Analysis Subscription growth, super-premium, and short-form video’s ‘inadequate monetization’: 7 takeaways from Universal Music Group’s Q1 2025 earnings call Sir Lucian Grainge, Michael Nash, and Boyd Muir dug deep into the company's strategy and numbers on their Q1 call
News China’s $6B-valued Kunlun Tech debuts ‘world’s first’ music reasoning model, claims it can outperform Suno Kunlun's “chain-of-thought” technology incorporates thinking and self-criticism in the music generation process
News NetEase Cloud Music partners with Starship Entertainment to boost K-pop access in China NetEase revealed that its platform now hosts 206 million monthly active users, showing minimal growth from the 205.9 million reported for 2023
News NetEase Cloud Music reports 23.1% jump in music revenue for 2024 as profits soar The company says it plans to focus more on premium subscription offerings in the coming year
News Amazon hikes prices for ‘Music Unlimited’ streaming service in the US, UK and Canada The update puts Amazon Music Unlimited’s non-Prime rates in line with Spotify, which raised the price of its Premium subscription in the US to $11.99 in June 2024
News NetEase Cloud Music secures temporary deal to keep SM Entertainment’s catalog Cloud Music earlier warned users that SM’s entire music catalog might be removed from the platform due to unsuccessful renewal negotiations
News India’s Tips Music becomes latest independent music company to strike direct deal with TikTok following Merlin split Partnership will make over 31,000 Tips-owned songs accessible to TikTok users worldwide, excluding China and India
News Universal’s Virgin Music Group acquires Outdustry, expanding its presence in China and India Universal's global indie artist and label services division acquires Outdustry to focus on expansion into 'high potential markets'
News NetEase Cloud Music inks deal to give its subscribers in China 30-day exclusive access to releases from K-Pop firm Kakao Entertainment NetEase is increasingly positioning itself as the place to go for K-pop in China's music streaming market
News Apple Music inks major deal in China: App now accessible for China Mobile’s 1 billion+ customers Apple's music streaming service faces stiff competition in the Chinese market from Tencent, NetEase and others
Analysis Universal Music Group just completed the $70m acquisition of Thailand’s second-biggest recorded music catalog… while suggesting many more M&A deals in ‘high-potential’ markets are on the way. Why Universal has hundreds of millions of dollars of cash to spend in these markets – and where it might splash that money
News Universal Music Group establishes new division in China’s Greater Bay Area, led by Gary Chan UMG says the move makes it the “first” major music company to establish a label in this region, headquartered in the city of Shenzhen
News Bill Ackman unworried by Universal Music Group subscription revenue blip Wall Street analysts were disappointed that UMG's subscription streaming revenues 'only' grew 6.9% YoY in the quarter
News Riot Games partners with Virgin Music for ‘Arcane’ season 2 OST Arcane's season one soundtrack proved to be a major commercial and critical success
News NetEase Cloud Music profit soars as revenue from streaming subscriptions jumps 25.5% YoY China's second-largest music streaming company more than doubled its net profit year on year