A group of musicians is taking a stand against generative AI technology, and they’re on the hunt for AI “grifters” trying to pass off AI slop as human-made art. How do you identify a song that’s been generated with AI and claims to be human-made? As audio-oriented generative tool…

Imagine someone sitting at home late at night and saying, “Play me something spacious and beautiful that I haven’t heard before. No vocals. Piano is fine, but nothing too sentimental.” Who gets played? That question is about to become much more important than musicians realize. T…

Howard Stern’s second channel, Howard 101, is leaving the SiriusXM lineup after 20 years and major layoffs—further evidence that Stern is scaling back his programming. SiriusXM has removed Howard Stern’s second channel, Howard 101, from its satellite radio lineup in a blog post t…

A new study estimates that post-Brexit touring restrictions cost the UK over £200 million and nearly 2,500 jobs—and over £1 billion and 17,000 jobs across the EU. A new report from the UK Department for Culture, Media, and Sport on the impact of Brexit on British musicians playin…

A group of music publishers headed by Sony and Warner is suing Anthropic for “tens of thousands” over the allegedly blatant theft of copyrighted music. The lawsuit, filed late Friday, is part of a growing litigatory pile-on against Anthropic. A group of music publishers led by So…

Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of August 28th, 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@digitalmusi…

A federal judge has officially consolidated a pair of class action lawsuits centering on a November 2025 Suno breach that’s said to have compromised “the sensitive data of 55 million users.” The first of those cases set sail on July 24th, while the second, likewise filed in Massa…

A group of actors and musicians have written to the UK government, demanding better protection against their voices being cloned and used by AI. A group of more than 80 performers, including actor Hugh Bonneville and singer Sandi Thom, have written to the UK government to demand…

Rockstar Games’ GTA 6, the highly anticipated latest title in the Grand Theft Auto franchise, has cost well over a billion dollars to develop—and it is packed to the gills with great music. Rockstar Games’ first major look at Grand Theft Auto 6 was chalk full of licensed music, w…

Music organizations spent much of 2026 challenging the U.S. Copyright Office’s (USCO) proposed fee increases, arguing that higher registration costs would disproportionately burden independent labels, artists, and songwriters. The campaign did not stop the USCO from submitting it…

Ahead of the anticipated close of its Concord merger, BMG has identified roughly $515 million (€444 million) in H1 2026 revenue and confirmed dropping almost $1.9 billion on music IP to date. That Q1 and Q2 2026 revenue figure represents a 4.9% year-over-year (YoY) improvement, w…

Intense AI courtroom battles continue to roil the music industry, with multiple high-stakes skirmishes showing few signs of calming down. For starters, Anthropic and Suno are now aggressively pushing back against Round Hill’s bullish attempt to ‘relate’ their cases – even as the…

Selena Gomez has asked a judge to dismiss the “absurd” fraud lawsuit filed against her and her mother over their mental health startup Wondermind. Two weeks after investors in Selena Gomez’s mental health startup, Wondermind, filed a federal lawsuit alleging fraud, the singer has…

Even in its 40th year, Burning Man tickets are now in lower demand than those for Outside Lands, making it harder for resellers to turn a profit. If you’ve followed Burning Man for the last several years, it should come as no surprise that this year—even in its 40th year—tickets…

A new study finds that Americans spend on average more time watching creator-based content on YouTube than live television. A new survey of the media consumption habits of Americans found that 90% access YouTube on a typical weekday, compared to 79% for streaming services and 73%…

The NFL announces Ayra Starr as the headliner for the 2026 London game, part of a record seven halftime shows in the NFL’s biggest international season to date. The National Football League (NFL) has announced that global Afrobeats superstar Ayra Starr will headline the halftime…

Instagram launches “First Draft” for Reels, enabling users to generate a new video by automatically picking out the best parts from existing clips. This week, Instagram unveiled its new First Draft feature for Reels, an option that allows users to generate a new video by automati…

Amazon Music has announced a new episode of its docu-performance series “Songline” featuring Gracie Abrams, recorded at Church Studios in North London. Amazon Music has announced a new episode of its docu-performance series “Songline,” featuring Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter…

Guitar rhythm game Stage Tour, built by veterans of the original Guitar Hero era, features 90-plus licensed songs and real guitar maker partnerships. Veteran developers of the original era of music-oriented rhythm video games, which included Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have been w…

Warner Music Group’s aggressive international expansion isn’t finished yet: Warner Music Austria’s roster is officially set to gain “direct access to” Vienna-based indie Tonherd’s “state-of-the-art” studio under a broader partnership agreement. Warner Music Austria, ADA Central E…

Authentic Brands Group (ABG) has purchased a majority stake in the IP of Drake’s October’s Very Own (OVO) apparel company, while Vince Holding Corp. is set to take the operational reins under a licensing agreement. Authentic unveiled the high-profile play today, pointing first to…

Following the “Definitive Sound Series” (DSS) release of The Chronic, Dr. Dre has teed up a limited-run 2001 vinyl edition that’s said to have been “mastered directly from the original analog master tapes.” Interscope Records and Capitol Records announced this latest DSS series e…

Suno just can’t shake indie musician Tony Justice. The country music singer and truck driver sued the company with allegations of copyright theft and using protected songs (like his own) to train AI without permission. Updated, August 27th: Justice’s attorneys at Delgado Entertai…

Wax Motif has spent all spring and summer this year bringing his sophomore album, House of Wax II, to dance floors around the world. But some of the dropped tracks filling his iconic sets have yet to be released. The acclaimed DJ and producer, born Daniel Chien, says his current…

Every musician knows the moment. After weeks, months, sometimes years of writing, recording, editing, overdubbing, mixing, second-guessing, remixing, mastering, unmastering, remastering, and listening to the same thirty-two bars until you are no longer sure whether you even like…

Activist songwriter George Johnson has doubled down on his opposition to the proposed Phonorecords V settlement – including by criticizing the terms themselves and by calling out the alleged “long history of brazen self-dealing” between the NMPA and the RIAA. Johnson just recentl…

Los Lobos and Sony Music have agreed to dismiss the band’s lawsuit against the major, having reached a settlement in the alleged breach of contract. On Friday, court documents reveal that Los Lobos’ lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment over royalties for the band’s song “Canc…

X is expanding its open-source codebase to include its ranking algorithm, providing transparency on how “going viral” works on the former Twitter. Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, released the source code that determines how posts are recommended to users in a bid to increase tra…

As tributes to Dolly Parton pour in, Eminem shares the touching letter he received from the music legend after he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Since the death of global philanthropist and country music icon Dolly Parton this week, tributes have poured i…

Thousands of signatures have been added to a petition to rename Nashville International Airport after Dolly Parton since her passing this week. Over 86,000 signatures have been added to a change.org petition after the passing of global philanthropist Dolly Parton to rename Nashvi…

SoundCloud has rolled out a limited beta for on-platform paid downloads, with eligible artists expected to “keep 100% of each sale.” The increasingly superfan-geared platform kicked off the beta today, pointing to an initial launch involving “approximately 200 U.S.-based Artist P…

Alex Warren is bringing his new album to TikTok with an exclusive live event and in-app fan experience, as well as his first Australian arena concert. Alex Warren has been diligently promoting his latest album, WILDCHILD, with an intimate, fan-driven TikTok Live event where he pr…

DIY website wikiHow has sued OpenAI for copyright infringement over the alleged misuse of its instructional content to train the company’s popular AI chatbot ChatGPT. On Friday, do-it-yourself site wikiHow filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan against OpenAI with allegations that…

Artists are known for changing creative direction once or twice in their careers, and this year, genre-defining Australian electronic music producer and DJ, What So Not, entered a new artistic chapter. Dropping his new project, I SAW A TRAP DJ, AND IT CHANGED MY BIO CHEMISTRY, th…

Nearly 40 years later, a Milli Vanilli nostalgia license has taken shape in Saint Laurent’s fall advert campaign, which is set to “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” and features Blackpink’s Rosé. The French fashion house formally kicked off that campaign today, after posting several previ…

A new white paper released by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator exposes ticket resale practices inflating the cost of entry by $11 billion every year. Ticket resale prices continue to rise due to corporate middlemen and online ticketing platforms, making the cost of entry increas…

Stability AI has scored a $76 million Series B – for a total of over $230 million raised during the past two or so years – with support from all three majors, Electronic Arts, and others. The AI music, image, and video platform formally disclosed this latest funding round today,…

Former rap mogul Russell Simmons has reached an agreement with the Justice Department to recover a portion of a Celsius stock (NASDAQ: CELH) tranche worth north of $350 million. The DOJ, Simmons, and different parties yet recently made that settlement official – albeit without pu…

ElevenLabs announces the launch of Composer, a section-by-section song editor, in its AI song-generating platform ElevenMusic. Today, ElevenLabs announced the launch of Composer, a section-by-section song editor in ElevenMusic, the generative AI music platform the company launche…

