Universal Music Group enacts some major reductions, leading to layoffs impacting the US, UK, and possibly other affiliated organizations. Universal Music Group (UMG) has started the process of another major wave of layoffs across its operations, affecting several top executives.
Trump signs Marsha Blackburn’s American Music Tourism Act into law, which requires the Department of Commerce to promote music tourism in the US. On Friday, President Trump signed the American Music Tourism Act, a bipartisan bill backed by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Sen.
Six years after its release, the official music video for the chart-topping reggaeton hit passes one billion views on YouTube.
The British pop artist will make her ARIAs debut when she performs on stage next month at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.
Katovsky will pair his catalog management experience with Matt Spetzler's deal-making know-how to grow the artist advance platform.
Lenin Ramírez’s “Polvo Rosita” blows into the No. 1 spot on Regional Mexican Airplay.
The country star shared a series of photos and videos to celebrate Brendan McLoughlin's 35th birthday.
Darrylene Corniel settled her wrongful death lawsuit against the concert company, but claims brought by the rapper's son and brother remain set for trial next month
Billboard is keeping track of all the bills that could impact the music industry during the 119th Congress.
The law will require the assistant secretary of commerce for travel and tourism to come up with a plan to increase tourism across the United States.
Rapidly ascending Korean-American singer and former “Traitors” contestant Eric Nam has signed with UTA for representation in all areas. Eric Nam, a Korean-American singer and former Traitors contestant whose star is currently on the rise, has been quickly snapped up by UTA for representation in all...
The HBCU Radio Preservation Project has received $750,000 from the Ford Foundation to support radio stations at historically Black colleges and universities.
A judge more than doubled the award for construction manager Tony Saxon, tacking $181,000 in legal fees and costs on top of his March jury verdict.
When promoter Team Innovation and ticketing platform thumpN announced Arijit Singh’s long-awaited return to the road, they described it as a “stadium” tour. However, only three of the venues Singh […] The post is from Music Ally.
While Bollywood remains the biggest segment in India, its growth is slowing down, revealed Luminate last week. According to the entertainment data company, in the first half of 2026, streams […] The post is from Music Ally.
Pipeline is the $200 million-backed financing platform for the music and creative industries that launched in January through Matt Spetzler's investment firm Jamen Capital. Source
The streamer will add the labels to music deemed to have been "created primarily using generative AI."
The concert promotions giant is still set to go to trial next month on separate claims brought by Drakeo's brother and members of his entourage.
“I’m grateful to finally close this chapter of my life," the artist says in a statement
Four months and change after YouTube proper rolled out AI-label improvements, YouTube Music is adding AI tags of its own. YouTube Music confirmed as much in a brief blog post today, indicating that the labels will identify tracks “created primarily using generative AI.” And out of the gate, the...
The run will see support from John Fogerty, Ryan Bingham and The Texas Gentlemen, and more
Live Nation is firing back against the FTC’s “misguided” BOTS Act lawsuit, which it says contradicts the law’s “plain meaning, flouts the will of Congress, and undoubtedly sets back the fight against scalpers.” The promoter and its Ticketmaster subsidiary formally answered the complaint yesterday,...
"I want to unreservedly apologise to her for what I did and for the distress and hurt I caused that night," former Black Midi singer says. "It was a huge mistake"
Both Switchzilla and CISA sound the alarm
Just days after announcing his “Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs” EP will be dropping this week — and not long after he broke the attendance record at Robert Kraft’s Gillette Stadium while wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt — Zach Bryan has announced a stadium tour in support of the release,...
KATSEYE’s ‘Pinky up’, BLACKPINK’s ‘JUMP,’ and LE SSERAFIM’s ‘CELEBRATION’ all share something new: hard techno. K-pop’s trademark EDM sound is giving way to something grittier — and insiders say it’s just getting started. This article was written by Ben Jolley in collaboration with How Music...
Earlier this month, amid a high-stakes Phonorecords V rate-setting proceeding, participating copyright owners proposed a simplified mechanical that would end the “bundling loophole.” Now, DSPs including Spotify are defending the Phono IV terms and pushing to leave them in place through 2032.
