Music Business News: North America
News Amsterdam-based Smelt will oversee both publishing and neighboring rights administration globally, reporting directly to CEO Mary Megan Peer. News Live Nation and Ticketmaster are accused of illegal practices such as long-term exclusive contracts with venues, threats of retaliation and more. News Dukes steps up from VP role and continues reporting to EVP and Head of Licensing Stephanie Ruyle. News Triller was delisted/suspended from Nasdaq trading effective December 30 Analysis Three predictions for 2026 from MBW founder, Tim Ingham News Drake is being accused of using Stake's "Tipping" feature to obscure payments to bot operators who then generated fake streams of his music. News The latest figure represents a $31 million increase from the $123 million Bandcamp reported in May 2024. News The ByteDance-owned platform has signed a joint venture agreement with Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi's MGX that is set to finalize on December 22.