Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we be certain 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 revenue and scale back their touring prices.
The meat between Drake and Kendrick Lamar took a severe flip this week, when Drake filed a number of authorized petitions accusing Common Music Group and Spotify of artificially inflating Lamar’s hit Not Like Us by way of “bots” and “payola.” UMG flatly denied the allegations.
Extremely, that wasn’t even essentially the most dramatic artist-label dispute this week. At a unexpectedly assembled press convention in Seoul, Okay-pop group NewJeans introduced they’re leaving their label, HYBE-owned ADOR. HYBE responded by saying NewJeans haven’t any grounds to depart, and their contract continues to be “in full impact.”
Elsewhere on the planet of HYBE, the South Korean leisure large’s shareholders and board authorized the appointment of Seon Jeong Shin to President of its frontline label BIGHIT MUSIC, dwelling of BTS and Tomorrow x Collectively.
And elsewhere on the planet of promotions, Warner Music Group introduced that Dan Rosen, President of Warner Music Australasia, will now additionally head up the area’s division of writer Warner Chappell, uniting the recorded and publishing arms of the enterprise underneath a single chief.
Lastly, MBW dug by way of regulatory filings to find that key executives at Spotify have cashed in round $1.1 billion value of the corporate’s inventory this yr, together with $283 million bought by CEO Daniel Ek alone.
On Monday (November 25), Drake, by way of his firm Frozen Moments LLC, filed a authorized petition in New York accusing Common Music Group and Spotify of artificially inflating streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s mega-hit Not Like Us – a diss monitor about Drake.
UMG responded: “The suggestion that UMG would do something to undermine any of its artists is offensive and unfaithful. We make use of the best moral practices in our advertising and promotional campaigns. No quantity of contrived and absurd authorized arguments on this pre-action submission can masks the truth that followers select the music they wish to hear.”
Drake’s attorneys additionally filed a second authorized petition in opposition to UMG on Monday, this time in Texas…
In the event you thought that Drake’s authorized motion in opposition to Common Music Group was the artist vs. label dispute of the week, assume once more.
Over in South Korea, the way forward for HYBE-owned label ADOR has been thrown into uncertainty after Okay-pop lady group NewJeans, the label’s main supply of revenue, introduced Thursday (November 28) that they’re terminating their contracts with ADOR.
Nonetheless, ADOR says NewJeans don’t have grounds to terminate their unique contract, and it stays “in full impact.”
At a unexpectedly introduced press convention on Thursday night (November 28), group member Hanni mentioned that ADOR “has neither the power nor the need to guard” NewJeans…
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek has finished it once more.
In accordance with current filings with the Securities and Change Fee (SEC), Ek bought 75,000 shares of Spotify on Wednesday, November 20, for USD $34.8 million, plus one other 75,000 shares at $36.1 million on November 26.
SEC filings present that, to this point in 2024, Ek has bought 875,000 shares of Spotify for a complete of $283.0 million, and the corporate’s execs and former execs have unloaded a whopping $1.10 billion value of Spotify inventory for the reason that begin of the yr.
That’s practically as a lot cash because the $1.16 billion Spotify paid to Warner Music Group within the 12 months to the tip of September…
South Korea-headquartered leisure large HYBE has introduced a big management change for BIGHIT MUSIC, naming Seon Jeong Shin because the label’s new President.
BIGHIT MUSIC is HYBE’s flagship file label (HYBE was beforehand known as Huge Hit Leisure) and the label dwelling of Okay-Pop superstars BTS and Tomorrow x Collectively.
Seon Jeong Shin beforehand served as Basic Supervisor (GM) of the label. The exec’s promotion was authorized at a shareholders’ assembly and Board of Administrators Decision on November 26.
The exec replaces Younger Jae Shin, who has served because the President of BIGHIT MUSIC since 2020…
Warner Music Group has introduced that Dan Rosen, at present President of Warner Music Australasia, will broaden his function to embody Warner Chappell Music.
The transfer unites the management of the recorded music and publishing companies throughout each Australia and New Zealand.
Rosen will report back to each Man Moot, Co-Chair and CEO of Warner Chappell Music, and Simon Robson, President of EMEA, Recorded Music, WMG, who’s at present additionally overseeing the recorded music enterprise in APAC.
WMG mentioned the transfer underscores its dedication to creating “a brand new, all-encompassing dwelling for artists and songwriters in Australasia, whereas preserving the distinct identities of every division”…
