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 maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
Meanwhile, the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster potentially gained momentum with revelations of undisclosed kickback schemes involving venue giant Oak View Group.
Elsewhere, fresh data from Luminate painted a sobering picture for those chasing US chart hits, while Warner Music Group bolstered its catalog strategy with a key hire.
Also this week, Primary Wave continued its acquisition spree via a deal with Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green’s estate, marking the latest in a series of catalog acquisitions backed by the company’s $2 billion partnership with Brookfield Asset Management.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
The European Commission is planning to open a “full-scale” investigation into Universal Music Group’s proposed acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings. That’s according to a report published by Reuters on July 16, citing “three people with direct knowledge of the matter”.
The move represents an escalation from the initial Phase 1 review to a more extensive Phase II investigation lasting up to 90 working days.
UMG’s Virgin Music Group revealed in December that it had agreed to buy Downtown Music Holdings LLC in a $775 million deal. The reported investigation comes after over 200 people signed a letter objecting to UMG’s proposed takeover of Downtown, including 20 employees from Beggars Group and Secretly Group companies.
Universal maintains confidence in the deal, with a spokesperson stating: “[We] remain confident that the combination of Virgin and Downtown will create an improved offering in the growing and highly competitive label services category that today consists of roughly 100 companies…”
The Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster potentially gained new ammunition this week with revelations of a previously undisclosed kickback scheme. The kickback arrangement was revealed as part of the DOJ’s investigation into bid-rigging allegations against OVG CEO Tim Leiweke.
OVG reportedly entered into a pact with the ticketing services provider, via which the ticketing company agreed to make annual $7.5 million “Sponsorship Payments” to OVG. These payments were “subject to adjustments based on the volume of primary, fee-bearing tickets sold” for venues managed by OVG360 in North America over a 10-year period.
The critical issue identified by the DOJ is that OVG failed to disclose this financial arrangement to venue owners, despite having fiduciary duties to them. The revelations could significantly strengthen the DOJ’s ongoing antitrust case against Live Nation and Ticketmaster…
New data from Luminate’s midyear report reveals fundamental shifts in American music consumption patterns. The USA’s market share of global audio streaming volume has substantially fallen – down from 43.4% in 2019 to just 27.9% in H1 2025.
Even more striking is the decline of megahits. The USA’s Top 10 tracks in H1 2025 claimed a half-a-percent share of the market’s total audio streams (0.52%). Go back just a few years, and the equivalent stat was as high as 1.6%.
Perhaps most significantly, tracks younger than 18 months old (‘current’ releases) were streamed 168.5 billion times in the first half of 2025. That was down in volume terms by 3.3% YoY vs. the same period of 2024, when ‘current’ tracks racked up 174.3 billion streams…
Warner Music Group made a strategic hire to capitalize on the growing catalog market, appointing industry veteran Orla Lee-Fisher as Head of Dual Catalog Strategy. Lee-Fisher will “champion” catalogs represented by WMG. That will involve “crafting and leading campaigns for the company’s off-roster catalog” across both recorded music and publishing rights.
Lee-Fisher joins WMG from Universal Music Group, where she worked for more than 20 years, serving in a variety of roles, including General Manager of Polydor Records and Managing Director of A&M Records. Most recently, she was EVP, Global Marketing and worked across campaigns for superstar artists including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Sir Elton John.
The appointment comes two weeks after we learned that WMG and private investment giant Bain Capital are launching a $1.2 billion joint venture to acquire “legendary” music catalogs across both recorded music and music publishing…
Primary Wave has struck a music rights deal with the estate of Peter Green, the founder and original lead of Fleetwood Mac. According to Primary Wave, terms of the deal will see the publisher acquire the assets comprised in Green’s Rattlesnake music publishing catalog, and his interest in all compositions written by him, as well as certain recordings.
Green’s writing credits include Fleetwood Mac songs such as Albatross, Black Magic Woman,Oh Well, The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown), and Man of the World. Rolling Stone ranked Green at No.58 in its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
This partnership marks the latest Fleetwood Mac-related deal for Primary Wave. In December 2020, the company acquired a majority stake in the publishing catalog of another Fleetwood Mac member, Stevie Nicks. The Wall Street Journal reported at the time that Primary Wave bought an 80% interest in the copyrights, which its sources said were valued at approximately $100 million…
Watch: Aerial footage of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility
At least three police officers were killed in an explosion at a law enforcement training facility in East Los Angeles, officials say.
The blast occurred at around 07:30 local time (15:30 BST) on Friday at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Biscailuz Center Academy Training, according to emergency responders.
