The hottest Artist Rights Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Music Topics

We Are Winning! (Update)

The Honest Broker • 15392 implied HN points • 22 Jul 25
🎶 Music Artist Rights
  1. Spotify is responding to criticism by taking steps to prevent unauthorized AI tracks from being uploaded. This shows they are listening to feedback.
  2. The company has a clear policy against impersonation and has acted against those who violate their content policies.
  3. There's a sign that public pressure is working, as platforms are starting to take responsible actions regarding AI content.

In the Music Business, 80 Is the New 20

The Honest Broker • 18551 implied HN points • 19 Jan 25
🎶 Music Artist Rights
  1. Record labels are focusing more on older music and artists instead of new talent. Many popular music shows feature tribute bands rather than original acts.
  2. Streaming music is dominated by older tracks, with a large percentage being songs that are at least five years old. It shows that people are more interested in nostalgia than discovering new music.
  3. With technology advancing, there's a growing trend of reviving late musicians through holograms and AI. This raises ethical questions about how these artistic legacies should be handled.

What is the Artist to Fascism?

Dada Drummer Almanach • 360 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
🎶 Music Artist Rights
  1. Some leaders treat artists as mere service providers who must perform regardless of politics, stripping artists of agency and turning art into propaganda or kitsch.
  2. Political figures sitting on corporate and nonprofit boards reveal a pattern of corporate-government entanglement that protects corporate interests and weakens regulation.
  3. Artists who speak out or withdraw from gigs can face financial threats, public shaming, and being labeled disloyal, and ticket-sales arguments are often used to silence their dissent.

AI Musical Slop

Life Since the Baby Boom • 922 implied HN points • 19 Jul 25
🎶 Music Artist Rights
  1. Big music companies are likely to license their music to AI firms. This means that AI companies will pay for access to use real music to create new songs.
  2. When artists sign with a music label, their music might be used to train AI without them knowing. If they want to opt out, they may have to be very influential in the industry.
  3. People generally dislike AI-generated music, viewing it as low quality. Even so, it could become common in places like elevators or waiting rooms, which reflects concerns about its impact on genuine artistry.

A Tale Of Two Ecosystems: On Bandcamp, Spotify And The Wide-Open Future

Dada Drummer Almanach • 57 implied HN points • 05 Dec 25
🎶 Music Artist Rights
  1. Bandcamp and Spotify represent two very different music ecosystems: Bandcamp centers albums, artist-controlled pricing, open access and user privacy, while Spotify emphasizes playlists, ad/data-driven revenue and opaque royalty formulas.
  2. Digital downloads are now a tiny part of recorded music revenue (about 2% in 2024), so Bandcamp expanded into merch and physical sales because streaming dominates the market.
  3. Changes in Bandcamp’s ownership and layoffs hurt its reputation, and new entrants like the cooperative Subvert are trying to offer an alternative download-focused distribution in a market that still lacks strong competition.
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