All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.
Sirius XM has agreed to pay $210 million to settle a lawsuit centered on royalties for recordings made before 1972. The settlement covers about 80% of oldies played by Sirius, and allows the satellite radio company to play those labels’ old recordings through the end of 2017. Continue Reading
Sirius XM was on a big losing streak in its series of lawsuits filed by Flo & Eddie, the company representing members of The Turtles. Flo & Eddie has sued Sirius XM in three states for its public performance of the band’s songs recorded prior to 1972 when federal copyright law took effect. While the suits in New York and California have been favoring the case made by Flo & Eddie, Sirius XM just got a win in Florida. Continue Reading
We recently reported that Taylor Swift’s latest album would not be available through Apple Music. Yesterday, Swift published a Tumblr post explaining why. She questioned Apple’s decision to not pay any royalties to artists, songwriters, or producers for song plays during listeners’ three-month free trials. “These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much,” she said. Continue Reading
In the second step of a three-point plan to reinvent its service and re-imagine what an electronica listening platform can be, Digitally Imported (DI.fm) today launched on-demand listening. We spoke to founder and CEO Ari Shohat. q Continue Reading
Attorneys from Universal Music Group have responded to an investigation that the label colluded with other leading music companies to push out free, ad-supported tiers from streaming services. In a letter responding to a subpoena, UMG denied having any agreements with Sony Music, Warner Music Group, or Apple to “impede the availability of third-party free or ad-supported music streaming services.” Continue Reading
Pandora is now legally free to acquire KXMZ, a South Dakota radio station. the FCC has ruled against a petition to deny Pandora’s application, saying that ASCAP failed to establish its case. Continue Reading
Paul Resnikoff of Digital Music News has uploaded a copy of the agreement SoundCloud is allegedly negotiating with the National Music Publishers Association. The two-year deal offers advances of about $350,000 to the participating publishers. In exchange, SoundCloud would get a license allowing its creator partners to monetize and promote their uploads. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) rate-setting process, currently in the trial phase, did not conclude on Friday as originally scheduled. Instead, broadcast law attorney David Oxenford tols RAIN News, the proceeding will continue for three days this week. Click through for the new schedule. Continue Reading
U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez has approved class action status for Flo & Eddie’s lawsuit against Sirius XM. The new class action certification means that other artists whose music was recorded before the advent of federal copyright law can join the lawsuit to seek damages. Sirius XM had argued that it would be difficult to calculate damages for the different artists joining the suit, but was unable to convince the judge. Continue Reading
Yesterday, we briefly reported on the contract between Sony and Spotify that was leaked online earlier in the week. We learned today that the International Music Managers Forum used the contract lead as a catalyst for an open letter to the European Commission in an effort to demand more transparency in digital deals. Continue Reading
Electronica producer Madeon has been using Twitter this week to jab a sharp stick into his label’s side, over a reported Soundcloud takedown action. The tweet protest illustrates how rights-holder decisions about streaming access to music can conflict with artist values, especially in the EDM category. Continue Reading
Robert Ashcroft, CEO of PRS for Music, spoke about the concerns for UK publishers and songwriters at the performing rights organization’s annual general meeting. His critiques were focused on online platforms that thrive on user-generated content, such as YouTube and SoundCloud. Ashcroft said those services have been unfairly benefiting from safe harbor laws. Continue Reading