Analysis News Robert Kyncl turns up heat on PRO metadata matching, and other things we learned from his NMPA keynote in New York Warner boss was grilled by NMPA chief, David Israelite, at New York event this week
News US music publishing revenue jumped 10.7% to $6.2bn in 2023… outstripping recorded music’s growth in percentage terms The NMPA is focusing its energy on a battle against Spotify over royalty payments
Analysis How Sony’s $6bn+ M&A splurge has set the pace for music acquisitions over the past decade Rob Stringer claimed last month that Sony has outstripped spending at other major companies
News The Circuit Group launches Label Services division with key hires; Appoints Chief Strategy Officer Company was launched in 2023 with plans to acquire stakes in song catalogs
Analysis News What’s behind France and Canada’s music streaming taxes, and where could they happen next (hint: the USA?) This year, two significant music markets – France and Canada – have slapped new taxes on the revenues of music streaming services
News Indie label 2Point9 files copyright lawsuit against Sony’s Ministry of Sound Recordings in the UK over DJ Regard’s ‘Ride It’ 2Point9 says it's been treated with "arrogance and dismissiveness" by Ministry of Sound Recordings
News Ariana Grande to join superfan platform Weverse; artist to continue business partnership with HYBE Grande and HYBE America, led by CEO Scooter Braun, will be 'continuing their long-standing partnership'
News Meta renews licensing deal with Merlin for independent music across Instagram, Facebook and Messenger Merlin claims to represent 15% of the recorded music market
Interviews Breakr, a Nas-backed startup with $9m raised to date, wants to ‘democratize’ music marketing with its AI-driven tech platform Breakr provides software and infrastructure for labels and artists to connect directly with influencers.
Analysis News TuneCore has paid out over $4 billion to self-releasing artists to date TuneCore has paid out around $1 billion since December 2022
News Europe’s music tastes becoming more local, as royalties generated by European Union artists triple in 6 years Spotify says 44% of royalties generated in the EU came from EU artists, a record high
News Merlin launches ‘Merlin Connect’ to provide tech platforms with licensed indie music Merlin developed the new tool in response to growing concerns about artificial intelligence and its impact on artistic creation
News Music streaming services come out swinging against Canada’s new ‘discriminatory tax’ that requires them to hand over 5% of their Canadian revenues Canada’s Online Streaming Act requires streamers to contribute 5% of their annual revenue to a number of programs designed to aid Canadian content creators
News Sacem’s revenues rose 5% to $1.61bn in 2023; Board renews term of CEO Cécile Rap-Veber Thanks to cost efficiencies, royalty collections rose 5%, while payouts to artists rose 17%
Analysis News Bill Ackman, a major Universal Music shareholder, just got richer – and much more ambitious. What might this mean for UMG? How Pershing Square's new money-game connects to Universal Music Group – and the music business at large