Warner Music Group revealed in an earnings call today that it recently sold 75 % of its shares in Spotify, netting $400 million. The transaction happened after the end of the previous quarter, and was not reflected in today’s Q2 report, which saw a 10.4% revenue jump alongside a dramatic…
Category archives: Major Labels
Warner Music Revenues Rise, Losses Shrink Dramatically
Warner Music Group has announced its Q2 financial results for the period ended March 31, 2018. Driven by streaming. total revenue grew 10.4%, and losses at the world’s third largest music group fell dramatically. WMG Q2 2018 Highlights Total revenue grew 16.7% or was up 10.4% in constant currency Digital…
Childish Gambino’s Explosive ‘This Is America’ Scores 16M Views Overnight [WATCH]
Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, topped a huge weekend with the release of the explosive video "This Is America" after the show aired late Saturday. By Monday morning the Vevo/YouTube video had surpassed 16 million views. ______________________________________ UPDATE: By mid-afternoon Monday, the video was approaching 21 million views. Comedian, writer,…
Majors Labels, Big Media Launch Digital Future Council
Sony Music, Warners Music Group and Universal Music have teamed with leading media and ad firms to launch a new think tank around the integration of media and emerging technology. The Digital Future Council will kick off at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – one of the advertising…
Global Music Database Test Launches with BMG, WMG, More
BMG, Global Music Rights, Outdustry, Phoenix, Sentric, Warner/Chappell and Warner Music Group are among the major players testing a decentralised music rights database launched by Techstars Music graduate JAAK. KORD, built by JAAK using Ethereum blockchain technology, gathers and connects metadata from record labels, music publishers, performing rights organisations and…
Kanye West Makes Great Music Again
The polarizing figure of Kanye West has once again reared his head, having taken to Twitter firing on all cylinders with a flood commentary and announcements of upcoming releases. Jesse Kirshbaum looks at where the saga of Kanye is headed next. ______________________________ Guest post by Jesse Kirshbaum of the NueAgency…
Sony Sells $750M Spotify Stock, Will Artists Get Fair Share?
Sony has sold half its 5.7% stake in Spotify, Sony Corp. CFO Hiroki Totoki told Wall Street yesterday. At Spotify’s average stock price, the sale netted Sony more than $750 million. But how much will trickle down to artists and the indie labels that Sony distributes? ___________________________________________ Sony Music, like…
Deezer, Jazz FM Partner To Honor Iconic Record Labels
Deezer has announced a partnership with Jazz FM in honor of International Jazz Day. The streaming service has joined forces with the radio station on a new series called ‘Jazz Stories,’ which will focus on the history of five iconic jazz labels: Impulse!(Universal), Blue Note (Universal), Columbia (Sony), Atlantic (Warner),…
ABBA Reunites For New Recording
It only took 35 years of coaxing, but ABBA has decided to reunite, and that means playing together again, onstage. The performance, however, will be for two songs and in digital format. The Swedish band, which broke up 1982 after eight studio albums, have recorded two new songs including “I…
Billboard Latin Music Awards Full Winners List 2018
The Billboard Latin Music Awards serve as the conclusion to the Billboard Latin Music Conference which was held this week in Las Vegas. Daddy Yankee was the top winner, along with Luis Fonsi, Justin Bieber and Shakira. Ozuna won artist of the year and Maluma took home the social artist…