Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

For the last 14 years, the Big 3, the holy trinity SONY, WMG, and UMG have dominated the music industry, devouring all of the other labels, and scooping up music catalogs. BMG, once a major label itself, though seemingly disappeared, has been kept alive by its parent company Bertlesmann, and it has sprung back to life joining with the old jazz label, Concord. Both have been on a feeding frenzy of music catalogs owning 4.3 million songs, enough to claim a spot with the Big 3 labels ....(BMG would prefer to be considered the king of indies). Though the headlines have broadcast the merger and the major shift with the Big 4, most haven't noticed that BMG is just a small part of the Bertelsmann empire, that with the merger owns Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher, 10,000 plays and musicals including Hamilton and Rogers and Hammerstein's works, and even classic movies like King Kong, Citizen Cane, and It's a Wonderful Life. Along with the titles, Bertelsmann has large divisions of marketing, streaming, and yes...AI. Regardless if it's one of the Big 4, or King of the Indies, it has moved up the food chain, and will undoubtedly have a major impact on the music industry. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/05/another-shark-in-food-chain-big-4.html

The 1st AI Music Chart (versus Billboard charts) The 1st Performing rights Organization (versus ASCAP, BMI, SESAC) The 1st AI Streaming platform (versus Spotify) Just three of the parallel music organizations in the rapidly expanding AI music industry. (This is not an endorsement of AI Music...just reporting what I see) "A new music industry is being built—with its own rules, its own economics, and its own definition of success. And for the first time in modern history… That industry doesn’t need the old one to survive." ChatGPT Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

This is the 3rd and last podcast linking 3 music biz events that I believe marks a change in access to the music markets. Indie distributors and labels being swallowed by majors, major labels and Spotify now allies working together to create an answer to AI music (and market control), and DDEX becoming the required meta data required for access to the new music ecosystem. DDEX has added AI descriptions into the Meta data of song files. Spotify and the major labels have adopted DDEX as the sole source of Meta Data Spotify requires to accept new uploads. While this will gratefully screen out false or misleading AI generated music, it also gives them control...they make the rules. Meta data has been a mystery to most musicians and who have left it up to distributors like Distrokid and Record labels to create and add meta data to their songs based on the accuracy and truthfulness of the artists' submissions. Most music companies accepted the data without question. Now, meta data comes into view with the dominant majors and Spotify creating a new collaborate music ecosystem controlling access to the market, with the DDEX standard becoming the sole accepted meta data source. Spotify's 'gatekeeper' now closely examines uploaded songs for DDEX before accepting them for streaming. Only labels and record labels can add DDEX data to your songs. While the accuracy of the DDEX data created by indie distributors and indie labels may vary based the accuracy of info when submitted by the artist, requiring closer examination, Spotify knows that music presented by the major labels in their new agreement is 'clean', with legit AI use of licensed music and accurate song info, so fast-tracks the music into the streams. It's imperative that musicians now learn the importance of meta data and providing accurate information when submitting a song to a distributor for upload to Spotify, publishers, etc. or risk their music being rejected. sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/04/ddex-and-new-music-world-order.html

Part 2 of 3: Once they competed, now they work together for the first time to create a new music ecosystem built around AI. Spotify, WMG, UMG, SONY Music, Believe, and Merlin joined forces in reaction to AI. The labels have licensed their music to Spotify to be used in Spotify's new AI tools being developed. All in theory to better serve musicians and copyright holders, except of course those who aren't paid royalties because their song didn't achieve 1,000 streams in 1 year (where do those royalties go?) What will happen to artists outside the new ecosystem? Part 3 will be the new DDEX AI music standard they agreed on. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/04/spotify-and-labels-create-new-music.html

A brilliant (my opinion) world-wide promotional campaign by Taylor Swift for 'Life of a Showgirl' became tainted as her fans began to notice videos with 'A bartender's hand passing through a napkin. A disappearing coat hanger. A carousel horse with two heads.' Sure signs of AI residue, and fans weren't/aren't happy. Will Smith, T Swift, and even Katy Perry, (at least their promo teams), are learning you can't fool the fans, and if you use AI for anything, quality control is imperative!!! Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/03/ai-and-orange-door.html

