CMU | the music business explained (Page 41)

Streaming fraud is fuelled by “perceived lack of a legal risk”, industry stakeholders tell judge in Michael Smith sentencing

As touts list Oasis tickets for £3000, will the UK government finally set a timeline for banning for-profit ticket touting?

Incoming ‘nor’easter storm’ might succeed where billionaire Robert Kraft failed - causing an Ed Sheeran show to cancel

Ed Sheeran discusses Macklemore axing controversy as his tour resumes in Philadelphia

Live Nation hired Trump’s personal lawyer as it sought to persuade US Department Of Justice to settle antitrust litigation

Songwriter AI victory in Europe as GEMA beats Suno in copyright lawsuit

Live Nation says everyone should shut up and stop asking questions about its cosy deal with Trump’s DoJ

Only humans can be ‘authors’ say Canadian music publishers in test case on copyright status of AI-generated works

AI-generated tracks now account for more than 50% of Deezer’s uploads

UK government publishes ‘Our Plan For Music’ - and announces new funding and licensing reforms

US industry groups raise “serious concerns” about EU royalty flow proposals, which many of their European counterparts support

Kneecap allowed to file defamation lawsuit in Ireland against Indigenous leader in Canada over antisemitism claims

BBC’s music boss Lorna Clarke outlines broadcaster’s AI transparency commitments - but can it actually meet them?

Spotify zaps half a million streams amid speculation Kalshi traders were behind boost for Malcolm Todd track ‘Earrings’

PRS defeats Rowntree black box class action at appeal - but is left £1.8m out of pocket

Live Nation boss Michael Rapino talked to Trump, hired Trump allies, reveals latest filing in antitrust case

StubHub fined £900,000 by UK regulator for illegal drip pricing

Google says any music uploaded to YouTube is fair game for AI training - and there’s nothing musicians can do

Suno really doesn’t want you to know how many audio files it copied when training its music AI model

Universal Music has found its backbone and told Bill Ackman to take a hike

BTS fans hate Live Nation over Aussie and Malaysian ticket pre-sales

Chance The Rapper and Pat The Manager back in court, over claims Pat improperly inserted himself into Chance’s deals

Gamma - which released Kanye’s comeback album - sues to unmask whoever is behind “coordinated and malicious” anonymous smear campaign

UK competition regulator should urgently investigate live music sector, MPs say, citing “climate of fear” around Live Nation’s dominance

Spotify’s transformation into an AI slop factory commences as it announces Universal “superfan” remix gimmick and Live Nation ticketing wheeze

Music industry welcomes revised NO FAKES Act, but Spotify says “still work to do”

Live Nation and Ticketmaster should still be split up, lawmakers told, as US government’s antitrust settlement criticised in Congress

Spotify increases subscription prices in Canada, but rolls back previous price increases in India

Op-ed: More than the Beatles: the quiet secrets behind Liverpool’s world-class music industry

BMG and Concord confirm merger

Universal and Sony must be allowed to see Warner’s deal with Suno, lawyers tell judge as AI legal battle continues

Music streaming services targeted as Texas Attorney General launches payola investigation

Live Nation pays $9.9 million to settle yet another investigation into dodgy ticketing practices

The European rule on whether samples need to be cleared moves to a “maybe” with latest Kraftwerk ruling

BTS lawyers go after album leaker and knock-off merch sellers

Eddie Dalton’s (actually quite modest) chart success sparks further debate about where AI music fits in

Grass needs more time to grow says AEG as it puts a pin in LIDO Festival

Universal CEO Lucian Grainge makes 764 times more than his employees - and female staff get 48% less than male counterparts

Major music publishers buy into termination rights lawsuit to take fight to Supreme Court

Spotify wants $300 million in damages from Anna’s Archive, and for court to go after piracy site’s service providers

Cox Communications celebrates as US Supreme Court overturns critical music piracy judgement

Claude’s AI lyrics cause market dilution, say music publishers calling for courts to reject fair use defence

Declare trademark claims bogus says FKA in Twigs vs Twigs

Chance The Rapper wins sunset clause dispute with former manager

American man pleads guilty to multi-million dollar streaming fraud, faces five years in jail

Cautious welcome for UK government’s latest AI copyright stance, as BMG files latest Anthropic lawsuit

DoJ’s Live Nation settlement “proof Trump Administration cannot be trusted to protect American consumers”, says new Senate report on Ticketmaster

StubHub to more clearly state prices and terms for touted tickets, and offer Taylor Swift fans refunds, but only in British Columbia

“Robbing them blind, baby - that’s how we do it”, boast Live Nation execs about “so stupid” ticket-buyers

New generation of British artists propel UK record industry to £1.5 billion high, says BPI

High Court sides with Kneecap, ending the Hezbollah flag criminal case against Mo Chara

Google had every opportunity to train its AI legally, but chose to do it on the cheap instead, say indie musicians in new lawsuit

Live Nation settles DoJ antitrust lawsuit - but state lawsuits may continue

Chance The Rapper and Pat The Manager bust-up heads to court over disputed sunset clause

Warner Music’s Robert Kyncl is betting the company on an AI future. Can he deliver?

