{"id":254111,"date":"2026-03-27T16:41:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T16:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=254111"},"modified":"2026-03-27T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T17:15:11","slug":"from-the-supreme-courts-cox-ruling-to-primary-waves-kobalt-deal-its-mbws-weekly-round-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/from-the-supreme-courts-cox-ruling-to-primary-waves-kobalt-deal-its-mbws-weekly-round-up\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Supreme Court’s Cox ruling to Primary Wave’s Kobalt deal\u2026 it’s MBW’s weekly round-up"},"content":{"rendered":"Welcome to Music Business Worldwide\u2019s Weekly Round-up \u2013 where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW\u2019s Round-up is exclusively supported by BMI, a global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong>\n
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This week, Primary Wave<\/a> Music announced a definitive agreement to acquire Kobalt<\/a> from Francisco Partners.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court unanimously sided with internet service provider Cox Communications in a landmark music piracy case brought by the major record labels.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Domain Capital Group closed $768 million in equity commitments for its second entertainment fund.<\/p>\n

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Also this week, BMG<\/a> revealed its annual revenues dipped to \u20ac900 million in 2025, but the Bertelsmann-owned company hit a record EBITDA margin of 32%. BMG’s catalog investment topped $400 million for the year.<\/p>\n

And Firebird entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based artist management company Goodlife Management, the home of Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, Ki\/Ki, and \u00a5\u00d8U$UK\u20ac \u00a5UK1MAT$U, among others.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…<\/p>\n

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1. PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC TO ACQUIRE KOBALT FROM FRANCISCO PARTNERS<\/a><\/h6>\n

Primary Wave\u00a0Music has announced a definitive agreement to acquire\u00a0Kobalt, which it describes as \u201cone of the world\u2019s premier independent music publishing and technology platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transaction includes an investment from\u00a0Brookfield, a strategic partner to Primary Wave.<\/p>\n

According to the companies, the \u201cdeal creates a scaled, independent alternative to traditional publishing models, highlighting Kobalt\u2019s best-in-class royalty platform, amra\u2019s global digital collection vehicle, and Primary Wave\u2019s proven ability to grow the value of legendary music IP through creative marketing and other initiatives…” (MBW<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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2. US SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH COX COMMUNICATIONS IN LANDMARK MUSIC PIRACY CASE BROUGHT BY RECORD LABELS<\/a><\/h6>\n

The US Supreme Court has ruled that internet service provider Cox Communications cannot be held responsible for music piracy committed by its subscribers, ending a landmark copyright case in which the major record companies had won a\u00a0$1 billion jury verdict.<\/a><\/p>\n

The unanimous decision was handed down on Wednesday (March 25).<\/p>\n

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the Court, said that Cox \u201cneither induced its users\u2019 infringement nor provided a service tailored to infringement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commenting on the decision, Mitch Glazier,\u00a0RIAA<\/a> Chairman and CEO, said: \u201cWe are disappointed in the Court\u2019s decision vacating a jury\u2019s determination that Cox Communications contributed to mass scale copyright infringement, based on overwhelming evidence that the company knowingly facilitated theft…” (MBW<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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3. AFTER TEAMING UP WITH SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING TO ACQUIRE MIRANDA LAMBERT CATALOG, DOMAIN CAPITAL CLOSES $768M ENTERTAINMENT FUND<\/a><\/h6>\n

Domain Capital Group has closed $768 million in equity commitments for its second entertainment fund.<\/p>\n

The Atlanta-based private investment management firm said\u00a0Domain Entertainment Fund II\u00a0focuses on investments in film libraries, television participation and music catalogs, with additional allocations for literary works, theatrical productions and sports.<\/p>\n

The firm added that\u00a0Fund II\u00a0includes investments with notable partners including Paramount Pictures and\u00a0Sony Music Publishing<\/a>, and features titles and artists including\u00a0Sonic 3<\/em>,\u00a0Friends<\/em>,\u00a0The Matrix Trilogy<\/em>,\u00a0Miranda Lambert\u00a0and Thomas Rhett… (MBW<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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4. BMG REVENUE DIPPED TO \u20ac900M IN 2025 BUT EBITDA MARGIN HIT RECORD 32% \u2013 AS CATALOG INVESTMENT TOPPED $400M<\/a><\/h6>\n

BMG<\/a>\u00a0generated EUR \u20ac900 million (USD $1.02bn) in annual revenues in 2025, down 6.5% YoY on a reported basis, or down 1.5% YoY on an organic basis.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to a new set of annual fiscal results from the music company\u2019s parent,\u00a0Bertelsmann<\/a>, published on March 26.<\/p>\n

The revenue decline was largely a deliberate consequence of BMG\u2019s own\u00a0strategic choices \u2013 most notably the divestment of non-core businesses in its Live segment, combined with unfavorable foreign exchange movements driven by the weaker US dollar.<\/p>\n

BMG\u2019s annual adjusted operating EBITDA reached an all-time high of EUR \u20ac284 million ($321m), up 7.2% YoY compared to the prior year\u2019s record equivalent of \u20ac265 million… (MBW<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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5. FIREBIRD ACQUIRES MAJORITY STAKE IN GOODLIFE MANAGEMENT, THE HOME OF FRED AGAIN.., THE BLESSED MADONNA, AND MORE<\/a><\/h6>\n

Firebird has entered into a strategic partnership with UK-based artist management company Goodlife Management, the home of Fred again.., The Blessed Madonna, Ki\/Ki, and \u00a5\u00d8U$UK\u20ac \u00a5UK1MAT$U, among others.<\/p>\n

MBW understands that Firebird has acquired a majority stake in the company.<\/p>\n

The deal brings Goodlife founders Oliver Sasse, Lucy Sasse, Ellie Shaw, and David Watters \u2014 along with their \u201cdynamic team\u201d and talent roster \u2014 into Firebird\u2019s expanding ecosystem of management companies, which already includes\u00a0Mick Management<\/a>\u00a0(US\/UK),\u00a0Red Light Management<\/a>\u00a0(US\/UK),\u00a0JET Management<\/a>\u00a0(US),\u00a0Hills Artists<\/a>\u00a0(US), and\u00a0Special Projects<\/a>\u00a0(UK).<\/p>\n

Firebird said the new partnership \u201csignificantly bolsters\u201d its presence in the electronic music landscape… (MBW<\/a>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/i><\/a><\/figure>Partner message: MBW\u2019s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI<\/span>,\u00a0the\u00a0global leader in performing rights management,\u00a0dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music.\u00a0Find\u00a0out more about\u00a0BMI<\/span>\u00a0here<\/span>.\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The biggest headlines from the past few days…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7380,"featured_media":237810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[131263],"class_list":["post-254111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-mbws-weekly-round-up"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7380"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254111"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254117,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254111\/revisions\/254117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}