News Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square USA withdraws IPO, citing investor uncertainty Ackman had significantly reduced the price target for his US-based closed-end fund, before pulling out of the IPO altogether
Interviews ‘I advise others to come and invest in the MENA region – they will see how many opportunities there are.’ MBW’s World Leaders meets Ghassan Chartouni, CEO and founder of Lebanon-based indie Glava Holding
Analysis News It’s ‘business as usual’ at Live Nation despite DoJ antitrust lawsuit, and 3 other things we learned on the company’s Q2 earnings call Live Nation addressed the antitrust suit, the slowdown in stadium activity, and the impact of the Paris Olympics on its live events
Interviews ‘This is just the beginning. There’s still so much potential for Afrobeats and Amapiano in the coming years.’ MBW's Trailblazers series meets Camillo Doregos and Mark Mac, co-founders of Africa focused management and booking company, DC Talent Agency
News Artists and major music companies applaud introduction of ‘landmark’ NO FAKES Act in US Senate With bipartisan support and a similar bill working its way through the House of Representatives, the NO FAKES Act aims to crack down on AI deepfakes
News Rob Stratton promoted to Vice President, Visual + Media Rights at Sony Music Publishing in the UK Stratton first joined the company in 2014 as Promotions Executive
News Reservoir posts 8% jump in revenue, to $34.3m, in latest quarter Calendar Q2 2024 was the 12th consecutive quarter of year-on-year revenue growth for Reservoir since the company went public
News Rimas Publishing teams up with Chile-based Wild Company to discover artists in the market Together, the two companies will provide A&R services in the Chilean market
News Deezer revenues grew 14.6% YoY in the first half of 2024, driven by partnerships and price increases Deezer has published its financial results for the first half of the year
News Spotify backtracks on lyrics restriction, expands access for free users Spotify started limiting access to lyrics for ad-supported users last fall, but appears to have backed off from that idea
News Live Nation’s revenue rises 7% to record $6B in Q2 as fan attendance hits 39M “We continue to see strong demand globally, with a growing variety of shows attracting both casual and diehard fans who are buying tickets at all price points"
News Bill Ackman massively scales back expectations for the IPO of his Pershing Square USA, from $25bn to $2bn Ackman confirms that IPO will be priced at less than a tenth of original $25 billion target
Analysis News As Spotify readies $18 per month ‘deluxe’ tier, do consumers care about high quality audio? Luminate study sheds light on what consumers really want from streaming
News Blackstone’s Hipgnosis Songs Fund is no longer a publicly traded company Ben Katovsky and Dan Pounder appointed to Hipgnosis board, as HSF's previous board stands down
News RZA strikes partnership with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists, LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells to expand Wu-Tang Clan brand The deal centers around a plan to to expand Wu-Tang’s music to film, TV, merchandise, and brand partnerships
News The MLC fires back at Spotify’s proposed motion to dismiss bundling lawsuit The MLC says Spotify's motion to dismiss 'entirely ignores the proper legal standard for a motion to dismiss'
News Wasserman doubles down on M&A, bringing in private equity exec Steve Murray to lead acquisitions strategy Exec joins from Providence Equity Partners, where he was instrumental in helping Wasserman complete M&A deals
News Ralph Kink named head of digital transformation at GEMA "Digitalization and now generative AI are turning the music industry upside down. The tasks that GEMA faces are huge."