business
Fidelity International launches Bitcoin ETP on Deutsche Boerse
Major financial services firm Fidelity International will be listing a Bitcoin exchange-traded product on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Germany’s Xetra digital stock exchange. According to a Tuesday announcement from Deutsche Boerse, a physical Bitcoin exchange-traded product, or ETP, from Fidelity International is now available for trading on the Deutsche Boerse Xetra and Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ticker FBTC. In addition, the company reportedly said it planned to have the crypto investment vehicle listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in the coming weeks. Fidelity Digital Assets will act as the custodian for the physically-backed Bitcoin (BTC) ETP, which will be centrally cleared with global exchange Eurex Clearing. The ETP has a total expense ratio of 0.75%. At the time of publication,...
Don’t Call It a Comeback (Yet): How 2022 Could Determine the CD’s Fate
Two years ago, the long-running New England comic book and music retail chain Newbury Comics made an unexpected change: They created more space for CDs. “It was right before the pandemic started, after the 2019 holidays,” Newbury Comics senior buyer Larry Mansdorf tells Billboard on the decision to increase their in-store square footage dedicated to CD space. At that point, U.S. CD sales were steadily plummeting — as they had been for a decade and a half — but Mansdorf saw clear evidence of growing interest in compact discs. “We reacted to the previous 18 months’ worth of sales data to see what people were responding to,” says Mansdorf. Newbury began a process of increasing their CD inventory by 13% across their 30 locations, making sure stores that were primarily selling vinyl records fea...
BMG Goes ‘Boom Boom,’ Acquires John Lee Hooker Music Assets
BMG and its partner FujiPacific Music have acquired the music publishing catalog of John Lee Hooker, the companies announced on Wednesday. In addition, BMG alone has purchased his recorded masters royalties and some of the late blues master’s recorded masters spanning from 1980’s Alone Vol. 1 through 2020’s Black Night Is Falling. Terms of the deals with Hooker’s estate remain undisclosed, but the publishing catalog includes such classic tunes as “Boom Boom,” “One Scotch, One Beer” and “Boogie Chillen’.” BMG says that while some of the Hooker rights will still remain with third parties, the German company will now take the lead role in promoting the artist’s catalog. “As the longtime managers of the John Lee Hooker Estate, JAM, Inc. was happy to help the Estate and BMG conclude this transa...
Splice Staffer Christina Lee Remembered After New York Murder: ‘Our Hearts Are Broken’
Christina Yuna Lee, a senior creative producer at Splice, was found dead in her Lower Manhattan apartment on Sunday after she was fatally stabbed by a stranger who followed her from the street, up six flights of stairs and into her home. As news spread of the horrific event, friends and co-workers took to social media to remember the 35-year-old. “Over the weekend out beloved Christina Lee was senselessly murdered in her home. Our hearts are broken,” said Splice in a company statement, posted to its social media channels. “Always dedicated to making beautiful and inclusive artwork, Christina is irreplaceable. As we start to process this tragedy, we ask that you remember Christina Lee as the magical person she was, always filled with joy. We wish peace upon her family in their grief.” A gra...
Maverick Protocol closes $8M strategic fundraising led by Pantera Capital
The investment round featured several VC firms that will have a significant role in the network’s planned mainnet launch The funds obtained will be used to advance the proprietary Automated Liquidity Placement algorithm and strengthen Maverick’s position in the DeFi derivatives space Decentralised derivatives protocol Maverick on Tuesday announced it had successfully completed an external funding round netting $8 million. The fundraising was led by California-based crypto-focused fund Pantera with participation from other names, including Circle Ventures, Coral Ventures, Altonomy, Tron Foundation, Gemini Frontier Fund, Jump Crypto, LedgerPrime and Spartan Group. Maverick intends to use the funds to release its Automated Liquidity Placement model and open asset-listing function ...
Swizz Beatz Confirms Anthony Hamilton/Musiq Soulchild Verzuz Battle Will Be Free on IG After Triller Backlash
Verzuz co-creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland were elated when their pandemic-launched musical battle platform was acquired by the Triller Network in 2021, a year after the global livestream phenomenon launched and exploded during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Swizz told Billboard that they didn’t originally have any plans to monetize the business and were just focused on giving people “some live, love and happiness” during the pandemic. Explore See latest videos, charts and news And then came the backlash from fans when it looked like Tuesday’s (Feb. 15) long-awaited Anthony Hamilton vs. Musiq Soulchild Valentine’s Day showdown would be available only on the paid Triller platform instead of for free on Instagram Live, where it has been since its ince...
