Co-writing with your producer, friends, band mates or [other] professional songwriters is a good thing. But remember–you’re creating a piece of property when you write a song (or record a master for that matter, but that will be the subject of another post). This time that property is intellectual property. Like any other form of […]

(A version of this article first appeared in Music Connection Dec. 2003.  Information in this article may be out of date do not rely on it.  Check with SoundExchange at http://www.soundexchange.com) When a record is played on “terrestrial” broadcast radio in the United States (i.e., over the air), who makes money? Since a radio broadcast is […]

You may have read in the news about a lawsuit against XM Radio regarding its “Inno” player. The issues in the lawsuit are of a pretty technical nature, but worth knowing about. XM’s woes just seem to multiply (see WSJ: XM Loss Widens and User Outlook is Lowered Again “Sirius Satellite Radio, Inc., the company’s […]

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) is threatening to sue Yahoo! (NasdaqGS: YHOO) for its Chinese web service. Welcome to the global copyright wars. We are now about to see what truly strange bedfollows Lawrence Lessig has engaged. Most of the copyright infringement in places like China is not done by the college […]