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.
Early this week we got word of the passing of Quincy Jones, the legendary producer, composer, and exec known for his work with Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, and many other icons. Jones died Sunday night at his home in L.A., at the age of 91.
This was also the week of MBW‘s Music Business UK Awards, which saw Sony Music Publishing Chairman and CEO Jon Platt pick up the inaugural International Executive of the Year award, while Max Lousada, the now-former head of Recorded Music at Warner Music Group, was honored with the Sir George Martin Award.
Lousada’s award was presented by none other than Ed Sheeran, who made a very convincing argument for the importance of “music people” like Lousada, i.e., those who truly recognize talent.
Elsewhere in the music business world, Shamrock Capital, the investment firm best known for buying the rights to Taylor Swift‘s first six albums from Ithaca Holdings, announced it had raised $1.6 billion across two new funds.
Finally, Universal Music Group, ABKCO, and Concord Music Group sued Believe and its subsidiary TuneCore over what the music companies called “industrial-scale copyright infringement” related to “manipulated” audio. Believe and TuneCore said they “strongly refute” the claim and plan to fight in court.
Here’s what happened this week…
1) THE MUSIC BUSINESS UK AWARDS 2024: ALL THE WINNERS
The Music Business UK Awards took place Tuesday (November 5) at the Grand Connaught Rooms in Covent Garden, London.
The UK-focused ceremony, presented by MBW in association with YouTube, recognized and celebrated artistic and industry talent across songwriting, production, record labels, music publishers, talent management, and more.
It all kicked off with a brand new award introduced for 2024, the International Executive of The Year Award, celebrating the 30-year career of Jon Platt, Chairman and CEO of Sony Music Publishing, presented to Platt on stage by British songwriter and producer MNEK.
The prestigious Sir George Martin Award, meanwhile, went to Max Lousada, presented on stage by Ed Sheeran…
Photo: Alex Davison
2) ED SHEERAN’S SPEECH ABOUT MAX LOUSADA IS THE REASON YOU ALL GOT INTO THIS BUSINESS IN THE FIRST PLACE
Max Lousada was honored with the Sir George Martin Award at MBW’s Music Business UK Awards in London Tuesday night.
The award recognizes an executive with a track record of fostering meaningful artist and songwriter relationships who has garnered widespread respect amongst the creative community.
The person presenting Max with that award was Ed Sheeran. What Ed said will go down in music industry lore. It mattered.
3) BELIEVE AND TUNECORE SAY THEY ‘STRONGLY REFUTE’ COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS IN UMG’S $500M LAWSUIT AND ‘WILL FIGHT THEM’
Believe has issued a statement in response to a major copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the company and its subsidiary TuneCore by Universal Music Group, ABKCO, and Concord Music Group.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday (November 4) alleges that Believe has built its business through “industrial-scale copyright infringement” of “the world’s most popular copyrighted recordings.”
In a statement issued to MBW on Tuesday (November 5), a Believe spokesperson said that the company and its subsidiary TuneCore “strongly refute these claims, and the statements made by Universal Music Group and will fight them.”
The complaint was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and focuses in part on the dissemination of so-called ‘manipulated’ audio…
Chutima Chaochaiya/Shutterstock
4) SHAMROCK CAPITAL, THE FIRM THAT BOUGHT TAYLOR SWIFT’S MASTERS, RAISES $1.6BN FOR TWO NEW INVESTMENT FUNDS
Los Angeles-based investment firm Shamrock Capital has raised $1.6 billion across two new funds: the Shamrock Capital Growth Fund VI and Shamrock Capital Clover Fund I.
The Growth VI fund will participate in equity investments of at least $45 million, while Clover I will participate in investments under $45 million.
Shamrock Capital is best known for buying the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums from Ithaca Holdings in November 2020. Sources have since told MBW that the deal cost Shamrock in the region of $405 million.
In January 2023, Billboard reported that Shamrock – alongside Universal Music Group – was one of two buyers of Dr. Dre’s music assets, with around $200 million changing hands in total…
Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock
5) QUINCY JONES, LEGENDARY PRODUCER, COMPOSER AND MUSIC EXECUTIVE, DIES AGED 91
Legendary producer, music executive, and composer Quincy Jones has died, aged 91.
“Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” his family said in a statement issued to the Associated Press.
“And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
The AP reports that Jones died Sunday night (November 3) at his home in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family…
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
