1. Jonas Nachsin, Former President of Roadrunner Records, Appointed GM of UMG's Spinefarm Records

    August 12, 2013 11:21 AM EDT Jonas Nachsin, who enjoyed a 13-year stint as president of Roadrunner Records, has been appointed the worldwide GM of Universal Music’s hard rock and metal label, Spinefarm Records. Under Nachsin’s leadership, Spinefarm will increase investment ...

  2. Modular Recordings Expands Into U.K. & Europe

    August 12, 2013 6:46 AM EDT Steve “Pav” Pavlovic’s smoking hot Australian label Modular Recordings is expanding into the U.K. and Europe with the launch of a London office. The new office is managed by Adam Brooks, who joins Modular from Warp Records, where he helmed the U ...

  3. Miley Cyrus Grabs First U.K. No. 1 With 'We Can’t Stop'

    August 12, 2013 5:29 AM EDT Miley Cyrus has landed not only her first U.K. No. 1 single but her first top ten hit in the territory. “We Can’t Stop” (RCA/Sony) debuted at the summit yesterday (Aug. 12) with first-week sales of 128,000. “Britain’s Got Talent” duo Richard &am ...

  4. Youku Tudou Narrows Second-Quarter Loss

    August 09, 2013 3:30 PM EDT Youku Tudou narrowed its loss in the second quarter, and the Chinese online video company believes the outlook is positive as consuming video on multiple screens becomes the standard in China. Quarterly revenue rose 30 percent from the year-ago ...

  5. Coldplay's First Soundtrack-Specific Song, 'Atlas,' to Debut on Republic's 'Hunger Games: Catching Fire' Soundtrack

    August 09, 2013 2:00 PM EDT Coldplay are ready to show off their first new music since 2011's chart-sweeping album "Mylo Xyloto." The British alt-rock band recorded a song for the "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" soundtrack, titled "Atlas," ...

  6. Imagem Music U.K. Sign Cathy Dennis to Global Deal

    August 09, 2013 2:23 AM EDT Hitmaking British songwriter Cathy Dennis has signed a worldwide, multi-year publishing deal with Imagem Music U.K. Dennis has played a huge part in contemporary pop culture over the past 15 years, and is recognized as one of the most successful ...

  7. K-Pop Museum Coming to Los Angeles' Koreatown

    August 08, 2013 8:55 PM EDT Multi-faceted Korean company SM Entertainment, which functions as both a record label and a talent agency, is set to open a Korean pop culture museum in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles. SM Entertainment is largely credited with the concepti ...

  8. Google Brings Streaming Music Service to Europe

    August 08, 2013 4:09 PM EDT Google is rolling out its streaming music service, Google Play Music All Access, in Europe. After its U.S. launch in May, it hit Australia and New Zealand in July. As of Thursday, the Internet giant started its European rollout in the U.K., Irel ...

  9. Universal Music Launches Caroline International, Michael Roe, Jim Chancellor To Head-Up

    August 08, 2013 8:56 AM EDT The Universal Music Group has launched Caroline International, an independent distributor and label services provider; and has named Michael Roe and Jim Chancellor to head the London-based operation. Roe, who founded the international arm of EMI ...

  10. Kobalt Neighbouring Rights Signs Thirty Seconds to Mars, Matt Corby, Train and More

    August 08, 2013 7:00 AM EDT Kobalt Neighbouring Rights, a division of Kobalt Music Group, has announced the signing of several high-profile artists, including the band Thirty Seconds To Mars, DJ and singer Havana Brown, Train, pop star A*M*E and 'Australian Idol' ...

  11. Rate This App: Seenth.is Helps Organize Your Music Fandom

    August 07, 2013 8:40 PM EDT Along with the branded apps that artists use to personally disseminate news and photos, die-hard fans need to know which news outlets, blogs, Twitter accounts and Instagram users to follow in order to be completely updated on their favorite act. ...

  12. Billboard Argentina Launches

    August 07, 2013 6:25 PM EDT Billboard will debut its first Spanish-language edition with Billboard Argentina, which launched this week. The monthly, glossy publication will be Billboard’s 5th international property joining Brazil, Russia, South Korea and Japan. Billboard A ...

  13. Spotify Partners with Vodafone in U.K.

    August 07, 2013 11:59 AM EDT Spotify Premium will be bundled with Vodafone upcoming 4G service in the United Kingdom to encourage customers to upgrade to the faster mobile service. Vodafone's 4G service will be available in London on August 29th and will roll out to ...

