The free lunch will come to an end for artificial intelligence in 2026. Over the past decade, developers from Google to Alibaba have largely been helping themselves to the internet buffet, devouring copyrighted material without permission or payment. Make no mistake, however: the bill is coming soon. Consider it AI’s Napster moment.AI data crunch speeds towards Napster moment
The free lunch will come to an end for artificial intelligence in 2026. Over the past decade, developers from Google to Alibaba have largely been helping themselves to the internet buffet, devouring copyrighted material without permission or payment. Make no mistake, however: the bill is coming soon. Consider it AI’s Napster moment.ASCAP Faces $123M Lawsuit Over Production Music on News Radio
ASCAP is facing a lawsuit claiming it “severely underpays” for so-called production music used by talk and sports radio stations, wrongfully withholding more than $120 million in royalties from their rightful owners. The case claims ASCAP’s policies pay out royalties for only a fraction of the actual performances of such songs, which often play on news, talk or sports radio programs as background music or during segment transitions.
Source: ASCAP Faces $123M Lawsuit Over Production Music on News Radio: ‘Financially Devastating’
Bursting AI bubble may be EU’s “secret weapon” in clash with Trump, expert says
On Tuesday, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) issued a warning on X, naming Spotify, Accenture, Amadeus, Mistral, Publicis, and DHL among nine firms suddenly yanked into the middle of the US-EU tech fight. “The European Union and certain EU Member States have persisted in a continuing course of discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines, and directives against US service providers,” USTR’s post said.
Source: Bursting AI bubble may be EU’s “secret weapon” in clash with Trump, expert says
The UK’s PRS for Music reports largest-ever quarterly royalty payout at $368m, up 4% YoY
PRS paid out GBP £274.9 million (USD $367.6 million) at the current exchange rate) to songwriters, composers and music publishers in December, a 4% increase over the same period a year earlier. In all, 51,500 PRS members will receive a payment this quarter, among them 400 songwriters and composers who will receive royalties for the first time.
Source: The UK’s PRS for Music reports largest-ever quarterly royalty payout at $368m, up 4% YoY
Warner Bros. Discovery Rejects Paramount $30/Share Acquisition Offer
Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has formally said “no thanks” to the $108 billion takeover bid from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance and unanimously reiterated its support for the Netflix deal. Following WBD’s announcement, Paramount affirmed that it will continue to make its case directly to shareholders for the latest $30-per-share hostile offer — indicating for now that it won’t be going any higher.
Billions Are Flowing Into Music IP — Can Financial Systems Handle It?
IP acquisition is only the first step – one quickly followed by potentially overwhelming blocking and tackling. A typical catalog requires ingesting data from hundreds of platforms and sources spanning DSPs, sub-publishers, CMOs, and social media platforms, often in conflicting formats. And that’s just a working list of initial considerations to properly collect associated IP revenues, with downstream payouts and revenue splits another major area of concern.
Source: Billions Are Flowing Into Music IP — Can Financial Systems Handle It?
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
Major publishers back universal AI licensing technology
A broad coalition of news publishers have backed shared licensing technology which seeks to protect content in the AI era. Really Simple Licensing (RSL) sets out an agreed way of controlling and monetizing journalism which is used to feed large language models. RSL is being developed by RSL Collective, a non-profit collective rights organization led by former CEO of IAB Publishing Doug Leeds and former CEO of Cardspring Eckart Walther.
Source: Major publishers back universal AI licensing technology
Disney’s OpenAI deal is exclusive for just one year — then it’s open season
Disney’s three-year licensing partnership with OpenAI includes just one of exclusivity, Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC. The company signed the partnership with OpenAI last week that will bring its iconic characters to the AI firm’s Sora video generator. Once that exclusive year is up, Disney is free to sign similar deals with other AI companies.
Source: Disney’s OpenAI deal is exclusive for just one year — then it’s open season | TechCrunch
Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan
Ninety-five per cent of the more than 10,000 people who had their say over how music, novels, films and other works should be protected from copyright infringements by tech companies called for copyright to be strengthened and a requirement for licensing in all cases or no change to copyright law. By contrast, only 3% of people backed the government’s initial preferred tech company-friendly option.
Source: Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan