Independents Argue Streaming Rate Difference Between

October 5, 2015 Page 1 of 6
INSIDE
Transparency
Takes Center
Stage at Berklee’s
Fair Music
Workshop
Copyright Judges
Approve Public
Radio Pay to
SoundExchange
Puff Daddy’s
Bad Boy
Entertainment
Partners With
Epic Records
Stagecoach To
Celebrate 10th
Year With Carrie
Underwood, Eric
Church, Luke
Bryan
Jack Dorsey
Announced as
Twitter’s New
CEO
ON SALE
OCTOBER 16
Independents Argue Streaming Rate
Difference Between Them and Majors
Would ‘Have Disastrous Consequences’
BY ED CHRISTMAN
The fact that the Copyright Royalty Board is -- possibly -- considering setting different rates for different
kinds of record labels has the independent label
community up in arms.
In addition to A2IM, both Merlin and Association
of Independent Music (AIM) have come out in
support of keeping a single rate for all music
suppliers, condemning those speaking in favor of a
multi-tier rate payment system. So far, Sony Music
Entertainment and the Universal Music Group have
come out in favor of multiple rates for different
music suppliers. Up until now, the CRB has confined
itself to setting a single rate for all music licensors,
whether a mom-and-pop indie like Mom + Pop or a
major with a deep bench Columbia Records.
The Copyright Royalty Board, which is currently
deliberating webcasting rates, has asked the U.S.
Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante whether it can
set varying royalty rates for different music suppliers.
Click here to read the full article.
France Seeks to Tackle
Music’s Digital Future,
Provide Artists a
Minimum Wage
BY ANDREW FLANAGAN
The same day (Oct. 2) that tech thought leaders met
at Berklee’s Boston campus to identify and discuss
some structural and technological problems slowing
(some would argue preventing) the music industry’s
full digitization, the French Minister of Culture,
Fleur Pellerin, presented to her country’s parliament
a voluntary agreement that looks to address many of
those same issues from the top down.
In light of the digitization of the industry through
streaming and its converse contraction through the
past 15 years, the Ministry’s agreement echoes an
increasingly common refrain, that “the challenge is
(continued)
Page 2 of 6
[In Brief]
to make [the industry] more transparent
and more equitable, sharing revenues
between stakeholders and ensuring that it
includes a fair return for the artists.”
Perhaps most notably, and progressively,
the agreement would provide artists with
a minimum wage. Industry stakeholders
“in particular agree to share with all
artists income received from online music
services and to guarantee them a minimum
wage, in return for the digital use of their
recordings.” On that point, the document
reads:
Phonogram producers will undertake
individual and collective negotiations
on the remuneration of performers,
to give them a guaranteed minimum
remuneration for digital exploitation of
their records. This guarantee may take
different forms, such as a minimum wage
or a minimum proportional advance. The
modalities and level of this minimum
guaranteed remuneration will be fixed by
collective agreement, who shall take into
account the diversity of situations in the
sector.
Click here to read the full article.
AVAILABLE
FREE
TO CURRENT
BILLBOARD
SUBSCRIBERS
billboard.com/ipad
Transparency
Takes Center Stage
at Berklee’s Fair
Music Workshop
BY MAURA JOHNSTON, BOSTON
Transparency in the music industry -- essentially, the idea that artists should be privy
to the details of how their music is used,
where their money is coming from and why
-- has taken center stage in a public debate
of increasing volume in recent history. On
Friday, the Berklee Institute of Music’s
Rethink Music initiative sponsored the Fair
Music Workshop, a series of panels and
chats designed to provoke discussion on
how transparency can be heightened and
reinforced in the music business, at Boston’s
waterfront innovation hub District Hall.
