Emerging Technology Enables Serious Collectors to Trade Digital Art Securely

Only very recently has the digital medium caught up with more traditional approaches in its ability to be valued seriously by collectors. Up until now, a digital piece of artwork could easily be downloaded copied and shared inconsiderately, making ownership a bit of a sham. Creators of original digital artwork (myself included) have more often than not resorted to creating a physical signed version of the original file so as to achieve a more genuine salable item.In truth, a digital piece of art can still be copied and shared, however, emerging technology has changed all this radically.

A collector can now buy or inherit legal ownership of the original digital artwork and then choose to resell it as it goes up in value.

This is where the emergence of Blockchain technology, offered by businesses such as Ascribe, provide a truly innovative solution in securing the provence of a digital file.

Ascribe is a significant new online service that utilizes this new technology empowering “creators to truly own, secure and track the history of a digital work”. Being a digital artist, what I find so interesting with this service is that it enables the creator to register artwork using a unique cryptographic ID stored on the blockchain. Ownership of the digital artwork can be passed on through email directly to the buyer or alternatively the rights of transfer can be consigned to a gallery.

Source: HuffPost

Universal Music Group is ‘Out of Contract’ with YouTube – Sources

money-protest-power-fist-biz-2015-billboard-650Universal Music Group is locked in a chilly negotiation period with YouTube, as the major’s long-running licensing deal with Google’s platform switches to a rolling deal.

MBW understands that UMG’s licensing agreement with YouTube expired earlier this year, and currently seems a fair way off being re-signed. UMG has now been rolling on a month-to-month contract with YouTube for most of 2016, and is believed to have put together both an ‘on YouTube’ strategy and an ‘off YouTube’ strategy – the latter very much an ‘in case of emergency’ fallback. (And not a bad negotiating tool, of course.)

Both Sony and Warner’s deals with YouTube are also due to end in the coming months, MBW understands.

Source: Music Business Worldwide

A Turning Point For Digital Sports Rights

Twitter was not the highest bidder, and according to re/Code, paid less than $10M for the package, a minuscule amount compared to other rights deals.This last note is somewhat surprising news, considering the NFL’s history of ignoring all factors aside from money when making large-scale decisions (think: Thursday Night Football, European expansion). But in this deal, the NFL should be commended for choosing a partner that fits its long-term growth strategy better than its short-term pocketbook.

Here’s why:

In order for live-streaming on a digital platform to have any impact in the fragmented media landscape, it needs to create a totally unique viewer experience. If Amazon or Yahoo offer simple re-broadcasts of the games on their websites, what incentive do viewers have to tune into Amazon/Yahoo instead of CBS/NBC?

Source: The Cauldron

Will Paul McCartney Finally Get The Rights To His Own Songs Back?

He may be one of the most respected songwriters of all time, but believe it or not, Paul McCartney doesn’t actually own the rights to many of his most famous works. That’s a somewhat sad reality of the music industry, but it might soon change for the former Beatle.

Because of a stipulation in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, McCartney has a chance to get back (that’s a Beatles joke for any fans reading) the rights to some, but not all, of the songs he wrote and made famous. According to the law, 56 years after songs that were written pre-1978 debuted, the original writer can petition to regain control over the publishing rights, no matter who owns them at the time. That limit is coming up soon for many of the tracks that McCartney wrote early on in his career, and he seems intent on collecting what is his.

Source: Forbes

New EU Regulations for Collection Societies and Pan-European Licensing to Take Effect This Weekend

More than two years after they were first passed by the European Union, new regulations governing European collection societies and multi-territory licensing come into force this Sunday (Apr. 10), with rights holders and digital services among the intended beneficiaries.

Devised and implemented by the European Commission as part of its “Digital Agenda for Europe” and “Europe 2020 Strategy,” the Collective Rights Management Directive is designed to help make sure royalty payments are timely and accurate while significantly improving the transparency and governance of European collective management organizations (CMOs), otherwise known as collection societies.

