AI Copyright Battles, Major Publishers Sue Anthropic, and France's Recorded Music Market Hits $1.21B
How The Music Business Works - Issue #54
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Now, on to this week's news. Spotify is bringing a new tool to Premium subscribers that maps the creative DNA behind songs. France's recorded music industry has notched its tenth straight year of revenue growth.
In Washington, the Copyright Alliance is navigating two AI policy documents that take opposite stances on whether training AI on copyrighted material constitutes fair use. Meanwhile, major publishers are pushing for summary judgment against Anthropic.
And Uganda has passed landmark copyright legislation aimed at modernizing creator protections and cracking down on piracy.
Let's get into it.
The US Copyright Alliance responded positively to two recently published AI policy documents despite their contrasting approaches to copyright. President Trump's National Policy Framework holds that AI training on copyrighted material does not violate copyright law and that fair use disputes should be resolved by the courts rather than Congress. Senator Marsha Blackburn's discussion draft, formally named the TRUMP AMERICA AI Act, takes the opposite position, proposing legislation that would explicitly exclude AI training from fair use protections under the Copyright Act. Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid found merit in both, reasoning that the judiciary is the appropriate venue for fair use determinations while also welcoming Blackburn's direct provisions on AI training. The organization's support for both positions reflects a strategic calculation: while rights holders would prefer a legislative fix aligned with Blackburn's proposals, leaving the matter to the courts is preferable to a Congressional amendment that could favor AI companies.
Major Publishers Make a Decisive Legal Strike Against Anthropic’s ‘Limitless AI Rip-Offs’
Universal Music Group, Concord, and ABKCO filed a motion for summary judgment in California federal court, asking a judge to rule that Anthropic infringed their copyrights by using song lyrics without permission or compensation to train its Claude AI model. The publishers argue that Claude's AI-generated lyrics are derivative of their works and compete with the originals, and that Anthropic's systematic scraping of millions of lyrics to build a commercial product cannot qualify as fair use. The publishers note they have licensed works to other AI companies, framing the case not as opposition to AI broadly but as a response to unauthorized reproduction at scale. The suit, originally filed in 2023, covers lyrics from at least 500 songs by artists including the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and Beyoncé. Notably, Anthropic has not yet raised a fair use defense in this case, though a separate settlement with authors last year relied on a judge's finding that using books for AI training was transformative.
France’s recorded music revenues hit $1.21B in 2025, up 3.9% YoY
France's recorded music market posted revenues of €1.071 billion in 2025, a 3.9% year-over-year increase and the tenth consecutive year of growth, though the pace of expansion has slowed from 7% in 2024. Streaming revenues surpassed €700 million for the first time, driven by a 5.9% rise in paid subscriptions to €553 million, while ad-supported audio streaming grew 12% to €84 million. Vinyl was a standout on the physical side, surging 14.8% to €113 million and crossing the €100 million mark for the first time, while CD revenues declined slightly. Neighboring rights, sync, and music export revenues all fell, largely attributed to a normalization following an Olympics-boosted 2024. Locally-produced artists dominated the domestic market, taking three-quarters of the Top 200 album chart, and SNEP managing director Alexandre Lasch called on public authorities to support a voluntary licensing framework with AI platforms.
Uganda copyright bill aims to improve royalties for musicians
Uganda's parliament has passed the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill, aimed at aligning the country's copyright law with international agreements and adapting it to the digital era. Minister Norbert Mao stated the bill will provide stronger protections for creators, streamline the sector, and introduce tougher penalties for piracy and copyright infringement. The legislation reflects a different stage of copyright development than the AI-focused reforms currently being debated in Western markets, where foundational creator protections are already in place. Industry figures have also pointed to the need for greater organizational infrastructure within Uganda's music industry to support creators effectively.
Spotify Launches SongDNA in Beta for Premium Subscribers
Spotify is rolling out SongDNA, a new feature for Premium subscribers that lets users trace the creative connections between songs through shared producers, samples, and covers, with a global beta launching March 24 on iOS and Android and a full rollout expected throughout April. Accessible from the Now Playing view, the tool allows listeners to explore a track's collaborators, samples, and interpolations, then follow chains of shared contributors across artists, eras, and genres. The feature is powered by data from WhoSampled, the London-based song database Spotify acquired in November 2025, as well as information submitted by artists and their teams. Artist and label teams can log into Spotify for Artists to review and manage how their tracks appear in SongDNA profiles. The rollout coincides with Spotify testing an Artist Profile Protection feature to help artists flag songs incorrectly attached to their profiles due to metadata errors or malicious uploads.