News Sony Music Entertainment strikes JV with D36 to break South Asian Music globally D36 provides a platform to aspiring musicians from South Asia and its diaspora
News Canada’s CMRRA reports 9% increase in royalty payouts for 2023 Growth was driven by increases in sync, international collections and physical distribution channels
News Austin Jenkins named Vice President, A&R at Island Records Jenkins was part of the team that discovered Leon Bridges, and played with Bridges on tour
News Merlin launches ‘Merlin Connect’ to provide tech platforms with licensed indie music Merlin developed the new tool in response to growing concerns about artificial intelligence and its impact on artistic creation
News Music streaming services come out swinging against Canada’s new ‘discriminatory tax’ that requires them to hand over 5% of their Canadian revenues Canada’s Online Streaming Act requires streamers to contribute 5% of their annual revenue to a number of programs designed to aid Canadian content creators
News Sacem’s revenues rose 5% to $1.61bn in 2023; Board renews term of CEO Cécile Rap-Veber Thanks to cost efficiencies, royalty collections rose 5%, while payouts to artists rose 17%
News Rimas Publishing and Made in Memphis Entertainment team up to promote ‘cross-cultural’ music creation The first joint project between the two was a five-day songwriting camp in May at MIME's 4U Recording studio
News MENA-focused XP Music Futures conference to return for 2024 The 2024 edition of XP Music Futures returns to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia from December 5-7
News Spotify officially launches a music-only subscription tier… in the UK The new tier appears to be available in the UK only at present and costs £10.99 per month
Analysis News Bill Ackman, a major Universal Music shareholder, just got richer – and much more ambitious. What might this mean for UMG? How Pershing Square's new money-game connects to Universal Music Group – and the music business at large
Analysis News Spotify’s bundle battle with songwriters dampens Reservoir’s earnings forecast for FY 2024 Three things we learned from Reservoir’s latest earnings call
News PRS for Music announces additional $7.7m in annual payouts to songwriters, reveals four newly-elected Council Members at AGM The UK-based CMO is reducing its administration rate on multi-territory online collections
News Live Nation slams AEG boss’s ‘self-serving arguments’ over DoJ investigation In a memo obtained by MBW, AEG Presents Chairman and CEO Jay Marciano referred to Live Nation and its ticketing division Ticketmaster as a 'monopoly'
News PRS Foundation announces 28 recipients of PPL Momentum Music Fund Since its launch in 2013, the PPL Momentum Music Fund has awarded over £5.2 million ($6.7 million) to artists across the UK
News Downtown Artist & Label Services partners with SymphonyOS to offer AI-powered marketing tools at a discount Downtown joins a growing list of SymphonyOS partners, including CD Baby and UnitedMasters
News ByteDance appoints ex-Warner Bros. lawyer John Rogovin as Global General Counsel Rogovin's appointment comes as TikTok fights the US government over the new 'divest-or-ban' law
News Lee Anderson appointed President of Wasserman’s music division Anderson has played a key role in Wasserman Music's development since its launch in 2021
Analysis Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s catalog turned out to be worth more than a lot of people thought. In light of Blackstone's latest bid, MBW crunches the numbers on what HSF spent on assets... and what they're worth now