Los Angeles Times - 04.10.2019

LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2019C3

Global Music Rights, a
group that represents art-
ists such as Drake and Bruce
Springsteen, is suing radio
station owner Entravision
Communications Corp., al-
leging that the company
played its songs without
paying songwriters.
Entravision has played
more than 130 of Global Mu-
sic Rights’ songs a total of
more than 10,000 times over
the last couple of years, ac-
cording to the lawsuit, which
was filed Thursday in federal
court in Los Angeles. The
most-played songs include
Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like
an Eagle,” Metallica’s “Enter
Sandman” and Pearl Jam’s
“Black.” Global Music
Rights is seeking $150,000 for
each infringement, the max-
imum allowed, for a total of
more than $1.5 billion in
damages.
Entravision did not im-
mediately respond to a re-
quest for comment. The
Santa Monica company has
three radio stations in Los
Angeles — Spanish-lan-
guage outlets Super Estrella
KDLD-FM (103.1), Jose
KLYY-FM (97.5/107.1) and La
Suavecita KSSE-FM (107.1)
— as well as 45 other radio
stations and 55 local televi-

sion stations nationwide.

Top songwriters such as

Miller, Pearl Jam’s Eddie

Vedder and Drake signed

with Global Music Rights,

believing that the organiza-

tion would help them secure

a better rate from radio sta-

tions, restaurants and other

groups that pay what’s

called a performance roy-

alty.

Songwriters rely on radio

as a primary source of earn-

ings, especially in the

streaming age. Recording

artists collect the lion’s

share of revenue from

streaming services Spotify

and Apple Music, a source of

great consternation among

songwriters and two types of

organizations that repre-

sent them: music publishers

and performing-rights or-

ganizations.

ASCAP and BMI, the two

largest performing rights or-

ganizations, are limited in

their ability to fight for more.

They collect royalties at a

rate governed by decades-

old federal statute. Global

Music Rights isn’t under the

same limitations.

Music manager Irving

Azoff founded Global Music

Rights to try to raise the

rates paid to songwriters.

Azoff — who manages Gwen

Stefani, Harry Styles and

Bon Jovi — started the Los

Angeles company in 2013

with Randy Grimmett, who

previously worked at

ASCAP.

Radio stations have

balked at the terms sought

by Global Music Rights,

prompting lawsuits between

Global Music Rights and the

Radio Music Licensing

Committee, a body that rep-

resents U.S. radio stations.

Their trial is set to go to

court in Los Angeles next

fall.

Global Music Rights has

offered stations an interim

deal that allows them to play

its songs while litigation is

pending. The catalog spans

thousands of tracks, includ-

ing the biggest hits from

Springsteen, Bruno Mars

and Drake.

Most of the large station

groups, including IHeart-

Media Inc. and Townsquare

Media Inc., have agreed. But

Entravision hasn’t respond-

ed to five offers from Global

Music Rights, according to

Azoff.

“We keep going back to

them offering the license,”

Azoff said. “They have ig-

nored us. They are a sophis-

ticated company; they have

general counsels and nearly

$300 million in revenue. They

have made a willful decision

to play our music without a

license.”

Shares of Entravision

tumbled in November after

the company reported earn-

ings that missed analysts’

estimates; the stock has yet

to recover. The company re-

ported sales of $297.8 million

last year.

Shaw writes for

Bloomberg.

Radio group sued over song royalties

Representative of top

writers says station

owner Entravision

didn’t pay. It seeks

$1.5 billion in damages.

By Lucas Shaw

GLOBAL MUSIC RIGHTS said Entravision’s radio stations have played songs by Metallica, above, and other

acts a total of more than 10,000 times over the last couple of years without paying the songwriters.

Francine OrrLos Angeles Times

ENTRAVISIONowns 48 radio and 55 TV stations nationwide. Above, DJs Daniel

Perez, left, and Oswaldo Diaz in 2015 on a show broadcast by Entravision.

Damian DovarganesAssociated Press

Sports Illustrated, which

was the gold standard for in-

depth sports stories,

plunged into turmoil Thurs-

day as the magazine’s new

management began laying

off staff members in a plan to

heavily rely on freelancers.

