CMU | the music business explained (Page 2)

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

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

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

Ticketmaster offered touts meetings with Live Nation’s top lawyer

Don’t gaslight MPs warns Caroline Dinenage as she says ministers have got into a “terrible pickle” over AI

As another festival falls, AIF proposes new tax relief scheme

Major labels face setback as Trump’s pet DOJ legal beagle sides with Cox in piracy battle

We are just another victim in the shameful lineage of Apple intimidation and bullying, cries Musi

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

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

Drake’s Super Bowl gripes in amended lawsuit show defamation action is really an attack on Kendrick Lamar’s success, says Universal

“I just don't understand how that can be fair use”, says judge in Meta AI trial

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

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?

With the US record industry officially in recession can superpremium and superfans really save the major labels from streaming’s slowdown?

Record industry’s modest growth should make other industries jealous says IFPI boss, as labels weigh in on growth opportunities and AI threats

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

TikTok • 4 min read

As Trump extends TikTok timeline yet again, will a ban or sale ever actually happen?

The latest deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok in the US, or face a ban, was today. But the White House has confirmed Donald Trump is pushing the deadline back for a third time. It makes you wonder if the law passed by Congress ordering a change in ownership or a ban will ever actually be enforced…

Chris Cooke • 19 Jun 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Cardinals

Cork five-piece Cardinals channel a monochrome, windswept kind of nostalgia - equal parts shoegaze, Irish trad, and shadowy rock and roll romanticism. New single ‘Big Empty Heart’ is a gothic patchwork of shanty-leaning balladry and poetry-drenched punk…

Kaya Robertson • 19 Jun 2025

Sonos • 2 min read

SoundExchange sues Sonos Radio over missing royalties apparently caused by departure of key Napster employee

SoundExchange has sued Sonos over $3.3 million in unpaid royalties stemming from its Sonos Radio service in 2022 and 2023. Royalties went unpaid after Napster, which used to power Sonos Radio, was acquired. But SoundExchange insists it’s still Sonos’s responsibility to pay the money that’s owed…

Chris Cooke • 18 Jun 2025

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

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Musician sues Suno and Udio, says indie artists have been “trampled the most” by unlicensed AI

A musician has sued Suno and Udio, filing a class action lawsuit against the AI companies that seeks to represent all indie artists in the US. Although the majors are already suing both start-ups, Anthony Justice argues that it’s independent artists whose rights have “been trampled the most” by AI…

Chris Cooke • 17 Jun 2025

Kneecap • 2 min read

Kneecap pull together supporters and legal team ahead of Liam O’Hanna’s court hearing on terror charge

Kneecap member Liam O’Hanna is due in court tomorrow on a terror charge over allegations he displayed support for Hezbollah at a London gig last year. The band say they are being targeted by the British establishment and have announced the legal team they hope will defeat the charge against O’Hanna…

Chris Cooke • 17 Jun 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Greta Isaac

Welsh-born, London-based Greta Isaac is a surreal, sugar-rushed blast of alt-pop. New single ‘Soft Scoop Talking Do’ introduces Dolly: Greta’s chaotic, art-pop alter ego who appars through a vape haze with a wink. It’s weird, wired and irresistibly fun…

Kaya Robertson • 17 Jun 2025

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

CMU Selects • 2 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

From dj gummy bear’s lo-fi gospel to King Gizzard’s sprawling orchestral journey and beyond. Here’s what caught our ear last week…

Kaya Robertson • 16 Jun 2025

Downtown Music • 4 min read

Downtown deal part of Universal strategy to “undermine vitality and viability” of indie sector, cautions competition law expert

The European Union is in the process of assessing Universal’s deal to buy Downtown, and whether it should undertake a more in-depth investigation. Competition law expert Amelia Fletcher says it definitely should, because the deal threatens competition, choice and innovation in the music industry…

Chris Cooke • 16 Jun 2025

Cox Communications • 2 min read

Major labels “bewildered” by why Trump appointee would meddle in Cox Communications piracy case

Donald Trump’s Solicitor General recently urged the US Supreme Court to intervene in the major labels’ legal battle with ISP Cox, expressing concerns that precedent set in the case could lead to millions of internet disconnections. The majors now say that intervention is “bewildering” and wrong…

Chris Cooke • 13 Jun 2025

CAA • 2 min read

Talent agency CAA accuses founders of rival company Range of “spy novel” plot to launch competing business

The already dramatic legal battle between agency CAA and rival company Range - set up in 2020 by a team of former CAA agents - ramped up this week. CAA says it has new evidence that shows Range’s founders employed spy-novel type tactics to steal confidential information from their former employer…

Chris Cooke • 13 Jun 2025

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