Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
This week we saw a major escalation of the tension between US music publishers and Spotify, which began when Spotify decided to reduce mechanical royalty payments to publishers by declaring its Premium paid subscription to be a “bundled” service.
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) has now sent a strongly-worded letter to Spotify, alleging the streaming service is violating copyright with unlicensed use of lyrics, music videos and podcasts. Spotify responded by calling the letter “a publicity stunt filled with false and misleading claims.”
While publishers fight Spotify, Sony Music Group is fighting AI developers. The company sent a letter to 700 AI companies, plus some streaming platforms, declaring that it’s “opting out” of having its IP used to train AI, and strongly suggesting these AI companies may have already violated its copyrights.
In other Sony news, the company’s publishing division has inked a deal to acquire the complete song catalog of Kevin Parker, the creative force behind Tame Impala.
We also learned this week that users of the Udio AI-driven music-making platform are creating 10 new songs per second(!).
Finally, we got official word from Concord that it’s pulling out of the race to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund, leaving Blackstone as the leading (and only) competitor for HSF.
Here’s what happened this week…
Photo Credit: Diego Thomazini/Shutterstock
1) MUSIC PUBLISHERS THREATEN SPOTIFY WITH LEGAL ACTION OVER LYRICS, PODCASTS, MUSIC VIDEOS
Music publishers appear to be on the verge of suing Spotify, alleging that the platform is infringing their copyrights through the widespread use of unlicensed musical works.
MBW has obtained a sternly worded legal letter from the US-based National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), sent to Spotify Wednesday (May 15) on behalf of NMPA members.
Amongst other things, the letter accuses Spotify of not obtaining licenses for the use of lyrics on its platform. The NMPA demands in its letter that any unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts available on Spotify “be removed from the platform or Spotify will face copyright liability for continued use of these works”.
The conflict comes amid an ongoing dispute between Spotify and NMPA-led publishers over the streaming service’s decision to reduce mechanical royalties by declaring its main Premium paid service a “bundle” under Copyright Royalty Board rules.
Spotify fired back against the NMPA‘s claims of copyright infringement, calling them “a press stunt filled with false and misleading claims”…
Credit: Dabarti CGI/Shutterstock
2) THE TRAIN HAS LEFT THE STATION: AI MUSIC PLATFORM UDIO IS ALREADY SPITTING OUT 10 SONGS A SECOND
Is the music industry really ready for the flood of music made by/with AI that will play out over the course of 2024?
You might have already heard of the astonishing volume of tracks being created on services like Boomy – where 19.5 million songs have been generated to date.
This year’s ‘big noise’, AI-music-wise, has come from two new startups: Suno and Udio, both of which appear to produce music with an obvious, ahem, influence from world-famous copyrighted material.
Udio, whose other investors include will.i.am and UnitedMasters, is attracting significant attention: it’s reported that over 600,000 people tested the platform out in its opening two weeks of public availability.
But that’s not the standout stat from a recent Bloomberg article covering the growth of Udio and Suno. This is: On average, Udio’s users are now creating ten tracks a SECOND on the platform…
3) CONCORD OFFICIALLY PULLS OUT OF HIPGNOSIS SONGS FUND ACQUISITION RACE
Concord has officially pulled out of the bidding war for the assets of Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
The news was announced in a statement to the market on Thursday (May 16), and follows Concord’s initial declaration on May 9 that it wouldn’t be increasing its offer for HSF – leaving global investment giant Blackstone as the frontrunner in the high-stakes takeover battle for HSF.
The bidding war for HSF started in the middle of April, when Concord, via Concord Chorus Ltd, launched an opening bid of $1.40 billion or $1.16 per share, triggering a counteroffer by Blackstone of $1.50 billion.
The bidding war continued until Concord declined to counterbid a Blackstone offer of $1.572 billion, or $1.30 per share…
4) TAME IMPALA’S KEVIN PARKER SELLS COMPLETE SONG CATALOG TO SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING
Sony Music Publishing has acquired the complete song catalog of Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame.
The agreement expands their existing partnership, which began in 2009.
In 2020, SMP signed a publishing deal with Parker to cover worldwide representation of his future songs. The new deal now covers both Parker’s existing collection of songs and his future works, SMP said on Wednesday (May 15).
“The idea of passing on ownership of my songs is one that I don’t think about very lightly, at all. They are the fruit of my blood, sweat and creativity over all the years I’ve been a recording artist and songwriter so far,” said Parker…
5) SONY MUSIC SENDS LETTERS TO 700 AI, MUSIC STREAMING COMPANIES DECLARING IT’S ‘OPTING OUT’ OF AI TRAINING
Sony Music Group (SMG) is in the process of sending out letters to what MBW understands to be 700 AI developers and music streaming services, declaring that it is “opting out” of having its content used in the training of AI.
Any AI developer who wants to use SMG’s content will need explicit permission. The letter, obtained by MBW, also states that these companies may have already violated Sony Music’s copyrights.
“Due to the nature of your operations and published information about your AI systems, we have reason to believe that you and/or your affiliates may already have made unauthorized uses (including TDM [text and data mining]) of SMG Content in relation to the training, development or commercialization of AI systems,” states the letter.
Sony’s declaration went live the same week the company reported $2.50 billion in revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. That number was up 14.7% YoY…
MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.Music Business Worldwide
