Analysis TikTok’s biggest headache in its fight with Universal Music Group is UMG’s publishing catalog (and 2 other observations on the feud the whole music industry is talking about) What's really going on behind the scenes of music's big Grammy Week fall-out
News USTR’s ‘Notorious Markets’ Report doesn’t mention AI-voice cloning, despite RIAA’s efforts The USTR report identifies a 'complex ecosystem' of online services that enable digital piracy
News Confirmed: Universal Music Group’s music will be removed by TikTok in the coming days TikTok spokesperson says platform is "sad and disappointed" by UMG statement from earlier today
Interviews The music industry is changing. Thomas Coesfeld is busy preparing BMG for what’s next. The BMG boss discusses the sweeping changes he's made at the Bertelsmann-owned company – and the future of music
News BMG partners with Technical University of Munich to create AI-driven music marketing campaigns Thanks to AI, BMG is now able to process royalties 10 times faster than it could previously, and track music 50% faster
News With India in the running to overtake the US as the biggest music streaming market (by volume), Believe swoops for local ‘powerhouse’ catalog Believe has also acquired WHM's YouTube channel
Analysis With ‘superfans’ in their eyes, could the major record companies now rally behind Spotify in its ‘app tax’ battle with Apple? Why a careful balancing act is required by the majors as their own priorities become entangled in Spotify and Apple's fight
News Riot Games cuts 530 roles globally as it ‘more tightly integrates esports, music, and entertainment’ with its games Riot Games is laying off around 11% of its workforce
News Kat Von D wins copyright trial over Miles Davis tattoo Jury agreed with the argument made by lawyers for Kat Von D that her tattooing an image of Miles Davis was “fair use” and didn’t infringe copyright
News Tuned Global and LyricFind team up on tech integration The collaboration will extend LyricFind's products to a network of music and media services globally where Tuned Global has partnerships
Analysis News From Spotify’s ‘superfan clubs’ to Apple Music’s spatial audio royalty boost… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up The five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
Interviews Dot Da Genius on Kid Cudi, Kanye, the possibility of a producers’ strike and why he wants to ‘completely overhaul’ the current music industry business model Kid Cudi's key creative collaborator discusses his breakthrough, his biggest records, AI and why he's keeping hold of his catalog - for now
Analysis As ‘artist-centric’ nobbles DIY aggregators, is a big-money ‘middle class’ distribution acquisition inevitable in 2024? Could any of the three majors, looking for a swift market share boost, execute a humdinger of an acquisition in the rest of 2024?
News Universal Music unveils ‘UMusicLift’ hub for music startups UMusicLift will support “the next generation of diverse, music-related startups and entrepreneurs who aim to accelerate the next wave of digital transformation”
News Rick Gerson’s Alpha Wave Global, backer of Elon Musk and X, has invested in Gamma Gamma's logo started appearing on the section of Alpha Wave's homepage reflecting its investments earlier this month