This is Part 1 of 3 podcasts of recent events that I believe are connected: 1. The Majors Swallow the Indies 2. Major Labels and Spotify's Agreement for Total Domination 3. New DDEX Standard for AI Influence in Music May Affect Music Uploads and Streaming Universal Music Group, and the other majors, are buying indie music companies at a rapid pace. CDBaby, once seen as an alternative distributor for indie musicians, is now part of the corporate system. What does this mean for artists, maybe you, who preferred the freedom from corp ownership? UMG now represents BOTH its artists and (formally) independent musicians. Who do you think they might favor? It could be a big boost, or the silent fade of indies. All of the data, and future, of the indie companies, are now in the hands of the majors. But...before you leave CDBaby and pull your music, be aware of the consequences that will have on your music. It's called the 'stickiness factor.' (If you or anyone you know, are using any of the indie music companies, please share this podcast...be aware of what is happening to your music) Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/04/cdbaby-now-owned-by-umg-washing-of.html

Agentic AI. "AI that doesn’t solely rely on human prompts nor require human oversight." Meta (Facebook) just bought the 1st all AI social media network, Moltbook. AI agents interact and talk to each other, even creating new religions for AI bots, humans aren't welcome. Agentic AI agents are already creating music (a brief example is at the end of the video), new genres, and they're uploading to Spotify on their own. They not only create music for human consumption, they create music for other bots to listen to. There has already been a court case about if bot-to-bot music can be copyrighted. Will 10 years from now, or in a year, humans using SUNO with their pathetic human prompts to compose, be left behind as agentic AI bots, that 24 hours a day, on their own, create and upload a flood of license free music? AI exclusive sites are spreading with all AI streaming platforms like MoltDJ, and other social media sites like MoltGram. We humans can watch, but that's all. 2026 is the year of Agentic AI. sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/03/2026-year-autonomous-bots-compose-music.htmlYouTube

Ticket Scalpers for a Charles Dickens Reading Tour were called 'Sidewalk 'Men'.The term scalper was first used in a book about the railroad.The first bot scalper was used for U2's Vertigo Tour.Now Ticketmaster/Live Nation are in court (now settled) because of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket fiasco, the first time AI was used to scalp tickets for resale. AI Scalping Bots have learned, and continue to learn, how to imitate humans. CHAPTAs aren't effective anymore, as AI Bots can even mimic frustrated humans trying to solve the puzzles. AI Ticket Scalpers have changed the ticketing industry forever as they constantly learn how to overcome obstacles, and there isn't anything (yet) that can stop them.(As a sidenote...CHAPTAs collect more information about you than you're probably aware of!)sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/03/live-nationticketmaster-go-to-court-ai.html

While AI detection tech is improving, SONY announced it has the tech that can identify the original music in AI generated songs by percentages...“30% of the music used is by the Beatles and 10% is by Queen.” Should artists begin the celebration? It may be too late!The Internet is being divided up by the record labels into 'walled gardens,' charging tech companies to slip into the gardens and train AI on the music. It may be too late.A nonprofit company you probably haven't heard of, Common Crawl, has been silently crawling and archiving the Internet for decades, and allows free access to the data. It is now the source of 80% of the data used to train AI, there wouldn't be a ChatGPT without it. I.E., everything on the Internet has already been gobbled up by AI. Can you name a song that hasn't been on the internet? Is walling off their existing IP and charging for AI access to the data, that AI probably already has, a way to provide legal cover for the AI tech companies? Does this mean there will be less 'free' Internet available after it is carved up by big corps?And if you're not signed to a label, you're music is outside the walls and is open game for AI!Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/02/carving-up-and-raising-walls-on-web.html

A historical dive into the demise of live local music. (Note: This is not an endorsement of drinking) Looking back to the glory days when band's were prolific and there were plenty of venues to play in, packed with fanatical music lovers. Small local venues were a proving ground for emerging artists, where they could build a following from high school age, and expand the boundaries of music performance. Label A&R reps prowled local clubs looking to sign the next big band. Most live local acts now mostly consist of singles or duos starting and ending early for early-to-bed boomers, tribute cover bands playing for those same boomers, and lounge troubadours playing for non-locals. There are three primary reasons that the venue habitats, and thus bands to play in them, have all but disappeared: - The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984 - Now six Performing Rights Organizations demanding payment by local venues - Covid Epidemic As Mary Hopkins sang: Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day

