A defining week for the business of music in visual media. A German court delivered the first binding European ruling holding AI music training as copyright infringement. Spotify extended its AI covers-and-remixes framework to independent labels. And catalog acquisitions, tech integrations, and executive movement across country, publishing, and agency all landed inside seven days.

Here is your 60-second catch-up.

AI + Legal

• GEMA wins landmark Munich ruling against Suno — July 31. In one of the most consequential AI music decisions to date, the Munich Regional Court ruled that Suno infringed both German AND US copyright law by training its AI systems on GEMA-represented works and reproducing them in Europe. The ruling — case number 42 O 763/25, presiding judge Elke Schwager — is the first binding European ruling on AI music training and holds that offshore training is not a safe harbor when the resulting model is deployed inside the EU. GEMA had filed the case in January 2025 focused on six musical works including “Rasputin,” “Daddy Cool,” and “Mambo No. 5.” Suno must pay damages yet to be determined and is evaluating an appeal. GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmüller: “AI models based on the theft of intellectual property have no protection under the law.”
  Why it matters: This ruling reshapes the AI training legal landscape globally. It provides authoritative European precedent that will influence pending cases across the EU, adds pressure on ongoing US litigation (Sony v. Suno in Massachusetts, RIAA v. Suno), and strengthens the licensing template already established by Warner Music, UMG, and Merlin. As covered by Music Week, Variety, MBW, Music Ally, and Deadline.
  

• Spotify and Merlin sign AI covers and remixes licensing deal — August 4. Announced today alongside Spotify’s Q2 2026 earnings, Merlin — the licensing agency representing 30,000+ independent labels and distributors globally — signed onto Spotify’s AI-powered fan-made covers and remixes framework, extending the model first established with Universal Music Group in May. Participating artists and songwriters opt in and share in the revenue stream. As reported by Billboard, MBW, TechCrunch, Music Week, and Digital Music News. Why it matters: The independent sector is now formally inside the licensed-AI-derivative framework. This creates a legitimate commercial pathway for indie labels to participate in AI music revenue rather than being displaced by it — and establishes a template that could influence future sync negotiations involving adaptive music, gaming, and interactive media.
  

• Spotify crosses 300 million paid subscribers in Q2 2026. A first for the audio streaming industry. Announced on today’s earnings call alongside the Merlin deal.
  Why it matters: Meaningful benchmark for the streaming economy’s paid tier — and context for Spotify’s strategic pivot toward superfan monetization, paid add-ons, and AI features rather than pure subscriber growth.

Catalog + Publishing Deals

• BMG acquires Andrew Stockdale / Wolfmother publishing catalog. BMG expanded its long-running partnership with Wolfmother frontman Andrew Stockdale, acquiring his publishing catalog including cross-generational sync staples “Woman” and “Joker & The Thief.”
  Why it matters: Both tracks are perennial sync-active masters with a proven placement history across advertising, film trailers, gaming, and sports media. Adds meaningful contemporary rock catalog to BMG’s publishing side as its 2026 legacy acquisition run continues.
  

• Mushroom Music Publishing extends roster with Amy Shark, Jack Johnson, Julia Jacklin, The Temper Trap. The Australian indie publishing powerhouse renewed publishing administration deals with multiple artists in a single announcement.
  Why it matters: Mushroom continues to hold one of the deepest APAC-centered publishing catalogs — with meaningful international sync utility across territories increasingly targeted by streaming originals and brand campaigns.
  

• BMG signs Shaznay Lewis. Back Row Publishing signs Matt McVaney. BMG Music Publishing brought on the All Saints songwriter/producer; Back Row Publishing signed songwriter/producer Matt McVaney to its roster.

Publishing Signings — Nashville

• Sony Music Publishing Nashville signs Adam James — July 22. Circling back from last week. The Nashville songwriter, whose cuts include four songs on Cody Johnson’s CMA Album of the Year–winning Leather (including “Whiskey Bent” featuring Jelly Roll), plus Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Dierks Bentley, and Nate Smith.

• Deltona signs joint publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville and The Core Entertainment — July 23. Circling back from last week. Emerging act joint-signed to publisher and management.

Executive Movers + Shakers

• Academy of Country Music appoints Andy Schuon as CEO — effective September 1.

  

  Circling back from July 21. The ACM named the veteran media and music executive as its next CEO, succeeding Damon Whiteside (who continues as CEO Emeritus through end of 2026). Schuon joins from Anthem Sports & Entertainment (President, AXS TV and HDNet Movies), with previous senior leadership at MTV, VH1, Warner Bros. Records, UMG, Ticketmaster, CBS Radio, and as co-founder of REVOLT TV with Sean “Diddy” Combs. Nashville-based. Why it matters: ACM tapping a tech-and-media-first executive — not a Nashville insider — signals real strategic intent about the genre’s global growth, digital distribution, and cross-platform positioning. Watch how ACM’s initiatives evolve heading into the September transition.
  

• Triple Tigers Records / AKANDO Music hires Chris Palmer as VP, National Promotion.

  

  Veteran promotion executive joins the country music label roster.
  

• Riser House Entertainment names Paul Grosser as Director, Regional Promotion.

  

  Continued team expansion at the Nashville-based independent country label.

Agency Signings & Representation

• UTA signs Laufey for worldwide representation. The chart-topping vocalist and songwriter joins United Talent Agency across all areas — live touring, filmed entertainment, media, brand partnerships.

  

  Why it matters: Laufey’s genre-crossing catalog and sync-friendly production style make her one of the most sync-relevant contemporary artists working. Agency representation this comprehensive signals major planned expansion across her career.
  

• WME signs Rhiannon Giddens. WME expanded its music roster with Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens (previously the composer/lyricist behind Terence Blanchard’s opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones and a leading voice in Americana/roots music).

  

  Why it matters: Giddens’s cross-genre credentials — composer, songwriter, historian, and performer — position her as an exceptional sync candidate for film scoring, documentary, and prestige TV projects.

Music Supervision & Industry Honors

• MUSEXPO announces Nora Felder as Global Music Supervisor Award recipient for MUSEXPO 2027.

  

  Circling back from July 27. The Emmy-nominated music supervisor (Stranger Things, Yellowjackets, Californication, What We Do in the Shadows, Better Things, Ray Donovan) will receive the honor at next year’s international conference. The award lands in the same window as her 2026 Emmy nomination for Stranger Things.

Streaming + Tech

• Avid announces integration with Audiomovers. The audio production giant behind Pro Tools partnered with Audiomovers to enable real-time remote audio collaboration directly within Pro Tools sessions — a meaningful upgrade for film/TV composers, mix engineers, and audio post-production teams working across locations.
  Why it matters: Remote and distributed workflow tooling continues to become standard infrastructure for film and TV post-production. Avid’s integration formalizes what many production teams have already been improvising, reducing session friction and clearance-adjacent delays.

Sync & Screen

• World Soundtrack Awards 2026 voting opens. The Public Choice Award and Game Music Award are now open for public voting. Notable original score contenders this cycle include Alexandre Desplat (Frankenstein), Max Richter, Jonny Greenwood, Bear McCreary (God of War Ragnarök), and Sarah Schachner.
  

• World Soundtrack Awards / Film Fest Gent open composer submissions for “Third Character.” The annual film music composition market matches composers with active international film projects. Submission window now open.

Events Happening Around the World

Master Calendar (August – November 2026)

Event || Dates || Location || Focus
MTV VMAs Sep 6 Elmont, NY Broadcast & Media
IFF Conference Sep 14–16 Los Angeles, CA Festivals & Live Music
Reeperbahn Festival Sep 16–19 Hamburg, Germany European Sync & Publishing
SYNC Summit Oct 1–2 NYC Sync Licensing
All That Matters Oct 2–7 Singapore APAC Sync, Gaming & Brand Deals
PMA Conference (PMC) Oct 6–8 Los Angeles, CA Production Music, Libraries & Sync
Mondo.NYC Oct 13–16 Brooklyn, NY Tech, Rights & Music Law
Amsterdam Dance Event Oct 21–25 Amsterdam, NL Electronic Publishing & Sync
Music Tectonics Oct 27–29 Santa Monica, CA AI, Web3 & Music Tech Capital
Ivors Composer Awards Nov 17 London, UK Composer Recognition

AMM Deep Dive Watch

• The GEMA v. Suno ruling as global precedent. How Munich’s decision reshapes ongoing US litigation, EU-wide AI licensing pressure, and the commercial value of the licensing template the majors and Merlin have already established.

• The Spotify AI framework as sync market signal. With UMG (recorded + publishing) and now Merlin (30,000+ independent labels) both inside the Spotify covers/remixes model, the licensed-AI-derivative economy is now a legitimate market. Worth a Thursday deep-dive on what this means for the future of sync pitching, commissioned covers, and rights architecture.

• The country music leadership pivot. ACM tapping a tech-and-media executive (not a Nashville insider) signals real strategic intent about the genre’s global growth. Worth watching alongside broader country/Nashville sync expansion.

Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

Reporting from American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen.

Good afternoon! Another solid week in the business — Sony Music Publishing’s quiet acquisition of the James Bond Theme surfaced through UK regulatory filings, two of the industry’s most consequential executive appointments landed at PRS and UMG, and one of AI music’s biggest platforms is dealing with the fallout from a data breach revealed to affect 55 million users. Here is your 60-second catch-up.

Catalog + M&A

Sony Music Publishing quietly acquired Monty Norman Limited — and the James Bond Theme catalog with it. As first reported by Music Business Worldwide (MBW) this past week, Sony Music Publishing acquired 100% of shares in Monty Norman Limited, the company of the late composer who wrote the iconic James Bond Theme first heard in 1962’s Dr. No. The transaction was never publicly announced — it surfaced only through a confirmation statement filed with the UK’s Companies House in March 2026, which MBW reviewed and reported this week.
Why it matters: A deal of this magnitude — one of the most commercially valuable and culturally recognizable pieces of screen music ever written, attached to one of the longest-running film franchises in history — happening without a press release is a deliberate choice about how the largest catalog acquisitions now operate. Quietly, methodically, without inviting the market attention public announcements generate. Independent artists and smaller rights holders should take note: the most significant deals often move without anyone outside the transaction knowing until a document surfaces somewhere.

Executive Movers & Shakers

PRS for Music names Ben McOwen Wilson as new CEO. Announced Friday, July 24.
The former Google Play and YouTube executive succeeds Andrea Czapary Martin, who announced her departure in March after seven years leading the UK collection society. McOwen Wilson officially takes the role October 12. Previously Managing Director, EMEA for Google Play (September 2022–present), and spent over a decade at YouTube leading business across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Earlier roles include CEO of UEFA New Media, executive positions at ITV, and work with the UK’s Creative Industries Council and Creative Industries Federation.
Why it matters: PRS moving a tech and streaming veteran into its CEO seat signals where performing rights organizations see their future — digital platform strategy, AI licensing frameworks, and global rights infrastructure. Watch for how PRS’s operational priorities evolve heading into the October transition, particularly on AI training licensing and micro-sync tracking.

Universal Music Group hires Tseyin Foo as President, Global Supply Chain.
Announced Thursday, July 23. LA-based, reporting to Boyd Muir, UMG’s COO. Foo joins from Skechers, where she led global supply chain planning and strategy, and previously spent five years at Nike plus senior positions at VF Corporation (Timberland, Vans, 7 For All Mankind).
Why it matters: The appointment follows Virgin Music Group’s completed acquisition of Downtown in February, and Foo will oversee the global operational backbone powering physical formats, direct-to-consumer channels, and merchandise across UMG’s ecosystem. Physical and D2C remain meaningful revenue lines — this hire is UMG doubling down on operational infrastructure to support both.

AI + Legal

Suno data breach affects 55.3 million users; surfaces after eight months.
Have I Been Pwned added the Suno breach to its database Monday, July 20, revealing that the November 2025 incident exposed email addresses, phone numbers, names, physical addresses, purchase records, and partial payment card data from Suno’s Stripe account. Suno did not publicly disclose the attack or notify affected users; the scale only became clear through 404 Media reporting and HIBP’s dataset review. The stolen data also reportedly includes Suno’s source code, which documents the company’s alleged training pipeline scraping from Deezer, Genius, and YouTube.

Why it matters: Two overlapping stories here. The security story is bad enough on its own. But the leaked source code documentation now becomes potential concrete evidence in the ongoing Sony v. Suno and RIAA lawsuits — exactly what plaintiffs need to argue against Suno’s fair-use training defense. Watch how this reshapes the litigation posture over the next 90 days.

Music publishers refiled amended complaint against Anthropic — July 22.
Publishers led by Concord and BMG refiled their second amended complaint against Anthropic, with direct infringement and copyright management information (CMI) removal now the central claims. The publishers dropped their contributory and vicarious liability claims following the Supreme Court’s Cox v. Sony Music ruling, which narrowed those theories.

Why it matters: The publishing side of the AI training lawsuit landscape is continuing to sharpen its legal theory. The narrowed complaint focuses the case around the most defensible claim — direct infringement — while removing the theories the Supreme Court just cut off. Watch Anthropic’s response due August 3.

GEMA launches PLAI — a licensed music dataset built for training AI music tools.
The German collection society announced PLAI by GEMA with Karlsruhe-based transcription firm Klangio as its first named customer.

Why it matters: GEMA is moving from litigation (its Munich case against Suno delivers verdict July 31) to infrastructure — building a licensed alternative to unauthorized training datasets. If the model scales, it becomes a competitive commercial framework that shifts AI companies from lawsuit exposure to licensed access. Worth watching as a European counter-model to the US label licensing deals.

Tech + AI + Streaming

AI-generated music crossed 50% of Deezer’s new uploads in June 2026 — for the first time.
Music Busiess Worldwide reported this past week that fully AI-generated tracks now represent more than half of all new music uploaded to Deezer daily, peaking near 90,000 tracks per day — up from 75,000 daily uploads and 44% share when Deezer last reported the figures in April 2026. Deezer announced it will delete AI tracks used to inflate streams fraudulently, plus AI tracks nobody has streamed in six months.

Why it matters: The streaming service upload flood is now structurally AI-dominated, and Deezer is the first major platform to publish this scale of data. Watch whether Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music follow with comparable transparency — and how deletion policies affect the economics of catalog visibility across the platforms.

Publishing + Catalogs

Sony Music Publishing Nashville signs Adam James — July 22.
The Nashville songwriter, whose cuts include four songs on Cody Johnson’s CMA Album of the Year-winning *Leather* (including “Whiskey Bent” featuring Jelly Roll and “C’mon Cowgirl”), plus Kenny Chesney’s No. 1 “Knowing You” (2022 ACM Song of the Year nominee), and songs recorded by Luke Combs, Dierks Bentley, and Nate Smith.
Why it matters: Adds a proven Nashville hit-maker to SMP’s country roster during a strong publisher recruitment cycle in the format.

Deltona signs joint publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing Nashville and The Core Entertainment — July 23.
Emerging act joint-signed to publisher and management.
Why it matters: The joint publisher-plus-management deal structure continues to gain traction as a preferred artist-development model in Nashville, particularly for developing acts positioned for sync placement pipelines.

Awards +

MUSEXPO announces Nora Felder as Global Music Supervisor Award honoree for MUSEXPO 2027.
The Emmy-winning music supervisor (Stranger Things, Yellowjackets, Californication, What We Do in the Shadows, Better Things, Ray Donovan) will receive the honor at next year’s conference in Burbank. Two-time Grammy nominee, five-time Emmy nominee, and multiple-time honoree at the GMS Awards, HMMA, UK Sync Awards, Women in Sync Awards, and Banff World Media Festival.
Why it matters: The announcement lands the same week Felder received her 2026 Emmy nomination for Stranger Things — a genuine convergence of industry recognition for one of music supervision’s most influential working practitioners. Alongside Ben Mortimer (Polydor) and Ken Bunt (Disney Music Group), Felder joins the MUSEXPO 2027 honoree class.

Events on the Horizon

Master Calendar (August – November 2026)

Musikfest Conference | Aug 2–4 | Bethlehem, PA | Live & Emerging Tech |

MTV VMAs | Sep 6 | Elmont, NY | Broadcast & Media |

IFF Conference | Sep 14–16 | Los Angeles, CA | Festivals & Live Music |

Reeperbahn Festival | Sep 16–19 | Hamburg, Germany | European Sync & Publishing |

SYNC Summit | Oct 1–2 | NYC | Sync Licensing |

All That Matters | Oct 2–7 | Singapore | APAC Sync, Gaming & Brand Deals |

PMA Conference (PMC) | Oct 6–8 | Los Angeles, CA | Production Music, Libraries & Sync |

Mondo.NYC | Oct 13–16 | Brooklyn, NY | Tech, Rights & Music Law |

Amsterdam Dance Event | Oct 21–25 | Amsterdam, NL | Electronic Publishing & Sync |

Music Tectonics | Oct 27–29 | Santa Monica, CA | AI, Web3 & Music Tech Capital |

Ivors Composer Awards | Nov 17 | London, UK | Composer Recognition |

AMM Deep Dive Watch

• The tech-executive pivot at performing rights organizations. McOwen Wilson at PRS follows a broader pattern of PROs recruiting tech and streaming leaders to run rights infrastructure. Worth a deeper Thursday piece.

• The Suno breach as legal evidence. The leaked source code documenting alleged scraping from Deezer, Genius, and YouTube could reshape the litigation landscape. Watch for a deep-dive once Suno’s response is public.

• Quiet catalog acquisitions as the new default. Sony’s James Bond deal filed without a press release is a signal about how the largest catalog transactions now operate. Trend piece worth developing.

Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

Reporting from American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen.

Good morning. A blockbuster week for music-for-media rights. Sony Music Publishing closed the $3.5-4B Recognition Music Group acquisition, Cutting Edge Group locked down one of the largest single-composer catalog deals ever, BMG consolidated three legacy publishing catalogs, and Elon Musk’s X settled its multi-year lawsuit with major publishers. On top of that, the 2026 Emmy nominations continued to shape the fall awards conversation. A separate deep-dive on the Emmy music categories is coming — for now, here is your 60-second catch-up.

CATALOG + DEAL FLOW

Sony Music Publishing officially closes the Recognition Music Group acquisition — July 15. Sony Music Publishing, led by Chairman and CEO Jon Platt, in partnership with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, completed the acquisition of the entire 45,000+ track Recognition Music Group catalog assembled by Merck Mercuriadis under Blackstone. Valued between $3.5B and $4B. The catalog delivers administrative control over tier-one sync IP including stakes in hits by Journey, Fleetwood Mac, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Lady Gaga.
Why it matters: This is the largest publishing M&A closing of 2026. Sync-active catalog with this level of cultural reach doesn’t come to market often — Sony now has significantly greater weight in film, TV, advertising, and gaming placement conversations for the next decade.

Cutting Edge Group acquires Brian Tyler’s film + TV catalog — July 15. In one of the largest deals ever completed for the work of a single screen composer, Cutting Edge Group (CEG) acquired the rights and royalty streams to more than 60,000 minutes of music written by Tyler — covering the Fast & Furious franchise, Iron Man 3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: The Dark World, Crazy Rich Asians, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Rambo: Last Blood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Now You See Me, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe, and the official F1 Theme. Films represented have cumulatively grossed $21B+ at the global box office. Financial terms undisclosed. CEG now owns/manages 400,000+ media music rights valued at $1B+.
Why it matters: The screen-composer catalog M&A market has arrived. CEG’s aggressive strategy — Tyler follows earlier 2026 acquisitions of John Paesano’s catalog plus partnerships with Warner Bros. Discovery and AMC Studios — signals that composer catalogs are now viewed as a distinct, resilient asset class separate from artist publishing. Every working screen composer with a substantial catalog should be paying attention.

BMG consolidates ARC Music, Hal David, and John Lee Hooker catalogs — July 14. BMG acquired the remaining ownership interests in the ARC Music publishing catalog (the publishing counterpart to Chess Records), plus the remaining interests in the classic catalogs of legendary songwriter Hal David and blues icon John Lee Hooker.
Why it matters: Three legacy catalogs consolidated under one roof significantly expands BMG’s sync-viable classic-Americana, R&B, and blues repertoire — actively relevant for period film, TV drama, documentary, and brand placement over the next 24 months.

Firebird Music + Ares Management launch $750M catalog acquisition platform. Indie music company Firebird partnered with Ares Management and The Raine Group to deploy a $750M capital platform targeted specifically at acquiring music rights and catalog IP.
Why it matters: Even more institutional capital is flowing into the catalog market. Between this platform, Warner/Bain’s $1.2B vehicle announced earlier this year, Primary Wave’s $2.225B fund close, and Cutting Edge’s aggressive screen-composer strategy — the buy-side is enormous, and multiplier pressure is likely to hold or rise through 2027.

LEGAL

X (Twitter) settles multi-year music publisher lawsuit — July 16. Elon Musk’s X Corp and major music publishers (coordinated via the NMPA) mutually filed joint stipulations of dismissal to end their multi-year copyright and antitrust legal battle. The settlement resolves the publishers’ $250M+ infringement suit in Tennessee and X’s counter-antitrust lawsuit in Texas — both dismissed with prejudice.
Why it matters: A major platform-licensing pressure point resolves. Terms weren’t disclosed, but a mutual dismissal-with-prejudice signals both sides accepted a negotiated framework — likely including a going-forward licensing structure. Watch how similar disputes with Meta (still pending) and other platforms trend from here.

Sony v. Suno headed to Massachusetts summary judgment; Munich GEMA v. Suno verdict July 31. Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV’s Massachusetts hearing on AI fair-use is the first US federal case to test whether training on copyrighted recordings constitutes fair use. Germany’s Munich Regional Court delivers the GEMA v. Suno verdict July 31 — the first European AI training case verdict on audio.
Why it matters: Two courts, two continents, two rulings in the same summer could set the global framework for AI music licensing. If Suno wins on fair use, it destabilizes every AI licensing deal the industry just struck. If it loses, the UMG-Udio settlement template becomes the industry standard.

AFM sues Warner and UMG over AI licensing settlements — filed June 5. The American Federation of Musicians is targeting the labels themselves (not the AI companies), alleging their settlements triggered the “new use” compensation provision of the collective bargaining agreement without properly compensating session players.
Why it matters: Independent artists, session players, and small-label rightsholders are organizing. The AI settlement conversation is broadening beyond majors.

PUBLISHING

Tricky Stewart signs global publishing deal with BMG — July 14. The 5-time Grammy-winning songwriter/producer, whose credits include Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” signed a global publishing agreement with BMG.
Why it matters: Marquee R&B/pop catalog with active sync placement across two decades of hits. Adds significant contemporary sync weight to BMG’s roster in the same week it consolidated its legacy catalog holdings.

Sony Music Publishing Nashville signs Kruse Brothers to a global publishing deal (early July). Country act signing continues Nashville-major frontline catalog development.

The Linda Lindas sign with Reprise-Warner Records. New single “Burning Out” points to a third album. The LA quartet’s sync placement history across TV, brand, and trailers has been steadily growing.

EXECUTIVE MOVERS + SHAKERS

A2IM names 2026-2027 board and executive committee. Glen Barros (Exceleration Music) as chair, Louis Posen (Hopeless Records) as treasurer, David Barnes (Rhymesayers Entertainment) as secretary. New board members: Katie Garcia (Bayonet), Tony Kiewel (Sub Pop), Steve Kline (Better Noise), Elliott Peters (EMPIRE).
Why it matters: A2IM represents 600+ indie labels and is one of the most influential trade voices on streaming, AI, and rights policy. This leadership shapes indie positioning through the next legislative cycles.

Genius promotes Jackie Vignone to Chief Revenue Officer. Adds VP-level appointments including Sara Kern (Marketing & Creative Strategy, from Paramount) and Gabe Silverman (Music Partnerships, from Amazon Music and Meta).
Why it matters: Genius continues to reposition around monetized music-partnership infrastructure — watch as a growing sync-adjacent player through video, brand, and licensed-lyric integrations.

Sony Music Publishing promotes Luis Pinilla to SVP, Global Head of Strategy. Coincides with SMP’s Recognition catalog closing — internal reorganization as SMP integrates the 45,000+ track acquisition.

Warner Chappell promotes David Goldsen to EVP, A&R. LA-based, continues reporting to Ryan Press (President, North America). 17-year WCM veteran with credits including Zach Bryan, Sleep Token, Teddy Swims, Mitski, and The Red Clay Strays.
Why it matters: Signals WCM’s continued investment in country-adjacent and prestige-alternative catalogs — categories with strong current sync activity.

FILM + TV SCORING

Apple TV+ Lucky soundtrack released July 15. Epic Records dropped the official soundtrack featuring original score by Isabella Summers (aka Isa Machine of Florence + the Machine) plus opening titles song “Horns of a Bull” by Fiona Apple. Summers’ credits include Lisa Frankenstein, KAOS, Little Fires Everywhere, Physical, and My Oxford Year.
Why it matters: Another marquee “score-plus-prestige-artist song” streaming rollout, with a Fiona Apple original as the sync anchor. Apple TV+ continues to invest in prestige-artist opening titles commissions as a distinct sync category.

2026 Emmy nominations shape the fall composer conversation. A separate AMM article on the Emmy music categories is coming this week. Announced July 8, this year’s music categories brought major names into the field — including Hans Zimmer’s 8th Primetime Emmy nod (Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age), Lady Gaga’s first Emmy songwriting nod (”The Dead Dance” from Wednesday, co-written with Andrew Watt and Cirkut), and 9 nominations for the Bad Bunny Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show (a new halftime-show record).
Creative Arts Emmys: September 5-6.
Main ceremony: September 14.

EVENTS ON THE HORIZON

Master Calendar (August – October 2026)

• Aug 2–4 — Musikfest Conference (Bethlehem, PA) — Live & Emerging Tech

• Sep 6 — MTV VMAs (Elmont, NY) — Broadcast & Media

• Sep 14–16 — IFF Conference (Los Angeles, CA) — Festivals & Live Music

• Sep 16–19 — Reeperbahn Festival (Hamburg, Germany) — European Sync & Publishing

• Oct 1–2 — SYNC Summit (NYC)

• Oct 2–7 — All That Matters (Singapore) — APAC Sync, Gaming & Brand Deals

• Oct 6–8 — PMA Conference / PMC (Los Angeles, CA) — Production Music, Libraries & Sync

• Oct 13–16 — Mondo.NYC (Brooklyn, NY) — Tech, Rights & Music Law

• Oct 21–25 — Amsterdam Dance Event (Amsterdam, NL) — Electronic Publishing & Sync

• Oct 27–29 — Music Tectonics (Santa Monica, CA) — AI, Web3 & Music Tech Capital

• Nov 17 — Ivors Composer Awards (London) — submissions open through autumn

AMM Deep Dive Watch

The screen-composer catalog M&A market. Between Cutting Edge’s Tyler + Paesano deals, its Warner Bros. Discovery + AMC partnerships, and its $1B+ portfolio — screen composer catalogs are now a distinct institutional asset class.

The AFM lawsuit against Warner and UMG. The “who gets paid” reckoning of the AI settlement era — session players and independent artists now organized to claim compensation.

The Emmy music categories. Separate AMM article coming!

Editorial Commitment: American Music + Media is dedicated to delivering timely, accurate, and thoughtful coverage of the music-for-media community. Our reporting is based on publicly available information, official announcements, interviews, and trusted industry sources. As an independent publication, we value transparency and accuracy. If you spot an error or have additional information, we'd love to hear from you.

Reporting from American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen.

Happy post-4th of July! A dense week for the business — Sony took a setback in its Udio lawsuit, Amazon Music poached a top YouTube Music executive, publishing deals landed across Nashville and pop, and the Harry Potter TV series confirmed one of the most anticipated scoring assignments of the decade. Here is your 60-second catch-up.

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AI + Legal Eagles

• Sony Music denied bid to expand Udio lawsuit to 30,000+ recordings. Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein ruled last week that Sony’s case against Udio stays at the original 333 works — a meaningful setback for the label’s litigation strategy. Universal, Warner, Merlin, and Kobalt have all struck licensing deals with Udio over the past nine months; Sony remains the only major yet to reach a deal, and continues to litigate. Why it matters: The industry is bifurcating on AI — most major players are shifting from litigation to licensing, while Sony is holding a hard line. Watch how Sony’s Suno case in Massachusetts (61,026 recordings in play) develops as the next real test of the litigation strategy.
  

• NMPA’s AI Songs Summit is set for Nashville this fall. Following the June 10 Udio and KLAY licensing deals — the first industry-wide publisher AI pacts, valuing songs and recordings 50/50 — NMPA CEO David Israelite confirmed the AI Songs Summit will convene the publishing community in Nashville. Why it matters: The publisher-side benchmark for AI licensing is now set. Every deal from here on gets measured against 50/50.

Executive Moves

• Amazon Music hires Hrishikesh Aradhye as VP, Product Eng & Science. Aradhye joins from Google, where he was Senior Director of Engineering, leading YouTube Music and Podcasts. Reports to Ryan Redington, VP of Amazon Music. Why it matters: Amazon Music is aggressively investing in AI-driven product infrastructure, and hiring away YouTube Music’s engineering lead is a serious signal. Watch for accelerated tooling around discovery, personalization, and rights-management workflows.

  ---

  

• Virgin Music Group announces new global and regional leadership team. Universal Music Group’s independent distribution and artist-services arm unveiled its senior leadership structure last week.

  CO-CEOs

  

  • JT Myers — Co-CEO, Virgin Music Group

  • Nat Pastor — Co-CEO, Virgin Music Group

  ---

  CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

  

  • Pieter Van Rijn — COO, Virgin Music Group

  ---

  GLOBAL DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP

  Marketing

  • Jeremy Kramer — EVP, Global Marketing

  Commercial & Digital Strategy

  • Zack Gershen — EVP, Global Commercial & Digital Strategy

  ---

  OPERATIONAL & PRODUCT LEADERSHIP

  Technology

  • Tom Allen — Chief Technology Officer, VMG

  Product Strategy

  • David Driessen — Chief Product Officer, VMG

  Global Operations

  • Christiaan Kröner — EVP, Global Operations, VMG

  Publishing

  • Emily Stephenson — President, Downtown Music Publishing

  Distribution (Artist Services)

  • Molly Neuman — President, CD Baby

  Physical & Direct-to-Fan

  • Matt Sawin — EVP, Physical & Direct-to-Fan Growth, VMG

  Communications & Brand

  • Gareth Mellor — SVP, Communications & Brand Strategy, VMG

  ---

  REGIONAL LEADERSHIP

  🇺🇸 North America

  • Jacqueline Saturn — President, North America & EVP, Global Artist Relations

    • Sarah Landy — SVP, Business Development, North America

  🌎 LATAM (Latin America, US Latin & Spain)

  • Victor González — President, LATAM, US Latin & Spain

  🇧🇷 Brazil & Portugal

  • Cris Falcao — President, Brazil & Portugal

    • Renato Vanzella — Managing Director, Brazil (reports to Falcao)

  🇪🇺 Europe

  • Nick Roden — President, Europe

    • Liz Northeast — SVP & General Manager, Europe (reports to Roden)

  🌏 Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA)

  • Michael Roe — Managing Director, AMEA

  🇦🇺 Australia & New Zealand

  • Nathan McLay — Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand
    
    Why it matters: Virgin’s positioning as the “quiet major” for independent labels and distributors is now formalized — one to watch as the major-vs-indie line continues to blur across 2026 consolidation.

Music Publishing + Signings

• Electric Feel Publishing and Sony Music Publishing sign producer London Cyr. Cyr, whose credits include Drake, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Doja Cat, and Don Toliver, joins the joint venture led by Electric Feel founder-CEO Austin Rosen. Why it matters: Top-tier producer signings are increasingly landing at joint-venture publishers rather than pure-majors — a structural signal about where songwriter/producer talent believes it will be best served.

  

• Sony Music Publishing Nashville + Ace High Music sign Chris Sligh to a worldwide publishing deal. Sligh’s cuts include Rascal Flatts, Bailey Zimmerman, Nate Smith, and Josh Ross. Why it matters: Nashville publisher consolidation continues as major-plus-boutique deals lock down proven catalogs with active cut activity.

  

• Ashe signs with Atlantic Records + Doomsday/UMPG publishing. The singer-songwriter, whose duo project The Favors (with Finneas) released 2025’s The Dream, ties recording and publishing into a coordinated Atlantic/UMPG structure. Why it matters: Coordinated frontline label + publishing deals are becoming the standard for artists with sync-friendly catalogs and touring momentum.

  

• David Spencer re-signs with Essential Music Publishing. The five-time GMA Dove Award-nominated songwriter/producer renewed his exclusive publishing deal with EMP (a Sony Music Entertainment / Provident Entertainment division) on July 3. Recent sync: a global Adobe placement featuring Sansol the Artist’s “Pocket Size.” Upcoming: Carly Simon’s radio single “Howl,” Jo Dee Messina’s Bridges album, and continued work with viral duo Neoni. Why it matters: Cross-genre songwriter/producers with active sync placements remain a priority category for major-adjacent publishers — Christian, country, and pop lanes are increasingly interconnected.

Film + TV Scoring

• Hans Zimmer and Bleeding Fingers Music will score HBO’s Harry Potter TV series. Why it matters: One of the highest-profile prestige TV scoring assignments of the decade — with major soundtrack-album, sync, and derivative work implications for HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery’s ongoing IP strategy. Watch for how the score references (or reinvents) John Williams’ original film themes.
  

• Labrinth exits HBO’s Euphoria. Following a cryptic March post from Labrinth publicly criticizing the show and his record label, the composer will not return for Season 3. He was previously slated to co-develop the season’s sound with Hans Zimmer. Why it matters: Composer exits from marquee prestige TV are rare and reveal real friction in the artist–label–production ecosystem. Also opens a significant Emmy-caliber scoring assignment mid-production.

Catalog + Reissues

• July soundtrack reissue slate is unusually strong.

  

  Varèse Sarabande brings 25th-anniversary editions of Harry Gregson-Williams & John Powell’s Shrek score and expanded deluxe editions of Mark Isham’s Timecop and John Debney’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
  

  

  La-La Land Records unveils a 10th-anniversary limited edition of Thomas Newman’s Spectre score and John Barry’s The Golden Child.
  

  

  Back Lot Music/Waxwork drops John Williams’ Disclosure Day on CD and 2LP.
  
  Why it matters: The specialty label reissue economy is running at full strength — meaningful catalog activity for legacy score licensing and a signal for supervisors that classic and legacy scores are actively being repackaged for placement and licensing conversations.

Streaming + Tech

• Amazon Music CTO leadership signals AI investment. Aradhye’s arrival (see Executive Moves) coincides with Amazon Music’s stated view — quoted by Aradhye himself — that “the music industry is going through a tectonic shift that will unlock entirely new kinds of customer experiences through AI.” Why it matters: Amazon is quietly building the AI product side of streaming in ways Spotify and Apple Music will need to answer. Publishers, labels, and songwriters should be tracking how Amazon’s product moves may affect discovery, sync placement pipelines, and derivative-use licensing conversations over the next 18 months.

  

• IMPALA publishes a plan to transform the digital music market. The pan-European indie label trade group released a plan with five headline objectives, including sharp criticism of streaming service payment thresholds and a proposal for new “provenance” labelling on tracks. Why it matters: Independent labels globally are coordinating structural policy pressure on streamers — worth tracking as the political and regulatory framework around streaming economics continues to shift.

Events on the Horizon

• NMPA AI Songs Summit — Nashville, this fall. The first major industry gathering explicitly focused on publisher/AI licensing frameworks post-Udio/KLAY.
  

• Ivors Composer Awards — London, November 17. Submissions open through autumn. Film, TV, documentary, and game scoring are all eligible.
  

• Watch for follow-through from Cannes Lions and Annecy (both closed June 27). Composer assignments, supervision announcements, and licensing deals traceable to briefs scoped in France should start surfacing over the next 6–8 weeks.

AMM Deep Dive Watch

• Sony’s litigation-only AI strategy — what happens if it’s the only major holding out and its Suno case doesn’t deliver?
  

• The Hans Zimmer / Harry Potter scoring brief — how HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery structure derivative-work rights against Williams’ original film themes.
  

• Amazon Music’s AI product roadmap under new engineering leadership — implications for sync discovery, licensing workflows, and streaming-platform revenue architecture.
  

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AMM Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for informational and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

One of the year’s biggest composer assignments was confirmed, a major Netflix documentary launched with a same-day a as standalone score release, and the score-plus-songs streaming playbook delivered one of its clearest case studies yet. Two of the most consequential music-for-media festivals close this weekend in France. Here’s what the week’s developments mean for the business of music.

AMM Hot Takes

• Warner Bros. confirms Rupert Gregson-Williams for Practical Magic 2. Susanne Bier’s September 11 theatrical sequel reunites Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, and Dianne Wiest, with Season Kent and Gabe Hilfer (MAS) overseeing music supervision.

  Why it matters: A high-profile franchise sequel with a marquee composer creates meaningful opportunities for soundtrack releases, catalog exposure, and long-tail music placement.

• Netflix pairs The American Experiment with a same-day score release. John Dragonetti’s score for the Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman-produced documentary series debuted alongside the five-part Netflix release.

  Why it matters: Treating documentary scores as standalone catalog rather than companion content continues to strengthen the commercial value of nonfiction music.

• A.R. Rahman scores Emirati psychological thriller Baab. Rahman’s latest collaboration with director Nayla Al Khaja expands his international body of work into the growing MENA film market.

  Why it matters: Cross-border scoring partnerships continue to broaden opportunities for publishers, supervisors, and composers working in emerging global markets.

• Cannes Lions and Annecy conclude this week. The advertising, animation, and entertainment conversations taking place across both festivals now move from presentations to production.

  Why it matters: Many of the partnerships, scoring assignments, soundtrack opportunities, and licensing conversations initiated this week are likely to surface as announced projects over the coming months.

Worth Watching

Documentary scoring continues to emerge as one of the steadiest areas of screen-music work.

Streaming platforms continue investing in nonfiction programming, creating consistent opportunities for composers, publishers, and rights holders. Faster production schedules, recurring relationships with documentary producers, and increasing support for standalone soundtrack releases make the category an attractive long-term business lane.

For composers, agents, and music attorneys, the takeaway is practical: documentary scoring offers a dependable way to build catalogs, strengthen publisher relationships, and generate continuing royalty opportunities alongside original commissions.

Inside the Deal

The score-plus-songs streaming playbook—and what

“Every Year After” reveals about the business.

Amazon MGM’s Every Year After demonstrates an increasingly sophisticated music strategy by pairing Tom Howe’s original score with Gabe Hilfer’s carefully curated licensed soundtrack.

Rather than functioning as a single music budget, the production treats original score and licensed songs as complementary assets serving different storytelling purposes while creating separate commercial opportunities.

Business implications

• Ownership: Commissioned cover recordings create new masters that productions can control and license.

• Revenue: Original score and licensed songs generate distinct publishing, performance, and licensing opportunities.

• Budget strategy: Producers have a stronger business case for commissioning original recordings alongside licensed catalog.

• Long-term value: Productions build music assets that continue generating value well beyond the initial release.

Why It Matters

Music is increasingly being treated as an investment rather than simply a production expense. Projects that intentionally develop both score and soundtrack catalogs are creating additional long-term value for producers, publishers, composers, and rights holders.

Market Signal

Streaming platforms are placing greater long-term value on original music catalogs.

The release of The American Experiment alongside its standalone score album reflects a broader trend: streaming services increasingly recognize that original music can continue generating value long after a program premieres.

For the industry, the lesson is straightforward.

When platforms invest in properly released soundtracks, complete metadata, publishing administration, and long-term catalog management, everyone in the creative chain benefits—from composers and publishers to production companies and audiences discovering the music independently of the screen.

The question is no longer whether original music deserves standalone treatment, but which companies are building the strongest long-term catalog strategies.

Featured Release

The American Experiment

— Original Score by John Dragonetti (Netflix Music)

Released alongside the five-part documentary series directed by Brian Knappenberger and executive produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, Dragonetti’s score illustrates how documentary music is increasingly receiving the same standalone treatment traditionally reserved for film and prestige television.

Why it matters: Documentary scores are steadily becoming recognized as valuable catalog assets, creating additional opportunities for composers, publishers, and rights holders beyond the original production.

Industry Events

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity concludes Friday, while the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Mifa Market wrap Saturday.

Both events continue to shape the creative and commercial pipeline for advertising, animation, film, and streaming projects. Many of the composer assignments, music supervision opportunities, soundtrack releases, and licensing announcements that emerge later this year will trace their origins to conversations taking place this week.

AMM Weekend Recommends

• Listen: John Dragonetti’s The American Experiment score as an example of documentary music evolving into standalone catalog.

• Listen: A.R. Rahman’s Baab for another example of cross-border scoring in a growing international market.

• Watch: John Carney’s Power Ballad with an ear toward how music functions as narrative structure rather than accompaniment.

• Stream: Every Year After and study the interaction between original score and licensed songs throughout the series.

• Track: The Ivors Composer Awards submission period and other upcoming composer recognition programs.

• Follow: Cannes Lions and Annecy wrap-up coverage as projects announced this week move into active production.

Reporting from American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen.

Editorial Disclaimer:

AMM content is intended for informational and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

Sadly, the industry lost a giant this week — Clive Davis at 94 — and we’re still absorbing the weight of it. The Senate moved on AI voice protection, the publisher/AI battle lines sharpened, a historic label relaunched, a hardware brand became a record label, the cue-sheet infrastructure that drives audiovisual royalties just got modernized, and across the pond in France, two of the most important sync convenings of the year are running side by side. Plus a few items from earlier in the month, we want to make sure you didn’t miss. Here’s your 60-second catch-up.

🌟 Clive Davis

Clive Davis dies at 94. The legendary music executive — former President of Columbia Records, founder of Arista Records and J Records — died peacefully at his Manhattan home on Monday, June 22. Over an unparalleled six-decade career, Davis signed, mentored, and revitalized generations of icons from Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen to Aretha Franklin, Carlos Santana and Alicia Keys. He remained Chief Creative Officer at Sony Music Entertainment through the end. The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU continues his teaching legacy.

Davis built the foundational pop, rock, and R&B publishing and master catalogs that anchor the modern global sync licensing ecosystem. But the catalogs are only half the story. He was one of the last of the great music men — an executive who came up when this was a relationship business and made sure it stayed one, even as the industry reinvented itself around him three or four times over. The posts pouring in from artists, songwriters, and executives all carry the same throughline: he listened, he fought for what he believed in, and he made the people he worked with better—a mentor in the truest sense, and a generational figure who will be deeply missed.

🌟 Bobby Prince

Gaming pioneer Bobby Prince dies at 81. The iconic composer behind seminal 1990s scores including Doom, Doom II, and Wolfenstein 3D passed away on June 16. His heavy-metal MIDI soundtracks pioneered dynamic, interactive audio in gaming media — work that was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry earlier this year. The catalog he leaves behind will keep getting placed, covered, and remixed for decades.

Before Prince, video game music was a novelty. After him, it was a craft. Working under brutal technical constraints — a handful of MIDI channels, severely limited memory, no orchestral budget — he proved that game scoring could carry the same emotional and atmospheric weight as anything on screen. A former practicing attorney who taught himself composition, Prince was the rare figure who built a foundational catalog without ever chasing the spotlight. The composers shaping today's prestige game audio — Mick Gordon, Gareth Coker, the entire FromSoftware school — all owe him a debt, and most of them have said so. His catalog will keep getting placed, covered, and remixed for decades. The field lost one of its quiet architects.

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Sync Economics — The Big Number

• U.S. publishing revenue hit $7.3B in 2025; sync represented 24%. Per NMPA data released at its June 10 annual meeting: performance royalties at 52%, sync at 24%, mechanicals at 19%, other at 5%. Total publishing revenue more than tripled from $2.17B in 2014. Why it matters: Sync isn’t niche anymore — it’s nearly a quarter of U.S. publishing revenue. Treat it like a core business, not bonus money. For any publisher, library, or rightsholder, this is the bullet to forward to anyone still treating sync as secondary.

• UMG Q1 2026 sync revenue jumped 15.3% YoY. Universal Music Publishing Group's synchronization revenue reached $79.6 million in Q1 2026, up 15.3% in constant currency, driven explicitly by advertising, trailers, and motion picture income. Total UMPG revenue grew 7.0% in constant currency for the quarter; sync was the standout growth line. Why it matters: The world's largest publisher is reporting that ad, trailer, and film demand are not just holding — they're accelerating. The macro story behind the NMPA's 24% figure is being verified in real-time at the biggest balance sheet in the business.

Catalog + Deal Flow

Riley Green renews with Warner Chappell Music Nashville. Long-term global publishing renewal closed June 15 on the back of the country star’s multi-platinum momentum and 2026 ACM nominations, deepening his ties to Big Machine Label Group. A signal of how Nashville majors are locking in long-cycle country catalogs heading into the next sync wave.

Record Labels

Uptown Records relaunches under Republic Collective. Industry veteran Danielle Price Sanders named President of Uptown Records and EVP of Republic Collective; Natina Nimene joins as EVP, Urban Audience & Artist Relations (June 21). The historic catalog — Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Heavy D, Andre Harrell — re-enters active circulation at its 40th anniversary, with enormous implications for TV, period film, and brand sync over the next 24 months.

Bose launches Bose Studios and Bose Records. Announced June 17, the audio hardware company is expanding into original content and a record-label model that explicitly does not take artist masters, sales, or streaming revenue — but does retain the right to use the music in Bose commercials. CMO Jim Mollica (formerly Disney, Viacom) is leading. The studio includes a YouTube series, podcasts, live music events, and TV/film projects with reported "legendary Hollywood names." Why it matters: Brands are no longer just sponsors buying tracks for campaigns — they're becoming music-media operators. Bose's "use rights without owning masters" model is a new structural play that could reshape how brand-artist deals are scoped going forward.

Music Publishing

Keli Holiday signs a global admin deal with BMG. The Australian artist-producer (solo project of Peking Duk’s Adam Hyde) inked the exclusive worldwide deal today, June 23, following his viral “Dancing2” and sophomore album Capital Fiction. Sync-friendly catalog with crossover momentum — worth tracking for international film, TV, and ad placements.

Eli Winders signs with Big Loud Publishing. The Nashville-based independent powerhouse added the songwriter-artist on June 17 to its cross-genre roster. Latest in Big Loud’s run of catalog development plays positioned for country-adjacent placements.

Horus Music launches Horus Music Publishing Signature. The independent distributor opened an invitation-only publishing administration and sync licensing tier on June 18, custom-built for film, TV, gaming, and global streaming pitching. Boutique-service positioning in a market increasingly dominated by major-publisher consolidation — a model worth watching.

AI + Technology + Legislation

CISAC launches AVR+ to modernize music tracking in film and TV. Announced June 18, the new machine-readable JSON-schema format — built on the Global Cue Sheet Standard 2.0 developed with IFPI and the Society Publisher Forum — is the first implementation-ready tool for cleaning up how cue sheets get processed across the global audiovisual industry. The launch caps six years of work to fix fragmented, inconsistent, often-incomplete cue sheet data. Why it matters: This is the backend plumbing of the entire sync economy. Better cue-sheet infrastructure means cleaner royalties, fewer missing payments, and a stronger sync back office. Context: CISAC member societies collected $13.63 billion globally in 2024 — and BMI agreed in May to acquire cue-sheet management platform Soundmouse from Orfium, with CEO Mike O’Neill calling audiovisual “one of the fastest-growing sectors of our industry.”

Meta moves to dismiss Wixen's $102M music publishing lawsuit. Meta filed June 20 to knock out Wixen Music Publishing's lawsuit over 681 works, framing it as a failed licensing negotiation rather than broad copyright misconduct. Hearing set for August 3 in the Central District of California. Why it matters: Platform licensing disputes remain one of the hottest sync-adjacent pressure points. The outcome will shape how publishers approach future negotiations with major tech platforms — and how aggressive they can be in court when those negotiations stall.

NO FAKES Act clears Senate Judiciary. The bipartisan Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act of 2026 advanced by unanimous voice vote on June 18, establishing a new federal IP right covering digital replication of voice and visual likeness by generative AI. Backed by the RIAA. The most consequential AI-and-music legislative development of the year so far — and if it clears the full Senate and House, every sync involving a recognizable vocal identity will need explicit, federally-protected consent.

Rewind: NMPA strikes industry-wide AI licensing deals with Udio and KLAY. Worth resurfacing because the news context this week depends on it: at NMPA’s annual meeting on June 10, president and CEO David Israelite announced the first-ever industry-wide AI music licensing deals — with Udio and KLAY — establishing a 50/50 split between songs and recordings on AI training income. That’s a precedent-setting departure from the streaming model, where recordings earn more than 3x what songs do. NMPA members started reviewing the Udio agreement on June 15; the KLAY deal launches later this summer. Israelite also announced an AI Songs Summit in Nashville this fall.

Why we’re circling back: the EMMA-led coalition letter was a direct response to these deals.

Rights + Royalties

31-organization coalition draws a line on AI default opt-ins. The European Music Managers Alliance, alongside the Music Artists Coalition (chaired by Irving Azoff), Songwriters of North America and 28 others issued an open letter on June 22 protesting “default opt-in” terms in AI licensing deals being negotiated by major labels and publishers with platforms like Suno and Udio. Demands: explicit creator consent, full transparency, fair compensation splits. The letter lands directly on the heels of the NMPA’s June 10 Udio/KLAY deals — putting management and creator-side organizations in pointed dialogue with publisher-side deal-makers.

AMM Take: The publisher-side and management-side are now negotiating from different rooms on AI. Watch how that gap closes — or widens — through the back half of summer.

Events: Happening Around the World

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — June 22–26, Cannes. The 73rd edition, 15,000+ delegates from 100+ countries at the Palais des Festivals. Apple joins the juries for the first time. For the sync business specifically: every major brand, agency, music-supervision house, and creative-tech platform is on the Croisette this week — Spotify Beach, Meta Beach, Amazon Port, the Canva Creative Cabana — and the brand-music briefs scoped here will shape Q3 and Q4 placements.

AMM Take: One of the most important sync weeks of the year. The advertising music briefs scoped this week become the campaigns you'll hear in the second half of 2026.

Annecy International Animation Film Festival + Mifa Market — June 21–27, Annecy, France. The 50th-anniversary edition of the world’s largest animation festival, with the Mifa market running June 23–26. Studio slates being previewed: Illumination (Minions & Monsters, opening film), Pixar (Gatto), Laika (Wildwood), Netflix (Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn; Ghostbusters: Night Shift), Warner Bros./DC (Mister Miracle, Starfire, Creature Commandos). Honorary Cristals to Mike Judge and the Brothers Quay. Also notable: a working session on the foundations for a white paper on AI in animation.

AMM Take: Animation has quietly become a top-three growth lane for screen scoring and song placement alongside gaming and themed entertainment.

AMM Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for informational and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

OPENING NOTE 🎼

Last week’s headlines all point to the same reality: rights are getting more valuable, but the systems surrounding those rights may become just as important as the catalogs themselves. Here’s what mattered.

THE BIG NUMBER

NMPA: U.S. Music Publishing Reaches $7.3 Billion

The National Music Publishers’ Association reported that U.S. music publishing revenue climbed to $7.3 billion in 2025, marking the fourth consecutive year publishing growth outpaced recorded music.

Why it matters:

As publishing revenues continue to expand, competition over how those dollars are distributed is becoming increasingly intense. For sync professionals, healthy publishing economics continue to reinforce the long-term value of rights ownership.

RIGHTS + REVENUE

Spotify and Amazon Bundle Strategy Remains a Flashpoint

The NMPA estimates that streaming bundle structures introduced since 2024 have reduced publisher and songwriter revenue by roughly $500 million.

Why it matters:

While sync fees are not affected directly, pressure on mechanical royalties makes premium licensing revenue even more important. In a tighter royalty environment, sync remains one of the few areas where rights holders can still negotiate value.

PUBLISHING

UMPG Launches Publishing 101

Universal Music Publishing Group officially launched its new creator education series today, designed to explain publishing administration, royalties, A&R, and sync licensing to emerging creators.

Why it matters:

As publishing becomes more sophisticated, education itself becomes a competitive advantage. The companies helping creators understand rights may ultimately strengthen their own long-term ecosystems.

AI + RIGHTS INFRASTRUCTURE

Warner Music’s Sureel Acquisition Continues to Ripple

Now that the initial announcement has settled, the significance of Warner Music Group’s acquisition of Sureel AI is becoming clearer.

The platform’s “AI DNA” technology tracks musical attribution, provenance, and how AI models interact with copyrighted works.

Why it matters:

Future AI disputes, derivative works, voice cloning, and licensing workflows may depend heavily on infrastructure platforms like these.

CAPITAL + DEAL FLOW

Mount Duke Capital Expands Into Music IP

Miami-based advisory firm Mount Duke Capital announced a strategic partnership with Creative Rights, opening the door for increased institutional investment into music assets.

Why it matters:

Private equity, family offices, and sovereign wealth funds continue to view music rights as a stable long-term asset class.

AWARDS CIRCUIT

Canadian Sync Awards Celebrate Music-for-Picture Excellence

The Guild of Music Supervisors Canada hosted its annual Sound + Vision Conference and Sync Awards in Toronto, recognizing the creative teams behind some of the year’s strongest screen projects.

Among the productions receiving top recognition were Heated Rivalry, Shoresy, and The Office Movers.

Why it matters:

Canadian productions continue to grow in global influence, and the supervisors behind those projects are increasingly shaping international music discovery and licensing trends.

STILL ON OUR RADAR

Primary Wave + Donna Summer Estate

The newly announced partnership covering Donna Summer’s recordings, publishing assets, and NIL rights remains one of the most important catalog stories of the summer.

Seeker Music Acquires Nu Shooz

As “I Can’t Wait” approaches its 40th anniversary, Seeker Music is preparing new sync and digital campaigns around the catalog.

Sony’s Recognition Music Integration

Sony Music Publishing’s absorption of Recognition Music Group continues to reshape the catalog marketplace.

UMPG Rebrand

Universal’s new visual identity and positioning strategy officially entered its next phase with today’s Publishing 101 launch.

AMM TAKE

In 2026, infrastructure may be the new catalog.

Ownership still matters. But the companies building systems for attribution, education, rights management, and AI may ultimately determine where the next wave of value is created.

American Music + Media - Where Music Meets the Screen
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Editorial Disclaimer

AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us. If any information needs to be updated or corrected, please contact us: americanmm.news @ gmail.com

Playback: Sync in 60 is produced by American Music Media. Questions, news, tips, submissions: https://bit.ly/AMMNewsDesk

We hope you're having a great week!

A note on two converging currents this week: Primary Wave’s Donna Summer deal and WMG’s Sureel acquisition, read together, tell you something about where catalog strategy is going. Legacy catalogs are getting more valuable — but only if you can prove provenance, manage AI attribution, and connect rights to active media opportunities. The publishers and platforms building that infrastructure now are positioning for a rights landscape that will look very different in five years.

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THE BIG STORY

Primary Wave Lands Donna Summer

Primary Wave Music announced a full partnership with the Estate of Donna Summer — covering her award-winning catalog, recordings, and name, image, and likeness rights. The play is aggressive: Primary Wave’s full publishing infrastructure will now pursue new sync, film, television, marketing, and branding opportunities across a catalog that includes 17 studio albums (three Billboard 200 #1s) and some of the most sample-friendly, sync-ready material in pop history. Think “I Feel Love,” “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls.” Queen of Disco is officially back in active play. With Primary Wave having recently raised $2.2B for catalog investments and its acquisition of Kobalt still pending close, this deal signals the independent publisher is in full empire-building mode.

THE AI STORY THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS

Warner Music Buys Sureel AI

WMG dropped one of the more consequential AI moves of the year on June 10: the acquisition of Sureel AI, a multi-patented attribution platform whose core product creates what it calls “AI DNA” for every song — breaking works into component parts and tracing how AI models use those elements. Sureel also runs a growing NIL attribution suite that tracks voice clones, AI-generated avatars, and style replication. WMG CEO Robert Kyncl framed it plainly: the creative community needs to remain in control of its IP. Sureel will operate as a standalone platform. The deal follows WMG’s earlier licensing agreement with Suno and signals a clear strategic shift — from resistance to infrastructure. For the sync and licensing community, the implications are direct: rights provenance, AI compliance reporting, and creator attribution are becoming hard infrastructure, not aspirational goals.

PUBLISHING

UMPG Goes Public With Its Purpose

Universal Music Publishing Group rolled out a full rebrand on June 9 — new logo, new visual identity, new positioning language built around the cultural importance of songwriters. The creative work came from agency GrandArmy. Alongside the visual refresh, UMPG announced Publishing 101, a short-form video series debuting June 16 designed to demystify sync licensing, A&R, royalties, and publishing administration for creators. It’s a smart content play: education as brand-building in an era when independent artists are increasingly making publishing decisions without infrastructure support.

Andrew Jenkins Steps Down at UMPG Asia Pacific

After nearly two decades, Andrew Jenkins has departed as President of UMPG’s Asia Pacific Region. During his tenure Jenkins worked closely with legacy catalogs including the Bee Gees, The Cure, and Alanis Morissette, and served as Chair of the International Confederation of Music Publishers. Big institutional footprint — worth watching who steps into that seat.

UMG Raises $1.15B in Bond Offering

Universal Music Group priced a $1.15 billion senior unsecured bond split equally into two tranches — maturing in 2030 and 2036. The raise came within days of Pershing Square (Bill Ackman’s fund) fully exiting its UMG position via a roughly $1.54 billion share placement. Capital access remains strong; shareholder composition is shifting.

CATALOG

Seeker Music Acquires Nu Shooz

Independent publisher Seeker Music, led by CEO Evan Bogart, acquired full master and publishing rights to the catalog of 1980s synthpop duo Nu Shooz — best known for “I Can’t Wait,” a track now celebrating its 40th anniversary. The stated strategy is straightforward: revitalize sync and digital placement potential for a catalog that has serious nostalgic currency across advertising, gaming, and streaming playlist culture. 40-year anniversaries have a way of opening doors.

SYNC / SUPERVISION

Jen Malone on the Record

Music supervisor Jen Malone — whose credits include Atlanta, Euphoria, and Beef — has been in the spotlight this awards cycle for her work on FX’s Love Story, the Ryan Murphy series following the romance of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Malone’s process: build a master playlist organized by year (1991, 1992, etc.) and work outward from personal favorites. Key clears for the season include Peter Gabriel’s “Blood of Eden,” Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” and Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over.” The show is an active Emmy contender, and Malone’s work is part of the conversation. For supervisors watching the season, it’s a case study in period-authentic music strategy.

