business
Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Other Big U.K. Musicians Join Campaign For Larger Streaming Share
The letter’s signatories are calling for a government referral of the multinational corporations that wield “extraordinary power” over the music business to the U.K. competition enforcer, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which can act against businesses engaging in anti-competitive behavior. The U.K. Parliamentary probe has seen major labels’ dominance of the market emerge as a central issue. The first stage of the inquiry concluded with government minister Caroline Dinenage saying she would support a referral of the three biggest music companies — Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music — to the CMA. The committee expects to publish their report next month before Parliament breaks for its summer recess, although a date has not been announced. Ministers will then have eigh...
Wolf Alice Leap Into Top Spot on U.K. Midweek Chart With ‘Blue Weekend’
The London band will hope to go one better than their previous albums. Their 2015 freshman set My Love Is Cool and 2017 followup Visions of a Life both reached No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, missing out to releases from Florence + The Machine and Shania Twain, respectively, after leading at the hallway mark. Coming in at No. 2 on the Official Chart Update is veteran Manchester band James with All The Colours (Nothing But Love Music), while last week’s leader, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour (Geffen), dips 1-3. Neil Finn’s reunited Crowded House could snag their highest-charting album in 14 years with Dreamers Are Waiting (EMI), the followup to 2010’s Intriguer. It’s new at No. 4. The ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted band has four U.K. Top 10s, including a No. 1 for 1996’s career retrospective&nb...
How New Zealand’s Six60 Became the World’s Biggest Live Act This Year
Eden Park capped a string of major open-air shows in New Zealand, Six60’s second lap in support of their 2019 self-titled album. The band grossed $13.7 million and sold 168,761 tickets across seven shows in New Zealand in 2021, according to Billboard Boxscore. (Six60 played to another 10,000 fans at Cardrona Valley in Wanaka on Jan. 1; The pre-bought tickets were not included in official box office reports.) Having conquered their homeland, Six60 are now planning to take their touring juggernaut to audiences in Australia, the U.K. and Europe. “Every month we have a sit-down and try to figure out how to do something really big, to make a difference,” frontman Walters tells Billboard. “We’re continually trying to challenge ourselves.” A travel “bubble” connecting the lands Down Under op...
Olivia Rodrigo Nabs Another U.K. Chart Double
By logging a second week at No. 1, Sour is now the longest-running leader of 2021, ended an unusual, 22-week run of one-week chart-champions. Veteran Scottish band Texas earns a ninth Top 10 title and a highest chart position in more than two decades with Hi (BMG), new at No. 3. Further down the list, Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Evermore (EMI) blasts 70-4 following its release on vinyl, and Scottish outfit Del Amitri start at No. 5 with Fatal Mistakes (Cooking Vinyl), their first album in 19 years. Meanwhile, “Good 4 U” holds top spot on the Official U.K. Singles Chart with 108,000 chart sales, including 12.6 million streams, according to the OCC. It’s one of three Sour tracks in the Top Ten, as “Déjà vu” dips 4-5, and the global hit “Drivers License” reenters at No. 6. Another...
Aston Villa set to break transfer record with Emi Buendia signing
Aston Villa are set to break their transfer record for the third consecutive summer window after agreeing a £30,000,000 initial fee with Norwich City for Emi Buendia. The transfer will include a number of add-ons and a sell-on fee should the Argentina international move on from Villa Park in the future. It is thought that the deal offered by Aston Villa was too good to refuse, with the deal set to potentially rise to £40,000,000 in the future. It marks a huge profit for Norwich City, who signed Buendia for £1,500,000 from Spanish side Getafe. It is thought that Emi Buendia has agreed personal terms today whilst away with the Argentina national team, while also completing his medical. When the transfer is set to be officially announced remains to be seen, but it is a sign of Aston Villa’s c...
Drake, Shania Twain & More Petition to Change Canadian Copyright Law
The letter dated June 2 notes that early in their careers, artists and songwriters are often pressured into signing away some of their rights, “thus denying creators, their families and their children the opportunity to reap fair rewards from their creative works later in life.” It also notes that in the U.S., copyright law has been revised to let creators terminate and re-claim rights after 35 years from the date of transfer — a provision known as the right of reversion — while the EU is presently considering rules to ensure similar fairness. “We believe Canada should follow the EU and USA examples to ensure fair protection of Canadian creators,” the letter reads. “Rights reversion is a simple and essential tool which enhances creators ability to ...
