Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.
Jon Batiste has had a great week.
On Grammy Nominations announcement day (Tuesday, November 23), the artist, musician, composer and The Late Show bandleader found out that he’s up for 11 awards at the 2022 ceremony, more than any other artist on the shortlist for the show.
That’s two more than the most-nominated artist for the 2021 Awards show, which was Beyoncé, with nine.
Tied for second place on the nominations list for the 2022 show, scheduled for January 31, are Justin Bieber, Doja Cat and H.E.R. with eight each, while both Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo earned seven each.
Meanwhile, JAY-Z received three nominations this year, bringing his career total to 83, and making him the most Grammy-nominated artist of all time.
Also this week, news arrived of one of music’s next big-money IPOs, with Chinese technology giant NetEase Inc. confirming that its subsidiary Cloud Village – operator of music streaming service NetEase Cloud Music – will list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 2.
According to Cloud Village’s prospectus, the firm is aiming to raise around US $450 million in the IPO, and that Sony Music Entertainment is buying shares in the firm worth USD $100 million.
Plus, Fortnite maker Epic Games has bought videogame developer Harmonix, creator of the popular Rock Band franchise.
Epic claims that, as it works “to build the metaverse”, the Harmonix team’s “expertise is needed to reimagine how music is experienced, created and distributed”. This is definitely one to watch.
Elsewhere this week, UK-based venture capital firm Edge Investments closed a raise of GBP £85 million (approx USD $113m) for a new venture fund, and Republic Records has named Wendy Goldstein and Jim Roppo as Co-Presidents.
The nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards show are in.
Jon Batiste is the most-nominated artist for the awards event, earning 11 across seven ‘fields’, including General Field, R&B, Jazz, American Roots Music, Music For Visual Media, Classical, and Music Video/Film.
The awards show takes place on Monday, January 31 2022. Click here to see the full list of nominees.
Chinese technology giant NetEase Inc. has confirmed that its subsidiary Cloud Village – which operates music streaming service NetEase Cloud Music – will list on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 2 under the symbol “9899.HK.”
A pre-IPO prospectus reveals three “cornerstone investors” are backing Cloud Village’s listing: current parent company NetEase, Orbis Investment Management Limited, and last – but definitely not least – Sony Music Entertainment.
The latter company, MBW has discovered, is buying shares in Cloud Village worth USD $100 million, as per an agreement signed by Cloud Village and Sony Music on November 22…
Epic Games, the maker of hit video game Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has acquired Harmonix, creator of the popular Rock Band and Dance Central franchises for an undisclosed sum.
The buyout of the Boston-based music-related game studio Harmonix follows a period of successful fraternization with the music industry for Epic.
Epic’s flagship game Fortnite has served as a well-attended virtual performance and video premiere space for a number of major stars, while its Unreal Engine is used as the foundation for 3D music videos created by Sony Music’s Immersive Music Studios.
However, Epic’s latest music move could be its most ambitious yet….
UK-based venture capital firm Edge Investments has closed a raise of GBP £85 million (approx USD $113m) for a new venture fund.
The Edge Create The Future fund is targeting a final close of £100 million ($133m).
Edge, led by long-time music industry entrepreneur and lawyer, David Glick, says the new fund will target investments in sectors “such as edtech, virtual / augmented reality, adtech, content creation and distribution”….
