Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 23

Music Business Winners And Losers 2017: A Hip-Hop Story

Kendrick Lamar: One of the biggest winners in hip-hop–and the entire music business–this year. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

When you write about hip-hop for a living, you get used to hearing from the naysayers. The people who shut their eyes, plug their ears and refuse to acknowledge what’s happening. Who say that hip-hop is a fad and ask you when it’ll be over. But this movement isn’t going to disappear–it’s been around for nearly half a century–and this year, the picture of musi...

Bedroom BPM: Meet The Startup Syncing Music To Running, Skiing And — Yes — Sex

Dream Weavrs: Elomeda Visviki and Lars Rasmussen, founders of Weav.

A few years ago, Lars Rasmussen got into trouble with his girlfriend, Elomida Visviki. They found quite an unusual solution to restore the peace—starting in the bedroom.

“We had a fight, it was my fault, again,” explains software engineer Rasmussen, 49, over lunch in Manhattan with Visviki. “Elo got to devise her punishment for me. And she had the bright idea to bring a metronome into our bedroom. And she said, ‘Lars, when I...

Bedroom BPM: Meet The Startup Syncing Music To Running, Skiing And–Yes–Sex

Dream Weavrs: Elomeda Visviki and Lars Rasmussen, founders of Weav.

A few years ago, Lars Rasmussen got into trouble with his girlfriend, Elomida Visviki. They found quite an unusual solution to restore the peace—starting in the bedroom.

“We had a fight, it was my fault, again,” explains software engineer Rasmussen, 49, over lunch in Manhattan with Visviki. “Elo got to devise her punishment for me. And she had the bright idea to bring a metronome into our bedroom. And she said, ‘Lars, when I...

America’s Wealthiest Celebrities 2017: The Top 10 By Net Worth

Oprah Winfrey attends the Tribeca TV Festival series premiere of Released at Cinepolis Chelsea in New York. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Tribeca TV Festival)

The Last Jedi grossed a staggering $450 million at the worldwide box office its opening weekend, but George Lucas won’t be cashing in—he sold LucasFilm to Disney in 2012 for $4.1 billion in cash and stock after decades of lofty annual hauls from the Star Wars franchise he created. Yet the force is still strong with his bank a...

The World’s Highest-Paid Musicians Of 2017

Diddy Did It: Sean Combs is this year’s highest-paid musician.

Whether you know him as Diddy, Puffy or Brother Love, the last thing you’d call Sean Combs is average. The hip-hop impresario has used a combination of charisma, smarts and showmanship to elevate himself from modest means to the top of an empire that encompasses music, spirits, clothing, television and more. But he begs to differ about that first distinction.

“I’m the average person,” Diddy told FORBES earlier this year. “I starte...

Middle Mensch: Meet The Man Making Impact Investing Swell

Green Thumb: David Fanger’s impact-driven Swell portfolios, including Clean Water, have all matched of beaten the S&P 500 over the past six months.

If you think Hollywood is full of excrement, consider the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, a facility that processes 45.6 million gallons of Los Angeles-area sewage per day–precious stuff in southern California. Peering out across Tillman’s bubbling muck, mustachioed operations manager Michael Ruiz offers a line reminiscent of Chinatown...

Jay-Z’s 8 Nominations Pace Grammy Field, Teasing Long-Awaited Hip-Hop Win

Jay-Z performs in concert at the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park. (Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO/AFP/Getty Images)

Grammy nominees for the 60th annual ceremony have been announced, and it’s looking like Jay-Z will soon be adding several more credits to his already-extensive resume: the rapper leads the field with eight nods including Song of the Year (“The Story of O.J.”) and Album of the Year (4:44), bringing his career total to 74 Grammy nominations.

In the wake of hip-hop overta...

The World’s Highest-Paid Women In Music 2017

Beyonce leads the annual list of the world’s highest-paid women in music with a staggering sum.

Shortly after Adele took home the Grammy award for Album of the Year in February, she broke it in half–with the intention of physically sharing it with Beyoncé, the internet concluded—in recognition of the latter’s Lemonade. But Queen Bey won an even more valuable distinction outright: she’s this year’s highest-paid woman in music, pulling in a whopping $105 million pretax.

Lemonade was a hit with...

Jackie Evancho: 14 Questions With The 30 Under 30 Opera Prodigy

Classical crossover star Jackie Evancho performs at A Capitol Fourth concert at the U.S. Capitol, West Lawn, on July 4, 2016. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capital Concerts)

Many first learned of the teenage opera prodigy when she performed at Donald Trump’s inauguration, but by that point, her career was already well on its way. Since making her debut on America’s Got Talent at age 10, Evancho has released six consecutive No. 1 Classical albums.

In light of these successes, Evancho...

Mike Posner: 12 Questions With The 30 Under 30 Music Honoree

Mike Posner attends Spotify’s Inaugural Secret Genius Awards hosted by Lizzo at Vibiana on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Spotify)

The multi-platinum singer and songwriter has penned hits for 30 Under 30 alums including Justin Bieber, Avicii and Wiz Khalifa, but saved his career-defining smash “I Took A Pill In Ibiza” for last year’s album, At Night, Alone. The single has amassed over 1.5 billion worldwide streams.

In light of these successes, Pos...