On this episode of Music Business Worldwide's Talking Trends, MBW founder, Tim Ingham, is joined by Charlie D'Atri, to discuss two key recent headlines from the world of entertainment:

(1) Criticism of Spotify from non-superstar artists who say the platform isn't paying them a fair amount in royalties; (2) Taylor Swift unilaterally putting her recorded music back on TikTok despite her record company, Universal Music Group, continuing to refuse to license the service.

People and companies mentioned on this Talking Trends podcast include: Universal Music Group, Spotify, Daniel Ek, Sir Lucian Grainge, Stem, Milana Rabkin-Lewis, Virgin Music Group, Beggars Group, Bad Bunny, TikTok, HYBE, Scooter Braun, WeVerse, Meta.

Music Business Worldwide's Podcasts are supported by Voly Entertainment (previously known as Voly Music).

Music Business Worldwide's Podcasts are supported by Voly Entertainment (previously known as Voly Music).

On the latest Music Business Worldwide podcast, MBW founder Tim Ingham is joined by Milana Rabkin Lewis, the founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Stem, a distribution and services company, including financial services for independent artists.

Stem has had a big 12 months. A major highlight arrived last summer when the company announced it had secured a $250 million credit agreement with Victory Park Capital, which has transformed the size and scope of artist advances that Stem can offer.

For a firm that has grown used to seeing some of its biggest independent artists jump to major label deals, that $250 million raise is something of a game changer for Stem and Milana.

Long-term listeners to MBW's podcasts may remember that this isn't Milana’s first time speaking to us. She last appeared on this podcast four years ago, just at the tip of the pandemic, and she volunteered a number of predictions about the music businesses in the years ahead, many of which have already come true, or at least partly come true.

On this podcast, Milana and Tim discuss – with some agreement, but not always – several crucial topics in the music business right now, from TikTok versus Universal Music Group to artist-centric streaming royalties to artificial intelligence, and of course Stem, and why Milana truly believes she is building a music company fit for the future.

Music Business Worldwide's Podcasts are supported by Voly Entertainment (previously known as Voly Music).

On this episode of Music Business Worldwide's Talking Trends, MBW founder, Tim Ingham, is joined once again by Charlie D'Atri, to discuss two key recent headlines from the world of entertainment: (1) BMI's $100 million payout to songwriters following its acquisition by New Mountain Capital; (2) Universal Music Group's investment into HYBE's 'superfan' app, WeVerse.

People and companies mentioned on this Talking Trends podcast include: BMI, ASCAP, Google, Spotify, New Mountain Capital, BMG, Kobalt, Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Sir Lucian Grainge, HYBE, Scooter Braun, Shopify, David Bianchi, Goldman Sachs, Live Nation, Ticketmaster, Vivendi, SeeTickets, WeVerse, and more.

Music Business Worldwide's Podcasts are supported by Voly Entertainment (previously known as Voly Music).