Copyrights & Legal

All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.

SiriusXM wins appeal review from 2nd Circuit on pre-1972 copyright case

Posted on by Anna Washenko

SiriusXM and Flo & Eddie, the company representing 60s band the Turtles, have been playing legal ping pong over the copyright for songs that were recorded prior to 1972, the date when federal copyright law took effect. The latest salvo comes from the satellite radio company, which has successfully petitioned the 2nd Circuit court to receive a review of the decisions handed down in the New York case by Judge Colleen McMahon. Continue Reading →

Spotify adds four U.S. and at least two EU lobbying firms to its arsenal

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Spotify has four more lobbying firms now supporting its interests in Washington. The newly registered firms are focused on competition, licensing, and “platform neutrality,” sources told Politico. It also added at least two firms to provide similar services in the EU. It’s likely that this push for representation in D.C. stems from the number of big legal issues that intersect with Spotify’s core business and are currently in discussion on the Hill. Continue Reading →

IFPI chief says YouTube should lose its safe harbor

Posted on by Anna Washenko

During a press conference, IFPI CEO Frances Moore said that safe harbor protections that YouTube, Dailymotion, and similar free platforms receive mean that the music industry loses billions in potential income. “YouTube and Dailymotion are in the business of promoting, distributing and monetizing content, but claim to be mere hosting services, and then say they don’t have to take a full license,” she said. “That is unfair.” Continue Reading →

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Fair Play Fair Pay Act proposes new performance royalty rules for radio

Posted on by Anna Washenko

The congressional copyright melee has taken a new turn today as a bipartisan group of Representatives introduced new legislation aimed at revising and equalizing the royalties paid by terrestrial and online radio services. The Fair Play Fair Pay Act of 2015 includes, among other points, a move to have terrestrial radio stations pay royalties to performers in addition to the songwriters and publishers. Continue Reading →

U.S. Patent Office invalidates key claims of Personal Audio podcast patent

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Following a charge by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated the key elements of the patent that Personal Audio was using to demand license fees from podcasters. The EFF’s argument was that Personal Audio had not invented anything new, and that the technique should not have been patented because it would have been obvious to other developers. Continue Reading →

German collection society posts increased streaming revenue, but critiques royalty rates

Posted on by Anna Washenko

GEMA, a German collection society, announced that its 2014 global revenue was €893.6 million euros (about $950 million). Streaming revenue accounted for €44.8 million, up from €26.4 million in 2013, but GEMA came out with a strong statement against the current royalty split between rights holders, songwriters, and publishers. Continue Reading →

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How Misunderstandings about Big Numbers Distort the Debate over Songwriter Digital Music Royalties

Posted on by David Oxenford

by David Oxenford

Barely a day goes by without seeing some article about a songwriter whose song was played a million times on a digital music service like Pandora or Spotify, with the artist only receiving a relatively small amount of royalty revenue from that seemingly large number of plays. A number of issues are misunderstood — especially about big numbers. Continue Reading →

First hints drop of Justice Department’s consent decree decisions

Posted on by Anna Washenko

The Department of Justice has been engaged in a review of consent decrees for more than a year. These rules govern the blanket licenses that performing rights organizations negotiate on behalf of music publishers. Billboard has a piece on the changes the department is reported to be considering, according to its unnamed sources. Continue Reading →

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Another Banner Year for SoundExchange’s Collections, Thanks to Pandora

Posted on by Angus MacDonald

by Angus MacDonald

Intellectual property attorney Angus MacDonald examines the 2014 royalty collections by SoundExchange, and Pandora’s earnings reports, to determine that Pandora accounts for more than half of all SoundExchange revenues distributed to artists and labels. What does the future look like as the Copyright Royalty Board prepares a ruling of webcaster royalty rates for 2016-2020? Continue Reading →

More on SoundExchange/NPR webcast licensing deal: more reporting requirements

Posted on by Brad Hill

As we reported on March 17, SoundExchange and National Public Radio (NPR) reached an agreement for webcast music licensing in the 2016-2020 royalty period. NPR agreed to increase the number of stations providing detailed census reporting of the music they play in webcasts. We spoke to Rusty Hodge of SomaFM about whether those reports are difficult to produce. Continue Reading →