AI Music News
Your independent source for AI music news and what each story means for music creators.
- 30 Oct
30 OctMusicians' union AFM joins SAG-AFTRA and WGA in asking a judge to reject OpenAI's fair use argument
- The American Federation of Musicians, SAG-AFTRA, WGA West and WGA East filed a proposed amicus brief against OpenAI on October 29, 2026.
- The 4 unions represent more than 250,000 workers, including over 80,000 AFM musicians.
- They ask Judge Sidney H. Stein to reject OpenAI's fair use defenses and treat AI training as an ordinary, case-by-case copyright question.
- 30 Oct
30 OctSpotify plans to launch its AI covers and remixes tool in early 2027 at $4 to $5 a month, FT reports
- Spotify plans to launch its AI covers and remixes tool in the first quarter of 2027, the Financial Times reported on October 30, 2026.
- Spotify is weighing a price of $4 to $5 a month for the tool on top of a Premium subscription, and neither the price nor the timing is final.
- Royalties from fan remixes would go to the artists behind the original songs, and remix plays would count toward the original tracks on Spotify's charts.
- 30 Oct
30 OctSuno wants Apple to testify on whether Apple Music could survive without UMG and Sony
- Suno filed a 24-page opposition on October 27, 2026, asking a federal court in San Jose to deny Apple's motion to quash Suno's deposition subpoena.
- Suno wants an Apple witness to testify on 4 topics, including Apple's current licensing talks with UMG and Sony and whether Apple Music could run without their catalogs.
- Suno says the answers go to its fair use defense and to its copyright misuse defense, which claims the labels use their "must have" catalogs to win anti-AI deal terms.
- 30 Oct
30 OctZeds Dead on sampling in the AI era: “AI has no history”
- Zeds Dead talked about sampling and AI with Harry Levin in a MusicTech interview published on October 30, 2026.
- Zachary Rapp-Rovan (Hooks) said 'AI has no history' and called it 'an average of things that sound similar.'
- Rapp-Rovan said he's 'totally into' AI tools for stem separation and voice changing.
- 29 Oct
29 OctCopyright Alliance says Meta's November 20 terms let it scrape business accounts for AI, with no opt-out
- Meta's updated Commercial Terms take effect on November 20, 2026, for business use of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp.
- The Copyright Alliance said on October 28 that the terms let Meta scrape business users' websites, including for generative AI, and called them unconscionable.
- Meta removed the word "train" from the crawling clause after Nieman Lab reported it on October 15, but kept the right to crawl domains linked to business accounts.
- 29 Oct
29 OctGene Simmons says musicians must learn AI, 'otherwise it will use you'
- Gene Simmons told NewsNation's The Hill on October 28, 2026 that musicians have to learn AI, "otherwise it will use you."
- The KISS co-founder, 77, did not say how he uses AI in his own music.
- He used the same interview to push the American Music Fairness Act, which would make AM and FM radio pay performers.
- 29 Oct
29 OctSAMRO now makes members disclose AI use when registering songs, but sets no minimum human input
- SAMRO, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, now requires members to disclose how much AI went into a song when they register it.
- SAMRO sets no minimum level of human contribution and says disclosure does not decide copyright eligibility or royalties.
- In SAMRO's April 2026 survey, 89.2% of 502 respondents said it should push for an AI protection law.
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- 28 Oct
28 OctAnthropic's IPO filing names 5 music publisher lawsuits and warns a fair use loss could force it to retrain its models
- Anthropic filed its public S-1 with the SEC on October 26, 2026, and applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT.
- The risk factors name 5 music publisher lawsuits, brought by Concord, BMG, Round Hill and Sony Music Publishing, and add 'and others'.
- Anthropic says the music publisher complaints seek unspecified damages and are in preliminary stages, and it gives no estimate of what they could cost.
- 28 Oct
28 OctEdged Out Records made free Halloween costumes for Meta's Muse AI agent to promote a Pretty Boy Ghosts song
- Independent label Edged Out Records published a free Halloween costume for Meta's Muse AI avatars on GitHub, based on the outfit its band Pretty Boy Ghosts wears in the "Duct Tape Pants" video.
- The costume is a set of images, a white PBG hoodie that doubles as a mask plus silver duct-tape pants, which users show their Muse with the line "wear this for Halloween".
- The project has grown into a free costume shop with outfits such as Dracula, a Mummy, Frankenstein's monster, Sherlock Holmes, Popeye and Betty Boop.
- 28 Oct
28 OctA fake AI single hit Gemma Hayes' Spotify and Apple Music profiles, and 3 days later Apple still lists it
- A 3-song single called "Taxi to Piccadilly" appeared on Gemma Hayes' official Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube profiles on Sunday, October 25, 2026, and Hayes says she didn't make it.
- On Wednesday, October 28, Apple Music still listed the single as her latest release, filed under Britpop and credited to a label called Planet Music.
- Hayes says the uploader appears to be an Indonesian entity credited as Composer & Lyricist, and her management couldn't get any of the 3 services to take the songs down.
- 28 Oct
28 OctAI K-pop boy group muuo:23 drew a fan backlash with its pre-debut single 'NEVERTHELESS'
- muuo:23 is a 5-member K-pop boy group of AI-generated digital artists, Taewon, Hamin, Yeonwoo, I-Hyun and Sei, made by South Korean company Creation Zipup.
- Its pre-debut digital single "NEVERTHELESS", with the title track "OVERSHOOT" and the B-side "Nectar", came out on October 14, 2026 at 6pm KST.
- Humans handle the music, choreography, styling and video direction, while the members' faces and identities are AI-generated.
- 27 Oct
27 OctApple asks a court to block Suno's subpoena, saying it already handed over data on Suno tracks
- Apple has asked a federal court in Northern California to quash Suno's subpoena, or to grant a protective order, Digital Music News reported on October 26, 2026.
- Apple says it already produced data and declarations about Suno-generated tracks on Apple Music after more than a year of talks with both sides.
- Suno's subpoena asks about Apple Music's minimum royalty guarantees to Universal and Sony, its terms for AI content, and how it calculates royalties for AI and non-AI audio.