All about copyright, understanding music licensing, and government regulations.
In November, New York judge Colleen McMahon ruled against Sirius XM’s request for summary dismissal of a lawsuit filed by The Turtles that seeks $100 million in royalties from the satellite radio company. This week, she reaffirmed that ruling, rejecting Sirius XM’s arguments that Flo & Eddie did not own copyrights for recordings by The Turtles made before Feb. 15, 1972, which are not protected by federal law. Continue Reading
RAIN is pleased to present 43 predictions from 21 thought-leading guest futurists: Continue Reading
ReelRadio has obtained pro bono legal assistance in its argument with the RIAA. ReelRadio streams vintage radio airchecks, some of which include music, and the RIAA says the site is out of complicance. The law firm of King & Spalding has agreed to partner with the ReelRadio and handle the case. Continue Reading
Pandora has entered the ring to defend itself against the lawsuit filed by the Turtles, which seeks royalty payments for songs dating to before 1972. The online radio company filed a response in California, claiming that the lawsuit infringes its freedom of speech and asking that the court block the band’s demands. Continue Reading
The Electronic Frontier Foundation will have a hearing today with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to argue its case for invalidating key claims of patents that Personal Audio has used to sue podcasters. The group’s legal counsel says that Personal Audio didn’t invent anything new or non-obvious related to podcasting, and thus should not have a patent. Continue Reading
John LoFrumento has announced his retirement as CEO of ASCAP., Billboard reported. He will depart the the performing rights organization as of Jan. 1 after 17 years at the helm. Most recently, his company has been involved in the discussions about collective licensing and digital rights. Continue Reading
Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV, has added his voice to the criticism of rates paid to music publishers for streaming. “We at Sony/ATV want these digital music services to be successful because they are a great way for music fans to listen to music and have the potential to generate significant new revenues for everyone,” he said. “However, this success should not come at the expense of songwriters whose songs are essential for these services to exist and thrive.” Continue Reading
Warner Music Group posted its financial report for the year ending Sept. 30, and the results included some impressive figures related to streaming. The company’s revenue rose 5.2% to $3.02 billion, it’s highest number since 2009. That total was bolstered by an increase of $150 million in revenue from streaming music. Continue Reading
In the latest move to bring order to the legal wild west of its video landscape, YouTube has added extra information to the YouTube Audio Library. This database now gives information about what happens when you upload a particular song to accompany your video. This means you can check whether the song might be deleted by the rights holder or if restrictions apply before uploading the audio clip. Continue Reading
Sirius XM has agreed to a settlement of $3.8 million following claims that it engaged in misleading advertising and billing practices. The complaint was brought by 45 state consumer protection agencies that argued Sirius customers were having issues canceling their contracts. The agencies claimed that the satellite radio company offered extra incentives to staff members who retained customers who wanted to end their subscriptions. Continue Reading
The push and pull between one of the world’s biggest audio publishers, Pandora, and one of its most important content providers, BMI (which represents a large catalog of music on behalf of composers and publishers), logged a new mile-marker last week. At issue is whether Pandora owns a “license-in-effect” to use BMI music. Continue Reading
After a flurry of letter-writing, efforts to reach a negotiation between SoundExchange and VerStandig Broadcasting have broken down. On Oct. 24, Judge Michael Urbanski gave the parties a month to resolve the issue on their own before the court stepped in to make a ruling. Continue Reading