Major music AI deals: A pivotal year begins with red lines in place
Major labels have announced a slew of AI deals designed to shape nascent technology on their own terms, and so avoid repeating the mistakes of the early streaming era.
AI music startups will relaunch their services this year enforcing labels’ red lines on copyrighted music. The music industry’s material impact on AI products is in stark contrast to video and news industry engagement.
Google’s decade-long interest in AI music is moving into action with the launch of Lyria 3 and the acquisition of ProducerAI as a leading exponent of advanced, AI-enabled music creation—YouTube remains a sleeping giant
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Disney’s decision to license to OpenAI’s Sora is necessary to regain agency in a consumer ecosystem dominated by rampant unlicensed IP usage. The deal reflects an ongoing pattern of opportunistic, equity-driven deals by Disney in high-profile technology categories.
Movie and TV content owners’ ability to replicate similar deals to protect their IP assets is limited by vague engagement pathways and opaque or non-existent revenue sharing models combined with dealmaking constraints at AI operators, some of which are developed in China.
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Recorded music distribution: Service innovation explosion
22 October 2025Enders Analysis today published a major report on the digital music sector, as part of its long term commitment to independent music industry analysis and research.
The music industry’s extraordinary recovery and digital transformation over the past 15 years has resulted in the establishment of a dynamic and competitive sector that provides a broad range of services to labels and artists in distributing recorded music.
This report explains that digital technologies have profoundly changed the music industry, and that the emergence of a large number of digital-first service providers (ALSPs) in a crowded and dynamic marketplace provides artists and labels with a myriad of choices. Those choices exist through a wide spectrum of offerings from many suppliers to meet the diverse needs of artists, labels and end-consumers. From “pipes only” products that provide an easy and direct path to access the large network of digital service providers (DSPs), through to broader service offerings, with matching breadth of service fees. Our analysis of the market shows high levels of competition, as well as innovation, making it easy and routine for artists and labels to switch providers to meet their needs.
This report is free to access
The UK’s creative industries are a £124 billion economic powerhouse, and a major net exporter bringing British content to global audiences.
Copyright protection is core to this success, enabling control over production, distribution and monetisation to sustain this thriving creative ecosystem.
AI poses unprecedented challenges through mass scraping of copyrighted content without authorisation or compensation, and creating substitution effects that threaten established business models—making the government’s copyright consultation a critical moment for balancing innovation with creator protection.
Disney’s decision to license to OpenAI’s Sora is necessary to regain agency in a consumer ecosystem dominated by rampant unlicensed IP usage. The deal reflects an ongoing pattern of opportunistic, equity-driven deals by Disney in high-profile technology categories.
Movie and TV content owners’ ability to replicate similar deals to protect their IP assets is limited by vague engagement pathways and opaque or non-existent revenue sharing models combined with dealmaking constraints at AI operators, some of which are developed in China.
Even within the parameters of a deal, the ongoing risk of a public display of malfunctioning guardrails with licensed IP is real, as it is on non-licensed models. In-house AI expertise and stronger copyright compliance will require additional investment to ensure slippery usage is minimised.
Tech & media in Q3 2025: Deflate expectations
25 November 2025Big tech, even the US economy at large, is betting the house on AI. Some air might come out of the bubble, but AI investments’ trajectory will stay the course over the next 24 months.
UK national media and content creators face an acute challenge as they exploit global platforms’ ‘export’ opportunities, with AI’s ‘glocalisation’ potential a key new trend for future online video.
AI platforms could create an even tougher online media environment over the next few years. OpenAI’s spending plans are predicated on resetting how people shop, search and access entertainment.
Recorded music distribution: Service innovation explosion
22 October 2025Enders Analysis today published a major report on the digital music sector, as part of its long term commitment to independent music industry analysis and research.
The music industry’s extraordinary recovery and digital transformation over the past 15 years has resulted in the establishment of a dynamic and competitive sector that provides a broad range of services to labels and artists in distributing recorded music.
This report explains that digital technologies have profoundly changed the music industry, and that the emergence of a large number of digital-first service providers (ALSPs) in a crowded and dynamic marketplace provides artists and labels with a myriad of choices. Those choices exist through a wide spectrum of offerings from many suppliers to meet the diverse needs of artists, labels and end-consumers. From “pipes only” products that provide an easy and direct path to access the large network of digital service providers (DSPs), through to broader service offerings, with matching breadth of service fees. Our analysis of the market shows high levels of competition, as well as innovation, making it easy and routine for artists and labels to switch providers to meet their needs.
This report is free to access
The UK’s creative industries are a £124 billion economic powerhouse, and a major net exporter bringing British content to global audiences.
Copyright protection is core to this success, enabling control over production, distribution and monetisation to sustain this thriving creative ecosystem.
AI poses unprecedented challenges through mass scraping of copyrighted content without authorisation or compensation, and creating substitution effects that threaten established business models—making the government’s copyright consultation a critical moment for balancing innovation with creator protection.