Official: UMG rejects Bill Ackman’s $64B takeover bid
Universal Music Group has rejected Bill Ackman's takeover offer. Source
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Watch Big Thief Debut Three Songs in an Irish Field
The trio performed new songs “Carry,” “Forgive the Dream,” and “Space and Time” during an acoustic performance for Belgium’s Radio 1
From Bolloré urging UMG to reject Ackman’s $64B bid to Gamma’s lawsuit to unmask the creators of two smear sites… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up
The biggest headlines from the past few days... Source
Downtown Music Publishing strikes deal to represent Biz Markie catalog and name, image & likeness rights
Deal covers publishing administration and sync licensing, alongside representation of the late artist's NIL rights. Source
Sync’s new frontiers: clearance, creators, boutiques and brand intelligence
Sync continues to be an important source of income for rightsholders and musicians alike, and there are new startups trying to help.
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10 New Albums You Should Listen to Now: Iceage, Kurt Vile, and More
Stream new releases from Iceage, Kurt Vile, Boards of Canada, Paul McCartney, and Feeble Little Horse
Epidemic Sound study examines creator attitudes towards AI
As one of the key music providers for online-video creators, Epidemic Sound has a big community of customers to draw on when studying how they feel about music and new technologies. Its new ‘Future of the Creator Economy Report 2026’ puts a focus on AI, with some interesting findings. 94% of these creators (remember, we’re […]
Bloomberg questions whether TikTok is leaving labels behind
TikTok’s recent renewal of its licensing deal with Universal Music Group came with no public drama, suggesting that relations with that major label have improved since their fallout two years ago. However, Bloomberg has taken another angle in its latest coverage of TikTok, suggesting that the company is “deprioritizing relationships with music labels — cutting jobs focused on […]
LyricFind files updated complaint in battle with Musixmatch
LyricFind sued rival Musixmatch – and TPG Global, one of the latter’s key investors – in March 2025, accusing them of anti-competitive behaviour, zeroing in on a licensing deal with Warner Chappell. Since then, Musixmatch filed to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it “meritless”; LyricFind busted out additional allegations including claims that TPG tried to buy it in 2023; and Musixmatch hit […]
LabelWorx launches $10m fund for indie electronic-music labels
LabelWorx has been building its distribution and label-services business for 15 years, focusing on clients in the electronic-music world. Now it wants to provide some of them with funding too. The company’s new ‘Elevate’ scheme will choose a select group of labels to receive $10m of upfront capital, as well as “tailored growth strategies, promotional […]
YouTube reveals latest changes to its AI-content labels system
YouTube has been labelling AI-generated videos since 2024… IF the creators disclosed their use of AI tools when uploading it. Now the company has made some changes to its labelling system. First, the labels will now be simpler and more prominent, shown directly below the video player for long-form videos, and as an overlay within […]
The perfect pivot
There comes a time for most artists when some aspect of their identity – whether it be creative, personal, or professional – feels like it has run its course. And when that happens, there’s no mistaking it’s time for a change. The trick is to evolve and adapt with it. “A brand pivot can be […]
2 Chainz and OussiFooty launch World Cup series
Rapper 2 Chainz and global soccer YouTuber OussiFooty have announced their ‘Boots Across America’ series, based around the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted in North America in the past 30 years. Each episode will be filmed, produced and released on the fly, as Oussi travels to each hosting city to explore local soccer […]
TikTok ‘In The Mix’ podcast starts second season
TikTok has launched season two of their live interview series with T-Mobile. Hosted by the returning Jack Coyne of Trackstar. This year features a short and sweet four episodes with artists Lykke Li, Bebe Rexha, Malcolm Todd and Josh Groban. Luminate says US TikTok users are 74% more likely to discover and share new music […]
How to content batch social media posts
While content creation can be time consuming, it remains to be a key element in any sort of artist campaign in 2026. To this end, social media content batching – a strategy to help with creating better workflows and creative output – can be a useful tool. Content batching, or planning posts grouped by similar […]
A tale of two US events: Freedom 250 and Power to the People
The devil may famously have the best tunes, but when it comes to big politically-leaning music events in the US in 2026, well, it seems the progressives have the bigger bookings. Or at least the ones less prone to chaotic withdrawals. This is a tale of two high-profile events playing out against the ever-charged backdrop […]
Regional-language music streaming service Damroo raises investment from HT Media
Indian conglomerate HT Media—the parent company of the Hindustan Times and Hindustan newspapers—has made a strategic investment worth Rs5 crore (approximately $522,000) in Damroo, an audio-streaming service dedicated to Indian […] The post is from Music Ally.
!K7 calls for indie labels to measure EDI as well as their climate impact
Independent labels in Europe have been making notable progress measuring their climate impact. !K7 thinks EDI could get the same treatment.
Why We Built an AI Music Video Generator That Listens to Songs
In 2021, my co-founders and I began developing the music-vision foundation model that would become Freebeat. The question that drove us, as engineers and lifelong music lovers, was simple: why […] The post is from Music Ally.
Syd Announces First Album in Four Years
Beard is out July 17