EU BEGINS INVESTIGATION INTO UMG & DOWNTOWN DEAL
The European Commission has officially launched its investigation into Universal Music Group’s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music, one of the music industry’s biggest mergers. The move comes eight weeks after the EC signaled intent to act, but proceedings couldn't begin until being formal notified by UMG.
SPOTIFY CLOSE TO LOSSLESS AUDIO; INTEGRATES JAPANESE TO LIVE EVENTS PAGE
New code hints that Spotify may finally roll out lossless audio after years of delays. A recent software update includes references to “lossless” functionality, according to a post on X. Spotify has also added Japanese ticketing platform ZAIKO to its ‘Live Events’ page, expanding concert listings on artist profiles and discovery feeds.
TIKTOK LAUNCHES FAN CLUB PROGRAM TO BOLSTER ARTISTS & CREATORS
TikTok has launched a new feature called LIVE Fan Club, as it reveals that 130 million creators now broadcast LIVE content daily. Viewers who send ‘Heart Me’ gifts during livestreams are automatically added to a creator’s Fan Club. This follows the recent launch of TikTok for Artists, a platform offering music insights to help artists and their teams connect with fans, promote music, and boost success on and off TikTok.
EXTRA NEWS
Suno and Udio are facing new copyright lawsuits from country musician Tony Justice, who filed class-action claims against the AI music generators. The suits accuse them of using Justice’s recordings and works from “thousands of class members” without permission to train their AI models.
Believe has promoted Romain Becker to Chief Product, Operations, and Marketing Services Officer. Previously President of Label & Artist Solutions, Becker will now lead the development of innovative products and marketing services for artists and labels globally.
UK-based Absolute Label Services has launched Anthology, an “AI-enhanced” portal for the independent music sector. The platform serves as a business management hub for catalog oversight, global distribution, neighboring rights, content ID, and real-time analytics from streaming, physical, and D2C sales.
DistroKid now lets artists upload music videos to Spotify through its DistroVid service—but videos are only viewable in markets where Spotify's music video feature is available.
Sony Music Publishing has promoted Margherita Gnech to Managing Director of Italy, effective Wednesday (June 25).
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