News Greg Aiello promoted to Managing Director of UK’s PPL PRS as Andrea Gray steps down Andrea Gray served as Managing Director at PPL PRS since the joint venture's founding in 2018
News Tom Kershaw, Justin Rohde join BMI as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Transformation Officer amid widespread change at the PRO The PRO recently switched to a for-profit model, and was sold to a shareholder group led by New Mountain Capital
News Amuse launches ‘Stream Check’ feature to let artists know if their music is being used in streaming fraud Artists may be unaware that their music is the target of streaming fraud until it's pulled down from DSPs
News Streaming fraud costs the global music industry $2bn a year, according to Beatdapp. Now it’s partnering with Beatport to combat the trend “Suspicious activity has been on the rise in recent months," Beatport's Chief Revenue Officer says
Analysis News Songwriter groups hail ‘landmark victory’ as US Copyright Office issues rule confirming how termination rights apply to streaming royalties Rule clarifies that songwriters are entitled to collect mechanical royalties from streaming platforms after they reclaim their rights
News Universal Music UK restructures, merging Island and EMI labels while launching new Audience and Media Division Polydor Label Group will house Capitol UK and 0207 Def Jam labels
News YouTube, UMG veteran Jackson Abbeduto joins law firm Reed Smith as counsel in its Global Entertainment and Media Industry Group Abbeduto joins Reed Smith from Granderson Des Rochers, where he negotiated deals on behalf of rights holders and DSPs
News Done deal: Blackstone is the new owner of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, as investment giant’s bid wins shareholder approval Vast majority of HSF shareholders agree to accept Blackstone's USD $1.584 billion offer
News Warner Music Balkans office launched by Warner Music South East Europe JV is a collaboration between WM SEE, Croatian label Dancing Bear, Serbian label Mascom and Slovenian label NIKA
News There are 8bn user-curated playlists on Spotify, 725m created this year alone, Daniel Ek says The streaming service has been working to make playlisting a more attractive feature for its subscribers
News Amazon, Apple, Spotify file legal challenge against Canada’s music streaming tax Canada's broadcasting and telecom regulator is planning a 5% tax on streaming revenue from non-Canadian companies starting this fall
News Believe buys 25% stake in Global Records, which claims to be the biggest indie music company in Central and Eastern Europe Global achieved over 6bn streams across all platforms in 2023 and over 20bn streams for its global catalog to date
News Primary Wave strikes music rights deal with songwriter and musician Keith Forsey Primary Wave has acquired Forsey's writer’s and producer shares
News 25% of music producers are now using AI, survey says – but a majority shows strong resistance A majority of producers indicated they have concerns about losing control of their music.
Analysis News From Sony Music’s mystery Queen catalog co-investor to UMG’s neural beats patent application… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place