Analysis News TikTok’s parent company quietly launched a music licensing platform called EasyOde ByteDance appears to have a service in the works that could shake up the global music licensing market.
Analysis News K-Pop in crisis? Around 93m albums were sold in South Korea in 2024 – 23m fewer than in 2023 New data shows that, even as K-Pop gets bigger in the US, album sales declines in its home country in 2024
Analysis News Spotify posts $1.5bn annual operating profit for 2024, as subscriber base grows to 263m in Q4 Spotify posted a quarterly operating income of over half a billion dollars
Analysis News From Spotify’s $10bn music industry payout to Concord’s Johnny McDaid catalog acquisition… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
Analysis News Can AI-generated content be copyrighted? Here’s what a new report from the US Copyright Office says… A work that combines human creativity with AI can be copyrighted, so long as there is a “sufficient” amount of human expression
Analysis We talked with Anthropic’s Claude about The Beatles. Those copyright ‘guardrails’ seem to be working… pretty much. Anthropic's Claude can still be tempted into referencing Beatles lyrics – but chatbot refuses to print them verbatim
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.
Analysis News In the wake of new Spotify deal, Universal Music Group adds $3.4 billion to its market cap; Warner Music Group shares up 4.7% as investors await similar agreement with streamer Universal and Warner jointly pile on around $4 billion in market cap value following landmark announcement
Analysis I Love L.A… and I’m angry at those who mocked us in our darkest moment. Lucas Keller, founder of Milk & Honey, on the Los Angeles wildfires – and his fury at America's Most Heartless
Analysis News From Suno being sued by GEMA to Weverse’s 150m lifetime downloads… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
Analysis Mark Douglas on the rising importance of the International Performer Number: ‘We strive to remove cost from the wider industry and sharing metadata and systems is one way we do that.’ The following op/ed comes from Mark Douglas, CIO of UK-based music licensing company, PPL.
Analysis News Weverse hit 150m lifetime downloads, saw 19% user growth in 2024, as Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa join superfan platform '2024 was a transformative year for Weverse,' said Joon Choi, President of Weverse Company
Analysis News Drake’s deal is up for renegotiation in 2025, and other revelations from his lawsuit against Universal Music Drake alleges UMG knowingly damaged his reputation and endangered his life through Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us'
Analysis ‘It’s a great time to be an independent music company – just ask investors.’ The following MBW Views op/ed comes from Chad Blackwell is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Dream Street Advisors