Bill Ackman is no longer on the board of Universal Music Group. The music company was notified on the 14th of his intention to resign from its Board due to new executive and board obligations arising from his recent investments. In March this year, Ackman’s Pershing Square raised USD $1.4 billion by selling a 2.7% stake in Universal Music Group. Separately, in January, Pershing Square committed to selling at least USD $500 million of UMG shares, if it meant that Universal would list on a stock exchange in the United States.

Concert and ticketing giant Live Nation’s expansion into South America has marked another milestone with the company’s announcement that it’s set to begin operating a stadium in Cali, Colombia. The 15,000-seat Arena Cañaveralejo will be operated through Live Nation’s partners OCESA, a Mexico-headquartered concert promoter, and Colombian concert promoter Grupo Páramo. Live Nation acquired a 51% stake in OCESA in 2021 for USD $416 million, and it took a majority stake in Páramo in 2023.

TikTok has soft-launched TikTok for Artists, a new service offering artists analytics tools to see how their music is performing on the platform, and what sort of content fans are engaging with. It also gives artists access to features for promoting their music. TikTok has also unveiled three new artist campaigns supporting new album releases from Jin of BTS, Damiano David of Måneskin, and a posthumous release from EDM pioneer Avicii. These campaigns follow the platform’s recent partnerships with artists including Tate McRae, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco, Billie Eilish, Rauw Alejandro, Post Malone, Sabrina Carpenter, Coldplay and ROSÉ. The platform also launched an in-app experience for Taylor Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department.

Also TikTok users will now be able to save tracks they discover straight to their SoundCloud app. This week, the two companies announced they’re partnering to expand an existing TikTok feature that was previously available to users of music streaming platforms like Apple Music and Spotify. The “add to music app” feature feature is an easy way for listeners to take their discoveries off the app (and for artists, especially indie musicians, to grow their fanbase beyond just passive TikTok listeners). It will appears when a TikTok user clicks on an audio track added to a video. Saved songs are automatically added to a TikTok playlist on users’ default music streaming service.

South Korean news agency Yonhap, which, citing sources in the investment community, is reporting that HYBE is preparing to make a “full-fledged entry into the Indian entertainment market starting with a local office”.

Video game company Epic Games has successfully defended itself in a trial where it was accused of patent infringement in Fortnite concerts by Ariana Grande and Travis Scott. Jurors found Epic Games didn’t violate a patent held by Utherverse Gaming LLC, a company that licenses patents for the creation of virtual environments. A related company, Utherverse Digital, operates platforms for virtual events.

ROXi, a music video streaming service backed by U2 bassist Adam Clayton, has completed a management buyout with new capital from American broadcasters Sinclair and Gray Media. Financial terms of the transaction were not reported.

Universal Music Group is expanding its footprint in China’s niche music sectors with the launch of dedicated classical and jazz labels in the market. Universal Music Greater China division has established Deutsche Grammophon China and Blue Note Records China, with both labels expected to focus on scouting and supporting rising Chinese talent.

Respected A&R executive Rob Stevenson and Label Ops executive Matt Signore have launched a new record label called ALTER MUSIC. The new label has entered into a joint venture partnership with Firebird Music Holdings. According to the official announcement, the partnership between ALTER and Firebird will “accelerate the growth” of the new indie label through “financial, analytical, and strategic support to build a compelling roster of artists”.

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