Things got weird, but there's a lesson to be learned: Don't trust a bot to negotiate for you
The Ticket Policy Forum and its online ticket marketplace members have sued the District of Columbia to block the RESALE Act from taking effect on January 1. The Ticket Policy Forum (TPF) and its members, which include SeatGeek, Vivid Seats, Gametime, and TickPick, have filed a lawsuit in the U.S.
YouTube will label AI-generated songs across its main website and YouTube Music, the latest service to publicly mark tracks as not produced by humans. “Generative AI is opening up new ways for artists to create, experiment, and share music,” YouTube said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Torvalds says contributors must understand their code, whatever tools they use
Xbow earned a $250K bug bounty and all the AI model got was a lousy t-shirt
Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Pandora, and Google have filed their rate proposals in Phonorecords V Source
Roppo joins from Universal Music Group, where he most recently served as Chairman and CEO of Republic Records. Source
Character.ai files for bankruptcy, illustrating the sheer amount of money and resources burned with little gain and numerous lawsuits to show for it. The crash-and-burn could offer a preview for the music industry.
Just hours after his departure from Republic Records was announced, Jim Roppo has been officially named vice chairman of Warner Records Group. He will be based in Los Angeles and report to Chairman & CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck; his start date will be confirmed in the coming weeks.
YouTube is adding a "Made with AI" label to tracks that were "altered or fully generated" using AI, with a similar approach to its existing process for applying AI labels to videos.
Mohnish Sani has joined Hybe Americas in the newly created role of Head of Strategy and Growth, the company announced on Wednesday. In the role he will focus on long-term growth across the Americas markets and work with Hybe Korea’s strategy team; he will be based in New York and will report to...
Plaintiff Tony Saxon was previously awarded $140,000 for injuries suffered while working at the rapper-producer’s $57 million Malibu beach home
There's an entire cottage industry of iPod mods out there, but Sprout Pi and Sprout Pico are two of the few full motherboard replacements that combine many of the most popular mods into a single upgrade. Both versions add Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB-C, a microSD card slot, FLAC playback, and more.
Vendor promises fix for separate privilege-escalation flaw in the coming weeks
Returning from a brief social media hiatus, Adéla encouraged fans to be more respectful of other artists
It’s that time of year again! The holiday season has kicked off on Spotify, and that can only mean one thing: Our Spotify Singles: Holiday Collection is here. Each year, we ask artists to take a holiday favorite and make it their own.
'Our listeners have told us they want transparency when they're hearing an AI-generated track,' said YouTube Source
Proposal would let UTC drift an hour from Earth's rotation, sparing computer systems awkward adjustments for centuries
Execs such as Tunji Balogun, Ben Mortimer, Nicole Wyskoarko, and Sam Riback are leaving UMG Source
As has long been expected, Universal Music Group is being hit with extensive layoffs across its U.S. and U.K. operations, with multiple top executives departing, among many others.
What are they puffing? Tobacco, apparently. Cancer researcher tells El Reg it's a bad bet
Foreign Tongues, Loose Lips will be released on November 27 with five additional songs including “Bad Luck Hideaway"
The filings follow three applications submitted to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in April Source
Browser-based fun to remember a time before Apple's annual cash grab became a thing
DDR4 makes a comeback as component costs rise, while Linux offers an escape from forced upgrades
Paul McCartney has a bone to pick with Sam Mendes, the director of the upcoming four Beatles movies starring Paul Mescal as McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. What’s the issue?
The concert film, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and shot on 35mm film, will be released this winter
New desktop app simplifies stripping out bundled software, with heavier cuts carrying security and support risks
With its skits, anecdotes, and punchlines, comedy lends itself well to short-form video. Now that streaming services have built the vertical feed infrastructure, they can leverage original, premium, short-form comedy to draw in new audiences for vertical TV. Source
If you thought 1.6 Tbps was fast, just wait, Cisco's USFP targets 12.8 Tbps in a single optical pluggable
When you have time, spend it well—with a podcast you love. That’s the idea behind our new Podcasts on Spotify campaign, celebrating the shows and creators that make a spare moment worth pressing play.
