Ness Aga

Built by creatives, for creatives, Seeker Music is redefining music publishing.   Yesterday, we shared The Sunday Times article, “How FTSE 100 fund manager M&G engineered a smash-hit song”, and as part of our ongoing investment story series, we asked Seeker Music CEO and Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Evan Bogart to tell us more about the journey from music publishing start-up in 2020 to important industry player, with a diverse catalogue of over 17,000 songs in just five years.   Seeker’s differentiated approach means its creative team works with songwriters and musicians to reimagine – or ‘flip’ – old songs into new ones. By acquiring and revitalising those with the highest artistic potential, Seeker enhances income for artists and investors alike through creativity and innovation, amplifying songs and their associated revenue streams globally. By tapping into new music technology and platforms, Seeker expands audiences, increases revenues, and grows digital and physical consumption – alongside more traditional methods of promoting songs in film, TV and advertising.   Majority-owned by our Life business’s £64 billion PruFund – part of the £128 billion Prudential With-Profits Fund – Seeker is actively managed by our Asset Management’s Private Markets division, which has supported and driven its growth and innovation. It’s an example of our unique business model in action.   You can hear from Evan below – and stay tuned for the full Seeker Music story later this week. A link to the Sunday Times article can be found in the comments.    #MandGSeekerMusic #MandGInvestmentStories  

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Brilliant to see announced that the WMCA will accelerate support for our world class creative industries through new funding for the region - following just a couple of weeks on from news of our renewed MOU with the BBC bringing investment to the regional screen sector. Thanks to Rachael Wadsworth and Eleanor G. for your work to bring this to life in DCMS and to the many colleagues who have supported us in making the collective case for creativity in the West Midlands. The West Midlands Combined Authority is one of six UK regions with strengths in creative industries that have been awarded £25 million as part of the Government’s Creative Places Growth Fund. This funding will grow the already booming creative industries of the West Midlands - including film and TV, video games, createch, music and performing arts and design. The region is home to over 15,000 creative enterprises, including Digbeth Loc Studios and BBC StudioWorks, while Birmingham, the biggest city in the region, has World Craft City status. The fund was announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan in June, as part of Industrial Strategy, where the Government shared their intention to invest £150 million in the creative industries of six regions outside of London - Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, North East, West of England, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy revealed that the fund will be split equally across these regions to drive growth, innovation and investment.The fund will empower local Mayors to support creative professionals, businesses and young people in their communities with access to finance, mentoring and networking opportunities to help them connect with investors and skills programmes. Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, said: “Creativity has no postcode - whether it’s a musician in Birmingham, a filmmaker in Coventry, or a video games developer in Wolverhampton. “We know that it is not one size fits all. That’s why we are committed to growing our creative industries in every corner of the nation as part of our Creative Industries Sector Plan, and hope that this devolved funding will be just what these regions need to make their creative industries the best that they can be.” Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “Our region is well known for its grit and graft as the manufacturing heart of Britain. But our film and TV sets, gaming studios, music venues, theatre stages, and digital workshops are also fast becoming a major part of our regional economy. “We have the talent, the locations and now the government’s backing to write a new chapter of growth - one that turns more of our stories into exciting jobs and new opportunities. This is about putting our people and places centre stage in the UK’s fast growing creative sector.”

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We’ve registered 6 new industry-drafted codes aimed at protecting children from a range of harmful and age-inappropriate content. Together with the 3 codes registered in June, these apply to a broad range of online services and platforms including: 🛒 app stores 🕹️ video games, messaging and dating services 🌐 websites and hosting services 🔍 search engines 🤖 generative AI and AI companion chatbots 📱 equipment manufacturers and suppliers 👍 social media platforms 📶 internet service providers. These codes are drafted by the tech industry and represent what the industry considers to be proportionate and feasible measures to enhance online safety. This includes: 🛡️ Adopting key good practice measures already being implemented by major platforms. 🛡️ Introducing new obligations that will require the online industry to improve children’s online safety, as well as giving adults greater control over what they want to see. 🛡️ Requiring some services to implement age checks to prevent children from accessing harmful material. 🛡️ Enshrining principles which will sit alongside the safety measures, like the importance of protecting human rights online; the right to freedom of expression; and the requirement for all services to comply with Australian privacy laws. The codes complement the protections of the social media minimum age obligation, which will apply only to age-restricted social media platforms when it takes effect in December. The codes are legally enforceable, with penalties of up to $49.5 million. Some of the codes commence from 27 December, and all measures must be in place by September next year. ➡ Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gCiaPYTs

