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Cornwall Council will hold meeting about ‘safety risks’ of Bob Vylan’s August Boardmasters performance - even through there weren’t any

Spotify finally adds lossless audio to premium

Anthropic will pay authors $1.5 billion to settle AI copyright case

Universal’s Downtown deal must be blocked by regulators before “cultural diversity is weakened irreversibly” says Dutch indie label group president

As EU hits pause on UMG Downtown investigation after “parties fail to provide important info”, Downtown boss whines about “misinformation”

More upheaval at Warner Music as UK label chiefs will report directly to US execs

Yet another senior exec out at Warner Music as UK boss Tony Harlow quits

Billion dollar piracy win for majors “defies common law and common sense” says Cox

Court dismisses Dave Rowntree’s black box lawsuit against PRS

Supertramp songwriter must continue to share publishing royalties with bandmates, US appeals court concludes

FTC sues ticket touting business that claims it is endorsed by Ticketmaster

Drake’s claims are “farcical” says Lucian Grainge as defamation battle rumbles on

Drake wants to trawl through Papa Grainge’s emails in ‘Not Like Us’ libel battle

Sony sues Napster over $9.2 million in unpaid royalties

Spotify age-checks could result in accounts being deleted, but only if you’re twelve

Increasing number of artists join Spotify boycott over CEO’s AI weapon investments

If China blocks TikTok deal app will “go dark” says US Commerce Secretary, but hints deal “coming soon”

Blackstone bails on consortium bidding to buy TikTok US - will a deal still be done by September deadline?

Anthropic’s ‘fair use’ win in AI copyright case could turn into a trillion dollar loss

No copyright exception for AI training in European law, says new report

Full scale anticompetition investigation on the cards after UMG’s Virgin Music fails to allay EU fears over Downtown merger

Suno AI’s faulty guardrails mean its ‘ReMi’ lyric model will spit out entire lyrical works with basic prompting

Did Ticketmaster’s UK boss Andrew Parsons mislead MPs at a select committee hearing?

Trump must “weigh in” on AI copyright debate and pressure “less innovative countries” on copyright rules, says OpenAI

Everyone’s making loads of money but don’t point the finger at us if you’re not, says Spotify’s updated Loud & Clear

Andrew Tate course on ‘pimping’ and exploiting women remains on Spotify as petition passes 25,000 signatures

Universal will spend billions to dominate emerging markets, says Grainge during Q4 earnings call as major sets out its “eat the world” strategies

Liverpool “new heart of music business” says Sound City as major label execs and industry heavyweights head north

Live Nation boss dismissive of streaming platforms’ superfan ambitions as company reports record year

Spotify wants to be “the best in the world at building AI products” and is focused on “accelerated execution”... but still no super-premium launch

Judge throws out MLC’s audiobooks bundle lawsuit, says Spotify can keep cutting songwriter royalties through its “cynical trick”

Universal Music’s new Spotify deal could be a knock-out blow for streaming platform’s audiobook bundling trick

Universal put “corporate greed” before Drake’s safety, says defamation lawsuit filed over Kendrick Lamar diss track

Beware the “wolf under the cape” in Universal’s Downtown land grab, warns Beggars boss as IMPALA calls for regulators to block the deal

EU AI Act can only provide a “temporary fix” to the “darker aspect” of AI’s “profound disruption” to creative industries says open letter

AI generated music will suck €4 billion a year away from music creators by 2028 says CISAC

Village People founder loves Trump using YMCA, but hates people calling it a gay anthem

Executives from BMG, Absolute Label Services, Mahogany Music, Punch Records and more to join award winning female entrepreneurs in Liverpool as first Sound City+ 2025 speakers unveiled

AIF makes desperate call for government to “step up, and step up now” to get festivals through “devastating period”, as MVT launches new Liveline fund

New AI transparency proposal in US Congress will “pave the way” for creator compensation says ASCAP boss

SXSW ditches weapons sponsors to burnish brand - so why won’t it ditch its ties to Saudi Arabia?

