Melanie “Mel C” Chisholm had a surprisingly sporty attitude about two of her Spice Girls bandmates’ actions at her recent wedding to husband Chris Dingwall in England on July 18. Speaking to Sydney, Australia radio station KIIS 1065, Chisholm said, “It was amazing. It was perfect. My feet haven’t touched the ground, really, because we had a beautiful weekend with all our families and friends.”

But she also finally responded to the one question so many had about the elaborate nuptials at the Country House Cumbria in the Lake District: why wasn’t Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham there? After all, fellow Spice Girls Melanie “Mel C” Brown, Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell-Horner and Emma “Baby Spice” Bunton were all on hand.

“So Victoria was very disappointed to not be there. She was with David in New York and it was the football final, the World Cup,” Melanie C said of the Beckham’s attendance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup third-place game that same day, where England defeated France 6-4. “She tried to get out of it. She isn’t the biggest football fan, she won’t mind me telling you, but the family were there and [husband] David [Beckham] had commitments being an ambassador for FIFA.”

It was all good, though, as fashion icon Beckham was there in spirit thanks to the “dream dress” she offered to make for the bride, an ivory slip dress with hand-stitched floral lace appliqués; Beckham also provided the “something borrowed” by lending Chisholm a dress for the couple’s earlier legal ceremony in the groom’s native Australia.

“I was actually having dinner with Melanie and asked her what she was up to,” Beckham told British Vogue last month. “She very casually told me she was leaving for Australia in two days and getting married! When I asked what she was wearing, she mentioned she had actually ordered one of my dresses but that it didn’t quite fit, and she didn’t have time to get it altered before leaving. I happened to have that exact dress in my own wardrobe and offered to lend it to her.”

Chisholm, 52, told the KIIS crew that though Beckham couldn’t be there, she checked in all day long. “Of course she made my gorgeous dress, and she was messaging me on the day. And I actually saw her when I was in Ibiza,” Chisholm said of her post-wedding DJing gig on the popular Mediterranean party island. “So we had a little catch up. So yeah, we were giving her updates and sending her pictures.”

She also responded to a question about Halliwell-Horner seemingly stealing her thunder by also wearing white at the wedding. “I did have a little chat with Geri because it is her favorite color,” Chisholm said, noting that Halliwell-Horner wears white “every day … But she had a beautiful floral dress on, and it was white. But I did have a little giggle with her about that.”

And, for the record, Chisholm did not play one Spice Girls song at the wedding. “There were several Spice Girls songs, come on now!” she laughed.

Chisholm released her ninth studio album, Sweat, in May.

Manchester’s Beyond The Music conference and festival has announced the first round of speakers for its upcoming 2026 event (Oct. 7 – 9). Taking place at the MediaCity UK complex in Salford, Greater Manchester, the conference brings together an array of U.K.-based and international industry figures for panels, keynotes, workshops and more.

The first round of speakers includes executives from a variety of sectors with Stacey Tang (co-president of RCA Records U.K.) one of the leading names set to appear. Tang led the organizing committee for the 2026 BRIT Awards, and was instrumental in the decision to move the ceremony outside of London for the first time, which was held at Manchester’s Co-op Live in March.

Bev Craig, who succeeded Andy Burnham in the role of Mayor of Greater Manchester, will also appear at the event; in July, Burnham assumed the role of U.K. prime minister.

Yungblud’s longtime manager Tommas Arnby will also speak at the event, as well as Dr. Jo Twist (CEO, BPI), Tom Gray (Chair, The Ivors Academy), Dan Lambert (Manager, Kneecap), Sophie Jones (CEO, Royal Television Society) and artists Tom A Smith, The Anchoress, Nina Nesbitt and more. See the full list of speakers at the event here.

The conference will also feature an All Content AI summit convened by Burnham, who played an integral role in establishing the Beyond The Music conference while in the role of Greater Manchester’s mayor. The first seats for the summit are available to reserve here.

The festival and conference was first established in 2023 with a number of key organizations such as the BPI, Factory International, Co-op Live and Manchester City Council operating as founding members.

Blue Note will open the doors to its first U.K. venue on Sept. 23, marking the legendary jazz club brand’s arrival in London with a headline residency from Grammy-winner Robert Glasper.

The 250-capacity venue, located in Covent Garden, will launch on what would have been jazz icon John Coltrane’s 100th birthday. Glasper will perform the club’s opening shows on Sept. 23 and 24 before returning for a seven-date stint later in the year (Nov. 13 – 27) as part of the venue’s inaugural program.

