Sony sells Syco TV formats to Simon Cowell – but keeps music catalog

Rob Stringer: “Sony Music has had incredible global success with so many artists that have been launched through Simon’s vision and innovation and we are proud to continue to represent the Syco music catalog and its artists.”
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Confirmed: Spotify launches in Russia (and 12 other countries); service now reaches 92 markets globally

“Today’s launch opens the door for nearly 250 million fans to start discovering new music from around the world on Spotify.”
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Rough week for TikTok gets rougher: 500,000 Amazon employees told to delete app over ‘security risks’

TikTok was already having a bad week. Seemingly inspired by a decision by India’s government to ban the Bytedance app over national security concerns, on Monday (July 6), US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo suggested that President Donald Trump&#8…

SoundCloud and Pharrell might just have uncovered a slew of future hits on ‘I Am Other, Vol 1’

In April, SoundCloud announced a special partnership with Pharrell Williams and i am OTHER in which the parties asked the global SoundCloud community to share original tracks “inspired by the moment”. (That moment, in the most part, relatin…

Hipgnosis has another $300m to spend on songs, thanks to its biggest fundraise yet

“This is our biggest fundraise to date, and the biggest fundraise by a LSE listed investment trust since the COVID-19 lockdown, which speaks volumes for the financial community’s recognition of Songs as an asset class.”
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