March 16, 2016 Page 1 of 12 BY GIL KAUFMAN Nearly seven years after his death, the yawning, half-billion-dollar abyss of debt that Michael Jackson left behind has turned into a mountain of profit whose latest summit was topped this week thanks to a massive payday on his 50 percent stake in Sony/ ATV. The $750 million deal has Sony Corp. buying out the Jackson estate’s piece of Sony/ATV, the joint music publishing company, whose holdings include songs byThe Beatles and Bob Dylan. Jackson, who died in 2009, paid $41.5 million for ATV Music in 1985. It was just the latest in a string of blockbuster moves that last year pushed Jackson to the top of Forbes’ list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities with a reported $115 million, ahead of Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and Marilyn Monroe. According to that report, the singer’s estate has rung up more than $1 billion, pre-tax, to date. With the Sony deal, the estate’s executors — attorney John Branca and music exec John McClain — have pulled off what a source close to the estate called a $1 billion turnaround, from $500 million of debt to $500 million in cash. Here’s how they did it: · After feuding with the family over its release, the posthumous documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It, released four months after Jackson passed in July, 2009, went on to become the highest-grossing music documentary of all time, with worldwide box office in excess of $300 million. The estate took in 87 percent of the back-end on the movie, with the source putting the gross figure going into the estate’s coffers at north of $200 million when TV rights and DVD sales are factored in. · In 2010, Branca and McClain brokered what the source called the biggest record deal in history, a $200 million guaranteed contract with Sony covering seven albums and other associated projects. · Jackson’s catalog continues to be a monster. Estimates of posthumous sales in the first five years after his death were in excess of 13 million in the U.S. alone. Considering that Jackson has consistently sold an estimated 70 percent of his records outside of the U.S., total sales since 2009 have easily surpassed 43 INSIDE The Michael Jackson Estate’s Billion- Dollar Turnaround: From $500 Million In Debt to $500 Million in Cash A Timeline of Michael Jackson’s Best Bet: The Sony/ATV Catalog Sony/ATV Head Martin Bandier’s Memo to Staff Following Jackson Buyout: ‘Very Positive News’ CBS Planning to Sell or Spin Off Radio Division BMG Opens for Business in Australia, Appoints Former Universal A&R to Lead SXSW: Live Streaming Is Fully ‘A Thing,’ HD Audio Isn’t (continued) 55 TH ANNIVERSARY PLEASE CONGRATULATE ARETHA FRANKLIN ON HER SIX DECADES OF MUSIC. ISSUE DATE APRIL 2 ON SALE MARCH 25 CONTACT Jeff Serrette 212.493.4199 [email protected]
Transcript
March 16, 2016 Page 1 of 12
BY GIL KAUFMAN
Nearly seven years after his death, the yawning, half-billion-dollar abyss of debt that Michael Jackson left behind has turned into a mountain of profit whose latest summit was topped this week thanks to a massive payday on his 50 percent stake in Sony/ATV.
The $750 million deal has Sony Corp. buying out the Jackson estate’s piece of Sony/ATV, the joint music publishing company, whose holdings include songs byThe Beatles and Bob Dylan. Jackson, who died in 2009, paid $41.5 million for ATV Music in 1985.
It was just the latest in a string of blockbuster moves that last year pushed Jackson to the top of Forbes’ list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities with a reported $115 million, ahead of Elvis Presley, Bob Marley and Marilyn Monroe.
According to that report, the singer’s estate has rung up more than $1 billion, pre-tax, to date. With the Sony deal, the estate’s executors — attorney John Branca and music exec John McClain — have pulled off what a source close to the estate called a $1 billion
turnaround, from $500 million of debt to $500 million in cash.
Here’s how they did it: · After feuding with the family over its release,
the posthumous documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It, released four months after Jackson passed in July, 2009, went on to become the highest-grossing music documentary of all time, with worldwide box office in excess of $300 million. The estate took in 87 percent of the back-end on the movie, with the source putting the gross figure going into the estate’s coffers at north of $200 million when TV rights and DVD sales are factored in.
· In 2010, Branca and McClain brokered what the source called the biggest record deal in history, a $200 million guaranteed contract with Sony covering seven albums and other associated projects.
· Jackson’s catalog continues to be a monster. Estimates of posthumous sales in the first five years after his death were in excess of 13 million in the U.S. alone. Considering that Jackson has consistently sold an estimated 70 percent of his records outside of the U.S., total sales since 2009 have easily surpassed 43
INSIDE The Michael Jackson Estate’s Billion-Dollar Turnaround: From $500 Million In Debt to $500 Million in Cash
A Timeline of Michael Jackson’s Best Bet: The Sony/ATV Catalog
Sony/ATV Head Martin Bandier’s Memo to Staff Following Jackson Buyout: ‘Very Positive News’
CBS Planning to Sell or Spin Off Radio Division
BMG Opens for Business in Australia, Appoints Former Universal A&R to Lead
SXSW: Live Streaming Is Fully ‘A Thing,’ HD Audio Isn’t
(continued)
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[In Brief]million worldwide. That makes Jackson the No. 1-selling global artist over the past seven years, surpassing such contemporary superstars as Adele and Taylor Swift.
