Headlines

Universal Music Group Announces Stability AI ‘Strategic Alliance’

Universal Music has unveiled a partnership deal with Stability AI, which is set to develop a suite of music creation tools with the major. Ultimately, said tools will advance “responsible innovation that supports both artists and rightsholders while preserving the integrity of the art form,” according to the companies. While those companies opted against shedding light on the products’ specifics, they did emphasize an objective of putting out “fully licensed, commercially safe AI music tools.”

Source: Universal Music Group Announces Stability AI ‘Strategic Alliance’

Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

Universal Music Group said on Wednesday it has settled a copyright infringement case with artificial intelligence company Udio and that the two firms will collaborate on a new suite of creative products. Under the agreement, the companies will launch a platform next year that leverages generative AI trained on authorized and licensed music.

Source: Universal Music settles copyright dispute with AI firm Udio

Class Action Against Spotify Over ‘Mass Fraudulent’ Drake Streams

Spotify faces a new class action lawsuit that alleges the company has “turned a blind eye” to “mass-scale fraudulent streaming” on its platform. The lawsuit suggests that the use of bots is widespread on Spotify, but the only example it cites pertains to Drake. Filed in California District Court last night with rapper RBX (who is a cousin of Snoop Dogg) named as the lead plaintiff, the lawsuit alleges that foul play has led to Drake’s exorbitant streaming numbers.

Source: Class Action Against Spotify Over ‘Mass Fraudulent’ Drake Streams

Meta: Pirated Adult Film Downloads Were For “Personal Use,” Not AI Training 

Meta is using a classic BitTorrent defense in its legal battle with adult film producer Strike 3 Holdings. In its motion to dismiss, the tech company argues that IP-address evidence is insufficient to prove who the infringer is. Meta further counters that the “sporadic” downloads on its corporate network began years before its relevant AI research started. Instead of AI training, Meta argues the activity was likely just for “private personal use”

Source: Meta: Pirated Adult Film Downloads Were For “Personal Use,” Not AI Training * TorrentFreak

Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

Bandsintown introduced a new marketplace that links its 700,000 independent artists with third-party services for music distribution, fan data management, and merchandise sales, among others. The move comes as the New York-based company has reached 100 million registered users and seeks to help independent musicians navigate what it describes as “unpredictable algorithms” and help them avoid “overreliance on paid advertising.”

Source: After hitting 100m registered users, Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect 700K artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

SDNY Judge Denies OpenAI Bid To Strike Authors’ Book-Download Claim 

OpenAI has suffered a legal setback in its copyright battle, as a federal judge ruled that authors can pursue claims the company unlawfully downloaded their books. U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein denied OpenAI’s motion to strike what the company characterized as a new “download claim” in a ruling Monday, finding that prior complaints adequately notified OpenAI of infringement allegations based on downloading and reproducing copyrighted books.

Source: SDNY Judge Denies OpenAI Bid To Strike Authors’ Book-Download Claim – Decrypt

Big Tech’s EU lobby budgets hit record levels

The digital industry’s lobby spending has grown from a 2023 spend of €113 million to €151 million annually today – an increase of 33.6 per cent in just two years. This increase is even more pronounced when compared with 2021, when Corporate Europe Observatory and LobbyControl first mapped the tech industry’s firepower, showing a 55.6 per cent increase in just four years.

Source: Big Tech lobby budgets hit record levels

Udio’s bid to dismiss claims of ‘illegal scraping’ contains ‘fatal flaws,’ labels say

In a memorandum filed in a federal court in New York on Friday (October 24), lawyers for the record labels said Udio’s motion “mischaracterizes” the labels’ legal arguments “and the legal landscape.” The labels, representing all three of the major recording companies, amended their complaint against Udio in September, adding allegations that the AI company “illegally scraped” YouTube videos in order to collect content on which to train its AI models.

Source: Udio’s bid to dismiss claims of ‘illegal scraping’ from YouTube contains ‘fatal flaws,’ record labels say

Musicians’ heirs hit out at AI deepfakes as ‘digital grave robbing’

The debates about how AI technology should be regulated continue, with the latest views coming from a group of organizations and heirs representing musicians who are no longer alive – Bill Withers, Cass Elliott, David Rose and Alex North included. Gathered by veteran attorney Chris Castle and the Artist Rights Institute, they have made a joint filing to the White House’s consultation on AI regulation, which has been fielding the views of tech giants and music-industry bodies alike.

Source: Musicians’ heirs hit out at AI deepfakes as ‘digital grave robbing’

Australia’s Social Media Ban is Coming Fast—Here’s The Impact

Instagram owner Meta, TikTok owner ByteDance, and Snapchat owner Snap confirmed they will comply with an Australian ban on users under the age of 16. The social media firms said they will start deactivating accounts once the law goes into effect on December 10. All three firms said in parliament that they continue to believe the ban would not protect young people.

Source: Australia’s Social Media Ban is Coming Fast—Here’s The Impact

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