“This industry really has to get its shit
together not only to generate revenue,
but to get money to those people who
actually need it and deserve it,” Casey
Rae, CEO of the artist-forward nonprofit
Future Of Music Coalition, said at the
opening panel on transparency and its
relation to money. He then noted that
the music industry had three flavors of
transparency to grapple with: Structural,
or the understanding of how services
generate and pay out royalties; deal and
terms transparency, which examines how
contracts lay down the terms for music’s
use and compensation; and repertoire,
which deals with the data and information
management systems that track the
consumption and usage of music. He
asserted that repertoire transparency
was “the thing we need to address
immediately, simply because all the rest
of the good stuff that comes from a truly
global music industry… is impossible to
effectively operate without really great data
management systems and authoritative
information about ownership.”
Click here to read the full article.
Copyright Judges
Approve Public
Radio Pay to
SoundExchange
BY ED CHRISTMAN
The three judges who make up the Copyright Royalty Board have approved the
Access the best
in music.
A DIGITAL VERSION OF EVERY ISSUE, FEATURING:
COVER STORIES . SPECIAL REPORTS . REVIEWS . INTERVIEWS
EVENT COVERAGE & MORE
Page 3 of 6
[In Brief]
settlement between the SoundExchange
and the public radio networks. As a result
of that settlement, NPR, American Public
Media, Public Radio International, Public
Radio Exchange and up to 530 originating
public radio stations as named by Corporation for Public Broadcasting will pay $2.8
million annually, divided into in 5 installments, through 2019. That rate is up from
the $2.4 million in annual payments made
during the previous term.
As part of the settlement, each public
radio station will pay a minimum royalty of
$500 a year, the same as it was previously.
Moreover, the settlement provides a
mechanism that allows the number of
stations taking part to be increased.
Also, five percent of the payments will be
compensation for ephemeral rights, which
allow for storage of the reproductions
of recordings that are broadcast on
the stations’ servers. According to the
determination, the payments cover
285,132,065 aggregate tuning hours, or the
total hours of programming.
While the payments will ultimately be
made to SoundExchange for disbursal to
labels and recording artists, the CRB did
not yet approve part of the settlement
which designates them as a collective
entity. In order to be in compliance with
the law, that designation will be approved
when CRB is done setting all rates for all
webcasters, not just the public radio sector.
The CRB determination must still be
reviewed the Register of the U.S. Copyright
Office, Maria Pallante, to see if the
approved settlement is in compliance with
the law.
Puff Daddy’s Bad
Boy Entertainment
Partners With Epic
Records
BY BILLBOARD STAFF
Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs’ 22-year-old
music house Bad Boy Entertainment has
teamed with Epic Records, the Sony Music
company announced today (Oct. 5). The
exclusive partnership includes distribution
of two forthcoming Puff Daddy albums and
provides a home for Bad Boy artists covering customary label services including promotion, marketing, sales and distribution.
To celebrate the signing, Puff Daddy will
perform new music at the BET Hip-Hop
Awards scheduled for Oct. 13 in Atlanta.
Bad Boy comes to the Sony label
following similar deals with Warner Music
Group, Interscope Records and Arista
Records, but Epic Records chairman
and CEO L.A. Reid, who founded R&B
powerhosue LaFace Records and formerly
headed Arista, sees it as a full-circle
moment.
Click here to read the full article.
Jack Dorsey
Announced as
Twitter’s New CEO
BY RAY WADDELL, NASHVILLE
As expected, Twitter co-founder Jack
Dorsey has announced he is the company’s
new permanent CEO. Fittingly, he chose
Twitter to share the big news. Dorsey also
said revenue and partnerships chief Adam
Bain would be the new COO and that there
were changes in the works within the company’s board.
Dorsey replaces Dick Costolo, who
stepped down in June, but remained on
Twitter’s board. Twitter announced on
Monday that Costolo stepped down from
the board on Sept. 30 and also that Dorsey
will continue on the advisory panel, but
will no longer be chairman.
On a conference call on Monday, Dorsey,
Bain and board member Peter Currie
answered questions about the selection
process, retention of Twitter employees
and the rollout of new products, including
Project Lightning, a new way to help
users follow live events that will be rolling
out later this year. Dorsey said Project
Lightning will “make sure we can really
show off what’s going on in the world in
a contextual way.” Dorsey also briefly
alluded to a new feature that will enable
longer tweets beyond the standard 140
characters.
