News Tony Bennett music assets acquired by Olivier Chastan’s Iconoclast in multi-million dollar deal Sony Music will continue to own/control the bulk of Bennett's biggest-selling sound recordings catalog
News Kobalt ups spending power to over $1bn via new $450m revolving credit facility, plus a $266.5m raise via asset Securitization Company said that these new transactions provide it 'with more than $1 billion to continue to grow and execute on its strategic initiatives'.
News TikTok’s US growth stalls amid UMG dispute, competition, regulatory and e-commerce woes (Report) The social media giant's efforts at e-commerce are backfiring with users, a news report says
News Talent management firm YMU sold for $76M after financial restructuring (Report) The deal includes cancellation of some debt and a new credit facility for the struggling agency
News UK’s Intellectual Property Office partners with PPL and PRS for Music on expanded ‘Get Paid Guide’ for music creators The new version aims to provide performers, managers, and reps with a step-by-step guide on registering and managing their music metadata
News MBW (and Skibidi Toilet) just inspired a flurry of TikTok music takedowns TikTok took swift action over a list of videos that MBW identified as 'manipulating' UMG content
Analysis News Global recorded music revenues grew 9.8% YoY to $35.1bn in 2023, says MIDiA Research MIDiA estimates that streaming revenues reached $21.9bn in 2023
News Universal, Republic launch Boombox music player on Roblox Boombox will roll out first in TWICE Square, the Roblox experience inspired by K-pop girl group TWICE
News AI vocal cloning app Voicify offers 3,000 deepfake models to replicate artists’ voices. Now it faces legal action from the UK’s music industry BPI has sent a letter to Voicify, now known as Jammable, threatening legal action if the app doesn't stop enabling users to create unauthorized music deepfakes
Analysis Blog Soundful founder and CEO Diaa El All: ‘There is a way to create disruptive technological advances in AI while keeping the integrity of artists’ rights at the forefront.’ Soundful founder and CEO Diaa El All shares his thoughts around copyright issues related to AI music
News Barcelona appeals court rules that Spanish authors’ society SGAE ‘abused its position’ in the market, in victory for rival UNISON SGAE's all-or-nothing rights contracts with its members prevented the liberalization of the rights market in Spain, competitor UNISON says
News Nine Canadian ‘streaming manipulation sites’ shut down in win for record companies Streaming manipulation misleads music fans and interferes with the effective operation of music streaming sites, IFPI and Music Canada said
News Snafu Records pledges $1M to bridge gender gap in music industry with Women’s Creator Fund The AI-driven record company is setting up a fund and a support network for women creators in music
Analysis News From Universal’s TikTok takedowns to Deezer’s 26m deleted tracks… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
Analysis Down The Skibidi Toilet: Why Universal Music Group’s ‘Project Timeout’ is hitting TikTok with endless copyright takedown requests There is a lot to explain here....
Analysis News Record companies are better placed than streaming platforms to monetize superfans… and 3 other things Robert Kyncl said in his new Q&A Warner Music Group’s CEO has some “radical” ideas on how to change how streaming services pay music rights holders
News Deezer has deleted 26m ‘useless’ tracks since it launched artist-centric model with Universal Music Group The idea is to "declutter the platform" and "focus on tracks that are valuable to our users" according to CEO Jeronimo Folgueira
Analysis News Recorded music trade revenues in the UK grew 8.1% YoY to $1.77bn last year The UK is the world's third largest recorded music market behind the United States and Japan, respectively