This week’s music industry news centers on AI’s growing impact and legal battles. Zuno Gahak’s revelation that it scraped millions of songs for AI training from YouTube and Deezer has intensified copyright lawsuits, with host Ross Golan predicting Zuno will fail like Napster, while ethical companies like UDO, which pay creators, may thrive with smaller margins. Zuno defends itself by promising transparency tools like watermarking and audio fingerprinting, though it insists AI disclosure should be left to artists and platforms. Meanwhile, the RIAA and SAG-AFTRA introduced new labels to identify AI-generated or assisted music, sparking questions about listener perception. Other notable developments include a study showing Gen Z’s willingness to spend more on live music, and a proposed US royalty rate extension through 2032 for physical releases, which could benefit vinyl. Legal and regulatory actions target ticketing, with SubHub facing a class action lawsuit and DC passing the RESALE Act capping resale prices. Business deals include Iron Maiden selling a stake to Pop House Entertainment, Warner Chappell promoting David Goldson, and signings by The Elephant and TI. Chart successes feature L.O. Langley’s "Choose in Texas" leading the Hot 100 for 13 weeks, Madonna’s new album debuting at number one, and strong Spotify performances from Future and Olivia Rodriguez. Overall, the week highlights AI’s disruption, regulatory shifts, and ongoing artist success.
Welcome to And The Update is I am your host Ross Golan and this is the Music Industry news for the week of July 13th, 2026, let's start with the news, oh yeah, Zuno Gahak. We all know this if you are following any music industry news and it revealed that they scraped millions of songs for AI training. The leap data supports claims that Zuno collected music from YouTube, Deezer and other platform strengthening ongoing copyright lawsuits. I keep saying this, I think Zuno is going to go the way of lime wire, it's going to go the way of Napster and those companies that are doing ethical AI training where they pay their creators are probably going to survive some with a smaller margin like an UDO who's already doing deals with majors, I would bet on them before I would bet on Zuno, sure a lot of people use Zuno now, but they also use lime wire Napster and those you don't use anymore. Zuno responds to industry on AI music, the company says it's working with artists and rights holders on AI transparency, investing in tools like watermarking and audio fingerprinting and believes AI disclosure should be left to artists and platforms, I bet they believe that. New study finds Gen Z are willing to spend more on live music, this is also not a surprise because those people are sick of not seeing other humans and they need reasons to see humans. And here's a good one, R.I. double A and SAG Aftra announced that they have introduced new AI generated and AI assisted labels to identify AI usage in release music, I do wonder, would you listen to a song that has AI assisted as a label? I'm curious about that, that already exists all over, so what are your thoughts if you heard that? Would you think down on that song? I don't know. Sam Fender and Olivia Dean set UK record with Rain Me In, the song has become the longest running number one by a British artist after spending 16 consecutive weeks, a top of the UK chart, Sam Fender, you know, I got to say in front of like 300 people, when we did some live and the writer is at South by Southwest in 2019, US copyright royalty board proposal would extend physical mechanical royalty rates through 2032, this is good because you know, it used to be 9.1 cents, now it's 12 point, something cents, per song, per album, a new proposal would keep current royalty rates for physical releases and downloads in place for another 5 years pending approval, I bet that happens and that's good because people are buying more manufactured music like vinyl. SubHub faces class action lawsuit following ticket resale investigation, the new lawsuit alleges SubHub's practices differ from how it describes, it's fan to fan market base and in the same type of news, DC passes, anti ticketing, scalping law, the resale act caps resale prices at 10% above face value, creating some of the toughest ticket resale rules in the United States, I think we're seeing where the trend is heading, Iron Maiden sells large stake of their music to pop house entertainment, pop house always going for that cool vintage stuff like kiss and oba, that's a cool company, Warner Chappell music promotes David Goldson to executive vice president of A&R, I mentioned that because he's a cool guy, in some signings, he elephant signs with big loud rock for records, that is cool, that's cool band, also TI, that's right, TI signs with reservoir for publishing, we like both TI and reservoirs who are rooting for that. Here's some chart news, oh what's this song, Choose in Texas by L.O. Langley is number one on billboard hot 100 for the 13th week, non consecutive, very impressive, Confessions number two by Madonna, debuts at number one on the billboard 200 chart, she's still putting out cool stuff, Diedeye, FIFA World Cup, official song in 2026, debuts number one on the billboard global 200 chart, congrats to all of our friends involved in that, choose in Texas, go listen to Luke Dick episode, Confessions, you can listen to Watt, you can listen to Circuit, and Diedeye, you can listen to John Vellian, and Ed Sheeran, if you want to listen to some earlier stuff, go join our Patreon, we also had our first Patreon hang on Zoom, and it was awesome, thanks to Peter Fenn for joining that, oh yeah, back to charts, the real me by future, debuts at number one on Spotify's top album, debut global chart, and you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodriguez, number one on Spotify's top album, global chart, for the fourth week in a row, congrats to our friends on that as well, so yeah, so that's the news for this week, pretty exciting stuff happening in the music industry, but mostly on our Patreon page, that's right, patreon.com/andtherederis, you heard it here first, thank you Georgia Whitebush for great notes, and we will talk to you all soon, have a good week, bye! (gentle music)
Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Zuno Gahak scraped millions of songs for AI training from platforms like YouTube and Deezer, fueling copyright lawsuits; comparisons are drawn to Napster and LimeWire, with ethical AI firms like UDO seen as more likely to survive.
