News UK recorded music business on course for $150m+ growth in 2017 Spotify and Ed Sheeran set up huge year for the British record business
Analysis Facebook takes another big step towards the music biz with Source3 buyout The history of Patrick Sullivan and Ben Cockerham suggests their music knowledge is in high demand
News Independent publishing in ‘rude health’ – as IMPEL mulls new partner options Publishing's answer to Merlin is set to evolve rapidly in the second half of this year
Interviews Chess Club: ‘We are on the cusp of halcyon days’ Chess Club has spent the last 10 years at the cutting edge of British A&R. Here we chat to founders Will Street and Peter McGaughrin
News Despacito storms past 5bn streams milestone as Latin America takes flight Analyst Mark Mulligan explains why record-breaking single may be 'the new normal'
Interviews ‘There are an immense number of songwriters not making enough money to live on’ Wixen Music boss Randall Wixen on the value of music and the future for publishing
Analysis News Forget about fake artists – it’s time to talk about fake streams. We just bought 10,000 Spotify plays on the internet. It was easy.
Analysis Can Lyor Cohen bridge the Google ‘value gap’ at YouTube? Can the experienced record exec bring together Google Play and YouTube for the good of everybody?
News Despacito breaks all-time streaming records with 4.6bn plays in 6 months Tracks has already scored more than 3bn plays on YouTube across official channels
News Believe: We’re not selling to Sony (but we are raising money) Denis Ladegaillerie tells MBW that Paris-based company has two acquisition targets in mind
News Sony is buying Believe Digital for up to $444m, says report (updated) MBW first reported the news last month
News Facebook reveals plans to negotiate with existing digital music platforms Could latest job posting suggest a change in strategy for social media giant?
Analysis After laying off 173 employees, does SoundCloud really have a ‘path to profitability’? How much difference will the company's dramatic downsizing really make to its bottom line?
News YouTube loses ground on US subscription music streaming in first six months of 2017 Both single-track downloads and digital album sales fall 24% compared to 2016
News Jay-Z’s 4:44, a TIDAL exclusive, illegally downloaded nearly 1m times in 3 days MUSO data shows 56% of illegal activity around album took place in the US