Publishing
Just A Gent Signs Global Administration Deal With Angry Mob
Australian electronic artist and producer Just A Gent is the latest addition to the Angry Mob Music Group roster, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Hailing from Newcastle, New South Wales, the electro music-maker (real name Jacob Grant) has been releasing music as Just A Gent since 2013, and has amassed more than 300 million streams with such cuts as “Limelight (NGHTMRE Remix),” “Rolling Dice,” “The Change (featuring DMA’S) [Remix],” “Iris in the Dark,” and others. His 2016 cover of Kid Cudi’s “Day N Nite” for triple j’s Like A Version series has garnered almost 3 million plays. [embedded content] Over the years, he’s had nods from some of the top guns in electronic music, from Skrillex to Diplo, Dillon Francis, What So Not, and others, and dropped his debut full-length album project Plane...
TikTok Is Testing Ground for New Singles — Why Labels Love It (and Some Artists & Writers Don’t)
Artists have previewed unreleased songs at live performances and with radio stations for decades, but thanks to the rise of TikTok and a handful of successful DIY social media campaigns — Lil Nas X’s heavily teased and memed efforts for “Old Town Road” on Twitter and Triller is an early example — the practice has become de rigueur for artists. And not everyone thinks it’s good business. What started as a low-cost method for unsigned talents to casually test audience reaction and build up streaming service pre-saves to their songs is now the norm for even household names hoping to break their next hit before committing to a release date on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. The Billboard Hot 100 contains ample proof of the method’s success: SZA earned her first solo...
Justin Timberlake Sells Song Catalog to Hipgnosis
Justin Timberlake is the latest artist to sell off his songs. The pop-star has sold his full catalog to Hipgnosis Song Management, the company announced Thursday (May 26). That includes Hot 100 chart-toppers “Sexyback,” “What Goes Around… Comes Around,” “My Love” and “Can’t Stop the Feeling.” Along with Timberlake’s share of ownership over his already classic song catalog, Hipgnosis now owns the multi-hyphenate talent’s entire writer and publisher’s share of public performance income (Timberlake is signed to ASCAP) and will handle worldwide administration of the compositions, subject to the remaining term of his Universal Music agreement, which expires in 2025. From Memphis, Tennessee, Timberlake has been one of the most recognizable voices in music since his time as a member of the popula...
Lin-Manuel Miranda to Receive NMPA Songwriter Icon Award for 2022
Lin-Manuel Miranda will receive the National Music Publishers’ Association’s (NMPA) Songwriter Icon Award at its 2022 annual meeting, the organization announced Monday (May 23), while the keynote speech will be delivered by Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge. The annual meeting is being held at Lincoln Center on June 15, marking the first in-person iteration of the event since 2019. Manuel’s honor this year feels timely, arriving on the heels of his surprising Hot 100 No. 1 hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s Encanto soundtrack. NMPA president and CEO David Israelite says in a statement that the composer possesses “inimitable style and passion [that] continues to enrich our cultural landscape.” As the first-ever theatrically focused Songwriter Icon rec...
Bob Dylan’s Share of Traveling Wilburys Rights Purchased by Primary Wave
Primary Wave has acquired a few key rights from Bob Dylan‘s share of the Traveling Wilburys catalog, including master royalties and neighboring rights royalties from both of the group’s albums as well as their 2007 box set, the company announced Wednesday (May 11). Comprised of Dylan and fellow superstars George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, the Traveling Wilburys’ formation was a happy accident. After the five-some gathered to record a B-side single with Harrison in 1988, they went on to record two full-length LPs: the three-times platinum Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and platinum-selling Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. For their work, the Traveling Wilburys earned an Album of the Year nomination at the 1990 Grammys for Vol. 1, won the Grammy for Best Rock Performanc...
Major Labels Appeal to Keep Mechanical Royalty Rate at 9.1 Cents
The RIAA and the three major record labels have filed a motion with the Copyright Royalty Board asking to limit the scope of a recent ruling to reconsider the long-standing 9.1 cent mechanical royalty rate on physical and download format sales. The motion, filed April 5, seeks to confirm that when the CRB rejected a settlement between the labels and the National Music Publishers’ Association to keep mechanical rates frozen at 9.1 cents for the 2023-2027 term that it only applied to the music of George Johnson, the independent songwriter who objected to the agreement. It also requests that the CRB extend the response period to 60 days, instead of requiring participants in the proceeding to respond by April 22. But RIAA CEO/chairman Mitch Glazier tells Billboard the intent for the filing is ...