Authorities say the explosion took place in the parking lot of the facility’s Special Enforcement Bureau. US media, citing sources, report that officers were handling an unexploded ordnance recovered from a recent bomb disposal call when it detonated.
The exact cause of the explosion remains unclear, and officials have not yet confirmed whether there were additional injuries.
In a statement posted on X, US Attorney General Pam Bondi called the incident “horrific” and said federal agents had been deployed on the scene and “working to learn more”.
The bomb squad typically picks up potential explosives across the region daily, but it’s a situation that’s always fraught with danger because it’s hard to assess the stability of materials and their age, the Los Angeles Times reported citing law enforcement sources.
The immediate area around the scene has been reportedly evacuated.
The Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Los Angeles Police Department are assisting in the investigation.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed about the explosion and he is “closely monitoring the situation”, his office said in a statement on X.
Newsom’s office added that state assistance has also been offered to help respond to the incident.
Kathryn Barger, Chief of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, wrote in a statement that she is “closely tracking the situation as we learn more about what occurred and the condition of those affected”.
“My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff’s Department during this difficult time,” she said.
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Washington, DC – New media reports in the United States, citing intelligence assessments, have cast doubt over President Donald Trump’s assertion that Washington’s military strikes last month “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Washington Post and NBC News reported that US officials were saying that only one of the three Iranian nuclear sites – the Fordow facility – targeted by the US has been destroyed.
The Post’s report, released on Friday, also raised questions on whether the centrifuges used to enrich uranium at the deepest level of Fordow were destroyed or moved before the attack.
“We definitely can’t say it was obliterated,” an unidentified official told the newspaper, referring to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Trump has insisted that the US strikes were a “spectacular” success, lashing out at any reports questioning the level of damage they inflicted on Iran’s nuclear programme.
An initial US intelligence assessment, leaked to several media outlets after the attack last month, said the strikes failed to destroy key components of Iran’s nuclear programme and only delayed its work by months.
But the Pentagon said earlier in July that the attacks degraded the Iranian programme by one to two years.
While the strikes on Fordow – initially thought to be the most guarded facility, buried inside a mountain – initially took centre stage, the NBC News and Washington Post reports suggested that the facilities in Natanz and Isfahan also had deep tunnels.
‘Impenetrable’
The US military did not use enormous bunker-busting bombs against the Isfahan site and targeted surface infrastructure instead.
A congressional aide familiar with intelligence briefings told the Post that the Pentagon had assessed that the underground facilities at Isfahan were “pretty much impenetrable”.
The Pentagon responded to both reports by reiterating that all three sites were “completely and totally obliterated”.
Israel, which started the war by attacking Iran without direct provocation last month, has backed the US administration’s assessment, while threatening further strikes against Tehran if it resumes its nuclear programme.
For its part, Tehran has not provided details about the state of its nuclear sites.
Some Iranian officials have said that the facilities sustained significant damage from US and Israeli attacks. But Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said after the war that Trump had “exaggerated” the impact of the strikes.
The location and state of Iran’s highly enriched uranium also remain unknown.
Iran’s nuclear agency and regulators in neighbouring states have said they did not detect a spike in radioactivity after the bombings, suggesting the strikes did not result in uranium contamination.
But Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, did not rule out that the uranium containers may have been damaged in the attacks.
“We don’t know where this material could be or if part of it could have been under the attack during those 12 days,” Grossi told CBS News last month.
According to Grossi, Iran could resume uranium enrichment in a “matter of months”.
The war
Israel launched a massive attack against Iran on June 13, killing several top military officials, as well as nuclear scientists.
The bombing campaign targeted military sites, civilian infrastructure and residential buildings across the country, killing hundreds of civilians.
Iran responded with barrages of missiles against Israel that left widespread destruction and claimed the lives of at least 29 people.
The US joined the Israeli campaign on June 22, striking the three nuclear sites. Iran retaliated with a missile attack against an air base housing US troops in Qatar.
Initially, Trump said the Iranian attack was thwarted, but after satellite images showed damage at the base, the Pentagon acknowledged that one of the missiles was not intercepted.
“One Iranian ballistic missile impacted Al Udeid Air Base June 23 while the remainder of the missiles were intercepted by US and Qatari air defence systems,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Al Jazeera in an email last week.
“The impact did minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base. There were no injuries.”
After a ceasefire was reached to end the 12-day war, both the US and Iran expressed willingness to engage in diplomacy to resolve the nuclear file. But talks have not materialised.
Iran and the US were periodically holding nuclear talks before Israel launched its war in June.
EU-Iran talks
During his first term in 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The agreement saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting international sanctions against its economy.
