bbbiz
Here’s When Billboard’s New Bundle-Banning Chart Rules Will Go Into Effect
The biggest changes start in October, but as of now, no new ticket or merch bundles are being approved. Billboard has set start dates for new rule changes to its charts doing away with the controversial practice of “bundling” albums with concert tickets and merchandise to drive market share and music sales. The changes also affect instant digital sales attached to purchases for physical albums delivered at a later date. Effective immediately, Billboard will no longer approve any new album/ticket bundle offers; moving forward albums will only be counted if promoted as an à la carte add-on sale to a ticket purchase. For existing, approved offers with an album released on or before Oct. 8, 2020: Redemptions (sales) generated by offer will be accepted for duration of the tour...
Audio Engineer Kesha Lee in Atlanta, in a Pandemic: ‘I’m Getting to the Place Where I’m Wanting to Create’
Lee was planning to travel for audio engineer work when her car broke down — now, she’s collaborating with a local songwriter on her own music. Since getting her start through a chance meeting with Gucci Mane, Atlanta-based audio engineer Kesha Lee has worked on chart-toppers like Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” and Migos’ “Bad and Boujee” and is now the go-to audio engineer for rappers including Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert. She spent the past two-and-a-half years working on Uzi’s Eternal Atake album in the artist’s native Philadelphia, before it was released on March 6 — mere weeks before the near-national lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus began. As part of Billboard’s efforts to best cover ...
AEG Partners With Resorts World for New Las Vegas Theater: Exclusive
The 5,000-capacity Theatre at Resorts World Las Vegas will be used for concerts, residencies, conventions and sporting events. While all the world’s stages have been dark now for more than four months as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, Las Vegas is plotting a course for the future. Come summer 2021, the city will welcome The Theatre at Resorts World Las Vegas, the first new-from-the-ground-up casino-resort in more than a decade. The Theatre is a joint development between Resorts World Las Vegas and AEG Presents — exclusively programmed and operated by Concerts West, a division of AEG Presents. Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, and John Meglen, president and co-CEO of Concerts West, tell Billboard in an exclusive interview that The Theatre and its programming ...
Atlantic Records Launches Cross-Roster Voter Registration Initiative With HeadCount: Exclusive
“With the 2020 election shaping up to be the most consequential of our lifetime, it’s crucial,” says ATLVotes co-chair Jack Hedges. In January, a group of Atlantic Records employees including Canvasback label imprint vp of marketing Jack Hedges formed a company task force to develop a plan for utilizing Atlantic’s star-studded artist roster, which includes the likes of Cardi B, Ed Sheeran and Meek Mill, to encourage voter registration. A global pandemic later, “You can imagine, the ideas and plans we were formulating were very different from where we are now,” Hedges tells Billboard. But the goal — to inspire more young people to vote in both local and presidential elections — is as urgent as ever. That’s why today (July 16), Atlantic Re...
Live Nation Shares Bounce on Encouraging Vaccine Trial
Stocks of out-of-home entertainment companies got a boost from biotech company Moderna’s announcement on Tuesday. As markets reacted enthusiastically to a promising coronavirus vaccine trial, shares of concert promoter Live Nation leaped 12.2% to $52.09 on Wednesday (July 15) before closing at $51.84, up 11.7%. On Tuesday, biotech company Moderna published the results of an initial study for a coronavirus vaccine called mRNA-1273. The vaccine “elicits a robust immune response” in all trial participants, said chief medical officer Tal Zaks in a statement, and will enter the next phase — with approximately 30,000 participants — later this month. Jumps in other entertainment companies’ stocks reflect how desperate investors were for good news about markets brought to a...
REVOLT TV CEO Roma Khanna Stepping Down After Three Years
Colin McIntosh and Detavio Samuels will step in as co-heads. Roma Khanna, CEO of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ REVOLT TV, is stepping down from her role at the cable network after nearly three years on the job. Going forward, she will serve as an advisor to REVOLT TV’s senior team and shareholders. With Khanna departing, REVOLT TV executive vp and head of finance & operations Colin McIntosh and COO and head of content Detavio Samuels will step in as co-heads, taking over day-to-day leadership of the company. Both will report to Combs Enterprises COO Tarik Brooks. Named CEO in September 2017, Khanna has launched such programing as State of the Culture and REVOLT Black News, in addition to the multi-city, multi-platform REVOLT Summit x AT&T. Under her tenure, REVOLT has also grown its distribu...