Dozens of staffers are ex-

pected to be laid off. The cuts

began five months after

Iowa publishing giant Mere-

dith Corp. sold the 65-year-

old publication to Authentic

Brands Group for $110 mil-

lion. Authentic Brands then

assigned licensing rights to a

third-party firm, Maven Inc.,

which now runs the maga-

zine.

Maven’s plan to dramati-

cally reduce the magazine’s

staff provoked an immediate

backlash.

“Sports Illustrated has

been an iconic brand for 65

years, defined by high-qual-

ity storytelling with global

recognition,” Sports Illus-

trated employees posted on

Twitter. “As the people who

have made this publication

what it is, we are writing to

call on ABG and Meredith to

save the future of this storied

title.”

The upheaval at the leg-

endary magazine illustrates

the difficulties facing print

publications that have long

relied on advertising and

subscriptions. Sports Illus-

trated was once the domi-

nant sports-themed publi-

cation in the U.S. and a

marquee title within the

Time Inc. magazine portfo-

lio. Magazine magnate

Henry Luce, co-founder of

Time, brought Sports Illus-

trated to life in 1954.

But Time Inc. was dis-

mantled in 2018 after Mere-

dith Corp. purchased the

company. It sold several of

the titles, including Time,

Fortune and then Sports Il-

lustrated. Meredith, which

publishes Better Homes and

Gardens and Real Simple

magazine, wanted to bolster

its female-skewing titles

such as People.

Authentic Brands is a

New York brand manage-

ment firm with rights to big-

name celebrities Muham-

mad Ali, Marilyn Monroe

and Elvis Presley, and

brands including Thom-

asville furniture, Frye boots

and Frederick’s of Holly-

wood. In August, private eq-

uity giant Black Rock

bought a 30% stake in Au-

thentic Brands for $875 mil-

lion.

Authentic Brands re-

tained ownership of Sports

Illustrated but assigned li-

censing rights to Seattle-

based Maven. That group

paid Authentic Brands

$45 million in advance roy-

alties as part of the 10-year

deal for use of the Sports Il-

lustrated properties, includ-

ing the swimsuit edition, in

seven countries.

Maven assumed respon-

sibility for operating the dig-

ital and print editions of

Sports Illustrated, which is

based in New York and

reaches an estimated 2.7 mil-

lion subscribers.

Maven is owned by long-

time media executives Ross

Levinsohn, who briefly

served as publisher of the

the Los Angeles Times, and

Jim Heckman.

Levinsohn, a former Ya-

hoo and Fox Sports execu-

tive, was publisher of The

Times for just five months.

He was pushed out amid a

newsroom revolt that has-

tened the sale of the paper to

Los Angeles biotech billion-

aire Patrick Soon-Shiong in

June 2018.

Levinsohn left the pa-

per’s then-parent Tribune

Publishing (previously

known as Tronc) last year

when his job was eliminated.

He wasn’t immediately

available for comment.

It was not clear Thursday

how many people are cur-

rently employed at Sports Il-

lustrated.

“The Maven wants to re-

place top journalists in the

industry with a network of

Maven freelancers and blog-

gers, while reducing or elimi-

nating departments that

have ensured that the sto-

ries we publish and produce

meet the highest stand-

ards,” the Sports Illustrated

employees wrote. “We call on

Meredith and ABG to drop

the Maven and save Sports

Illustrated.”

Sports Illustrated plans

to dramatically cut staff

Magazine’s shift to

relying on freelancers

faces intense backlash.

By Meg James

MO’NE DAVISsigns a copy of the Aug. 25, 2014, edi-

tion of Sports Illustrated with her on the cover.

Butch ComegysScranton (Pa.) Times-Tribune

Federal regulators have

ordered Juul Labs Inc. and

five other vaping companies

to hand over information

about how they market e-

cigarettes, the government’s

latest move targeting the in-

dustry.

The announcement

Thursday from the Federal

Trade Commission comes

amid a nationwide crack-

down on e-cigarettes as poli-

ticians and health author-

ities try to reverse an explo-

sion of vaping by teenagers.

The FTC said it wanted

to “better understand” vap-

ing sales and promotional

practices, including e-ciga-

rette giveaways, online influ-

encer programs and mar-

keting on college campuses.

Those techniques are

also at the center of several

state and federal investiga-

tions into whether Juul’s

early viral marketing efforts

helped spark the surge in

teen vaping.

