Amber Coffman Speaks In-Depth About Heathcliff Berru: `I

January 21, 2016 Page 1 of 17
INSIDE
Is There a Music
Tech Bubble?
The Legacy of
Rosalie Trombley,
Radio Pioneer
Immortalized
in Bob Seger’s
‘Rosalie’ and
Breaker of ‘Bennie
and the Jets’
Plagued By
Visa Problems,
Jamaican Stars
Seek Alternatives
to Reach Fans
Jussie Smollett,
Fantasia, Leon
Bridges Among
Performers
Tapped For ‘BET
Honors’: Exclusive
App Annie
Report 2015:
Music Streaming
Revenue Doubles,
Google Play
Passes Apple
Amber Coffman Speaks
In-Depth About Heathcliff Berru:
‘I Hope This Is A Big Wake-Up Call
For People Like That’
BY DANIELLE BACHER
Beginning on Monday, a series of tweets from Dirty
Projectors singer Amber Coffman escalated with astonishing speed into a watershed moment for sexism
in the music industry.
In them, the 31-year-old musician accused
Heathcliff Berru, founder of Life or Death PR and
Management, of inappropriate sexual behavior
— specifically, of groping her buttocks [at a bar in
New York in 2013, she later told Billboard]. Her
tweets triggered several more women to come
forward with claims via social media. Publicist
Beth Martinez tweeted that Berru put his hand
down her shirt multiple times while he drove her
home from a bar, and reiterated that account in an
interview with Billboard. Tearist singer Yasmine
Kittles that he forced her onto a couch at her home,
held her down, opened his pants, and forced her
hand onto his genitals (an account she repeated to
Billboard). And Brooklyn Magazine published an
email it said it had received from musician Roxy
Lange, claiming that Berru verbally and physically
pressured to perform oral sex on him in a taxi, then
forced his way into her apartment and continued
his assault but stopped short of raping her. Singersongwriter Sky Ferreira, who was previously repped
by Berru’s company, tweeted, “About time someone
said something.”
The outcry on social media was swift and fierce,
and late Tuesday afternoon,Berru resigned from his
position as CEO and issued a statement that he would
be heading into rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.
“There have been several reports about my alleged
inappropriate behavior which deserve a response,”
the statement reads in part. “I am deeply sorry for
those who I have offended by my actions and how I
have made certain women feel. If I crossed the line
of decency or respectfulness in situations when I was
drunk and under the influence, there is no excuse,
of course. To be clear, while my conduct may have
(continued)
Page 2 of 17
[In Brief]
been inappropriate, I have never drugged
anyone or engaged in that type of behavior.
Nevertheless, I do not want to be the type
of person who would let drugs or alcohol
take command of his life and compromise
how he treats people. Yet I have been this
person and it’s time to put a stop to all of
this.” (Berru declined Billboard’s requests
for further comment.) After multiple artists announced they
were firing the company, Life or Death
essentially dissolved the following day,
with the remaining staffers regrouping
—separate from Berru — under a to-beannounced name.
Coffman first met Berru at an Unknown
Mortal Orchestra concert at the Echo
in Los Angeles in February 2013. They
were introduced by a mutual friend and
exchanged a few words. “He thought we
had met before, but I didn’t remember
him,” says Coffman. A week later, Coffman saw the group
again at the Bowery Ballroom in New York.
Backstage, she saw Berru in the hallway
and he asked for her number. “I had met
his [then]-fiancé and he was the publicist
for a friend’s band, so it seemed harmless
to me. I didn’t feel threatened by him
initially,” she says. At the band’s afterparty
at a nearby bar, Berru approached Coffman
and a male friend while she was standing
with a drink in her hand. “Immediately,
his hand went to my ass. He grabbed it and
he was rubbing my butt, just up and down,
without saying anything,” she recalls. “I
just totally froze up and ran over to get my
other guy friends because it was out of left
field and I was shocked. Totally shocked.”
The group of them returned to the bar
where Berru was standing. He told her
that she looked “incredibly cute” and
then grabbed her hair and started biting
it in front of her friends. “I didn’t know
what to do. It’s like, ‘How do I survive this
situation?’ When someone violates you,
you don’t know how far they will go. We
just ended up leaving immediately to get
out of the situation safely,” she says. The
following day, Berru apologized via text for
being drunk, adding a “ha ha” to the end
of the message. Coffman told him never to
contact her again.
A staffer at Domino Records, Coffman’s
label, was also at the bar and witnessed
the incident. Coffman reached out to
Domino the next day, and the company
decided to stop working with Berru — a
decision that Coffman and a Domino
rep emphasize was made by the label
itself with no pressure from her. Coffman
also relayed the story to her publicist,
Judy Miller Silverman of Motormouth
Media. Silverman told Coffman — and
confirmed Billboard on Thursday — that
over the years “at least five” other women
had told her that Berru took unwanted
liberties with them.
“When you are a woman and you have
these kinds of experiences and you try
to talk about them, a lot of times it’s like
talking to a wall,” Coffman says. “People
just don’t know what to do or what to tell
you. There’s no real code in place to protect
women from this kind of behavior. There’s
a lot of tolerance for sexual harassment
and a lot of complacency. Keep in mind,
there are so many women who haven’t
even come forward yet. I hope they
do.” Following is an edited transcript of
Billboard’s conversation with Coffman in
Los Angeles on Jan. 20. Did you ever worry that people
wouldn’t believe you?
No. If somebody didn’t believe me, what
the f—- do I care? Any girl who makes up a
story is hurting all those young women who
it actually happens to. Almost any woman
you talk to has some kind of story of at the
very least [inappropriate] comments being
made to them, and almost any woman you
know has a story that’s unsettling. That’s
what a lot of men don’t realize. How much did you discuss with your
publicist before and while this was
happening?
I initially tweeted, but didn’t say
Heathcliff ’s name. Then she texted me,
and we were talking about it. I had asked
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Page 3 of 17
[In Brief]
her, “Why don’t people say anything?” And
she told me that people are scared.
Did you think your tweet would prompt
so many responses from other women?
I had an idea from talking to Judy that
there were [other] women, so in my head I
was just like, “Well, f—- that guy. I’m going
to say his name.”
Why didn’t you come out sooner?
I told people in the industry. At the
time, I didn’t have nearly as much of a
Twitter following. When Domino Records
asked me what I wanted to do after [the
incident at Bowery Ballroom], that power
was a scary feeling to me … the power to
get somebody fired. However, I’m happy
that they did. I was almost afraid of my
own anger or power. There is definitely an
element in which you get angry as a woman
but don’t want to be perceived as vengeful
and wrathful, so you will downplay it.
How do you feel about being the first
person to expose a person who allegedly
had a long history of abusive behavior?
It’s weird. All these people are saying,
“You’re my hero,” and I’m getting so much
praise. That’s really nice, but I feel like
what I did is just something that every
woman should feel free to do. And I’ve
gotten messages from people who were
harassed by him who said that if it weren’t
for me saying something, they never would
have said anything. And it’s all been very
surprising to me. I don’t know. I don’t
understand why everyone’s being so quiet.
How did you feel to see it all spread
so quickly and aggressively over social
media?
Really stunned and a little nervous. I
knew it was the right thing and I knew it
was a good thing, but it’s a little bit nervewracking to have all that attention on
you. I think that’s why so many women
don’t come forward. I have been getting
so many [positive] messages from people
in the last 48 hours, as well as a lot of
messages from men who are really, really
supportive and would never tolerate
something like that. Clearly, a lot of
women were holding onto this and never
said anything because they never thought
anyone would care. So, I’m very happy
that they have at least a moment in time
when they have a platform. I am in awe of
the power of the situation.
Were you also concerned since he is
a big-name publicist that he would ruin
your reputation in the music industry?
I never cared about that. That didn’t
cross my mind at all. At the time, I hadn’t
looked up his roster. I didn’t know very
much about him. I was angry that this
happened to me, but then you don’t want
everyone to freak out on your behalf.
You certainly don’t want to be asking for
that. If people’s reaction is to reprimand
him, that’s their decision. I didn’t even
think I was afraid to talk about it until this
happened.
You’ve said that just before you sent
your tweets, you were talking with
friends about sexual misconduct and
the inappropriate behavior of some men,
including some in the music industry. Is
that what prompted you take it to social
media?
Honestly, it wasn’t a super-conscious
decision. Sometimes venting on Twitter
is just a reflexive thing. I go through
phases with that when I take long breaks
from Twitter and then I come back. But,
sometimes, if I am upset about something
and I want to vent about it, I just do it. So
that’s really what it was.
Do you think he deserved to be outed?
Yes, for sure. ... I think he’d been given
a pass for a really long time because of his
powerful position in the industry. I wish I
had said something sooner. I can’t imagine
how many more people it’s happened to
since my experience. A friend told me there
are so many women, none of them are
talking, and I said, “Why?” and she said,
“Because they’re scared.” I was like, “Well,
I’m not.” Anybody who behaves like this
deserves to be outed.
Do you feel like what happened to him
was justice?
At least partially. It’s hard for me to say
until we hear more of the stories of what
he’s done to other women. His client Chelsea Wolf recently
tweeted that he tried to kiss her during a
business meeting. Do you believe any of
his clients knew about his behavior?
