A song that topped Spotify‘s Swedish charts has been banned from the country’s official rankings after an investigation revealed that it was created using artificial intelligence by a Danish music publisher. Jag vet, du är inte min by an artist called Jacub reached No. 1 on Spotify‘s Swedish Top 50 before music industry body IFPI blocked it from Sverigetopplistan. It also landed at No. 14 on Spotify’s Top 50 chart in Norway.
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Ingram Lets Publishers Opt Out of Book Sales to Tech Firms
In a note sent last week to client publishers, Ingram Content Group warned of the “growing trend” of AI companies purchasing and scanning print books train their large language models, and said publishers could opt out of selling to these companies. Ingram acknowledged that it may not always be able to identify if the buyer is an AI company, but said it “will make reasonable efforts” to honor the wishes of publishers who don’t wish to sell to them.
Source: Ingram Lets Publishers Opt Out of Book Sales to Tech Firms
Bandcamp Bans AI-Generated Songs in a First for Major Online Music Platforms
Bandcamp is placing a ban on AI-generated songs, the company announced in a Reddit post on Tuesday (Jan. 13). Specifically, Bandcamp is no longer permitting songs that use generative AI in all or a “substantial part” of their process on the platform. It also noted that it does not allow the use of any AI tools “to impersonate other artists or styles.” It is not clear how Bandcamp will determine which songs use AI substantially and which do not.
Source: Bandcamp Bans AI-Generated Songs in a First for Major Online Music Platforms
Global publisher Google traffic dropped by a third in 2025
Google search traffic was down globally by a third in the year to November, according to new Chartbeat data. In addition, referrals to more than 2,500 publisher websites from Google Discover, a feed served to users on Google’s native mobile apps and within its Android operating system, were down 21% year on year. Since May 2023, Google search referrals were down 21% globally, with Google Discover down 18% and all external referrals down 24%.
Source: Global publisher Google traffic dropped by a third in 2025
As Spotify lowers monetization threshold for podcasters, should it increase payout barrier for music artists?
One music industry strategist thinks so, arguing in a provocative new essay that the streaming giant should implement a 250,000 monthly listener threshold to concentrate payments among professional musicians who can earn a sustainable living. The proposal comes as Spotify moves in the opposite direction for podcasters, slashing its Partner Program eligibility requirements by half.
‘This isn’t about limiting fan creativity. It’s about ensuring creators and rights-holders are paid.’
If trained professionals can’t reliably detect AI, everyday listeners won’t either. The behaviour is stable and repeatable. Millions search for and share AI covers and remixes daily. That consistency is the basis of every revenue line the industry has ever built. What’s missing is licensed infrastructure. The biggest short-term commercial opportunity is AI cover versions and remixes.
Napster Music Streaming Service Abruptly Shuts Down, Pivots to AI
Back in November, Napster’s $3 billion funding apparently fell through, leaving the music streaming platform’s future uncertain. Now, the company has abruptly shuttered its music streaming capabilities—while users were actively using the service—in its broader pivot to AI assistants. The pivot into AI isn’t unexpected—the brand was purchased by AI company Infinite Reality last year—but for users of the music streaming service, to call it jarring is an understatement.
Source: Napster Music Streaming Service Abruptly Shuts Down, Pivots to AI
Shadow ‘Archive’ Says It Copied Virtually All of Spotify’s Music
Anna’s Archive, the shadow library best known for making pirated ebooks and academic papers searchable, announced this weekend what might be the largest music piracy operation in history: “We backed up Spotify.” The group claims it scraped 86 million audio files from Spotify, representing 99.6% of everything people actually listen to on the platform. Total size: just under 300 terabytes, distributed through bulk torrents.
Source: Shadow ‘Archive’ Says It Copied Virtually All of Spotify’s Music – Decrypt
Facebook tests charging users to share links in potential blow for news outlets
Facebook is testing a system that charges users for sharing web links, in a move that could prove to be a further blow to news outlets and other publishers. Meta, the social media platform’s owner, said it is carrying out a “limited test” in which those without a paid Meta Verified subscription, costing at least £9.99 a month, can only post two external links a month.
Source: Facebook tests charging users to share links in potential blow for news outlets
Creative Commons announces tentative support for AI ‘pay-to-crawl’ systems
After announcing earlier this year a framework for an open AI ecosystem, the nonprofit Creative Commons has come out in favor of “pay-to-crawl” technology — a system to automate compensation of website content when accessed by machines, like AI web crawlers. In July, the organization announced a plan to provide a legal and technical framework for dataset sharing between companies that control the data and the AI providers that want to train on it.
Source: Creative Commons announces tentative support for AI ‘pay-to-crawl’ systems | TechCrunch