News Cher prevails in long-running royalties battle with Sonny Bono’s estate A judge has awarded $187,000 to Cher over withheld royalties, and given her the right in perpetuity to collect 50% of royalties from Sonny & Cher's music
News SoundExchange launches appeal of ruling in SiriusXM lawsuit, says satellite radio firm has underpaid royalties by $400M SoundExchange is challenging a judge's ruling that the PRO doesn't have authority under the law to sue on behalf of rightsholders
News George Clinton sues former business partner for allegedly withholding royalties and other claims The funk music legend’s lawsuit describes former business partner Armen Boladian as a “copyright troll”
News SESAC wins 10.4% increase in royalties collected from US radio Both SESAC and radio station group RMLC are painting the outcome of arbitration as a win
News Global songwriter royalty collections rose 7.6% to $12.7bn in 2023, CISAC reports In its latest report, CISAC sees a slowdown in digital revenue growth ahead, and calls for regulation of AI.
News The MLC nears $2.5bn in royalty distributions to songwriters and publishers since 2021 The MLC's royalty payout count has increased by $1bn in just one year
News As Sony prepares to buy Queen’s catalog for over $1 billion, band’s annual revenue comes in at $49 million Queen's royalty earnings have slipped since last year, but that doesn't seem to be a sign the band's popularity is fading
News 7 in 10 musical artists dissatisfied with streaming music payouts, survey finds The level of dissatisfaction is actually lower than it was a few years ago, an IAO survey found
Analysis News Epidemic Sound has courted controversy over its ‘buy-out deals’. Here’s exactly how the company pays artists… MBW Explains is a series of analytical features in which we explore the context behind major music industry talking points
News UK politicians call for changes in streaming royalty split between recorded music and publishing; compensation for use of materials in training AI The recommendations have received a mixed reaction from music industry stakeholders
News IMPALA sides with UMG in TikTok dispute, calls on Spotify, Apple, Deezer to address ‘negative consequences’ of royalty changes Europe’s trade association for indie labels says there is “an urgent need to secure fair revenues” from services like TikTok
News Songwriters and publishers to receive nearly $400m payout after streaming royalty ruling in the US The MLC calculates that streaming giants like Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube, underpaid songwriters and publishers by $419.2 million in 2021-2022
News Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus and Quincy Jones join strategic funding round for royalty platform, Salt Salt claims that its platform will help songwriters access the so-called ‘Black Boxes’ of unclaimed or misallocated royalties
News Beggars Group, Secretly, Partisan Records among indie labels pushing back against Apple Music’s higher payouts for Spatial Audio (report) "The new deal will badly impact our revenues," an indie record label executive says
News Universal prevails in lawsuit alleging it owed artists $750m in Spotify royalties A US District Court judge has ruled that UMG had 'wide discretion' in negotiating royalty rates with Spotify