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Sour Note: Hipgnosis Songs Stock Price Drop Continues, Quarterly Dividend Cut as Board, Company, Face Shareholder Fate, Possible Asset Sell Off in 10 Days

Roger Friedman
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Sour Note: Hipgnosis Songs Stock Price Drop Continues, Quarterly Dividend Cut as Board, Company, Face Shareholder Fate, Possible Asset Sell Off in 10 Days

TUESDAY AM: Hipgnosis Song Fund stock in the UK is at 66.70. On October 13th, it was at 74.00. On September 12, the price on the London Stock Exchange was as high as 94.00.

MONDAY: For the last few years we’ve had headline after headline about rock stars selling their song catalogs for millions. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, members of Fleetwood Mac have all been in the mix for figures from $300 million to $500 million. Even whippersnapper Justin Bieber cashed out.

Some of the catalogs were sold to solid music publishers like Universal, Sony, or Warners. But many were sold to a fund called Hipgnosis, run by Merck Mercuriadis, and bankrolled in part by Blackstone Group.

Hipgnosis Song Fund stock is dropping quickly. This was because the company announced they would not be paying dividends this quarter. What made the stock price drop? Hipgnosis announced today that “Citrin Cooperman, the Company’s Independent Portfolio Valuer, has materially reduced its expectations of industry-wide retroactive payments.” In layman’s terms, the thousands of songs now owned by Hipgnosis are not monetizing as promised.

Last month, Hipgnosis announced that they were proposing to sell off $465 million worth of the catalogs they bought — something no artist envisioned. They thought their publishing and/or masters were going just to Hipgnosis. If stockholders approve this at a meeting on October 26th, it could mean the end of the company and maybe the end of Mercuriadis. Maybe.

The “maybe” is because Hipgnosis is really two companies. One is the publicly traded entity, the other is a management company owned by Blackstone and run by Mercuriadis. Even if stockholders decide to sell off the assets, Blackstone could buy it and put Mercuriadis in charge. And what’s not discussed is that Mercuriadis himself has the right to find other investors and buy the catalogs.

Mercuriadis is a survivor, so no one should count him out. But this is a perilous moment. Hipgnosis’s artists include all stars like Manilow, Neil Young, Carole Bayer Sager, Journey, Lindsay Buckingham, Chrissie Hynde, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Stewart and his Eurythmics songs. These people have all their money already, but now Hipgnosis has to make the money back.

Among the assets they’ve proposed selling, the biggest is probably Barry Manilow — who, ironically, is opening a Broadway show this Thursday. Manilow, for example, could wake up soon to find his part of songs like “Copacabana,” “Daybreak,” “Even Now,” “I Made it Through the Rain” sold off to new proprietors.

One Manilow song that’s safe: “I Write the Songs.” Manilow didn’t write it. Someone else owns it.

Stay tuned…

Kanye West Threatening to Release New Album Despite His Outspoken Antisemitism: Read the Room

Roger Friedman
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Kanye West Threatening to Release New Album Despite His Outspoken Antisemitism: Read the Room

Kanye West is shopping a new album to distributors. He’s made it with rapper Ty Dollar $ign.

Kanye cannot read the room, as they say. He’s an unrepentant antisemite who’s made so many anti-Jewish comments that he lost his businesses with Adidas and Balenciaga.

Billboard says all the major labels, including West’s previous business partner Universal Music, have declined this opportunity. West would have to self-distribute through a company like DistroKid, but why would they take on that kind of bad press? He’s also a pariah on social media.

Considering the current world situation, a new record from a publicly proud antisemite wouldn’t seem like a smart business move. The record can’t be promoted on TV or radio — no show will take it. West is finished as an ‘artist,” frankly. Anyone who gives him an advance is not playing with a full deck,

UPDATE: Taylor Swift US Box Office Revised Down to $92.8 Million, Still Highest Grossing Concert Film

Roger Friedman
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UPDATE: Taylor Swift US Box Office Revised Down to $92.8 Million, Still Highest Grossing Concert Film

Yesterday, box office guesses for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie put it between $95 million and $97 million.