Pianist and record producer Glasper, whose last release was 2024 live album Keys To The City Volume One, has also been named creative ambassador for Blue Note London, a role that will see him help shape the artistic direction of the new club. “London has been a big supporter in my career from the very beginning, and I’ve always had so much respect for the musical culture of the U.K.,” he said in a statement. 

“Starting this new club is about creating a space where jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and everything in between can meet, evolve, and surprise people.”

Other artists confirmed for the opening season include Erykah Badu, Jamie Cullum, jazz saxophonist Nubya Garcia, Yussef Dayes, Afrobeat collective KOKOROKO and east London singer and rapper Hak Baker, with additional acts to be announced.

Blue Note Entertainment Group has operated venues in cities including New York, Washington D.C., Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Milan, Tokyo and Shanghai, but the London club represents its first U.K. outpost. 

The main room will host two nightly performances at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., with the venue operating until 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday. Tickets for the first wave of shows go on general sale Aug. 14, following member and venue presales beginning Aug. 12. For further ticketing and line-up information, head to Blue Note London’s official website.

Tsion Bensusan, co-owner of Blue Note Entertainment Group, said: “Bringing Blue Note to London is something we’ve envisioned for many years, and opening our doors here marks one of the most significant milestones in our company’s history. Our hope is that Blue Note London becomes more than a venue – it becomes a home for musicians, a gathering place for the community and an integral part of London’s cultural landscape.”

Nick Lewis, Blue Note London’s director of music and programming, added: “Bringing Blue Note to London is a real landmark moment, not only for our team but for the city’s rich musical history. We’ll be welcoming some of the greatest jazz artists worldwide whilst shining a light on our exceptional emerging homegrown U.K. jazz scene which has been on fire in recent years! 

“Audiences will experience the very best of jazz and adjacent genres, nightly in the heart of London. We look forward to making a significant and meaningful contribution to the U.K. live music scene.”

AI music company Suno, led by CEO Mikey Shulman, posted a set of principles on its website Thursday (Aug. 6). “We’ve always believed that how we build matters just as much as what we build,” wrote Shulman in a company blog post. The list of principles included the stated goals that “AI should enable originality, not imitation” and that “more people creating music should strengthen the ecosystem.” The post also reiterated the company’s plan to limit downloads of AI songs from its platform — something first promised during its settlement and licensing deal with Warner Music Group.

The new post comes just a week after the AI music giant, recently valued at over $5.4 billion, lost a copyright infringement battle with German collection society GEMA. In the lawsuit, the society accused Suno of replicating songs from their members, including Lou Bega’s classic “Mambo No. 5.” 

“AI should help people create something new, not imitate someone else’s work,” the Suno post reads. “This philosophy has guided how we’ve built our models and platform from the start.” It continued to detail Suno’s training strategies, dubbed “Original Creation, By Design,” to reduce the possibility of unauthorized recreation of a human-made song. “For example, we intentionally chose not to use artist names in our training metadata because our goal is to help people create original songs — not music that sounds like existing artists,” he wrote.

Suno’s platform also prevents users typing in specific artist names to prompt results in their style. This, however, has not prevented all instances of unauthorized replication of copyrights included in its dataset. To date, the company has been hit with several copyright infringement lawsuits — including those filed by GEMA, Danish rights organization Koda and the three major music companies: Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. (WMG has since settled their part of the lawsuit with Suno and struck a licensing deal. UMG and Sony continue to pursue the case.)

The company blog post also pointed out that download limits for Suno-generated songs are coming soon. This plan was first announced in late 2025 and was a stipulation of Suno’s settlement with WMG. The new post does not state exactly when this will be rolled out, but it teased that “these changes won’t affect the vast majority of our users, but they will make large-scale abuse much harder,” wrote Shulman.

He added that “while we don’t think it’s our role to decide what has artistic value, we have an important responsibility to make it harder to abuse AI tools in ways that undermine a healthy music ecosystem,” like the mass exporting of AI songs, which has become a popular method for bad actors to spread out artificial streaming schemes over a large number of tracks and to better evade detection.

AI songs making their way onto streaming services, charts and social media has long been a concern for the music industry establishment. The majors noted this in their lawsuit against Suno, which began in June 2024, saying AI music “saturate[s] the market” and “directly compete[s] with cheapen[s] and ultimately drown[s] out the genuine sound recordings.”

