Bill Ackman Wanted UMG. Then UMG Did Part of the Deal Itself
Bill Ackman's roughly $65 billion takeover proposal for Universal Music Group was formally rejected, with majority owner Vincent Bolloré arguing Ackman lacked fresh cash and relied on UMG's own assets. In the interim, UMG sold about half of its Spotify stake, generating roughly $1.4 billion, and expanded its share‑repurchase program, effectively executing part of Ackman's financial logic without ceding control. The sale triggers the Taylor Swift clause, obligating UMG to distribute proceeds to artists on a non‑recoupable basis. The episode raises questions about whether capital should fund buybacks or reinvest in creators and technology.
The Dog That Didn’t Bark in Wixen V. Meta
Wixen’s amended complaint accuses Meta of pulling songs from Instagram and Facebook, blaming the publisher for removals and pressuring it into lower royalty rates. The filing lists copyright, defamation and trade‑libel claims but omits any allegation that Meta used the...
Flood at the Gate: AI Slop, Streaming Fraud, and the Collapse of the “39-Step” Mechanical Royalty at the CRB
AI‑generated music now dominates streaming uploads, with Deezer reporting 44 % of new tracks created by generative models and 85 % of their streams flagged as fraudulent. This flood threatens the royalty pool that funds human songwriters, as bots and synthetic engagement...
Taylor Swift Trademark Applications
Taylor Swift's rights management filed three USPTO trademark applications on April 24, 2026—two sound marks for the phrases “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift” and “Hey, it’s Taylor,” and a visual mark depicting her stage look with a pink guitar and iridescent...
The Spotify TOS Trap: How Platforms Avoid Public Law Justice for Payola
A federal court sent the Capolongo v. Spotify payola lawsuit to private arbitration, avoiding a public ruling on Discovery Mode’s legality. The case highlights how Spotify’s Terms of Service embed arbitration clauses and class‑action waivers that shield the platform from...
Where Was the Board? AI Copyright Infringement Moves to the Boardroom: Adobe, Meta, Anthropic—And the Google Precedent
A California shareholder has filed a derivative suit against Adobe, accusing its officers and directors of exposing the company to liability by training AI models on copyrighted books and other pirated content. The complaint centers on Adobe’s SlimLM model, which...
Phonorecords V and the “39 Steps” Problem: Time for the CRB to Fix Streaming Mechanicals
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is revisiting the Part 385 streaming‑mechanical formula—known as the “39 steps”—as generative AI music challenges its underlying assumptions. AI‑generated tracks are not protected by copyright, raising questions about whether they belong in the Section 115 royalty pool...
Anna’s Archive Hit with $322 Million Default Judgment: What the Spotify Piracy Ruling Means for Copyright Enforcement
On April 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff issued a $322 million default judgment against the shadow library Anna’s Archive for massive copyright infringement of Spotify and the three major record labels. The court awarded $300 million to Spotify and roughly...
Cheap at the Price: FTC V. StubHub and the Limits of Junk Fee Enforcement
The FTC secured a $10 million settlement with StubHub over undisclosed mandatory fees, compelling the ticket resale platform to refund affected buyers and adopt all‑in pricing. The case targets the agency’s junk‑fee rule, which bans drip pricing that hides extra costs...
One More Thing About Perplexity
Perplexity AI has filed a motion to dismiss the New York Times and Chicago Tribune lawsuits, arguing that its answer engine merely follows user prompts and lacks the volitional conduct required for direct, contributory, or vicarious copyright infringement. The company...
Open Letter: Say No to Suno
The Music Artist Coalition’s open letter denounces AI music startup Suno for mass‑producing unlicensed tracks that dilute artist royalties and enable streaming fraud. It highlights Suno’s output of roughly 7 million tracks per day and Deezer’s finding that 85 % of AI‑generated...
Spotify, SeatGeek, and the Expanding Extraction MachineWhen Platform Leverage Meets Ticketing Power
Spotify announced a new partnership with ticketing platform SeatGeek, extending its concert‑discovery tools into the live‑ticket market. The move follows Spotify’s claim of helping artists generate over $1 billion in ticket sales and its $11 billion payout to the music industry in...
The Sinister Question Spotify Has Not Answered About Its AI: What Did They Train On?
Spotify announced it is building a proprietary music‑generation AI platform that can produce remixes, covers, and other derivative works. The company has provided no details on the recordings or datasets used to train the models, leaving open the possibility that...
When Speed Becomes Risk: Why India’s AI Compulsory License Debate Needs Facts, Not Shortcuts
India’s DPIIT released a Working Paper proposing a hybrid compulsory licence to streamline AI‑training data use, aiming to give developers legal certainty and speed up innovation. The Artist Rights Institute (ARI) submitted a public comment urging a measured approach, emphasizing...