All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.
Apple has received a patent for technology that censors bad language in music being streamed online. The tech company filed for the patent, titled “Management, Replacement and Removal of Explicit Lyrics during Audio Playback,” in September 2014. Continue Reading
Sony Music is suing the former leaders of Rdio, claiming that the now-defunct streaming service cut it out of millions in its handling of bankruptcy and its sale negotiations with Pandora. Rdio’s former CEO Anthony Bay, General Counsel Elliott Peters, and Senior Vice President of Content Licensing Jim Rondinelli were named as defendants in the claims of misrepresentation and fraudulent behavior. Continue Reading
Intellectual property attorney Angus MacDonald was the first to calculate that Pandora paid more than half of all SoundExchange collections of royalties to record labels. In this column, he calculates a higher percentage for 2015, noting that the growth of SoundExchange royalty collections is tied closely to Pandora, and that the pace is slowing. Continue Reading
The music industry is taking a stand against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, with more than 100 artists and managers petitioning the U.S. Copyright Office to change the current safe harbor laws. The industry has submitted three letters to the office – one from music managers, one from creators, and one from artists and songwriters – explaining their concerns with the existing interpretation of the regulation and calling for change. Continue Reading
Jay-Z is preparing to take legal action against the original owners of the Tidal streaming service. He alleged that Aspiro’s major shareholders exaggerated how many subscribers Tidal had when his business operation took over. He’s looking to reclaim roughly 100 million Norwegian krone (~$15 million). Continue Reading
Despite all the hoops it jumped through to get it, Pandora may sell its terrestrial radio station. A filing made to the FCC at the start of the week stated that Pandora is reevaluating whether it wants to continue being a broadcaster. Continue Reading
The National Music Publishers Association has signed an agreement with Spotify centered on songwriting royalties. The arrangement allows publishers to claim and receive royalties for certain compositions on the streaming platform where ownership details were not previously known. It also establishes a compensation fund and a path for finding rights holders who should receive royalties. Continue Reading
David Lowery has expanded his legal action against the streaming world over songwriter royalties to include Rhapsody. Over the weekend, Lowery’s legal team and fellow plaintiffs filed a proposed class action against Rhapsody in Northern California’s District Court. Continue Reading
Yesh Music and John Emanuele have expanded their class-action lawsuit over unpaid royalty claims, adding Google Play Music to the growing roster of defendants. As with the suits against Tidal and Slacker Radio, the plaintiffs claim that they did not receive correctly executed notices of intent from Google about streaming their creations. Continue Reading
Sony music labels have filed a lawsuit in a California federal court. The suit complains that Radionomy has not paid appropriate licensing royalties for use of music recordings since late 2014. Three labels are participating in the filing: Sony Music Entertainment, LaFace Records, and Arista Records. Continue Reading
More details have emerged about the royalty lawsuit filed against Tidal. First the streaming platform issued a statement about the legal action, and noted that it has removed all music from the plaintiffs. Second, Tidal confirmed that it has fired two of its C-suite leaders. Continue Reading
Tidal has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over royalty issues. In an ironic twist for the artist-owned company, plaintiffs claim that they did not receive correct notices of intent from the streaming platform and did not get accurate royalty payments for their music that was played on Tidal. Continue Reading