If Bad Bunny’s galvanizing Super Bowl Halftime Show on Feb. 8 didn’t make it crystal clear, new figures from the Recording Industry Association of America released today should: Latin music is American music (and, of course, not just American, as Bunny was the globe’s fifth-most lucrative artist last year, per the IFPI).

– Andrew Flanagan, Variety

Canada’s SOCAN has announced record 2025 revenue – and warned of “growing pressures” on creatives “amid accelerating digital change” in the AI era.

The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) just recently shed light on its 2025 financials and elaborated on its AI regulatory efforts. On the financials front, the PRO pointed to all-time-high collections of CA$587.1 million (currently $424.5 million) for 2025, up 4.7% year over year and closer to 41% from 2021.

– Dylan Smith, Digital Music News

Maryland passed legislation Thursday (April 9) to restrict when prosecutors can cite rap lyrics as criminal evidence against the artists who wrote them, becoming the third state to rein in the controversial practice.
The Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act would allow prosecutors to use rap lyrics and other “creative expression” only after a judge decides that it meets certain strict requirements — including that it was intended as a literal statement about the facts of the case.
The law, which is expected to be signed by Gov. Wes Moore, is part of a broader effort to limit the tactic, which critics say stifles free speech and can sway juries by playing to racial bias. Young Thug and Lil Durk have both recently faced indictments that quoted their lyrics.

– Bill Donahue, Billboard

A jury has found that Live Nation Entertainment and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, illegally monopolized the US ticketing market in a landmark verdict that could reshape the live entertainment industry.
The jury in Manhattan federal court reached its verdict on Wednesday (April 15).
The verdict is a significant blow to the world’s largest concert promoter and a major victory for the coalition of 33 states and the District of Columbia that continued the trial after the US Department of Justice reached a settlement with the company in March.

– Murray Stassen, Music Business Worldwide

Spotify has inked a one-year deal with US grassroots-venues body NIVA to support its members, with plans to make them more prominent within its service.
Its plans also include an ‘Independent Booker Spotlight’ playlist series that launches this summer, with monthly playlists curated by venue bookers with Spotify’s editorial team.
Spotify also says it will be “boosting visibility” for independent venues in its venue pages and live-events feed, and showing NIVA’s ‘Certified Live Independent’ badge on venue pages.

– Stuart Dredge, Music Ally

For most of recorded music history, quality was scarce. Recording, producing, and distributing a song that sounded “good” required significant investments of time, money, and skill, along with access to gatekeepers, who carefully filtered what entered the system. The belief has long been that even in a saturated market like today’s, quality ultimately dictates success – hence the saying that “marketing a great song is easy, but marketing a good song is impossible”.
While “quality” is slippery to define, one thing is inarguable: Generative and assistive AI tools are now making it much easier for more people to create music that is not only listenable, but catchy, repeatable, and – dare we say – sometimes even beautiful.

– Tatiana Cirisano, MIDiA