business
Denis Handlin’s Honorary Award Is Revoked Following Explosive Documentary
“Following ongoing reports of systemic bullying, discrimination, and misconduct under Handlin’s leadership at Sony Music Entertainment,” reads a statement from Kris Stewart, CEO of QMusic, the organization “could not let this acknowledgement and celebration of Handlin’s career stand.” Those reports have been mounting-up in recent months, and reached a crescendo with the ABC’s Four Corners investigation, for which journalist Grace Tobin spoke with more than 100 current and ex-Sony Music employees as part of the broadcaster’s probe into bullying, discrimination and misconduct at the music giant. The report, notes QMusic’s Stewart, “laid bare the undeniable fact that the culture under Denis Handlin’s leadership at Sony came at significant human cost.” He continued, “toxic workplac...
Sam Fender’s ‘Seventeen Going Under’ Opens Healthy Lead In U.K. Chart Race
It’s the outright leader on the midweek chart, and is outselling the rest of the Top 10 combined, according to the OCC. Fender’s set has a lead of 20,000 chart sales over his closest competitor, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (OVO/Republic Records). Also impacting the Official Chart Update is Trivium, whose tenth album In The Court of the Dragon (Roadrunner) swoops in at No. 3. If it holds its course, Dragon will give the U.S. metal band their second U.K. Top 10 and a peak entry. Electronic artist James Blake could also net a career-best chart position with Friends That Break Your Heart (Polydor), new at No. 5. Based on midweek data, fresh sets from Johnny Flynn (Lost In Cedar Wood at No. 11 via Transgressive) and We Are Scientists (Huffy at No. 15 via 100 Percent Records) are eying Top...
Pink Is Most-Played Female Artist In U.K. This Century
Adele (No. 6) and Little Mix (No. 9) are the only homegrown artists to crack the list, while Rihanna (No. 4), Kylie Minogue (No. 8) and the late Whitney Houston (No. 10) also appear. PPL’s most-played list is based on exclusive music usage and airplay data from U.K. radio stations and television channels. The association’s library contains data for over 15 million recordings, and it receives usage data from licensees describing the music used across billions of seconds of airplay. Pink was already a star in the U.K. before she broke through in the mainstream of her homeland. In her career so far, she’s racked up 36 Top 40 hits in the U.K., including three No. 1s, for 2001’s “Lady Marmalade,” a collaboration with Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim and Mya; 2002’s “Just Like a Pil...
Two-Thirds of Music Fans Favor Vaccine or Mask Mandates at Concerts: Study
Implementing COVID-19 safety requirements “is the number one thing anyone can do to take care of those around them and we are encouraging as many shows as possible to adopt this model,” said Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino in a letter to staff in August. MusicWatch, which surveyed 753 active music listeners, also found that just 6% of respondents would not frequent a venue where there were COVID-19 safety requirements. Only 15% of fans said they would be comfortable with attendees using “common sense” regarding vaccination and masking requirements for indoor concerts. As general manager of Tipitina’s in New Orleans, Brian Greenberg told Billboard in August that implementing vaccine requirements for his venue was met with mixed reviews. ...
The Script Notch Sixth U.K. No. 1 Album
With their sixth No. 1, The Script join an elite club of rock bands that includes Arctic Monkeys, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Kings Of Leon, Radiohead, Blur and Muse. The Specials blast in at No. 2 with Protest Songs 1924-2012 (Island), for the ska legends’ fifth U.K. Top 10 album, while Queen drummer Roger Taylor hits his first solo U.K. Top 10 with his sixth record Outsider (EMI), new at No. 3. Also new to the current frame is Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s sophomore duets effort, Love For Sale (Interscope), debuting No. 6. Hans Zimmer cuts a slice of history with his soundtrack to the new James Bond film No Time To Die (Decca). The album bows at No. 7 on the weekly chart, to become the highest-charting Bond title in the franchise’s history. The LP’s title track, led by Billie Eilish and featurin...
Facebook, Instagram Unveil New Controls for Kids
The new controls were outlined on Sunday by Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, who made the rounds on various Sunday news shows including CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” where he was grilled about Facebook’s use of algorithms as well as its role in spreading harmful misinformation ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. “We are constantly iterating in order to improve our products,” Clegg told Dana Bash on “State of the Union” Sunday. “We cannot, with a wave of the wand, make everyone’s life perfect. What we can do is improve our products, so that our products are as safe and as enjoyable to use.” Clegg said that Facebook has invested $13 billion over the past few years in making sure to keep the platform safe and that the compa...
