Shmoozic Biz

Post Malone and other superstars recently had to cancel tours because of low ticket sales in certain markets. But on this episode we shmooze with top music agent Jarred Arfa and music promoter/attorney Danny Hayes who say big live concerts are not in danger, as long as show costs stay in check. But what about increasing ticket prices in a challenging economy? We discuss the economics of all that and also the Live Nation and Ticketmaster settlement and where that may find us in the future.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto

Post Malone image inside podcast from:
The Come Up Show from Canada, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

On this episode we consider three surprising conclusions about music streaming revenue drawn by top music attorney Jordan Bromley and analyst Trent Smith at Manatt Phelps & Phillips. NOTE: the firm's findings, based on their music streaming revenue calculator, are not independently confirmed on the podcast. But here's what they are claiming:
First, Amazon Music pays at a rate more than double of what Spotify pays to the record labels, artists, publishers and songwriters. That doesn't mean they pay double the amount of revenue overall, but the rate per 1 million streams is double, which is significant, says Manatt;
Second, Spotify pays itself more revenue from music streaming than the labels who own the recordings; and
Third, Amazon Music takes NO cut AT ALL from the royalties before paying it over to the content owners. But how can that be? Go to the episode for more on this.
The Manatt team stands by the data and you can try their calculator yourself at:
https://www.manatt.com/music-streaming-royalty-calculator
Spotify has pushed back against this podcast, claiming that the Manatt calculator is dead wrong, but Manatt stands by their numbers and conclusions. Please add your comments if you have an opinion one way or the other.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto.

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

David Weitzman, a top executive at Primary Wave, reveals what they've been doing to boost the premiere music assets they've acquired. He also provides tips for those interested in buying and selling catalogs in 2026 and beyond.

Table of Content:
00:00 Introduction: PW's Successes With Whitney Houston
01:25 Primary Wave's Philosophy
03:45 More On Whitney Houston branding.
07:12 Managing the iconic Bob Marley catalog.
11:30 Acquiring Prince's Assets: The strategy
15:50 Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses
20:15 How Primary Wave uses non-traditional marketing.
25:40 Future of Catalog Acquisitions: Where the market is heading
31:00 Working with Heirs and Estates: Navigating the complexities of legacy management.
34:20 Final thoughts on the intersection of music, business, and legacy.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

It's game over for Bill Ackman's $64 billion buyout bid for Universal Music Group, but the billionaire activist may have another music biz play up his sleeve. On this episode, Bill and Sami recap Ackman's longshot and discuss whether tricky deals like these are good for the creative community and music companies.

Table of Contents
00:00 Introduction: The Bill Ackman & UMG Deal
01:25 Understanding SPACs and the PSTH Strategy
03:10 Universal Music Group's Market Position
05:45 The Mechanics of the "Buy with Own Money" Attempt
08:30 Regulatory Hurdles and the SEC's Response
11:15 Lessons Learned from the Failed Acquisition
14:00 Final Thoughts and Implications for Music Business

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

Drake makes history with three chart-topping album drops plus 42 tracks burning up the Billboard Hot 100... all at the same time! And also at the same time he’s suing UMG for allegedly damaging him by boosting Kendrick Lamar in the “Not Like Us” diss war.

Music law ace Matt Buser of Buser Legal in Miami joins Bill Hochberg and Sami Kazi of Raines Feldman Littrell in Los Angeles to add it all up.

In this episode, we generate a rap diss war between Chat GPT and Grok. Warning: Explicit Language from Elon and Sam's angry gangsta robots! Given the recent lawsuit between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, what could be more appropriate? But it gets out of control fast when rap-bots go full OG and we need to speed-press the bleeper button. We asked Claude and Gemini to join in the beef, but they respectfully refused. Well respect flies out the window when we invite the Chinese DeepSeek rap-bot to enter the battle stage, and it trashes the American rap-bots mercilessly... From the CPT to the GPT, it's OG NWA with LLMs on fire!

