14 Questions for the Music Business in 2026: AI, Live Nation, Spotify, UMG-Downtown & More

As 2025 comes to a close, it’s time to take stock and reflect, but also to begin turning our collective attention to what comes next. In 2026, a number of long-simmering situations in the music business may finally come to a head, including multiple long-running lawsuits, pending technological changes, major acquisitions and negotiations that have dragged on and are nearing a conclusion.

If 2025 was the year that artificial intelligence came to the forefront both technologically and culturally, 2026 will be the year that it truly makes a monumental impact on the music business — whether through the songwriting process, the determination of legal frameworks around copyright or establishing the role that AI-assisted artists will play in the industry.

Arms of various governments will also begin to weigh in and decide significant issues, including the Department of Justice’s antitrust probe into Live Nation, Congress’ investigation of the operations of several newer performance rights organizations and the European Commission’s assessment of Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown. Other topics are only growing in importance as the calendar flips over: the Phono V hearings, the idea of sustainability in touring and at venues, the long-running battle over bundling between Spotify and the MLC, Daniel Ek’s transition to executive chairman at the streaming service, the possibility that U.S. copyright termination rights could extend globally, the role of politics in artists’ lives and much more.

So, as 2026 approaches, here are 14 questions for the music business that will be addressed and decided in the next year. — Dan Rys