bbpro
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...
Jason Isbell, Grace Potter & More to Perform at Socially-Distanced Concert Vacation
Technology platform Topeka has announced a socially-distanced music vacation set for April 26-May 1 in Miramar Beach, Florida. Called Moon Crush, the five-day destination event will see performances by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, The Revivalists, NEEDTOBREATHE, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Lake Street Dive, Grace Potter, Shovels & Rope, Vintage Trouble, The War and Treaty, Sammy Rae & the Friends and more. Set during the Super Pink Moon of 2021, guests can attend with a trusted group of family and friends and reserve one of over 300 beachfront and beachside homes and condos. Each are conveniently located just a short walk or golf cart ride away from the musical performances at a local golf course. {“nid”:”9397840″,”type”:”post”...
R. Kelly Lawyer Says Singer Is ‘Suffering’ Mentally as Trial Date Set for April
A federal judge has ordered a start date in the trial of singer R. Kelly, according to information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. In a schedule set down by U.S. District Court Judge Ann M. Donnelly, jury questionnaires will be distributed between March 15 and March 25, 2021, jury selection begins April 6 and the trial kicks off on April 7. Kelly is facing charges in New York of racketeering, coercion of a minor, transportation of a minor and coercion to engage in illegal sexual activity relating to six different victims. The indictment alleges that for over two decades, R. Kelly was the leader of a racketeering enterprise made up of managers, bodyguards, drivers, personal assistants and runners who recruited women and girls to engage in illegal...
Wixen Music Publishing Hits Triller With $50M Copyright Lawsuit
Wixen Music Publishing is suing short-form video-sharing app Triller for $50 million alleging copyright infringement on more than 1,000 songs. Wixen claims that Triller has been “willfully infringing” its musical compositions by allowing its users to include them in videos without authorization or compensation, according to the 15-page federal complaint filed U.S. Central District of California Western Division on Tuesday. Triller’s app, similar to TikTok’s, allows users to create and share short videos that typically include music. Wixen, who administers more than 50,000 songs written and owned by its more than 2,000 clients — Tom Petty, Neil Young and Missy Elliott among them — alleges that many of their compositions are being used in the app without the proper licenses...
Rolling Loud Miami Reveals Dates and Headliners for 2021 Return
Rolling Loud Miami has revealed dates for its 2021 edition after it was forced to cancel this year’s festival in early April due to the pandemic. The three-day event will return to Florida from May 7-9 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Organizers for the festival say that all three of the 2020 headliners, which include A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott and Post Malone, will return for the 2021 edition. In addition, 99% of the 2020 lineup will perform next year with new artists slated to be announced shortly. {“nid”:”9449786″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Rolling Loud's 'Loud Stream' Festival Attracts 4M Fans”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/business\/touring\/9449786\/rolling-loud-loud-stream-f...
Big Neon Aims to Link Brands and Indie Venues With New Sponsorship Venture
Ticketfly co-founder Dan Teree and former Ticketfly executive and business parter Ryan O’Connor have launched a new initiative to link brands with music clubs looking to diversify their revenue streams. The Big Neon Network is a new offering from event ticketing platform Big Neon. It is being made available to both ticketing clients and non-ticketing clients who are looking to participate in brand deals, which will be brokered by Big Neon in exchange for exclusive access to the venue’s advertising inventory. For clients, this will create a new way to generate income both during and after the pandemic. {“nid”:”8487880″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Ticketfly Founder Dan Teree Launches Big Neon to Compete With Eventbrite ...
Round Hill Shares Slightly Up on First Day of Trading — What Happens Next?
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s initial public offering fell short of its $375 million target (it raised $282 million at $1 per share), which had been earmarked to buy a catalog of song publishing valued at $363 million — but there are contingency plans. According to its Oct. 19 prospectus, the publishing company anticipated the possibility of a gap and planned alternate options, including buying just a portion of the planned catalog acquisition instead of the whole thing. What’s more, Round Hill now has until Oct. 18, 2021, to issue the 83 million remaining shares, should market conditions support further fundraising toward the $375 million target, according to another contingency provision in the prospectus. {“nid”:”9482919″,”type”:”p...
How Ticketmaster Plans to Check Your Vaccine Status for Concerts: Exclusive
Here’s how it would work, if approved: After purchasing a ticket for a concert, fans would need to verify that they have already been vaccinated (which would provide approximately one year of COVID-19 protection) or test negative for coronavirus approximately 24 to 72 hours prior to the concert. The length of coverage a test would provide would be governed by regional health authorities — if attendees of a Friday night concert had to be tested 48 hours in advance, most could start the testing process the day before the event. If it was a 24-hour window, most people would likely be tested the same day of the event at a lab or a health clinic. Once the test was complete, the fan would instruct the lab to deliver the results to their health pass company, like CLEAR...
Spotify Scoops Up Podcast Ad Platform Megaphone in $235M Acquisition
It is little surprise that Spotify is making another big acquisition in the podcast space, following big deals with companies like Gimlet, Anchor and Parcast in the past two years. Since the beginning of 2019, CEO Daniel Ek has referred to audio as the future of the company, envisioning a world where Spotify was less dependent on music — and the content costs of such music — to gain and retain users, listener hours and, ideally, subscribers. In the past two months, Spotify announced a partnership with Chernin Entertainment to provide a pathway for its podcasts to turn into film and TV projects, and, through its Anchor platform, now allows music to be embedded into its shows without further licensing requirements. In late October, the company announced in its third quarter earni...
Racism on the Road: The Oral History of Black Artists Touring in the Segregated South
“We were happy, we were singing, we were joyful, we were away from home for the first time, youngsters on a magical show,” recalls Martha Reeves, lead singer of the girl group Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, who toured through the South as part of Motown’s pioneering tours in the early ’60s. “But being met with the hatred, it was alarming — especially when the bus was shot at.” Below, Billboard presents an oral history of Black touring artists in the ’50s and ’60s, including interviews with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers and one-hit wonders, stars from the Motown and Stax soul labels, and veterans of the Motown Revue and Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars. All remain shocked and angry at the racism they experienced, mostly in the South, but a...
Live Nation’s Third Quarter Earnings: Five Questions Answered
But the game of attrition could end next summer. Live Nation’s earnings call Thursday became outdated after news of a successful COVID-19 vaccine trial was released on Monday (Nov. 9). Its share price jumped as much as 38.7% Monday morning after drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine was 90% effective in a large-scale trial. The vaccine could be available late this year and widely distributed before the lucrative summer touring season. Keeping in mind the recent news, here are five questions that were answered with Live Nation’s third-quarter earnings. Where does Live Nation’s liquidity stand? Live Nation has enough capital to last through 2021. On Sept. 30, Live Nation had $2.6 billion of total cash and cash equivalents (vs. $3.3 billion in the second quarter), includi...
Warner Chappell Music’s Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall On a Global Future and Competing With ‘Fund Guys’
Moot is a London native who spent a decade at EMI Music Publishing before helping lead its merger with Sony/ATV, where he rose to president of worldwide creative before coming to Warner. Marshall hails from Los Angeles and spent 12 years helping to establish the independent powerhouse SONGS Music Publishing before its 2017 sale to Kobalt. Together, Warner Chappell has two executives with extensive backgrounds on the creative side of the business. So far, they’ve already applied those talents toward big-name signings (Frank Ocean, Thomas Rhett, the Quincy Jones catalog, the Pop Smoke estate); a revamped creative suite with a new department dedicated to creative services; a more prioritized global hierarchy, including new global heads of administration, international A&R and synchronizat...
