In Partnership With:
👋 Happy Friday, and how the F-ck is it May? This is Warner, founder of AvA. Connect with me here.
Have an assistant in your life you want to show some love to? Nominate them for April’s Assistants of The Month.
WME’s Head of Festivals broke down how to get your foot in the door at an Agency
Grammys CEO made a bold bet on AI
Mark Cuban’s business partner Rashaun Williams shared 6 lessons (more below)
Adam Faze had a major announcement about Kareem Rahma
Watch it here. I don’t ask a lot, but it would truly mean a TON if you drop a comment on the vid and subscribed to our YT channel as we grow this show.
📰 UMG sells $3 billion+ of Spotify stock & Taylor Swift landed their artists a surprise pay day. Plus productions are ramping up again in LA after years of decline & more.
💼 Looking for open Entertainment jobs? Scroll to the bottom.
Our Job Board now has 240+ early career Entertainment roles as well.
Not subscribed yet? Join 38,000+ of your peers. Your future self will thank you.
⭐ GOOD NEWS ALERT: Shoot days in LA are trending up (finally):
Credit: FILMLA
⭐ UMG sells $1.4B worth of Spotify stock and UMG acts will profit thanks to.. Taylor Swift?
Wait hold upppp what? UMG sold half of its Spotify shares, valued around $1.4B. News to many that a record company had billions invested in a DSP, but moving on.
The unexpected winners: UMG artists. Back in 2016, Warner & Sony committed to paying artists a portion of profits if they ever sold Spotify stock. UMG followed 2 years later. When Taylor signed with UMG in 2018, she pushed for those Spotify stock-sale profits to be paid out as non-recoupable money. Translation: UMG couldn’t say, “Congrats, here’s your cut… actually never mind, you still owe us from that bad deal you signed in 2012.” Warner Music, though DID withhold payouts from artists who hadn’t recouped.
It’s a small contract detail with a massive impact. The kind only Taylor Swift had the leverage to force, but thousands of artists now benefit from.
What is recoupment in record deals in very simple terms? Labels often front money to Artists for recording, videos, marketing etc. But it’s not free. It gets paid back from the artist’s share of the revenue, not the label’s. So until the label recoups what it spent, the artist won’t see their cut. Maybe ever..
⭐ GOOD NEWS ALERT: Creators are hiring A LOT
Creators, the so-called “startups of media,” are staffing up.
Once written off as one-person operations, they’re now building real teams, hiring traditional talent, and starting to look a lot more like the media companies they were supposed to replace.
LOT OF opportunity for people looking to break in 🚀
Scalable Pod
⭐ Meryl Streep returned ‘Devil Wears Prada 2’ when she realized she could double her salary
DWP grossed $325 million 20 years ago. The opening weekend of DWP2 is projected to net anywhere from $66-100 million. So I’d say it’s fair enough the GOAT got PAID.
“I’m 50-60 years old — it took me this long to understand I could do that!”
6 pieces of advice from Shark Tank guest shark Rashaun L. Williams, who runs a $750m fund with Mark Cuban, backed Coinbase, Robinhood, and Lyft early, and is a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons:
🧠 Find a career you love enough you'd do it for free: "If you won't do it for free, don't do it for a fee"
🧠 Use the power of manifestation: "build your confidence and competence.. and become that thing that you want to see in yourself first."
🧠 You are "driving the car" in your own life. Make sure you are in the driver's seat, and not make decisions from a place of emotion.
🧠 Stop choosing between "this" or "that." Unleash "and" into your life, and get fulfillment out of the things you want to do instead of being limited by the things you "should" do.
🧠 Find ways to give back to the next generation of future leaders
🧠 TAKE CARE OF YOUR MENTAL HEALTH!
Our full interview on Episode 4 of AvA LIVE:
Today we have Emma Grede on Happy Place. Emma Grede is BOTH the co-founder of Good American with Khloé Kardashian and the chief product officer of Skims!
They discuss how to get comfortable with failure, leading a team, and believing in yourself.
This is a great watch or listen for anyone who wants to go deep on how to operate at the highest level from someone starting + working inside the biggest celebrity brands in the world.
Another amazing conversation facilitated by the team at Central Talent Booking.
Our new job board features 240+ early career roles in Entertainment, including:
💼 Day-to-Day Manager - Stellar (Independent Artist) - Apply Here
💼 Creators Assistant - CAA - Apply Here
💼 Web & Digital Coordinator - Superfan Live - Apply Here
💼 Client Services Coordinator - Superfan Live - Apply Here
💼 Site Operations Coordinator - Skims - Apply Here
💼 Athlete Partnerships Planner - Fanatics - Apply Here
💼 Social Media Manager - Paramount Skydance - Apply Here
💼 Artist Relations Manager - UnitedMasters - Apply Here
💼 Music & Podcasts Content Strategy Manager - YouTube - Apply Here
💼 Media Manager (Business Operations) - MLS - Apply Here
💼 Performance Marketing Specialist - Madison Square Garden - Apply Here
💼 Consumer Product & Culture Comms Manager - Spotify - Apply Here
💼 TV Literary Agent Assistant - Gersh - Apply Here
💼 Rights Management & Analysis Manager - AMC - Apply Here
💼 Content & Programming Executive Assistant - Vevo - Apply Here
💼 Marketing Strategy Coordinator - NBCUniversal - Apply Here
💼 Legal Coordinator - WME - Apply Here
💼 Studio Content Operations Assistant - Paramount Skydance - Apply Here
🎒 Product Operations Intern - Live Nation - Apply Here
👋 See you back here on Monday
What do you find most valuable about The AvA Connection?
Want this newsletter in your inbox every week?
The Mail Cart is written by Warner Bailey and edited by Riley Furey and Dominik Sansevere.
Get in touch! Email us at [email protected].
Want to partner with us and reach 300,000+ music and entertainment professionals? Reach out to [email protected]
Want to write your own newsletter? Check out our friends at Beehiiv