AI music news
The few AI music updates worth knowing—what changed, why it matters, and the original sources.
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US prosecutors asked a federal judge to sentence Michael Smith to at least 46 months in prison and order forfeiture of about $8.1 million. Smith pleaded guilty in March over a scheme that used bots to stream AI-generated songs billions of times and collect royalties. The filing is a sentencing request, not the court's final sentence.
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Thomson Reuters' win against Ross Intelligence, leaving in place a ruling that copying Westlaw headnotes to train a competing legal-search system was not fair use. RIAA and NMPA backed Thomson Reuters, but the decision concerns non-generative legal research rather than AI music, so it does not decide the Suno or Udio cases.
Thoughtful Things launched a Kickstarter campaign for Engram, its first instrument, combining a sampler and groovebox with AI that reshapes incoming audio and generates new sounds. Unlike prompt-to-song services aimed at finished tracks, Engram is designed for hands-on experimentation with unusual textures, giving musicians a hardware-based way to explore generative sound rather than automate an entire song.
Qobuz has started displaying a tag when music is identified as AI-generated, giving listeners a clearer signal inside its app. The platform says the label sits alongside its existing human-led editorial approach and anti-fraud controls, so users can distinguish synthetic catalog content while Qobuz keeps AI-generated tracks out of its curated discovery surfaces.
YouTube Music is expanding Ask Music beyond prompt-based stations with conversational controls for queues and artist information across music and podcasts. YouTube says the update will work across its catalog and is coming soon to YouTube Music and Premium subscribers worldwide, giving listeners a more direct way to refine playback and explore artists without conventional searches.
Sony Music Group has joined the Alliance for Responsible Innovation in the Arts & Media, becoming the coalition’s first music-company member. ARIAM works on legal and policy frameworks for responsible AI across creative industries, while Sony says licensing and human artistry should remain central. The membership adds a major music rightsholder to those cross-sector discussions.
