A group of Hollywood filmmakers, executives and actors has spent the last three years secretly meeting with Silicon Valley executives to try to address a simmering issue in the industry: how to define where AI is useful in the context of a human-controlled creative process. After a meeting last weekend of about 120 participants, the coalition landed on a framework that outlines how AI is already present in the film industry and defines ways humans can maintain control of other use cases.
Source: Secret Hollywood Group’s AI Plan Focuses on Defining How AI Is Used
Suno, the AI music generator that’s managed to both rankle the music industry and lure some of its biggest talent to its side, has added music company BMG as its latest licensing partner as it prepares new models powered by licensed work. The partnership will see Suno pay for BMG’s repertoire of recordings from its artists, while also covering the use of any BMG songs to train Suno’s past models.
Warner Music Group expects its licensing deals with artificial intelligence platforms to start boosting its subscription streaming revenue, starting from WMG’s 2027 fiscal year, which begins on October 1, 2026. That’s according to Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl, who told the company’s fiscal Q3 earnings (calendar Q2) call on Wednesday (August 5) that WMG’s partnerships with AI music firms Suno, Stability AI, KLAY, and Udio would drive the contribution.
The Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) and SoundExchange have announced that the two entities have entered into a purchase agreement under which SOCAN will acquire the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA). The transaction, which is still subject to regulatory approval, will unite the neighboring rights management of mechanical rights with public performance rights in Canada.
Universal Music Group banked gross proceeds of EUR €403 million (USD $467 million) from selling part of its Spotify shareholding during the first half of 2026. On MBW‘s calculations, UMG artists could be in line for approximately $131 million of that money. The sale figure was disclosed by UMG CFO Matt Ellis on the company’s Q2 and H1 2026 earnings call on Thursday (July 30).
At industry events publishers fume about the broken bargain with Google, which historically scraped and copied their entire websites at no charge in exchange for sending them substantial amounts of traffic. Now that referral traffic is drying up. At events most agree that publishers must unite to strike a new collective bargain with Google based on a universally applied fair payment for content model. But privately many are signing secret deals with Google that provide them with cash and (a little) referral traffic in the short-term.
Spotify has signed a licensing agreement with Merlin, the digital licensing partner for independent labels and distributors, for its upcoming fan-made covers and remixing tool. The tool will let fans create covers and remixes of songs from participating Merlin members’ artists and songwriters. It will launch as a paid add-on for Spotify Premium users, and according to the company, “will create an additional revenue stream for participating artists”.
The “first tremors in an earthquake” hitting the news industry from AI answers and audience habit changes can be seen in the latest snapshot of digital publishing revenue. Following four consecutive quarters of growth among UK publishers taking part in the Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index, Q1 2026 saw a swing back into decline. Among 13 publishers (nine B2C and four B2B) surveyed by the Association of Online Publishers and Deloitte, total digital revenue dropped by 4.55% in the first three months of this year.
Charles Graeber said he has some positive feelings about being among the three main plaintiffs in one of the largest copyright infringement settlements in history. “I was proud to be part of a group that showed that a ragtag bunch of authors joined later by publishers could actually hold together as a class, face a Goliath and get a meaningful number out of them,” The New York Times bestselling author and journalist told NPR. But he’s also hesitant to call the efforts and outcome of the lawsuit an all-out win.