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AleXa Signs With UTA, Sets New EP Following ‘American Song Contest’ Win: Exclusive
Months after breaking into Stateside consciousness as the first-ever champion of American Song Contest, AleXa has connected with new team members as well as new music. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Billboard can exclusively reveal that the U.S.-raised K-pop star has signed with United Talent Agency (UTA) for representation in all aspects, including areas beyond music like TV, film and licensing. Billboard had previously broken the news that the starlet had previously teamed with ICM Partners in 2020, just months after her debut onto the K-pop scene. AleXa will continue under ZB Label, the subsidiary recording company under long-running Korean video and film production company Zanybros. “I’m looking forward to a new history of K-pop as...
Defected Records’ New Owner Wez Saunders On Protecting The Label’s Legacy: I’m Not Here To Reinvent The Wheel’
On a late summer morning in London, Wez Saunders walked into work at the Defected Records headquarters and greeted his staff as he has for years. But on this otherwise normal day, something felt different: “Just for a split second,” Saunders recalls, “it was like, ‘Wow, I own this now.’” On August 23, Defected announced that its founder, Simon Dunmore, was stepping down as CEO, with Saunders, who has been with the label in various roles since 2014, acquiring the music company and all its subsidiaries. (Dunmore will stay on in a new role as A&R consultant.) Though Saunders had worked closely with Dunmore in running Defected’s day-to-day operations, there’s a pressure in taking over a label with so much history. When Dunmore launched Defected in 1999, its first release, Soulsearche...
Vivendi Planning to Move Forward With UMG IPO This Year
The idea is to avoid the so-called “conglomerate discount,” under which a company could be valued by the market as less than the sum of its parts — especially by investors looking for more direct exposure to the music sector at a time when streaming is fueling growth and optimism. “This plan is the result of the joint efforts in recent years by the Vivendi and the Universal Music Group, under the leadership of Sir Lucian Grainge, to further the company’s position as the music industry’s undisputed leader,” Vivendi said in a letter about the move that was shared internally at Universal by Grainge, the company’s chairman and CEO. “Recently the successful opening of UMG’s share capital to an international consortium led by Tencent has confirmed its attractiveness with strategic investor...
Save Our Stages Grants Aren’t Open Yet, But Here’s How Venues Can Get Ready
Who is eligible? The SOS Act was initially intended to solely support independent music venues when it was introduced in the summer of 2020. By the time it passed passed as part of the stimulus package in December, the now-called Shuttered Venue Operators (SVO) Grant program includes $15 billion for live performance venue operators and promoters, performing arts organizations, theatrical producers, talent representatives, motion-picture theatre operators and non-profit museums. Subsidiaries of these organizations can also be eligible. Businesses that fall under those categories must have been fully operational as of Feb. 29, 2020 and planning to continue operations in the future. In order to be eligible for the grant, the entities must be able to show at least 25% gross revenue loss in any...
Inside Radio’s Outsourcing Movement: ‘Voice-Tracking’ DJs Are Working Faster for Less
Although iHeart and Entercom oversee their in-house voice-tracking networks from their home bases in San Antonio and Philadelphia, smaller radio companies rely on talent agencies such as Skid Trax, a 10-year-old service that links stations with veteran DJs such as Marisay and Ashley & Brad, the morning-show duo for Simi Valley, California, country station KWSV. And lately business is booming: Between 2018 and 2019, Skid Trax increased the number of stations it works with by 7%; between 2019 and 2020, the increase was 43%. Skid Trax personalities have been “getting more and more calls,” says Tonya Campos, a former program director who co-founded the company 10 years ago, and co-founder Michael Raffety adds: “For the local talent, it’s sad. For a show like Ashley & Brad, like it or n...
OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder Sells Majority Stake in Catalog to KKR
The catalog of nearly 500 songs written, recorded or produced by Tedder encompasses all OneRepublic songs — including hits “Apologize,” “Secrets” and “Counting Stars” — as well as Tedder’s work with artists like Beyoncé, U2, Paul McCartney, Adele, Stevie Wonder, Ed Sheeran, Lady Gaga, Cardi B and Jonas Brothers. Going forward, KKR will collaborate with Tedder to “expand upon the success and reach” of his and OneRepublic’s music, according to a press release. Formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., KKR has a long history of music industry investments. It teamed with Bertelsmann for the music rights joint venture BMG Rights Management in 2009, controlling 51% until Bertelsmann t...
Roblox Raises $520M From Warner Music Group and Others
Warner Music Group has been focused on growing its footprint in gaming for some time. “Ultimately, everything is going toward gaming, and we want to make sure we’re capturing value within it. It’s the future of entertainment,” Oana Ruxandra, Warner Music Group’s chief digital officer, told Billboard last September. The music industry has certainly been flocking toward gaming platforms over the past year, with Travis Scott pulling in 27.7 million participants during his Fortnite in-game performance last April, kicking off a wave of artists looking to set up virtual concerts on similar platforms. Roblox launched its first virtual concert in November, with a virtual concert by Lil Nas X that racked up 33 million views. “COVID has supercharged the demand for 2D and 3D live streaming even...
Eddie Money’s Family Sues Hospital Over Rocker’s Death
Rocker Eddie Money’s family is suing the University of Southern California’s Keck Hospital for medical malpractice and wrongful death, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Money, whose real name Edward J. Mahoney, died at the age of 70 Sept. 13, 2019. He’s best known for his hit songs “Two Tickets To Paradise,” Baby Hold On,” “Think I’m in Love” and “Take Me Home Tonight.” Prior to his death, Money had been diagnosed and was being treated for stage 4 esophageal cancer. Money’s family, listed as his heirs to his estate, include his wife Laurie Harris Mahoney and his children Jessica, Zachary, Edward, Desmond and Matthew, filed this 11-page complaint alleging that doctors and medical personnel at USC’s Keck Hospital failed to properly diagnose...
Spotify Shares Jump 16% to All-Time High
On a related note, information about podcasts could have reinforced some investors’ belief that non-music content can improve both growth and margins. Spotify’s run-down of most popular music and podcasts revealed The Joe Rogan Experience, exclusive to Spotify as of Tuesday, is its top podcast. Its popularity suggests the controversial podcast is going to be worth the $100 million Spotify is spending to license the show from Rogan. Owned and licensed podcasts give Spotify a chance to differentiate itself from its competitors. In the last two years, Spotify has purchased podcast producers The Ringer, Gimlet and Parcast and has landed exclusives with Michele Obama and Kim Kardashian West, among many others. It has also launched proprietary, music-focused franchises such as Sound Stories: Wom...
Guitar Center Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy In Wake of Debt Restructure
Guitar Center, the nation’s largest retailer of musical instruments, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the company announced Saturday. The bankruptcy filing came just one week after the Guitar Center, which had been struggling to compete with online retailers even before the pandemic, announced it had reached a debt-reduction deal with its key stakeholders. The approved restructuring support agreement (RSA) intends to reduce Guitar Center’s reported $1.3 billion debt by nearly $800 million, including $375 million in Debtor-In-Possession financing from some existing note holders and lenders. It also intends to raise $335 million in new senior secured notes. {“nid”:”9485240″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Guitar Center R...
Som Livre, Brazil’s Largest Domestic Label, Put Up for Sale
Mass media conglomerate Grupo Globo is exploring a sale of Som Livre, Brazil’s largest domestic record label. Globo says the decision to try to sell the label doesn’t signal any concerns about the label’s performance in the world’s 10th-largest music market, but rather resulted from a strategic review of the assets in its portfolio. “Som Livre is an extremely solid and profitable business,” Jorge Nóbrega, Globo CEO, says in a statement. “Music remains very important in Globo’s portfolio, but we believe it is a good time to get out of the traditional label business and focus on the D2C (direct to consumer) strategy.” {“nid”:”9486080″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Will Investors Have Faith in Believe? French Music Company Is Latest t...
Wixen Music Publishing Hits Triller With $50M Copyright Lawsuit
Wixen Music Publishing is suing short-form video-sharing app Triller for $50 million alleging copyright infringement on more than 1,000 songs. Wixen claims that Triller has been “willfully infringing” its musical compositions by allowing its users to include them in videos without authorization or compensation, according to the 15-page federal complaint filed U.S. Central District of California Western Division on Tuesday. Triller’s app, similar to TikTok’s, allows users to create and share short videos that typically include music. Wixen, who administers more than 50,000 songs written and owned by its more than 2,000 clients — Tom Petty, Neil Young and Missy Elliott among them — alleges that many of their compositions are being used in the app without the proper licenses...
