Analysis Google was once at the vanguard of ethical AI music development. That may no longer be the case. Ed Newton-Rex gives his opinion on Google' experimentation with music and generative AI
Analysis News From Universal’s feud with TikTok to YouTube Music’s 100m subscribers… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
Analysis News As YouTube Music hits 100m paid subscribers, Lyor Cohen says the platform ‘cares profoundly about the health of the music industry’ YouTube has surpassed 100 million paid YouTube Music and Premium subscribers worldwide
Analysis 78% of small-to-midsize businesses in the US currently misuse personal streaming accounts to play music to their customers. It’s costing the music industry $1.38 billion per year. Ola Sars highlights an important opportunity in publicly-played music for rightsholders
Analysis TikTok’s biggest headache in its fight with Universal Music Group is UMG’s publishing catalog (and 2 other observations on the feud the whole music industry is talking about) What's really going on behind the scenes of music's big Grammy Week fall-out
Analysis With ‘superfans’ in their eyes, could the major record companies now rally behind Spotify in its ‘app tax’ battle with Apple? Why a careful balancing act is required by the majors as their own priorities become entangled in Spotify and Apple's fight
Analysis News From Spotify’s ‘superfan clubs’ to Apple Music’s spatial audio royalty boost… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
Analysis News A year after he took charge as CEO, Robert Kyncl has quietly transformed Warner Music Group’s leadership Kyncl has hired multiple execs from his former employer, Google/YouTube; others have been handpicked from Disney, Instacart, Mastercard, and Justworks
Analysis As ‘artist-centric’ nobbles DIY aggregators, is a big-money ‘middle class’ distribution acquisition inevitable in 2024? Could any of the three majors, looking for a swift market share boost, execute a humdinger of an acquisition in the rest of 2024?
Analysis Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s Chairman is determined to abolish Merck Mercuriadis’ ‘call option’. He was less bothered when Round Hill Music Royalty Fund’s investment manager had a near-identical clause. A tale of two call options...
Analysis News India could become the world’s biggest music streaming market by volume in 2024 – overtaking the USA Total on-demand music streams in India were up by nearly half a billion in 2023 vs. 2022, according to Luminate
Analysis Primary Wave could buy a ‘music platform’. Here’s 4 ideas about what it might acquire… Company teased that it was targeting a music platform last week. Which areas will it be considering?
Analysis News From Triller owing rightsholders over $23m to the MLC’s plan to audit DSPs… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days...
Analysis News Merck Mercuriadis seems willing – currently – to trade in his ‘call option’ at Hipgnosis Songs Fund. So why is the company’s board offering to ‘bribe’ potential bidders with a £20 million bung in an attempt to offset it? Yesterday, this saga took a turn for the bizarre
Analysis The music industry is learning Hollywood’s lessons about the power of franchises Would the music industry do well to throw marketing budget behind slightly-forgotten artists from the 'naughts', wonders Tim Ingham