Posts by Murray Stassen

Three Six Zero acquires London’s SARM Studios from producer Trevor Horn

Studio complex will serve as the new base for Three Six Zero Recordings

Sean Stevenson promoted to Chief Operating Officer at MNRK Music Group

Stevenson joined the company in 2018 as Executive Vice President and General Manager

Spotify buys popular music trivia game Heardle

Spotify says that Heardle is 'more than a trivia game', and that it's 'also a tool for musical discovery'

HYBE strikes global content deal with Disney, including exclusive shows from BTS

Agreement includes global distribution of five major content titles from HYBE

Zeon Richards exits Head of Partnerships role at Pollen, as firm reveals that it now ‘prioritizes profits over growth’

Company recently raised $150m in a Series C round

Universal strikes strategic deal with Thai record label Hype Train to introduce T-Pop to global audiences

HYPE TRAIN GROUP launched in late 2020, with Universal Music Thailand as its exclusive distributor

Consumers spent over $2bn in the UK record industry in 2021, but streaming spending growth continued to slow

UK consumers spent £1.68 billion (approx. $2.25bn) on recorded music in 2021 across physical and digital sales, plus subscription streaming. The market’s total recorded music spend in 2021 represented YoY growth of 8.7%, or £133.7 million ($179m) versus 2020. That’s according to figures released today (March 1) by the UK’s Entertainment Retailers Association, in its … Continued

Content sampled from long-form YouTube videos generated over 100bn views on TikTok rival Shorts in April

YouTube's TiktTok rival Shorts was rolled out globally in July 2021

From songwriters’ streaming royalty rate win to Deezer’s IPO… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up…

The big stories from the past week

Bob Dylan Ionic Original collector’s edition recording of Blowin’ In The Wind sells for $1.7m at auction

Recording was cut during a special session with T Bone Burnett, on a so-called Ionic Original disc, the new analog format developed by Burnett

Universal Music Group strikes licensing deal with African music service Mdundo

Mdundo reports to have 17 million active monthly users across Africa

Molly Neuman promoted to CMO of Downtown Music Holdings

Neuman most recently served as President of Songtrust

After raising $4.5m, Keatly Haldeman’s Dequency officially launches Web3 music licensing marketplace

Company raised $4.5m via an investment round led by Borderless Capital

Music veteran Irv Gotti sells stake in Murder Inc. master recordings to Iconoclast as part of $300m deal

Los Angeles-based Iconoclast was founded by Olivier Chastan

Travis Barker releases first NFT collection via LimeWire, as former file-sharing platform officially launches collectibles marketplace

Rollout follows news in May that the platform had struck its first major label partnership with Universal Music Group