This week, a Court in New York issued an order granting The MLC’s request to file an amended complaint in its ‘Bundling’ case against Spotify.
Meanwhile, Spotify announced it has removed more than 75 million “spammy tracks” from its platform over the past year as it unveiled new AI music policies.
Elsewhere, Universal Music Group and Sony Music partnered with research lab SoundPatrol to detect AI music copyright theft using groundbreaking neural fingerprinting technology.
Also this week, Donald Trump signed an executive order paving the way for a TikTok deal that would transfer US operations to American investors.
Here are some of the biggest headlines from the past few days…
1. MLC CAN FILE AMENDED COMPLAINT IN ‘BUNDLING’ LAWSUIT AGAINST SPOTIFY, COURT SAYS
The Mechanical Licensing Collective has secured a crucial procedural ruling in its legal battle with Spotify over streaming royalty payments.
On Thursday (September 25), the Federal District Court in New York issued an order granting The MLC’s request to file an amended complaint in the case.
The original complaint, filed by the Mechanical Licensing Collective last May, alleged that Spotify significantly underpaid royalties after its decision to report its Premium subscription streaming offerings as bundles.
The MLC must file its amended complaint by October 2, 2025… (MBW)
Spotify has deleted 75m+ ‘spammy tracks’ – as it unveils new AI music policies
Spotify has removed more than 75 million “spammy tracks” from its platform over the past year, the streaming giant revealed this week as it announced a suite of new policies for managing AI-generated content on its service.
The figure was disclosed during a press briefing this week, where executives outlined a three-pronged approach to combat AI-enabled fraud while supporting legitimate artistic use of artificial intelligence tools.
“In the past 12 months alone, a period marked by the explosion of generative AI tools, we’ve removed over 75 million spammy tracks from Spotify,” the company confirmed in its official blog post announcing the measures.
The announcement comes as the streaming industry grapples with an unprecedented influx of AI-generated content… (MBW)
3. UNIVERSAL AND SONY MUSIC PARTNER WITH NEW PLATFORM TO DETECT AI MUSIC COPYRIGHT THEFT USING ‘GROUNDBREAKING NEURAL FINGERPRINTING’ TECHNOLOGY
Universal Music Group and Sony Music plan to use what they call “groundbreaking neural fingerprinting technologies” to detect copyright infringement in AI-generated music.
The two major music companies have each partnered with a research lab called SoundPatrol, which has developed a patent-pending method to analyze music.
SoundPatrol, which originated at Stanford University, is developing what it calls a “forensic AI model for audio-video fingerprinting,” which it claims “represents a step change from existing detection methods.”
The partnership arrives as rightsholders face mounting challenges from AI music generators that allegedly use copyrighted material without permission to train their models. The RIAA has cases going against AI startups Udio and Suno. The majors also filed an amended complaint against the latter company just a few days ago, accusing it of illegal “stream-ripping”.
UMG and Sony Music-backed SoundPatrol was co-founded by Michael Ovitz, the prominent entertainment exec who co-founded Creative Artists Agency, and Walter De Brouwer, a noted linguist and entrepreneur… (MBW)
4. TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER PAVING WAY FOR ‘$14BN’ US TIKTOK DEAL
A deal to transfer TikTok’s US operations to US owners appears to be getting closer.
Donald Trump yesterday (September 25) signed an executive order providing the legal framework for a “qualified divestiture” that would transfer majority control of TikTok’s US operations to American investors, though the deal still requires Chinese government approval.
The executive order, titled “Saving TikTok While Protecting National Security,” establishes the structure for a transaction that would allow TikTok’s 170 million US users to continue accessing the video-sharing platform under strict new security protocols, while granting a 120-day enforcement delay to finalize the deal.
Speaking on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said the proposed transaction would value TikTok’s US operations at “around $14 billion.”… (MBW)
5. INSPIRED BY ANTHROPIC’S $1.5B BOOK PIRACY PAYOUT, RECORD LABELS ACCUSE SUNO OF ILLEGALLY ‘STREAM RIPPING’ MUSIC FROM YOUTUBE
The major music companies have escalated their copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generation company Suno, filing an amended complaint that alleges the startup illegally “stream ripped” copyrighted recordings from YouTube to train its AI models.
The amended complaint, filed on September 19, 2025, in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts and obtained by MBW, introduces damaging new allegations that Suno “acquired many (if not all) of the copyrighted sound recordings in its training data by illicitly downloading them from YouTube using a notorious method of music piracy known as ‘stream ripping.’”
The complaint suggests that Suno may have ‘stream-ripped’ millions of copyrighted sound recordings to train its model.
The timing of the new allegations appears directly connected to Anthropic’s recent USD $1.5 billion settlement with authors, who claimed the service obtained pirated books to train its AI models… (MBW)
Partner message: MBW’s Weekly Round-up is supported by BMI, the global leader in performing rights management, dedicated to supporting songwriters, composers and publishers and championing the value of music. Find out more about BMI here. Music Business Worldwide
