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Anjula Acharia remembers when the one person who had set her up for success told her she was going to fail. And Jay-Z was there, too.
In 2008, Acharia and Interscope Geffen A&M’s then chairman, Jimmy Iovine, were sharing breakfast at a New York hotel. Iovine — who had partnered with Acharia’s South Asian music/news hub, Desi Hits, to develop a Universal Music Group-backed imprint — remembered her previously telling him how much “Beware of the Boys,” Jay-Z’s 2003 remix of Panjabi MC’s bhangra single, had meant to her as the kind of cross-continental exchange that she hoped Desi Hits would foster. So when Acharia stood up to leave the breakfast, Iovine asked her to stick around for a few more minutes… at which point Jay made his surprise entrance.
Acharia, who was in her 30s at the time, geeked out, gushing about her love of “Beware of the Boys” and asking the rap superstar about how the remix had come together. Then Iovine pulled the rug out from under her. “While I was sitting with him and Jay-Z, Jimmy told me that Desi Hits was going to fail,” she recalls. “His words were, ‘I know pop culture, I know a visionary, and this is just way too early. This would be right in 10 to 15 years.’ ”
Anjula Acharia. Styling by Kristina Askerova. Hair and Makeup by Shayli Nayak. Versace dress and jewelry, Paris Texas shoes.
Harsh Jani
A Punjabi kid and die-hard music fan born to South Asian immigrants, Acharia grew up in Buckinghamshire, England, devouring music that fused styles from around the world and dreaming of creating a platform that spoke to both Eastern and Western demographics. She was a senior partner at a London-based executive search firm who co-founded Desi Hits Radio as a popular early podcast in the mid-2000s; then Iovine backed Desi Hits in 2007 as a stateside label for South Asian artists after she moved to New York. The pair helped engineer a crossover hit in 2009 with “Jai Ho,” A.R. Rahman’s Academy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire theme that was remade for U.S. listeners with The Pussycat Dolls added to it.
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“She was so talented and passionate about the music,” Iovine reflects today, “but sometimes things just don’t come together.” And by the early 2010s, Acharia admitted her mentor had been correct: The world wasn’t ready. “We didn’t have streaming platforms, social sharing or an ecosystem to support the industry,” she explains. “It was just very segmented back then and really hard for things to travel.” She wondered aloud why Iovine had invested in Desi Hits if he had doubted the idea. “And he says, ‘Because you’re an album, not a single.’ ”
On roughly the timeline Iovine predicted, the industry has changed drastically — and Acharia, who spent that intervening time outside of music, is returning to it with an entirely new album, so to speak. She and Warner Music Group exclusively tell Billboard that they have launched 5 Junction Records, a joint-venture label under WMG, as a pipeline for South Asian artists to reach North American listeners, much like a modern Desi Hits but with significantly more established talent and infrastructure. That talent includes its flagship pair of artists: Bollywood mainstay and pop triple-threat Nora Fatehi and ascendant Indian singer-rapper King. Both already have multiple hits and millions of streams overseas, giving them the ideal foundation to take the first crack at establishing North American footholds.
“It’s always been in our mind to promote this music to the world,” King says. “That has always been the fight, but now, I feel like we are at the right time and right spot. The next five years are looking bright.”
King. Styling by Nikita Jaisinghani. Hair by Javed Sheikh and Makeup by Swapnil Haldankar. Versace jacket and shirt, Brune & Bareskin shoes, Amrapali necklace.
Harsh Jani
Nora Fatehi. Styling by Meagan Concessio. Hair and Makeup by Marianna Mukuchyan. David Koma dress, tights and shoes.
Harsh Jani
Acharia believes that a cultural wave is about to crash down on the U.S. mainstream, similar to how Korean pop, Latin music and Afrobeats all made an impact on top 40 radio beginning in the late 2010s. Based on the South Asian market boom over the past decade — by the end of 2023, India had become the second-largest on-demand streaming market in the world, behind only the United States — and the English-language artists who have made overtures in the hemisphere through touring and studio team-ups, she’s not alone in that prediction.
“The best way to think about it is, what are your next billion-user markets?” WMG CEO Robert Kyncl says. He notes that the South Asian industry has been top of mind for him for over a decade: As vp of content at Netflix in the early 2000s, Kyncl saw firsthand the scope of demand for Hindi shows, and as YouTube’s chief business officer in the 2010s, he spent every year in the region, developing partnerships that he believes are paying off today. “You have to invest,” he says. “If you don’t, you’ll wake up five, 10 years from now and realize you just missed this whole new growth era.”
