Business news
These Two Former Billboard Staffers Produced One of Rap’s Biggest Christmas Hits
Since the business of Christmas music is growing so fast – it occupies five of the top 10 places on the Billboard Hot 100 this week – we are re-presenting some of our stories from Christmas past. This piece, about how two former Billboard staffers produced the holiday hit “Christmas Rappin’” for then-up-and-coming rapper Kurtis Blow, originally ran in 2019. Since then, in 2020, Robert Ford passed away. One groundbreaking Christmas hit didn’t just make the Billboard charts — it was produced by two former employees. In 1979, J.B. Moore and Robert Ford left the magazine to produce “Christmas Rappin’ ” for an up-and-coming rapper named Kurtis Blow. Released on Mercury Records, the single went gold, and Blow became the first rapper to sign a major-label deal. At Billboard, Moore ...
Allen Becker, Who Built PACE Concerts Into a Live Promotion Powerhouse, Dies at 90
In the 1970s, Louis Messina visited the Houston Astrodome to check out the events his new business partner, Allen J. Becker, was putting on. “He’s doing boat shows and having Evel Knievel jump over 150 cars and thrill shows and demolition derbies,” Messina recalls. “I went, ‘Holy crap, there are 60,000 people here!’ A guy jumped from the top of the Astrodome into the air bag.” Becker, 90, who died Monday (Dec. 12) at his Houston home, first approached Messina, then a New Orleans rock promoter, in 1975 to form a concert-promotion partnership. Their company, PACE Concerts, went on to dominate Texas and much of the South for more than 20 years, booking stars from The Who to Bruce Springsteen to Rush. “Allen had an old saying: ‘I’d rather lose money with you than you make a dime without me’ — ...
SoundCloud Revenue Rose 19% in 2021 Thanks to Subscriber Growth, Creator Tools Adoption
SoundCloud Holdings GmbH and its subsidiaries reported revenue in 2021 of 230.7 million euros ($273 million at the average exchange rate in 2021 of 1.18308), up 19% from the prior year, according to audited financial statements published by the privately held company in Germany on Tuesday (Dec. 13). SoundCloud, which originally gained popularity for its embeddable streaming widget, has a unique business model that mixes tools for music creators and listening for fans. Fan revenue — from advertising and subscriptions — improved 16.6% to 143.3 million euros ($170 million), or 62.2% of total revenue, down from 63.5% in 2020. Revenue from subscribers grew 20% year over year and exceeded internal expectations, according to the financial statements. Advertising revenue was in line with exp...
SoundCloud, Third & Hayden Team Up for Joint Venture
SoundCloud has linked up with Third & Hayden, the Atlanta management and services company founded by music exec Kei Henderson, for a joint venture, the companies announced today (Dec. 5). The new venture will see Third & Hayden signing new acts to its label and developing them with the help of SoundCloud’s services division, which will provide marketing, A&R, distribution and promotion support, as well as financial backing. The first two acts to sign to the new venture are Los Angeles singer/songwriter Jordan Hawkins and Atlanta-based rapper Key!. The deal is the latest for SoundCloud’s new roster initiative, which has previously inked a joint venture with Quality Control’s Solid Foundation Management to work on new acts and signed distribution deals with Lil Pump, Tekno and Al...
The Ledger: Music Stocks Are Rebounding at the End of a Rough Year
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. After a miserable year for music stocks — and stocks in general — 2022 could end on a string of positive notes. As rising interest rates have hammered stocks and erased big gains made during the pandemic, the Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted group of 20 publicly traded music companies, is down 36.1% in 2022, and shares of vital companies such as Spotify and Warner Music Group are down 65.7% and 20.5%, respectively. But in recent weeks, the momentum has reversed dramatically. The Billboard Global Music Index is up 12.6% over the last two weeks and 14.6% in the five weeks since Oct. 28....
The Ledger: Music Stocks Are Rebounding at the End of a Rough Year
The Ledger is a weekly newsletter about the economics of the music business sent to Billboard Pro subscribers. An abbreviated version of the newsletter is published online. After a miserable year for music stocks — and stocks in general — 2022 could end on a string of positive notes. As rising interest rates have hammered stocks and erased big gains made during the pandemic, the Billboard Global Music Index, a float-adjusted group of 20 publicly traded music companies, is down 36.1% in 2022, and shares of vital companies such as Spotify and Warner Music Group are down 65.7% and 20.5%, respectively. But in recent weeks, the momentum has reversed dramatically. The Billboard Global Music Index is up 12.6% over the last two weeks and 14.6% in the five weeks since Oct. 28....
