welcome to Music Business Worldwide– where we make sure you’ve caught the five biggest stories hitting headlines over the last seven days. The MBW roundup is supported by Centtripwhich helps over 500 of the world’s top-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
This week saw a seismic earthquake in the music rights sector in the United States, with the announcement that the performing rights organization BMI was sold to a private equity firm New Mountain Capital.
The price was not disclosed, but BMI said it would kick 100 million dollars of the proceeds of the sale to songwriter and publisher “affiliates”.
Another key element of the announcement is that CapitalG – a.k.a Google/Alphabet “independent growth fund” – will acquire a passive minority stake in BMI.
Also this week, Spotify confirmed details of upcoming changes payment model in 2024. Among the changes (as MBW first reported last month) is a new minimum stream threshold before a track begins generating royalties on the platform.
Meanwhile, in our MBW explains series, we wonder why Sony Music Entertainment is the only one of the three major record labels not to have signed YoutubeThe dream trail experience, which uses AI to allow creators to clone the voices of superstar artists. Elsewhere, MBW reported Universal music groupIt is submission to the US Copyright Officethe notice of investigation concerning copyright and AI.
Finally, a new report from the US Market Monitor Brightencommissioned by Tic Tacfound this 62% of TikTok users in the United States pay for a music streaming subscription, compared to 43% of all consumers.
Here’s what happened this week…
We’ve known for some time that the private equity firm New Mountain Capital (NMC) – majority shareholder of Music Business Valuer Citrine Cooperman – is in talks to acquire BMI. Now it appears to be a done deal.
NMC, which has more than USD 45 billion dollars of assets under management, confirmed Tuesday, November 21 that it would “lead a group of shareholders” to acquire a majority stake in BMI.
The most surprising part of BMI official announcement today? NMC the “group of shareholders” includes a branch of Google’s parent alphabet. CapitalG – a.k.a Google/Alphabet “independent growth fund” – will acquire a passive minority stake in the PRO.
In addition, BMI current shareholders will allocate 100 million dollars of the proceeds of the sale proposed to affiliated songwriters, composers and publishers “in recognition of (their) creativity” shortly after the closing of the transaction…
2) SPOTIFY CONFIRMS DETAILS OF HOW ITS ROYALTY MODEL WILL CHANGE IN 2024
MBW announced last month that major changes were coming Spotify royalty model in the first quarter of 2024. Now, Spotify has confirmed exactly what these changes are.
The music streaming company has published a new blog post on Spotify for Artists outlining what it calls “new policies to better support those who rely most on streaming revenue for their livelihood.”
Spotify’s new policies aim to address three fundamental problems: (1) “further deter artificial streaming“; (2) To “better distribute little Payments which do not reach artists”; and (3) “control those who attempt to game the system with noise”.
The streaming company says that by fixing these issues it will be able to generate “additional audiences” 1 billion dollars of income for emerging and professional artists over the next five years”…
On November 16, Youtube unveiled a revolutionary new experience – ‘Dream track‘ – allowing creators to clone voices, via AI technology and with the official consent of well-known stars.
Yet something remarkable is missing: any support from the world’s second largest record label, Sony Music Entertainmentor its artists.
Sources close to Sony The music The headquarters in New York suggested MBW that the company takes a “artist-led” approach its experiments with any AI platform capable of manipulating the work (or voice) of its list.
In the case of YouTube ‘Dream track‘, includes MBW, SMEs was initially offered the opportunity to participate by a number of its artists, but this group did not show enthusiasm to participate…
4. WHAT UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP REALLY THINKS ABOUT GENERATIVE AI AND COPYRIGHT…
Universal music group was one of the most ardent defenders of copyright protection in a context of proliferation of AI-based voice imitationand technology for generating melody, chords and lyrics this year.
Recently, UMG submitted a written response to US Copyright OfficeNotice of Inquiry Concerning Artificial Intelligence and Copyright.
In its submission, UMG said training AI using unlicensed songs and recordings is “anything but fair use“; that’s to say “categorically opposed to an opt-out system“to train AI models on copyrighted content; and that it is”ready and willing to explore licensing content to generative AI companies »…
5. 62% OF US TIKTOK USERS PAY FOR MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE (REPORT)
New market analysis explains why ByteDancecompany-owned short video platform Tic Tac has focused so intensely on expanding its services in the music world, with the company seen as a major driver of musical consumption and expenditure.
According to analysis commissioned by TikTok and carried out by US Market Observer Brighten, 62% of American TikTok users pay for a music streaming servicecompared to 43% of all consumers.
Including paid and ad-supported streaming services, approximately nine out of 10 TikTok users in every market studied used at least one music streaming service.
In the USA, 89% of TikTok users have subscribed to at least one music streaming service, compared to 74% of all consumers, while in the United Kingdom, 85% of TikTok users had a streaming service account, versus 62% consumers as a whole.
The analysis found that TikTok users also spend more on music off-platform. Wide margins, they are more likely to buy products And attend live performances that the average consumer…
MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps more than 500 of the world’s top-selling artists maximize their revenue and reduce their touring costs.
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