August, 2016

An unfortunately typical French initiative – Disruptive Competition Project

August 26, 2016By rightstech

eiffel-tower-paris-france_main Among intense weather considerations about the wettest spring on record for the past century and shock over Brexit, the French Parliament adopted at the end of June a little-noticed measure in the Freedom of Creation Act… with a very big potential impact: a new royalty for the indexing of images on the Internet in France.

It is still too early to understand the full impact of this measure. However, it is quite clear that “many online services and mobile apps, from search engines to creative commons models and Europeana” will be impacted, as stated by several digital associations, including CCIA. “Basic, everyday activities of online users such as posting, linking and embedding photos online, [will] be subject to a cloud of legal uncertainty”.

Source: An unfortunately typical French initiative (Plus Ca Change, Plus C’est la Même Chose) – Disruptive Competition Project

EU proposals could see news publishers paid by Google and Facebook

August 26, 2016By rightstech

News publishers would have stronger rights to demand payment from digital giants such as Google and Facebook in exchange for using their content, under proposed European rules that are designed to shore up the collapsing revenues of traditional media companies.

The measures are part of a series of reforms that the European commission plans to put out to consultation in September. They are designed to strengthen the rights of those who create and invest in original content, from authors and musicians to record labels, broadcasters and publishers.

Source: EU proposals could see news publishers paid by Google and Facebook | Technology | The Guardian

Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Amplifies Discord in the Music Business

August 26, 2016By rightstech

The shoo-in for No. 1 on Billboard’s next album chart is Frank Ocean’s “Blonde,” which has charmed critics and enthralled fans who had waited four years since his last record.

But the release of the album last weekend, through an exclusive deal with Apple, has also roiled the industry, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions that record companies have with streaming music services, and sometimes even with their own artists.

Source: Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ Amplifies Discord in the Music Business – The New York Times

An ethical Google won’t break the internet, leaked EU report finds

August 25, 2016By rightstech

Making Google a good corporate citizen and pay creators fairly won’t break the internet, a leaked impact study on copyright suggests. The 200 page impact assessment (IA), leaked to Statewatch, addresses the thorny issue of content sharing platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

“Some online service providers refuse to negotiate any agreement, which means that despite the availability of copyright protected content on these platforms no revenues are generated for right holders for the use of their content. Refusals of agreements have above all been reported by right holders in the music and images sectors. At the same time, some online service providers have argued that right holders have requested terms that they considered unreasonable for the type of service they provide,” it notes.

It urges the platforms to be more positive about using filters to weed out infringing UGC.

Source: An ethical Google won’t break the internet, leaked EU report finds • The Register

Canada’s Shelfie Partners with Germany’s De Gruyter in Ebook Bundling

August 25, 2016By rightstech

Shelfie (formerly BitLit) is a free mobile application that connects readers to their books. The company is considered among the most doggedly successful of the publishing-sector startups, now partnering with more than 1,200 publishers. Shelfie currently boasts more than 450,000 titles and 24,000 audiobook titles available through the app.

The reason the app is called Shelfie is that it allows readers to digitize their print library by taking a photo of a bookshelf (a “shelfie”) and upload it to the system. Readers then can identify a list of books available free of charge or at a discount, and are able to download an ebook or audiobook simply by snapping a photo of their book’s copyright page marked with a bookplate or their handwritten name.

Source: Canada’s Shelfie Partners with Germany’s De Gruyter in Ebook Bundling

Frank Ocean Just Proved: Direct To Fan Works, Labels Mean Less Than They Think

August 25, 2016By rightstech

Metadata attached to the release on Apple Music show that the second release. “Blonde,” is out on the artist’s own indie label Boys Don’t Cry, which is not affiliated with Def Jam or parent Universal Music Group (UMG).

A source familiar with the situation confirmed the split to Forbes. So even without a major label, “Blonde” is headed for #1 in both the US and UK, according to Billboard, with 225-250,000 album equivalent streams exclusively from Apple.

Source: Frank Ocean Just Proved: Direct To Fan Works, Labels Mean Less Than They Think, Exclusives Suck But Still Matter – hypebot

Should We Believe All The Negative Hype Surrounding New DOJ Rules on PROs?

August 25, 2016By rightstech

The DOJ’s recent ruling does away with partial licensing in favor of 100% licensing, meaning any author of a song can issue a license for the entire song. The PROs say the new system will “cause chaos” in the publishing world and lead to a precipitous drop in income for songwriters and composers.

Wrong. Here’s some real talk — 100% licensing will infuse some badly needed price competition in the music publishing world and make the PROs more responsive to the hundreds of thousands of restaurants, venues and club that pay a collective $15 billion a year for licensing.

Source: Should We Believe All The Negative Hype Surrounding New DOJ Rules on PROs? – hypebot

Bitcoin Core Loses Support Amidst Lingering Scalability Issues

August 24, 2016By rightstech

Right now, there are different proposals on the table to solve the Bitcoin scalability issue. One thing everyone seems to agree on is how the block size will need to be increased. By how much that increase will happen, remains to be seen, though. Bitcoin Core, which is the main branch of development, is working on Segregated Witness who would warrant a 2 MB block size.

Based on block size voting results, only 27.94% of the community is for the Bitcoin Core solution. Do keep in mind nearly one in four did not vote yet, and their preferences could go either way. Even if we were to add up that 22.01 % of non-voting miners to the support Bitcoin Core has, they would fail to reach 50%.

Source: Bitcoin Core Loses Support Amidst Lingering Scalability Issues

Spotify Seeks to Fine-Tune Music Rights as It Gears Up for IPO

August 24, 2016By rightstech

As Spotify AB gears up for a potential initial public offering next year, the music-streaming service is missing one key component in its pitch to investors: rights to play the music in years to come, according to people familiar with the matter.

Spotify is now operating on short-term extensions of its old contracts with all three major record companies, having been on a month-to-month basis with at least one of the labels for nearly a year. It is negotiating new deals that would make its finances more attractive to investors.

Source: Spotify Seeks to Fine-Tune Music Rights as It Gears Up for IPO – WSJ