MBW has written plenty about ‘minimum revenue guarantees’ from streaming services to labels over the past year – much of it regarding regarding how much of these one-off payments end up in the pocket of artists. Well… words are nice, but numbers are nicer….

New York City’s Avatar Studios, also known as The Power Station, is going up for sale, sources with knowledge of the plans tell Billboard. The news is expected to be announced in the coming days. A rep for the building says Avatar is not currently on the market. …

Beyond the 40 Under 40: These rising stars deserve recognition for their significant professional promise. This year’s Rising Stars were chosen by Billboard editors from more than 500 nominations submitted to Billboard.biz. Executives were judged on business impact, audience, market share and the chart and/or touring performance of clients during the past 12 months, as measured by…

Disclaimer: This is not an attempt at Onion-esque humor. This is real. Pope Francis is releasing an album of prog-rock-ish music called Wake Up! on Nov. 27 in collaboration with producer and “artistic director” Don Giulio Neroni. Yes, for real. Shortly after the Catholic Church honcho called for serious attention to the environment and an end to capitalistic exploitation at the United…

Drake has responded to claims made during the summer that some of his lyrics are written by ghostwriters. Fellow rapper Meek Mill originally made the allegations on Twitter, claiming that Drake used a ghostwriter for his guest verse on the star’s recent LP. The claims led to the pair exchanging diss tracks and barbed jibes over…

Here online radio trail blazer Ari Shohat looks at why unlimited catalogs can be bad for digital music, and why a limited amount of content curated by people rather than algorithms is important to creating a positive listening experience for the user….

New York’s Harlem neighborhood will be the home to the new Hip Hop Hall of Fame + Museum, which is set to open its offices on 125th St. The office space will include a classroom and broadcast studio for the non-profit Museum & Educational Institutions programs and classes being designed for local youth under its Hip Hop…

Ticket marketplace StubHub today announced the hottest concerts of the fall season, as determined by sales and demand of its 16 monthly million visitors. The list is bookended by Taylor Swift and Janet Jackson….

Paul Morris admits that when he founded his AM Only booking agency out of the back of New York’s Breakbeat Science record shop in 1996, he didn’t foresee dance music’s explosive boom in popularity. “I’d like to say that I saw where this would go over the next 20 years and where I would be today,” says the…

Twenty-five years ago, construction began on the foundation of Russia’s music industry. Up to that point, nothing resembling a proper music industry had formed under communist rule; music is ideology, and there was no room for competition on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Today, as Russia’s particular form of capitalism reigns, ideology has…