News HYBE revenues soared 39% YoY to record $349m in Q1, driven by tours and merch from SEVENTEEN, j-hope, ENHYPEN and other K-Pop stars HYBE surpassed the 500 billion South Korean won quarterly revenue mark for the first time in the first quarter of 2025.
News Henri Lanz appointed Senior International A&R and Creative Advisor of Warner Music Nordics Lanz worked as Chief Creative Advisor at Sony Music Finland over the past year
News Carlyle nears $464m bond sale backed by music rights from Litmus portfolio (report) Reported bond sale is backed by rights from artists including Benny Blanco, Keith Urban and Katy Perry
News YouTube ad revenues jumped 10.3% in Q1 to nearly $9bn Alphabet's ad revenues could face 'headwinds' in Q2 from the ongoing tariff war between the US and China
Analysis On… breaking down barriers to build bridges in the music business The following MBW op/ed comes from Dr. Portia Sabin, President of the Music Business Association
News Live events and ticketing company DEAG reports 18% jump in revenue to record high $400m in 2024 The company says it made a 'conscious' decision to increase spending on longer-term investments, even if it meant a shrinking EBITDA
News StubHub strikes deal to become ATG’s official resale ticket partner for 16 US venues The partnership will enable fans to buy tickets for events at ATG theaters directly through StubHub
News Spotify set to hike prices across Europe, Latin America, following 18% price rise in Netherlands A Spotify individual subscription in the Netherlands now costs EUR 12.99 per month
News IMPALA welcomes EU’s Downtown deal probe; UMG remains ‘confident’ $775M acquisition will close in H2 2025 IMPALA represents 6,000+ independent music companies in Europe
News Splice acquires Spitfire Audio for a reported $50m as it bets on AI music creation Splice was valued at nearly USD $500m in 2021 after securing $55m in funding
Analysis News From Warner’s Crumbl copyright lawsuit to the EU’s Downtown deal probe… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
News Tencent Music close to $2.4 billion deal to acquire podcast firm Ximalaya – with a potential payday for Sony Music Sony Music acquired 4.6 million shares in Ximalaya for a consideration of USD $50 million in 2020
News Confirmed: European competition regulator to assess UMG’s $775m acquisition of Downtown Music European Commission has accepted requests from Austria and the Netherlands to review the proposed acquisition
News Universal Music Group’s Downtown acquisition to be probed by EU competition regulator (report) The FT reports the probe will be announced on Friday (April 25)
News HYBE teams up with Spanish-language TV giant Telemundo on ‘first-of-its-kind’ competition and reality show to form a Regional Mexican group Members of the winning group will win $100,000 and a recording contract with HYBE Latin America
Interviews Oscar Höglund talks Epidemic Sound’s revenue growth and vast reach: ‘We get roughly 3bn daily views. That’s 20 Super Bowls per day, 365 days per year.’ MBW's World Leaders series meets Oscar Höglund, CEO of Epidemic Sound
News India’s Tips Music generated $9.1m in calendar Q1 as EBITDA grew 24% YoY Tips' operating EBITDA grew 24% YoY in calendar Q1 to reach USD $4.3m
News Universal Music Group Nashville rebrands as Music Corporation of America Mike Harris to Lead as President & CEO, and Dave Cobb as Chief Creative Officer