The bill would add music to the tourism-promotion duties the Commerce Department already carries under the Visit America Act. Source
The 2026 VMAs will air live from Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater on Sept. 27.
My Block Records is seeking damages in excess of USD $1 million, plus interest and legal fees, and has demanded a jury trial. Source
KOVA said it expects HYBE's arrival as a vice chair company to widen the connections between the content industry and Korea's venture ecosystem. Source
Weeks after adjusting its rules to allow the registration of certain machine-generated works, the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) has quietly returned to a zero-tolerance AI policy. KOMCA just recently implemented the change, which is live on the appropriate website.
A man has been sentenced to prison after making millions from fake records in the largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl in UK history. A 40-year-old man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after making £2.7 million ($3.6 million) from fake records in the largest seizure of...
“We don’t have competition," Zingler tells Billboard of the stalwart festival brand, which is returning to San Bernardino next December.
The respected music publishing executive will transition out of her role at the end of the month.
The sold-out gala honored Red Light Management founder Coran Capshaw with its Lifetime Music Industry Award. Source
Four-time Best Direction winner honored with first award celebrating "a sustained and influential body of work from artists who have pushed creative boundaries and developed a clear directorial voice"
Warner Music Group has announced that Carianne Marshall will transition out of her role as co-chair and chief operating officer of Warner Chappell Music, the company’s publishing division, at the end of this month, “as the company streamlines its leadership structure,” the announcement reads.
“That’s my husband,” the pop superstar declared.
A WMG media release said Marshall's exit comes as the company "streamlines its leadership structure." Source
Taylor Swift has been pegged to receive a key award at Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards. CBS and MTV announced Monday morning that Swift will be the recipient of the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors, a newly minted award set to go to artists who direct some or all of their own music […]
The Justice Department opposes certain aspects of Judge Chhabria's opinion in Kadrey v. Meta, specifically regarding the transformation and market impact of AI training on copyrighted works.
She most recently served as executive VP of live for MSG Entertainment.
It sounds like an obvious approach, but Carly Rae Jepsen began working on her new double album “Day and Night” with a simple ethos: make the type of music she would want to listen to. “Like, what do I have to offer to the musical landscape right now?” the 40-year-old tells Variety over Zoom, just...
Modeling suggests liquid-cooled designs can halve water consumption, though the company has skin in the game
After receiving “substantive objections and comments” concerning the proposed Phonorecords V settlement, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has ordered the involved parties to provide a significant amount of “additional information.” Chief Copyright Royalty Judge Trevor Jefferson recently issued...
The investigating force estimates that Rehan Ahmed generated income of £2.7 million from the operation that ran from 2017 to 2024.
Retailer cites credentials and transparency concerns while guarding its lucrative customer journey
Last week, Spotify turned up the volume in Seoul once again. From September 10 through 13, Spotify House Seoul returned to Anderson C in Seongsu for its biggest edition yet.
Sisters Hanna & Ashley will visit 18 cities in the U.S. and Canada, starting April 20 in Toronto.
Rival crew demands eight figures and threatens to expose companies that paid to keep quiet
Creators of Post Script, made with vocals by the late Mark E Smith, defend it as ‘a great, positive record’, but fiancee describes it as ‘ethically wrong’ The fiancee and last manager of the late Mark E Smith, frontman of the Fall, has hit out against the release of an album being marketed as the...
The show goes on for Ed Sheeran’s US stadium tour, but without any support artists or backing band. They all pulled out last week following the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour following his ‘Free Palestine’ on-stage speeches. The post is from Music Ally.
Just under a year ago, US duo Sylvain Esso removed their music from Spotify in protest at then-CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in military-tech company Helsing. The post is from Music Ally.
Earlier this summer, South Korean collecting society Komca announced that it would be allowing ‘AI-assisted’ music to be registered as works, as long as a human had made a creative contribution to the lyrics, composition and arrangement. The post is from Music Ally.