What has thrills, chills, and something for every book lover? It’s the wonderfully wicked world of horror audiobooks. With spooky season underway, we asked Spotify’s Katie del Rosario, Associate Director, Audiobooks Editorial, and Lena Yang, Senior Editor, Audiobooks, to walk us through some of the...
Amazon, Google, Meta among members of lobby group funding dire warnings over cloud sovereignty plans
Spotify’s Get Ready for 2026 Wrapped landing page is now live on Spotify for Artists. Aside from the usual message for fans, eligible artists can this year share a performance video too. These could be things like live shows, acoustic takes, or studio sessions.
Distributor Too Lost has launched a daily public report page, which shares operational data from its platform, including support volumes and resolution times, DSP deliveries, payout acceptance times, client retention, uploads and product updates shipped. The data updates daily.
When Raye announced a show in London’s Royal Albert Hall, you’d expect demand for tickets to be high. But when the show received 1.8 pre-sale million sign-ups – for a 5000 seat show – it became clear to Raye’s team that “scalpers [were] using AI bots to create hundreds of thousands of fake...
Decades of cross-platform character corruption finally comes to an end for Windows coders
UK-based organisation Black Lives in Music (BLiM) has launched a new report titled Race Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) – which it says is “the most comprehensive investigation to date into how licensing and policing shape the fortunes of Black and South Asian artists, promoters and...
Tick, tick, tick, tick, ticket, ticket, tick tick
The suit came to light days after Universal Music Group's Interscope Records sued Walker for more than USD $50 million. Source
Paul Henninger shares news of his move up via email as around 200 colleagues prepare for redundancy
BigHit Music announced the figure on Wednesday (October 14), naming the runner-up as Olivia Rodrigo's "you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love." Source
FBI alleges covert recorder was plugged into a TV, with a second device later discovered in the employee's bag
Analyst predicts 80% of neoclouds will disappear as standalone businesses by 2030
Whitehall's digital staffing falls short of its own target as ministers leave the skills gap unresolved
New models arrive so fast, we already have more new tech than it's possible to understand in a career
Security footage of Clarkson’s visit to Art of Play was revealed on Tuesday, while the shop's owner responded to questions from the press
BMG and Concord are now one company, but is it a merger or an acquisition? Chief transformation officer Kent Hoskins used another word when he appeared at this week’s Music Ally Publishing Summit. “I would suggest it’s a combination,” he said.
Exclusive: Investigation finds racial inequality in live music industry rife and many genres labelled ‘high risk’ despite lack of evidence Black and south Asian music events in London face disproportionate cancellations, restrictions and licensing barriers compared with white events, according to a...
37% of ransomware attacks involve psychological or physical threats, global survey found
Hate AI slop? Deezer might be the on-demand platform for you, as it will soon allow users to “fully exclude AI-generated music” from their streaming experiences. Deezer announced the AI-audio toggle today, pointing to a planned global launch sometime before 2026’s conclusion.
YouTube surveyed 20,000 European creators, many of whom say they lack government support, training, funding, and industry representation. Over the summer, Public First conducted a survey commissioned by YouTube, gathering insights from over 20,000 creators across all 27 European Union member...
Footage of Kelly Clarkson visiting the Brooklyn novelty store she slammed on Saturday has now been acquired and released by Pablo Torre, the host and executive editor of the investigative podcast, “Pablo Torre Finds Out.” The video offers another perspective to the ongoing drama between Clarkson...
The Verve Pipe frontman Brian Vander Ark has inked a catalog deal with Primary Wave, which has taken an interest in “The Freshmen” singer-songwriter’s publishing and recorded IP.
Dolly Parton’s estate continues to battle her nephew and former head of her security, who denies accusations that he threatened violence and to destroy his aunt’s legacy.
I’m going for 75 minutes until I am 90! Living the dream!!! Peter Noone ____________________________________________ Great write-up on Mike Love. Mike was my boss for 23 years, including when I met you at the Vilar in 2019. You’ve hit the nail on the head – Mike really loves performing for the...