AMC now says the total for Thursday through Sunday was $92.8 million.

“The Eras Tour” is still the highest grossing concert movie ever, beating Justin Bieber’s tour film by $20 million.

“Eras” is not the highest grossing music film of all time. That would be Michael Jackson’s “This is It.”

“Eras” won’t return to the box office lists until Friday, when we get Thursday numbers. There are no shows today through Wednesday so the fans can get their homework done. Not kidding.

Model Gigi Hadid Triggers Criticism from Israel Over Pro-Palestinian Post While Boyfriend Bradley Cooper Releases Movie About Famous Jewish Composer

Roger Friedman
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Model Gigi Hadid Triggers Criticism from Israel Over Pro-Palestinian Post While Boyfriend Bradley Cooper Releases Movie About Famous Jewish Composer

War makes for strange bedfellows.

According to the tabloids, Bradley Cooper is dating model Gigi Hadid now that she’s aged out of Leonardo DiCaprio’s demographic.

Cooper is about to release “Maestro,” about the very Jewish composer Leonard Bernstein. He stars in it and directs the film, which is thought to be in the Oscar race from Netflix.

Hadid works for Louis Vuitton, which is owned by LVMH, a French company owned now by Jews, ironically.

Yet Hadid is now the first celebrity to be denounced by the State of Israel on their Instagram page. She is half Palestinian and half Dutch, according to Wikipedia.

Hadid wrote: “There is nothing Jewish about the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians. Condemning the Israeli government is not antisemitic and supporting Palestinians is not supporting Hamas.”

Leonard Bernstein, who was quite political and vociferously Jewish, is rolling in his grave.

The State of Israel responded: “Have you been sleeping the past week? Or are you just fine turning a blind eye to Jewish babies being butchered in their homes? Your silence has been very clear about where you stand. We see you.”

Israel offered her a rewrite: “There is nothing valiant about Hamas’ massacre of Israelis. Condemning Hamas for what it is (ISIS) is not anti-Palestine and supporting Israelis in their fight against barbaric terrorists is the right thing to do.”

Hadid scrambled to right her situation. She quickly added in another post, in part: “I have deep empathy and heartbreak for the Palestinian struggle and life under occupation, it’s a responsibility I hold daily. I also feel a responsibility to my Jewish friends to make it clear, as I have before: While I have hopes and dreams for Palestinians, none of them include the harm of a Jewish person. The terrorizing of innocent people is not in alignment with and does not do any good for the ‘Free Palestine’ movement.”

But the damage is done. We will not be seeing her at “Maestro” events, that’s for sure.

Taylor Swift’s Movie Sends 30 Singles onto iTunes Top 100, “Cruel Summer” is Number 1

Roger Friedman
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Taylor Swift’s Movie Sends 30 Singles onto iTunes Top 100, “Cruel Summer” is Number 1

As you are all too well are, Taylor Swift’s concert movie made $94 million over the weekend. Swift appeared on “SNL” with boyfriend Travis Kelce after appearing at his football game on Thursday.

The result of all this is that Swift currently has 30 of the top 100 singles on iTunes. “Cruel Summer,” a rip off of the Banarama title of a much better song, is number one. It was released in 2019.

The rest of the 20 other songs don’t matter. They are interchangeable to adults. To tweens, they mean everything. But they are bland songs, mostly the same musically, and a far cry from the female singer songwriters of the past.

Swift also 15 of the top 100 albums including “Lover,” also from 2019, at number 1.

A bigger question is, What has happened to the record business? Why is there room for 30 tracks by the same person? Are there any other acts out there? Why is radio so much more narrow than it was than the last 20 years when it was already incredibly narrow?

The only album to sell more than 79,000 copies last week was Drake’s new “For All the Dogs.”

It’s time for a new way to mark the top 100.

