And The Update Is... AI Covers, Drake’s New Era & Why Michael Jackson Is STILL Charting in 2026

[music] Welcome to And The Update is I Am Your Host, Ross Golan. This is the news in the music industry. For the week of May 18th, 2026, let's start with some stories this week. UMG in Spotify signed a licensing deal to allow users to do AI covers of songs. Wow, that's going to piss off a lot of artists. I'm sure, because now they're going to be competing against themselves. Now, on the other hand, it will probably trigger royalties for any of the licensed material, both on the publishing and on the record side. Now, most of you aren't 100% universal writers. So other publishing companies will have a say in that. But this is something that had been discussed for a long time, and expect this to be a thing, and hopefully it will create more revenue for artists without causing too much headaches for those who are trying to release new music. Now, if you're looking at charts, you're going to notice a lot of the songs that are on the charts right now are not brand new. So it is hard to crack in, and this may just make it even more crowded. We don't know yet. Okay, Shamrock Capital closed an 800 plus million dollar content acquisition. Fun, Shamrock is famously the company that bought and sold tailors catalog. They are massive, and they are good at what they do. So I'm sure getting 800 million dollars will help. They're also looking at film and television gaming sports, and other creator economy assets. Fuga and Insomniac Music Group renewed their global distribution partnership. Fuga has been recently purchased by Universal, and so has everyone else. Hybe and YG also renewed their distribution deal. That's also, that's a massive partnership. If you know anything about K-pop music, you know that. Primary Wave acquired Hypnosis artwork catalog. Now, recognize there that the artwork itself had not been purchased by Sony. They just purchased the going forward publishing company Hypnosis had for sale. So Primary Wave bought the album covers from Pink Floyd and Queen. Primary Wave always interested in name, image, and likeness. Taylor Swift and Beyonce recordings added to national recording registry. That's cool because the Library Congress selects 25 culturally significant recordings for its 2026 registry class. That included Taylor Swift's 1989 Beyonce single ladies. Apple Music launches a new live stream series, Club Live. It's the new series that will broadcast live events and debut at EDC in Vegas. So if you want to have a rave at home alone, Apple Music is going to be your streaming service. Pete Townsend partners with Primary Wave. Primary Wave back in the news hasn't been there for 35 seconds. And that deal will cover his name, image, and likeness and their future creative projects. Expect to see a hologram of Pete Townsend at your favorite festival soon. Some of the artist signings that might be interesting to you. King Princess signed with a new management company. So that's kind of interesting. M-N-E-K signed a new publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing. Very big British writer that was not a British accent, but you get the point. All right time for some charts. Let's go at it. What a surprise here choosing Texas by Ella Langley is number one on the billboard hot 100 chart for the 10th week non consecutively. The great divide by Noah Khan is number one on the billboard 200 chart for the third week in a row. But this one's a shocker. Billy Jean by Michael Jackson is number one on the billboard global 200 chart. I mean come on that is that is wow that's 42 years old 43 years old. And it's it's it's charting that high. Iceman by Drake debuted at number one on Spotify's top album debut global chart. If you weren't watching our Instagram we did a little thing about Drake dropping his three albums to fulfill his deal with Universal. I'm sure that both of them made out just fine. BTS is number one on Spotify's top albums global chart for the second week in a row. Make them cry by Drake debuted at number one on Spotify's top song debut global chart. Iceman by Drake is also number one in the US. So is make them cry the great divide and choosing Texas. No news there they're just all killing it. Anyway that's the news for this week. Thanks for tuning in. We had now Horn as our guest on Tuesday. What a wonderful gentleman and scholar. And next Tuesday we've got another new one for you. We are rolling out some bangers man. So tune in and and give us give us some likes and stuff and and communicate with us on the on the on the Instagram or the tiktoker. Where are the YouTube or the my space. And of course a shout out to Georgia Webush for these excellent notes that allow us to do this update. Alright thanks so much for checking it out. See you soon. Bye.