business
Streaming Prices, New Revenue & More: 5 Highlights From WMG’s Earnings Call
The May 4 earnings call was filled with notable insights ranging from Spotify’s price increases in select markets to the importance of Warner’s data analysis. Here are the call’s highlights. Streaming Subscription Rate Increases: Cooper spoke about Spotify’s price increases in a small number of markets. He said he expects other streaming services will follow Spotify’s lead and rase their prices as well, provided Spotify does not see the higher prices increase its churn rate — which Spotify has said has not happened. “What people have a tendency to do on these services is build their library, build their playlists, and so there is a stickiness,” he said. “And I think that as Spotify and/or others experiment with these price increases, if they don’t see any meaningful churn event...
Amy Shark, The Kid LAROI Rule Australia’s Charts
Also new to the albums chart this week is Gojira’s Fortitude (Roadrunner/Warner), new at No. 3. It’s the French metal band’s first appearance in the Top 10, and the followup to 2016’s Magma, which peaked at No 11. British alternative rock outfit Royal Blood make a splash with Typhoons (Warner), new at No. 5. It’s the followup to their sophomore album How Did We Get So Dark, which hit No. 4 back in June 2017. DJ Khaled’s latest all-star album Khaled Khaled (Epic/Sony) gives the U.S.-based producer his fourth Top 10 in Australia. It opens at No. 7 on the ARIA Chart. Meanwhile, Norwegian DIY artist Girl In Red (AWAL/Inertia) appears on the ARIA Charts for the very first time, as her debut LP If I Could Make It Go Quiet starts at No. 10. Over on the ARIA Singles Chart, The Kid LAROI shows some...
The Players Behind Doja Cat’s ‘Kiss Me More’ Feat. SZA: See the Full Credits
Artists:Main Artist – Doja CatFeatured Artist – SZA Songwriters:Composer Lyricist – Amala Zandile DlaminiComposer Lyricist – Carter LangComposer Lyricist – David SprecherComposer Lyricist – Gerard A. Powell IIComposer Lyricist – Lukasz GottwaldComposer Lyricist – Rogét ChahayedComposer Lyricist – Solána RoweComposer Lyricist – Stephen KipnerComposer Lyricist – Terry Shaddick Producers:Co-Producer – Carter LangCo-Producer – tizhimselfProducer – Rogét ChahayedProducer – Yeti Beats Engineers:Engineer – Joe ViscianoEngineer – John HanesMastering Engineer – Mike BozziMixing Engineer – Serban Ghenea Labels:Distributor – Sony Music EntertainmentLabel – ...
Official: Lagos residents consume N5 trillion worth of food annually
The Lagos State Government says residents of the state are consuming food and agricultural produce worth about N5 trillion annually. Ms Abisola Olusanya, the Commissioner for Agriculture, made this known at a news conference on Thursday in Lagos to commemorate the second year in office of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration. Olusanya said that the amount might increase to N6.3 trillion by 2030, if the population of the state grew to 30 million. “It is worthy to note that in terms of the amount of food we consume in Lagos on an annual basis, it is almost N5 trillion. “If the population is to grow to about 30 million by 2030, Lagos will likely need food worth N6.3 trillion on an annual basis,’’ she said. According to her, currently, Lagos is producing about 20 to 24 per cent of its food...
Sydney Pollack’s Lawyer May Face Trial Over Aretha Franklin’s ‘Amazing Grace’
Amazing Grace came together from footage shot in 1972 by Pollack of Aretha Franklin’s legendary two-day performance at the Missionary Baptist Church. For years, the movie was held up by demands from the singer herself, even after Elliott got Warner Bros. to release its rights to the footage. Elliott says that before Pollack died, the director helped his efforts to secure a quitclaim deed from WB and never made any rights claim himself. But as Elliott prepared to bring the movie to the Telluride Film Festival in 2015, Tyerman wrote to Elliott about financial compensation for Pollack rights. What rights did Pollack (and his estate) actually have? The director didn’t own copyright to the footage, but in a series of letters and conversations, Tyerman repeatedly represented that Elliott would n...
Billboard & Twitter to Launch ‘Hot Trending’ Chart Tracking Music Buzz Online
Billboard and Twitter have partnered on a first-of-its-kind Billboard chart that will showcase the most talked-about songs and music topics on the social media platform, it was announced Wednesday at Twitter’s annual NewFronts presentation. Named Billboard Hot Trending, the new chart will track music-related trends and conversations in real time across Twitter, including buzz around new releases, awards show and festival moments, music nostalgia threads and more. 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 and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet reven...
