Music industry legal news

Open letter says creators’ human rights are “being flouted en masse” by AI companies

public

Artificial Intelligence • 3 min read

Open letter says creators’ human rights are “being flouted en masse” by AI companies

A plethora of artists and music industry organisations have signed an open letter demanding to know why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer isn’t standing up for the human rights of British creators, whose copyrights are being infringed at scale by AI companies, many of them based overseas…

Chris Cooke • 17 Sep 2025

Open letter from UK creators to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on AI

public

Artificial Intelligence • 5 min read

Open letter from UK creators to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on AI

An open letter to Keir Starmer signed by numerous UK artists and creators - and organisations from across the UK creative industries - demanding to know why the Prime Minister isn’t standing up for the human rights of British creators in the context of AI…

CMU Editorial • 17 Sep 2025

Is Ticketmaster doing enough to stop touts? A new FTC investigation looks at ticketing giant’s BOTS Act compliance

public

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

TikTok saved as Trump says deal agreed with China

public

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

TikTok “slow poison” to kids say French MPs as they propose social media curfew for teenagers

public

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 latest artist to go after merch bootleggers

public

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

Sonos wants courts to dismiss SoundExchange lawsuit after controversial Sirius ruling

public

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

CD sales in the US plunge in first half of 2025 as paid streaming subscriptions hit 105 million users

public

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

Anthropic will pay authors $1.5 billion to settle AI copyright case

public

Anthropic • 3 min read

Anthropic will pay authors $1.5 billion to settle AI copyright case

Last month a US judge threw out a royalties lawsuit filed by SoundExchange against satellite broadcaster Sirius XM, concluding that the collecting society doesn’t actually have the right to sue its licensees. SoundExchange says that ruling was “erroneous” and is now taking the matter to appeal…

Chris Cooke • 08 Sep 2025

Plethora of tech companies and organisations back Cox as Supreme Court considers billion dollar music piracy case

public

Cox Communications • 4 min read

Plethora of tech companies and organisations back Cox as Supreme Court considers billion dollar music piracy case

American ISP Cox Communications wants the US Supreme Court to overturn the billion dollar music piracy judgement secured against it by the major labels. Last week loads of tech companies and trade organisations, and the US DoJ, made filings with the top court backing Cox and its legal arguments…

Chris Cooke • 08 Sep 2025

SoundExchange appeals ruling that says it can’t file lawsuits when licensees fail to pay all the royalties that are due

public

SoundExchange • 3 min read

SoundExchange appeals ruling that says it can’t file lawsuits when licensees fail to pay all the royalties that are due

Last month a US judge threw out a royalties lawsuit filed by collecting society SoundExchange against satellite broadcaster Sirius XM, concluding that society doesn’t actually have the right to sue its licensees. SoundExchange says that ruling was “erroneous” and is now taking the matter to appeal…

Chris Cooke • 08 Sep 2025

Lyrics giants’ faceoff will proceed in US courts as judge refuses to dismiss LyricFind v Musixmatch lawsuit

public

LyricFind • 3 min read

Lyrics giants’ faceoff will proceed in US courts as judge refuses to dismiss LyricFind v Musixmatch lawsuit

Musixmatch has failed to get an antitrust lawsuit filed against it by rival LyricFind dismissed. As a result, the litigation will now proceed. LyricFind claims that an exclusivity deal between Musixmatch and Warner Chappell was anticompetitive and designed to scupper its deal with Spotify…

Chris Cooke • 05 Sep 2025

Music industry legal news coverage