YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE FEBRUARY 25, 2022 Page 1 Of 31

Page 5 of 31BILLBOARD COUNTRY UPDATEAPRIL 13, 2020 PAGE 4 OF 19ON THE CHARTS JIM ASKER jim.asker@billboard.comIN BRIEFSamHunt’s Southside Rules Top CountryAlbums;BrettYoung ‘Catch’-es Fifth Airplaya waythat has impacted eventhe fine arts.Another Death Row classic, Dr. Dre’s TheAnd to have the support of everyone atSnoopDoggChronic, is scheduled to be given back to DreLeader; Travis Denning Makes HistoryUMG behind us as we all worked to makein August 2023, though sources have subthis happen was particularly moving. It wasCloses Dealsequently told Billboard that it could be asabsolutely one of the highlights of my 30soon as early 2023. That window could giveyears at this label.on Death RowSnoop Dogg time to negotiate with Dr. DreInterscope also re-released 57 titlesto try and keep the album on the label, evenwith that artwork on vinyl in sets of 100Recording Catalog if its only through a distribution deal.Sam Hunt’s second studio full-length, and first in over five years, Southside sales (up 21%) in the tracking week. On Country Airplay, it hops 18-15 (11.9 mil(MCA Nashville/Universal Music Group Nashville), debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s lion audience impressions, up 16%).Top Country Albums chart dated April 18. In its first week (ending April 9), itearned 46,000 equivalent album units, including 16,000 in album sales, ac- TRY TO ‘CATCH’ UP WITH YOUNG Brett Young achieves his fifth consecutiveeach. Whatfeedbackdid youget from theof TheChronic,cordingto NielsenMusic/MRCData.and total Country Airplay No. 1Whateveras sresponsethat pDogg’sSouthsidetomarkssecond No.run?1 on the2-1,increasing13%to36.6millionimpressions.BY ED CHRISTMANchartandfourthtop10. It followsYoung’sfirst ofchart anexciting.LPcatalogalbumsaresixDeathRow’s bestsellers.Montevallo,whicharrivedthesummitin Noout You,”reached2 in2016. HeWe engagedeverysectoratofourcompanytonoop Dogg has closed the dealSinceits releaseonNo.Feb.11,Decemberahead of Snoop’svember 2014 and reigned for nine weeks. To date,followed with the multiweek No. 1s “In Case Youmake this happen including Jason Sangerbuying Death Row Music’s reappearanceat the Super Bowl, his latestMontevallo has earned 3.9 million units, with 1.4Didn’t Know” (two weeks, June 2017), “Like I scatalog,sourcestellalbumBODR— whichwasreleasedonAugustmillion in album sales.You” (three, gteamsled weeksby GaryKellyBillboard. The move completes hisDeath— generatedalbumconhasspent 267on thelist,andtying2018) Rowand “HereTonight” 10,000(two, April2019).LukeBryan’sCrash My Party asthe eyto No. 1,RamonAlvarez-Smikle,ChrisMortimer,takeover of Death Row after previously buysumptionin its hisdebutweek,accordingrunningtitlesin the chart’sGretchen56-year history.weeks to reachthe apex.hasIt outour headof productionAndering just the label’s brand rights earlier this tohavingMRC takenData.46Meanwhile,DoggystyleOn the all-genre Billboard 200, Southside arpaces the 30-week climb of “Here Tonight.”son, and of course our retail team with Alexmonth — enabling the rapper to generatescanned 7.54 million consumption unitsrives at No. 5, awarding Hunt his second top 10On Hot Country Songs, “Catch” pushes 7-5 licensingopportunitiesformerchandisingsince1993 release and last year generatedafter the No. 3-peaking Montevallo.a newitshigh.collaborationsbetweenandmusicaland other lucrative ventures surrounding169,000 units in album consumption activHunt first releasedthe EPfineX2C,whichdebutedandpeakedat No. 5 sellingon Top aCountryAlbums in August2014. FollowingCOMBS‘DOES’IT AGAIN Luketo Me”The(RiverHouse/Columbiaartists,we thoughtlimited-editionthe imprint’sname. Termsof bothdealsity; Combs’his 1996“Doesfollowup,DoggfatherlastMontevallo,the Pines:AcousticMixtape startedits No.7 highin Nashville), featuring Eric Church,ascends11-8 onCountryAirplay,up 10% toseries of theBetweenvinyl, eachfeaturinga galleryhaveatnotbeendisclosed.year talliedalmost8,000unitsand appearsNovember 2015.24.7 million in audience. The song is Combs’ eighth straight career-openingedition of the new artwork, was a great wayWhile two of Death Row’sbiggest releases to have total album consumption units of 2Montevallo produced five singles, four of which hit the pinnacle of Country top 10, following a record