  14. 'X Factor' U.K. Judge Louis Walsh to Quit After Upcoming Season

    August 07, 2013 4:28 AM EDT Louis Walsh, a veteran judge on "The X Factor" in the U.K., says he will leave the music talent show after the upcoming season. The Irish music manager has been on the Simon Cowell developed show on ITV since its launch. "I'v ...

  15. Palestinian ‘Arab Idol’ Winner Gets Permission For West Bank Move

    August 07, 2013 1:57 AM EDT Fame has opened a door for a former Gaza wedding singer that remains closed for others in the blockaded territory: Mohammed Assaf, winner of the popular TV talent contest "Arab Idol," gets to move to the West Bank. The West Bank and Ga ...

  16. 'Sapphires' U.S. DVD Art Could be Scrapped After Racism Complaints

    August 06, 2013 12:41 PM EDT The U.S. distributor of the Australian feel-good film "The Sapphires" is apologizing for the DVD cover, which has had complaints of sexism and racism levelled against it. Anchor Bay Entertainment said in a statement Monday that it &quo ...

  17. El Komander Denies Wrongdoing in Controversial Narcocorrido Concert, Says He 'Loves Rules'

    August 06, 2013 12:22 PM EDT In accordance with an ordinance prohibiting the singing of narcocorrido songs which glorify drug culture, authorities in Chihuahua, Mexico have fined a concert promoter 10,000 pesos (about $8,000) for a July 27 concert by the artist known as El ...

  18. iHeartRadio Expands Into Australia, New Zealand

    August 06, 2013 7:40 AM EDT Clear Channel's iHeartRadio has opened for business in Australia and New Zealand – its first expansion move outside the United States. The Internet radio service launched Down Under in beta this week at www.iheartradio.com.au , ahead of a ...

  19. Lollapalooza Brazil Partners with South American Promoter Time 4 Fun

    August 06, 2013 7:02 AM EDT C3, the Austin, Texas-based producer of Lollapalooza music festivals in Chicago,  Chile, and Brazil, announces today that it will partner on Lolla Brazil going forward with Time 4 Fun (T4F), the leading South American live entertainment promoter ...

  20. Eddie 'Piolin' Sotelo Denies Harassment Allegations, Plans Return to Radio ‘Very Soon'

    August 06, 2013 5:16 AM EDT Radio personality Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo, whose nationally syndicated show was cancelled abruptly last month by Univision, has issued a statement stating that allegations of harassment against him by his former colleague are untrue. Sot ...

  21. Rebeat Aims for Better Accounting in Digital Distribution

    August 05, 2013 7:57 PM EDT Can better royalty accounting lead to better digital distribution? Austrian digital distributor Rebeat thinks so.   "Digital distribution is no issue any more," Rebeat CEO Guenter Loibl tells Billboard. By that he means many companies ...

  22. Juke, German Music Streaming Service, Partners With Mobilcom Debitel Telecom

    August 05, 2013 2:04 PM EDT JUKE and mobilcom-debitel today announced a partnership in which the German music streaming service will now come bundled on the telecom's mobile platforms, which claim to have more than 14 million customers. As part of a bundling deal, new ...

  23. Biz Video: The 3 Charlies of C3 on Lollapalooza's Record-Breaking Success, 'Over-Sponsorship,' Global Expansion

    August 05, 2013 1:40 PM EDT “It’s rare that we’re ever in the same town, let alone the same place at one time,” Charlie Jones said as his C3 founding partners Charlie Walker and Charles Attal joined him backstage at Lollapalooza Sunday afternoon (Aug. 4). Sitting down wit ...

  24. Avicii’s 'Wake Me Up' Spends Third Week Atop U.K. Chart, Breaks 1 Million Sales

    August 05, 2013 7:30 AM EDT Swedish DJ Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” (Positiva/PRMD) broke through the half-million sales barrier to secure a third week atop the U.K. singles chart yesterday. The latest TV-generated No. 1 on the artist album chart are “Britain’s Got Talent” gradu ...

  25. ‘Australian Idol’ Not Returning, Network Confirms

    August 05, 2013 12:27 AM EDT Squashing recent rumors Down Under, local Network Ten has confirmed that it won’t be bringing back "Australian Idol." Register today for Billboard's 2013 Film & TV Music conference in Los Angeles Oct. 29-20 at the W Hollywood ...

