SYDNEY — Australia’s recorded music industry posted a gain of just 1.4% to A$727 million ($512 million) in 2025, according to ARIA, a rate of growth that was considerably slower than the global result.

The total wholesale sum is the largest ever reported, for the seventh consecutive year of upward progress, and is thanks to the uptick in consumer appetite for CDs, which added almost A$5 million ($3.5 million) in value for the period, to $20.9 million (or $14.7 million up 29%), and the income from subscription platforms, the dominant format which posted a year-on-year lift of about A$7 million ($5 million), to $516 million ($363 million), up 1.4%.

Growth is good. And in a time of economic uncertainty, any growth is welcome. The rate of growth, and the slowdown in the streaming space (ad supported models were roughly flat, posting a 0.4% lift to A$69.9 million or $49 million) is surely a concern.

Overnight, with the presentation in London of the Global Music Report 2026 – State of the Industry, the IFPI reported music revenue grew to US$31.7 billion worldwide in 2025, up 6.4% year-on-year. China was a standout, posting revenue growth of 20.1% and leapfrogging Germany as the fourth largest global market.

Australia was nudged out of the top 10 in 2024, and doesn’t appear to be heading back into the top tier anytime soon, as markets with greater populations, including Mexico, clamor to streaming brands.

“A seventh consecutive year of growth reflects the enduring connection Australians have with music, and the sustained investment of our record labels in developing and backing artists,” explains ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd. “While the pace of growth eased last year as streaming markets mature, the surge in physical sales shows that fans want to engage with music in deeper, more tangible ways.”

Australia isn’t alone. That slowed but sustained growth is a pattern seen in other mature recorded music markets across Europe (Germany +1.7%, France +3.7%) and the United Kingdom (U.K. +4.8%).

“We are also seeing the rapid development of artificial intelligence globally. AI presents genuine new opportunities for the music industry – and AI licensing deals are emerging with major and independent labels and rightsholders globally – but these opportunities must be built on a foundation of  consent, transparency, and fair compensation for artists and rights holders,” Herd continues.

Australia’s copyright law is “the foundation for innovative technological development and strong local culture, and ARIA will continue to advocate strongly against threats to dismantle our copyright framework in the interests of a small number of major international AI tech companies.”

Meanwhile, the wax revolution continues. The vinyl album format in Australia grew 4.1% in revenue to A$46.3 million ($32 million) in 2025, ARIA reports, with more than 1.2 million shipped units. Vinyl now accounts for more than two-thirds of all physical revenue (68.2%).

Breaking new Australian music locally and earning a living as an artist has “never been harder,” ARIA’s Herd asserts. “Every new release enters an increasingly crowded global landscape, but the success of artists like Amyl and The Sniffers, Ninajirachi, Dom Dolla, and Troye Sivan — all recognized at the 2025 ARIA Awards — proves Australian artists can cut through anywhere in the world. We have extraordinary talent coming through at every level, and our domestic policy settings should reflect and support that.”

Removing the “arcane and deeply unfair statutory 1% cap and ABC fixed price on radio recording royalties would ensure recording artists are fairly compensated in their home radio market and send a clear signal that Australia backs its creators,” Herd continues. It has never been a “more important time to invest in and protect local culture.”

Iron Maiden’s journey from the East End of London to a stadium near you is captured in all its heavy metal glory for Burning Ambition, the trailer for which is now live.

The official Iron Maiden documentary is due out in cinemas May 7, via Universal Pictures, tracking the band’s incredible, ongoing journey, and myriad challenges along the way.

“If you’re an Iron Maiden fan,” says frontman Bruce Dickinson at the top, a rallying cry from the stage, “you’re part of one family, my friends.”

Directed by Malcolm Venville (Churchill at War) and produced by Dominic Freeman (Spirits in the Forest – A Depeche Mode Film), the film charts five decades of Iron Maiden, featuring unprecedented access to heavy metal juggernaut’s archives, plus interviews with bandmembers, actor Javier Bardem, artists Lars Ulrich, Chuck D, and Tom Morello, and an army of battle-hardened super fans from around the globe.

