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☆ New Beatles song 'Now and Then' gets a little help from AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Sachin Ravikumar | Thomson Reuters | Sachin Ravikumar Is A Correspondent For Reuters In London Covering General News Across The Uk. Over Nine Years At Reuters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Fans of the Beatles might just twist and shout in joy. A new Beatles song will be released next week, featuring the voice of late member John Lennon and developed using artificial intelligence, record company Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) said on Thursday. Called "Now and Then," the song - billed as the last Beatles song - also features parts recorded by surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr as well as the late George Harrison. The idea to revive the tune followed Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary series "The Beatles: Get Back," which had managed to isolate instruments and vocals using AI. The same technology was applied to "Now and Then," which was then completed by McCartney and Starr, Universal said.

Persons: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Ed Sullivan, Mario Anzuoni, John Lennon, George Harrison, McCartney, Lennon, Harrison, Lennon's, Yoko Ono, Peter Jackson's, Starr, Universal, John, Sachin Ravikumar, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Beatles, Universal Music, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles, New York City, London

☆ Taylor Swift helps fuel Universal Music Group's third-quarter revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Dawn Chmielewski | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Universal Music Group logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 26 (Reuters) - Cultural phenomenon Taylor Swift helped fuel revenue at Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) in the third quarter, the world's largest record label said on Thursday. Universal Music and a number of its artists also partnered with YouTube on a Music AI Incubator, to explore how to use the technology to enhance artist creativity. EBITDA for the quarter fell 11.3% to 478 million euros, reflecting the impact of non-cash share-based compensation expenses of 103 million euros during the quarter. Revenue from music publishing rose 17.5% to 491 million euros, while merchandise sales increased 20.1% to 227 million euros.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Taylor Swift, Swift, Lucian Grainge, Grainge, we're, Morgan Wallen, Olivia Rodrigo, King, Prince, Dawn Chmielewski, Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: Universal, REUTERS, Universal Music, YouTube, Revenue, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles

☆ Women Rule the Pop Charts. One Record Exec Understands Why Better Than Most.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Neil Shah | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Janick favors taking a gradual approach with artists, focusing on three-year, five-year and 10-year plans. “Signing Billie when she was 14, there was the conversation of, ‘She’s 14 years old. We have to take our time,’ ” Janick says. Billie Eilish, 15, peforming as part of a UMG showcase. Photo: Omar Vega/Invision for UMG/AP

Persons: Billie, ‘, ” Janick, Billie Eilish, peforming, Omar Vega

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Anthropic FollowAlphabet Inc FollowAmazon.com Inc Follow Show more companiesOct 18 (Reuters) - Music publishers Universal Music (UMG.AS), ABKCO and Concord Publishing sued artificial intelligence company Anthropic in Tennessee federal court on Wednesday, accusing it of misusing an "innumerable" amount of copyrighted song lyrics to train its chatbot Claude. The music publishers' lawsuit appears to be the first case over song lyrics and the first against Anthropic, which has drawn financial backing from Google (GOOGL.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and former cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. The lawsuit accused Anthropic of infringing the publishers' copyrights by copying their lyrics without permission as part of the "massive amounts of text" that it scrapes from the internet to train Claude to respond to human prompts. For example, the lawsuit said that Claude will provide relevant lyrics from Don McLean's "American Pie" when asked to write a song about the death of rock pioneer Buddy Holly. The publishers asked the court for money damages and an order to stop the alleged infringement.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Claude, Anthropic, Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars, Matt Oppenheim, Sam Bankman, Don McLean's, Buddy Holly, Blake Brittain, David Bario, Bill Berkrot Organizations: REUTERS, Universal Music, Concord Publishing, Beach, Microsoft, Anthropic, Google, Thomson Locations: ABKCO, Tennessee, rightsholders, Washington

☆ Rolling Stones fans see signs of new album in local newspaper ad
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones perform as part of their "Stones Sixty Europe 2022 Tour" at Waldbuehne in Berlin, Germany, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Have the Rolling Stones just announced the release of a new album? “The Rolling Stones are poking fun at themselves,” read one message on the Facebook fan page The Rolling Stones Sessions. Last year, The Rolling Stones marked their 60th anniversary with a European tour, covering 10 countries including Britain. An album by the Rolling Stones featuring new original music would be their first since 2005's "A Bigger Bang".