run of seven consecutive out-of-the-gate, longerpartofthecatalog— 12pac’smillion units since its release. But of SnoopAirplay: “Leave the Night On,” “Take Your Time,” “House Party” and “Make promoted No.singles.at NTWRK,eachorganizationdonatAll 2.Eyez On Me and The DonKilluminati:Dogg’srecordedmusic, only 142,000 unitsYouMiss Me.”with“BreakUp ina Small Town”peaked at No.Churchadds his 15th CountryAirplaytop 10.co-pennedallprofits12 songson Southside,includinga BackingHunt100%of our netfromthe projectThe“Body7 Day LikeTheory(credited as Makaveli),appear to be credited to the Death RowRoad,”which wasin 2017. The smashCountryforTHATQUITE ‘A FEW’label,MONTHSTravis Denningrecord forto the IovineandreleasedYoung Foundationwhichhit ruledwhichhaveAirplaybeen returnedto TOOKthe controlapparentlysince itsshattersreleasethethroughthree weeks and the airplay-, streaming- and sales-based Hot Country Songs the most weeks it has taken to penetrate the Country Airplay top 10 as “Afteris building a high school in South Los Anof Amaru Entertainment and the TupacMNRK Music predecessor company eOnechart for a then-record 34 frames. It now ranks second only to Bebe Rexha and a Few” (Mercury Nashville) climbs 12-10 in its 57th week, up 4% to 21.4 dealgivesSnoopDoggownershipMusic, which took over ownership of theFlorida Georgia Line’s “Meant to Be” (50 weeks atop the latter list in 2017-18).lion in radio reach.Interscopeto givebackto thecommunityhis albumsandsurpasses1996’s two tracksDeaththatRowcatalogin 2013.“Downtown’sDead,”whichis alsoon the new set, ofreachedNos. 141993’sand 15DoggystyleThe songtook50 weekseach to enter the top 10:onHotCountrySongsand Countryrespectively,June 2018. “KinEastonCorbin’sYou,” whichreachedNo.Dre,10 inBillboardJanuary 2018 bethathasbeen soimportantto us.Airplay,The salesThainDoggfather,along withsomemovie“A Girl Like Without2pacand Dr.folks”lededitionCountryon Feb.becoming Hunt’sseventh No.a1.coupleIt hit offorepeaking at No.6 that February,andthatAaron“OuttaStyle,”whichof eachofAirplay100 stimatestheWatson’sDeath RowcataloggenerNo. 3 on Hot Country Songs.achieved its No. 10 high in December 2017.successful and we’re very happy with theand a few artist albums by the likes of Ladyated about 6 million in revenue in 2021Latest single “Hard to Forget” jumps 17-9 on Hot Country Songs. It’s his“After” is Denning’s second Country Airplay entry. “David Ashley Parkerresults.ofRage,DazDillingerandKurupt.for MNRK,Blackstone-ownedmusiceighth top 10, having corralled 8.2 million U.S. streams (up 96%) and 5,000 inFrom Powder Springs” traveledto No. 32thein September2018.HUNT: MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES. YOUNG: ETHANMILLER/GETTY IMAGESS

2 0 2 2ASHANTI20 TH ANNIVERSARYAshanti is a Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter, actor and author. Ashanti burst onto themusic scene with her smash hit, self-titled debutalbum Ashanti. It landed the #1 spot on both theBillboard Top 200 and R&B album charts, selling awhopping 504,593 units in its first week and set aSoundScan record as the most albums sold by anydebut female artist in the chart’s history, grantingher a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records,which she still holds today. Ashanti has released sixstudio albums and received eight Billboard Awards,a Grammy, two American Music Awards, two SoulTrain Awards, six ASCAP Awards, and many moreawards and illustrious honors. Ashanti has continuedto reign at the top as one of Billboard’s “Top Femalesof the Decade from 2000-2010” and continues tobreak Billboard records as having a Hot 100 entry inthe 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s. To celebrate hercontributions to music and recording, Ashanti willreceive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame inApril 2022.Please join us in celebrating 20 years of the Princessof R&B, the Queen of Written Entertainment and“Baby” the woman that is never “Foolish” and writesthe melodies that stay in our minds and heartsforever .ASHANTI.CONTACTSJoe Maimone201.301.5933 joe.maimone@billboard.comLee Ann Photoglo615.376.7931 laphotoglo@gmail.comCynthia Mellow615.352,0265 cmellow.billboard@gmail.comMarcia Olival786.586.4901 marciaolival29@gmail.comRyan O’Donnell 447843437176 rodonnell@pmc.comISSUE DATE 3/26 AD CLOSE 3/16 MATERIALS DUE 3/17

