Clarence Avant, Former Motown Chairman and ‘Godfather of Black Music,’ Dies at 92

 The "Godfather of Black Music," Clarence Avant, passed away at his Los Angeles home at the age of 92.

Leaving behind a loving family and friends who have changed the world and will continue to do so for generations to come. 

Avant managed artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Freddie Hubbard, and Bill Withers, as well as launching two record companies, Sussex and Tabu. He also played an instrumental role in the success of duos Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. 

 

Avant was the first African-American to serve on the International Management Board for PolyGram and was named the chairman of Motown in 1993. He was also known for his friendship with Quincy Jones and mentoring music industry figures such as Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Jon Platt. 

 Avant was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 and received numerous awards throughout his career. 

His legacy is marked by his tireless efforts to expand opportunities for executives of color and to support individuals on a personal level. Avant was the subject of the Netflix documentary "The Black Godfather" and is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Spotify had 44.4m US subscribers in February, Apple Music had 32.6m

Data point in the global music industry. This series is supported by Cinq Music Group, a technology-driven record label, distribution, and rights management company.

In Q1 2023, Spotify had a total of 210 million paying subscribers worldwide. This information was disclosed in the company's Q1 earnings results, which also revealed that Spotify added 5 million net premium subscribers during the quarter.

Recently, it was revealed that as of February 2023, Spotify had 44.4 million paying subscribers in the United States, the world's largest music market. This data was shared by David Israelite, CEO and President of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), during the association's annual meeting in New York.

Israelite mentioned that this was the first time the NMPA was able to determine the number of subscribers each platform had in the United States. He highlighted that Spotify's main competitor, Apple Music, had 32.6 million subscribers in the US during February, making it the second-largest subscription music service in the market. Apple Music has historically been secretive about its subscriber numbers, with the last official figure being 60 million global subscribers in June 2019, according to Apple.

Amazon Music was revealed to be the third-largest subscription music streaming service in the US with 29.3 million subscribers, according to Israelite. Amazon Music had previously disclosed that it had over 55 million customers globally, including both paying subscribers and trial users, in January 2020.

In addition to Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, other notable subscription music services in the US market mentioned by Israelite were YouTube with 8.5 million subscribers and Pandora with 2.4 million subscribers.

During the NMPA's annual meeting, Israelite also made a significant announcement regarding Apple Music and Amazon Music. He stated that despite raising their subscription prices, both services experienced subscriber growth instead of losing subscribers. This suggests that music is still undervalued in terms of pricing by digital music services, according to Israelite.

This news comes at a time when there are increasing calls for Spotify to raise its subscription prices. Spotify has not followed Apple Music and Amazon Music in raising the price of its $9.99 Premium tier in the US. However, there are reports that Spotify is preparing to launch a more expensive subscription tier in the US, which will offer HiFi audio quality and expanded access to audiobooks.

The Chemical Brothers share single ‘Live Again’

Foto: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

 

The Chemical Brothers have released a new single titled "Live Again" and have announced their first book "Paused In Cosmic Reflection". 

The single has been described as quintessential Chemical Brothers, with all the signature features of classic hits like "Hey Boy Hey Girl" and "Galvanise". 

French singer Halo Maud features prominently on the track. The song follows another recent single titled "No Reason". The duo's upcoming book, "Paused In Cosmic Reflection", will provide a comprehensive look at their 30-year career and creative process. 

It contains contributions from notable personalities such as Noel Gallagher, Beck, Beth Orton, and Wayne Coyne, among others. The book also features previously unseen photographs from the archives of The Chemical Brothers. 

The book is set to be released on October 28th, with pre-orders already available. The duo also performed live at this year's Glastonbury festival, with a show that impressed audiences. They are currently scheduled to perform at various locations across Europe, including a show at the O2 Arena in London.

Scooter Braun wanted to sell Taylor Swift her masters.

Taylor Swift's 'Big Machine' masters being sold from Scott Swift, the singer's father and a stockbroker at Merill Lynch, to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for $140 million in June 2019 and then to US-based financial firm Shamrock Capital in October 2020 for a total consideration of $405 million.

