SONY announced it has the tech that can identify the original music in AI generated songs by percentages...“30% of the music used is by the Beatles and 10% is by Queen.” Should artists begin the celebration? It may be too late!

The Internet is being divided up by the record labels into 'walled gardens,' charging tech companies to slip into the gardens and train AI on the music. It may be too late.

A nonprofit company you probably haven't heard of, Common Crawl, has been silently crawling and archiving the Internet for decades, and allows free access to the data. It is now the source of 80% of the data used to train AI, there wouldn't be a ChatGPT without it. I.E., everything on the Internet has already been gobbled up by AI. Can you name a song that hasn't been on the internet? Is walling off their existing IP and charging for AI access to the data, that AI probably already has, a way to provide legal cover for the AI tech companies? Does this mean there will be less 'free' Internet available after it is carved up by big corps?

And if you're not signed to a label, you're music is outside the walls and is open game for AI!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/02/carving-up-and-raising-walls-on-web.html

A historical dive into the demise of live local music.

(Note: This is not an endorsement of drinking)

Looking back to the glory days when band's were prolific and there were plenty of venues to play in, packed with fanatical music lovers. Small local venues were a proving ground for emerging artists, where they could build a following from high school age, and expand the boundaries of music performance. Label A&R reps prowled local clubs looking to sign the next big band. Most live local acts now mostly consist of singles or duos starting and ending early for early-to-bed boomers, tribute cover bands playing for those same boomers, and lounge troubadours playing for non-locals.

There are three primary reasons that the venue habitats, and thus bands to play in them, have all but disappeared:

- The National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984

- Now six Performing Rights Organizations demanding payment by local venues

- Covid Epidemic

As Mary Hopkins sang: Those were the days, my friend We thought they'd never end We'd sing and dance forever and a day

I ask anti-AI musicians if they had ever had actually checked out what it's capable of, most say no.

So I decided to demonstrate how over 70+ million Alexa subscribers can now ask Alexa to write a song, by just talking to an Alexa enabled speaker. You'll hear the conversation between me and Alexa as we discussed creating a Valentine song for my cat, Jonesy. Listen to the song. Do you think it's AI slop? Personally, I think it's scary good. (It also created the artwork).

When Amazon announced the new Alexa +, it's integration with Suno was barely featured, but now that it's open to any Prime member, they are beginning to publicize it. “Using Alexa’s integration with Suno, you can turn simple, creative requests into complete songs,” “Looking to delight your partner with a personalized song for their birthday based on their love of cats, or surprise your kid by creating a rap using their favorite cartoon characters? Alexa+ has you covered.”

Instead of streaming typical songs played at weddings, now a couple can ask Alexa to create original love songs for each other. It will be interesting to see Suno membership grow as Alexa points users to Suno to download or see the lyrics of the song.

I do this not to promote AI music. There is definite copyright infringement. But I encourage musicians to at least check out what somebody, with no musical abilities, can instantly create. Tik Tok is next. Ignore this at your own peril!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

After music publishers lost the 1st round against Anthropic and Claude last year, they're back with a vengeance!

Anthropic failed to reveal it had used BitTorrent to download millions of lyrics, songbooks, etc. Even though they did inform the book publishers who had also sued and won 1.5 Billion dollars. The judge wouldn't let them bring that into the case though. They had sued for a paltry $75 Million before. This time it's a whopping $3+ Billion dollars!

Anthropic is now worth $350 Billion. Assuming they settle like the book publishers, when can songwriters and lyricists expect to cash in? Previous Anthropic Podcast:

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/02/let-biggest-baddest-copyright-lawsuit.html

ElevenLabs and Spotify just released an album, The 11 Album featuring Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel, and others all using AI in some way. "This is the first known direct deal between Spotify and an AI company to easily and directly distribute AI songs on the streaming platform" ...and it won't be the last.

This led to my learning more about ElevenLabs (created 2023), the large cloned voice market, and the surprising web of AI partners:

• ElevenLabs is known for cloning voices of celebrities that can be licensed. It created a Voice Market Place.
• ElevenLabs licenses the actual voices, pre-cloning, from CMG Worldwide that represents the estates of dead celebrities
• ElevenLabs partnered with Meta (Facebook)
• ElevenLabs, has partnered with Merlin, et.al that represents multiple artists and record labels, providing the music to train AI
• Merlin has partnered with UDIO, expanding its AI content
• UDIO has partnered with Universal Music Group

Without a lot of studio editing, easily using a clone of your voice, or that of the dead to sing your song, is probably the next big step in music AI...it's already begun. sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

Bandcamp is be promoted as the first major music company to ban AI music.

While Humans rejoice, there's more here than meets the eye.

I do a deep-dive into Bandcamp's recent history, Songtradr - its owner, questions about the new policy, and what the CEO actually thinks about AI and music (you'll be surprised)!

This is for anyone who records music, and is looking for a tax write-off.

The HITS (Help Independent Tracks Succeed) Act was passed last summer (2025), but it hasn't been publicized like No Tax on Tips. (Side note...the tips you get at gigs don't count!). This Act allows you to write-off any recording costs, up to $150,000, you may have had in 2025, but only 2025.

So if you need a tax write-off, start digging for those receipts!

Be sure your recording friends are aware and share this podcast...the TAXMAN is coming!

Music historians will note that 2025 was the year of another major change in music production and composition.

The official beginning of musical 'slop.' When Artificial Intelligence began to elbow its way into music (and every other thing), and replaced songwriters playing guitars, with music designers writing prompts.

2026 will probably be the year when the shift in the Matrix will settle, and the new music world order is established.

So much happened that looking back at the totality of it all, can be overwhelming.

So here is a quick list of 2025 firsts. (Most referred to in my previous podcasts...check out the playlist for 'deep dives.')

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolated Vocals) • Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime (Isolat...