Since then, the majors’ opinions on what should be done to mitigate the flood of AI music have somewhat diverged. Universal feels strongly about AI music companies being what its chief digital officer and executive vp Michael Nash calls “walled gardens,” meaning the platforms become closed sandboxes with no downloading allowed. In an interview with Billboard, Nash was asked if Suno’s lack of “walled garden” was the reason why UMG had not been able to reach a settlement with it yet. Nash replied: “If I treated your question as a rhetorical question, I would say yes, having articulated the walled garden distinction and its importance [for UMG,] that’s kind of a hat-hanger in this discussion.” Warner, on the other hand, agreed to settle with Suno, satisfied by a promised limit on downloads. Sony’s stance on the matter is unclear.

In July, a record industry coalition released a proposal for how streaming services could treat the impact of AI-generated tracks on their platforms. This included the suggestion of adding labels to any AI-generated or AI-assisted recording. Disclosure of AI use would be voluntary by the user, and while the proposal gained widespread support among the labels, it is still unclear if any streaming service will agree to implement their ideas.

Suno’s approach to managing the fast-rising level of AI songs on the internet also includes using “new watermarking and fingerprinting techniques,” as stated in the blog post, which Shulman said are set to arrive “in the coming weeks…so we can partner even more closely with distribution platforms on combating fraud and misuse.”

Read the full blog post below:

How We’re Building the Future of Music Responsibly

By Mikey Shulman 

We believe the future of music will be more participatory than ever before. 

Music is one of the oldest and most universal forms of human expression, and it has always evolved alongside technology. The last wave of technology made it easier for people to find and listen to music. We believe this next wave will make it possible for far more people to experience the joys of creating it.

Our mission is to build the world’s best platform for music creation while contributing to a healthy and growing music ecosystem. 

We’ve always believed that how we build matters just as much as what we build. From the beginning, we’ve held ourselves to a clear set of principles that help us make decisions in a fast-changing environment, always rooted in supporting artistry and creativity.  

Today we’re sharing those principles, how they already show up in our work, and the new actions we’re taking because of them. 

Our Principles

Great Music is Made by People

Technology can unlock new ways to create, but it can’t replace the human experiences, emotions, and imperfections that make music meaningful.

That’s why we build our models and products alongside artists, songwriters, musicians, and producers. Every week, we host writing camps with artists at all stages of their careers to understand how our tools fit into their creative workflows, where they fall short, and what we should improve. 

Our goal is to get inside the creative process with artists of varying backgrounds and approaches so we can build tools that support how they actually want to create. 

Technology Opens New Possibilities for Creatives

We believe our tools should open new ways for artists to create, reach fans and build their careers. That belief is central to the next generation of music models we’re developing in partnership with the music industry. 

As we build toward that future, we support artists today through several initiatives. We invest in educational programs that provide creative creators with resources to grow their careers. Through Spark, our creative funding and incubator program for emerging, unsigned artists, we provide grants, mentorship, and dedicated marketing support. And we’re exploring a range of mechanisms for artists to capture new opportunities and benefits that couldn’t have existed before this technology.

AI Should Enable Originality, Not Imitation

AI should help people create something new, not imitate someone else’s work. This philosophy has guided how we’ve built our models and platform from the start. 

We use training strategies we call Original Creation, By Design to reduce the risk of unauthorized reproductions. For example, we intentionally chose not to use artist names in our training metadata because our goal is to help people create original songs — not music that sounds like existing artists. 

Unlike many AI music platforms, we’ve never allowed prompts for specific artists or copyrighted songs. 

Instead, when a prompt references a specific artist, we remove the artist’s name and redirect the request toward descriptive musical characteristics. We also work with Audible Magic and Musixmatch to screen uploaded audio files and lyrics for potential unauthorized use of artists’ work. 

More People Creating Music Should Strengthen the Ecosystem

We believe that when more people experience the joy of creating music, music itself becomes a bigger part of their lives. They feel more connected to the songs they create, and the artists and music that inspires them. Most of the music people make on Suno is deeply meaningful: a lullaby for a child, a song for a partner, or something made to preserve a memory. That music may never be released publicly, but it still has real value to the person who made it.

That is fundamentally different from using generative technology to mass export content. While we don’t think it’s our role to decide what has artistic value, we have an important responsibility to make it harder to abuse AI tools in ways that undermine a healthy music ecosystem. 

Last year, we shared that we planned to introduce a more intentional approach to downloads. We will soon introduce a new downloads policy designed to limit the ability to mass distribute songs on streaming platforms, while preserving the professional, creative, and personal ways people use Suno. These changes won’t affect the vast majority of our users, but they will make large-scale abuse much harder. 

