welcome to world music businessweekly roundup – guaranteed to catch up on the 5 biggest stories making headlines over the past 7 days. MBW Roundup is supported by: Centriphelps over 500 of the world's best-selling artists maximize income and reduce touring costs.
This week we had two big pieces of news: universal music group. On Tuesday (March 26), South Korea-based entertainment giant HYBE announced that it has signed an expanded long-term agreement with UMG.
The deal gives UMG exclusive distribution rights to HYBE's music for the next 10 years, and will see UMG invest in and further collaborate with HYBE's global superfan and direct-to-consumer platform, Weverse.
Meanwhile, on Thursday (March 28), UMG announced yet another expansion deal, this time with the audio streaming giant. spotify. The two companies say they will collaborate on „new promotional and social tools“ for his UMG artists on the Spotify platform.
Additionally, new agreements have been concluded. Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) allows Spotify to distribute music videos in the United States.
Also this week, a rapper named Trefuego was ordered by a Texas court to pay more than $800,000 in damages. Sony Music with unauthorized samples in TikTok hits 90mh.
To quote an interview elsewhere: bertelsmann CEO Thomas Raabe financial times newspaper Major European media reported that they are considering merging their music divisions. BMG.
Additionally, the board of directors of a Paris-born music company believe officially invited warner music group Submit a „binding, unconditional, fully funded offer“ to Believe.
HYBE has signed what is called an extended long-term contract with Universal Music Group (UMG).
This agreement gives UMG exclusive rights to distribute HYBE's music for the next 10 years.
The bigger news? The deal will see UMG invest in and further collaborate with his HYBE's global superfan platform, Weverse. (Sources told MBW that UMG has taken a minority stake in Weverse as part of the new partnership.)
According to the companies' announcement on March 26, the partnership will accelerate Weverse's growth in North America…
The biggest music business story so far this year has been Universal Music Group's public feud with social video app TikTok.
But there's another widely used app that has a completely different relationship with UMG, the world's largest music copyright holder. Starting this week, that relationship will get even closer.
UMG has announced the expansion of its “strategic relationship” with Spotify.
Last January, MBW reported the news that Sony Music had filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Trefuego, the rapper behind TikTok's 90mh hit.
Sony Music's lawsuit accuses Trefuego of less than 90mh of „gross and willful infringement“ of both the sound recording and underlying composition of Japanese composer Toshifumi Hinata's 1986 song „Reflections.“ Accused. (sony music entertainment I own the copyright to the sound recording. sony music publishingcopyright covers the song).
As we explained in a report at the time, the track went viral on TikTok. YouTube Spotify has over 170 million streams. As we noted at the time, Sony had a strong case. It's hard to mistake Hinata's track's sped-up key violin motif, looped repeatedly at 90mh.
The outcome of the case has already been decided, and the court said Trefuego must pay compensation. In a judgment handed down in a Texas court on Wednesday (March 27), Trefuego (dantorial Devon Clark-Reinbold) was ordered to pay $802,997.23 in damages to Sony Music.
Is Warner Music Group actually going to launch a $1.8 billion+ tender offer for Believe? You'll know within 13 days.
On Monday (March 25), the Paris-born music company's board of directors formally asked Warner Music Group to submit a „binding, unconditional and fully-funded offer“ for Believe. I was invited to
Believe's board of directors gave WMG just under two weeks to submit a proposal by April 7, 2024.
It comes exactly one month after WMG publicly announced (March 7) that it may be interested in making a bid for Believe…