The sides will be negotiating in a Hollywood far different from 2023. Production has slowed significantly industrywide, as many entertainment companies struggle to adjust to the streaming world. Work has dried up for many actors, writers and directors. At the same time, the rise of generative artificial intelligence has become more central.
Hollywood Braces for New Round of Labor Talks
Spotify hits 290m paid subscribers in Q4, as streaming giant posts $2.5bn annual operating profit for 2025
Spotify saw its global Premium Subscriber base grow to 290 million paying users in Q4 – and achieved its second consecutive full year of operating profit in 2025. Commenting on the company’s results,Daniel Ek, Founder and Executive Chairman, said: “Today, what we’ve really built is a technology platform for audio – and increasingly, for all the ways creators connect with audiences. And this identity will matter even more going forward.
ElevenLabs, Valued at $11 Billion, ‘Doubles Down’ on Audiobooks
ElevenLabs, the company that offers automated AI-voice generated audiobook production, has consolidated their services under the brand Audiobooks in ElevenCreative. The move signals the well-funded company’s commitment to the sector, or what Madeline Shue, head of growth and publisher partnerships at ElevenLabs, called a “doubling-down on audiobooks.”
Source: ElevenLabs, Valued at $11 Billion, ‘Doubles Down’ on Audiobooks
Connect Music Raises $80M, Eyes AI and Catalog Expansions
Memphis-based Connect Music has raised $80 million and disclosed plans to aggressively pursue catalog acquisitions and AI expansions. “This investment represents transformational growth capital for Connect Music and the artist partners we serve,” said the former Memphis Symphony Orchestra COO Monger.
Source: Connect Music Raises $80M, Eyes AI and Catalog Expansions
The New Fabio Is Claude
The genre may be especially vulnerable to disruption by A.I., for all the reasons that readers love it. Romance relies on familiar narrative formulas, like the guarantee of an “H.E.A.” or “happily ever after.” And romance novels are often built around popular plot tropes — like enemies-to-lovers or forced proximity — that can be fed into a chatbot.
Source: The New Fabio Is Claude
The Missing Fair Use Argument in the Copyright Battle Over AI Summaries
Two of the lawsuits target Google for antitrust violations, alleging that publishers’ content is effectively compelled for inclusion in AI Overviews as a condition of search visibility. But no court has yet addressed the more fundamental question: even where summaries do resemble protected content, might they still qualify as fair use?
Source: The Missing Fair Use Argument in the Copyright Battle Over AI Summaries
Netflix struggles to defend Warner Bros merger at US Senate hearing
Netflix struggled to reassure skeptical lawmakers that its proposed $82 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery would benefit consumers, workers and the broader entertainment industry. During the hearing, senators quizzed Netflix co‑chief executive Ted Sarandos on the fate of theatres if the deal were to be approved, the effects of the merger on subscription prices and on the entertainment workforce.
Source: Netflix struggles to defend Warner Bros merger at US Senate hearing
Ted Sarandos Hedges on Netflix Residual Payments at Senate Hearing: ‘Not a Yes or No’
At a Senate antitrust hearing on Tuesday, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos declined to give a “yes or no” answer when asked if he would commit to “full residuals” for union workers. “I would like to tell you this is a very complicated answer, because we prepay,” Sarandos said. Sarandos noted that the major studios are just days away from sitting down with the entertainment unions for bargaining, where this will be an issue.
Source: Ted Sarandos Hedges on Netflix Residual Payments at Senate Hearing: ‘Not a Yes or No’
EU Legislators Call for an End to ‘Coercive Rights Buy-Outs’
On Tuesday, European songwriters and composers, along with representatives of their collective management organizations, came together with key EU policymakers to address the long-standing and growing phenomenon of so-called “coercive buy-out practices” affecting audiovisual composers. Buy-out practices in contracts typically force music authors to give away all or part of their rights in exchange for an often low onetime upfront payment.
Source: EU Legislators Call for an End to ‘Coercive Rights Buy-Outs’
Supreme Court to decide how 1988 videotape privacy law applies to online video
The Supreme Court is taking up a case on whether Paramount violated the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing a user’s viewing history to Facebook. The case, Michael Salazar v. Paramount Global, hinges on the law’s definition of the word “consumer.” Salazar filed a class action against Paramount in 2022, alleging that it “violated the VPPA by disclosing his personally identifiable information to Facebook without consent.”
Source: Supreme Court to decide how 1988 videotape privacy law applies to online video