Apple Music Launches AI Transparency Tags — But Only If Labels and Distributors Declare Them

Apple Music has introduced Transparency Tags, a metadata system that flags when AI has been used to create artwork, tracks, compositions, or music videos. Labels and distributors can apply them now and will be required to for future deliveries. The catch: Apple is relying entirely on self-reporting. There’s no detection technology on their end, and if a tag is omitted, the system assumes no AI was involved.

Compare that to Deezer, which built its own detection infrastructure. Deezer is now receiving over 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks per day, with synthetic content making up roughly 39% of all daily deliveries. They’ve tagged over 13.4 million AI-generated tracks and report that up to 85% of streams on those tracks were fraudulent in 2025.

Sono Hikari Take: Two models are emerging for AI transparency: one that trusts the supply chain to police itself, and one that verifies independently. Apple’s approach matters for good-faith actors, but the people uploading AI content to game royalty pools aren’t going to voluntarily tag their tracks.

Deezer’s detection system, which can identify 100% AI-generated content from tools like Suno and Udio, is the more consequential infrastructure. They’ve already begun licensing it to collecting societies. If detection becomes the industry standard rather than self-reporting, it changes the economics for everyone. That 85% fraud rate on AI-generated streams isn’t a platform problem. It’s money being siphoned from the royalty pools that pay real artists.

For Self-Label Artists: I've recently started including an AI disclosure clause in producer agreements, requiring producers to confirm whether they used AI-generated output from platforms like Suno or Udio. As more producers incorporate these tools into their workflows, this kind of protection matters. You don't want to find out after release that your song has been flagged with an AI tag you didn't know about. Beyond contracts, keep your metadata airtight, your credits accurate, and check what your distributor's AI settings look like. The artists who benefit from transparency frameworks are the ones whose ownership is already documented clearly.

Charlie Puth Named Chief Music Officer at AI Music Company Moises

Charlie Puth has been named Chief Music Officer at Moises, an AI platform that offers production tools like vocal isolation and mastering. Unlike Suno and Udio, Moises doesn’t generate music from prompts. It provides non-generative tools designed to speed up the recording process. Puth, who produces and engineers his own music, described AI done right as something that helps artists learn and explore rather than replacing them.

Sono Hikari Take: This distinction gets lost in the broader AI conversation. There’s a real difference between AI that generates music for you and AI that helps you make music better and faster. Moises falls in the second category. Vocal isolation, stem separation, mastering assistance: these are production tools that save time and lower costs, the same way a better plugin does.

Charlie Puth feels like the right person for this role. Beyond his success as a recording artist, he’s built a massive following on TikTok through his “Professor Puth” series, where he breaks down production techniques, music theory, and the craft behind the sounds. He’s someone who genuinely keeps the art of production visible in a generation that’s increasingly exposed to prompt-based output. Having him attached to a tool that enhances the creative process rather than replacing it sends the right message.

For Self-Label Artists: If you’re producing your own music, tools like Moises are worth exploring. Vocal isolation for reference tracks, quick mastering for demos, and stem separation for remixes. These aren’t replacing your process. They’re removing friction from it. The cost of professional-grade production tools continues to drop, and that’s a direct advantage for artists building without a label budget.

South Korea’s Music Industry Unites to Declare ‘War’ on AI Copyright Infringement

Six of South Korea’s major music industry organizations have formed a coalition declaring a “state of emergency” against AI copyright infringement. The coalition includes organizations representing songwriters, performers, labels, and entertainment producers, with council members from HYBE, SM Entertainment, JYP, YG, and the local arms of Sony, Warner, and Universal.

Their demands: a ban on unauthorized AI training without creator consent, mandatory transparency in AI generation, and clear standards for distinguishing human-created work from AI output. They’re also building blockchain-based infrastructure to link ISWC, ISRC, YouTube Content ID, and Korea’s UCI into a unified system for tracking and distributing royalties in real time.

Sono Hikari Take: South Korea is treating AI copyright as an existential issue rather than a policy conversation. When six organizations spanning the entire rights chain form a joint task force and call it a “declaration of war,” that tone will ripple outward.

What makes this more than a public statement is what they’re building behind the demands. Right now, rights data in the music industry is scattered across different organizations and systems that don’t talk to each other. That fragmentation is one of the reasons it’s so hard to track who owns what and make sure the right people get paid. South Korea’s coalition is building a unified system to fix that, and they want it to become the global standard.

They’re also already enforcing stricter rules than anyone in the US. KOMCA, South Korea’s largest music copyright collective, requires creators to certify that AI was not used when registering new works. If they find out otherwise, they can withhold royalties or remove the work entirely.

For Self-Label Artists: The standards being built in one major market tend to influence global policy, and what South Korea is implementing now is a preview of where the industry is heading everywhere. It's worth paying attention to how AI rules are evolving, because the consequences are real: automatic AI tagging on your releases, withheld royalties, or removed registrations. If you're working with producers, make sure you know whether they're using AI-generated tools in the process. That conversation needs to happen before anything gets delivered, not after your song gets flagged. Keep your metadata transparent, your credits accurate, and your rights clearly documented. When global standards tighten, the artists who are already organized benefit first.

Nearly 50% of All US Consumers Use TikTok as a Search Engine

A new Adobe study found that 49% of American consumers now use TikTok as a search engine, up from 41% in 2024. Among Gen Z, that number is 65%. The most common search categories are recipes, beauty advice, restaurant recommendations, new music, and product recommendations. Google still leads as the most trusted source at 85%, but search behavior is expanding across formats. Also notable: 14% of consumers said they’re more likely to use ChatGPT than Google for search, distributed fairly evenly across generations.

Sono Hikari Take: The important detail for music: “new music” is one of the top search categories on TikTok. People aren’t just stumbling on songs in their feed. They’re actively searching for music the way they used to search on Google or Spotify.

If half of US consumers are using TikTok as a search engine, your content needs to be findable, not just scrollable. Song titles, genre descriptors, mood language: the keywords people type into TikTok’s search bar matter as much as the content itself. This isn’t about virality. It’s about being present when someone is looking for exactly what you make.

For Self-Label Artists: Think about TikTok as a search engine, not just a content feed. Use descriptive captions, relevant hashtags, and clear text on screen. If someone types “chill indie folk” or “dark R&B” into TikTok’s search bar, you want your music in those results. Also worth noting: TikTok recently introduced Local Feeds, making it easier for users to discover local artists and events. If you’re playing shows or doing anything with a physical location attached, that’s more discoverable now than it used to be.

Robert Kyncl Talks Suno, AI, the Value of Music and More at Morgan Stanley Event

Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl used a Morgan Stanley conference to argue that AI represents a growth opportunity for the music industry. He cited Suno’s 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual revenue as proof that AI creation platforms are an incremental revenue source. He described WMG’s AI licensing deals as variable, revenue-share structures rather than flat fees, and predicted AI creation tools would eventually migrate to the major DSPs.

His most significant argument: AI could shift royalty distribution from a market-share model to an attribution model, where value flows to the specific works used as inputs for AI-generated content. He suggested this would reward “familiar and iconic” content. He also detailed WMG’s internal AI tools for catalog management and revenue forecasting, and pushed back on the idea that AI diminishes the role of major labels.

Sono Hikari Take: Let’s be direct about what Kyncl is telling investors: AI is good for Warner because it creates new licensing revenue, rewards catalog ownership, and makes discoverability harder for artists to solve alone.

The most important thing he said: as AI creation platforms grow, a new stream of royalty revenue is emerging where artists get paid based on whether their songs get used as source material by AI tools, not based on plays. Sony is already moving in this direction, recently launching their own AI detection system that can identify when their artists' music has been used to generate AI output. That model funnels money toward the artists and catalogs people already know. Major labels with decades of recognizable hits are positioned to benefit the most. For independent artists still building their catalogs, that's a structural disadvantage being written into the next version of the business model.

For Self-Label Artists: This is exactly why infrastructure matters now as a self-label artist. A new revenue model is being built where catalog recognition determines who gets paid, and major labels are already investing in the detection systems to make sure they collect. This means you need to be building the things that protect your position: a properly registered catalog, clean metadata, a clear artist identity, and a growing body of work that's documented and discoverable. The artists who have that in place will have options no matter how the model shifts.

