News Universal Music Middle East & North Africa strikes partnership in Egypt with Harb Management Talent Agency Companies will jointly work on local talent discovery, development, music production, marketing and promo, live events, and brand partnerships
News Spotify has patented a ‘digital mixtape’ generator that compiles users’ voice recordings with songs New patent issued to Spotify describes 'a system for generating and distributing a digital mixtape'.
News Lex Borrero’s NEON16 and NTERTAIN expand multi-year partnership with the NFL NEON16 acts will produce four tracks exclusively for the NFL and its 32 clubs to use as part of their soundtrack to the 2023 season
News Evan Bogart’s Seeker Music acquires catalog of Plested, songwriter behind hits for Lewis Capaldi, Niall Horan, Jonas Brothers and more Founded in 2020, Seeker is led by hitmaker Evan Bogart, who is behind Rihanna’s 2006 No. 1 hit SOS
News Dominican superstar rapper El Alfa inks multi-million-dollar deal with Sound Royalties Sound Royalties provides royalty financing for music creators, independent labels, publishers, and distributors
News TikTok confirms testing ad-free monthly subscription plan (report) Test marks a potential departure from TikTok's ad-driven revenue model
Analysis 5 observations on… Epic Games’ sale of Bandcamp to Songtradr Here are five observations about what the deal means for Songtradr, Bandcamp, and other players in the music industry
News US Supreme Court to take up Warner Chappell case around limitations on copyright damages, after appeal over Flo Rida ‘In The Ayer’ lawsuit The US Supreme Court is set to make a decision on statutes of limitations for copyright lawsuits
News Indie music company Wagram joins Deezer’s artist-centric payment system, following streaming platform’s deal with Universal France-headquartered indie music company Wagram Music has signed an artist-centric agreement with Deezer
News Spotify threatens Uruguay exit amid proposed changes to music copyright law Parliament of Uruguay is voting on a budget bill that includes proposals around 'equitable remuneration' for performers
News BandLab rolls out integration with beat marketplace Airbit BandLab Technologies acquired Airbit earlier this year
News Saregama, India’s oldest label, buys majority stake in digital entertainment firm Pocket Aces in $20m deal Saregama has acquired a 51.8% stake in Pocket Aces
News Ramona Forsström promoted to Managing Director of Warner Music Finland; Niko Nordström to exit company Exec to succeed Niko Nordström, who is exiting Warner Music after 16 years
Analysis News From Ed Sheeran’s copyright victory to Songtradr buying Bandcamp… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days
News Rick Ross and Maybach Music Group strike partnership with Larry Jackson’s $1bn-backed gamma Also joining gamma is Breyon Prescott, including his Chameleon Entertainment label and catalog
Analysis Warner Music Group boss Robert Kyncl on AI, why labels still exist, and 2 other things we learned from his Q&A at the Code Conference Kyncl spoke during a Q&A session at the Code Conference in Laguna Niguel, California, this week
News Hipgnosis Songs Fund Chair, Andrew Sutch, to step down; all-important ‘continuation vote’ looks likely to happen on October 26 Shareholders will vote on whether to keep Hipgnosis Songs Fund as a close-ended investment entity next month
News Do Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones plan to sell their catalog? No – but it could be donated to charity. Jagger told the WSJ that “the children don’t need $500 million to live well. Come on.”