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.
Spotify revealed this week that it paid out $10 billion to the music industry in 2024 – a full $1 billion more than it paid out in 2023.
Also this week, Spotify won a lawsuit brought by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) last year over the streaming giant’s “bundling” of Premium subscriptions.
Elsewhere this week, Influence Media Partners jumped into the asset-backed securitization (ABS) game with a $360 million debt financing round, backed by music royalties from its portfolio of music rights, and led by Goldman Sachs.
Meanwhile, Concord acquired a portion of the song catalog of Johnny McDaid, a key collaborator of Ed Sheeran‘s, who has also written for the likes of P!nk, Lewis Capaldi, and BTS.
Plus, AmazonMusic raised the prices for its music streaming service in the US, the UK and Canada.
Here’s what happened this week…
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1) SPOTIFY PAID OUT $10 BILLION TO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IN 2024 – A FULL $1BN MORE THAN IN 2023
Subscription music streaming changed the fortunes of the record industry over the past decade.
That’s the message from David Kaefer, Spotify’s VP of Music Business, in a blog post published Tuesday (January 28). In it, he notes that a decade ago, in 2014, “the music industry reached a low point when global recorded music revenues hit $13 billion.”
Kaefer also notes that Spotify’s annual contribution at the time was around $1 billion, and that it had around 15 million paying subscribers.
This is an important bit of historical context for Kaefer to deliver the big news that Spotify paid out “a record” $10 billion to the music industry in 2024…
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2) Spotify wins ‘bundling’ lawsuit, as court dismisses legal action brought by the MLC
Spotify has beaten a lawsuit brought by the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) over the streaming service’s decision to reclassify its Premium subscriptions as “bundles”.
On Wednesday (January 29), Judge Analisa Torres of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Spotify’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit “with prejudice”.
The conflict between the MLC and Spotify began in March 2024 when Spotify reclassified its Premium subscription tiers as “bundles,” as they now include 15 hours of audiobook access each month.
The move controversially resulted in Spotify paying a lower mechanical royalty rate to publishers and songwriters in the United States…
3) INFLUENCE MEDIA PARTNERS RAISES $360M IN DEBT FINANCING LED BY GOLDMAN SACHS
Rights-backed securitization deals are becoming increasingly common in the music industry.
Wednesday (January 29) brought the latest news from this space. Influence Media Partners confirmed that it had secured approximately $360 million in debt financing through an inaugural private securitization, collateralized by music royalties from its portfolio of music rights.
Influence was founded in 2019 and led by Lylette Pizarro, Lynn Hazan, Rene McLean, and Jon Jashni.
In early 2022, it announced a $750 million fund to invest in what it calls “high-value compositions from diverse artists” with backing from BlackRock Alternative Investors and Warner Music Group…
Photo: Bradley Quinn
4) CONCORD ACQUIRES PUBLISHING CATALOG OF ED SHEERAN COLLABORATOR JOHNNY MCDAID
Concord has acquired a portion of songwriter, musician, and producer Johnny McDaid’s song catalog.
McDaid is a key collaborator of Ed Sheeran’s – co-writing many of the British artist’s biggest hits – and is also a member of the band Snow Patrol.
McDaid has also written for the likes of P!nk, Lewis Capaldi, Keith Urban, Shawn Mendes, Zara Larsson, Alicia Keys, and Jung Kook, amongst many others.
MBW understands that Concord’s catalog acquisition includes both the writer’s share and publisher’s share of many McDaid songs released in the past few years, including Ed Sheeran’s Shivers and Bad Habits, plus BTS’s Permission to Dance…
Credit: Marina Rich / Shutterstock.com
5) AMAZON HIKES PRICES FOR ‘MUSIC UNLIMITED’ STREAMING SERVICE IN THE US, UK AND CANADA
Amazon Music has raised the prices for its music streaming service in the US, the UK and Canada.
This marks the service’s first price adjustment for Amazon Music Unlimited — Amazon’s paid music streaming service — since August 2023.
In the US, individual non-Prime members will now pay $11.99 monthly, up from $10.99, while Prime members will see their monthly rate rise to $10.99 from $9.99…
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