I ask anti-AI musicians if they had ever had actually checked out what it's capable of, most say no. So I decided to demonstrate how over 70+ million Alexa subscribers can now ask Alexa to write a song, by just talking to an Alexa enabled speaker. You'll hear the conversation between me and Alexa as we discussed creating a Valentine song for my cat, Jonesy. Listen to the song. Do you think it's AI slop? Personally, I think it's scary good. (It also created the artwork). When Amazon announced the new Alexa +, it's integration with Suno was barely featured, but now that it's open to any Prime member, they are beginning to publicize it. “Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs,” “Looking to delight your partner with a personalized song for their birthday based on their love of cats, or surprise your kid by creating a rap using their favorite cartoon characters? Alexa+ has you covered.” Instead of streaming typical songs played at weddings, now a couple can ask Alexa to create original love songs for each other. It will be interesting to see Suno membership grow as Alexa points users to Suno to download or see the lyrics of the song. I do this not to promote AI music. There is definite copyright infringement. But I encourage musicians to at least check out what somebody, with no musical abilities, can instantly create. Tik Tok is next. Ignore this at your own peril! Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

After music publishers lost the 1st round against Anthropic and Claude last year, they're back with a vengeance! Anthropic failed to reveal it had used BitTorrent to download millions of lyrics, songbooks, etc. Even though they did inform the book publishers who had also sued and won 1.5 Billion dollars. The judge wouldn't let them bring that into the case though. They had sued for a paltry $75 Million before. This time it's a whopping $3+ Billion dollars! Anthropic is now worth $350 Billion. Assuming they settle like the book publishers, when can songwriters and lyricists expect to cash in? Previous Anthropic Podcast: Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/02/let-biggest-baddest-copyright-lawsuit.html

ElevenLabs and Spotify just released an album, The 11 Album featuring Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel, and others all using AI in some way. "This is the first known direct deal between Spotify and an AI company to easily and directly distribute AI songs on the streaming platform" ...and it won't be the last. This led to my learning more about ElevenLabs (created 2023), the large cloned voice market, and the surprising web of AI partners: ElevenLabs is known for cloning voices of celebrities that can be licensed. It created a Voice Market Place.ElevenLabs licenses the actual voices, pre-cloning, from CMG Worldwide that represents the estates of dead celebritiesElevenLabs partnered with Meta (Facebook)ElevenLabs, has partnered with Merlin, et.al that represents multiple artists and record labels, providing the music to train AIMerlin has partnered with UDIO, expanding its AI contentUDIO has partnered with Universal Music Group Without a lot of studio editing, easily using a clone of your voice, or that of the dead to sing your song, is probably the next big step in music AI...it's already begun. sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Bandcamp is be promoted as the first major music company to ban AI music. While Humans rejoice, there's more here than meets the eye. I do a deep-dive into Bandcamp's recent history, Songtradr - its owner, questions about the new policy, and what the CEO actually thinks about AI and music (you'll be surprised)!

This is for anyone who records music, and is looking for a tax write-off. The HITS (Help Independent Tracks Succeed) Act was passed last summer (2025), but it hasn't been publicized like No Tax on Tips. (Side note...the tips you get at gigs don't count!). This Act allows you to write-off any recording costs, up to $150,000, you may have had in 2025, but only 2025. So if you need a tax write-off, start digging for those receipts! Be sure your recording friends are aware and share this podcast...the TAXMAN is coming!

Music historians will note that 2025 was the year of another major change in music production and composition. The official beginning of musical 'slop.' When Artificial Intelligence began to elbow its way into music (and every other thing), and replaced songwriters playing guitars, with music designers writing prompts.2026 will probably be the year when the shift in the Matrix will settle, and the new music world order is established.So much happened that looking back at the totality of it all, can be overwhelming.So here is a quick list of 2025 firsts. (Most referred to in my previous podcasts...check out the playlist for 'deep dives.')Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolated Vocals) • Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolat...

Merriam-Webster made the word 'slop' the 2025 Word of the Year. It refers to AI music as being garbage, but "Every Media Revolution Breeds Rubbish and Art." EDM, Rap, Hillbilly, Rock, Bubblegum, all have been considered to be trash...the slop of the day. 97% of people can't differentiate what is and isn't AI generated. One writer wrote that while 90% of AI music is garbage, but 10% is 'tolerable.' Hasn't that always been the case with popular music? Before AI, only 5% of released music broke even, another 5% were hits that made up for the 90% that didn't break even. All of the distributors like YouTube, ASCAP, Spotify, and even the Copyright Office use the honor system asking content creators to voluntarily admit using AI. I.E. Don't ask don't tell! Forget the US government helping. It tried in 2023, but was revoked this year and is now 'guided' by the very tech companies it sought to regulate. Since AI generated content can't be copyrighted, which can affect royalties, can we trust musicians to be honest when submitting? An industry described by Hunter S. Thompson as "...a cruel and shallow money trench"? Is SLOP the new genre? Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

