Music News

Photo Credit: Infinite Reality Hot on the heels of its $207 million Napster acquisition, Infinite Reality has announced the acquisition of AI company Touchcast for $500 million in a combination of cash and stock. The acquisition is Infinite Reality’s largest yet and the transaction agreement values the company at $15.5 billion. Touchcast’s powerful agentic AI platform, known as Mentorverse, generates an infinite universe of specialized AI mentors who engage in natural face-to-face video conver

Photo Credit: Insomniac Insomniac has launched a new streaming app offering nonstop electronic music, without ads or subscription requirements.  The Insomniac Radio app delivers curated music streaming 24/7 across four channels. Insomniac has previously released exclusive festival sets on platforms like Apple Music but is now building its own dedicated streaming space. The app is free to use and built around genre-specific channels: ONE, ANALOG, IMPACT, and LUCID. Each channel is designed to

Photo Credit: Shift Instagram is prepping a new push to entice TikTok creators away from the platform as the site remains in limbo in the United States. While Trump offered a second extension on the TikTok ban, the increasing trade war between the US and China has left dim prospects of a deal materializing. Instagram is looking to appeal to creators who want a platform whose stability in the United States is not in question. They’ve added an iPad app and have worked on improving search functio

Photo Credit: Meta Instagram launches its standalone Edits app for editing video, with features to compete with TikTok parent company ByteDance and its CapCut app. On Tuesday, Instagram launched its standalone Edits app for video creation, offering features to rival those offered by TikTok parent ByteDance’s CapCut app. The new app allows creators to organize their project ideas, shoot and edit video, and view insights about content creation. It features background replacement, automatic capt

Intercept Music has announced a $50 million song rights partnership. Photo Credit: Casey Botticello Let the song rights purchases continue: Intercept Music has announced $50 million in fresh catalog funding, and “several initial acquisitions” are said to be in the works. According to the San Francisco-headquartered distributor and marketer, the sizable tranche resulted from a “private partnership.” Beyond this, Intercept Music didn’t provide too many details about the tie-up. But it did confi

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

Photo Credit: Kneecap.ie Ireland’s prime minister has called for hip-hop group Kneecap to clarify remarks made at shows urging fans to kill Tory MPs. Micheál Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, has called for Irish hip-hop group Kneecap to “urgently clarify” comments allegedly made during the band’s concerts about killing Tory MPs. Video of the group at a gig in November 2023 emerged, showing one member saying, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Footage of another show in

Photo Credit: Kneecap.ie Coachella organizers Goldenvoice and AEG are facing backlash from Jewish groups for the Irish rap group Kneecap’s performance during both weekends. The performances came with anti-Israeli messaging and criticized the U.S. support of Israel. Kneecap’s first weekend performance was cut from the Coachella livestream. Coachella organizers appeared to respond by not broadcasting any acts from the Sonora tent during the second weekend on the livestream. Kneecap claimed they

Photo Credit: Paulo Nunes dos Santos (Kneecap.ie) Irish rap group Kneecap are facing a British counter-terrorism investigation after footage from a concert went viral on social media. The footage was posted online by Danny Morris of the Community Security Trust charity. Morris says the footage is from a gig in November 2024 at London’s Kentish Town Forum. The video shows the hip-hop trio on stage, with one member appearing to shout ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’ at the crowd. Both Hamas and Hezboll

Believe founder Denis Ladegaillerie, whose digital music company has taken another step towards privatization. Photo Credit: Believe Is Believe officially going private? It looks that way, as founder Denis Ladegaillerie and investment firms EQT and TCV have moved to acquire the company’s remaining public shares. Through a consortium called Upbeat Bidco, those parties say they own nearly 97% of Believe’s share capital and possess over 95% of voting rights. Long story short, the sizable interest

A live performance from Pusha T as part of Clipse. Photo Credit: Ben Sisto Let the Drake v. Universal Music fallout continue: According to Pusha T, execs at the major’s Def Jam subsidiary urged him to censor a Kendrick Lamar guest verse on Clipse’s forthcoming album. The decidedly interesting tidbit emerged in a new GQ interview with both Pusha T and his brother Malice, who are set to release Let God Sort Em Out as Clipse next month. The duo’s first album since 2009, this Pharrell Williams-pr

Mock deal terms in beatBread’s Deal Comparison Tool, with an ‘Expected Case’ for content performance during the deal term (photo: beatBread) For those artists and indie labels lucky enough to have multiple funding offers, beatBread now offers a potentially game-changing tool for weighing competing options. Surprisingly, beatBread’s initial results show that most artists and indie labels (60%) would likely sign a sub-optimal deal before thoroughly vetting their options. Once upon a time, music

