RG Ingersoll's Hotrax Music Tips and Music Business Worldwide: Weekly Round-up for March 2023

 

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Music Business Worldwide: Weekly Round-up

From Larry Jackson's $1bn-backed gamma to the US recorded music industry's $15.9bn in 2022... it's MBW's Weekly Round-Up Welcome to Music Business Worldwide's weekly round-up – where we make sure all 60,000 of 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 maximise their income and reduce their touring costs. A serious new player in the music industry was launched this week by Larry Jackson, the US-based A&R impresario, and a former Global Creative Director at Apple. Jackson's new company, gamma, counts a high-profile list of financial supporters including Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries, as well as his former employer – Apple – plus A24. Gamma’s first acquisition was also named this week as Roy LaManna-founded distribution and services company Vydia, which has previously worked with artists including Akon, Kanye West, Mr Eazi, and Anuel AA. Jackson's gamma has also struck partnerships with Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records, plus Rick Ross, Naomi Campbell, and The Shade Room. Also this week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) published its 2022 Year End report on Thursday (March 9), which tells us that on a retail basis, recorded music revenues in the US (money spent on streaming subscriptions, as well as physical and digital music), grew 6.1% YoY, to $15.9 billion, in 2022. Streaming (including paid subscriptions, ad-supported services, digital and customized radio, social media platforms, digital fitness apps and others) generated the majority ($13.3bn) of that annual revenue haul. RIAA’s data also shows that retail revenues from paid subscription services grew 8% to $10.2 billion in 2022, exceeding the $10 billion mark annually for the first time. Elsewhere, Spotify revealed on Wednesday (March 8) that as of 2022, its all-time payouts to the music industry are approaching $40 billion (including both recording and publishing royalties). Plus, Eliah Seton was named CEO of SoundCloud, while Shamrock Capital was reported to have acquired a portion of Metro Boomin’s publishing catalog for nearly $70 million. Here's what happened this week... 1) Larry Jackson's $1bn-backed gamma is go: Eldridge and Apple-financed firm acquires Vydia, hires Ike Youssef, Ben Cook The music industry rumor mill has been bubbling away for some time about the next step for Larry Jackson – the US-based A&R impresario, and formerly Global Creative Director of Apple Muslc. Now the wraps have been taken off Jackson’s new project, gamma (lower-case ‘g’). According to one well-placed MBW source: “Larry’s raised a billion dollars for this thing. He’s not playing games...” (MBW) 2) US recorded music revenues from paid subscriptions exceeded $10bn annually for the first time in 2022 The US recorded music industry generated USD $15.9 billion in 2022. That's the headline stat from the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) 2022 Year End report, which, published Thursday (March 9), shows that on a retail basis, recorded music revenues in the US (money spent on streaming subscriptions, as well as physical and digital music), grew 6.1% YoY, the market's seventh consecutive year of growth. Streaming (including paid subscriptions, ad-supported services, digital and customized radio, social media platforms, digital fitness apps and others) generated the lion's share of that overall revenue tally. Streaming grew 7.3% to a record high $13.3 billion in revenue and collectively accounts for 84% of total recorded music revenues in the US, up slightly from 83% in 2021... (MBW) 3) Eliah Seton named CEO of SoundCloud SoundCloud has announced that Eliah Seton has been named Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Seton succeeds Michael Weissman who joined SoundCloud in 2017, has served as CEO since 2021 and is "departing for a new opportunity," according to the company. Seton joined SoundCloud in 2021 as President, overseeing the Creator and Roster operating divisions as well as strategy, M&A, content partnerships, business development, and distribution and artist partnerships... (MBW) 4) Spotify approaches $40bn in all-time payouts to the music industry Spotify hosted its second Stream On event in Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 8), to announce new product updates and tools for artists. The company also updated its annual music royalties report, Loud & Clear, in which it published a trove of stats about what artists and rightsholders earn from music on the platform. Spotify says that "nearly 70%" of every dollar it generates from music "is paid back as royalties to rightsholders, who then pay the artists and songwriters, based on the agreed terms". These rightsholders include record labels, publishers, independent distributors, performance rights organizations, and collecting societies. The headline stat published by Spotify on Wednesday is that as of 2022, Spotify’s all-time payouts to the music industry are approaching $40 billion (including both recording and publishing royalties)... (MBW) 5) Shamrock buys portion of Metro Boomin's publishing catalog for nearly $70m (report) Los Angeles-based investment company Shamrock Capital has acquired a portion of American record producer, songwriter and DJ Metro Boomin’s entire existing publishing catalog for nearly $70 million. The acquisition was first reported by Billboard on Tuesday (March 7), citing “sources close to the deal.” Shamrock is best known for buying the master rights to Taylor Swift’s first six studio albums from Big Machine in November 2020 for north of $300 million. The reported acquisition comes just a month after Shamrock raised more than $600 million in commitments for its third equity fund for content strategy. The fundraising exceeded the company’s $500 million target.... (MBW) MBW’s weekly round-up is exclusively supported by Centtrip, leading provider of smart treasury, foreign exchange and payment solutions for the music industry. Find out more about Centtrip here.