A snapshot, using data, comparing the worlds of traditional musicians and AI designers. The number of people using AI music tools is immense, far outnumbering traditional musicians by millions. 3 types of Music Creators: Traditional MusiciansAI Music DesignersHybrids There is a lot of tension between trad musicians and AI designers. But, though probably a lot of traditional musicians like myself will disagree, I've come to realize that those using AI to create music for the first time in their lives, are not the enemy. And that AI is already very entrenched in trad music making, regardless of what trad musicians say. We should continue the fight against the very small minority of AI users who are corrupt and are gaming the system, and corporate exploitation, but for the most part, we should welcome the humans behind the AI music, and draw them into understanding the music they create, and maybe show them how to play guitar (which trends show gen-zers are doing). Sure they'll continue to make bad music, I.E slop, but a lot of people think the music of the 80s was also slop, to which I contributed with my synths and mullet haircut ;) Slop has always been around. Links to surveys and other sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

The frequency of music companies + AI announcements is increasing exponentially, daily. It's overwhelming and almost impossible to keep up. The Big Question: How will musicians be paid?! These are my guesses, hypotheticals, and conjectures based on what I've read. We're starting to get hints how the pennies might trickle down. The labels say don't worry kid, we'll take care of you.The only certainty being labels are excited and beginning to "envision how they’ll get their beaks wet" "But as for the dry, chapped beaks of powerless copyright stakeholders—small-time artists, writers, and creators—concerned that their work will simply be made redundant or irrelevant in this weird new content universe, it’s still not at all clear how those beaks benefit from any of this." Mike Pearl Sources Sources https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Here are 10 misconceptions I've read in comments across social media. These are my observations and opinions. You can jump to the part you'd be interested in. 00:00 Intro 00:30 There are established laws, passed by Congress, that regulates ai. 01:29 The government of the US cares about artists and musicians and is working on laws regulating AI and copyrights. 03:34 What is stated in the copyright office reports is permanent and binding. 04:19 The law states that only human created parts of a song can be copyrighted…any parts generated by AI isn’t protected. 05:07 Copyright law states you can’t copyright a song if you use AI for any of the parts. 05:36 Music created by only using prompts can’t be copyrighted 07:13 There are specific guidelines about AI and fair use. 07:40 Composers will be paid if AI is trained on their music. 09:31 Music companies are only looking out for their artists when it comes to AI music. 10:23 The courts conclusion about the generative AI case of Thaler v. Perlmutter, is fixed law. 11:15 Congress needs to get off its ass! Sources:https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/10-misconceptions.html

AI Creep: "AI has now slipped into everyday life and we seem less guarded about its use" Performance Rights Organizations, ASCAP, BMI, and SECAN have updated their policies to accept “compositions partially generated.” They will now register and pay royalties for partially AI-generated music, provided it involves a human-led creative process. Composers are trusted to voluntarily reveal how much AI was used during composing the music. Everyday, we wake up to learn AI has silently become a part of the eco-system of the music business. As you read this, behind the curtain, corporations are deciding not if they will incorporate AI, but rather how they will. AI is in the musical bloodstream, and there is no going back. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Udio wants to be the music industry's "AI good guy". UMG and Udio settled their lawsuit, and the Udio subscribers are pissed off! "Udio will now be a 'walled garden' in which users can only stream their AI creations on the platform, with no ability to export and distribute their works. In response, Udio opened a 48 hour window, ending today 11/4/25, for subscribers to download their music. Otherwise, all of those AI created songs might never be heard (is that a bad thing?), humans who downloaded Udio tracks to then build on will probably jump to Suno, and it will be interesting to see what the new UMG/Udio service will be. Meanwhile, SONY, UMG, and WMG, use the same lawyers, while Suno and Udio are also represented by the same lawyers...and subscribers are looking into suing Udio. It's good to be a lawyer! Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/udio-joins-umg-and-deserts-subscribers.html

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/CrUlIezY7ugThe music biz has always blurred the lines between the real and the fake, like KISS dubbing in the audience on their live album. Will Smith has gotten some brutal press for his use of AI to 'enhance' his audience in a video of him performing. The controversy is exposing some much deeper realizations about the use of AI. "AI fatigue is hitting hard." "AI-generated content isn’t just underperforming; it’s triggering active resentment." "Public backlash against AI-generated content is growing." "Gen Z is turning away from AI-generated content, loudly." Is it just showbiz, or are there real cultural cracks in the use of AI? (and yes there are cats at the end of the podcast) Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/its-easy-to-build-your-audience-with-ai.html

