Headlines

First-Ever US Streaming Music Fraud Case Ends In a Guilty Plea

On Thursday, Michael Smith, the man accused of defrauding music streaming services with AI-generated slop tracks, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Smith agreed to pay back the $8,091,843.64 he received in royalties from the streamers, and his charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. “Michael Smith generated thousands of fake songs using artificial intelligence and then streamed those fake songs billions of times,” said Jay Clayton, a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Source: First-Ever US Streaming Music Fraud Case Ends In a Guilty Plea

Indie Label Owner Says Streaming Has Failed ‘The Middle Class of Musicians’

Streaming has failed “the ‘middle class’ of musicians” – at least according to Hopeless Records founder Louis Posen, who’s calling for major changes to the current pro-rata compensation model. Posen took aim at streaming’s shortcomings – and floated an interesting solution – in a blog post entitled “The Digital Paradox.” Technically, said post was attributed to the Organization for Recorded Culture and Arts (ORCA), an indie advocacy group that counts Hopeless as a founding supporter.

Source: Indie Label Owner Says Streaming Has Failed ‘The Middle Class of Musicians’

The Licensing Mirage: Why Collective Models Won’t Save the Visual Industry from AI

On March 10, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to demand a new licensing framework for AI training. Across the Atlantic, private data brokers are raising tens of millions to license content directly. Both approaches claim to solve the same problem. Neither does. The problem is structural. The resolution leans heavily on Collective Management Organizations. And what we know about them should give visual creators pause.

Source: The Licensing Mirage: Why Collective Models Won’t Save the Visual Industry from AI

A.I. Is Writing Fiction. Publishers Are Unprepared.

For months, speculation has been building online that a buzzy horror novel, “Shy Girl,” was written with the help of A.I. Earlier this year, Max Spero, the founder and chief executive of Pangram, an A.I. detection program, heard of the claims about “Shy Girl” and decided to run a test of the full text. Its results indicated that the book was 78 percent A.I. generated. “I’m very confident that this is largely A.I. generated, or very heavily A.I. assisted,” said Spero, who posted his research on X in January.

Source: A.I. Is Writing Fiction. Publishers Are Unprepared.

US publishers see traffic boost for breaking news from Google Discover

Breaking news on Google Discover is making up almost all growth in search referrals for major US news publishers, according to new data. Organic search traffic to 64 publishers has dropped 42% since AI Overviews launched in 2024. The Google Search Console data was shared by Define Media Group, which manages SEO and audience development for major publishers in the US. Define said its clients received a combined average of 1.7 billion organic search clicks for the five quarters to Q1 2024.

Source: US publishers see traffic boost for breaking news from Google Discover

Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher sues tech companies over AI training

The publisher said that Apple, Google, Nvidia, Meta Platforms , OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity ‌AI and Elon Musk’s xAI used pirated copies of its books to teach their chatbots to respond to human prompts. The publisher’s complaint is unique in targeting several tech juggernauts at once. The lawsuit was filed by ​attorneys at law firm Freedman Normand Friedland, who have brought a similar ongoing case ​against Big Tech companies on behalf of writer John Carreyrou and other ⁠authors.

Source: Chicken Soup for the Soul publisher sues tech companies over AI training

American Law Institute’s ‘Copyright Restatement’ Project Faces Growing Opposition

In opposition to the American Law Institute’s (ALI) Copyright Restatement and to highlight its “significant inaccuracies, omissions, and mischaracterizations of copyright law,” the Copyright Restatement Transparency Project (CRTP) has announced that its petition to raise awareness has surpassed 500 signatures. The CRTP was formed by members of the copyright and creative communities, including individuals and organizations that participated in the Copyright Restatement for years but ultimately resigned from the project in its final stages. 

Source: American Law Institute’s ‘Copyright Restatement’ Project Faces Growing Opposition

Global recorded music revenues hit $31.7B in 2025, up 6.4% YoY

Figures released today (March 18) in IFPI’s Global Music Report 2026 show that global recorded music revenues grew by 6.4% YoY in 2025 – an improvement on the 4.7% rate of growth posted in 2024 — marking the global industry’s eleventh consecutive year of growth. Paid subscription streaming revenues increased 8.8% YoY and accounted for more than half — 52.4% — of global revenues. IFPI reports that there are now 837 million users of paid streaming subscription accounts globally.

Source: Global recorded music revenues hit $31.7B in 2025, up 6.4% YoY

Lyor Cohen letter addresses AI integration at YouTube

Lyor Cohen, YouTube‘s Global Head of Music, says the platform’s mission for the year ahead is to “help artists and songwriters harness the power of visual storytelling to build their global audiences and lifelong careers.” The exec made the comments in his first letter to music industry partners of 2026, outlining the platform’s strategic priorities for the year ahead. outlining the platform’s strategic priorities for the year ahead.

Source: Lyor Cohen letter addresses AI integration at YouTube

The dictionary sues OpenAI

Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging in its complaint that the AI giant has committed “massive copyright infringement.” Britannica, which owns Merriam-Webster, retains the copyright to nearly 100,000 online articles, which have been scraped and used to train OpenAI’s LLMs without permission, the publisher alleges in the lawsuit.

Source: The dictionary sues OpenAI

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