Photo Credit: Amy Syiek Several major record labels have settled their copyright infringement lawsuit with internet provider Frontier after a multi-year legal battle. Major record labels, including UMG, Sony Music, and Warner Music, have settled their piracy liability lawsuit with internet provider Frontier after a lengthy, multi-year legal battle. All parties agreed in a public notice to bear their own costs, while the details of the settlement remain undisclosed. The settlement comes a few w

Photo Credit: Pop Smoke / YouTube UMG allegedly threatened to nix Pop Smoke’s posthumous debut album over their belief that a guest verse by Pusha T featured a Drake diss. Just after Pusha T dropped a bombshell claim that Def Jam urged him to censor a Kendrick Lamar guest verse on Clipse’s forthcoming album, his manager drops another. According to Steven Victor, who manages Pusha T and signed Pop Smoke to his imprint, Victor Victor Worldwide, UMG wanted to censor a Pusha verse from Pop’s posth

Photo Credit: Rebe Adelaida SCF, the Italian performing rights collective, closed out 2024 with distributions of over 51 million euros. This puts Italy in the top ten worldwide for PRO distributions. In the last year, SCF, the leading collecting society in Italy, distributed over 51 million euros to its members and other collective societies. The share distributed to producers exceeded 42 million euros and recorded a significant increase of 7.7%, compared to 2023. That result was supported by

Photo Credit: J. Cole by Kee1992 / CC by 3.0 J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival plans to continue on under a different brand. The Raleigh festival was set to end this year, after launching in 2018. J. Cole previously announced his North Carolina-based Dreamville Festival would be ending this year, less than a decade after it launched in 2018. But Dreamville and Roc Nation promoter, Sascha Stone Guttfreund, announced at a press conference last week that the festival will go on, but under a different

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: Jay-Z by Alex Johnson / CC by 2.0 The woman who accused Jay-Z of sexually assaulting her in 2000 is asking a judge to dismiss the rapper’s countersuit against her. Identified only as Jane Doe, the woman alleged in court documents back in December that Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Sean “Diddy” Combs raped her at an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty when she was 13 years old. Although her attorneys voluntarily dismissed the case in February, Jay-Z filed a countersuit against Jane Doe

Photo Credit: Giorgio Trovato Jay-Z says fighting rape allegations and pursuing his ongoing defamation suit against attorney Tony Buzbee has cost him $200 million. The latest move by Jay-Z against attorney Tony Buzbee—the lawyer representing the Jane Doe who accused the rapper of rape before her lawsuit was dropped—sees him doubling down on assertions that Buzbee has cost him millions. Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has been trying to sue Buzbee for defamation since March. In his lat

Photo Credit: Tingey Law Jay-Z’s battle with Jane Doe lawyer Tony Buzbee heats up as Buzbee files to dismiss the rapper’s lawsuit against him — and makes fresh allegations, too. Tony Buzbee, who represents over a hundred alleged Sean “Diddy” Combs victims, has filed a motion to dismiss Jay-Z’s defamation lawsuit against him. Among those Buzbee represents is a Jane Doe who accused Diddy and Jay-Z of raping her when she was a minor in 2000. Jay-Z has staunchly denied those allegations, which cu

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

Photo Credit: National Police of the Dominican Republic At least 44 people have died while over 100 were being treated for injuries after a roof collapsed at a Dominican Republic nightclub. Rescue crews have been searching for potential survivors in the rubble at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo after a roof collapsed, killing at least 44 people. More than 100 others have been treated for injuries. It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the roof collapse. “We presume that many of them are s

Jimmy Page (pictured), Warner Chappell, and others are facing another copyright lawsuit centering on ‘Dazed and Confused.’ Photo Credit: Simon Fernandez Jimmy Page, Sony Pictures Classics, Warner Chappell, and others are facing a copyright suit centering on “Dazed and Confused,” which allegedly appeared in Becoming Led Zeppelin without the original songwriter’s authorization. Singer-songwriter Jake Holmes submitted the straightforward complaint to a California federal court. Turning back the

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 E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, where the lawsuit filed by former USCO head Shira Perlmutter is unfolding. Photo Credit: Toohool A federal judge has rejected a request from Shira Perlmutter for a restraining order against the Trump administration. But the fired Register of Copyrights could be preparing to push for a separate preliminary injunction. Both developments came to light in docket updates following a related in-person hearing. Per one of the updates, Judge Timothy Kelly