Morning Fix: Bieber, Minaj Win Big at AMAs; Internet Radio Fairness Opponents Unite; AC/DC Joins iTunes
Head HERE to subscribe to Billboard’s Morning Fix email
and other free music-business newsletters
More from Billboard
AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS 2012: JUSTIN BIEBER, NICKI MINAJ TOP EXUBERANT NIGHT: Justin Bieber took home Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards on Sunday night, a big win on a night that opened with another victory for the teen star. Other big winners included Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Usher, Katy Perry, Beyonce, Shakira, TobyMac ( full list here). |
MUSIC PUBLISHERS, CONGRESSMEN SEND LETTER PROTESTING INTERNET RADIO FAIRNESS ACT: While Congress gets ready to consider the Internet Radio Fairness Act of 2012 later this month, which some say is designed to lower pureplay webcasters royalty rates to record labels, the National Music Publishers’ Assn. and other songwriter publishing organizations have sent a letter to Congress opposing the legislation — adding that Pandora doesn’t pay songwriters enough. |
ONE DIRECTION TOPS UK ALBUM & SINGLES CHARTS, LOOKS TO TOP THIS WEEK’S BILLBOARD 200: One Direction completed a U.K. chart takeover debuting at No. 1 with both their “Take Me Home” album and “Little Things” single. There were also top three debuts for Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones on the album chart and Bruno Mars and Little Mix on the singles survey. As previously reported, One Direction is a near lock for a No. 1 debut on the Billboard 200 with “Take Me Home” expected to sell somewhere between 525K – 575K, according to industry sources. |
WME’S MARC GEIGER, DEADMAU5: BEATPORT’S ADELL AT BILLBOARD FUTURESOUND CONFERENCE: Check out all that you missed at this year’s Billboard FutureSound Conference, including WME’S Marc Geiger who has faith in music streaming; Deadmau5 on EDM (which he called “Event Driven Marketing”); Don Was’ keynote Q&A: Beatport CEO Matthew Adell on how why his site gets 10 million monthly uniques; and how Tunezy won the Innovators Showcase; and way more. |
EMI ENDS ERA WITH SALE OF ASSETS; DATA ROOM OPENS THIS WEEK: The music company that housed The Beatles until it was split up and sold last year, goes on the auction block again this week as new owner Universal Music Group (VIV) divests some assets to meet antitrust requirements. A data room detailing the assets for sale, artist rosters and financial information will be opened this week for entities that have expressed interest, including Warner Music Group, BMG Rights and Sony Music Entertainment. Other assets being offered include the Sanctuary label, home to The Kinks and Motorhead, and the Mute label, which represents Moby.
Bloomberg
REPUBLICANS RETRACT REPORT ON COPYRIGHT REFORM: Late Friday the Republican Study Committee put out a report about copyright reform. However, as soon as it was published, the MPAA and RIAA apparently demanded that the RSC take down the report. They succeeded. Even though the report had been vetted and approved by the RSC, executive director Paul S. Teller retracted it and sent out an email to a wide list of folks this afternoon saying that it ” was published without adequate review.”
Techdirt
AC/DC PUTS CATALOG ON ITUNES: If a band’s success is judged by how long they can hold off from selling their music on iTunes, AC/DC were bigger than the Beatles . But the Australian rock outfit has today joined the Fab Four in releasing their back-catalogue on Apple’s store. Like the Beatles, Acca Dacca is selling all its individual albums ” Remastered for iTunes”, as well as offering two album collections. There’s still no sight of the band, however, on streaming services like Spotify or RDIO.
TechRadar
EUROPE’S MUSIC SERVICES MORE IN HARMONY Europe today launched a system that brings together a quarter of the bloc’s music repertories. The so-called hub system, backed by a group of mostly European music licensing societies known as Armonia, provides a one-stop shop for digital music services such as Pandora or Spotify. The group, which represents songwriters and singers and encompasses 5.5m music works in 35 countries, including parts of South America, signed its first deal with Google Play which launched last week.
Financial Times
WILL BRONFMAN COUSINS TUSSLE FOR PARLOPHONE? Claridge Inc, a private equity firm headed by Stephen Bronfman, cousin of Edgar Bronfman Jr, may soon be in talks to back an offer by Mr Fuller for Parlophone, according to Sky News. If it does commit funds to the Fuller bid, it would effectively pit the cousins against one another. Edgar Bronfman Jr stepped down as Warner’s chairman last December following the company’s takeover by Len Blavatnik, the Russian oligarch, but remains on the company’s board. Warner is among the other parties vying to buy Parlophone. Nobody involved in Fuller’s bid, however commented for the report.
Sky News
OPERA MOBILE MOVES INTO MUSIC, WITH ‘UNLIMITED MUSIC’ SOFT LAUNCH IN RUSSIA FIRST:Opera Mobile has built its reputation on its internet browser for mobile devices, but it has gradually expanded that remit to cover other services like apps – and now, music. The company has soft-launched a mobile music offering in the Russian market, called Unlimited Music, a subscription-based, download and streaming service that it is trying out first in Russia – a key market for Opera, and one that is not very crowded when it comes to legal music services – before it expands elsewhere.
TechCrunch
HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Opportunists Stockpile Twinkies for Big Payday
Best of Billboard
Solve the daily Crossword
