Two U.S. senators have requested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigate Spotify due to allegations that the company bundled its music streaming and audiobook services into a more expensive subscription without obtaining user consent, while also reducing royalty payments to creators in the process.
Source: Senators urge FTC to investigate Spotify’s higher-priced bundled subscription | TechCrunch
Audiobook listeners and listening hours on Spotify increased by more than 30% and 35%, respectively, from January 2024 to January 2025 in the U.S., U.K., and Australia, helping to boost audio sales of several major publishers, according to the streaming service. The growth aligns with broader industry trends. The Audio Publishers Association recently reported that audiobook sales grew by 13% in 2024, with 99% of revenues generated by digital audiobooks.
Source: New Listeners Boosting Sales for Spotify, Publishers
Funding deals rarely operate the way they’re initially advertised. Factors like cash timing, recoupment rates, and long-term obligations can significantly affect an artist’s cash flow and ownership rights over time. beatBread’s Deal Comparison Tool models these variables across different performance scenarios, simulating annual cash flows and total costs. It helps users identify hidden risks and avoid getting locked into unfavorable terms.
Source: How data-driven tools are changing the way artists and labels finance their businesses
The ranks of media owners and entertainment companies are poised for their biggest makeover in a generation. Media titans such as Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery are cleaving off their cable-television channels, while television-station operators such as Allen Media and Apollo Global Management are exploring selling dozens of stations. Cox and Charter, two of the biggest cable and broadband companies, have agreed to merge.
Source: The Media and Entertainment Deal Machine Is Revving Up
NYC Mayor’s office will soon conduct a census of music recording studios to quantify their economic impact. Shira Gans says the recording studio network in NYC is rapidly evolving, with many established studios closing and some new ones holding grand openings. To track the changing landscape, the Mayor’s office has created a survey that will be distributed to studio heads and other industry professionals.
Source: NYC Mayor’s Office Announces Music Recording Studio Census
The music streaming ecosystem stands at a crossroads, warns the Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA). While global streaming revenues have soared to $22 billion, underpinned by 800 million premium subscribers, this report warns that these headline figures obscure a deepening divide between major rights holders and the independent sector. “Combating the Emergence of a Two-Tier Music Streaming Market” highlights this divide and contains a call to action for music professionals.
Source: IMPALA: Two-Tier Streaming Market Threatens Independent Music
The AI armageddon is here for online news publishers. Chatbots are replacing Google searches, eliminating the need to click on blue links and tanking referrals to news sites. As a result, traffic that publishers relied on for years is plummeting. Traffic from organic search to HuffPost’s desktop and mobile websites fell by just over half in the past three years, and by nearly that much at the Washington Post, according to digital market data firm Similarweb.
Source: News Sites Are Getting Crushed by Google’s New AI Tools
The impact of artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, on the media and entertainment industries was a topic of debate at the Media & Telecoms 2025 & Beyond Conference in London on Tuesday. And some industry executives suggested that an alliance of media players could be the best strategy to protect copyright and open up opportunities for media companies in the AI age.
Source: “NATO for News”: Is a Joint Effort by Media Companies the Way to Go in the Age of AI?
Audiobook sales returned to a double-digit growth rate in 2024, increasing 13% over 2023, according to the just-released Audio Publishers Association Sales Survey. After a number of years of sales growing at a rate of at least 10% annually, sales rose 9% in 2023. Last year, total sales from the APA members who supply data increased to $2.22 billion; the bump was driven, unsurprisingly, by digital audio.
For decades, Hollywood directors, including Stanley Kubrick, James Cameron and Alex Garland, have cast artificial intelligence as a villain that can turn into a killing machine. Now Google—a leading developer in AI technology —wants to move the cultural conversations away from technology as seen in “The Terminator,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Ex Machina.”
Source: Inside Google’s plan to have Hollywood make AI look less doomsday