News UMG asks court for stay of discovery in Drake defamation suit over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ UMG says Drake's lawyers have asked for "sensitive" and "confidential" information about Kendrick Lamar's contracts with Interscope
News Tom Corson to receive City of Hope’s 2025 Spirit of Life Award The Spirit of Life Gala has raised $170 million for cancer research center City of Hope over the past 50-plus years
News Tencent Music has integrated DeepSeek into its streaming service (and 3 other things we learned on the company’s latest earnings call) China's largest operator of music streaming services says live music is becoming increasingly important to listeners
News Chris Whiteley appointed Managing Director of Northern Europe at Spotify Whiteley served at Netflix for nearly a decade, including most recently as Managing Director, Business Development in the UK
Analysis News From Sony’s deepfake takedowns to Ackman’s UMG stake sale… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
News Sony Music sues University of Southern California over music used in social media posts Lawyers for Sony provided a list of 283 USC social media posts they say violated the company's copyrights
News Global recorded music revenues rose 6.5% to $36.2bn in 2024, says MIDiA Research According to MIDiA, streaming revenue grew 6.2% YoY to $22.2 billion
News France’s recorded music revenues reached $1.1bn in 2024, up 7% YoY The growing popularity of music streaming and a boost from the Paris Olympics propelled France to a large increase in music exports
News UK trade recorded music revenues topped $1.9bn in 2024 The recorded music industry group is warning of risks to the UK industry from increased competition and proposed AI rules
News 12m artists uploaded music to Spotify last year. Less than 0.6% generated $10,000 or more in royalties. Spotify has published the latest edition of its annual Loud & Clear music economics report
News Aniket Parpillewar named Head of India & South Asia for AWAL 'We are now able to take a significant step in extending the AWAL model and services to artists in India and South Asia'
News Ed Sheeran’s second ‘Thinking Out Loud’ copyright case appealed to US Supreme Court Owners of part of the rights to Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get It On' are making a last-ditch effort to appeal the long-running case to the US's top court
Analysis News From YouTube’s 125m subscribers to UMG’s $5bn recorded music subscription revenues… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
News Universal acquires Netherlands-based indie music company 8Ball 8Ball calls itself a 'multidisciplinary record company' that owns two labels – 8Ball and Dino Music
News BMG combines Sync and Production Music to form Global Sync Services team, led by Amberly Crouse-Knox and Scott Doran The company aims to differentiate itself by offering a one-stop shop for clients looking to add music to media