Prof Snyder's Music Biz News

AI In The Classroom: The Future of Music Education

While SUNO is portrayed by many as the evil AI music company training AI on copyrighted music without permission, traditional music schools worldwide, like the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and the National Institute of Education in Singapore, embrace it. Meanwhile students at Berklee College of Music say AI is ruining their education. Other institutions like Syracuse University are cutting music or deleting music programs altogether. On the horizon, will independent self-thinking agentic bots not only teach music classes, but also even give one-on-one music lessons? If music programs hope to be around ten years from now, they have to treat AI not as a novelty or a threat to hide from, but as a tidal wave reshaping the musical world students are entering. The real question isn’t whether AI will be part of that world—it’s whether schools will prepare students to survive in that world.

Why Did 2 Live Crew Lose 'Me So Horny'

2 Live Crew just lost the copyrights to their records. Copyright law states that they could get their music back from the labels after 35 years if they follow the instructions, and in 2024 they did. But they just lost on appeal by the label, not because of usual 'work-for-hire' issues, but rather because one of the members who had died, filed bankruptcy decades ago. This is a first. Musicians filing bankruptcy is pretty common, even with hit songs, especially those with bad contracts. Will this case have lawyers digging into past bankruptcies now to deny artists their recordings after 35 years? From Salt-N-Pepa to 2 Live Crew, labels are finding creative ways of keeping those recordings, no matter how much they say they love their artists. Oh...and Luther Campbell of 2 Live Crew is running for senate! sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/06/2-live-crew-loses-copyrights.html [https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/06/2-live-crew-loses-copyrights.html]

Spotify Evolves from a Streaming Service into an AI Music-Creation Ecosystem.

"Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) have officially signed a licensing agreement that will allow “AI-enabled superfans” to produce AI covers and remixes of participating UMG songs." Up until now a song was created to listen to, dance to. An artist's official release has been the definitive version of a song. Listeners could interpret it differently, but the recording itself remained fixed. Soon, the labels and Spotify see all of those songs, maybe yours, as the 1st building block for Spotify users to take your song, and create 1000s of variations. "The sources confirm artists can opt out, but do not specify whether participation is opt-in or opt-out by default and neither Spotify nor UMG has clarified this." "It also isn't clear whether "participating" is determined artist by artist, catalog segment by catalog segment, or through some broader label-level agreement with individual exceptions. That mechanism is simply undisclosed." Does it matter to you if your song is sliced and diced and made into something you wouldn’t like, or even recognize? sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot [https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot].... [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa3NpVzhHYjdnRGtLREpiVFJqOHctcDRsRWRWd3xBQ3Jtc0tsTTdtUzRBZWk4RHZJUzhtbXhZeUhlQjdfTlJSTGx2dnpkOWJjUWJOV2VjYURKRURwZWxzZ1lLVHRHYnZZcENxc1VVOGgwTnk2eFo1TXdDbTFlSmJZQldnT3o5QUU5UC1IRm82T0FMRVlVQjJEc0ozVQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsnydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com%2F2026%2F06%2Fspotify-evolves-from-streaming-service.html&v=FLvUlpF5HOk]

Ozzy Osbourne and the Beginning of the Deadbot Music Era

"He will exist digitally as himself for as long as we have computers." The emerging world of “deadbots”—AI-powered digital recreations of deceased individuals that can speak, answer questions, and interact using a person’s voice, personality, and digital history. With reports that Sharon and Jack Osbourne are developing an interactive AI version of Ozzy Osbourne, the music industry may be entering an entirely new era. Unlike hologram concerts or archived recordings, these systems could engage in real conversations, recognize fans, and potentially continue an artist’s commercial legacy long after death. Could estates eventually license AI versions of artists for concerts, films, museums, theme parks, and virtual meet-and-greets? Could digital performers continue generating revenue indefinitely? And are living musicians ready to share the stage with deadbots? Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot [https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot].... [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqa0JHQllHRGJncXFhMHMyUmsyTzVVM20teTFMd3xBQ3Jtc0ttTFFCck5iMEJZV2tfZFFaMTJDdDhxVU4zbEN2YkpuQkJuSVpWa1MtNFRJbjE1djBycGdXNTR1N2VnXzBQdFhMeEVyVjI1Z1I5WmdtVVg1Tk9IWXlFSzZmcldMbEhJR2NOODVfN0x4dkxTcGkzYnNiWQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fsnydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com%2F2026%2F06%2Fozzy-osbourne-and-beginning-of-deadbot.html&v=B9fxa6DE4Fg] 00:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg] Bring Out Your Deadbots 00:55 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=55s] Ozzy Osbourne's AI Legacy 01:55 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=115s] Who Owns a Digital Person? 02:15 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=135s] The Digital Afterlife 03:20 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=200s] The Business of the Dead 04:05 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=245s] The AI Legacy Clause 05:35 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=335s] We've Already Started Down This Road 05:50 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=350s] The Backlash 06:40 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=400s] The Future of Music 07:55 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=475s] Living with Deadbots 08:35 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9fxa6DE4Fg&t=515s] Final Thoughts and Questions

The 988 Lifeline. More Than Most, Musicians Need to Know.

(May is Mental Health Awareness Month) It's not just Schumann, Monk, Cobain and Adele. It's the 1st Chair Violinist in your local orchestra, the flamenco guitarist in the Mexican restaurant, the roadie setting up the PA, the person on the rigs hanging lights, the piano major in college, the choir director at church, etc. Out of 100,000, 138 of them will commit suicide, The national average is 32 across all occupations (CDC report: Suicide Rates by Industry and Occupation. 2021). (This was before the increasing negative effects of AI on the music industry) Maybe if those 138 had just been made aware of the many free services available just for them... sources and links to support orgs: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-988-lifeline-more-than-most.html [https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-988-lifeline-more-than-most.html]