Music Business Worldwide

News

Firebird acquires majority stake in Goodlife Management, the home of Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, and more

News

Confirmed: Primary Wave Music to acquire Kobalt

News

Chance the Rapper beats Pat the Manager lawsuit

News

Amid rise of AI deepfakes, Spotify to let artists vet releases before they appear on their profiles

Artist Profile Protection offers artists a proactive layer of control on top of existing reporting tools.

News

Music messaging app Feels, which counts Eminem manager Paul Rosenberg among its investors, launches with licensing deals from all three majors

The app, available globally on iOS and Android, lets users send short-form music video clips as messages.

News

Sony Music acquires Nordic dance label One Seven Music, taps co-founder Janus Barnewitz as new MD of Sony Music Denmark

Janus Barnewitz succeeds Henrik Daldorph, who is leaving the company after serving 20 years leading Sony Music Denmark.

News

iHeartMedia and TikTok say they developed ‘a new blueprint for artist launches’ with Bruno Mars’ ‘The Romantic’

The campaign generated over 3 billion impressions, with the TikTok LIVE drawing 36 million likes within the first hour.

News

France’s recorded music revenues hit $1.21B in 2025, up 3.9% YoY; subscription streaming revenues grew 5.9% YoY

The figures mark a tenth consecutive year of growth for the world's sixth-largest recorded music market.

News

Live Nation invests in Romania’s Emagic and Slovakia’s Vivien as it expands Central and Eastern European footprint

Live Nation says it is 'strengthening the foundations' of live music in the region.

Analysis News

Mandopop superstar Jay Chou is about to release his new album ‘Children of the Sun’ via UMG, led by a $2.8M music video. The timing couldn’t be more significant.

The album is also the first new studio record released since Chou and his label JVR Music signed a strategic global partnership with Universal Music Greater China in December 2023,

News

Deezer launches revamped ‘Deezer for Business’ platform, bringing partnerships, advertising, AI detection licensing and more under one roof

Move comes days after the French streamer reported its first-ever annual profit.

News

Having paid $11M to voice creators to date, ElevenLabs launches Music Marketplace to let its users monetize their AI-generated tracks

ElevenLabs says that 14m+ 'studio-grade tracks have been created' since the launch of its Eleven Music AI music generator last year

News

BTS smash K-Pop records with new album Arirang – but HYBE shares drop after comeback concert draws smaller crowd than expected

All 14 tracks from the album also occupied spots on the Spotify Global Top 50, with the lead single SWIM, debuting at No. 1.

News

From WMG’s Netflix deal to BMG’s Anthropic lawsuit… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up

The biggest headlines from the past few days...

News

Warner Music Group inks exclusive Netflix deal to make artist and songwriter documentaries

The streamer will develop "documentary series and films exploring the lives, music and legacies" of WMG's roster.

Interviews

As recorded music revenues hit $31.7B globally, IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley explains the opportunities – and the threats – ahead

Oakley spoke on the publication of the IFPI Global Music Report 2026, which is now available to purchase

News

Streaming fraud man who pocketed $8m using hundreds of thousands of AI songs streamed billions of times by bots pleads guilty

Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on July 29

News

Firebird acquires majority stake in Goodlife Management, the home of Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, and more

Confirmed: Primary Wave Music to acquire Kobalt

Chance the Rapper beats Pat the Manager lawsuit

Amid rise of AI deepfakes, Spotify to let artists vet releases before they appear on their profiles

Music messaging app Feels, which counts Eminem manager Paul Rosenberg among its investors, launches with licensing deals from all three majors

Sony Music acquires Nordic dance label One Seven Music, taps co-founder Janus Barnewitz as new MD of Sony Music Denmark

iHeartMedia and TikTok say they developed ‘a new blueprint for artist launches’ with Bruno Mars’ ‘The Romantic’

France’s recorded music revenues hit $1.21B in 2025, up 3.9% YoY; subscription streaming revenues grew 5.9% YoY

Live Nation invests in Romania’s Emagic and Slovakia’s Vivien as it expands Central and Eastern European footprint

Mandopop superstar Jay Chou is about to release his new album ‘Children of the Sun’ via UMG, led by a $2.8M music video. The timing couldn’t be more significant.

Deezer launches revamped ‘Deezer for Business’ platform, bringing partnerships, advertising, AI detection licensing and more under one roof

Having paid $11M to voice creators to date, ElevenLabs launches Music Marketplace to let its users monetize their AI-generated tracks

BTS smash K-Pop records with new album Arirang – but HYBE shares drop after comeback concert draws smaller crowd than expected

From WMG’s Netflix deal to BMG’s Anthropic lawsuit… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up

Warner Music Group inks exclusive Netflix deal to make artist and songwriter documentaries

As recorded music revenues hit $31.7B globally, IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley explains the opportunities – and the threats – ahead

Streaming fraud man who pocketed $8m using hundreds of thousands of AI songs streamed billions of times by bots pleads guilty

Sony Music has targeted 135,000+ deepfakes of its artists’ music for removal from streaming platforms

Recorded music revenues in Italy grew +10.7% YoY last year; paid streaming revenues in the market jumped 14.1% YoY

UK government reverses course on stance to let AI companies train on copyrighted music without permission

Subscription music streaming revenues rose just 2% YoY in Sweden in 2025