From BMI’s personal equity sale to what UMG considers AI and copyright law … it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up

Invite to Music Business Worldwide [309 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/music-business-worldwide-2/”> Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up– where we make certain you captured the 5 most significant stories to strike our headings over the previous 7 days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtripwhich assists over 500 of the world’s very popular artists optimize their earnings and minimize their touring expenses.

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Today saw a seismic shake-up in the United States music rights company, with the statement that efficiency rights company Broadcast Music, Inc (BMI) [296 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/broadcast-music-inc-bmi/”> BMI has actually been offered to personal equity company New Mountain Capital

The price hasn’t been revealed, however BMI did state it would kick $100 million of the sale’s profits to its songwriter and publisher “affiliates”.

Another crucial part of the statement is that CapitalG — aka Google [838 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/google/”> Google/Alphabet’s “independent development fund”– will get a passive minority stake in BMI.

This week, Spotify [3,525 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/spotify/”> Spotify validated information of modifications concerning its payment design in 2024. Amongst the modifications (as MBW initially reported last month) is a brand-new minimum stream limit before any track begins producing royalties on the platform.

In our MBW Explains series, we ask why Sony Music Entertainment [1,518 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/sony/sony-music-group/sony-music-entertainment/”> Sony Music Entertainment is the just one of the 3 significant recording business that hasn’t registered to YouTube [1,668 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/youtube/”> YouTube’s Dream Track experiment, which utilizes AI to make it possible for developers to clone the vocals of super star artistsIn other places, MBW reported on Universal Music Group [3,269 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/universal-music-group/”> Universal Music Group’s submission to the United States Copyright Office‘s notification of questions about copyright and AI

A brand-new report from United States market screen Luminatecommissioned by TikTokdiscovered that 62% of TikTok users in the United States spend for a music streaming membership, compared to 43% of all customers.

Here’s what occurred today …

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1) BMI SELLS TO NEW MOUNTAIN CAPITAL-LED GROUP; GOOGLE/ALPHABET FUND TO ACQUIRE MINORITY STAKE IN PRO; $100M HANDED TO PUBLISHERS AND SONGWRITERS

For a long time we’ve understood that personal equity company New Mountain Capital (NMC) — majority-owner of music biz valuer Citrin Cooperman — has actually remained in speak to obtain BMINow it appears like a done offer.

NMC, which has more than USD $45 billion in properties under management, validated on Tuesday (November 21) that it will “lead an investor group” to get a bulk stake in BMI

The most unexpected part of BMI’s main statement today? NMC’s ‘investor group’ consists of an arm of Google moms and dad Alphabet. CapitalG — aka Google/Alphabet’s “independent development fund”– will get a passive minority stake in the PRO.

In addition, BMI’s present investors will assign $100 million of the profits of the proposed sale to songwriter, author and publisher affiliates “in acknowledgment of [their] imagination” quickly after the deal closes …

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2) SPOTIFY CONFIRMS DETAILS OF HOW ITS ROYALTY MODEL WILL CHANGE IN 2024

MBW broke the news last month that significant modifications were pertaining to Spotify’s royalty design in Q1 2024. Now Spotify has validated exactly what those modifications are.

The music streaming business has actually released a brand-new post on Spotify for Artists presenting what it calls “brand-new policies to much better support those most depending on streaming profits as part of their income”.

Spotify’s brand-new policies intend to deal with 3 core concerns: (1) To “even more prevent synthetic streaming; (2) To “much better disperse little payments that aren’t reaching artists”; and (3) “control those trying to video game the system with sound”

The streaming business declares that by dealing with these concerns, it will have the ability to drive “an extra $1 billion in earnings towards emerging and expert artists over the next 5 years”…

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3) SONY MUSIC’S ARTISTS AREN’T INVOLVED IN YOUTUBE’S NEW VOICE-CLONING AI EXPERIMENT. NOT UNRELATED: GOOGLE’S RECENT FILING WITH THE United States COPYRIGHT OFFICE.

On November 16, YouTube revealed an innovative brand-new experiment–‘Dream Track— making it possible for developers to clone the vocals, by means of AI tech and with the main authorization of widely known stars.

Something obvious is missing out on: any recommendation whatsoever from the world’s second-biggest recording business, Sony Music Entertainmentor its artists.

Sources near Sony [1,844 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/sony/”> Sony Music’s HQ in New York have actually recommended to MBW that the business is taking an “artist-led” method to its explores any AI platform that can control the work (or voice) of its lineup.

When it comes to YouTube’s ‘Dream TrackMBW comprehends, SME Provided the chance to take part to a number of its artists, however this group did not reveal interest about taking part …

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4. WHAT UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP REALLY THINKS ABOUT GENERATIVE AI AND COPYRIGHT LAW …

Universal Music Group has actually been among the most outspoken supporters for the defense of copyright amidst the expansion of AI-powered voice-mimickingand tune, chord and lyric-generating innovation this year.

Just recently, UMG sent a written reaction to the United States Copyright Office‘s Notice of Inquiry worrying expert system and copyright.

In the submission, UMG specified that training AI utilizing unlicensed tunes and recordings is”anything however reasonable usage; that is is”adamantly opposed to an opt-out systemfor training AI designs on copyrighted material; which it is”eager to check out licensing material to generative AI business”…

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5. 62% OF TIKTOK USERS IN THE UNITED STATES PAY FOR A MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE (REPORT)

A brand-new market analysis sheds some light on why ByteDance [213 articles]href=”https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/companies/bytedance/”> ByteDance-owned brief video platform TikTok has actually focused so extremely on broadening its services in the music world, with the company reporting to be a significant motorist of music intake and costs

According to the analysis, commissioned by TikTok and performed by United States market screen Luminate 62% of United States TikTok users spend for a music streaming servicecompared to 43% of all customers.

Consisting of both paid and ad-supported streaming services, approximately 9 out of 10 TikTok users in each market studied utilized a minimum of one music streaming service.

In the United States, 89% of TikTok users signed up for a minimum of one music streaming service, compared to 74% of total customers, while in the UK, 85% of TikTok users had a streaming service account, compared to 62% of customers in general.

The analysis discovered that TikTok users are likewise bigger spenders on music off-platform. By broad margins, they are most likely to purchase merch and participate in live programs than the typical customer …

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MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which assists over 500 of the world’s very popular artists increase their earnings and lower their touring expenses.
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