I’m sure. I do know a lot of people who
worked with him and knew. There is just a
really horrible status quo of men not taking
women seriously. Even women can be part
of the boys’ club. They can side with the
boys because they want the approval or
they want the job or whatever.
But it comes from men. It doesn’t come
from women. I can’t tell you how many
times I’ve tried to tell a story to a guy
about something that’s happened to me,
some kind of assault, and it’s almost like it
doesn’t compute because they don’t have
much context for it. I see a lot of disbelief
in men when this kind of thing happens.
Most men don’t have a really broad
awareness of these kinds of things that are
happening to women all the time because
it doesn’t happen to them. It’s the same
with any other group of people who are
facing a particular struggle. The people
who don’t have to face that struggle are
not as aware of it.
Berru said in his statement that he’s
going to rehab for his problems with
drugs and alcohol and that his wife has
left him. How did you feel when you read
it?
It didn’t sound like the response of
someone taking responsibility for it. It
sounded kind of like he said what he felt
he had to say in the situation, and then
painted himself as a victim when he’s not.
That should be the only thing to do: to take
responsibility. I saw in his initial statement
that he used the words “alleged” and
“offend,” like I managed to offend people. I
don’t know. He doesn’t have a defense, and
so I feel like that’s the only thing that he
can really say.
Would you feel differently if he took
responsibility for his actions?
How often does that really happen,
though? People getting really drunk or
using drugs doesn’t turn them into abusers.
I’m glad that he wants to go to rehab and
I hope that he gets the help that he needs.
I also hope that he goes to get psychiatric
care to change his perspective on women.
That’s the real issue.
Are you surprised he stepped down
from his position after all the women
came forward? Was that powerful for
you?
Page 4 of 17
[In Brief]
Yeah, it’s really amazing. But it’s only
the very beginning of these conversations,
because there are so many other men in
this industry who are pulling shit like this.
It shouldn’t be tolerated in any industry,
and it’s everywhere. I just hope that this
is a big wake-up call for people like that.
They’re not going to get away with it. One
girl wrote me that what he had done to
her had been haunting her for nine years.
This is not the result of addiction. It’s a
result of a very sick person who needs
professional help.
Have you had experiences with other
men in the music industry or otherwise
who acted inappropriately?
I’ve experienced sexism. I have had
experiences like this since I was a teenager.
But it’s very sensitive subject. That kind
of thing doesn’t go away. That sticks with
women forever. I’ve been chased and
many of my friends have been chased
in cars. I experienced a peeping tom
in the bathroom stall of a venue once
in Louisiana. When I’m out on tour or
wherever, when I’m among other industry
people I’ve been pretty insulated. I’m
fortunate, because a lot of women have
sleazeballs working for them, or they have
sleazeballs at their label.
How do you think the industry can do a
better job of preventing this behavior?
Zero tolerance. When you see men
behaving badly toward women, call it out.
It needs to be taken more seriously. If you
hear multiple stories about a guy, you need
to take it seriously, because eventually it’s
going to come to light.
Did it upset you that your friends didn’t
say anything to Heathcliff that evening
when he touched you inappropriately?
It’s not about my friends, because we
were all just in shock. I don’t blame my
friends. I’m talking about the people
who were around Heathcliff on a regular
basis, know him well and are aware of his
behavior. There were lots of them. I want
to make that clear that I’m not talking
about my friends. One of them called me
yesterday and wanted to know if I was mad
at him, and I’m not at all. It’s hard to know
what to do sometimes when something is
so shocking.
Do you believe Heathcliff’s friends
should have called him out long ago?
My understanding is that most of his
friends knew damn well what he had done,
and they continued to associate with him.
I think that women need to be listened to
and taken seriously. And men need to hold
each other accountable for how they treat
us. When you see somebody you know
behaving badly, rock the boat, call it out.
Don’t be afraid of confrontation. There
is no good reason that you could come up
with for not defending women.
Do you think that this will spark other
women to talk about possibly other men
in the industry who have done similar
things?
I very much hope so, because there are a
lot of monsters out there. They should.
Do you in any way feel bad about
what’s happened?
I have sympathy for sick people, but I do
not feel sorry for him. I don’t feel sorry for
somebody who is so abusive to so many
people. I wanted him to get in trouble. I
wanted him to be called out.
Were you embarrassed to come
forward and tell your story?
No, I don’t feel embarrassed. It is weird
when these kinds of things happen and you
have to tell your story to men. That can be
kind of embarrassing in a way. It’s really
sad, because it’s hard enough in the music
business to find your way, to find success.
It’s so sad to me to think that women who
just want to make art and do something
worthwhile are being manipulated.
Is There a Music
Tech Bubble?
BY GLENN PEOPLES
The stock market is faltering. The heavy
flow of venture capital funding constricted sharply in the fourth quarter. Some
high-flying technology companies, bloated with easy money, are starting to fall
back to earth. The coming hangover might
affect some digital music companies, but
experts say not all valuations are suspect
and that good ideas will continue to find
financial backers.
What could be more emblematic of
a bubble than overvalued technology
companies? Turn to any technology
blog or financial outlet and you’ll see
talk about “unicorns,” those private
technology companies with valuations
over $1 billion made possible by easy
access to money. Fortune’s “The Year In
Unicorns”recounted 12 months of warnings
and irrational exuberance. The Economist
warned of a coming “techquake” for the
150 unicorns currently on the planet
(according to CB Insights). Prominent
venture capitalist Bill Gurley spent 2015
predicting imminent doom for highly
valued technology companies that lack
financial fundamentals.
Now investors are starting to pull back.
Fidelity wrote down its investment in
Snapchat, a photo-sharing service most
recently valued at $15 billion, by 25 percent.
Blackrock did the same with its stake
in Dropbox, a cloud service for hosting
and sharing files that was last valued at
$10 billion. Square, a mobile payments
platform co-founded by Twitter co-founder
and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, had a
November IPO at a $2.9 billion valuation,
less than half of the $6 billion at its last
private funding round just 13 months
earlier. Venture-backed companies raised
less money in the fourth quarter than
they had in any of the four prior quarters,
according to the latest Venture Pulse report.
While some unicorns will undoubtedly
fall, not all startups are necessarily
overvalued. Artist manager Troy Carter
believes some technology companies are
actually undervalued. “We’re seeing a
lot companies that are living up to their
valuations, when you look at growth and
you look at revenue,” says Carter, who
has invested in a range of tech startups
— including Spotify — through his AF
Square angel fund. Notable investors
from Mark Andreessen and Sam Altman
of Y Combinator agree, dismissing the
idea of a bubble and arguing taht many
tech companies are actually undervalued
based on their proven ability to lead a
Page 5 of 17
[In Brief]
growing market.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, market leaders,
the ones either creating or reshaping
industries, are faring the best. Uber,
the ride-sharing app that’s changed
transportation in many cities, “is valued
at 4 times the total value of taxi spending
in the world last year,” Max Wolff, Chief
Economist at Manhattan Venture Partners.
“They argue they are creating a bigger
value by making it easier [to get rides].”
Spotify could be one of those
undervalued companies. Its proponents
could argue the company will not only
disrupt the existing music market, it will
make the market large enough to merit an
$8 billion valuation. “The idea is people are
valuing these companies, in hot spaces like
music, based on markets these companies
are building as opposed to their cash flow
today,” adds Wolff. “That always lends
itself to aggressive valuations.” He believes
Spotify and its competitor Deezer should
get credit for convincing fans to pay for
streaming. Spotify in particular converts
about 35 percent of its free users. “[A] five
percent conversion rate on freemium is
generally considered good,” says Wolff.
These sky-high valuations aren’t
based on a company’s current financials.
“They can be profitable if they want to,”
adds Santosh Rao, head of research at
Manhattan Venture Partners, which valued
Spotify at $5.7 billion a year ago. “Right now
they’re investing.” And why not? Rao
believes the market is sending messages
to mobile-first companies like Spotify that
growth is more important than profitability.
This strategy routinely receives criticism
within the music industry from people
that want Spotify to better compensate the
creators behind the music. But in purely
financial terms, the strategy could pay
off soon. Rao forecasts Spotify will reach
profitability in late 2017 or early 2019.
Spotify and competing subscription
service Deezer, which just announced $109
million in new funding, are just two of
thousands of companies to take advantage
of readily available capital. Last year, global
funding for venture-backed companies
grew to $128.5 billion (from $89.4 billion
in 2014) and more than doubled the $50.2
billion spent in 2013. In the United States,
total funding jumped to $72.4 billion from
$57.4 billion.
Runaway funding has lost momentum,
however. After more than tripling in
the previous three years, global venture
funding fell to $27.2 billion in the fourth
quarter of last year, the lowest level since
the third quarter of 2013 and 30 percent
lower than the third quarter of 2015.
Funding in North America followed the
same trend. It’s probably not a coincidence
these declines occurred as bubble fears
spiked and tech unicorns were being put on
death watch.
Yet for every Spotify or Deezer or
even SoundCloud, which just raised $32
million in debt funding, there are dozens,
if not hundreds, of smaller digital music
startups looking for capital. These budding
companies won’t be immune from the
problems at larger companies, says Jon
Vanhala, a former digital music executive
now with Crossfade Partners. “It gets a
little a bad at the top, worse at the bottom.