TECHNOLOGY / INFRASTRUCTURE

OnChain Music Launches Unified Sync + Distribution Platform

CEO Ben Kopec’s OnChain Music announced a platform integrating independent distribution, sync licensing, and Content ID management on June 9. The sync infrastructure is the piece worth watching: independent artists can pitch directly to active music requests from film and TV supervisors, with blockchain-based processing for instant licensing fee payouts in stablecoins. It’s early infrastructure, but the direction — removing middlemen between indie catalogs and active briefs — is where the market is heading.

GAMING / LIVE

Game Music Festival 2026 Kicks Off in London

The Game Music Foundation launched the London leg of Game Music Festival 2026 on June 6 with an orchestral concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of Diablo, performed by the London Mozart Players. The broader festival includes appearances from composers Hitoshi Sakimoto, Austin Wintory, Darren Korb, and Shoji Meguro. Game music’s ongoing ascension as a concert-hall art form continues — and the sync implications for catalog legitimacy are real.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

• Jean-Sébastien Permal exits Sony Music (VP of A&R, Continental Europe & Africa) → joins Warner Music as SVP of A&R, EMEA and Central Europe, based in Germany. Overseeing Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

  

  ---

• Jeff Stempeck joins Stem as VP of A&R and Label Partnerships. Former three-year tenure at TikTok’s SoundOn. Concurrent promotions: Alison Junker and Chris Allen elevated to VP of Artist & Label Relations at Stem.

  

  ---

• Billboard’s 2026 Indie Power Players list was published during Indie Week in New York. AMPED Distribution’s Dean Tabaac, Jocelynn Pryor, and Pip Smith all honored — the company saw a 39% year-over-year revenue increase in independent retail channels.

Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us:
americanmm.news @ gmail.com

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Happy Friday from AMM.

The Croisette is buzzing, the Stanley Cup chase has a new soundtrack, and the rights-and-royalties world just fired a warning shot heard from the auction house to the federal government. It was a week about ownership — who holds the catalog, who scores the moment, and who pays to use the music. Grab a coffee; here’s your weekend rundown.

🔥 AMM hot takes

🔥 Blumberg signs to UMPG + 45RPM.

Blumberg signs to UMPG + 45RPM. Universal Music Publishing Group announced Thursday it has signed The Brutalist Oscar winner Daniel Blumberg to a global deal, struck jointly with sync-and-supervision partner 45RPM Music Publishing and landing him in UMPG’s Classics & Screen division. It’s a reunion — 45RPM co-founder Ayla Owen first signed Blumberg years ago at Warner Chappell. A marquee screen-composer capture for the venture. (More in Spotlight.)

🔥 Jelly Roll scores the playoffs.

The NHL and Amazon Music announced Thursday that Jelly Roll will provide the official 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs theme, “Rise Up” — an Amazon Music Original featured in broadcasts, in-arena, and across NHL channels, debuting during Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. A textbook artist-meets-league sync-and-branding play. (More in Featured Campaign.)

🔥 Peanuts music owner goes to court.

Lee Mendelson Film Productions filed four copyright suits Wednesday over alleged unlicensed use of Vince Guaraldi’s Peanuts compositions — naming a video-game publisher, an auction house, a belt-maker, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. A pointed reminder that “iconic” doesn’t mean “free.” (More in Behind the Brief.)

🔥 Cannes turns up the volume on composers.

The Marché du Film’s Spot the Composer (7th edition, with SACEM) and a new Composers on the Rise pilot ran through the festival (May 13–24), pairing film composers with directors hunting for scores. Cannes isn’t only a sales market anymore — it’s increasingly a scoring marketplace.

🔥 Two soundtracks, one Boroughs.

Netflix Music dropped John Paesano’s score for the supernatural series “The Boroughs” on May 21, while Legacy Recordings released a companion songs album the same day. The dual-album rollout — score on one label, songs on another — is fast becoming the default streaming-launch playbook (see also: Off Campus last week).

🔥 Djawadi rides again.

Amazon released the soundtrack to Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War on May 20, scored by Ramin Djawadi with Andrew Bernstein and William Marriott — extending one of the most reliable franchise-scoring partnerships in streaming.

👀 AMM worth watching

👀 Sync-forward publishing is the new flex.

Sync-forward publishing is the new flex. Majors are increasingly structuring around screen revenue — dedicated “screen” divisions, sync-and-supervision joint ventures — rather than treating placements as an afterthought. For example, The Blumberg deal landing inside a UMPG division explicitly built around “Classics & Screen,” routed through a dedicated sync-and-supervision partner. Watch which composers get developed inside those lanes.

👀 Theme parks are a scoring frontier.

Theme parks are a real scoring category. Purpose-built, commercially-released themed-entertainment scores are emerging as their own briefs — a growing opportunity for composers and a new catalog class for libraries and publishers to think about. Isle of Berk and the broader Epic Universe rollout, themed-entertainment music is generating real, commercially-released soundtracks.

👀 Catalog re-recordings keep coming.

Reigning Phoenix Music’s The Transformers: The Movie “Reformatted Edition” (re-recorded by Stan Bush, Sebastian Bach and others, out July 24) shows how legacy screen music is being re-cut for fresh masters — a sync-clearance workaround worth watching as classic-catalog prices climb.

👀 Enforcement season for legacy catalogs.

As classic-catalog values climb, expect more aggressive policing of “sound-alike” and unlicensed use — and more catalog re-recordings created to sidestep clearance friction.

🌟 Spotlight feature 🌟

🌟 Daniel Blumberg — composer & artist (newly signed to UMPG / 45RPM)

This week’s biggest screen-composer headline. The London-based Blumberg — former Yuck and Cajun Dance Party frontman turned film composer — won the Academy Award and BAFTA for Best Original Score for Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” in 2025, after an Ivor Novello for Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come”. His Thursday signing to UMPG and 45RPM (into the Classics & Screen division) reunites him with 45RPM’s Ayla Owen, who first signed him at Warner Chappell. Recent work includes scores for Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee” and Gianfranco Rosi’s “Below the Clouds”.

What makes Blumberg compelling for AMM readers: he’s a genuine artist-composer hybrid — a Mute Records solo discography, a silverpoint-drawing practice exhibited from Paris to Berlin — who brings an experimental, hands-on recording sensibility to picture. As majors restructure around screen music, signing a composer like Blumberg is a statement about where prestige and sync value intersect.

🌟 Ayla Owen — Managing Director & co-founder, 45RPM Music Publishing

The dealmaker behind the headline. Owen co-founded 45RPM Music Publishing, the venture launched in October 2024 through a strategic partnership between 45RPM and UMPG, and her fingerprints are all over this week’s Blumberg signing — a relationship she originated years earlier at Warner Chappell, where she rose to VP, Sync & Creative Services for Europe by January 2020. Owen represents a specific and increasingly powerful archetype: the sync-and-creative executive who builds a roster around screen relationships, then anchors it to a major’s infrastructure for global reach.

In a year when “Classics & Screen” is becoming a competitive battleground among publishers, Owen is exactly the kind of creative-side architect quietly shaping which composers get developed and where their music lands.

One to know — and to watch as 45RPM’s roster grows.

🥂 Tastemakers

🥂 John Paesano.

Reliable franchise-builder (Marvel’s Daredevil, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Maze Runner) adds Netflix’s “The Boroughs” to a deep résumé, with the score album out this week via Netflix Music.

🥂 Keegan DeWitt.

“The Hearts Beat Loud” and “Friendship” composer’s “Off Campus Season 1” score landed via Milan last week — the score half of the now-standard score-plus-songs streaming combo.

🥂 Eli Keszler.

The percussionist-composer (Pet Shop Days) scored indie Bunnylovr, with the soundtrack out via Deeper Into Movies — a reminder that the experimental-musician-to-screen pipeline keeps widening.

🥂 The Marché du Film “Composers on the Rise” cohort.

Five early-career international composers got one-on-ones with directors, a masterclass, and Roland tooling support at Cannes this year — the festival betting on the next generation of screen scorers.

✍️ The storytellers

✍️ John Powell — composer, How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk (Back Lot Music)

Powell has spent nearly two decades building the sonic identity of How to Train Your Dragon — three animated features, last year’s live-action film, and now an entire Universal Epic Universe land in Orlando. The themed-entertainment score, released this week, is a fascinating storytelling problem: music that has to work not as a linear narrative arc but as an environment guests move through at their own pace, looping seamlessly while still feeling emotionally complete. Powell’s Dragon themes are some of the most hummable in modern animation, and translating them into spatial, experiential scoring is a craft most film composers never touch.

Why his approach matters: as immersive entertainment expands, the composers who can make a theme work both on screen and in a physical space become uniquely valuable — and Powell is writing the playbook in real time.

✍️ Ramin Djawadi — composer, Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Amazon)

Few composers have shaped the sound of prestige streaming like Djawadi (Game of Thrones, Westworld, House of the Dragon), and his ongoing stewardship of the Jack Ryan universe — this week’s Ghost War soundtrack arriving May 20 with collaborators Andrew Bernstein and William Marriott — shows the other side of his craft: the propulsive, geopolitical-thriller mode. Djawadi’s storytelling instinct is rhythmic and architectural; he builds tension through pulse and restraint rather than melody alone, letting the score function almost like a second editor cutting between continents.

For a franchise that lives or dies on momentum, his music is the connective tissue. A masterclass in how recurring-franchise scoring keeps a long-running property feeling urgent.

🎬 Featured release

🎬 “How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk” — Universal Epic Universe (Back Lot Music, May 21)

A genuinely novel release: the original music composed by John Powell for Universal’s new themed land, based on the DreamWorks Animation franchise he’s scored from the beginning. This isn’t a film soundtrack repackaged — it’s purpose-built experiential scoring, designed to live inside a physical space guests walk through.

For AMM readers, it’s a window into one of the fastest-growing and least-discussed corners of screen music: the theme-park score as a standalone, commercially-released body of work. Listen for how Powell’s established Dragon motifs are reshaped to loop, layer, and reward repeat visits rather than resolve in a single sitting.

🎧 Featured campaign

“Rise Up” — Jelly Roll × NHL × Amazon Music (2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs)

Announced Thursday, the Grammy-winning artist’s new Amazon Music Original is the official theme of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs — featured in game broadcasts, in-arena integrations, and across NHL social and digital channels, with a music video (Jelly Roll, the Cup, and league highlights) that debuted during Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. A documentary short featuring NHL stars Jack Eichel and Seth Jarvis follows in June.

For AMM readers, it’s a clean case study in modern sports-media music: an artist-meets-league partnership engineered as a multi-platform branding asset, with the track living exclusively on a single streaming service to drive platform value. The deal pairs marquee-artist energy with postseason urgency — exactly the kind of music-as-brand integration leagues are leaning into harder every season.

💼 Behind the brief

💼 The score-plus-songs split is now standard.

Twice this week — The Boroughs (John Paesano’s score on Netflix Music; songs on Legacy Recordings) and the continued Off Campus rollout (Keegan DeWitt’s score on Milan; an Island “mixtape” songs album days earlier) — productions released score and songs as separate albums on separate labels, dropping in the same window.

The logic: score albums serve the film-music audience and awards consideration, while songs albums work as artist-development and playlist plays, often through a label better positioned for pop promotion.

One project, two catalogs, two audiences — and two revenue lines. Expect this to be the default for any streaming title with both an original score and a curated needle-drop identity.

💼 Behind the brief

💼 “Iconic” doesn’t mean “free.”

Lee Mendelson Film Productions — the family-owned company that has stewarded the Peanuts television/film music catalog since the 1960s — filed four copyright suits Wednesday over alleged unlicensed use of Vince Guaraldi’s compositions and arrangements, including “Linus and Lucy,” “Skating,” and Guaraldi’s arrangement of “O Tannenbaum.”

The defendants are an unusually broad set: video-game publisher GameMill Entertainment (over its 2025 Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club, where the suit alleges sound-alike cues too close to the originals), Heritage Auctions and Buckle-Down over promotional social posts, and the U.S. Department of the Interior over a holiday digital card.

The firm is seeking at least $300,000 from GameMill plus injunctions, with counsel framing it as a stand against an “intolerable digital glut” of unlicensed use. The takeaway for anyone touching beloved catalog: a recognizable melody — even a newly recorded “in the style of” version — can still require clearance, and rights holders are getting more litigious in the social-and-streaming era.

✨ Industry moves

✨Daniel Blumberg signs a global publishing deal with UMPG and 45RPM Music Publishing, joining UMPG’s Classics & Screen division (reuniting with 45RPM’s Ayla Owen).

✨The NHL and Amazon Music partner with Jelly Roll on the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs theme “Rise Up.”

✨John Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk themed-land score released via Back Lot Music. Ramin Djawadi (with Andrew Bernstein, William Marriott) scores Jack Ryan: Ghost War via Amazon.

✨ Varèse Sarabande announces deluxe/expanded reissues including Timecop (Mark Isham) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (John Debney).

✨ Reigning Phoenix Music + Hasbro set a re-recorded The Transformers: The Movie “Reformatted Edition” for July 24.

✨ John Paesano scores Netflix’s The Boroughs (score album via Netflix Music; songs via Legacy).

✨ The Marché du Film runs Spot the Composer (7th edition, with SACEM) and a new Composers on the Rise pilot at Cannes.

➡️ AMM Weekend recommends:

➡️ Listen: John Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk (Back Lot Music) — the theme-park score as its own art form

➡️ For the sports crowd: Cue up Jelly Roll’s “Rise Up” against this round’s playoff highlights — then notice how the league threads it through broadcast, arena, and social.

➡️ Djawadi’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War (Amazon)

➡️ Worth a revisit: A Charlie Brown Christmas and the Guaraldi songbook — this week’s lawsuit is a good prompt to appreciate just how much cultural weight a few jazz piano cues can carry (and why their owners guard them).

➡️ John Paesano’s The Boroughs (Netflix Music)

➡️ Keegan DeWitt’s Off Campus Season 1 score (Milan)

➡️ Revisit: Daniel Blumberg’s Oscar-winning The Brutalist score (Milan) and his Testament of Ann Lee soundtrack — essential listening before his next UMPG/45RPM chapter.

➡️ Follow from afar: Cannes 2026’s music programming through May 24 — the Marché du Film’s composer initiatives and the Cannes Soundtrack Award are where next year’s prestige scores get discovered.

➡️ For the crate-diggers: Varèse Sarabande’s Timecop deluxe (Mark Isham) — a reminder that the catalog-reissue world is having a moment, and that re-recorded and expanded scores are quietly reshaping clearance economics.

Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

Welcome — hope you had a great weekend!

Last week opened with Cannes launching in full cinematic fashion: a Beatles cover, a custom Miri Ben-Ari violin score, and the global film business descending on the Croisette. 

Closer to home, the Guild of Music Supervisors gathered Saturday at Position Music in Burbank for its annual Member Summit — another reminder that the sync community continues to organize around relationships, education, and deal flow even as the broader business shifts underneath it.

