All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.
Mixcloud announced that it will use Gracenote for music recognition. Applying Gracenote MusicID will help Mixcloud to make accurate royalty payments to rights holders on mixes and DJ sets. After Gracenote’s technology identifies a song, Mixcloud adds it to its database of artist, label and publisher rights holders. Continue Reading
YouTube has signed a new licensing deal with Universal Music Group. UMG did say that the deal would lead to “growing compensation” for its artists, but neither company has disclosed details. “We’re thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Universal Music Group,” YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said. Continue Reading
BMI announced that a Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled in its favor, meaning the preforming rights organization will be able to continue its use of fractional licensing. That’s a big win for BMI, although understanding why requires some review of legal proceedings and details from the past 18 months. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board recently made its ruling for royalty rates to be paid by Sirius XM in 2018-2022. David Oxenford lays out the known details of the determination along with some important notes about the appeal for the webcasting rates set for 2016. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board judges have set the new royalty rates and terms for Sirius XM. The company will pay 15.5% of gross revenues for the period of January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2022. That’s a 40% increase from the 11% share Sirius XM has been paying for royalties. Continue Reading
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) announced that five new House representatives have signed onto the Local Radio Freedom Act (LRFA), making a majority of support. LRFA is a non-binding resolution against any new performance royalty imposed on U.S. radio stations. At issue is broadcast radio’s historic exemption from paying artists and labels for playing music recordings over the air. Continue Reading
Several tech companies have pitched the European Commission to request limits on behavior from Apple and Amazon that they claim are anti-competitive. Spotify CEO and Co-founder Daniel Ek and Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht both signed the letter to EU regulators asking for “a level playing field” that prevents some tech giants from “regularly abusing their advantaged position.” Continue Reading
YouTube has returned hundreds of music videos to its service in Finland, ending a temporary block on the content. The tech company stopped showing content represented by Finnish collection society Teosto starting November 30 after the two parties were unable to secure a new licensing agreement. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board has issued its cost of living adjustments for royalty rates in 2018. The new rate for ad-supported, non-subscription music streaming services in 2018 is $0.0018. Paid subscription services will pay $0.0023 per performance. The previous rates were $0.0017 for ad-supported and $0.0022 for subscription. Continue Reading
Warner Music Group has signed a licensing deal to bring its catalog to Mdundo, a streaming service in Africa. The company offers both streaming and downloads, although the Warner library will only be available to stream. Mdundo has both ad-supported and paid streaming options. Continue Reading
Music Business Worldwide is reporting that two of the major labels have started legal proceedings against TuneIn UK around possible breach of copyright. Sources told the publication that the suit alleges the UK branch of the online audio company had at least 800 unlicensed music streams in that market. Continue Reading
A new coalition called Digital Music Europe will bring together several streaming music platforms and other digital music companies to represent their interests in the EU government. Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht will be the group’s president and Spotify Director of EU Regulatory Affairs Olivia Regnier will be the chairman. Continue Reading