News and Trends

Exceleration will manage and collect income from Sakamoto's rights outside Asia, while NexTone will handle the catalog within Japan. Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/exceleration-music-acquires-catalog-of-japans-ryuichi-sakamoto-in-joint-venture-with-tokyo-based-nextone/

Hemminga joins Merlin from Downtown Music, where he most recently served as VP Product & Services Strategy. Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/merlin-appoints-former-downtown-exec-harmen-hemminga-as-vp-business-development/

Almost 4,500 of those performers and recording rightsholders are receiving a payment from PPL for the first time. Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/uk-collection-org-ppl-paid-out-108m-to-performers-and-recording-rightsholders-in-q2-2026/

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) lets AI agents connect to outside data sources and act on them Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/viberate-opens-music-data-to-chatgpt-claude-and-other-ai-bots-via-official-mcp-server-launch-amid-ai-first-pivot-for-analytics-company/

The centerpiece is the "iHeartRadio and TikTok LIVE Premiere with Madonna," streaming on July 2 from the album's release party in London. Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/tiktok-turns-madonnas-confessions-ii-launch-into-a-global-live-event-two-physical-pop-ups-and-an-in-app-fan-hub/

The following MBW op/ed comes from  Rasha Khalifa Al Mubarak, founder and chairwoman of UAE-based MusicNation Source source https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/responsible-ai-must-protect-the-human-creativity-that-gives-culture-meaning/