January 6, 2017 Page 1 of 21
INSIDE
Fifth Harmony’s
New Deal: Quartet
Re-Ups With
Epic After Camila
Cabello’s Exit:
Exclusive
Who Is Philip
Anschutz,
Controversial
Owner of
Coachella Parent
Company?
What Happened
in Latin Music
In 2016?
Consumption Up,
Market Divided
Ray BLK on
Winning BBC
Music Sound
2017 Poll: ‘I’m
a Dreamer, But
This Was Really
Unexpected’
2017 Streaming Wars: Will
Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon
Dominate?
BY DAN RYS
In a year full of milestones, 2016 became the
first time s­ treaming overtook sales as the music
industry’s dominant model, accounting for 51.3
percent of album consumption and besting physical
and downloads combined, a
­ ccording to Nielsen
Music. Now in 2017, a series of factors are ­converging
that could leave some of its most significant players
behind.
First, the good news: Streaming led the U.S. music
industry to its first back-to-back yearly growth this
millennium and in the first half of 2016 was the
single h
­ ighest source of revenue in the U.S. recordedmusic industry, ­bringing in $1.61 billion. All three
major labels — Universal, Sony and Warner — posted
streaming-driven double-digit percent boosts
in earnings throughout the year. And subscriber
growth overall has consistently increased d
­ uring
the past few years; in 2016, Spotify and Apple Music
together added more than 20 million s­ ubscribers,
­boosting their n
­ umbers to 40 ­million and 20 m
­ illion,
respectively.
But that growth has attracted new competitors to
the space, as digital giants Pandora, i­ HeartRadio
and Amazon all debut their own on-demand
streaming services. Along with established offerings
like Spotify, Apple Music and Google Play, not to
mention YouTube, there will soon be nearly a dozen
on-demand music streaming services in the United
States alone. Which of them can survive in such a
­competitive market?
“I think ‘consolidation’ is a great word for what’s
coming next,” says Chris Carey, CEO of Media
Insight Consulting. “Smaller companies won’t go
away, but you might see acquisitions from them in
order to catch up.”
Currently, the big players, Spotify and Apple
Music, have turned the quest for on-demand
market share into a two-horse race, which means
the clock could be ticking for smaller stand-alone
companies like SoundCloud and Tidal, both of which
have been linked to acquisition rumors (Google is
reportedly eyeing the former for $500 million). In
order to survive, streamers will need to offer more,
or different, value than the market leaders already
have.
(continued)
Page 3 of 21
[In Brief]
One example will be different price
points and new services, as incoming
players look to ­undercut the currently
standard $9.99/month all-access
model. iHeart and Pandora have already
­negotiated direct deals with labels to offer
enhanced radio at $4.99 that includes
offline listening and replay functions, while
Amazon, through discounts for its Prime
members ($7.99/month) and owners of its
hugely successful voice-activated home
assistant Echo ($3.99/month), has made
similar moves.
“It’s difficult to have more than a couple
of really big, all-things-to-all-people
services,” says MiDia Research founder
Mark Mulligan. “Amazon is trying to open
up a different customer base, but for big
companies like Pandora wanting to create
another global player, the dice is very much
loaded against them.”
Where does Apple Music fit in? The clear
No. 2 has had impressive growth since its
June 2015 launch, but its marketing magic
bullet — exclusive album releases — faded
significantly following Universal Music
Group boss Lucian Grainge’s label-wide
ban in August. “I don’t know if ­catching
Spotify needs to be the goal, but I think
making Apple Music stronger is,” says Russ
Crupnick, managing partner at MusicWatch.
“You don’t want to put yourself in a situation
where you’re losing ground.”
Indeed, several analysts agree that
the streaming landscape in 2017 will
be dominated by Spotify and its longrumored IPO, expected to arrive around
September. “Spotify’s IPO will have a
bigger impact at the i­ ndustry level than
any other c­ ompany in any other major
industry,” says Mulligan. “If ­successful,
you’ll see an influx of capital, new services
and ­revenue for labels, p
­ ublishers, artists
and ­songwriters. If not, you’ll see potential
­investments fall through and q
­ uestions
about the model. Successful or not, it will
shape the market.”
Spotify lost nearly $200 million in
2015 on $2.2 billion in revenue, and the
company’s $1 billion round of convertible
debt, raised in March 2016, will require
hefty interest payments the longer the
company stays private. If CEO Daniel Ek
does take the company public, it doesn’t
need to be profitable; Netflix never
turned a profit before its IPO in 2002, for
instance, and now boasts a valuation north
of $50 billion. But analysts tell Billboard
that Spotify needs to show a clear path
to profitability in order to attract wary
potential stockholders.
Yet there’s plenty of room for optimism,
even if smaller services eventually bow
out of the race. A U.S. Department of
Commerce report from October estimates
that global streaming revenue will b
­ alloon
to $5.4 billion by 2019, while a study by
IHS Markit expects the number of U.S. ondemand ­subscribers to triple by 2020.
“It’s going to be a three-horse race
among Spotify, Apple and Amazon as the
dominant players,” offers Rich Greenfield,
an analyst at BTIG Research. Counters
Carey, “I think four services with different
focuses, all looking after consumers and
none driving price down, would be your
ideal situation ... Whether or not I’m living
in a dreamland is a different question.”
This article originally appeared in the
Jan. 14 issue of Billboard.
Fifth Harmony’s
New Deal: Quartet
Re-Ups With
Epic After Camila
Cabello’s Exit:
Exclusive
BY SHIRLEY HALPERIN
The group Fifth Harmony splintered over
the Christmas holiday, announcing on Dec.
DECISIVE INTELLIGENCE.
DELIVERED
DIGITALLY.
DECISIVE
INTELLIGENCE.
CLICK HERE
FOR FREE
DELIVERY
CLICK HERE
FOR FREE
DELIVERY
DELIVERED DIGITALLY.
DIGITAL NEWSLETTERS
DIGITAL
NEWSLETTERS
Digital
and Mobile Touring
Record Labels Retail Global
•
•
•
•
•
Publishing • TV/Film • Branding • Latin • Morning Fix
Digital and Mobile • Touring • Record Labels • Retail • Global •
Publishing • TV/Film • Branding • Latin • Morning Fix
FOR YOUR GRAMMY CONSIDERATION
®
BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM
MUSIC BY
6-TIME GRAMMY NOMINEE
SARA BAREILLES
®
“ SARA BAREILLES’
SCORE IS A BEAUTY!
MANY A POP SONGWRITER HAS ATTEMPTED THIS, BUT FEW ACHIEVE IT!”
DEADLINE
“A LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN! ACCLAIMED SONGSTRESS SARA BAREILLES
CONCOCTS THE PERFECT RECIPE FOR BAKING A BLUE RIBBON MUSICAL! ”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
“JESSIE MUELLER’ S VIBRANT PERFORMANCE IS A HIGH POINT OF THE BROADWAY
SEASON. SUDDENLY, WAITRESS RISES TO TRANSPORTING HEIGHTS, AND
SWEEPS UP YOUR HEART ALONG WITH IT.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
CONGRATULATIONS
TO THE NOMINEES!
SARA BAREILLES
COMPOSER & LYRICIST
JESSIE MUELLER
PRINCIPAL SOLOIST
SARA BAREILLES, NEAL AVRON & NADIA DiGIALLONARDO
PRODUCERS
© 90 Live, Inc. & Waitress LLC under exclusive license to DMI Soundtracks, LLC. Manufactured and Distributed by Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Corporation.
Photos by Pamela Hanson.
Page 5 of 21
[In Brief]
19 that founding member Camilla Cabello,
19, was leaving the group to pursue a solo
career and that the four remaining girls —
Ally Brooke, 23, Normani Kordei, 20, Dinah
Jane, 19, and Lauren Jauregui, 20 — will
continue on as a four-piece. Three days
later, Epic Records and Syco exercised
their option on the pop act, Billboard has
confirmed, moving full-steam ahead with a
third Fifth Harmony album to be released
in 2017. Cabello, meanwhile, is expected
to drop her first single — after appearing
alongside Shawn Mendes and Machine
Gun Kelly on two Hot 100 top 20 hits — in
April or May.