Twitter said there were no plans to
provide Dorsey with direct compensation
for his role as CEO.
Click here to read the full article.
‘1989’ x2 In The
Top 10
BY MARC SCHNEIDER
With Ryan Adams’ song-for-song remake
of Taylor Swift’s 1989 debuting at No. 7 on
the Billboard 200 (dated Oct. 10), a notch
above Swift’s original at No. 8, the question
was a natural: have any other same-titled
albums shared space in the Billboard 200’s
top 10 before?
The answer? Yes, going by title alone …
although no, narrowing it down to albums
with the exact same content.
After combing through more than 50
years of charts, and more than 4,600 top
10 albums … four sets of identically-named
albums prior to the two 1989s had ranked
in the Billboard 200’s top 10 at the same
time, dating to Aug. 17, 1963, when the
chart became a combination of previously
separate mono and stereo listings.
Click here to read the full article.
Page 4 of 6
[In Brief]
Trailer for Scorsese
and Jagger’s HBO
Series on the
Music Industry of
the Past ‘Smashes
You Over the
Head’
BY BILLBOARD STAFF
Following the release of a teaser trailer
in August, HBO has unveiled a longer,
debauchery-filled look at Martin Scorcese
and Mick Jagger’s upcoming music industry series Vinyl. Starring Bobby Cannavale as Richie, an amped-up record label
president in the early 1970s, the series will
debut some time in January. In the trailer,
Cannavale gives a locker room-style pep
talk about the power of rock ’n’ roll (“It’s
fast, it’s dirty, it smashes you over the
head!”) as The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your
Dog” churns in the background.
As you’d expect, the trailer is chock full
of sex, drugs (so much coke!) and rock
’n’ roll. Plus, there’s plenty of shady dealmaking, guns and even an appearance by
an Andy Warhol character.
Vinyl also stars Olivia Wilde as Richie’s
wife, along with Ray Romano, Juno
Temple, Andrew Dice Clay, Ato Essandoh,
Max Casella, Jack Quaid, Brigitte Hjorth
Sorensen and James Jagger (Mick’s son).
Click here to watch the trailer.
The Story Behind
‘Heroes,’ The
Song That Won
Eurovision 2015 for
Sweden
TV Ratings: ‘SNL’
Premiere Rises
With Hillary
Clinton, Miley
Cyrus
BY FRED BRONSON
BY MICHAEL O’CONNELL, THE
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
For the 197 million viewers who watched
the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest live in
40 countries back in May, the competition
is appointment viewing, taking up three
nights of television in the form of two
semi-finals and a grand finale. But for those
working behind the scenes, music’s biggest
night in Europe is a year-round event, with
the search for the next winner beginning
immediately after the lights go up.
Warner Music Sweden’s A&R manager
Robert Skowronski, whose main
mission is to find songs every year for
Melodifestivalen, the Swedish heat to
choose the country’s Eurovision entry,
began looking for a winning 2015 tune for
the label’s Måns Zelmerlöw in June 2014.
Speaking to Billboard, Skowronski
described the process: “I go around to
studios in Stockholm and [all over] Sweden,
taking meetings with producers. I listen to
songs and see if they have anything. After a
few weeks, they send me demos. It takes a
long time to find the right song.”
In September 2014, Skowronski received
a song called “Heroes” from songwriter
Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, who
wrote the tune with the husband-and-wife
team of Joy and Linnea Deb. “First time I
heard it, I thought it was a good song but
I didn’t think it was the best thing I’d ever
heard,” says Skowronski. “I had to listen to
it a few more times. I called Anton and said,
‘It’s a good song but I’m not sure which
artist would fit.’ I sent it to two artists and
they turned it down. They didn’t feel it was
right for them. I went to the studio for a
meeting with Anton and Li and Joy, and we
said maybe Måns could do it.”
Click here to read the full article.
With no shortage of buzz leading into its
season premiere, thanks to months of
un-spoofed political theater courtesy of
the presidential race, Saturday Night Live
returned to boosted ratings this weekend.
