Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
The music business was focused this week, once again, on the dicey issue of artificial intelligence.
The heads of the three major global music companies – Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group – joined a Daily Mail campaign against the UK’s proposed loosening of copyright rules, which would enable AI companies to use copyrighted material without permission unless a rightsholder “opts out.”
Meanwhile, Amazon announced this week that the latest version of its Alexa voice assistant will be powered by AI, and will feature integration with Suno, one of the AI music generation platforms being sued for copyright infringement in the US and Germany.
Elsewhere in the music world, Kobalt unveiled a new publishing platform for emerging artists and songwriters recoup uncollected royalties, of which Kobalt estimates there are $1 billion-worth every year.
Patrick Moxey‘s Ultra International Music Publishing (UIMP) won’t be called “Ultra” much longer. A US federal court has ordered the company to rebrand after a jury ruled in favor of Sony Music‘s Ultra Records in a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Finally, Create Music Group announced its strategic acquisition of New York- and New Orleans-based Pack Records, part of an expanded JV between the music firms.
AI music-making platform Suno‘s controversial reputation in the music industry doesn’t seem to have prevented tech giant Amazon – owner of Spotify rival Amazon Music – from partnering with it.
Amazon has unveiled a new AI-powered version of its Alexa voice assistant, and among the capabilities of the “next-generation” Alexa+ is an integration with Suno.
“Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs, including vocals, lyrics, and instrumentation,” Amazon said in a blog post on February 26.
Announcing the partnership in a social media post the same day, Suno wrote: “We’re so excited to announce that Suno will be coming to Alexa+, so you can make any song you can imagine with the next generation of [Alexa]. What songs will you make with your Alexa…?”
Kobalt, which says it represents, on average, 35% of the top 100 songs and albums in the US and UK, has launched a new publishing platform called KOSIGN aimed at emerging artists and songwriters.
It’s accessible by invite or application only – and the company says the platform uses the same royalty collection system “trusted” by its superstar songwriters.
Kobalt estimates over $1 billion in publishing royalties goes uncollected every year. It says its new KOSIGN platform was built to help independent artists, songwriters, and producers collect their share of this uncollected publishing royalty pool.
The company previously pioneered an invite-only services platform for independent recording artists with AWAL, which sold to Sony Music for $430 million in 2021…
The heads of the world’s three largest music companies have backed a media campaign that opposes the UK Labour government’s controversial AI copyright exception proposal, warning it could severely damage the country’s creative industries.
Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer, and Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl have thrown their weight behind a Daily Mail campaign urging the government to protect creators’ rights.
“The UK stands at a decisive crossroads because what is ‘Made in Britain’ and exported to the world is not limited to physical products, but also intellectual property and copyright including music, visual art, life sciences and more,” said Grainge.
“This is the source of the UK’s tremendous soft power that resonates on a global scale,” the executive added…
Patrick Moxey’s independent publishing company, Ultra International Music Publishing (UIMP), will have to change its name on orders from a US federal court.
In an order issued on February 25 and obtained by MBW, Judge Arun Subramanian of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York gave UIMP 180 days (approximately six months) to change its name to something other than “Ultra.”
He gave the company the right to refer to itself as “formerly known as Ultra International Music Publishing” on social media for 18 months following the order.
The order followed a jury verdict in December, which found that Moxey’s music publishing company had breached the trademark owned by Ultra Records, the EDM-focused record label that Moxey had sold to Sony Music Entertainment in 2021…
Following a $165-million investment round last year that valued the company at $1 billion, Create Music Group (CMG) has been on something of an acquisitive streak.
Last fall, it acquired Manchester, UK-headquartered record label and publisher Ostereo, following that up swiftly with a 50% stake in London-headquartered label/publisher Enhanced.
Now, the Los Angeles-headquartered CMG is setting its sights a little closer to home, announcing a strategic catalog acquisition and joint venture with Pack Records of New York and New Orleans.
The new partnership expands on an existing relationship between the two music companies, which consisted of a publishing JV…
MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.Music Business Worldwide