New Tools for Artists and Platforms

These principles — and our ongoing conversations with creatives, rightsholders, users and platforms — continue to inform our roadmap.  

As AI becomes an even greater part of how music is made, people need reliable ways to understand when it has been used. 

Today, we’re rolling out new transparency tools that align with emerging industry standards so songs generated on Suno can be identified if they are shared on other platforms. In the coming weeks, we will also be adopting new audio watermarking and fingerprinting technology so we can partner even more closely with distribution platforms on combating fraud and misuse.

These tools are designed to be durable and resistant to tampering, without affecting the listening experience. They are also not intended to pass judgment on whether a song is good, meaningful, or sufficiently human. 

Ultimately, we believe it should be up to artists and platforms to decide what they want to disclose. Our role is to build tools that give them transparency options and make it easier to collaborate across the industry.

Clearer Community Guidelines

Our Community Guidelines have always reflected clear positions on harmful behavior. Today, we’re updating them to make our rules easier to understand and to be more explicit about activities that have no place on Suno. 

From the beginning, we have prohibited attempts to recreate existing songs, upload material people do not have the rights to use, or use someone’s voice or likeness without permission. We also prohibit scams, spam, fake engagement, attempts to evade our systems through bots, deceptive audio presented as authentic, and other harmful activity.

Our Trust & Safety team proactively reviews content and investigates reports submitted through our in-app reporting tools. Depending on the severity of a violation, enforcement can range from warnings and temporary suspensions to permanent account bans and, where appropriate, referrals to the relevant authorities.

Looking ahead

This is one of the most interesting moments music has experienced in decades. The landscape will continue to evolve quickly, and many of the questions ahead are bigger than any one company. The best answers will come from artists, songwriters, labels, publishers, platforms, and technology companies all working together.

We believe this moment has the potential to bring more people into making music, create new opportunities for artists, and strengthen the music ecosystem. Staying grounded in our principles, and continuing to listen, learn, and adapt, is how we’ll navigate that change as we help build toward that future.

We’re excited about what comes next.

Charlie Puth just got a lucky break.

The Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and producer has his wardrobe all sorted out, thanks to a new partnership with Lucky Brand.

The pop artist is the latest brand ambassador for the American apparel and lifestyle specialist, known for its vintage-inspired denim, casual wear, and slacker-rock aesthetic.

“I’ve always believed the best work comes from staying true to who you are,” Puth remarks in a statement. “That’s what drew me to Lucky Brand. There is a genuine appreciation for individuality and the confidence to do things your own way, and I’m excited to be part of a brand that celebrates people who make their own luck.”

Expect to see a well-dressed Puth fronting campaigns in-store, online, across paid media, through activations, social posts and elsewhere. Check out the launch promo below.

View this post on Instagram

Puth, remarks Stefani Fleurant, executive VP, sports & lifestyle marketing at Authentic Brands Group, which acquired Lucky Brand in 2020, is “an artist who has always stayed true to his vision, and that makes him a natural fit for Lucky Brand. He reflects the independent spirit that has been part of our story from the very beginning.”

Marisa Thalberg, chief marketing officer of Catalyst Brands, operating partner for Lucky Brand, echoes those comments. “Charlie embodies that spirit in a way that feels effortless,” she remarks. “His originality, curiosity and passion for his craft make him a natural partner as we continue building a brand that celebrates individuality and the enduring connection between style and music.”

Puth is on something of a lucky streak. He recently became a dad, he performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” to open the Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium earlier this year, and dropped his fourth studio album, Whatever’s Clever! via Atlantic Records, in March of this year, peaking at No. 46.

Since emerging in 2015 with his guest spot on Wiz Khalifa’s smash hit from Fast & Furious 7, “See You Again,” which parked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for 12 weeks, Puth has landed 13 total songs on the chart, including four top 10 hits.  

Also, Puth’s first three studio albums – 2016’s Nine Track Mind (No. 6), 2018’s Voicenotes (No. 4) and 2022’s Charlie (No. 10) – all crashed the top 10 on the all-genres Billboard 200.

After completing his North America and Europe route in support of the new album, the Asia leg of Puth’s Whatever’s Clever World Tour gets underway Oct. 11 at Seoul’s Goyang Stadium, and includes dates in Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, followed by Australia and New Zealand this November.  