  26. Business Matters: ABI's Optimistic Forecast Says Music Subscriptions Will Exceed $46 Billion by 2018 (Corrected)

    August 02, 2013 10:44 PM EDT Update: ABI Research reached out to Billboard to explain that its revenue forecast for 2018 was cumulative. In other words, ABI believes subscription services will generate $46 billion of consumer spending and about $32 billion of trade value ...

  27. Warner/Chappell Music Appoints Times Music to Represent Its Catalog in India

    August 02, 2013 1:26 PM EDT Today, Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., and Times Music, the music and music IP management business of the Times of India Group, announced an exclusive licensing deal under which Times Music wil ...

  28. Biz Poll: Should Sony Entertainment and Universal Music Leave Their Parent Companies?

    August 01, 2013 7:16 PM EDT Over the last several months, financial propositions were made to cleave Sony Entertainment and Universal Music Group -- the world's two largest music companies  – away from their parent companies. If these proposals were ever to come to f ...

  29. Luaka Bop and Sonic Cathedral Announce Label Services Partnerships with !K7

    August 01, 2013 4:43 PM EDT Luaka Bop, the New York-based label founded by avid cyclist (and Talking Heads founding member) David Byrne, alongside Sonic Cathedral, a shoegaze-concentrated independent label from London launched in 2006, have both unveiled their collaborat ...

  30. Sony Corp. Will Reject IPO for Entertainment Unit

    August 01, 2013 8:41 AM EDT The Sony Corp. board of directors plans to reject a proposal for an initial public stock offering of its entertainment unit. The news, first reported by Nikkei , caused Sony Corp. shares to drop by as much as 3.1%. A company spokesperson told B ...

  31. Sony Returns To Quarterly Profit

    August 01, 2013 7:09 AM EDT As a slew of big-name Japanese companies report improved quarterly earnings, one theme is taking the sheen off their rosy numbers: mainstay businesses are still struggling despite the perk from a weaker yen. The latest example came Thursday from ...

  32. Australia’s Big Day Out Fest Confirms Headliners Pearl Jam, Blur, Arcade Fire

    July 31, 2013 10:35 PM EDT Pearl Jam, Blur, Arcade Fire and Snoop Lion (aka Snoop Dogg) will headline the 2014 Australasian Big Day Out tour. Other key names confirmed to the bill include EDM acts Major Lazer, Steve Angello (formerly of Swedish House Mafia) and Australia& ...

  33. Business Matters: Spotify's 2012 Revenues More Than Double, Net Losses Increase Indicating Workable Business Model

    July 31, 2013 1:28 PM EDT Spotify, the world's largest music subscription service, more than doubled revenue in 2012 to over $573 million. Although the company lost slightly more money than it did in 2011, there are signs its business model can be sustainable. Num ...

  34. Rihanna Wins Suit Against U.K. Retailer Topshop – Judge Recognizes the Singer as a 'Style Icon'

    July 31, 2013 1:18 PM EDT Today is Rihanna's lucky day. The pop music superstar has not only succeeded in winning a lawsuit against Topshop, a U.K.-based fashion retailer that has stores around the world; she also got a justice to recognize the value of her imprimat ...

  35. Op-Ed: How India, the 'Mobile First' Continent, Can Reduce Piracy, Earn the Industry $7.8 Billion

    July 31, 2013 12:11 PM EDT Vinodh Bhat is co-founder/CEO of Indian digital music service Saavn. He’s also co-founder/principal of 212Media, a privately held venture development company. Follow him at @vbhat on Twitter. The burgeoning legal music industry in India has, thu ...

  36. China's Media Regulators Silence TV Singing Contests

    July 31, 2013 4:57 AM EDT China’s media regulators have ordered the country’s satellite television stations to stop producing new singing-contest programs and to cut down on melodramatic elements of those currently airing. Chinese authorities are “controlling the total n ...

  37. Australia’s Billion-Dollar Live Biz Reports ‘Weaker’ 2012

    July 31, 2013 3:18 AM EDT Australia’s live music biz has had an up-and-down year, new figures reveal. Live Performance Australia’s annual “Ticket Attendance & Revenue Survey” reveals attendance slipped across the wider live entertainment market in 2012, and there was ...

