Music Industry News
A collection of Music latest news, analysis and best practices from top business influencers and the world's most trustworthy sources.
Music Industry Moves: Thomas Rhett Strikes Label Partnership With Hybe's Blue Highway Records
Country star T homas Rhett and Hybe Americas' Nashville-based label Blue Highway Records have announced a new partnership, Fifty-One/Forty-Nine Records. Described as “artist-led,” the partnership offers “an innovative approach…
Gareth Malone: 'How Bournemouth helped shape my life in music
Choirmaster Gareth Malone has been reflecting on his formative years in music while growing up in Dorset, calling it an 'amazing time'. The Choir star will be returning to his childhood hometown of Bournemouth as part of a 15-date tour of his…
Music Streaming Fraudster Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison
Mike Smith, the first person to face federal charges tied to music streaming fraud, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year. Smith, a musician and business owner from North Carolina, appeared at federal court in…
The next great music movement won't be found by algorithms | Opinion
Music history has never waited for permission. Jazz grew through New Orleans neighborhoods, clubs, and dance halls. Hip-hop emerged from block parties in the Bronx. Country music found a national audience through regional traditions and the 1927…
Rolling Stones already in studio again working on 26th album with music legend
The Rolling Stones may have ruled out a tour in 2027 but they are working on new music with legendary saxophonist Courtney Pine. The rockers brought out their latest – and 25th album - called Foreign Tongues back in July, and already look to…
The west has a blinkered view of African music - and it's hurting the whole continent's culture
In 2024, South African pop star Tyla won the best Afrobeats award at the MTV VMAs. Beaming in a yellow dress, she began her acceptance speech in a celebratory tone. “This is such a big moment for African music. The global impact of…
America's reading crisis is also a case for music education | Opinion
Across the United States, reading performance has weakened significantly in recent years. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the average eighth-grade reading score in 2024 was two points lower than in 2022, and five…
Guy Who Made Millions by Creating AI Music Ouroboros Receives 18-Month Prison Sentence
In Magic: The Gathering, you know it as the Channel/Fireball card combination. In 2000, an engineer named David Phillips accomplished something like it by buying $3,140 worth of pudding, and receiving $150,000 in frequent flyer miles. It's that…
Music Impact Coalition (MIC) Brings Leaders to Deploy $3M+ Grant Dollars Across North Carolina for Music and Arts Education Initiatives
Let Music Fill My World, along with more than 20+ of the nation's top music and arts foundations and organizations, have aligned on a shared mission: ensuring every student in America has access to high-quality music and arts education, regardless…
Billboard's 2026 Top Music Business Schools
In the age of AI, who needs a college education? An AI agent's deft reply: “AI makes information cheap; it doesn't replace judgment, deep expertise, mentorship, networks or credentials required in [many] fields. The real question is: What…
Spotify expands its Music Quiz trivia feature
Spotify got on the BTS bandwagon earlier this year, celebrating the band's return to the studio with a trivia game about the K-pop idol group. Now, that Music Quiz feature has been expanded to test fans' knowledge of more than 2,000 artists with…
The best theatre, shows and musicals in Melbourne this October
Musicals Melbourne 4 out of 5 stars At a time when it feels more important than ever to encourage people to get out and support the local arts industry, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical arrives at the Princess Theatre full of an…
Fiction: 'Music Against the Night' by Yiyun Li
The Irish composer and pianist John Field (1782-1837), whose career took him throughout Europe and finally to a life of luxury in Russia, was a forerunner of music's Romantic era and is credited with the creation of the nocturne. This may sound…
AI Music Streaming Fraudster Sentenced to 1.5 Years in Prison for $8M Royalties Scam
A man who used AI songs to steal millions in music royalties has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, capping off the first-ever criminal case over streaming fraud. Michael Smith, 54, pleaded guilty in March to using AI to generate thousands of…
Unnatural Atonality Scam Turns Music into Hard, Painful Work for the Listener
One corner of the hipster-dilettante avant-garde music scene is a genre called “atonality,” or the 12-tone technique, also known as dodecaphony. It's a method of musical composition devised by Austrian-Jewish composer Arnold…
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