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Tuned Global launches streaming manipulation detection tool aimed at rightsholders and DSPs
Streaming fraud remains one of the biggest concerns facing the global music business, with the use of bots, click farms and coordinated artificial listening continuing to distort royalty payments, chart positions and consumption data across the industry.  Tuned Global, the technology platform used by businesses to power licensed music and audio services, has launched what it calls a Service Manipulation Detection (SMD) system, designed to help streaming platforms and rightsholders identify and act on that activity. The system monitors activity across five levels: track, artist, user, network and payment. User-level monitoring flags excessive repetition, unusually high daily activity or what the company calls “invariant listening patterns” over time. Network-level controls detect suspicious login behaviour, geographic inconsistencies, and shared IP or device activity across multiple accounts.

 

Spotify Quietly Starts Identifying Songs Using AI (Or At Least Some of Them)
Spotify is quietly introducing a new feature that exposes artificial intelligence contributions within track credits, making a notable step in platform-level transparency. That comes with the caveat that these labels are all self-reported, however.  The update is currently in beta and allows listeners to view AI involvement directly in the ‘Song Credits’ section of the Spotify mobile app. The feature is initially rolling out to artists distributing through DistroKid, with broader expansion expected across distributors soon. Spotify confirmed that users will be able to see specific AI contributions tied to a recording that are voluntarily reported by the distributor. This includes elements such as vocals, lyrics, and production inputs generated or assisted by AI systems.

 

AI And Music Publishing Licensing
The music industry’s response to AI so far, like its response to Napster all those years ago, has not been without anxiety and fear. Meanwhile, gen AI companies, with millions of dollars of investment, have already built large businesses on the backs of our songwriters – without paying independent music publishers a penny. (No other sector of entertainment treats songwriters quite like the tech industry!) Does anyone truly believe that gen AI companies and their lawyers thought they had a ‘fair use’ defense when their entire enterprise was built on the presumption they could use our songs without permission or compensation to build billion-dollar businesses?  Regardless, we now stand at the precipice of a whole new income stream built solely on the music of human creators.  Nobody is giving them enough assurance that we have their backs. There are two income sources in the equation, and each brings its own complexities.   Synthetic data makes it far harder to identify which songs were used in any given output. And make no mistake: every AI-generated output is derived from human songs – their melody, rhythm, lyrics, and harmonies. If human music weren’t essential to these models, Suno and Udio wouldn’t have persisted in using songs without permission to build models. Every AI output is, in some form, a derivative work. If we can’t trace it back to the source songs, compensating songwriters and publishers becomes difficult, if not impossible.

 

YouTube extends deepfake detection tool access
YouTube is expanding its AI likeness detection tool to the wider entertainment industry, opening access to celebrities and talent agencies for the first time.  The expansion comes six months after YouTube started rolling out the AI detection tool in October, which was limited at the time to a specific set of creators with YouTube channels.  The company announced Tuesday (April 21) that talent agencies, management companies, and the celebrities they represent are now eligible to enroll, regardless of whether they have a YouTube channel. The expansion was developed with support from talent agencies and management companies, including Creative Artists Agency (CAA), United Talent Agency ( Enrollment requires a government-issued ID and a brief selfie video, which YouTube uses to verify identity and build a facial likeness template. The verification process takes up to five days. Once enrolled, participants can authorize agents, managers, or other representatives to review flagged content on their behalf without going through verification themselves.  The platform noted that it stores likeness templates and identity information for up to three years from an enrolled person’s last login, or until they withdraw consent or delete their account.UTA), WME, and Untitled Management.

 

What Is A Music Producer? (by Cliff Goldmacher)
Working as a producer for the last thirty years, I’ve recorded with all kinds of artists from “fresh off the boat” newbies to artists whose experience in the world of music doubles or even triples my own. In every case, my role as a producer stays essentially the same. It’s that role that I’m going to describe in this article. Not only must the producer have the experience to work with the studio engineer (often possessing the technical expertise to engineer the project themselves) but the musical understanding to help the artist with everything from song choice, structure and arrangement to the all-important vocal performances that are vital in giving a recording its personality. In short, a producer provides the experience and necessary perspective to guide a recording from start to finish. Producers can come from a variety of backgrounds. I’m listing the four most common and what each brings to the process, but, typically, producers have experience in more than one of these areas; 1)SONGWRITER,M 2) MUSICIAN, 3)ENGINEER, 4) MUSIC FAN. For the record, no one way takes precedence over any other for producing a recording. The only measure of a producer that matters is whether or not the resulting recording is satisfying to everyone involved. As most producers operate somewhere in between minimal and complete involvement, here are the main areas where most producers do their work; 1) PRE-PRODUCTION, 2) INSTRUMENTAL  RECORDING/ARRANGING, 3) VOCALS.  At the end of the day, it’s a good working relationship and the trust between artist and producer that makes for the best results. So, be sure that you not only like a producer’s work but feel comfortable working with them as well. You’ll be spending a lot of time with this person and trusting them with your art, so make sure that you feel like the producer you choose is willing to give you and your music the attention necessary to get a great recording.

 

We May Be Reaching Peak Streaming Subscription
Scroll around the internet and you’ll find a lot of grumbling about subscription prices. Nowadays, everything is a subscription – audio streaming, video streaming, gaming, software, plugins, workstations, AI models, and no doubt several other categories I can’t think of right now. Every time a subscription monthly price is raised, a lot of people start wondering where it will end. Recently YouTube raised its subscription prices as well, and many are watching to see if that might finally be the one that causes internet users to say, “No more!” We may be hitting the point of “peak streaming subscription.” The $1-$2 extra for YouTube every month might just make subscribers wonder whether they could get by with free version instead. And they might even delete some other streaming services while they’re at it.  The day of the subscription is not over, but the day of peak streaming subscription might just be at hand.

 

How to Add Your Tour Dates to Apple Music
Bandsintown and Apple Music's deepened integration brings your concert listings around the world directly into Apple's streaming experience.  When fans visit an artist's Apple Music page, they'll see upcoming shows listed with their music. Fans can tap into listings to view event details, including venue information, set lists, and direct ticket links.  Apple Music will also notify users when artists they follow have upcoming shows nearby with push notifications.  Apple Music also added a new Concerts carousel on the app’s homepage featuring nearby shows. In the new Concerts tab (Search → Concerts), fans can browse shows by location, date, and genre.

 

Is a Live Nation-Ticketmaster Breakup Next? Previously Unthinkable Possibility Takes Center Stage Following States’ Trial Victory
Is a court-ordered Live Nation-Ticketmaster breakup possible? Following a jury verdict in favor of more than 30 states, evidence suggests that the previously unthinkable outcome is now very much on the table.  Time will, of course, tell whether the potential remedy materializes. For one thing, Live Nation has vowed to move forward with multiple pending motions and to “appeal any unfavorable rulings on these motions.”  But more broadly, a forced divestiture – requiring Live Nation to part with Ticketmaster, that is – seemed exceedingly unlikely when the antitrust trial kicked off in early March. Then Live Nation inked a DOJ settlement agreement, the aforementioned states (plus D.C.) opted against seeking a mistrial in favor of continuing to litigate, and the jury sided with the remaining plaintiffs.

 

Tour Smarter, Not Harder: The New Rules of the Road
For decades, the "indie dream" was a map covered in Sharpie circles—a 30-city grind across North America in a rented Ford Econoline. But the rules are changing and the map is being redrawn.
The traditional "shotgun" approach to touring is no longer just exhausting; for most independent artists, it’s a mathematical impossibility.  A recent survey by Ditto Music found that a staggering 82% of independent artists can no longer afford to tour. With fuel costs up 60%, crew wages up 50%, and hotel rates climbing 40% in major markets, the "break-even" point has moved from a pipe dream to a structural barrier. By focusing on deeper market saturation - multi-night stays, local pop-up collaborations, and "residency-exclusive" merch - independent artists are turning the live experience back into a sustainable business, rather than a debt-fueled endurance test.

 

Where the Heck Did the Mainstream Go?
Despite consolidated revenues at the top of the charts, Top 10 streams only account for 0.05% of total plays. The mainstream is fading into its own long tail...What was the song of summer this year? Oh, don’t worry if you can’t name it. Nobody seems to know what it was or can agree on.  Billboard says it was “Ordinary” by Alex Warren. Spotify says it was “Love Me Not” by Raven Len. TikTok’s winner was Jess Glynne’s “Hold My Hand” — not so much because it charted, but because it became the soundtrack of a popular meme.
And I’m not embarrassed to admit it — I haven’t heard any of these tracks. The monoculture of big hits consumed by the masses is officially dead. In fact, a decade ago, the top 10 songs out of some 50 million at the time accounted for 16% of all U.S. streams. Today, the top 10 songs account for less than a third of that — just 0.05% of total streams. That means the music mainstream — the big hits, the cultural consensus, the “everyone’s listening to this” moment — is fading fast.  Heck, even the hits are smaller. I mean, have you heard Taylor Swift’s “Tortured Poets Department?” You may have, but I haven’t. And tons of other people haven’t either. And that was last year’s biggest-selling album. Yes, the biggest songs are getting less of the pie. 

 

A folk musician had her voice cloned by AI – and her recordings claimed by a copyright troll. Welcome to 2026.
The music industry’s latest collision with AI technology has arrived — and this time it involves voice cloning, copyright claims on songs that have been in the public domain for over a century, and an independent folk musician from North Carolina caught in the middle. A folk singer-songwriter from North Carolina, discovered in January that AI-generated covers of her songs had been uploaded to her Spotify profile without her consent. Then, in a separate incident, a user filed copyright claims against Campbell‘s YouTube videos, via the Content ID access of gamma-owned distributor Vydia. In September 2025, Spotify said it had removed more than 75 million tracks in a crackdown on AI-generated content and streaming manipulation, and the platform is now piloting a new opt-in feature that would allow artists to manually approve releases before they appear on their profiles.Meanwhile, Michael Smith, a North Carolina man who used AI to generate hundreds of thousands of songs and stream them billions of times via bots pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in what has been described as the first criminal prosecution for AI-assisted streaming fraud in the United States.