In Case You Missed It: Who’s In & Who’s Out Edition
MySpace Co-Prez Jason Hirschhorn (L) leaves; Mike Jones (R) Remains
With an announcement out of London this morning, Roger Faxon is in as the new group chief executive for EMI, moving from his previous position as chairman and chief executive of EMI Music Publishing. Recently appointed non-executive chairman of the group’s recorded music division, Charles Allen, will now become an advisor to EMI and Terra Firma… MySpace co-president Jason Hirschhorn is out as shared head of the troubled social network, leaving Mike Jones to remove the “co” from his title… News yesterday revealed that veteran A&R executive Mark Williams is in as the new Sr. VP of A&R at Columbia Records. William’s most recently worked on M.I.A.’s new album for Interscope Records… Limewire is in for more trouble as members of the National Music Publisher’s Association including EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner/Chappell filed a copyright complaint in federal court against the file-sharing service this week… And free concerts are out in NYC, as the city cracks down after the recent Drake concert fiasco…
06.11.10In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Thom Yorke Shares his Cheery Outlook on the Biz
Apple’s WWDC announcements on Monday did not include a new cloud-based version of iTunes, as many had expected (or hoped for), but Jobs did reveal the company already has a boatload of iAd commitments… Buzzmedia is not the only one bolstering its ad network, as startup MOG announces a new deal that will add Sony Music Entertainment online properties into their network, including 117 major artist websites… In a recent BBC Radio 4 documentary, new EMI Music chief Charles Allen discusses the state of his company and the difficulty of spreading the message that they are in “really good shape”… Following Allen’s positive outlook came comments from Radiohead frontman and former EMI artist, Thom Yorke, predicting the collapse of the music industry within “only a matter of months” and going on to advise aspirant musicians to avoid the “sinking ship”… And a report in Reuters today examines Terra Firma boss Guy Hands‘ gift-giving techniques and the “high concentration, high risk strategy” in his current efforts to save EMI… Elsewhere, a look at the business of selling online fans, followers and viewers to artists… New England area coffee shops and other small venues are facing increased pressure from PRO’s… And Complex Magazine discusses free music, almost signing Drake and f*ckin kids in a brief Q&A with Warner Music boss Lyor Cohen…
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Court Rules Against Limewire in Copyright Infringement Case
A big week for Terra Firma boss Guy Hands, as numerous reports revealed that the firm was able to raise the needed 105 million pounds to keep control of EMI. The new injection of funds will keep the music company under the control of the investment firm for another year… A federal court ruled against file-sharing service Limewire in a copyright infringement case; its founder Mark Gorton may be held personally liable as well… Elsewhere, the latest Pirate Bay bidder has tapped TAG Strategic’s Ted Cohen to help facilitate the deal… Universal Music Group dropped it’s lawsuit against Project Playlist (now Playlist.com)… American Idol creator Simon Fuller announced he has been responsible for 160 million downloads via iTunes… And the Apple rumor mill is churning with speculation that a streaming music service will be announced at the Worldwide Developers conference on June 7th…
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
One Million + Sold
The clock is ticking for Terra Firma to come up with enough funds to keep control of EMI – recent reports indicate Guy Hands has rallied some of the investment firms’ largest backers in an effort to raise the minimum needed by the fast approaching deadline… Apple announced at the start of the week that they have already sold one-million iPads, that’s less than half the time it took to sell the same amount of iPhones… Elsewhere, Warner Music Group reported a 15% rise in digital revenue in its most recent quarter… Tunecore delivered stats from 2009 that included a total of $35-million in download and streaming income for artists… And The Register takes an interesting look at Beggars Group in an interview with indie label-group head Martin Mills…
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Buh Bye bebo; AOL Plans to Sell or Shutter the Social Network
The week began with a report that EMI was apparently still in talks with Sony Music about a possible catalog licensing deal, though some have pointed out that contracts with key EMI artists might prevent such a deal from going through. No further updates followed, other than a cheery financial outlook from Terra Firma boss Guy Hands… AOL revealed that it was planning to sell or shutter the social networking site bebo that it paid $850 million for in 2008, while Rhapsody spun off into an independent company shedding former partners RealNetworks and Viacom/MTV; the subscription music service now also counts Universal Music Group as a new minority investor… Digital royalty collection organization SoundExchange announced that its 2010 Q1 payouts to artists and copyright holders topped all previous quarters… Details about the Solid Sound Festival were released this week, the Wilco-currated three-day event will take place in June at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA… And Sonicbids owner Panos Panay talks about the artist-as-entrepeneur…
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Chrysalis acquires over 45K copyrights in First State Media Group deal
All eyes were on EMI this week with the end of the quarter looming and no clear indication as to what kind of licensing deal, if any, would be struck at the last minute. At the end of day no deal was made, and the new default deadline for the beleaguered music company and its parent Terra Firma appears to be June… Chatter that American Idol owner CKX, Inc. is in discussions to sell the company was confirmed on Monday… As we alluded to last week, Chrysalis has announced its acquisition of First State Media Group, whose S1 Songs and State One Music trade names control over 45,000 copyrights including the former Dreamworks catalog and Wind-Up catalog… MP3.com founder Michael Robertson is preparing to take on internet radio with the rollout of his new service BYO.fm… Australian music start up Guvera launched a public beta in the U.S. on Tuesday… And Roadrunner Records will be releasing Korn’s upcoming Ross Robinson-produced album Korn III – Remember Who You Are sometime this summer…
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Acquires Cherry Lane Publishing - Eyeing EMI
One of the latest wrinkles in the unfolding tale of Terra Firma and EMI comes this week with a report that the struggling music company is in talks with competing major labels to license portions of its catalogue… Universal Music followed up with a denial that it was speaking with the music company, while as rumored here, Bertelsmann and KKR’s BMG Rights Management expressed that it is indeed interested in EMI’s assets. In related news, the newly launched publishing company made its largest acquisition to-date by purchasing Cherry Lane Publishing… In what could be interpreted as another step toward ISP bundled music subscriptions, AT&T announced a new music “experience” that will combine song downloads, streaming radio, lyrics and more in a single mobile application for subscribers… Next Big Sound compiled social media data to find the fastest rising bands at the SXSW music festival last week, and it was announced that online radio WOXY.com would be closing its doors.