After selling 7 million U.S. digital
downloads and nearly half-a-million
albums (according to Nielsen Music),
scoring a top five Billboard Hot 100 hit
(“Work from Home” in 2016) and racking
1.6 billion U.S. on-demand streams in a
career launched on Fox’s The X Factor
in 2012, Fifth Harmony has reached the
sort of career milestone that graduates
of reality shows rarely see. “There’s a
stigma attached to a reality show that they
have eclipsed,” says Joe Willis, longtime
manager of American Idol winner Jordin
Sparks. “That Fifth Harmony has been able
to build their fan base, as One Direction
did, was a masterstroke by Simon Cowell.”
And success provided the act the
leverage to renegotiate what is typically an
onerous contract — signed by the girls as
individuals before even stepping foot on
the TV stage that would give them their
Cowell-constructed shot — with terms
that dictate a length of seven years and
assign them to specific companies and
affiliates within the Sony Music system.
(Syco Entertainment is a joint venture with
Sony.)
“The standard contract is worse than
a 360 nightmare,” explains Loeb & Loeb
attorney Debra White, who negotiates
similar deals for contestants of NBC’s
The Voice, adding that a company like the
Cowell-founded Syco Entertainment “gets
to be the record company, the publisher,
the manager, they have a piece of touring
and merchandise.” Re-signing allows for
a re-evaluation and offers an opportunity
to diminish or eliminate terms that seem
unfair to an artist who has had hits and
brought the label revenue. According to a
source, negotiations are ongoing, with the
Fifth Harmony members having already
reclaimed ownership of their trademark.
Adds White: “If it were me, I would want
a higher royalty rate; I would try to get
all of the ancillaries uncrossed and limit
the amount of product and length of the
contract. I would also fight hard to increase
the committed money for marketing and
promotion, and creative approval.”
Representatives for Fifth Harmony
would not comment beyond affirming that
“Epic has in fact exercised their deal option
with Fifth Harmony,” but a source in the
camp says staying put is a win-win. (The
group shared its first official photo as a
quartet on Jan. 5, below.)
“They’re in a position to have more
creative involvement and really direct
where they want their music to go,” the
insider offers. “They’re a huge name on
the Epic roster so it makes sense to keep
them there and work on another hit album.
While, at the same time it benefits the girls
to stay as well and really own the direction
they’re going in rather than litigate
themselves out of a deal.”
Another label source says Epic Records
chairman Antonio “L.A.” Reid “Doesn’t
‘let go’ of successful artists — ever. He
even has a hard time parting with the
unsuccessful ones.”
As for Cowell, a rep assures that he has
remained “committed as ever to the group
he envisioned.
The girls’ contentious division — made
all the more awkward with both Fifth
Harmony and Cabello signed to the same
label and working on music separately but
at the same time — shouldn’t worry fans,
either, says White. “It proves that Epic/
Syco is really believing in the brand, and
they don’t give a shit if it’s Fourth or Fifth
Harmony. They’re going to find amazing
songs and make a go of it.”
A version of this article originally
appeared in the Jan. 14 issue of Billboard.
https://twitter.com/FifthHarmony/
status/817129387946430464?ref_
src=twsrc%5Etfw
Who Is Philip
Anschutz,
Controversial
Owner of
Coachella Parent
Company?
BY DEAN BUDNICK
Not long after the Coachella Valley
Music & Arts Festival announced its
2017 lineup Tuesday and tickets sold out
almost immediately, attention turned to
a very different subject regarding Philip
Anschutz, the founder of the festival’s
parent company. Through his pyramid
of financial holdings, the 77-year-old
Colorado billionaire businessman owns
the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG)
and AEG Live, the world’s No. 2 live-event
promoter, which operates Goldenvoice,
the company that launched Coachella in
1999 and also promotes such events as
Stagecoach, Panorama, Firefly and 2016’s
most lucrative festival, Desert Trip.
Reports surfaced tying Anschutz to a
number of conservative organizations,
whose missions, some would say, run
counter to the spirit of freedom and
inclusiveness embodied in events like
Coachella. He is an associate of the
fiercely conservative Koch brothers and
many of his financial commitments have
been purely partisan: Along with his wife
Nancy, he donated just over $1 million
to Republican causes (according to
OpenSecrets.org), with $500,000 directed
to the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super
PAC that focuses on maintaining and
expanding the party’s Senate majority. He
has operated for decades with minimal
outcry despite accounts that he has backed
conservative advocacy groups, including
Greenpeace’s 2013 charge that he was a
“financier of climate science denial.”
However, there has been greater hue
and cry over recent stories identifying his
FOR YOUR GRAMMY
®
C O N S I D E R AT I O N
Andrea Bocelli
CINEMA
®
G R A M M Y N O M I N AT E D F O R
BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM
Page 7 of 21
[In Brief]
financial support of organizations with
aggressive anti-LGBT agendas, such as the
Alliance Defending Freedom, the National
Christian Foundation, and the Family
Research Council. And in 1998, Colorado’s
Westword magazine reported that five
years earlier, he had contributed $100,000
to Bob Dole’s Republican think tank and
that he also “quietly gave $10,000 to the
backers of anti-gay-rights Amendment 2.”
(At press time, Billboard had not been able
to independently verify those claims.)
In response, Anschutz himself has issued
a rare public statement on the matter,
challenging some of the assertions now
circulating: “Recent claims published
in the media that I am anti-LGBTQ
are nothing more than fake news — it
is all garbage,” the statement reads.
“I unequivocally support the rights
of all people without regard to sexual
orientation. We are fortunate to employ a
wealth of diverse individuals throughout
our family of companies, all of whom
are important to us — the only criteria on
which they are judged is the quality of
their job performance; we do not tolerate
discrimination in any form.
“Both The Anschutz Foundation and
I contribute to numerous organizations
that pursue a wide range of causes,” the
statement continues. “Neither I nor the
Foundation fund any organization with
the purpose or expectation that it would
finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives, and when
it has come to my attention or the attention
of The Anschutz Foundation that certain
organizations either the Foundation or I
have funded have been supporting such
causes, we have immediately ceased all
contributions to such groups.”
Anschutz’s political leanings certainly
have not been a secret, and a source close
to the situation questioned the timing of
the articles, which seemed to stem from a
Washington Post article published in July
that identified him as one of the “enemies
of equality” for the LGBT community. The
Afropunk site appears to have been the first
to publish such a report on Wednesday,
although the news quickly spread and
gained steam via a post on Teen Vogue.
Billboard reached out to multiple acts
on the Coachella lineup for comment,
although none have responded as of press
time. However, Mitski posted on her
Twitter account, linking to the Teen Vogue
report and writing, “Ah f—-.Well I agreed to
do this+not going would only hurt me not
the fest, but u can still not go,” adding that
those who do attend can “make sure the
spaces we inhabit are made safe.”
READ MORE:
What Happened
in Latin Music
In 2016?
Consumption Up,
Market Divided
BY LEILA COBO
Latin album sales are down (as with
everyone else) and Latin digital song
sales are down (as with everyone else)
in 2016. But buoyed by strong streaming
numbers, overall consumption of Latin
music in the U.S. (in equivalent album
units, which combine traditional albums
sales, streaming equivalent units and track
equivalent units), grew by 13.6% in 2016,
from 25.6 million in 2015 to 29 million,
according to Nielsen Music.
That means Latin saw the third-biggest
increase in music consumption yearover-year, after R&B/hip-hop and holiday
music, among the major genres tracked by
Nielsen.
It’s a bright spot for a Latin music market
that has been in major flux over the past
five years, but which seems to be finally
turning around.
2016 was a year of new artist signings
(new teen group CNCO had the No. 12
top-selling Latin album of the year),
of growing awareness of Latin in the
mainstream marketplace and of exciting
music, from Cubatón to Colombia’s soulful
reggaetón, that had an impact beyond
Latin consumers.
What’s happened in the past 12 months
bodes well for a genre whose lingua franca
— Spanish —allows it to flow freely across
many countries. If streaming is a saving
grace for music, Latin has an edge by
virtue of its mobile-friendly fan base which
increasingly has access to smartphones.
Here in the U.S., streaming should
continue to go up as well, as more and
more acculturated Latins start tapping into
their phones and into the music; in terms
of sheer percentages, for example, overall
consumption among all genres is up 3.1%
compared to Latin’s 13.6%.
