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

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

Slipknot.com owner hires domain name specialist to fight back against band’s cybersquatting claims

“Misleading rhetoric and “deceitful buzzwords” not good enough, says Council Of Music Makers in call for creator consent, control and compensation in AI deals

Axing of controversial EBacc is a “step in the right direction” for music education says Ed Sheeran

Former Guns N Roses manager sues band over autobiography blocker clause

Judgement in Getty’s UK lawsuit against Stability “underscores growing gap” between copyright and tech, says leading lawyer

Streaming Fraud • 3 min read

Music industry welcomes eighteen month prison sentence for streaming fraudster

US streaming fraudster Michael Smith has been sentenced to eighteen months in jail. Although prosecutors were pushing for something closer to four years, the custodial sentence is significant, and has been welcomed by the music industry which wants stronger deterrents against streaming fraud…

Chris Cooke • 07 Oct 2026

Horizon Future Leaders • 6 min read

🌅 Horizon Leaders - Rowanne Chang

This week we caught up with Rowanne Chang, digital marketing manager at Deviate Digital…

Horizon Music Jobs • 07 Oct 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Clinic

Liverpool duo Clinic have been making genuinely strange art-punk since the late 90s - surgical masks, acidic vocals, jumble sale organs, a Grammy nomination. Tenth album ‘Wild In The Streets’ is out 30 Oct. New single ‘Energies’ is the closest they’ve ever come to the dancefloor…

Kaya Robertson • 06 Oct 2026

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

The US Copyright Royalty Board is reviewing what mechanical royalties songwriters and publishers should receive from 2028. It’s labels who pay mechanical royalties on physical records, and the major labels are keen to stress they aren’t colluding with the major publishers to keep the rates down…

Chris Cooke • 06 Oct 2026

Olympia • 2 min read

London Olympia cancels first concerts in Grand Hall after revamp due to “problems with planning application”

The revamped Olympia complex in West London was due to present a Winter Music Series of concerts in its Grand Hall in December, the first music shows in there since 2022. However, the concerts, featuring Royal Blood and Bloc Party among others, have been cancelled because of planning issues…

Chris Cooke • 05 Oct 2026

Music Fights Fraud Alliance • 3 min read

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

The streaming fraudster who pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in relation to an $8 million streaming scam will be sentenced next week. The Music Fights Fraud Alliance says the sentence should “reflect the systemic harm” caused by the scam, so that it deters others involved in streaming fraud…

Chris Cooke • 02 Oct 2026

CMU Selects • 1 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise this week, from Logic1000, Sasha Keable, Fontaines D.C., Strawberry Guy + Petra…

Kaya Robertson • 02 Oct 2026

Artificial Intelligence • 4 min read

Japanese court says voice is protected by publicity rights; US appeals court says AI training is not fair use

There have been two judgments this week of relevance to the ongoing AI debates in the music industry. A Japanese court ruled that publicity rights allow performers to stop unapproved AI voice clones. Meanwhile a US appeals court ruled against an AI company that used the good old fair use defence…

Chris Cooke • 01 Oct 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: PROJECTOR

With Brighton quartet PROJECTOR industrial drum machines, angular post-punk and rant-pop share the same space. New track ‘I Need A Lie Down’ was designed to “make people feel sick and culminate in a horrific wall of noise” when played live, which sounds horrible but (at least on record) sounds great…

Kaya Robertson • 01 Oct 2026

Artificial Intelligence • 4 min read

IMPF and IMPEL publish AI licensing principles, insisting songs and recordings must be valued equally

As the music industry enters into ever more deals with AI platforms, the indie publisher community has again insisted that - with AI - song rights and recording rights must be valued equally, unlike in streaming. A new AI framework from IMPF and IMPEL says that key principle is “non-negotiable”…

Chris Cooke • 30 Sep 2026

OpenAI • 5 min read

Trump’s DoJ was biased and wrong about ‘fair use’, say news orgs in OpenAI dispute

Many of the music industry’s AI legal battles swing on whether or not AI training is ‘fair use’ under US copyright law. Donald Trump’s DoJ recently intervened in a dispute between newspapers and OpenAI insisting AI training is fair use. The newspapers have responded, explaining why the DoJ is wrong…

Chris Cooke • 29 Sep 2026

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: L'OBJECTIF

Leeds four-piece L'Objectif make high adrenaline post-punk with New Order propulsions and vocals that dacne somewhere between Morrissey and Jarvis Cocker. New single 'Walking Home (From The City)' is big, cathartic and about the nostalgia of being 16-20. Their first music of 2026.…

Kaya Robertson • 29 Sep 2026

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