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We've joined forces with Centre for Entertainment Arts in a bold new CreaTech strategic partnership, uniting one of the UK’s most innovative universities with a global leader in digital entertainment education 🧑‍💻 Over a two-year pilot, we'll deliver short, high-impact training courses at Fusion, a dedicated space on the Warwick campus designed for creativity, technology, and experimentation. From 3D animation to AI, and game development to visual effects, these high-demand courses offer fast-track upskilling led by experienced industry practitioners. Designed for adult learners, aspiring creatives, and professionals across the UK’s digital industries, the initiative responds directly to national skills shortages and to a growing demand for specialist creative tech talent. Find out more: https://bit.ly/4moY8Ox Warwick Innovation District

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Fuse Technical Group is pleased to announce that it has acquired Video Design Ltd, a London based video technical production company. Video Design has been a leader in video technical production for many of the United Kingdom’s largest touring acts and live events for over 10 years. Video Design was founded by the late Alex Leinster in 2015 to provide the highest quality technical expertise to live events and concerts using LED, projection, camera systems, media servers, and playback engineering. Alex’s vision has continued through his employees, who have been with the company since day one and continue to keep his legacy of technical excellence alive. Video Design has been a leader in video technical production for many of the United Kingdoms largest touring acts and live events for over 10 years. Video Design was founded by the late Alex Leinster in 2015 to provide the highest quality technical expertise to live events and concerts using LED, Projection, Camera Systems, Media Server and Playback Engineering. Alex’s vision has continued by his employees who have been with the company since day one and continue to keep his legacy of technical excellence alive.  Fuse Technical Group is proud to carry forward Alex’s legacy—a company built on an unwavering commitment to clients and a standard of technical excellence reflected not only in the equipment supplied but also in the incredibly talented people who bring that equipment to life. Fuse shares this same unwavering commitment to its clients and will maintain full operations from its current offices at 15-16 Wilstead Industrial Park, Kenneth Way, Bedford, MK45 3PD, UK. This acquisition strengthens Fuse’s ability to serve its global clients while expanding the technical capabilities and offerings that the Video Design team has long been recognized for and continues to excel at.

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Safeguarding Trust in Media: Sony is presenting at IBC2025 as part of the 'Stamping Your Content (C2PA)' project 🔐 As part of this year’s IBC Accelerator Programme, Sony, alongside key players in the industry, presented the results of the “Stamping Your Content (C2PA)” project in the IBC Future Tech Zone today. Together with a powerhouse consortium of broadcasters and tech innovators, Sony is a key part of the conversation to make media workflows trusted from start to finish with its new PXW-Z300 camcorder - the world's first camcorder to embed C2PA-compliant digital signatures into video files. This collaboration marks a major leap forward in the fight against misinformation, setting new standards for transparency and accountability in content creation. 🔗 Learn more about how BBC & Sony collaborate to raise awareness on the risks of synthetic content and establish C2PA compliant standards for digital provenance here: https://bit.ly/4mPyuU3 #IBC25 #C2PA #MediaProvenance #Authenticity #PXWZ300

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After 70 years of broadcasting, ITV found themselves in a familiar but uncomfortable spot – they’d grown so much that their own brand had become difficult to navigate. Multiple sub-channels, streaming platforms and an increasingly complex visual identity meant that one of Britain’s most established broadcasters was, ironically, struggling to clearly communicate who they were. The problem wasn’t unique, but it was urgent. In an entertainment landscape where Netflix and Disney+ communicate with razor-sharp brand clarity, ITV’s identity had become what Tom Houser, Executive Creative Director at ITV Creative, describes as “timid and difficult to use.” Seven different typefaces were in circulation. Sub-channel colours created confusion rather than clarity. The masterbrand – the thing that actually mattered – was getting lost. Enter Studio Kiln, the Cornwall-based creative practice whose approach to this challenge would prove rather direct. Rather than adding more elements to an already complex system, they stripped everything back to find what actually mattered. Read the complete case study → t-bi.link/itv

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Safeguarding Trust in Media: Sony is presenting at IBC2025 as part of the 'Stamping Your Content (C2PA)' project 🔐 As part of this year’s IBC Accelerator Programme, Sony, alongside key players in the industry, presented the results of the “Stamping Your Content (C2PA)” project in the IBC Future Tech Zone today. Together with a powerhouse consortium of broadcasters and tech innovators, Sony is a key part of the conversation to make media workflows trusted from start to finish with its new PXW-Z300 camcorder - the world's first camcorder to embed C2PA-compliant digital signatures into video files. This collaboration marks a major leap forward in the fight against misinformation, setting new standards for transparency and accountability in content creation. 🔗 Learn more about how BBC & Sony collaborate to raise awareness on the risks of synthetic content and establish C2PA compliant standards for digital provenance here: https://bit.ly/4mPyuU3 #IBC25 #C2PA #MediaProvenance #Authenticity #PXWZ300

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