Rights

Hipgnosis CEO Merck Mercuriadis, whose fund invests in publishing rights and would benefit from higher payouts, says he already has hundreds of songwriters on board for a guild he’s planning similar to Hollywood’s Writers Guild of America. “There’s no secret the songwriter is the worst-paid person in the equation,” says Mercuriadis. “No negotiation should ever take place that affects how a songwriter is paid that doesn’t have the songwriter represented in the negotiation.”

Source: Songwriters Organize New Guild to Take Bigger Piece of Streaming Pie

Nine-year-old Merlin and 14-year-old JioSaavn just recently unveiled their broadened licensing agreement. The newly finalized pact “marks the first renewal between the two parties since regional music streaming service Saavn merged with India’s JioMusic” back in 2018, at which point the Jio Platforms subsidiary adopted its current name.

Source: Merlin and JioSaavn Finalize ‘Enhanced’ Licensing Agreement

A SoundCloud representative said in a statement that “full aggregation of market-live payout data is pending over the coming months,” as the company is in the midst of launching its system. “The model is tracking as expected and the Portishead stat is a strong confirmation of the model’s design—fan engagement is driving meaningful revenue.”

Source: SoundCloud Says Portishead Song Earned 500% More Under New Royalty Plan

Clearly the biggest shift is the move in scientific publishing from the traditional subscription journal to one form or other of open-access publication. There will be debate as to which of the various open-science initiatives is the best, the worst, the most feasible, and the most affordable. What won’t be debated is whether the world needs open access at all.

Source: Richard Charkin: An Heretical View of Academic Publishing

Brazilian CMO SOCINPRO and Barcelona-based Independent Management Entity (IME) organization Unison have signed a partnership to collect mechanical and public performance digital publishing rights for SOCINPRO’s members in all European territories. This collaboration agreement mandates Unison to collect digital publishing rights, both mechanical and public performance, on behalf of SOCINPRO for these territories.

Source: Brazil’s SOCINPRO partners with Unison for Pan-European collection

The suit revolves around Chegg Study, a subscription service that among its offerings features answers to end-of-chapter homework questions from various texts for $14.95 a month, with the textbook questions often copied nearly verbatim or with just slight changes, the suit alleges.

Source: Pearson Education Sues Chegg, Alleging ‘Massive’ Copyright Infringement

Using technology from Shazam, the music recognition service Apple acquired in 2018, Apple Music is now able to rapidly identify the songs within a DJ mix, the rights holders of those songs, and directly pay them, as well as compensate the DJ and the mix supplier, a first for a major streaming service.

Source: Apple Music Officially Launches DJ Mix Technology to ID (and Pay) Rights Holders

Danielle Bregoli, aka Bhad Bhabie, is going indie, launching her own label, BHAD Music, and releasing a new single called “Miss Understood” on Sept. 17.  She’s also advocating for artists to retain master rights to their music, crediting Kanye West for inspiring the move.

Source: Bhad Bhabie Launches Label, Advocates for Artists Owning Masters (EXCLUSIVE)

Between a softer legal landscape, a higher demand for catchy music to place in swaths of content, and a hot song acquisition marketplace, publishers are seeing stronger tailwinds to get their old hits recycled. Several publishers say they’re becoming increasingly aggressive in pitching their catalogs and seeing more requests from creators to use their music for new songs.

Source: ‘No Shelf Life Now’: The Big Business of Interpolating Old Songs for New Hits