And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan - And The Update Is...August 9th, 2021

Episode Date: August 9, 2021

Your weekly update with industry news and happenings from ATWI. Update for the week of August 9th, 2021. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to and the update is. I am your host, Paige MacDonald, and this is your weekly music industry update. Sony Music's quarterly music revenues have jumped by 48.2% year-on-year and quarter two of 2021. That percentage comes out to be about $451 million, which is a massive increase compared to the same time period in 2020. UK Live Industry is finally getting government-backed COVID insurance, which covers live events and will be available in September for a 12-month period. The music label and distribution platform, SlipDottStream, has acquired the name and brand of independent record label Commission Music. The label was founded by Martini in 2015 and helped break Lil Dickie, IDK, and Made in Tokyo.

Former Warner Music Vet Dan Goldberg has been brought on to lead music merch expansion at Fanatics. Sony Music Publishing has announced. a global deal with Olivia Rodriguez. Sylvan Esso has teamed up with Secretly Group for Psychic Hotline label. August 4th officially marks the launch date of their own label Psychic Hotline with managers Martin Anderson and Chris Chen. Netflix, Facebook, Google, Twitter, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and many, many

more corporations are now requiring their office workers to get vaccinated. The Recording Academy will use inclusion riders. for 2022 Grammy Awards. According to a recent press release, the writer will call for the Recording Academy to recruit, audition, interview, and hire on-stage and off-stage people who have been historically

and systematically excluded from the industry. Mike Chester has been promoted to the new position of Executive Vice President of Promotion and Commerce at Warner Records. Stacey Tang and DeMaris Rex Taylor have been promoted to new roles at Sony Music's RCA UK. Tang is RCA UK's new executive vice president, while Demaris Rex Taylor will take on the new role of general manager. DeBaby's levitating remix was polled by radio programmers after homophobic remarks.

DeBaby has now been removed from the Gov ball lineup and was dropped from Lollapalooza's lineup as well, which occurred this past weekend. Primary Wave has officially acquired the largest single interest in Prince's estate at 42%, which includes the legendary. legendary artists, masters, publishing rights, likeness, and more. Forbes stated that Rihanna's fenty earnings have boosted her to billionaire status. The UK government has announced that visa-free touring has been granted for UK artists in 19 European member countries. The house music legend Paul Johnson has sadly passed away at the age of 50 after COVID-19 battle. Sony Music has invested in. in the NFT Marketplace, Maker's Place.

That was a tongue twister. Carlos Santana has signed a new global recordings deal with BMG to release his upcoming full-length studio album, Blessings and Miracles. X-ray touring has inked a partnership deal with Artist Group International. X-ray represents an artist roster of over 400 acts including Coldplay, Eminem, Robbie Williams, Gorillas, Lincoln Park, Pixies, Bombay Bicycle, Phoebe Bridgers and many, many more. Spotify is now testing an ad-supported subscription tier for a 99 cents per month.

Live Nation's revenue is up 67% as concerts are beginning to come back. Congress is finally beginning to question why Twitter still doesn't have licensed music. 20 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, asking if the company has future plans to address these issues around copyright enforcement that the music industry has been arguing for years. The B2B music platform adapter that lets developers legally integrate music into their apps has signed a licensing deal with Merlin. Spotify's competitor, the prominently Middle East and North Africa-focused music streaming

company, Engami, has announced plans to roll out a new hybrid entertainment venue called the Engami Lab. The first venue will open in Dubai in early 2022. The Canadian country star Dallas Smith has signed a worldwide deal with Big Loud Records, and Johnny Marr has signed with BMG. Monoskin has signed with Fabrizio Faraguzzo of Exit Music Management. Fabrizio is also the music director for X-actor Italy, who launched the group in 2017. A big thank you to Haley Evans of Megahouse for gathering today's news.

Now stay tuned for a sneak peek of next week's episode of End the Writer is. I just always felt like, I appreciate it. I always felt like this wasn't it. And I said, this don't make sense to me. As a kid, I'm like, why, too, we got to have food stamps? You know, why do we have, why do we, we have to have less than others? Why? Why do I got to go to the Salvation Army, you know, and, you know, and, you know, and, you know,

get this. Why do I got to be on the Sanchez pick list for somebody to come buy us gifts and stuff like that? Like why can't my family just get together? So I just created my own. Like, so my mission was to become very successful to change the whole narrative of my family life.