Finance

Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd. continues its acquisition binge by acquiring the Kobalt Music Copyrights Fund 1. In total, the 42 catalogs comprise over 33,000 songs written by over 1,500 songwriters. Hipgnosis Songs says it is paying $323 million and funding the acquisition through a combination of equity and borrowings from its recently expanded revolving credit facility.

Source: Hipgnosis Songs Buys Kobalt Music Catalog: 33,000 Songs for $323 Million

Spotify published its financial results for Q3 2020 today (October 29), revealing that its global Premium Subscriber base grew to 144 million in the quarter (ended September 30). That was up by 6m (+5%) subscribers on the 138m SPOT counted at the end of the prior quarter (Q2 2020), and up by 31m (+27%) year-on-year.

Source: Spotify subs grew by 6m in Q3, but Daniel Ek’s company has posted a net loss of over $500m so far this year

Speaking to investors on a Q3 Alphabet earnings call, the media giant’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, said: “YouTube subscriptions continue to grow. YouTube now has over 30 million Music and Premium paid subscribers, and over 35 million including those on free trials.”

Source: YouTube just generated $5bn from ads in a single quarter – and YouTube Music has over 30m subscribers

Newly created non-profit organization Live Music Society has announced its first relief effort to help small music venues across the country. Live Music Society will provide $2 million in grants in its first two years of operation to support the live music ecosystem around the United States.

Source: New Non-Profit Offers Aid to Small Music Venues Across America

User-generated content could be worth around $6 billion to the music industry over the next two years. That’s according to a new white paper published by London-based MIDiA Research, in partnership with Audible Magic, entitled The Rising Power of UGC, which examines “the rising power of UGC and the untapped opportunity to monetise the growth in UGC consumer behaviours and new platforms”.

Source: Music-related user generated content could be worth $6bn over the next two years (report)

Streaming generates only 1/6 as much revenue per streaming home as pay TV generates per pay TV home for two reasons: on average, streaming homes are only subscribing to ~2 services; and half of all streaming time is ad-free. Even under optimistic assumptions about increased streaming subscription take rates and ad monetization, it is hard to see how streaming will come close.

Source: One Clear Casualty of the Streaming Wars: Profit

Swedish Independent music distribution and artist services company Amuse is expanding its data-driven royalty advance service, Fast Forward. Amuse, which offers completely free music distribution for independent artists to services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and others, launched Fast Forward in February last year to pay eligible self-releasing artists advances on future royalties.

Source: Amuse expands AI-driven royalty advances of up to $300,000 to independent artists’ collaborators

If the concert business is indeed having its “Napster moment” right now, one wonders if the music companies making the most cash mid-pandemic – a.k.a the major rightsholders – will be tempted to more heavily invest in the live space, which has born the brunt of Covid-19’s unforgiving impact.

Source: BMG on its expansion into live music: ‘This is the opposite of a 360 deal.’

AT&T chief John Stankey sees a “choppy” recovery ahead for movies, and he concedes that the release of “Tenet” was not “a home run.” During AT&T’s third quarter earnings call, Stankey acknowledged that the studio’s decision to release Christopher Nolan’s drama “Tenet” in the U.S. on Sept. 3 was underwhelming. But he does not regret the decision to be the first major studio to release a highly anticipated film in theaters during the pandemic.

Source: AT&T’s John Stankey Sees ‘Choppy’ Recovery for Movies, Concedes ‘Tenet’ Was Not ‘Home Run’