Review: “Frasier” is the Worst Reboot of a Beloved TV Show Since the Disastrous “Murphy Brown”

Roger Friedman
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Review: “Frasier” is the Worst Reboot of a Beloved TV Show Since the Disastrous “Murphy Brown”

The new “Frasier” on Paramount Plus is the worst reboot of a TV show since the disastrous revival of “Murphy Brown.”

I eyed it warily last week. Then yesterday I watched the first two episodes. I wish I could unsee them.

Kelsey Grammer is back as Dr. Frasier Crane, pompous and effete as ever. Grammer still has ‘it’, and know the character so well it’s a pleasure to see him return.

But the setting is all wrong. The premise and characters are cockeyed. The whole thing is painful.

In Seattle, Frasier could be as out of proportion as he liked because he was installed in an apartment with his family. Even though Niles, his brother, was just like him, their dad, Martin, was grounded. So were the people at the radio station, like Roz, his producer.

All of those characters are gone as Frasier has moved back to Boston, real mistake. The Cheers bar is around the corner, but he’s ignoring it despite being there every day for a decade. What?

Frasier and Lilith’s son, Freddie is now in his 30s and a firefighter after dropping out of Harvard. He, like his cousin David (Niles and Daphne’s son) is a stock character dullard who delivers brainless one liners from the sitcom playbook. These boys are a disappointment. Their parents were so smart and glib with natural panache. The progeny are one dimensional.

A radio and TV personality, Frasier now goes to teach at Harvard. His office is a windowless room that he shares with an older, British colleague who should have been a cameo. The set up so far is limited and laughless. The colleague, and a Black woman dean, are forced into the show for no reason. Did anyone think this through?

In the new scenario, Freddie has been living with a pal’s widow and their annoying, crying baby. Frasier moves in across the hall (ok, this made the least sense of all — Frasier is rich, is he bunking in a walk up?), invites Freddie the dolt to join him. Fraser is speaking in French, making obscure references that fall flat, and no one cares. At least Niles got it, and Daphne pretended to. Freddie just wants to lift weights, drink beer, and get laid. And he’s supposed to be the son of Frasier and Lilith! Ridiculous!

I’m not watching any more, not even hate watching. The real “Frasier” was like a Swiss watch with perfect 17 jewel movement. It was genius and only got better and better. This is like one of those knock off watches I saw once in the Moscow Underground. It looked good, but inside it was junk.

Also, the laugh track sounds like people from an insane asylum.

Just a thought but Grammer would have been better bringing the original cast to Broadway in a musical. Without David Hyde Pierce and Jane Leeves and Perri Gilpin, you can’t do this.

Exclusive: Sting, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana Join Narada Michael Walden for Super Secret All Star Single

Roger Friedman
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Exclusive: Sting, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana Join Narada Michael Walden for Super Secret All Star Single

Back in 2007, superstar producer Narada Michael Walden — famous for working with Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey — had a brilliant idea. He wrote and recorded a jubilant song called “The More I Love My Life.” Like the songs Walden wrote for Mariah and Whitney, you can’t get it out of your head after the first listen.

Walden’s famous music pals liked it so much they offered to add their talents to it. Sting contributed vocals, Stevie Wonder went to town on his harmonica, and Carlos Santana wailed away on the guitar.

The result was a secretly made all star single that would have gone to number 1.

And then, nothing happened. The single languished as everyone went on to other projects.

Now, Walden says, the single is coming out. It’s part of his new album, called “Euphoria,” available on November 17th.

For the occasion, “The More I Love My Life” has been remixed and sounds more exciting than ever. Sting’s vocal, especially, is stunning. I guess timing is everything.

Narada (pronounced Narda, which means a sage or traveling storyteller in Sanskrit), explains the recording process:

“Sting was the first one to record his parts on The More I love MY life, second verse and choruses! WOW what a sound he brought with his voice and harmony for the chorus. I’m forever grateful to my brother Sting. We have done over 13 Rainforest concerts together so to record together was the BOMB !  Legendary Carlos Santana was next to add his golden guitar solo and back and forth with Stevie on the ending. Carlos inspired me to listen to the artist Ishmael Lo from Africa where I found the origins of the song. Carlos plays some of best guitar here on this recording, REALLY PEAKING! 