Kyncl has been friends with Acharia since his Netflix days (when he first discovered Desi Hits in the course of researching Hindi shows) and has followed her career closely. After leaving Desi Hits in 2014, Acharia stayed in the entertainment space by managing Priyanka Chopra Jonas, whom she originally signed as a Bollywood star trying to kick-start a music career and now helps steer as a global superstar. Acharia also joined the venture capital company Trinity Ventures before launching her own fund, A-Series Management and Investments, where she was an early investor in companies like ClassPass and Bumble.
Yet unfinished business gnawed at her. “Music is a place that makes me feel like I’m home, and fusion music makes me feel like I’m being seen,” she says. Acharia spoke to other labels last year about the idea for 5 Junction, but Kyncl personally convinced her to bring the project to WMG. She will work closely with Warner Records CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck and COO Tom Corson, as well as GM Jurgen Grebner, who steered international marketing at Interscope for over 20 years, and Alfonso Perez-Soto, who served as WMG’s emerging markets leader before recently becoming executive vp of corporate development.
Although Acharia was removed from the major-label world for years, some of its most prominent executives believe she’s the perfect steward for this ocean-spanning endeavor. Corson describes her as “a powerful force who is extremely well-connected across the world. We hit it off from the jump, and we’re thrilled to be in business with her.” Kyncl says that, if he were to describe the “ideal entrepreneur,” that person would resemble Acharia. “You have a vision, you’re strategic about it and you won’t stop until you win,” he says. “She has it. It makes absolute sense for us to partner with her, and she’ll make us better by pushing us.”
From left: Fatehi, Acharia and King.
Harsh Jani
Her ties to Kyncl aside, Acharia says that WMG made the most sense as a home for 5 Junction because the label group is “way ahead” in the scene. Since WMG created Warner Music India five years ago, the label has partnered with Diljit Dosanjh, a Bollywood superstar with 25 million Instagram followers who has headlined North American arenas; Karan Aujla, a former songwriter turned singer/rapper/YouTube behemoth; and Kushagra, a 20-year-old indie-pop newcomer whose single “Finding Her” is currently one of India’s biggest streaming hits.
When Jay Mehta became managing director of Warner Music India in April 2020, he was a team of one; now, the label has 34 employees. Part of that growth had to do with timing, as the market quickly expanded globally. Last decade, “India was dominated by Indian streaming services, which did not have a global footprint,” Mehta explains. “Spotify launched in India in 2018, and it took until 2021, 2022 for them to become the leaders [in the country]. We needed Spotify and YouTube to have massive presences in India in order to take artists global.”
Acharia also points out that subtle cultural shifts in North America helped fuel opportunities. “Think about all the foreign-language content on Netflix and other streaming platforms that people have watched — especially during COVID, where people were stuck at home,” she says. “And then, with vertical video, people are watching things with subtitles all the time … Everything affects each other. We’re more used to hearing foreign languages, so we’re more OK to listen to it in our music.”
Harsh Jani
Harsh Jani
At 5 Junction, Acharia will work closely with Mehta’s Warner Music India team, which has utilized streaming data to identify artists who can transcend international borders and songwriting camps to supply them with global hits. Fatehi, a Toronto native of Moroccan descent who moved to India and became a marquee Bollywood act, signed a deal with WMG in early 2024 to help her level up as a singer, dancer and actor. “The larger goal was always to go global, to let the whole world know my story,” she says. When she met Acharia, Fatehi told her that she wanted to become a cross-cultural entertainer along the lines of Jennifer Lopez, and Acharia told her, “Yes, let’s do it together.”
Fatehi says she has never met anyone more persuasive than Acharia. “I feel like our hungers align,” she says. “It’s hard to take a vision and sell it to someone else, because most people don’t have an attention span to listen to you for more than five minutes. But when [Anjula] opens her mouth and starts her pitch, you somehow have FOMO — you feel like you’re going to miss out if you’re not paying attention.”
In January, Fatehi released the Jason Derulo collaboration “Snake,” a thumping dance track built around East Asian melodies. It has earned 18.5 million official on-demand streams globally, according to Luminate; one month after its release, Aujla was featured on “Tell Me,” a OneRepublic collaboration that has earned 28.8 million global streams.
