November, 2018

Collective rights management by copyright societies has proven to be a unique policy challenge in India, at least in part due to the inextricable link between popular music and Bollywood movies. The regulatory system has failed to design sufficient incentives for copyright societies to play by the rules in the Copyright Act, enabled large players to capture the licensing market, and failed to provide adjudicatory mechanisms to prevent the exploitation of artists.

Source: Collective Rights Management under the Indian Copyright Act

Recorded Music New Zealand has welcomed the release by the Government of the Issues Paper on the review of the Copyright Act. “It’s an exciting time to be a music fan in New Zealand, and the music industry has been a leader in the digital environment, but for this to continue it is essential that we have fit for purpose copyright laws”, said Recorded Music NZ CEO, Damian Vaughan.

Source: Recorded Music NZ welcomes progress on Copyright Act review

The European Parliament’s version of the Copyright Directive sought to facilitate content producers such as newspapers or musicians in forcing online platforms to pay licensing agreements for their use of material. At issue now are arguments about how much of that material can be exempted from a payment requirement – notably “snippets and hyperlinks” – with the platforms insisting that overzealous legislators have conceded too much to publishers.

Source: Newspaper publishers seeking payment from online tech giants

In a flurry of activity over the last few week, the Copyright Royalty Board has cemented some previous determinations for on-demand services and background music services, amended some of its regulations for rate determinations made this year, while extending a period for comment on the Music Modernization Act’s impact on other CRB regulations.

Source: Copyright Royalty Board Makes Flurry of Changes, Extends Comment…

Bots targeted Spotify as early as 2015, but the industry became aware of their widespread use earlier this year when after a MBW expose revealed that two Bulgarian based playlists filled with hundreds of tracks by unknown artists had sucked $1 million or more out of the Spotify royalty pool. Eight months after the story broke, bots continue to manipulate streams on both Spotify and Soundcloud, with the streamers and the industry seemingly unable or unwilling to stop them.

Source: Spotify, Soundcloud Bot Farms Continue To Manipulate Streaming Numbers

US companies have successfully lobbied and litigated extensively for pirate site blockades around the world. On their home turf, the issue was categorically avoided following the SOPA outrage several years ago. It now appears that this position is slowly beginning to change.

Source: Music Industry Asks US Govt. to Reconsider Website Blocking – TorrentFreak

On the topic of regulation, the CFTC points out that that smart contracts are subject to existing laws, including the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and anti-money laundering (AML) rules. “Existing law and regulation apply equally regardless what form a contract takes. Contracts or constituent parts of contracts that are written in code are subject to otherwise applicable law and regulation,” the primer reads.

Source: Blockchain Smart Contracts Subject to Financial Laws, Says CFTC Primer – CoinDesk

The catalog includes 290 songs including Dance, Dance, Dance, Everybody Dance and Le Freak. Many of the songs have been extensively sampled, remixed or reissued leading to more recent hits that are a part of the catalog, including Rapper’s Delight and songs by the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Puff Daddy and Justin Timberlake.

Source: Hipgnosis Songs Fund buys 37.5% stake in the music catalog of Chic co-founder Bernard Edwards

A November court ruling over the authorship of a classic Everly Brothers song may provide incentive for songwriters — and publishers — to tidy up ownership records that could significantly affect their wallets and those of their heirs.

Source: Everly Brothers at Odds in Case Over Lucrative ‘Cathy’s Clown’ Royalties

The UK Intellectual Property Office has united with audio-visual and image organisations and blockchain rights company Jaak to investigate the potential use of blockchain technology. Under the partnership the working group will explore how blockchain can improve the availability of public domain works, such as copyright works where protection has expired or works offered to the public to use for free.

Source: UKIPO and creative industries unite in blockchain initiative