Latest / Mini Scroll / MINI SCROLL: Jake Webber x Tara Yummy ship edits, UMG's Taylor Swift Spotify deal to pay artists + Zoella missing

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MINI SCROLL: Jake Webber x Tara Yummy ship edits, UMG's Taylor Swift Spotify deal to pay artists + Zoella missing · Mini Scroll

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  Coming up today on Mini Scrolls, Jake Weber tells fans to stop
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  shipping him with his ex, A deal that Taylor Swift signed years
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  ago may make artists millions of dollars and why fans are
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  convinced that Zoella is missing.
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  Hi everyone. Welcome to Mini Scroll, the
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  daily Internet culture podcast bringing you the biggest stories
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  from social media, the creator economy and the digital space.
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  Every Monday through Thursday and sometimes Fridays like
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  today, I'm your host, Lauren Meisner, the founder of the
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  Australian youth digital media brand Centennial World.
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  Welcome back to Mini Scroll, everyone.
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  A Friday mini scroll. As always, our Friday minis are
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  random so get ready for this one.
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  But please Spotify star rate US. I know I keep asking and I
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  promise I will stop asking once we hit 1000 until we have
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  another benchmark. But I'll give you guys a rest,
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  OK? I promise.
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  Actually, this is a fun story. So when I was in high school,
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  there was this program we were trying to raise money for, I
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  can't remember what charity, but it was some type of charity.
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  OK, some club at my high school was trying to raise money for a
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  charity and they did this initiative called Stop the Bop
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  where every single morning before the bell, they would play
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  music in our high school. So in the halls, so you when
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  you're like walking to class or talking to your friends or like
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  in the bathroom, doing your makeup, whatever, there would
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  always be music playing. So for this period of time until
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  they hit a certain threshold of money that they were trying to
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  hit for this charity initiative, they played Mmmbop by Hansen
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  over and over and over again the whole morning, over and over
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  again for like weeks and weeks and weeks.
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  And then we all started to like love it.
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  The point was that it was going to annoy us so much that we
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  would all contribute to stop the Bob, but it kind of felt like we
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  were in some fun like teen ROM com movie.
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  So people were just actually enjoying it.
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  And then people were not donating because they didn't
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  want Bob to stop playing over our loudspeaker every single
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  morning. So I'm taking a page out of that
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  book for the 1000 Spotify star ratings.
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  I promise I will stop asking at 1000.
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  Also, if you still want to give your feedback on how you feel
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  about celebrity endorsements, the link is in the description.
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  Annabelle will close the survey next week, so make sure you guys
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  do it before then. All right, let's get into the
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  stories for today. So the first story that I have
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  for you guys today is that Jake Webber is addressing fans,
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  shipping him with his ex-girlfriend Tara Yummy.
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  Yesterday, Jake Webber took to TikTok to address what seems to
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  be an uptick of edits shipping him and his ex-girlfriend Tara
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  Yummy. So he began by doubling down on
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  the fact that the breakup was mutual before criticizing social
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  media users who insinuate that Jake had broken Tara's heart.
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  He also questioned by social media users continue to discuss
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  the topic, telling them to move on.
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  And then Tara Yummy shared a similar sentiment in the
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  comments section, Writing my heart is not broken lol.
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  It's full. We have a beautiful friendship.
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  Yeah, I'm going to say this because there's been like an
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  overwhelming amount of ship edits of me and Tara these past
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  few weeks. The breakup was mutual, that is
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  the truth. I don't know why people warp it
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  in their heads. It was mutual.
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  And if you're creating your observations on the breakup
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  video, she's an openly emotional person.
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  I'm not. So it's unfair to judge based on
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  that. People have to understand that
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  at that stage in our life, we were changing a lot.
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  I mean, look at us back then versus now.
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  We're like entirely different people.
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  We both agreed that was the best case scenario.
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  And it was, yeah, we said we wanted to be our own people,
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  which is true. People think we hang out every
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  single day. We don't.
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  We put videos together and that's the only thing that they
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  see of us online because most of our life is private.