“Last to record at Capital studios was the legend himself Stevland Morris the GREAT, Stevie WONDER. He broke out the right harmonica for the key of the song and added the touches you hear. However the soloing on the ending he really got into as he reacted to what Carlos had previously put down in grand fashion. Stevie played some of his most AMAZING EVER Harmonica in history on this recording… And he was well pleased on the playbacks. For me it’s a dream come true to have these Champions on the same track.”

Stay tuned…we’ll have a snippet shortly…

It’s Starting Again: Madonna Starts Second Show at O2 Arena Late, Gets Six Songs Cut off at End Because of Curfew

Roger Friedman
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It’s Starting Again: Madonna Starts Second Show at O2 Arena Late, Gets Six Songs Cut off at End Because of Curfew

Last night at the O2 Arena Madonna started late and got cut off at the of her second show.

The word put out was that the O2 had electrical problems so Madonna began her Celebration show at least a half an hour late.

But Madonna is famous for not making start times. On her last tour, if she made it within an hour the audience was lucky.

London and the O2 have a curfew, however. And so at 11pm, they pulled the plug on Madame X. Fans say four or five songs were missing after the abrupt ending.

That’s not good since the fans are paying thousands of bucks to see Madonna. They want the whole show.

As it is, they’re seeing a show that has pre-recorded vocals and a star who spends a lot of time sitting in chairs while performing her songs. Videos show the very clever direction in which Madonna — who moves slowly and needs rests — is surrounded by a lot of pyrotechnics and young dancers who crowd around her.

Well, she’s 65, and in better shape than most people that age. But what she’s attempting may be an over estimation of what the body can do.

The time thing is more pressing, however. Madonna’s predilection for arriving at the venue late and taking her time is going to turn off audiences on the Celebration tour.

Someone has to tell her, this is the way divas behaved in her heyday. Nowadays, acts like Taylor Swift and Pink start on time and have few if any malfunctions.

RIP Rudy Isley, 84, of the Isley Brothers, 60s Hits “This Old Heart of Mine,” “Twist and Shout” Led to Unprecedented Rock and Soul

Roger Friedman
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RIP Rudy Isley, 84, of the Isley Brothers, 60s Hits “This Old Heart of Mine,” “Twist and Shout” Led to Unprecedented Rock and Soul

Rudolph Isley died over the week. He and his brothers Ernie and Ronnie, and O’Kelly, were soul and rock pioneers in the 60s and 70s and keep going even today.

Rudy was 84 and died of natural causes, according to his brothers.

The Isley Brothers were famous first for two singles that became pop-rock-soul classics with similar titles: “Shout” and “Twist and Shout.” The former was featured 15 years after its release in the movie, “Animal House.” The latter became an even bigger hit by the Beatles, and then the Beatles’ version was a hit in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

But the Isleys didn’t stop there. They made a brief stop at Motown and recorded “This Old Heart of Mine (Been Broke a Thousand Times)” which has been covered many times including by Rod Stewart.

The left Motown and developed a funky sound immediately with “It’s Your Thing.” But it was 1973 when they hit their stride with “Who’s That Lady”? The A side was part 1 and B side was part 2. The full length album version is masterpiece of funk, soul, and rock, with the Isleys’ searing guitars rivaling anything by Santana, Clapton, or Harrison.

Just to show their range, the Isleys covered “Summer Breeze” by Seals and Crofts, and it’s one of the great R&B records of all time.

Not long after came “Fight the Power,” in 1975, a funk record of rebellion that Public Enemy later turned into their own hit at the start of rap. But it’s based on the Isleys’ song. That album also featured one of the great slow R&B mid tempo love songs, “For the Love of You.” Whitney Houston later recorded it and had a hit.

The Isleys have had a lots of legal problems. They were scrappy, not smooth like a Motown or Stax group. I think they kind of frightened the rest of the R&B world. They were tough. But I hung out with them this past winter at the Musicares dinner, where they performed “This Old Heart of Mine,” and they were still wearing their shiny gold and silver 70s futuristic suits, and playing their hearts out. It’s their thing.

