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The three big debates around music and generative AI

As streaming services set out proposals for US songwriter payments post-2027, NMPA labels Amazon “the worst offender”

Polydor President among the senior execs to depart as Universal completes its two year €250 million saving corporate “redesign”

Summer Walker legal drama doubles as she battles to dump management as well as her label

UK Copyright Tribunal ruling recognises “increased value of music in cinema” says PRS

Music industry welcomes eighteen month prison sentence for streaming fraudster

Don’t say collusion: “no evidence of misconduct or conflict of interest” say major labels and publishers about their Phono V physical negotiations

Streaming fraud is fuelled by “perceived lack of a legal risk”, industry stakeholders tell judge in Michael Smith sentencing

As touts list Oasis tickets for £3000, will the UK government finally set a timeline for banning for-profit ticket touting?

Incoming ‘nor’easter storm’ might succeed where billionaire Robert Kraft failed - causing an Ed Sheeran show to cancel

Ed Sheeran discusses Macklemore axing controversy as his tour resumes in Philadelphia

Live Nation hired Trump’s personal lawyer as it sought to persuade US Department Of Justice to settle antitrust litigation

Songwriter AI victory in Europe as GEMA beats Suno in copyright lawsuit

Live Nation says everyone should shut up and stop asking questions about its cosy deal with Trump’s DoJ

Only humans can be ‘authors’ say Canadian music publishers in test case on copyright status of AI-generated works

AI-generated tracks now account for more than 50% of Deezer’s uploads

UK government publishes ‘Our Plan For Music’ - and announces new funding and licensing reforms

US industry groups raise “serious concerns” about EU royalty flow proposals, which many of their European counterparts support

Kneecap allowed to file defamation lawsuit in Ireland against Indigenous leader in Canada over antisemitism claims

BBC’s music boss Lorna Clarke outlines broadcaster’s AI transparency commitments - but can it actually meet them?

Spotify zaps half a million streams amid speculation Kalshi traders were behind boost for Malcolm Todd track ‘Earrings’

PRS defeats Rowntree black box class action at appeal - but is left £1.8m out of pocket

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino talked to Trump, hired Trump allies, reveals latest filing in antitrust case

StubHub fined £900,000 by UK regulator for illegal drip pricing

Google says any music uploaded to YouTube is fair game for AI training - and there’s nothing musicians can do

Suno really doesn’t want you to know how many audio files it copied when training its music AI model

Universal Music has found its backbone and told Bill Ackman to take a hike

BTS fans hate Live Nation over Aussie and Malaysian ticket pre-sales

Chance The Rapper and Pat The Manager back in court, over claims Pat improperly inserted himself into Chance’s deals

Gamma - which released Kanye’s comeback album - sues to unmask whoever is behind “coordinated and malicious” anonymous smear campaign

UK competition regulator should urgently investigate live music sector, MPs say, citing “climate of fear” around Live Nation’s dominance

Spotify’s transformation into an AI slop factory commences as it announces Universal “superfan” remix gimmick and Live Nation ticketing wheeze

Music industry welcomes revised NO FAKES Act, but Spotify says “still work to do”

Live Nation and Ticketmaster should still be split up, lawmakers told, as US government’s antitrust settlement criticised in Congress

Spotify increases subscription prices in Canada, but rolls back previous price increases in India

Op-ed: More than the Beatles: the quiet secrets behind Liverpool’s world-class music industry

BMG and Concord confirm merger

Universal and Sony must be allowed to see Warner’s deal with Suno, lawyers tell judge as AI legal battle continues

Music streaming services targeted as Texas Attorney General launches payola investigation

Live Nation pays $9.9 million to settle yet another investigation into dodgy ticketing practices

The European rule on whether samples need to be cleared moves to a “maybe” with latest Kraftwerk ruling

BTS lawyers go after album leaker and knock-off merch sellers

Eddie Dalton’s (actually quite modest) chart success sparks further debate about where AI music fits in

Grass needs more time to grow says AEG as it puts a pin in LIDO Festival

Universal CEO Lucian Grainge makes 764 times more than his employees - and female staff get 48% less than male counterparts

Major music publishers buy into termination rights lawsuit to take fight to Supreme Court

Spotify wants $300 million in damages from Anna’s Archive, and for court to go after piracy site’s service providers

Cox Communications celebrates as US Supreme Court overturns critical music piracy judgement

Claude’s AI lyrics cause market dilution, say music publishers calling for courts to reject fair use defence

