Marketplace

Copyright lawsuits push sports teams to rethink their digital content strategies

Sports teams have become content machines in the digital age, producing a constant stream of videos, highlights, and promotions to engage fans worldwide. But as James Bullock-Webster, director and head of tech, media & cyber at New Dawn Risk, told Insurance Business, this evolution has also exposed organizations to a surge in media liability claims. “What we’ve seen in the last few years is a real surge of media music copyright infringement claims,” he said.

Source: Copyright lawsuits push sports teams to rethink their digital content strategies

TIDAL opens direct uploads for indie artists, but tracks won’t earn royalties

The feature positions Block-ownedTIDAL as a competitor to SoundCloud, which pioneered the direct-upload and discovery model for independent artists. The new TIDAL Upload service allows artists to post tracks directly to the music service, where the tracks become available alongside the platform’s catalog of 180 million songs. Uploaded tracks are accessible to all listeners, including those without paid subscriptions, and artists can keep tracks private to share only with selected collaborators.

Source: TIDAL opens direct uploads for indie artists, but tracks won’t earn royalties

WMG and Feed.fm Partner to Bring Premium Music Clips to Apps

WMG partners with Feed.fm, launching a music clip API that enables digital platforms to integrate song clips from major labels’ catalogs. The collaboration unites Feed.fm’s technology with WMG’s expansive catalog to make it easier for developers to integrate fully licensed song clips through a secure system. With this partnership, Feed.fm is now touting an ‘end-to-end solution’ for music clips that includes licensing, curation, and in-app experiences delivered via API.

Source: WMG and Feed.fm Partner to Bring Premium Music Clips to Apps

Songtradr CRO: Why Music Industry Fragmentation Is a ‘Massive’ Opportunity

It’s been a big, big year for the music industry, with roughly $4 billion plowed into catalogs and white-hot startups in the last quarter alone. But who’s gonna thread the disparate pieces of this industry together and unlock all that value? Among those looking to supercharge the industry’s future growth is Songtradr, a company rooted in sync that now touches diverse disciplines like superfandom, catalog licensing, indie music development, and music strategies for major brands.

Source: In-Depth: Songtradr Chief Revenue Officer Paul Langworthy

Why Big Tech’s Abuse of Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Need to Be Inevitable

One of the key issues that the story of man versus machine misses: Technology is not fate. Just as people make technology, people decide how it is used and what interests it serves. These decisions are made over and over again as AI is developed and deployed. AI is, furthermore, ultimately not that complicated. How AI works can be understood by anyone. The real conflict is not between a human and a machine but between the different members of society.

Source: Why Big Tech’s Abuse of Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Need to Be Inevitable

Spotify now has half a million video podcasts, which nearly 400M users have watched

In its third-quarter earnings report, the company shared that its video podcast catalog has expanded to nearly half a million shows, and more than 390 million users have now streamed a video podcast on the platform. That figure is up 54% year-over-year, and it also reflects Spotify’s increased investment in the format. In June 2024, the company said it had some 250,000 video podcasts as it rolled out tools that let non-hosted podcasters upload their videos to the platform.

Source: Spotify now has half a million video podcasts, which nearly 400M users have watched | TechCrunch

Australia Moves Ahead With Streamer Quotas to Boost Local Storytelling

Australia has finally pulled the trigger on long-mooted streaming quotas, confirming a landmark bill that will compel streaming platforms to invest a fixed share of their Australian revenue or expenditure into homegrown programming. The bill, to be introduced this week, will require major streamers to allocate roughly 10% of their Australian expenditure or 7.5% of local revenue to Australian drama, documentary, children’s and cultural programming.

Source: Australia Moves Ahead With Streamer Quotas to Boost Local Storytelling

AI against the arts

Already, we are seeing the use of AI, with all its negative ramifications for writers, painters, photographers, and musicians, being endorsed because it means that ‘everyone can be an artist’, or, as ACE would have it, a ‘creative practitioner’. This is likely to converge in future with another recent intellectual position, which contends that meritocracy – hitherto regarded as the only way of championing fairness – is itself unfair.

Source: AI against the arts

Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

Bandsintown introduced a new marketplace that links its 700,000 independent artists with third-party services for music distribution, fan data management, and merchandise sales, among others. The move comes as the New York-based company has reached 100 million registered users and seeks to help independent musicians navigate what it describes as “unpredictable algorithms” and help them avoid “overreliance on paid advertising.”

Source: After hitting 100m registered users, Bandsintown launches Marketplace to connect 700K artists with distribution, data, and merch tools

The music industry remains divided on generative AI. Where will that leave us?

The most notable differences in AI strategies are between the major labels and independents. While the majors are working to find solutions that allow for responsible Gen AI use and drive new licensing revenue, many independent artists and smaller labels are firmly against any use of Gen AI in music.  However, there are divides even within these factions.

Source: The music industry remains divided on generative AI. Where will that leave us?

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