News Firebird confirms investments in Mick Management, Lex Borrero’s Ntertain, Defected, more Nat Zilkha says Firebird has access to $1 billion in capital, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars
News Members of K-pop group EXO file anti-trust complaint against SM Entertainment Artists dispute the legitimacy of their contracts
News Karol G partners with Interscope, ‘reaffirming’ long-term relationship with Universal Music Group Karol G signed with Universal Music Latin Entertainment in 2016
Interviews News As AI-made music explodes, Deezer lays out strategy to identify AI tracks and ‘weed out illegal and fraudulent content’ on its platform Deezer is building a set of tools to detect AI-generated content on its platform
News After closing seed rounds, music startups AudioShake, MYXT team up to integrate technologies Myxt recently raised $2m, and AudioShake raised $2.7m in their respective sees rounds
News Warner’s ADA Worldwide strikes global distribution deal with Rostrum Records ADA to be responsible for worldwide distribution services for Rostrum’s entire label catalog and new releases
Analysis Why the music business should be watching Japan’s AI developments very closely MBW Reacts to recent news about AI training in Japan
News After raising $25m, BandLab rebrands Cakewalk production software as part of plan to ’empower all creators’ BandLab acquired certain assets and the complete intellectual property of Cakewalk Inc. from Gibson Brands in 2018
News Spotify cuts 200 jobs as it restructures its podcast division Layoffs represent about 2% of the company’s total workforce
Analysis News Stray Kids break K-pop sales record, achieving over 5.1m pre-orders for their new album 5-Star Seventeen's album FML racked up 4.64m pre-orders
News South Korea-based catalog buying fund Beyond Music raises $170m Company, which has raised nearly $400m to date plans to use capital 'to acquire rights to evergreen songs'
News Wise Music Group and Faber Music strike global deal for the Edition Peters printed music business Wise Music will continue to own the Edition Peters rights business
News Sony Music Japan’s PRISM Project expands virtual talent roster with two new new artists SMEJ is doubling down on its virtual talent agency, PRISM Project
News Madeleine van Schendel joins Armin van Buuren’s Armada Music as Chief Growth Officer Armada Music makes series of new hires after launching $100m catalog buying fund
Analysis News From Queen’s $1bn catalog to HYBE raising $380m for acquisitions in the US… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The biggest music biz headlines from the past week, all in one place
News Members of K-pop group EXO move to end ‘unjust long-term contracts’ with SM Entertainment (report) A statement released by law firm Lin on Thursday (June 1) detailed the artists' intention to end their deals with the K-Pop company
News HYBE is raising $380m to fund more music acquisitions in the US (report) South Korea-based music giant behind K-pop superstars BTS and rising stars New Jeans seeks to expand global presence via M&A
News Ezekiel Lewis promoted to President of Epic Records Exec has served as the company’s Executive Vice President and Head of A&R since 2020