More than two decades after Jay-Z and Panjabi MC linked up, Acharia still believes these types of collaborations are key for breaking South Asian artists in North America. “The strategy that I had 15 years ago was cross-pollination, but we didn’t have the infrastructure to support that,” she says. Now creative borders are easier to cross. For instance, Fatehi and Derulo met up in Morocco to film a music video for “Snake” that combined hip-hop and Bollywood choreography. And after King recruited Nick Jonas for a new version of the former’s smash “Maan Meri Jaan” in 2023, King made a surprise appearance during the Jonas Brothers’ performance at Lollapalooza India in 2024 to perform it, a “cinematic” moment that he says he still can’t believe actually happened.
Harsh Jani
At the same time that Western artists are paying more attention to India as a touring market — Coldplay performed in the country for the first time in January, grossing $30.5 million across five shows in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, according to Billboard Boxscore — South Asian artists are more clearly identifying North American territories where thousands of fans will show up to their shows. Acharia name-checks New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, but also says that Canadian cities have demonstrated “huge” ticket demand. After Dosanjh scored his first top 10 album in Canada with 2023’s Ghost, his Dil-Luminati tour last year became the highest-grossing North American tour by a Punjabi music artist in history, thanks in part to sold-out stadium shows at Vancouver’s BC Place and Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Perez-Soto sees Toronto, where the metro area had a South Asian population of more than 1.1 million as of 2021, as a crucial gateway for the rest of North America. “South Asian music through Toronto, like Latin music was through Miami, has established an important bridge between the local origin of the music and the second generation,” he says. “They have this hybrid vision of culture, where things are getting mixed up and mutually enriched.”
Kyncl has kept WMG focused on these macro-trends for years. “It’s not like we’re just starting,” he says. “It’s just that Anjula is adding an additional element, which is bringing talent here.” Under her guidance, Fatehi is spending most of April in the recording studio and will issue the follow-up to “Snake” by the end of the month, with a mix of releases aimed at Eastern and Western markets throughout the year. Meanwhile, King says he is “working on an EP and some collaborations” to follow his January single “Stay,” in addition to multiple Bollywood projects.
Mehta believes that an Indian artist will make an impact on the U.S. mainstream charts in 2025. “We saw it with Hanumankind, on the back of a viral moment,” he says, referencing the Indian rapper’s 2024 track “Big Dawgs,” which exploded on TikTok and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. “But we want to make a consistent way of bringing a lot of these artists onto the charts. The U.S. is extremely competitive, but if we get the right sound representing the culture and the right artist, with Anjula’s strengths, we should be able to make something big happen.”
Acharia knows this will take time, but for her, the personal stakes are worth the investment. She was once told that Desi Hits wouldn’t last; now, 5 Junction could define her legacy. “It’s something that I started, and I want to finish it,” she says. And for his part, Iovine is proud that the world has finally caught up to her vision.
“I’m not surprised at all at any of her success,” Iovine says, “and I’m glad she’s doing this now.”
This story appears in the April 19, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Billboard
Warner Music Group announced on Monday (April 14) that Armin Zerza will join the company as executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 5, reporting to CEO Robert Kyncl. Zerza, who previously served as CFO of Activision Blizzard, brings extensive global financial, commercial and operational leadership experience.
Bryan Castellani, the current executive vp and CFO, will serve until May 5 and then act as an advisor to ensure a smooth transition.
Armin Zerza
Zerza has three decades of experience across the entertainment, technology and consumer goods sectors. At Activision Blizzard, the game publisher behind Call of Duty and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, he held roles as CFO and chief commercial officer, playing a pivotal role in the company’s acquisition by Microsoft. Before joining Activision Blizzard in August 2015, Zerza spent over 20 years at Procter & Gamble, serving in various senior leadership roles across North America, Europe and Latin America. He managed multibillion-dollar businesses such as P&G’s European Baby Care and Latin America divisions and was part of the global M&A team.
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CEO Robert Kyncl praised Zerza’s 30 years of global experience and his track record of delivering results through innovation and financial discipline, adding, “He’ll help us evolve our long-term strategy and build WMG for the lasting benefit of our artists, songwriters, investors, employees, and partners.”
