TikTok Music isn’t the one music trade platform to announce its closure this week.
MBW has confirmed that Warner Music Group is shutting down Stage Music, its digital distribution platform for self-releasing artists.
Stage Music, a TuneCore rival launched by WMG in 2018, presents distribution to main streaming providers like Spotify and Apple Music and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
In an electronic mail despatched out to Stage Music customers at this time (September 26), seen by MBW, the platform confirms that it has “made the tough choice to close down Stage in 2025”. The e-mail states that Stage will not settle for new content material submissions for distribution or edits to present releases efficient at this time.
Warner Music Group confirmed the transfer in a press release to MBW and indicated that it’s pushing its sources to ADA, the main’s impartial label and artist providers arm.
“We’re focusing all of our efforts behind the ADA model, as we proceed to strengthen our world suite of providers for artists and label companions throughout the impartial group.”
Warner Music Group
“We’re focusing all of our efforts behind the ADA model, as we proceed to strengthen our world suite of providers for artists and label companions throughout the impartial group,” stated WMG in a press release.
“We’re taking a really world strategy, and investing in our crew and expertise, with some thrilling bulletins within the works.”
Warner’s choice to shut Stage Music makes it the newest main music firm to desert DIY distribution.
In Might 2022, Common Music Group‘s distribution platform Spinnup ditched DIY distribution and have become an invite-only “curated artist discovery and distribution platform.” It then shut down fully in December 2022.
Elsewhere within the letter despatched to Stage customers at this time, the platform confirms that all dwell releases “will mechanically be taken down” from DSPs on Monday, November 18, 2024, however that customers are “welcome to request a takedown of [they’re] content material earlier than then.”
“So as to assist be certain that your play counts and playlist placements stay intact if you transfer your music to a different distributor, it’s vital that you simply export your property and metadata from Stage,” the e-mail added.
Customers’ entry to their Stage Wallets, aka their accounts on the Stage-branded portal the place they entry and withdraw their ‘Internet Receipts’, shall be out there till Friday, July 11, 2025. Stage advised its customers that they should withdraw all out there funds from their steadiness earlier than Friday, July 11, 2025.
The platform will then stop operations on Thursday, July 31, 2025 and shall be terminating all distribution agreements as of that date.
Information of Warner’s sharpened deal with ADA follows quite a lot of strategic strikes made by WMG’s impartial label and artist providers unit this 12 months underneath ADA President Cat Kreidich.
Simply yesterday (September 25), we discovered that senior TikTok exec Corey Sheridan is becoming a member of ADA as World Head of Commerce and Income.
For the previous 12 months and a half, Sheridan has served as World Music Product Partnerships & Technique Lead at TikTok and mum or dad firm ByteDance.
At TikTok, Sheridan helped safe partnerships with streaming platforms to energy TikTok’s ‘Add to Music App’ characteristic. As reported on Tuesday (September 24), TikTok is shutting down its subscription music streaming platform to focus its sources on this characteristic.
Elsewhere at ADA, in Might, Sarah Ismail was appointed as Managing Director of ADA Asia to drive the corporate’s ongoing growth in Asia.
ADA has additionally just lately struck new offers with Kesha’s label, FTS Administration, MDM Recordings and South Coast Music Group.
WMG’s deal with its impartial label and artist providers model seems to be a part of a broader technique for Warner Music Group.
WMG CEO Robert Kyncl has beforehand indicated that he’s eager to develop WMG’s presence within the so-called “center class” artist market.
In March, Warner confirmed that it was contemplating making a bid for Paris-headquartered music firm Imagine, however on April 6, it introduced that it had determined not to pursue an acquisition bid for the corporate.
On WMG’s earnings name in Might, the corporate’s management crew stated it might proceed to pursue additional M&A alternatives.
“It’s our job to survey the market. And if there [are] alternatives that may speed up our initiatives, we’ll take these,” stated WMG’s CFO, Bryan Castellani.
“We’ve a transparent plan to develop this [distribution] space of our ecosystem, and we’re constructing options in-house whereas staying vigilant about [merger and acquisition] alternatives, which might speed up our capabilities,” added WMG CEO Robert Kyncl on the decision.
Information of a distributor-related funding then arrived in July, when, by way of ADA and Warner Music Brazil, the corporate acquired a minority stake in UGC platform and distributor Sua Música Group, which claims to personal the biggest leisure platform centered on regional music in Brazil.
Sua Música’s providers enterprise operates throughout digital distribution, artist administration and publishing. As a DIY distributor, the corporate already works with and handles royalty administration for greater than 1,000 impartial artists in Brazil.Music Enterprise Worldwide
