Selos Independentes Veem Uma "Bonança" Internacional

Independent Labels See International Bonanza

Global indie licensor Merlin delivered some great news to the independent label community Thursday, and all of it was centered on international growth.

Explosive Growth In Latin America

• Merlin’s 2017 Latin American earnings increase five-fold in three years 
• US member labels see streaming revenues from LATAM territories almost double as a percentage of their business
• Brazil is now the 6th biggest-earning territory for Merlin’s independent label members – ahead of France, Australia and Canada
• At current rates of growth, Merlin expects to generate over $60m in revenues in 2018 across its audio streaming service partners in Latin America, with US-based members representing around 50% of those earnings.

“We now have irrefutable evidence that the new dynamics of streaming are opening up previously inaccessible territories to independent music, with a phenomenal consumption surge in Latin America and across Asia. What feels particularly exciting is that we’re only at the start of this growth trajectory – and with potential of relatively untapped markets, including China, Russia and Africa, still to be realised.” - Charles Caldas, CEO, Merlin

Opening China To Indies

Merlin has announced its first participation in the fast-evolving Chinese music market - agreeing a series of strategic non-exclusive licensing partnerships with the country’s five leading digital music services: NetEase Cloud Music (NetEase Cloud Music), Xiami (Ali Music Group), QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo (all Tencent Music Entertainment).

The deals create a new path for independent music businesses looking to enter the Chinese market.

StubHub Lança Programa De Ajuda Para Educação Musical - Nos EU

StubHub Launches Program Supporting Music Education

The company has partnered with the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation to focus on bringing instruments into classrooms 

StubHub has announced a $3 million, three-year initiative to bring musical instruments into more U.S. classrooms. The commitment extends an existing, four-year partnership with the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation (MHOF), made possible by a grand provided by the StubHub Foundation, a corporate-advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Since beginning the initiative 2015, StubHub and MHOF have brought $2 million worth of instruments into classrooms across the country that will benefit more than 100,000 students in more than 50 schools, over the course of the instruments' lives. 

"Since working with the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation over the last four years, we have been exposed to the incredible need for music programs in our public schools. In addition to renewing StubHub’s commitment to keep music alive in our schools, we want to bring more awareness to this issue in hopes of inspiring others to do the same," says Glenn Lehrman, global head of communications at StubHub. 

The program kicks off Wednesday (March 14) at South by Southwest with Bedichek Middle School in Austin, Texas -- the first school to benefit from the grant -- receiving more than $12,000 in music instruments for its string and marching band programs.

"This instrument donation opens up a world of possibilities for our music students," says Bedichek's Orchestra Director Samantha Stewart. "We’re grateful to StubHub for shining a light on the need for music education in public schools and my orchestra students are beyond excited to open up their showcase!” 

Before opening StubHub's two-day SXSW Next Stage showcase at Banger’s in downtown Austin, Jukebox the Ghost will perform an acoustic set for the students at Bedichek. 

"I started playing piano at the age of 6 and was lucky enough to have access to an instrument that has played such a big part in my life. It was part of the fabric of my childhood," says Ben Thornewill, pianist for Jukebox the Ghost. "Not every kid has that opportunity, but they should. That’s why we’re teaming up with StubHub and the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation to help the next generation of musicians get access to the instruments they need."

Markets eligible for the grants are chosen jointly by StubHub, MHOF and partner artists and brands, with schools selected based on criteria established by MHOF. Interested schools are encouraged to contact the foundation directly. 

"Music programs in schools have been linked to improved academics -- statistics show they yield higher graduation and attendance rates," says MHOF president Felice Mancini. "Yet music programs are constantly in danger of being cut from school budgets and this is even more true in low-income districts. With companies like StubHub, passionate artists and industry support, we can give all students the opportunity to explore the world of music."

Pandora Se Une A Linkfire Para Ajudar Artistas Em Seu Marketing

Pandora Teams With Linkfire to Help Artists Optimize Their Marketing Efforts

The partnership will focus on providing data to maximize marketing opportunities to artists. 

Pandora announced a partnership with smart link aggregator and music marketing platform Linkfire to make music discovery easier for fans and marketing simpler for artists. The partnership makes Pandora the first streaming service to provide advanced attribution data to Linkfire, which will help artists understand the performance of their content in order to create informed promotional campaigns to effectively reach audiences. 

"We have always been committed to helping artists find their fans and connect with Pandora's massive listener base," said Pandora's Chief Product Officer Chris Phillips. "Our integration with Linkfire provides the industry with unprecedented ways to understand music streaming consumption and makes direct-to-fan marketing more impactful than ever."