The investigation revealed that Braun is now almost certainly a billionaire, who made a $265 million profit on his purchase of Swift's first six albums. However, the most significant revelation was that in November 2019, Jay Schaudies, swift's manager at 13 Management, co-signed an NDA with Braun that granted Swift's team the opportunity to dig into the financials of Big Machine, assuming Swift could acquire her masters back from Braun.

Contrary to Swift's public allegations that she was asked to sign an "ironclad NDA" to never say anything negative about Braun and Ithaca, it appears, from a mid-May email from Schaudies to Braun, that Braun was open to selling the artist her masters back. Two "hard offers" were made by Braun to Schaudies, first in November 2019 offering to sell the masters of her six 'Big Machine' albums for USD 300 million, and the second in October 2020 offering to sell Swift's 'Big Machine' masters to the 13 Management for $305 million. However, Swift's ex-employee claimed that Taylor's ability to evaluate the opportunity for purchasing her catalog was conditioned on signing an NDA prohibiting her from speaking the truth about Scooter and the situation.

ROB CAGGIANO Comments On Leaving VOLBEAT

"Hello everyone. I'm sorry if this is a bit overdue but now that I've had ample time to process everything going on around me, I have a few things I'd like to say publicly…

"First off, I want to say thank you to everyone out there for all the amazing messages and support I've gotten over the last few days. It's been very powerful and humbling for me to say the least. It's reassurance that I'm on the right path and it means so much to me right now.

"To all the amazing fans and friends I've met all over the world throughout the years… I love and cherish each and every one of you. Thank you for sticking with me through hell or high water. The world seems to be getting weirder and weirder with each passing day and life never stops throwing twists and turns at us but you guys always keep me driven, focused and inspired to create music, follow my heart at all costs and chase my dreams wherever they may take me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

"I also want to wish Michael, Jon, Kaspar, (Anders too) and the entire Volbeat camp the best of luck moving forward. I'm extremely proud of everything we accomplished together over the last 10 years. Sometimes relationships simply run their course. Sometimes certain obstacles, people or circumstances get in the way of the greater good. Sometimes people change and priorities shift. Sometimes it's unavoidable. We had a very special undeniable magic together as a band. It's not something that comes around too often in this life and it's not something to be taken lightly. I certainly do not.

"However, while this is really a very emotional time for me I'm also extremely excited about what lies ahead in the future. Lots of exciting things happening right now. I really couldn't be more fired up!! Stay tuned."

Caggiano joined Volbeat in 2013 after spending over a decade in Anthrax. Volbeat has since announced guitarist Flemming C. Lund as their current live fill-in.

Snoop Dogg returns Death Row catalog

The music streaming services have recently welcomed back the Death Row Records catalog, which was previously taken down. 

Last year, rapper Snoop Dogg acquired the Death Row brand from MNRK Music Group, which included purchasing the label's recordings catalog. As a result, he decided to remove the Death Row catalog from streaming platforms.

 

Last year, Snoop Dogg acquired the Death Row brand and subsequently bought the label's catalog of recordings. 

He removed the Death Row catalog from streaming services but recently partnered with TikTok to make it available to stream exclusively on the app for a week. Snoop Dogg announced that the catalog would return to all streaming services on March 9. 

In the same week, it was revealed that former Apple Music Global Creative Director Larry Jackson's new $1 billion-backed company, gamma, had struck a deal with Snoop Dogg and the Death Row catalog. 

The partnership includes a long-term licensing agreement, which provides gamma with the exclusive worldwide rights to market and distribute the Death Row Records catalog. 

Distribution and services company Vydia, recently acquired by gamma, will distribute the music exclusively. Additionally, gamma will release two new albums from Snoop Dogg, and Death Row will become an active label again, with plans to sign new artists. The reintroduced catalog includes albums from Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and 2Pac. 

The partnership with TikTok provided a marketing opportunity, giving fans an opportunity to cut videos to classic songs from the catalog, resulting in millions of uses 

by//Media Tower