shawn layden

It makes me sad to read about Warner Bros. Discovery in this way. HBO is still known as the place that makes the best TV shows. I actually had the pleasure of meeting a Tokyo Vice producer …she talked about the guts HBO showed in letting them make the show with authenticty. No easy task when the topic is the Yakuza. I think Wall Street is going to start really picking apart Warner Bros. Discovery. Last week the ratings agency Standard & Poor downgraded its view of Warner Bros $41 billion in debt from “stable” to “negative”. That means interest rates which have been going up..will go up even more as the debt in various stages rolls over. Imagine you have an adjustable rate mortgage that resets every few years and now we are at the highest rates in a long time. Except, its $41 billion in debt which should be almost $3 billion per year in interest. This means Wall Street is going to get full access to the books and some smart person from Wall Street will think they can financially engineer their way out of the problem. A few billionaires and even larger hedge funds will sit down and figure out how to squeeze “more value” out of the company. Multiple entities will try to buy Warner Brothers in parts or even in its entirety. That is the playbook. One section of the article that I thought was very interesting..in its description of CEO Zaslav…. “His first actions after the merger didn’t suggest he was immune to the glamour of scripts and stars. He moved to Hollywood from New York and took over Jack Warner’s historic office, hauling the old mogul’s desk out of storage. Even his home – the storied Woodland estate formerly belonging to playboy Godfather producer Robert Evans which Zaslav bought for $16 million – is a part of Hollywood history.” I’ve read Robert Evans book and watched the documentary. Even watched The Offer where Evans shows up throughout the series. We can use someone in Hollywood like Evans…now more than ever. https://lnkd.in/gs56GEMi

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“This weekend music videos featuring songs by writers allied with American collecting society SESAC were blocked on YouTube in the US, because its SESAC licence was about to expire and no new deal had been agreed. But, at the very last minute, a deal was done and the videos are back.” “As music licensing bust ups go, the YouTube v SESAC dispute isn’t going to go down in history. Music videos featuring SESAC-represented artists started to be blocked on YouTube in the US over the weekend after licensing negotiations with the American collecting society stalled. But now they’ve unstalled and the videos are back. The YouTube support team announced on X yesterday evening, “if you’re in the United States we’re happy to share that YouTube has reached a deal with SESAC. Content that was previously blocked will be restored across YouTube services over the next day or two. We appreciate all your patience”. When Universal had its big bust up with TikTok earlier this year, its recordings were off the platform for three months, with songs that the major publishes and directly licenses in the digital domain being affected for two months. When it comes to YouTube, Warner Music had a nine month stand off with the Google-owned platform back in 2008 and 2009. Also in 2009, UK collecting society PRS had a licensing dispute with YouTube that ran from March to September. And German collecting society GEMA refused to licence YouTube for seven years between 2009 and 2016 in a disagreement over acceptable terms. So GEMA definitely wins the long drawn-out licensing dispute competition.” Read the article for more: #SESAC #YouTube #Streaming #CMOs #PROs #Adele #BobDylan #GreenDay #REM #BurnaBoy #Rush #Songwriters #MusicPublishing #Copyright #DerechoDeAutor #DroitdAuteur #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz #DigitalRights #MusicRights #Songs #UniversalMusic #UMG #TikTok #WarnerMusic #WMG #PRS #GEMA

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SiriusXM reported its Q1 earnings this morning, and the headlines are justifiably focused on its loss of subscribers (nearly 500k). Like all radio, its subscription business is highly vulnerable with the move to digital audio, especially in cars. But a bright spot? If you paid attention to Spotify's earnings, you wouldn't be surprised: "off-platform revenue." For SXM, this includes Pandora and podcast revenue, which saw a 7% revenue increase. During their investor call, they signaled the growth for podcasts, explicitly saying, "Podcasting revenue saw a 22% year-over-year lift in the quarter, while programmatic podcast revenue increased 12% sequentially and 97% year over year." I'd love to see SXM break out the podcast numbers even further, but if you look at what they do provide, it's easy to conclude that podcast revenue is growing much faster than other segments. For example, Pandora continues to bleed users (64k paid subs in Q1 alone), so podcast revenue seems to be the tide lifting all "off-platform" boats. When asked about their podcast initiatives, Scott Greenstein said, "One is, you know, the podcast thing and industry is really still in the second or third inning, so it's evolving." He is 100% right. SXM also signaled that it will continue to license more podcast content and is not closing the book on exclusive content. One more fun nugget: On today's call, podcasts were mentioned 30 times. Pandora was only mentioned ten times, SmartLess nine times, and Howard Stern... zero point zero. Where do you think their priorities are moving forward? Read more: https://lnkd.in/eRQTM2Kq ---- I'm the CEO and founder of DWNLOAD Media, a fund focused on acquiring majority stakes in podcast companies. With continued audience and revenue growth, podcasting continues to be the most under-valued medium, making it time to invest in audio. If you're interested in investing in the podcast space, DM me! #podcasting #audio #siriusxm #sxm #earnings #investor #investing #podcasts