That’s always been the case.”
A slowdown in music investments
would come at a bad time. The streaming
marketplace is rather established at
this point. Spotify is one of a handful
of standalone streaming companies
competing with Apple, Google and
Amazon. New market entrants —
successful ones, at least — are unlikely.
That said, there are a variety of segments,
from live music to virtual reality, that need
funding to adapt and evolve. There’s ample
room left for business-to-business services
that improve how music fans find concerts,
buy merchandise and concessions at
venues, and receive information within
that environment. Virtual reality can offer
an entirely new way of experiencing music.
The industry should be thinking about life
after streaming.
The current market and investment
slowdown doesn’t mean innovation will
greatly suffer. Less of the easy money
that drove valuations skyward will
merely separate the good company from
the mediocre one. One digital music
investor, who asked not to be named,
says funding will continue in a correction
— for the right companies:
“High quality can always find financing.”
The Legacy of
Rosalie Trombley,
Radio Pioneer
Immortalized
in Bob Seger’s
‘Rosalie’ and
Breaker of ‘Bennie
and the Jets’
BY KAREN BLISS
Bob Seger immortalized Rosalie Trombley
in a song and now the Canadian broadcasting legend will be immortalized by
the Canadian Academy of Recording
Arts & Sciences at the 45th annual Juno
Awards. The 76-year-old will become the
first woman to receive the Walt Grealis
Special Achievement Award since the
award was created in 1984.
The 1973 song, “Rosalie,” also covered
by Thin Lizzy, says it all:
“She knows music / I know music too,
you see / She’s got the power / Good ol’ teen
queen, Rosalie / Rosalie, Rosalie. She’s got
the plastic / That comes from all the corners
corners of the world / So fantastic / She’s
everybody’s favorite little record girl.”
The award, to be presented at the Juno
Awards gala dinner April 2 in Calgary,
recognizes individuals who have made an
impact on the Canadian music industry,
though Trombley’s legacy reaches far
beyond Canada’s borders. Trombley,
who was music director at The Big 8 —
CKLW-AM Windsor from 1967 to 1984
— is credited with breaking Canadian
artists in America, adding such songs
as GordonLightfoot’s “If You Could Read
My Mind,” the Guess Who’s “These
Eyes,” PaulAnka’s “You’re Having My
Page 6 of 17
[In Brief]
Baby,” Bachman Turner Overdrive’s
“Taking Care of Business,” and Burton
Cummings’ “Stand Tall.”
When CKLW changed formats to an
older demo in 1984, she remained as music
director until 1987, moving on to work at
Hot AC station WLTI-FM in Detroit for a
couple of years before heading to Toronto
to take a position at oldies station Key
590. Trombley, who retired in Windsor,
became one of the first inductees of the
Motor City Music Awards, receiving a
Lifetime Achievement recognition in 1992.
Canadian Music Week also named The
Rosalie Award after her, which is presented
annually at the Canadian Music and
Broadcast Industry Awards to women who
have blazed a trail in radio. She received
the first, in 2005.
Trombley has three children, two
of whom followed her into the music
business. Diane started at Virgin Records
and is now in broadcast sales, and Tim
was vp of talent acquisition and artist
development at EMI Music Canada, where
he worked for 23 years. Todd is not in the
industry now, but picked up sales skills
working at CKLW’s sales office in Detroit.
Tim, now director of entertainment at
Caesars Windsor, will accept the award on
his mother’s behalf and talked to Billboard
about his mother’s legacy.
Your mother has health issues now.
Does she understand the award?
She does. Yeah, she’s dealing with some
serious health issues. She’s thrilled. She
feels very honored, very grateful for the
recognition. She loved what she did, but
she never looked at it in any kind of grand
way. It was just what she had to do to raise
her three kids and it just happened to be
something that she really enjoyed doing.
What was CKLW like when she
started? Were you born yet? Yeah, I was. The station, in the ‘60s, was
part of the RKO General chain, which was
in the United States. They had a number
of major market radio and TV stations,
and their Detroit stations happened to
be situated in Windsor. In the mid-’60s
there was a format, called “the Boss,”
that was created by this legendary radio
programmer named Bill Drake. CKLW took
the Boss radio format and adapted it to suit
the Detroit market. It became known as
CKLW, “The Big 8,” sometime in the later
‘60s — that was when Mom became music
director. It was this very high-powered,
high-energy station with this tremendous
signal... you could hear the station all
across the midwest. Urban legend has it
that you could hear the station in 23 states
and 4 Canadian provinces, so it had a huge
reach.
When did you realize your Mom’s
importance and legacy?
I’m the oldest of three and it became
apparent to me right around 1970, 1971,
where we would go down to the station
on occasion and we got a sense the
importance and excitement — and, of
course, I started going to concerts at a very
young age — and we got to see the inner
workings of the business. You knew your
Mom had a really cool job.
What are some of Rosalie’s favorite
memories?
She would probably tell you Bob Seger.
My mom and Bob have always had a real
connection. Bob, of course, immortalized
her with the song ‘Rosalie,’ but she just
really felt connected to Bob’s music from
the very beginning, long before he broke
on a national level. He was a regional star
and my mother always really supported
him and, in the end, was a catalyst to him
breaking on a national level. He would
come over to the station and hang out
and go to dinner with my Mom and the
program director.
So that’s one, and certainly Burton
Cummings and The Guess Who. She
wasn’t promoted specifically on “These
Eyes” — she wasn’t promoted on the single
by RCA on the States; she was promoted
on the single by RCA in Toronto; the
band didn’t have a US deal. She got sent
the record by RCA Canada, heard it and
instantly, first listen, thought that song
was a smash — this was before Canadian
Content [when the 30 percent requirement
for AM radio was implemented in January,
1971] — and put it on the air. The phones
blew up. She got a call from RCA in New
York the following week — they wanted
to know what was happening and she
basically told them, ‘This song is a hit
and you need to put this out in the States.
I’m getting calls from record retailers in
Detroit that people are coming in looking
for the single and it’s not there. So if you
want to sell some records, you better
get this band put out in the States very
quickly; it’s looking and feeling like a major
hit.’ So that’s always been a real point of
pride for Mom through the years. She’s
run into [Guess Who members] Burton
[Cummings] and Randy [Bachman] on
occasion — they treat her with tremendous
respect and reverence.
And she did the same for Elton John’s
“Bennie and the Jets,” insisting that
should be a single?
Yes. That was never going to be a single
and one of the urban stations in Detroit
started playing it, just as an album cut,
and my mother picked this up, again on
her weekly record sales research that she
would do — that’s a whole side topic, how
she pioneered doing radio sales tracking —
but in any case, when she would call some
of the inner city urban music accounts,
they would say they were getting people
coming in looking for this song ‘Bennie and
the Jets.’ And so she found out that one of
the urban stations in Detroit was playing it,
and she knew the program director there
and called up this fellow Donnie Simpson
and got the story on the record. She started
playing it and the same thing happened.
The phones blew up and she let MCA, now
Universal, know the following week what
had happened over the weekend and, to
her ears, it could really reach an urban
audience, and if they were smart they
would make it the next single.
So, literally within a couple of days, she
had a call from Elton John himself, wanting
to know why she thought it should be a
single and she told him, ‹I think the song›s
a hit; our listeners think the song›s a hit;
here›s what happened at urban radio in
Detroit; it›s happening for us now; if you
want to reach a black audience, you really
should consider making this your next
single,’ and he did and the rest is history. It
was one of his biggest hits ever.
Canadian Music and Broadcast
Industry Awards has radio award named
Page 7 of 17
[In Brief]
after her for women in broadcasting. Are
her accomplishments at that time even
more significant because she is woman?
Absolutely. When she went in to that
position there were no women of influence
and power in broadcasting. It was very
much a male-dominated industry. She
was given this opportunity because one
of the program directors recognized her
talent. She was a pioneer. It’s very apropos
that she is the first woman to be given the
Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award.
It’s very appropriate that Mom is the first
because in so many ways she truly was a
pioneer and a role model for woman in
the music industry, in broadcasting and
on the label side. There were a number of
promotion people that started out locally in
Detroit that went on to prominent national
positions in LA and New York. Mom did a
lot of mentoring for people in the industry.
You will be accepting the award in
Calgary on her behalf. What does it mean
to you personally that she’s receiving
this?
It’s an incredible honor for Mom to be
recognized after all these years. It’s very
meaningful that all the years later that the
legend of her and that station continues
to be as strong as it was 10 years ago. If
anything, her legacy and the legacy of
that station seems to be even stronger
now than it was 20 years ago and that’s a
testament to just how talented my Mom
was and how special that radio station was
to so many people.
Plagued By
Visa Problems,
Jamaican Stars
Seek Alternatives
to Reach Fans
BY PATRICIA MESCHINO
On the third night of the Jamrock Reggae
Cruise, the successful five-day festival
cruise founded by Damian Marley, as the
Pearl sailed between two Jamaican ports
prior to its return to Miami, a top-tier roster
including singer Jah Cure, vibrant young
dancehall star Popcaan, versatile singjay Busy Signal and veteran deejayBounty
Killer brought the sold-out crowd delivered
to an international audience of reggae
devotees some of the island’s most vibrant
music. Despite the performers’ contrasting
styles and age differences, these artists
share a major career impediment: all are
without visas/work permits for the US,
the UK and Canada. As such, the Jamrock
cruise organizers devised an opportunity to
present four in-demand Jamaican acts that
American, Canadian and British reggae
lovers are unable to see in their countries —
the artists boarded the ship at the first port
in Jamaica and disembarked at the second.
