Topic
In one week Reservoir bought Billy Strayhorn's publishing with a share of his name, image and likeness rights, then José Feliciano's recorded catalogue with non-exclusive likeness rights. Neither announcement mentions AI, but a likeness is now worth owning because of what AI can do with it.
Industryvia Reservoir Media
California, New York, Illinois and Tennessee are among the US states with AI-era rules on copies of a performer's voice, and they work in different ways. California and New York kill vague replica clauses in contracts, California also requires estate consent for replicas of dead performers, and Illinois makes it unlawful to knowingly distribute an unauthorised replica. Here is what each statute says, where they differ, and a checklist for your next contract.
Artist rightsvia Office of the Governor of California
Universal Music Group signed its first deal with ElevenLabs on 10 Sep 2026, for a fan remix platform that will include "personalized vocal experiences". A day later ElevenMusic shipped v2.5 with downloads and new terms. Those terms show what voice consent could look like on the UMG product, and where it falls short.
AIvia ElevenLabs
Coca-Cola has answered the Johnny Cash estate's lawsuit over a college-football ad sung by a Cash tribute performer, admitting the ad uses "a male singing voice" but denying it infringes. The most prominent case yet under Tennessee's AI-era voice law, as far as we know, turns on a human soundalike, which is exactly why session singers and tribute acts should follow it.
Artist rightsvia CourtListener
Tupac Shakur's estate sent Drake a cease-and-desist over the AI-voiced "Taylor Made Freestyle" and he pulled the track from Instagram and X within days. He folded without a court testing the estate's claim, and under California law as it stood then, a song was exactly the kind of work the dead's publicity right exempted. California's AB 1836 has since closed much of that gap.
Artist rightsvia California Senate Judiciary Committee
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