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will not be performing in Russia, as originally planned. The stadium denies ever organizing such an event and says no rental agreements were signed. Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, was planning a set of concerts on October 10 and 11 at…

Gustavo Dudamel gave a blowout final performance at the Hollywood Bowl as he bid the LA Phil farewell, with help from Foo Fighters and Chris Martin. At the Hollywood Bowl over the weekend, the Los Angeles Philharmonic celebrated the career of Gustavo Dudamel, who’s departing for…

Today in social media infringement lawsuits: A massive complaint against Kroger, which is accused of using all manner of Sony Music recordings in promotional clips without authorization. Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and a number of its subsidiaries just recently submitted the l…

Three months later, the American Federation of Musicians’ high-stakes AI compensation lawsuit is moving full steam ahead – albeit with Warner Records, not Warner Music Group Corp., named as a defendant. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) just recently made a name-related…

A Twitch streamer is suing the platform in a proposed class action over claims that the company trained Amazon’s AI models on streamers’ content. Streaming platform Twitch and its parent company Amazon are facing a proposed class action lawsuit filed by a Connecticut-based stream…

Fully or mostly AI-generated songs will be excluded from Australia’s official music charts starting this Friday, according to the Australian Recording Industry Association. Australia will exclude songs created wholly or mostly by artificial intelligence from the country’s officia…

YouTube Premium is increasing prices worldwide after US price hikes earlier this year that saw the service increase in price by up to $4 a month. YouTube Premium subscribers in countries across the world are about to see a price hike, Google has confirmed. The service, which does…

After the BBC Introducing Stage was removed from Reading & Leeds, the BBC has announced a month-long series of live events for emerging artists across the UK. BBC Introducing has unveiled a series of live events for emerging artists across 10 cities in the UK in November. Taking…

Donald Trump personally met with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino in the Oval Office before telling the DOJ to settle its antitrust suit against the company — according to more intel emerging this morning. A new report from The Wall Street Journal has confirmed earlier reports from…

A report suggests that Reggie Watts’ “reckless” view of drugs may have contributed to his ex-girlfriend’s troubling final years. Reggie Watts is suddenly persona non grata after a Rolling Stone report that alleged the comedian and musician’s attitude toward drugs in his relations…

Why drive when you can fly? Air taxis are officially coming to LA Live under a multiyear pact between AEG and Archer Aviation, the company behind the Midnight aircraft. AEG and San Jose-headquartered Archer unveiled their exclusive partnership today, pointing, most immediately, t…

In June, I dumped my Facebook account. I did not deactivate it for a while or dramatically announce that I was taking a break. I deleted it because I had grown tired of the advertising, the clutter and, most of all, the lack of relevance. I was spending too much time scrolling pa…

Money from Chris Brown’s royalties and his tour with Usher will go toward his former housekeeper’s $13 million judgment, a Los Angeles judge ruled. The Los Angeles judge presiding over the lawsuit against Chris Brown filed by his former housekeeper, Maria Avila, has granted her r…

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine said they don’t see AI as a threat but a new tool for artists to incorporate into their workspaces. Fans are unhappy about it. Dr. Dre has caused an uproar with his pro-artificial intelligence stance revealed in an interview with The New York Times alongs…

For decades, the electronic dance music community has rallied around four letters: PLUR. But in the wake of multiple tragedies at Electric Forest, the guiding values of ‘Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect’ appear to be faltering under pressure. Beyond the electrifying, innovative mu…

Elton John, Prince Harry, and others have been ordered to foot a staggering $13 million legal bill in connection with their case against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers. High Court Justice Matthew Nicklin made that sizable bill official today when granting what outlets…

Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of August 21st, 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@digitalmusi…

Just like that, the Sony Music v. Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) social media infringement battle has drawn to an abrupt close – though the footwear retailer’s wider copyright clash with the majors isn’t quite finished. Sony Music (plus a number of its subsidiaries) and DSW parent…

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival will not take place next year, festival organizers announced on Friday. On Friday, August 21, organizers of Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival made the difficult announcement that the event will not take place in 2027. Organizers cited a “much-needed ye…

After beating a seemingly frivolous copyright lawsuit, Bad Bunny is stuck covering his own legal costs to the tune of nearly half a million dollars. Lo siento, Bad Bunny! After winning a copyright lawsuit that he considers frivolous, the Puerto Rican superstar is now responsible…

XS Nightclub will reopen this fall at Wynn Las Vegas with a reimagined experience and a four-night celebration featuring an iconic lineup of artists. XS Nightclub, currently undergoing an extensive redesign, will reopen this fall at Wynn Las Vegas with a completely reimagined exp…