business
Astroworld Lawsuits — Nearly 300 & Counting — Will Be Combined Into Single Giant Case
The hundreds of lawsuits filed over the deadly Astroworld music festival will be consolidated into one enormous case, according to a court filing made public Friday (Dec. 3), signaling the start of the next major phase in the sprawling litigation. Four weeks after a crowd surge during Travis Scott’s Nov. 5 performance left 10 dead and hundreds injured, attorneys for both victims and festival organizers filed a joint petition Friday seeking to combine the cases – 275 and counting — into a so-called multi-district litigation before a single judge. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The two sides reached the agreement because they said such a consolidated proceeding was the best way to handle an enormous, complex legal battle that already involves 1,250 plaintiffs. “This type of litig...
UK Streaming Reform Bill Put On Ice After House of Commons Debate
LONDON – The British government said Friday that it recognizes there is a problem around the low rates of pay some artists and performers receive from music streaming — and refused to rule out legislating change if the industry can’t work together to find its own solutions. “We want a fair streaming environment in which the U.K. music industry can thrive and artists are properly rewarded,” George Freeman, a Conservative government minister, said during a four-hour debate in the House of Commons over a bill that seeks to reform music streaming payouts. The Copyright (Rights and Remuneration of Musicians) Bill failed Friday to progress to the next stage of the legislative process as proceedings overran. That means the bill remains on the agenda of Private Members’ bills to be debated by MPs ...
Two Men Charged With Stealing Over $20 Million in Latin Music YouTube Royalties
In what prosecutors are describing as a brazen case of fraud, two men have been charged with illegally collecting over $20 million in Latin music royalties. José Teran of Scottsdale, Arizona and Webster Batista of Doral, Florida were charged Wednesday (Dec. 1) in federal court in Phoenix after being accused of fraudulently monetizing over 50,000 songs through their company, MediaMuv. According to sources, and to a report published in Marketwatch, the men unlawfully collected royalties on songs from a wide range of Latin artists, including Piso 21, El Fantasma, Angeles Azules and Los Askis. According to the indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, Terán and Batista made false representations in order to claim more than $20 million in YouTube royalties in a scheme that ...
Red Rocks Amphitheatre is the Highest-Grossing and Most-Attended Venue of the Year Globally
In an unstable year for touring, an unlikely contender has risen to become the highest-grossing and most-attended venue of the year. According to data provided to Billboard Boxscore, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado is not only the biggest moneymaking venue with a capacity between 5,001-10,000 of 2021 but the top-grossing venue of any size, in the world, for the year. With 134 shows reported to Boxscore, the beloved, 9,500-seat outdoor venue brought in more than $61.6 million. To further contextualize Red Rocks’ extraordinary performance, the amphitheater out-earned the next highest-grossing venue overall — Las Vegas’ 20,000-capacity T-Mobile Arena, which took in $37.2 million last year according to Billboard Boxscore — by more than $24 million. The next highest-reported ...
My Chemical Romance and Gerard Way Sign With CAA
My Chemical Romance and lead singer Gerard Way have signed with CAA for representation in all areas. Both the group and Way solo will be represented by the agency in North America, Australia, Mexico, Japan, the Middle East and Africa. The Grammy-nominated rock band originated in Newark, New Jersey and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love independently in 2002. One year later, the band signed to Reprise Records and released Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004, which has now reached 3x Certified Platinum. According to MRC Data, My Chemical Romance has six charting albums on the Billboard 200, including three top 10s (The Black Parade which hit No. 2; Danger Days...
Netease Cloud Village Stock Slips 2.5% Following Hong Kong IPO
Chinese music streaming company Cloud Village finally had its initial public stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday (Dec. 2) after postponing its plans in August amid a Chinese regulatory crackdown. Investors’ initial reaction was underwhelming as Cloud Village’s share price closed at 199.90 Hong Kong dollars ($25.66), about 2.5% below the 205.00 Hong Kong dollars ($26.31) IPO price. Tech giant Netease spun off the company, which runs NetEase Cloud Music, in an offering of 16 million shares — 7.7% of the outstanding shares — that raised 41.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($421 million). NetEase gained approval for the spin-off on Aug. 2 but delayed the listing indefinitely about a week later after Beijing’s tightening regulations brought attention to publicly traded Chinese...
