June, 2020

LANDR launches Pro Network, a business management and digital marketplace platform

LANDR’s new Pro Network allows engineers, producers, session musicians, songwriters/composers, etc. to manage their businesses and gives them access to a wide range of services and tools online. LANDR Pro Network enables professionals to create stylized, customizable profile pages that provide background on their expertise, genre specialization, recent work, affiliates, credit, creative services, endorsements and more.

Source: LANDR launches Pro Network, a business management and digital marketplace platform

BMI, ASCAP Say Trump Campaign Can’t Use Any Rolling Stones Songs In Their Catalogs 

President Donald Trump may be looking for a new walk-off song at his campaign rallies now that the Rolling Stones and BMI have put him on notice and threatened to sue if he ever again uses any of their songs licensed by the giant performing rights organization. And now fellow performing-rights group ASCAP says that Trump won’t be allowed to use any of the Stones’ songs in its repertory either.

Source: ASCAP Says Donald Trump Campaign Can’t Use Any Rolling Stones Songs In Its Repertory, Following BMI’s Lead

Blackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Play

Film studios and production facilities have become hot commodities as Netflix, Amazon and Apple compete for streaming customers and race to produce more original movies and shows. Blackstone also owns a portfolio of office buildings in Burbank, Calif., with media tenants like Disney, Warner Bros Entertainment and NBCUniversal Media.

Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Blackstone Sees Film-Production Facilities as a Hot New Real-Estate Play

How Musicians Are Fighting for Streaming Pay During the Pandemic

Revenue from streaming has always been small for many indie musicians, but now it is one of the few income sources available, along with sales of merch, physical records, and downloads on Bandcamp—a platform that has proven to be vastly more profitable for many indie musicians compared to large streaming services. According to artists, the pandemic is only exacerbating the inequities of a system that is rigged against the people who make it run.

Source: How Musicians Are Fighting for Streaming Pay During the Pandemic

Coronavirus drove a boom in virtual content; to protect artists, copyright law must catch up

As more live events take place on screens, creators and producers will need new ways to license and protect copyrighted material. Even before pandemic pushed our lives online, our digital moment was crying out for a new, more streamlined, simplified approach to managing this copyright can of worms.

Source: Coronavirus drove a boom in virtual content; to protect artists, copyright law must catch up

Without Concerts, Artists Are Turning to Ice Cream Deals and Sponsored Livestreams

In the last couple of months, United Talent Agency (UTA),which represents artists including Post Malone and Chance the Rapper, has closed 165 brand partnership deals for its artists. Co-heads of UTA’s music brand partnerships division Alisann Blood and Toni Wallace say they expect to close twice as many deals as in 2020 as in a more typical year.

Source: Without Concerts, Artists Are Turning to Ice Cream Deals and Sponsored Livestreams

Why Is Chinese Media Giant Tencent Spending Billions Investing in Major Music Companies?

It is tempting to envision Chinese media firms as the local equivalent of a familiar Western brand. That mindset imagines Weibo as the Chinese Twitter, iQIYI as the Chinese Netflix, and WeChat as a Middle Kingdom version of WhatsApp. The reality is usually more complicated.

Source: Why Is Chinese Media Giant Tencent Spending Billions Investing in Major Music Companies?

SyncFloor aims to shake up the sync market

The simplest aim of SyncFloor is to close the gap between song discovery and licensing. “We only have one-stop content in our index… and we allow film and TV production teams to find them using their industry’s language, to try out songs, and then work out a transaction brokered by our software,” co-founder Kirt Debique explains. “We can have a disruptive fee structure because we’re building software that scales – so we have a 10% transaction fee, not 30%.

Source: Music Ally Startup Files: SyncFloor aims to shake up the sync market

Five Takeaways From Cannes: Winners, Platforms, Women Directors, Rebates, Next On-Site Market

Cannes’ Marché du Film and the Hollywood agency-led A Demain Platform initiative delivered on the dealmaking front, re-invigorating the market after months of anxiety-inducing lockdown. The number of participants, projects launched and deals closed showed that the industry is still standing – in spite of the massive disruption created by the pandemic.

Source: Five Takeaways From Cannes: Winners, Platforms, Women Directors, Rebates, Next On-Site Market

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