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Pressure mounts for Universal Music Group’s $775 million Downtown acquisition as MEP highlights UMG’s “unprecedented control” of music ecosystem

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?

With the US record industry officially in recession can superpremium and superfans really save the major labels from streaming’s slowdown?

Record industry’s modest growth should make other industries jealous says IFPI boss, as labels weigh in on growth opportunities and AI threats

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

OpenDNS • 2 min read

OpenDNS goes offline in Belgium in response to web-blocking order secured by Access Industries owned sports platform DAZ

Cisco has pulled its OpenDNS service in Belgium after sports platform DAZN secured an injunction ordering it to block 130 piracy domains. Copyright owners are increasingly targeting DNS resolvers with web-blocking orders - OpenDNS previously shutdown in France following legal action by Canal+…

Chris Cooke • 17 Apr 2025

Drake • 3 min read

Universal’s continued promotion of ‘Not Like Us’ has “solidified” the public’s false belief that Drake is a pedophile, says updated defamation lawsuit

Since Drake sued Universal Music for defamation over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ in January the major has caused him further damage by continuing to amplify the track, including at The Grammys and the Super Bowl. That’s according to an amended complaint filed with the courts by Drake yesterday…

Chris Cooke • 17 Apr 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Deki Alem

Swedish twins Deki Alem make music that nods to halcyon rave culture but with that Prodigy-eqsue punk delivery. Their new single ‘Fun’ fuses twisted breakbeats with shadowy vocals, creating a propulsive track that embraces society's compulsive urge for speed and stimulation…

Kaya Robertson • 17 Apr 2025

Horizon Future Leaders • 6 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Anastasia Roe

As part of our Horizon Future Leaders series of interviews, we are connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys. This week, we spoke to Anastasia Roe, Publicist at Domino Recording Co.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 17 Apr 2025

Streaming Fraud • 3 min read

Brazilian authorities crackdown on prominent “boosting” service JustAnotherPanel that sells streams, followers and likes

The record industry has welcomed the latest crackdown on streaming fraud in Brazil where authorities have secured a web blocking order against stream manipulation service JustAnotherPanel. Though, just as with music piracy, tackling streaming fraud requires a multi-layered, multi-country approach…

Chris Cooke • 16 Apr 2025

YouTube • 3 min read

Bundling antics in the spotlight again as YouTube is hauled over the coals by South Korean regulators

YouTube might roll out its Premium Lite product in South Korea as part of a settlement with the country’s Fair Trade Commission, which last year criticised YouTube for bundling its music service as part of Premium, saying that marginalised rival platforms. The Lite product doesn’t include music…

Chris Cooke • 16 Apr 2025

Universal Music • 6 min read

Pressure mounts for Universal Music Group’s $775 million Downtown acquisition as MEP highlights UMG’s “unprecedented control” of music ecosystem

After Dutch regulators referred UMG’s Downtown deal to the European Commission, an MEP who chairs a key economic committee has now formally flagged her concerns about the transaction to the Commission saying the deal gives the major “unprecedented control over routes to market and access to data”…

Chris Cooke & Sam Taylor • 15 Apr 2025

Artificial Intelligence • 5 min read

Legal boffins weigh in on Meta’s AI copyright case with leading academics split on critical fair use debate

Law professors have submitted amicus briefs in relation to the copyright lawsuit over Meta’s Llama AI model. Ten professors insist that AI training is not fair use, meaning Meta infringed copyright by using books to train its model without rightsholder permission. But four other professors disagree…

Chris Cooke • 15 Apr 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Dirty Nice

Dirty Nice pull you into their eccentric world of glitch-pop and funky, psychedelic indie. With new single ‘Better If We Don’t’, they continue carving out their corner of the pop universe - pairing infectious hooks with visuals that are as surreal as they are strangely relatable…

Kaya Robertson • 15 Apr 2025

Viagogo • 3 min read

Viagogo’s “belligerent disregard” for audiences and “misleading and potentially unlawful practices” are a “blight” on live music that needs urgent legislation, say campaigners

For twelve weeks earlier this year the UK government was accepting submissions about how it should regulate secondary ticketing. During that time ticket resale platform Viagogo continued to “engage in misleading and potentially unlawful practices”, according to FanFair’s submission to ministers…

Chris Cooke • 14 Apr 2025