From BMG’s reported Harmony acquisition talks to UMG’s $3bn Anthropic lawsuit… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up

Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s Weekly Spherical-up – the place we ensure you caught the 5 greatest tales to hit our headlines over the previous seven days. MBW’s Spherical-up is completely supported by BMI, a world chief in performing rights administration, devoted to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the worth of music.

This week, Bloomberg reported that BMG Rights Administration is in discussions to accumulate Harmony, in a deal that may deliver collectively two of the world’s greatest unbiased music corporations. The potential transaction might be price as much as $7 billion, in keeping with the report.

Additionally this week, Common Music Publishing Group, Harmony Music Group, and ABKCO Music filed a second copyright infringement lawsuit in opposition to AI firm Anthropic, in search of greater than $3 billion in potential statutory damages over alleged infringement of greater than 20,000 songs.

In the meantime, Sony Music Group is forming a $2 billion music rights-buying three way partnership with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.

Elsewhere, Spotify introduced it paid out greater than $11 billion to the music trade in 2025, whereas Deezer revealed it’s now receiving over 60,000 totally AI-generated tracks day by day and is shifting to license its AI-detection know-how to the broader music trade.

Listed below are a number of the greatest headlines from the previous few days…

1. BMG IN TALKS TO ACQUIRE CONCORD (REPORT)

BMG Rights Administration is reportedly in discussions to accumulate Harmony, in a deal that may deliver collectively two of the world’s greatest unbiased music corporations.

Bloomberg broke the information on Thursday (January 29), reporting that the potential transaction might be price as much as $7 billion. Billboard individually reported that the corporate may promote for greater than $6.6 billion, citing its personal sources near the negotiations.

BMG is a division of German media big Bertelsmann.

2. UMG SUES ANTHROPIC FOR $3BN OVER ‘BRAZEN’ COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT OF 20,000+ SONGS

A coalition of music publishers has filed a second copyright infringement lawsuit in opposition to AI firm Anthropic, and it’s an enormous one.

The businesses, together with Common Music Publishing Group, Harmony Music Group, and ABKCO Music, are in search of greater than $3 billion in potential statutory damages over alleged infringement of greater than 20,000 songs.

The criticism, filed within the Northern District of California, represents a dramatic escalation from the publishers’ first lawsuit in opposition to Anthropic, which was filed in October 2023 and coated round 500 works with potential damages of round $75 million.

In a press release supplied to MBW, the plaintiffs stated: “Now we have been compelled to file this second lawsuit in opposition to Anthropic due to its persistent and brazen infringement of our songwriters’ copyrighted compositions taken from infamous pirate websites.”… (MBW)

3. SONY LAUNCHES $2B MUSIC RIGHTS ACQUISITION JV WITH SINGAPORE’S GIC

Sony Music Group is forming a music rights-buying three way partnership with Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC Pte. Bloomberg reviews that GIC and Sony plan to take a position $2 billion to $3 billion within the enterprise.

In accordance with Bloomberg, Sony and GIC plan to pursue “high-quality, marquee music belongings throughout a variety of genres”. ”

As a long-term investor, GIC seeks to be a inventive and versatile capital accomplice to strategic trade leaders like Sony,” Girish Karira, head of the sovereign fund’s built-in methods group, stated in a press release… (MBW)

4. SPOTIFY SAYS IT PAID OUT OVER $11BN TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN 2025

Spotify introduced it paid out greater than $11 billion to the music trade in 2025, which it says is “the biggest annual fee to music from any retailer in historical past”.

The streaming big beforehand paid out “a report” $10 billion to the music trade in 2024 and $9 billion the prior yr.

The newest determine, revealed in a weblog publish by Spotify’s Head of Music, Charlie Hellman, represents year-over-year development of greater than 10% and brings the service’s all-time payouts to almost $70 billion… (MBW)

5. 60,000 AI TRACKS HIT DEEZER DAILY AS PLATFORM MOVES TO LICENSE DETECTION TECH TO WIDER MUSIC INDUSTRY

Deezer is now receiving over 60,000 totally AI-generated tracks day by day – and is shifting to license its AI-detection know-how to the broader music trade.

The Paris-headquartered streaming service revealed the brand new figures on Thursday (January 29), confirming that artificial content material now accounts for roughly 39% of all music delivered to the platform day by day.

The 60,000 determine marks one other important soar from the 50,000 tracks Deezer reported in November, the 30,000 in September, and the ten,000 it disclosed when it first launched its AI detection instrument in January 2025.

A yr on from that launch, Deezer says it has detected and tagged over 13.4 million AI-generated tracks on its platform – and is now making its detection know-how commercially obtainable… (MBW)