Facebook has removed several pages belonging to music groups espousing white supremacist ideology following an investigation by Al Jazeera into the prevalence of such bands on the social media platform. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit identified more than 120 pages from mostly heavy metal groups and record labels with direct ties to white supremacy.
Source: Exclusive: Facebook used extensively to spread neo-Nazi music
The interactive workout giant in February settled a lawsuit filed by the National Music Publishers Association for an undisclosed sum. Now, with the suit in the rear view and artists seeking fan connection during the pandemic-produced live music pause, Peloton is looking to get up to speed with musicians, songwriters and producers.
Source: Peloton’s New Music Chief On Why Artists Should Take The Company For A Spin
The same technology that runs computer games is increasingly popular for making films and television. With Unreal Engine collaboration between the director, cinematographer, production designer and virtual reality teams can occur simultaneously as an interactive process on set.
Recent valuations of Epic put the company’s current worth at approximately $17bn, suggesting that Sony may have acquired somewhere in the region of 1.5% of the firm. Sony added in press release: “The investment allows Sony and Epic to aim to broaden their collaboration across Sony’s leading portfolio of entertainment assets and technology, and Epic’s social entertainment platform and digital ecosystem to create unique experiences for consumers and creators.”
Source: Sony acquires $250m stake in Epic Games, maker of Fortnite
Independent artist distribution platform UnitedMasters has launched a new subscription tier that allows acts to keep 100% of their royalties from digital services. To date, the US-based company has operated a model in which it keeps 10% of an artist’s royalties on any distributed platform.
Source: UnitedMasters now gives artists 100% of royalties via $5-per-month subscription tier
Having originally announced last week that it was looking to raise £200m ($249m) via the share sale, Hipgnosis was oversubscribed, and has confirmed today (July 10) that the C share placing actually ended up creating gross proceeds of £236.4m ($299m). That qualifies as Hipgnosis’ biggest equity raise to date.
Source: Hipgnosis has another $300m to spend on songs, thanks to its biggest fundraise yet
The Authors Guild, Amazon Publishing, and Penguin Random House filed suit in federal court in Washington State seeking to enjoin a Ukraine-based piracy site from illegally copying, distributing, and selling works written or published by the plaintiffs.
Source: Authors Guild, Amazon, PRH File Suit Against E-book Pirate Site
The venture, which is called Worldwired Music IP Fund and will have resources in the $300-$500 million range, is not being led by the group or Burnstein, although they are among the parties involved in it, which sources said also include former Fender president/COO Matt Janopaul and former Sony/ATV co-president Rick Krim.
Russia is home to a population of approximately 144m people, including an estimated 95m+ smartphone owners. According to IFPI statistics, Russia was the fastest-growing major market globally for the record industry in 2019, with a 50.3% revenue increase year-on-year.
The job posting notes potential Twitter subscriptions would be “a first” for the company, but it’s not clear exactly how Twitter plans to implement a subscription service. Twitter generates the vast majority of its revenue through ad sales and data licensing currently, and a subscription service could potentially provide exclusive content in return for a monthly fee.
Source: Twitter is working on a new subscription platform, hints job listing