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Jim James will kick of NIVA ‘25 with a keynote address on Sunday, June 22. The My Morning Jacket frontman will take the stage at The Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisc. to discuss touring and open up the National Independent Venue Association’s fourth annual conference. In addition, legendary producer Jimmy Jam will address the conference […]
The Billboard Canada Screen Composers of the Year Award has its inaugural shortlist.
The award, presented by SOCAN, is shining a light on five talented composers who have made a global impact, scoring some of the most powerful moments in film and television.
Together, these musicians are responsible for the sounds behind some of the most talked about television and cinema of the past year, from The White Lotus to Palm Royale, massive IMAX documentaries to video games to major broadcasts of one of Canada’s national pastimes: hockey.
The winner will be announced at Billboard Canada Power Players on June 11, giving these pivotal artists – often positioned behind the scenes – a position onstage alongside the most powerful executives in Canadian music.
The shortlisters include:
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Cristobal Tapia de Veer – A three-time Emmy and BAFTA-winning composer who’s known for work on critically acclaimed series like HBO’s The White Lotus, C4’s Utopia, Black Mirror, and No. 1 box office surprise hit Smile.
Andrew Lockington – Hybrid composer for sci-fi film Atlas, Mayor Of Kingstown, Lioness and Landman. An avid Maple Leafs fan, he also composed the theme for Amazon Prime Monday Night Hockey NHL broadcast series.
Michelle Osis – Four-time Canadian Screen Award nominee Michelle Osis is best known for her score to the gigantic screen documentary TRex in IMAX, as well as for her collaborations with composer Mark Korven on Netflix’s Don’t Move and the MGM+ series Billy the Kid. With partner Terry Benn, she’s composed for Carved for Disney+ and the festival favourites film Dark Match and Sway.
Mark Korven – Award-winning composer Mark Korven is best known for his scores to the A24 features The Witch and The Lighthouse, and for the over 10 million YouTube views of him performing on his invention, the Apprehension Engine. The last two years have seen him working The Black Phone, The First Omen and Until Dawn for Sony Playstation.
Jeff Toyne – Toyne’s score to Apple TV+’s Palm Royale (Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, Carol Burnett) combines jazz, Latin and orchestral elements to evoke the 1960s and has won multiple Emmys and Canadian Screen Music Awards, among others.
Read more about all the nominees here.
deadmau5 & REZZ, Khalid Star on the Cover of Billboard Canada
Billboard is bringing the Billboard Summit to Canada next Wednesday (June 11) at Toronto’s NXNE, and one of the standout panels is a conversation between deadmau5 and REZZ. This week, the pair appeared on the cover of Billboard Canada to unpack their creative process in a rare joint interview.
“We produce in two totally different ways,” says Joel Zimmerman, the man behind deadmau5. “I am so old school and she is so new school.”
Both artists hail from Niagara Falls, Ontario, and both are known for their innovative production, DIY ethos and big-stage spectacle. They’re both big thinkers and big presences, instantly recognizable for their larger-than-life visual trademarks – deadmau5 with his signature LED mau5head helmet and REZZ with her hypnotic spinning light glasses – and they both have dedicated cult fanbases.
REZZ – born Isabelle Rezazadeh – cites deadmau5 as an immeasurable influence.
“He essentially birthed me as a producer,” she says. “He birthed my entire interest in making music.”
In 2021, deadmau5 and REZZ officially joined forces with their first on-record collaboration, “Hypnocurrency.” It’s dark, spellbinding and meticulously layered – a slow-burning cinematic journey that lands squarely between their two sonic worlds. To create it, they both had to step outside their comfort zones.
When asked what he learned from working with REZZ, deadmau5 doesn’t miss a beat.
“I learned that there are BPMs that actually do exist below 128,” he deadpans. “I didn’t know that all you had to do was click on the number and drag it down.”
The two give unprecedented access into how they create, including a tease of another upcoming track as REZZMAU5.
Read the full story here and get your tickets to Billboard Summit here.
Khalid will headline Billboard Canada The Stage at NXNE the following day, on June 12. He also joined Billboard for a cover story for Billboard Canada and Billboard that dropped today.