MELBOURNE, Australia — Ralph Carr, the promoter and talent manager who guided the careers of ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singers Kate Ceberano and Tina Arena, has been revealed as the Australian businessman recently found guilty of rape.

The businessman, who has represented artists and athletes for several decades, was identified on Monday, Aug. 3 when a longstanding suppression order was lifted by the County Court of Victoria.

At the time of writing, Carr is yet to be sentenced.

Prosecutors alleged Carr committed the attack against a woman at his Melbourne home in March 2023, after a night when the pair had been consuming drugs and alcohol.

He pleaded not guilty at the trial. A jury, however, last week found him guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Carr’s barrister Dermot Dann KC said his client would appeal the verdicts. “Our client maintains his innocence,” Dann remarked, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports. “No jury acting reasonably or rationally could have arrived at the guilty verdicts.”

Media outlets were unable able to disclose Carr’s identify until this week, due to a suppression order granted under Section 18(1)(c) of Victoria’s Open Courts Act. Carr’s legal reps had called for the gag order, arguing his personal safety was at risk if he was outed in the press.

A high-profile manager in music circles and the AFL, Ralph Carr Management clients included Vanessa Amorosi, Rick Price, Mark Vincent, and Arena, to whom he was married for several years in the mid-to-late 1990s. His live entertainment company RCM Touring Pty Limited went into liquidation in 2018, after reportedly owning A$120,000 to another touring enterprise, Big Deal Touring. Two years later, in 2020, Carr was questioned in a “public examination” at Sydney’s Supreme Court in relation to RCM Touring’s financial affairs.

Following this week’s revelation, which made the front pages of newspapers across the country, former Aussie rules football star Dustin Martin cut ties with the disgraced talent manager. “I was shocked to learn of the outcome of the court proceedings,” Martin comments in a statement provided to The Guardian. “I had no knowledge whatsoever of the conduct that led to these convictions. My thoughts are with those affected. Effective immediately, I have ended my professional relationship with my former manager. As this is a legal matter, I will not be making any further comment.”

Role Model is sticking to his guns.

Ahead of the release of his new album Chuck Timely & The Hourglass on Friday, the singer/songwriter revealed that after the breakout success of “Sally, When the Wine Runs Out,” his label encouraged him to capitalize on the viral moment by working with established producers. Instead, he trusted his gut to collaborate with Mason Stoops and Taylor Mackall, who have worked with fellow musician Lizzy McAlpine, to assist in bringing Chuck Timely to life.

Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Role Model (real name Tucker Pillsbury) recalled that after “Sally” gained traction, “My label was like, ‘You want the big dogs. This is your chance to have those huge producers in the room.’” But the singer said he “had to fight it for a little bit” before convincing them to let him work with Stoops and Mackall, who had previously contributed as session musicians on his 2024 album Kansas Anymore.

“I got to trust my gut this time,” he said, explaining that he believed the pair had an untapped talent for producing pop music. “I’m glad I did because those two boys and everyone else that helped on the record did it perfectly.”

Pillsbury also spills about the album’s songwriting process, saying that instead of having fully formed songs ready in the studio, he confessed that many sessions began with Stoops and Mackall just jamming together until ideas came about. The album’s standout track “Good Thing,” for example, came together in roughly an hour after the musicians started playing without a plan.

“I didn’t even have a prompt or anything,” he said. “They literally just started playing, and then we were like, ‘Wait, this has kind of got like a Willie [Nelson] vibe to it.’”

The musician thought back to the feeling of finishing that impromptu session. He stated that listening to that track for the first time felt like listening to a cover, not a record of his own, though he loved it.

“That [emotion] felt really good. I streamed the sh– out of that song and it’s not even out yet,” Pillsbury admits.

Chuck Timely & The Hourglass is set to release on Aug. 7 and includes the previously released single “High Hopes 3000,” which hit No. 94 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Watch the Apple Music’s interview below.

SYDNEY, Australia — BMG has acquired a basket of Andrew Stockdale’s rights relating to his interests in Wolfmother, the Grammy Award-winning Australian rock outfit.

The music company now controls Stockdale’s publishing, recorded music royalties and neighboring rights interests for Wolfmother’s catalog, extending on a decade-long partnership, stuck in 2016 when BMG became his global publisher. Financial terms weren’t revealed.

