In a letter issued this week to NMPA members, CEO David Israelite urgently requested support for the group’s MLC contender. The letter notes ‘industry consensus’ support, but still ‘urgently’ pushed for members to publicly support the bid. Separately, the NMPA-led MLC is now referring to themselves as a ‘submission,’ a major shift from an earlier stance that a competitive bidding process was unnecessary.
Source: NMPA Urges Members to Support ‘Industry Consensus’ MLC
As the major streaming platforms continue to bludgeon each other in hopes of gaining an industry monopoly, unsigned artists are seeking better, independent options for sharing their music with the general public – unfortunately, all these smaller platforms face a number of shortcomings.
Source: Could The Proliferation Of Indie Streaming Platforms Be Harming Unsigned Artists?
Spotify is finally officially available in India, and it’s offering Indian music fans a perk available nowhere else in the world — the ability to play any song on-demand on the free version of the smartphone app. The unique Spotify Free feature for India — giving users on-demand access to over 40 million tracks on smartphones — may have been a sticking point in the streaming music giant’s ongoing dispute with Warner Music Group.
The new service will identify a track or clips from that track that have been registered by other rights holders in any territory. A conflict exists if a match is found both with the audio of the underlying sound recording and more than one rights owner has registered that content in the same territory.
Source: Audible Magic Adds ‘Rights Audit,’ The Orchard Signs On
A directive to reform European copyright rules has made it past another legislative hurdle. The European Parliament’s Justice Committee voted in favour of a compromise hammered out last week between EU governments.
In the aftermath of awards season, film executives will be forced to confront the same headaches that have plagued them since the ascent of streaming services. A growing number of consumers, hooked on the ease and convenience of on-demand video, are ditching conventional multiplexes for the comfort of their living rooms, and old-line studios could soon be forced to trim the “window” between a movie’s run in theaters and its appearance on digital platforms.
Source: Netflix lost the best picture battle, but its war with Hollywood is just getting started
Source: Washington Considers Overhaul of Music-Licensing Rules
To recap: in the past 24 hours, the world’s third biggest music rights-holder, Warner Music Group, has sued Spotify; in reaction, Spotify has publicly accused Warner of “abusive behavior” and of reneging on a previously agreed deal; Spotify has also claimed that Warner’s application for an injunction in India has failed; Warner has strongly denied that claim, accused Spotify of lying, and suggested that comments from the streaming company on the matter have been “appalling”.
Source: Warner: Spotify just lied about India injunction – and its comments on negotiations are ‘appalling’
The Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency, Ltd., Canada’s leading music reproduction rights collective, has announced a new service allowing publishers and songwriters to search for unmatched uses of their material and pursue payments for that work. CMRRA’s new Unclaimed Works Portal is powered by CMRRA Direct and provides users with free data from digital services spanning billions of uses.
Source: CMRRA Unveils New Service Helping Canadian Publishers & Songwriters Search for Unclaimed Works
The music industry specialty finance firm is committing $3 million to help fund the projects of PledgeMusic artists by means of low interest royalty advances. Sound Royalties says that it can offer its “signature” royalty advances to PledgeMusic artists at an “extremely low” interest rate of 4% for one year. Sound Royalties’ advances let artists keep their copyrights and allow for overflow income.
Source: Sound Royalties offers $3m in advances for artists affected by PledgeMusic late payments