“I am thrilled to join WMG, a dynamic and innovative leader in the music industry,” said Zerza. “I believe the business has tremendous potential and look forward to working closely with Robert and the talented team at WMG to help deliver its ambitious vision for innovation, growth, and long-term value creation.”
Castellani joined WMG in August 2023 after nearly 30 years at The Walt Disney Company, rising to CFO for Disney Entertainment & ESPN. Prior to that, he held such roles as evp of finance for Disney Media, where he oversaw its distribution, ad sales and networks businesses, and previously he was evp and CFO of ESPN proper. Castellani succeeded longtime CFO Eric Levin.
“It’s been a rewarding experience to contribute to the ongoing evolution of this great company,” he said. “There’s so much we achieved at a pivotal time for the industry. I thank Robert, the Board of Directors, and everyone at WMG, especially the global finance team.”
Warner Music Group (WMG) and best-selling Warner Records artist Josh Groban were honored on Wednesday (April 2) at the Harmony Program’s annual gala held at The Altman Building in the Flatiron neighborhood of New York City.
The event raised nearly $800,000 to advance the Harmony Program’s mission to bring music education into underserved communities across New York City. Hosted by CBS Mornings Plus’ Adriana Diaz, the event included live performances by Groban and students from the Harmony Program.
Kevin Gore, WMG’s president of global catalog (and a Harmony Program board member) accepted the honor on behalf of WMG, saying, “The Harmony Program’s work isn’t just about expanding access to music education, it’s about harnessing the power of music to encourage collaboration and cultivate community. It’s more important than ever for all of us to ensure that artistic expression continues to flourish freely and that organizations like the Harmony Program continue to thrive, so that they can foster the next generation of leaders, dreamers, and music makers. It’s an honor to be recognized by such an essential and impactful organization in our community.”
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On stage, Groban said, “The work of the Harmony Program is vitally important because it’s changing the mindset of these young people. Arts education, in an ever-divided and cynical world, is what tells us about the beauty of our similarities, but more importantly, about the beauty of our differences. This honor is so special and it means the world to me.”
Groban, 44, is a dedicated arts education philanthropist and advocate. In 2011, he established the Find Your Light Foundation, which helps enrich the lives of young people through arts, education and cultural awareness. He is also a celebrated performer, with five Grammy nominations, two Tony nods and two Primetime Emmy nods.
“Warner Music Group has been an invaluable partner to the Harmony Program and its students for over a decade,” said Anne Fitzgibbon, Harmony Program founder/executive director. “Beyond financial support, they have provided our students with career mentorship, industry internships, and unforgettable, collaborative performances with world-class artists like Joyce DiDonato, Chris Thile, and Josh Groban. They exemplify the power of corporate philanthropy to inspire young people, and by extension, their broader communities.”
The Harmony Program is a non-profit organization that provides children from underserved communities with free instruments, intensive music instruction, orchestral training and access to a variety of cultural experiences. The Harmony Program’s unique model also addresses a shortage of well-trained music teachers by preparing accomplished musicians to teach at public schools and community centers throughout New York City.
Warner Music Group (WMG) and Boston-based private equity firm Bain Capital are in advanced talks to form a joint venture worth around $1 billion to acquire music catalogs, according to three sources with knowledge of the talks.
Led by an equity investment from Bain, the joint venture will enable WMG to write bigger checks while spending less of its own money to acquire the catalogs it wants most.
A representative for WMG declined to comment, and a representative for Bain did not respond to a request for comment.
High interest rates and intense competition to own the rights to music from bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers is leading major music companies to partner with outside investors to bolster their bids and assuage shareholders who may be put off by the price of a prized catalog.
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Some of the biggest catalog sales of all time occurred last year, with Sony Music acquiring Queen’s catalog and other rights for $1.27 billion. Earlier in 2024, Sony also acquired a stake in Michael Jackson‘s catalog for $600 million.
In many cases, music companies are looking to buy out an artist with whom they’ve worked for years and whose catalog they already partially own — like Sony Music did in 2022 when it bought Bob Dylan‘s master recordings. Owning more of the music’s intellectual property not only allows for more control over how the songs are used and licensed in the future, it prevents potentially embarrassing break-ups between record labels and their superstars.