There’s plenty going on in the UK this week, starting with the upcoming National Album Day, which takes place on 17 October. The organisers have published the list of albums that are getting limited-edition re-releases for this year’s event. The post is from Music Ally.
We reported on startup Unit1 Studio when it launched in October 2025 with technology that could help artists turn themselves into digital avatars for concerts. The post is from Music Ally.
Crew-15 through Crew-17 shore up astronaut access to ISS while Starliner's future remains uncertain
In our recent report on Suno’s new v6 models, we explained that they were trained on a fresh dataset including music licensed from WMG and BMG, plus “user data”. The post is from Music Ally.
US power emissions restrictions are being wiped out, but hey – datacenters running Nvidia kit are getting better at extracting ever bit of compute they can from a megawatt, for what it's worth
Some admit to spending thousands of dollars for barricade spots and other VIP perks at concerts, which is slowly becoming common When Harry Styles announced a fall residency at Madison Square Garden, 43-year-old Tara Bess knew she had to be there.
Attackers are courting crate owners with plausible company profiles and booby-trapped recruitment calls
Please release me, let me close...
Seats, Flex Credits, and all-you-can-eat contracts make for an 'anxiety-filled architecture'
War damage, air traffic chaos, and a storage shortage expose the cost of treating resilience as someone else's problem
The concert doubled as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of "You're the Voice," released in September 1986.
The Kansas City Chiefs triumphed over the Indianapolis Colts at Arrowhead Stadium
Virtzilla’s bet on hyperscale hardware going mainstream didn’t excite customers, but may live on
Attempt to prove procurement prowess ended up gathering dust
Tesfaye credited the piece on social media only as "Presented by YOKO TARO ft. YOKO TAKAHASHI."
Quits enterprise networking hardware business, tells users to install on-prem software ASAP
The tour opens Dec. 8 at the Sydney Opera House Forecourt as part of the venue's On the Steps series.
Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires, in-house promotions, and departures as of September 20th, 2026. If you have a job shuffle to share, we’re all ears. Send us a note to news@digitalmusicnews.com.
Kept it secret for months - even after OpenAI 'fessed up
BeatHub Entertainment acquires the remaining 50% stake in Movistar Arena Bogotá from Chilean company BeLive Entertainment. Last week, BeatHub Entertainment announced the acquisition of the remaining 50% stake in Movistar Arena Bogotá from Chilean company BeLive Entertainment Group, gaining full...
eekend, opening with comments about Gaza amid the controversy surrounding his tour. His supporting acts all withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore. On Saturday, Ed Sheeran played his Loop Tour stop in Philly solo after his supporting acts withdrew the previous week over the ongoing controversy.
PLUS: Toyota's robot hiring spree; China's CDNs struggle; India to charge for some UPI payments; and more!
In August, I wrote about my love of the music history podcast No Dogs in Space, but mourned the fact that there hadn't been a new episode in over two years. Little did I know that hosts Carolina Hidalgo and Marcus Parks were gearing up to announce the show's return with season four, Punk 2.0.
It was a big week for music legislation on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives passed both the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (H.R. 979) and the American Music Tourism Act (H.R.1768) within 20 minutes of each other the 15th, and then advanced the MAIN Event Ticketing Act (H.R.2713) out of...
Jhené Aiko has scored her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with her fourth record “Westside Whimsy.” Aiko bows atop the chart with 74,000 equivalent album units, making it the first R&B album by a woman to top the Billboard 200 this year and the first to reach No. 1 since SZA’s “SOS” […]
Chad Gilbert, founding guitarist and backing vocalist of the pop-punk group New Found Glory, has died. He was 45. The band and Gilbert’s wife Lisa Cimorelli confirmed his death on social media in a joint statement.
Longtime member and lyricist of Florida pop-punk group revealed in March that he was battling brain cancer
During her introductory remarks at the opening of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art on Saturday night, Mellody Hobson said her husband, famed “Star Wars” director George Lucas, was nervous about the evening’s turnout. “This room is filled with our friends,” Hobson said.