In recent days, European officials have suggested that they could impose “snap-back” sanctions against Iran as part of the deal that has long been violated by the US.
Tehran, which started enriching uranium beyond the limits set by the JCPOA after the US withdrawal, insists that Washington was the party that nixed the agreement, stressing that the deal acknowledges Iran’s enrichment rights.
I had a joint teleconference with E3 FMs & EU HR last night, in which I made the following points clear:
It was the US that withdrew from a two-year negotiated deal -coordinated by EU in 2015- not Iran; and it was US that left the negotiation table in June this year and chose a… pic.twitter.com/NFQdK2HZD4
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he held talks with the top diplomats of France, the United Kingdom and Germany – known as the E3 – as well as the European Union’s high representative.
Araghchi said Europeans should put aside “worn-out policies of threat and pressure”.
“It was the US that withdrew from a two-year negotiated deal – coordinated by EU in 2015 – not Iran; and it was US that left the negotiation table in June this year and chose a military option instead, not Iran,” the Iranian foreign minister said in a social media post.
“Any new round of talks is only possible when the other side is ready for a fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial nuclear deal.”
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear bomb. Israel, meanwhile, is widely believed to have an undeclared nuclear arsenal.
The International Criminal Court says German authorities arrested Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri on 16 July
A Libyan man suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity has been arrested in Germany on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, commonly known as “Al-Buti”, is alleged to have been one of the most senior officials at the Mitiga Prison complex in the capital, Tripoli, where thousands of people were detained.
He is suspected of having committed, ordered or overseen crimes including murder, torture and rape.
The atrocities were allegedly committed in the detention unit near Tripoli in the five years from 2015. There is no record of him commenting on the allegations.
The ICC has issued 11 arrest warrants in connection with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Libya since the ousting and killing of the country’s long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi, which plunged Libya into civil war.
The situation was referred to the court by the United Nations Security Council in February 2011, at the start of the protests which led to Gaddafi’s ousting later that year, with the help of Nato forces.
In its referral, the Security Council condemned the “violence and use of force against civilians… the gross and systematic violation of human rights, including the repression of peaceful demonstrators”.
It also expressed “deep concern at the deaths of civilians”, while “rejecting unequivocally the incitement to hostility and violence against the civilian population made from the highest level of the Libyan government”, then under Gaddafi.
Since the overthrow of Gaddafi, after six decades in power, Libya has been split into areas controlled by various militias and is currently divided between two rival governments.
Mr Hishri was part of the Special Deterrence Force, also known as SDF/Rada, aligned to the interior ministry of the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli.
Getty Images
Thousands of people, including migrants trying to reach Europe, are kept in Libyan detention centres, often in brutal conditions
On 12 May 2025, Libya accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction over its territory from 2011 to the end of 2027.
Eight other public ICC arrest warrants are still pending in connection with the violence that followed the fall of Gaddafi.
Amnesty International says Mitiga Prison was the scene of “horrific violations committed with total impunity”.
Some of those kept in Mitiga are migrants trying to reach Europe.
Mr Najim was freed due to a legal technicality, according to sources in Italy’s interior ministry.
The ICC said Mr Najim had been released by Italy “without prior notice or consultation with the Court” and issued another arrest warrant for him. He remains a fugitive.
Mr Hishri will remain in detention in Germany until arrangements are made for him to be surrendered to the ICC’s custody and extradited to face justice in The Hague.
The ICC thanked “all the victims and witnesses from Libya who have stepped forward to cooperate in the investigation. Their strength, courage and commitment make these important developments possible.”
Mr Hishri’s case will join others in the court’s ongoing efforts to address crimes committed during Libya’s conflict, though other suspects remain at large.
The removal of 21 children from the custody of a Los Angeles-area couple has put a spotlight on the practice of using surrogates to build a family. Surrogacy has no federal regulation, leaving it up to states to set the rules if they choose to allow it.
The kids — 15 at the couple’s mansion and six more living elsewhere — were taken by an LA County child welfare agency in May after the parents were accused of failing to intervene in the abuse of a baby by a nanny, police in Arcadia said.
The children range in age from 2 months to 13 years, with most between 1 and 3, police said. The FBI won’t comment but agents are investigating. Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65, have not responded to emails seeking comment.
Police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of the children while the rest were born by surrogate. Some women who were paid surrogates for the couple now say they were unaware that the couple was accumulating a supersize family, raising questions about their intentions.
“What were they going to do with these children?” said Deborah Wald, a lawyer in San Francisco whose expertise includes surrogacy law.
What is surrogacy?
Surrogacy is an agreement between parties to have a woman become pregnant, typically through an embryo transfer, and deliver a baby. The intended parent or parents might struggle with infertility. They also could be same-sex couples.
