Merch Company SCP Owes Millions

Chris Eggertsen, writing for Billboard:

Illinois-based merch company SCP owes more than $4 million to over 300 clients including Mitski and Brent Faiyaz after abruptly shutting down operations last week, according to internal documents obtained by Billboard. And with plans to file for chapter 7 bankruptcy on Friday, it’s unlikely those clients will ever recover all the money they’re owed.
Some of SCP’s other clients included Father John Misty, Chappell Roan, T-Pain, Finneas, Brand New and Carly Rae Jepsen; record labels Loma Vista Recordings and Triple Crown Records; Pharrell Williams‘ Something in the Water music festival; and online content creators such as the Dungeons & Daddies podcast and YouTubers Team Edge.

SCP Merchandising Closes Down

Jason Tate 4 months ago

Billboard:

SCP Merchandising, an Illinois-based merch company used by artists including Mitski, Father John Misty and Carly Rae Jepsen, has shut down, according to a member of SCP leadership still on-site after the company laid off its staff over the weekend.
Based on accounts from multiple former SCP employees on LinkedIn, the company’s employees were abruptly laid off on Sunday evening (Dec. 17). The source tells Billboard that the company will most likely file for bankruptcy and that there is no process yet for clients to retrieve their merchandise, but that those with outstanding balances will not be able to do so until they pay those off with SCP or a potential bankruptcy trustee. They add that priority will be given to clients who have no balance due as well as those who are arranging for payment of unpaid bills.

When We Were Young Playlist

Jason Tate Jan 21, 2022

Craig Manning, yes the same one, writing at Billboard:

Announced earlier this week, the aptly named live music extravaganza will bring together 65 bands from across the emo/pop-punk/post-hardcore/metalcore galaxy, most of which found prominence in the early 2000s. The lineup, which includes all your favorites from My Chemical Romance to Avril Lavigne to Boys Like Girls to The Starting Line to Glassjaw, invites attendees to grab their iPods, don their skinny jeans and Warped Tour T-shirts, and step back about 20 years. […]
Whether you’re doing your homework to get prepped for the When We Were Young festival or just looking to lose yourself in sweet nostalgia for a few hours, consider this playlist the perfect way to ring in your weekend.

Check out the playlist on Spotify.

Jason Tate Mar 4, 2021

Billboard:

Streams of officially licensed music videos on Facebook, which were added to the social platform on Aug. 1, 2020, in the U.S., will soon be factored into the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200, Artist 100 and Billboard Global 200 charts, as well as all other charts that incorporate streaming data, it was announced Wednesday.
The changes will take effect with the charts dated March 27, reflecting sales and streams from March 12-18. Only data from officially licensed music videos will be factored in, with user-generated content excluded from the tallies. Facebook video plays are categorized as ad-supported on-demand streams and represent U.S.-based activity only. Within MRC Data’s Music Connect platform, Facebook videos will be included among On-Demand Video totals, with the data visible beginning with activity on March 5.

Well, at least Facebook’s never been in trouble for overstating video metrics before.

Remove

Billboard Announces New Chart Rules: No More Merch & Ticket Bundles

Jason Tate Jul 14, 2020

Chris Eggertsen, writing for Billboard:

Billboard is changing the rules to its Billboard 200, Hot 100 and other album and song charts. The announcement comes in an effort to rectify how sales are counted with respect to album bundles with merchandise and concert tickets, as well as instant digital sales attached to purchases for physical albums delivered at a later date. […]
Now, Billboard — in an acknowledgement that those measures have fallen short of the intended goal of accurately reflecting consumer intent — has decided to eliminate the practice of counting albums bundled with merchandise and concert tickets on its album and song charts altogether.

Billboard 200 to Include Official Video Plays From YouTube, Streaming Services

Jason Tate Dec 13, 2019

Billboard:

Video and audio data from YouTube, along with visual plays from several music streaming services, will soon be factored into the Billboard 200 albums chart, it was announced on Friday. In addition to YouTube, officially licensed video content plays from Apple, Spotify, Tidal and Vevo will be included in the album chart’s calculations.
The inclusion of video data into the Billboard 200 arrives five years after audio streams were added, marking the chart’s shift from a measure of pure sales to a consumption model. The addition of video will also impact Billboard’s genre album consumption charts, such as Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Latin and others.