The R&B and pop artist talks about his ‘flirty side,’ gay identity and the myth that he’s an introvert. “My new era of music feels like I’m finally ready to be the artist I’ve always dreamt of being,” he says. “It goes back to the regressions of when I was a child — imagining myself and thinking, ‘I want to be this artist one day.’ Now I feel like I have the confidence to finally be that artist.”
Read the full story here.
A court battle over the future of online lyrics is getting heated.
Months after LyricFind accused Musixmatch of seeking to monopolize the market for providing lyrics to streamers like Spotify by signing an “unprecedented” deal with Warner Music, the rival is striking back – demanding that a federal judge toss out the case entirely.
The lawsuit claims that Musixmatch violated federal antitrust laws, but in a motion to dismiss the case filed on Thursday, the company says all it did was beat a competitor.
“LyricFind, unable to convince WCM to do business with it instead, has filed this meritless antitrust suit … hoping it can obtain through litigation what it was unable to win in the marketplace,” the company’s lawyers write. “Stripped of buzzwords and hyperbole, the core of LyricFind’s Complaint is simply that WCM chose Musixmatch instead of LyricFind.”
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The legal war between the two lyrics providers kicked off in March, when LyricFind accused Musixmatch of engaging in unlawful conduct that had “eliminated competition and raised prices.”
At the center of the case is an agreement that MusixMatch struck with Warner Music. LyricFind claims the major labels have historically licensed their vast catalogs of lyrics on a non-exclusive basis, allowing firms to compete for the right to provide them to streaming services. The lawsuit says the new deal with Warner was instead an exclusive deal that allegedly shuts out competitors from offering the music giant’s lyrics — an “unprecedented” approach.
“Musixmatch’s goal was simple: make sure that Spotify, and other [streamers], have no choice but to obtain [lyrics] from Musixmatch despite its higher fees — a plainly anticompetitive result,” the company’s attorneys wrote at the time. (Neither Warner Music nor Spotify were named as a defendant in the case or accused of any wrongdoing.)
But in Thursday’s response, Musixmatch said it had done nothing wrong, arguing that antitrust laws are designed to “protect competition, not particular competitors.” The company said LyricFind had turned to the courts simply because it was “angered” that a customer had cut ties.
“LyricFind’s alleged injury flows from WCM’s lawful decision to end its relationship with LyricFind, which means that LyricFind would have been injured regardless of whether Musixmatch or a different firm was appointed as WCM’s agent,” the company’s lawyers write.
“Nor has LyricFind plausibly alleged how it is foreclosed from competing in the marketplace: the Complaint is conspicuously silent on the duration of the agreement, and contradictory and implausible allegations about the actual scope of exclusivity defeat any plausible claim of substantial foreclosure.”
A rep for LyricFind did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
The Academy of Country Music held a round of layoffs on Thursday (June 5), with approximately one-quarter of the staff impacted, Billboard has learned.
“Coming off a successful 60th ACM Awards week and renewal with Prime Video through 2028, the Academy implemented a strategic staff realignment in an effort to support its future business and growth initiatives, resulting in the elimination of five staff positions across various departments including communications, marketing, events and community relations,” the ACM told Billboard in a statement. “We thank these individuals for their dedication and contributions to the work of the Academy.”
ACM staffers who were laid off include Alexis Bingham (coordinator, events), Lexi Cothran (senior manager, communications and strategic initiatives), Jesse Knutson (director, publicity and media relations), and Brittany Uhniat (manager, creative and content production).
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Prior to joining the ACM, Knutson joined the ACM in 2022 and previously worked in television news, including time at Nashville’s NewsChannel 5 (WTVF). Bingham served as an intern at the ACM before joining the staff full-time in 2021. Cothran joined the ACM in 2024, and previously worked for PR companies including Shore Fire Media and Sweet Talk PR. Prior to joining the ACM, Uhniat served as creative coordinator at Resin8 Music.
Nearly a month ago, on May 8, the Academy of Country Music celebrated the milestone 60th annual ACM Awards, which aired on Prime Video from the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas. Ella Langley, Lainey Wilson and Alan Jackson were among the night’s biggest winners, with Wilson taking home her second ACM entertainer of the year trophy. Meanwhile, Langley won five trophies and Jackson was feted with the inaugural ACM lifetime achievement award. The 60th anniversary ACM Awards was hosted by Reba McEntire.
