Music industry giant Downtown Music Holdings is reportedly exploring a potential sale and has been in talks with private equity firms and at least one major music company. Downtown, which oversees popular platforms like CD Baby and FUGA and represents high-profile artists such as John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Miles Davis, and Wu-Tang Clan, has experienced changes in recent years. The company has been shifting focus in recent years from owning copyrights to providing services for copyright holders.
Source: Downtown Music holds talks with PE firms, major music company regarding sale (report)
Microsoft has relinquished its seat as an observer on the board of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, as regulators on both sides of the Atlantic scrutinize the partnership between the tech giant and the artificial-intelligence startup. In a letter sent Tuesday to the AI company led by Sam Altman, Microsoft said it resigned with immediate effect because it believed OpenAI’s board had gained stability, meaning Microsoft’s involvement was no longer necessary.
Sound recording performance rights, also known as neighboring rights income, reached $2.7 billion in 2023, representing 9.5% of the global recorded music market. While ‘Old Europe’ has traditionally been the hub of these types of revenue streams – namely, rights from TV and radio broadcasting; aligned digital uses such as simulcasting, webcasting and satellite radio; and sound recordings played in public venues – a significant shift is underway.
“Most people know Sesac as a US-based performing rights organization. But, over the last eight years, we’ve acquired eleven companies and organically grown and broadened our business model…” That’s John Josephson speaking: the CEO who has overseen Sesac Music Group’s expansion into an organisation with three new business lines alongside its traditional business, and operations in territories well beyond the US.
Throughout its history, the publishing industry has always needed a boogeyman to represent new developments threatening the good old way of doing things. “Barnes & Noble was that for a while because it was a chain and because they had centralized bookselling,” says Boris Kachka, author of Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America’s Most Celebrated Publishing House. “Then Amazon became the big bad guy, and Barnes & Noble looked old-school all of a sudden.”