ReportWire

Tag: Licensing

  • Denver sports bar accused of prostitution may lose its liquor, cabaret license

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    Denver officials have started proceedings to take away a southwest Denver sports bar’s liquor and dance cabaret licenses after employees were found working as prostitutes in the bar, according to court records.

    Women working at Mecca Sports Bar, 2915 W. Mississippi Ave., in Denver’s Athmar Park neighborhood, routinely offered customers in and outside of the bar sex for money, including undercover police officers, according to a show-cause order from the city.

    The Denver Police Department’s vice and narcotics unit received information from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement Division “about prostitution, unlawful liquor activity, and illicit narcotics sales occurring at the bar,” the order stated.

    An order to show cause is a court-ordered directive for a party to appear and explain why a specific, requested action — in this case, the revocation of the Denver bar’s liquor and cabaret licenses — should not be approved.

    Mecca Sports Bar did not respond Thursday to requests for comment.

    Colorado Department of Revenue officials told Denver police that an anonymous complaint had been made about young girls working at the bar offering men “off-premise bottle service,” according to the order. The girls would leave with the customers, be dropped back off at the bar later in the night and be paid for the night by the bar manager.

    The vice unit launched an undercover operation at Mecca Sports Bar, formerly known as Club Dubai, in August 2025, city officials wrote in the show-cause order.

    An undercover officer contacted a young woman who walked out of the bar and approached the officer’s vehicle, the order stated. She told him it would cost $300 for “culear” — a common Spanish slang term for “sex,” according to the document.

    The officer agreed and the woman got into the car, officials said in the document. When the officer told her it was a sting operation, the woman admitted that she and the other employees would go outside to “engage in prostitution.” She also said they would frequently purchase liquor inside the bar and resell it to customers at a higher price.

    Further undercover operations in September and November of 2025 revealed that more women at the bar were engaging in prostitution and overcharging customers for profit, according to the document.

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  • Denver specialty grocer Marczyk Fine Foods to open fourth location in LoDo’s Milk Market

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    For Pete Marczyk, the decision to open a market downtown was an easy one.

    “When you get a phone call from Walter Isenberg, you listen,” the longtime Denver grocer said, referring to the founder and CEO of Denver-based Sage Hospitality as “the Godfather.”

    “It was pretty interesting to see the vision through his eyes,” he continued. “And that was a really cool moment for me to be able to sit down with him and be able to hammer that out.”

    What came of that months-ago conversation is the fourth location of Marczyk Fine Foods, planned for the Milk Market food hall in LoDo.

    Marczyk said the 450-square-foot outpost at 1800 Wazee St. will be a stripped down but “mighty” version of his specialty grocery stores in the Uptown and Hale neighborhoods. It will sell premade entrees, soups, salads and sweets alongside a small selection of grocery items.

    “It’s not our whole product mix, but we use sales data and we’ll get a product mix down there, and our customers will teach us what works and what doesn’t,” Marczyk said.

    Sage, which manages Milk Market, will staff the spot. The company signed a five-year licensing agreement with Marczyk. Scott Vollmer, general manager of Dairy Block, the development that Milk Market is a part of, said he expects Marczyk to open in early 2026.

    “(Marczyk) is a successful local grocery concept that embodies good quality, great service,” said Vollmer, who works for Dairy Block developer McWhinney. “And it fills a void here downtown where you’re missing a lot of the basic grocery sundry items that Marczyk does a great job of curating.”

    Milk Market isn’t the first licensing agreement for Marczyk. In 2019, he signed a deal to open a spot in Denver International Airport, which finally opened a year ago after COVID-induced delays.

    At Marczyk’s licensed spots, the operator — in this case Sage — buys the food from the grocer, which makes one to two daily deliveries of its fresh bread and prepared foods. Marczyk will continue cooking and shipping out of its 10,000-square-food commissary at 4850 E. 39th Ave. in Park Hill.

    Marczyk, who opened his first store in 2002, said he constantly gets approached to open new locations but he needs a very specific set of circumstances to make the numbers work. He said it would cost $7 million to build out a new store, several million more than he paid decades ago.

    “It’s really hard to make the math work for a grocer. Everything they say about the grocery business is true, it’s the second oldest profession, (with) prostitution being the first,” he joked. “But it’s a really super competitive space and our direct competitors are two of the largest companies in the world: Amazon and Walmart.”

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    Max Scheinblum

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  • New on Netflix: Some of Spotify’s Biggest Podcasts

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    Video podcasts are coming to Netflix — in part because everyone’s gotta compete with YouTube.
    Photo: Bill Simmons via YouTube

    What even counts as television these days, anyway? That question gets a tad thornier by the day, especially now that Netflix has announced a new partnership with Spotify to bring a curated slate of the latter’s owned video podcasts onto the streaming platform.

    It’s a sizable lineup, one that mostly draws from The Ringer, the Bill Simmons–founded network that Spotify acquired in 2020, and which in recent months has been notably embracing video. The slate coming to Netflix includes the expected sports programming like The Bill Simmons Podcast (redemption, presumably, for Any Given Wednesday) and The Zach Lowe Show, but also more culture-oriented fare like The Rewatchables, The Big Picture, and The Dave Chang Show. Beyond The Ringer, the deal brings on podcasts that had been absorbed in Spotify’s 2019 acquisition of Parcast, including the generically named True Crime and Serial Killers, both of which will likely play nicely with Netflix’s recommendation algorithm. They will become available on Netflix in the U.S. early next year, with other markets to eventually follow. More titles are expected to be added later.

