{"id":227687,"date":"2025-03-28T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=227687"},"modified":"2025-03-28T17:52:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:52:36","slug":"from-dua-lipas-lawsuit-win-to-concords-stem-acquisition-its-mbws-weekly-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/from-dua-lipas-lawsuit-win-to-concords-stem-acquisition-its-mbws-weekly-round-up\/","title":{"rendered":"From Dua Lipa’s copyright lawsuit win to Concord’s Stem acquisition…\u00a0it’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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This week we got confirmation that Concord<\/strong> has acquired LA-headquartered music distribution platform Stem<\/strong>, in what sources told MBW<\/em> was a high eight-figure dollar deal somewhere above $50 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In another significant deal, Chappell Roan<\/strong> producer Daniel Nigro<\/strong>‘s Amusement Records<\/strong> has expanded its partnership with Universal Music Group<\/strong>. Amusement will now operate as a “central label venture<\/strong>” within UMG, with new artist signings able to partner across UMG’s family of labels.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere this week, Dua Lipa<\/strong> won a copyright lawsuit over her megahit Levitating<\/em>, with a US federal judge ruling summarily that the plaintiffs failed to show substantial similarity between Levitating<\/em> and a 1979 disco song.<\/p>\n

Also this week, Kakao Entertainment<\/strong>, whose parent company is a major shareholder in K-pop company SM Entertainment<\/strong>, debuted superfan platform Berriz<\/strong>, a direct competitor to HYBE<\/strong>‘s Weverse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Finally, MBW<\/em> founder Tim Ingham<\/strong> laid out the case for why Spotify<\/strong> and other DSPs should raise their subscription prices this year. Hint: It has to do with a metric called average revenue per content hour<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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

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<\/figure>1) CONFIRMED: CONCORD ACQUIRES STEM<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Concord<\/strong> has, as expected, fully acquired Los Angeles-based music distribution platform Stem<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

MBW<\/em>\u2019s sources told us earlier this month that Concord was buying the distribution platform, suggesting a high eight-figure dollar deal somewhere above $50 million<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The official announcement of the acquisition on Monday (March 24) revealed that as well as buying Stem, Concord is making an additional investment into Tone<\/strong>, a royalty accounting and financial tools platform launched by Stem\u2019s management team in 2023.<\/p>\n

“We are now the most well-funded, well-supported independent player in the distribution space,” Stem founder and CEO Milana Lewis<\/strong> told MBW<\/em><\/a>…<\/p>\n

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Photo: Warner\/Hugo Comte<\/figcaption><\/figure>2) DUA LIPA WINS COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT OVER HIT SONG LEVITATING (WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM ED SHEERAN)<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

It\u2019s been a good couple of weeks for famous songwriters fighting off lawsuits accusing them of copyright infringement. First Mariah Carey<\/strong> beat a long-running suit accusing her of ripping off elements of her enduring smash All I Want For Christmas Is You<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now, news breaks that Dua Lipa<\/strong> has been victorious in another landmark case, this time pertaining to her megahit\u00a0Levitating<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A federal judge in New York has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Warner Records<\/strong>-signed act, ruling that Levitating<\/em>, released in 2020, did not illegally copy a 1979 disco song.<\/p>\n

In an opinion and order issued Thursday (March 27), U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla<\/strong> granted summary judgment in favor of Lipa and her co-defendants, finding that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate substantial similarity between protectable elements of the works…<\/p>\n

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Kakao Entertainment<\/figcaption><\/figure>3) You\u2019ve heard of superfan app Weverse. Now the parent company of HYBE\u2019s arch-rival has launched a direct competitor. Meet Berriz.<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Kakao Entertainment<\/strong>, a prominent player in the Korean entertainment industry\u00a0and a rival to HYBE<\/strong>, has officially entered the superfan platform space.<\/p>\n

Kakao has launched a new app called Berriz<\/strong>, described as \u201ca cutting-edge global fan platform designed to revolutionize the user experience.\u201d The move from Kakao places it in direct competition with Weverse<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kakao, together with its parent Kakao Corp.<\/strong>, holds a 40.28% stake<\/strong> in K-Pop company SM Entertainment<\/strong>. It also owns South Korean Music streaming service Melon.<\/p>\n

Notably, in 2023, Kakao and HYBE engaged in a months-long corporate battle to take control of SM Entertainment…<\/p>\n

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Photo: Taylor Hornecker<\/figcaption><\/figure>4) CHAPPELL ROAN PRODUCER DANIEL NIGRO\u2019S AMUSEMENT RECORDS TO OPERATE AS \u2018CENTRAL LABEL VENTURE\u2019 WITHIN UNIVERSAL AS PART OF EXPANDED PARTNERSHIP WITH UMG<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Universal Music Group<\/strong> has expanded its partnership with Grammy-winning producer Daniel Nigro<\/strong>\u2019s Amusement Records<\/strong> label.<\/p>\n

According to the official announcement, under the new agreement, Amusement will operate as a \u201ccentral label venture\u201d within UMG, with new artist signings able to partner across UMG\u2019s \u201cglobal family of labels.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expansion follows the success of Chappell Roan<\/strong>\u2019s debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess<\/em>, which was signed to Amusement and released via Island Records<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

UMG\u2019s newly-expanded partnership with Nigro also builds upon his long-term relationship with Olivia Rodrigo<\/strong>, a Geffen<\/strong>\/Interscope<\/strong> artist. (Island and Geffen\/Interscope are both UMG labels.)…<\/p>\n

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Image: Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>5) THE BEST ARGUMENT WHY SPOTIFY (AND OTHER MUSIC STREAMING PLATFORMS) NEED TO INCREASE THEIR PRICES IN 2025.<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Speak to pretty much any senior figure at the world\u2019s largest music rightsholders, and you\u2019ll find it\u2019s a bone of contention for them all.<\/p>\n

How come a standard music streaming subscription in the US costs USD $11.99<\/strong> per month, when \u2013 over in the land of film and TV \u2013 Netflix<\/strong> charges $17.99<\/strong> per month for its equivalent service?<\/p>\n

The answer, of course, is the consistency of Netflix\u2019s price hikes over the past decade.<\/p>\n

As recently as 2016, an individual subscription to Netflix\u2019s Standard tier in the States cost consumers exactly the same amount per month ($9.99) as an Individual Premium sub to Spotify…<\/p>\n

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<\/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":[133906,133594,1388,133905,2993,108,3560,131020],"class_list":["post-227687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-news","tag-amusement-records","tag-berriz","tag-concord","tag-daniel-nigro","tag-dua-lipa","tag-spotify","tag-stem","tag-subscription-prices"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227687","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=227687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227687\/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=227687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}