The music business explained: news, analysis, insights and jobs for music industry professionals

Matt Hanner, founder of live agency Runway, on this year’s Agents x Managers Conference

Triller brings in former VEVO exec to kickstart “transformation journey” as vertical video’s poor cousin licks its lips at prospect of TikTok ban

Sony Music shows off “next-generation immersive technologies”, trails upcoming Myles Smith Fortnite event

2 Live Crew win back control of early albums as court rejects label’s ‘work for hire’ claim

Proper Group AG scandal grows as investor John Mitchell distances himself from Löhr and CMU uncovers another case of embezzlement

Proper Group AG - the company formerly known as Utopia - is riddled with debt and has left its few remaining staff high and dry with salaries unpaid for months

CAA accuses Range Media of stealing confidential information and masquerading as a management company to avoid talent agency regulations

TikTok’s stance on direct licensing is “disingenuous” and risks harming the digital supply chain say industry insiders

Lucian Grainge or God? Universal’s UK big cheese David Joseph is off to study religion

After executive cull, Elliot Grainge will reveal new Atlantic leadership team next week

EU consumer group sues Apple for €62 million over ‘Apple tax’ price hike on competing music subscriptions

The music industry is entering the era of “Streaming 2.0” and could be on course for 2 billion paying subscribers says Universal Music boss Lucian Grainge

US internet providers slam “extortionate pressure” of copyright lawsuits as they urge the Supreme Court to scrap Cox judgement

The 1975 respond to Malaysian festival promoter’s lawsuit

New York District Attorney brings criminal charges against man accused of sophisticated streaming fraud that raked in more than $10 million

Oasis brings dynamic ticketing practices under fire from UK’s competition and advertising regulators, plus EU

Chaotic scramble for Oasis tickets puts dynamic pricing in the spotlight of upcoming government inquiry

Hipgnosis “fraudulently induced” Barry Manilow to sell his artist royalties with “false promises”

Michael Rapino knew about Travis Scott’s “dangerous concert antics” says court filing as Live Nation desperately tries to avoid CEO’s deposition in Astroworld case

Crisis for Scottish music industry as government pauses critical funding schemes

Using lyrics without permission has not caused any “irreparable harm” to music publishers says Anthropic in injunction dispute

📑 CMU Digest: Donald Trump's music problem + more states join DOJ v Live Nation

Rachel Chinouriri cancels US support shows, putting the spotlight back on the ‘cost of touring crisis’

Isaac Hayes estate sues Donald Trump for copyright infringement

📑 CMU Digest: Cox takes major label dispute to Supreme Court + court dismisses Eminem publisher's Spotify lawsuit

Anthropic’s “tired arguments” and “scare tactics” should be rejected, say music organisations

TikTok forced to ditch “addictive” Lite rewards scheme in the EU

Suno admits it trained on major-owned music, accuses labels of misusing copyright

Lucian Grainge is back on the win-win, but which DSP is off his christmas card list? It’s not hard to guess.

Major label trade group criticises Canada’s 5% streaming levy

Spotify’s Q2: Cost cutting is paying off, Ek teases Supremium launch, hints at secret features beyond hi-res audio

Live Nation fights back in antitrust battle with US government

Kanye West and Snoop Dogg sued over uncleared samples and beats

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

Lucian’s lunch money under threat as shareholder pressure mounts over “excessive” pay packet

Could Co-op Group terminate Manchester arena naming rights deal? Fury mounts as safety incident forces yet more Co-op Live show cancellations

An unexpected late night is not a “cognizable injury”, says Madonna in response to lawsuit over her slack timekeeping

Believe x WMG takeover dance warms up as financial regulator is called in

TikTok insists it isn't forcing Americans to phone politicians as ban proposal gets fast-tracked in Congress

CNM statement shows that Spotify’s rage about new French streaming levy misrepresents key facts

France has stood firm against Spotify’s bullying - and Spotify is having a tantrum

WMG is toying with an offer for Believe that would wipe out Warner’s cash reserves - but is it serious, would Believe shareholders sell and can WMG afford to bet the farm?

