Topic

Industry

UMG pushes out top label bosses while it builds a central AI and data team
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.
15 Oct 2026Industryvia Universal Music Group
More than 40 UK festivals have fallen in 2026: the independent-festival squeeze
The Association of Independent Festivals' tracker lists 41 UK festivals cancelled, postponed, paused or closed in 2026, against 43 in all of 2025. Big events sold out fast this summer while the losses fell mostly on smaller festivals, the tier where emerging artists get their festival slots. AIF's main ask, extending a VAT cut on family tickets, would do little for most of them.
13 Oct 2026Industryvia Association of Independent Festivals
Melodifestivalen got a record 4,077 songs and won't ban AI. Sweden draws the line at the stage
SVT received a record 4,077 entries for Melodifestivalen 2027, suspects a growing share were made with AI, has no way to detect them and won't ban them. Its rules only demand that the lead artist sings live. Greece's broadcaster went the other way, with a written AI ban and a sworn declaration from every writer.
12 Oct 2026Industryvia SVT
Suno now runs your concert alerts: what its Songkick move means for artists
Suno has hired Ticketmaster's Michael Chua to run a new "Live Experiences" team that includes Songkick, whose user data Suno now controls. An AI company that is still being sued by two major labels now owns a map of which human artists fans want to see live, and where those fans are. Artists should know what that data can be used for.
9 Oct 2026Industryvia Songkick (operated by Suno Inc.)
Michael Smith gets 18 months, and the Copyright Office finally asks how streaming fraud works
Michael Smith, who used AI-generated songs and bot accounts to drain streaming royalty pools, was sentenced to 18 months and ordered to forfeit about 8.09 million dollars. The next day the US Copyright Office published a public inquiry into streaming fraud, with comments due 23 Nov 2026. For artists it is the first official place to put on record what fraud costs them.
6 Oct 2026Industryvia U.S. Copyright Office, Federal Register

UMG pushes out top label bosses while it builds a central AI and data team

More than 40 UK festivals have fallen in 2026: the independent-festival squeeze

Melodifestivalen got a record 4,077 songs and won't ban AI. Sweden draws the line at the stage

Suno now runs your concert alerts: what its Songkick move means for artists

Michael Smith gets 18 months, and the Copyright Office finally asks how streaming fraud works

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