Page 7 of 31IN BRIEFcompany that acquired Death Row in 2013.Consequently, after discounting productionand distribution fees, Billboard estimatesthat the entire deal, including the brandingcomponent, carried a valuation of about 50million, an amount based on conversationsabout the catalog with financial executivesinvolved in buying and selling music assets.But whether Snoop Dogg — born CalvinBroadus, Jr. — had to anti-up that kind ofpayment is another question, consideringMNRK’s recent proclivity to return albumsto superstars like Dr. Dre and the late 2Pac.How those transaction occurred has beenkept under wraps by MNRK.Nevertheless, sources says that SnoopDogg owns the Death Row master recordingcatalog free and clear on his own, as MNRKno longer has any ownership interest in thelabel and in fact probably will no longer bedistributing that music as the new ownerapparently can now take the catalog towhatever label and/or distributor he sochooses.As for the Death Row website, while a fewweeks ago it featured about 18 Death Rowalbums, those pages were removed after thebrand deal was announced and, currently,the only title available for purchase throughthe site is BODR.In any event, the overall Death Rowdeals leave Snoop with plenty of revenuegenerating opportunities as he also takesover Death Row merchandising, which iscapable of generating a couple millions ofdollars in annual revenue, depending on theyear and merch offerings. Sources say thatthe company’s merch revenue reached thathigh mark during some years, while othersit only generated a couple hundred thousand dollars.Snoop Dogg has also indicated a focus onsteering Death Row towards the metaverse’s emerging economic possibilitiesand has big plans for exploiting the DeathRow catalog through NFTs and whateverother digital opportunities emerge in thateco-system. Moreover, sources speculatethat Snoop may even begin signing artiststo Death Row Records as a way to revitalizethe brand and enhance its revenue-producing opportunities.A Snoop Dogg representative was notimmediately available for comment; whileMNRK and Blackstone didn’t respond torequests for comment.Here’s HowMuch Lin-ManuelMiranda HasMade in RoyaltiesFrom ‘Encanto’Song PublishingBY ANDREW UNTERBERGER,ED CHRISTMANAs Billboard has written aboutextensively recently, penning aBillboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit as asolo writer is a rare thing in thisday and age. But being the lone song authorbehind an entire hit soundtrack, as LinManuel Miranda has done with the songsto the runaway Disney smash Encanto, iseven more unusual — and more lucrative.Billboard estimates that the eight songsthat Miranda wrote — each without co-writers — for the animated musical have thusfar generated a combined 4.7 million inglobal publishing royalties. (Miranda’s shareof the royalties will depend on what kind ofpublishing breakdown his deal has — but atthe very least, if he has a straight publishingdeal without any publisher share, he will gethalf that amount.)That includes about 1.275 million inpublishing royalties from the song’s U.S.streams, CD and download sales, and radioplay, as well as additional millions in cableroyalties from the movie’s availability onthe Disney streaming service, and general licensing from the songs being playedin public spaces (like retail stores, hotels,concert halls, and movie theaters). And therevenue for the Encanto songs is of coursecompounded by the movie being a globalphenomenon, with U.S. receipts accountingfor just under 40% of its international boxoffice, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.While the most successful song from Encanto to date has been the Hot 100-topping“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (performedby Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo,Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero,Stephanie Beatriz and Encanto Cast), thesoundtrack is particularly notable in that alleight of its original songs (not counting theinstrumental score pieces from composerGermaine Franco) having performed wellenough to reach the Hot 100.That Hot 100 tally includes “SurfacePressure” (Jessica Darrow, No. 8), “TheFamily Madrigal” (Stephanie Beatriz, OlgaMerediz and Encanto Cast, No. 20), “WhatElse Can I Do?” (Diane Guerrero andStephanie Beatriz, No. 27), “Dos Oruguitas”(Sebastian