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.
The major record companies – Sony, Universal, and Warner – are taking on US telecom giant Verizon over its alleged enabling of widespread music piracy on its networks. Given the scale of the alleged illicit file-sharing, the company could be on the hook for up to $2.6 billion in damages.
This week saw a slew of new and ongoing acquisitions, the most significant of which may be Warner Music Brazil taking a minority stake in Sua Música Group, which claims to own the largest entertainment platform focused on regional music in Brazil.
Meanwhile, L.A.-based Shamrock Capital has acquired a portfolio of music rights from Vine Alternative Investments Group. The deal includes 450 songs, 550 feature films and 2,000 hours of TV from Vine.
Meanwhile, Sony‘s acquisition of the recording and publishing catalog of legendary rock band Queen is getting ever closer to becoming official, with regulatory filings in the UK showing the band’s surviving members are no longer directors of Queen Productions Limited.
Finally, dramatic news out of South Korea, where prosecutors have filed a request for the arrest of Kim Beom-su, the billionaire founder of Kakao Corp., alleging that Kim was part of a plot to inflate the stock price of SM Entertainment, in order to push HYBE out of a bidding war for the K-pop agency last year.
Here’s what happened this week…
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1) RECORD LABELS HAVE SENT ‘HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS’ OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT NOTICES TO VERIZON. NOW THEY’RE SUING THE INTERNET PROVIDER FOR OVER $2BN
Multiple record companies have sued US-based internet service provider Verizon for alleged “massive copyright infringement committed by tens of thousands of its subscribers”.
The parties named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit include all three major record companies, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, plus ABKCO MUSIC. The lawsuit was filed on Friday (July 12) in New York.
Verizon is one of the largest internet service providers in the US. The company generated $134 billion in 2023, and as of March 31, counted 114.8 million subscribers.
The labels are suing Verizon for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement…
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2) SONY MUSIC IS IN THE PROCESS OF TAKING CONTROL OF QUEEN’S UK-BASED COMPANIES
Sony Music’s landmark Queen catalog acquisition is getting closer and closer to becoming ‘official’.
According to reports over the past few weeks, Sony Music Group has agreed to acquire the catalog of the legendary rock band in a deal reportedly worth approximately GBP £1 billion (USD $1.27 billion at current exchange rates).
At the £1 billion price tag, the transaction will become the biggest artist catalog deal in music history.
Sony Music hasn’t confirmed the reports, but we can now show you the clearest evidence yet that Sony Music is in the process of taking control of Queen’s assets.
According to filings publicly available on the UK’s Companies House, and reviewed by MBW, Queen’s surviving ‘Classic’ band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon are no longer directors of Queen Productions Limited…
3) WARNER ACQUIRES MINORITY STAKE IN BRAZIL-BASED UGC MUSIC PLATFORM AND DISTRIBUTOR SUA MÚSICA
Warner Music Brazil has invested in Sua Música Group, which claims to own the largest entertainment platform focused on regional music in Brazil.
According to a press release, this investment will see Warner Music partner with Sua Música and “combine [e] their efforts to develop regional artists and songwriters.”
The value of the investment has not been disclosed, but MBW understands that Warner Music has acquired a minority stake in the company.
In 2021, Sua Música was reported to be raising R$50 million (approx USD $9m) at a R$200 million ($36m) valuation in order to scale the company…
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4) SHAMROCK BUYS RIGHTS PORTFOLIO FROM VINE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS – INCLUDING 150+ CALVIN HARRIS SONGS
Los Angeles-based investment firm Shamrock Capital has acquired a portfolio of film, television, and music rights from Vine Alternative Investments Group.
Long-time MBW readers will remember Vine as the company that acquired a catalog of more than 150 songs from Grammy award-winning and multi-platinum-selling producer, songwriter, and DJ Calvin Harris in 2020. MBW sources have suggested that Vine paid in the region of $105 million for Harris’s song portfolio.
In total, the portfolio of rights acquired by Shamrock from Vine – including that Calvin Harris catalog – delivers Shamrock ownership interest in more than 550 feature films, over 2,000 hours of television programming and over 450 songs…
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5) KAKAO’S BILLIONAIRE FOUNDER FACES ARREST OVER ALLEGED MANIPULATION OF SM ENTERTAINMENT STOCK PRICE
Last year’s bitter, high-profile battle between K-pop giant HYBE and South Korean telecom Kakao Corp. over control of SM Entertainment has led to fallout that few could have seen coming at the time.
In the saga’s latest chapter, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office filed a request on Wednesday for an arrest warrant for Kim Beom-su, the billionaire founder of Kakao Corp., whose entertainment division now controls SM Entertainment.
Prosecutors assert that Kim violated South Korea’s Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act through his purported involvement in a plot to illegally manipulate the stock price of SM Entertainment, in order to push HYBE out of the bidding for the K-pop agency…
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
