Finance

Universal Music Group, Hipgnosis Songs Fund and other music stocks rose on Tuesday following news of Apple Music’s price hike, as investors bet it would trigger a wave of streaming subscription cost increases. This 10% price hike — Apple’s first — comes amid high inflation and a darkening economic environment in many global markets. If Apple can raise prices at a time like this, that is a sign the music industry can charge more without turning off consumers, Wall Street analysts said.

Source: Apple Music’s Price Hike Boosts Music Stocks

The Music Acquisition Corporation (TMAC), floated on the New York Stock Exchange in February last year under the ticker symbol TMAC.U, raising $230 million in the process. TMAC.U, formed specifically to effect a merger/acquisition in the worlds of both music rights and music tech has been largely quiet since then – something that now doesn’t look likely to change in the near future.

Source: $200m SPAC, The Music Acquisition Corp, files to liquidate early and delist shares from NYSE

Spotify added more users on both its free and paid tiers in the third quarter than expected, with the company citing strength in Latin America on the premium side of the business. In Q3 2022 (the three months to end of September), Spotify added another 7 million net Premium subscribers to its user base, taking its total global paying subs audience to 195 million.

Source: Spotify Reaches 456 Million Total Monthly Users in Q3, Topping Expectations

AI firm Stability AI, described as the “world’s first community-driven, open-source artificial intelligence company” just raised USD $101 million in funding. According to Bloomberg, the oversubscribed funding round values the London-based tech startup at $1 billion. In addition to its work in image, language and video, Stability AI backs AI research in audio (and music) via a “community-driven” organization called Harmonai.

Source: This AI firm just raised $101m at a reported $1bn valuation – and music is one of its areas of focus

San Francisco-based blockchain-powered music platform Audius has acquired Barcelona-based virtual music experience platform SoundStage.fm. The move marks Audius’ expansion into the virtual concert space. According to a press release announcing the acquisition, SoundStage.fm’s virtual concerts let fans “join via webcam and interact with both the audience and artist in a lifelike manner”.

Source: Web3 music streaming platform Audius buys virtual concerts platform SoundStage.fm

Book.io is putting e-books and audiobooks on the blockchain, where they can be traded as NFTs — a one-of-a-kind digital certificate of ownership. This will allow readers to own digital books and sell them if they choose to do so, the firm says, creating a secondary market “where publishers and authors earn royalties on every resale in perpetuity”.

Source: Bertelsmann’s BDMI becomes latest investor in e-book NFT firm

According to details emerging over the weekend, the London-based Hipgnosis Songs Fund has launched a debt-funded share buyback program after its stock valuation plummeted by 30% in the last six weeks. Per the Financial Times, the fund is backed by private equity giant Blackstone, which is financing the share buybacks using a fresh tranche of refinanced debt.

Source: Hipgnosis Songs Fund Repurchases Own Shares as Stock Plunges

After two straight quarters of subscriber losses, Netflix returned to growth in the third quarter of 2022 — and told investors it’s expecting a strong Q4 to finish the year, even though it doesn’t expect big gains right away from the launch of its cheaper, ad-supported plans. The streaming giant reported 2.41 million net new paid subscribers in Q3, including a gain of 100,000 in the U.S./Canada region, to stand at 223.1 million worldwide as of the end of September.

Source: Netflix Bounces Back in Q3 With 2.4 Million Subscriber Gain, Issues Upbeat Q4 Forecast but Doesn’t Expect ‘Material’ Lift From Ad-Plan Launch

Reservoir has grown to represent over 140,000 copyrights and 36,000 master recordings and pulled off a major coup by agreeing a global administration deal with music icon Joni Mitchell last year. As time has gone on, the focus has stretched to labels (Chrysalis Records/Tommy Boy Records/Philly Groove Records) and management through ventures with Blue Raincoat Music and Big Life Management.

Source: Golnar Khosrowshahi: ‘Reservoir going public has created opportunities that I never imagined’

The streaming revolution was supposed to usher in a big, bright, beautiful future for media conglomerates. Instead, increased competition, rising interest rates, a looming recession and the mountain of debt that these corporations amassed to fuel a wave of consolidation has left everyone from Netflix to Warner Bros. Discovery scrambling to revise their pitch to shareholders.

Source: Why Wall Street Fell Out of Love With Netflix and Other Media Companies