The bidding wars have grown particularly pitched for master recording rights, which are more valuable today because streaming has extended the period that a song remains popular by several years, according to entertainment banking sources. Before streaming provided listeners with easy access to the entire universe of popular music and kept songs in regular rotation through playlisting, the revenue generated by a hit song’s master recording would fall off precipitously after its hype period waned.
A growing number of successful artists are also leaving major music companies to release music independently, have grown entire careers independently or have negotiated more favorable contracts with their major label partners, giving them more ownership of their master royalties. It all has some investors worried that the total addressable market of master royalties will grow more slowly in the future than in prior decades.
In early 2024, Universal Music Group (UMG) invested roughly $240 million to partner with Chord Music, a catalog investment company majority-owned by Dundee Partners, to give it similar flexibility to acquire catalogs off of its balance sheet and with financial help. The agreement gave UMG the administration and distribution business for the 60,000 music copyrights owned in Chord, and, in exchange for throwing its power as the world’s largest music company behind those assets to make them make more money, Dundee Partners became UMG’s long-term co-investment partner.
Sony Music has also partnered with institutional investors to help finance acquisitions, including Apollo, and WMG has explored investing in catalogs through outside vehicles as an early investor in both Tempo Music Group and Influence Media.
One of the financial engineers involved in structuring UMG’s deal with Chord was Michael Ryan-Southern. At the time, Ryan-Southern led Goldman Sachs’ investment banking team focused on the music industry. WMG hired Ryan-Southern last summer to serve as its head of corporate and business development, overseeing mergers and acquisitions.
Ryan-Southern’s team was key toWMG’s acquisition of Tempo Music, a $450 million deal announced on Feb. 6 that gives Warner the rights to songs by Wiz Khalifa, Florida Georgia Line and Brett James.
WMG’s ties to Bain Capital date back to 2004 when Bain was part of the investor group — also including Thomas H. Lee Partners, Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and Providence Equity Partners — to buy WMG for what was then $2.6 billion cash.
Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl says the major is willing to forgo buying an indie distributor if it can achieve the same long-term gains by building in-house what would likely cost hundreds of millions to acquire.
“I’ve looked at all distribution companies over the last 18 months … and what I can tell you is that we’re not willing to grow this at all costs,” Kyncl said. “We have an incredible technology team … and they have been building features already for a year and a half. This way you get to the same outcome much more efficiently.”
The Warner Music Group (WMG) head made the comments during a wide-ranging conversation at a Morgan Stanley conference last week that touched on tech improvements and the motivations for WMG’s management overhaul last September, as well as the company’s deal with Spotify and Kyncl’s conviction that there is still room to raise streaming subscriptions prices in the U.S. and elsewhere.
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Kyncl, whose comments on mergers and acquisitions have been under a microscope since WMG abandoned a bid to acquire Believe last April, admitted that building technology in-house will take longer and doesn’t come with the immediate market share gains that accompany an acquisition.
The new hires and organizational changes Kyncl oversaw in the past two years are aimed at increasing WMG’s market share, he says. Under Ariel Bardin, who joined WMG in February 2023 as president of technology, the company has been working to fix the “boring things” in its core tech and digital supply chain to “ensure the stability of systems and [make] sure they could handle much higher volume for the future” without adding staff. It has also worked on WMG’s artist-focused tech services, like its client portal and the pipelines that can accelerate royalty payments.
Several rounds of staff cuts and a full-blown corporate reorganization removed multiple layers of management, giving Kyncl more direct contact with leaders like Alejandro Duque, president of Warner Music Latin America, and Elliot Grainge, the new CEO of Atlantic Music Group.
The company reported in February that these moves freed up money for investments — such as the $450 million acquisition of Tempo Music‘s catalog — and helped Atlantic claim a half-a-percentage point market share expansion.
Another of Kyncl’s hires, Carletta Higginson — the former Google executive who was hired as chief digital officer — was key to WMG’s direct deal with Spotify, which Kyncl says included assurances of more frequent price increases that distributors can profit from.
“In an industry where we are all tied at the hip together, it is important to approach it collaboratively and build for the future together,” he said. “We have a healthy set-up together with incentive to grow.”
Saying that WMG’s market share has improved since he joined the company, Kyncl called out promising upcoming releases from Ed Sheeran and Lizzo that are scheduled to come out later this year. Because more than half of WMG’s revenue comes from outside the U.S., Kyncl said the company’s global market share, particularly in certain countries, is as important as its U.S. numbers.