· The 2012 Michael Jackson: The Immortal Tour — an equally split joint venture with Cirque du Soleil in which the estate earned a 13 percent cut off the top of box office sales — grossed more than $370 million worldwide, making it one of the top-grossing rock tours of all time.
· A permanent show at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Michael Jackson: One, is another fifty-fifty joint venture with Cirque in which the estate earns a 10 percent box office take, which, like “Immortal” includes percentages for royalties and publishing. The source said the permanent performance is one of the top two grossing shows in Las Vegas, just behind Cirque’s O, earning around $90 million a year.
· Money also continues to roll in thanks to the strength of the Mijac Music catalog, which holds the rights to MJ’s recordings and masters, as well as music by Sly and the Family Stone, Ray Charles, Presley and Aretha Franklin.
· The estate recently renewed a deal with Bally Technologies for the Michael Jackson King of Pop slot machine, extending the pact for five more years. The source said the venture has brought in a healthy eight-figure sum so far.
A Timeline of Michael Jackson’s Best Bet: The Sony/ATV CatalogBY GIL KAUFMAN
Michael Jackson was a famously profligate spender, renowned in his latter years for endless shopping sprees that nearly broke the bank. As a result, at the time of his death in 2009, the self-proclaimed King of Pop was $500 million in the hole.
Before his shocking overdose at age 50, rumors repeatedly swirled that Jackson was on the verge of a forced sale off one of his prized, and most valuable, assets: his 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV catalog. That deal finally closed this week and the sale price is proof that Jackson’s 1985 purchase of half of the music publishing company whose holdings include iconic songs by The Beatles and Bob Dylan was perhaps the shrewdest move of his 40-plus-year career.
A look back at the history of Jackson and the Sony/ATV catalog:
1957: The music publishing company is founded as a division of Associated Television, whose owner, Sir Lew Grade,
was a renowned British media mogul in the ‘50s and ‘60s.
1969: Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney fail in their bid to gain control of their publishing after their publishing company, Northern Songs, is sold to Grade.
1982: Jackson learns about the importance (and lucrative nature) of song publishing from soon-to-be-former friend and musical companion Paul McCartney, during their London sessions for the song “Say, Say Say.”
1985: Informed by attorney John Branca (who would later be part of the brain trust handling his estate) that the 4,000-song ATV catalog was available, Jackson paid a then-unheard-of price of $47.5 million for the rights to the priceless Lennon-McCartney catalog, as well as songs by Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Elvis, Hank Williams, Little Richard and The Rolling Stones.
1988: CBS sells its recording division to the Sony Corp. for $2 billion in cash. The purchase of the world’s then-most powerful record company, home to Columbia, Epic and Portrait Records, included a deep roster of acts including MJ, Dylan, Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Barbra Streisand and Billy Joel. The company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991.
1995: Sony and Jackson form Sony/ATV Music Publishing after Jackson sells a 50
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percent share of ATV to Sony for around $100 million.
2002: Sony/ATV buys country music publisher Acuff-Rose for $157 million, scooping up the rights to 55,000 country songs by the likes of Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, Boudelaux Bryant, Marty Robbins and The Everly Brothers.
2006: Under a crushing debt load in excess of $270 million, Jackson agrees to give Sony an option to buy half of his stake in Sony/ATV for around $250 million.
2007: Sony/ATV acquires one of the crown jewels of publishing catalogs with its purchase of the songs of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. The deal brings into the fold such iconic songs as “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” “On Broadway” and “There Goes My Baby.”
2008: Sony/ATV purchases the international administration rights to Famous Music for $370 million from the Universal Music Group. Among the hits in the 125,000-song catalog are songs by Eminem, Shakira, Pink and Beck.
2009: Jackson dies on June 25, 2009 at age 50, leaving behind three young children and an estate in dire financial straits. His longtime attorney, John Branca, and music industry veteran John McClain take control of the estate and begin an ambitious plan to pull the star’s assets into the black.
2012: A group led by Sony/ATV and the Jackson estate (among others) close a $2.2 billion deal for the purchase of EMI Music Publishing. EMI’s assets count more than 1.3 million songs, including 251 Beatles compositions, as well as songs by The Police, Justin Bieber, One Direction and The Beach Boys.
