Clik here to view.
TV mogul Haim Saban launches new Latin label… with $500m budget
It’s a little unfair reducing Haim Saban to ‘TV mogul’ just for the purposes of a short headline: the 74 year-old’s career has also included stints as a musician, music promoter and soundtrack composer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
UnitedMasters CEO: ‘Artists have been getting robbed…’
As a company trying to persuade emerging artists that they don’t need a label, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to see UnitedMasters’ execs taking potshots at the traditional label system. The latest,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Japanese label Avex strikes deal with Migu Music in China
China’s burgeoning music-streaming market is being eyed up by music companies around the world, including Japan. Label Avex has signed a new partnership with one of the Chinese streaming services – but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Concord acquires Victory Records and Another Victory Publishing
Music firm Concord has announced its latest acquisition: Chicago-based independent label Victory Records, including the catalogue of its sister company Another Victory Publishing. The deal was for an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Transgressive Records at 15: ‘Sometimes great things take time…’
On paper, 2004 was one of the worst years in living memory to set up a record label. The decade-and-a-half decline in recorded-music revenues was well underway, with CD sales falling off a cliff. And...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Liz Longley smashes Kickstarter total to buy album back from label
When crowdfunding platform Kickstarter first started making waves in the music industry in the early 2010s, the pitch from artists was often ‘help me to make my new album independently’. In 2019, in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Label Godmode’s Bounce app tracks music collaborations
Los Angeles-based label and artist-development firm Godmode has launched a new app called Bounce. It’s not aimed at music fans, but rather at artists: a workflow tool when they’re recording. “Bounce is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Universal Music India’s VRYL project launches ‘Intezaar’ vide
Last week, Music Ally published a feature about the challenge that ‘non-film’ music is providing for Bollywood music in India – you can read it here if you missed it at the time. One of the projects...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Labels AND TuneIn can appeal UK High Court’s copyright decision
In early November, the UK’s High Court delivered a ruling in a copyright lawsuit involving major labels and radio-aggregator TuneIn which saw both sides claim victory. As we reported at the time, on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Universal Music Group launches RedRecords with AirAsia
Richard Branson might have launched Virgin Records and Virgin Airlines but they were two very distinct entities. Now the two worlds are now colliding as Universal Music Group is partnering with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Major labels heading towards $1m-an-hour of streaming revenues
We’re hardly sticking our necks out when we predict that 2019 will be the fifth consecutive year of growth for global recorded-music revenues, even if the IFPI stats showing it won’t be published until...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Label Dirty Hit signs global distro deal with Ingrooves
British label Dirty Hit has made its name with The 1975 and Wolf Alice (not to mention Beabadoobee, one of the hot tips for 2020 in numerous year-end lists). Now the independent company has signed an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The evolution of labels: ‘What’s your value proposition?’
“Labels who call themselves labels? That’s like dinosaur shit to me! It’s what’s your value proposition? What’s my value proposition? Can one plus one equal 10? As long as I can say to somebody that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Can ‘fantasy record label’ games become big hits with fans?
In August 2018, we published an article questioning what ‘social music’ is in the streaming age, which included a (slightly depressing, in hindsight) rundown of past failures at wedding social features...
View ArticleClik here to view.
German artists call for label changes over streaming royalties
Artists and their managers are unhappy with their streaming royalties in Germany… but for once it’s not streaming services who are the target of this unrest. MBW reports on 14 managers and lawyers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Publishing group Schubert Music Europe launches 10 labels
We’ve written a fair bit about the trend for management companies to take on more duties that would traditionally have been the domain of labels, including developing artists and releasing their first...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Podcasts may be a sticking point in Spotify / label talks
Spotify is announcing its latest quarterly financial results later this morning, and we can expect to hear some new figures for its push into podcasts. Ahead of that, the Financial Times has published...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spotify says it generates ‘over a third’ of UK label revenues
Spotify showed off its new London office to journalists for the first time last night, and dropped a few new stats on its UK business to boot. “Over a third of all UK label revenue is coming directly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Catalogue marketing rejuvenated
Catalogue marketing used to mainly be about the 20th anniversary box set (with some demos and a couple of new photos added in) or about the same 15 songs in a slightly different order, popped in a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cash Money docuseries to debut on Spotify’s RapCaviar playlist
It’s fair to say that Cash Money Records, whose roster has included Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj among others, likes exclusive documentaries about its history. ‘Before Anythang: The Cash Money...
View Article