Born Evill

Musixmatch launched Pro for Labels on September 2 to help labels manage and distribute lyrics at scale. The move highlights why accurate lyrics and metadata increasingly affect discovery and fan engagement. Independent artists obsess over the master. Good. They should. But after the WAV is finished, an entire layer of information still determines how the song moves through the internet. Title. Writers. Credits. Lyrics. Translations. Identifiers. Metadata. Today, Musixmatch launched Musixmatch Pro for Labels, a platform designed to let record companies manage, enrich and distribute lyrics across catalogs at scale. The company says the system is built for labels ranging from small independent rosters to organizations handling thousands of artists. On the surface this is software news. Underneath it is a bigger shift: Lyrics are becoming structured data. Lyrics Used to Be Packaging Remember CD booklets? Lyrics were something printed inside. Fans read along. Maybe l...

BMG and Concord completed their merger September 1, creating a larger global music company headquartered in Nashville. Bertelsmann owns roughly 67%, with Great Mountain Partners affiliates holding about 33%. Another giant piece of the music business just moved. On September 1, BMG and Concord officially completed their previously announced merger after receiving required regulatory approvals. The combined business will operate under the BMG name, with global headquarters in Nashville and a European headquarters in Berlin. Bertelsmann owns approximately 67% of the combined company, while affiliates of Great Mountain Partners own roughly 33%. As part of the transaction, Bertelsmann made a one-time $1.16 billion payment to Great Mountain Partners affiliates. Those are corporate numbers. The more interesting question for Born Evill is: Why does the music industry keep getting bigger while artists keep getting smaller and more independent? Both trends are happening simultaneously....

Lalah Hathaway has announced Made in Chicago, arriving October 1, alongside new single “Can’t Let Go.” The project draws directly from her Chicago roots and family history. Some artists spend their entire careers trying to become bigger than where they're from. Lalah Hathaway is going the opposite direction. The Grammy-winning singer has announced a new album titled Made in Chicago, scheduled for release October 1, and introduced the project with the new single “Can’t Let Go.” The song is built around the emotional pull of a relationship that's difficult to release, while the larger album connects Hathaway's current voice with the city and musical history that shaped her. The title immediately carries extra weight because Lalah is the daughter of the late Donny Hathaway, whose own relationship with Chicago became part of one of soul music's most important legacies. But Made in Chicago doesn't need to become a museum for her father's career. The stronger...

Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Eduardo Calle have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Suno, alleging the AI music platform enables unauthorized imitation of artists’ identities and styles. The AI music fight just opened another door. And this one may eventually matter to rappers, singers and producers more personally than arguments over training data. Musicians including Jason Isbell, David Lowery, Guy Forsyth and Eduardo Calle have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against AI music platform Suno in Massachusetts federal court. Unlike several previous music-AI lawsuits centered heavily on copyright infringement, this case argues that Suno enables users to create music mimicking artists’ identities and distinctive characteristics without permission. Suno disputes the allegations and says its technology is designed to facilitate original music creation, with safeguards intended to prevent misuse. So let's make the legal status clear: These are alle...