Category: Music industry

‘I feel like I’m at war’: are we losing the battle against machine-made music?

Despite outcry from musicians, AI slop is creeping into the charts as record labels scramble to adapt to a new normal where hits can be made at the click of a buttonThis year, the battle for song of the summer has been eclipsed...

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‘We eat and drink risk’: higher costs bring curtain down on more UK music festivals

Plans for new event at the Secret Garden Party site and Womad Glasgow are dashed, but others remain optimisticHosting Scotland’s first Womad festival seemed like an easy sell for Glasgow, the country’s gig capital and...

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‘Tickets have become status symbols’: from Harry Styles to Taylor Swift, why is live music bigger and more expensive than ever?

Styles is playing a record 12 nights at Wembley stadium and 30 at Madison Square Garden, as demand for big artists soars – and audience expectation along with itSelling out a venue such as London’s O2 Arena used to be considered...

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‘It’s a hospitality-wide problem‘: night-time traders react to business rates relief plan

Gyms, pharmacies, restaurants and cafes and convenience store owners question why only pubs and live music venues should get help Pubs and live music venues to get support after business rates backlashWaterstones boss defends...

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AI, bot farms and innocent indie victims: how music streaming became a hotbed of fraud and fakery

Fraudsters use fake artists to juice royalties from streaming services – but real musicians are getting blamed. Might they be better off without Spotify et al?There is a battle gripping the music business today around the...

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Kate Bush and Damon Albarn among 1,000 artists on silent AI protest album

Recordings of empty studios represent impact on musicians of UK’s plans to let AI train on their work without permissionMore than 1,000 musicians, including Kate Bush, Damon Albarn and Annie Lennox, have released a silent album...

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Don’t let under-18s join pop bands, says leading songwriter after Liam Payne’s death

Guy Chambers among industry figures calling for changes in wake of former One Direction star’s tragic deathUnder-18s should not be pushed into pop stardom, one of the UK’s leading songwriters has said, in the wake of the tragic...

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