Don’t forget to subscribe, like and please comment to tell us what you think.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

After a jury found he infringed a copyright for Grammy-winning track "Hurricane," most would say it was a huge loss for Ye (formerly Kanye West). But Ye and his lawyer think otherwise. Bill Hochberg talks with the rap superstar's trial attorney and some surprising aspects not uncovered in mainstream media are revealed, as well as a preview of the upcoming appeal.
And read Bill's Forbes article on it here:
https://tinyurl.com/4hzdh6a6

Table of Content

00:00 – Introduction
02:40 – The Damage Award
05:09 – Private Equity Backing Behind the Lawsuit
08:35 – Listening Party vs. Official Release
14:54 – Song Credits & Industry Standards
16:25 – Legal Precedents: When are Chord Progressions Protectable?
20:47 – Summary Judgment Breakdown
25:20 – The Plaintiff’s Damage Theory
28:01 – The "Implied License" Issue
32:33 – A Key Jury Instruction Critiqued
37:19 – Wrap-up

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

Can Kaz Oshiro be sued for making awesome amp art? Anyone in the music biz knows there’s something ultra-American about iconic guitar amps, and it takes a Japanese artist like Kaz to capture it perfectly with his hyper-realistic Fender, Sunn, Marshall and Orange amps – OK, Marshall and Orange are UK amps, but the Brits invaded America, so it’s all on our soil. Oshiro’s mixed media masterpieces are made by hand right down to the knobs, screws, scratches and sweat stains? Is it Fair Use or infringement? Bill and Sami discuss art, law and lore with Kaz and take away some amped-up stories and surprising conclusions.
#musicbiz #schmoozicbiz

More on Kaz Oshiro at these and other fine galleries:
https://www.makigallery.com/artists_e...
https://galeriefrankelbaz.com/artists...
And look him up on Instagram.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business, law and art of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz on YouTube and follow us on Instagram, Spotify (Video), and TikTok... links in the profile.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes and other top publications on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

Billionaire acti-vestor Bill Ackman’s bid for Universal Music Group may just be designed to pump up the stock price so he can unload his poorly performing investment in the company at a profit. Others say he may aim to transform the world's biggest music operation for an AI world. And yet others say he wants to control culture ...
Bill breaks it down with music attorneys David Helfant, who represents legacy legends like Alice Cooper and Jackson Brown, as well as Sami Kazi, whose clients include ground-breaking emerging artists and start-ups.
We dive into the culture and the numbers to figure out whether Ackman's run on UMG is genius or a gambler's gaffe.

For news, views and shmooze you can use about the business and law of music, subscribe to Shmoozic Biz with Bill Hochberg on YouTube and follow us on
Instagram, TikTok, Spotify (video) and Apple Music.

Bill Hochberg is a music and media lawyer at Raines Feldman Littrell LLP and he writes regularly in Forbes on the business and law of music.

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.

In this episode, Bill chats with top trademark attorney and law professor Rami Yanni about just how Snoop Dogg managed to obtain approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for his weed store called SWED, after a similar application for “Smoke Weed Every Day" was rejected... even though SWED is just an acronym of the refused mark. We talk about how the USPTO either doesn't notice the relationship between the marks, or doesn't care.
Bill and Rami also look at how Snoop, a rap-capitalist with robust side hustles, doesn't just have a Los Angeles dispensary, but also one in Amsterdam, and how he has pending trademark applications in many countries around the world. And we look at how President Trump's unpredictable policies make it hard to determine where the weed world is headed.

Bill also writes about Snoop's trademark maneuvers in Forbes here: https://tinyurl.com/3f56cyya

Our musical theme is "8 Church Birds" by billeeto. https://tinyurl.com/billeeto
Photo of Snoop Dogg from Wikimedia Commons: Bruce Baker from Sydney, Australia

DISCLAIMER: This program and the associated written materials are provided for informational purposes only and are not intended, and must not be taken, as legal advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances.