Analysis News From The Orchard acquiring Brazil’s OniMusic to the BMG-Concord merger… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days...
News The Orchard acquires Brazil’s OniMusic, a prominent Christian music distribution platform OniMusic was founded in September 2004 by Nelson and Christie Tristão
Interviews ‘Artists often fail when you give up too much responsibility to others.’ MBW's Trailblazers series meets Alternate Side Management founders Evange Livanos and Zack Zarrillo
Interviews ‘We’re finally in a place where we can win and retain the artists and labels we’ve always wanted to work with.’ MBW's Inspiring Women series meets Kristin Graziani, co-CEO of Los Angeles-based music distribution platform Stem
News Believe expands Label & Artist Solutions business into the US, led by Thomas Maxwell Maxwell will split time between New York City, Nashville, and Los Angeles
News In Q1, YouTube Music and Premium saw ‘largest quarterly increase’ in non-trial subscribers since 2018 launch, says Alphabet CEO, as platform’s quarterly ad revenues rose to $9.88B YouTube's advertising revenue grew 11% YoY to $9.88 billion in Q1 2026
News Symphonic targets catalog acquisitions and indie artist financing deals with launch of Symphonic NEXT Michelle Garramone, who recently joined Symphonic as Head of Strategic Partnerships, will lead the new initiative.
News India’s Times Music buys Punjabi record label Catrack Entertainment — in third acquisition since striking $100m JV with Primary Wave Punjabi specialist Catrack was founded in 1990, with a catalog that spans what the company describes as a 'golden era' of the genre.
News Sorry, AI artists. Spotify’s not letting you become ‘verified’ on its platform. Spotify is introducing a new verification badge for artist profiles.
News The UK’s PRS for Music paid out $1.41B to songwriters, composers and publishers in 2025 Royalty collections at UK collection society grew 7.7% YoY to $1.63B
News Dirty Hit opens first continental European office in Berlin, led by EU Label Manager Noura Labbani Labbani will lead Dirty Hit's European operations for its full roster
Analysis News UMG generated $3.39 billion in Q1, up 8.1% YoY – driven by BTS, Olivia Dean, Taylor Swift, and more Universal Music Group has published its Q1 2026 results for the three months ending March 31
News Universal is selling 50% of its Spotify stake, generating around $1.4 billion UMG will sell half of its equity stake in Spotify and use the proceeds to help fund an expanded share buyback program totaling EUR €1 billion (USD $1.17bn)
Analysis News HYBE posts record Q1 revenue of $477M, up 39.5% YoY, driven by BTS comeback HYBE's latest earnings filing was published on Wednesday, April 29
News The Beatles’ Apple Corps restructures executive team with new hires and promotions The hires span marketing, finance, retail, and strategy, all reporting to Tom Greene, who took on the role in September 2025.
News iHeartMedia in talks to be acquired by SiriusXM Holdings (report) Bloomberg reported that the talks are still at an early stage and may not result in a deal
Interviews BMG+Concord is the music industry’s biggest bet in years. What’s the plan? Thomas Coesfeld and Bob Valentine answer MBW's questions on a mega-merger – and ambitious targets
Analysis News Spotify Co-CEOs outline AI ambitions and more on Q1 2026 earnings call Here are five things we learned from the company's Q1 earnings call