Finance

Sweden-based song data startup Session has been acquired by Salt, a royalty processing firm described as the  “music society back-office SaaS platform for processing and distributing rightsholder royalties.” Session was co-founded by ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and Swedish songwriters and record producers Max Martin and Niclas Molinder in 2019 with the goal of combatting inadequate song data collection. 

Source: Song data startup Session, founded by Max Martin, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, and Niclas Molinder, acquired by royalty platform Salt

The U.S. recorded-music industry reached an all-time high of $15.9 billion in 2022, marking the industry’s seventh consecutive year of growth. While overall streaming growth has been leveling off in recent years, with 92 million paid U.S. subscriptions, it’s clearly continuing to grow and fuel the market while the steady resurgence of vinyl continues. Collectively accounting for 84% of total revenues, streaming continued to be the largest driver.

Source: U.S. Recorded Music Revenue Scores All-Time High of $15.9 Billion in 2022, Per RIAA Report

The BPI, has reported that UK-recorded music revenue rose 4.7% year-on-year to reach £1.32 billion ($1.56 billion) in 2022. This figure includes revenues from synchronization and public performance and represents an eighth consecutive year of growth, up by 36% on the £968.6 million reported in 2017. This number is the highest nominal annual amount on record, but when adjusted for inflation falls hundreds of millions of pounds short of the total reported in 2006.

Source: BPI Reports UK Recorded Music Revenues Increase for 8th Successive Year

After the public release of OpenAI’s large language model (LLM) chatbot ChatGPT (and the stock bounce it gave to Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s tech partner), it seems that every company wants a piece of the AI action, or at least wants to send the message that it’s thinking about it. Companies with close ties to media and entertainment are no exception.

Source: Want to Impress Wall Street? Just Add Some AI

Anyone following the tech sector over the past few years has had no shortage of hyped “next big things” to entertain. In 2019, it was cryptocurrency. In 2020, that expanded to mean anything blockchain or so-called Web3. Last year, it was the metaverse. There are two key reasons investors should pay more attention this time. The first is the velocity at which AI is growing and improving. The second, and arguably more important, factor is the rapid and warm reception AI has received from consumers.

Source: AI Has Its ‘iPhone Moment’

Universal Music Group posted booming results for 2022, with revenues soaring 21.6% to nearly $10.95 billion, driven by streaming. Also in the announcement and the earnings call, the company revealed that it has expanded its project with Tidal to come up with a new economic model for streaming to include Deezer. “Streaming has evolved in a way that undervalues the critical contributions of many artists as well as the engagement of many fans,” Grainge said.

Source: Universal Music Posts Nearly $11 Billion in 2022 Revenue as Company Expands Efforts for ‘New Streaming Model’

B2B streaming company Tuned Global has acquired music technology company Pacemaker and its AI-driven DJ applications. The purchase is significant for Tuned Global’s growth as its first acquisition, expanding the company into new markets. Initially integrated with Spotify before going alone after the streaming giant modified its API rules, Pacemaker holds several patents for its AI-DJ technology and “rightsholder-friendly DJ mix solutions.”

Source: Tuned Global Acquires Pacemaker As AI-DJ Streaming Expands

In January it was reported that Microsoft poured another $10bn in OpenAI the startup behind ChatGPT, on top of an earlier investment of $1bn. A spreadsheet maintained by Pete Flint at NFX, a VC firm, now lists 539 generative-AI startups. Not counting OpenAI, they have so far collectively raised more than $11bn in capital. Mike Volpi of Index Ventures, another VC firm, calls it a “Cambrian explosion.”

Source: Investors are going nuts for ChatGPT-ish artificial intelligence

October of 2021 Lyric unveiled a $500 million catalog fund with Northleaf. Now, the private equity firm has secured “total commitments of approximately $410 million” for its second fund, execs said, made possible by “support from a diverse group of new and existing institutional investors.” Additionally, it indicated that “senior debt financing” accounts for the remainder of the initially mentioned $800 million or so in deployable capital.

Source: Spirit Music Parent Lyric Capital Unveils $800MM Catalog Fund

London-based Hipgnosis Song Management, the “investment adviser” of the publicly traded Hipgnosis Songs Fund, and four-year-old Beatclub announced their tie-up today. Those who utilize the creator marketplace Beatclub – most notably Timbaland (who sold his catalog to HSF in 2019) and Justin Timberlake (who finalized a reportedly $100 million catalog deal with HSM last May) – “will have the ability to sample some of the most iconic songs in the world within the Hipgnosis catalog” moving forward.

Source: Hipgnosis Partners With and Invests In Timbaland’s Beatclub