Artists will now have the ability to search Pandora’s catalog and retrieve direct links to their songs, albums and playlists and also access data to see how listeners are interacting with that content, including whether they played, saved or shared the song, album or playlist. The partnership also gives them access to pre-release campaign planning that aggregates private links to content in advance of it going live. 

"The paradigm shift from downloads to streaming has often left artists and labels in the dark when measuring the effectiveness of their marketing activities," said Andrea Arcari, chief business development officer at Linkfire. "We’re excited and proud to pioneer this new level of transparency with an innovative company like Pandora. It’s an industry game-changer and an essential component to building strong relationships between artists, labels and music services."

Because Linkfire works to connect artists and fans over multiple devices and platforms, its partnership with Pandora creates more opportunities for record labels, distributors, artists, and managers of all sizes to optimize their campaigns and maximize engagement. 

Trilha Do Filme 'Theory of Everything' Será Relançada Em Vinil

Soundtrack for Stephen Hawking Film 'Theory of Everything' Set for Reissue on Transparent Blue Vinyl

The reissue follows the deaths of Hawking this week & the album's composer Jóhann Jóhannsson in February. 

The soundtrack to The Theory of Everything -- the film about the relationship between the late astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and his first wife -- will get a limited-edition vinyl reissue on April 27. The re-release follows the deaths of the film’s composer, Jóhann Jóhannsson, on Feb. 9, and Hawking, on Wednesday.

The vinyl specialty label Music on Vinyl will reissue the Grammy Award-nominated soundtrack on 180-gram transparent blue vinyl, and the production run is limited to 1,500 individually numbered copies worldwide. (The Theory of Everythingsoundtrack was first released on transparent clear vinyl in 2015, in a limited run of 1,000 copies.)

The Theory of Everything earned Eddie Redmayne an Academy Award for actor in a leading role, for his portrayal of Hawking. The film was nominated for an additional four Oscars: best picture, actress in a leading role (Felicity Jones as Hawking’s wife, Jane), original score (Jóhannsson) and adapted screenplay.

Two-time Oscar nominee Jóhannsson also garnered an original score Academy Award nomination for Sicario. He additionally earned two Grammy Award nominations for best score soundtrack for visual media (The Theory of Everythingand Arrival).

The Theory of Everything soundtrack has sold 13,000 copies in the U.S. across all formats (vinyl, CD, digital, etc.), according to Nielsen Music, through March 8.

Judas Priest - Número 5 Da Billboard 200 Com 'Firepower'

Judas Priest Earns Highest Charting Album Ever on Billboard 200 With 'Firepower'

Rock band Judas Priest debuts at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Firepower — marking the group’s highest charting album ever. The album surpasses the group’s previous chart high, logged when 2014’s Redeemer of Souls debuted and peaked at No. 6.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new March 24-dated chart (where Judas Priest debuts at No. 5 and Logic’s Bobby Tarantino IIstarts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard's websites on Tuesday, March 20.

Firepower — the act’s 18^th studio effort — bows with 49,000 units earned in the week ending March 15, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 48,000 were in traditional album sales — the act's best sales frame since 2005's Angel of Retribution bowed with 54,000 copies sold. Judas Priest's bow was bolstered by sales generated from a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer in association with the band's tour that began on March 13.

Firepower and Redeemer of Souls are the veteran band’s only top 10 efforts, though the act has been charting since 1978 with Stained Class (No. 173). The group collected its first top 40 set in 1980 with British Steel (No. 34) and its first top 20 effort with 1982’s Screaming for Vengeance (No. 17).

The new album was ushered in by the single “Lightning Strike,” which has so far peaked at No. 21 on the Mainstream Rock Songs airplay chart. It’s the band’s highest charting single on the tally since way back in 1982, when their classic hit “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” peaked at No. 4.

Here’s a look at Judas Priest’s history on the Billboard 200 chart:

Title, Peak Position, Peak Date
Stained Class, No. 173, April 22, 1978
Hell Bent for Leather, No. 128, April 28, 1979
Unleashed in the East (Live in Japan), No. 70, Nov. 10, 1979
British Steel, No. 34, July 12, 1980
Point of Entry, No. 39, May 23, 1981
Screaming for Vengeance, No. 17, Oct. 30, 1982
Defenders of the Faith, No. 18, Feb. 25, 1984
Turbo, No. 17, April 26, 1986
Live, No. 38, July 11, 1987
Ram It Down, No. 31, June 18, 1988
Painkiller, No. 26, Nov. 3, 1990
Metal Works ’73 - ‘93, No. 155, June 5, 1993
Jugulator, No. 82, Nov. 15, 1997
Demolition, No. 165, Aug. 18, 2001
Angel of Retribution, No. 13, March 19, 2005
Nostradamus, No. 11, July 5, 2008
A Touch of Evil: Live, No. 87, Aug. 1, 2009
Redeemer of Souls, No. 6, July 26, 2014
Firepower, No. 5, March 24, 2017

Festivais De Música Ao Redor Do Mundo Se Comprometem A Ter 50/50 De Gênero Entre Os Artistas

Music Festivals Around the Globe Pledge to Tackle Gender Inequality

Forty-five international music festivals and conferences, including Midem, A2IM Indie Week and Canada's BreakOut West, have pledged to achieve a 50/50 gender balance across their line-ups by 2022.

