The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) revealed some worrying data tied to the sustained hit the industry has taken from streaming providers’ “bundles.” As Spotify (and similarly, Amazon Music) started reclassifying its “premium” subscription tiers as a bundle with other services such as audiobooks, royalties paid by both companies have been cut by approximately 30% over the past two years.
Source: Streamers’ Bundling Has Cost Music Publishers Nearly $500 Million Since 2024: NMPA
A new study sponsored by the Authors Guild examining the causes of the decline in authors’ earnings found that only 25% of print books and e-books read in the past month were bought new or through a paid subscription. The study, conducted by the Codex Group, notes that while books are available in more formats and channels than ever before, average author earnings, now pegged at about $10,000 annually, have declined about 42% since 2009, the year Kindles first entered the market.
Source: Authors Guild Looks at Why Author Incomes Are in Decline
Last month, Sony Music Publishing agreed to buy a collection of songs from Blackstone reported to be worth up to $4 billion. They included catalogs by Neil Young, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Shakira, Leonard Cohen, and Nile Rodgers. This was the same portfolio of songs that Merck Mercuriadis assembled for around $3 billion ($2.2 billion in Hipgnosis Songs Fund; $700M+ in Hipgnosis Songs Capital) – and for which he was, for a while, near-universally flamed for “overpaying” to obtain.
Source: Merck Mercuariadis on Hipgnosis, vindication, and his next move
Warner Music Music (WMG) announced on Wednesday that it’s acquiring AI attribution startup Sureel AI. Sureel’s patented technology creates “AI DNA” for songs and breaks them down into component parts to trace how AI models use those elements. Through the acquisition, WMG aims to better track when its artists’ and songwriters’ work is used in AI-generated content or for training AI models.
Source: Warner Music acquires AI attribution startup Sureel AI
Prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket have quickly become huge businesses – and to the layperson, they look and feel like gambling apps. Now, you can stake your prediction money on anything– including events in the music industry. In 2026, there’s a huge and growing market that has turned the data of the music industry into a febrile space of predictions. It’s a space where money goes in, and then more money might come back out if you are lucky.
Source: Music prediction is a $400m market in 2026 so far – on one platform
Universal Music Group and its subsidiary Virgin Music Group have agreed to sell Curve Royalty Systems to Jamen Capital and Merlin. The sale is the divestment that the European Commission required as a condition of clearing Universal Music Group‘s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings in February. It paves the way for Curve, the royalty processing platform used by thousands of record labels, distributors and publishers, to operate as an independent business again.
Source: Universal sells Curve Royalty Systems to Merlin and Matt Spetzler’s Jamen Capital
Midnight Labs, an AI company focused on intellectual property protection in the entertainment industry, has secured an investment from Sony’s Innovation Fund to help bolster its efforts to combat piracy and deepfakes plaguing entertainment companies and content creators in the U.S. and Japan. The company — which is based in Dublin, Tokyo and San Francisco — says its automated enforcement tools have removed more than 2.8 billion pieces of infringement content, including those that’ve been generated by AI.
Source: Sony Invests in AI Copyright-Protection Firm Midnight Labs
SAG-AFTRA members have ratified a four-year contract with the major studios, which includes new provisions on synthetic actors and a merger of the union’s two pension funds. The contract allows producers to use AI performers only if they bring “significant additional value” compared to a live actor or that actor’s digital avatar. The union has argued that the language — coupled with an arbitration provision — will limit the use of AI replicas to a handful of edge cases.
Source: SAG-AFTRA Members Approve Four-Year Deal With AI Terms and Pension Merger
mprs, the rights management company focused on producer and mixer royalties, is expanding into producer catalog acquisitions. Milk & Honey has signed up to partner in the new acquisition vehicle, while advising on M&A opportunities in the market. Founded in 2021, mprs – pronounced ‘Empress‘ – was spun out of artist management and services company mtheory when Universal Music Group acquired mtheory’s label division.
Source: Producer royalty company mprs is now buying producer catalogs
Country music star Garth Brooks is considering a sale of his catalog, eyeing roughly $2 billion for the rights to his songs and recordings, according to people familiar with the matter. Brooks, an album sales and touring juggernaut, is seeking a price that would be among the largest deals for an individual artist or group’s catalog. He would sell both his publishing, or songwriting, and recorded music rights.
Source: Garth Brooks Considers Sale of Music Catalog, Seeking Roughly $2 Billion