Overall on-demand Latin streams
(combining on-demand audio and video)
were up 28 percent (to 35.9 billion),
although both Latin album sales and Latin
digital song sales were down (falling 26
percent to 3.7 million, and 26 percent to
13.7 million, respectively).
A deeper dive into the Latin charts,
however, show some quirks. The deep
divisions in the U.S. Latin marketplace
have always been vexing for labels and
promoters: There’s a West Coast market,
an East Coast market, a Miami market and
a Puerto Rico market, each with its own
distinct and defined tastes.
Now, Nielsen’s year-end tally of the topselling Latin albums and Latin songs of
the year shows not a division, but a chasm,
where what’s happening with traditional
physical album sales is completely different
from what’s moving the singles and the
streaming markets.
An analysis of Nielsen Music’s top 10
top-selling Latin albums of 2016 gives us a
list dominated by Mexican artists overall
(the late Juan Gabriel has a stunning four
out of the top five selling albums of the
year) and regional Mexican artists in
particular.
READ MORE:
FOR YOUR GRAMMY ® CONSIDERATION
BEST ROCK ALBUM
INCLUDES THE #1 SINGLES
“MESS AROUND” AND “TROUBLE”
“Daring and deliberate”
©2017 RCA Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
“Tell Me I’m Pretty is their best yet”
www.cagetheelephant.com
Page 9 of 21
[In Brief]
Ray BLK on
Winning BBC
Music Sound 2017
Poll: ‘I’m a Dreamer,
But This Was Really
Unexpected’
BY RICHARD SMIRKE
“When I put out my first EP I genuinely
expected to have no more than 20 listens,”
says 23 year-old singer songwriter Ray
BLK, reflecting on her rapid rise to fame.
“I made it with no resources. I ripped the
beats off YouTube. I begged someone that
I found online to let me use his studio and
I just sent it to a bunch of my friends, who I
thought would be the only ones who heard
it. So to be here is really crazy.”
Life is also about to get a whole lot
crazier, after BLK — whose real name
is Rita Ekwere – was today (Jan 06)
announced as the winner of the BBC Sound
of 2017 poll, previously topped by everyone
from Adele to Sam Smith to Ellie Goulding.
“I’m sure everybody [nominated] hopes
to win it and I’m a dreamer, but this was
really unexpected,” says Nigeria born,
London-based BLK, who is the first ever
independent artist to top the annual poll,
voted for by around 170 industry experts,
DJs, festival bookers, critics and bloggers.
Second spot went to 2017 Brits Critics’
Choice winner Rag N Bone Man (signed to
Columbia) with 18 year-old London singer
Raye in third.
“It’s a bit crazy to be amongst the
names of the alumni winners,” continues
BLK. “It means the voters must have
seen something special because they saw
something special in those artists who have
gone on to achieve so much success. I just
hope that I follow on from that, take the
torch and achieve some success as well,”
adds the singer-songwriter, whose adopted
surname stands for Building Living
Knowing.
The artist describes her music as “new
school R&B influenced by soul and hip
hop” and cites her childhood singing in a
church and school choir as lighting the fire
for her future career. In her early teens,
her tastes expanded to U.S. hip hop artists
like Missy Elliot, Jay Z and Nas, swiftly
followed by Amy Winehouse and Lauryn
Hill, who she describes as “two of the
biggest influences” behind her own sound,
which blends raw and candid lyrics about
life in Catford, a far from glamorous part of
South London, with soaring melodies and
soulful, gospel-tinged vocals.
“I just write about me and the
environment and where I’m from,” states
the singer, whose debut Havisham EP
tells the story of a girl who falls in love,
has her heart broken and becomes a cold
hearted man hater. Released in March
2015 on SoundCloud and named after the
character Miss Havisham from Charles
Dickens’ Great Expectations, the 7-track
EP was followed by 5050, which sees
BLK document a rocky relationship with
a commitment-phobe drug dealer over
skeletal beats and glacial synths. The Aston
Rudi-produced track landed BLK spots on
the A-List of influential radio stations BBC
1Xtra and Rinse FM, introducing her to
a wider audience. Last year’s bittersweet
“My Hood” — written after her home was
robbed by her neighbors and featuring
a guest vocal from British grime artist
Stormzy — brought her further mainstream
recognition.
“I wanted to get Stormzy on it because
I felt like the message of the song really
represented who he is and what he means
to people. People see him a real inspiration
and I wanted the song to hopefully inspire
people where I’m from,” explains BLK,
who says she has mixed feelings about the
area where she grew up in and continues to
live. “Some mornings I love it and some I
don’t. As an innocent teenager who wasn’t
involved in anything rough at all I just
walked around blindly and I never felt like
I lived in a rough area, although people
would always tell me that. But I feel like
coming from [Catford] has really grounded
me and made me a strong person. It
pushed me to work harder.”
Last fall’s “Chill Out,” a stirring electro
soul torch song made in collaboration
with British producer SG Lewis, with a
video shot in Jamaica that features BLK
performing alongside members of the
Gully Queens, a community of LGBT
individuals living in one of the world’s
most homophobic countries, offered
further evidence of the singer’s talent. It
features on Durt, a 7-track mini album that
collects together the artist’s singles to date,
released late last year. Today also sees the
release of a soulful new freestyle called
“Patience,” although BLK says there’s no
concrete plans for a debut album proper
quite yet.
“You never know what might happen.
But for now I’m just working on compiling
the best songs I can for whatever it will
be that I put out in the future,” says BLK,
whose elevation through the pop ranks
comes at a time when home grown urban
artists are thriving in the U.K. Four of the
top five Sound of 2017 acts are black British
women, reflecting a blossoming of female
R&B and hip hop talent, largely based in
London.
Last year also saw grime, a long
underground, hard-hitting and distinctly
British form of hip-hop, make its
mainstream breakthrough, with Skepta’s
Konnichiwa album beating David Bowie
and Radiohead to the 2016 Mercury Prize
and scene stalwarts like Kano and Giggs
scoring commercial success.
“It makes me so happy that Britain is
starting to appreciate British music more,”
declares BLK, who says that, like many of
the current scene leaders, she intends to
remain independent (in partnership with
Kobalt Music Services). “It makes me so
happy to turn on to the radio and hear acts
form the U.K. and also see them being
successful. It’s a privilege to be among
those names. It’s representative of what’s
going on right now. The more artists that
come out being authentic to who they are
and what they want to do will influence
other people to do the same.”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=v9BtXaiLVA0
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=SfpgMkZ8vk8
FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION
DRAKE
NOMINEE
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
NOMINEE
BEST RAP SONG
NOMINEE
BEST RAP ALBUM
NOMINEE
BEST R&B SONG†
NOMINEE
NOMINEE
NOMINEE
BEST RAP/SUNG
NOMINEE
BEST POP DUO/GROUP
BEST RAP PERFORMANCE
PEFORMANCE
RECORD OF THE YEAR*
PERFORMANCE**
“DRAKE HAS BEEN UNSTOPPABLE
THIS YEAR -- HE’S A TRUE
GLOBAL SUPERSTAR.”
HHHHHHHHHHHH
CONTINUES TO MAKE
STREAMING HISTORY”
“VIEWS
HHHHHHHHHHHHH
*”Work” Rihanna feat. Drake. †“Come and See Me” PARTYNEXTDOOR feat. Drake.
**”Work” Rihanna feat. Drake © 2016 Republic Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Page 11 of 21
[In Brief]
Creative
Community
for Peace on
Urging Artists
to Play Israel &
Challenging
Roger Waters
to a Debate
BY ANDY GENSLER
A common love of music may have carried
Craig Balsam (co-founder of Razor & Tie
Entertainment), David Renzer (chairman
of Spirit Music Group) and Steve Schnur
(Electronic Arts’ worldwide executive
and music president) to the top of the
music business, but each is also engaged
in another mutually shared passion: The
Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), a
group advocating for greater international
cultural engagement with Israel.
The advocacy group, which began in 2012,
has grown in the wake of the proliferation
of the BDS movement (boycott, divestment
and sanctions) against Israel, which has led
to high-profile Promise Land cancellations
by touring musicians including Roger
Waters, CeeLo Green, Annie Lennox,
Lauryn Hill, The Pixies and Elvis Costello.
