News Sync agency Nothing Standard launches publishing JV with UMPG UK and record label via Virgin Music Singer-songwriter Morgan Harper-Jones is the first signing to Nothing Standard Publishing through the UMPG collaboration.
News TikTok is testing an opt-in ‘Likeness Detection’ tool that lets US creators find and report AI deepfakes of themselves It was first spotted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, who wrote in a post on X that TikTok was testing the feature with "some US creators."
News Universal Music Group has spent over $500M on its share buyback – with stage one of the process nearly complete In total, UMG has repurchased 26,073,074 of its own shares since the program began in April, at a cost of EUR €487.7 million
News Spotify pushes deeper into music videos with new chart and artist pitching, stepping up its challenge to YouTube Spotify now counts nearly 100,000 artists in a beta that lets them upload full-length videos themselves.
News Canada’s SOCAN names Musical AI as its attribution partner to credit and pay creators whose work shapes AI music SOCAN will recognize Musical AI as an approved tech partner for attribution services, and the two will explore how the technology can be applied in Canada.
News Nick Holmstén and Ash Pournouri officially launch superfan startup Belong – backed by Troy Carter, Chris Zarou and Hans Vestberg Former Spotify Global Head of Music Nick Holmstén and Avicii's former manager Ash Pournouri launched new company
News WMG’s Sureel teams up with Symphonic to let distro company’s artists track AI use of their music Warner Music Group acquired Sureel in June
News 90,000 AI tracks flood Deezer daily – passing 50% of all new music uploads for the first time Deezer says it will take down AI tracks used to inflate streams fraudulently, as well as those that have not been streamed for six months or more
News Sony Music sues Udio again, asserting over 30,000 recordings a judge barred the major from adding to its original case The complaint was filed on July 20 in New York
News Live Nation faces prospect of UK competition investigation as watchdog lines up industry meetings (report) The Times reports that the CMA's outreach is understood to be a precursor to a formal probe
Analysis They’re Not ‘Major Labels.’ The latest 'Tim's Take' from Music Business Worldwide founder, Tim Ingham
News Spotify Premium users can now ‘talk to’ the app to choose music and learn about what they’re playing By typing or speaking, eligible Premium users can talk to Spotify across the app's Home and Now Playing views on mobile.
News After Vermont and Maine, Massachusetts moves to cap ticket resale at 110% of face value, with Noah Kahan’s backing It would also ban speculative tickets in Massachusetts and bar resellers from using deceptive websites or misleading fans about ticket availability.
News Indonesia’s copyright rewrite would ban AI from imitating creators – and Google’s not a fan. It would also make the use of copyrighted works to train AI models subject to fair-use limits or licensing agreements, Reuters reported.
News HYBE names new girl group TUIDE, set to debut under its ABD label this year The group will be produced by Han Sung Soo, the founder of PLEDIS Entertainment, who has produced groups including SEVENTEEN.
News Udio taps content-security BuyDRM to secure its AI music ‘walled garden’ BuyDRM will provide multi-DRM support across Google Widevine, Apple FairPlay, and Microsoft PlayReady through its KeyOS MultiKey Service.
News Apple Music hikes subscription prices citing ‘rising licensing costs’ "As a result of rising licensing costs, Apple Music is increasing its subscription price beginning today," the company said.
News From Apple Music’s price hike to Iron Maiden’s Pophouse deal… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days...