YouTube has paid more than $8 billion to the music industry in the 12 months between July 2024 and July 2025, the company announced on Thursday. “Today’s $8 billion payout is a testament to the fact that the twin engine of ads and subscriptions is firing on all cylinders,” said YouTube’s Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen in a statement.
Source: YouTube paid out $8B to the music industry in 12 months | TechCrunch
The new Los Angeles-based label will focus on pop and dance music but differs from most record companies in that it will pay royalty points — as high as double digits — to songwriters who contribute songs to projects. “Bring us your songs that you might have sent to another label where you wouldn’t be given points. We want to be in business with you” said Milk & Honey’s president/founder Lucas Keller in a statement. The royalty will come out of Milk & Honey’s revenue share.
Source: Milk & Honey Launches Label With Songwriter-Friendly Royalty Model: ‘Bring Us Your Songs’
Clearnote, which has just launched in beta, uses an AI-guided, TurboTax-style questionnaire covering royalties and rights and then automatically generates the correct agreement with clauses tailored to the user’s needs. Users can also load in artist and producer profiles and let Clearnote fill in more than a dozen contract fields with one click.
Source: AI Contract Platform Clearnote Aims to End Deal Delays: ‘The System Is Outdated’
Google’s AI Overviews are reducing traffic to review content and buyers’ guides by up to 50%, according to an affiliate marketing specialist. Paul Cunliffe, who works with publishers on their affiliate channels, described the arrival of AI Overviews as a “real challenge at the moment in the affiliate space”. Publishers can earn affiliate revenue by linking to products and services, taking a commission when readers make a purchase by clicking through a link.
Source: Google AI Overviews ‘leading to affiliate revenue drop of 20-40% at some publishers’
A leader in funding for independent labels and musicians, beatBread has announced the launch of the Global Independence Fund (GIF), a new $100 million fund designed to provide independent labels and distributors with flexible financial support. The fund aims to ensure that independent music businesses have access to capital on terms that align with their needs, allowing them to grow, compete more effectively to sign new artists, and maintain control of day-to-day decision making.
Source: beatBread Launches $100 Million Global Independence Fund
Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, one of OpenAI’s earliest and loudest backers, says Hollywood’s backlash to Sora is history repeating itself. Speaking after the release of Sora 2, OpenAI’s upgraded video generator that hit the top of Apple’s download charts within a week, Khosla framed the controversy in familiar terms: every medium starts messy before it scales.
AI audio company AudioShake says it has raised $14 million in a Series A funding round. AudioShake has developed an AI-driven technology that can take any audio file and break apart its components into stems, meaning separate tracks for vocals, individual music instruments, sound effects and the like. The company also says it has “grown rapidly” over the past year, signing more than 40 enterprise contracts, and it has seen 400% year-over-year revenue growth, though it did not specify a number
Source: AudioShake raises $14m for AI tech that can turn any audio file into stems
Music streaming giant Spotify said on Tuesday that its founder, Daniel Ek, is stepping down as CEO and will become the company’s executive chairman by the year’s end. The company is replacing Ek with two co-CEOs chosen in house: Gustav Söderström, co-president and chief product and technology officer, and Alex Norström, co-president and chief business officer.
Source: Spotify’s founder and CEO Daniel Ek is stepping down | TechCrunch
Unlike Suno and Udio, however, Eleven Music has already inked licensing agreements with prominent rightsholders, including Merlin and a potentially precedent-setting deal with publisher Kobalt. Now, AI unicorn ElevenLabs has secured strategic investment from chipmaker NVIDIA, the world’s most valuable company by market cap, worth around $4.4 trillion as of Tuesday morning (September 23).
Source: ElevenLabs secures NVIDIA investment, weeks after launching AI music platform to challenge Suno
This is no AI illusion. A perfect storm appears to be gathering around the world of generative artificial intelligence that promises to have profound effects on how Hollywood does business. In fact, there’s a fair chance that the generative AI revolution will have a bigger impact on Hollywood from a business and ownership standpoint, even before the technology itself can transform the making of movies and TV shows.
Source: Big Tech Is Under Pressure From Emerging AI Giants. How Will This Change Hollywood?