Music streaming service

Warner Music Group said Wednesday that it has begun planning for the succession of chief executive Stephen Cooper and expects to announce a new CEO by the end of 2023. Cooper, 75, who has held the post since 2011, will continue to serve as CEO and director until his replacement is appointed. WMG ’ board will look inside and outside the company. Internally. Max Lousada, WMG’s CEO of recorded music, is considered the most likely candidate. The exec led WMG through its IPO in June of 2020. He has driven the transformation of the company in the streaming age and overseen global expansion, digital diversification, and M&A including acquisitions of Parlophone Label Group, Gold Typhoon, Spinnin’, Africori and 300 Entertainment. He established film and TV division, Warner Music Entertainment and helped grow a network of direct-to-consumer services including EMP, HipHopDX, IMGN, Songkick and UPROXX. Cooper is a turnaround expert who has held positions in a number of … [Read more...] about Warner Music Group CEO Stephen Cooper To Step Down Next Year

Turns out Avril Lavigne is an Adele stan, too. On Thursday, the pop-punk legend released a Spotify Singles cover of Adele’s soulful ballad “Hello,” giving it a slight alt-rock twist thanks to her signature angsty vocals. “I love Adele’s song ‘Hello’ and have been dying to do a cover of it,” Lavigne said in a statement. “The ‘Spotify Singles’ sessions were a fun opportunity to finally do this cover as well as reimagine my own song ‘Love Sux’ as an acoustic version.” The acoustic rendition finds Lavigne performing her album’s title track accompanied by just a guitar and gentle drum beats, as opposed to the electric guitar-backed punky version that appears on the LP. Earlier this month, Lavigne dropped an anniversary edition for her iconic debut album, Let Go , which included tracks that had not been made available on streaming services. Late last year, Adele shared her love for Lavigne’s Let Go during an Instagram Live. “Do you know what? I do like Avril Lavigne. Her … [Read more...] about Avril Lavigne Gives Adele Ballad ‘Hello’ an Alternative Twist on Spotify Single

Updated with BBC response: The BBC must reform its operating license to focus on online services or “become out of step with audience behavior and technology developments,” according to British media regulator Ofcom . Failure to act “could stand in the way of the BBC’s transformation,” it added in a series of proposals set out today centered around modernizing the broadcaster’s operating license. Ofcom’s report acknowledges the BBC remains “at the heart of the UK’s broadcasting sector” and has been transforming and modernizing its approach in the face of disruption brought about by global streaming services. Broadly, this could be achieved by better incorporating online services such as streamer BBC iPlayer, audio service BBC Sounds and the BBC website; allowing the BBC more flexibility to respond to new audience needs (while ring-fencing quotas around areas such as news and current affairs programming); and “greater transparency” from the BBC. Key to these … [Read more...] about British Regulator Ofcom Warns BBC Will Become “Out Of Step” With Audience And Tech Developments Without Reform

Media and telecom M&A activity was lively in the first half of 2022 with deals for the 12 months ending May 15 totaling 1,014, up 28% year-on-year, with a record total value $469 billion. The tally was inflated by Elon Musk ’s high-profile $44 billion bid for Twitter and Microsoft ’s planned $68 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard . Neither deal has closed yet. Music, sports and digital advertising deals are likely to continue brisk, according to PwC ’s latest bi-annual MA& survey, which is released each June and December. But deal activity has recently slowed among major media companies following a peak driven by content and technology acquisitions to fuel expansion of streaming services. The first half saw Amazon’s purchase of MGM and the Warner Media-Discovery merger close within weeks of each other this spring, among a spate of deals focused on acquiring IP that can be monetized across platforms and geographies. “I think expecting another … [Read more...] about Twitter, Activision Blizzard Boost First-Half Media M&A, But Big Entertainment Deals Face Slowdown, PwC Says In Outlook

In any other cultural moment, the satire embedded in Amazon Prime’s endlessly entertaining, blood-spattered superhero show The Boys might seem heavy-handed. But in 2022, its near-nihilist depiction of a deluded public rooting for an all-powerful class of elites who couldn’t care less about them almost feels like a documentary, albeit with superpowers, eviscerations, and really weird sex stuff thrown in. In the show (based on, and vastly improving, an indie comic series co-created by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson) , the sinister Vought International dominates both pop culture and the wider world with actual, real-life superheroes (almost none of whom are actually heroic), created with a power-generating serum known as V. The titular Boys are a group of powerless supe-haters, led by William Butcher (Karl Urban), fighting against grim odds to take the “heroes” down. In Season Three, with new episodes currently streaming on Fridays, the most terrifying of the supes … [Read more...] about Yes, Homelander on ‘The Boys’ Is Supposed to Be Donald Trump