The 41st season of the NBC show,
which featured a guest appearance by
Hillary Clinton, rose 13 percent from the
comparable premiere a year ago for a 4.5
overnight rating among metered-market
households. That’s also a 18 percent boost
from the May finale, likely meaning it
will wind up as the show’s most-watched
episode since January.
Click here to read the full article.
Spotify Expands
Auto Presence
as Android
App Comes to
MirrorLink
BY MARC HOGAN
Spotify has moved one step closer to
millions of car dashboards. The streaming
service’s Android app is available starting
today through MirrorLink, a standard for
in-dash smartphone interfaces.
The addition of compatibility with
MirrorLink gives Spotify another foothold
in streaming companies’ incipient battle
for drive-time dominance. The Spotify
Page 5 of 6
[In Brief]
app is already available through Apple’s
CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto indash systems, as well as on connected-car
platforms from BMW and Ford.
Jonathan Tarlton, senior manager for
automotive business development at
Spotify, says MirrorLink compatibility
helps the service be where its users are.
“We’re just getting started in going after
the connected-car market, but really the
time is right,” he tells Billboard.
Spotify for Android is accessible on
MirrorLink through a new app called
RockScout, which makes Spotify and
potentially other music apps compatible
with MirrorLink standards for driver safety.
“The whole concept is to give folks a
more responsible way to use applications
on their phone while driving,” says Alan
Ewing, president and executive director of
the Car Connectivity Consortium, which
developed MirrorLink.
Click here to read the full article.
Jay Z Seeks Delay
of Copyright Trial
Due to Egyptian’s
Medical Condition
BY ERIQ GARDNER, THE
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
It’s now been eight years since Shawn “Jay
Z” Carter was first sued for allegedly lifting
an Egyptian tune for his mega-hit “Big
Pimpin.” On October 13, he is scheduled to
defend himself at trial. But the proceeding
is potentially being delayed over what Jay
Z’s side frames as the other side’s “gamesmanship.”
In court papers on Friday, defendants
told the judge they’ve learned that
the plaintiff, Osama Ahmed Fahmy
-- the nephew of Baligh Hamdi, whose
composition “Khosara, Khosara” is at the
heart of the copyright lawsuit -- won’t be
attending the trial. They say they were
noticed that Fahmy was experiencing a
“medical condition” and that instead of
appearing live, Fahmy’s testimony would
come via a six-year-old deposition.
This isn’t acceptable, they say.
“Plaintiff ’s eleventh-hour gambit
is an obvious attempt to avoid crossexamination at trial,” states the
defendants’ legal brief. “It should not be
sanctioned by this Court.”
Click here to read the full article.
Apple & Google
Top List of Best
Global Brands
BY BILLBOARD STAFF
Four tech firms and a soda company
dominate the top five of this year’s Best
Global Brands list from Interbrand. Apple
and Google score the top spots again, with
brand values of $170 billion and $120
billion, respectively. Coke is a distant third
with $78.4 billion, trailed by Microsoft’s
$67.7 billion and IBM’s $65.1 billion.
The annual rankings of top companies
is determined by a brand’s financial
performance, its influence over customer
choice, and the brand’s strength to
“command a premium price or secure
earnings” for the company.
The rest of the top ten includes a car
company (Toyota), a pair of multinational
conglomerates (Samsung and GE), a fast
food giant (McDonald’s) and the world’s
biggest retailer (Amazon).
Click here to read the full article.
Miss Info
Announces Exit
from Hot 97:
Exclusive
BY ANDREW FLANAGAN
After 10 years with New York’s respected
hip-hop station Hot 97, Miss Info (born
Minya Oh) has announced she will be leaving the station. Miss Info will be focusing
on her website, MissInfo.tv and a book on
parenting.
“2015 has been such an incredible year
so far,” Info says in a statement. “With a
new baby, upcoming site relaunch, and a
book on the way, it feels like everything
is on the changing table. This wasn’t an
easy decision, as I’ve shared so many
unforgettable moments with my Hot 97
family. I want to thank everyone from
the jocks and creatives to sales and
promotions, for their immeasurable
support both on and off air.”
