All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.
A district court has ruled that remastered songs are not necessarily subject to the same copyright laws as the originals. This development could have a big impact on the ongoing wave of litigation centered on music recorded prior to the adoption of federal copyright laws in 1972. Continue Reading
Spotify has signed a deal with Dubset Media Holdings that will bring more mixes onto the streaming platform. Dubset’s MixBank technology can be used to identify copyrighted music in a user-generated song, which means the appropriate labels and publishers can clear the samples used in a mix. Continue Reading
The British Phonographic Industry is no stranger to the siege against YouTube, but it has launched another volley against the video platform. In its Music Market 2016 report, the BPI highlighted the revenue disparities delivered by subscription streaming and album sales, and by ad-supported freemium services. Continue Reading
Webcaster host StreamLicensing runs a business model that pays label royalties on behalf of its member stations, funding the business with advertising target to combined audiences. But when that royalty cost dramatically escalated for U.S. webcasting in January, owner Marvin Glass sold to Stardome Media Group and warned the new owners that success would be an uphill climb. We spoke with a Stardome exec about the way forward. Continue Reading
Spotify has hired Francis Keeling as its new vice president, global head of licensing, effective June 1. Keeling joins the streaming service after a 14-year tenure at Universal Music Group. “Francis is one of the very best in the business,” said Stefan Blom, Spotify’s chief content officer. Continue Reading
ASCAP, one of the major performing rights organizations (PROs) representing songwriters, publishers, and composers, has reached the end of an investigation by the Department of Justice, settling matters for $1.75-million, while admitting no wrongdoing. It traces back to the Pandora rate-setting case. Continue Reading
Increasingly vocal critics of YouTube have a heroic new champion, not new to the cause, but willing to dramatically escalate its rhetoric. Five-time Grammy-winner Maria Schneider, who has testified before Congress on “safe harbor” issues that affect musicians, released two blazingly critical documents. Together they comprise the harshest and most articulate indictment of an anti-YouTube stance taken by an increasing number of music rights-holders. Continue Reading
A coalition of performers staged an event dubbed Fair Play Fair Pay Day, gathering at Capitol Hill in support of proposed legislation that would charge royalty fees for sound recordings played on terrestrial radio. T-Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, and more than 40 other artists participated in the press conference. Speakers addressed both the topic of payment for radio airplay and safe harbors in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Continue Reading
The lawsuit filed by David Lowery against Spotify has gotten a new wrinkle today. Lowery’s legal team has filed a request to see all the correspondence sent by the streaming service to potential participants in the class action suit related to Spotify’s recent settlement with the National Music Publishers Association. Continue Reading
Another voice joined the debate over YouTube, this time from the EU government. Andrus Ansip, former prime minister of Estonia and current vice president for the digital single market on the European Commission, said YouTube’s lower payments made to the music industry give it an unfair advantage over services that focus on subscriptions. Continue Reading
With the recent wave of music industry organizations worldwide releasing their data for 2015, two distinct trends have emerged. One of them is a growing dissatisfaction with the flow of money through ad-supported streaming services. Some reports just imply frustration, while others have centered on YouTube as the symbolic scapegoat for their anger about the amount of revenue generated by that type of media platform. Continue Reading
After some early rumblings of label licensing drama for YouTube, the video platform has successfully inked a deal with at least one publisher. The company has expanded its licensing agreement with Downtown Music Publishing to include performance rights for streaming its tracks in the U.S. Continue Reading