Yatra, No. 36), “Waiting on aMiracle” (Stephanie Beatriz, No. 48), “Allof You” (Stephanie Beatriz, Olga Merediz,John Leguizamo, Adassa, Maluma &Encanto Cast, No. 71) and “Colombia, MiEncanto” (Carlos Vives, No. 100). Noother Disney animated film soundtrack inBillboard history has ever notched as manyseparate Hot 100 hits before.It’s also out of the ordinary for a majorDisney song — let alone eight from the samesoundtrack — to be penned by a solo writer.Of the songs on Billboard‘s Hot 100-determined Greatest of All Time Disney songslist, the great majority are written by a composer/lyricist duo, like Elton John and TimRice (“Can You Feel the Love Tonight”)or Alan Menken and Howard Ashman(“Beauty and the Beast”). The only nonEncanto song in the top 10 of that list to bewritten by a solo author is “You’ll Be in MyHeart” from Tarzan, written and performedby Phil Collins.It all adds up to an unusually large paydayfor Lin-Manuel Miranda — one that haslasted for essentially the whole of 2022 thusfar, as the Encanto soundtrack has reignedatop the Billboard 200 albums chart for sixof the last seven weeks (starting with thechart dated Jan. 15), and shows no sign ofending anytime soon.

Page 8 of 31IN BRIEFInfluenceMedia PartnersWith WMG& BlackRockfor RightsAcquisitions,ManagementBY ED CHRISTMANInfluence Media has partnered withWarner Music Group and BlackRockAlternative Investors on a deal to fundnew music acquisitions and run themthrough the WMG corporate infrastructure as needed, the companies announcedThursday (Feb. 24).To date, Influence Media has so fardeployed 300 million of its 750 million infunding buying music assets including selectcopyrights from songwriters includingTainy (Bad Bunny, J. Balvin) the Stereotypes(Bruno Mars), Jessie Reyez (Dua Lipa,Sam Smith) and Skyler Stonestreet (ArianaGrande, Justin Bieber).Under the new deal, WMG and BlackRock will provide funding to buy assets andalso participate as investors in the Influence Media’s platform. WMG will also lendsupport to manage the copyrights as neededfrom whichever of its companies is bestsuited for a project, on a deal by deal basis.WMG and BlackRock’s involvement alsoallows Influence Media to access the particular financial and investment expertise ofeach of its partners.WMG and BlackRock are providing thefunding for the company’s Influence XMusic Fund II. So far, that appears to haveraised 270 million in funding from BlackRock, according to a filing with the SEC. Ithas received an additional 380 million inequity and debt financing commitments fromWMG, the Municipal Employees RetirementSystem of Michigan and other traditionalmusic industry lenders, sources say.The Influence Media management teamteam consists of founders and co-managingpartners Lylette Pizarro McLean andLynn Hazan, along with founding advisors and partners Rene McLean and JonJashni. Their management is supplementedby Pam Chan, chief investment officer andglobal head of the Alternative SolutionsGroup at BlackRock, and Paul Braude,managing director and co-head of portfoliomanagement for the Alternative SolutionsGroup; and from the Warner Music Group’sTemi Adeniji, managing director of WarnerMusic South Africa and senior vp strategy,sub-Saharan Africa & special projects.“In partnership with the first-rate teamsat Influence Media and BlackRock, thesecatalogs will be cared for by a supergroupof music lovers,” WMG’s Adeniji said ina statement. “Together, we’ll bring newopportunities to some of the most talentedartists and songwriters of this generation.”Thus far, the deployed funds have beensplit one-third in buying master recording income streams and copyrights, andtwo-thirds in music publishing copyrights,according to sources. Most of InfluenceMedia’s deals also leave the artist and/orsongwriter with an ownership stake in theacquired asset so that they can participatein any upside generated by the company’smanagement of the assets, sources say.