2015: In October, Sony triggers the buy-sell process with the Jackson estate that allows it to buy out MJ’s stake in 750,000-song Sony/ATV catalog, which now includes hits by everyone from Marvin Gaye to Taylor Swift, A$AP Rocky, Fall Out Boy, Adele and Lady Gaga.
2016: March 15, Sony announces plans to complete its acquisition of the estate’s 50 percent of Sony/ATV for $750 million.. A definitive agreement is expected by March 31, with deal closure to come in late 2016 or early 2017, pending regulatory approval.
Sony/ATV Head Martin Bandier’s Memo to Staff Following Jackson Buyout: ‘Very Positive News’BY BILLBOARD STAFF
In the wake of the announcement that Sony will buy the Michael Jackson estate’s stake in music publishing market leader Sony/ATV, that company’s CEO Martin Bandier sent a letter to the company’s employees thanking them for their hard work through-out an uncertain period.
Sony has agreed to pay $750 million to the Jackson estate for its equity in Sony/ATV, a joint venture created in 1995. The deal, still subject to certain closing conditions as well as regulatory approval, is expected to be completed at the end of this year or early next.
Read the full memo below:Dear all,As you have heard, Sony Corporation has
signed a binding agreement to buy the 50%
[In Brief]
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stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing owned by the Estate of Michael Jackson, subject to regulatory approvals. Once the deal is complete it will mean Sony/ATV will be 100% owned by Sony.
This outcome is very positive news for Sony/ATV and everyone who works for the company. I cannot think of a clearer or more emphatic way for Sony Corporation to show its support for us and everything we do than by undertaking this deal. It demonstrates their absolute faith in our company and recognizes the terrific job we are doing.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Estate and particularly John Branca, John McClain and Karen Langford for all their support and input over the years of the joint venture. They will always be an important part of the Sony/ATV legacy.
I know the last few months have created some uncertainty since the buy/sale process was announced last October and I cannot be prouder of the way everybody has continued to do their jobs in a professional and diligent manner and ensured that it really has been business as usual during this time. With the announcement this week we can now fully focus on the future. I said at the time when the buy/sale process began our best years are still ahead of us and this deal has only confirmed that.
Sony/ATV is and remains the world’s leading music publisher and these past 12 months have been another great year both creatively and financially for the company. For those of you working in New York there has already been the fresh start over the last few weeks of moving into tremendous new offices and we will also have a brand new home in Los Angeles later in the year. There will be much to look forward to this year as we take the first steps in this exciting new era.
Martin Bandier
CBS Planning to Sell or Spin Off Radio DivisionBY COLIN STUTZ
CBS plans to sell, spin off or swap its radio division later this year, as its 117 stations across 26 markets have become slow-growth and a drain on resources.
CBS Chairman & CEO Leslie Moonves announced the plan Tuesday (March 15) during the company’s investor day presentation in New York. He said they instead plan to direct attention to content production and digital endeavors with a plan to “unlock value” for CBS shareholders.
“We will begin to explore strategic options,” he said. “We will be prudent and judicious. We will take our time to make sure that we do it right.”
CBS Radio launched in 1928 and is the third largest radio station group in the country, reaching about 70 million consumers across the country each week, according to the company’s website.
But the news doesn’t come as a big surprise. Recently, CBS took a $484 million write-down on the value of its radio station group in the 2015 fourth quarter. At this time it cited “continued softness in the radio advertising marketplace and lower political advertising” and “the sustained decline in industry projections for the radio advertising marketplace since 2014.”
CBS is not the only company to see disappointing returns in radio as of late. Earlier this month, the country’s top radio station group iHeartMedia was accused of violating lending agreements as it tries to restructure $20 billion in long-term debt.
In 2014, CBS spun off its outdoor advertising group — a maneuver this strategy may turn out to resemble.
“We’ll take our time as we did with outdoor, and we’ll make sure we do it right.” Moonves said. “When we’re through we’ll have done something that’s right for CBS shareholders and for the radio business.”
BMG Opens for Business in Australia, Appoints Former Universal A&R to LeadBY LARS BRANDLE
BMG has launched in Australia.
The international music company’s Australian affiliate is based in Sydney and headed up by Heath Johns, previously di-rector of A&R at Universal Music Publish-ing Australia.
Johns, who is appointed managing director of BMG Australia with immediate effect, says the company already has a “handful of deals that we’ll be looking at rolling out” and it will also “be looking to invest quite a lot of time and energy into New Zealand,” he tells Billboard. The first NZ signing “isn’t far away.”
BMG already represents publishing rights to such Australian acts as Tame Impala,Missy Higgins, Matt Corby and Meg Mac, and publishing rights in Europe toAC/DC. BMG owns recording rights to much of the Nick Cave catalog, releases from DMA’s and the forthcoming album from The Temper Trap.
