Influence Media Buys Anthem for $600M, BTS Boycotts Grammys - July 30

A $600M catalog acquisition, a Grammy boycott from one of the world's biggest acts, and a landmark European AI copyright ruling due tomorrow headline a packed Thursday. Lawsuits targeting an AI detection startup and Live Nation's antitrust fate also moved forward today. Deals & M&A • Influence Media Partners and BlackRock acquire Anthem Entertainment's 24,000-song catalog for over $600M, closing Q4 2026. • Catalog includes Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and OneRepublic masters and publishing rights. Lawsuits & AI • Milk & Honey's Lucas Keller and producer Oak Felder sue AI firm SoundPatrol, alleging unpaid software development work. • SoundPatrol, which holds a 2025 UMG and Sony Music partnership, faces claims filed July 28 in LA Superior Court. • Judge Subramanian holds status conference on Live Nation's bid to overturn April's antitrust jury verdict. • Possible Ticketmaster divestiture hangs on outcome of Live Nation's post-trial motions. • Munich's Regional Court delivers its GEMA v. Suno AI training-data verdict tomorrow, July 31 — a potential European first. Streaming & Tech • Spotify launches AI-powered Running Mode with BPM-matching and 25 presets for Premium iOS users in seven markets. Artists & Releases • BTS will not submit comeback album Arirang for 2027 Grammy consideration, calling the new Asian Pop category geographic segregation. • Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. says he is "saddened" but respects BTS's decision. Also Today • Anthropic settles with music industry author Donald Passman for $5,000 after training Claude on his books without permission. • MBW's Murray Stassen questions why the AI chart-eligibility coalition isn't also pushing to demonetize unlicensed AI music on DSPs. • Music Ally Publishing Summit set for October 12 in London; Concord CFO and UMPG UK MD headline the speaker list. • Australia's 20th AIR Awards held in Adelaide; Ninajirachi leads with nine nominations. Five minutes, six categories, zero fluff.

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Today is Thursday, july thirtieth, twenty twenty six. First up, deals and M ⁇ A. Influence Media Partners and BlackRock have signed a deal to acquire Anthem Entertainment's music publishing, film and TV publishing, and master recordings for over six hundred million dollars. The catalog covers more than twenty four thousand released songs, including hits by Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and OneRepublic. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Moving to lawsuits and AI. Lucas Keller, the founder of Milk and Honey, and Grammy winning producer Oak Felder, sued AI copyright detection firm Sound Patrol and its CEO Walter De Brower on July 28th in Los Angeles Superior Court. They allege they helped develop Sound Patrol's detection software without compensation. Soundpatrol currently holds partnerships with Universal Music Group and Sony Music. Meanwhile, a federal judge held a key status conference today on Live Nations post-trial motions seeking to overturn April's antitrust jury verdict. The ruling could force the divestiture of Ticketmaster. And in Germany, Munich's regional court is set to deliver its verdict tomorrow in a copyright case between Gima and the AI music company Suno, potentially the first major European ruling on whether AI companies must license music for training data. On streaming in tech, Spotify officially launched Running Mode today, an AI adaptive feature that matches songs to your running pace. It includes 25 presets and is now available to premium subscribers on iOS in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Sweden. Now artist news. BTS announced they will not submit their comeback album, a rerong, for 2027 Grammy consideration. The band is protesting the Recording Academy's new Best Asian pop music performance category, calling it Geographic Segregation. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said he was saddened by the decision but respects it.