no-paywall
MusiCares Unveils Final, $2M Round of COVID-19 Relief Funding
The Recording Academy and MusiCares — its charitable arm providing health, financial, and rehabilitation resources to music workers in times of need — each made a $1 million base donation to kick off the fund last March. By one month later in April 2020, funds had been depleted. Now, the fund is once again open to music professionals who have had at least three years of employment in the music industry, or six commercially released recordings or videos. Anyone who has already received assistance from the fund is eligible to apply again. Once the final funds are distributed, MusiCares says it will continue to support the music community through “existing and new mental health and hardship grant programs and virtual support groups, among other programs.” MusiCar...
How Does Chopra Global’s Devi Brown Stay Mindful?
My life first took me into entertainment. I started working in radio and doing some TV, and kind of on the L.A. music scene when I was 18. But the deeper desire there was always the storytelling and it was always my curiosity. I don’t consider myself in the music industry now. I actually don’t even listen to anything with the exception of Soulection Radio, which I think is one of God’s greatest gifts. Back then, I had a lot of access to celebrity but the root of my work was always in deep curiosity about people’s journeys. I interviewed Kendrick [Lamar] maybe like a decade ago, and in that interview I asked him about depression and mental health – that was the word that we were using. I was getting responses from listeners about how much that helped them. I also rem...
Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Payments Will Start Arriving Next Week
The amount of funding for the second and third tiers, along with any supplemental funding, will be based on what remains after the SBA awards grants to the first priority group. “This emergency relief can’t come soon enough for those on the precipice of going under. We’ll be very grateful when the money is distributed as Congress intended,” says National Independent Venue Association board member Audrey Fix Schaefer. “It’s been very hard to hold on, but even tougher to plan for reopening without the money to hire back staff, rent venues and secure acts with deposits. It will be incredible when the $16 billion Congress earmarked to save our stages becomes a reality.” As of today, 11,500 SVOG applications have been sub...
Not So Fast: Shuttered Venue Grant Application Relaunch Moves Dates Again
They followed up with additional tweets stating, “It is our top priority to deliver on the promise and commitment to provide economic lifelines to these hardest-hit venues ASAP,” and, “Yet, we understand the challenges a weekend opening would bring and to ensure the greatest number of businesses can apply for these funds, we decided to reschedule. We remain committed to delivering economic aid to this hard-hit sector quickly and efficiently.” The account applicants to visit this link to review a checklist of items they might need for the loans, which can be found here. The relaunch is a result of the SBA’s website crashing on April 8 as venues operators, talent agencies, cinema owners and managers of museums, cultural arts groups and zoos applied for $15 billi...
SBA Shares More Details About Shuttered Venues Grant Relaunch
The SBA’s decision to reopen the portal on Saturday, more than two weeks after it crashed upon on launch on April 8, was met with a flurry of negative comments Thursday due to the short advanced notice. But representatives with the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), which played a key role drafting the $15 billion Shuttered Venue Operators aid package, released a statement supporting the decision to reopen the application process on a weekend day. “Simply put, this is emergency relief that can’t come too soon,” says Audrey Fix Schaefer, NIVA board member and communications director. “Every single day that passes small businesses are receiving eviction notices, all the while $16 billion has been waiting for them. This is a lifeline for thousands of independent venues and promote...
Shuttered Venue Grant Applications to Resume Over the Weekend
“We have completed rigorous testing and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant application portal will reopen on April 24,” the SBA announced on Twitter at 9 p.m. EST on Thursday. “We will provide updated documents and guidance tomorrow. Interested applicants should register for an account in advance.” The link to the portal is svograntportal.sba.gov. Since the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant was passed in late December, the SBA has been tasked with creating the program and processes from scratch. Andrea Roebker, a regional communications director at the SBA, told Billboard in March that while the SBA was able to distribute Paycheck Protection Program loans soon after the CARES Act passed in March 2020, those were handled by delegate...
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...
Shuttered Venue Operator Grant Applications Expected to Relaunch Next Week
The SBA said the vendors for the portal, which launched and quickly closed on April 8, have fixed the root cause of the technical difficulties but discovered additional issues while testing the site. The newly identified issues are being addressed now before the portal reopens later next week. Independent venues, promoters and producers have been waiting to apply for the more than $16 billion in funds since the bill passed at the end of December, but the SBA was tasked with creating the program from scratch and has taken nearly four months to open the application process. When the administration announced the opening date for the grant applications, they assured venues that funds would be awarded later in April. The SBA has not commented on whether or not th...
NMPA and RIAA Chiefs: Music Creators and Fans Deserve Better From Twitter (Guest Op-Ed)
Record companies and music publishers want this partnership to work and are proud to help power Twitter’s success. We recognize artists and songwriters benefit greatly from being able to talk to their fans, share their work, and generate excitement and interest in great music in this way. However, the viral immediacy and global reach of the Twitter platform presents a double-edged sword – one that cuts especially deep for artists, songwriters, and music rightsholders who see their work leaked, copied, distributed, and monetized on the platform with almost no recourse. Last year music creators sent more than 2 million notices to Twitter of unlicensed and infringing appearances of copyrighted music on the platform – more than 200,000 of which dealt with the especially harmful presence of not...
Vicky Cornell vs. Soundgarden Lawsuit: Judge Recommends Dismissal of 2 Claims
Vicky Cornell has been embroiled in an ongoing legal dispute with the band’s remaining members after her husband’s sudden death on May 18, 2017 at the age of 52 while on tour in Detroit. He left his property — including his intellectual and personal property rights — to her for the benefit of their two minor children. On Dec. 9, 2019, two and half years after Chris Cornell’s death, Vicky Cornell filed a lawsuit against the remaining members of the band — Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Ben Shepherd — and their business manager Rit Venerus, asking a judge to declare her the rightful owner of her husband’s unreleased sound recordings and of his name and likeness. She also demanded the court order the band to open its finances to her and to provide her with an inventory o...
SoundCloud Taps 9 Artists for ‘First on SoundCloud’ Accelerator Program
The campaigns will additionally entail introductory profiles by SoundCloud guest editor and music journalist Kiana Fitzgerald; original content such as artist interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks at their first photoshoots; features on the new “First on SoundCloud” playlist on the SoundCloud homepage; career development from SoundCloud’s music industry veterans and experts; and a live event that will bring together the selected artists with the SoundCloud community. Each of the artists will receive a further lift by having their participation in the accelerator announced by artists and tastemakers including D Smoke, Rico Nasty, creative photographer and designer Ciesay of Places + Faces and NBA star De’Aaron Fox. Since its inaugural edition in 2018, First on SoundClou...
Kanye West Now Worth Estimated $6.6B Thanks to Lucrative Gap, Adidas Deals
The document further reveals that Gap, an ailing brand whose partnership with West represents a play for younger consumers, expects its Yeezy line to break $150 million in sales in its first full year in 2022 and envisions it surpassing a billion dollars in revenue within eight years, or even as soon as 2023 on the upside. West stands to profit handsomely in any event, as he retains sole ownership and creative control of the Yeezy brand and earns royalties on sales under the deal, with the rate increasing as the business grows. He’ll also receive stock warrants when the collection hits sales targets, with the highest set at $700 million, according to a securities filing. West’s longstanding deal with Adidas has been the most lucrative part of his business endeavors to date, with Yeez...
