Spotify has set the trend of music streaming platforms acquiring podcast companies in the past two years, spending a total of over $600m to snap up the likes of Gimlet, Parcast, The Ringer and Anchor FM. Now another music streaming heavyweight has moved into this territory, with a headline-grabbing buyout.
Source: Amazon Music to buy podcast company Wondery, taking fight to Spotify
Hiding in plain sight: a “loophole” in Spotify’s platform allows unauthorized remixes and bootlegs of songs to live as podcasts. Using simple keywords and terms like “chopped and screwed,” “slowed and reverbed,” “remix,” and “mashup” in Spotify’s search bar, users can track down bootlegged reworks of songs by many top artists which live on Spotify’s podcast hub.
Source: Spotify’s Podcasting Problem: Loophole Allows Remixes and Unreleased Songs to Hide in Plain Sight
This is Spinal Tap co-creators Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest have got a deal that could potentially revive the franchise. On Friday, attorneys for the group as well as Vivendi and its StudioCanal division told a California federal court that they had finally achieved settlement.
Source: ‘Spinal Tap’ creators settle rights dispute with StudioCanal
Solomon Linda, who improvised some of the tune in the studio, was paid for 10 shillings for the recording, so did not profit when it became a local hit in the 1940s. Then the track took on a life of its own when it was adapted by the US folk group The Weavers in 1951.
The number of Bollywood movies headed to streaming is just a small fraction of what the industry makes. Last year, Bollywood produced more than 1,800 films, or an average of 35 a week. But the pandemic-spurred shift toward streaming is unmistakable, Bollywood producers, filmmakers and experts said.
Source: Bollywood, Reeling From the Pandemic, Shifts to Streaming
A recent study published through the European Parliamentary Research Service suggests that a new ‘EU Anti-Piracy Act’ is the most effective way to tackle online piracy of sports events and other premium content. This new legislation should harmonize anti-piracy policies and tools across EU member states, providing strong enforcement options including site-blocking.
Source: EU Study Proposes New ‘Anti-Piracy Act’ to Effectively Tackle Online Piracy * TorrentFreak
A legal campaign by academic and scientific publishers to prevent Internet users from accessing Sci-Hub and Libgen has expanded to India. In a complaint filed at the High Court in Delhi, Elsevier, Wiley, and American Chemical Society, are demanding that local ISPs should block the sites to prevent copyright infringement.
Article 17 imposes a much more onerous liability regime for copyright infringement on online service providers than the system under which they currently operate. It requires that service providers take active measures to obtain the “authorisation” of rightsholders whose works are made available to the public on the OCSSP site.
Source: The Changing EU Landscape For Online Content Regulation – Intellectual Property – European Union
Four and a half years after the U.K. voted to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the two negotiating sides have finally arrived at a Brexit deal. The agreement will allow for tariff and quota-free trade in goods and services across a range of areas. Crucial for film and TV production is the ease of movement of people and equipment, details of which are expected.
Source: U.K., European Union Finally Reach Brexit Deal: ‘Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow’
For Hollywood, one particular element of the package that will be of great relief is the Save Our Stages initiative, a $15 billion aid package shepherded through Congress by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Cornyn and championed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The initiative will provide grants to entertainment businesses such as live venues and small, independently owned movie theaters.
Source: Entertainment Industry to Get $15 Billion in Aid as Part of Stimulus Bill