For the third straight year at the annual Morgan Stanley event, Kyncl sounded an optimistic note on streaming subscription prices thanks to “the incredible resilience of music.”
“I think there’s quite strong evidence that there’s a lot of room to grow on pricing, especially in … mature markets,” he said.
Shareholder advisory groups Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis advised Warner Music Group investors to vote against the election of certain board members at the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday, including Val Blavatnik and Lincoln Benet.
The groups say that insider status — Val is the son of WMG owner Len Blavatnik, and he sits on the executive compensation committee — and WMG’s multiple classes of stock present risks for outside investors. WMG says its focused on creating value for all its investors and that most of its directors are independent should allay any investor concerns.
Investor opposition to these directors’ election would need the support of Len Blavatnik to succeed. His Access Industries and its affiliates own more than 70% of WMG’s stock controlling more than 97% of the voting power in WMG. Nonetheless, ISS and Glass Lewis’s concerns put a spotlight on the corporate governance requirements WMG can skirt by being a controlled public company.
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For example, WMG is listed and trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is exempt from NASDAQ’s requirement that companies traded on its exchange have a majority of independent board members appointed to the committee that decides executive compensation.
A spokesperson for WMG says, “We welcome input from our shareholders, with a governance structure that goes beyond what is required of controlled companies, including the majority of our directors being independent. Our board and management team are focused on creating long-term value for all investors.”
Shareholder advisory groups like ISS and Glass Lewis exist to research publicly traded companies’ proxy statements and make voting suggestions for investors ahead of annual shareholder meetings. Both groups say in their 2025 benchmark policy guidelines that they broadly support board independence, but they agree controlled companies should be exempt from certain requirements, such as having an independent executive compensation committee, because “controlled companies serve a unique shareholder … whose voting power ensures the protection of its interests,” Glass Lewis’s policy states.
Glass Lewis advises against voting for the election of Val Blavatnik, 27, in its report because of his status as an insider on the compensation committee. Val holds the title of senior director, business development of Warner Chappell Music, and he was elected to WMG’s board in April 2023.
As the chief executive of Access Industries, Glass Lewis considers Lincoln Benet, 61, an affiliate and non-independent board member, and they advise against voting for his election because WMG’s multi-class share structures gives him disproportionate voting rights.
In its report, ISS advises voting against the of seven of WMG’s 11 board members—Val Blavatnik, Lincoln Benet, Len Blavatnik, Donald Wagner, Noreena Hertz, Ynon Kreiz and Cecilia Kurzman. For Val Blavatnik, Benet and Wagner, it raises similar concerns to Glass Lewis about their seats on certain board committees as non-independent members. For the remainder of the directors, ISS raises concerns about their support for a “dual class structure that is not subject to a reasonable time-based sunset provision.”
It also advises voting against Len Blavatnik because “his ownership of the super voting shares provides him with voting power control of the company.”
ISS has advised voting against the majority of WMG’s board members for at least the past three years, and it has taken similar stances against the election of board members of Meta and Alphabet.
Five out of WMG’s 11 board members, or 55%, are independent, including its chairman, nominating and corporate governance committees.
It is worth noting that the WMG chief executive Robert Kyncl’s total compensation of $18.6 million declined 9% from the year prior.
For more than a year, record labels and publishers have seen investors pour into streaming stocks — namely Spotify — while downplaying the potential benefits rights owners will accrue from rising subscription prices. Now, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) are getting some attention as analysts are optimistic about the terms of new licensing agreements Spotify reached with the companies.
WMG shares rose 10.9% to $36.20 a week after the company released fiscal first-quarter results. This week, the stock got a boost when Citi raised its WMG price target to $42 from $34 and upgraded the stock to a “buy” rating from “neutral.” As Morningstar explained last week, WMG is a “primary beneficiary of the ongoing growth” in the music industry. At $36.20, WMG shares have gained 17.0% in 2025 and are only slightly below their 52-week high of $36.64 set in February 2024. WMG shares fell 13.4% in 2024.