The Kid Laroi and Justin Bieber’s ‘Stay’ Snags 13th Week at No. 1 In Australia
The highest-placed debut this week belongs to homegrown band Rancid Eddie, whose controversial song “Dry” (Independent) starts at No. 17. “Dry” has been a hot talking point in Australia’s music press throughout the week, with some artists and observers slamming its lyrical content as harmful and misogynistic. The band responded with a statement in which its members admitted to exploring “the dark sides of relationships in our lyrics” though “oppose hatred or violence of any kind against women.” Over on the ARIA Albums Chart, Drake’s Certified Lover Boy (Universal) returns to No. 1 for a third non-consecutive week at the top, equaling Scorpion (July 2018) as the Canadian rapper’s longest stint at the penthouse. Meanwhile, Taylor Swi...
Inside Track: RCA’s Top Two Execs Move West
A source tells Billboard the shift is in large part “because the creative community is in Los Angeles, including artist managers.” RCA had no official comment. With RCA employees still working from home during the pandemic, a source says there is no word on if there will be more shifts from the East to West coast. Mark Pitts, who was upped to president earlier this year, is based in New York. The company announced a number of other changes today, naming Jamie Abzug senior vp/head of publicity. Based in Los Angeles, she replaces Mika El-Baz, who holds the dual title of executive vp West Coast/ executive vp, publicity. El Baz is leaving at the end of this month, as is senior vp publicity Sarah Weinstein Dennison, who is based in New York. Both El-Baz and Weinstein Dennison have been with the...
Joss Favela Inks Worldwide Co-Publishing Deal With Warner Chappell Music
The 30-year-old Regional Mexican star, who has penned over 100 songs for artists such as Alejandro Fernandez, Banda MS, and Natti Natasha, made history at the 2016 Premio ASCAP as the youngest person ever to win songwriter of the year. He nabbed the title in 2017 and 2018. On the Billboard charts, Favela has entered Hot Latin Songs, Latin Airplay, Top Latin Albums, Regional Mexican Albums, and Regional Mexican Airplay, where he has five top 10’s. “When my love for music started I never thought that I’d get to spend my life writing songs,” he said. “I’m continuously surprised by the beautiful things that happen to me, and joining the Warner Chappell family is one of them. I’m grateful for the songs that life has given me, but I’m even more grateful for the ones ...
Kobalt Music Names Jeannette Perez as President and COO
Based in Los Angeles, Perez joined the company from Sony Music in February 2014, where she served as VP, music for brands & advertising/licensing and, before that, as senior director, soundtracks, film & TV music at RCA. “Over the past couple of years,” comments Hubert, “Jeannette has played a key part in Kobalt’s success. From creating one of the best synch teams in the business to advancing key DEI initiatives at Kobalt, she is an integral part of the company. I am excited to work in close partnership with her and to achieve new milestones for our clients.” Perez has racked up awards during her time with Kobalt, including recognition in Billboard’s Women in Music (2020, 2019), Billboard Branding Power Player (2019, 2018), Billboard International Power Play...
Canada’s Kilometre Music Group Closes Catalog Deals Encompassing Drake, Dua Lipa Hits
Across the deals, Kilometre says it acquired underlying copyrights and royalty streams associated with all the songs, but it did not purchase master recordings or revenues from masters. The company declined to reveal purchase prices. According to calculations by Kilometre, the fund now co-owns 10% of the 100 most-streamed songs on Spotify of all time, and 7% of Spotify’s “Billions Club” – songs with one billion streams or more. The Kilometre deals, along with recent acquisitions by Dutch music management company Pythagoras Music Fund, are the latest purchases of publishing catalogs worldwide by investor-backed song funds like London-based Hipgnosis Song Funds as well as the publishing arms of major labels Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. In recent mon...
Inside Track: Where Does Music’s Love Affair With Gaming Go?
Yes, you read that correctly. It’s not news that the music business wants in on that money. For years there have been collaborations across industries, including soundtracks for games like Grand Theft Auto IV way back in 2008 and ongoing partnerships spanning well over a decade to provide music for sports franchises like Madden and NBA 2K. But over the past two years, that relationship has rapidly expanded, reaching a fever pitch during the pandemic when gaming, in general, exploded around the world as people were confined to their homes and artists looked for new revenue streams (think Travis Scott partnering with Fortnite and Lil Nas X working with Roblox). Now many are wondering where this leads next. For rights holders, lawsuits are shifting to cooperation, most recently with the NMPA ...
