Shot Tower Capital has engaged in an independent audit of Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s assets, lowering the valuation of its assets by 26%. This follows a report on March 18 that revealed a double-counting error in Hipgnosis’ accrued revenue, with the board announcing a 7.6% reduction to its operative net asset value (NAV). The report also finds that Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s acquisition underwriting was “below music industry standards.”
Source: Hipgnosis Songs Fund Audit Says Fund ‘Failed to Perform’
SoundExchange, the entity tasked with collecting and distributing royalties for the use of recordings on non-interactive digital services, just recently unveiled this latest milestone via a brief release. SoundExchange towards the beginning of 2024 indicated that it had distributed over $1 billion during 2023, up from about $959 million in 2022. Bearing in mind this growth the $12 billion milestone will presumably arrive within the next year or so.
Source: SoundExchange Announces $11 Billion Distribution Milestone
Last year was a very good one for music streaming: Audio streams increased 22.3% year over year, according to analytics firm Luminate, accounting for more than two-thirds of global music revenue. It was also the year when the music industry finally started to address the fact that the streaming model doesn’t benefit artists.
Source: Music streaming royalties are terrible—these companies may have a fix
Amazon said Wednesday it is pouring an additional $2.75 billion into Anthropic, bringing its total investment in the artificial intelligence startup to $4 billion. Amazon will maintain a minority stake in San Francisco-based Anthropic, a rival of ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The Seattle-based tech giant made an initial investment of $1.25 billion in Anthropic in September and indicated then it had plans to invest up to $4 billion.
Source: Amazon pours an additional $2.75 billion into AI startup Anthropic
Overall, 54% of Americans say artificial intelligence programs that generate text and images, like ChatGPT and DALL-E, need to credit the sources they rely on to produce their responses. A much smaller share (14%) says the programs don’t need to credit sources, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. About a third say they’re not sure on this question.
Source: Many Americans think generative AI programs should credit the sources they rely on
Audible Inc. has pacted with its sibling Amazon MGM Studios unit to develop TV series based on a slew of podcasts and other original audio-only content. The deal brings together two high-profile content operations under the Amazon umbrella in the hopes of hitting a few home runs by by developing series from podcasts and other Audible-produced originals that have been successful with listeners in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Major book publishers continue their legal crusade against Internet Archive’s scan-and-lend library, hoping to shut it down for good. IA’s appeal previously received support from authors and copyright scholars. The publishers, however, have some heavyweight backers too. New amicus briefs are signed by former U.S. politicians, former judges, and legal scholars. Industry groups such as the MPA and RIAA also rally behind the publishers.
The U.S. recorded music industry grew its revenue by 8% in 2023, reaching an all-time high of $17.1 billion and marking eight consecutive years of growth. However, there’s no question that the streaming boom of the past decade, which produced years of double-digit growth, is leveling off and the industry is reacting with layoffs and talk of a “transformational moment” in the months and years to come.
Can journalism survive artificial intelligence (AI)? The answer will depend on whether journalism can adapt its business models to the AI era. If policymakers intervene to correct market imbalances, they must enforce intellectual property rights and ensure that journalism has a fighting chance in the era of generative AI. Last year alone, the U.S. journalism industry slashed 2,700 jobs, and 2.5 newspapers closed each week on average.
Over the course of 30 years, Audible’s catalogue has grown to include more than 470,000 audiobooks. In less than a year, Spotify’s catalogue has grown to include more than 200,000 audiobooks, which is already 42.6% of Audible’s offering. As the catalogues of each audiobook platform become less differentiated, Spotify and Audible will increasingly turn to other means of differentiation, from different formats to different pricing.
Source: As Spotify corners audiobooks, Audible eyes functional audio