Stuart Dredge

It’s been quite a journey for music-intelligence firm MusiMap. The company was founded in 2008 by a group of Belgian musicologists.

Nordic collecting societies TONO, Teosto and Koda have been collaborating on research for more than a decade now, surveying people in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland about their digital music habits and opinions.

Superstruct Entertainment has been at the sharp end of artists’ political views in recent times, particularly with boycotts and protests about other business interests of its owner, investment firm KKR.

Apple held its latest new-products event last night, with new iPhones (including one that folds), AirPods and Apple Watches. But the most relevant announcement for us was ‘Audio Intelligence’.

Tencent Music has long been the dominant music-streaming player in China, but is that dominance now under threat? 36kr has published some thoughtful analysis on the competition being posed by Qishui Music.

Another day, another AI-music deal for Universal Music Group. This time it’s ElevenLabs signing on the dotted line – its first agreement with a major following Kobalt and Merlin.

When artist bbno$ played a concert in popular Roblox game +1 Speed Keyboard Escape in July, it attracted 28m unique viewers over a weekend – including a peak of 8.5 million.

British startup Yoto has come a long way since launching its first speaker for kids on Kickstarter in 2017. This week sees the debut of two fourth-generation versions of its Yoto Player and Yoto Mini.

Yesterday was clearly the day for giving governments a kick up the backside when it comes to AI regulation. While AIM boss Gee Davy was addressing the UK government in London, global labels body the IFPI was holding an event in Brussels to launch the 2026 edition of its ‘Music in the EU’ report.

Yesterday’s AIM Connected conference in London saw the UK indies body’s CEO Gee Davy call on the government to provide more support for the sector, particularly its role in discovering and breaking new talent.