Analysis Streaming Fraud Doesn’t Respect Silos. Neither Should We. Merlin CEO, Charlie Lexton, addresses THAT fallout with TikTok - and Merlin's own anti-fraud progress
Analysis News UMG’s Michael Nash takes aim at ‘false narrative of artist replacement’ by AI – and 3 other things we learned from his HumanX panel with Splice’s CEO The pair discussed UMG's approach to AI, including how the company balances protecting artists' rights with leaning into AI innovation
News Spotify strikes deal with National Independent Venue Association to boost indie venues in the US Throughout 2026, Spotify will boost visibility for independent venues through existing features including venue pages and its Live Events Feed.
News Chris Marking appointed Executive Vice President, International Venue Sponsorship at Live Nation Marking joins from AEG as the company expands global naming rights and brand partnership strategy across its international venue network.
News India added nearly 4m paid music streaming subscriptions in 2025, taking its total to 14.4m, according to new report However, the report found that of the 178 million people who streamed music in 2025, only about 8% were paying for it.
News Pirate site Anna’s Archive hit with $322M default judgment over music scraping — but will Spotify and record labels ever see the money? Whether the plaintiffs will ever see the $322 million award remains unclear, as Anna’s Archive’s operators remain anonymous.
News Mark Pitts exits as President of RCA Records, launches new management venture COFVNDERS He will maintain a relationship with RCA and Sony Music in a consultancy capacity
News Concord forms strategic venture with Steven Victor’s Victor Victor Worldwide, expands hip-hop footprint VVW has launched the careers of artists including Pop Smoke and Ski Mask the Slump God.
News Former UMG Nashville chief Cindy Mabe launches Joan of Arc Music, strikes distribution deal with Warner Records Nashville Joan of Arc Music operates across artist management, label services, publishing, TV/film production and philanthropy, with a distribution deal plugging into WMG's global network.
News UK collection org PPL’s revenue grew 4.75% YoY to $415m in FY 2025; paid out $102m to performers & rightsholders in Q1 2026 In 2025, PPL paid royalties to more than 182,000 performers and recording rightsholders, including 16,000 who received payments for the first time.
News Tim Miles appointed EVP of BMG’s global SYNC+ division BMG taps Warner Music Group veteran to drive its SYNC+ strategy, strengthening its global sync and music-for-media operations.
Interviews Meet the Swiss distro company banking on agentic AI to power the ‘next generation’ of indie labels. Dennis Hausammann was a rising rapper before setting out to build AI-powered tools for indie label founders.
News Canada’s SOCAN paid out USD $366m to rightsholders in 2025, warns AI is ‘placing mounting pressure’ on livelihoods Canadian performing rights society SOCAN generated revenues of CAD $587.1 million ($420m) in 2025, up 5% compared with 2024.
News Ticketmaster launches app within ChatGPT, bringing event discovery to OpenAI’s chatbot For Ticketmaster, the app enables discovery and paid marketing as OpenAI is also testing sponsored ad placements in ChatGPT.
News HYBE moves to crack down on bootleg BTS merch ahead of US tour dates Legal filing arrives ahead of BTS's performances at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa in April
News Warner makes strategic investment in TuStreams – a distribution platform focused on Latin music WMG describes TuStreams as 'a leading independent force in the fast-growing Música Mexicana space'
News Latin Music generated over $1 billion in US wholesale recorded music revenues in 2025, up 4.2% YoY Latin Music's 4.2% growth rate outpaced the wider US recorded music market, which grew 3.1% YoY in 2025.
News YouTube hikes US subscription prices across Premium and Music plans The YouTube Music Individual plan is rising from $10.99 to $11.99 per month