Heilemann on Walz, Putin’s Hostage Spin Room, Hollywood’s Existential Fears

Welcome back to The Daily Courant, your afternoon roundup of Puck’s best new reporting.

First up today, Eriq Gardner breaks down a pair of gnarly music industry lawsuits brought by the biggest record labels against two Silicon Valley-backed A.I. music startups—cases that are poised to set new precedents across creative industries. Will the high-stakes legal battle be remembered as a power play, or a devastating blow to the labels’ own assets and relevance to artists?

Plus, below the fold: Marion Maneker chats with billionaire bond king Jeffrey Gundlach about his art investment thesis. Julia Ioffe chronicles the Kremlin’s surreal spin on last week’s hostage exchange. And on Impolitic, John Heilemann is joined by MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace for a fascinating meta analysis of the media’s coverage of Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, before teasing out the political math behind Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz as her running mate.

ERIQ GARDNER

A pair of well-capitalized A.I. music startups have found themselves in the middle of a gnarly lawsuit against the industry’s biggest labels in a case that may set precedents across numerous creative industries. These suits will either be remembered as a power play, or a devastating blow to their own assets and their relevance to artists.

MARION MANEKER

Jeffrey Gundlach climbed a mountain of art collecting that culminated in acquiring the Mondrian of his dreams. But after he bagged his last trophy, he turned to museum building. A look at the billionaire bond king’s art investment thesis, his views on the market, and why he’s reviving the museum that launched his collecting journey.

JULIA IOFFE

While the Americans released by Russia in last week’s prisoner swap celebrated their emancipation, the Kremlin set about carefully spinning the exchange as confirmation of their captives’ guilt, while also celebrating a political coup of their own.

JOHN HEILEMANN

John is joined by Nicolle Wallace, former aide to George W. Bush and John McCain, to discuss Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz as her running mate and its potential impact on the election. The two friends talk about the secrecy and mystery surrounding every veepstakes, and why Wallace says that the aftermath of Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance was the hardest story she’s ever had to cover as an MSNBC anchor.