Publishing

1. NARM Announces First-Ever Music Industry Metadata Summit

   March 25, 2013 12:00 PM EDT The National Association of Recording Merchandisers and digitalmusic.org have announced its first-ever Music Industry Metadata Summit, which will be held in Los Angeles, May 6th and 7th, and is part of NARM's Music Biz 2013 conference. The ...

2. Buzzmedia Rebrands Itself SpinMedia

   March 25, 2013 11:16 AM EDT Buzzmedia -- the online publisher which owns such websites as Stereogum, Celebuzz, Idolator, XLR8R, and dozens of others, and is a part-owner of Hype Machine and Brooklyn Vegan -- rebranded itself SpinMedia this morning, taking its name from Spi ...

3. Backbeat: Capitol Music Group Executives Unveil 2013 Release Schedule With Aloe Blacc, Jhene Aiko, More

   March 22, 2013 6:06 PM EDT So the Universal Music Group held a showcase, and to insure that Retail Track attended, they held it practically across the street from Billboard's office at Joe's Pub . Oh yeah, they threw in a sweetener too -- an open bar -- and they ...

4. Big Deal Signs Up With BMG

   March 22, 2013 2:14 PM EDT Big Deal Music brings together veteran industry executives in a new music publishing firm, which has just cut an administration deal with BMG for North America and parts of Europe. The company brings under one roof Chrysalis Music colleagues Ken ...

5. Simple Plan, Ralph James, Graham Henderson Among Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry Award Honorees

   March 22, 2013 12:35 PM EDT The Canadian music industry was out full force last night (March 22), jammed into a room at Toronto’s Kool Haus to honor three Hall of Fame inductees, a humanitarian and an assortment of companies and individuals from labels, managers, agents, r ...

6. Boston's Tom Scholz Looks to Reclaim Rights to Hits, Sparking a Lawsuit from Former Manager and Publisher

   March 21, 2013 5:43 PM EDT Over the years, insiders in the music industry have expressed more than a feeling that this would be the year where there would be court battles that might forever shape the business. That's because changes to copyright law that went into e ...

7. Rumblefish Acquires Administration Startup Catalogik

   March 20, 2013 5:14 PM EDT Rumblefish -- the consumer-oriented music licensing company that, through its Friendly Music service, lets YouTube users legally incorporate Rumblefish's wide catalog of music in their videos -- has acquired Catalogik, a music licensing and ...

8. Pandora CFO Predicts Better Scaled Royalty Payments, Points to Increased Mobile Monetization

   March 20, 2013 12:52 PM EDT Internet radio giant Pandora believes it can lower its royalty costs as a share of revenue by roughly 20 percentage points over the next one to three years, the company's new chief financial officer said Tuesday.   Pandora believes its cont ...

9. Romeo Santos, Sony/ATV, Mayimba Music Celebrate at ASCAP Latin Music Awards

   March 19, 2013 9:50 PM EDT Romeo Santos, who last week tied Enrique Iglesias as the only Latin artist to score five No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart from a single album, was named Songwriter of the Year at the 21st annual ASCAP Latin Music Awards. Register ...

10. YouTube, Partners Needs to Work Harder to Pay Songwriters, Publishers Fairly: Guest Post by Matt Pincus

    March 19, 2013 3:09 PM EDT From Billboard’s groundbreaking decision to factor YouTube views into the charts, to the “Harlem Shake,” to the historic agreements covering UGC content and Vevo videos, YouTube is becoming the mainstream music business. Yet, the ugly truth is t ...

11. Maria Pallante, Register of Copyrights, to Congress: Copyright Needs to Be Updated for Digital Age

    March 19, 2013 12:45 PM EDT Maria Pallante, Register of Copyrights, will urge Congress to think about passing “the next great copyright act” that will be “more forward thinking and flexible than before” when she testifies before the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellect ...

12. Warner/Chappell Names Jake Ottmann SVP of A&R

    March 19, 2013 12:43 PM EDT Warner Music Group's publishing wing, Warner/Chappell Music, has named Jake Ottmann its new senior vice president of A&R, charged with finding, signing and guiding new artists as well as bringing established artists into WMG's fold ...

13. Q&A: Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning on 'Downloaded,' The Napster Revolution

    March 19, 2013 10:50 AM EDT They were wiry teenagers when they ignited the digital revolution, altering the music landscape forever with a little program called Napster in 1999. Now, 14 years later, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker are older and wiser, but no less passionate ...

