News Adele’s Easy On Me shatters BTS’s Spotify record for day-one global plays MBW crunches the numbers to estimate just how much bigger Adele's new record was than BTS's record-setting Butter
Analysis News From Spotify vs. songwriters to Adele vs. our emotions: It’s MBW’s Weekly Round-up The biggest stories of the past five days – and why they matter
Interviews News What do Blackstone’s billions mean for Merck Mercuriadis’ mission for songwriters? The Hipgnosis founder joins Blackstone's Qasim Abbas in MBW's in-depth interview RE: the deal everyone's talking about
News Official: Blackstone is investing $1 billion in music rights via Merck Mercuriadis and Hipgnosis… and there could be billions more on the way. Blackstone tells MBW "this is just the start" and that its ambition in music is "much more substantial"
News Beggars Group saw revenues dip slightly in 2020 to $79.2m… but profits nearly doubled "A by-product of not being able to promote new releases to the extent we would have liked is that we have seen significantly reduced marketing and promotional expenditure across all labels which has worked its way through to the bottom line."
News Kobalt is selling a music catalog for $1 billion – and KKR is in prime position to buy it The Kobalt fund owns songs by the likes of The Weeknd, Lorde, and Major Lazer
News Warner Music poaches Spotify’s US head of catalog… as catalog’s dominance of streaming keeps growing Los Angeles-based Andre Torres named in new SVP role within Warner's catalog team
News BMG buys bundle of Tina Turner rights in music’s latest big-money deal Deal includes artist’s share of her recordings, plus Turner's music publishing writer’s share
News Imagine if the government gave record labels over $5m a year to spend on A&R. In Italy, it’s already happening. Local labels in EU country can claim nearly a million dollars of tax relief across three year period
News Christine Osazuwa joins $100m-backed Pollen as Strategy Director for Pollen Presents Major UK hire for music and experiences company
Interviews TikTok is evolving into a very different kind of music streaming giant. Ole Obermann, TikTok's Global Head of Music, discusses opportunities for artists... and a major new launch for indie acts
Analysis News Welcome to the new record business: Warner Music Group is now generating over $270m from TikTok, Peloton, Facebook and other ‘alternative’ platforms annually Steve Cooper reveals stunning stat – and MBW crunches the numbers on what it could mean
News UK government takes no legislative action following major-bashing report into music industry’s streaming economics Boris Johnson's government releases official response – and is (so far) not taking any hard action against the business