April, 2017

Everyone knows digital art is endlessly reproducible, but over the past few years artists who work specifically in digital media have started to attract big prices for their creations. Since then, two questions have become urgent: how do the artists protect their originals; and how can buyers be sure they are getting the genuine article?

Source: Science’s war on art fraud  | Cosmos

Named IPChain, the platform is being developed by the government-sponsored innovation fund Skolkovo in collaboration with collecting societies RAO, RSP and VOIS and several research institutions.

Source: Using Blockchain, Russian Music Orgs Creating Single Database for Intellectual Property | Billboard

The company says it will let video owners generate revenue from mid-roll ads that run during their pirated video. Facebook says the video owner can claim “a share of the money generated” from the ads.

Source: Facebook will let video creators make money when people pirate their videos – Recode

Spotify has acquired the Brooklyn-based blockchain startup Mediachain Labs, whose team will join the company’s office in New York where they will work on developing better technology for connecting artists and other rights holders with the tracks hosted on Spotify’s service.

Source: Spotify acquires blockchain startup Mediachain to solve music’s attribution problem | TechCrunch

As a public database, the blockchain can store information about individual pieces of content, including who created it, while sharing it within a network. As such, it has the potential to totally transform the creative industry and rights management for intellectual property (IP) and artistic works in manifold ways.

Source: How Blockchain Is Transforming the Creative Industry – Nasdaq.com

The bill passed the House of Representatives 378-48. Naysayers included 46 Democrats, among them minority leader Nancy Pelosi and Zoe Lofgren, whose districts are San Francisco and San Jose, respectively.

Source: Key Copyright Bill Passes In the House, Music Community Cheers | Variety

Representatives from the three major labels are hopeful that Facebook’s music-licensing ambitions will be a positive thing for the industry, rather than another ‘value gap’ battle in the making.

Source: Major labels ‘positive and hopeful’ about Facebook licensing

Today we are excited to announce that Mediachain Labs, the core team behind the open source Mediachain protocol, has been acquired by Spotify to further the streaming leader’s journey towards a more fair, transparent and rewarding music industry for creators and rights owners.

Source: The next chapter for Mediachain Labs – Mediachain Blog

Art buyers surveyed named several services that online art platforms could offer to shore up their confidence. The most popular were condition reports, certificates of authenticity, and a 30-day return guarantee, with 75% or more of respondents consistently citing those in each survey going back to 2015.

Source: Hiscox Report Shows Significant Online Art Sales Growth, with Consolidation Ahead

The short version is all parties get paid regardless of the tier or the type of license. Not all royalties take the same route to their end recipient, however, and some of those routes have changed recently.

Source: How Royalties Are Paid On All Three Pandora Music Services – hypebot