Tag: majors

Do independent labels get a fair share of slots on music streaming services’ playlists? It’s a complicated question, with the answer having varied, historically, depending on which playlists you’re talking about (all...

Spotify’s latest financial filing is being picked over for interesting trends, and one of those is the combined share of streams for the catalogues of the three major labels, plus the independent catalogue licensed...

Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music had their say at the UK’s streaming economics inquiry yesterday: if you missed it last night, here’s our report on their session. But yesterday the parliamentary committee...

Universal Music Group is relaunching the Virgin music brand as a new artist and label services division: its latest arm focused on the independent sector. For now, the relaunched brand will be operating in the US, Japan,...

As we write this story, Scottish artist Nathan Evans is on course for a top 10 hit in the UK with ‘Wellerman’ – his sea-shanty cover that took TikTok by storm. There’s an obligatory heartwarming story...

The British music industry will be clearing some diary time next Tuesday (19 January) for the next sessions in the UK parliamentary inquiry into the economics of music streaming. The second session will see the three major...

At the height of the #TheShowMustBePaused campaign last year, there were lots of promises and some big-budget funds created by the major labels in the US. 2020 ended with some more promises, courtesy of a joint statement from...

We’re hardly sticking our necks out when we predict that 2019 will be the fifth consecutive year of growth for global recorded-music revenues, even if the IFPI stats showing it won’t be published until mid-2020. Figures...

BMG’s chief executive Hartwig Masuch has been taking his latest potshots at the three major labels, this time focusing on whether their cost structures will prove unwieldy as deals tip more in favour of artists, from frontline...

Our focus is on music/tech startups, and their interaction with the music industry. Screenwriter William Goldman’s famous line about Hollywood – ”Nobody knows anything” – applies just as well to the task of spotting...

With all three major labels having published their financial results for the final quarter of 2018 – and thus for the year as a whole – we can get a picture of how their digital businesses grew. MBW’s analysis claims...

Merlin CEO Charles Caldas has criticised major labels a few times in recent months alluding to manipulation of market shares in the streaming world.