business
The Deals: Def Jam Strikes JV With Poo Bear; Deadmau5 Cosigns New Gaming Startup
“I’m extremely grateful for Bearthday Music to have partnered with Def Jam and Universal,” added Poo Bear. “This is truly a dream manifesting to have the support of Def Jam, and their belief not only in me but in the artists I believe in. I’m looking forward to what’s to come from this new promising venture. Thank you to Lucian Grange, Jeff Harleston and Naim McNair for this opportunity. HBD!!!!” In addition to the aforementioned artists, Poo Bear has worked with J Balvin, DJ Khaled, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran, among many others. He boasts nearly 300 songwriting and production credits with sales of over 350 million records worldwide. Joel Zimmerman (deadmau5) and Richie Hawtin (Plastikman) along with music industry visionaries Ben Turner, Dean Wilson and Ind...
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei’s 2020 Pay Rises to $47.1 Million
The bulk of his overall compensation last year continued to come from option awards, stock awards and a non-equity incentive plan. Maffei’s 2019 compensation had jumped thanks to a new employment contract that boosted his option awards from $8.8 million to $27.8 million. His option awards dipped to $24.98 million in 2020. Liberty Media in its regulatory filing also disclosed the annual pay for chairman Malone, which amounted to $1.09 million. He had made $1.4 million in 2019, $1.1 million in 2018, $797,082 in 2017 and $747,156 in 2016. Liberty recently reported 2020 revenue of $9.4 billion, down from $10.3 billion, and a loss of $1.4 billion, compared with 2019 earnings of $106 million. Maffei recently suggested that streaming giant Amazon would drive an accelerated push by Big Tech ...
Joy McKean, Australia’s ‘Queen of Country,’ to Receive Ted Albert Award at 2021 APRAs
Now aged 91, McKean composed “The Biggest Disappointment, “Ringer from the Top End,” “Walk a Country Mile” and “Indian Pacific,” and did so while touring regional and remote Australia at a time when the perceived role of women was that of home maker. McKean will be in the room for the presentation during the 2021 APRA Awards, set to take place April 28 in Sydney. Her contribution to Australian country music “as a pioneering songwriter, bush balladeer, touring performer and artist manager is unparalleled,” reads a statement from APRA. The Ted Albert honor “was most unexpected,” she admits in a statement, “and I thank those who must have nominated me for such consideration by APRA.” It’s not the first time McKean been honored for her art and advocacy. In 1991, McKean was awarded th...
Minister: Nigerian government worried about rising unemployment rate
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said the federal government is worried over the rising unemployment rate in the country. Speaking at the 2nd Shakeholders’ Meeting on Expatriate Quota Administration organized by the Citizenship and Business Department of the Ministry of Interior, the Minister said: “Anyone that is not worried about the unemployment rate in the country is not a patriot.” He lamented that the unemployment rate of 33 per cent released by the National Bureau of Statistics was indeed worrisome and a wake up call that something urgently needed to be done to keep Nigerians employed and drastically reduce the unemployment rate. The Minister, who called on all stakeholders at the meeting to ensure quality inputs were brought to the table that will lead to the produ...
Reservoir Leading Music Publishing Funds Onto the US Stock Market
Ross CH Acquisition II is bringing $115 million to Reservoir’s public offering as part of the deal. Some institutional investors including Caledonia have been lined up as anchor shareholders, which will bring in $150 million in gross proceeds. In the end, after investment banking, legal fees and other expenses, Reservoir will be left with $246 million in gross proceeds from the transaction. The company’s current shareholders, including the Khosrowshahi family, will roll over all their Reservoir equity into the new company, giving it an enterprise value of $788 million. That means that the Reservoir shareholders will likely have a lock-up period — maybe 180 days — before they can cash in any of their shares. In the meantime, the company has an implied pro-forma equity value of $...
CAC aims to register new company within three hours
The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) says it will be possible for companies in Nigeria to be registered within three hours, before the end of 2021. The commission tweeted this on Sunday via its verified Twitter handle. It said, Garba Abubakar, the commission’s registrar-general, gave this indication at a recent dinner in honour of the chairman, governing board, CAC and Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Spain, Ademola Seriki. The commission announced last December the upgrade of its online registration portal for business. It said the upgrade would include features that allow the automation of key services and processes in line with the federal government’s effort to Nigeria’s ease of doing business. Newsmen had reported how the new regulation protocol has left businesses in the country s...
