Universal Music Group announced a partnership with an AI music tech startup called SoundLabs on Tuesday, with the largest music company in the world set to use the deal to offer AI voice model tech to its roster in the coming months. UMG’s artists and record producers will be able …
Read More »Music Publishers File FTC Complaint Against Spotify for 'Fraudulent Business Practices'
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Spotify over the streaming giant’s controversial audiobook bundle offering. The premium subscription tier bundle has led to decreased royalties for songwriters, with the trade group calling the strategy “a scheme to increase profits by …
Read More »Ticketmaster Acknowledges Data Breach After Hacker Claimed Stealing Info From 560 Million Customers
Ticketmaster‘s parent company Live Nation acknowledged that it suffered a data breach tied to the ticketing company’s user data, confirming the matter in an SEC filing Friday. The filing comes days after a hacker under the name ShinyHunters in a popular online hacker group called Breachforums, claiming that they had …
Read More »DOJ vs. Live Nation and Ticketmaster: Read the Full Lawsuit
The Department of Justice rocked the live music world on Thursday with an explosive antitrust lawsuit it filed against concert and ticketing giant Live Nation Entertainment, the culmination of a years-long investigation the regulatory group launched in 2022. In an extensive complaint, the Justice Department accused Live Nation of exerting …
Read More »Music Publishers Escalate Their War With Spotify
Music publishers are escalating their battle with Spotify, with the National Music Publishers Association sending a letter to the Senate and House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee advocating a change that, if enacted, could significantly alter the way publishers and songwriters negotiate with the streaming service to determine their payments. The …
Read More »As AI Race Heats Up, A ChatGPT For Music Just Raised $125 Million
An Artificial Intelligence music maker capable of quickly creating songs with AI-generated music and vocals just raised $125 million, the latest sign of the fast-developing AI arms race in the music business. Suno is like a ChatGPT for music; users input phrases and keywords for a song they’d like to …
Read More »Publishers Send Cease-and-Desist to Spotify over Unlicensed Content
The National Music Publishers Association sent a cease-and-desist letter to Spotify on Wednesday over allegations that the streaming giant is infringing their members’ musical works through lyrics, music videos and podcasts on the platform. “NMPA demands that unlicensed lyrics, music videos, and podcasts be removed from the platform or Spotify …
Read More »Maryland Outlaws Hidden Fees on Concert Tickets
Maryland signed a new ticketing bill on Thursday that’s set to outlaw some of the live music industry’s most common deceptive ticketing practices: Hidden fees and speculative ticket listings. Maryland governor Wes Moore signed the legislation on Thursday afternoon, weeks after it first passed through the state’s senate. Fees tacked …
Read More »UMG and TikTok Reach New Licensing Deal to End Dispute
Universal Music Group and TikTok have reached a new licensing agreement, the companies announced, ending their months-long dispute and bringing UMG’s catalog back to the short-form video platform. UMG first announced in an open letter at the end of January that it hadn’t reached an agreement with TikTok, citing several …
Read More »Sony Gets $800,000 in Damages Over TikTok Rapper's Infringement
A TikTok rapper has been ordered to pay Sony Music just over $800,000 for copyright infringement involving one of his songs, according to court documents filed on Wednesday. Last year, Sony sued Trefuego, a 20-year-old Arizona resident whose real name is Dantreal Clark-Rainbolt, over his 2019 song “90mh.” The song …
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