From Salt-N-Pepa’s dismissed UMG case to UK music streaming subscription revenues’ 3.2% progress… it’s MBW’s weekly round-up

This week, a US federal decide dismissed Salt-N-Pepa’s lawsuit towards Common Music Group over grasp recording possession.

In the meantime, UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge issued his 2026 memo, warning towards “irresponsible enterprise fashions” in AI music that devalue artists.

Elsewhere, HYBE America appointed Ethiopia Habtemariam as its new President of Music.

Additionally this week, ERA reported that UK music streaming subscription revenues grew by 3.2% YoY in 2025, matching the nation’s inflation price.

Listed here are among the greatest headlines from the previous few days…

1. SALT-N-PEPA LAWSUIT AGAINST UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP OVER OWNERSHIP OF MASTER RECORDINGS DISMISSED

A US federal decide has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Grammy-winning rap duo Salt-N-Pepa towards Common Music Group, ruling that the artists by no means owned the copyrights to their sound recordings and due to this fact can’t reclaim them.

Decide Denise Cote of the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion and order on Thursday (January 8) granting UMG’s movement to dismiss each claims within the case, which you’ll learn in full right here.

Cheryl James and Sandra Denton, professionally often known as Salt-N-Pepa, filed the lawsuit in Could 2025 in search of to regain their copyrights and bodily grasp recordings. The duo tried to train their termination rights below Part 203 of the Copyright Act, which permits artists to reclaim copyright possession 35 years after an preliminary switch… (MBW)

2. SIR LUCIAN GRAINGE TALKS AI MUSIC, SUPERFANS IN 2026 MEMO, TAKING SWIPE AT FIRMS ‘VALIDATING BUSINESS MODELS THAT FAIL TO RESPECT ARTISTS’ WORK’

Common Music Group Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge has issued a stark warning about “irresponsible enterprise fashions” in AI music, declaring that UMG is not going to tolerate offers that “devalue artists” and “promote the exponential progress of AI slop on streaming platforms.”

The feedback seem in Grainge’s annual New Yr memo to UMG workers, despatched on Thursday (January 8) and obtained by MBW, wherein he celebrates a profitable 2025 for the world’s greatest music rights firm and its artists, whereas outlining strategic priorities for 2026.

“Validating enterprise fashions that fail to respect artists’ work and creativity, and promote the exponential progress of AI slop on streaming platforms, is a grave disservice to artists, songwriters and all of us who work in music,” writes Grainge.

“Let me be clear: UMG is not going to stand by and watch irresponsible enterprise fashions take maintain, fashions that devalue artists, fail to supply enough compensation for his or her work, stifle their creativity and finally, diminish their capability to achieve followers.”… (MBW)

3. ETHIOPIA HABTEMARIAM APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF MUSIC AT HYBE AMERICA

HYBE America has appointed veteran music exec Ethiopia Habtemariam as its new President of Music.

Habtemariam, identified most just lately for having headed up Common Music Group’s Motown Information, will assist advance HYBE America’s long-term progress technique, spearhead A&R and artist improvement throughout the corporate’s label ecosystem, and establish new inventive and industrial alternatives, HYBE America stated in an announcement on Thursday (January 8).

Habtemariam might be based mostly in Los Angeles and in Atlanta, her hometown and an epicenter of worldwide hip-hop into which the South Korea-headquartered HYBE tapped through its 2023 acquisition of label High quality Management… (MBW)

4. UK MUSIC STREAMING SUBSCRIPTION REVENUES GREW BY 3.2% YOY IN 2025. SO DID INFLATION.

The sum of money spent on music subscriptions by UK customers grew modestly final yr, up 3.2% YoY. That’s based on new preliminary stats from the UK’s Leisure Retailers’ Affiliation (ERA), whose members embody Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

In accordance with ERA’s information, some GBP £2.045 billion (USD $2.69bn) was spent on music streaming subscriptions in 2025, up from GBP £1.982 billion in 2024. In financial phrases, that represented a YoY improve of GBP £63.0 million… (MBW)

5. UMG’S LATEST MAJOR AI PARTNERSHIP ARRIVES VIA TECH GIANT NVIDIA, WITH PROMISE OF ‘ANTIDOTE TO GENERIC AI SLOP’

Common Music Group has struck its newest main AI partnership. The world’s largest music rights firm introduced on Tuesday (January 6) a strategic collaboration with AI computing big NVIDIA, the world’s most respected firm by market capitalization, presently valued at roughly $4.56 trillion.

In accordance with a press launch, the partnership will see NVIDIA and UMG “undertake collaborative analysis and improvement to advertise shared aims of advancing human music creation and rightsholder compensation.”

The discharge added that the collaboration will mix NVIDIA’s AI infrastructure with what the businesses describe as “the world’s main music catalog comprising tens of millions of culture-defining tracks” to pioneer what they name “accountable AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement.”… (MBW)