CMU | the music business explained (Page 2)

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

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

CMU Selects • 2 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise last week, from Acopia, Slayyyter, Dove Ellis, JADE and George Riley.…

Kaya Robertson • 15 Sep 2025

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 • 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

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

Horizon Future Leaders • 3 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Tobi Mwa

This week we caught up with Tobi Mwa, Manager and Business Partner for UK artist Nippa, and a figure shaping what modern artist development looks like in a global, digital-first music landscape.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 12 Sep 2025

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 • 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

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

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Genesis Owusu

Genesis Owusu debut album ‘Smiling With No Teeth’ was a transcendent blueprint for modern hip hop; a fearless exploration of identity, experimenting with funk, punk and rap. On new single ‘PIRATE RADIO’ he once again refuses to assimilate and redraws the boundaries of his own sound…

Kaya Robertson • 11 Sep 2025

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

Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify finally adds lossless audio to premium

Spotify is finally adding lossless audio to its platform, something it has been promising since 2021, and which rival Tidal first offered in 2013. Despite rumours lossless audio might be part of Spotify’s planned higher price subscription product, it’s being rolled out to all premium subscribers…

Chris Cooke • 10 Sep 2025