Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 55

Spotify And Deezer Look Beyond Music In Quest For Profitability

Earlier today, in an airplane hangar-esque building on Manhattan’s far West Side, music streaming service Spotify revealed its next move in a quest for long-term profitability: a plan to move beyond music streaming.

Spotify founder Daniel Ek stepped to the stage in front of dozens of reporters and photographers and explained that his company would be pushing into the world of podcasts and video, even as it continues to increase its market share in music.

“Life with Spotify will never be the s...

Taylor Swift’s Big Night At The Billboard Music Awards: All Part Of The Plan

Taylor Swift emerged from last night’s Billboard Music Awards as the biggest winner by far, taking home eight awards in all–more than the total received by Sam Smith, Hozier and One Direction combined.

Swift nabbed honors for Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist and five others. No other act collected more than three awards at the ceremony, whichtook place in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, hosted by Ludacris and Chrissy Tegan.

For Swift, who frequently wins all s...

Carly Rae Jepsen, Social Media And The End Of The One-Hit Wonder

On a particularly steamy summer night in 2012, I found myself in a cab, windows rolled down, my wife and I suddenly lip-syncing the words to Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” in tandem with a pair of total strangers in a car stopped alongside us at a traffic light. As our respective vehicles began to move, a sort of mime-off occurred, culminating in one of the passengers across the way holding up an empty pizza box and grinning uncontrollably.

It’s difficult to explain how and why this happe...

Birdman’s Net Worth In 2015: $150 Million

Bryan “Birdman” Williams ranks No. 5 on this year’sForbes Five–a list of the wealthiest hip-hop acts that appeared in the May 25th, 2015 issue of FORBES magazine. Though they’ve all had successful careers in music, it’s their outside business ventures that were most instrumental in creating their fortunes.

Name:
Bryan “Birdman” Williams

Age:
46

Estimated Net Worth:
$150 million

Source:
Music, Spirits, Clothing

Summary:
Birdman’s number would be at least$300 million if he didn’t share his fort...

50 Cent’s Net Worth In 2015: $155 Million

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson ranks No. 4on this year’sForbes Five–a list of the wealthiest hip-hop artists that appeared in the May 25th, 2015 issue of FORBES magazine. Though they’ve all had successful careers in music, it’s their outside business ventures that were most instrumental in creating their fortunes.

Name:
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson

Age:
Estimated Net Worth:

$155 million

Source:
Music, Beverages, Technology, Clothing

Summary:
Though he’s of the most successful rappers of the past decade...

Jay Z’s Net Worth In 2015: $550 Million

Shawn “Jay Z” Carter ranks third on this year’sForbes Five–a list of the wealthiest hip-hop artiststhat appeared in the May 25th, 2015 issue of FORBES magazine. Though they’ve all had successful careers in music, it’s their outside business ventures that were most instrumental in creating their fortunes.

Name:
Shawn “Jay Z” Carter

Age:
45

Estimated Net Worth:
$550 million

Source:
Music, Spirits, Clothing, Sports,Startups

Summary:
Huge deals like his $204 million Rocawear sale in 2007 and his...

Dr. Dre’s Net Worth In 2015: $700 Million

Andre “Dr. Dre” Youngranks second onthis year’sForbes Five–a list of the wealthiest hip-hop artists that appeared in the May 25th, 2015 issue of FORBES magazine. They’ve all had successful careers in music, but it’s their outside business ventures that were most instrumental in creating their fortunes.

Name:
Andre “Dr. Dre” Young

Age:
50

Estimated Net Worth:
$700 million

Source:
Music, Technology

Summary:
The $3 billion sale of Beats netted him the largest single-year payday of any musician i...

Diddy’s Net Worth In 2015: $735 Million

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Sean “Diddy” Combs ranks first onthis year’s Forbes Five–a list of the wealthiest hip-hop artists that appeared in the May 25th, 2015 issue of FORBES magazine. They’ve all had successful careers in music, but it’s their outside business ventures that were most instrumental in creating their fortunes.

Name:
Sean “Diddy” Combs

Age:
45

Estimated Net Worth:
$735 million

Source:
Music, Spirits, Clothing, Media, Startups

Summary:
Though Mr. Combs hasn’t yet had a Beats-level exit, he...

The Forbes Five: Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists 2015

Last May, shortly after word began to spread that Dr. Dre had sold his eponymous headphone line to Apple, the superproducer made a proclamation: rap’s first billionaire was about to be crowned, and he hailed from Los Angeles.

“The first billionaire in hip-hop, right here onthe [expletive] West Coast,” exclaimed Dre in a video clip that went viral almost instantly. But the deal, whose value was initially reported at $3.2 billion, ended up at an even $3 billion in cash. After taxes, Dre’s 25% s...

Why Dr. Dre Isn’t A Billionaire Yet

Dr. Dre ranked second on last year’s Forbes Five list of hip-hop’s wealthiest artistswith a net worth of $550 million. Yet a year later, after selling Beats to Apple for $3 billion, his fortune sits at $700 million in this year’s accounting.

To the casual observer, the math may not seem to make sense—particularly given that Dr. Dre anointed himself hip-hop’s first billionaire last May—so, in the interest of transparency and understanding, let’s take a closer look, starting at the very beginni...