14. George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell Talk 'Finding The Funk' - and Getting Paid for It - at SXSW Panel

    March 16, 2013 7:08 PM EDT 3 1.003 k 45 8 0 What began -- on paper, at least -- as a discussion on the documentary "Finding the Funk" by producers Nelson George and Arthur Baker (who moderated the conversation) quickly ran off the rails and became as much an exploration o ...

15. Spotify, Rdio, Xbox Music Reps Debates the Merits of Subscription Music Streaming at SXSW

    March 14, 2013 8:26 PM EDT With the rapid growth of platforms like Spotify and Deezer -- and white hot rumors of competing offerings emanating from the likes of Apple and Google -- it’s no surprise that the rise of music streaming subscription services is some of the most ...

16. Downtown Music’s Josh Deutsch Talks ‘Harlem Shake’ Success, Future Business Plans at SXSW

    March 13, 2013 9:00 PM EDT Earlier this year, Downtown Music -- which comprises Downtown Records, Downtown Publishing and other businesses -- announced that it was selling its records division to founders Josh Deutsch and Terence Lam, who would run the business independen ...

17. ASCAP Reports 2012 Financials: Distributed $827 Million

    March 04, 2013 3:32 PM EST ASCAP collected $941 million in revenue last year, down 4.5% from its 2011 total of $982 million. But royalty payments increased slightly to $827 million, up from $824 million in the previous year. This article first appeared in Billboard Mag ...

18. BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch On Buying Out KKR: 'We No Longer Need The Old Label System'

    March 01, 2013 8:08 AM EST 0 0 0 0   On the day that Bertelsmann announced it had bought out Kohlberg Krvis Roberts & Co. (KKR), its partner in BMG Rights Management, at a price-tag estimated at well-over a quarter billion dollars, Billboard.biz caught up with one of the deal&# ...

19. Simon Darlow, Songwriter for Grace Jones, Shirley Bassey, Named Chairman of U.K. Rights Org BASCA

    February 28, 2013 5:00 AM EST 0 0 0 0 U.K. songwriters’ body BASCA (the British Association of Songwriters, Composers & Authors) has announced the appointment of composer, musician and arranger Simon Darlow as its new chairman. Darlow, 52, has a long list of song credits including ...

20. Business Matters: Reaction to Pandora's Mobile Listening Cap

    February 27, 2013 9:36 PM EST 4 4 39 0 Pandora made it through one listening cap and it is likely going to make it through its second one. Founder Tim Westergren, who happened to be in Washington, D.C., a day earlier speaking out against the royalty system that resulted the listening ...

21. Universal Completes EMI Divestments, Sells Last Two Assets

    February 27, 2013 1:32 PM EST 0 0 0 0 Universal Music Group has sold off its last two remaining EMI assets it was required to divest of as part of its acquisition of EMI’s recorded-music properties, a source close to the situation told Billboard.biz today.   The assets are EMI’s Europ ...

22. ASCAP President Paul Williams, Songwriters Josh Kear, Dan Wilson Make Royalty Case to Congress

    February 27, 2013 10:35 AM EST 0 0 0 0 Above, L-R: Songwriter Josh Kear, co-chair of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus Rep. Martha Blackburn, songwriter Dan Wilson and ASCAP president Paul Williams Yesterday, at the Rayburn House Office Building on Washington D.C.'s Independenc ...

23. Kobalt Music Group's Label Services Division Announces Two New Senior-Level Hires

    February 26, 2013 11:56 AM EST 0 0 0 0 Kobalt Music Group's Label Services division, a full-service alternative to labels for rights-retaining artists, has announced the appointment of two senior-level executives, it was announced today. Karen Lieberman has transitioned from her f ...

24. How Four-Person INDmusic is Monetizing the 'Harlem Shake' Meme for Mad Decent

    February 26, 2013 7:15 AM EST It's Saturday, Feb. 16, and Brandon Martinez has just seen as many total views during the last nine days for his YouTube-based network INDmusic as he has in the company's 18-month existence. That's all courtesy of Baauer' ...

25. Warner Latin and Telemundo Launch Joint Venture

    February 25, 2013 10:29 AM EST 1 1 66 0 Above: Gabriel Coronel, the first artist signed under Warner Latina and Telemundo's new venture   Register today for the Billboard Latin Music Conference & Awards Presented by State Farm April 23-25 in Miami, use Promo Code BIZ13 for a d ...

26. Songwriter Diane Lampert Dies At 88

    February 25, 2013 6:05 AM EST 0 0 0 0 Diane Charlotte Lampert, an accomplished songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s who wrote lyrics to title songs for more than 20 movies, has died. Lampert's husband, Fred Stuart, said she died of heart failure Friday at a Manhattan hospital. She w ...

