CMU | the music business explained (Page 11)

Live Nation colludes with ticket touts, says US government as it launches legal action

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

Spotify finally adds lossless audio to premium

Anthropic will pay authors $1.5 billion to settle AI copyright case

Universal’s Downtown deal must be blocked by regulators before “cultural diversity is weakened irreversibly” says Dutch indie label group president

As EU hits pause on UMG Downtown investigation after “parties fail to provide important info”, Downtown boss whines about “misinformation”

More upheaval at Warner Music as UK label chiefs will report directly to US execs

Yet another senior exec out at Warner Music as UK boss Tony Harlow quits

Billion dollar piracy win for majors “defies common law and common sense” says Cox

Court dismisses Dave Rowntree’s black box lawsuit against PRS

Supertramp songwriter must continue to share publishing royalties with bandmates, US appeals court concludes

FTC sues ticket touting business that claims it is endorsed by Ticketmaster

Drake’s claims are “farcical” says Lucian Grainge as defamation battle rumbles on

Drake wants to trawl through Papa Grainge’s emails in ‘Not Like Us’ libel battle

Sony sues Napster over $9.2 million in unpaid royalties

Spotify age-checks could result in accounts being deleted, but only if you’re twelve

Increasing number of artists join Spotify boycott over CEO’s AI weapon investments

If China blocks TikTok deal app will “go dark” says US Commerce Secretary, but hints deal “coming soon”

Blackstone bails on consortium bidding to buy TikTok US - will a deal still be done by September deadline?

Anthropic’s ‘fair use’ win in AI copyright case could turn into a trillion dollar loss

No copyright exception for AI training in European law, says new report

Full scale anticompetition investigation on the cards after UMG’s Virgin Music fails to allay EU fears over Downtown merger

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?

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

Live industry news including ticketing, venues, festivals and more • 3 min read

UK government says it will ramp up ‘agent of change’ as it seeks to simplify the licensing of night-time businesses

The UK government has published a Plan For Change that aims to simplify the licensing of bars, clubs and music venues. It includes ramping up the ‘agent of change’ principle, which was added to planning guidelines in 2018, but the industry says those guidelines have been too open to interpretation…

Chris Cooke • 28 Jul 2025

• 1 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Five releases - from Fcukers, Kim Petras, yaemulli, Confidence Man & Jade Thirlwall, and su i think - that grabbed our attention this week.…

Kaya Robertson • 28 Jul 2025

Spotify • 3 min read

Increasing number of artists join Spotify boycott over CEO’s AI weapon investments

Last month it emerged that Spotify boss Daniel Ek had put more money into - and was now Chair of - AI defence tech company Helsing. That has prompted criticism from a number of artists, with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard now joining Deerhoof in pulling their music from Spotify in protest…

Chris Cooke • 28 Jul 2025

Kneecap • 3 min read

Hungary Kneecap ban is “fucking outrageous” and has “no legal basis”, says band

Hungary has banned Kneecap from entering the country ahead of a planned performance at Sziget Festival next month. The festival says the move by the Hungarian government is “unnecessary and regrettable”, while Kneecap have dubbed it “fucking outrageous”, insisting there is no legal basis for the ban…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jul 2025

Pandora • 2 min read

‘Implied jokes licence’ no laughing matter says comedy lawyer in stand-up streaming stand off

A group of comedians sued Pandora for copyright infringement on the basis that, although it had permission to stream recordings of their performances, it never got licences covering their comedy material. But a judge who has reviewed the case says Pandora had an implied licence for all the jokes…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jul 2025

TikTok • 2 min read

If China blocks TikTok deal app will “go dark” says US Commerce Secretary, but hints deal “coming soon”

TikTok’s future in the US remains uncertain. Although Donald Trump has now postponed three times the deadline for ByteDance to sell the app in order to avoid a ban, his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said the sale must happen, and if China blocks the deal “TikTok is going to go dark”…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jul 2025

Horizon Future Leaders • 5 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Josh Daniel

This week, we caught up with Josh Daniel, Head of Interval Records and Chief Commercial Officer at Generator, the national talent development organisation based in Newcastle.…

Kaya Robertson • 25 Jul 2025

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Getting AI companies to agree to licensing deals with copyright owners is “not doable” and “China’s not doing it”, rambles Trump

Donald Trump yesterday launched his much anticipated ‘AI Action Plan’. It doesn’t say anything about the copyright obligations of AI companies. But during a rambling speech launching the plan, the President said that having AI companies get licences from copyright owners is just “not doable”…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jul 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧Approved: MCBAISE

MCBAISE is the sun-drenched alias of Cannes-born artist mcbess, blending yacht rock, woozy funk and surreal visuals. New single Cold Cuts (with Muthi) is a groove-soaked trip through playful nostalgia, with flickering guitars and velvet synths in tow…

Kaya Robertson • 24 Jul 2025

Apple • 3 min read

UK regulator sets roadmap for reviewing app store payment rules

Last year the UK’s competition regulator closed an investigation into the Apple App Store rules that Spotify hates, but only so it could figure out how to use new powers it had been granted by Parliament. Now it’s done that, it’s proposed a roadmap for reviewing the hated rules, starting this autumn…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jul 2025

Warner Music • 2 min read

Warner appoints new ADA boss

Warner Music’s distribution division ADA has a new boss, Alejandro Duque, who will do the job as well as being President of the major’s Latin America business. The change in ADA leadership comes as Warner looks to cut its costs by $300 million a year…

Chris Cooke • 23 Jul 2025