Digital and Mobile
SiriusXM Boosts 2020 Subscriber Forecast on ‘Strong’ Demand
Audio entertainment giant SiriusXM has raised its 2020 subscriber forecast ahead of an appearance by CEO Jim Meyer at a virtual investor conference on Wednesday. SiriusXM now expects full-year self-pay subscriber net additions of approximately 700,000, up from 500,000. The company reiterated its financial guidance for the year. “Our business continues to demonstrate strong performance and favorable trends since we resumed providing our subscriber and financial guidance in conjunction with our second- quarter earnings report” following the initial hit from the novel coronavirus pandemic, Meyer said in a statement. “It’s clear that demand for SiriusXM remains strong – quite simply, consumers continue to find immense value in our unique audio bundle and all of the ente...
BMI Posts Record Revenue Despite Pandemic Hit to Licensing
Collections from April to June fell by an estimated $60 million, but a digital boost helped make up the difference. BMI generated $1.311 billion in revenue in the year ended June 30, 2020, a 2.2% increase over the $1.283 billion it reported in the year earlier period. Distributions were up too, totaling $1.233 billion — a 3.1% increase from the $1.196 billion paid out to songwriters and publishers in the prior fiscal year. Domestically, the performance rights organization collected $961 million, increasing 1.9% from the year-earlier period. Foreign receipts grew 2.9% to $350 million. As a percentage of revenue, that breaks out to 73.3% domestic and 26.7% foreign, a 0.2% shift in favor of international collections compared to the prior year. BMI estimates that its fourth quarter reven...
Building A Better Livestream: Crucial Lessons From Artists Who’ve Figured It Out
Practical advice from the players behind virtual concerts by Kane Brown, Dropkick Murphys, H.E.R. and Lissie. The first time singer-songwriter Lissie tried a livestream, in late March, she was at her then-boyfriend’s house in northern Virginia, and she had just managed to thank those in attendance — two dogs in the kitchen — before the camera fell to the floor. “This is so professional!” she declared. But over the months, both her equipment and her savvy became increasingly sophisticated, with the response to her ticketed streams strong enough to cover personal costs and make a charitable donation each time. (She also broadcast her rehearsals for fans who couldn’t afford a ticket.) On Aug. 2, she performed with a band and a dozen sound and lighting crew members at an empty Parkway The...
What’s a Livestream Worth?
How much is that concert in the computer window? Six months into the pandemic, here’s how artists are experimenting with pricing to see what consumers will pay. In April, Dutch DJ Oliver Heldens cruised the canals of Amsterdam in an open-air boat outfitted with turntables, blasting a set of future house music that was streamed on YouTube. The spectacle cost between $5,000 and $10,000 to produce, but Heldens made it free for viewers. He thought of it as a marketing expense to stay in fans’ minds as coronavirus lockdowns became the norm around the world, his manager, Dave Frank, tells Billboard. In the five months since, livestreamed concerts are slowly becoming a source of revenue, as well as promotion. These days, Frank, of management firm Milk & Honey, gets several livestream offers a...
Choosing A Livestream Platform: A Guide For Artists And Managers
The New Livestreaming Landscape Here’s how the leading livestream platforms stack up on revenue split, merch integration and more key variables for artists. When the coronavirus shut down the live industry, artists had no choice but to cancel or postpone their tours. Now they face an overwhelming range of choices as dozens of livestream platforms compete to be the next big virtual stage. Many of these livestream companies launched amid the pandemic, while new services are debuting on an almost weekly basis. They have much in common and are sometimes difficult to tell apart, but employ a variety of business models — including pay-per-view ticketing, sponsorship and virtual tipping. To help artists make an educated decision about which platform to use to reach their fans — or collect new one...
If You Stream It, Will They Come? Inside The Livestream Boom
Sessions founder Tim Westergren estimates the market for virtual concerts is worth $1 billion with the potential to grow to “tens of billions” in just a few years, but can that rate of expansion continue when actual live shows resume? At a 2007 Los Angeles music industry function, Ray Smith was pitching his new company, BE-AT.TV, to a high-ranking Live Nation executive. The business was focused on livestreaming electronic music festivals like Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival, and Smith says the executive’s reaction was not as he had hoped: “He was like, ‘Who the hell is going to sit at home and watch a bunch of kids partying on a laptop?'” Thirteen years and a global pandemic later, millions of music fans worldwide are doing just that, and Smith’s newly rebranded BeA...