Suno is a feral pig rampaging through a well-tended garden, say creator orgs

Merlin CEO Jeremy Sirota said “independent music is not raw material for tech companies to exploit without consent” before quitting to join AI music scraper-in-chief Suno

Producer who accused Karol G of beat-theft dismisses his lawsuit, adding “we were wrong”

Anna’s Archive rolls out the red carpet for robots - and asks them to “persuade” their humans to make donations

After a Live Nation lobbyist boasted he got antitrust chief sacked, US Senators ask if company has hired a “bevy of cozy MAGA friends”

European Commission approves Universal’s $775 million Downtown acquisition - but did it ask the right questions?

Spotify is all in on AI, its best engineers haven't written a single line of code since December - and why that should worry the music industry

Adding “hot takes” to unlicensed music is not fair use, judge confirms in rockumentary copyright case

IMPALA report warns European music diversity will erode without intervention on ownership, market access and infrastructure

European Commission must tackle “coercive buy-out practices” when US video streamers commission music, says MEP

Charlie Puth got musician to provide vocals for ‘Furious 7’ track, then Warner cheated him out rights and royalties, says lawsuit

Music publishers file new Anthropic lawsuit, adding in piracy claims and $3 billion mega-damages

Meta dropped songs from Reels library to bully Wixen into accepting lower royalty rates, says lawsuit

Horizon Future Leaders: Four issues shaping the industry

Five key developments over the Christmas break

Music and AI: 2025’s developments that will shape 2026’s disputes

Artists from South East Europe at risk of “cultural erasure” as a result of Spotify’s 1000 stream threshold

As indie community calls again for Universal’s Downtown deal to be blocked, will UMG flog off Curve to get over regulators?

MIT study “marks a new anchor for meaningful actions” to make live music more environmentally sustainable

Indie publishers make demands of collecting societies as they start to negotiate AI deals

Bob Vylan sue RTÉ over claims they instigated “antisemitic chant” during Glastonbury set

After King Gizzard boycotted Spotify, tracks by an AI-clone of the band started streaming

Ador founder wants to develop alternative K-pop management model with new agency

Indie publisher trade body says members should reject AI deals that do not value songs properly

“Creators are collateral damage” in AI race says Jorja Smith’s label, after AI voice clone track goes viral

Kneecap sue MP who “lied to the world” about group’s Canada ban

Johnny Cash estate uses ELVIS Act to sue Coke over tribute act ad soundtrack

Suno picks up Songkick as part of AI licensing deal with Warner Music

Live Nation and AEG provide a “disgusting service”, says Olivia Dean, after for-profit touting of tickets

Fugee Pras Michel jailed for fourteen years after illegal lobbying

Ticket touting platforms start frantic lobbying campaign claiming new anti-tout laws will increase ticket fraud

StubHub share price craters as UK prepares to announce ticket touting ban

Regulators must consider UMG’s AI deals in Downtown case, says IAO President

North American songwriter groups join call for transparency and creator consent as music companies start signing AI deals

Starmer must “honour his pledge” to cap prices in “extortionate and pernicious” secondary ticketing market

Downtown accused of planning “calculated destruction” of a short-lived YouTube music client in bombastic new lawsuit

No “self-service buffet” for AI companies says GEMA CEO as OpenAI loses landmark lyrics lawsuit

Manchester Evening News pays damages after incorrectly labelling Bob Vylan’s “sun salutation” as a Nazi salute

Slipknot.com owner hires domain name specialist to fight back against band’s cybersquatting claims

“Misleading rhetoric and “deceitful buzzwords” not good enough, says Council Of Music Makers in call for creator consent, control and compensation in AI deals

Axing of controversial EBacc is a “step in the right direction” for music education says Ed Sheeran

Former Guns N Roses manager sues band over autobiography blocker clause

Judgement in Getty’s UK lawsuit against Stability “underscores growing gap” between copyright and tech, says leading lawyer

Spotify’s streaming fraud initiatives are “nothing more than window dressing” says rapper RBX as he files class action lawsuit

