{"id":234001,"date":"2025-06-13T18:44:37","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=234001"},"modified":"2025-06-13T18:44:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T17:44:37","slug":"from-sonys-2-5bn-spent-in-the-past-year-to-umgs-patrick-whitesell-jv-its-mbws-weekly-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/from-sonys-2-5bn-spent-in-the-past-year-to-umgs-patrick-whitesell-jv-its-mbws-weekly-round-up\/","title":{"rendered":"From Sony’s $2.5bn spent in the past year to UMG’s Patrick Whitesell JV\u2026 it\u2019s MBW\u2019s 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 morning (June 13), Rob Stringer, Chairman of Sony Music Group and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, updated investors on the music company’s performance and strategy.<\/p>\n

Also this week, Universal Music Group<\/strong> launched a joint venture with WTSL<\/strong>, the Silver Lake<\/strong>-backed investment firm founded by Hollywood agent and WME<\/strong> co-founder Patrick Whitesell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, we learned that legendary UK independent music company Cooking Vinyl will be acquired by US-headquartered Exceleration Music.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, on Wednesday (June 11)\u00a0The National Music Publishers\u2019 Association<\/strong>\u00a0(NMPA) said that\u00a0Spotify’s \u2018bundling\u2019 move could cost music publishers $3.1 billion<\/strong> through 2032<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Finally, Harbourview Equity Partners<\/strong>\u00a0secured $500 million<\/strong> in debt refinancing, led by investment giant KKR<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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

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<\/figure>1) SONY MUSIC SPENT $2.5BN ON 60+ DEALS IN THE PAST YEAR (AND 7 MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW FROM ROB STRINGER’S LATEST INVESTOR PRESENTATION)<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Rob Stringer, the Chairman of\u00a0Sony Music Group\u00a0and CEO of\u00a0Sony Music Entertainment, updated investors on the music company’s performance and strategy on Friday morning (June 13).<\/p>\n

Delivered as part of Sony Group\u2019s 2025 Business Segment Presentation for investors, Stringer covered Sony’s financial performance, catalog deals, distribution strategy, AI opportunities, music streaming subscription prices, and more. He also took part in a fireside chat with Justin Hill, Senior Vice President, Finance & Investor Relations, Sony Corporation of America.<\/p>\n

During the presentation,\u00a0Stringer revealed Sony “completed more than 60\u00a0investments in the past year alone” and spent “over\u00a0$2.5 billion for frontline, catalog, as well as creative and service ventures with outside entrepreneurs across a vast number of territories.”<\/p>\n

Stringer discussed Sony’s strategy in greater detail during the presentation and Q&A. Here are seven more things you should know…<\/p>\n

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Patrick Whitesell credit: DFree \/ Shutterstock.com \/ Sir Lucian Grainge credit Photo: Austin Hargrave<\/figcaption><\/figure>2) Universal Music and Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell launch joint venture with backing from Silver Lake<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Universal Music Group<\/strong>\u00a0has formed a joint venture with\u00a0WTSL<\/strong>, the\u00a0Silver Lake<\/strong>-backed investment firm founded by prominent Hollywood agent and WME<\/strong> co-founder,\u00a0Patrick Whitesell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

According to the official announcement, the venture\u2019s goal is to\u00a0\u201caccelerate commercial opportunities for UMG\u2019s artists and artist estates in rapidly growing areas\u00a0outside traditional recorded music\u00a0and\u00a0music publishing\u201d.<\/p>\n

The press release added that the JV will pursue opportunities that \u201cextend music\u2019s value across film, television, fashion, consumer products, branded experiences, and other emerging growth areas.”<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>3) Cooking Vinyl, a prominent UK-headquartered music company, to be acquired by Exceleration Music<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

Exceleration Music<\/strong>\u00a0has entered into an agreement to acquire iconic UK-headquartered independent music company\u00a0Cooking Vinyl<\/strong>,\u00a0which it describes as\u00a0\u201cone of the UK\u2019s most successful and long-standing music companies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Founded in\u00a01986, Cooking Vinyl is home to a roster of artists that includes\u00a0Shed Seven<\/strong>,\u00a0Suzanne Vega<\/strong>,\u00a0Passenger<\/strong>,\u00a0The Prodigy<\/strong>,\u00a0The Cranberries<\/strong>,\u00a0Billy Bragg<\/strong>,\u00a0The Darkness<\/strong>,\u00a0Deacon Blue<\/strong>,\u00a047 Soul<\/strong>,\u00a0Roger Waters<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0The Jesus and Mary Chain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Exceleration\u00a0said on Monday (June 9) that Cooking Vinyl will continue to operate independently, led by Managing Director\u00a0Rob Collins<\/strong> and his team.<\/p>\n

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SOPA\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>4) NMPA says Spotify \u2018bundling\u2019 move could cost music publishers $3.1bn through 2032<\/a>
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The National Music Publishers\u2019 Association<\/strong>\u00a0projects that music publishers will \u201close\u00a0over $3.1 billion<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0through\u00a02032<\/strong>\u00a0due to\u00a0Spotify\u2018s audiobook \u201cbundling practices<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Executive Vice President and General Counsel\u00a0Danielle Aguirre<\/strong>, who, speaking at the\u00a0NMPA\u2019s 2025 Annual Meeting\u00a0in\u00a0New York<\/strong>\u00a0on Wednesday (June 11),\u00a0detailed how\u00a0Spotify\u2018s decision to reclassify its premium music service as a bundled offering in\u00a0March 2024\u00a0has, \u201cby Spotify\u2019s own numbers\u201d resulted in a\u00a0$230 million\u00a0loss\u00a0<\/strong>for publishers during its first year of implementation.<\/p>\n

Aguirre added that \u201cthese losses will continue if we can\u2019t reverse or correct Spotify\u2019s actions. In fact, if we don\u2019t stop them, we are projected to lose\u00a0over\u00a0$3.1 billion<\/strong>\u00a0through the next CRB period,\u201d which will be Phonorecords V, which determines mechanical royalty rates for\u00a02028<\/strong>\u00a0through\u00a02032<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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<\/figure>5) HarbourView secures $500m in additional debt financing from KKR<\/a><\/span><\/h6>\n

HarbourView Equity Partners<\/strong>\u00a0has secured\u00a0$500 million\u00a0<\/strong>in additional debt financing from investment giant\u00a0KKR<\/strong>, secured\u00a0via a private securitization backed by its music portfolio.<\/p>\n

This latest transaction follows a previous\u00a0$500 million<\/strong>\u00a0in debt financing secured by HarbourView\u00a0in\u00a0March 2024<\/strong>, through a private securitization backed by its catalog of music royalties, and led by KKR.<\/p>\n

Citing an interview with HarbourView Founder and CEO\u00a0Sherrese Clarke<\/strong>\u00a0on Monday (June 9),\u00a0Bloomberg<\/em> reported that the company plans to use the new financing \u201cto scale up, to add to its portfolio of music content and to push deeper into film and TV-rights management”.<\/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 five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6911,"featured_media":111195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234001","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\/6911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234001\/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=234001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}