branding
Amazon Music Launches In-App Merch Integration, Exclusive Artist Collections
“Bringing all this into the app in a fairly seamless way with Prime shipping, we think it’s going to really help drive sales,” says Sean McMullan, director of artist product and services at Amazon Music. He adds, “We think that bringing merch in is one way to really enhance that artist-fan connection and make it a more compelling experience. We’ll continue to experiment with lots of different ways to get it in front of customers in the right way.” When asked about Amazon’s share of merchandise sales on the platform, McMullen wouldn’t disclose terms, saying simply that the percentage of revenue splits “varies” from artist to artist. Along with the announcement, Amazon Music will debut exclusive merchandise collections from several artists. These include a new a...
Live Nation Expects to Ramp Up Business in Three Months With Government Green Light
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino shared new information Thursday (Feb. 25) about the company’s plans for the return of live music. Once the concert promoter gets government approval to operate above a 50% capacity in the majority of territories where it hosts concerts, Rapino estimates the rehiring of employees and rescaling of the company will take three months. “We’ve been talking to our global employees about that kind of timeline when we can [promote] our first show at scale,” Rapino told analysts and investors on a company conference call Thursday for the company’s year-end earnings report. During the three-month period, the company will “start bringing back marketing, production [and] all the kind venue functions” adding that the company can expect to ramp up “between the onsale or the...
The Village Voice Is Returning With Updated Website, Print Edition
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. At the time of its closure, Barbey said the venerable title had bore the brunt of “the increasingly harsh economic realities” facing those creating journalism. In the years since, its website and social channels have been refreshed with articles posted from the vault. From next year, the site will get a revamp with fresh content. Also, the New York Times quotes Street Media CEO Brian Calle as saying the Village Voice will include a print periodical, expected to be published each quarter. “I think a lot of people will be hungry for this and I’m superoptimistic,” Calle told The Times. The Village Voice was the country’s first alternative newsweekly, founded in 1955 by a group that included legendary writer Norman Mailer. The title “r...
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...
Now You Can Buy the Travis Scott Cologne and Scented Candle
Announced Monday (Nov. 30), the new TRAVX collaboration yields the exclusive Space Rage range, available in a bottle of Eau De Parfum (priced at $285) and as a scented 240g candle ($95). The high-end fragrances are said to have been developed over “many months” by the Houston rapper and the founder of BYREDO, Ben Gorham. Scott has kept busy during the pandemic. Earlier this month, the hip-hop star launched the Cactus Jack Foundation in his hometown, a project which provides educational and creative resources for the next generation of youth. Separately, Scott has worked on partnerships with PlayStation, McDonald’s and Fortnite and he recently announced his Astroworld festival would return in 2021, after skipping this year’s edition due to the health cri...
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 ...
IBEDC implements revised service tariff
The Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) says it has began implementation of the revised service-based reflective tariff as approved by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). IBEDC Head, Branding and Corporate Communication, Ms Angela Olanrewaju said this in a statement in Ibadan on Tuesday. She said that customers on the pre-paid platform would be the first to experience the revised new tariff which took effect from Nov.1. “Our post-paid customers revised tariff will reflect in the electricity bills they receive at the end of November 2020. “Kindly recall that the new tariff is divided into five bands and based on hours of supply to customers, measured by the daily average availability of supply over a month. “Customers on bands A, B and C will see some level of...
Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Letter To You’ Opens Big Lead In U.K. Chart Race
At the midweek point, it’s outselling the rest of the Top 5 combined, and is the most-purchased album (physical and download) and most-streamed new release so far this week. Damon Albarn’s virtual group Gorillaz have the No. 2 album on the chart blast with Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez (Parlophone). Should it stay on course, Song Machine will be Gorillaz’ 6th Top 5 album. Next up, at No. 3, is English rock band Nothing But Thieves with Moral Panic (RCA), which should become their third successive U.K. Top 10 album, while Blossoms’ lockdown covers collection In Isolation (EMI), recorded at the Plaza Theatre, starts at No. 4. Completing an all-new Top 5 is Faithless’ All Blessed (BMG). It’s the veteran British electronic act’s first album of new material in 10 years, and first rele...
Budweiser Crowns Halsey as Its ‘King’ For Latest Campaign
Being a king is all about chasing after a dream and making a name for yourself, whether it’s rearranging the letters in your name to make a moniker that matches a subway station in the next state over, or it’s leaving your home country in pursuit of making the best beer in the world, like Budweiser founder Adolphus Busch set out to do in 1876. “Budweiser views being a king as a mindset, and I was honored that they choose me to break down the gender association of the word ‘King’ and allow me to tell my story,” the Hopeless Fountain Kingdom singer tells Billboard. “I think being a king is about finding self-confidence, embracing your power and celebrating all of the little things that have made you who you are. Nothing is ‘...
ICM Models, Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber & More to Return Fraction of $1.7M Fyre Fest Promo Fees
A dozen of the agency’s models appeared in a video promoting the disastrous event that defrauded attendees and investors. ICM Models and its clients Bella Hadid, Hailey Bieber, Alessandra Ambrosio, Chanel Iman, Elsa Hosk, Shanina Shaik, Nadine Leopold, Hannah Ferguson, Alyssah Ali, Rose Bertram, Daniela Lopez and Gizele Oliveira have reached a settlement over a combined $1.7 million fee they received for promoting the disastrous Fyre Festival in 2017. In total, they will have to repay $150,000 to a settlement account set up for the festival victims. Baldwin, Bieber, Iman and the other IMG models appeared in bathing suits in a promotional video that announced the festival, promising two “transformative” weekends that “would exceed all expectations.” While the models, along with social...
Biggie’s Son CJ Wallace Releases His First Music as He Grows Social Impact Company
Over a Zoom video interview, Christopher “C.J.” Wallace, Jr. holds up his dad’s jersey that almost eclipses Wallace and the entire computer screen. “It’s a 5XXL,” Wallace tells Billboard. On the back of the jersey, ‘POPPA” is stitched in bright yellow letters against the hunter green fabric. The young entrepreneur was only five months old when his father, The Notorious B.I.G., was killed. Now 23, Wallace has finally done something he says he was “very scared of for the longest time”: releasing his own music, inspired by his dad’s. “I just avoided it because you don’t wanna mess up anything great,” says Wallace. Born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, Wallace has been in the process of building his own legacy with Think BIG — a social impact company that he co-founded with bu...
The Deals: Little Simz Renews AWAL Recordings Contract, Licensing Service Lickd Strikes UMG Partnership
Mercury Prize-nominated rapper and songwriter Little Simz (a.k.a. Simbi Ajikawo) has renewed her partnership with AWAL Recordings, which provides a full range of services including global marketing and promotion, digital and physical distribution, campaign coordination, A&R support, synch licensing and brand partnerships. Little Simz garnered acclaim with her most recent album, GREY Area, which was released on her own label, Age 101, via AWAL. In addition to the Mercury Prize, she has been nominated for AIM and BET Awards; additionally, she won the Q Award for best vocal performance and the NME Award for best British album. She has toured with Gorillaz, Lauryn Hill and Anderson .Paak and also starred in the Channel 4 crime drama Top Boy, which currently airs on Netflix. Little Sim...