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  Of course it's going to seem that way.
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  And no, I didn't break her heart.
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  She wanted the same thing as me. So it's lame that she's getting
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  painted as this this helpless, heartbroken girl.
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  That's not true. Now, social media users are
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  skeptical that Tara is telling the truth because of comments
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  that she's made in the past. When she appeared on Just Trish
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  in 2024, she had said that maybe they would get back together
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  down the line, but who knows? Keep in mind that was two years
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  ago, so lots could have changed from then.
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  But social media users are also pointed to a comment that she
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  made in a recent episode of her series Stuck in a Car with So.
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  Funnily enough, this episode also featured Jake's younger
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  sister Jillian Webber. They were talking about weddings
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  when Jillian asked Tara if she would ever get married.
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  Tara then said, I don't know, I think there was a point in my
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  life where I could, I could have seen myself getting married, but
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  that's far gone. And like, I just, I don't see
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  myself loving someone enough to getting married ever again.
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  So people obviously assumed that her saying I don't see myself
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  loving someone enough again was her referring to how much she
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  loved Jake. If you guys have no idea who
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  these people are, they're influencers, they're Tik tokers.
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  But Tara and Jake, they were in a relationship for five years
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  before breaking up toward the end of 2023.
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  So it's been a long time. It's been a long time.
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  Their breakup was very public, with both creators sharing
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  videos explaining their decision.
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  Despite no bad blood, they said they felt the breakup was best
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  for both of them because they met at such a young age.
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  Tara was 18 and Jake was 20. Fans were shocked by the breakup
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  as Tara and Jake had been together for a long time.
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  And they were really beloved and everybody was like, obsessed
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  with them as a couple. Since the breakup, the two have
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  continued to collaborate online and have remained close.
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  Tara is even going to be a bridesmaid in Jillian Jillian
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  Weber, Jake's younger sister's wedding.
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  Now, Jake has seemingly been in a relationship with Kenzie Luby
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  since around the middle of 2024. And speculation really picked up
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  around the couple after Coachella, with social media
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  users convinced that they're no longer together.
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  But the breakup rumors could explain why the Tara and Jake
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  ship edits have seemingly picked up and why Jake now feels like
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  he needs to address it. Because it's like, really
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  exploded recently. Interestingly, sentiment towards
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  Jake's video has been pretty negative on the LA Influencer
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  snark subreddit. For example, many users are
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  claiming that Tara and Jake lean into their friendship and flirt
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  with one another for clout. As one user wrote quote, people
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  wouldn't still be making edits if y'all weren't constantly
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  flirting with each other in videos.
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  Either stop flirting with each other or come to terms that fans
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  are going to ship y'all if you're giving them content to
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  ship y'all with. All right, the next story that I
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  have for you guys today is Taylor Swift's contract with UMG
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  is possibly about to make some artists a lot of money.
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  OK, so this is a bit of like a convoluted story and it's also
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  kind of mini tech adjacent, so bear with me, I'm going to do my
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  best. In early April, Universal Music
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  Group received a bid from the Capital Management firm Pershing
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  Square. Annabelle and I were looking
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  into the story and we kept saying perishing square, really
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  perishing square. And I'm like, they cannot be
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  perishing square, perishing Square.
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  And then we're like no Pershing Square quote to acquire all
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  outstanding shares of the company through a business
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  combination transaction. So this was essentially like an
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  unprovoked bid to buy the company.
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  Part of this proposal was that UMG liquidate 50% of its Spotify
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  shares. So right now, UMG owns 3% of
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  Spotify and this proposal suggested that they liquidate
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  1.5%, which will be worth $1.4 billion.
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  So the reason why Pershing Square made this bid is because
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  they did own 10% of UMG at one point.
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  They ended up, I think, selling some of those shares at a
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  certain point. But regardless, I believe they
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  still own a percentage of the business and therefore they
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  obviously have some insight into the financials.