Declare trademark claims bogus says FKA in Twigs vs Twigs

Chance The Rapper wins sunset clause dispute with former manager

American man pleads guilty to multi-million dollar streaming fraud, faces five years in jail

Cautious welcome for UK government’s latest AI copyright stance, as BMG files latest Anthropic lawsuit

DoJ’s Live Nation settlement “proof Trump Administration cannot be trusted to protect American consumers”, says new Senate report on Ticketmaster

StubHub to more clearly state prices and terms for touted tickets, and offer Taylor Swift fans refunds, but only in British Columbia

“Robbing them blind, baby - that’s how we do it”, boast Live Nation execs about “so stupid” ticket-buyers

New generation of British artists propel UK record industry to £1.5 billion high, says BPI

High Court sides with Kneecap, ending the Hezbollah flag criminal case against Mo Chara

Google had every opportunity to train its AI legally, but chose to do it on the cheap instead, say indie musicians in new lawsuit

Live Nation settles DoJ antitrust lawsuit - but state lawsuits may continue

Chance The Rapper and Pat The Manager bust-up heads to court over disputed sunset clause

Warner Music’s Robert Kyncl is betting the company on an AI future. Can he deliver?

Suno is a feral pig rampaging through a well-tended garden, say creator orgs

Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said “independent music is not raw material for tech companies to exploit without consent” before quitting to join AI music scraper-in-chief Suno

Producer who accused Karol G of beat-theft dismisses his lawsuit, adding “we were wrong”

Anna’s Archive rolls out the red carpet for robots - and asks them to “persuade” their humans to make donations

After a Live Nation lobbyist boasted he got antitrust chief sacked, US Senators ask if company has hired a “bevy of cozy MAGA friends”

European Commission approves Universal’s $775 million Downtown acquisition - but did it ask the right questions?

Spotify is all in on AI, its best engineers haven't written a single line of code since December - and why that should worry the music industry

Adding “hot takes” to unlicensed music is not fair use, judge confirms in rockumentary copyright case

IMPALA report warns European music diversity will erode without intervention on ownership, market access and infrastructure

European Commission must tackle “coercive buy-out practices” when US video streamers commission music, says MEP

Charlie Puth got musician to provide vocals for ‘Furious 7’ track, then Warner cheated him out rights and royalties, says lawsuit

Music publishers file new Anthropic lawsuit, adding in piracy claims and $3 billion mega-damages

Meta dropped songs from Reels library to bully Wixen into accepting lower royalty rates, says lawsuit

Horizon Future Leaders: Four issues shaping the industry

Five key developments over the Christmas break

Music and AI: 2025’s developments that will shape 2026’s disputes

Artists from South East Europe at risk of “cultural erasure” as a result of Spotify’s 1000 stream threshold

As indie community calls again for Universal’s Downtown deal to be blocked, will UMG flog off Curve to get over regulators?

MIT study “marks a new anchor for meaningful actions” to make live music more environmentally sustainable

Indie publishers make demands of collecting societies as they start to negotiate AI deals

Bob Vylan sue RTÉ over claims they instigated “antisemitic chant” during Glastonbury set

After King Gizzard boycotted Spotify, tracks by an AI-clone of the band started streaming

Ador founder wants to develop alternative K-pop management model with new agency

Indie publisher trade body says members should reject AI deals that do not value songs properly

“Creators are collateral damage” in AI race says Jorja Smith’s label, after AI voice clone track goes viral

Kneecap sue MP who “lied to the world” about group’s Canada ban

Johnny Cash estate uses ELVIS Act to sue Coke over tribute act ad soundtrack

Suno picks up Songkick as part of AI licensing deal with Warner Music

Live Nation and AEG provide a “disgusting service”, says Olivia Dean, after for-profit touting of tickets

Fugee Pras Michel jailed for fourteen years after illegal lobbying

Ticket touting platforms start frantic lobbying campaign claiming new anti-tout laws will increase ticket fraud

StubHub share price craters as UK prepares to announce ticket touting ban

Regulators must consider UMG’s AI deals in Downtown case, says IAO President

North American songwriter groups join call for transparency and creator consent as music companies start signing AI deals

Starmer must “honour his pledge” to cap prices in “extortionate and pernicious” secondary ticketing market

Downtown accused of planning “calculated destruction” of a short-lived YouTube music client in bombastic new lawsuit

