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.
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”.
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.
The New York City-based entity intends to put the $3.5 million tranche towards accelerating the “first of its kind direct global digital licensing and collection for Comedians and other spoken word authors, music publishers and songwriters.” The latter two groups, Word Collections relayed, will benefit from “30% more revenue annually along with unparalleled transparency.”
Source: Comedy-Focused Royalty Company Word Collections Announces $3.5m Raise
The bill contained a number of proposals that would, in essence, have monetarily benefitted artists and featured performers to the detriment of record labels with whom these artists had signed contracts. Proposed by Labour politician Kevin Brennan MP, the headline suggestion of the ‘Brennan bill’ was the introduction of ‘Equitable Remuneration’ into UK law.
Source: Bill that would have hit record company profits in the UK rejected by British government
Sound Royalties says that the new touring advance program will work similarly to a “typical advance” with the company, but with customizations as it pertains to touring income versus music royalties. Each qualified performer will have the opportunity to access funding based off of their royalty streams or their guaranteed negotiated tour agreement.
Source: Sound Royalties launches advances for artists and performers seeking tour and production support