Posts by Murray Stassen

TikTok expands partnerships with Spotify and Amazon Music to link app directly to streaming services in 19 new markets

TikTok's Add to Music App feature lets users save songs they discover via TikTok on streaming services including Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music

News

South African music industry veteran Chris Ghelakis dies, aged 70

Ghelakis founded Electromode in 2001, which was acquired in 2021 by Universal-owned Ingrooves (now Virgin Music Group)

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Snoop Dogg launches ‘Death Row Pro’ production music unit in partnership with Sony Music Publishing’s Extreme Music

Death Row Pro to serve as a production music arm of Death Row Records, for licensing newly created music for TV, film, ads etc.

News

Verswire raises $12.3m, launches publishing arm in partnership with Kobalt Music Group

Verswire was founded by blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, veteran music manager Nick Lippman, and Veeps co-founder & COO Sherry Saeedi (CEO and Founder), while Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz serves as a strategic advisor

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SoundCloud strikes A&R alliance with Patrick Moxey’s Helix and PayDay Records

The partnership will see the music streaming platform identify and refer promising emerging artists on its service for potential signing with Helix or PayDay

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Barry Weiss launches new publishing venture Bossy Songs in partnership with Sony Music Publishing

First signing named as songwriter/producer Dan Gleyzer

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Fan engagement and social media platform FENIX360 plans to list on NASDAQ in $610m SPAC merger

Singapore-based FENIX360 to combine with blank check company DUET

Analysis

Here’s exactly how Spotify’s new 1,000 annual streams royalty policy works…

Spotify is introducing a significant update to the way it calculates recorded royalties next year

News

Hipgnosis Songs Fund sells 20,000 songs for $23.1m

Hipgnosis has not confirmed the name of the buyer

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Apple Music could pay artists more for streams of songs produced in Spatial Audio (report)

Spatial Audio is fast becoming a mainstream proposition

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Snoop Dogg appoints Kat MacLean Daley as VP and Head of Publishing at Death Row Records

"I know that Kat is the right person to take care of our history, while also helping us write the story for the chapters to come," said Snoop Dogg.

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Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is the first ever tour to gross over $1 billion, says Pollstar

Citing box office reports, Pollstar says that Taylor Swift took in an estimated ticket gross of $1.04 billion

Interviews

‘Young Africans are finding their voices. More artists want to be African Giants that are Made in Lagos.’

MBW’s World Leaders series meets Lanre Masha, Director, West Africa at the Orchard

News

Veteran US agent John Pantle joins One Fiinix Live, led by Ed Sheeran agent Jon Ollier

Agency was launched in 2020 following the end of Ollier’s nearly six-year tenure at CAA

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Brian Miller appointed Chief Revenue Officer at TuneCore

He will oversee TuneCore’s Marketing, International, Publishing, Artist Support, Operations, and Artist & Partner Relations teams