Posts by Murray Stassen

Sir Lucian Grainge just became the first music exec at NVIDIA’s ‘Super Bowl of AI’. Here’s what he said.

Universal Music Group's Chairman & CEO just became the first music industry leader to take the stage at NVIDIA's GTC conference

News

Global recorded music revenues hit $31.7B in 2025, up 6.4% YoY; users of paid music subscriptions reach 837M

IFPI has published its new 'Global Music Report 2026' showing that global recorded music revenues grew by 6.4% YoY in 2025

Analysis News

Tencent Music now has 20M+ ‘Super VIP’ subscribers. Here’s what that means for China’s largest music streamer.

Tencent Music Entertainment's (TME) 'Super VIP' tier has just hit a major new milestone.

News

In latest move in India, Universal Music forms exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the new label from singer and composer Anirudh Ravichander

Universal Music India has entered into an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records

News

Matt Young named CEO of UMG’s Bravado, as Dan Goldberg and Eric Mackay join Amy Zaglauer & Rachel Redfearn on leadership team

Young, based in New York, continues to report to Boyd Muir, Chief Operating Officer of UMG

News

Lyor Cohen letter addresses AI integration at YouTube, the ‘power of visual storytelling’ and the ‘tidal wave of choice’ facing music fans

Lyor Cohen, YouTube's Global Head of Music, has published his first letter to music industry partners of 2026

News

US wholesale recorded music revenue reached $11.5B in 2025, as paid streaming subscriptions hit 106.5M — adding 6.5M accounts YoY

The US recorded music industry generated USD $11.535 billion in wholesale revenue in 2025, up 3.1% YoY.

News

Universal Music acquires stake in What the Duck, a prominent indie label based in Thailand

Founder Moy Samkwan Tonsompong will join Universal Music Thailand as Managing Director

Analysis

Chance the Rapper vs. Pat the Manager trial: Seven revelations from the courtroom so far

The civil trial between Chancelor Bennett (Chance the Rapper) and his former manager Patrick Corcoran is underway

News

Warner Music Group signs new $1.645bn credit agreement with JPMorgan, refinancing existing debt

Agreement comprises a $1.295B term loan, the proceeds of which will be used to pay off WMG's existing term loan debt and related fees, and a $350M revolving credit facility

Interviews

‘Creating superfans requires emotional thinking, not just analytics.’

Happiness. Marketing's Thom Skarzynski makes the case that superfandom isn’t something you discover — it’s something you intentionally build

Analysis News

80 artists generated $10M+ each from Spotify last year. Over 1,500 generated $1M+. Here’s the full breakdown.

Spotify published its annual Loud & Clear report today (March 11), which includes bundles of fresh data on what artists generated from its service in 2025.

News

Universal Music Nordics restructures, unifying units in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Baltics under ‘One Nordic’ model

Big news today from Universal Music Nordics, a division of Universal Music Central Europe, which has unveiled a new operational structure.

News

Live Nation confirms settlement with the US Department of Justice; sets aside $280M for damages claims from states

Live Nation will be 'divesting its 13 exclusive booking agreements' with amphitheaters in the US

News

GEMA vs. Suno: German court hears landmark AI music copyright case

A packed courtroom in Munich today heard oral proceedings in the copyright case brought by Germany's GEMA against AI music generator Suno.