Pan-European licensing hub ICE has launched a new service called Licensr, which is aimed at “smaller online music services” who want to get licences quickly. It’s an online self-service tool where small DSPs and startups can pay for a licence covering ICE’s repertoire, with a process that the hub promises “requires no prior knowledge of music licensing”.
Source: ICE launches Licensr self-service tool for smaller DSPs – Music Ally
In the past several decades, as touring has become an integral part of performing artists’ revenue, the ancillary merchandise business flourished. According to a report last year from Licensing International, a trade group that tracks sales data on licensed merchandise, music merch was a $3.5 billion industry in 2018, up from just more than $3 billion two years before. But like the live-music industry, those numbers will likely contract for 2020.
Source: How Do You Sell Concert Tees Without Concerts? Merch Companies Are Up Against a Wall
For Facebook, the implementation of a new tool that lets creators charge for live-streamed events, during which they can then perform cover songs for example, surely throws up a number of licensing and accounting challenges. In the background, according to a number of job ads, Facebook has been hiring for music executives that could potentially be playing a key part in all of this.
Content consumption on Spotify’s streaming platform has been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 crisis — with usage initially down in areas affected by lockdown orders — but the company saw a rebound in active listeners in Q1. For the first quarter of 2020, Spotify netted 6 million new Premium subscribers globally — beating expectations — to stand at 130 million worldwide.
Source: Spotify Gains 6 Million Paid Subscribers in Q1 as COVID-19 Disrupts Listening Patterns
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court this week held that annotations added to the State of Georgia’s legal code are not eligible for copyright protection, under a legal regime known as the “government edicts doctrine.” “The animating principle behind the government edicts doctrine is that no one can own the law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.
Source: Supreme Court Copyright Ruling Could Shake Up Legal Publishing
Sales agents and filmmakers who typically sprint from Venice to Toronto in a narrow, early September window will now likely have to self-quarantine for an extended period if they travel. “If there’s an important business reason for us to be at a festival, I will go to support that film,” says FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner. “If I have to self-quarantine when I get back, then I’ll do that.”
Source: Half-Full Screenings, Red Carpet Masks, Zoom Q&As: Welcome to the COVID-Era Film Fest
So much for the Golden Age of media content. The latest installment of a weekly COVID-19 tracking study from Mindshare finds that nearly half (46%) of American consumers say they’ve already run out of media content to watch, read or listen to. That’s up from 33% a couple of weeks ago, and 30% at the end of March.
British music licensing company PPL has amended its annual payment schedule in order to bring forward part of its June distribution to support its members during the COVID-19 crisis. On April 30, 2020, PPL will make an advance payment of £23.9 million (approximately $29.7m) to more than 15,000 performers and recording rightsholders.
Source: PPL to make advance distribution payment of $29.7m in April
The service provides a single point of access in each local market to the company’s worldwide network of songwriters, composers, producers and sync resources – including its sync division, production music division and bespoke composition offerings – as well as those of select partners.
Source: UMPG launches global music service for film, TV and advertising
TME, which runs music services QQ Music, Kugou and Kuwo in China, ended 2019 with 39.9m paying music users worldwide. The company told investors in a full-year update on March 16 that its online music subscribers paid $160m to the firm during the course of Q4 2019.
Source: Tencent Music makes equity investment in Chinese music-for-business service, Radio Music Warehouse