Episode 25: September 2026 Headlines (PATREON PREVIEW)

Earlier this month, Suno unveiled its new "v6" model, advertising it as the first product created with material licensed from Warner, BMG and Believe. But it also says the model is trained on the "creations" of its users, opening up new conversations in the gen-AI licensing discourse. If a so-called legal model is trained on user "creations" that were in-turn made using an old, unlicensed model, what is materially different? We get into all of the above, as well as Suno's claims that its "v6-wild" mode can help make user generations more "wild" and "weird". What does that say about the state of popular gen-AI music apps?

For our second headline we're looking at a new "artist incubator program" Spotify announced tied to its Fresh Finds playlist, wherein 10,000 artists will get comp access to AI-assisted music platforms such as Splice, LANDR and (checks notes) Better Help. What is an artist incubator program to a streaming service? Why might the world's biggest streaming service be trying this out now? All this and more in the September edition of Headlines, our subscriber-bonus series where Max and Liz each bring a story from across the music-tech and biz press to summarize, contextualize and discuss. If you ever want to hear these convos but can't swing the 5 bucks a month, send an email, no questions asked, to criticallisteningpod@gmail.om and we'll send it your way. But if you can afford it, consider becoming a subscriber here on Patreon to support our efforts to keep having critical conversation about music, technology and culture industry hell. Thanks for listening.