Normally, we would run down the SPS and building sales charts from HDD, but they seem to still be shaking of New Years as there are no numbers yet. Perhaps they will do an update later today like the did last week on the 30th.
HDD did release an SPS report and the major labels continue to dominate the biz. UMG is at 35.8%, Sony 28.7% and WMG at 17.5%. That just leaves 18% of the market for the Indies to fight over. Urban and Pop artists continue to dominate the streaming platforms, but some Country acts are starting to make progress.
BB reports that the remaining members of Fifth Harmony have resigned with Epic. The group has sold 7M digital downloads in the US and about 500K albums. This gives them more leverage than they would have had initially being contestants on X-Factor.
“The standard contract is worse than a 360 nightmare,” explains Loeb & Loeb attorney Debra White, who negotiates similar deals for contestants of NBC’s The Voice, adding that a company like the Cowell-founded Syco Entertainment “gets to be the record company, the publisher, the manager, they have a piece of touring and merchandise.” Re-signing allows for a re-evaluation and offers an opportunity to diminish or eliminate terms that seem unfair to an artist who has had hits and brought the label revenue. According to a source, negotiations are ongoing, with the Fifth Harmony members having already reclaimed ownership of their trademark.
A new album is expected in 2017. Camila is expected to drop a solo single in April/May.
