Music Business Analysis

Analysis News

What now for Kobalt? The small matter of a $500m-a-year publishing company, for starters…

Following the sale of AWAL and Kobalt Neighbouring Rights, where does Willard Ahdritz's company go from here?

Analysis

MBW’s Weekly Roundup: Neil Jacobson, Hipgnosis, Streaming, Live Nation, Bob Dylan

The biggest music industry stories of the week, all in one place

Analysis

Will 2021 Herald a Golden Age of Artist Partnerships for Independent Labels?

"Independent labels have an important part to play in the current landscape," says Marathon Music Group GM, Pru Harris

Analysis

The harsh reality about the music business, and a pantomime led by clueless self-regarders.

UK politicians just grilled the heads of the three major labels in the market. It did not go well.

Analysis

There’s never been a better time to be a recording artist. I hope our politicians can understand that.

Ditto Music's Lee Parsons: "A thousand artists earned at least $84,000, just from streaming platforms, and just from the UK, in one year, in 2020."

Analysis News

Ex-Geffen head Neil Jacobson plots $200m US IPO to buy music rights, tech startups

New S-1 filing reveals large-scale ambitions of The Music Acquisition Corporation

Analysis Blog

Why I Just Moved To The Middle East

For years, Spek has been a fixture of the UK and US music publishing industries – and their relationship with the MENA region. Here, he explains why he recently upped sticks from New York to live in (and work from) the UAE...

Analysis Blog

For record labels, 2021 should be the year of empathetic A&R

"Being empathetic will help us to know our artists better, understand them well, and as a result, achieve bigger goals together."

Analysis News

Spotify, worth $67bn, has seen its share price TRIPLE in 10 months. Should Daniel Ek pay artists a ‘bonus’ to say thank you?

Spotify is still loss-making, but its market cap is so massive... should it pay a 'phantom dividend' to popular artists in need?

Analysis

UK record industry nears $2bn in pandemic-hit 2020 – but streaming growth slows significantly

Subscription streaming pulls in over $1.5bn in retail revenue alone, according to ERA figures

Analysis Blog

Fans’ Embrace of Streaming Sustained Music During A Tumultuous Year. Why, and What Does It Mean For 2021?

DiMA CEO Garrett Levin: "Any honest reckoning of our business must examine what happens to the 69 cents of every dollar that digital music services pay to record companies, music publishers, and PROs."

Analysis

Audio streaming volume grew by its biggest EVER amount in the UK in 2020, as Brits turned to music during pandemic lockdown

But it was a less good year for CD albums, with sales down by nearly a third on 2019

Analysis

This Spotify chart data reveals a whole lot about the UK music industry’s last 12 months

EMI Records Streaming Manager, Alex Bingham, crunches the numbers that drove Spotify's chart last year

Analysis Blog

‘If the virus is not brought under control in the US within a reasonable timeframe it could be catastrophic for the live music sector.’

Ed Sheeran agent Jon Ollier on the crucial global interdependence needed for a bounce back from COVID

Analysis Blog

Santa’s guide to tech companies: Who’s been naughty and who’s been nice to songwriters this year

NMPA boss David Israelite on the tech platforms who've supported composers in 2020... and those who have been less beneficial