artist-centric

‘When artists say they want to be independent, what they really mean is they want to be autonomous.’

Stem founder, Milana Rabkin-Lewis, on her company, TikTok vs. UMG, AI, and much more

IMPALA sides with UMG in TikTok dispute, calls on Spotify, Apple, Deezer to address ‘negative consequences’ of royalty changes

Europe’s trade association for indie labels says there is “an urgent need to secure fair revenues” from services like TikTok

News

Indie artists shift to artist-centric payments on Deezer, as streaming service signs new deal with Merlin

Merlin joins a growing list of music companies to sign up for Deezer's innovative new royalty payment model

News

Deezer has deleted 26m ‘useless’ tracks since it launched artist-centric model with Universal Music Group

The idea is to "declutter the platform" and "focus on tracks that are valuable to our users" according to CEO Jeronimo Folgueira

Analysis

As Warner Music Group posts its biggest ever quarter… WMG boss Robert Kyncl says he’s ‘confident’ that Universal and TikTok will resolve their spat

Kyncl is planning 'as much automation as possible,' and more lobbying for higher prices at music streaming services

Analysis

WMG’s Robert Kyncl expects more artist-centric streaming deals, and 2 other things we learned on the company’s latest earnings call

Warner Music Group's CEO weighed in on YouTube's new AI tool that clones superstars' voices, and said he's talking to politicians about AI regulation.

Analysis

DistroKid’s Bandzoogle buyout, Songtradr’s Bandcamp acquisition point to the power of D2C commerce (and a potential future battle for ‘superfans’)

Why two deals announced in the last month are connected

News

Responsibility for AI copyright infringement rests with platforms, and 3 other things we learned from Robert Kyncl’s Goldman Sachs interview

Warner Music Group's CEO participated in a Q&A session on Wednesday (September 6) at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference in San Francisco

Analysis

Universal and SoundCloud are in talks over a new way to pay artists for streaming

MBW Explains is a series of analytical features in which we explore the context behind major music industry talking points – and suggest what might happen next.