There’s no limit on how many children someone can have through surrogates or any other method, said Wald, who is not involved in the Arcadia case.
She acknowledged that California is considered a “surrogacy-friendly state” because it has clear laws around the process.
Both sides are required to have lawyers, and there must be a written, notarized contract before an embryo transfer, Wald said.
“The legitimate surrogacy community in California is very distressed when things like this happen,” Wald said of surrogates feeling deceived. ”We’ve worked very hard on legal and ethical standards. It hurts everyone when something like this happens.”
Matchmaker role
There are businesses that act as matchmakers, connecting surrogates to people who want to have children. State business records show a company called Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC had been registered at the Arcadia address of Zhang and Xuan.
It’s not clear if Zhang and Xuan set up the business solely to find surrogates for themselves. State records show the company terminated its business license in June.
Wald said there are no special licensing requirements in California for businesses that match surrogates with intended parents.
Many questions remain
Wald said there should have been plenty of checks and balances in the process, noting the role of fertility clinics in handling embryos.
“The first place typically is the matching program that matches the surrogate with an intended parent. But in this situation the intended parents were the matching program,” Wald said. “I am not familiar with any other prior case where that was true.”
Arcadia police said the six children who were not at the couple’s home were found with family friends. The couple’s house was “set up for a school environment,” Lt. Kollin Cieadlo said.
Zhang and Xuan were accused of neglect and arrested in May. Charges were not formally pursued at that time in order for an abuse investigation to continue, and detectives now believe there were other instances of abuse, Cieadlo said.
A 2-month-old infant with a traumatic head injury, allegedly at the hands of a nanny, remains in a hospital in stable condition, he said.
Keeping the family together
California law requires child welfare agencies to prioritize placing children who cannot safely be with their parents in homes with extended family, and requires siblings to be kept together unless it would endanger the child to do so, said Leslie Heimov, the executive director of the Children’s Law Center of California.
The Children’s Law Center has worked with some families with 10 to 12 children, Heimov said. A family with 20 children or more is “unusual,” she added.
It’s more complicated to find foster homes for larger families that can accommodate all the children’s needs, especially for infants, Heimov said.
In addition to expenses and limited space, it’s hard to give infants the proper stimulation and care they need if they are in a home with many other children, she said.
In cases involving many children, the state will sometimes get creative to make sure that siblings can maintain relationships with each other, like placing them in the same neighborhood, or placing them in different but related households, Heimov said.
A case involving over 20 children conceived through surrogacy would “present some legal questions,” said Heimov. “But it would not change our advocacy — we want every child we represent to be in a loving, safe home.”
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White reported from Detroit and Riddle from Montgomery, Alabama.
Karnataka state authorities singled out RCB, its partners and the state cricket for their mismanagement of stampede.
State authorities have blamed the management of India’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricket team for last month’s deadly stampede during celebrations for their first Indian Premier League (IPL) title.
Karnataka state authorities singled out the RCB, its partners and the state cricket association for their mismanagement of the event in a report made public on Thursday.
Eleven fans were crushed to death and more than 50 wounded in a stampede near the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after hundreds of thousands packed the streets in the southern city of Bengaluru on June 4, to cheer their hero Virat Kohli and other RCB team members.
The report said organisers had not submitted a “formal request” or provided enough detail for permission to be granted for the celebrations.
“Consequently, the permission was not granted,” it said.
The team went ahead with its victory parade despite police rejecting RCB’s request, according to the report.
The RCB did not offer any comment on the report.
An ambulance moves following the stampede outside the cricket stadium in Bengaluru on June 4 [Reuters]
Four people, including a senior executive at RCB, representatives of event organisers DNA, and the Karnataka State Cricket Association, were detained by police in the days following the stampede.
Players were parading the trophy near the stadium a day after their win over Punjab Kings in the final in Ahmedabad when the stampede occurred.
The dead were aged between 14 and 29.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “absolutely heartrending”, and Kohli, who top-scored in the final, was “at a loss for words” after it unfolded.
India coach Gautam Gambhir said he was never a fan of roadshows, and the authorities should not have allowed the mass celebrations if they were not prepared.
Béis is a luggage brand with a focus on function and utility whilst presenting it in a suave and attractive package. Being featured in many notable editorials such as Oprah Magazine, Forbes, and People Magazine, Béis also has a very strong social media following, which shows the attractiveness and appeal of their luggage lineup.
Unsurprisingly, Beis is such a hit with many, as it was founded by actress Shay Mitchell, who many may know as Emily on the show Pretty Little Liars. Béis is one of the best luggage brands if you’re looking for that perfect balance of function and style.
