Analysis News Recorded music industry revenues hit $8.4bn in the US in H1 – but paid streaming account growth slowed again While growth in new subscriptions was slower in H1 2023 versus H1 2022, the subscription accounts that were already active in H1 2023 were paying more
News $200m-backed Multimedia Music acquires music library of Hollywood film company Millennium Media Multimedia Music says it has deployed over $150m on acquisitions since launching in late 2021
News Katy Perry sells music rights to Litmus Music in $220m+ deal Katy Perry has sold a bundle of music rights to $500 million-backed Litmus Music
News Head of trade body representing UK songwriters switches to run US trade body representing Spotify, Amazon, and Pandora (who not so long ago were fighting to cut songwriters’ pay) Davies is filling in the role left by Garrett Levin, who stepped down as DiMA’s top executive after relocating to Geneva, Switzerland
Interviews How Mewo.io plans to ‘revolutionize’ the sync music sourcing process using its AI-powered music search platform France headquartered Mewo is a catalog management platform with an AI-assisted search engine
News Gary Gersh steps down as President of Global Touring at AEG Presents Gersh to be succeeded by Rich Schaefer
News JKBX goes live, featuring listings to reserve shares in royalties from hits by Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and more superstars Song royalties trading platform JKBX is officially live
News DistroKid acquires website hosting and e-commerce company Bandzoogle Bandzoogle offers various e-commerce tools allowing musicians to market and sell products directly to their fanbases
News Spotify launches new paid-for ‘Showcase’ recommendation tool, starting at $100 per promo campaign Whereas Marquee is aimed at promoting brand new music, Spotify is keen to highlight the potential use of Showcase for new releases as well as catalog releases
News Jennifer Lopez signs recording and publishing partnership with BMG for new album, ‘This is Me…Now’ Lopez’s first studio album in nine years will be released by Nuyorican/BMG
News Roger de Graaf and Ewout Swart named Co-Presidents of Spinnin’ Records The move will see De Graaf focus on artist relations and creative projects, while Swart will concentrate on on operations and global acceleration
News TikTok fires back at suggestion it’s hurting paid-for music streaming growth in France: ‘There is no evidence to suggest that TikTok is diverting music fans away from subscription streaming services.’ SNEP targeted short-form video services in comments made last week about France's subscription streaming growth
News Believe applauds Deezer’s action on ‘noise’ – but questions new ‘artist-centric’ royalty model’s impact on ‘rising artists’ Believe outlines its position on the new streaming model announced by Deezer and Universal
News JKBX, launching this week, confirms it will pay songwriters and artists direct via ‘Creator Program’ – even if they don’t own their rights Company will offer its users the ability to invest in Royalty Shares of hits
Analysis News Spain’s recorded music industry revenues reached €214.3m in H1, up 11.53% YoY Music streaming revenues in Spain rose 13.26% YoY