CMU Digest

CMU Digest 19.04.21: Tencent, Fyre Festival, Triller, Live Nation, Capital Xtra

By | Published on Sunday 18 April 2021

Tencent Music

The key stories from the last week in the music business…

Tencent Music Entertainment announced an executive rejig, with CEO Cussion Pang becoming the firm’s Executive Chairman, while Zhu Liang will take over in the Chief Exec role. Liang joins the biggest player in digital music in China from its parent company Tencent, although earlier in his career he was General Manager of one of the company’s streaming services, QQ Music, so already has experience working on the group’s music operations. TME now also operates the Kugou Music, Kuwo Music and WeSing platforms in China, as well as having other music production, distribution and label interests in its home country and beyond. [READ MORE]

It was announced that the trustee of the Fyre Festival bankruptcy had settled a class action lawsuit involving 277 ticketholders. It was one of a plethora of lawsuits filed in the wake of the disastrous 2018 festival. With the Fyre companies bankrupt and the festival’s founder Billy McFarland jailed for fraud, it wasn’t initially clear who would pay out any damages in the various lawsuits, though the Fyre Festival bankruptcy trustee has reclaimed some of the fees paid ahead of the event to artists and influencers. Last week’s deal was in theory a $2 million settlement, although the exact sum each ticket-holder will receive is still to be confirmed. [READ MORE]

The company behind the Triller video-sharing app – now called TrillerNet – announced an executive rejig. Mahi de Silva, previously Non-Executive Chair, becomes CEO following the acquisition of his other business Amplify.ai by the Triller parent company. Previous CEO Mike Lu becomes President, while co-founder Bobby Sarnevesht continues as Executive Chair. The increasingly acquisitive digital firm also announced it had bought sports-centric streaming platform FITE. [READ MORE]

UK media regulator OfCom said it wouldn’t take any action against Capital Xtra over the DJ Tiiny payola scandal. The Global-owned station sacked the DJ earlier this year after he admitted requesting payments from music industry contacts in return for playing records on his show. So called payola is very much against OfCom rules. However, the regulator said that there was only so much a broadcaster could do to enforce that particular rule, and the fact it had taken Tiiny off air so quickly once the scandal was revealed meant that no further action was necessary. [READ MORE]

Live Nation and the livestreaming firm it recently invested in, Veeps, announced it was fitting out 60 US music venues with kit that will make it easier for artists to livestream shows. It confirms Live Nation sees opportunities in the livestreaming space even once the COVID pandemic is over. Venues of a variety of sizes are among those being set up with the tech, with The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles already announcing a series of virtual shows using it next month. [READ MORE]



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