Publishers want a 20% headline streaming mechanical rate for 2028 to 2032. Spotify, Apple, Google and Pandora want to keep 15.35%, and Amazon wants it cut to 13.4%. Meanwhile, a deal on CD, vinyl and download rates, struck mostly by labels and their sister publishers, is being challenged by the independent songwriters it left out.
Industryvia Copyright Royalty Board, Library of Congress (Federal Register)
GRAI signed two deals with Songtradr's MassiveMusic on 15 Oct 2026, one to stream catalogue and one to train a model on an opt-in dataset. SoundBreak was reported to be adding Memphis rapper Finesse2Tymes as an AI co-writer. AI companies are taking on label jobs, and the consent sits with whoever holds the rights, not always the artist.
Industryvia GRAI via PR Newswire
Universal Music Group's final round of 2024-planned cost cuts removed the heads of Def Jam, Republic and Polydor and two senior Interscope Geffen A&M A&R executives, while UMG says it is "bringing in new skills and technology". UMG has not tied the cuts to AI, but the people it hired this year are data and machine-learning specialists, and that changes who speaks for an artist inside a major.
Industryvia Universal Music Group
In April 2023 an anonymous producer called Ghostwriter put out a song with AI voices made to sound like Drake and the Weeknd, and it was gone from the streaming services within days; on YouTube, Universal's claim reportedly rested on a producer tag rather than on the voices. Since then labels have sued AI companies and then licensed them, and platforms have written voice-clone rules. The idea Ghostwriter pitched, licensed voices with a revenue split, is now the business model. It's just not his.
AIvia Billboard
Rocketship, which scores an unreleased track against a catalogue of past hits to profile its likely audience, has come out of beta with one free song per new user. The FAQ says your upload is never used to train AI; the terms and privacy policy make a narrower promise, and keep derived data indefinitely.
Releasesvia Rocketship Music Inc.
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