Halloween Issue: Stream ripping has been part of music piracy for decades, from copying songs on the radio to cassette, to now when an individual rips music or video from a streaming platform and coverts it into a downloadable file that any user can use offline. If you haven't heard of stream ripping, it's probably because the labels have had some success regulating it. But now it's back in the headlines. The AI companies like Suno and Udio are accused of stream ripping to train their AI models. Of course the labels have already been suing Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, and now they've adding ripping to the claim. Suno and Udio warn that this could lead to all YouTube video downloads being determined to be illegal, even if under fair use. Scary Stuff!Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/suno-and-udio-rip-streams-to-feed-ai.html

"...labels to quietly consider licensing arrangements rather than risk exposing gaps in ownership or registration in court." For the discovery process between Udio and UMG, the court agreed that Universal Music Group must: 1. Provide copies of all of the music they claim was infringed, I.E., prove it! 2. Provide all of the record agreements between the label and the artists to determine if UMG actually owns the recordings. If the agreement specifies that the record was Made Work For Hire, the label owns it forever. If not, it's possible that at 35 years, the artist could reclaim ownership from the label. This has been so effective that Suno and other AI companies are making the same demands for discovery. Meanwhile nothing stops Suno and Udio from scraping up any music not represented by the labels, such as by indie artists and independent labels. BUT..."Underlying compositions and lyrics, the lifeblood of songs... have not been part of the current licensing discussions." So even if the labels settle with Suno and Udio, it's not over. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/udio-takes-lead-in-record-label-lawsuit.html

"Fans may soon follow virtual personas with the same passion as human celebrities." An AI Musician with millions of streams gets a 3 million dollar contract. An AI Actor worries human actors. Both are seen as threats by human musicians and actors, but does the common person care? This is a case in which a human and AI successfully 'collaborate.' Are there times when AI can be your creative partner? Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

• The internet is no longer “for humans, by humans.” • "82% of listeners cannot distinguish AI-made music from human-created music" • "The Internet Will Be More Dead Than Alive Within 3 Years, Trend Shows. All signs point to a future internet where bot-driven interactions far outnumber human ones" • 38 percent of (mostly) human-made webpages from 2013 no longer exist, which is the result a process known as “link rot.” • "A growing number of tech users now believe that AI is God." • "AI SLOP MIGHT FINALLY CURE OUR INTERNET ADDICTION?" Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/09/we-are-in-age-of-ai.html

Taking a break from AI, copyright law, etc...I dive into the new field of composing music, designed to enhance specific culinary delights. "Scientists Invent this 90-sec Song [Sweetest Melody] to Make Chocolate Taste Better" Research shows that certain instruments make food sweeter, or more bitter. How does your instrument affect taste? Does it work? Researchers say: "We're able to show that we can change the experience in [the] mouth by about 5 or 10 percent." Will there be a Spotify playlist with music designed just for specific tastes to "create a multisensory experience that goes beyond taste?" Link to sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Suno and Udio are being sued by the labels, but there is another major suit most haven't heard about. Sued by UMG and other labels, Anthropic almost got away with scraping millions of copies of printed music to train AI for free, claiming 'Fair Use.' Until it was exposed, in a similar class action lawsuit by book authors, that Anthropic hid it also scraped printed music from the same LibGen, torrents, and other sites. The book authors won, and now, using the same winning arguments against Anthropic, the record labels will probably win! Multiple book authors in the class class action suit, who had no idea their books were illegally copied, are being notified now that they are in the winning camp and can expect to be paid. Will the record labels, assuming they also win, keep the money? Or will they do the same and notify songwriters and composers? If so and you have lyrics, sheet music, scores, etc, most likely you'll also be owed some $ !

Podcast LinkArtificial Pop (A-Pop), Music Designers, AI Music Charts, Oh My! The separation between human music and AI music is widening and becoming more obvious. AI now has its own all AI record labels, there will probably be a Billboard AI Chart, the 1st 'Music Designer' who uses Suno is signed to a record deal, A-Pop (Artificial Pop) is becoming as thing. Meanwhile humans are looking at creating paid subscriptions to human-only music streams, a new human-only music social network is coming, and I predict soon human-only music boutique record labels. The lines are being drawn. AI is carving out its own space, while humans create human artist sanctuaries in which AI isn’t allowed. Will there soon be Skynet Records? Will someone from the future come back to save music?Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/no-ai-no-humans.html

