The music industry’s rebirth reached a crescendo yesterday, when Universal Music Group, the world's biggest music company, went public in Amsterdam after being spun off from Vivendi.

Its first day of trading was as pristine as the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling. Shares of the label, which represents mega-artists like Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, leapt nearly 40% to give the company a market value of $55 billion

Not too long ago, the industry was in the Dark Ages

In the decade leading up to 2009—when we all went from copping CDs at Target to downloading Limewire files to our iPods—music sales fell 56%, per the Recording Industry Association of America.

And record labels’ place in the digital era of music looked uncertain. But instead of backing out, some like Universal started shifting their strategies to earn royalties off of streaming services and social media platforms.

Universal CEO and wannabe supervillain Lucian Grainge made all the right moves to set the company up for success in the new ecosystem. Here’s a quick timeline from the NYT:

• In 2013, Universal forged a deal with Apple to get its artists onto Apple Music two years before the service debuted.
• In 2017, it worked out favorable licensing terms with Spotify.
• Also in 2017, it became the first major music company to strike a deal with Facebook, granting it licenses across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the virtual reality platform Oculus.
• Earlier this year, the label announced a global agreement with TikTok.

Now, Universal makes 70% of its revenue from streaming and publishing. The label predicts its revenue will grow at least 10% this year.

And any losses from the pandemic shutting down live concerts have been offset by a giant bump in streaming. Global streaming revenue rose 20% in 2020, per the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Zoom out: Music’s renaissance period could quickly turn baroque, as the battle over who gets the biggest piece of the growing revenue pie—from artists to labels to streaming services—gets increasingly heated.—JW

The Treasury Department issued its first sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange yesterday to fight the growing problem of ransomware attacks.

The target: Russia-based Suex, which is one of the most prolific money launderers in the crypto universe. 40% of its transactions involve unlawful activities, such as accepting payments from ransomware attackers and other cybercriminals.

Why it matters: Ransomware attacks, surging 300% in 2020, have crippled supply chains and critical infrastructure by holding digital information hostage.

• Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the US, was forced offline for six days in May.
• An Iowa grain co-op was hit by a cyberattack this Monday, and hackers demanded $5.9 million to unlock the organization’s data.

The majority of crypto activity is legal, the Treasury Dept. stressed, but it can be exploited by bad actors and leveraged for ransomware attacks. Crypto’s decentralized nature can make it more difficult to track down hackers.

Looking ahead…more sanctions on criminals in the digital currency space should be expected, officials said.

+ For more: Read our interview with a crypto crime fighter.—SQ

After months spent Zillow surfing, Google found its new dream home: the St. John’s Terminal on the west side of Manhattan. Costing $2.1 billion, it’s the priciest sale of an office building since the pandemic began and one of the most expensive office purchases in US history, per Real Capital Analytics.

Because Google knows everything...are offices back? It's murky. Google will allow employees to work in a hybrid arrangement post-pandemic, and it recently pushed back its office re-opening to January 2022 due to the Delta variant.

But in shelling out for this NYC office, Google is showing that “coming together in person to collaborate and build community will remain an important part of our future,” it said in a blog post.

Big picture: Big Tech is more enamored with NYC than Buddy the Elf. As other companies dump their office space, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook have been gobbling up real estate in the US’ largest city over the past few years. Now, NYC is home to the largest number of Google workers outside of California.—NF

Stat: More than 70% of global coal-fired power plants rely on Chinese funding, but that number could soon dwindle. At the UN General Assembly yesterday, President Xi Jinping said China would stop supporting coal-fired power plants abroad. Geopolitics expert Ian Bremmer called the announcement the “single biggest thing” that could have come out of the UNGA.

Quote: “I’m not sure the brand is positioned well for the next 10 years.”

AT&T CEO John Stankey said that he hopes to refresh his company’s public image. He can start by partnering with Crocs.

Read: America’s car crash epidemic. (Vox)

Your Happy Meal could soon consist of McNuggets, fries, and a copy of Jane Eyre.

McDonald’s said it would “drastically” reduce the amount of plastic in the toys it hands out with Happy Meals by the end of 2025, replacing them with more sustainably made figurines or, in some cases, books or cards.

The backstory: Happy Meal toys have been targeted by environmental activists for years, particularly in the UK where they were subject to a petition signed by more than 500,000 people in 2019.

Why are Happy Meals such a target? Because in addition to serving billions and billions of burgers, McDonald’s slings more than 1 billion toys each year, which puts it among the largest toy distributors in the world. McDonald’s sold around 5,300 happy meals per minute (89/second) in 2016, according to calculations by Sense360. All that plastic eventually ends up in landfills.

Zoom out: McDonald’s sprawling carbon footprint spans far more than Happy Meal toys; it’s also working to shift 100% of its packaging to renewable or recycled sources by 2025.—NF

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Earth, Wind, and Demi: Demi Adejuyigbe, the undisputed king of September 21, dropped a new video to celebrate the unofficial holiday. You can find his other 9/21 vids here.

The view from above: Check out the winners of the Drone Photo Awards 2021.

Internet gold: A beautiful scroll through vintage cocktail recipe books.

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Word Search: No matter which month you were born in, you're going to love today's puzzle. Play it here.

Autumn Trivia

Here are 16 individual leaves from Sporcle—see if you can identify them. 10 or more correct answers gets you a job at the US Forest Service.

We’ll give you a word bank: Mulberry, Maple, Japanese Maple, Tulip Tree, Pine, Sycamore, Oak, Chestnut, Giant Sequoia, Hickory, Locust, Beech, Willow, Palm, Holly, Gingko