Meanwhile, consolidation continues to accelerate across music rights. Sony moved to acquire Recognition Music Group, BMG and Concord advanced merger plans, UMG finalized its Downtown Music acquisition, and Pershing Square’s $63.5 billion UMG bid remains active. The larger story: control of high-performing catalogs — and the leverage that comes with them — is concentrating quickly.

On the AI front, the UK’s BPI delivered one of the clearest policy arguments yet for a structured AI licensing economy, while companies across music and tech continued drawing sharper lines between licensed AI training and unlicensed ingestion. At the same time, executive reshuffling continued across publishing, finance, and live representation as companies position for a very different second half of 2026.

AMM WEEKLY PLAYBACK🔥

💰 CATALOG & DEAL FLOW

💰Sony scoops up Recognition

Sony Music Publishing confirmed its agreement Monday to acquire Blackstone’s Recognition Music Group  — the former Hipgnosis Songs Fund catalog of 45,000+ songs,  including “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Single Ladies,” “Under the Bridge,”  “Bad Romance” and “Hallelujah.”  This includes works by Beyoncé, Fleetwood Mac, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eurythmics, and more under SMP’s roof. 

Reported price runs $2B–$4B depending on the outlet. Translation: an enormous chunk of the sync-active classic canon now lives under one roof.

The transaction reunites Recognition with Hipgnosis Songs Group, which SMP bought in 2025  — consolidating what was once the most aggressive independent publishing buyer of the early 2020s under one roof. 

Why it matters: a huge slice of the most-licensed catalog in pop history just moved from a financial owner to a strategic one — expect SMP to push these works harder into sync, brand, and AI-licensing pipelines. 

💰Paramount + Warner Music Group go first-look

A multi-year theatrical deal announced last week opens the WMG catalog — Bowie, Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Charli xcx, Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Cardi B and more — for scripted and animated film development through WMG’s Unigram (Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron). No titles have been announced yet, but the deal signals continued studio appetite for music-driven IP development and catalog-based storytelling.

💰WMG sync revenue dips

Warner’s calendar Q1 2026 print showed synchronization revenue at $50M, down 2% YoY at constant currency, even as total revenue grew 12.1%. A small but rare contraction worth watching for pricing pressure signals.

💰BMG buys Jet’s publishing

BMG closed on the publishing interests of Nic Cester, Cam Muncey and Mark Wilson — expanding its 2023 recordings deal. ANZ/SEA president Heath Johns called out Jet’s “global sync track record of the rarest order.”  “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” remains a trailer-house workhorse.

💰Primary Wave x Pete Townshend 

Variety reports a $100M+ partnership covering “certain music rights,” NIL, and future creative projects from The Who co-founder. Larry Mestel’s team is already lining up sync exploitation around “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and the Tommy/Quadrophenia universes.

📡 AI + TECHNOLOGY 

📡 Suno reportedly closing a Series D at a $5B valuation (double its November mark) while ElevenLabs disclosed $500M ARR and an $11B raise alongside BlackRock, NVIDIA’s NVentures, Jamie Foxx and Hwang Dong-hyuk. Eleven Music’s  Merlin/Kobalt licensing posture is making it the most “supervision-safe” option of the bunch.

📡 Sony’s pending summer fair-use ruling against Suno and Udio is the next major shoe to drop — and the BPI report has now given UK policy a clean script to follow regardless of outcome.

📡 The BPI released a major new report on May 14, “Driving UK Growth: The Role of Licensing Music in the Age of AI,” arguing the UK is “on the cusp of an AI licensing boom” if the government maintains existing copyright law, mandates transparency of AI training data, and asserts UK legal sovereignty over models deployed in the country. 

The report tallies 274 commercial AI licensing deals struck globally by rightsholders, 26 of them music-specific (with Suno, Udio, Klay Vision, Stability AI, Nvidia, ElevenLabs, Spotify, ElevenLabs, BandLab, Google and others), and finds 16% of BPI indie label members are already exploring AI licensing partnerships, with 77% open to licensing for “ethical use by AI”.

📡 Two new academic studies (Stanford/Reed; Kiel/Hamburg) found listeners engage less and are willing to pay less when music is labeled “AI-composed” — even when the music itself is identical. The findings give the industry some of its first measurable data around consumer skepticism toward AI-generated music and perceived creative value.

📡 Tencent Music’s leadership publicly accused competitors of flooding catalogs with infringing AI content this week — a sharper tone than anything Western majors are saying on the record.

📡 Believe + TuneCore officially partnered with Google’s Flow Music (powered by Lyria 3 Pro), offering generative tools to artists while simultaneously blocking unlicensed AI uploads. The distinction between licensed AI ecosystems and unlicensed ingestion is quickly becoming operational — not theoretical.

💼 RIGHTS + REGULATION + LEGISLATION 

💼 Kanye West lost his legal battle on May 13 over an uncleared sample on a version of his “Donda” track “Hurricane” that was played at one of his 2021 listening parties . Notable for supervisors and brand teams: listening events are not exempt from clearance.

💼 The UK government confirmed in the May 13 King’s Speech that promised ticket-touting ban legislation will only be drafted this year, not passed . Live economics — which fund tour-adjacent sync and brand budgets — remain in limbo.

🎬📺  FILM + TELEVISION 

🎬📺Göransson lands his first Star Wars feature “The Mandalorian and Grogu”

Walt Disney Records released full details for The Mandalorian and Grogu, with Ludwig Göransson scoring his first Star Wars theatrical release. Digital arrives today, followed by a helmet-shaped 10” die-cut vinyl on May 22 and a standard 12” release June 5. One of the week’s highest-profile soundtrack launches.

🎬📺 CBS’s “Marshals” Soundtrack

CBS’s “Marshals” approaches its season finale May 24, with Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian’s score and Kevin Edelman’s music supervision continuing the Yellowstone-universe sound system. The “Marshals” Season 1 Original Soundtrack was released digitally on March 6, 2026 under Milan Records  — and renewed for Season 2 before Season 1 finished airing. Procedural-meets-prestige scoring is now a stable category.

🎬📺 Apple TV+ Music Supervision

Apple TV+‘s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, music-supervised by Ciara Elwis, is drawing attention for placements from Hotwax, Clairo, Dire Straits, and Rico Nasty — with Robyn’s “Blow My Mind” anchoring the opening credits and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” used as a key character cue. A textbook example of indie + legacy needle-drop balancing on a prestige half-hour.

🎬📺 Netflix’s “Legends” Score & 90’s Soundtrack

Netflix’s Legends (premiered May 7) continued to pick up critical traction. The score was composed by Sion Trefor (Say Nothing, Toxic Town), with director Brady Hood building the soundtrack around 1990s tracks from The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Manic Street Preachers, EMF, and Cocteau Twins — using a method where each actor sent two songs to define their character.  A useful model for period sync.

📺💰 ADVERTISING

📺💰Dua Lipa filed a $15M lawsuit against Samsung on May 11, alleging unauthorized use of her image on retail TV packaging across the US, with copyright, Lanham Act, and California right-of-publicity claims. Samsung responded May 12, stating the image came from a free streaming service content partner who provided “explicit assurance that permission had been secured, including for the retail boxes” . Why it matters for music-for-media: every brand using artist likeness or sound-alikes through a partner chain just got a reminder that downstream usage is not a legal shield.

➡️ EXECUTIVE MOVES 

➡️ BMG and Concord named Björn Bauer CFO of the merged music company on May 12, effective at deal close. The combined entity, operating under the BMG name will be the de facto fourth major. Finance leadership is now in place ahead of closing in H2 2026.

The merger, expected to close in H2 2026, will operate under the BMG name with Concord’s Bob Valentine as CEO. Finance leadership for what will effectively be the industry’s fourth major is now set.

➡️ WME made several changes to its London music team on May 14, adding Jana Recmanikova as an agent in the London contemporary music department, and elevating Kath Butler and Giulia Spadaro to agent roles. Recmanikova joins the international festival team from Festival Republic, where she spent nine years working on Reading & Leeds, Gunnersbury Park, and Finsbury Park.

🥂INDUSTRY  

🥂 Cannes Film Festival — Opening Week 

The 79th Festival de Cannes opened May 12 with Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss and a stacked music ceremony. Grammy-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari composed a specially written score for the opening remarks by host Eye Haïdara . Theodora and Oklou performed a cover of The Beatles’ “Get Back” — a nod to Peter Jackson’s documentary series The Beatles: Get Back, after Jackson received an Honorary Palme d’Or . Park Chan-wook is jury president.

🥂Marché du Film’s Spot the Composer program ran May 15–18, hosting 10 international film composers for curated one-on-ones with directors and producers seeking original scores. Eiko Ishibashi (Drive My Car, Evil Does Not Evil Exist) was the key speaker of “Composing Without Borders: Film Music on the International Stage,” the main panel of this year’s Spot the Composer . The Marché also launched a new Composers on the Rise pilot program with Nainita Desai mentoring five early-career composers.

🥂31 Marché du Film sessions in 2026 mentioned AI, up from 21 in 2025 — including a two-day “AI for Talent Summit” running May 15–16 . The framing has shifted from “what is AI” to operational questions like synthetic voice licensing and AI-agent sales workflows.

🥂 The Guild Of Music Supervisors Member Summit

The Guild of Music Supervisors held its Member Summit on Saturday, May 16, hosted at Position Music in Burbank. The half-day summit focused on professional development, networking, and craft, building on the Education Committee’s expanded programming. Hosted at Position — one of the industry’s most active independent sync and publishing companies — is notable: it reinforces Position’s continued positioning as a creative hub for the supervisor community.

AMM Take: this event for music supervisors at a sync-forward independent’s HQ is a healthy signal at a moment when major-publisher consolidation is reshaping clearance dynamics.

👀 Worth Watching

👀 Sony’s move on Recognition Music Group increases pressure on the remaining independent mega-catalog players — including Primary Wave, Reservoir, and Round Hill — as large-scale rights consolidation continues accelerating. The next phase may not simply be acquisition volume, but who can most effectively monetize catalogs across sync, branding, gaming, AI licensing, and global media pipelines.

👀 The BPI’s AI transparency push could quickly become a reference point for U.S. lobbying efforts as the industry waits for summer rulings in Sony’s cases against Suno and Udio. Expect licensing infrastructure — not just litigation — to become the real battleground in the second half of 2026.

Editorial Disclaimer: AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

Happy Friday from AMM! This week the music-for-media world has been working overtime — a once-in-a-decade publishing megadeal landed Monday, a Göransson Star Wars score drops today, and a Toronto sync panel quietly became the supervision conversation of the spring. Pour something cold and scroll slowly. There’s a lot to celebrate.

AMM HOT TAKES 🔥

🔥Sony scoops up Recognition

Sony Music Publishing confirmed its agreement Monday to acquire Blackstone’s Recognition Music Group  — the former Hipgnosis Songs Fund catalog of 45,000+ songs,  including “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Single Ladies,” “Under the Bridge,”  “Bad Romance” and “Hallelujah.”  Reported price runs $2B–$4B  depending on the outlet. Translation: an enormous chunk of the sync-active classic canon now lives under one roof.

🔥Göransson lands his first Star Wars feature

Walt Disney Records released full details for “The Mandalorian and Grogu”, with Ludwig Göransson scoring his first Star Wars theatrical release.  Digital out today; helmet-shaped 10” die-cut vinyl on May 22; standard 12” June 5.  The marquee soundtrack drop of the May 15 wave.

🔥Theodore Shapiro named BMI Icon 

At Wednesday’s BMI Film, TV & Visual Media Awards in Beverly Hills, Theodore Shapiro (“Severance”, “The Devil Wears Prada”, “The Housemaid”) collected the Icon Award  — with a tribute video from Paul Feig, Göransson, Ben Stiller, and Jay Roach.  Shapiro also took three other award wins the same night. 

🔥Primary Wave x Pete Townshend

Variety reports a $100M+ partnership covering “certain music rights,” NIL, and future creative projects from The Who co-founder. Larry Mestel’s team is already lining up sync exploitation around “Baba O’Riley,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and the Tommy/Quadrophenia universes.

🔥Paramount + Warner Music Group go first-look

A multi-year theatrical deal announced last week opens the WMG catalog — Bowie, Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Aretha, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, Charli xcx, Coldplay, Dua Lipa,  Cardi B  — for scripted and animated film development through WMG’s Unigram (Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron).  No projects yet; expect plenty.

🔥WMG sync revenue dips

Warner’s calendar Q1 2026 print showed synchronization revenue at $50M, down 2% YoY at constant currency, even as total revenue grew 12.1%. A small but rare contraction worth watching for pricing pressure signals.

🔥BMG buys Jet’s publishing

BMG closed on the publishing interests of Nic Cester, Cam Muncey and Mark Wilson — expanding its 2023 recordings deal.  ANZ/SEA president Heath Johns called out Jet’s “global sync track record of the rarest order.”  “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” remains a trailer-house workhorse.

AMM WORTH WATCHING 👀

The AI music valuation curve is bending vertical — 

Suno reportedly closing a Series D at a $5B valuation (double its November mark) while ElevenLabs disclosed $500M ARR and an $11B raise alongside BlackRock, NVIDIA’s NVentures, Jamie Foxx and Hwang Dong-hyuk. Eleven Music’s  Merlin/Kobalt licensing posture is making it the most “supervision-safe” option of the bunch.

Meanwhile, two new academic studies (Stanford/Reed; Kiel/Hamburg) found listeners engage less and pay less when music is labeled “AI-composed” — even when it isn’t. The first hard data behind a hunch sync execs have been carrying for two years.

Tencent Music’s leadership publicly accused competitors of flooding catalogs with infringing AI content this week — a sharper tone than anything Western majors are saying on the record.

And Believe + TuneCore officially partnered with Google’s Flow Music  (powered by Lyria 3 Pro), offering generative tooling to its artist base while Believe simultaneously blocks unlicensed AI uploads. The line between “licensed AI” and “everything else” is now an operational reality. 

🌟 AMM SPOTLIGHT 🌟

🌟Ludwig Göransson — composer, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” (Walt Disney Records) 

Göransson’s first feature-length Star Wars score arrives today, on the back of a “Sinners” victory lap and a BMI Icon-Award tribute appearance this week for friend Theodore Shapiro. The 21-track album reflects years of Mandalorian world-building stretched to theatrical scale: an 8-minute “This Is the Way,” and a charmingly weird Anzellan diegetic cut, “Hugo Durant’s Snack Shack,” recorded with Andreas Öberg, Luanne Homzy and Mike Valerio. 

Disney is rolling the release in stages — digital today, helmet-shaped die-cut 10” vinyl on May 22, standard 12” June 5  — a release strategy treating the score as both event soundtrack and collectible object. 

Why he matters this week: when a single composer is simultaneously delivering the tentpole score of the summer, anchoring an Icon Award lineup and quietly setting the tone for the next decade of cinematic scoring conversations, you pay attention.