Edward Morris, a Nashville-based music journalist who edited Billboard’s country coverage, wrote a popular CMT.com column and penned numerous books, died Thursday at age 90. The family did not give a cause of death.
It’s about 9:30 p.m. at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, roughly an hour after Ed Sheeran delivered a surprisingly lengthy four-minute speech on the controversy that has engulfed his tour since Macklemore was dropped as an opening act following his pro-Palestinian remarks.
Star Trek actor and band the *uckers played warm-up gig in Chicago Saturday ahead of official Riot Fest debut
Unit1 hopes to offer lower cost version of shows such as Abba Voyage, showcasing living and dead artists in any venue The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by...
Windows is getting more efficient. The updates, not so much
1 I was reading the new issue of “Mojo” in Apple News+. Yes, it’s available there, but usually I don’t bother, the old acts are still old and over thirty-odd years they’ve written about them already and now all we have is people who weren’t there commenting, and I was. But even worse is the […]
“This has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet," Sheeran said
Ed Sheeran addressed the controversy surrounding Macklemore’s removal from his Loop Tour on Saturday night, speaking from the stage at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field during his first concert since the rapper was dropped from the trek.
Will be fine. Back in the early nineties, Jackson Browne was accused of physically abusing Daryl Hannah. What really happened there? We’ll never know. Browne denied it and Hannah never pressed charges.
Pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside Ed Sheeran’s concert at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night as the singer returned to the stage for the first time since Macklemore was dropped from his Loop Tour following his onstage remarks in support of Palestine.
Band members Luke Silas, Ary Warnaar, Peter Burkman, and James DeVito (left to right). Maybe their next album will be recorded entirely in a windmill? | Image: Joshua Tarn Anamanaguchi, the band consisting of Peter Berkman, James DeVito, Luke Silas, and Ary Warnaar, are most known for their...
High time to stop kicking the security can down the road, investor tells The Reg
Duo's To Whom It Still Concerns Tour, in support of their third and final album Atlanta, hits the road this November
Report says estimates focused on GPUs miss the mountains of power, cooling, and networking gear destined for scrap
Twenty years ago, even Madonna faced radio blacklisting for being overtly political. But in our age of streaming, there’s less excuse for not speaking out It must have come as a surprise to Ed Sheeran when all of his support acts withdrew from the remainder of the US leg of his tour.
From Waterfox to LibreWolf and Pale Moon, there's a browser for almost every Mozilla dissenter
The Copyright Royalty Judges are asking exactly the right questions about Phonorecords V: rates, inflation, overlapping ownership, arm's-length bargaining and independent participation.
Longtime Suno subscribers are abandoning ship, believing that its new V6 model, developed in partnership with major labels, lacks the quality of its predecessors.
"That’s not how Dropkick Murphys would operate,” frontman says
How many lawsuits is that now? Universal Music and Sony Music have fired off another complaint against Suno for allegedly training on an “enormous number of copyrighted sound recordings” without authorization.
NOTE: FACTION TALK IS NOW ON CHANNEL 137 Tune in Saturday September 19th to Faction Talk, channel 137, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West. If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz
Devs cheer relief from compatibility headache
Just like that, fan registrations for Oasis’ 2027 mega-tour are a wrap, and unique onsale access codes are expected to become available later in September. The Oasis Live ‘27 registration concluded yesterday at 8 AM PT, only days after the 38-date concert series’ announcement.
The Rust compiler remains unperturbed by the antics of the LLM
The actress starred in Spring Awakening composed by the late musician
“You really should be focusing on the Zionist lobbies that are trying to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide,” Rowe says
Rep. Darrell Issa introduced a bill aimed at creating an expedited process to block foreign piracy sites. But already, it’s getting slammed by critics. On Monday, Rep.
A federal judge says Trump must provide 30 days’ notice on any changes to the Kennedy Center’s renovation plans, including demolition. The move comes after Trump was photographed overlooking a placard indicating that demolition was forthcoming. On Thursday, U.S.