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‘Say No to Suno’: Artist Rights Groups Push Back Against AI Music Company

A coalition of artist rights organizations published an open letter titled “Say No to Suno,” calling out the AI music platform for what they describe as unauthorized training on copyrighted music and flooding streaming platforms with AI-generated content. Signatories include the Music Artists Coalition, the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, the Artist Rights Alliance, and several other advocacy groups. The letter accuses Suno of being a “brazen smash and grab” operation and draws a pointed comparison to the recent Louvre jewelry heist. The campaign arrives during a turbulent stretch for Suno, where the company simultaneously announced 2 million paid subscribers and $300 million in annual revenue, while still facing active copyright lawsuits from UMG and Sony. The letter also raised concerns about Deezer’s research showing that up to 85% of streams on fully AI-generated tracks are fraudulent.

Sono Hikari Take: The timing of this letter couldn’t be more strategic. The same week artist advocates publicly call Suno a threat to the creative ecosystem, the company reports numbers that prove millions of people are paying for exactly what artists are protesting. What’s also worth paying attention to is the “walled garden” debate underneath all of this. UMG’s licensing deals with Udio require AI-generated music to stay inside the platform and not be distributed elsewhere. Suno’s deal with Warner doesn’t include that restriction. The industry is splitting into two camps over whether AI-generated music should be allowed to leave the platform where it was created. That question will shape how much AI content ends up competing with your music on streaming platforms, and how royalty pools are affected.

The fraud numbers from Deezer also deserve more attention than they’re getting. If 85% of streams on AI-generated tracks are artificial, this isn’t just an artistic integrity issue - it’s a direct financial hit on the royalty pool that pays real artists. Every fraudulent stream on an AI-generated track is money that doesn’t go to artists.

For Self-Label Artists: The practical move right now is the same one it’s been: make sure your catalog is properly registered, and your metadata is airtight across every platform. As detection tools, licensing frameworks, and compensation models emerge, the artists who benefit first will be the ones whose ownership is documented clearly and completely. Also worth checking - does your distributor have AI licensing settings you don’t know about? Know what you’ve opted into. The decisions being made at the industry level right now will affect your royalty statements within the next year.

TIDAL Expands Its Spotlight Program to More Artists

TIDAL has expanded its Spotlight program into Canada, the UK, and several European markets, opening up editorial promotion and cash awards to more independent artists. The program is tied to TIDAL Upload, the platform’s direct publishing tool, where artists upload original tracks, make them public, and become eligible for editorial placement and a one-time $1,000 award if selected by TIDAL’s editorial team. There’s no separate application process. Eligible countries now include the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland.

Sono Hikari Take: This is a small but meaningful signal. In a landscape where algorithmic discovery dominates, and most platforms reward existing momentum, TIDAL is pairing human editorial curation with direct financial incentives. A $1,000 award won’t transform anyone’s career, but the model itself is interesting - it says that editorial selection based on musical quality should come with compensation, not just a playlist add and a pat on the back.

I recently visited TIDAL in New York City, and their passion for supporting artists was refreshing to experience. Their staff prides itself on actually listening to every single submission. They’re aware they’re a small team, and they’re not trying to compete with Spotify - their focus is providing meaningful service to artists with artist-friendly payouts, and they’re able to do that because they’re a subsidiary of Block, the financial company. It will be interesting to see how their business shifts amid Block’s recent major layoffs, but regardless, TIDAL is a platform independent artists should be taking advantage of.

The deeper point here is the philosophy behind it. Most streaming platforms treat playlist placement as a favor. TIDAL is treating it as something that deserves payment. For independent artists who often pour hundreds or thousands of dollars into releases without any guaranteed return, a platform that pays you for being selected, rather than expecting you to pay for promotion, is a different value proposition entirely.

For Self-Label Artists: If you’re distributing to TIDAL and you’re in an eligible country, make sure you’re using TIDAL Upload for your original releases. The barrier to entry is low, and there is no pitching process, no gatekeeping beyond your distributor. The editorial selection is competitive, but the combination of visibility and a cash award makes it one of the better risk-free opportunities available to independent artists right now. Even if you don’t get selected, having your catalog present on TIDAL Upload positions you for future consideration.

Primary Wave Nears Deal to Acquire Kobalt, Which Would Create a $7B Indie Music Powerhouse

Primary Wave is reportedly in advanced negotiations to acquire Kobalt Music Group, the world’s largest independent music publishing administration company. If the deal goes through, the combined entity would represent over $7 billion in assets. Primary Wave’s portfolio includes stakes in the catalogs of Prince, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, and Britney Spears. Kobalt administers over 1 million songs and represents songwriters including Max Martin, Karol G, Andrew Watt, and Phoebe Bridgers. The deal would give Primary Wave its own publishing administration infrastructure for the first time, plus control of Kobalt’s AMRA digital royalty collection operation, which collects directly from streaming services rather than routing through local societies. Kobalt is currently generating roughly $100 million in EBITDA and could fetch a sale price exceeding $1.5 billion.

Sono Hikari Take: Kobalt built its reputation as the tech-forward alternative to traditional publishing with transparent royalty tracking, faster payments, and a platform designed for self-publishing songwriters. Primary Wave is a catalog acquisition machine with deep pockets and a roster of iconic legacy rights. When these two models combine, the question is which philosophy wins.

Kobalt’s newer service, KOSIGN, which provides publishing administration to independent songwriters who often have no other way to collect publishing royalties on their masters, is a growing part of this equation. If you’re an independent artist releasing music and not collecting your publishing royalties - and many aren’t -services like KOSIGN, Songtrust, and Word Collections exist to close that gap. Whether this acquisition strengthens or deprioritizes that side of Kobalt’s business is worth watching.

This deal also sits alongside BMG’s reported talks to acquire Concord. Two of the biggest independent music companies could change hands in 2026, which means the “independent” sector is consolidating in ways that start to look less “independent” by the year.

For Self-Label Artists: If you’re not collecting your publishing royalties, this is your reminder. Every time your song is streamed, there are two sets of royalties: one for the recording (your master) and one for the composition (your publishing). Most independent artists collect the first and most think that their PRO covers all their publishing royalties. Services like KOSIGN and Songtrust close that gap.

Google Acquires AI Music Startup ProducerAI

Google has acquired ProducerAI, the AI music creation platform formerly known as Riffusion, and brought the team into Google Labs. ProducerAI uses Google DeepMind’s Lyria 3 model to let users generate tracks, remix audio, write lyrics, create album art, and produce music videos through an interactive AI agent. The platform was developed in collaboration with The Chainsmokers and Grammy-winning rapper Lecrae. All content created through ProducerAI is embedded with SynthID, Google’s imperceptible watermark for identifying AI-generated content. The acquisition came just one week after Google launched Lyria 3 inside Gemini, which generates up to 30-second music clips for consumer use. ProducerAI is available globally with free and paid plans.

Sono Hikari Take: Google is making a clear two-pronged play in AI music. Lyria 3 inside Gemini is the consumer-facing side: short clips for social sharing and casual use. ProducerAI is the creator-facing side, with longer-form production tools aimed at people who actually want to make music. The fact that Google separated these two approaches tells you something about where they think the market is heading.

The SynthID watermarking is the detail I’m paying most attention to. If Google embeds an invisible, persistent watermark in every piece of audio generated through its AI tools, that creates a system where AI-generated content can theoretically be identified and tracked across platforms. That’s meaningful for the fraud and royalty dilution conversation happening around Suno. But it also raises a question worth sitting with: if an artist uses just one AI-generated part and the rest is human-played, their entire song could still potentially be flagged as AI. Whether other AI music companies adopt similar transparency measures, or are required to, will shape how this industry evolves.

The bigger picture: this acquisition happened the same week as the “Say No to Suno” campaign. Google is betting that the path forward is building AI music tools with artist endorsements and built-in identification systems, not fighting the copyright battles Suno is still fighting. Whether that approach earns trust from the broader creative community remains an open question.

