Week of November 8–14, 2026
Welcome to The Unlimited Brief, the weekly roundup of music industry news and fresh finds from Indie Music Discovery, on Unlimited Sounds Radio. We start with new releases from Unlimited Sounds, including a debut from a new artist on our roster, Sparrow, in collaboration with DJ Loot, and a salute to our veterans. Then the business: Nvidia’s CEO resigns in the middle of a spy scandal, two more lawsuits hit Suno while Nvidia fights a subpoena in the first, and Live Nation posts a more than ten billion dollar quarter.
Missed last week? Read the Nov 1–7 edition.
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Indie Discoveries
From Indie Music Discovery, part of the Unlimited Sounds family.
Articles coming from Indie Music Discovery.com have been slowing down for the holidays, but that doesn’t mean we stopped curating playlists and adding new music to Unlimited Sounds Radio. With the holidays coming fast, we’ll start spinning the good ole Christmas music any day now. Call me old fashioned, but I’m one of those people that prefers to save the snowy music until after Thanksgiving.
New releases from Unlimited Sounds include All Gas No Brakes by SJM and Taxsin, which dropped last Friday, Nov 6th. This week saw the debut release of a new artist to our roster, Sparrow, with their single “Foreground.” This is an electronic collaboration with Sacramento and Bay Area pillar, DJ Loot. Releases in the pipeline include more singles from SJM and a new album by Cleen and K-Waz. All my Hip Hop heads will want to stream and save that one.
And since we observed Veteran’s Day in the U.S. this week, a major salute to our brothers and sisters who have served and continue to serve. My ancestors served in WWII, I’m surrounded by close friends and extended family who are veterans, so from the bottom of my heart, I salute each and every one of you. I intentionally avoid discussing politics or religion unless you share my DNA or are in my innermost circle, but I take national security and the military seriously. We’ve got a big story this week that proves just that.
Thanks for tuning in to The Unlimited Brief and supporting Indie Music Discovery.com.
Fine Print: Rights, Law and Policy
Nvidia is in the middle of the Suno case
The subpoena. Nvidia’s venture arm, NVentures, filed a motion on Tuesday asking the court to cancel UMG and Sony’s deposition subpoena, or at least limit the questioning. It calls itself a “passive minority investor.” NVentures took part in Suno’s funding round last November, which raised $250 million at a valuation of $2.45 billion. Nvidia itself filed a separate motion the same day to quash a different subpoena. The labels wanted testimony on 13 topics, and they’ve dropped or narrowed three, leaving ten in dispute. Those include what NVentures knew about Suno’s training data, its due diligence, and its analysis of licensing costs. NVentures says it has already handed over more than 6,300 documents, about 28,000 pages. The labels’ responses are due November 24. These are one side’s arguments, and no ruling has been reported (Music Business Worldwide).
The discovery conference. Also on Tuesday, the labels and Suno spent about 80 minutes in a discovery conference, and this is where it gets interesting for artists. Suno’s lawyers raised the question of whether UMG and Sony even have the rights to license their catalogs for AI training. Suno’s counsel said artist agreements “don’t anticipate AI,” so the majors have to interpret those contracts to decide whether the works can go in a training dataset. The labels pushed back, saying there’s been “no determination that has been affirmatively made” that they lack those rights. No rulings came out of it. The parties reported progress on some of the data disputes, a joint report is due in about a week, and UMG and Sony are expected to disclose which of the works in the case have already been licensed to AI platforms. Suno is also preparing to hand over its agreements with Believe and BMG, though not the negotiation documents (Digital Music News).
Two more AI suits against Suno
Reservoir. On Wednesday, the publisher amended its copyright lawsuits against both Suno and Anthropic, in federal court in Northern California. The combined song count rose from 1,903 to 2,511. Reservoir is seeking up to $150,000 per work for willful infringement, and the pleaded damages now total about $446 million, up from about $338 million in October. Reservoir alleges that Suno’s outputs copy its songs, and says it has 34 examples, including one it links to Evanescence’s “Bring Me to Life.” It also alleges that Suno removed its lyric search feature to make it harder for rights holders to find infringing outputs. Against Anthropic, Reservoir alleges that Claude declines to reproduce lyrics but “has no problem creating derivative works based upon those copyrighted lyrics.” Those are allegations. Anthropic said in October that it disagrees and will defend the case vigorously, and Suno hasn’t responded to this case (Music Business Worldwide).
