Suno and Udio are being sued by the labels, but there is another major suit most haven't heard about. Sued by UMG and other labels, Anthropic almost got away with scraping millions of copies of printed music to train AI for free, claiming 'Fair Use.' Until it was exposed, in a similar class action lawsuit by book authors, that Anthropic hid it also scraped printed music from the same LibGen, torrents, and other sites. The book authors won, and now, using the same winning arguments against Anthropic, the record labels will probably win! Multiple book authors in the class class action suit, who had no idea their books were illegally copied, are being notified now that they are in the winning camp and can expect to be paid. Will the record labels, assuming they also win, keep the money? Or will they do the same and notify songwriters and composers? If so and you have lyrics, sheet music, scores, etc, most likely you'll also be owed some $ !

Podcast Link

Artificial Pop (A-Pop), Music Designers, AI Music Charts, Oh My!

The separation between human music and AI music is widening and becoming more obvious.

AI now has its own all AI record labels, there will probably be a Billboard AI Chart, the 1st 'Music Designer' who uses Suno is signed to a record deal, A-Pop (Artificial Pop) is becoming as thing.

Meanwhile humans are looking at creating paid subscriptions to human-only music streams, a new human-only music social network is coming, and I predict soon human-only music boutique record labels.

The lines are being drawn. AI is carving out its own space, while humans create human artist sanctuaries in which AI isn’t allowed. Will there soon be Skynet Records?

Will someone from the future come back to save music?

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/no-ai-no-humans.html

Link to YT video

People use AI (SUNO, UDIO) to create songs comprised of real musicians' copy-protected works. It's blatant copyright infringement, hidden by laundering copyrights so they can't be traced to the original owners. Here is what you need to know:

Money Laundering

Al Capone used to run money made from bootlegging and other crimes through laundromats to 'clean' money, make it legitimate, so that nobody could trace it back to the original 'dirty' crime money. Thus the term 'money laundering'. The music biz, including Spotify, has had a history of money laundering.

Derivative Works

When someone alters a copyrighted work, it's easy to trace the original content of derivative works, when songs are altered in some way, by comparing the original to the altered version. The composer of the original can then be compensated as required by law.

Copyright Laundering

Copyright laundering is when AI is trained on legit copyrighted material and used to create new music, but the synthetic result is then trained on again, and again, with elements of the original work passed down and mixed into each new version, so that it's impossible to trace back to the original work and copyright owner. Each new song is then copyrighted by the 'composer' without compensating the original copyright holder.

Humanization

And even though AI generated work isn't copyrightable, by adding a little 'humanization', such as "timing edits, analog processing, metadata stripping, even real musicians replaying part, it qualifies for copyright registration and royalty collection—despite its AI origins and use of pre-existing material."

00:00 - intro 00:11 - Money laundering

01:31 - Copyright laundering

01:54 - Derivative works and copyright

03:36 - AI and copyright laundering

06:38 - Humanizing AI generated music for copyright claims 07:26 - Impossible to trace the original copyrighted material

Sources available at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/copyright-laundering-its-thing.html

$2 billion is lost to streaming fraud each year, representing about 7-10% of total streaming royalties, and growing.

Streamfarms, consisting of AI bots, and more likely people in developing countries PRETENDING TO BE AI BOTS, are paid to rapidly inflate the number of streams of a song, as well as likes, follows, and playlists, pushing both human and fake artists to the top.

Other artists find market visibility to be monopolised by fraudsters and mediocre music. It's already been hard to break through, is it even possible to compete with those using streamfarms, cheating their way to the top?

Link to sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Link to video: https://youtu.be/o-zfp5Aa_YU?si=B2ZypuUdV53SRKd9

Link to video: https://youtu.be/hJeu5KvgBww

"You have to die before they think you are worth anything". Jimi Hendrix

The deaths of the greatest generation of rockers, is bringing in millions of dollars, and the industry has learned to cash in. Even just a rumor of a death, like when Paul McCartney was supposed dead and replaced by a double (he wasn't), can result in big boosts in sales and streams.