“Having an independent BMG office for Australia and New Zealand, it just gives managers, artists, songwriters an extra person to call to sit down with,” adds Johns. “You won’t find too many critics out there arguing that one compelling new option is a bad thing creatively or from a business point of view.”
Since late 2008, CEO Hartwig Masuch has built Bertelsmann Rights Management into one of the largest music companies in the world (BMG claims to be the world’s fourth biggest music publisher). The company began with about 150 master
recordings held back from the sale of Bertelsmann’s share of the Sony BMG merger to Sony. Today, BMG represents more than 2 million songs and recordings, including the catalogues of Chrysalis, Bug, Virgin, Mute, Sanctuary, Primary Wave and Talpa Music.
Masuch has openly said in recent years, “Our mission is to put BMG on the map for recorded music in the same way it is for music publishing.” The German exec has also been waiting for the right time to extend its global imprint Down Under.
“Australia has long been one of the greatest music producing nations in the world,” Masuch says in a statement. “Australian songwriters and artists are an important element of the BMG catalogue. It is therefore a logical step for us to launch our own operation in Sydney, giving Australian songwriters and artists a genuine alternative to the established companies.”
Johns signed and developed Australian talent such as Wolfmother, Jet, The Veronicas, M-Phazes, Guy Sebastian, Peking Duk, and Passenger, and has “proven himself as a seasoned executive and a persuasive ambassador for Australian music,” adds Masuch. “We are delighted he has agreed to join us.”
With the launch of a standalone affiliate Down Under, BMG now operates directly in eleven markets following Germany, the U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Italy, Scandinavia, Spain, Benelux and China.
SXSW: Live Streaming Is Fully ‘A Thing,’ HD Audio Isn’tBY GLENN PEOPLES
SXSW is a great place to find out where the music industry is headed. Some products aren’t ready for prime time. Some are already there.
Live streaming is huge in areas outside of music. Take video games, for example. Live broadcasts of gameplay are so popular that Amazon bought the leader in the field, Twitch, for $1 billion in 2014 (the streaming company is currently preparing to launch its food channel with a Julia Child marathon). In Korea, people watch live streams of other people eating food. Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli live-streamed from his apartment after being charged with securities fraud and released on bail. Facebook has recently been pushing its own version, Live, to artists in the hopes they’ll incorporate it into their promotional strategies. Live-streaming concerts is technically possible, and viewership is high enough to attract sponsors. A festival with five or six stages can carry a production cost between $500,00 and $800,000, said Hank Neuberger of Springboard Productions. People, often young consumers desired by brands, are willing to watch. And sponsors are already willing to pay for their attention. “With the right brand, it’s one long commercial,” said Karly Tuckner of C3 Presents. Low-cost live streaming is a viable option. Raymond Roker of Goldenvoice pointed to The Boiler Room, a network of regularly broadcast streams from around the world with a heavy dance music slant. Live DJ sets are stripped down to little more than a GoPro video camera and an audio feed. “I’m bummed I didn’t think of it,” Roker said. Live streaming is not without its problems, according to insiders. Rights are a major sticking point that can take many months to untangle. A live recording of a SXSW performance at a major company’s installation might be ready to stream half a year later — far too late to capitalize on the once-fresh content. Not all artists and labels want to be involved in live streams. Festivals these days are more frequently including live-streaming clauses in artist contracts. But artists and labels are often hesitant to make high-quality live recordings available. The artist doesn’t give pause that a performance might be captured by
dozens, if not hundreds, of smartphones. But a professional-grade live video is like a live album: it might be a good idea, but you can’t make too many of them. What’s more, a bad performance will live online and can be seen by millions. But live streaming is already a thing. Maybe not a huge thing, but the technology and willingness to fund already exist. And based on the number of SXSW panels dedicated to live streaming, people are starting to ponder its potential. The same can’t be said of high-definition audio — it isn’t yet “a thing.” But can it become a thing? Two years after Neil Young unveiled his hi-def iPod, the Pono, on the keynote stage of Austin’s Convention Center, executives — Allen Weiner of Parks Associates, Julien Simon from Deezer, Sonos product manager Kristen Bender, Warner Music digital strategist Oana Cornis-Pop and Vince Bannon of Getty Images — discussed the topic during a the “High Definition Audio: FLAC or Fluke?” panel. Companies are already making moves for an expected HD audio revolution. A few streaming services, namely Deezer and Tidal, are already pushing high-quality audio streaming for twice the price of a normal subscription service plan. They use the open-source FLAC format. Whereas MP3s are compressed into a smaller, “lossy” file, FLAC is a lossless format with far superior sound quality. Apple isrumored to be developing its own HD audio format that can combine with a new audio port for iPhones that can deliver higher-quality audio. Data was presented during the panel to show the public’s latent demand for HD audio. A Parks Associates survey found audio quality was a factor in purchase intention for 67 percent of people. The market research firm forecasts for subscription services of any sound quality is upbeat but not unrealistic: over 70 million in North America and 99 million in Western Europe by 2020. Unsurprisingly, given the companies being represented, the panelists were unanimously bullish about HD audio. Their sound bites were resounding: “The