Elvis Presley Enterprises. EPE, along with a group of song owners, sued Suno on Friday, November 6, in the same Northern California court. It’s the first test of Tennessee’s ELVIS Act against an AI music generator. The suit seeks just over $202 million. The ELVIS Act claim argues that Suno’s technology’s “primary purpose or function” is producing Presley’s identifiable voice. The complaint points to Suno Pro users saving a voice and reusing it, including one saved as “Elvis.” It also brings federal claims over copyright, circumventing access controls on streaming and lyrics platforms, and removing songwriter credits. Suno hasn’t responded to the complaint. A spokesperson told The Verge that Suno “exists to help people create new, original music, not to trade on anyone’s name or likeness,” and that it blocks prompts naming specific artists and songs (Music Business Worldwide).
Nvidia’s CEO resigns: a national security story
On Thursday, Nvidia announced that Jensen Huang has resigned, effective immediately, as president, CEO and board member. CFO Colette Kress is interim CEO while keeping her CFO role, and the company plans a broader search for a permanent successor. Board member Harvey Jones becomes the company’s first board chair. Nvidia’s stock fell about 11 percent at the open. Huang hasn’t commented publicly, and The New York Times reports he’s hired attorneys from Paul Weiss (Forbes; TechCrunch).
How we got here. On October 29, The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had flagged Huang’s close relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at a company called Megaspeed. U.S. officials reportedly believe she works on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security. That is a reported belief. No charges have been announced, and China calls it a smear campaign. On Sunday, Huang admitted in a company letter to being unfaithful to his wife. He didn’t name anyone. Other relationships have been reported, but Nvidia and the people named haven’t confirmed them.
Why it’s a national security story, not just gossip. Megaspeed is under investigation in both the U.S. and Singapore over whether it helped route restricted Nvidia chips to China. Reports say it bought about $4.8 billion of Nvidia chips over two years, and The Information reports a web of related companies buying chips on its behalf. Megaspeed says it takes export control compliance “extremely seriously.” The Justice Department has reportedly taken over the federal probe, according to The New York Times, and Trump says the FBI is looking into it. The worry is access and influence. The most advanced AI chips are the engine of the U.S.–China race to build AI, and export controls are the guardrail. Huang has lobbied Washington to loosen those limits, and in January the administration approved sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China. If a company’s top executive had a close relationship with someone U.S. intelligence suspects of working for Beijing, lawmakers want to know what that person might have learned, and whether chips ended up where they weren’t supposed to go.
Washington’s response. Three House committee chairs asked Huang for a closed-door briefing last week, and one of them said a subpoena was likely if he declined. Huang has now confirmed he’ll testify before Congress before Thanksgiving, closed-door, and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast says he expects it to be recorded and transcribed. No date has been set. On Thursday, Senator Tim Scott asked Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify before the Senate Banking Committee, and it hasn’t been reported whether either has agreed. Congressional Democrats have also opened their own investigation into how the administration handled Nvidia’s China chip sales, and Senator Elizabeth Warren said the resignation “does not absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole” of responsibility for national security risks. Nvidia says it has “no reason to believe” national security or company secrets were compromised, and its board’s independent investigation hasn’t reported findings. Those questions are still open. Trump called Huang “a fine person” on Sunday and said he should stay on, before the resignation. For the markets, one analyst predicts Nvidia could lose 25 to 30 percent of its value because of the ouster. That’s one analyst’s opinion.
This week’s Fine Print links in one place:
- NVentures asks court to block UMG and Sony’s subpoena (Music Business Worldwide)
- UMG v. Suno discovery dispute (Digital Music News)
- Reservoir expands its suits against Suno and Anthropic (Music Business Worldwide)
- Elvis Presley Enterprises puts the ELVIS Act to the test (Music Business Worldwide)
- Jensen Huang ousted: timeline of the Nvidia scandal (Forbes)
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with alleged Chinese spy: a timeline (TechCrunch)
Royalty Check: Following the Money
Live Nation’s third quarter topped $10 billion
Revenue was $10.1 billion, up 19 percent from $8.5 billion a year ago. Operating income was $892 million, up 13 percent, and adjusted operating income was $1.18 billion, up 14 percent. Concerts brought in $8.75 billion, up 20 percent. Ticketing was $870 million, up 9 percent, and sponsorship and advertising was $506 million, up 14 percent. About 61 million fans attended in the quarter, up 19 percent, and international attendance grew 29 percent, faster than North America at 13 percent. Net income came in at $448 million. Live Nation expects nearly 180 million fans this year. There’s a cost, though. For the first nine months, operating income is down 25 percent to $1.04 billion because of a $450 million charge for government investigations and litigation. That’s tied to the antitrust fight: in April a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and Ticketmaster illegally monopolized markets, including primary concert ticketing at major venues (Music Business Worldwide).
