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

This week, a US federal choose dismissed Salt-N-Pepa’s lawsuit in opposition to Common Music Group over grasp recording possession.

In the meantime, UMG Chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge issued his 2026 memo, warning in opposition to “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 below are among the largest headlines from the previous few days…

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

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

Choose Denise Cote of the US District Court docket 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 be able to learn in full right here.

Cheryl James and Sandra Denton, professionally often called Salt-N-Pepa, filed the lawsuit in Might 2025 searching for 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 development of AI slop on streaming platforms.”

The feedback seem in Grainge’s annual New Yr memo to UMG employees, despatched on Thursday (January 8) and obtained by MBW, through which he celebrates a profitable 2025 for the world’s largest 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 development 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 satisfactory compensation for his or her work, stifle their creativity and in the end, diminish their capacity to succeed in 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 development technique, spearhead A&R and artist improvement throughout the corporate’s label ecosystem, and establish new artistic and business alternatives, HYBE America mentioned in an announcement on Thursday (January 8).

Habtemariam might be primarily based 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 amount of cash spent on music subscriptions by UK customers grew modestly final yr, up 3.2% YoY. That’s in accordance with new preliminary stats from the UK’s Leisure Retailers’ Affiliation (ERA), whose members embody Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

In accordance with ERA’s knowledge, 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 beneficial firm by market capitalization, at present 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 goals 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 hundreds of thousands of culture-defining tracks” to pioneer what they name “accountable AI for music discovery, creation, and engagement.”… (MBW)