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Spotify now calls its 1,000-stream royalty threshold a "first line of defense" against AI-generated tracks, which it says are 10 times more likely to fall below it. The same rule decides whether a new human artist earns anything, and Spotify still keeps one of its two tests secret.
Industryvia Spotify Newsroom
The lyrics company has made its first acquisition in 16 years, buying the owner of the Songdex copyright registry, the Blokur matching platform and Cuetrak. Better matching could pay writers money they are owed today. It also puts a large share of the industry's rights data inside one private-equity-backed company.
Industryvia Music Reports
H.R. 5664 would add a fee of half the subscription price, between $4 and $10, to every music streaming subscription and take 10% of streamers' other music revenue, then pay the money straight to human recording artists, capped at a million streams per track a month. It was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on 30 September 2025, and Congress.gov shows no action since.
Artist rightsvia U.S. Government Publishing Office
The American Music Fairness Act would make AM and FM stations pay performers and labels for the recordings they play, as satellite and internet radio already must. As of 23 Oct 2026 neither the Senate nor the House bill has gone beyond committee referral, despite a Senate hearing in December 2025. A resolution opposing any new radio fee has more than 230 House cosponsors.
Artist rightsvia US Government Publishing Office (govinfo)
Saregama's managing director Vikram Mehra says labels in India and globally are working with the three leading streaming services so that purely AI-generated music gets no share of the royalty pool. The principle protects human artists, but it leaves open who draws the line, how AI-assisted work is treated, and who keeps the money that slop no longer earns.
Industryvia Deezer Newsroom
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