Analysis Sir Lucian Grainge’s royalty payout letter was a ‘hallelujah moment’ for streaming’s anti-fraud movement. Nick Dunn, founder of UK-based distributor Horus Music, hopes that Universal's new focus will help neuter criminal activity on platforms
News SoundHound axes nearly 50% of staff less than a year after IPO SoundHound went public in New York in April 2022 via a $2.1bn SPAC merger
News Anton Powers named Head of A&R at Sony Music-owned Ministry of Sound Exec will report to Dipesh Parmar, President of Columbia Records UK
News Music tech startup Orfium acquires music reporting and audio recognition company Soundmouse Orfium is run by Rob Wells, the former global digital head of Universal Music Group
News BMG faces lawsuit over alleged unpaid royalties from ‘Uptown Funk’ BMG Rights Management is being sued by the heirs of The Gap Band members Robert and Ronnie Wilson
Interviews ‘Being unsigned doesn’t matter anymore. Now, it’s about being independent.’ Ty Baisden, the long-time business partner and manager of independent R&B star Brent Faiyaz tells us about turning his independent artist marketing strategies into a book and his predictions for the indie artist space...
Analysis News After taking stake in TikTok parent, China’s government to snap up shares in Tencent, Alibaba units (report) China's Government is acquiring stakes in local subsidiaries of China’s tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group
News Music livestreaming app Sessions, founded by ex-Pandora boss, quietly shuts down Platform was launched by Tim Westergren in April 2020
Analysis News From Sir Lucian Grainge on music’s streaming payout model to Kakao Entertainment’s $966m investment… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up Our biggest stories of the week, brought to you in association with Centtrip
Analysis News The Sony Walkman is back… as a hi-res streaming player Sony just introduced two new devices called the NW-ZX707 and the NW-A306, which the company claims, offer “evolutionary sound”
News Warner Bros. Discovery exploring sale of music assets that could be valued at $1bn+ (report) Warner Bros Discovery was formed in April last year via the merger of WarnerMedia with Discovery
Analysis News The Top 10 hits in the US last year accounted for fewer than 1 in every 200 streams The US's Top 10 streaming hits, combined, were cumulatively responsible for less than 0.5% of all on-demand audio plays in the US annually
Analysis News PRS for Music sues platform behind record-breaking Dua Lipa livestream for alleged lack of licenses "No PRS member has been paid for the use of their songs in this event, or the other concerts held by LIVENow."
News Evan Bogart’s Seeker Music acquires catalogs of pop songwriters John Ryan and Jon Bellion Seeker is led by hit songwriter Evan Bogart
Analysis Blog ‘There is a real need to look behind the marketing hype and truly understand what is being offered.’ PPL CIO Mark Douglas examines the contribution being made to the industry’s data challenges by Music Recognition Technology
Analysis Blog ‘Consumer desire is driving the great music unbundling.’ The following op/ed comes from Forrest Browning, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Audius
News Jayne Davis appointed Chief Operating Officer at Ben Lovett’s tvg hospitality Katie Millar also named General Manager of the Orion Amphitheater in Huntsville, AL.
Analysis News TikTok offers cheaper ads in race against social media rivals Meta, YouTube and Twitter (report) FT report cites advertisers, industry bodies and brands