In the new clip, Bardem, wearing a black Maiden shirt, refers to the rockers as “Gods of metal,” while Chuck D remarks, “this group created its own universe.”

Formed in East London in 1975, Iron Maiden are giants of their scene, with 17 studio albums, over 100 million records sold, and more than 2,500 performances across 64 countries. The road to the top hasn’t been linear. Along the way, the rockers have endured lineup changes, burnout, health problems.

The fans never gave up, the music never stopped, and the story kept building. Arguably, the band, and their iconic mascot Eddie, are now as popular as ever.  

2025 marked the band’s official 50th year and is being celebrated with the two-year world tour Run For Your Lives, along with a range of merch and the release of their first-ever official hardcover visual history book, Infinite Dreams. To top it off, the metal legends are nominated for the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

A separate film about the life and health struggles of early Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno will be released this summer, through Cleopatra Entertainment. Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer is directed by Wes Orshoski (Lemmy), who shot the film in England, Croatia, Brazil and the United States, and completed it shortly before Di’Anno’s death in October 2023, aged 66.

Tickets are available here for Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition. Watch the trailer in full below.

Vince Gill was 50 years old when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, making him the second-youngest person to achieve the honor. Now, he’s advocating for an even younger star to make the cut.

In a recent episode of Rolling Stone‘s podcast Nashville Now, Gill talked about his 2007 induction into the Hall. At the time, he says he feared that the honor came too soon.

“I was grateful. There was a part of me that kind of thought, ‘A little early,’ honestly,” Gill says in the interview. Once he was inducted, he committed himself to working even harder on his craft. “What I wanted to do after the fact was earn it.”

Gill has certainly made good on this commitment. Over the course of his 50-year career, the “Go Rest High on That Mountain” singer has amassed 63 Billboard Hot Country Songs hits, five of which topped the chart. A whopping 16 of his albums have hit the Billboard 200. Now, as Gill works on his series of EPs, 50 Years From Home, he is looking at the success of an artist who came after him.

Another all-time chart-topper, Taylor Swift could be eligible for the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Modern Era category this year. To be inducted, the category requires “20-plus years since national prominence.” Swift’s debut self-titled album featuring her breakthrough single “Tim McGraw” was released in 2006, making this year the first she may be eligible, depending on the definition of “national prominence.”

No stranger to the Hall, Gill believes that Swift will one day be inducted into it. “I think they’ll put her in there. Why wouldn’t you?” he says. He also reveals that she’s one of the Country Music Hall of Fame’s biggest donors. “I’m crazy about her. I fully support that.”

If Swift, who is currently 36 years old, were to be inducted into the Hall this year or any time in the next decade, she would be the youngest person to ever do so. There’s a tie for current youngest: Johnny Cash and Eddy Arnold were both inducted at age 48.

Afroman won a jury verdict Wednesday (March 18) clearing him of wrongdoing in a lawsuit filed by seven Ohio police officers, who claimed the rapper defamed them by releasing music videos that mocked them after a failed raid on his home.

The verdict came in an unusual lawsuit filed by members of an Ohio county sheriff’s department over songs and social media posts by Afroman (Joseph Foreman) that harshly criticized the guns-drawn 2022 raid on his property, which yielded no charges.

The case claimed the videos were false and caused the officers severe emotional distress. But Afroman, known for his 2000 hit “Because I Got High,” testified at trial that he had a First Amendment right to mock the officers, particularly after they smashed down his door for ultimately no reason: “All of this is their fault, and they have the audacity to sue me.”

After just hours of deliberation on Wednesday, the jury sided entirely with Afroman, clearing him of liability for defamation or invasion of privacy: “In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant,” Judge Jonathan Hein said, speaking to the rapper, the accusers, and their lawyers. Afroman briefly bowed his head, but otherwise showed no emotion after the verdict was read.

The verdict ended a three-day trial that captivated social media with outlandish moments from the courtroom, including Afroman mounting a colorful defense from the witness stand in a flamboyant American flag suit; one of the deputies crying repeatedly as a video insulting her played for more than 10 minutes; and a testy exchange in which Afroman’s lawyer asked another deputy if his wife was cheating on him.

