Music Publishing News Roundup 1.12.14: Sony/ATV, Deezer, New Stats & More
Sony has planned a possible sale of its music publishing division according to recently hacked Sony emails. The emails from Sony CFO, Kenichro Yoshida commented on the instability of the busines with the the market shifting from digital sales to streaming. Sony/ATV, a joint venture between Sony Corp. and the Michael Jackson estate also has partial stake in EMI’s publishing catalog which has revenues of $115 million for Sony. Billboard reports that a sale to Universal Music Group or Warner Music Group is unlikely due to European Union regulators and a more likely sale would be to a private equity firm or major film studio.
Deezer has acquired AT&T’s Muve Music for less than $100 million according to a recent report from TechCrunch. This is the 2nd US acquisition for the French based music streaming service, it acquired the podcasting and talk radio network Stitcher in October 2014. With this deal in place, AT&T’s Cricket LTE customers are eligible to receive 45 free days of Deezer for free with the option to switch to a $6 per month subscription.
On – Demand Streaming Subscriptions account for only 3% of overall music spending according to a recent report from Nielsen Music. Live music sales holds 35% of the share following CD sales at 12%.