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The digital streaming landscape continues to evolve, bringing unparalleled convenience and innovative content to consumers. However, recent high-profile streaming issues—such as those reported by Netflix during the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight—highlight a persistent challenge: overcoming technical hurdles that the #cable industry had years to refine. One of the most likely culprits behind Netflix's streaming difficulties is a Content Delivery Network (CDN) issue. CDNs are crucial for delivering #content efficiently to a global audience, particularly during high-demand events. Netflix, known for its technological sophistication, has invested heavily in its own proprietary CDN, Netflix Open Connect, to optimize on-demand streaming. However, it remains unclear whether this CDN is being utilized for live streaming or if a different infrastructure is in place (perhaps a third-party service). This raises important questions about the readiness and scalability of current #streaming services, including Netflix, to handle live, high-profile events. The issue of scalability, particularly during surges in demand for live content, is a hurdle streaming platforms must overcome. Traditional cable providers, with decades to optimize their infrastructure, (arguably) largely solved these challenges. Streaming services, by contrast, are navigating these complexities with far less time to mature their technologies. It’s also important to acknowledge that streaming, as a medium, is still relatively new. These "kinks" are part of the growing pains associated with a rapidly evolving industry. As more platforms venture into live and interactive offerings, having the right technology is critical. Ensuring a seamless experience during high-stakes events like this requires robust, next-generation solutions capable of handling unpredictable demand spikes. What’s particularly notable in this case is that Netflix, widely regarded as a leader in streaming technology, has encountered such challenges. If even Netflix struggles with live event streaming despite its proprietary CDN and years of innovation, other platforms that lag behind in technological sophistication are likely to face even greater challenges. The key takeaway for the industry is clear: pay attention to your technology stack. Streaming providers must ensure their business strategies are tightly aligned with technology investments to meet the ever-increasing expectations of consumers. https://lnkd.in/epE6KZxR #StreamingTech #LiveSports  #LITrendingTopics

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They other streamers are gonna have a hard time competing. If cable bundling returns, they will do it. YouTube Accounted for Nearly 10% of All TV Viewing in March, Nielsen Says It’s the largest share for a streaming platform ever recorded by The Gauge, despite a 3% drop in total. YouTube was once again the breakout star of Nielsen’s monthly The Gauge report. During the month of March, the platform accounted for 9.7% of all television viewing, an increase of 0.4 share points from February. This is the largest share of TV for a streaming platform ever reported in The Gauge. This month marked YouTube’s 13th consecutive month as having the largest share among streaming services. Overall, TV usage dropped 3% from February to March, which wasn’t a surprise. This drop aligns with seasonal trends Nielsen has previously recorded. However, cable and streaming felt this impact the least. Unsurprisingly, streaming was the category winner of March as it was the only category to see a year-over-year increase. Compared to March of 2023, streaming viewership rose 12%, and the category added 4.4 share points. Streaming was also minimally impacted during the February-to-March drop. Viewership for streaming fell just 1%, resulting in a 38.5% share of overall TV viewed for the month of March. Though YouTube was the most watched streamer, accounting for the aforementioned 9.7% of total TV viewed, Netflix was close behind, making up 8.1% of the category. The company also boasted three of the month’s most-watched streaming originals, which resulted in a combined nearly 15 million viewing minutes for March: “Love Is Blind,” “The Gentleman” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Though cable wasn’t as impacted from February to March, it did experience a year-over-year decline. The category saw a decline of 10% and a loss of 2.8 share points when compared to the same time period in 2023. Viewing on cable from February to March saw a 0.7-point bump in share points, resulting in 28.3% of all television being watched on cable networks. This was partially due to college basketball viewership, specifically viewership around the women’s NCAA tournament. The matchup between Iowa and West Virginia brought in 4.9 million viewers on ESPN and ranked as the No. 7 cable telecast for the month. The State of the Union also gave cable a viewership bump, earning 14.1 million viewers for cable and 32.3 million viewers altogether. Despite this drop, The Gauge report made note of broadcast’s resiliency. Since the report was first released in 2021, broadcast has always made up the smallest share of overall TV viewership, originally accounting for 25.4% of TV compared to cable’s 39.5% and streaming’s 26.2%.

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📈 Streamflation Alert: Subscription prices are rising again! In 2024, platforms are boosting prices for the second time in two years. Streaming services like Peacock, Max, and Spotify are increasing costs, often coinciding with major events or new content launches. 💡 Why the price hikes? Streaming platforms are adding more content and employing strategic moves to drive users towards ad-supported tiers, which generate higher revenue. For example, Peacock raised prices right before the Paris Olympics, and Max did so ahead of the new season of House of the Dragon. Bundling services are also on the rise, with companies like Disney and Verizon offering attractive package deals to reduce subscriber churn and enhance value. 📊 What's next? Analysts believe these price hikes are just the beginning, expecting more increases by the end of the year. The goal is to boost margins and gently push consumers towards ads and bundles, supporting the company's larger financial objectives. #TV #svod #streaming #bundle https://lnkd.in/e8-uYitV

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Over the past few weeks, we've been in the news. For good reasons. We've recently acquired several companies, the latest being Galleri5. This company stands out as a pioneer in AI-powered content solutions and influencer marketing technology. Before you accuse us of being hypnotised to the beats of the AI hype, I want to shed some light on our strategy. We've been expanding our family with exceptionally talented companies for a clear purpose. In recent months, we acquired Terribly Tiny Tales, a text-focused flash fiction platform, and in September 2023, we welcomed Under 25 Universe, India's largest tech-powered student community. Our joint venture with the M19 Collective aims to develop IPs across branded content, offline experiences, and both fiction and non-fiction formats for multiple platforms. Additionally, our Collective Creative Labs initiative assists brands in connecting with customers through pop culture, thereby building brand loyalty. Also, our partnership with Gruhas for to form GCCF focuses on investing in consumer-facing brands and products. When you consider these together built on top of our talent management core, a pattern emerges. We're investing heavily in technology to empower India's young, creative core and our talent ecosystem by providing them with a platform to flourish. Our goal is to drive more impactful, personalised storytelling and predict trends before they happen. Creativity and inspiration are at the heart of what our talent does, and technology will be a powerful tool to amplify their abilities. At Collective Artists Network, we're committed to identifying and supporting the best talent in the country. In this pursuit, technology will be a fundamental pillar of our company's future. Supremely proud to have Rahul Regulapati and his entire gang at galleri5 on board this journey to partner with us in our vision and here’s to building and building and building and scaling :-) The army grows . https://lnkd.in/dBGyQ6NH

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“AI company Anthropic is employing the same rhetoric as Napster and Grokster back in the early days of digital music, relying on “tired and rejected arguments” that have been used to justify rampant copyright infringement many times before. Those arguments ultimately failed back then and they should fail now. That is the message of an amicus brief submitted as part of the ongoing legal battle between a group of music publishers and the AI company. The brief is backed by an assortment of US music industry organisations together representing artists, songwriters and record labels, as well as publishers. They say that Anthropic's claims that licensing the content used to train its AI models would be impractical, and stop important technological advances, simply don't stack up. The music publishers accuse Amazon-backed Anthropic of using their lyrics to train AI chatbot Claude without getting permission and therefore infringing the copyright in those lyrics. Anthropic counters that training AI models with existing content constitutes ‘fair use’ under American copyright law, meaning no permission is required, a position the music industry strongly rejects. That’s not the only argument the music industry takes issue with.” Read the full article for more: #Anthropic #Amazon #FairUse #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Training #Legal #Tech #Technology #IP #IntelectualProperty #GenerativeAi #GeAi #Copyright #CopyrightLaw #CopyrightInfrigement #DerechoDeAutor #DroitdAuteur #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz #Creators #Songs #Composers #Songwriters

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VA Media has a smart YouTube-centric biz model. They combine premium content libraries with social AVOD distribution. HIGHLIGHTS - 20M YT subs - 26M hrs watched / month - 130M views / month They do this by buying AVOD rights to high quality Hollywood and library content. They also produce their own original content. Then they create profitable social-native O&O media brands via smart curation and audience development. Their O&O IP and licensed content can be extended to other AVOD distribution platforms, and can be monetized in a variety of ways outside YouTube Adsense. Further, they have a premium services team that can help rights holders better exploit their IP on YouTube and other socials through white-glove support. The business has a lot of growth headroom, and there's much more planned. We enjoyed working with the company's CEO Mark Ashbridge and his board. They're good people, and are asking the right quetions. If you're a rightsholder that wants to grow your audience reach and monetization through VA Media's global digital media network, they're worth a call. Or take a meeting with CEO Ash next time he's stateside (lives in AUS). -- I'm the founder of RockWater Industries. We do M&A and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My DMs are open.

