News From UMG’s approved Downtown deal to Spotify’s AI ambitions… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days...
News The Empire Strikes Back: The majors and Merlin gained (a bit) of market share on Spotify last year. Spotify's new annual report updates a crucial yearly stat – with a surprise new number
News Scott Borchetta exits HYBE AMERICA Borchetta has served as the CEO of Big Machine Label Group since HYBE’s purchase of Ithaca Holdings in 2021.
Analysis News HYBE posts record annual revenues of $1.86bn for 2025 as K-Pop firm’s concert revenues hit all-time high – but operating profit plunged 73% South Korea-based entertainment giant HYBE has published its Q4 and FY 2025 earnings.
Analysis News NetEase Cloud Music now counts over 1 million registered indie artists The platform has published its FY 2025 results, in which it reported that its membership subscription revenues rose 13.3% YoY in 2025
News Warner Music Group plans to sell EMP, the merch business it acquired for $180m in 2018 Regulatory filings indicate that WMG signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell EMP.
News ASCAP paid out a record $1.76bn to songwriters and publishers in 2025 The US organization delivered a record $1.945 billion in revenue in the calendar year.
Analysis News Songs are reaching 1bn Spotify streams 14x faster than a decade ago, and other stats from Chartmetric’s 2025 Year in Music report The report highlights several notable shifts shaping the music economy.
News Sam Siegler and Mike Nucero named Creative Directors at Matt Pincus’ Trust Records Design duo behind the label’s visual identity formalize roles after four years of collaboration
Analysis News Sound Royalties says it closed a record $135m in funded contracts in 2025 The company, which was founded in 2014 by Alex Heiche, provides advances to music creators against their future royalty income
News Bella Figura Music buys publishing catalog of The Drums’ Jonny Pierce The deal encompasses Pierce’s publishing interests in songs released up to and including the band’s "Encyclopedia" album.
News Kobalt strikes strategic publishing deal with London-based Geo Music Group, covering funding for songwriters and admin services The agreement gives Geo Music’s roster access to Kobalt's royalty collection, accounting and payment infrastructure.
News HYBE ordered to pay former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin $17.6m in shareholder agreement lawsuit Judge Nam In-soo ruled that Min’s actions did not constitute a material breach to justify terminating the shareholder agreement.
News UMG strikes global deal with ClicknClear to license songs for gymnastics, figure skating and more UMG and ClicknClear estimate that over 150 million athletes join choreographed sports globally, creating “a multi-billion-dollar demand for music licensing.”