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Sony Music Promotes International Marketing Execs Melissa Thomas and Monica Cornia
Thomas will continue reporting to Sony Music Group chairman Rob Stringer. Along with Cornia, she was named a Billboard International Power Player earlier this year. “Melissa knows how to harness the global power of our Company to help break our U.S. artists around the world,” said Stringer in a statement. “Her teams, in conjunction with our U.S. Record Labels, have created unique marketing campaigns that resonate with audiences and push our artists to success. I’m so happy that Melissa will be leading our U.S. Repertoire’s international marketing team for the future.” Thomas added, “Music has no borders anymore. Our audiences are global from the beginning and hits can break from anywhere. I love bringing our U.S. artists to as many audiences as we can around the globe and I’m looking forwa...
Japan’s Top Concert Promoters Form Alliance to Bring Back International Acts
Promoters in Japan are currently in dire straits due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Ticket sales lost because of cancellations and postponements from the pandemic totaled approximately $333 million (36.3 billion yen) in 2020. Earlier this month, Japan extended a state of emergency until the end of May for Tokyo and three other areas amid a fourth wave of coronavirus cases, which are hitting Tokyo and Osaka particularly hard. Japan, where more than 12,100 people have died from COVID-19, recorded 216 deaths on May 18, the most since early January, according to Johns Hopkins University. The members of the new IPAJ are Avex Entertainment Inc., Creativeman Production Co., Hanshin Contents Link Co. (Billboard Japan), Hayashi International Promotions Ltd., Kyodo Tokyo, Inc., Live Nation Japa...
Inside Track: UMG’s Potential US Investor, FTC Knocks Back Ticketmaster Probe
Asking around, one name keeps popping up: Liberty Media, the majority owner of satellite radio provider SiriusXM — itself owner of music streamer Pandora — and 33% of concert promoter Live Nation. Liberty also owns 5% of terrestrial broadcaster iHeartMedia and tried to buy 40% while iHeartMedia was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. And despite concerns a larger stake would result in anticompetitive behavior, the Department of Justice approved Liberty’s request to increase its stake beyond 5% in July 2020. Liberty Media could take a piece of UMG and add intellectual property to a “full stack,” vertically-integrated media company. On paper at least, Universal could woo artists by offering exposure on Liberty-owned broadcasters and with concerts on Live Nation-run tours and festivals. It ...
Reducing Artists’ Royalties for Promotion — Haven’t We Heard That Before? (Guest Column)
At the moment, Spotify says Discovery Mode will only apply to the radio and autoplay playlists (the tracks you hear when the playlist or album you were listening to ends). Make no mistake, Spotify is explicitly clear that they intend to expand this “pay for play” program to other “personalized” areas of the service. More opportunities to connect with new listeners and innovative tools are always appreciated, but Discovery Mode brings into question the credibility of Spotify’s recommendation engine. From its beginning Spotify proudly stated that it would be a good partner and maintain a democratized service that would never allow the proverbial “thumb on the scale.” Again, and again, we were assured that all artists would have a fair and impartial chance of success. We were promised that th...
Publishing Briefs: Sacem and Spotify Extend Contract; WCM Signs Vinylz
Bolstered by its expertise in the management of authors’ rights in the digital sphere, Sacem has consolidated its position as a leader in collective management by regularly renegotiating its agreement with Spotify over the years in order to guarantee its members the fairest possible remuneration for the use of their works. Together, Sacem and Spotify will continue to explore this ever-changing and strategic market for the entire music ecosystem. Warner Chappell Music signed a worldwide publishing agreement with multi-platinum record producer Vinylz. He’s become a go-to producer for numerous stars like Travis Scott, Drake, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and many more. “I couldn’t be happier to be reunited with Vinylz. We’ve had a great, longstanding successful relationship spanning...
Danny Wimmer Presents Files Counterclaim Against AEG in Festival Dispute
AEG’s attorneys claim that Wimmer and company chief executive Danny Hares “relied upon deceit and fraud to achieve its goal” to create duplicate events, saying the 2019 Epicenter festival at Rockingham Festival Grounds was a carbon copy of the Carolina Rebellion festival, while Sonic Temple at MAPRE stadium in Columbus was an alleged knock off of Rock on the Range which had taken place at the same facility. Both Epicenter and Sonic Temple lost money in their launch, and if AEG really believes they have ownership in the events, they should help cover the losses, DWP Attorney Johnny White beginning in 2015 that AEG refused to commit to the event more than a year in advance. But LA-based DWP says they launched the competing events after reaching an impasse with AEG...
