Nolan’s brand power and commercial track record got Comcast’s Universal Pictures to say yes to a roughly $250 million, R-rated adaptation of an ancient Greek poem shot across Europe with largely practical visual effects, including a 35-foot tall Trojan Horse. According to data from Rentrak provided by Universal, 53% of “The Odyssey” attendees said the director was their No. 1 reason for attending.
Source: Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Proves Hollywood’s Top Directors Are Franchises Now
Swiss tech company Tribe Music Group has launched a catalogue-valuation tool called ValuePunks, available for artists and labels to use at no cost. The software measures data across every rights category — streaming, physical, sync, D2C and neighboring rights — and turns it into a catalogue assessment report. This is based on earnings data from more than 120,000 catalogue profiles collectively generating over €100m in annual royalties.
Source: ValuePunks offers free catalogue valuations to artists and indie labels
Exceleration Music and Japanese rights company NexTone have acquired the recording and publishing catalog of Ryuichi Sakamoto, purchased directly from the late composer’s estate. Sakamoto, who died in 2023 at the age of 71, co-founded the electronic trio Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. He became the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award, a Grammy and a Golden Globe, all for his score to the 1987 film The Last Emperor.
Source: Exceleration Music acquires catalog of Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto
The majors and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), along with the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the Music Artists Coalition, and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), just recently informed the Copyright Royalty Board of their settlement. And according to their letter, the agreement is straightforward enough: The current Phono IV rates, also extending to ringtones, “should not be amended except for continuing inflation adjustments
Spotify has removed more than 500,000 registered streams from Malcolm Todd‘s Earrings, after the song’s rise to No. 1 on the platform’s daily US chart was tied to bets placed on the prediction market Kalshi. Kalshi is a US prediction market, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on which users stake real money on future events – including which song will be the most-streamed on Spotify in the US in a given month.
Source: Spotify slashes streams of hit song after suspicious activity on prediction market Kalshi
Music streaming service TIDAL is the latest to take aim at AI-generated music with the introduction of a new policy that will prevent fully AI-generated music from making money on its platform. In addition, TIDAL will use automated tools to remove AI-generated music that attempts to impersonate an artist or a group, the company said.
Source: TIDAL cracks down on AI music by cutting off monetization
Google has said it is exploring new “value exchange models” with publishers and accepted the need for independent regulation of AI. The tech giant’s paper, A Pragmatic Approach to AI Governance in America, has defended the use of publicly available online content for training AI models, but said it is “piloting novel ways to partner with websites whose content meaningfully contributes to the freshness and factuality of generative AI responses”.
Source: Google accepts need for ‘new value exchange’ with publishers
Mark Kratter, who appears to release music as part of a namesake band, submitted the concise complaint to the Stamford Superior Court. Off the bat, the action reads like a recap of well-established facts concerning Spotify’s far-from-ideal royalty realities. However, the suit, alleging violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and more, doesn’t solely retread already-covered angles.
Source: New Lawsuit Accuses Spotify of ‘Undisclosed Filtering Practices’ to Boost Majors Over Indies
On Sunday, Getty Images said it has entered into a partnership with OpenAI. The deal will see images from Getty’s licensed content libraries surface in OpenAI search results and “discovery experiences within ChatGPT.” “High‑quality, licensed visual content makes AI‑powered search and discovery more useful and more trustworthy,” Getty CEO Craig Peters said in a statement. “This partnership with OpenAI reflects a shared recognition of that, and together we will deliver richer visual experiences to ChatGPT users.”
Source: Getty Images makes a surprise deal with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed some worrying data tied to the sustained hit the industry has taken from streaming providers’ “bundles.” As Spotify (and similarly, Amazon Music) started reclassifying its “premium” subscription tiers as a bundle with other services such as audiobooks, royalties paid by both companies have been cut by approximately 30% over the past two years.
Source: Streamers’ Bundling Has Cost Music Publishers Nearly $500 Million Since 2024: NMPA