Billboard & Triller Partner on Weekly Top Triller U.S. & Global Charts
Armaan Malik’s “Next 2 Me” leads both inaugural lists. Armaan Malik’s “Next 2 Me” leads both of Billboard’s inaugural charts featured data from social video app Triller, announced today, July 13. The pair of charts, named Top Triller U.S. and Top Triller Global, highlight the biggest songs on the app based on a formula blending the amount of views of videos containing a respective songs, the level of engagement with those videos and the raw total of videos uploaded featuring each song, according to Triller. Data for the charts is represented on a Friday-Thursday tracking week, with the latest period running July 3-9. The Top Triller charts signify the start of a partnership between Billboard and Triller, a social media video app featuring user-generated videos set to musi...
CBS, NAACP Ink Sprawling Content Partnership Deal
Days after CBS committed to expanding development from BIPOC, the company is teaming with the NAACP for a wide-ranging content partnership. As part of a new, multiple-year agreement, CBS TV Studios and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will team to develop and produce scripted, unscripted and documentary content for linear and streaming platforms. Under the deal, creative leaders from CBS TV Studios will work with the civil rights group to establish a dedicated team of executives and an infrastructure to acquire, develop and produce programming. The goal will be to produce premium content while also expanding the number of diverse voices telling inclusive stories that increase the visibility and impact of Black artists. Included in the deal is a commi...
Spotify’s Russian Push Targets New Market With Considerable Growth Potential
The streaming service has announced an expansion into 13 new markets, reaching potentially 250 million new users — if only it can sign them up. Spotify is launching its streaming service in Russia and 12 other countries in Europe, marking an important expansion that will bring the music streamer to nearly 250 million new listeners and effectively blanket Europe with the service. In addition to Russia, the 16th-largest streaming market, Spotify will push into Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The launch comes as the digital streamer has been expanding aggressively into new markets. It introduced the platform in India in 2019; in 14 markets in the Middle East and Africa in 2018 (inc...
How We Work Now: Sofar Sounds VP City Operations Amanda Presson
In a series amid the coronavirus pandemic, Billboard is asking individuals from all sectors of the music business to share stories of how they work now, with much of the world quarantined at home and unable to take in-person meetings, attend conferences or even go into the office. Submissions for the series can be sent to HowWeWorkNow@Billboard.com. Read the full series here. This installment is with Amanda Presson, vp of city operations at intimate concert series company Sofar Sounds. Amanda Presson: [The shutdown] was such a huge shift for us, because we are so focused on the live event experience and bringing our communities together in person. After we had to halt our core business, our first thought went to, “How do we continue to support artists?” That was such a big part of our miss...
Halsey’s ‘Without Me’ Wins Song Of the Year at BMI Pop Awards; Khalid & Post Malone Share Songwriter of the Year
“We look forward to celebrating with everyone in person at next year’s ceremony,” said BMI’s Barbara Cane. “Without Me,” which was co-written by BMI writers Halsey and Delacey, was awarded song of the year at the 68th annual BMI Pop Awards. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Halsey’s first No. 1 as a lead artist. It’s also the first song that Halsey wrote under her given name, Ashley Frangipane. Khalid and Post Malone shared the award for songwriter of the year at the event, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held virtually. Both singer/songwriters co-wrote four of BMI’s top-performed songs of 2019 — in each case, three songs on which they were the lead (or co-lead) artist and one on which they were the featured artist. Khalid sc...
Nielsen to Shed 3,500 Jobs in Restructuring
Nielsen will cut up to 3,500 jobs as part of a restructuring of its businesses to save money and focus on its core holdings. The data company and TV ratings provider says the moves are part of a “broad-based optimization plan” to cut costs and make the remaining assets more efficient, as well as making Nielsen more profitable. Under the plan, Nielsen will “exit several smaller, underperforming markets and non-core businesses” in the next few months. The optimization plan includes cuts of 3,500 staff worldwide — about 8 percent of the company’s employees. “Across Nielsen Global Media and Nielsen Global Connect, we are making progress on increasing our operational and financial discipline, including zero-basing our cost structure as we move toward the plan...