‘She’s Perfect Right Now for Top 40’: How Ariana Grande Made History at Pop Radio
Grande has spent much of the past decade finding success at top 40 radio: “POV,” which moves up to No. 7 on this week’s chart (while “Positions” drops to No. 8 and “34+35” holds at No. 9), is the superstar’s 19th top 10 hit on the Pop Airplay chart. Since her first top 10 hit came in June 2014 with her Iggy Azalea collaboration “Problem,” Grande has become the most consistent top 40 presence in the Pop Airplay chart’s upper tier, with her 19 top 10 hits the most of any artist in that nearly seven-year time frame (Justin Bieber comes in second, with 15 top 10 hits). Now, with a record three concurrent top 10 hits on the chart, Grande has demonstrated just how dominant her blend of traditional pop, R&B, hip-hop influences and powerhouse vocals have become at the format. “Listeners love h...
Elle King Now Getting Team Support From RCA and Sony Music Nashville
King and Lambert collaborated with Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes and Caylee Hammack on a remake of Elvin Bishop’s “Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” which snagged an ACM Award last year as music event of the year. Additionally, King’s 2016 duet with Dierks Bentley, “Different For Girls,” hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and also won a CMA Award for musical event of the year. “I’ve met some of the most badass songwriters and artists and had some of the most rock & roll experiences of my life in country. So I think we’re gonna get along just fine,” said King in a statement. “Plus, I’m always trying to prove to my PaPaw in Ohio that I haven’t forgotten my roots or where I came from, so this helps a lot.” King, who is managed by Nashville-based Mary Hilliar...
Tencent Music Reports Steady Q1 as China’s Streaming Market Grows
In 2020, China had the fourth largest music streaming market globally, growing 90.7% to $718 million, according to IFPI. Just as Western music services are jumping into podcasts, TME is making a hard push into long-form audio — mainly audiobooks — in what Cussion Pang, chairman of Tencent Music, said in a statement is an “evolution into an all-in-one online music and audio entertainment destination in China.” TME isn’t turning this plan into more money just yet: average revenue per subscriber dropped 1.1% to 9.3 yuan ($1.44) from the first quarter of 2020. Long-form audio does, however, make the music apps stickier by increasing engagement: in Q1 2021, the percent of monthly active users who listened to long-form audio improved to 20.0%, compared to 5.5% in Q1 2020 and 15% in Q...
Amazon Music Drops HD Tier to $9.99, Shaking Up Hi-Fi Streaming Market
Amazon’s success with its HD service, which has grown 100% year-over-year, has pushed Spotify to announce a Hi-Fi tier as well, with rumors of an Apple Music Hi-Fi plan possibly also priced at $9.99 a month. For years, the music industry was focused on using high-fidelity audio streaming as a means to raise the average revenue per user with higher-priced subscriptions. That would mean bigger payouts for rights holders and the streaming services. But with Amazon, Spotify, and Apple all getting in on the high-fidelity push, the labels have become more amenable to lowering the price of high-fidelity tiers in the hopes of increasing the overall number of subscribers across the industry. “The other services are coming around to the fact that this is really important.” Boom says. “And that ...
Apple Music Announces Hi-Fi Streaming at No Additional Cost
“Apple Music is making its biggest advancement ever in sound quality,” Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats said in a statement. “Listening to a song in Dolby Atmos is like magic. The music comes from all around you and sounds incredible. Now we are bringing this truly innovative and immersive experience to our listeners with music from their favorite artists like J Balvin, Gustavo Dudamel, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Kacey Musgraves, The Weeknd, and so many more. Subscribers will also be able to listen to their music in the highest audio quality with Lossless Audio. Apple Music as we know it is about to change forever.” Apple Music is also launching spatial audio (with support from Dolby Atmos) for music, which will allow artists to re...
Universal Music’s Spotify Stock Could Be Worth $2B
If it still holds the shares, their current value is $1.45 billion — which would yield a profit of nearly $1.4 billion if sold at Friday’s share price. UMG and the other major labels, Sony Music and Warner Music Group, each took equity as part of their licensing deals that allowed Spotify to launch in the U.S. in 2011. As of Dec. 31, UMG maintained a larger equity stake in Spotify than any of its competitors. Sony Music sold half its 5.707% stake for $768 million following Spotify’s IPO in April 2018, leaving it 5.082 million shares a 2.85% stake at the time — a percentage that would have been diluted since then. (Based on Warner Music, meanwhile, confirmed in August 2018 that it sold its full 4% stake for $504 million. In March 2018 UMG committed to givin...