“We applaud the Marley team for
developing a key platform for Jamaican
artists who can’t travel to the U.S., it
builds greater demand for them that can
hopefully help to breakthrough their visa
barriers,” noted Aaron Talbert, vp of sales
and marketing at New York City-based
reggae independent VP Records.
On the morning following his
electrifying performance aboard the
Welcome to Jamrock Reggae Cruise, Jah
Cure disembarked the Pearl in Ocho Rios,
Jamaica surrounded by excited fans, all
with cell phone cameras ready. Cure
delayed his exit and graciously posed for
selfies with each of them. “People came
all the way from England to see me here
so I am happy to take photos with them,”
said the Rastafarian artist whose charttopping album The Cure is a Grammy
nominee for best reggae album.
Dancehall and reggae acts have always
relied on concert dates, rather than record
sales, to generate income. The inability to
perform in the United States, Canada and
the U.K. greatly diminishes their overall
earning potential and constrains the
opportunities for exposure.
“Promoters are frustrated because
they are recycling the same acts for
shows, fans want more too. It’s supplyand-demand, and the supply from
Jamaica has dwindled,” remarks Jamaica-
born Ms. J. Lexy Brooks, founder/CEO
of the Manhattan-based entertainment
company VIP Connected Entertainment,
LLC, whose services include booking
a diversity of artists for international
events. Ms. Brooks has successfully
petitioned for several dancehall artists’
US visas including vocal group Voicemail,
dancer/vocalist Ding Dong and selector/
vocalist Tony Matterhorn.
Artists generally apply for “P” visas, P1,
as part of an internationally recognized
group, P2 for an exchange program and
P3 for culturally unique artists. They must
present a contract with their petitioner,
the start and end dates for their various
engagements and a description of the
events they will participate in. An advisory
opinion, stating their qualifications, must
also be submitted.
The reasons Bounty Killer, Busy Signal,
Jah Cure and Popcaan cannot travel to
the US are as varied as their music. In
June 2012, Busy Signal (Glendale Gordon)
was anticipating touring in support of
his critically acclaimed Reggae Music
Again (VP Records), which peaked at No.
3 on Reggae Albums chart. Instead he was
arrested and extradited to the U.S. for
absconding on bail over a 2002 drug case.
He served two months in a Minnesota
prison then was released ahead of schedule
in November 2012, the presiding judge
was apparently impressed with his career
accomplishments and clean record over the
past 10 years. He is now eligible to reapply
for a visa.
Popcaan (Andre Sutherland), a protégé
of dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel who
generated interest following his 2014
debut Where We Come From and is a favorite
of Drake, had his visa approval delayed
over minor marijuana-related offenses.
Bounty Killer (Rodney Price), a
mentor to Kartel and Busy Signal, lost
his U.S. travel privileges in an en-masse
revocation of visas belonging to five
dancehall acts that took place in March
2010 Beenie Man (Moses Anthony
Davis), Mavado(David Brooks), Aidonia
(Sheldon Ricardo Aitana Lawrence) and
sound system selector Ricky Trooper
(Garfield Augustus McKoy) were all
Page 8 of 17
[In Brief]
barred from travel. (Beenie Man has since
recovered his visa and Mavado is now a
permanent resident of the US). Homeland
Security took this unprecedented step
while the US and Jamaican governments
were at loggerheads over the extradition
of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, although
a connection was never established
between the artists and the reputed
Jamaican drug lord. The U.S. Embassy’s Acting Public Affairs
Officer in Kingston would not divulge
the reasons for rescinding those visas,
but some industry members speculated
that offensive lyrics in a few of the artists’
songs could have prompted the travel bans.
Dancehall’s PR problems were exacerbated
by the incarceration of megastarsBuju
Banton, currently serving a 10-year
sentence for cocaine related charges,
and Vybz Kartel, who lacked a US visa for
several years prior to the life sentence he
was handed for murder in April 2014.
“I won’t blame dancehall’s survival
on immigration issues, but everything
changed after 2010,” Ms. Brooks opined,
“and the travel restrictions placed on so
many superstars has affected the image
of the industry in a way that it never
rebounded from.”
The career trajectory of Jah Cure (b.
Siccature Alcock), arguably, comprises the
most controversial set of circumstances
surrounding a Jamaican artist’s visa woes.
In 1999 Cure was a promising, 20-yearold singer — before being sentenced to
15 years in prison on rape, robbery and
gun charges. Utilizing the prison’s digital
studio, Cure recorded several singles that
soared to the top of the Jamaican charts,
each characterized by his anguished yet
ethereal vocals.
As Cure’s fame increased, details
emerged of irregularities within the trial
proceedings that led to his conviction
including his rape charges being tried
before a magistrate, not a jury. Soon,
defending his innocence became a
cause célèbre among members of the
international reggae community. Cure’s
was released from jail early for good
behavior in 2007.
Upon his release Cure headlined the
Sundance Reggae Festival in Holland in
August 2007; he has since performed at
numerous festivals across the continent.
However, his status as a convicted
felon means the U.S. is out of the question.
“If I could travel to America, I could
achieve much more, so I am reaching out
to knowledgeable people and immigration
lawyers to get the right advice,” Cure told
Billboard in an interview aboard the reggae
cruise. “Maybe winning a Grammy would
help with getting a visa; to achieve that,
knowing what I have been through, I could
help others build their careers.”
Artists whose visas have been revoked
or denied can derive great advantages
by developing community relationships
beyond the musical realm, reasons
Jamaica-born Irwine Clare, co-founder/
managing director of Caribbean
Immigrant Services in Queens, New
York. “Civic organizations are in better
positions to lobby for artists with strong
ties to the wider community,” says Clare.
“The nature of heinous crimes like rape
and murder means a permanent bar
from entering the United States, but
opportunities can still be found.”
Artists whose visas have been revoked
or denied can derive great advantages
by developing community relationships
beyond the musical realm, reasons
Jamaica-born Irwine Clare, co-founder/
managing director of Caribbean
Immigrant Services in Queens, New
York. “Civic organizations are in better
positions to lobby for artists with strong
ties to the wider community,” says Clare.
“The nature of heinous crimes like rape
and murder means a permanent bar
from entering the United States, but
opportunities can still be found.”
Jussie Smollett,
Fantasia, Leon
Bridges Among
Performers
Tapped For ‘BET
Honors’: Exclusive
BY GAIL MITCHELL
Jussie Smollett and V. Bozeman of Empire, Leon Bridges, Fantasia, Ledisi andThe
Deele have been set as performers for The
BET Honors. Presenters Mary J. Blige and
recent Golden Globe winner Taraji P. Henson will also be on hand when the annual
awards show is taped at Washington, D.C.’s
Warner Theatre on Jan. 23.
This year’s slate of honorees
includes Empire co-creator Lee Daniels
(Television and Film Award), Epic
Records chairman/CEO Antonio “L.A.”
Reid (Business of Entertainment Award),
singer Patti Labelle (Musical Arts Award),
businesswoman Mellody Hobson
(Corporate Citizen Award) and former U.S.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. (Public
Service Award).
As longtime music fans will recall,
Reid — along with Kenneth “Babyface”
Edmonds — was an original member of
band The Deele, whose hits include “Two
Occasions.”
Comedian/actor Arsenio Hall will
host The BET Honors, which will premiere
on Feb. 23 on BET Networks at 8 p.m. ET.
For more information, visit http://www.bet.
com/bethonors.
Page 9 of 17
[In Brief]
App Annie
Report 2015:
Music Streaming
Revenue Doubles,
Google Play
Passes Apple
BY MARC SCHNEIDER
The shift from ownership to digital streaming as the standard listening experience for
consumers kicked into high gear in 2015,
with worldwide revenue for the top 10
music-streaming apps more than doubling
— they were up 120 percent — from 2014
totals. According to app store monitor App
Annie’s annual report, Spotify made big
gains as the worldwide leader in revenue
and users for both iOS and Google Play,
and ranks No. 1 in many regions.
In terms of active users, Spotify trailed
homegrown streaming apps in several
territories, including the United States
(Pandora), China (QQ Music), France
(Deezer) and South Korea (MelOn). But in
Australia, Brazil, Canada and large swaths
of Europe, Spotify was king. (The report
excludes pre-installed apps, so Apple Music
is not factored into the rankings.)
“The decline in digital music sales (i.e.,
paid music downloads) is a trend that
will most likely continue in 2016 as more
and more users transition to streaming
services,” the report states. “In addition,
music streaming is likely to receive another
boost as underpenetrated markets such as
Japan finally reach a tipping point.”
The U.S. mobile app economy also
saw a shift in power rankings — annual
downloads on Google Play surpassed
those on the iOS App Store for the first
time. In the U.S., Google Play’s share of
downloads increased from 45 percent
in 2014 to 55 percent in 2015, with game
downloads driving a significant portion
of the change. In the U.K. that share rose
from 40 percent to 45 percent year-over-
year. Globally, Google’s lead over Apple in
terms of downloads rose from 60 percent
to 100 percent, thanks to advances in
emerging markets including Brazil, India
and Indonesia. With Apple devices being
far more expensive than low-cost Android
phones, Google Play’s dominance in the
developing world should be stable.
