business
Sony’s Funimation Completes $1.175 Billion USD Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T
Originally announced back in December of 2020, Sony Pictures Entertainment and AT&T have announced that Sony‘s Funimation Global Group has officially acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T. Funimation’s purchase of the leading anime streaming platform cost $1.175 billion USD and was paid in cash at closing. Although it is unclear of how Funimation and Crunchyroll will merge, AT&T is expected to use proceeds from the sale for its debt reduction efforts. In an official statement, Crunchyroll wrote, “The two brands you know and love will be working together, and we believe this is a great thing for fans and the industry, alike! Both teams are knowledgeable, passionate, and have been committed to the anime community for decades. We couldn’t ask for better partners. We know you may have que...
Hollywood Park Opens New 6,000-Capacity YouTube Theater
Hollywood Park and So-Fi Stadium managing director Jason Gannon says YouTube Theater is complimentary to the stadium, which can hold 45,000 to 100,000 guests. “From a flexibility standpoint, it was really important for us to do something like this in a conditioned space,” he says. “We’re very excited to open it up in a couple of weeks from a technology standpoint,” Gannon continues. “There’s a lot of screens and a lot of interactive things around here. That was important in putting this together and also in the partnership with YouTube.” YouTube Theater features a 13 feet by 10 feet digital signage display of the YouTube icon, which can be transformed into an immersive video screen for guests to interact with. The th...
Strictly Discs in Wisconsin, in a Pandemic: Delta ‘Just the Beginning’ If Vaccinations Don’t Improve
How was Record Store Day? Much, much better than June. That wouldn’t take a whole lot, but it went smoothly. There were very few hiccups. There were a couple of titles from June that were bumped to July that the distributor missed, but I caught that early enough thanks to some of my coalition friends who I quickly asked, “Do have these titles?” And they all resoundingly answered yes, and so I realized I had a problem and they were able to fix it. So that was good. And compared to June, it was a minor blip. It sounds like everything went really well. Were you able to do sort of the full enchilada, in the sense of offering all the fun stuff for people waiting in line? For both the June and July date we poured beer and we had either doughnuts or bacon outside, so that was de...
Billie Eilish’s ‘Happier Than Ever’ Reigns Over U.K. Chart
According to the OCC, Eilish becomes the first international female artist to reach No. 1 with her first two albums since Lana Del Rey did it seven years ago, with Born To Die and Ultraviolence. Off the back of her new sophomore album release, the alternative pop star’s debut album from 2019, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, returns to the Top 40, lifting 47-36 on this week’s survey. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? has logged three weeks at No. 1 during its chart journey. Meanwhile, Dave’s We’re All Alone In This Together (Dave Neighbourhood) dips 1-2 but remains the most-streamed album of the week, while Prince’s posthumous release Welcome 2 America is new at No. 5. Previously recorded in 2010 and unlocked from the Prince vault for the first time, Welcome 2 Am...
Ariana Grande Is Taking Over ‘Fortnite’ This Weekend: Inside The Rift Tour
Over the past several years, the music industry has opened its eyes to gaming as a new way to connect with fans and drive revenue. In-game performances offer multiple revenue streams to artists, from up-front payments to virtual goods and a streaming spike for the artist’s music that tends to follow an in-game show. Compared to “Astronomical,” Grande’s performance is less visually chaotic, with fewer scene changes, and has an expanded focus on the player experience. In Grande’s world — which looks like if the Lisa Frank brand were an entire planet — players aren’t just watching the show, but actively participating in it, a key element that will be part of future experiences, according to Phil Rampulla, head of brand at Epic Games, Fortnite‘s parent company. “You’ll ...
Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Appeals Underway for Denied Applicants
Since appeal notices began rolling out Monday, 494 invitations have been accepted so far. Those entities will need to review the SVOG Eligibility Matrix to see where they believe errors were made on the behalf of an SBA reviewer. The SBA has not provided specific reasons why each entity was declined, leaving the guesswork up to the companies. “There is a balancing act we have to do. The level of specificity slows things down,” The SBA’s senior advisor for COVID-19 programs Deidra Henry-Spires told Billboard at the end of July. “There are conversations we can have after we’ve seen the whole unit of declines once we’ve gotten through [all the applications that came in the first 60 days]. But often in grant programs, you don’t...