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At UMG, shares rose 7.1% to 28.89 euros ($30.32), the stock’s highest closing price since May 27, 2024. Morgan Stanley analysts have been making the case that UMG is undervalued given Spotify’s soaring share price and this week raised its UMG price target to 42 euros ($44.07) from 36 euros ($37.78). Recent licensing deals with Spotify and Amazon “increases our confidence that its subscription growth will accelerate” from approximately 5% at the start of 2025 to “closer to 15%” at the beginning of 2026, they wrote in a Monday (Feb. 10) investor note. After falling 4.2% in 2024, UMG shares are up 20.8% in 2025.
WMG and UMG were among the best performers on the 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) this week. The BGMI rose 4.6% to a record 2,755.53, bringing its year-to-date gain to 29.7%. Only two stocks lost ground while one was unchanged and 17 posted gains for the week. The index outperformed the Nasdaq composite (up 2.6%), the S&P 500 (up 1.5%), the FTSE 100 (up 0.4%), China’s SSE Composite Index (up 1.3%) and South Korea’s KOSPI composite index (flat versus the previous week).
Live Nation reached an all-time high of $152.94 on Friday (Feb. 14) before closing at $153.76, up 3.7% for the week. Ahead of the concert promoter’s earnings results on Thursday (Feb. 20,) Wolfe Research increased its price target to $175 from $160 and Goldman Sachs raised it to $166 from $148.
Streaming services fared well, too. Spotify rose another 2.4% to $637.73 and reached a new all-time high of $652.63 on Thursday (Feb. 13). Fewer than seven weeks into 2025, Spotify shares have gained 36.7%. Elsewhere on the streaming front, Cloud Music rose 9.1% to 142.20 HKD ($18.01) and Tencent Music Entertainment gained 8.7% to $13.63.
Music streamer LiveOne had the week’s biggest loss after falling 20.5% to $0.93. On Thursday, the company announced that its revenue fell 6% in the fiscal third quarter. LiveOne also lowered revenue and earnings guidance for its full year, causing shares to end the day down 18.6%. The other streaming loser was Abu Dhabi-based Anghami, which fell 2.7% to $0.71.
Satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM shares rose 6.6% to $27.11, bringing its year-to-date gain to 21.2%. This week, Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $27 from $25.
Most K-pop companies finished the week in positive territory. HYBE shares rose 5.8% and reached their highest mark since July 2023. SM Entertainment, which reported a 9% increase in revenue this week, increased 5.4%. JYP Entertainment improved 4.2% and YG Entertainment fell 1.3%.
Warner Music Group signed an expanded licensing agreement with Audiomack that covers 47 new countries including the U.K., France, Italy, Germany, the Caribbean, Mexico, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The two companies first struck a licensing deal in 2019.
Exceleration Music acquired Mack Avene Music Group, a collection of independent jazz labels that has released the works of artists including Christian McBride, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Kenny Garrett. Following the acquisition, Mack Avenue’s operations will be integrated with those of jazz label Candid Records, which Exceleration previously acquired, to form Exceleration’s overall jazz group. The group will be led by current Mack Avenue president Denny Stilwell and boast a team featuring other key executives from both Mack Avenue and Candid.
Triller Group scored a $50 million equity funding round from institutional investors, secured through a private placement consisting of common stocks and warrants, with the company’s shares priced at $2.20. The money will be used to unveil new AI tools, enhance the Triller platform’s livestreaming capabilities and revamp its video editing suite. An additional fundraise is expected later this year.
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Musical AI, a rights management platform for generative AI, raised an initial investment of $2.1 million led by Canadian VC firm Build Ventures. Select angel investors also contributed, with a seed round expected to close in the first half of this year. According to the company, its attribution model can determine what percentage of a generated output came from what data source, allowing rightsholders to “monitor, take down and sunset usage” of their works. “If we want AI training to be sustainable and ethical, we need attribution. Musical AI is the only company offering it in the audio space,” said Musical AI CEO Sean Power in a statement. “I’m thrilled that discerning investors are backing our efforts to transform how AI is trained.”
Downtown-owned distributor FUGA announced an expansion in the Asia-Pacific region via several new signings and partnerships across Indonesia, India and the Philippines. In Indonesia, FUGA partnered with Jakarta-based label Maspam Company, whose roster includes Pamungkas and Prince Husein; and label/distributor Sintesa Pro, home to Batas Senja. In India, it partnered with digital and music entities including GK Digital, whose catalog includes artists like Karan Randhawa and Max Singh; and music management platform DroomMusic, home to Gajendra Verma. And in the Philippines, it signed GMA Music and battle-rap artist Pricetagg.
