And The update Is...AI Lawsuits Are Coming, Clive Davis Remembered & Olivia Rodrigo Makes History

Welcome to and the update is I am your host Ross Golan and this is the music industry news for the week of June 22nd, 2026. Happy Father's Day to all you fellow fathers out there. Lots of news to get to but the first is another bit of sad news. Clive Davis, the greatest A&R man of all time, passed away into his 90s. That guy's responsible for almost everybody's career including half the people who are around today. You should just go Wikipedia him if you don't know who he is. There are documentaries on the guy. He had an excellent book that I read and I think about and cite often to Doug, Fred, and the other siblings. Our thoughts are with you guys. For those of you who don't know who they are, they are major music industry players as well. So Clive left an incredible legacy of incredible artistry and record making. So let's get to some news. The biggest buzz seems to be the Atlantic article that came out that allows all of us to check which songs of ours were used in databases that train AI systems. That is the hottest news on my Instagram feed. It has affected a lot of people. Expect a lot of class action lawsuits against any of the AI companies that use unauthorized works, which is most of them. Olivia Rodrigo announces festival Daisy Chain Fields. That's really cool. That's an all-female lineup. It has a glimmer of Lilith Fair back from when I was a child. People like Stevie Nicks, Chaperone, Sarah McLachlan, and Dochi will all be part of that. They're donating the proceeds. It's a beautiful event. Congratulations, Olivia Rodrigo, on doing good things. Suno launches Spark program for independent artists. The program offers grants, marketing support, and mentorship to help unsigned artists. Blah, blah, blah. This is what people do when they know they're guilty. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Suno, you are probably fucked, as the earlier part of this update explained. You got a lot of explaining to do, and Spark program is probably fucked. The funniest way to approach an apology. Global Music Collective calls for greater transparency in AI licensing deals. A coalition of 31 artists, songwriters, manager organizations is urging the industry to prioritize consent, transparency, and fair compensation in AI agreements. This is all the same conversation that we've been having for three minutes. Deezer launches remix tool for fans. That is going to be a similar feature that Spotify is going to be using. It's going to be a similar feature that Spotify is going to be using. Spotify now allows artists to upload long-form videos directly. As we know, Spotify is gearing up its platform to rival things like YouTube, Instagram, and this is one of those moves in that process. Max Martin and Shellback sell a portion of their song catalog to Harborview Equity Partners in a nine-figure deal. My guess is that this is a very nuanced, that is not exactly what the headline says, but the songs include some from Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and other major artists. Sony Music Publishing Scandinavia acquires Sound Pollution Songs Catalog. I don't know what that means. Well, that's most of the news. In signings, John Bellion signs with Chris Cappie of Make Way Artists for Management. John Bellion, former guest, lovely friend. Uh, you know, that guy's at the top. He does really cool things. The Black Keys signed with Jason Murray of Victor Management, also friends of the podcast. That's most of the signings that we got for you, so let's get to some charts. I Knew It, I Knew You by Taylor Swift is number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the second week in a row. That is not a surprise. You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love by Olivia Rodrigo debuts at the number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Congratulations to Olivia and to all of our friends who worked on that album. Stupid Song by Olivia Rodrigo debuts at number one on Billboard Global 200 chart. Also, congrats to our friends who worked on that as well. All of the other charts are pretty much reflecting those right there, but maybe the coolest one, My Mess, My Heart, My Life. My Life by Miles Davis debuts number one on Spotify's top albums debut USA chart. As he was our guest on the podcast, you can hear how he worked his way all the way up to here. That is awesome. Miles, you are a gem. We had a great interview this week with Zooey Deschanel, and let me remind you, that woman has a 100% song that's been at the top of the viral charts on TikTok for 90 days. Don't count that woman out. She might just be the best songwriter that's also an Emmy winner. Big fan of hers and bigger fan since the interview. We have a great interview this Tuesday, and don't forget to join Patreon. We will be giving away a bunch of UA gear, you know, an Apollo, some Volts, some microphones, but you got to be a part of our Patreon, and we'll see you on a Zoom where we're going to give out some stuff. Those things very shortly. We will be announcing that soon. Okay, that's it. Thank you, Georgia Webbush for the great notes. As always, we'll talk to you soon. Bye.