Finance

When the audio streaming company updates investors on Wednesday, it is not expected to maintain the blistering rate of new subscriber growth experienced last year. Spotify, which reported 6 million new subscribers in the first three months last year and 11 million in its most recent quarter to the end of December, has told investors not to expect the boom to continue at such a pace.

Source: Spotify expected to report subscriber slowdown

An affiliate of Concord has acquired 145,000 copyrights from New York-headquartered Downtown. This portfolio constitutes Downtown’s entire owned and/or co-published music catalog, and takes Concord’s owned and controlled music assets to over 600,000 works. As part of the transaction, Downtown will continue to manage global royalty collection for the affected copyrights through the end of 2021.

Source: Concord buys Downtown’s owned music copyright catalog for around $400m

Banking giant JPMorgan made a rare public apology on Friday, admitting that it regrets backing Europe’s doomed Super League of top-tier soccer teams, which has sparked a violent backlash from fans. “We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future,” a representative for the bank said.

Source: Super League backer JPMorgan admits it ‘misjudged’ reaction from fans

HBO Max gained about 3 million total subscribers sequentially, AT&T said — a number the company should be pleased with, after concerns HBO Max might have trouble retaining subs after a big lift from “Wonder Woman 1984” in December.

Source: HBO Max Gains 3 Million Subscribers in Q1, AT&T Beats Wall Street Forecasts

Netflix revealed that it will spend over $17 billion on content this year, according to its first-quarter earnings report. “As we’ve noted previously, the production delays from Covid-19 in 2020 will lead to a 2021 slate that is more heavily second half weighted with a large number of returning franchises,” said the company in its letter to shareholders.

Source: Netflix Reveals $17 Billion in Content Spending in Fiscal 2021

Songtradr has confirmed the acquisition of Pretzel (aka Pretzel Rocks), a platform that supplies “stream safe” music to livestreamers on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. Said livestreamers have to be very careful of playing licensed music via services such as Spotify when recording their videos. Doing so will likely result in a DCMA takedown of their content, or see it stung by YouTube’s Content ID.

Source: Songtradr acquires Pretzel, which provides DCMA-proof music for Twitch and YouTube livestreamers

Included in what Primary Wave describes as a “multi-million-dollar deal”, are Leonard’s share of a number of hits from Leonard Cohen such as You Want It Darker, It Seemed the Better Way, and If I Didn’t Have Your Love. The deal also encompasses his share of songwriter royalties from his work with Madonna. Songs include a number of her No.1 hits such as La Isla Bonita, Frozen, and the classic Like A Prayer.

Source: Primary Wave buys catalog of Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard in ‘multi-million-dollar deal’

For Q1, the company reported a gain of 3.98 million in net global streaming subscribers. That was below its previous guidance of 6 million. Meanwhile, Netflix predicted even lower gains for the current quarter: It expects to add just 1 million members in Q2, with roughly zero growth in the U.S./Canada and Latin America regions. As of the end of March, Netflix had 207.4 million paid streaming customers worldwide, up 13.6%.

Source: Netflix Falls Short of Q1 Subscriber Targets as COVID-Driven Growth Slows

On Friday, the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), which officially launched Jan. 1, made its first distribution of mechanical royalties to rights holders for the month of January, paying out $24 million out of about $40 million collected from digital services.

Source: MLC Collects $40M for January, Makes First Rights Holders Payments

Last month, New York-based music and entertainment investment firm Influence Media Partners launched a fund to invest in what it described as “award-winning catalogs of some of music’s most influential female music creators”. Today, Influence Media has announced its first acquisition as part of the partnership with MERS.

Source: After launching $100m fund, Influence Media buys catalog from Grammy-nominated songwriter Ali Tamposi