Artists sue Suno! Soft rock! Virtual snarky record-shop clerks! A 16-year old 'song of the summer'! And... chicken ice cream?

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. As ever, Stu and Joe take a closer look at this week's music industry news, including:

→ TikTok’s ‘Song of the Summer’ this year is by HOT NEW BREAKING artist, erm, Katy Perry, and her 16-year old song ‘The One That Got Away’. So what is a summertime hit nowadays anyway?

→ Yes, yes, another lawsuit against AI-music firm Suno – but this one has a twist: it’s from musicians, rather than labels or publishers… and these artists won't back down easily.

→ Meanwhile, another artist, Mary J. Blige, was (we think) very supportive of Suno, but now (we think) she very much isn't. Or is she? It's complicated...

→ Sonos, the popular connected-speakers firm, is getting into AI agents. And apparently that means a you can have a virtual snarky record-shop clerk as your AI song-picking pal (or anything else you'd like).

→ India has had *how many* music streams in the first half of 2026? (It's a lot, as you'd imagine).

→ Joe doesn't know who Captain & Tennille are, but they got the biggest spike in Spotify streams from Grand Theft Auto IV’s big reveal – but there’s one caveat to their 130,730% boost…

→ Joe also doesn't know who Young Roddo is –but he's the first artist to film a music video entirely within Roblox. (Young Roddo is nine years old).

→ The New York Yankees stadium hosts concerts and now you can eat ice cream that looks like fried chicken while you watch the show. Are we entering a new phase of stadium gig snacking?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠⁠Patreon Superfans⁠⁠, Stu and Joe prop themselves up at the bar – in this week's bonus material:

→ What are the best-ever "songs of the summer", and are they even important now, anyway?

→ Who or what would your ideal "AI agents" be for music recommendations (and why not, Joe and Stu, wonder, just switch on the radio and listen to a human DJ?)

→ A conversation about snacks and music venues turns into a speculative series of suggestions for food that could be served at an Oasis show

→ And then, we regret to inform you, that it then turns into a too-much-information chat about using toilets at music festivals, and novel festival toilet strategies.

→And finally... Superfan Ian issues a Very Important Correction to Joe's misremembered Blue Peter time capsule story.

===================================

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

See you next week!

Stuart and Joe

======

TPOM online: ⁠http://tpom.uk/⁠

Support The Price of Music on Patreon:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ThePriceofMusic⁠⁠⁠

Follow Stuart on X - @stuartdredge

Follow The Price of Music on X - @PriceofMusicpod

For sponsorship opportunities, please email - ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