Music Business News: North America

Hangout FM and Beatdapp join forces to combat streaming fraud

Soon-to-be-launched Hangout FM aims to "fight the good fight against fraud from launch day"

The MLC sues Pandora for allegedly underpaying royalties and late fees

"Our team repeatedly sought to resolve this issue directly with Pandora, but Pandora has refused to correct their reporting or royalty payments"

Travis Scott sued for alleged copyright infringement over ‘Stargazing’ and ‘Til Further Notice’

A vocal line from a 1991 track was used without permission in 'Stargazing' and 'Til Further Notice,' a new lawsuit alleges

Cinq Music raises $250m from parent company GoDigital to fund acquisitions – with an eight-figure ‘marquee’ catalog acquisition already in the pipeline

The significant capital raise arrives as heat appears to be reentering the blockbuster music rights acquisition space

The major record companies (and Merlin) saw their Spotify market share fall again in 2023. Yet even before ‘artist-centric’ changes, this decline started slowing.

Spotify's annual report reveals an interesting trend around the joint market share of major record companies and Merlin on the platform

‘Twenty, thirty years from now, this is going to be a period of music that we romanticize.’

MBW’s World’s Greatest Producers series meets Rob Bisel, a multi-Grammy nominee who has worked with SZA, Kendrick Lamar and more

Ultra Music Publishing acquires Wheezy’s back catalog, inks new go-forward deal

Patrick Moxey's company has signed a deal for 427 songs from Wheezy's, catalog plus future works

Metaverse studio Karta expands to ZEPETO, targeting fashion-forward audience

ZEPETO has built a user base of 400 million on the strength of its virtual fashion marketplace