It’s the Weekly Headline Roundup!
This week we’re looking at an interview with Symphonic CEO, Jorge Brea about the Bad Bunny Halftime Show, AI policy, AI regulation, the ticket resale market, and more.
CEO Jorge Brea Shares Symphonic’s Deep Ties to Puerto Rico’s Music Scene
During this year’s massive, record-breaking Superbowl Halftime Show performance by Bad Bunny, one person in particular had his jaw dropped to the ground even more than the rest of us; Symphonic CEO and Founder Jorge Brea.
– Jeremy Young, Digital Music News
That’s because two of the Puerto Rican artists that Symphonic represents and has helped shepherd through their career, Los Pleneros de la Cresta and José Eduardo Santana, each had feature cameo moments during the telecast that put their artistry on display for the entire world to see.
Los Pleneros de la Cresta was featured on Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, on the tracks “Café con Ron” and “Baile Inolvidable,” while you might remember José’s brief guitar solo just before Ricky Martin’s surprise appearance. Both performed in his live ensemble.
Suffice to say, it was a great moment to check in with Jorge to talk about the deep ties that Symphonic has with the Puerto Rican, and Latin American, music communities.
Spotify Delivers ‘Policy Roadmap’ Calling for Metadata Improvements, an AI Slop Crackdown, ‘Shared Industry Benchmarks’ for CMOs, and More
One week and change after disclosing its $11 billion 2025 payout to the industry, Spotify has unveiled a “policy roadmap” designed to “build on the progress already made to grow music royalties further.”
– Dylan Smith, Digital Music News
The DSP just recently put out that not-so-subtle roadmap, which, against the backdrop of longstanding royalty-rate criticism, centers on two main “priorities.” The first of those priorities is straightforward enough: expand music revenue by, at the top level, tackling “unlicensed online platforms and fraudulent activity.”
HONK! Spotify Execs Sound the Horn on Internal Tool, AI Plans
Spotify executives shared new details about an internal bug-fixing tool they call Honk on Tuesday and issued a loud call to music industry rightsholders to strike licensing deals that let fans interact with artists’ music, possibly using AI, on the streaming platform.
– Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Billboard
The streaming giant reported strong fourth quarter revenue and subscriber growth that beat expectations. But that growth was in the rearview mirror during a call discussing earnings, as founder Daniel Ek and co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström focused almost entirely on Spotify’s AI ambitions.
“We know that there will be winners and losers, but there is no question in my mind that we will continue to be one of the big beneficiaries of AI,” Söderström said.
Just-Introduced ‘CLEAR Act’ Would Force AI Companies to Disclose Copyright Inputs — And Seriously Complicate Matters for AI Mega-Giants
Senators Adam Schiff and John Curtis unveil the CLEAR Act, which would require tech companies to disclose copyrighted works used to train their AI.
– Ashley King, Digital Music News
On Tuesday, February 10, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Senator John Curtis (R-UT) proposed the Copyright Labeling and Ethical Reporting (CLEAR) Act, a bill that would require tech companies to disclose the copyrighted works used to train their AI models.
If passed, the bill would force tech companies to file a notice with the Register of Copyrights that outlines the copyrighted works used to train their AI systems. It would also require that such notices be filed before the public release of new AI models, and would also require retroactive notices to be filed for AI models already available.
California and New York lawmakers propose caps on ‘Out-Of-Control’ ticket resale prices
Lawmakers in California and New York are proposing measures to cap the “out-of-control” resale prices of concert and live event tickets in a bid to stop large-scale profiteering.
– James Hanley, Music Business Worldwide
The California Fans First Act, introduced by Assembly member Matt Haney last Thursday (February 5), aims to outlaw the resale of concert and live event tickets for more than 10% above face value.
The bill would apply to live events like concerts, comedy shows, and theatrical productions, but not sporting events.
Spotify is all in on AI, its best engineers haven’t written a single line of code since December – and why that should worry the music industry
Spotify announced its Q4 2025 results yesterday and while the numbers were part of the story, the bigger story is that the earnings call was largely dominated by discussions about AI. No real surprise at one level, given bearish predictions about how AI will impact Spotify’s business has sent its share price off a cliff.
– Sam Taylor, Complete Music Update
But it wasn’t just the questions from analysts, though at least ten of the questions submitted during the call were about AI. The real surprise was that the entire energy of the call, and the energy of the senior executives who participated, was dragged at by an ever-present AI undercurrent.
SoundCloud’s 2026 Intelligence Study — Here’s How We Think Artists Should Read the Results
SoundCloud’s new Intelligence report was released today, with some interesting findings, both platform-specific and indicative of general listening culture, taking center stage. This report sheds light on how listeners are engaging with music now versus in previous years, how artists are breaking rules and forging new paths, and how tastes are becoming less dominated by top-down trends in the music industry.
– Jeremy Young, Hypebot
We took a look through the report and have some pieces of advice of our own, for any independent artist making and releasing music in 2026. Read on for our data-driven tips.