We catch up on this week’s music publishing news, from key deals and signings to new hires, legislation and more.
Deals & Acquisitions
Highvibes Partners With Songtrust With the Goal to Empower One Million African Songwriters, Producers, and Creators by 2030 (Songtrust)
This partnership with Songtrust establishes Highvibes as a multi-tiered option for music rights holders in Africa needing royalty collection on the recording side and now publishing as well.
Triller gets a licensing deal with pan-Euro licensing hub Ice (Music Ally)
“The deal covers Triller from its launch and will support the growing service by licensing it into 160+ territories for rights represented by Ice’s society and publisher rights holders,” announced Ice – the latter group including Concord, Downtown and Peermusic.
Primary Wave and Jason Flom’s Lava Media announce music and podcast partnership (Variety)
Primary Wave Music Publishing and Lava Media have announced a new business relationship that sees Primary Wave making an investment in Lava Media businesses, including the Lava Music and Lava for Good podcasts
One Media iP makes final payment for Philip Wesley catalogue (ShareCast)
“We are delighted to have completed the final part of this transaction, which is our largest intellectual property deal to date,” said chief executive officer Michael Infante.
Signings
Round Hill Music signs Rob Thomas to worldwide publishing deal (MBW)
The multi-Grammy-Award winning artist began his career 25 years ago as frontman and primary composer for multi-platinum international supergroup Matchbox Twenty, a position he still holds today.
Warner Chappell signs global deal with Ashley Walters (Music Week)
The agreement covers Walters’ future works and his back catalogue, including the No.1 smash and seminal UK garage song 21 Seconds by So Solid Crew.
Ozuna Renews Publishing Deal With Kobalt Music (Billboard)
Global superstar Ozuna, who earlier this month debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart with his album, ENOC, has renewed his worldwide publishing agreement with Kobalt.
Lewis Capaldi & Little Mix collaborator Plested renews worldwide deal with Sony/ATV (MBW)
Phil Plested, or “Plested,” is a singer-songwriter based in the UK known for writing some of today’s biggest pop song.
Warner Chappell Music inks worldwide deal with jxdn (MBW)
He has already released three songs since signing to Travis Barker’s DTA Records in May, including Angels & Demons, which has racked up more than 80 million global streams to-date.
Sony/ATV signs worldwide publishing deal for country songwriter Marv Green (Music Week)
The country songwriter, with credits including Wasted by Carrie Underwood, Who I Am With You with Chris Young and I Called Mama by Tim McGraw, has agreed a worldwide deal.
Launches & New Ventures
Twitch Offers Users Rights-Cleared Music With New ‘Soundtrack’ Platform (Billboard)
In lieu of standard music licensing deals, the service is made possible through partnerships with around 30 independent music companies, labels, publishers and aggregators.
Concord launches $10m Impact Investment Initiative focused on underrepresented communities in the music and theater industries (MBW)
Concord has launched a $10 million Impact Investment Initiative to deploy capital into projects, businesses and organizations in the music and theater industries that serve or are led by members of underrepresented and marginalized communities.
Spotify adds video for ‘Written by’ songwriter playlists (Music Ally)
In February this year, Spotify launched a beta ‘Songwriter Pages’ feature offering more visibility for songwriters on its service, including their own profile pages and playlists of recordings of their works. Today, it’s expanding that with video on some of those pages.
UMG Unveils Special Programming, Mentorship Opportunities for Black Creatives & Students (Billboard)
The initiative is the company’s fourth since 2017 celebrating the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.
Finance & Investment
New Funds, Evolving Deals, and a Pandemic-Resilient Catalog Market are Cause for Optimism at the Music Finance Forum (Synchblog)
If anything, the pandemic has bolstered the value of catalogs, while the flow of capital ready to be invested in music assets has not dried out.
‘This Is Where the Action Is’: Hot Publishing Market Should Keep Pace Through 2023 (Billboard)
Low interest means there’s high demand for music publishing scores in the acquisition market. How long can this last?
K-Pop band BTS agency Big Hit prices IPO at top of range in blockbuster offering (Business Insider)
Korea’s Big Hit Entertainment, which manages K-pop idol band BTS, priced its upcoming IPO at the top of its anticipated range and was swamped by investor demand.
Wall Street Analyst Upgrades Spotify, Snap Stock Ratings (Billboard)
Guggenheim Securities analyst Michael Morris on Monday upgraded his stock ratings on Snap and Spotify after “revising our valuation framework for our digital media coverage universe to better reflect comparability with peer companies in the software industry.”
