Finance

The Chinese internet company said it was leading a consortium that had agreed to buy an additional 10% stake in a deal that values the world’s largest music business at $36.8 billion. The deal bolsters Tencent’s growing presence in the record industry and its exposure to some of the biggest names in music.

Source: Tencent Doubles Stake in Universal Music, Home to Billie Eilish and the Beatles

The deal comes just six months after global investment giant KKR led a $48m investment in Artlist, which is a royalty-free music and sound effects company that licenses content to creators on YouTube and other platforms.  Israel-based Artlist, via its Artgrid product, also offers users a large catalog of stock footage (video clips).

Source: Royalty-free music company and Epidemic Sound rival Artlist acquires digital assets marketplace Motion Array for $65m

The 76-year-old Heston native voiced his opinion on streaming royalties in an Instagram post. Jimmy Page says he felt compelled to pen the note after viewing the comments that singer-songwriter Nadine Shah, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, and Elbow frontman Guy Garvey offered when speaking before the Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on November 24th.

Source: Jimmy Page Demands That Streaming Music Services Pay Artists Fairly

The problem isn’t the amounts. It’s not even that the timings and distribution of the royalties is so tightly controlled (although that is a part of it). It’s the fact that the artists don’t have control. They don’t have a say on when they get paid, even though it’s their hard earned cash.

Source: The Great Royalties Hustle

When the acquisition was announced, the Authors Guild, the American Booksellers Association, and the Association of American Literary Agents (formerly the AAR) all issued statements that were critical of the deal. While each organization had a particular take, all shared one thing in common: they were concerned about the increasing consolidation within trade publishing.

Source: Will the PRH–S&S Combination Be Too Big?

Roblox, a gaming company that had been preparing to go public this month, has decided to delay its initial public offering until next year, in a sign that the enthusiastic market for I.P.O.s by DoorDash and Airbnb this past week has made it difficult to price shares accurately.

Source: Roblox Delays I.P.O. Until Next Year

The FTC has shown signs earlier this year that it is taking a new look at tech industry transactions that it had originally deemed too small to warrant its scrutiny. In February, the FTC announced that it had issued investigative subpoenas to Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google, demanding information on 10 years’ worth of mergers, as part of a study into acquisitions of startups.

Source: Behind Washington’s one-eighty on Facebook: A rethink of monopoly power

Total North American concert industry revenues came in at $12.2 billion, with losses of $9.7 billion, Pollstar relays, having based the figure off the aforementioned Q1 growth rate. And by factoring for merch sales, concessions, sponsorships, transportation, lodging, and “other economic activity tied directly to live events…it doesn’t take much calculus to arrive at a full economic impact of greater than $30 billion.”

Source: The North American Concert Industry Lost $30 Billion In 2020

Walt Disney said it will be forking out $14-$16 billion in content spending in fiscal 2024 on streaming services Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ as it ramps up original series and films to the tune of 100 a year. Between $8-9 billion of that will go to Disney+, said CFO Christine McCarthy towards the end of marathon investor meeting Thursday.

Source: Disney Will Spend $14B-$16B A Year On Streaming Content By 2024; Says Disney+ Could Hit 260M Subs That Year

Mr. Dylan’s sale is the latest and largest of a spate of similar deals this year that come with significant tax benefits both for the songwriters selling the rights and for the companies buying them, and those incentives are encouraging transactions.

Source: Bob Dylan’s Catalog Sale Highlights a Tax Advantage for Songwriters