AI companies have sucked up the world’s entire music catalogue and are guilty of “wilful, commercial-scale copyright infringement”, a major music industry group told AFP. The ICMP is one of a number of industry bodies spanning the news media and publishing to target the booming artificial intelligence sector over its use of content without paying royalties.
Source: Top music body says AI firms guilty of ‘wilful’ copyright theft
Germany’s performance rights organization, GEMA, plans to reduce its commission on all “on-demand music distribution” to 7% from 10% by 2027, a move that is expected to increase annual payouts to music creators by more than EUR €6 million (USD $7 million). The PRO will implement the cut in stages, beginning with a reduction to 9% in January 2026 before reaching the target rate the following year.
The research, conducted by RMR Research, Jem Associates, and The Hub, found that each £1 invested in management services generated £8across the broader sector. According to the study, artists, songwriters and producers capture 88% of the total value, equivalent to£627 million ($855m), through increased earnings, productivity and business connections facilitated by their managers.
Source: Managers contribute USD $974m in value to UK music business, says new report
Ahead of U.S. President Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom, 70-plus of the UK’s biggest creators and creative organizations have issued an open letter calling on the government to protect the rights of UK copyright holders by upholding international human rights standards. With signatures from heavy-hitters including Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and Elton John, the letter has also been signed by creative organizations like the News Media Association, UK Music, Pan MacMillan, and Getty Images.
Source: UK Creators Demand PM Recognize Creators’ Human Rights
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal are taking legal aim at another AI company that they allege is massively ripping off their intellectual property. On Tuesday, the three media companies filed a lawsuit against MiniMax, a Chinese AI company that is reportedly valued at $4 billion, alleging “willful and brazen” copyright infringement.
The extension could be Mr. Trump’s last for the video app. He and other officials said this week that they had reached a framework for a deal with China to address national security concerns about ByteDance and its ties to Beijing. “We have a deal on TikTok,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “We have a group of very big companies that want to buy it.”
Source: Trump Delays TikTok Ban Again
Major record labels including Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have reached a confidential settlement with the nonprofit Internet Archive, ending a two-year legal battle over its digitization and streaming of vintage vinyl recordings. The parties filed a joint notice in California federal court on Monday (September 15), requesting that Judge Maxine Chesney pause all case deadlines while they complete the settlement terms.
Source: Labels settle copyright lawsuit against Internet Archive over streaming of vintage vinyl records
Tracy Maddux, former Chief Commercial Officer at Downtown Music Holdings, has led a “multi-million dollar” strategic investment in rights management platform OpenPlay, giving him a board seat. As board member, Maddux brings experience in music technology to OpenPlay, which serves more than 3,500 labels, distributors and publishers across 24 countries.
Neil Vogel, CEO of People, Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith), a publisher that operates over 40 brands, including People, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple, Southern Living, Allrecipes, and others, said that Google is not playing fair because it uses the same bot to crawl websites to index them for the Google search engine as it does to support its AI features.
Source: Google is a ‘bad actor’ says People CEO, accusing the company of stealing content | TechCrunch
Fully AI-generated music now constitutes 28% of all tracks delivered to Deezer each day, according to new data from the French streaming service. Deezer says it now receives over 30,000fully AI-generated tracks daily, marking a sharp increase from the 20,000 figure it reported in April and the 10,000 it disclosed in January when it first launched its proprietary AI detection tool.
Source: Nearly a third of all tracks uploaded to Deezer are now fully AI-generated, says platform