Streaming Growth Drives Record Digital Revenues at Warner Music Group

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorAs part of its mission to invest $100 million in organizations focused on achieving social justice, the Warner Music Group / Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund has announced its initial six grant recipients: Black Cultural Archives, Black Futures Lab, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Howard University, REFORM Alliance and Rhythm & Blues Foundation.The WMG/BFF SJF was established in June 2020 in the wake of the killings of George Floyd,

Having built one worldwide sensation, Big Hit Entertainment, the management company and record label behind BTS, is looking to do it again. Big Hit and UMG announced Wednesday a strategic partnership in which they will assemble and debut a new global K-pop boy group together in the United States for the first time.The members will be selected from a global audition process that will be televised sometime next year with a U.S.

DEALSMute has signed Sylph, the solo project of former SCUM vocalist Thomas Cohen. “On this new project I wanted to fuse the singer-songwriter format of having a verse or a chorus, with a harder electronic repetition”, says Cohen, setting the scene for a series of collaborations with techno producers Regis, Terence Fixmer, Nicolas Bougaïeff and Rrose.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group has announced an investment in the Arab world’s largest independent record label, Rotana Music, which is part of Rotana Group, widely considered the largest entertainment company in the region.

Warner Records last week signed a distribution deal with Whiteworld Music, the independent label owned by Puerto Rican musician Myke Towers.“Myke is a distinctive songwriter, powerful performer and incredible artist”, says Max Lousada, CEO of Warner Music’s recorded music division. “He’s not only an exploding Latin superstar, but he’s at the forefront of a new generation of global talent that’s transcending languages, crossing boundaries and disrupting genres.

The French media conglomerate Vivendi says it plans to spin off Universal Music Group in an IPO by the end of 2021. UMG, one of the "Big Three" record labels alongside Warner Music Group and Sony Music, is based in Santa Monica, California and led by CEO Lucian Grange.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaCoronavirus took a big chunk out of the Walt Disney Company’s profits during its most recent quarterly results, but the popularity of Disney Plus helped cushion the blow of the pandemic. It also helped the company beat Wall Street’s diminished expectations.The family entertainment giant reported adjusted earnings per share of 32 cents for the period ending on January 2,  down from $1.53 from the year-ago period.

Warner Music is the latest record company to be sued over the termination right under US copyright law. Country artist Dwight Yoakam says that the major has refused to recognise the termination notices he has submitted to reclaim the US rights in his old recordings.

Also Read: Oscars Eliminate Executive Committee Picks for International Feature, Expand ShortlistThe rest of the list: Bosnia and Herzegovina’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” Guatemala’s “La Llorona,” Hong Kong’s “Better Days,” Iran’s “Sun Children,” Norway’s “Hope,” “Russia’s “Dear Comrades!” and Tunisia’s “The Man Who Sold His Skin.”Normally, the general voters would choose all but three of the films on the shortlist, and then an executive committee would look at the results and add three additional

TikTok have announced an “expanded global alliance” that will benefit both users of the app and artists signed to the label group.The short-form video app, which launched in 2016, allows users to use clips of songs to soundtrack their 15-second or 60-second videos.In a press release, UMG announced that a new deal between the two parties would see their full catalogue be made available for use on the app.

Elon Musk, hip hop artist Snoop Snogg and Kiss lead singer Gene Simmons. This comes after the cryptocurrency surprised many after soaring almost 1,500 percent this year alone.

straight to your inboxPep Guardiola has explained that Manchester City's defensive record has been so good this season because of the amount of possession his side has in games.City struggled at the back last year following the departure of Vincent Kompany and their poor defensive record was a key factor in losing their Premier League crown to Liverpool.However, that's all changed this season with the Blues conceding just 13 times, by far the least in the league.City have conceded just once in

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorThe war of words between Ryan Kavanaugh’s Triller and Universal Music Group escalated Friday, after UMG pulled its catalog from the video-sharing app citing Triller’s failure to pay licensing fees for songs used on its service.Early Friday, Universal Music said it was removing its music from Triller — which positions itself as a rival to popular social-video app TikTok — because, “Triller has shamefully withheld payments owed to our artists and refuses to

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterUniversal Music Group has promoted veteran music attorney Michael Seltzer to executive VP of business & legal affairs and head of commercial transactions.According to the announcement, Seltzer oversees a team of 15 attorneys helping shape and negotiate the company’s agreements including recording contracts, label ventures, label distribution, merchandise, vendors, trademark entities, brand partners, film, TV and theatrical productions and equity and asset

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Los Angeles-based music and technology company Create Music Group has launched a beta version of Create Carbon, a credit card that it says will give music creators the ability to access their royalties as soon as they’re earned, rather waiting to receive them via regular monthly payouts.The company prides itself on showing artists how much money they’re making on a daily basis by pulling millions of different data points from sources like Spotify, Apple Music

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWarner Music Group posted its best-ever quarterly revenue in its 17-year history as a stand-alone company, it announced on Monday, powered by streaming, which led to double-digit growth in digital revenue.Notably, its recorded music streaming growth was up 16% in constant currency, and publishing digital was up 36% (although overall its Warner Chappell division’s revenue was flat, largely due to COVID-related impact on performance and sync).For the three months that