Composium Digest: Re-financing
№26 | Jeremy Lee | July 20, 2021
Composium Digest is a newsletter-only addition delivered once a week. Get overviews of interesting stories happening in the music industry, stay informed of various opportunities music startups and companies offer, and catch up on some of the Composium articles you might have missed.
Photo by Michael Longmire on Unsplash
In case you missed it…
Note from Anouk Dyussembayeva, Composium CEO
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The UK Government demands a fair fight
A committee of MPs (Members of Parliament) has called for a “complete reset” of the market, as musicians are receiving diminishing returns from streaming. Royalties are being split at an increasingly unfair rate, with labels receiving drastically higher payouts than the artists themselves. This degree of inequality has become damaging enough for the government to step in and call for change.
SPACs stake an even bigger claim
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies have been spending greater amounts of money investing in music industry firms recently, and the latest SPAC has launched in Europe with one of the largest sums of money at its disposal for investment. The company I2PO has raised around $325 million to participate in financing across the music industry, streaming and distribution services, and other miscellaneous entertainment platforms.
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BoothLenders re-finances the industry
DJ Parker has created new ways for artists to receive financing through his new company, BoothLenders. Traditional financing methods tend to overlook the creator economy, so this new service will provide artists with business loans, credit cards, venture capital and more. As the industry grows, it is important for artists to be able to grow with it, and it looks like BoothLenders is leading the way.
Catalogzzz
River House Artists, in partnership with Sony Music, signs bluegrass artist Billy Strings to a global publishing deal, which covers his current song catalog and any future releases
MusicBird AG acquires catalog of award-winning songwriter and producer J.R. Rotem, which includes hits by Rihanna, Sean Kingston, Leona Lewis, and more.
Lyric Capital Group acquires catalog of Premier Music, including masters, publishing, and video portfolio rights for $130 million.
Pick a partner
DEADMAU5 x CORE
Global EDM sensation Deadmau5 has partnered with video game platform Core to find a “unique location” for his next music video. Core allows its players to make their own mini-games and worlds within the system, and this function has been leveraged by Deadmau5 by setting up a contest to allow fans to create virtual worlds for the video.
ATLANTIC RECORDS x VNCLM_
This partnership between Atlantic Records and Vnclm_ (vin-cu-lum) music label will allow Vnclm_’s releases to use Atlantic’s structure and resources, improving distribution, promotion, publicity, and more. Meanwhile, Atlantic Records will expand its reach and gain further control in the independent label scene.
VAMPR x YUSER
Social-professional music collaboration app Vampr has partnered with NFT platform Yuser, allowing seamless integration across platforms. Vampr users can monetize their work through Yuser, as NFTs make it increasingly easy for artists to earn a profit through their independent endeavors.
The seed is sprouting (who raised a round)
San Francisco-based startup Flymachine raised $21 million to finetune a virtual concert platform designed for post-pandemic life. The immense level of experimentation with virtual entertainment throughout the lockdown across a multitude of platforms has inspired Flymachine to hone in on new potential consumer habits around video socialization. The challenge will once again be whether they can appropriately capture the magic of live performance in a virtual setting.
Stats
Spotify currently pays artists between 0.002 and 0.0038 euros per stream, Apple Music pays about 0.0059 euros per stream, and YouTube pays the lowest at 0.00052 euros per stream
Round Hill Music Royalty Fund raises another $86.5 million for future acquisitions
Catalog music’s share of total album consumption rose to around 66.4% in the first 6 months of 2021
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Who signed with who signed with who
EDM and progressive house supergroup Swedish House Mafia signs with Republic Records, after a brief stint at Columbia Records
UK-based rapper Stormzy signs with Creative Artists Agency
NFTs, NFTs, NFTs
Blues rock star Joe Bonamassa plans to sell publishing rights and the original master of his newest song “Broken Record” as an NFT, which is a move that has not yet been seen by the industry. Its effects are still unknown, but this will without a doubt shake up the current NFT market.
Production and media company Seaview plans to work with NFT platform Nifty to release a set of Broadway-based NFTs, including historic Playbill covers, archived photos, setlists, and more.
Asia’s largest dance music festival Sunburn plans to release music and art NFTs for its fanbase on July 23
Catch up on Composium’s original articles!
Aren't given the opportunity to conduct? Create your own orchestra
Unlike many musicians, Leo Geyer started his music career because his name was pulled out of a hat — during his childhood, too many people wanted to take flute lessons, and he was one of the lucky students whose name was called out. Although he soon realized that it wasn't his cup of tea and migrated to learn the bassoon instead, that introduction to flute also allowed him to explore composing, which soon became his main passion.
For his undergraduate studies, Leo decided to do the Joint Course at Manchester University and the Royal Northern College of Music. "It was very unusual because you do two simultaneous degrees: the idea is that you get the best of both worlds," he says…
Worried about transitioning into music? You're not too late.
Countless people discover their passion after spending a great deal of time investing into something else. This can happen to anyone, yet it can still be hard to shake the accompanying insecurity. Whether this thought occurs because of "wasted" monetary investment — like spending full college tuition to obtain a degree in something that no longer is of interest — surrounding competition, or simply lost time, the concept of "being too late" can be quite daunting and feel more paralyzing than many of us would like to admit.
However, Dr. David Carter, Assistant Professor of Music (Theory/Composition) at Loyola Marymount University, is one individual who can demonstrate that being too late should not be of concern…