Your next gig should make sense for your music — and your bank account. Somewhere along the way, musicians were sold the idea that accepting a gig is evidence of progress. You booked something. You have a date to post. You are getting out there.
The biggest headlines from the past few days... Source
US copyright law sets damages for willful infringement at up to USD $150,000 per work. At that ceiling, the 60,202 recordings would carry a theoretical maximum of just over $9 billion. Source
“He just keep releasing all this old stuff and charging people for old pictures that you can find on the internet,” Hagar said of Alex Van Halen. “He’s doing a lot of stuff wrong for the legacy of Van Halen”
With an eye on “developing a globally connected rights management framework for the UAE,” MusicNation Copyrights Management has officially inked a reciprocal agreement with SoundExchange.
MIDiA Research has previously documented the phenomena that is live podcasting. We’re all aware a podcast can fill an auditorium. What hasn’t yet been tested is where the pull comes from (the format, the host, or the producer?) because until now, most live podcast events have tested only one for...
The recorded music business in Argentina grew around 70% in 2025 following an almost 200% increase in 2024, but inflation – which was 31.5% in 2025 and 117.8% the previous […] The post is from Music Ally.
In the past, the British Royal Mail has already honoured AC/DC, The Who and Spice Girls with special stamp issues – now Duran Duran becomes the latest act to get […] The post is from Music Ally.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has revised its 2026 U.S. ad spend growth forecast upwards from 9.5% to 12.3%, driven in large part by increased spending through automated, on-platform AI […] The post is from Music Ally.
Spotify announced yesterday that it’s launching a new program that will give approximately 10,000 emerging independent artists each year resources, community, and support that aims to help them “turn early […] The post is from Music Ally.
Grand Theft Auto publisher Rockstar Games has unveiled an official soundtrack album for the upcoming GTA VI. Released through Atlantic Records, it’ll feature 34 original tracks. The post is from Music Ally.
BMG and Concord successfully completed their merger early this month. Now more information has emerged about the finances behind the deal, courtesy of alternative asset-management firm Apollo. The post is from Music Ally.
We’ve been covering the recent news from music-fintech startup Notes·fm: its launch of financial accounts for artists using Stripe, for example, and its open music-credits database. The post is from Music Ally.
Lunacy is the company behind audio plugins Cube and Beam, but its latest launch is something different: a browser-based marketplace for a larger collection of plugins. The post is from Music Ally.
British trip-hop group Olive’s 1996 single ‘You’re Not Alone’ is a certified dance classic, and now it’s been remixed by German DJ Marlon Hoffstadt 20 years later. The post is from Music Ally.
The only public route to a ticket was a registration window that opened at oasisinet.com on September 14 and closed on September 17. Source
SoundExchange-affiliated artists will collect royalties for broadcasts in the UAE, while Emirati creators will receive payouts for US airplay. Source
The deal allows Symphonic to pull audio files and metadata out of MassiveMusic's catalog infrastructure when a label transfers its releases. Source
At Spotify, we have long believed that great recommendations are about more than predicting the next track.... The post Contexts, Conversations & Connections: Spotify Research at RecSys 2026 appeared first on Spotify Engineering.
The House Committee advances the recently amended MAIN Event Ticketing Act with a unanimous vote, but it raises concerns about Live Nation’s motives. The MAIN Event Ticketing Act has unanimously cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee with a 36-0 vote, having drawn support from secondary...
Atlantic Records and Rockstar Games announce ‘Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album,’ featuring 34 exclusive new tracks, including six singles available today.
Apollo reveals that its managed funds and affiliates have provided a $1.25 billion equity capital solution to support the BMG+Concord merger. American asset management firm Apollo Global Management has revealed that its managed funds and affiliates have provided an impressive $1.25 billion equity...
15 months after closing a $100 million raise – and with its revenue having “more than tripled” during the past three years – Fever has scored a $250 million primary equity round.
