Karina Banda Launches "Vida de Pelos" Podcast and Single, Suno Admits Using YouTube Training Data, and MLC Loses Appeal Bid

How The Music Business Works - Issue #78

September 10, 2026

Welcome back to How the Music Business Works.

We kick off this edition with a celebration! Congratulations to Emmy Award-winning TV host Karina Banda on the launch of her new podcast and single "Vida de Pelos," both available now across all major streaming platforms. 

On the legal front, Suno formally admitted in a court filing that it obtained audio data from YouTube to train its AI, while continuing to argue fair use. Separately, a federal judge denied the Mechanical Licensing Collective's bid to fast-track an appeal in its bundling dispute with Spotify.

Music Reports, meanwhile, is making cue sheet creation more efficient with a new AudioShake integration in its Cuetrak platform.

And on the market side, Spain and France both posted first-half growth, though at strikingly different rates, with Spain accelerating at 11.6% and France growing a more modest 3.5%.

Read on for the full breakdown.

Karina Banda Launches "Vida de Pelos" Podcast and Single

Emmy Award-winning TV host, journalist, and producer Karina Banda is officially launching "Vida de Pelos," an original video podcast celebrating the bond between people and their pets. Created, hosted, and produced by Banda herself, the project was inspired by her own life with her three dogs, Bruno, Ashk, and Aspen, and is produced by Vida de Pelos Media in co-production with Ponce-Sarnoff Media, with executive production by María López. The podcast features celebrity guests from entertainment, music, and social media sharing intimate stories about their animals, with Carlos Ponce, José Ron, Karime Pindter, and Río Roma amon gothers. Each episode also incorporates expert voices, including veterinarians, psychologists, trainers, and grief specialists, covering topics from pet health and behavior to emotional support and loss. The original theme song "Vida de Pelos" was produced by Latin Grammy winner Yadam González and drops September 10, 2026, across all major streaming platforms, with Banda set to perform it live for the first time on Despierta América that same day. New episodes will be available every Thursday on ViX, Uforia Podcast, YouTube, and all major digital platforms.

Music Reports Integrates AudioShake's Music Detection and Identification System Into Cuetrak

Music Reports has integrated AudioShake's music detection technology into its Cuetrak platform, allowing users to upload a media file and automatically generate a draft cue sheet without manual identification of every music cue. AudioShake's audio-separation technology isolates music from dialogue, effects, and ambient sound, identifies each recording, and returns timing and duration data that Cuetrak then processes into a structured cue sheet ready for review and reporting. The integration addresses a long-standing pain point in music rights administration. Inaccurate or incomplete cue sheets lead directly to misdirected royalties, with payments ending up in the industry's so-called black box rather than reaching the publishers, composers, and songwriters whose work appeared in the production. As content volumes grow across television, streaming, podcasts, sports, and social video, manual cue sheet workflows have struggled to keep pace. The AudioShake integration is designed to make the process faster and more scalable, particularly for back catalog projects and programming with dense music use.

A tale of two countries: Spain and France’s first-half music figures

Spain and France both reported recorded music revenue growth in the first half of 2026, but at notably different rates. Spain's market grew 11.6% to €181.4 million, accelerating from 10.4% growth in the same period last year, with paid streaming subscriptions up 15.1% and physical revenues surging 20.3%, led by a 27.7% spike in vinyl. France, the larger of the two markets, grew a more modest 3.5% to €449 million, with subscriptions up 7.5% but physical revenues down 3.4%, weighed down by a sharp decline in CD sales. Despite the differing growth rates, both markets share a common challenge: subscription penetration remains below its potential. Industry leaders in both countries pointed to room for further growth in paid streaming, noting that recent revenue gains have been driven more by price increases than by a meaningful expansion of the subscriber base.

Judge Denies MLC's Appeal Bid in Spotify Bundling Case

A federal judge has denied the Mechanical Licensing Collective's request for an interlocutory appeal in its ongoing legal battle with Spotify over bundle classification, keeping the case on its current track rather than sending the central question to a higher court. The MLC had argued that an early appeal would allow for full and final resolution of all its claims without duplicative proceedings, but Judge Analisa Torres found the MLC had not met the burden required to certify such an appeal. The ruling leaves intact Spotify's earlier victory, in which the court agreed that its Premium plan qualifies as a bundle due to the inclusion of audiobooks alongside music, a classification the MLC says could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid songwriter royalties. The MLC did score a partial win, however, with the court striking Spotify's selective enforcement defense. Discovery continues, with deadlines extended into November, though the judge signaled that further extensions are unlikely.

Suno admits it obtained YouTube audio to train its AI

Suno has formally admitted in a court filing that it obtained audio data from YouTube using YT-DLP, a tool the major labels allege was used to circumvent YouTube's encryption and scrape copyrighted recordings. The admission appears in Suno's answer to the amended complaint filed by UMG Recordings, Capitol Records, and Sony Music Entertainment, and restates a disclosure the company had already made to the labels in May 2025. Suno's filing confirms the model was built on tens of millions of recordings gathered from publicly available sources. Suno maintains that any copying constitutes fair use, calling its process "quintessential fair use" and arguing that its outputs do not infringe the recordings in suit. The company also alleges the labels have engaged in anticompetitive activities to extend an unlawful monopoly over music. Fact discovery closes September 30, with both sides expected to move for summary judgment on the fair use question.

Random Ramblings:

• Music on the Wrong Spotify Artist Profile? How to Fix It in 2026.
• 5 Songs that Aren’t About What You Think They’re About.
• 20 Contenders for 2026 Song of the Summer.
• Jade on Life After Little Mix, Her Mercury Prize Nomination and What’s Next.