CMU | the music business explained (Page 4)

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

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Sophia Kennedy

Baltimore-born but now splitting her time between Hamburg and Berlin, Sophia Kennedy thrives in the space between mischief and melody. Her latest single ‘Rodeo’ is pure mischief - a ride of looping piano, shimmering synth bass and eerie, luminous choirs, jolted by a sudden, Kate Bush-esque scream…

Kaya Robertson • 06 Feb 2025

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Max Richter tells MPs that artists “must have the right to determine” how their music is used by AI

Yesterday the UK Parliament put the spotlight on copyright and AI again, with Max Richter among those to speak on behalf of creators. He criticised the “erosion of copyright” being proposed by the government, which is considering introducing a new copyright exception for AI companies…

Chris Cooke • 05 Feb 2025

Spotify • 3 min read

Spotify says publishers issuing takedowns against podcasts is a “press stunt” in response to the MLC’s bundling lawsuit being dismissed

Music publishers in the US have started issuing takedown notices in relation to unlicensed music in Spotify podcasts. Spotify says the move is a “weak response” to a judge last week dismissing the music industry’s lawsuit over its use of a bundling loophole to pay less to American songwriters…

Chris Cooke • 05 Feb 2025

Association Of Independent Festivals • 2 min read

AIF calls for Parliamentary inquiry into a festivals sector that has lost 215 events since the pandemic

The music festival community gathered for the Festival Congress in Bristol today. AIF used its annual event to launch a Fallow Festival Fund and to call on Parliament’s culture committee to launch an inquiry into the economic challenges that music festivals are currently facing…

Chris Cooke • 05 Feb 2025

Spotify • 8 min read

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

Spotify has now been profitable for four quarters straight - a strong indication that its cost cutting and monetisation efforts are paying off. Now, says the company, it’s going to focus on high quality users and “accelerated execution” with AI playing a key part in its onward strategy…

Sam Taylor • 04 Feb 2025

Falling In Reverse • 2 min read

Falling In Reverse frontman’s defamation lawsuit a “vindictive” move to silence critics, says YouTuber

Last year Falling In Reverse singer Ronnie Radke sued a YouTuber for defamation over a video that discussed controversies involving the musician. That YouTuber wants the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that he was reporting on known controversies, and Radke’s lawsuit is an attempt to silence his critics…

Chris Cooke • 04 Feb 2025

International Intellectual Property Alliance • 3 min read

Congress member proposes web blocking to protect copyright’s “$2 trillion” impact on US economy

US Congress member Zoe Lofgren has proposed a new law that would make web-blocking available as an anti-piracy tactic in the US for the first time, to better protect the American copyright industries, which a new report says now make a $2 trillion contribution to the US economy…

Chris Cooke • 04 Feb 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Attawalpa

Attawalpa, aka British-Peruvian artist Luis Felber, crafts esoteric, textural indie ballads steeped in self-exploration. His new single, ‘Always The Girls’, is an ode to feminine energy, blending psychedelia with grand, sweeping strings that add catharsis, steering it beyond ‘soft boy’ territory.…

Kaya Robertson • 04 Feb 2025

Bombshell copyright ruling could be “financially devastating” for music publishers

A ruling last week in a US termination rights dispute could have big ramifications for the music industry. Previously when songwriters exercised the termination right in US copyright law, it was assumed they only got their US rights back. A court has now said termination should apply worldwide…

Chris Cooke • 03 Feb 2025

Musi • 2 min read

Apple won’t be forced to let Musi back into its app store, rules judge

Apple kicked music app Musi out of its App Store last September. Musi has sued and wants a preliminary injunction forcing Apple to immediately reinstate its app. A judge has declined to issue that injunction, saying Apple’s terms clearly say it can remove any apps at any time “with or without cause”…

Chris Cooke • 03 Feb 2025

Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Ticketmaster to offer Canadian customers a $45 voucher after settling ‘drip pricing’ class action

Canadian concert-goers who bought tickets from Ticketmaster in 2018 may get a $45 voucher as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit against drip pricing. Although Canadian rules on drip pricing are now clearer, the class action argued the practice breached consumer rights law even in 2018…

Chris Cooke • 31 Jan 2025

Diddy • 3 min read

New allegations made in Diddy criminal case, while Jay-Z hits back again at the lawyer who pulled him into a Diddy lawsuit

More allegations have been made against Diddy by prosecutors in the criminal case that accuses the musician of racketeering and sex trafficking. Meanwhile Jay-Z is still in a back and forth with the lawyer who added him as a co-defendant on one of the lawsuits accusing Diddy of sexual assault…

Chris Cooke • 31 Jan 2025