President Buhari orders IGP to reduce insecurity to barest minimum
President Muhammadu Buhari, has ordered Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba to ensure insecurity is reduced to the barest minimum. This is even as the Police Council made up of the President, Vice President, governors, ministers of Police Affairs, Interior and the Federal Capital Territory, confirmed Baba as the IGP. Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Maigari Dingyadi, who confirmed the development at the end of the one and half hours meeting, said he was unanimously confirmed. President Buhari had on April 6, appointed Baba as acting the Inspector General of Police. Baba was a Deputy Inspector General of Police before his promotion. Briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the meeting held at the First Lady Conference Room, the main purpose of the meeting was to “get the appo...
Olivia Rodrigo Scores Another Chart Double In Australia
Staying with the ARIA Albums Chart, Australian Idol alum Shannon Noll bags his seventh Top Ten with Raw (Independent), an acoustic compilation of covers and new songs. It’s new at No. 3. Brisbane pop duo The Veronicas earn a fourth Top 10 with Godzilla (Sony Music), their first album in seven years. It’s new at No. 7. The Origliasso sisters have hit No. 2 on three separate occasions, with The Secret Life Of… (April 2006), Hook Me Up (November 2007) and The Veronicas (December 2014). But they’ve never had a No. 1. They’ll hope to change that when they release another new album, Human, on June 25. Also new to the chart this week is Allday’s Drinking with My Smoking Friends (Independent), at No. 13. It’s the Adelaide singer-songwriter/rapper’s fourth studio and the followup to Starry Ni...
Who Is Bill Ackman, UMG’s New Anchor Investor?
PSTH is sponsored by three investment funds managed by Pershing Square Capital Management, the storied New York-based hedge fund. PSTH has $5 billion available to invest in UMG through a $4 billion IPO on Sept. 11, 2020, on the New York Stock Exchange, at $20 a share and an additional $1 billion investment by Pershing Square. In addition, Pershing Square purchased $1 billion of units, each worth one share of Class A common stock and one-third of a redeemable warrant, at $20 per unit. It can buy an addition $2 billion of units in private placements. The PSTH-UMG deal would be unusual because SPACs typically target companies that want to go public. The SPAC, nothing more than shell company, acquires the target in what’s called a reverse merger, thereby al...
This Social Audio App Is Driving Millions of Streams With Unofficial Listening Parties
So when 400,000 total BTS fans joined a May 25 “Butter” streaming party on Stationhead hosted by user @BTSCHARTDATA, Stationhead says they drove 5.4 million streams of the song during the session. Then, they did it again — and again — with marathon streaming parties all week from users like @lifeofbts and @purplehourradio. “Butter” topped the chart due to a number of factors including 18.1 million radio airplay audience impressions and 242,800 download sales in the tracking week, according to MRC data, and the streaming figure provided by Stationhead wasn’t U.S.-specific or audited by the streaming services. Still, the Stationhead parties no doubt contributed to the 32.2 million ...
Jam Bands Lead a Concerts Revival, Aided By Livestream Boom
Jam bands have quietly become the surprise earners of the pandemic thanks to devoted fans and compelling livestreams, and are now poised to dominate touring as live concerts return. Unlike most pop and contemporary touring shows, jam and improvisation-heavy bands are constantly changing their sets and musical arrangements so that no two shows are the same, attracting fans willing to pay to see the same band play multiple sets of different material. Ticket sales for these kinds of acts have been exceptionally strong, says Don Strasburg, vp/senior talent buyer for AEG Live Rocky Mountains, though he’s hesitant to use the “jam” label, considering the genre’s diversity of styles from bluegrass to funk. Such acts that value “spontaneity and improvisation,” says Strasburg, “were already the larg...
Scooter Braun Hit With Fraud Lawsuit Over Scuttled Private Equity Fund
But in April 2018, according to Comisar, Braun repudiated financial commitments and stopped funding everything including Comisar’s salary. “Bolno, completely unrepentant, explained to Comisar that Braun never really believed he would have to perform and, brazenly, told him that ‘people in the entertainment industry do not honor their contractual agreements,'” states the complaint. “Bolno made clear that he and Braun believed that Braun was free to renege on his commitments with impunity and without consequences and would wreak havoc upon Comisar if he chose to pursue Braun on his commitments.” Comisar says he was threatened with a smear campaign that included falsely being fired from Goldman Sachs, dereliction of duties by devoting time to advisory servi...