Link to YT videoPeople use AI (SUNO, UDIO) to create songs comprised of real musicians' copy-protected works. It's blatant copyright infringement, hidden by laundering copyrights so they can't be traced to the original owners. Here is what you need to know:Money LaunderingAl Capone used to run money made from bootlegging and other crimes through laundromats to 'clean' money, make it legitimate, so that nobody could trace it back to the original 'dirty' crime money. Thus the term 'money laundering'. The music biz, including Spotify, has had a history of money laundering.Derivative WorksWhen someone alters a copyrighted work, it's easy to trace the original content of derivative works, when songs are altered in some way, by comparing the original to the altered version. The composer of the original can then be compensated as required by law.Copyright LaunderingCopyright laundering is when AI is trained on legit copyrighted material and used to create new music, but the synthetic result is then trained on again, and again, with elements of the original work passed down and mixed into each new version, so that it's impossible to trace back to the original work and copyright owner. Each new song is then copyrighted by the 'composer' without compensating the original copyright holder.HumanizationAnd even though AI generated work isn't copyrightable, by adding a little 'humanization', such as "timing edits, analog processing, metadata stripping, even real musicians replaying part, it qualifies for copyright registration and royalty collection—despite its AI origins and use of pre-existing material."00:00 - intro 00:11 - Money laundering01:31 - Copyright laundering01:54 - Derivative works and copyright03:36 - AI and copyright laundering06:38 - Humanizing AI generated music for copyright claims 07:26 - Impossible to trace the original copyrighted materialSources available at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/copyright-laundering-its-thing.html

$2 billion is lost to streaming fraud each year, representing about 7-10% of total streaming royalties, and growing.Streamfarms, consisting of AI bots, and more likely people in developing countries PRETENDING TO BE AI BOTS, are paid to rapidly inflate the number of streams of a song, as well as likes, follows, and playlists, pushing both human and fake artists to the top.Other artists find market visibility to be monopolised by fraudsters and mediocre music. It's already been hard to break through, is it even possible to compete with those using streamfarms, cheating their way to the top?Link to sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....Link to video: https://youtu.be/o-zfp5Aa_YU?si=B2ZypuUdV53SRKd9

Link to video: https://youtu.be/hJeu5KvgBww"You have to die before they think you are worth anything". Jimi Hendrix The deaths of the greatest generation of rockers, is bringing in millions of dollars, and the industry has learned to cash in. Even just a rumor of a death, like when Paul McCartney was supposed dead and replaced by a double (he wasn't), can result in big boosts in sales and streams. With the assassination of John Lennon, the records labels began to realize that when an artist dies, even if past his/her peak, the money spigot would open and stay open. As the Baby Boomers mourn the increasing number of deaths of the music icons of their generation, labels and catalog investors make plans to maximize profits, patiently waiting for the moment. While even the biggest and richest rock stars are mortal, and Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door, their music is immortal, and worth millions. (Ages of rockers below) Link to sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/dying-for-dollars-rock-of-aged-sources.html

From the days of hipster musicians touring living rooms, to the present with major acts playing in backyards and bowling alleys, artists are skipping large venues and thinking small, the stage wherever they can strap on a guitar and play. With fans having to finance tickets to go to concerts, the trend is for the artists to go to them. Bands like All American Rejects achieved over 4 Million dollars in marketing on their 'House Party Tour' by playing at skating rinks and homes. Now the labels and marketers smell the money and are getting involved setting up fake fan pages on Tik-Tok, encouraging real fans to take and post videos and pictures of the performances, and then reposting them to potentially millions of fans. But it's also a strategy that any aspiring artist can use to find places to play, hone performance skills, test new songs, and build followings. Shakespeare showed the way when he stated 'All The World's A Stage'.

Jonesy believes that every aspiring musician should be given a kitten before the first music lesson! In this podcast, Jonesy the cat points to famous DJ and producer deadmau5: "While cats may sometimes be destructive, deadmau5 is a fan of having feline pals around." As cat-dad to Peanut, Dizzy and Dolly, even though they may be a pain at times, he believes that's 'The price of a cat'. And surely Peanut, Dizzy and Dolly simply tolerate a cat-dad that wears mouse ears! Sometimes, just giving a cat a little scratch behind the ears, or a belly-rub, is all you need to be at your most relaxed and your creative best. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/07/deadmau5s-feline-secret-to-success-and.html

