Welcome to Music Enterprise Worldwide’s weekly round-up – the place we make sure that you caught the 5 greatest tales to hit our headlines over the previous seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their revenue and scale back their touring prices.
The meat between Drake and Kendrick Lamar took a critical flip this week, when Drake filed a number of authorized petitions accusing Common Music Group and Spotify of artificially inflating Lamar’s hit Not Like Us by “bots” and “payola.” UMG flatly denied the allegations.
Extremely, that wasn’t even essentially the most dramatic artist-label dispute this week. At a rapidly assembled press convention in Seoul, Ok-pop group NewJeans introduced they’re leaving their label, HYBE-owned ADOR. HYBE responded by saying NewJeans don’t have any grounds to go away, and their contract remains to be “in full impact.”
Elsewhere on this planet of HYBE, the South Korean leisure large’s shareholders and board authorised the appointment of Seon Jeong Shin to President of its frontline label BIGHIT MUSIC, residence of BTS and Tomorrow x Collectively.
And elsewhere on this planet of promotions, Warner Music Group introduced that Dan Rosen, President of Warner Music Australasia, will now additionally head up the area’s division of writer Warner Chappell, uniting the recorded and publishing arms of the enterprise beneath a single chief.
Lastly, MBW dug by regulatory filings to find that key executives at Spotify have cashed in round $1.1 billion price of the corporate’s inventory this yr, together with $283 million offered by CEO Daniel Ek alone.
On Monday (November 25), Drake, by way of his firm Frozen Moments LLC, filed a authorized petition in New York accusing Common Music Group and Spotify of artificially inflating streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar’s mega-hit Not Like Us – a diss observe about Drake.
UMG responded: “The suggestion that UMG would do something to undermine any of its artists is offensive and unfaithful. We make use of the very best moral practices in our advertising and marketing and promotional campaigns. No quantity of contrived and absurd authorized arguments on this pre-action submission can masks the truth that followers select the music they need to hear.”
Drake’s attorneys additionally filed a second authorized petition in opposition to UMG on Monday, this time in Texas…
In the event you thought that Drake’s authorized motion in opposition to Common Music Group was the artist vs. label dispute of the week, assume once more.
Over in South Korea, the way forward for HYBE-owned label ADOR has been thrown into uncertainty after Ok-pop lady group NewJeans, the label’s major supply of revenue, introduced Thursday (November 28) that they’re terminating their contracts with ADOR.
Nonetheless, ADOR says NewJeans don’t have grounds to terminate their unique contract, and it stays “in full impact.”
At a rapidly introduced press convention on Thursday night (November 28), group member Hanni mentioned that ADOR “has neither the flexibility nor the desire to guard” NewJeans…
Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek has performed it once more.
In keeping with current filings with the Securities and Change Fee (SEC), Ek offered 75,000 shares of Spotify on Wednesday, November 20, for USD $34.8 million, plus one other 75,000 shares at $36.1 million on November 26.
SEC filings present that, thus far in 2024, Ek has offered 875,000 shares of Spotify for a complete of $283.0 million, and the corporate’s execs and former execs have unloaded a whopping $1.10 billion price of Spotify inventory for the reason that begin of the yr.
That’s almost as a lot cash because the $1.16 billion Spotify paid to Warner Music Group within the 12 months to the tip of September…
South Korea-headquartered leisure large HYBE has introduced a major management change for BIGHIT MUSIC, naming Seon Jeong Shin because the label’s new President.
BIGHIT MUSIC is HYBE’s flagship report label (HYBE was beforehand referred to as Large Hit Leisure) and the label residence of Ok-Pop superstars BTS and Tomorrow x Collectively.
Seon Jeong Shin beforehand served as Basic Supervisor (GM) of the label. The exec’s promotion was authorised at a shareholders’ assembly and Board of Administrators Decision on November 26.
The exec replaces Younger Jae Shin, who has served because the President of BIGHIT MUSIC since 2020…
Warner Music Group has introduced that Dan Rosen, at present President of Warner Music Australasia, will develop his function to embody Warner Chappell Music.
The transfer unites the management of the recorded music and publishing companies throughout each Australia and New Zealand.
Rosen will report back to each Man Moot, Co-Chair and CEO of Warner Chappell Music, and Simon Robson, President of EMEA, Recorded Music, WMG, who’s at present additionally overseeing the recorded music enterprise in APAC.
WMG mentioned the transfer underscores its dedication to creating “a brand new, all-encompassing residence for artists and songwriters in Australasia, whereas preserving the distinct identities of every division”…