(Other more high-profile cancellations,
including by Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams,
Lana Del Rey and Neil Young, cited the
cause as security concerns or scheduling
conflicts and not BDS.)
“We decided there needed to be a
response to the BDS movement, because
very few music executives are advocating
for Israel,” Balsam says of the CCFP, which
counts approximately 40 entertainment
executives on its advisory board from the
music, film and TV sectors in cities that
include Los Angeles, New York, Nashville
and London.
CCFP’s mission statement is a simple
one: “Culture and arts help build bridges,”
says Renzer. “We try to provide balance
to the dialog. An example of the power of
music to build bridges is that when an artist
performs in Israel, the audience is made up
of people from all religions — Christians,
Muslims and Jews — and they’re all present
together at concerts, which is not the case
in many other countries. We also support
organizations such as Polyphony, which
sponsors classical orchestras made up of
half Arab and half Israeli students.”
Cancellations in Israel by international
acts is not a new phenomenon and dates
back to the intifadas — the Palestinian
uprisings of the late ‘80s and early
‘90s — and gained more traction in the
mid-aughts with the launch of the BDS
movement. The result is that the Israeli
concert industry has lost millions because
these called-off shows are most often not
covered by insurance (a topic reported on
in Billboard).
Waters is one of the BDS movement’s
most high-profile and vocal proponents,
preaching the protest movement’s message
to boycott Israel and its government —
which it considers an occupying force —
from stages across the globe, most recently
at Desert Trip and in two interviews with
Billboard (“Roger Waters Shares What
He Really Wanted to Say About Trump
[and Clinton] at Desert Trip” and “Roger
Waters Eviscerates ‘Racist, Sexist Pig’
Trump & Urges Israel ‘To End Occupation’
at Desert Trip”).
“He’s made some really outrageous
statements,” says Balsam, who cites
Waters’ use of words like “genocide,”
“apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” and
comparisons to Nazism when describing
the Israeli government’s policies. “We’re
not trying to whitewash it and say Israel is
perfect, but these terms are just factually
incorrect, inflammatory and extreme, and
it really troubles us.”
Balsam says one of CCFP’s messages is
that performing in Israel is an opportunity
for artists to see what’s going on for
themselves. And further, if an artist is
critical of the Israeli government, “They
should go perform, stand on the stage and
say you don’t like the current government.
You can do that there. No one is going
to arrest you. We don’t expect everyone
to agree with every policy of the Israeli
government, just like I wouldn’t expect
everyone to agree with every policy of the
U.S. government.”
CCFP also considers itself something
of an information clearing house and
resource for artists and their teams who
may be concerned about playing Israel
and/or facing pressure from the BDS
movement. Says Balsam: “What happens
is, the minute an artist mentions they
might play Israel or sets aside a date, they
are barraged from many different angles.
And it’s not just the artist who’s barraged;
it’s the manager, sometimes it’s booking
agents, and they don’t know what to make
of it. What happened before CCFP was that
they would just cancel the show because
they felt very pressured and like they were
doing the wrong thing. They didn’t really
understand the issues and options. We
felt we had to do something to support the
artist community and encourage music to
be played wherever in support of peaceful
gatherings.”
The CCFP works directly with artists
along with management and agents
to identify additional causes and/or
collaborations that resonate with an artist,
their fans and others. “For example, we
worked closely with Cyndi Lauper and
her management in helping identify a
program she could work with that appealed
to her,” Renzer recalls. “She wanted to
visit a LGBTQ center in Tel Aviv, which is
something we helped facilitate. … When
Alicia Keys announced a concert in Israel,
she was slammed very hard by the boycott
Israel movement. Not only did we work
with her management team and agents, but
we also connected her with a musician in
Israel named Idan Raichel who is all about
promoting music as a means of peace and
co-existence and has a multi-ethnic and –
religious band. She went on to perform in
Israel with Muslim and Israeli musicians
and even invited them to Central Park to
perform with her. That’s a perfect example
of how artists can utilize the power of
music to help build bridges.”
Both Renzer and Balsam say they
FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION
ARIANA GRANDE
NOMINEE
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
NOMINEE
BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
“AN UNDENIABLE
SUPERSTAR”
HHHHHHHHHHH
“THIS IS ONE OF
THE BEST ALBUMS
YET OF 2016.”
HHHHHHHHHHHH
OUTSIZED
“AN
DANGEROUS TALENT”
HHHHHHHHHHH
© 2016 Republic Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Page 13 of 21
[In Brief]
would welcome the opportunity to have
a dialogue with Waters and mention that
the other artists on the Desert Trip bill —
The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and
Bob Dylan — have played the Holy Land
(along with other top-tier acts, including
Madonna, Lady Gaga, Metallica, Justin
Bieber, Elton John and others). “I find it
very ironic that he has a powerful platform
and announced his new ‘Us and Them’
tour as being about the power of music to
build bridges towards peace, and yet he’s
saying some pretty incendiary things,”
Renzer argues. “Frankly, we would love
to challenge Roger Waters to debate in a
public forum where we can talk about the
facts and the issues.”
Ultimately, Razor & Tie’s Balsam says,
it’s all for a higher purpose. “People have
to live in peace,” he says. “Our hope is that
by creating dialogue and conversation
and education, there will someday be a
peaceful resolution.”
Drake Tops
Canada’s
Year-End Charts
BY KAREN BLISS
Mirroring his 2016 success in the U.S.,
Drake’s Views has been named the most
popular album of the past year in Canada,
according to Nielsen Music. The set earned
457,000 equivalent album units during the
tracking year (which ran from Jan. 1-Dec.
29, 2016). Next in line was Adele’s 25 with
266,000.
(Equivalent album units are traditional
album sales combined with track
equivalent album units, where 10 tracks
sold from an album equals one unit, and
streaming equivalent album units, where
1,500 streams from an album equals one
unit.)
Views shifted 196,000 in album sales,
194,000 in streaming equivalent album
units and 67,000 in track equivalent album
units. Views was by far the album with the
most streams for its tracks in 2016, with 291
million on-demand audio streams earned
for the set in Canada — twice as many as
the No. 2 most-streamed album, Justin
Bieber’s Purpose (137 million streams for
its songs).
At No. 2 on the year-end overall top
albums list is Adele’s 25, with 266,000
units (196,000 in traditional album
sales). Justin Bieber’s Purpose is No. 3
(240,000 units; 92,000 in album sales),
followed by Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface
(172,000 units; 73,000 in album sales),
The Weeknd’s Starboy (171,000 units;
79,000 in album sales) and Rihanna’s
Anti (170,000 units; 59,000 in album
sales). Rounding out the top 10: Sia’s This
Is Acting at No. 7 (169,000 units; 63,000
in album sales), Celine Dion’s Encore Un
Soir at No. 8 (140,000 units; 134,000 in
album sales) Beyonce’s Lemonade at No.
9 (138,000 units; 101,000 in album sales)
and The Chainsmokers’ Collage at No. 10
(136,000 units; just 6,000 in album sales).
TOP-SELLING ALBUMS
Views and 25 also finish at Nos. 1 and 2,
respectively, on Canada’s year-end top 10
best-selling albums list (Views edges out
25, though rounded figures give each title
196,000 sold). With Drake at No. 1 on the
top sellers list, he is the first Canadian to
lead the list since 2004.
The country’s top 10 best-selling albums
includes six Canadians: Drake’s Views at
No. 1 (196,000); Celine Dion’s Encore Un
Soir, No. 3 (134,000); Leonard Cohen’s You
Want It Darker, No. 4 (106,000); Justin
Bieber’s Purpose, No. 7 (92,000); The
Weeknd’s Starboy, No. 8 (79,000); and
The Tragically Hip’s Yer Favourites, No.9
(75,000). Non-Canucks Adele’s 25 sat at
No. 2 (196,000); Metallica’s Hardwired…To
Self Destruct at No. 5 (103,000); Beyonce’s
Lemonade at No. 6 (101,000) and Twenty
One Pilots’ Blurryface at No. 10 (73,000).
“2016 was an exciting year for Canadian
artists and the overall Canadian music
industry,” said Paul Shaver, head of
Nielsen Music Canada, in a statement
issued with the Canada year-end report.
“From the increased popularity of
streaming to the total consumption growth,
the music landscape continues to evolve
at an incredible speed, and we’re looking
forward to tracking the industry trends for
the year ahead.”
In line with the U.S. which showed
a two percent increase in total audio
consumption, in Canada the figures
confirm an even greater upswing of 5.3
percent, driven by a 203 percent increase in
on-demand audio streams when compared
to 2015. Total audio consumption — 43.8
million — encompasses traditional album
sales, track equivalent albums (TEA), and
streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
Following behind Drake’s Views and
Adele’s 25 in the Overall Top 10 chart are
Justin Bieber’s Purpose with 240,000;
Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface with
172,000; The Weeknd’s Starboy with
171,000; Rihanna’s Anti with 170,000;
Sia’s This Is Acting with 169,000; Celine
Dion’s Encore Un Soir with 140,000;
Beyonce’s Lemonade with 138,000; and
The Chainsmokers’s Collage with 136,000.
Overall album sales were down 21
percent to 21.1 million in 2016. Notably,
catalog album sales were 51 percent of total
album sales, surpassing current album
sales for the first time. Figures for overall
current were 10,349,300 versus 10,788,700
for overall catalogue. Both were a drop
from 2015, which was 14,555,500 and
12,344,400 respectively.
The Tragically Hip — whose singer
disclosed his diagnosis with brain cancer
earlier in the year — sold more than
250,000 units of their album catalogue
and totaled more than 67 million streams.
The band’s latest album, Man Machine
Poem, and 2005 best of, Yer Favourites,
both reached No. 1 on the weekly Billboard
Canadian charts.
As for digital song sales, the format’s
sales fell 23 percent to 73.7 million
downloads. The top selling digital song of
the year was Sia’s “Cheap Thrills,” with
367,000 downloads sold.
FOR YOUR GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION
THE AVETT BROTHERS
NOMINEE
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
NOMINEE
BEST AMERICAN ROOTS
PERFORMANCE
“[TRUE SADNESS] IS THE MOST
EXCITING AND ADVENTUROUS
FOLK-ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR”
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
© 2016 Republic Records, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Page 15 of 21
[In Brief]
Adele, The
Chainsmokers
Rule Australia’s
Year-End Charts
BY LARS BRANDLE
When Adele visits Australia next month
to kick off her first tour of these parts, she’ll
do so knowing she’s still No. 1.
The British songstress’ 25 (XL/Inertia)
tops Australia’s year-end albums chart
for the second successive year, according
to newly-published trade data, while The
Chainsmokers “Closer” featuring Halsey
was the year’s best-selling single in the
market.
Adele’s third album is No. 1 on the ARIA
2016 End Of Year Albums Chart, ahead
of Keith Urban’s Ripcord (Capitol/EMI),
Beyonce’s Lemonade (Columbia/Sony),
the soundtrack to the homegrown Molly
TV series (Liberation/Universal) and
Michael Buble’s double-diamond certified
Christmas (Reprise/Warner).
Adele’s 25 spent two weeks at No. 1 in
2016 and hasn’t dropped outside the top
30 since its release in November 2015,
notching eight-times platinum sales along
the way (platinum is registered at 70,000
units). The album has clocked 45 weeks in
the ARIA top 10 and its joined in the 2016
best-sellers survey with Adele’s previous
two albums, 21 at No. 29 and 19 at No. 93.
With its chart feat Down Under, 25
achieves a spectacular double-double.
The album also came in at No. 1 for two
successive years in the U.K., the Official
Charts Company reported earlier this
week. The north Londoner joins Pink as
the only artists to top Australia’s year-end
sales chart over consecutive years with
the same album (Pink managed it with
The Truth About Love in 2013-14). It’s not
Adele’s first time atop Australia’s year-end
chart; her blockbuster sophomore album 21
was No. 1 for 2011.
Bublé’s seasonal favorite Christmas
album has now spent six consecutive years
in the end-of-year top 100. It finished No.
2 in 2011, No. 4 in 2012, No. 7 of 2013, No. 8
in 2014 and No. 7 in 2015.
Meanwhile, American EDM duo The
Chainsmokers had the year’s highestselling single with “Closer” (Columbia/
Sony), which managed nine weeks at No. 1,
the longest streak for the year.
“Closer” is seven-times platinum and
is one of four Chainsmokers tracks on the
ARIA 2016 End Of Year Singles Chart. No
other act landed more than three in the top
100, though Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber,
Little Mix, Twenty One Pilots, Shawn
Mendes and Zara Larsson all hit that mark.
Drake had the year’s second-best
selling track with “One Dance” (Republic/
Universal) featuring Wizkid & Kyla, while
Lukas Graham’s “7 Years” (Warner),
Flume featuring Kai’s “Never Be Like You”
(Future Classic) and The Chainsmokers
featuring Daya’s “Don’t Let Me Down”
complete the top 5.
Domestic acts enjoyed a strong
showing across both main charts with 31
homegrown LP releases and 15 singles
making the cut.
ARIA compiles its charts from data
supplied by more than 1,200 music
retailers, including department stores,
chain stores, independent retailers,
streaming outlets and digital providers.
The trade body does not publish accurate
sales figures.
Top 10 Albums of 2016 in Australia
1. Adele ‘25’
2. Keith Urban ‘Ripcord’
3. Beyonce ‘Lemonade’
4. Soundtrack ‘Molly (Soundtrack From
The TV Series)’
5. Michael Bublé ‘Christmas’
6. John Farnham & Olivia Newton John
‘Friends For Christmas’
7. Jessica Mauboy ‘Secret Daughter
(Songs From The TV Series)’
8. David Bowie ‘Blackstar’
9. Justin Bieber ‘Purpose’
10. Soundtrack ‘Suicide Squad: The
Album’
Top 10 Singles of 2016 in Australia
1. The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey
‘Closer’
2. Drake featuring Wizkid & Kyla ‘One
Dance’
3. Lukas Graham ‘7 Years’
4. Flume featuring Kai ‘Never Be Like
You’
5. The Chainsmokers featuring Daya
‘Don’t Let Me Down’
6. Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna ‘This
Is What You Came For’
7. Justin Timberlake ‘Can’t Stop The
Feeling’
8. Sia ‘Cheap Thrills’
9.Twenty One Pilots ‘Stressed Out’
10. Justin Bieber ‘Love Yourself ’
How James Van
Der Beek’s Diplo
Spoof Became a
Scripted TV Series
BY ELIAS LEIGHT
Anything that incites fervor is ripe for
parody, so it’s not surprising that the world
of big-tent dance music has inspired its
fair share of send-ups: try Andy Samberg’s
Saturday Night Live digital short, where
the bass drops with such force that dancers’
heads literally explode; a skit based on the
movie Whiplash, where a cruel teacher at
“Skrillex academy” tortures would-be DJs
by hurling lit glowsticks at their heads; or
a trailer for the fake show NCIS: Ibiza, in
which Moby, Nile Rodgers, Steve Aoki, and
other mainstream dancefloor luminaries
poke fun at the conventions of their
business.
Last summer, Diplo — who was himself
the subject of a spoof video by Thao
Nguyen and tUnE-yArDs’ Merrill Garbus in
March — offered his own entry in the genre,
which doubled as an ad for his annual Mad
Decent Block Party. In “Day In The Life Of
Diplo,” James Van Der Beek, who became
famous as a heartthrob on the ‘90s show
Dawson’s Creek, portrays Diplo as the
pompous, amusingly out-of-touch emperor
of a dance music kingdom. Van Der Beek
punctuates all his sentences with either the
term “fam” or a crass blast from a nearby
Page 16 of 21
[In Brief]
airhorn, and he pays aspiring producers
to create his beats — while decked out in
elf costumes. All the while, the producer
blithely dismisses his detractors with twobit platitudes like, “ain’t no compliment
greater than a hater.”
Van Der Beek’s Diplo will reach a much
wider audience at some point this year:
Viceland, a cable network partnership
between Vice and A+E that launched last
year, ordered six episodes of a scripted
series, titled What Would Diplo Do?, based
on the Mad Decent Block Party promo. It’s
the network’s very first scripted program.
