Midweek Music Update: Wednesday 14 January 2026
Welcome to this fortnight's round-up of news, commentary and industry announcements that you may have missed from the past few weeks.
If you are looking for advice in relation to any of the issues mentioned, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Legal updates
Class action alleges Ticketmaster's website tracking and surveillance tools violate privacy laws (MBW)
Elon Musk's X files antitrust lawsuit against music publishers in the US (Music Week)
Defunct Fanimal sues Live Nation and Ticketmaster alleging anti-competitive behaviour (MBW)
Judge dismisses Salt-N-Pepa's lawsuit against UMG over master recordings (Variety)
Class action alleges Drake used online casino to fund artificial streams (Rolling Stone)
Live Nation and Ticketmaster move to dismiss FTC lawsuit (Variety)
Bad Bunny sued for $16 million over unauthorised use of voice recordings (Rolling Stone)
Class action against Ticketmaster over service fees to proceed to trial in Quebec (MBW)
In the news
2025 audio streaming surpasses 210B plays but streaming growth slows (Music Week)
Music videos and games revenues grew four times faster than UK economy in 2025 (ERA)
UMG strike deal with Nvidia over Music Flamingo AI platform (Music Ally)
Tomorrowland announces first Asian festival in Thailand (BBC)
Napster shuts down music streaming service (Music Ally)
PPL pays out £54.3 million in final distribution of 2025 (PPL)
PRS for Music announces record distribution of £274.9 million (PRS for Music)
Features and commentary
Luminate comments on The Weeknd's catalogue deal with Lyric Capital (Spotlight)
Should Spotify increase the payout threshold for music artists? (MBW)
UMG CEO criticises AI on streaming services in New Year's message (Music Week)
Industry changes and developments
Soundverse publishes white paper on its "ethical framework for AI music" (Music Ally)
Managers and agents urge EU action on unauthorised ticket resales (MBW)