Billboard Announces New Rules For Merchandise/Album Bundles

Jason Tate Nov 26, 2019

Colin Stutz, writing at Billboard:

Moving forward, in order for an album sale to be counted as part of a merchandise/album bundle, all the items in the bundle must also be available for purchase concurrently and individually on the same website. In addition, the merchandise item sold on its own will have to be priced lower than the bundle which includes both the merchandise and the album. Further, merchandise bundles can only be sold in an artist’s official direct-to-consumer web store and not via third-party sites.

Music Modernization Act Passes in Senate

Jason Tate Sep 19, 2018

Ed Christman, writing at Billboard:

The long road to copyright revision is nearing its end as the U.S. Senate passed the Music Modernization Act by unanimous consent Tuesday (Sept. 18). The move mimics the House’s unilateral support, previously passing the bill by a vote of 415-0 back in April.
With the Senate’s move, the legislation has been renamed the Orrin G. Hatch Music Modernization Act in honor of the Republican senior senator from Utah — a songwriter himself — who will retire at the end of his term this year.

Billboard Charts to Adjust Streaming Weighting in 2018

Jason Tate Oct 20, 2017

Billboard:

Beginning in 2018, plays occurring on paid subscription-based services (such as Amazon Music and Apple Music) or on the paid subscription tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported platforms (such as SoundCloud and Spotify) will be given more weight in chart calculations than those plays on pure ad-supported services (such as YouTube) or on the non-paid tiers of hybrid paid/ad-supported services.

Remove

Billboard Music Awards Announce 2017 Nominees

Jason Tate Apr 10, 2017

Billboard have announced their 2017 music award nominations:

Drake and The Chainsmokers lead the pack with 22 nods. Among those, Drake will compete for Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist. The Chainsmokers will also vie for Top Artist, as well as Top Duo/Group and Top 100 Artist.
Twenty One Pilots follows with 17 nominations, then Rihanna with 14, The Weeknd with 13 and Beyonce with 8.

U.S. Music Industry Sees First Double Digit Growth in Almost 20 Years

Jason Tate Mar 30, 2017

Billboard:

U.S. recorded music sales were up 11.4 percent in 2016. The industry brought in $7.65 billion in revenue, according to the RIAA, up from $6.87 million in 2015. Although the music business showed signs of a recovery at the half-year mark, the 2016 year-end results show more significant growth, led by streaming revenue.

Paid subscriptions are finally taking off in a real way.

Ed Sheeran Tops the Charts Again

Jason Tate Mar 20, 2017

Ed Sheeran is once again at the top of the charts this week:

A step below Sheeran on the new Billboard 200 is Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, which holds at No. 2 with 102,000 units (up 25 percent) and 100,000 in traditional album sales (up 26 percent). The set continues to profit largely from a concert ticket/album bundle sale redemption promotion with the act’s stadium tour that went on sale on Feb. 17.

U.S. Customs Officials Issue Travel Advisory After SXSW Artists Denied Entry Into U.S.

Jason Tate Mar 14, 2017

David Brooks, writing for Billboard:

At least seven artists hoping to play the annual South by Southwest music festival have been turned away at the U.S. border amid confusion over the type of visa needed to enter the country.
At issue is whether artists can perform at free showcase events like South by Southwest on a B-1 visitor visa, typically issued to tourists who aren’t legally allowed to work during their visit to the U.S. Most artists who enter the country for a tour do so on a performance visa (also known as P-1), but artists performing for free at showcase events like South by Southwest have used B-1 visitor visas in the past to enter the U.S.

Billboard to Add Pandora Streaming Data to Song Charts

Jason Tate Jan 30, 2017

Billboard has announced they will start adding in Pandora streaming data to their song charts:

Billboard and Pandora today (Jan. 30) announced an exclusive agreement that will add influential Pandora streaming data to the Billboard Hot 100, the world’s preeminent songs chart. The Hot 100 ranks the week’s most popular songs across all genres, determined by a formula blending track sales, radio airplay and streaming, as measured by Nielsen Music, now along with Pandora’s exclusive streaming data, as well.

Remove

Prince’s Estate Nearing Streaming Deals

Jason Tate Jan 30, 2017

Billboard is reporting that Prince’s catalog may becoming back to streaming services after the Grammys:

A likely scenario would see a TV commercial air during the Grammy broadcast following the tribute, which would announce that certain songs are immediately available on Spotify, Apple Music and possibly other services. The source tells Billboard that publishers, performing rights organizations and at least one label have been alerted to an impending deal.