Universal Music Group owns the [PIAS] Group.

UMG announced it had acquired 49% of [PIAS] in 2022, following a “strategic alliance” inked between the companies the prior year.

Universal has now completed the acquisition of the remaining 51% of shares from [PIAS] co-founders Kenny Gates and Michel Lambot, for an undisclosed fee.

Universal is acquiring two core business divisions within the [PIAS] Group:

1. Label services division [Integral], which provides physical and digital distribution services to independent labels;
2. The [PIAS] Label Group, home to the company’s own and associated record labels, including Play It Again Sam, harmonia mundi, Demain, Spinefarm, Source and partner labels such ATO, Heavenly, Mute, and Transgressive.

Subsequent to the acquisition, [Integral] will merge with UMG’s Virgin Music Group.

Spotify is taking the next step in its effort to become a video platform, announcing on Tuesday (October 15) that it’s expanding music video streaming to 85 new markets.

Spotify didn’t specify which countries or regions are included in the rollout, but noted that the new offer is available only to Premium subscribers, and comes with “a limited catalog of music videos.”

The Sweden-headquartered company initially announced the launch of music videos in beta back in March, when it offered the service in 11 countries – the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Kenya. It later added Egypt to the list.

The US is not on the list of new markets, the Verge reports.

“As with all of our features, availability can vary across markets and tiers,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge.

“Music videos on Spotify are still in beta and we look forward to bringing it to even more users across more markets, including the US, in the future.”

A California appeals court has given a final green light to Michael Jackson’s estate to proceed with a sale of the music legend’s catalog to Sony Music valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The decision overturns objections raised by Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson, who argued that the sale of the estate’s “single most valuable asset” violated her son’s wishes.

The court’s final ruling, issued on Wednesday (August 21), supports a preliminary rulinghanded down on July 17. Katherine Jackson had claimed that the sale was not in her son’s best interest and that the catalog’s value would continue to rise. However, the court determined that the executors of Jackson’s estate had the authority to proceed with the sale under the terms of his will.

“The will gave the executors broad powers of sale, with no exception for the specific assets at issue in this case,” the court said. “As such, the probate court did not err in concluding that it was Michael’s intent to allow the executors to sell any estate assets, including those at issue in the proposed transaction.”

“THE PROBATE COURT DID NOT ERR IN CONCLUDING THAT IT WAS MICHAEL’S INTENT TO ALLOW THE EXECUTORS TO SELL ANY ESTATE ASSETS, INCLUDING THOSE AT ISSUE IN THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.”

CALIFORNIA’S SECOND DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

The court also noted that Katherine Jackson “forfeited her contention that the proposed transaction violates the terms of Michael’s will” by failing to raise them in the initial probate proceedings.

The sale, first reported in February, will see Sony Music acquiring 50% of Jackson’s publishing and recorded masters catalog. MBW understands that the deal valued the Jackson estate’s music rights at around $1.5 billion, implying a sale price of around $750 million for the transaction. If confirmed, that would top the GBP £1 billion (USD $1.31 billion) at which Queen‘s catalog was valued in its recent sale, also to Sony Music.

Roc Nation has merged its Roc Nation Label and Equity Distribution (EQ) divisions into a single, unified entity called ROC Nation distribution.

The newly formed division will serve as a platform for “any artist”, providing them with the tools and resources they need to meet the demands of the current music industry, Roc Nation said Thursday (August 15).

Roc Nation’s Equity Distribution unit was established in early 2019. The division, led by Krystian Santini, is a platform that allows artists to distribute their music while retaining ownership of their masters. It also provides marketing, publishing administration and data analytics services.

“THE FORMATION OF ROC NATION DISTRIBUTION IS A NATURAL TRANSITION IN THE MUSIC SPACE. THE MISSION IS TO SUPPORT AND EMPOWER INDEPENDENT ARTISTS WHILE PROVIDING THEM THE TOOLS AND SERVICES TO DISTRIBUTE THEIR MUSIC.”

ROC NATION

As part of the restructuring, artists signed to the Roc Nation Label will be represented by ROC Nation distribution. Roc Nation’s distribution and management units represent artists including Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Uzi Vert, DJ Khaled, J Balvin, Yo Gotti, Robin Thicke, Mustard, Christina Aguilera and more.

The onward march of the ‘middle class’ of indie artists has been one of the music industry’s biggest talking points this year.

This trend was highlighted in recent months by Luminate stats showing that indies are nibbling into the majors’ streaming market share.

We also told you about K-Pop giant HYBE’s plans to launch an artist services business in the United States, citing “growing demand for change in the traditional business structure in the US market due to its fragmentation”.

Now we’ve discovered that more than half (60%) of the Top 10 songs globally on social media giant TikTok this summer were independently distributed.

On Monday (August 19), TikTok revealed its Top 10 Songs of the Summer for the US and globally. According to the platform, the songs are ranked “by total creations over Summer 2024.”

Below, you will find the Top 10 songs globally (as ranked by creations) on TikTok this summer, and the companies those tracks were released by. You can see the full Top 10 US Songs of the Summer list here.