General Billboard Discussion

[Deleted]

Never heard of this artist named "Billboard" ???

[Deleted]

Billboard "TBD"


Cool name for a thread topic

[Rodze]

Announcement of announcement.

[Au$tin]

... Wut? ...

[Caviar]

wtf?

[josh]

I don't get it.

[Quixotic Music Lover]

I think "Adonis" is hinting that the announcement Billboard made yesterday (see his post) has a lot more to it then what the official press release is saying.

[Kurt]

In case you haven't already heard, Bill Werde is out as Editorial Director, replaced by The Hollywood Reporter's Janice Min.

www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/business/media/new-leader-at-billboard-sees-future-in-visuals.html?_r=0

Janice Min, who gave The Hollywood Reporter a renewed relevance by transforming the daily trade paper into a much-read weekly magazine and website, is about to see if that formula can put Billboard, the embattled music industry trade publication, back on the charts.

Guggenheim Partners, which owns The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard, with Dick Clark Productions, the Golden Globes and the American Music Awards, is expected to announce on Wednesday that Ms. Min will become co-president and chief creative officer. John Amato, formerly chief executive of The Backstage, a newspaper and website aimed at actors, will be co-president and will lead business efforts at Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter.

www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/5862362/janice-min-to-head-billboard-thr-as-co-president-of-entertainment-group

Guggenheim Media today announced that Janice Min has been tapped to lead Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter as Co-President/Chief Creative Officer of the Entertainment Group of Guggenheim Media. In her expanded role, which is effective immediately, Min will be responsible for all editorial direction of the iconic entertainment and music brands.

Working parallel to Min, John Amato will lead business initiatives of both Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter as Co-President of the Entertainment Group, also effective immediately. Both Min and Amato will report directly to Todd Boehly, President of Guggenheim Partners and Chairman of Guggenheim Media.

Concurrently, Guggenheim Media announced that its Prometheus Global Media would be split into two operating entities: (1) the Entertainment Group, consisting of Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter; and (2) Adweek, CLIO Awards and the Film Expo Group.

Though this one reads to me like it has an anti-Billboard agenda, this one claims both that Werde was fired and that Billboard will become more consumer-driven:
www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/01/08/billboadfires

In a note to Digital Music News, Werde confirmed the departure and pointed to some serious changes ahead. ”It’s been a rewarding eight-year run for me at Billboard—five+ as editorial director,” Werde emailed. ”I’m first and foremost proud of the team we’ve built and the growth we’ve shown. And it’s been an amazing seat from which to watch the entertainment business evolve. The company has decided to move the brand in a more consumer-focused direction, and Janice Min has proven herself excellent at this approach to trade journalism. Guggenheim Digital has expressed interest in me working to develop some new ideas within their framework of companies, and I look forward to applying an entrepreneurial approach to the entertainment and media realms.”

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard magazine's importance has decreased so much due to labels downsizing, record stores closing and the advent of mediabase.

Their subsciber base has more than been halved.

Back in the day, ALL the charts were in the magazine.

They also give less Soundscan information now. It's always rounded and never exact.

They need to have a good upcoming album release schedule.

The Top 40/Country newsletters should be in the magazine.

[Kurt]

Inside Guggenheim’s Plans for THR, Billboard – A Cable Channel (Exclusive)
www.thewrap.com/inside-guggenheims-plans-thr-billboard-janice-min/

...TheWrap has learned that the longer-term play is to roll THR and Billboard into an ESPN-like entertainment media channel, that would leverage the brands of both.

Guggenheim’s spokesman confirmed as much to TheWrap saying: “That is one of Guggenheim’s many plans.”

Min is known to hanker after a position running a cable network, and recent reports said she used job interest from the A&E network to force Boehly’s hand on Levinsohn.

Is there a business imperative that would make a paid entertainment cable channel make sense? Personally, I don’t see it. Entertainment news is ubiquitous, both on television and online. And entertainment doesn’t have the draw of live sporting events that forces fans to pay $17.99 a month to their cable provider for must-have ESPN programming of tournaments and games.

Still, what passes for entertainment news on TV is ripe for disruption, that’s for sure. Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood are tired formats and relics of a pre-internet era. Something is bound to displace them.

As for a Min-run Billboard, those who love the trade’s business coverage can probably look forward to stories in the vein of “Inside Justin Bieber’s Tour Bus,” and “How Britney Got In Shape for that Vegas Show,” or “Get The Latest on Beyonce’s Hair and Makeup.” Also: Mo Austin’s Malibu hideaway.

Min makes little secret of knowing little about the music business, in fact she doesn’t make little secret of not knowing the movie business either. At a welcome speech she made to Billboard in New York, a staffer asked what her favorite albums were at the moment, and she said (a paraphrase):

“I have yet to see any of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies and that doesn’t stop me from running THR… I think I have an ability to know the story and what people want to read about.”

For better or worse, that’s probably true.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Jan 14, 2014 19:47:50 GMT -5 Kurt said:

Inside Guggenheim’s Plans for THR, Billboard – A Cable Channel (Exclusive)
www.thewrap.com/inside-guggenheims-plans-thr-billboard-janice-min/

...TheWrap has learned that the longer-term play is to roll THR and Billboard into an ESPN-like entertainment media channel, that would leverage the brands of both.

Guggenheim’s spokesman confirmed as much to TheWrap saying: “That is one of Guggenheim’s many plans.”

Min is known to hanker after a position running a cable network, and recent reports said she used job interest from the A&E network to force Boehly’s hand on Levinsohn.

Is there a business imperative that would make a paid entertainment cable channel make sense? Personally, I don’t see it. Entertainment news is ubiquitous, both on television and online. And entertainment doesn’t have the draw of live sporting events that forces fans to pay $17.99 a month to their cable provider for must-have ESPN programming of tournaments and games.

Still, what passes for entertainment news on TV is ripe for disruption, that’s for sure. Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood are tired formats and relics of a pre-internet era. Something is bound to displace them.

As for a Min-run Billboard, those who love the trade’s business coverage can probably look forward to stories in the vein of “Inside Justin Bieber’s Tour Bus,” and “How Britney Got In Shape for that Vegas Show,” or “Get The Latest on Beyonce’s Hair and Makeup.” Also: Mo Austin’s Malibu hideaway.

Min makes little secret of knowing little about the music business, in fact she doesn’t make little secret of not knowing the movie business either. At a welcome speech she made to Billboard in New York, a staffer asked what her favorite albums were at the moment, and she said (a paraphrase):

“I have yet to see any of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies and that doesn’t stop me from running THR… I think I have an ability to know the story and what people want to read about.”

For better or worse, that’s probably true.

I told you BB was a HOT mess. THR is no better. I did some work on it to try and clean it up but f**king drupal is a HOT mess. Look at the code. If you try to change any of the code you risk breaking something. TDD/BDD was not of any concern to BB or THR when they were originally built. There are major architecture issues there and they won't be resolved anytime in the near future.

[surreallife]

I am one of the 16,000 BB subscribers (digital only), but will not likely renew my subscription when it comes due. Especially since I can check out the e-magazine from the local library and read it on my IPad.

I personally think the magazine and website have gone downhill in recent years (it is now 1 year since the website was re-launched and it is still in BETA), and after this announcement, wonder if BB will still be around in 10 years.

[areyoureadytojump]

^The Billboard charts will always be around!

The magazine? Doubtful...