27. Clive Davis on Career, Memoir and Legacy at NYU Q&A

    February 22, 2013 4:18 PM EST 0 0 0 0 At New York University’s Tishman Auditorium on Thursday night, a packed lecture hall greeted Sony Music chief creative officer Clive Davis with a standing ovation at his first public appearance since the Tuesday release of his autobiography, " ...

28. Business Matters: Spotify Seeks Help Tweaking Its Business Model

    February 21, 2013 7:25 PM EST 0 0 0 0 Spotify will ask record labels for help in turning a profit. And the labels just might grant it.   Major label sources have confirmed to Billboard the points in a recent report at the Verge : Spotify will seek lower licensing rates and an extensio ...

29. Beyonce Signs Global Administration Deal With Warner/Chappell Publishing

    February 21, 2013 5:29 PM EST 0 0 0 0 Beyoncé has signed a global publishing agreement with Warner/Chappell Music, Billboard has learned exclusively. Effective immediately, Warner/Chappell -- headed by chairman/CEO Cameron Strang -- will administer the 17-time Grammy winner’s future s ...

30. Reservoir Buys Brit Publisher P&P Songs

    February 21, 2013 6:50 AM EST 0 0 0 0 NY-based music publisher Reservoir has acquired P&P Songs, a London-based independent firm with more than 1,000 pop music titles, for an undisclosed sum. Through the deal, Reservoir will support P&P’s U.K. based writers from its Reverb Mus ...

31. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to Receive ASCAP Founders Award at 30th Annual Pop Music Awards

    February 20, 2013 4:02 PM EST 1 1 27 0 Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry will be the 36th recipients of ASCAP's Founders Award at this year's Pop Music Awards, it was announced today. The Founders Award is given to artists who "have made exceptional contributi ...

32. Kelly Clarkson Slams Clive Davis: 'I Refuse To Be Bullied'

    February 19, 2013 5:07 PM EST 2 9 32 0 Kelly Clarkson is striking back at Sony Music’s chief creative officer Clive Davis, who makes some unsparing comments about the American Idol season one winner in his new memoir, The Soundtrack of My Life. Clive Davis Responds in War of Words Wit ...

33. Warner Music Working With Impala, Merlin to Sell Parlophone Assets to Indies

    February 19, 2013 4:33 PM EST 1 8 32 0 In a deal designed to help ease its purchase of Parlophone Label Group past European regulators and increase parity between the major labels and the independent music sector, Warner Music Group has agreed to make some of its assets available for ...

34. Morning Fix: Mindy McCready Remembered, Miguel Signs With UMPG, Clive Davis Comes Out, More

    February 19, 2013 8:45 AM EST 0 0 0 0 MINDY MCCREADY: NASHVILLE MUSIC BIZ -- JOE GALANTE, DAVID MALLOY, MARTY MARTEL, MORE -- REMEMBERS 'STUNNING,' 'AGGRESSIVE' TALENT Mindy McCready's tragic death will not tarnish her legacy among the music industry players w ...

35. Miguel Signs With Universal Music Publishing

    February 19, 2013 7:00 AM EST 5 15 91 0 GET THIS WEEK'S ISSUE OF BILLBOARD HERE Fresh from his Grammy win (and, just as significantly, his buzzed-about performance with Wiz Khalifa), artist/ songwriter/ producer Miguel has signed an exclusive, worldwide publishing agreement with ...

36. Analysis: BMG Poised to Become a Top Indie Catalog Following Sanctuary Acquisition

    February 15, 2013 7:54 PM EST 3 9 13 0 Once completed, the pending acquisition of the Sanctuary Records catalog will catapult BMG Rights Management into one of the industry's top independent catalog labels. Universal Sells Sanctuary Label to BMG The Sanctuary catalog has about 17 ...

37. Vevo Looks To Raise Capital as It Continues Talks With Google

    February 14, 2013 10:27 PM EST 5 5 35 0 Vevo, the largest destination for official music videos online, is about to hit the road in search of equity financing in order to fund its international expansion plans, according to sources familiar with the company’s plans. Vevo, which is curr ...

38. Universal Music Publishing Inks Deals with Fullscreen, Maker Studios

    February 14, 2013 7:45 PM EST 57 344 166 0 Universal Music Publishing Group, looking to cash in at a higher level on the YouTube money train, has struck licensing deals with Fullscreen and Maker Studios -- two companies that together account for more than 4 billion video views a month ...

39. Universal Sells Sanctuary Label to BMG

    February 14, 2013 7:28 PM EST 4 35 41 0 BMG Rights Management has won the auction to acquire Sanctuary, the rock label that was included in the assets that the Universal Music Group agreed to sell in order to win regulatory approval from the EU for its purchase of EMI Recorded Music. ...