Persons: Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Lisi Niesner, ”, Jack Q Frost, Farouq Suleiman, Paul Sandle, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Hackney Gazette, Universal Music, Thomson Locations: Waldbuehne, Berlin, Germany, London, Hackney, Britain

☆ YouTube starts Music AI incubator with Universal Music as partner
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed YouTube logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 21 (Reuters) - YouTube is launching an incubator to work with artistes and musicians to explore the use of artificial intelligence in music, according to its blogpost on Monday. The Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit has signed up Universal Music (UMG.AS) as its first partner for the Incubator, and will work with artistes including Anitta, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, and Max Ricther. The group "will help gather insights on generative AI experiments and research that are being developed at YouTube," said Mohan, adding that YouTube would bring on board more partners. YouTube said it will further invest in AI-powered technology, including evolving its copyright management tool, Content ID, to protect viewers and creators.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus, Max Ricther, YouTube's, Neal Mohan, Mohan, Yuvraj Malik, Arun Koyyur Organizations: REUTERS, YouTube, Universal, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

Universal Music Group logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photoAug 11 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), Sony Music Entertainment (6758.T) and other record labels on Friday sued the nonprofit Internet Archive for copyright infringement over its streaming collection of digitized music from vintage records. Representatives for the Internet Archive did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint. The San Francisco-based Internet Archive digitally archives websites, books, audio recordings and other materials. The Internet Archive is already facing another federal lawsuit in Manhattan from leading book publishers who said its digital-book lending program launched in the pandemic violates their copyrights.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby's, Chuck Berry's, Ellington's, Blake Brittain, David Bario, Diane Craft Organizations: Universal, REUTERS, Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, San Francisco, Washington

☆ Google, Universal Music in talks for deal on AI 'deepfakes' - FT
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Universal Music Group logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/FILE PHOTOAug 8 (Reuters) - Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Universal Music (UMG.AS) are in talks to license artists' voices and melodies for artificial intelligence-generated songs, Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing four people familiar with the matter. The music industry is grappling with "deepfake" songs, made using generative AI, that mimic artists' voices, often without their consent. Discussions between Google and Universal Music are at an early stage and no product launch is imminent, while Warner Music (WMG.O) is also in talks with Google about a product, the report added. Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jaspreet Singh, Shinjini Organizations: Universal, REUTERS, Google, Financial, Warner Music, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Universal Music earnings boosted by strong sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 26 (Reuters) - The world's largest record label Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) on Wednesday posted a better than expected second quarter core profit margin, boosted by strong sales from artists including Taylor Swift and South Korea's SEVENTEEN. Universal Music's quarterly margin on adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 21.9%, from 20.0% a year earlier, the group said in a statement. Adjusted EBITDA rose by 16.4% to 590 million euros ($653 million), higher than a company-provided consensus of 547 million euros. Universal Music reported revenues of 2.7 billion euros in the quarter, helped by a 10.6% yearly rise in recorded music subscriptions, the company added. Apart from Taylor Swift and South Korean boy band SEVENTEEN, other top sellers in the second quarter were King & Prince, Morgan Wallen, and Stray Kids, Universal Music said.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Lucian Grainge, Prince, Morgan Wallen, Alessandro Parodi, Toby Chopra, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Universal Music, Universal, Thomson Locations: South Korean

☆ Spotify’s awkward three-way dance leads to slip-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Spotify (SPOT.N) is caught between the expectations of investors and major music labels. One bullish argument for Spotify’s stock is that higher prices will mean higher margins over time. First, some of Spotify’s customers pay annually, which means the price hike might take a while to come through. He’s locked in a long-term standoff with major labels like Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), which currently grab the overwhelming majority of Spotify’s revenue. In other words, Spotify’s future may be rosier than Ek is willing to let on.

