Hartwig Masuch, the former CEO of BMG, who relaunched Bertelsmann’s music company in 2009, has been appointed Chairman of Swedish music service Hyph. Masuch has joined Hyph in an advisory capacity with immediate effect and will transition to Chairman in April 2026. Hyph was founded by songwriter Andreas Carlsson, who serves as CEO of the company. “Hartwig Masuch is one of the most accomplished global music executives of the past two decades. We are delighted that he is joining us in our mission ...

These are some of the digital music deals that were announced in the past week: Merlin, the digital music licensing society for independent labels and distributors, has signed a partnership with AI-powered music creation platform Udio.  This partnership establishes “a framework for licensing Merlin’s independent members’ repertoire to train AI models while protecting the value of real artistry and ensuring fair compensation.” “As AI develops, it is critical to Merlin that we work with partners w...

200 billion That's the number of daily views of YouTube Shorts, the platform’s short-form video format, according to YouTube CEO Neal Moha, in his annual letter to the YouTube community. In 2026, YouTube will integrate different formats, like image posts, directly into the Shorts feed. $1.70 billion That's the global gross to date of The Walt Disney Studios' animated movie 'Zootopia 2', making it the highest-grossing animated Motion Picture Association (MPA) film of all time, having just su...