SubmitHub switches it up with a new AI policy that will keep AI music off the platform—even at the cost of up to 10% of its current revenue. SubmitHub has announced a new AI policy that builds on Spotify’s move to keep AI music out of recommendations.
Nashville announces a citywide celebration of Dolly Parton’s legacy set for September 25, or 9/25—a nod to her iconic song and movie “9 to 5.” On Friday, September 25, Nashville is coming together to celebrate one of Tennessee’s most beloved icons by doing what Dolly Parton does best: spreading a...
MIDiA Research finds that 42% of live radio listeners aged 20 to 34 tune in for music discovery, highlighting demand for human curation London, UK – Radio offers qualities that more modern consumption methods (streaming services) often struggle to replicate. Source
Just a correction Bob, I’m not sure what you were looking at but Macklemore’s ‘Hind’s Hall’ has 48 million streams on spotify. And ‘Hind’s Hall 2’ has 6 million streams. I’m not a macklemore fan at all, but the numbers are the numbers.
Corey Kent’s sound brings together his Oklahoma roots with country soul and a rocker’s edge. Earlier this month, he brought that mix to Bloomington, Indiana, for the latest iteration of Spotify Homegrown Live, presented by Hilton, ahead of the release of his new album Heartland Rock and Roll, out...
Discover Chartmetric Flow, an AI agent built for the music industry that turns complex questions into simple answers, data-driven analysis, research, and strategy in minutes.
The most successful creators are not just creative storytellers – they’re commercially minded entrepreneurs. The most sophisticated operators in this field recognise that launching their own product lines can be a lucrative and reliable revenue stream. Source
The interface of the Nova plug-in for browsing and loading Nova plug-ins inside your DAW. | Screenshot: Terrence O’Brien / The Verge Lunacy, purveyor of fine VST plug-ins like Cube, a synth that you control by moving a ball around a 3D space, has just launched Nova, a platform where creators can...
Today, Spotify is launching Fresh Finds Forward, a new program that will give approximately 10,000 emerging independent artists each year the resources, community, and support to turn early momentum into long-term growth.
After teasing a music-related reveal a few days ago, Rockstar has officially announced the soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto VI. Called Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the soundtrack will feature 34 songs, which Rockstar describes as "brand-new, original tracks." Based on the first six singles, which...
The Spotify Partner Program is bigger than ever. This fall, we’re bringing the program to more than 35 new markets, opening the door for eligible creators in Italy, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and beyond to earn more from their work. Following the Spotify Partner Program’s success across the...
On a Sunday in August 2025, I approached the O2 Forum Kentish Town to see an act I had heard plenty about. On this warm August afternoon, the main attraction was flamboyant, distinctive, petite in size and, by all accounts, electric. Source
Taylor Swift has long been keenly aware of the power of music videos to help expand the worlds she meticulously builds in her songwriting. Now, for the first time, all 58 of Taylor’s videos are coming to Spotify, giving her fans the opportunity to dive deeper than ever into her catalog.
Featuring Tom Morello, Chuck D and Idles’ Joe Talbot, the rapper’s new project celebrates the shared ideals of punk and hip-hop – ‘both the voice of the voiceless’ Adam Briggs has never been one for subtlety – in his lyrics, his punchlines or his activism. In person, the man has a huge presence.
This fall, Coach is launching “Live Your Story,” a global campaign celebrating self-expression through music, fashion, and culture. And Spotify is helping to bring it to life with the Tabby Tour, an experiential and digital activation making stops at college campuses across the U.S., U.K, Japan,...
Parents love using Spotify to play music for their families. But parents don’t always share the same taste as their young children—and playing music for your kids shouldn’t have to affect your own recommendations.
Parents can finally get the kids' music out of Spotify Wrapped and other personalized playlists.
DistroKid dominates AI music distribution while Spotify owns a stake. As streaming integrity standards tighten, its refusal to sign deserves much closer scrutiny.