John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia & More Comedians Pulled Off Spotify Over Licensing Dispute
Spotify hosts a large offering of spoken word content on its platform these days, including comedy, podcasts, and poetry along with the music the platform has always been known for. Last week, however, on Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving, the streaming service quietly took down a broad swath of its spoken comedy recordings, including some of major comedy stars like Mike Birbiglia, John Mulaney and Jeff Foxworthy. Sparking confusion and outrage among these affected comedians and their fans, as of Wednesday (Dec. 1), a full week later, the Spotify takedowns remain in place. So why did this happen in the first place? Like music, there are two copyrights for a spoken-word comedy routine. First, the copyright for sound recording itself — for which many comedians collect royalties via SoundE...
Investigator Details How Jussie Smollett Took Brothers On ‘Dry Run’ Before Hoax Attack
Prosecutors’ case against Jussie Smollett has focused on how Chicago police say they determined that what they initially believed was a horrific hate crime was actually a fake assault staged by the ex-Empire actor with help from two brothers. Testimony will continue Wednesday (Dec. 1) in the trial, which is expected to last about a week. A lead investigator in the case, Michael Theis, said Tuesday that the brothers — who worked with Smollett on the Chicago set of Empire — detailed for police how the actor orchestrated the hoax. They said Smollett told them via text message to meet him “on the low,” paid for supplies including a clothesline later fashioned into a noose and took them for a “dry run” prior to the January 2019 alleged attack. Theis, who now is assistant director for ...
Las Vegas Police Investigating Trey Songz Over Sexual Assault Allegation
Police said Tuesday (Nov. 30) they’re investigating sexual assault allegations involving R&B artist Trey Songz at a Las Vegas Strip hotel. In a statement, Las Vegas police said sex crimes detectives received a complaint about a Sunday incident involving the singer and actor whose name is Tremaine Aldon Neverson. Sunday was his 37th birthday. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Neverson was cooperating with the investigation and no arrests have been made, said Officer Misael Parra, a Las Vegas police spokesman. Parra declined to name the hotel. A representative for Neverson didn’t immediately respond to messages. Neverson has had several legal issues in the past. He was arrested in January at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, but criminal charges were not filed after he...
Josh Groban’s ‘You Raise Me Up’ Didn’t Violate Copyrights, Court Says
A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Josh Groban’s 2003 song “You Raise Me Up” didn’t infringe the copyright to a little-known 1977 song, ruling that both songs were actually derived from the century-old folk song “Danny Boy.” Ending a three-year legal battle over Groban’s first big hit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a lower judge’s decision last year: That any similarities between the two songs originated in the famous folk ballad, for which any copyright has long since expired. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2018 by a company called Johannsongs-Publishing Ltd., which owns the rights to a 1977 song entitled “Söknuður.” The case claimed that “You Raise Me Up,” written by Irish-Norwegian band Secret Garden but popularized by Groban’s version, was “97% si...
ASM Global Taps Jason Oberlander as Chief Commercial Officer
Venue management company ASM Global is expanding its partnership division with Jason Oberlander, who has been hired as chief commercial officer. Oberlander will be tasked with expanding ASM’s naming rights and marketing partnerships for the company’s arenas, stadiums, theaters and convention centers. “We have the scale, consumer touchpoints and ability to integrate brands in—to music, sports, business, tech and more—that will drive value for the brands, content providers, venue partners and guests,” said ASM President and CEO Ron Bension in a release. “Jason’s extensive experience, particularly with IMG in forging new national partnerships with Fortune 1000 brands, will provide far and away the most diverse and enriching opportunities the industry has ever seen.” Oberlande...
UK Watchdog Orders Meta/Facebook to Sell GIF Platform Giphy
The United Kingdom’s antitrust watchdog has blocked Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy and ordered the social network to sell off the GIF-sharing platform, saying the deal hurts social media users and advertisers by stifling competition for animated images. The Competition and Markets Authority said Tuesday that the deal would let Facebook “increase its already significant market power” by denying or limiting other platforms’ access to Giphy GIFs and driving traffic to Facebook-owned sites. It has noted previously that there’s only one other big provider of GIFs, Google’s Tenor. The regulator also was concerned that the deal removed potential competition from the U.K.’s 7 billion pound ($9.3 billion) display advertising market, of which Facebook controls half. It’s the first time the watchdog...
