AI Music News
Your independent source for AI music news and what each story means for music creators.
I track the AI music lawsuits, label licensing deals, streaming policy, and the artists testing what AI makes possible. Tool launches and reviews live in AI music tools news; interviews and analysis in AI music industry. Want it in your inbox? Get the AI music newsletter.
- 29 Sept
29 SeptORCA wants streaming services to charge a per-track upload fee to curb AI spam and fraud
- ORCA proposed on September 15, 2026 that streaming services charge a fee for every new track uploaded.
- Each streaming service would set and collect its own fee, and the money would go into the royalty pool.
- Creators who pass trust and safety checks for human-made music could pay a lower fee or none.
- 29 Sept
29 SeptTaylor Swift's 'Patient Zero' gets compared to a viral AI song about steel coils on trains
- Taylor Swift released "Patient Zero" on September 25, 2026, as the lead single from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore.
- Spotify says it became its most-streamed song by a female artist in a single day in 2026.
- Listeners on Threads compared it to a viral AI-generated TikTok song about how trains carry steel coils.
- 29 Sept
29 SeptUniversal Music hires Òscar Celma, who helped build Spotify's AI DJ, as its first SVP of applied AI
- Universal Music Group appointed Òscar Celma as Senior Vice President, Applied AI and Machine Learning, effective September 28, 2026.
- Billboard reports the role is the first of its kind at UMG.
- At Spotify, Celma helped lead the development of AI DJ, Jam and Daylist.
- 28 Sept
28 SeptMusic Technology UK adds ClicknClear's Chantal Epp and SoundPatrol's Will Hughes to its board
- Music Technology UK appointed Chantal Epp, founder of ClicknClear, and Will Hughes, Chief Revenue Officer at SoundPatrol, to its Board on September 28, 2026.
- The 2 appointments take the MTUK Board from 5 directors to 7, after a nomination process that opened in summer 2026.
- ClicknClear holds blanket licensing deals with Universal, Sony and Warner, and won a 2025 WIPO Global Award.
- 26 Sept
26 SeptAI-generated love songs from Caleb Flynn's iPhone played as evidence at his Ohio murder trial
- Prosecutors played 2 AI-generated love songs recovered from Caleb Flynn's iPhone at his murder trial in Miami County, Ohio, on September 25, 2026.
- In texts read in court, Flynn said he recorded the song on piano and used ElevenLabs to pick an AI voice to sing it.
- A forensic investigator testified that Flynn deleted an app called "AI music song generator" days before his wife Ashley Flynn was killed.
- 26 Sept
26 SeptNashville songwriter Chris Gray built AI singer Vance Drake to sing his songs, and labels every release as AI
- Nashville songwriter Chris Gray created an AI singer called Vance Drake to perform songs he has written over decades.
- Gray writes every song himself, and says Vance Drake sings but does not write.
- He plans to release one Vance Drake song a month and to label the artist clearly as AI-generated on every release.
- 26 Sept
26 SeptFred again.. says the opposite of AI music isn't human music, it's making music
- Fred again.. posted 4 Instagram Stories about AI music on September 25, 2026.
- He said the opposite of AI music is making music, and that the process is the magic.
- He said he has felt no pull whatsoever to try AI, because he places much of his identity in the process of making music.
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- 26 Sept
26 SeptTHE MOTEL's 'NO' tops Japan's iTunes Alternative chart, and the band still hasn't said if it used AI
- THE MOTEL's single 'NO' reached No. 1 on Japan's iTunes Alternative chart and No. 13 on the all-genre chart after a studio clip passed almost 15 million views on X.
- Music commentator Mino put the chance that the band used AI at 99.99% and named Suno, while a vocal coach suggested a hybrid built from the band's own voices.
- The only documented AI link so far is a Gemini sparkle on the artwork for the March single 'Broken Amp', which says nothing about how the music was made.
- 25 Sept
25 SeptMichael Smith asks for no prison over his $8M AI streaming fraud, saying no artist felt the harm
- Michael Smith's lawyers asked Judge John G. Koeltl for probation instead of prison in a filing dated September 22, 2026.
- The filing says no individual artist or songwriter suffered “any perceptible harm” from his bot streams.
- The Presentence Investigation Report recommends 24 months, below the federal guidelines range of 46 to 57 months.
