The most notable differences in AI strategies are between the major labels and independents. While the majors are working to find solutions that allow for responsible Gen AI use and drive new licensing revenue, many independent artists and smaller labels are firmly against any use of Gen AI in music. However, there are divides even within these factions.
Source: The music industry remains divided on generative AI. Where will that leave us?
The “Creative Commons” model of copyright licensing is inextricably linked with the rise of the internet since the early 2000s. However, the advent of generative AI is proving a stress test to its philosophy of the open sharing of creative work. Large Language Models harvest public content at scale, often stripping out any reference to the original creator and ignoring their wish to share their work reciprocally.
After two years of litigation over Texas House Bill 900, a federal judge has granted summary judgment and ordered a permanent injunction to block the mandatory book ratings law. In his October 21 decision, Judge Alan D. Albright of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin division, wrote that HB 900 “compels speech, is void for vagueness, and is an unconstitutional prior restraint.”
Source: Federal Judge Rules Texas Book Ratings Law Unconstitutional
OpenAI is planning to enter the generative AI music space, according to a report at The Information, which says the company is working on a tool that can create music from text or audio prompts. That would bring OpenAI into an increasingly crowded field of AI music generation platforms, which include Suno and Udio – notorious within the music industry for having been sued by the record majors for alleged widespread copyright infringement in training its AI.
Source: OpenAI, valued at $500bn, reportedly working on generative AI music tool
Large online services such as Google and X should pay copyright fees when they display extracts from newspaper articles, says a Swiss parliamentary committee. However, the House of Representatives Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) wants to refer the corresponding bill back to the government and is calling for AI specific regulation. The new ancillary copyright for media and media professionals will therefore probably have to be dealt with once again by the national government.
Source: Swiss lawmakers back media copyright fees for digital giants
Spotify is raising subscription prices in the UK for the second time in 18 months. The company is also increasing the price of its Premium plans in Switzerland. In the UK, the music streaming giant will be increasing its Premium individual monthly plan to £12.99from £11.99. The 8.3% increase marks the second time in 18 months that the company has raised UK prices by £1. The previous adjustment took effect in April 2024.
Source: Spotify raises UK and Switzerland Premium prices again as analysts see US hike by early 2026
It turns out Spotify isn’t happy about facing the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s revived bundling lawsuit. Now, the DSP has fired back against the amended complaint, which is allegedly “unsupportable by the facts” and “as baseless as the one that this court already rejected.”
Source: Spotify Fires Back Against the MLC’s Amended Bundling Lawsuit
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the Labor Party government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not move forward on a proposal to give tech companies an exemption to copyright laws for text and data mining (TDM). Instead, Rowland suggested the government would be looking to establish a licensing system for copyrighted content used in training AI.
Source: Australia rejects proposal that would have exempted AI training from copyright laws
Research points to a generally corrosive impact of AI answer engines on the news ecosystem, getting answers wrong and undermining trust. It found that the likes of Perplexity and Google AI Overviews are stealing publisher traffic but also contributing to declining trust in the news industry by giving distorted answers. The research concludes: “If AI assistants are not yet a reliable way to access the news, but many consumers trust them to be accurate, we have a problem.”
Source: AI companies steal publisher traffic then undermine trust by getting answers wrong
The Writers Guild of America came out swinging on Thursday against a merger between Warner Bros. and any other studio, saying such consolidation would be a “disaster” for writers. “Merger after merger in the media industry has harmed workers, diminished competition and free speech, and wasted hundreds of billions of dollars better invested in organic growth,” the WGA East and West said in a statement Thursday.
Source: WGA Says Warner Bros. Merger Would Be a ‘Disaster’ for Writers