July 2026

You see a run-of-the-mill music business acquisition story, I see an opportunity to provide a speedy recap on how the collective licensing of song rights is organised in Anglo-American markets. And who wouldn’t want to capitalise on that opportunity? Here’s the article.

I quite like the idea of this website, which will tell you if you’re likely to end being involved as an audience member in any one Edinburgh Fringe show. Here’s a little report on it. Though it won’t prevent me, as a reviewer, being forced into the front row with a crowd work comedian creating the possibility of this awkward conversation: “what do you do for a living?” – “I’m a journalist” – “what do you write about” – “well, at the moment whether or not you’re any good as a comedian”. Though that only happened once last year.

So, should AI-generated works be protected by copyright? That debate is happening in various forums around the world, including this interesting case in the Canadian courts in which the music publishers have just intervened. Read my CMU report on that here. No AI was involved in writing this post, by the way, just good old fashioned human ‘creativity’, so it’s definitely protected by copyright.

I used the Lioness Line for the first time yesterday and here’s what I learned. Lesson one: when the sign on the Euston concourse says WAIT, it might mean wait FOREVER, as the train I was aiming for arrived and departed without a platform number ever being announced while we all stood WAITING on the concourse. Lesson two: Ignore the sign, go to platform nine.

One final reminder just before the schools break up for the summer, we’re presenting an edition of our Educator Pathways Weekend in October – it’s our free in-person professional development programme from Pathways Into Music open to anyone involved in music education across the UK. If you or anyone you know is interested in applying for a place, do fill in the application form ASAP – info here.

Yes, it’s that time of year when Caro starts recommending Edinburgh Festival shows in handy sets of three. Which can only mean the Edinburgh Festival is now very close indeed (so close in fact, I’ve even got round to booking my travel). You can read Caro’s first Three To See recommendations on the ThreeWeeks website here.

Among the Bonnie Tyler tributes in my feeds this week was a mention of this rather marvellous Telstar compilation, which I’ve been listening to this morning. And yes, it does come with a criminally short 4 minutes 45 seconds radio edit of ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, but other than that, it’s a very fine record.

First trip to Parliament this year that didn’t involve standing in a massive long queue to get in. Has the Burnham effect already made things more efficient? It certainly hasn’t made it more air-conned. Anyway, I was in Parliament today for the Creative UK Summer Reception, where it launched a creative industries ‘advocacy toolkit’ and ERA unveiled its Manifesto For Cultural High Streets.

Here’s another random Edinburgh photo from my iPhone, jazzed up with some equally random AI – though it’s a slightly less predictable view this time I think. I’ll be in Edinburgh this time next month reviewing shows at the Fringe – and if you or anyone you know is also interested in reviewing shows for ThreeWeeks this August, then there is still time to apply to join our review team, info here.

We have lots of exciting Pathways Into Music projects in the pipeline, so I’m on my way to Brighton for a day of Pathways planning with Phil. And maybe a little gossiping. And maybe a chippy lunch. But, alas, due to some District Line shenanigans, I’m departing from London Bridge rather than Blackfriars. So no platform view of the Thames, just a big old Shard.