From Universal’s investment in Weverse to Trefuego’s $800,000 copyright infringement fine… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up

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This week introduced two massive tales involving Common Music Group. On Tuesday (March 26) South Korea-based leisure large HYBE introduced that it has struck an expanded long-term settlement with UMG.

The deal offers UMG with unique distribution rights for HYBE’s music for the subsequent 10 years and in addition sees UMG spend money on – and additional collaborate with – HYBE’s international superfan and D2C platform, Weverse.

In the meantime, on Thursday (March 28), UMG introduced one other expanded deal, this time with audio streaming large Spotify. In keeping with the businesses, they are going to collaborate on “new promotional and social instruments” for UMG artists on the Spotify platform.

Moreover, a brand new settlement with Common Music Publishing Group (UMPG) will allow Spotify to distribute music movies within the US.

Additionally this week, a rapper known as Trefuego was ordered by a court docket in Texas to pay over $800,000 in damages to Sony Music for utilizing an unlicensed pattern in his TikTok hit 90mh.

Elsewhere, citing an interview with Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe, The Monetary Occasions reported that the European media large is contemplating a merger for its music division BMG.

Plus, the Board of Administrators of Paris-born music firm Imagine formally invited Warner Music Group to submit “a binding, unconditional and totally financed provide” for Imagine.

Right here’s what occurred this week…

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1) UNIVERSAL MUSIC INVESTS IN ‘SUPERFAN’ PLATFORM WEVERSE, AS IT STRIKES NEW 10-YEAR AGREEMENT WITH HYBE

HYBE has struck what it calls an expanded long-term settlement with Common Music Group (UMG).

The deal offers UMG with unique distribution rights for HYBE’s music for the subsequent 10 years.

The even larger information? The deal may also see UMG spend money on – and additional collaborate with – HYBE’s international superfan platform, Weverse. (Sources inform MBW that UMG has made a minority funding in Weverse as a part of the brand new partnership.)

In keeping with the 2 firms’ announcement on March 26, the “partnership will assist improve the expansion” of Weverse in North America…

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2) AS UNIVERSAL’S STANDOFF WITH TIKTOK ROLLS ON, UMG INKS NEW DEAL WITH SPOTIFY INCLUDING ‘SOCIAL TOOLS’, VIDEO ELEMENTS

The largest music enterprise story to date this 12 months is Common Music Group’s very public falling out with social video app TikTok.

However there’s one other extensively used app that has a really completely different relationship with UMG, the world’s greatest music rightsholder. As of this week, that relationship might be getting a lot nearer.

UMG has simply introduced an enlargement of what it calls its “strategic relationship” with Spotify.

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3) RAPPER TREFUEGO USED AN UNLICENSED SAMPLE IN HIS TIKTOK HIT 90MH. NOW THE COURT IS MAKING HIM PAY OVER $800,000 IN DAMAGES TO SONY MUSIC.

In January final 12 months, MBW broke the information that Sony Music had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit towards Trefuego, a rapper behind TikTok hit 90mh.

Sony Music’s lawsuit accused Trefuego, inside 90mh, of “the flagrant and deliberate infringement” of each the sound recording and underlying composition within the 1986 monitor Reflections, launched by Japanese composer Toshifumi Hinata (Hinata). (Sony Music Leisure owns copyrights within the sound recording;, whereas Sony Music Publishing’s copyrights cowl the composition).

As we defined in our report on the time, the monitor went viral on TikTok and YouTube and racked up over 170 million Spotify streams. As we famous then, Sony had a robust case: It’s onerous to mistake a sped-up key violin motif from Hinata’s monitor showing, looped repeatedly, in 90mh.

The end result of the case has now been determined, and, based on the court docket, Trefuego has to pay up.
In a judgment issued in a Texas court docket on Wednesday (March 27), Trefuego (Dantreal Daevon Clark-Rainbolt) was ordered to pay Sony Music $802,997.23 in damages…

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4) BMG OWNER MULLS MERGER FOR MUSIC COMPANY

European media large Bertelsmann, going through setbacks, needs to develop music unit BMG by a merger with a rival or a “breakout funding”.

That’s based on a report from The Monetary Occasions on Tuesday (March 26), citing an interview with Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe.

“BMG may doubtlessly be a chance for a breakout funding and becoming a member of forces with a competitor,” Rabe mentioned.

“If the chance arose to considerably develop BMG by becoming a member of forces with one other music firm, we might think about it.”…

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5) Warner has 13 days to submit a binding provide for Imagine, as French firm agrees to let WMG peruse its ‘information room’

Is Warner Music Group really going to launch a $1.8 billion+ takeover bid for Imagine? We’ll know inside 13 days.

On Monday (March 25), the Board of Administrators of the Paris-born music firm formally invited Warner Music Group to submit “a binding, unconditional and totally financed provide” for Imagine.

Imagine’s Board has given WMG just below two weeks to take action, asking that the latter firm submit its provide no later than April 7, 2024.

That may be exactly one month after WMG introduced publicly (on March 7) that it was doubtlessly enthusiastic about making a bid for Imagine…

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MBW’s Weekly Spherical-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their revenue and cut back their touring prices.Music Enterprise Worldwide