The Killers and Olivia Dean headline the first Santa Monica Beach music festival in September, with sets from Jack White, Sublime, and Khruangbin. On Thursday, Goldenvoice announced the headliners and other performers at the inaugural Ocean Way Festival, the first major music fes…

Half a decade ago, a trio of copyright suits accused all manner of artists and companies of infringing on reggaeton releases including “Fish Market.” Now, having come up short in their summary judgment push, Bad Bunny and Rimas Entertainment are asking the court to reconsider its…

Reservoir and Nacional Records announce a partnership that marks a comprehensive expansion of Reservoir’s Latin music strategy with the acquisition of Nacional’s recorded and publishing catalogs, plus a new joint venture. Reservoir Media has announced the acquisition of the catal…

Rich The Kid’s birthday bash saw the chart-topping rapper perform alongside Fenix Flexin, Bay Swag, Cash Cobain, Jay Critch, and Trampa Billione. New York City has been bustling with celebrity events this month, from Taylor Swift’s wedding to Jay-Z’s Yankee Stadium shows, and eve…

A federal court has officially entered a $3.2 million default judgment against Triller in a missing-compensation lawsuit filed by Merlin. Meanwhile, the social media company has resumed trading on NASDAQ, changed its name, and deemed 2026 “the monetization year.” We exclusively c…

iPhone users with the Suno app installed can now generate songs from their iMessage app using text or voice prompts, leaning into the TikTok trend. One of the most popular AI song-generation platforms on the market, Suno sees 7 million songs generated each day. Copyright concerns…

FIFA adds another big-name artist to its impressive World Cup Finals performance cast. Post Malone will headline the closing ceremony on Sunday. As if the FIFA World Cup 2026 halftime show wasn’t already stacked with iconic performers, global superstar Post Malone has been announ…

Amid double-digit streaming consumption growth for dance/electronic and world music, U.S. on-demand streams increased by about 4.8% during H1 2026, when physical sales topped 38 million units. These and other stats come from Luminate, which today released its midyear report. Cloc…

A new hack sheds some light on how Suno pulled from streaming services and websites like YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius to train its product. As Suno brawls with the majors over copyright infringement, a hacker who breached the company’s data shared information with 404 Media…

Cutting Edge Group acquires the music rights and royalties of composer Brian Tyler, marking one of the largest deals with a single film composer. Cutting Edge Group (CEG), a leading investor in and manager of media music rights, has announced the acquisition of the music rights a…

BandLab announces the acquisition of Aiode, an AI-powered music studio utilizing fully licensed audio-to-audio models developed with professional session musicians and producers. BandLab Technologies has added a third music-making platform to its repertoire alongside BandLab and…

Too Lost has announced a partnership with GYRO.Group, a Brisbane-based company widely regarded as Australia’s largest independent music distribution and artist services provider. The move marks Too Lost’s first acquisition following its recent strategic investment led by GoldStat…

Samsung has launched a strategic collaboration with Amazon Music to bring the app to the Galaxy Store and pre-install it on millions of Samsung devices. Samsung has announced a strategic collaboration with Amazon Music to bring the Amazon Music app to the Galaxy Store and pre-ins…

Lily Allen trades her arena shows for smaller venues across most of the dates of the upcoming U.S. leg of her West End Girl Tour. Due to somewhat soft demand, Lily Allen is turning most of the arena dates on the U.S. leg of her West End Girl Tour into smaller engagements, the sin…

The Australian government has announced plans to develop a comprehensive artificial intelligence regulatory framework featuring training-related protections for artists and others. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed his government’s “Australian Standards for AI” in a Sydney…

Anthropic is currently embroiled in multiple lawsuits against major music publishers, with billions of dollars at stake. But according to legal filings shared with Digital Music News, the Claude creator is also locking horns ‘mano-a-mano’ with Gang Tyre attorney Donald Passman, a…

The Justice Department has officially published its proposed Live Nation settlement for comment, and NIVA is urging the public to speak out about how the promoter and its Ticketmaster subsidiary “have made for a terrible live experience for them.” The DOJ-Live Nation agreement wa…

Washington DC passes a robust consumer protection law for concert fans in the form of the RESALE Act, which establishes a 10% price cap for resellers. Independent Concert Promotion (IMP) joins the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the Fix the Tix Coalition in appl…

Bangkok police have arrested five individuals in connection with an alleged BTS concert ticket scam ring, ranging in age from 18 to 27. Police in Thailand have arrested five suspects in connection with an alleged BTS concert ticket scam ring, which is accused of defrauding over a…

LANDR is moving its Fair Trade AI program into a new phase, introducing an upfront payment program and an expanded revenue model that directly compensates independent artists for AI training use. The initiative now includes more than 30,000 artists. LANDR will begin issuing its f…

