Downtown Sells All Copyrights to Concord in $300 Million-Plus Deal, Will Focus on Music Services

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorFor the past 15 months, many of us have felt starved by the absence of live music from our lives — as if our bodies have been deprived of an essential nutrient and we’re suffering from some existential scurvy.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorDominican Bachata superstar Romeo Santos, along with Sony Music Latin, Endeavor Streaming and iNDemand, will premier two films — the concert film “Romeo Santos: Utopia Live From MetLife Stadium” and documentary “Romeo Santos: King of Bachata” — on pay-per-view June 25, 2021.Guests appearing in the films include Aventura, Cardi B, Daddy Yankee, El Chaval De La Bachata, Elvis Martínez, Emilio Estefan, Frank Reyes, Joe Veras, Kiko Rodríguez, Luis Vargas, Marc

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs the concert business continues its gradual return to health after being flattened by the pandemic, it’s inspiring to see new venues being announced — and one in Boston named after a classic song by Jonathan Richman is the icing on the cake.AEG-affiliated Bowery Presents, the Northeast-based concert promotion and venue management company, has announced that the 3,500-capacity venue Roadrunner, named after Richman’s classic song first released in 1975, is scheduled

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorManuel Abud has been named CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, effective Aug. 1, the Board of Trustees announced on Wednesday.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorJust under a year ago, as protests gripped the U.S.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Weeknd will perform at the Billboard Music Awards on May 23 — which is only fitting since he’s the top finalist this year with nominations in 16 categories, riding the success of his blockbuster “After Hours” album and its smash single “Blinding Lights,” which has crushed multiple streaming and chart records.Over the course of his decade-long career, the Weeknd has racked up a dazzling number of Billboard chart records: He’s had 34 top 40-charting hits on the

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorLongtime Live Nation CFO Kathy Willard is retiring effective June 30, CEO Michael Rapino announced during the company’s earnings call on Thursday. The company is planning for Joe Berchtold, who currently serves as Live Nation’s president, to assume the role of president and CFO.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhile tours and festivals for later this year are being announced every day and Live Nation’s stock recently reached an all-time high based on the concert industry’s anticipated return to health, the company’s first-quarter earnings report showed that the concert industry is just beginning to revive, it had a rough quarter — as it had predicted on its last earnings report, and as would be expected.The company’s adjusted operating income loss for the quarter was $152

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorHipgnosis Songs has acquired yet another catalog, this one from Andrew Watt, who recently was named 2021 Grammy Producer of the Year for his work with Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Post Malone and Ozzy Osbourne.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorA picture paints a thousand words, the old cliché goes, but it’s truly amazing how much publicity photos of musicians can say about a certain year: The clothes, the shoes, the hats, the belt buckles, the scarves — and most of all, the hairstyles (and lack of styles). G.

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 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 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 EditorJust days after Downtown Music sold nearly 150,000 publishing copyrights to Concord, the company has laid off an unspecified number of staffers in its Nashville office.  Among the affected employees was executive VP Steve Markland, the highest-ranking member of the Nashville team; the news was first reported by Billboard.Following Concord’s acquisition of Downtown Music’s 145,000-song publishing copyrights on Monday, Downtown has let go a number of its Nashville

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 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.