Chris Cooke - CMU | the music business explained (Page 16)

Spotify agrees new deal with Sony Music Group that includes song rights in the US

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Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify agrees new deal with Sony Music Group that includes song rights in the US

Sony has announced a new licensing deal with Spotify. Like the other two majors, it will now directly license its songs catalogue in the US, where the streaming service previously relied on the MLC-administered compulsory licence, under which Spotify could apply a controversial bundling discount…

Chris Cooke • 18 Sep 2025

TikTok deal details leak as Trump pushes deadline for sale of US business back to December

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok deal details leak as Trump pushes deadline for sale of US business back to December

Donald Trump has again extended the deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, this time to 16 Dec. A framework deal was agreed with the Chinese government on Monday that will see TikTok US become 80% owned by American investors. More details about that deal have now leaked…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

Open letter says creators’ human rights are “being flouted en masse” by AI companies

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Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Open letter says creators’ human rights are “being flouted en masse” by AI companies

A plethora of artists and music industry organisations have signed an open letter demanding to know why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer isn’t standing up for the human rights of British creators, whose copyrights are being infringed at scale by AI companies, many of them based overseas…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

Speculative listings for Radiohead tickets show dodgy touting still rampant across Europe “despite EU’s good intentions”

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Secondary Ticketing • 2 min read

Speculative listings for Radiohead tickets show dodgy touting still rampant across Europe “despite EU’s good intentions”

The EU needs to do more to combat dodgy ticket touting practices across Europe, according to campaign group FEAT. It identified 1751 touted tickets for Radiohead concerts on just one resale site, Ticombo, before tickets had even gone on general sale and despite the band’s anti-touting measures…

Chris Cooke • 16 Sep 2025

Is Ticketmaster doing enough to stop touts? A new FTC investigation looks at ticketing giant’s BOTS Act compliance

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Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Is Ticketmaster doing enough to stop touts? A new FTC investigation looks at ticketing giant’s BOTS Act compliance

Earlier this year Donald Trump told the FTC to crackdown on bad conduct in the ticket resale market, including by better enforcing the BOTS Act. It’s now emerged that, among other things, it is investigating if Ticketmaster is doing enough to stop touts from sourcing tickets via dodgy tactics…

Chris Cooke • 16 Sep 2025

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

With the latest deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations coming up this week, Donald Trump has indicated that a deal has been agreed. The Chinese government needs to approve any sale of TikTok’s US business, but that has seemingly been achieved at trade talks in Spain…

Chris Cooke • 15 Sep 2025

Bob Vylan says they did not “celebrate” Charlie Kirk’s death, as Coldplay’s Chris Martin says fans should “send love” to activist’s family

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Bob Vylan • 4 min read

Bob Vylan says they did not “celebrate” Charlie Kirk’s death, as Coldplay’s Chris Martin says fans should “send love” to activist’s family

Bob Vylan have caused more controversy with on-stage comments calling Charlie Kirk “a piece of shit” just days after the activist was shot dead at an event in Utah. Meanwhile some Coldplay fans were left bewildered after Chris Martin encouraged his audience to “send love” to Kirk’s family…

Chris Cooke • 15 Sep 2025

Cornwall Council will hold meeting about ‘safety risks’ of Bob Vylan’s August Boardmasters performance - even through there weren’t any

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Bob Vylan • 3 min read

Cornwall Council will hold meeting about ‘safety risks’ of Bob Vylan’s August Boardmasters performance - even through there weren’t any

After Bob Vylan’s controversial Glasto set, political activists in Cornwall said the duo’s booking to play Boardmasters in August raised safety concerns. A Cornwall Council committee will discuss those concerns next week, even though the duo’s Boardmasters performance went ahead without any dramas…

Chris Cooke • 12 Sep 2025

TikTok “slow poison” to kids say French MPs as they propose social media curfew for teenagers

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TikTok • 2 min read

TikTok “slow poison” to kids say French MPs as they propose social media curfew for teenagers

French politicians have published a damning report accusing TikTok of pushing harmful content to young people. They’ve referred the company to prosecutors to see if it committed any crimes and proposed that children under fifteen should be banned from using all social media platforms…

Chris Cooke • 12 Sep 2025

Dua Lipa latest artist to go after merch bootleggers

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Dua Lipa • 2 min read

Dua Lipa latest artist to go after merch bootleggers

Dua Lipa is the latest artist to file a lawsuit seeking to block the sale of unofficial merchandise. Like Benson Boone and Tate McRae, she is trying to block the sale of knock-off merch outside her US shows. Other artists have sued Chinese e-commerce platform Temu over counterfeit merch products…

Chris Cooke • 11 Sep 2025

Sonos wants courts to dismiss SoundExchange lawsuit after controversial Sirius ruling

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SoundExchange • 2 min read

Sonos wants courts to dismiss SoundExchange lawsuit after controversial Sirius ruling

Last month a US judge threw out a lawsuit filed by SoundExchange against Sirius XM on the basis the collecting society isn’t empowered to file litigation over royalty disputes. Sonos, also fighting a lawsuit from the society, says its litigation should now be dismissed as well on the same grounds…

Chris Cooke • 11 Sep 2025

CD sales in the US plunge in first half of 2025 as paid streaming subscriptions hit 105 million users

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RIAA • 2 min read

CD sales in the US plunge in first half of 2025 as paid streaming subscriptions hit 105 million users

The RIAA has published stats for the US recorded music market for the first half of 2025, with paid streaming subscriptions in the country now exceeding 105 million. Streaming income was up 5.7%, but physical sales - especially CD - declined, so that overall recorded music revenues are up just 0.9%…

Chris Cooke • 10 Sep 2025