Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we ensure you caught the 5 greatest 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 earnings and scale back their touring prices.
We discovered this week that TIDAL‘s dad or mum firm Block has acquired HIFI, a music enterprise and monetary administration platform.
Based by Damian Manning (CEO), HIFI launched within the US in 2020 with main league supporters together with Matt Pincus, who joined HIFI’s board and have become an investor within the agency by way of his monetary car MUSIC – a three way partnership with LionTree.
HIFI’s sale to Block arrives a 12 months and a half after it accomplished a strategic funding spherical with a heavyweight checklist of backers, together with artists, executives, artist managers, and different distinguished buyers.
Additionally this week, Warner Music Group introduced a brand new acquisition in India, shopping for distinguished artist administration and dwell occasions firm, E-Constructive.
Led by founder and CEO Naushad Khan, E-Constructive is house to famous person artist Darshan Raval, whose tracks have been streamed greater than 9 billion instances throughout all platforms.
In the meantime, The Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA) added AI vocal cloning companies as a brand new class of copyright infringer in its annual submission to the Workplace of the US Commerce Consultant’s ‘Assessment of Infamous Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy’.
Plus, Carletta Higginson was named as WMG’s new Chief Digital Officer, whereas Common Music Group‘s share value hit a 12-month excessive.
Enterprise and monetary administration platform HIFI has been acquired by TIDAL dad or mum Block, the tech firm led by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
The Block acquisition arrives only a 12 months and a half after HIFI accomplished a strategic funding spherical with a heavyweight checklist of backers, together with artists, executives, artist managers, and different distinguished buyers…
Amongst those that participated in that eight-figure funding spherical had been Capitol Music Group Chair and CEO Michelle Jubelirer, Purple Mild Administration founder Coran Capshaw, Patriot Administration founder Ron Laffitte, Maverick’s Gee Roberson, Wasserman Music’s Tom Windish, artist supervisor Brandon Creed, Hipgnosis’ Nick Jarjour, 300’s Rob Stevenson, TMWRK’s Andrew McInnes, and Mick Administration’s Jonathan Eshak and Michael McDonald.
Different buyers within the spherical included Taz Taylor and Nick Mira of Web Cash, Diplo, 3LAU, G-Eazy, A-Trak, Hayden James, and the legendary Quincy Jones.
Warner Music has acquired India-based artist administration and dwell occasions firm, E-Constructive.
Warner says that the deal strengthens its place out there and can enable its artists “to faucet into new experience in model partnerships and dwell occasions”.
E-Constructive is house to Darshan Raval, who WMG says in a press launch “is without doubt one of the prime 5 most streamed artists in India and the quickest rising artists within the area, having quadrupled his every day streams within the final 12 months…”
The top of October – particularly, Thursday, October 26 – guarantees to be a giant one for the worldwide music enterprise.
For instance: will probably be the day (barring some potential calendar shifts) that shareholders within the UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF), will vote on two necessary issues: (a) Whether or not to maintain HSF persevering with to exist in its current kind (i.e. a ‘continuation vote’); and (b) Whether or not to simply accept a $440 million supply – from fellow Hipgnosis fund, Hipgnosis Songs Capital – to purchase a portion of HSF’s copyright portfolio.
In the meantime, October 26 may also see Common Music Group current its newest quarterly numbers (Q3 2023) to shareholders.
UMG then plans to difficulty its stockholders with a EUR €0.24 per share dividend the next day – Friday, October 27.
Those self same UMG stockholders will possible be having fun with the present state of Common’s share value on the Amsterdam Euronext…
For years, the Recording Business Affiliation of America (RIAA)’s annual submission to the Workplace of the US Commerce Consultant’s ‘Assessment of Infamous Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy’ has consisted of a protracted checklist of pirate websites recognized to tear off copyrighted music.
Nonetheless, in its newest submission, for the USTR’s 2023 report, the RIAA has added a brand new class of copyright infringer: AI vocal cloning companies.
“The 12 months 2023 noticed an eruption of unauthorized AI vocal clone companies that infringe not solely the rights of the artists whose voices are being cloned but additionally the rights of people who personal the sound recordings in every underlying musical monitor,” acknowledged the RIAA submission, which could be learn in full right here.
“This has led to an explosion of unauthorized spinoff works of our members’ sound recordings which hurt sound recording artists and copyright homeowners.”
The report solely particularly names one such service: the UK-registered Voicify.ai.
One more exec with a profitable monitor document at Google/Alphabet is on their option to Warner Music Group. This week, the music firm confirmed that Carletta Higginson is becoming a member of WMG as Government Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, efficient October 16.
Described by WMG as an “completed media government and music rights skilled”, Higginson joins WMG after a decade at Google, the place she labored in enterprise improvement and authorized roles, throughout each music publishing and recorded music, most just lately as International Head of Music Publishing at YouTube and Google Play.
She beforehand labored as a litigator advocating for document labels, music publishers, artists, and songwriters…
