Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s round-up – the place we be sure to caught the 5 greatest tales to hit our headlines. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their earnings and scale back their touring prices.
If, like many people, you took a possibility to unplug this vacation season, right here’s an opportunity to meet up with music enterprise information – with 5 of probably the most significant trade headlines from the previous couple of weeks.
Lengthy story brief: There have been a number of notable developments associated to Common Music Group.
First, on December 23, UMG and Amazon Music introduced a brand new licensing deal that strikes ahead with UMG’s imaginative and prescient for “Streaming 2.0“: Extra segmentation of streaming subscribers, greater ARPU partially attributable to greater subscription charges, and a extra “artist-centric” strategy to royalty payouts.
In the meantime, on Thursday (January 2), we discovered that Invoice Ackman‘s Pershing Sq., one in all UMG’s largest shareholders, has closed out a finite-life fund. Because of this, Pershing Sq. is handing over a few of its UMG shares – price 2.6% of UMG’s excellent inventory – to non-public buyers.
Elsewhere, a trio of music publishers, together with UMG, this week got here to a preliminary settlement with Anthropic, developer of the Claude AI Chatbot, over ‘guardrails’ designed to stop the AI platform from coaching on UMG-represented lyrics.
UMG, Harmony, and ABKCO sued Anthropic in 2023, alleging that Claude was blatantly ripping off copyrighted track lyrics. The case continues.
Outdoors of UMG information… Duke College’s legislation college regarded on the music IP coming into the general public area within the US in 2025, which incorporates 1924 recordings equivalent to George Gershwin‘s Rhapsody in Blue, Al Jolson‘s California Right here I Come, and Jelly Roll Morton‘s Shreveport Stomp.
Lastly, the New Yr introduced with it a brand new record of Honours within the UK, together with some for distinguished music trade personalities. Among the many Brits with new titles this yr are Atlantic Data EVP Austin Daboh, Sony Music VP Jackie Hyde, and broadcaster Jasmine Dotiwala.
Right here’s what occurred when you had been ingesting eggnog…
1) UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND AMAZON MUSIC INK NEW DEAL, INCLUDING EXCLUSIVE CONTENT… AND WITH ‘STREAMING 2.0’ AT ITS HEART
Common Music Group (UMG) and Amazon Music collectively introduced a renewed worldwide licensing settlement on December 23.
In response to a press launch, the deal encompasses an “expanded world relationship that can allow additional innovation, unique content material with UMG artists, and development of artist-centric ideas together with elevated fraud safety“.
The PR claims that the deal will be sure that “UMG’s artists obtain their business potential by means of [Amazon Music’s] continued product enhancements and unique content material that elevate genuine engagement between artists and followers“.
Talking in a press release at this time, Common Music Group CEO & Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge commented: “We’re very excited to advance our long-standing, glorious partnership with Amazon Music that marks a brand new period in streaming — Streaming 2.0…”
Invoice Ackman’s Pershing Sq. Capital Administration (PSCM) is closing out an funding fund that held a stake in Common Music Group, and is distributing 47 million shares of the music firm to the fund’s co-investors.
The information got here the identical day that Pershing Sq. Holdings, a closed-ended fund owned by PSCM, introduced it had acquired regulatory approval to delist from the Amsterdam Euronext inventory trade.
Pershing Sq. Holdings managed 10.25% of UMG’s inventory on the finish of 2023, in response to UMG’s annual report for the yr. The 47 million shares that Pershing Sq. is distributing quantity to 2.6% of UMG’s excellent shares. After the distribution, the funding firm will nonetheless maintain 140 million shares, or 7.6% of UMG, Pershing Sq. stated in a press release on Thursday.
“The PSVII funds have elected to distribute UMG inventory to their restricted companions quite than money as a result of we consider that UMG inventory is considerably undervalued at its present share value, and the tax-free inventory distribution allows our restricted companions to proceed to personal UMG shares,” Pershing Sq. stated…
On January 1, 2025, hundreds of copyrighted works from 1929 will enter the US public area, together with sound recordings from 1924. They are going to be free for all to repeat, share, and construct upon in the US.
This yr’s compositions embody basic songs equivalent to Singin’ within the Rain and Ain’t Misbehavin’.
On the recordings aspect, in response to Duke College Regulation College, tracks now “open for authorized reuse” embody a run of tracks carried out in 1924. They embody George Gershwin performing Rhapsody in Blue, Jelly Roll Morton enjoying Shreveport Stomp, and an early recording from contralto and civil rights icon Marian Anderson… (Duke College Regulation College)
Common Music Group has secured one thing of a breakthrough in its case in opposition to Anthropic – the generative AI platform that’s being sued by UMG (plus Harmony and ABKCO) over alleged copyright infringement.
The plaintiffs within the case accuse Anthropic, which has absorbed USD $8 billion of funding from Amazon, of ripping off copyright-protected lyrics to coach its AI chatbot, Claude.
Within the newest growth, Anthropic has dedicated to implementing already-existing “guardrails” to stop its platform from ingesting lyrics represented by the plaintiffs. Importantly, in response to a California authorized submitting, these “guardrails” shall be utilized to future tech developments and merchandise from the corporate.
The music rightsholders’ lawsuit in opposition to Anthropic continues regardless of the brand new settlement. In response to the Hollywood Reporter, “the courtroom is predicted to problem a ruling within the coming months on whether or not to problem [a] preliminary injunction that might bar Anthropic from coaching future fashions on lyrics owned by the publishers”… (The Hollywood Reporter)
The most recent New Yr’s Honours record has been revealed within the UK – together with some acquainted faces from the music trade. These with new titles embody:
Austin Daboh OBE (EVP, Atlantic Data UK, for companies to music);
Jackie Hyde MBE (VP, Artist & Firm Relations, Sony Music, for companies to the music trade);
Jasmine Dotiwala OBE (long-time broadcaster, for companies to broadcasting, to music, and to Equality, Range and Inclusion);
Steve Lamacq MBE (long-time broadcaster and patron of the UK’s Music Venue Belief, for companies to broadcasting and to music venues)…
MBW’s Weekly Spherical-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their earnings and scale back their touring prices.Music Enterprise Worldwide
