In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, attorneys for Johansson allege that the actress’s contract was breached when the studio opted not to debut the film exclusively in theaters, a move they claim depressed ticket sales for the Avengers spinoff. Much of Johansson’s compensation was tied to the box office performance of “Black Widow” — if it hit certain benchmarks, bonuses would kick in.
Source: Scarlett Johansson Sues Disney for Breach of Contract Over ‘Black Widow’ Release
Advertising revenue at the world’s biggest video platform jumped 84%, up from $3.81 billion in the year-earlier period when COVID put a damper on marketing spending. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported YouTube’s ad revenue as part of its Q2 earnings — which blew past Wall Street expectations.
Source: YouTube Q2 Ad Revenue Hits Record $7 Billion as Alphabet Trounces Estimates
Back in late May, songwriters demanded greater mechanical-royalty transparency from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). Now, music-creator organizations are once again expressing “strong opposition” to a proposed mechanical-rate freeze as well as “non-transparent elements” that could be introduced to the CRB by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) and the Big Three record labels.
Source: Songwriters Urge CRB to Reject Proposed Mechanical Rate Freeze
Spotify now has 165 million premium subscribers and 365 million monthly active users according to a new earnings report released today. It’s a year-over-year increase of 20 percent and 22 percent respectively, and up from the 158 million subscribers and 356 million MAUs seen last quarter.
Source: Spotify’s paid subscribers hit 165M as podcast listening ‘improved modestly’
The content M&A market is booming, triggered by low interest rates and increasing streaming competition. “It does feel like a bit of a frenzy,” says Thomas Hughes, CEO for the Americas at Vuulr, a global online content marketplace. However, seemingly outlandish prices can be justified based on the long-tail value of well-known intellectual property. Hughes, for one, doesn’t think Amazon is overpaying for MGM, calling the studio “a treasure trove.”
Source: What’s Fueling a Surge of Content M&A Talks — and Driving Up Valuations
Los Angeles-based livestream platform LiveControl has raised $30m in Series A financing. Led by Coatue, the round also saw participation from existing investors First Round Capital, Box Group, Susa Ventures, and TriplePoint. The round brings LiveControl’s total funding to $33m, following a $3.2m seed round in August 2020.
Source: Livestream startup LiveControl raises $30m in Series A round
Fast-growing AI company Musiio has completed a new round of investment, signed Hipgnosis as its latest client and unveiled a new ‘Custom Filters’ feature, which it claims provides a significantly more bespoke and effective catalog search facility. The size of the funding round is undisclosed, but has given Musiio a $10 million valuation. That’s up from $3.5 million in 2019.
Source: Musiio secures funding at $10m valuation as it signs Hipgnosis and expands product portfolio
Sony Music made a big splash with its announcement that some legacy acts would be able to earn from streaming for the first time. Now Sony Music Publishing is introducing the Legacy Unrecouped Balance Programme to qualifying Sony Music Publishing songwriters.
Source: Sony Music Publishing opens up streaming income for legacy songwriters
The platform will allow $CO token holders to participate in blockchain fan funding and promotion, get early access to invest in music projects, in addition to earning rewards for “contributing and participating in the governance of the Corite ecosystem”, according to a media release.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman announced early Monday that he has decided not to use his SPAC to acquire a 10% stake in Universal Music Group after the Securities and Exchange Commission voiced concerns about the the complicated agreement, which would have been the biggest SPAC transaction to date.
Source: Bill Ackman Calls Off SPAC Deal for Universal Music Group