The two main collecting societies in the United Kingdom are PRS for Music, which looks after the rights of over 115,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, and PPL, which works on behalf of record companies and performers.

Together, they have a combined turnover of over £1 billion ($1.4 billion) a year, according to the British government, and around 500,000 members.

Source: Billboard

WWE Hit With Class Action Over Streaming Royalties

As World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) transitions from a time when it earned a good chunk of its revenue from pay-per-view telecasts to one where streaming platforms dominate, one of its former professional wrestlers is now asking a federal court to interpret an old contract that spoke of “technology not yet created.”

On Wednesday, Rene Goguen (known in the ring as “Rene Dupree” as part of the group “La Resistance”) brought a putative class-action lawsuit alleging he and others haven’t seen money from the much-ballyhooed over-the-top channel, WWE Network, as well as videos put on Netflix.

According to the complaint filed in Connecticut federal court, Goguen signed a “booking contract” in 2003 where WWE took ownership over a wide swath of intellectual property including his nickname, personality, character, costumes, props, gimmicks, gestures, routines and themes.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Audio Network chooses Vistex Music Maestro Software to Process and Manage Royalty Payments

audio-network-logoVistex, the leading provider of rights and royalties software solutions to the music, entertainment and licensing industries, today announced that Audio Network, the international music group, has chosen Vistex’s Counterpoint Suite to help administer their music rights and royalty payments to composers.

“It’s a testament to the value Music Maestro provides our customers when a company like Audio Network selects our flagship music publishing product. Music publishing is a vibrant business and as a Hot 100 company in 2015, Audio Network has proven what can be achieved in the music publishing sector, specifically in relation to music used within media”, said Phil Bird, Head of Sales, Vistex (UK). With Music Maestro in place, Audio Network will know that the management of their rights is optimised.” 

TuneCore Expands To Germany

Digital music distribution and publishing administration provider TuneCore launched its latest international edition on Wednesday (Apr. 6) with TuneCore Germany. The site will allow German-based artists to collect songwriter royalties, revenue from streaming services, digital download stores and sync licensing opportunities in their own currency and language.

German users will also have access to TuneCore’s customer support and its suite of artist support services including the YouTube Sound Recording Revenue collection service, LANDR and TuneCore Fan Reviews. “With the ever-changing nature of the music industry, we believe that transparency and durability are essential values for growing our company and enhancing our artist services,” said TuneCore CEO Scott Ackerman in a statement.

Source: Billboard

The Legality of Selling “Used” Digital Songs and Movies Headed to Appeals Court

For those who have amassed an extensive iTunes collection of songs and movies, is there any hope of reselling these works?

Back in 2011, a company called ReDigi attempted to give consumers just such a pipe dream. The idea was to take advantage of the “first sale” doctrine, which gives those who purchase copies of copyrighted work the right to sell, display or otherwise dispose of that particular copy notwithstanding the interests of the copyright holder. ReDigi provided cloud storage and a market for “used” songs bought off of iTunes. Naturally, the record industry wasn’t happy, which led to a lawsuit and a big ruling in April 2013.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Ascribe Enables Users to Track their Digital Content

For decades, copyright infringement and illicit use of digital content has become major issue for digital content providers.

Regardless of the efforts of search engines and government-backed organizations to penalize illegitimate users of copyright-reserved content, blogs, corporate websites, e-commerce shops, and media outlets have continued the use of copyright-reserved content, due to the lack of infrastructure to detect such illicit activities.

Blockchain-based digital content record platform Ascribe has launched a service called WhereOnTheNet to enable artists who ascribe their work on the blockchain to trace the pathway of their content on the web. By utilizing an intelligent and intuitive blockchain-based software, Ascribe’s WhereOnTheNet allows users to search sites which used their images with or without permission from the content provider.

Source: NewsBTC

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