Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we make certain you caught the 5 largest tales to hit our headlines over the previous seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their revenue and scale back their touring prices.
This week, rumors a couple of doable sale of audio tech firm Sonos made a comeback. Bloomberg Information speculated that Amazon or Spotify are the likeliest suitors for the agency if its board decides to promote, following a fallout over a problem-plagued software program rollout.
In copyright lawsuit information, we discovered that Mike Caren‘s APG is suing Create Music Group, alleging that Create claimed the copyrights on YouTube movies of APG songs, and entered into “bogus contracts” with APG-signed artists.
We additionally discovered that AI music generator Suno, after being sued by the majors final yr, is now dealing with one other lawsuit, this one from German assortment society GEMA, accusing it of coaching its AI fashions on copyrighted works with out permission.
In the meantime, HYBE‘s superfan platform Weverse launched a brand new report, exhibiting it had handed the 150 million downloads mark whereas attracting top-tier expertise like Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion.
Lastly, a Netflix worth hike highlighted the widening hole between the video streaming large’s pricing and that of Spotify’s. With Netflix’s new pricing within the US, a Netflix Customary subscription now prices $72 extra per yr than a person Premium Spotify account.
1) SONOS TAKEOVER SPECULATION GROWS, WITH SPOTIFY OR AMAZON TIPPED AS POTENTIAL SUITORS (REPORT)
Might an acquisition bid quickly be made for audio know-how firm Sonos?
The fallout from its app rollout in 2024 and the corporate’s latest management shakeup, which noticed CEO Patrick Spence and Chief Product Officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin depart final week, have intensified hypothesis about potential consumers if the corporate’s board decides to promote.
The corporate’s latest struggles have pushed its market worth right down to $1.7 billion from over $5 billion throughout its pandemic peak.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman factors to Spotify and Amazon as probably the most possible suitors, every providing distinct benefits for a possible acquisition…
AI music generator Suno continues to be one of the vital controversial entities within the music enterprise immediately.
In June, the $500 million firm was sued by the key file corporations, together with fellow AI agency Udio, for allegedly coaching their methods utilizing the majors’ recordings with out permission – an accusation they stunning a lot admitted to in court docket filings in August.
Now Suno can also be being sued for copyright infringement by German assortment society and licensing physique GEMA.
GEMA represents the copyrights of round 95,000 members in Germany (composers, lyricists, music publishers) in addition to over 2 million rightsholders worldwide…
Mike Caren’s indie music firm APG has sued Create Music Group, claiming that Create engaged in “brazen thievery” of APG’s songs and recordings.
In a grievance filed with the US District Court docket for the Central District of California on Tuesday (January 21), writer Artist Publishing Group, label Artist Companion Group, and distributor Launch International LLC alleged that Create Music Group claimed the copyrights on YouTube movies of works owned or licensed by APG.
The grievance additionally alleges that Create has “made a weak and unavailing try and justify their copyright infringement of [APG’s] recordings and compositions by getting into into bogus ‘contracts’ with sure artists who created these recordings and compositions” – understanding they have been already signed to APG…
HYBE’s superfan platform, Weverse, hit the milestone of 150 million cumulative international downloads in 2024.
That’s in response to Weverse’s 2024 International Fandom Development Report, the place the corporate revealed that the variety of artist communities on the platform grew 30% YoY to 162 in 2024.
The report additionally reveals that the platform’s consumer base grew persistently throughout all continents, with a median progress price of 19% final yr.
Sixteen separate international artist groups joined Weverse in the course of the yr, with high-profile worldwide stars like Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, and Conan Grey driving double-digit consumer progress throughout North America, Europe, and Asia…
Netflix has raised its subscription costs within the US for the primary time in almost a year-and-a-half, additional widening the worth hole between the video streaming large and music streaming chief Spotify.
Beneath its newest US pricing, Netflix is growing the price of its ad-free Customary plan, which permits for 2 simultaneous HD streams, by $2.50 monthly, to $17.99 from $15.49.
The Premium tier, in the meantime, now prices $24.99, up $2 from $22.99.
Consequently, subscribing to Netflix’s Customary tier will now price you roughly $72 extra per yr than subscribing to Spotify’s particular person Premium (at $11.99 monthly)…
MBW’s Weekly Spherical-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their revenue and scale back their touring prices.Music Enterprise Worldwide
