Music Business Roundup: SESAC Buys HFA, SoundScan Report, & More

SESAC Buys HFA
The smallest of the three performing rights organizations in the United States, SESAC, has bought the mechanical rights firm Harry Fox Agency. The price tag comes in somewhere around $20 million, less than what HFA was reported to have asked for when they began testing the waters for a sale last year. This deal will potentially make the process of licensing songs easier so you will be able to license performance and mechanical licenses at the same time.
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SoundScan Releases Half-Year Report
SoundScan released a report providing insights into music consumption for the first half of 2015. One (not surprising) fact was that streaming has officially taken over, as album sales have declined 4% over last year while the number of streams has doubled. Other interesting notes from the report: UMG grows its dominance to 39% of market share, pop is helping the music industry significantly, and Taylor Swift has the top selling album and Mark Ronson the top selling single.
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David Byrne Visits Congress
As a co-sponsor of the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act and a recent addition to the board of directors for SoundExchange, David Byrne has been focusing a lot on the politics and laws involved with music. This week he talked to Rep. Jerrold Nadler to fight for the rights of artists and getting royalties from radio play.
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Madonna Hacker Sentenced
The hacker that stole Madonna’s (unreleased at the time) tracks from Rebel Heart has been sentenced to 14 years in Israeli prison. It is a move that is likely meant to make a point against hacking and in favor of intellectual property rights.
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Facebook To Add Music Videos?
Following up to last week’s rumors, Facebook denied having any plans to get into the streaming service game. The speculation around them adding music videos has since increased however. There seem to be more talks about getting music involved with the social network as a way to compete with YouTube.
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