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Audible signed an exclusive, multiproject development deal with Plan B Entertainment, the production company led by Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, for a slate of audio originals. Under the worldwide deal — which represents Plan B’s entry into audio entertainment — the production company will create a slate of Audible originals.  It’s the latest pact by Amazon-owned Audible with high-profile Hollywood talent to create exclusive audio productions.

Source: Brad Pitt’s Plan B Makes First Foray Into Audio Entertainment With Audible Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

Spotify and Deezer are officially calling on the European Commission to take ‘swift’ regulatory action against Apple over its App Store fees. “For years, Apple has imposed unfair restrictions on our businesses,” the companies vented. “These restrictions hamper our development and harm European consumers. They include the tying of the App Store to Apple’s proprietary payment system, with its excessive commissions for app developers; [and] the creation of artificial obstacles that prevent our businesses from freely communicating with our customers.”

Source: Spotify and Deezer Urge Swift EU Regulatory Action Against Apple

France’s Centre National de Musique released the results of a landmark study into France’s music industry focusing on illegitimate streaming practices. The conclusion? At least 1%-3% of music streams in the country are fraudulent. i.e. They are generated, often via paid-for stream farms, by those “bad actors” in a bid to siphon royalty money away from legitimate artists. The CNM says that its new study considered a vast set of data provided by Spotify, Deezer, and Qobuz, plus data provided by “a panel of distributors.”

Source: Streaming fraud accounts for at least 1-3% of plays on services like Spotify and Deezer in France, shows investigation

With limited major new theatrical releases since the pandemic began, movie studios have been accelerating distribution of movies to their branded or third-party streaming platforms — often at the expense of legacy home entertainment retail channels. That trend should change in 2023 as major theatrical releases expand from 13 movies in 2022 to 33 titles this year, according to Bill Rouhana, chairman/CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

Source: Chicken Soup CEO: Studios Re-Embracing Home Entertainment Window, Including for ‘Avatar 2’ – Media Play News

The U.K. Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee on Friday published its latest report. It’s a follow-on from the committee’s first report, in July 2021, which called for a “complete reset” of the streaming market. It then held a pair of follow-up sessions in November 2022. Today’s report is essentially the follow-up to those follow-up sessions, but it includes some new recommendations.

Source: DCMS Committee publishes UK streaming inquiry follow-up report – Music Ally

On-demand song streams in the US grew 12.2% in 2022, driven by superstars like Bad Bunny, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift. That’s according to US market monitor Luminate, which published its Year-End report for 2022 on Wednesday  (January 11, 2023). That 12.2% growth translated to 1.3 trillion on-demand (Audio + Video) song streams in the US last year.

Source: On-demand song streams grew 12.2% in the US last year, and 25.6% globally

Part of the blueprint for the biggest players in the entertainment sector might include a return to an earlier strategy to guarantee income: bundling channels that entice consumers to make longer commitments. Also in the mix: using sports rights to preserve the linear cash cow, and partnering with telcos, TV-set makers and even retail outlets to help drive digital subscriptions.

Source: Hollywood’s Next Reckoning: Studios Get Real About Runaway Spending on Streaming

Revelator, which provides digital IP infrastructure to music companies, has launched its NFT payment infrastructure in partnership with Stripe Inc., offering a new way for music companies, creators and fans to dive into the Web3 space. Stripe is an Irish-American financial services company that offers a suite of APIs powering online payment processing and commerce services for internet businesses.

Source: Revelator launches NFT payment infrastructure powered by Stripe

Despite a 65 percent jump in box office earnings last year, the movie industry still has a long way to go in its recovery from the Covid-19 shock. At an estimated total of $7.5 billion, Statista’s Felix Richter notes that the North American box office had the third worst year since 2000, still trailing 2019 box office earnings by 33 percent. Things are looking even worse when adjusting for ticket price inflation, which makes the 2022 results the third worst year in a long, long time.

Source: 2022 Box Office Still 33% Shy Of Pre-Pandemic Levels

Global payments giant Mastercard is ramping up its exposure blockchain tech yet again, after announcing a Polygon-based accelerator program to help musicians build their careers via Web3. The firm announced the “Mastercard Artist Accelerator” program via a Jan. 7 blog post, outlining that from this spring, it will connect five emerging musicians from across the globe with mentors that will help them set up their brand in the Web3 music space.

Source: Mastercard partners with Polygon to launch Web3 musician accelerator program