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UK Parliament Inquiry Recommends ‘Complete Reset’ of Streaming Business

But the committee’s report goes further, concluding in sweeping fashion that the global streaming model pioneered and dominated by Spotify, Apple, YouTube and Amazon Music, is unsustainable in its current form. “Streaming has undoubtedly helped save the music industry following two decades of digital piracy, but it is clear that what has been saved does not work for everyone,” the committee writes in its 200-page report. “The issues ostensibly created by streaming simply reflect more fundamental, structural problems within the recorded music industry. Streaming needs a complete reset.” In 2020, roughly two-thirds of Spotify’s global streams came from music distributed by the major record labels, Spotify said in a March 19 written submission to the DCMS committee, although that total ...

Tones And I Readies ‘Madhouse’ Release With Late-Night TV Performance: Watch

But wait, there’s more. Tones is flying on the U.K. singles chart right now with album track “Fly Away,” her second Top 40 hit in that territory. It’s at No. 25 on the midweek chart, an all-time high. That’s still some way off the success of her 2019 breakthrough “Dance Monkey,” which led the charts in 30 countries, including the U.K. and Australia, and has clocked up 2.2 billion plays on Spotify. Its official YouTube count has ticked over 1.6 billion views. New research published Tuesday reveals that Tones and I (real name Toni Watson) was the world’s top songwriter in 2020, thanks to that monster hit. In the late-night clip, which can be seen below, Tones appears in a studio, dressed all in black, and leading a chorus backing singers draped in pink gowns. Yep, it’s a mad week,...

‘Good’ & ‘Bad’ Still Best: Olivia Rodrigo & Ed Sheeran Hold Atop Billboard Global Charts

Billboard‘s two global charts (the latest of which are dated July 17) began last September and rank songs based on streaming and sales activity culled from more than 200 territories around the world, as compiled by MRC Data. The Billboard Global 200 is inclusive of worldwide data and the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart comprises data from territories excluding the U.S. Chart rankings are based on a weighted formula incorporating official-only streams on both subscription and ad-supported tiers of audio and video music services, as well as download sales, the latter of which reflect purchases from full-service digital music retailers from around the world, with sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites excluded from the charts’ calculations. ‘Good’ Scores Sixth Wee...

Ed Sheeran’s ‘Bad Habits’ Leads U.K. Chart Race as Soccer Anthems Score Early

After 48 hours, “Three Lions” was the second-most streamed song with 2.17 million plays, and the fourth most downloaded song of the week so far, according to the OCC. Meanwhile, Atomic Kitten’s “Southgate You’re The One (Football’s Coming Home Again),” a reworking of their 2001 chart-leader “Whole Again,” lifts to No. 10 on the chart blast. If it holds its momentum when the Official U.K. Singles Chart is published this Friday, it would give the pop outfit their first Top 40 single in 16 years. With England losing a nailbiter to Italy, expect the frenzy for football songs to cool dramatically in the days ahead. In other chart news, London rapper Dave’s “Clash” featuring Brit Award-winner Stormzy is on track for the highest debut, at No. 4; while BTS’s latest “Permission to Dance” is cl...

Sony Music Publishing to Represent AC/DC, Vanda, Young and Wright Catalogs

Additionally, the music publishing giant strikes a worldwide deal to represent the song catalog of Harry Vanda, George Young, and Stevie Wright. “We are pleased to join forces with Alberts to deliver new opportunities for AC/DC and Vanda, Young and Wright,” comments Sony Music Publishing chairman and CEO Jon Platt. David Albert and the Alberts team, he continues, “are leaders in shaping Australia’s modern music culture, and our shared ethos will be powerful in sustaining the global impact of these iconic catalogs.” AC/DC signed with the family-owned Alberts back in 1974 and they’ve been back in black ever since. The Rock Hall-inducted band has released 17 studio albums, including 2020’s Power Up, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, their third leader. With that LP, AC/DC bec...

Virgin Music Forges Label Services Pact in Brazil With WorkShow

Under the new partnership, Universal says WorkShow has signed sertanejo duo Henrique & Juliano, which is bringing their entire catalog spanning their nine-year career. The act, which has 13.2 million subscribers on YouTube had the top streaming track in Brazil in 2020, “Liberdade Provisória,” according to IFPI. The act was already a WorkShow management client and was signed to Som Livre. The deal underscores the interest that sertanejo, Brazil’s pop-country genre, has continued to generate among the majors. With artists like Jorge & Mateus dominating streaming charts in Brazil, in April Sony Music Entertainment spent about $255 million to acquire Som Livre, the country’s third-largest label and leading sertanejo imprint, from Grupo Globo. The deal, which followed an intense bidding...

Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ Narrowly Beats Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ For U.K. Chart Crown

The rock legends’ career retrospective enjoys a spike thanks to a 40th anniversary reissue campaign. According to the charts compiler, 78% of Queen’s final total during the week was made up of physical sales (vinyl, CD and cassette) with Greatest Hits the best-selling vinyl album of the chart week. Elsewhere on the tally, Jack Savoretti’s Europiana (EMI) is the week’s best-seller on downloads, despite dipping 1-4, while Bo Burnham’s Inside (The Songs) (via Imperial) lifts 6-5, a new peak. Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie and French artist Jehnny Beth score a No. 12 debut with their collaborative effort Utopian Ashes (Sony Music CG). It’s Gillespie’s 13th Top 40 appearance, the first as a solo artist, and it’s Beth’s first appearance in the upper reaches of the chart. Over on the...

Tencent Music Spared From Forced Sales in China Regulatory Crackdown

The government action is part of a broader attempt by Beijing to regulate its domestic technology sector, which grew rapidly after years of relatively little regulation. Since last December, regulators have fined 11 companies, including Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba and ByteDance, for failing to disclose past acquisitions and investments. News of the regulatory fines sent shares of Tencent Music Entertainment on the New York Stock Exchange down more than 10% on Wednesday and Thursday to $12.69 a share. Shares of other Chinese tech companies listed in the U.S., including JD.com, Alibaba and Pinduoduo, also slid. (TME rebounded slightly on Friday, up 1.5% to $12.88.) Still, despite the sweeping penalties enacted, the lack of forced divestitures seemed to allay investor concerns that Tencent Music ...

Universal Music Publishing China Hosts All-Female Writing Camp with She Is The Music

June’s all-women camp marked She Is The Music’s first songwriting camp outside the U.S. and connected some of UMP China’s most promising women writers with songwriters from several other countries, including the U.S., Mexico, South Korea and Australia. According to USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative, which surveys the number of women represented on the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Charts, only 12.6% of the songwriters and just 2.6% of the producers behind 2020’s hottest tracks were women. Stats like these are the driving force behind She Is The Music, which was founded to try to increase these numbers, both on the U.S. charts and abroad. So when UMP China reached out to She Is the Music to propose a collaboration last year, Michelle Arkuski, She Is the Music’s executive director, was...

INXS’ ‘Original Sin’ Short Film and Soundtrack Coming Soon

Accompanying the visual is a 13-song soundtrack, said to be the first-ever INXS-specific project between Petrol Records and UMe. Original Sin takes its name from the Australian new wave band’s 1984 song, produced by Nile Rodgers, and is the final project from the late Chris “CM” Murphy, INXS’s longtime executive producer and champion. Murphy managed the rockers from 1979 until 1995 and again in the 2000s, and oversaw a string of successful campaigns that breathed new life into their profile and catalog. He passed away Jan. 16 at the age of 66. Original Sin – The 7 Sins was presented to the world’s press with a webinar featuring the film’s cast, crew and INXS founding member Kirk Pengilly. “This has been a labor of love in every way that one can call something a labor...

Atlantic Records UK & ADA Strike Partnership With U.K. Latin-Based Label Candela Records

Warner Music UK has unveiled details of a partnership between Atlantic Records UK, Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA) – Warner Music Group’s label services division – and UK Latin-based record label Candela Records. Candela Records, co-founded by Luciano Santana Pinto and Jose Luis Seijas, will focus on “developing the Latino sounds of London, which fuse the city’s unique urban beats with the sound of the Latin Caribbean and beyond, and on bringing this unique hybrid to the global stage,” according to a press release. Under the terms of the partnership, Atlantic Records UK and ADA will help guide Candela Records in signing and developing new artists, as well as distributing their current roster, which includes Angelo Flow and Esko, globally. “The Latin mus...

Universal Music Publishing Group Opens Office In Israel

Move follows opening of UMG outpost for recorded music in June 2020. Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is opening an office in Israel, establishing UMPG as the only major label publishing company currently operating in the Middle Eastern country. The office, in Tel Aviv, opens today (July 8). To helm the newly minted UMPG Israel operation, the company has tapped 20-year music business veteran Itamar Shafrir as the General Manager of Publishing and Production Music. Prior to his new role, Shafrir held jobs in the music industry in New York, Tel Aviv, and London, and he worked for 12 years in film and television at UMG sister company Havas London. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you ba...