Zuno claims it’s working on AI transparency tools (watermarking, audio fingerprinting) and argues AI disclosure should be up to artists and platforms.
A new study shows Gen Z is willing to spend more on live music, driven by a desire for human connection.
The RIAA and SAG-AFTRA introduced labels for AI-generated and AI-assisted music to identify AI usage in releases.
Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s "Rain Me In" set a UK record with 16 consecutive weeks at number one.
A US Copyright Royalty Board proposal would extend current physical mechanical royalty rates through 2032, benefiting vinyl sales.
SubHub faces a class action lawsuit over ticket resale practices, and Washington DC passed the RESALE Act, capping resale prices at 10% above face value.
Iron Maiden sold a large stake of its music to Pop House Entertainment; Warner Chappell promoted David Goldson to EVP of A&R; The Elephant signed with Big Loud Rock, and TI signed with Reservoir for publishing.
Chart highlights
Summary:
This week’s music industry news centers on AI’s growing impact and legal battles. Zuno Gahak’s revelation that it scraped millions of songs for AI training from YouTube and Deezer has intensified copyright lawsuits, with host Ross Golan predicting Zuno will fail like Napster, while ethical companies like UDO, which pay creators, may thrive with smaller margins. Zuno defends itself by promising transparency tools like watermarking and audio fingerprinting, though it insists AI disclosure should be left to artists and platforms.
Meanwhile, the RIAA and SAG-AFTRA introduced new labels to identify AI-generated or assisted music, sparking questions about listener perception. Other notable developments include a study showing Gen Z’s willingness to spend more on live music, and a proposed US royalty rate extension through 2032 for physical releases, which could benefit vinyl. Legal and regulatory actions target ticketing, with SubHub facing a class action lawsuit and DC passing the RESALE Act capping resale prices.
Business deals include Iron Maiden selling a stake to Pop House Entertainment, Warner Chappell promoting David Goldson, and signings by The Elephant and TI. O. Langley’s "Choose in Texas" leading the Hot 100 for 13 weeks, Madonna’s new album debuting at number one, and strong Spotify performances from Future and Olivia Rodriguez.
Overall, the week highlights AI’s disruption, regulatory shifts, and ongoing artist success.
FAQs
Zuno Gahak revealed they scraped millions of songs from platforms like YouTube and Deezer for AI training, which has strengthened ongoing copyright lawsuits against them.
Zuno says it is working with artists and rights holders on AI transparency, investing in tools like watermarking and audio fingerprinting, and believes AI disclosure should be left to artists and platforms.
They introduced new AI-generated and AI-assisted labels to identify AI usage in released music.
Their song 'Rain Me In' became the longest-running number one by a British artist, spending 16 consecutive weeks atop the UK chart.
The proposal would extend physical mechanical royalty rates through 2032, keeping current rates for physical releases and downloads in place for another five years pending approval.
SubHub faces a class action lawsuit over alleged discrepancies in its fan-to-fan marketplace, and Washington DC passed the Resale Act capping resale prices at 10% above face value.
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