Music News

ASCAP and BMI have officially responded to the Copyright Office’s performing rights inquiry, which was set in motion after lawmakers raised transparency concerns last year. We covered those concerns – extending to the accuracy of public performance payments, the “increased costs and burdens imposed on licensees,” and more – back in September 2024. Then, the Copyright Office in February 2025 kicked off the mentioned inquiry and set an April 11th deadline for comments. Unsurprisingly, ASCAP and

Photo: Joshua Sortino As someone who has spent years navigating the complexities of digital music, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is for rightsholders to take control of their content and data. The ability to manage your assets independently isn’t just a matter of convenience – it’s a strategic advantage that unlocks new opportunities, reduces operational headaches and gives you the flexibility to work with the best partners for your needs. In an increasingly complex digital landscape, dire

Photo Credit: Morgan Wallen and Blodin Ukella Blodin Ukella and Morgan Wallen’s Ryl Company receives $15 million in Series B funding, marking $30 million in growth equity in total. Created in 2022, Morgan Wallen and Blodin Ukella’s Ryl Company held a Series A funding round in 2024, netting $7.5 million. The new funds will help fast track the tea company’s expansion, marketing campaigns, and product creation. The funding will also get Ryl Tea into over 40,000 stores by the end of the year, inc

Photo Credit: Jake Gear and Robert Knotts by Matt Paskert Interscope Geffen A&M partners with the iconic Nashville-based Lost Highway Records for a bold new era. Country label Lost Highway Records is making a return, thanks to Interscope Records, as Interscope CEO John Janick calls on Nashville veterans Robert Knotts and Jake Gear to man the helm. Both will serve as executive vice presidents and co-heads of Lost Highway. Founded 25 years ago by former UMG Nashville CEO Luke Lewis, Lost Hi

Her previous acting experience has included appearing in episodes of the hit AppleTV+ football comedy Ted Lasso.View the full article

Photo Credit: Aftershock Aftershock has announced a new live concert event with Shaquille O’Neal aka DJ Diesel. Shaq is bringing his Bass All-Stars show to the Rawhide Event Center in Chandler, Arizona. The event kicks off on August 16, with Shaq’s Bass All-Stars delivering an anticipated onslaught of dubstep, house, trap, and hip-hop across the line-up. The line-up so far includes DJ Diesel, Ghastly presents GHENGAR, Jykl & Hyde, RZRKT B2B CELO, and a special guest still to be announced.

Photo Credit: Live Nation Judas Priest and Alice Cooper are uniting for a co-headlining tour across North America. The 22-city run of the legendary heavy metal acts starts in Mississippi with stops in Toronto, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and more. Produced by Live Nation, the tour kicks off on September 16 in Biloxi before wrapping on October 26 in Texas. Coming off the second leg of their Invisible Shield Tour and the release of their 19th studio album, Judas Priest remains a dominant force in meta

The British hitmaker announced in 2023 that she had amicably parted ways from her record label, Republica Records after 17 years View the full article

The Korea Fair Trade Commission headquarters in Sejong, South Korea. Photo Credit: Minseong Kim YouTube is reportedly set to unbundle Music from Premium in South Korea, where it’s facing a Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) competition investigation. Regional outlets just recently pointed to the possible move, after the mentioned government agency revealed a YouTube Premium and Music probe about one year ago. This bundling-focused inquiry, the KFTC relayed at the time, had already been underw

Jack Dorsey, who believes it’s time to “delete all IP law.” Photo Credit: Mark Warner Against the backdrop of ongoing AI debate — and adjacent legal battles concerning generative models’ training processes — Block CEO Jack Dorsey says it’s time to “delete all IP law.” Dorsey provided that controversial take on X, where, unsurprisingly, many promptly criticized the position. Notwithstanding the pushback – more on this in a moment – the contentious stance did find a high-profile supporter in El

Photo Credit: @ruthsviveros on TikTok Coachella attendees went viral on social media after they showed off their pricey meals: tacos, nachos, and lemonades for two costing $102. It may not come as a surprise to some that the prices of concessions at live events can get a little ridiculous. But in the post-pandemic economy, where concerts and music festivals are struggling to break even, Coachella attendees are stunned to see food and drink going for three times the normal cost. Just like the a

Photo Credit: Stevie Nicks / Live Nation Stevie Nicks announces a leg of tour dates this summer and fall, stopping in cities across North America, including Las Vegas, Toronto, and Boston. Legendary singer, songwriter, and storyteller Stevie Nicks has announced a new leg of tour dates for summer and fall 2025, following a celebrated run of performances. General on-sale begins Friday, April 18 at 10 AM local. Tickets for previously announced dates with Billy Joel are on sale now. Produced by L

Photo Credit: Melissa Lee / Marine Corps Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex-trafficking case gets underway in about a month, but his defense team has asked for an adjournment. Instead, they want to see the May 12 starting date pushed back by two weeks. His lawyers argue the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the SDNY has not been fully sharing material such as emails from a former Combs employee. They allege that the prosecution’s witness ‘Victim-4’ seems to have “cherry picked messages” shared on WhatsApp. Outs

