French media business are set to refer Google to France’s competition watchdog as the US tech giant is refusing to pay for displaying their content in search results as stipulated by the European Union’s recently adopted new copyright law. In July, France became the first country to ratify the new EU copyright law, which entered into force on Thursday, October 24, 2019.
Source: French Media to Sue Google for Refusing to Pay under EU’s New Copyright Law
In an open letter to librarians published this week, Macmillan CEO John Sargent struck a somewhat conciliatory note over the issue of embargoing e-books to libraries, but his message remains unchanged: library lending of e-books pose a problem.
Source: Macmillan CEO John Sargent: ‘We’re not Trying to Hurt Libraries’
Yamaha has invented a piano that not only plays itself, but also mimics one of the best pianists and Bach interpreters of the 20th century – Glenn Gould. The piano was born of Yamaha’s Dear Glenn project, which uses machine learning to teach the artificial intelligence that drives the instrument’s self-playing capability the interpretative idiosyncrasies and stylistic nuances of Gould’s playing.
Source: This piano plays Back just like legendary pianist Glenn Gould
The Canadian Music Publishers Association has today (Oct. 29) announced that it has rebranded to Music Publishers Canada. According to the organization, the rebrand includes a refreshed logo, social media channels and evolving programming.
Source: Canadian Music Publishers Association Unveils Rebrand, Programming
The web-based workflow app Bounce is now available in a public version. Developed by Godmode Music co-founders Talya Elitzer and Nick Sylvester, Bounce streamlines file sharing during a record’s creation by allowing music creators and their team to organize tracks and metadata, compare different versions, securely share demos and send and receive time-stamped, threaded feedback.
Little under two years ago, Facebook announced a global licensing deal with Universal Music Group – covering the use of music on FB, Instagram and VR platform Oculus. Over the following few months, we learned of similar agreements involving the likes of Warner Music Group, Sony/ATV (and Sony Music) and a host of independent labels via Merlin and others.
The venerable test for vicarious copyright infringement is when the defendant (1) had the right and ability to supervise the infringer’s acts, and (2) had a direct financial interest in those acts. For unknown reasons, in Grokster, the US Supreme Court rearticulated the test as “profiting from direct infringement while declining to exercise a right to stop or limit it.” Since then, courts have split about which test to use.
Filmmakers may still prize a theatrical release, but they’re beginning to warm to the notion of streaming. They’re getting substantial budgets that rival those of theatrical releases, and with filmmakers like Scorsese, Baumbach and Alfonso Cuarón embracing the new form of distribution, the stigma is lifting.
Source: How Disney Plus, HBO Max, Peacock Are Banking on Splashy Movies in the Streaming Wars
Does Taylor Swift believe there are haters at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals? Because on Monday, in a bit of a surprise, the federal appellate court revived a copyright lawsuit brought by two songwriters over Swift’s mega-hit “Shake It Off.”
Source: Copyright Suit Targeting Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” Revived by Appeals Court
The app has three main components: Tracking the people who work on a song and their ownership percentage; automatically registering that song to their PRO, SoundExchange, and the Harry Fox Agency; and collecting royalties via its Jammber Money service.
Source: Jammber’s New Splits App Helps Songwriters Divide Up Royalties