The company has today (March 4) confirmed that it paid out $125.4 million from digital and streaming services to artists across the course of 2020. That’s around $2.4m every week. The $125.4m annual figure was up by 13.9% on the $110.1m that CD Baby paid to indie artist clients from digital platforms in 2019.
Source: CD Baby paid out $125m from digital platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music in 2020
Square, the mobile payments firm run by Jack Dorsey, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Jay-Z’s music streaming service Tidal for $297 million, the companies announced Thursday. Through the deal, Jay-Z and Tidal’s other artist shareholders — including Beyoncé, Madonna and Rihanna — will continue to own their piece of the business, which will operate as an independent division within Square.
Source: Square Acquires Majority Stake in Jay-Z’s Tidal for $297 Million
Iconic Artists has acquired Crosby’s publishing and recorded music rights, comprising his solo work, as well as his work with The Byrds; Crosby & Nash; Crosby, Stills & Nash; and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Crosby’s deal with Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group coincides with the 50th anniversary of Crosby’s debut solo album, If I Could Only Remember My Name, which was released in February 1971.
Maestro intends to use this latest $15 million tranche to “fuel value chain expansion of its products and continued diversification of its customer base,” according to the text. Furthermore, the six-year-old company dedicated a substantial portion of the release to highlighting the considerable success that it enjoyed last year, as many fans and artists began utilizing livestream platforms.
Source: Livestream Monetization Platform Maestro Scores $15 Million In Financing
Prominent Middle Eastern Spotify rival Anghami has entered into a definitive merger agreement with publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. The deal will result in Anghami listing on the NASDAQ in New York, with the combined company set to operate under the Anghami name and trade under the new symbol ANGH.
Source: Spotify rival Anghami to list on NASDAQ via merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company
One of the most hotly-debated concepts in the modern music rights business is user-centric licensing. This model sees streaming royalties paid out based on individual subscriber behavior – with a percentage of each subscriber’s subscription fee being distributed only to the artists/labels they have individually listened to that month.
Economic downturn brought on by the pandemic couldn’t stop the U.S. music industry from its fifth consecutive year of growth as revenue increased 9.2% to $12.15 billion in 2020 from the prior year’s $11.13 billion total, according the RIAA’s year-end revenue report released Friday (Feb. 26).
Source: US Recorded Music Revenue Surpassed $12B in 2020: RIAA
About .09% of the 8 million or so creators on Spotify make $100,000 or more per year in royalties on the leading music streaming service. The noteworthy statistic came to light earlier this week, during the Stockholm-based service’s ‘Stream On’ investor conference.
Source: Just 7,500 Artists on Spotify (Out of 8 Million) Make $100,000 or More
EU countries face a June deadline to adopt national versions of a bloc-wide law that aims to improve media producers’ bargaining position against tech powerhouses including Facebook and Google. Under the law, passed in 2019, news publishers can demand payment for reuse of their content.
Source: Facebook Fight Over Media Payments Shifts Focus to Europe
After a tumultous month that saw Facebook pull news from its platform in protest, Australia’s government agrees to make the News Media Bargaining Code law. After a last-minute round of senate amendments were added to the bill on Tuesday, the bill was sent back and quickly passed to the lower house on Wednesday.
Source: Australia passes law forcing Google and Facebook to pay news publications