For Self-Label Artists: AI music tools are not going away. They are getting more sophisticated, better funded, and more integrated into the platforms you already use. Your competitive advantage as a human artist isn’t that you can make music — it’s that you can make music that means something, that comes from somewhere real, and that carries a story only you can tell. That’s the part AI can’t replicate. Lean into it.

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Sony Group Develops Tech to Track Original Music in AI-Generated Songs

Sony Group has reportedly developed technology capable of identifying copyrighted music embedded in AI-generated tracks. The system works two ways: when AI developers cooperate, Sony connects directly to their base model systems to extract training data. When they don’t cooperate, the system compares AI-generated output against existing catalogs to estimate which original works were used. The research was developed by Sony AI, a paper has been accepted at an international conference, and the company envisions the technology as the foundation of a revenue-sharing framework that would compensate creators based on how much their work contributed to an AI-generated song.

Sono Hikari Take: As much as I’d like to call this a clear win for human creators, the more important question is who actually benefits from a system like this. Sony is the world’s largest record label. When they build AI detection technology, it’s reasonable to assume it was designed around their catalog and their artists first.

There’s also a deeper problem here that the “30% Beatles, 10% Queen” framing exposes. Who wasn’t influenced by The Beatles? That kind of attribution framework may work for direct sampling, but music doesn’t work that way. Artists influence each other in overlapping, non-linear ways. Think about James Taylor, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell shaping each other’s sounds simultaneously in the early 70s. How granular does this system actually get, and who decides where influence ends and infringement begins?

Each major label will likely build its own version of this technology, and when that happens, the systems will reflect who funded them. Expect competing tools, competing standards, and competing claims over which artist the AI was actually influenced by.

For Self-Label Artists: Your music can end up in AI training datasets whether you opt in or not. Start thinking about your catalog as something that has value in this ecosystem, not just on streaming platforms. Register your songs everywhere they can be registered. Keep your metadata clean and current. If compensation frameworks do emerge from technology like this, the artists who can clearly prove ownership and document their catalog will be the ones positioned to benefit. You can’t collect what you can’t prove is yours.

This Machine Eats Music: Pushing Back Against AI in Art

The Nashville Scene published a deep look at the growing resistance to AI in music and art, examining how artists in Nashville and beyond are pushing back against the rapid normalization of AI-generated work. The piece explores the human cost of AI replacing session musicians, demo singers, and songwriters, and the philosophical questions around what it means to create art in an era when machines can produce something that sounds convincingly human. It also examines who benefits from this shift and who loses ground.

Sono Hikari Take: Nashville is the most songwriter-centric city in American music, which makes it a particularly sharp lens for this conversation. The artists speaking out in this piece are not technophobes or people afraid of change. They are working professionals watching a livelihood disappear in real time, often without the industry's acknowledgment that anything significant is happening. When AI can generate a demo in seconds for free, the entire infrastructure of how songs get made and paid for changes overnight. For self-label artists, the tools that lower production costs are real and useful. Worth sitting with, though, is the fact that those same tools are devaluing the craft that made the music worth making in the first place.

For Self-Label Artists: Think carefully about where you draw your own lines with AI tools. Using AI to streamline admin work, generate reference tracks, or spark ideas is one conversation. Using AI-generated music in your artist output without disclosure is a different one. Your audience trusts that when they listen to you, there is a human on the other side of that sound. That trust is your most valuable asset, and it is worth protecting.

Spotify Bets on AI Remixes as Pressure to Monetize Grows

On Spotify’s Q4 2025 earnings call, co-CEOs Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström laid out the company’s AI strategy in detail. Spotify reported 751 million monthly active users and paid out $11 billion to the music industry in 2025. Their AI roadmap has two categories: net new music created with generative tools, and “derivatives” of existing songs, including AI-powered remixes and covers. It’s the second category where Spotify appears most excited, describing it as “an untapped opportunity for artists to make money off of their existing IP.” The technology is already built. Licensing is the remaining hurdle. Norström stated directly that Spotify “will not do deals that aren’t good for artists.”

Sono Hikari Take: Spotify’s position as the world’s largest streaming platform gives them real leverage to shape what a “fair” AI deal looks like, and the framing of “artists choosing whether to participate” is a meaningful commitment if it holds. What I’m watching closely is the derivatives feature. Letting fans remix your catalog inside Spotify is a genuinely new revenue model, and for artists who want it, it could be valuable. For artists who don’t want their sound and catalog used to generate variations, the opt-in framing has to be real and clearly enforced. Platforms have a long history of making promises to artists that dissolve quietly when business priorities shift. Spotify’s pressure to monetize AI features will only increase from here.

For Self-Label Artists: Start paying attention to your distributor’s AI licensing settings. Some distributors are already prompting artists to opt in or out of AI training data licensing, sometimes in language buried in terms of service updates, without even letting you know. Know what you’ve agreed to and what you haven’t. When Spotify’s AI derivative features roll out, you will want to understand exactly what participation means for your catalog, your royalties, and your brand before you make a decision.

TikTok Launches Listening Party Feature With Apple Music: How to Host One

TikTok has launched a beta version of a Listening Party feature in partnership with Apple Music, allowing verified artists to host synchronized album listening sessions directly inside TikTok. Fans with active Apple Music subscriptions can hear full tracks in real time while chatting with the artist and each other. Non-subscribers can still join the chat and listen to 30-second previews. Artists can also gamify the experience by setting collective streaming milestones that unlock exclusive content. The feature is currently available to verified artists on TikTok’s iOS app, with the wider rollout still to be announced.

Sono Hikari Take: The discovery-to-listening pipeline has always been broken. A fan hears 15 seconds of a song on TikTok, gets pulled away, and the momentum dies before they make it to a streaming platform. This feature patches that gap by keeping fans inside TikTok while they stream the full track through Apple Music. From a pure artist-to-fan mechanics standpoint, that’s a real improvement. The Listening Party format also creates something meaningful: a shared experience around your music that feels intentional rather than algorithmic. The limitation right now is that it requires both TikTok verification and an Apple Music subscription on the fan side. That’s a smaller audience than it sounds. Curious how this evolves and whether Spotify, YouTube Music, or others get added as partners.

For Self-Label Artists: If you are already verified on TikTok and your music is on Apple Music, this feature is worth experimenting with around a new release. The interactive format rewards artists who have something to say about their music beyond the song itself. Behind-the-scenes stories, lyrics breakdowns, and real-time Q&As make the listening party something fans will actually show up for. Plan it the way you would plan a release event, and promote it across all your channels in advance. The metric to watch is whether fans who attend are converting to saves and follows on Apple Music, which you can track through Apple Music for Artists.

Deezer Refreshes Flow With Advanced Algorithm Upgrade

Deezer has introduced Flow Tuner, a major update to its flagship personalized streaming feature. The upgrade gives listeners direct control over their recommendation algorithm by allowing them to activate or deactivate specific genres and subgenres in real time. The changes reflect immediately in the Flow playlist without requiring likes, dislikes, or skips to signal preferences. Notably, Deezer’s updated Flow also excludes AI-generated tracks from recommendations by default, backed by the company’s proprietary AI detection tool. Deezer is now receiving over 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks per day and has been working to license its detection technology to the wider industry.

Sono Hikari Take: Two things stand out here. First, user-controlled algorithms are a meaningful shift. Platforms have spent years telling listeners that the algorithm knows best, and artists have been at the mercy of recommendation systems they cannot influence or understand. Giving listeners more control changes the dynamic and potentially opens up more room for niche sounds and smaller artists who speak to specific tastes. Second, Deezer’s decision to exclude AI-generated tracks from recommendations by default is a real stance. They are receiving 60,000 AI tracks daily. That number is growing. A platform that actively filters for human-made music in its core recommendation feature is making a values statement. Whether it moves the needle commercially remains to be seen, but it is worth knowing.

For Self-Label Artists: Deezer may not be your primary streaming platform, but genre tags and metadata accuracy matter across every DSP you are on. As recommendation algorithms become more sophisticated and more user-directed, the specificity of how you describe your music becomes more important. If a listener is actively curating for a particular mood, subgenre, or sound, your metadata is what determines whether you show up. Audit how your releases are tagged on every platform and make sure the descriptions match what you are actually making.