“Few Australian bands have built a catalog with the global reach, cultural impact and enduring influence of Wolfmother,” comments Heath Johns, president, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, BMG. “I signed Andrew to his first publishing deal in 2005 (then with Universal Music Publishing), before the band took over the world and two years before they won a Grammy. I still have that original demo CD with ‘Woman’, ‘Joker And The Thief’, ‘Dimension’ and ‘White Unicorn’ on my desk.”

Stockdale is the vocalist, guitarist, co-founder and songwriter with Wolfmother, which enjoyed an international breakthrough with its 2005 self-titled album, and a slew of throwback heavy-edge songs, from “Joker And The Thief” to “White Unicorn” and “Woman,” which won a Grammy for best hard rock performance.

The trio returned with a new lineup, led by Stockdale, for the 2009 follow-up Cosmic Egg, which peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard 200. Along the way, the rockers have collected multiple ARIA Awards, including best group; the coveted APRA songwriter of the year award; nominations at the BRIT Awards, and Stockdale was on hand to induct Led Zeppelin into the UK Hall of Fame in 2006.

Also, Wolfmother’s recordings have been sync in major film, television, advertising and video game campaigns, including The Hangover, Jackass Number Two, Shrek the Third, Ted Lasso, NHL, Madden NFL, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk’s Project 8, and others.

“Heath Johns is a legend of the Australian music industry with an extensive reach across international markets,” Stockdale comments. “His enthusiasm for Wolfmother’s music has been there from the original demos to ‘Joker’ being played at huge sporting events.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to have my share of the catalog than BMG. We appreciate the amazing syncs BMG has created over the years, helping cement Wolfmother’s music in popular culture, and we’re looking forward to seeing what opportunities await with the great team at BMG.”

Since Robert Kyncl became Warner Music Group’s CEO in early 2023, the record label behind Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Stella Lefty and Burna Boy has undergone cost cuts, a corporate re-org and a slew of leadership changes. During the company’s earnings call on Wednesday (Aug. 5) for its third fiscal quarter, Kyncl sought to reassure investors that Warner’s consequent reinvestment and bottom line growth was evidence that “our long-term strategy is working.”

“Over the last three years, we’ve done lots of difficult things,” Kyncl said, reflecting on the company’s cost cuts, amounting to more than $600 million combined, and its work negotiating updated deals with streaming partners. “There’s a strategy here that was set in motion, and it’s delivering results. And we have an amazing team of executives who are rowing in the same direction.”

Kyncl’s message came days after the unexpected departure of CFO and COO Armin Zerza, whom Kyncl thanked for his “long-lasting” contributions, including sharpening WMG’s focus on “capital allocation, forecasting, and … investor messaging.”

“All of those are deeply institutionalized in our company now, and I’m very confident about them continuing,” Kyncl said, extending thanks to Louis Dickler, WMG’s chief accounting officer who was named acting CFO, and Tom Corson, Warner Records’ co-chairman and COO, who was named COO of WMG the same day as Zerza’s exit was announced..

Earlier this week, WMG released preliminary financial information showing that quarterly revenue rose by 10% to nearly $1.9 billion on an 11% increase in digital revenue, which hit about $1.25 billion. Supporting that digital growth was a 12% increase in recorded music streaming revenue year-over-year to just over $1 billion. Breaking down the 12% increase, acting CFO Dickler said that 6% to 7% came from subscription streaming income, 3.5% came from improved licensing deals with digital streaming partners and 1% came from expanded global market share.

Kyncl praised chief digital officer Carletta Higgins for inking those deals with all of WMG’s major streaming partners, including, most recently, Apple.

WMG’s market share has risen since a corporate reorganization in 2024 brought Elliot Grainge‘s 10K Projects under the Atlantic Music Group umbrella, but Kyncl said that much of its market share gains came after the 10K acquisition. WMG’s current share of the overall U.S. recorded music market, including catalog, rose by around 0.3%, and its share of the market for music released in the last 18 months grew by around 0.8%, according to Luminate.

Kyncl said Stella Lefty’s Billboard Hot 100 top 5 hit “Boston” and Shakira and Burna Boy’s “Dai Dai (FIFA World Cup Official Song 2026),” the first World Cup anthem to top both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, are the latest hits that contributed to three years of “significant improvement” for WMG’s global market share, which is not publicly available.

In the latter half of 2026, the label expects to release music from Alex Warren, sombr, David Guetta, Ravyn Lanae, Myke Towers, Teddy Swims, and Miley Cyrus.

While WMG does not issue guidance on subscription streaming growth, Dickler said the guidance that the company can achieve high single-digit top-line growth is “obviously … anchored by growth in paid streaming.”