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And The Update Is…Spotify Goes MTV, Triller Gets Sued & AI Floods the Industry

3m 36s

And The Update Is…Spotify Goes MTV, Triller Gets Sued & AI Floods the Industry

In this week’s music industry update for July 20, 2026, host Roscoe covers a mix of legal, corporate, and chart news. The major legal story is the dismissal of copyright and antitrust lawsuits between X and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which the host criticizes, accusing X of failing to pay for song uses and not removing infringing content. Separately, Merlin secured a $3.2 million court judgment against Triller for unpaid licensing fees, which may financially cripple the platform. In corporate moves, SoundCloud acquired Nina Protocol, a blockchain music platform, surprising the host who thought blockchain had faded. Spotify introduced new global music video charts, enabling artists to pitch videos for editorial features. A notable trend: AI-generated tracks now make up over half of daily uploads on one platform, but listener interest is minimal (under 1%), undermining hopes for monetizing AI music. Chart highlights include LL England’s "Texas" staying #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a 14th non-consecutive week, Future’s "Real Me" debuting atop the Billboard 200, the official World Cup song leading the Billboard Global 200, and Gracie Abrams’ "Daughter from Hell" topping Spotify’s global album and debut charts, with Olivia Rodrigo still #1 in the US. The host also mentions a recent insightful interview with Adam Lambert and teases another major guest, while encouraging Patreon support for community features. Overall, the week was quiet on signings but packed with industry shifts.

Transcription

580 Words, 3119 Characters

English
Welcome to and the update is I am your host Roscoe and then this is the music industry news for the week of July 20th, 2026 Let's get right to it. Lawsuits between X and music publishers were dismissed the copyright and anti-trust lawsuits between X and NMPA were both dismissed on the same day bringing the dispute to a close Let's just say this X is a piece of shit and they lie and they didn't pay you for any of the uses Of your songs and they even made sure not to take down any copyright infringement. They are liars It's too bad that this was tossed because I'm pretty sure that you can all guess that X is Not on the up and up Merlin wins a 3.2 million dollar judgment against Triller a court ordered Triller to pay more than 3.2 million to Merlin over unpaid Licensing fees that probably just put Triller under because I don't know anybody uses Triller Soundcloud acquires blockchain music platform Nina protocol. That's kind of interesting mostly because I didn't even know blockchain was still a thing Haven't heard about it in a couple years Spotify launches new music video chart. Oh Are they the new MTV Spotify has introduced music video charts global and now let's artist Pitch videos for editorial opportunities These are reports AI music now makes up more than half of daily uploads The platform says AI generated tracks account for more than 50% of new music uploads during a peak in June Also note that less than 1% of listeners are listening to this slap So they are just bogging the system down and for all of you who think you're going to make money On AI generated artists. This is just proving that you will not Well, that's most of the news not a ton of stuff for signing either pretty quiet week on that front All right, let's look at charts choosing Texas by LL England is number one on the billboard hot 100 chart for the 14th week non-consecutive that is not new So I just keep saying it every week. I might as well just copy and paste the real me by future debuts number one on billboard 200 chart That's cool. That's a good album. Die die. The official world cup song is You know, it's number one in the billboard global 200 chart for the second week in a row Daughter from hell though by Gracie Abrams former guest wonderful person debuts number one on Spotify's top album global chart and good reason The single is number one on Spotify's top debut global chart Olivia Rodriguez still number one on top albums global chart in USA It's the exact same thing. So nothing to repeat there and that's the news not anything crazy But we did have a good interview this week with Adam Lambert super interesting stuff and very insightful and he He says spills the beans a bit the fascinating conversation and nice fella and we have another big guest this week Excited for that. She is on fire right now. So that's gonna be fun Excited to share that with you in the meantime join our patreon where we continue to add some community things So we can all talk and be friends and stuff like that and Thank you Georgia Web Bush for the wonderful notes have a wonderful weekend talk to y'all soon. Bye

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Lawsuits between X (formerly Twitter) and music publishers (NMPA) over copyright and antitrust issues were dismissed, ending the dispute.
  2. Merlin won a $3.2 million judgment against Triller for unpaid licensing fees, potentially pushing the platform into financial trouble.
  3. SoundCloud acquired blockchain music platform Nina Protocol, marking a renewed interest in blockchain tech.
  4. Spotify launched global music video charts, allowing artists to pitch videos for editorial opportunities.
  5. AI-generated music now accounts for over 50% of daily uploads on one platform, but less than 1% of listeners engage with it, suggesting limited commercial viability.
  6. Charts
  7. The host highlights an interview with Adam Lambert and teases another big guest, while promoting Patreon community engagement.

Summary:

In this week’s music industry update for July 20, 2026, host Roscoe covers a mix of legal, corporate, and chart news. The major legal story is the dismissal of copyright and antitrust lawsuits between X and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which the host criticizes, accusing X of failing to pay for song uses and not removing infringing content. 2 million court judgment against Triller for unpaid licensing fees, which may financially cripple the platform.

In corporate moves, SoundCloud acquired Nina Protocol, a blockchain music platform, surprising the host who thought blockchain had faded. Spotify introduced new global music video charts, enabling artists to pitch videos for editorial features. A notable trend: AI-generated tracks now make up over half of daily uploads on one platform, but listener interest is minimal (under 1%), undermining hopes for monetizing AI music.

Chart highlights include LL England’s "Texas" staying #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a 14th non-consecutive week, Future’s "Real Me" debuting atop the Billboard 200, the official World Cup song leading the Billboard Global 200, and Gracie Abrams’ "Daughter from Hell" topping Spotify’s global album and debut charts, with Olivia Rodrigo still #1 in the US. The host also mentions a recent insightful interview with Adam Lambert and teases another major guest, while encouraging Patreon support for community features. Overall, the week was quiet on signings but packed with industry shifts.

FAQs

The copyright and antitrust lawsuits between X and the NMPA were dismissed on the same day, ending the dispute. The host criticized X, claiming they didn't pay for song uses and failed to remove copyright infringement.

Merlin won a $3.2 million judgment against Triller for unpaid licensing fees. The host speculated this might put Triller out of business.

SoundCloud acquired Nina Protocol, a blockchain music platform. The host noted this was surprising since blockchain hadn't been in the news recently.

Spotify launched new music video charts globally, allowing artists to pitch videos for editorial opportunities. The host compared this to MTV.

AI-generated tracks accounted for more than 50% of new music uploads during a peak in June. However, less than 1% of listeners were listening to these tracks, suggesting they're bogging down the system.

'Choosing Texas' by LL England was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 14th non-consecutive week. The host noted this wasn't new.

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Transcription

580 words