40. Warner Music's Revenue Drops 1% to $769 Million In Fiscal First Quarter

    February 14, 2013 9:59 AM EST 6 8 39 0 Warner Music Group has a hole where Michael Buble "Christmas" CD sales used to exist. The company's recent acquisition of Parlophone and other EMI assets will help fill that void and them some. Warner revenue dropped 1% to $769 mil ...

41. Op-Ed: We Wouldn't Mind Getting Less Money From Pandora and Spotify, Indie Musician Says

    February 13, 2013 10:27 AM EST 3 232 51 0 My name is Patrick Laird and I am an independent musician with Break of Reality, an American cello rock band. Recent articles in national newspapers and magazines have focused on how working musicians are being underpaid by Internet radio compa ...

42. Publishing Briefs: BMG Chrysalis and Bella Union Join Up, Round Hill Acquires 'When a Man Loves a Woman' and More

    February 12, 2013 10:33 AM EST 0 3 17 0 Round Hill Music has acquired the writers’ rights to the Calvin Lewis-penned classic, “When A Man Loves A Woman,”  as well as picking up the publishing and administration rights to the catalog of hard-rock songwriter Marti Frederiksen. Frederikse ...

43. Grammys 2013: Parties, Galleries and Backbeats

    February 12, 2013 8:06 AM EST 0 0 10 0 Grainge, Weiss, Bartels, Lipmans, More at UMG/IDJ/Republic Grammy Parties Doug Morris, Rob Stringer, L.A. Reid, Adele, Kelly Clarkson, More at Sony's Post-Grammy Party GRAMMYS 2013: ALL OUR COVERAGE Katy Perry, Len Blavatnik, Fun., Cameron S ...

44. Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna, Star Execs at Roc Nation Pre-Grammy Brunch; Michael ‘Blue’ Williams Event Honors Chris Lighty

    February 09, 2013 11:13 PM EST Above: Kylie Minogue and Roc Nation president Jay Brown “Managing You First” was the theme of Family Tree Entertainment’s third annual pre-Grammy Managers Brunch at Boa Steakhouse in West Hollywood this morning (Feb. 9). Noting the event and th ...

45. Snoop Dogg Sparks Up While Busta Rhymes, Evan Bogart Share Stories at BMI ‘How I Wrote That Song’ Panel

    February 09, 2013 10:23 PM EST Above, L-R: Luke Laird, B.o.B, Snoop Dogg, BMI VP of writer/publisher relations Catherine Brewton, Evan Bogart and Busta Rhymes. (Photo: Joe Scarnici) This year's edition of BMI's annual “How I Wrote That Song” panel, held Feb. 9 at ...

46. Backbeat: Warner/Chappell’s Jon Platt, Singer Jill Scott Celebrate Grammy Week at ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Brunch

    February 09, 2013 8:22 PM EST Above, L-R: ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Team. Jennifer Drake, director; Jay Sloan, senior director; Nicole George, VP; and Jonathan Jones, associate director. (Photo: Mitchell Peters) It was a warm, sunny afternoon on the the rooftop of the ...

47. Billboard Unveils Power 100 List at L.A. Event, Honors UMG’s Lucian Grainge, Sony Music’s Clive Davis

    February 08, 2013 12:03 AM EST 1 45 31 0 Above:  Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge (left) and Sony Music chief creative officer Clive Davis (Photo credit: Phil McCarten) Billboard honored Universal Music Group chairman Lucian Grainge and Sony Music chief creative officer Cl ...

48. Spotify to Pay Rights Holders $500 million in 2013, Chief Exec Daniel Ek Says at Founders Forum Event

    February 05, 2013 9:13 PM EST 16 72 105 0 Above, L-R: Universal Music Group president of global digital business Rob Wells and Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek (Photo credit: Phil McCarten)   Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek on Tuesday said his company expects to pay rights holders ...

49. Streaming Services: Which Artists Are Still Holding Out?

    February 04, 2013 9:51 AM EST 3 16 38 0 As if the subscription service's business model wasn't already difficult enough, a small group of artists holding out from those services could expect an advance to join one of them. And they'd have a pretty good argument. Holdout ...

50. TuneCore Paid Out $102 Million to Artists Last Year, Company Claims

    February 01, 2013 5:14 PM EST 5 17 39 0 While some Jeff Price fans might question TuneCore's future  business prospects, the company's management tells Billboard that the company enjoyed robust growth last year, hitting revenues of $101.8 million for its artists through sale ...

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