Posts by Murray Stassen

News

As ABS deals reshape the music rights landscape, KBRA says it’s rated $12.9B in music royalty-backed bonds since 2020 – but expects issuance to fall 25% in 2026

The music ABS market has more than tripled in size in just three years, says new KBRA report

News

George Clinton sues UMG, alleging over $1.1M in royalties have been withheld for more than three years

Complaint accuses UMG of breach of contract

News

Tencent Music completes $2.4B acquisition of audio platform Ximalaya

Ximalaya is one of China's largest podcasting and audiobooks platforms

News

Primary Wave acquires interests in album art collection from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, co-founder of British design studio Hipgnosis

Design studio founded by Powell and the late Storm Thorgerson in the 1960's

News

Vietnam’s DAO Music Entertainment strikes strategic partnership with The Orchard

Deal gives DAO Music Entertainment access to The Orchard's global distribution network

News

Meet 2026’s first breakout band, according to Luminate – a masked math rock duo called Angine de Poitrine, with weekly global on-demand streams up from under 2k to 11.2m in a single year

Band went viral after a KEXP performance that has since accumulated more than 14m YouTube views.

News

Russ honored with NMPA Gold & Platinum Recognition celebrating 26 certified songs

The plaque was presented by NMPA President & CEO David Israelite alongside Omar Grant, Senior Director of Creative at Sony Music Publishing

News

What ‘blue dot fever’? Live Nation CFO says ‘There is absolutely no data that supports any issues’ with ticket sales.

Live Nation‘s President & CFO spoke at MoffettNathanson’s investor conference on Thursday

News

Primary Wave strikes partnership with Pete Townshend for ‘future creative endeavors’ including use of his name, image, and likeness rights

Primary Wave Music partners with the co-founder and principal songwriter of legendary British rock band The Who

News

Managers of Grammy winners Justice and Gesaffelstein back music biz masters targeting emerging markets

The program's strategic advisory board includes several senior executives from the French music business

News

Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Beyoncé’s Single Ladies among 25 recordings inducted into Library of Congress National Recording Registry

Other inductees include The Go-Go's' debut album Beauty and the Beat, Weezer's self-titled Blue Album, Chaka Khan's I Feel for You and others

Analysis News

Tencent Music is quietly building a live music empire. Concerts could become the streaming giant’s ultimate differentiator in the age of AI.

TME's non-subscription music services revenue, encompassing live concerts, advertising, and merchandise, jumped 28.0% YoY to RMB 1.94 billion (USD $282 million) in Q1

Analysis News

Listeners engage less deeply with music labeled as AI – even when it’s actually human-made, academic study finds

The Wu and Holmes paper was based on two preregistered studies involving 399 US participants

Analysis

Tencent Music investors see ByteDance’s Soda as a major threat. What is it, and why are they so worried?

MBW explains why Soda Music has become such a preoccupation for TME's shareholders.

News

BMG acquires publishing interests in catalog of Jet, the band behind ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’, expanding on 2023 recordings deal

Jet released three studio albums and have sold more than 6.5 million records worldwide