Finance

Masterworks, the “elite alternative asset” that allowed investors to buy fractional shares of high-end paintings, scrapped a funding round amid concerns it could face regulatory scrutiny in the coming months, a source familiar with Masterworks’ thinking told On The Money. The company was valued at $1 billion in its Series A funding in October 2021, but faced an uphill battle to raise more money as the economy slows.

Source: Masterworks’ fractional art sales getting the brush off

Although Epidemic Sound has been making waves for years, it’s been a slow road to profitability for the Sweden-based music production house. That story seems finally to be turning around, as the company announced on Tuesday (April 25) that it swung to a positive EBITDA – albeit a small one – last year. However, the company’s operating profit (EBIT) was still in the red.

Source: With 2bn plays on YouTube per day, Epidemic Sound swung to positive EBITDA in 2022

Meta’s Q1 2023 saw sales up 3% with its $28.65 billion revenue beating Wall Street analysts’ expectations. But a quick peek into the breakdown showcases staggering losses within Meta’s metaverse-focused Reality Labs division. Reality Labs cost Meta $3.99 billion this quarter alone. Last year, it lost $14 billion as Zuckerberg focused on developing a metaverse to supplement the new work from home culture that has arisen after the pandemic.

Source: Meta’s Reality Labs Losses Total $30 Billion — $4B This Quarter

Independent publisher Primary Wave Music has partnered with leading Indian record label and music publisher Times Music. Terms of the deal involve Primary Wave’s significant capital investment in the company, providing resources for further Indian catalog investments to help accelerate the company’s global expansion. A subsidiary of the Times of India Group, Times Music is regarded as a local major in India.

Source: Primary Wave Bets Big On Bollywood with Times Music Deal

Spotify packed on more users than it expected in Q1 2023, but revenue fell short of its guidance due to headwinds in its advertising business. For the first quarter of 2023, the company said total monthly active users (free and paid) grew by 22% year-over-year to 515 million “driven by strength in both developed and developing markets, and nearly all age groups.

Source: Spotify Tops Q1 Subscriber Targets to Hit 210 Million Paying Users, Revenue Misses

A panel of three judges on the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sided with a federal judge’s ruling that rejected all but one of Epic’s claims and declared that Apple doesn’t have monopolistic control over mobile game transactions. “There is a lively and important debate about the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power,” the ruling concluded. “Our job as a federal Court of Appeals, however, is not to resolve that debate.”

Source: Apple Wins Appeal in App Store Case Brought by Fortnite Maker Epic Games

The company reports that its consolidated revenues, which includes revenues from its B2B and B2C segments, amounted to €115.2 million in Q1 2023, an increase of 6.2%YoY at constant currency. Deezer’s total number of subscribers reached 9.3 million as of March 31, 2023, compared to 9.5 million in March, 2022, representing a decrease of 2.1% YoY. Deezer says that this revenue increase was primarily driven by a continued expansion of the group’s subscriber base in France, which was up 9.8% YoY.

Source: Deezer’s revenues grew 6.2% YoY in Q1, but its total subscribers fell 2.1% to 9.3m

Following 2022’s “crypto winter” and the collapse of FTX, Web3 funding reportedly cratered by 82 percent year over year during the opening quarter of 2023, and the downturn could potentially be impacting all manner of music plays. The total had come in at 369 in Q4 2022 and at over 500 during last year’s first quarter, according to Crunchbase – with Q1 2023’s figure being the lowest since Q4 2020. Of course, it should also be highlighted that investors have likewise started pouring billions into artificial intelligence startups this year.
Source: Web3 Funding Is Falling, Potentially Impacting Many Music Plays

During the pandemic, it was billed as one of the leading platforms in the music livestreaming space. Last year, it was named the most innovative music company in the world by Fast Company. But now Mandolin has announced it’s shutting down its platform. In June 2021, the firm announced that it had closed a USD $12 million Series A funding round, co-led by 645 Ventures and Foundry Group, with returning investments from High Alpha and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures.

Source: Less than 2 years after closing a $12m funding round, livestreaming platform Mandolin shutters

AI-powered speech and music recognition company SoundHound has closed a new $125 million loan facility, with what it says is, “$100 million fully-funded” at closing. The credit agreement also allows SoundHound AI to potentially tap into additional capital of up to $25 million. That announcement arrived less than two weeks after the company was reported to have axed nearly half of its staff (200 people).

Source: Voice AI firm SoundHound secures $100m in strategic financing