    For Netflix, this move doesn’t come out of nowhere. The company has been steadily experimenting with broadening its on-platform definition of “content,” including video games and digital video programming that originated on YouTube, like the popular kids’ YouTuber Ms. Rachel. It’s also long dabbled on the periphery of podcasting, mainly producing branded company shows tied to its television projects, not unlike how HBO uses podcasts to deepen engagement with shows like The Gilded Age and The Last of Us.

    But the podcast world has changed dramatically in the past few years. The rapid rise of video-first programming has completely reshaped the medium — and Netflix’s leadership has been watching. “The lines between podcast and talk shows are getting pretty blurry,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors back in April. “As the popularity of video podcasts grows, I suspect you’ll see some of them find their way to Netflix.” Around the same time, Axios reported that it was seeking a podcast chief, signaling a deeper structural move into the space.

    The Spotify podcasts heading to Netflix

    Sports
    • The Bill Simmons Podcast
    • The Zach Lowe Show
    • The McShay Show
    • Fairway Rollin’
    • The Mismatch
    • The Ringer F1 Show
    • The Ringer Fantasy Football Show
    • The Ringer NFL Show
    • The Ringer NBA Show

    Culture / Lifestyle
    • The Rewatchables
    • The Big Picture
    • The Dave Chang Show
    • The Recipe Club
    • Dissect
    • True Crime
    • Conspiracy Theories
    • Serial Killers

    For Spotify, things are a little more complicated. The deal represents both a retreat and a reframing. After spending years and billions of dollars to become the dominant podcasting player — buying Gimlet Media (now shuttered), Parcast (also largely shuttered), and The Ringer, plus signing exclusive deals with Joe Rogan and Alex Cooper (who later left for SiriusXM) — the Swedish platform had been further pivoting toward video in search of more lucrative ad dollars and a better business model for its podcast efforts. But YouTube’s sudden incursion into the podcast space, precipitated by the medium’s broader turn toward video, has effectively boxed Spotify in; it didn’t take long for audience-research reports to indicate that more podcast listeners now consider YouTube to be their top preferred platform, surpassing Spotify. By bringing its video podcasts to Netflix, Spotify can extend its shows’ reach without shouldering the cost of competing in video distribution. It’s a way of turning its original content into syndicated inventory, licensing its productions into a marketplace and audience ecosystem that’s indicated greater affinity toward visual programming.

    Both companies, of course, are reacting to the same gravitational pull: YouTube. The platform has evolved into the default center of gravity for the creator economy, swallowing categories like music, gaming, education, and now podcasts. In recent months, YouTube had been quietly reframing itself as a direct competitor to Netflix, a position further substantiated by its own claim that the platform is reaching more viewers over television sets than on phones and computers. As such, for Netflix and Spotify, this partnership is less a marriage than a kind of mutual defense pact: Netflix gets a new vein of low-cost, evergreen talk content that helps it compete in attention time against YouTube, while Spotify gets a new distribution vector that can keep its video and podcast investments relevant.

    The most intriguing question is how far Netflix is willing to go, and whether it’s considering adding what’s long thought to be the most popular podcast in the world: The Joe Rogan Experience. (Spotify doesn’t own Rogan’s show, but it holds an exclusive distribution deal.) Or, indeed, whether it will lean toward bringing on the most culturally influential podcast genre we have: politics. Given Netflix’s aversion to anything resembling news programming, there’s likely not much appetite for that. At least, not yet. But give it time — and, perhaps, a bad fiscal quarter.

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    Nicholas Quah

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  • Reddit, Yahoo, Medium and more are adopting a new licensing standard to get compensated for AI scraping

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    With web publishers in crisis, a new open standard lets them set the ground rules for AI scrapers. (Or, at least it will try.) The new Really Simple Licensing (RSL) standard creates terms that participants expect AI companies to abide by. Although enforcement is an open question, it can’t hurt that some heavy hitters back it. Among others, the list includes Reddit, Yahoo (Engadget’s parent company), Medium and People Inc.

    RSL adds licensing terms to the robots.txt protocol, the simple file that provides instructions for web crawlers. Supported licensing options include free, attribution, subscription, pay-per-crawl and pay-per-inference. (The latter means AI companies only pay publishers when the content is used to generate a response.)

    Launching alongside the standard is a new managing nonprofit, the RSL Collective. It views itself as an equivalent of nonprofits like ASCAP and BMI, which manage music industry royalties. The new group says its standard can “establish fair market prices and strengthen negotiation leverage for all publishers.”

    Participating brands include plenty of internet old-schoolers. Reddit, People Inc., Yahoo, Internet Brands, Ziff Davis, wikiHow, O’Reilly Media, Medium, The Daily Beast, Miso.AI, Raptive, Ranker and Evolve Media are all on board. Former Ask.com CEO Doug Leeds and RSS co-creator Eckart Walther lead the group.

    “The RSL Standard gives publishers and platforms a clear, scalable way to set licensing terms in the AI era,” Reddit CEO Steve Huffman wrote in a press release. “The RSL Collective offers a path to do it together. Reddit supports both as important steps toward protecting the open web and the communities that make it thrive.” (It’s worth noting that Reddit has licensing deals with OpenAI and Google.)

