Category
News
Articles in this category from Hitboard Music.
Latest Stories
View AllAI Lawsuit Sweeps Up Songs It Shouldn’t?
DistroKid has confirmed that some of its users' recordings have been pulled from streaming services in response to claims made by Universal Music Group, the first visible fallout of the distributor's legal fight with the label group. The company calls it a very small number, but the artists whose songs vanished are telling a louder […]
California Targets Ghost Listings
California has signed a new law aimed at "ghost tickets," but the fight over who carries the burden is not over. Assembly Bill 1349 bars sellers from advertising, listing or selling concert and sports tickets they do not possess or have a legal right to receive, unless an event presenter or venue authorises the sale. […]
Guetta’s Sixth Top 100 Win Sets New Record
David Guetta has taken the No. 1 spot in DJ Mag’s 2026 Top 100 DJs poll, making him the first artist to win the public vote six times. The result was revealed at Top 100 DJs LIVE at [UNVRS] in Ibiza on 6 October, fifteen years after Guetta first topped the poll in 2011. The […]
The Chainsmokers Break Free After 11 Years
The Chainsmokers have gone independent after ending an 11-year run with Columbia Records and Disruptor Records. Drew Taggart and Alex Pall confirmed the split in a joint statement on 13 October, closing the label relationship that began with their 2015 single “Good Intentions” and carried them through their biggest commercial period. The statement is grateful, […]
Streaming Fraud Case Ends In Prison
A federal judge has sentenced Michael Smith to 18 months in prison in a music-streaming fraud case built around bots and AI-generated songs. Billboard and Rolling Stone both report that Smith was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on October 6. The term will be followed by two years of supervised release, and Smith had already […]
Judge Denies Ticketmaster Motion to Dismiss FTC Lawsuit
Ticketmaster and Live Nation must continue defending a Federal Trade Commission case over ticket-resale practices after a federal judge rejected their bid to end it early. The ruling does not decide that the companies broke the law. It decides that the FTC and seven states have alleged enough for their claims to proceed into the […]
NYC Producer XENO Makes His Electronic Debut With “Plastic”
For more than a decade, Rony Zino has been building records from the inside out. He taught himself to engineer, write and produce in 2015, then spent years working across hip-hop and pop in Queens' underground rap scene. With "Plastic," he is putting that experience behind an artist project of his own: XENO. The New […]
Brazil Tightens Concert Ticket Rules
Brazil has put new national rules around concert and festival ticketing into force, widening the focus beyond resale to include fees, queues, transfers and automated buying. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed Decree No. 13,108 on 31 August, according to TicketNews and Brazilian outlet G1. It covers sales through box offices, websites, apps and […]
UMG sues DistroKid over AI streaming slop
Universal Music Group has filed a federal lawsuit against DistroKid, accusing the distributor of copyright infringement and deceptive trade practices connected to music it says is being presented as artist-backed work. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, centers on allegations that DistroKid distributes AI-generated recordings without clearly identifying […]
AI Music Generator Suno Inks Major Music Label Licensing Deal
AI Music Generator Suno Inks Major Music Label Licensing Deal. As it prepares to roll out a fully licensed model, Suno has secured a global partnership agreement with BMG. The Beatles‘ rights-holding company Apple Corps has come together with Universal Music Group to ink a wide-ranging licensing and merch deal for all things related to […]
Record Roundup 38: Vinyl Sales Up Again, But Outpaced By CDs
Record Roundup 38: Vinyl Sales Up Again, But Outpaced By CDs. The UK recorded-music market topped £1.5 billion in 2025, with vinyl sales up around 18% on the year. In Record Roundup 38, CD and Vinyl sales are up again (with CDs staging a surprise surge), plus new turntables from Crosley, Flaunce and Andover Audio. […]
Suno Scores BMG Licensing Deal As New Model Takes Shape
The first half of this year saw $2.77 trillion worth of deals inked worldwide, up 48% from the year-ago period and the best first half for mergers and acquisitions since the dot com bubble burst in 2002, the New York Times recently reported, citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Those events have created […]
Growth Trends and Strategies in the $40 Billion Music Royalty Market, 2026-2031
Spotify paid a record $11 billion to the music industry in 2025, up roughly $1 billion year over year, and IFPI reports paid subscription revenue grew 8.8% in 2025. Yet per-stream economics stay flat because streaming pays from a pro-rata pool: more revenue also means more subscribers and more streams splitting it. Spotify announced its […]
CD Sales Rise as Vinyl Growth Slows: What the 2026 Data Really Means
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
Vinyl Sales 2025: 2025 Data & 2026 Roadmap
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
Which Streaming Service Pays Artists the Most in 2026?
