From Universal dumping DIY distribution to Zach Katz at FaZe Clan: It’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up
Welcome to Worldwide music businessweekly recap – where we’re sure you’ve caught the top five stories that will make our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is powered by Centtriphelping more than 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring expenses.
This week, Universal Music GroupAuthoritative distribution platform Spinnup revealed that it is changing from an “open DIY music distribution service,” to a “curated artist discovery and distribution platform.”
In other words, Spinnup will soon switch to invite-only mode and will reduce the number of artists using the platform.
Existing users were notified of the change via email on Wednesday (May 18), and a notice on the Spinnup website confirms that “some artists” will now be leaving the platform. These artists are being asked to remove their releases and move to a new distributor by July 19, 2022.
This move brings Spinnup’s business model closer to the business model of AWALcommunication acquired by Sony Music last year.
Spinnup’s shift from “opening a DIY music distribution service” to an invite-only platform also comes three years after another distributor, Los Angeles-based Stem, revealed that it will turn off the ability for any DIY artists to distribute their music through its platform.
Elsewhere, Bandcamp, acquired by Epic game in March, announced that it would continue to operate using its existing payment system on Android devices, after the General Regulations were submitted by Epic and Google at a California courthouse on Friday (May 20).
This news follows an Epic petition against Google in April asking for an initial order to block the removal of Bandcamp from the Google Play store.
Following Epic’s Movement in AprilGoogle has threatened to remove any apps, including Bandcamp, from its app store on June 1, 2022, if it doesn’t adopt Google’s payment system for purchases within application.
Google has agreed not to remove Bandcamp from its store, and Bandcamp has agreed to move 10% of its revenue from digital sales on Android devices into an escrow account, until the ongoing case of Epic against Google is resolved.
Meanwhile, this week, Danmark Music Group acquired the activities of Secret Noord, the independent distributor’s Scandinavian-based digital distribution arm Secret distribution.
As part of the deal, Secretly Distribution is becoming a joint stock partner in Denmark.
Also this week, UK music licensing company PPL reported revenue of $347.7 million for 2021, while before that BMG The President of the United States, Zach Katz, has officially joined eSports giant FaZe Clan on the eve of the company’s $1 billion SPAC merger in the United States.
Here’s what happened this week…
1) POPULAR DUST DISTRIBUTION DIY, AS SPINNUP INVOLVED ONLY
Among the many compelling reasons for Music by Sony to acquire AWAL last year (*cough* instant market share *cough*) isKobalt the platform’s uncommon upload model for indie artists.
Instead of allowing all artists everywhere to upload their music to digital services (a la DistroKid or TuneCore), AWAL instead implements the ‘first layer’ of A&R filtering. As a result, about nine out of every ten songs submitted to the AWAL platform are rejected.
Now, Universal Music Group is making a dramatic change to its own indie artist distribution business to bring it closer to the AWAL model – and close its doors to many hopeful DIY artists. distribute their music through UMG….
Bandcamp has had a roller coaster ride for a few months.
In March, the online music store and direct-to-fan platform made both the music and video game businesses talk when it was announced by Epic Games, the maker of the hit video game Fortnite, and Unreal Engine, acquired for $31.5 billion.
Last month, Bandcamp’s new parent company filed a lawsuit against Google asking for a preliminary injunction to block the tech giant from removing the Bandcamp app from its app store.
Today (Friday, May 20), Epic and Google filed a Joint Rule in a California court, with the latter agreeing not to remove Bandcamp from its app store…
3) EMERGENCY NEW INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTION POWERHOUSE IN SCANDINAVIA, AS DENMARK BUY DISCLOSED
Danmark Music Group has acquired the operations of Secretly Noord, the Scandinavian-based digital distribution arm of independent distributor Secretly Distribution.
As part of the deal, Secretly Distribution is becoming a joint stock partner in Denmark.
Secretly Noord’s team – consisting of former Phonofile employees Daggan Stamenkovic, Torny Gottberg and Jarle Savio – will become DANMARK’s Nordic team, with offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Oslo…
British music licensing company PPL reported £252.8 million ($347.7 million) in revenue for 2021, up 12%, or £27.1 million ($37.27 million). la) compared to the same period last year.
The company’s results for 2021 mark the second-highest total annual revenue, after raking in £271.8 million in 2019.
PPL reports that it has seen year-over-year growth across all three revenue streams in 2021, including International, Broadcast and Online as well as Public Performance and Dub, with International and Broadcast and online licensing revenue hits record year-to-date…
5) Zach Katz Appointed President and COO of FaZe Clan ahead of $1 billion SPAC merger
The convergence of the world of music and games becomes more interesting every day.
This week, it was confirmed that Zach Katz – the former President of BMG in the US, and former CEO of Raised In Space – is joining FaZe Clan as President and COO…
MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is powered by Centtrip, helping more than 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their earnings and reduce their touring costs.Worldwide music business
