Chris Cooke - CMU | the music business explained

StubHub claiming to be a fan-to-fan marketplace while its head honcho finances professional super touts is fraudulent concealment, says class action lawsuit

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StubHub • 3 min read

StubHub claiming to be a fan-to-fan marketplace while its head honcho finances professional super touts is fraudulent concealment, says class action lawsuit

Last week it was revealed that StubHub CEO Eric Baker is also MD of a company that is directly involved in touting tickets, a revelation that could hinder the company’s ongoing lobbying efforts in the US and beyond. It has also prompted a class action lawsuit filed by a ticket buyer…

Chris Cooke • 14 Jul 2026

Warner Music insists ‘new use’ clause in union agreement doesn’t mean musicians are due a share of AI money

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Warner Music • 2 min read

Warner Music insists ‘new use’ clause in union agreement doesn’t mean musicians are due a share of AI money

Warner Music has responded to a lawsuit filed by US musicians union AFM over its AI deals. The union says a ‘new use’ clause in its performer agreement means its members should get compensation from the deals with Suno and Udio - but Warner says AFM is interpreting that clause incorrectly…

Chris Cooke • 14 Jul 2026

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

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UK Government • 6 min read

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

The UK government has published a plan for how it will support music and the music industry. It’s mainly a greatest hits of existing government schemes and initiatives all collated in one place, though there are some new announcements, including an extra £15 million for the Music Growth Package…

Chris Cooke • 13 Jul 2026

Music community calls on Irish government to use EU presidency to lead the conversation around creator rights and AI

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Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Music community calls on Irish government to use EU presidency to lead the conversation around creator rights and AI

The Irish parliament will tomorrow debate a motion calling on the country’s government to use its current presidency of the Council Of The EU to address creator concerns in the context of AI. The motion has been proposed by Sinn Féin’s Aengus Ó Snodaigh and is backed by music creator groups…

Chris Cooke • 13 Jul 2026

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

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Royalties • 6 min read

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

This week various American music industry groups called on the US government to formally oppose proposals made by the European Commission regarding the flow of broadcast and performance royalties from EU countries to the US. However, many European music companies actually support those proposals…

Chris Cooke • 10 Jul 2026

iHeart ramps up anti-payola policies under pressure from the FCC

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iHeart • 2 min read

iHeart ramps up anti-payola policies under pressure from the FCC

iHeartMedia has agreed a deal with US media regulator the FCC to ramp up its payola policies in relation to live events. The FCC last year put the spotlight on allegations some radio stations were getting artists to play their events for free in return for airplay, which it said constitutes payola…

Chris Cooke • 10 Jul 2026

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

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Kneecap • 2 min read

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

Last year nine Indigenous leaders in Canada said Kneecap had “outwardly supported antisemitism” and therefore their shows in Toronto and Vancouver should be cancelled. The band are now suing one of those Indigenous leaders, Harvey Yesno, for defamation and Dublin’s high court has accepted the case…

Chris Cooke • 09 Jul 2026

Bulgaria’s copyright regime is broken because it didn’t properly implement EU rules that justify web-blocking, say labels

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BAMP • 2 min read

Bulgaria’s copyright regime is broken because it didn’t properly implement EU rules that justify web-blocking, say labels

Bulgarian labels recently failed to secure anti-piracy web-blocks because the country’s lawmakers never implemented EU rules that justify such a thing. Trade group BAMP has now urged EU officials to ensure member states are complying with existing copyright rules before introducing any new ones…

Chris Cooke • 09 Jul 2026

Jermaine Dupri sues Sony Music over “wilful deceitful actions” that resulted in $18 million in unpaid royalties

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Jermain Dupri • 3 min read

Jermaine Dupri sues Sony Music over “wilful deceitful actions” that resulted in $18 million in unpaid royalties

Jermaine Dupri has had a 34 year relationship with Sony Music after first partnering with the major back in 1992. But he now reckons that Sony has systematically underreported and underpaid royalties he is due on many of the records he was involved in, so he’s suing for more than $18 million…

Chris Cooke • 08 Jul 2026

Sacked Ador boss orchestrated NewJeans’ failed rebellion, claims K-pop agency in court

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NewJeans • 3 min read

Sacked Ador boss orchestrated NewJeans’ failed rebellion, claims K-pop agency in court

The legal dramas around HYBE’s Ador agency and NewJeans continue. Ador is suing axed band member Danielle Marsh and former Ador CEO Min Hee-jin. Last week it presented evidence that seemed to show Min - after being sacked by Ador - directing NewJeans as they sought new projects outside the agency…

Chris Cooke • 08 Jul 2026

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

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BBC • 3 min read

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

BBC Director Of Music Lorna Clarke has said the broadcaster wants to be transparent when artists it champions have used AI as part of their creative processes, though that will rely on the music industry at large deciding when and how it is going to be transparent about the use of AI in new releases…

Chris Cooke • 07 Jul 2026

Bad forecasting and the loss of two clients contributed to tickets.ie collapse, says director report

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Tickets.ie • 3 min read

Bad forecasting and the loss of two clients contributed to tickets.ie collapse, says director report

Directors of Irish ticketing company tickets.ie, which collapsed last month, have said that the loss of two key clients and bad forecasting caused insurmountable cash flow problems. The company’s founder, who left the business last year, also says he was “saddened and shocked” by the sudden collapse…

Chris Cooke • 07 Jul 2026