And the company keeps building. Live Nation just broke ground on a 6,200-capacity amphitheater on Cleveland’s riverfront, with Bedrock and Rock Entertainment Group, set to open by summer 2028. Its partners call it the first large music venue built in Cleveland in more than 20 years (Digital Music News).
DistroKid is getting into publishing
DistroKid announced DistroKid Publishing on Wednesday, an administration service for independent songwriters powered by Kobalt. There’s a one-time $75 setup fee, and songwriters keep 80 percent of the publishing royalties collected, with no long-term commitment. It collects mechanical and performance royalties, paid into the user’s DistroKid Bank account. To qualify, you need at least one DistroKid release and more than $50 in streaming revenue over the past 12 months, and only original songs count. Covers, remixes, mash-ups and fully AI-generated tracks are excluded. The first payment typically arrives six to nine months after publishing earnings pass $10, then quarterly. For independent writers, it’s worth comparing that 80 percent against what you’d get from a traditional administrator, and finding out what’s included (Music Business Worldwide).
Diplo has a new publishing company
Bison Music launched Wednesday, co-founded by Diplo and former Downtown Music Holdings CEO Andrew Bergman, who’s the CEO. Tom Lee is COO, Juba Lee is chief creative officer, and Jenny Ilibassi is general manager. Bison says it is not buying catalogs. It plans to sign writers early, develop them, and give them “a real stake in what they create,” with funding, global administration and data behind them. The initial roster includes Picard Bros., Leclair, Maesic, Nitti, Kaien Cruz, BomboCat, Akira Evans and Groupthink, with more signings promised in the coming months. No funding, backers or deal terms have been disclosed (Music Business Worldwide).
Garth Brooks is buying a radio station
Brooks’s company, Sevens Network, is acquiring Nashville’s independent Lightning 100 FM position to launch “The New FM 100,” which he calls “the voice of Music City,” with country from the ’60s to today, local news, and severe weather alerts. Digital Music News reports the price at about $3 million, but other reports say the price wasn’t disclosed, and the deal needs FCC approval. Lightning 100 isn’t going away: Cromwell Media is picking up the Lightning brand, which moves to a nearby frequency, 106.3 FM, and HD radio on 102.9 (Barrett Media).
Quick Hits
- Coachella 2027: Dua Lipa, Tame Impala and SZA headline Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Daddy Yankee as a fourth headliner. Madonna is billed in the dance tent, and Phoebe Bridgers, Don Toliver, Robyn, Justice and Steve Lacy are on the bill. It’s two weekends, April 9 to 11 and April 16 to 18. New passes go on sale Friday, November 13, at noon Pacific: $779 for general admission with shuttle, and VIP starts at $1,349. YouTube remains the livestream partner, with its deal extended through 2030 (Digital Music News).
- Debbie Gibson: She has signed with Downtown Music Publishing. The deal covers administration of her current catalog and TV and film sync representation, and Downtown will also handle her previously unrepresented material. It follows her holiday album Winterlicious D’Luxe, and she has a December run of shows in Las Vegas (Digital Music News).
- EU Digital Fairness Act: The European Commission has proposed rules that would require ticket sellers to disclose how many tickets remain and at what price, including for fans waiting in virtual queues, give the Commission direct power to investigate and fine, and require non-EU platforms to appoint an EU representative. The European ticketing alliance FEAT is cautiously supportive but says enforcement gaps have to close for any of it to work. No adoption timeline has been reported (Digital Music News).
On This Day in Music History
- November 8, 1971: Led Zeppelin releases their untitled fourth album. It’s the one with “Stairway to Heaven.” The band left the title and even the band name off the cover, which let the music do the talking. That feels relevant in a week about who owns what and who gets credit.
- November 9, 1967: The first issue of Rolling Stone hits newsstands. John Lennon was on the cover. Founded as a San Francisco music paper, it spent the next half-century shaping how the world covered music.
- November 10, 2001: Apple’s iPod goes on sale. That was 25 years ago this week. It helped teach a generation to carry a whole library in a pocket, and set off the digital music business whose rules we’re still arguing about in court today.
The Unlimited Brief is a weekly production of Unlimited Sounds Radio. Indie Music Discovery is part of the Unlimited Sounds family.
Sources: Music Business Worldwide, Digital Music News, Forbes, TechCrunch, Barrett Media, Indie Music Discovery.
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