Downloads are one thing, but raking in
cash is another, and the report states that
Apple still holds a commanding lead in the
revenue department both in the U.S and
globally. “Google must continue to evolve
its strategy to help drive more revenue for
its developers,” according to the report,
which also warns that the U.S. market may
be saturated with smartphone subscribers.
“From smartphones and tablets to watches
and TV accessories to AR and VR and
device categories yet to be released, one
thing we can definitely count on is that the
U.S. will remain a massive and growing
opportunity for app developers.”
Even with the growth in music app
revenue, the report’s findings show they
are dwarfed by other app categories like
dating and video streaming. It should be
noted, however, that there are more players
in those categories while music is a much
more concentrated industry, with Spotify
and Pandora as Nos. 1 and 3 in worldwide
revenue.
The report breaks down the top apps
of 2015, combined iOS and Google Play
revenue:
WORLDWIDE:
1. Spotify 2. LINE
3. Pandora Radio
4. HBO Now 5. Tinder
6. LINE Manga
7. LINE PLAY
8. Zoosk
9. Skype
10. PocketColony
UNITED STATES:
1. Pandora Radio
2. Spotify
3. HBO NOW
4. Match.com
5. Hulu
6. Tinder
7. Zoosk
8. Sing! Karaoke
9. MLB.com At Bat
10. Skype
The report also lists the top app
companies outside of games:
WORLDWIDE:
1. LINE
2. Spotify
3. InterActive Corp (Match.com, Tinder)
4. Pandora
5. Time Warner 6. Smule (Sing! Karaoke)
7. Microsoft
8. Disney
9. Zoosk
10 Baidu China
UNITED STATES:
1. Pandora
2. Spotify
3. InterActiveCorp
4. Time Warner
5. Smule
6. Hulu
7. Microsoft
8. Zoosk
9. Apple
10. Disney
Remaining Staff
of Life or Death
PR Announces
Departure
Following Sexual
Harassment Claims
BY DAN RYS
Two days after sexual harassment allegations led to company founder and CEO
Heathcliff Berru’s resignation from the
company, Life or Death PR president Nick
Dierl announced that the rest of the staff
was leaving the publicity firm.
“In light of recent events, the remainder
of the Life or Death staff is leaving the
Page 10 of 17
[In Brief]
company today,” Dierl wrote on Twitter.
“We are saddened by the circumstances
under which we are departing but are
grateful for the opportunity we had
together... There will be a new venture
imminently that bears no ties to Heathcliff
Berru or the Life or Death name.”
More than seven women in the music
industry — artists and industry figures
alike — have come forward in the last 48
hours accusing Berru of sexual harassment
over the past several years. Monday night
(Jan. 18), Dirty Projectorsvocalist/multiinstrumentalist Amber Coffman tweeted
about being harassed in a bar by a popular
music publicist, later naming Berru as the
perpetrator (Coffman’s tweets can be seen
here). Shortly afterward, more women
came forward with either words of support
or stories of their own, including Best
Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Little Empire
Music’s Christy Merriner, musician Roxy
Lange, Danger Village publicist Beth
Martinez, Bonnaroo coordinator Martika
Finch and several more.
Tuesday afternoon, Life or Death
released a statement announcing that
Berru had resigned as CEO of the
company, and later that night Berru
released a statementapologizing to “those
who I have offended by my actions and
how I have made certain women feel,”
adding that he was entering rehab for drug
and alcohol addiction. As the allegations
came to light, artists such as Wavves,
Diiv, Kelela,Speedy Ortiz, Beach Fossils and
wet all announced they would cease
working with Life or Death. Killer Mike has
also weighed in on the situation, expressing
support for the victims and hope that Berru
can be “a better human being.”
50 Cent Calls for
Chris Rock to Step
Down as Oscars
Host
BY BILLBOARD STAFF
Pressure is mounting for Chris Rock to join
the Oscars boycott. Hip hop artist and mogul 50 Cent joins
actor Tyrese Gibson in calling for
Rock to turn down his hosting duties
for the awards show in response to the
#OscarsSoWhite issue.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Al Sharpton and
Spike Lee spurred the discussion by stating
that they wouldn’t attend the Oscars Feb.
28 because of the lack of diversity in all four
acting categories this year. The boycott is
gaining momentum, as is the call for Rock
to step down as well. 50 Cent took to Instagram to plead his
case, telling Rock: “You mean a lot man,
don’t do it. Please.” Gibson echoed his sentiments, saying on
Instagram that “There is NO JOKE YOU
CAN CRACK TO EVER CHANGE THE
WAY WE ALL FEEL!”
Gibson also took to Facebook on
Wednesday, comparing Rock hosting this
year’s Oscars to the hypothetical situation
of Bravo’s Andy Cohen hosting in a year
that LGBTQ nominees were shut out of the
awards. “If Andy Cohen of
He re-posted both Lee’s and Pinkett
Smith’s messages earlier in the week,
telling the actress, “I stand with you,”
after she announced her boycott. Both 50
Cent and Gibson say that Rock should step
down as Oscars host in order to support the
boycott.
Snoop Dogg has also taken to Instagram
to air out his grievances with the Academy
Awards. “Somebody was actually like
am I gonna watch the motherfucking
Oscars. Fuck no,” he said about the annual
ceremony in a video clip. This article originally appeared in THR.com.
‘High School
Musical’ Was a
Chart-Topping
Phenomenon 10
Years Ago
BY KEITH CAULFIELD
When Disney Channel’s TV movie High
School Musical premiered on Jan. 20, 2006,
it was a ratings blockbuster that immediately translated into massive success on
Billboard’s music charts.
There were 7.7 million viewers who
tuned in to the first broadcast of the
musical (a then-record for any Disney
Channel telecast), which then led to many
repeated airings on the network and
further ratings wins. All those eyeballs
watching the movie turned to buying and
listening to music from the film, which
propelled High School Musical up the charts.
Ahead of the High School Musical 10year reunion special on Wednesday
(Jan. 20), here are some chart highlights
registered by the first High School Musical
movie, and its two sequel films:
— The High School Musical soundtrack
album was released on Jan. 10, 2006,
and debuted at No. 143 on the Billboard
200 albums chart, selling 6,000 copies
in its first week in the U.S., according
to Nielsen Music. The album, issued by
Walt Disney Records, would then see 13
consecutive weekly sales gains as Disney
Channel aired encore presentations of the
movie. The set sailed up the chart, jumping
into the top 10 in its third chart week, and
then to No. 1 in its seventh frame (the chart
dated March 11, 2006).
— High School Musical was the first TV
soundtrack to hit No. 1 since Miami Vice in
1986. High School Musical also marked the
first album from either a cable channel or
from any made-for-TV movie to rule the
chart.
— High School Musical spent a total
of two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard
Page 11 of 17
[In Brief]
200 and was the top selling album of
2006 according to Nielsen Music (with 3.7
million sold that year). It has sold 5 million
to date
— The set even garnered the 2006
Billboard Music Award for soundtrack
album of the year, thanks to its chart
success. On hand to accept the trophy
onstage at the Dec. 4 show was the
primary cast of the film: Corbin Bleu,
Monique Coleman, Zac Efron, Lucas
Grabeel, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley
Tisdale.
— High School Musical’s success on the
charts wasn’t limited to the Billboard 200.
Nine of its songs entered the Billboard Hot
100 chart, including one that reached the
top 10: “Breaking Free,” which peaked at
No. 4.
— The 2007 sequel film High School
Musical 2 saw its companion soundtrack
debut straight in at No. 1 on the Billboard
200 chart with a whopping 615,000
copies sold in its first week. The set
would spend four total weeks at No.
1 and close out 2007 as the secondbiggest selling album of the year (2.96
million), behind Josh Groban’s Noel (3.67
million) Christmas album. The High School
Musical 2 album has sold 3.4 million to date.
— High School Musical 2 spun off eight
Hot 100 hits, including the top 10-charting
track “What Time Is It” (which peaked at
No. 6).
— The series continued to hit high
notes on the charts with the theatrically
released High School Musical: Senior Year.
Its soundtrack debuted and peaked at No.
2 on the Billboard 200 in 2008 and has sold
1.5 million.
— Collectively, the three albums
have sold 9.8 million copies, while their
respective tracks have combined to sell a
whopping 8.8 million downloads.
The High School Musical reunion airs on
Disney Channel Wednesday (Jan. 20) at
8:00 p.m. EST/PST.
Radio Journey Of
Silverfish Media’s
Carsen Comes Full
Circle In Nashville
BY PHYLLIS STARK
Growing up in Connecticut, newly hired
Silverfish Media assistant PD Jessica
“Carsen” Humphreville had little exposure to country music until her early teen
years. That’s when her father, who worked
for NBC, brought home a videocassette
of a Garth Brooks special the network was
planning to air. After watching it, Carsen
says she went “all in” with country music,
converting her listening to the local country station and even dressing like Brooks.
“I was the girl wearing ‘Mo’ Betta shirts
because Garth Brooks did. That made me
super cool at 16,” she says with a laugh. “I
was totally obsessed and enamored with
country music.”
