The major record labels are hitting AI music giant Suno with a new legal claim for allegedly scraping their songs from YouTube, taking a cue from Anthropic’s recent $1.5 billion copyright settlement while citing an exclusive Billboard report on mass piracy in AI training.

Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have been working together for over a year to pursue copyright infringement litigation against both Suno and Udio, the other major player in the fast-growing world of AI music, for allegedly feeding unlicensed songs into their models to train the machines.  

The labels are now moving to add a piracy claim to the lawsuit against Suno, writing in Friday (Sept. 19) court filings that they’ve recently confirmed the AI company illegally downloaded its training music from YouTube via a piracy method known as “stream-ripping.” The proposed amended complaint cites an exclusive Billboard report from this month that revealed the existence of private datasets demonstrating how both Suno and Udio scraped music from the internet on a massive scale.  

According to the complaint, stream-ripping violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by circumventing YouTube encryption measures specifically designed to hinder downloads. The labels’ new proposed claims seek the maximum damages for this alleged violation: $2,500 for each act of piracy.

“Suno’s circumvention of YouTube’s technological measures has facilitated Suno’s ongoing and mass-scale infringement of Plaintiffs’ copyrights through its unauthorized use of the Universal works, the Sony works and the Warner works in its training data,” the amended complaint reads.

On behalf of the labels, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said in a statement on Friday that Suno “has gone to great lengths to hide whether its AI models were trained on copyrighted music and how those works were obtained.”

“And yet, Suno has continued a game of deception because it knew its conduct was illegal,” added the RIAA.

Reps for Suno did not immediately return a request for comment on the proposed amended complaint on Friday. The labels have not yet made any moves toward filing this type of piracy claim against Udio.

The proposed amendment comes in the wake of AI company Anthropic agreeing to pay $1.5 billion to authors for building its central library out of pirated books. Like the record labels, many AI copyright litigants have recently been working to shore up their lawsuits with new piracy claims, including music publishers that are suing Anthropic over song lyrics in AI training.

The newfound focus on piracy can be traced to this past June, when the judge overseeing the book authors’ lawsuit against Anthropic, Judge William Alsup in California, ruled that the company would be held liable for storing pirated books. Anthropic settled rather than face trial over damages, though it remains to be seen whether Judge Alsup will approve the $1.5 billion deal.

However, Judge Alsup held in his June ruling that it’s not illegal for Anthropic to train its chatbot Claude on copyrighted books. The judge said training amounts to fair use: a foundational tenet of copyright law that allows protected works to be recycled for “transformative” purposes, like news reporting or parody.

Whether or not AI training constitutes fair use is a hotly contested question that’s currently being litigated in dozens of copyright lawsuits across the country, including in the record labels’ case. Suno and Udio insist that training their AI music machines on existing songs is transformative, and both companies are expected to present these arguments to judges after the discovery process concludes.

As U.S. stocks soared following a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut, Live Nation shares fell in the wake of a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over what the agency called “years of systemic unfair and deceptive practices.” The high-flying stock dropped 5.8% to $163.72, lowering its year-to-date gain to 65.7%.

Live Nation’s stock dropped 2.5% after Bloomberg reported Monday (Sept. 15) that the FTC was investigating the company. Following news of the lawsuit, the company’s share price fell 2.8% on Thursday (Sept. 18) and dropped another 0.6% on Friday (Sept. 19). Separately, Rothschild & Co. Redburn downgraded Live Nation to a “neutral” rating and increased its price target to $170 from $144. Redburn analysts expect margin expansion to slow from 2026. 

A dip of such a magnitude isn’t rare for Live Nation, and the stock has proven to be resilient. In 2019, Live Nation fell 7.3% after news broke that the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division was scrutinizing the company, but the share price recovered in just four days. In 2021, the company’s shares fell more than 22% in the weeks after 10 people died as a result of a crowd crush at the Astroworld festival in Houston, but the stock recaptured nearly all of that loss within three months and now trades 28% above pre-Astroworld levels. 

Music stocks rode the market’s upswing as the 19-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) gained 1.3% to 3,101.37, ending the week just off its all-time high of 3,117.20 set during the week ended June 30, 2025. Winners and losers were equally matched at nine apiece, and one company, Deezer, was unchanged. 

