Headlines

Warner Music CEO Believes Universal Impasse Will Be Resolved

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl said his company remains happy with their deal with TikTok and he believes the social media platform and Universal Music Group will also come to an agreement. “Our deal was very difficult too, but we got there and, for us, it was fair, but it was a year ago. It was also a different time. So I don’t know what is driving Universal’s positions, but if there’s any way we can help them, we will, and I’m confident they’ll sort it out,” he continued.

Source: Warner Music CEO Says Their Deal With TikTok Is “Fair,” Believes Universal Impasse Will Be Resolved

Luminate acquires artist data identification service Quansic

Luminate, the entertainment industry data company responsible for powering the Billboard Charts, has acquired Quansic, a global music artist identification service. France-headquartered Quansic claims to operate the world’s largest artist identification database which includes over 2.5 million ISNIs (artist identifiers) and 200 million asset identifiers.

Source: Luminate acquires artist data identification service Quansic

Salt Draws Major Investment Round from Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus

British music rights company Salt has announced closing a significant investment round with songwriters and producers, including Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart , Canadian songwriter and producer Dan Kurtz, and legendary producer Quincy Jones. Salt streamlines music rights and royalties from attribution to distribution, with a global network that’s “flexible, accurate, high-speed, and transparent.”

Source: Salt Draws Major Investment Round from Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus

New Mountain Capital-led group closes acquisition of BMI

According to an update issued on Thursday (February 8), the deal has now received the necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals required for closing. As reported in November, as part of the transaction, BMI’s former shareholders will be allocating $100 million of the proceeds of the sale to the PRO’s songwriter, composer and publisher “affiliates” in “recognition of [their] creativity”.

Source: New Mountain Capital-led group closes acquisition of BMI

Hipgnosis shareholders vote in favor of giving £20m ‘bung’ to bidders on its catalog

Shareholders in UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) have overwhelmingly voted in favor of paying companies who make credible acquisition bids for the firm’s catalog a one-off incentive fee of up to £20 million. Some 99.9% of HSF shareholders today (February 7) approved a proposal put forward by the company’s board for the ‘bung’ payment.

Source: Hipgnosis Songs Fund shareholders vote in favor of giving £20m ‘bung’ to bidders on its catalog

Indie labels cry foul over Apple Music’s enhanced spatial audio royalties

As first reported by the Financial Times, independent labels Beggars Group, Secretly Group, and Partisan Records are pushing back against Apple’s preferential payouts for spatial audio. They say independent artists who can’t afford to record in spatial audio would make less because of how streaming music payouts work. Apple said artists on Apple Music can get bonuses of up to 10 percent for creating music with spatial audio.

Source: Indie labels cry foul over Apple Music’s enhanced spatial audio royalties

EU countries greenlight landmark new AI laws

The European Union’s 27 member states on Friday approved landmark rules on regulating artificial intelligence, passing a key last hurdle after tough negotiations to the very end. “We are very happy to announce that … ambassadors just unanimously confirmed the final compromise text found on the proposal on harmonised rules on artificial intelligence,” Belgium, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said.

Source: EU countries greenlight landmark new AI laws

AI2 open sources text-generating AI models — and the data used to train them

The Allen Institute for AI (AI2), the nonprofit AI research institute founded by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is releasing several GenAI language models it claims are more “open” than others — and, importantly, licensed in such a way that developers can use them unfettered for training, experimentation and even commercialization.

Source: AI2 open sources text-generating AI models — and the data used to train them | TechCrunch

IFPI Voices Support for EU’s AI Act Ahead of Key Vote

The IFPI has joined a number of other organizations in voicing support for the EU’s AI Act ahead of a key vote on February 2nd. The organization, besides approximately 200 others from throughout “Europe’s creative and cultural sectors,” today penned the corresponding letter backing the AI Act. At present, the signatories’ desired outcome is Coreper approval of the bill.

Source: IFPI Voices Support for EU’s AI Act Ahead of Key Vote

Merck Mercuriadis moves to chairman role at Hipgnosis Song Management

Merck Mercuriadis, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM) is to be appointed Chairman of the company. Ben Katovsky, currently HSM’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will succeed Mercuriadis as HSM’s CEO.  HSM said that Mercuriadis will continue to “lead engagement with songwriters, artists and the music industry, generate opportunities to increase consumption and enhance the value of HSM’s client’s portfolios.

Source: Merck Mercuriadis to exit CEO role at Hipgnosis Song Management, becoming Chairman; Ben Katovsky promoted to Chief Executive of company

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