Creative Industries
Main stories — Week 9, 2023
These are the main stories published in the past week by Creative Industries News:
COPYRIGHT & REGULATION
> US community broadcasters show support for the American Music Fairness Act
> Live Nation pushes for a fair ticketing act
> HITS Act gets reintroduced in Congress
> Egyptian authorities shut down the largest digital piracy ring in the MENA region
> US Copyright Office seeks comments regarding fees for late royalty payments
> Google’s decision to prevent some Canadian users to access news content was ‘a terrible mistake’ said PM Justin Trudeau
> Barbados becomes the 114th country to accedes to WIPO’s Marrakesh Treaty
LITIGATION
> PopArabia and Reservoir sue Anghami
> The Authors Guild welcomes ‘key concessions’ in legal settlement with publisher Authors’ Place Press
CMOs & LICENSING
> CISAC DG Gadi Oron hails ‘progress’ made by Greek music rights society Autodia
> PRS for Music’s new classical music rates for public performances kick in on September 1
> Gaming metaverse start-up Styngr signs licensing deal covering ICE Core repertoire
> Microsoft strikes deal with Nvidia to bring ‘Call of Duty’ to the platform for 10 years
DATA
> Jaxsta acquires social network Vampr
> Amuse launches new Music Insights service
> Audible Magic CEO Vance Ikezoye steps down after 23 years in the job
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
> Lyric Capital Group receives $410m in commitments for its second funding round
> Taylor Swift receives IFPI’s 2022 Global Recording Artist of the Year Award
> The New York Times had 9.6 million paid subscribers at the end of 2022
> HYBE’s revenue grew to €1.28 billion in 2022, a 46% increase year-on-year
> Live Nation revenue went up 44% in 2022 compared to 2019, before the pandemic
DIGITAL ECONOMY
> Susan Wojcicki steps down as YouTube CEO; Neal Mohan to lead the platform
> Spotify launches personalised AI guide DJ
> Worldwide SVoD revenues to exceed $128 billion by 2028, up 25% on 2022
> Audius users can now sign up with TikTok
> Kids aged 4-18 around the world spend more time on TikTok than on YouTube
> Communications Workers of America supports the Microsoft-Activision merger
> Warner Bros Discovery’s subscribers base grew to 96.1 million worldwide in 2022
– TikTok rolls out its Creativity Program
DEALS
– Fish People picks The state51 Conspiracy for the physical and digital distribution of Kate Bush’s recording catalogue
– BMG secures deal to represent George Harrison’s solo recorded works and unites it with his music publishing catalogue
– Reservoir Media acquires Sonny Rollins’ publishing and recorded rights
– Rocking Gorillas sign Jon and Sally Tiven to a global publishing administration deal
– peermusic signs The Stereotypes’ Jonathan Yip and Jeremy Reeves to a global publishing administration deal
– Brad Paisley signs a recording deal with Universal Music Group Nashville
– Warner Chappell Music Korea signs global publishing agreement with production and publishing company MZMC Inc. Korea Co.
– BMG signs Loveless to a recording deal
IN THE NEWS
– Thomas Lee, who served 17 years on the board of Warner Music Group, dies aged 78
– The BPI appoints Ukie’s Jo Twist as its new Chief Executive, effective in July
– Concord promotes 12 staffers to VP and SVP positions across various business areas
– ADA Worldwide appoints Cathy Bauer as Head of Physical Sales & Marketing
– Rob Brown appointed Chief Operating Officer of MPRS Global
– Jewel joins mental health platform Innerworld as co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer
– Wise Music Group has appointed Marcus Wise as Chief Executive Officer for the European region
– British indie publisher Minds on Fire appoints Tom Currie as A&R Manager
INTERVIEWS
In case you missed it, Creative Industries News published recent Q&As with:
– David Israelite (NMPA): ‘The rate setting system is broken and needs to be reformed’
– Robert Singerman (LyricFind/BELEM project)
– Bruno Guez (Revelator)
– Andrea C Martin (PRS for Music)
– Cécile Rap-Veber (SACEM)
– Molly Neuman (Songtrust)
– Jordi Puy (Unison)
– Olivier Chastan (Iconoclast)
– Ken Umezaki (Verifi)
– Paul Pacifico (AIM)
– Spek (PopArabia)
– Merk Mercuriadis (Hipgnosis) (Part 1)
– Merk Mercuriadis (Hipgnosis) (Part 2)
OPINION
In case you missed it, Creative Industries News published recent opinion pieces from:
– Jeff Liebenson (IAEL): ‘Music in the Metaverse — Negotiating Key Issues’
– David Lowery: ‘Why windowing releases works for me’
– Chola Makgamathe (SAMRO): South Africa needs a comprehensive, multifaceted strategy to curb the economic impact of piracy
– Susan Cotchin (Good Neighbour Rights): ‘Australia’s decision to limit the application of Art. 15 of WIPO’s WPPT has impacted Australian artists in a big way’
– Helen Smith (IMPALA): ‘We don’t believe equitable remuneration is equitable at all’
– Jonathan Reichman and Jeremy King (Hunton Andrews Kurth): ‘Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith is an opportunity for US Supreme Court to clarify fair use’
– Kevin Casini: ‘Stakeholders need to take a long-term view with the Copyright Royalty Board’s rate-setting proceedings’
– Barry Scannell (IMRO): ‘Royalty-based NFTs have limited fungibility’
Richard and Ace Burgess launch AudioNumber and Interline Media Group
Reps. Madeleine Dean and Nathaniel Moran introduce the TRAIN Act to protect creators from unauthorised AI training
Kevin Weaver promoted to President of Atlantic Music Group
The MLC plans webinars to show members how to use tools to manage song data
Six takeaways from The MLC’s first annual report for 2021: distributions, membership, matching rates, processed works, historical unmatched works and expenditures
Cécile Rap-Veber (SACEM): ‘We are a solutions provider to create value, a tech company, and we are less and less seen as some sort of cultural institution’
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Collective Management Organisations3 years agoThe MLC plans webinars to show members how to use tools to manage song data
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Collective Management Organisations3 years agoSix takeaways from The MLC’s first annual report for 2021: distributions, membership, matching rates, processed works, historical unmatched works and expenditures
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Collective Management Organisations4 years agoCécile Rap-Veber (SACEM): ‘We are a solutions provider to create value, a tech company, and we are less and less seen as some sort of cultural institution’
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Interview4 years agoOlivier Chastan (Iconoclast): ‘Name, image and likeness will be as important as music rights in the future’