Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 65

Music Business Takeaways From The Forbes Under 30 Summit

A quartet of music’s top young acts rocked Philadelphia’s Piazza at Schmidt’s on Sunday night–local hip-hop duo OCD: Moosh & Twist, singer-songwriter LP, Pennsylvania native Wiz Khalifa and DJ/producer Afrojack–a terrific bill made even more remarkable by the fact that all attendees received their tickets not by purchasing them, but by doing good deeds.

The first Under 30 Music Festival, planned by Forbes in partnership with AEG and nonprofit resulted in the distribution of some 8,000 tickets...

A Spin With Afrojack: Inside The Dutch DJ’s Car Collection

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Click for full photo gallery: The World’s Highest-Paid DJs 2014

Nick van de Wall has just finished a late afternoon lunch of sushi and caviar in Rotterdam and has finally decided on his evening plans: attending a Lady Gaga show on the other side of the Netherlands.

The concert starts in about two hours in Amsterdam, but that’s no problem for the 27-year-old Dutch DJ/producer better known as Afrojack. His driver and two business managers whip out their phon...

Under 30 Summit: Moosh & Twist Give Forbes Rooftop Preview

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For the first time, Forbes is bringing together 1,000+ members of the Forbes30 Under 30 listwith some of the globe’s top leaders and mentors to create partnerships that will change the world over thenext50 years. TheUnder 30 Summitwill take place in Philadelphia from Oct. 19 – 22.

FORBES is set to kick off the first-ever Under 30 Summit with yet another first: the inaugural Under 30 Music Festival, a free concert on October 19th where th...

Under 30 Summit: Taylor Hanson On Sustaining A Rockstar Career

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Click for full photo gallery: 2013 30 under 30: Music

For the first time, Forbes is bringing together 1,000+ members of the Forbes30 Under 30 listwith some of the globe’s top leaders and mentors to create partnerships that will change the world over the next 50 years. TheUnder 30 Summitwill take place in Philadelphia from Oct. 19 – 22.

It’s been nearly 20 years since Hanson ruled the charts with the impossibly catchy “MmmBop.” But unbeknownst to many, Hanson has quietly adjusted to th...

Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2014: Aftermath & Analysis

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Click for full photo gallery: Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2014

Last week for the eighth consecutive year, FORBES released its Hip-Hop Cash Kings package, listing rap’s top earners over the past 12 months. It came as little surprise that Dr. Dre was number one, but many observers were still amazed at his total: $620 million.

Thanks mostly to Apple’s $3 billion purchase of Beats, the superproducer’s pretax payday is the largest sum earned in a single year by any enterta...

Cash Kings 2014: The World’s Highest-Paid Hip-Hop Acts

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Click for full photo gallery: Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2014

Earlier this year Apple shelled out $3 billion to purchase Beats, the company founded by Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. Though the latter quickly claimed to be hip-hop’s first billionaire, a nine-figure tax bill means that won’t happen immediately—but he’s well on his way.

In the meantime, Dre has been racking up plenty of other financial accomplishments. His latest: capturing this year’s hip-hop cash crown wit...

Rick Ross, Chicken Boss: How A Rapper Got His Wingstop

It’s a sweltering summer day in New York, the sort that might have persuaded someone from the Great Gatsby era to retire to a fainting couch and pop open an icy bottle of bubbly. Today, however, at the Wingstop on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton in Brooklyn, things are still heating up.

The patrons at this newly opened location of the fast food chicken franchise have been told that a mystery guest is due to arrive any minute. A sense of anticipation mingles with the aroma of freshly-fried fo...

Malcolm’s Moment: Inside Forbes’ Secret Hip-Hop Heritage

Today marks the launch of the eighth annual Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, which measures the top earners in the genre. But here at FORBES, we’ve had our eye on rap much longer than many people realize—including, until recently, yours truly.

To be sure, hip-hop acts graced this publication’s pages a few times prior to 2007. There was time 50 Cent landed in the pages of the Celeb 100 issue in 2006 and an interview with Jay Z in 2003; in 1999, Diddy appeared on the cover alongside Jerry Seinfeld.

Appar...

Hip-Hop Cash Kings 2014: Preview & Contest

Rick Ross has long been a regular on FORBES’ Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, racking up at least $5 million each year since 2009.

But for someone who calls himself “The Boss,” there’s a bit of a discrepancy between money and moniker: his best performance came in 2012, when his $9 million payday placed him at No. 12 among hip-hop’s top earners.

The report didn’t sit well with Ross. In a subsequent interview for a cover story with The Source, he called the estimate “way off.” Added Ross: “Y’all know how...

U2-Apple Backlash Is The Latest Evidence Of The MP3′s Demise

If for some reason you’ve still got a collection of cassette tapes, you’ll probably find it very difficult to sell, trade, or even give them away. Compact discs are rapidly approaching a similar status. And, if U2′s Apple album launch is any indication, so are MP3s.

Last week the band distributed free copies of its latest album,Songs of Innocence, to over half a billion iTunes customers as part of a deal with Applevalued as high as $100 million. Judging by somereactions, however, you’d think T...