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
The Brits Are Taking Over
With today’s announcement from Vivendi on the appointment of Lucian Grainge as Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group, expect the rumor mill to pump up the volume on what changes we can expect to happen within the UMG labels in the coming months. But before we delve into conjecture on the UMG side, it’s significant to point out the number of British executives running US major labels. Outside of Warner Music Group, the remaining three major label groups are run by Brits. The UK presence is quite prominent at the Rob Stringer-run Sony Music, particularly with the addition of Amanda Ghost at Epic, the recent addition of Ashley Newton at the Steve Barnett-helmed Columbia Records. And the Terra Firma-owned EMI Music Group maintains its US operations under Nick Gatfield, who served under Grainge during his stint as President of Island Records UK prior to his EMI post. Aside from Ghost, the aforementioned execs have solid working experience in US music companies. Barnett has been in the Sony US system for years, Newton’s previous post at RCA and his tenure co-running Virgin Records US makes him a very well-respected US exec, while Gatfield ran Polydor Records in the states during the ‘90s.
Back to UMG, Grainge will assume his new post on Jan. 1, 2011, succeeding current UMG CEO Doug Morris. Rumors of Grainge assuming Morris’ position have been swirling for months. Grainge is scheduled to relocate to NY in July as part of the transition. Industry insiders share that Universal Republic head Monte Lipman and brother Avery will have an expanded role at the music group, as well as Mercury Records head David Massey. It leaves to question the future roles of Island Def Jam ruler LA Reid and Universal Motown head Sylvia Rhone, who was a longtime Doug Morris protégé. And it’s fair to expect no major changes to happen at Jimmy Iovine’s Interscope label. Stay tuned…
| Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Interactive Grammy Show Sees Big Ratings
The 52nd annual Grammy Awards show on Sunday night reached its highest ratings since 2004, surely do in part to the show being more interactive than ever before thanks to staff and attendees use of Twitter, Facebook and other crowdsourcing features setup for fans… Terra Firma is back in the news and reportedly looking for its investors to pump additional millions into troubled EMI… In a recent LA Times Q&A with Tim Leiweke, the AEG chief executive discusses how he sees a place for AEG to compete in the concert business even with the newly approved Ticketmaster – Live Nation merger… And a new Billboard analysis looks at the potential benefits for ISP companies if they were to offer a music service to customers.
| Posted in Reading Recap | No Comments »
In Case You Missed It: Reading Recap
Twitter Announces Deals with Google & Microsoft
Three Letter Circus > It was reported on Sunday that Citigroup was “lining up” buyers (including WMG) for EMI in an attempt to pressure owner Terra Firma into selling the music company (Guardian)… However the next day a statement to the contrary was released by the bank claiming that they were not seeking buyers, implying they couldn’t do so being a debt holder not an equity owner (Reuters)…
Tweet Deal > Twitter’s seeming indifference to being labeled “profitable” ends with the micro-blogging service’s announcement of two content-search deals with Google and Microsoft (specifically Bing). The deals, worth a combined $25 million, will allow tweets to appear in both service’s search engine results (BW)…
It’s All Good > UK regulators approved the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an about-face for the Competition Commission who previously expressed serious concerns over the deal (NYTimes)…
Freedom of Choice > Hulu makes further inroads in the music video arena by adding content from Warner Music Group, who is also the only major music group yet to make a deal with the label-backed video service Vevo. A similar arrangement between Hulu and EMI was announced last month (MediaMemo)…
| Posted in Reading Recap, Uncategorized | No Comments »
| Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »