Miley Cyrus’ motion to dismiss copyright lawsuit over ‘Flowers’ denied by courtIf the court had accepted Cyrus' lawyers' argument, then copyright "could never be enforced" once the original authors sold their rights, the judge said
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Bedroom Pop, Music Creation and ‘More Likes, Fewer Gigs’Is the traditional music career model dead? Learn about Bedroom Pop and how a new generation of artists are building fanbases without leaving their bedrooms.
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New Model For Music Streaming: Play Credits, Curation & More"The long tail is being demonetized," writes Mark Mulligan of MIDiA which will lead to a "groundswell of discontent" among creators. But the analyst finds hope in a new model for music streaming.
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Tencent Music has integrated DeepSeek into its streaming service (and 3 other things we learned on the company’s latest earnings call)China's largest operator of music streaming services says live music is becoming increasingly important to listeners
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Fender Introduces New Models and Finish Options for the “Brand New Again” American Vintage II SeriesToday, Fender introduces more finish options for existing models and the new 1965 Stratocaster and Limited Edition American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster®.  The Fender® American Vintage II series is built with period-accurate bodies, necks, and hardware, premium finishes, and meticulously voiced, year-specific pickups. Each instrument captures the essence of authentic Fender craftsmanship and tone. American Vintage II 1965 Stratocaster®: In the middle of one of music’s most electrifying decades, the Stratocaster in 1965 was an instrument on its way to becoming rock’s greatest electric guitar. A perfect example of a Strat in a transition year, the 1965 Stratocaster® features a 1965 “C”-shaped maple neck, this time with a round-laminated rosewood fingerboard and larger pearl dot inlays. Other authentic features include an 11-hole three-ply white pickguard, the incredibly cool transition logo with larger lettering, and a set of amazing “gray bottom” Pure Vintage 1965 pickups.

Limited Edition American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster® in Prototype White: Just one year after launching the Broadcaster®, Fender received a cease-and-desist telegram from the Fred Gretsch Mfg. Co. and was faced with renaming its flagship electric guitar. Taking inspiration from the booming growth and expansive reach of television, the first blackguard Telecaster rolled off the line in 1951. The American Vintage II 1951 Telecaster features an ash body. The substantial '51 "U"-shaped hard rock maple neck plays like a dream with a 7.25" radius fingerboard and vintage tall frets. Characteristic of production in 1951, 12th fret face-dot spacing is narrow and the sole Phillips-head fastener on the guitar is at the truss rod nut. The triple brass saddle bridge, single-line "Fender Deluxe" tuners and Pure Vintage '51 Telecaster pickups deliver classic twang and authentic Fender style. Now available in a very limited Prototype White finish!Fender sits down with English singer-songwriter and guitarist James Bay to commemorate today's releases. Get a front-row seat with the acclaimed musician as he plays the new American Vintage II Stratocaster in Candy Apple Red and shares why a Strat has been his go-to from the beginning.The post Fender Introduces New Models and Finish Options for the “Brand New Again” American Vintage II Series first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

A model for a new streaming industryThe music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0, artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.0 billion. But on the other we have streaming growth slowing to 6.2% growth in 2024, Artists Direct revenue growing three and half times slower than the number of artists and independent labels beginning to voice concern over the lost royalties that may result from artist centric. The real challenge facing the music industry is that both of these views of the world are true. In short, if you are big, you can see a path to getting bigger and if you are small you can see a path to getting smaller. This is Bifurcation Theory a concept MIDiA introduced a year ago. 2025 is going to be the year that the bifurcation rubber hits the road. And in doing so, it creates a major (pun intended) opportunity for all those that are not majors.

The long tail is being demonetised

Artist Centric might, just might, result in ‘”many” independent artists and labels [seeing] their royalties increase’ but what is inarguable is that many artists and labels will earn less. This is inarguable because the very essence of the model is that songs with less than 1,000 streams in the prior 12 months will not get paid royalties. To be absolutely clear, what this means is that a body of labels and artists will see their music demonetised on streaming. To be clear, demonetising the long tail is not something new, it is widely employed by the big social platforms, who set earning thresholds for their creators (e.g. you need 1,000 subscribers to share ad revenue on YouTube). But it is something new for the music business.

The groundswell of discontent is coming

When you add this to the long term challenges of feeding insatiable appetite of the algorithms with endless releases and social posts, a growing body of artists and labels are going to asking why they should bother. That this has not happened yet is probably because the majority of artists hit by this were smaller, non-label artists who were already used to small royalties and probably do not have the industry awareness to understand what is at play. The same cannot be said of smaller independent labels, who absolutely do understand the dynamics of royalty mechanisms and will already be doing the arithmetic on how the new system will impact their revenues. Distributors will be doing a similar analysis of the labels and artists they distribute. 2025 will be the year in which we see a groundswell of discontent as these industry constituents start to comprehend what is coming.

A solution…

So much for the problems, what about solutions? Now is the time to build a place for the long tail. A place where the smaller players do not have to compete on unequal terms with the bigger ones. Asymmetric models are not designed for the small players to win. That is the entire point. But simply creating an indie Spotify will not be enough. The pro rate royalty pot model was never designed for a massive long tail and porting it over somewhere else will bring the same superstar dynamics, just with smaller superstars. So, here’s a model for an independent alternative to streaming:

Curation: A highly curated place for smaller labels and artists with human curation at the fore

Play credits: A credits based system, whereby people can subscribe for a certain number of credits and top up if they want, with each credit equalling one play (thereby guaranteeing a fixed per stream rate rather than a wish and a prayer that the royalty pot does not get divided too many ways this month

Discretionary pricing: Whereby labels and artists can determine (on a track-by-track basis) how many credits each track requires. Despite us having been educated so by streaming, not all music is worth the same. Labels and artists  might decide they want some of their songs to be zero credits, some to be 1 and others 10. It is a model that works well in other areas such as stock photography libraries

Curated freemium: Instead of simply a free tier, and in addition to zero credit streams, the free, ad and brand supported ‘front door’ would be an Apple Music Radio-like set of live streaming radio stations. All with clickable ‘now playing’ track details and some with, you know, actual human DJs

Not just music, but about the music too: Artist interviews, album reviews etc. Taking the bets of What Bandcamp and Apple Music do

Alternative remuneration: Artist subscriptions, tipping, social commerce, Shopfiy-like artist stores, virtual items. Not each and every one of these will fit every artist and label, so these would be opt-in extras

This might sound like pie in the sky thinking, but the simple fact is much of this is already been done, some of it in the music business (e.g. Apple Music Radio for curation and interviews, Bandcamp for reviews) and some outside it (Audible and Getty Images for credits). And we actually laid out a lot of detail for a similar model in our Bifurcation report last year.

However, there is one really difficult thing needed to make this really work: artists and labels would have to remove some or all of their music from mainstream DSPs, even if this is only done on a windowing basis. But if you are a smaller label or artist facing the prospect of demonetisation then really, how much is there to lose other than the vanity metrics of stream counts? Is this way easier for an analyst to write as a blog than for a label or artist to actually do? Of course. But the alternative for many will be to play the role of the slow boiled frog.

But what is great about this approach is that it benefits both sides. The long tail gets a place where it is both welcome and stands a fair and reasonable chance of monetisation. Meanwhile, the big labels and artists have more space (and therefore monetisation) for themselves on traditional streaming.

This will not be some huge Spotify killer. It will be a Bandcamp move for the 2020s. A place for alternative-minded super fans who do not want to spend their entire time lost in the algorithm’s mainstream maelstrom. Music is not all the same, it has never been. It is time to stop pretending that it is.

Fast Company names 10 Most Innovative Music Companies 2025Fast Company has released its annual list of the 10 most innovative music companies for 2025. Not one of the major streamers or record labels made the list.
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Groover expands Artist Services and ToolkitMusic promotion platform Groover expands artists services with the goal of empowering musicians and DJs by providing them with the tools they need to gain visibility and meaningful opportunities in the music industry.
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Alex Lifeson Discusses Envy of None's New Album, Rush's Music, and…Taylor SwiftRush guitarist Alex Lifeson spoke to AllMusic shortly before the release of the second album from his band Envy of None, and explained how it differs from the group's debut, in addition to chatting about songwriting, aspects of his personal life, and even a few Rush-related topics.