The UK government has unveiled its “Turn It Up” music industry support (and reform) plan, including fresh funding, “stable, pro-growth regulatory framework” commitments, music education initiatives, and more. To put it mildly, there’s quite a lot going on in the newly published “…

Pophouse Entertainment has scored a high-profile catalog partnership with Iron Maiden, acquiring a stake in the group’s publishing, masters, and all-important name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. Iron Maiden and Pophouse formally announced their tie-up today, pointing, at the…

Nicki Minaj faces yet another legal battle over her unpaid debts—this time from a law firm that claims the rapper is ghosting them over the $230,000 she owes them. Law firm Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani (GRSM) filed a collection lawsuit against rapper Nicki Minaj over $229,541 in…

With most of their claims tossed out, Fuerza Regida still retains a crucial bid to declare obligations to their label expired under California’s seven-year rule. Their claims for unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and statutory damages were tossed out. But Fuerza Regida holds…

Hundreds of fans who didn’t have tickets tried to force their way into Jay-Z’s last show at Yankee Stadium, forcing a several-hour delay on Sunday. After thousands of fans were left waiting outside Yankee Stadium for hours before Jay-Z’s third and final anniversary show on Sunday…

StubHub’s CEO is also the managing partner of a ticket broker that has made millions on the platform. To consumers, that revelation spells fraud. After reports on Friday that StubHub CEO Eric Baker has an ownership stake in ticket broker Andro Capital—which has made millions of d…

The trade association representing music streamers issued a response to the recorded music industry’s announcement of a new AI labeling program. Trade organization Digital Media Association (DIMA), which represents music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amaz…

Warner Music Group (WMG) is officially looking to toss the breach of contract lawsuit filed against it by the AFM, maintaining, among other things, that the agreement at the case’s center “does not cover AI licenses.” WMG recently shed light on its dismissal arguments when reques…

After years of back-and-forth litigation, a federal judge has officially ruled on dueling summary judgment motions – and dismissed one complaint altogether – in the ugly Epidemic Sound v. Meta showdown. Technically, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley resolved the summary judgment ques…

Meta pulls its controversial Instagram AI image tool, which automatically opted in photos from all public accounts, just days after its launch. Following intense backlash over privacy concerns, Meta has already pulled the plug on its new Instagram AI image feature, less than a we…

TikTok and iHeartRadio set a new viewing record for the biggest TikTok Live on July 2, with over 2.16 million unique viewers tuning in for Madonna. Madonna’s iHeartRadio and TikTok Live received over 5.75 million likes and 139,000 comments, setting a record for the biggest TikTok…

BMG acquires the remaining interests in the landmark songwriting works of the publishing catalogs of Hal David, John Lee Hooker, and ARC Music. BMG has announced its acquisition of the remaining interests in the songwriting works of the legendary publishing catalogs of Hal David,…

CISAC President and ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus gave a detailed speech about creators’ relationship with AI at the UN’s AI for Good Summit in Geneva, while questioning the approach of some licensing dealmakers. Björn Ulvaeus, CISAC President and ABBA co-founder, gave his most d…

Fans waited over three hours for the finale of Jay-Z’s three-night stand at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. Now, the rapper has addressed the delay. On Sunday, fans gathered at Yankee Stadium for the third and final show in Jay-Z’s three-night stand in his hometown. But the rapper didn…

Major League Soccer is smartly capitalizing on FIFA World Cup excitement to launch a post-Cup ad campaign, the largest of its kind in MLS’ 33-year history. Amazon Music is directing the soundtrack with a clever refresh of A Tribe Called Quest classic. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is c…

Two weeks later, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has officially made the proposed Phonorecords V “Subpart B” settlement available for comment, and the opposing parties now have until August 10th to weigh in. The CRB quietly kicked off Phono V’s settlement-comment period this pa…

Jay-Z promised a celebration of the anniversaries of two of his most iconic albums, and fans turned out for him at Yankee Stadium in record numbers. Jay-Z is celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint plus the 30th anniversary of his debut, Reasonable Doubt, and he’s pulle…

Sam Smith and Normani asked a federal judge to toss out a copyright lawsuit that alleges their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” copies an earlier track with a similar name. It’s been a long road for Sam Smith and Normani, who previously triumphed against a long-running copyrigh…

The Super Bowl took the concept of a halftime show to extreme heights. Now, FIFA is adopting the concept for a jam-packed, star-studded 11-minute halftime show in New York. Last week, Global Citizen announced that Justin Bieber had been added to the mix as a co-headliner of the F…

An band’s music was stolen, pitch-shifted, and re-uploaded under a fake name with AI-generated artwork, snatching up over 90% of their Spotify royalties. Musician Owen Lyman-Schmidt found out that his work had been stolen when a longtime fan of his band, Makeshift Hammer, message…