- 25 Sept
25 SeptQobuz now tags AI-generated music, and says only 0.38% of its streams come from AI tracks
- Qobuz started showing an AI tag on September 24, 2026, on albums its in-house system identifies as including AI-generated tracks.
- Only 0.38% of all streams on Qobuz come from tracks identified as AI-generated, about 1 in every 263.
- Qobuz says 60% of streams on AI-identified tracks are fraudulent and excluded from royalty payouts.
- 24 Sept
24 SeptOpenAI hires Patreon co-founder Sam Yam and 2 Patreon execs to build tools for creators
- Patreon co-founder Sam Yam announced on September 22, 2026 that he is joining OpenAI to lead Creator Product.
- Drew Rowny, Patreon's head of product, and Shannon Ma, its head of engineering, are joining him.
- Yam promised early access to a new set of tools for creators but has not said what they are.
- 24 Sept
24 SeptSony Music joins AI policy coalition ARIAM, 5 days after suing Suno a second time
- Sony Music Group joined ARIAM, the Alliance for Responsible Innovation in the Arts & Media, on September 23, 2026.
- Sony is the first music company in the coalition, which launched on June 15, 2026 with members like Disney, the BBC and The New York Times.
- Sony Music Entertainment COO Kevin Kelleher said a licensing environment where AI companies partner with rightsholders is the only foundation for getting AI right.
- 24 Sept
24 SeptYouTube Music upgrades Ask Music into a chat across 300 million songs and podcasts
- YouTube announced an upgraded Ask Music and a new Your Podcast Lineup feature at Made on YouTube on September 23, 2026.
- Ask Music lets listeners describe what they want in plain words and searches more than 300 million songs plus podcasts.
- It can build a custom queue, answer questions like who played bass on a song, and dig into an artist's backstory.
- 23 Sept
23 SeptSan Jose Sharks drop the goal song fans accused of being made with Suno
- The San Jose Sharks announced on September 21, 2026 that their goal song Power Bite by BVRNOUT is being retired after one season.
- Fans had called the track AI slop since it was picked, and online sleuths claimed it was made with Suno.
- No statement from the Sharks or BVRNOUT has confirmed that AI was used on the song.
- 23 Sept
23 SeptSanremo 2027 bans AI that replaces human creativity, and RAI can check every entry
- RAI's rulebook for the Sanremo Music Festival 2027 says competing songs must be an expression of human creativity.
- AI is banned in writing, composing and producing an entry when it replaces, alters or distorts the human creative contribution.
- RAI and artistic director Stefano De Martino can use any available technology to check songs for AI use.
- 23 Sept
23 SeptUniversal and Sony sue Suno again over 60,202 songs, and Suno says v6 trained on user creations
- Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment filed a second copyright lawsuit against Suno in Boston federal court on September 18, 2026.
- The new complaint names 60,202 recordings, which puts the theoretical maximum at just over $9 billion in statutory damages.
- The labels argue Suno v6 is "the fruit of the same poisoned tree" because it was built on outputs of older models trained on their music.
- 22 Sept
22 SeptWinamp is building its own streaming subscription on Deezer's technology, launching H1 2027
- Winamp announced the Deezer partnership on July 29, 2026 from Brussels and Paris, and Digital Music News surfaced it on September 21.
- Deezer supplies white-label streaming technology and its catalogue; the subscription ships under the Winamp brand.
- The new Winamp Player is scheduled for H1 2027.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I find AI music copyright news and lawsuit updates?
The AI Music Lawsuit Tracker follows every major AI music case: RIAA v. Suno, RIAA v. Udio, GEMA v. Suno, Concord v. Anthropic, and AFM v. Universal and Warner. Each tracker lists the filings, key events, and current status. Major rulings land in this news feed the day they break.
How often is AI music news published on The AI Musicpreneur?
New stories go up most weekdays, and this feed updates daily. Every Friday, the AI Music Briefing newsletter rounds up the week's biggest industry stories, and the weekly Top 5 recap covers what mattered and why.
What is the difference between AI music news and AI music tools news?
This page covers the industry: lawsuits, label deals, streaming policy, and artist stories. AI music tools news covers the products: launches, feature updates, reviews, comparisons, and tutorials. A story about a single tool lives there; everything else lands here.