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 learned that legendary rock band KISS has sold, well, about as much as they could sell – a song catalog, plus name, image and likeness rights (including face paint designs) – to music investment firm Pophouse Entertainment, for a reported sum upwards of USD $300 million.
Also this week, we got word that French entertainment giant Vivendi is planning to sell its ticketing company, UK-headquartered See Tickets, to Germany’s CTS Eventim.
Meanwhile, Downtown Music Holdings announced the “completion of its integration strategy,” which includes wrapping its indie distributor CD Baby into its Downtown Music division, and the appointment of Pieter van Rijn as CEO of Downtown Music.
Elsewhere, a news report said that Spotify is planning to hike subscription prices again, just nine months after it confirmed its first-ever price hike for Premium subscriptions. And the company announced that Christian Luiga will be joining Spotify as its new CFO.
Finally, the deadline for Warner Music Group to submit a bid for Believe is rapidly approaching; in fact, it’s this Sunday (April 7). In a new column, MBW founder Tim Ingham lists three good reasons why WMG may want to gain control of the France-headquartered digital music company.
Here’s what happened this week…
1) KISS SELLS SONG CATALOG, NAME AND IP TO POPHOUSE, COMPANY BEHIND ABBA VOYAGE, IN $300M DEAL
Legendary rock band KISS are selling their song catalog, plus name, image and likeness rights — including their face paint designs — to music investment firm Pophouse Entertainment.
Pophouse confirmed the deal in a statement obtained by MBW on Thursday (April 4) following reports by Bloomberg and The Associated Press.
While the company did not disclose the size of its investment in KISS, the news outlets reported it to be worth more than USD $300 million.
In addition to KISS’ brand name, song catalog, and intellectual property, the agreement also covers KISS’ artist share of the master recordings and publishing rights…
2) VIVENDI TO SELL SEE TICKETS AND FESTIVAL BUSINESS TO LIVE MUSIC GIANT CTS EVENTIM
In September, Paris-headquartered multinational media giant Vivendi was reported to be in talks with advisers about a potential sale of its live-events ticketing and festivals businesses.
The sale involves two businesses within its Vivendi Village subsidiary: the UK-headquartered See Tickets and Vivendi Village’s festivals division, which operates multiple live events in the UK and Europe.
In December, the Financial Times reported that bids for See Tickets had been submitted by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Germany-headquartered live music giant CTS Eventim.
On Tuesday (April 2), the latter company emerged as the winner in the race to acquire See Tickets. Vivendi announced that it has signed a put option agreement to sell its international ticketing and festival businesses to CTS Eventim…
3) PIETER VAN RIJN NAMED CEO OF DOWNTOWN MUSIC HOLDINGS’ GLOBAL SERVICES UNIT DOWNTOWN MUSIC, AS DIVISION ‘COMPLETES INTEGRATION STRATEGY’ WITH MERGER OF CD BABY OPERATIONS
As part of its long-term plan to focus exclusively on the services sector, Downtown Music Holdings has announced what it calls the “completion of its integration strategy” across its business-to-business and creator-focused businesses into a single operating company.
As part of this integration, the operations of the company’s indie distribution brand CD Baby are merging into its Downtown Music division. The CD Baby brand and platform will remain and Downtown confirms that there will be no staffing changes as a result of the merger.
Also as part of the integration, Pieter van Rijn has been appointed CEO of Downtown Music, reporting into Andrew Bergman, CEO of Downtown Music Holdings. CD Baby President Scott Williams reports into van Rijn.
Based in Amsterdam and New York, van Rijn previously served as the Group President of Downtown Music and as CEO of FUGA, which was acquired by DMH in 2020. He was appointed to the Downtown Music Holdings board in 2023…
4) SPOTIFY TO HIKE PRICES AGAIN, INTRODUCE NEW SUBSCRIPTION TIER (REPORT)
Last year, Spotify raised the price of its Premium service for the first time, ending more than a decade of static prices at the music streaming service.
Now, a new report says more price hikes, and a change to its pricing model, are on the way.
According to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday (April 3), Spotify plans to raise its subscription price in five markets, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan, by the end of April, and will raise prices in the US later this year.
Individual subscription plans will rise by $1 per month, while Duo and Family plans will rise by $2, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
In separate news, the company also announced this week that Christian Luiga will be coming on board as Spotify’s new CFO, replacing Paul Vogel. Luiga is currently the CFO and Deputy CEO at Swedish aerospace and defense giant Saab…
5) 3 REASONS WHY… WARNER MUSIC GROUP MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO BID $1.8 BILLION FOR BELIEVE
Warner Music Group has just a few days to make a formal/binding offer to acquire Believe. After Sunday (April 7), its chance will have gone.
As you read this, WMG’s sharpest minds are poring over “confidential” financial information from Believe in a closed-off ‘data room’ – i.e. stuff you wouldn’t be able to find in public financial reports.
Depending on what they find, Warner could table a bid for Believe worth EUR €17-plus per share – valuing the French company at more than USD $1.8 billion.
This process is a risk for Believe: If WMG ultimately walks away from the ‘data room’ unsatisfied – and declines to make an official approach – Believe will have handed over sensitive material about its business to a clear market rival…
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
