News BMG is speeding up payments for over 20,000 songwriters (which is also good news for KKR) Songwriters will be paid within 60 days rather than 90
Interviews Adam Leber nearly gave up on artist management. Now, with Lil Nas X and Miley Cyrus’ help, he’s smashing it. "There has to be a reason you're willing to base your life around an artist's – because that's what this job is."
News Yousician raises $28m in B Round, new investors include Amazon Alexa Fund and Paul McCartney’s MPL Ventures Silicon Valley firm True Ventures is the company’s lead investor
News Virgin Music Label and Artist Services partners with Hip-Hop label Biordi Music in Australia Label was launched in 2019 by Australian musician Lowkee
News Kim Lim promoted to Managing Director of Universal Music Malaysia Exec will oversee UMG’s operations throughout Malaysia
News Tencent could be hit with $1.5bn fine and forced to sell two music apps in China (report) Reuters reports that anti-competitive watchdogs could force TME to sell off Kugou and Kuwo
News Sony says it’s ‘aggressively pursuing’ music acquisitions… and buys a Mexican catalog to prove it Comment comes as Sony Music Group posts a strong quarter in the three months to end of March
News Sony Music soared in calendar Q1, with over $1.3bn in recorded music revenue banked Sony Music Publishing revenues rise 11% year-on-year at the US dollar level
News BTS and Big Hit (HYBE) sued for copyright infringement over K-Pop reality TV show I-Land Big Hit also named in lawsuit claiming that the idea for the show was "stolen"
News Warner Chappell Music signs Ari Lennox to global publishing administration deal Lennox has collaborated with Doja Cat, Chance the Rapper, Wale, Ty Dolla $ign, Kiana Ledé
News New UK investment fund offers loans of $2m-plus to artists, songwriters and music rightsholders Music Credit Fund launches, backed by investment house with a $3bn portfolio
News Universal’s UK Task Force for Meaningful Change issues manifesto outlining goals to achieve ‘lasting social change’ Partnership with social enterprise The Black Curriculum also announced
Analysis News Spotify’s average subscriber is now paying less than $5 per month Bang goes the ARPU (again), as SPOT reveals figure fell to just €4.12 in the first three months of 2021
News Anton Partridge named Director of Global Strategy, Electronic Music for Warner Recorded Music Partridge to spearhead company's worldwide electronic music strategy
News Japan’s Avex Group expands into North America, led by President Naoki Osada Avex USA to house Avex USA Publishing, record label SELENE and the Future of Music Investment Fund
News Spotify subscriptions grew just 2% to 158m in Q1, Monthly Active Users topped 356m Spotify has published its results for Q1 2021
News Paula Salvatore appointed Vice President of Client Relations and Studio Marketing at Universal Exec to oversee client relations, booking and studio marketing across UMG's US commercial recording studios
News We told you Warner Music Group was becoming a media company – now it’s launched an advertising division. New digital advertising and creative content department will bring together the company's 'digital advertising firepower under one unit'