Music News

Live events platform Fever, which announced a $100 million raise yesterday, has officially acquired Dice. Photo Credit: Fever Moments after scoring a $100 million raise, live events platform Fever has set its sights on the ticketing world with the acquisition of Dice. New York City-headquartered Fever, which has secured at least $440 million from investors since 2022, unveiled the play today. As the purchaser sees things, the businesses’ “combined scale and capabilities” will power “a consumer

Photo Credit: NBA on ESPN An as yet unreleased Lil Wayne track featuring Bono from the eagerly anticipated ‘Tha Carter VI’ makes its debut in a preview for the NBA Finals. Lil Wayne is preparing to drop his hotly anticipated new album, Tha Carter VI, due for release tomorrow (June 6). Fans have waited eagerly for the album, and now they’ve been treated to a taste, just ahead of release. An unreleased track from the album, which features U2 legend Bono, has appeared in an ad for Game One of the

Photo Credit: Denis Ladegaillerie by Anis Martin A consortium led by Believe CEO Denis Ladegaillerie doubles down on plans to acquire the remaining shares of the company from public shareholders. Back in April, a consortium led by Believe founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie (Upbeat Bidco), confirmed its plans to acquire the remaining shares of the music company from public shareholders. Now, the consortium has doubled down on the offer by significantly upping its bid for the remaining shares.

Photo Credit: Reservoir President & COO Rell Lafargue, Fool’s Gold Co-Founder A-Trak Reservoir Media announces a new deal with independent label Fool’s Gold Records, seeing the former acquire the catalog master rights of the latter. Reservoir Media has announced a multifaceted deal with independent record label Fool’s Gold Records. The deal sees Reservoir acquire the catalog master rights of the label’s artists, A-Trak, Danny Brown, Grande Marshall, The Brothers Macklovitch, and Low Pros.

Photo Credit: Concord Originals + RKO Pictures Concord Originals acquires RKO, the film studio behind such classic films as ‘King Kong,’ ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ and more. Concord Originals, the film and TV division of Concord, has announced the acquisition of  RKO Pictures, the film studio behind classics such as King Kong, Citizen Kane, The Best Years of Our Lives, It’s a Wonderful Life, Suspicion, and The Woman in the Window. RKO was acquired from Ted Hartley, who served as

Photo Credit: Gary Musick Productions AEG Presents has acquired Nashville-based special events production company Gary Musick Productions and affiliated entity Destination Musick City. The partnership will bring together decades of expertise in corporate event production, scenic fabrication, and destination management. Under the new structure, Gary Musick Productions will retain its name and continue to provide its corporate and social event services, including audio-visual production, scenic

Spotify has once again raised its prices in France and appears to be taking other monetization-minded steps amid slowing subscriber growth in established markets. Photo Credit: Henrique Ferreira Spotify has once again upped its prices in France, where subscribers are now paying €12.14 (currently $13.88) per month for Individual. The streaming platform just recently made the increases official, one year and change following a prior price-bump round in the European nation. The May 2024 raises,

Michael Smith, the individual accused of masterminding a $10 million+ streaming fraud scheme, has tapped a high-powered Diddy law firm for representation. Photo Credit: Kier in Sight Archives Still plodding through discovery, the federal fraud case against Michael Smith is now set for an early August status conference. Meanwhile, the alleged royalties scammer has tapped newly minted Diddy law firm Harris Trzaskoma LLP for representation. Technically, two of that firm’s attorneys, Justine Harri

Photo Credit: Pop Smoke / YouTube UMG allegedly threatened to nix Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album over their belief that a guest verse by Pusha T featured a Drake diss. Just after Pusha T dropped a bombshell claim that Def Jam urged him to censor a Kendrick Lamar guest verse on Clipse’s forthcoming album, his manager drops another. According to Steven Victor, who manages Pusha T and signed Pop Smoke to his imprint, Victor Victor Worldwide, UMG wanted to censor a Pusha verse from Pop’s posth

Photo Credit: Subtronics.net Subtronics makes his triumphant return to Los Angeles this December with a record-breaking five-night stand at the Shrine Expo Hall. The DJ’s first LA appearance since selling out the Kia Forum in 2023, this impressive run marks the second-highest number of sold-out shows by an electronic artist at the venue, just behind Fred again…’s historic nine-night streak. Subtronics’ 360-degree shows, which put him in the center of the Shrine Expo Hall, run from Wednesday,

Photo Credit: Jimmy Buffett and Jane Slagsvol / Jimmybuffett.com Jimmy Buffett’s widow and his former business manager sue each other to remove one another from the administration of the late star’s estate. Jane Buffett (née Slagsvol), Jimmy Buffett’s wife of 46 years, and Rick Mozenter, his former business manager, are seeking to remove one another from the administration of the late singer-songwriter’s estate. Both parties have launched court actions against each other, each accusing the oth

Photo Credit: Gabriel Tovar Goldman Sachs has long had a bullish outlook on the global music industry, but its latest ‘Music in the Air’ report reveals the investment bank wildly overestimated recorded music and streaming revenues for 2024. The overestimate has prompted a notable downgrade in its future forecasts—the streaming plateau is here. Goldman Sachs initially projected a robust 7.6% global music industry growth rate for 2024. However, the actual growth rate clocked in at 6.2%—marking t

