AT&T and Discovery have gained clearance for their much-anticipated deal to spin off WarnerMedia so it can merge with Discovery, a deal that has already been approved in Europe. The approval of Discovery shareholders is the last barrier to the deal moving forward.
Source: AT&T, Discovery Gain U.S. Clearance for WarnerMedia Deal
Spotify stock has lost an astounding 50% of its value over the past year alone, a dip of more than $32 billion in market cap. The exact reasons are difficult to pinpoint, though both internal and external headwinds are broadly driving the plunge. Since November, SPOT has been dropping precipitously, with broader economic concerns and anticipated rate hikes by the Federal Reserve dragging Spotify into the red.
Source: Spotify Stock Has Lost 50% of Its Value In the Past Year
Source: Disney+ Subscription Growth Has Slumped After a Pandemic Surge. Investors Watch for a Bounce Back.
WMG says that the quarter included an additional week, primarily reflected in its recorded music streaming revenue. Additionally, according to WMG, the quarter included the impact of a new deal with an unnamed digital partner, which it says, impacted its Recorded Music streaming revenue. Adjusted for the benefit of the additional week and the impact of the new deal with WMG’s unnamed digital partner, Recorded Music revenue was up 15.9% (or 17.4% in constant currency).
Source: Warner Music Group generated nearly $1bn from streaming last quarter
In the second half of October, KKR – via its new Chord Music venture – acquired a large portfolio of rights from Kobalt for $1.1 billion. Now, KKR Credit Advisors is using a catalog of 65,000 songs – including hits from The Weeknd, Stevie Nicks, and Childish Gambino – to sell more than $732 million of asset-backed securities supported by publishing and sound recording royalties.
Source: KKR bought a music catalog from Kobalt for $1.1bn. Now it’s turning it into bonds.
Olivier Chastan knows this world well: He was previously CEO at Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, which last year acquired catalogs from the likes of the Beach Boys, David Crosby, and Linda Ronstadt. Today (February 4), Chastan has taken the wraps off his own acquisitive vehicle – Los Angeles-based Iconoclast – with a headline-grabbing rights deal already signed and sealed.
As part of its fourth-quarter earnings report, Amazon announced that it would raise the price of Amazon Prime memberships for the first time in 4 years, citing investment in the company’s entertainment offerings, and its exclusive deal with the NFL to stream Thursday Night Football beginning next season, as among the reasons for the price hike.
Source: Amazon to Raise Price of Prime Membership, Citing Expanded Entertainment Offerings
As expected, one of the main topics on the minds of analysts tuning into Spotify’s Q4 earnings call was the firm’s ongoing Joe Rogan debacle. Daniel Ek was asked about the situation right out of the gate on the earnings call, and specifically whether Spotify’s response so far is a “slippery slope in censoring content on the platform”.
Last summer, Sony Music Group shocked the global music industry by doing something historic: announcing it was disregarding unrecouped balances for thousands of heritage artists and songwriters who had signed to the company in previous decades. This week, in another milestone moment for the music business, one of Sony‘s biggest rivals has stepped up to do the same: Warner Music Group.
Source: Now Warner scraps unrecouped balances for heritage artists. Will Universal be next?
Sony’s global music operations — Sony Music Group and Sony Music Japan — grew 26% to 235.7 billion yen ($2.07 billion) from the prior year’s total of 187.11 billion yen ($1.79 billion), as streaming and other music income streams posted big gains for its fiscal third quarter, according to the company’s earnings report released Wednesday (Feb. 2).
Source: Sony Music Posts $1.6B in Quarterly Revenue as Streaming Jumps 35%