Daily — August 5, 2026

Spotify signs Merlin and extends its AI cover and remix licensing to independent catalogs, Prime Video becomes the first streaming service to support the next HDR standard on Samsung TVs, and RESCENE fans build a site that turns watch time into fandom rank.

• [Music Business Worldwide] Spotify Extends AI Cover and Remix Licensing to Independent Music ↗

  Spotify signed a deal with Merlin, the global licensing body for independent labels, widening the catalog fans can draw on for generative-AI covers and remixes. Participating artists choose whether their recordings are included and get paid when fans build something from them. The feature will ship as a paid add-on for Premium subscribers. With Merlin joining after UMG on behalf of roughly 30,000 labels, AI music transformation moves from a few major-label experiments to an actual platform product.

• [Samsung Newsroom] Samsung and Prime Video Launch 'HDR10+ ADVANCED' Streaming ↗

  Prime Video became the first global streaming service to support HDR10+ ADVANCED, the next-generation video standard, on Samsung's 2026 TVs. Per-scene metadata and AI tone mapping adjust brightness and shadow detail, and motion handling changes depending on whether the title is a film or a sports broadcast. A streaming platform and a TV maker passing picture and motion data back and forth per title has now reached a commercial service.

• [Official Site] RESCENE Fan Platform 'Bwajuma Club' Turns Watch Time Into Fandom Rank ↗

  A non-profit site built by RESCENE fans automatically collects and indexes more than 13,000 official videos and fan works scattered across YouTube, making them searchable and sortable. It logs each member's watch time and completion, feeding into tiers, regional chapters, and both monthly and cumulative leaderboards, and it adds bookmarks, a message board, and fan image sharing. It stores no video itself and links out to the YouTube player, which makes it a standalone fandom service that quantifies fan activity.