Welcome to Music Business 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 maximise their revenue and scale back their touring prices.
“[In] the stay music area, the worth varies relying on who you’re seeing and what your expertise is. I believe the recorded music area must be extra like that. Ever since we had 99 cent downloads, there’s been a bent for music to be priced the identical. And everyone knows that every one music isn’t equal.”
That’s certainly one of many perceptive observations concerning the fashionable music enterprise from Steve Cooper, outgoing CEO of Warner Music Group, delivered in his final public interview because the boss of WMG this week.
Cooper will hand over the reins of CEO on the ‘third main’ to Robert Kyncl on the shut of this 12 months (though Cooper will stick with Warner by means of January 2023 to make sure a easy handover.)
Cooper additionally instructed MBW in his unique ‘exit’ interview: “What I’ve discovered is that this: you need to keep open and pragmatic. Nobody is aware of for certain the place that is all going. So don’t get seduced by your individual model and imaginative and prescient of the long run, otherwise you run the chance of dropping sight of the bottom beneath your ft.”
Different large tales on MBW this week included the newest headline in music’s ongoing flirtation with the bonds market: Concord confirmed that it has efficiently priced $1.8 billion of senior notes secured towards a “important proportion” of its music rights portfolio.
There was additionally a string of vital numbers to emerge from UK-listed Hipgnosis Songs Fund, because it introduced its H1 outcomes (for the six months to finish of September 2022). The most vital of these numbers? The agency’s gross revenues grew 7.5% YoY within the interval, as much as USD $91.7 million.
MBW additionally reported on main information previously few days involving the likes of TuneCore and DeadMau5.
Learn on for our largest tales of the previous week…
On the finish of final month, Harmony was reported to have begun a course of that will see it grow to be the newest massive music firm to launch a bond providing by way of securitized royalties from copyrights.
Based on a Bloomberg report, monetary big Apollo World Administration was promoting a $1.65 billion bond backed by music rights from Harmony’s catalog, which might mark the music firm’s first securitization.
On Thursday (December 8), Harmony confirmed that it has efficiently priced $1.8 billion of senior notes secured by what it says is a “good portion” of its catalog of sound recordings and songs…
There have been lots of eyes on Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) this 12 months. The UK-listed fund, as soon as essentially the most energetic acquisitive entity in music rights, has paused its shopping for of catalogs over the previous 12 months, and hasn’t raised any new share capital for rights buyouts throughout this era.
HSF’s monetary outcomes, subsequently, give us a helpful indication of the natural power of the corporate’s catalog, which covers rights/revenue streams in 65,413 songs, in response to firm paperwork.
In the present day (December 8), HSF has introduced its half-year outcomes for the six months to finish of September 2022, with quite a few optimistic indicators, each for HSF buyers and for the music rights enterprise at massive….
Believe-owned music distribution service TuneCore on Thursday (December 8) introduced that it’s reached a big new milestone, having paid out $3 billion in royalties to self-releasing artists for the reason that firm was based in 2006.
TuneCore says that the $3 billion payout determine represents a cumulative whole of earnings from all TuneCore music creators – “together with artists starting from hobbyists and nascent music creators to working professionals and even achieved artists”.
The corporate additionally reported on Thursday that over 8,000 TuneCore artists have earned over $10,000 by means of its platform so far, with “1000’s of artists incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 and plenty of taking house” over $1 million…
Over the previous decade, Warner Music Group’s annual revenues have greater than doubled, up from $2.87 billion in FY 2011 to $5.92 billion in FY 2022.
In the meantime, WMG’s market worth has grown greater than 5 occasions throughout Steve Cooper’s reign as CEO – from $3.3 billion in 2011 to $17.1 billion right this moment (even amid a punishing macroeconomic local weather for share costs).
Right here, in Cooper’s final public interview as CEO of WMG, MBW asks him about his largest achievements in music, the scariest points he’s needed to overcome – and whether or not the following 10 years of the music enterprise have any probability of being as vibrant because the earlier decade…
Animoca Manufacturers, the dad or mum firm of The Sandbox gaming metaverse, has doubled down on its investments within the metaverse area after buying a majority stake in Pixelynx, a music metaverse gaming platform.
The funding follows latest stories that Animoca is launching a $2 billion metaverse fund for builders.
It additionally follows Animoca’s earlier funding in Pixelynx precisely a 12 months in the past when it led the latter firm’s $4.5 million seed funding spherical that was participated in by Solana Ventures, Alumni Ventures Blockchain Fund, Hyperedge Capital, Republic Realm, and Sfermion…