As Miss Info’s colleague Karlie Hustle
told the New York Times in February in
a story about the station’s uphill battle to
maintain rap primacy in the city: “The
station must evolve and change with the
times.” Miss Info seems to be taking that
advice -- much like her colleague Ebro
Darden, who is a keystone on Apple’s
lauded Beats 1 internet radio station in
addition to his regular duties at Hot 97.
Page 6 of 6
[In Brief]
Rob Wells, Former
Digital Leader for
Universal Music,
Joins App Startup
Crowdmix
Taylor Swift’s
‘Wildest Dreams’
Video Hits 100
Million Views on
Vevo
IMS Conference
Launches In China,
Alongside STORM
Dance Festival feat.
Skrillex, Flo Rida
BY ANDREW FLANAGAN
BY ERIN STRECKER
BY ROB SCHWARTZ, SHANGHAI
Rob Wells, the former BMG mailroom
employee who rose over fourteen years to
become the head of digital for Universal
Music Group before his departure earlier
this year, has announced his next move.
The digital exec will be the new Global
Chief Commercial Officer and CEO, Americas for social music startup Crowdmix.
The app, set to launch early next year,
is an amorphously defined set of social
features which is hoping to unify “an
otherwise fragmented social media
landscape,” offering music fans and artists
a mechanism for “discovering, sharing
and socialising music... seamlessly.” The
company has drawn $27 million in one
funding round according to CruchBase,
and says it is poised to close another $20
million round by the end of this year.
In a statement, Wells says of his
new job: “Initially skeptical, I quickly
became incredibly excited by the scale
of Crowdmix’s ambition, its ridiculously
talented tech team, music industry
support, strong funding and vision to give
fans the social experience they crave.” The
last we heard from Wells, he had joined the
advisory board of LoveLive.
Wells was a streaming evangelist
even in the market’s early stages, often
defending Spotify in particular when
arguments arose over whether streaming
was cannibalizing record sales. Prior to
and after his exit from UMG, the company
has made plain that it expects freemium
to become a less feature- and contentrich gateway towards driving subscriber
numbers to streaming services.
It’s official: Taylor Swift’s music video for
“Wildest Dreams” has hit 100 million
views on Vevo.
While the high view count isn’t a
new marker for Swift, it shows that her
latest ballad -- the fifth single from the
unstoppable 1989 -- continues to grow.
In fact, this week the tune hit the top 10
on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The co-organized IMS China conference
and STORM Festival took place October 2-4 in Shanghai. The Ibiza and Los
Angles-based International Music Summit (IMS) and A2Live of Shanghai jointly
planned the two events, creating a natural
synergy by having artists present at the
business forum and perform at the festival. IMS kicked things off on Oct. 2, with
STORM taking place in Shanghai over the
weekend.
After successful turns in Ibiza and
Los Angeles, this is the first IMS event
to take place in China -- and the first
electronic music conference in the country
whatsoever, though organizers plan to
make it an annual event. The conference
hosted 27 panelists, over 180 delegates,
with 17 countries represented, taking part
in 4 panels and 4 keynote presentations,
offering ideas on how to penetrate the
notoriously difficult Chinese market, which
has the potential to dwarf even the US in
market size.
Click here to read the full article.
The Weeknd No. 1
on Hot 100 Again,
Shawn Mendes
Earns First Top 10
BY GARY TRUST
The Weeknd’s “The Hills” keeps rolling,
leading the Billboard Hot 100 for a third
week. Meanwhile, Shawn Mendes scores
his first Hot 100 top 10 with “Stitches.”
And, as The Weeknd and Mendes join
fellow Canadians Justin Bieber and Drake
in the top tier, half the Hot 100’s top 10
belongs to Canadian artists.
As we do each Monday, let’s run
down the top 10 and more (on the chart
dated Oct. 17). Highlights of the airplay/
sales/streaming-based Hot 100 post on
Billboard.com each Monday, with all charts
updated each Tuesday.