no-paywall
Maxwell and His Musze Enter New Label Partnership With BMG
Added BMG president, repertoire & marketing, New York and Los Angeles Thomas Scherer, “Throughout his career, Maxwell has continually and thoughtfully raised the bar in his craft. He is central to what the team is building and accomplishing in BMG’s R&B and hip-hop repertoire. Welcome Maxwell … you’re very much a part of our family now, and we’re excited to help write the future chapters of your success.” Maxwell, who will be presented with the Legend Award at the Soul Train Awards later this month, launched his professional recording career in 1996 with debut album Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite. The critically acclaimed, Grammy-nominated album, which is certified two-times platinum, spun off the hits “Ascension” and “Sumthin’ Sumthin’,” certi...
Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss Make Music History In ‘Story of A&M Records’ Series: Watch the Trailer
A&M was masterminded by a pair boasting complementary skills (Alpert, a great jazz trumpeter, and Moss, the businessman), who trusted their gut instincts. Their lifetime achievements were recognized in 2006, when Alpert and Moss were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with duties performed on the night by one of their signings, Sting of The Police. “Whether they were totally obscure or fabulously successful,” reads an essay on the pair, published by the Rock Hall, “they always recorded acts that they believed in.” Episode One of Mr. A & Mr. M airs on Dec. 5, and traces the early days of the label, which, like so many other great creative endeavors, began life in the humblest of beginnings: a garage in Los Angeles. A week later, on Dec. 12, tune ...
Ticketek Unveils ‘World First’ Integrated Mobile Ticket and Vaccination Check-In
The check-in upgrade gets its first proper consumer trial from this Thursday, beginning with the Kennedy Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse, through a partnership with the Victorian government. With that particular experience, guests at Ticketek venues can verify their check-in and vaccination status at bag check, by way of a deep-link into the Service Victoria app. The one-stop will be rolled out across Ticketek venues in other Australian states in the coming weeks, a spokesman confirms, and concerts will come on line in due course. Ticketek’s upgrade is a timely one. Restrictions are currently being eased across New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s two biggest states, after their respective populations nudged past the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination milestone. By hitting those bi...
Tim Sweeney’s ‘Beats In Space’ Radio Show Moves to Apple Music
Both Sweeney and the guest’s DJ mixes will then be available on the Beats In Space show page, along with on-demand guest interviews. Sweeney’s debut guest is English electronic artist Planningtorock, with their mix featuring music from their 2021 EP Gay Dreams Do Come True, along with edits they’ve done for Romy and Lady Gaga and favorite tracks by Jimmy Somerville, Arca and more. Influenced by the UK’s pirate radio culture, Sweeney began Beats in Space in 1999 while a student at NYU, with his program giving a platform to the then almost entirely underground world of techno, house, ambient and more. He’s done more than 1,000 episodes of Beats In Space since the show’s launch, with guests throughout the years including stars like Gerd Janson, Carl Cra...
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 ...
Helene Fischer Renews Deal With Universal Music Germany
Fischer has sold 16.3 million albums, counting equivalent streams and downloads, many of them as CDs, which still sell well in Germany. As of 2018, she had scored the top-selling album in the market for five of the previous six years. To get a better sense of how popular she is, though, remember that Germany has a population of 83 million – about a quarter that of the U.S. – and the German-speaking market is roughly 100 million. Fischer also hosts in “Die Helene Fischer Show,” an annual Christmas program on the German public television network ZDF. Fischer’s new album, Rausch, is due out Oct. 15, and the first single, “Vamos a Marte” – Spanish for “let’s go to Mars” – is a duet with the Puerto Rican star Luis Fonsi, who is signed to Universal...
David Bowie Estate and Warner Music Partner to Bring Icon’s Entire Catalog to Label
Among the artist’s later works covered by this new pact are 2002’s Mercury Prize-nominated Heathen; 2003’s Reality; 2013’s The Next Day; and his final studio album, 2016’s Blackstar, also shortlisted for the annual Mercury Prize. Blackstar dropped just two days before Bowie’s death, on Jan. 10, 2016. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, giving Bowie a posthumous, first leader. The following year, during the 59th Grammy Awards, Blackstar swept all five awards it was nominated for. Warner Music Group has controlled the lion’s share of Bowie’s recordings since 2013, when the company acquired the Parlophone Label Group, following the split-up and sale of EMI. In the intervening years, WMG has pulled the trigger of several releases showcasing Bowie’s...
J.J. Cheng Named President of Latin-Focused Digital Service TuStreams
J.J. Cheng has been named the new president of all-Latin digital distribution company TuStreams, Billboard can exclusively announce. Cheng’s appointment to the Los Angeles-based position, which oversees global business strategies, was announced by TuStreams founder and CEO Tony Larios and is effective immediately. Calling her a passionate and “impactful global Latin music leader,” Larios said in his announcement that Cheng’s “cool demeanor and mastery of digital monetization, new strategic technology models to increase royalty profits, and data analytics in publishing and sound recordings are unmatched as a top authority in the space of public performance.” In her new role, Cheng, an award-winning music executive with a more than 20-year trajectory, and who wa...
BTS’ ‘Butter’ Continues Atop Songs of the Summer Chart, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ Hits Top 10
“Butter,” a nine-week No. 1 on the Hot 100 (at No. 8 on the latest list), holds at No. 1 on the Songs of the Summer chart over a stationary top five, followed by Olivia Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U,” Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” featuring SZA, and The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Save Your Tears” at Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. One title enters the Songs of the Summer top 10, as Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” rises 11-10 in its fifth frame on the chart. It concurrently climbs to a new No. 2 best on the Hot 100. Sheeran scores his latest summer success, as his “Shape of You” wrapped as the No. 5 season-ending hit on the 2017 Songs of the Summer chart and “I Don&#...
Sylvan Esso Teams With Secretly For Psychic Hotline Label
Though the label has quietly released music since 2018 from artists in and around the group’s North Carolina community, Psychic Hotline now has a distribution partner in Secretly Distribution, part of the Secretly Group, and a vision for expansion that involves artist-centric deals. “We’ve always been really lucky to have a management that has negotiated really aggressive, very artist-centric deals for us, which I think is one of the reasons why our experience with labels has been relatively less painful,” Meath says. Those artist-friendly negotiations involved securing short-term deals with labels, which is why, for example, the band already fully owns its 2014 self-titled debut album. Meath and Sanborn plan on offering similar short-term, flexible deals to artists who sign with them. “We...
Eshy Gazit Launching New Label With BMG To Release Monsta X, Wonho
Along with Monsta X and the group’s former singer, Wonho, who launched a solo career in 2020, Gazit worked with BTS during that group’s early attempts to break through in North America. Gazit will remain a partner at Maverick, as well as president at Gramophone, an artist and brand development company that was acquired by LiveXLive Media last month. “Eshy has played a vital role in strategically developing the K-pop subculture as the new mainstream music not only in the US, but around the world,” says Thomas Scherer, BMG executive vp repertoire & marketing, Los Angeles. “His relentless passion, expertise, knowledge, and track record of success speaks volumes. BMG is proud to deliver exciting new K-pop music to fans around the world. Hallyu!.” Gazit confirms that Monsta X, the...
Music Discovery Is Entering New Age, With Streaming at the Helm (Guest Column)
MusicWatch’s latest project on music discovery surveyed 1000 music listeners in the US, covering their music listening habits and topics around the discovery experience. For generations, radio, retail and recommendations drove music discovery. These “3 R’s” helped to create awareness of new music; curated by DJ’s, record store staff and our closest friends. By the late aughts the discovery scene began to shift, with digital downloads and nascent streaming models taking a greater role, CD sales waning, and increasing emphasis on re-discovery of catalog music. Fifteen years ago MusicWatch collaborated with MusicBiz (then NARM) on a comprehensive study devoted to understanding music discovery. Broadcast radio was the top source of music discovery. We implored ret...
