FEATURE
How Classical Music Can Boost Sports Performance
Classic FM: Lucy Hicks Beach
A growing body of research suggests classical music can offer measurable benefits to athletes: helping regulate nerves, boost balance, reduce perceived effort, and even foster team cohesion.
RESEARCH AND OPINION
How GenAI music is hacking the system – and getting paid
Music Ally: Virginie Berger
In 2025, “copyright laundering” isn’t happening in the shadows – it’s unfolding right in front of us. A growing ecosystem now exists to “humanise” generative AI music – just enough to evade detection – allowing synthetic songs to pass as original human works.
Why Some Musicians Are Leaving Spotify
Los Angeles Times: August Brown
“It didn’t take us long to decide as a band that if Daniel Ek is going harder on AI warfare, we should get off Spotify. It’s not even that big of a sacrifice in our case.”
Want To Understand Someone? Look At Their Spotify Playlists
The Walrus: Dhiriti Gupta
Spotify doesn’t function as a true social media app. You can’t share standalone pictures or posts, and you can’t message other users. But you can view other users’ public playlists, a live feed of what they’re listening to, as well as who they follow and who follows them.
The Intersection of Dance and Science (Book Review)
JSTOR Daily: Chava Pearl Lansky
“What links dance and the scientific disciplines?” This is the question with which Lynn Matluck Brooks opens Dance and Science in the Long Nineteenth Century: The Articulate Body.
String Players Worry As Their Favorite Wood For Bows Gets Protected Status
Bachtrack
The pernambuco tree grows only in small areas along Brazil’s Atlantic coast north of Rio de Janeiro state; the tree is endangered, and attempts to grow it on plantations have so far failed. As authorities consider increasing protective measures and restrictions on selling pernambuco wood, string players and luthiers are unsettled.
The Unknown Stokowski
The Wall Street Journal: Joseph Horowitz
No Leopold Stokowski could exist today, in the face of prying social media. Notwithstanding his glamorous marriage to Gloria Vanderbilt and an affair with Greta Garbo, he needed to be unknown.
Holographic Elvis Show For £300 In London? Fans Are Mixed
The Guardian
Reviews suggest they have dressed up some footage from Elvis’s 1968 comeback TV special and built a show around it (which includes visits to three separate themed bars selling expensive drinks).
Between Divisiveness & Understanding
Downbeat: Frank Alkyer
People and situations aren’t easily explained on social media. It’s easy to be provacative hiding behind a cell phone. It’s easy to cancel viewpoints you don’t agree with. It’s damned hard to have real conversations and come to mutual understanding in our very complex world.
Camila Meza’s Celebration of Women
Downbeat: Cree McCree
Camila Meza has been on a journey of self-discovery since the multifaceted vocalist, guitarist and composer first emerged from her hometown of Santiago, Chile, and migrated to New York to study at the New School of Jazz, where she quickly became a recognized force. Six years after the release of her critically acclaimed Ambar (Sony Masterworks), she returns with Portal (GroundUP Music), her first all-originals album and, by far, her most personal project to date.
NATIONAL
JSoM Alert! Finalists selected for the 2025 Barbash J.S. Bach Competition
The Strad
The finalists of the 2025 Lilian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition have been announced. One of them, Danqi Zeng, is a JSoM student! The annual competition is open to string players aged 16 to 30 and specializes in performing works by J.S. Bach for unaccompanied bowed stringed instruments.
Washington National Opera Director Francesca Zambello On Relations With Kennedy Center’s New Regime
Opera Now: Holly Baker
“The new management has not entered into our artistic planning. They support it and the same way they support the National Symphony …, and we are looking to them for more help in terms of fundraising and marketing.”
Anna Netrebko’s Lawsuit Against Metropolitan Opera Will Proceed
AP News
“A federal judge says Russian soprano Anna Netrebko can move forward with her case claiming national origin discrimination by the Metropolitan Opera, which dropped her after she refused to repudiate President Vladimir Putin over Russia’s campaign against Ukraine.”
Alan Valentine To Retire After 28 Years At Nashville Symphony
Music Row: Lorie Hollabaugh
Under Valentine’s direction, the Symphony has earned 14 Grammys and 27 nominations, produced more than 40 recordings, commissioned and premiered dozens of innovative works.
Minnesota Orchestra Names Hall for Major Donor
Musical America: Clive Paget
The Minnesota Orchestra has announced the renaming of its concert hall in honor of a major donor as well as the election of a new board chair and a slate of new board directors.
This Fall The Wanamaker Organ Will Be Heard Again, Thanks To Opera Philadelphia
Broad Street Review: Alaina Johns
The future of the world’s largest fully-functional musical instrument was in doubt when Macy’s vacated the Wanamaker space earlier this year. Now the building’s new owner is partnering with Opera Philadelphia for a four-month series featuring concerts, ballet, bearded ladies, horror movies, and, of course, the organ.
INTERNATIONAL
Creative Industries Slam EU AI Act Implementation as ‘Betrayal’
Music Business Worldwide: Mandy Dalugdug
A coalition of European creative industry groups representing millions of authors, performers, publishers, producers and other rightsholder organizations has slammed the European Commission’s implementation of AI Act provisions designed to protect intellectual property rights in the age of generative AI.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP & BUSINESS
Deezer Reports Flat Revenue of $305M in H1 as Total Subscribers Fall Further to 9.2M
Music Business Worldwide: Mandy Dalugdug
France-headquartered music streaming service Deezer has published its financial results for the six-month period ending June 30, 2025, reporting flat revenue performance as its total subscriber base continued to decline.
Are You Watching, Disney? Netflix’s ‘Kpop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Most‑Viewed Original Animated Film in Platform’s History
Music Business Worldwide: Mandy Dalugdug
Netflix‘s music-led anime movie, KPop Demon Hunters, has become the most-watched original animated film in the platform’s history, according to an announcement from the streaming giant.
TikTok’s ‘Add to Music App’ Feature Has Fueled ‘Billions’ of Streams. Now It’s Linked Up With YouTube Music.
Music Business Worldwide: Daniel Tencer
TikTok has been very busy lately expanding the platforms that are integrated with its ‘Add to Music App’ feature, which lets users save songs they found on TikTok to the music streaming service of their choice.
Live Nation Strikes $646 Million Deal to Increase Stake in Mexico’s Ocesa
Music Business Worldwide: Tim Ingham
Live Nation Entertainment is set to acquire an additional 24% stake in Mexican concert promoter OCESA, accelerating a purchase agreement.
OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL
Christina Aguilera Says This Iconic Line in One of Her 2002 Hits Was an Accident, but Her Producer Kept It
billboard: Hannah Dailey
Sometimes, the things that are unplanned are the most beautiful. Just ask Christina Aguilera, who revealed that one of her most iconic lines was never supposed to be included in her signature hit.
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