News From Spotify and UMG’s landmark AI deal to Shamrock’s $813M raise… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days...
News Activist Artists Management promotes Anna Kolander to Partner Kolander has spent 13 years at the company, having joined as an assistant in 2013
News P!NK, Julian Bunetta, and Harvey Mason jr. among honorees at NMPA’s 2026 Annual Meeting P!NK will receive this year's NMPA Songwriter Icon Award.
News Paul McCartney to host global TikTok LIVE Q&A ahead of new album release The event will kick off TikTok LIVE Premiere – the platform's new flagship LIVE series
News Universal Music Group and TikTok strike new multi-year licensing deal — with expanded AI protections for artists and songwriters Global deal will also see TikTok and UMG work together to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform
News The latest Music Business Worldwide Magazine is out now. Read it here. As ever, the latest issue is packed with insight about the past, present, and future of the music business... plus impressive people.
News Spotify backs US bill to outlaw AI deepfakes, joining UMG, Sony, Warner, Google, and OpenAI in growing coalition The bill has attracted support from Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, the RIAA, the Recording Academy, and more.
News Owner of Peanuts music catalog files four copyright lawsuits targeting video game publisher, social media posts, and the US government Lee Mendelson Film Productions says the lawsuits are intended to halt a pattern of unauthorized commercial use of Vince Guaraldi's compositions.
News Stability AI launches new audio models that can generate 6-minute music tracks Three of the four models are open-weight, meaning they are free to download and build upon.
News OpenAI preparing to file for IPO within days (Report) The company could file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as Friday (May 22), according to the WSJ and Reuters.
News Spanish society SGAE distributed $406M to over 97,000 members in 2025 as revenue hits record high The number of beneficiaries receiving income rose 16.5% YoY to reach 97,415 authors and composers.
News Wixen doubles damages demand to $102M in expanded copyright lawsuit against Meta Wixen says it believes the total number of infringed works to be "well over one thousand."
News UMPG and 45RPM sign Academy Award-winning composer Daniel Blumberg Blumberg won the Oscar for Best Original Score at the 97th Academy Awards in March 2025 for his work on Brady Corbet's The Brutalist.
News Sony Music Publishing promotes ZaZa Kazadi to Senior Director, A&R, UK & Europe The promotion will see Kazadi focus on Hip Hop, Rap, R&B and Afro genres.
Interviews Chord Music Partners’ John Chapman on the next wave of capital heading for music rights Alongside Sam Hendel, Chapman runs Dundee Partners, the investment office of the Hendel family
News After selling Taylor Swift her masters, Shamrock closes new $813M fund – targeting rights including music Shamrock's Content Strategy has grown to more than $3.3 billion in AUM across equity and debt products over the past decade
News Spotify extends ‘Verified’ badges to podcasts, further cracking down on AI impersonators Data from Podcast Index suggests that AI-generated shows now account for more than a third of new podcast feeds.
News After two rejected arrest warrant bids, Seoul police review whether to try again with HYBE’s Bang Si-hyuk (Reports) Seoul police said they would analyze the reasons behind the prosecution's decision before determining their next steps.