Finance

The Department of Justice’s attempt to halt Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster finds support within an industry already burned by bad trends. “Obviously every agent is thrilled that the wheels might be grinding to a halt on this,” one insider says.

Source: “Too Late to Stand Up Against Amazon”: Book-Industry Insiders Back the Biden Administration’s Bid to Stop a Publishing Mega-Merger

The concern for publishers should be that at some point Amazon will simply shift all its markets to the unlimited subscription model, because at the end of the day Amazon makes its money by pleasing the consumer, not the supplier.

Source: Amazon-owned Audible rolls out unlimited subscription in 6th market, India… and counting – The New Publishing Standard

Afterparty, a platform aiming to give digital content creators the ability to mint and sell their own NFTs, then offer “token gated” virtual events for The Los Angeles-based company launched in beta in August 2021, and is the brainchild of former Disney exec David Fields.

Source: Afterparty Raises $3 Million To Build NFT Minting, Virtual Events For Content Creators – Tubefilter

On a call to discuss the company’s results, Chief Executive Robert Thomson touted content licensing payments from tech giants including Google parent Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.—as Facebook recently rebranded itself—which he said would “contribute annual revenues in the nine figures.”

Source: News Corp Profit Surges on Gains in Real Estate, Book Publishing, News Media

Through the offering of Security NFTs (S-NFTs), a term coined by Republic to describe a non-fungible digital asset, offered and sold as a “security” (as defined by the Securities Act of 1933 and the Exchange Act of 1934), users are able to invest directly in artists’ music “for as little as $100” via Republic’s platform.

Source: Lil Pump royalty shares sell out in two hours via Opulous partnership, raising $500,000

Paramount Pictures Nov. 4 disclosed third quarter (ended Sept. 30) licensing and home entertainment revenue from movies of $513 million, which was down about 12% from revenue of $584 million in the previous-year period. When including television production, the “licensing and other” segment totaled more than $1.5 billion — up nearly 18% from revenue of $1.28 billion last year.

Source: Paramount Licensing, Home Entertainment Dwarfs Theatrical

Sony is in negotiations to purchase Bruce Springsteen’s recorded-music catalog, three decades after he won it back from the major label. While it is unknown what the asking price is for Sony to acquire complete ownership of his masters — which could mean no longer paying royalties to Springsteen depending on how the deal is structured — Billboard estimates that the albums carry a valuation of between $145 million and $190 million.

Source: Bruce Springsteen In Talks to Sell Recorded Music Catalog to Sony Music

US-based music and media company Create Music Group has acquired Mumbai-based Nirvana Digital, described as one of the largest YouTube Enterprise partners in India. While terms of the deal were not disclosed, Create says that this is the first of a planned $50 million investment the company is making in India and the broader region in Asia over the next several years.

Source: Create Music Group acquires India-based distribution and rights management firm Nirvana Digital

Splash, which arrived on the scene as PopGun in 2017 and launched on Roblox last year, is “developing new ways for people to create, perform and interact with live performances using AI-powered tools and video games,” the company said. Splash enables players to create music, stages, venues, and perform live, with north of 128 million plays to its credit thus far.

Source: Roblox Music-Tech Company Splash Announces $20 Million Series A

The Justice Department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against to block ViacomCBS’ sale of publisher Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House, asserting that it would give the enlarged company too much power over the book business.

Source: Justice Department Sues to Block ViacomCBS’ Sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House