Michael beats the odds, becoming the first biopic in history to surpass $1 billion in ticket sales at the global box office: $629.8 million overseas and $371.8 million domestically, according to stats confirmed over the weekend. Despite critics shrugging off Lionsgate’s Michael J…

Across multiple countries and generations, music – and especially music videos – is the “ultimate driving force of nostalgia,” outranking film, television, gaming, and more, according to a new study of media-consumption attitudes. Said study comes from Vevo, which surveyed 1,800…

The seemingly mundane deliberations over future mechanical royalty rates in the US are starting to feel like a Verdi opera — with colorful industry titan Irving Azoff and his Global Music Rights (GMR) playing an unexpected cameo role. But why are major streaming platforms so inte…

Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of July 10th, 2026. If you have a job shuffle to share, we’re all ears. Send us a note to news@digitalmusicnews.com. If you’d like to post a job on our Job Board, just send us a request to noah@digitalmusicn…

A new SEC filing reveals that StubHub’s “marketplace for fans” is run by a CEO who also owns and manages a fund that scalps tickets on the platform. An investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has found that StubHub’s claims of being a “marketplace for fans to…

YouTube continues to steamroll Spotify in the podcasting game, despite the latter’s billion-dollar investment in the medium over the last few years. YouTube has, unsurprisingly, been the dominating force in the video content space for years now. But it’s also the leader in the po…

One AI audio avalanche later, the RIAA, A2IM, IMPALA, and several others have introduced a program to label machine-generated tracks on streaming services. The mentioned organizations, besides the IFPI, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN), the Recording Academy, the Human Art…

Ticket prices have dropped for Jay-Z’s three-night stand at Yankee Stadium, now approximately $100 to $200 cheaper with seats available across all dates. Jay-Z is celebrating the 25th and 30th anniversaries of two of his iconic albums, The Blueprint and his debut Reasonable Doubt…

A coalition of US music organizations urges the US Trade Representative to oppose an EU proposal that will cost American artists over $300 million. Radio stations in the United States not having to pay royalties to the owners of recordings for their broadcasts has led to numerous…

Another day, another high-profile song-rights play – this time from Reservoir Media, which has scooped up T.I.’s publishing catalog and a piece of his non-Atlantic recordings. New York City-headquartered Reservoir and Atlanta-born T.I. (real name Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.) forma…

Pop-punk rockers Lit, best known for the 1999 single “My Own Worst Enemy,” have settled their lawsuit against Sony Music over streaming royalties. Lit, the band behind the 1999 hits “My Own Worst Enemy” and “Miserable,” has settled its lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment ove…

Oasis, Beyonce, and Dua Lipa helped attract a record number of music tourists to events across the UK, pushing music tourism spending to a new high. Oasis, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Lana Del Rey, and Kendrick Lamar helped attract a record 24.7 million music tourists to concert…

The poet whose case against Taylor Swift was just dismissed by a federal judge has already filed an appeal—following her similar defeat against Swift last year. Earlier this week, in addition to getting married, Taylor Swift just beat a poetry copyright lawsuit brought against he…

iHeartMedia is entering into a consent decree with the FCC over the investigation into the radio giant’s alleged “showola” scheme. The FCC probe into iHeartMedia’s alleged payola scheme—or, more accurately, “showola” scheme—has concluded, with the radio giant entering into a cons…

thumpN, billed as “India’s first AI-native live entertainment platform,” has officially launched in beta with a nearly $4 million pre-seed war chest at its disposal. Mumbai-headquartered thumpN announced its public rollout and its multimillion-dollar raise earlier this week. Feat…

A Madison Square Garden database allegedly tracked and categorized celebrities who have visited the venue, including labels from low to high “risk.” A new report from Wired revealed that a database allegedly kept by Madison Square Garden tracked and categorized “hundreds” of cele…

Dynamite Songs has acquired the music catalog of Terry Kirkman, co-founder, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of The Association. Dynamite Songs, the specialist music publisher dedicated to acquiring and managing smaller catalogs with culturally significant songs, has…

The Rolling Stones are coming to Roblox in an immersive music experience set to launch on July 10, the same day as their highly anticipated new album, Foreign Tongues. The Rolling Stones will bring their legendary rock history to life through a new immersive music game on Roblox…

Bonnie Tyler, known for global hits “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” passed away in a hospital in Portugal, aged 75. Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, best known for her global hits “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and “Holding Out for a Hero,” passed away on Wedne…

The O-1 visa has become one of the biggest obstacles facing international artists who want to tour in the U.S. Rising application costs, processing delays, and stricter documentation requirements are changing how musicians plan their careers and connect with American audiences. T…