Originally posted on The Trichordist:
Details are still slim, but it looks like a victory for artists and rightsholders. Court agrees ISPs are supposed to have real policy for disconnecting repeat infringers. Cox basically had a “fake” cutoff policy and lost DMCA protections. Fox is now liable for user’s infringement. Law360, Washington (December 17, 2015,…
MTP had a chance to catch up to Blake Morgan and David Lowery for an interview about the CRB rates announced yesterday. This is the first of the two posts with Blake Morgan, read David Lowery’s interview here. MTP: How do you feel about the CRB decision in general as far as rates go? While […]
We’ll have more on the quirky CRB decision shortly, but let’s get something out of the way about the reporting. Even the so-called business press doesn’t seem to be able to look past one item on Pandora’s financials: royalties. (Or as Pandora defines it, “content acquisition costs).) If you read any–and I mean any–of the […]
As we wait to see what the federal government decides we are worth, take a look at an excellent op-ed from the Bloomberg editorial board entitled “Deregulate the Music Industry.” In 1941, after major radio stations refused to pay the fees that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers was charging to broadcast its […]
Remember when Pandora used to complain about how royalty costs were over half their revenue? Let’s take a look at their income statement for the last 12 months (“trailing twelve months” or “ttm”) from Yahoo! Finance: “Total Revenue” of $1,100,000,000. Because as Sean Parker will tell you, you know what’s really cool? A billion dollars. […]
Pandora and Spotify (among others) have made a big deal out of providing “data” and “analytics” about streaming uses to artists–and particularly managers–about how the artist is performing on their respective services. The “artist data” meme is also offered up as a value add to counter complaints of low royalties. There is a real question […]
In honor of the Chairman’s 100th birthday anniversary, indulge me in a thought experiment. Imagine, if you will, that Daniel Ek had a conversation with Frank Sinatra about freemium. You see, Frank…may I call you Frank? Most people call me Mr. Sinatra. Particularly people who are trying to get my business. Oh…OK Mr. Sinatra…I know you’re […]
[Editor Charlie sez: It’s the end of 2015 and it’s time to look over the good news that came during the year. For those MTP readers who missed the interview with Karoline Kramer-Gould, the heroic Music Director at tastemaker college radio station WJCU, here’s the reprint from Chris’s blog on Huffington Post. If you already saw […]
Here’s another interesting Bit Torrent federal appellate case from Iowa (8th Circuit) Killer Joe Nevada v. Leaverton. The California-based plaintiff (Killer Joe Nevada, LLC) appears to be a “collapsable” LLC organized to produce the movie “Killer Joe”. The producers apparently fell victim to what fellow indie producer Ellen Seidler referred to as “DMCA hell” and went […]
Several record companies have settled a lawsuit against both an app named “Aurous” (the “Popcorn Time” of recorded music) and the app’s developer Andrew Samson. MTP readers will remember the Silicon Valley technique of “marketing by lawsuit”–this program requires investors and developers backing a technology they know to be infringing and then praying to get […]
