Top News:
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
UMG begins pulling its artists' music from TikTok after negotiations failed; videos featuring UMG-owned songs will be muted, and users can pick a new soundtrack — - Publisher behind Drake and Taylor Swift pushes for better pay — Videos featuring Universal Music-owned songs will be muted
Discussion:
UMG, Reuters, The Verge, Billboard, Fox News, New York Times, Lefsetz Letter, Geoffrey Colon on LinkedIn, VIBE.com, New York Daily News, Gizmodo, @simondowens@threads.net, UPROXX, The A.V. Club, Wired, Courthouse News Service, CNN, New York Times, Variety, Digital Music News, Tubefilter, Rolling Stone, The Hill, Wall Street Journal, Music Business Worldwide, Music Ally, @carnage4life@mas.to, TechNode, Forbes, Consequence, The Music Network, Associated Press, Polygon, Us Weekly, Deadline, RAIN News, New York Post, Ars Technica, Axios, The Sun, TikTok, Engadget, The i Paper, City A.M., The Guardian and The Register, more at Techmeme »
Jordan Hoffman / New York Magazine:
A Messenger journalist describes his time working for the outlet, where the expensive offices were empty and reporters were instructed to chase trending topics — A text time-stamped 1:19 a.m. early Wednesday read, “I think it's over, man.” It was a Los Angeles-based colleague at The Messenger.
Max Tani / @maxwelltani:
Memo: The Wall Street Journal EIC Emma Tucker restructures its DC bureau, shutters the DC-based Business and US-China teams, and lays off “a number” of staffers — Note from WSJ EIC Emma Tucker to Journal staff about today's layoffs changes to the paper's DC bureau. The business team and Washington-based China team are both shuttering. [image]
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon Q4: ad revenue up 27% YoY to $14.7B, vs. $14.2B est., subscription revenue up 14% YoY to $10.5B, and North America segment sales up 13% YoY to $105.5B — - Amazon reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday that sailed past analysts' estimates.
Discussion:
CNN, GeekWire, @ericjhonsa, @lucas_shaw, NBC 7 San Diego and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Apple Q1: revenue of Services, which includes Apple TV+ and Apple Music, rose 11% YoY to a record $23.1B, and installed base crossed 2.2B active devices — Apple turned in another record quarter in its services business, as strong iPhone 15 sales boosted total revenue in the last three months of 2023.
Discussion:
Wall Street Journal, AppleInsider, @neilcybart, Apple, Media Play News and The Hollywood Reporter, more at Techmeme »
Lesley Goldberg / The Hollywood Reporter:
Highlights from Netflix's press event: a push for live programming, no planned theatrical releases, licensing content from others won't impact originals, more — A greater push for live programming, no theatrical releases and much more from content chief Bela Bajaria.
Discussion:
@thr, @ryansatin, @meltzersaidwhat, Deadline, Deadline, The Playlist, Variety and POST Wrestling
Jim Edwards / Press Gazette:
Google plans to limit news publishers to tracking users across five of their own websites under its Privacy Sandbox, which is set to replace third-party cookies — Details have emerged of how Google's Privacy Sandbox could strengthen its online monopoly. — Google plans to limit the sharing …
Discussion:
@pressgazette, Poynter, The Drum and The Register, more at Techmeme »
Richard Nieva / Forbes:
YouTube says YouTube Premium and Music have a combined 100M subscribers; CEO Neal Mohan says subscriptions have become a “meaningful part” of YouTube's business — YouTube CEO Neal Mohan told Forbes the subscription services are now a “meaningful part” of the business.
Lucia Moses / Business Insider:
Companies representing 300 TV stations, including CBS and Gray Television, plan to launch Zeam, a free local news streaming service, an evolution of VUit — Gray Television is teaming up with other TV stations to launch a free, local-news streamer, and running Super Bowl ads starring John Stamos to get the word out.
Discussion:
Lucia Moses on LinkedIn, TVNewsCheck, Media Play News, Radio & Television … and Cord Cutters News
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Gamma, which creates, distributes, and markets music, podcasts and films, raised $100M+ led by Alpha Wave Global, sources say at a $400M valuation — - Alpha Wave Global leads round valuing company at $400 million — Former Apple executive Larry Jackson launched company in 2023
Ben Strauss / Washington Post:
Sources: an Arena executive ordered SI to remove a transgender boxing story from a print issue; SI says the story was no longer newsy and will be posted online — The publisher of Sports Illustrated called for the removal of a story about transgender boxing from an upcoming issue of the print magazine …
Discussion:
MediaPost, @benjstrauss, New York Magazine and @jmkliegman
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Primary Wave Music acquires a 50% stake in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens, which holds music catalogs of about 40 artists, valuing Nas Nuvens at ~$100M — - Primary Wave invests in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens — Funding round values Nas Nuvens at around $100 million
Discussion:
Music Business Worldwide