Cutting edge team (“CEG” or the “Group”), an investor and manager of specialty multimedia music rights that include more than 2,000 titles in soundtrack albums, has completed a $500 million debt refinancing with four banks led by Thursday Third Bank and Northleaf Capital Partners. The new credit facility will be used for corporate purposes as well as to acquire music rights from the approximately $1.5 billion pipeline of potential investments Cutting Edge has already identified.
“Cutting Edge has become the world's leading music partner in the film and television industry,” he said Philip Moros, CEO of Cutting Edge Group, in a statement. “During this time, the structural trends driving our industries have accelerated exponentially, offering a proliferation of digital platforms and content, coupled with an increase in demand for media music consumption. Before the pandemic, we identified a similar opportunity in the global wellness market, which is now projected to grow by 10% annually to a US$7 trillion market by 2025. This refinancing will allow us to implement our growth strategy to take full advantage from these tendencies in our usual disciplined manner.'
Tik Tok in partnership with the global ticketing platform AXSenabling certified artists on the social platform to use in-app ticketing to promote their live dates on AXS, while allowing fans to purchase tickets to events through AXS within TikTok.
Universal Music Greater China (UMGC) concluded a new strategic agreement with TF Entertainment, the company behind Chinese idols TFBOYS and Teens In Times. Under the deal, UMGC will handle global distribution of TF's roster, targeting markets outside mainland China.
ASM Global ActsASM Global's corporate social responsibility platform, in partnership with the reuse platform r. World to introduce reusable tableware — including reusable cups and food containers — at venues across the company's North American portfolio, starting with the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and select hospitality locations at the upcoming Acure Grand Prix in Long Beach, California.
Audacity and Super Hi-Fi, which provides AI-powered radio services for broadcast and digital media companies, announced an expanded partnership that will streamline Audacy's digital content programming, production and delivery processes “while creating stickier listener experiences and more opportunities for advertisers to engage with them ”, a press release. Audacy also announced that five of its top-rated HD radio stations are switching to using the Super Hi-Fi program manager radio operating system, allowing programmers and staff to spend less time on production. Stations include WWBX-HD2 in Boston, WLKK-HD2 in Buffalo, KILT-HD2 in Houston, KROQ-HD2 in Los Angeles and KNRK-HD2 in Portland.
Top Classical Music Artist Agencies IMG Artists and TACT Artists Management formed a strategic alliance through which their vocal departments will work together to pool expertise and resources. By working together, the companies hope to secure a wider international network for their catalogs, among other benefits.
Sony MusicThe global podcast division acquired the podcast production company Neon Humwhose founder/CEO Jonathan Hirsch joins Sony Music as vice president of global podcasts/head of US creative. Sony will use Neon Hum's production expertise to continue developing podcasts for its subscription channel, The Binge, and across its entertainment. Sony will also expand its work-for-hire business to provide more services beyond audio production for its clients and branded podcasts. Prior to the acquisition, Sony made a strategic investment in Neon Hum in 2019, with the two co-launching podcasts including Dinners on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Smoke screen and My fugitive dad.
Merlin announced a licensing deal with the streaming platform Audiomack, giving Merlin members access to Audiomack's audience. Merlin members will now also be able to claim their artists' Audiomack accounts, allowing them to message their fans and more. The deal includes Audiomod, a new Audiomack tool that allows fans to customize their listening experience through preset filters including “speed up”, “slow down”, “nightcore” and “daycore” and/or custom listening filters that create the same.
Living Nation closed cooperation with The R&D, golf's governing body outside the United States and Mexico, to produce the concert at the 2024 AIG Women's Open. The tournament is scheduled to be played at the Old Course in St. Louis. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland from August 21 to 25. It will feature the top 50 players in the Rolex Women's World Ranking.
Secretly announced new distribution deals with Jazz is dead and its sister tag, Linear Laboratories. Founded by Adrian Young, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A race called quest), Andrew Lojero and Adam Block, Jazz Is Dead is dedicated to “honoring the legacies of musical heroes and personalities,” according to a press release, having released albums by Rob Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith and others. Linear Labs focuses on “new progressive music” and has collaborated with artists such as Ghostface Killah, The Delfonics and Angela Muñoz while releasing scores and soundtracks for CBS, Hulu and Netflix. Past and future releases on both labels will now be distributed by Secretly.
Image-Line — acquired the developer of the popular digital audio workstation (DAW) FL Studio and FL Cloud MSXII Sound Design, manufacturer of sample packs and audio tools. MSX's over 200G sample library is now available to FL Studio users via FL Cloud.
Audioa new platform developed by former Google DeepMind researchers that lets users create music using artificial intelligence using text messages and then share their creations with the app's community of users for feedback and collaboration has raised a round of seed funding from investors, incl a16zco-founder/CTO of Instagram; Mike Kriegerwill.i.am, Common, Kevin WallTay Keith, United Masters and Oriol Vinyalshead of Gemini at Google.
Entertainment, hospitality and investment holding company Palm Tree Crew – founded by Kygo and Myles Shear — closed a strategic investment in Medium Rare, valuing the company at $50 million. Medium Rare works with artists, celebrities and athletes to create live entertainment venues. examples include Travis Kelce's Kelce Jam and Guy Fieri's Flavortown Tailgate. As part of the deal, Medium Rare will collaborate on select events and festivals within the Palm Tree Crew holding company. The two companies will also work together to develop new festivals and live experiences.
Oak View Group signed a collaboration with University of Kansas to be the stadium operator for the Gateway District – the future home of Kansas football and convention center events and conventions – and the redesigned David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Oak View Group will additionally manage food and beverage services and in-suite catering for all Kansas Athletics venues. He will oversee the day-to-day operations of both the football stadium and the convention center when the first phase of the Gateway District opens in August 2025, driving bookings for convention events, concerts and more. Oak View Group will additionally play a key role in the ongoing upgrades to Allen Fieldhouse, managing all food and beverage and arena hospitality.
AI-driven funding platform beatBread works with Kobalt Music Group for the administration of publications in the United States and Amra for digital licenses and collections internationally. The agreements allow BeatBread to extend its existing publishing rights funding to artists who are currently unpublished and sub-collect their performance and engineering revenue.
Entertainment company FUN and Official Latin Film Festival merged to form the NVISION Film & Music Festival. The festival will feature a mix of film screenings, musical performances, art exhibitions, technology showcases and conference-style panels and presentations. It is set to take place October 10-12 at the Palm Springs Art Museum in Palm Springs, California.
The city council of McKinney, Texas. approved the development of the Sunset Amphitheater being built in the city by Notes Live. The agreement involves a public-private partnership between Notes Live, the city, the McKinney Economic Development Corporation and McKinney Community Development Corporation. The project is estimated to bring more than 1,300 direct and indirect jobs to the community, with an economic impact of approximately $3 billion in the area over the first 10 years.
Music Fedwhich redistributes surplus behind-the-scenes and VIP meals to veterans and those experiencing homelessness and food insecurity in the United States, will once again partner with Live Nation-Hewitt Silva (LNHS) for handling excess catering at upcoming LNHS events at the Hollywood Bowl. The organization will also reconnect with TaDa! Events to repurpose unused catering for communities in need through several LA non-profits.
Feed.fm works with the company AI Kyanite for tags and AI-powered music search to improve discoverability on its platform. Under the agreement, Feed.fm will use Cyanite's technology to enhance the metadata that Feed.fm's compliance and recommendation engine uses to stream curated music for each listener.
