News DistroKid confirms it has removed tracks in response to UMG claims The Verge reported that independent artists had been posting on social media about their music being taken down without notice.
News Meta bans TikTok parent ByteDance from advertising on its apps in the US and six other countries The ban also covers campaigns from third-party advertisers that direct users in those markets to TikTok or to other ByteDance-owned services.
News Suno hires Ticketmaster’s Michael Chua to lead its live music team, including Songkick In the role, Chua will lead the AI music company's live music operations, which include concert discovery platform Songkick.
News Live Nation to sell $730M and €600M of bonds to refinance its 6.5% notes due 2027 The new notes will retire the $1.2 billion of 6.5% debt Live Nation raised in May 2020, during the pandemic concert shutdown.
News Spotify is expanding audiobooks to more than 180 markets and says its Audiobooks+ add-on has passed $100M in annual recurring revenue Spotify said more than 750 million people will be able to stream or buy books on its platform once the rollout is complete.
News Elon Musk says Grok Bot will use Suno’s AI music models, alongside Anthropic’s Claude and Midjourney Suno does not currently offer an official public API. MBW reported in July that the company was exploring the launch of one.
News Pacific Music Group expands to Tokyo with launch of PMG Japan, signs Japanese rapper JP THE WAVY PMG says JP THE WAVY is PMG Japan's first major signing and that he will begin releasing new music through the partnership this fall.
News Music streaming fraud inquiry launched by US Copyright Office Notice of inquiry arrives a day after Michael Smith sentenced to 18 months in prison
Analysis With a new CFO, three licensing deals, and $775M+ raised, what’s stopping $5.4B-valued Suno from an IPO? The signals pointing to the firm's potential stock market ambitions and the barriers it faces in getting there.
News Michael Smith, man behind $8M AI song and bot streaming fraud, sentenced to 18 months in prison US District Judge John G. Koeltl also ordered Michael Smith to forfeit USD $8,091,843.64, the loss figure agreed by both sides.
News Suno faces investigation in Italy over terms of service The watchdog's concerns include price changes, account terminations, US-based arbitration, and a content license that it says requires users to waive their moral rights
News Warner’s ADA Central Europe inks exclusive worldwide digital distribution deal with Swiss label Sound Distribution Sound Distribution's in-house studio produces music videos, visualizers, editorial monologues, cover shoots, and live DJ set integrations.
News New York City’s ‘Click to Cancel’ rule, billed as a first for a US city, has taken effect with music streaming subscriptions covered Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music are all covered by New York City's new "Click to Cancel" rule, which took effect on October 1.
News UMG is now managing 130+ artists in Southeast Asia Granite spoke during a fireside session at the Music Matters strand of the All That Matters conference in Singapore on October 5
Analysis A US appeals court has rejected a ‘fair use’ defense over AI training. What does it mean for the labels’ fight with Suno? The US Court of Appeals ruled for Thomson Reuters and against AI legal research company ROSS Intelligence on September 29