Reservoir Music Rights Company to List on NASDAQ With $788 Million Valuation

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSolomon Sounds, ne Solomon Sobande, the former manager of the late rapper and songwriter XXXTentacion, has joined Capitol Records as senior vice president of A&R, reporting to Capitol Music Group (CMG) chairman and CEO Jeff Vaughn. Sounds is tasked with signing and develop artists for the company’s flagship label.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe new Wasserman Music agency and livestreaming service Twitch have partnered to launch “There is Light,” an indie-centric channel and concert series. The series will present 20 live concerts from independent music venues in the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen Variety interviewed the Weeknd over the weekend about the Grammys’ decision to eliminate nomination-review committees (more on that here), we naturally slipped in a question about the new music he recently hinted at in social media posts, which presumably will be the follow-up to his blockbuster 2020 album, “After Hours.” To our surprise, he answered the question — and in characteristic, slightly enigmatic fashion, no less.“If the last record is the after hours

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Red Hot Chili Peppers are selling their song catalog to Hipgnosis Songs for upwards of $140 million, sources confirm to Variety, making them the latest heritage artist to benefit from the intellectual property gold rush that has seen Bob Dylan sell his songwriting catalog to Universal Music Publishing for more than $300 million and Stevie Nicks sell hers to Primary Wave for $100 million.The band, which formed in 1982, has a solid catalog of hits including “Under

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd has responded to the rule changes for the Grammy Awards announced by the Recording Academy on Friday — primarily a change that eliminates the “secret” nomination-review committees that played a key role in his being shut out of all nominations for the 2021 awards, despite having one of the biggest albums and the most-streamed single of the year with “After Hours” and “Blinding Lights,” respectively.“The trust has been broken for so long between the Grammy

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorGoldman Sachs’ annual “Music in the Air” study is widely recognized in the music industry as an optimistic but authoritative survey of the business — and yet again, it will make Universal Music Group very happy, as it has valued the company at a whopping $53 billion ahead of its IPO, expected this fall.That’s up from the $36 billion posited in last year’s report, and shows the strength of the recorded-music and publishing businesses, which are primary among UMG’s

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs more and more concerts go on the books for the fall, Genesis becomes one of the first to announce a major arena tour, announcing rescheduled North American tour dates for their “The Last Domino?” tour, the first time in 14 years the group has played the continent. The tour will see core members Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford joined by Nic Collins on drums and the band’s long-time lead guitar and bass player Daryl Stuermer.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile multiple outlets, including Variety, reported last April that Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino was foregoing his $3 million salary for all of 2020 due to the pandemic and its devastating effect on the live-entertainment industry and the company, according to SEC filings, he did so for less than two months. His salary was reinstated at 50% as of June 1, and boosted to 60% on Sept.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRed Bull Records has bulked up its staff with a number of hires and promotions. Nikki Cox will serve as the label’s Chief Marketing Officer, leading the organization’s efforts across marketing, digital, publicity, and streaming.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorSpotify, the world’s top paid music-streaming service; Hybe, the company formerly known as Big Hit that spawned BTS; and Clubhouse, the actual-human-conversation-based social-media platform launched just last spring, have made Time magazine’s annual “100 Most Influential Companies” list.According to the announcement, “To assemble it, Time solicited nominations across sectors including health care, entertainment, transportation, technology and more, from our global

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWEA, the Label and Artist Services division of Warner Music Group, today announced that Benjamin Blank has been named president of media, a newly created position. In this role, Blank will lead WMG’s new digital advertising and creative content division, unifying WMG’s digital advertising under one unit.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHasbro announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Entertainment One Music (widely known as eOne Music) for an aggregate price of $385 million in cash.The transaction has been approved by Hasbro and Entertainment One Canada’s board of directors, and is subject to customary closing conditions and receipt of regulatory approvals.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn the latest blockbuster music-catalog deal, Downtown has sold its 145,000 owned and co-published copyrights to an affiliate of the Concord music company.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorRapper, actor and activist Common has signed with YM&U management of his music endeavors, the company has announced. He will be represented and managed by Kevin Wolff, who signed him to YM&U, alongside Anthony Rodol.Common is the only rapper to win Grammy, Academy and Emmy Awards; he has also won a Golden Globe.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFive-time Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne has joined UTA, the company announced, for worldwide representation in all areas. With a catalog reaching back to the 1990s, Wayne is one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorNormally, for an interview like the one Variety did on Tuesday with Oscars musical director Questlove and show producer Jesse Collins, the reporter can ask at least somewhat informed questions.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorIn connection with an authoritative new report from Midia Research showing how songwriters are being dramatically short-changed by the streaming economy, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus says that “songwriters are last in line for streaming royalties.”In an op-ed that recently appeared in the U.K.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEver since the music industry began its streaming-fueled recovery around five years ago, the songwriting and publishing communities have been protesting not only the uneven payment structure of streaming — which sees recorded-music rights holders being paid three times what publishing is paid — but also the imbalanced power and payment structures of the music industry.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorEarly Friday, Apple Music sent a carefully worded letter to artists, music labels and publishers that briefly explained “how creators earn royalties” from the service, which is the world’s second-largest, behind Spotify.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorApple Music claims it pays artists a penny per stream in a letter posted Friday on the streaming service’s artist dashboard, according to the Wall Street Journal.The disclosure, made in a letter to artists delivered Friday via the service’s artist dashboard and sent to labels and publishers, is seemingly a response to Spotify’s “Loud and Clear” report detailing its payment processes published last month.