A snapshot, using data, comparing the worlds of traditional musicians and AI designers. The number of people using AI music tools is immense, far outnumbering traditional musicians by millions. 3 types of Music Creators:

• Traditional Musicians
• AI Music Designers
• Hybrids

There is a lot of tension between trad musicians and AI designers. But, though probably a lot of traditional musicians like myself will disagree, I've come to realize that those using AI to create music for the first time in their lives, are not the enemy. And that AI is already very entrenched in trad music making, regardless of what trad musicians say.

We should continue the fight against the very small minority of AI users who are corrupt and are gaming the system, and corporate exploitation, but for the most part, we should welcome the humans behind the AI music, and draw them into understanding the music they create, and maybe show them how to play guitar (which trends show gen-zers are doing). Sure they'll continue to make bad music, I.E slop, but a lot of people think the music of the 80s was also slop, to which I contributed with my synths and mullet haircut ;) Slop has always been around.

Links to surveys and other sources at https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot....

The frequency of music companies + AI announcements is increasing exponentially, daily.

It's overwhelming and almost impossible to keep up.

The Big Question: How will musicians be paid?!

These are my guesses, hypotheticals, and conjectures based on what I've read. We're starting to get hints how the pennies might trickle down. The labels say don't worry kid, we'll take care of you.

The only certainty being labels are excited and beginning to "envision how they’ll get their beaks wet" "But as for the dry, chapped beaks of powerless copyright stakeholders—small-time artists, writers, and creators—concerned that their work will simply be made redundant or irrelevant in this weird new content universe, it’s still not at all clear how those beaks benefit from any of this." Mike Pearl

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

Here are 10 misconceptions I've read in comments across social media.

These are my observations and opinions.

You can jump to the part you'd be interested in.

00:00 Intro

00:30 There are established laws, passed by Congress, that regulates ai.

01:29 The government of the US cares about artists and musicians and is working on laws regulating AI and copyrights.

03:34 What is stated in the copyright office reports is permanent and binding.

04:19 The law states that only human created parts of a song can be copyrighted…any parts generated by AI isn’t protected.

05:07 Copyright law states you can’t copyright a song if you use AI for any of the parts.

05:36 Music created by only using prompts can’t be copyrighted

07:13 There are specific guidelines about AI and fair use. 07:40 Composers will be paid if AI is trained on their music.

09:31 Music companies are only looking out for their artists when it comes to AI music.

10:23 The courts conclusion about the generative AI case of Thaler v. Perlmutter, is fixed law.

11:15 Congress needs to get off its ass!

Sources:https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/10-misconceptions.html

AI Creep: "AI has now slipped into everyday life and we seem less guarded about its use"

Performance Rights Organizations, ASCAP, BMI, and SECAN have updated their policies to accept “compositions partially generated.”

They will now register and pay royalties for partially AI-generated music, provided it involves a human-led creative process. Composers are trusted to voluntarily reveal how much AI was used during composing the music.

Everyday, we wake up to learn AI has silently become a part of the eco-system of the music business. As you read this, behind the curtain, corporations are deciding not if they will incorporate AI, but rather how they will. AI is in the musical bloodstream, and there is no going back.

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

Udio wants to be the music industry's "AI good guy".

UMG and Udio settled their lawsuit, and the Udio subscribers are pissed off! "Udio will now be a 'walled garden' in which users can only stream their AI creations on the platform, with no ability to export and distribute their works. In response, Udio opened a 48 hour window, ending today 11/4/25, for subscribers to download their music.

Otherwise, all of those AI created songs might never be heard (is that a bad thing?), humans who downloaded Udio tracks to then build on will probably jump to Suno, and it will be interesting to see what the new UMG/Udio service will be.

Meanwhile, SONY, UMG, and WMG, use the same lawyers, while Suno and Udio are also represented by the same lawyers...and subscribers are looking into suing Udio. It's good to be a lawyer!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/11/udio-joins-umg-and-deserts-subscribers.html

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/CrUlIezY7ug

The music biz has always blurred the lines between the real and the fake, like KISS dubbing in the audience on their live album.

Will Smith has gotten some brutal press for his use of AI to 'enhance' his audience in a video of him performing. The controversy is exposing some much deeper realizations about the use of AI.

"AI fatigue is hitting hard."

"AI-generated content isn’t just underperforming; it’s triggering active resentment."

"Public backlash against AI-generated content is growing."

"Gen Z is turning away from AI-generated content, loudly."

Is it just showbiz, or are there real cultural cracks in the use of AI? (and yes there are cats at the end of the podcast)

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/its-easy-to-build-your-audience-with-ai.html

Halloween Issue: Stream ripping has been part of music piracy for decades, from copying songs on the radio to cassette, to now when an individual rips music or video from a streaming platform and coverts it into a downloadable file that any user can use offline.

If you haven't heard of stream ripping, it's probably because the labels have had some success regulating it. But now it's back in the headlines.

The AI companies like Suno and Udio are accused of stream ripping to train their AI models. Of course the labels have already been suing Suno and Udio for copyright infringement, and now they've adding ripping to the claim.

Suno and Udio warn that this could lead to all YouTube video downloads being determined to be illegal, even if under fair use.

Scary Stuff!

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/suno-and-udio-rip-streams-to-feed-ai.html

"...labels to quietly consider licensing arrangements rather than risk exposing gaps in ownership or registration in court."

For the discovery process between Udio and UMG, the court agreed that Universal Music Group must:

1. Provide copies of all of the music they claim was infringed, I.E., prove it!

2. Provide all of the record agreements between the label and the artists to determine if UMG actually owns the recordings. If the agreement specifies that the record was Made Work For Hire, the label owns it forever. If not, it's possible that at 35 years, the artist could reclaim ownership from the label.

This has been so effective that Suno and other AI companies are making the same demands for discovery. Meanwhile nothing stops Suno and Udio from scraping up any music not represented by the labels, such as by indie artists and independent labels.

BUT..."Underlying compositions and lyrics, the lifeblood of songs... have not been part of the current licensing discussions." So even if the labels settle with Suno and Udio, it's not over.

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2025/10/udio-takes-lead-in-record-label-lawsuit.html