#music-industry-conflicts

#music-industry-conflicts

Meta has agreed to 'substantially reduce' its references to PG-13 and include a rather remarkable disclaimer: 'There are lots of differences between social media and movies.'

Knumears is releasing their debut album Directions on April 3, showcasing their unique sound within the Los Angeles screamo scene. The album is available through Run for Cover and Summer Shade.

"Over the course of a decade, CONFESSIONS OF A SHOWGIRL grew into a brand encompassing performances, writing, and digital media-built by one person, city by city, and show by show."

On Tuesday, a day after the Justice Department revealed in court it had reached a settlement with Live Nation that a handful of states had agreed to, Judge Arun Subramanian held a hearing on the future of the case. He ordered Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, DOJ Antitrust Division acting chief Omeed Assefi, and representatives of states that hadn't settled to stay at the Manhattan courthouse and attempt to reach a broader deal.

The initiative aspires to create 'a new blueprint for artist launches moving forward.' This partnership integrates fan interaction, live broadcast distribution, and platform-native amplification.

Today, the concert ticketing industry is broken. It is controlled by Live Nation and the company it owns, Ticketmaster. According to DOJ estimates cited in court, Live Nation-Ticketmaster holds an 86% market share in primary ticketing for major concert venues and a significant share in the use of large amphitheaters by artists. The government argues this dominance wasn't built on superior service. It was constructed through what prosecutors describe as a "flywheel" - a self-reinforcing system where control over venues, ticketing technology, and artist promotion creates an ecosystem that competitors cannot meaningfully penetrate.

Today, the concert ticket industry is broken, in fact the concert industry itself is broken. It is controlled by a monopolist. It is controlled by Live Nation. Ticketmaster keeps more in fees than competitors such as AXS, according to an expert's estimate cited by Jonathan Hatch, an attorney for New York state.

Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show has drawn criticism from the country's top Republican: Donald Trump said it was "one of the worst, EVER!" in a post on Truth Social. Strong words from the president - but this isn't the first time a musician has drawn ire from right-wing politicians and conservatives. Stars like Lady Gaga, Cardi B, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Bruce Springsteen have riled up conservatives, often over progressive themes or sexual lyrics in their music.

Of the $43.9 billion that advertisers in the U.S. are expected to spend on creator marketing in 2026, most of that money - 55% - will go towards ads amplifying the creators' content, not to the actual creation and posting of content by the creators themselves. And that spend is only increasing as creator content becomes a more popular choice for ad creative and paid amplification provides brands with the analytics to be able to more effectively gauge the impact of creators' content.

As 2025 fades into the rearview mirror, many of the entertainment and media industry's biggest legal questions remain unresolved. In this episode of The Briefing, Weintraub Tobin partners Scott Hervey and Tara Sattler take a forward-looking approach to the cases and doctrines that could shape 2026. In this episode, they cover: The unsettled future of fair use in AI training and copyright infringement How courts are approaching lawful versus unlawful acquisition of training data The growing split in AI cases involving market substitution and fair use

In an audacious action starting to attract media attention, last month a group of piracy actors called Anna's Archive copied about 86 million music files from Spotify. The intention was to release the hoard on the BitTorrent file-sharing platform. All three of the major labels (UMG, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group), along with Spotify, launched the unsurprising lawsuit in September. The presiding judge, Jed . Rakoff, issued an injunction (HERE).

As of today, I am no longer represented by Wasserman, the talent agency led by Casey Wasserman,

Bandcamp has announced it will no longer allow AI-generated music to be hosted on its platform. In a post shared on Reddit, the company's support team revealed their plans to implement a policy prohibiting "any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles," elaborating more firmly that "music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp."