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Business News Week In Five
CMU Digest – 12 Oct 2012
By Chris Cooke | Published on Friday 12 October 2012
The five biggest stories in the music business this week…
01: It was confirmed that the AEG price tag could exceed $10 billion. Following the announcement last month that the Anschutz company was looking to sell its entertainment business, which owns stadiums and venues, sports clubs and the AEG Live tours and festivals business, Reuters reported this week that an initial prospectus circulated with possible bidders says the US conglom and its billionaire owner Philip Anschutz are looking for bids of “high single digit, low double digit” billions. Live Nation shareholder Liberty Media, various finance and private equity groups, and at least two American billionaires are said to be interested, though a condition is likely to be that the new owner keeps the AEG business in tact, which may ultimately put off some bidders, especially those most interested in Anschutz’s sporting assets. CMU report | Reuters report
02: Simon Fuller was linked to a Parlophone bid. It’s thought the former 19 Entertainment chief, now heading up XIX Entertainment, is considering bidding for those European EMI recorded music assets that Universal Music is being forced to sell by EU regulators – in particular the UK-based Parlophone business – via his joint venture with original Island Records founder Chris Blackwell. Private financiers and a mobile tel co are also thought to be involved in the planned bid. CMU report | Independent report
03: Deezer confirmed new financing, and announced some stuff. The streaming music platform has raised a further $130 million in investment, a big chunk of it coming from Warner Music owner Access Industries. The new funding will help finance further global expansion, including locally based editorial teams around the world, plus the introduction of a free version of the service to encourage new subscribers (Spotify style). In a typically bullish fashion, the rarely modest digital set up said it would “transform the future of music” with its new funds. CMU report | WSJ report
04: A US judge denied MegaUpload’s dismissal claim in the criminal case against the former file-transfer service and its management team. Lawyers working for MegaUpload argued that the company itself couldn’t be charged with copyright crimes because it didn’t have a corporate base in the US. But prosecutors argued that if that argument was allowed to stand foreign companies could operate illegally in the States without worry of prosecution. Judge Liam O’Grady agreed, saying Team Mega’s dismissal claim was “extreme”, and relied on a bit of US law that he was convinced Congress had not intended to be used in that way. Of course the US still has to extradite MegaUpload’s management team, including founder Kim ‘Dotcom’ Schmitz, before the criminal charges against the former digital business can be properly debated in an American courtroom. CMU report | Billboard report
05: OfCom said there were no plurality issues with Global’s GMG deal. It means that attempts by the UK’s biggest radio company to become even bigger by acquiring the Real and Smooth Radio networks will only be considered on pure competition grounds by regulators, and not with regards any impact on news provision in areas where the combined Global/GMG will be particularly dominate. With that matter confirmed by the Department Of Culture, Media & Sport, the Office Of Fair Trading has now formally passed the matter to the Competition Commission, who will rule on the deal by 27 Mar next year. CMU report | Radio Today report
In CMU, we had two curated playlists this week, one with a duets theme from Mr Hudson ahead of the release of the first album from his new venture BIGkids, and one to soundtrack a rollercoaster ride by The Joy Formidable. Meanwhile the CMU Insights team were on hand with some info about the kinds of creative works that enjoy copyright protection in the UK. And approved were Aquarium Drunkard’s ‘Sidecar’ podcast, The Ramona Flowers, Adam Green & Binki Shapiro, and Girls Names.
