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.
This week, we saw a significant escalation in tensions between music publishers and music distributors in the United States. Spotifyit all started when Spotify decided Reduce machinery usage costs Announce to publishers that their premium paid subscription is a “bundled” service.
this national music publishers association (State Drug Administration) has now sent a strongly worded letter to Spotify, accusing the streaming service of copyright infringement by using lyrics, music videos and podcasts without permission. Spotify responded by calling the letter a “publicity stunt filled with false and misleading claims.”
As publishers fight Spotify, Sony Music Group The fight is on with AI developers.The company sent a copy A letter to 700 artificial intelligence companiesplus some streaming media platforms, declared that they “opt out” of using their IP for training AI, and strongly recommended that these AI companies may have infringed its copyright.
In other Sony news, the company’s publishing arm has signed a deal to acquire Sony’s complete song catalog. Kevin Parkerthe creativity behind Taming Impala.
This week we also learned that share Artificial Intelligence-driven music production platform is being created 10 new songs per second(!).
Finally, we got the official news harmony It’s exiting the takeover race Hipgnosis Song Fund,leave black stone As HSF’s leading (and only) competitor.
Here’s what happened this week…
Image source: Diego Thomazini/Shutterstock
1) Music publishers threaten Spotify with legal action over lyrics, podcasts, music videos
Music publishers appear to be on the verge of prosecution Spotifyclaiming that the platform is infringe their copyright Through widespread use of unlicensed musical works.
MBW has obtained a scathing legal letter from a U.S. company national music publishers association (State Drug Administration), sent to Spotify on Wednesday (May 15) on behalf of NMPA members.
Among other things, the letter accuses Spotify of not getting permission to use the lyrics on its platform. In the letter, the NMPA requested that any unlicensed lyrics, music videos and podcasts available on Spotify “be removed from the platform, otherwise Spotify will face copyright liability for the continued use of these works.”
The clash comes amid an ongoing dispute between Spotify and publishers led by the NMPA over the streaming service’s decision to declare its main paid service a “bundle” under the Copyright Royalty Board’s rules in a bid to reduce mechanical costs. usage fee.
Spotify has fired back at the NMPA’s copyright infringement accusations, calling it a “news stunt filled with false and misleading accusations”…
Image source: Dabarti CGI/Shutterstock
2) The train has left the station: AI music platform UDIO has spit out 10 songs per second
Is the music industry really ready for the flood of music created by artificial intelligence in 2024?
You may have heard of it in things like Bumi – Where 19.5 million Songs generated so far.
This year’s “big noise” in artificial intelligence music comes from two new startups: sun and shareboth produce music that seems to be clearly influenced by world-famous copyrighted material.
Other investors in Udio include William and United Mastersis attracting widespread attention: it is reported that more than 600000 People tested the platform within two weeks of its public release.
But that wasn’t the most eye-catching statistic in a recent Bloomberg article about Udio and Suno’s growth.Here it is: On average, Udio users are creating Ten tracks in one second On the platform…
3) CONCORD officially withdraws from the HIPGNOSIS SONGS fund acquisition competition
harmony Officially withdrawing from asset bidding war Hipgnosis Song Fund.
The news was announced in a statement to the market on Thursday (May 16), following Concord’s first statement on May 9 that it would not increase its takeover bid for HSF – leaving the global investment giant black stone As the frontrunner in HSF’s high-stakes takeover battle.
HSF’s bidding war began in mid-April when Concord passed Concord Choir Ltd.initiated an opening auction $1.4 billion or $1.16 per sharetriggering Blackstone’s counteroffer US$1.5 billion.
The bidding war continued until Concord refused to counter-bid Blackstone’s takeover bid. $1.572 billionor $1.30 per share…
4) TAME IMPALA’s KEVIN PARKER sells complete song catalog to Sony Music Publishing
Sony Music Publishing Acquired Australian singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist’s complete song catalog Kevin Parker of Taming Impala reputation.
The agreement expands an existing relationship that began in 2009.
In 2020, SMP signed a publishing deal with Parker, covering the global distribution of his future songs. SMP said on Wednesday (May 15) that the new deal now covers Parker’s existing songbook and his future work.
“I do not take lightly the idea of transferring ownership of my songs at all. They are the culmination of my many years of blood, sweat and creativity as a recording artist and songwriter,” Parker said…
5) Sony Music sent a letter to 700 artificial intelligence and music streaming companies, announcing its “opt-out” of artificial intelligence training
Sony Music Group (submachine gun) is sending a letter to someone understood by MBW 700 AI developers and music streaming service, claiming it is "opt out” Use its content for the training of artificial intelligence.
Any AI developer who wants to use SMG content needs explicit authorization. The letter, obtained by MBW, also states that the companies may have infringed Sony Music’s copyrights.
“Due to the nature of your operations and the published information about your artificial intelligence systems, we have reason to believe that you and/or your affiliates may have made unauthorized uses (including TDM [text and data mining]) SMG content related to the training, development or commercialization of artificial intelligence systems,” the letter reads.
Sony’s announcement comes the same week the company reports US$2.5 billion Revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. Annual increase of 14.7%…
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