update: The Hollywood Reporter says Idina Menzel and J Balvin have also decamped from Braun’s management.
EARLIER The record business is fickle, and so is the audience. Back in the 70s and early 80s, superstars were born because they released a lot of music in a concentrated time, hitting generations of high schoolers who remained nostalgic for their hits.
But the new generations of pop stars take five, six, seven years to release new music — and then the fans have moved on.
Demi Lovato must be feeling the pain. Once a top seller, her last album — titled “Holy Fvck” — has sold just over 300,000 equivalent copies. But just the CDs and downloads came to 123,000. That’s not enough to sustain any lifestyle.
Yesterday, Lovato left her manager, Scooter Braun. Holy fvck indeed! Their time together has not produced any hits. (Of course, that album title is maybe one of the worst ideas in history!)
Justin Bieber may have left Braun as well. He has his own problems. Bieber hasn’t released a new album since “Justice” in 2021. He occasionally is featured on other artists’ songs, and in some cases – – like his own song, “Peaches” — he’s among the featured artists.
This year, Bieber has sold just 10,000 CDs and downloads. His streaming numbers are still high– his sales equivalent, according to Luminate, is 800,000 so far this year. But without touring — and Bieber may be off the road for good — no money is coming in. He may be blaming Braun and looking now to see how much money he’s got after a decade of working hard.
Braun’s imminent collapse as a power in the industry may be coming as his own hubris has rocketed. His Instagram page is not full of pictures of artists. It’s him, on private planes, helicopters, jet skis, and boats at posh parties in exotic locales, having a great time.
The artists, with falling sales and diminished incomes, are most certainly asking questions. Braun is promoting himself, not the acts who depended on him.
Without Lovato, Grande, and certainly Bieber, Braun’s SB Projects is left with a lot of B and C acts, not the kind that can fund a lavish lifestyle. The one act Braun has made the most off of is Bieber, although even may be asking questions since he’s only 29 and giving off the vibe of a has-been.
Stay tuned…
