Crush Management hires Capone as VP of Radio Promotions
It was announced late last week that Crush Management and its founders Jonathan Daniel and Bob McLynn, have hired Garrett Capone to take the newly created position of VP of Radio Promotions. Capone will exit his role as PD of San Diego’s 91X alternative station at the end of February to join Crush, whose roster includes Train, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At the Disco, Travie McCoy & Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship, Sia,Wavves, Chiddy Bang and others. He will reportedly also be heavily involved with the relaunching of I.R.S. Records - it was announced last summer that EMI Music was reviving I.R.S. as a frontline label in partnership with Crush - working projects including the new release from Foxy Shazam among others.
BMG Rights Management + EMI & the ‘Big Three’ Era… Pt. 2
EMI; another brick in the wall?
The sale of EMI Music Publishing to BMG Rights Management would be by far the largest investment for the Bertelsmann and KKR-backed venture, and would more than triple the current catalog of over 300,000 copyrights. It’s a catalog the JV has amassed in less than two years, through a series of acquisitions that include Cherry Lane Music, Adage IV, Stage Three Music, Evergreen Copyrights and Chrysalis Music, along with a handful of other international catalogs and pubcos. The speed in which BMG RM has climbed to the spot of fifth largest publisher in the world is striking, but only part of the story when looking at their catalog purchases. What’s more interesting to some insiders are the subplots and what they could signal for the future. Let’s step back and take a closer look… One of the most impressive and significant music publishing constructions in recent decades was that of Dreamworks Music Publishing, a catalog that was assembled under the guidance of veteran publisher Chuck Kaye. It included works from artists such as The Byrds, John Denver, Jimmy Eat World and Lifehouse among others, along with hit titles like “Disco Inferno” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads”. The catalog journeyed from one home to another throughout the 2000’s following the sale of the Dreamworks recorded music division to Universal Music in 2003. The catalog was first sold for $50 million to Dimensional Music Publishing in 2004, a newly created arm of JDS Capitol Management (who also owns eMusic and The Orchard), in a deal which is seen as seminal in the recent trend of venture capital investments in music publishing assets. However, Dimensional publishing’s run was short-lived, selling its assets less than three years later to First State Media Group, a new fund whose publishing entity operated as S1 Songs. Then again in under three years time, in early 2010 - after its own stint on the block almost being bought by then EMI owner Terra Firma – Chrysalis Music acquired First State Media and S1 Songs for $16.5 million, in a deal that included the Wind-Up catalog and of course the original 25,000 Dreamworks copyrights. And in November of last year, less than one year later, Chrysalis announced it was being bought by BMG RM, adding another 100,000 works to the JV’s catalog, in a deal valued at $169 million… So with a major addition like EMI’s publishing assets, what would the future hold? Particularly taking into account the consolidation happening within the ranks of the companies they’ve already acquired. On track to double their revenues by 2015, will the trend continue, with EMI (which has undergone significant cost-cutting of its own recently) as the final piece in a KKR and Bertelsmann plan to build the world’s largest publishing company and flip it? The common belief in many circles is that the industry is headed to a new era of the ‘Big Three’, and as such, none of the majors left will be able to afford leaving such valuable publishing assets outside of their control. It’s going to get interesting… Tune in tomorrow as we break a new big publishing deal currently in play.
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More Bits & Pieces: Apple Inks EMI Deal For Cloud Service; Close to Landing Sony & Universal
Apple reaches agreement with EMI for cloud-music service
The news of Apple inking a cloud-music deal with EMI Music was first reported late yesterday on CNET, and according to the industry sources the report is based on, the company is close to reaching similar agreements with both Sony Music and Universal Music Group – a deal with Warner Music was reported to have been reached last month. By now having licensing agreements with two of the four major label groups, the implications are numerous, but mainly it’s that Apple will likely once again be the driving force behind the latest shift in the digital music arena, and that Amazon and Google jumped too soon by releasing services without label deals in place… While lately the tech and music industries have been hot on the cloud-music future and closely watching developments unfold, it remains to be seen how much consumer demand there is, and on a large scale, what are people willing to pay. A new survey from Nielsen that targeted people with ‘connected devices’ (smartphones, iPads, etc), asked how much they would be willing to pay for a monthly subscription for various types of content (music, TV, movies, news, etc), and the average seems to come in right around $10/month. That falls in line with some current services that are available, and isn’t a bad number, but of course that is all in theory, and an important point to keep in mind is that an overwhelming majority of people still do not use smartphones or other high-priced ‘connected’ devices… Some attention has also turned to Apple’s patent-pending pre-buffering technology that is supposed to make its streaming experience better than other current services, though as Evolver.fm points out, Pandora and Spotify have been using similar technology for some time already… And in related news, which is receiving less excitment than the Apple-EMI deal, is that EMI Music has now also reached an agreement with digital music subscription service eMusic.
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Happening: Warner Music Preparing for Bids, EMI Close Behind & Spotify Back in the $$ Mix
BMG RM's Hartwig Masuch; Who will they take first?
