Iowa State Songwriters Championship /Association

01/31/2026

Last day to vote 🗳 please 🙏 send him to THE TOP ❤️ 💙 support the non-profit artist growth and development program Texas State Songwriters Championship - Association and the future of what their team is doing to help us bring this kind of support to ❤️ vote 🗳 Tristan Roberson Music 🎶 and check out his one sheet Www.tristanrobersonmusic.com/one-sheet 😀 hes accomplished all of this since he joined the organization last year 😀 👍 ❤️ Are you ready for some stats like these ????? Thank you for supporting the vision 🙏

🚨 VOTING REMINDER — DEADLINE 1/31 🚨

Y’all, I need your VOTES for the Texas Regional Radio Music Awards Show 🙏

I’m incredibly honored to be a finalist for "New Male Vocalist of the Year," and to be recognized alongside artists like Parker McCollum, Flatland Cavalry, and Randy Rogers is truly humbling.

These are big-name artists in Texas country music, and to even be mentioned in the same awards show is something I don’t take lightly especially as an independent artist.

Vote here: 👉 https://trrma.net/register/

🔴Click the “Bronze” category for FREE voting (or log in if you’ve already registered)
🔴Please select Tristan Roberson in the following category: New Male Vocalist of the Year

It’s one vote per email. Thank you to Texas radio, my fans, and everyone who’s supported this journey. Let’s finish strong! 💪

Greg Sax | Michael MK | Twinstone Hats | Texas Regional Radio Report

01/22/2026

Chris Castle is an entertainment lawyer and the founder of Christian Castle Attorneys. He founded his firm in Los Angeles in 2005 and moved the firm to Austin in 2011. He works on a variety of transactional matters in the nexus of music, technology, and policy. Chris is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and was the director of the Texas Entertainment Law Institute. He has testified against speculative ticketing at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and on artist rights issues at the UK Parliament. We asked Chris if he had any predictions for the music industry in 2026. Here’s what he had to say: My predictions are probably going to read negative but then there’s no drama in happiness. We’ll skip over the more obvious stuff like the coming disaster in Phonorecords V streaming mechanical negotiations, criminal copyright infringement prosecutions of the frontier AI labs, and revisiting the willful infringement statutory damages maximums which were set in 1999 in response to CD ripping (and on an inflation-adjusted basis would be about double today anyway). Here are the overviews: 1. Fan Lawsuits Over AI, 2. Environmental Harms of AI Become a Core Climate Issue, 3. Criminal RICO Case Against StubHub and Affiliated Resale Networks, 4. Streaming Payola Investigation Targets Spotify’s Algorithmic Manipulation. Just another bright sunshiny day.”

Hypebot is asking the music industry's expert analysts what they think might unfold in the world of music in 2026...

01/21/2026

Bobby Owsinski is a music industry veteran. He’s produced records, pioneered surround sound mixing with major artists (The Who, Neil Young, Chicago), runs the popular music blog, Music 3.0, hosts podcasts, creates online courses, and writes for Forbes on music business trends, making him a key figure in modern audio education and production. Here's some predictions:
1) “I predict that TikTok will not be sold to an American consortium as we’ve been led to believe, and the company will be forced to abandon operations in the United States as a result of the law that was passed by the U.S. Congress at the end of 2024. TikTok’s recommendation algorithm is its secret sauce, and if you take notice, it’s never mentioned as being included in any deal. 2) “I predict that the major labels (with maybe the exception of Sony) will face tremendous pushback from their artists over the deals they’ve done with AI music generators in 2025. 3) “As a result of all the AI slop music that’s beginning to overwhelm the streaming services, human music makers (especially bands) will come back in vogue. In order for musicians to ensure that people can tell the difference between their music and what’s AI-generated, it will become popular for performances and recordings to be as raw as possible, even going so far as to leave mistakes in recordings as a human signature. 4) “More small and boutique musical instrument and audio manufacturers will be purchased by existing holding companies or private equity groups. This will happen because of a combination of a tougher business environment due to tariffs, costs, and a dwindling dealer network, and founders wishing to cash out and retire. The result will be fewer brands and more businesses shifting to online sales.”

Hypebot's is asking the music industry's expert analysts what they think might unfold in the world of music in 2026...

01/20/2026

As Facebook limits links, learn its impact and some workarounds. Artists, venues, and music marketers scramble to promote shows, releases, and more. As first reported by TechCrunch, Meta is broadly testing limits on professional pages and Professional Mode profiles to just two organic posts per month that include external links. This restriction applies unless the account subscribes to Meta Verified, Meta’s paid subscription program. Accounts that upgrade to Meta Verified can bypass the link limit. They also receive a verification badge and added account protections. Prices for Verified, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, range from $14.99 to $349.99 per month. As Social Media Today notes, the experiment aligns with Meta’s growing emphasis on monetization and subscription-based access. Meanwhile, marketing firms like 24 Fingers confirmed that posts without links are not affected. This reinforces Meta’s preference for native content such as photos, videos, and Reels.

Meta limits Facebook links to two per month for professional accounts unless users subscribe to Meta Verified.