Warner Music Group Marketing Veteran Beth Appleton to Depart
Appleton has worked in the music industry for 25 years, starting with EMI in London and transferring to Australia for the first time in 2000. She returned to the U.K. to work for Richard Branson’s V2 label and Universal Music before joining Warner Music Australia in 2011, in the role as director of marketing. An honoree in Billboard’s Women In Music feature, Appleton returned to the U.K. in January 2014 to spearhead global marketing for WMG, based in London, and returned to Australia in January 2018 to assume her current role. In a separate message to staff, Appleton admits she’s ready to “pursue my next adventure.” At present, those plans have not yet been revealed. “As many of you know, I often ask the question ‘What is the right thing to do?,’” she continues. “Me moving on now is the ri...
NYC Is Reopening, But Concerts Are Still Restricted
In New York and New Jersey, capacity limits for most businesses will be replaced with a new distance-based maximum capacity. Retail, food services, gyms and fitness centers, amusement and family entertainment, hair salons, barber shops and other personal care services will be limited by the space available for patrons or parties of patrons to maintain the required social distance of six feet. The entertainment industry, however, will still be limited. As of May 10 in New York, the outdoor social gathering limit will increase from 200 to 500 people. Beginning May 19, the indoor social gathering limit will increase from 100 to 250 people. Music venues can exceed the social gathering limits of 500 people outdoors or 250 people indoors if all att...
BTS Label HYBE Turns a Modest First-Quarter Profit
These positive first-quarter results don’t, however, come close to the company’s impressive previous quarter, Q4 2020. Then, still without touring income, HYBE produced livestreamed concerts and had strong music sales — 159% greater than 2021’s first quarter — and closed 2020 with quarterly revenue of $278 million and a $23.7 million profit. HYBE didn’t provide guidance on concert revenue in 2021, saying “with pandemic conditions still in place, forecasts are still unclear on the possibility of in-person concerts in the second half of this year.” In the meantime, HYBE said it will offer more livestream concerts and “other diverse content.” Much of the earnings release focused on HYBE’s acquisition of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, which was announced April 2, noting it was th...
Spotify & Fellow Streamers Soared in 2020, But Expect Growth to Slow
Don’t put too much stock in how companies’ quarterly earnings compare year-over-year to 2020. The pandemic caused some services’ subscriptions to spike early in the year (Netflix) or build throughout the year (Spotify). Long-term trends have not changed. On-demand streaming will continue to erode linear programming like cable television and broadcast radio. An odd quarter here or there won’t change the course of technology in entertainment. Streaming video on demand (SVOD) is a battle of titans — AT&T, Comcast, Disney, Apple, Amazon, ViacomCBS — that requires big pockets to survive the war of attrition. Music streaming companies get to focus less on original content and more on technologies to create better user experiences. Un...
Warner Music Invests in Wave to Create Virtual Music Experiences
Founded in Los Angeles in 2016, Wave originally set its sights on virtual reality (VR) concerts, but announced plans to shutter its VR app in January to focus on wider distribution of its shows on platforms like TikTok, Roblox and Twitch. Wave specializes in interactive experiences for viewers, including the abilities to engage in live chat, vote on set lists and pay to “gift” new items and effects to the virtual show. The company has hosted more than 50 Wave events for artists like John Legend, Dillon Francis, Alison Wonderland and Tinashe, including The Weeknd‘s TikTok LIVE concert in August that reached over 2 million live viewers and raised $350,000 for the Equal Justice Initiative. WMG joins a list of Wave investors that includes Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, ...
Tom Jones Lands Record-Setting U.K. No. 1 With ‘Surrounded By Time’
Surrounded By Time is Jones’ fourth leader in the U.K. and his first since 1999’s Reload. He also becomes the first Welsh soloist to top the national chart in nearly a decade, since Marina and The Diamonds’ Electra Heart, in 2012. In a slow week for new releases, the next highest debut is an album familiar to many, John Lennon’s 1971 solo debut LP, Plastic Ono Band (Apple Corps). The classic set enjoys a reissue rollout in various computations, blasting it to No. 11 on the weekly chart. Further down the list, a campaign for The Who’s third studio album The Who Sell Out sends the recording to No. 15, and a reissue of ska band The Selecter’s 1980 album Too Much Pressure (Chyrsalis) arrives at No. 24. Veteran alt-rock outfit Dinosaur Jr. snag their fifth Top 40 album with Sweep It Into Space ...