    It’s unclear whether AI companies will honor the standard. After all, they’ve been known to simply ignore robots.txt instructions. But the group believes its terms will be legally enforceable.

    In an interview with Ars Technica, Leeds pointed to Anthropic’s recent $1.5 billion settlement, suggesting “there’s real money at stake” for AI companies that don’t train “legitimately.” (However, that settlement is up in the air after a judge rejected it.) Leeds told The Verge that the standard’s collective nature could also help spread legal costs, making challenges to violations more feasible.

    As for technical enforcement, the RSL standard can’t block bots on its own. For that, the group is partnering with the cloud company Fastly, which can act as a sort of gatekeeper. (Perhaps Cloudflare, which recently launched a pay-per-crawl system, could eventually play a part, too.) Leeds said Fastly could serve as “the bouncer at the door to the club.”

    Leeds suggested to Ars that there are incentives for AI companies, too. Financially, it could be simpler for them than inking individual licensing deals. It could prevent a problem in AI content: using multiple sources for an answer to avoid using too much from any one. If content is legally licensed, the AI app can simply use the best source, which provides the user with a higher-quality answer and minimizes the risk of hallucinations.

    He also referenced complaints from AI companies that there’s no effective means of licensing web-wide content. “We have listened to them, and what we’ve heard them say is… we need a new protocol,” Leeds told Ars Technica. “With the RSL standard, AI firms get a “scalable way to get all the content” they want, while setting an incentive that they’ll only have to pay for the best content that their models actually reference. If they’re using it, they pay for it, and if they’re not using it, they don’t pay for it.”

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    Will Shanklin

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  • An Alabama judge appoints a mediator in a long-running medical marijuana dispute – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    An Alabama judge appoints a mediator in a long-running medical marijuana dispute – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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  • Filing asks court to move medical cannabis process forward – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    Filing asks court to move medical cannabis process forward – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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  • Opinion: Opposition to online pet care is unrealistic and protectionist

    Opinion: Opposition to online pet care is unrealistic and protectionist

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    In Colorado, we love our pets, so it’s personal when the care they need is out of reach.  A recent Colorado State University study found that veterinary care is unattainable for a third of pet owners.

    This is why a group of animal welfare advocates have come together to lead ballot initiatives 144 and 145. These measures will safely increase access to veterinary care in Colorado by expanding the use of telehealth and by introducing a career pathway for a master’s-level veterinary professional associate (VPA) position, similar to a physician assistant in human medicine.

    In a recent op-ed, state politician Karen McCormick, raised concerns about these two ballot initiatives. We are a group of veterinarians with a lifelong commitment to the well-being of animals and the community. We are leading this measure and feel compelled to offer our perspective on why these measures are crucial for the health of our pets. Initiatives 144 and 145 are critical steps to safely increasing veterinary care for pets in Colorado and addressing the dire shortage of veterinary professionals.

    Animal Health Economics estimates a shortage of nearly 15,000 veterinarians will exist in the U.S. by 2030, leaving as many as 75 million pets without veterinary care. This is largely the result of a veterinary workforce crisis. There are simply too few veterinary professionals to meet the demand. A study from the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) found that there were 2,000-3,000 more open jobs than veterinarians available to hire.

    Ballot Initiative 144 increases access to veterinary telemedicine, allowing pet owners to create a new relationship with a veterinarian and receive care virtually when appropriate. This same model has been successful in human healthcare, and was passed nearly unanimously in Florida, Arizona and California last year. Rep. McCormick claims to have passed a bill (HB 24-1048) on behalf of the veterinary trade association as an “expansion” of tele-technologies. What she fails to share is that her bill eliminated options for many pet owners to access veterinary care virtually.

    Even Gov. Jared Polis stated his disappointment in this new restriction when the bill passed, saying he was concerned that it “creates additional impediments to veterinary care, especially in rural areas.” Initiative 144 repairs this damage and truly expands telehealth.

    Ballot Initiative 145 creates a career pathway for a veterinary “PA”. These professionals will have a master’s degree in veterinary clinical care and must work under the supervision of a licensed Colorado veterinarian. Initiative 145 requires robust training from a leading veterinary school in the country. It also empowers the State Board of Veterinary Medicine to create licensing and other regulatory requirements. Initiative 145 leads to increased capacity in veterinary clinics, particularly in rural communities, while driving down costs for pet owners.

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    Apryl Steele, Missy Tasky, Jo Myers

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  • Logo Brands Adds Six Renowned Universities to Strategic Partnership Program

    Logo Brands Adds Six Renowned Universities to Strategic Partnership Program

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    The Tennessee-based company will exclusively produce a variety of merchandise categories, such as tents, chairs, soft-sided coolers, and more, under contracts ranging from five to 10 years.


    FRANKLIN, Tenn., May 28, 2024 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Logo Brands, Inc. has announced the signing of six strategic licensing agreements: 10-year contracts with the University of Montana and East Carolina University, and five-year contracts with the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Maryland, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Memphis. 

    While Logo Brands currently has rights with these universities to sell licensed merchandise, this new agreement grants Logo Brands exclusive rights to manufacture, produce, and distribute tents, chairs, stadium seating, soft-sided coolers, tables, and inflatable sports balls for all universities listed above. Universities including ECU, Memphis, and Maryland, allow for the exclusive rights to manufacture, produce and distribute throws as well. 