good news is there’s a huge audience;” “The data shows people are interested in hi-fi and high-def;” “Now people get it;” “It’s inevitable;” and “It will definitely grow.” But HD streaming is still in the experimental phase. The panelists agreed that current marketing efforts are subject to change. Julien Simon of Deezer admitted that the current price for Deezer Elite, the company’s HD audio plan, will be fluid. “We have $19.99 for 16-bit [audio]. The right price might be $15 or lower. It’s too early to know.” The mood was less upbeat about when the inevitable day of success will arrive. At the very least, there was an acknowledgement that HD streaming has a long road to reach mainstream adoption. HD radio is far ahead of HD streaming, by the way. About half of all new cars sold in the U.S. last year shipped with HD radio capabilities. But HD streaming is further behind, and given the automobile’s long replacement cycle, HD streaming isn’t likely to exceed niche status in the next five years. Maybe the trick is just getting consumers to experience HD streaming. Vince Bannon of Getty Images drew the parallel of live music and the arrival of annual festivals like Coachella in 2001 (older events like Bumbershoot, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Jazz Fest apparently don’t count). For many music fans, live music became synonymous with gorging on music for a fixed price at huge, multi-stage events. “Really it’s about experience. The live business has hockey-sticked and gone through the roof over the last 16 years.” Will HD audio have its own hockey stick moment? Don’t hold your breath. Festivals have certainly been a trend in the concert business that provides fans with the all-you-can-eat-discovery-for-a-fixed price offering of digital subscription services. But it’s well known that the concert business appears to be thriving mostly because superstars’ ticket prices have skyrocketed. Statistics show that from 1981 to 2012 ticket prices increased nearly 400 percent while the earnings growth of the top 1 percent of artists doubled. The middle class, the very same artists billed
underneath the superstars at multi-day festivals, is stuck in 1981. Live streaming seems to be going through the early phase of exponential growth, the part of the demand curve where the line shoots upward as demand soars — picture a hockey stick. HD streaming is still in the flat part of the curve. A few more years and many more SXSW panels will pass before HD streaming looks like a hockey stock and not a toothpick on a table.
Recording Academy President Clarifies Clarion Call on StreamingBY ANDREW FLANAGAN
Neil Portnow, laconic president of The Recording Academy which oversees the Grammy Awards, has followed up a speech he gave alongside Common during this year’s televised ceremony that criticized the payments artists receive from stream-ing services. On Feb. 15 Portnow asked the Grammys’ audience: “What is hearing your favorite song worth hearing to you?” The year previous, Portnow asked: “What if we’re all watching the Grammys a few years from now and there’s no Best New Artist award because there aren’t enough talented artists and songwriters who are actually able to make a living from their craft?”
In a blog post made live today on the Academy’s website, Portnow clarifies his position, urging fans to pay for streaming services instead of using them their ad-supported free versions, and to urge Congress to enact “pro-music creator legislation.”
The question of how much money artists receive from streaming services isexceedingly complex, however. Pay depends on an individual artist’s contract
with their label, that label’s contract with the streaming service, which streaming service the music is being played on, where in the world that music is being listened to, whether that artist wrote and recorded or just recorded the music they’re being paid for. And if they wrote it, how much of it did they write? For services like Pandora, referred to as “non-interactive” because fans have limited control over the music they’re served, royalty rates are set by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), a panel of three judges. Beyond that, services like Pandora can license directly from record labels — which they’ve been doing a lot lately — instead of paying the rate mandated by the CRB. That also affects the payment received.
Portnow is correct that paying for streaming is more lucrative for artists; it’s been known for sometime that a vast majority of the royalties Spotify generates is via its paid tier, not the advertising sales it sources on the free tier. While The Academy tolerates streaming services’ and their increasing primacy — the industry is regularly referred to as the future of the recorded music business — Portnow saves no ire for the traditional radio business which, in the U.S., doesn’t pay anything for its music. Pointing that out isn’t a red herring; the broadcast lobby became strong enough to withstand repeated calls in D.C. for traditional radio to pay for the music they play. This arrangement seems all-but insurmountable at this point. Streaming services started paying immediately and hope to continue to do so.
