Music Business News: North America

On… Universal’s pincer move, and Suno’s legal loneliness

This article originally appeared in Tim Ingham’s latest 'Tim's Take' email, issued exclusively to MBW+ subscribers.

UMG’s Udio deal prompts questions from Irving Azoff and the Music Artists Coalition

"Artists must have creative control, fair compensation and clarity about deals being done based on their catalogs,” said Azoff

From Universal’s landmark Udio deal to DistroKid’s new merch launch… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-Up

The biggest news from the past week - all in one place

UMG has struck a new YouTube deal that includes ‘guardrails’ around AI… and 3 other things Sir Lucian Grainge said on Universal’s Q3 earnings call

Deal covers both recorded music and music publishing

The settlement between Universal and Udio is a win for musicians everywhere

The following MBW Views op-ed comes from Ed Newton-Rex.

Universal Music Group generated $3.53bn in Q3, up 10.2% YoY – driven by the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter

UMG's fresh set of quarterly results were published today (October 30)

YouTube ad revenues reached $10.3B in Q3 2025, up 15% YoY, as Shorts ‘now earn more revenue per watch hour’ than long-form content in the US

YouTube Shorts 'now earn more revenue per watch hour' than traditional YouTube videos, the company says

Too Lost partners with Xposure Music to co-fund catalog acquisitions, with plans to deploy ‘tens of millions of dollars’ in upcoming deals

Xposure Music will handle deal sourcing and financial underwriting, while Too Lost will handle distribution, rights administration and royalty processing