News Sony Music UK inks JV with record label WEAREBLK Label will sign and develop artists across hip hop, UK rap, drill, grime, afrobeat, afro swing and R&B
News Warner’s Rhino reunites with Avenue Records for new catalog licensing deal including classic WAR recordings Deal includes WAR’s master recordings spanning nearly 40 years
News Spotify is letting record labels influence personalized recommendations… so long as they pay for it in royalties "As we learn from this experiment, we’ll carefully test expanding to other personalized areas of Spotify."
News Warner Chappell France boss Caroline Molko to exit, succeeded as MD by Matthieu Tessier Leadership transition will take place over next couple of months
News TikTok and Sony Music ink licensing deal for major’s ‘roster of global superstars and exciting emerging artists’ "TikTok is a leader in this space and we are pleased to be partnering with them to drive music discovery, expand opportunities for creativity and support artist careers.”
News Hipgnosis Songs Fund buys huge catalog from Kobalt in $322.9m acquisition Merck Mercuriadis does biggest deal yet, snapping up catalog owned by fund managed by Kobalt Capital
News Primary Wave Music Publishing strikes partnership with Olivia Newton-John Partnership includes the catalog of masters and publishing assets owned by the singer
News Sony/ATV signs producer & songwriter Johnny Goldstein to worldwide deal Company has also partnered with Artist Publishing Group to provide creative services to Goldstein
News How Static & Ben El’s new single fits with Saban Music Group’s strategy of ‘thinking globally’ Saban Music Group CEO, Gustavo Lopez, on a priority release for the company, out this week
News UMPG signs Grammy Award winner Dave Cobb to global publishing deal Cobb has worked on albums for Brandi Carlile, The Highwomen, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and others
News Warner Music Spain & Warner Chappell Music Spain renew deals with Spanish superstar Pablo Alborán Alborán was the top-selling artist in Spain in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018
News YouTube just generated $5bn from ads in a single quarter – and YouTube Music has over 30m subscribers Alphabet video platform looks in contention to generate $18bn from ads this year
Interviews News How Splice, which paid out $11m in royalties to musicians in the first 9 months of 2020, wants to help a ‘million more people to make music’ Chief Music Officer Maria Egan discusses Splice and the DIY musician sector
Analysis Spotify is testing price rises and paying labels billions – but, in alarming news for investors, it appears to have a subscriber problem in emerging markets (update) MBW digs into the numbers behind Spotify's newly-announced Q3 results – and discovers a surprising failure in the company's mission to grow everywhere
News Livestream firm LiveXLive to acquire merch company Custom Personalization Solutions 'We intend to fulfill superfans dreams with personalized merchandise,' states Robert Ellin, CEO and Chairman of LiveXLive
News TikTok sues rival Triller over patent infringement 'This is a David and Goliath story,' says Triller CEO Mike Lu
News Spotify subs grew by 6m in Q3, but Daniel Ek’s company has posted a net loss of over $500m so far this year ARPU down (again) but firm's total revenues jump above $2bn in the quarter
News John Pires promoted to EVP, Global Business Development at Sony/ATV Pires will oversee emerging and current business development across various departments