Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 98

Justin Bieber On The Business Of Social Media

Justin Bieber’s new album Believe, released on June 19th, is on track to become this year’s biggest commercial debut—Billboard predicts sales of over 400,000 copies by the end of its first week in stores. The young star has earned $108 million over the past two years, and the future is looking bright as a result of the new release and ensuing tour.

Without a doubt, Bieber owes much of that success to Facebook and Twitter, which he’s used to spread word of his album and concerts to tens of mill...

Delta Rae Talks New Album, Kickstarter At Forbes Concert

Delta Rae rocks the Forbes newsroom.

If you happened to be walking across the fourth floor of the Forbes headquarters at lunch time a few days ago, you might have noticed a motley group of vocalists belting out four-part harmony over guitar, drums, bass and perhaps the din of a chain banging on a garbage can. It’s all in a day’s work, if you happen to work at Forbes—or if you’re a member of Delta Rae.

The genre-bending sextet from North Carolina dropped by Forbes earlier this month to give a pr...

SoundExchange Passes $1 Billion Mark In Music Royalties Paid

SoundExchange announces it has crossed the billion-dollar barrier.

For musicians trying to make ends meet, those rare royalty checks might not seem like much individually. But they sure do add up.

Today the non-profit digital performance rights organization SoundExchange announced it has paid out more than $1 billion in digital royalties to artists and labels since its inception in 2003. SoundExchange collects royalties from streaming music providers—including Sirius XM, Pandora and those chann...

Blue Ivy Carter: Not The First Of Jay-Z’s Trademark Blues

Jay-Z: When it comes to trademarks, he's feeling blue.

Less than three weeks after the birth of Blue Ivy Carter last January, Jay-Z and Beyoncé did something that might only occur to two world-famous, business-savvy music stars: they filed an application to trademark the name of their first child.

Their application lists a Delaware-based limited liability company called BGK Trademark Holdings—a likely nod to Beyonce’s initials—as the owner. The filing contains an exhaustive catalog of potential...

Justin Bieber’s Believe: A Sneak Peek From Inside The Studio

Believe It: Justin Bieber's new album and tour could boost his earnings far beyond this year's $55 million.

“Drake. Taylor Swift. Mike Posner,” declares Justin Bieber, when I ask him to rattle off a list of the special guests set to appear on his upcoming album, Believe. Then: “John Travolta.”

He pauses, letting the last name sink in.

“Just kidding,” he says quickly, before continuing. “Rick James. I’m just kidding.”

It’s a balmy spring evening in Hollywood, but Bieber and I are tucked away deep...

Steve Stoute: One Of Madison Avenue’s Modern Day Mad Men

The following appears in the Summer 2012 issue of ForbesLife magazine as part of the feature “Madder Men.”

Steve Stoute

FOUNDER AND CEO, TRANSLATION

Last summer at the U.K.’s Glastonbury music festival, Beyoncé’s set included a rendition of “Happy Birthday.” It was directed at neither Jay-Z nor the Queen of England, but Steve Stoute, who has scored her deals with the likes of Samsung and Tommy Hilfiger.

Since launching Translation in 2004, he has also paired Jay-Z with Reebok, LeBron James with S...

Why It’s Never Been Easier To Be A Successful Inventor

see photos

Click for full photo gallery: Adrian Van Anz's Wildest Creations

This article appears in the June 25, 2012 Investment Guide issue of Forbes.

Five years ago Adrian Van Anz decided he wanted a moped. Problem was, the models on the market were too slow, too clunky, too drab. Simply put, they didn’t set his soul on fire. So he took what for him was the logical next step—and built one himself.

A veteran tinkerer whose first big hit was a vodka-cooled computer, Van Anz ordered a 2hp motor fr...

Justin Bieber Sells Out All U.S. Tour Dates In An Hour

Justin Bieber: Resting up for the big tour.

It’s safe to say that “Bieber Fever” isn’t cooling down anytime soon. Tickets to the North American leg of Justin Bieber’s upcoming Believe tour sold out within an hour of going on sale Saturday.

The 18-year-old singer’s AEG-backed trek will include 45 shows in the U.S. and Canada, starting in Arizona on September 29th and finishing up in Miami on January 26th. Both of Bieber’s Madison Square Garden concerts sold out in 30 seconds.

This slate of shows...

How Nas Became A True Rap Genius

Rap Genius: Nas is dropping knowledge through a new medium.

Ask just about any hip-hop fan to recite a list of the top rappers of all time, and a name almost certain to come up is Nasir “Nas” Bin Olu Dara Jones. Since his classic 1994 debut, Illmatic, the Queens-bred rhymester has grown a wide fan base ranging from rap aficionados to the late Amy Winehouse, who sang his praises in “Me and Mr. Jones.” Even onetime rival Jay-Z enshrined Nas as a member of hip-hop’s holy trinity in the song “Wher...

Timbaland To Launch His Own Line of Liqueur This Summer

Timbaland: Serious about his business.

Three years ago Timbaland exhorted his audience to practice temperance with the song “Ease Off the Liquor.” Now, he’s changing his tune.

The Virginia-based superproducer is planning to launch his own line of liqueur. Currently slated for a July debut, the spirit will be called Le Sutra.

“I make sexy music, and this is a sexy liqueur,” Timbaland told me on a recent telephone conversation. “It’s like the perfect match.”

Timbaland says Le Sutra will be in the s...