Meanwhile, the ACM also recently announced that the organization and ACM Awards producer Dick Clark Productions (DCP) had cemented a deal with Prime Video for the ACM Awards to continue on Prime Video for the next three years, running through the 63rd annual ACM Awards ceremony in 2028.
No billionaires bickering here — just your regularly scheduled edition of Executive Turntable, Billboard‘s weekly roundup of promotions, hires, exits and everything in between across the music industry. Let’s get to it…
Veteran touring executive Leslie Cohea will join WME’s Nashville office in mid-July as a partner and music touring executive. She comes to the agency after 10 years at Sandbox Entertainment, where she served as global head of touring and played a key role in guiding the careers of artists including Kacey Musgraves, Dan + Shay, Kelsea Ballerini, Midland and Little Big Town. Before playing in the Sandbox, Cohea spent nearly a decade at AEG Live/The Messina Group, focusing on touring and concert promo and producing national tours for biggies like Ed Sheeran, Dave Matthews and Eagles. Named a Billboard executive of the week in 2023, Cohea will report to WME co-heads Becky Gardenhire, Joey Lee and Jay Williams.
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iHeartMedia announced that Scott Hamilton shifted from his role as principal accounting officer to a consulting position, effective June 2. Subsequently, Michael McGuinness, the deputy CFO since 2019, was appointed as the new accounting chief. Hamilton has served in senior accounting roles at iHeartMedia since 2010 and previously held leadership positions at Avaya and PwC. McGuinness joined iHeartMedia in 2019 and brings prior experience from The Hain Celestial Group and Monster Worldwide. In its SEC filing regarding the change, iHeart emphasized that Hamilton’s transition is not due to any dispute with the company, including issues related to accounting practices or financial reporting.
Big Loud Records appointed Lauren “LT” Thomas as senior vp of radio promotion. Thomas joins Big Loud’s fellow svp of radio promo Tyler Waugh, with both execs reporting to evp of radio promotion Stacy Blythe. Thomas previously served as svp of promotion at Sony Music Nashville, where she led promotion efforts for RCA Nashville and Columbia. Prior to her role at Sony, Thomas worked for five years at Phoenix country music station KMLE-FM. –Jessica Nicholson
Melanie Johnson is PPL’s first-ever director of transformation, a role created to lead a company-wide innovation initiative aimed at expanding PPL into the global leader in neighbouring rights royalty collections. Reporting to CEO Peter Leathem, Johnson will leverage her extensive experience across publishing, labels, DSPs and tech — including roles at Audoo, Utopia Music, Facebook and Sony/EMI — to enhance royalty distribution through amped-up technology and data systems. Her appointment comes as PPL reports over $375 million in collections for 2024. Johnson also serves as vice chair of Music Minds Matter and has been a trustee for the Ivors Academy Trust. Leathem said Johnson’s “commercial thinking, paired with deep industry knowledge” will be a great asset to the UK collective management organization.
Oak View Group welcomed Donna Freislinger Huffman as svp of global procurement. Reporting to CFO Ade Patton and president of premium experiences Josh Pell, Huffman will lead initiatives to streamline procurement, boost cost efficiency across OVG’s global footprint. Her responsibilities also include advancing supplier diversity and sustainability. Huffman brings over 20 years of experience from roles at United Airlines, Vanderbilt University and Hillrom, with a “track record for transforming sourcing organizations and driving enterprise-wide value,” said Patton.
Riser House Entertainment expanded its team with three key hires at the Nashville-based label and publisher. Alex Heimerman joins as vp of streaming and strategic partnerships, bringing experience from UMG Nashville, Red Light Management and The Trenches. Hayley Irvine becomes product manager, overseeing project execution after roles at BMG/Broken Bow Records. Eliza Charette steps in as project and label relations coordinator, supporting artist campaigns and operations, with priors at Madison Square Garden and Big Loud. All three report to Riser House president Jennifer Johnson and label manager Megan Schultz. “At Riser House, we don’t just chase trends — we build legacies,” said Johnson. “As our roster grows with some of the most authentic artists in music, it’s only fitting that our team grows too.”
