Finance

Spotify continues to beef up its audio product arsenal. Today, it announced the acquisition of Whooshkaa, a nearly six-year-old Australian company focused on helping radio broadcasters monetize, edit, and distribute their shows as podcasts. Radio networks will be able to prepare shows for publishing by capturing live broadcasts and using the Whooshkaa tech to edit and remove ads to make room for podcast-only spots.

Source: Spotify’s latest acquisition is about making money off radio shows turned into podcasts

A buzzy new music startup called Sound.xyz has raised a $5 million seed round, with contributions from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Variant Fund, Li Jin’s Atelier Ventures, a handful of crypto angels and artists like Holly Herndon, 21 Savage and DJ Drama. Sound’s pitch has to do with helping musicians make a living via crypto – specifically, a set of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tied to new releases.

Source: NFT Music Startup Sound.xyz Raises $5M From a16z, 21 Savage

There was a time when the biggest companies in digital media seemed to be on the verge of selling for billions of dollars. But, those huge values have so far proved largely theoretical. With the exception of German media conglomerate Axel Springer’s decision to pay about $1 billion this past summer to buy Politico, few buyers were willing to actually pony up the money to buy the hottest brands in digital media.

Source: Why publishers like Vox Media are merging with their biggest rivals

Primary Wave Music, a New York company that specializes in marketing estates and song catalogs, is buying the assets of the Brown estate, including music rights, real estate and the control over Brown’s name and likeness. Larry Mestel, the founder of Primary Wave envisions an array of new projects to honor Brown’s legacy and promote his music to new generations of fans.

Source: After 15 Years of Infighting, James Brown’s Estate Is Sold

Attorneys for Penguin Random House and ViacomCBS argued on Monday that the proposed sale of Simon & Schuster will benefit authors, and should not be blocked under federal antitrust law. The Department of Justice filed the suit last month, seeking to block ViacomCBS from selling Simon & Schuster to Bertelsmann, the parent of Penguin Random House, in a $2.1 billion transaction.

Source: Penguin Random House Pushes Back on DOJ Suit Over Simon & Schuster Acquisition

Debate continues to rage about whether or not it’s time for Spotify and other services to increase this price point (something SPOT has already done in Brazil and parts of Scandinavia). But that infamous $9.99 monthly price point is now also becoming a fixture of another important – and fast-growing – segment of the modern music industry: th

Source: Are we witnessing the rise of the $9.99 creator subscription economy?

Round Hill Music‘s Music Royalty Fund Two vehicle has acquired the music publishing catalog of legendary producer, writer, musician, music supervisor, music publisher and DJ John ‘Jellybean’ Benitez. The catalog which includes worldwide hits by Madonna, Whitney Houston, Snap, Will Smith and Nas among others.

Source: Round Hill Music acquires publishing catalog of Jellybean Benitez including hits by Madonna and Whitney Houston

Music streaming and discovery platform Audiomack has launched a new feature that lets fans fund artists directly by purchasing ‘support badges’ for individual song and album releases. Audiomack says its new monetization tool, called ‘Supporters’, is “a first-of-its-kind feature in music streaming”.

Source: Music streaming service Audiomack launches ‘Supporters’ direct monetization feature, Warner named as first major label participant

The origins of this 9.99 price point are disputed. Some allude to the “charm pricing” technique purporting that bills ending in 99 feel more than one cent cheaper than the next highest integer. Others say the number was set to mirror the cost of a Blockbuster rental card. Whatever its true genesis, the two-decades old 9.99 price point is the missing note for the ongoing chorus of debate about how much music is worth and what it should cost.

Source: Malbeconomics: Taking stock of the twentieth anniversary of the 9.99 price point — Tarzan Economics

Democrats in Congress are taking aim at the pending $43 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, pushing the Justice Department to scrutinize the transaction on antitrust grounds. In a letter sent Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Justice Department antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter, the legislators assert that too much consolidation in media will hurt competition in Hollywood’s labor market and result in less diversity overall in content.

Source: Congressional Democrats Sound Antitrust Alarm With Justice Department Over Discovery-WarnerMedia Merger