    Logo Brands will continue to offer additional products for the universities including drinkware, tote bags, pillows, and more both online and in retail. 

    “We’re thrilled to announce the addition of these six new partners into our strategic partnership program at Logo Brands,” says Kris Talley, SVP of Sales and Licensing. “Collaborating closely with these universities, we foresee an exciting opportunity to expand the availability of high-quality products for fans nationwide.”

    To maintain producing and distributing university products at a national level, Logo Brands will utilize its relationships with major national brands like Sam’s Club, Costco, Walmart, Fanatics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, Target, and other major retail outlets in addition to on-campus bookstores and the Logo Brands e-commerce site.

    Leveraging co-op spends and marketing allotments, these universities will join other Logo Brands strategic partners in exclusive advertising and marketing initiatives, tailored to their unique brand identities and targeted demographics. This innovative program ensures that each university maximizes its marketing impact while maintaining consistency and resonance with its fanbase.

    The addition of these esteemed universities brings Logo Brands’s Strategic Partnership Program up to a total of 44 universities across the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, PAC-12, Big Sky, AAC, and Mountain West.

    QUOTES FROM PARTNERS:

    “We are excited to announce our partnership with the leading licensee of hard goods in the collegiate space,” ECU Director of Athletics Jon Gilbert said. “By leveraging the expertise and resources of Logo Brands, we aim to enhance our tailgate offerings in retail and provide even greater value and satisfaction to our devoted fanbase.”

    “The University of Arkansas is excited to expand its partnership with Logo Brands,” said Taylor McGillis, Senior Associate AD for Marketing & Business Development. “Logo Brands is an industry leader for tailgating and outdoor lifestyle products and our partnership will provide Razorback fans with fun, quality items that everyone can enjoy.” 

    “The University of Pittsburgh is looking forward to its enhanced relationship with Logo Brands,” says University of Pittsburgh Assistant Athletic Director of Licensing and Brand Management, Lori Burens. “This partnership will benefit our fans, retail partners and expand the Pitt brand.”

    “The University of Montana is thrilled to announce our new partnership with Logo Brands,” says Chief Licensing Officer of the University of Montana, Goat Lamb. “Together, nothing will stop us from expanding our brand while providing the best Griz products to our fans. Welcome Logo Brands to the Griz Family!”

    “Logo Brands has been a strong licensee and an industry leader in sports merchandising for many years. With their support, our fans have had more access to licensed products,” says Greg Berkowitz, Director of Trademarks and Licensing at the University of Maryland. “We at the University of Maryland are looking forward to launching our strategic program with them to expand that effort.”

    “We are very much looking forward to an expanded relationship with Logo Brands,” University of Memphis Associate Athletic Director, Integrated Communications and Marketing, Michael Schroeder said. “Logo Brands is a leader in the fan goods space, and we are excited to continue to bring the best offerings to our fans in partnership with this Tennessee-based company founded by UofM alums.”

    ABOUT LOGO BRANDS

    Logo Brands is a leading manufacturer of officially licensed products for more than 800 colleges and leagues including NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and NASCAR. The company’s assortment spans the categories of outdoor lifestyle, indoor living and on-the-go with more than 900 different product lines in the company’s history. Logo Brands began as a family business in 2000 by shipping tailgate chairs from a garage just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Its headquarters are now in Franklin, Tennessee.

    Source: Logo Brands

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  • Kentucky’s Medical Cannabis Program Undergoes Dramatic Transformation: Navigating HB 829 and the Emergency Licensing Regulations – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    Kentucky’s Medical Cannabis Program Undergoes Dramatic Transformation: Navigating HB 829 and the Emergency Licensing Regulations – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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    Hannah King

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  • Unlicensed commercial businesses the focus of crackdown in Prince George’s Co. – WTOP News

    Unlicensed commercial businesses the focus of crackdown in Prince George’s Co. – WTOP News

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    It’s hard to say just how many unlicensed, commercial businesses are being run out of homes in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but every month, the county gets hundreds of complaints about them.

    It’s hard to say just how many unlicensed, commercial businesses are being run out of homes in Prince George’s County, Maryland, but every month, the county gets hundreds of complaints about them.

    This month, the county’s Department of Permitting, Inspections and Enforcement (DPIE) is spreading the word that it’s investigating and willing to help get those businesses on the up-and-up when they can be — or shut down if they can’t.

    The types of businesses can widely vary. In some cases, it’s someone running a restaurant out of their kitchen. Other times, it’s a salon or tax preparation service.

    “Another big complaint that we do have is the auto shops. You often will see individuals fixing cars in their neighborhood, in their driveway, in their garage,” said Lori Parris, senior adviser for DPIE. “That’s another illegal business that we’re looking to address as well.”

    In some cases, it’s a side hustle. But other times, “they don’t understand the process, they don’t understand that there’s a need for a business license and a permit to run a certain business out of your home,” Parris said.

    That’s why the county is spending the month of March educating those who aren’t in compliance with the laws about what they need to do to get there. And from April to July, county officials will worry less about punishment and more about helping those businesses get what they need to operate legally.

    “If this business can come into compliance, we will not cite them,” Parris said. “The goal is to walk them through the licensing process. If they need to get a home occupation permit, we will walk them through that as well. But the goal really is to get them into compliance.”

    Parris said DPIE doesn’t plan to “put the hammer down” on businesses the agency knows is willing to work with them to get the proper licensing and accreditation.