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Korea’s Music Giants Target Japan as Paid Streaming Scales Up

Japan’s premium music streaming surged by 14.2 billion plays last year. At the 2026 Korea Music Data Summit, executives from HYBE, SM, JYP, and YG met with analytics firm Luminate to map a data-driven expansion strategy into Japan’s growing paid streaming market. Industry leaders emphasized that intuition-based strategies are no longer enough, pointing to localized release timing, platform prioritization, and fan-to-revenue conversion as the new playbook.

Sono Hikari take: Japan continues to operate as one of the most unique music markets in the world. It’s the second-largest music market in the world accounting for roughly one-third of all premium streams in Asia-Pacific, and still generating massive revenue from physical sales. What stands out here is the shift toward data-driven strategy. These Korean labels are treating Japan as a market that requires precision, localization, and a deep understanding of consumer behavior. That level of intentionality is something self-label artists can learn from, regardless of scale.

For self-label artists: You don’t need a team of analysts to start thinking strategically about where your listeners are. Check your streaming data. Which countries or cities are showing growth? Are you tailoring anything to those audiences, even something as small as release timing or playlist pitching strategy? The labels going into Japan aren’t guessing anymore. Neither should you.

Songs Are Reaching 1 Billion Spotify Streams 14x Faster Than a Decade Ago

Chartmetric’s 2025 Year in Music report revealed that the average time for a song to reach one billion Spotify streams dropped from 2,729 days in 2015 to 197 days in 2025. In October 2023, BTS member Jungkook’s Seven broke the record for the fastest song to reach one billion Spotify streams at 108 days. Three times as many artists reached “Superstar” status in 2025, but sustaining that level of chart dominance is becoming harder. Regional genres like Bollywood, K-pop, Brazilian funk, and Reggaeton are among the fastest-growing sounds globally. South Korea now accounts for five times as many artists in the top 1,000 compared to 2020, and India’s share surged from 0.6% to 11%.

Sono Hikari take: The speed of consumption is accelerating, and so is the speed at which attention fades. More artists are breaking through than ever before, but staying power is shrinking. That paradox is worth sitting with. The report also highlights something important: regional genres and non-English-speaking markets are driving global growth. The music industry is becoming less centralized, and artists rooted in specific cultural identities are finding global audiences. The old model of needing to break through in the U.S. or UK first is losing its grip.

For self-label artists: If your music is rooted in a specific sound, culture, or region, that’s an asset. The data is proving that authenticity and cultural specificity travel further than ever. And if you’re worried about not hitting viral numbers, remember that the artists sustaining long careers are the ones building loyal audiences, not chasing the fastest billion-stream milestone.

Epidemic Sound Launches Global Artist Series Featuring Reworked Tracks From Catalogue

Epidemic Sound launched “re/works by Epidemic Sound,” a global series inviting artists to reimagine tracks from their catalogue of over 50,000 songs. The reworked tracks will live across streaming platforms, social media, and brand partnerships. The Swedish edition kicks off with artists like Kleerup and Jenny Wilson, with a UK edition planned for autumn. Their previous initiative, Extra Version, amassed over a billion views across YouTube and TikTok in six months.

Sono Hikari take: The re/works concept is smart. Inviting established artists to reimagine existing catalogue tracks gives those artists visibility across Epidemic Sound’s massive creator and brand network, and the numbers back it up. Their previous initiative, Extra Version, pulled over a billion views across YouTube and TikTok in six months. That’s real exposure. For producers and musicians who thrive on making mood-driven, sync-ready music, this kind of opportunity can generate meaningful income and connect their sound to audiences they might never reach on their own. Worth knowing before you dive in: Epidemic Sound owns 100% of the rights to every track in its catalogue, including masters, composition, and neighboring rights. Artists receive an upfront fee and a 50/50 streaming split, but the ownership is permanent. That model works well for musicians who want steady studio income creating vibe and atmosphere tracks for creators and brands. For artists focused on building a fanbase under their own name, the trade-off is worth understanding clearly before signing anything.

For self-label artists: Programs like this can be a solid revenue layer if you treat them as work-for-hire, separate from your artist project. The exposure is real, and the pay structure is transparent. Just go in with your eyes open. Know what you’re keeping and what you’re giving up. If ownership is your priority, protect your artist catalogue and use opportunities like this strategically on the side, not as the foundation of your career.

YouTube Rolls Out an AI Playlist Generator for Premium Users

YouTube now allows Premium users on iOS and Android to create playlists using text or voice prompts. Users can type something like “sad post-rock” or “90s classic hits,” and the AI builds a playlist. Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer have all rolled out similar features. YouTube also recently restricted free users from viewing song lyrics, pushing more features behind the Premium paywall. Google reported 325 million paying subscribers across Google One and YouTube Premium.

Sono Hikari take: AI-generated playlists are becoming the norm across every major platform. For listeners, it's convenient. For artists, it’s not so black and white. AI playlists could surface music that editorial playlists would never touch, expanding discovery for smaller artists. But if algorithms are doing the curating, the already-existing bias toward popular and familiar-sounding tracks could deepen. It's also worth noting that more platforms are locking lyrics behind premium paywalls. That move actually validates something artists have always known: listeners care about lyrics. If platforms see enough value in words to charge for access to them, that's even more incentive to be intentional with yours.

For self-label artists: As AI playlists become more common, your metadata matters more than ever. Genre tags, mood descriptors, and accurate song information all influence how algorithms categorize and surface your music. Make sure your distributor uploads are detailed and correct. And keep building direct connections with your fans outside of any platform. The algorithm changes constantly. Your email list and community don’t.

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One Thing To Carry With You This Week:

"Art is created in the present. The motivation for the creation can be commercial. But that art is limited in its power by its intentions."

— Quincy Jones

Apple Music Flagged 2 Billion Fake Streams in 2025, Then Doubled Its Penalties

Apple Music revealed that the platform identified and demonetized roughly 2 billion fraudulent streams last year, representing an estimated $17 million in royalties that would have been siphoned from legitimate artists. The company has now doubled its fraud penalties from a 5-25% range to 10-50% of would-be royalties. Schusser pointed to the surge in AI-generated content as a driving factor. For context, Deezer reported receiving approximately 60,000 AI-generated tracks per day, with up to 85% of streams from fully AI-produced music flagged as fraudulent in 2025.

Sono Hikari take: Two billion fraudulent streams sounds enormous, but Apple says that’s still less than 0.5% of total listening on the platform. The real story is what’s driving the increase: AI-generated music created specifically to game royalty distribution. These aren’t artists using AI as a creative tool. These are fraud networks manufacturing AI tracks at scale to extract money from the same pool your music earns from. Every fake stream that gets paid dilutes the per-stream value for everyone. The penalty doubling is a step, but the deeper issue remains: the royalty system was built on the assumption that music comes from real people making real art. That assumption is now being stress-tested daily. Platforms that take enforcement seriously are protecting the ecosystem artists depend on.

For self-label artists: This is why clean metadata, proper registration, and understanding your royalty infrastructure matters more than ever. The money reclaimed from fraudulent streams goes back into the pool, which means it finds its way to artists who are registered correctly and playing by the rules. Are your songs properly registered with your PRO, publishing admin, and SoundExchange? If not, you’re leaving the reclaimed money on the table too.

Spotify Ditches the Blue Checkmark “Registered Artist”

Spotify is replacing its blue Verified Artist checkmark with a new label: “Spotify Registered Artist.” The designation moves from the prominent checkmark placement to the About section of your profile. Spotify says the change is about clarity. The blue check was being interpreted as a status symbol or endorsement, when it really just meant an artist had claimed their profile through Spotify for Artists.

