In its Global Piracy Report for 2018, UK-based Muso tracked 300 billion visits to piracy sites, up 1.6% year-over-year. Streaming music piracy in the UK alone increased 21%. But ‘stream-ripping’ accounted for a mere 4% of the total. It’s also declining alongside broader drops in track downloading.
Source: Stream-Ripping Drops 13% In One Year; Accounts for Just 4% of Total Pirate Site Traffic
SoundVault, a music licensing platform for YouTube content creators, has unveiled a global partnership with Sony/ATV’s EMI Publishing.The move covers sync licensing for content creators on YouTube. The sync platform primarily offers tens of thousands of pre-cleared high-quality songs for video makers. It also works with the user-generated content sector, including content creators and social media influencers.
Source: YouTube Music Licensing Platform Unveils Global Deal with Sony/ATV’s EMI Publishing
The European Parliament has given final approval to the Copyright Directive, a controversial package of legislation designed to update copyright law in Europe for the internet age. Members of parliament voted 348 in favor of the law and 274 against. A last-minute proposal to remove the law’s most controversial clause — known as Article 13 or the ‘upload filter’ — was narrowly rejected by just five votes.
Source: Europe’s controversial overhaul of online copyright receives final approval
The retreat from direct competition with Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video service reflects the high cost — in billions of dollars — needed to take on those deeply entrenched players, even for a rich tech giant like Google. YouTube generated more than $15 billion in ad sales last year without a huge slate of glitzy productions and concluded its money is better invested in music and gaming.
Source: YouTube Bows Out of Hollywood Arms Race With Netflix and Amazon
Perhaps not since the advent of the internet itself has a single technology buzzword captured the imagination of so many. Book publishing is no exception: a growing number of startup companies, people in existing companies, and investors are touting the promise of blockchain technology for publishing. Meanwhile, skeptics say that blockchain cannot possibly live up to all the hype.
Source: Blockchain for the Book Biz: The Hype vs. the Reality
A sound app called Endel has become the first-ever algorithm to release music via major label, Warner Music Group, and will be releasing 20 albums throughout the year. Endel is Techstars Music 18 company with investors including Amazon Alexa Fund, Avex Inc., Major Lazer’s Jillionaire, Plus 8 Equity Partners, Kima Ventures, Impulse Ventures, and DJ La Fleur.
Source: Warner Music Group signs deal for records made by an algorithm
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Germany last weekend to challenge a new European Union copyright law set to be passed this week. The protesters, marching under the slogan “Save your Internet,” fear the EU Copyright Directive, which aims to modernize copyright rules for the digital era, could lead to online censorship and restrict freedom of speech.
Source: Thousands protest against controversial EU internet law claiming it will enable online censorship
The industry consensus group angling to form the Mechanical Licensing Collective created by the Music Modernization Act anticipates start-up costs of anywhere from $26 million to $48 million, with an annual operating cost of $25 million to $40 million a year.
Source: Industry Consensus Group Lays Out Proposed Plan to Run Mechanical Licensing Collective
A merger between a blockchain-based art registry and an international auction database will see records from over 4,000 auction houses put on the blockchain. The art registry, Artory, has purchased Auction Club, a currently privatized database that contains information from over 4,000 international auction house sales.
Source: 4,000 art auction houses are putting their sales records on the blockchain
The new change will prevent content owners from filing a manual claim if ContentID has already discovered a claim on the same video. YouTube revealed the new changes in a Help Center post for the site, noting that the changes were necessary for several reasons.
Source: YouTube Is Addressing Major Issues With Vague ContentID Claims