Posts by Murray Stassen

Arjun Pulijal named President of Capitol Music Group

Arjun Pulijal first joined Capitol in 2013 as a Director of Marketing

At least $5 billion was spent on music rights acquisitions in 2021. Could 2022 be even bigger?

MBW rifles back through our 2021 headlines to get a grip on just how huge a year it was for music rights buyouts

From WMG’s $250m David Bowie deal to catalog claiming 82% of the US market: It’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up

The biggest stories of the week – and why they matter

Nas to let fans buy shares in streaming royalties via NFTs on music investment platform Royal

Royal closed a $55 million Series A round in November

The Orchard bolsters artist and label roster in Africa, confirms three executive hires

Key executives named in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria

NFT marketplace OpenSea valued at $13.3bn as it raises $300m in Series C funding

OpenSea was founded in 2017

Triller to go public in the US via merger with SeaChange

Nasdaq-listed SeaChange will change its name to TrillerVerz Corp.

Cutting Edge and Blantyre Capital commit $125m to acquire film and TV music rights

A third of this sum has already been invested in music rights

Believe acquires 51% stake in French indie label Jo&Co

Jo&Co founder, Sébastien Saussez, will continue managing the label

Round Hill Royalty Fund acquires publishing rights from country singer/songwriter Niko Moon

Deal includes songs performed by Zac Brown Band, Avicii, and Sir Rosevelt

US Judge recommends $80m+ in damages in case against stream-ripping services

Case was brought by the RIAA and more than a dozen record labels including Universal, Warner and Sony

SoundExchange royalties dispute with Music Choice to be referred to Copyright Royalty Board

SoundExchange launched action against Music Choice in April 2019 to recover underpaid royalties

Tempo Music acquires publishing rights from producers Stefan Forrest, Morten Ristorp and Morten Pilegaard

Trio are best known for their work with Danish pop band Lukas Graham

Music service Boomplay and Merlin expand licensing deal to 47 countries across Africa

Boomplay has over 60m Monthly Active Users and a catalog of over 65m tracks

‘It is a Herculean task, managing an artist in 2021.’

Matt Colon, Global President of Music at YM&U tells MBW about the firm's expansion plans, success with NFTs, and above all, the challenges of being an artist manager in 2021…