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  And Bill Ackman, who is the owner and CEO of Pershing, he
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  believes that UMG is worth more or could be worth more like in
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  terms of their share price based on their internal like, business
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  successes than what the stock price is currently listed as.
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  That's getting a little bit ahead of myself.
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  Why does UMG own Spotify shares to begin with?
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  So Universal Music Group, UMG has shares in Spotify mainly
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  because back in the day, Spotify needed these major record labels
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  to survive. And the labels use that as
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  leverage to negotiate ownership stakes early on.
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  So basically, Spotify needed these licensing deals when they
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  were first starting out. They didn't have the capital to
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  funds the licensing deals, so equity was part of the deals
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  that they made with these major music labels.
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  Now, why would Pershing Square want UMG to sell its Spotify
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  shares ahead of a potential takeover?
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  First, it makes the takeover easier to finance.
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  So that will give UMG billions in cash.
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  And that cash can be used to pay down their debts, fund buybacks
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  or dividends, and also reduce how much outside funding a buyer
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  might need #2 it can make shareholders more likely to
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  accept a deal. So if investors know that
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  they're about to receive a major buyback or dividend funded by
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  the Spotify stock, then they're more likely to do it basically
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  because they're going to get paid #3 this is apparently a
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  very classic private equity style move.
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  It's common for takeovers to identify a company with valuable
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  non core assets, sell those assets, and then use the
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  proceeds to make the transaction cheaper or more profitable.
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  And four, it reduces the complexity of, UM, GS valuation.
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  Essentially, a Spotify stake complicates how investors value
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  UMG. OK.
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  So now on Wednesday, the UMG board of directors has gone out
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  independently and confirmed that it will be selling half of its
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  Spotify shares and doubling its share buyback program.
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  Now, when I say independently, I believe the wording here, like
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  why the media is reporting on independently is because I think
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  they got this bid or like this proposal.
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  And we're like, not sure if we're going to take that, but
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  like maybe we actually should do this like Spotify share thing
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  anyways. It's kind of how it's being
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  framed in the media. I'm not totally sure if that's
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  accurate, but they do qualify that it is independent.
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  So I think it's independent of like this deal possibly going
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  ahead. So proceeds from the Spotify
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  share sales, the 1.5% that they're going to sell, that will
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  do two things. First, it will help fund their
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  own shares buybacks. So the company I believe will be
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  buying back a percentage of their own shares and also it
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  will be distributed amongst its signed artists.
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  So why? And what does this have to do
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  with Taylor Swift? So when the major record labels
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  accepted stock in Spotify, like it back in the day, basically
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  they all agreed that their artists would be compensated in
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  the event that they sold their Spotify shares.
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  So in 2016, both Warner and Sony made this commitment.
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  And then two years later in 2018, UMG agreed to do the same.
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  Now this is where Taylor comes in.
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  So Sony was the first to cash in.
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  It sold off part of its Spotify shares shortly after the
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  company's IPO in April 2018. Warner followed a few months
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  later and sold its entire Spotify stock.
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  But the two labels handled the payouts differently.
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  So Sony distributed the money without factoring in whether
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  artists were quote, UN quote recouped, meaning it's artists
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  received paying even if they still owed the record label
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  money under their record deals. So if the record label had, you
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  know, put X amount of millions of dollars into marketing an
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  artist, and then we know that sometimes these deals require an
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  artist to pay that marketing expense back or like a
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  percentage of it back in their contract.
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  So with Sony, when they sold their Spotify stock, the artist
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  got the money and they didn't have to worry about if they
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  still owe the record label any of this, like recuperation
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  operated costs. Like they still just got the
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  money themselves. Whereas with Warner, they
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  actually took recoupment into account.
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  So that allowed the label to keep a larger share of the
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  profits. That same year, 2018, Taylor
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  Swift was negotiating her contract to sign with the
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  world's biggest music company, UMG.
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  So UMG had already agreed to share proceeds from Spotify
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  stock sales with artists, like I said, but she pushed them
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  further, asking the label to guarantee those payments would
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  be non recoupable. Recoupable.
