Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we make certain you caught the 5 greatest 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.
The most important document firms – Sony, Common, and Warner – are taking on US telecom large Verizon over its alleged enabling of widespread music piracy on its networks. Given the dimensions of the alleged illicit file-sharing, the corporate could possibly be on the hook for as much as $2.6 billion in damages.
This week noticed a slew of recent and ongoing acquisitions, essentially the most vital of which can be Warner Music Brazil taking a minority stake in Sua Música Group, which claims to personal the biggest leisure platform centered on regional music in Brazil.
In the meantime, L.A.-based Shamrock Capital has acquired a portfolio of music rights from Vine Various Investments Group. The deal contains 450 songs, 550 function movies and 2,000 hours of TV from Vine.
In the meantime, Sony‘s acquisition of the recording and publishing catalog of legendary rock band Queen is getting ever nearer to turning into official, with regulatory filings within the UK exhibiting the band’s surviving members are now not administrators of Queen Productions Restricted.
Lastly, dramatic information out of South Korea, the place prosecutors have filed a request for the arrest of Kim Beom-su, the billionaire founding father of Kakao Corp., alleging that Kim was a part of a plot to inflate the inventory value of SM Leisure, so as to push HYBE out of a bidding warfare for the Ok-pop company final yr.
Right here’s what occurred this week…
1) RECORD LABELS HAVE SENT ‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS’ OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICES TO VERIZON. NOW THEY’RE SUING THE INTERNET PROVIDER FOR OVER $2BN
A number of document firms have sued US-based web service supplier Verizon for alleged “huge copyright infringement dedicated by tens of hundreds of its subscribers”.
The events named as plaintiffs within the lawsuit embrace all three main document firms, Sony Music, Common Music Group, and Warner Music Group, plus ABKCO MUSIC. The lawsuit was filed on Friday (July 12) in New York.
Verizon is likely one of the largest web service suppliers within the US. The corporate generated $134 billion in 2023, and as of March 31, counted 114.8 million subscribers.
The labels are suing Verizon for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement…
2) SONY MUSIC IS IN THE PROCESS OF TAKING CONTROL OF QUEEN’S UK-BASED COMPANIES
Sony Music’s landmark Queen catalog acquisition is getting nearer and nearer to turning into ‘official’.
Based on stories over the previous few weeks, Sony Music Group has agreed to accumulate the catalog of the legendary rock band in a deal reportedly price roughly GBP £1 billion (USD $1.27 billion at present alternate charges).
On the £1 billion price ticket, the transaction will turn into the greatest artist catalog deal in music historical past.
Sony Music hasn’t confirmed the stories, however we will now present you the clearest proof but that Sony Music is within the strategy of taking management of Queen’s property.
Based on filings publicly accessible on the UK’s Firms Home, and reviewed by MBW, Queen’s surviving ‘Basic’ band members Brian Could, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon are now not administrators of Queen Productions Restricted…
3) WARNER ACQUIRES MINORITY STAKE IN BRAZIL-BASED UGC MUSIC PLATFORM AND DISTRIBUTOR SUA MÚSICA
Warner Music Brazil has invested in Sua Música Group, which claims to personal the biggest leisure platform centered on regional music in Brazil.
Based on a press launch, this funding will see Warner Music accomplice with Sua Música and “mix [e] their efforts to develop regional artists and songwriters.”
The worth of the funding has not been disclosed, however MBW understands that Warner Music has acquired a minority stake within the firm.
In 2021, Sua Música was reported to be elevating R$50 million (approx USD $9m) at a R$200 million ($36m) valuation so as to scale the corporate…
4) SHAMROCK BUYS RIGHTS PORTFOLIO FROM VINE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS – INCLUDING 150+ CALVIN HARRIS SONGS
Los Angeles-based funding agency Shamrock Capital has acquired a portfolio of movie, tv, and music rights from Vine Various Investments Group.
Lengthy-time MBW readers will keep in mind Vine as the corporate that acquired a catalog of greater than 150 songs from Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum-selling producer, songwriter, and DJ Calvin Harris in 2020. MBW sources have instructed that Vine paid within the area of $105 million for Harris’s music portfolio.
In whole, the portfolio of rights acquired by Shamrock from Vine – together with that Calvin Harris catalog – delivers Shamrock possession curiosity in additional than 550 function movies, over 2,000 hours of tv programming and over 450 songs…
5) KAKAO’S BILLIONAIRE FOUNDER FACES ARREST OVER ALLEGED MANIPULATION OF SM ENTERTAINMENT STOCK PRICE
Final yr’s bitter, high-profile battle between Ok-pop large HYBE and South Korean telecom Kakao Corp. over management of SM Leisure has led to fallout that few might have seen coming on the time.
Within the saga’s newest chapter, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Workplace filed a request on Wednesday for an arrest warrant for Kim Beom-su, the billionaire founding father of Kakao Corp., whose leisure division now controls SM Leisure.
Prosecutors assert that Kim violated South Korea’s Monetary Funding Providers and Capital Markets Act by his purported involvement in a plot to illegally manipulate the inventory value of SM Leisure, so as to push HYBE out of the bidding for the Ok-pop company…
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