[Warning...this vid is a little philosophic] While watching an interview of David Gilmore about his newest album, Luck and Strange, I was reminded that music is a gift to humans. That AI will never wait for years to finish a song, always looking for that special something it needs to complete it. That AI will never be visited by a Muse. That AI will never experience music. The Cambridge dictionary defines muse as: a person, or an imaginary being or force that gives someone ideas and helps them to write, paint, or make music. In this video, Gilmore talks about the creative process of the song Between Two Points, sung by his daughter Romany. He had recorded it for himself, but never released it because it just didn't feel right. Then a Muse whispered the idea in his wife's ear, to let their daughter sing it, and she did it in one take. You can see how the music washes over Gilmore as he listens to it. Creative types seek and call on their Muses for help. And sometimes the Muse provides that magic moment when you ask, "Where did that come from?" Artificial Intelligence will always be artificial. Right now, AI is more and more creating music for humans. Will there be a backlash when humans will want to hear music only made by humans? Because only Muse inspired music can go deep into the soul of humans, and AI will never ever be visited by a Muse! Link to Gilmore Interview: https://youtu.be/O3OazxoPRK8?si=C6UMQnG9Yv4qAyRZ

Podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOzs8lbX9g41 - Courts just opened the door for AI to copy copyrighted material under Fair Use, as long as they purchase 1 copy. 2 - The First Record Label to Exclusively Feature AI Artists: IT'S ALL FAKE. Artists, Music, Backstories, Videos...everything. 3 - "There's No Going Back!" 'Deezer' Chief Innovation Officer.Sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/06/is-it-real-or-is-it-ai.htmlSubStack https://srfrjff.substack.com

A former exec at Meta (Facebook) said "...asking for permission from rights owners to train models would 'basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.' " In 1997, it was the new technology, MP3s, used by Napster, that the labels said would kill Music. Back then the labels sued Napster, Kazaa, etc; today the labels are suing Suno and Udio. Is history repeating itself? Lot's of parallels!

A former exec at Meta (Facebook) said "...asking for permission from rights owners to train models would 'basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.' " In 1997, it was the new technology, MP3s, used by Napster, that the labels said would kill Music. Back then the labels sued Napster, Kazaa, etc; today the labels are suing Suno and Udio. Is history repeating itself? Lot's of parallels!Sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/06/is-this-day-music-died.html

Your Fav Radio DJ Might Not Be Human!Good news is radio listenership is reported to be good...but who are we listening to? For 6 months, listeners to a radio station had no idea that the DJ they were listening to, wasn't human. AI DJs are already popping up on the radio across the planet, replacing humans or serving as live sidekick/cohosts. "If a robot can blend in for half a year without anyone noticing, it might already be happening more than we think."Podcast Video : https://youtu.be/EXTlSzfsaSY

For those who want to know about the significance of masters in the recording industry, here's a little dive into the background and history of artists, record labels, and the fight for masters ownership. In what has been described as a brilliant strategy, Taylor Swift devalues her first 6 albums by rerecording them and then, as the songwriter, denied anybody licensing the originals in movies or commercials insisting they could only use her re-recorded versions; meanwhile sales of the originals dropped around 60%. To the point that the owners sold her the original masters of her 1st 6 albums, and more, for $360 million, close to what they paid for them. To the delight of the T-Swifties, she now owns it all (and makes all the $). Swift wasn't the first to re-record or buy the masters to gain total control of her music. But now the labels are worried about being 'Swifted' as more legacy artists follow her lead. The value of a record label is determined by its ownership of, and profiting from, master recordings. How can record labels survive if their golden eggs, the legacy recordings they own, are effectively neutered by re-recordings? Sources are linked on my blog: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

The Adele / Guinea Pig Experimenthttps://youtu.be/1Cjo8p8pe8UAI version of Jonesy the cat introduces and ends the podcastJonesy's Cat-Shit Crazy Music-Biz News, is that scientists exposed 2 groups of Guinea Pigs to Adele's 'I Miss You' for 7 days. The purpose to see how compression/loudness affects hearing. One group recovered in 1 day. The other group of Guinea Pigs now have long-term hearing damage and should probably seek legal advice! While both had hearing damage, one group recovered in 1 day. The other group of Guinea Pigs now have long-term hearing damage and should probably seek legal advice! The point being that heavily compressed music not only affects the listener's enjoyment, it also affects long-term hearing. So the message being for engineers to stop over-compressing audio just to make it louder. Note: I had fun with AI, but the message about loudness and its affect on hearing is serious.Sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/05/guinea-pigs-forced-to-listen-to-adele.html

"It's about legacy, justice and the future of artist ownership."Salt and Pepa are suing Universal Music Group for the rights to the recordings of their hit songs. UMG is Pushing Back by taking down their music from streams. Copyright law does allow artists to reclaim ownership of their recordings after 35 years, but UMG says they were employees and so the songs are work-for-hire and they don't want to give them up. A good look into the battle for ownership of artist's recordings, especially as music catalogs are selling for millions of dollars.