NASHVILLE NOTES: Marketing agency Results Global launched a new four-person digital and social media division, led by Katrina Maddox, formerly head of digital at The HQ. Joining her are Lindsey Parrish, previously a marketing manager at MV2, and Tess Schoonhoven, who served as social media manager at Venture Music. Rounding out the team is Conner McEuen, appointed as paid media manager after his role as a paid social strategist at Zero Gravity Marketing … Bobbii Jacobs launched Wildflower Entertainment Group, a multifaceted company specializing in artist management, development, brand partnerships and talent booking. Alongside it, she introduced a sister venture, Backstage Access Presents, which focuses on curating VIP fan experiences. Jacobs brings extensive experience to the new ventures, having most recently served as partner and president at Forefront Networks.
IMAGINE, a Berlin-based creative studio specializing in music-driven storytelling, opened a new office in Paris as part of its European expansion. Marie Gleiss has been appointed head of expansion, and Maxence Janvrin joins as business development manager, both bringing deep ties to the City of Lights’s cultural scene. The duo will help advance IMAGINE’s mission of building brand connections through music-first strategies. Co-founder Shai Caleb Hirschson emphasized that music has the ability to foster brand recall and drive more than just clicks. “We’re not here to slap a jingle on a logo,” he said. “We create sound-first strategies that move people, inspire loyalty, and generate long-term brand value.”
Betsie Becker is officially the executive director of Berklee NYC, following her interim leadership since September 2023. Over the past two years, she has been instrumental in growing the campus’s leadership team, enhancing academic programs, and deepening community partnerships. Her achievements include appointing Merrily James and Daniel Pembroke to key roles and strengthening collaborations with NYC Public Schools, Carnegie Hall’s B-Side program and the Fashion Institute of Technology. Becker joined Berklee in 2019 as assistant vp for global program development and co-led the institution’s COVID-19 response. Her previous leadership experience includes roles at Juilliard, Decoda and Ensemble Connect.
Top Drawer Merch, a Los Angeles-based full-service merchandise company, appointed Claudia Peña as director of live events. In this role, she will lead the creation of immersive, attendee-focused brand activations at festivals, tours, and pop-ups, merging storytelling with commerce. Peña, founder of festival beauty brand Lunautics, brings experience in luxury retail and experiential marketing. Her hire follows Top Drawer’s success with events like SLANDER and Insomniac’s Starbase Festival.
Round Hill Music acquired the publishing catalogs of songwriters Terry Shaddick (Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical”), Linus Eklöw (Icona Pop’s “I Love It”) and Carmine Appice (Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy”) along with publishing assets of the band Dirty Heads (“Vacation”) and a portion of the master rights for Al Stewart (“Year of the Cat”). According to a press release, the acquisitions bring Round Hill’s catalog value under management back to more than $1 billion following the sales of its London Stock Exchange-listed fund to Concord in 2023. The company continues managing five private funds.
Rezonate Music Rights, a new investment platform that’s looking to acquire the royalty rights of music producers backed by a $150 million partnership with Bridgepoint Credit, announced its launch. According to a press release, the investment will allow Rezonate to make “high-profile” producer catalog acquisitions; Bridgepoint is also acquiring a minority stake in Rezonate’s management company. Co-founded by music producer Cam Blackwood, Rezonate has already acquired rights from producers including Loma Blackwood, Mark Crew, James Earp and Jussi Karvinen.
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Live Nation acquired Dominican Republic-based live entertainment company SD Concerts, which promotes Latin and international talent in the Dominican Republic, along with Aruba, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama and Puerto Rico. The company also operates a ticketing platform that services all SD events; it will become part of the Ticketmaster ecosystem under the deal. According to Live Nation, fan attendance in the Latin American region was up more than 25% in the first quarter of this year.
Global streaming service Audiomack signed a deal with music fraud detection company Beatdapp to help eliminate streaming fraud on its platform. Through the deal, Beatdapp will remove fraudulent streams from sales reports, detect bots and more by analyzing streaming activity on Audiomack. “By partnering with Beatdapp, we have adopted the best-in-class technology from an impartial third party to demonstrate our commitment to both our creator and rights holder partners, and to uphold the integrity of our editorial recommendations and chart activity,” said Audiomack CEO Dave Macli in a statement.