Streaming services don’t want French language quotas in Québec

Taylor Swift • 2 min read

Taylor Swift hits back at “absurd and legally baseless” claims that she ripped off existing poems when writing her lyrics

Taylor Swift has been accused of ripping off a set of poems when writing lyrics for songs on four different albums. But in a new court filing, Swift says a lawsuit filed by the writer behind those poems is “absurd”, and no different to an earlier dismissed lawsuit against one of her companies…

Chris Cooke • 08 Dec 2025

CMU Selects • 1 min read

CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases

Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise last week, from Dove Ellis, Peaches, Boj, TOMORA + Confidence Man…

Kaya Robertson • 08 Dec 2025

Min Hee-jin • 2 min read

Ador founder wants to develop alternative K-pop management model with new agency

The dispute between NewsJeans and HYBE-owned Ador put the spotlight on K-pop artist deals earlier this year. Ador founder Min Hee-jin - who was pushed out of the agency, prompting the dispute with NewJeans - is launching a new company and says she plans to develop a “new management model” through it…

Chris Cooke • 08 Dec 2025

Kanye West • 2 min read

Kanye’s “problematic behaviour” should not surprise anyone, say judges in Adidas lawsuit

After the long-running partnership between Adidas and Kanye West fell apart in 2022, following the rapper’s antisemitic statements, a shareholder in the sportswear firm sued, claiming management there had failed to declare risks created by West’s misconduct. But a US court has rejected those claims…

Chris Cooke • 05 Dec 2025

Eurovision Song Contest • 2 min read

Four countries pull out of Eurovision after Israel confirmed to participate

The Eurovision Song Contest is set to be more political than ever next year, with four countries now boycotting the event over Israel’s involvement. Organiser the European Broadcasting Union this week declined to stage a vote of its members on Israel's continued participation in the competition…

Chris Cooke • 05 Dec 2025

Independent Music Publishers Forum (IMPF) • 2 min read

Indie publisher trade body says members should reject AI deals that do not value songs properly

The major labels’ big deals with Suno and Udio have posed a number of important questions for the wider music community - including how AI income will be shared between the song rights and the recording rights. IMPF has now joined ECSA in demanding that the two copyrights are valued equally…

Chris Cooke • 04 Dec 2025

Eventbrite • 2 min read

Bending Spoons to buy “stagnating” ticketing platform Eventbrite

Eventbrite is set to be acquired by Bending Spoons, which has been buying up a plethora of digital platforms, instigating lots of cost cutting once each deal is done. It will pay $500 million for Eventbrite, considerably less than the ticketing platform’s $1.76 billion valuation at its 2018 IPO…

Chris Cooke • 04 Dec 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: samxemma

samxemma build electronic pop that sounds like optimism trying to reboot itself. New single ‘Me forever :(‘ is another beautifully chaotic, maximalist blast from the duo with over bright, club-leaning synths and percussion that sounds like someone shaking the internet until a feeling falls out…

Kaya Robertson • 04 Dec 2025

PacSun • 2 min read

PacSun latest brand to be sued over uncleared pop songs in TikTok posts

Another lawsuit against a brand that used pop songs in its social media videos without getting the necessary licences. Warner is suing fashion retailer PacSun, which - it says - is a sophisticated IP owner that should have understood its obligations to secure sync licences for its TikTok videos…

Chris Cooke • 03 Dec 2025

Suno • 2 min read

Stream-ripper Yout says Suno and Udio have criticism “precisely right” over ruling in legal battle with major labels

Suno and Udio recently sought to intervene in the major labels’ legal dispute with stream-ripper Yout, because a ruling in that case impacts on their own legal battles with the majors. Yout has now welcomed that intervention, but the majors say the AI companies are wrong about stream-ripping rules…

Chris Cooke • 03 Dec 2025

CMU Approved • 1 min read

🎧 Approved: Angel Du$t

Baltimore’s Angel Du$t have done the awkward, interesting work of turning hardcore’s blunt force into something porous and strange - they’re loud, messy and stubbornly generous. New single ‘DU$T’ catches the point where tenderness snaps into racket…

Kaya Robertson • 02 Dec 2025

Jorja Smith • 3 min read

“Creators are collateral damage” in AI race says Jorja Smith’s label, after AI voice clone track goes viral

Jorja Smith’s label FAMM has entered the AI debate after a dance track went viral with vocals that had been manipulated by Suno to sound like it was Smith singing. FAMM criticises the artist behind that track, and says guardrails are urgently needed that ensure AI-generated music is clearly labelled…

Chris Cooke • 02 Dec 2025

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