Warner/Chappell Music (WCM), the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., has acquired production music library company Non-Stop Music, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Ut., and with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London. Purchase price was not disclosed.
The move enhances WCM’s presence in a fast-growing, high-margin segment of the music publishing business and underscores the importance of film, television, Internet and corporate outlets to the music publishing industry. WCM will immediately begin joint marketing of the Non-Stop library and Warner/Chappell’s other musical properties to an expanded base of synchronization customers.
Formed in 1981, Non-Stop Music has built a library of more than 35,000 song titles that it licenses to film, television, Internet and corporate clients. Non-Stop also operates its own state-of-the-art recording studio and has a stable of musicians it draws upon to compose original film scores, music for film trailers, television theme songs, theme music for corporate films and commercial jingles and scores.
“We are thrilled to have this chance to expand WCM’s vibrant synchronization business with this exciting acquisition,” stated Dave Johnson, CEO of Warner/Chappell. “Publishing has been one of the most stable areas of the music industry in recent years and with the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of traditional and digital media, this deal is an essential part of our strategy to create a more robust revenue stream.”
“This is truly one of the brightest moments in our 26-year ride in the production music library business,” said Randy Thornton who cofounded Non-Stop with Bryan Hofheins and Mike Dowdle. This trio will continue to run Non-Stop, but as a division of WCM–and will directly report to Johnson.
Dowdle, who has been named CEO of WCM’s new production music library division, related, “We look forward to building WCM’s production music business on Non-Stop’s solid foundation, through organic growth and additional acquisitions. WCM is the perfect partner with whom to make a truly global impact in the production music industry.”
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More