Persons: Daniel Ek, Ek, coy, He’s, Karen Kwok, Liam Proud, Oliver Taslic Organizations: Reuters, Spotify, Universal Music, Twitter, Thales, Thomson Locations: Spain

☆ Goldman Sachs says A.I. will 'super-charge' music creation and names 5 stocks to buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The music industry is set for a radical shift due in part to generative AI, according to Goldman Sachs , which described the new technology as providing "significant opportunities" for the sector. It named five buy-rated stocks to play the trend: Live Nation , Warner Music Group , French digital music company Believe , China's NetEase , and Universal Music Group . "Generative AI will super-charge music creation capabilities and improve productivity," according to Goldman's analysts in a June 28 note. The music industry is well set up to protect its intellectual property given that it is dominated by three large companies that own the majority of artists' catalogs, according to Goldman. Goldman chose Chinese internet company NetEase, which has a music streaming platform, for its use of AI in its music composition tools.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, NetEase, Drake, Goldman, WMG, UMG, CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Companies, Spotify, Netflix Locations: Asia, Europe, Chinese

☆ Australia's United Malt agrees $1 billion takeover offer from France's InVivo
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

July 3 (Reuters) - Australian malt producer United Malt Group Ltd (UMG.AX) said on Monday it had agreed to a A$1.5 billion ($999 million) takeover offer from Malteries Soufflet, a branch of French agribusiness InVivo. The A$5 per share offer represents a 45.3% premium to United Malt's closing price of A$3.44 on March 24, before the offer was first disclosed. United Malt is the world's fourth-largest commercial maltster, producing bulk malt for brewers, craft brewers, distillers and food companies. The deal requires approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) as well as United Malt's shareholders to vote in support the transaction, among other regulatory requirements. United Malt's board has unanimously recommended that its shareholders vote in favor of the proposal.

Persons: Malteries, Thierry Blandinieres, Graham Bradley, InVivo, Harish Sridharan, Lisa Shumaker, Nick Zieminski, Jamie Freed Organizations: United Malt Group, Reuters, distillers, Foreign Investment, Board, United, United Malt, Thomson Locations: Australia, Canada, United States, Britain, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, Bengaluru

June 14 (Reuters) - A group of 17 music publishers sued Twitter in Nashville, Tennessee, federal court on Wednesday, accusing the company of enabling thousands of copyright violations by allowing users to post music without a license. Twitter drives user engagement with "countless infringing copies of musical compositions," the lawsuit said. Members of the National Music Publishers' Association, including Sony Music Publishing (6758.T), BMG Rights Management and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMG.AS), are seeking more than $250 million in damages for alleged infringement of nearly 1,700 copyrights. Twitter "routinely ignores" repeat infringement by users who post tweets that contain unlicensed music, the lawsuit said. The publishers said Twitter encourages user infringement, which increases engagement and ad revenues while giving it an "unfair advantage" over platforms that pay for music licenses.

Persons: Elon Musk, David Israelite, Musk, Blake Brittain, David Bario, Richard Chang Organizations: Twitter, National Music Publishers ' Association, Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing, Elon, Facebook, YouTube, Thomson Locations: Nashville , Tennessee, Washington

☆ European shares edge lower as banking jitters resurface
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 27 (Reuters) - European shares edged lower on Thursday, despite a raft of positive corporate earnings, as troubles at U.S. lender First Republic Bank continued to rattle investors over the global banking sector. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) was down 0.1% by 0720 GMT. The index was dragged lower by media shares (.SXMP), which dropped 1.6%, while Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) fell 4% after it posted a slump in its first-quarter core profit. Worries over the banking sector unnerved investors as shares of First Republic Bank (FRC.N) sank almost 30% on Wednesday, hitting a record low for the second consecutive day. Still, banking shares (.SX7P) rose 0.4%, led by Barclays Plc (BARC.L) that climbed 2.4% on an estimate-beating quarterly profit, as a resilient performance from its consumer bank offset pressure on key other business lines.