With the assassination of John Lennon, the records labels began to realize that when an artist dies, even if past his/her peak, the money spigot would open and stay open.

As the Baby Boomers mourn the increasing number of deaths of the music icons of their generation, labels and catalog investors make plans to maximize profits, patiently waiting for the moment.

While even the biggest and richest rock stars are mortal, and Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven's Door, their music is immortal, and worth millions. (Ages of rockers below)

Link to sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/08/dying-for-dollars-rock-of-aged-sources.html

From the days of hipster musicians touring living rooms, to the present with major acts playing in backyards and bowling alleys, artists are skipping large venues and thinking small, the stage wherever they can strap on a guitar and play.

With fans having to finance tickets to go to concerts, the trend is for the artists to go to them. Bands like All American Rejects achieved over 4 Million dollars in marketing on their 'House Party Tour' by playing at skating rinks and homes.

Now the labels and marketers smell the money and are getting involved setting up fake fan pages on Tik-Tok, encouraging real fans to take and post videos and pictures of the performances, and then reposting them to potentially millions of fans.

But it's also a strategy that any aspiring artist can use to find places to play, hone performance skills, test new songs, and build followings. Shakespeare showed the way when he stated 'All The World's A Stage'.

Jonesy believes that every aspiring musician should be given a kitten before the first music lesson!

In this podcast, Jonesy the cat points to famous DJ and producer deadmau5: "While cats may sometimes be destructive, deadmau5 is a fan of having feline pals around." As cat-dad to Peanut, Dizzy and Dolly, even though they may be a pain at times, he believes that's 'The price of a cat'. And surely Peanut, Dizzy and Dolly simply tolerate a cat-dad that wears mouse ears! Sometimes, just giving a cat a little scratch behind the ears, or a belly-rub, is all you need to be at your most relaxed and your creative best. Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/07/deadmau5s-feline-secret-to-success-and.html

[Warning...this vid is a little philosophic] While watching an interview of David Gilmore about his newest album, Luck and Strange, I was reminded that music is a gift to humans. That AI will never wait for years to finish a song, always looking for that special something it needs to complete it. That AI will never be visited by a Muse. That AI will never experience music.

The Cambridge dictionary defines muse as: a person, or an imaginary being or force that gives someone ideas and helps them to write, paint, or make music.

In this video, Gilmore talks about the creative process of the song Between Two Points, sung by his daughter Romany. He had recorded it for himself, but never released it because it just didn't feel right. Then a Muse whispered the idea in his wife's ear, to let their daughter sing it, and she did it in one take. You can see how the music washes over Gilmore as he listens to it.

Creative types seek and call on their Muses for help. And sometimes the Muse provides that magic moment when you ask, "Where did that come from?"

Artificial Intelligence will always be artificial. Right now, AI is more and more creating music for humans. Will there be a backlash when humans will want to hear music only made by humans? Because only Muse inspired music can go deep into the soul of humans, and AI will never ever be visited by a Muse!

Link to Gilmore Interview:

https://youtu.be/O3OazxoPRK8?si=C6UMQnG9Yv4qAyRZ

Podcast at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOzs8lbX9g4

1 - Courts just opened the door for AI to copy copyrighted material under Fair Use, as long as they purchase 1 copy.

2 - The First Record Label to Exclusively Feature AI Artists: IT'S ALL FAKE. Artists, Music, Backstories, Videos...everything.

3 - "There's No Going Back!" 'Deezer' Chief Innovation Officer.

Sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/06/is-it-real-or-is-it-ai.html

SubStack https://srfrjff.substack.com

A former exec at Meta (Facebook) said "...asking for permission from rights owners to train models would 'basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.' "

In 1997, it was the new technology, MP3s, used by Napster, that the labels said would kill Music.

Back then the labels sued Napster, Kazaa, etc; today the labels are suing Suno and Udio. Is history repeating itself? Lot's of parallels!