Sam Taylor - CMU | the music business explained

“Red-faced and sweaty” Live Nation executives face CMA legal action over Oasis tickets

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Ticketmaster • 6 min read

“Red-faced and sweaty” Live Nation executives face CMA legal action over Oasis tickets

Live Nation’s Phil ‘Brick Top’ Bowdery and Ticketmaster UK top banana Andrew Parsons arrived 15 minutes late last week to give evidence to MPs as part of the Business And Trade Committee’s ‘Rip-off Britain’ inquiry. Given how badly things went from there, they might regret having turned up at all……

Sam Taylor • 02 Jul 2025

European regulators won’t fall for UMG’s tricks a second time says IMPALA boss

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Helen Smith • 5 min read

European regulators won’t fall for UMG’s tricks a second time says IMPALA boss

In an op-ed published yesterday, IMPALA’s Helen Smith spells out why she believes European regulators will give an “outright no” to Universal’s Downtown deal. Having already taken regulatory action against Universal once before in 2012, the EC is unlikely to give the major a second bite of the cake…

Sam Taylor • 26 Jun 2025

Budweiser boasts of “$0 spent on music rights” in “iconic songs” campaign, wins ad-land’s biggest prize

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Budweiser • 6 min read

Budweiser boasts of “$0 spent on music rights” in “iconic songs” campaign, wins ad-land’s biggest prize

Budweiser, the king of carbonated disappointment in a can, is proud that it’s found an apparent loophole that means it doesn’t need to pay for “music right$” when harnessing “the most iconic songs in the world” to shill its sad excuse for a beer. And now it’s won an award…

Sam Taylor & Chris Cooke • 20 Jun 2025

EU regulators formally launch investigation into Universal Music’s Downtown deal

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Universal Music • 5 min read

EU regulators formally launch investigation into Universal Music’s Downtown deal

Universal Music’s $775 million bid to buy Downtown Music faces its first major hurdle as EU regulators launch a competition investigation. Indies are fighting to block the deal, warning it would give the major unprecedented control over distribution networks they rely on to reach fans…

Sam Taylor • 18 Jun 2025

Did Sony’s Rob Stringer just hand regulators the case to tank Universal’s Downtown dreams?

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Sony Music • 6 min read

Did Sony’s Rob Stringer just hand regulators the case to tank Universal’s Downtown dreams?

Sony Music boss Rob Stringer couldn’t resist boasting about his company’s vast indie data empire at Friday’s investor day. By revealing exactly how majors use distribution intelligence to dominate the market, he may have just handed regulators the ammunition to kill Universal’s Downtown deal. Oops…

Sam Taylor • 16 Jun 2025

EXIT Festival to quit Serbia after “immense financial and political pressure”

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Exit Festival • 2 min read

EXIT Festival to quit Serbia after “immense financial and political pressure”

EXIT Festival boss Dušan Kovačević says that this year’s event will be the last to take place in Serbia, after the government exerted pressure that saw its funding cut and sponsors pull away. That was a result of the festival giving support to anti-corruption protests in the country…

Sam Taylor • 12 Jun 2025

Ticketmaster offered touts meetings with Live Nation’s top lawyer

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Live Nation • 5 min read

Ticketmaster offered touts meetings with Live Nation’s top lawyer

Ticket touts who were convicted of fraud were offered meetings with Selina Emeny, Live Nation’s International Group Counsel, says a BBC investigation, with the live giant raking in huge commissions from fraudulent sales. Maybe Live Nation could cough up a similar donation to the LIVE Trust……

Sam Taylor • 12 Jun 2025

NYC backs plan to hike streaming prices by 50% to pay musicians as much as $40k a year each

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Streaming • 4 min read

NYC backs plan to hike streaming prices by 50% to pay musicians as much as $40k a year each

A proposal that could see every musician in the US better off to the tune of $40k a year via a 50% levy on music streaming subscriptions has been endorsed by New York City Council. It says Congress should back the proposals which would provide new income for musicians living and working in NYC…

Chris Cooke & Sam Taylor • 30 May 2025

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

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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

Suno AI’s faulty guardrails mean its ‘ReMi’ lyric model will spit out entire lyrical works with basic prompting

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Suno • 4 min read

Suno AI’s faulty guardrails mean its ‘ReMi’ lyric model will spit out entire lyrical works with basic prompting

CMU has been able to get Suno AI to generate entire lyrics for well known songs, something that the company’s founder Mikey Shulman has previously implied should not be possible because of its “aggressive originality-guarding features” that stop people “trying to copy existing music”…

Sam Taylor • 02 Apr 2025

Did Ticketmaster’s UK boss Andrew Parsons mislead MPs at a select committee hearing?

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Ticketmaster • 4 min read

Did Ticketmaster’s UK boss Andrew Parsons mislead MPs at a select committee hearing?

Ticketmaster’s UK boss told a committee of MPs the company “does not change” ticket prices during checkout. Ticketmaster’s legal terms and conditions said the exact opposite. Within days of that committee hearing, the company had quietly changed the wording to mirror what MPs had been told…

Sam Taylor • 26 Mar 2025

MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan talks changing industry dynamics, bifurcation and the superfan ecosystem

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MIDiA • 7 min read

MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan talks changing industry dynamics, bifurcation and the superfan ecosystem

MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan talks changing industry dynamics, bifurcation and the superfan ecosystem…

Sam Taylor • 25 Mar 2025