business
Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’ Climbs to Australian Chart Summit
There’s a new leader on the ARIA Albums Chart as London Grammar’s Californian Soil (Dew Process/Universal) debuts in the top spot. It’s their first No. 1 in three tries. California Soil is the followup to Truth Is A Beautiful Thing, which hit No. 3 in June 2017, while their debut If You Wait reached No. 2 in September 2013. The British trio will tour these parts in February 2022. The Offspring narrowly miss out on a third crown with Let The Bad Times Roll (Concord/Universal), the U.S. punk veterans’ first LP in nine years. Bad Times rolls in at No. 2 for their eighth Top Ten in Australia. The Offspring previously ruled the ARIA Albums Chart with Smash (February 1995) and Americana (January 1999). Finally, international artists Alex Henry Foster and AJ Tracey make their ARIA Chart debu...
How Billie Holiday’s Estate Has Led ‘An Afterlife of Tragedy’
“It’s not right that someone who was as awful to Billie Holiday as Louis McKay was would then have control of her likeness and her money,” says Danyel Smith, a former Billboard editor whose Shine Bright: A Personal History of Black Women In Pop is due early next year. “And it’s insane, at the end of the day, control of her money and likeness is in the hands of people who didn’t know her or have a relationship with her.” The last year has been unusually active for Holiday’s estate. She’s the subject of two movies: The United States vs. Billie Holiday, plus the Billie documentary that started streaming on-demand in December. Her haunting recording of the civil rights classic “Strange Fruit” took off during last su...
Lagos: Police arrest protesting Uber, Bolt drivers
The police in Lagos have arrested some members of the Professional E-hailing Drivers and Private Owners Association (PEDPA), the umbrella body of e-hailing ride companies including Uber and Bolt, who had embarked on an industrial action over the services rendered by the platforms. Five drivers, including the president of PEDPA, Idris Shonuga, were arrested on Tuesday. Speaking on the arrest, Kolawole Aina, the Regional Vice President PEDPA, South-west, said the drivers were picked up by the police at the National Stadium in Surulere while they were gathering for a peaceful march to Alausa. Newsmen reported that Bolt and Uber drivers commenced strike on Monday to express their displeasure over the “unfavourable pricing” of the companies and its impact on their business. Shonuga, who listed ...
How Porter Robinson Found ‘The Confidence I Used To Have’ To Finish His Long-Awaited Second Album
The album’s punchy, soaring lead single, “Get Your Wish,” arrived in early 2020, with a second, “Something Comforting,” following on March 10, just as much of the world went into lockdown. Originally intended for a September 2020 release date, Nurture was pushed back due to the pandemic, giving Robinson additional time to more or less remake the project. He wrote new songs, replaced existing music and expanded the album from 11 to 14 tracks. Writing on a piano, he composed, recorded and sang every song himself, pitching up his vocals to often sound childlike and feminine — an effect he was relieved to find out can be recreated in real time when he sings during future live performances. Robinson performed his only set of 2020 during his livestream festival, Secret Sky, a 14-h...
How to Watch Today’s Senate Hearing on App Store Fairness
Apple and Google will take the hot seat at a Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee hearing examining the companies’ app stores today (April 21), where Spotify legal official Horacio Gutierrez will testify as a witness. The hearing will address the Silicon Valley tech giants’ power over the digital app market through their app stores. Developers must pay Apple and Google between 15 and 30 percent of their revenue to appear on the companies’ app stores, without a clear alternative to reach consumers. Gutierrez is head of global affairs and chief legal officer at Spotify, which filed an antitrust complaint in the EU in March 2019 alleging that Apple abused its control over which apps appear in its app store to limit competition with Apple Music. You Deserve to Make Mo...
Paul McCartney, Chris Martin Join Pleas for Streaming Royalty Reform
The letter, backed by the Musicians’ Union and U.K. songwriters and composers body The Ivors Academy, is also signed by Bob Geldof, Boy George, Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, Jimmy Page and Kate Bush. It comes amid a U.K. Parliamentary probe into the streaming business that has seen major labels’ dominance of the market emerge as a central issue. The inquiry, which is being led by the Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) Committee, is looking into the economic impact music streaming is having on artists, record labels and the wider music industry. The first stage of the inquiry concluded March 22 with government minister Caroline Dinenage saying she would support a referral of the three biggest music companies — Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music — to the CMA. Rou...
