Hey there, and happy Sunday. I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and are ready for the week ahead. Here’s a small dose of music business news to get you started for the week.
Last week, I released my podcast conversation with the CEO of Winamp, Alexandre Saboundjian. He’s a music tech executive and leading Winamp to become a platform that will unlock artists’ true potential.
Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any future episodes! Next week we have an ex-software engineering manager turned music tech executive.
In 2013, Coachella’s promoter, Goldenvoice, set up a curfew agreement with the city of Indio, California. The agreement states that sets going five minutes past curfew will incur an automatic $20,000 fine. For every minute past that, the desert festival will get an additional $1,000.
All fees received from curfew violations are placed in the Indio General Fund, which pays for and supports the city’s public works, infrastructure, fire department, and more.
Pitchfork reports that Coachella’s first weekend performances went 25 minutes past curfew each night. Frank Ocean’s Sunday night headlining set shuttered the curtains 25 minutes after midnight. According to DJ Mag, “Friday and Saturday’s curfew of 1 AM PST was exceeded by 25 and 22 minutes, respectively.”
Source: DJ Mag
Armin van Buuren’s decorous label Armada Music has launched the first dance music-focused investment firm called BEAT.
Armada Music has more than 40,000 songs in its catalog and is the largest independent dance music label, according to EDM.com. They’ve partnered with Pinnacle Financial Partners and are aiming to invest more than $100 million into expanding the catalog over the next two years.
The label has already made two large acquisitions with techno icon Kevin Saunder’s KMS Records sound recording catalog and Arty’s sound recording and publishing catalog.
Maykel Piron, Armada Music’s CEO, told EDM.com in a statement:
It’s a privilege to be working with the tracks that sparked my passion for dance music at an early age. That passion is still there, and it’s incredibly rewarding to bolster the legacy of major dance hits… It adds a new dimension to the work we’re doing with Armada Music, and we’re super excited to bring in more incredible labels, artists and songs to boost and complement our current catalog of 40,000 tracks.
Source: EDM.com
Global music company BMG is merging its new releases and catalog departments in a move to reject “outdated privileging.” This change is immediate, and BMG’s CEO says that music fans don’t care how old or new a song is.
Statistics from music data company Luminate and reported in Billboard have shown that catalog music’s consumption increased to 72.2% in 2022. In 2021 and 2020, consumption was 69.8% and 65.1%, respectively.
The reason for this change is that music lovers don’t care about when a song is released. A good song is a good song, regardless of the time period it was released in. Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” synchronization placement in Netflix’s phenomenon Stranger Things is a good example. The song was released in 1985 and has seen unprecedented success, despite it being nearly four decades old.
BMG’s CEO, Hartwig Masuch, explained further in a press release:
Music fans demonstrate on a daily basis that they reject the music industry’s outdated privileging of new music over older music. Music is music regardless of its age. Great artists and great music have no expiry date and we believe it is time for the music industry to reflect that.
Source: Mixmag
The live entertainment space is returning and attendees are wanting more. It’s safe to say that we’ve entered the era of immersive experiences.
Snap, the parent company for Snapchat, has partnered with tropical house super-producer Kygo and Live Nation. This partnership will allow Snap’s augmented reality (AR) features to be used at music festivals, including Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza.
Festival attendees will be able to use Snapchat’s AR and 3D Maps so they can easily navigate around the festival grounds. Snap’s partnership with Kygo is aimed at enhancing the live experience for his sets, with more artists coming later this year.
Last year, Meta Spark partnered with Coachella to bring “Coachellaverse” to the Indio, California music festival.
Beyond Wonderland Southern California, EDC Las Vegas, Rolling Loud Miami, and Austin City Limits are using Snap’s AR features, per TechCrunch.
Source: EDM In a Soda
Charlotte de Witte - “High Street” | Spotify / Apple Music
Lady Violet - “Inside to Outside” | Spotify / Apple Music
CLMD, Tungevaag - “DANCE” | Spotify / Apple Music
BEAUZ, Maggie Szabo - “Sayonara” | Spotify / Apple Music
Space Laces - “Dominate VIP” | Spotify / Apple Music
Joe Stone - “Nothing Else (When I Think Of You)” | Spotify / Apple Music
Jonas Blue, RANI - “Finally” | Spotify / Apple Music
Lennon
Let’s connect: Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube | Substack
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.