The New York Times Has Spent $10.8M In Its Legal Battle With OpenAI So Far

The newspaper company said it spent $10.8 million on costs associated with generative artificial intelligence litigation in 2024, according to its quarterly earnings filing on Wednesday. The Times, buoyed by its 11 million-plus paid subscribers to its newspaper and suite of products, is one of the few journalistic entities that can afford to engage in yearslong litigation with Big Tech.

Source: The New York Times Has Spent $10.8M In Its Legal Battle With OpenAI So Far

Third of New York Times subscribers do not pay for its news product

In its full-year results for 2024 The New York Times Company reported ending the year with 10.8 million digital subscribers — an increase of 1.1 million compared with the end of 2023. Of those 10.8 million subscribers, 3.5 million (or 32%) subscribed only to either its Games, Cooking, Wirecutter, Audio or The Athletic products.

Source: Third of New York Times subscribers do not pay for its news product

YouTube Q4 Ad Sales Hit Record $10.5 Billion

YouTube, the internet’s biggest streaming video platform, delivered a healthy 13.8% increase in global ad revenue for the year-end 2024 quarter to surpass $10 billion for the first time. YouTube’s record Q4 ad sales of $10.473 billion topped Wall Street analysts’ consensus estimate of $10.23 billion. That’s just one piece of YouTube’s business, not including subscription revenue from services like YouTube TV or YouTube Premium

Source: YouTube Q4 Ad Sales Hit Record $10.5 Billion, Parent Alphabet Projects $75 Billion in 2025 Capex Spending Amid AI Arms Race

Spotify slams the NMPA’s takedown action: ‘This is a press stunt.’

Responding to the announcement on Tuesday, a Spotify spokesperson slammed the NMPA’s takedown action, calling the move “a weak reaction” to the court’s dismissal of the MLC’s ‘bundling’ lawsuit against Spotify last week. “The fact that the NMPA waited months, despite multiple written requests by Spotify for details, which they never bothered to answer, to report these episodes only further emphasizes that this is a press stunt.”

Source: Spotify slams the NMPA’s takedown action over alleged unlicensed songs in podcasts: ‘This is a press stunt.’

Warner Music Group and Audiomack Expand Licensing Deal

Warner Music Group (WMG) and music streaming and discovery platform Audiomack have announced an expanded licensing agreement covering 47 additional countries. In this expanded deal, newly added regions include the UK, France, Italy, Germany, the Caribbean, Mexico, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The partnership, which was Audiomack’s first with a major label, began in 2019.

Source: Warner Music Group and Audiomack Expand Licensing Deal

Bain’s Advice for Hollywood This Year: Own IP or Own Nothing

What kind of deals do entertainment and media giants need in the age of technology giants? It is a question that Hollywood management teams and Wall Street are constantly discussing and assessing. Management consulting firm Bain & Co., in a new research report, shares this guidance: “Own the consumer, own the intellectual property (IP), or own nothing.” In other words to compete in “a world of tech mega-platforms,” players will need “more cross-sector M&A and deals for IP.”

Source: Bain’s Advice for Hollywood This Year: Own IP or Own Nothing

Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen

The world’s major publishers claim that unlicensed libraries cast a permanent shadow over authors’ ability to make a living from their work. Those same shadows also make it more difficult to predict whether today’s investments in publishing content will pay off, or find themselves copied at will and distributed for free on the world’s most popular shadow libraries.

Source: Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen * TorrentFreak

Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations

Just hours after Spotify announced its first-ever annual net profit, the National Music Publishers’ Association has launched an ongoing takedown initiative against the streaming giant for the unlicensed use of music in podcasts on its platform. Beginning today (Feb. 4), notices will be sent to remove thousands of unlicensed uses of NMPA members’ works, according to the announcement. Over 2,500 detections of infringement are included in the initial takedown notices.

Source: Music Publishers Begin ‘Extensive’ Spotify Podcast Takedowns Over Licensing Violations

Spotify Hits First Full-Year Profit, Adds 35M Users

The audio giant reported 675 million monthly active users, the largest fourth-quarter increase in Spotify’s history, as the company reported momentum from “strong holiday and Wrapped campaigns.” Paid subscribers grew 11 percent year over year to 63 million, up from 252 million last quarter and 3 million above guidance. Both came in above Spotify’s guidance.

Source: Spotify Hits First Full-Year Profit, Adds 35M Users

Sora Heralds a New Form of Filmmaking—But At What Cost?

Sora Selects has arrayed 10 artists and artist teams who have used the artificial intelligence video generator to create short films that showcase the tool’s creative possibilities. OpenAI, the company behind the model, has invested $3 million into the initiative, with its team spending the past 10 months fostering a relationship with these artists.

Source: Sora Heralds a New Form of Filmmaking—But At What Cost?

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