Trump’s TikTok USA deal still isn’t over the finish line after the US/China trade war flare-up—but the deal as stated may raise serious issues.

The Chair of the House Select Committee on China said that the licensing agreement raises “serious concerns” about the planned deal. Representative John Moolenaar (R-MI) says he’s waiting from more details from the White House on the proposed deal that would see TikTok USA license its algorithm from Chinese-based ByteDance.

PPL has appointed Dr Richard James Burgess MBE as its new chair. He will succeed John Smith OBE, effective January 5, 2026. 

Burgess will lead the PPL board as the organisation continues to grow its neighbouring rights royalty collections, representing more than 150,000 performer and recording rights-holder members. 

Since 2016, Burgess has served as president and CEO of A2IM (American Association of Independent Music), while also holding board positions with SoundExchange, WIN (Worldwide Independent Network), Copyright Alliance and musicFirst, among others.  

Ticketmaster unveiled what it says are new measures to stop scalpers by barring users and ticket brokers from making multiple accounts, requiring resellers to use taxpayer ID verification, and using AI tools for “faster assessment and cancellation of bot-purchased tickets,” as a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit filed last month continues that accuses the platform of working with resellers to elevate prices. The letter states that “Ticketmaster does more than anyone to fight bots and get tickets into the hands of real fans.”

The Supreme Court has scheduled oral hearings in December regarding the ongoing legal battle between Sony Music and ISP Cox Communications.

In the continuing saga of the legal battle between internet service provider (ISP) Cox Communications and Sony Music, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on December 1.

Nothing says ‘be kind to us with regulations pls’ more than a carefully-crafted economic impact report – a strategy used by the music and tech industries alike when trying to remind policymakers why their lobbying demands should be heard.

The latest example comes from YouTube via Oxford Economics, one of the go-to companies for this kind of thing – from Live Nation and the German music industry to TikTok and YouTube in India.

No one would have expected Taylor Swift‘s “The Life of a Showgirl” to lose its grip on the album chart in week 2, and it indeed held on at the top of the Billboard 200, with 338,000 equivalent album units in its second week out.

Last week, Swift set a record in the Luminate/Soundscan-era data-keeping books with 4.002 million units. Although this week’s figure marked a predictably significant drop-off from that record-buster, even the second week for “Showgirl” ranked as the fifth best week for any album this year, per Billboard and Luminate. The only albums that had a higher number than 338,000 units in a single frame this year were first-week figures for releases from Wallen (who opened with 493,000), the Weeknd (who started with 490,000), Sabrina Carpenter (which started with 366K) and, of course, Swift’s own debut tally.

Latin music pulled $490.3 million in mid-year revenue in the first half of 2025, up nearly 6% from the same point last year. Music from all over Latin America — including best-selling albums from Bad Bunny, Fuerza Regida (pictured above), Rauw Alejandro, Karol G and more — helped the genre grow faster than the U.S.-based market in 2025.

Streaming is doing all the heavy lifting, accounting for a massive 98% of that bump, with paid subscriptions alone generating $271.1 million.

Geese and CashorTrade announced a partnership ahead of the band’s upcoming tour dates, which include shows in Madison, Wisconsin; Denver’s Gothic Theatre; The Fillmore in San Francisco; Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre and more. The North American run wraps up on Nov. 21 at the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, New York.

With each date sold out, the band’s website offers links to join the ticket waitlist, or find tickets selling at face value via CashorTrade.

The Grand Ole Opry will celebrate 100 years since its inaugural broadcast with two shows on Nov. 28.

November 28, 2025 marks exactly 100 years since the evening a single fiddle tune performed by Uncle Jimmy Thompson marked the first Grand Ole Opry broadcast.

Slated to appear during the shows is Trace Adkins, Bill Anderson, Mandy Barnett, T. Graham Brown, Steven Curtis Chapman, Henry Cho, The Gatlin Brothers, Vince Gill, The Isaacs, Kathy Mattea, Charlie McCoy, Scotty McCreery, Gary Mule Deer, Riders In The Sky, Ricky Skaggs, Don Schlitz, Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, The Whites, Mark Wills, Suzy Bogguss and more to be announced soon.

An outage affecting web hosting giant Amazon Web Services (AWS) has taken out vast swathes of the web, including websites, banks and some government services.

Amazon said on Monday morning that the outage had been “fully mitigated” and that most services are returning to normal after an hours-long stretch during which much of the internet could not load. 