Sony Music Publishing Commits $100,000 to Songwriters Org The 100 Percenters
Sony Music Publishing is donating $100,000 to The 100 Percenters, a 250-member organization that advocates for music creatives with a focus on BIPOC and marginalized songwriters, composers and producers, it was announced Tuesday (April 12). The money will help provide financial relief through the organization’s Songwriter Stimulus Program and its Emergency Fund, both slated to launch later this year, as well as other efforts. “It’s an honor to have the support of [Sony Music Publishing chairman and CEO] Jon Platt,” said 100 Percenters founder and executive director Tiffany Red. “He heard us and took action in a way that I could never have imagined. This is just the beginning.” The relationship between SMP and The 100 Percenters — which recently sponsored a rally in front of Spotify’s forme...
SOCAN Collections Rebound 6% to $325M
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) saw collections rebound 6.4% to 416 million Canadian dollars ($325.5 million) from the prior year’s total of 391 million Canadian dollars ($305.9 million), despite the pandemic’s lingering economic impact in 2021. The SOCAN revenue collection total breaks out to $310 million Canadian ($242.55 million) in domestic receipts and 105 million Canadian dollars ($82.94 million) from foreign receipts. Domestically, that represents a 6.5% increase from 2020’s 291 million Canadian dollars ($227.64 million), while it’s a 6% increase over the 100 million Canadian dollars ($78.2 million) the society took in from foreign territories that year. “Given the challenges of the pandemic, at the end of 2020 we prepared for a financially a...
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek to Be Deposed in Eminem Copyright Infringement Suit
A federal judge says Spotify CEO Daniel Ek must sit for depositions in a copyright lawsuit over Eminem’s music, rejecting the streamer’s arguments that he’s not personally involved in “day-to-day” licensing operations or that he’s too busy to participate in the case. Spotify claimed that Ek had little information to offer about the lawsuit and that Eight Mile Style was trying to drag him into a deposition simply to “harass and annoy” him. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley ruled Thursday (March 31) that the executive would need to find the time. “Undoubtedly Mr. Ek has a full schedule [and] the Court credits Spotify’s assertion that he is very busy indeed,” Judge Frensley wrote. “Yet, the issue of proper licensing relationships with the artists whose work comprises the entirety ...
UMPG Wants More of Its Songwriters Working in Podcasts
Universal Music Publishing Group has announced a new partnership with narrative-focused podcast creator Audio Up, opening up new opportunities for their songwriters to write original music for the company’s programs. According to the announcement, UMPG writers can be “signed” by Audio Up to make these themes and scores. Additionally, UMPG signed the company’s CEO, “Jingle Jared” Gutstadt, to an exclusive global publishing deal. With a background in writing and producing for production and contemporary music, Gutstadt is the rare example of a working musician and music business entrepreneur. He founded both Audio Up and music production agency Jingle Punks, which sold to Anthem Entertainment (formerly known as Ole) in 2015. Audio Up productions are supported by SiriusXM and Audible, and the...
The 9.1 Cent Mechanical Royalty Rate Ditched in New CRB Ruling
The longstanding 9.1 cent mechanical royalty songwriters and publishers earn for every song sold may be a thing of the past. On Tuesday (March 29), the Copyright Royalty Board agreed to abandon that mechanical settlement between music publishers, record labels and digital services for the sale of songs for the upcoming 2023-2027 rate period, giving way to a new battle over what the rate should be for physical and download sales. The CRB judges’ decision came after receiving the settlement from interested parties in a motion to adopt it, as part of the overall rate-setting process, which also determines royalty rates for on-demand streaming. While the on-demand streaming rates are hard fought between digital services and publishers, with both sides racking up millions of dollars of litigati...
Warner Chappell Signs Morat Singer-Songwriters to Global Publishing Deal
Juan Pablo Isaza and Juan Pablo Villamil, Morat‘s lead singers and main songwriters, have signed a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. According to the publishing company, the deal covers future works as well as the pair’s entire back catalogue. “We’re delighted to partner with Warner Chappell Music and are proud to have them represent our catalogue,” Isaza and Villamil said in a statement. “They have an incredible global roster and we’re looking forward to getting the opportunity to collaborate with some of them in the future.” The deal with Isaza and Villamil was led by Santiago Menéndez-Pidal, president of Warner Chappell Music South Europe; Gustavo Menéndez, president of Warner Chappell Music Latin; Javier Dean and Carmen Picado, A&R director and A&R manager f...
