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 maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
This week, it was reported by Bloomberg and TheWall Street Journal that the major music companies are in licensing talks with AI music platforms Udio and Suno.
Also this week, Goldman Sachs published the latest edition of its influential Music in the Air report — and despite analysts revising some forecasts downward following a slower-than-expected 2024, it maintains a positive long-term outlook for the music industry.
Elsewhere this week, a consortium led by Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie upped its bid to buy the remaining shares of the music company, valuing Believe at almost $2 billion.
Meanwhile, UK-born ticketing platform DICE has been acquired by Live events discovery platform Fever, in the same week that Fever secured $100 million-plus in equity funding.
Finally, Rezonate Music Rights has launched with $150 million in backing from Bridgepoint Credit to acquire music producer royalty rights globally.
Suno, the AI music-making platform being sued by the record majors over copyright infringement, has once again unveiled upgrades to its platform’s capabilities.
The upgrades, announced on Suno’s blog on Tuesday (June 3), come amid news that Suno, along with rival AI music platform Udio (also facing a lawsuit by the music majors) are in talks with Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to license the music giants’ recordings.
The latest news on that front came from the Wall Street Journal, which reported on Tuesday that among the key asks from the recording companies is a Content ID-style fingerprinting technology that would make it possible to track when and how a particular song is used by the AI platforms.
Goldman Sachs has published the latest edition of its influential Music in the Air report.
The 91-page research paper, released on June 3, provides insights into streaming growth, price strategies, emerging markets, and theimpact of artificial intelligence on the music business.
Despite revising some forecasts downward following a slower-than-expected 2024, Goldman Sachs maintains a positive long-term outlook for the music industry.
The bank expects the global music market (across recorded music, publishing, and live) to nearly double from USD $104.9 billion in 2024 to $196.8 billionby 2035.
In April, a consortium led by Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie confirmed plans to acquire the remaining shares of the music company from public shareholders.
The consortium, which also includes the EQT X fund plus funds advised by TCV, currently holds 96.65% of Believe‘s share capital privately; the sub-4% remainder of Believe’s stock is held by public shareholders on the Paris Euronext.
At the time (in April), the Ladegaillerie consortium (‘Upbeat Bidco’) moved to delist the Paris-listed firm through a public buyout offer of €15.30 per share, valuing Believe’s entire share capital at about EUR €1.54 billion (USD $1.75 billion).
Now, Upbeat Bidco has significantly upped its bid for those remaining shares.
UK-born ticketing platform DICE has been acquired by Live events discovery platform Fever.
The news arrives in the same week that Fever, which was last valued at $1.8 billion in 2023, secured another $100 million-plus in equity funding.
Fever did not disclose the price of the deal, but confirmation of the sale arrives around a year after Bloomberg reported that DICE was in advanced talks to sell a significant stake in its company, potentially valuing it at “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Rezonate Music Rights has launched with $150 million in backing from Bridgepoint Credit to acquire music producer royalty rights globally.
The London-based investment platform was co-founded by Cam Blackwood, the producer behind albums by artists George Ezra, Tom Walker, and Jack Savoretti, and Tom Tyler, who has over 20 years of experience in senior financial roles at the London Stock Exchange Group.
Bridgepoint Credit, described as one of Europe’s “most experienced credit managers”, has acquired a minority stake in Rezonate’s management company as part of the strategic partnership.
2) Emerging markets, superfans, and price rises: 7 takeaways from Goldman Sachs’ new ‘Music in the Air’ report
3) Believe now valued at close to $2bn, as Denis Ladegaillerie consortium ups bid for remaining shares
