Business of Media
Songwriters and music publishers to be paid more by streaming services
Music publishers and streaming services reached an agreement to raise the rates songwriters get paid when their music is played on Spotify and other digital platforms, reports The Wall Street Journal’s Anne Steele.
The National Music Publishers Association—a trade organization representing major music publishers including Universal, Warner and Sony—and the Digital Media Association—which represents Spotify Technology SA, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Sirius XM Holdings Inc.’s Pandora—said Wednesday they have hammered out a deal days before they were set to go to trial in front of the Copyright Royalty Board. The board is a three-judge panel that sets the mechanical statutory licensing rates that digital-service providers pay publishers for on-demand audio streams of their songs.
The agreement means publishers will get as much as 15.35% of music streamers’ revenue, phased in during the five-year period from 2023 to the end of 2027. The settlement follows the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision in July to retroactively uphold a rate of 15.1% for the 2018 to 2022 period—a 44% increase from the prior rate.
TV and film producers urge next UK PM to abandon Channel 4 sale
Almost every UK television production company has urged the next prime minister to abandon the sale of Channel 4, arguing ministers should focus on the cost of living crisis rather than the “unpopular” privatisation, reports The Guardian’s Jim Waterson.
An open letter, signed by 768 independent television and film producers, warns that a sale will damage their businesses, damage levelling up efforts, and cause a distraction for the country at an uncertain economic time.
The letter, sent to Liz Truss and her leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, highlighted how Margaret Thatcher founded Channel 4 in 1982 with the aim of encouraging new independent production companies to challenge the BBC and ITV.
The production companies said Channel 4 had been a success story and asked: “What better way to honour Margaret Thatcher’s legacy than to uphold the very organisation she set up?”
Streaming’s battle of the bundles era begins
The rise of subscription streaming services was supposed to mark the end of the bundle — the pay TV bundle at least. But now that every major entertainment company has a couple of years in the streaming game under their belts, it has increasingly become a battle of the bundles, with each service seeking out its own unique value proposition or partner to make the most compelling pitch to consumers with a limited streaming budget, reports The Hollywood Reporter’s Alex Weprin.
“There have been some comparisons made that say the streaming video industry is copying the cable industry, and this is an example of that,” says media consultant Brad Adgate.
The latest salvo was launched by Walmart, run by CEO Doug McMillon, which revealed a new perk on Aug. 15 for its Walmart+ members: a complimentary subscription to Paramount+. The service (think of it as Walmart’s take on Amazon Prime) bundles free shipping and local delivery as well as gas discounts and other perks for $13 a month, or $98 a year. Now, it will throw in Paramount+ (normally $5 a month) for no extra cost. Walmart+ currently counts more than 11 million members, compared with Amazon Prime’s more than 200 million members.
News Brands
Pink News CEO on how £2m profit LGBTQ+ brand resonates with Gen Z
Pink News started as a side hustle for founder Benjamin Cohen and is now a global brand boasting £2m annual profit. Here he offers lessons for other publishers on how the LGBTQ+ brand reaches a Gen Z audience (those born between 1997 and 2012), reports Press Gazette’s Charlotte Tobitt.
Speaking to Press Gazette’s Future of Media Explained podcast, Pink News chief executive Cohen credited a mixture of factors for helping to reach today’s teens and those in their early 20s including: a fruitful partnership with Snapchat Discover, a mission and focus on issues that “resonate” with that age group, a team weighted towards Gen Z and younger millennial staff, and a “fun, nurturing” internal culture.
Cohen said the Pink News mission is “to inform, inspire change and empower people to be themselves”.
“That mission runs through everything we do when it comes to the content, the advertising partnerships we have and the platform partnerships that we maintain,” he added, “and I believe that that sort of mission really resonates with Gen Z and young millennials. They’re a generation that have really core, key, important values.”
Podcasts
Chris Dawson murder trial: Teacher’s Pet returns – with a new ending for Lynette Dawson mystery
It was the podcast that flashed around the world and brought down a killer. Now, The Teacher’s Pet is back, reports News Corp’s Claire Harvey.
After Chris Dawson was this week sensationally found guilty of murdering his wife Lynette Dawson 40 years ago, the podcast that started it all is making a comeback.
For the first time in more than two years, The Teacher’s Pet will be available to audiences across the nation.
It had been unavailable for legal reasons, denying curious listeners the chance to download the most popular podcast in Australian history.
The Teacher’s Pet has been downloaded more than 60 million times around the world.
See Also: Chris Dawson, subject of The Teacher’s Pet podcast, found guilty
Television
60 Minutes Australia slammed over ‘disgusting’ celeb interview
60 Minutes Australia is under fire from Britney Spears’ legions of fans, after teasing a tell-all interview this Sunday with the pop star’s estranged ex-husband, Kevin Federline, reports News Corp’s Nick Bond.
Federline, father of Spears’ two teenage sons, has been in the headlines recently after he posted secretly recorded videos of Spears arguing with their children.
“This isn’t even the worst of it. I hope our kids grow up to be better than this,” Federline captioned the video – but later deleted the posts when fans rushed to call out the invasion of Spears’ privacy.
“Pop princess Britney Spears is facing another family feud,” 60 Minutes trumpeted alongside a teaser for the “explosive exclusive interview” with Federline posted to social media this week.
The teaser shows clips from Britney’s iconic music videos alongside candid footage of she and Federline when they were a couple, as well as a new sit-down interview with K-Fed himself.
Seven sets Upfront 2023 date
Seven has set a date of Tuesday October 25 for its 2023 Upfront event in Sydney, reports TV Tonight.
A venue is yet to be revealed to media.
Sevens cryptic invitations includes hints of The Voice, AFL, Big Brother, Million Dollar Island, Blow-Up and more.