Triller Aims to Drastically Boost Indian Audience With New JioSaavn Deal
Triller and leading Indian music streaming service JioSaavn have struck a new partnership designed to expand the video-sharing app’s reach in the country. Under the agreement, which was announced Monday, all music videos offered inside JioSaavn will be Triller music videos, further expanding the app’s visibility in the country. Additionally, JioSaavn’s main screen will prominently display a button inviting users to make their own Triller videos. The new partnership comes on the heels of India’s ban of Triller competitor TikTok in late June over national security concerns. Following the ban, Triller surged to No. 1 on Apple’s App Store in the country. “We couldn’t be more pleased to have partnered with not only the biggest company in India but one of the biggest and ...
Spotify Allies With ‘Fortnite’ in Apple App Store Battle
Spotify is backing Fortnite developer Epic Games in its new clash with Apple and the tech giant’s App Store, highlighting its own lawsuit over similar issues. After Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store on Wednesday because Epic Games had introduced a way for players to purchase its virtual “V-bucks” currency outside the payment marketplace, Epic Games filed a lawsuit that could have legal ramifications in the music industry. {“nid”:”9416468″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Sony Takes Minority Stake in Fortnite Maker With $250 Million Investment”,”relative_path”:”\/articles\/business\/9416468\/sony-minority-stake-fortnite-maker-epic-250-million-investment\/”,”media”:{“width”:&...
Reelz v. Reels: Network Sues Instagram, Facebook for Trademark Infringement
Instagram last week launched a new short-video feature called Reels — capitalizing on demand in the market amid privacy concerns surrounding TikTok and a looming ban of the ByteDance-owned app — and it’s already facing troubles of its own. ReelzChannel says the feature’s name infringes on its longstanding trademark. The network, which launched in 2006, says it reaches more than 50 million homes in the U.S. The suit, which was filed Tuesday in Minnesota federal court, where the network’s parent company Hubbard Broadcasting is based, claims Reels usurps Reelz’ goodwill and is likely to confuse consumers. {“nid”:”9429589″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Instagram Launches TikTok Competitor Reels”...
Publisher & Songwriter Streaming Royalty Rates Headed Back to CRB for Review: What’s in the Ruling
The Copyright Royalty Board went too far when it eliminated a rate ceiling from digital streaming services’ calculation determining music songwriter and publishing royalties. That’s part of the verdict from a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion that was made public Tuesday (Aug. 11), sending the CRB ruling back to the three-judge panel that made the verdict in a 2 to 1 split decision in 2018. The overall all-in music publishing royalty rate ceiling had previously been a part of the rate formula from 2008 to 2018. But will the 44% increase in royalties stand? {“nid”:”9431493″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Appeal Ruling on Publisher Royalty Rate Hike Looks to Favor Digital Services: Sources”,”relative_path&#...
Musicians Criticize Jeff Bezos’ ‘Willful Blindness’ to Twitch Music Royalties
While testifying at a congressional hearing late last month, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos admitted that he wasn’t sure whether or not the company pays royalties for the music users stream on Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch (it doesn’t). His response angered artist-run non-profit Artist Rights Alliance, which has sent a letter to Bezos challenging him to pay artists their fair share, as music streaming on Twitch continues to surge. “We were appalled […] by your inability or unwillingness to answer even the most basic question about Twitch’s practices in this regard,” the letter reads. “As Twitch uses music to grow its audience and shape its brand, the company owes creators more than the willful blindness and vague platitudes you offered du...
Appeal Ruling on Publisher Royalty Rate Hike Looks Like it Favors Digital Services Contentions: Sources
Spotify, Amazon, Pandora and YouTube have been handed a procedural victory on their appeal to a 44% royalty rate increase for songwriters and publishers, sources tell Billboard. The U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. that reviewed the digital services’ appeal on the Copyright Royalty Board’s (CRB) mechanical rate determination has thrown out the rate structure cobbled together by a majority of the board’s three judges, Billboard has learned. The ruling, which is under seal, could wash away the rate increase that the CRB judges — in a split 2–1 decision — had awarded songwriters and music publishers in January 2018. The CRB ruling was finalized in February 2019 and appealed by digital services a month later on grounds of procedural issues with how the CRB determined...