Sono Hikari take: This is purely a cosmetic update. Your algorithm standing, playlist eligibility, royalties, and access to Spotify for Artists tools remain exactly the same. But the rebrand does say something about how "verification" has been culturally distorted across platforms. After Twitter's checkmark chaos and Meta turning verification into a paid purchase, the word "verified" lost its meaning entirely. What's worth noting is what this rebrand doesn't address. At a time when platforms are drowning in AI-generated uploads (remember Deezer's 60,000 AI tracks per day), there's no mention of "Registered Artist" being used to distinguish human artists from AI-generated profiles. That feels like a missed opportunity. A label that signals "this is a real person making real music" would carry actual weight right now. Instead, "Registered" just means you claimed your profile.

For self-label artists: Have you claimed your profile on every platform where your music lives? Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, Amazon Music for Artists, YouTube for Artists. Each one gives you data and tools that help you understand how your audience is finding you.

Spotify Upgrades Lyrics With Offline Access and Global Translations

Spotify announced updates to its lyrics feature by now appearing directly beneath album artwork for more prominent placement, expanding translations globally (up from 25 markets), and Premium subscribers getting access to lyrics offline. Spotify says user tests showed the more prominent lyrics placement increased engagement with the feature.

Sono Hikari take: The global translations expansion is genuinely interesting for self-label artists thinking about international audiences. If your lyrics are now accessible in multiple languages, listeners in markets you haven’t actively targeted can engage more deeply with your music. This is especially relevant for English-speaking artists with growing international streaming numbers. It lowers one barrier to connection without requiring any extra effort on your end.

For self-label artists: If you’re seeing international streaming activity in your Spotify for Artists data, pay attention to which countries are showing up. Expanded lyric translations could deepen engagement in those markets organically. And if you haven’t checked your lyrics on Spotify recently, make sure they are accurate. These are now front and center in the listening experience.

How Splice Automated Royalty Payments, and Why It Matters Beyond Splice

Digital Music News highlighted how sample marketplace Splice overhauled its royalty payment system through automation. Their finance team had been manually processing 900+ royalty payments each quarter, a process that took two weeks per cycle, totaling eight weeks of manual work per year. After implementing automated payment infrastructure, that same process now takes less than an hour.

Sono Hikari take: This story is a sponsored case study, so take the framing with that context. But the underlying principle is relevant beyond Splice. The music industry’s payment infrastructure has historically been slow, manual, and opaque. When companies like Splice, Symphonic, and others invest in automating their royalty operations, it means faster, more accurate payments to the artists and producers creating on those platforms. For self-label artists, this is a reminder that the platforms and services you choose to work with matter. A distributor or sample marketplace that has invested in its payment infrastructure and transparency is more likely to pay you correctly and on time. When you’re evaluating distributors, ask about payment timelines and how they handle royalty accounting alongside the feature comparison.

For self-label artists: When was the last time you audited your own payment infrastructure? Do you know when each of your revenue sources pays out, how much they take in fees, and whether your banking details are up to date across every platform? Building that awareness is part of operating like your own label.

Olivia Dean and Lola Young’s Grammy Win Is a Masterclass in Patience

Olivia Dean took home Best New Artist at the 2026 Grammys, becoming the first British act to win that category since Dua Lipa in 2019. Fellow Brit Lola Young also won Best Pop Vocal Performance for “Messy.” Dean’s acceptance speech hit hard: “I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant. I’m a product of bravery, and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.” Her single “Man I Need” is now sitting at No. 2 on the US Hot 100, and The Art of Loving has rebounded to its No. 3 peak.

Sono Hikari take: What stands out about Dean’s trajectory is the years that came before the Grammy. She spent half a decade putting out EPs, testing different musical approaches, and building her craft before most people outside the UK knew her name. She recorded The Art of Loving in a rented East London flat because she wanted to control the environment, to set the tone of the room herself. She told Billboard last year, “I’ve never been on the charts before, and I’ve been putting out music for quite a long time.” That’s someone who was making music because the music mattered to her. The Grammy didn’t create her artistry. It confirmed what years of patient, intentional work had already built.

For self-label artists: Dean’s story is worth sitting with. Are you building something you’d be proud of even without the big moment? What would your career look like if you gave yourself permission to develop at your own pace, instead of measuring progress by someone else’s timeline?

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AI Is Starting to Figure Out Who Deserves to Get Paid

A new framework called “creative weight attribution” is gaining traction in AI licensing, basically, what happens to the artists whose music trained AI-generated music. When an AI generates a track, that output was shaped by millions of existing recordings it learned from. Attribution tech measures how much each source track actually influenced a specific AI output, so the original artists can be compensated accordingly. Startups like Musical AI have built tools that can parse what percentage of a generated output came from which source material, and major labels are already structuring licensing conversations around this model.

It’s worth noting that the U.S. Copyright Office has ruled that prompt-only AI generation doesn’t meet the threshold for copyright ownership. The person who typed the instruction didn’t make the creative decisions - the AI did. Which means the artists whose work trained the model have a stronger claim to what it produces than the person who generated it. Attribution tech is being built to make that compensation trackable and enforceable.

Sono Hikari take: This is the first real mechanism that could put money directly in artists' hands from AI - not just establish the legal right to be paid, but create an actual trackable path to payment. I still have a lot of questions: how deep does the attribution actually trace? If an AI output sounds like Bruno Mars, does it consider his influences too - Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire etc., or does it stop at the surface? And songwriters need to be in this conversation. Some writers create the melodic DNA that defines a song's identity without ever being the performing artist. If attribution tech only measures sonic similarity to recordings, it could miss the most influential element entirely. These are real limitations. But even imperfect attribution is better than the current system, which is nothing. If this works even partially as intended, your music could generate passive income every time it influences an AI output - without you doing anything.

For self-label artists: If an AI tool generated something that sounded like your music tomorrow, would your metadata be clean enough to get found and paid? What does your catalog documentation actually look like right now?

AI’s Most Critical Role in 2026 Isn’t Creation - It’s Rescue

Jacob Varghese, CEO of data company Noctil, wrote an op-ed for Music Business Association that reframes the entire AI debate. His argument: the real threat isn’t AI replacing artists. It’s that legacy rights management systems can’t handle the volume of new licensing revenue that AI deals are about to generate. The music industry is currently sitting on an estimated $2.5 billion in globally unclaimed royalties - money that was earned but never collected because of bad metadata, incorrect identifiers, and siloed databases. As AI licensing deals multiply, that number grows. Varghese’s solution: deploy AI not as a creator, but as a “rescue” tool, as specialized systems designed to clean databases, resolve metadata conflicts, and ensure payments actually reach the right people. He calls it “Janitorial AI.”

Sono Hikari take: Varghese is right, and the stakes are higher than most people realize. The industry isn't just behind on data; it's actively losing money because of it. Here's what a lot of artists don't know: when royalties sit unclaimed because the metadata can't match them to a rights holder, they don't just disappear. After the holding period expires, those unclaimed royalties that are sitting in the “black box” gets redistributed based on market share. Which means it flows to the biggest stakeholders. Major publishers. Major labels. Rarely independent aritsts. The global black box is estimated at $2.5 billion, and independent artists are the ones most likely to lose out because they're the least likely to have airtight registrations. This is exactly why "janitorial AI" is urgent. If the infrastructure can't identify who earned what, the system defaults to whoever already has the most power. Cleaning up the data is crucial to making sure money actually reaches the people who made it.

For self-label artists: Think about the last song you released. Are all your royalty streams actually flowing? When did you last verify your registrations with your PRO, publishing admin, and SoundExchange? Have you audited your metadata recently?

Spotify, Sony, Warner, and UMG Sue Anna’s Archive Over 86 Million Scraped Tracks

In December 2025, a shadow library called Anna’s Archive scraped approximately 300 terabytes of data from Spotify - metadata for 256 million tracks and audio files for 86 million songs. Spotify identified and disabled the accounts responsible almost immediately. Now Spotify, backed by all three major labels, is suing. The potential damages are calculated at nearly $13 trillion, based on the maximum statutory copyright penalty of $150,000 per track, applied to 86 million songs. A preliminary injunction was issued in January by a federal judge in New York. Anna’s Archive did not appear in court.