Spotify struck a deal with United Airlines to bring more than 450 hours of free Spotify-curated playlists, podcasts and audiobooks to more than 130,000 United seatback screens. In a blog post, the streaming giant said it’s the first time it has offered audiobooks and video podcasts on an airline. Next year, United passengers will be able to use their personal devices to log in to the Spotify app on the airline’s in-flight screens, allowing them to pick up where they left off on their personal Spotify accounts.
Music synch platform SourceAudio launched the first comprehensive AI dataset licensing marketplace through which it will offer 14 million fully cleared tracks to AI companies via an opt-in model. The tracks come from major publishers, indie artists and production music libraries, providing AI companies with training datasets while offering compensation to writers and publishers. So far, the company has partnered with several AI companies, including Wondera.ai, generating more than $1.35 million in new annual recurring revenue for artists and publishers who opted in, according to a press release. Revenue from dataset licensing is paid out to rights holders up front or throughout the term of each license agreement. Rightsholders already on SourceAudio can contact their rep at the company to explore dataset licensing for themselves. Those not on SourceAudio can opt in by contacting the company here.
Karaoke technology company Singa signed a deal with Warner Music Group to bring original master recordings from the label’s artists to the Singa platform (the agreement includes both Warner Chappell Music and Warner Recorded Music). “This game-changing deal allows karaoke singers at home and Singa-powered venues worldwide to perform songs by iconic Warner Music Group artists, all using the original backing tracks,” said Singa co-founder/CEO Atte Hujanen in a statement. This is Singa’s first deal with a major label, though it has previously secured deals with publishers and indie labels.
Sony Music India signed a joint venture with The Hello Group (THG) to form THG India. Through the deal, Sony Music India’s local reach will be paired with THG’s international touring and artist development network to help Indian artists thrive in the country’s growing live music ecosystem and beyond. THG India will offer comprehensive support for talent, including management, global concert booking and publishing, while Sony Music India will provide strategic investment and access to its creative and commercial platforms.
AEG Presents acquired Nashville-based special events production company Gary Musick Productions and the affiliated entity Destination Musick City. Gary Musick Productions will keep its name and continue providing corporate and social event services, including audio-visual production, scenic fabrication, custom set design, live streaming and branding integration. Destination Musick City will remain a destination management company offering immersive experiences and full meeting execution services for groups visiting Nashville. With the deal, Gary Musick Productions will expand its design and fabrication services to music festivals and concerts while giving its clients access to AEG’s network of venues.
Symphonic Distribution partnered with Hitmakers Entertainment, which boasts Australian pop and R&B artist Tash on its roster. Going forward, the two companies will support emerging and established artists from Australia and Southeast Asia. “This collaboration allows us to further expand Tash’s career as well as our continually growing roster with the help of Symphonic’s creative and strategic vision,” said Hitmakers boss Mark Feist in a statement.
New Sweden-based generative AI startup Songfox struck a deal with Musical AI, through which it will use Musical AI’s platform, containing fully cleared music catalogs, to train its models. Musical AI will provide full reports of what data contributed to each generated song, allowing Songfox to pay rightsholders. According to a press release, Songfox allows users to generate and “tweak” full songs, including AI-assisted lyrics and a library of licensed voices.
Halle Bailey has denied DDG’s claim that her history of threatening self-harm poses a risk to their child’s wellbeing, telling a judge that the rapper is exaggerating about her since-treated mental health struggles and she’s “100% available and capable as a parent to our son.”
The arguments come in a custody battle that began last month when Bailey accused DDG (Darryl Dwayne Granberry Jr.) of physically attacking her multiple times in the presence of their 18-month-old son, Halo. A judge granted the 25-year-old singer and actress a temporary domestic violence restraining order and full custody of Halo pending a court hearing.
That hearing was supposed to happen Wednesday (June 4), but got delayed when DDG filed a competing custody case that highlighted Bailey’s history of threatening self-harm. Bailey is now addressing those claims, saying in a response declaration that the 27-year-old Twitch rapper “has exaggerated, lied and misconstrued for the court, not only the history of our relationship, but our parenting and my mental health.”