San Francisco-based

Juul announced last week

that it would cease all adver-

tising of its small, discreet

vaping devices. “We will fully

cooperate and are focused

on earning the trust of regu-

lators, policymakers and

other stakeholders,” a com-

pany spokesman said in a

statement Thursday.

Federal law prohibits tra-

ditional tobacco companies

from numerous sales tac-

tics, including giving away

cigarettes, sponsoring

sports events and advertis-

ing on television, radio, pub-

lic transportation and bill-

boards. Those laws don’t ap-

ply to e-cigarettes, which

launched in the U.S. in 2007.

More than 1 in 4 high

school students reported

having vaped in the last

month, according to the lat-

est government survey data.

Top health officials have

called the trend an epidemic

that risks addicting a gener-

ation of young people to nic-

otine.

Besides Juul, the govern-

ment also is seeking infor-

mation from R.J. Reynolds

Vapor Co., Fontem US,

Logic Technology Devel-

opment, Nu Mark and

NJOY. Regulators want to

review company materials

beginning in 2015.

Besieged by criticism,

Juul announced a series of

surprise concessions last

week: halting all advertising,

replacing its chief executive

and pledging not to lobby

against a planned federal

ban on e-cigarette flavors.

Juul already faces multiple

investigations by Congress,

the Food and Drug Adminis-

tration and several state at-

torneys general.

The privately held com-

pany controls nearly 70% of

the U.S. retail market for e-

cigarettes and has become a

cultural phenomenon with

the success of its high-nico-

tine, flavored e-cigarette

pods.

Most experts agree that

e-cigarette vapor is less

harmful than cigarette

smoke because it doesn’t

contain most of the cancer-

causing chemicals in burn-

ing tobacco.

A recent outbreak of seri-

ous lung illness has afflicted

more than 1,000 people in the

U.S. and has brought addi-

tional scrutiny to the e-ciga-

rette industry.

The Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention said

the illnesses mostly involved

people who said they vaped

THC, the high-inducing

chemical found in marijua-

na, though some vaped both

THC and nicotine and some

vaped only nicotine.

Health inspectors have

not ruled out any vaping

products and are encourag-

ing people to avoid vaping

until the cause of the ill-

nesses is discovered.

FTC to study how Juul, others market vapes

U.S. seeks information

from e-cigarette firms

amid concerns of teen

nicotine addiction.

associated press

U.S. Atty. Gen. William
Barr and other U.S., U.K.
and Australian officials are
pressing Facebook Inc. to
give authorities a way to
read encrypted messages
sent by users, reigniting ten-
sions between tech compa-
nies and law enforcement.
Facebook’s WhatsApp al-
ready has end-to-end en-
cryption, meaning that even
Facebook cannot read the
text of messages. Facebook
plans to extend that protec-
tion to Messenger and Insta-
gram Direct — but the offi-
cials will ask Facebook to
hold off in an open letter to
Facebook Chief Executive
Mark Zuckerberg. A copy of
the letter, dated Friday, was
obtained by the Associated
Press.
“Companies should not
deliberately design their
systems to preclude any
form of access to content,
even for preventing or inves-
tigating the most serious
crimes,” the letter says.
While law enforcement
wants a way to read mes-
sages that’s analogous to
wiretaps for phone calls, se-
curity experts say giving po-
lice such access makes mes-
saging insecure for every-
one.
The letter is yet another
salvo in the Justice Depart-
ment’s continuing effort to
push technology companies
to provide law enforcement
with access to encrypted de-
vices and applications dur-
ing investigations.
Former FBI Director
James B. Comey champi-
oned the need for law en-
forcement to find a work-
around to encrypted devices
and communications. He
led a highly publicized push
to gain access to an iPhone
belonging to a perpetrator of
a 2015 terrorist shooting at-
tack in San Bernardino that
killed 14 people.
Apple Inc. resisted such
efforts and went to court
over the FBI’s demand that
Apple let the FBI disable se-
curity measures that pre-
vent attempts to guess the
phone’s passcode. Apple
CEO Tim Cook argued that
the technique could be used
again on other devices and
make iPhone users more
vulnerable to spies and cy-
berthieves. The FBI re-
lented after it found another
way of getting into the shoot-
er’s phone.

Facebook

is pressed

to unlock

messages

Authorities want a

means to access

encrypted exchanges.

associated press