{"id":212440,"date":"2024-09-27T16:37:27","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=212440"},"modified":"2024-09-27T16:36:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T15:36:56","slug":"from-tiktok-musics-shutdown-to-atlantic-music-groups-new-leadership-team-its-mbws-weekly-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/from-tiktok-musics-shutdown-to-atlantic-music-groups-new-leadership-team-its-mbws-weekly-round-up\/","title":{"rendered":"From TikTok Music’s shutdown to Atlantic Music Group’s new leadership team… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to\u00a0Music Business Worldwide<\/a>\u2019s weekly round-up \u2013 where we make sure\u00a0you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW\u2019s round-up is supported by\u00a0<\/i>Centtrip<\/i><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0which helps over 500 of the world\u2019s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.<\/i><\/p>\n

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The news this week was dominated by the shutdown of two separate music platforms. The first was TikTok<\/strong>‘s subscription music streaming app, TikTok Music<\/strong>, which the social media service revealed will be shutting down at the end of November.<\/p>\n

The second was Warner Music Group<\/strong>‘s foray into DIY distribution. MBW<\/strong> confirmed this week that WMG will be shutting down Level Music<\/strong>, its TuneCore<\/strong> rival, next year, and the platform has already stopped accepting new submissions.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the music world, the majors are planning for the future through reorgs and M&A. One example: WMG revealed this week the new leadership team and company structure for Atlantic Music Group<\/strong> under incoming CEO Elliot Grainge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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There were also notable changes at Universal Music Group<\/strong>, with the announcement that Dickon Stainer<\/strong> will be stepping into the role of Chairman and CEO of Universal Music UK<\/strong>, following news earlier in the week\u00a0that David Joseph<\/strong> will be leaving the company.<\/p>\n

UMG, meanwhile, also completed its acquisition of Thailand’s RS Group<\/strong> for\u00a0USD $65-70 million<\/strong>, hinting that more M&A deals are<\/span>\u00a0on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Here’s what happened this week…<\/p>\n

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T. Schneider\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/a><\/figure>1) TIKTOK MUSIC CLOSURE A WIN FOR SPOTIFY, SAYS DEUTSCHE BANK<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

TikTok<\/strong>\u2019s announcement this week that it\u2019s discontinuing its premium music streaming app sent shockwaves through the music industry.<\/p>\n

As first reported<\/a> by MBW<\/em>, TikTok Music<\/strong> will close at the end of November in Indonesia, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and Mexico \u2014 the five markets where the app is available.<\/p>\n

TikTok says the strategy behind the decision is to focus its resources on the \u2018Add To Music App<\/strong>\u2019 feature, which lets TikTok users save songs they discover on the platform to playlists on streaming services like Spotify<\/strong>, Amazon Music<\/strong>, and Apple Music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Spotify, in particular, is expected to benefit from TikTok Music\u2019s exit. That\u2019s according to a new research note from Deutsche Bank<\/strong>, which calls TikTok Music\u2019s closure \u201ca clear positive for Spotify\u201d…<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>2) WARNER MUSIC GROUP IS SHUTTING ITS TUNECORE RIVAL, LEVEL MUSIC<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

TikTok Music<\/strong> wasn\u2019t the only music industry platform to announce its closure this week.<\/p>\n

MBW<\/em> has confirmed that Warner Music Group<\/strong> is shutting down Level Music<\/strong>, its digital distribution platform for self-releasing artists.<\/p>\n

Level Music, a TuneCore<\/strong> rival launched by WMG in 2018, offers distribution to major streaming services like Spotify<\/strong> and Apple Music<\/strong> and social media platforms like TikTok<\/strong> and Instagram<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In an email sent out to Level Music users on Thursday (September 26), seen by MBW<\/em>, the platform confirms that it has \u201cmade the difficult decision to shut down Level in 2025\u201d. The email states that Level will no longer accept new content submissions for distribution or edits to existing releases, effective today…<\/p>\n

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Photo: Logan Mock<\/figcaption><\/a><\/figure>3) REVEALED: ATLANTIC MUSIC GROUP’S NEW LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE UNDER INCOMING CEO ELLIOT GRAINGE<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Warner Music Group<\/strong> has unveiled Atlantic Music Group<\/strong>\u00a0(AMG<\/strong>)’s new leadership team and broader company structure under incoming AMG CEO Elliot Grainge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Grainge assumes the CEO role starting October 1, following the departure of Julie Greenwald<\/strong> (Chairman, Atlantic Music Group) later this month.<\/p>\n

Warner said in a press release Monday (September 23) that Atlantic Music Group will “combine the strengths of key functions” at AMG labels Atlantic Records<\/strong>, 300<\/strong>, and Elektra<\/strong>, to create “one central set of artist development services”.<\/p>\n

These functions at the group level include Creative, Legal & Business Affairs, Promotion, Press & Media Strategy, Digital Marketing & Analytics, Sales & Streaming, A&R Research, A&R Administration, and Marketing Operations…<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>4) DICKON STAINER NAMED CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF UNIVERSAL MUSIC UK<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Universal Music Group<\/strong> Chairman & CEO Sir Lucian Grainge<\/strong> announced this week that Dickon Stainer<\/strong> has been appointed Chairman & CEO of Universal Music UK<\/strong>. Stainer succeeds David Joseph<\/strong>, whose departure was confirmed on Monday (September 23).<\/p>\n

In his new role, Stainer is responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of Universal Music UK.<\/p>\n

Divisions including Island EMI Label Group<\/strong>, Polydor Label Group<\/strong>, Decca Records<\/strong>, the recently formed Audience and Media Division<\/strong>, as well as Abbey Road Studios<\/strong>, will report to him.<\/p>\n

For the last 10 years, Stainer served as President & CEO of Universal Music Group\u2019s (UMG) Global Classics and Jazz<\/strong> division, splitting his time between London and New York…<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>5) UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP JUST COMPLETED THE $70M ACQUISITION OF THAILAND\u2019S SECOND-BIGGEST RECORDED MUSIC CATALOG\u2026 WHILE SUGGESTING MANY MORE M&A DEALS IN \u2018HIGH-POTENTIAL\u2019 MARKETS ARE ON THE WAY.<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Last year, Universal Music Group<\/strong> acquired a 70%<\/strong> stake in the recorded music catalog of Thailand’s RS Group<\/strong> for around USD $45 million<\/strong> (plus a potential ~$5m in bonus payments). At the time, MBW<\/em> told you to “expect more M&A activity from UMG in Asia to follow”.<\/p>\n

Okay, that wasn’t the boldest prediction we’ll ever make. But, well, we weren’t wrong.<\/p>\n

UMG has now confirmed that it recently completed the acquisition of the remaining 30%<\/strong> of RS Group’s catalog, taking full ownership of the recordings portfolio.<\/p>\n

In other words, UMG just\u00a0completed the acquisition of Thailand’s second-largest recordings catalog for a total sum of approximately USD $65-$70 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Interesting. But the bigger story here is what’s going to come next…<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>MBW\u2019s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world\u2019s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.<\/a><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest stories from the past week \u2013 all in one place\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":111195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[132869,638,4650,132868,130231,269],"class_list":["post-212440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-news","tag-atlantic-music-group","tag-dickon-stainer","tag-level-music","tag-rs-group","tag-tiktok-music","tag-universal-music-group"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}