‘A Modern Collecting Society Needs the Pace and Resilience of a Modern Digital Service.’
PRS for Music announced a comprehensive digital‑first overhaul, redesigning its website and member tools to be mobile‑first and self‑service. The new platform reduces navigation steps, uses plain language, and treats data as a product, enabling faster royalty insights and payments. AI and machine‑learning are applied for anomaly detection and smarter matching while keeping human expertise for complex decisions. In 2024 PRS paid out over £1 billion to more than 86,000 members, with streaming royalties now paid monthly and live‑performance data driving growth.
Music Distributor Alliance Entertainment Says It Sold over 16m Vinyl Records and 13m CDs in 2025
Alliance Entertainment reported selling over 16 million vinyl records and 13 million CDs in 2025, underscoring the resilience of physical music formats. In Q4 2025, vinyl sales rose 3% year‑over‑year while CD sales grew about 5%, driven by its exclusive distribution agreement with...
Switzerland’s MusicBird Acquires Publishing Catalog of R&B Duo and Drake Collaborators Majid Jordan
Switzerland‑based music‑rights boutique MusicBird has acquired the publishing catalog of Toronto R&B duo Majid Jordan, adding over 2,000 songs to its holdings. The catalog includes the duo’s own hits such as “Her” and co‑writes on chart‑topping tracks for Drake, Beyoncé and...
UK-Based Investor Independent Franchise Partners Takes 3% Stake in Universal Music Group Worth $1.2bn+
Independent Franchise Partners (IFP) has acquired a 3.01% stake in Universal Music Group (UMG), valued at roughly €1.09 billion ($1.29 bn). The holding makes IFP the sixth‑largest shareholder and adds to its existing positions in Vivendi, Rightmove and Warner Music, signalling a...
Sony Group Develops Tech to Track Original Music in AI-Generated Songs (Report)
Sony Group has created technology to identify copyrighted music embedded in AI‑generated songs. The system works by either connecting directly to AI model training data or by comparing generated outputs against existing catalogs. Sony AI aims to use the tool...
Done Deal: UMG’s Downtown Acquisition Approved by EU Competition Regulator
The European Commission approved Universal Music Group’s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, conditional on divesting the Curve royalty‑accounting business. The decision ends a year‑long antitrust review and clears the way for UMG to integrate Downtown’s distribution and publishing services,...
The Empire Strikes Back: The Majors and Merlin Gained (a Bit) of Market Share on Spotify Last Year.
Spotify’s 2025 fiscal report shows the combined majors‑plus‑Merlin cohort regaining market share, rising to 72% of global music streams from 71% in 2024, ending a decade‑long decline that saw the group fall from 87% in 2017. The rebound coincides with...
Scott Borchetta Exits HYBE AMERICA
Scott Borchetta is departing HYBE America after five years as CEO of Big Machine Label Group, which HYBE acquired in a $1.05 billion deal in 2021. Borchetta, the founder of Big Machine Records, will continue to use the brand for independent...
HYBE Posts Record Annual Revenues of $1.86bn for 2025 as K-Pop Firm’s Concert Revenues Hit All-Time High – but Operating...
South Korean entertainment conglomerate HYBE reported FY 2025 revenue of 2.65 trillion KRW ($1.86 bn), a 17.5% YoY increase driven largely by a 69.4% surge in concert revenues to $537.5 m. Despite the topline growth, operating profit collapsed 72.9% to 49.9 bn KRW ($35.1 m), shrinking the...
NetEase Cloud Music Now Counts over 1 Million Registered Indie Artists
NetEase Cloud Music announced that its independent‑artist ecosystem surpassed one million registered creators, contributing over 5.6 million tracks by the end of FY 2025. Subscription revenue grew 13.3% year‑over‑year to RMB 5.1 billion, while total online‑music revenue rose 12% to RMB 6.0 billion. Despite a slight...
Warner Music Group Plans to Sell EMP, the Merch Business It Acquired for $180m in 2018
Warner Music Group announced it will sell EMP, the European rock‑and‑metal merchandise retailer it bought for $180 million in 2018. The business has been re‑classified as held for sale and the transaction is now expected to close in the first quarter...
Songs Are Reaching 1bn Spotify Streams 14x Faster than a Decade Ago, and Other Stats From Chartmetric’s 2025 Year in...
Chartmetric’s 2025 Year in Music report reveals that songs now reach one billion Spotify streams in just 197 days, a 14‑fold speedup from 2015. Hit lifecycles are compressing, with older tracks dominating 2025’s Top 10 while new artists break into the ‘Superstar’...
Sound Royalties Says It Closed a Record $135m in Funded Contracts in 2025
Sound Royalties announced a record $135 million in funded contracts for 2025, doubling its assets under management from referred business. The Florida‑based firm expanded its financing portfolio to include YouTube AdSense, concert touring, and TV licensing across more than 30 countries....