U.S indexes finished the week at record highs following the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday (Sept. 17) to cut the federal funds rate, the benchmark for short-term interest rates, by a quarter of a percentage point. The Nasdaq climbed 2.2% to a record 22,631.48, while the S&P 500 rose 1.2% to 6,664.36, also a record close. In the U.K., the FTSE 100 dropped 0.7% to 9,216.67. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 1.5% to 3,445.24. China’s Shanghai Composite Index sank 1.3% to 3,820.09.

Sphere Entertainment Co. posted its fifth successive weekly gain, rising 2.4% to $59.71 and giving the company a 41.4% gain in 2025. Investors have reacted positively to the success of Sphere’s AI-assisted revamped The Wizard of Oz. As of Monday, Sphere had sold more than 500,000 tickets for The Wizard of Oz, generating over $65 million in sales.

Music’s greatest gainer of the week was iHeartMedia, which jumped 17.0% to $3.03 despite no major announcement or news report regarding the company. iHeartMedia shares have jumped 89.4% in the last six weeks and are up 81.4% year to date. 

In the K-pop world, SM Entertainment was up 6.8% this week, bringing its year-to-date gain to 110.7%. JYP Entertainment increased 1.6% while HYBE fell 0.9% after its chairman, Bang Si-hyuk, was questioned by South Korean authorities over allegations that he deceived early HYBE investors into selling their stakes ahead of the company’s IPO. Bang has denied that he provided false information to the investors. 

Spotify, the BGMI’s single largest component with a market capitalization of $150.4 billion, rose 5.5% to $734.92. That brought the stock back to the level reached on Aug. 15 before the price stumbled in three of the next four weeks. The stock went as high as $745.00 on Thursday, bringing Spotify within 5.1% of its all-time high of $785.00 set on June 27. 

Universal Music Group and CTS Eventim both fell 4.4%. Chinese music streamer Netease Cloud Music sank 6.7%. U.S. music streamer LiveOne was the week’s biggest loser, falling 10.5% to $0.51. 

On Oct. 7, the two-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel that set off the war in Gaza, the Nova Music Festival Exhibition will open in Berlin as a memorial to the victims of the massacre at the rave of the same name. The touring exhibition, which has been set up in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto and other cities, has drawn more than half a million visitors so far, and this will be its debut in Europe.  

The exhibition, titled “October 7, 6:29am — The Moment Music Stood Still,” will be displayed at Flughafen Tempelhof, an airport that was used by the Nazi regime and is now a public space. Just as in New York and in other cities, the exhibition includes an installation that immerses visitors in the festival set-up, as well as testimonies from both victims and survivors of the Hamas attack. It will also host survivors, including former hostages of Hamas, and a variety of speakers and panels. Proceeds will benefit the Tribe of Nova Foundation, a nonprofit organization set up to help survivors and their families. 

The exhibition is supported by the city of Berlin, under the patronage of Mayor Kai Wegner, as well as Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer and Karin Prien, the Federal Minister for Education, Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It will also be funded by donations from a variety of companies and private individuals in the U.S. and Germany. (Disclosure: I helped with the fundraising efforts.) In Berlin, the Nova exhibition has significant support from the German music business, including the recording business association BVMI, the concert and event industry organization BDKV, the German PRO GEMA, and the neighboring rights group GVL.  

“Berlin holds a profound historical significance for the Jewish people and for me personally — Berlin is my hometown,” Nova Music Festival founder and producer Ofir Amir said in a statement. “Presenting the Nova Exhibition here is a powerful and symbolic moment, a true full-circle experience. Born out of pain, memory, resilience, and hope, this exhibition carries an important message. Sharing it in Berlin is both meaningful and necessary.” 

The Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival was the worst attack in history on a concert or music gathering. Out of about 3,000 festival attendees, 411 were murdered, hundreds were hurt and 44 were taken hostage in Gaza — 14 of whom are still there. The exhibition comes to Berlin as the war in Gaza grinds on, with a death toll estimated at more than 60,000. 

A smaller version of the exhibition will open in Boston on Sept. 26, just under two weeks before it comes to Berlin. “The Nova Music Festival Exhibition is not just about Nova, it is Nova,” exhibition director Reut Feingold said in a statement. “It stands as a living testimony to the resilience of our community and the universal need to remember and heal. ‘We will dance again’ is a promise of hope that we carry forward together.”

