The Federal Trade Commission is considering whether the makers of tools that let people generate video, audio, and image impersonations should be held liable when digital dupes lead to fraud. Lawyers are pushing back on the FTC’s recommended approach, arguing it hits too broadly and could stop innocent uses of the technology as well as bad ones.
Source: AI Firms Face Broad Liability Under FTC Deepfake Proposal (1)
Catch Point Rights Partners, the private-equity backed music rights acquisition firm that has purchased the publishing of such artists/songwriters and/or producers as Brantley Gilbert, Yelawolf and All Time Low, is now offering a program through which it will buy performance rights income streams from songwriters while allowing them to retain ownership and control of all of their other publishing royalties.
Source: Catch Point Launches Program to Buy Performing Rights Royalties From Working Songwriters
The media giants teaming up on a new platform that will pool together sports streaming rights are facing an antitrust lawsuit from rival sports streamer Fubo, which alleges that it’s being forced to carry dozens of pricey, nonsports channels as a condition of licensing sports rights from the companies in a scheme to stifle competition.
Source: FuboTV Files $1B Lawsuit Seeking to Block Disney, Warners and Fox Sports Streaming Platform
AI tech is being used to appropriate and profit off of major Black artists in music (like Drake, The Weeknd & Beyoncé) leaving many to wonder if this is where the industry’s future is headed and if Black creators will even have a place in it. That fear harkens back to the 1950s and 1960s when the music of Black artists like Little Richard, Big Mama Thornton, Chuck Berry, and The Supremes was stolen, whitewashed, and popularized by white acts like Elvis Presley, Phil Collins, The Beach Boys, and Pat Boone.
Source: When Artificial Intelligence Makes Black Music, Who Really Wins?
One of the common assumptions around the boom in music-catalogue sales is that it’s all about big investment funds piling in. That’s certainly happened, but it’s not the whole story. In fact, what may be more interesting in the future are the partnerships formed between Big Investors and Big Music. Universal Music Group’s announcement yesterday that it is acquiring a minority stake in Chord Music Partners being a case in point.
Source: UMG tunes its catalogue-buying strategy with $240m Chord stake – Music Ally
T
he European Union is poised to impose a €500 million (approx. $539 million) fine on Apple for allegedly stifling competition in the music streaming market. This would mark the first time the bloc has levied an antitrust fine against the tech giant. The news was reported by The Financial Times, citing five people “with direct knowledge of the long-running investigation.” The newspaper said the penalty is expected to be announced early next month.
Source: EU to fine Apple $539m for alleged violations in music streaming (report)
The UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published a report on ‘the potential impact of equitable remuneration on performers and the music market in the UK’. In short, the report will make labels much happier than activists. “The one key conclusion that can be drawn is that ER does not offer a simple solution to the streaming conundrum,” was its verdict. The report also gives the same warnings that labels have about ER potentially weakening their negotiating position with DSPs.
Source: UK government rules out broadcast-style equitable remuneration for music – Music Ally
Exclusivity of content was great for attracting new subscribers, but investors on Wall Street are not solely concerned with subscriber totals any longer, and now streamers are realizing that easy money is there for the taking if they license some titles to other outlets.
Reddit has signed a contract allowing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) company to train its models on the social media platform’s content, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Reddit, which is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) launch, has told prospective investors that it signed the deal, worth $60 million on an annualized basis, earlier this year, the report said.
Source: Reddit signs content licensing deal with AI company ahead of IPO
Virtually all complaints ask for awards of actual damages and disgorgement of profits attributable to infringement, prejudgment interest, attorney fees, and costs. In these respects, the complaints are quite ordinary. But three types of remedy claims merit special attention: claims for awards of statutory damages; court orders to destroy models trained on infringing works; and most bizarrely, court orders to establish a regulatory regime to oversee generative AI system operations.
Source: How to Think About Remedies in the Generative AI Copyright Cases