Jeff Blackburn Retires as Head of Amazon’s Global Entertainment Group
Jeff Blackburn is retiring. The head of Amazon’s Global Entertainment Group will sign off from the company in January after more than two decades with the retail giant and streaming platform. The moves were announced Friday via internal memos from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Blackburn himself. The news comes a year and a half after Blackburn returned from a yearlong sabbatical in a new role as head of the company’s global entertainment group that included combined oversight of music, audio entertainment, games and video for the company. Blackburn’s decision to retire comes after a busy week at Amazon. The e-commerce giant this week fully integrated MGM into its exec ranks after its $8.5 billion purchase of the storied studio closed in May. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Sal...
Concord Taps Bond Market With $1.65 Billion Asset-Backed Security
Independent music company Concord is the latest to tap into a growing market for music royalty-backed securities with Concord Music Royalties, LLC, Series 2022-1, a $1.65 billion asset-backed security. The bond will be supported by mechanical, performance and synchronization royalties from more than 1 million assets. The proceeds will be used to fund reserve accounts, pay transaction expenses, repay debt and for other general corporate purposes, according to a report by ratings agency KBRA. KBRA gave Series 2022-1 a preliminary rating of A+ (on a scale ranging from AAA to D), citing the “large, diversified catalog with globally recognized songs and artists” such as R.E.M., Plain White T’s, Creed, Evanescence, Genesis, Phill Collins and Mike + The Mechanics — the latter t...
Al Mair, Canadian Music Industry Pioneer and Attic Records Co-Founder, Dies at 82
<!– <!– _ _ _ ____ _ _____ _ ___ | | (_) | _____ / ___|___ __| | ___ | ____| |__|__ \ | | | | |/ / _ \ | | / _ \ / _` |/ _ \ | _| | '_ \ / / | |___| | Al Mair, Canadian Music Industry Legend & Label Founder, Dead at 82 – Billboard Skip to main content ad [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”category” title=”Select category”][flexi-form-tag type=”tag” title=”Insert tag”][flexi-form-tag type=”article” class=”fl-...
Twitter Users Can Soon Get Blue Check for $7.99 Monthly Fee
Twitter has announced a subscription service for $7.99 a month that includes a blue check now given only to verified accounts as new owner Elon Musk works to overhaul the platform’s verification system just ahead of U.S. midterm elections. In an update to Apple iOS devices available in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.K., Twitter said users who “sign up now” for the new “Twitter Blue with verification” can receive the blue check next to their names “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.” But Twitter employee Esther Crawford tweeted Saturday (Nov. 5) that the “new Blue isn’t live yet — the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time.” Verified accounts did...
Diddy Makes a Big Move Into Cannabis Game With $185 Million Purchase of Major Pot Players
Sean “P. Diddy” Combs never does anything halfway. On Friday (Nov. 4) the music/fashion/sprits/media mogul announced that he plans to make a major investment in the legal marijuana game with a $185 million deal to buy licensed weed operations in three states. If approved, the deal would create the nation’s largest Black-owned and licensed cannabis company, a platform Diddy said he wants to use to increase Black participation in the field. “It’s diabolical,” Combs, 53, told the Wall Street Journal about his desire to get into the pot business to help address long-running inequities that have seen Black people disproportionately arrested and jailed for marijuana crimes even as they make up a “tiny” percentage of the market for legal weed. “How do you lock up communities of people, break down...
The Latin Grammys Are Evolving — And Asking Members to Come Along
Just minutes after nominations to the 2022 Latin Grammy Awards were announced in September, Manuel Abud called all of the nominees in the best new artist category. “One of our nominees was at school,” the Latin Recording Academy CEO says, referring to 15-year-old Yahritza Martinez, frontwoman of sierreño trio Yahritza y Su Esencia. “She stepped out to take my call and then went back to class.” Artists don’t usually learn about their nominations in a personal call from the academy’s CEO. But Abud — who stepped into the new role in 2021, succeeding longtime president/CEO Gabriel Abaroa Jr. after 18 years — says a top priority is making the academy more accessible to the Latin music community. The goal is more participation and greater representation across what Abud calls the “four Gs”: geog...
