The biggest news stories in the music business this week: Tencent, Epidemic Sound, Triller, Cox, Facebook
Welcome to the Exposed Vocals weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days.
This week, it was reported that Tencent Holdings’ bid to buy 10% to 20% of Universal Music Group (UMG) needed rescuing, but the Chinese company – backed by a consortium of state investors including Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC – may now buy a 20% to 30% stake in UMG.
Meanwhile, the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA), which represents over 30,000 professional composers and songwriters in 27 European countries, has spoken out against Epidemic Sound publicly for, amongst other things, “using 100% buy-out contracts – where music creators sell their rights to a piece of music in exchange for a lump sum”.
Elsewhere, TikTok rival Triller has hit 26.5m monthly users and has named a mega-roster of new investors & partners including Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd, Marshmello, Lil Wayne, Gee Roberson, Moe Shalizi, Wassim Sal Slaiby, Amir Cash Esmailian,Ash Pournouri and several others.
Plus, Cox Communications has been ordered to pay $1 billion in damages to Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and others for infringing over 10,000 of their musical works, and Facebook is ‘pursuing’ music video rights as part of its negotiations for new licensing deals with Warner, Universal and Sony.
See below for what you need to know…
| 1) Tencent’s Universal bid needed rescuing – but may now claim 30% of music company If you were thinking that it’s been a long time since August – when Tencent Holdings Ltd. publicly confirmed an intention to buy 10% to 20% of Universal Music Group – you’re not alone. According to anonymous sources speaking to Reuters, Tencent has actually “struggled to find the money to complete the transaction” for the past six months. This explains why the Chinese company – the majority owner of Tencent Music Entertainment – was reported last month to be bringing in outside investors to help fund the deal, with possible backers including Hillhouse Capital and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. Now, according to Reuters, Tencent has turned to GIC and “other sovereign funds” to help rescue the deal after “major buyout funds quit the negotiating table”. (EV) |
| 2) Having turned over $27m in 2018, Epidemic Sound is roasted by songwriter group for buy-out deals Epidemic Sound is a name that will be well-known to Exposed Vocals readers: the Swedish production music company is behind many of the ‘fake artists’ on Spotify whose presence tends to agitate record labels. Those ‘fake artists’ are, of course, actually composers signed to Epidemic Sound, whose work is uploaded to Spotify under pseudonymous monikers. Nothing wrong with that, and Epidemic has previously explained that these clients get handed a 50/50 split of royalty payouts from Spotify (and other streaming services) when their tracks are played on the platform. On Tuesday, December 17, the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA), which represents over 30,000 professional composers and songwriters in 27 European countries, spoke out against Epidemic Sound publicly for a number of reasons – most pointedly for “using 100% buy-out contracts – where music creators sell their rights to a piece of music in exchange for a lump sum”. (EV) |
| 3) TikTok rival Triller breaks 26.5m monthly users, names mega-roster of investors & partners Two months after raising a $28 million funding round led by Proxima Media, US-based music video platform (and TikTok rival) Triller has announced the addition of a heavyweight roster of investors and strategic partners. What’s more, it says it has over 26.5m monthly users, claiming that this means it’s now “overtaking” TikTok in the US market. Triller’s new investors include Snoop Dogg, The Weeknd, Marshmello, Lil Wayne, YoungThug, Kendrick Lamar, Baron Davis, Tyga, TI, Jake Paul and Troy Cartner; mega-music managers Gee Roberson (Co-CEO of The Blueprint Group), Moe Shalizi (founder of The Shalizi Group), Wassim Sal Slaiby (CEO of XO Records), Amir Cash Esmailian of XO, and Ash Pournouri (former manager for Avicii). Also joining as investors and strategic partners are Shawn Gee (President of Live Nation Urban), Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith (Chief Executive Officer of TDE), James Prince (Chief Executive Officer of Rap-a-Lot Records), and Believe Digital, among others. The new addition of these backers is understood to have raised a further $10m-plus for Triller. The firm’s recent Series B raise previously gave Triller a potential valuation of $130 million. (EV) |
| 4) Cox Communications fined $1bn after losing copyright infringement lawsuit Cox Communications has been ordered to pay $1 billion in damages to Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and others for infringing over 10,000 of their musical works. The music companies’ case against the US ISP was won in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Thursday (December 19) and decided by a jury. Cox was found to have infringed a total of 10,017 works and has been fined $99,830.29 for each one. In a statement issued following the decision, the ISP called the judgement ‘unwarranted, unjust and an egregious amount’ and added that it plans to appeal. (EV) |
| 5) Facebook is negotiating music video rights with the majors (report) Facebook is ‘pursuing’ music video rights as part of its negotiations for new licensing deals with Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music. The addition of music videos ‘could boost interest’ in Facebook’s Watch video service, according to unidentified sources speaking to Bloomberg yesterday (December 19). Facebook attracts 2 billion users a month, while Instagram attracts over 1bn. Bloomberg’s sources also said that Facebook has already started testing music videos in India and Thailand. (Bloomberg) |
