Blog: music rights

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

TikTok’s music master plan is coming into focus

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jun 2024

TikTok

Social media

music consumption

Oh how the tables have turned. Just a few months removed from its very public clash with Universal Music Group over music licences, TikTok is reportedly looking to buy up music rights of its own. Not only would this ease TikTok’s reliance on licences, but it would also presumably allow TikTok to prioritise its owned content in the algorithm, and do what music executives have been tearing their hair out trying to for years: reverse-engineer viral moments.

min read

AI, music rights, and known unknowns

Mark Mulligan

31 Aug 2023

Music AI

artificial intelligence

The music industry is approaching a tipping point, with the building blocks of what will be the post-streaming era beginning to fall into place.The streaming era will make way for something new. Innovation, disruption, and change will define the coming years, with AI, fandom, and the creator economy centre stage.

min read

You can play Snoop Dogg in Call of Duty, but you can’t PLAY him

Karol Severin

21 Apr 2022

Snoop Dogg

Call of Duty

Warzone

Call of Duty dropped the ‘Tracer Pack: Snoop Dogg Operator Bundle’, costing 2,400 COD Points ($19.99). It comes with Snoop’s playable skin, his own voice lines and progression path towards unlockable weapons and rewards including sprays, stickers, emblem, weapon charms and four operator outfits etc.

min read

Music artists are startups, and Silicon Valley is knocking

Tatiana Cirisano

15 Feb 2022

music industry

music investment

music rights

Music artists are startups, and Silicon Valley is knocking With big-name catalogue sales at one end, and alternative music funding at the other, the music and finance businesses are increasingly intertwined.

min read

Middle East’s ESMAA points the way for music rights in emerging markets

Srishti Das

20 Aug 2021

music rights

emerging markets

ESMAA

The importance of emerging markets for the next growth story in the music industry is resulting in labels and streaming services prioritising growth in these territories. In addition to resolving the industries growth problem, these new markets are going to change the superstar business.

min read

The productisation of music rights

Mark Mulligan

4 Jun 2021

music rights

music catalogues

music catalogue acquisitions

News that New York-based Pershing Square Tontine Holdings is planning to acquire 10% of UMG is the latest in a wave of financial transactions in the music rights space. Alongside this, Believe’s impending IPO has the potential to be one of the biggest things to happen to the independent music sector in some time, and comes as part of a wave of IPOs (e.

min read

YouTube Reaches $4bn In Music Industry Rights Payments

Mark Mulligan

6 Dec 2016

music rights

Music Royalties

Online video

YouTube just reported that it has paid $1 billion to ‘the music industry’ over the course of the last 12 months. That takes its cumulative payments (since 2007) up to $4 billion. The year-to-date payments for $900 million are a 22% on the full year payments made in 2015 – the year in which labels started going for YouTube’s jugular because they felt it was not paying its fair share (ie the value grab / value share).

min read

The 2 Spotify Charts You Need To See

Mark Mulligan

25 May 2016

Major labels

music rights

Music streaming

Tuesday’s media scrum around Spotify’s financials illustrate that whatever ground Apple and Tidal may have made in recent months, Spotify clearly remains the poster child / bellwether for streaming.

min read

Bad Data Is The Worm In The Apple For Streaming Music

Mark Mulligan

14 Mar 2016

7Digital

Bad Data

data

2016 is proving to be tricky year for streaming rights. No sooner did it start to look like artists and labels were beginning to feel comfortable with streaming then along come a veritable flood of songwriter class action suits in the US, against TIDAL , Rhapsody and Spotify , twice .

min read