There are many more buyers in the marketplace today and they bring a wide range of approaches. Some are highly disciplined, while others are focused on acquiring deals to build portfolios of assets that are not correlated to the financial markets. Some buyers concentrate on legacy-only catalogs, others target newer songwriter catalogs with go-forward songwriting arrangements attached.
Rights
Udio Strikes AI Licensing Deal With Merlin for Independent Labels
Generative AI start-up Udio has formed a licensing agreement with Merlin, a popular digital licensing provider for thousands of independent labels and distributors. The announcement — which arrives a few months after Udio signed similar licenses with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — will now allow independent labels, distributors and artists to earn money by allowing their recordings to be used in AI training.
Source: Udio Strikes AI Licensing Deal With Merlin for Independent Labels
Google IP boss: We shouldn’t pay for AI training on ‘freely available’ content
A leading Google public affairs executive has admitted that the tech giant does not believe it should have to pay to use unpaywalled content for AI training. Roxanne Carter told the Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Tuesday that Google wants to create “wholly new content” and not replicate publishers’ work. “What the AI model is trying to do is analyse huge amounts of data to identify patterns and statistical relationships between words, language concepts. It is not an information retrieval system.”
Source: Google IP boss: We shouldn’t pay for AI training on ‘freely available’ content
Indian publishers urge govt to exempt news from AI copyright regime
News publishers have urged the government to fundamentally reconsider the proposed “hybrid” copyright licensing framework for artificial intelligence (AI) training, recommending that news content be categorically excluded from any mandatory or blanket licensing regime. Publishers argue that journalism warrants a distinct policy treatment given its constitutional role, time-sensitive value, and implications for national security and democratic governance.
Source: Publishers urge govt to exempt news from AI copyright regime, back voluntary licensing
Appeals Court says songwriters can reclaim global copyrights under US law
A federal appeals court ruled on Monday (January 12) that songwriters can use US copyright law to reclaim their songs worldwide, not just in the US, a decision that could change how the music industry handles decades-old agreements between songwriters and publishers. The decision centers on “termination rights,” a provision in copyright law that lets songwriters reclaim songs they sold off years earlier.
Australia Preps 38% Commercial Radio Recordings Royalty Hike
Australia’s Copyright Tribunal finalized this licensing-rate hike in a mid-December decision, and the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) today “acknowledged” the development. At a glance, “acknowledge” might not seem an appropriately enthusiastic verb; a double-digit rate jump is, after all, significant. But the major-label-led PPCA had been pushing for a comparatively sweeping licensing-scheme overhaul.
Source: Australia Preps 38% Commercial Radio Recordings Royalty Hike
MLC vs. Spotify bundle battle intensifies as streamer opposes immediate appeal
Mechanical Licensing Collective is seeking an immediate appeal of a court ruling in its legal battle with Spotify over audiobook bundling and royalty payments. The request triggered a sharp procedural battle. In a 33-page opposition filed January 9 Spotify argued that The MLC waited nearly a year too long to request this type of expedited review and fails to meet the legal requirements for an immediate appeal.
Source: MLC vs. Spotify bundle battle intensifies as streamer opposes immediate appeal
French Court Orders Google to Block Pirate Sites, Dismisses ‘Cloudflare-First’ Defense
The Paris Judicial Court has ordered Google to block nineteen additional pirate site domains through its public DNS resolver. The blockade was requested by Canal+ and aims to stop pirate streams of Champions League games. In its defense, Google argued that rightsholders should target intermediaries higher up the chain first, such as Cloudflare’s CDN, but the court rejected that.
X Sues Music Publishers Over “Weaponized” DMCA Takedown Conspiracy
Elon Musk’s X Corp. filed a landmark antitrust complaint against the NMPA, Sony, Universal, and other major music publishers, claiming that they used a coordinated “extortionate campaign” to force licensing deals. The lawsuit alleges that a flood of “baseless” DMCA notices targeted over 200,000 posts and suspended 50,000 users, allegedly to coerce X to sign industry-wide agreements.
Source: X Sues Music Publishers Over “Weaponized” DMCA Takedown Conspiracy * TorrentFreak
11th Cir.: YouTube not required to run Content ID to preserve DMCA safe harbor
YouTube was entitled to seek protection from the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act even though it had, but did not deploy, technology capable of identifying matches between videos identified in takedown requests and videos with similar content elsewhere on its service, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has held.
Source: 11th Cir.: YouTube not required to run Content ID to preserve DMCA safe harbor