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📺 **The Evolution of Kids’ Content in Streaming**   In the past two decades, the world of kids' content has undergone a dramatic shift. According to Olivia Deane from Ampere Analysis, children's access to media surged during the first "on-demand" era (2004-2014), with streaming platforms investing heavily in kids' content to meet growing demand. This era, referred to as the "OTT golden years," saw kids' content rise in priority for streamers, competing with top genres like documentaries and reality shows. 📈 **The Rise and Saturation of Kids’ Content**   The market for kids' content nearly doubled between 2020 and 2022, reaching a saturation point by 2024. With a staggering amount of kids' content available, streamers faced a slowdown in new commissions. However, kids' and family content remained vital to reducing churn, even as the number of new commissions dropped 12% in 2023 and a further 5% in 2024. 👧 **Kids’ Content Still Holds Power**   Even though the market is crowded, children's content continues to play a key role in audience retention. According to Deane, kids and family shows were the second most popular genre in late 2023 on platforms like Netflix, indicating their importance in subscription behavior, even if they don’t directly drive new subscriptions like sports content. 🎮 **Opportunities for Creators**   Despite the downturn in new commissions, public broadcasters are still investing in popular kids' content. Deane highlighted success stories like the French studio Ankama’s "Wakfu" and YouTube's "Lukas the Spider," proving that creators who explore alternative funding models and engage with popular brands can still thrive in this competitive market. #TV #streaming #svod #kids

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Meeting Thomas Vu was a one of a kind experience. Sharing here the podcast we made when we initially met to launch Creta. For those who are not familiar with him, he is the executive producer of Arcane, the netflix series inspired by League of Legends. We discuss multiple things in the podcast but he shared really interesting insights about life, heart, the mind and so much more! #Gaming #Esports #Podcast #Arcane #Leagueoflegends

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Luminate's 2024 Midyear Music Report is out! It dives deep into the first half of 2024, exploring key trends that shaped the industry. The report highlights the continuing rise of streaming, the evolving landscape of live entertainment, the growing influence of global markets and the changing nature of artist fanbases. Some highlights follow: 🎵 US On-Demand Audio Streams were up >8% over H1 2023 🌎 Latin is the fastest-growing genre in US ODA streaming compared to H1 2023 👩‍🎤 43 of 46 artists with 1B+ US On-Demand Audio streams in the first half of 2024 had major distribution listed on their most-streamed track 🎙 Indie artists made up 62% of all artists who accumulated between 1M and 10M US On-Demand Audio streams in H1 of 2024 🎸 According to Luminate’s consumer research data, live music events made up 64% of all music-related money spent amongst US music listeners 🎮 Analysis of select tracks included in Fortnite Festival announcements showed an average lift of 9% in ODA streaming 📺 Usage of YouTube Shorts grew between Q2 2023 and Q2 2024, closing the gap of TikTok's lead amongst US music listeners 🌎 Artists from Mexico, Brazil and France increased their Global Audio streaming share the most in the first half of 2024 compared to FY 2023 🎶 Premium streaming accounted for 58% of total On-Demand streaming share, meaning Ad-Supported streams made up 42% 💿 The Top 10 US physical albums of 2024 carried an average of seven different LP variants, 13 CDs and two Cassettes Access the full report here: https://lnkd.in/g4nSZ6BC Thank you to the whole Luminate team who delivered this including: Jaime Marconette, Meghan Fell Avanzino, Jimmy Harney, Nick Lanzafame, Alexia Chicles, Alexandra Chan, Paul Tuch and Tyler Moore!

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“Sony Music Entertainment is set to acquire the catalog of legendary rock band Queen in a landmark deal worth GBP £1 billion (USD $1.27 billion at current exchange rates). That’s according to Hits, which reported on Wednesday (June 19), citing sources, that Sony Music has emerged as the winning buyer for Queen’s recording and publishing rights, as well as royalties from previous deals with Disney Music Group and Universal Music Group. Disney owns the band’s recorded music catalog in North America, while UMG has a global distribution agreement with Disney. Separately, Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon – plus the Freddie Mercury estate – each own equal shares in the company Queen Productions Ltd, which owns the group’s recording catalog outside the US and Canada, Music Business Worldwide noted in a report last year. UMG, as Disney’s distributor, will reportedly retain distribution rights in North America, although Sony will receive the royalties. UMG’s worldwide distribution rights will then transfer to Sony in 2026 or 2027, making Sony Music the sole distributor and owner of all Queen content globally, Hits explained. The deal also reportedly includes name and likeness rights, opening doors for merchandise and other ventures. Meanwhile, Queen’s founding members, May and Taylor, who continue to tour with vocalist Adam Lambert, will reportedly retain control of revenue from live performances.” Read the full article for more: #Queen #SonyMusic #UMG #DisneyMusicGroup #UniversalMusicGroup #Music #MusicBusiness #Musica #MusicIndustry #Musique #Musik #MusicBiz #Creators #Artists

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