Tag Archives: features

This is, by some distance, the music business story of the year. Tomorrow morning (September 21) in Europe, as New Yorkers are sleeping and Los Angelenos are drifting off, 60 percent of the world’s biggest music company will hit the stock market. That’s the slice of Universal Music Group (UMG) …

CALL IT A RIOT, revolution, or regime change — the music business today looks nothing like what came before it. Thanks to the fierce pace of tech advancement and the insatiability of young, internet-grown audiences, the multibillion-dollar global industry is an entrepreneur’s playground. Record-label bosses share a throne with engineers and algorithms; …

Jeff Jampol has managed the estates of the Doors, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, and Tupac Shakur. “None of my clients tour,” he says. “They’re all dead.” That hasn’t stopped him from generating big money on their behalf, whether it’s organizing a touring exhibition of Cobain’s artwork, setting up Oliver Stone’s …

One of the cleverest ads I’ve ever seen from a music-streaming service arrived in April 2018 — and it was geared toward other business players, not consumers. Following years of strong growth for the record industry, labels had been facing up to the idea that annual increases in audio-streaming subscription …

Ghazi Shami was building computers long before he championed hit records. “Tech and music have always been simultaneous for me,” says Ghazi, who operates his own music distribution company and record label, Empire, responsible for hits from Money Man, Migos, and Tyga. “I got my first real job right after …

In Rolling Stone‘s series At Work, we go behind the curtain with decision-makers across the fast-changing music business — exploring a range of responsibilities, burgeoning ideas, advice for industry newcomers, and more. Read earlier interviews here. Abou “Bu” Thiam owes a lot to his brother, Akon. “I was Akon’s A&R …

In Rolling Stone‘s series At Work, we go behind the curtain with decision-makers across the fast-changing music business — exploring a range of responsibilities, burgeoning ideas, advice for industry newcomers, and more. Read earlier interviews here. Eight years ago, Tunde Balogun and Sean Famoso were Georgia State students frustrated by …

“I said no quickly, brashly, abrasively. Do me a favor — don’t present that to me again.” Rap expert and podcast host Joe Budden doesn’t mince words in describing the crumbling relationship between his show and Spotify. According to Budden, who ran through a list of candid grievances in a …

I’ve been intrigued, impressed, and surprised by Spotify‘s earnings results over the years — but never quite so confused. On Wednesday (July 29th), Spotify issued its customary quarterly letter to shareholders, revealing that its global subscriber base had grown by 8 million in the second quarter, up to 138 million. …

Anita White has spent decades singing the blues as Lady A. Weeks after Grammy-winning country trio Lady Antebellum changed their name to Lady A to acknowledge the former name’s racial connotation, she worries she’s being erased. The black Seattle blues singer has been in talks with the band for weeks …