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, the music business news cycle was dominated by litigation news. The music publishers suing AI firm Anthropic for allegedly copying lyrics without authorization responded to Anthropic’s motion to dismiss, saying the AI firm just wants to “stall” the case “as much as possible.”
Meanwhile, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson has been sued by Associated Production Music – which claims a catalog of 1 million tracks and is co-owned by Sony and Universal‘s publishing arms – for “rampant” copyright infringement in its social media promo videos.
In other courtroom news, US performance rights org BMI has filed a petition in a New York court to determine the license fees to be paid by SiriusXM, the culmination of a long-running disagreement over the appropriate payments to be made by the satellite radio giant.
There was also news this week on the M&A front, with MBW uncovering a USD $25-million purchase of a 51% stake in an unknown company by K-pop giant HYBE.
Meanwhile, Concord Music Group‘s recordings division announced the merger of Concord Records and Fantasy Records under the Concord Records brand, with the entity to be run by Co-Presidents Margi Cheske and Mark Williams.
Here’s what happened this week…
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1) UNIVERSAL, CONCORD AND ABKCO SLAM ANTHROPIC’S MOTION TO DISMISS, SAY AI COMPANY IS TRYING TO ‘STALL’ COPYRIGHT CASE
The music publishers who sued AI developer Anthropic last year for allegedly infringing the copyrights on song lyrics have asked a US federal court to reject Anthropic’s request to dismiss much of the case against it.
“Anthropic’s defense of this case so far has been to stall as much as possible, mischaracterize the facts alleged in publishers’ complaint… and misstate the law,” lawyers for Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO wrote in a response to Anthropic’s motion to dismiss.
Anthropic last month filed a motion with the US District Court for the Northern District of California to have a large part of the copyright infringement case against it dismissed, which, if granted, would eliminate three of the four charges brought against it.
Anthropic asked the court to eliminate the charges of contributory infringement, vicarious infringement, and “removal or alteration of copyright management information,” a violation of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)…
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2) PHARMA GIANT JOHNSON & JOHNSON SUED FOR ALLEGED ‘RAMPANT’ COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT BY SONY AND UNIVERSAL-OWNED PRODUCTION MUSIC FIRM APM MUSIC
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has been sued for alleged ‘rampant’ copyright infringement.
In its lawsuit, filed in a California court on Thursday (September 5), prominent US production music house Associated Production Music (APM) claimed that Johnson & Johnson has been using its music in promotional videos posted to YouTube and Facebook without permission.
APM holds a catalog of more than 1 million tracks. The company says in the lawsuit and on its website that its catalog consists of multiple “diverse and in-demand production music libraries”, including KPM Music, Bruton, Sonoton, Cezame, and Kosinus.
The company is jointly owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group (neither of which are named as plaintiffs in the suit)…
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3) BMI FILES RATE COURT ACTION AGAINST SIRIUSXM
US performance rights organization BMI has filed a rate court action against SiriusXM to determine what it says are “fair and appropriate fees for a license” with the satellite radio service.
In the petition, filed in a New York court on Thursday (September 12) and obtained by MBW, BMI notes that it licenses the public performance rights in the United States of over 22.4 million songs and compositions.
The PRO explains further that, in May 2023, it quoted to Sirius XM “the fee and principal terms BMI deemed reasonable” for a BMI license for the period January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2026.
However, BMI and SiriusXM “have been unable to agree to final terms”, the filing added…
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4) HYBE BUYS 51% STAKE IN MYSTERY COMPANY FOR $25M
According to regulatory filings, HYBE recently spent USD $25 million to acquire a 51% stake in an unknown company.
In HYBE’s semi-annual report, in a section dedicated to events that “occurred after the date of writing”, it was reported that the “consolidated company entered into an agreement to acquire shares of another corporation for USD 25 million on August 1, 2024.”
This section of the regulatory filing added that, “through this transaction, the consolidated company’s [HYBE’s] shareholding is 51%, and it is scheduled to be incorporated as a subsidiary in the third quarter.”
HYBE’s swooping for a majority stake in the mystery firm follows a trend of M&A deals struck by the K-Pop giant as it expands globally and into various verticals other than music…
5) CONCORD LABEL GROUP MERGES FANTASY RECORDS WITH CONCORD RECORDS; COMBINED BRAND LED BY CO-PRESIDENTS MARGI CHESKE AND MARK WILLIAMS
Concord Label Group, the recorded music division of US-headquartered music company Concord, has announced a significant change to its active label line-up.
The company’s Concord Records and Fantasy Records brands have been merged under the unified Concord Records banner, led by Co-Presidents Margi Cheske and Mark Williams.
Cheske and Williams are based in Los Angeles and report to Tom Becci, who was appointed last year to the newly created role of Concord Label Group Chief Executive.
A new logo has also been unveiled for the new iteration of the Concord Records label…
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