Olivia Rodrigo Signs With New Management
Olivia Rodrigo has signed with a new management team, sources tell Billboard. The seven-time Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter is now repped by Lighthouse Management + Media’s Aleen Keshishian and Zack Morgenroth for management in all areas. She joins the firm’s roster of talent, including Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Jason Bateman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Rudd, artist Petra Collins and supermodel Miranda Kerr, among others. Rodrigo split with her longtime manager Kristen Smith of Camp Far West Management in January. Earlier this month, it was announced Rodrigo would be named Billboard’s 2022 “Woman of the Year” at the annual Billboard Women in Music Awards, which will take place on March 2 at the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. Since starting her career as a ...
Singapore’s DBS Bank set to offer crypto services to retail customers
Singapore’s megabank DBS plans to expand crypto trading to the retail crowd CEO Piyush Gupta has highlighted that the plan is to expand into online trading and a 24/7 operational model DBS Bank was the first financial body to receive MAS approval last year Singapore’s largest lender DBS Bank has highlighted plans to expand the offering to retail investors by the end of the year. The bank is notable for being among the first financial institutions to host a crypto trading desk for institutional investors. The Bank CEO and Director of the DBS Group, Piyush Gupta, revealed during an earnings call for 2021 Q4 on Monday that it had already kickstarted the process of expanding territory. While he did not directly provide any details, he suggested that the bank had set in motion the p...
The Ledger: Hits Are Great, But Labels & Publishers Seek Higher Margins Too
There’s little doubt record labels and publishers will continue to improve revenues in the coming years on the backs of streaming subscriptions, stronger internet advertising and burgeoning sectors like social media and connected fitness. But there’s less certainty about how their margins will grow as industry revenues surge. Investors and analysts are making their best guesses. During Warner Music Group’s earnings call on Tuesday (Feb 8), RBC Capital Markets analyst Kutgun Maral asked management asked if recent deals “are indicative of a greater focus on M&A” and if they “are accretive or dilutive to margins.” CEO Stephen Cooper said WMG will “be quite assertive” in seeking deals it believes can be “immediately accretive [to margins].” Lou Dickler, senior vp, controller, added that th...
Terra partners up with Washington Nationals in a five-year $40 million sponsorship deal
Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon proposed the sponsorship at the start of the month, and the vote saw wide approval Terra will gain branding rights in the home team’s ballpark On February 1, Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon submitted a proposal to sponsor a “household name” team in one of the four major American professional sports leagues. Yesterday, it was revealed that the tabled $40 million deal would be with The Washington Nationals baseball team in a five yearlong partnership. As details about the team to be included in this partnership had not been provided initially, the announcement brought to a halt a week-long period of speculation. “After much anticipation, we’re excited to announce that the [REDACTED] American professional sports partner of the Terra Community Trust (TCT) is the Washingto...
Brené Brown Will Resume Spotify Podcasts Amid Her ‘Tremendous Values Conflict’ With Joe Rogan
Brené Brown posted a message on her website Tuesday night (Feb. 8), sharing that, despite recent controversies, she remains committed to podcasting on Spotify and amplifying issues and voices that matter. Brown had, on Feb. 1, shared the decision to pause her podcasts, Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead, to learn about the music giant’s policies in the wake of COVID-19 misinformation. “Unlike some creators, I don’t have the option of pulling my work from the platform,” Brown noted. This was an indirect reference to musicians including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who have removed music from Spotify in protest of the streamer distributing Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast. “I’m always going to stand firmly on the side of free speech, so I had a lot of lea...
Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Widow Sues Over ‘At Least’ $1M in Unpaid Wu-Tang Clan Royalties
The widow of Ol’ Dirty Bastard is suing Wu-Tang Productions for breach of contract, alleging that the company has “willfully refused” to pay the late rapper’s estate at least $1 million in royalties. The complaint, filed in New York Supreme Court on Tuesday (Feb. 8) by attorney Brian Caplan of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt on behalf of ODB’s widow Icelene Jones, claims that the company – which is owned and operated by ODB’s cousin/Wu-Tang bandmate RZA (born Robert Fitzgerald Diggs) – has made just one payment of $130,000 to the ODB estate over the last decade and has failed to provide detailed accounting statements during that time. The estate is seeking at least $1 million in damages plus interest, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. “Despite its repeated efforts and requests, th...