Primary Wave Music expanded its relationship with The Piano Guys, with its Green Hill Productions (a member of the Sun Label Group) acquiring an additional stake in the instrumental group’s master audio catalog. Green Hill also signed a new distribution deal with the group that will see it “playing a more active role in the strategic growth of The Piano Guys’ catalog and new releases,” according to a press release.
Live Nation Urban invested in Breakr, a creator marketing and tech platform that allows record labels, creative agencies, brands and more “to discover, select, pay, and contract with independent online content creators for promoting songs, products, and services,” according to a press release. The investment will be made via a new venture fund formed by Live Nation and Live Nation Urban called the Black Lily Capital Fund, which is focused on providing capital and resources to Black founders of companies operating in or adjacent to the live music industry, with a focus on startups in pre-seed and seed round stages. Along with the investment announcement, Breakr unveiled a new instant pay system called BreakrPay that allows companies to fund campaigns instantly, allowing influencers to be paid in real-time.
Virgin Music Group Nigeria partnered with Ghanian distribution and integrated label services company RainLabs. Under the deal, Virgin will help provide comprehensive support for African artists through digital distribution, marketing, creative production and brand partnerships. RainLabs’ roster includes Joey B, Cina Soul and Baaba J.
Warner Music Group’s ADA distribution and artist services arm partnered with Berlin-based neoclassical label Aemeralds, which specializes in building composers’ brands through social media marketing, composer camps and playlists. Under the agreement, Aemeralds will have the ability to partner with the Warner Classics marketing team for local services and expertise globally.
Under an expanded naming rights partnership between the City of Bakersfield, Calif., and Dignity Health, the downtown complex previously known as Centennial Garden and then Mechanics Bank Arena will now be rebranded as Dignity Health Arena, Theater and Convention Center beginning next month. The complex features a 10,000-capacity arena, 3,000-seat theater and 17,840-square-foot convention center.
Warner Music Group (WMG) announced Tuesday (Feb. 11) that it’s completed its full acquisition of Africori, one of Africa’s leading digital music distribution, rights management and label services companies. Founded in 2009 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Africori touts itself as “one of the biggest independent songbooks in Africa,” including music by Kelvin Momo, Master KG […]
Warner Music Group has expanded its corporate development team by appointing Alfonso Perez-Soto as executive vp of corporate development, focusing on recorded music, and Michael LoBiondo as senior vp of corporate development, focusing on publishing. Both will report to Michael Ryan Southern, executive vp and chief corporate development officer, who has led WMG’s global M&A activities since August.
The company said this new structure provides WMG with dedicated dealmakers for each side of the business, enabling targeted investments and acquisitions across music rights and technology. Due to this reset, the leaders of Warner Music’s Emerging Markets territories, who previously reported to Perez-Soto, will now report directly to Simon Robson, president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, recorded music.
Perez-Soto has spent much of the last two decades at Warner Music, having joined the company in 2005 as vp of business development for Latin America and US Hispanic markets. He was bumped up to senior vp in 2012 and in 2017 originated the position of senior vp, global business development and chief commercial officer, emerging markets. A year later he was elevated once again to executive vp of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, and in 2021 was promoted to president of emerging markets. In that role, he has designed and implemented a growth strategy based on M&A, geographical expansion and organic artistic success that significantly expanded Warner’s footprint in these emerging territories. Earlier in his career, Perez-Soto held stints at Telefonica, Universal Music Group and Nokia.
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LoBiondo has been serving as head of business development for Warner Chappell Music, WMG’s music publishing arm, since 2021. In this role, he’ ha’s been responsible for identifying and executing strategic acquisitions and partnerships to benefit the publisher’s frontline songwriters and its iconic song catalog. Prior to this, he held various positions at WMG, where he had a hand in numerous major initiatives, including the acquisition of Parlophone Label Group and several Series A music technology investments. Between his tenures at Warner, LoBiondo worked at the artist development company mtheory. He began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs.
Southern expressed confidence in Perez-Soto and LoBiondo, calling them “tenacious and curious leaders with a deep understanding of the music industry and its key players… We’ve committed to grow WMG through a mixture of organic and M&A activity. Now we’ve got a dedicated dealmaking beacon for each set of rights that’ll enable us to continue to improve our service to artists and songwriters.”