business
Amazon Prospers During Pandemic With Expectation-Beating Results
Amazon dodged a coronavirus bullet in its second quarter, posting big gains in sales and operating income as shoppers around the world stayed home and did the bulk of their shopping online. The online retail giant, which operates the Amazon Music streaming platform and is one of a small handful of tech companies in the “trillion-dollar club”, reported net sales of $88.9 billion in the quarter ending June 30, 2020, beating analysts’ expectations with a whopping 40 per cent improvement on the same period last year. Also during the period, operating income almost doubled to $5.8 billion, up from $3.1 billion in second quarter of the previous year. Revenue from subscription services ballooned to $6 billion, well advanced from the $4.6 billion reported in the corresponding per...
Publishing Briefs: Rodney Jerkins Puts Hipgnosis Under His Spell, Primary Wave Acquires Stake in Devo
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited has acquired the 982-song music catalog of four-time Grammy winner Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, who under the terms of the deal will also join Hipgnosis’ Investment Adviser’s Advisory Board. The agreement includes 100% of Jerkins’ writer’s share of income for his early works and 100% of his publishing interest and writer’s share of income for his later works. Jerkins’ long list of hits includes tracks for Mary J. Blige (“I Can’t Love You”), Brandy (“The Boy Is Mine”), Whiney Houston (“It’s Not Right But It’s Okay”), Destiny’s Child (“Say My Name”), Beyoncé (“Déjà Vu”), Spice Girls (“Holler”/”Let Love Lead the Way”), Michael Jackson (“You Rock My World”), Sam Smith (“Stay With Me”), Lady Gaga (“Telephone” feat. Beyoncé), Jennifer Lopez (“If You Had My Love”), Jus...
SiriusXM, Pandora Add Self-Pay Subscribers, Advertising Falls Amid Pandemic
Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM, the home of Howard Stern, on Thursday said it added self-pay subscribers in its satellite radio and Pandora businesses for the second quarter, the first one that was fully affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The company, controlled by John Malone‘s Liberty Media, said its satellite radio subscribers fell when including promotional subs, just like had been the case in the first quarter. In the year-ago period, it had added a total of 174,000 net users. In the latest period, SiriusXM added 264,000 self-pay customers, but lost 768,000 promotional subs to end June with 30.3 million self-pay and 34.3 million total users, down 516,000. “Paid promotional subscribers decreased due to declines in shipments from automakers offering paid trial su...
Ashley Judd’s Sexual Harassment Claim Against Harvey Weinstein Revived by Appeals Court
Harvey Weinstein will have to face a sexual harassment claim from Ashley Judd even though the actress was never actually employed by the disgraced movie mogul. On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided that California Civil Code § 51.9 encompassed their relationship sufficiently to provide Judd with the ability to sue him for sexual harassment. Judd alleges in her complaint that she became Weinstein’s victim when the movie mogul made demands on her in a hotel room about 20 years ago. Judd says that she only escaped after relenting to a deal where she would let him touch her if she won an Academy Award. Later, Judd says she was in serious discussions for a big role in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, but that opportunity was torpedoed after Weinstein or someone ...
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Grilled at Big Tech Hearing About Being Unfair to Streamers
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos might be the richest person in the world, but he’s also a rookie. Until Wednesday, he had never before been grilled by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That changed today when top executives at the nation’s leading technology companies gathered — at least virtually — for testimony before a House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee. There, Bezos faced blistering questions about whether the e-commerce giant has abused its market power. “A lot of people want to know when the HBO Max app will be available on your Fire devices,” Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Bezos. “I understand negotiations are ongoing but your company is not only asking for financial terms but also for content from Warner Media…. Is it fair to use your gatekeepe...
Alice Ivy Signs Global Publishing Deal With Concord, Native Tongue
Alice Ivy has struck a new worldwide publishing deal through a joint venture with Concord Music Publishing and Australian independent publisher Native Tongue. “Publishing is something I’ve taken my time with,” said Ivy of the new arrangement, which is effective immediately. “I wanted to hold off until I’d matured as a songwriter and a producer and wait for the right partners to come along. Between the team at Native Tongue, who’ve always looked out for me, and my new family at Concord, it feels like the best possible set-up for me at this exciting stage in my career. When it came down to it, they asked what I was looking for and I said, ‘I want to be jumping on planes and writing music every day’ and they said, ‘we can do that.'” The Melbourn...
