Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

Halloween Issue: Stream ripping has been part of music piracy for decades, from copying songs on the radio to cassette, to now when an individual rips music or video from a streaming platform and coverts it into a downloadable file that any user can use offline.

If you haven't heard of stream ripping, it's probably because the labels have had some success regulating it. But now it's back in the headlines.

The AI companies like Suno and Udio are accused of stream ripping to train their AI models. Of course the labels have already been suing Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, and now they've adding ripping to the claim.

Suno and Udio warn that this could lead to all YouTube video downloads being determined to be illegal, even if under fair use.

Scary Stuff!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/suno-and-udio-rip-streams-to-feed-ai.html

"...labels to quietly consider licensing arrangements rather than risk exposing gaps in ownership or registration in court."

For the discovery process between Udio and UMG, the court agreed that Universal Music Group must:

1. Provide copies of all of the music they claim was infringed, I.E., prove it!

2. Provide all of the record agreements between the label and the artists to determine if UMG actually owns the recordings. If the agreement specifies that the record was Made Work For Hire, the label owns it forever. If not, it's possible that at 35 years, the artist could reclaim ownership from the label.

This has been so effective that Suno and other AI companies are making the same demands for discovery. Meanwhile nothing stops Suno and Udio from scraping up any music not represented by the labels, such as by indie artists and independent labels.

BUT..."Underlying compositions and lyrics, the lifeblood of songs... have not been part of the current licensing discussions." So even if the labels settle with Suno and Udio, it's not over.

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/udio-takes-lead-in-record-label-lawsuit.html

"Fans may soon follow virtual personas with the same passion as human celebrities."

An AI Musician with millions of streams gets a 3 million dollar contract.

An AI Actor worries human actors.

Both are seen as threats by human musicians and actors, but does the common person care?

This is a case in which a human and AI successfully 'collaborate.'

Are there times when AI can be your creative partner? Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

• The internet is no longer “for humans, by humans.”

• "82% of listeners cannot distinguish AI-made music from human-created music"

• "The Internet Will Be More Dead Than Alive Within 3 Years, Trend Shows. All signs point to a future internet where bot-driven interactions far outnumber human ones"

• 38 percent of (mostly) human-made webpages from 2013 no longer exist, which is the result a process known as “link rot.”

• "A growing number of tech users now believe that AI is God."

• "AI SLOP MIGHT FINALLY CURE OUR INTERNET ADDICTION?"

Sources:

https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/09/we-are-in-age-of-ai.html

Taking a break from AI, copyright law, etc...I dive into the new field of composing music, designed to enhance specific culinary delights. "Scientists Invent this 90-sec Song [Sweetest Melody] to Make Chocolate Taste Better"

Research shows that certain instruments make food sweeter, or more bitter. How does your instrument affect taste?

Does it work? Researchers say: "We're able to show that we can change the experience in [the] mouth by about 5 or 10 percent."

Will there be a Spotify playlist with music designed just for specific tastes to "create a multisensory experience that goes beyond taste?"

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

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