Sono Hikari take: Someone attempted to duplicate nearly the entire catalog of commercially released music in a single move. The industry responded within days - legally, forcefully, and with all three majors unified. For self-label artists, this is a useful reminder: your music has quantifiable value, and the legal infrastructure around protecting it is being actively enforced right now. This is also a preview of how seriously the AI training data question is being taken. When someone tries to scrape the library, the industry fights back.

For self-label artists: Are you registered with a distributor that would flag unauthorized use of your catalog? Do you actually know what protections are in place for your masters if someone tried to scrape them at scale?

Spotify Paid $11 Billion to the Music Industry in 2025 - And Is Cracking Down on AI Slop

Spotify announced it paid out more than $11 billion to the music industry in 2025 - up over 10% from 2024, and the largest single-year payout from any music retailer in history. Independent artists and labels accounted for half of all royalties. The platform now represents roughly 30% of all recorded music revenue. Spotify’s Head of Music, Charlie Hellman, also flagged something self-label artists should watch closely: AI-generated content is flooding the platform at scale, and Spotify is updating its verification systems, song credits, and artist identity protections to push back. Over 100,000 new tracks are uploaded to Spotify every single day.

Sono Hikari take: $11 billion sounds impressive until you divide it by the number of artists on the platform. And when a significant portion of those 100,000 daily uploads are AI-generated tracks designed to game the royalty pool, the math gets even less friendly for human artists. That dilution is real. The more promising signal is that Spotify is actually moving to protect against it; tightening verification, cleaning up credits, and flagging synthetic uploads. If those systems are built well, it could meaningfully protect your share of the pool. But it only helps you if your own profile, credits, and verification are already in order.

For self-label artists: Is your Spotify artist profile verified? Are your song credits accurate and complete on every track? In a landscape where AI is actively competing for the same royalty pool, your metadata and verification aren’t just housekeeping. They’re defense.

‘Mickey’ Gave ‘APT.’ It's Hook - So Why Aren’t the Original Songwriters Grammy Eligible?

Bruno Mars and Rosé’s “APT.” interpolated the chorus of Toni Basil’s 1982 hit “Mickey.” The songwriters behind “Mickey”, Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn are credited on “APT..” They authorized the use, and they receive royalties. But they are not eligible for a Grammy nomination in Song of the Year. The Recording Academy’s rule is straightforward: Song of the Year honors new creative work from this year. Interpolated material, no matter how central to the song’s identity, doesn’t qualify the original writers for the nomination. Chapman and Chinn are two of 12 credited songwriters on “APT”, but only the ones who wrote new material are nominated. This isn’t a one-off. Multiple 2026 Song of the Year nominees contain interpolations, driven by the reality that short-form platforms reward familiar hooks that grab attention in under three seconds.

Sono Hikari take: The Grammy rule reveals something worth understanding about how the industry values songwriting. The people who created the hook that made “APT.” impossible to get out of your head can get the royalty check and the credits, but not the recognition on music’s biggest night. For self-label artists, the practical takeaway is this: interpolation is increasingly how hits get built, and if your songwriting catalog contains material worth borrowing, you need the infrastructure to license it properly, track when it’s being used, and ensure you’re compensated correctly. Your catalog has a shelf life longer than you think. The value doesn’t disappear when the original release stops charting.

For self-label artists: Have you thought about the long-term value of your songwriting catalog? If someone wanted to sample one of your compositions tomorrow, would you have the splits documented, the licensing infrastructure in place, and a way to track and approve usage?

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One Thing To Carry With You This Week:

“I know people think independence means you do it by yourself, but independence means freedom.” - Chance the Rapper (@The Grammys)

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ElevenLabs Launches “The Eleven Album” With Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel & Other Legacy Artists

AI voice company ElevenLabs released “The Eleven Album” on Spotify featuring 13 artists including EGOT-winner Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel collaborating with their AI music generation tool. Artists retain full ownership and collect all streaming revenue from their tracks. The album spans genres from rap to EDM, with each artist creating original music using AI-generated backing tracks or voice cloning. Artists are also joining ElevenLabs’ “Iconic Marketplace” where they can license their voice or musical identity for approved brand deals and media projects. The company claims their model is “fully trained on licensed music” and includes “sonic fingerprints” to identify AI-generated content.

Sono Hikari take: This is AI companies attempting legitimacy through celebrity endorsements. When filmmaker Justine Bateman says “the first thing you gotta look at is how much money did they pay them,” she’s naming the reality: these partnerships are marketing, not genuine artistic collaboration. Minnelli’s new EDM track sounds nothing like her legacy work, because it isn’t her work, it’s a voice clone performing over AI-generated music. The real question isn’t whether the technology works. It’s whether this normalizes a model where tech companies profit from artist likenesses while the actual craft - the years spent developing a voice, a sound, an artistic identity, becomes just another dataset to be monetized. ElevenLabs positioning this as “empowering creators” while simultaneously planning to lock all creation inside their platform by 2026 (no downloads, everything stays on their service) reveals the endgame: build dependency, control distribution, extract value. This isn’t about artists. It’s about establishing a closed ecosystem where the platform, not the artist, holds the power.

For self-label artists: If an AI company approached you tomorrow offering money to license your voice or catalog for training, what would you need to know before deciding? What protections would actually matter - not just in the contract, but in how your music gets used once it’s in their system?

Physical Music Sales Set for First Increase in 20 Years—Driven by Vinyl and Gen Z CD Buyers

Physical music sales are on track for their first overall increase since 2004, with vinyl leading at 12.4% growth and CD sales showing the slowest decline in years (down only 1.5% vs. double-digit drops in previous years). Gen Z is driving the resurgence - 43% of CD buyers in France are under 35, and they’re purchasing vinyl, CDs, and cassettes more than any other generation. The appeal isn’t just nostalgia: it’s tangible ownership, superior sound quality, collectability, and direct artist support. In the US, physical sales generated around $2 billion in 2024, with vinyl accounting for $1.4 billion. Smaller artists are increasingly treating physical releases as essential revenue streams rather than niche extras, bundling them with merch at shows.

Sono Hikari take: Physical sales aren’t replacing streaming but they’re serving a different purpose entirely. While streaming prioritizes convenience, physical products prioritize meaning and connection. For superfans, buying physical music is how they express loyalty and participate in an artist’s world. The shift toward premium products (limited editions, colored vinyl, bespoke box sets) over mass distribution means higher margins and stronger emotional engagement, even with lower volumes. What matters here isn’t that physical is “back” - it’s that artists who understand their audience can create revenue streams that aren’t subject to per-stream economics or platform whims. The question becomes: how do you make your physical release feel like an experience rather than just another purchase?

For self-label artists: If you released a physical product tomorrow - vinyl, CD, cassette, what would make it feel essential to your core fans rather than just “nice to have”? What could you offer that streaming can’t replicate?

Aphex Twin Overtakes Taylor Swift on YouTube—Thanks to a 24-Year-Old Track Going Viral

Experimental electronic producer Aphex Twin reached 448 million monthly YouTube listeners in January 2026, surpassing Taylor Swift’s 399 million. The anomaly stems from how YouTube Music calculates monthly listeners: it includes not just direct plays and official videos, but passive consumption through YouTube Shorts, fan uploads, and user-generated content. Aphex Twin’s 2001 track “QKThr” has become a viral background soundtrack for short-form content, meme compilations, and “subtle foreshadowing” / “hopecore” videos. The track has appeared in over 4 million TikTok videos, 530,000 Instagram Reels, and 507,000 YouTube Shorts. On traditional streaming metrics, Aphex Twin has around 5.10 million listeners - still impressive, but nowhere near the YouTube count.

Sono Hikari take: This reveals how discovery works in 2026: algorithms decide what travels, and platform mechanics reshape visibility in ways traditional charts never capture. A minimalist piano piece from 2001 becomes a global phenomenon not because someone marketed it, but because it emotionally resonated in thousands of micro-moments across the internet. This matters for self-label artists because it proves that catalog value isn’t just about playlist placement or release strategy - it’s about whether your music can serve a purpose beyond just being “music.” Can it soundtrack a feeling? Accompany a moment? Become a cultural marker? The passive consumption economy rewards tracks that work in the background, that create atmosphere without demanding full attention. That’s a very different value proposition than trying to manufacture a viral single.

