News Various Artists expands into Australia/New Zealand; Arwen Hunt to lead division headquartered in Sydney Industry veteran has worked as a manager, A&R, publisher, label manager, product manager and a promoter
News Brigitte Alanis promoted to Partner at music law firm King, Holmes, Paterno & Soriano, LLP Alanis' clients include Victoria Monét, Roddy Ricch, Malibu Babie, Alex Warren, Lil Skies, and Willie Jones, among others
News BMI veteran Alison Smith to retire after 40-year career at the company Shouvik Das to Lead Distribution, Publisher Relations & Administration Services Department
News Katie Welle promoted to President, Head of US A&R at Sony Music Publishing Based in Los Angeles, Welle will report to Sony Music Publishing Chairman/CEO Jon Platt
News Sir Lucian Grainge issues update on UMG’s L.A. wildfire relief efforts: ‘The road to recovery will be very long. We will be there every step of the way.’ UMG's CEO has pledged support for those impacted by the wildfires in Southern California
Analysis News Spotify paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024 – a full $1bn more than in 2023 Streaming company has paid out nearly $60bn to music rightsholders since Spotify was founded in 2008.
News Firebird to invest ‘tens of millions of dollars’ into new business partnership with Yungblud Yungblud will contribute earnings from music, touring, merchandise, a clothing line, brand deals, and more, to a new business called YB Inc.
News Robin Ch’i named MD of Warner Music Hong Kong, as Gordon Lee retires after 20 years in the role Robin Ch’i steps into the role after a 15-year career on the label side at Warner Music Group
News UMG’s Frank Briegmann advocates for robust copyright protection on ‘AI and Content Creation’ panel at Davos Exec spoke on the 'AI and Content Creation' panel at the World Economic Forum event
News BMG promotes Johannes von Schwarzkopf to new C-suite role overseeing global strategy and ‘strategic M&A’ Exec appointed Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and member of the Executive Board, effective January 1
Analysis News Germany generated nearly 20bn streams per month on average in 2024 The world's fourth-largest recorded music market generated 236 billion streams in 2024
News $500m-valued Suno hit with new copyright lawsuit from Germany’s GEMA GEMA represents the copyrights of around 95,000 members in Germany (composers, lyricists, music publishers) as well as over two million rightsholders worldwide.
News TikTok goes offline for 170m+ US users, as divest-or-ban law takes effect Google and Apple have also removed TikTok from their app stores to comply with the law.
News Supreme Court upholds law that bans TikTok in the US if parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the app The clock is officially ticking for TikTok in the United States.