News Suno sued by Poseidon Wave Media, an entity behind indie duo The American Dollar, claiming it ‘nearly eliminated’ their licensing revenue The duo alleges that Suno has reduced their licensing revenue by nearly 80% since the AI company launched its service.
Analysis Understanding production agreements in the music industry The following MBW op/ed comes from Manatt's Suna Izgi and Jordan Bromley
News As ABS deals reshape the music rights landscape, KBRA says it’s rated $12.9B in music royalty-backed bonds since 2020 – but expects issuance to fall 25% in 2026 The music ABS market has more than tripled in size in just three years, says new KBRA report
News Sphere Entertainment secures $1.7B investment from Abu Dhabi for first international venue The venue will built on a plot of land between Yas Mall and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.
News Primary Wave acquires interests in album art collection from Aubrey ‘Po’ Powell, co-founder of British design studio Hipgnosis Design studio founded by Powell and the late Storm Thorgerson in the 1960's
News Spotify scraps new ‘Premium Lite’ tier in India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and South Africa – while slashing standard Premium prices The Premium Standard plan has been reduced in multiple markets
News Barry Weiss’s RECORDS promotes Andrew Saltman to SVP of Artist Development, Sara Gil to General Manager The pair will lead label operations across RECORDS and its country imprint RECORDS Nashville
Interviews ‘The next global genre will likely start in someone’s bedroom – and that bedroom might be in Lagos, Mumbai or São Paulo.’ MBW's Trailblazers series meets Constantin Koehncke, CEO of Image-Line, the Belgian company behind FL Studio
News Taylor Swift’s 1989 and Beyoncé’s Single Ladies among 25 recordings inducted into Library of Congress National Recording Registry Other inductees include The Go-Go's' debut album Beauty and the Beat, Weezer's self-titled Blue Album, Chaka Khan's I Feel for You and others
Analysis Will this BTS tide finally lift all K-Pop boats? The following op/ed comes from author and music economist Will Page, and Jeongbeom ‘JB’ Kim, Chief Data Officer at the Korean-based KreatorsNetwork
Analysis News Tencent Music is quietly building a live music empire. Concerts could become the streaming giant’s ultimate differentiator in the age of AI. TME's non-subscription music services revenue, encompassing live concerts, advertising, and merchandise, jumped 28.0% YoY to RMB 1.94 billion (USD $282 million) in Q1
News TikTok now lets US users book hotels and attractions in-app with ‘TikTok GO’ TikTok has partnered with Booking.com, Expedia, Viator, Tiqets, Trip.com and GetYourGuide to launch TikTok GO.
News Netflix, AEG Presents team up to launch ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ global concert tour Amy Reinhard, Netflix’s president of ad sales, said the tour is planned for next year.
Analysis News Listeners engage less deeply with music labeled as AI – even when it’s actually human-made, academic study finds The Wu and Holmes paper was based on two preregistered studies involving 399 US participants
News Universal Music India strikes global distribution deal with indie artist services company first.wav Company's operations span artist management, music distribution, and marketing