01/19/2026

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declined to comment on its possible probe into AllTrack and Pro Music Rights (PMR). Meanwhile, PMR says it’s “actively exploring legal action” against the congressman who requested the investigation. One week ago, that congressman, U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), asked the FTC to “examine potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices” on the part of the mentioned performing rights organizations (PROs). Naturally, these developments all tie back to a central question: Does the Federal Trade Commission intend to kick off an investigation into the alleged FTC Act violations of AllTrack and Pro Music Rights? At least as things stand, we’ll have to wait for a definitive answer. An FTC public affairs rep declined to comment on the potential probe’s status – while underscoring the non-public nature of the government agency’s investigations. At present, Pro Music Rights doesn’t appear to have made good on its litigation threat. But according to the PRO, antitrust actions (against the MIC Coalition, ASCAP, BMI, and others) as well as defamation claims are on the table.

The FTC has declined to comment on a possible investigation into AllTrack and Pro Music Rights, the latter of which is threatening to sue.

01/18/2026

You may not even know it, but you’ve almost certainly encountered songs made mostly or even entirely with AI. If you’ve scrolled on TikTok the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard “I Run” a few times, but there are countless others making their way around social and music platforms. AI tools in general, and Suno in particular, are becoming a big part of the music-making process. And nowhere is that more true than in the home of country music, Nashville. On this episode of The Vergecast, Nilay and David are joined by Charlie Harding, a music journalist and professor who also cohosts the excellent Switched on Pop podcast. Charlie takes us through his reporting on how songwriters are using Suno and other tools to turn ideas into semi-polished demos. They can be in any style and sound like anyone — and while it seems everyone is using AI to help make music, not everyone is so eager to talk about it.

What’s your favorite AI song?

01/17/2026

YouTube says it will soon stop providing data to Billboard for inclusion in the US charts, ending a partnership that has lasted more than a decade. The decision, announced today (December 17) by Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, comes just one day after Billboard revealed changes to its chart methodology that will actually narrow the weighting gap between paid and ad-supported streams. Under Billboard’s current formula for the Billboard 200, one album ‘unit’ equals 1,250 paid/subscription streams or 3,750 ad-supported streams — a 1:3 ratio. Billboard’s new methodology, announced yesterday (December 16), tightens that ratio to 1:2.5, with one album unit now equalling 1,000 paid streams or 2,500 ad-supported streams. (The same ratio change is being applied to the Hot 100.) In other words: paid streams will still be weighted more favorably than ad-supported plays, but by a smaller margin than before.

Paid streams will still be weighted more favorably than ad-supported plays on Billboard’s chartd, but by a smaller margin than before.

01/16/2026

A formidable presence on the progressive country scene, Ely was born in Amarillo, TX before relocating to Lubbock in his teenage years. Forming The Flatlanders in the early `70’s with Jimmie Dale Gilmour and Butch Hancock, the trio fused their respective interests in Country, folk and rock ’n’ roll to forge a distinctive sound that bucked convention and inspired countless artists in the following decades. After The Flatlanders initially broke up in 1973, Ely launched a prolific solo career, frequently performing and collaborating with artists from other genres, including Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Tupelo, Irish folk ensemble The Chieftans, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Guy Clark, and The Clash. Ely received a GRAMMY in 1998 for his contributions to Los Super Seven, a supergroup of musicians whose debut eponymous album won the GRAMMY Award for Best Mexican/Mexican American album. That same year, Ely reunited with The Flatlanders, later contributing music to director Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer. The reunion saw the band releasing further music and earning induction into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2016. Ely continued to make music through the end of his life. His most recent album, Love and Freedom, was his 29th solo record, which was released this past February.

BMI was saddened to learn of the passing of renowne

01/15/2026

Billboard is making changes to how it weighs streams in its album and singles charts, and the new method will give more influence to free/ad-supported streams. It will also weigh streamed music more when calculating album sales. According to a notice on the Billboard website, starting on January 17 (for charts for the week of January 2-8), Billboard will count a smaller number of streams as being equivalent to an album sale. Currently, one “album consumption unit” is equal to one sale of an album, or 10 sales of songs from an album, or 1,250 paid/subscription streams of songs from an album, or 3,750 free/ad-supported streams of songs from an album. As of January 17, 2026, it will take only 2,500 free/ad-supported streams or 1,000 paid/subscription streams to equal one album sale. In effect, this will mean it will take 33.3% fewer free/ad-supported streams to equal an album sale, and 20% fewer paid/subscription streams to equal and album sale. While it’s hard to forecast exactly how this will affect the relative standing of artists on the charts, one thing is clear: It will mean Billboard will be counting a higher number of album equivalent sales.

Billboard is making changes to how it weighs streams in its album and singles charts, and the new method will give more influence to free/ad-supported streams. It will also weigh streamed music more…

01/14/2026

The biggest concern about the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years is that it will take human jobs. Well, unfortunately, that is already happening, with a wide range of businesses already admitting that the technology is replacing employees. Estimates vary, but experts converge on a transformative window of 10 to 30 years for AI to reshape most jobs. A McKinsey report projects that by 2030, 30% of current U.S. jobs could be automated, with 60% significantly altered by AI tools. Goldman Sachs predicts up that to 50% of jobs could be fully automated by 2045, driven by generative AI and robotics. Goldman Sachs previously estimated that 300 million jobs , over 100 million in the U.S. alone.