A month after swarming the Top Gabb Music Songs chart by dominating the entire top five of the July 2025 tally, music from KPop Demon Hunters is even more inescapable on the August 2025 ranking, occupying the list’s top seven.

Billboard has partnered with Gabb Wireless, a phone company for kids and teens, to present a monthly chart tracking on-demand streams via its Gabb Music platform. Gabb Music offers a vast catalog of songs, all of which are selected by the Gabb team to include only kid- and teen-appropriate content. Gabb Music streams are not currently factored into any other Billboard charts.

Of note: the August 2025 chart marks the first published ranking since Gabb Music was made available via app stores, meaning users can now download the streaming app to devices other than Gabb Wireless’ phones and tablets.

While KPop Demon Hunters music rules Top Gabb Music Songs for the second month in a row, it’s not the same song at No. 1. Saja Boys stans rejoice, though: after the boyband’s “Your Idol” topped the July ranking, it’s “Soda Pop” that leads the August tally, while “Your Idol” falls to No. 3.

HUNTR/X, however, holds the lion’s share of the top five, occupying the remainder of the region, led by “How It’s Done” at No. 2. “Golden,” HUNTR/X’s now-five-week No. 1 on the weekly Billboard Hot 100 since first ascending to the top of the list in mid-August, follows at No. 4 (Top Gabb Music Songs leader “Soda Pop” ranks at No. 5 on the latest Hot 100).

A song featured on the Netflix film’s soundtrack is also the top debut of the week: TWICE’s “Takedown” bows at No. 11, six spots below HUNTR/X’s own version of the tune (No. 5).

KPop Demon Hunters fever hasn’t just swept Top Gabb Music Songs and the Hot 100 (the latter features four songs from the film in its top 10), the movie’s soundtrack also topped the Billboard 200 for the first time on the Sept. 20-dated list.

Much like in July, the top non-KPop Demon Hunters track on Top Gabb Music Songs is Alex Warren’s “Ordinary,” which drops two positions to No. 8.

And Forrest Frank’s got the best debut for a song not on the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, starting at No. 13 with “God’s Got My Back,” which was released on July 25 and debuted at No. 5 on the Hot Christian Songs chart in August.

Music from Ravyn Lenae, KATSEYE and MeloMance also debuts on the August survey. See the full top 25 below.

It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here.

Top Gabb Music Songs

DROPS: “Stargazing,” Myles Smith; “Die With a Smile,” Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars; “God’s Plan,” Drake; “Stressed Out,” Twenty One Pilots; “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” Luke Combs; “Mr. Electric Blue,” Benson Boone

Jason Aldean ties his highest debut on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “How Far Does a Goodbye Go” launches at No. 19 on the Sept. 27-dated survey.

The single, co-written by Kurt Allison, John Edwards, Tully Kennedy and John Morgan, drew 10 million audience impressions in its first week (Sept. 12-18), according to Luminate. The start was powered in part by first-day spins on participating iHeartRadio stations.

Michael Knox produced the track, which will appear on Aldean’s 12th studio album, due in 2026. Knox has long been a central part of Aldean’s chart success and ranks among Billboard’s newly-unveiled Top Producers of the 21st Century on the Hot Country Songs Chart. Knox has produced 10 Aldean-recorded No. 1s by that chart’s measure.

“How Far Does a Goodbye Go” matches the No. 19 Country Airplay premieres of Aldean’s “Burnin’ It Down” in 2014 and “Take a Little Ride” in 2012. They went on to become two of his 25 career No. 1s. Meanwhile, Aldean’s latest is the fifth song to debut in the top 20 in 2025, the most in a year since eight made such grand entrances in 2019.

Dickerson Doubles Up

Russell Dickerson spends a second week at No. 1 on Country Airplay with “Happen to Me,” which increased 2% to 32.2 million in audience in the tracking week. Among his five leaders, he equals his longest command, joining “Love You Like I Used To” in 2020 and “Yours” in 2018.

“Happen to Me” was written by Jessie Jo Dillon, Chris LaCorte and Chase McGill and hails from Dickerson’s fourth LP, Famous Back Home, which debuted at No. 34 on the Sept. 6-dated Top Country Albums chart. The crossover hit also holds at its No. 21 high on Adult Pop Airplay and rises to No. 38, a new best, on Pop Airplay.

All charts dated Sept. 27 will update Tuesday, Sept. 23, on Billboard.com.

It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here.