Demi Lovato’s ‘Dancing With the Devil…’ Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales Chart
Of Dancing’s debut sales of 38,000, physical album sales comprise 25,000 of that figure (all in CD sales) while digital album sales comprise 13,000. Sales of Dancing got help from the availability of a Target-exclusive CD edition of the set with two bonus tracks, a signed CD sold via Lovato’s official website, multiple CD cover variants and a deluxe edition with bonus tracks available through digital retailers. Carrie Underwood’s My Savior falls 1-2 in its second week on Top Album Sales, selling 31,000 copies (down 55%). After two weeks on sale, My Savior is the fifth-biggest selling album of 2021, with 99,000 copies sold through April 8. The year’s top-seller is Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, with 215,000 copies sold. Sturgill Simpson’s Cuttin’ Grass, Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms...
Televisa, Univision to Merge, Forming Spanish-Language Media Powerhouse
The merger will be partly financed by $1 billion of new Series C preferred equity investment led by SoftBank’s Latin American Fund, along with current Univision investor ForgeLight LLC, Google and The Raine Group; and $2.1 billion of debt commitments arranged by J.P. Morgan. The merger would create the largest Spanish-language media company in the world with bases in the two biggest Spanish-speaking markets: Mexico and the United States. Televisa is a production powerhouse, producing some 86,000 hours of content in 2020, and both companies hold big sports rights packages. “This strategic combination generates significant value for shareholders of both companies and will allow us to more efficiently reach all Spanish-language audiences with more of our programming,” said E...
Minister: Rail transportation awakening giant to help run government
Nairaland Mr Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, on Tuesday described the rail mode of transportation as the awakening giant that would run government. He made the disclosure at the virtual National African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) Implementation Engagement Series for the Rail sub-sector of Transportation. Amaechi, who was represented by Mr Ibrahim Mohammed, a Deputy Director at the Federal Ministry of Transportation (FMOT), noted that the Federal Government had invested heavily on the rail sub-sector of transportation to help facilitate trade. “The rail sub-sector needs consistent opening for the country to further tap into the agreement that AfCFTA creates. “This is why government has embarked on many projects, developing the narrow gauges and establishing standa...
Taylor Swift Racing to U.K. Chart Title With ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’
Fearless (Taylor’s Version) has banked the most sales and album streams so far, to lead the Official Chart Update. Should it hold its ground when the weekly chart is published this Friday (April 16), Swift will have a seventh U.K. No. 1, slotting her into third place among female artists with the most U.K. chart-topping titles behind only Madonna (with 12) and Kylie Minogue (8). It’s highly unlikely that Taylor will be denied. The original version of Fearless was Swift’s breakthrough in the U.K., peaking at No. 5 on the national chart in 2008. Her 2012 album Red was her first leader, and every subsequent album release hit No. 1, including last year’s lockdown LPs Folklore and Evermore. In a distant second place on the chart blast is Ariana Grande’s former leader Positions (Repub...
Harvey Weinstein Moves Closer to Extradition to Los Angeles
Judge Case set an April 30 court hearing ahead of likely setting a date for Weinstein to be extradited to California. During Monday’s hearing, the court heard from Norman Effman, an attorney for Weinstein, who asked for a delay on a likely extradition to allow his client to undergo key medical procedures now scheduled by the New York prisons system. He also requested that Weinstein be virtually arraigned on the California indictment from New York to give more time for his medical treatments. “It seems disruptive to undo what New York State has done to care for a person in their custody, and to ensure that he is receiving appropriate medical care,” Effman told Judge Case. At the same time, Weinstein’s legal team — which included Mark Werksman, a California atto...
DMX’s Family Denies Rumor That Jay-Z & Beyoncé Bought His Master Recordings
The family of DMX (real name Earl Simmons) set the record straight about the alleged sale of the late rapper’s master recordings and his upcoming funeral in a new statement. “There have been a few rumors following our loved one, Earl Simmons’, passing that we’d like to clear up,” his family said in a statement provided to Billboard. “No one has bought Earl’s masters. Additionally, we are not selling any merch or raising money for Earl’s funeral. If anyone is requesting for money for his funeral please be aware the person is a scammer. We will keep the public posted on funeral/memorial service arrangements.” The most popular rumor around DMX’s catalog alleged that Beyoncé and Jay-Z had purchased X’s master recordings fo...
