CMU | the music business explained (Page 30)

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

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

Artificial Intelligence • 5 min read

Legal boffins weigh in on Meta’s AI copyright case with leading academics split on critical fair use debate

Law professors have submitted amicus briefs in relation to the copyright lawsuit over Meta’s Llama AI model. Ten professors insist that AI training is not fair use, meaning Meta infringed copyright by using books to train its model without rightsholder permission. But four other professors disagree…

Chris Cooke • 15 Apr 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Dirty Nice

Dirty Nice pull you into their eccentric world of glitch-pop and funky, psychedelic indie. With new single ‘Better If We Don’t’, they continue carving out their corner of the pop universe - pairing infectious hooks with visuals that are as surreal as they are strangely relatable…

Kaya Robertson • 15 Apr 2025

Viagogo • 3 min read

Viagogo’s “belligerent disregard” for audiences and “misleading and potentially unlawful practices” are a “blight” on live music that needs urgent legislation, say campaigners

For twelve weeks earlier this year the UK government was accepting submissions about how it should regulate secondary ticketing. During that time ticket resale platform Viagogo continued to “engage in misleading and potentially unlawful practices”, according to FanFair’s submission to ministers…

Chris Cooke • 14 Apr 2025

Collective Licensing • 5 min read

US review of BMI and ASCAP favours interests of organisations that want to “pay less to music creators” says letter

The US Copyright Office recently launched an inquiry into the music industry’s performing rights organisations. A new letter signed by thousands of music creators says that inquiry seems skewed towards certain licensees that just want to pay less for the music they utilise in their businesses…

Chris Cooke • 14 Apr 2025

CMU Selects • 1 min read

CMU Selects - last week’s standout releases

From Lana Del Rey’s soft new single to SHERELLE’s high-energy debut album, here’s what stood out last week among the latest releases.…

Kaya Robertson • 14 Apr 2025

BBC • 3 min read

Boom Radio welcomes OfCom ruling blocking BBC’s plans for golden oldies radio station

Media regulator OfCom has told the BBC that it can’t launch a new Radio 2 spin-off station playing music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The planned new station was heavily criticised by commercial golden oldies station Boom Radio, which said the planned new BBC service would be unfair competition…

Chris Cooke • 11 Apr 2025

Hybe • 3 min read

South Korean police arrest eight over HYBE artist deepfakes

Police in South Korea have arrested eight people in relation to deepfake videos featuring the likeness of artists represented by K-pop company HYBE. It’s part of HYBE’s ongoing work to combat harmful content targeting or featuring its artists, which includes a particular focus on deepfakes…

Chris Cooke • 11 Apr 2025

Horizon Future Leaders • 4 min read

🌅 Horizon Future Leaders - Camille Lummis

As part of our Horizon Future Leaders series of interviews, we are connecting with the music industry’s next generation of leaders to gather candid advice and insights into their career journeys. This week, we caught up with Camille Lummis, Copyright & Catalogue Manager at Involved Publishing.…

Horizon Music Jobs • 11 Apr 2025