[UPDATED] To date, music streaming service CÜR has raised $13.6 million in funding, including a recent $2 million in convertible notes. But rumors point to a company struggling to make partial payments to record labels and rightsholders. So the startup has brought in an industry veteran to try to right…
Category archives: Major Labels
CHANGES @ MetaPop • UMG • SESAC • SGAE • 7Digital • Three Six Zero • More
A new installment of Hypebot’s compendium of music industry deals, appointments, announcements and more. If you don’t read about it on Hyepbot, did it really happen? • Matt Adell, the former CEO of Beatport, has launched his new company MetaPop. The company is the first platform to monetizing fan remixes…
Warner/Chappell Music Named ASCAP Publisher Of The Year 2016
Warner/Chappell Music has been named ASCAP’s Music Publisher of the Year 2016, it was announced at last night’s 33rd annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards. In addition, Ryan McMahon and Benjamin Berger of WCM songwriting trio Captain Cuts were honored with the “Song of the Year” award for co-writing Walk the…
Led Zeppelin Could End "Stairway To Heaven" Lawsuit For $1
Led Zeppelin are facing a jury trial for alleged copyright infringement of their seminal hit "Stairway to Heaven." A District Court Judge has ruled that the hit was similar enough to the ’67 instrumental "Taurus" by Spirit to warrant a trial. But the plaintiff’s have offered Led Zep an easy…
This Startup Used A Chatbot To Sell $1M In Vinyl Records In 8 Months, Scores $3.5M Investment
Chatbots – "a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet" – are all the rage in tech circles. Mark Zuckerberg says they’ll transform Facebook, and an 8 month old startup has used one to sell $1 million in vinyl records. Online vinyl store, The…
PRINCE, An Artist Who Controlled Every Aspect Of His Music And Career, LEFT NO WILL
Prince famously controlled of every aspect of his music and career. But his legacy may be left to warring relatives and the courts. That’s the almost inevitable result of news that broke yesterday: Prince left no will. ______________________________________ Prince’s sister Tyka Nelson has filed documents in probate court indicating that…
Inside The Taylor Swift Anti-Piracy Battle: Regulatory Filing Reveals UMG’s Massive Effort To Block Pirates
Few musicians or labels are fans of music piracy. But with Taylor Swift’s decision to keep her music anticipated album ‘1989’ off streaming music services, UMG, her label’s distributor, became particularly concerned and hatched a plan to fight it. ______________________________ A Universal Music Group filing with the U.S. Copyright office…
Prince Sells 3 Million Tracks, 650K Albums In Just 4 Days
In the 4 day period April 21-24, following Prince’s untimely passing, he sold 654,861 albums and had track sales of more than 3 million, according to new stats from Buzz Angle Music. 230K of those albums and 1M songs in the U.S. on April 21st alone. More impressive Prince sales…
Prince’s "The Very Best Of" Tops U.S. Chart This Week
The Very Best of Prince is the #1 album in the U.S. this week (April 15 – 21, 2016) with over 121,000 album project units, according to BuzzAngle Music. The number is particularly impressive since almost all of the sales came on a single day, the day of his death…
Remember This? Prince’s Warner Bros Deal Precipitated Ripple Effect Of Copyright Terminations
Years ago, Prince negotiated with Warner Brothers to regain control of his catalog of music. While among the first to do so, many artists from 1978 onward have the option to renegotiate their contracts, thanks to the Copyright Revision Act. Here, music industry attorney Wallace Collins revisits Prince’s cutting edge…