CMU’s Andy Malt and Chris Cooke discuss five companies likely to find themselves involved in big music industry controversies in 2022. They span the economics of streaming debate, the major label system, the live industry, digital licensing and more. Some of these companies will be more used to finding themselves the focus of people’s anger than others, and some more willing to fight back than others.

SECTION TIMES
01: Spotify (00:04:29)
02: Universal (00:19:48)
03: Viagogo (00:28:13)
04: Twitter (00:35:13)
05: Live Nation (00:43:56)
(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

FURTHER READING
• Streaming services push for pre-2018 song royalty rate in US Copyright Royalty Board proceedings (October 2021)
• Songwriter groups make final submission to review of US royalty rates on discs and downloads (November 2021)
• Artist Rights Alliance calls Spotify’s Discovery Mode “exploitative and unfair” (May 2021)
• Believe, TuneCore and DistroKid formally endorse Spotify’s controversial Discovery Mode (July 2021)
• Universal Music shares surge 38% on day one of trading (September 2021)
• MPs again call for performer ER on streams as Universal boss’s £150 million pay packet is compared to songwriter earnings (November 2021)
• Ed Sheeran secures injunction against Viagogo over touted tickets in Germany (December 2021)
• NMPA chief says Twitch’s music licensing blog post contains some “astounding admissions” (December 2020)
• DistroKid announces partnership with Twitch (February 2021)
• Warner Music and Twitch announce new deal (September 2021)
• Congress members hit out at Twitter over rights management systems and lack of music licences (August 2021)
• Congressional committee demands documents and information from Live Nation in relation to Astroworld tragedy (December 2021)

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