business
Water Resources Bill: Minister decries misinformation of Nigerians
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, has said that Nigerians are being misinformed about the Water Resources Control Bill. The minister made the statement while interfacing with the House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources in Abuja, following the public outcry that trailed the passage of the bill. Newsmen recall that sequel to a motion of personal explanation by Rep. Benjamin Mzondu (PDP-Benue) the house withdrew the bill which had already been passed on the grounds that it was not gazetted. The minister recalled that the bill was presented in the 8th Assembly and there was a two-day public hearing with Rep. Aliyu Ahman-Pategi as chairman. According to him, there was no issue at all until some unpatriotic Nigerians gave bad and dangerous colouration, and tried t...
Executive Turntable: Downtown Ups Tracy Maddux to CCO; AIM Adds 5 Women to Board
Over in London, Dean Luck — who was previously the Finance Director at Extreme Music — now serves as International Controller. Reporting to Vice President of Finance Dan Bettes, Luck is in charge of international financial matters at Downtown. His responsibilities include financial reporting, treasury management, and multi-jurisdictional compliance. “Even in the midst of a global pandemic, we’ve continued to hire at a steady clip in 2020 to support our growth. I’m regularly impressed with the amazing talent we are able to bring into the Downtown organization from both within the music industry and beyond,” said Downtown CEO Kalifowitz in response to the company’s new appointments. At Endless Noise, founder/Grammy-winning composer Jeff Elmassian has named Dave Chapman as the sou...
#EndSARS: Lagos Chamber reschedules international trade fair
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) says that it has rescheduled the 2020 edition of the Lagos International Trade Fair. Dr Muda Yusuf, Director-General of LCCI, said that the fair which was scheduled to hold from Nov.5 to Nov. 15, 2020 has been rescheduled for between Dec. 4 to Dec. 13, 2020 at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos; both physically and virtually simultaneously. Yusuf in a statement on Thursday also said that the postponement was occasioned by the economic disruptions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent #EndSARS protests across the nation. “The resolve to hold the 2020 edition of the fair is in line with the need for quick restoration of normalcy to the economic and commercial activities in Lagos State and our support for the ongoing ‘Protect Lago...
YouTube Reports Revenue Up 32%, Paid Music & Premium Subscribers Top 30M
CFO Ruth Porat acknowledged the increase in advertiser spend for Alphabet’s Search and YouTube groups in a statement. Alphabet does not break out YouTube’s non-advertising revenue, which comes from subscriptions and other entertainment transactions, like movie rentals. Those revenues are reported as part of the “Google other revenues” line item, which contributed $5.5 billion during the period. Alphabet began disclosing YouTube revenue in February of this year when it announced that the world’s largest ad-supported video platform had brought in $15 billion in advertising in 2019. The company also shared updated subscriber figures for its music and premium services, now topping 30 million paying customers and 35 including those on free trials. A version of this...
Salty Artist Management Lands Slow Pulp and More, Announces Three New Managers
“At a time when all of our clients are off the road, it’s given us an opportunity to look at our clients’ plans as well as our company structure,” says Heimann. “It felt like the right time to use these months to really build out a structure and find ways to support these managers who wanted to have a bigger team and have a brain trust where they can share ideas and get feedback.” Prior to Salty, Chen independently managed Model/Actriz while co-managing Kate Bollinger with Messina-Doering, in addition to also providing A&R support for the Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records. Chen also spent several years at Brilliant Corners Artist Management (formerly Zeitgeist Artist Management) where he worked with a variety of nationally-acclaimed artists like Death Cab for Cutie, Toro y Moi, Phan...
Sony Music Shrugs Off Pandemic, Reports Q2 Gains
Within that, the company received a one-time gain of 6.5 billion yen ($62.2 million) by selling shares of Big Hit Entertainment subsidiary Pledis and another 5.4 billion yen ($50.85 million) in what it terms a music company business transfer of an undisclosed business, which it apparently no longer owns a stake in. But even without those gains, the company would have posted a 40.95 billion yen ($384.7 million) in operating income, or a 9.3% increase. The Sony segment containing its music operations breaks out to:— Recorded music operations of Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Japan comprising 123.3 billion yen ($1.16 billion). That’s a 9.9% increase from the 2019 second quarter when recorded music tallied 112.2 billion yen ($1.045 million).— Music publishing operations of Sony/ATV Mu...
