Verified this week: Spotify's 306M subs, AI suits, U2 tour (Oct. 16-23, 2026)

By Burner Page · Oct 24, 2026 · 12:25 AM ET

Spotify reported 306 million paying subscribers on Oct. 22, 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court left a major songwriter win standing on Oct. 19, and Reservoir filed new AI copyright suits against Suno and Anthropic on Oct. 21. Here are the six biggest confirmed music business stories from Oct. 16 to Oct. 23, 2026, each tied to a filing, an official announcement or named reporting.

What we know

Spotify hits 306 million subscribers in Q3

Spotify posted third-quarter results on Oct. 22. Premium subscribers reached 306 million after 6 million net adds, 1 million above Spotify's own guidance, and monthly users hit 788 million, per Music Business Worldwide. Revenue rose 16% year over year to €4.97 billion ($5.57 billion), and the stock was up about 9% the same day, according to Digital Music News. If Spotify hits its Q4 guidance, MBW calculates 2026 operating income of €2.862 billion, the highest in company history.

Supreme Court leaves worldwide termination-rights ruling in place

On Oct. 19, the Supreme Court left standing a Fifth Circuit decision that songwriter Cyril Vetter reclaimed worldwide rights to "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," CelebrityAccess reported, citing Reuters. The challenge came from publishing arms of BMG, Sony, UMG and Warner. Four justices did not take part, leaving the court short of the six needed for a quorum, so no national rule was set. CelebrityAccess notes the result could push other songwriters and heirs to revisit old publishing deals.

Reservoir sues Suno and Anthropic

Reservoir sued Suno on Oct. 21 in federal court in Northern California, alleging the AI music company trained on 1,050 of its compositions, including "Both Sides Now" and "Ring of Fire." The complaint is case 3:26-cv-12305. A separate suit filed the same day alleges Anthropic copied lyrics to 853 Reservoir songs to train its Claude models, per MBW. The damages pleaded come to just over $186 million against Suno and just over $151.4 million against Anthropic.

Spotify says 50 million "slop and spam" tracks are out of its recommendations

In a one-year progress update reported by Hypebot via CelebrityAccess, Spotify said it has pulled more than 50 million tracks from recommendations this year, on top of removing over 75 million tracks in the past year. It is also labeling profiles as "AI Persona" or "Likely AI Persona" and showing opt-in AI credits. Spotify's stated aim: "make Spotify the place" listeners find human artistry.

Feds sue ticket broker REPS under the BOTS Act

The Justice Department, on referral from the FTC, sued broker REPS & Company and three executives in federal court in Southern California, CelebrityAccess reported on Oct. 19. The complaint alleges REPS spent more than $1.3 billion on more than 18.5 million tickets since 2022 and made at least $120.8 million reselling them. One example: 7,624 tickets bought with 1,300 accounts for a single Beyoncé Renaissance show in Kansas City.

U2 announce a 2027 stadium tour

Live Nation announced U2's Carnaval De Luz presents: The Greatest Show On Earth world tour, published by CelebrityAccess on Oct. 19. It opens Feb. 23, 2027, in Mexico City with Beck supporting, then hits São Paulo and Buenos Aires, behind the band's upcoming 16th album, Carnaval De Luz. These are U2's first stadium dates since Dec. 15, 2019.

Context

AI is the thread running through this week. Reservoir's Suno suit lands after UMG and Sony filed a second case against Suno on Sept. 18, and its Anthropic suit joins earlier publisher cases from Concord, UMPG, ABKCO, BMG, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell, MBW notes. Meanwhile Warner settled with Suno in November 2025, and BMG and Believe have licensing deals with it.

The termination fight is about who owns old songs abroad. Publishers argued worldwide termination would upend decades of industry practice and threaten deals worth billions. The Court set no national rule, but Vetter's win stands.

What's unconfirmed

• The FTC and Reservoir claims are allegations; no court has ruled on them. None of the reports we reviewed included responses from REPS, Suno or Anthropic.
• We did not review Spotify's own AI update post; the 50 million and 75 million figures come from Hypebot's report of it.
• U2's Europe and North America dates have not been announced. Live Nation says they are coming "in the coming weeks."