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Helene Fischer Renews Deal With Universal Music Germany
Fischer has sold 16.3 million albums, counting equivalent streams and downloads, many of them as CDs, which still sell well in Germany. As of 2018, she had scored the top-selling album in the market for five of the previous six years. To get a better sense of how popular she is, though, remember that Germany has a population of 83 million – about a quarter that of the U.S. – and the German-speaking market is roughly 100 million. Fischer also hosts in “Die Helene Fischer Show,” an annual Christmas program on the German public television network ZDF. Fischer’s new album, Rausch, is due out Oct. 15, and the first single, “Vamos a Marte” – Spanish for “let’s go to Mars” – is a duet with the Puerto Rican star Luis Fonsi, who is signed to Universal...
David Bowie Estate and Warner Music Partner to Bring Icon’s Entire Catalog to Label
Among the artist’s later works covered by this new pact are 2002’s Mercury Prize-nominated Heathen; 2003’s Reality; 2013’s The Next Day; and his final studio album, 2016’s Blackstar, also shortlisted for the annual Mercury Prize. Blackstar dropped just two days before Bowie’s death, on Jan. 10, 2016. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Bowie a posthumous, first leader. The following year, during the 59th Grammy Awards, Blackstar swept all five awards it was nominated for. Warner Music Group has controlled the lion’s share of Bowie’s recordings since 2013, when the company acquired the Parlophone Label Group, following the split-up and sale of EMI. In the intervening years, WMG has pulled the trigger of several releases showcasing Bowie’s...
YouTube Is ‘Now the Largest Content Licensor in the World,’ Says Exec
Second-quarter advertising revenue at YouTube was reported at $7 billion, up 83 percent from the year-ago period, after $6 billion in the first quarter, up 49 percent. That don’t include subscription revenue generated by YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. Netflix recorded $7.3 billion in the latest quarter, up 19 percent, after $7.2 billion in the first quarter, up 24 percent. The executive also discussed content spending. “When you think about our payouts, we are now the largest content licensor in the world,” Kyncl said. He mentioned that YouTube’s partner program covers about 2 million creators, with the company paying out $30 billion to them over the past three years. Kyncl said to ensure diversity, companies must focus on it, including in hiring and c...
Ad.Ventures Is Ready to Bring Big Branding Dollars to Venues
“There is a ton of value that we could provide, simply by representing the same folks that are a part of NIVA through sponsorship brand opportunities and new business development,” Sternschein tells Billboard. He’s quick to point out that Ad.Ventures is a totally separate for-profit business that’s not part of NIVA, but says he hopes to help members compete for ad dollars against larger companies by representing multiple venues around the country to national and global brands. The concept for Ad.Ventures is fairly simple – major brands are increasingly looking for a scalable way to spend their marketing dollars and interact with live music consumers, but it’s difficult for a single indie venue to get a piece of the action. Promoters like AEG and Live Nation hav...
NAMM Nudges Winter Gathering to June, Citing Pandemic Challenges
No more NAMM Show in Nashville, in 2022 at least. The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is delaying its winter show to June, when the music trade show will be held in-person at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif. The show, where exhibitors showcase the latest in music gear and technology, was originally scheduled for Jan. 20-23 of next year. But according to a press release, concerns over the pandemic, new product development, available in-store inventory and travel restrictions led organizers to move the show to June 3-5. The new event, called The NAMM Show, will combine its winter and summer conferences, the latter usually held in Nashville. “The industry has not stopped evolving and innovating during the pandemic, and The NAMM Show is evolving as well,...
J.J. Cheng Named President of Latin-Focused Digital Service TuStreams
J.J. Cheng has been named the new president of all-Latin digital distribution company TuStreams, Billboard can exclusively announce. Cheng’s appointment to the Los Angeles-based position, which oversees global business strategies, was announced by TuStreams founder and CEO Tony Larios and is effective immediately. Calling her a passionate and “impactful global Latin music leader,” Larios said in his announcement that Cheng’s “cool demeanor and mastery of digital monetization, new strategic technology models to increase royalty profits, and data analytics in publishing and sound recordings are unmatched as a top authority in the space of public performance.” In her new role, Cheng, an award-winning music executive with a more than 20-year trajectory, and who wa...
