Business Frame Weekly – Medallion has raised USD $13.7 million in a Series A funding round/ January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day

Direct-to-fan platform Medallion has raised USD $13.7 million in a Series A funding round

Hipgnosis chair reveals 'failures in financial reporting and controls' including $4m contract error

January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day

In this newsletter:

• Direct-to-fan platform Medallion has raised USD $13.7 million in a Series A funding round
• BMG has agreed terms that will see its two live companies transferred back to their minority shareholders.
• Anghami reported a 17% YoY increase in the number of its subscribers, to 1.73 million
• Hipgnosis chair reveals 'failures in financial reporting and controls' including $4m contract error
• January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day
• Music services protest at French government’s ‘streaming tax’

January 02, 2024

Direct-to-fan platform Medallion has raised USD $13.7 million in a Series A funding round

Direct-to-fan platform Medallion has raised USD $13.7 million in a Series A funding round, the company announced on Thursday (December 21). The round was led by global crypto venture fund Dragonfly (also an investor in Nas and Lil Baby-backed metaverse firm Everyrealm) and Lightspeed Faction, a blockchain-focused venture capital firm. Other participants included tech investors Coinbase Ventures, Infinite Capital, J17, The Chemin Group, Third Prime and Zeal Capital. Investors from the music industry included Bill Silva Entertainment, Black Squirrel Partners (founded by members of Metallica), Guy Lawrence of electronic music duo Disclosure, Foundations Artist Management, electronic music project Jungle, indie rock band Mt. Joy, Method, Canadian DJ Tiga and artist development/management firm TAG Music.

BMG has agreed terms that will see its two live companies transferred back to their minority shareholders.

BMG has agreed terms that will see its two live companies, Undercover and Karo, transferred back to their minority shareholders. The news follows a recent announcement by BMG CEO Thomas Coesfeld that BMG will focus on its two core service areas of music publishing and recordings.BMG acquired a majority stake in Braunschweig-based Undercover, one of the most successful promoters in Germany, in October 2020. BMG and Undercover subsequently formed a strategic alliance with Karo, the company behind the successful Taubertal-Festival. The new deals will see the two companies return to their previous ownership structure. BMG Chief Content Officer Dominique Casimir said, “Michael Schacke (Undercover) and Volker Hirsch (Karo) are seasoned entrepreneurs who have built enviable reputations in the live music business. “We are pleased to have agreed terms which allow them to pursue an independent future and we wish them and their teams the best for the future.”

Anghami reported a 17% YoY increase in the number of its subscribers, to 1.73 million

Anghami, a MENA-focused music streaming service, reported a 17% YoY increase in the number of its subscribers, to 1.73 million as of the end of September 30, 2023. MENA’s answer to Spotify also saw adjusted revenue climb 8% YoY in the first nine months of 2023, to USD $30 million, with its gross profit margin widening to 22% from 12% a year prior, according to Anghami’s Q3 preliminary results, released December 26. The company attributed its strong performance to a 17% YOY jump in revenue from direct subscriptions, which offset the 21% YOY drop in revenue from telco channels. The company said the drop in revenue from telco channels “was anticipated as Anghami’s strategy is to focus on growth within direct channels that offer improved margins, better collection terms, and protection against currency fluctuations.”

Hipgnosis chair reveals 'failures in financial reporting and controls' including $4m contract error

The year may almost be over but there’s another twist in the Hipgnosis story in 2023. Following the report that the songs fund’s six-month financial results would be delayed amid uncertainty over the valuation, those figures have now been published. According to the portfolio independent valuer, Citrin Cooperman, the fair value of the portfolio decreased by 6.4% to $2.62 billion at September 30, 2023, compared to the valuation of $2.8bn six months earlier. The portfolio valuer applied an 8.5% discount rate. But the board recommended that investors use the latest results including operative NAV with a “higher degree of caution and less certainty than might otherwise be attached to it as an accurate reflection of the fair value of the company's assets”. Dividends have been suspended for at least the remainder of the financial year. In the interim six-month results up to September 30, operative NAV per share decreased by 9.2% to $1.7392, as a result of the reduction in the fair value of the portfolio.

January 1, 2024 is Public Domain Day

On January 1, 2024, thousands of copyrighted works from 1928 will enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1923. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon. This year’s highlights include Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence and The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman and Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It, and a trove of sound recordings from 1923. And, of course, 2024 marks the long-awaited arrival of Steamboat Willie – featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse – into the public domain. That story is so fascinating, so rich in irony, so rife with misinformation about what you will be able to do with Mickey and Minnie now that they are in the public domain that it deserved its own article, “Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle.” Why is it a love triangle? What rights does Disney still have? How is trademark law involved

Music services protest at French government’s ‘streaming tax’

The French government’s plans to provide funding for the country’s Centre National de la Musique (CNM) through a levy on music-streaming services is becoming quite the controversy. The DSPs are rumbling about the plans to such an extent that even fierce foes Apple and Spotify came together (together with Deezer, Meta, YouTube and TikTok) to protest about the plans, which were approved by France’s Senate in November. Spotify’s boss in France, Antoine Monin, has been at the forefront of the criticism, telling France Info that the tax is “vraiment un coup dur porté au secteur de la musique, à l’innovation et aux plateformes indépendantes européennes comme Spotify ou Deezer” (“truly a blow to the music sector, to innovation and to independent European platforms like Spotify or Deezer).

Random Ramblings

• Music Royalties 101 Intro to Music Royalties
• How Music Royalties Work: 6 Types of Music Royalties
• A Primer for Valuation of Music Catalogs
• The Pros and Cons of Selling Your Music Catalog
• Deezer’s artist-centric model should be universal