Mean Millennials scrap streaming subscriptions, mail order music is booming - and Apple Music might be making £500 million or more in the UK

Manchester City Council has spent nearly £90,000 fighting Night & Day legal battle

Hipgnosis Songs Fund takes a haircut - and might have bigger problems to come

Dodgy distributor 3tone linked to company being investigated by Serious Fraud Office

Artificial Intelligence and the music industry in 2023

Agents x Managers Conference • 7 min read

Matt Hanner, founder of live agency Runway, on this year’s Agents x Managers Conference

With the second edition of the Agents x Managers conference coming up in December, Matt Hanner, founder of live agency Runway, sat down with CMU’s Sam Taylor to talk about what being a live agent means today, not checking email at weekends, and why he wants his team to make more money than he does…

Sam Taylor • 24 Oct 2024

Diddy • 2 min read

Diddy lawyers say gagging order should restrict any government investigator with access to the case files

Diddy’s legal team have written another letter to the court about the gagging order they want issued restricting what anyone involved in the criminal case against the musician can say in public. There is currently a disagreement with prosecutors over who the gagging order should apply to…

Chris Cooke • 24 Oct 2024

Black Lives In Music • 1 min read

Black Lives In Music launches Anti-Racism code for the music industry

Black Lives In Music launched a new anti-racism code for the music industry at WOMEX this week. It also previewed a new software called EquiTrack which will help music companies track their diversity and inclusion work and assess the impact it is having…

Chris Cooke • 24 Oct 2024

CISAC • 3 min read

Live music booming, but songwriters still not feeling the benefits of streaming, say latest CISAC stats

A booming live music sector and continued growth in the digital music market both contributed to an €830 million increase in royalties collected by the world’s songwriter collecting societies in 2023, according to the latest Global Collections Report published by CISAC…

Chris Cooke • 24 Oct 2024

Op-Eds • 3 min read

Op-ed: Dorothea Thompson of Bray & Krais on the Morrissey + Marr trademark tensions

After Morrissey and Johnny Marr had a public set-to about the trademark THE SMITHS, Dorothea Thompson takes a look at the ins and outs of trademark registration and how to sort things out…

CMU Contributors • 23 Oct 2024

Artificial Intelligence • 4 min read

1000+ music creators back statement calling unlicensed AI training “major, unjust threat to livelihood”

Thousands of creators from across the creative industries have endorsed a statement saying that AI companies which train their models with existing content without getting permission first are posing an “unjust threat” to the livelihoods of people working in those sectors…

Chris Cooke • 23 Oct 2024

Triller • 5 min read

Triller brings in former VEVO exec to kickstart “transformation journey” as vertical video’s poor cousin licks its lips at prospect of TikTok ban

Triller is BACK! Just in time for Halloween. And this time it’s deadly serious about being the biggest app of all time and wiping the floor with every other feeble app out there. TikTok doesn’t have its own Bare Knuckle Fighting championship, does it? Oh and it’s got a new CEO too…

Sam Taylor & Chris Cooke • 23 Oct 2024

Sony Music • 3 min read

Sony Music shows off “next-generation immersive technologies”, trails upcoming Myles Smith Fortnite event

Sony has loads of fancy toys, and that’s making it easier than ever to create content. In particular, the major is keen to talk up how quickly, easily and cheaply it can whack out immersive content for artists who want to dip their toes - or other virtual bodyparts - into the world of Fortnite…

Sam Taylor & Chris Cooke • 22 Oct 2024

Diddy • 3 min read

Diddy wants gagging order to stop media “carnival” of accusations as his lawyers say constitutional right to fair trial is at risk

Everyone and their dog has an opinion about the Diddy lawsuits, and that could stop him getting a fair trial. That’s what lawyers repping the rap mogul say, and they’re calling for a gagging order to shut up everyone involved in the lawsuits, to stop the “shockingly prejudicial” media coverage…

Chris Cooke • 22 Oct 2024

Astroworld • 2 min read

Astroworld bellwether cases pushed to next year as more than 300 injury lawsuits settled

A whole raft of Astroworld injury lawsuits have been settled days before three ‘bellwether’ cases - which could influence the others - were due to start in court. Everything has been pushed back to February 2025 - though not Michael Rapino’s deposition, which the live giant was desperate to avoid…

Chris Cooke • 22 Oct 2024

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: ILĀ

Multifaceted artist ILĀ pushes sonic boundaries in their new single ‘murmur’, co-produced with Imogen Heap and her AI counterpart, AI.Mogen. Almost the entirety of the single comes from this AI hybrid of ILĀ’ and Heap’s voice, giving the track an otherworldly quality that prickles the senses…

Kaya Robertson • 22 Oct 2024