And note, there’s no ownership at stake — Martin Denny isn’t paid each time his jungle sounds are spun on an LP. Not so the “Weird Sunday Morning” playlist on Rhapsody your friend just sent you.
Instagram Is Becoming a Lot More Like Parent Company FacebookBY ASSOCIATED PRESS / BILLBOARD STAFF
Instagram users could soon notice some-thing different in their feeds: Instead of showing users the most recent posts first, the mobile photo-sharing app says it will give higher priority to posts that each user is likely to care about most.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because that’s how Facebook decides what to show users of its online social network. Facebook Inc., which owns Instagram, has long used a complex formula to emphasize items it hopes will be “relevant” to each user, based on factors like whether the post came from a close friend or how the user responded to similar posts.
Instagram had previously acted more like rival Twitter, showing every post in reverse-chronological order. But as its audience has grown to more than 400 million users, Instagram says it’s become harder for users to keep up with the gusher of photos and videos posted by friends and other accounts they follow.
“This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most,” the service said in a message to users on Tuesday. Instagram plans to introduce the new formula gradually, giving weight to the kind of factors Facebook considers in its news feed. The service says users will still be able to find all the posts they used to see, although they won’t be in the same order.
That gradual introduction seems intended to avert any potential backlash from users who don’t like the new system. Facebook annoyed some early users when it changed from reverse-chronological ordering to its current formula several
years ago. Twitter has also run into user complaints whenever it hints at changing its approach.
The change comes as Instagram is also showing more commercial messages. While the new formula doesn’t affect advertising, Instagram needs to keep users engaged and interested if it wants to maintain its audience for paid postings.
Below is the full blog post from Instagram:
You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most.
To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most.
The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post. As we begin, we’re focusing on optimizing the order — all the posts will still be there, just in a different order.
If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in. And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it.
We’re going to take time to get this right and listen to your feedback along the way. You’ll see this new experience in the coming months.
Former Pandora Exec Tom Conrad Joins Snapchat as Product VPBY BILLBOARD STAFF
Snapchat has a new vp of product. Former Pandora CTO and executive vp of prod-uct Tom Conrad has joined the über-pop-ular messaging app as it continues to chal-
lenge rivals like Facebook in the mobile video race, Recode reports.
A Snapchat spokesperson confirmed the hire with Billboard, and Conrad called out his new gig with a Snapchat ghost emoji on Twitter. He started on Monday (March 14), reporting directly to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel.
It’s been exactly two years since Conrad announced he was stepping down from his executive position at Pandora after a decade at the streaming radio giant. He was replaced by Chris Martin.
Conrad’s new challenge will be to keep the momentum going at Snapchat, whose 100 million-plus daily active users watch over 8 million videos on its app every day. For one thing, Snapchat appears keen to break out of its mobile-only shell. During the Oscars, the company debuted its first delivery of content to the traditional web, with short videos of red carpet arrivals and acceptance speeches from outside the ceremony.
It was reported earlier this month that Snapchat recently received a $175 million funding infusion from Fidelity Investments.
Blue Raincoat Music Launches Publishing Division with Mike Chapman as Inaugural SigningBY RICHARD SMIRKE
London-based management company Blue Raincoat Music has signed Mike Chapman, part of the songwriting team behind many of the biggest hits of the ‘70s, to its newly launched publishing division.
Australian-born Chapman, who alongside songwriting partner Nicky Chinn
wrote hits for Suzi Quatro, Smokie, Mud and Sweet in the ‘70s, is the company’s first signing to its publishing division, Blue Raincoat Songs. The deal covers the territories of the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan and South Africa and in addition to Chapman’s work with Chinn includes compositions like “Love Is A Battlefield,” co-written with Holly Knight and made famous by Pat Benatar, and “The Best,” which was also written with Knight and became a global smash for Tina Turner. As a producer, Chapman also worked on several classic albums byBlondie, including 1978’s Parallel Lines.
“His track record as a writer of era-defining seminal hit songs is quite extraordinary,” says Lascelles, who stresses that his business partners in Blue Raincoat all share a common ethos, forged in a different era “where the artist always came first.” He added: “I’m not sure that those values hold true across the industry so much anymore, but I think it’s time to reverse the trend.”
Blue Raincoat Music was founded in 2014 by former Chrysalis Music CEO Jeremy Lascelles and Grammy-winning British record producer Robin Millar, with backing from Chrysalis Records co-founder Chris Wright and Robert Devereux, best known for partnering Richard Branson in the formation of the Virgin Entertainment group.
Specializing in artist management, the company’s roster includes Paris-born DJ and producer Cesar Merveille, electronic composer Robert Koch, Swiss-Chilean DJ Luciano and Paul Godfrey, a founder member of British trip-hop band Morcheeba.
