business
Executive Turntable: Sony/ATV Names Digital Prez, Sony Music Africa Hires Artist Dev Lead
Bebawi started his publishing career at EMI Music Publishing in Sept. 2005, when he joined as UK head of business affairs after serving as a partner at London-based media and entertainment law firm Harbottle and Lewis. During his time at EMI, he implemented a pioneering restructure of the company’s digital rights and launched the first publisher-led, Pan-European digital licensing initiative outside of the traditional collection society network. Bebawi was later promoted to European General Counsel and, after Sony/ATV acquired EMI in 2007, he joined the former as executive vp, digital and society relations, international and UK. Sony Music Entertainment Africa has enlisted Christine “Seven” Mosha to lead marketing and artist development for the East Africa region, effective immediate...
Why 2020’s Protest Songs Aren’t Part of a Passing Trend
The May 25 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police resulted in the eruption of worldwide protests against racial injustice, as well as an influx of new protest anthems across demographics in the weeks that followed. As superstars like Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles vocalized support for the Black Lives Matter movement, artists ranging from country singer-songwriter Mickey Guyton to trap veteran Juicy J to soul-R&B star Leon Bridges rapidly released new songs commenting on systemic discrimination. Protest music soared on the charts, too: “Rockstar,” the DaBaby and Roddy Ricch smash that crowned Billboard’s 2020 Songs of the Summer chart, received an official “BLM remix” in the weeks after Floyd’s death, while “The Bigger Picture,” Lil Baby’s poig...
Lucian Grainge’s Year-End Memo: An ‘Incredibly Difficult’ 2020, Label Successes & His COVID-19 Scare
Taking his time to get to the usual accolades (of which there were plenty for the world’s leading music company), instead he focused on the power of music in trying times, noting, “I want this year-end note to remind each of you of the instrumental part you played in bringing to the world something powerful, inspiring, uplifting, and yes, universal: music. A force for good unlike any other in the world.” Grainge then highlighted other kinds of achievements that his company can tout, taking action during the year’s multitude of crises: “organizing, volunteering, educating, donating,” as he listed off, detailing how Universal responded to the pandemic, the nation’s racial reckoning and the election. Universal donated to a swath of organizations and d...
How to Take Diva Collaborations to ‘Another Level of Badass’
Long-standing assumptions about female artists competing with one another have also dissolved, says Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, CEO/owner of management firm SALXCO, whose roster includes Doja Cat and Bebe Rexha. The idea that there’s room for only one chart-topping female at a time is “very unrealistic,” he says. “When artists come together and have healthy competition, everyone wins.” But executives aren’t suddenly having epiphanies dispelling sexist myths, notes Calhoun — audiences are voicing demand for female collaborations through their listening habits. “The fans are hungry for it and the fans are playing it, so there’s a business there,” she says. “Male artists have held the throne for a minute now, and I think women want to hear women artists.” Perhaps no fan spends more time thinking abo...
What Does ‘Alternative’ Mean in 2020?
Laura Ohls, senior editor, folk and AAA, Spotify: I’ve always thought of “alternative” as referring to any artist creating music that challenges what’s being popularized in the mainstream, across all genres. In the ’90s, rock music was still very much at the core of popular music culture, and as a result, “alternative” [was more] guitar-driven in sound. Fast forward to 2020, where hip-hop, pop and Latin are the titans of genre, and you’ll find that the class of artists defying what’s expected are doing so within these genre spaces. As a result, there is an amalgamation of genres that make up modern “alternative” sounds. We launched our Alternative Hub earlier this year in order to unite all of our alternative programming into one dedicated space. The idea was to have a destination that enc...
Recording Academy Paid $4.5M in Legal Fees in 2019, Filings Show
Dugan’s short-lived tenure as Portnow’s successor began Aug.1, 2019, and her salary — as well as any changes in expenditures that occurred under her short-lived tenure — are not indicated in this filing. Five days after being put on administrative leave on Jan. 16, 2020 — just 10 days before the 62nd Grammy Awards — and eventually terminated, Dugan filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to Dugan’s EEOC complaint, she learned in May 2019 that “[Joel] Katz and his law firm [Greenberg Traurig] are paid an exorbitant amount of money by the Academy.” She accused the academy of being “boys’ club network” — a place “where men work together to the disadvantage of women and disen...