Most of Béis’s catalog is made out of polyester fabric and water-resistant lining, which not only makes them lightweight and durable but also functional to keep your belongings safe and sound. Their catalog is also pretty extensive, spanning from luggage to totes, backpacks, and diaper bags, making Béis a huge hit with women and mothers.
I tested and reviewed Béis luggage and found that they outperform competitors by combining ultra-practical, functional features with a sleek, minimalist design. For example, the water-resistant Nylon zipper tape helps to keep your items dry, and their hard-side construction with the Hinomoto 360 wheels ensures your bag is long-lasting and easy to use when moving about.
Furthermore, Béis has special additions that aim to make your travel extra comfortable, with cushioned handles, a retractable attach strap, and a side-carry handle fitted with a weight indicator so you know exactly how heavy your luggage is.
There are other alternatives if you’re a frequent traveler seeking a long-lasting investment. I’ve compared Béis and Monosand I’ve been happy with suitcases from both brands, and they both performed well in our testing. Monos only costs a little more than Béis, and their suitcases are more durable and refined (and come with a better warranty). I don’t think you can go wrong either way, the choice just comes down to what you prioritize.
Technology fundamentally serves as an amplifier of human capabilities. Take the telephone, extending our voices across distances, or the swiftness of a train compared to walking. In line with this concept, a robotic exoskeleton stands as a direct enhancement of human abilities, enabling users to lift heavier loads, surmount locomotor constraints, or execute tasks more swiftly. The technology holds promising potential, as projected by the consulting firm ABI Research, estimating a market value of $7.3 billion by 2030.
The latest breakthrough arises from the researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada, unveiling a human exoskeleton capable of deciphering brain waves and translating them into physical movement. Notably, a woman paralyzed in both legs since 2015 was able to walk again after years confined to a wheelchair. Will such transformative applications become more prevalent in the near future? What trajectory lies ahead for this evolving technology?
This article covers the following topics:
What is a robotic exoskeleton?
Technically, it’s a wearable mechanical device designed to enhance physical capabilities externally, aimed at preventing injury, augmenting strength, or improving mobility. Its name stems from its resemblance to an external skeleton, akin to the protective shells in invertebrates like underwater arthropods or land-dwelling Coleoptera.
In the animal kingdom, the term “exoskeleton” is often applied to invertebrates such as arthropods in the underwater world or Coleoptera on land. In their case, it is a shell that protects soft tissues from predators or the elements.
Types of exoskeleton
Along with the type of material they are made of – soft, rigid or hybrid – these devices can be classified according to the part of the body they assist:
Lower extremities: Aid in faster movement or leg rehabilitation.
Upper extremities: Assist in lifting weights in industrial settings and restoring arm mobility.
Full body: Offer comprehensive support to the back, arms, and legs, particularly useful in medical or industrial environments.
Primary technologies
Although there are also passive devices, i.e., without energy of their own, the focus here is on active exoskeletons, which are usually equipped with motors, sensors, and control systems that respond to the user’s movements, assisting as needed. To achieve this, they use hydraulic and pneumatic systems, as well as servomotors. In addition, thanks to the use of batteries, they can offer an autonomy of several hours.
As technology advances, exoskeletons are evolving to become lighter, more efficient, and more versatile. Especially full-body models, which, for now, are the most bulky. Thus, they are expected to join smart textiles to help users daily.
Main applications
Despite being in its early stages, human exoskeleton technology demonstrates significant potential across various sectors:
Construction. This is one of the areas that is arousing most interest, with machines that already allow operators to lift up to 90 kilograms effortlessly. After all, there are already building materials inspired by an animal exoskeleton.
Healthcare. The main users of exoskeletons in this sector promise to be people with neuromuscular diseases such as cerebral palsy and those undergoing rehabilitation, which will complement the new generation of prostheses and materials developed in biomedicine.
Senior citizens. Elderly people will be able to use these devices in their daily lives to carry out simple tasks such as shopping or lifting objects at home, reducing the risk of falls and injuries.
Sports. This is perhaps the closest modality to science fiction. Still, depending on the user’s needs, some devices are already being developed that can propel the legs – or offer resistance to enhance muscle work.
How much will they cost?
The initial cost of robotic exoskeletons, primarily intended for healthcare and industry, ranges from $5,000 for passive models to $100,000 for advanced full-body models. However, as the technology matures, costs are expected to decrease, aligning with the projections of the consulting firm mentioned earlier. Perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, exoskeletons will transition from being a niche technology to a commonplace tool, akin to cell phones or augmented reality glasses.