The initiative is being led by PRS Foundation's Keychange scheme, which launched last year to with the aim of improving gender equality across the industry. Ambassadors include Garbage singer Shirley Manson, record producer Tony Visconti and Spanish indie-rock band Hinds.  

Among the 45 festivals and events that have signed up to the 50/50 programme is by:Larm (Norway), Canadian Music Week (Canada), Eurosonic Noorderslag (Netherlands), BBC Music Introducing Stages (U.K.), Liverpool International Music Festival (England), North By North East (Canada), NYC Winter Jazzfest (USA) and Oslo World (Norway).

Also on board is Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival (France), Wide Days (Scotland), Trondheim Calling (Norway), Waves Vienna (Austria), Westway LAB (Portugal), Pop-Kultur (Germany) Katowice JazzArt Festival (Poland) and Kendal Calling (England) and NYC Winter Jazzfest (USA), among others.

They join Keychange's founding festival partners -- Reeperbahn Festival (Germany), BIME (Spain), Iceland Airwaves, Way Out West (Sweden), Musikcentrum Sweden, Tallinn Music Week (Estonia), MUTEK (Canada) and The Great Escape (U.K.) – in vowing to remove the gender gap in music. 

"The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners' idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change. I hope that this will be the start of a more balanced industry which will result in benefits for everyone," said PRS Foundation CEO Vanessa Reed in a statement.

Those sentiments were echoed by Keychange's festival partners, with Alex Schulz from Germany's Reeperbahn Festival admitting its "festival stages aren't as balanced as we would like them to be. Welcoming the initiative, Schulz said that Keychange was "promoting a shift that will ultimately be good for our festivals and good for the industry as a whole."

"Achieving gender equality in the music industry requires the joint engagement of men and women from the entire cultural sector," elaborated Oslo World's Alexandra Archetti Stølen, while By:Larm's Linnéa Svenssonenthused, "actions generate attitude and it starts with talent."

"An initiative like Keychange provides clear goals and measures for festivals who are already committed to presenting audiences with more diverse line-ups," added Emma Zillmann from U.K. promoters From The Fields, who run Kendal Calling, Blue Dot and Off The Record.  

"By giving discrimination an ultimatum," Zillmann said, "we're ensuring that equality will eventually be the norm."

Atlantic Records Lança Podcast

Atlantic Records Launches Podcast Initiative

Atlantic Records announced today (Feb. 27) that the label is investing in podcasts, with a dedicated podcast production team and a podcast studio in its New York headquarters. Leading the initiative is VP Tom Mullen, who has hosted the acclaimed "Washed Up Emo" podcast for 124 episodes over seven years. 

"As I discovered doing my own podcasts, they are an incredibly powerful way of feeding fans’ hunger for intimate knowledge of the artists they love, while also connecting them to new voices," Mullen said. "The birth of Atlantic Records Podcasts has been a labor of love for many of us at the company, and I’m looking forward to working with our incredible artists and my label teammates to create an outstanding series of shows devoted to Atlantic music past, present, and future."

"What'd I Say," the first weekly series of Atlantic Records Podcasts, is premiering today and takes its name from the Ray Charles song released by Atlantic in 1959. The show will feature interviews with such Atlantic artists as Jason Mraz, MILCK, Lil Skies, Trivium and Sweater Beats, among others. The label's other planned series include “Inside the Album,” “Respect: Women of Atlantic” and a series devoted to the rich Atlantic archives.

“Music-making is at the heart of our company, and we already have a state-of-the-art recording studio at the center of our offices. We have a constant stream of artists coming through the building, so the next logical step for us was to create an environment where we could spontaneously capture them telling their stories and talking about their music," said Chairman and CEO Craig Kallman and Chairman and COO Julie Greenwald. 

"With our own podcast team and a dedicated podcast studio, we are able to give fans a unique, insider’s view of our artists, our label, and the creative process in action. With Tom’s deep musical knowledge and podcast expertise leading the charge, we are generating exciting audio content under our own roof, marked by unprecedented insight and immediacy.”