Creative Industries
Main stories — Week 16, 2023
Here’s a list of the main stories published this past week by Creative Industries News:
LEAD STORY
> Senator Bargeton advises France’s government to introduce a 1.75% tax on DSPs to finance the National Music Center
> Analysis: The French proposal to tax DSPs to subsidise creation opens a debate about DSPs’ contributions but misses the target
COPYRIGHT & REGULATION
> The UK’s competition authority CMA rejects Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard
> European Commissioner Thierry Breton rolls out the next steps for EU’s legislation applied to digital platforms
> Italy’s competition authority AGCM orders Meta to resume negotiations with SIAE
> Spotify’s Daniel Ek urges Congress to pass the Open App Markets Act
LITIGATION
> Members of The Gap Band withdraw their legal case over unpaid royalties against BMG
> Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt file motions to dismiss in AI-related case
CMOs & LICENSING
> PRS for Music reports record revenues of £964 million in 2022, up 22.9% over 2021
> Indian organisations representing owners of sound recordings and performers sign ‘historic agreement’ on music rights
> Motion Picture Licensing Corporation and the Association of Lodging Professionals ink partnership on educational outreach
> Live365 seals blanket licensing agreement for Global Music Rights’ repertoire
DATA
> SoundExchange signs partnership with Music Story to improve metadata accuracy
> PRS for Music partners with Orfium to develop its footprint in Africa
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
> IMPALA calls for a change in how music streaming revenue is split to address the erosion of the share going to labels
> Universal Music Group posted revenues of €2.45bn for Q1 2023, up 11.5% y-o-y
> Armada Music has launchedBEAT, a new investment company backed by Pinnacle Financial Partners
> Primary Wave Music invests in India’s label and music publisher Times Music
> Concord names John Minch to an advocacy role and promotes Jeff Van Driel to General Manager of International Operations
> BMG to integrate its new release and catalogue recordings businesses
DIGITAL ECONOMY
> Spotify added 26 million new users in Q1 2023 to reach 515 million MAUs
> Magroove raises $1.6 million from Brazilian venture capital fund DOMO Invest
> Deezer posts a 6.5% increase in revenue in Q1 2023 boosted by B2C performance
> Livestreaming and fan engagement platform Mandolin shuts down
> Deezer’s partnership with Sonos kicks in
DEALS
– AMR Songs signs Ivan Neville to an exclusive, worldwide co-publishing deal
– Reservoir Media and 19 Entertainment set up a new joint venture to sign ‘American Idol’ contestants to publishing deals
– Hipgnosis Song Management has acquired the writer’s share of performance income for all songs written by David Foster
– The Wave Music Group signs long-term distribution deal with Capitol Music Group
– Reach Music Publishing acquires from Gull Entertainments the master and publishing rights of Judas Priest’s first two albums
– Position Music signs Sam Tinnesz to a global publishing agreement
– Concord Music Publishing ANZ has signed Richard Clapton to a new global publishing deal
IN THE NEWS
– IDOL taps Nashville-based Thomas Sharp Maxwell as General Manager, USA
– Sony Music US Latin promotes Miami-based Esteban Geller to General Manager
– ASCAP names Gabriela González as SVP, International Affairs and Latin Membership
– Discogs names Lloyd Starr as COO
– SoundExchange strengthens its management team with Kathleen Strouse, Doug Cohn and Amanda Carmichael
– The Orchard promotes Tricia Arnold to EVP, Global Artist/Label Services and Sales
– NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell steps down
– Leslie DiPiero named President of Jonas Group Entertainment’s publishing division
– Warner Chappell Music promotes Claire McAuley to EVP Global Rights Management
– Leroy Harris promoted to Head of Marketing at Spotify UK and Ireland
– BMG promotes Heath Johns to President for Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia
INTERVIEWS
In case you missed it, Creative Industries News published recent Q&As with:
– Matteo Fedeli (SIAE): ‘Some big shots in California have decided how much our repertoire is worth’
– 3 questions to Chris McMurtry (Pex): ‘Apple Music Classical is a game changer’
– 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:
– Markus Schwarzer (Cyanite): ‘Music making machines — How AI is empowering, not undermining, the music industry’
– 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’
Record labels and Spotify slap Anna’s Archive with copyright infringement lawsuit for scrapping 86 million music files
European Commission agrees on the proposed Digital Networks Act (DNA)
Merlin inks partnership with Pipeline
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’