    “However, if we find a business that cannot come into compliance during this period, we will cite them and … we will continue to enforce over the period,” she added.

    Parris said some of these businesses will not be able to come into compliance.

    “If you’re operating a home car repair business, it could be running a restaurant,” she cited as examples of commercial businesses that can’t operate from a home. “You can’t have commercial cooking in a home or in an apartment because you don’t have the proper ventilation, you don’t have the proper commercial stove. … There are some things that you can just not come into compliance. So if you are making food, you are selling food and running a restaurant out of your home, that’s something that you cannot come into compliance.”

    Eventually, the crackdown will go countywide, but right now, the awareness campaign will target areas of the county including Hyattsville, Lewisdale, Adelphi and Langley Park. Lanham and Seabrook are also areas that generate a high level of complaints.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    John Domen

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  • ‘It doesn’t smell right’: Alabama’s medical marijuana debacle continues – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    ‘It doesn’t smell right’: Alabama’s medical marijuana debacle continues – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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  • Kentucky Takes Steps in Implementing Medical Cannabis Laws – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

    Kentucky Takes Steps in Implementing Medical Cannabis Laws – Cannabis Business Executive – Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

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    Hannah King

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  • Logo Brands Captures 35th Strategic Partnership With The University of Utah

    Logo Brands Captures 35th Strategic Partnership With The University of Utah

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    Logo Brands Will Now Exclusively Produce an Array of Licensed Tailgate and Inflatables Products for the Utah Utes


    FRANKLIN, Tenn., August 23, 2023 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Logo Brands, Inc. has announced The University of Utah as the company’s 35th strategic partnership. Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, Logo Brands and Utah will enter into a 10-year exclusive agreement in the tailgate and inflatables categories.

    This new agreement grants Logo Brands exclusive rights to manufacture, produce, and distribute officially licensed Utah Utes tents, chairs, stadium seating, soft-sided coolers, tables, and non-leather inflatable sports balls for the university. Logo Brands will continue to offer a vast selection of hard goods products for the university including various types of drinkware, blankets and throws, inflatable mascots, and totes. 

    “Utah boasts a remarkable collegiate program,” stated Maggie McHugh, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Logo Brands. “We eagerly anticipate expanding this program by providing a vast array of products catering to Utah students, fans, and alumni for years to come.”

    Utah product will continue to be produced and distributed by Logo Brands through top retailers in the United States including Costco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Scheels, Amazon, and Fanatics, in addition to Utah’s on-campus bookstore, Utah University Bookstore, and the Logo Brands e-commerce site.

    The University of Utah is known for both its prestigious academics and its high-level sports. The Utah Utes have demonstrated that they are an athletics power as they have produced 29 team national championships, 115 individual national champions, 503 All-Americans, and 67 Olympians. The move to Pac-12 in 2011 has fueled their highly successful seasons across their varsity sports teams with high-place finishes in both Pac-12 Conference Championships and NCAA Championships.   

    “The University of Utah is thrilled to have a dynamic partnership with Logo Brands, a leading name in high-quality collegiate tailgating products,” says Richard Fairchild, Associate Director of Trademarks & Licensing. “This collaboration marks an exciting step forward in our ongoing efforts to enhance the fan experience and extend the reach of our university brand.”

    About Logo Brands

    Logo Brands is a leading manufacturer of officially licensed products for more than 800 colleges and leagues including NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and NASCAR. The company’s assortment spans the categories of outdoor lifestyle, indoor living and on-the-go with more than 900 different product lines in the company’s history. Logo Brands began as a family business in 2000 by shipping tailgate chairs from a garage just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Its headquarters are now in Franklin, Tennessee. 

    MEDIA CONTACT: 
    Natalie Hill
    615-716-4901
    natalie@logobrands.com

    Follow on Instagram: @logobrandsinc

    Source: Logo Brands

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  • Hear me out: Artificial Intelligence may not be bad for music after all – National | Globalnews.ca

    Hear me out: Artificial Intelligence may not be bad for music after all – National | Globalnews.ca

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    When Barry Manilow wanted to tour in 1982, he was faced with the immense cost of taking an orchestra on the road. So he didn’t. Instead, a larger group of musicians playing traditional instruments was jettisoned and replaced by a couple of guys playing synthesizers. Musicians’ unions hit the roof, saying that synths were costing jobs and the tech should be outlawed. How did that work out?

    Around the same time, musicians were exploring the art of sample, the surgical excisions of portions of old songs in the creation of new ones. There was much complaining about that, too. “Creativity is dead!” yelled the naysayers. “We’re doomed to a future of recycled sounds!”

    Instead, once the legal issues were worked out (i.e. giving proper credit to those whose works were sampled), a new generation of clever musicians was able to use the new technology to extend the sonic range and texture of popular music.

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    Then we run into the introduction of the modern drum machine. Drummers were positive this tech was going to put them out of business. A funny thing happened, though. It didn’t. There were still plenty of gigs for drummers. Meanwhile, musicians started using drum machines for the beats and sounds that humans couldn’t create with their arms and legs. The tech ushered in a whole new set of sounds as well as a new job: drum programmer.

    Such Luddite bleats against technological progress are seldom successful. When it comes to music vs. tech, tech almost always wins.

