2025 was one hell of a challenging year, so much so that by early January the city of Los Angeles was literally on fire. Luckily, the music community stepped in to help, establishing FireAid benefit concerts with the purpose of raising money for non-profits targeting those affected by the fires’ devastating destruction. These events were star-studded affairs, featuring big names like Billie Eilish, Green Day, No Doubt, Lady Gaga, Red Hot Chili Peppers and more. Beyond the rubble and rebuilding, a truly unfortunate number of talented musicians were lost this year including Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson and the irreplaceable Ozzy Osbourne to name a few. The music community has also been forced to grapple with some big questions regarding the scope of the use of AI in music and whether or not it should have a place in the industry as well as advocacy, protest and justice in relation to streaming services like Spotify in our evolving sociopolitical landscape. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2025, it’s that together we are stronger and music has often been a great unifier in that process. With that, let’s get into the biggest music news stories of 2025.
5. Brian Wilson’s Passing
It is truly astounding how many talented artists were lost in 2025. One of the most vibrant was 82 year old Beach Boys co-founder and principal songwriter Brian Wilson. Wilson passed away on June 11 due to respiratory arrest with sepsis and bladder infection being listed as contributing factors in his death. After his wife Melinda Ledbetter passed away in early 2024, Wilson was placed under a conservatorship due to the progression of a neurocognitive disorder which left him unable to independently care for himself. In contrast, Wilson was the musical genius behind the Beach Boys, beloved for their numerous classics including “Surfin’ U.S.A,” “I Get Around” and “God Only Knows,” not to mention their fan favorite opus, 1966’s Pet Sounds. With Wilson’s help, the band charted on the Billboard 200, landed numerous top 40 hits and were even inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1988. Wilson was nominated for 9 Grammys and eventually won a pair of golden gramophones himself, one for Best Historical Album for the deluxe box set The Smile Sessions and Best Rock Instrumental Performance for “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow.” His pioneering contributions to mid-20th century music history cannot be overstated; the Beach Boys, after all, were heralded as “America’s answer to the Beatles,” per Associated Press. Wilson’s passing prompted an innumerable outpouring of tributes from all around the music industry including Paul McCartney, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mick Fleetwood and many more. In recent years, Wilson had collaborated with the likes of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Kesha and Glen Campbell on new music cementing his reach regardless of genre boundaries.
4. AI In Music
Artificial intelligence leaves perhaps the biggest question mark on 2025 and that’s not just regarding the music industry but the world at large. What are its limitations? Will it replace or accompany? Is that what we want? Regardless, AI in music has become a hot topic recently with several AI-generated tracks appearing on Billboard’s digital song sales charts and AI-generated artists racking up hundreds of thousands of monthly listeners and in some cases, millions of streams. Of course, there are multiple layers to these two examples, take Xania Monet in case. Xania Monet was created by Telisha Nikki Jones who says she uses AI-generated music platforms to transform her poetry into songs. Billboard reported that Monet is the first AI-based artist to debut on one of their radio charts after accumulating a sizable amount of airplay. The Velvet Sundown, a self-described “synthetic music project guided by human creative direction” as noted in their Spotify artist bio, is another example of an AI-led artist making waves this year. As of publishing time, their track “Dust On The Wind” has amassed over 3.9 million streams on Spotify.
Streaming platforms themselves are also seeing an influx of AI-generated music being uploaded with Spotify claiming they have removed 75 million “spammy” songs from its service while Deezer has reported that 28 percent of all music uploaded to the platform daily is fully AI-generated. Some platforms have developed tools to help distinguish AI-generated music from human-made creations including Coda Music which has introduced feature that seeks to detect and label music made with generative artificial intelligence tools. On the copyright side of the issue there has been a big shift; in 2024, the three major labels, Sony, Warner and Universal Music Group, filed copyright infringement lawsuits against AI-music generators Suno and Udio over claims that they allegedly trained their models on copyrighted material. However, this fall, several record labels announced that they have formed partnerships with these AI-music generators, inking licensing deals with them to move towards an opt-in system for recording artists which would reportedly allow them to “retain full control” of their intellectual property and determine how it is used. Only time will tell what these new developments in AI-generated music will bring in the coming years.