For self-label artists: Looking at your catalog, do you have tracks that could serve a purpose beyond traditional listening - ambient pieces that could soundtrack videos, emotional builds that fit montages, textures that work as background? Are you thinking about your music’s second life beyond the initial release?

Ed Sheeran Lets Fans Vote on His Setlist Every Night—And You Should Consider It Too

Ed Sheeran is letting fans curate five songs in his setlist each night during his Australia/New Zealand Loop Tour, using real-time text voting. He’s committed to learning any song requested - not just his own catalog, creating a different show every night. Fans have already pulled out deep cuts from 2013 and tracks not performed since 2021. The approach transforms concerts from one-way performances into collaborative experiences, giving fans ownership over the show while providing artists with unfiltered data about what truly resonates with their audience regionally.

Sono Hikari take: This isn’t just a gimmick, it’s smart relationship-building. When fans help shape the setlist, they become collaborators rather than spectators. That sense of ownership creates loyalty that extends far beyond the show itself. For self-label artists, the principle applies even if you can’t set up a text-voting system: find ways to give your audience creative input in your live experience. It could be as simple as posting Instagram Stories before a show asking which songs they want to hear, or letting your email list vote on which unreleased track you perform. That mutual respect strengthens the artist-fan relationship in ways that algorithmic playlisting never will.

For self-label artists: What’s one way you could involve your audience in shaping your next live show, release, or creative decision? What would make them feel like collaborators rather than just consumers? Do you have a direct way to engage with them?

Udio Signs AI Licensing Deal with Merlin—Major Labels Now on Board, Indie Artists Still Deciding

AI music platform Udio signed a licensing agreement with Merlin, the digital rights agency representing thousands of independent labels globally. The deal allows Merlin members to opt-in to licensing their recordings for training Udio’s AI models, with compensation and usage rules. Participation is strictly voluntary. The partnership follows similar deals Udio made with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, leaving Sony as the only major not yet involved. Udio has not disclosed payment rates or whether backdated compensation will be offered for music previously used in training. Udio plans to retire its current model in 2026 and relaunch as a closed platform where users can’t download AI-generated tracks—everything stays within the Udio ecosystem.

Sono Hikari take: This is the pattern we keep seeing: AI companies secure legitimacy through licensing deals with major aggregators (labels, rights agencies) while individual artists are left deciding whether to opt in (if they even have that choice) often without clear information about compensation rates or long-term implications. “Opt-in” sounds like consent, but when payment structures aren’t transparent and you don’t know how your music will be used once it’s in the system, how informed is that consent? The bigger issue: Udio is moving toward a closed ecosystem where all creation happens inside their platform and nothing leaves. That’s not empowering artists - that’s building a walled garden where Udio controls distribution, monetization, and access. For self-label artists, the question isn’t “should I let AI train on my music?” It’s “do I trust this company to act in my long-term interest when their business model depends on locking creators and listeners inside their platform?”

For self-label artists: If your distributor or a rights organization you belong to made an AI training deal on your behalf, would you opt in? What information would you need to make that decision and who would you trust to give you honest answers?

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One Thing To Carry With You This Week:

The real threat to your career isn’t new technology, changing platforms, or algorithm shifts. It’s losing your creative “why” - the reason you started making music in the first place. Awareness is your most powerful tool for breaking free from mimetic patterns and external validation. When you feel the pull to chase what everyone else is chasing, pause and ask: Is this what I actually want, or is this what I think I’m supposed to want? That clarity is everything.

-Sono Hikari

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Spotify Launches First-Ever Songwriters To Watch List

Spotify released its inaugural Songwriters to Watch 2026 list, spotlighting emerging songwriters and writer-producers across genres, from Nashville hitmakers to global pop builders. The company’s global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team curated the list, with Head of Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships Jacqueline Ankner stating: “Songwriters are the architects of the songs we fall in love with, and too often their stories stay behind the scenes.” Each featured writer has two essential cuts added to a dedicated playlist.

Sono Hikari take: It's genuinely good to see the people who build the songs getting a spotlight. However, the fact that it's taken until 2026 for the world's largest streaming platform to launch something like this says a lot about whose stories have mattered up to now. Even more forgotten than songwriters are the musicians, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers who actually create the recordings. Hopefully, this is a start to not just acknowledging the creators behind the music but making them visible, and creating a healthier ecosystem where everyone involved in the creative process can benefit from exposure in addition to being compensated fairly. Recognition is a start, but it also reminds us how invisible the work has been.

For self-label artists: Are your songwriter credits accurate across all platforms? Is your publishing registered so that recognition can actually translate to compensation? Are you crediting your musicians properly?

Spotify’s AI Deals: Permission-Based or Just Better PR?

Spotify announced partnerships with Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Merlin, and Believe to develop “artist-first AI music products.” The company outlined four principles: upfront licensing agreements with rightsholders, choice in participation for artists, fair compensation and new revenue streams, and tools that enhance rather than replace human artistry. Spotify stated: “Some voices in the tech industry believe copyright should be abolished. We don’t. Musicians’ rights matter. Copyright is essential. If the music industry doesn’t lead in this moment, AI-powered innovation will happen elsewhere, without rights, consent, or compensation.”

Sono Hikari take: Spotify is using all the right words here: consent, compensation, choice. But it’s important to note that nothing has been signed yet. This is Spotify saying they intend to do things the right way before launching AI products. The big question is whether independent artists who account for roughly half of Spotify's total royalty payouts will be included in these conversations, or if it’s just the major labels at the table. Either way, these discussions are crucial to shaping how AI is used in music for years to come.

For self-label artists: When did you last read your distributor’s terms of service, especially the sections on data usage and AI? Make sure you’re not signing away your songs for AI training purposes and that you have full ownership of your songs.

Bandcamp Bans AI Music: Why It Matters for Real Artists

Bandcamp announced it will no longer permit music “generated wholly or in substantial part by AI” on its platform. The company also prohibited AI tools used to impersonate other artists or styles. In a blog post titled “Keeping Bandcamp Human,” the platform stated: “We believe that the human connection found through music is a vital part of our society and culture, and that music is much more than a product to be consumed.” Users can flag suspected AI content for review, and Bandcamp reserves the right to remove music on suspicion of being AI-generated.

Sono Hikari take: Bandcamp framed this as protecting "the sheer quantity of human creativity and passion that artists express on Bandcamp every single day." That's a different starting point than platforms focused on scale and efficiency. It's not just about banning AI; it's about what kind of space they want to be. Enforcement will be messy, and the line between "AI-assisted" and "AI-generated" isn't clear yet. But in an industry where most platforms are hedging, it's notable when one doesn't.

For self-label artists: Are you distributing on platforms that align with how you want your work treated? If you're using AI music tools like Suno, have you read their latest terms? Some platforms may flag your music as AI-generated to distributors or limit your ownership rights. Understand Suno’s recent fine print here.

Mark Cuban Invests in Live Events Company Burwoodland

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban made a significant investment in Burwoodland, the New York-based live events company behind Emo Night Brooklyn, Gimme Gimme Disco, Broadway Rave, and All Your Friends. Burwoodland produces over 1,200 shows annually and has sold more than 1.5 million tickets to date. Cuban said: “It’s time we all got off our asses, left the house and had fun. Alex and Ethan know how to create amazing memories and experiences that people plan their weeks around. In an AI world, what you do is far more important than what you prompt.”

Sono Hikari take: Cuban’s quote is the headline here: “In an AI world, what you do is far more important than what you prompt.” Burwoodland’s model is built around community-driven, genre-based events, not individual artist tours. Co-founder Ethan Maccoby described it as “the tour that never officially begins or ends.” There’s something interesting about the bet being placed: that shared, in-person experiences built around a vibe will matter more, not less, as digital spaces get noisier. It’s a reminder that connection doesn’t scale or resonate with audiences the same way content does.

For self-label artists: What would it look like to turn your show into an experience built around community, not just a one-off performance? How do you want your audience to feel after seeing your show?

Landmark Ruling: Songwriters Can Reclaim Their Music Worldwide, Not Just in the U.S.