RIP Rudolph Isley.

NYC Monday October 16th: Art Scene Pops with Annual MVVO Ad Art Show at Brooklyn’s Hip Hip Hip Powerhouse Arts

Roger Friedman
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NYC Monday October 16th: Art Scene Pops with Annual MVVO Ad Art Show at Brooklyn’s Hip Hip Hip Powerhouse Arts

Since its launch at Sotheby’s in 2018, the MvVO ART/AD ART SHOW has been instrumental in acquainting art enthusiasts, collectors, curators, gallerists, and critics with the skilled fine artists hailing from the advertising sector.

Curated by a panel of contemporary art experts, participants are selected annually, with collector-driven jury panels determining prize recipients. MvVO ART continues to provide unwavering support to featured artists, offering a dedicated Artsy gallery page for art purchase.

Monday at Brooklyn’s Powerhouse, dozens of fine artists including Don Hershman — who just had a sold out show at the Salomon Gallery in Tribeca — will be exhibiting their work.

This unique showcase will take place at Powerhouse Arts (PHA), a not-for-profit organization committed to creative expression. Powerhouse is in the achingly hip Gowanus neighborhood at 322 Third Avenue. (Just give the Uber driver the address.)

Powerhouse hosts an extended network of art and fabrication professionals and educators who work together to co-create and share artistic practices vital to the well-being of artists and the communities to which they belong. As spotlighted by The New York Times, Powerhouse Arts symbolizes the rebirth of ‘Brooklyn’s Batcave’ into a modern artistic haven.

The AD ART SHOW was founded with the intention of bridging the artistic disciplines of fine art and advertising. Drawing inspiration from artists like Andy Warhol and Edward Hopper, whose roots in commercial art informed a pioneering career in the fine art market, the AD ART SHOW seeks to celebrate the practices of artists working in the commercial advertising industry, offering a new lens by which to appreciate their practice. The AD ART SHOW 2023 showcases today’s artists treading similar paths and beginning to carve their niche in the annals of art history.

Maria van Vlodrop, Founder of MvVO ART/AD ART SHOW, stated, “The bridge between art and advertising has been both historical and impactful. At AD ART SHOW 2023, we’re unveiling the next wave of artists poised to leave their mark.”

Eric Shiner, Powerhouse Arts’ President and former Director of the Andy Warhol Museum, shared, “Our collaboration with MvVO ART embodies the dynamism of the contemporary art scene and the sophistication with which artists can apply their artistic viewpoint to various audiences and markets. Powerhouse Arts is thrilled to be part of this celebration of emerging talent and the connoisseurship of broad definitions of art.”

Nicole Purcell, CEO of the Clio Awards, noted, “Our collaboration with the AD ART SHOW is both a celebration of creativity and a recognition of the artistic talent working within the world of advertising.”

The crowning moment will see a standout artist receiving the esteemed Clio Award. Beyond this honor, the top ten artists will be showcased on OUTFRONT billboards nationally, throughout the U.S., with the top three displayed in Times Square.

“We are thrilled to be partnered with MvVO ART/AD ART SHOW in celebrating and showcasing winning industry artists,” said Liz Rave, Vice President, Marketing at OUTFRONT Media. “Creative is the key ingredient in effective out-of-home, and at OUTFRONT our leadership and commitment to excellence in creative is unparalleled.”

“We’d like to express our gratitude to OUTFRONT Media for their generous contribution and support, as well as our other lead partners and sponsors including The Clio Awards, TIME, Google Pixel, Tik Tok, Grey Advertising, WPP, Omnicom and EMS Group Fine Art Services . We are proud supporters of Franklin Furnace and Artistic Dreams International” said MvVO’s Maria van Vlodrop.

For a firsthand experience of this unique art presentation, reserve tickets online in advance. At the VIP Reception on Monday, October 16th there will be a special LIVE performance by ARKAI music, along with drinks and light bites.

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