    The latest challenge to the status quo is the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of new music. Critics point out the gaps in copyright law. Musicians look at AI-assisted music as scary, cheating, stealing, and even evil. Ice Cube, a rapper who made his bones with generous use of samples, calls AI music “demonic.”

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    Yes, there are all kinds of issues surrounding AI and music that have to be addressed. And yes, there are legal and ethical issues that need to be worked out. But now that the tech is here, it’s not going away. It’s time to start looking at the positives AI might bring to music.

    Hold on. Hear me out. Here are some scenarios where AI will be very helpful.

    Music generation: Human creativity is restricted by experience and ability. No one can possibly draw inspiration from every style and genre of music out there. AI can. With the speech-to-music capabilities of a program like Google’s MusicLM, you can simply say or type in something like “Play me accordion-based industrial dance music with a Lady Gaga-style vocal in Lithuanian” and you’ll get it. I’m not saying it’ll be very good, but by playing around with goofy commands like that, it’s possible that a new type of inspiration will hit.

    Songwriting: Everyone runs into writer’s block. Playing with AI could help break out of that rut by presenting ideas for new moods, tones, and approaches. And not just with the 12 notes of our Western musical scale but with lyrical ideas. Sure you can still reach for a thesaurus or a rhyming dictionary, but AI is much faster and much more powerful.

    Production Music: There’s a never-ending need for free non-copyrighted music for industrial uses. That includes everything from incidental scores for narrations, corporate videos, podcasts, TikTok and YouTube posts, and even TV and movies. Anonymous musicians labour in studios trying to come up with this important yet innocuous music while trying not to accidentally infringe on someone else’s work. In the past, these libraries of 10-, 15-, 30-, and 60-second music clips were sold to places like radio stations (usually in big binders of CDs and later as digital downloads). A year or so later with all the material exhausted, you’d have to buy/license a new library.

    AI will be used to create a virtually unlimited supply of this sort of music. Ask anyone in the production/post-production business how helpful this will be, especially when they’re looking to create material that sounds close to something familiar without actually tipping over in the area of plagiarism.

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    Vocal mimicry: Say you’re a songwriter and you need to write a song for Adele. You can compose the whole thing and drop in a reasonable AI facsimile of Adele’s voice to see how the final product might sound. Songwriters and producers will love this.

    Licensing voices: Voices will become digital assets to be licensed and purchased. Here’s an example.

    I do a lot of voicework and narration and sometimes it gets so busy that I have to turn down jobs. What if I could license my voice, complete with all its intonations and quirks for use in the voicework gigs for which I don’t have the time to do? I can even see a future where my agent just sends out a demo reel to clients who then mimic me for whatever the project. I just cash the cheques as they arrive in the mail. Sounds pretty sweet to me.

    The resurrection of dead artists: In 1997, a new TV commercial for Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners appeared, featuring Fred Astaire dancing with a vacuum cleaner. A cute trick, given that Astaire had died a decade earlier. His estate made a tidy sum of money for licensing Fred’s image. That sort of Zelig/Forrest Gump-type technology has been quite popular in film and TV.

    AI now gives the estates of Tupac Shakur, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Prine, or any other dead artist the opportunity to license the deceased’s voice to new collaborations that don’t involve finding old, static vocal tracks from the past. Instead, it uses something called “vocal emulation.” Let’s say, for example, Eminem wanted to duet with Pac on a song about the night he was shot and died. Anyone could rap something into the program and it will change the timbre and tonality into something that just sounds like Pac.

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    Who would do this? Think of all the thousands of songs that are being bought up by companies like Primary Wave, Hipgnosis, and Concord. This could be part of the way they extend the life of artists and songs.

    Musical fan fiction: What if we could get Kurt Cobain to sing Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Think of all the weird parallel universes that we could explore.

    These are interesting times, the wild wild west of AI music production. But as we saw with synths, sampling, and drum machines, it will be codified, legalized, and monetized. The future will be interesting.

    —

    Alan Cross is a broadcaster with Q107 and 102.1 the Edge and a commentator for Global News.

    Subscribe to Alan’s Ongoing History of New Music Podcast now on Apple Podcast or Google Play

    &copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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    Alan Cross

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  • U.S. Polo Assn. Mourns the Loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Extends Its Sincere Condolences to the Royal Family

    U.S. Polo Assn. Mourns the Loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Extends Its Sincere Condolences to the Royal Family

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    Press Release
    –

    Sep 9, 2022


    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. & WINDSOR, England, September 9, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), in conjunction with the USPA and its licensing partner in the United Kingdom, Brand Machine Group (BMG), offer our deepest condolences to the entire Royal Family on the tremendous loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

    Her Majesty The Queen lived a life of extraordinary public service and has been an iconic and illuminating figure not just in the United Kingdom but around the world. She will be remembered globally with great affection and respect for her sense of duty and commitment to her role for more than 70 years.

    “U.S. Polo Assn. has been extremely fortunate to have worked with The Palace in supporting the Royal Family with their philanthropic efforts over the years,” said J. Michael Prince, President and CEO of USPA Global Licensing. “Partnering with both The Duke of Cambridge, HRH Prince William and The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry to carry on the Queen’s philanthropic legacy through the spirit of polo has been, and will continue to be an honor and a privilege.”

    The sport of polo has been part of the Royal Family’s history dating back many generations.

