Finance

Pink Floyd’s music rights sale has had plenty of twists and turns, like a screenplay stuck in development hell. But the legendary English rock band has agreed to sell its recorded music, name, image, and likeness to Sony Music for $400 million. But it’s rare to see a deal that large that doesn’t include publishing rights. Instead, this Pink Floyd deal should be looked at as a pure streaming revenue play given its focus on recorded music.

Source: Pink Floyd’s Complicated $400 Million Music Rights Sale to Sony

With the growth of Netflix and other streamers, top creators are starting to feel the loss of the long-tail income from syndication runs and international licensing, which is now limited to streamers with global scope such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Max and Disney+. Despite eye-popping upfront fees paid to top creative talent, the loss of annuity-like income from successful TV shows and movies has hit Hollywood hard in the pocketbook.

Source: Netflix Chief Doubles Down on Streamer’s Dealmaking Terms and Limited Theatrical Release Strategy

As streamers evolve their acquisition strategy in Europe, producers and broadcasters are finding new opportunities as well as challenges. “Back in 2020, 60% of the top 10 shows on Netflix were originals, and now, 60% of the top 10 shows are acquisitions, licensed in from AMC and others,” says Guy Bisson, executive director and co-founder of Ampere Analysis. The change reflects the “fundamental shift in attitudes towards licensing.”

Source: Streamers’ Evolving Acquisition Strategy Brings New Opportunities and Challenges for Broadcasters, Indie Producers

Despite decades of infighting and years of false starts, the members of Pink Floyd have agreed to sell music rights to Sony Music for $400 million. The deal apparently has finally concluded despite decades of ongoing infighting and bitter words between the bandmembers, notably chief songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour. The deal comprises recorded-music rights but not songwriting, which is held by the individual writers, as well as name-and-likeness, which includes merchandise, theatrical and similar rights.

Source: Pink Floyd Sells Music Rights to Sony for $400 Million

A letter sent from Merlin to its members states TikTok has walked away from negotiations with the collective in favor of individual deals. “TikTok has asked us for an ‘orderly transition’ to do direct deals with those members they deem worthy. As you know, Merlin was founded to stand up for and champion its members. We will not support an approach that devalues our community,” the letter continues.

Source: TikTok vs. Merlin: Licensing Impasse Looms for Indie Collective

Informa, the academic publishing powerhouse and parent company of Routledge and Taylor & Francis, recently announced a deal with Microsoft that will feed a massive body of scholarly work to a generative AI system. If Informa’s decision portends a wave of similar deals between scholarly publishers and generative AI companies, the troubling precedent this sets could result in significant changes to the nature of academic publishing.

Source: An author has questions on his publisher’s AI deal (opinion)

YouTube said in a statement published via social media over the weekend its deal with SESAC had “expired without an agreement on renewal conditions despite our best efforts”. That dispute has now been resolved. SESAC said today (September 30) that it has struck a deal with YouTube “to equitably compensate SESAC’s songwriters and publishers for the use of their music”.

Source: YouTube strikes deal with SESAC, begins reinstating music videos by Adele, Kendrick Lamar and more following licensing dispute