Vobile has officially announced a Pex buyout deal. Photo Credit: Pex Self-described IP protection, monetization, and marketing specialist Vobile has officially acquired Pex. Santa Clara-headquartered Vobile confirmed the buyout in a brief release today. Founded two decades back by Yangbin Wang (who doubles as CEO), the publicly traded business bills itself as “a worldwide leader in digital content protection and transaction services.” As things stand, the purchaser is said to provide digital

Senators from both sides of the aisle are reportedly urging the DOJ to zero in on the recently announced deal between Live Nation and Fanatics. Photo Credit: Bernini123 Besides fending off a Justice Department lawsuit — and regulatory obstacles across the pond — Live Nation is now grappling with a new round of bipartisan antitrust scrutiny. That scrutiny pertains to the sports side of the Ticketmaster parent’s operations, but is certainly important from the perspective of Live Nation’s broade

Photo Credit: Molson Coors Beverage Co. Molson Coors Beverage Co. is releasing a beer-filled vinyl called ‘Dive Bar Sounds.’ The vinyl record actually plays and is filled with Miller High Life beer. The beer-filled vinyl record goes on pre-sale later this week for an $18 price point. Miller says each dive bar tells its story through sounds, from the creak of the door opening to the clink of glasses. “Now these iconic sounds are captured in this High Life-infused vinyl. Here’s a peek at what’s

Photo Credit: Olivier Bergeron TikTok made nearly $39 billion from its US operations last year, drawing the question of the economic impact of a federal ban to the forefront. Beijing-based TikTok parent ByteDance earned a quarter of its total revenue last year from its US TikTok operations, according to sources close to the matter. The company’s international revenue jumped 63% to a whopping $39 billion in 2024, a quarter of ByteDance’s total revenue of $155 billion for the year — its highest

Photo Credit: Mengwen Cao for Global Citizen The Global Citizen Festival will return to Central Park on September 27, this time with a search for a new hitmaker with Colossal and Live Nation. The Global Citizen Festival, driving millions of actions from global citizens and billions of dollars in commitments to end extreme poverty, is back for another year. The 2025 edition of the Global Citizen Festival campaign once again supports and partners with a variety of nonprofit organizations aligned

Photo Credit: EMRA The United Arab Emirates (UAE) have established the first collective management society—the Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA). Recent legislative and regulatory action on the UAE grants a collective management license to EMRA, authorizing it to oversee the collection and distribution of music creators’ rights across the country. The move aims to strengthen the creative economy by ensuring compliance with copyright laws across broadcasting and content platforms. The l

Photo Credit: People Magazine / Instagram Green Day’s headlining set brought the heat to Coachella with a firework that hit a palm tree, causing it to catch fire dangerously close to the crowd. During Green Day’s set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s first weekend on Saturday, a firework lit a palm tree on fire in the nearby artist section. The fire was dangerously close to a crowd of onlookers. “This firework just flew into the crowd and exploded right next to FaZe Banks and

Photo Credit: Robot Picnic / YouTube The LA Philharmonic embarked on unfamiliar territory with a guest-filled Coachella set led by conductor Gustavo Dudamel. Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic delivered an unforgettable 50-minute set at Coachella on Saturday, featuring stars like Becky G, LL Cool J, Maren Morris, Zedd, and Laufey. The stars performed some of their biggest hits, accompanied by the iconic symphony. The outdoor stage in Indio is a far cry from what the orchestra is accustom

Photo Credit: Sheléa for PBS Sheléa stars in the upcoming special, “Aretha! With Sheléa and The Pacific Symphony,” a televised tribute to soul legend Aretha Franklin. Hot off a national tour as Stevie Wonder’s special guest on his 2025 “Sing Your Song!” tour, Sheléa is now starring in an upcoming PBS special, “Aretha! With Sheléa and The Pacific Symphony.” The televised tribute to the legendary Queen of Soul will premiere on PBS stations starting May 30, and will also be available for free str

Photo Credit: BubbleTeaNeo / reddit The death toll for the Jet Set nightclub roof collapse in the Dominican Republic rose to 226 people over the weekend. Officials said they were able to rescue 189 people alive from the rubble, while 200 more were injured. 14 still remain hospitalized, four of those in critical condition. The roof of the night club collapsed during a merengue concert on April 8 during a live performance by Rubby Pérez. Rubby Pérez was tragically killed in the accident, as was

Photo Credit: Windows Apple Music now offers Dolby Atmos playback on Windows, upping its support of devices outside the ecosystem. The strategy makes sense to capitalize for Apple’s Services division—main competitor Spotify’s high-fidelity audio offering is still MIA. Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound audio format that allows music to be heard in an immersive, three-dimensional audio experience. The feature was added to Apple Music for Windows in a recent update—which will require a PC and headp

Luxembourg City. Photo Credit: Cedric Letsch Is Spotify kicking off another major pricing recalibration? Possibly, as the service has nixed its “Mini” plan and rolled out across-the-board Benelux price increases. Spotify just recently emailed the relevant customers with word of the price increases, which are also making a splash in local media. And the axed “Mini” tier, which had offered mobile-only Premium access on a week-to-week (and, in some countries, day-to-day) basis, is spurring discu