Snoop Dogg, one of the defendants looking to dismiss a $107 million lawsuit filed by Lydia Harris. Photo Credit: Bruce Baker A federal court has officially ordered a stay in Lydia Harris’ $107 million lawsuit against Snoop Dogg, Universal Music, Death Row Records, and several others. Judge David Hittner just recently signed off on the defendants’ stay request pending the resolution of their respective dismissal pushes. We covered one of those pushes in late April, when Snoop Dogg and Death Row

A live performance from Pusha T as part of Clipse. Photo Credit: Ben Sisto Let the Drake v. Universal Music fallout continue: According to Pusha T, execs at the major’s Def Jam subsidiary urged him to censor a Kendrick Lamar guest verse on Clipse’s forthcoming album. The decidedly interesting tidbit emerged in a new GQ interview with both Pusha T and his brother Malice, who are set to release Let God Sort Em Out as Clipse next month. The duo’s first album since 2009, this Pharrell Williams-pr

Photo Credit: Revolt Black News 50 Cent makes good on his promise after he vowed to let Trump know what Diddy has said about him, heading off a potential pardon for the mogul. 50 Cent promised to let Trump know what “really bad” things Sean “Diddy” Combs has said about him, after the president stated he would “look at the facts” pertaining to a potential pardon for the disgraced star. Now, the rapper has made good on that promise, posting a pair of clips on Monday featuring Combs condemning th

Photo Credit: The Cars by E.J. Camp Primary Wave Music announces a royalty deal with The Cars. This deal comes less than a year after partnering with the Estate of Ric Ocasek on his publishing catalog. Independent publisher Primary Wave Music has announced their partnership with The Cars. Terms of the deal will see the publisher acquire the band’s artist royalties. It comes less than a year after Primary Wave partnered with the Estate of Ric Ocasek on his music publishing catalog—including all

Photo Credit: Fever Fever secures over $100 million in funding to further its position as a leader in live experiences, namely music and sports. Fever is on the rise with funding to further its continued growth as a leading platform for live experiences like music and sports. Fever has secured over $100 million in funding from L Catterton and Point72 Private Investors through the completion of an equity funding process, including existing investors. The technology platform—now operating in ov

Guitarist, producer, and songwriter Jake Fine talks about his ‘cohesive vision’ for Lo-fi projects ‘azayaka‘ and ‘Tone Bo,’ retaining the essence of emotion in his music, how ‘the creative process kicks in,’ and using Downtown Music’s bespoke service to tackle unique music challenges. The following recaps an interview with Jake Fine as part of Downtown Music’s series, The Music Industry Lives Here. Downtown Music is a company DMN is proud to be partnering with. Jake Fine grew up in a ‘musical

Warner Music Group has brought its catalog to karaoke platform Singa. Photo Credit: WMG Warner Music Group (WMG) is getting in on the karaoke action under a new deal with Singa, which has already added “a vast collection of original master recordings” from the major label. WMG and the self-described “first truly digital streaming service for karaoke” unveiled their pact today. Extending to Warner Music proper as well as Warner Chappell, the agreement is Helsinki-headquartered Singa’s first wi

Photo Credit: Yout.com Yout is a stream ripping website at the center of a high-profile criminal prosecution in Brazil—marking a significant escalation in the fight against online copyright infringement. This prosecution comes in the wake of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) legal campaign against all stream-ripping services. Yout is operated by American Johnathan Nader and allows users to download audio and video from streaming platforms like YouTube. The services bypass

Photo Credit: TC Restaurant Group (Post Malone) Post Malone has partnered with TC Restaurant Group to open a Nashville entertainment venue under his name. The new venue will be designed around honky tonk grit and country soul with 26,000 square feet featuring six bars, three stages, and a full-service dining room and rooftop. The venue will be located at 305 Broadway, right down the road from Morgan Wallen’s This Tennessee Bar & Kitchen (also a TC Restaurant Group property). Right now the

Photo Credit: Cottonbro Studios When it comes to Shamrock Capital’s Taylor Swift recorded catalog acquisition, let’s be honest: it didn’t even seem like a good idea at the time. But is there more frothy fallout ahead when it comes to music IP? Dialing back to late 2020, the collective head-scratching elevated when Shamrock Capital swooped in to buy Taylor Swift’s first six album masters for $300 million. The seller was none other than Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, who dropped the sullied as

VNYL’s Nick Alt and Emily Muhoberac, who have signed on as CEO and COO of Vinyl Me, Please, respectively. Photo Credit: Virginia Harold Less than one month after entering liquidation, Vinyl Me, Please (VMP) has officially found a new owner and relaunched with a “remastered mission.” The Denver-based vinyl-subscription club formally revealed the change of hands today. Now, Vinyl Me, Please is poised to keep on operating – albeit as a subsidiary of VNYL Inc., which operates a namesake vinyl subs

Photo Credit: Fyre Hotels Convicted frauster Billy McFarland’s Fyre Festival do-over failed after local officials revealed the ‘festival’ did not have the required permits. Now McFarland is trying again with a newly dubbed ‘Fyre Coral View Pop-Up’ on Utila—a small island in Honduras. This new event is slated for September 3 – 10, 2025 and appears to follow the same setup as Fyre Festival 2. This attempt is being marketing as an ‘adventure-infused’ island getaway. That was supposedly the same a

Photo Credit: Extra TV Sean “Diddy” Combs paid a hotel security officer $100K to hand over surveillance footage showing the hip-hop mogul attacking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, the officer testified at Combs’ federal trial. Eddy Garcia, who worked as a security officer at an Intercontinental hotel, told jurors that Diddy bribed him to hand over surveillance footage showing the star brutally attacking then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Garcia testified on Tuesday in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ongo