A U.S. appeals court ruled that songwriters can use American copyright law to get their songs back globally, not just in the U.S. The case centered on Cyril Vetter, who sold his 1963 rock song “Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love)” for one dollar. Sixty years later, the court said he’s entitled to take back full control of the song worldwide. Judge Carl Stewart wrote that giving artists only their U.S. rights back would leave them with “half of the apple,” which was never the intent. Major industry groups warned this could shake up decades of standard agreements.

Sono Hikari take: This one matters. A songwriter sold his song for a dollar in 1963 and is finally getting it back, sixty years later, and not just in the U.S., but everywhere. That’s the key shift: termination rights now apply worldwide. If you signed away your music early in your career, this changes what’s possible down the line. U.S. copyright law lets you reclaim your work after 35 years, and this ruling says that includes global rights too. It also changes how future deals might be written, now that labels know this precedent exists. The music industry has long assumed certain rights stay locked forever. This cracks that open.

For self-label artists: This is a good reminder that ownership plays out over decades, not just release cycles. If you’ve signed anything in the past, it’s worth understanding what termination rights you have down the line.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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One Thing To Carry With You This Week:

“Never play to the gallery. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations.”

- David Bowie

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“Which three countries top the global recorded-music market?”

Everyone nails #1, the U.S., but nearly everyone stumbles on #2. Most guess the U.K. or Germany. I still get double-takes, even from seasoned execs, every time I reveal the real answer.

“Wait, Japan is #2, ahead of Germany, the UK, even China? How?

As a Japanese kid growing up in New York in the early 2000s, my brother and I would bring back a bunch of popular Japanese albums from our summers in Japan. I repeatedly sang along to Utada Hikaru’s mega hit, “Automatic” in my bedroom, totally unaware that Japan’s music market ranked so high.

My curiosity about Japan’s music market never faded. Now, as an A&R building bridges between Japan and the U.S., I want to share the fundamental differences between the two worlds.

And, “How?” is a fair question - so lets dive in.

A Quick Time-Hop: From Post-War Jazz Bars to Global Streaming Playlists

When Japan rebuilt after World War II, it reconstructed more than skyscrapers; it rebuilt its soundtrack. Jazz clubs popped up next to noodle counters. By the 1980s and 1990s, J-Pop and the silky style called “City Pop” dominated the radio. Fast-forward to 2025, and much of that music is finding new life on TikTok and Spotify vaporwave playlists.

Japan is for Nostalgia Lovers

Here is a heart-warming piece of data for any of us who are suckers for nostalgia: 62.5 percent of Japan’s music revenue still comes from CDs1, in a world where streaming claims about 70 percent of the pie almost everywhere else.

It all comes down to fan-first culture, “oshikatsu,” or pushing your favorite artist. This cultural phenomenon generates an estimated ¥3.5 trillion ($18.8 billion) annually across all entertainment sectors, with 62.1% of Gen Z participating and spending an average of ¥250,000 ($1,300) yearly on their chosen artist2 on the following:

Collectibiles

Japanese CDs arrive like coffee-table art books: hardcover booklets, obi strips, lyric cards on textured stock, even Japan-exclusive tracks. A CD becomes merch you can shelve, show off, and resell. When was the last time you bought an album just to admire the packaging?

Fan-access perks

Slip one ticket out of the shrink-wrap and you earn a handshake, hi-touch, or quick Polaroid with the artist. Each ticket grants mere seconds of face time, so die-hards buy stacks of the same single to stretch the moment. What would a guaranteed selfie with your idol be worth to you?

Idol “vote” ballots

J-Pop idol groups like AKB48 tuck one-time codes into limited edition CDs. Each code equals one ballot in an annual ranking that decides which member sings lead. The more discs you buy, the louder your voice. In the U.S., the closest comparison is the heyday of boy bands and girl groups. Japan feels caught in that time capsule. Imagine it’s the early 2000s and every CD you purchase nudges your favorite Backstreet Boy or Spice Girl closer to center stage. How many would end up in your cart?

And here’s the part I love most: in Japan, buying music still feels like an event. Tower Records may have vanished from the U.S., but in Japan it’s alive and kicking, with more than 85 locations. Walk into the nine-story Shibuya flagship and you’ll find listening booths, a tiny live stage, and even a themed café - basically a sanctuary for music nerds. It turns a simple purchase into a day out, not just a swipe of the card.

The Digital Shift: From Caution to Catch-Up

For years, major Japanese labels prioritized guarding their lucrative CD machine, instead of exploring DSPs like Spotify and Apple Music like the rest of the world. Streaming arrived late and climbed slowly, but the tide has finally turned. Now, roughly half of Japanese artists’ Spotify royalties come from outside Japan. Anime scores, Vocaloid hits, and City Pop classics lure listeners far beyond the domestic market, proving that tradition and technology can coexist.

In my previous post, I explained how Music Awards Japan is reinventing award-show culture while carving out a global lane for Japanese music. The creation of CEIPA, the Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association, sprang from this same digital shift, pushing the industry to look beyond domestic physical sales toward international growth.

Japan’s Talent Agency Blueprint

Japan’s talent agencies are a breed of their own. They train singers from childhood, shape every detail of their image, and lock in 360-degree deals that capture concert, merch, television, and brand-endorsement money in one pipeline. This system is notorious for restricting artists, but that early investment has produced countless debut-ready idols who sell big from day one, with built-in “fan games” such as rankings, handshake perks, and limited editions fueling super-fandom. The cash flow spreads across many agency-managed acts, and Japan’s overall music revenue remains high and steady.

I have lived in both cultures and keep asking myself whether this model thrives in Japan because of its cultural wiring. In the U.S., creative life revolves around free speech and artistic autonomy. Open debate and challenging authority are widely encouraged and even celebrated. Japan technically allows the same freedom, yet its strong focus on social harmony and the cultural ideal of ‘Gaman’ - enduring difficulties without complaint, means that speaking out can feel risky. Many who voice bold or controversial opinions face harsh pushback and online harassment, and some are even forced by their agencies to apologize on social media. That expectation of ‘quiet endurance’ makes others think twice before speaking up.

As an artist, where would you draw the line between creative freedom and the promise of a fast, profitable launchpad?

Streamlined Royalty System

Japan’s royalty landscape is remarkably simple. JASRAC controls about 98 percent of all copyrights3, collecting performance fees from bars, salons, karaoke rooms, and even music schools, so almost no revenue slips through the cracks. With a single database and one blanket license covering most performance, mechanical, and sync uses, the system avoids the “too many cooks” problem we face in the U.S., where BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, GMR, and others split the pie. And that’s before we even get to the unclaimed royalties saga, or the mystery of “lost payments.” Japan’s efficiency in the royalty system is a big reason Japan’s music revenue remains consistently strong year after year.

Tradition Meets Tomorrow: Where Do We Go Next?

Japan’s market is huge but oddly self-contained. Domestic artists still dominate local charts, yet the world is more open than ever to Japanese content, from anime soundtracks to Vocaloid hits and City Pop remixes.

So what if we tried a ‘Nu-Tradition’ strategy?

• Niche Collabs: What would happen if a Tokyo City Pop guitarist teamed with a Brooklyn neo-soul vocalist? Would the blend crash Spotify’s Fresh Finds or launch an entirely new micro-genre?

• Crypto Pay + Premium CD Bundles: Picture a deluxe, art-packed Japanese CD you can buy from anywhere and pay for with one quick digital-cash click. Could that mix of easy crypto payment and collectible packaging pull more overseas fans into Japan’s stores and let U.S. artists reach more Japanese listeners?

• IRL + Metaverse Fan Events: How might “oshikatsu” culture translate to virtual meet-and-greets in the gaming world like Fortnite, for overseas fans who cannot hop a flight to Japan?

Competing on a Global Stage

Japan’s global presence is not just about market size. It rests on devoted fan culture, unique industry structures, and a steady digital transformation that keeps it a captivating force.

What about Japan’s approach surprises you most, and where do you see the next big opportunity?

Also, next time you are chatting with a music-biz insider, ask them,

“Which three countries top the global recorded-music market?”

Let me know how it goes!

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