
BMI to pay Songwriters & Publishers $100M in bonuses after sale to New Mountain Capital
UPDATED: A New Mountain Capital-led shareholder group has acquired BMI. Current shareholders must still approve the sale, which is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024. With. Continue reading

‘Historic’ Mechanical Royalty increases, inflation adjustments explained [Chris Castle]
A look at the historic rate increases in mechanical rates for physical and permanent downloads coming over the next year as well as the inflation-related increases likely to follow. by. Continue reading

beatBread adds songwriter advances up to $3 million
beatBread has launched a Songwriting Advance Division, which will offer advances of up to $3 million to songwriters, building on its success in providing streaming advances to artists, distributors, and independent. Continue reading

CD Baby launches CDB Boost to help independent songwriters get paid
CD Baby has launched CDB Boost to help independent songwriters with royalty collection and access to sync opportunities. CDB Boost includes mechanical royalty collection via the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC),. Continue reading

UMG shifted Pandora royalties from SoundExchange ending Performer payouts
Universal Music is under fire for changes it made last year in how it pays Pandora royalties to artists, shifting to contractural rates instead of having 50% of the royalty. Continue reading

What is the difference between Copyright and Trademark?
Alex Loveyko from Chase Lawyers guests on the Music Biz Weekly Podcast to talk about the difference between trademarks and copyrights, the importance of band agreements, red flags in record. Continue reading

83% of Hipgnosis Shareholders reject continuation, Merck Mercuriadis responds
83.2% of Hipgnosis shareholders voted against the continuation of the song investment fund and rejected a $449 million partial asset sale to Blackstone. In a scathing rebuke of the current. Continue reading

BMG settles ‘My Poops’ parody of Blackeyes Peas ‘My Humps’ copyright case
BMG went to court after “My Poops,” a parody of the Black Eyed Peas hit song “My Humps,” was used to sell pooping Unicorn toys. by Timothy Geigner from Tech. Continue reading

BMI to raise cut it takes from songwriters, publishers from 10% to 15%
[UPDATED] BMI plans to raise the margin it retains from royalties collected from 10% to 15% or more, according to the PRO’s Fiscal Year 2023 Annual Report. In August, BMI. Continue reading

SoundExchange royalty payments rise 8% to $257M in Q3
SoundExchange announced that it paid out $257 million in royalties in the third quarter of 2023, an 8% increase from the same period in 2022. Year-to-date, SoundExchange distribution payments total. Continue reading