Read Part 1 here.
CAPOS AND COPYRIGHTS: The music-publishing world experienced a series of tectonic shifts in 2018. First and foremost,
Sony completed its long-anticipated acquisition of
EMI Music Publishing for $2.3 billion, thus moving
Sony/ATV from giant to behemoth. What’s more, boss
Marty Bandier, it was announced, would step down in 2019 and be succeeded by
Warner/Chappell chief
Jon Platt.
The exit of Bandier, who really invented the modern publishing game, from the major-pubco world alters the landscape considerably; Platt’s ascent to the SATV post, meanwhile, is but the latest stunning achievement in a truly marvelous career. Platt, in addition to transforming W/C’s business at home and abroad, has been a champion of diversity, as his empowering of such young execs as
Carianne Marshall,
Ryan Press and Katie Vinten, among many others, has amply testified—and for which he was justly acclaimed as the year’s
City of Hope honoree. The deal to install longtime SATV player
Guy Moot as Platt's successor in the leadership chair is said to be all but done. In which case Moot will, like Marty, have to contend with competing against Platt and the steadfast
Jody Gerson, who continues to move from strength to strength at
UMPG. Advantage Gerson: Unlike her competitors, she doesn’t have to build a new team.
Big changes went down at
BMG as well at year’s end, with
Zach Katz exiting and
Hartwig Masuch empowering
Thomas Scherer in L.A.,
John Loeffler in NYC and the
Kos Weaver-Jon Loba tandem in Nashville. On the label side,
Steve Greenberg broke Alternative troupe
AJR. Katz had been the subject of much chatter as a possible player in the W/C saga, but early reports following his BMG exit suggested a different destination.
DIGITAL MANIPULATION: The tech sphere, too, saw major changes at the top. Just as
Spotify’s stock hit the market—and ballooned stratospherically—there was an exodus of music people and others from the streamery (many of them cashing out after the company went public), notably industry-friendly figures like
Troy Carter,
Dave Rocco and key playlister
Tuma Basa.
Nick Holmstén became the key player in the new Spotify order, where the tech guys were clearly regaining control. The same appeared to be happening, in a smaller way, after
Jimmy Iovine stepped down as
Apple Music topper and
Oliver Schusser became the point person for the House that the highly regarded
Eddy Cue built;
Larry Jackson, who is inextricably associated with Iovine’s reign, remains; his role under Schusser is unclear, and insiders wonder if he will fit in the new order. What will be done to make
Zane Lowe and
Beats 1 matter more? In any event, reports say Apple has surpassed the Spot in U.S. subscribers, though the House of
Ek still leads globally.
Meanwhile,
Amazon has clearly gained marketshare and made considerable ground in winning industry hearts and minds. With voice activation powering streaming growth among its upper-demo users and
Steve Boom’s team adding familiar biz faces like label veteran
Dan McCarroll, Amazon has emerged as just the kind of tech partner the industry is looking for.
SoundCloud, which has been a goldmine for undiscovered streaming talent, made its most biz-friendly move in recent memory at year’s end by tapping former Sony exec
Lisa Ellis as global head of music and artist relations. Does the move signal a pivot by the streamery?
And then there’s
YouTube, which has suffered a litany of embarrassments thanks to Head of Music and industry punchline
Lyor Cohen, whose crusade against Article 13 of the European copyright directive—in a vain and shameless bid to avoid responsibility for infringing content—is going about as well as
Trump’s defense against
Mueller. It’s said that the anti-13 campaign, like Cohen’s job, is circling the drain. Keep blogging, dude; you’re almost as persuasive as the President’s tweets. See you at
Madeo?
Meanwhile,
Pandora, a tech pioneer with a huge user base that has nonetheless struggled for years, was acquired this year by
Liberty Media and added to a media portfolio that includes
SiriusXM and a big chunk of
Live Nation. (Pandora’s successful interface with the biz was helmed by VP
Jeff Zuchowski.) News reports have had
iHeartMedia—of which Liberty already holds enough debt to own 5% post-bankruptcy—squarely in the company’s sights, perhaps for a 1/3 acquisition. This naturally spurred much speculation about what sort of multi-platform money machine might be fashioned from these disparate parts—and whether Live Nation boss
Michael Rapino was exactly the right guy to preside over such a hybrid. While talk also swirled that
John Malone and
Greg Maffei’s Liberty crew might want to add part of UMG to the mix if it were indeed floated by Vivendi, the music company’s leadership is said to have no interest in such a configuration.
BIG-TICKET ITEMS: As for Live Nation, Rapino’s giant continued to soar on record earnings, wrapping up the year with a company-best quarter ($3.8 billion in revenue).
And then there’s
Irving Azoff. The mega-mogul bought out
Madison Square Garden’s 50% of
Azoff MSG for $125m—once again paying pennies on the dollar to retrieve a property he sold for a pretty penny—and renamed it, humbly enough,
The Azoff Co. With
Full Stop Management (co-run with son
Jeffrey and
Brandon Creed),
Oak View Group and PRO
Global Music Rights, the Swirv is prepared to stir up the shit bigtime in 2019. He added
Travis Scott and
Maroon 5 to his management stable, while tours by
Fleetwood Mac,
Grateful Dead and
The Eagles have led to the company’s biggest year ever.
Read Part 1 here.