The outcome is a major win for Afroman, who could have faced a whopping $3.9 million damages award if he’d lost. Attorneys for both sides did not immediately return requests for comment on Wednesday.

In August 2022, the Adams County Sheriff’s Department raided Afroman’s home with guns drawn, smashing down his door and seizing $5,031 in cash and other property. They had a search warrant on suspicions of drug trafficking and kidnapping, but no wrongdoing was uncovered, no charges were ever filed and the money was later returned.

After the search, Afroman used his own surveillance camera footage to create music videos and other social posts mocking the officers. In a video for a song called “Lemon Pound Cake,” he ridiculed one deputy for apparently eying a cake on his counter. In another social media post, he included images of officer Lisa Phillips alongside graphic statements about her anatomy and sexuality.

In 2023, Phillips and six others (Shawn D. Cooley, Justin Cooley, Michael D. Estep, Shawn S. Grooms, Brian Newland and Randolph L. Walters, Jr.) filed a civil lawsuit claiming they’d suffered “emotional distress” and been “subjected to threats, including death threats” because of Afroman’s posts.

At trial in Adams County this week, Afroman told jurors from the witness stand that he had a constitutional right to make such artistic and critical content, particularly about government officials. That argument echoed what the American Civil Liberties Union wrote in 2023, when it call the lawsuit against Afroman “nothing short of absurd.”

“I got freedom of speech. After they run around my house with guns and kick down my door, I got the right to kick a can in my back yard, use my freedom of speech, and turn my bad times into a good time, yes I do,” he told jurors on Tuesday. “And I think I’m a sport for doing so, because I don’t go to their house, kick down their doors [and] then try to play the victim and sue them.”

In another flashy moment on the stand, Afroman explained to jurors why he had later invited a local television news crew to accompany him to the sheriff’s station to get his money back – not because he wanted publicity, but because he feared for his safety.

“I didn’t wanna get beat up or Epstein’d at the sheriff’s station after I seen them running around my house with AR15s,” the rapper said, referring to persistent internet rumors that infamous sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein’s prison suicide was staged and he was actually murdered. “That’s why I brought the news and my attorney.”

The Adams County deputies themselves also took the stand, including Shawn D. Cooley, the officer Afroman referred to as “Officer Poundcake,” who watched that music video in the courtroom. When Phillips got on the stand, she wept as a long video played in which Afroman labeled her “Licc’em Low Lisa” and crudely suggested that she was lesbian.

During one heated exchange, Randolph L. Walters, Jr. testified about a video in which Afroman repeatedly says that he had sex with the officer’s wife. Walters said listeners had understood that statement as factual and that it had caused him “tremendous pain.”

“But we all know that’s not true, right?” fired back David Osborne, the rapper’s lawyer, to which Walters that he didn’t know. “You don’t know if your wife’s cheating on you or not?” Osborne then asked, prompting Walters to angrily glare back and ask, “You wanna go there?”

“No I just wanna ask that question since you said we don’t know,” said Osborne, seemingly trying to suggest to jurors that the statement couldn’t be proven true or false, a key requirement of a defamation claim.

In their closing statements on Wednesday, attorneys for both sides clashed over the lofty free speech issues raised by Afroman’s defense. Robert Klingler, the lawyer for the officers, told the jury that Afroman had “perpetuated lies intentionally” for years about public servants who had “risked their lives for this county for years” – and that his framing of the case as a First Amendment battle was “legally wrong.”

“Mr. Foreman doesn’t get to wrap himself in the American flag and say you can’t touch me, I can say what I want, no matter how untrue it is, no matter how much pain it causes people, because I have freedom of speech,” Klingler said. “He can’t do that.”

Osborne quickly fired back that he can, in fact, do that. In a closing statement that cited NWA’s “Fuck Tha Police” and Richard Prior’s comedy acts, Osborne told jurors that powerful public officials cannot use the courts to “silence” criticism simply because it hurt their feelings.

“I’m sorry they feel the way they do, but there’s a certain amount that you have to take as a public official, it’s part of the duties of the job,” Osborne said. “What chilling effect does that have on the world we live in? You don’t like what a public official does and you make a joke, and you’re dragged into court?”