BMG and Concord completed their combination on 1 Sep 2026, creating a company with more than four million works, $2.2 billion in pro forma revenue and a target to grow profit far faster than sales. For artists and songwriters, scale may bring investment, but it also removes one of the few large buyers that wasn't a major.
Industryvia BMG
Japan's recorded music market grew to an estimated ¥196.5 billion in the first half of 2026, up 4%, and streaming made up 46% of it. CDs fell 11% to ¥72.0 billion and vinyl rose 42%, but physical formats together still slightly outsold digital. For international indies, Japan remains the one big market where the plastic you press can matter as much as the playlist you land on.
Industryvia Recording Industry Association of Japan (via PR TIMES)
Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Eduardo Calle have sued Suno under state publicity laws and Illinois' biometric privacy law, not copyright. They say Suno's model knows musicians by name and voice. If the theory holds, it gives artists who don't own their masters a claim of their own, though as drafted it favours the famous.
Artist rightsvia US District Court for the District of Massachusetts (via Music Business Worldwide)
From 2 August 2026 the Commission's AI Office can fine general-purpose AI providers that skip their copyright policy or their public summary of training content. The rules give musicians a reference point and a complaint route, but not a list of their songs or a payment. Here is what you can check, what you can reserve, and where the gaps are.
Artist rightsvia European Commission
Kenya's High Court has barred the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK) from collecting royalties while it appeals the regulator's refusal to license it, weeks after another society, KAMP, had its licence suspended, and days before the regulator dissolved KAMP's board. Collection now runs through one licensed society, and some of the money is frozen. A draft copyright bill would change how a suspension like this works.
Artist rightsvia Kenya Copyright Board (copy hosted by EIFL)
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