“I have been very vocal about my anxiety, depression and previous thoughts of suicide,” wrote Bailey in the declaration. “Without waiving the psychotherapist-patient privilege and physician-patient privilege, I have reached out to my doctor and received treatment to address these issues. I have been and remain 100% available and capable as a parent to our son, Halo.”
Bailey notes that the bulk of the mental health incidents cited by DDG date back to 2022 and 2023, when she was “emotionally devastated” by the rapper’s behavior. But Bailey says DDG never raised any concerns about her parenting abilities until the very day her domestic abuse claims were set for a court hearing.
“Had Darryl really been concerned about my parenting, he would have taken action prior to this time,” wrote Bailey. “This is cold retribution to embarrass, humiliate and caused me additional emotional distress.”
On Wednesday evening, Judge Latrice A.G. Byrdsong partially granted DDG a temporary restraining order that bars Bailey from engaging in any physical or emotional abuse. But the judge is leaving Halo in Bailey’s sole custody until the hearing that’s now scheduled for June 24.
The judge also denied DDG’s request to stop Bailey from bringing Halo with her to Italy, where she’s scheduled to shoot a movie for two months this summer.
“The court finds insufficient evidence of imminent emotional and psychological risk to the minor child during petitioner’s business trip to Italy,” wrote the judge. “Further evidence is required at a noticed hearing for the court to issue more restrictive orders.”
Reps for Bailey and DDG did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday (June 5).
Mindset Ventures, an international venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage tech investments, has launched an early-stage, music-focused fund, Mindset MusicTech, aimed at the music tech sector. In announcing its debut, Mindset Music has revealed its first six investments: Audoo, un:hurd, Music AI, Aiode, ALLOY and OwlDuet.
Mindset Music is looking for startups that “enhance human creativity or improve efficiency” in the music business, partner Lucas Cantor Santigo said in a statement. “We’re looking to support companies with both capital and expertise, and give holistic support to those who are reimagining the music industry for the next generation.”
“The music tech space is extremely undervalued and has an enormous potential for disruption with AI and other new technologies,” added Daniel Ibri, managing partner of both Mindset Music and Mindset Ventures. “We plan to take advantage of this space and make a meaningful difference in the sector for the founders.”
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Mindset Music’s roster of advisors includes Drew Thurlow, former senior vp of A&R at Sony Music; music attorney Cliff Fluet; entrepreneur Tomer Elbaz; and music and tech attorney Heather Rafter.
The companies in Mindset Music’s portfolio provide tools for businesses and creators to operate more efficiently, and many incorporate AI technology. Music AI is an audio intelligence platform that provides what it calls “ethical AI solutions” for audio and music applications. The Salt Lake City-based startup’s products include stem separation and mixing mastering.
Based in Tel Aviv, Aiode allows musicians to collaborate with virtual musicians using ethically trained AI. Those musicians’ virtual counterparts are compensated through a revenue-sharing model.
U.S.-based OwlDuet calls itself an “AI-powered co-pilot for music creators.” Its production tool purports to allow users to create “Grammy-level production expertise without requiring advanced technical skills.”
Audoo seeks to improve public performance royalty reporting with music recognition technology. The London-based company works with performance rights organizations and collective management organizations.
London-based ALLOY provides information that facilitates the sync licensing process. The platform gives artists, songwriters, labels and publishers a means to set sync deal parameters and distribute sync metadata to digital platforms.
un:hurd has developed a music marketing and promotion platform that guides artists through the release cycle and connects artists with a network of playlist curators.
Music Corporation of America (MCA) has promoted Rob Femia to chief operating officer, adding COO to his duties as executive vp of business and legal affairs. The label group’s imprints include EMI Records Nashville, Lucille Records, Mercury Nashville and MCA Nashville, representing artists including Eric Church, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Dierks Bentley, Alan […]
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.
Several of those ethical AI companies said they were led to believe they would be rewarded by the record labels for going through the tough process of licensing music from the beginning, in what one AI music company founder previously told Billboard would be “a carrot and stick approach to AI,” penalizing those who raced ahead and trained models without permission or compensation.
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“That’s all out the window,” that founder says now. “I was talking to another founder that does ethical AI voice models, and he told me, ‘F–k it. I don’t care anymore. Why does it matter to be ethical if we just get left behind?’”