Pressure on banks over consumer loans money market
A Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Survey Report has shown that banks experienced higher loan default rates on credit cards and overdrafts/ personal lending to household in the third quarter of the year (Q3’20). The survey also noted that lenders expect to tighten the conditions for which loans are given to borrowers (loan covenant) in the next quarter (Q4’20). The Survey Report titled: ”Credit Condition Survey Report for Q3’20″ stated:”Lenders experienced higher default rates on credit card and overdrafts/personal lending to households in Q3’20 but expect lower default rates in Q4’20. “Losses given default on total unsecured loans to households and overdraft/personal loans to households both declined in Q3 2020. “Similarly, default on total unsecured loans to households was expected to worse...
European Union backs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for WTO role
The European Union has endorsed former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Bloomberg reported. The business news outlet cited anonymous officials familiar with the matter that all the 27 EU member countries agreed on Monday in Brussels to support Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala. Bloomberg also reported that the United States has decided to back Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s trade minister, for the role. The position has been fiercely contested amongst candidates of different countries since Roberto Azevedo resigned in August. Last month, Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee were selected as the last two candidates in the contest. The EU’s endorsement is seen as a significant boost for Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, with the final winner expected...
Seven Stages, Daily Tests, Color-Coding: How COVID-19 Shaped the 2020 Billboard Latin Music Awards
We spoke with Black about how she conceived and executed the most challenging show of her career. The pay-off? The 2020 Billboard Latin Music Awards reached 3.5 million total viewers on linear television, ranking as the No. 1 Spanish-language special in primetime since the onset of the pandemic, according to Nielsen NPM. It also generated 45.9 million engagements across Telemundo-owned platforms plus 38 million engagements across other platforms. You also produce the Latin AMAs, where you have two stages. Here, you had seven. Can you break that down for us? COVID was a determining factor in how the show was produced. We had seven stages, but we had to design them so they didn’t feel separate. We had two where the nominations were presented; we had one for the show host; and then we had fou...
The Weeknd, Roddy Ricch Top 2020 AMAs Nominations
The 2020 AMAs air on ABC at 8PM ET on Nov. 22 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. See the full list below. ARTIST OF THE YEARJustin BieberPost MaloneRoddy RicchTaylor SwiftThe Weeknd NEW ARTIST OF THE YEARLewis CapaldiDoja CatDaBabyLil BabyRoddy RicchMegan Thee Stallion COLLABORATION OF THE YEARCardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, “Rockstar”Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours”Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, “Rain On Me”Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyoncé, “Savage Remix” FAVORITE SOCIAL ARTISTBTSBillie EilishEXOAriana GrandeNCT 127 FAVORITE MUSIC VIDEODoja Cat, “Say So”Future ft. Drake, “Life Is Good”Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, “Rain On Me”Taylor Swift, “cardigan”The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” FAVORITE MALE ARTIST – POP/ROCKJustin BieberPost MaloneThe W...
The Vamps Snag U.K. No. 1 With ‘Cherry Blossom’
Veteran Irish crooner Daniel O’Donnell extends his national chart record as his new album Daniel (DMG TV) starts at No. 3, and becomes his 40th U.K. Top 40 album. The veteran country artist has landed a Top 10 album in each of the last 29 years, and is the first artist to have an LP on the national sales chart each year for the last 32 years. Daniel’s No. 3 bow is an equal career best, jointly held with O’Donnell’s 2003 album Daniel In Blue Jeans. Following the announcement of her new, global publishing deal with Reservoir, Georgia-born singer Katie Melua’s Album No. 8 (BMG) enters at No. 7. It’s her eighth Top 10 record. Philippines-born, British indie rock artist Beabadoobee is new at No. 8 with her debut album Fake It Flowers (Dirty Hit). Beabadoobee was shortlisted for the 2020 BRITs’ ...
iHeartMedia to Acquire Voxnest, Its Latest Bet on Podcasting
Like Spotify’s two-pronged approach to podcasting, a mix of acquisitions and original content, iHeartMedia has actively improved its stature in the format. Among the U.S. audience, as of September, iHeartMedia narrowly ranked second behind NPR, 26.05 million to 25.98 million, according to podcast analytics company Podtrac. iHeartMedia produces such popular podcasts as Stuff You Should Know, Crime Stories With Nancy Grace, Paper Ghosts and Dead Ass With Khadeen and Devale Ellis. iHeartMedia certainly needs a boost in 2020. Digital advertising accounted for about one-fifth of iHeartMedia’s second quarter revenue, from April to June. Broadcast radio sales, half of total revenues, fell 56.5% compared to the same period last year from $561.1 million to $244 million. But podcasting revenue grew ...
