Widely respected music executive Kazuhiro Shimada has departed his role as Chief Operating Officer of Warner Music Japan.

MBW understands that Tuesday (July 9) was the Tokyo-based exec’s last day at the company and that an official update is likely to be issued soon.

Shimada joined Warner Music Japan in November 2022 from Amazon Music Japan, where he served as Director & General Manager.

Previously, Shimada was Corporate Executive of Universal Music Japan, and prior to that, Vice President, Strategy of MTV Networks Japan.

Shimada has also worked at GAGA Communications, an independent film acquisition, marketing and distribution company.

Virgin Music Group and independent label Neon Gold Records announced a new global distribution deal on Tuesday (June 11).

The partnership combines the global reach of Universal Music Group-owned Virgin Music with Neon Gold’s experience in nurturing talent.

Neon Gold, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary, is known for launching the careers of artists like Tove Lo, Charli XCX, MARINA, Passion Pit and Christine And The Queens. The label’s artists have so far amassed over 15 billion streams and sold more than 10 million album equivalents.

Neon Gold’s artists have also achieved numerous gold and platinum certifications including Tove Lo’s Habits (8x Platinum), Charli XCX’s Boom Clap (3x Platinum), and Passion Pit’s Sleepyhead (2x Platinum). Billboard number ones include Charli XCX’s and Tove Lo’s singles, which topped the Top 40 charts in the summer of 2014, and back-to-back Billboard alternative number ones with Matt Maeson in 2019 and 2020, Cringe and Hallucinogenics (both RIAA-certified platinum).

Spotify is planning to launch a pricier Premium music tier later this year that includes access to high-fidelity audio.

That’s according to Bloomberg, which, citing sources, reports today (June 11) that this new tier will cost “at least $5 more per month” and will be “an add-on” for existing subscribers.

The report adds that the new plan will include high-fidelity audio as well as new playlisting and song library management tools.

The Metallica Season in Festival kicks off on June 13, Epic Games said on Wednesday (June 12).

Fans of both Fortnite and Metallica can expect new playable Jam Tracks with “lots of Metallica songs,” hinted Epic Games. They can also dive into the Season 4 Festival Pass for exclusive rewards, potentially featuring outfits and cosmetics inspired by Metallica band members – James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo.

Epic Games is also teasing a new PvP Battle Stage.

Players can expect a Metallica music experience on June 22 and June 23, with six half-hour shows scheduled across the two days. Additionally, Metallica-themed gameplay extends outside of Fortnite Festival to Battle Royale, LEGO Fortnite, Rocket League and Racing.

Details on the concert format and setlist are under wraps, but fans can expect a fiery stage, as hinted by Fortnite in a recent post on X

Talent agency UTA has named former Ingrooves Music Group CEO Bob Roback as its new Chief Operating Officer.

Considered a pioneer in the digital music space, Roback will now be responsible for business operations at the Beverly Hills-headquartered agency, and will oversee growth, strategy and technology, UTA said in a statement Wednesday (June 12).

He will report to CEO Jeremy Zimmer and President David Kramer. In the COO role, Roback succeeds Andrew Thau, who served in the position while also serving as co-head of UTA Sports. Thau will now focus on his work with sports talent.

Roback served as CEO of LA-headquartered Ingrooves from 2015 to 2022, During his time at the helm, the indie music marketing and distribution company expanded to numerous overseas markets, including  Australia, Brazil, Japan, India, South Africa, and Spain.

This year, two significant music markets – France and Canada – have slapped new taxes on the revenues of music streaming services.

The reaction from music streaming companies has been visceral. They decried the Canadian tax as “discriminatory” and hinted at plans to fight the new regulation, while in France, Spotify raised its subscription prices to offset the tax and pulled its funding from two French music festivals.

Within the music industry, the idea of taxing streaming services is somewhat unnerving, given that the music industry as a whole is downstream from the digital service providers who bring music to listeners, and streaming is a low-margin business.

In addition to paying upwards of 60% of revenue in royalties to rights holders, streaming services already pay a value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax in many jurisdictions, and in recent years, many countries have instituted digital service taxes (DSTs).

But while those taxes are broadly applied  – to every business that sells, in the case of VAT/sales taxes, and to all digital businesses in the case of DSTs – a tax specifically on music streamers is something of a novelty.

Yet, this past spring, two congressional lawmakers proposed a similar US tax on music streaming — much larger than the Canadian or French taxes.

So is this the beginning of a new wave of taxes targeting music streaming (and by extension, the music business as a whole)?

To answer that question, it helps to examine what France and Canada are doing and the political context in which those taxes are occurring. That can give us some idea of whether or not such taxes are likely to multiply — and where.