☆ Universal Music reiterates AI concerns as quarterly profit slumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), the label representing Drake and Taylor Swift, on Wednesday posted a slump in first-quarter core profit due to compensation expenses, and reiterated concerns over AI-made music. Core profit, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), slumped 43.4% in constant currency to 261 million euros ($288.04 million), due to non-cash, share-based compensation expenses, part of an equity compensation plan announced last year. Excluding these expenses, adjusted EBITDA was 522 million euros, up 13.0% on the same basis, and beating a consensus cited by Credit Suisse which had expected 513 million euros. UMG's CEO, Lucian Grainge, has come under shareholder pressure over an "excessive" $100 million pay deal, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday. Labels now face challenges like slowing global revenue growth in recorded music, particularly in established markets like the U.S, while the emergence of AI-generated music adds to their concerns, as many laws do not currently deem the replication of artists' voices as strictly illegal.

☆ Universal Music profit slumps due to compensation expenses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 26 (Reuters) - Universal Music Group (UMG.AS), the label representing Drake and Taylor Swift, on Wednesday posted a significant drop in core profit due to compensation expenses, even as sales edged up in the first quarter. Core profit (EBITDA) for the first quarter fell 43.4% at constant currency to 261 million euros ($288.07 million), with the metric's margin also dropping to 10.6% from 20.6% in the same quarter a year earlier. The drop was due to non-cash, share-based compensation expenses of 261 million euros during the quarter, part of a global equity compensation plan announced in the fourth quarter of last year, UMG said. UMG's CEO Lucian Grainge has come under shareholder pressure over an "excessive" $100 million pay deal, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday. The group nonetheless posted higher first quarter sales, helped by growth in recorded music and music publishing.

PARIS, April 18 (Reuters) - French shipping group CMA CGM (CMACG.UL) is offering 5 billion euros ($5.48 billion) for the logistics unit of Bollore, the family-run conglomerate said on Tuesday. For Bollore a deal would mean cutting ties with its biggest business while offering cash-rich CMA CGM a chance to bolster its bid to offer end-to-end transportation services and supply chain management. Bollore said in a statement that it had agreed to enter into exclusive talks with CMA CGM until May 8. CMA CGM, privately controlled by the founding Saade family, has seen its earnings surge in the past two years on high freight rates and saturated supply chains. Bollore, run by the family of billionaire Vincent Bollore, sold its Bollore Africa Logistics business last year to shipping company MSC Group for 5.7 billion euros.

☆ Universal Music Group calls AI music a ‘fraud,’ wants it banned from streaming platforms. Experts say it’s not that easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Universal Music Group — the music company representing superstars including Sting, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande — has a new Goliath to contend with: artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence, and specifically AI music, learns by either training on existing works on the internet or through a library of music given to the AI by humans. That could possibly threaten UMG’s deep library of music and artists that generate billions of dollars in revenue. “However, the training of generative AI using our artists’ music … begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on.”The company said AI that uses artists’ music violates UMG’s agreements and copyright law. Grammy-winning DJ and producer David Guetta proved in February just how easy it is to create new music using AI.

April 17 (Reuters) - Grunge music pioneers Soundgarden and Vicky Cornell, the widow of lead singer Chris Cornell, have settled a legal dispute over the late singer's unreleased recordings, according to a joint post from their Instagram accounts on Monday. They said the "amicable" settlement marked a new partnership between Soundgarden and Cornell's estate that will allow fans to "hear the final songs that the band and Chris were working on." She claimed the band members withheld the estate's share of royalties to "strong arm" her into giving them unreleased recordings Chris Cornell made before his death in 2017. Her lawsuit argued that Cornell recorded the songs separately from the band and that he was their sole owner. The band countersued her for refusing to turn over the recordings, which it said were meant for a Soundgarden album for UMG.