Spotify paid a record $11 billion to the music industry in 2025, up roughly $1 billion year over year, and IFPI reports paid subscription revenue grew 8.8% in 2025. Yet per-stream economics stay flat because streaming pays from a pro-rata pool: more revenue also means more subscribers and more streams splitting it. Spotify announced its […]
Music Industry Trends 2026: Where the Money Is Moving
Wallen’s ‘I’m the Problem’ beat out Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love’ and Charli XCX’s ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ in one of the tightest chart races of the year so far. The respected Warner Records exec will step in for Armin Zerza, who leaves a year after joining. Wrote that […]
Music Industry Moves: BMG Fully Acquires John Lee Hooker, Hal David, ARC Music Publishing Catalogs
The first half of this year saw $2.77 trillion worth of deals inked worldwide, up 48% from the year-ago period and the best first half for mergers and acquisitions since the dot com bubble burst in 2002, the New York Times recently reported, citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Those events have created […]
The Music Industry in 2026: Trends and Opportunities
Wallen’s ‘I’m the Problem’ beat out Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love’ and Charli XCX’s ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ in one of the tightest chart races of the year so far. The respected Warner Records exec will step in for Armin Zerza, who leaves a year after joining. Wrote that […]
Vinyl in 2026: The Records That Define the New Era of Collecting
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
$11.5 billion and the trajectory of US music royalties.
What most people don’t realize is that the system is explicitly designed so that the corporation takes almost zero risk, keeps permanent ownership of the valuable assets, the music itself, and passes all financial debts onto the creators. Universal Music Group is the largest music company in the world, capturing roughly thirty-two percent of the […]
The 5 Free Music Distribution Services Still Standing in 2026 (And What ‘Free’ Actually Costs)
The paid-subscriber pecking order by MIDiA Research’s end-2025 market share model: Spotify (31.4% of global subs, 293M official) → Tencent Music (13.8%, 127.4M paying users in China, last official figure Q4 2025) → Apple Music (12.6%, estimated ~100M, Apple has not officially disclosed since June 2023) → YouTube Music (12.4%, 125M official combined Music + […]
CD Sales Growth Outpaced Vinyl in the First Half of 2026
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
The Music Industry’s Paradox: Rising Profits, Falling Artist Pay
What most people don’t realize is that the system is explicitly designed so that the corporation takes almost zero risk, keeps permanent ownership of the valuable assets, the music itself, and passes all financial debts onto the creators. Universal Music Group is the largest music company in the world, capturing roughly thirty-two percent of the […]
10 Music Business Podcasts You Should Be Listening to Right Now
Hosted by Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart, Your Morning Coffee delivers a weekly rundown of the news and trends shaping the contemporary music business. Musician and author Ari Herstand interviews artists, executives, managers and marketers about how careers are actually being built today. Recent episodes have explored influencer marketing, modern A&R, direct-to-fan album campaigns and […]
Done deal: Sony Music Publishing completes acquisition of Recognition Music Group’s catalog
The first half of this year saw $2.77 trillion worth of deals inked worldwide, up 48% from the year-ago period and the best first half for mergers and acquisitions since the dot com bubble burst in 2002, the New York Times recently reported, citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group. Those events have created […]
Top Selling Vinyl Records 2026: Trends & Picks
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
Vinyl Records Statistics 2026: Sales, Growth & Data
The report suggested that “price accessibility” could be a factor behind the trend, while also show the importance of physical fandom in K-pop culture, and the success of BTS’s March comeback album ‘ARIRANG’. Back in 2024, more than half of 18-24-year-olds surveyed by Key Production, the UK’s biggest vinyl packaging firm, revealed their preference for […]
Independent labels explore new revenue streams as streaming royalties fall short
What most people don’t realize is that the system is explicitly designed so that the corporation takes almost zero risk, keeps permanent ownership of the valuable assets, the music itself, and passes all financial debts onto the creators. Universal Music Group is the largest music company in the world, capturing roughly thirty-two percent of the […]
Music Industry News
The first, “AI-generated,” would apply to a track built entirely by AI from a text prompt, or one where a machine produced the lead vocal or the main instrumental takes. The second, “AI-assisted,” would flag a track that is mostly the work of people but leans on AI in places. For the music business, the […]