  38. Americana Music Fest To Feature Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, The Lone Bellow, Ashley Monroe; RIAA's Cary Sherman to Keynote (Exclusive)

    July 30, 2013 6:24 PM EDT The annual Americana Music Festival and Conference, whose attendance has grown to some 18,000 attendees, is just a few weeks away. With the event's exponential growth, organizers are able to curate a lineup that's as diverse as the ge ...

  39. Ex-EMI Exec Teams With Dutch Indie Imagem for Film & TV Publishing Venture

    July 30, 2013 12:39 PM EDT Former EMI Music publishing executive Jonathan Channon is teaming with Dutch giant Imagem to launch a joint TV and Film venture Imagem FTV. The newly-created division of Imagem, which reps publishing rights for such songwriters as Elvis Presley, ...

  40. Australian Inquiry Into Price Hikes for iTunes, Software Propose Geo-Block Ban

    July 30, 2013 2:57 AM EDT An Australian parliamentary inquiry into the high prices of digital music and software Down Under has recommended that consumers find ways to legally bypass geo-blocking technology to find a better deal. A total ban on geo-blocking hasn’t been r ...

  41. Australia’s Live Music Biz Gets Gov’t Funding Boost

    July 30, 2013 1:36 AM EDT The Australian government has pledged A$560,000 ($508,000) for the creation of an office dedicated to supporting the country’s live music scene. The Federal government has allocated the funding over three years for the National Live Music Office ...

  42. Business Matters: Misinterpreting The Size, Shape and Momentum of the Digital Music Marketplace

    July 29, 2013 7:01 PM EDT The data should create the narrative, not the other way around. A number of journalists have ignored this rule in recent weeks. If you stay current on music industry news, you may have read some articles that will give you the wrong impression a ...

  43. 'X Factor' Singer Jahmene Douglas Bows At No. 1 in U.K., ‘Now’ Comp Shifts 300,000 Copies

    July 29, 2013 6:44 AM EDT “Now That’s What I Call Music! 85” (Sony Music CG/Virgin EMI/Universal) has smashed the series’ own record for the U.K.’s fastest-selling album of 2013, previously held by its “Now 84” predecessor. As the Official Charts Company’s latest sales ...

  44. Tomorrowland Coming to America: Q&A With TomorrowWorld's Shawn Kent

    July 27, 2013 8:37 AM EDT   Tomorrowland kicked off in the tiny town of Boom, Belgium tonight (July 26), marking the massive dance festival’s eighth year. One of the most international music events in the world – over 214 countries are represented amongst its attendee ...

  45. Biz Stock Ticks: This Week's Entertainment Indices

    July 26, 2013 8:51 PM EDT Biz Stock Ticks looks at publicly traded entertainment stock prices over the last week by Apple, Best Buy, Facebook, Google, Live Nation, Pandora, Sony, Sirius, TransWorld and Sony -- many of which this week reacted to the quarterly earnings re ...

  46. SiriusXM Launches ICONOS Interview Series With Marc Anthony

    July 26, 2013 5:36 PM EDT As part of its growing Latin footstep, SiriusXM Radio has launched a new series, ICONOS, that will feature in-depth interviews with top Latin stars. The series will be hosted by SiriusXM program director Israel Salazar, who oversees music progra ...

  47. Vivendi Sells Activision Stake for $8.2 Billion

    July 26, 2013 3:32 PM EDT Vivendi SA is selling most of its majority stake in Activision Blizzard Inc. for $8.2 billion, giving the video game company back its independence as the French conglomerate tries to strengthen its balance sheet. Vivendi said Friday that 429 mil ...

  48. Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers Elects New President

    July 26, 2013 10:59 AM EDT The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers, known as SGAE, has elected José Luis Acosta Salmerón as the organization's new president. The move to name a new leader comes only a few weeks after the troubled Madrid-based organization voted ...

  49. Warner Music U.K. Restructures After Parlophone Buy, Christian Tattersfield & Miles Leonard Promoted

    July 26, 2013 4:20 AM EDT Warner Music U.K. has fine-tuned its management structure following its acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group (PLG) earlier this month. Christian Tattersfield will lead the combined company as CEO, WM U.K. He also will act as co-chairman of ...

  50. Pink Floyd Make a ‘Big Change,’ Pact with Imagem Music U.K.

    July 25, 2013 5:37 AM EDT Pink Floyd have partnered with Imagem Music U.K. for their publishing. Through the deal, announced today, Pink Floyd Music Publishers has struck a deal that will see Imagem Music U.K. administer the songs of David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard ...

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