It’s being reported the Warner Music Group is preparing to receive offers this week from a list of up to 20 bidders, the latest entry on the list of suitors is Russian businessman Len Blavatnik, who already owns a minority stake in Warner/Chappell Music. The KKR-backed BMG Rights Management venture is expected to be among bidders for WMG’s publishing division, having apparently tapped multiple banks to advise and provide financing. Though the move could also be to prepare bidding for the Citigroup-owned EMI Music, the other major music group currently on the block. Or maybe it’s both… EMI group CEO Roger Faxon continues his media tour, with a piece this week in The Guardian where he explains the pitfalls of splitting up the company’s recording and publishing divisions. Meanwhile, former owner Guy Hands expresses disappointment over losing EMI, his highest profile investment, to Citigroup… Details coming out over the weekend have Spotify getting a large amount of new financing in the range of $100million from Digital Sky Technologies (also backers of Facebook, Groupon and others), which would give the company a new valuation of around $1billion. If it seems like all that new money will just end up going to the labels in the U.S. in order to get off the ground (Spotify now has both Sony Music And EMI onboard), MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka says think again… And how would the new Apple content subscription service fees hinder music services like Spotify? A cryptic email from Steve Jobs this week has many questioning if Apple is changing its tune on fees applying to music services.
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Bits & Pieces: Warner/Chappell Losing MJ Admin, Sony Backs Off Anti-iTunes talk, Apple Making More Enemies & more…
A piece on Showbiz411 yesterday, revealed that Michael Jackson’s publishing company MiJac Publishing, which is currently administered by Warner/Chappell Music and includes songs such as “Billie Jean” and “Beat It,” among others, will soon be moving to Sony/ATV Publishing. The shift was reportedly written into the contract with WCM, who has administered the catalog for years. It also comes on the heels of the announcement that Warner Music Group is shopping for a sale, most likely of its publishing arm, putting them in direct competition with Citigroup’s plans for EMI Music. Insiders share that this is one of multiple similar scenarios WCM will face in the coming years… After abundant commentary last week on Sony Music’s possible intention to abandon iTunes, following a report in an Australian publication, a comment from a Sony Network Entertainment executive indicates that is in fact not the case, saying Sony Music has “no intention of withdrawing from iTunes, they’re one of our biggest partners in the digital domain.” Today also saw the announcement that Sony is launching its “iTunes rival” music service Qriocity in the U.S., though still without a mobile component. Currently Sony is focused on Playstation 3 as the primary vehicle for the music service, though it has plans to move into mobile in the future, and most likely on the Google Android platform first… More Google Music talk arose this week, with a Motorola executive tipping that the service will be included on Google’s new version of Android, Honeycomb, which will be tied to the new Motorola Xoom tablet… Following the details revealed this week by Apple for its new content subscription service, music services are upset over the 30% share for each subscription that goes to Apple, in addition to the fees already being paid to content owners. Among them, Rhapsody, has gone as far floating the possibility of legal action… Elsewhere, Topspin has announced a move into offering their direct-to-fan platform for all users… Through a sponsorship effort, Converse has saved the legendary punk enclave the 100 Club in London from closing… And this Death of the Music Industry chart, is getting lots of attention.
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Roundup: Grammy Bumps, Pandora’s IPO, Apple Makes Streaming Moves & More
Mumford sells 31K on Grammy day
While Glassnote Entertainment’s Mumford & Sons didn’t walk away with a Grammy award Sunday night, they did see a huge bump in one-day sales for their debut album Sigh No More. It currently is sitting atop the iTunes album chart at #1. Other winners and performers from the night, which saw the largest ratings for the award show in over a decade, are also getting a sales spike in the wake of the event… As anticipated, Pandora filed for an IPO last Friday seeking to raise $100 million, making it the first Internet-music company to go public since Napster went bankrupt in 2002. In filing, it was revealed, among other things, that the company spends half of its revenues on acquiring content, a fact that AllThingsDigital’s Peter Kafka points out, isn’t a bad thing… Reports over the weekend have Apple considering the possibility of turning its paid MobileMe storage service, into a free “locker” for personal memorabilia such as photos, music and videos – reigniting talk of the company’s move into offering a streaming-music function. Meanwhile today, Apple announced the launch of a content subscription system for music, videos, newspapers, magazines and other forms of content, which will work similarly to app purchases, except that customers choose their type of subscription. As for what it might mean specifically for music, Evolver.fm points out; on-demand subscriptions like MOG, Rhapsody, Napster and Spotify, and the paid version of interactive radio services such as Last.fm, Pandora and Slacker, can now charge you for a subscription right within iTunes, with the same convenience for you — and the same loss of revenue for them... Radiohead has announced details about their new album The King of Limbs, which will see a digital release this weekend, a month ahead of a physical release via XL Recordings. The band’s co-manager explains to Music Week the reason behind not releasing the new album in the same manner as In Rainbows… Former EMI Music A&R prexy Nick Gatfield has been named President Of Music Division for Sony Music UK, reporting to Chairman and CEO Ged Doherty… And does Guy Hands really want to double down and make a bid for both Warner Music and EMI?
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Warner Music Group’s Poor Holiday Earnings; CEO Talks Publishing Division
Warner Music Group’s Q4 earnings call this week revealed more dismal news, with revenue falling 14% to $789 million for the quarter that included the holiday season. Comments from the call published by Music Week, also had CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. avoiding any speculation about whether WMG is intent on selling off Warner/Chappell Music, though he indicated confidence in the value of the publishing arm. “I think it is a very valuable company and I am very optimistic about its future,” also saying, “I am also very pleased with the acquisitions that we have made both production music point of view and an A&R standpoint and I see there is a lot of progress ahead of us as we go forward.” The talk of a Warner/Chappell sale coincides with WMG’s place on the short list to acquire all or part of EMI Music, and comes after the recent appointment of Cameron Strang as CEO of the pubco and the exit of prexy Scott Francis. Bronfman expressed that he “will let the market decide how to value” the bunny’s publishing division, but insiders point to a catalog that consists of a number of very high-earning compositions that are up for reversion within the coming years, a time that has long been spoken of within the building. What effects it will carry in the market’s valuation of the publisher’s holdings remain to be seen, particularly in the wake of a highly-inflated publishing market in recent years… Stay tuned.
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Wednesday Bits & Pieces: Who’s Launching First – Spotify, Google, Apple or None of the Above?
Who will get out of the gate first?
In another 2011 industry horse race, contradictory reports and speculation continue to surface about the launch of digital streaming music services from high profile companies like Google, Spotify and Apple. Sony Music recently inked a deal with Spotify, becoming the first U.S. label to do so. And that was quickly followed by rumors of a U.S. deal with EMI being closed in on, however the effects on such a deal by the label takeover this week by Citigroup are yet to be known, but it’s likely not good for the European start up. Even if an agreement was reached, would it be valid when new ownership takes over? Regardless of an EMI deal, or even Warner Music Group, the biggest target for Spotify to get the service off the ground in America is still Universal Music Group, who boasts the largest market share and a significant stable of current hit artists. What will it take to land the other majors? Lots of cash, and most likely a number of concessions in the area of how much free music it offers… Meanwhile, Google has plenty of cash, and reports continue to indicate that it has no problem plunking it down for labels to launch Google Music. While rumored timelines for a launch continue to contract and expand, a possible major stumbling block for Google, and other services in the same cloud, is music publishers. Matt Rosoff wrote a piece this week citing a source that claims publishers want to be paid for every download. Meaning that the key aspect of the locker-based service would conceivably force users to pay multiple times for the same song when downloading at different locations and on multiple devices. Something consumers will surely scoff at… The end of last year saw plenty of anticipation and predictions about a streaming service from Apple, however the talked has quieted this year as the company remains mum. However recent comments from Spotify executives have accused Apple of putting pressure on labels in an effort to keep the service from launching in the U.S., presumably to give themselves more time to finish working on a yet-to-be confirmed streaming version of iTunes. Not unheard of when considering the continued pressure it puts on artists and labels who do business with Amazon… Stay tuned.
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Wednesday Bits & Pieces: Is it Already the End of Digital Music or Just a New Beginning? More UMG-Sony Music Red Rover & more…
Which way is the river flowing?
Over the weekend The New York Times published what has become an annual gloom and doom report regarding the state of music sales, using the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s report as the guidepost. In addition to the continued slump in physical, the recap for 2010 concentrated on the plateauing of digital sales and “not a lot of progress” in digital after a decade. However as Evolver.fm points out, the piece focused heavily on the slowing at marketplaces like iTunes and Amazon, while paying less attention to revenue generated from newer services like Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, etc – which is not the same as digital sales. The IFPI’s report contains various points of optimism, like in the growth of mobile access to subscription services due to new technology and compatibility improvements, as well as the significant expansion in the customers of new “freemium” services… Elsewhere, a Financial Times piece this week adds to the growing reports of Doug Morris seeking an early exit from his contract with Universal Music Group owner Vivendi, although it’s still unclear if he will get released in time for a presumed takeover for Sony Music CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, whose contract is up at the end of March. More red rover continues between UMG and Sony, as Lucian Grainge taps former Sony A&R executive Larry Jackson as EVP of the IGA family of labels…. Meanwhile Guy Hands reportedly will get a last chance to hang on to EMI Music, as Citigroup asks the Terra Firma boss to make an offer to keep control of the music company, which is thought to be valued around £1.6 billion.
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Analysts Comment on Warner Music Options
Weighs In
Fitch Ratings released the following observations today about possible scenarios and options for Warner Music Group… 1) Acquisition of EMI; 2) Sale of WMG Music Publishing; 3) Sale of 50% or more of WMG; or 4) Sale of less than 50% of WMG with an acquisition of EMI… Read the full release here. Meanwhile, further comments from other analysts reported by Reuters lend credence to the speculation that the play by Warner is all about speeding up and putting pressure on an impending EMI auction. “We believe there is a low likelihood of anyone stepping in to buy Warner Music ahead of the EMI auction that is looming later this year,” said Richard Greenfield, an analyst at BTIG, while Wells Fargo bond analyst Bishop Cheen adds, ”All roads go through EMI on this one,” … “I suppose KKR could make a move exclusive of EMI but it’s unlikely.”
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