News From Chord Music Partners’ $2 billion+ raise to UMG’s Drake lawsuit drama… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up The biggest headlines from the past seven days... all in one place
News UMG’s Sir Lucian Grainge refutes ‘ridiculous’ claims in Drake lawsuit, confirms Universal bought star’s recorded music and publishing catalogs Grainge suggests Drake is attempting to waste his and UMG's time to gain media attention or financial concessions
News Mom+Pop names Zoe Barton EVP of Digital, Viral, Commerce & Marketing Barton joins Mom+Pop from ORIGIN, where she served as General Manager and Head of Creative
News Yes, Pinkfong’s ‘Baby Shark’ is irritating. But it doesn’t infringe copyright, rules South Korea’s Supreme Court Pinkfong version is YouTube's most-viewed video of all time with over 16 billion plays, and has racked up a further 1 billion+ streams on Spotify
Analysis Bubble superfan app, concerts, merch are accelerating Tencent Music’s growth… as company expands beyond streaming What we learned from TME's Q2 earnings call this week – and what is suggests about the future of music
News Netease Cloud Music sees 15.2% YoY growth in subscription streaming revenue in H1, amid focus on indie artists, in-house music China's second-largest music streamer saw an overall decline in revenue due to continued weakness in social entertainment services
News Exclusive: Chord Music Partners raises $2 billion+ in investable capital… with another $1 billion+ on the way Chord has raised the sum via a funding round due to close in October
Interviews Katie Kang developed K-Pop superstars in South Korea. Now, as CEO of TITAN Content, she’s launching girl group AtHeart in LA… with global ambitions MBW's World Leaders series meets Katie Kang, CEO of Los Angeles-headquartered K-Pop company TITAN Content
News Eminem’s ‘Stans’ documentary to stream on Paramount, starting August 26 The film will initially be available to Paramount+ viewers in the US, Canada, Latin America and Brazil
News Daryl Hall and John Oates quietly resolve legal dispute Daryl Hall's attorneys secured a final judgment in arbitration and lodged an order for a Nashville judge to dismiss the case
News Taylor Swift shares details about upcoming album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ on New Heights podcast ahead of October release Swift reveals details about new album on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast
News Lorena Cabral, Daniela Gutiérrez promoted at Downtown Artist & Label Services, as firm expands presence in Música Mexicana DA&LS recently expanded its collaboration with Genesis Records to include the catalog of Mexican singer-songwriter Edgardo Nuñez
Interviews ‘We’re building the market-making infrastructure for the music business’ SourceAudio co-founder, Andrew Harding, talks sync, AI licensing, and the future of the business
Analysis News JYP Entertainment profit soars in Q2, helped by Stray Kids tour, Kpop Demon Hunters The Korean music company's blockbuster earnings even got a little help from ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’
News Emerging markets and M&A exec Alfonso Perez Soto departs Warner after 20 years Widely respected exec leaves his latest post as EVP, Corporate Development
News Austen Adams appointed President of Warner Chappell Music Nashville Respected executive joins the company from Big Loud
News Kobalt inks direct licensing deal with Spotify in the US The agreement marks Spotify's latest direct deal with a prominent music publisher and moves its agreement with Kobalt beyond the traditional CRB model in the US
News Drake demands to see Kendrick Lamar contract details in discovery battle with Universal Music Group Drake is seeking to compel UMG to produce Sir Lucian Grainge's custodial files and an unredacted version of Kendrick Lamar's recording contract