Setlist

On this week's show we discuss the bidding war compounding the latest in a long line of dramas at Hipgnosis, the faltering start for Manchester’s new Co-op Live arena and more.

SECTION TIMES

01: Hipgnosis (00:04:59)

02: News in brief (00:18:48)

03: Co-op Live (00:12:15)

(Timings may be slightly different due to adverts)

THIS WEEK'S MAIN STORIES

• Hipgnosis debacle might be over as Concord offers to acquire entire share capital of SONG - but there’s a catch…

• Blackstone tops Concord offer for SONG, hints at invoking call option

• The state of Hipgnosis

• To the moon! Concord reaches for the high notes as it ups its SONG bid to $1.25

• Co-op Live GM says grassroots venues are “poorly run”, before cancelling thousands of tickets to test event at the very last minute

• Manchester’s new Co-op Live arena cancels launch shows as power issues delay opening

NEWS IN BRIEF

• The clock is now TikTokking as US Senate votes through sell-or-be-banned law

• Amazon AI employee claims she was told to breach copyright rules because “everyone else is doing it”

• Moving BBC radio to an ad-funded model would be a disaster, says Radiocentre

• Drake threatened with legal action over AI Tupac in Kendrick diss track

ALSO MENTIONED

• AI and music one year later: What happened? And where are we at? (Spot Festival, 3 May, 1pm)

• Dissecting The Digital Dollar: What’s changed? (Spot Festival, 4 May, 11.45am)

• The new pay-out models: What are the consequences for you as an artist and as a songwriter? (Spot Festival, 4 May, 1.15pm)

• The great streaming swindle: That’s how much money is swindled every year in the music industry (Spot Festival, 4 May, 2.15pm)