Billie Eilish’s ‘Happier Than Ever’ Crowned on Australia’s Chart
Further down the albums tally, the latest Over You edition of The Kid Laroi’s F*ck Love (Columbia/Sony) sees the mixtape hold at No. 3, while Prince makes his first Top 10 appearance with a studio album in almost a quarter century, with the posthumous release Welcome 2 America (Legacy/Sony). Recorded in 2010, the album bows at No. 5. The last Prince studio effort to enter the Top 10 was 1996’s Emancipation, which peaked at No. 8. Since then, the Purple One landed two high-fliers with The Very Best Of (No. 2 in May 2016) and Ultimate (No. 6 in May 2016). Tasmanian outfit The Wolfe Brothers are based on the end of the world, though they’re living it up on the ARIA Albums Chart with Kids On Cassette (BMG/ADA), their fifth release. It’s new at No. 6 for the country rocker...
Nintendo Struggles To Maintain Growth Following Exceptional ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Frenzy
Despite the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic hitting most of the economy massively across 2020, Nintendo was one of the rare companies that actually saw growth in the period, achieving record profits and sales largely caused by increased Switch and Animal Crossing: New Horizons sales thanks to people being socially distanced and stuck at home. In light of this, the company is now finding it difficult to maintain that trend, seeing a decline in financial results in 2021. Drops occurred across both software and hardware sales, with the former seeing a 10.2 percent decrease while the latter suffered a more significant 21.7 percent decline. Sales of the Nintendo Switch Lite were hit the hardest, dropping by a whopping 56.7 percent compared to the same period last year, although regular S...
UK Live Industry Gets Long-Demanded Government-Backed COVID Insurance
The government says it is one of the only insurance schemes in the world to cover such a wide array of live events and not put a cap on costs claimed per event. Denis Desmond, chairman of Live Nation U.K. and Ireland, says the government-backed protection is a vital intervention that “offers certainty to artists, concert and festival promoters in the live entertainment market.” “While the new scheme won’t cover all our risk, this intervention will help protect the industry that we all know and love,” says Phil Bowdery, chairman of the Concert Promoters Association. The program follows the establishment of similar government-backed insurance schemes in a number of other European markets, including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Denmark. They provide a much-needed safety net...
Illinois Is Smoking: Pot Sales Peak, Thanks to Lollapalooza
Because recreational marijuana was legalized in Illinois in January 2020, pot was legal in the state during Lollapalooza for the first time in the festival’s 30-year history. Although it’s illegal to smoke or otherwise consume the drug in public or around anyone younger than 21 years old, the large crowds at Grant Park boosted sales by as much as 50% at nearby dispensaries in River North and the West Loop, operators told the Chicago Tribune. “We saw thousands of festivalgoers over the weekend at our River North store, making it our biggest weekend to date,” said Jason Erkes, spokesman for Chicago-based Cresco Labs, whose Sunnyside Dispensary in River North was the closest to the festivities. In July, Illinois’ 110 dispensaries sold a record 2.8 million recreational weed products. State res...
Dan Goldberg, Former Warner Music Vet, Tapped to Lead Music Merch Expansion at Fanatics
Dan Goldberg, the Warner Music Group veteran who recently exited the music major after more than a decade, is taking his talents to Fanatics, the leading seller of licensed sportwear. At Fanatics, Goldberg will continue to play in the music world in a role that sees him focusing his attention on shirts, caps and other merch sold at concerts and music festivals, according to Sportico, which broke the news. Goldberg has expertise in the space. Prior to his departure from Warner Music in June, he served as senior VP of the company’s Artist Services division, with responsibilities for the group’s e-commerce, tour merchandising, VIP experiences, ticketing, and fan club businesses. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It ...
UK Artists Granted Visa-Free Touring in 19 EU Countries in Post-Brexit Agreements
The coronavirus pandemic and accompanying shutdown of the live music industry have masked many of the problems created by Brexit for the live-music sector. And fears have lingered about extra customs checks and performers and crews requiring visa and work permits for when European touring does resume. According to a survey conducted by the Musicians’ Union and Incorporated Society of Musicians in April and May, 77% of U.K. musicians expected their earnings in Europe to decrease when touring resumes due to additional Brexit-related red tape and touring costs. In January, over 100 acts, including Elton John, Ed Sheeran and Radiohead, signed an open letter to the British government saying it had “shamefully failed” them with the EU trade deal that was finalized on Dec. 24 by not s...
