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The Rolling Stones Tap BMG for Global Neighboring Rights, Extend Publishing Deal
BMG has signed up The Rolling Stones to represent the band globally in pursuing collections of master recording performance rights royalties when their songs are played on radio and television, also known as neighboring rights. While in the U.S., master recording performance royalties are only paid when music is played on digital and satellite radio — and not when tracks play on terrestrial radio or TV — in most other countries those rights receive royalty payments for that kind of play in addition to digital. This signing gives a big boost to BMG’s neighboring rights service, launched only six months ago. “If you are in the business of selling services to artists and songwriters, these are the kinds of client you dream of attracting,” BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch said in ...
Label Look: Hopeless Records On 20 Years of Giving Back
The venture grew out of Posen’s desire to, in his words, “do more than make bands rich and famous” — an undertaking that feels prescient in light of today’s developments, when seemingly every major music company (particularly in the wake of this summer’s Black Lives Matter protests) now makes a point of touting its social action initiatives. But Hopeless stands as one of the earliest labels, major or independent, to make giving back not just a side project but a core part of its mission. Running a record label was never a part of the plan for Posen, who as a film student at California State University, Northridge had his mind set on becoming a director. But that dream circuitously led him to establish Hopeless after the punk band Guttermouth — who had hired him to direct a musi...
Sony Music Names Jean-Sebastien Permal Director of A&R in Continental Europe & Africa
Permal, who was born in Mauritius, moved to Vienna in 2014 to pursue a career in music management and publishing. He joined Sony Music Germany’s label Four Music in 2017 before expanding his A&R role to encompass all of Sony Music’s labels across Europe and Africa the following year. “With his deep roots in African and European music, Seb is well positioned to connect the dots among our A&Rs across the world to help artists succeed on a global scale,” said Sony Music president of Continental Europe and Africa Daniel Lieberberg, whom Permal will directly report to. “He is one of the most creative and well connected executives in both regions and a most valuable source of expertise for our artists and creatives.” Since 2018, Permal has worked with Sony Music’s labels on a number of a...
Universal Music Publishing Buys Bob Dylan’s Song Catalog
Another factor, industry sources say, is that the generation of singer-songwriters who came of age in the sixties and seventies is at a point where they’re thinking about their legacies, as well as estate planning. On December 4, Primary Wave Music Publishing announced that it had acquired a majority stake in the catalog of singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks, in a deal that The Wall Street Journal reported valued her compositions at $100 million. That deal and Dylan’s could trigger more big catalog transactions. This is a unique prize, however. Among the songwriters of the rock era, only the Beatles are as influential as Dylan, the only songwriter to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The catalog includes more than 600 compositions, written over the course of six decades, including “Blo...
PRS for Music Proposed Livestreams Rate Scheme Draws Managers’ Ire
“For the sake of all artists, songwriters and the wider industry, it is crucial that this new format is allowed to grow and thrive,” the artists and managers say in their letter. “Charging artists up to four times the live rate strangles rather than nurtures this innovation.” Signing onto the letter were managers for such artists as Dua Lipa, Biffy Clyro, Liam Gallagher, Bicep, Fontaines D.C., Gorillaz, Yungblud, and Arlo Parks, as well as a group of songwriters. In a statement sent to Billboard, PRS for Music did not detail the proposed scheme for its Online Live Concert license, which it said was “still evolving.” The organization says the new scheme will allow the necessary rights to be licensed and says it welcomes “the many initiatives to move live concerts online.” The manager and ar...
Chance the Rapper Hit With $3M Lawsuit From Former Manager Pat Corcoran
Corcoran is suing for breach of contract, violation of the Illinois Sales Representative Act and unjust enrichment, among other counts. He is additionally asking the court to order an accounting of all amounts earned by the Bennetts beginning in Feb. 2013 — the date Corcoran says that Bennett agreed to pay him 15% commission on all touring, merch and album sales, among other income streams — as well as to enforce a sunset clause that will entitle him to future commissions for a three-year post-termination period ending Apr. 25, 2023. The complaint names as defendants Chance the Rapper, LLC as well as the rapper’s merchandise and touring companies Cool Pop Merch and CTR Touring. The 20-page suit (read in full here) narrates Corcoran’s years-long relationship with Bennett a...
Radio Disney Shutting Down Amid Restructuring
The rise of streaming audio and the pandemic-fueled uncertainty about the future of live music events also contributed to the decision. The shutdown will not affect Radio Disney in Latin America, which is a separate operation. “The difficult decision to close these two radio networks coincided with Disney’s recently announced structural changes that call for Disney Branded Television to sharpen its focus on increasing production of kids’ and family content for Disney+ and Disney Channels,” said a statement announcing the news. “Division leaders also took into account the fast evolving media environment that provides more personalized music choices than ever to a generation of young consumers, and the ongoing public health crisis that continues to affect in-per...
Roddy Ricch Dominates Apple Music’s Year-End Charts
As the year’s top album on Apple Music, Ricch’s Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial additionally spawned three more tracks that earned placement on the service’s top songs of 2020 chart: “High Fashion”, “Start Wit Me” and “Bacc Seat.” Ricch was additionally featured on the fourth most-streamed song of 2020, DaBaby’s “ROCKSTAR.” The year’s second most-streamed song on Apple Music, “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, had an even broader reach than “The Box” worldwide, charting in the top 5 on Apple Music’s Top 100 songs charts in 92 countries and reaching No. 1 in 62 of them. While “Blinding Lights” had fewer streams than “The Box,” it racked up the most listeners overall. One notable facet of Apple Music’s end-of-year charts this year is the inclusion of two new...
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...
Randall Poster’s Music Supervision Firm Search Party Acquired By Premier
Poster and Deutsch, who previously founded Downtown Music, have been friends since elementary school and attended Brown University together. Earlier this year, Deutsch approached Poster with the idea for the merger. “Can you imagine how much fun it is to all of a sudden have this exciting new opportunity with someone you’ve known since you were 12 years old?” said Poster in a statement. “We have always collaborated with the most interesting and important artists, songwriters and producers to create inspiring work. Josh has always held himself to the highest standards in the industry. It makes me feel great how excited he is to embrace not only me but the team I’ve cultivated and the work that we’ve done. In these transformative times, I can’t say enough about that support, friendship and f...
Capitol Music Group Looks to Larry Mattera to Lead Flagship Label
Mattera comes from more than 25 years of experience in digital marketing and music strategy. Most recently, he served as general manager and executive vice president of commerce and marketing at Warner Records since 2016. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing label operations and all artist and new release campaigns, including projects from artists like Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha, Lil Pump, Jason Derulo, Gorillaz, Gary Clark Jr, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Green Day. Before Warner Records, Mattera spent eight years as the senior vp of global digital accounts at WEA, Warner Music Group’s global artist and label service arm. He has also served at Amp’d Mobile, Island Def Jam (where he pioneered its digital marketing efforts with the creation of a New Media Department), Po...
Radiohead, Elbow Members Call for Better Streaming Royalties at Opening of UK Parliament Probe
Garvey and Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien were among a group of four artists and two industry analysts that provided evidence on the first day of the inquiry, which is anticipated to stretch for several months and will call upon executives at major labels and streaming platforms to answer questions. The Parliament probe — which so far is being done with witnesses testifying virtually, as the U.K. is in lockdown — is also addressing a lack of transparency in record contracts and opaque accounting practices, safe harbor provisions and the European Copyright Directive, which will hold online user-generated services like YouTube liable for unlicensed content. The inquiry comes at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has decimated income from touring, focusing artists’ attenti...
