National Music Publishers’ Association President and CEO David Israelite unveiled the latest per-stream songwriter and publisher payout. These numbers represent both mechanical and publishing sub-licenses across Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. Notably, YouTube is not at the bottom of that barrel.
Specifically, Spotify’s free, ad-supported tier saw a payout of $800, while individual paid Spotify accounts raked in $1,346. Individual YouTube accounts led to a payout of $2,159; individual Apple accounts amounted to $2,367, while individual Amazon accounts led to a payout of $3,743.

– Ashley King, Digital Music News

The AI Labeling Act of 2026 was introduced on Thursday (June 25) by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Curtis (R-UT) and Mark Warner (D-VA).
Its backers include SAG-AFTRA, the Songwriters Guild of America, Music Creators North America and the Society of Composers and Lyricists.
The AI Labeling Act would require providers of generative AI systems to attach a visible disclosure to AI-generated content, along with a machine-readable disclosure recording the system used and the time it was created.

– Murray Stassen, Music Business Worldwide

Spotify has asked prediction markets Polymarket and Kalshi to remove its logo from their platforms, and to clarify that it does not have formal partnerships in place with either company, even though their respective users are betting on predictions about what music will perform best on the streaming service.
It follows concerns that people making bets on Kalshi may have been responsible for stream manipulation that added an extra half a million Spotify streams to a track by Sony Music-signed Malcolm Todd.

– Chris Cooke, Complete Music Update

The US is the biggest recorded-music market in the world, and it’s one where domestic artists are taking a big share of streams according to Spotify.
“69% of all streams in the country go to American artists, and American music makes up 70% of the Spotify Top 50 chart in the U.S. in 225,” claimed the company in a blog post pegged to the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.

– Stuart Dredge, Music Ally

At the halfway mark of 2026, the music business is finally catching its breath after a whirlwind first six months that saw some major deals, major mergers, major legal decisions and major shakeups in all facets of the industry.
As the business enters what is traditionally a slower-paced summer period — famous last words, we know — Billboard takes a look at some of the biggest stories of a massive year already, with more dominoes to fall in the six months to come.

– Dan Rys, Melinda Newman, Kristin Robinson, Bill Donahue, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Rachel Scharf, Ariel King, Billboard

AI is a black swan event for music, intertwining the futures of the creator economy and the music industry. The number of gen AI music monthly active users (MAUs) nearly tripled between 2023 and 2025, adding nearly nine times as many users as the global base of musicians over the same period. The grey zone between artist and fan is becoming the attention battleground between listening and creation. The majority of consumers will want to spend most of their time listening, but a growing share want to spend some of their time creating.
The music creator economy story is being rewritten. AI may hold the pen right now, but in many respects, it is merely channeling narratives that were already in full flow before AI entered the chat. This is both the context and the focus of MIDiA’s groundbreaking new Future of the music creator economy report.

– Mark Mulligan, MIDiA