Music industry strategist, podcaster and author Keith Jopling shares an extract from his forthcoming new book, Body Of Work: How The Album Outplayed The Algorithm And Survived Playlist Culture. To coincide with the UK’s National Album Day, and the recently-announced Mercury Prize, Keith shares both his thoughts on the continuing relevance of the album format in today’s music ecosystem, and an exclusive extract of the book’s foreword: “The album is god”.

By not allowing fans to download individual songs from the album, the star and her label harkened back to a CD-era strategy.

MARI, the new global events and experiences company founded by Ariel Emanuel, announced the acquisition of the digital ticketing company TodayTix Group (TTG).

With more than 20 million members across the U.S., U.K., and Australia, TTG’s portfolio of brands includes TodayTix, Secret Cinema, LondonTheatre, and Show-Score and the company services more than 10,000 theatres, producers, and cultural institutions worldwide.

As part of the agreement, TodayTix Group will integrate its technology, AI-driven personalization, and data science capabilities into MARI’s roster of events, alongside of its partner network.

Ticketmaster will bar users from having multiple accounts on the platform, the company said in a letter to lawmakers last week after Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment were sued by the Federal Trade Commission last month over allegations of colluding with scalpers and violating the BOTS Act.


The policy change — disclosed in a letter dated Oct. 17 to senators Marsha Blackburn and Ben Ray Luján after the two lawmakers wrote to the company last month demanding answers over that lawsuit — marks a significant change for Ticketmaster, which also said in the letter that it would be closing TradeDesk, its ticket inventory platform that allows ticket brokers list their tickets on multiple ticketing sites.

Starting today, Spotify listeners (Free and Premium) can follow their favorite venues, discover new spots nearby, and explore upcoming lineups, all without leaving the app. Plus, the Live Events feed now has a fresh new look, with smarter recommendations and daily updates that make finding the next concert easier and more personal than ever.

Udio has been sued again for copyright infringement, this time by a group of independent artists and songwriters. Although the majors are already suing Udio, the music creators say that their lawsuit “emphasises the significant and unequal harm inflicted on independent musicians by AI”

Faced with further budget cuts following the Trump administration’s elimination of federal funding for public media, local public radio outlet KCRW has trimmed an additional 10% of its staff. Included in the cuts were several of the station’s most well-known music DJs, including Jason Kramer, Jeremy Sole and José Galván. Also as part of the changes, host Elvis Mitchell’s long-running interview series “The Treatment” will now run inside “Weekend Edition.”

Inside the matchmaking service that’s pairing up volunteers to learning disabled and autistic music fans, breaking down the barriers to nightlife

Australian band’s decision to remove catalogue in protest of CEO’s military investments an easy one, frontman says, and making music with friends remains ‘top of the triangle’

The UK’s Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has secured an alliance with the British Arts Festivals Association (BAFA), which will see the two trade bodies work together across events, data analysis, representation, training and more.

AIF and BAFA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), committing to hosting twice-yearly online member meetings, working together to deliver in-person events in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, publishing joint reports outlining the state of the festival sector, and establishing shared data points.

Lettuce established a scholarship fund in partnership with nonprofit organization Music is a Language to provide a full-tuition scholarship for a student attending Berklee College of Music. The renowned school in Boston is where the band’s members first met.

The scholarship will support young musicians from underserved communities who demonstrate exceptional talent and commitment. Lettuce will contribute $1 from every ticket sold on newly announced tour dates to fund the scholarship, beginning with House of Lett, intimate performances scheduled for December 5 and 6 in Denver at a location not yet revealed.

Wasserman Music has entered a five-year partnership with Save The Music Foundation, committing to fund J Dilla Music Tech Grants in six high schools across L.A. and New York.

Through the new partnership, Wasserman Music and Save The Music will ensure that students not only have access to high-quality music education, but also the chance to connect with artists and industry leaders who can inspire and support their creative journeys. In the partnership’s first year, Wasserman Music will support one high school in Los Angeles and one in New York, with future years alternating between the two cities. Each launch will include special events featuring Wasserman staff and clients, including songwriting workshops, live student performances, executive-led panels, and student-produced podcast interviews.

AI-music startup Suno made waves with a $125m funding round in May 2024. Now it may be tapping investors for another nine-digit injection of capital. Bloomberg reported that Suno is in talks “to raise over $100 million at a valuation of more than $2 billion).

It added that Suno is currently “generating more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue” from subscriptions to its service, while reiterating recent reports of talks with major labels to settle their lawsuits against the company and reach licensing deals.

The big question: can Suno close its new funding round without settling those lawsuits? The other big question: can Suno afford to settle those lawsuits without closing its new funding round?