“There should never be a formula for writing hit songs and Blue Raincoat with all of their experience in the music business understand this better than most,” commented Chapman. “My musical history with Chris [Wright] goes back to the ‘70s and what was true then is true now — no hit hook, no hit song. I look forward to getting stuck in with them.”
ATP, Perennially Plagued By Problems, Moves Fest from Wales to ManchesterBY RICHARD SMIRKE
After several calamitous weeks in which the team behind All Tomorrow’s Parties sought to reassure ticket holders that its two upcoming U.K. music festivals would be taking place as advertised — despite contradictory messages from the venue hosts — organizers have now switched loca-tions for the second of two spring events.
Originally scheduled to take place at Pontins holiday camp in Prestatyn, North Wales on the weekend of April 22-24, a three-day program, curated by Drive Like Jehu, will now take place at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, about 65 miles away.
Confirmation of the venue change has been emailed to ticket holders andpublished on the ATP website. Organizers have apologized for its delayed response. Wire, Mission of Burma, Rocket From The Crypt, METZ, Holly Golightly, Drive Like Jehu, Dan Sartain and Claw Hammer are among the acts scheduled to perform.
“After discussions with Pontins for 22-25th April weekend, we had planned to run the festival as a shared occupancy of the site,” said a statement from ATP. “However, it has now been decided by the management at Pontins that they do not feel it is possible to have ATP festival attendees onsite alongside those customers who are there for a regular family break. As a result of this, we feel that it is necessary to move our event from Pontins Prestatyn.”
Those affected by the change aired their grievances with organizers on Facebook. “Shambolic and an insult,” wrote one fan. Others expressed concern over accommodations at the new space. ATP’s social media team responded to each post
requesting a refund. “Just bloody enjoy yourselves,” wrote one happy-go-lucky punter.
Organizers went on to say that due to “absence of a suitable venue in the Prestatyn area,” Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse — a giant converted warehouse often used for dance events capable of holding over 7,000 people, with a self-contained hotel — was “the best place that would ensure the least disruption to our customers’ travel plans.”
This year’s other U.K. ATP 2.0 weekend, curated by British comedian Stewart Lee and set to take place on the weekend of April 15-17, will happen at Prestatyn, North Wales, as originally planned, where ATP says it has secured exclusive use of the holiday camp site.
Confusion over both events arose when Pontins customer representatives contacted ATP ticket owners at the start of the month to say that the festivals had been canceled. ATP quickly denied those claims, blaming the situation on “miscommunication” between themselves and Pontins, although the festival organizers later admitted that the problems were caused by a delayed payment from ATP to Pontins.
According to a statement from ATP, all tickets purchased for the Drive Like Jehu weekend remain valid for the new venue, with those who purchased chalet accommodation offered alternative lodging at hotels close to Victoria Warehouse. Customers out of pocket due to transport changes are also advised to contact organizers by 25th March 2016 for assistance in rearranging travel plans.
Kenny Chesney’s Manager Clint Higham Eyes New Album for May, Talks Rum BrandBY PHYLLIS STARK
Although he attended every one of Kenny Chesney’s stadium shows last year, man-ager Clint Higham prefers to work behind the scenes. He jokes that he was just on the road with his superstar client as “window decoration.”
But that’s hardly the case. Higham, 44, helped guide Chesney into the fifth-highest-grossing tour of 2015, bringing in more than $114 million after taking a yearlong break from the road in 2014. Last year also heralded the breakout of one of Higham’s new acts, Old Dominion, which enjoyed a No. 1 Country Airplay hit with debut single “Break Up With Him.”
During the last 22 years of working with mentor and “father figure” Dale Morris, California native Higham rose from intern to president/partner in the Nashville management firm that now bears his name, Morris Higham Management, and recently earned a spot on Billboard’s 2016 Power 100 list. His current clients also include Jake Owen, Louise Mandrell and two newcomers: Brandon Lay, who recently signed with Universal, and Ryan Griffin, recently signed to Sony.
An avid old-world wine collector, Higham owns about 3,000 bottles. But it’s rum that has his attention at the office: He and Chesney have been building the singer’s premium brand, Blue Chair Bay rum, which sold 80,000 cases last year, according to Higham, up from 50,000 in 2014.
You supported Chesney’s decision to take a year off from touring in 2014.
I think he just needed to know he could do it. He said, “I need to miss it, and my audience needs to miss me.” And they did.
He’s one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever been around in the business, and so savvy.
Will there be a new Chesney album in 2016?
We’re hoping for May. He’s still recording. He’s a great A&R person, and he knows the funnel in which he can compete is pretty tight. You can’t give [fans] too much of where you’ve been, [and] if you try to conform to what everybody else is doing, then that doesn’t stay true to him. But from what I’m hearing, he should be in good shape.