3. Artists Leave Spotify Due To ICE Ads & AI Investment
Many a headline has been written regarding Spotify this year whether it be about their refusal to remove Immigration and Customs Enforcement advertisements from their platform or CEO Daniel Ek’s investment in the AI military company Helsing. Several artists have had their music removed from the streaming service over the recent appearance of Department of Homeland Security advertisements seeking to recruit new ICE agents. Artists also moved their catalogs off the platform due to CEO Daniel Ek’s continued financial support of Helsing. Back in 2021, his firm Prima Materials invested upwards of $100 million in the company. In June, CNBC reported that Ek is now chairman of Helsing. According to Rolling Stone, Ek’s Prima Materials has since raised $700 million for Helsing and the company is now expanding its drone, aircraft and submarine manufacturing. In late September, Ek announced his intent to step down as CEO of Spotify, instead taking on the role of executive chairman while Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström take over as co-CEOs of the streaming service.
Massive Attack, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Sylvan Esso, Hotline TNT, The Mynabirds, Young Widows and more have all had their music pulled from Spotify. Many artists in their statements regarding their departure from Spotify referenced the platform’s royalty payout model which is known to pay less than one cent per stream. Massive Attack, for example, addressed this in their statement, writing, “The economic burden that has long been placed on artists is now compounded by a moral & ethical burden, whereby the hard-earned money of fans & the creative endeavors of musicians ultimately funds lethal, dystopian technologies.” Singer-songwriter Kadhja Bonet went a step further, adding, “It didn’t seem right to overlook the human rights violations Apple is accused of, Deezer’s owner actively squashing pro-Palestine protests, Google’s (YouTube’s) cooperation in surveillance and military drone technology, so for me it wasn’t enough to stop providing Spotify with my new music. I’m also not supplying new music to Apple, Deezer, Amazon or YouTube.”
2. Diddy Trial & Sentencing
Back in November 2023, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him which was settled day after filing. That was far from the end of it. Following Cassie’s case, numerous other allegations were reported against music mogul Combs. He was later arrested in September 2024 in New York City. Now, in 2025, the jury trial against Combs has since concluded and he is currently incarcerated in a federal New Jersey prison. The jury found Combs guilty of allegedly violating the Mann Act which prohibits the transportation of people across state lines with regards to prostitution. In October, Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced Combs to a little over 4 years in jail after the jury acquitted him of the prosecution’s additional charges of alleged sex trafficking and alleged racketeering. Those charges would have carried much lengthier sentences with up to 10 years each if the prosecution sought the maximum time frames. Instead, the trial concluded in July with the jury finding him guilty of two alleged counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. Since being sentenced, Combs’ attorneys have filed multiple appeals with the most recent instance being on Christmas Eve. Combs’ lawyers have accused Judge Subramanian of acting as a “thirteenth juror” during court proceedings, claiming that he allegedly based his sentencing decision on evidence from the acquitted charges. As such, they are requesting that Combs be released immediately or that Judge Subramanian reduce his sentence. Earlier this month, 50 Cent’s documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning premiered on Netflix leading a publicist for Combs to claim that the rights to the pre-arrest footage used in the series were “never transferred to Netflix or any third party.” Suffice it to say that despite the final verdict being read, the Diddy saga is still very much ongoing as Combs and his lawyers ponder his legacy.
1. Ozzy Osbourne’s Passing & Back To The Beginning Concert
2025 saw the death of the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. It is the one obituary heavy music fans always dreaded having to read one day but this year our fears became reality. Despite his battle with Parkinson’s Disease, he remained strong and enduring, continuing to record music until the very end; his last studio album, Patient Number 9, won a Grammy for Best Rock Album in 2023. In true Ozzy showmanship, he even held out just long enough to perform at the Back To The Beginning concert in Birmingham in honor of his time with heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath as well as his storied solo career. The event was truly monumental, the lineup filled to the brim with some of the biggest and brightest talent of the hard rock and metal scenes including The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, Tool’s Adam Jones and Danny Carey, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, Ghost’s Papa V Perpetua, Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, Blink-182’s Travis Barker and many more. Some notable moments included Tool’s cover of “Hand Of Doom,” Pantera’s cover of “Planet Caravan,” Lamb Of God’s cover of “Children Of The Grave,” Gojira’s cover of “Under The Sun” and Yungblud’s cover of “Changes.” Ozzy himself performed two different sets during the event with one paying tribute to his solo material and the other being the final set of the night which focused on Black Sabbath’s catalog. The final four songs the original quartet played together were “War Pigs,” “N.I.B,” “Iron Man” and “Paranoid.” On July 22, little over two weeks following the Back To The Beginning show, Ozzy passed away after suffering a heart attack. Sharon Osbourne later revealed that his last words were “kiss me” and “hold me tight.” Tributes to Ozzy reached far beyond the genre he helped pioneer, with Elton John, Duran Duran and Flavor Flav all paying their respects, solidifying the fact that he was not only a well known and well respected musician but an iconic human who will be sorely missed.
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