Magazine Feature
Jam Bands Lead a Concerts Revival, Aided By Livestream Boom
Jam bands have quietly become the surprise earners of the pandemic thanks to devoted fans and compelling livestreams, and are now poised to dominate touring as live concerts return. Unlike most pop and contemporary touring shows, jam and improvisation-heavy bands are constantly changing their sets and musical arrangements so that no two shows are the same, attracting fans willing to pay to see the same band play multiple sets of different material. Ticket sales for these kinds of acts have been exceptionally strong, says Don Strasburg, vp/senior talent buyer for AEG Live Rocky Mountains, though he’s hesitant to use the “jam” label, considering the genre’s diversity of styles from bluegrass to funk. Such acts that value “spontaneity and improvisation,” says Strasburg, “were already the larg...
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...
Warner Chappell Music’s Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall On a Global Future and Competing With ‘Fund Guys’
Moot is a London native who spent a decade at EMI Music Publishing before helping lead its merger with Sony/ATV, where he rose to president of worldwide creative before coming to Warner. Marshall hails from Los Angeles and spent 12 years helping to establish the independent powerhouse SONGS Music Publishing before its 2017 sale to Kobalt. Together, Warner Chappell has two executives with extensive backgrounds on the creative side of the business. So far, they’ve already applied those talents toward big-name signings (Frank Ocean, Thomas Rhett, the Quincy Jones catalog, the Pop Smoke estate); a revamped creative suite with a new department dedicated to creative services; a more prioritized global hierarchy, including new global heads of administration, international A&R and synchronizat...
BTS Label Big Hit Entertainment Doubles Shares in Smash Stock Market Debut
A strong debut was expected by industry analysts given BTS’ enormous fanbase, officially termed the BTS ARMY, who are quick to pounce on virtual and physical concert tickets, album collectibles and other extensive merchandise lines. BTS accounted for more than 80% of the company’s revenue during the first half of 2020, according to a report by investment management company Samsung Securities. The group — consisting of members J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jungkook, V, Jin and Jiminwhich — launched in 2013 and has since performed sold-out shows across the world, breaking numerous Billboard chart records in the process. BTS became the first K-pop act to top the Billboard Hot 100 last month with “Dynamite,” their first all-English song, and this week occupies the top two slo...
