for its low costs and better performance than Ethereum Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden has closed a $27 million Series A funding round. The raise was led by investment dealer Paradigm Capital, with contributions from Sequoia Capital and Solana Ventures. Backed financially by the raise, Magic Eden intends to expand the breadth of products and services that it offers users. A bet on Solana – the cheaper, better-performing alternative Magic Eden aims to be the first mover to gain a real hold on the Solana NFT market space before OpenSea does. The latter is easily the most dominant marketplace in the NFT business, bragging the lion’s share. Though OpenSea suffered a 50% downturn in t...
Deep Dive: A Musician’s Guide to Web3
The music industry hasn’t always welcomed new technology, but the booming NFT marketplace — overall sales generated $25 billion last year — shows the promise of Web3, and everyone wants a piece of the action. Deep Dive explains how artists and executives can get in on it wisely and examines blockchain’s potential to reshape the industry. Plus: lessons in NFT drops from dance music’s pioneers, legal pitfalls to avoid when you’re minting the goods, all the crypto lingo you need to know and a guide to the top startups supporting musicians in the metaverse. Read the full Deep Dive here. Learn To Speak Web3: Translating Crypto’s Buzzwords For The Music Business A primer for artists and executives considering doing business in the metaverse. Read more. Shira Inbar Doing Music Deals In The M...
Jack White Implores Major Labels to Build Vinyl Pressing Plants Amid Backlog
Jack White is calling on the major labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — to build their own vinyl pressing plants amid explosive growth in the format that has led to industry-wide backlogs. White made the request via an open letter and accompanying video released on Monday (March 14). “With industry-wide turnaround times for vinyl currently leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy, it’s obvious, in a world so contingent on being of-the-moment and timed just right (a single, an album, a tour etc.), these timelines are the killers of momentum, soul, artistic expression, and far too often, livelihoods,” White wrote in the letter. White, who owns the Detroit-based Third Man Pressing plant — opened in 2017 — with his independent label Third Man...
The Hello Group Launches Music Publishing Arm in Partnership With Sony
The Hello Group, a multi-faceted entertainment company, is adding to its capabilities with the launch of a music publishing operation that has pacted with Sony Music Publishing for global administration and other services. Hello Group – which provides label services, artist management, digital marketing and other capabilities – has added a music publishing arm, dubbed THG Publishing, whose initial roster includes Alawn, Andy Love and Lauren Dyson. THG’s core focus will be on placing songs in the K-pop and J-pop markets. THG Publishing’s clients have been involved in writing or co-writing songs that have appeared on No. 1 albums on at least a dozen Billboard albums charts, as well songs that have attained high positions in global and international song charts. They include ITZY’s “Icy,” (Dy...
Weekly Report: Stripe introduces crypto and NFTs support, Goldman Sachs to offer OTC bilateral crypto options
Here are the top headlines from the cryptocurrency space that you might have missed this week: Multinational bank Goldman Sachs wants to offer new OTC crypto options Goldman Sachs is now among several Wall Street banks looking to offer crypto options. The financial services and investment bank revealed this week it has intentions to soon start availing over-the-counter bilateral crypto options for enterprise clients. A recent report by Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the matter, detailed that the American banking giant is looking to sink its claws deeper into cryptocurrencies. The news outlet said that the individual, who preferred to remain anonymous, observed that Goldman Sachs isn’t the only Wall Street bank exploring bilateral options. The said options enable crypt...
Travis Scott, Astroworld Victims Battle in Court Over Rapper’s Charity Initiative
Attorneys for Astroworld victims are duking it out in Houston court with attorneys for Travis Scott, in a battle revolving around whether the star himself should be subject to a gag order that’s been imposed on lawyers working on the massive case. Lawyers for the family of a young boy killed at the festival say Scott is using the media – specifically the launch of a charitable initiative called Project HEAL, which was announced on Tuesday (March 8) – to try to win favor with potential jurors. Scott’s lawyers say his philanthropy is genuine and that adding him to the gag order would violate his right to free speech. Explore See latest videos, charts and news In the latest filing on Friday (March 11), attorneys for the 9-year-old victim, Ezra Blount, said Scott must be prevented from carryin...
The Ledger: Leaving Russia Will Have Little Impact on Streaming Services, Record Labels
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. Strong steps taken by Western music companies to cease operations in Russia will have a big impact on the country but will do little damage to the global market. Russia is the 16th largest recorded music market in the world with a trade value $199 million in 2020, according to the IFPI. That was on par with Sweden, which has about 7% of Russia’s population, as well as Mexico, India and Switzerland. For the largest record labels, music publishers and music streaming companies, each with multi-billion-dollar revenues, Russia is a tiny part of their worldwide businesses. Spotify’s decision to suspend operations in Rus...
Executive of the Week: Spotify Global Head of Editorial Sulinna Ong
As global head of editorial at the biggest music streamer in the world, Sulinna Ong has plenty on her plate — not least of which is overseeing the programming of Spotify’s playlists across genres, territories and fandoms. And this past week has been a big one for Ong and her team, as they revamped Spotify’s flagship K-Pop playlist, K-Pop ON! (온), with a new name, a massive marketing push and a focused plan for new content catered to fans of the genre that has expanded significantly around the world in recent years. And the push has already started to pay off: daily streams and listening hours for the playlists grew 40% week over week, according to Spotify, and the playlist moved into the top five of the company’s most-streamed playlists, which Ong says is “a first for the playlist and the ...
Russia Blocks Instagram Amid Widening Social Media Crackdown
(AP) — Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national access to Instagram because the platform is spreading “calls to commit violent acts against Russian citizens, including military personnel.” Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram, didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Roskomnadzor specifically cited a Thursday tweet by Meta spokesman Andy Stone conveying a company statement saying it had “made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally viola...
Jussie Smollett Sentenced to 150 Days in Jail for Staged Attack
Jussie Smollett was sentenced Thursday (March 10) to 150 days in jail for lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack that the former Empire actor orchestrated himself. Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, including 150 days in the county jail. Linn denied a request to suspend Smollett’s sentence and ordered he be placed in custody immediately. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Smollett was also ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution. Smollett loudly proclaimed his innocence after the sentence. “I am innocent. I could have said I am guilty a long time ago,” Smollett shouted as sheriff’s deputies led him out of the courtroom, capping an hourslong sentencing hearing. Ahead of his sentencing, Smollett declined to make a statement ...
Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes Details Legal Battle Over Fiancee Tuesday Cross’ Life: ‘She Deserves to Live’
“The love of my life is going to die.” Jesse Hughes, the frontman for Eagles of Death Metal, lifts his head a few inches. Tears run down his cheeks into his handlebar mustache and beard. He drags on a cigarette. “I believe the hospital wants to end her life,” he says, shaking his head. “She deserves to live.” A few blocks away from Hughes’ home, in a private room in the intensive care unit of Dignity Health Glendale Memorial Hospital, about a 20-minute drive from Los Angeles, Hughes’ fiancée, 31-year-old Marina Cardenas — better known as EODM’s bassist and keyboardist Tuesday Cross — lies comatose. She has been in a vegetative state for approximately six weeks since an asthma attack sent her into cardiac arrest, and it has been more than a month since Hughes has seen or communicated with h...
