Indie music has been invaded by fake fans and cynical viral campaigns​. Here’s how deep it all goes

Companies such as Chaotic Good are confecting social media buzz to promote Geese, Oklou and other indie darlings. Industry insiders reveal how widespread the practice is – even if no-one is sure it actually works

‘It’ll be in my Guardian obituary’: David Balfe on inspiring Blur’s Country House and tripping on Top of the Pops

He was the burned-out bigwig who moved to a very big house. Now back with his first music for decades, he talks about signing the Proclaimers, being punched by Julian Cope – and his Scott Walker inspired trio

Universal Music, home to Taylor Swift and Drake, receives €55bn takeover offer

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square claims world’s biggest music company has suffered because of delay of US listing

US senators rebuke Ticketmaster for raising fees after hidden charge crackdown: ‘Bait and switch’

Richard Blumenthal says Ticketmaster acts like it has ‘get-out-of-jail-free card’ as records show company upping fees to avoid losses

US man pleads guilty to defrauding music streamers out of millions using AI

Michael Smith, 52, charged after flooding platforms with thousands of AI songs and boosting them with bots

The Taylor Swift effect: US vinyl sales top $1bn for the first time since 1983

Swift leads the 2025 vinyl charts with 1.6m sales of The Life of a Showgirl while Sabrina Carpenter and Kendrick Lamar round out the top three

Britney Spears sells rights to music catalog for undisclosed sum, say reports

Music publisher Primary Wave said to have bought rights to pop star’s music, including Toxic and Baby One More Time

Reshona Landfair on her life after R Kelly: ‘I had to rebuild my entire self’

She was just 14 when she was groomed by the R&B star, and filmed in an explicit video. She tells the extraordinary story of how she survived

‘Tickets have become status symbols’: from Harry Styles to Taylor Swift, why is live music bigger and more expensive than ever?

Styles is playing a record 12 nights at Wembley Stadium and 30 at Madison Square Garden, as demand for big artists soars – and audience expectation along with it

Beijing condemns Dalai Lama’s Grammy win as ‘anti-China political manipulation’

Buddhist spiritual leader wins best audiobook and says he sees win ‘as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility’

UK hospitality firms demand more help with business rates amid questions over Heathrow discount

Airports identified as biggest winners of government’s £4.3bn support package with Heathrow alone taking £900m discount

Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan on his lip-syncing downfall and Grammys comeback: ‘The truth will set you free’

Three decades after having his Grammy rescinded as part of the notorious duo, he is a nominee once more, for the audiobook of his unflinching memoir. ‘I had to tell my story,’ he says

‘It’s a hospitality-wide problem’: night-time traders react to business rates relief plan

Gyms, pharmacies, restaurants, cafes and convenience store owners question why only pubs and live music venues should get help in England

Wednesday briefing: ​Can we afford to be optimistic about grassroots music venues?

In today’s newsletter: ​M​usic spaces are welcoming bigger crowds again, ​b​ut the industry remain​s fragile as rising costs and shrinking local circuits threaten the next generation of talent

Is this man the future of music – or its executioner? AI evangelist Mikey Shulman says he’s making pop, not slop

Worth a staggering $2.45bn, Suno is an AI music company that can create a track with just a few prompts. Why is its CEO happy to see it called ‘the Ozempic of the music industry’?