Joni Mitchell has officially become a U.S. citizen 62 years after first traveling from Canada to the United States—though she’s lived in Southern California since the late ’60s. Legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is officially a U.S.
30 years later, the man found guilty of helping orchestrate the murder of Tupac Shakur has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. Duane “Keffe D” Davis, the first and only person to be convicted over the death of hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur, was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison on […]
The “No Love” singer is asking a judge in Atlanta to void her contract with Love Renaissance
Presale registration for the show ran through a sign-up page hosted by fan marketing platform co:brand. Source
Raye’s 5,000-capacity Royal Albert Hall concert was inundated with 1.8 million presale sign-ups and “hundreds of thousands of fake registrations” – prompting the artist and her team to conduct a manual review in an effort to identify “real fans.” That’s according to London-born Raye herself, who...
Apple Music's iconic red app icon has reportedly been replaced with a black-and-white version in the latest iOS 27.2 beta, 9to5Mac reports. The eighth note on the icon also appears to have a slightly sharper angle than the original.
Live Nation is poised to further its expansion into South America with a partnership with Bizarro to support the growth of Latin artists in Chile. Last week, Live Nation announced a partnership with Latin American promoter Bizarro, designed to expand live Latin music in Chile and support the growth...
Several new Michael Jackson and Jackson family documentaries are in the works following the record-breaking success of Lionsgate’s Michael film. Michael Jackson is firmly back in the cultural zeitgeist after the phenomenal success of Lionsgate’s Michael biopic released earlier this year.
When the New York Times ran a list of the greatest living American songwriters earlier this year, the ranking was greeted with a lot of reader flack for not including Joni Mitchell.
Apple announces the HomePod Mini 2 with a slew of new colors and enhanced audio capabilities alongside Siri AI integration in a future update. Today, Apple announced the highly anticipated HomePod Mini 2, which comes in a slew of new colors alongside enhanced audio capabilities and a new chip that...
Duane “Keffe D” Davis has been sentenced to 40 years to life after being found guilty of orchestrating the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur. Davis appeared in a Nevada court on Tuesday for his sentencing in the case, with the judge handing him 20 years to life for first-degree murder and 20 years to...
The deal covers Vander Ark's publishing and recorded music catalogs, including the songs he wrote for The Verve Pipe. Source
Michael Jackson’s iconic performance during the the 1993 Super Bowl halftime show will be chronicled in a new documentary coming to Hulu and ESPN. Debuting in February 2027, “Spectacle: Michael Jackson at the Super Bowl” will follow the King of Pop as he prepares for his landmark performance at the...
YouTube has published a “proposal for unlocking the EU Creator Economy”, which argues that its community of creators in Europe should be treated more like small businesses, given access to the same EU funding (like the Creative Europe programme, or tax incentives) as established media companies,...
Two lawsuits caught our eye today, both of which tell you something about the tension between established artist contracts and music rights – and how they fit in a modern media and legal landscape. The post is from Music Ally.
Deezer has been notably open about sharing information on the impact of AI-generated music on its platform, and has announced that it will allow users to “fully exclude” AI-generated music from their listening. The post is from Music Ally.
This is coverage from the Music Ally Publishing Summit 2026 – read full details of the event here. This week’s Music Ally Publishing Summit kicked off with a keynote interview […] The post is from Music Ally.
1 He’s always been nice to me. There’s an assumption that our musical heroes are just like you and me. They’re not. And they’re not like movie stars, not like politicians, not like any other performers, because they are their music, and their music speaks to us in a way no other medium does.
The Orchard is seeking a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader to manage and execute its growth strategy, team building and client relationship initiatives in the Nordics & Baltics. Driving efficient communication and […] The post is from Music Ally.
What are artists really signing away when they opt into an AI settlement? Join Jen Jacobsen, George Zelcs, Gwendolyn Seale, Tim Kappel and moderator Chris Castle at Artist Rights Symposium V on October 19 at the University of Georgia for a discussion of AI copyright licensing, hidden...
