9 March 2018 – weekly round-up (music matters)

A summary of the latest news from the music industry. CASA (Composer’s Association of South Africa) closes its doors On the 20th of February 2018, CASA announced to all its stakeholders that it will be closing operations. Originally established in 2014, its main objectives were to be a comprehensive association for music composers in Southern Africa; to offer information, advice and assistance to music composers; and to encourage the personal development of aspiring and emerging composers and songwriters and offer guidance in all aspects of such works. A public statement released said the following; CASA CLOSING DOWN “this is to inform you that CASA (the Composers Association of South Africa) will be closing down. CASA has held an important position in our music industry for many years, representing the interests of music composers and providing information and assistance since 2004. The CASA Executive Committee were composers who gave their time voluntarily. Being working musicians, it has always been difficult to keep CASA going but the energy and dedication prevailed for almost 14 years. Sadly, this effort could not be sustained and CASA will now be shut down. Efforts have been made in the past to recruit new Executive Committee members by asking for nominations from the broader CASA Membership and also by recruiting individuals who could serve on the CASA Executive Committee. Unfortunately those efforts did not yield any results that could take CASA forward. Unfortunate as the closing down of CASA might be, we do feel that CASA has helped many composers by contributing significantly towards empowering Music Creators with information & knowledge. We thank all of those who served on the Executive Committee over the years. You have provided a unique service to professionals as well as aspiring composers. We also thank all of our members who have supported our efforts and hope that you have gained some value over the years. The CASA Executive” Spotify files for direct listing, and completely bypasses the IPO process the music streaming service is relinquishing a traditional Initial Public Offering and giving the marketing roadshow and share price-setting process that goes with it a miss. Instead, the opening price of its ordinary shares on the NYSE will be detemined by the buy and sell orders collected on the day it lists, the company said in a registration filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. the company is rumoured to be seeking around $1 billion from the public markets with the listing. As part of the filing, Spotify (which will trade on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SPOT) declared that it had 159 million monthly active free users including 71 million premium paid subscribers at the end of 2017. and although Spotify posted a near $400 million operating loss last year and was valued at just $1billion just five years ago, the Swedish streaming company - according to reports from Reuters - apparently has a market value that currently stands at $19 billion in private trades. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co have all apparently been contracted to help the streaming company pull off a direct listing - which would allow it to float without the need for fundraising. The three majors agree to distribute the proceeds upon sale of shares in Spotify An intention was first expressed two years ago when Warner Music Group and Sony Music made the announcement to share a large portion of the equity proceeds with artists. Up until recently, there had been no word from Universal Music; and sources close to UMG suggest that it may have been corporately restricted from making a hypothetical statement until Spotify announced its intention to float on the NYSE - the f -1 filing on the 28th of Feb with the SEC expressed that intention. That filing revealed that only one major Sony Music, owned a stake of more than 5% in the streaming service launched in 2008. The independent label community, represented by Merlin, also committed to sharing proceeds from their stake with artists via their Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).