Rights

Meta Platforms Inc. has begun telling publishers in the U.S. that it won’t renew contracts to feature their content in its Facebook News tab, according to people familiar with the matter. The decision affects deals worth over $100 million, according to a person familiar with the situation. Meta had signed up a host of publishers in recent years, including deals worth tens of millions of dollars with news organizations such as The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Source: Facebook to End Payments to U.S. News Publishers

Starting in August, Snap will provide monthly grants of up to $100,000 to artists who are distributing music on Snapchat via DistroKid. The program is currently capped at 20 songs; Snap says it will provide grants of $5,000 per song to artists, based on the level of engagement Snapchat users have with the music.

Source: Snapchat Will Pay Indie Music Artists Up to $100,000 Monthly for Top-Performing Songs

A new bill has been introduced in the US House of Representatives to address an issue of growing concern for music artists, particularly those in the hip-hop genre. Introduced by Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act seeks to protect artists from the use of their lyrics against them as legal evidence in criminal and civil cases.

Source: Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act Introduced in US House

It’s hard to think of a more brain-deadening topic than the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board’s proceedings over the rates for music streaming. But deep in the dense legalese lies a heated battle over the billions of dollars in royalties generated by streaming services — one that pits the music industry against some of the biggest companies in the world.

Source: Inside the Multi-Billion Dollar Battle Royale Over Music-Streaming Royalties

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is calling on her colleagues to ensure that musicians can actually make a living from their music. On Tuesday, July 26, the Michigan Democrat circulated a letter alerting her colleagues that she would be proposing a new Congressional Resolution to create a new royalty for streaming music. 

Source: Rep. Rashida Tlaib Wants to Make Sure Musicians Are Actually Paid for Their Music

Award-winning public performance royalty technology start-up Audoo has partnered with the leading Australasian performing rights organization, APRA AMCOS. The partnership helps ensure fairer and more accurate royalty payments from public performances in Australia and New Zealand. Businesses licensed by OneMusic will be equipped with Audoo’s revolutionary Audio Meters, rolling out first across six major cities: Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, and Auckland.

Source: Audoo Inks Song Detection Deal With APRA AMCOS

New York-based Creative Intell, which describes itself as an artificial intelligence-powered dealmaking platform for the music industry, has raised USD $3 million in its seed funding round. With Creative Intell, artists and related parties will be able to negotiate contracts on a “seamless, secure, real-time environment” platform, the startup said.

Source: Managers of Bad Bunny, The Killers join $3 million fundraising for ‘the LegalZoom for the music business’

Meta announced today that creators on Facebook can now earn money through their Facebook videos that use licensed music. The company is launching “Music Revenue Sharing” to allow video creators to include licensed music in their videos on Facebook and earn a share of in-stream ad revenue.

Source: Creators on Facebook can now earn money through videos that use licensed music

According to a memo sent to Kobalt writers and partners yesterday (July 23), Kobalt’s existing US licensing deal with Meta (parent company of Facebook and Insta) has expired – and the two parties have failed to reach a new agreement. Kobalt estimates that it is the publisher of songwriters behind over 40% of the Top 100 tracks and albums in any typical week in both the UK and US.

Source: Kobalt is pulling its 700,000 songs off Facebook and Instagram. Is the music biz headed for a historic bust-up with Meta?

In a lawsuit filed in California on Wednesday (July 20), Epidemic Sound claimed that its legal action seeks “to stop the theft of music created by hundreds of musicians, songwriters, producers and vocalists, theft occurring knowingly, intentionally and brazenly by Meta on its Facebook and Instagram social media platforms on a daily basis”.

Source: Epidemic Sound hits Meta with $142m lawsuit for ‘rampant infringement’ of its music on Facebook and Instagram