Music Business Analysis

UMG fires back at Drake appeal over ‘Not Like Us’ case dismissal: 3 takeaways from response brief

UMG says Drake used AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur “to goad Lamar into responding to his diss tracks.

Analysis

Where’s V6?

MBW Founder Tim Ingham on Suno's missing licensed model and why the WMG deal doesn't mean the music industry has moved on

Analysis News

Mandopop superstar Jay Chou is about to release his new album ‘Children of the Sun’ via UMG, led by a $2.8M music video. The timing couldn’t be more significant.

The album is also the first new studio record released since Chou and his label JVR Music signed a strategic global partnership with Universal Music Greater China in December 2023,

Analysis News

A new WMG deal, an Ed Sheeran collaboration and 10M AI music production users… 3 things we learned from Tencent Music’s Q4 earnings call

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) published its Q4 and full-year 2025 results on Tuesday (March 17). Here are three things that stood out.

Analysis News

10 quick (and crucial) takeaways from IFPI’s Global Music Report 2026

10 quick takeaways from this year's report

Analysis

Sir Lucian Grainge just became the first music exec at NVIDIA’s ‘Super Bowl of AI’. Here’s what he said.

Universal Music Group's Chairman & CEO just became the first music industry leader to take the stage at NVIDIA's GTC conference

Analysis News

Tencent Music now has 20M+ ‘Super VIP’ subscribers. Here’s what that means for China’s largest music streamer.

Tencent Music Entertainment's (TME) 'Super VIP' tier has just hit a major new milestone.

Analysis

Why the UMG/Downtown deal may be the last of its kind

The following op/ed comes from Simon Wills, MD of UK-headquartered Absolute Label Services and lead on the new Anthology music OS.

Analysis

The Problem with AI Companies ‘Starting Fresh’.

The following MBW op/ed was written by prominent Entertainment and IP lawyer Krystle Delgado, Owner of Delgado Entertainment Law PLLC and host of the popular Top Music Attorney YouTube Podcast

Analysis

Chance the Rapper vs. Pat the Manager trial: Seven revelations from the courtroom so far

The civil trial between Chancelor Bennett (Chance the Rapper) and his former manager Patrick Corcoran is underway

Analysis News

80 artists generated $10M+ each from Spotify last year. Over 1,500 generated $1M+. Here’s the full breakdown.

Spotify published its annual Loud & Clear report today (March 11), which includes bundles of fresh data on what artists generated from its service in 2025.

Analysis News

Sir Lucian Grainge talks AI strategy, Downtown, D2C, superfans, and more on UMG’s latest earnings call

MBW listened in to UMG's latest earnings call. Here's what we learned.

Analysis News

Universal Music generated $4.19B in Q4, up 10.6% YoY – driven by Taylor Swift, KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, Olivia Dean, and more

The music company's fresh set of quarterly results, published today (March 5).

Analysis

Robert Kyncl talks Suno, AI, the value of music and more at Morgan Stanley event

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl used an appearance at Morgan Stanley’s conference this week to make an expansive case for why artificial intelligence represents an opportunity for WMG — and for the music industry at large. The WMG CEO’s remarks came on the heels of a shareholder letter in which he argued that AI … Continued

Analysis

Live Nation Antitrust Trial: 3 things to know as landmark case kicks off in New York court

Here are three things to know as the trial gets underway.