Ed Newton-Rex, founder of non-profit Fairly Trained, which certifies ethically-trained AI models, adds: “If I were running a startup that had tried to do the right thing — respecting creators’ rights — and investors had rejected me because I wasn’t exploiting copyrighted work like so many others, and then this happened? I’d definitely be pissed off.”
Tracy Chan, CEO of AI music company Splash, told Billboard via email that she stands by her decision to license music from the start. “At Splash, being ethically trained wasn’t a debate — it was obvious,” she says. “We’re musicians and technologists. We believe AI should amplify creativity, not exploit it. We don’t need to scrape the world’s music to make that happen.”
It remains unclear how far along these licensing talks are between the major music companies and Suno and Udio, and if deals will even come to fruition to avert the blockbuster lawsuits. It’s common in costly and lengthy litigation like this for the two sides to discuss what it would look like to settle the dispute outside of court. Plus, licensing is what the majors have wanted from AI companies all along — does it matter how they come to it?
Multiple executives expressed fear that if the majors ditch the lawsuit and go for deals, they will set a bad precedent for the entire business. “Basically, if they do this deal, I think it would send a message to big tech that if you want to disrupt the music industry, you can do whatever you want and then ask for forgiveness later,” says Anthony Demekhin, CEO/co-founder of Tuney.
This, however, is not the first time the music business has considered a partnership with tech companies that were once their enemy. YouTube, for example, initially launched without properly licensing all of the music on its platform first. In his 2024 New Years’ address to staff, Lucian Grainge, CEO/chairman of UMG, alluded to this, and how he would do it differently this time with his so-called “responsible AI” initiative. “In the past, new and often disruptive technology was simply released into the world, leaving the music community to develop the model by which artists would be fairly compensated and their rights protected,” he wrote, adding that “in a sharp break with the past,” UMG had formed a partnership with YouTube to “give artists a seat at the table” to shape the company’s AI products, and that the company would also collaborate “with several [other] platforms on numerous opportunities and approaches” in the AI space.
Another part of Grainge’s “responsible AI” initiative was “to lobby for ‘guardrails,’ that is public policies setting basic rules for AI.” Mike Pelczynski, co-founder of ethical AI voice company Voice-Swap, also worries that if these deals go through, they could weaken the music industry’s messaging to Capitol Hill, where bills like the NO FAKES Act are still in flux. “All the messaging we had before, all the hard-lining about responsible AI from the beginning, it’s gone,” he says. “Now, if policy makers look at [the music business] they might say, ‘Wait, what side should we take? Where do you stand?’”
If talks about licenses for Suno and Udio move forward, determining exactly how that license works, and how artists will be paid, will be complex. To date, almost all “ethical” AI companies are licensing their musical training data from production libraries, which offer simple, one-stop licenses for songs. Alex Bestall, CEO of music production house and AI company Rightsify, says that the structure of those deals are typically “flat-fee blanket licenses for a fixed term, often one to three years or in some cases perpetuity… all data licensing [music or otherwise] is pretty standardized at this point.”
It’s unclear if the deals the majors have discussed with Suno and Udio will follow this framework, but if they did, the question then comes — how do the majors divide up those fees for their artists and writers? The Wall Street Journal reported that “the [music] companies want the startups to develop fingerprinting and attribution technology — similar to YouTube’s content ID — to track when and how a song is used.” In that scenario, the money received would be given to signees based on usage.
While there are a few startups working on music attribution technology right now, multiple experts tell Billboard they don’t think the tech is ready yet. “Attribution is nowhere,” says Newton-Rex, who also previously worked as vp of audio at Stability AI. “It’s not even close. There’s no system that I have seen that would do a decent job of accurately assigning attribution to what has inspired a given song.”
Even the possibility of deals between the parties has sparked a larger conversation about how to handle tech companies who ask for forgiveness — and not for permission — from the music business.
“If the two biggest offenders actually become the legal standard, it’s effectively like making Pirate Bay into Spotify,” says Demekhin. “I understand it from a business perspective because it’s the path of least resistance [to settle and get a license now]. But this could send a message to tech that could bite the industry on the next wave.”