News Universal Music settles Udio lawsuit, strikes deal for licensed AI music platform Both parties agreed to jointly develop a licensed AI music creation service set to launch in 2026.
News BTS’ RM becomes first K-pop artist to deliver keynote at APEC CEO Summit, urges investment in creative industries The APEC CEO Summit brings together business leaders and government officials from across the Asia-Pacific region
News Suno, in talks to raise $100m at a $2bn valuation, just released its most advanced free AI music tool yet Suno’s rapid sequence of updates and new products highlights the growing competition among AI music-making platforms
News EU restarts probe into UMG’s Downtown deal, sets new deadline to make decision Competition authority sets provisional deadline of February 6, 2026 to decide on the deal
News un:hurd closes seven-figure funding round, with participation from Willard Ahdritz, Hazel Savage, and more un:hurd also attracted new investors including Mindset Ventures Music Tech
News OpenAI, valued at $500bn, reportedly working on generative AI music tool The move would bring OpenAI into an increasingly crowded field of AI music generation platforms
News Australia rejects proposal that would have exempted AI training from copyright laws The country is instead planning to move forward with a licensing regime for AI developers and rightsholders
News From YouTube’s $8bn music industry payout to Spotify’s song mashup patent… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up The biggest headlines from the past few days – all in one place
News UAE-based CMO Music Nation formally begins operations The company received approval from the UAE government in June to operate a CMO in the country
News Now IMPALA says UMG/Downtown deal would ‘harm cultural diversity’; Universal rubbishes accusation in trade body’s new paper Org has published a paper titled "Universal/Downtown – Why does it matter from a cultural diversity perspective?"
Analysis News Deezer reports Q3 revenues of $153m, confirms subscriber growth momentum in France Deezer's AI detection system and personalization features are 'attracting global attention, opening opportunities beyond our core markets,' said CEO Alexis Lanternier
News YouTube showcases new AI likeness detection tool For now, the tool will be available to creators on YouTube, but it's widely expected something similar will roll out for the general public as well
News Mariah Carey named as MusiCares 2026 Person of the Year The event will be held on January 30, 2026, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, two days before the 2026 Grammy Awards.
News Rehan Manickam appointed Director of A&R in the US for Bamboo Artists Los Angeles-based hire to drive artist development and cross-territory strategy for Germany-born company
News Spotify holds a patent for tech that can generate song mashups Spotify has patented a 'method, system, and computer-readable medium for creating song mashups'