Welcome to our Weekly Headline Roundup!
This week, we’re looking at label negotiations with AI music companies, industry growth, Spotify bundling, and more.
Goldman Sachs Lowers Global Music Industry Growth Forecast, Wiping Out $2.5 Billion
Goldman Sachs lowered its global growth expectations for the music industry for the next five years, as well as its forecast for global recorded music revenues this year, in a report published Tuesday (June 3).
– Elizabeth Dilts Marshall, Billboard
The Wall Street investment bank’s Music in the Air report, which has become a closely-watched guide for music industry executives and investors, said it expects the global music industry to generate $31.4 billion in net revenues in 2025, a $2.5 billion decline from its 2024 projection of $33.9 billion.
‘Streaming platforms must shoulder more responsibility in the fight against fraud.’
The current system is not working. Artists and label distributors are being hurt by the fraud, while the fraudsters are not being punished.
– Music Business Worldwide
Streaming platforms, meanwhile, have the power to significantly change this reality. Why aren’t they helping?
‘Ethical’ AI Music Firms React to the Majors’ Suno-Udio Licensing Talks: ‘We Just Get Left Behind’
The three major music companies — Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — are in talks with AI music companies Suno and Udio to license their works as training data, despite suing the two startups for infringement “on an almost unimaginable scale” last summer. Now, executives in the “ethical” or “responsible” AI music space are voicing displeasure that the alleged infringers could potentially benefit from their actions.
– Kristin Robinson, Billboard
Indie Songwriters Bristling Over ‘Closed-Door’ Major Label AI Negotiations, Demand ‘Open, Legislative Dialog and Process’
Independent songwriters and composers have heard this song before; Bloomberg reports that major multi-national record labels are engaged in closed-door meetings with yet another group of tech companies over AI negotiations and copyright infringement liability. Unsurprisingly, independent music creators may as well be invisible in these discussions—despite the fact these talks may completely change the landscape of the professional, artistic, and financial futures of these artists.
– Ashley King, Digital Music News
NMPA says Spotify ‘bundling’ move could cost music publishers $3.1bn through 2032
The National Music Publishers’ Association projects that music publishers will “lose over $3.1 billion” through 2032 due to Spotify‘s audiobook “bundling practices”.
– Mandy Dalugdug, Music Business Worldwide
That’s according to Executive Vice President and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre, who, speaking at the NMPA’s 2025 Annual Meeting in New York on Wednesday (June 11), detailed how Spotify‘s decision to reclassify its premium music service as a bundled offering in March 2024 has, “by Spotify’s own numbers” resulted in a $230 million loss for publishers during its first year of implementation.
What Suno And Udio’s AI Licensing Deals With Music Majors Could Mean For Creators Rights
Major record labels have shifted from legal crusaders to would-be business partners in the space of a year. When Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music filed copyright-infringement suits against AI up-starts Suno and Udio last summer, the industry assumed a bruising court fight was inevitable.
– Virginie Berger, Forbes
Nine months later, the same companies are at the table hammering out AI music licensing deals that would let the startups keep training on label catalogues – provided the labels and, eventually, their artists – get paid.