That passion drew her to choose a
Southern college, and she launched her
radio career while still at student at the
University of Mississippi. She eventually
wound up in Nashville, working in
mornings at country WKDF and nights
at classic rockWRQQ and rocker WBUZ.
Seeking to add PD stripes to her
résumé, she moved away to take over
programming at Syracuse, N.Y.’s sister rock
stations WRKL andWKLL.
But a call in fall 2015 from Silverfish
Media director of programming Patrick
Thomas ultimately brought her back
to country music and Nashville,
where she still owned a home. She
was offered a newly created job that
includes assisting Thomas with music
and programming; becoming a part of
the syndicated morning show hosted
by the company’s principals, Big D &
Bubba; and hosting her own syndicated
midday show. That show, Country With
Carsen, launched Jan. 18 on a handful of
affiliates, including WSGA Savannah,
Ga., and KANY Aberdeen, Wash. Like
the Big D & Bubba show, Country With
Carsen is syndicated by Compass Media
Networks, and Carsen broadcasts the
five-hour show from her own studio inside
the Silverfish complex in the Nashvilleadjacent city of Berry Hill. Accepting the
job meant giving up her hosting duties for
another syndicated country radio show,
Envision’s The Live Ride, which she had
been affiliated with for several years.
Carsen describes her new midday
program as being music-centric, but
with breaks focused on discussions of
pop culture and country artists from a
“friendly, fun voice,” with listener calls
and artist interviews mixed in. Her role on
the Big D & Bubba show is more limited.
“I’ll chime in from time to time and offer
a different take on things,” she says of the
pair’s on-air discussions. “It’s not like I’ll
be on every break with the guys.” But her
female perspective is likely to add a fresh
element to the show.
As for her assistant PD duties, Carsen
says, “Patrick and I will be going over the
music and working on that together. He’s
very excited to have an additional set of
ears and also somebody else who can help
with filtering through things and making
sure that we don’t miss anything. He’s
still director of programming, but it’s my
understanding that I’ll be his right hand.”
She’ll also be contributing imaging and
backing Thomas up on scheduling and
other programming duties.
Just two weeks into the job, Carsen
is thrilled by her new situation and her
new bosses, who she calls “humble” and
“grounded.” She says, “I am so impressed
by what they’ve built and what they’ve
accomplished.” She has been equally
impressed with their kindness, beginning
with the flowers they sent her the day it was
announced she was joining their team.
“They are extremely thoughtful, but
they are funny too and just genuinely good
guys,” she says. “They’ve been not just
welcoming, but also so inclusive. I’m very
excited to build that relationship and get
that tighter radio familiarity. We’ve already
started to find things in common.”
But there’s one thing they likely will
never have in common. Big D and Bubba
Page 12 of 17
[In Brief]
are both pilots who often fly themselves to
visit affiliates. Carsen, on the other hand,
is “terrified of flying,” although she doesn’t
let that keep her from air travel. “We’re
going to have to have some discussions
about that,” she jokes of potential market
visits via small private planes. “There’s
probably going to be Xanax involved.”
For the time being, she’s more than
happy to stay put in Nashville and soak
up the country music she has long loved.
“The music literally changed my life,” she
says. “The idea that I now live and work
in Nashville — nobody in my high school
would be surprised.”
This article first appeared in Billboard’s
Country Update — sign up here.
New York City
Declares Jan. 20
David Bowie Day
BY COLIN STUTZ
Wednesday (Jan. 20) is now officially David
Bowie Day in New York City, Mayor Bill de
Blasio has declared. Acting Commissioner Luis Castro of
the Mayor’s Office of Media and
Entertainment will present the
proclamation at the sold-out final
performance of the New York Theater
Workshop production of Lazarus, which
was conceived and co-created by Bowie.
Bowie died on Jan. 10 following a private
18-month battle with cancer. De Blasio tweeted Bowie’s “Space
Oddity” lyrics “the stars look very different
today” in response to the announcement. David Bowie’s
10 Most
Downloaded &
Streamed Songs
After His Death
BY KEVIN RUTHERFORD
After the death of David Bowie on Jan.
10, multiple songs from the icon infuse
Billboard’s rock-based sales and streaming
charts (dated Jan. 30).
In fact, 18 of his tracks rank on the
50-position Rock Digital Songs, chief
among them “Space Oddity,” a debut at
No. 2 with 44,000 downloads sold in the
week ending Jan. 14 (up from 1,000 the
prior frame), according to Nielsen Music.
The 25-position Alternative Digital
Songs chart sports 13 Bowie tunes,
with “Oddity” also the runner-up.
Bowie breaks the record fort the most
simultaneous entries on the list (which
launched in 2010), besting the 10
concurrent hits logged by Coldplay (Nov.
12, 2011).
Meanwhile, the Rock Streaming
Songs chart houses 13 Bowie songs out
of 25 total, with “Lazarus,” from his new
album Blackstar, leading the parade
at No. 2 with 8.1 million clicks in the
tracking week (up from 156,000). His 13
simultaneous hits on the chart also mark
a record; three other acts have logged as
many as five in a week.
In all, sales of Bowie’s catalog,
including albums, rose by more than
5,000 percentin the tracking week, with
682,000 units moved (375,000 song
downloads and 308,000 albums).
Here are the songs that Bowie fans bought
and streamed the most as reflected on
Billboard’s latest sales and streaming charts.
David Bowie’s Top-Selling Songs (week
ending Jan. 14)
44,000, “Space Oddity” (from David
Bowie, 1969)
30,000, “Under Pressure” (with Queen;
from Queen’s Head Space, 1981)
30,000, “Let’s Dance” (from Let’s Dance,
1983)
27,000, “Changes” (from Hunky Dory,
1971)
22,000, “Heroes” (from “Heroes,” 1977)
22,000, “Fame” (from Young Americans,
1975)
17,000, “Starman” (from The Rise and Fall
of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,
1972)
16,000, “Lazarus” (from Blackstar, 2016)
15,000, “Rebel Rebel” (from Diamond
Dogs, 1974)
13,000, “Young Americans” (from Young
Americans, 1975)
David Bowie’s Top-Streamed Songs
(week ending Jan. 14)
8.1 million, “Lazarus” (from Blackstar,
2016)
5.9 million, “Under Pressure” (with Queen;
from Queen’s Head Space, 1981)
5.5 million, “Space Oddity” (from David
Bowie, 1969)
3.7 million, “Blackstar” (from Blackstar,
2016)
3.7 million, “Let’s Dance” (from Let’s
Dance, 1983)
3.5 million. “Life on Mars?” (from Hunky
Dory, 1971)
2.9 million, “Changes” (from Hunky Dory,
1971)
2.8 million, “Heroes” (from Heroes, 1977)
2.5 million, “Ziggy Stardust” (from The Rise
and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders
From Mars, 1972)
2.3 million, “Rebel Rebel” (from Diamond
Dogs, 1974)
David Bowie
Dominates Every
Spot on LyricFind
Global Chart
BY EMILY WHITE
Following the death of international icon David Bowie, the world searched for his words.
Page 13 of 17
[In Brief]
Every song on the 25-position LyricFind
Global chart (and all but one track on
theLyricFind U.S. list, also 25 spots deep)
is by Bowie, who died Jan. 10. The charts
(dated Jan. 30) rank the fastest momentumgaining tracks in lyric-search queries
provided by LyricFind, the world’s leader in
licensed lyrics, with data provided by more
than 4,000 publishers and utilized by more
than 100 services, including Amazon,
Pandora, Deezer, Shazam, Microsoft,
Yahoo, SoundHound and iHeartRadio.
Bowie’s monopolization marks the
first time that one artist has occupied
every slot on the LyricFind Global tally
since it launched in October 2015. (The
lone non-Bowie song on the U.S. chart
this week? Shawn Mendes and Camila
Cabello’s “I Know What You Did Last
Summer,” at No. 17.)
Leading both the LyricFind Global and
U.S. charts is “Space Oddity,” the song that
introduced the character of Major Tom,
a fictional astronaut referenced several
times in Bowie’s work. His firstBillboard
Hot 100 top 40 hit, “Oddity” peaked at No.
15 in 1973; it re-enters this week’s Hot 100
at No. 42 (with three other Bowie songs also
ranking on the chart).
While “Oddity” found commercial
success upon its original release, several
of the trending tracks in lyrics searches for
Bowie in the past week were never Hot 100
hits, including the Nos. 2-6 songs on both
the Global and U.S. lists.
Here is the top 10 of the current
LyricFind Global chart, along with the
first lines of lyrics from each song. (And,
view the full 25-position LyricFind
Global andLyricFind U.S. on Billboard.com.)
