Pandora
Pandora Has Launched a Little Mermaid Collection — Here’s How to Make It Part of Your World
All the hype around the upcoming live-action remake of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" is almost at its crescendo. The film was announced back in 2016, and will finally be hitting cinemas on 26 May. There's been plenty of buzz building around the movie's launch, with cast members Halle Bailey (who plays Ariel in the film), and Simone Ashley (who plays her little sister, Indira) serving us some seriously TikTok-worthy mermaidcore looks on the red carpet at "The Little Mermaid" premieres. But before we dive under the sea to enjoy the new film in all its glory, you're going to want to take a moment for the Pandora x Disney Little Mermaid collection. The coveted jewellery brand, known for its adorable charms, has launched a range that will serve your mermaidcore dreams. Inspired by key character...
The Legal Beat: Kanye’s Lawyers Cut Ties – Plus Slacker, Coachella and More
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings, and all the fun stuff in between. This week: Major law firms cut ties with Kanye West over his antisemitic comments, Slacker fights with SoundExchange over a huge royalties judgment, Coachella sues a nearby business called “Coachillin,” and much more. THE BIG STORY: Kanye West Is Running Out of Lawyers After a string of antisemitic statements earlier this month, Kanye West has lost nearly every aspect of his once-formidable business empire. His representatives at CAA have dropped him, and his signature fashion partnerships with Adidas, The Gap and Balenciaga have all been terminated. You can now add his lawyers to that list. Cadwalader Wic...
Publishers, Streamers Reach Deal for Highest Streaming Royalty Rate Ever: Here’s How It Works
Songwriter and publisher U.S. mechanical streaming royalty rates are going up — slowly — to a headline rate of 15.35% of total revenue from 2023-2027. That’s the big news out of Wednesday’s (Aug. 31) joint announcement on the “Phonorecords IV” settlement from the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Associations International and the Digital Media Association (DiMA). But how long will it take to get there and at what pace? What are the other conditions? Billboard now has more more key details about the deal. Under the new settlement agreement — which the NMPA touts will set the “highest royalty rate in the history of streaming anywhere” — the headline rate will escalate from 15.1% of revenue in 2023 to 15.2% in 2024 and then a half a percentage point inc...
George Lopez Sues Pandora Over ‘Brazen’ Failure to Pay Comedy Royalties
Comedian George Lopez has joined the chorus of comedians suing Pandora over its failure to pay royalties on spoken-word compositions, according to documents filed in California federal court on Tuesday (Aug. 23). In the copyright infringement suit, filed by attorney Richard Busch of King & Ballow, Lopez accuses Pandora of failing to obtain either public performance or mechanical reproduction licenses for – or pay royalties on – the spoken-word compositions for 37 works contained on his albums Right Now Right Now and Team Leader. “The end result is Pandora took the Works, gained listeners, subscribers and market share with full knowledge it did not have licenses and made no royalty payments for the Works,” the complaint reads. Lopez further alleges that Pandora exploited the works witho...
Johnny Chiang Joins Pandora to Oversee Country Programming
Johnny Chiang is set to join Pandora in the newly-created role of senior director, country programming, on July 25. He will oversee programming for country music at Pandora, and will report to vp, programming Kevin Stapleford. Chiang will continue to be based in Houston. “Words cannot adequately describe just how thrilled I am to be joining the incredible country team that Kevin Stapleford is assembling at Pandora,” said Chiang via a statement. “I want to thank Kevin and Steve Blatter for believing in me and what my experiences and skill sets can bring to the team.” Chiang previously joined Red Street Records as vp, radio promotions and artist development in January, as the label’s owners, Dan Crockett and Rascal Flatts’ Jay DeMarcus, announced the label’s country division. Prior to his wo...
SiriusXM Celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month With ZHU, JVNA, More
It’s officially Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and to commemorate the occasion, SiriusXM has announced a slate of special programming that highlights the community’s electronic dance music artists. Steve Aoki’s Remix Radio, for example, will broadcast an exclusive mix on Channel 104 from May 25-31. Featuring tracks by all Asian producers, it will play alongside music by the likes of ZHU, Qrion and Wax Motif. To mirror Aoki’s 2021 “APIDA ON AIR” initiative, Elephante and JVNA will appear as guest DJs, among others. Meanwhile on Channel 305, 88rising Radio has invited AAPI artists like Stephanie Poetri, Ilima-Lei Macfarland and Tiffany Day to hop on the air as guest hosts throughout the entire month of May. Notably, 88rising ...
Pandora’s New Marvel Collection Includes Infinity Stone Rings and Avengers Charms
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you’ll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work. What would you do with all six infinity stones? Pandora and Marvel partnered on a jewellery collection of rings, charms, and bracelets. Marvel x Pandora features all your favourite heroes and infinity stone-inspired pieces from the exciting cinematic universe. Pandora teamed up with Disney to bring the iconic heroes from “The Avengers” to your jewellery edit. The new products include four character charms for Black Panther, Iron Man, Black Widow, and Hulk. The Iron Man charm is 14K gold plated with metallic red enamel. The Black Panther charm is plated in black ...
Songwriters Get Hit In the Wallet by Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora… Again
Digital service providers Spotify, Apple Music, Google, and Pandora have submitted paperwork stating what they believe songwriters’ royalty rates should be for the years 2023 to 2027. The Copyright Act states that every five years Copyright Royalty Judges oversee discussions to determine what streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music pay as a mechanical royalty rate to songwriters and publishers. These platforms are notorious for incredibly low payout rates and “exploitative practices” when it comes to paying music creators. Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek. Magnus Höij/Wikimedia Commons The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has fought for higher mechanical royalty rates for music publishers and songwriters. The organization’s president and...
Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora Propose Even Lower Streaming Royalty Rates
Like a twisted game of limbo, songwriters and artists are constantly asked to go lower and lower, and only the streaming companies win. As Billboard reports, on October 21st, several major streamers filed to the US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proposing royalty rates for 2023-2027. Three of the biggest platforms — Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora — are recommending a significant reduction in royalty rates over the 2018–2022 period. These upcoming four years, 2023-2027, are known as CRB Phonorecords IV, denoting the fourth period of rate determination. It follows Phonorecords I for 2008–2012, Phonorecords II from 2013–2017, and Phonorecords III from 2018-2022. Phonorecords III represented an increase over the previous two periods, escalating over time and culminating in a r...
Pandora Is Shutting Down Next Big Sound
The post characterizes the platform’s closure as “the final step of a multi-year transition,” adding that the Next Big Sound team “is excited to focus on improving and expanding” Pandora’s Artist Marketing Platform (AMP), which provides artists with streaming data around their music on the service. The AMP tools have been a focus for Next Big Sound since shortly after Pandora’s acquisition of the company in 2015. Moving forward, AMP will continue sharing Pandora streaming data with Next Big Sound partners including Billboard, MRC Data and Chartmetric. Next Big Sound adds it is working to ensure that the integration process “is as seamless as possible for all of our users and partners,” noting that full track-level reporting is already available in Pandora’s AMP dashboard. That said, ...
Pandora Expands ‘Billionaires’ Artist Milestone Program with 8 New Genre Stations
Artists who reach the nine-figure mark in the coming months will be added to the appropriate genre stations, with their music featured at the beginning of the station to mark the milestone. Pandora’s Billionaires program launched in 2018 when the service presented artists who had reached the marker with a commemorative plaque. Over the past three years, hundreds of artists have been honored for reaching the coveted figure, including Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Mariah Carey, Bad Bunny, Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd. Listeners can find the new stations in the “Billionaires” module on the “For You” section of the Pandora app. The full list of stations is below. Country Billionaires: Featuring music from Jason Aldean, Chris Stapleton, Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line and more. Pop Billionaires: ...
Pandora Launches New “Game Time Radio” Listening Experience, Monstercat Takeover
The relationship between music and gaming is one that ages with grace—a marriage Pandora is celebrating with the launch of a new radio experience. To commemorate the one-year anniversary of Pandora’s “Game Time” initiative, the streaming giant has launched a complimentary listening experience called Game Time Radio. Meticulously curated by gamers, the music hub allows users to select songs and beats to soundtrack their adrenaline-fueled gaming sessions. Game Time Radio offers four new listening Modes, each of which offer their own unique vibe. “Level UP” focuses on essential hip-hop while “Open World” slithers into the ambient and downtempo alleys of electronic music, offering glacial beats. “Pixelated” will feel the...
