Labels, AI, Poliltics & More

Spread the love

With the end of 2025 in sight, Billboard has been publishing roundups of the biggest stories of the year across multiple arenas. Now, in this central hub, you can find all of those stories in one place.

Since January, every sphere of the business has been subject to a whirlwind of major developments. At record labels, the biggest story came with the majors’ lawsuits against AI music platforms Suno and Udio in June — followed by settlements between several of those parties in the fall. In related news, a small handful of AI-assisted artists gained traction, most notably Xania Monet, who signed a multi-million-dollar record deal with Hallwood Media in September while landing on multiple Billboard charts.

On the live music front, Live Nation continued fighting the antitrust case brought by the Department of Justice and also faced a new challenge with a second lawsuit from another government agency, the Federal Trade Commission, over Ticketmaster’s resale policies. Speaking of live music, multiple indie festivals and at least one major festival (Lollapalooza) forged ahead with Earth-friendly initiatives, among other sustainability projects that were launched and continued across the industry over the past year.

On the political front, the beginning of the second Trump term also brought with it a fresh round of stories highlighting the often fraught relationship between the administration and the music business, from the impact of tariffs on merch and musical instruments manufacturers to deportations faced by non-citizen musicians amid the Trump regime’s harsh immigration policies. In music law, a slew of AI legislation dominated headlines — though the Sean “Diddy” Combs trial took up its share of the oxygen in a blockbuster court showdown that ended with the hip-hop mogul escaping the most consequential charges lodged against him.

The year also saw its share of massive deals — albeit less massive than last year — including big asset-backed securities (ABS) deals for Concord and Harbourview and Taylor Swift‘s purchase of her Big Machine masters for a cool $360 million.

Stay tuned for more roundups running down the biggest developments in publishing, AI and the exploding country music genre, as well as a look-ahead at 2026. You can find links to the year-end content we’ve published so far below, with placeholders for the remainder.