Piracy has become a hot-button issue in AI litigation ever since Anthropic reached a $1.5 billion settlement for torrenting books — but such claims won’t be part of the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by music publishers against the Claude chatbot maker.

– Rachel Scharf, Billboard

Hollywood is opting out. Major studios and talent agencies Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and United Talent Agency (UTA) have joined William Morris Endeavor (WME) in releasing statements publicly drawing a line in the sand over Sora 2. The invite-only, short-form video app from OpenAI can generate clips using major studios’ characters or featuring the likenesses of star talent.

– Ashley King, Digital Music News

REPUBLIC — which encompasses Republic Records, Island Records, Mercury Records, Big Loud and indie distributor Imperial — is still leading the pack for the year so far, with a 13.60% three-quarter current market share, powered by huge albums from Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter and The Weeknd, among others. It’s a jump from the industry-leading 12.69% current share Republic enjoyed at midyear, though down from the Swift-powered 15.21% it posted through three quarters in 2024, when her The Tortured Poets Department album spent 17 of its eventual 19 weeks atop the Billboard 200.

– Dan Rys, Billboard

The music business, entertainment as a whole – even the world – are at turning points. The future may be unknown, but there is always one certainty: things are going to be different. The change that got us here was paradoxically both fast and slow. Slow enough that we didn’t notice it happening, yet fast enough that our lives are dramatically different from just ten years ago. Dramatic change requires dramatic solutions – what got us here won’t get us there.

– Mark Mulligan, MIDiA

Universal Music big cheese Lucian Grainge has sent a memo to the major’s employees providing a grand old update on the company’s negotiations with AI companies.
In it he bigs up future AI opportunities, reasserts the music industry’s position regarding the copyright obligations of AI companies and, perhaps most interestingly, indicates when the major plans to consult artists and songwriters before jumping into bed with AI businesses.

– Chris Cooke, CMU

Netflix will start streaming video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer in early 2026.
The two companies announced their new partnership on Tuesday (October 14), three months after reports emerged of partnership discussions between the streaming platforms.

– Mandy Dalugdug, Music Business Worldwide

Music, copyright and/or training don’t feature in the Pew Research Center’s latest survey about AI. However, there are some general themes that will be of interest to people in the music industry thinking about consumer attitudes towards these technologies.
“Most people across 25 countries surveyed say they have heard or read at least a little about the technology. And on balance, people are more concerned than excited about its growing presence in daily life,” reported the research organisation. For example, 50% of US respondents said they are more concerned than excited about AI, whereas 38% were equally concerned and excited, and 10% more excited than concerned.

– Stuart Dredge, Complete Music Update

Spotify is partnering with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin and Believe on “artist-first” AI music tools, according to a blog post from Spotify. Little is known about what generative AI models will come out of this partnership but the post notes that the company has “already begun work on the first product” and that these forthcoming AI products will “empower the artists and songwriters they represent and connect them with the fans who support them.”
As part of the announcement, Spotify is touting four principles that it will follow with its AI models to “put artists and songwriters” first.

– Kristin Robinson, Billboard