G-Herbo Tabs Saweetie, City Girls, Wale and NLE Choppa For Mental Health Notes Panel
In hopes of aiding struggling Black teens, G-Herbo is collaborating with Audiomack to help restore their mental health with his forthcoming Mental Health Notes Panel, airing today (July 29) at 6:00 p.m. ET on Twitch. Hosted by Dr. Jessica Clemons MD, the star-studded lineup will include Saweetie, City Girls, Wale, NLE Choppa and NAMI CEO Dan Gillison as speakers for today’s festivities. Designed to provide tools to help Black youth maneuver through the ups-and-downs of mental health, this forum will offer a bevy of techniques to help lessen their everyday battles, while de-stigmatizing the importance therapy in the African American community. “I wanted to gather everyone to encourage open dialogue, so that we not only become a support system for one another, but our fans as well, Herbo tel...
4 Big Tech CEOs Getting Heat From Congress on Competition
Four Big Tech CEOs — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai of Google and Tim Cook of Apple — are set to answer for their companies’ practices before Congress as a House panel caps its yearlong investigation of market dominance in the industry. The four command corporations with gold-plated brands, millions or even billions of customers, and a combined value greater than the entire German economy. One of them is the world’s richest individual (Bezos); another is the fourth-ranked billionaire (Zuckerberg). Their industry has transformed society, linked people around the globe, mined and commercialized users’ personal data, and infuriated critics on both the left and right over speech. Critics question whether the companies, grown increasingly powerful after...
Demi Lovato, Ben Platt and More to Appear During Virtual GLAAD Media Awards Ceremony
Though they’re not able to celebrate in person this year, GLAAD is making sure that LGBTQ representation in media is still recognized with the GLAAD Media Awards — and they’re teaming up with some big stars to do it. On Wednesday (July 29), GLAAD announced that even more stars, including Demi Lovato and Ben Platt, will be joining the previously-announced lineup for the 31st annual GLAAD Media Awards’ virtual ceremony. The organization announced that along with a special musical performance from Chloe x Halle, the show will also now feature two new performers; actor and singer Ben Platt, and singer-songwriter Shea Diamond. GLAAD also announced that stars like Lovato, Jennifer Garner, Lilly Singh, Charli XCX, Kandi Burruss, Theo Germaine, August Getty, Gigi Gorgeous Ge...
DOJ Workshop on ASCAP & BMI Consent Decrees Lays Out Key Issues With Heavy-Hitter Speakers
Pharrell Williams, LeAnn Rimes, top executives from the performing rights organizations and other leading trade groups all spoke at Tuesday’s session. At the top of Tuesday’s (July 28) Department of Justice public workshop regarding the federal consent decrees that govern ASCAP and BMI, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division Makan Delrahim laid out the main focus for the two-day hearings and panel discussions: competition. Or more specifically, as he put it, “Competition for the benefit of the American consumer, competition for the benefit of innovation and competition for the benefit of songwriters, composers and artists.” That set the tone for four hours’ worth of discussion on the potential review, which was undertaken by the DOJ as part of i...
Johnny Depp’s Reps Says Amber Heard Lied as Libel Case Concludes
Johnny Depp’s high-stakes libel case against a British tabloid that accused him of assaulting ex-wife Amber Heard wrapped up Tuesday (July 28) in a London court, with the star’s lawyer calling Heard “a compulsive liar” and claiming that Depp was the real victim of abuse in the relationship. The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the newspaper’s executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court in London over an April 2018 article that called him a “wife-beater.” In closing arguments at the three-week trial, Depp’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said the actor strongly denied “this reputation-destroying, career-ending allegation.” “He has never hit a woman in his entire life — period, full stop, nada,” Sherborne said. What Is The Judge Deci...
Nashville Restrictions on Home Recording Studio Overturned
The controversial ordinance was first enacted in 1998. Home recording studios in Nashville can open for business once again. A longstanding law restricting client visits to home-based businesses in Nashville has been eliminated by the city’s Metro Council in a new bill, allowing home recording studios to legally operate in the city for the first time since 1998. Enacted on July 8, the amended ordinance now permits up to six customer visits per day between the hours of 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. To qualify under the new regulations, recording studios and other businesses that host customers on site and/or employ those who live outside the dwelling must first apply for a “home occupation” permit that requires proof of written notifications to owners of adjacent properties, as...
