Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we ensure that 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 earnings and cut back their touring prices.
In current weeks, the information cycle of the music enterprise has appeared slightly sluggish, or at the least slightly subdued.
If we had been ready for some main revelations to blow away the cobwebs, the previous few days have delivered with gusto.
We’ve seen quarterly earnings outcomes from – to call however three titans of the music biz – Spotify, Imagine, and Common Music Group.
In the meantime, on Tuesday (October 24), MBW broke a humdinger of a narrative: Spotify is altering its royalty mannequin in Q1 2024, based on our sources – together with the introduction of a system whereby artists don’t begin producing revenues till they hit a minimal variety of annual streams.
Over within the UK, yesterday (October 26) introduced a significant second within the story of UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund: 83% of shareholders in HSF voted in opposition to ‘continuation’ of the corporate.
As we clarify in our evaluation under, this ‘discontinuation’ may result in a number of situations for HSF. All of these situations lead again to at least one reality:Merck Mercuriadis has in place a seemingly strong ‘name possibility’ that, in our phrases, leaves him holding all of the playing cards.
Listed below are 5 of the largest tales from the music biz from the previous seven days…
That is big information – and it’s been a very long time coming.
MBW has confirmed that Spotify is planning to make important adjustments to its royalty payout mannequin in Q1 2024 – with the intent to maneuver USD $1 billion in royalty funds over the subsequent 5 years to ‘official’ artists and rightsholders.
Spotify has been discussing particulars of its blueprint for the brand new royalty mannequin with numerous music rightsholders in current weeks.
Sources concerned in these talks have now confirmed to MBW that, though Spotify will proceed with its pro-rata royalty system (aka ‘Streamshare’), it plans to make three particular main adjustments to its mannequin.
As one supply put it, Spotify is planning to execute these adjustments in an try to “fight three drains on the royalty pool – all of that are at the moment stopping cash from attending to working artists…”
Over the previous month, I’ve listened to a number of, let’s say, Merck Mercuriadis skeptics (he’s on various rivals’ dartboards, that man!).
Usually with some glee of their voices, these people have daydreamed aloud how Hipgnosis Songs Fund‘s ‘continuation vote’ will grow to be the second their imaginary nemesis lastly will get nobbled.
“It’s the day the home of playing cards lastly falls down! The day the piper will get paid! The day Merck’s left ‘holding the bag’!” and so forth.
Effectively, as you in all probability know by now, that ‘continuation vote’ passed off yesterday morning in London (October 26).
It was anticipated {that a} affordable majority of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) shareholders, annoyed by the agency’s sagging share worth and the shock current slashing of their interim dividend, would vote in opposition to continuation.
This, although, was a landslide: Round 83% of HSF stockholders opted to reject ‘continuation’ – whereas additionally voting to instantly oust HSF’s already-exiting Chairman, Andrew Sutch.
The transfer has left the way forward for HSF hanging within the stability.
But removed from spelling the tip of Merck Mercuriadis (and the Blackstone-backed funding adviser he leads, Hignosis Track Administration), Hipgnosis Songs Fund’s ‘discontinuation’ could but play proper into his arms…
Common Music Group has printed its monetary outcomes for the three months to the tip of September.
The headline determine from the world’s largest music rights firm’s Q3 outcomes: UMG generated revenues of EUR €2.752 billion (USD $2.995bn) in the course of the quarter throughout all of its divisions (together with recorded music, publishing and extra).
That Q3 income determine was up 9.9% YoY at fixed foreign money.
UMG, which trades on the Euronext in Amsterdam, reported on Thursday (October 26) that its “Recorded Music, Music Publishing and Merchandising and Different segments all contributed to the income progress within the quarter…”
Paris-headquartered music firm Imagine has printed its monetary outcomes for Q3 2023.
Throughout Imagine’s whole enterprise, the corporate, which trades on the Paris Euronext, generated EUR €215 million ($234m), representing progress of 9.1% YoY.
On an natural foundation (at a like-for-like perimeter and fixed trade charge), Imagine’s revenues grew 7.5% YoY….
Music streaming big Spotify has printed its monetary outcomes and person numbers for the third quarter of 2023 (ended September 30).
The headline stat from the corporate’s submitting on Tuesday (October 24): Spotify’s international Premium Subscriber base grew to 226 million paying customers in Q3.
That was up 16% YoY, and up by 3%, or 6 million web subscribers, on the 220 million that SPOT counted on the finish of the prior quarter (Q2 2023).
The music streaming firm’s 6 million web subscriber additions in Q3 had been 2 million forward of steerage…