In September, UMG sued distributer DistroKid over the latter’s “illegal, deceptive, and unlawful practices” – with two specific and fairly blockbuster accusations at the lawsuit’s heart: that DistroKid is “flooding” streaming services with “AI-generated slop”; and that it is also committing...
Rockstar Games is slowly drip-feeding a ravenous fanbase small nuggets of Grand Theft Auto VI before its launch on 19 November. The company has often led with music in this teasing process, and it has now launched a site where fans can get a blast of the radio stations and songs that will be...
We’re used to reading about novel ways of recruiting people en masse from another company, but a “reverse acqui-hire deal” was a new one to us. You’ll be aware of an acqui-hire deal, where one company – usually a major corporation – buys another outright in order to absorb the entirety of their...
Hi everyone! Sorry if we react slowly this week, that’s because our brains are all slowed down digesting all of the chocolate! Which long term readers will know means we are in Barcelona at our yearly summit all week.
Picard 3.0.2 is a maintenance release for the recently released Picard 3.0 with fixes for reported issues and updated translations. This releases fixes a crash in the Setup Wizard if Picard was packaged with the automatic update check disabled and several color theme related fixes.
Artists are taking to social media to complain that DistroKid has unceremoniously removed their work without notice. Now DistroKid has confirmed to The Verge that the takedowns are a direct response to claims made by UMG.
Sunmi is an undeniable force in K-pop. She first made her debut as a member of the Wonder Girls back in 2007, one of the first K-pop acts to really break through in the West. The English version of their single "Nobody" was the first K-pop song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2009.
Tune in Saturday October 10th to Faction Talk, channel 137, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West. Phone #: 844-686-5863 If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
San Francisco’s Pier 80 came alive last month as fans packed the dance floor for this year’s Portola Music Festival. If you missed any of the fun or just want an encore, you can now watch select sets and performances from the event in our Portola video hub from artists including Chloé Caillet,...
October 10 is World Mental Health Day, but for many podcast creators, wellness is a year-round pursuit. Listeners turn to their shows for accessible self-care tools, alongside inspiring stories of resilience, growth, and community.
Fair Use Analysis in ‘Thomson Reuters’ Should Have Generative AI Defendants Worried — “Defendants will keep saying Thomson Reuters is not a generative AI case. That is true, and it also doesn’t matter.
I've expended a lot of time and emotional energy, over the last couple years, on designing a query-language for expressing data algorithms and writing the reference implementation of its engine.
Picard 3.0.1 is a maintenance release for the recently released Picard 3.0 with fixes for reported issues and updated translations. In particular this release fixes issues on newer macOS Tahoe and Golden Gate, a possible crash when updating from Picard 2.x and the picard-cli utility in the Windows...
Narrative audio is on an upward curve. Several forces are converging to sustain it: writers and performers of real standing choosing the format, a hunger for lean-in listening, and technology that is reimagining what an audio story can sound like. Source
For a long time, talking about the music industry meant talking primarily about artists, producers, labels, venues, and songs. While they remain a fundamental part of the industry, music today is also driven by an ever-growing network of voices that listen closely, introduce it to new audiences,...
Durante mucho tiempo, hablar de la industria musical era hablar, sobre todo, de artistas, productores, sellos, escenarios y canciones. Y aunque ellos siguen siendo parte fundamental, hoy la música también se mueve gracias a una red cada vez más amplia de voces que la escuchan con atención, la...
Shapers was created to recognize the creators who are helping shape Colombia’s music ecosystem through different formats, perspectives, and communities.
Shapers nace para reconocer a los creadores que están impulsando el ecosistema musical colombiano desde diferentes formatos, perspectivas y comunidades.
The Joe Rogan Experience is the world’s most popular podcast, and with 18 million followers has been the most-followed show on Spotify since our partnership with Joe Rogan began in 2020.
Is live music approaching a golden era of innovation? At a concert, the merchandise queue asks a slightly absurd question: how much of the show would you miss for merch? A committed fan is ready to spend, yet the experience makes them choose between buying and watching. Source