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This week we have lots of industry deals and new initiatives, including SeatlabNFT’s new ticketing tech, GIGCO’s song-version of NFTs, and Apple’s acquisition of an AI that can generate music based on your activity. And we have all the details on how you can get a job with ASM Global.

Credit: Screenshot / Houston TVSpecial Events Task ForceFollowing the Astroworld tragedy, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner joined forces with the Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia to create the Houston-Harris Special Events Task Force. With the city’s recent significant growth in events and shows, the task force will improve communication, protocols, and permitting requests.

Colorado Benefit Concert AEG Presents Rocky Mountains chairman emeritus, Chuck Morris, along with other community figures and Colorado-based, Nathaniel Rateliff, are planning a virtual benefit concert to assist victims of the devastating Marshall Fire of December 2021. The pre-recorded show will be streamed on February 28, with the money raised going to support fire victims.

LN NewsOn February 3, an LA federal judge ruled that Live Nation’s insurance company, Factory Mutual Insurance Co., may need to pay for the losses resulting from Covid shutdowns, including, allegedly, over 10,000 canceled or postponed shows. This comes one year after LN sued the insurer after they refused to cover LN’s Covid-related losses.

Aid DenialThe Studio Theatre of Little Rock, Arkansas, recently learned that their denial for aid through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program (SVOG) has been overturned. SVOG is a $16 billion fund created to sustain the live entertainment and arts industries, and while it has been supporting many businesses, it has also caused an outcry from denying others aid.

Ticketmaster Teams UpTicketmaster is teaming up with experiences-tech company Redeam to encourage travelers to purchase tickets for events when booking trips on travel websites. The partnership will include special promotions and packages for travelers to combine with other experiences when booking a trip.

AI Music Apple Inc. recently acquired the startup AI Music, which generates tailor-made music via artificial intelligence. This tech could be used for anything from video games to exercise, holding significance as one of Apple’s few acquisitions in the past year. 

New Music Platform 🚨Emerging from Solana, is the new music platform GIGCO, which enables artists to take autonomy of their music, gigs, tickets, merch, and NFTs. Using a variety of strategies, including the creation of NFS (non-fungible songs), the platform aims to give artists creative ownership in the music industry.

More NFT NewsIn more NFT news, SeatlabNFT has created an NFT-powered event ticketing system allowing artists and event organizers to prevent counterfeiting. Using blockchain technology and smart contracts, the startup can track tickets and mitigate the impact of scalping.

UK Partners UK-based Cutting Edge Music Holdings partnered with investment firm Blantyre Capital last month, acquiring music publishing rights from composers who write scores for film and TV. And Multimedia Music, a firm based in London and LA, has announced their first catalog deal that includes the rights to music from films that have made over $15 billion at the box office.

Sony's Acquisition  Sony Music’s $430 million acquisition deal with AWAL and its neighboring rights businesses Kobalt has been “provisionally” approved by the UK’s Competition and Markets authority, who expressed concerns regarding AWAL’s transition from the independent sector (Kobalt) to the major-label sector (Sony). 

 Insomniac is looking for a Night Owl Transportation/Logistics Coordinator in Las Vegas to provide leadership in coordinating large-scale transportation needs.  C3 Presents is hiring a Festival Brand Manager in Austin, TX to manage the music festival brand identity through various events’ official social media channels.

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Credit: Getty Images for Live NationArtist Updates

At a recent Atlanta concert on her Happier Than Ever tour, Billie Eilish stopped the show for a distressed audience member until security was able to help with an inhaler. As the crowd waited, Eilish helped soothe anxieties for the rest of the audience, even walking them through a breathing exercise before continuing. In the wake of the Astroworld Tragedy, it is more important than ever for performers to maintain a raised awareness for their audiences’ safety - a task that Eilish is clearly taking very seriously. Following these events, Kanye West shared a screenshot of Eilish helping the distressed fan, claiming that she “dissed” Travis Scott. West went on to say that before he performs at Coachella, he needs Eilish to apologize to Scott. Eilish then commented on the post, “Literally never said a thing about travis. was just helping a fan.” Later, a fan commented that West’s post about Eilish shows that West is “off his meds,” a comment which West took offense to and publicized on his Instagram. “Lets [sic] be more conscious and not write each other off so easily,” he wrote. 

Due to border issues, KISS have announced that the Australian leg of their “End of the Road” tour has been postponed until August / September. The tour, which was scheduled to begin in late March, has had multiple adjustments, and was originally set for 2019.

Next to join the metaverse are the Foo Fighters and PinkPantheress. On Super Bowl Sunday, the Foo hosted a virtual reality concert, using Facebook, Instagram and the Horizon Venues App to livestream. “Attendees” with the Meta Quest headset were able to experience a front row, 180-degree VR experience, with customized avatars, fan interactions, and virtual games. In the show, the Foo Fighters perform rarely played tracks and fan favorites. As for PinkPantheress, the rising TikTok singer hosted a virtual concert experience on February 11 for The Brit Awards’ first virtual VIP Party, taking place in Roblox. In collaboration with metaverse studio producer Dubit, PinkPantheress performed as an avatar at an underground London venue, featuring scavenger hunts, merch, and more. 

Industry Stats

The Music Business Worldwide (MBW) Review has been released, reporting that Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, and Warner Music Group have amassed a combined $20 billion this past year, which is the equivalent of about $2.3 million every hour. They did this without counting Universal Music Group’s calendar Q4 2021 earnings, which will be revealed next month. MBW expects they will earn $2.5-3 billion for their Q4 earnings. More stats and charts are explained in this article. As for Warner Music, they have set a record in their fiscal first quarter for quarterly revenue with $1.614 billion. This revenue can be attributed to major sellers including Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, and Dua Lipa, a 31% increase in publishing revenue, 19% in recorded music, and 21% in digital revenue. Total streaming revenue increased by 22.8%, and operating income was $239 million this quarter, as compared to the prior-year quarter at $196 million. 

On a different note, Eventbrite experienced a net loss of $139 million this past year, despite a surge of revenue. The group says they generated a quarterly net revenue of $59.6 million, which, compared to last year is a 124% ticket increase, but over $20 million less than their Q4 earnings for 2019. Paid ticket volume increased by 101%, with both supply and demand for live events improving from last year. Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz said, “We supported a surge in demand for live events while delivering meaningful improvements for creators who rely upon our self-service platform.”

This week's spotlight is on ... ASM Global 🔦

From February 15-17, ASM Global has planned an international, three-day “collaborative job fair.” Coming in the midst of staffing shortages due to Covid, this initiative is aiming to overcome these shortages by identifying new talent within the live entertainment industry and expanding the company’s reach throughout local areas. The job fair will provide for a wide range of roles, such as operations, business development, marketing, security, catering, and more. The fair will take place in North and Latin America on February 15-16, the UK February 16-17, and the Asian-Pacific region February 16-17. 

 Learn about the latest strategies for brand activations in major events, including the Super Bowl LVI. Read about music industry legend Jimmy Iovine’s most recent project, an art-meets-music exhibit at the LACMA. 

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