Business news
Canadians Are Now Hitting 2 Billion Weekly Audio Streams
Canadian consumers are now streaming more than two billion on-demand audio streams per week — a new benchmark for the country’s music industry. For the third consecutive week, Canada hit the two billion-streams mark in the week ending Nov. 25, according to MRC Data. The total 2.047 billion streams were up 15.9% from the same period last year. Two billion on-demand streams in Canada are worth about 777,500 Canadian dollars ($610,000), according to an estimate by performing rights organization SOCAN provided to Billboard based on a quarterly average earnings of 0.000389 Canadian dollars ($0.000305) per stream. (“Keep in mind this is an average that considers many platforms each with their own variables,” a SOCAN representative stated. “This n...
Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey Announces He Is Stepping Down as CEO
Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey will step down as the tech company’s chief executive. Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s CTO, will succeed Dorsey as the company’s new CEO, effective immediately. Twitter announced the news Monday, with the company’s board unanimously approving of Agrawal as Dorsey’s replacement. Dorsey will remain on Twitter’s board of directors through his current term, which runs into 2022. Once his term ends, Dorsey told staff in an email (with the subject line “Fly”) that he will leave the company entirely. Current board member Bret Taylor will become the company’s chairman. “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years ...
Live Nation Among Stocks Down Amid Fears Over New COVID-19 Variant
Stock prices around the globe fell on Friday (Nov. 26) after the World Health Organization warned of a new, fast-spreading COVID-19 variant discovered in South Africa. One of the stocks affected most was Live Nation, which dropped 8.06% on Friday in a shortened day of trading. After rising from $67 a share a year ago to a 52-week high of $127.75 a share in early November, the stock closed at $112.66 Monday, then fell to $103.52 today. The Dow Industrial Average fell 905 points, or 2.5%, marking its largest one-day percentage drop since October 2020. The World Health Organization said on Friday that the new variant — called Omicron — “has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning.” The organization added, “Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection w...
Executive Turntable: AWAL Restructures Global Team, Trio of WME Agents Move to UTA
AWAL has announced the launch of a newly structured global team that will focus on audience development. London based Aaron Bogucki is moving from his role as vp, marketing to the new position of global head of audience development to spearhead the department. Bogucki will report jointly to Paul Trueman, general manager, U.K. & international and president, North America Ron Cerrito. AWAL’s new audience development team will specialize in identifying, targeting and engaging artists’ audiences as well as developing and executing digital-focused strategies and fan-focused marketing initiatives. The team will work with AWAL’s frontline marketing, creative and catalog teams. Bogucki said, “Having been a part of AWAL’s incredible growth and success over the past four years, I can confidently...
The Deals: Anderson .Paak Signs with PPL for Neighboring Rights, Víctor Cárdenas Pacts with WCM
Anderson .Paak, the rapper, singer, producer and drummer who recently released the album An Evening With Silk Sonic alongside Bruno Mars, has signed with music licensing company PPL for the administration of his international neighboring rights collections. The deal will help .Paak collect performance royalties for the use of his sound recordings around the world. He joins a roster that includes George Ezra, Rita Ora and ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus. .Paak established himself as a prominent artist before forming Silk Sonic with Mars earlier in 2021. The duo’s first collaboration, “Leave The Door Open,” resulted in .Paak’s first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent 18 consecutive weeks in the top 10. PPL CEO Peter Leathem said of the signing, “We are extremely pleased that Anderson .P...
BTS Brings Year’s Biggest Show Yet to L.A.’s Newest Venue SoFi Stadium
After a two-year absence, Global superstars BTS are returning to Southern California with a triple-play appearance at three venues in Inglewood for their Permission to Dance tour beginning this weekend. Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook are opening their first of four concerts Saturday, Nov. 28 at SoFi Stadium (next shows are Nov. 29, Dec. 1-2), accompanied by special live broadcasts of the concerts each night from the YouTube Theater. Then On Dec. 3., the group will cap off their historic run with an appearance at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball at the Forum. Explore Explore BTS See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The multi-show, multi-venue run is a first for Inglewood and SoFi Stadium at Hollywood Park, the new home of Stan Kroenke’s Los Angeles...
TikTok Hires Shavone Charles as Head of Diversity & Inclusion Communications
TikTok has tapped Shavone Charles to lead communications around the social platform’s diversity and inclusion initiatives. Charles joins TikTok next week in the newly formed role after serving as the director of communications and creative partnerships at VSCO, where she launched the #BlackJoyMatters campaign. Prior to joining VSCO, she oversaw global music and youth culture communications at Instagram and music and culture communications at Twitter, two positions that she created at both companies. Outside of her work with major tech companies, Charles is also the founder of two creative collectives, Future of Creatives and Magic In Her Melanin, focused on amplifying women of color and other underrepresented creators. “As a Black creator and advocate, I am thrilled to join the TikTok team...
How One of Live Nation’s Core Business Strategies Backfired at Astroworld
Travis Scott encourages his concert audiences to “rage,” so his Astroworld festival, which this year drew 50,000 fans on Nov. 5 to NRG Park in Houston, needs to be organized in a way that keeps attendees safe. But ScoreMore Shows, which produces and promotes the event, set it up in a way that several concert business sources say may have inadvertently contributed to the crowd surge that resulted in 10 deaths and hundreds of injuries, and that parent company Live Nation rarely exercises the kind of oversight over events organized by its subsidiaries that might have flagged these problems before it was too late. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The hands-off approach is by design. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino runs the company with a decentralized management strategy that encourag...
Tidal Launches Free Tier, Steps Into User-Centric Payments
Tidal is launching a free tier in the U.S. and is introducing a user-centric payment model for its premium subscription offerings, the company announced Wednesday (Nov. 16). The moves mark the first major shifts under its new parent company Square, which acquired Tidal earlier this year for $302 million. The streaming service now has three tiers for listeners to choose from: Tidal Free, which gives U.S.-based listeners free access to Tidal’s 80 million song catalog; Tidal HiFi, which offers high-fidelity audio and offline listening with a new feature called My Activity that will provide daily listening insights for listeners for $9.99 a month; and Tidal HiFi Plus, a $19.99 a month subscription that includes immersive sound options like Dolby Atmos Music and Sony 360 Audio and Master Qualit...
European Union backs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for WTO role
The European Union has endorsed former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Bloomberg reported. The business news outlet cited anonymous officials familiar with the matter that all the 27 EU member countries agreed on Monday in Brussels to support Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala. Bloomberg also reported that the United States has decided to back Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s trade minister, for the role. The position has been fiercely contested amongst candidates of different countries since Roberto Azevedo resigned in August. Last month, Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee were selected as the last two candidates in the contest. The EU’s endorsement is seen as a significant boost for Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, with the final winner expected...
