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 maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.
There’s less than a month left of 2021 and the rights acquisitions market is showing no signs of cooling down.
On Tuesday (November 30), just weeks after swooping for a bundle of rights from Tina Turner, BMG revealed that it has acquired the entire recordings catalog of Mötley Crüe, in a deal our sources suggest was worth somewhere around $90 million.
This week also saw the acquisitive Primary Wave Music strike a multi-million-dollar deal for a stake in the publishing, master recording income stream, and name and likeness of R&B legend Teddy Pendergrass.
Paris-headquartered music company Believe had a couple of big deals of its own to announce this week, acquiring stakes in not one, but two companies.
Announced on Monday (November 29), the first was for a 76% stake in South India-based Think Music for €13 million (approx. $14.6m at current exchange rates).
Yesterday (December 2), Believe revealed that it has also bought a 15% stake in Philippines-based Viva Music and Artists Group (VMAG), one of the largest labels in South-East Asia, for €23 million ($26m).
Meanwhile, over in the UK, a bill that would have hit record company profits in the market was today (December 3) rejected by the British government.
Proposed by Labour politician Kevin Brennan MP, the headline suggestion of the ‘Brennan bill’ was the introduction of ‘Equitable Remuneration’ into UK law, which would have seen a proportion of artists’ streaming revenues paid directly to performers.
Elsewhere this week, Chinese tech giant NetEase‘s music streaming service officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Bad Bunny was named as the most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify for the second year in a row.
Here’s what happened this week…
1) BMG BUYS MÖTLEY CRÜE RECORDINGS CATALOG FOR AROUND $90 MILLION
BMG is turning up the heat in the already fierce catalog acquisitions market.
Off the back of acquiring a range of rights from Tina Turner last month, on Tuesday (November 30) the company has announced that it has acquired the entire recordings catalog of Mötley Crüe.
BMG hasn’t put a price on the latest deal, but the Bertelsmann-owned company says the Mötley Crüe buyout is its “largest single catalog acquisition” since it was founded in 2008.
2) BELIEVE ACQUIRES 15% STAKE IN PHILIPPINES-BASED VIVA MUSIC AND ARTISTS GROUP FOR $26M
Paris-headquartered music company Believe has acquired a stake in Philippines-based Viva Music and Artists Group (VMAG), one of the largest labels in South-East Asia.
Believe is buying 15% of the company’s total share capital for €23 million (approx. $26m at current exchange rates).
The news follows Believe’s acquisition this week of a 76% stake in South India-based Think Music for €13 million (approx. $14.6m at current exchange rates).
3) BILL THAT WOULD HAVE HIT RECORD COMPANY PROFITS IN THE UK REJECTED BY BRITISH PARLIAMENT
It proposed a set of legislation that could have sucked substantial amounts of annual revenue away from UK record companies each year – but today (December 3) the so-called ‘Brennan bill’ has failed to pass in a chamber of the British Parliament.
The bill contained a number of proposals that would, in essence, have monetarily benefitted artists and featured performers to the detriment of record labels with whom these artists had signed contracts.
Proposed by Labour politician Kevin Brennan MP, the headline suggestion of the ‘Brennan bill’ was the introduction of ‘Equitable Remuneration’ into UK law.
4) NETEASE MUSIC SERVICE LISTS ON HONG KONG STOCK EXCHANGE
Chinese tech giant NetEase’s subsidiary Cloud Village – which operates music streaming service NetEase Cloud Music – officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange yesterday (December 2).
Cloud Village raised HK $3.28 billion (approx. US $421m at current exchange rates) in its IPO, with its share price set at HK $205 (approx. US $26.3), which was the mid point of the indicative offer price range set in the company’s pre-IPO prospectus.
Cloud Village’s shares fell 2.5% to close at HK $199.90 (US $25.6) at the end of the company’s first day of trading on Thursday.
5) BAD BUNNY IS THE MOST-STREAMED ARTIST GLOBALLY ON SPOTIFY IN 2021… AND HE DIDN’T EVEN RELEASE A NEW ALBUM
Puerto Rican Reggaeton star Bad Bunny has been named as the most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify, for the second year in a row.
That’s according to Spotify’s annual Wrapped campaign, which, published on Wednesday (December 1), highlights the top artists, songs, and albums on the platform globally.
Bad Bunny has received over 9.1 billion streams in 2021 so far, achieving that tally without even having released an album this year.
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