KKR turns music catalogues from the likes of Stevie Nicks and The Weeknd into bonds February 7, 2022 Investment firm KKR is set to turn a catalogue of 65,000 songs – including hits from The Weeknd, Stevie Nicks, and Childish Gambino – into bonds as it looks to sell more than $732m (£542m) of asset-backed securities supported by publishing and sound recording royalties. Late last year, KKR – via its new Chord Music [...]
Inside the content creators’ industry, not everything is as glossy as it seems February 7, 2022 Say “influencer economy” to most people and there remains a temptation to shrug it off as a handful of Youtube stars making a few grand here and there for make-up videos. In truth, the influencer economy has become mainstream – almost 50m people around the world consider themselves “content creators”. That spans from impossibly youthful [...]
Make way for Queen Camilla as monarch gives thumbs up for Duchess of Cornwall to take title February 6, 2022 The Queen, who has become the first British sovereign to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, has called on the public to support Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall when the end of her reign eventually marks the start of her son’s. In the hugely significant intervention shaping the future of the monarchy, the Queen expressed [...]
Watch: Reporter violently removed and dragged away by Chinese officers during live broadcast at Beijing Olympics February 6, 2022 A Dutch reporter was in the middle of a live broadcast when Chinese security officials showed up, surrounded him and dragged the journalist away. During a live report on broadcaster NOS, on Friday night, the reporter, Sjoerd den Daas, was mid-air when security officials interrupted and dragged him away. Another officer held his hand in [...]
UK lags behind European rivals as hub for creative agencies February 4, 2022 The UK is trailing behind its rivals in the competition to become Europe’s best place for creative agencies, according to new data from Sortlist. Figures from the advertising industry analysts show that Belgium has the most creative agencies per capita of any country in the world, with 22.9 creative firms per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the [...]
Dune leads the way for BAFTA nominations February 3, 2022 Science fiction epic "Dune", the adaptation of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel, led nominations for the British Academy Film Awards today, securing 11 nominations, with dark Western "The Power of the Dog" following with eight.
Heart Radio trumps Radio 1 by 2m listens February 3, 2022 Heart – the UK’s biggest commercial radio brand – celebrates its highest ever listening figures, for the second consecutive quarter with 10.3m listeners now tuning in each week – over 2m more listeners than Radio 1. The UK’s biggest commercial radio brand continues to grow in reach, hours and share, and welcomes nearly a quarter of a million new listeners as the nation tuned in [...]
New streamer: SkyShowtime to launch in Europe this year after passing regulatory hurdles February 2, 2022 Comcast and ViacomCBS today announced that SkyShowtime, their new streaming joint venture, has received full regulatory approval and plans to launch in more than 20 European markets hitting 90 million homes starting later this year. SkyShowtime chief exec Monty Sarhan, said: “We are pleased that SkyShowtime has received all regulatory approvals and are excited to [...]
CNN President Jeff Zucker resigns after secret colleague relationship February 2, 2022 CNN Worldwide chief Jeff Zucker said that he will be resigning, with immediate effect. Zucker said in a memo, “As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledged the relationship [...]
The New York Times hits 10m subscriber target thanks to The Athletic and game expansion February 2, 2022 The New York Times surpassed market expectations today as digital subscriptions boomed for the 170-year-old newspaper.