(Song, Parent Album, Year, Opening
Lyric)
1, “Space Oddity,” Space Oddity, 1969
“Ground control to Major Tom / Take your
protein pills and put your helmet on”
2, “Life on Mars?,” Hunky Dory, 1971
“It’s a God-awful small affair / To the girl
with the mousy hair / But her mummy is
yelling ‘No’/ And her daddy has told her
to go”
3, “Heroes,” Heroes, 1977
“I, I will be king / And you, you will be
queen”
4, “Starman,” The Rise and Fall of Ziggy
Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, 1972
“Didn’t know what time it was and the
lights were low / I leaned back on my radio
/ Some cat was layin’ down some rock ‘n’
roll, ‘lotta soul, he said”
5, “Ashes to Ashes,” Scary Monsters, 1980
“Do you remember a guy that’s been / In
such an early song / I’ve heard a rumor
from ground control / Oh no, don’t say it’s
true”
6, “The Man Who Sold the World,” The
Man Who Sold the World, 1970
“We passed upon the stair / we spoke of
was and when / Although I wasn’t there /
He said I was his friend”
7, “Modern Love,” Let’s Dance, 1983
“I know when to go out / And when to stay
in / Get things done”
8, “Changes,” Hunky Dory, 1971
“I still don’t know what I was waiting for /
And my time was running wild / A million
dead-end streets”
9, “Quicksand,” Hunky Dory, 1971
“I’m closer to the Golden Dawn /
Immersed in Crowley’s uniform / Of
imagery”
10, “Blackstar,” Blackstar, 2016
“In the villa of Ormen, in the villa of
Ormen / Stands a solitary candle”
Notably, the title cut from Bowie’s new
farewell album Blackstar makes the list
above, at No. 10. As previously reported,
the set begins at No. 1 on the Billboard 200,
marking Bowie’s first-ever leader on the
chart, with 181,000 equivalent album units
earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan.
14, according to Nielsen Music.
Bowie concurrently claims a record 21
of the 50 positions on Billboard’s Hot Rock
Songs chart. He additionally roars onto
the Billboard Artist 100 chart at No. 1 and
rockets 50-3 on the Social 50. On the latter
list, he’s fueled by a 1,755 percent increase
in Wikipedia page views, to 3.6 million,
according to Next Big Sound. Bowie
also added 507,000 fans on Facebook
and 298,000 likes and comments to his
YouTube videos.
NAMM: A Mecca
for Musical
Gearheads — Don
Was To Receive
The Les Paul Award
BY THOM DUFFY
Take any song, on any Billboard chart, in
any style or genre, and the recordings have
one thing in common — top-notch musical
gear created those songs. EvenPentatonix needs microphones to capture its a
cappella delights.
So consider the importance to the
worldwide recorded music industry of the
equally global business of manufacturing
and selling music and sound products.
(The intertwined industries are of similar
scale: global recorded music sales totaled
$15 billion in 2014, according to the IFPI,
while the music and sound products
business was worth $16.6 billion in the
same period).
The NAMM Show, which runs Jan. 21-24
at the Anaheim Convention Center, is the
world’s largest trade show for the music
products business. The event is expected to
draw 96,000-plus attendees, some 1,600
companies representing 5,100 brands,
including 650 from 50 different countries.
“You walk into the NAMM Show and
you’re in Oz,” says Joe Lamond, who
since 2001 has been president and CEO
of NAMM (the National Association of
Music Merchants). “You realize how
much diversity there is in music and sound
products from around the world. You really
see its breadth and depth at the NAMM
Show.”
But where to start? Lamond offers a tip.
“What I like doing first is going into Hall E;
it’s where we bring in new companies. Last
year there was a company creating snare
drums with 3D printers, a company that
was etching wood with lasers. You might
find a kid who studied wood-working in
college and now has his own line of guitars
Page 14 of 17
[In Brief]
and he’s eager to talk to anybody.”
The same trends in technology that have
transformed the recording industry have
reshaped the music products business. “Everybody can play now,” notes Lamond,
noting the entrepreneurial spirit at the
NAMM Show. “Everybody can have a
product and get it out there. A company
can start by making a dozen guitars, or
hand-wiring five guitar effect pedals. This
industry is nothing more than individual
stories of people who did things like that.
And this show is their platform.”
Recognition of those who have taken
their technical skills to the highest level
is an important part of the NAMM Show.
The 31st annual NAMM TEC Awards,
honoring excellence in sound technology
and creativity, will be held Jan. 23. The
annual Les Paul Award, named for the
electric guitar pioneer, this year goes to
Don Was, the Grammy-winning producer,
now president of Blue Note Records. In
addition, the NAMM Tech Awards Hall
of Fame will induct guitarist Jeff “Skunk”
Baxter (the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan)
and also Chris Stone and Gary Kellgren,
co-founders of the Record Plant studios,
founded in New York and still operating in
Los Angeles.
Past recipients of the Les Paul Award
have included Slash, Todd Rundgren, Pete
Townshend of the Who, Steve Vai and
Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.
In the crowded calendar of award shows, it
means something special to NAMM TEC
Award honorees “to be in a room of their
peers, to be recognized for a lifetime of
work by guys you worked alongside,” says
Lamond.
Indeed, NAMM draws thousands of
musicians who come not as stars, but as
musicians. “Stevie Wonder is a musician
there; Eddie Van Halen is a guitarist there,”
says Lamond of past attendees. “They are
there like everyone else, trying to find the
next part of their sound. There’s this sense
that we’re all just trying to perfect our craft,
and find this nirvana of the perfect chord
or the perfect note. That’s what happens
when they’re at the NAMM shows. They
get to be players around other players.”
But NAMM, as a trade organization,
seeks more than the perfect chord in
promoting its business. Strengthening
the music products business means
strengthening the role of music-making in
modern culture. The organization has done
so throughout its long history. One notable
example: NAMM funded the research
in 1993 by physicist Gordon Shaw and
psychologist (and cellist) Frances Rauscher
at the the University of California Irvine
into what’s been called the Mozart effect
— which suggested classical music could
have a short-term benefit on cognitive
performance. “That was the big bang of
music brain research,” says Lamond.
The NAMM Foundation continues
to support the Institute for Music and
Neurologic Function, which was founded
by the late neurologist Oliver Sacks to
research the link between music and
neurological conditions including strokes,
trauma, dementia, Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s diseases.
And NAMM has been in the forefront of
promoting music education — celebrating
a victory last month with the passage of
the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. In
that legislation, for the first time, a “wellrounded education” is defined as including
music and the arts, and obligates states to
fund those classes.
“That phrase, `a well-rounded
education,’ is going to allow millions of
kids next fall to have music and arts that
didn’t have it now, especially in the most
under-served districts,” says Lamond.
So it was appropriate that the first stop
for some NAMM members in Anaheim
this week was a local school. The NAMM
Foundation on Jan. 19 sponsored a day of
service at the James Guinn Elementary
School where the NAMM members worked
with students to play guitars, ukuleles and
to create a drum circle.
“We love music,” says Lamond, “and
we believe music should be part of every
child’s education.
Hollywood
Studios Ask Court
to Reject Lawsuit
Over Song Lyrics in
Movies
BY ERIQ GARDNER
With examples of the way music has
served films like Rain Man, Major League
and the Guardians of the Galaxy, a group of
Hollywood studios on Wednesday asked
a federal court to reject a lawsuit that contends Hollywood is violating various laws
by refusing to provide more captioning or
subtitling of song lyrics.
Members of the Alexander Graham
Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard
of Hearing filed the lawsuit in California
in October. Their legal action follows a
quarter century of Congressional action,
FCC rulemaking and past litigation over
a campaign to provide those with hearing
disabilities, estimated to be 10 percent
of the population, with equal access to
creative works.
This particular lawsuit raises the
contention that studios are falsely
advertising their products and violating the
civil rights of deaf consumers.
“While the dialogue of some movies
or shows are indeed fully subtitled, the
practice of not subtitling song/music lyrics
is frustratingly widespread,” states the
complaint. “Movies or shows that do not
include the subtitled song/music lyrics
withhold the full enjoyment of the movie
or show from deaf or hard of hearing
consumers. If parts of the movie or show
are not captioned or subtitled, then deaf
and hard of hearing consumers should be
told as such before making a decision to
rent or purchase the DVD, theater ticket, or
streaming.”
After having the case removed to federal
court, Disney, Warner Bros. Universal,
Paramount Sony and Buena Vista Home
Entertainment have now filed a pair of
Page 15 of 17
[In Brief]
dismissal motions (see here and here).
One is based on California’s anti-SLAPP
law and figures to have a judge address
the First Amendment factor much like
what happened when CNN went head-tohead with a deaf group a few years ago.
The defendants give three reasons why
the lawsuit should fail.
First, they argue there has been no
misrepresentation — that while products
might be described as “captioned” or
“subtitled,” the plaintiffs haven’t made any
suggestion that a reasonable consumer
would understand those terms to mean all
song lyrics too.
Take the fact that plaintiffs say that
the lack of captioning of song lyrics is
“frustratingly widespread.”
“Plaintiffs know from the ‘numerous’
movies and TV shows they admit
watching, and the ‘many, many other
examples’ they describe, that not all
song lyrics are captioned or subtitled,”
the studios respond. “Plaintiffs’
admission that they understood the
terms ‘captioned’ and ‘subtitled’ to mean
captioning and subtitling of some but not
all song lyrics directly undermines their
misrepresentation claims.”
This deals with whether Hollywood is
falsely advertising or breaching an implied
warranty, but doesn’t address the civil
rights issue. The studios have a different
response there.
Express legal obligations to caption came
via the Telecommunications Act of 1996
and the 21st Century Communications and
Video Accessibility Act of 2010, and once
those laws were passed by Congress, the
FCC swung into action with an attempt to
write regulations and enforce them. But
the studios say the standards pertain to
broadcast television, not to DVDs, theaters
or streaming.
