Chris Cooke - CMU | the music business explained

The Leadmill has three months to pack up and leave but vows to continue the fight for Sheffield’s music scene

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The Leadmill • 3 min read

The Leadmill has three months to pack up and leave but vows to continue the fight for Sheffield’s music scene

The Leadmill has failed in its bid to stop an eviction order from landlord The Electric Group, which wants to take over the running of the Sheffield venue. The current Leadmill team sought permission to appeal the eviction order, but that request has been declined by the court…

Chris Cooke • 15 May 2025

SoundCloud’s amended AI clause still “fundamentally terrible for artists” says Ed Newton-Rex

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SoundCloud • 2 min read

SoundCloud’s amended AI clause still “fundamentally terrible for artists” says Ed Newton-Rex

SoundCloud boss Eliah Seton has responded to concerns about an AI clause in the platform’s terms of service, insisting that the company will use AI for discovery and not various generative uses. The AI clause has been amended, but still isn’t clear enough according to Ed Newton-Rex of Fairly Trained…

Chris Cooke • 15 May 2025

Data Bill ping pong continues as government says ‘financial privilege’ trumps AI transparency

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Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Data Bill ping pong continues as government says ‘financial privilege’ trumps AI transparency

Earlier this week the House Of Lords reinserted an AI transparency obligation that is supported by the music industry into the Data Bill. The government has now said it will get the obligation removed from the final version of the bill by invoking the ‘financial privilege’ of the House Of Commons…

Chris Cooke • 15 May 2025

“I was an object” says Cassie Ventura as Diddy’s “controlling” freak offs take centre stage in trial

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Diddy • 2 min read

“I was an object” says Cassie Ventura as Diddy’s “controlling” freak offs take centre stage in trial

Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura - a key witness in the criminal case against the musician - gave testimony on day two of his trial yesterday. She was asked about the ‘freak offs’ Diddy forced her to take part in, telling the court “I was an object, I was heavily objectified”…

Chris Cooke • 14 May 2025

Get Brexit fixed to power cultural exchange says music industry to UK government

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Live industry news including ticketing, venues, festivals and more • 2 min read

Get Brexit fixed to power cultural exchange says music industry to UK government

UK and EU political leaders are meeting for a summit in London next week. Although defence and security seem likely to top the agenda, the music industry has called for the post-Brexit barriers impacting on UK performers touring Europe to also be addressed…

Chris Cooke • 14 May 2025

Guardrails aren’t proof of infringement says Anthropic as judge spanks AI company for “hallucinated” filin

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Anthropic • 4 min read

Guardrails aren’t proof of infringement says Anthropic as judge spanks AI company for “hallucinated” filin

Last month the music publishers suing Anthropic had another go at arguing why the AI company should be held liable for copyright infringement on the outputs of its Claude chatbot. In its own filing, Anthropic says the publishers’ amended arguments are still “defective”…

Chris Cooke • 14 May 2025

House Of Lords puts transparency obligation for AI companies back into Data Bill, after the government got it removed

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Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

House Of Lords puts transparency obligation for AI companies back into Data Bill, after the government got it removed

The Lords have again added a section to the Data Bill that would force AI companies to declare what copyright protected works they have used when training models. The government previously removed copyright and AI measures from the bill, arguing they should be dealt with in standalone legislation…

Chris Cooke • 13 May 2025

Diddy is a “complicated man” says defence lawyer as prosecutors go big

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Diddy • 4 min read

Diddy is a “complicated man” says defence lawyer as prosecutors go big

The trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering is underway, with prosecutors starting by showing jurors footage of him assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. The defence insists that Combs is “a very flawed individual” but not a racketeer or sex trafficker…

Chris Cooke • 13 May 2025

US Copyright Office report on whether AI training is fair use concludes “it depends”, but generally favours copyright owners

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Artificial Intelligence • 5 min read

US Copyright Office report on whether AI training is fair use concludes “it depends”, but generally favours copyright owners

The US Copyright Office has published its report on whether AI companies can make use of existing content without getting permission, because doing so is fair use. It ultimately concludes that “it depends”, stating that the purpose and market impact of the AI are key factors to consider…

Chris Cooke • 12 May 2025

US Copyright Office “raced to release” AI report ahead of Trump firing its boss

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US Copyright Office • 3 min read

US Copyright Office “raced to release” AI report ahead of Trump firing its boss

Donald Trump sacked the boss of the US Copyright Office shortly after it published its report on whether or not AI training is fair use. The two events are probably linked - though it’s more likely the Office rush-released the report knowing that chief Shira Perlmutter was about to be axed…

Chris Cooke • 12 May 2025

SoundCloud says it’s not training AI with users’ content, despite its terms and conditions saying it can

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SoundCloud • 2 min read

SoundCloud says it’s not training AI with users’ content, despite its terms and conditions saying it can

Last week there was a flurry of debate online about a term on the SoundCloud website that says users agree that their content may be used to “inform, train or develop” AI. In response, SoundCloud insists that it isn’t using tracks uploaded to its platform to train music-making generative AI models…

Chris Cooke • 12 May 2025

Ed Sheeran fans warned about “huge number of ticket scams” around his homecoming shows

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Ed Sheeran • 3 min read

Ed Sheeran fans warned about “huge number of ticket scams” around his homecoming shows

Tickets went on sale for three Ed Sheeran homecoming shows this week. Shortly afterwards scammers were promoting tickets for sale on social media. Suffolk Trading Standards says it expects a high number of ticket scams in relation to the Sheeran gigs and urges fans to only buy from official channels…

Chris Cooke • 09 May 2025