News From Bolloré urging UMG to reject Ackman’s $64B bid to Gamma’s lawsuit to unmask the creators of two smear sites… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days...
News Downtown Music Publishing strikes deal to represent Biz Markie catalog and name, image & likeness rights Deal covers publishing administration and sync licensing, alongside representation of the late artist's NIL rights.
Analysis News Sir Lucian Grainge on AI, Spotify, and why he’s not in the ‘functional music’ industry Three things you might have missed from Grainge's fireside chat at the GREATER Together LA summit last week
News Jay Moore appointed Chief Investment Officer at Too Lost Moore will lead the indie distribution and services platform's investment strategy
News Vermont caps ticket resale prices at 110% of face value in law backed by Noah Kahan The law also bans speculative ticket sales, where a reseller lists tickets they do not yet own.
Interviews ‘The future of the industry belongs to executives who can bridge the creative, commercial, and technological divides.’ EMIC founder Daniel Findikian talks music industry education, emerging markets, and more
News Taylor Swift moves to dismiss ‘Showgirl’ trademark lawsuit, calling it a bid to ‘generate publicity’ The artist's legal team argued that the complaint should be thrown out for failing to state a viable claim.
News Grupo Frontera launch indie label BorderTown Records in partnership with The Orchard Texas-formed regional Mexican band's viral 2022 norteño cover of Morat’s No Se Va propelled the group to mainstream prominence.
News George Clinton must face late bandmate’s estate copyright suit, appeals court rules A district court judge in Michigan had previously thrown out the lawsuit after determining that the statute of limitations had long expired.
News Spotify launches 650+ narrated magazine articles from Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Vogue, and more Each narrated article is under two hours long and has been produced in-house by Spotify's Audiobooks team.
News Estate of Blues pioneer Lead Belly sues group of publishers in copyright dispute over 49 compositions Trust established for his estate has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in the US
News Richa Goswami joins Pophouse Entertainment’s board of directors Goswami previously held roles in Fidelity International, HSBC, and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health.
News Julie Swidler, Sony Music’s EVP Business Affairs and General Counsel, to leave company after 18 years Swidler has held the role of EVP, Business Affairs and General Counsel at Sony Music, since 2008
News John McClain, co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate and veteran music executive, dies at 71 Alongside attorney John Branca, McClain was named co-executor of the Michael Jackson Estate in the singer's will following Jackson's death in 2009.
News HarbourView Equity Partners acquires pre-2024 catalog from Stefflon Don Deal covers both publishing and recorded music rights
News YouTube will now automatically detect and label AI videos – even when creators don’t disclose it The platform said it is rolling out "new internal signals" to identify AI-generated content, starting in May 2026.
News Larry Jackson’s Gamma files lawsuit to unmask creators of smear websites The 12-page complaint, filed on Tuesday (May 26) and reviewed by MBW, brings three causes of action: defamation, trade libel, and unfair competition under New York common law
News Basile Beaugendre and Cyrus Chen promoted to regional heads for Europe and APAC at TuneCore Beaugendre has led TuneCore France since 2019, and Chen has headed TuneCore Southeast Asia since 2020.