☆ Australia's United Malt shares soar on near $1 bln offer from France's InVivo
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The A$5 per-share non-binding offer represents a 45.3% premium to the United Malt stock's last close of A$3.44. Shares in United Malt soared to A$4.64 in their biggest intraday percentage jump ever when they returned to trading. Trading in United Malt shares was halted on Monday. United Malt is the world's fourth largest commercial maltster, producing bulk malt for brewers, craft brewers, distillers and food companies. United Malt has appointed Macquarie Capital as its financial adviser for the deal.

☆ Ackman's Pershing Square reaps $2.7 bln from rate trade but down 9% in 2022 -letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. stock indexes had a dismal 2022 with the S&P 500 slumping almost 20%, as the Federal Reserve battled soaring inflation with aggressive interest rate hikes that roiled markets. The assets minus the liabilities in Ackman's fund trade at a discount to its share price. "This possibility is also something that we do not feel is currently reflected in PSH's share price," it said. The interest rate hedges were initiated in late 2020 and early 2021. In 2022 the fund entered new positions in long-term interest rates, currencies and energy it said.

They had hoped to represent a much larger class of artists who filed termination notices with UMG. A provision of U.S. copyright law allows artists to terminate agreements to transfer their copyrights and reclaim them after decades in some circumstances. Kaplan said Friday that the musicians could not represent a broader class of artists who sent termination notices to UMG with effective dates between 2013 and 2031. A related lawsuit filed against Sony Music by musicians including former New York Dolls singer David Johansen has been paused since 2021 for settlement discussions. The UMG case is Waite v. UMG Recordings Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No.

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Rick Astley has sued the rapper Yung Gravy over a song that borrowed heavily from the British singer's signature "Never Gonna Give You Up," claiming that the new song illegally used an impersonator who imitated Astley's distinctive baritone. "In an effort to capitalize off of the immense popularity and goodwill of Mr. Astley, defendants ... conspired to include a deliberate and nearly indistinguishable imitation of Mr. Astley's voice," the complaint said. Among the defendants are Yung Gravy, whose real name is Matthew Hauri, and his record label, Universal Music Group's (UMG.AS) Republic Records. Universal and a representative for Yung Gravy did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The song saw resurgent popularity about two decades later through the "Rickroll" internet meme, where it unexpectedly interrupts unrelated content.

☆ Morgan Stanley reveals its 8 favorite stocks ahead of Europe's earnings season
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Morgan Stanley has named eight stocks to buy ahead of a hotly anticipated earnings season in Europe. Morgan Stanley says: "We expect the stock to rally into earnings, due in early March. Morgan Stanley says: "Teleperformance shares have been under scrutiny since November following the outbreak of negative news flow around its Content Moderation in Colombia. More importantly none of this news flow alters the fundamental growth and earnings profile of the company." Morgan Stanley says: "Elis offers resilient GDP+ growth through the cycle, which is expected to be structurally higher post COVID (driven by increased demand for hygiene, reliability, accountability and ESG)."

☆ Stars flock to Dakar for All-Africa Music Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

DAKAR, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Musical heavyweights gathered in Dakar, Senegal on Sunday for the eighth All-Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) that aim to celebrate and promote the continent's best veteran and cutting-edge musicians. Globally recognised stars including Senegalese maestro Youssou Ndour, and Nigerian artists P-Square and Tiwa Savage are among those set to perform during the main awards ceremony at the 15,000-seat Dakar stadium. Companies are cashing in on rising global interest in African music. Last June, Universal Music Group (UMG.AS) launched a label for independent African labels and artists, while music streaming platforms, including Spotify (SPOT.N), have sought to expand their offerings by African artists. Reporting by Bate Felix and Ngouda Dione Writing by Alessandra Prentice Editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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