Kenny Rogers Sues Capitol Records For Digital Revenues Sometimes you have to know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em. Capitol Records recording artist Kenny Rogers [right] this week laid his cards on the table when he sued the label, claiming he's entitled to 50% of net royalties from digital sales and ringtones. Rogers filed his suit in Tennessee - home to many Nashville artists and songwriters - claiming of his 1977 record agreement, which apparently is governed by California law. The Hollywood Reporter says the singer sent a formal notice of royalty examination to Capitol in 2007, but the record label was resistant to handing over documents pertaining to cash receipts from digital downloads and ringtone licensing. Despite this, Rogers says that the audit report still turned up underpayments in excess of $400,000. In 2010-11, Capitol allegedly acknowledged that the situation needed to be ironed out, and settlement discussions commenced. Two Capitol employees who were engaged in the negotiations subsequently left the company, replaced by an attorney who promised to "promptly try to resolve the Rogers audit," according to the complaint. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group is facing a class action from artists including Chuck D, Rob Zombie, and Rick James; Warner Music is facing similar charges filed by Sister Sledge and other musicians; and Sony Music is dealing with lawsuits filed by the Allman Brothers and Cheap Trick. [Full story: Hollywood Reporter] |
Sony Music Hiked Price Of Whitney Houston's "Ultimate Collection" After Her Death Recording industry analysts and consumers alike screamed "foul" after Sony Music raised the price on Whitney Houston's "Ultimate Collection" album on iTunes and Amazon just 30 minutes after her death was reported on Saturday [Feb. 11]. As the website VentureBeat fumed, "instead of reverence in the wake of Houston's passing, Sony chose to raise the price of one of her most popular hits collections. The 'Ultimate Collection' album in the U.K. jumped in price by more than 60% from £4.99 to £7.99 within 30 minutes of Houston's death, according to Digital Spy. The album price fell back down to £4.99 some time during the weekend, but it's unclear when it happened." Meanwhile, HypeBot wrote, "While the price increase was seen by some observers as a cynical ploy, particularly in light of increased posthumous record sales from singers such as Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse, a source close to the matter told The Guardian that such wasn't the case here. According to the unnamed insider, the singer's death prompted a review of her catalog and at that time, it was noted that the price for the album was incorrectly listed with the price increase on iTunes reflecting the actual cost of the album." [Full story: Venture Beat Hypebot] |
Spotify's Daniel Ek: Streaming Companies Don't Cannibalize Music Sales Speaking to digital music site Evolver.fm in a pre-Grammys interview, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek vehemently denied that his streaming service cannibalizes music purchases through such online stores as iTunes and Amazon.com. Claiming that streaming companies actually drive sales, he criticized such artists as Paul McCartney and The Black Keys, who have decided against putting their music onto Spotify and other streaming services. "You're talking 10 million active users, 2.5 million subscribers - most of them paying $120 a year, which is double the amount of your average iTunes user," he said. "Do you really want to hold back your album from people who are finally paying for music again? If you think that by doing so you're getting them to buy your album on a CD, or as an album download, there's absolutely no evidence to back that theory up." Ek also noted that in Sweden, where Spotify was founded, "The vast majority of the artists are getting between 50% and 60% of all their income from Spotify." [Full story: Telegraph.uk] |
Pandora's Westergren: Our Listener Numbers Are Real As Pandora increasingly pursues local advertising dollars that once were the province of terrestrial radio, AM/FM broadcasters have begun to question the veracity and accuracy of the online streaming company's audience numbers. In a recent interview with Radio World, Pandora founder Tim Westergren scoffed at the idea that his company would inflate its numbers, since - unlike terrestrial radio - his company has to pay royalties for every song every listener hears. "Pandora is required to pay royalties per song," he said. "We are legally obligated to produce accurate reporting data for every song we play to the government. We have no incentive to over-report our numbers....We're motivated to not play to an empty room." Westergren acknowledged that Pandora has made inroads into local advertising, noting that, "A significant amount of our revenue now is coming from traditional, local advertisers: car dealerships, grocers - the staple of local radio. We're at a point where it makes sense for us to think about...what do we do in Kansas City, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, all these places, to take advantage of the local ad opportunity? Because we are a big radio station, kind of everywhere, [and] it's kind of changed the complexion of the business, once you reach that size. It's not just a national service anymore." [Full story: Radio World] |
MySpace Added 1 Million Music Users Since December Five years ago MySpace was the top social media site, while Facebook was trying to break out of its "college-only" Harvard-based niche. Now the one-time social media leader is heralding the fact that it has added over 1 million new users since it debuted a new music player on December 19, and now boasts over 25 million users. A MySpace spokesperson this week told Billboard that this "growth" is the result of a user-friendly music player that accesses a catalog of 42 million songs "with the help of a highly sophisticated recommendation engine and easy integration with Facebook." While the music player could be part of this uptick in users, the use of Facebook for account creation and log-in may have a contributed significantly. As TechCrunch observed this week, app usage numbers available at AppData.com show that MySpace's Facebook app went from 900,000 monthly active users [MAU] on January 14 to 1.6 million MAU one month later - growth thatTechCrunch attributes to third-party integration with Facebook. Strong growth in MAU also is seen for Facebook apps by Pinterest, Yahoo!, Digg, and Rockmelt since the new Timeline feature debuted last month. [Full story: Billboard.biz] |
Despite Artists' Concerns, Labels Warm To Digital Streaming While recording artist Adele received six awards at last Sunday's annual Grammys, it's interesting to note that she is one of a small cadre of artists who have held back most of their music from online streaming services. Even Paul McCartney last week pulled much of his music from Spotify, Rhapsody, and Rdio, in an attempt to drive more consumers to purchase music tracks through iTunes. But more and more record executives are starting to see that growth in streaming is exceeding growth in music sales, and are beginning to accept the promotional value and, to a lesser extent, revenue potential, of online music services. Even Warner Music, one of Spotify's strongest critics several years ago, is a convert, with chief executive Steve Cooper telling analysts on a recent earnings call that streaming services are "coming on strong." Although these companies generate less than 10% of total digital revenues, their faster growth rate than downloads means "you will eventually see those lines cross," Cooper said. And Rob Wells, Universal Music's digital president, last month said that the cannibalization argument - that streaming services impede actual music sales - is "totally bogus." In fact, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry recently revealed that digital music revenues had increased by 8% in 2011 to $5.2 billion an acceleration over the 5% growth rate in 2010. [Full story: Tech Circle] |
FOMC Identifies 42 Artist Revenue Streams |
Al Bell Presents American Soul Music ... And American Soul TV If you're into classic and contemporary Soul, R&B, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Hip-Hop Soul, Rap Soul, and Neo-Soul, we invite you to listen to Al Bell Presents American Soul Music. Former Stax Records owner and Motown Records Group President Al Bell personally has programmed this awesome radio station online, presenting your favorites from the 1960s and '70s [and some '80s], a lot of the best new music that's being released today, and some real gems you haven't heard in a long, long time. Come to www.AlBellPresents.Com and hear it for yourself! |
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