Welcome to Music Business World’s weekly roundup – where we make sure you catch the 5 biggest stories that have made our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s review is supported by China Travel Servicehelping more than 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce touring costs.
The catastrophic wildfires still burning in Los Angeles County have obviously cast a pall over all music industry news this week.
global music business Our condolences go out to all those affected.
In the midst of disaster: The love of Malibu port studioMany superstars have recorded here, but sadly it was destroyed by the Palisades Fire.
Owner Zach Brandon confirmed the news on Instagram yesterday (January 9), writing: “I cried this morning, but not because the Harbor burned down. I cried because I realized how much the Harbor has changed since then. What a place of musical freedom was taken away from the artists who cared so deeply about it… a literal sanctuary and I loved it.
Brandon vowed that his team would “come out of this even stronger,” writing, “Thankfully, the magic our customers have given us can never leave. It’s in the soil, in the In the air, in our souls.
Elsewhere in the music industry this week, we’ve seen breaking news involving Travis Scott, Daniel Ek, Blackstone, Spotify and more.
Here are five of the biggest music industry headlines from the past few days…
Image source: Christian Bertrand/Shutterstock
1) Travis Scott (SZA) Sued Over Alleged Copyright Infringement on 2023 Hit Song “Telekinesis”
2025 is just a week away, and the first blockbuster copyright infringement lawsuit of the year has been filed in a New York court.
Travis Scott, SZA and Future are being sued by RocNation artist Victory Boyd and her publishing company Songs of Glory for allegedly plagiarizing her song “Like The Way It Sounds” for their 2023 hit, according to legal documents obtained by MBW , telekinesis.
“Telekinesis” has been played more than 413 million times on Spotify alone. It was released as part of Scott’s hit, US number one album Utopia (Cactus Jack/Epic Records/Sony Music)…
Shipping to USA/Alami
2) DANIEL EK has cashed out more than $5 billion from Spotify stock so far and deposited another $28 million this week
Spotify CEO and co-founder Daniel Ek has launched another major financial move heading into 2025.
Ek sold another $27.8 million worth of company stock on Wednesday (Jan. 8), continuing a pattern of heavy stock trading.
According to MBW calculations, Ek has received a total of approximately $568 million from SPOT stock sales (including the latest transaction) since first cashing out some Spotify stock in July 2023…
Image source: John Hanson Pye/Shutterstock
3) BLACKSTONE acquires a majority stake in CITRIN COOPERMAN, one of the largest valuation firms in the music industry
It is one of the key valuation and advisory firms in the music industry’s blockbuster M&A market. Now, Citrin Cooperman (CC) has an interesting new owner…and a hefty price tag.
An investment group led by Blackstone has acquired a majority stake in New York-based CC, buying out the company’s previous investor New Mountain Capital.
According to the Financial Times, the deal gives Citrin Cooperman, which bills itself as one of the largest professional services firms in the United States, an enterprise value of more than $2 billion…
Image source: Republic/UMG
4) UK music streaming subscription revenue will increase by 7.8% year-on-year to US$2.58 billion in 2024 – driven by Spotify’s price increase
Last year, the amount of money British consumers spent on music subscriptions grew healthily, with an annual increase of 7.8%.
That’s according to the latest preliminary statistics from the UK Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), whose members include Spotify, Amazon, YouTube and SoundCloud.
According to ERA, spending on music streaming subscriptions will be approximately 2.018 billion pounds ($2.58 billion) in 2024, up from 1.87 billion pounds in 2023.
In monetary terms, this represents an annual increase of £146.4 million.
(A caveat: ERA’s figures are retail dollars, which is how much consumers spend on subscriptions, not wholesale dollars paid to music rights holders. They don’t include revenue from the ad-supported tier.) .. (MBW )
Spotify will premiere concert footage from superstar artist The Weeknd exclusively on its platform this week, as the streaming company expands its video content strategy.
The 45-minute special, titled Billions Club Live with The Weeknd: A Concert Film, will be available exclusively on Spotify for 48 hours starting Tuesday (January 7), before being made available on other platforms .
The 48-hour exclusive window represents Spotify’s first major test of limited-time video content…
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