News Copyright Royalty Board officially accepts new rates that will see songwriters paid more in the US over the next 5 years The services which will be affected by / bound to the new CRB IV rates are: Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google / YouTube Music, Pandora, and Spotify
Analysis News 4 things we learned from Merck Mercuriadis’ Q&A with Hipgnosis Songs Fund analysts Hipgnosis founder discusses decay curves, ownership of catalogs and more in London
News Moonage Daydream, BMG and Live Nation’s David Bowie documentary, has grossed more than $12m this year at the box office Critically acclaimed movie was released in September
Interviews Allen Kovac and Better Noise pivoted to horror movies during the pandemic – and found a promotional goldmine for rock artists. Over 150 million views of music videos with The Retaliators footage have taken place on YouTube alone
News A year ago, Patrick Moxey sold Ultra Records to Sony Music. Now the label is suing his publishing company. Sony-owned Ultra Records says it terminated Moxey's right to use the Ultra name for his independent pubco
Analysis News SoundCloud’s revenues grew 19% YoY to $273m in 2021. Now it’s predicting that ‘fandom will be the next big format for the music business’. 2021 was the first year that SoundCloud's annual revenues topped a quarter of a billion dollars
News Universal Music has a new boss in Australia: Sean Warner Warner succeeds George Ash, who is retiring from UMG
Interviews The Steve Cooper exit interview: ‘All successful companies get to a point where they’d benefit from fresh eyes.’ In his last ever public interview as CEO of Warner Music Group, Steve Cooper talks achievements, fears... and the future
Analysis News Hipgnosis Songs Fund revenues climb 7.5% YoY, streaming revenues up 15.8% YoY, in most recent half-year period Positive signs for Merck Mercuriadis-led company in latest set of public figures
News Dipesh Parmar named President of Columbia Records UK, Amy Wheatley appointed MD at Sony-owned label Ministry Of Sound becomes a subsidiary of Columbia Records UK as a result of the moves
Interviews Jay Marciano on streaming, Coachella, macro-economics – and why ‘everyone’s a genius in a bull market’ The AEG Presents boss discusses the future for the live business in the face of a potential recessionary year for the wider world
Interviews Martin Kierszenbaum on working with Sting, streaming’s impact on A&R, and why he’s a music biz optimist The Cherrytree Music Company founder discusses his career and industry views within MBW's World's Greatest Managers series
Analysis 10 years ago, Warner Music’s Top 5 superstars generated 15% of its revenue. Today, that number is down to just 5%. MBW drills into the numbers of Steve Cooper's surprising revelation on WMG's earnings call this week
Interviews News With AWAL and Platoon both acquired, Tencent-backed FRTYFVE is becoming an indie power player in artist services London-headquartered FRTYFVE has doubled revenues annually since Tencent invested in it in 2020
News Reservoir wants to spend $100m on music rights this year. It says deal flow – and multiples – aren’t slowing down just yet. Golnar Khosrowshahi says Reservoir still has $2.1 billion pipeline deals still under discussion