SXSW London could disrupt delicately balanced music ecosystem and should reconsider its date

TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok deal details leak as Trump pushes deadline for sale of US business back to December

Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, this time to 16 Dec. A framework deal was agreed with the Chinese government on Monday that will see TikTok US become 80% owned by American investors. More details about that deal have now leaked…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Open letter says creators’ human rights are “being flouted en masse” by AI companies

A plethora of artists and music industry organisations have signed an open letter demanding to know why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer isn’t standing up for the human rights of British creators, whose copyrights are being infringed at scale by AI companies, many of them based overseas…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

Op-Eds • 5 min read

Op-ed: DHP Family’s George Akins on what independence really means in live music

As Kneecap play their biggest show to date at Wembley Arena, the band’s promoter George Akins of DHP Family looks at what independence really means in the live industry, and why corporate interests and artists’ rights to express themselves are often in opposition to each other…

CMU Contributors • 17 Sep 2025

Artificial Intelligence • 5 min read

Open letter from UK creators to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on AI

An open letter to Keir Starmer signed by numerous UK artists and creators - and organisations from across the UK creative industries - demanding to know why the Prime Minister isn’t standing up for the human rights of British creators in the context of AI…

CMU Editorial • 17 Sep 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: corto.alto

Led by trombonist, producer and sonic experimenter Liam Shortall, corto.alto has been steadily pulling jazz into new territories. New single ‘VANDAL’ opens with punchy live brass and percussion before bleeding into textures that belong more to Berlin’s club culture than a jazz conservatoire…

Kaya Robertson • 16 Sep 2025

Secondary Ticketing • 2 min read

Speculative listings for Radiohead tickets show dodgy touting still rampant across Europe “despite EU’s good intentions”

The EU needs to do more to combat dodgy ticket touting practices across Europe, according to campaign group FEAT. It identified 1751 touted tickets for Radiohead concerts on just one resale site, Ticombo, before tickets had even gone on general sale and despite the band’s anti-touting measures…

Chris Cooke • 16 Sep 2025

Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Is Ticketmaster doing enough to stop touts? A new FTC investigation looks at ticketing giant’s BOTS Act compliance

Earlier this year Donald Trump told the FTC to crackdown on bad conduct in the ticket resale market, including by better enforcing the BOTS Act. It’s now emerged that, among other things, it is investigating if Ticketmaster is doing enough to stop touts from sourcing tickets via dodgy tactics…

Chris Cooke • 16 Sep 2025

CMU Selects • 2 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise last week, from Acopia, Slayyyter, Dove Ellis, JADE and George Riley.…

Kaya Robertson • 15 Sep 2025

TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

With the latest deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations coming up this week, Donald Trump has indicated that a deal has been agreed. The Chinese government needs to approve any sale of TikTok’s US business, but that has seemingly been achieved at trade talks in Spain…

Chris Cooke • 15 Sep 2025

Bob Vylan • 4 min read

Bob Vylan says they did not “celebrate” Charlie Kirk’s death, as Coldplay’s Chris Martin says fans should “send love” to activist’s family

Bob Vylan have caused more controversy with on-stage comments calling Charlie Kirk “a piece of shit” just days after the activist was shot dead at an event in Utah. Meanwhile some Coldplay fans were left bewildered after Chris Martin encouraged his audience to “send love” to Kirk’s family…

Chris Cooke • 15 Sep 2025

Bob Vylan • 3 min read

Cornwall Council will hold meeting about ‘safety risks’ of Bob Vylan’s August Boardmasters performance - even through there weren’t any

After Bob Vylan’s controversial Glasto set, political activists in Cornwall said the duo’s booking to play Boardmasters in August raised safety concerns. A Cornwall Council committee will discuss those concerns next week, even though the duo’s Boardmasters performance went ahead without any dramas…

Chris Cooke • 12 Sep 2025

Horizon Future Leaders • 3 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Tobi Mwa

This week we caught up with Tobi Mwa, Manager and Business Partner for UK artist Nippa, and a figure shaping what modern artist development looks like in a global, digital-first music landscape.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 12 Sep 2025