He’s investing his own money in the Blue Chair Bay brand.
Artists are involved in brands all the time, but I don’t know of anybody [else] that’s writing checks. Most artists will slap their name on it, but they don’t want to do the work. Any time we go to any of the major accounts, whether it’s Walmart or Kroger, the thing that’s most impressive [to them] is that Kenny is funding it. I don’t know any other artist that does that.
Did you both have to learn the liquor business from scratch?
I know what I don’t know, and I don’t know that business, so we surround ourselves with people that do. We had a learning curve because it really has been a 10-year-in-the-making kind of business. But we’re going to [hit sales of ] 110,000 cases this year. That’s pretty gratifying.
You were initially reluctant to manage Old Dominion. Why?
Old Dominion came to us through [hit songwriter] Shane McAnally, whom we have a close friendship with. But I didn’t want a band because Dale [has] said, “Don’t ever manage bands. You’re going to have four or five bosses or people that you’ve got to please.” Plus, if you look at the history of our business, very few stars have been bands. These guys changed my mind because they’re a unit. They know who they are. But the journey to get them signed was not easy. We had interest at various labels, but for whatever reason we were getting doors shut. In the meantime, they were willing to go out in a van. They knew what they had to do … Most of the time the team or the system is propping
most of the artists up, but these guys clearly do their part. It’s not like they’re 19 and feel entitled at all.
If you could trade places with one music artist, who would it be?
Though I have immense respect for many musicians and artists, I would not trade places for anything or with anyone. I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life when I was 11, and that’s never wavered. I knew I belonged on the other side of the microphone.
This article first appeared in Billboard’s Country Update — sign up here.
Nothing But Thieves Top Alternative Songs, Extend U.K. Bands’ Streak at No. 1BY KEVIN RUTHERFORD
England’s Nothing But Thieves swipe an airplay chart No. 1 with its first U.S.-chart-ing single, as “Trip Switch” rises 3-1 on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart (dated March 26).
The quintet’s song is the third consecutive new No. 1 on the tally by a British band, as it dethrones Foals’ “Mountain at My Gates,” down 1-2 after a week at the summit. Coldplay’s two-week topper “Adventure of a Lifetime” preceded Foals’ No. 1. (After Coldplay’s chart command, Cage the Elephant’s “Mess Around,” which had led for a week before “Adventure,” returned for two more weeks on top prior to Foals’ coronation.)
The last time three straight new Alternative Songs No. 1s were by non-American acts? That run began exactly 20 years ago today, on the March 16, 1996, chart, when Canadian Alanis Morissette reigned for three weeks with «Ironic» and was followed by a five-week run at No. 1
for Britain›s Oasis, with “Champagne Supernova,” and four weeks for Irish band The Cranberries’ “Salvation.”
Lately, American acts’ taking a back seat to foreign talent on Alternative Songs mirrors the domination of global hits on the Billboard Hot 100, where a record nine consecutive No. 1s by non-U.S. acts have held the top spot for an also-record 36 straight weeks.
On Alternative Songs, however, three leaders in a row by non-Americans isn’t even close to the record. The mark? A whopping 14 straight from Nov. 11, 1989, through July 7, 1990 (for a grand total of 35 straight weeks):
Artist, Title, Weeks at No. 1, Country Ian McCulloch, “Proud to Fall” (four weeks) (England) Kate Bush, “Love and Anger” (three) (England) The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Blues from a Gun” (three) (Scotland) The Psychedelic Furs, “House” (three) (England) Peter Murphy, “Cuts You Up” (seven) (England) Sinead O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U” (one) (Ireland) Midnight Oil, “Blue Sky Mine” (one) (Australia) The Church, “Metropolis” (one) (Australia) Depeche Mode, “Enjoy the Silence (three) (England) Sinead O’Connor, “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (one) (Ireland) Midnight Oil, “Forgotten Years” (one) (Australia) The Sundays, “Here’s Where the Story Ends” (one) (England) Depeche Mode, “Policy of Truth” (one) (England) World Party, “Way Down Now” (five) (England)
The U.S. reclaimed the chart’s top soil when Concrete Blonde, from Los Angeles, led with “Joey” for four weeks beginning July 14, 1990.
Back in 2016, “Switch” concurrently hits new peaks of No. 6 on Rock Airplay (7.5 million in weekly audience, up 14 percent, according to Nielsen Music) and No. 22 on Hot Rock Songs. It also re-
enters Mainstream Rock Songs at its No. 37 peak.
Signed to RCA Records, Nothing But Thieves released their self-titled debut album on Feb. 5 in the U.S. The set has reached No. 11 on Alternative Albumsand No. 15 on Top Rock Albums.
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