Q1 Funding Nears $5bn, American Artists Dominate US Streams, India’s Soundtrack Promo Costs Climb
How The Music Business Works - Issue #56
Welcome back to How The Music Business Works.
Core music industry funding reached $4.64 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to preliminary data from DMN Pro’s Music Industry Funding Tracker, with major contributions from Sony Music and GIC, Domain Capital, ElevenLabs, and Create Music.
In the US, new figures shared by economist Will Page show that 68% of music streams in 2025 were for American artists, while American repertoire accounted for 34% of global streams. In India, a recent report says influencer collaborations now take around half of the promotional budget for soundtrack tracks.
This week also brought a new amicus brief in the Anthropic case and a settlement in Universal Music Group’s lawsuit against Believe.
Q1 funding nears $5bn as deal count rises year on year
Core music industry funding totaled $4.64 billion in Q1 2026, according to preliminary data from DMN Pro’s Music Industry Funding Tracker. Among the largest disclosed raises were Sony Music and GIC’s reported $2 billion catalog fund, Domain Capital’s $768 million second entertainment fund, ElevenLabs’ $500 million Series D, and Create Music’s $450 million equity and debt raise. DMN noted that including Nettwerk’s buyout would push the total close to $5 billion, though that transaction was excluded because it was classified as an acquisition rather than a funding round. The tracker also recorded 18 core raises in Q1 2026, compared with 12 in Q1 2025. DMN also noted that ElevenLabs shifted from a non-core to a core classification this quarter following the expansion of its AI music generation toolkit, tracks marketplace, and related music products.
American artists accounted for 68% of US streams in 2025
Economist Will Page shared new figures at the Vanderbilt Music Law Summit showing that 68% of US music streams in 2025 were for American artists, based on Luminate data. He also noted that only a few markets, including India, Brazil, and South Korea, show similarly high levels of domestic concentration. For comparison, he said the UK’s domestic share is one third, while Canada’s is one tenth. Globally, American artists represented 34% of all streams in 2025, which Page said was more than the next five largest markets combined. He also compared the US share of recorded-music revenues over time, saying the market accounted for 27% of $16.5 billion in 2011 and 37% of $31.7 billion in 2025, describing it as a bigger share of a bigger global pie.
Influencer collaborations now take 50% of Indian soundtrack promo budgets
A recent report in The Economic Times says around 50% of the promotional budget for songs from Indian film soundtracks is now allocated to influencer collaborations, primarily Instagram Reels and other social-media campaigns. The same report says paid YouTube promotions account for 30%, with the remaining budget spent on audio-streaming platforms to boost discoverability. It places the cost of promoting a single track at between Rs1.5 million and Rs15 million. The report also notes that labels are spending between Rs200 million and Rs350 million to acquire soundtrack rights, up from Rs150 million to Rs250 million in 2024. It adds that these rising costs have led companies including Saregama and Universal Music to invest in film production houses including Bhansali Productions and Excel Entertainment, where they automatically acquire soundtrack rights for the films produced.
Music industry trade bodies back publishers as Anthropic fair-use fight broadens
Eight US music industry organisations have filed an amicus brief backing Universal, Concord, and ABKCO in their lawsuit against Anthropic, widening the legal challenge over the use of unlicensed lyrics to train Claude. This latest development responds directly to Anthropic’s fair-use defence, with the trade groups arguing that AI-generated songs can function as substitutes inside streaming royalty pools, reducing plays and payouts for human-created works. The filing says this market dilution means fair use should not apply. It also advances a second argument that an emerging licensing market for AI training data is already being undermined by unlicensed model development. Signatories include the RIAA, NMPA, A2IM, SoundExchange, SONA, the Black Music Action Coalition, Music Artists Coalition, and Artist Rights Alliance.
UMG and Believe dismiss copyright case with prejudice
Universal Music Group and Believe have settled the copyright infringement lawsuit filed in late 2024 against Believe S.A. and TuneCore, Inc. A Joint Stipulation of Dismissal With Prejudice was filed on April 3 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, meaning the claims cannot be refiled. Financial terms were not disclosed, and UMG said the matter was resolved amicably. The original complaint, filed on November 4, 2024, sought at least $500 million in damages and alleged “industrial-scale copyright infringement.” The case focused on manipulated audio, including sped-up and remixed recordings distributed to Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. The complaint also included allegations relating to YouTube’s Content ID system and cited uploads under altered artist names including “Kendrik Laamar,” “Arriana Gramde,” and “Jutin Biber.”