Business Frame Weekly – Riot Games announce layoffs / Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into partnership with Pakistan-based Giraffe

Riot Games has become one of the latest tech firms to announce a raft of layoffs at its company.

Anthem Entertainment Acquires Copyrights from Creative Nation & Luke Laird Catalogs

Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into partnership with Pakistan-based Giraffe

In this newsletter:

• Video games developer Riot Games has become one of the latest tech firms to announce a raft of layoffs at its company.
• Anthem Entertainment Acquires Copyrights from Creative Nation & Luke Laird Catalogs
• Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into partnership with Pakistan-based Giraffe, described as “one of South Asia’s leading music and audio production companies”./a>
• BMG has moved to “double down” on operations in North America, where the Bertelsmann subsidiary is said to generate north of 50 percent of its annual revenue.
• Primary Wave Music has struck its latest deal, this time with the Estate of Stone Temple Pilots Singer Scott Weiland.
• SoundExchange Discloses $1 Billion in 2023 Royalty Distributions — Up 4.3% Year Over Year

January 30, 2024

Video games developer Riot Games has become one of the latest tech firms to announce a raft of layoffs at its company.

Riot Games, which is owned by Tencent, told employees last week that it is “eliminating about 530 roles globally” which represents around 11% of the company’s workforce.The company said in a blog post that its strategy going forward will see it “more tightly integrate esports, music, and entertainment with our games”. Riot Games added: “As we’ve grown, some of our efforts have become more isolated, and we aspire to more seamlessly blend gameplay, competitive excellence, and narrative depth in ways that truly make it better to be a player”. The company’s blog post continued: “Whether it’s the next hit from K/DA, the story unfolding in Arcane, the intensity of a TFT Open, the one-of-a-kind chills of a Worlds game 5, or the electric atmosphere of VAL Champs, our focus is on quality, impact, and unified experiences for players around the world.”

Anthem Entertainment Acquires Copyrights from Creative Nation & Luke Laird Catalogs

Nashville-based music publisher Anthem Entertainment has announced the acquisition of a selection of music copyrights from the songwriting duo Beth and Luke Laird’s entertainment company Creative Nation. The catalog includes 20 #1 songs and over 60 radio singles including Sam Hunt’s “Hard To Forget” and Harry Styles’ hit, “Watermelon Sugar.” The cross-genre catalog features #1 hit “Adore You” by Harry Styles and other releases by Lady Gaga, Sam Smith, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Little Big Town, The Highwomen, Sara Bareilles, Jon Pardi, Sam Hunt, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, and more.

Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into partnership with Pakistan-based Giraffe, described as “one of South Asia’s leading music and audio production companies”.

Warner Music Group (WMG) has entered into partnership with Pakistan-based Giraffe, described as “one of South Asia’s leading music and audio production companies”. According to WMG, the deal will help it to establish a new A&R source in Pakistan, “through the experts behind some of South Asia’s most compelling music platforms and global hits, such as Pasoori by Shae Gill and Ali Sethi”. Simon Robson, President, International, Recorded Music, Warner Music Group, said in a statement on Wednesday (January 24), that the deal is “a landmark moment for Warner Music as we work with Giraffe to establish a presence in Pakistan”.

BMG has moved to “double down” on operations in North America, where the Bertelsmann subsidiary is said to generate north of 50 percent of its annual revenue.

BMG has moved to “double down” on operations in North America, where the Bertelsmann subsidiary is said to generate north of 50 percent of its annual revenue. Berlin-based BMG today announced the pivot, centering mainly on a collection of C-suite shifts, via a formal release that was emailed to DMN. Previously, November had seen the music company, which has long touted its status as the largest such operation aside from the Big Three, preview a “futureproof” restructuring initiative.

Primary Wave Music has struck its latest deal, this time with the Estate of Stone Temple Pilots Singer Scott Weiland.

Primary Wave Music has struck its latest deal, this time with the Estate of Stone Temple Pilots Singer Scott Weiland. According to an announcement on Wednesday (January 24), terms of the deal will see the publisher partner with the iconic singer and songwriter’s estate on his catalog, which includes publishing copyrights and recording royalties for all repertoire recorded for Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver. The agreement also encompasses all songs and recordings Weiland released as a solo artist which include his debut album, 12 Bar Blues, as well as “Happy” In Galoshes, Blaster, and the Christmas release, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

SoundExchange Discloses $1 Billion in 2023 Royalty Distributions — Up 4.3% Year Over Year

SoundExchange has announced that its 2023 royalty distributions topped $1 billion, up about 4.3 percent from 2022’s total. The more than two-decade-old entity, which collects and distributes royalties for the use of recordings on non-interactive digital services, just recently announced its Q4 2023 distribution total. According to SoundExchange, it paid out $250 million during 2023’s final three months, against $257 million for Q3, $269 million for Q2 (when the non-profit’s cumulative distributions surpassed $10 billion), and $229 million for the year’s opening quarter.

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