🌟 AMM SPOTLIGHT 🌟

🌟Jessica Powell — co-founder & CEO, AudioShake

A profile of Powell’s AI stem-separation company this spring revealed a quietly remarkable trajectory: roughly 25 employees, 40+ business clients including UMG, WMG, Disney Music Group and NFL Films, and audio processing volumes that have grown from single-digit-millions to hundreds of millions of minutes a year.  

Sync licensing was the entry wedge — supervisors and rights teams needing clean stems for re-records, dialog edits and dub-friendly mixes — and that wedge cracked open backends for two major streaming services. In a year defined by generative-AI noise, AudioShake represents the other AI story: profitable, supervisor-facing, made-of-actual-workflow. 

As a female founder operating at the intersection of rights and tooling, Powell is one of the most consequential music-tech leaders to know in 2026.

AMM TASTEMAKERS 🥂

🥂Theodore Shapiro. 

Newly minted BMI Icon, fresh off scoring “Severance”, “The Housemaid” and “Another Simple Favor”. Three additional wins the same night underscored the run.

🥂Breton Vivian.

Quietly building one of the most consequential résumés in cable scoring inside the Taylor Sheridan-verse — “The Madison” (Pfeiffer-led, sliding strings as landscape metaphor) and Brian Tyler co-credit on the “Dutton Ranch” score landing today via Milan. 

🥂1500 or Nothin’.

The Grammy-winning collective (Larrance “Rance” Dopson, James Fauntleroy) scoring Courtney A. Kemp’s new Netflix crime drama “Nemesis”. A high-profile composing assignment for a producer crew known mostly for hits.

🥂Andrew Watt × Michael Stipe.

Watt makes his TV scoring debut on HBO’s “Rooster” (Bill Lawrence, Matt Tarses, Steve Carell), with a main-title song “I Played the Fool” co-written by Watt and performed by Stipe.  WaterTower drops the soundtrack today. 

AMM STORYTELLERS ✍️

✍️ Scotty Taylor — music supervisor, “Heated Rivalry” (Crave / HBO Max)

Taylor was on stage at Toronto’s Departure Festival on May 7 alongside showrunner Jacob Tierney and composer Peter Peter for a Variety-moderated session unpacking the show’s now-famous needle drops  — Wolf Parade’s “I’ll Believe in Anything” and t.A.T.u.‘s “All The Things She Said,” both driving real catalog streaming spikes. Taylor’s approach treats hockey-rink intimacy as a song-led emotional engine, where music functions as the unspoken language between two men who can’t say what they mean. 

He’s also nominated at the 2026 Canadian Sync Awards (Best Sync, Drama TV Series) for the same work.  “Heated Rivalry” is the year’s clearest case study in how a supervisor’s instincts, more than algorithm or playlist culture, still drive both narrative impact and back-catalog revival.

✍️ Beethoven & Dinosaur — Annapurna Interactive, “Mixtape”

“Mixtape” launched May 7 on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, and it might be the most ambitious music-supervision experiment in gaming this year. The 80s/90s coming-of-age narrative game runs on a 28-song licensed soundtrack — Joy Division, The Smashing Pumpkins, Roxy Music, Alice Coltrane,  Devo, Iggy Pop, Stan Bush — clearance-heavy in a way that’s rare for interactive media. The team explicitly chose not to include a streamer mode that would silence licensed audio, calling the music “the soul of Mixtape.”  A character, Stacy Rockford, narrates each track in-game. Annapurna built parallel Spotify and Apple Music companion playlists for launch day. It’s a small game with outsized implications for what sync can become inside playable storytelling — and a model for game-music supervisors arguing for clearance budgets at the pitch stage.

AMM’s FEATURED RELEASE 🔦 

🔦“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Walt Disney Records, May 15)

Ludwig Göransson’s first theatrical Star Wars score arrives in three deliberately staggered formats: digital today, a Mandalorian-helmet-shaped die-cut 10” vinyl on May 22, with two exclusive cues, and a standard 13-track 12” on June 5. The album foregrounds the show’s established theme architecture while expanding the orchestral palette to feature scale. Look for the Anzellan diegetic moment, the long-form “This Is the Way” centerpiece, and a continued blurring of Göransson’s pop-production sensibility with classical Star Wars motifs. Film opens May 22. 

AMM’s BEHIND THE BRIEF 💼

The “mixtape” soundtrack returns.

Two music-driven companion albums dropped this week using nearly the same format. Island Records released “Off Campus: The Mixtape” on May 13 — executive-music-produced by Alana Da Fonseca, with Remi Wolf covering “Dancing with Myself,” tracks from Asha Banks, Chloe Lilac and Will Linley, plus a finale co-written by Amy Allen and Ethan Gruska — supporting Prime Video’s Elle Kennedy adaptation. 

Madison Gate’s “The Boys” Season 5 album drops today with Christopher Lennertz and Matt Bowen score plus two Daveed Diggs-featured pieces. 

Both projects treat the soundtrack as parallel artist-development engine — supervision, label sync and A&R all working the same brief. Expect more of this template across YA streaming launches in particular.

INDUSTRY MOVES ⬆️🏆💰

⬆️ Jim Mahoney was promoted to newly created Chief Membership Officer at Merlin (with senior promotions for Bela Zecker, Joe Mercer Danher and Ben Sperling).   

⬆️ Leslie Ahrens elevated to Managing Director & EVP, Creative, Latin America at Kobalt, succeeding Nestor Casonu after 11 years; May-Ling Mediavilla and Lea Moussa also promoted on the LatAm team.  

⬆️ Björn Bauer named CFO of the combined BMG-Concord upon close,  reporting to CEO-designate Bob Valentine.   

🏆Guy Moot (Warner Chappell Co-Chair/CEO) named 2026 recipient of the UK Music Industry Trusts Award — the first publisher to win in the prize’s 34-year history.  

💰Kobalt announced a strategic admin partnership with LAA Music, the indie publisher founded by NFL agent Zac Hiller and Justin Goldman.   

📝The War and Treaty signed to Atlantic Outpost. 

📝Angine de Poitrine signed worldwide publishing to Third Side Music (Sofi Tukker, UMO, Sky Ferreira, Courtney Barnett).

🎼 Kier Lehman returns as music supervisor on Netflix’s “Forever” Season 2, with Khris Riddick-Tynes added as Executive Music Producer. 

✍️ Bill Werde joins Music Business Worldwide as a regular columnist.  

🎼Mychael Danna signed to score Ang Lee’s “Gold Mountain”.

🎼Camille to score Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster”.

🎼Zbigniew Preisner to score Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales”.

🎼Michael Abels to score Na Hong-jin’s “Hope”.

🎼Dan Romer to score animated feature “Tangles”.

AMM’s WEEKEND RECOMMENDATIONS 🎧📺

🎧 Listen: 

🎧 Göransson’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu” (Walt Disney Records)

🎧 Power Glove’s “Devil May Cry” Season 2 score (Netflix Music)

🎧 Kris Bowers’ “The Punisher: One Last Kill” (Hollywood/Marvel Music)

🎧 Island’s “Off Campus: The Mixtape”

🎧 Play:

Annapurna Interactive’s “Mixtape” — and queue the official 28-track Spotify or Apple Music playlist alongside it.

📺 Watch/Hear:

Variety’s “Daily Variety” podcast episode capturing the “Heated Rivalry” music panel from Toronto’s Departure Festival (Tierney / Peter Peter / Scotty Taylor, moderated by Jem Aswad).  The clearest hour on supervision craft you’ll get this month.

📅 Calendar this:

➡️ Canadian Sync Awards + Sound + Vision at NXNE Toronto, June 10–11  (GMSC’s 10th anniversary; Serena Ryder receives the Impact Award).  

➡️ SYNC Summit AI and Sync Symposium, July 14.  

➡️ PMC 2026 at Hilton Universal City, October 6–8 — and Mark Awards submissions are open through July 17. 

➡️ GameSoundCon 2026 in Burbank, October 20–21 (with a dedicated AI-in-game-audio track).  

Editorial Disclaimer:

AMM content is intended for editorial, informational, and educational purposes using publicly available sources, industry announcements, interviews, and reports believed to be reliable at the time of publication. If any information requires correction or updating, please contact us.

TikTok (via Spotify “Tik Tok Hits: September 2025”)

Top Tracks on the Trending TikTok Playlist:

1. “ANXIETY” – Sleepy Hallow & Doechii

2. “Messy” – Lola Young

3. “PUSH 2 START” – Tyla

4. “APT.” – ROSÉ & Bruno Mars

5. “Ordinary” – Alex Warren
   Spotify

Spotify – HITS 2025: September 5, 2025 (“Top Songs”)

Top Tracks Featured:

1. “Ordinary” – Alex Warren

2. “back to friends” – sombr

3. “Love Me Not” – Ravyn Lenae

4. “Golden” – HUNTR/X ft. EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI
   Spotify

Apple Music – New Music Friday (Sept 5, 2025)

Headline Releases & Singles:

1. “The Dead Dance” – Lady Gaga

2. SWAG II – Justin Bieber (surprise album)

3. “Butterfly” – Zac Brown Band ft. Dolly Parton

4. “last forever” – LANY
   Additional singles dropping today: “A COLD PLAY” by The Kid LAROI, “Ocean” by Calvin Harris & Jessie Reyez
   Apple Music - Web Player+1

Tidal – My New Arrivals (via High-Fidelity Playlist)

A look at fresh discoveries from Tidal’s Friday-curated list:

• “Truth or Dare” – Tyla

• “MY HOUSE” – Beyoncé

• “179 Deli” – BasAJ Tracey

• “Lover/Friend” – KAYTRANADA & Rochelle Jordan

• “Into Your Room” – Holly Humberstone & MUNA

End-of-Week Assessment — September 5, 2025

AMM Takeaway

• Crossover King: Alex Warren’s Ordinary — viral + editorial + sync-ready.

• Theatrical Pop Anchor: Lady Gaga’s The Dead Dance — dramatic sync magnet.

• Buzz Factor: Justin Bieber’s SWAG II — surprise drop equals press + playlist momentum.

• Indie Depth: Tyla, Holly Humberstone, and KAYTRANADA expand the sync palette.

• Screen Synergy: Apple TV+ and Hulu premieres prime lanes for moody, textured cues.

Formula this week = Big-name drama + Viral intimacy + Indie discovery = September sync blueprint.

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

Global Rights + Music Administration

India to Launch Centralised Digital Music Licensing Registry by October
The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) in India will roll out a unified digital licensing registry by October 2025. The registry—shaped in collaboration with rights societies—is designed to simplify music licensing processes, reduce disputes, and boost live event sustainability.
The Economic Times

Streaming + Fan Experience

YouTube Music Rolls Out ‘Taste Match’ Playlists, Comments & Concert Alerts
To celebrate its 10th year, YouTube Music launched shared Taste Match playlists that update daily based on joint listening habits—think Spotify Blend. Fans can now also comment directly on albums/playlists and receive alerts about upcoming concerts, merch drops, and music milestones, thanks to the expanded Bandsintown integration.
Android Central

Publishing + Artist Support

Spotify & Kobalt Ink U.S. Licensing Deal to Boost Songwriter Returns
Spotify has struck a multi-year licensing agreement with independent publisher Kobalt in the U.S. The deal aims to enhance transparency and potentially improve payouts for songwriters—marking a gradual shift away from bundled royalty models.

🔥 WRAP‑UP INSIGHT
Sync, publishing, and rights are entering Phase 2 of modernization. It’s not just about placing music—it’s about making clarity and access the new baseline. If your songs are fast, clean, and discoverable, you’re not just in the sync game—you’re leading it.

Drop your thoughts in the comments and tag someone who needs to track these shifts. Stay tuned, stay sync’d.

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

The industry never sleeps, and neither do its résumés. From label powerhouses to streaming giants, sync shops to publishing pros, here’s who’s swapping seats, leveling up, or making bold moves across music and media.

Here’s your end-of-week movers & shakers rundown (Aug 29–Sep 5, 2025) — tight, verified, and cut for sync folk, supes, publishers, and dealmakers. If I missed anyone on your radar, ping me and I’ll fold them into the next blast.

Monti Olson → EVP, Publishing (North America), BMG
The Litmus Music co-founder (Carlyle-backed catalog deals with Katy Perry, Randy Newman, etc.) returns to BMG to run U.S. publishing — explicitly tasked with “new signings and catalog acquisitions.” Translation: BMG’s deal engine is revving back up across L.A./Nashville/NYC. BMG

Christopher Södergren → EVP, Direct-to-Consumer Strategy & Ops, Sony Music
Ex-UMG commerce lead gets a newly created global DTC seat at Sony. Expect tighter pipes between artist stores, merch, fan clubs, and data — the kind of plumbing that makes or breaks campaign ROI. (Official release.) Sony

Jenni Pfaff → Chief People & Transformation Officer, HYBE America
Warner Chappell alum (strategy/integration) is tapped by HYBE America CEO/Chairman Isaac Lee. Read this as culture + org design underpinning the HYBE/BMLG/QC chessboard in the States.

Cindy Gu → GM, Southeast Asia, Virgin Music Group (UMG)
Ex-Fabled/Astralwerks/Spinnin’ exec takes the SEA hub (Singapore-based) with Liza Fuady reporting in from Jakarta. Indie services in the region keep getting real — Gu’s resume is pure cross-border repertoire building. (Photo: Argel Ramiro)

Big Machine Label Group (HYBE) → International Team Upgrades
Promotions for Alex Hannaby (adds VP, International Marketing & Ops to Head of UK), Iren Coutiel, Roxanne Gwillam-Kelly, and Flo Myerscough-Harris; plus a new addition, Cary Dal-Lago. Country keeps globalizing; BMLG’s UK/Aus radio wins aren’t a fluke.

In the press release announcing the news, BMLG noted that the all-female team will continue to lead the label’s international efforts across key markets, including the UK, Australia, and beyond.

(Pictured (L-R): Flo Myerscough-Harris, Roxanne Gwillam-Kelly, Alex Hannaby, Cary Dal-Lago, Iren Coutiel - Photo Credit: Carsten Windhorst)

Victor Roque → Sr. Director, A&R & Client Dev (LATAM), Symphonic Distribution
Alongside a new Puerto Rico partnership with High Ground Music (ex-Rimas leadership - the home of talents like Bad Bunny, Eladio Carrión, and Mora). Symphonic plants a firmer flag in the Caribbean/LATAM pipeline. Useful lane for independent repertoire looking beyond Miami.

Jordi Tello → Managing Director, Iberia, Sony Music Publishing
Succeeds longtime Spain MD Juan Ignacio Alonso (retired end of Aug). Oversight of Spain/Portugal with a clear A&R pedigree — Rels B, Arde Bogotá, Morad, RVFV — and direct line to Guy Henderson. (Courtesy of Sony Music Publishing)

James Moodie → Managing Director, Distiller Music Group (UK)
Ex-The Orchard/Vevo exec jumps to indie Distiller; announcement paired with a YONAKA signing. Expect artist-services DNA to shape Distiller’s next phase.