    “The USPA is saddened to learn of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and we extend our most sincere condolences to The Royal Family,” notes Stewart Armstrong, Chairman of the United States Polo Association (USPA). “Her Majesty’s impact is both far reaching and immense. It has always been an honor to partner with The Palace on its philanthropic mission, through polo tournaments in the U.K. and the U.S., which benefit so many deserving charities.”

    Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was just 25 years old when she inherited the throne. She was 27 when she had her coronation ceremony, with 27 million people tuning in to the momentous occasion just in the U.K.

    “Alongside the people of the U.K. and the Commonwealth, Brand Machine Group mourns the death of Her Majesty The Queen,” added Boo Jalil, CEO of U.K.-based Brand Machine Group (BMG). “Her leadership and sacrifice to duty has been unprecedented, and we thank her for her more than 70 years of service to our country.”

    ### 

    For Further Information, Contact: 

    Stacey Kovalsky – Senior Director, Global Communications, USPA Global Licensing
    Phone +001.561.790.8036 – Email: skovalsky@uspagl.com

    Gina DiGregorio | Head of Marketing, Brand Machine Group
    Phone: +44 (0) 1992 538 003| Email: gina.digregorio@brandmachinegroup.com

    Source: USPA Global Licensing Inc.

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  • Logo Brands Catches a New Strategic Partnership With University of Missouri

    Logo Brands Catches a New Strategic Partnership With University of Missouri

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    This contract includes the rights to exclusively produce tailgating equipment, inflatable sports balls, soft-sided coolers, and more.

    Press Release
    –

    Aug 26, 2022


    FRANKLIN, Tenn., August 26, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Logo Brands, Inc. has announced the signing of a five-year strategic licensing agreement with the University of Missouri, beginning ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jan. 1, 2023, making Missouri the company’s 29th strategic collegiate licensing agreement. 

    While Logo Brands had a previous strategic partnership with this university, the new agreement grants Logo Brands exclusive rights to manufacture, produce, and distribute tents, chairs, stadium seating, soft-sided coolers, tables and inflatable sports balls for the university. Logo Brands will continue to offer additional products for the university, including tote bags, blankets, pillows, drinkware, and inflatables.

    “We are so excited about this extended partnership with Missouri that will grow and impact their retail presence. Our goal is to consistently service our university partners, customers, and retailers at the highest level,” said Kris Talley, SVP of Sales and Marketing at Logo Brands.

    This agreement also allows Logo Brands to further partner with Missouri in custom marketing activations, innovative products, and priority on-campus inventory availability. Officially licensed Missouri lifestyle and outdoors merchandise will be available to fans both in-venue and on various e-commerce channels in the United States. 

    Logo Brands will continue to produce and distribute Missouri Tigers products through Rally House, Cracker Barrel, Walmart, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Sam’s Club, and other major retail outlets in addition to Missouri’s on campus bookstore, The MIZZOU Store, and the Logo Brands e-commerce site.

    After being established in 1839 as the first public university west of the Mississippi River, the University of Missouri became home to the world’s first journalism school and also started the tradition of homecoming. Mizzou is known for its 20 D1 athletics programs, diverse student opportunities, and campus-wide sustainability efforts while being home to the oldest college rivalry west of the Mississippi River, with Kansas.

    Missouri will be the 29th university, 10th from the SEC, to enter into a strategic licensing agreement with Logo Brands.

    About Missouri

    Founded in 1839 in Columbia, the University of Missouri is a public research university that belongs to the people of Missouri. The first public university west of the Mississippi River, Mizzou is a member of the competitive SEC conference, a committed flagship and land-grant institution — and a proud member of the prestigious AAU which features the top research universities in the country. With an enrollment of over 30,000 students, Mizzou is a $2.2 billion global enterprise, with areas of strength including media, agriculture and plant science, human and animal health, sustainable energy and more. A pioneer of experiential learning and the famed Missouri Method, Mizzou is a place where hands-on learning leads to world-class research and unparalleled student success. Visit missouri.edu to learn more.

    About Logo Brands

    Logo Brands is a leading manufacturer of officially licensed products for more than 450 teams and organizations including collegiate, NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and NASCAR. The company’s assortment spans the categories of outdoor lifestyle, indoor living and on-the-go with more than 900 different product lines in the company’s history. Logo Brands began as a family business in 2000 by shipping tailgate chairs from a garage just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Its headquarters are now in Franklin, Tennessee.

    MEDIA CONTACT: Natalie Hill, 615-716-4901, natalie@logobrands.com

    Follow on Instagram: @logobrandsinc

    Source: Logo Brands

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  • Logo Brands Lands Newest Strategic Partnership With Clemson University

    Logo Brands Lands Newest Strategic Partnership With Clemson University

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    The Tennessee-based company will exclusively produce tents, chairs, soft-sided coolers, and more.

    Press Release
    –

    Aug 18, 2022


    FRANKLIN, Tenn., August 18, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Logo Brands, Inc. has announced the signing of a five-year strategic licensing agreement with Clemson University beginning July 1, 2022. 

    While Logo Brands currently has rights with Clemson to sell licensed merchandise, this new agreement grants Logo Brands exclusive rights to manufacture, produce and distribute tents, chairs, stadium seating, soft-sided coolers and tables for the university. Logo Brands will continue to offer additional products for the university to include tote bags, blankets, pillows, drinkware, athletic balls and inflatables.

