Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.

One of the biggest stories to hit our pages this week came from the UK, where superstar artist Ed Sheeran won a copyright lawsuit over the alleged infringement of his hit, Shape of You.

A British artist called  Sami Chokri (aka Sami Switch) claimed that Sheeran copied his own song Oh Why to pen Shape of You, which Sheeran wrote with Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid and producer Steve Mac.

Judge Antony Zacaroli concluded that Sheeran and his collaborators “neither deliberately nor subconsciously copied” Chokri’s song.

In an Instagram post published after the ruling, Sheeran said that “baseless” copyright claims are “damaging to the songwriting industry”.

Elsewhere, according to Nielsen figures, just 2.24% of 18-49 year-old TV watchers in the US tuned in to the Grammys 2022 on Sunday.

That percentage figure was actually slightly down on the 2.28% of this demographic who watched the Grammys show in the previous year.

(To explain: Nielsen has put a 2.24 ‘rating’ on the Grammys 2022 for an 18-49 year-old audience; this ‘rating’ indicates the percentage of all US TV-watching adults within this age bracket who caught the show.)

In other words, nearly 98% of 18-49 year olds in the States simply didn’t watch the Grammys on Sunday.

Also this week, Bloomberg reported that Concord has been seeking an “extraordinary-plus” buyout offer in the region of $6 billion.

Sources speaking to the publication suggested that, to date, Concord has turned down acquisition bids worth $4.5 billion and $5 billion.

Plus, BMG entered into a global publishing agreement with the George Harrison Estate to administer the Harrisongs catalog, while Ingrooves won a patent for new music marketing tech.

Here’s what happened in the music business this week…

1) ED SHEERAN WINS COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT IN THE UK

Ed Sheeran has beaten a lawsuit in the UK over the alleged infringement of his single Shape of You.

The case was brought against Sheeran by a British artist called Sami Chokri (aka Sami Switch), who claimed that Sheeeran ripped off his song Oh Why, which was released in 2015.

The verdict was delivered in Sheeran’s favor in a UK High Court on Wednesday (April 6)…

2) ONCE AGAIN, NEARLY 98% OF 18-TO-49-YEAR-OLDS IN THE US DIDN’T WATCH THE GRAMMYS ON SUNDAY

The televised portion of the 64th annual Grammys, which took place in Vegas on Sunday (April 3), was watched on the big night by 9.59 million viewers in the US.

That’s according to the latest numbers from Nielsen, which include everyone who watched the show live on TV via CBS and/or streaming platforms such as Paramount +, in addition to out-of-home viewers.

(Earlier figures from Nielsen, which omitted out-of-home viewers, suggested the show had an audience of 8.93 million.)

Nielsen’s 9.59 million number was up 3.9% on the previous year’s audience count (9.23m) according to the Hollywood Reporter.

But the most damning stat for the Grammys was, yet again, its pull amongst younger viewers…

3) CONCORD TURNED DOWN A BUYOUT OFFER OF $5 BILLION, SUGGEST BLOOMBERG SOURCES

Concord has long been rumored to be exploring the possibility of a sale at a $4 billion valuation.

According to Bloomberg, that’s true, but the company has been seeking an “extraordinary-plus” offer in the region of $6 billion.

Indeed, sources speaking to Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw suggest that, to date, Concord has turned down acquisition bids worth $4.5 billion and $5 billion.

Concord is majority owned by pension fund, Michigan Retirement Systems…

4) BMG TO REPRESENT GEORGE HARRISON PUBLISHING CATALOG VIA GLOBAL DEAL

BMG has entered into a global publishing agreement with the George Harrison Estate to administer the Harrisongs catalog.

The catalog comprises more than 200 songs written by George Harrison with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys and for the artist’s solo career. The catalog was previously administered by Concord.

The BMG deal expands on the firm’s relationship with Harrison’s music company Dark Horse Records, with BMG serving as its global partner across recorded music, music publishing, and merchandise, while also developing further areas of business…

5) INGROOVES JUST WON A PATENT FOR NEW MUSIC MARKETING TECH THAT IT SAYS ‘DRIVES STREAMS AT A RATE NEARLY DOUBLE THAT OF TRADITIONAL METHODS’

Two years ago, Ingrooves Music Group was granted a patent for impressive AI-driven music marketing technology.

Since then, the Universal Music Group-owned company has been working behind the scenes to develop its marketing tech further, and has just won another US patent (which you can see in full here).

Ingrooves’ new patented tech fuels its proprietary Smart Audience advertising solution, which is able to identify “high-value” streaming audiences for an artist/label based on user listening behavior…

MBW’s Weekly Round-Up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximise their income and reduce their touring costs.Music Business Worldwide