Music Business Worldwide (MBW) is a global music industry news and analysis website launched in 2015 by former ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' editor Tim Ingham. As of December 2020, it ranked 22,845 in the list of most visited global websites according to Alexa Internet.

History

''Music Business Worldwide'' was founded by former ''

'' editor Tim Ingham. He registered the company in 2014 and launched the website in 2015. In August 2015, Music Business Worldwide signed a content partnership deal with ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

''. In May 2017, ex-''

'' publisher Dave Roberts joined ''Music Business Worldwide'' as associate publisher. In October 2017, Ingham was presented with a Gold Badge award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (now

The Ivors Academy The Ivors Academy (formerly the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors – BASCA) is one of the largest professional associations for music writers in Europe. The academy exists to support, protect, and campaign for the interests ...

) for having "supported or inspired the UK songwriting and composing community". In 2018, ''Music Business Worldwide'' signed a global content partnership with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''. In February 2020,

Penske Media Corporation Penske Media Corporation (PMC) () is an American digital media, publishing, and information services company based in Los Angeles and New York City. It publishes more than 20 digital and print brands, including ''Variety'', ''Rolling Stone'', ...

, the owner of ''

'' made a strategic investment into ''Music Business Worldwide''. As of December 2020, Music Business Worldwide was "more than 25% but not more than 50%" owned by each of P-Mrc Holdings, Llc and Tim Ingham.

Spotify coverage

In August 2016, Music Business Worldwide cited sources who said that

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

was commissioning and promoting pseudonymous artists – which MBW dubbed "fake artists" – on its platform. In July 2017, the ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' made similar accusations, citing MBW’s story. When '' Billboard'' covered the story, a Spotify representative denied such a practice. Music Business Worldwide fired back by publishing a list of so-called “fake artists” on Spotify, who had no website or social media presence. In February 2018, the publication uncovered a scam run on Spotify from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Music Business Worldwide estimated that the enterprise saw Spotify pay out over $1 million in royalties to the scammers.

Streaming calculations

Music Business Worldwide has published reports featuring calculations, based on public filings, of the amount of money generated from streaming by the three major record companies. In February 2019, MBW calculated that

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

jointly generated approximately $19 million a day from streaming during 2018. In February 2020, Music Business Worldwide calculated that the three companies were now collectively generating over $1 million per hour in royalties from streaming platforms.

References

External links

Music Business Worldwide website
{{Penske Media Corporation Online music magazines published in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Professional and trade magazines Magazines established in 2015