CMU Digest

CMU Digest 22.05.17: Guvera, Fyre Festival, MCPS, CMRA, Spotify, The Great Escape

By | Published on Monday 22 May 2017

Guvera

The key stories from the last seven days in the music business…

Guvera ceased operations. The long-flagging streaming service confirmed it was no longer operating in a note to investors. It also stated that co-founder Claes Loberg, who had been leading the firm of late, had now stood down. The Australian streaming music firm had downsized its workforce and bailed on numerous markets after its failed attempt at an IPO last year. [READ MORE]

The lawsuits continued to pile up against the disastrous Fyre Festival. The latest supplier to join the line of litigation was the ticketing company the luxury event used. Tablelist said that it had initially paid 90% of income over to Fyre Festival organisers, and is yet to see any of that back despite the event’s management announcing a refunds system as soon as it was cancelled. Tablelist is looking for $3.5 million to cover refunds and as compensation. [READ MORE]

The UK’s mechanical rights collecting society MCPS confirmed it had entered into a new administration deal with PRS, which represents the performing rights in songs. MCPS and PRS have worked closely together since 1997; with the most recent incarnation of that partnership seeing MCPS become a client of PRS. MCPS had taken pitches from other parties who could supply some or all of the services currently provided by PRS, but has now decided to stick with its existing partner. [READ MORE]

American collecting society SoundExchange bought Canadian mechanical rights society CMRA. Although the two organisations will continue to operate autonomously, it does mean that the parent organisation is now working in both the recording right and song right domains, with operations in both the US and Canada. The two bodies will also look for ways to share skills and data. [READ MORE]

Spotify’s ‘direct listing’ was looking more likely. The Wall Street Journal previously speculated that the streaming service might take a direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange rather than undergoing a traditional Initial Public Offering. This week sources told Reuters that that is the route Spotify now intends to go. It means that while the streaming firm will become a publicly listed company, no new shares will be issued at the point of listing. [READ MORE]

The Great Escape took place once again in Brighton, including the four CMU Insights conferences that put the spotlight on drugs, royalties, export and media. Look out for reports from the conferences appearing in the CMU Daily in the coming weeks, plus from next week a series of CMU Trends reports based on research and insights we presented during the proceedings. [READ MORE]

The big deals from the last seven days in the music business…
• Universal Music announced a deal with China’s Tencent [INFO]
• CI announced a deal with MQA [INFO]
• Merlin announced a deal with MQA [INFO]
• Queen and Adam Lambert did a deal with Twickets [INFO]
• Juanita Stein signed to Nude Music Publishing [INFO]



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