“We are excited to be a part of this programmatic venture alongside Influence Media and Warner Music Group,” added BlackRock’s Chan. “Building on our experienceinvesting in music since 2015, this investmentgives our clients access to an emerging assetclass with potential for meaningful incomeand uncorrelated returns, while aligning withour priority to invest in diverse and femaleowned businesses.”While Influence Media has become abigger player in the past year, the companywas founded in 2017-2018 with bridgefinancing from Morgan Stanley that it usedto acquire a pool of music assets from JeffBhasker, Shane McAnally and Ben Rector.It sold those rights to Tempo Music in 2019.In 2021, Influence Media’s Fund I launchedwith 100 million backing from the Municipal Employees’ Retirement System ofMichigan to buy select copyrights from thecatalogs of songwriter Ali Tamposi (KellyClarkson, Camila Cabello) and Grammynominated singer/songwriter Julia Michaels(“Issues,” Justin Bieber). The company saysit plans to scale its investment in female creators, providing them with unprecedentedaccess to capital and licensing opportunities,as well as to expand into new categories likemusic entrepreneurs.“To paraphrase what my favorite musicentrepreneur Beyonce famously said, notenough women of color have had a seat atthe table in the music industry, so we wentahead and chopped down the wood to buildour own table,” Influence Media’s PizarroMcLean said in a statement. “We’ve builta brilliant, savvy, and diverse team that’salso nimble enough to move at the speed ofculture, and we couldn’t be prouder to bein business with best-in-class partners likeBlackRock and Warner Music Group. Ourinitial investments in modern evergreensrepresent a new generation of iconoclasts inmusic, both commercially and artistically.”Neumos inSeattle, in aPandemic: ‘SpringIs Going to BeDown 25-35%’BY TAYLOR MIMSAs co-owner of Seattle’s popularindependent venue Neumos inCapitol Hill, Steven Severin hasbeen a staple in the Seattle musicindustry for more than 20 years. Roughly10 years ago, he helped create the SeattleNightlife and Music Association to bringtogether the area’s live event insiders, andfor the past 16 years has helped run Neumoswith its sister club Barboza and the accompanying Runaway bar.As part of Billboard‘s efforts to best coverthe coronavirus pandemic and its impactson the music industry, we have been speaking with Severin regularly to chronicle his

Page 9 of 31IN BRIEFexperience throughout the crisis. (Read thelast installment here and see the full serieshere.)Washington state and King County,where you’re located, now have varyingmandates on wearing masks indoors.How are you feeling about that for yourvenues and restaurants?I don’t know what to do. I don’t knowwhat to think anymore. By having a mandate, we didn’t have to think. “You are goingto be masked.” “You are going to be vaccinated.” Now everybody is different. Allthe venues in [Washington Nightlife MusicAssociation] want to do different things. Itis complicated and I don’t really have thebandwidth to figure it out.I know the government agencies don’talways agree, but they shouldn’t just leaveus out to dry. People are going to freak outeither way. If I say, “You don’t have to wearmasks anymore,” people are going to freakout. If I say, “You still have to wear masks,”people are going to freak out. It is a no-winsituation. I really want nothing to do with it,but I don’t have that choice.Do you feel like it is time to take masksoff in venues?I don’t know. That’s the thing. I wanthealth professionals telling me whether it isor is not safe to no longer wear masks inside.I want to know what the science is. If thescience says that we don’t need masks anymore, fantastic! If the science says that weneed them, we’re still going to wear them.But I need the experts to tell me that.Have you seen any kind of consensusfrom venue owners on how to proceed?Anyone can talk themselves in or outof COVID. You can rationalize either sidenow. If you want to no longer be wearinga mask, you can rationalize it. It is so up inthe air right now. I hope that when maskscome off, the numbers don’t spike back up. Iam certainly going to lag behind everybodyelse, let everyone else be the guinea pigs. Itwill be so nice for people to go back out andlive a normal life like we used to. Not that itwill ever be normal again. This [pandemic]changed things forever. Even the way peoplethink about work, about offices. You wouldhave never gotten this much freedom towork from home without this.Does the dramatic drop

YOUR DAILY ENTERTAINMENT NEWS UPDATE Bulletin FEBRUARY 25, 2022 Page 1 of 31 Snoop Dogg Closes Deal on Death Row . world of music and entertainment law. They are the