YouTube, the internet’s biggest streaming video platform, delivered a healthy 13.8% increase in global ad revenue for the year-end 2024 quarter to surpass $10 billion for the first time. YouTube’s record Q4 ad sales of $10.473 billion topped Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. That’s just one piece of YouTube’s business, not including subscription revenue from services like YouTube TV or YouTube Premium
Spotify slams the NMPA’s takedown action: ‘This is a press stunt.’
Responding to the announcement on Tuesday, a Spotify spokesperson slammed the NMPA’s takedown action, calling the move “a weak reaction” to the court’s dismissal of the MLC’s ‘bundling’ lawsuit against Spotify last week. “The fact that the NMPA waited months, despite multiple written requests by Spotify for details, which they never bothered to answer, to report these episodes only further emphasizes that this is a press stunt.”
Warner Music Group and Audiomack Expand Licensing Deal
Warner Music Group (WMG) and music streaming and discovery platform Audiomack have announced an expanded licensing agreement covering 47 additional countries. In this expanded deal, newly added regions include the UK, France, Italy, Germany, the Caribbean, Mexico, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The partnership, which was Audiomack’s first with a major label, began in 2019.
Source: Warner Music Group and Audiomack Expand Licensing Deal
Bain’s Advice for Hollywood This Year: Own IP or Own Nothing
What kind of deals do entertainment and media giants need in the age of technology giants? It is a question that Hollywood management teams and Wall Street are constantly discussing and assessing. Management consulting firm Bain & Co., in a new research report, shares this guidance: “Own the consumer, own the intellectual property (IP), or own nothing.” In other words to compete in “a world of tech mega-platforms,” players will need “more cross-sector M&A and deals for IP.”
Source: Bain’s Advice for Hollywood This Year: Own IP or Own Nothing
Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen
The world’s major publishers claim that unlicensed libraries cast a permanent shadow over authors’ ability to make a living from their work. Those same shadows also make it more difficult to predict whether today’s investments in publishing content will pay off, or find themselves copied at will and distributed for free on the world’s most popular shadow libraries.
Source: Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen * TorrentFreak
Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations
Just hours after Spotify announced its first-ever annual net profit, the National Music Publishers’ Association has launched an ongoing takedown initiative against the streaming giant for the unlicensed use of music in podcasts on its platform. Beginning today (Feb. 4), notices will be sent to remove thousands of unlicensed uses of NMPA members’ works, according to the announcement. Over 2,500 detections of infringement are included in the initial takedown notices.
Source: Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations
Spotify Hits First Full-Year Profit, Adds 35M Users
The audio giant reported 675 million monthly active users, the largest fourth-quarter increase in Spotify’s history, as the company reported momentum from “strong holiday and Wrapped campaigns.” Paid subscribers grew 11 percent year over year to 63 million, up from 252 million last quarter and 3 million above guidance. Both came in above Spotify’s guidance.
Sora Heralds a New Form of Filmmaking—But At What Cost?
Sora Selects has arrayed 10 artists and artist teams who have used the artificial intelligence video generator to create short films that showcase the tool’s creative possibilities. OpenAI, the company behind the model, has invested $3 million into the initiative, with its team spending the past 10 months fostering a relationship with these artists.
Source: Sora Heralds a New Form of Filmmaking—But At What Cost?
Fox Corp. Expects to Launch New Stand-Alone Streamer by End of 2025
Fox Corporation expects to launch a new stand-alone subscription-based streaming service by the end of 2025, as the company, which has resisted the call to plunge millions into developing premium content for broadband audiences, sees new allure in the business. The plan, said Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, would be to launch a new broadband outlet that helps “put our content in front of everybody who wants it on any platform.”
Source: Fox Corp. Expects to Launch New Stand-Alone Streamer by End of 2025
US court says copyright termination applies globally
Until now, it was generally understood that when an author exercises their termination right under US law, this applies only to US rights – international rights remain with the assignee (i.e., the publisher who bought the rights). However, a recent ruling by the US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana upended this: The court concluded that a termination under US law applies globally – or, at least, in all the countries that participate in the Berne Convention.
Source: US court says copyright termination applies globally, potentially causing ‘chaos’ for rightsholders