Analysis News From Warner and Universal scrapping unrecouped balances to Spotify’s 180m subs: It’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories of the week – and why they matter
News Rich Christina’s role at Warner Chappell expanded to Senior Vice President, A&R and Venture Partners Christina’s oversight will include recently announced venture with Tim & Danny Music (Sam Smith)
News Spotify rival Anghami gets approval to list on NASDAQ Anghami has more than 75 million registered users
Analysis News Spotify added 3m new creators to its platform last year… and 4 other things we learned from the firm’s Q4 earnings call. The Spotify founder gave some revelatory comments on Spotify's earnings call – especially around the creator economy
News Utopia acquires Sentric Music Group, launches new Royalty Management Services unit New Royalty Management Services business unit will be led by Sentric’s current CEO, Chris Meehan
Analysis News Music piracy has plummeted in the past 5 years. But in 2021, it slowly started growing again. New stats from MUSO offer food for thought for the global music business
News Sony Music launches ‘Sony Entertainment Talent Ventures India’ JV with Sony Pictures Talent represented by SETVI will also benefit from opportunities across the wider Sony Group, such as Sony PlayStation and Sony Electronics
News Spotify subscriptions grew to 180m in 2021, Monthly Active Users topped 406m Spotify published its financial results for Q4 2021 today (February 2)
News Twitch strikes strategic partnership with indie label agency Merlin 'It really is an exciting time to be an independent artist,' says Tracy Chan, VP, Head of Music at Twitch
News Emily Bines promoted to Vice President, Creative at Kobalt 'Emily embodies Kobalt’s global creative ethos,' says Chief Creative Officer, Sas Metcalfe
News Music NFT platform Opulous says it will ‘vigorously defend’ itself against Lil Yachty lawsuit Firm says rapper gave it authorization to use his name and likeness in June 2021 announcement
News Juice WRLD and Nick Mira named biggest artist-songwriter and songwriter in the US in Q4 2021, on the NMPA Gold & Platinum Program (based on RIAA certifications) In partnership with the RIAA’s Gold & Platinum Program, NMPA finds and certifies the songwriters and publishers of RIAA-certified singles
News Exceleration Music acquires catalog of US independent label Kill Rock Stars Founder Slim Moon will continue to handle A&R for the label
News Now India.Arie, Graham Nash pull their music from Spotify After Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, more stars pull their music from the platform
News Brad Pophal joins YMU as Head of Web3 and NFT for US Music YMU reports to have generated over $30 million in sales in 2021