Bill Werde

She didn’t write most if any of her hit songs. And she recorded for Jive-Zomba who had notoriously aggressive deals for their young artists. Hard for me to see how she would own many if any rights to actually sell.

Hah. I definitely appreciate the sentiment and the shout out. I’m not positive, but I think this one is actually a little different. I don’t think she actually sold them rights. I think she only sold them her future royalties for her artist share.

It is standard. Whatever artists want to sign away or sell is their business, literally and figuratively. But press releases full of talk about integrity and legacy protection reek of hypocrisy.

Spoken like a true Yankees fan 😂

But hey, UMG was estimated to have paid $145 million for the catalog. Once a deal like that is done, money needs to be made back. Id expect more of these uses in the future. And to iconic writers still holding onto your catalogs: sellers beware. Your music may be next to be sandwiched in bullshit.

The world has real problems, and I don’t think these uses are any of them. But… it’s just corny. These songs are the soundtracks to peoples’ lives. And now Sweet Caroline is rewritten as "Ham… touching ham…touching cheese…touching you.” It’s hard to argue uses like this aren’t legacy cheapening.

And just like Genesis and Concord, there were quotes from Diamond and several UMG execs about legacy, integrity, etc. I re-read to make sure but ultimately found nothing about sandwich spreads.

UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP ACQUIRES NEIL DIAMOND’S COMPLETE SONG CATALOG AND ALL MASTER RECORDINGS - UMG Worldwide Agreement Encompasses Global Hits Such As “Sweet Caroline,” “Red Red Wine,” “Solitary Man”, “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue,” “Love on the Rocks” and “America”. Deal unites legend’s iconi...

The Suoer Bowl ad that hurt my heart the most tho was Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” being interpolated/rewritten as “Sweet Sandwich Time” for a Hellman’s mayonnaise commercial. Diamond sold his entire catalog to Universal Music Group, also in 2022. www.universalmusic.com/universal-mu...

To say the least, these quotes from longtime Collins’ manager about trusting Concord to protect the legacy, and from Concord, about the importance of protecting the legacy, are suddenly aging poorly as of the last couple of hours.

Concord Acquires Musical Works and Recordings of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, Including Their Participation in the Genesis Catalogue - Concord - News Concord has purchased the publishing and recorded music catalogues of Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, as well as the publishing and recorded

Liquid IV used Phil Collins’ great “Against All Odds” ad the soundtrack for singing toilets. People are.. unimpressed. But Genesis, Collins et al sold a massive chunk of their catalog to Concord in 2002, including master and publishing rights for the song. concord.com/news/concord...

Questionable song licenses in commercials are nothing new; famously Sony licensed the Beatles anti-war anthem All You Need is Love to help sell Luvs diapers in 2007. But I do think this Super Bowl is a referendum on all the catalog sales the last few years. And tastelessness is winning.

Also: definitely an important and strategic choice to give Best New Artist so much airtime. New stars are the lifeblood of the biz and the Grammys have a role to play in creating them.

And while I didn’t think her performance tonight was above and beyond, Olivia Dean is just such a radiant, seemingly effortless star. Reminds me of young Whitney in a lot of powerful ways. #grammys

I didn’t go into the Grammys a particular fan of Lola Young. But she bodied that vocal performance during the Best New Artist segment. I thought Leon and Alex also really elevated themselves.

Public service announcement: www.saylaufey.com

I don’t agree with your politics but appreciate your participation here.

The right may or may not be watching — I wouldn’t completely assume one way or another. But all sides of the political spectrum are chattering about this today. And I think that’s a win for both SNL and Wallen. No one will stop watching SNL because of this. But some will be reminded it exists.

Your anger, however justified, does not change facts. Saying that no one is the south knows who Morgan Wallen is is absurd. He sells our arenas and stadiums in the South, and all over America, and is one of the top 2-3 streaming artists in likely every state in the south.

Some friends just want to be outraged at Wallen, but if that’s what you seek, you’ll find it on other accounts. I try to just analyze music biz news from a business perspective, objectively, without bias, agenda or clickbait. I hope that’s useful for you. Sign up for my email (in bio) if so.

Why is everyone a winner with the Wallen walk off? Wallen shared “Get me to God’s country” on his IG story shortly after, presumably away from the (in his world) godless liberals of NYC & SNL & earns major love from his base. SNL enjoys everyone buzzing & sharing SNL clips for 24 hours. No loser.

During that time, the only artist who outperforms Wallen is Swift, who’s been the inarguable Biggest Artist in the World during that period. Drake is about even with Wallen but Wallen is trending up & Drake is trending, well, Kendricked. He has been 4th the last 2 years; Wallen has been 2nd.

Top Artists Ranking is based on an artist's chart performance on the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard 200 and Boxscore touring revenue.

Here is Wallen’s placement the last four years on Bilboard’s year-end artist chart, which is primarily a streaming+touring equation:
2021: 5th
2022: 5th
2023: 2nd
2024: 2nd

www.billboard.com/charts/year-... #music

I see a lot of “why did SNL even book him?” in response to Morgan Wallen abruptly walking off stage after last night’s show. The answer is simple: he’s one of the most popular artists in America and has been for at least 4 years. This is a ratings no-brainer, and it ends up a win for all involved.

Honestly struggling with social media in these times. How do I post about the music business, while still urgently communicating that like, trans rights are human rights, climate change is real, DEI doesn’t cause plane crashes, Nazis should be punched in the face, etc. Anyone else feeling this?

People want to know who Kendrick is bringing out at halftime. I want to know what he’s going to say to Donald Trump.

Probably my favorite Madonna album. Producer William Orbit did such an amazing job of synthesizing all of the electronic sounds that were exploding in music at that time, and turning them into something that was both poignant and pop.

Madonna’s become a bit of a caricature the past decade or so. Loved going back to listen & be reminded how much incredible music she released, and how important it was to so many people. Not in order:

Crazy for You
What it Feels like for a Girl
The Power of Good-bye
Live to Tell
Ray of Light

I had so many technical issues trying to create an account and log in to Hangout that I literally gave up and deleted the app.

I’m at 799 followers. Would love to get that to a round number. Any 99,201 of you want to jump on?

Also, for the love of god, can we stop giving rock Grammys to undeniably iconic but also undeniably irrelevant-to-contemporary-music acts? Idylls had the best rock album last year, period. They lost in once category to the Beatles and in their other to The Stones. Cmon.