London Grammar Hurtling to U.K. Chart Crown With ‘Californian Soil’
It’s an all-new Top 5 on the Official Chart Update, which sees AJ Tracey’s second studio album Flu Game (Revenge Records) at No. 2 (it’s the most-streamed album of the week so far); followed by The Offspring’s first new album in almost a decade, Let The Bad Times Roll (Concord); veteran Irish rock singer Imelda May’s sixth LP 11 Past The Hour (Decca); and blues-rock band Greta Van Fleet‘s sophomore LP, The Battle at Garden’s Gate (EMI), respectively. Taylor Swift’s current leader Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (EMI) looks likely to lose its crown after one week. It slumps 1-7 on the midweek chart. Meanwhile, a boxed set reissue of Jethro Tull’s A (Rhino) could catapult the 1980 album into the Top 10 for the first time. It’s at No. 8 on the chart blast. Rounding out the Top 1...
MLC Collects $40M for January, Makes First Rights Holders Payments
Overall, the MLC said that the mechanical pool of revenues amounted to slightly more than $53 million in royalties, which means that direct deals between services and publishers account for approximately $13 million. The Music Modernization Act and its regulations allow the services to carve out, or withhold, that portion of royalty funds from the MLC and instead pay them directly to the publisher. What amount is actually paid to the publishers for those direct deals is unknown because a publisher with a direct deal might negotiate a rate higher than the statutory rate; and if they do, that higher amount comes out of the service’s pocket, not the mechanical pool. But even though the MLC doesn’t collect those funds, it still gets the play reports for songs that are involved in those direct ...
Congress Members Call on Biden to Investigate Live Nation
The letter points to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report, which concluded that Live Nation holds more than 80% of the U.S. venue ticket sales market. It goes on to add that the Department of Justice has found that the promoter has repeatedly violated the terms of the agreement over the course of the last 10 years by threatening venues and forcing the bundling of artists with ticketing services. In 2019, Live Nation reached a settlement with the DOJ’s antitrust division agreeing to extend the 2010 consent decree governing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation to 2025 and clarifying rules regarding threats and retaliation against venues that don’t sign with the ticketing giant. “We believe the prior admin...
2021 ACM Awards Demonstrate What an Inclusive Future In Country Music Could Look Like
The organic nature of the performances was one of the show’s major strengths. Instead of force-fed inclusion, the Academy’s pairings allowed the art to speak for itself, proving that country music should be a place where anyone — regardless of who they are or what they look like — can feel like they belong. This year’s nomination pool saw a record four Black artists up for awards (Jimmie Allen, Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton, and John Legend for a Carrie Underwood collaboration), a milestone ACM CEO Damon Whiteside called “a big step in the right direction.” The broadcast featured a handful of Black artists across genres performing alongside white country superstars, bringing inclusivity and their shared love of music to the forefront. Guyton, who co-hosted the festivities with Keith Urban, per...
Billboard Parent P-MRC Strikes Deal to Invest In SXSW
South by Southwest has struck a deal with P-MRC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC that includes publishing brands such as Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, that will make P-MRC a long-term partner and stakeholder in the festival, the companies announced in a joint release Sunday night (April 18). South by Southwest has struck a deal with P-MRC, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and MRC that includes publishing brands such as The Hollywood Reporter, that will make P-MRC a long-term partner and stakeholder in the festival, the companies announced in a joint release Sunday night. P-MRC — whose holdings also include Rolling Stone, Variety and Vibe — will bring “media expertise and new avenues for discovery” to...
Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’ Chasing Fourth Week at No. 1 In U.K.
While Lil Nas X appears to have the upper hand in the chart battle, there’s plenty of action down below. Riton x Nightcrawlers’ club track “Friday” featuring Mufasa & Hypeman is the most downloaded song of the weekend, and is on track for a new high. In its tenth week in the Top 10, “Friday” lifts 6-2, two places above its peak. At this early stage, the highest climber is Olivia Rodrigo’s “Déjà Vu,” up 26-12. The followup to “Drivers License,” it’s the second single from the U.S. teen’s debut studio album Sour, due out May 21. Meanwhile, singles from Tom Grennan, Masked Wolf, Mimi Webb, Ava Max and Silk Sonic are on the rise, based on the OCC’s chart blast. The Official U.K. Singles Chart is published late Friday local time. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates...
