📑 CMU Digest: Spotify hits back at MLC lawsuit + Q2 financial updates
CMU Digest is a weekly round-up of the most interesting music business news stories from the last seven days.…
Martin Shkreli says his copies of single-copy Wu-Tang album are legit and he shouldn’t have to give them up
The ‘Once Upon A Time In Shaolin’ saga continues. The NFT collective that owns the single-copy Wu-Tang album recently went legal after previous owner Martin Shkreli admitted he still has copies of the record. In a new filing Shkreli says his copies are legit and he should be allowed to keep them…
⏩ One Liners: Industry news in brief including deals, appointments and legal from Position Music, Downtown, Primary Wave, Deezer, CIISA + more
Primary Wave x Toto’s Steve Pocaro, Downtown x Lady Blackbird, new Deezer CEO, Italian PRO stats, Philip Glass battles pro-Putin ballet director, Stormzy’s tinted Lambo windows, plus releases & tours news from Aitch, Porter Robinson, Jorja Smith, BABii, Muni Long, Raleigh Ritchie + more…
French and Italian record industries secure new web-blocks
Web-blocking remains an anti-piracy tactic of choice for the music industry. This week the record industries of both Italy and France welcomed the issuing of a number of new web-blocking orders in their respective countries, the Italian ones all targeting stream-ripping…
Lucian Grainge is back on the win-win, but which DSP is off his christmas card list? It’s not hard to guess.
UMG’s Q2 earnings call was an unusually sombre affair, with good reason. With UMG’s market cap dropping by billions of dollars, the major’s CEO Lucian Grainge saw the prospect of his massive bonus turn from a near cert to a distant dream. And all because a couple of DSPs aren’t pulling their weight…
Man jailed for nearly five years after defrauding $3 million from concert organisers eager to book Justin Bieber
Two men pleaded guilty earlier this year to scamming nearly $3 million out of a number of concert promoters by falsely claiming to have booked pop stars like Justin Bieber and Billie Eilish to perform at shows. One of those men has now been sentenced to nearly five years in jail…
⏩ One Liners: Deals, Appointments, Industry News including Warner Chappell, Wise Music Group, Universal earnings + more
Lucian Grainge's massive bonus looks a lot less certain as UMG's share price falls off a cliff. Wise Music signs The Staves, Armada Music partners with Warner and Africori, Kobalt ups Bob Bruderman and Maximilian Kolb leaves BMG…
🎧 Approved: Antony Szmierek
Mancunian poet-turned-artist Antony Szmierek shares stories of love, hope and ambition. His latest release, ‘Rafters’, blends spoken word with stuttering synths and UK garage beats.…
TikTok criticised over missing safety features in its Lite app
A new report from the Mozilla Foundation raises concerns about the TikTok Lite app, claiming that it does not contain many of the safety features found in the main TikTok app, including the labelling of AI-generated content. TikTok says the report is misleading…
Major label trade group criticises Canada’s 5% streaming levy
Music Canada, which represents the major record companies, has issued a statement about the 5% streaming levy being introduced in the country. Whereas the indie labels have welcomed the plan for how that levy will work, Music Canada is critical, calling the levy “staggering” and the plan “outdated”…
It’s “common sense” that audiobooks have “more than token value” says Spotify in MLC lawsuit response letter
Spotify has sent a letter to the court where it has been sued by the MLC in the ongoing dispute over its decision to classify its premium subscription as a music + audiobooks bundle. That centres on whether audiobook access has “more than token value”. Spotify argues that common sense says it does…
Victims of Manchester Arena bombing in court battle with conspiracy theorist
A lawsuit pursued by two victims of the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing against a conspiracy theorist who claims that the terrorist attack was an “elaborate hoax” is in court this week. The man promoting the conspiracy theory is accused of harassment, and breaches of privacy and data protection laws…
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