Amazon officially announced a deal to acquire MGM for $8.45 billion, bringing the ecommerce giant a wealth of movie and TV properties. MGM, founded in 1924, complements Amazon Studios, which has primarily focused on producing TV programming, the companies said. Amazon will help “preserve MGM’s heritage and catalog of films” and provide customers with greater access to these existing works, the companies added.
Source: Amazon Buys MGM, Studio Behind James Bond, for $8.45 Billion
Non-fungible token (NFT) platform OneOf has raised $63 million in a seed round from prominent tech and music industry veterans. The platform was co-founded by tech entrepreneur Lin Dai, digital media executive Joshua James, and music industry veteran Adam Fell, in partnership with Quincy Jones and Quincy Jones Productions.
Source: Music NFT platform OneOf, co-founded in partnership with Quincy Jones, raises $63m in seed funding
Big tech companies have been eyeing big media companies for years — but they’ve never gotten together before. Now it’s finally, probably happening: Amazon is getting ready to pay $9 billion for MGM Holdings, the Hollywood studio that brings you James Bond and a smattering of other stuff, like the Pink Panther movies and The Handmaid’s Tale TV show.
Source: Why Amazon is paying $9 billion for MGM and James Bond
Washington, DC Attorney General Karl Racine announced a new antitrust suit against Amazon Tuesday, accusing the company of stifling competition by exerting control over third-party sellers. The lawsuit, filed in DC Superior Court, alleges that Amazon fixed prices on its massive online retail platform by blocking third-party sellers from selling their products for less elsewhere.
Source: DC attorney general files antitrust suit against Amazon over third-party seller agreements
Influence Media Partners launched a fund in March to invest in what it described as “award-winning catalogs of some of music’s most influential female music creators”. The fund, co-founded with Municipal Employment Retirement System (“MERS of Michigan”), carries an initial value of up to $100 million in investable capital.
Source: Influence Media Partners buys catalog from Grammy-nominated songwriter Julia Michaels
The artists represented in the deal include Estelle (American Boy), Caesars (Jerk It Out), Serj Tankian of System of A Down, Jamelia, Coal Chamber, Sick of it All, Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers, Soul Coughing, Throwing Muses, The Ark, Stina Nordenstam, The Sounds, Surfer Blood and more.
Source: Round Hill Music acquires master recordings from Swedish label Telegram Studios
Amazon is weeks into negotiations on a deal to acquire MGM for about $9 billion, industry sources tell Variety. Chatter that Amazon (and other tech and media giants) have been sniffing around MGM has circulated for some time. But sources indicated that Amazon’s interest in acquiring the studio has taken on a new tenor beyond the usual rumor mill.
Time Warner now has been involved in two huge deals that show the pitfalls of trying to fuse media and new distribution businesses. Its $106 billion merger in 2001 with AOL Inc. was one of the biggest flops in business history. Time Warner eventually spun off AOL. AT&T’s pursuit of Hollywood business set it apart from rival Verizon Communications, which focused mostly on its core wireless business. Still, Verizon spent nearly $10 billion exploring digital media, acquiring AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017. It later wrote down about half of those properties’ values after they failed to deliver the growth the company promised.
Under the terms of the deal, AT&T will spin off entertainment arm WarnerMedia and combine it with Discovery, creating a TV, film and streaming powerhouse. AT&T’s WarnerMedia owns the likes of the Warner Bros. studio, HBO and streaming service HBO Max, as well as the Turner cable networks. Discovery’s reality TV-heavy properties include Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Food Network, OWN and Animal Planet.
For most songs, even substantial repeat business doesn’t result in a direct financial increase in revenue because the platform pays out in micropennies. But streaming performance has a heavy influence on which songs get worked to AM/FM stations as singles, and a hit in that platform can potentially lead to six-figure payouts.
Source: Play It Again, Fan: Songwriters Seek ‘Repeat’ Customers In Streaming Age