Van Der Beek will help write the show and
serve as an executive producer along with
Diplo, Diplo’s manager, Kevin Kusatsu,
and the director, Brandon Dermer; each
episode will focus on a fictional account
from Diplo’s life on tour. TMWRK,
Kusatsu’s management company, produces
along with Matador and Viceland.
“The comedy of it is what attracted
us,” says Jay Peterson, who co-founded
Matador in 2013. “[Diplo]’s sort of self
aware about his identity out in the world.
And it’s taking a chance, which I think is
what we love more than anything.” “Vice
is the perfect partner for this particular
project,” adds Jack Turner, head of scripted
and digital content for Matador. “For them
to be doing scripted is so exciting, given the
audience that they have. They want to do
projects that are not what people are going
to expect.”
The initial idea for the Van Der Beek
treatment came from Dermer, who has
extensive experience with music videos,
including Major Lazer’s “Scare Me” and
Panic! At The Disco’s VMA-nominated
visual for “Victorious,” and also worked
for Comedy Central for two years.
“Everybody has this idea of Diplo — who
he is, what he sounds like — based on
nothing but the music and social media,”
Dermer explains, slightly frazzled on the
phone from L.A. after a four hour meeting
with Viceland co-president Spike Jonze.
“Even talking to friends back home,
they’re like, ‘[Diplo’s] life must be crazy!’”
Dermer continues. “So I thought it would
be funny to do an interpretation of what
he looks and sounds like.”
The director immediately thought of
Van Der Beek as a good candidate for
spoof-Diplo. “I’m a fan of his from Rules
of Attraction and Varsity Blues,” Dermer
says. “And obviously he played himself
masterfully in Don’t Trust The B—— In
Apartment 23 — he has a sense of humor.”
The hunch paid off: Not only did the
actor meet with Dermer and Kusatsu,
but Van Der Beek was so taken with the
project that he asked to contribute to the
dialog. “Obviously the dude has years
of experience in television working with
incredible people,” Dermer notes. “He
really brings a lot of that to the table. James
is a great writer.”
The spot that resulted from their
initial efforts has accumulated more
than a quarter of a million views to date,
including, eventually, Jonze — the famous
director of both feature films and music
videos who now helps run Viceland.
Kusatsu started conversations with the
network about expanding the project into
a series; Paradigm’s head of Creation/
Distribution, Ben Weiss, helped close the
deal with Vice. At the same time, Kusatsu
reached out to Matador — TMWRK
and Matador are partners on several
other projects, including a forthcoming
documentary about Major Lazer’s historic
2016 concert in Cuba — about possibly
producing the episodes. “James and I sat
down with Jay over there, and he just gets
it,” Dermer says.
Peterson hints that the show may have
some sort of life beyond the screen — in
a life-imitating-art moment, the line
between Van Der Beek’s Diplo and the real
one may occasionally blur. “[Diplo] has a
sense of humor about this,” Peterson says.
“He’s helping us find people to be involved,
other people from the world of rockstar
DJs and producers. We may have it so that
audiences go to see a Major Lazer show or
a Diplo show and all of a sudden they see
James Van Der Beek up there. We have a lot
of ideas that Diplo fully supports.”
Peterson and Turner have no qualms
about being the guinea pig as Viceland
makes its first foray into scripted
programming. “We’re thrilled that we
get to be the first thing out of the gate,”
Peterson asserts. “The idea is that being
the first hopefully we will over-deliver and
just do more and more with these guys.”
And though it’s early in the process of
putting the show together, Turner suggests
that one season may not be enough to
portray all the facets of Van Der Beek’s
Diplo. “All the projects that Vice wants to
do, they want to have ongoing beyond just
one season,” he points out. “The amount
of ideas we have, it’s hard to totally capture
them in just six episodes.”
“The best reaction we want from the
announcement that went out [this week] is
people don’t know exactly what to expect
from the show,” Peterson sums up. “And
that gives us more freedom creatively
to really mess with people.” If Van Der
Beek’s Diplo were around, he would surely
applaud this sentiment with a blast from
the airhorn.
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=SoAIzki2jOI
Wiz Khalifa and
Former Manager
Benjy Grinberg
Settle Lawsuits
BY MARC SCHNEIDER
Wiz Khalifa and Rostrum Records founder
Benjy Grinberg, the rapper’s former
manager, have resolved their lawsuits
against each. According to a statement
provided to Billboard, “all disputes” have
been resolved following a joint settlement
agreement.
“This agreement includes the dismissal
of lawsuits that each party had previously
filed against each other earlier this year,”
the statement reads. “Both parties are
pleased with the outcome and look forward
to putting this matter behind them.”
Financial details of the joint settlement
were not disclosed.
On May 31 of last year, the Pittsburgh
artist filed a $1 million lawsuit against
Page 17 of 21
[In Brief]
Grinberg and Rostrum, alleging that the
parties had profited from “virtually every
aspect” of his professional life through
a 360 deal signed in 2005 when he was
a teenager. Khalifa’s suit alleged that
Grinberg and Rostrum entered into deals
with Warner Bros. Records and Atlantic
Records for his recordings.
Grinberg and Rostrum followed with their
own lawsuit a month later, seeking “millions
of dollars in unpaid” royalties and earnings
from touring and merchandising. Grinberg
said his former client’s allegations were the
“complete opposite of our actions and the
antithesis of what Rostrum Records and I
stand for.”
Barack Obama on
His Post-POTUS
Plan: ‘I’m Still
Waiting for My
Job at Spotify’
BY MARC SCHNEIDER
If Barack Obama grows tired of trying to
rebuild the wounded Democratic party
after leaving office, as he has signaled,
there’s always money to be made in digital
music. The president is said to have joked
“I’m still waiting for my job at Spotify”
while speaking with former Swedish
ambassador Mark Brzezinski at the
White House this week, according to the
diplomat’s wife, podcast host and writer
Natalia Brzezinski.
On Instagram, Natalia gave a “word for
word” account of her husband’s chat with
his former boss. “I loved visiting you in
Stockholm, it was my favorite trip,” he said,
referring to his 2013 trip there. “I plan to go
back there really soon.” He went on to joke
about the Spotify gig, riffing that Daniel Ek
and company would want him on board
“Cuz’ I know y’all loved my playlist.”
(Mark Brzezinski is the son of former
National Security Advisor Zbigniew
Brzezinski and the brother of MSNBC
morning host Mika Brzezinski.”)
Obama’s 2016 Summer playlist for
Spotify included contemporary tracks from
Leon Bridges, Janelle Monae and Edward
Sharpe, as well as classics by Nina Simone,
the Beach Boys and Charles Mingus. In
October, he dropped a playlist for the gym
and he had another one back in 2012 during
his campaign for re-election.
Since Donald Trump’s surprise win over
Hillary Clinton, Obama has been talking
about his role in politics going forward. At
his last year-end press conference, Obama
— who is staying in D.C. until youngest
daughter Sasha finishes high school — said
he’ll work to heal his party and find the
“next generation” of leaders across all
fields.
“With respect to my priorities when I
leave, it is to build that next generation
of leadership; organizers, journalists,
politicians. I see them in America, I
see them around the world, 20-yearolds, 30-year-olds who are just full of
talent, full of idealism,” he said. “And
the question is how do we link them up?
How do we give them the tools for them
to bring about progressive change? And
I want to use my presidential center as
a mechanism for developing that next
generation of talent.”
Ganja Tourism
in Jamaica Gets
Boost as Largest
Reggae Festival
Approved for
Weed
BY PATRICIA MESCHINO
Jamaica’s largest reggae festival Rebel
Salute, founded in 1994 by Rastafarian
sing-jay Tony Rebel, can now openly
advertise as a marijuana festival, too.
Rebel Salute (Jan. 13-14) is one of three
annual events granted ganja exempt status
by the Jamaica government, meaning
marijuana can be freely used throughout
their duration despite still being illegal in
Jamaica. Rastafarians consider marijuana
a sacred plant and since Rebel and most
artists who’ve performed on Rebel Salute
over the past 22 years have extolled the
plant’s usage, the government has finally,
if somewhat begrudgingly, sanctioned
what Rastafarians have consistently
championed.