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  Yeah, that's the right word. I'm like, that doesn't sound
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  right, but I think it's right. Recoupable.
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  So similar to what Sony did basically, where they didn't
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  take that into account and the artist gets to pocket the money
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  they don't have to put some of that towards their recuperation.
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  She essentially used her leverage as somebody with such
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  an incredibly valuable catalog of music to advocate for artists
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  and their rights in terms of the money that they make from
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  streaming and their deals with their labels.
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  And we know that Taylor is very passionate about that.
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  Like, that is not like something new.
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  That's been definitely a trend throughout her career.
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  And I think sometimes it's looked upon as she does a lot of
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  things for the betterment of herself.
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  And I don't think we often realize how much the decisions
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  that she make that seem to only impact her in the moment
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  actually can impact the wider industry.
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  And this is an example of her kind of like throwing her weight
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  around for the betterment or like the good of the industry.
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  So, yes, now that UMG has said it's going to sell 1.5% of its
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  stocks, all of these artists based on this deal that they
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  signed with Taylor Swift back in 2018, these artists are going to
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  get paid and they're not going to have to put that payment
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  towards their recuperation fees. So I feel like this story plus
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  her New York Times interview, like this is a good week, NPR,
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  for Taylor Swift. This is a really good week for
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  her. OK.
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  And the last story that I have for you guys, this is a random
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  one, but you know what, It's all over my for you page and it
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  might be for you guys too. But fans are convinced that
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  Zoella is missing. So Zoe Sugg, OG vlogger Zoella,
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  she has not posted anything on her social media.
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  As somebody whose full time job as far as we know is social
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  media, since she did Vlogmas back in December, she's posted
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  no new photos since the beginning of January.
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  No stories, no comments, no vlogs and she didn't even post
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  anything on her birthday on March 28th.
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  There are some wild fan theories.
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  One of the most prominent is that maybe something happened to
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  her pet pug. Although Alfie, her husband,
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  they're not. They're not husband and wife
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  yet, I don't think, but like her partner has said, that's not the
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  case. There's also a lot of people
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  that for some reason believe that they're in like a massive
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  amount of debt. If you guys know why people
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  believe that, let me know. But there is people who believe
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  that they're in a lot of debt and maybe that has something to
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  do with them pulling back. However, I would argue that if
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  their main source of income, as far as we know, I believe is
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  social media, I mean, that's at least where they can make the
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  most money probably. I mean, maybe not even anymore
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  to be honest. But, you know, like, it is like
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  a main source of income for them.
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  I love how, like, everything that I'm saying about this
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  story, I'm like, questioning as I'm saying it, it can be such a
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  big source of income for them. Like, I don't know why they
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  would pull back if they needed the money.
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  They would probably just be posting more.
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  Now. Alfie did return to his own
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  Instagram in March. He shared a photo of Zoe with
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  their daughters for International Women's Day.
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  And there are people who are saying who are like, from
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  Brighton, which is where they live, saying, like, they've seen
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  her out and about and acting normal.
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  And she seems fine. I'm sure she's just taking a
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  break from social media. She's been creating content for
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  17 years. Like, would you want to do the
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  exact same job for 17 years? Especially because it's no
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  longer this really exciting, super lucrative thing anymore,
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  right? Like there was a period of time
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  where it was just the biggest thing and you could make so much
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  money and it was probably so exciting.
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  And anything is going to dull after 17 years, don't get me
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  wrong, but especially because the money is definitely not like
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  it used to be. So yeah, I imagine she's
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  probably just taking a break. But the conspiracy theories are
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  crazy and everybody who is obsessed with them is posting
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  online being like, where is Zoella?
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  Anyways guys, that's it for mini scroll today.
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  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys.
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  Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  Please Spotify star rate US, help us stop the bop.
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  I love you guys and I will talk to you guys on Monday.
• 16:09
  Bye. Centennial World Podcast Network
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  operates on Gadigal land. We would like to acknowledge the
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  Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of this
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  land, and pay our respects to elders both past and present.