Can Great Music Rise Above the Slop? [WARNING: May Be Depressing For Musicians]The Dead Internet Theory: "AI-generated material will eventually flood the internet so thoroughly, that nothing human can be found. " The ocean of music is filling with AI slop. Major artists flood the streams with tons of remixes, altered versions, and clips of the same song/album. New artists try to get attention by posting 100s of Tik-Tok videos of the same song hoping just one will go viral. With 'Oversaturation', 'Content-Oversuppy', and focus on old music instead of new music, does new music stand a chance, or are we in the 'Worst-ever Era of American Pop Culture' ?

Will AI Finally Be Able To Scuttle That Pesky Copyright Thing?(Update: There is an article today on The Verge entitled "Elon Musk’s Apparent Power Play at the Copyright Office Completely Backfired: Ripping off content to train AI wasn't going to fly with either MAGA populists or MAGA media". So while there is absolutely still no reason given to fire the director who is most qualified to guide the Copyright Office on matters of AI, the end result is up in the air, and I remain skeptical, as given in the example of Meta that just gobbled up millions of books for AI, without permission from the authors or publishers.) Why was the Director of the Copyright Office suddenly fired? Was it because AI companies didn't like what was in the preliminary Copyright Office report on AI and Fair Use? That they want creators' works and compositions, ignoring the recommendation of the report (and the Constitution), to be free to feed their AI models? "If tech companies can pillage and plunder people’s creative work so they can make money for themselves and their friends, then it will destroy whole creative industries,” (Reid Southen, concept artist and illustrator) Once that door is flung open for AI to gobble up all human creativity without a care about the human creators, there is no putting it all back.

The Dead Internet Theory: "AI-generated material will eventually flood the internet so thoroughly, that nothing human can be found. " The ocean of music is filling with AI slop. Major artists flood the streams with tons of remixes, altered versions, and clips of the same song/album. New artists try to get attention by posting 100s of Tik-Tok videos of the same song hoping just one will go viral. With 'Oversaturation', 'Content-Oversuppy', and focus on old music instead of new music, does new music stand a chance, or are we in the 'Worst-ever Era of American Pop Culture' ?

Revivification. The groundbreaking tech that will shape the future of music production! An Art Gallery in Australia is featuring NEW music being composed years after the passing of the composer, Alvin Lucier, with a process known as revivification. "“One of the concepts we are exploring is whether an artist could continue to create work after they have passed away.” Stem cells developed from Lucier's blood cells at Harvard, became living organoids / 'mini-brains' located in and used to create new music in the art gallery.

"The more [artists] that stick their head in the sand, the more likely it's gonna go to the people who are doing it for profit and won't be thinking about them." Heap "Actors can make good money licensing their images to AI companies, but many are later shocked to see where their digital clones turn up". As artists like Grimes allows use of her AI voice, and Imogen Heap allows the use of "...the vibe, feel, rhythmic style, instrument textures" of her music, do they really know how their AI versions may end up? Actors who sell their likeness and even emotions for AI training, are shocked how it all is used, and have no recourse. Even now, most musicians don't realize the music distributor they may use allows AI to remix, mashup, and more, their music on Spotify and elsewhere (read the contract!). Heap makes clear that corporations are going to use AI regardless of what musicians think. Even the Academy that once viewed AI as the enemy, now allows films to win Oscars.

Anybody who uses AI to create anything, whether it's art or music, should know about this decision: • "Up until January 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) had rejected all AI-generated works on the basis that they lacked sufficient human authorship" • "This landmark decision sets a precedent for future AI-assisted artworks, highlighting the importance of human creativity and guidance in the creation process to qualify for copyright protection" • "This ruling is a major advancement in the legal recognition of works created with the support of generative AI tools and models. It provides clarity to the thousands of artists and businesses that have already begun to incorporate AI techniques into their creative workflows but need protection."

"One artist should not push another artist to the brink of a financial collapse." So says the lawyer for Vince Vance who sued Mariah Carey for copyright infringement, and lost. He wanted $20M and all copies of her evergreen, 'All I Want for Xmas', to be destroyed. But instead, he now owes her reimbursement for over $180,000 in legal fees.