Sam Taylor - CMU | the music business explained (Page 10)

Spotify CEO slams Apple in earnings calls and hints at more job cuts

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Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify CEO slams Apple in earnings calls and hints at more job cuts

As Spotify releases its earnings for Q4 2023 - which show the company lost €446 million in 2023 - CEO Daniel Ek criticised Apple’s approach to implementing the EU Digital Markets Act and warned that there may be more job cuts coming.…

Sam Taylor • 06 Feb 2024

Dodgy distributor 3tone has lost its ability to distribute music

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3tone • 3 min read

Dodgy distributor 3tone has lost its ability to distribute music

To lose one distribution partner in a week may be regarded as misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness. As 3tone looks to be entering the end game, questions remain for the industry about how it was able to operate for so long…

Sam Taylor • 02 Feb 2024

Universal Music is going to war with TikTok, accusing the social media giant of bullying and intimidation

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Universal Music • 4 min read

Universal Music is going to war with TikTok, accusing the social media giant of bullying and intimidation

After using its power and influence to force through changes to how streaming platforms pay for music, Universal Music - the biggest music company in the world - has set its sights on TikTok, which it accuses of “bullying and intimidation” in licensing negotiations.…

Sam Taylor • 31 Jan 2024

Spotify uses EU Digital Market Act blog post to take potshots at Apple, announces superfan clubs

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Spotify • 5 min read

Spotify uses EU Digital Market Act blog post to take potshots at Apple, announces superfan clubs

Spotify is fighting the good fight! Apple is a meanie! The DMA means we can spam everyone! In its latest blog post, Spotify heralds the DMA as a “huge opportunity” for Spotify. And maybe - just maybe - it offers “good things” for artists and labels too…

Sam Taylor • 25 Jan 2024

Hipgnosis Song Management “cherry picked assets” for proposed sale to Blackstone says latest briefing from Hipgnosis Songs Fund

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Hipgnosis • 5 min read

Hipgnosis Song Management “cherry picked assets” for proposed sale to Blackstone says latest briefing from Hipgnosis Songs Fund

There comes a point where there should be rules about giving three companies near-identical names. There’s more Hipgnosis-Hipgnosis-Hipgnosis drama with memos flying and allegations ramping up…

Sam Taylor • 24 Jan 2024

CMU Exclusive: Apple Music’s “spatial audio bonus” will favour major labels at the expense of small labels and creators

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Apple • 3 min read

CMU Exclusive: Apple Music’s “spatial audio bonus” will favour major labels at the expense of small labels and creators

Apple’s 10% 'bonus' operates at distributor level, not track, artist or label level - and creating Spatial Audio has significant costs. Major labels will definitely benefit - but whether independent labels and creators will is another question entirely.…

Sam Taylor • 23 Jan 2024

Lyric regurgitation: can we make Anthropic’s Claude write American Pie?

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Artificial Intelligence • 6 min read

Lyric regurgitation: can we make Anthropic’s Claude write American Pie?

Anthropic says ‘lyric regurgitation’ is a bug, and it’s put safeguards in place to prevent it happening. In October we got Anthropic’s chatbot Claude to regurgitate key lyrics from ‘American Pie’. Three months later, it’s still doing it…

Sam Taylor • 22 Jan 2024

DEAG to re-list shares on Frankfurt exchange and raise €50 million for live industry shopping spree

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DEAG • 2 min read

DEAG to re-list shares on Frankfurt exchange and raise €50 million for live industry shopping spree

DEAG - having gone private during COVID - is set to re-list its shares as a public company on the Frankfurt stock exchange to raise money for “five to eight” acquisitions a year…

Sam Taylor • 22 Jan 2024

Hipgnosis war of words ramps up with Extraordinary General Meeting proposal for £20 million "bung"

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Hipgnosis • 4 min read

Hipgnosis war of words ramps up with Extraordinary General Meeting proposal for £20 million "bung"

Stand off between Hipgnosis Songs Fund and Hipgnosis Song Management continues with new board calling for EGM and offering £20 million to anyone who might want to buy the company…

Sam Taylor • 19 Jan 2024

MLC planning massive audit of all streaming services - but it’s not as dramatic as it sounds. Yet.

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MLC • 2 min read

MLC planning massive audit of all streaming services - but it’s not as dramatic as it sounds. Yet.

The MLC in the US has announced it will audit streaming services, including those run by Spotify, Apple, Amazon and YouTube - the collecting society has the right to undertake audits under the compulsory licence it administers…

Sam Taylor • 19 Jan 2024

Utopia Music has a new CEO. Again. In fact, it's now got three CEOs.

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Utopia Music • 4 min read

Utopia Music has a new CEO. Again. In fact, it's now got three CEOs.

Another day, another Utopia CEO. Michael Stebler, leader of Utopia's Christmas Coup, is now Utopia's Group CEO - with most recent CEO Alain Couttolenc moved sideways and downwards. It's like musical snakes and ladders.…

Sam Taylor • 12 Jan 2024

India’s streaming growth explodes to hit over one trillion streams, Gen Z pull back on streaming subscription spend

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Music Data • 8 min read

India’s streaming growth explodes to hit over one trillion streams, Gen Z pull back on streaming subscription spend

In 2023 83% of the global streaming catalogue failed to reach the new thousand stream ‘artist-centric’ threshold, while India saw exponential growth in stream volumes. Read CMU’s expert analysis of the numbers.…

Sam Taylor • 11 Jan 2024