    “Clemson is one of our leading collegiate programs,” said Maggie McHugh, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Logo Brands. “We’re looking forward to growing this program by offering a great assortment of products for Clemson students, fans, and alumni for many years to come.”

    This licensing agreement will allow Logo Brands to partner with Clemson in marketing activations and product development while ensuring that officially licensing Clemson lifestyle and outdoors merchandise is available to fans both in-venue and on e-commerce channels in the United States. 

    Logo Brands will continue to produce and distribute Clemson Tigers products through Target, Fanatics, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports, Walmart and other major retail outlets in addition to Clemson’s on-campus bookstore and the Logo Brands e-commerce site.

    Founded in 1889, Clemson University is known for their excellent academic program, three National Champion titles in football and over 100 ACC Champion titles in various sports. With more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students, Clemson is one of the most productive public research universities in the nation. Midway between Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, Clemson hosts a deep network of fans and alumni.

    Clemson will be the 28th university, 7th from the ACC, to enter into a strategic licensing agreement with Logo Brands.

    About Logo Brands

    Logo Brands is a leading manufacturer of officially licensed products for more than 450 teams and organizations including collegiate, NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and NASCAR. The company’s assortment spans the categories of outdoor lifestyle, indoor living and on-the-go with more than 170 different product lines. The company began as a family business in 2000 by shipping tailgate chairs from a garage just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. Its headquarters are now in Franklin, Tennessee.

    MEDIA CONTACT: Natalie Hill, 615-716-4901, natalie@logobrands.com

    Follow on Instagram: @logobrandsinc

    Source: Logo Brands

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  • Red Toolbox Announces Launch of New Licensing Line, Tasty Jr.

    Red Toolbox Announces Launch of New Licensing Line, Tasty Jr.

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    International Kids’ Toy Licensee Partners with BuzzFeed’s Tasty, the world’s largest social food network, to Launch New Line of Kitchen Gadget Toys for Kids

    Press Release
    –

    Jan 19, 2022


    NEW YORK, January 19, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Red Toolbox, kids’ toy brand and licensee of the popular Stanley, Jr. line of children’s toys, announced today its new line of licensed toys for kids, Tasty, Jr., a line of new kitchen toys for kids inspired by the social food network’s hit recipes and line of kitchenware.

    Tasty, Jr. products will be available for purchase in stores nationwide including Walmart, TJ Maxx, Amazon and Zulily to name a few. These pretend play toys will include a blender set, mixer set, toaster, microwave, kettle set, coffee maker, donut shop set, and mini chef set bundle for little ones. 

    “Our products have been part of growing up for so many children around the world,” said Ami Rosenfeld, CEO of Red Toolbox. “Through pretend play, children gain the experience of walking in someone else’s shoes, and we are very excited to collaborate with Tasty to bring pretend play into the kitchen. Tasty adds such a fun and exciting vibe which lends itself perfectly to the world of children.”

    “Tasty’s mission is to bring a fun and accessible lens to cooking and food, and we are excited to extend that joy to our smallest fans with the Tasty, Jr. line of kids toys. From mixers and blenders to donut shops, the new line of Tasty, Jr. toys will help inspire play and the next generation of Tasty chefs,” said Emily DePaula, Tasty’s Senior Brand Manager at BuzzFeed.”

    Tasty, Jr. kitchen toys are the latest consumer food product by Tasty, following Tasty Dinner Kits with General Mills, Tasty Meats with Mistica, Tasty Breakfast Poppers with Food Story, Tasty Dairy Treats with Schrieber, Tasty Seasonings with McCormick, Tasty Baking Kits with Kraft and more. BuzzFeed’s robust licensing business extends the iconic Tasty brand IRL, giving its massive audience additional touchpoints for engaging with Tasty throughout their daily lives, including a versatile collection of CPG products, an ever-expanding kitchenware line at Walmart, a series of best-selling cookbooks, and more.

    Red Toolbox’s mission for families to build memories together and provide “quality time in a box” will be enhanced by this new line of pretend play products.

    ABOUT RED TOOLBOX

    Red Toolbox house of brands have been challenging kids’ imaginations while keeping them active and engaged for generations. Red Toolbox was established in 2007 by Ami Rosenfeld who had a dream of creating real working tools for kids. After completing a DIY project with his young son, Ami envisioned tools that were ergonomically designed to fit smaller hands and created the Stanley Jr. brand together with Stanley Black and Decker. Stanley Jr. is the leading brand in its category, controlling 95% of the real tools for kids and DIY wooden kits market. 

    Through the years, Red Toolbox continued its rapid expansion and success with the addition of pretend play category, as well as gardening tools for kids, and take apart vehicles under many different brands including Stanley, Black and Decker, Craftsman and Tasty. For more information about Red Toolbox, go to www.red-toolbox.com.

    ABOUT BUZZFEED:       

    BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across food, news, pop culture and commerce, our brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, buy, and obsess over next. Born on the Internet in 2006, BuzzFeed, Inc. is committed to making it better: providing trusted, quality, brand-safe news and entertainment to hundreds of millions of people; making content on the Internet more inclusive, empathetic, and creative; and inspiring our audience to live better lives. We’ll continue to recruit the best founders and creators to join us in this mission, with more additions like Complex Networks and HuffPost to come.

    Press Contact:

    Donna Arbietman
    Red Toolbox
    201-844-9221
    Donna@red-toolbox.com

    Source: Red Toolbox

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