Warner Music realigns UK/US label leadership
Ed Howard & Briony Turner (Atlantic UK) join Atlantic Music Group’s global leadership under Elliot Grainge; Joe Kentish (Warner Records/Parlophone UK) joins Warner Records’ global leadership under Aaron Bay-Schuck/Tom Corson. This is about accelerating cross-Atlantic A&R/marketing flow while WMUK CEO Tony Harlow exits in October.

Daniel Monaghan → Exec Director, Entertainment Content, Foxtel (Australia)
Streaming-adjacent but relevant: longtime Network 10/Paramount ANZ programming lead heads to Foxtel Group, impacting commissioning/licensing lanes for music-driven TV in the region. Variety Australia

✨ Closing Note

That’s a wrap for this week’s Movers & Shakers. From publishing power plays to global streaming strategy, the music and media industry never stays still. Check back next Friday for more moves — and don’t forget, in this business, the beat always goes on.

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

Spotify – New Music Friday (U.S.) – August 29, 2025

Top featured tracks in the U.S. playlist:
1. 925 – Sammy Virji & Chris Lake, RoRo
2. Set Me Free – Martin Garrix & Arcando
3. Monsoon – Emma Louise & Flume
4. Hold On, Let Go – ANOTR, WAYNE SNOW, 3DDY
5. Legumes – Mochakk, Kwengface
Spotify

Apple Music – New Music Daily (U.S.) – August 29, 2025

Today's top tracks include:

• Cover Star: Tears – Sabrina Carpenter (from Man’s Best Friend)

• Additional new releases featured today:

  • When a Good Man Cries – CMAT

  • Jealous Type – Doja Cat (lead single from Vie)

  • SE LO JURO MOR – Feid

  • What – Doja Cat (from Vie)
    These are among the freshest drops featured today.
    Apple Music - Web Player

U.S. Media & Sync Highlights

Apple TV+ – KPOPPED Special (August 29 Premiere)

• Highlights: Spice Girls (Emma Bunton & Mel B) reunite with K‑pop group Itzy for reimagined versions of “Wannabe” and “Say You’ll Be There.” Hosted by PSY and Megan Thee Stallion, blending Western icons and K‑pop flair.
  The Sun

Album Release – Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend

Released today (August 29, 2025), this synth‑pop/post‑disco album features:

• Lead single: Manchild (charted #1 U.S., UK, Ireland)

• Second single and playlist centerpiece: Tears
  Spotify

Friday Anthem

Sabrina Carpenter – “Tears” stands out across platforms: it’s the Apple Music Daily cover pick, a sync-ready emotional anchor, and a focal point of her full album release today.

End-of-Week Assessment (U.S.-Focused)

Takeaway: A dual-strength Friday—dancefloor catalysts (“Set Me Free,” “925”) for high-energy sets, and emotionally resonant storytelling (“Tears”) ideal for sync and narrative-driven moments.

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

Theresa Wolters named Executive Director of MusiCares

Formerly: Senior Director of Public Policy & Advocacy at the National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors
Source: Morningstar / Business Wire
Commentary: From community champion to the helm of MusiCares — Wolters is stepping into the spotlight, ready to orchestrate support for artists with all the finesse of a conductor.

Ariana Arciniega joins Intercept Music as EVP, Global Operations & Business Development Strategy

Formerly: Global Head of Business Operations, UMG’s Ingrooves Music Group
Source: PR Newswire
Commentary: Arciniega’s global prowess hits the dance floor at Intercept — she’s now spinning the strategy that’ll amplify indie artists around the world.

James “Jamie” Cerreta appointed President, US & Canada at Peermusic

Formerly: EVP, Global Synchronization & Licensing at Peermusic
Source: Record of the Day
Commentary: Cerreta’s leveling up to steer Peermusic’s North American ship — time for the independent publishing powerhouse to sail even smoother.

Austen Adams becomes President of Warner Chappell Music Nashville

Formerly: COO at Big Loud
Source: Warner Music Group
Commentary: Adams is trading his Big Loud COO chair for the president’s throne at Warner Chappell Nashville. With a songwriting roster that reads like a hit parade, Nashville just got a new captain steering the publishing ship.

Lo Ting-Fai (Lofai) named President of Warner Music APAC

Formerly: CEO of Media Asia Group Holdings Ltd.
Source: Warner Music Group
Commentary: Lofai takes the helm of Warner Music’s Asia-Pacific division, bringing his entertainment empire chops to the global stage. From Hong Kong to Hollywood, expect some serious cross-Pacific waves.

Rayna Bass & Selim Bouab appointed Co-Presidents of Hip-Hop, R&B & Global Music at Atlantic Records

Formerly: Co-Presidents at 300 Entertainment
Source: Record of the Day
Commentary: Dynamic duo Bass and Bouab are turning up the volume at Atlantic, moving from 300 to co-pilot the label’s hip-hop and R&B empire. Expect playlists to get hotter, faster.

Lanre Gaba named Executive VP, Artist Strategy & Development at Atlantic Music Group

Formerly: Co-President at 300 Entertainment
Source: Record of the Day
Commentary: Gaba shifts gears into a top AMG strategy role, bringing her artist-first vision to the forefront. If you thought Atlantic was already artist-centric, Lanre just turned the dial all the way up.

Vanessa Rose to become President & CEO of New Music USA

Formerly: Executive Director of the American Composers Forum
Source: EarRelevant
Commentary: Rose takes the baton at New Music USA this fall, succeeding Vanessa Reed. Two Vanessas, one legacy — and Rose is ready to write the next movement.

Steeve Führ joins Amuse as Chief Financial Officer

Formerly: CFO at Epidemic Sound
Source: Record of the Day
Commentary: Führ’s next act? Crunching the numbers at Amuse, where indie distribution meets major ambition. If growth is the goal, he’s the CFO with the calculator — and the swagger — to do it.

✨ Closing Note

That’s a wrap for this week’s game of Musical Chairs. From publishing power plays to global streaming strategy, the music and media industry never stays still. Check back next Friday for more moves — and don’t forget, in this business, the beat (and the seats) always goes on.

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

Streaming + Social + Music

Spotify Adds In-App Messaging (DMs)
Spotify now lets users send music, podcast, and audiobook recommendations directly within the app. The new Messages feature is rolling out to Free and Premium users aged 16+ in select markets. The goal? More hype, more shares, more in-platform engagement.
Source

Tech + Live Music

YouTube Names Bandsintown Exclusive Global Concert Partner
Bandsintown is now the exclusive source of concert listings for YouTube and YouTube Music. Fans will see local tour dates embedded in artist videos, Shorts, official channels — and soon, the homepage. That’s 2.3 million concerts annually delivered into billions of views.
Source

AI + Streaming Trends + Music

Ghost Artists Quietly Dominate Mood Playlists
From The Velvet Sundown to “Peaceful Retreat” curations, AI-generated artists are filling up DSP playlists. These ghost musicians are designed to blend seamlessly into ambient, classical, and lo-fi mixes — offering streaming platforms catalog control and maximum mood-fit precision.
Source

Gaming + Music Artist Partnership

Lady Gaga Joins Roblox Game ‘Dress to Impress’ as Guest Judge
Roblox’s viral fashion game Dress to Impress (7.9B visits since 2023) just landed Lady Gaga as its first-ever celebrity judge. From August 16–29, players can design looks inspired by Gaga’s Mayhem album, unlock branded items, and join a virtual Q&A.
Source

Streaming + Artist Sentiment + Music

Indie Artists Quietly Exit Spotify Over AI + Ethics
Artists like Deerhoof and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are leaving Spotify, citing CEO Daniel Ek’s AI military investments and streaming disillusionment. Unlike prior boycotts, this one feels quieter — and more permanent.
Source

Streaming + Business + Music

Spotify’s Superfan Tier Still on Hold — Labels Want Premium Access Pricing
Spotify’s long-rumored Superfan subscription tier hasn’t launched yet — and now we know why. According to Bloomberg, Spotify can’t agree on which features would actually entice users to pay. Meanwhile, labels and promoters are pushing for premium-priced early access to new music and ticket presales, complicating rollout plans.

In parallel, Spotify’s Discovery Mode — which boosts track visibility in exchange for lower royalties — is gaining attention. One label exec says it now represents 10% of their total Spotify payouts, down from a 15% peak last year.

Source

Wrap-Up Insight:
Sync isn’t slowing — it’s shifting. If your catalog isn’t built to move across platforms, avatars, and playlists with metadata and mood precision, you’re not being left behind — you’re standing still.

American Music + Media is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, music rights management, and brand relationships — covering the essential connection between music and visual media across Film, Television, Advertising, Gaming, Sports, Theater, Streaming, and Tech.

Why AMM Matters Now:
AMM was created to fill a crucial gap in the market of music and visual media — offering insightful coverage, expert analysis, and real-world guidance by music professionals for professionals who are driving music’s role in visual media and technology.

The music licensing, publishing, and media industries have never been more competitive and lucrative. AMM aims to be the essential bridge between these worlds, offering the clarity, community, and connections professionals need to thrive.

Dive into the future of the music business & media with American Music + Media:

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American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

(Photo Courtesy of YouTube)

Here’s what’s rolling out:

• Playlist Conversations – Fans will soon be able to comment directly on albums and playlists, turning passive listening into active dialogue.
  

• Taste Match Playlists – New auto-updated playlists built around shared listening habits, refreshed daily so you can discover music through people who hear the world like you do.
  

• Bandsintown Partnership – Concert listings now surface across YouTube and YouTube Music, making it easier to catch your favorite artists live. Expect real-time alerts on tour dates, merch drops, and new releases.
  

• Fan Badges – Features like First to Watch and Top Listener give listeners bragging rights and artists more visible superfans.
  

• View Milestones – When a music video is about to cross a big number (100K, 1M, 1B), YouTube will spotlight it—nudging fans to help push it over the top.
  

With 300M+ tracks already in its catalog, YouTube’s play here is bigger than streaming. It’s building a fandom hub—where discovery, community, and loyalty all live in one place.

(Original announcement by T. Jay Fowler, YouTube Music. Rewritten and reported for highlights.)

American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

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American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen

American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.

> Follow us @americanmusicmedia for the latest.
> Drop news and stories we need to know to our NEWS DESK - News, Tips, Sync Deals, & Story Ideas Submissions: https://bit.ly/AMMNewsDesk

American Music + Media — Where Music Meets the Screen

On July 14, 2025, our music community lost two cherished figures: Robin Kaye, longtime American Idol music supervisor and founder of SyncroniCity, and her husband, Thomas “Tom” Deluca, a songwriter and musician whose career stretched from Nashville to national tours and into Hollywood’s creative circles. The couple, both 70, were tragically killed during a break-in in their Encino, California home. Their beloved dog was also lost in the attack.

Robin Kaye: The Steady Hand Behind the Music

Robin Kaye was the rare presence in television music supervision who could navigate the chaos of live broadcast with calm, empathy, and ingenuity.

• She joined American Idol in 2009 and stayed with the series through 2023, supervising nearly 300 episodes. For contestants under intense scrutiny, she was often the first and last advocate in the room—the one who fought for the right song, the right arrangement, the right moment.

• She secured clearances once thought impossible, from Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon” to Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love”, helping contestants like Didi Benami and Adam Lambert carve indelible memories into pop culture.

• Beyond Idol, Robin guided music for Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe, Lip Sync Battle, The Singing Bee, and even early cult-TV like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Robin also founded SyncroniCity, her own consultancy, representing and working with artists including Andrea Bocelli and Kenny Loggins.

Her colleagues remember her not just for skill but for grace:

• “Robin was a joy to work with… if there was a piece of music she couldn’t get permission for, she’d have numerous other ideas,” recalled Nigel Lythgoe, longtime Idol executive producer.

• Ken Warwick, another Idol EP, said: “She always kept a cool head in a job that was difficult and manic… she always had a friendly and pleasant demeanor.”

• Artists felt her imprint deeply, too. “Robin was such a huge part of my success… she fought for my song choices,” said Kris Allen, Season 8 winner. Nick Fradiani, Season 14 winner, remembered: “She looked after me like a son.”

Robin’s impact was quiet, steady, and deeply human. Contestants came and went, hits rose and fell, but her presence was constant—ensuring music’s power always served the story.

Tom Deluca: The Melodic Heart

While Robin worked behind the camera, Tom Deluca’s life was spent writing, performing, and recording music that traveled across rock, country, and film.

• A Pittsburgh native who grew up in South Florida, Tom moved to Nashville in the late 1970s and quickly found himself signed to Charley Pride’s publishing company, Pi-Gem Music.

• He co-wrote “Satisfied Man”, recorded by Molly Hatchet, and went on tour with the band. That exposure led to a contract with Epic Records, where his album was produced by James Guthrie—best known for his work with Pink Floyd.

• Tom also wrote for artists including Kid Rock, Jennifer Rush (“Heart Over Mind”), and others, building a reputation as a versatile, reliable songwriter who could bridge rock edge with melodic accessibility.

• His songs appeared in films like Adventureland (2009) and Below Utopia (1997), and in TV series including Oh Sit! (2012).

• In 2022, Tom returned to his roots with the release of his album Street Rock, a deeply personal statement that reintroduced him to fans as an artist in his own right.

Those who worked alongside him describe a musician of generosity and grit—someone who carried the ethos of Nashville song-craft into every project.

A Life Together

Robin and Tom’s lives intertwined across decades of music and partnership. Robin built bridges between artists and rights holders; Tom built songs that gave those artists something to sing. Together, they were an anchor for friends, colleagues, and family alike—a couple defined by creativity, kindness, and commitment.

They are survived by extended family and a wide circle of collaborators and friends, many of whom gathered for a candlelight vigil at Encino Park on August 10, 2025, to honor their lives. Candles flickered as neighbors, colleagues, and strangers alike remembered two lives lost too soon, but never forgotten.

What We Carry Forward

Robin and Tom’s story reminds us that behind every song cleared, behind every track written, there are people who pour their lives into the music that moves ours.

And though silence now rests in their Encino home, the legacy of Robin Kaye and Tom Deluca carries on—in the contestants they championed, the songs they wrote, the lives they touched, and the community that will remember them.

A Moment for Us All

In just a swift moment, friends and family can be taken from us. Robin and Tom’s passing is a heartbreaking reminder of how fragile our time together truly is. As we move through our own work—whether supervising, composing, or producing shows—let’s remember to cherish every person and every moment.

Take a moment. Call a friend or family member you haven’t spoken with in a while, the one you’ve been meaning to catch up with. Share a laugh, a memory, or just a moment of kindness. In doing so, we honor Robin and Tom—not only by remembering what they gave to music, but by taking care of ourselves and the community they cared about so much.

May Robin and Tom's memories always be a blessing.

American Music + Media

American Music + Media: Where Music Meets The Screen AMM is a trade publication dedicated to the business of sync licensing, publishing, rights, and brand partnerships — covering the essential connection of music and visual media.