Featuring more than 50 reggae artists
ranging from legendary band Third World
to contemporary dancehall star Popcaan
(rumored to be signing to Drake’s OVO
label), Rebel Salute 2017 will also include
a marijuana-derived product exhibition
(by Jamaican and internationally based
companies) and a smokers lounge in an
area designated as the “herb curb.”
In addition, newly formed Jamaican
companies as well as individual ganja
farmers spearheading the move towards
a regulated, legal medical marijuana
industry on the island will be participating
in daytime symposiums.
Rebel Salute and the other ganja
exempt events, Steppin High (March)
and Rasta Rootz Festival (December),
each showcasing marijuana products and
providing nightly entertainment by herbendorsing reggae stars, has prompted the
development of (openly advertised) ganja
tourism by small independent companies.
While the Jamaica Tourist Board has not
yet advertised ganja as a reason to visit,
they’ve increased their support of Rebel
Salute this year, after years of refusing to
back it in any way.
Page 18 of 21
[In Brief]
Kane Brown
and His Team
Aim for a Radio
Breakthrough
In 2017
BY PHYLLIS STARK
Can a new country artist break big
without the widespread support of radio?
Historically, the answer to that question
has been no, but 23-year-old Zone 4/Sony
Music Nashville artist Kane Brown may
prove to be an exception.
Brown came to prominence in ways still
considered nontraditional in the country
format: TV and social media. He appeared
on Fox’s The X Factor in 2013 (and also
auditioned unsuccessfully for American
Idol). From there, he began building his
social media presence by posting low key,
yet wildly popular videos on his Facebook
page featuring himself performing
country song covers and some originals.
His Facebook fan base now numbers more
than 2 million followers.
“He was posting raw, acoustic covers
on Facebook from his apartment,” says
Sony Music Nashville executive vp
promotion and artist development Steve
Hodges. “No studio, no band, no stage, no
lights, no postproduction, nothing. Just
a guy with a unique voice, a love for the
music and a story to tell. Although he has
amassed a huge social platform, it
all started very real, intimate, believable
and small.”
In the past, country radio has rarely
opened the door wide for TV talent show
contestants (Carrie Underwood being
among a handful of notable exceptions).
And until Brown, country really hadn’t
been confronted with a serious contender
who — like Justin Bieber in the pop world
— gained his initial fan following on social
media rather than hustling through years
of club gigs before landing a label deal.
In fact, Brown had never played live until
November 2015, shortly before he got
signed to Sony.
Since then, he has made up for lost
time on the touring front with more than
200 dates in 2016, including opening
Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots
Tour, as well as headlining more than
60 of his own shows. Many of his club
gigs were sellouts, according to Braeden
Rountree, Brown’s agent at William
Morris Endeavor. While most of those
were in 1,500 – to 2,000-capacity rooms,
his bigger sellouts have included 4,000
tickets at Coyote Joe’s in Charlotte,
N.C., and he landed a sponsorship from
Monster Energy Drink. “All of this,” says
Rountree, “has been without a major hit at
terrestrial country radio.”
Indeed, radio has yet to warm up to
Brown. First single “Used to Love You
Sober,” picked up by Sony after it had
already taken off on social media, peaked at
No. 35 on the Country Airplay chart in May
2016. Follow-up “Thunder In The Rain”
stalled at No. 43 in October, but re-enters
Country Airplay in the new year at No. 57.
“Kane created his massive and loyal
fan base through very nontraditional
means for the country format, and that’s
a difficult thing sometimes for people to
understand,” says Brown’s manager, EFG’s
Martha Earls. “He got his music directly
to his fans and we have, at times, found
ourselves having to explain to people his
authenticity. What’s ironic about that is
it doesn’t get any more authentic than a
direct artist-to-fan connection.”
Earls, who has worked with Brown since
the summer of 2015, thinks fans were
drawn to the striking, biracial, heavily
tattooed and quietly charismatic artist
because “they see themselves in him.
They appreciate his honesty and love his
traditional country voice matched with his
modern image.”
His self-titled RCA Nashville debut
album (for which Brown co-wrote seven
of the 11 tracks) arrived at No. 1 on Top
Country Albums and No. 10 on the
Billboard 200 in the week following its
early December 2016 release, with sales
of 45,000 copies (and 51,000 equivalent
album units on the all-genre consumption
chart), according to Nielsen Music. Those
sales were bolstered by major TV bookings
on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Today,
spots on multiple “artist to watch” lists at
print and digital media outlets and his live
shows.
“When he began touring, the fan
connection became massively stronger,”
says Earls. “The casual fan became a rabid
fan,” and his solo dates “legitimized him as
a touring act.”
Brown recently watched a recording of
his first live show, in Darlington, S.C., that
was packed with cover songs. “If I was a fan
in the audience [that night], I would have
been like ‘What the heck did I just buy this
ticket for?’ ” he jokes. Since then, Brown
has observed and learned from Florida
Georgia Line and the other acts on the FGL
tour, and eagerly absorbed advice from the
duo, its band and crew.
“It’s very impressive to see how far he
has come in such a short amount of time,”
says WME’s Rountree, who calls Brown “a
humble and genuine guy.” His success on
the touring front, adds Rountree, “speaks
to the kind of work ethic and attention to
detail he has.”
Airplay chart numbers notwithstanding,
there have been pockets of early support
for Brown at FM radio. Hodges cites
Brown’s hometown station, WUSY
Chattanooga, Tenn., among them, along
with KEEY Minneapolis, KJKE Oklahoma
City, KMPS Seattle, WIL St. Louis and
WKLI Albany, N.Y., which he says all “have
over 300 spins on ‘Thunder in the Rain.’ ”
Brown admits that the slow going at
radio has been “kind of frustrating,” but
adds, “My fans are ... what got me here, so
that’s what we’re living off of right now. I
want them to play my songs on the radio
because I’m always thinking of how much
we could blow this thing up, hopefully,
but you got to respect that we did come off
social media, so [radio programmers] don’t
know who I am.”
He also didn’t make the rounds on the
kind of traditional radio tour most new
country artists spend months doing,
although Brown has tried to spend as much
time with radio personnel as possible while
on tour and work in acoustic shows for
Page 19 of 21
[In Brief]
radio stations where feasible, including
what he calls “a crapload of guitar pulls.”
“In country radio, everybody has such
a connection and a bond,” he says, “so
you’ve got to meet them.”
The label staff and Earls are taking their
time choosing a third single, knowing it
will be a critical swing. They’re planning
to go for adds in early February. “We
intentionally wanted our partners at radio,
satellite, digital service providers and the
fans to live with the album and ingest the
music, before choosing a single,” says
Hodges.
Adds Earls: “Fortunately, Kane has
made a great and deep album, so we’re
not struggling to find good songs. We’re
struggling to narrow it down to one.”
Once chosen, Hodges says that third
single will come complete with “a
multifaceted campaign to support it at
radio. We’ll continue to shake hands and
make time for as many people that have
time for us. There’s nothing like getting the
chance to sit down with Kane and hear his
story straight from the source. He’s a very
compelling and engaging young man.”
“All of the analytics,” says Hodges,
“point to success for this artist.”
Brown is keenly aware that “everybody’s
got high expectations for me,” and says, “I
just don’t want to let anybody down.” At
the same time, he adds, “The competitive
side of me wants ... to exceed their
expectations.”
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=zKS1GFJxYCw
Billboard 200
Chart Moves: ‘La La
Land’ Soundtrack
Sizzles, A Tribe
Called Quest is
Hot on Vinyl
BY KEITH CAULFIELD
On the latest Billboard 200 albums chart
(dated Jan. 14), Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix
Christmas held on to the No. 1 slot for a
second week, earning 101,000 equivalent
album units in the week ending Dec. 29,
according to Nielsen Music.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the
week’s most popular albums based on their
overall consumption. That overall unit
figure combines pure album sales, track
equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming
equivalent albums (SEA).
Now, let’s take a closer look at some of
the action on the latest Billboard 200 chart:
— Shawn Mendes, Illuminate – No.
11 — Promotion and associated sales
generated by Mendes’ new Live at Madison
Square Garden album (a debut at No. 200)
assist his first two full-length sets at Nos.