Hirings & Promotions
Ceci Kurzman Elected to Warner Music Group’s Board of Directors (Variety)
Warner Music Group has elected Ceci Kurzman to the company’s Board of Directors, including the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, effective Thursday (October 1).
Former Warner Chappell UK MD Richard Manners rejoins publisher to help spearhead catalog projects (MBW)
Manners, who was Managing Director (MD) of Warner Chappell UK between 1999 and 2016, starts his new role today (October 1) and will be reporting to Shani Gonzales, MD of Warner Chappell Music UK and Head of International A&R.
Royalties & CMOs
CISAC Completes Upgrade of Music Coding System (Billboard)
CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, has centralized the assignment and administration of International Standard Musical Work Codes (ISWC).
YouTube welcomes back music from Danish songwriters, inking new Polaris licensing deal (MBW)
Polaris, the umbrella collection society for the Nordics, has reached a new licensing agreement with YouTube for music used on its service, which means that music by Danish writers should once again become accessible on the service in Denmark.
IMPEL renews admin deal with SACEM (Music Week)
Via its URights management platform, SACEM provides IMPEL with transparent access to data and analysis of usage to provide fair remuneration.
Mechanical Licensing Collective Offers Early Look Into The MLC Portal (Music Row)
An early look at the portal reveals a clean, minimalist aesthetic. Initially, the portal will allow users to register new works, to search for works that may already exist within The MLC’s data, and to edit their own existing works.
Burna Boy signs with SESAC for representation in the US (MBW)
Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and Nigerian pop star Damini “Burna Boy” Ogulu has signed with SESAC Performing Rights for direct US representation, it was announced today.
The inside track on how coronavirus has impacted the royalties business (Music Week)
Top executives have spoken to Music Week about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the royalties business.
An Extended FAQ on the CRB’s Rate Determination Battle (Billboard)
None of the parties involved with the proceeding would comment on the record, but here’s what we know.
Interesting Reads
Writers’ Bloc: Music Licensing in the Age of the Poly-Writer Hit (Synchblog)
The new songwriting craft is fast outpacing the industry frameworks designed to support it. We take a look at how processes and structures are trying – and struggling – to play catch up.
Twitch Licenses Music Now. But the Music Industry Says It’s Skirting the Rules (Rolling Stone)
Industry leaders are concerned that Twitch’s new feature, Soundtrack, may be designed to avoid paying for sync licenses — which generate significant revenue for labels, publishers and artists.
The EU’s Article 17 Is Already Changing the Digital Music Landscape (dot.LA)
A flurry of deals between music copyright owners and a grab bag of online video purveyors may be just the first step in a process that could see “the most important copyright reform since the U.S. passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 22 years ago,” according to one industry observer.
Will Pop Music of the Future Rely on Actual Musicians, or Avatars? (NY Times)
The pandemic has upended how musicians interact with their fans in unprecedented fashion.
John Carpenter’s Halloween Theme was a Staple for Rap Replays and Samples (Micro-Chop)
How Ivan ‘Doc’ Rodriguez, Ice-T, DJ Paul, Juicy J, Mannie Fresh, and countless others took the iconic composer and director’s score from coast to coast.
How BTS and Its ARMY Could Change the Music Industry (Variety)
Big Hit, and the K-pop music business in general, have proved just how much a band, and a company, can prosper through a direct-to-consumer relationship, driven by digital platforms and dedicated apps with lots of behind-the-scenes content that keeps fans emotionally involved.
How A.I. is playing a bigger role in music streaming than you ever imagined (Fortune)
Behind the scenes of some of the most popular music-streaming services, artificial intelligence is hard at work like an automated DJ, deciding which songs listeners will enjoy.
Songwriters Reveal Impact Of Isolation And Stress On Music Content And Process (Forbes)
Billy Seidman, songwriter and author of The Elements of Song Craft, believes that emotionally-charged unique periods in time marked by hope, loss, and high stakes can play a role in song content and longevity.
Music Publishing Job Spotlight
Copyright Team Manager – ICE (Berlin)
You will have an ongoing responsibility to support, develop, coach, drive performance and engage a team of 15-20 Copyright Officers and to ensure that the needs and expectations of our Copyright customers are met.
Sales/Licensing Rep – DL Music (Los Angeles)
LA based DL Music seeks experienced Sales/Licensing Rep for their extensive background instrumental, song, new artist catalogs & original music creative services.
Director of Music Catalog Analysis – Vezt (Los Angeles)
Qualified candidates should have a music publishing or PRO/finance background with experience in valuing music catalogs internationally, across all income streams.
Check out more available positions here or get in touch to post a free job listing.
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