Business news
Russia Blocks Instagram Amid Widening Social Media Crackdown
(AP) — Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national access to Instagram because the platform is spreading “calls to commit violent acts against Russian citizens, including military personnel.” Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram, didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Roskomnadzor specifically cited a Thursday tweet by Meta spokesman Andy Stone conveying a company statement saying it had “made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally viola...
CAA Names Hilary Krane as Chief Legal Officer
Creative Artists Agency has hired former Nike exec Hilary Krane as its chief legal officer. In her new role, Los Angeles-based Krane will oversee all legal matters, including strategic business initiatives, mergers and acquisitions and international expansion at CAA. That M&A activity includes CAA’s proposed acquisition of ICM, which the U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing for the impact of the major agencies’ proposed merger on the entertainment industry. The acquisition, unveiled in Sept. 2021, is looking to be completed in the second quarter of this year. “CAA’s devotion to, and consistent success for, the world’s top talent and brands unquestionably begins with its exceptional internal culture of service and collaboration. To play a role in that special environment and help ...
Downtown Launches $200M Fund to Support Indie Artists & Entrepreneurs
Downtown Music Holdings has established a fund to invest over $200 million in support of independent artists and entrepreneurs, the company announced Wednesday (March 9). The fund, which is supported by a new credit facility with Bank of America, will be spread across Downtown’s distribution, publishing administration and artist and label services operations. In a statement, Downtown Music Holdings CEO Andrew Bergman said the financing from Bank of America “enables us to expand our music services business by giving creators and business owners the ability to finance projects in an environment where the options are often unpalatable.” Downtown chief investment officer Alan Goodstadt added, “We are immensely gratified that Bank of America shares our vision of building financial solutions for...
Music Earnings Q4 2021: Taking Stock of Spotify, WMG, SiriusXM & More Companies
Most public music companies continued hot streaks by turning in good or excellent numbers for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021. For the majority of them, however, it would have been difficult not to impress in 2021 compared to 2020. COVID-19 shut down the touring business for three quarters of 2020, hampered brick-and-mortar retail for much of the year and hammered advertising spending, which affected radio broadcasters as well as streaming services. By the end of 2021, businesses’s main problems were rising costs and labor shortages, not unemployment and unpredictable consumer spending. Each component of the music ecosystem had encouraging results. The three majors — Universal Music Group, Sony’s music division and Warner Music Group — had combined revenues of about $25.4 billion, up 19.8%...
Netflix, TikTok Block Services in Russia to Avoid Crackdown
Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday (March 6) as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. TikTok said Russian users of the popular social media app would no longer be able to post new videos or livestreams and they also wouldn’t be able to see videos shared from elsewhere in the world. Netflix said it was suspending its service in Russia but didn’t provide additional details. The actions are likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services and technology products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday...
Executive Turntable: CMG Names Digital Marketing SVP, Atlantic Taps Viral Marketing Head
Rebecca “Dimplez” Ijeoma was named senior vp, digital marketing & content development at Capitol Music Group (CMG). Ijeoma will co-lead the company’s digital department alongside CMG senior vp, digital strategy, business development & operations Nicholas Osborne out of CMG’s Hollywood headquarters. In the role, Dimplez will be tasked with strengthening marketing collaborations with digital and social media partners through campaigns and projects, while focusing on direct-to-fan engagement and commerce on a marketing campaign level. Dimplez’s hire marks a return for the executive at CMG, where she previously served as director, digital marketing from early 2017 through more than half of 2018. In that role, she was a key force in launching R&B singer Queen Naija, among other proj...
With ‘Donda 2’ Stem Player Release, Kanye West Skips Streamers — And the Charts
After releasing 16 tracks from Donda 2 to his Stem Player last week, Kanye West is so far staying true to his promise to hold back the album from streaming services. The artist and entrepreneur, who now goes by Ye, reported $1.3 million in Stem sales via Instagram in the 24 hours after announcing Donda 2 would be released exclusively on his $200 proprietary hockey-puck-sized streaming devices, which allow users to remix songs as they listen. While new Stem purchases appear to come preloaded with 2019’s Jesus Is King, last year’s Donda and Donda 2, anyone who purchased the device when it was released last year can also upload the Donda 2 songs — or others — using their computer and a USB-C cable. Ye said at time of his Feb. 18 Instagram post that he had sold 39,500 Stem Players to date — fo...
The Ledger: The Major’s $25B in Revenue in 2021 Is Just the Start
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. Six years into the global music industry’s recovery, the largest labels and publishers are growing by leaps and bounds. The three major music groups — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group — had combined revenues of $25.4 billion in calendar 2021, up 19.8% from calendar 2020, according to Billboard‘s calculations. That annual growth rate was more than a four-fold improvement from the companies’ 4.7% revenue growth in 2020 after a slowdown in physical goods sales during the pandemic. Combined, the companies had an operating profit was $4.1 billion in 2021, a 44.3% increase, with...
Trending Up: Ed Sheeran Has Hits for All Radio Formats — Plus YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Yeat & More
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip. This week: As Ed Sheeran makes multiple radio plays, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and Yeat score viral hip-hop hits, and newcomer Maddy Zahm launches an emotional new trend. Ed Sheeran = Radio Ubiquity Although Equals (=), Ed Sheeran’s fourth solo album released last October, hasn’t risen to the level of chart-topping single success that 2017’s ÷ did (two No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Shape Of You” and “Perfect”), the project’s past six months have stil...
HYBE Revenue Jumps 58% to $1.1B in 2021 Following Ithaca Acquisition
HYBE, the home of BTS, blew past US $1 billion in revenue for the first time in 2021 thanks to the South Korean entertainment company’s acquisition of Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings. Formerly known as Big Hit Entertainment, HYBE posted revenue of $1.06 billion, up by 58% from 2020 and 114% greater than 2019. At the same time, operating profit lifted to $158 million, up 30.8% from the prior-year period. Ithaca Holdings helped HYBE’s album sales grow about 110% in 2021. Sales of HYBE’s Korean artists grew 18% to 15.1 million (in South Korea only). Ithaca Holdings contributed 7.5 million album equivalent units by SB Projects artists, mostly from Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, and another 4.8 million album equivalent units from Big Machine (HYBE’s earnings release gave U.S. sales only...
T.I.’s Grand Hustle Films Partners With HBCU for Film & Mentorship Project
Students at Marshall, Texas HBCU Wiley College will have the opportunity to assist in producing a film alongside Tip “T.I.” Harris’ Grand Hustle Films, it was announced Tuesday (Mar. 1). The film will be bankrolled with funds awarded by The Propel Center, a recently-established HBCU technology and learning hub that provided a $300,000 grant for the project. Last Wednesday (Feb. 23), students selected to participate in the project — which is designed to help increase representation in the entertainment industry — joined T.I., the founder of Grand Hustle Records, for a virtual lunch to announce and celebrate the partnership. “I know that there is just as much of a need to cultivate and support the young creatives in our communities as there is for the young scholars and the educators. This i...
Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre Announces Crystal Longo as General Manager
Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre has announced Crystal Longo as general manager for the 93-year-old building. Longo first served as deputy general manager for the theater in January 2020 before leaving due to the pandemic. Upon her return, Longo was asked to helm the venue that underwent a $95 million renovation between 2010 and 2015. Longo started her career in live music as a bartender at New York’s iconic Webster Hall while in college. The New York native then made her way to Hammerstein Ballroom where she worked her way up from operations and concessions to booking and venue management before joining The Bowery Presents as director of operations. While with Bowery, Longo led the team at Times Square’s PlayStation Theater and worked on the renovation and reopening of Webster Hall in April 2019....
