Merlin and Deezer announced a new partnership through which Deezer's artist rights model will be integrated into Merlin's membership of independent record labels, distributors and other rights holders. The model, which is currently rolling out in France, is designed to reward artists and tracks deemed to play a role in attracting and retaining subscribers to the platform, excluding white noise and other types of “functional” audio from the royalty pool.
“We've worked with Deezer to ensure their new model works for the benefit of our members, representing a way forward to ensure high-quality music and the artists who create it are recognized and rewarded in the way they deserve it's worth it,” he said. CEO of Merlin Jeremy Sirota in a statement.
Added Deezer CEO Jerónimo Foglueira: I'm very pleased to see Merlin and its members embracing Deezer's artist-centric model and joining us in redefining artist pay in the streaming era, to ensure artists are paid more fairly for their music.”
Warner Music India made a strategic investment in Global Music Junction (GMJ), the music and entertainment subsidiary of digital entertainment and technology company JetSynthesys. The move gives Warner Music India a seat on GMJ's board and extends its partnership with the company, with which it previously had a distribution deal in 2021. GMJ — which provides services such as content creation, event management, innovative distribution, marketing solutions, technical analysis and legal expertise — is a market leader in music markets for Bhojpuri, Kannada, Gujarati, Haryanvi and Oriya languages. “This is a major milestone in expanding our presence across India.” Alfonso Perez Soto, Warner Music's president of emerging markets, said in a statement. “Working with the amazing team at GMJ last year not only strengthened our partnership, but enabled us to better support artists from central India by giving them the best artistic support any company can offer and helping them connect with fans all over the country and all over the world.”
AEG presents and Golf LIV announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with AEG and its subsidiary, Concerts West, to book music acts and produce concerts for LIV Golf events worldwide. Since the launch of the LIV Golf Invitational Series in 2022, followed by the official launch of the LIV Golf League last year, artists such as Zac Brown Band, Tiësto, Nelly, Sebastián Yatra and Alesso have performed at LIV Golf events. Beginning this spring, AEG Presents and its subsidiary Concerts West will book musical acts and produce concerts for LIV golf tournaments worldwide, handling talent booking, artist management, exhibition/venue planning, creative development and technical production.
The City of McKinney, Texas.which is a major hub in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he chose Notes Live for the construction of what will be the company's largest venue to date: the $220 million, $20,000-capacity Sunset Amphitheater. The effort to bring the site to McKinney was a joint effort between the city, the McKinney Economic Development Corporation and the McKinney Community Development Corporation. Construction on Sunset is scheduled to begin late this year, with the goal of opening in time for the 2026 concert tour season. The project is expected to support more than 1,300 direct and indirect jobs and generate $3 billion in regional and local economy activity in its first 10 years of operation.
Audio entertainment platform Pocket FM raised $103 million in Series D funding led by Speed of light with participation from Stepstone Group. The latest round brings Pocket FM's total funding to date to $196.5 million. The money will support the company's push into the US market, while supporting its expansion into Europe as well as Latin American markets in 2024. Pocket FM will also continue to strengthen its exclusive content library and create personalized propositions with artificial intelligence to improve the user experience. The company claims to have surpassed $150 million in annual recurring revenue and says the platform garnered more than 75 billion streaming minutes worldwide last year.
Warner Music South East Europe acquired a minority stake in the Slovenian independent company NIKA. The label has a repertoire of over 11,000 songs, including tracks by Big Foot Mama, Koala Voice, Luka Basi, Nipke and Siddharta. The label's releases are currently distributed through Warner's independent distribution and label services arm ADA. The deal will allow Warner Music to transfer NIKA's roster to its international network. NIKA has been licensed by Warner Music in Slovenia since 1995.
Melissa Etheridge works with Gritty in pink, which powers the INPINK marketplace — a platform, described as similar to Upwork, where female freelancers in music can find work. Through the partnership, female videographers can submit an INPINK shortlist to showcase their work to be considered for a recording and content editing job at Etheridge's upcoming shows in Santa Clarita, CA and Thousand Oaks, CA. Interested parties can submit their entries between March 20 and March 28. Etheridge will also serve as a “strategic advisor” to the INPINK market. Prior to the collaboration, the singer-songwriter hired an INPINK videographer to film her tour last year and ran a photo campaign with INPINK to find a female photographer to shoot press photos.
ASM Global signed a strategic partnership with King Abdullah Financial District Development and Management Company (KAFD DMC) to lead the operation and management of the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Convention Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The convention center includes a 1,215 square meter banquet hall, a 600-seat auditorium and several outdoor plazas.
NightEvolution — which owns Ibiza dance clubs Amnesia and Cova Santa and Amnesia's indoor nightclub Pyramid — has joined forces with the Dubai developer Sekoya management, which owns Dubai venue Soho Garden and sub-brands/electronic music venues Code, Playroom and Hive. As part of the deal, NightEvolution and Sekoya will present a new series of events called Horizon in Ibiza, Dubai and elsewhere.
AI powered beat and track generator SOUNDDRAW raised $3 million in new funding led by Carbide Venturesalong with other investors including mint VC, Demeter, iSGS, SMBC Venture Capital, Deepcore, Kazuomi Kaneto and Paul RosenbergCEO of Goliath Artists and president of Shady Records.
