EVER-WIDENING SCOPE: The January 2022 opening of an immersive
Tupac Shakur museum exhibit in downtown L.A.—expected to be not only technically groundbreaking but historically and thematically deep—will kick off an extended period of pop-cultural visibility for
Interscope and its artists.
The Tupac show,
Wake Me When I’m Free, will coincide with the label’s 30th anniversary celebration
and the
Dr. Dre-curated
Super Bowl halftime show, also in L.A.
All of which should make this
Grammy season particularly memorable for
John Janick and team. The company has enjoyed historic back-to-back years as marketshare leader and is widely regarded as the top label in the business.
Janick made the “G” in
IGA pop this year as well; Olivia Rodrigo’s emergence as 2021’s breakout star gave
Geffen the #2 album (it will be Top 3 at year’s end, an incredible achievement), a staggering stream count, radio dominion and media ubiquity.
What’s next for the Janick-led army now that it's also had some genuine success in film production (the acclaimed
Billie Eilish picture, the
Elle Fanning feature
Teen Spirit)? Rumor has it the empire is poised to take another giant step under his leadership.
FUND FACTS: It’s believed that
Merck Mercuriadis’
Hipgnosis has about 75 deals in play for the first $1 billion (yes, we said “first billion”) of the
Blackstone fund he’s been charged with spending on catalog.
As Merck,
Primary Wave boss
Larry Mestel, the major pubcos and an array of funds and entrepreneurs with varying levels of biz savvy all set their sights on the remaining big prizes, which superstar song trove will be the next to go? As we reported a while back,
Bruce Springsteen, with the able assistance of
Jon Landau and
Allen Grubman, is on the cusp of a massive publishing/recordings deal with
Sony. It was a great week for Grubman, who also did
Lionel Richie’s big pub deal with
UMPG.