11 (Illuminate) and 108 (Handwritten)
with unit gains of 87 and 47 percent,
respectively.
— Soundtrack, La La Land – No. 52 — The
buzzy film’s expansion into further theaters
on Dec. 25 helps its companion soundtrack
zip 95-52 (17,000 units; 47 percent, with
13,000 copies sold; up 43 percent). Earlier
in December, the movie scored seven
Golden Globe nominations, including best
musical or comedy. The film currently (as
of Jan. 6) has a 93 percent fresh rating on
Rotten Tomatoes.
On the Soundtracks chart, the title
reaches a new peak, climbing 8-5.
— A Tribe Called Quest, We Got It From
Here… Thank You 4 Your Service – No. 32
— A Tribe Called Quest vaults up the chart,
rising from 62-32 (25,000 units; up 66
percent, with 22,000 sold; up 83 percent),
thanks to its release on vinyl LP on Dec. 23.
The vinyl set sold 11,000 copies and debuts
at No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart.
11,000 is a particularly robust figure for
a rap album — and a vinyl set in general:
in the past year, there have only been 10
instances where an album sold 10,000
or more on vinyl LP in a single week (and
none of those were rap releases).
Further, We Got It From Here is just the
third rap album to top the Vinyl Albums
chart in the past year. It follows Twiztid’s
The Green Book and De La Soul’s And the
Anonymous Nobody.
The vinyl version of Tribe’s album hits
the chart six weeks after We Got It From
Here debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200
— supported largely by download sales of
its digital album. The title’s CD edition did
not arrive in wide release until the album’s
second chart week.
— Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 3 –
No. 35 — The hip-hop act nets its highest
charting album yet — and first top 40
title — as Run the Jewels 3 bows at No. 35
with 23,000 units (17,000 from traditional
album sales). The duo (El-P and Killer
Mike) previously charted with Run the
Jewels 2, which peaked at No. 50 in 2014.
The act’s first release, its 2013 self-titled
album, did not reach the Billboard 200, but
did impact the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
chart, debuting and peaking at No. 60.
— Frank Ocean, Blonde – No. 44 — Frank
Ocean’s former No. 1 Billboard 200 album
Blonde zooms from No. 167 to No. 44
following its commercial release on CD
and vinyl — for one day only. The set made
its CD and vinyl debut on Nov. 25 — for 24
hours only — via Ocean’s official website,
while those purchases were fulfilled to
customers during the Dec. 23-29th tracking
frame. The album was previously only
available as a digital download or stream.
Blonde sold 9,000 copies on CD, and
2,000 vinyl LPs. In total for the week, the
title sold 13,000 copies – enough for a
reentry at No. 35 on the Top Album Sales
chart. Plus, Blonde launches at No. 19 on
the Vinyl Albums chart.
Page 20 of 21
[In Brief]
Ed Sheeran Tops
Billboard + Twitter
Trending 140 Chart
With ‘Shape of
You’ and ‘Castle on
the Hill’
BY XANDER ZELLNER
New year, new music from Ed Sheeran.
Hours after the singer/songwriter released
two tracks off his forthcoming third studio
album, both tunes launched to the top of
the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart
Friday morning.
The Billboard + Twitter Trending 140
chart measures the real-time acceleration
of conversation around artists and their
music on Twitter.
The first track – and the only one of the
two songs that Atlantic Records is actively
promoting to radio – “Shape of You,”
debuted at No. 1 on the chart at 6 a.m. ET
Friday (Jan. 6), after he teased 30 seconds of
the song in a Snapchat filter the day before.
“Castle on the Hill,” the more pop-rock
of the pair, debuted at No. 2 at the same
hour Friday morning. Similar to “Shape,”
Sheeran previewed the song on his social
media channels Thursday (Jan. 5).
Sheeran also released lyric videos for
each song on YouTube, which have both
surpassed 1 million global views since their
release. Sheeran initially announced the
release date of the tracks on New Years
Day, after posting a video of him holding a
sign reading “New Music Coming Friday!!”
Both tracks are slated to appear on his
latest album ÷, pronounced “divide.” He
has yet to announce a release date for the
album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_
dK2tDK9grQ
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=7Qp5vcuMIlk
Little Mix and
Clean Bandit Still
Invincible on U.K.
Charts
BY PAUL SEXTON
With no changes atop the U.K. charts,
Clean Bandit’s “Rockabye” (Atlantic/
Warner), featuring Sean Paul and AnneMarie, is the No. 1 single for a ninth week.
Little Mix’s Glory Days (Syco Music/Sony)
spends a fourth non-consecutive week atop
the album survey, to match Destiny’s Child
2001 run with Survivor as the longestrunning girl group No. 1 album of the
millennium.
“Rockabye” thus becomes the 18th song
to spend nine or more weeks at the top
of the U.K. singles chart, in a countdown
that shows Rag ‘n’ Bone Man’s “Human”
(Best Laid Plans) moving back 3-2. It
trades places with “I Would Like” (Black
Butter/Epic/Sony) by Zara Larsson, with
Little Mix’s “Touch” steady at No. 4 and
The Weeknd’s “Starboy” (XO/Republic/
Universal), featuring Daft Punk, back up
8-5. The song peaked at No. 2 in October;
this is its 15th consecutive week in the top
ten. Neiked’s “Sexual” (Neiked Collective),
which hit No.5 last month, rebounds 11-6.
Also climbing again is The Weeknd’s
other collaboration with Daft Punk, “I Feel
It Coming,” up 19-13 after reaching No. 9 in
December. JP Cooper’s “September Song”
(Universal Island), which spent the last two
weeks at No. 45, makes a sudden dash to
No. 16, and John Legend’s “Love Me Now”
(Columbia/Sony) races 38-17.
The Little Mix album may have drawn
level with Destiny’s Child, but it has work
to do to match the longest run atop the U.K.
album chart by a female group, which is the
Spice Girls’ 15 weeks with Spice in 1996’97. The OCC reports that combined U.K.
sales of Glory Days now stand at 434,000.
Racing 24-2 on the album chart is
“superstar DJ” Pete Tong’s Classic House
(Polydor/UMC/OMOD) with the Heritage
Orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley. It
features orchestral adaptations of classic
dance tracks, and was inspired by the
ensemble’s performance at the Royal
Albert Hall in July 2015, for the so-called
Ibiza Prom.
Without any new releases on offer, the
chart welcomes Adele’s 25 (XL Recordings)
back into the top ten for the first time
since August, as it rises 14-7. Christine &
the Queens’ U.K. breakthrough Chaleur
Humaine (Because Music), which spent ten
weeks in the top ten from June last year and
reached No. 2, catapults 71-19.
The Weeknd’s
‘Starboy’ Set for
No. 1 Return on
Billboard 200
Chart
BY KEITH CAULFIELD
The Weeknd’s Starboy is on course for
a return trip to No. 1 on the Billboard
200 albums chart, according to industry
forecasters. Those in the know suggest the
set — which debuted atop the list dated
Dec. 17, 2016 — could jump back to the top
of next week’s tally, notching its second
week at No. 1. The album may earn over
70,000 equivalent album units in the week
ending Jan. 5.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most
popular albums of the week based on
multi-metric consumption, which includes
traditional album sales, track equivalent
albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent
albums (SEA). The top 10 of the new Jan.
21, 2017-dated Billboard 200 chart — where
Starboy could bounce back to No. 1 — is
scheduled to be revealed on Billboard’s
websites on Sunday, Jan. 8.
If Starboy does return to No. 1, it would
do so with a decline in overall units earned
for the week, as the industry gets back to
business-as-usual after the busy holiday
Page 21 of 21
[In Brief]
shopping season. The set might drop by 20
percent in units compared to the previous
frame (week ending Dec. 29).
In fact, the only album that could score a
unit gain in next week’s top 10 might be the
soundtrack to the animated film Moana,
which could vault from No. 6 to No. 2 (a
new high) with perhaps a 10-20 percent
gain. Another soundtrack, La La Land, is
poised to break the top 20 for the first time
(rising from No. 52 on the current Billboard
200 chart), with perhaps 20,000 units.
No albums are likely to debut in the new
top 10, as few major albums were released
during the tracking week.