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, Billboard, New York Times, The Verge, Variety, Wall Street Journal, Tubefilter, Associated Press, New York Daily News, Digital Music News, The A.V. Club, Gizmodo, The Hill, @simondowens@threads.net, UPROXX, @carnage4life@mas.to, Wired, Forbes, CNN, New York Times, TechNode, Music Business Worldwide, Rolling Stone, Music Ally, Consequence, The Music Network, Polygon, Us Weekly, Deadline, RAIN News, TikTok, New York Post, WHDH-TV, Vibe, Ars Technica, Axios, The Sun, Engadget, The i Paper, City A.M., The Guardian, The Register, The Messenger, TechCrunch, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times and The Wrap, more at Techmeme »
Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Email: The Messenger shuts down, effective immediately, citing economic headwinds; Jimmy Finkelstein launched the outlet in May 2023 and hired about 300 people — By closing less than a year after it launched, The Messenger is now one of the biggest busts in the annals of online news.
Discussion:
Axios, Talking Points Memo, The Hill, @jimlaporta, Newser, @walsh_eli, @dceiver, Mike Donoghue on LinkedIn, @jhoffman, The Daily Beast, @maxwelltani, @madelineanele, @jayrosen_nyu, @jhoffman, Dawn Kopecki on LinkedIn, Politico, Puck, @dylanbyers, @jimlaporta, @jason_koebler, @ike_saul, The Hollywood Reporter, @coryschouten, @alexsteigrad, @sherman4949, @scottnover, Boing Boing, @jason_koebler, @jason_koebler, @dylanbyers, @dewalt, @carrasquillo, @benjaminopowers, @weareyourfek, @sarafischer, @rafat, @samleecole, Semafor, @benmullin, @theinsneider, @jhoffman, @joshuaogundu, @kantrowitz, @klasfeldreports, @byalexazzi, @knibbs, @bcmerchant, @jason_paladino, @lmorello_dc, @scottnover, @iansherr, @jeongpark52, @walsh_eli, @davidmackau, @digiphile, @walsh_eli, @chronotope, @chronotope, @mekosoff, @maxwelltani, @rafat, @stephen_neukam, @clarajeffery, @jeffjarvis, Digiday, @brucebartlett, @clarajeffery, @asilbwrites, @mediaevan, @mediaevan, @benmullin, @dsamuelsohn, @benmullin, @hanaatameez, @justinbaragona, @bgrueskin, @josephfcox, @cameronwilson, @macwbishop, @cameronwilson, @film_girl, @willsommer, @willsommer, @dylanbyers, @maxwelltani, @maxwelltani, @corbinbolies, @jessicalessin, @jamesrbuk, @jamesrbuk, @mikeisaac, @adambassofmass, @alex, @mattyglesias, @aidnmclaughlin, @thestalwart, @hbottemiller, @jimvandehei, @mediaevan, @lainnafader, @sarafischer, @taylorbuley, @tim_bays, @sherman4949, @willsommer, @tim_bays, @katie_robertson, @sherman4949, @tim_bays, @brianstelter, Media Nation, The Wrap, NBC News, @dansinker@threads.net, @ericmgarcia14@threads.net, @dkiesow@threads.net, Washington Post, Awful Announcing, Mediaite, Shishira Sreenivas on LinkedIn, Saundra Latham on LinkedIn, TechCrunch, Columbia Journalism Review, @malloriesullivan@threads.net, @makenakellyx@threads.net, Politico, Talking Biz News, Boston Herald, @sbhamedy@threads.net, @fredericl@threads.net, Variety, @sorayamcdonald@threads.net, @stuartathompsonnyt …, @noahshachtman@threads.net, New York Post, CNN, Wall Street Journal, The Information, @sokane1@threads.net, @karaswisher@threads.net, @geisler_jill@threads.net, @hermanywong@threads.net, @tomgara@threads.net, @semaforben@threads.net, Hollywood Reporter, @mattbrown.bsky.social, Talking Biz News, The Wrap and Deadline
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Disney has reached a preliminary agreement to sell 60% of its Indian media business to Reliance-backed Viacom18 at a $3.9B valuation — Viacom18's purchase of 60% of Disney's India business reunites the company with two executives who built it — Disney has reached a preliminary agreement …
Discussion:
The Streamable, @adityakalra, Media Play News, @bollywoodhq, Reuters, Livemint, MediaNama, The Wrap and TechCrunch
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.
Discussion:
Defector, @ishaantharoor, @carolynmichelle, @bgrueskin, @mattzeitlin, @caroletarrant, @zzzzaaaacccchhh, @asilbwrites and The Hill
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Primary Wave Music acquires a 50% stake in the Brazilian music company Nas Nuvens, valuing it at ~$100M and highlighting the booming market for Brazilian music — - Primary Wave invests in the Brazilian company Nas Nuvens — Funding round values Nas Nuvens at around $100 million
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Todd Boehly-backed music company Gamma, which works with Usher and Snoop Dogg, 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
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.
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:
@jmkliegman, @benjstrauss and New York Magazine
The Hollywood Reporter:
As Amazon becomes the latest streamer to push an ad-supported tier, TV writers react with frustration to the move away from the original promise of streaming — As Amazon becomes the latest platform to push an ad-supported tier, TV writers greet this retro model with frustration and …
Discussion:
TechHive, @tvgrimreaper, Fast Company, Sean Redlitz on LinkedIn, Front Office Sports and UPROXX
Nqobile Dludla / Reuters:
NBCU and South African pay TV company MultiChoice plan to invest $177M in Showmax, MultiChoice's streamer built on Peacock; NBCU gets a 30% stake in Showmax — South African pay TV company MultiChoice Group (MCGJ.J) and U.S. media conglomerate Comcast's (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal Media will invest …
Discussion:
Deadline
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, Media Play News, TVNewsCheck and Cord Cutters News
Bron Maher / Press Gazette:
Politico redesigns its Europe, German, and French websites to have simpler homepages than the UK and US versions, to improve readability for AI web crawlers — Politico has given its Europe, German and French websites a redesign which improves readability for the web crawlers that feed into generative AI large language models (LLMs).
Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter:
SiriusXM reports a Q4 net drop of 94K subscribers and 109K Pandora subs, net income down 4% YoY to $352M, revenue of $2.29B, and eyes “cost efficiencies” — The audio entertainment giant, the home of Howard Stern, is led by CEO Jennifer Witz whose team sees opportunities …
The NewsGuild:
More than 200 unionized Tribune journalists, designers, and production workers across seven newsrooms are staging a 24-hour strike today — - DO NOT click on stories from the Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Virginian-Pilot, Morning Call, Suburban Chicago Tribune, Design and Production Studios, Tribune Content Agency
Discussion:
Associated Press, Bloomberg, MediaPost, @ctguild, @ctguild, The Wrap, WAVY-TV, @chinewsguild, Axios, Chicago Sun Times, @newsguild and Washington Post
Reuters:
A Russian court extends the pre-trial detention of Russian-American RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, in custody since October 18, to April 5 — A Russian court on Thursday extended the pre-trial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist who is accused of violating a law on “foreign agents”.
Discussion:
Radio Free Europe/Radio …, Committee to Protect … and USAGM
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