AI music platform Suno’s policy is that it does not permit the use of copyrighted material. You can upload your own tracks to remix or set your original lyrics to AI-generated music. But, it’s supposed to recognize and stop you from using other people’s songs and lyrics. Now, no system is perfect, but it turns out that Suno’s copyright filters are incredibly easy to fool.

– Terrence O’Brien, The Verge

The Supreme Court recently ruled to reverse the piracy liability verdict against Cox Communications, a significant win for Internet service providers—but a major setback for rightsholders, who will find it harder to hold ISPs liable for subscribers who commit piracy. Now, the music industry is pushing for several new site-blocking proposals in Congress to refresh efforts to curb piracy where it occurs most: on websites.
But will the stepped-up lobbying campaign work?

– Ashley King, Digital Music News

For the first decade of streaming, success was largely about access. The industry focused on getting music onto digital service providers as quickly and widely as possible, and solving distribution unlocked enormous growth for independent artists and labels.

But streaming is no longer in its early days. Platforms have matured, enforcement has tightened, and competition for attention is far more intense than it was even a few years ago.

Uploading music today is just the starting point. The real advantage now comes from the systems that support it: clean metadata, fraud monitoring, strategic release planning, and the ability to interpret performance data in real time.

In other words, distribution alone is no longer the competitive advantage it once was. The differentiator today is infrastructure.

– Jorge Brea, Music Ally

The music and entertainment valuation group’s Barry Massarsky and Jake DeVries say valuation multiples held steady for the third year in a row and music from the 2000s was hot.

Citrin says its music and entertainment valuation services group priced 566 catalogs that were worth nearly $13 billion combined in 2025, up from 557 catalogs valued at a total of $10.7 billion in 2024.

– Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Billboard

Ackman‘s proposal to acquire Universal Music Group landed with the music company’s board this morning (April 7). Whether it goes anywhere is another matter.
The Pershing Square proposal is non-binding, UMG‘s board hasn’t approved it, and the path to closing — requiring a two-thirds shareholder vote, regulatory sign-off, and a new employment deal for Sir Lucian Grainge — is a long one.
But the more immediate question may be what Ackman‘s move does to the market for UMG itself.

– Tim Ingham, Music Business Worldwide

The fall-out from the US Supreme Court’s reversal of the billion dollar ruling in the major labels v Cox copyright case continues, as the music industry works out just how big an impact that landmark judgement against the majors will have on its ability to fight online music piracy. Or, indeed, to manage and license its rights more generally when music is used online. 

With a flurry of new legal filings in the American courts resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision, it is becoming apparent that the Cox ruling may not only have wide ranging implications for how the American music industry fights against piracy, but it could also cause complications for how music companies manage and license rights more generally when music is being used online.

– Chris Cooke, Complete Music Update