No “self-service buffet” for AI companies says GEMA CEO as OpenAI loses landmark lyrics lawsuit

Manchester Evening News pays damages after incorrectly labelling Bob Vylan’s “sun salutation” as a Nazi salute

Anthropic • 4 min read

Claude’s lyrics are diluting real lyrics, say music publishers in latest Anthropic proceedings

The big debate over whether or not AI training is fair use under US copyright law was taking place in court again yesterday, this time in the context of music, specifically lyrics, with the copyright legal battle between AI company Anthropic and the Universal, Concord and ABKCO music publishers…

Chris Cooke • 22 Oct 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Internet Girl

Cape Town trio Internet Girl are a new kind of boy band - alt-rap with smatterings of hyperpop, punk and indie sleaze. New single ‘HIGH AS HEAVEN’ sounds like it samples Klaxons’ ‘It’s Not Over Yet’ before building into a rowdy, distorted rush. Debut album ‘YES’ is out in November…

Kaya Robertson • 22 Oct 2026

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Major labels are getting “massive corporate payouts” for AI licensing but “paying musicians zero”, says AFM’s ‘Human Made Human Paid’ campaign

US performer union AFM has launched a new campaign around AI calling on labels to ensure musician consent is secured before including their recordings in any AI deals. It’s not clear how labels plan to manage those deals and share AI income, but AFM wants to ensure all musicians are compensated…

Chris Cooke • 21 Oct 2026

Horizon Future Leaders • 7 min read

🌅 Horizon Leaders - Alex Hehir

This week we caught up with Alex Hehir, Managing Director of Wixen Music UK, one of the most respected independent music publishers, known for its artist-first ethos.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 21 Oct 2026

Termination Right • 5 min read

US Supreme Court can’t overturn landmark termination rights ruling, because too many judges have book deals with BMG sister company Penguin Random House

An attempt by the major music publishers and BMG to persuade the US Supreme Court to overturn a landmark songwriter-friendly termination rights ruling has failed, because of BMG’s involvement. Basically, too many Supreme Court judges have published books with BMG sister company Penguin Random House…

Chris Cooke • 20 Oct 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Rayland Baxter

Son of Bob Dylan’s pedal steel player, Tennessee’s Rayland Baxter makes dusty, unhurried alt-country. New single ‘Up And Down A Mountain’ is glorious - toe-tapping and loose - about the chaos of falling in and out of love. New album ‘True Violet’ is also out this Friday…

Kaya Robertson • 20 Oct 2026

Artificial Intelligence • 10 min read

The three big debates around music and generative AI

This Friday, CMU’s Chris Cooke will join a panel discussion at Un-Convention on music and AI. Generative AI models that output music pose lots of questions for the music industry, which can make such discussions complex. Here we organise all the questions and issues into three big debates…

Chris Cooke • 19 Oct 2026

Amazon • 5 min read

As streaming services set out proposals for US songwriter payments post-2027, NMPA labels Amazon “the worst offender”

The US Copyright Royalty Board will next year decide what streaming services should pay songwriters and music publishers in the American market from 2028 to 2032. Most of the services want to keep the current rate, the publishers want an increase, but Amazon is controversially proposing a rate cut…

Chris Cooke • 16 Oct 2026

• 1 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise this week, from The Drums and Genesis Owusu, bed, Shygirk, Fontaines D.C. + Snoh Aalegra…

Kaya Robertson • 16 Oct 2026

Universal Music • 2 min read

Polydor President among the senior execs to depart as Universal completes its two year €250 million saving corporate “redesign”

Back in 2024 Universal Music said it would find €250 million in annual savings via a “strategic organisational redesign” that would be complete by the end of 2026. With that deadline looming, yesterday the major announced a series of structural changes with a number of senior execs departing…

Chris Cooke • 15 Oct 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Radie Peat

Radie Peat of Lankum releases her debut solo album in November, fifteen years in the making. Opening single ‘Hares On The Mountain’ is a beautifully wry and subversive folk song. If The Stranglers had been a folk outfit, this is how they might have done it…

Kaya Robertson • 15 Oct 2026

Summer Walker • 3 min read

Summer Walker legal drama doubles as she battles to dump management as well as her label

Following the news Universal’s Interscope label is suing Summer Walker after she used California’s seven year rule to exit a record deal early, it’s now come to light that Walker is suing her management firm LVRN in a bid to end her deal with that company too, which she says was onerous and unfair…

Chris Cooke • 14 Oct 2026

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