Complete Music Update

2 days ago | completemusicupdate.com | Chris Cooke

Live Nation owns three of the four major UK music festivals, although independent events that are not connected to either Live Nation or AEG account for nearly three quarters of the festival sector’s combined capacity each year. That’s according to ‘Festival Forecast’, a new report from the Association Of Independent Festivals that provides an overview of the UK festival market, organising events by owner, capacity and type.

2 days ago | completemusicupdate.com | Chris Cooke

The first US court decision on the crucial question as to whether or not training a generative AI model with existing content constitutes fair use under American copyright law is in, and Californian judge William Alsup says that it is. Which means AI companies - in this case Anthropic - can make use of existing content when training models without getting permission from the relevant creators or copyright owners.

3 days ago | completemusicupdate.com | Chris Cooke

Spotify has told Canada’s broadcasting regulator the CRTC that if it seeks to regulate music streaming services in the same way it regulates radio, instead of protecting Canadian music it will “threaten the very mechanisms” that have powered a decade of growth in the country’s record industry. Rules that govern traditional radio make no sense in streaming, it insists, adding that “regulating Spotify like a radio station is like regulating Uber like a horse and buggy”.

3 days ago | completemusicupdate.com | Chris Cooke

Closing arguments in the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs criminal trial are expected to begin on Thursday, after defence lawyers indicated they do not plan to call any witnesses, meaning they will only need a couple of days to present the musician’s defence. The prosecution were due to finish their arguments against Combs today, after yesterday showing jurors 20 minutes of video footage from the so called ‘freak offs’ that have been central to this case.

4 days ago | completemusicupdate.com | Chris Cooke

The US Federal Trade Commission has been formally asked to investigate Spotify’s decision, in 2023, to automatically opt its millions of premium subscribers into a new product that bundled audiobooks with music and podcasts. While the addition of audiobooks initially looked like a freebie, the extra content ultimately increased the cost of a subscription while also - in the US - reducing how much money flows to songwriters and music publishers.