“Simply put: No law requires the Studios
to caption all song lyrics, for all movies and
TV shows, across any — much less all — of
the distribution channels Plaintiffs target
here,” states a motion to strike.
The defendants point to some of the
ways they’ve been captioning, and areas
where they haven’t. In Rain Man, when
Tom Cruise teaches Dustin Hoffman to
dance, the background song’s name and
first line of the lyrics are captioned, but
once the characters speak, the captioning
focuses on what they are saying instead
of the song lyrics. In Major League, when
the crowd sings “Wild Thing” upon
Charlie Sheen coming out of the bullpen
to pitch, the lyrics of the song are captured
in subtitles. But when opera plays in the
background of a scene in TheTheory of
Everything, deaf audiences are told the type
of music playing, but not the precise lyrics.
“The Studios remain free to caption or
subtitle some but not all song lyrics, exactly
as Plaintiffs admit they have done,” say
the defendants. “To hold otherwise would
improperly limit the Studios’ exercise of
creative discretion.”
It remains to be seen whether the
need for “creative discretion” beats the
allegation that studios are providing
inferior services to disabled patrons, and
thus violating their civil rights. But the
studios are also making a third argument
based on what happened in a 2006 class
action lawsuit over failure to close caption
DVDs. That case was settled, and the
agreement is said to have acknowledged
that song lyrics would not always be
captioned. The plaintiffs are represented by John
Girardi at Girardi Keese while the defense
is being handled by Glenn Pomerantz and
others at Munger, Tolles & Olson.
This article was originally published by The
Hollywood Reporter.
Viacom CEO
Philippe Dauman’s
Pay Falls to $36.9
Million
BY PAUL BOND,
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Viacom, under fire from activist shareholders who have been complaining of a
dwindling stock price amid lavish exec-
utive compensation, took the unusual
step Wednesday of disclosing that CEO
Philippe Dauman made at least $36.9 million in fiscal 2017.
Dauman’s salary and some bonuses
came by way of a statement ahead of the
disclosure of the conglomerate’s SEC filing,
so Dauman’s total compensation could
be a bit higher than $36.9 million, which
represents a 17 percent decline over his
2014 pay.
In fiscal 2015, shares of Viacom tumbled
43 percent. According to the statement, Dauman’s
salary was $4 million, he earned an equity
award of $18.9 million and a bonus of
$14 million. A regulatory filing due later,
though, will include some other items that
should push his compensation north of $37
million.
Sumner Redstone, the physically ailing
executive chairman and controlling
shareholder, received $2 million in
compensation, down 85 percent from
the $13.2 million he earned a year earlier,
according to the Viacom statement.
Viacom said Redstone’s salary was
unchanged in fiscal 2015 but he became
ineligible to receive a bonus beginning in
the fiscal year.
Dauman is routinely near the top of the
list of highest-paid CEOs in the country,
even though investors haven’t fared so well
lately, as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy
Central have faced ratings declines.
A year earlier, Dauman’s pay rose 19
percent to $44.3 million while shares fell 8
percent.
Dauman’s contract is up at the end
of 2018, though he can step down with
perhaps tens of millions in severance if
anyone but Redstone, 92, becomes his
boss.
This article was first published by The
Hollywood Reporter.
Page 16 of 17
[In Brief]
Madonna,
Fleetwood Mac
& Elton John Lead
New Hot Tours
Roundup
BY BOB ALLEN
Madonna heads up the weekly tally of
Hot Tours (see list, below), ranking No.
1 based on grosses from the final four
venues of her Rebel Heart tour’s European
trek during November and December.
She wrapped the 16-city fall run in
Scotland on Dec. 20 at Glasgow’s 13,000seat arena, SSE Hydro. Concerts at two
more U.K. venues, Manchester Arena and
Birmingham’s Barclaycard Arena as well
as the Swiss arena Hallenstadion in Zürich
led up to the fall finale. Revenue from all
four sold out performances totaled $7.5
million from 47,267 sold tickets.
The Rebel Heart tour’s opening jaunts
through North America and Europe
amassed sold ticket revenue totaling $88
million during its 15-week span.
From 49 sold out concerts at 36
venues on both continents, overall 2015
attendance reached 669,315.
The pop star kicked off her 2016
schedule early in the year, beginning with
a two-night stand in Mexico City on Jan. 6
and 7. A string of U.S. dates began on Jan.
10 in San Antonio, Texas, and continues
through the end of the month. Shows in
Asian markets are booked in February,
and the Rebel Heart tour will wrap in
March with a final swing through Australia
and New Zealand.
Two more veteran acts, Fleetwood
Mac and Elton John, follow Madonna on
the Hot Tours recap, earning Nos. 2 and 3
respectively with concert grosses reported
from Brisbane Entertainment Center
during their tour’s Australian legs late in
2015.
Fleetwood Mac’s On With the Show
tour ended with an Oceania run, wrapping
on Nov. 22 after stops in nine cities in New
Zealand and Australia. The Brisbane date
was a two-night sold out stint on Nov.
10 and 12 that grossed $3.1 million from
22,725 sold seats at the 13,500-seat arena.
Elton John took his 2015 All the Hits
tour for a final stretch through Asia
and Australia during November and
December after jaunts through North
American and Europe earlier in the year.
His Brisbane show on Dec. 8 drew a crowd
of 9,713 fans, generating $1.3 million in
box office revenue. The tour’s Aussie trek
ended on Dec. 19 in Sydney.
Justin Bieber’s
‘Sorry’ Breaks
No. 1 Record on
Billboard + Twitter
Top Tracks
BY TREVOR ANDERSON
It’s a lucky seven for Justin Bieber,
whose “Sorry” returns to No. 1 for a
seventh nonconsecutive week on the Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks chart dated
Jan. 30.
With the 4-1 move, “Sorry” claims
the longest running No. 1 in the chart’s
history, surpassing Bieber’s own six-week
run with his previous single, “What Do
You Mean?” (The still-young Billboard
+ Twitter Top Tracks chart launched on
June 14, 2014.)
Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks is a
weekly ranking of the most shared and/
or mentioned songs on Twitter in the U.S.,
ranked by the volume of shares over a
seven-day period (Monday to Sunday).
“Sorry’s” rebound to No. 1 coincides
with the track’s fifth week leading
theStreaming Songs chart, as it piled up
20.5 million U.S. streams for the week
ending Jan. 14, according to Nielsen
Music. As previously reported, the cut also
earns a second week ruling the Billboard
Hot 100.
Bieber also collected 992,000 Twitter
mentions for the week ending Jan. 17,
according to Next Big Sound. He remains
No. 1 on the Social 50 chart for a 28th
consecutive frame.
Bowie on the Rise: Elsewhere on
Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks, David
Bowierockets 26-3 with “Lazarus”
following the first full tracking week since
the rock legend died on Jan. 10. “Lazarus”
received special attention due to its music
video, released only three days before
Bowie’s death from cancer, and fans
picked up on symbolism placed in the clip.
The video shows Bowie in a dark hospital
room before ultimately receding into a
dark closet.
The official video sprinted to 6.8 million
U.S. views in the week ending Jan. 14,
according to Nielsen Music, helping the
song bow at No. 16 on the Streaming
Songs listing.
In addition, “Lazarus” also powered
Bowie to break the one-day artist
streaming record on Vevo on Jan. 11,
surpassing Adele’s previous benchmark.
Bowie’s catalog earned 51 million plays on
the platform that day, eclipsing Adele’s
former record of 36 million on Oct. 23,
2015.
“Lazarus” features on Bowie’s 25th
LP, Blackstar, which debuted at No. 1 on
theBillboard 200 this week – the late icon’s
first chart-topping set.
Ariana In Top Five ‘Again’:
Meanwhile, Nathan Sykes achieves
his first top 5 entry on the Billboard +
Twitter Top Tracks chart as “Over and
Over Again” re-enters at a No. 4 peak,
thanks to a reworking of the song with
new vocals from former girlfriend Ariana
Grande. The now-duet’s resurgence easily
bests the No. 35 peak of the original from
December.
With the cut’s comeback, Grande
obtains her ninth top five-charting song
on the survey, surpassing Taylor Swift for
the most by any female artist in the chart’s
history.
Ariana Grande’s Top Five-Charting
Hits on Billboard + Twitter Top Tracks:
Title — Peak Position, Weeks at Peak
Page 17 of 17
[In Brief]
“Problem” (featuring Iggy Azalea) – No.
1, two weeks
“Break Free” (featuring Zedd) – No. 1, one
week
“Bang Bang” (with Jessie J & Nicki Minaj)
– No. 2
“Best Mistake” (featuring Big Sean) – No.
2
“Love Me Harder” (with The Weeknd) –
No. 2
“Santa Tell Me” – No. 2
“One Last Time” – No. 1, two weeks
“Focus” – No. 3
“Over and Over Again” – (Nathan Sykes
featuring Grande), No. 4 (to date)
“Again” marks the second collaboration
between Sykes and Grande, following
“Almost Is Never Enough” from the
latter’s debut album, Yours Truly, in 2013.
As part of the vocal group The Wanted,
Sykes notched four entries on the Hot
100 , including the top 10 hit “Glad You
Came.”