Joie Manda Exiting Interscope Geffen A&M: Exclusive
Formerly Interscope’s head of urban music, Manda assumed the executive vp role in 2017. With Janick, he helped bring the label to record-level market share, signing or working with top hip-hop and R&B acts including DaBaby, Summer Walker, Mike Will Made-It, Rae Sremmurd, Machine Gun Kelly, 6lack, Tory Lanez, Dreezy and Playboi Carti, and was instrumental in the 2014 partnership with J. Cole’s Dreamville Records. But he also supported the labels’ pop efforts like Billie Eilish, Selena Gomez and Blackpink. Manda previously served as president of Def Jam Records, also a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Prior to joining the UMG family, Manda served as head of urban music for Warner Bros. Records, where he worked closely with Jill Scott, Common and Rick Ross’ May...
‘Kelly Clarkson Show’ Renewed Through 2023
Clarkson’s show debuted in fall 2019 and became the most watched new daytime talk show in seven years. The current season — which returned to studio production after filming remotely in the spring and summer — is putting up solid ratings as well, averaging 1.31 million daily viewers and ranking in the top five syndicated talkers. “The Kelly Clarkson Show is one of the most optimistic success stories in first-run syndication,” said Valari Staab, president NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “Kelly is a beloved performer and host with deep roots at NBC, and we are delighted to have her continue to be a very important and treasured part of our stations’ programming.” The show won three Daytime Emmys in 2020, including one for Clarkson as bes...
Roc Nation to Launch Publishing Imprint With Books From Lil Uzi Vert, Meek Mill
Under a new partnership with Random House, Roc Lit 101 will also put out titles by Yo Gotti, Fat Joe and music journalist Danyel Smith. Roc Nation is getting into the book publishing business via a new partnership with Random House, the companies announced today. The new imprint, which is rolling out under the name Roc Lit 101, will be dedicated to publishing books “at the dynamic intersection of entertainment and genre-defying literature, including exhilarating, innovative work from some of the biggest artists and most imaginative and incisive writers of our time on a wide range of subjects such as music, sports, pop culture, activism, and art,” according to a release. The imprint will be overseen by Chris Jackson, publisher and editor-in-chief of Random House imprint One World Books, and...
Seasons Greetings! Half of the Billboard 200’s Top 10 Are Christmas Albums
Bublé’s Christmas album climbs 6-4 with 55,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 10 (up 14%), according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Also joining in the merriment: Carrie Underwood’s My Gift (9-5, a new peak with 53,000 units; up 19%), Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song (12-7 with 42,000 units; up 20%), Pentatonix’s The Best of Pentatonix Christmas (16-8 with just over 39,000; up 22%) and Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas (15-10 with 38,000; up 17%). The last time five holiday albums were among the top 10 occurred on the Dec. 21, 2013-dated chart. That week, the top 10 housed Kelly Clarkson’s Wrapped in Red (No. 3), The Robertsons’ Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas (No. 5), Pentatonix’s PTXmas (EP) (No. 7), Bublé’s Christmas (No. 8) and Mary J. Blige’s A Mary Chri...
Taylor Swift’s ‘Evermore’ Is In Pole Position on Midweek U.K. Chart
Swift’s ninth studio album leads the way on downloads and album streams, according to the Official Charts Company, and three tracks from it are poised to enter the singles chart Top 20, led by “Willow,” new at No. 3 on the midweek survey. With Christmas just around the corner, a pair of orchestral albums are climbing the chart. The biggest physical seller in the week so far is Neil Diamond’s Classic Diamonds (Capitol) with the London Symphony Orchestra, new at No. 2 on the midweek tally, while Johnny Cash and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s Johnny Cash and the RPO (Legacy Recordings) lifts 15-4. Manchester indie rock band James are on track for a 10th U.K. Top 10 album as live recording Live In Extraordinary Times (Nothing But Love Music) starts at No. 10. Also making an impact on ...
U.S. warns Pacific islands about Chinese bid for undersea cable project
The United States has warned Pacific island nations about security threats posed by a Chinese company’s cut-price bid to build an undersea internet cable, two sources told Reuters, part of an international development project in the region. Huawei Marine, which was recently divested from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and is now majority-owned by another Chinese firm, submitted bids along with French-headquartered Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Finland’s Nokia, and Japan’s NEC, for the $72.6 million project backed by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), the sources with direct knowledge of the project details said. The project is designed to improve communications to the island nations of Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and Kiribati. Washington sent a diploma...