KALI UCHIS SIGNS WITH CAPITOL RECORDSGlobal superstar and GRAMMY®-winning recording artist Kali Uchis has signed with Capitol Records, working with the same team that saw enormous success across the release of her albums Red Moon in Venus and ORQUÍDEAS. The signing is a continuation of Uchis’ longstanding partnership with Tom March, now Chairman and CEO of Capitol Records – and given the interrelationship between Interscope and Capitol Records – allows her to continue working with IGA EVP of A&R Matt Morris, who has been an integral part of her artistry and career since 2018. This marks the start of an exciting new chapter for the Colombian-American singer-songwriter as she prepares for the widely anticipated release of her fifth studio album, Sincerely, revealed today via Instagram vignette – watch HERE.  “Kali Uchis is not only a true artist with a unique vision and an incredible amount of talent — she’s also a culture-shifting force of nature. Her music transcends boundaries and borders, and it’s an honor and a privilege to continue to head into this new era together.” – Tom March, Chairman & CEO, Capitol Records“Thank you all for the well-intentioned wishes on this journey, and thank you to my team! I have boundless gratitude for my silent ascent throughout the years and am very much looking forward to what’s next...“ – Kali UchisUchis has been hailed as a rare talent since she emerged, but ORQUÍDEAS launched her career to new heights. Her highest charting album to date (debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200), the critically adored record — which was her fourth album overall and second in Spanish — was led by crossover singles like the Platinum-certified “Igual Que un Ángel”with Peso Pluma (#1 on Hot Latin Songs, #23 on the Hot 100) and Gold-certified “Labios Mordidos” with KAROL G (#10 on Hot Latin Songs, #97 on the Hot 100). ORQUÍDEAS was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album at the 2025 GRAMMY® Awards, Best Pop Vocal Album at the Latin GRAMMYs, and took home trophies from the Billboard Latin Music Awards and Latin American Music Awards. The set closed the year on numerous “Best Albums” lists, racking up glowing praise from countless outlets including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Complex, and The New York Times. With artful forays into R&B, alt-pop, reggaeton, and Latin strains, Uchis has released several of the most lauded albums of the past decade: from her 2015 mixtape Por Vida, to her 2018 debut LP Isolation, her 2020 Spanish set Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios), and 2023's Red Moon in Venus, which features the 2x Platinum-certified “Moonlight,” and was regaled by TIME Magazine as the ‘Best Album of the Year.’ Amid consistent acclaim and honors — including nine GRAMMY®-nominations and a 2021 win in the category of Best Dance Song for her appearance on Kaytranada’s “10%”— Uchis’ major breakthrough came with her own 2021 smash hit “telepatía,” which has been streamed more than 2 billion times to date and was the Hot 100’s longest running Spanish-language song by a solo act this decade with a 23-week streak. Uchis is now on the way to reaching the Spotify Billions Club three times over with the smash success of songs “telepatía,” Tyler, The Creator’s “See You Again” (featuring Kali Uchis),” and soon to be “Moonlight.” Raised between Virginia and Colombia, Uchis has gone on to collaborate and share the stage with the likes of SZA, Tyler the Creator, Lana Del Rey, Gorillaz, Snoop Dogg, Rauw Alejandro, and her longtime partner Don Toliver, with whom she welcomed her first child last year. Uchis has toured the world over on multiple sold-out headlining runs, the most recent of which saw her playing arenas, as well as celebrated sets at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Austin City Limits, Tropicalia, Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and many more.Photo credit Amaury NessaibiaFollow Kali Uchis:INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | X | FACEBOOK | YOUTUBE | WEBSITEThe post KALI UCHIS SIGNS WITH CAPITOL RECORDS first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Primary Wave struck a $100m JV with Times Music in 2023. Now that venture has acquired two companies in India.Times Music has acquired India's Symphony Recording Co. and ARC Musicq
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Changes at SXSW Music 2026: Festival Issues Statement[UPDATED] After news stories surfaced about cutbacks to SXSW Music in 2026, the festival issued an official clarification.
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Live Nation DoJ lawsuit continues under TrumpA federal judge in New York denied Live Nation's motion to narrow the antitrust case brought by the US Department of Justice and 39 state Attorney Generals from both parties.
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DIY and Independent Musician News Last WeekThis week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers out there covered how promote shows on TikTok, a data-driven entertainment playbook, and more...
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Top Music Business News Last WeekA busy week by any definition, music industry news was no exception, with YouTube topping competitors, Spotify stocks continuing on the rise, and more...
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