Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we be certain that you caught the 5 largest tales to hit our headlines over the previous seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their revenue and cut back their touring prices.
This week noticed two notable acquisitions involving Common Music Group.
The world’s largest music rightsholder introduced on February 20 that it’s taking a 25.8% stake in Chord Music Companions, which owns stakes in some 60,000 songs, together with pop hits from the likes of Ryan Tedder and John Legend, in addition to smash songs from The Weeknd, Lorde, and Diplo.
And in one other deal, the corporate is buying a stake in youth-oriented media platform Advanced, which can give UMG a possibility to “create a brand new vacation spot for ‘superfan’ tradition that may outline the way forward for commerce, digital media, and music”.
In different (however nonetheless Common-related) information, Consider CEO Denis Ladegaillerie chimed in on the dispute between Common and TikTok over licensing charges. In distinction to many others within the music enterprise, Ladegaillerie had type phrases for TikTok, calling it a supply of “helpful monetization for our artists and labels“.
In the meantime, an appellate court docket in Virginia has overturned a landmark, $1-billion copyright infringement ruling in opposition to Cox Communications over its subscribers’ piracy of on-line music. The court docket ordered a brand new trial, in what quantities to a setback for the main labels behind the go well with.
Lastly, live performance big Stay Nation printed its monetary outcomes on Thursday (February 22) for FY 2023 – the corporate’s “largest yr ever”.
Right here’s what occurred this week…
Credit score: Giorgio Trovato by way of Unsplash
1) 3 OBSERVATIONS ON… UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP’S $240M BET ON CHORD MUSIC (AND THE REAL STORY, DUNDEE PARTNERS)
On February 20, Common Music Group introduced the $240 million acquisition of a 25.8% stake in Chord Music – a portfolio of round 60,000 songs (or, extra precisely, cuts in songs), most of which have been as soon as owned by a sister fund of Kobalt‘s.
Chord owns stakes in a flurry of pop hits from the likes of Ryan Tedder and John Legend, in addition to smash songs from The Weeknd, Lorde, and Diplo that have been initially developed by Matt Pincus, Ron Perry, and Carianne Marshall at SONGS Music Publishing (earlier than that catalog was bought to Kobalt in 2017).
On account of the brand new deal, Chord Music’s property (when their present distribution/administration offers expire) will turn out to be distributed by way of UMG’s Virgin Music Group and administered by way of Common Music Publishing Group (UMPG).
Nevertheless, this is simply half one in all this story. Half two is arguably a lot greater.
UMG solely has one accomplice in Chord Music – and it’s a accomplice who isn’t afraid of recognizing the worth of hit music by spending giant sums on it.
Dundee Companions, aka the funding workplace of the Hendel household, now owns the opposite 75%-ish of Chord Music… having teamed with UMG to purchase out Dundee’s earlier majority-partner within the fund, KKR…
2) UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP IS ACQUIRING A STAKE IN COMPLEX – VIA A TAKEOVER FOCUSED ON ‘SUPERFANS’ AND E-COMMERCE
Common Music Group is buying a stake within the youth-orientated media platform Advanced.
UMG will turn out to be a strategic accomplice in Advanced alongside different traders akin to Goldman Sachs, Major Avenue Advisors, and Jimmy Iovine, by way of an agreed takeover that sees live-video procuring platform NTWRK turn out to be the official proprietor of Advanced and its networks.
Advanced was bought to BuzzFeed in a deal value USD $294 million in November 2021. BuzzFeed confirmed on February 21 that NTWRK (and its backers) have now agreed to purchase Advanced in a $108.6 million money acquisition.
A press launch issued by UMG acknowledged that the NTWRK consortium’s acquisition of Advanced will “create a brand new vacation spot for ‘superfan’ tradition that may outline the way forward for commerce, digital media, and music”.
What will likely be UMG’s ‘strategic accomplice’ play right here? A good assumption: It can embrace promoting music-associated ‘superfan’ merchandise (sneakers, streetwear, collectibles, vinyl, experiences and so forth.) direct to Advanced’s culture-savvy viewers by way of NTWRK’s expertise…
Picture credit score (L): Shutterstock
3) BELIEVE PRAISES TIKTOK, SAYS PLATFORM OFFERS ‘VALUABLE MONETIZATION FOR OUR ARTISTS AND LABELS’
Typically within the music biz, it’s not precisely what somebody says that issues – it’s when they are saying it.
Over the previous few weeks, MBW has carefully lined the information of Common Music Group‘s quarrel with TikTok – primarily over the licensing sums paid by the digital service for music – in addition to the response from numerous corners of the trade.
Since UMG refused to re-license its catalog with TikTok in January, the likes of Downtown, Major Wave, the NMPA, Hipgnosis, and numerous pro-artist teams have come out in help of Common’s place.
Earlier this month, A2IM – a commerce physique representing a coalition of premium impartial labels, which has up to now rallied in opposition to motion by main music corporations – additionally stepped ahead to again UMG.
Nevertheless, Consider CEO Denis Ladegaillerie is taking a considerably completely different method…
Credit score: dwphotos/Shutterstock
4) OVER 145M FANS ATTENDED 50,000+ LIVE NATION EVENTS IN 2023, WITH COMPANY’S FY REVENUES UP 36% YOY TO $22.7BN IN ITS ‘BIGGEST YEAR EVER’
Stay Nation Leisure President and CEO Michael Rapino instructed the corporate’s traders on Thursday (February 22) that “the reside music trade reached new heights in 2023″.
Rapino’s feedback arrived alongside the live performance big’s This autumn and FY 2023 earnings, which, printed on Thursday, noticed the corporate report outcomes for its “largest yr ever”.
The promoter posted full-year revenues of $22.7 billion, up 36% YoY. These revenues have been generated throughout all divisions, together with concert events, ticketing and promoting & sponsorship…
5) MAJOR LABELS’ $1BN COPYRIGHT WIN AGAINST COX COMMUNICATIONS OVERTURNED ON APPEAL
The foremost labels’ USD $1 billion copyright infringement victory in opposition to Cox Communications has been overturned.
A federal appeals court docket in Virginia has rejected elements of the 2019 verdict in opposition to Cox Communications, through which a jury discovered the cable and web firm – the third-largest supplier of broadband companies within the US, as of 2022 – accountable for copyright infringement of 10,017 musical works by its subscribers.
The 4th US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals has ordered a brand new trial to be held, after concluding that the $1 billion penalty in opposition to Cox was not justified.
The court docket mentioned in its ruling on Tuesday: “We affirm the jury’s discovering of willful contributory infringement. However we reverse the vicarious legal responsibility verdict and remand for a brand new trial on damages as a result of Cox didn’t revenue from its subscribers’ acts of infringement, a authorized prerequisite for vicarious legal responsibility.”
The lawsuit, filed in a federal court docket in Virginia in 2018, included quite a few plaintiffs from the music trade, together with Sony Music Leisure (the lead plaintiff), Common Music Group and Warner Music Group…
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