BMI’s Revenue Keeps Growing, Despite Pandemic Setbacks
Although digital licensing peaked over the year, media and general licensing were dampened, in part by pandemic concerns, with general taking the greatest hit. Since fiscal 2019, which raked in an all-time high of $169 million in general licensing, revenue from general, public spaces like bars, restaurants, shops and concert venues — has dropped by 25%, and amounted to just $127 million in the past year. Meanwhile media licensing, which accounts for cable and satellite television and radio, decreased by 11% from last year to a total of $472 million. This is the first time in recent years that media has taken a dip and may be indicative of a major upcoming downturn for traditional TV and radio. In 2020, the category made $527 million in revenue for BMI, up by 3% from the previous year...
Warner’s ADA Adds Heads of US and International
“The independent music community is a vital part of Warner Music Group’s global business, and this move ensures that ADA is set up to continue super-serving our label partners and artists in the long-term,” said Kreidich. “With Marcus and Adriana at the helm, we’ll be organized to work even more strategically across the organization—accelerating our global capabilities and local impact as we push full speed ahead. I am thrilled to welcome these deeply respected, forward-thinking executives to the ADA family.” Siskind, known as “DL,” got started in the music industry in the late ’90s with the launch of his label and management company Mass Appeal Entertainment and over the years has worked with Lil’ Kim, Backstreet Boys, DJ Khaled and others. He formed the music comp...
StubHub Clears Final Hurdle of Viagogo Merger With Sale of Non-U.S. Assets
The sale ends a period of government-imposed silence between the two firms, which were allowed to communicate while the agreement worked its ways through the U.K. regulator system. “We are finally allowed to collaborate and begin planning the integration between the two companies,” says Jill Krimmel, StubHub’s interim president who said she will stay on as president once the integration is complete. That process couldn’t begin until the sale of StubHub’s international business was completed. It’s unclear how much Digital Fuel Capital paid for the international assets, which include 23 companies and limited liability corporations held by StubHub including its branded marketplaces in the U.K., Germany, Taiwan and parts of Europe through its Luxembourg ...
Neumos in Seattle, in a Pandemic: No-Show Rates Are 20-30%
What were your thoughts when you saw Bonnaroo was canceled? That was so brutal because that’s not even COVID that f–ked it. It was mother nature. People talk about Bonnaroo cancelling and are like, “Oh yeah. That sucks.” But they don’t think about the ripple effect. It’s massive. Bands are all routed around Bonnaroo and this impacts all those shows. They just got pummeled too. All the bus drivers, the lighting rig techs, and everyone lost jobs. It’s Manchester, Tennessee. That’s probably a huge economic driver for that city. It’s devastating. There were bands that were looking at that gig and thinking, “That’s going to pay my rent.” All those people are on-site building it out and they just got pummeled. Putting somethi...
Drake Raps About Owning His Masters on ‘Certified Lover Boy,’ His First Full OVO Album
Scorpion from 2018 was the project that allowed Drake to fulfill his contractual obligations to Young Money/Cash Money, which he rapped about on “Is There More,” the final track on Side A: “Soon as this album drop I’m out of the deal.” On Certified Lover Boy‘s final track, “The Remorse,” he boasts, “And you know what I’m on, blowing past ya, owning masters,” which indeed seems to be the case for the OVO rapper. For the new album, Drake also partnered with Republic Records — which is home to major superstars like Taylor Swift, who started releasing her studio albums starting with 2019’s Lover and beyond under the UMG label following her departure from Big Machine Label Group — to distribute&nb...
It’s Drake’s Day, So What’s With All the Phony ‘Certified Lover Boy’ Albums on Spotify?
Notably, the problem extends to text searches on the Spotify app itself. A text search for “Certified Lover Boy Drake” on Spotify turns up an album entitled Drake by the artist Certified Lover Boy as the top result. When searching only for “Certified Lover Boy,” a Spotify-curated playlist of the entire album – but not the album itself – appears. Spotify did not immediately respond to Billboard’s request for comment. A source says Spotify is working with the music industry to address the issue, which is common among albums from major artists. Each DSP separately routes which albums, songs and playlists are surfaced when voice requests are made through Amazon’s Alexa. When reached for comment, Apple denied the problem was an issue with their hardware. Google did not respond to Billboard’s re...
