BMG announced they will be rolling back at least some aspects of what’s called “controlled compositions” clauses in (presumably) their record deals. This is good, and is another example of how BMG is setting the gold standard for courageously defending their writers. Don’t forget, BMG sued Cox Communications for failing to maintain a repeat infringer […]
Google’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of two Federal Circuit decisions in Oracle’s favor is turning into the most consequential copyright case of the court’s term — if not the decade. The appeal turns in part on whether the Supreme Court will uphold the Federal Circuit’s definition of fair use for creators and reject Google’s dubious assertion of “industrial strength” fair use.
Remember when Spotify bought Joe Rogan’s podcast and signed him to deliver futures? Big money, big press release. Big chuckles in some quarters, why? Welcome to the world of artist relations, Mr. Ek. Here’s a suggestion. When you sign an artist who you know is controversial going in, expect…you know…controversy. Is that really so hard […]
I was pleased to moderate a panel on TikTok’s situation for the Music Business Association with an all-star panel of experts. You can access our voluminous panel materials here including the panelists biographies. The following is my opening statement followed by the panel outline with some page number cross references to the panel materials. Opening […]
The new head of the Copyright Office is Shira Perlmutter. Shira was already a very accomplished copyright lawyer when I first met her at the Fordham international copyright gathering in 1999. She gave a very polite but rapier-like takedown of one Andrew Bridges who was being very…well…Andrew Bridges about something. (A role that works for […]
[This post first appeared on MusicTech.Solutions] There is a long line of copyright infringement cases that demonstrate how hard it is to right a situation that starts out wrong. In addition to TikTok’s copyright problems which it is frantically trying to buy its way out of, TikTok also has a problem with how it treats […]
At some point in the coming days, there will be an announcement for the new head of the U.S. Copyright Office. I fully expect that everyone will have their litmus test for whether the new person (called the “Register” for historical reasons that have probably outlived their usefulness) should be appointed. The fact is that […]
[Editor Charlie sez: Here’s an excerpt from the important joint comment by the Songwriters Guild and the Society of Composers & Lyricists to the Copyright Office about how to address the previously secret deals between digital music services and publishers (called the “Negotiated Agreements”. Read the full comment here.].] With potentially hundreds of millions of dollars […]
When you look at the ask on damages in the lawsuits against services like Spotify, it’s typical to see certain types of damages listed. One I have never seen is what we’ve long discussed on MTP: non-display uses of recordings, lyrics and artist names. After all, as The Economist tells us “The world’s most […]
