MVT and Audoo Challenge PRS Proxies With Real-Time Tracking In Over 120 UK Venues

On Tuesday, the Music Venue Trust (MVT) and Audoo announced a new partnership aimed at uncovering how music played in grassroots music venues is represented within performance royalty distribution administered by PRS for Music and related licensing systems. As part of the collaboration, Audoo’s proprietary “Audio Meter” technology will be deployed across “a statistically significant selection” of 12 grassroots music venues across the UK to capture exactly what music is being played in real time.

Source: MVT and Audoo Challenge PRS Proxies With Real-Time Tracking In Over 120 UK Venues

ASCAP sues four radio groups for ‘prolonged unauthorized use of its members’ music

ASCAP has filed copyright infringement lawsuits against four US radio groups that it says have broadcast its members’ music without a valid license. The performing rights organization said on Tuesday (June 9) that the four groups operate a total of 15 radio stations. The defendants are Haugo Broadcasting Inc. in South Dakota, Spoon River Media, LLC in Indiana, Taylor Communications in Mississippi, and Barry Lunderville Radio in New Hampshire.

Source: ASCAP sues four radio groups for ‘prolonged unauthorized use of its members’ music

EU publishes code of practice for labelling AI-generated content

The European Commission on Wednesday published the Code of Practice on marking and labelling artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, setting out voluntary measures to help providers and deployers comply with transparency requirements under the EU AI Act. The transparency obligations will become applicable on Aug. 2, requiring clear labelling of AI-generated or AI-manipulated content in specific cases, according to a statement.

Source: EU publishes code of practice for labelling AI-generated content

US publishers tell Common Crawl to stop scraping and delete archive

Trade body Digital Content Next (DCN), which represents many major US publishers, has sent a cease and desist letter via its lawyer to the web archive creator. They called on Common Crawl to immediately stop “scraping, retaining, or sharing copyrighted, paywalled, subscriber-only, or otherwise protected content from DCN member companies in its datasets.” They also requested that publisher content already in the Common Crawl datasets is removed.

Source: US publishers tell Common Crawl to stop scraping and delete archive

61 Years Ago Today: Sony Brings Video Recording into American Homes

On this day in June 1965, Sony Corporation made a bold leap into consumer electronics by introducing one of the world’s first home video tape recorders to the U.S. market. The device, known as the CV-2000 Videocorder, carried a suggested retail price of $995 and promised to revolutionize how families captured and replayed moving images in their living rooms. It marked a significant milestone as the first fully transistorized video tape recorder designed with home users in mind. 

Source: 61 Years Ago Today: Sony Brings Video Recording into American Homes

Musicians shortchanged by AI deals with labels, lawsuit alleges

The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM), which has 70,000 members, said Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group “received significant compensation” from the AI companies for past copyright violations and licensed “substantial” portions of their music catalogs to them, but haven’t shared that with the musicians.

Source: Musicians shortchanged by AI deals with labels, lawsuit alleges

220+ rights orgs worldwide urge France’s National Assembly to adopt AI training bill

A coalition of 227 rights organizations worldwide has called on France‘s National Assembly to pass a bill that would establish a legal presumption that AI companies have used copyrighted works to train their systems. The Darcos bill would insert a presumption into the French Intellectual Property Code that AI providers have used copyrighted works, unless they can prove otherwise.

Source: 220+ rights orgs worldwide urge France’s National Assembly to adopt AI training bill

Music prediction is a $400m market in 2026 so far – on one platform

Prediction market apps like Kalshi and Polymarket have quickly become huge businesses – and to the layperson, they look and feel like gambling apps. Now, you can stake your prediction money on anything– including events in the music industry. In 2026, there’s a huge and growing market that has turned the data of the music industry into a febrile space of predictions. It’s a space where money goes in, and then more money might come back out if you are lucky.

Source: Music prediction is a $400m market in 2026 so far – on one platform

Universal sells Curve Royalty Systems to Merlin and Matt Spetzler’s Jamen Capital

Universal Music Group and its subsidiary Virgin Music Group have agreed to sell Curve Royalty Systems to Jamen Capital and Merlin. The sale is the divestment that the European Commission required as a condition of clearing Universal Music Group‘s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings in February. It paves the way for Curve, the royalty processing platform used by thousands of record labels, distributors and publishers, to operate as an independent business again.

Source: Universal sells Curve Royalty Systems to Merlin and Matt Spetzler’s Jamen Capital

Google Launches ‘Search Profiles’ for Creators and Companies

Google is introducing a new way for creators and publishers to promote their content on the search engine with “Search profiles.” The new feature comes amid consternation from website operators and creators that Google’s AI summaries have eroded the volume of referral traffic coming from the search portal. The internet giant describes Search profiles as a “dedicated, shareable space to highlight content across platforms.”

Source: Google Launches ‘Search Profiles’ for Creators and Companies

Get the latest RightsTech news and analysis delivered directly in your inbox every week
We respect your privacy.