Spotify earned for another year the status of "highest-paying retailer globally" with over $11 billion distributed to rights owners in 2025, up by more than 10% year-over-year, according to the streaming services' latest Loud&Clear posting. Spotify accounts for about 30% of global recorded music revenue, up from less than 15% in 2017.

(Source: Spotify)

Since its launch in 2006, the Swedish platform has paid out nearly $70bn to rights holders. Spotify claims that these payouts "aren’t conc...

Swedish composer Alfons Karabuda has joined the board of MusicDataLabs Sweden, the company behind Servo.music, the synch licensing platform created by Max Flach and Greger Hagelin. Karabuda is the Honorary President of the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA), Chair of the Polar Music Prize Award Committee, and former President of the International Music Council and music rights society Skap. “As much as I enjoy speaking my mind, words alone have only ever interested me when they lea...

Fintech platform beatBread has appointed Christine Barnum as Head of Financial Operations, Michael Poole as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Jameson Toole as Board Advisor on AI and Machine Learning. Each executive will serve as fractional leaders, bringing "deep expertise across music operations, structured finance, and technology."  beatBread said the appointments underscore the platform’s “commitment to pairing industry credibility with financial and technical rigor as the company continues ...