In a statement published on Twitter, Sony Music Publishing Chairman and CEO, Jon Platt, said: “The settlement is an important win for songwriters and composers, reflecting years of effort and hard-fought litigation. It also brings greater certainty over the next five years because unlike a trial, there is no chance of an appeal.”
Source: Phonorecords IV: Music publishers react to US streaming royalty rate rise
Songwriter and publisher U.S. mechanical streaming royalty rates are going up — slowly — to a headline rate of 15.35% of total revenue from 2023-2027. That’s the big news out of Wednesday’s (Aug. 31) joint announcement on the “Phonorecords IV” settlement from the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the Nashville Songwriters Associations International and the Digital Media Association (DiMA).
Source: Publishers, Streamers Reach Deal for Highest Streaming Royalty Rate Ever: Here’s How It Works
Paramount has filed a copyright infringement claim against a company that opened a “McDowell’s”, inspired by the Coming to America movie. The pop-up restaurant, which sold the famous “Big Mick,” misled the public and sold burgers of questionable quality, Paramount notes. The case is being handled by the recently launched Copyright Claims Board.
Sony Music Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Triller, seeking millions of dollars in damages after the video-sharing app allegedly stopped paying licensing fees in March 2022. According to the suit, filed Monday in New York federal court, Triller continued to allow Sony Music songs to be shared on the app even after the music company terminated their deal.
Source: Sony Music Sues Triller, Alleging Copyright Infringement and Breach of Contract
While it has become commonplace to pay both a platform fee and creator fee when collecting an NFT, some collectors would rather not shell out an extra five percent on top of their already sizable transactions. Creator royalties mean that the individual who created a piece of art is rewarded in conjunction with collectors, but — since some NFT price tags reach well over $1 million — we’re talking more than $50,000 in fees alone paid by the collector.
Source: Here’s What You Need to Know About the NFT Creator Royalty Debate
The most valuable currency that exists in our culture at this point is a captive audience — people’s attention. It’s the hardest thing to capture, no matter who you are. So, the real value that our platforms offer is the promotional value of being up on that stage. In the case of the Super Bowl halftime show, we’re talking hundreds of millions of viewers, in addition to the marketing campaign, the assets that we build and the music that we license.
Source: NFL’s First Head Of Music On Halftime Show Planning & Why They Don’t Pay Performers
Despite its Hollywood cred, The Washington Post hasn’t exactly had a strong presence at the intellectual property gold rush, even as other major media outlets have methodically mined their content and turned it into weaponry for the streaming wars. But that’s all changing now that the Post has become bedfellows with two Hollywood heavyweights: Imagine Entertainment and Creative Artists Agency.
Source: “It’s a Gold Mine”: Inside The Washington Post’s Big Hollywood Deal
The White House has instructed federal agencies to make publicly funded research freely available immediately after publication, ending a loophole that let journals put it behind a paywall for a year. The updated guidance will take effect by the end of 2025, and it expands rules first announced in 2013 but criticized as insufficient by President Joe Biden.
Source: No more paywalls for public research, says White House
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act seeks to level the playing field by allowing local newspapers, broadcasters and other online publishers to negotiate collectively for an annual content fee from Google and Meta/Facebook, which dominate the digital advertising market. The full text of the Senate bill, released Monday, cites a power imbalance that has benefited Big Tech at the expense of the shrinking newspaper industry.
Source: Big Tech could be forced to pay for online news under legislation aimed at helping local publishers
Last week, the major labels voiced support for AB 2799, a California bill that would limit criminal liability stemming from “creative expression” – including rap lyrics – in certain instances. Now, the legislation has passed through both chambers of the Golden State’s legislature and made its way to the governor’s desk. If approved by the governor, AB 2799 would become the first state law of its kind.
Source: AB 2799 ‘Rap Lyrics’ Law Officially Passes California Legislature