London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios has appointed Grammy and BRIT Award-winning producer, songwriter, and musician Thomas Hull, AKA Kid Harpoon, as its first-ever Producer in Residence.

The newly created position forms part of Abbey Road’s broader strategy to “build a true home for music creativity and innovation,” the studio said in a statement, extending a legacy that now spans 94 years.

The role follows the appointment of Jordan Rakei as the studios’ Artist in Residence over the past 18 months. As Producer in Residence, Harpoon will have full access to Abbey Road’s recording spaces, instruments, and technology — including vintage gear, microphones, and the studio’s evolving suite of music tech tools such as Audiomovers. He will also advise Abbey Road on its ongoing innovation initiatives.

A key aspect of the role includes involvement in Abbey Road Amplify, the studio’s free education program for emerging artists and producers. This year, Amplify expands to Manchester for the first time, with sessions scheduled from November 19–21 at Aviva Studios and the new adidas/Abbey Road studio at Co-op Live, following London events from November 3–8.

Iconic Artists Group, the company led by music industry veteran Irving Azoff, has reportedly acquired Frank Sinatra’s name, image and likeness rights.

Bloomberg reported the news on Sunday (October 12) and said that Azoff plans to create a Rat Pack-themed venue in Las Vegas.

Speaking at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference last week, Azoff confirmed that the company “recently acquired a chunk of the Sinatra estate.”

He added: “We [now] have all the Rat Pack. We have Dean Martin. We’re very diverse. We have Cher.”

Frank Sinatra Enterprises confirmed the deal in a statement sent to MBW: “Frank Sinatra Enterprises, Tina Sinatra, and Warner Music Group are delighted to welcome Irving Azoff and Iconic to the dedicated team serving the life’s work and legacy of Frank Sinatra.” The Sinatra deal represents another significant move by Azoff’s company in the heritage artist space and follows a series of major acquisitions by Iconic over the past several years.

In February 2021, the company acquired a controlling stake in the Beach Boys’ intellectual property, including the band’s sound recordings, brand, select musical compositions, and memorabilia, in what Bloomberg reported at the time was valued between $100 million to $200 million.

Azoff said at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference last week that “The Beach Boys’ [revenues] are up over double since [IAG] got involved with them”.

Netflix will start streaming video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer in early 2026.

The two companies announced their new partnership on Tuesday (October 14), three months after reports emerged of partnership discussions between the streaming platforms.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July, citing people close to the conversations, that Netflix and Spotify held talks about collaborating on music-focused projects such as a music awards show, a live concert series, celebrity interviews, as well as documentary projects with shorter turnarounds to remain relevant. The two companies have now announced that the partnership will initially launch in the US in early 2026 before expanding to more markets. Netflix subscribers will gain access to sports, culture, lifestyle and true crime video podcasts that currently stream on Spotify’s platform

Lyrics and music data company Musixmatch says it has signed AI licensing deals with the publishing arms of all three major music companies.

The deals with Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music give Musixmatch access to catalogs of over 15 million musical works, with which the company plans to develop new analytical tools and “non-generative AI services.”

“The deals establish Musixmatch as the first company to partner with three top music publishers and comprehensively commit to building new ethically trained services and revenue streams using authorized catalogs,” Musixmatch said in a statement on Wednesday (October 15).

According to a report at Billboard, the licensing deals are being done on a trial basis, and the music publishers will be compensated for the use of the catalogs.

Spotify plans to develop “responsible” AI music products in partnership with all three major music companies – Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group – as well as indie music representative Merlin and independent music company Believe.

The company stated that it is “making significant investments in AI research and product development” and has already begun building a “state-of-the-art” generative AI research lab and product team.

Spotify announced the partnerships and plans to develop “artist-first AI music products” on Thursday (October 16). It said that it aims to onboard additional rightsholders and distributors over time.

The announcement arrives just over two weeks after Spotify unveiled a suite of new policies for managing AI-generated content on its service as part of a crackdown that resulted in the deletion of 75 million “spammy” tracks from its platform over the past year.

Create Music Group-owned digital content studio Flighthouse Media sees an opportunity in bringing sports media to Gen Z fans, and to make it happen, it’s launching a new brand: Fieldhouse.

Fieldhouse is “a sports-first, chaos-powered content brand built for the next generation of fans,” the company said in a statement on Monday (July 28).

What, exactly, does that mean? For one thing, it means content like “gamified debates” and hot takes designed to “spark rivalries, ignite group chats, and keep fans engaged beyond the game.”

In other words, it’s ESPN for the TikTok generation.