A fresh $450 million war chest just pushed Create Music Group's valuation to $2.2 billion, bankrolling an acquisition spree that already burned through half a billion last year.
Create Music Group bags $450M in new capital
Create Music Group pulled in over $450 million combined.
That round pegs the LA company's valuation at $2.2 billion.
Founders still hold the majority ownership stake.
Ares Management, 2 Mile, and Flexpoint Ford are minority backers.
Acquisition binge topped $500M in twelve months
Create dropped over $500 million on deals and advances recently.
Monstercat, !K7 Music, and Cr2 Records all got scooped up.
Catalog buyouts snagged Pack Records and Deadmau5's works.
Nettwerk deal anchors the expansion strategy
Create...
A $800K-plus royalty dispute just landed in a New York courtroom because a major label allegedly applied the wrong math to streaming payments for over two decades.
Lit takes Sony to court over royalties
Lit filed suit against Sony Music Entertainment on March 2.
Band members allege over $800K in underpaid streaming royalties.
Their original RCA Records deal dates back to 1998.
Allen Shellenberger's estate joined through a living trust.
Sony allegedly used the wrong royalty formula
Lit's contract specifies a net-receipts calculation for streams.
Sony reportedly paid a flat 14% rate instead.
Video streaming royalties also got the wrong treatment.
Escalated rates for gold and platinum sales never kicked in.
My Own Worst Enemy keeps...
A six-and-a-half-year run atop country music's oldest trade org wraps this summer, with the outgoing boss leaving behind a drastically more profitable operation.
Whiteside heads for the ACM exit
Damon Whiteside leaves the CEO gig effective June 30.
His emeritus role stretches through the rest of 2026.
ACM's board assembled a search committee for replacements.
Membership reportedly peaked at its most diverse ever.
ACM profits went absolutely vertical
2025 profits skyrocketed by 150% under Whiteside's watch.
Projections peg 2026 gains at another 140% jump.
Whiteside relocated the entire organization to Nashville.
ACM originally launched as a SoCal trade group.
Streaming pivot changed the awards game
Whiteside shifted the ACM Awards...
Panic over AI-generated music just got a full-throated rebuttal from WMG's top exec, who argues the synthetic-track flood actually strengthens legacy rightsholders.
Kyncl flips the AI panic script
Robert Kyncl argues AI-made music boosts established labels.
WMG is the lone major licensing Suno's platform.
Sony and UMG opted to sue Suno instead.
Suno revenue should materialize around fiscal 2027.
AI music floods the streaming pipes
Deezer reportedly ingests 60,000-plus AI tracks every day.
Suno alone cranks out seven million tracks daily.
Kyncl frames this deluge as a trust-scarcity play.
Interactive tools may fetch far higher per-user revenue.
Music dunks on film and TV
Kyncl contrasts music's steady income with Hollywood's...
Illegal gold mining is wrecking Bulawayo's water supply by trashing the riverbeds that feed its main dams.
Bulawayo's dam-supply crisis
Rogue miners are gutting the Umzingwane catchment riverbeds.
Umzingwane Dam sits at a measly 35% capacity.
Nearby Mtshabezi River is completely full by comparison.
Earth-moving gear carved a trench mid-river.
Enforcement is basically nonexistent
A mine popped up just 3km from Criterion Water Works.
SI 188 of 2024 bans alluvial river mining outright.
Municipal cops and rangers lack the capacity to intervene.
City wants the Ministry of Local Government involved.
A taxi driver got gunned down mid-route on the Golden Highway when occupants of a white Polo opened fire on his moving minibus.
The shooting on Golden Highway
A taxi driver was fatally shot while driving in Evaton.
A white Polo pulled alongside and fired multiple rounds.
No passengers or bystanders were injured in the attack.
The Polo fled immediately after the shooting.
Police investigation status
Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed a murder case was opened.
CCTV footage along the highway is being reviewed.
Zero arrests have been made at this point.
The motive remains unknown, and all angles stay open.
Taxi industry danger context
Drivers face constant risk from route and rank disputes.
The Vaal Triangle depends heavily on minibus...
Supplier overcharging ranging from 50% to a jaw-dropping 1,000% just got nine Transnet employees suspended in a major corruption sweep.
The audit that blew things open
Transnet ran 34 audits across two operating divisions.
Transactions from the 2024/25 financial year got scrutinized.
Suppliers were billing wildly above market rates on multiple items.
Blacklisting of those suppliers has already kicked off.
Employee suspensions and next steps
Nine staffers got suspended for alleged supplier collusion.
Disciplinary proceedings started against three of them already.
Charges for the remaining six are expected shortly.
Law enforcement agencies were approached for potential criminal action.
Michelle Phillips is drawing a hard line
CEO...
A national communication policy just got its North West rollout, with the deputy minister pushing provinces to stop talking past the people they serve.
Morolong's visit to Mmabatho Palms
Kenny Morolong pitched the Government Communication Policy to executives.
GCIS led the presentation on improving provincial messaging.
Simple language and digital tools anchor the framework.
Rural communities remain hardest to reach with updates.
Media briefing with the premier
Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi joined Morolong for a post-meeting briefing.
Mokgosi stressed national-provincial coordination for better service delivery.
Local radio training for government communicators got flagged.
Why the disconnect keeps growing
Government messaging drew...
Dry taps across Gauteng just triggered a political firestorm that the province's own MEC is desperately trying to shut down.
Mamabolo's anti-grandstanding message
Jacob Mamabolo slammed the politicization of Gauteng's water crisis.
Old infrastructure and overconsumption drive the real problem.
His spokesperson, Theo Nkonki, echoed the teamwork-over-fighting line.
Where the shortages hit hardest
Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, and Mogale City all got hammered.
Johannesburg loses up to 33% of water through aging pipes.
Hursthill residents reported reddish water from their taps.
Pipe bursts and equipment failures worsened everything since 2024.
The new Operations Centre setup
Mamabolo personally leads a provincial Operations...
