Sony Buys Bond Theme Catalog, Google Fined €890M, Anthropic Lawsuit Grows - Friday, July 24

Sony Music Publishing's acquisition of the James Bond Theme catalog and a €890M EU fine against Google dominated Friday's news cycle. Publishers also escalated their copyright battle against Anthropic, armed with fresh discovery evidence. Meanwhile, AI-generated music crossed 50% of Deezer's daily uploads — a milestone that underscores the industry's broader content integrity crisis. Deals & M&A • Sony Music Publishing acquired Monty Norman Limited, catalog of the late James Bond Theme composer. • UMG hired Tseyin Foo, ex-Skechers and Nike, as President of Global Supply Chain. • SoundCloud acquired shuttered indie platform Nina Protocol, offering free artist migration through 2026. • PRS for Music named ex-YouTube Europe chief Ben McOwen Wilson as CEO, effective October 12. Lawsuits & AI • UMG, Concord, and ABKCO filed a second amended complaint against Anthropic covering ~500 songs, citing internal discovery records. • Federal judge allowed Reach Records' breach-of-contract suit against Capitol CMG (UMG) to proceed to trial. • Testimony in D4vd's murder hearing revealed his Interscope deal was worth $13M–$19M total. • EU fined Google €890M (~$1B) for DMA violations, including blocking Spotify from steering users to cheaper app alternatives. Streaming & Tech • AI tracks now exceed 50% of Deezer's daily uploads — 90,000/day — but represent only 1–3% of streams. • YouTube Q2 ad revenue rose 13% YoY to $11.06B; subscriptions now growing faster than ads per Alphabet CFO. • Patreon laid off 93 employees (20% of staff), citing AI-driven operational changes. • Sony Music filed a new copyright lawsuit against AI music platform Udio. Live & Touring • Live Nation and Livewire launched "Music Festival Tycoon" on Roblox with a Lollapalooza activation and 3.8M visits. • Marc Anthony, Feid, and others headline "Unidos Por Venezuela" benefit concert at Miami's Kaseya Center on August 16. Artists & Releases • New Music Friday: Tyla, Charli xcx, Shania Twain, The Strokes, and Rico Nasty all drop new projects today. Also Today • UK recorded music exports topped £800M (~$1B) for the first time in 2025, per BPI data. • FCC considers loosening US broadcast radio and TV ownership caps amid industry pushback. Five minutes, six categories, zero fluff.

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Today is Friday, july twenty fourth, twenty twenty six. First up, deals and M ⁇ A. Sony Music Publishing has acquired Monty Norman Limited, the company and catalog of the late James Bond theme composer from his estate. That's a major piece of cinema history moving into Sony's fold. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group appointed Seyin Fu as president of Global Supply Chain. Foo comes from Sketchers and Nike and will report to UMG's chief operating officer Boyd Muir, based in Los Angeles. Also, SoundCloud acquired indie music platform Nina Protocol after Nina announced its shutdown last month. Nina artists can opt into a free SoundCloud artist subscription through the end of this year and migrate their music, followers, and creative data. And PRS for Music named Ben McOwen Wilson as its new CEO. Wilson spent a decade leading YouTube's European operations and was Google Play's EMEA managing director. He takes over from Andrea Chapari Martin on october twelfth. Next, lawsuits and AI. Universal Music, Concorde, and ABKCO filed a second amended complaint against Anthropic on July 22nd. They're using internal anthropic records obtained through Discovery to bolster copyright infringement claims covering roughly 500 songs in the original 2023 case. A federal judge ruled that REACH Records breach of contract suit against Capital CMG, a UMG label, can proceed to trial. The judge found the case plausible, saying Capital CMG likely misrepresented its deal approval before walking away from the agreed acquisition price. And the European Commission hit Google with an 890 million euro fine, that's about 1 billion dollars, for violations of the EU's digital competition law, 460 million for search self-preferencing, and 430 million for blocking app developers, including Spotify, from steering users to cheaper alternatives on Google Play. Separately, preliminary testimony in the D4VD murder case revealed his Interscope deal was worth between $13 and $19 million total. That's the hearing determining whether the case over 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez's death proceeds to trial. Moving to streaming and tech. AI generated tracks now exceed 50% of Deezer's daily uploads, averaging 90,000 per day, a nine-fold rise since January 2025. Though here's the catch. AI music still accounts for only 1 to 3% of total streams. Deezer says it will remove unstreamed AI tracks after 6 months. YouTube's Q2 2026 ad revenue rose 13% year over year to $11.06 billion. But Alphabet CFO said subscriptions, YouTube Music and Premium, are now growing faster than ads. The last disclosed subscriber count was $125 million from 16 months ago. And Patreon cut 93 employees, 20% of its workforce. CEO Jack Conti cited AI-driven operational changes. The platform simultaneously adopted Cloudflare's AI crawl control to protect creator content from AI scraping. On to Live and Touring. Live Nation and LiveWire launched Music Festival Tycoon on Roblox, featuring a Lollapalooza activation and K-pop group Cordis promoting their US festival debut. The game had quietly accumulated 3.8 million visits before its official launch. And Mark Anthony, Ricardo Montener, Feed, and Jay Wheeler are headlining Unidos por Venezuela, a benefit concert and national telethon at Miami's Caseya Center on august sixteenth to aid communities affected by June's Venezuelan earthquakes. Finally, artist news. New Music Friday brings Tyla's Apop, Charlie XCX's Music Fashion Film, Shania Twain's Little Miss Twain, The Strokes Reality Awaits, and Rico Nasty's RX among this week's major releases. That's your music industry rundown. Have a good Friday.